Author's note: Again . . . I don't own CJ. Hope everyone is enjoying the story.

Present

Snow had started to fall around her in the dark. The flakes were large, fluffy and wet. She usually loved this kind of snow fall. If she was at home, she would have turned off all of the lights in her apartment, maybe light a candle, and sat in silence watching it fall outside her window. But she wasn't safe at home. She was struggling to keep her body from shivering as she continued down the road. She hadn't seen any cars on the road yet, but she was getting closer to the light source that reflected off of the clouded sky. She could see a soft glow on the horizon.

"I have to get help. I have to get to Woody." She thought to herself. He would be able to get back to the shack and recover the information and the man who started all of this. Woody would be able to stop him. Her hair whipped around her as a gust of wind blew. She hunched her shoulders and pulled her coat even tighter and stopped for a moment. Her teeth chattered as she listened carefully to her surroundings. She could hear a steading hum in the distance. She turned around to look behind her. In the distance she could see headlights approaching. She squinted, trying to see what kind of vehicle it was. She was thrilled to see the lights, but it may have been him. She didn't want him to find her alone out in the middle of the road. That would just make things worse. But she couldn't very well hide and let someone that could possibly help just drive past. She looked back toward the light source once more before looking at the oncoming headlights. She had to make a decision now.

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Three Weeks Ago

Jordan was still fuming over the meeting with Alexis when she arrived back at the morgue to check back with Nigel. She was still so involved with her thoughts that she nearly knocked Lily over coming out of the elevator.

"Sorry Lily. I didn't see you there." Lily looked at her with concern.

"Are you alright? Is something wrong?" She asked.

"Nothing I can't handle" Jordan replied as she started down the hall toward Nigel's office. She walked in to find his office space empty. Frustrated she walked out and headed to the autopsy rooms. She found him preparing to weigh a plump heart near on open body.

"So what did you find Nigel?" Jordan asked bluntly.

"I'm sorry love, could you be more specific?" He said plunking the heart into the tray.

"The files on our victims. Did you look over them or not?" She said curtly.

"Jordan, I looked over all of the files and I still haven't found anything new." Nigel shrugged. "Frankly I'm as stumped as you."

"What about the genealogy service?" Jordan asked drilling him.

"Look Jordan, I've got to finish this autopsy and Dr. Macy still needs the final reports on system updates."

"Fine. I'll just to have to ask Sydney to do it." She turned on her heel.

"Good luck with that. He's out on a call. And if you're thinking of getting Bug to do it, he was delayed at the conference in Chicago." Nigel called after her. Jordan stood at the doorway for a moment. Nigel sighed and shook his head.

"Alright, I'll take another look at the service. I'll see what I can find." When she didn't answer, he took a few steps toward her. "Jordan?"

Jordan turned and round and faced Nigel. "If I wanted to find out information about someone how would I do it?" Nigel studied her a bit.

"Why, you would ask the computer genius that stands before you. Jordan what is it?"

Jordan briefly explained her encounter with Alexis Kelly in her office. "He practically forgot why we were even there. And if they were such good friends, why didn't she look him up when she heard that he had moved to Boston? For that matter why didn't they stay in contact?" Nigel thought for a moment.

"Jordan people loose touch. Time passes and people change. It happens all the time." Nigel said gently. "You said that she is meeting you tonight? Where?"

"At the bar." She answered. "I thought that we needed to be on our own turf."

"Well, you know I love a good mystery. If it will put your mind at ease, as soon as I am done here, I'll see what I can find on her. If I do find anything, I'll stop by." Jordan smiled and patted her Nigel's back.

"Thanks Nigel. I just don't feel right about her."

Jordan still had her suspicions later as she and Woody took over the booth in the back corner of the bar. She had called her two bartenders and told them that they could come in a few hours late. She knew that in the early evening hours on a Monday it wouldn't be terribly busy. In fact when she unlocked the doors the only person there had been Woody. Wordlessly she opened the doors and let Woody inside. She shut the door behind them and walked behind the bar. She was pouring two pints when Woody decided to speak.

"Do I have to send up a white flag to get you to talk to me?" He asked. Jordan looked up at him from behind the bar. She didn't want to put him on the defensive, but she couldn't help but have a nagging feeling about his old friend.

"How well do you know Alexis?" She asked him.

"Jordan . . . "

"Woody," She interrupted. "I just can't help but feel that there is something she isn't telling us. That maybe she is hiding something from us. I mean when was the last time that you both talked. And why didn't she try to reach you all this time?" Woody sighed and shook his head.

"I'm sure that she had her reasons." Woody replied.. He could see that she wasn't satisfied with his answer.

"Alexis and I have a history Jordan. I was surprised to see her here, but I can't help but feel relieved to see her again." Woody took the pint that Jordan handed him. He played with the glass in his hand and stared at it for a bit. "Our mothers had been friends. They were part of the same church group. Alan and Alexis were more than friends, they were more like siblings to us. When my mother died, Alexis' mother kind of took us in. She would have Cal and me come over for dinner whenever Dad had to work late. If we got into a fight with him, she would try to comfort us." Woody took a drink from the glass and set it on the counter before continuing. "When Dad died they mourned with us. Barbara tried to help us as best she could, but it was hard for her as a single parent. She could barely care for Alan and Alexis much less us." He looked up at Jordan.

"So if you were all so close why did you loose contact?" Jordan asked. Woody sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"I think it happened over time. After my dad's death, we had so many people telling us how sorry they were. I was really angry for a while. I was left to raise Cal by myself and it was a lot for me to take. I lashed out at everyone around me. Barbara had tried to help but I just felt so overwhelmed. I started to get into fights with Alan and Alexis. At first we just didn't hang out as much. Then we just stopped talking. I guess when we all left for college we just got too busy to talk." Woody took another drink from the glass and looked up at Jordan. "You still don't trust her do you?"

"I guess I just don't understand why she didn't try to contact you. Doesn't that seem odd?" Jordan pressed as she leaned forward on the bar.

"How often do you talk to your childhood friends after a fallout Jordan?" Woody asked standing up. Jordan looked at him with surprise. She opened her mouth to answer. She stopped when she heard the door open.

"Hey," Alexis said closing the door behind her. "You were right Dr. Cavanaugh. It was easy to find." She smiled easily at the pair. Woody's face brighten instantly.

"Hey yourself." He said standing up from the stool.

"So did you get permission from the families?" Jordan asked. She decided, for Woody's sake, that she would do her best not to attack Alexis. At least not until she found out more about her.

"I did. Mr O'Neil said that if we needed anything to call him, no matter what time it is." She pulled off her overcoat and set it over her arm. "And Miss Hogan was a bit hostile, but after a bit of coaxing said that it would be fine as long as we kept her up to date on everything that we find." She set down a carrying case and pulled out three file folders and spread them on the counter in front of her.

"I had to search Paula Andreas' file to find a living relative and that's when I found something. One of the researchers found Paula's aunt and uncle and had tried to contact them two weeks ago. They hadn't seen her or her parents since she was a baby. They said that they were very eager to meet her, but hadn't heard anything since they were initially contacted." Her face dropped as she looked at Jordan. "I don't know how you are able to do it."

Jordan's eyes narrowed as she looked at Alexis. "Do what exactly?" she asked.

"Tell people that someone they love is dead." She said quietly. "No one had contacted them about Paula. I felt horrible. I should have checked her file when I heard about her death. I could have told them sooner." The room remained quiet.

"Alexis," Woody's brow furrowed. "How was her family found?"

"Well, adoption records are always sealed, but somehow Paula's adoptive parents knew the names of her parents. She had tried finding them on her own, but she couldn't get the courts to open her records. She contacted a private investigator who referred her to us. So a people search was stared. We started looking for people matching those names in the greater Boston area about 25 years ago. Tried to track them through the years to the current as well as further back."

"Who was the researcher working on her case?" Woody asked.

"Michael Staves. I don't know how much further he got, I haven't looked it over thoroughly yet." She slid the file towards them.

"Okay, so what about the other files?" Jordan asked as she picked up one of the folders from the counter top and started to page through it. "Did you get a chance to look through them? Did you find anything?"

"No." Alexis shook her head. "I only looked through hers to find someone to get permission to release them so that you could see them for yourselves. Both of the others had contacts listed. Besides, I thought that since you're trying to find this person, maybe you should look them over first. After all you are the experts. You can ask me any questions you have regarding the research. I also brought my laptop," she said patting her case. "In case you found something and needed further access to anything else."

"Well," Jordan said picking up the remaining folders. "Let's get started."