Chapter 12
A few weeks later, Natalie sat down on the couch exhausted. She knew as soon as she went to bed she would have three kids in there with her. She'd just settled back when there was a knock on the door. Heaving a exaggerated sigh, she got up to answer it. She was surprised to see her brother-in-law on the other side.
"Hey Michael, what are you doing here so late?" Natalie asked after opening the door.
"Oh well, I...uh, just stopped by to check on you guys," Michael answered, "see how you're doing."
"How we're doing?" Natalie asked suspiciously, she looked at him hard for a moment, then with a sweeping gesture indicated he could come in.
"Yeah, well you know. Uhm...I just wanted you to know that I uh...I called the Parker boy down the street about clearing the sidewalk and drive way for you. They are calling for bad weather next week," Michael said nervously.
"Why would you do that?" Natalie asked, crossing her arms over her chest defiantly.
He knew this wasn't going to go over well. "Well, you know, just to help you out and...stuff," Michael stumbled around reluctantly.
"What are you talking about? I don't need any help, I have it under control," Natalie said moving passed him into the room.
"Yeah, I know but-" Michael started, following her into the room.
"But, what Michael?" Natalie demanded, turning to face him.
Michael sighed, "John would want me to." Michael had the sense to duck his head.
"John would want you to?" Natalie repeated sarcastically, narrowing her eyes at him.
"Ok look, John asked me to alright?" Michael said, not being able to look her in the eye.
"John asked you to?" Natalie asked angrily, cocking her head to the side.
"Well, yeah," Michael fidgeted.
"Why? What the hell does John care? I don't want or need his help or concern. He walked out on this. He can go to hell," Natalie was furious. How dare he?
"Natalie, look John was just trying to-" Michael tried again.
"I don't care. He walked out. He doesn't have any right to stick his nose into what goes on in my home now. You can tell him that," Natalie walked to the window that faced the back yard.
"You know, Nat...I don't...believe that John would leave you really, without a really good reason," Michael said cautiously. He wasn't a good liar and Natalie was really good about asking the right questions.
"He was bored Michael," Natalie tried to keep the tears from falling but, Michael could hear them in her voice.
"He loves you Natalie, all he's ever wanted was for you to be safe. He just always goes about it in the wrong way," Michael said. He'd grown to really love Natalie as a sister and hated that she was hurting because his brother was an ass.
Natalie turned her suspicious eyes to her brother-in-law. "What are you trying to say, Michael?" Natalie demanded.
"I just think that maybe, you know just maybe...he was still trying to do that," Michael told her.
Natalie was surprised by Michael's thoughts. After running them over in her head for a moment, she shook her head, "no, absolutely not. He would have told me if there was something I needed to know. We agreed. No more secrets. I'm not some kid anymore, we were partners, equals. He would have been honest with me. So don't go blowing this crap in my face about how much he cares about us and loves us. Someone that loves you doesn't walk out without a backward glance," Natalie turned and crossed the room.
"I'm just saying, you know that John doesn't always go about things in the right way sometimes. Who knows what he's doing-"
"Michael, we were partners in this. John respected me, he wouldn't have lied to me about something like that. No," She told him.
"So...you'd rather believe that John just wasn't interested in being a husband and father but, he had the integrity to not lie to you than to think that maybe, just maybe John is out there trying to protect you from something," Michael realized he'd said too much this time.
Natalie narrowed her eyes at her brother-in-law. "What do you know Michael?" She asked him, "if you know something you need to tell me. Right now."
"I didn't say I knew anything, I'm just trying to tell you how I see it," Michael said. He really hoped she could forgive him when John finally turned back up.
"He's missed Laney's birthday and Thanksgiving. I don't care where he is or what he is doing at this point. And I don't want or need any of his help," Natalie crossed the living room to the front door and flung it open, "you tell him all that too Michael." Natalie stood next to the open front door with her arms crossed over her chest, obviously waiting for him to leave.
Michael stopped next to her on the way out the door. "We love you too Natalie, and your still family….we just wanted to help. You don't always have to do everything on your own you know. You don't always have to be so tough," he said regretfully, then quickly left.
Natalie slammed the door angrily behind him. Not at all mad at Michael. She was furious with John and he wasn't here to take it out on. She'd be damned if she would cry one more tear over him and what he did to their family.
John knew what he was doing wasn't right but, it felt really good to be doing this kind of work again. He'd been following Victor Lord around for close to two months now and the jackass hasn't gotten him anywhere close to where Kaitlin was. Victor kept saying soon but, soon never came. So far they hadn't been involved in anything illegal but, John was sure it was bound to come to that. This 'company' or 'agency' or whatever they touted themselves as walked a very thin line. So far it had just been helping move some foreign double agents in and out of the country, providing them with the proper documents they needed to enter the country they were headed to.
He'd missed so much with his family, he physically ached for them. Maybe this was a mistake he thought. Maybe Victor is playing him and never really has any intention on helping him find Kaitlin. Wouldn't be the first time his instincts were wrong.
He saw their faces when he closed his eyes. He could hear their voices and their laughter. He swallowed the lump in his throat. He'd missed Halloween, Laney's birthday and Thanksgiving. At this pace he was going to miss Christmas too.
He couldn't think about them anymore right now, he had a job to do and then he had to meet up with Victor to see what information he had for him today.
Natalie answered her phone quickly seeing it was the preschool that Liam attended.
"He did what?" She asked the director to repeat herself. Hearing it again didn't change the story, "I'll be right there." Natalie said as she hung up the phone. It wasn't like Liam to fight at school.
She left the lab and headed to John's off- no her uncle's office. John was gone. Back to the FBI apparently. Without a word to her, after everything they've been through and he just left town. Left his wife and his children and disappeared. Natalie would never understand and she doubted she would ever forgive him.
The door to the office was wide open. Natalie gave a knock on it anyways just to announce herself.
"Hey Uncle Bo," Natalie said walking into the room.
"Hi sweetheart, how are you?" He asked her, coming around the desk to give her a kiss on the cheek.
"Oh, not so good. The school just called and Liam got into a fight today and I need to go pick him up," she said quickly.
"Is he hurt?" Her uncle asked.
"No...no apparently he's ok but, they have zero tolerance and all that so...he has to go home for the day," she answered apologetically.
"Well, that's not like him. You said he's been angry a lot since John left, has he been acting out at school too?" He looked concerned.
"Yeah, you know a little bit," she said with a smile that she guess probably looked more like a grimace. 'A little bit' was definitely an over exaggeration. "He's just...angry at me I guess or maybe at John but, he's taking it out on me as I am the only parent at home," she chuckled a little bit trying to act like it was fine but, in truth it hurt so much.
"Well he's had a lot to deal with lately. You take the day if you need it sweetheart. In fact you take any days and as many days as you want," Bo told her, putting his hand on her shoulder.
"This is why you are my favorite uncle," Natalie laughed and he gave her a hug that she so needed. "thanks." She told him as she left for the day to pick up her son.
Heading to her SUV in the lot, Natalie tried to mentally rehearse what she was going to say to Liam when she got him into the car. Trying to channel her mother. Viki Buchanan always knew what to say for every occasion. Natalie hoped she could help her son through this as she was having trouble getting through it herself.
Natalie pulled out into traffic, setting her phone down in the seat next to her. John had gotten the hands free thing on the SUV when they bought it saying if she HAD to talk on the phone in the car this was safer. The roads weren't too bad for a Pennsylvania winter. Patchy ice here and there but, not too bad.
She had only been in the car a few minutes when Michael called to check in and she told him about Liam's fight.
"So, now I have to go pick him up from school because, he can't be there for the rest of the day. And I am really hoping they let him come back tomorrow. With the way he's been acting lately, I'm not sure what they'll say," she told him. She sure hoped they would let him come back. He would have to straighten up first and stop the fighting and picking on other kids.
"Well, Liam's a good kid, he's just….lost right now. They should understand that. They're a school for crying out loud, they should be able to help," he told her, concerned for his nephew.
"Yeah, I know," she said coming to a stop at a red light, "I need to find us all some help I guess." She was so tired. They all were, maybe someone they could all talk to would help.
"We are here for you, you know. Anything you need," Michael said. She could hear the sincerity in his voice.
"Thanks, Mike. Despite how I've acted the last few weeks, I really appreciate all that you've done," Natalie said as the light turned green, she immediately took off through the intersection, "look, I'm almost there-"
Michael heard her get cut off, then he heard her scream and the crunch of metal. Panicking he tried to get her back on the phone.
"Natalie! NATALIE! Are you there? What happened? Natalie answer me!" Michael realized the line was dead. She had said she was almost there, the preschool Liam and Dillon went to was just a few blocks away from the house. Michael grabbed his keys and dialed 911 as he rushed out of the house and into his own vehicle. Trying to speed carefully, he found the accident at the intersection right before the school.
He could hear the siren's, they were close. Michael ran to her SUV, it was tipped to the side and pinned between the truck that hit her and a concrete partition. It looked bad. He ran to her vehicle frantically calling her name.
Michael back out of the way while the EMT's tried to assess the situation. He knew one of the EMT's pretty well from the hospital, and when Michael asked what he thought the EMT told him it was pretty bad and that they were actually going to have to wait on fire and rescue to cut Natalie from the SUV. Natalie was unconscious but, other than that they couldn't tell him anything else. He'd just have to wait.