The leaves churned in the wind, sending a slew of red and yellow flying threw the cold, November air. He wished he could see those blue eyes again, just touch her face, hear her laugh. It felt like it had been so long since he had felt anything, pain, grief, happiness. But for some reason, when he looked at Jordan, when he brushed up against her, when he overheard her name, it all seemed to make sense, things seemed to look up.
He looked down at his Chinese take out, this sick sense of guilt ran threw his veins. Tonight he pushed her away, like she had done so many times to him, just tossed her aside like last weeks TV guide. He looked at the week old take out and winced, he was become a cliché, he came home every night, picked which take out was right for the Sox came on ESPN. He looked around his apartment as if for the first time. A swirl of pain rose to his heart, no remnants of his daughter, no pictures in his apartment, no teddy bear on the couch, nothing to suggest he had even been married, let alone had a daughter.
He heaved up off of the couch and staggered towards his entertainment center, where a picture of Jordan and himself sat discarded and forgotten. He smiled, she loved him wether she would admit it or not. He was going to save her, while she was still saveable, he'd help her overcome her demons and nightmares, and in a way save himself as well. Slowly he dialed her number on the telephone, reciting them from memory.
"Cavanaugh." She said softly, his courage almost fled.
"Hey." Was all he could muster.
"What?!" she asked playfully, "is this about earlier."
"W-What? Oh, uh, No... yeah, sort of, just was wondering if you were busy, I have something to tell you." He stuttered almost blindly, his fingers crossed she would tell him she'd be right over, he was more important than what was going on now.
"Sure, I'll be right over Farm Boy." She replied, he could almost see her lopsided grin, a grin that could make his heart melt.
"O-Okay, uh, great! See you in a few." He whispered nervously.
"Woody?" she asked as an afterthought.
"Yes?"
"Are you okay." After a long pause, he whispered, almost undefinable, his voice shaking.
"No, No Jordan I'm not."
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She sat for a long time in her El Camino, just pondering what he had just said. No Jordan I'm not. Those words still hung thick in her mind like a sightless fog. What had happened that had caused this sudden pain to fill his every thoughts. She had known that pain well, losing her mother had almost killed her several times. She knew what it was like to feel that stabbing pain of loosing something you love more than life itself, it hurt so much she could barely breathe at times.
Little did Woody know she was half a block away, she wasn't sure why she had driven away, maybe so she wouldn't get to envolved...maybe to give him space, or maybe she was reading too much into a small action. Whatever reason, she suddenly felt like she had betrayed him in some grand scheme of something. He made her nervous, her hands sweat, her mind dizzy. He made her contemplate a different path, he made her think forward instead of backward. Pulling up once again behind her car, this time without hesitation she climbed out of the car. Trudging up the stairs, desprite to get out of the frigid north Atlantic winter wind. She quickly knocked on his door, fluffing her coat up.
When he opened the door, he smiled, and to her surprise wrapped his strong arms around her. Those arms, they felt so... familiar, yet... distant. When he reliesed her she saw the bottles of beer and Chinese boxes strewed across his studio apartment. His hair was mussed, since she last saw him, he seemed to age a thousand lives.
"Wood, you wanted to talk?" she asked in a small voice.
"That was quick." He stated, raising an eyebrow.
"I was right outside." She said before she could stop herself. "I Mean, I wasn't RIGHT outside, but I was, outside, down the street." He raised his eyebrow, but smiled, allowing her to come inside.
"I wanted to show you something," he whispered, "But I can't show you now, we have to wait for dawn." He said softly, in a whisper like it was a huge secret.
"Why?" she asked skeptically, taking off her coat and mittens, tossing a beer bottle off of the couch to take a seat.
"Because it won't work at any other times than dusk or dawn." He whispered once again. "So how about a game of Yahtzee and Pizza?" he asked, plopping down next to her.
"Yahtzee and pizza sounds great." She announced with a enthusiastic voice.
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Seven hours, 5 games of Yahtzee and three pizza's later they sat on his floor laughing breathlessly. Suddenly Woody smiled, the sky was turning dusty violet, as the sun began to creep from its hiding place.
"Come on." He grabbed her coat and opened the door to his small balcony. She took her coat, as he disappeared for a moment only to return with blankets and two cups of coffee.
Soon they were snuggled close together on a bench, looking up at the colors streaked across the sky, the cold bit angrily at their noses, but they felt warm right threw, the coffee was part of it, and some thing else neither of them had ever felt before. It was like the filler that filled the gap of who they were and who they could be, how it is and how it should be.
"Okay, what do we need to see that's so important?" she asked sarcastically.
"Look." He whispered, giving a vast sweep of his hand across the sky, painted with light.
"What?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Did you know ants can live fourteen days in water?" he asked randomly, softly, distantly.
"What?" she stipulated "why are you talking crazy?"
"you know, someone once told me that time doesn't always just keep going, that, there is this still moment right before the sunrises and right before the sun sets. In that still moment, every thing goes silent... and if you close your eyes and hold your breath, you can almost hear God breathing." He whispered with the same softness, his eyes grazing the Boston Skyline as it awoke from night, his eyes glazed with some sick worry. Slowly she closed her eyes, and stopped breathing. And it all fell quiet, and somehow stagnant. When she opened her eyes, she found herself looking up at Woody, and his icy blue eyes down at her, slowly, softly, she brushed her lips against his. He responded, melted a little as she deepened the kiss. But to her astonishment it wasn't her that pulled away first, like it had been for so long. It was him.
