"Don't you DARE do that again!" her words spat across the room.
"Jo the man was going to shoot you, understand, shoot you"
Inhaling deeply, she strove to push the boiling rage inside her from exploding. Articulating every word, she slowly stepped towards him – Henry involuntarily found himself edging backwards towards the wall.
"I am a police officer Henry, I will, at times, be in positions of risk"
"I know Jo but…"
Her voice raised to cut his down "POSITIONS OF RISK…and in those situations I have been trained to protect myself. IF for any reason I miscalculate and am hurt it is MY RESPONSIBILITY, not yours – do you understand me!"
Abe had wandered down the stairs, hearing raised voices and confused by the lateness of the hour. He had decided to find out the source of the commotion. At the top stairs to the basement he caught Henry's eye, it was made apparent in that brief exchange that retreat was the only option. He silently backed up the stairs, pulling the door shut behind him.
Henry was frozen, too worried to move. Jo exhausted from her tirade moved to a chair, dropping her weight on the seat, lowering her head into her hands.
"I can't…" pausing again to take a breath "I can't watch you die"
Lifting her eyes he could now see the film of emerging tears "I hold you, and you look at me, I see your suffering and then…then you are gone"
"Yes Jo, I go and then I return – see I'm back now, I'm safe and well"
"But what if you don't…. what if one day you don't come back"
"Jo", his voice softening, slowly he crouched close to her – taking her hands in his. "I've been coming back for 200 years, there is no reason for that to change now".
The slap, was to say the least, unexpected.
It had been two months since Jo had arrived at Henry's door, a watch and photo finally gaining her access to his hidden world. It had not been an easy journey and up until tonight she had maintained a quiet scepticism about" the condition" from his view.
Tonight he had died in front of her, shot cleanly through his heart – a bullet aimed at her. It should have been her on the ground, bleeding, dying. Instead Henry had lain there, looking towards her, consoling her, repeating over it would be ok, and to just do what they rehearsed.
She had stumbled back from the body, barely able to see it go…go where, how? Questions whirled making her feel sick. She had physically fallen into Hansen, who had scarcely managed to hold her shaking form.
"Where's Henry? Jo? – He ran in after you, Jo where's Henry I cant see him"
She remembered muttering, something, Henry was safe, Henry didn't get there in time, the guy had run away. She couldn't stop moving forward to where she knew she had to be. She moved past Hansen – yelling something that caused confusion from her partner.
Keep moving Jo; ring Abe – run just run.
Half an hour later she was standing next to Abe on the banks of the river. She knew she was holding his hand too tight. The old man said nothing, enduring her need to understand the witnessing of Henry's return. And then there he was, naked, wet, smiling, emerging from the water.
Of course she had cried, and then hugged him – refusing to let him go, until Henry had politely disengaged stating that he was feeling quite cold in the night air.
It was the drive home where reality had fought through competing emotions of relief, fear, and maybe love. Henry had deliberately chosen to be shot for her, regardless of the outcome he had placed his life between hers and the role that defined her…how dare he. Regardless of the fact she would now be dead if he had not intervened, it did not remove the emerging sense of rage, wrapped in resentment, which was working its way from her stomach to her throat.
Forty-five minutes after returning to the antique store, Abe had made his way to bed. Standing in the basement alone with Henry every emotion swirling and stirring had spewed from her body.
Henry rubbed his cheek.
"You are not to save me Henry, I will not have you die to save me"
"You know that makes no sense," he whispered, failing to make eye contact.
She paused and repeated, "If this is going to work, you will not die to save me, can you promise me that. If I start to think that you are my shield then my work, my world will fall apart. I cannot become dependant on you"
Henry sat back on the floor, risking a glance towards her, tears trailing down her cheeks. He relaxed a little. She was scared and angry; reaching up he pulled her down beside him.
"I promise not to save you," he stated, as he brushed her hair from her face. She curled further into his arms, looking up with a smile.