"Hey bro-what's up?" asked Michael as he slid into the booth next to the door. John had called and suggested the two meet up for breakfast at the diner which made Michael immediately suspicious.

"I got something to show you," said John as he slid the ultrasound photo across the table. It'd been in his jacket pocket since the afternoon before, and he'd already pulled it out enough that the edges were starting to get a little worn. A grin appeared on his face, which he hid by taking a sip of his coffee, at watching Michael's brown eyes get big.

"Wow. I-uhm," he said, unable to comprehend the fact his brother was going to be a father. His eyes studied the snapshot of new life-figuring out just from size on how far along the mother should be. It was then that his eyes went to the top corner of the paper and landed on the mother's name, "Natalie-but how?"

John rolled his eyes as he finished the coffee off, "Mike-if I need to discuss the birds and the bees with you-."

"Haha. No-I just didn't think-."

"What? That's we're together? No, we're not," he said, adding the word 'yet' to that statement in his head.

Michael smirked, "So an accident has turned you both into parents."

"I wouldn't call it that either. We both needed someone the night it happened and I'm glad we were able to find each other.

"You know last year we went months without seeing each other-since that night I've found every possible reason to see her. She's constantly in my thoughts. And you can give me the medical mumbo jumbo that it's just me being pulled to my unborn child, but I think it's more than that."

Michael threw his hands up in front of him in over exaggeration, "Ok-stop. Who are you and when are the pod people returning with my brother?" But he knew that look-the one his brother only got when Natalie was in his life.

John just smirked, rubbing his finger over the imaginary stain on the table, it was hard enough to say this out loud-he couldn't look Michael in the eye while he said this, "I think it's time I fight for her, Mike. Hell-I've been in Llanview what now-almost four and a half years. And I've loved her every minute since then. I'm not going to let someone else come in and take my family from me."

"Speaking of Natalie and family-have you seen The Sun this morning?"

"No, why?" asked John as he watched Michael get up and go over to one of the cops that was sitting at the counter. Michael took the front page from the cop and then walked back over, folding it so the headline was all that John saw when he took it from him. John's lips pursed at the headline above a picture of Jared, Buch a Banks Afterall.

"Good Morning, Gigi," smiled Natalie as she walked past her assistant and kept going to her office, ignoring Gigi's calls for her to hold up. She did freeze when she got to the open door and saw Jared standing there, looking over a report of some kind. "What the hell are you doing in my office?" she yelled and heard Gigi's heels click across the floor and behind her.

"I'm so sorry, Natalie-I was trying to warn you."

"Don't apologize, Gigi. Just call Security so we can get rid of this pest and get on with our day."

"You can do that, but I don't think they'll find reason to escort out an employee of BE when he's done nothing wrong," spoke Jared smugly.

"You don't work here, remember Jared? I was with you in my dad's office when he fired you for being a phony-so now leave," she said as she motioned her hand towards the lobby and looked to see Clint walking towards her.

"Hi, sweetheart-I thought I heard you. How was your day off? Get everything done you needed to?" asked Clint as he came up and gave her a hug and kissed the top of her head.

"Yeah, I need to talk to you about that, but first-look who doesn't understand 'You're Fired'."

"I was going to talk to you about that-Jared came to me yesterday and made a good case for getting his job back."

"Are you serious? I mean really, dad-here is a guy that has been lying to our family for months-for all we know he's been stifling funds right under our noses and you welcome him back?"

"I think you are going a little overboard, Natalie. Besides-we will have time to discuss everything this weekend at the cabin."

"The cabin?"

"Yes, I've decided that we need to become a solid force against our opponents and this weekend is the best opportunity."

Natalie just looked at her dad in disbelief-she would gladly do anything for BE, but to allow Jared Banks back into the company was not one of them. She quickly heard the tune of her cell phone start and walked further into the office to take the call, "Hello?"

"Hey-it's me. Everything ok?"

"Yeah, we're fine," she said as she looked towards the two men in her office begin to talk logistics. It took her a second to realize that at hearing John's voice her hand instinctively went to her stomach.

"Good. Hey-I know it's a Friday morning and you are probably slammed with stuff to get done before the weekend, but you think you might have a few minutes to see me? There's some stuff I think we need to discuss," he said as he looked down at the front page.

Natalie sighed, he wanted to talk and here she was stuck going on a weekend pow-wow with her family, "I can't-BE is going to have a meeting up at the Cabin this weekend. I think they are talking about heading out early so we get up there before the snow falls. Maybe Sunday evening?"

"Yeah, I guess it can wait. Drive safe-call me when you get back in town."

"I will," she said softly as she hung up the phone, wondering what it was that John was so eager to talk to her about.

"I guess we're the first here," said Natalie as she walked into the cabin with Jared behind her. Just walking from the car to the house she could tell the temperature was falling and the threat of being snowed in was quickly becoming a reality.

"Good then maybe we can discuss our options now that everyone knows I'm not related to you," said Jared as he dropped his bag and walked towards her.

"You are joking, right?" she asked with an unsteady laugh. "I mean really—you just let the cat out of the bag a week ago and you are expecting me to forgive you just like that? It doesn't work that way, bud," she said as she walked away from him

"You've forgiven others for worse—eventually you'll forgive me too. You've got a big heart Natalie," he said as she turned around and his hand came up gently to her face. Closing her eyes she could picture John stroking her face like that, and it was his face she pictured as Jared leaned in and kissed her gently. She reciprocated the kiss without a second thought—her mind solely focused on John.

As the kiss ended and she opened her eyes she came back to reality at seeing Jared standing there. It was the movement behind him that caught her eye and she suddenly realized the two of them weren't alone. There, by the door, was John, his hands balled up in fists inside the pockets of his leather jacket. "John, what are you doing here?"

John didn't speak for a moment—wishing he'd listened to himself halfway up the mountain when he'd thought about turning around. "Nevermind," he said, deciding it was better late than never to do so.

"John stop," she said, pushing past Jared and following him to the door.

Hearing her voice made him stop, but when he looked at her, and saw the moistness on her lips he started to get angry again, "Why, Natalie? Why should I stop when you obviously don't need me? You haven't for awhile."

"That's not why I told you to stop—you wanted to talk earlier about something and then you come all the way up here. For what John—just to see that maybe I have moved on from you? I doubt that," she said, knowing the truth of it all. He was the one person she would never move on from.

"Fine—you want to move on with this con, then do it. Just remember that when Cristian and I lied to you it was to save you from years of heartache. What is his excuse? Better yet, how come it took you months to talk to us as friends again and yet you are so ready to jump into bed with him just days after the truth comes out?"

"You know me better than to think I jump into anything quickly—especially the bed of another man."

"Yeah? What about Paul Cramer? Because that's exactly what I see when I look at ex-Uncle Jared here—another sleazy Paul Cramer. Just know that if he hurts you as bad as Paul did I won't be there for you this time, Natalie. I'm over cleaning up your messes," spoke John, his blue eyes burning passionately against Natalie's for a split second before turning and walking out into the snowy mountainside.

Natalie shut her eyes as she listened to John's car start up and head down the mountain. There were fights and then there was that—where they ended up so angry at each other that everything came out, whether it was meant to or not. Her memory flashed back to the last one they had before they broke up—her sitting on the bed after admitting that she'd told Bo the truth about the evidence.

It was always at this moment that she wanted to throw in the towel—walk away from him and his angsty moods and never look back. But now she couldn't—now there would always be something connecting them and they had just months to figure out how to put aside all differences they had towards each other and focus solely on their child.

Jared gave a slight cough, reminding Natalie that someone else had observed their fight. It was actually the first time anyone had done so and she really wasn't sure how to feel about that. "What do think was the real reason he came up here?"

"I don't know—maybe he wanted to make sure me and the baby got up here safely," whispered Natalie, and then realized her mistake. Biting her lip she looked at Jared and just nodded in confirmation before walking closer to the large picture window and placed her fingers softly against the cold window pane.

"I'm sure I'm overstepping my bounds, but can I just bring up my childhood. It sucked—but the best memories I actually have of it were between Charlie leaving and the rest of us becoming human punching bags. You and your child don't need him in your life, Natalie. Not if he's going to treat you both like that."

Natalie turned on her feet quickly, ready to reel into him about even suggesting she keep John from his child. It was then that she realized what he'd just admitted, "You just said your dad's name was Charlie."

"Yeah, so?" he said. He'd hoped she was so upset she hadn't put the pieces together, but by the look on her face he was wrong.

"He's not just any Charlie though, is he? He's the Charlie that my mom is dating. That's why he was so quick to run up and save you from falling off the ledge of the Palace. Why you two always seem to be chatting like you've got years of catching up to do."

"Ok, fine—you figured it out. What do you expect me to do about it?"

Natalie turned her head towards the window to see her dad arriving with Bo behind him, "You're going to call your father and let him know he has this weekend to tell my mom the truth or else when I get off this mountain I will tell her myself," she said as she watched him walk out of the room to make the call, giving herself a just a few seconds to get herself together before trying to throw herself into her work at BE and forget everything else going on in her life.