Erratic Sensitivities (Forever, Henry) Part 15 posted.

[2NewGuy]

Great continuation. I'm sure Henry enjoyed putting his head against Jo's shoulder while sleeping.

[Shay]

Thanks, though since he did it in his sleep he wasn't really aware of it.

[Orb]

Lol, this awesome and funny, love the episode choice controversy!

[Shay]

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. I actually watched those Doctor Who episodes last night trying to stave off Forever withdrawal and then decided to work it into the story.

[AngelEyes]

Awww. Sweet.

[Shay]

Strangely enough I'm actually getting a strong temptation to start posting this outside of the forum. I've gotten some good responses to my non-fetish Forever fanfic so far on Tumblr and AO3.org and I'm curious to see if this story would appeal to people who just like hurt/comfort stuff in general. It wouldn't be the first time I've posted a fetish fic outside of the forum, but that was a short one chapter thing so I didn't think it looked too suspicious, and I had gotten some good comments on it.

I suppose I could post the first couple of chapters and then wait and see how people react and if I get weird responses I can always take it down. Though to be honest I'm actually more nervous about my family finding it than about how people on the internet in general will react. I know it's not like my family searches out my fanfiction or anything(as far as I know), but since I post my fanfiction under the same screen name as I use most places online, it's possible it could easily show up if one of them just randomly googled my screen name. Still I'm not sure how much I should really worry about that.

[a_nonny_mouse]

I post my fetish fic on AO3 and I know some others do too. It does get some good responses. =) You could always start a throwaway account if you're worried.

[Shay]

I post my fetish fic on AO3 and I know some others do too. It does get some good responses. =) You could always start a throwaway account if you're worried.

Thanks for the feedback, when you post on AO3 do you ever use fetishy type tags like cold or allergies, or just more general ones like hurt/comfort?

[Shay]

Here's part 11, share and enjoy!

------

Henry got off the elevator on Jo's floor of the police station. Immediately he stopped in his tracks as a sharp tickle filled his nose and he sneezed loudly before he had time to cover up. There was an odd smell in the air, but he couldn't place it, and his sinuses were soon too clogged for him to be able to smell it at all. This didn't stop his nose from tickling though and he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket just in time to catch a trio of wet sneezes. He blew his nose and when he looked up he saw Jo walking towards him.

"That's certainly one way to announce your arrival," said Jo shaking her head. She looked out the window briefly at the pouring rain and knew it wasn't pollen that was bothering him today. "If it's not one thing with you it's another."

Henry nodded and sneezed twice more into his handkerchief. "So it would seem. I'm not sure what it is, but something in the air on this floor is irritating me."

Jo sniffed the air. "Hmm now that you mention it, there is a funny smell in the air, but I have no idea what it is." She wondered if someone had sprayed air freshener or something like that. "I guess you didn't take anything today since it's raining."

Henry sniffled and rubbed at his nose. "I did actually. I figured with my luck lately I'd probably still need it." He paused to sneeze again. "It's just that the dosages that seem most effective also seem to put me to sleep as you saw for yourself last night when I ended up inadvertently using your shoulder as a pillow."

"Yeah," said Jo laughing nervously. She hoped none of her coworkers heard that. She didn't want them to get the wrong idea. She briefly wondered how much of a mess he'd be right now if he hadn't taken any medicine. "Maybe it's time to see an allergist. I don't think the physician heal thyself method is working so well for you."

Henry cringed but nodded. It was probably time to see a specialist again if he was having thoughts of "accidentally" getting hit by a car so that Abe couldn't accuse him of committing suicide. He knew he probably wouldn't go through with it though because knowing his luck it'd backfire and he'd end up with food allergies again, so that just left the option of seeing a doctor about it. "Yes you're quite right. I'll make an appointment when I have time."

Jo raised an eyebrow surprised that he had agreed so readily, but then again she wouldn't be surprised if he kept putting it off claiming he was too busy. "Ok, come on. Tech should be just about done processing the binary code." She led Henry to the computer lab where the code was being processed. Whatever that smell was seemed to be a bit stronger in this room for some reason. Henry had clearly noticed as he stopped walking shortly inside the room entrance. A brief look of panic flashed across his face and then he muffled several rapid-fire sneezes into his handkerchief. She gave him a sympathetic smile and then motioned him to the proper computer station.

The computer technician looked up and smiled. "Good you're here. I've just finished processing the binary code. I'm not sure what to make of it though."

Jo looked at the screen and sighed in exasperation. "Great, more gibberish, another code. Could this thing be any more convoluted?" She looked over at Henry who was sniffling, but reading the screen with an intense look of concentration and his lips were moving silently as he read.

After a couple of moments understanding dawned on Henry and his eyes lit up excitedly. "Good Lord! This isn't gibberish, it's Aramaic transliterated into the Latin alphabet!" he exclaimed then turned to the side doubling over with an intense trio of sneezes.

"You've got to be kidding me! Seriously, Aramaic?" said Jo shaking her head in disbelief. "Ok Mr. Rosetta Stone, what does it say?"

Henry's face fell as he finished reading the text. "Oh no, this isn't good at all. If I'm reading this correctly it describes a terrorist plot to bomb the Empire State Building. It's dated for today, but there's no specific time indicated."

"Shit!" Jo cursed. "Come on, we have to tell Reece and get on the phone with Homeland Security!" She ran out of the room with Henry close on her heels. As they entered the main squad room they could hear the sound of numerous sirens from police cars, fire trucks, and ambulances screaming by.

Henry stopped running and his face went white. "I think we're too late Jo," he said in barely more than a whisper.

Jo turned to face him and nodded grimly. "I still need to talk to Reece." Henry didn't respond and merely looked at her with an expression of pain and grief. "Henry, can you hear me?" When he still didn't answer she grabbed his arm and led him to her desk and pushed him down into the chair in front of it. "Ok just sit here. I'll be back as soon as I can," she said and ran off to her boss's office.

Henry just sat there everything a blur around him. He barely even registered all the people shouting and running around the squad room. He cursed Adam, who seemed to have intimate knowledge of this case, for not calling to help sooner, and cursed his allergies thinking that maybe if he had been more focused, then he could have figured this whole thing out sooner on his own. He was vaguely aware that his allergies were still bothering him and that he was sneezing repeatedly, but it felt so far away and unimportant. Everything around him seemed to vanish and images of World War II filled his vision. There were bombs going off all around him and he was frantically scrambling to try to help the wounded, but there were so many people that were beyond his help.

When Jo returned to her desk Henry was right where she left him slumped in the chair with a far off look of pure anguish on his face. If it weren't for the fact that he kept sneezing she would have thought he'd gone catatonic, though he didn't even seem to be aware that he was doing it. He was sneezing completely out in the open when he was normally polite enough to try to cover them up somehow. His nose was quite visibly running and with a sigh she grabbed some tissues from the box on her desk and wiped his nose for him like he was a five year old and he didn't even seem to notice. She waved a hand in front of his face and called his name, but she couldn't get a response out of him. Even shaking him did nothing. She was wondering if he had gone into some sort of shock and was debating whether or not to call the paramedics for him. Finally she tried slapping him hard across the face. This seemed to evoke some sort of reaction at last. He looked up at her but with a confused expression like he didn't know who she was. He then threw his arms around her waist clinging to her and murmuring Abigail's name. "No Henry, it's Jo. Come on snap out of it," she said trying to loosen his grip on her.

"Jo?" he said questioningly still half in a daze.

"Yes it's Jo Martinez. Come on back to reality now. I don't want to have to call you an ambulance." Finally understanding seemed to dawn on his face and he released his grip on her.

"My apologies," Henry said full of embarrassment. "My mind was somewhere else."

"Yeah no kidding, that was some flashback you were having there," she replied sitting behind her desk.

Henry sniffled feeling his nose tickle again and caught a small fit in his handkerchief and then blew his nose. "Yes I get those from time to time."

"I've noticed, but it's usually much easier to snap you out of it," Jo said gently knowing it must have been brought on by the stress and guilt of thinking that he'd failed to prevent what he thought must have been another 9/11 type attack.

Henry put his head in his hands. "All those people dead... all because I couldn't figure out the code more quickly."

"Henry, it really wasn't that bad. The bomb was relatively small. It destroyed a few rooms but the building structure is still intact. There were several people injured, but only one fatality, and if it's any consolation, he was probably dead before the explosion."

"What makes you say that?"

"Reece said he was covered in the same sort of tattoos as the other victim," Jo explained. "The body is being sent to the morgue as we speak. Whoever is behind this is playing with us. They knew they made the code too difficult for us to crack it in time so they went for minimal damage, but this time they'll probably expect us to work faster and they'll have something bigger planned."

Henry nodded. "I'd better get right back to the morgue then."

Jo shook her head. "The only place you're going is home."

Henry stared at her in disbelief. "Surely you can't be serious? We're in the middle of a crisis!"

"I'm completely serious, and don't call me Shirley," Jo deadpanned.

Henry raised an eyebrow at her comment, but decided that this wasn't the time to ask what she meant by it. "Look I'm sorry if I scared you before, but I assure you I'm perfectly alright now."

Jo sighed. "You really have no idea how out of it you were. You were non-responsive for a good ten minutes and I was about thirty seconds away from calling you an ambulance. I had to slap you to even get you to look at me and then you hugged me and called me Abigail."

"I did?" Henry asked completely mortified. He knew he had been hugging her because his arms were still around her when he'd fully come out of the flashback, but he had no memory of calling her Abigail.

"Yes you did. I want you to go home and rest before you have another breakdown," Jo insisted.

"I promise you it was only brought on because I thought hundreds of people had died as a result of my incompetence. It will not happen again," said Henry dismissively.

"Henry you're not incompetent, you're the smartest man I know, but you're not a god. Not having another flashback like that is not something you can promise."

"I'll rest later, I need to deal with the new body now," he argued.

"No, you're going to let Lucas handle it. He took the photos of the body last time and he can do it again and zoom in to confirm that we're dealing with binary code again. Then tech will take over and I'll have them email you the results. You can come back in if you need to, but for now you're going home to rest," she said resolutely.

"Jo please..."

"No," she said cutting him off. "This is how it's going to be. You're going to go home and rest for at least a few hours and if you don't, I'll tell the Lieutenant what happened and have her remove you from the case pending a psych evaluation."

Henry sighed and then muffled a fit of four harsh sneezes into his handkerchief. "Very well, I'll go home. Though I don't know how you can expect me to relax with all of this going on."

"You're a smart guy, I'm sure you'll think of something," Jo answered giving him a sympathetic smile. "I'm sorry to be so harsh, but you know it's for your own good."

Henry nodded and left without another word. He tried not to be upset with Jo. He knew she was right, but he was so frustrated with the situation. He didn't know how he could just sit at home when there was such important work to be done. He got into the elevator and on the ride down his phone rang. He answered it and before he could utter a greeting the person on the other end started talking.

"Hello Henry. It seems you weren't quite fast enough. I did tell you that time was running out."

"Damn you to hell Adam!" Henry shouted surprised at his own lack of control. He usually felt that cursing was beneath him. "You knew what was going to happen and when! There was no reason for all those people to be hurt!"

"What fun would that be if I just gave you all the answers?" said Adam snickering. "I'm sure you'll figure out the next one faster though. That is if your partner releases you from your time out. By the way, did you enjoy the fragrance in the squad room today? From what I could see you were particularly moved by it," he said with a cruel laugh.

Henry wanted to shout at Adam to get a life and stop torturing him, but the line went dead. He resisted the urge to throw the phone against the elevator wall and shoved it back in his pocket. As he left the building he vowed that if he ever met Adam in person he'd punch him right in the face. He knew it wouldn't accomplish anything and might very well get him killed, but it would certainly make him feel better.

[AngelEyes]

Intriguing. I like it.

[Orb]

Great chapter!

[Shay]

Thanks! Glad you guys are still enjoying it.

[Shay]

Here's part 12. Sorry it's another chapter that's more plot/angst oriented with not much sneezing, but I hope you guys still enjoy it. There are some references to things that were revealed in Henry's flashbacks in episode 8, so make sure not to read before watching that episode if you don't want to risk anything spoilery.

------

"You did what?" Abe burst out when Henry explained why he was home from work early.

"You heard me, and I don't intend to repeat myself," Henry answered with a pointed look.

"This really isn't good."

"In light of what happened, or at least what I thought happened at the time, I don't think it was so unreasonable a reaction," said Henry dismissively. "She'll probably just think it's post traumatic stress disorder."

"Which she'll probably want you to seek treatment for," said Abe rolling his eyes. "Come to think of it that's probably not a bad idea."

"I do not have PTSD," said Henry through gritted teeth.

"Oh please, you're not the only one here who's been through war. I know what it's like and I remember you having episodes similar to what happened today when I was growing up, but at least then you had a loving wife to help you through them. It wouldn't hurt to talk to a counselor about it. You can get treatment without revealing all the details."

Henry sagged a bit in defeat. "Look I know I get nostalgic and lost in my thoughts a lot, but what happened today hasn't happened in a very long time. I don't think I need to see a therapist for one isolated incident. I promise I'll think about it though if it happens again."

Abe sighed and nodded knowing that was the best he was going to get. "So what are you going to do now?"

Henry shrugged. "Well I'm under orders to rest, so I suppose that's exactly what I'll have to do. I'm sorely tempted to call Lucas to check on his progress with the new body, but I'm afraid Jo would use that as an excuse to force a mandatory psychiatric evaluation on me." He massaged his sinuses which were aching badly from all the sneezing he'd done earlier. "My head hurts. I think I'll just take an aspirin and go to bed for awhile."

Abe nodded. "Ok feel better and try not to worry too much about the case. You know they'll call you if they need you."

"Yes I know," Henry said with a slight frown. The problem was that he wasn't entirely sure if Jo or Lucas would always recognize when they could benefit from his expertise.

------

Henry wasn't having much luck napping. The aspirin had helped with his sinus pain, but he was still left with a bit of a dull ache. On top of that his mind was racing which was preventing him from falling asleep so he just lay in bed awake with the gears of his mind working in overdrive. He kept thinking about the case despite knowing there wasn't really much he could actually do at this point, but he kept wondering if there were clues on the new body that Lucas might have missed. He had to admit though that Lucas was getting better at finding the tiniest pieces of evidence.

At some point his thoughts turned to Jo and the threat she had made. He knew that a psychiatric evaluation was a far cry from being committed to a mental hospital and that she had only made the threat because she was concerned for his well being. He really wasn't sure he could blame her under the circumstances, but it still hurt, quite a lot more than he would care to admit to anyone. It brought up so many painful memories from when his first wife had him thrown in an insane asylum. He had loved Nora and thought he could trust her with his secret, but times were different back then and she wasn't nearly so open-minded as Abigail had been. He was sure that Jo wouldn't do that to him, not unless he became extremely unstable, but it would still take some time for him to feel at ease around her again. He had a feeling that they would end up having a serious conversation about this once the case was resolved and he was not looking forward to it at all.

He eventually decided that if he wasn't going to be able to sleep he should read a book to get his mind off of things. He got out of bed and scanned the books on his bookshelf. He finally selected A Tale of Two Cities. It was an old favorite and it had been several years since the last time he read it. The book was a bit dusty and a small cloud of dust flew up and he removed the book from the shelf. He backed up a few steps and tried not to breathe it in, but despite his efforts his nose was tickling within seconds. He pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and released three sharp sneezes into it. He blew his nose, then retrieved a rag from his closet and carefully cleaned the book off as best he could. He then settled into an armchair to read. It seemed that he hadn't been able to completely rid the book of dust and he kept sniffling and sneezing from time to time as he turned the pages, but it seemed like almost nothing compared to some of the allergy attacks he'd had lately. After a couple of chapters he was relaxed enough that fatigue finally set in and he dozed off right there in the armchair.

Jo sighed after trying to call Henry for the fourth time. His cell phone kept going to voicemail and it seemed that the landline had been left off the hook again. She'd have to drive all the way over to his place just to tell him that tech finished processing the code on the body and that the results had been emailed to him. At least it had stopped raining. She half wondered if he was ignoring her calls because of what happened earlier, but she knew he would never be that childish. If he was upset with her he might be curt when talking to her, but he'd never flat out ignore her. She really was concerned about his state of mind right now after that crazy flashback episode despite his assurances that it would be unlikely to happen again. When she pulled up to the antiques shop she saw that it was closed. It was a bit early in the day for it to be closed she thought, but then Abe never seemed to keep regular business hours. He just opened and closed the shop whenever it suited him. She got out of her car and peered through the front door and saw Abe taking a nap in a chair. She hated to wake him, but she really needed to talk to Henry so she knocked on the door.

Abe woke up with a jolt as he heard the knocking. When he saw who was at the door he got up immediately to answer it. "Hello, I suppose you're looking for Henry?"

"Yes, I've got an update on the case we're working on and I couldn't get a hold of him by phone. Sorry for waking you," she said apologetically.

Abe waved her off dismissively. "Don't worry about it. I should probably open the shop back up anyway," Abe answered checking his watch. "Henry should be upstairs unless he snuck out while I was sleeping. He said something about taking a nap himself. You can go on up."

Jo nodded. "Ok thanks Abe." It didn't take her too long to find Henry's bedroom even though she'd never been on the top floor of the apartment before. There wasn't much up there, just two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a linen closet. Henry's bedroom door was open and she could see him sleeping in an armchair with an open book lying against his stomach. She smiled glad that he had actually followed her instructions to rest. She knocked on the door not wanting to enter without waking him, but he didn't respond. Upon a second look she could see that there was a grimace on his face and he seemed to be twisting from side to side slightly in the chair. Thinking that he must be having a bad dream she entered the room and slowly approached the armchair. He was muttering in his sleep. She thought she heard a woman's name, Nora, followed by 'please don't'. "Henry wake up," she said shaking him gently. Instead of waking up he just started to thrash around with his arms flailing knocking the book to the floor and she had to dodge to avoid getting hit. She finally managed to grab hold of his arms and restrain him. "Henry wake up!" she repeated shouting this time. He instantly stilled and opened his eyes, his face a mix of fear and confusion. Jo released her grip on his arms. "Jeez, are you always this violent when having a nightmare?"

"Violent?"

"Yeah, you came pretty close to giving me a black eye when I tried to wake you up," she informed him. "It's a good thing I've got a cop's reflexes."

"I'm so sorry," Henry said with a look of dismay. "It was a rather unpleasant dream." He had been reliving that awful day when Nora had had him committed and just before he'd awoken he was dreaming about the part where he was being restrained and forced into a straightjacket. He sniffled feeling his nose start to tickle and pulled his handkerchief from his pocket just in time to sneeze twice wetly into it, then blew his nose.

"Bless you. Still reacting to whatever was in the air at the station?"

Henry shook his head. "No, other than a headache that attack stopped shortly after leaving. However, the book I was reading was a bit dusty."

Jo nodded. "Maybe you should consider getting a tablet and switching to ebooks." Jo laughed when she saw the look of pure horror and disgust on Henry's face. "Ok ok, forget I mentioned it. Who's Nora by the way? You were saying her name in your sleep," she asked and placed a friendly hand on Henry's shoulder.

Henry found himself flinching involuntarily at her touch. He was still upset about her earlier threats as well as being shaken up from his dream. She immediately removed her hand and backed away from him taking a seat on his bed. He sighed before speaking. "She was my first wife before Abigail. Things ended poorly between us."

"I'm sorry. Do you want to talk about it?" she asked unsure if she should be more worried about this or what happened at the station. On the one hand it had been much easier to wake him from his dream than it had been to snap him out of his flashback and he didn't seem to have any trouble recognizing who she was, but at least he hadn't lashed out violently when he was having the flashback.

Henry hesitated. Obviously he couldn't share all of the details with her, but perhaps it would make him feel better to confide in her. "Well you remember the scar you saw on my chest when... well you know when... I was shot."

Jo raised her eyebrows in surprise. It didn't look like most gunshot wounds she'd seen, but from the size and placement of it, she was surprised he had survived it. "Was it Nora that shot you?"

Henry shook his head vehemently. "No, I was shot trying to defend another man."

Jo nodded. She really wasn't surprised. It was just the sort of thing he did. She had previously thought his reckless heroics had started when they began their partnership, but she realized that this is who he'd always been. "That was very courageous of you."

"Yes and pointless as they simply killed the other man as soon as I was incapacitated. Anyway it was a very difficult time for me and things changed between me and Nora."

"She couldn't handle your PTSD?"

Henry frowned. "Yes something like that."

"Henry it's ok. I'm a cop, I see this sort of thing all the time. I'm not going to judge you. My main concern is whether you are well enough to do your job," she took a deep breath before continuing, "and I'm also worried about you as a friend."

Henry smiled sadly. "It was so long ago, I should be over it by now."

"Traumatic events have a way of affecting people many years after the fact. You never know what will trigger those memories."

Henry nodded knowing that he probably wouldn't have had that nightmare if it weren't for Jo's earlier threat of a psychiatric evaluation. He almost wanted to tell her that was the cause, but thought better of it knowing it wasn't her intention to hurt him. "I'll be alright Jo. If you hadn't come along I'm sure the dream would have passed normally. I might not even have remembered it upon waking. So did you just come here to check up on me, or was there an update with the case?"

"Yes tech finished with the encoded tattoos on the second body and emailed you the results," said Jo. "I did try to call but you weren't answering your phone."

Henry took his phone from his pocket and saw that sure enough there were three missed calls from Jo. "My apologies. I must have slept through the ringing."

"Lucas also said that the blood work on the first victim finally came back and tested positive for Phenobarbital."

Henry frowned. "Yes that would definitely explain why there was no indication that the victim struggled or fought back. The second victim was likely drugged as well. Were you at least able to identify him?"

Jo shook her head. "Unfortunately no. Like the first victim there were no hits in the system for the DNA. It's going to take a long time to try to match the victims to dental records."

"Well I'd better take a look at those coding results." Henry led Jo down to the living room and logged on to his work email account using Abe's computer. He quickly located the email in question and opened it. "Hmm it says here that the code was hexadecimal instead of binary this time whatever that means. Interesting, the code translated into Welsh."

"Let me guess, you just so happen to be fluent in Welsh?" said Jo smirking.

Henry nodded. "My mother was Welsh. I grew up learning to speak it alongside English." Henry groaned as he finished reading the text of the email.

"What does it say?"

"It's merely the coordinates for the location of another body." He grabbed a piece of paper from the pad by the phone and jotted down the coordinates and handed them to Jo.

Jo frowned. "Ok let's go, we need to find this body fast."

"Does this mean I've been released from my mandatory period of rest?"

Jo rolled her eyes. "Yes now come on!"

Henry couldn't help grinning. "Right, just let me grab my coat and scarf."

[AngelEyes]

Poor Henry. All tangled up in his past. I love the new code being Welsh. Welsh is such a crazy complicated language and then to put it in a code. But of course Henry knows it! Loving the continued awesomeness!

[Shay]

Well I had to stick Welsh in there because Ioan Gruffudd is actually Welsh and speaks it beautifully. Here he is reciting a poem in Welsh and it is so hauntingly beautiful.

I loved this video so much that I actually had to make a vague reference to it in the next chapter.

[Shay]

Here's part 13. Share and enjoy!

------

"Son of a bitch!" Jo cursed. They had searched the entire warehouse that was at the coordinates Henry had translated, but there was no sign of a body. Other officers had searched the surrounding buildings as well but hadn't been able to find anything. "Are you sure you translated that Welsh correctly?"

Henry raised an eyebrow, smiled slightly, and shook his head at Jo's use of language. He was both amused and a bit offended at her insinuation that he couldn't speak Welsh properly. "Detective, that is like asking a Mexican-American who grew up with Spanish speaking parents if they translated a piece of Spanish properly. Welsh is my native language just as much as English is." To prove his point he started reciting a poem in Welsh. Not that it would have meant anything to Jo, but it made him feel better.

"Ok I'm sorry," she apologized, "but something is not right here."

Henry nodded and then opened his mouth to give his theories on what had gone wrong, but his breath hitched as a tickle in his nose flared up and he sneezed forcefully into his handkerchief for what seemed like the hundredth time since they entered the warehouse. The building was old and abandoned and full of dust and mold and who knows what else. He sniffled and then sneezed twice more blowing his nose afterward. "I believe there might have been an error with the software that translated the computer code or possibly an error with the code itself. You should have the tech people double check it. It would also be helpful if we could find the facility that created these elaborate tattoos. They might be able to help us determine if any errors were made and help us identify the victims and possibly a suspect."

"Yes Hanson and I have been trying to research tattoo parlors that would be capable of creating this sort of thing, but we've come up empty so far. If the victims were tattooed a week before they died they could have gotten the tattoos anywhere in the world. I will have tech double check the coding though."

"There is one more possibility to consider. The body might have been here, but was moved before we arrived," Henry theorized then doubled over in another sneezing fit. He felt like dozens of ants were crawling around in his nasal passages and rubbed his nose vigorously.

"Maybe, but so far there's been no sign that a body was ever here," Jo pointed out. "Come on, let's get you out of here before you keel over."

Henry didn't argue and followed Jo back to her car. He was more than ready to leave and knew it would take some time for the attack to work itself out even after leaving this place. After getting in the car he muffled a sneeze against the back of his wrist. He pulled his pill box from his pocket but just stared at it.

Jo raised an eyebrow. "Are you going to take something for that sneezing or just admire the antique enamel on the pill box?"

Henry sighed. He wasn't quite sure whether he wanted to take more medicine or not. It would be his second dose that day and would likely put his head in a fog. "I haven't decided. It's that same dilemma again. If I take more medicine it will likely reduce my symptoms, but leave me groggy and impair my concentration. If I let the allergy attack work itself out then I'll be left feeling drained with impaired concentration." He sniffled then released three rapid-fire sneezes into his handkerchief and blew his nose.

Jo nodded. "Well if you're damned either way, in your place I'd probably just take the pills."

Henry considered this. "If I haven't improved in fifteen minutes I will medicate myself."

Jo shook her head and rolled her eyes. She could see that her partner was already becoming fatigued from all the sneezing and he really should have taken something when the attack started shortly after they arrived at the warehouse, but of course he'd waved her off stubbornly insisting he'd be fine and continued to help with the search. "That just means it will take fifteen minutes longer to get into your system."

Henry shrugged. "What's fifteen minutes give or take? My cognitive abilities will be slightly better without the medication, so I'd prefer to avoid it if possible."

"And that slight increase in brain power is worth the allergic misery?"

"It is depending on what I'm doing," he insisted.

Jo rolled her eyes again then pulled her phone from her pocket as it started ringing. She looked at the display and saw that it was Lucas calling and answered it. "Hold on Lucas, I've got Henry here with me. Let me put you on speaker." She pressed the speaker button on her phone. "Ok go ahead."

"Ok so I was doing some digging and asking around and I think I might have found a place right in the city that can create the kind of tattoos that were found on the victims," said Lucas. "It's called Plain Sight Designs and they mostly cater to rich computer nerds who for whatever reason want tattoos with hidden messages in them that only they know the meaning of."

"Hmm clever establishment name... hidden in plain sight," Henry mused. "Excellent work Lucas, where is this place located?"

"Hold on I'll text you the address."

"Ok got it. Thanks Lucas," said Jo and hung up. She sighed as she watched Henry succumb to another fit muffling the sneezes into his handkerchief. "I really need to go check this place out. Do you want me to take you home, or do you feel up to tagging along?" she asked knowing he'd be unlikely to choose going home over investigating a case unless he was practically at death's door.

"Of course I'm coming with you," Henry replied with a grin. He tucked his pill box back into his pocket knowing he'd want to be as alert as possible for the interviews.

Jo did not fail to notice Henry's apparent decision to forgo his allergy medication, but didn't say anything. As she pulled out onto the road she wondered how the hell he actually found it easier to focus when sneezing his head off over being drugged up. She made a quick stop back at the station to pick up the case files and when she got back to the car she found Henry fast asleep. She smiled and shook her head swearing that if he had another violent nightmare she'd handcuff him and make him wait in the car while she conducted the interviews alone.

Henry was still asleep when they arrived at the tattoo parlor. He didn't appear to be suffering from any bad dreams at the moment, but Jo still prepared herself for flailing arms when she woke him up. "Henry we're here," she said gently shaking him. He just yawned and attempted to turn away from her as much as he could with his seatbelt on. She thought she heard him murmur something about it being too early and wanting five more minutes of sleep. She couldn't help giggling a bit knowing he must have thought he was home in bed. "Well if you're too tired you can wait in the car and I'll interview the owner by myself," she said a bit louder to penetrate his sleep-addled state.

This seemed to get Henry's attention and he opened his eyes and rubbed them. "Ok I'm awake. How long was I asleep?"

"A good twenty minutes. I hope the nap refreshed you."

"Indeed it did," he answered. He did feel more alert than he had been, but unfortunately his nose still itched somewhat. He sniffled, then sneezed twice into his handkerchief. By now it was too soiled to blow his nose into, so he switched it out for a fresh one.

"There are tissues in the glove compartment if you need them," said Jo knowing he usually didn't carry more than two handkerchiefs on him and they only held up for so long.

Henry opened the glove compartment and raised an eyebrow when he saw no less than six travel packs of tissues. He was both amused and touched that Jo had made a habit of keeping tissues in her pockets and car just in case he found himself unprepared. She still refused to admit that they were solely for his benefit, but he never saw her using them herself. "I've already got some in my pocket, but I suppose it's better to be safe than sorry." He took a couple of tissue packs from the glove compartment and put them in his coat pocket next to the tissues that were already in there.

They got out of the car and entered the building. The inside of Plain Sight Designs didn't look anything like a typical tattoo parlor. The building opened up into a large brightly lit reception area with professional looking office furniture. It looked much more like the waiting room of a doctor's office. There were a few people in the waiting area sitting in comfortable looking armchairs reading magazines or doing things on their smart phones or tablets. They walked up to the front desk and Jo showed her badge to the receptionist. "I'm Detective Martinez with the NYPD and this is my colleague Dr. Morgan. I'd like to speak to the owner of this facility regarding a murder investigation."

The receptionist raised her eyebrows in surprise, but smiled and nodded. "One moment, I'll see if Ms. Wen is available," she said and dialed her boss's extension. "There's a Detective here to see you about a murder investigation," she said into the phone. After a moment she hung up the phone. "She's in the middle of something, but said if you'd care to wait, she'll come out to see you in a few minutes."

Jo nodded. "That will be fine." She and Henry took seats in a couple of the armchairs to wait. Jo noticed that Henry didn't seem at all happy about having to wait, in fact the look on his face was a combination of annoyed and uncomfortable. "You ok?"

Henry nodded and sniffled as he felt his allergies starting to flare up again. There was a rather impressive arrangement of assorted flowers on the coffee table in front of them in the middle of the magazines and it was not agreeing with him at all. He rubbed his nose trying to ward off the impending sneezing fit but it didn't help and he sneezed harshly into his handkerchief, paused briefly, then sneezed another three times in rapid succession. He blew his nose wetly and sighed. "I'll be fine," he answered, though not very convincingly.

Jo followed Henry's gaze to the flowers on the table and shook her head slightly with an amused expression on her face. "Bless you. I really can't take you anywhere can I?"

Henry chuckled. "So it would seem."

Jo looked around to see if there was anywhere else they could sit, but she saw similar flower arrangements in close proximity to the rest of the chairs in the waiting room. "Just try to keep it to a minimum during the interview ok?"

"I will endeavor to do my best. Though if there are more of those in Ms. Wen's office, it may be a lost cause," he said indicating the flowers. As if on cue a tall slender Asian woman in a business suit entered the reception area. She stopped by the desk and the receptionist pointed them out to her. As she approached them Henry got a better look at her and thought she looked rather like The Frenchman, but perhaps ten years younger. He wondered if they were related. After introductions they followed Ms. Wen back to her office. She sat in the chair behind her desk and Henry and Jo took seats in the chairs in front of the desk. To his chagrin there was another flower arrangement on her desk. He took the seat furthest from the flowers but it really wasn't going to make much of a difference. The smell was stronger in this enclosed room and he could already feel his sinuses starting to clog up. He did his best to breathe through his mouth in the attempt to stave off any sneezing. Jo shot him a quick sympathetic smile.

"Is something wrong?" Ms. Wen asked seeing Henry's discomfort.

"I was just wondering if you were by any chance related to an antique weapons dealer who calls herself the Frenchman?" he asked trying not to draw attention to his allergic distress.

"Why yes, she is my cousin."

"I thought so," said Henry with a slight grin. "I can see the family resemblance."

"Wow, small world," Jo commented with a raised eyebrow.

"How do you know my cousin?" Ms. Wen inquired.

"I co-own an antiques shop with my roommate and our paths cross from time to time," Henry explained. At this point his nose was tickling too much to ignore it any longer and he gave in sneezing several times into his handkerchief. "My apologies. I promise I'm not contagious, it's just allergies," he said with a sniffle when he saw the shocked expression on Ms. Wen's face.

Ms. Wen nodded and smiled. "No need to apologize. Well we'd better get down to business. What's this about a murder investigation?"

"Multiple murders actually," said Jo. "All of the victims had some very specialized tattoos that they got approximately a week before they were killed. We are trying to determine whether or not they received their tattoos at your facility." She pulled out some photos of the tattoos from the file folder and placed them on the desk. Then she pulled out a zoomed in image showing the computer code and placed it on the desk next to the others. "That last image is of one of the tattoos magnified several times."

Ms. Wen studied the photos for a few moments. "Yes we do have the capability of producing these sorts of tattoos with hidden messages in them, although I don't recognize these particular tattoos. You'd have to speak with the artists."

"How is it that you can produce these tattoos with such intricate detail?" asked Henry. "No one could possibly do it by hand. Do you use some sort of robotic equipment?"

"That's correct Dr. Morgan. For those sorts of tattoos the artists operate a robotic arm much like those used in robotics-assisted surgical procedures."

"Have any of your tattoo artists been…" Jo trailed off momentarily distracted by Henry having another sneezing fit, "acting out of the ordinary over the last couple of weeks?"

"No, no one has been acting any differently. However, it has just been brought to my attention that someone has been doing tattoo work after hours off the books. I don't know if it will prove relevant to your case, but you are welcome to review the security feeds with me. I have access to them right here on my computer."

"Yes that would be great," said Jo and got up and moved behind the desk to stand behind Ms. Wen as she brought up the security feeds on her computer. She motioned for Henry to join her.

Henry sighed resignedly knowing that he was going to be even closer to the flowers standing behind the desk and got up and moved to stand next to Jo. He tried to focus on the video, but a sudden sharp tickle in his nose caused him gasp and he just barely had time to turn away from the others as he sneezed explosively into his handkerchief. He blew his nose as discreetly as he could and kept the handkerchief over his nose hoping it would help filter out the smell of the flowers. Luckily he turned back towards the computer screen just as Ms. Wen had fast forwarded to the relevant part. He could see one man manhandling another man who was clearly intoxicated into a chair. The first man removed the second man's shirt, set up the tattooing equipment and then started tattooing what appeared to be Egyptian hieroglyphs on his chest. "That man has clearly been drugged. I'm not sure he's there of his own free will."

"Do you recognize that employee?" Jo asked.

Ms. Wen frowned and nodded. "His name is Derek Coleman. This is a real shock to me. He's one of my best artists."

"We'll definitely want to bring him in for questioning," said Jo. "Is he working today?"

"Yes he is." Ms. Wen called the receptionist and told her to have Derek sent to her office. A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. "Come in." Derek entered the office, took one look at Jo's badge, then turned and fled.

"Why do they always make me chase them?" Jo grumbled and took off after Derek.

"Thank you for your help and give my regards to your cousin," Henry said quickly and started running after Jo. He was having a difficult time catching up to Jo because his congestion made it hard to breathe. They chased Derek though the building and out the back door. Jo was catching up to Derek, but Henry was falling further behind. Jo and Derek turned the corner and disappeared into an alley. By the time he made it into the ally there was no sign of Jo or Derek. He stopped to catch his breath and then made his way slowly down the alley trying to see if Jo was lying hurt somewhere. He stopped again as the need to sneeze came over him. He really had been trying to restrain himself back in Ms. Wen's office, and now it seemed like the dam broke and his nose was tickling like crazy. His breath hitched a few times and then he started sneezing repeatedly into his handkerchief. He lost count of how many times he'd sneezed, but just as he was starting to feel lightheaded something cold and hard collided with the back of his skull. He barely had time to register the pain before everything went black.

Edited December 27, 2015 by Shayla

[AngelEyes]

Oh No! What an ending! I have to admit, I'm so sucked in to your plot the sneezing has totally become secondary. Which is a compliment to your writing!

[Shay]

Thanks, that really means so much to me because a lot of the time I have been more focused on the plot than the sneezing and the sneezing is just kind of there. If I hadn't come up with a good plot this fic probably would not have gone on as long as it has because I just would have gotten bored of writing it. I've just finished writing another chapter and I just have to proofread it and I should have it up later tonight. Hopefully it will help with the withdrawal that will result from there being no new episode this week.

[Shay]

Here's part 14! Share and enjoy!

------

When Henry woke up the first thing he felt was the back of his head throbbing. He did his best to ignore the pain and began to take stock of his state in general. His eyes itched and burned a lot and he instinctively rubbed at them, but that just made it worse. His nose wasn't any better. It was tickling badly and was so blocked up that he could barely get any air in through it. His mouth and throat were parched from breathing through his mouth for an extended period of time. It felt like he was outside lying on some grassy surface. He tentatively opened his eyes and they immediately filled with allergic tears. He wiped them away, but his vision was still somewhat blurry, possibly as a result of his head injury. From what he could see he was in the middle of a field filled with tall grass and ragweed. He wasn't sure how long he had been lying there, but it was late and the sun was starting to set. He groaned knowing that he had been breathing in all that grass and ragweed pollen for hours and that knowledge made him all the more aware of how badly he needed to sneeze. He pinched and rubbed his nose trying to hold it off as long as possible, though he knew it was futile.

He tried to sit up, but a wave of pain and nausea caused him to collapse back onto the ground. He gently probed the back of his head where he had been struck and just that light touch was extremely painful. There was a hard lump where the weapon had hit him and it felt damp with what he guessed was partially dried blood. When he looked at his hand was able to see the blood on it. He wiped his hand off on the grass next to him. He briefly wondered if he had a concussion, but those thoughts were interrupted by his nose demanding his attention. He struggled to sit up again and then started sneezing convulsively, each one causing an explosion of pain in his head and he nearly passed out again from it.

When the fit had passed Henry searched his pockets for his handkerchief but he couldn't find it. His supply of tissues seemed to be missing as well and he was forced to wipe his dripping nose on his sleeve. It dawned on him that it must have been Adam that attacked him and not the suspect that he and Jo had been chasing. Who else would bother to steal his handkerchiefs and tissues? He was finally ready to give in and take some medication. Hell he'd swallow all the pills he had on him at this point. He searched his pockets again and to his relief his pill box was still there, but his face fell when he opened it and saw that it was empty. Adam had certainly been thorough and had clearly wanted him to suffer. He had to get out of this field. He wasn't sure he was capable of standing at this point, but he got up onto his knees so he could get a better look around. The field was large and he couldn't see any buildings or roads, just some trees in the distance. He had no idea where he was or what direction he should go in.

He saw something lying in the grass a few feet away and he crawled over to it. It was a corpse and he guessed it was the one that was supposed to have been at the warehouse. The face and hands were burnt and the torso was covered in tattoos in foreign languages just like the others had been. He had to call Jo. Even if he hadn't found the third body he was lost and hurt and needed help. At least Adam hadn't taken his phone, though it seemed he had turned it off. He probably hadn't wanted anyone to be able to track his GPS signal for awhile. While he was waiting for the phone to boot up he was seized with another fit of sneezing. At least the sneezing didn't hurt his head as much this time, or maybe he was just getting used to the pain. His chest was starting to feel a bit tight though. Asthma attacks were very rare for him, but he could remember that this was how they generally started out. He wasn't really all that surprised though given how long he'd been lying out here breathing in all those allergens. There was no telling how quickly his symptoms would escalate though.

Henry crawled away from the corpse a bit having no desire to sit right next to it in his current state. He looked at his phone and saw there was a notification that he had four voice messages. The first one was from Adam. "Henry you said you wanted me to help more so I brought you to the next body. I hope you enjoy the scenery," he said with a snicker and then the message ended. The next two messages were from Jo. The first one was her wanting to know where he'd disappeared to and updated him that they had Derek Coleman in custody and that he had been so surprised and angry that the third body wasn't in the warehouse where he'd left it that he seemed close to confessing. The second message from her was again wanting to know where he was and there were definitely hints of panic and worry in her voice. The last message was from a frantic sounding Abe also wanting to know where the hell he was.

Henry stood up to see if he could see his surroundings any further, but the field went on as far as he could see, and he soon collapsed again with a wave of dizziness. He started sneezing again as his immune system continued to rebel against all the allergens he was breathing in. After a couple of minutes his body decided to switch gears and he doubled over with a long series of painful coughs. It was gradually getting harder to breathe and he thought he could hear faint wheezing sounds every time he took a breath. He really wanted to blow his nose to see if that would help. In the absence of handkerchiefs and tissues, he realized his only course of action was to use his scarf. He sighed as he removed it from his neck and blew his nose repeatedly into the soft fabric. He could definitely breathe somewhat better through his nose now, but there was still that awful tight heavy feeling in his lungs. He called up Jo on his phone and she answered after the first ring.

"Henry! What happened? Where the hell are you?" Jo shouted. "Abe is worried sick!" And so am I, she left unspoken.

"Was attacked... don't know where I am... use GPS signal..." Henry managed to gasp out between coughs and sneezes.

"You don't sound so good, are you ok?"

"I have a minor head injury and possibly a concussion, but it's starting to get hard to breathe..." he broke off sneezing twice and then coughed several times, "I think asthma might be setting in."

"Shit," Jo cursed now hearing the wheezing in Henry's voice. "Ok hold on, we're going to track your phone and get to you as soon as possible. Do you have any idea where you are? Can you see any landmarks?"

"No, I'm in a large field. All I can see is grass and ragweed and trees in the distance."

Jo grimaced. That place sounded like hay fever central for someone like Henry. "Ok just sit tight and keep breathing. We'll be there soon," she said and hung up.

As Henry was gripped by another bout of sneezing he wondered if it had been a mistake to call Jo. There was a very real possibility that she wouldn't get there in time and he'd just die and turn up back in the river, but what would be even worse is if she got there right as he was dying and witnessed him disappearing. There was nothing he could do about it now though. It wasn't as if he could just call her back and tell her not to come. He tried to do as Jo had said and focused on his breathing and did his best not to panic knowing it would just make the asthma worse. He was scared though, not just of the possibility of Jo arriving only in time to see him die, but of the death itself. Sure he knew he'd be fine eventually, but dying of asphyxiation was never fun regardless of what caused it. He knew he should probably call Abe and let him know that he might be dying soon so he'd be prepared. He dialed Abe's number on his phone. "Abraham it's me," he said when Abe picked up.

"Let me guess, you died again and need me to pick you up?"

"Not quite yet, but I might be dying soon," he paused as a coughing fit overtook him. "Please go down to the river and wait there until I either awaken in the river or I call you again."

"Are you having an asthma attack?" Abe asked hearing the sound of his father's wheezing.

"Yes, I was attacked and dumped in the middle of a ragweed field."

"Did you use your epi-pen?"

Henry could kick himself for not thinking of that. As a doctor he knew perfectly well that an epi-pen would work for asthma as well as anaphylaxis. He supposed he could blame the head injury. He felt around in the pocket he usually kept it in, but it was gone. Adam had taken that too. "No, I don't have it. It was removed from my pockets along with several other items when I was unconscious."

"Ok I'll pack you towels and a change of clothes and drive down to the river," said Abe with a sigh knowing his father was likely in for a painful death.

"Thank you Abe, I love you." Henry choked out before he started coughing again.

Abe paused before answering. He wasn't sure why his father was being so emotional, they'd been through this so many times before, but he figured he should return the sentiment all the same. "I love you too dad," he said before hanging up.

Henry put the phone back in his pocket feeling reassured knowing that Abe would be there waiting for him at the river and he wouldn't have to sneak around naked until he could find a phone to use. He was so tired now and wanted nothing more than to lie down and sleep. He wondered if he really did have a concussion and that was the cause or if it was just fatigue brought on by the excessive coughing and sneezing and not being able to breathe properly. With each passing minute the vice-like pressure in his chest grew gradually worse and every cough and sneeze seemed to rip painfully through his lungs. At some point he started to see dark spots clouding his vision from lack of oxygen and knew it probably wouldn't be too much longer.

He put his phone down on the ground so that Jo would be able to track the signal and be able to find the corpse after he had disappeared and placed his pocket watch on top of it. Then dreading the loss of another set of clothing, he started to get undressed and placed his clothing in a loose pile next to his phone and watch. He stripped down to his underwear and decided it would be best to leave those on just in case Jo and the paramedics actually did show up before he died and he could just blame his near nakedness on delirium. The act of undressing had sapped a lot of his remaining strength and he lay down on the ground and closed his eyes just listening to the awful sound of his own wheezing breath. It was even harder to breathe in this position, but it didn't really make much of a difference. He was going to die and nothing could change that at this point unless the paramedics arrived and treated him within the next few minutes. His lungs slowly started to seize up and he felt the familiar panic rise once he realized that he couldn't breathe in at all anymore. He thought he could hear the faint sound of sirens in the distance and then he lost consciousness.

[AngelEyes]

Oh no. Yes , I realize that's what I said last time. But he's so hopeless. I want to cry for him.

[Shay]

Yeah it was so hard writing that last chapter because I have a history of asthma myself and was drawing on personal experience for a lot of it, except the part with him dying because that's clearly never happened to me, or has it?

Still I felt my own chest get tight and felt a bit breathless in sympathy for him when writing it. Fair warning, there's probably only going to be one more chapter with no sneezing in it just to wrap up the current plot. I'm just really not quite sure what more to do with it at this point, so it's probably time that this story came to an end. I do have ideas for a couple more stories though. They wouldn't really be sequels, but more like side stories to this one. Just sort of one shots without really much plot to them that I didn't really feel fit in anywhere with this story. You could almost think of them as deleted scenes in a sense.

[AngelEyes]

Wherever the muse takes you, I shall follow. LOL. Seriously though.

[Shay]

Here's part 15. As I said, there is no sneezing in this last chapter, but there is some allergy talk and I tried to stick some humor in to make up for it.

------

Jo sped across the field in her car with her siren blaring and an ambulance screaming behind her. She didn't know exactly what the situation was, whether Henry's attacker was still there or not, so Hanson and a few other officers followed as backup. As she approached the spot where Henry's phone GPS signal was coming from she could have sworn she saw him lying on the ground, but when she got there she only saw his clothing, phone, and watch on the ground. She cursed knowing that Henry's attacker had probably moved him, and without his phone GPS signal, it would be very difficult to find him. What made matters worse was that with Henry having an asthma attack they were really pressed for time assuming he wasn't already dead. Jo shook her head refusing to think about that possibility. She gathered up Henry's things and put them in the back seat of her car. When she turned around again to survey the area she spotted the body lying several feet away. As she got closer she saw the burned hands and face and the tattoos and knew it was their missing body and called Hanson over.

Since Henry wasn't here Hanson instructed the paramedics to load the body into the ambulance and transport it back to the morgue. "It'll be ok Jo. We're going to find him," he said seeing the hard worried expression on Jo's face.

Jo nodded but didn't say anything at first. The wheels in her head were turning. If all of Henry's things were here, then that probably meant he was naked and she thought back to the last time she'd seen him naked. She knew it was irrational, but her gut was telling her that he was down at the river again. "I think I might know where he is."

"What are you talking about?" said Hanson with a puzzled expression.

"I've just got a hunch," Jo answered not wanting to say anything more.

"Do you need backup?"

"Not if he's where I think he is, but I'll call you if I need you." Hanson nodded at her and she got in her car and drove off towards the river as fast as she dared. When she got there she was just in time to see Henry finish getting dressed next to Abe's car and then he got in and they drove away. She drove after them and followed them back to the antiques shop. She parked across the street and watched as Henry and Abe got out of the car and entered the building. She didn't get out right away. She needed a few minutes to think before she confronted Henry. Her instincts had been right, he had been down by the river again naked, but she had no idea what it meant. She was beginning to suspect that what he had told her the first time she'd found him there wasn't the whole truth if not an outright lie.

When Henry and Abe entered the antiques shop Henry noticed something that shouldn't have been there, a box sitting on the chess table. He walked over to the table and saw there was a note on top of the box. He opened the note and read it.

Dear Henry,

Please accept my apologies. I didn't realize you would have such a severe reaction. It was not my intent for things to go that far. I hope there are no hard feelings.

Sincerely,

Adam

Henry opened the box and inside was everything that Adam had stolen from him, his handkerchiefs, tissues, pills, and epi-pen. He read the note again and frowned. At first glance it seemed as if Adam was genuinely remorseful, but Henry wasn't inclined to believe him. If it had never occurred to Adam that he might have a life threatening reaction, then why would he bother to take the epi-pen? Even if Adam was being truthful, he had still attacked him and knowingly put him in a situation that set off his allergies and he wasn't inclined to forgive him.

"What is it?" Abe asked interrupting Henry's thoughts.

"It's from Adam. He's the one that attacked me," he handed the note to Abe to read. "In the box is everything he took from me while I was unconscious."

"What a bunch of BS," Abe muttered after reading the note.

"Yes, though at the moment I'm more concerned with the fact that he broke in here. We should really get a better lock and perhaps install a security system."

"No arguments here," Abe agreed. "I'd better lock up again for the night for all the good it will do." Just as he started for the door Jo burst into the shop.

Jo rushed right past Abe and headed for Henry. She stared at him for a second with so many different conflicting emotions, but relief won out first and she threw her arms around him and hugged him tightly.

Henry stiffened startled at first, but then put his arms around her and hugged her back. "What are you doing here Jo?"

"I could ask you the same thing. I was really worried about you." Now that she had touched him and reassured herself that he was really ok, feelings of anger replaced those of relief. She pulled out of the embrace and gave him a sharp slap across the face.

Henry staggered back a couple of steps and rubbed his cheek where she had hit him. "What was that for?"

"Err I'll just give you two some privacy," said Abe awkwardly and practically ran up the stairs to the apartment.

"One you scared me and two you lied to me," Jo answered angrily.

"I'm sorry I scared you Jo, but you'll have to elaborate on the second charge. I promise that what happened tonight was not a prank," Henry said holding up his hands in a placating manner.

"I'm not accusing you of playing a prank Henry, but there are still some things you need to explain," said Jo her expression still hard. "You call me up after having been attacked and sound like you're dying from an asthma attack. I track your phone signal and get out there with an ambulance as fast as I can, but when I get there you're gone and all that's left is a pile of your clothes, watch, and phone. Oh and yeah there's the missing body close by which you failed to mention on the phone."

"Look it's been a long day," said Henry cutting Jo off. "Could we possibly discuss this sitting down?"

Jo nodded and they sat down on one of the antique couches. "I drove down to the river and saw you getting dressed next to Abe's car."

Henry cringed. "You saw that?" Jo nodded her mouth set in a fine line. "Alright, I don't know if I'll be able to give you answers to all of your questions, but I will do my best. Firstly, I didn't mention the body because I had other things on my mind. I was dying, or I thought I was at any rate," he quickly corrected himself. "I knew you'd find the body soon enough. The asthma escalated quite a bit after I got off the phone with you. I passed out from lack of oxygen. The next thing I knew I was in the river naked." This was mostly the truth, he just left out the part about him actually dying.

"And your allergies/asthma just happened to clear up just like that?" Jo asked skeptically.

"Yes I'm feeling much better thank you," he replied with a slight smile. "I will admit it is strange. If you hadn't shown up I'd be in the middle of performing another allergy test, after calling to let you know I was alright of course."

Jo narrowed her eyes at him. The whole thing didn't make one bit of sense. She understood that his allergies were weird, but even if they had just spontaneously disappeared in the middle of his attack, she'd think it would take awhile for the inflammation in his airways to die down. She still had questions she wanted answered about the whole river thing, but thought that maybe it would be best if he got the allergy test out of the way. "Well if you want to go do that, we can finish this conversation afterward."

Henry shook his head. "It can wait."

"Fine then, I want some straight answers about what this thing is about you being naked in the river."

"I'm sorry Jo, but I'm not sure I can give you any straight answers on that subject," he answered with a sigh. "What made you think to look for me there?"

"Well all of your stuff was left in the field which meant that you were naked when you were moved and I just thought about when I found you naked by the river and then I just had a strong hunch that I'd find you there again," Jo explained. "I'm guessing it's the same reason that Abe knew to find you there, because it's happened before. I don't think you were honest with me about why you were there last time. I don't believe it had anything to do with nostalgia. How many times has this happened Henry?" He didn't say anything and looked down as if he was intently studying his own hands. "Look do you have some weird stalker that likes to attack you, steal your clothes, and then dump you in the river?"

Henry's mouth dropped open and his eyes widened in surprise that she had partially guessed the truth. Yes he definitely considered Adam to be a stalker, but Adam had only been responsible for two of his deaths and he'd had nothing to do with the death in which Jo had found him by the river the first time. He wasn't quite sure how to respond and maybe it would be best to just let her think that it was the fault of a stalker every time he ended up in the river.

Seeing the look on Henry's face confirmed her suspicions. "I'm right aren't I? Why haven't you gotten the police involved?"

"I honestly don't know what good it would do," Henry answered shaking his head. "I've never seen his face. How can the police help if I can't identify my attacker?"

"Well since I was able to recover your belongings I can check for fingerprints or trace DNA," Jo pointed out.

"Be my guest," said Henry knowing she wouldn't find anything. "Though I sense my attacker is too smart to have left any trace evidence. Are you still angry with me?"

Jo shook her head. "No I'm not angry Henry, just a little hurt that you didn't feel you could trust me enough to come to me about this. We're partners and we need to be able to trust each other."

"I do trust you Jo. I trust you with my life, but that doesn't mean that I need to tell you everything going on in my life. I'm sure there are lots of things I don't know about you, and I don't ask because I respect your privacy."

"I don't expect you to tell me every little detail, but Henry this is something big that ended up affecting the case we're working on. Your stalker stole a corpse from the murderer and moved it causing a delay in our investigation."

"I'm sorry, I never thought he would do something like that."

"There's something else I need to ask you," said Jo biting her lip. "I really wish I didn't have to ask you this because it's something that's going to make us both very uncomfortable."

"What is it?" Henry asked raising an eyebrow.

"Well because your stalker's been perverted enough to take off your clothes, I have to ask, has he ever molested you, or you know anything worse than that?" said Jo her face flushing as she asked the question.

"What?!" he exclaimed shocked that she would even ask that. "Good Lord no! Nothing like that has ever happened." It wasn't that the thought of being with a man disgusted him. Although he preferred women, there were certainly men he'd been affectionate with in his long life, but the thought of being intimate with such a vile man as Adam utterly repulsed him. He hoped to god that Adam wasn't somehow listening to this conversation because it was beyond embarrassing.

"Ok, but promise you'll tell me if anything like that ever does happen?"

"Yes Jo I promise. Though personally I think he just likes my clothes." Henry hoped this feeble excuse would divert her train of thought.

Jo raised an eyebrow at that, but her phone started ringing before she could respond. She saw from the display that it was Hanson and answered it. He updated her letting her know that the tattoos on the third body had been photographed and that tech was putting a rush on processing the code, but it could take awhile as it was heavily encrypted. He then asked if she'd found Henry. "Yeah I'm with him now and he's fine. Abe got lucky and found him and brought him home." Hanson told her to tell Henry that he was glad he was ok. "I'll let him know. Call me if there are any new developments," she said and hung up. "That was Hanson updating me on the case."

"Thank you for being discreet," Henry said gratefully.

"He said he was glad you're ok. I think he was worried about you too," she said with a slight smirk.

Henry raised an eyebrow in surprise as he wasn't particularly close with Detective Hanson. "What has been happening with the case in my absence?"

"Well I don't know if you heard my message before calling me," said Jo, "but we have Coleman in custody. He was very surprised that the third body wasn't in the warehouse and was so angry that someone had messed with his plans that he confessed to all three murders and the Empire State Building bombing. He also said that there was another much larger bomb set to go off in three days, but wouldn't tell us where and that we'd need to find the third body if we wanted to stop it. Hanson said that tech is currently processing the code on the third body as fast as they can but it's heavily encrypted and will take awhile. I'm sure whatever weird language the code is in you'll be able to read it. I swear you could have become a linguist instead of an ME if you'd wanted to."

"Yes it's true that I do speak a lot of languages, but I find it strange that the codes just happen to be in languages I know. I'm certainly not fluent in all the languages of the world. I never learned Navajo for example."

Jo laughed. "When would you ever need Navajo?"

"One could make the same argument about Aramaic, and yet my knowledge of that language proved useful. Navajo was used back in World War II to transmit coded messages since it is considered to be one of the hardest languages in the world to learn."

Jo shook her head and smiled. He was always ready with interesting facts and spoke as if he knew from experience. It was intriguing and unsettling at the same time. "Well I should go and let you get that testing over with," she said and stood up. "I'm really glad you're ok Henry. When I got to that field and you weren't there, for a moment I was almost sure you were dead."

Henry smiled. He had been dead, he just hadn't stayed that way. "Yes, well as you can see I'm alive and well."

"I guess I'll see you tomorrow. Hopefully the code will be fully processed by then." She gave his shoulder a quick squeeze and left.

------

Henry seemed awfully happy when he entered the squad room the next morning. He was grinning ear to ear as he practically ran towards Jo's desk. He had an almost manic gleam in his eyes and she hadn't seen him look this excited since he'd dug up that cell phone from under the rubber playground surface. He'd looked like a dog frantically digging up a bone that it had buried. "Hey Henry, you seem cheerful this morning. What's going on?"

"Can't you guess Jo? Flex those deductive skills."

Jo raised an eyebrow and studied him. He definitely seemed in high spirits about something. She thought that if he grinned any harder he would sprain his face. She stared at him for a couple more minutes before it hit her. The weather report had said that the pollen count was extremely high today yet he seemed perfectly fine. He wasn't sneezing, his eyes weren't red and watery, and there wasn't even a hint of congestion in his voice. He was also bright and alert instead of being run down and exhausted. "Did you finally find some non-sedating medication that actually works well for you?"

Henry shook his head. "Even better. My allergies have vanished again!"

"Wow, that's great. All of them?" she asked. He'd never divulged to her a full list of everything that he had been allergic to over the past few weeks, but it was definitely a long list just based on her own observations.

"Yes for the most part. There are still a few minor things that I'm testing positive to, but all the pollen allergies are gone and I feel fantastic!" he answered feeling like he might burst with joy. He also felt smug knowing it would be much harder now for Adam to torture him. He briefly mused over how the first time Adam had killed him it had been done as a favor, and it looked like this time Adam had done him a favor as well even if it hadn't been intentional.

"I'm really happy for you Henry," Jo replied sincerely. She'd really hated seeing him suffer all this time. "I hope the remission will last a long time."

"Yes so do I," he answered in a more serious tone. He knew there was a chance of the hay fever coming back the next time he died, but he was determined to enjoy his freedom from it for as long as he could.

"Well the computer code finished processing about an hour before I got in. Tech emailed it to me and I was just about to open it." Henry moved around to the other side of her desk and she opened the email.

"Well that's an odd language choice," Henry remarked after reading a few lines. "I wonder what made Coleman decide to go with Yiddish."

"You speak Yiddish?" Jo had actually been less surprised that he had known Aramaic.

Henry nodded. He'd needed to learn it back during World War II with all of the Jewish concentration camp victims he'd had to treat, but he couldn't very well tell Jo that and he quickly thought of an excuse that he was sure she'd buy. "Well it's a helpful language to know in the antiques business. You get a surprising amount of Jewish antique dealers in this city."

"Like the Berkowitz brothers?"

"Yes them," Henry said with a slight chuckle. "Even Abe really. He was adopted so he wasn't raised Jewish, but he was found as a baby in one of the concentration camps." Henry finished reading the text. "The next bombing is set to take place two days from now at 11am at the United Nations. I hope this will give the bomb squad enough time to find the bomb and disarm it."

"Yes I hope so too, but Homeland Security will be handling this and they have more resources than the NYPD so I'm sure they'll get the job done in time," said Jo trying to reassure them both. "Well I'd better go update the Lieutenant."

"Alright, I'll be down at the morgue if you need me." When Henry arrived at his office he found a short note on his desk and he groaned out loud when he read it.

For the record Henry, you do own some very nice clothes.

All my love,

Adam

------

Thanks to everyone who commented on this story. I had a lot of fun writing it and I'm a bit sad that it's over, but I'm also very proud of myself because this is the longest story I've ever written. As I mentioned I do have a couple of one shots planned that are connected to this story but not exactly sequels. I will likely post them in this thread to make them easier to find.

Note: I decided to go with Yiddish for the last code just because, like Welsh, Yiddish is a language that Ioan Gruffudd actually speaks(he learned it for another role).

[AngelEyes]

For the record Henry, you do own some very nice clothes.

All my love,

Adam

LOL!

I love it! This was a fantastic story! I look forward to anything else you may have in mind!

[Shay]

Thanks I'm really glad you enjoyed it. I just figured if Adam had somehow overheard Henry's cover story conversation with Jo that he would be a real smartass and tease Henry about it.

I've also got a couple of non-fetish Forever stories posted on AO3.org called Redundant Ailments and What Was Lost Has Now Returned. They aren't really funny like this one, but the first one is more Henry torture sort of thing but in a non-fetish way, and then the second one is just really angsty. I had also gotten up the guts to post this story on this site as well, and while I didn't really get many comments, I find it hilarious that this story got more kudos on this site than the non-fetish stories. I know it's probably mostly to do with the fact that this story is so much longer than the others, but still...