Natalie sat quietly in the hospital waiting room second guessing herself about not calling John the night before to remind him again of her appointment. She remembered how he said he wouldn't miss it so she had figured he would be here without anymore nagging on her part. If he didn't show she'd make sure the next time she saw him that he had to make a decision, to either be in this child's life 100 or none at all. It was bad enough when he was wishy-washy about his feelings and his actions towards her, she wasn't going to let him do the same to their child.
Looking forward she gave an inward groan at watching Lee Ramsey walking towards her. At taking in the sight of him in his long trench coat and sunglasses which he still wore, despite now being inside a building, she couldn't help but think how you can take the man out of the FBI, but you can't take the FBI out of the man.
"Fancy seeing you here, Miss Buchanan. I hope everything his ok with yourself."
"I'm fine," she glared and then decided to bait him a bit. "Have you figured who helped Alison Perkins escape so she could yet again terrorize my family?"
"No, but rest assured that under my watch they will be caught and punished to the fullest extent of the law."
"That's funny because under my Uncle's watch the perp would have already been apprehended," she smiled coolly at him.
"How is your uncle liking his new job at BE? Has he solved the case of the missing stapler yet?" he asked, and then gave her a creepy grin before walking away, laughing at himself at the joke he'd made.
Natalie's smile changed from a cool one to one of assurance as he strode away. Anyone could tell she'd ruffled his feathers just now much more than he did hers, and she wondered exactly what John had done to make the surveillance tape disappear.
"I'll give you a minute to change and then we'll do an ultrasound," said the doctor as she gave Natalie a smile before turning the lights down and leaving the room.
She folded her clothes neatly, lying them underneath her purse and then got back onto the exam table, resting her head back and closing her eyes so she could focus. At hearing a soft knock on the door she told the person to come in. It wasn't until she felt someone brush her hair back that she jumped, opening her eyes and seeing John looking over her, "You came," she said, suddenly feeling very emotional.
"Yeah," he said, realizing quickly she thought he had forgotten or didn't care enough to be here beside her when they had the first glimpse of their child. "I was walking across the parking lot and saw Ramsey ahead of me—decided to hide out in the gift shop til he left."
"Lucky you—I got the joy of talking to him. Seems to me ya'll are no closer to closing the Alison Perkins case," she said, giving him a questionable look that told him he better tell the truth.
"Yeah, the person got a lucky break—apparently Baxter took the tape home by accident and recorded over it with the Flyers game," he said, giving a wicked grin at seeing her eyes get huge.
"Really? And what happened to Baxter? Did he get suspended?"
"No, actually he quit," he said, then cut her off from her next comment. "He'd been planning on putting in his notice anyways—him and his cousin are starting up a PI firm in Michigan—it's just all moving faster than he'd expected now."
"Oh—so that's it?"
"For now," shrugged John as there was again a knock on the door and the doctor entered.
"Hi—I'm Dr. Grant—you must be the father-to-be?" she smiled as she held out a hand and shook his.
"Yeah—I was running behind, but I'm here now," he said as he looked back at Natalie, their eyes speaking volumes to each other.
"Well, then let's meet the little one," she said as she placed a small suction-cup looking object on Natalie's stomach and it took just a few seconds before the room was filled with a noise John thought was similar to a stampede of horses. "Everything sounds good—now why don't we get a look at it," she said as she pulled a cart with a monitor on top of it over to the exam table and took a bottle and moving the paper clothing Natalie was wearing, squirted some on her belly.
Natalie jumped at the coldness and instantly John's hand took hers, "I'm fine—it was just colder than I was expecting," she said, enjoying that his hand was in hers. As the screen filled with the image of their child she felt the tears well up in her eyes and she couldn't help it—that was her child, her's and John's—something she was sure would never happen.
"We've got an active one," said the doctor to them, knowing they were concentrating more on the life on the screen that what she said.
John just stared at the screen—watching the small miracle on it moving around, "She's beautiful."
"It's too early to tell if it is a girl—right Dr. Grant?"
"Yes—it won't for a couple more months until we know for sure."
John just smiled, he could feel it that the little one on the screen was a girl, and would be just as beautiful as her mother.
Vicki stood there in the doorway of the sunroom, watching her daughter as she gazed out the window in quietness--oblivious to anyone or anything else in the room.
She walked further into the room and saw she was holding what looked like a picture between her fingers. She had known something had been different with Natalie the past week and now, without even seeing what was on the paper she knew. Vicki gave a polite cough before coming to the edge of the couch and watched her daughter jump in surprise, "I didn't mean to startle you."
"You didn't--I just was thinking--it seems like I've been doing a lot of that lately," she said as she looked down at the picture and she felt the urge to both laugh and cry at the sight of her unborn child.
"May I see?" asked Vicki as she took the printed paper from Natalie and looked at the small, blurry image on there, "She's beautiful."
Natalie laughed, "He said it was a girl also--the doctor says it's too early to tell."
"I'm guessing he is John," questioned Vicki as she sat down on the couch and took Natalie's hand as she nodded silently. "I didn't know you two had gotten back together."
"We haven't--it was right after Marty died and I found out about Jared being my uncle. We needed someone that night--and somehow found each other."
"You two have a way of always finding each other," said Vicki.
"Yeah," said Natalie with a quick laugh. "He proposed to me the day I told him. Said it was the best thing for all of us."
"Well, he seems to be one to take his obligations in life seriously. I'm sure he was just trying to do what he felt was right. I take it you told him no."
"I had to. It's bad enough that we're bringing a child into this world because we were selfish and couldn't last one night without someone in our arms, but I can't see being married just for the sake of the child."
"You two obviously still care for each other or this wouldn't be such an issue."
"Caring for each other has never really been the issue, but we've been apart for nearly a year now--have seen each other on rare occasions with months of time between each one--how do we become a cohesive unit for the sake of the child when we've wasted so much time already being apart?"