Natalie had been reading the same page in her Animagus text for the last hour. She could not concentrate. She'd gone to her father's office on her lunch only to discover he had not really been in the office since the beginning of the year. He was owling his work in and things were getting done, but no one had seen him. His secretary Valerie said he was on his honeymoon. Valerie had no idea when to expect him back.

Natalie was worried. It was starting to eat at her. It was becoming more and more difficult to keep it together.

Dean flopped down onto the couch beside Natalie with an exhausted sigh. It had been one of those days filled with crying toddlers and cranky grannies, and he was glad to have finally seen the last one out the door.

Leaning over, Dean pressed a kiss to his girlfriend's temple. "Evening, love. How was your day?"

"Fine," Natalie said, trying to remain neutral.

She needed to talk to him, and what Charlotte Stone had said to her was rattling in her head. Natalie didn't want to voice it though. It meant she had failed on some level. She was supposed to help protect the wizarding world. She could not even protect her own father.

Fine? He couldn't put his finger on it, but something Natalie seemed... off. She'd been a bit withdrawn for weeks but he'd waited to say anything, hoping that she'd come to him with what was bothering her eventually.

"Right," Dean replied, "Harry doesn't fool anyone with the whole 'I'm fine' dodge, and he's had a lot more practice." He tried to keep his tone light. Natalie didn't deal well when she thought someone was interrogating her.

"Everything's fine, Dean," Natalie said, smiling. She leaned over and kissed him. "It's fine."

If she kept saying it, it had to be, right?

"No, it's not. Something been bothering you for a while now." Dean sighed. "We've talked about this, love. Every fight we've had has been because we weren't communicating." He laced his fingers with hers. "So please, tell me what's going on."

Natalie closed her eyes and sighed. She didn't want to say it out loud because that made it true, and it meant she had failed. Natalie did not like failure.

"It will be all right. It will. I have it under control. It's fine."

"All the same, I'd like to know what 'it' is. Even if I'm not able to help, I'd like to at least understand."

Natalie scowled and looked down at her hands. "My father's missing."

"Missing?" A hundred scenarios flashed through his mind, and precious few were good. "Are you sure?"

"Theo went by the house. No one's there. I went by his office today and he has not been in for almost three months. His work is still getting done, but his secretary Valerie has not seen him. He's been on his honeymoon since the New Year. That's not like Da. I'm worried."

Dean nodded. "Me too." He thought for a moment. "We can get Moody and Hest to start poking around, if you like. And I can see if Tense will answer a message through the silver. Would that help?"

"You don't want to blow your cover for me." Natalie looked down. "I just feel like I failed somehow. I couldn't keep him safe."

"It won't. I already chided her for being obvious, so another message won't be out of character. Besides," he said as he pulled her into is lap, "Family comes first."

"If she's done something to him, Dean, if she's harmed him... I don't know what I'll do.

Hugging her, he replied, "It's not going to happen, love. We won't let it." He paused for a moment. "And oddly enough, I don't think he's in any physical danger. Tense seems to want to turn people into 'proper' purebloods, not harm them."

"She better hope she hasn't harmed him. I'll harm her. Seriously, Dean, I would put her down like a rabid animal, and that scares me."

"I know. I feel the same way about Megan Jones."

Natalie sighed and looked at him. "I wish we could find her. She's just vanished. I know someone in the Liberi is hiding her, but every lead involving them is met with resistance. I want her away for how she hurt you and Hestia."

Dean nodded. "For you, Hest and Ali, I could gladly snap her neck. And her psychotic boyfriend's for good measure."

"I don't want you snapping anyone's neck, Dean," Natalie said, curling into him a bit more. "Not even those two."

She was now glad they were talking. It was making her feel less hopeless. If anything, she knew Dean would always stand with her and help her.

"Fine," he said in mock disappointment, "but I reserve the right to break at least a few bones if the opportunity presents itself."

"Are we talking about Jones or Tense?"

"You mean I have to choose?"

"Let's talk about something else or go have sex."

"Go have sex?" Dean's hands slid under her shirt. "I don't think I want to wait that long."

"You want to have sex right here," she asked, dumbly. He obviously did.

"I want to have sex with you. The 'where' is is pretty much incidental."

Natalie moved her legs a bit and turned so she was straddling him. "Here is good. Here seems very good right now. I forgot to ask," she said, nibbling on his neck. "How was your day?"

Dean grinned.

"Oh, it was fine."

"You're not in a talking mood anymore are you?"

Natalie gasped when he flipped them suddenly and her back was on the couch. Definitely no longer in a talking mood.

"No."

His hands were fumbling with her belt when he added, "And if I do my job, you won't be able to talk."

"Is that a challenge," Natalie asked, raising a brow. He was right though. Most of the time, she couldn't talk by the time he was finished with her.

Her jeans were suddenly at her ankles, followed shortly by her knickers. "If you want it to be," Dean murmured into her ear, before kneeling between her thighs. "I have a bit of an unfair advantage, though."

Oooo, no fair. "Well, you can't answer me if your mouth is busy."

A year ago this whole scenario would have had her blushing so hard. Now it was a bit more common. Dean made things playful. He let her know things were allowed, and it didn't always have to be by the book.

Dean grinned. "Funny. I was going to say the same thing."

Natalie raised hr brows. "Oh."

Sometimes he rendered her speechless. Her brain just didn't work they way his did when sex was involved. He was advanced while she was still basically a novice.



{SUMMARY} Natalie is stressed out and worried about her father. Dean knows it and calls her on it.