Chapter Ten

Two days had passed since Jordan had retrieved Meghan from the kidnappers. Two days in which she reveled in her daughter. The first 24-hours, Jordan hadn't let her out of her sight. Meghan slept with her. Jordan stayed in the same room with her. The second 24-hours she had let Max and Helen spend some time with her. Eddie and Annie had come by, questioning her about how she got Meghan back. For the first time, in a long time, Jordan did not cooperate with the police. She answered their questions politely, but firmly, saying that Meghan's father had arranged everything.

"You mean Woody?" Eddie had asked.

Jordan had nodded.

"Why haven't you told us that Meghan was his daughter... and that he was FBI?"

"I couldn't...not with her life on the line, Eddie. I just couldn't. You have to understand my position."

Meghan had asked blessedly few questions up to this point. She told Eddie and Annie that the men were big and had dark hair and dark eyes. And that they had been very nice to her....gave her chocolate chip ice cream, her favorite. They had worked puzzles with her and played games. They didn't hurt her.

They just said that they wanted her father. "But I told them I don't have a father...or at least know who he is, Mom. And they laughed. They said they knew who he was and soon I would, too. Do you know, Mom? Do you know who my Dad is? Where is he?"

Jordan had held her baby close then and whispered to her. "Yes...I know who your father is...and hopefully he will be back soon and you can meet him, too."

"Will he live with us...they way Marcy's dad does?" Marcy was Meghan's best friend...and had an intact family.

"Ummmm....our family may be different, Meghan. We've never lived together....I don't know if we will now or not."

"When will he be here, Mom?"

"I don't know...but he'll be back as soon as he's through with the kidnappers."

This had satisfied the child for a while...but not Jordan. She was concerned. The first day that Woody did not return, she didn't worry too much. Woody had told her it would be a while. By the end of the second day, she was worried. And now with the beginning of the third day, she was beginning to get frantic. She didn't know how to get in touch with Hinshaw. She called the numbers on Woody's business card...the ones to the FBI office, but they were all Woody's direct lines...nothing on them.

But he had left his laptop in the kitchen. For two days, Jordan had purposely ignored it...almost afraid if she opened it, it would tell her things she didn't need to know...or want to know. But now she sat down in front of it and tentatively opened it up. Turning it on, she was asked for a password. She typed in every word she knew... Meghan's, his mother's, his father's, Cal's, even his first dog's name. Nothing. Sighing, Jordan pushed the machine away from her and picked up her cell phone. She punched four on speed dial. A few seconds later, Nigel's rich English accent filled her ear.

"Good evening, love. What can I do for you?"

"Can you come over, Nige?"

"Sure...anything wrong? Meghan?"

"Meghan is fine. She's upstairs asleep in my bed. I need you to help me do something,"

"What?"

"Break into an FBI computer."

"Sweet Nancy....I'll be right over."

It took no time for Nigel to figure out the password. He simply typed in Jordan and the files opened up. "Imagine that," he told her. "He had to think about you every day for ....how many years?"

Jordan grimaced. "Over eight years..."

"True love does wait, doesn't it, love?" Nigel teased.

Jordan rolled her eyes. "The files, you blasted Limey, the files...tell me they say something about where he is..."

Two hours later, Nigel sighed in frustration. Whatever Quantico had taught Woody, covering your computer tracks must have been over emphasized. He could find nothing. He had a suspicion Woody left it that way in case Jordan did try to break into his computer.

"Coming up empty handed, love. I'm sorry."

"That's okay, Nigel. You tried. Maybe he'll come back to us soon." Jordan arose from the table and went over to the window to look out. She had driven past the warehouse a half a dozen times since that night...no clues whatsoever as to what happened or where he was. No signs of a struggle. No signs of him period. If she hadn't of been there, she would have doubted it had even happened.

So, as it had on her return from Chicago, Jordan's life returned to routine. Meghan went back to school. She went back to work. Two weeks passed. Then a month. Garrett knew she was distracted and why. "Still no word?" he had softly asked her one day after they finished an autopsy. She had shaken her head, not trusting her voice.

"You know what he said, Jordan. It may take a while, but he'll be back. Don't loose your faith...fate brought you two back together...I have a feeling fate meant for you to stay that way."

She left and went back home, and cooked dinner for she and Meghan. It was Friday, so neither of them had any plans. She and Meghan had rented The Princess Diaries to watch after dinner. So after they ate, they went upstairs to Jordan's room to watch it in bed. Despite her vow to watch it all the way through, Meghan was soon sound asleep. Jordan flipped off the VCR and the light. She was equally as tired. It seemed that neither of them had been able to get their emotional footing since the kidnapping – although Meghan was doing a better job than Jordan. Jordan had heard about the resilience of children, now she had experienced it first hand. Other than the first few nights when Meghan had refused to sleep alone, the kidnapping hadn't seemed to bother her. The men had been nice...even doting on her. The main issue it raised in the child's mind was her paternity. Who was her father? She asked the question often...and until Jordan heard from Woody, she was loathe to answer it.

And the unanswered questions about Woody were slowly driving Jordan insane. She needed to know...she had to know...and couldn't find a damn thing. She had to find out for Meghan. And more importantly, she had to find out for herself...It had taken this event – the snatching of their daughter—to bring them back together. She remembered Garrett's comment about fate. In a crazy way, this had been fate's gift to her...she was reunited with the man she never really stopped loving...and she'd be damned if fate was going to snatch him out of her hands again. Still filtering these thoughts through her head, Jordan drifted off to sleep with her arm around her daughter.

Hours later, Woody let himself into her house. He had kept the key she had given him a month or so ago. As soon as all the loose ends were tied up with the kidnappers, he had made a bee-line for Boston, with his heart in his throat and a transfer in his pocket. Boston would once again be his home...he wasn't sure if it would mean living with his daughter and her mother, but he would gladly take whatever he could get. A relationship with his daughter...and one of some sorts with her mother. Quietly, he entered the house, surprised to find it dark. He had at least thought Jordan would be up. He climbed the stairs and pushed open the door to her room, and caught his breath. His girls...the two most important women in his life....were curled up in the bed together. He couldn't help himself. He padded over to the bed and gazed down at both.

It was hard to see where one chestnut head ended and the other began...their hair was exactly the same color. Jordan had Meghan snuggled up as close to her as she could get. He chuckled under his breath. He imagined Jordan hadn't let the child out of her sight since she came back home. He bent down, put his hand over Jordan's mouth, and softly kissed her cheek.

She woke with a sudden start, but before she could even try to yelp he whispered, "It's me." He removed his hand from her lips.

"Where...when..." she was so startled her words tumbled over each other.

"Shh....I'll explain in the morning."

"You're okay?"

"Never better." He pointed to the sleeping girl. "Meghan?"

Jordan nodded. He walked around to the other side of the bed and eased gently down beside the sleeping child. When he brushed the hair off her forehead, the Meghan woke up and gazed into a pair of blue eyes so much like her own...Sitting up, she wrapped her arms around her knees and gave Woody a questioning look. "Dad?" she asked simply.