ABC owns all OLTL characters. CBS owns Nick.
Chapter 1
Natalie laid in his arms as he slept, they had just made love and he had quickly fallen asleep, probably tired because of his stressful and tiring job of catching bad guys. They had been together six months and today on their six month anniversary he asked her, asked her to marry him, he bought the ring and all, a beautiful ring that must have cost him a bundle, a bundle he definitely didn't make being a detective, not a detective in small town USA Llanview, maybe he was paid better in Oakdale where he use to work, he moaned in his sleep and pulled her tighter. When he asked her she was taken back a bit, she had no intentions of telling him yes but she did. She had no intentions of this ever going this far, no intentions of ever being with anyone else, no intentions of ever trying to love someone else but she could love him, she thought, she could try and love him the same way she once loved, Loved.
She turned her body slightly in his grip to see his face and he had the same characteristics as him, only a younger version, his hair was the same color, almost the same length, his eye's weren't the same thou, nick's were dark and brown as John's was blue and bright, ha! She laughed to herself thinking how the eye's were wrong, they fit wrong, John should have the dark, brown eye's cause of all his moodiness and darkness as where Nick was full of light, bright, he should have the bright blue ones. She nuzzled into his arms falling asleep remembering, remembering the day she met Nick.
"Excuse me, Excuse me Sweetheart," He said to Natalie as she passed by him waiting outside of Bo's office.
"What!" Natalie said to him not liking the idea of being called Sweetheart
"I'm here to she commissioner Buchanan, and I've been waiting a long time for him, so do you think you could tell me how much longer It'll be until I can see him" Nick said as he approached her as she started to sit at her desk and ignore him.
"Listen Hon, I've been waiting here for along time, the other girl told me to wait but that was about an hour ago." Nick said as he stood in front of her desk
"Sit down and wait, and don't call me Hon, sweetheart or any other term you seem to think is endearing to woman cause this woman isn't flattered by it" Natalie told him as he started to sit at the chair next to her.
"Whoa, you sure are a live one aren't you? Don't get me wrong sweet cheeks, I'm rather enjoying the view but I haven't got all day, I'm new to town and I still need to find a place to live." Nick said as his eye's roamed her upper body.
"My heart bleeds for ya sugar buns but the commissioner and the chief of detectives are in a meeting and can not be disturbed" Natalie finished telling Nick and then the door to Bo's office opened, John came rushing out in a tizzy and he looked Natalie straight in the eye's when he did. Their eye's locked and then he proceeded to his office.
"Wow! Now that was intense you and that... that.. Detective sure can melt plastic with your eyes "
"Just shut up! The commissioner is free now and who were you again?" Natalie asked as she stood to go tell Bo this man was waiting to see him.
"Nick Casanoff he should be expecting me"
Natalie announced to Bo that Nick was waiting for him and Bo asked Nat to get John and to show detective Casanoff in. Natalie told Nick to go in and then she went to John's office to get him.
"John, Bo wants you in his office" Natalie said as she knocked on the open door. John was standing staring out the window when he heard her voice, he turned to see her but she said what she had to and was gone. She was more than just gone from his office; she was gone from his life, in what seemed like a blink of an eye. She was his for a short period of time and then she was gone. He headed to Bo's office.
"John this is Nick Casanoff he's our newest Detective, straight from Oakdale, Illinois" Bo said as Nick shook John's hand.
"Nice to meet you Nick" John told him and he saw Nicks attention focusing on something thru the window of Bo's office.
'Is there something I can help you with Nick" John said as realized he was staring at Natalie who was bent over the filing cabinet putting some files away.
"The commissioner has already answered all my questions so if that's all I'll see you tomorrow at eight am." Nick said as Bo stood to shake his hand goodbye, Nick turned towards John to again shake his hand and caught another look at Natalie.
"You know what? There is one more question, if you don't mind me asking" nick asked and Bo nodded his head for him to continue.
"Is there a policy on dating in the station? I mean is it forbidden for a detective to see a office worker, I'm only asking because that red head outside your office has a body that won't quit" Nick asked and john became angry
"This is a place of business, we serve and protect here, we don't screw around, the red head in off limits" John said and then realized what he said
"And so is the rest of the female staff, my detectives need to be on their A game, I don't expect anything less" John said as Nick knew he was stepping on his toes. He knew by the look John and the redhead exchanged a little while ago.
"Okay, okay I'm sorry if it came across cocky but she's a doll, beautiful, and breath taking"
"Her name is Natalie, Natalie Buchanan and she 's my niece" Bo said as he walked young detective Nick to the office door. Nick looked dumbfounded, he wanted to crawl under a rock and die.
"I'm sorry sir I .. I didn't mean any harm by what I said about her" Nick said to Bo as he looked back and saw John was still brooding over what he had just said about Natalie. Bo shook his head that it was all right and Nick knew he had better keep his comments on Natalie Buchanan to himself.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Natalie turned her body out of his grip and tried to get comfortable but she couldn't. She tossed and turned and then decided to give up and get an early jump on her day. By the time Nick woke she was already dressed and having breakfast.
'Hey, you're up early" Nick said getting out of bed and walking over to her and kissing the top of her head before going into the bathroom. Natalie just let out a yup as he passed her.
Nick showered and came out for breakfast
"Now that I'm awake how about I give you a real morning kiss." he said and she smiled, he straddled a seat next to her and leaned in for a long lingering kiss.
"It's amazing how I never get tired of kissing you. Are you going to go tell your family today? Tell them about us getting married, do you want me there when you tell them?" Nick said pouring the cereal on the table into a bowl Natalie had waiting for him.
"I though I'd wait until we set a date before I told them" Natalie answered, not exactly sure why she didn't want to tell them. Well she knew, she didn't want to tell them because her heart wasn't into marrying him, she would love to be announcing getting married to someone else, that is if he hadn't been such a jerk and just quit on them, just give up on them and not fight for her, she had divorced Chris mainly to be with him but he just didn't try, even after everything John had done to her she still would have been with him but she couldn't do it all, she couldn't do all the work to rebuild it, the friendship, the love. Even as she tried to rebuild it he gave up, just left, things got out of hand with work for him and the crap with the therapist didn't help so John just up and left town, he just left without a word to her, without a word to anyone but Michael. Natalie saw Nick waving his hand in front of her face and she was brought back to reality. Her reality, him, her and the fact that she accepted his marriage proposal although she didn't love him completely.
"Natalie, Natalie, why don't we set a date now? Soon, I want us to be married soon" Nick told her as he leaned his hand out to hers and interlocked their fingers, Natalie smiled and remembered what a great guy he was, how he took care of her, how much he loved her.
"Okay, lets do it' Natalie said and she got out the calendar, they picked a date in two weeks, giving them just enough time to plan a small simple church wedding. Nick kissed her goodbye and went to work. Natalie started to clean up the kitchen when she knew, she knew what she had to do before she could marry him before god, she had to make sure there was nothing left with john, she needed closure, complete closure before she could give all her love to Nick on their wedding day. She grabbed her purse and coat and headed to the one person who knew where to find John Mcbain.