Henry goes to a yard sale with Jo where he hits the jackpot finding some lovely vintage scarves. He can't resist purchasing them and putting one on right away. Unfortunately the scarf doesn't seem to agree with him.


Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.

Author's Notes: This is a "five times" fic and the chapters are standalone and mostly unrelated except for the theme. This story was inspired by and written for a friend that wishes to remain anonymous.


"Remind me again why you dragged me out here?" Henry asked wearily as he surveyed the various displays of what mostly appeared to be junk in the backyard of a home in Queens.

"Because I'm trying to find a birthday gift for a friend who likes vintage and antique stuff and I need you to tell me if something is genuine or not and worth the price," Jo explained with an irritated sigh for what was at least the fifth time.

"You know Abe will be hurt if he finds out about this. You could have just picked something out from the shop and it would have saved us both a lot of time," Henry pointed out shoving his hands into his coat pockets trying to warm them up. Winter was a horrible time of year for a yard sale.

"Yeah I can't exactly afford anything you guys sell in that place even with a friends and family discount," she answered with a bit of an eye roll. "Just help me find something, then we can get out of here." Henry nodded resignedly and followed her around the various displays examining the merchandise. Jo's eye was caught by an old looking wall clock that still seemed to be in great condition. "Hey Henry, what do you think of..." she trailed off as she realized he was no longer next to her and had wandered off again as he had an annoying tendency to do. She looked around and finally spotted him several yards away rummaging through an old box with a delighted expression on his face. She made her way over to him and laughed when she saw the contents of the box. It was full to the brim with a variety of vintage scarves in excellent condition. "Wow, looks like you hit the jackpot here."

"Indeed," Henry replied with a wide grin. "Perhaps yard sales aren't so bad after all."

"Ok come and look at this clock I found and then you can pick out a new scarf." Henry seemed very hesitant to leave the scarves and he had a look of moderate distress on his face as if the scarves were children that might be kidnapped if left unattended. She swore he probably would have made an audible whining sound if it weren't so undignified. "Ok fine, I'll go get the clock and bring it over here," she said shaking her head and smirked slightly when he noticeably sighed with relief. When she returned Henry had gone back to examining the scarves and she had to snap her fingers at him to get his attention.

"Ah yes, while this clock most definitely is Victorian in style, it is no more than a high quality replica," he announced after giving the clock a quick once over.

"Thanks, that will definitely help with trying to haggle the price down."

"You mean you still intend to purchase this piece?" Henry asked taken aback.

"Yep. My friend doesn't care so much about authenticity. She just likes the style," Jo explained.

Henry shrugged wanting too much to turn his attention back to the scarves to go into a lecture at this point. "Very well, call me over if the owner gives you any trouble with claims of authenticity," he said and turned back to the box of scarves.

Jo nodded and went to make her purchase and carried the clock back to her car. When she returned Henry was right where she left him. "I made out good. Thanks to you I managed to haggle the price down by thirty dollars." Henry nodded at her distractedly and then started showing her the various scarves in the box and kept going on describing the fabric and patterns and stitching and when and where each scarf was likely manufactured. He kept sniffling, but she figured it was probably just from the cold weather. After about fifteen minutes of this Jo had had enough. "Henry you're a grown man, you don't need to justify your reasons for wanting a new scarf to me, just pick one. It's perfectly fine to get one just because it looks nice. Hell buy the whole box if you want, I won't judge you for it." Henry looked at Jo thoughtfully as if the idea of simply purchasing the entire box of scarves hadn't even occurred to him and then a grin slowly spread across his face and she'd bet a month's salary that was exactly what he had decided to do.

"Excellent idea Jo. If there are any scarves in the box that I find distasteful I can always sell or donate them at a later time." He picked up the box and walked with Jo to the table where the homeowner had set up shop. After a few moments of haggling they settled on a price and Henry paid the man and they walked back to Jo's car. Jo opened the trunk and Henry put the box inside and then pulled out a warm thick green and gray checked scarf that looked like one he had very much favored back in the 70s and had lost due to an untimely death. He wrapped the scarf around his neck over the light blue one he was already wearing and then shut the trunk door.

"Are you sure you want to wear that without washing it?" Jo asked with a doubtful expression on her face. "That box was a bit dusty and I'm sure the scarves within it aren't the cleanest."

Henry examined the tails of the scarf he had just put on and shrugged his shoulders slightly. "It doesn't look too bad to me, I'm sure it will be fine. Besides it's cold out here and the scarf I had on isn't nearly warm enough." In truth, he just simply didn't want to remove the scarf. It was almost like seeing an old friend again after many years apart even if he knew there was no way it could be the same scarf and it filled him with a small sense of comfort and elation.

"Fine suit yourself," said Jo as they got into her car. "So how many scarves were in that box?" she asked after she pulled out onto the road.

"I'm not sure. At least ten," Henry guessed.

"And how many do you own now in total?" Jo asked teasingly.

"I'd like to plead the fifth on that," Henry answered with a playful grin. He sniffled as he felt the itch in his nose that had been plaguing him on and off for the last half hour flare up again. This time it was making his nose start to run and he pulled a handkerchief from his pocket and discreetly blew his nose.

Jo raised an eyebrow noting that Henry had been sniffling for quite some time now and she hoped that he wasn't coming down with something. Just as she was about to ask him if he was alright he jerked forward suddenly sneezing explosively into his handkerchief. The unexpected outburst made her jump and she just barely managed not to lose control of the car. "Bless you. You ok?"

Henry blew his nose again and nodded. "Thanks. Yes I feel fine. It was just a sudden itch. I'm sorry if I startled you."

"It didn't look so sudden to me," she said and chuckled as Henry gave her a confused look. "Oh come on, you know you're not the only one capable of making observations. You've been sniffling since shortly after we arrived at the yard sale."

"Well it is cold outside," Henry said dismissively.

"Right..." Jo said skeptically knowing she'd never seen him sniffle that much in cold weather before.

Henry sniffled again and rubbed at his nose which was starting to tickle persistently now. He had to admit that he did feel a bit off, but he wasn't going to say so out loud. Why worry Jo for no reason? He inhaled sharply sneezing again into his handkerchief. He paused for a few seconds and then repeated the action once more. He wiped his nose on the soft fabric and when he looked up he saw Jo raising an eyebrow at him. "I'm fine really."

"Uh huh..." Jo knew something was up with him despite his assurances. His voice was starting to sound slightly congested and she could see that his eyes were becoming a bit red and watery. She wasn't going to argue with him though and turned her attention back to the road. "I think you're having an allergy attack," she said after Henry had sneezed for the tenth time in as many minutes.

Henry glared at Jo slightly and rubbed at his nose trying not to sneeze again from the tickle that just would not go away. "Not likely," he said knowing full well she wasn't going to buy his denial.

Jo rolled her eyes. "Well it's either that or you're getting sick. Tell me Dr. Morgan, if someone came to you complaining of the same symptoms that you're experiencing right now, what would you tell them?"

Henry sighed. "I'd tell them that they were probably suffering from an allergic reaction," he conceded.

"That box of scarves was dusty," Jo reminded him. "Are you allergic to dust?"

"I might have a certain sensitivity to it," Henry reluctantly admitted, "but I wouldn't go so far as to call it an allergy." His nose then seeing fit to betray his words was seized with another sharp tickle and he sneezed twice more into his handkerchief and then blew his nose as gently as he could.

"Bless you," said Jo trying not to laugh. "I think you're just splitting hairs at this point."

"It's really nothing to be concerned about," Henry insisted. "I'm not often bothered by this allergy if that's what you want to insist on calling it."

"Well you don't often have a dusty scarf wrapped around your neck," Jo pointed out. "I'm sure you'll feel better if you take it off."

"I'll be fine Jo," Henry said waving her off.

"You have a weird definition of fine," Jo muttered under her breath after Henry sneezed again so forcefully that it seemed to leave him dazed for a few seconds.

"It's really not that bad," he insisted and blew his nose wincing when the sound came out much louder than he'd intended.

"Henry stop acting like a child," she said with an exasperated tone. "You can wear the scarf again after you've washed it."

"I'm cold and I'd rather keep it on," Henry insisted, though at this point he knew he was being irrational. He really wasn't that cold, he just really liked the scarf and didn't want to take it off. Besides he really wasn't that miserable overall. He'd experienced so much pain and trauma and suffering from all of his various deaths that the sneezing seemed like nothing more than a minor nuisance.

Jo rolled her eyes. "You could have just asked me to turn up the heat," she said and cranked up the thermostat. She rolled her eyes again when Henry still didn't take off the scarf, but she held her tongue. He could be even more stubborn than she was, and if he wanted to wear that thing so badly that he was willing to put up with the repetitive sneezing, then there wasn't much she could say that would change his mind.

Henry groaned softly as the persistent tickle in his nose continued to plague him. He sniffled and rubbed at his nose and contorted his face every which way trying not to sneeze again to prove to Jo that he was fine so she'd stop nagging him. He quickly lost the battle though, the need to sneeze greatly amplified by trying to stop it, and he succumbed to a harsh fit sneezing several times in a row into his handkerchief. He winced after blowing his nose at how sodden his handkerchief was becoming. Now he could finally admit to himself that he was really being quite foolish at this point and enough was enough.

"Wow bless you!" Jo exclaimed. Henry really wasn't looking so good after that intense bout of sneezing. His nose had become red and irritated looking and his eyes were so watery that they looked on the verge of overflowing with tears. She was just about to insist that he take the scarf off before he really made himself sick when he removed it of his own accord and placed it in his lap. "I'm glad to see you've finally come to your senses and taken the scarf off."

"Yes well it was starting to get a touch warm in here," he said with a sniffle futilely trying to pretend that it had had nothing to do with the allergic reaction to the dust in the scarf. He caught Jo rolling her eyes at him again, but he ignored it. Unfortunately the damage had already been done and his nose was still tickling despite having removed the scarf from around his neck. He knew it would take awhile for the reaction to work its way out of his system. Several minutes and several sneezes later they finally arrived back at the antiques shop. Henry retrieved the box of scarves from the trunk and Jo walked him to the door.

"Thanks again for coming with me Henry. You were a big help."

"It was my pleasure," he said with a warm smile. "Besides I did end up getting something out of it as well. I'm sure I won't be nearly so reluctant to accompany you the next time you invite me to go to a yard sale."

"Yeah, though I'm not sure me enabling your scarf addiction is the best idea," Jo said laughing. "Well you'd better go wash them and take something before you sneeze to death."

"Detective the likelihood of that happening is..." Henry broke off as his nose was filled with a massive tickle and quickly turned to the side sneezing four times in rapid succession into the crook of his arm.

"You were saying?" Jo said with a playful smirk.

"Ok fair point," he replied with a chuckle. "I'll go run the scarves through the wash right away. Enjoy the rest of your weekend Jo."

"You too Henry. Feel better," Jo said and got back in her car and drove off.

Henry went inside and headed straight for the laundry room. He carefully placed all of the scarves from the box in the washing machine before finally adding the one he had been wearing placing it lovingly on top of the others. He sneezed one last time as he closed the lid to the washing machine and knew that he was going to wear that scarf again as soon as it was clean.