Disclaimer: I don't own Crossing Jordan, blah, blah, blah.
Summary: Placed between DOA and Crash, another Jordan's birthday scene.
A/N. I don't know what time of the year was it when they crashed, and Jordan has two dates for her birthday on the show, so, bare with me ok? because it's the only way this scene makes sense. I have put this on the board before in Spanish. I intended to leave it that way, but I couldn't, so, I translated it. It's not the way I work, I always write it in English since the beginning, so I hope it hasn't been contaminated with my Spanish thinking. I didn't beta this story either, so, I also hope it doesn't have too many mistakes.
Kat, I'm biting my tongue right know…
I hope you enjoy!
Birthday.
The loneliness she had been trough all her life came suddenly to haunt her. This wasn't a fact that occurred to her frequently, but her biological clock had started to ring the bells, desperately. Jordan looked through her office's window, maybe expecting to find a man walking down the hallway toward her, his features hidden behind a bunch of colorful balloons. It was a déjà vu that was going to disturb her the whole day. It was again that damned moment when another year came to her, pilling up on her.
It was her birthday.
She lifted her hand, the one where it should have been placed a beautiful diamond ring grinning at her, and observed its nudity. However, that jewel was just a memory.
There were, in fact, two rings that came to her mind that morning. The first one was a gift of friendship. Maybe more than that… A gift the balloon-man gave to her. However, she was so terrified of commitment back then that she couldn't even tried it on her, it burned on her hand. The ring was returned to her adorable balloon-man, and there was no hope for the ring to be back. A knot on her throat and a feeling of emptiness enveloped her every time that memory came back to her.
The second ring wasn't even offered to her. That relationship was doomed since the very beginning.
She was expecting the balloon-man to appear. She was sat at her desk waiting impatiently something that it wasn't most likely to happen. Nonetheless, she was still hopeful. She glanced again, with the corner of her eyes, toward the door, but there wasn't a trace of her blue-eyed man yet.
As the morning passed by, she was resigning to the state of things. He wouldn't show up. Maybe, if there was a homicide… or maybe, if she would dial him 911. However, even if he was coming, there wasn't a hope that the balloons were coming with him, much less the ring.
Yet, he could be showing up with flowers. Flowers didn't mean death to her anymore. This wasn't a moment of death, but a moment of life. It was another year of life and solitude. She would be fine if he was coming with flowers. Damn! Who was she trying to fool?
She would be thrilled if he was coming, no flowers needed.
She had an autopsy scheduled in ten minutes. She had to change her clothes to scrubs. She sighed, bereaved. Today was one of those days that should be wiped away from the calendar. She stood up and dried off an elusive tear from her cheek with her hand. Her tears were escaping, unwilling to obey her, as her own life was escaping from her.
She closed her eyes, and covered her face with her hands. It wasn't that often that she broke down this way, it wasn't her nature.
" Oh, Jordan! Sorry…" She was startled to hear that voice. The one she had expected the entire morning had chosen to appear in that precise moment. She uncovered her face immediately, a little ashamed that he had found her in that state.
"Are you alright?" Woody rushed to ask her when he saw that her eyes had a glass gloss. He was carrying a beautiful bouquet of flowers, and left it resting over the desk. Then he approached her and brushed her cheek with the palm of his hand.
He did it gently, like a caring father.
That was what hurt her the most. However, she appreciated the gesture, grabbing hold of his hand with her own hand while he was caressing her, and pressing it lovingly against her cheek.
"Yeah, nothing to be worried about, Woods, I'm a little tired, that's all. I think age is hitting me hard." She replied, glancing at him sweetly.
He was taken aback by her demeanor. He was expecting anything but this beautiful and melancholic woman in front of him. A huge pain in the guts struck him, he loved her immensely and he had always been such an idiot about it. He looked away, pretending that he was taking care of the flowers as he grabbed them from the desk. He was hiding his emotions, as always. It had always been his game. It seemed that there wasn't a way to disrupt the vice.
"I know you don't like this, but I brought these flowers for you anyway, so… Happy birthday, Jordan!" Woody offered her the said flowers, placing them in front of her, playfully. He would want, as well, to offer her the ring he was carrying in the bottom of his coat pocket, but that had been proven here before, with awfully bad results. He had promised to return the ring to the jeweler, but it seemed that the opportunity never came.
The memory of that disastrous birthday troubled him for a second, but he knew that it wasn't worth anymore. Anyhow, life had to go on.
She took the flowers and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks, Woody, I forgive you because I know that I can't talk you out of this, you know I don't want anybody to remind me about my birthday…" She was thankful for his stubbornness, though. Jordan admired the flowers and smiled at him. "And I also forgive you because they're beautiful, I better put them in water before I go to autopsy, I wouldn't want them to wither away rapidly." Maybe that was also a sad metaphor of her life.
He just nodded and watched her walk away toward the door, carrying the flowers with her.
Jordan turned around and smiled at him again, her thoughts lost in saying to him 'I love you', while she uttered "Chinese at six? I'm not in the mood for celebrations…"
"I'll be here, see you later girl." He answered, while he choked on his own 'I love you'.