Chapter Four

The cream center of an Oreo or a piece of rope in a tug of war – that's what Jordan ended up feeling like the next week. If Eddie had been the least bit hesitant about working with Woody, Woody was even more reluctant to share what he had found out with Eddie....even when he was ordered to do so. And both of them men seemed ready to put her in the middle whenever necessary. And she was getting tired of being caught between the crosshairs of these two alpha males.

Woody knew who the woman was the met with Philip Buchanan in the hotel restaurant. He had done his leg work. He didn't want the MSBI to have what he had worked his butt off to find out. He was hot on her trail. Eddie had found out bits and pieces about the recent financial transactions concerning Buchanan and various microchip firms. The problem that Jordan was experiencing was that both of the men were trying to get information from her without the other knowing.

And Jordan had been just has honest with Eddie as she had with Woody. Both men had everything she knew about the autopsy. Both men had seen the reports on the chip. She had talked to both at length. It just seemed to her that Eddie and Woody were in a pissing contest with each other...and she was prize. If Eddie tried to persuade her to help him, then Woody would come right back at her and try to sweet-talk his way into winning her over to work with him. Then Eddie would retaliate.

She was sitting in her office thinking about how to handle this, her head in her hands, when Nigel came in with some tox reports for her. "Headache, love?" he asked.

"Sort of."

"Migraine, tension, or sinus? No, let me guess....tension."

Jordan grimaced. "How'd you guess?"

"I just saw those two leave....you looked awfully uncomfortable, caught between two old lovers."

Jordan sighed. "It's more than that, Nige. These guys aren't playing well together, and this case is going to take forever to solve unless they start sharing information."

"It sounds like they're getting very territorial..."

"They are....trying to out better the other. The problem is, I'm in the middle...and I don't know anymore than they do."

"Hmmmmm. Do you think it's the case, or do you think it's you, love?"

"What do you mean, Nige?"

"Well.....I got here only on the tail end of the thing you had with Eddie Winslow. But I heard you dated him while you were in med school and residency. Then, after he turned your father in and Max had to resign, you broke up with him and headed to LA. To a new job. When you came back here, you two made up....he was still crazy about you, but you wouldn't commit to him. So, he left. And a couple of years later, in waltzes Woodrow....and everyone knows about you and him. So...do you think your two alpha males are territorial over the case....or territorial over you? Each one seeing if they could possible win you over again?"

"I don't know, Nigel. I just want the case solved and them both to go back to wherever they came from...and me to get on with my work and my life."

"What life, Jordan? Everyone knows work is your life."

Jordan chuckled. What he said was true....she worked all the time. Except for her jogs in the park and occasional night out with co-workers, she really didn't have a life. She didn't date anymore. Men were more trouble than they were worth...and wrecked havoc on her peace of mind. They generally had one goal in mind, and that was getting her into their bed. And she didn't play those games longer. Not since Woody. Not since he broke her heart. Men cost her far more in the end than any one night of pleasure may be worth.

"We could put an end to this, you know," Nigel said softly, taking her hand in his.

"Just what do you have in mind?"

"Well, we could run off and get married...tell everyone were madly, passionately in love," he paused and laughed at her smirk, "or you and I could solve this case together, and spin these men around and send them back to their own offices and get them the bloody hell out of yours."

Jordan grinned at him. "If we can get Garret to agree, I'm with you all the way."

"Then will you marry me?" he teased.

"You wouldn't be able to keep up with me, Nige. You wouldn't be able to walk for a month," she said, playfully laughing at him and getting up from her chair. "Let's go talk to Garret."

"You want to what?" was Garret's response to Jordan's request.

"I want to solve it. And I need Nigel to help me."

"But I need you here, Jordan. In the morgue. Autopsy...trace...you know, the stuff in your job description."

"Look, with Eddie and Woody hanging around my office, I can't get a damn thing done now...and neither can Nige because they are both tag teaming him to get information, too. Please. Let me do this so I can get them both to go back to whatever it was they were doing before Buchanan was murdered and let me get back to being a medical examiner."

Garret looked at Jordan over the rims of his glasses. She was his best ME. Hell, she was the best ME in the state of Massachusetts. Better than anyone in this office. Even better than him. And more than that, she was one of his best friends. He cared for her like a sister....and he knew the turmoil Eddie and Woody was causing in his morgue. They needed to both go back to their jobs.

And he knew what seeing Woody was doing to Jordan. She had hid her emotions well when Devan came on the scene. She had genuinely cared for Woody, but was putting her personal demons to rest before she began a relationship. It just took longer than she had anticipated. And when the blonde ME showed up, it seemed that Woody did a 180. Jordan had let him go without a fight. Garret had asked her why. "He never was really mine...I mean you can't base everything on two kisses in the California desert that happened two years ago. I can't hold him...and I can't hold on to something I probably never had to begin with. It was never meant to be. So I'm going to let him go....because I want him to be happy."

From that point on, Garret had seen Jordan change. She seemed to realize that time was limited and it was best just to be happy with what she did have...and what she did know. Garret had seen Jordan turn into a mature, warm, beautiful woman....with a sense of peace and serenity that he envied. He marveled at the change in her....often thinking how wonderful she would be with a family now. He had prayed that someone would come into her life and mend the pieces of her heart that Woody broke. He had even tried to play match maker a couple of times....to no avail. While Jordan was now a fascinating woman....she also seemed determined to stay single.

Woody and Eddie were interrupting her serenity. He hadn't seen her this much on edge in ... years. "Do it," he finally said. "Solve the case. Make two copies of everything. And turn it over to the PD and the MSBI at the same time. Then tell Eddie and Woody to kiss your ass and leave."