Chapter 7 – One step forward

A/N: There will be some larger time gaps, but I will explain what happened in between.

Two months later

These stupid jeans wouldn't fit. Jordan cursed loudly as she tried to button her jeans for the millionth time now. Sighing, she finally gave up and discarded the jeans. Then she went over to the full length mirror in her bedroom to look at herself. From the front you could tell no difference but from the side there was a visible little bulge. She placed her hands protectively over it.

"You're going to make me fat, you know," she talked softly to the unborn baby.

Actually it didn't matter to her if she got fat as long as the baby was healthy. She only feared that she would start to show before she would gather her courage to tell Woody. Yeah, she hadn't told him until now and she was four months pregnant. She knew it was coward but she was just too scared how he would react. But she also knew it wouldn't get better the later she told him.

Maybe today was a good day to tell him. Their relationship had really improved. They talked again and their friendly banter at work was back. She also had the feeling that he was watching out for her since she collapsed. He seemed to be concerned for her and tried to make sure that she ate regularly which hadn't been that pleasant for her while she had still suffered from 'morning sickness'. Most of the time, the food they consumed together didn't last long in her stomach. Thank god, that was over now. The doctor was right that the sickness would go away once she was in her second trimester. Now she ate almost all the time. Her craving for food sometimes really frightened her.

The best of all was that she could now really enjoy the times when she went to lunch or to dinner with Woody. That were her favorite times of her day and she really enjoyed these meetings. They talked about nothing in particular then but she had the feeling that their friendship had never been better. They were comfortable in each others presence. She simply enjoyed being around him, yet she wanted more. She loved him, not only because she was carrying his baby. Everytime he smiled at her, her knees got weak. Yeah, she should really tell him today. Maybe it wouldn't be that bad.

She went over to her closet in search for some pants that would fit. She finally found some worn out cargo pants, which had gotten a little wide around the waistband. Now they fit perfectly. With her lose fitting long-sleeved shirt, nobody could tell that she was pregnant and she liked to keep it that way until she had the chance to tell Woody.

At this moment her stomach decided to get her attention with a loud grumble. She was starving. With a quick glance at her watch she decided that there was enough time for scrambled eggs, bacon and toast, her favorite breakfast these days.

As she reached the kitchen counter, something on it caught her eye. It was the picture from her last ultrasound two days ago. She gently took it in her hand and thought back to the wonderful moment when she could hear and see the heartbeat of her baby. It was totally awesome to see the life that was growing inside of her. The doctor had also told her that everything was okay so far. After the doctors visit she was buzzing with excitement.

She finally placed the photo back down onto the counter and started with her preparations for breakfast.

…

"Hey Jo!" Woody burst good-naturedly through the doors of the autopsy room.

"Hey Woody," she smiled at him.

"How far along are you?"

"What?" she asked panicly. How did he figure it out?

He gestured towards the corpse with an open thorax in front of her.

"The autopsy. What do you have?" he asked, confused by her little outburst. She could really act strange sometimes.

"Oh," she sighed in relief. "There are multiple stab wounds in his chest; I've counted a total of twenty, probably from a big knife or something similar. One stab cut the main artery that leads towards his heart. That was the cause of death. Five stabs were done post mortem. From the angle of the stabs and the blood spatter around him I was able to tell that he was stabbed while lying on the bed where we've found him. I've found a blonde hair on his chest and some remnants of skin under his fingernails. Any suspects?"

"Only the usual, the wife and the mistress. I mean, you can say that it was a crime of passion. But we have nothing concrete yet."

"Nigel is still at the crime scene, searching for evidence. Maybe he comes up with something."

"Wow, you let the chance pass to search a crime scene yourself?" he teased her, but he really started to wonder about her strange behavior in the last months. He remembered an incident two weeks ago.

He was standing at a crime scene looking down at the victim when Jordan arrived, followed closely by Bug who carried both of their kits. He greeted her and gave Bug a quizzical look.

"She's behaving like a little princess. She lets either me or Nigel carry and lift everything heavy. I don't think I saw her lift anything heavier than a pencil for some weeks now," he said grumpily.

"I just wanted to get the autopsy done," Jordan said as an excuse.

Bug was right. Woody also didn't see her lifting around corpses anymore and she wasn't somebody who normally resented physical work. She also didn't work overtime anymore even if that meant that work had to wait. There had to be something wrong with her.

"Is everything okay?" he asked concerned.

"Sure, I'm fine," she smiled reassuringly at him but she sensed that this was a good opportunity to tell him. "Actually, there's something I've wanted to tell you for a while now…" she started but the ringing of his cell phone interrupted her.

"Hoyt," he answered it. "Ok, I'll be there in a few."

He threw her an apolegetic glance. "Sorry I gotta go. They'll bring in the wife for interrogation. Let's see if she's got some scratches. Can we talk about this later?"

"Sure," she shrugged. Deep inside she was relieved that she didn't have to tell him right away.

"We could have dinner together after shift," he suggested.

"That sounds good," she tried to sound not too excited but she could see from the smile on his face that she failed. "Meet me in my office after shift?"

"Sure. I'll see you then," he said, flashing a last smile before he left.

The prospect of being with Woody and to eat at the same time was really great, although there was a confession to be made.

Pushing that thought away, she resumed with the autopsy.

…

After she was done with the autopsy, Jordan sat in her office, filing the report. She found it hard to concentrate because her thoughts always drifted to Woody and the confession she had to make. She feared that it would destroy their newly established friendship. He could also get angry because she told him so late or, worst of all, he could leave her alone with the baby but she knew that was highly unlikely. He was too noble to do something like that.

"Jordan?" Nigel poked his head through the door.

She snapped out of her thoughts as he walked into her office.

"Yeah? What's up?"

"Well, first of all, I found the murder weapon," he said, proud of himself.

"Really? Where?"

"In the kitchen. I tested all the knives for remnants of blood and then I found it. Can you imagine the murderer was so stupid to think water would destroy the evidence," he laughed at the stupidity of the criminal.

"Do you already know it was the victim's blood?"

"Of course I do, my dear. I did a comparison between the blood on the knife and your samples from the victim. The DNA was a perfect match. And…I also found fingerprints on the knife."

"Really? Any match?" Now this was starting to get really interesting.

"Unfortunately not. No match in the database, but I called Woody. He'll try to get us samples from the wife and the mistress, as well as their fingerprints."

He could see her eyes light up as he mentioned the Detective's name. Things were finally better between them, he was really relieved. The tension between them had been affecting everyone around them.

"What did you find?"

She told him about the skin under the victim's fingernails and the blonde hair as well as that he was stabbed where they fond him.

"Luckily there were dandruffs clinging to the hair so I was able to extract the DNA. It didn't match the DNA from the skin under the victim's fingernails." she also told him.

"Hmm, that's strange. Maybe there was more than one attacker," he guessed.

"Could be. But let's wait until we get samples to compare them to. We could go back to the crime scene and see if we missed something," she suggested.

"Good idea. Let's meet in the garage in ten minutes?"

She nodded and watched him leave. Ten minutes were enough to finish her report if nobody interrupted her. Just as she finished this thought, somebody knocked at her door. Before she could say anything, Lily slipped in and closed the door behind her. Normally she enjoyed her friend's company but right now she only wanted to finish her report.

"Hey Jordan," she flashed a nervous smile. "You got a moment?"

"Is it important? I really should finish this report right now and Nigel waits for me to…"

"How far along are you?" Lily suddenly blurted out.

"The autopsy is done and now I'm filing the report…" she said, becoming frustrated.

"No, that's not what I meant. You're pregnant," that was more a statement than a question.

Now Jordan was shocked. She thought she had made sure that nobody could see anything.

"How… how could you tell?" she asked, still bewildered.

"So it's true? Oh my god, I'm so happy for you," she cheered and pulled her friend into a hug.

After she released Jordan, she began to explain.

"It wasn't that hard to tell. The nausea attacks two months ago. I think I never saw you vomit before. Then it suddenly stopped and now you eat everything that crosses your way. You're wearing wider clothes and your face is slightly rounder. Plus you're glowing," she said smiling.

"But the guys couldn't tell," Jordan pointed out.

"Yeah, that's the way men are. Oblivious to everything until it hits them square in the face," Lily snorted.

Now it was Jordan's turn to smile. She thought she would be terrified if anybody found out but somehow she felt happy that she could share her secret with somebody. She also trusted Lily that she wouldn't go and tell everybody.

"So, how far along are you? Who's the father? I mean, not that it's any of my business but…" Lily began to stammer.

"Lily, it's okay," she interrupted her with a laugh. "I'm four months pregnant now. And about the father…Can you keep a secret?"

"Sure. You can trust me. I won't tell anybody about all of this."

Jordan took a deep breath. To know that she wouldn't tell anybody helped a little but it was nontheless hard for her to tell her friend. Her eyes were cast downwards.

"It's Woody's," she breathed out. As she looked up again, she saw Lily's shocked face.

"Wo…Woody's? I mean, how did this happen?" she asked astonished. Two months ago they barely talked and now they were having a baby together.

"You remember my birthday where he wanted to give me this ring?" As she saw her friend nod, she continued. "Well, I went out this night to a club to let a little steam off. He seemed to have the same idea. I ran into him there. A bottle of tequila and some dancing led to more. I think you can imagine everything else. Eight weeks later I found out that I was pregnant."

"Why didn't you tell anybody? Wait, you told Woody, didn't you?"

"No, I didn't tell him." Lily shot her a disapproving look. "I know I'm a chicken. I was just scared how we might react. After we slept together we were barely civil to each other. But actually I was planning on telling him today. We're going to have dinner together."

"Hey, everything will work out fine," she patted Jordan's hand in a comforting manner. "I'm there for you if you need anything. If you need something don't hesitate to call."

Jordan was really touched that her friend cared so much for her. She also felt a little relieved now that she knew that there was somebody she could count on.

"Thanks, Lily. This means so much to me."

"You're welcome," she gave her friend a last hug. "Call me later and tell me how everything went."

"I will," she promised.

When Lily left, she also grabbed her things and went to the garage to meet Nigel.

…

"The wife had some really impressive scratches on her arms," Woody said. "She made some stupid excuses about an aggressive cat."

Woody, Jordan and Nigel were standing in the lab, discussing the recent developments in their case while waiting for some test results.

"But they didn't have a cat," Nigel threw in.

"Exactly what I thought. She also didn't want to give us her DNA willingly so I had to use a little trick," Woody said proudly.

"The water glass," Jordan stated matter-of-factly. It was an old trick but most of the suspects were stupid enough to fall for it. They could easily extract their DNA profile from the saliva on the glass and they also had the fingerprints. At this moment, the computer was running a comparison between the wife's DNA-profile and the one they extracted from the skin they found under the victim's fingernails. They have already compared the fingerprints with those on the murder weapon. They were no match.

"But if we have a match here, this wouldn't explain the blonde hair. The wife isn't blonde, but the mistress is," Woody explained. "Too bad she wasn't very cooperative and she also wasn't thirsty. I tried to get a warrant but I couldn't get a hold of the judge."

At this moment the computer let out a beep to indicate that the results were there. Jordan printed them and studied them.

"We've got a match with the skin under the victim's fingernails," she said triumphantly.

"Okay, so he scratched her, but we can't prove that she murdered him. Her fingerprints weren't on the murder weapon," Woody remarked.

"But it's clear that she had something to do with it. Maybe she had an accomplice," Nigel suggested.

Woody wanted to support this theory but he was interrupted by his mobile ringing.

"Hoyt…that's great…thank you, sir!" he flipped his phone shut. "That was the judge, he granted the warrant. I'll go over to the PD to get the samples. She's still there."

"And let you do all the fun. Let me go and get them," Nigel offered.

"Well, okay. Just tell one of the officers that I sent you," he agreed and then Nigel left. "So, any theories?" he asked Jordan as they were alone.

"I don't know," she rubbed the bridge of her nose in concentration, "The tox screen was negative, there was not even alcohol in his blood. So we can assume that he defended himself massively when he was stabbed, even if he was surprised while he slept. He seemed to be a strong guy, so I think she had help. That her prints weren't on the murder weapon also support this theory. Maybe she even did it together with the mistress."

"I don't know, why would she work together with her rival? But then again, women aren't famous for being rational," he joked, which earned him a playful shove by Jordan. But then she had to laugh herself.

"Hey, you know that it's true," he laughed.

When she wanted to hit him again, he caught her hand. Both gasped at the electricity that surged through them at the contact. She gazed up into his deep blue eyes and was automatically mesmerized by the emotion she found there. No, she must have interpreted that wrong; he had made it clear that he didn't feel more for her than friendship. But you wouldn't look like that at a friend, would you?

He still hadn't let go of her hand and was now rubbing soft circles on the back of her hand. His gaze fell to her lips. He remembered how soft they had felt when they had kissed. He yearned so much to kiss her now. Hid other hand went to caress the side of her face and his lips were drawn to hers. He knew he was on thin ice there but he couldn't stop himself.

As she saw him move closer, feelings of panic and anticipation battled inside of her. Her heart wanted him to kiss her senseless but her brain told her that it wouldn't be a good idea now that she hadn't even told him about the baby she was expecting.

He was about to kiss her when the doors burst open and Bug stormed in. They quickly jumped away from each other as if they were burnt.

"Hey, have you seen Dr. Macy?" he asked.

Both shook their heads no, neither one trusting their voice. Bug left again, still oblivious to the moment he had just spoiled.

TBC