Chapter Twelve

Why Are You Here?

It took three showers and washing her long, brown hair five times to fully get the smell of smoke and death off of her.

After she and Woody had cleared the rest of the Greyhound bus, Jordan had gone back to the morgue and worked a full twelve hours before Garret finally ran her off. "Go home, Jordan," he had finally told her.

"But…."

"But nothing. Lily's nearly through notifying everyone we can right now, which is most of the victims. The dead are going to be dead 24-hours from now, too. I can't afford for you to be so tired tomorrow that you can't come in," he replied with a crooked grin. "So go…home. Joanna can't afford for you to be sick either."

It was on the tip of her tongue to tell him that Joanna had an overnight babysitter and she could work for the next twelve hours before anyone would miss her, but the words caught in her throat as a wave of exhaustion – mental and physical – washed over her. "If you don't mind, I think I will go home."

"Go. And get at least ten hours of sleep before I see you again. Do you hear me?"

Jordan nodded wearily as she shut down her computer and began to gather her things to go home. The full smell of the day didn't catch up with her until she was seated in her SUV going home. I positively stink….

Which accounted for the three showers and five shampoos before she was satisfied that the only thing she smelled like was Bath and Body's Jasmine Lavender.

Now it was late. And the fact that she had not stopped for lunch or dinner began to be a factor as her stomach growled. Except for a sleeve of crackers she had grabbed during one of the few slow moments, she hadn't eaten all day. She was contemplating the virtues of a Lean Cuisine against the sinful delight of a pepperoni pizza when her doorbell rang. Pulling her robe tighter, she wondered if Dominoes now had psychics taking orders when she found Woody leaning against her door jam. His dress coat nonexistent and his tie looking just as limp as he did. "Hey," he greeted softly. His eyes were still red and puffy from the smoke at the wreck site.

"Hi." Awkward pause. "Come in." She held the door open wider and he slipped inside. Jordan shut it behind him.

"A girl."

"What?"

"Sarah…she had a girl."

"Oh…"

"After everything at the precinct kind of quieted down, I went to Boston General to check on her. She had a girl. A six pound, twelve ounce baby girl. Perfectly healthy. Seventeen inches long." Woody recited the facts like a last minute Hail Mary.

"That's wonderful." Jordan looked at his face…tired, still streaked with smoke…red eyes. She was sure they both needed to sleep a week to get over today.

"She asked about you."

"Sarah? Did you tell her I was working?"

Woody shook his head. "No. She didn't ask where you were at. She asked what your name was. She didn't like Jordan too much." His lips twisted in a grin. "But she liked Marie. So she named the baby Marie. She said Jordan was too ambiguous."

Jordan chuckled and nodded. "I know. Remember…you thought Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh was a man until you met me."

"I know. I didn't make that mistake for long." Jordan felt his eyes run up and down her body, bare beneath the robe she had thrown on to answer the door.

Another awkward pause. "Anyway…I need to be going," Woody concluded, making his way back to the door.

"Thanks for dropping by and letting me know…"

"No problem….where's Joanna?"

"She's at Mrs. Gleason's for the night."

"Oh."

Jordan watched his eyes flicker over her apartment, coming to rest on a picture of herself and JD. She felt the air shimmer around them again. "I'll talk to you later, Jordan."

"She was asking questions."

"What?"

"Joanna. She was asking questions. About her father."

"That's only natural."

"I know. That's why the picture…."

"You don't have to explain yourself, Jordan."

"I know." And she did. She knew she didn't have to explain herself to anyone nor did she need to justify her actions to anybody. But somehow it was important to her that Woody realize it was Joanna's questions, not Jordan's inclinations, that brought JD's picture out. "Joanna was wondering what her father looked like…"

"Like I said, it's only natural." Woody shuffled his feet for a moment. "Anyway, I need to go." He began to inch his way toward the door.

"Are you hungry?" Her voice stopped his hand on the door knob.

"Hungry?" Woody thought for a moment. He had drunk numerous cups of coffee today, but as far as remembering a meal, last night's leftovers were the only thing that sprang to mind. But he didn't have to answer. His stomach responded for him.

"I'll take that as a yes." Jordan smiled and reached for the phone. "You still like olives on your pizza?"

"Ummm sure. No." But it was too late. She was already placing the order. "But I need to go home and shower…I smell like smoke."

"Still carry your workout clothes around in your car?"

He nodded.

"Then go get them. You can shower and change into sweats while we're waiting on the pizza."

"But Jordan…."

"We need to talk, Woody. After today, you and I both know, we need to talk. You didn't come here just to tell me Sarah had a girl.

"Where's Joanna?" Woody asked after he got out of Jordan's shower … where he found a bathroom awash with a curious mix of little girl's water toys and a woman's jasmine vanilla body wash. A combination that left him kiltingly off-balance and his blood just slightly racing at discovering what her familiar scent was.

"The babysitter's. She's keeping Joanna all night for me, so I could work as long as I needed to."

"Does that happen often?" Woody nearly bit his tongue into over that last comment. Joanna was not his child and Jordan….Jordan wasn't his anything, so it wasn't any of his business…

But still…it must be hard on both of them at times. He had never really contemplated that fact until now, but he mulled it over in his head as he reached for his first piece of pizza and watched as Jordan waded through a shelf of sippy cups before she found two adult-sized drinking glasses. "No…not often," she turned from the cabinet to him with a smile. "But sometimes, on occasion…when death doesn't take a holiday."

Woody nodded. "But it's gotta be hard…being away from her like that."

"It is," Jordan said on a sigh. "But you do what you have to do to make a living…And Joanna understands more than most people thinks she does." She finished her last piece of pizza and pushed her plate away. "You didn't come here just to tell me about Sarah, or to talk about Joanna…or to question my parenting skills, Woody. Which brings me back to my statement. We need to talk. Why are you really here?"