It's days like this he really hated his job. There was really nothing left for him to do. The CSU were handling the scene and the Gang Unit was working the streets. He climbed into his car and head back to the morgue. He at least had a report to fill out.
On the way back he passed the pub and it all came back to him.
Calvin is in town...
...and had hooked up with Jordan.
Funny, he wasn't at all surprised to see Cal sitting at the bar. It fact, the last time he laid eyes on him he was in a bar with Jordan. Then again, Cal sitting at a bar with a pretty girl wasn't an uncommon sight to begin with. It would figure he'd grab the first bus out. Of course he was there to try an explain away what Woody found.
Seeing him only verified Woody's suspicions.
Hopefully he got the not-so-gentle hint and he was halfway back to Kewaunee by now. Woody's knuckles ached like hell. He could only hope Cal's face felt the same.
Woody rode the service elevator up.
Technically it was against the rules when it wasn't being used to transport a body but frankly he was in no mood to deal with live people right now. He was happy Bug caught the case. Bug had moved on from his biting sarcasm to professional indifference with Woody months ago. Most people did anymore. It was nice. He was able to do his job in peace and not have to those rhetorical questions that everyone asked during small talk. A few people still looked at him expecting an answer and looking at him with pity when he simply gave the politically correct response.
The worst offender of getting in his face was standing there when he opened the lift doors.
Lily, with all her sweet compassion, couldn't seem to leave a sleep dog lay when it comes to Woody. She is constantly yanking his chain, going out of her way to make him as uncomfortable as possible whenever they are in the same room. After last night he wasn't in the mood to be psychoanalyzed by Sally Sunshine.
"Woody! Goodness you scared me. What are you doing in there? I thought you were on the case Bug just wheeled through here..."
"That's were I'm heading...Where is he?"
He tried to walk around her...only Lily had a knack of making her petite figure seem like it was a mile wide. Woody was beginning to consider suggesting to Doc Rivers, of the Celtics, that he should scout her as a defense guard.
"Autopsy One... Woody, how have you been?"
"Fine Lily," he said as evenly as he could. "I would really like to be in there when Bug begins to cut."
Lily didn't even bat a lash...nor did she move an inch. "I see Calvin's back in town and he's got a pretty good shiner..."
"How...?" Woody glanced toward the hallway half expecting Cal to be standing right behind him. He wasn't, but with a sigh, Woody realized Cal was probably somewhere close. "Nevermind. Lily, as a friend I'm asking you to just stay out of this...please."
She flashed him a sad smile, "Because I'm your friend I can't. The offer's still on the table. I'm always here for you...if you ever need to talk..."
Woody looked at his feet. It was easier than looking in her face. "It's not that I don't appreciate the offer Lily but this is...bad. I can't..."
Lily nodded she'd had this conversation with Woody more times than she can count...about as many times as she's had the similar conversation with Jordan. Now that Cal was here, and staying with Jordan, it seemed like the stakes had just gone up. It didn't take a trained eye to realize the wounds of the past were busting. Maybe now the abscess could be lanced carefully, thoroughly, squeezed until the poison was gone...for all their sakes.
Impulsively Lily wrapped her arms around Woody's frame and held on for dear life. For a second Woody was in shock. For a naturally physical person, it had been months since he's let anyone come close enough to touch him. The feeling was almost as foreign as it was familiar. He didn't dare return the gesture.
That was how Jordan found them.
"Excuse me," she said walking past. "I just left..." she reached for a folder on one of the counters and gave Lily a brave little smile before slipping back into the hallway.
"Jordan..." Lily called after her. She gave Woody a look off total exasperation and took off after her.
Woody sighed. Lily gave him that damn look of pity and all he did this time was stand there. Damn if he does, damn if he doesn't. Rubbing his hand over his face, Woody quickly regrouped and headed down the hallway to Autopsy One...
Jordan reentered her office and tossed the wayward folder on her desk.
"I see you found it. Do you need to ...doing anything with it before we go?"
When it came to the complexities of an office environment Cal was a lost soul. Add the confusion of a city morgue and he was in a state of complete awe at how things were run.
The place seemed like a controled beehive of chaos when he stepped out of the elevator on the ninth floor a little over an hour ago. It didn't take long to see a familiar face. Lily Lebowski. Instead of the bright smile he remembered from his last trip to the morgue, he got one of shocked recognition.
"Calvin? Calvin Hoyt?"
At first Cal thought the story of his last visit was more of a common knowledge that Jordan had let on last night. She assured him that his involvement in the Albanian case was minimized. She tried to tell him that Woody didn't want to see him dragged through the courts. Cal assured him the only reason Woody buried evidence was because he didn't want his own name slandered. But when Lily rounded the front desk and looked him up and down...not in anger but in sympathy he knew Jordan was at least right about the story being contained.
"Lily...isn't it?"
"Yes," she smiled before she reached up and touched his face.
Normally, strangers touching him put Cal on the defensive, but before he and Woody had their fall out Woody would talk about this quirky woman and call her a good friend. He never had a female he could honestly call friend before...at least that was until he met Jordan. But still he wouldn't call what they had as friendship. It was more like a mutual problem bringing them together. Cal didn't flinch when she gingerly brushed the bruise on his face.
"Did you get the license of the truck that hit you?" she quipped.
Cal gave her as charming of a smile he could with half his face swollen and cut. He really didn't want to go in to the whole story with her. "Just the last four. I'm here to see Jordan. Is she here?"
"Sure, yes," Lily said. She signed Cal in and then escorted him down the hallway. "When did you get in? I'm glad your here. I 'm sure Woody's excited. He's been..."
"Last night and I wouldn't quite say he's excited," Cal said absentmindedly touching his face. "I'm staying with Jordan while I'm here."
"Really," Lily she said equably.
"I was staying in a place downtown called The Remington and she offered."
"The Remington! Your brother had you stay at the Remington!" Lily said in hushed outrage.
"He didn't know I was in town when I checked in. You know Lily, you seem like a really nice person and I really don't want you to get caught up in this right now..."
Lily nodded. Cal could almost read her mind. Lily was making a mental note to catch up with Jordan...or Woody as soon as possible. Cal hoped they'd keep his confidence. It was bad enough Jordan was dragged in the middle of his dirty laundry.
"Cal? Did you hear me?"
Jordan's concerned voice brought Cal's rambling thoughts about Lily and back to the present. Apparently she said something and he wasn't paying attention.
"Pardon?"
Jordan's mouth flattened. "Cal, are you alright? That punch might have done more damage than we thought."
Cal gave her a lopsided smile that remained so much of Woody's it hurt. "My head's a lot harder than Wood's fist...trust me. It's been tested before...many times before."
"I was saying Woody's just down the hall. He answered a call this morning and has a D.B. in one."
"D.B.?"
"Dead body..."
"...oh."
Jordan looked through the piles on her desk until she found a take out menu. "Frankly, I don't think either of us are in the mood for one of his moods. Would you mind if we just hung out in here for awhile? We can order take out and you can tell me more about what's going on."
Cal nodded and Jordan picked up the phone. Never to fussy about food, especially when someone else was treating Cal let Jordan order. She hung up the phone saying that it would there in about twenty minutes.
"Jordan, I wish you would have let me buy. After all you're putting me up..." Cal argued.
"If you call me letting you sleep on my couch putting you up...if anything I should be paying you."
Cal's six foot plus frame didn't exactly fit on Jordan's five foot something sofa but Cal had slept in less comfortable situations before. Besides sleep didn't come too soon even though by the time they had turned off the lights they were both drained. The sun was just starting to come up when Cal finally shut his eyes. And when he did he had dreams about the shooting.
"I'm fine Jordan."
Jordan looked at him with a trained doctor's eye. If he slept last night...or for the last few nights she'd be surprised. "Well, you can crash in my bed this afternoon. When I get home from work we'll figure out what to do..."
"He's not crashing anywhere near your bed Jordan. At least not over my dead body."
Woody's ice-cold voice came from just outside the door reminding Jordan she had forgotten to shut it.