"Hey, you ok over there?" asked Jessica softly as she sat in the hospital room they had put Natalie in for the time being. When they'd called and told her they found her and Erin and they were both ok she was so relieved. And then her heart broke for Natalie when she found out about John.

"I need to be out there, helping find John. Not here."

"You were in that water a long time, Natalie."

"And John's not?" she snapped.

Jessica took a breath, knowing her sister was worried they wouldn't be able to find him, "He's going to be fine."

"The log that hit him could have knocked him unconscious, Jess. I never saw him come back up. He could have drowned," she said as she finally let her emotions come out and began sobbing. "We can't lose him."

"Hey-shhhh," spoke Jessica as she got onto the bed with her and pulled her into a hug.

"I still love him," whispered Natalie as her sobs slowed down. "I try not to, but I can't help it. And it's not just because we share Liam. It's all the history we have together, you know? Whether it's been us angry at each other, or in love, or with someone else and it seems like the other doesn't even exist-he's been here."

"And he still will be-you'll see," she said as she tried to muster up the assurance her sister needed just then.

The girls sat there in the quiet-not speaking of anything else for a few minutes when the door opened.

At seeing her uncle coming in Natalie's eyes filled with tears as she braced herself for what he had to say.

Natalie walked into the dim lit room and took the chair closest to him. When Bo had given her the good news earlier all she wanted to do was come see him, but had to wait to be cleared for discharge. She wasn't even sure if the ink was dry on her papers yet.

Her mind wondered how he survived in the water so long. When they found him he was tangled up in some branches near a bend in the river. They weren't sure if he'd gotten to that point on his own or not-but when they found him he was above water and unconscious. Luckily his body temperature hadn't dropped to critical levels yet when they pulled him out.

Leaning forward she pushed his hair out of his face, willing him silently to wake up. Finally she spoke in a whisper, feeling like if she spoke louder she'd ruin the peace of the moment, "I'm here, John. Wake up, ok? Liam needs you-and I need you too. I know we've avoided any discussion of Port Charles, but I'm ready to talk about it. Ready to listen and try to understand. But first you have to wake up for me and be ok," she said with a sad smile and blinked back tears.

Sitting back she thought about how this wasn't the first time she'd sat by his bed ready for him to wake up. The exhaustion of the whole ordeal finally got the better of her and within minutes she was asleep.

It was hearing his voice, hours later, that woke her up. She inwardly smiled at hearing the graveliness and opened her eyes to see him looking back, "Hey, you."

"Hi," he said shortly.

There was something behind those blue eyes that told her things weren't right-they hadn't been between them for almost two years-but even when he came back to Llanview they'd still had that same light in them to her.

Behind those blue eyes of yours burnt that same fire, whether they were good times or bad times.

These were flat and robotic. Was he mad at her for going with that crazy man at the park? He had to understand she was protecting Liam and Charlotte, right? "John-are you ok?"

"I'm sorry-yeah, I just don't know what happened. Do you know where my phone is?"

Natalie stared at him, "Well, if it's not at the bottom of the Llantano River on the way to Pine Valley it's probably water logged and useless. Who do you need to call?" she asked as she reached for her purse.

"My boss."

"Bo already knows you are here," she said, her head down as she focused on locating her phone.

"Who is Bo?"

Natalie felt her blood run cold at the question as her head snapped up and met his gaze, "Do you know my name, John?"

"No, I'm sorry-I just need to use a phone."

She could hear the frustration in his voice beginning to grow, while at the same time she was feeling bile creeping up her throat, "Ok, fine-who is your boss?"

John sighed, and leaned put his head back, resting his eyes, "I probably shouldn't tell you this, but most likely I've already blown the case so it doesn't matter. I'm an undercover FBI agent working a gambling ring-so I really need to get a hold of Scaletta and let him know what's going on."

Natalie's eyes got big-she hadn't heard that name in years, and then she realized the case he was talking about, "The Walker Flynn case?"

John's head snapped over to her, surprised that she knew what case he was talking about. "You know the case? Did they give me a partner for it?" he asked, surprised that they would. He usually worked alone on these things.

Natalie had to laugh, "No, not in that sense." Getting up she went for the door, "I'm going to find your doctor. Scaletta can wait."

Natalie was finishing with the doctor when Bo walked off the elevator and towards her. She'd been glad that John had never changed his emergency contact so she could get some answers before calling Michael.

"Hey-how is he?" asked Bo with a smile and then saw the look in Natalie's eyes. "What's wrong?"

She took a deep breath before speaking, "I had fallen asleep in the chair waiting on him to wake up. The second he did I could tell something wasn't right. He asked for my phone-said he needed to call his boss. I said you already knew he was here and he didn't know who you were. I asked him what my name was and he didn't know."

"What?"

"He thinks he's still with the FBI-working on a gambling ring case," she said and let that sink in with Bo.

"What did the doctor say?"

"Temporary amnesia," she said as she let her thoughts rise to the surface. "But for how long? I mean the man in there doesn't know he has a son. He doesn't know the relationship he has now with his brother and his mom. Or the relationship he has with me."

Natalie took a water bottle out of the fridge and placed it on the kitchen island next to her phone. It had taken her 15 minutes in the hospital parking lot to get her breathing under control before heading home.

He was alive, awake, and responsive-she kept telling herself that was all that mattered. But for him to forget everything about her-that hurt. Had he been thinking of leaving town again? Had this short stint with the FBI made him realize he didn't want to be in Llanview anymore?

Pushing her fears to the side she grabbed her phone and dialed the number she had talked to just a few hours ago. The phone didn't even go through one full ring before answering, letting her know the other person was sitting on pins and needles to find out answers.

"He's awake?" asked Michael, his nerves whittled away to nothing while waiting for her call.

"Yeah, he's awake."

"What's wrong?" he said, noticing her tone of voice did not show any relief in him being awake.

"He thinks he's still in the FBI."

"Ok, well-he did just spend the last year there and has only been out six months. It's understandable for him to have slight memory loss, Natalie."

"No," she said as she shook her head to correct what she said. "He thinks he's on the Walker Flynn case. Before he came to Llanview."

"Oh. Oh," repeated Michael as he realized what she was saying. "So he had no clue who you were?"

"None. It was so strange-to see those eyes of his looking at me and talking to me like I was a stranger. Even in those initial days before Vegas he knew who I was because he had a docket on me. Just now though-there was nothing."

"What did you tell him?"

"I told him I was going to find his doctor and then I left. I didn't tell him who I was-or about Liam-or anything."

Michael took a deep breath, "Ok, let me look at my patients and get them assigned to other doctor's and then I will be out there."

"Should I go sit with him until you get there?"

"No-you don't have to unless you want to. I'll be there as soon as I can, Nat."