A/N
Thanks for the quick reviews. This is not going to get any better for awhile. I think it will be okay.. but I'm not sure. Not yet... more angst. Please Review.
(Five minutes before it happened)
He pushed the peddle to the floor of his car.
I did this. I did this.
"Woody slow down!"
"Is she breathing?" He looked back quickly,
"I can't.. I don't know." Santana yelled from the back seat. "I can't tell. I don't think so." He swerved to the shoulder, hearing the young detective shout as her body slammed into the side of the car door. He turned around, pulling her body around to him.
"Oh God Please." He yelled jumping out the car and throwing the door open. He pulled her out of the car. "Breathe, breathe! You've got to breathe." I did this. I did this.
(Ten minutes before it happened)
She felt his hands on her shoulders shaking her gently. She could hear the fear in his voice. She couldn't open her eyes, no matter how he begged her to.
"Sweetheart, what did you do? Tell me what you did!" His fingers tangled in her hair. She opened her mouth to tell him, but the words slurred across her tongue. He glanced around the room. "Call an ambulance! Someone call an…" She felt him lift her off the floor, her head bobbing to his chest.
"Christina! Help me!"
Christina? He never calls her.. no one ever calls her..
"What the hell happened?" Santana sounded startled, she knew it was because he'd used her first name.
"Get in the car. I'm not waiting, she's-. Get in the back seat!" She felt his lips on her head. "Just breathe for me." He whispered laying her in the back seat of the car with Christina Santana. She tried to breath for him.
(A half an hour before it happened)
"Hello? Hello? Are you there?" Santana rolled her eyes at Woody shouting into his phone before she wandered around the cleared crime scene. They were there for inspiration, her case was dead, she'd asked him for help as a last resort.
She didn't like working with him. He was always too distracted to teach her what she wanted him to. He didn't need her, Seely, Annie or Roz. He had the ME's office, he trusted them more than her, more than any one.
Well maybe not more than Simmons. His little tryst with her hadn't gone unnoticed at the department. She was sure that's who he was talking to now. Santana thought he would have married Jordan by now. Lu wasn't anything like Jordan. Santana liked Jordan, she was alright. Lu Simmons was a snotty bitch.
"Answer me, where are you?" The tone in his voice brought her eyes back to him. "Stay there! You hear me? Stay there!" He walked towards her taking her arm roughly and moving her back to the car. "We have to go."
"What? You said you'd help me?"
"Unless you want to be left out here.. get in the damn car!"
(Seven hours before it happened.)
She saw Jordan watch her walk into the looked surprised when Lu stopped in front of her office door.
"Jordan."
"Detective Simmons." Jordan was trying not to be cold. "Come in."
"I wanted to come and talk to you, about what happened the other day." Jordan was clearly trying not to look freaked out. Lu wondered if she could tell by how Simmon's looked away that she had failed.
"There's nothing to-." Jordan started.
"I think there is. I want to explain. Woody never meant for this to-." Jordan shook her head.
"Stop. Please." She shook her head quickly. "Please, just make him happy." Lu saw the tears come to her eyes, as she made a futile attempt to fight them back down before they spilled down her cheeks. "I just want him to be happy. He deserves to be-." The blonde's eyes pinch together sympathetically. "I tried to make him happy, but I can't. It's been so long since he's actually been-." Her voice broke and she walked towards the door. "Excuse me." Pushing past Lu she left her standing with her mouth wide open. Jordan walked quickly down the hall to Lily's office. Jordan never saw Woody standing behind her door. Jordan never knew he'd heard the whole thing.
Lu started out of the office after her.
"What are you doing?" He snapped grabbing her arm. "I told you to leave it alone."
"Woody." Her eyes were teary now too. "I'm so sorry. I never meant to-."
"Don't flatter yourself, this isn't just about you and yesterday." He shook his head. "Leave her alone, Lu." His voice was rough and unsympathetic despite the tears coming down her face. "Stay away from her."
(The day before it happened)
"Lu?" She turned back towards him and Woody's heart broke for her. She wiped her eyes, setting the frame back in the drawer.
"Is that her?" He said softly moving towards her. "Is that them?" She picked up the frame again and turned towards him nodding silently. "Can I see?" She turned the photo around and Woody smiled. "She's beautiful."
Tallulah nodded.
"She's six here. It's right before the accident." Woody laid his hand on her shoulder. "How are things with Jordan." Woody looked away. "She's still mad? Are you sure you don't want me to-?"
"Don't.. you shouldn't be worried about me." He smiled at her. "You should be taking care of yourself."
"I'm fine, Woody." She hugged the frame to her chest. "I've been dealing with this for three years now and I've dealt with it. The bombing just dug it all back up."
"Tallulah, you were the one who told me you can't run from your problems." He studied her. He was worried. In the six months he'd known her, Woody had never seen her look lonely or upset. He would have never guessed that she had lost her husband and child. "You were the one who said that behind my smile was heart ache. I guess you knew from experience huh?"
"Woody thank you, really, for being there for me." Her voice was harsh and it startled him. "But you don't know anything about this. I'm not like Jordan. I'm not running from anything. Not everyone spends the rest of they're lives in over dramatic anguish when they loose someone."
Woody put his hand up to stop her. The protective shock that ran up his spine made him grimace. He instantly regretting anything he'd told Lu Simmon's about Jordan Cavanaugh. He pressed his lips tighter remembering she was grieving the loss of her husband, of her child. He remembered how small and broken she'd been yesterday.
"Then why do you keep her in the drawer?" He asked hotly, nodding at the frame and trying to keep himself from defending Jordan.
She tightened her grip, tears coming to her eyes. Woody looked down.
"I'm sorry about your girlfriend." He nodded clenching his jaw. "Tell her it was my fault. You can tell her everything, really. It not like I don't already know too much about her."
So much for doctor patient confidentiality. He thought nodding his head and angrily leaving her office.
(When it happened)
Santana was on the radio with the paramedics, he could hear her giving them their location. Woody had laid her on the grassy lawn he'd pulled over in front of. He unbuttoned the top of her blouse and pushed back her hair.
This is all my fault. He thought about the things he had and had not said.
"Breathe. Come on." He put his cheek to her mouth and waited. Nothing. He started rescue breathing tasting the alcohol on her lips. "What did you do?" He whispered feeling for her pulse and crying in relief when he found it. He breathed for her again hearing the ambulance coming around the corner. "I'm so sorry." The paramedic's jumped on her. "She has a pulse but she's not breathing." He pulled back a little to let them in but kept her hand firmly in his. "She's been drinking."
"No shit." One of the paramedics said sharply. Woody hadn't noticed she was practically drowning in it.
"Sir? Is she allergic to anything?" He shook his head.
"Not that I know of." He watched them start to bag her. "Come on breathe."
"I'm calling the morgue." Santana called to him, he never looked up. He never looked away from her pale face.
"The morgue? She's not dead, Detective." On of the paramedics shot towards her.
"Don't you know who she is?" Santana yelled at them.
"Who is she?"
"Jordan Cavanaugh." Woody whispered touching her face. "Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh."
"The Assistant Medical Examiner?"
Woody nodded before he whispered to them. "Please, help her."
