-- TWO --

Garret grabbed his bag and stuffed a few pairs of gloves into his pocket as he and Jordan climbed out of the Explorer and started walking towards the scene. He visibly flinched at what he saw in front of them - several cars, a few of them flipped and smoking. He paused for a minute when a hint of apprehension ran through him, and then just stood, looking at the cars in front of him.

"So what we've got here is five vehicles...two upside down..." Jordan looked around at the scene and then turned to Garret, confused when he wasn't right behind her. "Garret?"

"I'm here Jordan." Garret nodded and walked to her side.

"You...okay? Dreaming about a woman?" She smiled and waved her hand in front of his face.

"No. I don't know. I'm fine." He shook his head and then smiled just to get her to drop it. "Promise."

"Alright. Cops on scene say we have five vehicles...two of them flipped. Witnesses on site say...this red car here..." Jordan spoke as they walked around the cars. "...started it by running into the back of this truck. Must have swerved to try and avoid and slipped on the ice." She shook her head as she looked at the vehicles. "Blue Mazda hits red car...big black truck hits them and flips...skids over there."

Garret walked over to the black truck, the cab obviously crushed flat. "We're gonna need Fire to get the jaws to get these bodies out. This isn't going anywhere without getting cut." He looked back at Jordan, before squatting down to try to see into the cab. "Looks like we've got...four in this one? I can't tell." He sighed and stood up. "Where's the fifth car." He looked around, only seeing four vehicles.

"I don't know." Jordan looked around and then sighed. "Awww hell." She pointed at the truck that had been hit by the red car. "Tell me you see green metal underneath it."

"Shit." Garret rubbed the back of his neck. "The red car hit the green one...slammed it under the truck. It blew up. That's why the red car's sideways - it was trying to avoid the accident in front of it." He looked over at her. "I think we're gonna have to postpone drinks for tomorrow."

"Yeah." Jordan nodded and then looked at the blue car. "Best condition...besides the truck in front. Let's start there."

Garret nodded as he grabbed their bags, then followed her to the Mazda. "How many we have in here?" He pulled on his gloves and then grabbed the camera, taking a few pictures. "Just one?"

"Looks like it. Medical's been on scene - anyone who's not dead is at the ER." Jordan pulled on a pair of gloves then carefully knocked out the rest of the shattered glass of the driver's side window. Gently tilting the head of the woman who lay lifeless in the front seat, she nodded. "Snapped her neck, hit her head pretty good. Help me get her out, will ya?"

Garret nodded and set the camera down, before helping Jordan.

Two hours later, Garret took a long drink off a bottle of water as he and Jordan watched a crane flip the mangled black truck over. They'd retrived seven bodies so far from the wrecked cars - and now they were just waiting on the truck to be accessible. He leaned back against a lightpole and sighed as he watched the crew work to carefully flip the truck, and he took a long look at the expensive rims that were on the tires.

"Garret. Seriously. Are you okay?" Jordan looked up at him.

"Yeah Jordan, I'm fine. Garret looked down at her. "Why?"

"I've been talking to you for five minutes and you haven't even blinked." She looked over at the truck and then back at him. "What is it?"

"I've seen that truck before. But I can't remember where." He narrowed his eyes in thought and rubbed the back of his neck.

"Garret, there's a lot of big black trucks in Boston. Hell it's almost like every teenage boy in the city drives one these days. They drive like maniacs and cut you off, listen to their music way too damn loud. If you ask me, the bigger the truck, the smaller the boy. They're making up for a lack of size...if you know what I mean." She smiled up at him and then looked at him. "Garret? Are you listening to me? Garret!"

Garret looked down at her after being swatted on the cheek. "What?!"

"Did you you hear anything I just said?" Jordan stood in front of him and made him focus.

"Yes." He lied.

"Oh really. Then what was it Garret. You're starting to worry me."

"You said it was time to go process that truck." Garret nodded slightly as the firemen waved them over as they began using the jaws of life to pry the twisted metal apart. "Come on." He stepped around her and grabbed his bag, before walking over.

"Oh come on yourself Garret!" Jordan followed behind him. "What the hell is up with you? Breathe in too many toxic gasoline fumes? Something in your water? Are you feeling okay?!" She walked around and stood in front of him, stopping him in his tracks, before putting the back of her hand against his forehead. "You feel warm. I can call Nigel down to come help out, I'm sure he's done with the bullet by now."

"Jordan." He gently removed her hand from his forehead. "I'm. Fine. Let's just get this done, okay?" He smiled briefly before walking around her again. When they reached the truck, he took a few photos of the front seat and the two boys - or what was left of them after flipping their truck - and then started to work on freeing the bodies from the seats. He squatted down and took a look at their legs, trying to figure out how badly they were pinned.

"We've got a girl here Garret." Jordan said as she looked at the crumpled bodies crushed in the small backseat of the truck. Two actually. Crushed." Jordan sighed and then looked up as Garret carefully removed the boy from the passenger seat. "What've you got there?"

"Two males, maybe...18-20...pretty beat up. Looks like this one...hit his head...definite skull fracture, to say the least." He checked the large gash on the boy's forehead. "Split his head open and cracked his skull. Didn't have a chance." Garret slid a sheet over the body. "Looks like we're drawing a crowd." He looked over at the large crowd of onlookers that had gathered on a nearby sidewalk. "What is it with people and accidents?"

"It beats me." Jordan shrugged and then sighed. "I can't...dammit. This one's still pinned in here. I can't move her."

Garret walked around to the other side, where the firemen had just cut the door off the driver's side. "Then help me with him while you wait?" He gently tugged the seatbelt off. "Snapped his neck."

"Well, the truck got crushed. The girl on the other side...I'll be able to get, but this one, she's too pinned in. It's like she ducked her head before they hit - probably to try and protect herself. Ended up killing her...but she didn't have a chance with how messed up the truck got." Jordan reached around and freed the boy's legs. "Get the torso and just lift him will you?"

Garret nodded and slid his arms around the body, then lifted gently, before a sickening crack was heard. "Maybe...not." He winced slightly and then turned his head. "Broken ribs from the steering column, probably a fractured spine...he's nearly broke in half." He looked up as he heard the familar sounds of flashbulbs and saw a group of photographers taking photos. "Hold on." He growled softly at Jordan, before turning and grabbing a few sheets out of the bag. He draped one over each of the bodies of the girls in the backseat, then one over the boy they were working on moving. "Vultures."

"Tell me about it Gar." Jordan rolled her eyes and then looked at him. "Lift again?"

"Yeah." Garret pulled the body out of the car, thankful that he and Jordan had both pulled on jumpsuits over their clothes due to the fact that he was now covered in everything from blood to gasoline.

They carefully laid him down on the asphalt and then looked up as the firemen nodded. "Back's free. You should be able to work your girl out now."

"Thanks guys." Jordan smiled up at them as she arranged the sheet over the boy's body better. "Poor guy. I hope you know this wasn't your fault." She said softly.

"Jordan...what are you talking about?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at her.

"He was driving. I mean...I'm pretty sure it was instant, but who knows. Maybe he blamed himself." Jordan looked up at him and shrugged. "I'm making this too personal aren't I?"

"Yes, yes you are Jordan." Garret sighed and then nodded his head at the truck. "Two more makes eleven total."

"Yikes." Jordan stood up and walked over, to the truck and the girl's body, while Garret searched the boy's pockets for any ID. She froze for a second when she tilted the girl's head back, sitting her up in the remains of the seat. It couldn't be.

"Dammit there's no ID on him. What the hell was he doing driving without a license." Garret sighed and walked over to the other side of the truck, then started looking for ID on the other body.

Jordan just stared at the body for a long second, before dropping the sheet back over her face and looking at Garret. She swore like she was about to pass out and she held onto the truck's frame for support, before swallowing hard. She was about to ruin his life. She felt her heart pound in her chest as she moved the sheet off the girl's lower body, then gently lifted the shirt, exposing the skin over her hip. It was peppered with a tattoo - small stars - and she had to fight the gag reflex that she felt as she dropped the sheet back down.

Garret noticed Jordan had been quiet for some time, and he looked up at her, and narrowed his eyes. "Jordan? What is it?" He stood slowly as she just shook her head. "Jordan...talk to me."

Jordan swallowed hard as he walked over, and she couldn't hear anything except for his voice.

"Jordan. What...?" He rested a hand on her shoulder and noticed she had tears in her eyes. "Are you okay?"

She merely shook her head. "Garret...no...I...it's..." Jordan snapped into thinking and tried to step away from the truck and the body, to draw him away.

"What Jordan?" Garret reached for the bloodied sheet and moved it aside, and then froze when he found himself staring into the lifeless blue-grey eyes of his only daughter. He just stared for a long minute, his heart racing, before he reached down and gently lifted the edge of her shirt, seeing the stars across her hip. There was no doubt in his mind. It was her. He looked back into those lifeless eyes.

It was Abby.

The next thing Garret knew, Jordan had thrown her arms around him and forced him away from the truck, before yelling for someone to call for another medical examiner and to cover the body. She forced him to turn away and she walked him away from the scene, before sitting him down on a curb and kneeling in front of him, taking his face in her hands and forcing him to look into her eyes.

"Garret. Talk to me. Please." Jordan bit her lip and gently ran a thumb across his cheekbone. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

He just shook his head and stood up, pulling his arm away from hers. "I'm the top examiner on this scene. The rest of the bodies need to be processed and tagged."

"Garret, no." Jordan stepped in front of him, wrapping her arms around his waist. "Please Garret. Nigel's on his way down here. We'll take care of her."

"Jordan..." Garret inhaled deeply and tried to step around her, but she stopped him. "Move Jordan."

"Gar listen to me. You're in shock. Sit down." Jordan gently placed a hand on his chest, and she could feel how hard his heart was pounding. "You're in shock Garret. You know it and I know it. Now let me handle this."

"Let me get her out."

"Garret you're related. You can't touch the body until it's released." Jordan felt a tear roll down her cheek. "Please Garret. Listen to me."

"Jordan...please. Let me get her out. Then I'll sit." Garret looked down at her. "You either let me or not, but please Jor...just let me get her out onto the ground. I'll go away and let you guys handle her...just let me carry her. Please."

"Garret..." Jordan looked at him, and she knew it was pointless to argue. Sure it was breaking the rules, but he was the chief. And if...Renee...tried to pull any shit, she'd have one angry Cavanaugh on her heels to answer to - and there was a certain man in Los Angeles who had been kicked in the cajones to vouch for what that entailed. Nodding softly, she looked at him. "You can't make it look like you're related Garret. The press would be all over this. You don't need them to be hounding you like this."

"I'm aware Jordan." He looked at her. "Help me get her out?"

"Okay." Jordan turned and walked next to him as they walked back to the truck.

"Everything okay guys?" One of the police officers looked up from where he'd been searching the boys for ID. "We've got an ID on one of the boys, but we haven't searched the girls yet. Figured we'd wait until you folks had them laid out on the floor to do it."

"Thanks officer. We'll take it from here." Jordan smiled at him and nodded as he turned and left, and then looked at Garret. "You want to get the other girl first? Or...?"

"Sure." Garret nodded and walked around to the other side of the truck, unable to look at the bloody sheet a mere five feet from his hands as he lifted the body of the girl out of the truck, keeping her covered as he laid her down on the tarp Jordan had spread out on the asphalt. He carefully covered the body to make sure nothing was showing, and then grabbed a body bag and a backboard, and walked around to the other side of the truck while Jordan followed him.

He carefully laid the bag on the board, hooking the straps into the right places, before he unzipped the bag and opened it, staying knelt down on the ground for a few minutes. Jordan cautiously rested a hand on the back of his neck as she stood next to him. "You want the sheet to stay on?" She looked around at the photographers that were still hovering.

"Jordan, get rid of them. All of them." He spoke softly, meaning the onlookers and the photographers on the sidewalk. "Please."

"Alright Gar." She left him kneeling as she walked over to the officer in charge of the scene, who promptly extended the yellow barricade tape farther back and pushed the crowd away. When she returned, he was standing now, at the truck, the sheet still covering her. "Garret. Gloves." She spoke softly. "I'll be at the van if you need me."

"No Jordan." Garret finally let his eyes meet hers. "Stay with me. Please."

She merely nodded as Garret carefully pulled the sheet back off the body, the only thing he could see were her eyes - still half open - staring at him. He pulled on a pair of gloves and brushed his fingertips across his daughter's eyelids, closing them. After a second of resting his hand on her face, he carefully slid his arms underneath her body and lifted her gingerly out of the truck, not saying a word.

Jordan swallowed hard as she saw the way he held her. It wasn't the way he normally held a body of a teenager. Sure...he could pick them up by himself, most of the time...but it was different this time. He was holding her closer to him...almost like a child. Then she realized. He was holding her like a child...because it was his child. Her boss, best friend, and man she'd come to know as a brother was standing less than three feet from her, holding the body of his only daughter in his arms.

She watched as he knelt down, carefully laying her body in the bag, making sure not to catch any hair in the zipper or her clothes on a edge. Fighting back tears, Jordan watched as he slowly pulled the zipper up, but paused before he reached her face. She knelt down beside him and placed her hand over his, and when he nodded and pulled his hand away, she carefully closed the bag.

Garret looked up at her, finally, with tears in his eyes. "Thank you."

Jordan just nodded, and they knelt there for a minute, before she slid an arm around his back. They stayed like that in silence for a long time.

And it was with that silence, that Garret's world dropped out from underneath him.

TBC