Disclaimer: I don't own them, so don't ask.

Acknowledgements: Aurora, thanks for your time and your patience – you rock! For the great advice and thought put into this, thank u.

Story: Is AU, it starts directly after Woody and Jordan get back from LA after solving the case of the murdered starlet – yip the one with the first kiss. This particular chapter is how I would have liked to have seen Woody react to the wall up idea!

Hope you guys enjoy – here it is…

The Point of No Return – Chapter One

Woody was sitting quietly in his office, alone… Everyone went home hours ago, he had stayed. He didn't really have a reason to stay, apart from the necessary paperwork. The case was solved. They had the necessary evidence. Tomorrow the convict would be booked and put into lock down, awaiting a trial that had to be open and shut. He sat backin his chair. No, guess again, it was not the case that had kept him there, deep in thought, even though the preliminary paperwork was done. It was Jordan, as usual… but Woody had felt something different, something he had suspected but never realised before.

He felt like his heart was going to explode, he couldn't stop thinking about her, not since the kiss – he had seen the way she had looked at him, in that moment he had been able to read her like a book. Felt her gently lean into him for a hug under The Sign… Her actions and heart spoke to Woody, her eyes told Woody what she was feeling even if Jordan didn't:

" I feel something for you, it's strong but I'm terrified. Just don't go, let's stay here, just for a while."

Then, in a moment of clarity, Woody knew exactly what he had to say, she was running from him, but not for the reason Woody thought before… He would ask her, just one second. If he could catch her in an unguarded moment she would stop running for good… this week, he'd ask her. This time that wall would be blasted into oblivion. One Question, that's it.

Woody rose, took his coat and slipped silently out of the office.

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Jordan wondered down the hall of the morgue, busy as usual. People were absorbed in their work. The dark-haired ME was smiling to herself, nope she wasn't going to admit it BUT… She actually had felt safe as she nuzzled into Woody's shoulder in California, so romantic, every woman's dream to cuddle a hunk like Woody under the Hollywood sign, but no… She had to be terrified and unable to relax, fully knowing she wouldn't wake up next to him because intimacy was her big fear. She had hidden her emotions, so why was it different this time? Still, Woody was there, he would probably stick around even if they didn't end up together, there was no pressure… That was great; she could love him from a far…

Then she saw him.

That hurt… Wouldn't be as easy as she thought it would. He was walking along, he was the same happy-go-lucky farmboy she had always known, but something was different – he was calm, as if a weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Damn." She thought.

The idea of putting the wall back up must have sat well with him. The "one-for-the-road kiss" was enough.

So, that was it, he'd agreed with her more than she thought he would.

There eyes met, afraid that her heart was clearly seen through her eyes to her soul, she looked down, the wall up, but she hadn't really kept it there. She glanced back up to look at him again.

There it was, all the confirmation Woody needed. It would work.

When he smiled a good morning that broke Jordan's heart, she turned abruptly and opened the door to autopsy one. That was where she was supposed to be anyway. The clinical coolness that was in the room was comfort, familiarity of facts and science filling her senses as she walked towards the draw to set-up for the body that was coming in with Bug and Nigel. Thorough and methodical thinking grounded her as she set out all they would need.

Need. Woody, she needed him and now it may be too late. She sighed, gathered herself together, and let science take over her brain as she started to go through the evidence from her current case.

Meanwhile, Woody stood in the hallway, aching for Jordan, the relief that his being right about what Jordan was feeling, long gone from his mind. Now he was hurting for her – he could see that the internal battle she was having with herself as she stood in the hallway was torment; and seeing him made it worse. That would change, and as soon as he could get her alone.

Right now, Peter was in trace with Jane Doe and he had her identity.

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Late, as usual Jordan was still up… Alone, as usual but guess she'd made her bed there – everyone always left the morgue by that time – well… Nigel was somewhere, but he was absorbed by something on the net. Jordan was shifting through the police files she had bribed a certain detective to get for her. So apart from Nigel checking in on her occasionally knowing something wasn't right – she had her office to herself. She had barely seen that certain detective during the case – her own doing, she'd been determined to see him on her terms and was avoiding him. She dosed off in her chair like she sometimes did…

She woke with a start, if she had been awake she would have known it was him that had woken her, and would have seen him sneak in and sit down. She blinked and shook her head, words and a familiar melody line started to run through her sub-conscious mind,

"Say anything but don't say goodbye… Didn't mean to treat you bad… Didn't know just what I had… Now I do… And don't it make my brown eyes blue!"

Jordan groaned, 'not that song I will not let that song haunt me, well, anymore!' Sitting up in her chair, she gathered herself together, she did like Woody, cared for him more than he could know right now. It wasn't fair on him to open up to a relationship only to break his heart when it all came crashing down… No one would ever…

NEVER would anyone ever know that she was singing, no thinking about the lyrics to that song - No way would she, Jordan Cavanaugh let that song be her emotional vehicle for the evening – un-huh… She was strong and didn't need to resort to that – so naturally that wall went back up, she wasn't thinking about Woody anymore, well not much… Ever again, she closed her eyes, not now.

She was just about to get up to retrieve some evidence from the locker when Woody sat forward and turned on the light.

"God Woody!" she practically yelped, obviously jumpin' out her skin.

Woody smiled slightly, amused: unguarded she was; before she could say anything else he said,

"What are you running from Jordan?"…

"What are you doing Woody?" Jordan was dazed – not only by the question, but by his presence in her office.

Woody persisted, "You heard me Jo, what is it?"

Jordan bit back tears.

He had hit a nerve… Ironic really, she'd been running from something her whole life, and not only from relationships. Ghosts from her past, a certain murderer, herself, so many other things she couldn't really put her finger on in that moment. Woody had dug deeper than even he had realised, although he sensed something deeper was going on in her mind, wow… this was not exactly what he had expected. Did he bite off more than he could chew?

"I'm not going anywhere Jordan, tell me…" he quietly settled back onto the couch. Hoping his relaxed stance would invite Jordan to open up as well. He would keep this as simple as he could to keep her emotions cradled.

When he saw she was frozen in place as she fought to keep her emotions in check and keep that wall up, he put his hand on the couch next to him, motioning her to sit.

Jordan relented and moved wordlessly to the couch, touched that Woody had been this insightful, not quite believing she was doing this, and even more surprised that she was completely calm all of a sudden. The threatening tears were gone.

"I don't know what you want me to say Woody," she said honestly.

"It's not what I want you to say that matters… I need an answer Jo."

"Damn you farmboy," it was more of a fond reply, she wasn't angry, more like she was amazed that she actually wanted to tell him…

"I guess I run from relationships…"

"Yes, too general… Why from me?" Woody's eyes were earnest, but firm and gentle at the same time.

"I'm not running fro…" Woody's gaze remained steady. It was obvious why.

"You're not letting me back up out of this are you" her eyes ran up and down Woody's face as she was resigned to the fact Woody wasn't going anywhere until he found out the truth, she'd seen him with suspects.

"Woody…" Jordan started to speak but was cut off…

"No Jordan listen, the wall is not going back up, at least not from my end – do what you want, just realise what you say from here out could potentially hurt." Woody was solid, firm in his state of vulnerability - that seemed so appealing to Jordan, safe. She was so close to revealing her feelings as there eyes met but it was too late.

Woody had laid his heart on the line, but little did Jordan know there was no way that he was taking it back. He forcibly held that wall down, and he wasn't about to let it go up again on his side.

Even if it meant he could get hurt.

There was the farmboy she had seen in the desert. Damn.

Their eyes met again. "Woody I'm not ready to say what you want me to say."

Hit one, Woody refused to break.

"I think you can see how I feel Jo, it's not going to change. I'll be called crazy, you can hurt me all you want, I'm putting myself on the line here."

The silence after Woody said that line was hit two. Jordan was stunned Woody lost the battle, but was on track to winning the war.

"I'll take that, you're not ready." Woody was exposed now and Jordan could see the hope tinged with hurt in Woody's face. He was serious. He turned to go.

"Woody wait…" Jordan said, not sure what to do as she hadn't been in that position before with other men – her heart wanted to return the love that man, in this case Woody, was trying to give her as he turned to leave. Actually she didn't think any man had loved her that much.

Too late, the wall was now well and truly back up for Jordan, words wouldn't come. Woody looked back, waiting to hear what she had to say.

"For the day I can, because I…" the words caught in her throat but Woody could see what she meant. He understood what she was trying to say – she had too many issues to sort through, she was complicated, so wasn't ready to open up to him… But he was hurting and had baggage too, and right now neither of them could pull the other out from the hell of their pasts.

"I'm a patient man Jordan."

That was it. He disappeared down the hall, the wall still down. He was hurting, but calm and collected at the same time.

He left Jordan, with a whole lot to think about, and a lot to digest. The realisation that Woody wasn't about to take that wall down, and was willing to leave his heart exposed. He was leading by example.

Something even more unbelievable - he'd wait for her?

Suddenly that evidence from the locker didn't seem that important to her anymore.