Chapter Six: Confession Time

Kennedy arrived at her uncle's building and took the elevator up to the Medical Examiner's Offices. The whole time in the elevator, Kennedy was wondering how she was going to tell Jordan how she felt and not have Jordan freak out. There really was no way to avoid a possible freak out and Kennedy resigned herself to the inevitable. The elevator doors opened and Kennedy stepped out and headed first to her uncle's office to let him know she was in the building.

"Hey Uncle Garrett, how's it going?"

"Hi Kennedy, it's a little slow today but that's a good thing." Garrett smiled, happy to see his niece. "What brings you here to my office?" Usually Kennedy stopped off at Jordan's office first then later came to see him. He knew Kennedy stopped here first because she was still holding the coffee she brought for Jordan.

"Just wanted to let you know I was around in case you needed to see me, gonna go drop this off to Jordan now. See you later uncle."

"See you later Kennedy." Garrett knew better than to try to tell Kennedy what to do. If he told her to stay away from Jordan (out of concern for her feelings) Kennedy would ignore him and find a way to still see her. So he decided to let Kennedy's crush run its course and be there when and if she needed him.

Kennedy left her uncle's office and headed to Jordan's office, the butterflies in her stomach turning into eagles on the short walk. Kennedy quietly approached Jordan's office, she always liked being able to observe Jordan working at her desk before Jordan knew she was there. It fed her crush.

Kennedy rounded the corner and peeked through the open door of Jordan's office and what she saw broke her heart. Jordan was standing in front of her desk, kissing some guy that Kennedy had never met. The sight was enough to make Kennedy hurt so much she thought she was going to die right there. Kennedy decided not to intrude and was backing away when she heard Nigel call her name.

"Kennedy, how's it going my dear?" Nigel's accented voice carried into Jordan's office and Jordan stepped away from the guy she was kissing and looked over at Kennedy standing outside her office. For some reason that she couldn't explain, Jordan felt the overwhelming need to explain her actions to Kennedy, almost as if she had been caught cheating. But that didn't seem right since they weren't even together like that. It was too confusing.

Kennedy turned to Nigel with all the strength she had and smiled as if nothing was wrong. "Hey Nigel, it's going good. Just dropped by to deliver Jordan's usual caffeine jolt. But she's busy so can I trust you to give it to her? I gotta get going." Without waiting for a response, Kennedy thrust the coffee cup into Nigel's hands and headed for the elevator.

Kennedy was waiting for the elevator to open when Jordan caught up to her. "Kennedy, where are you going? I thought we were going to have lunch." Jordan asked, a bit confused. She didn't want to lose Kennedy's friendship over a stupid kiss that should never have even happened.

"I gotta go Jordan, have lunch with your boyfriend instead." Thankfully, just then the elevator doors opened and Kennedy hurried in and pressed the door close button, determined to get away from Jordan before the tears began to form and fall. However, Jordan had other ideas and she followed her into the elevator and the doors closed before Kennedy could get out.

"No, we are going to talk about this, why are you so upset with me?"

"I'm not upset. I just remembered I have to meet Jules." The lie felt bitter on her tongue but anything was better than the truth right now. Better than dealing with the sharp pain in her chest that threatened to stop her heart forever if she focused on it right now, before she had a chance to exorcise it through training. Kennedy avoided looking at Jordan the whole time the elevator made its way down to the lobby.

"Kennedy, please, talk to me. Tell me what's wrong. I know something is wrong. Why'd you run away like that?"

Kennedy kept her mouth shut. All her earlier resolve to tell Jordan how she felt vanished at the sight of Jordan kissing that guy. The elevator doors opened and Kennedy took off running through the lobby and out to the street as fast as she could.

Surprisingly, when Kennedy finally stopped to rest, Jordan was right there next to her.

"Man, you run really fast, almost lost ya once." Jordan said between gulps of breath.

"That was the point Jordan." Kennedy said, recovering her breath faster thanks to her slayer potential.

Jordan was confused. "The point? You were trying to ditch me? I thought we were friends Kennedy, but friends don't do that. Please, talk to me."

Kennedy turned away from Jordan but didn't move. She stared at the city streets and up into the sky as she struggled to control her emotions enough to be able to talk to Jordan without breaking down into tears. Finally, when Kennedy thought she could handle it she asked the question that had been raging through her mind from the moment she saw Jordan with that guy. "Who is he?"

"Who? The guy in my office?"

"Yeah, the guy in your office, the guy you were kissing...who is he?"

Jordan didn't know where this was coming from or where it was going but she decided to go along for the ride. "He's Detective Woody Hoyt, Boston PD. And I didn't kiss him, he kissed me."

"Yeah well, didn't look like you were objecting that much."

"If you'd stuck around a bit longer you would've seen me push him away and kick him outta my office. Kennedy," Jordan didn't even know why she was explaining all this but she felt that it was important that Kennedy know the truth...the whole truth. "Woody's been chasing me for months and I've been telling him 'no' for months. Two weeks before you came here, we were in California on a case and we kissed and ever since then he's been trying to get further. But I know that he's not what I want. And I told him that today... again. He didn't exactly take it well when I told him I found someone else." Jordan kept her gaze on Kennedy's face even though it was turned away from her. All she could see was the younger girl's profile. Jordan noticed the tightening of Kennedy's jaw muscles as she gritted her teeth.

Kennedy listened to Jordan explain and she was almost ready to let it all go, when Jordan mentioned having found someone else. She didn't think she could stand to hear about someone else. Someone who Jordan wanted and someone who Kennedy was sure Jordan would want her to meet. The pain threatened to rise again but Kennedy gritted her teeth and stamped it down again. "Someone else? Who?"

Jordan took a breath then said softly, gambling everything she had on just one word. "You."

TBC...