Chapter Ten: Shaking with Anger

Woody stormed down the hallway. His captain had just ordered him point blank to stay off the case. He didn't think Woody could handle any more "emotional upheaval," after seeing what happened to him after her was shot two years ago.

At least Seely had the good grace not to look smug as Woody left the office.

Now, Woody was at the morgue. They could say whatever they wanted, but Woody would not take himself off the case. He couldn't just sit around and let someone else take care of it; he had to make sure whoever was responsible for this was caught.

Jordan was his first stop down that road. Not only because she was the most brilliant ME he'd ever known, or because she didn't take orders well either. He wanted to make sure she was okay…or at least not alone.

He managed to stop his stomping just before he got to her office. He tapped the door lightly. No one answered, but he could see her silhouette beyond the frosted glass.

Slowly opening the door, Woody found Jordan sitting at her desk, her head in her hands, staring down at a file. He presumed, correctly, that it was one of the autopsies from the plane crash.

"Hey," he said. Jordan looked up. Woody could tell that she was having a hard time…it looked like she didn't know whether to cry or scream.

Weakly, Jordan smiled at him. "Hey," she said back.

Woody came around and sat on the edge of her desk, facing her. He could see the tension in her face and shoulders. He knew what she was thinking…he understood it. He had already thrown his own tantrum in the police gym a few hours earlier…but Jordan hadn't had the opportunity to let any of her emotions out.

"What are you doing?" he asked softly.

Jordan sighed. "Trying to make sense of this. Seely came by a little while ago. Said that none of us needed to be in on the investigation anymore…we had done our part, and he would take care of the rest." She laughed ruefully. "As if that's going to stop me."

Woody smiled. "No, it won't. My captain told me the same thing."

Jordan smiled back. "But I'm not getting anywhere…and Garret will probably kill me if he finds me working on anything…so…." She trailed off and shrugged her shoulders.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, until Woody stood up. "Come on," he said, and motioned for her to get her things.

"But—"

"You can't do anything more today, Jordan. And you need to do something to relieve your stress. I promise, tomorrow I will be with you 100 on solving this case. But let's get away for tonight."

Reluctantly, Jordan closed the file and stood up. "Where are we going?" she asked.

Woody thought about it for a minute. "For a run."

Their feet pounded the pavement in tandem. It was the fourth time around their regular route…a path they usually only ran twice. They were almost done with the current lap, and Woody was hoping that this would be the last.

He understood the need to do something in order to get the tension out, but his body was beginning to scream back at him.

Jordan, on the other hand, seemed to be handling the distance just fine. She hadn't slowed down even a bit since they started. Her face was still set and angry.

Woody slowed down as they came to their car, but Jordan continued on.

"Hey, Jordan. We need to stop," Woody said desperately.

Jordan shot him back a look, but kept going. Woody caught up with her and grabbed her arm. She stopped.

"I'm not ready," she said.

"Honey," Woody replied, breathing heavily. "We've been running for hours. It's time to stop."

Jordan glared at him. "You said we were going to run until we felt better. I don't feel better yet."

He sighed. "Okay…okay. But I can't go anymore. I don't feel great, but my back is starting to hurt, and you're going to burn out if you don't stop, too."

She threw up her hands. "So what am I supposed to do?" she shouted. "I can't get rid of this! It feels like I'm just going to explode. This isn't how it's supposed to be. There wasn't supposed to be another plane crash. We were all supposed to get over this and go back to our lives. Why can't it ever stop?"

At that point, Woody pulled her to him in a tight hug. Jordan was still ranting, but he held her firmly. He walked her over to a park bench and they both sat down.

Woody didn't know what to say. He felt angry…weird…confused…and all things in between about the plane crash murders. But he could tell that what he was feeling didn't hold a candle to Jordan's emotions.

She had this enormous capacity for feelings. She wasn't good at showing them to people she was close to, though she was getting better, but they came out all the time in her passion for justice. This was just too overpowering for her. She was trying to be tough in front of everyone, and it was backfiring.

Woody continued to hold her, as Jordan literally shook with anger and grief. Finally, after what felt like an hour, exhaustion took over and Jordan slumped in his arms.

After a few more moments, Jordan spoke up. "I'm okay now," she said quietly.

Woody rubbed her back and nodded. "Ready to go home?"

"Yeah," she answered. "Woody?"

"Hmm?"

He felt her fidget, and he could sense her biting her lip. "Thank you," she whispered.

He smiled, and kissed the top of her head. "No problem, Jo."