Disclaimer: The concept, canon, and canon characters belong to Forever creator Matt Miller and Warner Bros. Studios. All other characters, the plot for the story, and Henry's flashbacks are my own creation. I have posted my story here, and I don't profit from it. (Translation: I don't own Forever, but if I did, we would be talking Season 5 developments now.)

Author's Note: Hi! I originally had wanted to wait until I had written the full story for Heart's Journey, but I decided to go ahead and post it now. I really want to it with you, and I thought that it is time to do it. The first nine chapters are either completed or mostly completed, leaving the rest of the story as a work in progress.

For those of you who have "accused" me of being "evil" during "Remember You Must Die and Live" (this one's sequel), this will have quite a few Jenry moments.

I hope that you will enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 1

Have I read the schedule correctly?

Henry slightly shook his head as his gaze at the piece of paper on the bulletin board grew fuzzy. Surely, the receptionist in charge of determining the medical examiners' shifts must have placed his and Lucas' names in the box. He almost always had Sundays as his day of rest, but his other day off had frequently been during a week day. This could not be possible.

Yet, it was. On the document, the receptionist had omitted his and Lucas' names for both Saturday and Sunday.

His heart began to drum a rather maniac rhythm reminiscent of many modern bands, and his skin warmed under his coat. Although he was at work, his duties had long been forgotten. All that mattered now was his time off.

His lips tugged across his face and then up toward the sky. About time.

He sucked in his breath in an effort to calm himself. It had been a very long month, filled with autopsies which Dr. Washington should have conducted properly, paperwork, depositions, and testimonies in court. When he had visited Jo's desk with a cup of coffee, he had frequently been disappointed to learn that she was either at trial herself or had the day off, forcing him to leave a note describing his longing to see her again. On his days off, he strained to hear the phone's ring, and, every time that he or Abe would answer it, his heart had sunk when he had heard the voice of a potential customer or of Abe's assistant Sam.

Henry rubbed his tongue in his mouth. Today, he had learned from another detective upstairs that Jo had a spare weekend also. Perhaps he could take her for a day out on the town. He was eager to show her Abe's pet project from the past few months, and the Gloria Carlyle gallery in the National Museum was hosting a new art exhibition. According to the weather forecasts, the spring weekend weather was to be ideal for a very long walk or a picnic in Central Park. Abe and Fawn had discovered a film festival featuring movies from the youngsters' youth, and it was scheduled to run through next weekend. They could spend another day on the One World Trade Center Tower's observation deck and eat at one of the restaurants there. If Jo would rather rest, he could head to her townhouse in Washington Heights one day and treat her to a home-cooked meal and some hopefully delightful conversation.

"Morgan, move it! You're hogging the schedule!"

Henry snapped his head around and stared at Dr. Kirk Roberts. His cheeks warmed as he noticed his colleagues standing behind him. His eyes traveled to Lucas. He wove his way around his colleagues and joined the young man standing behind Drs. Washington and Vaughn.

He smiled to let his assistant know the good news. "You and I have the weekend off."

Lucas pumped his fist into the air. "Yes!"

His gaze met Henry's. "So, what do you want to do this weekend? Try to catch up on some reading? Autopsy rats? Go to Katz's with Abe? Double date with Tori and me?"

Only two of those options sounded excellent should Jo deny his request to allow him to distract her from her thoughts about work. "I was thinking about spending some time with Jo—alone."

"If you ask me," Dr. Washington's gruff voice interrupted the private conversation. "Your and Detective Martinez's relationship is entirely unprofessional. Perhaps it is why you prefer to play detective over improving your efficiency by focusing on your work."

"Wash, knock it off." Dr. Lebron stepped between the two rivals. "Morgan's not the one coming off a five-week suspension because he wasn't thorough enough."

Dr. Washington huffed, nudged Dr. Vaughn, and walked off.

Lucas twisted toward the two departing men. "That reminds me." He locked step after them. "Dr. Washington, you owe me some money!"

Henry's ears perked up. What was this about a bet?

He started after Lucas, whose long legs began to create an enormous gulf between the two official partners. The only set of bets that he could think of were the ones placed long before he had begun to interact with his colleagues. Ones which depended on the success or failure of his romantic relationships, and, specifically, his relationship with Jo. Was it possible that Lucas had wagered a substantial amount of money on the two people whom he had considered to be his friends?

A hand enclosed around his shoulder, forcing Henry to stop in his tracks. He spun around to see who had the audacity to intercept him. He instantly relaxed the moment that he caught sight of the tall, dark-haired, brown-eyed man standing just behind him.

"Haven't you made a bet before?" Dr. Jeff Newell grinned as he steered Henry toward the hallway and dropped his hand to his side.

Henry lowered his gaze. "I have." There were countless hands of whist with friends during his first year at Oxford. The lone time that he had gambled at Monte Carlo. Three months ago, when he had lost one to Jo and had to reluctantly eat a gyro for the first time in decades. "But never on people's personal lives."

He sighed. He had to allow the money to trade hands, whether he wanted to or not. Too much time had passed for him to say anything about it. Besides, a significant amount of cash had likely been won and lost the moment everyone had learned of his and Jo's new relationship.

The other medical examiners' chatter began to fade in the distance. Jeff slowed to a stop and turned around. Henry followed the other doctor's gaze. On the other side of the threshold, Tori and Dr. Cynthia Hawthorne, the newest medical examiner to join their ranks, conversed with each other, giggling and looking toward the two men. At one point, Cynthia stole a glance at them. Wondering who she could be looking at, Henry traced the path of her gaze and recognized that it was directed at Jeff.

Jeff's eyes glazed over, and his skin flushed. Henry stifled a soft chuckle. It appeared that another love affair was beginning to blossom in death's hostile soil.

"Jeff?"

The other man startled, blinked, and pivoted toward him. "Huh? What?"

Tori's voice drifted over them as they turned to leave, and she called Lucas' name. The two medical examiners looked at each other. Perhaps it was best if they left.

As Henry turned to leave, Jeff grinned. "I still can't get over the fact that we are work in-laws."

"Work in-laws?"

Henry slowly repeated, hoping to make some sense of the phrase. In his personal experience, a close working relationship had always rapidly produce an intimacy that transcended daily living. His courtship of Ann was a clandestine affair, leading everyone at Mercy General Hospital to wonder why he had become extremely distraught by her death at Nora's hands. He and Abigail had fallen in love at first sight while performing their jobs, and his affection for her had led him to actively seek out opportunities to be assigned to her as her attending physician, even after their wedding. And during his first year of working with Jo, he had become so captivated by her that he had found himself imagining them wandering the streets of Paris together. This, however, was new.

"I don't see how one can define work relationships in terms of matrimony and familiar relationships."

Jeff stared at him. "Yeah. Lucas and Tori are work spouses." At Henry's confusion, he continued. "Seriously, where do you live? In a cemetery?"

Henry chuckled. "No." His eyes met his companion's. "In case you haven't noticed, I'm not much of a fan of pop culture."

Jeff smiled. "I have. If I didn't know any better, I would say that you are a time traveler from the 1800s who is stuck in our century."

Henry slipped his hands into his pockets and studied his friend's face. Was there a chance that he could reveal the truth—that he was really born in 1779 and had lived over 238 years—to Jeff?

"To catch you up on pop culture," Jeff's voice silenced Henry's thoughts. "A work spouse is someone who is a very close friend at work. If two single people are work spouses, it could lead to marriage."

Oh. "I see."

Henry shook his head in amazement as they neared his autopsy room. Work spouses. Selfies for self-portraits. What would they think of next?

They entered the empty room, and Jeff's walk slowed as they passed the same table where his cousin's body had once lain. Henry swallowed at the circumstances that had brought the four of them together. Losses, especially those that could be explained by someone with psychiatric issues or homicidal intent, were never easy to deal with.

"I know that you had done everything that you could to save Brent's life." Jeff sighed. "It's still unsettling to think that the both of you were kidnapped and targeted for death."

Henry bowed his head as he stopped just outside of his office. As gut-wrenching as it was to make the decision to tell Jeff about those two days of captivity and the subsequent aftermath without revealing the full truth, it was liberating to know that Jeff had learned what his cousin's final hours were like. "It is to me as well."

"Do you believe that there is more to life than this?" Jeff nodded toward the autopsy room while easing past his colleague.

"I'm not necessarily a believer, but sometimes I do entertain the idea of an afterlife." They settled down in the chairs. Henry studied the small picture frame on his desk. The thought of his friends' and loved ones' souls continuing elsewhere and waiting for him to join them—if that possibility existed—were, until recently, equal parts comfort and torture. Now, it primarily provided a sense of hope that he might be able to see them again if his life were to come to an end as miraculously as it had been extended.

He swallowed his emotions and turned back to Jeff. "How about yourself?"

Jeff pulled his lips together and then offered a small smile. "I can't imagine our lives ending when we die. Or, at least I hope they don't. It would be great if Brent and I could be reunited after my own death. There is so much that I want to tell him."

He grew silent for a moment and then chuckled. "I even believe that it is possible that someone can come back to life…maybe even repeatedly."

Henry raised his eyebrows. What tradition was Jeff raised with? "What do you mean?"

"You know the stories about zombies and vampires?"

Henry braced himself. He had heard those theories when he had confirmed Lucas' guess that he was immortal. Please don't let Jeff be another one. "Go on."

Jeff leaned back in his chair and crossed his legs. "As much as they make the coolest ideas for TV shows and movies, they have to come from somewhere. Maybe someone saw another person return to life, and the story grew when people couldn't come up with an explanation for what they have seen."

Henry folded his hands on the desk. It was quite a plausible idea. Someone could have seen one of Adam's, or even possibly another immortal's, death and had inadvertently sparked the legends.

He looked back at Jeff and rolled his tongue in his mouth. One day, he should say something about his own immortality. With what Jeff had revealed, it was possible that the man would believe him immediately.

Lucas and Tori's voices filtered into the room. A moment later, they appeared in the threshold, engrossed in their conversation to the point of being almost oblivious to their surroundings.

As they strolled past the area, Henry's eyes trailed them. To be honest, he was slightly jealous of the couple. Unlike Jo and himself, Lucas and Tori had the benefit of working in the same place of employment, leading to increased chances to see each other on a regular basis. As a result, they had been able to further their relationship. In contrast, he and Jo hadn't progressed much further than where they were last month.

"Thinking about Detective Martinez?"

Henry's head started to float at Jeff's question. He grasped the desk and hoped that the other man would not notice.

Jeff shifted his weight and leaned forward, almost as though he were ready to assist him if necessary. Henry sucked in some desperately needed air and weighed his options. He certainly didn't want him and Jo to be the subject of any more office gossip. Yet, the thought of being away from her for this long was too distressing.

He released the desk and waved a hand in the air. "I'm okay." He briefly glanced down at his desk before looking at the man. "And to answer your question, yes."

Jeff grinned and leaned back slightly. "I've been meaning to ask, but how long have you two known each other?"

Henry returned the smile. "We've known each other since 2014, but we have become a couple only recently."

"How did you meet?"

Henry's gaze drifted to the table where he had started his work on the engineer of the ill-fated train that had carried him and 14 more victims. "The previous lieutenant upstairs had sent her to challenge my findings in the Lincoln Center Station crash. The moment that I first saw her…."

Once again, he could hear her "How so?", see her flash her badge, and hear her introduce herself. He could not take his eyes off her. The only times where he had felt the need to look elsewhere were when his scalpel began to grow heavy in his hands and reminded him of his task.

He softly chuckled. "I don't know how, but I swear that Jo's materialization had prompted me to uncharacteristically cut into the engineer's body a second time."

Jeff nodded. "I don't think I've noticed her then. We had so many bodies to tend to." He sighed. "It's a good thing that the police's suspect killed himself. I don't want to think about what would have happened if he had carried out his plan."

It was Henry's turn to nod. He had replayed the possibilities of what would have happened if they had never learned Hans Koehler's plans in time on multiple occasions himself. Surely, Koehler's release of aconite would have killed him and many passengers within Grand Central Station, and he and Abe would have left New York the moment that his colleagues would have discovered his condition. Fortunately, he had been granted the mercy to continue his life in the city for four years now.

"So, I take it that you and Detective Martinez know each other quite well?"

The question jarred Henry out of his memory, and he glanced down at his desk to regain control over himself…and for the question to register in his mind. "I believe so." They had spent quite a bit of time together over the past few years, and, once his secret was revealed to her, it was natural for them to share intimate details about themselves. He was sure that he knew her as well as he knew himself. "What makes you say that?"

"The way that you get along with one another. It's almost as if—."

The memories of his and Jo's relationship danced before Henry and drowned out the rest of Jeff's statement. As each moment passed, his drumming heart shifted in his chest. He longed to rush upstairs, find her, and spirit her away from her duties.

His legs tensed. He needed to do that now. It was a long wait until the weekend.

Reminding himself of his duties, his eyes traveled to Lucas' MetroCard hanging on his lamp. "It seems as though Lucas and Tori are becoming serious. They had been spending quite a bit of time together recently."

Jeff grinned. "What if they really become spouses? We would be in-laws of sorts then."

Henry's eyes darted around the room. "What if indeed?"

Staccato clicks filled the air. Henry wanted to look away from his present company to see who was coming to visit him. Yet, his parents' constant admonishment to pay attention to their guest echoed in his mind and kept him focused on the man who had decided to investigate the sound.

"Speaking of which," Jeff twisted back around, pushed himself out of his seat, and stepped toward the door. "Here comes your work spouse."

Henry snapped his head up. Huh?

The alluring fragrance of coconut and frangipani overpowered the room's musk, sulfur, formaldehyde, and disinfectants and beckoned him to seek out its source. The room brightened the moment Jo crossed into the gap between the autopsy tables and his office.

"Hey." Her soft, mellow voice enticed him to abandon all thought of work.

He pushed himself from his seat, sped around his desk, and closed the distance between them. Not caring about the reason for her visit, he slipped his hands around her waist. His smile widened. "It's been a while since we have last seen each other."

"Tell me about it." Jo wrapped her arms around his shoulders, and his knees nearly gave way under him. "Don't get me wrong. Your notes are sweet, but they're not the same as seeing you."

He gazed into her eyes. How he had missed her. Too much time had passed between them. "How was your month?"

She pulled him closer to her. "Wondering if everyone at the DA's office had conspired to try our cases from late last year all at once." She looked behind her graceful shoulder, almost as if she was expecting someone to appear in the empty room and hallway. "Wanting to slug a defenseless old man."

"I hope you don't mean Abe." Henry raised his eyebrows and gave her a look which implied his hopes that she didn't mean him either.

She chuckled. "I meant Dr. Washington." She sighed. "I hated Abe's responses every time that I called the shop to see if you were home."

"I hated it when Abe relayed the messages that you had called and when the patrol officers and other detectives told me that you weren't here." A strand of her hair dropped across her face. He released her long enough to brush it back. "This makes up for it."

He swallowed back the lump in his throat. He hated to be the bearer of bad news, but Jo needed to know. "Unfortunately for us, Dr. Washington had returned yesterday. Hopefully, he won't chase away the new assistant medical examiners."

She huffed. "Wouldn't it be great if Dr. Lippmann would fire him?"

"It would be the answer to the prayers of almost everyone in both the NYPD and OCME."

Her eyes searched his. "How was your month?"

"Aside from the seemingly endless procession of trials, depositions, and autopsies?"

Jo laughed, ringing through the deathly quiet room and bringing it to life.

He drew her closer to him, and their momentum sent them into the glass wall bearing his name and title. "I haven't felt this free in centuries. It's almost as if recent events had discovered the grave of my 35-year-old-self, uncovered its body, breathed life into it, and introduced it to my present life."

Concerning recent events…. He grinned. "My appointment with Kimberley went surprisingly well, and I no longer have to see her again unless it is voluntary. Which likely will never happen. I finally told Fawn and Karen my life story—."

Jo laid her hand over the scar on his chest. "Mike told me about Karen's reaction." She chuckled. "Seriously? Your typing skills gave you away?"

"It wasn't the first time. That honor goes to Liz Chamberlin when she had first confronted me." At least Karen also had believed the online version of the newspaper article featuring his rescue of a young boy in 1865. "Other than that and Abe and Fawn seeing each other more frequently, things have been quite dull for me."

He licked his lips. "What are your plans for this weekend?"

Her eyes widened and then softened. "I'm not even going to ask you how you knew that."

The left side of his mouth tugged up. "A Detective Winston had flagged me down and told me that you had time off."

She grinned. "Then, I don't know. Do you have some time off?"

Her fingertips grazing his nape threatened to untie the string keeping his more passionate impulses tightly bound to a sense of propriety. "The entire weekend. I was thinking about the two of us spending some time together."

"Sounds good to me." Her eyes begged him to take her far away from her house. "What have you have planned?"

"I haven't decided yet, but I will let you know by Thursday." That should give him enough time to settle on a plan. Perhaps he could discuss his predicament with Arturo when he would go to pick up his new suits at Paul Stuart today or with Abe later tonight over dinner. Either man advice could provide him with an idea of how to proceed.

His eyes traced the contours of her exquisite face, cataloging every detail as though he might not ever see her again. The moment he reached her slightly parted lips, they beckoned him like a siren's song. His heart shifted, generating an electrical current which jolted the hairs on his arm upright.

"Get a room, you two!"

Jo spun toward the door, causing Henry to crane his neck around her. Before he could get a look at which attendant had called into the room, the man had vanished.

They shared one more lingering look before she bit her lower lip, pulled her arms away from him, and started for the door. As he joined her side, the hibiscus-like scent filled his nose. He narrowed his eyes. The smell wasn't one that he had noticed before.

"New shampoo?"

She turned to him, her hand grazing his in the process. "The store was out of my usual one." She scoffed. "I had to get another brand, and this was the closest to what I like."

"It smells nice."

Another whiff, and a warm, tropical breeze filled the air. The fading sunlight dancing on the ocean waves paled in comparison to the woman walking next to him along the beach. The warm water of the Pacific Ocean gently lapped at their bare feet, pulling away as it sensed each languish step. Every so often, their joined hands brushed against the graceful knot tied in Jo's sarong.

They stopped, and he slipped his hand out of hers and reverently set both of his hands around her waist. His eyes traveled from the hibiscus resting over Jo's left ear to first her glowing eyes and then to her glistening lips. The shine and her perfectly-formed face wove a spell over him that was efficiently and rapidly eroding his resistance.

Finally surrendering his control to her magic, Henry began to lean in toward her….

"Coming through!"

The squeak of the wheels and Carl's cry dissolved the scene and forced Henry to look around the room to see where he was. Jo remained by his side, yet the walls and sounds of the OCME surrounded him as if they had never vanished.

As the attendant pushed a gurney with another body toward Dr. Nate McNamara's autopsy room, Henry reached into his pocket and fingered his watch. This was neither the time nor the place to entertain his flights of fancy, no matter how pleasant they were. He was at work, and his mind needed to be on the task at hand.

Speaking of which….

"Why are you here?" He removed his left hand from his pocket and waved it near her. "No offense."

She grinned. "None taken." She sighed. "Lt. Reece didn't say, but she wanted to speak with the both of us."

Henry squinted. He could quickly rule out a case. If it had involved someone within New York's social elite or the NYPD, she would have already stepped foot in the morgue. On a similar note, either Jo or one of his colleagues would have immediately informed him of a body of a regular citizen. Whatever the true reason was, it was serious enough to call him away from his other work.

He puffed his cheeks out and blew out some air. He would find out soon enough. He didn't know which he would rather have: dashing to the hospital to be with his son after an accident or a robbery or dealing with a certain 2,000-year-old psychopathic immortal's latest threat to his family and friends. If it were in his control, no one whom he cared about would have to face either.

Jo's hand fingered the wrist of his coat. He pulled his hand out of his pocket and allowed her to wrap her slender, petite hand around his.

"Maybe it's not as bad as you think."

He gazed into her eyes, hoping to gain courage from her strength. "Do you think so?"

She ran her free hand over her hair. "Honestly, I don't know, but I'm here for you in case you need it."

As they approached the elevators, Henry noticed Lucas leaning against the wall and talking to Tori about their weekend plans. The seed of jealousy that he had possessed earlier revived and matured into an uncharacteristic envy. Whatever was disconcerting to his unofficial superior was threatening to ruin his and Jo's own plans.

Jo lifted her head. "Lucas!"

The young man spun around, his jaw dropping in the process. "What?"

"Lt. Reece needs to see you." Jo released Henry's hand and waved at Tori.

"Now? Can't it wait?"

Henry suppressed his surprise at Lt. Reece's request to see Lucas as well. "Lucas," he warned. Over the past four years, if there was one thing that he had learned about either of his female colleagues, it was that one did not mess with them when they were serious.

Lucas rolled his eyes. "Okay." He turned to Tori. "I guess that I will talk to you later."

"Sounds fine with me." The black-haired woman leaned forward and kissed Lucas on the cheek.

Lucas gaped at Tori as she strolled past the trio. Henry laid a hand on Lucas' shoulder and steered him toward the door.

Lucas' eyes darted from Henry to Jo. "So, what is this about?"

Henry turned from Lucas to Jo. That was the question of the hour.

Author's Note: This will be the most overt reference to "Remember You Must Die and Live". The story will be mildly referenced a couple of more times, but this one is pretty much a stand-alone.

The phrase "work spouse" is really a term! And, yes, it does mean what you think it means! "Work in-laws", however, is my own creation.

According to most historians and bloggers who write about the Regency era, those who were interested in becoming doctors as we know them first studied to become surgeons at either Oxford or Cambridge, then became an apprentice in an apothecary, and then apprenticed at St. Bartholemew's in London. Once they completed all three apprenticeships, they could call themselves "doctor" in the modern sense of the word and be treated as such.