John opened his eyes to a mass of auburn hair and he instantly smiled. "Mmmm," he said as he nuzzled his nose in deeper and kissing the side of her head.
"Morning," she said sleepily, forcing her eyes to open before rolling over to face John.
"You know this is the best night of sleep I've gotten since I've been here."
"Not that we did much sleep," she laughed, giving him a kiss. "Think we have time for another round before the day starts."
"I think so," said John with a wicked grin and in one swoop he was on top of Natalie and his mouth covering hers.
The knock came quick and the voice followed right after, "Hey John—you awake?" spoke Aaron quickly.
"We're awake," said John as he gave Natalie one last kiss before getting up and grabbing his jeans and a tank to throw on. As he opened the door he could hear yelling downstairs, "They called him again?" he asked, a look of frustration on his face.
"I was in the office—didn't even realize what they were doing til I heard the shouting start. You want to help me out? I know—,"
John cut him off looking back to see Natalie was leaning over and grabbing what clothes she could find from the night before, "No, we better stop them before he calls the wrong people and we blow our chance on doing this right."
He took the steps two at a time, Aaron following on his heels as they came down to the living area—Brett on the phone screaming.
"How can you not care? He was your partner before we even finished Quantico!"
John grabbed the phone from Brett, "Go take a walk, Rooster—you too Craig," he ordered as Aaron walked them outside to cool off. "Hey—sorry about that," he said calmly into the phone, a hand running through his hair in frustration.
"Irish—I swear, if they call me one more time I'm going to be making a few phone calls," said the voice on the other end. "I'll tell you again—I've got a family man—I left the FBI years ago—I want justice for him, but I need to put my family first."
"I know," said John, a smile appearing on his face as Natalie walked down the steps, sitting on the bottom one. "I've got a family too—I'm going to be a dad—found out a couple nights ago."
"Congrats, man."
"Thanks. Aaron and I—we're trying to keep them from calling you—but you should be here to help close his case and well all know it. You need closure on this more than any of us—Scott was your best friend while we were in training. And while we're all getting to celebrate births and marriages—Scott never will."
"Don't give me the guilt trip—I had guilt over that for years."
"And if you'd stop lying to yourself you still do—just come out for a few days—a week at most. You were there—you know what happened that night—and your eyes probably can catch something that mirrors it. Just think about it," said John as he hung up the phone. He threw the phone on the couch and looked at Natalie, shaking his head.
"So there were originally six of you?"
John nodded as he came down to sit beside her, "Me and Aaron, Brett and Craig, and then Scott and Sam. Scott was the smart one—we called him Doc. Sam knows his way around a computer better than some of the experts I've seen—I went to him for help a few times with the LPD," he admitted.
"Anyways—it was our first case and we were all excited about it. This was the house we stayed in then—it was a cult leader, very biblical in his teachings and beliefs," spoke John, able to tell by just watching Natalie that the hairs on her arms were beginning to stand on end.
"This guy just came out of nowhere—like he rose from ashes. All of us knew he had to have been doing this before—the way he'd pull his followers in—have them do his bidding with no questions asked. Sam did most of the research—comparing him to previous cult leaders from around the country that disappeared or were believed to be killed."
"And—?"
"They wanted to get closer to the compound—closer than we had before—try and get a good look at him. Something happened out there and Scott was shot and killed. That was 1997. After the shooting happened we had to regroup—by the time we did the cult was disbanded and the leader had disappeared once again."
"He's returned?" she asked uneasily.
John looked up to see the other three come back into the house and take seats on the couch, "The FBI always kept an eye on the compound—movement started about three months ago—first they thought it was nothing, but we think the leader is back—I got confirmation during a stake out two weeks ago."
Natalie put her head down, and closed her eyes tightly—the whole time she'd been wondering why John wanted her here. And now she knew, "It's him—isn't it?"
He couldn't say anything, just put an arm around her and hugged her tight. His eyes darted to the others in the room—daring them to talk, but he knew they wouldn't—that she was the key to catching him.
She just stayed like that for a minute—not crying, not yelling—just letting him hold her. Natalie pushed her way out of his arms and went back upstairs without a word.
"You going to go after her?" asked Craig quietly.
John just shook his head, "She needs time to process this all."
"I still don't quiet understand how she fits into the picture," said Brett, his head down staring at his hands and the gold band on his finger.
John began to tell them again the story of her connection to it all, remembering the phone conversation he had with Bo a few days ago.
"Buchanan."
"Hey—Bo. How's it going? How's Natalie?" asked John as he sat in the office on a secure line. His feet kicked up on the desk in front of him, a picture of Natalie in his lap.
"She's good—I still feel bad about lying to her, but I think she's handling everything as well as can be expected. How's the case going? Anything I can help with."
"Yeah. There's two things I need from you—I'm going to need everything you have on Mitch Laurence."
Bo groaned as he made sure both office doors were locked and took a seat, "Please tell me I didn't hear you correctly."
"Bo—if I thought there was a hint of doubt I was wrong I wouldn't be calling—you know that."
"I believe you. How do I get the file to you?"
"There will be someone coming by to get it in a week or so. That's what the second favor I need comes in."
"Why am I not going to like this either?"
"I need Natalie to come here. I know it's not the best idea—to have her near where he is, but—."
"No, it's not. I'd rather not have Natalie or Jessica ever within a hundred miles of him, John," he sighed.
"I know—and I don't either. But if he's planning a strike against either of them—we need to know. And they both know how he ticks—who is the stronger of the two? Who can face this without breaking? Or us worrying about splitting into another personality? I'm sorry—that was uncalled for."
"No—I understand where you are going, John. But just remember this—if something happens to Natalie the entire Buchanan clan will be coming after you."
John walked into the bedroom and saw her asleep on the bed—she'd come back downstairs for awhile—not talking much, not saying anything remotely connected to Mitch and then without a word came back up here and went to sleep.
He wasn't going to push her—the little he knew about her history with Mitch made his blood boil. He sat down on the edge of the bed and pushed her hair back, giving her a kiss on the cheek as he watched her sleep.
She walked into a nursery—everything was fuzzy, but she knew her baby was there, lying in the crib asleep. As she got closer she felt panic creep in—and as she reached the side she saw the crib was empty. "Where's the baby?" she yelled, and turned to see Mitch standing there holding the infant. "Give me the baby, Mitch—you can't ruin another child's life again."
"Watch me," he laughed as he turned and left the room. As she tried to run after him she realized her legs were frozen and she couldn't move, but just kept screaming for him to stop.
She jumped up from the bed in a sweat to see John sitting next to her. By instinct she flew into his arms, catching her breath as he held her tightly.
"Hey—hey—it's ok, I'm here. Want to talk about it?" he whispered into her hair.
"It was happening again," she stuttered as she pulled away and wiped her face.
"What was happening?"
"Mitch—he was stealing a baby—I don't know if it was ours or Brennan. I can't—I won't let him ruin another family, deny another child its rightful place with its mother and father," she said as she sat up taller—her strength coming back as she looked into John's face. "What was it you brought me here to help with?"