A/N: Let's spend some quality time with Jade.

The call was like a punch to the gut.

Jade was on friendly terms with Andre but wasn't anticipating on him calling her. She wasn't expecting anyone, really.

And never in her darkest nightmares did she think she would hear the news that Greg was involved in a hit and run! Andre had been texting her here and there with updates. They stopped a couple hours ago, the last one letting her know that Reynolds was in stable condition.

No doubt the detective had a lot on his plate. He was a saint for keeping her in the loop as much as he did. Jade could only imagine the torrent of worry swirling inside Camille right now. And the kids...

Jade informed the hall of justice that she would be packing up and heading back to Langley immediately. They thanked her for the months of assistance in moving dozens of active cases forward. She said it was her pleasure because staying occupied was exactly what she wanted.

When the lady at the office of the apartment building inquired why she would be taking her leave and not renewing for the next month, Jade's reply was swift:

"Family emergency."

[FLASHBACK]

"Thanks for the lift," Jade told Dr. Reynolds as he neared his house in Freeland. "My car should be done tomorrow."

Reynolds chuckled.

"Always a pleasure to be of assistance. Just hope you don't mind the pit stop."

"Doc, I would rather you go back for your wallet!" Jade sighed. "Let's not push our luck and get pulled over."

Her mentor frowned.

"Curse you, moral fiber!" he shook his left fist while his right stayed on the wheel. "A lesser man would have his buddies at the station do him a solid."

The blonde shot him a glare.

"But that wouldn't be you," she pointed.

"UGH, you're right!"

He pulled into Chipshot Heights, a community of gorgeous ready-to-move-in houses. Gregory and Camille were sold when they saw an aerial view of the land when it was being developed and it looked so beautiful, bordered by the tall trees and in the distance the mountain range. They couldn't have conjured a more idealistic image. Their three-bedroom home was just the right size to start their family.

The single level home was very economical in its design. Three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a two-car garage, plenty of closet space. And the biggest boon in terms of family interaction and entertaining guests: a kitchen, dining area and living room that were wide open with no walls dividing them.

Reynolds pulled into the driveway and turned the engine off.

"Hey, Jade?"

"Hhmm?"

"Would you mind coming in for a second? I forgot, I wanted your opinion on this...uh...new couch. Camille thinks it's not the right size but if you could help settle this?"

Jade blinked and shook her head.

"I wish I had what you guys have," she admitted getting out of the car. "The only time you guys disagree is on little things."

The up-and-coming doctor had been invited over the Reynolds residence off and on for a couple of years now. Camille warmed up to the girl and their kids adored her, wanting to show their parents' friend what they drew or a new toy they had gotten. The medical examiner in training felt like an older cousin or something.

Jade was surprised after being candid with Camille about her orientation (playfully putting her worries to rest) she didn't act weird around her. In fact, she didn't look at her and the kids any differently. The pale girl asked if she was really okay, because not a lot of parents were. Camille put her arm around the student and told her that her kids know what being gay means. She never wanted them to think that they, or a friend of theirs, feel unsafe in this house.

She broke it down in language a child could understand: "You know how mommy and daddy love each other. Well, sometimes there are relationships that's two mommies or two daddies and that's okay. As long as they love each other." Jade thought that she was going to cry when she told her this. If only the rest of the world had that mentality! She rubbed her arms, confessing that people would make assumptions about her when it came to light that she was gay.

"Well, it's their loss!" she grinned. "It's a privilege to know you."

Jade watched Greg and Camille interacting from afar, seeing how comfortable they were together. She would just smile when they weren't looking, admiring them. Maybe someday she could have something just like that.

They made it onto the small porch with two chairs facing the street. The house was dark, so Jade naturally assumed that Camille was out with the kids.

"Let me just...open the door..." Reynolds muttered as he fumbled with the house keys and turned the knob. It was even darker inside. "Jade, can you hit the switch to your left?"

"I think I can...feel it...THERE!"

Not a microsecond after the lights came on that people jumped out of nowhere.

"SURPRISE!"

Jade clutched her chest, absolutely blitzed by the jump scare.

The kids were laughing while hanging on the back of the couch. Jade turned in time to see Camille and Aunt Bev enter her sight.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"That guy we looked at today?" Reynold nudged her shoulder. "You are officially in the triple digits, Dr. West!"

Blue eyes blinked at the revelation.

"Wait, really?"

"Congratulations on your 100th successful autopsy...which is redundant because they were ALL successes!"

Jade ran her hand through her hair.

"You know...I stopped counting somewhere after 25..." she nodded.

When you do the same thing day after day, the bodies tend to run together.

Jade would make a preliminary analysis of the body from the outside. Then she would take a gander at the police report, seeing if her hypothesis and what was discovered at the scene lined up. Then she would know she was barking up the right tree. But if they differed, that was when the fun began. Jade would systematically probe inside and out, eliminating one symptom after another until she arrived at an undisputed cause of death.

Sometimes, it wasn't so black and white.

A body could arrive with gunshot wounds, stab wounds, and bruises from being struck with a blunt object. And unless somebody knew what they were doing (usually, they didn't) or they were scarred off, lone holes and marks on the person were rare. For example, a murder victim once came in with 13 stab wounds and Jade along with her teacher had to investigate the size and place of the entrance wounds and note any exit wounds. In time, they would need to weed out the superfluous damage and find out which attacks were in fact fatal.

Bev hugged her precious niece.

"I'm so proud of you, Jade Monkey!"

The blonde turned beet red.

"You haven't called me that since I was little!"

"I'm sorry, Jade Monkey?" asked Greg.

The older woman relinquished the blonde and rolled up her sleeve.

"I got this stupid little tattoo when I was young..." sure enough, Bev had a grumpy little monkey holding his tail on her forearm. "When I found I was going to be an aunt and they named her Jade, I went down to the parlor and had them color the fella green."

Bev turned to the couple.

"You remember how they look when they're first born. She was my little Jade Monkey!"

Jade turned to see Lynn and Cole ducking behind the sofa, giggling.

"Okay, okay, we've embarrassed Jade enough!" Camille grinned, putting a hand on the woman of honor's shoulder. "Let's eat!"

Bev and Camille were hard at work in the kitchen not only preparing Jade's favorite dinner: lasagna and meatballs with Caesar salad. They also baked a chocolate cake decorated with candles that read 100 on top. Jade shook her head, as it looked like it was somebody's 100th birthday.

Jade kept telling the adults that this was too much, but they waved her away. This was quite the milestone, Jade being halfway through her training to a fully credited medical examiner. Bev said that Jade deserves the world, and she would give her as much of it as she could.

Being the youngest, Cole asked loud enough at the table: "Jade, where's your mom and dad?"

Silverware dropped and the room fell silent. His sister, who was just learning how to read the room felt secondhand embarrassment at the question. The three grownups watched Jade carefully as she sat silent over her plate.

Greg addressed his kids.

"You two done eating?"

They both nodded.

"How about washing up and getting your rooms situated?" Camille suggested.

"Okay!" Cole said, taking Lynn's hand as they left the room.

"Jade..." Greg leaned in, concerned. "Are you okay?"

Aunt Bev rubbed her back.

"It hurts to talk about," she sighed.

The pale one swallowed and took a small bite of the half meatball still on her plate.

"Basically..." Jade laboriously said. "My mom died when I was born."

"She was...a high risk," Bev sadly added.

"What about your dad?"

She locked eyes with Camille, who looked like she was going to cry for her.

"I don't remember much about him," Jade admitted. "Only from what Aunt Bev told me."

The tears began to fall, and Bev just hugged her niece with a kiss on her head.

"My brother took her death very hard. Started..." she cleared her throat, trying to be honest but respectful for Jade's sake. "He looked for a respite from the pain..."

Camille put her hand on Jade's and squeezed. Blue eyes met hers in silent gratitude for her comfort.

"And nothing seemed to be working..." Bev continued, sniffing. "He got involved with mixing...things that shouldn't go together."

Jade clung to her aunt, burying her head in her shoulder.

Greg looked at his wife grimly. It was obvious that Jade's father overdosed. It was both sad and frustrating that instead of channeling this energy into his daughter, he just checked out and now he was no longer in the picture!

The younger woman cleared her throat, wiping her face.

Now, Camille held Jade's hand with both of her own, blinking back tears.

[END OF FLASHBACK]

Jade shook her head, her vision blurring from the memory of Greg and Camille being the closest thing to parents than she ever had in that moment. When she lost her Auntie Bev, their presence at her funeral gave Jade's heart something to hold onto.

It was a real relief that Doc survived. Jade didn't think she could handle losing somebody this important to her so soon!

She had her whole life crammed back into these suitcases and checked the flights on her phone since her laptop was already packed.

There was a red eye leaving tonight that could get her in Chicago in a jiffy. But it would be a six-hour layover for a nonstop to Seattle. It would have to do! With any luck, adding in the transport from the airport to Langley, Jade would be back home by late afternoon tomorrow.

Doing a full sweep throughout the apartment, every room, every crevice to make sure she didn't leave anything behind; something in the nightstand drawer gave her pause. They were movie ticket stubs to a re-release of Wicked, her first real date with Luanne.

She sucked in her breath like she was pushing a boulder uphill and threw the stubs into the trash.

Jade checked her time, hoping to grab a bite from that place around the corner to fill her up before heading to the airport.

Just one more shrimp po' boy before bidding this jewel of the bayou adieu.

"Man, I'm gonna miss the food!" she lamented.

A/N: For those who don't know, a PO' BOY is a popular sandwich in New Orleans. It's served on crispy French bread, and you can get them made with pretty much any meat you want. Y'all want your po' boy "dressed" if you need lettuce, tomato and pickles. The choice of protein dictates the best condiment for the job (gravy vs mustard vs hot sauce). Now I'm hungry!

Chapters are going to be less dense at this point so I can focus better, which means more frequent updates. I'm now in a place where I can do this twice a week! So, I'm capitalizing on the opportunity.

And I suppose I can let you in on something I am working on that I'm REALLY EXCITED about. It's going to be one of the most ambitious things I've done, as much of it is derived from a personal project of mine and as it will never be produced as I envisioned, I decided "screw it" and will turn it into a JORI story. I don't want to elaborate here without getting into spoilers, but I won't pull the trigger until I know it's ready.