Chapter 40 of "Breaking Through"

A/N - Here it is guys. You only had to beat and prod it out of me. It was in my head, but it wanted to stay there. But I've finally got it down. So I hope you all enjoy this - it's been a long, wild ride - and I'm glad to have shared it with all of you.

Chapter 40

---- Nigel ----

I wake up to find that a slender arm is draped over my chest, a mass of raven colored curls nestled into the crook of my arm. Looking down, I realize that I, Nigel Townsend, am lying naked in bed with Jordan Cavanaugh, after a night of making utterly fantastic love to one another. I could have died with no regrets a very happy man at that moment in time. Gently, I bring my arm up around her back and rest it on her hip, smiling when it causes her to cuddle closer into me. "Good morning Love..." I think to myself as I hear the front door of the house close downstairs. Adjusting the blankets around her back to cover that gorgeous body (even though I would like nothing more than to lay there forever looking at it) I smile as she wakes up, looking up into my eyes.

"Love." I lean my neck down and kiss her lips softly.

---- Jordan ----

"Love." God. The way he let that word roll off his tongue...drove me completely nuts. I would listen to him say it all damn day if I could. "Yeah Nige?" I reached up to gently cup his jaw in my hand, loving the way his breath trickled over my arm.

"Morning." He smiled softly and turned his head to kiss my wrist.

"Morning." I grinned and slid up so my head was next to his. "You know what I realized today is?"

"What? The day we're forced to return to lives and back to Boston?" Nigel leaned his head to the side and looked in my eyes. "Love..."

"Love." Again. That word. "Mmmhm?" I smiled at him.

"I don't want this to end here in London." Nigel gently rested his hand on my cheek. "I don't want last night just to be last night. I've waited years for this and I'm not willing to let it slip away when we get on that plane and fly back." He bit his lower lip slightly as we laid there, looking into each other's eyes.

"Alright Nige." I smiled softly and then kissed him. "Good to know we agree on something."

"You agree?"

I laughed when his eyebrows hit his hairline, before he settled his head back down on the bed. "Of course I agree. How could I resist...all you have to offer. Your boyish charm...the mystique...these long arms to hold me close and protect me from bad guys..." I smiled as he wrapped his arms around me and held me close to his chest. "...this sexy hair...that accent...not to mention that you hold a steady job and have a motorcycle."

"Good then." Nigel smiled and kissed me softly, before his aunt called up the stairs to tell us she had breakfast and tea ready and she'd like to actually see her nephew before we left for Heathrow. "Just a moment Auntie, we'll be down." He called down to her and then turned his attention back to me. "What do you say a good old cup of English tea and a toast to Boston..."

"How about a toast to us instead." I smiled up at him and wove my fingers through his long hair, pulling him down for a deep kiss.

"Now that...that I'll toast to."

---- Garret ----

"Lunchbreaks...have just taken on a whole new meaning for me." I smiled up at Renee as she laid sprawled out on my chest. Leaning my head up, I caught her lips with mine and kissed her softly.

"You know, someone is bound to catch on. The District Attorney and Chief Medical Examiner have taken two hour lunch breaks everyday this week...at the same time as each other, no less." She kissed her way down my neck. "Now...what would you think was going on?"

"If I was a conspiracy theorist, I'd think that they were having rounds of wild...hardcore...sex..." I laughed softly as she made her way to my chest, kissing all over my skin. "But...that'd just be..."

She trailed a hand down my chest and gripped me firmly. "The truth?"

The way the words were whispered from her lips just sent chills down my spine. "Yeah..." I threaded my fingers up through her hair. "...guess it would be." With a smile, I rolled us over and kissed her deep, not even caring about anything in the world except for getting on with round two. She moaned quietly and dropped her head back as I kissed her neck, and I was about to make my way down her chest when my cell phone rang.

"Ignore it Garret." She pulled me down for a kiss. "Let it go."

"I...I can't." I tried to pull my lips from hers and only managed slightly, answering the phone with my chest heaving, still kissing her neck until I brought the phone to my lips. "Macy."

"Garret? It's Jordan. I wanted to tell you Nigel and I are back in Boston. We just landed at Logan - we're gonna head on down to the morgue after we get cleaned up and maybe a bite to eat." Jordan spoke on her cell as Nigel shouldered the duffel bags and they began to make their way through the crowded airport. "Are you there Garret?" She raised an eyebrow as she heard his ragged breathing on the other end.

"Yes...yes Jordan. I'm here." I panted heavily as Renee pointedly grazed her leg against me, a smirk playing across her face. "Just...just was climbing the stairs. Crypt elevator is down and I wanted...to get...a little exercise after lunch."

"Oh God." Jordan's face fell and then she shook her head. "Sorry Garret. You get back to exercising. We'll see you later. Bye now." She rapidly pressed the end button on her phone and then visibly shuddered, before looking up at Nigel.

"What is it Love?"

"I think I called him...in the middle of having sex..." She made a mock gagging motion. "With HER."

"Awwww bloody hell. That's raunchy." Nigel shook his head as they made it outside to a waiting cab.

"Yeah. I'm not thinking about it." Jordan looked up at him. "Let's go."

"Good plan Love."

I just looked at the phone before tossing it to the floor as she pulled me down for another deep kiss. "Jordan's back?" She muttered softly against my lips.

"Both of them. Conspiracy theorist number one and number two." I nodded softly.

"Well then." Renee suddenly flipped over so she was on top of me now. "Looks like we should give it one last hurrah, don't you think?"

"Do you even need me to answer that? One would think a lawyer like yourself would be able to...read people...pretty well." I smirked slightly and leaned up to kiss her, only to have my shoulders shoved back into the mattress.

"Oh, believe me Garret...I have got reading you...down..."

---- Jordan ----

Okay. Just go in his office and tell him you and Nigel are back. Don't talk to him about sex. Don't talk to him about you and Nigel or him and Renee. Just tell him you're home and in one piece. I paced nervously around in the lobby, waiting for the elevator to arrive to take me up to the morgue's floor. I groaned when I got the image in my head of Garret panting and the reason why, turning around and nearly running into Lily.

"Jordan!" She grinned and wrapped me in a huge hug. "We missed you! Where's Nigel?"

"Oh, he's at his apartment. He needed to get a shower and a nap before he comes in today." I smiled at her as the elevator doors slid open with a ding. "Going up?" I tried to crack a joke to ease my tension about having to face Garret after THAT.

"Um...the elevator doesn't really go down past the lobby Jordan." Lily smiled at me as we stepped in. "How've you been?"

"Disgusted." I spit out before I could stop myself. When she raised an eyebrow, I shook my head. Might as well give in. "I called Garret in the middle of sex."

"Why would you want to talk to him when you were having sex Jordan?!" Lily rested a hand on her hip, confused. "More importantly...with...?"

"No Lily..." I lowered my voice as we got off at the ninth floor. "Him...and Renee...having..."

"Oh God!" She gasped and then bit her lip when she drew stares from the people around her. "Oh God. That must have...been...awkward."

"To say the least." I rolled my eyes with a sarcastic wink, before I nearly raced into my office and shut the door, thankful that I had made it without coming into contact with Garret yet.

For God's sake Jordan. He's a grown man and God knows he needed to get laid a long time ago. Be happy for him. I thought to myself and then looked up as Emmy knocked on my door. I waved her inside.

"Doctor Cavanaugh, Doctor Macy asked me to have you come to his office. He needs to bring you up to speed on some things." She smiled.

"Thanks Emmy." I stood up and took a deep breath, before heading down the hall to his office. I knocked softly on the doorframe and then walked in, shutting the door behind me. "Yeah Garret?"

"Jordan." Garret turned around with a slight smile, obviously as uncomfortable as I was. sit." He motioned at the chair across from his desk.

I walked over and sat, and we both didn't say anything for a few minutes.

"Look Jordan I..." He spoke first, but I cut him off.

"Garret, I..."

He looked up at me and laughed nervously. "Jordan. What...what happened today...I apologize for that..."

"You're allowed to have a sex life, remember? I gave you permission." I smiled softly at him, suddenly not even grossed out by the fact that a little less than two hours ago he was in bed with Renee Walcott, the ice queen herself. "Remember, that long time ago? After the jello incident?"

"Yeah, I remember." Garret lowered his head and looked up at me. "Thanks."

I dragged my chair over to him and looked closer at his face, and at his neck. "You know what though?"

"What Jordan?" He rubbed at his neck where I was looking.

"You're lucky you're sort of red anyways. It blends in a little better." I looked into his eyes and noticed how tired he looked. "You know too much too fast will wear you out...take a break once in a while?" I narrowed my eyes at him. "How often are you getting it?"

"Least twice a day." He spit out before his eyes widened and he dropped his head into his hands. "I did not just say that."

"God damn Garret!" I squeaked out. "You'll hurt yourself!"

---- Garret ----

"Jordan..." I warned sternly, letting her know she was playing with fire.

"Garret! You know...that's...that's a lot." She looked at me and bit her lip. "I'm not saying you don't deserve to be able to have sex twice a day but...no offense Gar...you're not getting any younger."

"Exactly." I smiled and nodded.

"Exactly?" She raised an eyebrow and just looked at me, confused.

"Yeah. I'm not getting any younger, so I might as well make good use of the fact that I'm still able to get -- "

"Garret! God stop!! Please!!!" She clapped her hands over her ears. "I don't need to know that. Just stop. Now."

Once she had removed her hands from her ears, I nodded. "So how've you been?" When she didn't answer and just looked away, I sat up slightly and leaned forwards. "Jordan...you alright?"

"Fine Garret. I'm fine." She smiled at me and then looked down again, blushing slightly.

"Spill it. I swear I won't tell anyone." When she still made no effort to speak, I decided to be nice about it. "Are you happy Jor?" I asked her quietly.

"What?!" She looked up at me, that being the last thing she was expecting me to ask.

"Are you happy Jor?" I smiled softly at her. "You look happy."

"We're happy Garret." Jordan smiled shyly and nodded. "We're happy to be home and happy to be together."

"You know he always had a crush on you, right?" A twitch of my lips threatened to break my calm composure that I was trying to hold so well.

"It's more than a crush now." Jordan admitted and then smiled. "Well, the crush phase is over, I guess you could say."

"Jordan...you didn't...you did." I laughed softly. "Finally. Too bad my bet for the office pool was for five years ago."

"Your what?!" She screeched at me. "You guys were betting on when we'd finally have sex?"

I froze. "You guys had sex?"

"Oh. Shit." Jordan looked at me. "Yeah, we did. But it was what we both wanted and needed. I was okay with it and he was too."

"Jordan there isn't a policy on sex with co-workers but if it begins to affect your relationship..."

"Garret, you're sleeping with the district attorney, twice a day, everyday." She looked at me with a smirk. "I believe you have no room to be lecturing me. She's your boss for God's sake. Nigel is at least...equal."

I had to admit. She did have me there. "Very true." I smiled at her. "Now if you're up to it...we've got a nursing home signout in autopsy one that needs an ME."

"Got it Garret." Jordan nodded as I handed her the case file. "Then can I go home and get some sleep?"

"Of course. Tell Nigel I'm glad he's back, alright?"

"Sure thing. Sir yes sir!" She saluted as she walked out the door and down the hall.

"Dork." I muttered softly before going back to my paperwork.

---- Nigel ---- "Love?" I looked up as I heard the door to my apartment open, and watched as Rudy scurried across the floor and nearly tackled Jordan to the ground. "How was work? More important, how was Doctor M.?" I walked over and kissed her softly before I shut the door behind her.

"Well, work was good, and Garret says he's glad you're back." She smirked at me. "And he found out."

"About us? How?" I raised an eyebrow and pulled a beer out of the fridge, handing it to her after I cracked the top off.

"I let it slip because I thought he knew already. But he has no room to speak. He's getting laid twice a day, everyday." She smiled as she took a drink off her beer. "So how bad's this jetlag going to hit us?"

"It's a bitch." I nodded and took a drink. "We should go straight to bed after these beers."

"Bed. You. Me. Good idea." She kissed me and then took another drink.

We both laughed, and then stood in the kitchen in relative silence, drinking our beers. Neither of us wanted to make the first move to go to bed. After we finished and looked at each other for a moment, I stepped forwards and kissed her softly. "Come on Love."

She wrapped her arms around my waist and smiled up at me. "Don't ever stop calling me that."

"Never Jordan. I will never stop calling you Love."

"Good." She pulled me towards the bedroom and once we were in, she pulled me down on the bed and kissed me.

I could get really used to this. Even though it was still a little awkward, me and Jordan, together - it was perfect. It made me wonder why I'd waited so long to make a move...and why she'd waited so long to let me know how she felt. It felt like it was always meant to be. She had finally let me in, took down those walls she'd built up around her heart, and let me love her that I'd been waiting to do for years.

---- Garret ----

"So she was in Boston for a total of two hours and she had it completely figured out?" Renee laid her head on my chest and drew designs on my stomach with a fingertip. "We're that obvious?"

"Well, she didn't get it completely right." I laughed softly, remembering the conversation we had in my office. "She spotted the marks on my neck and noticed how tired I looked. But she thinks it's twice a day, everyday. She mentioned that I was going to end up hurting myself."

"Twice a day?! I'm hurt." She pouted and looked up at me. "Did you tell her I was much better than that?"

"I attempted. Then she mentioned that twice a day was "a lot" and I made the mention of the fact that I'm not getting any younger...and the fact that I still can at least twice a day..."

"You didn't." Renee swatted at my chest, a smirk on her face. "She freaked out, didn't she." She rested her lips against my skin with a soft sigh.

"To say the least. So I dropped it. But...I guess her and Nigel have no room to talk. They've finally gotten together as well." I shifted slightly underneath her so I could kiss the top of her head.

"Damn. And we finally gave up on the pool two years ago." She bit her lip and then nipped at my chest. "Guess that's one hundred bucks I'll never see again."

"You bet on them too?" I smiled down at her.

"Yeah. Soon as I showed up it was already long standing. I jumped right in, being stupid enough to think they might actually get together some time this century. Took them long enough."

"Yeah. It did." I smiled and leaned my head back against the pillow as she curled into me. "But Jordan's happy again, finally. She let someone into that place in her heart that she keeps under lock and key. Finally one of them was able to break through and get in. And I'm glad it's Nigel."

"Garret, you're rambling again..." Renee laughed softly and kissed my chest, before closing her eyes. "I don't know about you, but sleep is generally important to being able to walk, talk, and function tomorrow at work."

"I'll take the hint baby." I slung an arm around her back and shut my eyes. "Night Renee."

"Goodnight Garret."

I listened for a few minutes until I heard her breathing even out as she fell asleep on my chest. Sure, life wasn't back to normal, and it probably never would be. Woody was dead, as was Nigel's dad. Jordan and Nigel were hooking up...and I was sleeping with Renee. Talk about a messed up life we all were living. To an outsider, we probably looked like a bad soap opera.

But it was different for us. We were family.

We'd lost one of our own and rallied around each other to keep our heads above the floodwaters. We nearly lost another but we pulled together again and we fought through it. Nigel and I had helped Jordan best we could when Woody was killed. Renee helped me through the nightmares I had afterwards. We all were there when Nigel was shot. Jordan helped him as he worked through the physical therapy and the nightmares he had, especially when he had to testify against the guys in court. Renee had made that as painless as possible - only asking him what she knew they needed, and riding the defense attorney's ass when the man started straying from relevant information.

When they had been convicted we'd gone out and celebrated together. Nigel was just walking with a cane by then - his therapy had gone quite well - and he and Jordan had danced. I remembered how he'd left the cane at the bar next to me, and how Renee walked in and made a comment about that fact that I was starting to show my age.

Jordan had helped him with his dad. And in turn, Nigel had helped Jordan with getting over Woody.

Sure, it came in perhaps a way that to most could be considered different or unusual. But what did it matter what anyone else thought? Life for them all was finally getting back to a sense of normal that we all really wanted more than anything. We had finally all broken through the walls that surrounded each other and let go. Sure it wasn't perfect. But it was good enough.

FIN.

And that's that. It's actually depressing for me to end this fic, but fear not, my friends. While I was writing it, the idea came to me for another one, which will come soon. And I swear it won't take as long to update in between chapters. Thank you all for sticking with me for this long long time - over a year. It's been a wild ride.

- Alison