A/N: This is my first foray into the Forever fandom. So I hope it's not totally OOC. This story was written for the first Forever Fanfiction Writing Contest over on tumblr and later extended a little. ;)
Disclaimer: I don't own Forever and just play a bit with the characters before putting them back where I found them.
"Good morning, Detective!" Dr. Henry Morgan called cheerfully once he spotted his partner approaching their crime scene.
"Hey Henry!" Jo greeted him unenthusiastically, taking a sip from her to-go coffee cup. "Why the heck are you always so damn awake and cheerful?"
Henry had just opened his mouth to reply when Jo interrupted him with an exasperated look. "Henry, no! Stop! Consider it a rhetorical question! I'm not nearly awake enough for any of this," she pleaded, adding, "And I'm slowly freezing to death here in this shabby subway station at this ungodly hour of the morning. Is it even already morning yet?" Jo pulled her phone out of her pocket with one gloved hand to check the time. Once she had seen and more importantly made her tired brain understand the meaning of the numbers on the screen, she grumbled something about inconsiderate murderers and cases before 8 in the morning.
"Urgh. Ok, let's just get this over with as fast as possible so we can get out of here. What do you have Henry?" Jo asked the medical examiner slipping into work mode.
"Very well, Detective," Henry amended and turned around to the body on the platform, crouching down beside it to be at a better angle to show Jo his findings.
"The victim is male, around 35 years of age and has a cracked skull as a result of blunt force trauma to the back of his head." Henry lifted and turned the victim's head a little so Jo could see the dried blood matting his short dark hair. "I have to check for other injuries back in the lab though. However, for the time being I'd suspect this to be the cause of death."
"Ok. How long has he been lying here?"
"I'd estimate time of death to have occurred somewhere between 10 and midnight last night. But as usual I can only tell for sure after my autopsy."
"And nobody noticed him lying here before now? This is a subway station for God's sake!"
"Yes, it is. And in spite of there being dozens of people every day usually, yesterday this was a good place for a murderer to lure his or her victim because this station was closed the whole day due to maintenance work on the tracks."
"Right. Of course. Just my luck!" Jo grumbled, rolling her eyes.
"Anything else?" She asked on the slim chance that there still was something a little more helpful and if that wasn't the case at least hopeful to get out of this place soon.
"Yes, in fact there is more," Henry told her smiling, at what Jo finally perked up a little.
"Well, shoot, Henry!"
"Do you know what day it is, Detective?" Henry asked her, his smile turning into more of a sheepish grin and Jo groaned inwardly. She wasn't nearly awake enough for one of his strange antics. Even on a good day – one with more sleep and higher temperatures – she didn't always feel like putting up with him, but today he was sorely testing her limits.
"Henry, please! Just spill it already," she whined. Yes, whined. Not something she did often, but it was quickly turning into one of those days she sincerely regretted ever getting out of bed.
"Jo, please humour me?" Henry asked from right next to her startling her out of her negative thoughts. Somehow he had managed to sneak up on her unnoticed, or more like just walked over while she was wallowing in her personal misery. Now, looking at him, really looking at him, for the first time this morning, she noticed he was sporting his most charming and most eager looks. How can I ever deny him anything when he's looking at me like a very handsome over-eager puppy?
"Ok, but make it quick," she amended finally.
"Yes, well, what date is today, Detective?"
"January 10th. Why?"
"And do you know what that means?"
"That it's freezing winter for at least two more months. And did I mention freezing already?"
"Yes, but do you know what that means historically?" Henry seemed totally unfazed by Jo's grumpiness and just ploughed on with whatever was on his mind, excited like a child on Christmas morning. Whilst Jo stuck her gloved hands deeper into the pockets of her winter coat, well as best as she could while still holding onto her now empty cup and throwing Henry a look that was supposed to convey something like 'Please, for goodness's sake Henry, get on with whatever you think is so unbelievably interesting, so that we can continue our work.' And it must have worked too because Henry hurried to continue with his story.
"On this day in history 152 years ago the world's first underground railway system opened to the public in London," he told her, getting even more excited.
"This had huge implications for conducting public transport all over the world! Cities had gotten very crowded with the population rising everywhere and this seemed like a good solution to help with congestion. Turns out it really was!"
"So January 10th" Jo calculated quickly in her head "1863 must have been a pretty exciting day in London."
"It was!" Henry affirmed excitedly, realising his slip of the tongue too late.
"I mean there is no possibility for it to not have been with something of this extent going on." He tried to clarify his words instantly, but Jo still gave him a funny look.
"You talk like you've been there. I realize that's ridiculous, but still…" Jo left the rest of her sentence hanging in the air. Sometimes Henry was a real mystery to her.
I was. But this time Henry managed to keep the truth to himself.
"Oh, of course not! I've just been reading up on the subject recently."
"Yeah, sure," Jo agreed a little doubtful and quietly mumbled, "How convenient…"
"Excuse me?"
"Nothing!" she said far too fast, trying to unconvincingly hide the fact she'd ever said anything.
"Anyway," Henry continued, "today London Underground isn't only the oldest, but also the longest underground railway system of the world with a system length of 250 miles and currently 260 stations being served. The frequently used name Metro for underground railway was also coined in London. The first line was called Metropolitan Line which in short is just Metro Line. And there you go." In this moment Henry seemed more proud of his British heritage than normally. He was engrossed in his storytelling and didn't even care that his one-person audience would have forgotten most, if not all, of the details in just a few moments. But Henry was generally happy being able to tell someone who was at least listening voluntarily – more or less. His face lighting up like a Christmas tree with everything that was first invented in his home country. He even managed to make Jo forget her bad mood. His excitement being contagious even.
"You get excited about the weirdest stuff, Henry. Just remind me to never spend Christmas with you," she said smiling, now in a far better mood than she had started her morning in. Henry, for once not understanding what was going on, paused in his history lesson, cocked his head to the side, and just looked at her dumbfounded. Jo burst out laughing and walked away shaking her head, leaving a confused Henry in her wake.
The End
A/N2: Hope you enjoyed the read! :)