Disclaimer: I own nothing, don't sue.
Author's Note: Well, it took me quite a while to get the last 2 chapters out, and possibly even longer for this one to get done. I hope it was worth the wait, and Missy this one's for you:)
Summary: Natalie believes herself to be pregnant with an imposter's baby, but John knows the truth. Will he tell her or her so-called dead husband the truth, or will his own selfish desires keep the truth hidden until it's too late?
Title: Unexpected Complications 4/?
"Hey, Sleeping Beauty. You have two visitors." John smiled as he sat down in the chair by Natalie's bed, one arm carefully cradling Cristina as he took Natalie's hand with his free one.
"I just thought you should know… I named your beautiful little girl Cristina, just like you wanted. And I think you'd be pleased with where she's going when she leaves the hospital in a few minutes. Your mom asked me to take her in until things calm down at Llanfair or until…" He swallowed, letting the sentence hang unfinished.
"I promise that I'll do the best I can for your daughter, but you know what I think would be best?" He leaned in and Cristina made a small mewl of protest at the shift, but she calmed as John released Natalie's hand just long enough to tuck her blanket in a little tighter.
Taking her hand in his again, John finished what he had started to say. "The best thing in this world for your daughter would be for her mother to wake up. Come on sweetheart. Fight your way back to us, open those beautiful blue eyes of yours and look at your daughter for the first time."
His voice dropped to a whisper as he finished, "Open your eyes and look at me. I want Cristina to know her mother, but my reasons for wanting you to wake up are a hell of a lot more selfish I'll admit. Natalie, I'm terrified. I can't see my life without you in it, and I don't want to find out what it would be like. Please baby, just open your eyes."
His voice cracked, and he looked down as he wiped his eyes. His heart jumped when he felt Natalie's hand move in his, and he looked up. A smile broke out through his streaming tears when he saw Natalie's baby blue eyes looking back at him.
"John?"
Standing, he covered her face with kisses for just a second before Cristina began to cry. Natalie's eyes were filled with tears as John pulled back, keeping a tight grip on her hand, almost as though he was anchoring her to the world.
"Is that…?"
John nodded, smiling widely as he spoke.
"Natalie Buchanan, I have someone here I think you should meet." He gently handed Cristina over to her mother. As Natalie took in the beautiful face of her five-day old daughter her tears spilled over, and John leaned down to press a kiss against her forehead.
"She's so beautiful," Natalie whispered.
John smiled, nodding in agreement. "She gets more beautiful every day. But that's to be expected, given that her mother does too." He winked at Natalie, who laughed and shook her head.
"Man, I should go into a coma more often if this is what I'll wake up to."
John chuckled as he shook his head. "Don't worry, after this scare this is what you're going to be waking up to every morning. I'll never take another moment, another breath, another kiss for granted ever again." He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to Natalie's lips.
Natalie was beaming when John pulled away, but after a moment her eyes began to cloud over.
"Go ahead and ask."
She looked at John bewildered, but the bewildered expression turned into love tinged with fear as she asked the question that had been haunting her since she had awoken. "How long was I in a coma?"
"Five days…. Ever since you gave birth to Cristina."
Natalie smiled as she looked down at her daughter, gently stroking the light matting of black hair that she already had. "Cristina… I can't believe you remembered."
John smoothed Natalie's bangs back and smiled. "I remember a lot more than you might think." Their eyes locked and held for what seemed like an eternity before he looked away, directing his gaze towards the baby.
"Five days…" Natalie murmured, her mind going back. "What would have happened to Cristina if I had never woken up? And has she been here at the hospital this entire time?"
"Actually… Yeah, she's been here. But the doctors decided today that she should be taken home and gotten settled."
"Who was going to take her?" Natalie asked. In her heart she seemed to remember John's words, the words that had woken her from the grips of the coma, but she needed to know for sure.
"Your mom asked me to. We were actually going to be heading home in just a few minutes, but I knew that I had to come in here one more time."
Natalie smiled warmly. "You were going to take care of my daughter." Her voice was filled with love and pride, but not a trace of surprise. After all, she knew the kind of man John McBain was.
"Yeah… I think of her as my own already. I hope that's all right with you?"
Natalie carefully shifted the sleeping Cristina to one arm and used her now free hand to take John's and bring it to her lips, kissing it gently.
"That's more than 'all right' with me, John. I love you so much already, but I think those words just made me fall in love with you a little bit more." Her eyes twinkled as John leaned in for another kiss.
"Sorry to interrupt bro but I heard that we have a beautiful new mother who has finally woken up in here?" Michael said, grinning when he saw mother and child.
John nodded and looked at Natalie. "I guess I'll get of here and let Mikey work his magic. But I'll be back as soon as your family gets done with you."
Natalie seemed to glow as John gently kissed her cheek and turned to leave.
"John? Think that you could take Cristina while I check Natalie out? You can stay in the room if Natalie doesn't mind."
"I don't mind at all… Unless John has something that he needs to do." She looked up at him questioningly, and John's heart swelled as he nodded.
"I'd love to stay." He gently took Cristina into his arms and calmed her when she began to cry. Natalie watched them as Michael did the cursory examination, unable to believe just how good he was with the baby. It warmed her heart more than anything else on earth did.
"One hundred percent healthy," Michael announced a few moments later. "We'll want to keep you in the hospital for a couple of days, just for observation and a few other tests, but you should be out of her by Saturday."
Natalie smiled. "Thanks, Michael." He grinned back at her and leaned down to hug her.
"Welcome back, kid. It was pretty dull here without you around to bust my chops."
"Oh, don't worry. I'll remedy that quickly enough." Natalie winked at Michael and whispered in his ear, "Thank you." As he pulled away, he answered her with a wink and began to walk to the door.
Just as he reached the door, Michael turned around. "Oh, and John? I still think that its best for you to take Cristina home—to wherever her home is going to be—and start getting her adjusted."
John nodded. "If its what Natalie wants."
Michael grinned. "You can bring her back anytime Natalie wants to see her." Lowering his voice to a whisper he added, "Linda, the night nurse is very fond of chocolate. Give her a box and she'll let you in." He winked as Natalie laughed.
"Seriously though," he said, his voice reverting back to normal, "It'll be much better for Cristina to get used to her new surroundings sooner rather than later. It won't be so hard for her to adjust." He smiled again as he walked out.
"He's right, you know. You should take Cristina home, let my family smother me until tomorrow."
"I'll take her home later. For now, I want to let your family smother you and then I want to smother you a bit more. Besides, I think that you and your daughter need a little more quality time."
Natalie beamed as he gently placed Cristina back in her arms and turned to leave.
"Visiting hours are over."
John nodded reluctantly, and the nurse pinned him with a glare as she folded her arms over her chest.
Leaning forward to press a kiss to Natalie's cheek, he whispered in her ear, "I love you. We'll be back first thing in the morning."
"I'm looking forward to it. I love you… both of you." Natalie smiled at the sight of her two dark-haired loves standing in front of her.
"I love you too." John blew her a kiss, an action that was so out of character for him that it made Natalie want to laugh but it was so sweet that she couldn't, and quickly left the room after giving Linda a sheepish grin.
Linda smiled at Natalie as she dimmed the lights. "That is some man you've got there. Hold on tight to him."
"Oh, I plan to." Natalie smiled warmly at the nurse as she walked out of the room.
As John carefully fastened Cristina into her small car seat his fears of just hours earlier were gone. He was confident that he and the small baby would get by just fine until Natalie got home.
TO BE CONTINUED