"Hi."

"Hi. I am glad you came." He said pulling out her seat as she sat. "Did you want something to drink?"

"Yeah, I could use a drink. Martini?"

"Sure of course, I will be right back." John got up and went to get her drink and was back in a flash. "Here, dirty Martini, three olives." He said with a smile as he sat it in front of her.

"Thank you." She said smiling back at him.

"My pleasure."

"So what did you want to talk about?" she asked as she took a sip of her drink.

"First off, thank you for coming, I really want to work things out between us."

"Your welcome. I want this to work too."

"You do? If you did, why wouldn't you return my phone calls?"

"John, listen I opened my hard to you and when you told me that you kissed another woman it was like you ripped it out of my chest and stomped all over it. I gave you everything I am, and you treated me like I was nothing. In that moment that you gave in to Natalie it was like you gave up on us." She got real quite as she finished her statement.

"I told you not to give up on us, because we were worth fighting for. I can see why you thought I gave up on us. After you called and we talked, Natalie came in to my office to talk about what happened. She thought she still had a chance with me."

"Ohh, she did, did she?"

"Yes she did."

"And, what did you tell her?"

"I told her that the reason that I allowed the kiss to happen was because I confused my feelings of guilt of her losing Cristian and my need to redeem myself in her eyes as something more."

"I understand that, what did she say to that John?"

"I really don't want to talk about Natalie, I came here to talk about you taking me back."

"I am sure you do John. But how am I to know that it won't happen again."

"Because, after I got off the phone with you I told Natalie that we couldn't be friends anymore if it meant that I was going to lose you. I can't afford to lose you. You are? I don't know what to say Evangeline."

"John, you really told her that you can't be her friend?" she closed her eyes at the statement, because she couldn't believe that he would give up protecting Natalie for her.

"Evangeline, you are the only one I want in my life. How many times do I have to tell you that? The kiss between Natalie and I was the biggest mistake that I have made in a while. It hurt you. I told you that I would never let anything hurt you and I didn't live up to that promise." John reached out and grabbed her hands he rubbed the inside of her palm and wished that she would say something back to him.

"Okay, okay, John I see where you are coming from, but do you see where I am coming from?"

"Of course I do."

"Do you really?"

"Yes, Evangeline I do. All I am asking from you is that you give me a chance to rebuild the trust you had in me, that is all I am asking. If you want we can start all over again."

"I would love nothing more, to start over with you again."

"Really?"

"Yes, really, but if you make one more mistake McBain, I am gone and there will be nothing you can do or say that would get me to come back to you. You need to know that you can trust me John and I need to know that I can trust you. If this thing is going to work between us I mean really work, you have to trust me. I can't be playing second fiddle here."

John leaned in towards her, "Is it okay if I kiss you now?"

"You better." She said with a smile and leaning in to kiss him.

The kiss that they shared was better than either of them could have thought. It was like the first time they kissed. Everything that both of them had felt over the past couple of weeks disappeared. The passion of the kiss surprised both of them as it lasted until neither of them could breathe anymore. The kiss promised a change in both of their behaviors towards one another. All Evangeline could do was to have faith in John that he would not betray her trust again. All John could do try his best to be the best possible man to her, it is what she deserved.

"I have one more thing I have to tell you." He said as he pulled away from kissing her.

"And what would that be?" she said wiping the lipstick from his lips.

"I love you." He said with a huge smile. "I knew that I loved you for a while now, but after I almost lost you I realized that I couldn't live with out you in my life. It scared me the feelings I was having for you. I never thought I would feel this way about anyone after Caitlyn. Then you came along and changed all that. I was afraid that if I said it out loud that I would lose you. Then I realized that because I didn't say it out loud I did lose you."

"Wow, McBain you are getting better and better with the words." She said running her hands through his hair.

"Did you just not hear what I said to you, or are you just playing with me?"

"I heard you loud and clear. I love you John McBain."

"So if we are going to work on this trust thing, there is something that I need to tell you. The thing is that I promised not to tell anyone and you have to promise to me, that you will not pressure me into telling."

"Okay John."

"After the trial, I got the DNA results back for the guy we thought was Cristian."

"Yeah I know, but you didn't open them, because we already knew the truth, that he was an imposter."

"That's the thing, he isn't an imposter. He really is Cristian Vega."

"What!" she was stunned by what he said and he had been keeping from her.

"You mean all this time you knew that Cristian was really Cristian and you didn't say anything to me or anyone about it? John, why not?"

"He begged me to not tell anyone, he didn't want Natalie still stuck in a relationship with a murder. He told me to let her go, and to let her live her life."

"John, you should have told me this sooner, I could have worked on getting him released, I mean he was brainwashed to kill Tico Santi, he didn't do it on his own, someone told him too."

"I know, and we talked about that, he said that he didn't want to cause anymore pain to Natalie, Carlotta, or Antonio. He wanted to pay the price for his crimes."

"Oh, God John. Well this explains a lot of your behavior since Valentine's day."

"I am glad that I told you this, it is such a weight of my shoulders."

"It also explains why you felt the need to protect Natalie."

"Yeah, I know, now can we move on to more important things?"

"Like what."

"Like me kissing you."

Before she could respond, their lips were pressed together and they fell into another deep passionate kiss.

Dinner continued and they talked about how bad things were when they were separated. John filled Evangeline in on the updates to the Killing Club Murders. She filled him in on the custody case and what RJ was trying to do with Jamie. After dinner John kissed Evangeline goodbye and they went back to their separate houses. Dinner that night was the start of something new and wonderful.