A.N. This is my first completed CJ fanfic. I've had the ideas since the finale, but it takes me ages to type stories into my computer from manuscript. Any feedback and criticism would be greatly appreciated, especially regarding characterization. Please, read and review so that I can make it better.

Disclaimer: I most certainly do own Crossing Jordan. Actually, if I did, Jordan would have not answered her cell, Woody would not be such a dick in the hospital, the idiot would not have driven up during thier makeout session, and she would never have slept with that ADA. But then again, that is why we have fanfiction.

Cry Another Day

-Elisabeth Carmichael-

Don't cry for me today baby. I'm not dead yet. Don't weep for me today sweetheart. My love is still intact. Don't forget me today love. My soul is still your book. Today there is nothing the matter, but I'd be obliged should you decide and cry another day.

The gruffness in his voice seemed so foreign to her, so alien. It was not the way he talked to a suspect pointing a gun at his head. It was different from how he talked to a man threatening Jordan's life. It was somehow colder and filled with more venomous hatred. It was not the Woody she had come to care so deeply about…it was someone else sitting there in that hospital gown, bloodied, tired. It was not her Woody.

Just when she was ready for a relationship, he had pulled away. The ring, she had wanted to accept it, to say she loved him, but then he said it was over. She whispered to him as he was wheeled in to surgery, and he pushed harder away, calling it pity. Her face revealed blatant hurt as he told her to leave, but she did so only briefly. The next day she was back, her softly curled hair carelessly thrown into a bun as messy strands did little to mask her puffy eyes. No make up adorned her face, just dried tears reflecting off her rouge cheeks.

She collapsed into the chair next to his bed, allowing tears to freely fall down her cheeks as he lay there in a fitful slumber. Her hands moved to caress his face, rubbing a thumb over his lips, dwelling in what could have transpired. The pain would not leave her body, seeing him in pain, afraid. She softly lowered her lips to his and lingered there faintly before resting her head upon his chest and crying herself into an unpleasant sleep.

Woody's eyes flickered into consciousness as he raised his head slightly off the pillow to see her tired head resting upon his chest. What didn't she understand about leaving him the hell alone? His eyes, cold and menacing took her in.

But she looked so sad and tired, so very disappointed, that his hand instinctively stroked her hair whispering, "Hush Jo, you'll be fine."

To his surprise, she did not wake up, but rather kept her fitful sleep peppered with heavy sobs in constant rhythm. Deciding her presence could be dealt with later, he fell back into a slumber as his hand rested upon her head.

She awoke an hour later to find his hand upon her head which she stroked lovingly. Tears streamed down her face with a distant despondency.

"Woody, please, be fine, don't leave me, just be fine, please," she pleaded with his sleeping head.

It did little to ease either of their pain. Grasping his frail hands in hers, she gulped heavily as tears dotted her eyes glimmering with the need to be poured out. Her face cringed in pain, suppressing a sob as she gripped his hands tighter.

"Woody, I don't know if you can hear this, I mean you're sleeping, but I'm going to talk…" tears halted her as she choked them back, "…and you can listen."

The gentle bleeping of the heart monitor continued as she brushed back tears, "Okay, I know you don't really want me to be here, but I care about you so much Woody, I can't concentrate on anything but you. And it scares me because for the first time I don't feel independent or in control. I am dependent upon us…upon our little dance. And to commit yourself to one person, the one person you are meant to be with, that is love…that is so scary. It requires trust, and, and commitment, and it requires love, honest love for someone else. It has always scared me, love, commitment, but life is too short for me to keep running. The only place I want to run is into your arms, and maybe on a six mile run with you," she cracked a slight smile, "And I don't think you know how hard it is to say this to you, but I have to, I hope that you don't push me away because I do need someone to hold me closer. I…I love you Woody Hoyt, oh God, Woody, please just love me back."

Her head fell onto her hands, buried in her hair. Between her sobs she could hear the monitor bleep in an almost acknowledgement of her words. Woody's eyes fluttered, making sure she was there. He struggled to remain silent throughout her speech, but he knew that his stubborn ego would have stopped her long before her admission. Still, her pain required some form of recognition, and so he raised his eyes and moved his arm slightly. His movement instantly caught her attention as she brushed back strands of disheveled hair and wiped away a few stray tears.

More to come...

Please read and REVIEW so that the next few chapters can get better. Thanks!

-Elisabeth Carmichael