Chapter Eight: Family Portrait

Author's Note: Hey everyone. This chapter mainly focuses on Jordan and James getting to know each other but there is definitely some good TC and Jordan happening at different parts of the chapter, so just hang in there. As always, I don't own The Night Shift or any of its characters. The chapter title comes from Family Portrait by Pink.

Jordan woke up the next morning to the sound of her phone vibrating against the table. She groaned and reached out, trying to get her phone off the table without actually waking up. "Hello?"

"Hey, sis, it's me. Were you still wanting to meet for coffee today?" James asked on the other line.

Jordan sniffed and ran a hand through her hair, thinking about what day it was. "Shit, I totally forgot. Are you already at the coffee shop?"

"I was just about to head out. Do we need to reschedule?"

Jordan looked around the hotel room, trying to find out what time it was. "Um, no, I don't think we need to reschedule. I'm just going to be a little late. But don't leave," Jordan said, looking around the room and seeing how trashed it was from the night before. "I'll see you later." She hung up the phone and groaned, falling back against her pillow. "I am so screwed," she whispered. She looked over and saw TC still asleep. She sighed and started tapping him on the shoulder. "T," she said. "Wake up."

He groaned and rolled over in the opposite direction. "Five more minutes," he muttered, causing Jordan to roll her eyes.

"No, I gotta go. But not before we talk."

Jordan noticed him stiffen slightly before he turned around and faced Jordan. "Where are you going?"

"James wanted to have coffee again. So I said yes. I wasn't anticipating staying overnight in a hotel after the charity ball. So I need to head back and change. I don't exactly want to show up in a ball gown." She looked down at her hands and tucked a strand of hair that was in her face behind her ear. "So…last night."

"Yeah, that was certainly interesting," TC said, sitting up in bed more. Without thinking, he reached for Jordan's hand and intertwined his fingers with hers.

Jordan looked at their intertwined hands and pulled hers away. "That can't happen again. It was so not appropriate on so many levels. You're my partner and my best friend. If Topher, or god forbid, if Ragosa found out, who knows what would happen."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying no matter how much I enjoyed everything last night, it can't happen again. I'm sorry," she squeaked as she felt tear drops start to slide down her face. She quickly wiped them away, hoping TC wouldn't see them. "I should probably get my stuff from your place and head back to my old place anyway."

"Jordan, that's a terrible idea. All of that is a terrible idea." He cupped her chin and turned her to face him. "I want you to be safe. And no matter what you say, last night did mean something."

Jordan swallowed thickly. "I hate this. I don't want things to be awkward between the two of us." She ran her hands through her hands through her hair. "What would Landry say? And, oh god, what if the stalker finds out about this? He'll come after you, T. And I don't want anything to happen to you." She felt more tears start to fall. "I have to go."

"Jordan—"

"TC," she said, looking him in the eyes. "Please don't do this right now."

-X-

"Jordan!" James said when he saw her walk into the coffee shop a little while later. "Glad you could make it."

"Sorry about having to push it back. I had some stuff come up this morning." She noticed a coffee cup sitting in front of the empty chair at the table. "Did you order me coffee?"

"Yeah, I just remembered what you got last time and thought I'd get you the same thing. Since you paid for coffee last time."

"Well, that's really sweet of you. I love vanilla coffees." She set her bag on the floor next to her chair and sat down, taking a sip of the coffee. "So, what are you doing back in San Antonio? I thought Caroline said you were living in New York City."

He took a sip of his coffee and smiled. "I do live in New York City. My marketing firm is working on a campaign down here. So I figured while I'm here, I should get to know my older sister."

"Please don't call me your older sister," Jordan said. "That still hasn't sunk in yet. But feel free to call Caroline the oldest sister. It will drive her crazy." Jordan took a sip of her coffee and took a deep breath. "You'd think with all the coffee I drink, I'd hate it. But that's not the case. Coffee is my lifeline."

"No, I totally get it. My roommate in college was a journalism major and coffee was what kept him going."

"I totally get that. I was a journalism major at one point in college."

"What changed your mind?"

"I was in a class and we started reading a book about the way that rape victims were treated in the criminal justice system and it made me so mad. And I wanted to try and change that. So as soon as I finished the book, I went in and changed my major to criminal justice. And once I graduated from college, I enrolled in the Police Academy and I've been working here in San Antonio ever since then."

"Wow, that's really cool. I wish I had a fun story as to why I wanted to work in marketing, but it just sounded the coolest." He took a sip of his coffee and leaned back in his chair. "So, what's your relationship with Caroline like?"

"A lot less complicated than it used to be. We were as different as we could be growing up. But we're pretty close now. I feel like that's how it is for most people though."

"How were you different?"

"Well, when Dad died, we had two different ways of mourning. I was only 15 and Carolyn was just a few weeks away from turning 18 and it destroyed her. She went out and partied a lot. And I didn't want my mom to have to worry about me too, so I became the good girl." She cut off when she said that, the words making her think back to what her sister had said and how last night she certainly wasn't the good girl she'd always been. "But when Caroline was in her sophomore year of college, something happened to her and she really changed. That's when we ended getting really close."

"It's really weird thinking about how the two of you had all this time with Dad. I'd only get to see him a few times a year, if that. He certainly did a good job of keeping me hidden from you all," James said. "Sorry, I guess I'm still really mad about the whole thing. I didn't even know he died until my mom told me a few months after it happened."

"I think you would have liked him. I mean, you got to spend some time with him, but it was nowhere near the amount of time that Caroline and I got. I feel kind of bad."

"No, don't feel bad. It's not like you were in control of things. I don't even know if your mom knew about me and my mom."

"I can't answer that," Jordan said, feeling her phone start to go off in her pocket. She pulled it out and saw TC was calling. She immediately hit ignore and placed her phone face down on the table, not wanting to think about TC for a little while longer.

"Everything okay?"

"Yeah, fine. I just did something a little stupid and now I might have to live with the consequences of what I did."

"Is it something serious?"

"Nothing my little brother needs to worry about. She heard it beep, meaning she had a voicemail and tried to keep a neutral face. "So, tell me a little more about yourself. Did you have any siblings growing up?"

"No, it was just me and my mom. For a little bit, my grandma lived with us after my grandpa died. She lived with us for a few months until she died."

"That's terrible," Jordan said without thinking. "Sorry, that probably wasn't the most sensitive thing to say."

"No, you're fine." James' phone started ringing and he took it out of his pocket, saw the number and sighed. "I have to take this. It's my boss, which probably means I have to head back to my hotel to work on something. Looks like we're going to have to cut this short."

"Okay, that's fine. I probably should get going anyway. I have a lot of stuff I need to take care of." She got up from her chair and hugged her brother. "Let me know next time you're here and maybe instead of staying in a hotel, you can stay with me."

"You mean that?"

"Hopefully. I have some stuff going on right now but hopefully one of the next times you're here, it'll be resolved." She smiled at him and grabbed her purse from the ground. "Good luck with whatever you're working on," she said as she started walking out of coffee shop.

She got in her car and put her keys in the ignition, getting ready to start her car when an incoming text caught her eye. She raised an eyebrow and read the text, almost dropping her phone at what it said.

I KNOW WHAT YOU DID LAST NIGHT.

-X-

"Thank god you're here," Jordan said, opening the door to TC's place.

"Yeah, I thought we could finish our conversation from the hotel since you walked out on me before we could really talk it over."

"No, we need to talk about something else," Jordan said, showing TC her phone. "Did you tell someone?"

He read the text message from the stalker then looked back at Jordan. "Why would I tell someone? It's no one else's business but ours."

"Sorry, I shouldn't have said it like that. I just…how did he find this out?" She ran a hand through her hair and felt tears coming to her eyes for the second time that day. "I'm just so emotionally drained from this whole thing," she said, not bothering to wipe the tears away.

TC was taken aback by seeing Jordan start crying and not care about it. In all the years they'd been partners, TC could count on one hand the number of times he'd seen her cry. "Hey, it'll be okay. We're working on catching the guy. We're all working on it."

"He's never going away," Jordan said as she started crying harder. She felt her shoulders start to collapse and she fell to the ground as she let all the emotions she'd been holding in come out. "I can't do this anymore."

TC walked over to where Jordan was and kneeled down next to her. "We're going to get him. Toph's working on it, Drew's working on it, Kenny's working on it, we have O'Neill and everyone at the lab working on it and I'm working on it. We're going to get him," TC repeated. He scooped her up in his arms and stood up.

"What are you doing?"

"You're exhausted. When was the last night you got a decent night of sleep?"

"I don't know," Jordan said, dejectedly.

"You're going to get sleep," TC said, carrying her back to his room. "You're going to take a nap and you're going to actually sleep. I'm holding onto your phone and I'm going to take it down to tech and they're going to look into everything."

Jordan nodded and shifted in his arms, trying to get slightly more comfortable. "Thanks, T," she said, already feeling like sleep was coming to her.

TC carried her back to his room and laid her down in the bed, pulling the comforter up around her, hoping she was going to be comfortable sleeping in what she was wearing.

"T," she muttered, moving to her side. "The last night of good sleep I got was last night." She swallowed thickly. "Would you…never mind."

Knowing what Jordan wanted to ask, he walked back into his room and laid down next to her on the bed. "Go to bed," he whispered, wrapping his arms around her as he pulled her closer to him.