Okay kiddies….we started this story like….six months ago maybe? So at that point in time, JD was very much alive and kickin'.

So suspend reality and just go with the fact that the Aussie is breathing. I never did like him, but I surely didn't wish him dead.

Chapter Two

I Need You More Than Ever

Matt Seeley sighed and kicked his feet up on his desk. The captain didn't like the detectives doing that, but what the hell? After last night and this morning, it was the least the department owed him…cut him a little slack.

He was afraid he was reaching burn out level. Seeley never thought it would happen to him. He had always prided himself that he could maintain a certain level of detachment with his cases…not to get so personally involved that he couldn't leave work at work when he shut the door to his and Hoyt's office at night.

But who was he kidding? The case he and Woody were on right now was eating them both alive. Child pornography. It got to the toughest cops. Any case involving children was hard, but to have one where kids were so obviously abused and exploited was the hardest of all. Even to "detached" cops like himself. And Hoyt, with his "white-picket-fence-and 2.5-kids" mentality was taking it even harder. Woody was the biggest boy scout he knew.

Coupled with just the sheer difficulty and raw emotions that this case was stirring up, was the fact that more often than not, Hoyt and he found themselves at the morgue at least once a day. Not a bad thing for Woody, with whatever he had going on with that hot ME Jordan Cavanaugh, but sheer torture for Matt. Because every time he was there, he ran into her.

Lily.

It hadn't been so bad in the past…they had maintained a level of friendship, maybe something even closer. Then all of a sudden, it was like every man in the Boston city limits was vying for the grief counselor's attention. Bug – who confessed his love for her in her office and then retracted it a day later. Stupid, stupid, stupid man, Matt thought, burying his face in his hands.

But worst of all was Brandau. ADA Jeffrey Brandau. He and Lily had been thrown together in a hostage situation and it seemed that ever since, Jeffrey had been chasing her skirt tail with as much aggression as his timid nature would allow.

And the timid ADA thought he had won. While Matt had been patiently waiting for Lily to make up her mind, assuming all the time that he would win, Brandau had slipped in and stole the woman out right.

But then Bug won her back.

To add insult to injury, Bug and Lily were currently living together….a fact that was now public knowledge, much to Matt's chagrin. He had taken more than his fair share of ribbing about it from the other detectives. Well, everybody except for Hoyt, who just shot him sympathetic glances. Woody knew first hand what it felt like to have the girl of your dreams cohabitating with someone else.

Matt had tried to put it behind him, and was successful in some ways. He was dating again…here and there, no one certain girl. Was he moving forward any? Maybe. Had he found the right woman for him? No. There was a part of him that would always love Lily…and an even larger part of him that wanted her relationship with Bug to fail. He wanted to be there when it happened…to be her soft landing spot. Woody may not have wanted to be the rebound guy, but Hoyt didn't know how to play that game. Matt did.

And he would use being the rebound guy to his advantage.

The day had been a double whammy for Jordan. The child pornography case was wearing on everyone involved. Her. Nigel. Bug. Woody. Even Matt Seeley. Cases involving children were the worst – the absolute worst. Whether it was because such innocence was so brutally violated, or the fact that it called up her surprisingly strong maternal instinct, Jordan wasn't sure. She just knew it was getting on her last nerve…she had lost sleep and weight over this one.

To top it all off, while she was waiting in line at Starbucks this morning, a familiar voice from the past echoed back to haunt her. "Fancy meeting you here, Cavanaugh."

JD. He was back. In Boston.

She had whirled around to greet him with a fake smile plastered on her face. "I could say the same to you. What are you doing back in Boston?"

"Finished in DC. They sent me back here."

Her mouth had opened to tell him it was nice to see him again, when a tall, willowy, leggy blonde sidled up beside the reporter and linked her arm through his. "Jordan, I'd like for you to meet Allison. Allison, this is Dr. Jordan Cavanaugh. She's a ME that I worked with on several articles I did…"

Allison had stuck out her perfectly manicured left hand for Jordan to shake. Jordan didn't miss the diamond solitaire that was on her ring finger. Jordan's mouth formed a speechless "O" of surprise.

And JD didn't miss it. "Allison is my fiancé."

Gulping to regain her composure, Jordan shook the woman's hand. "Nice to meet you, Allison. And congratulations. You've got a great guy, there."

Somehow Jordan had purchased her Venti Skinny Dolce Latte and got back to the office. She shut her door and leaned against it. JD was back and had moved on. More than moved on. He had forgotten what they had together. Jordan had been relegated to a spot in his history that he would eventually forget.

And she wasn't sure why that bothered her so much. She didn't love JD. She never did. At least not the way JD wanted her to love him, and not as much as he had loved her at one time. He had loved her enough to even overlook the night of passion that she and Woody had at the Lucy Carver Inn. Something Jordan was sure she could never do if the shoe had been on the other foot.

As the day wore on, Jordan felt her nerves being grated between the rough surface of the child pornography case and the rougher surface of JD and his fiancé. Finally when her nerves were frayed too much for her to try to knot back together, she picked up her cell phone and hit one on speed dial.

Woody had worked the day shift. That meant he would be free tonight. At least she hoped so. She needed him this evening more than she ever had before.

And he would be there for her. He always was. He may get angry at her leaving during the night, but his door was always open and his bed was always warm.