This just popped into my head and I played around with the wording for a few weeks. Just a one-shot a little while after the season finale. Jo still doesn't know Henry's secret since he'd never really explained that black-and-white photo to her. But they've decided to go to the company picnic, might as well go together, save gas, right? Or are they just kidding themselves and this is really a date?
I do not own Forever TV show or any of its characters. But I don't have to own it; just bring it back!
vvvv
It wasn't their first date. Not officially. Not really. The dapper ME would definitely have chosen a much more romantic setting for him and the lovely detective. But it was their first time showing up together for a function with their co-workers. So, to those in attendance, it appeared to be a date. Having accidentally learned only a few weeks ago of the betting pool going on in both the precinct and the morgue, they both wryly wondered who would be collecting any money tonight.
But it was a beautiful night in mid-June 2015, and Henry had accepted Jo's offer for them to share a ride to the 11th Precinct's annual outdoor party. Since they were both attending and Henry didn't drive, sharing a ride made sense. Right? Yeah.
The sounds of music and laughter drifted across the park's grassy slopes toward them, growing louder the closer they got to the gathering. It was strange to see the large number of usually uniformed officers in street clothes (some, more scantily-clad than others) making merry while drinking the covertly-spiked NYPD-provided punch. A virtual sea of cynical eyes and smirks turned toward the couple as they drew nearer, settling mainly on Henry, causing him to purse his lips and slow his gait. One of the men even puffed his cheeks out and mimicked the motions of a swimmer's butterfly stroke. The same one commonly executed by Henry to reach shore after one of his watery reawakenings.
"C'mon, Henry," Jo urged him, tugging him forward by his elbow and causing him to feel a pleasant, tingly warmth generated by her touch despite the unwelcome sight ahead of them. "You'll be fine."
"This was a mistake," Henry managed to say while battling the need to extricate himself from her touch in order to avoid an embarrassing reaction, and the need to bask in it. For propriety's sake, he gently pulled away from her hand and pushed his own into his jean pockets. Jeans, of all things. Abe's fashion choice/insistence. It was bad enough that he'd resisted attending because of not wanting to run into any of the unis who'd arrested him for public nudity and later taunted him for it outside Lt. Reece's office before Christmas last year. But on top of that, he had to worry that they'd see his blush brought on by Jo's innocent little touch?
"Just look at them," he said, shaking his head. "Happy little sharks waiting to bite into their favorite prey again. Me."
"Let's just hope they don't gift you with more swimwear," Jo replied. "Although I wouldn't mind seeing you in that red deal Hanson gave you last year." She side-eyed him with a wide smile and tugged at his arm again causing the pleasant, tingly warmth to return to his arm.
Okay, this ... wasn't a date. Right? Whatever it was, he was intrigued by her jesting admission and it allowed a smile to unpurse his lips as he shook his head slightly from side to side. It was a wonder that he could look back on that day and find any humor in it at all. He had died the night before, mind you (thanks to Adam's need to include him in one of his murderous games), gotten arrested immediately after for public nudity, and spent an uncomfortable night in jail. On top of that, the next morning, he'd endured Lt. Reece's even more uncomfortable grilling session in her office before they'd teased him in the bullpen after.
Reminding himself that neither they nor Jo knew the real reason behind that particular arrest, he finally gave in and picked his pace back up. While she assured him that he'd be fine, that any teasing was always in good fun and part of his initiation and acceptance into the fold, he grew surer of the opposite the closer they came to the merry group.
"Heyyy, look who's here!" one male attendee announced, raising his cup of questionable punch in the direction of the approaching couple. Henry recognized the man as also having been the first to greet him with "Great booking photo!" as he'd emerged sheepishly from Lt. Reece's office that day.
'Officer Sofias,' Henry said to himself. Yes, wasn't it a great booking photo? Naked as a jaybird, dripping wet, traumatized to hell after having drowned while trapped inside a locked taxicab that had plunged into the treacherous strait. A great booking photo, indeed.
Henry swallowed his annoyance and shifted his eyes away from Officer Sofias to see Officer Yolanda Drew grinning and nodding at him. Her taunting words that day as she'd held out a small piece of paper to him - "Kinda chilly tonight. Here's my number" - returned to him. At the time, he'd fought against snatching it from her, balling it up in his fist, and throwing it in the nearest wastebasket. But the gentleman in him had restrained him from doing so. After all, she had had no way of knowing that the only person in the world he would have phoned for a pickup from the river was his son, Abe. Not even Jo. Not even now. Even though she was doing her best to run interference for him by waving the others off ...
"Enough, already. Leave him alone. Don't forget, I am packin'."
... while clearing a path for the both of them to reach familiar, friendly faces just a few feet away.
"Okay, you guys, knock it off," Det. Mike Hanson ordered them as he put a protective hand on Henry's shoulder and with a pat on the back, guided him and Jo over to the table where he was sitting with his wife, Karen, Joanna Reece, and Lucas. They filled two empty spots on the bench seat next to Lucas, across from Mike and the other two women.
"Don't let those bozos get to ya, Doc. They've had a little too much to drink, wonder of wonders," Mike laughingly advised him, although acutely aware of his boss seated nearby.
"Their puny slings and arrows will have a hard time, I can assure you, piercing through this thick skin," Henry replied smilingly, pointing to himself and trying to appear unmoved by their taunts. "I've been called worse."
A male patrolman who'd snapped his own personal cell phone photo - one of many who had - of Henry accepting the speedo and goggles from Mike back then, was suddenly near Henry, tapping him on the shoulder. Once he'd gotten the ME's attention, he pointed out toward the moonlit waters of the East River.
"Got a nice view of your favorite recreation spot," he said with a wink, prompting laughter from a few attendees nearby.
'Officer Matt Holder,' Henry said to himself. This particular patrolman had usually handled him a little rougher than any of the others if he'd fallen into their hands before Abe could get to him. Eternal may have been an appropriate descriptor for Henry's lifespan but not for his waning patience. Thick skin notwithstanding, their jokes were wearing thin and his smile was becoming more forced. Jo's good humor quota had been filled, as well, and she stared unblinkingly at Holder, anger darkening her lovely, brown eyes, which did not go unnoticed by Henry.
"Tonight we're just all trying to relax," Henry told him. "Have a good time. I and, I'm sure, everyone else, would appreciate it if you and your friends would simply allow us to do just that."
Holder paused as if considering something while measuring Henry with an up-and-down sweep of his eyes. Sofias and Drew stepped up beside him before he could say anything, though. They offered their apologies to Henry for going too far with the teasing, assuring him that Holder felt the same way.
"Sure," Holder finally replied. "No hard feelings?" He held out his hand to Henry, who hesitatingly grasped it but firmly shook it.
vvvv
"Wow, um ... quite an evening," Jo remarked as she drove Henry back to the shop. "Things kind of settled down after Officer Jerkwad left so that was good," she offered, glancing at her unresponsive companion. Trying another avenue to loosen his tongue, she told him again how much she admired how coolly he'd behaved during their teasing.
"Seriously, though, Henry," she began, acknowledging the reason behind their teasing. "Since your therapist, Dr. Farber, is still hospitalized, maybe you should try to find another one to help you get to the root cause of your sleepwalking. But remember ... I'm still here and you can tell me anything," she reminded him, squeezing his hand. "We ... the NYPD ... we need you. You've helped solve so many puzzling cases for us that could have gone unsolved or been attributed to something else."
'Just the NYPD?' he asked himself. Her actions at times seemed to indicate that her feelings for him had deepened beyond friendship. His feelings for her certainly had. Did he chance finally making that clear to her? Or were they to continue to tiptoe around the subject in an effort to keep their feelings hidden from each other? Because she was still unaware of his secret of immortality, he laughingly admitted to himself that his son, Abe, was right.
"It's time, Dad. At least let her know how you feel about her tonight."
He looked at the darkened shop's interior recalling the frustration on his son's face as he'd pointed his index finger at him. Then, clearing his throat with his gaze fixed on the glove compartment in front of him, he said, "Jo, you once asked me what you were to me." Jo nodded, remembering that time when he'd frustrated her almost to tears during the case involving the pugio, the Roman dagger.
"And I responded that you were someone I cared deeply about," he continued, relaxing a bit and shifting his body to look at her.
She smiled and nodded again. "And I told you how much you had frustrated and confused me - which you still do," she added, causing broad smiles to break out on both of their faces.
"I deeply apologize for that," he told her, tilting his head slightly toward her with a smile. "But what I failed to make clear was ... " He paused, licking his lips. " ... how very special you are to me." He turned more in his seat to look her directly in the eyes. "Very special."
Jo's heart was beating faster now. She stared expectantly at him, not sure where this conversation was headed. But if it was anywhere in the realm of when she had wanted to get lost in Paris with him last year ...
"What I'm trying to say and doing a very poor job of it," he admitted, laughing softly, "is that ... whenever I'm with you, there's no place else I'd rather be. I'd rather argue with you than have great times with someone else. You've become my world, Jo. And ... I'd like for us to be closer and ... " He paused, catching his breath.
When had it become so hard for him to express his feelings for a woman? With Mollie, it had been too easy. She had opened all the doors for him and he'd gladly entered. With Abigail, it had been so natural because they had both fallen into each other's arms without much of a fight. With Nora, it had been comfortable, predictable, an appropriate and expected coupling at the time governed by the strait-laced rules of the Victorian era.
"Henry, are you asking me to be your girlfriend?" Jo asked, wide-eyed.
"Yes," he replied, hiding a bashful grin. "I suppose - I am."
"You're sweating!" she astonishingly observed.
"Bullets!" he loudly concurred, laughing heartily. Where was the usually cool, calm, and collected Henry Morgan? He was doing this with all the panache of a tongue-tied, 12-year-old schoolboy! With his eyes shut and berating himself, he felt her warm touch on his right cheek and her even warmer lips on his left. He opened his eyes to find their foreheads gently pressed together. "Is that a yes, I hope?" he hoarsely whispered.
"No," Jo replied. "That was because you look so sweet and cute when you're nervous." She turned his face toward her more so that their lips were nearly touching. "This is a yes," she whispered, meeting his lips in a tender kiss.
So maybe this was their first date.
vvvv
Notes:
References to S01/E11 "Skinny Dipper"br /
References to S01/E22 "The Last Death of Henry Morgan"
Some of the actors who portrayed the bunch in the precinct who surrounded Henry and teased him after he'd left Reece's office were not credited. At least, I couldn't find their names in the episode. So I gave them names. Hope you don't mind.