As you can tell, I love Christmas songs. Hope the references aren't to sappy.

Disclaimer: I don't own Crossing Jordan or the rights to the songs mentioned in the remainder of this story.

Christmas Plans

It was December 24th, Christmas Eve. It was supposed to be the most wonderful time of year. A time where friends and family put aside their differences and mimic peace on earth. The joy and warmth of the holiday was lost on Woody because all he had to keep him company were memories of Christmas past.

He was on duty Christmas Eve and was hoping to keep himself busy so the day would fly by. The goal was to ignore Christmas all together. Pretend that it didn't exist.

That plan wasn't working so well. It had been an unusually slow day. Great for the people of Boston, but it left Woody with nothing but paperwork to occupy his mind.

When he was finally sent out on a call to an up scale Boston hotel, it seemed as though his luck was just getting worse. Jordan was the answering ME.

"So, what do we have?" Jordan inquired.

"Veronica Smith, twenty-nine year old female, no apparent cause of death, just the small traces of blood on her face" Woody answered.

"That's where I come in." replied Jordan. "No visible wounds, no signs of struggle, nothing. What do we know about her?"

"She's a local. The hotel manager said she checked in alone last night, paid cash for two nights. This morning the maid came in to change the linens and found her. She thought she was asleep at first; poor woman is a basket case."

There was a ruckus at the door. It was the manager trying to get in. "He's got his underwear in a wad." Woody remarked. "Keeps on saying she had to die of natural causes because this kind of thing doesn't happen in his hotel. Why don't I see what he needs, do you need anything else from me?"

"No, I'll finish up here and take her back to the morgue. I should have the preliminary results before the end of the day."

"Great, catch you later."

"You know where to find me" Jordan replied, quite pleased with the polite way they had both behaved. Maybe they could at least be friends.

Back at the morgue, Woody found Jordan in Autopsy One with Ms. Smith.

"So far I've come up empty. I found nothing out of the ordinary in trace, and I'm still waiting on the toxicology results, so I'm afraid the preliminary autopsy results are inconclusive…Sorry I don't have more for you." Jordan said as she pulled her gloves off.

"That figures. There were no signs of forced entry or foul play back at the hotel. So far, we have nothing to go on. And I haven't been able to contact her next of kin. Just the way to start the holiday. You off tomorrow?" Woody questioned.

"Yeah, Garret insisted that I take the day off, I have worked to many hours this month already. You?"

"My boss says he is tired of seeing me, but with this case open I may have an excuse to come in. I have nothing else to do anyway."

"I know what you mean. My plans consist of watching the Christmas movie marathon and probably ordering pizza."

"What about the morgue Christmas party?" Woody questioned.

"We had it early, Bug had wanted to go home this year and Garret went out of town to see Abby."

By this time, they were about three feet apart, it seemed as though something were drawing the two together. As usual, they were fighting the attraction like magnets repelling each other. Unable to bear the tension any longer, Jordan stepped up to him and kissed his cheek ever so softly. "Merry Christmas Woody."

With that, she was out of the room, leaving Woody standing there dumbstruck. "Merry Christmas Jordan."