…I was so cried out and drained that I could barely respond to the hurt so plainly displayed on Woody's face. Eddie swiftly pulled his arms from around my body and I sat up on the couch.

"Woody…I…we…" I said sniffling as I stood slowly from the couch and moved towards him. Eddie stood and laid a hand reassuringly on my shoulder.

"Hey, man, look…nothing is going on here…Jordan just needed to vent and…" Woody cut him off with a betrayed look.

"No, it's my fault…I guess I was wrong about some things." He said looking me angrily in the eyes, his jaw clenching and unclenching as he grinded his teeth.

Now I was the one that felt betrayed. I looked into Woody's eyes, my body nearly trembling with anger and then calmly took Eddie by the arm and led him to the door. I guided us around Woody like he wasn't even there. He turned with a huff to watch us, only maybe a foot and a half between us all. I stood up on my tiptoes and kissed Eddie on the cheek, my arms wrapped around his neck.

"Thanks, Eddie…I really appreciate you being here for me…" I said and Eddie smiled nervously and nodded his head. He chanced a glance towards Woody and then nodded a quick good-bye. Woody gave him a steady glare in response.

I smiled once more at Eddie as he left and I gently closed the door, and remained facing it for a second, sighing and trying to get my wits about me. Then I turned slowly around, the hot, mad tears I was trying desperately to hold back, twinkling just behind my eyelids.

"You stupid son of a bitch!" I said angrily and Woody's eyes widened in shock of my turning this on him.

"ME!? You're the one who…who said you needed SPACE and then I come here and SPACE seems to be the last thing on your mind!" he yelled, stepping closer as if daring me to tell him to back off. Imagine his surprise when instead of telling him to back off, I stepped forward and smacked him across the face.

His eyes were closed as his head snapped to the side and he sighed angrily before turning back to me. He just stared at me, the red imprint of my right hand beginning to show on his cheek. He opened his mouth and with a scary coolness asked, "What the hell was that for?"

The tears finally began to spill over my eyes, and the fear and anger still building in my gut, caused me to continue my mild tremors. I looked him right in the eye and slowly, softly said, "Don't you EVER say that again."

Woody narrowed his eyes at me, not sure which particular insult I was referring to. I understood his confusion and decided to clear it up as easily and plainly as I could.

"Do you know how hard it is for me to even LET myself feel the things I feel for you on a conscious level?!" I asked sincerely and Woody listened carefully. "What you just said to us, that you THINK you might have been wrong about some things…that…that hurt me more than I think you will ever understand." I said and Woody seemed to have missed the point and continued in his tirade.

"You're right!! I WON'T ever understand!…Not if every time I get close to you and try to learn something about you…you…you shut me out and say you need space! And, well, what would you have thought, if you were me…and…and you just walked through that door and saw what I saw?" He said and I clenched my own jaw a few times. I ignored him this time and continued with what I was saying.

"You wanna know something about me? I'll tell you something…even if I mistakenly thought you knew it already…What you just said, it almost made me question what we have…what is developing between us…" I said nearly pleading with him to understand now. He narrowed his eyes at me, the color returning to normal in his face now.

"And what's that?" He asked and I knew he didn't mean that he didn't understand, he just wanted to hear ME say it.

I sighed and took another step toward him. "We…slept together Woody." I said and he looked confused again.

"Yeah…but…but not like THAT…I mean we…" I cut him off, taking another small step towards him.

"Yeah, but it was the way I needed it to be. And you understood that…and you understand that now…" I said and laid my hand against his cheek softly, on top of where I had just smacked him. "And that's why it hurts me that you would EVER question my commitment to where this relationship…as new as it is…is going."

Woody looked at me for a long second, his eyes searching mine. He looked like he might almost believe me. Then he shook his head away from my palm and looked off across the room.

"But you and Winslow…you were…" he began frustrated and I cut him off.

"Woody, you have absolutely nothing to worry about!" I said angrily, willing him to understand that romantic love just wasn't a part of mine and Eddie's relationship. Woody shook his head.

"And how am I supposed to believe that, Jordan?! How the HELL do you expect me to believe that nothing is going on between you two when I came here and he's HOLDING you?!" He said irritably, the dots not yet connected enough to let him be able to see the picture they made.

"You wanna know?" I asked just as irritated. Woody stepped forward, hands on his hips expectantly.

"Yeah, I REALLY wanna know." He said obnoxiously.

"Oh okay…"I said my voice shaking with fear of what I was about to say. Woody cut me off, having to add his last two cents.

"Uh-huh…please tell me, I'm so very eager to hear how you love Eddie…but it's really just a brother-sister kind of love and…" I cut him off this time, having to say what I wanted to say before it was too late.

"It's because I'm not IN love with him you horse's ass. I'm in love with you!" I said as a hot tear sped down my cheek as a weight on my heart I'd been carrying for a long time was finally lifted.

Woody stood there; hands still on his hips, albeit awkwardly, trying to ease out of his defensive posture with some grace, and said nothing at first. After about 10 seconds of awkward silence between us, he squeaked out only one word.

"Oh." He looked down at his feet, ashamed on a level as a detective for not having discovered this sooner. 'Damn, I 'm good', ran through my head as I watched Woody's embarrassment. He looked up again and then ran a hand nervously through his hair.

"I'm sorry Jordan." He said finally offering me a weak smile. "I never meant to make you question you're feelings it's just…I…I feel the same way, and it's never been real easy to read you…I mean, what with the talk of walls, and…and…and getting hurt…I never expected that you felt the same way as I did. I'm so sorry." He said and stepped forward, wrapping his arms reassuringly around me. I laid my head against his chest.

After a few seconds I meekly said, "I'm sorry I slapped you." And chuckled through my tears. Woody sighed heavily and rubbed my back.

"Aww….Sweetie," Woody said and rested his chin on the top of my head. "No you're not." He said and I thought for a minute before burying my head in his chest, wishing that I could sleep in his arms again tonight, but knowing that we did need a night apart to really think out where we want to go with our relationship as well as all we had been through in the past few days.

I let a light laugh escape my lips and meekly admitted, "I know."

To which Woody chuckled harder and a large, gentle hand petted the length of my hair. Woody sighed.

"Jordan?" he said and I raised my head a little waiting for him to respond, "Since we're being honest…your floor looks like hell." He said and I pulled back, grimacing at the ugly dark stain in my floor.

"Yeah…I know…what do you think I should do about it?" I asked and Woody suggested we go to the hardware store and pick up some staining to cover it.

"Sounds good to me," I said taking his hand as I picked up my keys and purse. Woody followed me dutifully as we left the apartment. "Cause I could use a new deadbolt…" I said cutting my eyes at Woody. He decided to play along, willing to do anything to lighten the mood.

"Really?" he asked teasingly and I nodded.

"Yeah…" I said grabbing his sweatshirt off the couch and pulling it on as we left. "One of those heroic types kicked the door in the other day to save me and broke the old one." I said and Woody smiled, changing the subject by tugging on the corner of his sweatshirt.

"So…you plan on keepin' this?" he asked and I shrugged my shoulders. I looked over at a blank spot on the end table next to my couch and took silent notice that the picture of mom and myself taken right before she was killed was missing from my collection. I shrugged it off, making a mental note to deal with it later.

"If you don't mind." I said and he shook his head.

"Sleeves are…probably all stretched out anyway…" he said smiling as he turned off the light and pulled the door tightly shut behind us and recaptured my hand with his own again.