CHAPTER 23

"Hey Woody, Hey Jordan!" Lily exclaimed as she walked into the hospital room. Nigel followed her in; making sure Jordan wasn't going to throw anything at him first.

"Hey Lily! Don't worry Nige, I'm not going to throw anything at you." She laughed. Lily looked mildly confused for a second, before snapping back to her happy mood. She decided to tell them about her talk with Garrett right away, and then listen to Nigel.

"You guys up for a story?" Lily suggested.

"Sure." Woody agreed, eager to hear anything more about this whole situation. He hoped Lily's news had something to do with Jake too.

"Well, today I saw Garrett and…"

"You saw Garrett?" Jordan interrupted rather loudly. When had Lily seen Garret, and why didn't she take her with her?

"Yeah, I um met him for some coffee this afternoon." Lily answered. She didn't know how Jordan was going to react, but she knew how she expected her to.

"Oh…" Was all Jordan said. Lily assumed she'd be angry, but she just looked hurt. "Go on… sorry for interrupting."

"Okay." Lily nodded before continuing with her story. She told them everything that Garrett had told her. It still didn't make anymore sense than it did the first time she heard it.

"That's very confusing. Are you sure you aren't forgetting anything?" Nigel asked after a moment of silence.

"Nope. I'm sure. It's confusing to me too… Garrett told me he couldn't tell me anything for my own safety or something."

"We've definitely got some work to do." Woody commented. Everyone paused and waited for Jordan to say something. They all knew she would be hurt, angry, sad, but they didn't know how she'd react.

"I can't believe he didn't tell me!" Jordan pouted. She knew she was acting like a little kid, but she really didn't understand. She was really, really mad at Garret, even more angry than she had been before. Before, she was in denial. She didn't think that Garrett, the man she looked up to for being so honest and open when it came to his work life, had been hiding something for all this time. It didn't seem real… it seemed like it was all Slokum's fault. None of it would have happened if it wasn't for Slokum… but then Garrett got a chance to possibly make things better, and he went to Lily, not her? She couldn't believe it! Why wouldn't he have gone to her?

"Jo?" Woody asked softly. She just shook her head and continued to think. She didn't know what else to say. "Jo," Woody repeated, "You can't be mad at Garrett for not telling you."

"Why not?" Jordan asked in a voice just above a whisper.

"Because he didn't." Was all Woody could come up with.

"So?" Jordan shot back. She knew they were all as confused by this as she was… she had to handle this like an adult, not a 12 year old child. "Fine. What are we going to do about it?" She asked.

"Well… I'd say we start by telling Lily what I know?" Nigel asked.

"Sounds great." Woody answered. He was glad Jordan decided to stop pouting. Although it was cute, they needed to fix these problems. He needed to get out of the hospital, and help fix these problems. He could do so much more if he was at his apartment… he could meet Jake for starters.

"Good." Nigel nodded before proceeding to tell Lily exactly what he found about Jake.

"The stories really don't relate at all." Lily shook her head after Nigel had finished talking.

"Yeah, I know, it's all too weird." Woody agreed. "I will try my best to make some more sense of it once I'm out of here."

"Good to know." Jordan smiled at him.

"Yep." Nigel added in awkwardly.

"So what should we do now?" Lily wondered, not sure whether they should hurry and do more research or wait until Woody was able to help them. Then Woody had a stroke of brilliance.

"Oh! That makes a bit of sense now!" He laughed.

"What?" Nigel asked him curiously.

"I knew Dr. M wasn't telling me something this afternoon! That's what it is!" He regretted the words as soon as they left his lips, but was sort of relieved. He would have felt bad if he hadn't said something to Jordan about it… it would look bad if it ever came out, he knew they didn't need any more trust issues. He did know Jordan wouldn't react to the news well. He almost cringed, waiting for her to say something.

"What do you mean?" Jordan asked. She was even madder than she had been before. Had Woody forgotten about this earlier? Or had he just wanted to spare her the emotions?

"Dr. Macy… he came to see me this afternoon really randomly and I completely forgot until right this second because the weird thing is, he said practically nothing. Hello, how are you, good, bye. That was pretty much it. It was like he was checking to see if I knew something… I guess this must have been it. I knew there was something he wasn't saying, something like this, but now I know what it was."

"Oh." Lily said quickly, before Jordan blew up, or said anything. Jordan just sat there. She looked furious, just like she had while she was fighting with Bug's parents.

"What are we going to do about it?" Jordan asked.

"That's it?" Nigel blurted out.

"If you mean why aren't I yelling and getting mad and running off… yeah, well I've decided maybe it's time to grow up and accept things for what they are… it's obvious Garrett doesn't want to talk to me. I'll have to accept that." Jordan told him with a faraway smile. Everyone knew she didn't want to handle it like an adult… but were glad they wouldn't have to do Jordan control right then. They were all tired, and they needed to devise a plan to figure this entire mess out.

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"Mahesh! Where have you been?" His Mother demanded as soon as he opened the door of his apartment.

"You knew I was on a date with Lily!" Bug shook his head as he locked the door.

"Yes… but shouldn't it have been over a while ago?" His Mother asked another question.

"Nope. I just left her place and came right here." He told her. She could never remember at time where his attitude had been so negative. She had never heard him talk back to her his entire life… and he moves here and get's these friends… and he's plain rude.

"Well how was the date?" His Dad interjected, trying to do some damage control, before any damage got done.

"Good, fine, great." Bug answered quietly. "Anything exciting happen or is anything exciting planning to happen? Or can I go to bed?"

"Nothing." Shyama told him quickly, which informed him something exciting happened.

"What happened?" He asked his father.

"Well…" Alok started, getting curious glances from his son, and daggers from his wife. "Jordan and you Mother had a misunderstanding…"

"Jordan beat you at an argument?" Bug laughed. Good for Jordan! Maybe his Mom would learn a thing or two… maybe she'd get a little nicer.

"She didn't really…" Shyama started, feeling very embarrassed. It only then dawned on her how horrible it was to be told off like that… and how many people she'd told off.

"She did." Alok added with a smirk. He couldn't help it. He couldn't remember ever talking back to Shyama… ever. She had always be the one bossing everyone around… and he'd never wondered why before. He'd just accepted it and gotten used to pleasing her.

"Ah, yes. Jordan is quite skilled." Bug laughed before heading into his bedroom and flopping onto the bed. He just lay they for a few minutes, thinking about the last two days. He couldn't believe that after all the kisses and confessions… he still couldn't get over the fact he was Lily Lebowskis' boyfriend. He didn't want to concern his parents, so he held in the laughter when he thought about how Matt Seely would react to the news. He couldn't wait for work tomorrow. For once in his life, he actually wanted to see the conceded, blonde detective.

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"Garret!" Renee said with no expression as he entered her office and sat rigidly down in a chair.

"Sorry I'm late Renee." He told her with a small smile.

"What's your excuse? I thought this was pretty important?" She asked him, raising an eyebrow. He felt like a high school student sitting in his principal's office. He smiled at the thought which earned him another raised eyebrow and he started talking.

"After I got fired… I went out to a bar and…" He continued with his story. Except this time, when he got to the part he hadn't told Lily, he paused.

"Go on, Garrett. This is sounding promising." She told him with an encouraging smile. She seemed to have forgotten about being ticked off about his being late for their informal, impromptu meeting.

"Sorry, it's just… I haven't told anyone else this yet." He told her with an embarrassed smile.

"Who else have you given information to?" She questioned him.

"Uh, Lily. That's it." He told her. He failed to mention that he had instructed Lily to tell most of the morgue staff about it.

"Okay. Tell me. I think I can handle it." She told him with a smile but a look in her eyes that he read as you better talk Garret. Fine. I'll tell her everything, he thought to himself before opening his mouth and continuing.