Chapter Seven

Starting Over

Woody wasn't sure how long it was…but at some point it surfaced to his conscience that she was now beneath him on the couch in her office, in clear view of anyone who just happened to be walking down the hall. He pulled back and tried to ignore her whimper of protest. "We can't…not here…not now…" Woody whispered gently. "Too many people and not enough privacy…" He was also trying to disregard her dusky eyes and swollen lips. It wasn't working very well.

"Hmmm? Oh…yeah…" Jordan said, pushing herself up and straightening her clothes, at the same time watching Woody re-button his shirt. The look on his face told her he didn't remember when she had unfastened it. They both had been lost in the moment.

He took her hands and pulled her off the couch, leading her over to the door. "I've got to get back to the office…"

Jordan nodded. "I know…Nigel's expecting me in trace in …" she glanced at her watch. How long had they been like… "fifteen minutes….I gotta go change…"

"Wait…" Woody said, stopping her from opening the door by framing her face with his hands so she looked him in the eyes. "No dance this time, right? From now on, it's real and honest…and true…"

Jordan nodded.

"You mean it." It wasn't a question.

"I do…" she said, turning her head to give the palm of one of his hands a quick kiss. "But I need to go or Nige's going to be in here looking for me."

Woody grinned and released her. Nigel Townsend in Jordan's office right now was the last thing he wanted. The man was far too perceptive and would quickly understand what was going on…and Woody wanted to keep the last several minutes and their revelations to himself for a while longer. "I'll see you later…"

"I'm counting on it," she said, suddenly giving him one of her rare, genuine smiles. And kissed him on the way out the door. In front of everyone in the hall. That included Nigel and Bug. And Garret.

So much for keeping secrets.

And it became the worst kept secret in the history of the morgue and the Boston PD. The elusive medical examiner and the "go-get'em" detective from Keuwanne with the bad attitude finally had connected. Woody took more than his fair share of good-natured ribbing and Jordan endured the knowing grins of Nigel and Garret until she thought she'd explode the next time either one opened their mouths.

But one day, while working with him on an autopsy, it was Bug that surprised her the most. He didn't say a word about Woody and what was going on. He simply asked, "Are you happy, Jordan?"

The question shook her. Was she? Was she finally at a happy place in her life?

She thought back over the last several months. It hadn't been a time completely free of trouble. She and Woody still argued over cases…but the feelings they had for each other anchored them together. She couldn't imagine her life without him now…furthermore, she didn't want to. Like she had promised Woody, the dance was over…this time it was a relationship…real…honest…true.

To the extent they had agreed not to take the final step of consummating what they had together until they both were sure they were ready…that they both had worked through all the issues they had with each other and some of the circumstances surrounding their lives. So while she had to endure the "knowing" grins of some of her co-workers…the fact was…there was nothing to "know" at all. At least not yet.

Jordan also admitted it was getting harder and harder to tell Woody goodnight and send him home…it was becoming more difficult to resist the dusky look in his blue eyes when he pulled back from kissing her. And it was impossible to ignore the way her body responded to even his lightest touch. She was the most content when they were together. At peace. Finally.

But was she happy?

Raising her face shield to look at her friend…a friend that had known one of biggest secrets in her life and had kept it…then defended her when he felt like she needed it the most…. "Yeah … I am, Bug. I am happy…with Woody and where we're heading."

Bug smiled at her. "Good, Jordan. I'm glad…if anyone deserves some happiness, it's you…"

"Thanks…mind if I take off a little early today?"

"Plans?"

"Sort of…"

"Go for it, Jordan. I'll cover for you with Garret."

She didn't need Bug to tell her twice. She quickly changed out of her scrubs and headed towards her El Camino, punching in one on the speed dial of her cell phone while she pulled out of morgue parking. "Hoyt," a familiar voice said over the receiver.

"Hey, Farm Boy….how's you're day?"

Woody smiled, sitting back in his desk chair, propping his feet on his desk. "Slow…how's yours?"

"Same ol', same ol'….a little slicing, a little dicing…"

Woody grimaced. That always sounded like an ad for kitchen knives to him…he had learned quickly after working with Jordan for a while that ME's can have a warped sense of humor. It was one of their coping mechanisms. "So are you still slicing?"

"No…actually, I snuck out early and left Bug to finish my autopsy."

"Jordan Cavanaugh snuck out of work early….in the middle of an autopsy….the world as we know it is coming to an end…"

She laughed. It was a good sound. As a matter of fact, she had laughed more in the last several months than she had in the last several years. "Actually, no….but I was wondering…since your day was slow, too….any chance maybe you could knock off early…?"

"I'll see what I can do…" He began to shut down his computer and throw a few things in his briefcase. "So what did you have in mind?"

"I was thinking about a nice, quiet evening…alone with you…"

"Where at? Name the place and I'll be there…"

"Your apartment."

"A little Chinese delivery and a movie?"

"Something like that."

Woody paused. Something like that? Clearing his throat and trying to keep his voice normal, he asked, "Does that mean…I may need to…um…stop for supplies on the way home?"

Jordan laughed again…this time sounding silkily seductive to his ears. "Yeah….I think that would be a good idea."

He paused again. "Are you sure, Jordan? We don't have to rush anything…"

"I'm sure, Woody. Very sure…I realized something today…Bug asked me if I was happy…and I realized that for the first time in my adult life, I am. And a large part of that I owe to you…I love you, Farm Boy…."

"I'll be home in a half an hour."

Woody lazily stretched and welcomed the warm weight of her naked body snuggled against him. True to his word, the evening before had started with Chinese delivery…and a good bottle of wine. And ended with her in his arms. A smile turned up the corners of his mouth. He couldn't imagine a more satisfying way to end his day…or hers…and hoped that Jordan was now aware of the fact that he would no longer let her sleep alone again.

He had always imagined there might be some hesitation on her part…that for some reason when it came right down to it, giving herself to a man physically with her body as well as emotionally with her heart, might cause Jordan some problems. But evidently not. He knew he was a demanding lover…he had been told so before….but Jordan had met him kiss for kiss and touch for touch last night. The memory of it sent his blood pooling southward. He gently cupped her breast in response to his body's reaction, allowing his thumb to trace slow circles around her nipple.

He was rewarded with a moan and her moving even closer to him. "Good morning, sleepy head," he whispered.

"Morning," she replied, moving over to kiss him. "And don't stop on my account," she continued as she shifted her weight over him.

"Hmmmm. I won't." Her movement allowed him to do the same thing to her other breast at the same time…meanwhile her lips had slipped down to his neck, and her hands had trailed down a bit further. She was rewarded with his low moan this time. "Jordan…" he hissed.

"What?"

"Do you know what you're doing to me?"

"I hope so…."

"As long as you know…"

"Know what?"

"That you're responsible for my actions…" he teased and flipped her over so that she was beneath him now and he could look her in the eyes.

"Oh, I am?" she said back, only half-jokingly as he trailed a line of kisses down her neck this time…across her chest…to his objective, lightly kissing it before taking it in his mouth and letting his hand trail down further this time. She felt her breath catch in the back of her throat. "Oh…."

Woody chuckled, continuing to touch and guide her until she was arching against him…before he reached in his nightstand. Thank God for drugstores that were open 24-hours. He had a feeling they were going to keep the one across the street in business for the next … well, a long time. A very long time. At least if he had anything to do with it.

They didn't find out who Baby Doe's mother was until the next year. Woody was in Jordan's office, propped on the side of her desk, looking over her shoulder at some tox screens that were coming in on their latest victim. Lily came to the door of Jordan's office and lightly tapped. "There's someone to see you two in the conference room," she told them. "She claims she's the mother of the Baby Doe that was in the Green Hotel…"

Woody looked at Jordan, trying to judge her response…to make sure she was going to be okay. He still worried about her and babies, even though Jordan seemed less bothered by them now. He knew it wasn't because she had stopped grieving Sophie…it was because now she had someone to help shoulder her grief…him.

But he was still concerned. "Want to me to handle it?" he asked as she got up from her desk.

"No…I'd like to meet the woman…there's a lot of unanswered questions there. Why has it taken so long for her to come forward…why did she abandon her baby? I want to know, Woody. I need to. We both do."

He nodded and walked with her to the conference room. Woody wasn't sure what either of them expected, but it surely wasn't the woman waiting for them by the window…long, dark hair flowing down her back…tiny…her shoulders sagging with sadness and her young face already lined with years of worry and care. "You have my Elisea?" she asked in halting English.

It took some time, but through an interpreter Jordan and Woody found out that the woman's husband had died while she was pregnant with the baby. She had given birth and afterwards had little money. She lost her apartment and had been forced to find cheaper lodgings at the Green Hotel. She and little Elisea were barely making it when one morning, the baby simply didn't wake up. The woman, Rosa, had panicked and fled, thinking she had done something wrong and would be blamed.

"She didn't want to leave the baby, but felt she had no choice," the interpreter said. "She left and found a job….saved some money. She's wondering if per chance you still had her daughter's body…her remains…so that she could give Elisea a Christian burial.

Jordan cast Woody a sideways glance before answering. "We…Woody and I….buried her a couple of months after she was found. Neither one of us wanted the baby to be cremated or buried in a pauper's grave…so we buried her. Tell Rosa Elisea did have a Christian burial…my friend, Paul, who is a priest, presided over the funeral. Nearly everyone at the morgue and the Boston PD attended….tell her that her daughter was loved to the very end."

The interpreter relayed the message to Rosa, who wanted to know where her daughter was. "We can take her there, Jordan said, reaching for Woody's hand. "if she wants to go…"

Fifteen minutes later found the four people at a familiar cemetery. Jordan found her mother's grave and then walked two rows up. There were two tiny head stones….one for Sophia Cavanaugh and another simply labeled Baby Doe. "Now that we know who she is, we can have this changed," Jordan told Rosa through the interpreter. The mother nodded and hugged both Jordan and Woody before turning with the interpreter to leave. She still looked tired, but some of the worry around her eyes was gone. Woody watched Jordan…as Jordan watched the mother turn to leave. "Are you okay?" he asked, still concerned about her.

Jordan turned to him and smiled…a genuine smile. "I am, Woody. I'm okay. I still miss my daughter…but life is good. I have my friends, who are like family…and I have you…" She reached up and gave him a quick kiss.

"And in a few months, we'll have our own family," Woody said, placing a gentle hand on Jordan's expanding tummy. "Still excited?"

"Let's see….nights without sleep, two a.m. feedings…countless dirty diapers…teething…potty training…oh, very excited, Detective Hoyt…" She smiled at him again.

"Good," Woody replied, placing his arm around her to lead her back to their car. He knew the baby wouldn't take Sophia's place in Jordan's memory. He didn't intend for it to even try. Woody wanted their baby to be a new beginning for both of them…a new family…in a new house…A time for both of them to start over, this time with no secrets.