A/N: THANK YOU FOR THE NICE REVIEWS, THEY ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED. I HOPE YOU LIKE THE NEXT CHAPTER, IT MAY NOT BE WHAT YOU EXPECT; BUT THEN THAT IS THE BEAUTY OF SUSPENSE. DON'T OWN 'EM, JUST LOVE 'EM.

CHAPTER 2: THE MORNING FROM HELL

Max easily found the chapel, he had been there before. He took a deep shaky breath and opened the door. Just as he was about to enter, Garret and Lilly came up behind him. Garret laid his hand on Max's shoulder and asked, "Are you going to be alright?" Max nodded slightly and walked in.

The room was cool, quiet, and almost empty. He walked to the second pew and sat down. Kneeling in front of him was a young woman praying very hard with her head in her hands. Max could hear her softly crying as she prayed. Not knowing what else to do, he put a comforting hand on her back. She didn't hear them come in, so she jumped a little when he touched her. Max moved into the pew next to her and she slowly lifted her head and turned toward him; her mouth falling open. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

"How, how could this be happening?"

Max shrugged his shoulders and took his daughter into his arms.

"Oh daddy….why?"

Max could only shake his head as he stroked her hair; just as he did when her mother died…so many years ago.

Max sat quietly as he held his little girl against his chest. Daddy, he thought, she hasn't called me that in over 20 years. They sat there for a long time before Garret and Lilly came in and sat down behind them.

Jordan turned around, "Thank you both for coming, and for bringing my dad."

"You can thank Nigel for finding your father," replied Lilly.

Jordan took Lilly's hand and nodded, then turned back to her father. "I need to get back to the waiting room…in case there is any news", she sniffled.

With that the four of them slowly walked down the now familiar halls of the hospital. They finally made their way back to the waiting room, after first stopping by the vending machine for some snacks to get them through the next few hours.

As they sat down to wait, Garret took a sip of his much too hot coffee. "So what exactly happened?" he finally asked Jordan.

Taking a deep breath, she began to explain. "The nurse called me early this morning, she said Woody had been running a very high fever all night, and they would have to postpone the surgery. I got here a little after six, his fever was over 103, and he wasn't responding to any of the antibiotics."

Lowering her head down, Jordan began playing with the pop top of her soda can. "About an hour later, the doctor came out to say it was definitely an infection, but it was so bad, that they would have to do emergency surgery to remove the infected tissue before it spread. That's when I called Lilly. The doctor said the surgery could be just as or maybe even more dangerous as the infection."

Swallowing back her emotion, Jordan sighed. "Because Woody was unconscious, the doctor said I needed to make the decision."

When she finally looked up at them, her eyes were brimming with tears again. "Woody made me his next of kin."