Woody lay in his hospital bed, as always, stuck at a crossroads. Luckily, this crossroad only split at how many times he could pump the little morphine button in his hand before the machine stopped pumping, reminding him of how often was too often to use the potent meds.
"Yeah.." he mumbled looking menacingly at the machine. "Well what do you know about pain? Your legs still work..." he slurred like a drunk and laughed humorlessly as he tapped the cord of the little IV against the steel 'feet' of the pole holding his meds and looked the shiny metal over.
"You know...I used to think I was like you...Superman...man of steel..." he said flicking the pole with a 'ping' for effect. "I thought my dad was too but I was wrong...wrong, wrong, wrong..." he murmured dropping his head back.
"It's...faster than a speeding bullet." he exclaimed with a slow nod. "Not...not...slower than some punk kid's.22.." he added with that same dry laugh.
Before he could finish his monologue with the morphine drip a nurse came into the room to check on his bandages.
"Looks better detective...you're a lucky man." she said lightly and patted his shoulder.
Woody grinned brightly. "That's what they'll call me when I'm wheeling my dead legs around the office clerking for the next 30 years...kinda like callin' a big fat guy 'Tiny' right?" he laughed.
The nurse just sighed and shook her head.
"Oh please boy, you're a young man...and if that pretty little thing that's been sneaking around here, while you've been having flashbacks to the Aztec village you made in the third grade is your woman...I'll bet runnin' your cute little butt off into the sunset with her will be enough incentive to get you up and walking..." she said patting one of his legs as she finished rubbing them to keep the blood flowing and covered them back up.
"Jordan's been here?" he asked finally pulling himself out of the morphine enough to form a coherent thought. "I told her to go away." he sighed and looked back towards the window.
"Well," the nurse said with a cluck. "You're more lucky than I thought...she cares enough about you not to listen that macho bullshit..." she mumbled waving her hand over him as she left the room still talking to herself.
Woody watched her leave with narrowed eyes and finally huffed a laugh, turning back to the pole. "See what I mean? You're the only one who understands me." he said dropping his head back to the pillow and falling asleep again, the smooth cylinder of the pump still clutched in his hand.
Jordan knew he'd be asleep when she finally slipped down the hospital corridors well after visiting hours. Lucky for her, she had half the nurses on night shift covering for her and her late night visits to check on her friend.
Friend. When had Woody EVER been just her friend?
For all of the times she had looked him straight in the eye giving the 'let's just be friends' speech, there had been just as many times when she had been completely full of shit when she'd said it. Yes, at first he had just been the goofy farm boy detective who followed her around with hearts spinning around his head, but it hadn't taken long for him to become so much more than that. Jordan didn't have many friends in life. She had even fewer who she trusted completely with her life but Woody had quickly become one of them.
He told her when he thought what she was doing was wrong or dangerous to her life or career. He said 'no' to her even when she caked on the charm and sexuality...because he could see through her little games. He knew that if she couldn't protect herself, he would just have to do it for her then. But most importantly, when she had pushed him away, like she did every man that got that close, he had stood fast and refused to move, vowing to hold her tighter and not let her get away from him so easily.
And now here he was, laying in a hospital bed, having heard the one thing he'd always wanted her to be able to admit to him, but thinking it had been said out of pity for his condition.
Could they ever do anything completely right?
Jordan would have laughed at the thought if it didn't hurt so much to know that Woody may have finally completely given up on her. That was until she remembered that he still had that ring in his belongings.
She allowed herself a small smile and slipped into the room, leaving the manila folder on his tray and the ring purposefully beside it. With one last look over his weakened body Jordan quietly left the room, letting out a silent prayer that she was right and he had not yet given up on holding her tighter.
Woody could swear he could smell her. By the time his eyes functioned enough to open the gentle scent had evaporated along with the fog of his dreams.
"You're awake," said a chipper voice from the foot of his bed. "How are you feeling Lucky?"
The night nurse that had stuck him with the god-awful moniker the shift before was back. He wanted to call her something not very polite in return. Instead he just glared at her.
"My, we're talkative this evening," she reached for the envelope on the tray by his bed. "Your lady dropped this off...I'll put this in the cabinet over here. It's really not safe to keep valuables here."
Woody looked at the envelope in surprise. Jordan was there. "Wait..." he held his hand out.
The nurse handed it over. He recognized by the size and width it was his personal effects. In investigations he had seen these envelopes before. Unless they were being used as evidence, they were turned over to the next of kin. In his case that was a toss of a coin. When he and Cal had their fall out, in a fit of rage, he changed all his vital information. His supervisor wouldn't let him name his goldfish as his legal relative. High on emotion, he penciled in Jordan's name knowing it was just temporary and hoping someday it wouldn't be...but that was...Before.
He mentally kicked himself for putting her in the position of having to deal with his effects and wondered if she looked inside. He took a cursory look inside until he had the nurse let out a series of tsk-tsks. "What...?"
She wordlessly handed him the ring.
By the look on her face Woody could tell she thought Jordan was giving it back to him. She didn't know he had been carrying it around with him for weeks. At first he told himself he was hauling it around so that when he had a free moment he could return it. As days turned into a week he dumped the little velvet box against the wall of his apartment and slipped the ring in his pocket. He chalked it up to ego. How could he face the jeweler again? He decided to pawn it. The weeks turned in to a month and he was still carrying it.
He let out a very ungentlemanly snort. He twisted it around his finger once before he tossed it in the envelope with the rest of his stuff and handed it over to the nurse. "...thanks," he muttered.
It was Friday. Jordan looked the mirror one last time before she left the locker room. When she agreed to go on this blind date the world was totally different. A week ago she would have stopped in Garret's office on her way out the door and told him to get a life and try and talk him into meeting her after her "date" for a few postpartum drinks. This time she just walked past the CME's office. There was nobody in there she wanted to talk to.
She should have canceled. Lily told her that David was an understanding guy and would be more than happy to reschedule. Jordan decided to go forward. After the week she had just lived through...she needed a break.
In the long run, the evening ended up being pretty pleasant. A week before, it would have been very interesting. David was a very nice guy. It made Jordan wonder why Lily didn't keep him for herself. But then again Lily was as confused about her feeling as Jordan was. The music was as amazing as expected. The drink after was a pleasant change of pace for her. Jordan's circle of friends had slowly dwindled down to the people she worked with. It was refreshing to talk to someone who didn't talk about dead people. At the end of the evening he asked if he could call her later. Even though she knew nothing would become of this new friendship Jordan couldn't find any harm in that.
...At least not yet.
