Woody crossed the road frantically, dodging in between cars that were honking at him. He didn't care, though. All he wanted to do was find her. All he needed to do was find his daughter.
"Hey! WATCH IT!" Woody yelled to the driver of a car that had almost hit him.
"Then move buddy!" the driver countered back. Woody reached the other side of the road in a matter of seconds, but couldn't find Hannah anywhere. There was too many people around that she could have easily run in between the groups that were gathering on the sidewalk.
"Woody! What are you doing here?" asked Jordan as she came up to stand beside him. "I was just checking out these places for her."
"Hannah was in my apartment. She heard everything that I said to you. I saw her and she stormed out. I tried to stop her, but she ran out of the building. I chased after her, but by the time I got outside, she was gone. It was like she vanished," he said gasping for air. He was out of breath from the chase. "Did you see her?"
"No. I was inside asking around if anyone had noticed her," Jordan replied. "But she couldn't of gone far."
"Yeah, she could of. I know her well enough to know that she loves to run." said Woody.
"Well, this just got a hell of a lot a harder," said Jordan.
"God, Jordan. What am I going to do?" he asked.
"I don't know. But, at least you don't have to deal with her mother," replied Jordan, trying to make light of the situation. Woody just stared at her. "Sorry," she replied, in response to his stare.
"Don't be sorry, Jordan. Just help me find her," said Woody solemnly. He led her out of the crowd, and they walked along the street calling her name every few seconds. They walked into all the hangouts they saw but found no trace of Hannah. About an hour later, they ran into Lily and Garrett, both parties having no luck at finding her. Woody told them of the confrontation he had had with Hannah earlier in the evening.
"Is there anywhere we haven't considered?" asked Garrett?
"Well, if Bug and Nigel haven't found her yet, then I think we've looked pretty much everywhere," Woody replied worriedly.
"She has to be somewhere. I mean, she is one fourteen year old girl up against six grown adults. She might think she can outsmart us, but come on people. One grief counselor, four ME's and a detective. It shouldn't take a rocket scientist to tell us that we are smarter than her," said Garrett, taking command.
"Actually, that might help," replied Jordan.
"Jordan," said Garrett.
"What!" she replied
"Come on. She's out there somewhere," said Garrett as he started walking down the street. The others followed him, afraid of their fate if they questioned his judgment.
They walked in silence, except for Garrett, who kept calling for Hannah frantically. He was determined to find this girl, even if that meant spending the night calling out her name. An hour later, they ran into Bug and Nigel.
"Where have you guys been?" asked Lily.
"We were out looking for you. Then we heard Garrett, here, which led us directly to this very spot," replied Nigel. All of them had been out for over two hours, calling for a girl who didn't want to be found. They walked around for another hour, before finally retreating to Woody's apartment.
"Thanks for helping me," said Woody as he collapsed onto his kitchen chair. "I honestly don't know where she could be, but I'll find her...eventually. Or she will find me," said Woody. "You guys can go home. I really appreciate you spending your Saturday night helping me look for her."
"Call us if you need anything, anything at all," said Lily as she hugged him.
"Thanks, I will," he replied. Nigel, Lily, and Bug left the apartment.
"Hey Jordan, do you a ride home?" asked Garrett, who was standing by the open door.
"No, that's okay. I think I am going to stay here with Woody," Jordan said quietly to Garrett. He nodded and said goodbye to them as he left the apartment.
"You don't have to stay with me Jordan," Woody said, yawning.
"I know. But, I want to. You have been there for me so many times. It's about time I returned the favor," she said, smiling warmly at him.
"Thank you, Jordan," he replied.
"It's no problem. Speaking of problems, I'm hungry. Aren't you?" she asked.
"Actually, yeah, I am," he replied.
"Great. I'll order a pizza," she said. She got to his phone and dialed the number by heart.
"You memorized the pizza places' phone number?" he asked, laughing for the first time that day.
"Yeah. Without pizza, I would starve," she said, glad to see him finally smile, but it slowly faded from his face. They sat in silence for a while before Woody finally spoke.
"Jordan?" he asked.
"Yeah Woody?" she responded.
"I hope Hannah is safe," he said.
"I hope so too," she replied.
"It's weird. I've never been so scared or worried about any one person in my life. I mean, I know I just found out I had a daughter less than a month ago, but it has put my whole life into perspective. She has brought so much happiness into my life, that now, I can't imagine her without me," he said sadly.
Jordan could tell he was truly sorry that this had happened. She definitely felt for him. He was such a good person and this fight with Hannah was tearing him apart. She walked over to him and pulled him into a hug. She held him for a few moments before he set his head down onto her shoulder. She felt his warm tears on her shirt and knew he was crying. Her grip tightened around him and he lifted his head up and looked at her. She softly pressed her lips against his cheek.
"Listen Woody, we'll find her. I swear I will not leave your side until Hannah is back inside this apartment. I don't want you to worry about her. She will be fine," she said reassuringly.
"Thanks Jordan," he replied. She relinquished her grasp around him as the doorbell rang. She went to the door and found the pizza delivery guy. She paid him and brought the pizza back to the kitchen. It was midnight and there was nothing Jordan loved more.
"I love ordering pizza at midnight. Garrett and I do it every time we work late at the morgue. It's kind of a ritual we have together. It's really great," she said to him. He smiled over at her and then grabbed a piece of pizza out of the box.
"Yeah know Jordan, this is kind of nice. You, me, and a pizza at midnight," he said. She smiled at him.
"To the first of many," she replied as she lifted her piece of pizza like a toasting glass and clinked it against Woody's.
"I second that," he said as he returned the gesture.
XIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIXIX
They had finished eating the pizza and were surprised that they had finished off every last piece. They had had no clue at how hungry they were. Woody had picked up the box and was preparing to throw it away when his cell phone rang. He was anxious to answer it because no one called him this late at night.
"Hoyt," he said as he answered the phone. He listened to the person on his cell for several seconds before speaking .
"Are you sure?" he asked worriedly into the phone.
"What is it?" asked Jordan, curious who it was. Woody held up his finger to her, motioning 'just a second'.
"Okay. I'll be right over," he said and closed his cell. He went over to grab his jacket, but Jordan grabbed his arm.
"What's going on?" she asked hurriedly.
He looked over at her panicky. "It's Hannah. She's in the hospital."