Emotional Abandonment

Synopsis: Set after the Season 4 Finale Jordan waits for Woody to come out of recovery. Will he turn her away again or open up his heart? One shot.

Jordan sat in the waiting room, anxiously waiting for Woody to come through those double doors. Two months had passed since he had been shot and hospitalized. It taken that horrible incident for her to realize just how much she really need and cared for him. Just how much she loved him, but he had turned her away.

Not that she can blame him, she had been turning him away for months. It was just in her nature. She was never a fan of romantic relationships; they never seemed to turn out well. She could understand his pain, even if she didn't want to accept it. He felt that she pitied him, because he might not be able to walk again. His bitterness ran deep.

Jordan twisted in her hands in her lap. What was she going to do? Woody had every right to be bitter and angry and everything else. She knew that but she was having a hard time accepting it. She hadn't seen him since that day, since the day he had told her to leave, to go away.

She wanted to cry for all the things she might not ever get to tell him. He might not let her and that burned worse than anything she could imagine. Not being able to tell him how she felt because of outside circumstances was one thing, but not being able to tell him because he didn't want to hear it was another.

It was in that instant that she finally understood how Woody felt, where his bitterness had come from. She hadn't wanted to hear what he had to say about their relationship, about what could be. She didn't want to ruin what they had for what could be. Her trail of bad relationships and affairs had left her burned and tortured inside; and possibly have ruined her for the one man who could have made a positive impact in her life in that particular area.

Jordan saw Woody through the small window pains on the doors and quickly stood up, her emotions and thoughts running a mile a minute. The doors opened and Jordan sucked in a breath as Woody walked through. She gave him a small, sad, comforting smile.

He looked withdrawn and no to happy to see her. "Woody," she said, it was the only thing she could think of to say. He didn't reply and so she looked down at his feet and then up at him and gave a small smile, while taking a breath, "You're walking."

He looked away and then back at her, "What are you doing here, Jordan?"

She swallowed, she had known that this wasn't going to be easy, "I wanted to make sure you were doing okay. I mean-"

"I'm not going to let you take pity on me."

"Damn it, Woody," she swore, "This isn't pity. It took the risk of losing you forever to make me realize how I felt."

He licked his lips and stared down. She could tell he didn't want to look at her. Her frustration had been building up for months and the only thing that kept it at bay was her fear of losing him forever. "Jordan," he whispered, "I've given you thousands of hints. I've even spelled it out, for months, how I felt."

Jordan closed her eyes and tried to recollect herself. She opened them back up and looked him straight in the eye; she took a small step closer to him. "I know." She said, her voice dropping to a whisper, just as Woody's had. "I know. Deep down I always knew how I felt," she paused, "but you know better than anyone how much I've screwed up my love life in the past. I wasn't afraid of getting hurt, I was afraid of losing you. What we have," she looked down and knew that their friendship was over, one way or another, "what we had," she corrected, looking back up, "I didn't want to lose."

Woody stared at her and Jordan didn't know how to react. He didn't say anything and Jordan silently pleaded with him to say something, anything. Moments passed and then minutes as they just looked at each other. "Say something," she pleaded. He didn't. Jordan knew it was over. There was nothing he wanted to say or would say. "When I got that phone call, telling me that you had been shot, all I could think was that I loved you and I might not ever get to tell you that. Well here you are and I can tell you now." She gave another short pause, took a deep breath and said the three words she seemed to dread the most in the English language. "I love you."

She turned ready to walk away and he grabbed her arm and turned her back around. "You mean that?"

She gave him a smile and did her best to keep the tears from welling, "Yes."

He drew her close and she looked up at him, hoping he was going to do something, anything. She could feel his body heat radiate off of him. He used his free hand to tilt her chin upward and gave her a kiss, a long, slow, tender kiss.

When he pulled back, he looked down at her and finally gave her a smile. Jordan smiled back and gave a small chuckle as she threw her arms around his neck and he embraced her tightly. "I love you Jordan."

She clung to him tighter, "I love you Woody."

THE END