DISCLAIMER: Don't own 'em. Willing to stage a coup.

THANK you again for reading and reviewing (or just reading). This is another short one and I apologize. Chapter break point was good here, too, for me. There's only one more to go though!

A Place You Used to Call Home - Part Four

"You know, luv, of all the scenarios in my mind of you coming back here, this one never occurred to me." Nigel handed Jordan a cup of coffee – her third of the day already. The Brit also handed a mug to Danny McCoy. "Autopsying a body with Dr. M like it was – like before."

Jordan sipped the bitter brew. "Sorry."

"No need, luv." His brown eyes shone with a warmth she had believed would have been ash by now. "You're here. That's what counts."

"Are you staying?" Lily asked from the doorway.

Jordan turned and gazed at her friend. "How's your head?" Her face crinkled into a canvas of concern.

"Fine. You didn't answer my question."

Jordan's heart twisted in her chest. Somehow time had blurred her memories. In her mind, Lily was the sweet one, the endlessly compassionate woman who rarely raised her voice. She'd allowed herself to forget the fierceness of which Lily was capable, a ferocity she reserved for those she loved or felt the need to champion, but a definite ferocity nonetheless. "I don't know," Jordan answered at last.

"Well, why don't you come back when you know?"

"Hey," Danny interjected, moving closer to Jordan, letting his presence buoy her. "Do you think this is easy? She doesn't have to be here. You all could have spent the rest of your lives never knowing, wondering… worrying." His last word pierced Lily to the core.

She put a hand to her mouth to stifle the sob rising from her throat. "Oh, God, Jordan. I'm sorry. I didn't mean it."

They were hugging each other then, apologizing over and over, assuring each other it was all right, fine, not a problem.

Lily stood back and dried her tears. "I – We did worry. A lot. But – But it can't be anything like – like what it was for you."

"Did you know about – about everything here?" This from Bug.

Jordan shook her head. "Not until – Not until Danny ran into me." She looked around at them. "Thank you. All of you. I know what you did."

Nigel broke the high octane tension zinging throughout the room. "What're friends for?" He grinned.

XXXXX

For the next few days Jordan played tourist in her hometown. She showed Danny all the sights, took him to the places she'd loved. They spent time with her father and with her friends from the morgue. She wondered, their fourth morning in the city, if Danny had planned the call that told him he was needed back at the Montecito. Urgent business.

She began to pack her suitcase until he took hold of her hands. "Don't."

Her eyes clouded. "What?"

"Stay a while. Here. Boston."

"You don't want me to come back with you."

He grinned helplessly at her and pulled her to him. She blushed at the obvious contradiction his body made to her flat statement. "What do you think?"

She flicked up her eyebrows in response.

He kissed her forehead. "I just – You were away a long time. I want you to have more than a few days."

"You want me to choose."

His dark eyes studied her, his still-boyish face serious. "I want you to make the choice that is best for you. For. You." He let his mouth edge up into a smile. "You know what I'd like you to choose. But, Jordan, I – I don't want it to be what you think you should do, what you think you owe someone, or even what might seem to be the easiest thing."

She stood on tiptoe and whispered in his ear, "Thank you."

XXXXX

It snowed the day she went to the cemetery. She started at Emily's grave, laying a small bouquet of winter flowers against the headstone. She stood over the stone and gazed down at it. For so long the confusion, anguish and resentment her mother had bequeathed her had been what had fueled Jordan. So much of her life, so many of her choices, had pivoted on the fulcrum of that one moment. Conscious and subconscious decisions had been made based on snatches of memory and the impressions of a child. Jordan brushed away the tears welling in her eyes. "I think I finally figured out how to live my own life, Mom" was all she said at last.

Walking slowly, enjoying the soft drift of the large, white flakes, she made her way to where they'd buried Pollack. When she found the grave, she knelt, despite the snow. She let her fingers trace the chiseled markings on the stone. His name. His dates. She choked back a tremulous cry at the inscription. Let justice be done, though the heavens fall. "I'm sorry it wasn't me… who found them, Pollack." She bit her lip. "And I'm sorry for everything else." She gave a soft laugh. "Well, not everything. I was lucky you came into my life. I wish I'd seen that sooner."

She stood up and took one last look at the grave.

It was snowing more steadily as she made her way back to the parking lot. Her steps slowed when she saw a tall figure – a male figure – leaning against her rental car. Squaring her shoulders and reminding herself that he was part – a big part – of the reason she was here, Jordan forced her feet onward.

He watched her approach, his face blank, only his eyes alight. Those blue irises burned with unanswered questions, unspoken accusations and haunted love. When she was close enough, he spoke. "Were you even going to call me?"

END Part Four