Chapter Twenty-Five: We Can Get It Back
Author's Note: Hi everyone! This story is starting to wind down and I'm really excited to share the last few chapters with you all. This chapter is split between Jordan and TC and there's also flashbacks, which are in italics. As always, I don't own The Night Shift or any of its characters. The chapter title comes from In No Time by Mutemath, which is also the song from the season one finale when TC has his breakdown.
When Jordan woke up, she was in an unnaturally bright white room. She looked around, trying to get her bearings but instead was shocked by what she saw. She squinted and gasped. "Dad?"
The figure smiled at her and walked over to where she was sitting. "Hi Jordan."
"What are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that question. This is the in between."
"The in between?" she asked, raising her eyebrow. "Am I dead?"
"Not quite. That's why you're here."
"If I'm not dead, then why are you here? Because I know you're dead."
Her dad laughed slightly. "There's the Jordan I know. You should have been a journalist."
"Dad…"
He took a deep breath and sighed. "You're in between because you have a choice to make. You have to decide if you want to move on or stay alive."
"Easy. I want to be alive. I want to stay with TC and Erin." Jordan paused. "You don't know about my life anymore, do you?"
"Of course I know what's going on in your life. I know about your life and your sister's life and your mom's life and your brother's. Your actual brother."
-X-
"How's she doing?" Gwen asked, coming into Jordan's room when her shift was done.
TC sat up in his chair and ran a hand through his hair. "She's still in a coma but the doctors said it's likely she'll come out of it sometime today or early tomorrow."
Gwen nodded as she looked at Jordan's chart. "You need me to take Erin for the night?"
"She's at the house with my parents. I wanted to keep her on schedule as much as possible. I'm gonna bring her by tomorrow when I stop by the house for a change of clothes."
"T, when was the last time you got sleep? No offense but you look like hell."
"That's what Cecelia said when she was here earlier," TC said, laughing slightly. "I just don't want to miss her waking up," he said, taking her hand.
-X-
"Why didn't you tell us about James? Is that even his real name?"
"I didn't want you and your sister to look at me any differently. It may have come back to bite me in the ass though."
"How much does mom know?"
"She knows I had an affair and that I have a son. But she didn't want you to meet him until you both were older. And then I died and you never got to meet him until now. Well, I guess Caroline met him. You still need to meet him."
"As long as he won't end up stalking me, I think we'll be fine," Jordan said. She sighed gently and felt a warm sensation in her hand. "What was that?"
"That means someone's holding your hand."
Jordan smiled to herself. "I bet the whole squad is in the waiting room. When they're not at the station, that is." She tucked her hair behind her ear. "Are you proud of me?"
"I am in awe of you and your sister every day. I love seeing the women the two of you are becoming. And getting to look after you and my grandkids is just a dream come true."
-X-
"You know," Gwen said, sitting in a chair next to TC. "I remember when I first came to San Antonio and we all went out to celebrate. Because you guys wanted to show me a true San Antonio night."
"I remember parts about that night," TC said, running a hand through his hair. "And I remember my hangover I had the next day."
"We all had them the next day. Except for Jordan. I swear, I don't know how she does it."
"Thanks for taking me out and showing me what San Antonio is like!" Gwen said to Jordan, yelling over the music in the nightclub.
"No problem. You needed this. We needed this," Jordan said. "When was the last time we had a night to ourselves anyway?"
"True! I'm going to get something else to drink. Do you want something?"
"I'll come with you," Jordan said, brushing some of the hair off her face.
The two of them walked over to the bar and Jordan accidentally ran into someone. "Sorry. T!" she said, her face lighting up. "Gwen, this is TC, my partner at the station. TC, this is my best friend Gwen and hopefully a new medical examiner at San Antonio Memorial."
"I didn't know you were coming here tonight. This is where the guys from the lab and the squad came. If we knew you were here, we all could have hung out."
"Don't worry about it," Jordan said, smiling at him. "We're getting more drinks, do you want something?"
"I'll get this round."
"Jordan should always be cut off once she starts drinking Long Islands," Gwen said, laughing slightly to herself. "There was one day we were at a party to celebrate the end of the year, and Jordan drank an entire six pack on her own and then took three shots of whiskey on an almost empty stomach. I've never seen her be so sick before." Gwen sighed and took her hand. "She's going to have to be okay."
-X-
"Dad?" Jordan asked, turning to face him, noticing he was starting to look a little blurry. "Is there a certain time I have to decide to go back? Because I really want to spend more time with you."
"It's going to have to be soon. But just always know I'm with you and I'm watching over you." He reached out and touched his daughter's cheek. "I love you so much, Jordan."
Jordan watched as he started to fade even more. "Where do I go?"
"I'm going this way," he said, pointing in one direction. "You can't follow me. Go that way," he said, pointing in the other direction. "Erin is truly beautiful," he said, completely disappearing.
Jordan swallowed thickly and turned towards the direction that her dad had pointed in before he disappeared. "I love you, Dad," Jordan said, walking in the opposite direction of her father.
-X-
Gwen felt Jordan's hand twitch and she turned to look at her. "I think she's about to wake up," Gwen said. She heard her pager go off and sighed. "There's an emergency down in the morgue. I'll be back up as soon as I can."
TC nodded and turned his attention back to Jordan. "Come on, Jor. I know you can hear me. Just wake up so I know it'll be okay."
"I'm looking for Captain Topher Zia?" a brunette said, walking into the squad room. TC, Kenny and Drew all looked up from the case file they were looking at and looked at the visitor in the station.
"He's in a meeting with Internal Affairs. We can take your information and give it to him if you want," Drew said.
"I don't have a case. Um, I'm new here. My name's Jordan and I'm the new detective." Jordan watched as one of the guys who was sitting at a desk get up and brush past her without a word, slamming the door as he left the squad room.
"Don't mind him," the other guy in the squad room said. "The last guy who was here was his brother and died. He's just not ready for someone to replace him."
"God, Jordan, I wish I hadn't been such a jackass to you when we first met. I didn't want to get close to someone else after what happened to Thad. But I'm so glad I did. You're the best thing that has ever happened in my life. Well, you and Erin are. I don't want to raise our little girl without you. So just wake up for me, babe. Wake up for me."
TC heard a gasp and then a choking noise and looked down to see Jordan woke up. He reached over and pressed the call button, waiting almost impatiently for the doctors to come into the room.
One of them took their stethoscope off and listened to her heart and her lungs and looked up at TC. "She sounds good. We just have to take the tubing out of her throat. Can you step back for us?"
"Yeah. I'm just going to be outside," TC said, taking his phone out of his pocket as he called Cecelia.
"Please tell me you have good news," Cecelia said when she answered the phone.
"She's awake."
-X-
"You look like you need to sleep," Jordan said a few hours later, looking over at TC from her hospital bed. "I'd gladly give up my hospital bed for you."
TC smiled at her and got up and kissed her on the forehead. "Not a chance. I'm not sleeping until you're home safely with me and Erin."
"When I was in the coma, I had a dream, I guess you could call it," Jordan said, swallowing thickly. "I was with my dad and he said Erin's beautiful."
"Can't argue with that. Speaking of Erin, she should be coming here anytime now." TC said, looking down at Jordan, smiling when he saw her face light up.
"You and Erin are the reason I'm alive," Jordan said, twisting her engagement ring on her finger. "Did you bring the ring to the hospital with you?"
"Yeah. I wanted you to have it on while you were here. In case I wasn't here when you woke up. I wanted you to know I was here."
Jordan shifted her sitting position and leaned up to kiss TC. "I love you so much," she whispered, running a hand down his cheek.
The two of them heard the door open and Jordan looked over, feeling her breath catch in her throat when she saw her mom come into the room, holding Erin in her arms. "Mom…" Jordan said, feeling tears come to her eyes.
"I'm so glad you're okay," Cecelia said, sitting on the side of the bed that TC wasn't sitting on. "I was so worried about you." She handed Erin to Jordan and kissed her daughter on the forehead. "I'm so glad you're okay," she whispered again.
"Me too, Mom. Me too."
-X-
"Go home and get some sleep," Jordan said to TC when her mom was getting ready to take Erin home to put her to bed. "I'll be here in the morning. I promise."
"Are you sure? I'm fine staying another night…"
"Go home," Jordan said with a little more force. "Mom, make sure he gets some sleep tonight."
"I'll try my best," she said, smiling at Jordan. "We'll be by tomorrow morning. You need to try and get some sleep too."
"I feel like sleep is all I've been doing lately," Jordan said, leaning back against the pillows. She watched her mom, TC and Erin leave the hospital room and she sighed.
"Hey," she heard someone say behind her. She felt her spine stiffen and turned around and saw Dave Marshall standing there. "Did you miss me?"
"You're not real," she said, feeling her heart start to beat faster and the heart monitor started to beat faster. "You're not real!" she yelled, throwing a pillow in the direction where Marshall had been standing.
"Hey, Jordan, calm down," Gwen said, coming into the hospital room.
"I swear he was here," Jordan said, trying to take a few deep breaths. "I saw him here."
"I know," Gwen said, reaching out to take Jordan's hand. She gave it a small squeeze and looked her best friend in the eye. "I hate to tell you this, but moment's like the one you just had are going to happen for awhile."
"Really?"
"Yeah," Gwen said. "When I first came to San Antonio, I had terrible nightmares that I'd wake up one morning and find Jake here. And when I stopped having nightmares, I'd think I'd see him on street corners."
"You never told me that."
"I know. It never really seemed like the appropriate time. But now it does," Gwen said, sitting next to Jordan on the bed. "I'm sure everyone's telling you this, but I'm really glad you're okay. I don't know what I'd do without my best friend in my life."
"I'm glad I'm okay too. I still feel like I haven't done enough good in the world."
"Trust me, Jordan, you've done so much good in this world. Don't ever forget that."