(John arrives at the scene of a local TV station)

“John,” Natalie screams. “You have to let me get in there I have to see him.” Natalie tries to run through the police tape, but is stopped when John grabs her.

“Calm down,” John says in a low voice. “Who’s in there? Who do you need to get to?”

“Cristian! Cristian, can you hear me,” Natalie screams as if John is not even there.

“Hey you,” John shouted at a uniformed officer. “I want you to take Mrs. Vega and put her in a squad car.” The officer nodded. “Keep her safe!” John sighed as he watched the officer drag Natalie away. He wasn’t in love with Natalie, but he didn’t want to see her hurt either. The scene was a mess. John didn’t know exactly what was going on, but he did know that this was not the place for civilians.

John ducked under the police tape and greeted Bo.

“Hey Bo, what’s going on?”

“I’m not sure. All we know is that shots were fired at Governor Brooks. Antonio was the shooter.”

“What! Antonio?”

“Yeah, he missed the governor and hit Tico in the arm. He’s got Jessica in there held hostage. We’re getting the swat team ready.”

“Alright, I’ll head up the swat team. I just need a vest.” But before he even got the words out of his mouth shots rang out. John and Bo both ran in the direction of the shots. After a few seconds of running, the two found themselves in an alley face to face with Tico Santi. Tico had a gun to Jessica’s head and Cristian was lying motionless on the ground. They couldn’t tell if he was dead or alive. The last thing John wanted was for Natalie to lose him all over again.

“Give it up Tico. We’ve got this whole place surrounded. The only way you’re getting out of here is in handcuffs.” John had to be careful with his words. Tico knew this was then end for him, so killing Jessica Buchannan wouldn’t really matter to him.

“Oh really Lt. McBain, as long as I have this hostage I think we’ll be doing things my way.”

Jessica struggled and tried to break away from Tico’s grip. BANG! There was a loud shot and Tico fell to the ground. John stood silently as he had just gunned down Tico. Jessica immediately ran to Cristian’s side and began to shake him.

“We need the paramedics back here now,” Bo shouted. “Jessica are you alright, you okay?”

“Yes Uncle Bo, I’m fine, but Tico hit Cristian with the gun I don’t know if he’s alright.”

Several paramedics arrived at the scene and began to exam Cristian and Tico.

“This one’s dead. How’s the other guy doing,” one paramedic said to the other.

“He’s got a concussion. We’ll need to move him now.” They strapped Cristian onto a gurney to transport him to the hospital.

“Where’s Natalie,” Jessica questioned. “She needs to know what happened!”

“She’s in a squad car. I didn’t want her here with all this chaos.” John looked in the direction of an officer. “Release Natalie Buchannan. Give her a ride to the hospital if she needs it.” John turned and watched as the paramedics rolled Cristian away. Jessica was crying, but trying to hold it together. He wondered how Natalie would react when she found out.

“You okay John,” Bo asked.

“Yeah.” John watched as they zipped Tico up in a body bag. He felt no remorse. If he hadn’t stopped Tico there’s no telling what he would have done. No one was sure of his true intentions, but for now there was no worrying. “I want this crime scene secured. No one without proper ID is allowed back here. This needs to be done by the book. Handle all evidence carefully.” John knew he may be questioned for his actions. He knew they were justified, but he had to make sure everything was handled properly.

“I think these guys have got it under control. I’m going to head to the hospital and check on Jessica and Cristian. Do you want to come with me?” Bo asked.

“No, I better get started on all this paper work. If it’s possible I would like to make it home tonight.”

“Okay.”

“Call me and let me know how everyone is doing.”

(At the McBain house)

Tristen runs in the house and throws his book bag down. “Daddy are you home?”

“No, Tris, daddy had to go back to work.”

“Oh, can I watch TV while I have my snack.”

“Sure, I’ll bring you some juice and carrots.” Evangeline kissed her son on the head before walking in the kitchen. She tried not to think about the fight she had with John, but that was hard for her. This baby was just as important as Tris was. There was no way she was having an abortion.

“Mommy,” Tris shrieked.

“Evangeline jumped. She ran into the living room to check on Tris. “What’s wrong, honey?”

“Look.” Tris pointed at the television. “I was trying to find cartoons, but this was on.” It was a late breaking news story.

“Once again this is late breaking news. At Governor Brooks’ speech today, shots were fired. An unidentified man fired shots at Governor Brooks and wounded Tico Santi. Santi then took a hostage, but was fatally wounded by Chief of Detectives John McBain. An unknown civilian was wounded and taken to a local hospital. When asked for further details the department decli…,” the reporter was saying before Evangeline turned off the TV.

“Tristen, go eat your snack. It’s on the kitchen table.”

“But what about daddy?”

“Honey, I need you to listen to me right now, okay.” Evangeline waited as Tristen left the room before calling John. His phone was answered by another officer.

“Llanview police department, how can I help you?”

“Yes, I’m looking for John McBain. Can you tell me where he is?”

“I’m sorry ma’am I’m not allowed to give out that information. If you want I can take down a message and make sure he gets it.”

“No thanks,” Evangeline was annoyed and worried. She tried his cell phone and finally got an answer. “John, are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine. How are you?”

“I’m okay. I heard what happened today. Are you sure you’re fine?” It didn’t matter if they were fighting she wanted to make sure he was ok. She didn’t know if she could explain to Tristen if John was hurt.

“I’m okay. Cristian Vega was hurt and I’m sure you probably know that Tico’s dead. Look I’m sorry. I know you wanted to talk tonight, but I’m not sure if I will be able to make it.”

“John I know. I know you have a lot right now. Tristen is fine I picked him up from school. I’ll just invite Shannon over to try and keep his mind off of things.”

“He knows what happened? Can I speak to him?” John wanted to assure him that there was nothing to worry about. He knew how he felt when his father didn’t come home and he didn’t want Tris to feel that way too.

“John he’s fine,” Evangeline paused, “he just needs to hear your voice.” Evangeline joined Tristen in the kitchen and handed him the phone.

“Hello,” Tris said into the receiver.

“Hey, sweetie.”

“Daddy, are you okay? The lady on the TV was talking about you.”

“I know. I’m okay, so I don’t want you worrying. I have some things to do before I can come home, so I want you to listen to your mom, okay.”

“Yes, sir.”

John smiled on the other end of the phone. He thought it was cute when Tris called him sir. “That’s my big boy. I love you. Tell mom I love her too.”

“Ok, I love you too daddy. Bye.” Tris hung up the phone. “Mommy, daddy said to tell you that he loved you.”

Evangeline smiled and hugged her son. She knew that Tristen would have more questions for her later tonight. She needed John to be there right now. Even though he said he was alright, she could tell that something was bothering him. Cristian was hurt so that meant Natalie will want to cry on John’s shoulder. John had decided long ago to let Natalie’s family be the ones to comfort her, but with everything going on right now, she wasn’t sure if John would be able to tell her no.

(At the Llanview hospital hours later)

“Yes, I’m looking for Cristian Vega’s room,” John said to the young nurse standing behind the counter.

“Are you family,” she asked.

“Hey, John,” Jessica said from behind him.

John turned away from the nurse and went to greet Jessica. “How are you feeling?”

“Good,” she responded. “Cristian is okay too. The doctors said he just had a head contusion. He will be able to go home tomorrow morning.”

“That’s good to hear. Is Bo here?”

“I think Uncle Bo went back to the station,” Jessica said. “He might be in with Cristian though, check in room 213.”

“I will, thanks.”

John headed down the hallway until he found Cristian’s room. He peered in through the glass window of the room. Cristian lay there motionless. He had a few machines hooked up to him, but he looked to be okay. John entered the room slowly, but the sound of the creaking door caused Cristian to look in his direction.”

“What the hell are you doing here, McBain? Oh, let me guess. You expect an apology for saving my life.”

“No, I just wanted to check in on you. Natalie and Jessica were pretty worried about you.”

“You mind your own business and stay away from my family,” Cristian shouted. “I don’t care if you did kill Tico. You still ruined my life. Just get out.”

“If you’re that angry, then I guess you can answer a couple of questions. Let’s start out with why you were there anyway.”

“None of you damn business.”

“I think it is, Antonio shot Tico, and I think the two of you planned it that way. It looks like an assassination attempt on Governor Brooks, but you kill Tico instead. You risked innocent people’s lives. Don’t you even care, or is that my fault too.”

“That’s not what happened,” Antonio said from the doorway.

“What are you doing here,” John questioned.

“Look, it was Tico’s fault. He wanted me to kill Governor Brooks. He’s the one that ordered for Cristian to be killed.”

“What? What does Tico have to do with Cristian’s kidnapping?”

“He wanted it that way. If Cris were dead and I was in jail for killing the governor there would be no one to contest him. He would easily become the next Manuel Santi.” Antonio stared intensely into John’s eyes. John had to understand. He tried to kill Tico to save people’s lives. He knew he went at things the wrong way, but he was convinced he made the best choices in the end.

“So this was just a big power struggle,” John asked. What was Antonio saying? John had always believed that it was his fault Cristian had been kidnapped. If Antonio was telling the truth, John would no longer feel guilty about what happened in Las Vegas.

“Yes, Cristian remembered that the men on the ship often talked about Tico. With all the information that Sonia and I gathered it all made perfect sense. With Governor Brooks out of the way he would be able to manipulate Kevin.”

“How does Kevin fit in to all of this,” John questioned Antonio.

“Kevin was next to be governor if Brooks was killed. He threatened the judge so that she would rule in favor of Kevin. This way he would have leverage over him. He could easily make Kevin look dirty if he did not do what he wanted.”

“Why didn’t you come to the police with this information?”

“For what,” Cris interjected. “You would have just screwed things up. If we had gone to you we would all probably be dead.”

“Cris, it’s okay. John was just trying to help.”

“I don’t need his kind of help,” Cristian was saying as Natalie entered the room.

“What are you doing John? You shouldn’t be here.”

“I guess so; I’m going to need statements from all of you. If you could all come down to the station ASAP, that would make thing easier.”

John walked out of that room with a huge weight lifted off of his shoulders. Tico was dead and Natalie and Cristian were united. Cristian could finally start healing now that he knew Tico was behind his kidnapping. In John’s opinion everything was okay. He decided to head home. He knew he would have to be at work in a few hours but he wanted to go home at least for a little bit of time.

(John and Evangeline’s house)

John slowly opened the door to his son’s bedroom and walked to his bed. He bent down and kissed his son on his forehead. Tris didn’t open his eyes but he spoke to John in sleepy voice, “I’m glad you’re home daddy.”

“I’m glad I’m home too,” he whispered as he stroked the top of Tristen’s head. “I love you.” Tris smiled and went back to sleep. John closed his bedroom door and went to his bedroom. Evangeline was lying on John’s side of the bed. She liked to sleep on his pillow when he came home late. John stripped down to his boxers and undershirt and climbed into bed with Evangeline. He gently wrapped his arms around her and kissed the back of her neck.

“Did you just get in,” Evangeline said turning so that she was facing John.

“I’m sorry I didn’t mean to wake you. Yes, I just got in. Go back to sleep.”

“John,” Evangeline started.

“Shhh, no. Go back to sleep. I want you and the baby getting plenty of rest.”

“John.”

“Yes, Evangeline, I want this baby. I love you. I love Tris. I would never ask you to kill a perfect union of our souls. I want this baby, but I want you to be healthy too. I know we can find a balance. I’ll do whatever it takes to make this as easy as possible on you.”

Evangeline looked into John’s eyes. There were no words. She was worried that John wouldn’t want another child, but now she knew for sure that he was totally committed to their life together. For the first time in her life Evangeline Williamson wanted a husband. Now more than ever she wished that John was her husband. She didn’t want to pressure him into anything. For now she closed her eyes and dreamed of the beginning of the rest of their lives together. John kissed her eyelids as they both drifted into a deep sleep into each other’s arms.

*End of Section 1 of 2(please keep reading next week when the actual story begins!!!)