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 seeing what would happen if something like this was a subplot. To be honest, I don't think I've seen this premise on any show before. If it has, then I'm mistaken!)
Author's Note: Here's the awaited sequel to "A Desired Regimen". My author's note at the end of that story might be a bit spoiler-y, so please aware of that fact if you hate spoilers.
On a related note, Henry and Jo's hotel does not exist. I created it especially for the stories. Speaking of which, I hope that you will enjoy this one.
There are general spoilers for all 22 episodes.
Henry stared at the folders on his desk in amazement. He had expected to continue working on a backlog of paperwork for the next week. Yet, he had somehow managed to finish it in less time than he had thought.
He quickly pulled out his pocket watch and checked the time. The last three days since his and Jo's return from Paris had been merciless because of a dearth of cases, and their morning before she had reluctantly pulled out of her parking space in the garage near Essex and Delancey had left him yearning for her presence. As he had the time today, he could take a rare lunch break and visit her upstairs. If she agreed, they could go somewhere to eat. Although he detested gyros, there was a Greek restaurant near their building that had garnered high praise from their colleagues in both the OCME and the NYPD. Perhaps they could try it and see whether the food merited the acclaim.
The phone's ring suddenly pulled him out of his thoughts. Steeling himself against another unwanted, taunting call from Adam, he cautiously picked it up. "Hello?"
"Henry?"
"Lt. Reece!" Relief overwhelmed him at the sound of his unofficial superior's voice.
He squinted in confusion. She usually came to the morgue when there was a high-profile case or if she had a vested interest in his findings. She, however, had never called before. "To what do I owe this pleasure?"
"I'm filling out the report for your and Jo's recent travel expenses. I have a few questions about some of the receipts that you two have given me. Can you come to my office so that we can discuss them?"
He lowered his eyes in disappointment. Although he welcomed the opportunity that presented itself to him, he couldn't take it. He and Jo had agreed to wait a month before telling their colleagues about their courtship. His lunch with her would create speculations and raise many unwanted questions that they would be unwilling to answer at this time.
He rubbed his fingers along his forehead to regain his sense of decorum. "I'll be right up."
A few minutes later, Jo's desk greeted him as he stepped into the bullpen. He walked over to it and noted the askew chair that indicated her presence in the building and her need for coffee. He lovingly ran his finger over her nameplate. It wasn't the same as seeing her or having her by his side, but this would have to suffice for now.
Hanson's voice rising above the din nudged Henry out of his reverie. He unwillingly removed his finger from the plate and walked over Lt. Reece's office. Each step brought back memories of the week in the City of Lights, and he uneagerly push them back so that he could focus on his meeting.
The moment that he entered the room, she glanced up from her desk. "Sit down."
As he submissively followed her order, he peered over her desk and resisted the urge to even slightly swallow. Hopefully, she didn't detect the conspicuous absence of four receipts representing taxi rides to and from the Bois de Boulogne; Jo had never requested them. He could explain everything else truthfully, but he could not detail that chain of events without revealing the truth about himself. The last thing that he wanted was to reside in a white-padded room for eternity.
Fighting through his nervousness, he eyed her. "I insist on paying for every out-of-pocket expense myself. I had some money saved up, and I don't mind using it to assist the NYPD in an international investigation." He had used the money that he had saved during the last time that he had lived in Europe, and he had planned to use it again twice last year when he had wanted to flee the country. Fortunately, he hadn't followed through on his abrupt move, and he was relieved that the euros could be put to good use.
"Nonsense." Her blunt tone prevented any objections from forming. "You were on official business, and I have every intention in ensuring that you're reimbursed."
She smiled at him. "It took me a while to get used to reading the receipts. Thanks to Google, I was able to figure out most of the things listed on them." She watched him as he fought back a slight distaste for the younger generation's reliance on technology to satisfy their intellectual needs. "Did you have a difficult time going through Customs?"
He began to relax. "Everything went well. It took us about fifteen minutes to fill out the forms and to finish our entry into the United States." He smiled at the memory of Jo shaking her head in amazement that they were still geographically in Canada at that time.
Lt. Reece nodded and turned her attention to the pieces of paper in front of her. "I see that you took the subway and taxis during your investigation."
"We had. Paris is the same as New York in that respect."
She laid several receipts on the desk. "Restaurants and cafes?" She looked him in the eye. "Since I've been here, I have filled several expense reports. Almost everyone had turned in receipts for fast food restaurants and room service." She smiled. "This is the first time that I had seen someone who refused to eat at either. I know that you have some fancy tastes…."
"Personally, cafes are the better choice of all of the street food options. Frequently, their cuisine is on par with or exceed fine restaurants in terms of the quality of the food." He didn't intend to interrupt his superior, but he wanted to clarify that he wasn't necessarily against all types of "fast" food.
She waved a small stack in the air. "Coffee at meals? Did Jo talk you into indulging her coffee addiction?"
A chuckle escaped his lips. "Generally, coffee is cheaper in restaurants and cafes than wine or those alleged beverages called sodas. We likely would have ordered the wine with each afternoon or evening meal, but, many times, we couldn't because of our work."
"I see." She flipped through the receipts. "That brings me to my next question. What did you do on Sunday? It looks as though you didn't work all day."
For a moment, he could see the sea of memories from that day before him. How he would love to wade out into it and allow himself to drift in the recollection of his and Jo's innocent first steps of their romance.
Lt. Reece's persistent, questioning stare drew him away from its shore and onto her. He quickly remembered himself and his surroundings. He placed his tongue inside his lower lip and readjusted his position in the chair. Hopefully, he could keep his and Jo's courtship hidden from Lt. Reece for the rest of the audit.
He inhaled. "Sundays are traditionally everyone's day off in France. Many shops, businesses, and banks are closed while most cafes, restaurants, and bakeries remain open. The tradition had started as a religious observance, but it had become a part of the culture. Yvette, our Parisian counterpart, had suggested that we take the day off and explore Paris."
She nodded. "I see a receipt for the Luxembourg Palace." She raised an eyebrow.
"It was near the La Closerie des Lilas, and we spent some time there before deciding to find an open farmer's market to shop for our lunch." He smiled and leaned forward. "While we were admiring the artwork, Jo remembered that I had once mentioned that I was a classicist. She asked me…."
He caught his words before they tumbled out. Lt. Reece had no true interest in what they had done at the museum, nor should he present a reason for her curiosity about it.
She stared at him for a moment before turning back to the receipts. "Why am I not surprised that you are?" She paused and then repeated the name of the café that he and Jo had eaten at earlier that morning.
"It was a few blocks from our hotel. Local legend has it that a young Brit had walked into the café and caught Ernest Hemingway and the Brit's girlfriend sitting at one of the tables. The young man was so outraged by the affair that he punched Hemingway in the face and stormed out of the café." He relished both the memory of that moment and of retelling it while sitting at the same table with one of the two women Ernest could never steal from him.
Lt. Reece looked him in the eye and lifted an eyebrow. "I thought that Hemingway was known to be a fighter."
"Their fight came later." Henry's voice flattened as he recalled their fistfight later that afternoon which ended with Valerie's pleas to stop fighting and with his flattened nose.
Lt. Reece removed one receipt from the pile and laid it in front of her. "You said that stores were closed on Sundays. Why do I see a receipt for a grocery store?"
His visit to the store and what happened afterward crept back into his mind. He would happily inhabit the recollection, but it had to wait until later.
"They were until earlier this year. The French government had changed the laws to allow more businesses, especially those in the tourist areas, to remain open until late in the day."
She studied the piece of paper. "Nine euros for a bottle of pinot noir? That's cheap."
"As you well know, price usually does not indicate quality. The pinot noir was from one of the highest quality vineyards in all of France." He had selected the wine both for its pairings and—as Jo had later pointed out—for its similarity to the one that they had shared during their first rooftop dinner. "I will assure you that we had finished it before the end of the evening."
She took the comment into consideration and lower her gaze to the desk. "One, forty for four baguettes and a euro for cheese?"
"Those were locally produced. One of the store owner's friends owns a boulangie—bakery—that remains open on Sundays. He supplies the store with their baguettes daily. As for the emmental cheese, the company is one of the oldest cheesemakers in Rhone-Alpes." In the 1830s, he had worked for the cheesemaker's ancestors for a few months before proceeding to Switzerland, and he was pleasantly surprised to learn that the dairy was still in operation and had expanded.
"Twenty euros for ham?" She flashed his a skeptical look.
"I decided that it would be worth the price."
There were several cheaper brands in the deli department of the grocery store, but he had selected that particular one for the way that the flavors played on the tongue. His assumption that Jo would enjoy it as well, which had been proven correct with her hum in rapturous delight as she had enjoyed a singular bite of the meat, had influenced his decision to purchase it.
The room's eerie silence drew Henry away from his thoughts. Lt. Reece stared at the slip for what felt like a long time.
Attempting to find the reason for her intense scrutiny, he mentally reviewed the list. At that moment, he realized what they hadn't discussed yet. He resisted the urge to drum his fingers on the chair arm or to check his watch as his heart started to race.
"Strawberries?" Lt. Reece arched an eyebrows while holding his gaze.
His throat suddenly dried as he saw Jo leaning forward and telling him that people would say that he was trying to seduce her. Honestly, he shouldn't be this nervous about their relationship, but they had made a promise to each other. He couldn't possibly betray her confidence. Especially not to her superior and his unofficial one.
He willed himself to remain calm as he felt beads of sweat beginning to form on his forehead. "They were in-season, and I felt that they would be a perfect complement to the meal."
He nervously eyed Lt. Reece. If she noticed his anxiety, she would come to believe that something was amiss. Her pointed questions would lead to her learning the truth about the change in his and Jo's relationship, and she would find a way to discourage either their professional partnership or their romance—or both.
If Lt. Reece decided that their romance would interfere with their work, he would quit the OCME. He and Abe could live comfortably on what he had saved up until he found another line of employment. He and Jo would need to find another way to be together, and he would consider accelerating the timetable of their courtship if she agreed to it. Yet, he would not allow her to sacrifice a job that gave her a sense of purpose for the opportunity to be together every day.
He blinked in amazement. How did that happen? He had always assumed that he would remain with the OCME until he had found a cure for his condition. Now…
Suddenly remembering where he was, he dared to look at his superior. She scrutinized the small slips of paper before her as though they held the key to a case.
She riffled through the documents and turned her attention back to him. "What did you do for the rest of the day? I don't see anything here that indicate any other activities after you left the grocery store, and the amount of food seems to be too much to be consumed in one meal."
He looked her in the eye as he felt himself beginning to relax. "After we left the museum, Jo fell on the sidewalk and cut her knees. We went back to the hotel, where I treated her. Upon my return from the store, we talked for the rest of the day. As for the food, I purchased enough so that we didn't have to leave our room for dinner."
He smiled at the memory. He and Jo hadn't talked for that long since he had revealed his condition to her.
The lieutenant offered him a small smile. "That explains why she's walking stiffly and hissing in pain for the last few days. I had assumed that she had spent a lot of time walking both in Paris and here in New York."
He placed his tongue slightly inside his cheek. Perhaps he should check the progress of the healing of her knees before he returned to work. Even if his re-examination yielded two perfectly healing wounds, it would be an excellent excuse to see her again.
Lt. Reece straightened her position and folded her hands in front of her. "As far as I can tell, everything's in order. You should expect a reimbursement within a month."
She leaned back. "It wasn't an ideal situation, but I'm glad that Jo finally got the chance to see a bit of Paris." She sighed. "It seemed like that she really wanted to go last year. I honestly don't know why she didn't."
"Perhaps she felt that she was going with the wrong man." Smiling, he looked just past the other woman as he could once again feel Jo snuggling against him and unconsciously resting her hand over his scar while she fell asleep during their return flight.
"You and Henry are together?!"
Lucas' excited voice shocked Henry out of his pleasant memory as if he was experiencing another awakening in the East River. He froze in his seat, his heart pounding in his chest. How in the world did Lucas learn of their courtship?!
"Lucas!"
At the sound of Jo's stunned voice, he slowly pivoted toward Lt. Reece. She set her sight on him while she impatiently waited for his response.
He gulped. The last time that he had felt this nervous, he had proposed to Abigail.
Henry and Jo left Lt. Reece's office in stunned disbelief. The past few minutes felt so surreal. Had he heard her correctly? Was this even happening?
Jo turned to him, her eyes widened. "So…"
"Yeah." He lowered his gaze as he tried to regain some sense of reality.
He felt two sets of eyes beckoning his attention. He turned and watched Hanson and Lucas join them.
Hanson motioned toward the space where they had once discussed his and Molly's findings. Henry wrapped his arm around Jo and followed her official partner. Once at their destination, the two men turned to the lovers as Henry reluctantly withdrew his arm from Jo's waist.
Hanson's eyes darted from her to him and back again. "Level with us. What happened?"
Jo faced Henry once again. As his gaze met hers, he found himself becoming lost in her eyes. She lingered a little longer before turning to the men. "Actually, the story started last year. Do you remember when I was supposed to go on vacation with Isaac?"
The other two men nodded. After a moment, Lucas' eyes widened, and his jaw opened. "Oh, my… That's when…." His vibrant voice rose with unfinished thought. "I've been shipping you two since—."
"Shipping?" Henry squinted in confusion. "As in the movement of goods from one location to another?"
Jo caught his eye. "Wrong shipping…and it has nothing to do with ships either."
He stared at her. Why did the younger generation appropriate a word that had been associated with his family's business and begin to apparently use it in the context of relationships?
Oh. That's what he means by that.
Hanson raised his right eyebrow. "You've never read the online fan forums either?"
Henry chortled. "I'm afraid not."
Hanson huffed in delight. "I thought that I was the only one. I first heard it when Karen mentioned her sister shipping Mulder and Scully of The X-Files one day while we were dating."
Jo leaned over and placed her lips near his ear. "Tell me what you're thinking later."
As she pulled back, he ached for her presence. To satisfy his desire, he wrapped his arm around her once again. He then felt her fingers sliding over his back. The gentle movement and the warmth of her hand instantly rendered him utterly incapable of thought and created a longing to embrace her and to drink in every minute detail about her.
Jo's inhale reminded him of their conversation. He reluctantly pulled himself into the moment at hand.
She shot an open-mouthed Lucas a murderous glare and regarded Hanson. "Anyway, as I was saying, when Isaac had suggested Paris, a part of me wanted to go. I mentioned the trip to Henry while we discussed our case, and he gave me a few things to think about. Specifically, he cautioned me to consider who I went to Paris with. When Isaac picked me up to go to the airport, I realized that I wasn't in love with him. I mean, I wouldn't bring up a romantic trip with my boyfriend to one of my male professional partners if I were." She smiled and pulled Henry closed to her. "That was the moment that I broke up with him. It took a little longer for me to admit it to myself, but I was already falling in love with Henry back then."
Henry bowed his head to hide his grin. He didn't mind her keeping his precise words and the catalyst for the more romantic parts of their trip to themselves, with Abe being the lone person to know about it. He preferred to keep it that way.
Hanson swept his finger from one to the other. "But how…?"
Henry softly chuckled. "Unbeknownst to me at the time, I had been falling in love with Jo since the moment that I had first laid eyes on her. While she was dating Isaac, I was admittedly a little jealous of him—."
Jo tilted her head, widened her eyes, and pulled her lips together like she did every time she doubted someone's statement. "Jealous? You?"
He peeked at her. "Yes, I was. When you kissed him in the karaoke bar, I had believed that it had painfully reminded me of Abigail and myself. It was only later that I realized that I had preferred to not see you romantically involved with another man other than myself." He was slightly aware of it when he had told Abe "whatever feelings I have for Jo…", but he didn't acknowledge his true feelings about that night until after he had selected the baguettes for their meals.
She moved her face closer to his, and her eyes drifted to his lips. How he longed for her lips to gently touch his. He didn't care that it was in front of everyone; they already knew of their love. One kiss…
He sighed as he pulled away to continue his response to his colleagues' question. "Since then, my love for her has grown even more. I guess that being in the city had fully awakened us to the feelings that we have for each other."
Both men studied Henry and Jo. Hanson rested his hands on his hips. "What did Lieu had to say about this?"
The two lovers looked at each other and silently debated who was to tell them. Henry nodded and inhaled. "She had said that she saw no reason for us to stop working together. She reserved the right to kick me off of cases if she feels that our romantic relationship is interfering with our objectivity. Otherwise…" The thought of his next statement aroused him from the dreamlike state that he had been in since he had walked out of Lt. Reece's office. "She had given us her approval to start dating."
The second that he glanced at Lucas, he braced himself for the young man's hug. Jo tightened her grip around his waist as Lucas gleefully threw his arms around the pair.
"That is awesome! I can't believe it! You two—."
"When were you planning to tell us?"
Hanson's question cut through the disorientation caused by Lucas' sudden embrace. Fair question.
Lucas released them, allowing Henry a moment to breathe. The next time that he had an announcement, he should warn Lucas to not touch them beforehand.
Jo inhaled. "In a month. Once we got a handle on everything."
Lucas looked at Henry apologetically. "I came here to remind you of your meeting with Dr. Lippmann. When I saw Jo looking all dreamy, I…"
His meeting with Dr. Lippmann. Nuts! How could he had forgotten about his annual performance review?
He unwillingly pulled away from Jo. "I'll try to see you later."
"I get off at five tonight, if we don't get a case."
He placed his tongue on his lower lip. According to his schedule, he was to leave work at four. Abe had mentioned at breakfast that he, Marco, and Jerry were spending the evening together. The last time that they had been together, Abe hadn't come home until midnight. Perhaps…
"Why don't you come over for dinner tonight? Depending on your caseload, of course."
Her loving smile tempted him to discard his plans for the rest of the day and hurry to the shop to prepare for the evening. "I would love to. I'll let you know if I can't make it."
"I'll see you then." He resisted the urge to give her a short, chaste kiss. He needed to maintain decorum.
He finally forced himself to leave her side. He headed for the elevators, pressed the down button, and checked the time. He still had ten minutes before his meeting. He might be able to make it.
The doors opened, and he stepped into the car. He leaned his head back against the wall. He should tell Dr. Lippmann about his and Jo's relationship as well. It shouldn't come as a surprise as it had with Lt. Reece.
Lucas caught the closing doors, slipped into the car, and joined Henry's side. "A declaration of love in one of your old stomping grounds and first date tonight. Sounds like you're going to get lucky soon."
Henry studied his assistant before turning back to the doors. "I'm already lucky." How he was able to find a woman who loved him and accepted him for who and what he was—twice—during the course of his long life, he would never know.
"First date." He liked the sound of that.
As the car descended, he grinned. He and Jo should have never kept their relationship a secret from everyone else. If everyone's premature knowledge about it was the price that he had to pay for his and Jo's courtship, it was an expense that he didn't mind a bit.
Mini-epilogue: Henry does tell Dr. Lippmann about his and Jo's relationship during his annual performance review. His boss' response: one loud "About time!" That alerts the entire OCME to the new relationship and leads to a myriad of bets being collected. As for Henry and Jo's first date that night, it goes as well as their evening in "A Desired Regimen"—only without Jo hissing because of foot pain.
Author's Notes: In this story and "A Desired Regimen", Lucas is the only other person outside of Abe, Jo, and Adam to know the truth about Henry.
The information for everything came from The New York State Office of General Service-Business Services Center's Travel Expenses page, France Travel Planner's "Prices & Costs in Paris, France", the official web site for Paris' Convention and Visitors Bureau (saved on the Internet Machine's WayBack Machine on April 24, 2016), About France's "A guide to French Cheese", "The Serious Eats Cheese and Wine Pairing Cheat Sheet", Fabrique Delices' "Jambon de Paris Paris Style Cooked Ham", and Wikipedia the Wikipedia articles for Rhone-Alpes, Emmental Cheese, and fandom shipping. (This shipper needed the origins of the word!)