Chapter Nine

Call Me Woody

"Hi, Mom," Will said from the hospital bed. To Jordan, he looked as small now as he did when he was a small boy curled up in her bed after he had a nightmare.

"Hey, sweetheart," she replied going up to the bed and kissing him on the forehead, then gently mussing his hair with her fingers.

"Hey, stop that…it'll be going in a million different directions…and there are nurses here I'd seriously like to impress…"

"Seriously?" Jordan teased.

"Seriously," Will replied, running his fingers through his hair, unsuccessfully trying to get it to lie back down.

Woody, who had quietly come into the room behind Jordan, watched the interchange between the two with a lump in his throat. He didn't know why he hadn't seen the similarities between himself and Will sooner. The hair. The shape of the eyes. And the fact he could hear himself having nearly the same interchange with his father years before. Woody wondered for just a second how many other people may have noticed that Will favored him.

He wondered just who else may know that William was his son.

"Will, do you remember Detective Hoyt?" Jordan asked, looking at Woody, a warning flashing in her eyes.

"Sure….how are you, Detective Hoyt?" Will asked and extended his hand. Woody had to give Jordan credit. The boy remembered his manners even when he wasn't feeling well.

"I'm doing better than you are right now, I bet," Woody joked, shaking Will's hand and fighting the urge to hug him.

"I'm better…the doc said I had a collapsed lung."

"What happened?" Woody asked.

"I was running laps in PE and boom…I couldn't breathe…next thing I knew, I was in an ambulance…"

"Scary, huh?"

"All I could think of was that Mom is going to freak out," Will replied to Woody, casting a fast glance at Jordan.

"I'm okay," Jordan told him. "I just want you better. Soon."

"Why did this happen?" Will asked, furrowing his brow in concern. "I mean…I'm healthy…I'm not a couch potato…"

"It's because you have an illness called Bullis Disease," Dr. Sullivan said from the doorway. "It happens under a couple of conditions. Premature babies tend to have it after they're born, and sometimes it can come back. And it can be hereditary. Runs in families. Your lung will just sort of deflate like a balloon. But there's medicine to control it and we're going to get you fixed right up – good as new."

"Well, I was definitely a premie," Will said. "Mom will never let me forget it. Every time I want to do something that might remotely land me in the emergency room, she rolls out the stories about how tough it is to watch your kid in ICU…and how she's already spent enough time there with me…" Will rolled his eyes as Jordan smirked at him.

Dr. Sullivan grinned. "Well…that's probably part of it then." Giving Jordan a quick look, the doctor asked if he could speak to her alone in the hall. Jordan gave Will's hand a gentle squeeze and slipped to the door, looking back over her shoulder and giving Woody one more warning glance.

Woody nodded back, barely perceptible to anyone else in the room….except Will.

"So….what's the story, Detective?" Will asked, looking Woody in the eyes.

"Story?'

"You know…now I get to ask the stuff like, 'What are you doing sitting with my mother at the hospital'? questions. Uncle Garret usually does that soft of thing…sits with Mom at games and stuff. And I know he was here earlier with her and once you showed up, he left… So….being the good son that I am and all….what's the story with you and my mom? You said you two used to work together when you were in Boston before."

Woody struggled to hide a grin. If the look in Will's eyes hadn't been so serious, he would have chuckled at the boy's possessiveness. Instead Woody had a feeling he was in the presence of a very protective son who was more concerned about his mother than his own health at the moment.

"Your mom called me and asked me to come," Woody hedged, knowing better than to tell Will the truth before Jordan and he got to talk about it.

"Oh.. Mom called you. Well. That's different. Usually when I'm in trouble, she calls Uncle Garret and he comes."

"Uncle Garret?"

"Dr. Macy….he's my godfather….he sort of does the dad-thing now that Grandpa Max passed away…"

"Oh…"

"So…..when you were in Boston before….did you date Mom before she met dad?"

Woody's brain went into over drive…trying to determine just how to tell the boy the truth without telling the whole truth. "Uh. No. Not really." Woody raked his fingers through his hair. He had to at least be partially honest….the truth of Will's parentage was going to come up. The fact that he had been conceived while Jordan was just beginning to see Jason was not going to look good on Woody or her. And in the short while he had observed Jordan and Will together, he wanted to do absolutely nothing to damage the obviously close bond she had with her son. Gingerly he told the version of the truth that most people knew about their relationship. "It's sort of like this, Will. We went out a few times, but we just decided that we were better friends than anything else. So …when we did see each other outside of work, I really wouldn't call it dating." And that's the truth, Woody thought.

"It was hanging out, not hooking up?'

Woody swallowed hard and nodded. "Yeah. Something like that." But Will's next question threw him for a loop.

"Did you know my dad?"

Oh God…what am I supposed to say? "Jason Turner? I had met him, Will. Jordan introduced us." Woody's mind flew back to the day he had run into Jordan and Jason at a coffee shop down the street from the morgue. Jason, still in uniform, had his arm around Jordan's waist. He was a tall man, with brown hair and blue eyes…and Woody had been sure that the captain's uniform he wore made him look even taller and more broad-shouldered in a woman's eyes…especially Jordan's. Woody had worked hard to fight back a fit of jealousy and remained civil.

"So you didn't know him well?"

"No…I'm sorry."

"That's okay. I'm just trying to figure things out…Dr. Sullivan said that this Bullis Disease runs in families. If Mom or Grandpa would have had it, I would have known about it….I'm just trying to figure out if this is all because I was born a little early or maybe if Dad or someone in his family had it, too. I thought maybe if you knew Dad, you could tell me."

"Sorry…I really don't know much about Jason."

Will sighed and settled back on his pillows. "That's okay. Not many people here do. I think most people were just surprised when he and Mom got married so quickly."

Thinking fast on his feet, Woody changed the subject. "So when are they going to let you out of here?"

"Tomorrow. Maybe. I wish it was tonight."

"Yeah, hospitals aren't the easiest place in the world to get some rest," Woody said, remembering his long stay.

"Well…it's not just that. Mom is going to want to stay up here all night as long as I'm here. She won't get any rest. And she won't leave to eat."

Woody hesitated for a moment. While he was still cautious around Jordan, the concern his son had for his mother touched Woody. "Would you like for me to at least take her somewhere and make sure she gets something to eat, Will?"

"That would be great. I really try to take care of her, you know? We have each other now, and that's about it. I worry about her. I mean, Uncle Garret is great….he helps, but since he's retired, he travels a lot. Mom has always taken care of me…and worries about me waaayyyy too much. I knew she'd freak out when the hospital called her about this….but she doesn't realize that sometimes she needs someone to take care of her, you know?"

Woody nodded. Obviously that much of Jordan hadn't changed. "Moms can be kind of like that. My mom was the same way…but if it will make you feel better, I'll take her out to dinner and then make sure the nurses at least have an easy chair or cot in here for her to sleep on."

Will grinned. "Thanks, Detective Hoyt."

"Please…call me Woody."