I hope everyone like this chapter. I have had a serious case of writers block as of late.I've really struggled with where to take things, so I hope I made the right choice.

Disclaimer: CJ is not mine, I could only wish!

As the days turned to weeks following the funeral, Jordan's life seemed to return to some form of normalcy. She had laid her father to rest next to her mother, her brother had been cremated and his ashes had been tossed into the Charles River, forever washing him from her life.

It was a few days before she returned to work, but she was more than ready. She was ready to do what she did the best, catch the bad guys. Everyone welcomed her back with open arms, especially Garret. He had missed her presence immensely. Her bond with her friends had grown so much with her ordeal. She no longer took any of their friendships for granted, especially a friendship with a certain detective.

Jordan and Woody's relationship had grown by leaps and bounds over the course of a few weeks. They were not only roommates but they had once again become best friends. Seemingly every evening they were together. Jordan would come home and either pick up dinner or would whip up one of her famous Italian meals. Woody would clean up the dishes and do other chores around the house after dinner, then they would simply spend the evening laughing and talking. The crew from the morgue teased them to no end about acting like an "old couple", they just laughed. That may have been true, but they were just happy spending time with each other. They had connected on an emotion level that neither of them had experienced before, but in the physical aspects of their relationship nothing had changed. At bed time they would brush their teeth together and part to go to their separate rooms. Neither of them wanted to push that part of a relationship on the other so they just left it alone, if it was meant to be, the time would come.

For the first time in Jordan's life she was nearly happy. She missed her father so much, she thought of him often thru out the day but his words echoed in her head, 'I just want you to be happy'. Smiling at the thought, Jordan continued to fix dinner for her and Woody.

It wasn't long till the door opened and he was standing there with his nose in the air. "Oh, I was hoping that smell was coming from in here, you can smell what you're cooking all the way down the hall."

"Wouldn't you like to know…" she said raising her eyebrow at him.

He couldn't help but laugh at her innuendo as he made his way over to her to kiss her on the cheek. "You know, your spoiling me right?"

"Let's just say I'm paying off a longstanding debt for my knight in shinning armor", a smile was starting to form at the corner of her mouth. Woody just rolled his eyes at her comment.

He leaned against the counter as he started to sort thru the mail out loud, "bill, Jordan, Jordan, junk, Jordan, bill, BPD Valentine Ball invitation, hmm, Jordan, Jordan ,and what a surprise…Jordan. OOO this is a letter from a lawyer, someone's in trouble", he taunted her. She had to chase him all over the living room to finally retrieve her letter.

"Michael D. Brown, Attorney at Law, Columus, Ohio? I haven't been to Ohio since I was a kid, what in the world is this…." She questioned at she opened the letter. Woody sat back and watched her face as she read the contents of the letter quietly. Slowly tears started to form in her eyes and roll down her cheeks.

"Jo what is it?" he asked moving next to her.

"It's a copy of dad's will and a letter." She let her hand drop and gave the papers to Woody.

His eyes were filled with disbelief as he read the letter, and it wasn't long before he too had tears. "Did you know, did he ever tell you?"

She nodded her head. Woody immediately pulled her into his arms and held her while she cried. Jordan never expected to receive a letter from her father, especially one that detailed what had happened the night her mother died. The letter contained every small detail about her mothers illness, what happened with her brother, how he covered her murder up, it even went as far to disclose the details of the Malden case from a few years prior. There was no way for her to be prepared for this, she knew what happened, but not in this much detail. She never intended on telling Woody either but at that moment it felt like the right thing to do.

It was a while before she pulled away from him, whipping the stray tears from her reddened face. "Woody, what you've read, what you know, you can never tell anyone. I don't want my father's name drug thru the mud because he tried to protect me. Promise me Woody please!" she nearly begged.

"I promise, not matter what, I promise" he responded. He slowly guided her over to the couch and made her sit down.

She then began to read the other contents of the letter, Max's will. He had of course left all of his worldly possessions to his only daughter. It included instructions to a storage facility in Boston where he had kept his belongings while he was on the run. The rest of his belongings would be sent in a few weeks from Columbus. There was also information on an insurance policy.

"Oh my, Woody, look at this…." she gasped and handed the information to Woody. His eyes widened as he read.

"Does that say what I think it does" Jordan just nodded again.

Apparently while Jordan was small Max got a rather hefty insurance policy. He wanted to make sure if something happened to him on the street that she would be able to finish her schooling. The policy had evidentially matured quite a bit thru out the years.

The two of them just leaned back into the couch. It was a while before she rose and made her way into the kitchen to check on their dinner. The entire situation was rather overwhelming for Jordan. All she knew was she would trade it all just to have her father back.

Woody soon joined her in the kitchen, he walked up behind her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She seemed to relax from his embrace and he leaned back against him.

"What am I going to do with all that? I didn't even know he had that policy. What am I going to do with his things? I guess I could invest some of the money….." she was beginning to ramble when he stopped her.

"Don't worry Jo, we'll figure something out. You should probably call that lawyer in the morning to find out what you need to do."

"We Hmmm?" she shot at him sarcastically.

He backed off immediately. "Jo, I'm sorry, I didn't mean anything by it…."

"Woody…it's ok. Just teasing. I guess there is kind of a we isn't there?" she could feel his smile against the side of her face.

"Yeah, I think there kind of is a 'we' now, what do you want to do with that?" he asked turning her around in his arms.

They were face to face for a moment before she reached up and cupped his face in her hands. She gently pressed her lips to his, waiting for him to respond before she offered to deepen the kiss. To her surprise though he didn't, they continued with the slow and steady pace of kisses until he finally pulled away from her.

"Jo.." he said breathlessly, "Slow down a little babe, remember we have to live here together…"

She leaned back to look at him, completely confused by his hesitancy. "I thought…..I thought this was what you wanted…I'm sorry….." Jordan began to back away from him and started walking toward her room.

"Jordan…..Jordan stop" he spoke with a tone she had never heard him use before. Slowly she turned around to find him standing right in front of her. His eyes were burning with a passion and a fury she had never seen, if almost frightened her, till he touched her. He ran his hands up her arms till they settled on her shoulders, gently rubbing the sides of her neck with his thumbs.

"Jo, I want you to understand, while I do want that, there is something I want even more…" Woody placed a single finger in the center of her chest, "I want what's in here, I want to know every inch of that heart that has been hidden behind so many walls, hidden from everyone. I want to be the one who storms the castle and takes your heart forever. Do you understand where I'm coming from?"

With tears streaming down her face, Jordan nodded and wrapped her arms around him. She held on to him for dear life. There was so much she wanted to say but just couldn't put it into words. No one had every spoke to her that way, no one had every wanted to know her, really know her. The thought excited her one some level but yet it was also terrifying. In those few minutes she stood there holding him she decided that Woody was worth the risk, again.

"Hey, if you squeeze me any tighter, I'm not going to be able to breath." He whispered in her ear making both of them laugh.

"I just thought maybe you needed some one to hold you a little tighter, that's all" she said smiling, both of them remembering there night in L.A. years ago.

They both leaned back and looked at each other, both with smiles spreading over their faces. "I guess this means you agree with me? I'm worth the wait?"

Jordan laughed out loud, "Time will tell Farm Boy, time will tell. Now, I'm starved, how bout some dinner?"