As I walk back to my room, I feel like I'm floating. Woody's words echo through me like a broken record. "I love you." I find myself grinning like a fool, and Jackie is staring. I catch her eyes with mine and she smiles widely at me. I stop in front of her, and I can feel myself blushing before she says anything.

"Well, I haven't seen you smile like that the whole time you've been here, Dr. Cavanaugh."

It was weird; Jackie is the only person that calls me "doctor". Everyone else calls me "Miss Cavanaugh" or Jordan. I tell her to call me Jordan, but sometimes I think she forgets.

"He's yours?"

I look at her and my smile fades. "I'm not sure…"

"Oh," she says, with a hint of guilt in her voice. "What took him so long to come see you?"

My shoulders sag and I think about the question carefully, almost too carefully, before I answer.

"I dunno. He said he couldn't see me like this."

"A lot of people have a hard time when their love is in a place like this. It takes a strong person to work up the courage to enter those doors."

"Better late than never, right?" I try to sound optimistic.

"Right, and you have an exam next week, correct?"

"Yep. Woody says he wants to take me home."

"Well then see, Dr. Cavanaugh? I'm sure things will work out." She patted my shoulder as we walked back to my room.

"Thanks Jackie....for everything."

She simply grins at me and I shut the door. I take Woody's flowers and put them on the table next to my bed. I notice there's a card on them, and I pick it up. The card reads "I love you," and I flip it over. It's not a card at all. It's a photo. In it we're kissing, smiling...happy. I remember the day this picture was taken, and I smile thinking of the memory. I sigh and hold it close to my heart. It's Thursday, and I have a feeling there is going to be a long week ahead.

------------------------

Monday actually comes around fast. Today is the day of- hopefully- my last psych exam. Maybe then the judge will revoke that damn court order and allow my release. Of course, I won't know until at least Thursday. The anticipation of that, along with the need to see Woody again, is going to be enough to drive me insane. Well, hopefully, not literally.

As I lay on my bed, staring at the picture of Woody and I, there's a knock on the door. I look at the clock. It's noon and I'm not scheduled to see Dr. Silva until two. Jackie is off today, so another nurse comes in. Cindy is her name. I don't really care too much for her; she treats me like a real whacko, and I really despise her for that. She talks to me like I'm a child and sometimes I just want to punch her in the face.

"Miss Cavanaugh, you have a visitor."

I sit up and arch my eyebrow at her. "It's Monday. I can only have visitors on Thursday."

She smiles that fake, patronizing smile I hate so much. "It's a different kind of visitor."

Oh great. What now?

"Who is it?"

Just as I finish my sentence, a short bald man walks in grinning ear to ear. Howard Stiles.

"Oh, great." I roll my eyes.

"Jordan! Long time no see!"

He nods to Cindy and she leaves, closing the door behind her. He pulls up a chair close to my bed, grinning at me like an idiot.

"How can I help you, Howard?"

He laughs. "What? I can't come check up on my favorite doctor?"

Ah, but he did "come check up on me" once before. I knew Garret sent him to evaluate my mental state, so I sent him packing.

"Not unless you want something. Who sent you this time, Howie?"

"No one. I'm here on official business," he winks.

"What kind of official busi-" My eyes widen. As it dawns on me. "Oh no."

He nods. "Dr. Silva is on vacation in Guam right now, so he called in a favor."

My mouth drops open. I would rather take on the highest trained therapist in the country than Howard Stiles. Any chances of getting out of here might as well have gone down the deepest drain.

"Relax, Jordan. I just want to talk."

He's loving this. Any time he's wanted to talk before, I could, and did, refuse. Now I'm going to have to talk to this guy.

"Okay then," I sighed. "Let's talk. Professional to professional."

He rolls his eyes. "Come on, Jordan. Why are you in here?"

"You know why I'm in here."

I'm not going to make this any easier for him than it has to be. That might hurt me in the end, but poking at Howard Stiles has always made me feel better. He sighs, already getting frustrated with me. I can tell he's serious.

"Obviously I know the overall, but I don't know the technicalities. I mean, I'd never seen you so happy. I thought you and Detective Hoyt would be married and expecting by now."

"Yeah, me too," I grunt.

"What was that?"

"I said, 'me too'."

He grabs his chest and over-exaggerates a fake heart attack.

"Very funny, Howard."

"What? I'm just shocked to hear those words come out of your mouth is all."

I lay back down on the bed and stare at the ceiling. I totally get that this is Howard now, my old friend, who is concerned and who wants to help me.

"Okay, Howie. Where do you want me to begin?"

"Let's just go back two months ago. Around that time, were you stressed?"

"Kind of. I had a lot on my mind."

"Like?"

"The usual. Work, getting too involved with my cases...stuff like that."

"That's never gotten to you before. There has to be more than that."

I nod. "There is."

"Okay then, keep going."

"A couple of weeks earlier, I got a memo from someone and said that my dad was dying of cancer; he wanted me to know that he loved me and he would miss me, and that he was sorry for everything he put me through."

"He didn't contact you himself?"

"Nope. Max and I haven't spoken in almost two years. I don't even know who the memo was from. I was going to dust for prints and everything, but Woody talked me out of it. He said he didn't want to see me go back down the roads I'd been down before."

"That was very considerate of him."

"Yeah," I looked over at him. "But I did it anyway."

"You betrayed his trust? Why would you do that?"

"Old habits, I guess. It doesn't matter, nothing came up." I looked back at the ceiling.

"What else was going on around that time?"

"A good friend of mine overdosed on heroine. She was one of the few people I stayed close with. We drifted apart, and that's the first time I'd heard about her in like five years. I didn't even attend the funeral."

He stays quiet while I talk. He sure is examining me, alright. I feel like a helpless little guinea pig. I know that's not what he really wants to hear about. No, he wants me to dish out about Woody, and he makes it clear.

"What happened with you and Detective Hoyt, Jordan?"

I smile and rub the back of the photo with my fingertips.

"I love him, Howie."

"That's been obvious for quite some time now."

"He loves me. He told me so."

"So what went wrong?"

"He didn't tell me in time."

"How so?"

"He came to visit me last week, and he told me then."

"I see. So, you two were dating in those months before, right?"

"It's complicated. Our situation has always been complicated, you know that."

"Right."

"Things were going so well between us. We were spending more and more time together, and I was finally ready to commit. I had day dreams about how I wanted to marry him, have his children, make a life together. I wanted that more than anything. I still do."

"So where was the misinterpretation?"

"One night he was going to come over, like he always did. I decided I would surprise him at the precinct, and we could carpool. By then, everyone knew we were...something, so no one ever said anything when I went back to his office. I was just about to go in when..." My voice faded.

Howard sits contently in his chair, being very patient and understanding. All jokes are off now; this is truly a business visit.

"What happened, Jordan?"

I feel my eyes well up with tears and a lump rise in my throat.

"I was about to go in his office, his door was cracked..."

Howard nods.

"...that's when I heard him".

Tears are streaming freely down my cheeks and I make no attempt to hide them.

"What did you hear?"

"He proposed to some girl. I heard him say he loved her, that he wanted to be with her. I snapped. It felt like nothing mattered anymore, that nothing would ever matter anymore ever again. Now I know it was all a big misunderstanding. How could I be so stupid? How could I think Woody would do that to me?"

I can see Howard wanting to comfort me, but I know he can't. This exam would be pointless if he held my hand and dried my tears.

"You know the answer to that, Jordan. Don't you?"

I nod. "My issues. My trust issues. I trusted him and he hurt me. That made me want to hurt him back, and it made me want to hurt myself. I wanted to hurt myself so bad I didn't feel I deserved to live."

"How do you feel about that now?"

"It was the biggest mistake of my life, the stupidest thing ever. I regret it. I should have talked to him about it." The tears stopped. "I should have trusted him more. I still trust him with everything I have. I want what we had back, and I want to get out of here. I want to go back to work. I want to see my friends, Howie."

He nods.

"You don't belong in here. You're one of the strongest people I know, and you just hit an all time low. You've been through so much in your life, but you have persevered. You have overcome so many obstacles, proved so many people wrong, so many right. I know that man cares deeply about you, Jordan. He would never do anything to intentionally hurt you."

"I know that now. I just hope it's not too late to fix things".

"You should know more than anyone that it's never too late to fix things, Jordan. You just have to be the one to make it right."

"Thanks, really."

"Don't thank me yet! Just let me go talk to that judge first."

I smile at him.

"I'll see you around, Howard?"

"Sooner than you'd ever hope."

We both laugh and he stands to leave.

"Oh, and Howie?"

He turns to me.

"Tell Woody I love him, would ya?"

"That's something you'll have to do yourself."

"Right. Gotcha."

He winks at me one more time and exits. This was different from my other examinations. I love how Howard listened to what I had to say; he didn't 21 question me a million times like Dr. Silva. I hope things work out for the best, both with my release and with my beloved Woodrow. I close my eyes and drift to sleep.

By the time Thursday rolls around, I am fully aware that it's been a whole week since I've seen Woody. He promised to come again today, and I'm holding him to it. Jackie enters my room, and I know he's here. Her warm smile greets me.

"He's here, Jordan."

I stand up and smile widely, getting ready to walk out of the room.

"Oh, Jordan, wait."

Did I do something wrong?

"Yeah?"

"I think you should take some of your things. You get to go home today".