Disclaimer: I don't own Crossing Jordan or the characters. I just use and abuse them and then put them back for Tim Kring to deal with.

Author's Note: This is sort of AU…thanks to Bourbon for the inspiration. It has nothing to do with any of the current or past seasons of CJ. It's just a "Gee this would be a good story, let's throw Woody and Jordan in as the main characters, have Cal in a supporting role (I love Cal…) and see what happens." I have tried my best to stay true to the characters that Tim Kring has created and Jerry and Jill have so wonderfully developed.

Thanks for listening and I hope you enjoy!

Chapter One

Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall

"No…really Randy, I can't go out tonight. I have a ton of work to do and I'll be up to midnight as it is getting it all finished."

"Come on, Jordan, it's the third time I've asked you this week and it's the third time you've turned me down. You could give a guy a complex...what do I have to do to get you to go out with me?"

"Randy, honestly…it's just bad timing. The semester is nearly over and I have ton of grading to do. You know how it is."

"Yeah, I know." Randy turned to walk down the steps of Jordan's brownstone, defeat causing his shoulders to sag.

"Look, call me after finals are given. My calendar's clear then."

"Sure, Jordan. Whatever you say…" Randy got into his car and drove away through the night, leaving Jordan alone to let herself in her apartment. She wearily shoved her key in the lock and climbed the stairs up to her new home. Well, relatively new home. She had lived in New York three years now. Three years away from Boston…three years away from the morgue….three years away from her husband.

She closed the door behind her and dropped her keys and pocketbook on the couch, beginning to undress in route to her bedroom. She unzipped her skirt and slid it off, hanging it up, then did the same with her blouse. Bra came next and she donned her familiar girl boxers and tank top.

Three years. In some ways in seemed like yesterday she had loaded her car up and left everything familiar to her, and in other ways it seemed like an eternity. She tried hard not to think about what drove her from Boston…and most of the time she succeeded…until someone asked her out. She gazed down at her now ringless left hand. She knew putting back on her wedding and engagement rings would stop most men's advances, but she didn't have the heart to support a sham…something that was no longer truthful and real. And wearing those rings would do just that. She shook her head. She needed something to clear her mind. Determinedly she walked into her small kitchen and opened the freezer. Chocolate Hagaan-Daaz. Just what the doctor ordered. Retrieving a spoon from the drawer she went back into the living room, plopped down on the couch, and turned on The Tonight Show. Maybe mindless TV would take her mind off matters.

No such luck. Twenty minutes later she turned Jay Leno off in sheer frustration. Not even his monologue and chocolate ice cream could get her mind off Boston tonight. She leaned back on the couch and wondered just what was going on there now…what was happening at the morgue.

What her husband…or ex-husband…was doing.

Did he think of her as much as she still thought of him? She doubted it. It seemed he rarely thought of her often before she loaded up her SUV and left. However hard Woody had worked to get her down the aisle…it seemed he nearly forgot her after she said "I do."

The wedding…that had been so long ago. Nearly six years. Max had returned home to give her away…even if he wasn't returning to Boston to stay. During his travels he had met a woman he decided he wanted to stay with. He and Terese had married and now Max resided in Virginia. And it seemed that would be permanent. He had sold his house in Boston and his only physical tie left in that city was Jordan.

Woody had looked so handsome in his black tux. He had pursued her for years…and after his last promotion, he figured he was financially stable enough to ask her to marry him and for them to begin a family of their own. He had turned up the heat in their relationship…and eventually, she had willingly said "yes" to his proposal. When he slipped the engagement ring on her finger, she had been the happiest woman on earth. She wanted to be his wife more than anything.

And when she had said "I do" to him, she had meant it with her whole heart. She didn't think anything could split them up…after all, she was a cop's daughter and worked with police all the time with her job as a medical examiner. She knew what she was getting into with her eyes wide open … the times they would be apart…the hours he and she both had to work.

But she had been incredibly, undeniably, unbelievably wrong. The first year had been very good. After a short honeymoon, the couple had settled down into a Cape Cod house…three bedrooms, two baths. It was perfect. They decorated one bedroom as a guest room and held the other to be used as a nursery.

The second year was a little rockier. Woody got another promotion. His work load increased. Garret began to depend on her more and more at the morgue. They saw each other less and less. They began to quarrel about stupid things. Muddy shoes in the entrance way. Trash that didn't make it to the curb. His dirty boxers on the bedroom floor. Her make up crowding the bathroom sink.

However, it all was forgotten at night…when they would find each other again in bed. No matter what happened during the day, their problems always seemed to reach resolution the minute the lights went out and he reached for her. Whatever problems they may have otherwise, their sex life was always alive and healthy. Woody loved her like a man possessed. And she had relished the feeling, even if some days it faded away with the morning's glaring light.

Then at the end of the second year, she discovered she was pregnant. They had been elated. Woody carried the positive pregnancy test stick around in his pocket for days…showing it to everyone. They were going to be parents.

She was going to be a mother…she had been overjoyed.

Until one morning, two months later, when she woke to excruciating cramps and bloody sheets. Woody had frantically called her doctor, but there was nothing they could do. She was miscarrying.

She had lost the baby and in many ways, they had lost each other. After she recovered, Woody got yet another promotion. However unsophisticated and ill at ease the wonder boy from Wisconsin had seemed at one time, that was well behind him. Now he was on the fast track to becoming chief of police. She had been both proud and incredibly lonely at the same time as they steered into their third year of marriage. He was working more hours, and it seemed his nights at home and with her decreased more each week. The time they did have together was often interrupted by his ringing cell phone.

Not that she was doing a lot better. To cope with his absence, she worked as many hours as she could, but there still were many times she was home alone. She had tried to talk to him about it, but he brushed her off. "With this new promotion comes more responsibility, Jordan," he told her. "Of course, the pay is better, too. We'll be able to save more money, so that when we do have a baby, you can work part-time or stay home."

She nearly laughed at that. They hadn't even tried to get pregnant again after the miscarriage. He was gone so much, working so many hours, that when he did find his way to their bed, he was exhausted.

Jordan had tried to be understanding…supportive…but she missed him acutely. "Please…" she had begged. "Take some time off…let's spend a week together somewhere that there's no cell phones…no bodies…"

He kept promising, but never delivered. Finally, after nearly six months of seeing him very little, and him not touching her at all, she delivered the ultimatum. Which is more important…me or your job?

He had grown angry…"You're both important to me…can't you see that? I love you. You're my wife. But the job's important to me, too. It's something I've always wanted. Don't make me choose."

"I'm not…I'm just trying to tell you…I want more time with you…I'm not talking about a huge amount…just a couple of nights a week of your undivided attention."

His phone had rung then. He held up one finger, indicating to her to wait a minute.

She waited.

Two hours later, she was still waiting. Sighing, she had walked out of their kitchen and up the stairs.

They had done what they both had vowed would never happen. They had drifted apart and she didn't know how to bring them back together. Like Humpty Dumpty, their relationship was teetering on a wall…

She had asked him to spend more time with her. He said he couldn't. She went to counseling, to see if it all was in her mind and if there was something she could do to fix herself. She talked to Garret…who had said the same thing had happened to him and Maggie. In the end, nothing had worked. Just as Humpty Dumpty fell…so did their relationship, shattering into a million unmendable pieces

She resigned her post at the Massachusetts morgue and took a teaching job in New York City, in conjunction with the morgue there. One day while Woody was at work, she had loaded her SUV, left him a note, and drove away.

She hadn't been back since. She assumed he had settled for a no-fault divorce. Either way, she had not heard a word out of him since she fled Boston.

Fled Boston to start over for herself…try to find peace of mind…a slower life…someone to love her.

She had started over…but wasn't so sure how successful she was at the other three objectives. Randy liked her. She knew he did. A lot. But she still couldn't picture herself with anyone other than Woody….she could only see his arms around her and his hands touching her….his body loving her.

Jordan sighed as she got up from the couch and put her ice cream back in the freezer. The thoughts of Woody had rattled her. It is going to be along night, she thought, as she turned back her coverlet and sheets and climbed in the bed. Staring at the ceiling, she wondered if Woody was so busy that he never thought of her at all now…if he ever remembered how it used to be between them…

Did he ever care?

Or had he swept the pieces of their broken relationship under the rug of his career and moved on with his life? Out of sight, out of mind?

Jordan rolled over and punched her pillow. It had been three years. Who was she kidding? He had probably remarried and started over.

And she felt as if she was stuck…one foot in the past, wishing she could return to Boston and what they once had together….and one foot in the present with a stack of papers to grade and finals to administer next week. She groaned and shut her eyes tight.

Funny, after Humpty Dumpty shattered into a million pieces…and all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't put him back together…no one ever said what happened to poor, old Humpty…I wish I knew what they did with all the pieces. Maybe that would give me some insight as to what I need to do next….