My muse has been working hard on this... Hope you enjoy the over-sappiness of this chapter and I'm gonna try my best to keep the muse a-moving!! Got one more chapter after this but then I must get started on chapter 4!

Chapter 2

A month had passed since Natalie had told John about the rape and her subsequent pregnancy. It had taken him just a few short hours to convince her to tell her family and file a police report, and she couldn't believe how much better she felt as soon as she had confessed to everyone what had happened. It was like the burden of what had happened had been lifted from her shoulders and she felt a wave of overwhelming peace sweep over her.

John, true to his word to himself and Natalie, had not left her side the entire time and her entire family was wise enough to not to comment on it. Instead they chose to smile at him gratefully and steal the moments he was away from her to thank him profusely for being there for her.

"Hey babe, what you thinking about?" Natalie asked, walking into the bedroom and interrupting John's reverie.

"I was just thinking about you and our munchkin," he replied with a soft smile that she returned.

"You know, I just can't tell you enough how much it means to me that you would do this."

"Do what?"

She smiled and touched her stomach lovingly. "That you would claim this child as your own. There aren't many men that would do that John--especially not after the way I treated you."

"Hey." He stood up and walked over to her, gently smoothing a stray strand of hair back from her face and cupping her cheek. "You had every right to be pissed with me. I never blamed you for that; actually I expected and deserved a hell of a lot worse than what you gave me." Placing his free hand on her stomach he continued, "And as for this baby--he or she is mine in every way that counts."

Natalie's eyes filled with tears and she stood on her tiptoes to press a sweet kiss against his lips. "Thank you," she whispered.

John pulled back to look at her, a soft smile on his lips. "I love you," he murmured, his smile widening at her sharp intake of breath.

"John..." she whispered, her eyes filling with tears.

"Shh," he whispered back, pressing a finger to her lips. "Don't say anything… I've made you do all of the talking for too long." He winked at her and she laughed through the tears that were now spilling down her cheeks.

"The truth is... I was scared. I've been scared since the day that I met you because I felt the connection between us and it was stronger than anything I'd ever felt before… I wasn't ready for that and I couldn't help but feel that I was betraying Caitlin…"

His voice trailed off and Natalie reached down to take his hand in hers, giving it a comforting squeeze and earning a pained smile. "So what changed?" she asked.

"You did." He lifted their joined hands to press a kiss to the back of her hand. "After you came down on me the first time we almost… Well, I realized then that it was time to let Cait go. I wasn't sure how to do it and it took me a long time but finally I did."

"And by the time you did…"

"Cris had come back," he finished her sentence. "Skipping all of the bad memories, when we finally almost made it work this last time after Hayes… I was so close to being able to tell you the words. I was going to tell you the truth about Cris and my feelings when I got home from visiting him the next day and let you decide what to do."

"But you never came home… You got stuck in the riot."

"Yeah, and you had to find out about Cris the worst way possible…"

"I survived," she told him, brushing her tears away with the back of her hand and squeezing his hand tightly. "And so did our connection and my love for you."

Smiling gratefully at her, John leaned in and kissed her. "I love you."

"I love you too," Natalie said with a small grin. "I'm glad we finally got this talk out of the way--and I can't tell you how much it means to me that you are finally ready to do this the right way."

He placed his free hand on her belly and smiled. "I don't think I have much choice… I don't ever want to hurt you again and I don't ever want to hurt this baby."

Natalie let go of his hand and wrapped her arms around John's neck, pressing her lips against his in what started out a gentle kiss but quickly turned into something more.

They never could have known as they reveled in each other and their newfound intimacy that their troubles were just beginning…

TO BE CONTINUED