Disclaimer: I do not own anything at all to do with Crossing Jordan but really wish I did.

Author's Note: For those of you who are actually reading my story, I'm sorry I haven't updated in such a long time. Working 12 hour shifts, five days a week doesn't leave much time for anything else. Also, reviews are always welcome. If you have any suggestions please feel free to comment.

Chapter 2: A Not so Familiar Face

Jordan squatted down beside the body and began her cursory examination. The victim was male, approximately 45 years of age, salt and pepper hair just beginning to thin at the crown. He appeared to be very body conscious, watched what he ate and worked out regularly. He was in really good shape for his age. He was clad in blue silk pajamas covered with a maroon bath robe. Lying on the floor to the left side of the body was a pipe and on the right a book. Jordan glanced at the cover of the book "Crime and Punishment, now that's an ironic choice of literature, a man is murdered while reading a book about a woman who is murdered." She thought to herself.

"Do we know anything about the victim yet?" Jordan asked of the detective on duty.

"The victims name is Thomas King, age 46 a cardio-thoracic surgeon at Boston General Hospital. He married his wife Elizabeth at age 25 shortly after graduating from med school. Over the twenty one years of their marriage they had three children Amber sixteen and twins Brittany and Bethany age five. Elizabeth was currently pregnant with their fourth child which would have been due any day now." The familiar voice read from his notes.

Jordan didn't even need to look up to identify the detective, she knew that voice all to well. She knew she would have trouble remaining professional around him but she knew that she had to try. She and Woody had been best friends for nearly four years. They were inseparable and most of those that had known them thought there had to have been much more going on between them; although they both had fiercely denied it.

Woody had tried to move their relationship forward; he knew he loved her as more then just a friend. In fact he had tried on several occasions, but something always seemed to get in the way. Usually it was the ringing of a cell phone calling one or both of them into work causing their night to end abruptly. Ultimately they would agree that it was probably for the best.

Woody knew that he cared deeply for Jordan but wasn't quite sure if she felt the same way he did. He had known from the very beginning that because of the issues in her past that she had commitment issues. He tried his best to respect them and move slowly. But there was only so much of the "mating dance" he could handle. The twisted little dance that had been going on between them for years, ever since their first kiss out in the California desert, he would take one step forward and she would take two back. One day he just decided to give up on the idea of them being a couple, he asked for a transfer, packed all of his things and left without even saying goodbye.

Now he had returned. He wasn't sure how Jordan would react to him being back but he had decided that he couldn't live without her. Visions of her had haunted his dreams and on several occasions he thought he had seen her walking down the streets of L.A. He would yell to her and when the woman turned around and he realized it wasn't her, his heart would sink to the ground. His goal when he left town was to forget about her and move on but he never imagined just how difficult that would be. Now he had finally returned to Boston. He only hoped that his best friend could forgive him for taking off like he did.

Jordan continued her examination of the body as she tried to dam the tears that she knew were about to fall. Over the year that he had been gone she had tried to move on, although she had never admitted it to or anyone else, for that matter, she was head over heels in love with him. She went on many dates with many different men, but just couldn't seem to find that certain someone. She had found the perfect man once but she had allowed him to slip away from her. It wasn't until he had left that she realized that Woody had been the one for her. A few fugitive tears slid down her cheeks and she lifted her hand to wipe them away. She wasn't about to let him see her cry. She wasn't about to let him know how much it had hurt her when he left. But he had returned and she wasn't going to let him get away this time.

She reported her findings to the detective "Based on liver temp I would place time of death between ten and ten-thirty. He has multiple stab wounds the chest and abdomen. Both arms are covered in bruises and scratches suggesting that he didn't go down without a fight. I will be able to tell you more once I can get him back to the morgue and do a complete examination."

Jordan stood up from where she had been kneeling and turned to face Woody. She noticed that the shine was gone from his eyes and he looked as though he hadn't slept in weeks. Stubble dotted his chin and his hair was a mess. This wasn't the same man she had known and loved. Something had gotten him worked up and she knew it wasn't that he had missed her or at least that wasn't the full extent of it.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and he flinched but didn't push her away. "This is only the beginning of it, the rest of the victims are upstairs."

She suddenly realized that it was this case that had gotten him worked up. She got the feeling that this wasn't a simple burglary gone wrong like she had first suspected. Without saying anything Woody turned to lead her upstairs to the other victims.

Jordan noticed that the stairwell was lined with pictures of the family. A family portrait showed two beautiful little girls with blonde hair and blue eyes, an older girl probably in her mid teens, the victim and a woman Jordan assumed was his wife. As she continued up the stairwell she examined each of the pictures and saw the family grow over the years almost as if she had been there herself. There was a picture from the King's wedding day twenty one years ago, another showed Mrs. King pregnant with her first child. Several more showed the oldest child as she grew up. The final group of pictures showed the twins in a variety of settings from their first day in the hospital to their fifth birthday party. Jordan knew by looking at these pictures, the family had been close and loved one another very much. She longed to have had a family like that. Since her mother had been murdered when she was so young she only had a father and she knew that he loved her; but she still missed her mother a great deal.

A few minutes later they reached the second floor landing. He led her down the hallway to the first bedroom on the right. Jordan slowly walked into the room not quite sure as to what she might find waiting for her in there. She noticed that the room had been painstakingly decorated with a mural depicting a beautiful landscape in shades of green, pink, yellow, and purple. Along the walls and ceilings fairies gleefully danced around campfires and flew about oblivious to the horror that had taken place below them. Two canopy beds that had been draped in vines and flowers lined the walls. Obviously this room had belonged to the twins. Jordan walked further into the room and that was when she saw the twins, lying in their beds. They seemed to be staring up at the ceiling as if they were watching the fairies go about their business; but their eyes were unseeing. Jordan noticed the dark red stain on the blankets that covered the girls. She checked over the bodies and reported her findings to Woody.

After finishing with the bodies of the twins Woody led Jordan to the master bedroom so she could exam the body of Elizabeth King. Jordan had thought she had seen it all after working with the dead for so many years; but nothing had prepared her for the devastation in this room. She walked over to the massive king size bed in the center of the room and began examining the victim. She pulled down the sheet that was covering the body and gasped in horror. The victim's abdomen had been opened up and the fetus had been taken from the womb.

"You said the baby had been due any day, correct?" She asked Woody and without waiting for his reply she continued on "It's very possible that the baby may still be alive."

Finally after nearly three hours they decided that there wasn't much else they could do without the final report on the victims. "I will need to get the bodies back to the lab so I can do a complete autopsy but I'll get the report to you as soon as I possibly can." She told Woody.

"Thanks, I want to catch the bastard that did this as soon as possible." He replied.