Part 3
Yeah, I took some liberties w/the episode, making that Jabroni Daniel a
little more talkative than he actually was.
Jordan's Thoughts in Bold, Garrett's in Italic
Jordan wasn't the only one not getting enough sleep: Garrett was busy attempting to bore himself to sleep by counting snowflakes and was failing miserably.
One thousand twenty-six, One thousand twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine...Jordan...how am I gonna make this right with you? I gave you an ultimatum, and I swear it damn near killed me to see the hurt in your eyes. You're a hell of a lot like me in many respects, and I shouldn't be too surprised as I was the one that trained you: work is what we live for...One thousand-shit, what number did I leave off at? Damn it. He twisted over, his dark gaze staring straight at Jordans bedroom door.
I hurt you last night, and by the looks of things I hurt you even more than that miserable little shit did, and God help me I'm glad he's dead, I'm just pissed I didn't have the chance to kill him myself, He thought, his eyes narrowing into slits. After all, as Medical Examiners we DO have a rather intimate knowledge of the human body, don't we? I wouldn't have minded taking him into the morgue after hours for a little biopsy work... He enjoyed himself with that cheerful thought for about a half an hour or so before glancing at his watch.
4:30
Only four fuckin' thirty? God, it feels later than that, Garrett thought, his eyes straying towards Jordan's bedroom door once more. I Hope she's getting more sleep than I am.
I hope Garrett's getting more sleep than I am, Jordan thought miserably, feeling a lone tear slide down her face before it was absorbed into her pillow. One of us should at least get some sleep. Might as well be him, right? He's the one that's going into work today, after all. She felt the anger begin to stir inside her, and she punched the pillow a couple times for good measure until she felt the anger slip away. Her thoughts became jumbled, and she realized she was falling asleep after all.
That's nice....
She woke up in the graveyard.
"You're gonna look so pretty when I'm done, you know. I think you're going to be one of my best works." Daniel smiled down at her, finishing his lipstick job.
-No, nonononono, wake up damn you wake up you're at home in your bed Garrett's with you wake up WAKE UP-
"It's a pity we don't have more time together, you know it?" Daniel said rather conversationally as he closed the lower half of the coffin. "I would have definitely enjoyed having you the various ways that those men had my whore of a mother. But...time is short."
-WAKE UP
WAKE UP
WAKE UP!
THIS
ISN'T
REAL
DAMN
IT!!!-
"Tell you what... if they find you, I'll make sure to send flowers to your funeral service. It's the least I can do. Night-night..." He began to close the upper coffin lid. Light began to vanish, as did her hope.
-NOOOOOOO-
"-OOOO!!!" Jordan shrieked, clutching her blankets around her. It was light outside, and she could hear the faint familiar rumble of a snowplow in the distance. "Jesus...Jesus Christ..." The door burst open and there stood Garrett, scanning the room for any possible intruders before turning his attention to her.
"Are you okay? I heard you screaming," Garrett said, looking at her worriedly through tired eyes.
"Nightmare," Jordan gasped, taking a shuddering breath before letting it out in a rush.
"Of what happened, I take it."
"Yeah...Jesus...Why won't it stop...why won't it stop?" She stared up at him with pleading eyes, and in them he could see the child that had lost her mother so long before.
He sat next to her on the bed, and on impulse, she wrapped her arms around him. He tensed up for a moment, then relaxed, holding her close.
"Want to talk about it?"
"We were in the graveyard and he was...he was putting the makeup on me," Jordan said quietly, beginning her story. "He was talking about how 'It was a pity we didn't have more time to spend together, because he wanted to rape me before he buried me...then he said that when I was found, he was going to send flowers to the burial service-"
"-Stop." Garrett sighed, closing his eyes. He didn't want to hear the rest, couldn't.
"Well, that was the end, anyway," Jordan said, her gaze sliding down to rest on the hardwood floor. "so I don't have any problems stopping." She sighed, letting him go to wrap her arms around herself. "I just want it to stop, Garrett...I want it to stop."
"I know. Somehow, we'll find a way to make it stop."
"...Will talking help Garrett? Honestly, will talking to a shrink help?"
"It will, yeah."
"What if it doesn't? What if I waste my mother fucking time talking to the shrink and nothing changes? What then? You still gonna keep me from my job?"
"...I honestly don't know Jordan. I wish I could tell you for certain, but I'm not a mind reader. Our job, such as it is, carries a lot of stress, you know that. I don't want you to burn yourself out Jordan. With everything going on with this, and the search for your mother's killer...you're under a hell of a lot more stress than the rest of us."
"...So who do you want me to talk to?"
"It's your choice, Jordan. Either you can talk to the Office's shrink or you could go with an independent. It's up to you...but you need to talk to someone, other than me."
"...What about Lily?"
"She's not a trained psychologist Jordan, you know that. Besides, it's not like I want to do this. I don't want to take away from your life any more than necessary, and I know that talking to a psychologist will do that. But the last thing I want to do is to watch you burn out."
"How do you know I will, Garrett? I've handled other things just as bad-"
"Jordan," Garrett said, a faint smile on his face. "Don't try to get out of it."
"...Can't blame me for trying," Jordan replied with a sigh.
"Look, why don't you try to get a couple more hours sleep? I'll wake you up at around seven."
"I'll try but I can't promise anything."
Garrett got up and left the room, quietly closing her bedroom door behind him.
Jordan pulled the blankets up around her, then began to toss and turn. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to fall back asleep...
"...I can't do this."
Garrett?
"You think this is only hard for you? It's not all that fun for the rest of us, you know," Nigel replied.
What's going on? Why can't I see them?
"Does...does this even have to happen?" Lily was also somewhere nearby, it seemed.
This is freaking me out...
"Unless otherwise stated, yeah," Garrett replied with a tired sigh.
What has to happen? What are they up to?
"Are you going to be okay with this, boss?" Nigel replied softly.
"I'm going to have to be," Garrett replied. "It's the last thing I'll be able to do for her."
Wait a minute...the only place where I see Garrett, Nigel and Lily together are at work, so that means...
Bright light suddenly assaulted her eyes as she was wheeled out of one of the body storage refrigerators of the morgue.
Shit.
"Wherever you are, Jordan, I'm asking you to forgive me. I'm sorry," Garrett whispered as he picked up the scalpel typically used for doing 'Y' incisions.
He lowered it to her collarbone-
"-Jordan, wake up."
"Hunh? What?"
"Breakfast is ready."
"Oh. Yeah, okay." Garrett left her room once more to let Jordan get dressed. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Jordan was surprised to see the sun up.
"Hey. Hi. Hope you don't mind scrambled eggs," Garrett said with a grin as soon as she came out.
"No...scrambled eggs are fine, thank you." She sat down at the kitchen table, her latest nightmare still fresh in her mind. Face it Jordan, she thought wryly, You are one seriously fucked up chick.
"All right Garrett," She said suddenly, surprising them both. "You want me to get help, I'll get it...on one condition."
"Name it."
"I see the shrink after my shift. I don't want time off from work...you and I both know I'd be bugging the guys for case files on the side. Let me work, and I'll see your damned shrink. I swear it."
"Deal."
Jordan wasn't the only one not getting enough sleep: Garrett was busy attempting to bore himself to sleep by counting snowflakes and was failing miserably.
One thousand twenty-six, One thousand twenty-seven, twenty-eight, twenty-nine...Jordan...how am I gonna make this right with you? I gave you an ultimatum, and I swear it damn near killed me to see the hurt in your eyes. You're a hell of a lot like me in many respects, and I shouldn't be too surprised as I was the one that trained you: work is what we live for...One thousand-shit, what number did I leave off at? Damn it. He twisted over, his dark gaze staring straight at Jordans bedroom door.
I hurt you last night, and by the looks of things I hurt you even more than that miserable little shit did, and God help me I'm glad he's dead, I'm just pissed I didn't have the chance to kill him myself, He thought, his eyes narrowing into slits. After all, as Medical Examiners we DO have a rather intimate knowledge of the human body, don't we? I wouldn't have minded taking him into the morgue after hours for a little biopsy work... He enjoyed himself with that cheerful thought for about a half an hour or so before glancing at his watch.
4:30
Only four fuckin' thirty? God, it feels later than that, Garrett thought, his eyes straying towards Jordan's bedroom door once more. I Hope she's getting more sleep than I am.
I hope Garrett's getting more sleep than I am, Jordan thought miserably, feeling a lone tear slide down her face before it was absorbed into her pillow. One of us should at least get some sleep. Might as well be him, right? He's the one that's going into work today, after all. She felt the anger begin to stir inside her, and she punched the pillow a couple times for good measure until she felt the anger slip away. Her thoughts became jumbled, and she realized she was falling asleep after all.
That's nice....
She woke up in the graveyard.
"You're gonna look so pretty when I'm done, you know. I think you're going to be one of my best works." Daniel smiled down at her, finishing his lipstick job.
-No, nonononono, wake up damn you wake up you're at home in your bed Garrett's with you wake up WAKE UP-
"It's a pity we don't have more time together, you know it?" Daniel said rather conversationally as he closed the lower half of the coffin. "I would have definitely enjoyed having you the various ways that those men had my whore of a mother. But...time is short."
-WAKE UP
WAKE UP
WAKE UP!
THIS
ISN'T
REAL
DAMN
IT!!!-
"Tell you what... if they find you, I'll make sure to send flowers to your funeral service. It's the least I can do. Night-night..." He began to close the upper coffin lid. Light began to vanish, as did her hope.
-NOOOOOOO-
"-OOOO!!!" Jordan shrieked, clutching her blankets around her. It was light outside, and she could hear the faint familiar rumble of a snowplow in the distance. "Jesus...Jesus Christ..." The door burst open and there stood Garrett, scanning the room for any possible intruders before turning his attention to her.
"Are you okay? I heard you screaming," Garrett said, looking at her worriedly through tired eyes.
"Nightmare," Jordan gasped, taking a shuddering breath before letting it out in a rush.
"Of what happened, I take it."
"Yeah...Jesus...Why won't it stop...why won't it stop?" She stared up at him with pleading eyes, and in them he could see the child that had lost her mother so long before.
He sat next to her on the bed, and on impulse, she wrapped her arms around him. He tensed up for a moment, then relaxed, holding her close.
"Want to talk about it?"
"We were in the graveyard and he was...he was putting the makeup on me," Jordan said quietly, beginning her story. "He was talking about how 'It was a pity we didn't have more time to spend together, because he wanted to rape me before he buried me...then he said that when I was found, he was going to send flowers to the burial service-"
"-Stop." Garrett sighed, closing his eyes. He didn't want to hear the rest, couldn't.
"Well, that was the end, anyway," Jordan said, her gaze sliding down to rest on the hardwood floor. "so I don't have any problems stopping." She sighed, letting him go to wrap her arms around herself. "I just want it to stop, Garrett...I want it to stop."
"I know. Somehow, we'll find a way to make it stop."
"...Will talking help Garrett? Honestly, will talking to a shrink help?"
"It will, yeah."
"What if it doesn't? What if I waste my mother fucking time talking to the shrink and nothing changes? What then? You still gonna keep me from my job?"
"...I honestly don't know Jordan. I wish I could tell you for certain, but I'm not a mind reader. Our job, such as it is, carries a lot of stress, you know that. I don't want you to burn yourself out Jordan. With everything going on with this, and the search for your mother's killer...you're under a hell of a lot more stress than the rest of us."
"...So who do you want me to talk to?"
"It's your choice, Jordan. Either you can talk to the Office's shrink or you could go with an independent. It's up to you...but you need to talk to someone, other than me."
"...What about Lily?"
"She's not a trained psychologist Jordan, you know that. Besides, it's not like I want to do this. I don't want to take away from your life any more than necessary, and I know that talking to a psychologist will do that. But the last thing I want to do is to watch you burn out."
"How do you know I will, Garrett? I've handled other things just as bad-"
"Jordan," Garrett said, a faint smile on his face. "Don't try to get out of it."
"...Can't blame me for trying," Jordan replied with a sigh.
"Look, why don't you try to get a couple more hours sleep? I'll wake you up at around seven."
"I'll try but I can't promise anything."
Garrett got up and left the room, quietly closing her bedroom door behind him.
Jordan pulled the blankets up around her, then began to toss and turn. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't seem to fall back asleep...
"...I can't do this."
Garrett?
"You think this is only hard for you? It's not all that fun for the rest of us, you know," Nigel replied.
What's going on? Why can't I see them?
"Does...does this even have to happen?" Lily was also somewhere nearby, it seemed.
This is freaking me out...
"Unless otherwise stated, yeah," Garrett replied with a tired sigh.
What has to happen? What are they up to?
"Are you going to be okay with this, boss?" Nigel replied softly.
"I'm going to have to be," Garrett replied. "It's the last thing I'll be able to do for her."
Wait a minute...the only place where I see Garrett, Nigel and Lily together are at work, so that means...
Bright light suddenly assaulted her eyes as she was wheeled out of one of the body storage refrigerators of the morgue.
Shit.
"Wherever you are, Jordan, I'm asking you to forgive me. I'm sorry," Garrett whispered as he picked up the scalpel typically used for doing 'Y' incisions.
He lowered it to her collarbone-
"-Jordan, wake up."
"Hunh? What?"
"Breakfast is ready."
"Oh. Yeah, okay." Garrett left her room once more to let Jordan get dressed. Blinking rapidly to clear her vision, Jordan was surprised to see the sun up.
"Hey. Hi. Hope you don't mind scrambled eggs," Garrett said with a grin as soon as she came out.
"No...scrambled eggs are fine, thank you." She sat down at the kitchen table, her latest nightmare still fresh in her mind. Face it Jordan, she thought wryly, You are one seriously fucked up chick.
"All right Garrett," She said suddenly, surprising them both. "You want me to get help, I'll get it...on one condition."
"Name it."
"I see the shrink after my shift. I don't want time off from work...you and I both know I'd be bugging the guys for case files on the side. Let me work, and I'll see your damned shrink. I swear it."
"Deal."