Chapter Nineteen

"You… you need to know…." John choked out, "I…. al..always…. lov..loved… you." Once the words were out, John's head slumped back and his eyes closed.

Natalie found herself grow hysterical as John's body went limp, but luckily a team of doctors and nurses rushed out just as she began to lose it. Within seconds John was lifted onto a stretcher. One of the nurses came over to Natalie and tried asking her usual set of questions but all Natalie could do was point to Cristian's dead body and mutter, "Call the police." Then she weakly made her way into the hospital as the shock began to take over.

As if in a daze Natalie walked through the ER hallways and bumped into Marcie.

"Natalie? Oh my God, Natalie are you hurt?" Marcie asked in a rush as she took in the other woman's bloodstained clothes and tearstained cheeks.

Natalie just numbly shook her head, "John," she choked out as the tears began to fall. Suddenly, Natalie started to sway and Marcie quickly led her over to a bench. Through the sobs she managed to tell Marcie the basics of what had happened. Once she was finished, Marcie's eyes were wide with shock but she quickly took control of the situation.

"Natalie look at me. You need to calm down – John needs you to be strong." Natalie's tears slowly began to subside and she nodded weakly.

"Here take this." Marcie said as she took off the oversized Llanview University sweater she was wearing. "I'll go and find Michael and let him know what happened, and then I will drop Eve off at Jessica and Nash's place okay? I'll just tell the girls you got called into work."

Realizing that she was covered in John's blood, Natalie took a shaky breath and took the sweater from Marcie. "Okay," she whispered.

Marcie took a deep breath as she knocked on the examining room door. "Michael, it's me Marcie."

The door was quickly opened to reveal a worried looking Michael. Marcie looked past him and found Eve sitting in one of the hospital chairs looking at them alertly. "Hey, Aunt Marcie." She said with a smile.

"Hey Eve – your mom got called into work and she asked me to come and take you to your Aunt Jessica's. That okay with you?" Marcie asked cheerfully trying to act normally.

Eve's face broke out into a wide grin. "Cool!" she said excitedly. "When Syd and I stay over at Aunt Jess's, she lets Brennan and us stay up late and watch movies!"

Marcie smiled at Eve. "Well, then I guess it's a good thing your mom got called into work."

Michael stood back and watched the exchange between his wife and niece trying to mask the fear that was overtaking him. He could tell Marcie was lying and figured something has happened in the standoff between Cristian, John and Natalie.

"You're probably needed at the nurse's station," Marcie said softly as she kissed her husband goodbye and led Eve toward the east exit. Once the two of them were out of sight, Michael all but sprinted to the ER entrance but stopped cold when he saw a pale looking Natalie taking to Bo and a covered body being lifted onto a stretcher.

Natalie met his gaze and weakly shook her head – a gesture which gave Michael the strength to walk over toward her and Bo.

"Cristian's dead," Natalie said turning away from Bo to face him, "John's been taken into surgery- he was shot and no one has told me anything." Just saying the words had Natalie breaking into a fresh round of sobs and Bo quickly pulled her into an embrace.

"I'll go see what I can find out," Michael said softly as he turned toward OR.

Three hours later John was still in surgery with the prognosis unknown and Natalie and Michael sat side by side waiting.

"I love him, Michael." Natalie finally said, her voice soft "Even after all these years I still love him. I can't lose him, I need him."

Michael put an arm around her. "John's one of the strongest men I know, Natalie. He'll pull through this."

But a fresh wave of tears began to well yup in the corners of her eyes as she looked toward the operating room. "You don't understand, Michael, earlier today he asked me for another chance and I said no. I told him that all he had ever done was hurt me and I wouldn't go through it all again. I told him I didn't love him. I lied Michael… and… what if he… he dies not knowing the truth?" Natalie asked as she began to sob.

"He's not going to die Natalie…" Michael tried but she quickly cut him off as she jumped to her feet.

"You don't know that. I never thought Cristian would die two days after our wedding, and I sure as hell never thought he would come back – let alone twice." She said as she paced around the waiting room. "But he did. And I never thought he would become a monster who would try and kill me and my children, but he did. I never thought Jen, Al, Ben, or Duke would die either, but they all did. So you can't sit here and reassure me that everything is going to be all right because you don't know that." Her voice was a mixture of hysteria and anger, but Michael didn't take it personally. Getting up he drew her into an embrace and held her as she cried. "I know how you feel Natalie – up until last week I was treating John like shit. But I know my brother – he's been shot before and he WILL pull through this."

Michael was still holding her when the Doctor who was treating John made his way into the waiting room, followed by Eve and Bo. Once they were all gathered around him, he began to speak.

"The surgery went well. We were able to get the bullet out and repair the damage done by it to his abdomen. However, during surgery his heart stopped twice due to the strain of the surgery and the blood loss. As a result of that John has slipped into a coma."

Eve's eyes filled with tears as she stumbled backward into Bo's arms, but Natalie remained silent. It was Michael who took charge and asked the one question that was on everyone's mind. "How bad is it?"

"Honestly, Michael, we can't be sure at this time. Because of the flat-lining your brother did lose oxygen, only there's no way of telling how much. Just like with any coma, the next forty-eight hours are crucial." Offering a small smile, the Doctor excused himself and left the four of them alone.

"Michael honey, please be straight with us…. What are his chances?" Eve asked between sobs as she looked at her son with pleading eyes.

With a sigh, Michael turned toward his mother. "I don't know Mom. I really don't know."

Unable to take this waiting anymore, Natalie weakly mumbled "I have to see him," before taking off toward John's hospital room.