Jordan pulled off her bloody rubber gloves and dropped them into the garbage as she wheeled her final body to the crypt. She was exhausted, hungry and slightly ticked off. Ticked off because she was stuck handling the off-duty cases on a Friday night.
Usually, it was Garrett's job to handle the weekend cases but he was so wrapped up in his new girlfriend, Fiona somebody, that he automatically pushed the assignments off onto the first person he could find. Sometimes Bug and Nigel would handle the cases but today they were all busy.
Bug and Lily were off on their first date at some Thai restaurant that Lily had been dying to try. So his beeper and cell were turned off.
Nigel was out of town at some conference that Garrett had to threaten him with INS to get him to go to. So he was of no help.
And Garrett was off wooing his girlfriend, the fifth one in two months. Everyone knew not to bother him after hours, unless it was an emergency. An emergency would be the morgue catching on fire.
So that left Jordan, the second in command so to speak and the only one foolish enough to leave her cell phone AND beeper on, in charge of the after hour, weekend, incidents that left fatalities. That also meant that she had been at the morgue for more than nine extra hours. Her day started at four in the morning with a hit and run and was ending at eight in the evening with a automobile accident. She tiredly, leaned against the refrigerator unit door of the last victim. The cool metal felt good against her sweaty brow. After a few minutes, she straightened herself up and pushed through the crypt doors. It was quiet since she was the only one there. Or so she thought. She trudged towards the locker room so she could shower, change out of her bloody scrubs and into her comfortable clothes but stopped when she saw someone sitting in her dark office. A thin, perfectly plucked, eye brow rose in question as changed course and walked towards her office. "Hey, how'd you get in here?" The question left her mouth as soon as she was within earshot of the office.
The person, a man, inside the office looked up, startled. But soon a smile appeared on his face. "It wasn't hard." He began. His voice deeply monotone. "I flashed my badge at the night watchman and he left me right up." He never made a move to get up out of the chair that he was lounging in. "It did help that I caught him catching a cat nap."
Blinking, Jordan stepped into her office and flicked the light on. The entire office was bathed in light. She stood, surprised, for a few seconds then a smile appeared on her own lips. "Well, well, well." She crossed her arms over her chest and eyed the familiar man. "Come all the way from Washington D.C. just to sit in the dark, Agent Haley?"
The man, now identified as Agent Drew Haley, just stared at Jordan. He seemed lost in her for a moment until he shrugged, stood, and moved around the desk. "What can I say? I like Boston." He said, simply, as he stopped in front of her. "I like the people." He whispered.
Jordan cleared her throat and dropped her gaze to the floor. Her heart was racing. Finally, she looked back up at him. "What do I owe this pleasure?" She stepped around him and sat on the corner of her desk.
"Some things never change." Drew mumbled then turned to face her. "I'm on vacation. So I thought, rather than sit around my empty apartment for three weeks, I'd come see how you're doing." He folded his arms over his chest.
"You took a vacation?" Jordan questioned with a smirk. "Mr. FBI Criminal Profiler took a vacation, willingly?"
He sighed and rolled his eyes. "No. Not willingly. The FBI has a policy that after you reach a certain amount of unused vacation time, they suggest that you take a break." Drew mumbled, none to happy about being forced away from his job.
Jordan chuckled. "They forced you out gun point, didn't they?" She knew Drew all to well. By the look on his face, she knew she had come close. "Now, what is the real reason you're here?" She questioned with a raised eyebrow.
Drew's face darkened for a moment then he let out a small chuckle. "I really am here on vacation don't doubt that." He moved away from her and sat down on the couch, making himself comfortable. "Before I left on my vacation, my section went through a series of command changes. Basicly, I got a new boss. He was going through the files of the past six years and came across the one on Digger." He fell silent for a moment, remember that horrible case. "He was impressed with what he read. He wants to meet you, Jordan. He came to me to see if I still had contact with you and I told him that I had an open invitation to Boston. He suggested that I start my vacation here."
She stared at him then pushed away from her desk and sat beside him on the couch. "Your boss wants to meet me? Are you sure?" Jordan knew, by the tone Drew had used, that he wasn't suggested to do anything. He was ordered to do so and didn't want to tell her that.
"Yes. Director Stevens wants to meet you. He extends an invitation to you to come to Washington D.C. on the FBI's tab." Drew looked over to her, trying to read her expression, but coming up empty.
Jordan blinked. "Wow. On the FBI's tab?" She narrowed her eyes. "What's this Stevens characters, story?" She wasn't about to say yes until she had a little more information. "And when would I leave?" No harm in asking.
"We'd leave tonight." He stressed the first part. "Director Anthony Stevens has been with the FBI for more than fifteen years. He has a spotless record and is the perfect candidate for the American family. He's been married for thirteen years and has three children. All under the age of ten." Drew wasn't comfortable with talking about family and children but he knew that Jordan wanted to be informed, fully, before making a decision.
A frown graced her lips as she thought about the offer. It sounded interesting and she did need to get away for a little while. And the Stevens fellow didn't sound to bad. Jordan was just confused as to why a big wig in the FBI would want to meet her. A lowly Medical Examiner in Boston. "I can't leave tonight." That thought occurred to her afterwards. "I'm the only M.E. on duty this weekend." She couldn't stop the frustration from creeping into her voice. She had almost had herself talked into going except for that small problem.
Drew pulled out his cell phone, made several phone calls then put it back away. "You're covered." Was all he said with a small, smug, smirk.
Jordan just gaped at him and shook his head. "How am I covered? I can't be in two places at once and there isn't any one else on call except for me." She eyed the smirk on his face. "What did you do?"
"I called the Boston field office and called in a few favors." Drew looked at his watch. "You'll have coverage in about fifteen minutes."
"You called in a few favors?" Jordan suddenly felt a headache coming on. "What kind of favors, Agent Haley?"
"Drew." He stated simply. Seeing her confused look, he elaborated. "My name is Drew when I'm off duty. Not Agent Haley. That sounds too...formal. I think we can say that we're past the formal stage, wouldn't you?" He didn't give her time to answer before continuing. "You said you couldn't leave because you're the only one on duty. So I got you coverage. Any calls coming into this building will be rerouted to the field office and the on-duty M.E. will take the call. It will be handled." He stood up. "Shall we?" He motioned towards the door.
"But I haven't..." Jordan sighed and shook her head. No use in arguing. Drew had apparently read her and knew that she'd go. "Garrett is going to have my ass for this if he finds out." She mumbled and stood. She glanced down at her outfit and frowned. "I don't think I should fly in bloody scrubs. People might stare." She said, sarcastically. "I need to go to the locker room and change out of the scrubs. Then I need to go to my apartment and pick up some clothes." She walked passed him, down the hall and disappeared into the locker room where she emerged about fifteen minutes later, wearing her normal street clothes. It also looked like she took a shower since her hair was wet and slicked back on her head. Glancing around, she noticed Drew leaning against the wall near the elevators. "Sorry I took so long." She called out as she approached.
Drew watched as she watched towards him and hit the down button. A ding signaled that the elevator had arrived. He steered her inside and pulled the lobby button. The doors closed and he crossed his arms over his chest. The ride down was silent and he kept stealing looks at his companion. Finally they reached the lobby and he exited the elevator, heading out the front doors.
Jordan stayed silent until they reached the lobby. When she saw Drew exit the building, she turned towards the night watchman. "Goodnight Earl." She gave the grandfather of six, a smile as she exited. It was cold and the night was dark. The sky was filled with puffy black clouds. She climbed into the waiting black, SUV. The ride to her apartment was silent and she didn't even bother to ask how he knew where she lived. She had invited him up but he declined and waited in the SUV. Within a hour of leaving the morgue, she was on a flight bound for Washington D.C.