Thank you to everyone who has been reviewing my stories over the last few weeks. I truly appreciate knowing that you are not only reading, but enjoying what I've been working on.

Here's the next chapter! It's short, but that will be made up for later. Promise.

Wonderland

Chapter 6

"Jeffrey Hammond," Nigel mused over the phone. "He was a lawyer; got his degree from a university in Pennsylvania before moving out to Rhode Island to take the Bar examination. Passed with flying colors and was recruited almost immediately into Dooney & Cliff. Worked there for over twenty years. Never went back to work after the scandal was revealed."

Woody and Jordan heard the tapping of a keyboard on the other end before Nigel continued. "He was in charge of all of their medical cases before the firm was busted. All sorts of stuff, from malpractice to medical manslaughter. Looks like he had quite a number of people working under him, too. I do not see Whitaker on this list, though."

"Guess that's a dead end, too," Woody sighed, leaning away from where Jordan was holding the phone between them.

"I'll keep looking," came Nigel's irritated reply.

"Thanks, Nige," Jordan was quick to interject. She glared at Woody, who just shrugged as she put the phone to her ear so that he couldn't hear any more of their conversation. "This helps. We both appreciate you looking into this. Let me know if anything else comes up?"

She hung up and immediately turned on the detective sitting beside her. "There is no reason to be so rude to him, Woody! What is the matter with you?"

"I just…" He shrugged again and looked away from her, flustered. "This was just not how I imagined our little getaway would turn out. I'm sorry, I don't mean to be so short with everyone. I just want this case over so we can actually spend some time together."

Jordan gave him a halfhearted grin. "Yeah, I know. Not really how I wanted to be spending my time, either."

'Hey." Woody reached out to grab her arm as she stood. "It's only three o'clock. Let's just…go somewhere. We don't have to work right now. Please?"

She was silent for a moment and he was suddenly afraid she was going to say no - to revert back to the Jordan who would run at the slightest sign of trouble. But then she gave him a small smile. "Sure, okay. It's really nice outside. Why don't we go down to the beach?"

xXx

The two of them padded barefoot down the private pier toward the rocky coast. The waves were loud as the tide came in, and Jordan looked out toward the bay just as she had much earlier that morning. She took a deep breath, pulling the salty air into her lungs. It was lovely. For the first time since they arrived, she was truly happy to be there.

"Thanks, Woody," she said softly. "For bringing me here."

He grinned and slipped his hand into hers, squeezing her fingers. "Thank you for coming."

"Wouldn't miss it for the world."

He swayed a bit to playfully knock his hips against hers. They had reached the end of the pier, and Jordan gently pulled her hand out of his grasp so that she could roll up her pants' legs and step down onto the sand. It felt wonderful under her feet as she walked slowly forward. She sighed in contentment and glanced over her shoulder to see Woody following her toward the surf. Giving him one more smile, she turned to keep moving across the narrow beach and into the water until the waves rushed around her ankles.

The constant motion of the cool water was comforting, and with each backward tug she felt as though all of her anxieties, all of her problems, were being sucked away and out into the ocean, leaving her so blissfully peaceful. Without even thinking, she took a few more steps so that the waves lapped around her calves. All she could hear was beating of the waves against the shore and the wind rushing past her ears. It was like a sanctuary, standing there with the world so far away.

"Jordan."

The call was so quiet she nearly didn't hear it. But then Woody was standing beside her, resting his hand on her shoulder. "You okay?"

Jordan nodded, unable to meet his eyes. His gaze was so penetrating; he would have been able to see straight through her. "It's gorgeous," she said, avoiding his question and gesturing out vaguely before her. "The ocean."

"It kind of makes everything else seem insignificant, huh?"

"Yeah, you could say that." A bigger wave suddenly crashed around her legs and she blinked, realizing for the first time how far out she was. "Woody, your pants are getting wet."

He just chuckled at the ridiculousness of the statement, dropping his hand to her waist to pull her closer. "So are yours. Really, Jordan, are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. Just...tired." Jordan shook her head dismissively, but she could tell that he knew she was lying. He was a good cop. To his credit, though, he didn't say anything. It had been pretty obvious in the days since the crash that he was nervous, scared of pushing her away as their relationship changed yet again - and this time in a much more definitive direction. He had been so patient with her over the years; if she couldn't be honest with him now, she had no hope of ever finding that mythical "perfect relationship" with anyone. Not when a man who was pretty much the perfect match for her wild personality was standing right there, waiting with a genuine patience no one else had ever shown.

Finally and with much effort, she turned to him. "My short-term memory is going," she said quietly and with as much medical detachment as she could manage. His eyes widened in surprise as she suddenly opened her heart to him. "I'm not seizing or blacking out anymore, but I'm having episodes where I suddenly can't remember what I'm doing, or how I got somewhere. Not as bad as before, though." She shrugged noncommittally, trying very hard not to let her own words sink in. "I had some tests done last week after we got home, but the results haven't come back yet. There's a chance it's nothing. There's also a chance it's growing again and slowly starting to kill me."

She tried to chuckle and took a small step back, not wanting to look at him. "There you go - the truth."

Woody reached out and pulled her into a tight embrace. "Does anyone else know?"

"No." Jordan shook her head, turning her gaze over his shoulder and back to the water to keep herself grounded. "I didn't want to say anything until I knew one way or the other. No point scaring everyone, you know?"

"You're not going to die," he told her forcefully, just as he had those months ago after he had first found out with everyone else that she was sick.

But this time, she did not try to rebuke his words. She'd already accepted the bleak reality of what could happen if that vile thing had begun to grow in her brain again. Instead, she swallowed back her fears and pulled back so that she could see his face. "Thank you."

Woody stared at her, attempting to read any other messages behind her words. But there were none; she was being completely honest with him. Once again, he began to feel guilty about having called her doctor the previous morning. She'd just needed time, and he had been impatient. It had been a brief lapse in judgment, but he had just been so worried...

Jordan saw the strange hesitation flash through him and she stepped back a bit, confused. "What's wrong?"

"I..." This was bad, Woody knew. Very bad. But he had to tell her before she found out from her doctor - because he would say something, he was sure. Suddenly, it all spilled out in a rush before he could even think of a tactful way to begin. "I called your doctor. I was just so worried, and you seemed -"

"Wait, you did what?" She pulled away from him completely, fury bubbling up from her stomach and making her face flush. "Woody, that is not okay!"

"I'm sorry, I -"

"No!" She vehemently swatted his hands away when he tried to reach for her. "I am trying so hard here, and then you go and do this? Why couldn't you just trust me? And just when I thought..." She trailed off and turned away from his pained expression. The hurt she felt was almost blinding in its intensity, bringing the sting of tears to her eyes. She needed to get away, to rethink everything.

"Trust you? Have you even told your own father that you had major surgery on your brain?" A horrified look came over his face as the words left his mouth and he immediately tried to take them back. "Jordan, no, I'm sorry, I didn't -"

"Just stop!" She clenched her fists in an attempt to keep her temper under control as it threatened to explode on him. Unable to say anything else without anger, she turned and began to walk out of the water and toward the boardwalk. Away from him.

"Where are you going?"

Woody's voice was panicked, and she spun back around, livid now. Tears began to drop down over her cheeks, but she didn't care to do anything about it. "I am going back to the crime scene," she spat bitterly. "I'm not leaving; you have the car keys, remember?" The breath left her lungs in a frustrated huff as she refused to meet his eyes, almost afraid of what she might see there. "I need some space, Woody. If we have this conversation right now, you will not like the way it ends. Let me cool down. Alone."

And then she was gone, trekking up across the rocks toward the neighboring house.