A/N: This is a Crossing Jordan/ KtE X-over. I got the idea for it after watching the episode of crossing Jordan where Peter loses his wife. It made me think what if he had lost someone else? Also, I totally love Nigel and I thought it was about time he got some play. He's a total Goth. So, what if my favorite British coroner actually met a real vampire?

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from KtE or Crossing Jordan. Jessica Renard is my original character. Please ask before taking her.

Chapter 1

When Bug entered his office to find his partner snoring in front of a computer screen, he tried not to laugh. He really did. The coroner failed miserably, though, and proceeded to wake the sleeping man with a fit of giggles. "Late night again, Nigel?"

Dr. Nigel Townsend gave an undignified grunt and glared at his friend. He adjusted the collar of his turtle-neck and took a big swig of his cold double espresso. "Didn't get in 'til 4:30," he groaned. Then he added with a smirk, "Not that it wasn't worth it."

"Ah, yes, your new paramour." Bug replied skeptically. "What was her name again?"

"Jessie. And don't give me that look. She is very much real."

Just then, Lily Lebowski stuck her head into the room. "Hey, Bug. Garrett says he wants your report on the Hoffs case ASAP." Then, the grief counselor for the Boston M.E.'s office noticed the room's other occupant. "What's with you?"

"He was out late last night with his new, ultra-sexy girlfriend." Bug retorted.

This elicited a laugh from Lily. "Oh yeah, the one he met in that Goth club weeks ago, but has yet to introduce to any of us?"

"For the record," Nigel interjected. "It was a rock club, not a Goth club. And Jessie has not, as yet, been able to get away from her work to accept my invitation to join us all for a drink."

"What are we talking about?" said Jordan Cavanaugh, who had just entered the room.

"Nigel's non-existent girlfriend." Lily replied.

"Oh, ok." Jordan shrugged. "Interesting as that is, Nige, Garrett wants to see us in his office. There's some woman here about that John Doe case from yesterday."

The British M.E. nodded. Lily turned to the dark-haired woman. "Is it a family member here for an ID? Maybe I should come too."

"Whatever floats your boat. I don't know who she is. Macy just told me to come and get Nigel."

"I'll see you guys later, then." Bug said. "I gotta finish that Hoffs case. By the way, has anyone seen Peter? He's supposed to have the results of the tox-screen for me."

The two women shook their heads. Nigel shrugged "Haven't seen hide nor hair of him, Buggles. Sorry."

The Head Boston Medical Examiner sat looking over a stack of papers, presented to him by the woman sitting in the chair across from him. Garrett Macy was more than a little perturbed. "This is highly irregular, you realize."

The striking, leggy, auburn haired woman simply shrugged. She was dressed in a simple green t-shirt with suede pants and a leather motorcycle jacket. For some odd reason she refused to take her sunglasses off inside, and she glanced at the M.E. over them. "Hey. Irregular or not, the paper work's all there. All I know is my contract reads 'DEAD or ALIVE.' So here I am."

Just then, the door opened to admit two coroners and one grief counselor. Before Garrett could introduce his employees, Nigel let out a shout of excitement. "Jessie!" he said, pulling the newcomer into a warm hug. "What are you doing here, luv?"

Jessie grinned good naturedly and kissed Nigel on the cheek. "Working, actually. I totally forgot that you work here! I could have saved myself an hour's worth of trouble."

"Excuse, me. I take it you two know each other?" Garrett interrupted.

"Oh! I know who you are!" Lily said, gesturing excitedly. "You're Nigel's non-existent girlfriend!" Off the others' looks, she amended, "I mean... we all thought you didn't exist...But obviously, you do."

Garrett grunted in frustration. "Lily, is there a particular reason you're in my office?"

She looked a bit hurt but shrugged it off quickly. "Jordan said there was a woman here about the John Doe. I thought you might need me too." She extended a hand to Jessie. "I'm Lily Lebowski. I'm the grief counselor here, so feel free to come to me if you need to talk about anything."

The other woman gave her a strange look and a muttered thanks before Garrett cut in again. "Lily, Miss Renard isn't family. She's a bail enforcement agent."

Jordan gave a surprised laugh. "You never told us you were dating a bounty hunter, Nige."

The Brit rolled his eyes, "You never asked, luv."

"That's actually why I'm here." Interjected Jessie. "One of my contracts evidently ended up here as a John Doe. Since I don't get my money until I present evidence of his death, here I am."

"You're right, darling. You could've saved a lot of time." Nigel replied. "I've been working on this case for two days."

"So what do you need from us?" Jordan asked, her interest piqued.

"My court order covers copies of the autopsy report, the death certificate, and any photographs you have."

"That's a pretty extensive list." The dark-haired woman commented.

"He was a pretty bad guy." The bounty hunter replied. "There are a lot of people that will feel a lot better knowing he's dead."

"Okay, then. Nigel can take Miss Renard to view the body. Jordan, get her what she needs as far as paper work. Lily, I'm sure you have other, more pressing cases." Garrett said, dispersing the people in his office.

Jordan stopped them on the way to the crypt. "This is my stop. Just a few questions, though."

"Shoot."

"What exactly did this guy do? And who is he?

"Kerby Harris killed five people in a bar massacre in Mississippi." Jessie replied.

Jordan arched an eyebrow. "Good to know."

Nigel ushered his girlfriend into the crypt and showed her Harris' body. She nodded and made a few notes in a notebook she had pulled out of her pocket. Nigel grinned at her, recalling how they met.

Flashback

Nigel Townsend was pissed, knackered, hammered, whatever you want to call it. He'd been pining after the unattainable Jordan Cavanaugh too long. At least, she seemed to be unattainable to him. She'd been quite attainable to a variety of one night stands that he had the dubious pleasure of hearing about after they happened. And then, there was her pseudo-relationship with Detective Woodrow Hoyt, which she informed him on routinely. He, of course, was relegated to the role of friend and confidante. Nigel had accepted the fact that he could never have the woman he loved, the way he wanted. So it was that he had resigned himself to his fate, and this resignation had led him to Elysium. Elysium was a rock club on the south side of Boston famed for it's up-and-coming talent, dark lighting, artsy clientelle and fully stocked bar. It was here that Nigel met the singular personality that was Jessica Renard.

Jessie walked up to him after his fifth shot of tequila. She ordered something called the "house special" and sat down on the stool next to him. His speech was only slightly slurred as he worked up the nerve to give her the oldest line in the book. "Come here often?"

"Not particularly," she replied, taking a sip of her blood-red drink. "I'm new in town and was just looking for some fun. My name's Jessie."

Nigel stared at her a moment. Her eyes seemed to be boring a hole into him. They took on strange flecks of color and light the longer he stared. It felt almost as if she were staring into his very soul. He gulped. "Well, look no further, my pet. Good time, thy name is Dr. Nigel Townsend."

"Doctor? And what kind of doctor are you, Nigel Townsend?"

"I am a Forensic Pathologist, my dear, among other things. Yes, I am a coroner, Criminologist, computer jockey, confidante, and all around emotional punching bag for the masses. Cheers." He said taking another swig of tequila.

"Well, Dr. Townsend. It seems to be a lucky night for both of us. What do you say to us adjourning to someplace less crowded?"

Nigel sobered up a bit at this suggestion. "Are you serious?"

"Totally."

"I may be a bit drunk, luv."

"That's okay. I can drive and I don't mind working around a bit of alcohol. Come on. It'll be fun." She replied, staring him down again with her glowing eyes.

At this, most of the arguments in Nigel's head seemed to evaporate. He didn't often pick up women in bars, but he found himself following this one to her car, to spite a nagging sense that something was out of place. As he rode, in near silence, in the passenger seat of her Cadillac convertible, Nigel started to sober up. In doing so, he began to notice little things that added to his sense of agitation. Nigel just couldn't place what it was about her that was sending shivers of both fear and arousal through him.

By the time they got to her apartment, he was completely alert. When he saw how the wide open space was decorated, without mirrors, heavy curtains hanging around the windows, a picture started to emerge in the dark-haired Goth's mind. And when Jessie approached him, as a panther would his prey, eyes blazing with an unnatural light, Nigel knew exactly what highly improbable situation he was being faced with. "I know why you brought me here."

"Do you?" Jessie laughed. "I highly doubt it."

"You don't have to hunt me down, luv." He had the urge to back up as she advanced on him, but Nigel Townsend forced himself to stand his ground. "I don't mind being your next meal."

This stopped Jessie in her tracks. She seemed to deflate right in front of him, her eyes returning to there natural hazel tint. "How do you know what I am?"

"I'm a dedicated Goth love, and your decor screams creature of the night. If I couldn't recognize you as a vampire, I don't know who could."

Jessie slumped onto the bed her head in her hands and mumbled something he couldn't make out. "What was that, luv?"

"Kindred." she growled out, "We prefer the term Kindred."

Right before Nigel's eyes, Jessie had gone from an irresistible predator to a tired, frustrated young woman. He knew he was probably playing with fire, but he was now face to face with one of the creatures that had always fascinated him the most. She didn't look all powerful, or dangerous, or immortal anymore. She looked like he had felt all night, depressed. Nigel sat down on the bed next to Jessie and cautiously covered one of her hands with his own.

"I thought you'd have run screaming from the building by now." Jessie said. "Most people would."

"I am not most people, luv. And like I said, I don't mind being your next meal. Long as you aren't too rough with me, that is."

"You're saying you'd be willing to let me feed from you voluntarily?" At his nod, Jessie regained some of her bravado and slid a hand up his chest. "You realize, you probably won't remember any of this in the morning?"

"Hey, hypnotize me if you like. But it seems such a loss when we could have such fun together." Nigel replied. He couldn't pass up the opportunity to get to know such a fascinating creature.

A sly smile crept over Jessie's face. "Maybe you're right."

She pushed the human man onto his back and straddled his legs. Jessie began to unbutton his shirt and place light kisses all over his chest. As she made a beeline down his stomach and back up toward his throat, Nigel was struck with the realization that he had forgotten all about his laments over Jordan. And as the Kindred lay her lips over his throat, all thought was banished from his mind.

Present

It had been several weeks since that night at Jessie's apartment, and so far, Nigel couldn't be happier with how things were going between them. Jessie had been a bit nervous at first about dating a human, and having him know her identity. However, she had gone to what she called the "Prince of the City" and cleared their particular situation. There was no need to fear retribution from the higher-ups in the Kindred community, as long as Nigel became part of what they termed the Herd.

Basically, this was a group of loyal humans, willing to let the Kindred feed from them in return for social connections, financial support, employment, etc. Nigel had readily agreed with the option to be Embraced in the future and the sheer pleasure of the act as his only conditions. The only drawbacks were that he rarely got to see his girlfriend during the day, he had only recently been able to introduce Jessie to any of his friends, and he had to wear collars and other clothes that were ridiculous in the present Boston climate, in order to cover the bite marks. But, all in all, it ballanced out with the fact that Nigel no longer felt so alone.

Jessie closed up her notepad and concluded, "Okay, all done."

"Just out of curiosity, why were you after this guy?" Nigel asked as he pushed the body and slab back into their cabinet. "I thought you only took contracts for Kindred."

"Mostly," she replied, pulling him in for a kiss, "But in this case, the contract was put out on him by one of us. He double crossed a Ventrue, and they can get really nasty when you do that."

Nigel nodded his understanding. "So, luv, what do you say to a quickie, before dinner and a drink with my friends?"

"Here in the morgue?" At his nod, she smirked. "Kinky. But what do you say to a quickie and dinner, before a drink with your friends." She smiled as his pupils dilated in arousal and began to tug at the collar of his turtleneck.

They were interrupted, however, when Bug came through the door of the crypt. "Oh, I'm so sorry! I didn't think anyone was in here!" he sputtered. Then, he got a good look at the couple and his eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. Nigel, you aren't hitting on the clients again are you?"

Nigel rolled his eyes. "I've got to hand it to you, Buggles. You've got the worst timing of anyone in this office. And no, I wasn't making out with a client. Jessie, this is Dr. Mahesh Vijayaraghavensatyanaryanamu rthy. Don't try to pronounce it. Just call him Bug. We all do. Bug, this is Jessie. You know, my 'non-existent' girlfriend?"

Again Bug sputtered and shook Jessie's extended hand. "We've all heard so much about you." Bug muttered. "Of course, we didn't believe any of it."

Jessie just laughed. "So, why do they call you Bug?"

Nigel interrupted. "Actually, are you working on anything pressing tonight, luv?"

"Not really. Nothing that can't wait a day or two."

"Then, why don't you take me up on my drink invitation? I'll invite the others, and Bug can tell you his life story then." Nigel looked at his friend, who looked hesitant. "Oh, come on, Bug. It's just a drink."

"Oh, alright." replied the shorter man. "But you're buying the first round."