Have you seen Jordan?" Woody asked Nigel.
"Sure, mate. She's in her office. She's been there since this morning when she got to work. She's going over the reports on the victim we autopsied yesterday."
"Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure. I haven't seen her leave and I've been in my office all morning."
"Well, she's not answering her phone."
"She could have had Emmy hold her calls…"
"Not her cell phone calls…unless Jordon routed her cell phone through the switchboard."
"That's a possibility. She was looking quite worn when she came in…said she was a bit overwhelmed with your talk this morning."
Woody nodded. That was why he was here. He wanted to take her to lunch. To make sure she got some food in her and that she was okay. He knocked on her office door. No answer.
Nigel gave him a worried glance. "Maybe she's lying down?"
Deliberately Woody knocked again. Harder this time. Nothing. In pure panic mode, he opened the door. The room was empty.
"Where'd she go, Nige?"
"No clue, Hey Garret – have you seen Jordan?"
"No…not since this morning."
"Page her."
"What?"
"Page her. We can't find her."
"Oh, shit."
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Jordan was still on auto pilot. She had got in her SUV completely numb, but with one goal in mind. Garrett had said she was good at running. Let's see if she remembered how good she was. Arriving back at her apartment, she hurriedly threw some clothes in a duffle bag and grabbed her meds off the counter. Make up. Hair dryer. Then her eyes caught Woody's cologne bottle on the back of the sink. Hesitantly, she picked it up and held it to her nose. That was his scent. Sort of a musky male woodsy scent. 'What the hell?' she thought. 'It may be all I have to remember him by.' The cologne bottle got thrown in the bag, too.
Grabbing the bag she hurried downstairs and into her SUV. So far so good. But her head was still pounding, despite the medication. If she could make it to the airport and she'd be okay. Someone else could do the driving from there. She'd take the first flight to wherever. She had her ATM card. She could get money while she waited on the plane.
Only her mind wasn't letting her body drive to the airport. Whatever this automatic pilot thing was, it wasn't allowing her to go there. Her body wasn't sure where her mind was taking her, but it seemed to know the way. Jordan simply reacted. Finally she found herself in a quiet part of town she didn't remember. It wasn't familiar at all. It was a cemetery.
Still questioning herself, she parked her car and got out. Now her feet were automatically taking her down a sidewalk. It was quiet here, real peaceful. Maybe she just needed to think. But she couldn't stop. Whatever it was possessing her, it kept driving her forward. Two sidewalks over, once to the right, now down a path. Then her feet stopped. She looked in front of her and saw it. A gravestone with the name Emily Cavanaugh.
She looked at it for what seemed like the longest time, her mind turning pictures and thoughts over like a kaleidoscope – the visions coming together and then fracturing apart again. Her head was pounding now. It hurt worse than ever. She thought she was going to pass out again. Then the memory kicked in, like a shaft of light in a dark room. Emily Cavanaugh was her mother. And her mother was dead. With a cry like a lost child, she turned to run away, and collided with Woody.
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He held her for the longest time, sitting on a bench, near her mother. He just let her cry herself out. He didn't tell her she'd be okay. He didn't tell her to hush. He just let her sob until she couldn't anymore. He figured that's what she really needed to do. Get it all out.
When she had finally stopped, he pulled her closer. "You better now?' he asked.
She shook her head no. He began to stroke her back. Gradually, he felt her muscles relax and her breathing return to normal. "How come you know just what to do?" she asked, wondering at his ability to calm her down.
"Lots of experience."
She pulled away from him a little and looked at his face. "This is it." It was a statement, and not a question.
"Yes."
"So this is the reason I go after the truth so hard….I need it in my own life. I don't know why she died."
Woody studied her closely. She was almost back. Almost. But there were still some pieces of her puzzle missing.
"Yeah, Jo. That's it."
"And everyone else knows, too, don't they? That's why they're still my friends….they understand."
"Uh-huh"
She was quiet for a little while, still leaning against him, trying to gather her strength from him. But she couldn't. At least not yet. She just wanted him to hold her as the pieces of her life began to slide back into place in her memory. "Do you have to go back to work?" she finally asked.
"No. The whole place went ape-shit when we discovered you were missing."
Jordan managed to give him a weak grin. "Sorry. I don't know what possessed me. I had to get away. It was like I was on auto pilot or something. My mind was writing checks and my body was cashing them as quick as it could. I didn't even know I was coming here until I did."
"It's okay. Ready to go home?"
She nodded.
"Me, too. As soon as I call Garrett and let him know you're fine."
Jordan leaned back into his arms again as he called Garrett and relayed what had happened. The relief in Garrett's voice was obvious as he told Woody to make sure Jordan took the rest of the day off and any more time she may need.
"Can you drive?" he asked Jordan.
She nodded.
"You can follow me if you don't remember the way."
"I don't need to. I remember now."
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Woody watched her as she unpacked her duffle bag back at her apartment. "I can't believe you were seriously considering running again," he commented.
"This memory thing was driving me nuts," she said. "I just had to get away for a while. I was coming back."
Curiously, he picked up his bottle of cologne from her bag. "And why did you pack this?"
He was sitting in the middle of her bed, with his back against the headboard and his legs stretched out in front of him. Slowly she straightened up from the bag and walked over to him. She sat down beside him, facing him, so she could look into his eyes. "I wanted something to remember you by. I wasn't sure you'd still be here when I got back."
His eyebrows hit his hairline. "What made you think that?"
"Well, this was before most of my memory came back – I didn't know how you could stay with me after …..well, after everything. I thought you deserved something, someone better." She looked down at her hands. "And in some ways you do. After everything I've been through, there's not a lot of 'me' left."
He reached for her and pulled her closer. "I'll take what's left any day…there's more to you than meets the eye, you know."
She hugged him back, closing her eyes and simply relishing his nearness. His scent. Just him, pure and simple. She felt his hands roaming her back. "Hmmm. You're going to put me to sleep."
He chuckled. "I don't want you asleep. I just want you relaxed."
Jordan felt a frizzle of excitement run up her spine. "Just relaxed? And why do you want me relaxed? Will you tell me or will I have to try to remember?"
"You can't remember this, sweetie…."
"Oh, really. Can I imagine?"
"You don't need to imagine. It's going to be better than anything you could create in that pretty, little head of yours." And he began to kiss her, gently deepening each one as he felt her respond. Finally he rolled her over on her back, so he could look in her eyes. "What about the wall, Jordan?" he asked.
"Wall….oh, that wall…." She looked at him from beneath her lashes. "I think it's down."
"You think?"
She smiled at him. "It's down, Woody."
"No professional hang ups … no fear of me hurting you or you hurting me?"
"I said no."
Woody grinned at her. She was becoming more like the old Jordan every minute. He continued. "No morning regrets? No tearful excuses?"
"Woody….would you please get on with it?"
"Begging now, huh?"
She looked at him and sighed. He was getting some of his own back and she knew it. And well, he deserved to.
Somewhat shyly, she replied. "I guess so…..I mean if what is going to happen is going to be better than what I am imagining, then you're going to be here a while…feel up to it?" she asked, reaching down and tracing his hardness lightly with her fingertips.
His reply was a groan. "Damn, woman."
Jordan chuckled and turned her attention to the buttons on his shirt, gently kissing his chest as she released each one. He soon returned the favor, and his reward was having her arch against him and moan. He pulled her shirt off and reached for the front clasp on her bra. "You're sure?" he whispered. "This could change everything."
"I'm sure…yes… please…"
The bra came off, followed by her jeans. Jordan felt like she was floating, as his lips and tongue explored her neck and collarbone. She reached for his belt and felt him pull away and shift slightly so she could undo it and his pants. Then she pushed his pants and boxers down as far as she could. He finished taking them off, and settled between her legs, his hardness pressing against the inside of her thigh. He continued to kiss her to keep her distracted long enough for his hand to trail up to her breast. She moaned again. That seemed to almost push him over the edge, as his other hand went for her briefs, only to find that her underwear tied at the sides. Observing this fact, he pulled away slightly and looked in her eyes, slowly undoing the tiny ribbons on one side before moving to the next and gently sliding them away. "That was a pleasant surprise," he whispered in her ear, softly teasing her.
She arched against him and felt him catch his breath. Without any other hesitation, he entered her. "Jordan, look at me," he said. She slowly raised her eyelids and looked into his blue eyes. "Stay with me, sweetie," he said. "Don't close your eyes." He moved in her again, and this time her breath hitched. He kept moving, slowly at first and building momentum until he felt her contract around him and she went over the edge.
"Woody…." She whispered softly, her breath sending shivers up his spine, as he followed her over that edge.
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"Jordan," Woody said later. She was snuggled up on his chest, not asleep, but somewhere in the blissful place between consciousness and sleep. "Jo…" he said again, when she didn't answer. "You awake?"
"I am now."
Woody nearly laughed out loud. She was almost all the way back…so close to being her old self. "I forgot to tell you something."
"Oh, who's memory is giving them trouble now?" she teased propping herself up on one elbow, looking him in the eyes. "What is it?"
"I love you."
Jordan caught her breath. "What?"
"I said, I love you. And usually that merits some kind of response, like 'Oh really,' 'You don't say', something along those lines."
"What about a simple I love you, too?"
Woody reached for her. "That will do nicely."