Jordan snuggled Jack close to her and kissed the top of his head.
"Can you stay with me until I fall asleep?" he asked with a smile.
"Sure honey." she said pulling the covers tighter over his still chilly little body.
"I mean both of you." Jack scooted closer to the edge of the bed. "There's enough room for all three of us."
Woody met Jordan's eyes and after a second stepped into the room "Sure buddy...if it's okay with your mama."
Jordan moved closer to Jack to make room for him to lie down next to her.
Jack struggled to bring his arms out of the covers that his mother had tuck tightly around him and sat up. He reached blindly for Woody arm and brought it over Jordan.
"Closer. Mama, you can stop shivering now, he's big and warm. I know."
Jack didn't let go of Woody's hand as he settled down closer to his mother.
"Just like a stack of spoons in the drawer Mama." Jack remarked between yawns.
Jordan was very conscience of Woody's warm body pressed tightly in back of her. She could still smell the scent of chimney smoke and pine that clung to his clothes. The clock in the great room stuck the time as Jordan began to relax. The thoughts of Jack lying frozen and lifeless on the side of the road were fading. She pulled Gaylord closer to his master.
Jack released his hold on his father's hand as sleep claimed him. Woody placed his hand on Jordan's hip and kissed her shoulder as he began to level himself out of the bed. Jordan turned to face him and reached out to touch his face.
".......thank you Woody." she whispered.
"Don't thank me Jordan. If I wasn't here....this would have never happened..."
"Don't say that."
As if almost on reflex she wrapped her hand around his neck and brought his lips down to meet hers. Woody's hand reached out to grab a handful of bedspread to keep from exploring her soft warm flesh as the kiss deepened. He grudgingly lifted his head when he felt his self-control slipping. When she reached for him again he pulled away with one last brush of her hair with his finger tips. Quietly, he left the room.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jack woke in a pool of sweat. The blankets and his mother's arms were constricting. He wiggled a little and she loosened her grip. He realized he had to pee. He had to pee...bad. He wiggled himself out from under the covers and ran to the bathroom. Once he remembered to flush the toilet and wash his hands he peeked into the master bedroom. That bed was so much bigger. His Daddy wouldn't mind. Quietly he crept into the room and slid stealthy into the tall bed. Jack felt safe and sound as his breath slowed to the calm steady rhythm of sleep.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In the early morning light, Woody woke up the sensation of a toe in his ear. He lay there with his eyes closed fighting the feeling of deja vue. The last time this had happened he was in the cheap motel outside of Arlington. His mouth had tasted like cotton, his jaw ached and the toe in question was painted the most hideous shade of Hawaiian Punch red. He ran was tongue around his teeth counting them and felt nothing out of the norm. He took it as a good sign and cracked one eye open. He smiled when he noticed the toe was connected to a small, healthy pink foot belonging to Jack.
Carefully, Woody sat up and looked at Jack sleeping soundly beside him like a toad lying in the sun after a little boy had rubbed its belly until it fell asleep. He had to swing a leg off the bed to keep his balance; some how during the night, Jack had crowded him until he was sleeping on the very edge of the bed.
He reached out a hand to toy with a baby soft lock of hair that fell over Jack's brow. He was right, not only was Jack's hair the same color as Jordan's but it had the same texture.
"Congratulations, you've hit another mile-stone with a parent's love. It allows you to sleep comfortably on twelve inches of a king-size mattress."
Woody looked up to see Jordan leaning on the doorframe. He put a finger to his lips and slid the rest of the way out of the bed.
With one last look at Jack he left the room and took Jordan's hand and led her downstairs.
"When I woke up and he wasn't beside me I came looking. I hope he didn't keep you up all night."
"I didn't even know he was there until just now."
"It took me over a year not the hit the ceiling every time he even twitched in the middle of the night."
They walked into the kitchen and Woody noticed the two glasses on the counter and remembered there was still some unsettled business from last night. He needed to get back to Boston and give Jordan some space; and himself for that matter. The kisses they had shared only served only to remind him how much he wanted her.
"Jordan, I've been thinking....."
"I have been too, Woody...and I'm going to have to turn down your proposal."
"What?"
"It's just that five years is long time. Things are different...We're different."
"Is it someone else?"
"Would you stop that? No, it's not Eddie or anybody else...It's just... I don't see why we can't just go back to being friends. I just don't want to open Jack up to anymore...confusion. He's normalcy in his life."
Woody felt that old familiar wall of hers rising up again. Only this time she had fortified with Jack.
"Friends? That kiss last night was far from just...friendly, Jordan."
Jordan toyed with one of the discarded glasses on the counter.
"We were both tired and coming off an adrenalin rush. Neither of us was thinking correctly..."
"I'm not going to fight with you about this, but I'm going to give up either. I only asked you to keep the door open on the idea Jordan."
"Please understand Woody."
"I think I do. I let you down one to many times. I know I don't deserve it, but I'm going to get you to trust me again."
"Woody..."
"I'm heading back to the city today. I have a pile of work on my desk and I still need to find a place to live. I'll leave as soon as Jack wakes up."
~~~~~~~~~~
Jack waved one last time as Woody's car pulled away.
"When's he coming back Mama?"
When Jack didn't get an answer he looked up at Jordan. Woody's car was long out of sight but she remained staring out the window.
"Mama?"
Jack's concerned voice snapped Jordan out of her reverie.
"Did you say something, baby?"
Jack wrapped his arms around his mama's hips.
"It's alright Mama, Daddy said he was just going back to Boston and we can call him anytime."
Jordan gave Jack a weak smile remembering Jack stuffing the slip of paper that had Woody's phone number on it, deep in his pants pocket.
"....Yes, he did."
Woody had scribbled the number down as he was racing out the door. He paused long enough to tell Jack that if he ever got lost again he could call him, instead of Eddie.
"Why did Daddy have to go?"
Jordan looked out the window, but she wasn't noticing the frost covered trees. She was seeing red taillights pulling away from Pogue on that fateful night. She was hearing the deafening click of her door as the dawn was just taking the shadows out of her apartment. Both times he HAD to go...he didn't have a choice. Just like now, but this time she could do something about it.
"Jack, start rounding up your stuff...We're going home."
"Will Daddy be there?"
"I hope so."
Eyeing the dirty dishes and pondering the laundry, Jordan figured they could be back in Boston by mid afternoon.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Woody stood at the window in his hotel room watching the cold rain fall on the dark city. Everything looked as grey as he felt. He was so busy trying to reclaim his past that he had pushed Jordan to fast. He couldn't blame her for not trusting him. He's done nothing but make a fool out himself since came back to town.
Normalcy was a foreign word to him. Jordan was right, he thought. How could he offer Jack normalcy when he was still living in the mayhem that has been his very existence for so many years.
He could hear the sirens of a fire truck rushing through the traffic below. There was something he needed to do. He grabbed his coat and left.
~~~~~~~~~
Woody pulled into the water darkened parking lot. The rain had slowed to a fine mist that reflected in the street lights.
The last time he was there he watched as his life blowup, not with the big bang that Bernard had promised him, but a grotesque mixture of flames and smoke that spiraled over the empty buildings and tenements that lined the narrow street. He stepped out of his car and looked around. Any trace of the explosion had long since disappeared.
Like it never happened.
But it did and he lived with that fact everyday. He pulled his collar up on his coat and jammed his hands into his pockets. His fingers closed around his phone. He laughed out loud with the irony of it. He had come there to put some old memories to rest and think about the future. A future that included a son...a family. His family. He pulled out the phone.
Standing wet and cold in a deserted parking lot, HIS deserted parking lot, he decided to end this facet of his life, once and for all.
He quickly dialed the number with suddenly sweaty finger tips. His father answered it on the second ring.
"Hi, it's me....it's me Woody"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Jordan breathed a sigh of relief when she saw Woody's car sitting in the parking lot. She was running out of places to look. She pulled over when she saw him standing under the street light talking on his phone. She waited until he hung up and she dialed.
"Hey stranger."
"Jordan! Ah..... Hi. Is everything alright?"
"No it's not....Woody, the next time you leave someone your phone number, make sure it's the current one."
Jordan watched as Woody looked at his handset and then the ground. He replied with a chuckle.
"I'm sorry Jordan; I'm still not use to my Boston numbers."
"Well, I can tell you the FBI is not very willing to give out personal numbers."
"Then how did you...never mind. Nigel?"
"Yeah, it wasn't as easy as he thought it would be but all in all it took him about three minutes..."
Jordan watched as he shifted his feet and nodded his ear still to the phone. She stepped out onto the curb and closed her door silently.
"So, what are you thinking about?"
Woody sighed and leaned against his car. He reflected for a moment and then answered honestly, no longer afraid to hide his feelings.
"....You....Jack...and where I go from here."
Jordan stopped walking taken aback by his honesty. She had assumed he was brooding over the choices he has made in his life, not his future. She smiled when she remembered a time they had a similar conversation.
"......Ahh...so....you're back to thinking about where home is?"
"Uh huh...." he said looking up into the sky and recalling the flames that once seemed to lick the stars. "I've been running around in circles for five years, I'm right back where I started and I still I don't know where home is anymore. Maybe you could tell me exactly where that is again...."
Jordan stood silently for a moment taking in his slumped shoulders. She resumed walking,
"I already told you...home is right behind you..."
Woody's head snapped up and he slowly turned. He looked over the hood of his car to see Jordan walking toward him the phone fixed to her ear.
"I thought I'd find you here."
"That's funny; I swore to myself I would never turn down this street again." Woody replied not willing to hang up the phone.
"Okay, to tell you the truth it was on my second page of ideas. Your office was empty...and Mayer tried to tell me I was fool to bother, and Nigel said your government credit card doesn't list individual charges for hotels, Lily and I canvassed everyplace within ten city blocks of the field office...nobody would talk. Dad didn't know..... Eddie refused to put out an APB in your car....Emmy's still claiming she's seeing ghosts..."
"Interrogating half of Boston to find me?"
Woody looked over her shoulder toward the street and her dark vehicle.
"He's at Garret's. The last time I checked Renee was reading him a bedtime story..."
"I hope it's not 'Hamlet'."
Jordan pulled the phone from her ear and looked at the sedan that was parked between them and thought of the other car that once stood between them.
"Sometimes...when I close my eyes I can see that corpse. I can feel the weight of the evidence in my hands. And now I stand here with my eyes wide open and realize that it's all in the past. I know now that I never really moved on. We've both been running in circles for the last five years and it's time for both of us to let it go."
"Jordan..."
"No, let me finish... I don't know what tomorrow brings. I just know I want to try....to try and share it with you."
Woody knew it's not the answer to his proposal that he truly wanted but he also knew she was keeping the door wide open of the idea. He put his phone back into his coat pocket and walked around the other side of the car to stand face to face with her.
"I take it...for now" he added with a smile. "Ah, do you have to go get Jack or do you want to go get a cup of coffee or something?"
Jack was fine Jordan thought. "I'd like that."
"There's a diner right up the street, the coffee use to be lousy, but..."
"I was thinking more along the lines of something quieter," she smiled.
"Why Jordan Cavanaugh, are you inviting me up to your apartment?" He teased.
"No, I'm asking you to come home," she replied in all seriousness.
Woody stood in a daze as Jordan stood on her toes and kissed his frosty cold lips. He was still motionless when she took off running across the parking lot.
"What are you waiting for farm boy?"
Woody leaned back on his car and laughed out. He could never remember being so happy. He was still laughing as he watched her taillights pull away. The rain had stopped and the first shimmer of city dimmed moonlight broke through the clouds.
Woody tossed his keys in the air. Tomorrow would dawn bright and clear. Full of promise of a beautiful new start.
The End
~~~~~~~~~~
Hokey ending I know but it had to end somewhere...so why not end it at the beginning.
Thanks for everybody's feedback. It's nice to know somebody is reading this thing. Frankly, it damn near kicked my butt. Jo.
Thanks Again Beth!