Forever (Continuation)

[Orb]

Henry shivered. When was Abe going to pick him up? It was freezing out her, and the last thing he needed was to-

"Huh-Xxsght!"

Sneeze. He'd dropped his car off at the dealership and was now miserably waiting for his son to come pick him up from work. At approximately 6 A.M in the morning, in the middle of winter. Jo slipped out of the building behind him and tried to slip around to her car unnoticed by him and his lighting fast and lightening sensative ears.

No luck.

"I know you're there," He grinned and turned around, and Jo gave in, returning the smile. Things had been awkward-while not deathly-between them since the date he'd taken her to to see a movie last week. A horn honked and Abe leaned out the window of his car, giggling.

"Oh, come on, kiss already!" He yelled. The two jumped and pulled away from each other, unaware anyone had been watching. Henry pointed to himself and Jo, then gave a dismissing gesture and a light laugh, as though he had no idea what Abe was talking about.

"Just get in here! Jo, need a ride?"

"No, thanks thought." She watched the car drive off and took a deep breath, releasing it with a smile and a breathy, "See you later."

BEEP!

Henry groaned, rolled over, and slapped the alarm clock with everything he had. Not much, as he could tell the effects of a cold were setting in and he had just woken up. Sniffling, he rolled out of bed, dressed hurriedly, and went downstairs to see what Abe was making. The scent of pancakes toyed with him, the cinnamon his son had used proved to be the last straw for his irritated nose.

"Huh-Xxsght!" He twisted away and covered the sneeze, then got down a plate.

"Bless you." Abe said, absentmindedly.

"Thank you," He replied.

"Any leads on Adam?" His son gave him some pancakes and syrup and sat down next to him to eat.

"None so far. How does he do it? 200 years is enough for me, but he's 2000! Imagine that!" Henry snorted and ate his food, pondering how hard it would be to suffer through plagues, famines, hangings......

"Huh-Chht!" Abe jumped and nearly dropped his book.

"Bless you again! Are you sick or something?"

"A cold, yes. Mighty lovely of you to ask. And this is because a certain someone took two hours to pick me up." He grinned and vaguely pointed to Abe.

"I had a date over! Give a guy a break!" Abe muttered, washing his plate. "You got work to do and I have to reopen the shop. And that Jo of yours......" He whistled. "She's a catch, eh?"

"Oh, stop-okay, yes she is. But ... Forget it. I have to leave. See you at six."

Henry put his dish away, sniffed, and sneezed harshly into his arm. He took the car Abe had parked in the garage and drove to work, laughing when his son called to ask him where the hell his only current vehicle had gone.

"Bless you. Your voice sounds funny," Jo stepped into the office. Henry sneezed again.

"Yes, I am painfully aware of that," He said, fighting back the constant itch in his nose. Jo sat on the edge of his desk and gave him an arrest warrant.

"For what?"

"For you. No, I'm kidding,"She said when she saw the surprised look on his face. " 'Member hedgie's buddy, Rick Dawson?"

"The homeless ma..... "Huh-Huh-Xxsght!.... The homeless man?" Henry implied.

"Afraid so. And, he's not homeless."

"If he doesn't own the house he is." He reminded her, sniffing. He coughed dryly into his hand and rolled his eyes when Jo looked at him, concern flashing in her eyes. "I am well aware that it's the common cold. You people do not understand....." He trailed off, realizing what he just said. Jo looked at him and put her hand on his forehead.

"You haluccinating? You don't feel warm yet."

"Ugh, yet is a strange.... Hurusho!... Word." He turned his head aware and sneezed into his shoulder.

"You and your macho-ness! Come on, into my car. We've got stuff to do." Henry shrugged and followed her out to her vehicle, parked at the edge of the parking lot.

"Now, bless you times fifty billion."

He looked confused, "Why?"

"Because I know you'll sneeze a lot on the way there."

"I get it." He coughed again and sat in the passenger's seat, studying his watch.

"Before we so this, take a sick day."

"But I'm not sick!" He protested hotly, quirking his eyebrows so much that Jo thought she'd die laughing. Even when he had a cold he retained his sense of humor.

"Yes you are, Dr. Morgan, do we have to go into another bout of what happened last week?" She said, remembering what happened last Thursday.

"No.... Huh-Chht! Huh... Huh-Chht!" He pinched his nose and his head bounced forward, followed by a quick jerk of the shoulders.

"Yep. Okay." She shot back sarcastically. He splayed his hands and she started the car.

"I am not sick!"

"So prove it." That got his attention.

"How do you expect me to-"

"Don't sneeze the whole car ride there. Practical enough?"

He shrugged and smiled warmly, "Seeing as we are not young children, yes, very practical."

"Good."

This ride, Henry cocludes as Jo pulls the car from the parking lot, will be the longest, most gruelling ride of his life. Granted, it is just a silly contest.

Is it? He asks himself, already feeling a sneeze assail his nose. He turns his head away from Jo's view of his facial features, and braces himself to cover the sneeze as covertly as he can.

"Henry Morgan, stop right there," Jo says, eyes fixed on the road ahead of her. Henry winces and puts his hand down, scrunching up his nose.

Busted.

"Just once," He whined slightly, watching a mother push her child's stroller into Abe's antique shop.

"Nope. You agreed. I have it on record."

What? "Where did you ever find the means to do that-"

She holds up her iPhone and presses Play. His voice fills the car. Great.... Just.... He rubs his nose quickly, in the hopes that Jo will not see.

"Dude, either admit you're sick or die trying." She grins and turns down to the seashore. Henry scoffs and shakes his head.

"Never! I be not a yellow-bellied coward!" He replies, laughing. His laughter changes abruptly to dry coughing, and Jo looks at him again, concerned.

"Does a cold do that?"

"In the beginning stages, yes." He says, sniffing. Trying to deter the sneeze at this point was futile. He'd have to settle for holding it at bay and letting it build behind bars until-

"HURUSHOO!" His head snaps forward and Jo squeals and yanks the wheel to the right. The car swerves, and rights itself. Henry sniffles and shrugs, smiling sheepishly. His nose had felt so plugged beforehand that he was worried he wouldn't be able to breath.

"Bless you. And you are sick."

He shakes his head.

"Not until I admit that I'm 200 years old." He means it as a joke what can she know about the curse yet?

"Henry......." She stares him down until he pulls his scarf higher around his neck. From behind the brown silk, he asks, "Yes......?"

"Admit it, 'cause we're here."

"Never."

"Are you sick?"

He sighs and pulls it down, staring out the window.

"Yes, I am sick."

Continuation? I'm not very good at writing illness stories, so I might default to allergies-it's my comfort zone, illness is NOT my thing. What do we think?

[Shay]

Yeah sure I'd love to read more. As I've said I love the banter between them and would love it if you switched back to allergies as illness really isn't my thing either. I don't think you did too bad though. I'm not the best at writing illness myself, though I do have a tendency to write allergies so severe it might as well be writing a sick fic. *shrugs*

[Orb]

Okay, the next on we'll be allergies. I'm glad for that, as I have no idea what to add in a sick fix and am better off writing my comfort zone

[Shay]

Cool, I look forward to reading it. Never feel like you have to write outside of your comfort zone if you don't want to. Sometimes I like to challenge myself personally and a fic I'm planning will have both illness and allergy stuff with probably more focus on the former just to see if I can do it, but writing outside of your comfort zone isn't for everyone.

[MyOwnPrivateSFC]

I enjoyed it, too. Unlike you guys, I do prefer illness to allergies, but I agree with Shayla: you shouldn't ever feel that you have to write outside of your comfort zone just to please others. I enjoyed your allergy fic, too!

[Wig_Powder]

Me, I sort of fluctuate between allergies and illness, though admittedly the majority of the fics I upload to the internet are illness based. So I'll happily write the majority of Forever illness fics on this forum. After all, it's the first thing that came to my mind when I realized the show's conceit.

On topic, I enjoyed the "don't sneeze once until we get to our destination" angle. Poor Henry, trying so hard to keep it back...

[Orb]

Well, those two are an odd paid, old and hound.

I didn't stop to think of how wrong that just sounded

[Orb]

What I meant was old and young.

[jezebel215]

i'm putting in a vote for a sick fic! this is a lovely beginning.

[Orb]

Glad you enjoyed it, but it turned out to be a one-shot. ,maybe you could write your own.........? I'd like seeing a fourth member to this party