...She looked so small standing there in my Packers t-shirt. I briefly imagined her uttering the same words to her mother or father as a young child. I sat up in the bed to get a better look at her. She had definitely been crying. Her cheeks were streaked with tears and her chest was heaving slightly with the shaky breaths of a person who had recently been gasping between sobs. I cursed myself for not having heard her cries and gone to her sooner. I sat up and the still cool sheets, not yet draped over me long enough to have been warmed by my body heat, slid down my bare chest and crept to a stop at my navel. I leaned back on my hands and sighed.

"Of what?" I asked slowly having been bewildered out of my dozing slumber.

Jordan shifted her feet on the shag carpet and wrapped her arms around herself. She chuckled sadly. "Tonight?" She asked and looked up at the ceiling for an answer. "Everything."

She said and I got the impression that this was her way of telling me she would rather not be alone right now. Even if she was only about 12 feet from me in the room.

I smiled sadly and beckoned her over with a nod. She jumped away from the wall and reached around the corner of the hallway to grab the pillow she had cleverly planted there in hopeful preparation that I would invite her to join me. I smiled and grabbed my own pillow, prepared to move to the recliner beside the sofa bed and let Jordan have the couch. Before I could move though, Jordan was suddenly beside me on the bed, a hand gripping tightly around the crook of my arm. I turned to her, bent on inquiring into what was wrong, but before the words could leave my mouth, Jordan interrupted me.

"Woody," She said softly but with a touch of desperation, "A VERY independent woman with personal space issues who you have developed a reasonably strong attraction to and vice versa is asking you to HOLD her and let her make-believe, if only for a night, that her world is NOT being torn apart at the seams and that she is safe and protected and...and...someone gives a damn."

She stopped to take the pillow out of my arms and lay it back down on the sofa bed, as I could only continue to kneel, dumfounded, on the edge of the sofa bed in my underwear and stare at her.

"So" She continues, "just...go with it okay?"

She says slipping under the covers and pulling the sheets up around herself before rolling to her side with her back to me. I remained kneeling for a few more seconds, making sure that I had heard everything I just heard clearly, and then slowly lay back down on the thin, uncomfortable mattress and pulled the sheets up around myself. After another few seconds, I uncertainly inched forward and lay my arm over Jordan's slender midsection under the covers. My hand slid over the rough, worn lettering of the old t- shirt and I let my fingers toy nervously with it for a moment as I tried to decide how best to approach holding her.

Jordan, frustrated with my reluctance, rolled once again, this time to face me, and one soft, smooth arm finagled it's way around my own waist as the other arm traveled up my chest and slipped possessively between my neck and the mattress. Jordan let the hand of that arm lay gently on my shoulder, the longest fingertip nearly able to reach out and run along my collarbone. She sighed heavily and tucked her head under my chin.

Inadvertently, I sighed as well and the slow breeze of air from my nose rustled Jordan's hair and it tickled my upper lip. I relaxed into her arms, and then pulled her body closer to mine. I let my left hand lay at the base of her spine, just at the small of her back and with the other, I held her tightly around the shoulders in the same way she held me. In this position, Jordan was shifted higher up the bed and we were face to face. I wasn't surprised to find her eyes opened wide. She stared intently into my eyes in the dark and I swallowed hard.

"You don't have to be afraid anymore, Jordan." I whispered softly across the millimeters between us. She blinked slowly, her body finally succumbing to sleep. "I'm with you now. You're safe. You're protected." I said taking her legs with my own and molding my larger muscular frame to be nearly on top of her. It was in no way a sexual gesture, I just wanted to be as close to her as possible. Jordan wiggled her toes against my hairy legs as she drifted off into a semi-peaceful sleep.

I watched for the even breathing of deep sleep, and when I was sure she was out, I placed a soft, light-as-air kiss on her lips. She stirred slightly and I returned my chin to its resting place on top of her head.

Around three am, I was awakened by a nagging pull that I quickly recognized as a full bladder.

I hated to leave Jordan when she was sleeping so soundly, but the risk of embarrassing myself by wetting the bed like a 3 year old made it a little more tolerable. I slowly untangled our knotted limbs and slid out from under Jordan. She stirred but then grabbed onto my pillow and drifted off again. I crept to the bathroom and didn't even bother to shut the door for fear I would wake her up. I took care of business and then picked up some discarded clothing on the bathroom floor, trying to respect the fact that a woman was around and keep tidy. As I was gently placing the clothes in my hamper while scanning the small room for a pair of shorts to put over my boxer-briefs, I heard a few soft "No's" from the other room. I stood still so I could listen better, my ears honing in on the source. I heard the sofa bed creak and the sheets being swished around on the bed.

"No! Please! James! I won't tell you...I won't tell...I won't tell where he is! No! Don't!"

As soon as Jordan began to cry out, I hurried back into the room and flipped on the dim kitchen light as I rushed to the couch. I took Jordan in my arms tightly and rocked her awake, calling her name softly into her ear. Jordan blinked awake and strained to catch her breath. She hid her face shamefully in the crook of my arm and I sighed when I felt warm tears on my skin.

We stayed that way for what seemed like an hour but was probably a few minutes and then Jordan sat slowly up, and looked around the room. Finally, she let her eyes fall on me and more pointedly, on my lack of clothing that she hadn't noticed earlier. I smiled and reached under the bed, yanking out my dress pants and sleeveless undershirt.

"I think we need a drink." I said pulling the shirt over my head and pulling up the pants but not bothering to fasten them.

Jordan just nodded silently and I helped her off the bed. She padded barefoot across the kitchen floor and took a seat at the small table. I set two glasses down and put some whiskey in each. We sat silently for several minutes; each slowly sipping our drinks, and finally Jordan spoke.

"I was so scared Woody." She said pulling her legs up on the chair and pulling the shirt over them in a very child-like way. I didn't say anything, just let her continue.

"When he told me...that I had just swallowed methylhexital...it...it...felt like I had been raped."

I must have scared Jordan a little, because I am sure my head snapped quickly up and all of the adrenaline in my body had me poised to take off and shoot someone. She sensed my concern and raised a hand, shaking it vigorously.

"No, no... no he didn't touch me. I just....you know FELT violated." She said and I felt my muscles relax slowly. I began to slowly spin my glass on the table.

"You wanna talk about it?" I asked and looked up from my glass to Jordan's eyes. She sighed heavily.

"When I told him that...I knew he was James' father...he barely flinched....like he was prepared for this. I should have known what he was doing. He...he...got up and went right to the drinks. I'm not an idiot. And I'm certainly not naïve. I'm a cop's daughter and I fell for that." She said ashamed and rested her chin on her knees. I shook my head.

"He was a cop too Jordan. He knew how to play you. This wasn't your fault at all except that." I said and trailed off, not wanting to start a fight with her tonight.

Jordan looked up and narrowed her eyes at me.

"Except that what?" She asked defensively. I sighed and stood from the table, carrying my glass to the sink.

"You were right when I came and bailed you out of jail in California. I HAD said that I would help you. Even though it had been 3 months earlier and I said that it wasn't fair of you to use that when you did....you were right. I will ALWAYS help you, Jordan. I meant that. And tonight you chose not to ask for it when you needed it most. You have to learn to trust me. Seriously, I am as far from your enemy as I can get. So why didn't you ask me to go with you to see Malden? None of this would have happened if you had just ASKED me to go."

I looked out the kitchen window at the building across the street.

"I'd do just about anything for you, Jordan." I said softly, setting the glass down in the sink.

When I turned back to Jordan, She was standing right next to me, her glass already on the counter. There were tears in her eyes again, but I had a sneaking suspicion that they weren't sad tears. I was wrong.

"I'm...I'm sorry...that I let you down Woody. I never meant to hurt you. I say I'm not worried about hurting my friends...but...I'm the wolf man." She said with a sad chuckle and I narrowed my eyes in confusion at her. I didn't really get the point, but Jordan apparently did and that's all that mattered right then.

She stepped forward and wrapped her arms around my waist. I wrapped my own arms securely around her shoulders and kissed the top of her head. We stayed that way for several minutes, and then Jordan spoke.

"What's the matter?" She asked quietly. "Not gonna try and sneak another little kiss tonight?" She asked and lifted her head from my chest to look into my scarlet face.

I decided to one up her and bent my head down to capture her lips. I kissed her in the same soft manner as I had earlier, making sure to leave her not sure whether I actually kissed her or not. When I pulled back Jordan opened her eyes and smiled at me the same way she had during our last kiss in California. I smiled back and took her hand.

I led her over to the sofa bed and she quickly slid back under the covers. I pulled off my dress pants but left on the undershirt and climbed back into the bed myself. I wrapped Jordan easily in my embrace and she rolled over again to be facing me and once again wrapped an arm around my waist and one around my neck. Then she was partially on top of me, one bare leg thrown comfortably around both of mine. I wrapped both arms around her waist and ran a hand up and down her back as she fell soundly asleep once again and I followed closely behind.

When I woke up around eight, I cursed myself for the thoughts running through my mind as I realized Jordan was sprawled out over me and my hand was spread across her warm, naked hip.

Okay...ummmm, this was not good, yet I couldn't quite remove my hand. I strained for some gross things to think of... my third grade teacher Mrs. Hildy naked..ummmm, my God she is soft...sports...that's good....bad sports scenarios...ummm, Laker girls, NO...the Packers trading Favre... warm, firm...ummmmm, ...What else...oh...I wonder what Nigel does on the weekend?...maybe...Oh God! I thought, my face muscles contorting in anguish. This isn't working...it isn't working because I can tell she's wearing a thong...and I can't control how my anatomy is beginning react to this little discovery so I better think of some way out and fast! If she woke up I'd be a dead man. I stared at the ceiling, willing God to hear my pleas.

Please, please, please.. I thought cringing.... Anything but that!.... Shit, I'm a dead man. I thought helplessly as the "Southerners" were beginning to rebel against orders. Just as I was about to lose all hope of not embarrassing myself, there was a knock at my door. I slid quickly out from under a waking Jordan and hurried to the door.

I didn't even think to look through the peep hole; I just pulled open the door. And found Jordan's father standing inches away from me holding a bag of what I assumed were baked goods. It had just become official, I was a dead man. Quickly assessing my predicament, I folded my hands strategically in front of "Woody Jr." and nervously stuttered,

"Max! What a nice surprise!" I said trying to draw any and all of Max's attention away from his one and only child awakening behind me on the bed I had promised last night would hold only myself. He looked around the room, obviously noting my clothes strewn across the floor and the disarray in which the sheets of the sofa bed were in, and how could he miss the two head imprints on the pillows beside Jordan? He couldn't.

Max looked amused from Jordan, who was sitting Indian style on the mattress, a dumb 'you caught me' grin on her face, to me standing in front of him and said,

"I shoulda shot you when I had the chance, Hoyt."

He said and pushed past me into my apartment, clearly letting his authority be known. I turned quickly and began a hurried explanation.

"I swear, Max. NOTHING happened! Jordan was scared, she didn't wanna sleep alone. So I let her lay with me. I did nothing more than hold her while she slept. I swear on her life!" I said and Jordan suddenly cut in with a sleepy, 'Hey!' To which I had to admit to my two light kisses.

Max merely nodded and grumbled something as he headed into the kitchen and set down the bags. I started to say more, but as I did, Jordan and my pagers when off in unison. I embarrassedly searched the floor for my pager and Jordan picked hers up off the coffee table.

"Tick tock?" I asked quizzically and looked up from my pager at Jordan who was reading her message with a smile.

"It's from Garret." She said without doubt. "He's giving us a heads up on something." She said as I rushed to the bedroom to change, glad to have something take the attention away from me.

To be continued.....