Sorry about the slow updates, guys. I'm trying, but I think I've got my muse back, so this is a little longer than the last few. Enjoy!

Chapter Thirty-Five: Time

Jordan gently lifted the tiny infant, surprised at how light she was. "She looks so much like you, Nige," she commented with a smirk. "Except she doesn't have your nose..." Nigel grinned.

"Like I said, thank Goodness for that." He watched as his best friend held his daughter, a content smile on his face. "I want to see it before the wedding, by the way; but if this dress is as magnificent as you make it out to be, I'm sure we can work around it..." Jordan smiled sheepishly.

"Oh, it's beautiful Nigel. You're gonna love it, man. Simple and elegant..." She sighed, looking down at Erin as she rocked her slowly back and forth. "Now all we have to do is find bridesmaid dresses for Lily and Kate."

Kate groaned. "Please let me help pick them out, Jordan, the last time I had to be a bridesmaid I was stuck in this stifling lacy pink dress—" She let her head fall back onto her pillow. "It was awful!"

"Of course. I'm going to need your input on a lot of things. The wedding is only seventeen days away, and we are nowhere near ready!"

Erin gave a kitten-like mew, and Jordan immediately handed her back to her mother. "You'll be fine," Kate commented, shamelessly moving her hospital gown aside to feed her newborn baby. "Just relax for half a second, and you'll realise that it's not going to be perfect, and it doesn't have to be."

"I want our wedding to be perfect," Nigel said with a huff of annoyance, and both women raised their eyebrows at him. "Well, you know, I mean... eventually." Kate rolled her eyes.

She had adapted to motherhood well. It had been only a little over twenty-four hours after her c-section, and she was already falling into a routine. Erin was small, but she was healthier than the doctor's expected, being able to be breastfed on a regular schedule and breathing fully on her own.

"Woody wants everything to be perfect, so it's going to be perfect, if it's the last thing I do!" Jordan vowed, standing up rather ungracefully.

"You go ahead and try, love," Nigel murmured, looking down at Erin, who had fallen asleep after her afternoon meal.

XXX

Three days later, Woody watched as Bug took Maddie's hands and pulled her into a standing position for the fourth time that hour.

They were waiting in the break room, Woody for Jordan and Bug for Lily, as their girlfriends 'quickly' finished their work. The morgue was understaffed, what with Kate (and Nigel, most of the time) away with the new baby and Adriana in California for her brother's wedding. It seemed like there was always more work to be done, and the remaining employees were already sick of the tiresome routine, trying to keep the place running smoothly. They almost never got off on time.

That particular night, Woody was planning on taking Jordan out to dinner; Bug was waiting to drive Lily home because he had the car, and had already picked up their little girl.

Maddie wobbled on unstable chubby legs for a moment after Bug let go of her hands, but flopped back to the ground onto her diaper-padded bottom, just as she had the last few times. Bug sighed.

"I've almost got her walking, but she just doesn't want to seem to do it," he complained, scooping up the toddler and holding her at face-level. "Don't you want to walk for Daddy, Madeleine?"

She giggled. "Nooo," she said, her voice sounding almost sarcastic, if that was possible. "Dada!" She grabbed his nose and he sighed again.

"I'm done!" Lily announced, strolling into the room and spinning in a happy little circle. "I am completely, totally, utterly done! I never realised how much paperwork Kate does in a day until suddenly I had to do it. I have no idea how she survives, handling that mountain every evening!" Bug handed Lily their little girl as the four of them excited the break room together.

As the little family headed off towards the elevator, Woody raised his hand in farewell and gave another small sigh. He glanced longingly at the door to Jordan's office down the hall, but perked up as it opened to reveal his fiancée, pulling on her coat.

"I'm finished, now. Where are we going again?" she asked almost breathlessly. She'd just had a wonderful in-depth conversation with her brother about the state of the world (he could be such a downer sometimes!), but had to cut it short because of the dinner plans Woody had made.

Woody grinned his famous farm-boy grin and showed off his dimples. "Le Château Maisonette," he said with a great, regal flourish of his arms, "You're going to love it. My brother went and said it was great." He took one of her hands and brought it to his lips, and she laughed gently, tugging her hand away.

"Wonderful," she agreed, albeit with a rather sarcastic tone to her voice, "That means I need to change."

Woody looked at her attire with a raised eyebrow. What she was wearing was perfectly acceptable to go out to dinner in; a simple black pencil skirt and a wine-coloured button-down shirt. It was more formal than she usually wore to work, but she had forgotten it was her week to do the laundry, and ran out of clean jeans and t-shirts.

"No you don't. You look beautiful." He extended his arm in a gentlemanly manner. "Shall we?"

Jordan chuckled again, but took his arm anyway. "Sure. Why not?"

They never made it onto the elevator. "Dr. Cavanaugh! Wait!" Emmy frantically scrambled around the desk just as the elevator doors opened to admit them. "Line two is for you. It's urgent."

Jordan raised one eyebrow suspiciously. 'Urgent'? What could be so important? Her mind automatically flashed to James, even though she'd spoken to him less than ten minutes before. With her brother, it could be anything.

She looked at Woody apologetically. "I—"

"Take it," he cut her off, leading her by the arm to the front desk, where Emmy was bouncing back and forth on the balls of her heels. "It could be serious."

Jordan smiled gratefully at his understanding and quickly picked up the phone, pressing the 2. She was acutely aware that Woody was watching her, and would hear the whole conversation. She silently prayed James wasn't in too much trouble, so she they wouldn't have to break her cover.

"Cavanaugh."

"Jordan! It's me, Adriana Rodriguez. Listen, I know you're getting off work now—"

"Aren't you in California for your brother's wedding?" Jordan asked, rather startled. Whatever she had been expecting, it wasn't her pretty blonde co-worker's panicked voice.

"Yes. I'm sorry if I'm keeping you, but..." Her voice faltered and cracked. She sniffled softly, trying to regain her voice. She sounded like she was crying. "There's... there's been a... murder... and I..." Her voice grew quieter. "I didn't know who else to call." Jordan felt fear creep into her stomach. A murder at Carlos Rodriguez's wedding? The wedding service should have been well underway, if not almost finished, by now. Jordan bit her lip worriedly, hoping upon hope that it wasn't Adriana's brother who had been killed.

"A murder?" She glanced at Woody, who looked at her quizzically. "Who's the victim?"

"Christ Michaels... sorry, no. Chris Rodriguez, I suppose. He's my... was my brother-in-law, officially as of an hour ago." Jordan swore silently.

"The groom." Adriana sniffled.

"They won't let me do the autopsy, because of my conflict of interest. But they said we could request someone else to do it. It's our right over here. Carlos doesn't... doesn't want a stranger cutting open his husband, so we were wondering... hoping, really..." She paused for several seconds. "Would you be willing to fly down here by tomorrow?"

"I... you're asking me?"

"Yes." Adriana sounded puzzled. "You're the best medical examiner I know, and..." She paused again. "My friend." That did it.

"I'll be there."

"Thank you, Jordan. You have no idea what that means to me— to us."

"I take it we're cancelling dinner?" Woody said, sounding slightly put-out. Jordan gave him a sad looked.

"I'm sorry, Woody, but this is important." He nodded.

"It's okay. ...Who died this time?"

"A groom at the wedding Adriana went to. Her brother's wedding." Jordan started to walk back towards her office slowly, with Woody right beside her. "So... you up for another trip to LA?"