Disclaimer: I do not own Crossing Jordan.

Note: Thanks, Mexwojo! :)

I was planning to put this up yesterday, but... life happens. ;)

There was a knock and the office door opened even before she said come in.

"Hey." Woody looked a bit apprehensive.

"Hey." She smiled reassuringly.

"I was just wondering if you had something for me about that shooting." He was constantly flipping his phone over as he spoke.

"Not yet, but I'll do the autopsy first thing in the morning."

He nodded. "Thanks."

There was more than a moment of awkward silence before he added, "Well, see you, then."

He headed for the door, and she got up from her chair.

"Woody-" She regretted it as soon as the word had left her mouth. It wasn't that she didn't want to bring the matter up. She did. But not now. Or anytime soon, to tell the complete truth.

It was too late, though. He was already staring at her with that questioning look in his eyes.

"Yes?" he prompted when she remained silent.

She sighed inwardly and began, "I... Well, I wanted to apologize for the other day." Since the puzzlement on his face didn't seem to decrease, she tried to explain a bit better. "At Gianpaolo's... I lost it. I'm sorry. I was just..."

And she lost it again. She turned her head to the window, not knowing what to say nor how much to reveal.

"I know," he almost whispered in a strange tone, and a sudden, irrational fear washed over her. What exactly did he know?

"You do?" she asked in a small voice, having turned around to face him again.

She struggled to analyze the odd mixture of feelings in his eyes and managed to determine the dominant component – sorrow. He did know. And she did not want his pity.

"I reported him the day before yesterday," she said, still in a small voice, to her distress. She was staring at her feet, which was causing her even more distress, but she simply couldn't make herself look up.

"You did the right thing." was everything he could come up with, and he mentally kicked himself for being an ineloquent idiot one more time.

She nodded, not lifting her eyes yet.

"Well," she looked at him at last, "I still have some things to finish before I go home."

But he refused being dismissed like that. God knew when he would get another opportunity to talk to her in private.

"I meant what I said, Jordan."

'Don't. Just don't. Not now,' she prayed.

"I love you."

'Great sense for timing indeed,' she said inwardly, fighting the urge to let out a nervous chuckle. She had the reply ready, though, and could just bet that it would at least buy her some time.

"Why?" she asked.

"Why what?" he countered, looking disoriented. He wasn't sure whether she wanted to know why he was saying it now or why he loved her. The second option seemed almost ridiculous to him. What was there to explain? Naturally, he loved her because she was... Jordan.

"Never mind," she retorted, waving her hand dismissively. "Here's my little theory on that." When he opened his mouth, she held up her arm authoritatively, "It won't take long," she promised. "We're a great team, right? We're fantastic when it comes to my wild-goose chases, aren't we?" She made a little pause to see if her words were sinking in. "That's because I need help, I need someone to save me. And you need someone to save."

"Jordan-" he tried to get a word in.

"No, it's true," she quickly cut him off. "Can't you see that? Neither of us can cope when there's no emergency... Or when the roles are reversed. Remember the hospital?" She gave him a little lopsided smile. "Can't you see what's been happening almost since we met?"

This time he was too taken aback to even try to speak. 'Please enlighten me,' he thought, miffed, wondering how she had managed to come up with complete garbage like that.

She wasn't expecting him to answer anyway, so she continued, her voice dripping with an emotion which to him looked most like sarcasm, "I'm a poor little thing whose mother was cheating on her father, whose mother was killed when she was ten, who has lost her faith in love, in people, in happily ever after." There she stopped to get some air. "And there's your chance to shine," she went on matter-of-factly. "What could a savior do but do his best to bring her a happy ending? Not so much for her, but for himself."

He wasn't miffed any would be too weak a word to describe the state he was in. "You have no idea what you're talking about," he ground through his teeth.

It was her time to protest.

"No, no, no, it's my turn now." This time he held up his hand to silence her. "Nobody can save somebody else. I know that now. Yes, I wanted to save you," he admitted, "I still do, but I know I can't. And do you know why I want to do it? Because I love you. I want to save you because I love you, Jordan. Not the other way round." He took her by the shoulders and shook her lightly. "You hear me? Not the other way round," he said slowly while she took a step backwards. "How the hell could I have known you needed to be saved when I first saw you? Or before I learned the truth about your mother? You were always so self-assured, so confident…"

"A savior's sixth sense for lost little lambs?" she suggested.

He disregarded her wannabe-humorous remark. "And, yes," he said. "I want to save people. That's why I do what I do, that's why I joined the police in the first place. And what about you?" he asked. "You're a medical doctor. What does that say about you and saving people?"

"I'm an M.E.," she pointed out, rolling her eyes. She left the "and-you're-a-homicide-detective" part, though.

"Yes, you are. And you know why. Because you want them to be heard, all those bodies that would otherwise probably just be cut open and stitched up and forgotten if there weren't for you. You want to save them even though they're dead," he said, "So, I'd say your little savior rant was the kettle calling the pot black."

"Maybe," she gave in reluctantly.

"It's all part of being human, Jordan," he resumed eagerly, "We're just two slightly messed-up people, just like everyone else. We want to save others, and we want somebody to save us."

She couldn't help herself. "Howard's been giving you private lessons?" She flashed another lopsided grin.

"Even I know that's a coping mechanism, Jordan," he deadpanned.

She sighed. As much as she hated to admit it, he seemed to have a point.

They stood in silence for quite a time.

"So, what do we do now?" she finally spoke.

"I don't know." He shrugged. "What do you want to do?"

"Be myself again," she responded quietly. "Well, an improved version of myself, maybe. I need to move on. I need to save myself." She looked him in the eye. "I want a happy ending," she confessed.

"The ending is what you make of it, Jordan," he said. The ending will be what we make of it. But maybe we should start from the beginning," he suggested. "Be there for each other while we're trying to be ourselves again."

"Yes," she nodded, "but..."

"What is it?" he prompted softly.

"I…" she tried to explain, but couldn't find the words. That happened a lot these days.

"We knew that before, too," she finally said. "I mean, we knew... how we felt about each other. I know I did. But... time after time we run from each other. We always end up hurting each other. How can we know…" Her voice trailed off.

"We can't," he admitted. "What I do know is that time after time we run back to each other. Just like now. And I believe that the moment has to come when we will stop running and start walking together."

"Fortune-cookie wisdom." She laughed. "But you're right."

"Thank you." He smiled back. "So, I think this moment has come. It's time to start walking towards our happy ending."

"How do we get there?"

"One step at a time," he said confidently. "One step at a time."

She smiled a crooked little smile. "And how 'bout via Gianpaolo's? I'm starving."

He laughed, shaking his head, and she took her jacket and purse. They headed to the little restaurant round the corner, resuming their journey together once more and hoping that this time the winding road would take them to the right place.

So, this is it! :) I hope you enjoyed it. Thank you all for reading this story and for bearing with my slow updates. Of course, special thanks goes to my wonderful reviewers, whose opinions I greatly appreciate.

Peace & love,

Amelia :)