DISCLAIMER: Don't own 'em. Willing to stage a coup.
THANKS to all those reading and/or reviewing. I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but the breaking point for it just worked for me.
A Place You Used to Call Home - Part Three
A cup of coffee in one hand, Danny fingers twined in her other, Jordan made her way toward Garret's office. It was still early, but she'd seen his car parked in the space reserved for the Chief M.E. Without knocking she opened his door and stepped into the room.
He didn't look up. "I'm sorry. The public isn't allowed in…." He looked up at last.
Déjà vu washed over her – she was more than ten years younger, her "take me back, you need me" speech rehearsed, and yet she wasn't. That Jordan had been burned in alive in the crucible of time, refining her into the one that stood there now – still independent and passionate, still stubborn and a bit exasperating, but also stronger and more confident in her own identity, softer, the edges smoothed out but the texture intact.
For a moment, Garret only stared at her, wondering if he should have his eyesight checked. Finally, he let out a great breath.
"Hey," she said.
"Hey, yourself." He shook his head. "God, Jordan. I didn't think – We all figured… God."
She tried a brave smile and almost got it right. "I'm like a bad penny. I keep turning up."
At last, he stood up. Even as he motioned to her to come to him, he was moving toward her, sweeping her up in a hug. "I missed you," he murmured in her ear.
Her eyes welled with moisture. "I missed you, too."
He stepped back and regarded her. "You look good."
"Thanks." She glanced over her shoulder. Danny was resting his lanky frame on the doorjamb, watching the two of them, his face an impervious mask. "You remember Danny McCoy?"
Garret smiled and released Jordan, so he could shake the younger man's hand. "I guess you never gave up finding her, huh?"
McCoy smiled lazily. "Did you?"
The M.E. looked over his shoulder at Jordan. "No. Not really." He turned back to the woman. "I take it you know everything."
She nodded. "Danny – Danny told me. Showed me." She took a deep breath. "He – uh – ran into me about eight months ago. I needed some time though. Time to-"
"It's okay, Jordan. You don't have to explain."
"I don't?"
Macy shook his head.
She needed to make it clear though. "It's just that, for you – all of you – life went on. For me… for me every day might as well have been the day after Pollack died – the day I ran."
"I know. I mean, I can see that." For a moment they simply watched each other, assessing, wondering. Garret smiled, ready to tease her a bit. "Here to ask for your job back?"
Her smile faltered. "I don't know. I'm not sure – sure what I'm doing."
He pulled her back to him for another hug. "Take your time, Jordan." Then he pulled away enough to look down into her face. "Just know that you're welcome here."
She thanked him.
He got a gleam in his eye. "In the meantime, you mind if I pick your brain?"
She shook her head quickly.
XXXXX
Fifteen minutes later, Jordan found herself in Autopsy One with her former boss. She was gowned, her hair pulled back, her face half hidden by a mask, her hands gloved. She was peering at a small spot to which Garret pointed. The spot, on the dead man's liver, was so small as to be easily overlooked, except that the man had died under such strange circumstances that Garret had examined every organ, all the tissue, as minutely as he could. They were both too intent to hear the voices approaching.
"Gee, Dr. M is getting busy early today," came Nigel's voice.
"Weird," came Lily's. "I thought I saw someone sitting in his office."
"Next of kin maybe?" Bug.
Only when the three entered the autopsy room, did Garret look up. Jordan was even more intent and still took no notice of what happened around her. "Hey, Garret, have you ever heard-?"
The sound of a body hitting the floor stopped her.
"That nice Lily from the morgue," as Max thought of her, had fainted clean away.
END Part Three
