Natalie greeted Gigi with a smile and continued into her office, the past few weeks had been wonderful—work was going great, and John, well—he was actually making her believe they could make everything work.
Walking to her desk she looked back at Jared who was finishing off a box he had been filling up, "They already finished your office? That was faster than they thought."
"Nope, I've just got to get out of this room," said Jared as he walked out of the office carrying a box.
When he returned Natalie put down the messages from yesterday, "Oh, I'm sorry—is my pregnancy bothering you? It's not contagious or anything."
Jared laughed, "It's funny you bring up the pregnancy. You told me before that you were putting the baby first, but from where I'm standing you are putting McBain first."
Natalie took a second to answer the ridiculous question, "Well, he is the father of my child. Would you rather me be getting closer to a mass murderer?"
Jared clenched his fists before he said something he would regret, "That's not what I mean. You are a capable woman that can have anything she wants in life—why go back to someone who has brought you nothing but heartache and tears?
"He's going to hurt you again, Natalie—you just don't want to see it," he said as he finished off the last box and left the office.
Jessica picked a grape off of her sister's plate and popped it into her mouth, "You know—I'm thinking of becoming a stripper—just until the vineyard takes off."
"That's nice," said Natalie as she kept picking at her salad.
"Did you even hear what I said?" laughed Jessica at the look her sister gave her. "Ok—spill it—what's up? You've been in the best mood I've seen you in a year lately, and now—well, it's like you are trying to decide whether to break up with John first again."
"I'm just wondering if we're going too fast—I mean we really haven't even talked about everything that caused us to breakup in the first place."
"Then bring it up—are you seeing him tonight?"
"Yeah, we're supposed to meet up later. I guess I can bring it up," she said as she thought some more. "This all started when Jared gave me his opinion of John."
"And you are listening to Jared why?"
Natalie laughed, "I really don't know why—it was just he had some good points, that's all."
"The guy screwed up by pretending to be Uncle Jared and now he's jealous because you are beginning to move away from him even more. He'll get over it, and if he doesn't maybe he'll just disappear. Wouldn't that be nice?" she joked.
"Oh yeah," laughed Natalie as the conversation changed topics for the better.
John whistled softly as he walked towards his office. It was close to end of shift and if one thing of the past few weeks had made him realize was that with the birth of his child in the not so distant future he was no longer one to burn the midnight oil, but instead get back home to his family.
As he reached his desk he heard Ramsey's footsteps coming into his office and at turning to see the man carrying a large stack of files he honestly thought about telling the man exactly where he could stick those.
"Hope you have a good stock of coffee ready—it's going to be a long night, John," sneered the man as he dropped them on John's desk, almost knocking over the picture of the two brothers.
"I'd love to, but not tonight, Ramsey. I'm sure there's a lackey or two out there that'll do the dirty work, but not me."
"The mayor is breathing down my neck because of how many open cases we have. Besides you and your redheaded friend have been spending way too much time together as of late," laughed Ramsey as he walked out of the room and his laugh continued to echo down the hall.
John sighed and pulled his cell phone out, pressing the speed dial and waiting for Natalie to answer.
"Hey—you about to leave the station?" smiled Natalie as she put her hand on the top of her laptop to close it if he said yes.
"I wish, but Ramsey's being an ass. Looks like I'll be spending some time here tonight."
"Really? Well, I can bring you something—maybe pick up a pizza?"
"That sounds good. I'll call you when I'm sure he's left the building."
"Ok, I'll just work til then," she smiled and hung up the phone. She was only working a few short minutes before there was a knock on the door and she watched Bo stick his head in the door. "Hey."
"Hey sweetie. I was just checking to see if you were still here."
"Yeah, I was meeting up with John, but he has to work late."
"You two have been spending a lot of time together lately," smiled Bo as he walked further into the room and closed the door most of the way behind him.
"Yeah, we have—and it's been great, I'm just worried, that's all."
"About being hurt by John again?" he asked. If it had been any other family member he would have stayed out of it, but he knew his niece and he knew John and what both meant to the other.
"More so the baby than myself. I can get over it—I'm almost used to it at this point," she laughed. "But a child—I look at Todd and Blair, and how over the years it's been on and off and on and—."
"Yeah, I get it," laughed Bo.
"I don't want that to be us. I don't want our child to go through what Starr and Jack have gone through."
"Well, I'm pretty sure I'd never compare John to Todd, even on John's worst day," he smiled again. "But just like Todd is with his kids, I'm sure John's going to love this baby and do anything for it. And just like with Todd and Blair—I'm pretty sure John's never going to get over you—even if you weren't the mother of his child," he finished by putting his hands on her shoulders and looking at her. "You are going to be a wonderful mother—I can't wait to hold this little new one."
"Me either," she said as he pulled her into a hug.
"Don't work too late, ok?"
"I won't," she smiled as she walked Bo out of the office, closing her door, and getting back to work until she heard John's call.
All John could think about was how much a load of crap this all was. Half of the files Ramsey had brought him were closed files. He had noted a few the evidence numbers were missing so he figured he could at least fill those in before calling it a night.
The squad room was silent as he walked through it and down the stairs to the evidence room. Taking note of the numbers he didn't hear someone being quiet as they came down the stairs once he was in the room.
When the door was pulled shut he dropped the papers and evidence bag he'd been holding, grabbing the knob and trying to turn it, knowing already it was futile to open it—and cursing under his breath that he had left his cell phone up on his desk.
Natalie rubbed her eyes, noting the time. She was caught up as much as she could be, and thought maybe she'd just go and pick up a pizza without John's call. If Ramsey made a comment towards her being there she was a four and a half month pregnant woman—she could take him.
As she closed her laptop up her office phone ringing startled her. She was puzzled at seeing Jared's extension calling her—she'd been sure he'd left hours ago, still not talking to her after the conversation this morning, "You ready to be nice now?" she asked as she picked up the phone, but heard nothing other than someone breathing. "Ok, Jared—this isn't funny. I'm going to hang up now," she said as she clicked the phone off and grabbed her purse, jumping and spilling the contents of it as her cell phone began ringing. "Damn it Natalie—get a hold of yourself," she muttered as she saw the incoming call was from Jared. "Hello?"
"Hey—it's me. Listen do you have a minute to talk."
"Yeah, sure," she said as she left the spilled contents back behind her desk and walked to her office door, locking it quickly.
"I'm sorry about earlier. I want you happy, and if that's with John then fine, but if he hurts you let him know I'm coming after him."
"Yeah, sure—thanks. Hey—you still at work?"
"No, why—are you?"
"Me? No," she laughed as she began fiddling with the necklace she was wearing. "I'll see you tomorrow—ok?"
"Ok," he said as he ended the call.
Natalie stood there for a moment trying to decide what to do. Did she call Mike down in security and have him come up and check out Jared's office? Did she call John and have him come up to her office and escort her home? Opting for the later choice she his speed dial and listened to the phone ring until voicemail picked up, "Hey—it's me. Listen, call my cell when you get this. It's nothing urgent, I just need to tell you about something that just happened," she said as she sat down on the couch and waited for John to call her back.