Chapter Eight

Numbly Jordan got up from the couch. She had only wanted to lie down for a few minutes, instead her weary body had demanded that she finally stop and rest for a few hours instead. And maybe because she was in the morgue and not her bedroom, that the dream didn't interrupt her sleep.

Instead, she could have sworn she felt him kiss her forehead…and she could still smell his cologne. She mentally shook herself, thinking that her lack of sleep…exhaustion…was allowing her mind to play bitter tricks on her. She stretched and walked out into the hallway, looking at the list of the bodies of the morgue that needed to be autopsied. She located the one at the top of the list and began to work…finally finishing hours later.

"Go home, Jordan," a voice called from down the hall. Jordan turned to find Nigel coming into work.

"I plan on it," she replied with a smile. "I was just waiting on you to come in and relieve me. I have the weekend off…and I think I'll sleep in."

Nigel gently hugged her. "And I can't think of anyone who deserves it more, love. Get me caught up to where you are and then head to your apartment." He led the way to her office.

"Okay, there's Steven Causey…died on the T. The city of Boston is requesting an autopsy…Virginia Taylor, passed away in a nursing home. Her insurance company wants an autopsy…." Jordan droned on.

Nigel only half-listened, his attention caught by the red flowers lying on her desk…while Jordan concentrated on the clipboard in her hands. "Jordan…what's that?" he finally said, pointing to the roses.

"What?"

"Those…who are they from?"

Jordan brushed passed Nigel and picked up the flowers, bringing them to her nose. Roses were her favorite flower…despite how old-fashioned and traditional that sounded, they were. "I have no idea…."she said her voice trailing off as she caught sight of the note with Woody's handwriting on it. "Oh," she exclaimed… "They're from Woody…"

"Woodrow?"

"Yeah." She read the note and Nigel noticed her eyebrows rose. "He wants me to have dinner with him tonight."

"Dinner…with Woody? Are you going?"

"I don't know….I don't know why he even asked me. He's moved on…the only reason I can think that he wants to see me is guilt." Jordan went on to tell Nigel what she saw in Woody's office two weeks earlier. Nigel knew already, of course. Woody had confided in him on Thursday when he was bringing the roses to Jordan.

"So….are you going?" Nigel asked her once again.

"I don't know what good it will do….I mean a part of me wants to…to see him…be with him one more time…but another part of me doesn't want to have my heart broken again….I want him to see I can go on without him…but I don't know if I can deal with being with him for one evening as his friend and then leaving, knowing that's all he wants to be now. I just….just don't know, Nige." She leaned against her desk with a helpless look.

"What's you're heart telling you this time, Jordan? Your heart…not your head…and not any fears you may have," Nigel asked, gently placing his hands on her arms.

She looked up into her friend's eyes and replied, her voice faltering just a little. "Accept the invitation."

"Then call him right now," Nigel said, handing her the phone receiver, "and tell him to expect you about eight. It's going to take us all day to find a dress, shoes, jewelry…."

"Us? Shoes? Dress?" She looked bewildered as she began to dial Woody's cell phone.

"You don't think I'm going to let you go in jeans to this? No. You will be 'Nigelized" for this event….a picture of elegance, sexiness, and femininity…a thing of beauty and a joy forever." He headed to Garret's office to let the chief ME in on what was happening and get the morning off. "And underwear. You'll need some new things."

Jordan was still looking at him with a confused expression when Woody said hello on the other end of the line, jolting her back to reality.


He was amazed she accepted.

When she had called him…hours after he had dropped off the roses and the note at the morgue…hours that he had spent wondering if she was going accept or decline….he felt his heart begin to lighten just a little. "Eight…eight o'clock is perfect, Jordan," he had told her. "I'll see you then…go home now and get some rest…you were pretty out of it when I came by your office on Thursday…you look tired. Please…go take a nap or something…and I'll see you tonight."

He hurriedly made a shopping list and decided to go to the grocery store during lunch. When he took the items back to his apartment, he could begin to clean up a little before she got there. He wanted things to be as perfect as possible…he wanted her to feel relaxed…warm…loved…safe.

He wanted things between them to go back the way it was. Back the way it was before he gave her that ring….when she felt secure enough to hold his hand…let him put his arm around her. Back before he had tried to push her too hard too fast. If he could just somehow regain that feeling with her…then maybe they could build something from there…a friendship…maybe something deeper.

He hoped they could patch things up….that she would believe him about Santana and the fact that there was nothing between them. He hoped that she could feel free enough to once again whisper in his ear that she loved him…this time while he was conscious…

And if she cried tears this time, he wanted them to be tears of joy…not regret…

He wanted to start over with her tonight…rebuild the relationship…shore up the friendship…Begin again… this time on Jordan's terms – he didn't want to lose her again.

Woody still had not taken the ring back to the jewelers. It was in his nightstand. He had kept it, hoping that one day…maybe…she would accept it, him, and their friendship.

And admit to him that she loved him.


Jordan nervously ran her hands down the front of her dress, looking at herself one more time in the mirror before she drove over to Woody's apartment. Nigel had done a great job. He took her shopping at some quaint, out-of-the way stores she never knew existed. "No mall-generated, off-the-rack tripe for tonight," he had told her. "You need something that wraps femininity, sexiness, sophistication, and vulnerability all in one."

Jordan had nearly laughed in his face. She had never been a clothes horse, choosing comfort and versatility over anything else…hence jeans and shirts were generally her wardrobe de rigor, unless she was testifying in court.

Nigel had changed that tonight. She nearly didn't recognize the woman staring back at her in the mirror. She smiled at her reflection. She liked theoutfit and how it looked on her.

She hoped Woody would, too.

Hell, who was she kidding? She hoped he would have a hard time keeping his hands off of her.