Here's the next chapter. Thanks so much for the reviews. Hope you enjoy.
Chapter 6
Port Charles
Natalie with Liam in her arms walked onto the pier to look out over the water. "Wow, this is really beautiful. The way the light hits the water makes it shine like diamonds. I bet your Daddy loves it down here, especially at night when the moon is playing over the water. He probably stays down here for hours just staring at the water the way he likes to do when he has something on his mind. That is unless he's to busy with his new little friend." She told Liam bitterly. "But we will deal with that when we have to. Right now why don't we just enjoy this beautiful view and just relax for a little bit. We deserve it after the last few days we've had."
It had been about five days since she and Liam left the cabin, five very long days. Wanting to travel slow she had intended to be in Port Charles within two days of leaving Llanview, but things hadn't turned out that way. Instead she had to spend a couple of days in a roadside motel trying to regain enough strength to continue traveling. She just couldn't understand why she was unable to get back to her old self. She had thought she was well on her way to being better before she left Llanfair, but her head had seemed to hurt more each day. And she couldn't seem to get enough rest. Oh, she knew that part of the tiredness was because of the baby, but not all of it. There were times when it was difficult for her to put one foot in front of the other. Natalie knew she needed to see a Doctor but she was afraid of what would happen if Clint found her before she reached John. So she had took a room for a couple of days at a motel where the owners took cash money and wouldn't ask a lot of questions and tried to rest for a couple of days before forcing herself to continue on with Liam even though she just wanted to sleep. Today though was one of her good days and she had decided to stretch her legs by showing Liam the water. But now her head was starting to ache again so she knew it was time to find a place to rest. "Ok, baby its time to go. We need to find a room for the night before we find Daddy tomorrow. Maybe we can get him to bring you down here to see the water. Would you like that?" She asks her son, smiling at the look of delight on his face. "Yeah, that will be something fun for the two of you to do together. But first, we both can use a nap. So let's go baby." She tells him.
As they start to leave Liam decides he wants to walk. Concentrating on setting Liam down and taking his hand securely to make sure he didn't move away from her, Natalie didn't notice the two men coming up to her until one of them grabbed her by the arm while the other reached for Liam. "Ms. Banks, its time you go home now."
Startled, Natalie whirled her head around to look at the men while she pulled Liam close to her body. "Who are you? What do you want?"
"I'm Mr. Black, Miss. Your father sent us to get you. Now give the boy to my friend Mr. Blue over there and we will be on our way."
"Take you hands off of me!" She jerks away from him. "And you stay away from my son." She spits at Mr. Blue while she subtly puts her free hand in her pocket. "We aren't going anywhere with you. We have business here, so here is where we'll stay. You can tell my father to back off and stay away from us."
"Sorry, we can't do that, Ms. Banks. You need to come with us now." Mr. Black said reaching for her again.
"I said to keep your hands off of me!" She yells as she pulls her hand out of her pocket with her pepper spray in her hand and sprays Mr. Black in the eyes. Not bothering to watch as he hits the ground screaming, Natalie grabs up a now crying Liam into her arms and tries to run away.
"Not so fast!" Mr. Blue grabs at Natalie as she struggles to get away.
"Stay away from me!" Natalie kicks him in the knee causing him to fall as she once again tries to run. She only makes it a few steps before Blue reaches out to grab her ankle causing her to fall with Liam in her arms. Knowing if she landed on Liam she could hurt him, Natalie turned her body in midair. But when she hit the ground, she hit with such force that her head snapped back hitting the pier hard causing her to losing her grip on Liam. He rolled out of her arms onto the pier and sat there crying reaching for his Mama. Blue, realizing if he had Liam then Natalie wouldn't fight him, crawled towards the baby. But before he can get to him Natalie hits him with a board.
When she hit her head it had stunned her for a moment, but then she saw the bully crawling towards Liam and knew she had to do something. Luckily she had landed in a pile of boards. Mustering her strength she grabs one, struggles to her feet, walks up behind Blue and hits him with it knocking him away from Liam. "Don't you touch my son!" Natalie hits him a few more times before she throws it down and starts toward Liam. "Its ok, baby. Mommy's going to get ahhhhh." She screams as she's grabbed from behind.
While Natalie was fighting with Blue, Mr. Black was trying to recover from the pepper spray. He manages to get on his feet just as Natalie hits his partner. Rushing over he grabs her before she can get to Liam. "You aren't going anywhere except home where you belong."
"No, I'm not! Let me go!"
"You need to do as the Lady says. Take your hands off of her and move over there by your buddy. Now!"
Still holding on to Natalie, Mr. Black looked over at the intruder with the gun. "Whoever you are you need to butt out. You don't know what you're interfering with."
"I'm detective Dante Falconari of the Port Charles Police Department. And from what I'm seeing it looks like you are trying to kidnap this woman and her child. Now do as I told you. Let her go and move over there by your friend."
Black releases Natalie and she slowly sinks to the ground as the last of her adrenalin slipped from her body. As she tries to crawl towards Liam, Black moves over next to Mr. Blue. "You're making a huge mistake. This is none of your business."
"I think it is. Anytime someone is manhandling a woman, trying to make her do something against her will, it is definitely my business." He glances over his shoulder at the woman coming up behind him on the phone. "Did you call it in?"
Lulu Falconari walked up behind him closing her phone. "Yeah, backup is on the way. They should be here in a few minutes." Lulu walked over to Natalie and knelt down beside her. "Are you ok?"
"My son. Please, don't let them get Liam."
"Don't worry. They aren't going to get anywhere near him. Do you want me to get him for you?"
"Please help my baby." Natalie say clutching her stomach. "Don't let my baby die."
Murmuring soothingly, Lulu picks up the crying child. "He's fine, just a little scared. I don't think you have to worry about him dying."
"My other baby. Please don't let me loose the baby."
"Oh my gosh, you're pregnant. We need to get you to the hospital. Dante," she calls to her husband who was turning his prisoners over to the uniforms who had just shown up. "We need to call an ambulance. She's pregnant. She needs to see a doctor."
Dante calls for an ambulance as he walks over to them. "They're on the way." He tells her as he's closing his phone before he kneels down next to Natalie. "Miss can you tell me your name? Is their family I can call to have them meet you at the hospital?"
"No, you can't! You can't call my family!" She says in a panic. "Promise me you won't call them. They can't know where I am."
"Calm down." Dante soothes. "I don't have a clue as to who your family is so I can't call them anyway. But you need someone there who can at least look after your son until the doctors check you out. Is there anyone else we could call?"
Natalie's head was hurting so bad that it was hard to think, but she had to put Liam first and push the pain aside to figure out who could take care of Liam. "Starr...Starr Manning. Call Starr Manning." she stammers before clutching her head. "My head. My head." she gasps as darkness engulfs her.
"Is she ok, Dante?" A worried Lulu asks, still trying to sooth a fretting Liam.
"Miss. Miss are you ok?" Dante placed his fingers on her neck. "She still has a pulse, thank God. But I would feel better if the paramedics would get here. How's the little guy?"
"He's good, aren't you little one?" Lulu smiles at the baby. "He may be a little bruised. It looks like she dropped him when she was fighting with those men, but I think he's ok. We may want the
paramedics to check him out when they get here anyway. I just wish we knew more about them. What do you think her connection is to Starr Manning?"
"I don't know, but I intend to find out as soon as we get her checked out." Hearing someone approaching, they both look up to see the paramedics walking towards them. "Glad you guys are here. She's been out about ten minutes. She grabbed her head like she was in real pain before she passed out. She has a real strong pulse though. Her attackers roughed her up some. You should also know that she's pregnant." Dante moves back to Lulu's side so they could work.
"How far along?" one of the paramedics asked as they start checking her out.
"Don't know. She passed out before she had a chance to tell me."
"Well she's to small to be very far along, but we need to get her to the hospital as soon as possible. I'll go get a stretcher." The other paramedic says as he moves off before Dante stops him.
"This is her baby," Dante tells them gesturing at Liam. "He will need to be checked out to. We think she might have been holding him when they knocked her down. We can meet you at the hospital with him."
"It might be better if he goes with us in case she wakes up and wants to know where he is. One of you can ride in the ambulance with him if you want." The paramedic explained before he went to get the stretcher.
"I'll go with him." Lulu volunteers. "I'll also call Starr Manning and have her to meet us at the hospital. Maybe she can tell us who they are and why she was so adamant that her family not know where she is."
"Ok, I'll follow you when I finish up here. If Starr can't tell us who they are I think I might know someone who can. But if I'm right then the drama is just starting."
Lulu gives his a questioning look but before she has a chance to ask the paramedics indicates that they are ready to leave. After telling her husband she would see him at the hospital, she follows them to the ambulance with Liam.
Dante turn his attention to the uniforms taking care of the suspects. "You about finished here guys?"
"Yes sir," one of the uniforms answered. "we need to get them checked out at the hospital though before we take them to the station. From the looks of it, the little lady fought them hard. She gave them a few licks they'll remember for awhile."
"Ok, take care of it then. I'm got to make a call then I'm going to meet my wife at the hospital to see about the victim. Maybe she'll be conscious enough to answer some questions." He takes out his phone and starts dialing as the uniforms walk off with their prisoners. Placing the phone to his ear he waits a moment for the person to answer. "John its Dante. I need you to meet me at General Hospital. Its important. I'll see you there in a bit." Dante closes his phone and heads to the hospital.
General Hospital
Dante walk into the ER to see his wife holding Liam in the waiting room and walks over to them. "Any word yet?"
Lulu shakes her head no. "Patrick is in with her now. I've called Starr though. She should be on her way. Dante, what did you mean earlier about that you might know someone who can tell us about this woman if Starr can't? Do you know her?"
"I've never met her but I think I've seen both of their pictures before."
"Really, where?"
"At the station on John McBain's desk."
Before Lulu has a chance to respond the two are interrupted. "Lulu, what's going on? Why was it so important for me to come here? Is there something wrong with..." she breaks off when she notices the baby in Lulu's arms. "What are you doing with Liam? Where's Natalie? Why do you have my cousin's son? What's going on?"
Natalie's Room
Dr. Patrick Drake rushed to his patient's side when she moaned as she was coming awake. She had been brought in about thirty minutes ago and had yet to regain consciousness. On the initial examination of the beautiful redhead he had noticed a large bump on the back of her head. He had ordered a few tests and he was awaiting the results, hoping she was about to wake up. "Miss can you hear me? Come on wake up for me." he urges.
Natalie groans as she opens her eyes slightly and looks around. "Where am I? What happened?"
"You're at General Hospital. I don't know what happened to you yet. I was hoping you could tell me. Can you tell me your name? Do you know where you are?"
"Natalie Banks. I came to Port Charles with Liam. Liam!" Natalie shouts trying to sit up in the bed. "Where is my son?"
Patrick pushes her back onto the bed. "Calm down. He's fine. He's with Lulu, the woman who came in with you, in the waiting room. We need to make sure you are ok then I'll see to it that he is brought to you. Now can you tell me what happened?"
Natalie thought for a minute. "I was trying to get away from the men and one of them tripped me. I started to fall but I had Liam in my arms and I didn't want to fall on him, so I turned my body so I would land on bottom. But the back of my head hit the pier hard. Oh no, I dropped Liam. When I hit the ground I dropped my son. Are you sure he's ok?"
"He's going to be checked out, I'll make sure of it. Now is there anything else you can tell me? Is there anywhere else you might be hurt?
Natalie clutches her stomach. "My baby. I'm pregnant, about four months. Is my baby ok?"
"Are you experiencing any cramping?" Natalie shakes her head no. "Then everything is probably ok, but I'll have an OBGYN check you out. Can you tell me about your medical history? Other then the pregnancy, have you had any other recent medical issues?"
"I was in a coma for almost two months after a car accident. They said I had some sort of head injury, not sure exactly what it was."
"When was this?"
"About three months ago."
"So you've only been awake about a month?" he asks as he shines a light in her eyes. "Have you experienced any complications from this injury?"
"When I first woke up I had some severe headaches. They got better after a couple of weeks. But this week they have gotten bad again. And I can't seem to get my energy back. Is something bad wrong with me?"
"That's what I'm going to find out. You just lay here and relax. I'm going to order some more test and see about getting the ob in here to check out your baby. Is there anyone I can call for you? I see there isn't any family or contact information on your chat."
Natalie hesitated for a moment. Should she have John called? The whole point of coming to Port Charles was to find John. But did she want her first meeting with him in months to be with her in a hospital bed? Then again she had to think about keeping Liam safe. There was no way to know how long she would have to stay here and Liam would need to be with someone he knew and trusted and someone who could also keep her father away from him. And that person was definitely not Starr. "John McBain. I don't know if you know him or not cause he's fairly new here, but could you please have someone find him for me? Can you call John and tell him I need to see him? But please don't tell him about the baby. He should hear that from me."
"I'll see to it that he's called. And don't worry. I can't tell him about the baby because of Doctor/Patient Confidentiality. You just lay back and try to relax. Just remember that the calmer you stay, the better it is for the baby. I'll come back in to check on you in a bit." Patrick tells her as he goes out the door.
Natalie lays back to try to relax like the doctor told her only to be over taken by a bout of nerves. Placing her hand on her slight baby bump, Natalie takes a deep breath to again try to calm herself. "Mommy's worried baby. It's time for daddy to find out about you. But don't you be afraid cause he's going to love you. And even if he doesn't, I will. I will always love and protect you and Liam with everything I have.
Waiting Room
Starr Manning had arrived at the hospital in a frantic rush, scared to death that something bad had happened to her dad or her boyfriend Michael. Instead when she walked into the emergency room waiting area she found Lulu and Dante sitting there with Liam. "You haven't answered my question. Why do you have Natalie's son?"
"Do you know this little boy and his Mom?" Dante asks.
"Yeah, this is my cousin Natalie Banks' little boy Liam McBain. Now what are you doing with him? The last I heard they were in Llanview."
"Well, they're not anymore apparently. Lulu and I were walking on the docks today when we heard a woman yelling for someone to stay away from her and sounds of a struggle. We went running to the sound and we found a woman fighting with two men. The little boy was sitting on the ground crying. I stepped in and got the men away from her, but not before she hit her head or something. She didn't tell us her name and she refused to tell us how to get in touch with her family. Right before she passed out she told us to call you and ask you to take care of her son."
"Is she ok? I need to call Aunt Vicki." Star says in a panic as she reaches for her phone.
"Wait," Lulu stops her. "She doesn't want her family called. She was adamant about that. We promised her we wouldn't. I think you need to wait until you find out why she didn't want them called. Patrick is in with her now. He should be out soon."
"Ok, I'll hold off for now." Star gives in as she sinks into a chair by Lulu and Liam. "I don't understand any of this. Natalie has always been extremely close with her family ever since she found them when she was eighteen. But things have been strange with her since everything happened with John. My mom told me that no one has seen Natalie for months. It was like she went into seclusion. None of this makes any sense. Wait a minute. Did you call John McBain? Liam is his son."
"I called him. He had to take care of a few things at the station, but he should be here any minute." Dante explains.
"We still need to get Liam checked out." Lulu said. "Why don't you go with me, Starr? You're family so you can answers any questions they may have."
"I'll try, but I have to tell you, Natalie and I aren't that close. That's one thing that has me puzzled about this whole thing. Why would she call me instead of her sister or one of her brothers? They may not be in town, but her family is rich so they wouldn't have had any problem getting here. So why call me instead of them or John?"
"I think that's something your cousin will have to answer." Lulu tells her. "But right now I intend to keep my promise to her and keep her son safe. And part of that is to get him checked out to make sure he wasn't hurt in the struggle." They get up and walk over to the nurses desk.
Just as the girls got out of sight, John walked into the er looking for Dante. Spotting him in the waiting room, he walks over to him. "Dante, what's up man? What did you need my help with?"
"Chief, glad you're here. There's a lot I need to tell you. You might want to sit down. This is going to be a shock."
John moves to a chair and sits down. "What's going on Dante?"
Before he has a chance to answer a voice interrupts them. "The Nurse said they would call us back in a minute and for us to wait here. But I think the little guy is getting hungry so we thought we would take him to the cafeteria to get him something to eat." Lulu explains.
John, who had looked over at the girls when Lulu started to speak, sat there in stunned silence until the girls, not yet noticing John, started to leave. "Liam," he chokes out as he stares at his son with tears in his eyes.