A/N: Driving us crazy, killing us, driving us to genocide, all in a days work for our dear channel seven. And the W channel isn't exactly giving me any joy. Show season 4 already! I want to see Sanctuary!
Thankyou muchly everyone who reviewed chapter 14, it makes it all ten times worth it! I'd name you all but it's midnight and well... I'm really tired. But I know who you all are. And I know where you live. LMAO.
Okay okay, again, I did NOT end it here - but NEXT CHAPTER! Most definitley! lol. I don't think I can drag it out anymore!
Chapter 15: It Must Mean Something
She couldn't concentrate. She was supposed to be filling out the endless array of forms that had resulted from the train wreck, and seeing as the other morgues that the bodies had gone to didn't have a grief counsellor, the whole thing was up to her. It didn't help that she was worried sick for three of her closest friends. As if believing earlier that Jordan dead wasn't enough, she also had been pained to watch Woody, strong man that he was, left a…well a male version of Jordan when she was in one of her 'moods'. Garret had done well, she figured, from the outside looking in. He had been strong, hadn't let everything get in his way. She sighed heavily, she was helpless, there was nothing left that she could do.
"Want a hand, love?"
Lily looked up and smiled gratefully at Nigel, who had poked his head around the door. Glancing at the clock, she shook her head.
"It's late, you should get going."
"So should you," he said, shrugging, and came in, clicking the door shut behind him. "What have we got?"
"I'm filling out reports on the people I've talked to over this whole thing, so you can't really do anything."
He nodded and watched her. She looked back at the report she was half way through, then shook her head and placed her pen gently down on the table.
"Been on this one for about half an hour now," she said.
"Difficult?"
"No, no more than the others. I'm just worried about them. They should have been back now, with or without her."
"Woody and Garret."
She nodded. Nigel frowned.
"I'm sure Dr. M said he was only going to be a little while," he said. "Have you tried calling them?"
"Cells off. Message bank."
"I hate those bloody things," he said sympathetically. She smiled appreciatively.
"I just can't get the thought out of my mind that…" she trailed off.
"Maybe they just went back to the precinct. They wouldn't exactly be thinking about coming back here to let us know. It's been a really annoying few days."
"Oh yeah, it's been really bugging me," Lily said smiling. "Maybe we should go check it out."
Nigel shrugged. "Anything to avoid paperwork, huh?"
Lily grinned. "Definitely."
But their minds were not put to rest when they arrived, and the detective's office was devoid of life. Lily sighed. "What should we do?" she asked.
Nigel gave her a funny look. "We're really dependant on Dr. M and Jordan, aren't we?" he said, and she looked at him questioningly. "Such demanding personalities," he said. "We're so used to taking orders from them we can't think for ourselves."
"I wouldn't go that far," Lily said, and Nigel grinned.
"I know. Sounded pretty good, though."
She laughed.
"Hey what's all this?" Nigel asked, gesturing to all the mug books piled up in the far corner. He walked over to them.
"Woody's crusade," Lily said.
"That's got a nice ring to it," he said, and looked at the page. "Why's it open to this page?"
Lily looked down over his shoulder.
"I don't know," she said, scanning the faces.
"Hey wait a minute I know this guy," she said, pointing to one of the faces. Nigel looked at her.
"Who is it?"
She frowned. "Wife and daughter killed, from memory," she said. "I don't exactly remember the details, only that he was really shaky and…"
She was cut off when Nigel got up abruptly and walked across the room, picking up a file and rifling through it.
"What was the name on that picture, Lil?" he asked. She glanced down at it.
"Jeremy Ayres," she said. "Why?"
"Because Woody's pulled his file," he said. "You were right, wife and kid dead. He killed them."
"What?" Lily asked, walking over. Nigel lowered the file for her to read. She looked up at him. "Why has Woody got it?"
Nigel shrugged and flipped through the file, then opened his mouth.
"One guess," he said, shakily, and tapped on the bottom of the page. "Look at the three people who took care of it."
"Dr. Macy, Dr. Cavanaugh and Det. Hoyt," she read slowly, looking at him. "What does this mean?"
"Woody obviously thought it meant something," Nigel said.
Lily frowned. "I mean fair enough, they all worked on it, but I'll bet they've worked on tonnes of them. Why did this one mean something to him?"
Nigel shrugged. "I don't know, love," he said, shaking his head, and reaching for the phone.
----------------
"Don't you dare!" Garret shouted in a low voice. "I swear you will regret it."
Ayres looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "That's all you have?" he asked. "All you can think of to persuade me?" He gritted his teeth and tightened his arms, causing Jordan to gasp for breath.
"I will rip you apart," he said. "Just as quick as you pull that damn trigger."
Woody was not looking at her, as much as she wanted to catch his eye. She spoke up.
"See?" she said. "What would you do? Look at me, damn you!"
He finally did, met her eyes, and she saw the raw terror in them, terror she knew was an echo of her own face when the tables had been turned only a little while before.
"You couldn't have done it anymore that I could have," she said. He frowned, and then nodded at her. She sighed in relief, now she would die with his forgiveness, approval, whatever.
"Jeremy Ayres!"
The four frowned and listened as a voice poured into their existences, reminding them that they weren't the only ones on the planet, as they had begun to believe.
"The building is surrounded!"
"You did call for backup," Garret said out of the corner of his mouth to Woody, who frowned.
"No," he said, still kicking himself for the fact that he had not, wondering how on earth they had been found.
Ayres sighed heavily. "Damn," he said lightly, and cocked his head to one side, waiting.
"Let the hostages go!" the voice yelled again, and Ayres smiled.
"Good," he said. "For a minute there I thought I'd have to send one of you two out there to tell them I had hostages! I wonder how they found out. Oh well. Suits me. We better get this over and done with."
"You're dead, Ayres," Woody said, sending him a cold look. Ayres surveyed him sadly and loosened his grip slightly on Jordan.
"I have been dead since the night my daughter died," he said. "Technicalities mean naught to me."
"Yeah, now you can donate your organs," Jordan said. Ayres laughed.
"I'm going to miss you, Cavanaugh," he said amiably. "I said before, in different circumstances…"
"Yeah I'm sure we would have been the best of buddies." She wriggled in his arms and turned to face him. He stared down at her, surprised. "I want you to look me in the eyes as I die," she said. He closed his eyes and squeezed her, in an embrace. She didn't fight him.
"Okay," he whispered.
"I'm warning you, scum," Garret sad, but Ayres ignored him. Jordan craned her neck around to look at her boss.
"So long," she said, grinning. He shook his head.
"Don't be so stupid!" he growled. "Let her go."
"Yeah, put the gun down, insert psychobabble here," Woody interjected bitterly, and Jordan looked at him, questioningly. "I'm tired of this! Why don't you just shoot your damned self and be done with it?"
Ayres laughed. "But that would completely defeat the purpose," he said, shaking his head.
"I'm serious," Woody continued, still in that low, dry voice that Jordan did not recognise. "You're a loser. We're going to get out of here, clean up your mess, go home and maybe watch a nice black and white movie on television. You're nothing to me, nothing to us."
Jordan felt him tense, and was torn between pride that Woody had figured the man out, and fear of what he would do next. She looked up and he glanced down at her.
"He's right," he whispered to her. The other two strained to hear what the man was saying but couldn't quite. "He is."
Jordan had the strangest urge to say 'no', but swallowed the word.
"Maybe," she whispered back, and pain flashed in Ayres' eyes. He inclined his head slowly. His whole demeanour had changed, he had gone from the sarcastic, confident killer to a small child, seeking forgiveness where there was none. Seeking something that she couldn't give him. He'd hurt them all too much.
Woody watched through hooded eyes. He exuded apathy, when really he was hanging on every breath, because any breath could be his last. Their last. He held out his hand to the man.
"Keys please?" he asked coldly. Ayres looked at him, bewildered, and pushed the gun harder against Jordan's head, although his heart did not seem to be in it.
"Woody…" she said. He sighed and dropped his hand.
"Let go," he said slowly, staring at Ayres, using his best intimidating glare, but Ayres was not paying any attention.
"What do you think?" he murmured to Jordan. Jordan nodded.
"Probably a good idea. They may overlook kidnapping."
Ayres snorted. "I don't care about them," he said, loud enough for them all to hear.
"Surrender your firearm," came the voice from outside, and a light flashed through the window, making them all flinch. They ignored it.
Jordan rested her head unthinkingly against the first solid thing she met – Ayres' chest. She was tired, she just wanted to lie down and sleep.
"Might want to hurry up and do whatever," she muttered. "I'm dead on my feet here, no pun intended."
Garret watched. Something had to be done, they could not just stand here and wait for something to happen. He took a step closer.
"Don't be a hero," Ayres drawled, trying to regain his previous attitude, but failing. Garret glared at him, before glancing at Woody. He could see that the detective was thinking, but could also tell that the thoughts were circling, not coming to any end.
"Come on," Garret said softly. "You don't want to do this. We won't press any charges, we can clear you for your daughters death, if you really didn't do it."
This incited a response, and Jordan looked up, watching.
"Why?" Ayres asked forcefully. "Why? She is dead, nothing is going to change that!"
"Then let us go," Woody spat.
Ayres let out a growl of frustration. "Damn you!" he shouted. "Damn you all to hell!" He took a breath.
"You wanted me to look at you?" he said to Jordan.
"No…" Garret said in a low voice, itching to step forward and yank her from the man's arms.
"Be careful what you wish for," he whispered vehemently, and pulled the trigger. A splitting noise rang out, shocking Garret and Woody to their cores. They couldn't see, there was smoke, movement, sound….
"Jordan?" Woody called out over the ringing. "Jordan?"