Life's Little Mysteries

By: Riley

Summary- [Re-write of Stranger Like Me]. Nothing can get past Dr. Henry Morgan. He notices everything about everyone that passes him by. He never thought that someone else could do the same to him. And when he finds out there's more than meets the eye with the stranger, he wants to help at all costs.

A/N: Whew! Sorry for the long wait on this guys, I wanted to be sure I knew where the story would go before I posted but here it is! The first chapter is the same for the most part but some other parts have been added. I hope you still enjoy reading.

Chapter One

Dr. Henry Morgan was a simple man who had a simple routine. He got up in the morning, had a breakfast of hot tea and a crumpet with butter and cinnamon spread on top. Then he would stop by his antique shop to help Abe pull out the new inventory and put a price on them to be set out.

Antiques weren't things people were normally interested in but they always held a fascinating mystery; where it came from, who had been the most recent owner, and how it connected to history. History was something Henry had always been interested in and would continue to be interested in for years to come. It was a part of him as much as his medical background was.

Once he and Abe had finished setting up the store he would stay for the first hour after opening then walk to work where he was the New York City Medical Examiner, stopping for a cup of coffee in a hole-in-the-wall Mom and Pop shop. Starbucks never caught his fancy. It was overpriced, oversaturated with a marketing campaign that didn't appeal to him. New gimmicks and flashy slogans that were more to appear like they re 'hip' and 'with it' rather than selling their coffee. Abe tried to get him to have a cappuccino from Starbucks but it didn't do much for him. He was perfectly fine with his usual.

On his walk to work Henry watched everyone that came his way and passed him by as well as watching people in front of him. Humans were creatures of habit and while he was the same, he was different in the way he could notice things about people no one else would notice. A woman tucking her hair behind her ear and pushing her glasses up her nose, she was nervous for something. Probably waiting for someone as her eyes continued to dart around from her phone to the sidewalk in front of her. The man standing on the corner, leering at every woman that passed; he was probably looking for a weak target to hook up with. Teenagers that slouched over on their way to school wanting to be anywhere else but locked in rooms to be lectured for hours on end.

Those were the easy ones.

The mysteries of those that took him more than a few minutes to figure out were the ones who gave him pause. Who made him look a little bit longer to see what it was that was wrong. There had been numerous times he managed to accurately deduce his co-workers who hadn't managed to get much sleep and the cause why, able to state those that had a hangover, those who showed early signs of illness. And he was right every single time.

A long history with medicine and people could do that.

The one time he was stumped was later that day. Knuckles deep into the chest of a recently deceased middle aged man when a group of teenagers walked into the examination room led by his associate, Lucas Wahl. He briefly glanced up as Lucas approached the table, his eyes taking in the students and teacher as they came to a stop in front of him.

Right, they were there for a field trip of some sort. He briefly remembered his boss, Lieutenant Joanna Reece, giving him the heads up. He must've been so engrossed in his work that he had forgotten. Never mind, an audience was something he was used to. That short amount of time he spent working as a mentalist of sorts—guessing weight and thoughts to make some money—was put to good use. As much as he enjoyed being by himself he wasn't afraid being in the spotlight at times.

He liked people that much.

"And this is Dr. Henry Morgan," Lucas was saying, motioning to him. "He's our leading medical examiner. Not only is he able to correctly diagnose what has been the cause of death for those that are brought in here, but he can even do it at times without even having to open the body to do so." He leaned towards the students, placing a hand by the side of his mouth. Henry rolled his eyes when Lucas whispered conspiratorially, "And let me tell you that can be very creepy."

"You find that creepy when we have a class filled with high school students coming to visit a medical examiner? Especially when they're the most hormonal creatures on the planet and can find they base their decisions off of emotions rather than thought?" Henry replied with a quirk of an eyebrow and a half smile.

Lucas rolled his head towards his colleague and gave him a warm smile. But the look in his eyes wasn't exactly warm. They darted over towards the teacher and back to Henry in rapid succession. Henry cleared his throat at the silence that stretched, so his joke didn't go over so well. That was just fine, his jokes didn't always strike their mark but they made him chuckle.

Henry's lips twitched into a small smile to silently calm Lucas, before he turned to the teacher, who had opened her mouth to respond. "I assume that this is for a physiology class. And if I'm to assume even further it, specifically, is for an advanced class."

The teacher's eyes widened. "H-how did you know that?" She stammered, clearly impressed with how he could've deducted it just from glancing at the students.

Henry pulled back from the body in front of him, blood sticking to the fingers of his gloves. He nodded over to the student that was standing directly in front of him; had noticed the notebook that she was holding in front of her. "Physiology is one of the few courses that would have students visit a medical examiner." He cleared his throat. "Not only is she ready to take notes, but she's clearly not the only one as there are pens or pencils sticking out of the pockets of all of the students, which indicates they're high achieving students as others would be listening to their music players. Then there's the fact that there are scuffs on the front of some of the shoes that hold a certain smudge of dirt which is reminiscent of being in the subway giving the idea that you've come from out of the city to get here, and there aren't many cases where students at this time of day, would be out of school."

He then smiled a wide, inviting smile and motioned to the body lying on the table in front of him. "Would anyone care to guess what has caused the death to this…specimen?" A specimen indeed. It was easier for him to handle working on these cases when he didn't put the body to a soul that had once been living.

"Don't feel bad if you can't get it right," Lucas said to the students. He tilted his head toward Henry, giving a small smile. "He's the only one I know that can do it within a few seconds."

He was also the only one who could effectively wow and spook Lucas with that talent. Nevertheless, Henry took a step back and allowed the students to crowd around and examine the body. Despite them all wearing gloves, none of the students were brave enough to directly touch the body.

I suppose they wouldn't be, Henry through as he watched them, hands clasped together behind his back. Death is a very scary thing and if you're not around it every day it can be very unsettling.

A few guesses came left and right from a heart attack, to an allergy, to head trauma. It wasn't until the last boy that stood at the end spoke up that Henry took notice. He looked like a normal fifteen year old boy, shaggy black hair and pensive dark blue eyes. And much like other teens he had come across he was wearing a baggy blue sweatshirt—that appeared to be a little dirty—and black jeans.

He had been silent, eyes moving over the body, listening to his classmates before he confidently stated, "This man died from a drug overdose," he said.

Henry blinked and looked at him for a long moment. Amazing. The boy was right. What was more, he was very confident about his guess, not wavering at all.

"And what brought you to that conclusion?" Henry asked.

As the boy brought in a deep breath through his nose, he pressed his lips together and dimples appeared in his cheeks. "The skin is flushed a light pink which shows the potential of a heightened temperature if not an increase of blood pressure. The way his eyes don't particularly seem to be focused, with the eyebrows slightly raised, shows that sleepiness or confusion set in when he was overdosing. Despite the fact that the temperature of the body had obviously risen, again, according to the flushness of the skin, there are no overt signs of sweat, which can also come during an overdose. From the way his hand is at his side, appearing to have been forced down after rigor mortis set in, he had chest pain and if I'm correct in assuming, if you open his mouth and take a swab you may find some vomit, yeah?"

Henry continued to stare at the boy; listening to the boy s he spoke. There was something about him, about the way he was speaking and sounding as if he was trying to downplay himself, but knew what he was talking about. He had only ever seen it happen to one person before and that was from himself. Being immortal, having seen so much over his years of life, he had become so perceptive it was like second nature. A quick glance at someone and he could tell what kind of personality they had and more than likely figure out what their plans for that day were.

For example, looking at the teacher, he could tell that she was a middle-aged woman who was looking for a date. The makeup carefully placed on her face only had a few smudges but she otherwise, cared a lot about her appearance. He could see the wrinkles that were starting to form under her foundation. There were bags under her eyes that indicated she had many late nights working on her schoolwork and the way she would look at her students every now and then with a smile proved she cared a lot about how she was helping them with their schooling as they continued on with life.

Still, it wasn't something so easy for other people to pick up on.

There were a lot of things he got out of her, but this boy…he was different.

"There are no track marks though," Lucas pointed out.

The boy shrugged. "Check the webs of the fingers and toes, more often than not drug users inject there as it's harder to detect. Not only that, but check the side of the foot, where there are numerous veins. I heard that it was a new spot for drug users as well."

Eyes trained on the boy, Henry slowly walked around the examining table, removing the gloves that were on his hands. "You, sir, made a remarkable guess."

"No, he's just perceptive," The teacher said. "He's always been able to do things like that."

"No, I'm just smart," the boy replied with a slight smirk.

"You're not modest either," Lucas commented. The boy shrugged and flicked his hair out of his face but didn't bother to deny the accusation.

"That's Sydney," the teacher continued. "He's a remarkable talent with his perceptiveness, gets top marks on all of his papers and tests. He was really excited to be able to come here today, to meet you, actually."

Those words surprised Henry for a moment before he mentally panicked. How much did this kid know about him? Was he ware of his immortality as well? Was he aware that the moment he died his body would disappear and he would appear in the nearest body of water completely naked? And if so, how was that possible if Abram was the only one that knew it? And no one else had managed to come close to figuring out what made the doctor so mysterious.

Instead of speaking all of those thoughts, he decided to go with what would make him sound less suspicious. It was a ridiculous notion, really. How would a fifteen year old know about his immortality within a few seconds of being around him when no one else did?

Don't panic yet Henry. This might purely be a conincedence.

"Is that so?" Henry asked.

"I've heard loads about what you've managed to accomplish while here," Sydney said. "I mean, not only are you able to deduce a death just from a few seconds of probing, but you've assisted many police cases over the past couple of years."

Slowly smiling, Henry nodded. He and Lucas went through the rest of what was to be done as a medical examiner as well as showed the students around the facility before it was time for them to leave. As the students trooped by them, Henry caught Sydney's attention.

"You're not an American," he said to the boy. Sydney turned and looked at him, raising an eyebrow. "Not only is it that you appear to be more tanned than the other students, proving that you live closer to the equator, but your facial features are slightly different than that of an American. There is a slight hint of Asian in your features but it seems to be overshadowed by an Australian lineage. And when you speak, there is an American accent that comes out; however your pronunciations of the letters 'h' and 'o' are slightly different, reminiscent of one that is Australian."

Now Sydney turned to face him completely.

"And if that were the case, it makes me wonder what it is that you're doing in New York and how do you know so much about me," The British doctor continued.

"I already said, I'm really smart," Sydney said, this time he dropped his American accent and replaced it with an Australian one, confirming Henry's deductions. "In fact, I'm actually a part of Mensa. And, like I've also stated, I know a lot about you because I enjoy seeing how well you deduct things."

"But considering you had slight difficulty to hide the 'h' and 'o' in your words it proves that you haven't been using an American accent for long, meaning that you're purposefully hiding your Australian accent and I can't help but wonder why."

"I just moved here. My dad got a new job. I want to fit in."

Henry chuckled. "I assure you that the foreign accent has a tendency to yield more attention and friendship than another American one." He hadn't dated much but even he noticed when women were interested in him due to his own accent.

Sydney's eyebrows rose and he turned to catch up with his class, hands still in the front pocket of his sweatshirt as they always had been. Henry watched him leave, crossing his arms over his chest. He glanced back at the cadaver that sat resting on the table, eyes narrowing for a moment. He was sure the boy wasn't one that could die and come back to life, if he had, he wouldn't be so young.

Still, there was something about the boy that was intriguing.

Not many people were as perceptive as he was and that only came from years of dying and coming back to life, so much so that it was starting to get old.

And knowing there was someone out there that understood a little bit about what he was going through comforted him a little bit.

But it also made him even more curious.

A/N: So please leave a review and let me know about the pacing, the characters, anything else you'd like to point out! Thanks!