My first entry to Forever fandom. I absolutely love the chemistry between Henry and Jo. Spoilers for New York Kids.
Enjoy.
Detective Jo Martinez had finally caught up to the perp. After dealing with the rich kids and their secrets this whole investigation she finally had the culprit in her sights.
"Drop your weapon." Jo's voice was authoritative as it always was. Yet Morris did not put his weapon down. "Drop your weapon now!" She said it with more force this time.
Jo knew when he hesitated to drop the weapon that she should have been ready at a moment's notice to fire her own.
Suddenly she found that she could not. Her own words from earlier echoed in her mind alongside images of the last man she shot.
Bullet fever right? Lieutenant I know that that can't happen.
Jo could tell instantly that she was not the only one who noticed her hesitation. Morris had seen it as well.
"No." Morris raised his own gun to point straight at her. Jo immediately knew she needed to pull the trigger, she needed to shoot him. One slight squeeze of the trigger was all it would take, but she could not do it. Her hands and body were froze.
"You drop your weapon." Morris seemed to gain more confidence as microseconds passed.
"It's those rich kids from the city who are the bad guys here, not me." Of course Morris would try to defend himself in this. Even if she did somewhat agree with him about those kids, he was still a murderer. He still needed to pay for his crime.
"Yes." That voice inspired both embarrassment and dread in the detective. The former because now Henry was here to witness her inability to act, the latter because if Morris decided to kill her Henry would likely follow soon after just because he was a witness.
The whole while she would be unable to act.
She was still frozen on the spot.
"We know what they did Mr. Morris. Like we know you were working here that night. The night they hit Meechum. But you knew what they'd done, and when you found out Tyler was wealthy you decided to blackmail him til he decided to confess." Henry took a step closer to Morris as he spoke. Jo wanted nothing more than to grab him and pull him back. If he got too close Morris would panic and shoot.
"Henry stop!" Jo finally found her voice when Henry took yet another step toward Morris. His gun still trained on the both of them. "Henry!"
"It's her or you man, your call." Morris' words horrified Jo. He actually wanted her and Henry to choose which of them to die. Jo wanted to live but she wanted Henry to live more.
The answer was in Jo's mind almost instantly. She was the cop, the detective. It was her job to put her life on the line so that civilians like Henry did not have to. He was just the medical examiner, more than that though, he was her partner. If she had to sacrifice herself to save Henry then she would do so gladly.
Jo looked over at Henry. She could see in his eyes the same horror that she knew to be in hers.
Jo knew the choice that needed to be made.
Before she could lower her gun and step forward to take the bullet Henry interrupted her with words even more shocking than what Morris had said.
"Me, shoot me."
Jo looked over at Henry in total shock. What the hell was he doing? This was not supposed to happen like this. He was not supposed to die.
Henry moves forward again. "Henry stop!"
It was in that moment that time practically froze. Morris began to move his gun so that it was pointed at Henry. He only made it part way however.
That was the push Jo needed. He was going to kill Henry while she stood by and watched.
No way in hell was she going to sit back and let this happen.
Morris' gun only made it halfway toward Henry when Jo pulled the trigger. The bullet struck home into Morris' shoulder sending him to the ground.
Jo did not hesitate as she moved over to the man quickly. "Drop your gun! Drop it!" She kicked it aside. "Roll over. Fingers together, interlace them." She cuffed his hands behind his back with a little more roughness than she figured was needed.
It was not until she was done and the threat was removed that she noticed a certain small detail. Actually it was not small at all, to Jo it was major.
Henry was standing back exactly where she had left him clutching at his arm. Jo could easily see the pain in his posture and facial expression.
She remembered Morris had fired at them as he fled the gas station. She had left Henry there when he told her he was fine. She would have likely just taken his word for it if she had not seen the blood stain running down the sleeve of his arm.
Henry had been shot.
She was already rushing over to him without a second thought.
"I understand Tyler's friends brought in their lawyers." Henry spoke as the pair made their way down the hall toward the cadaver lab.
"Vehicular assault. It's not even manslaughter. They'll do a few years, and the worst part is I don't think even one of them lost a moments sleep over what they did." Jo was worse than disappointed. This entire deal felt like a total failure of the justice system. Those rich kids had murdered a young man, despite it being an accident they tried to hide it and succeeded for years.
It was just wrong in so many ways.
"Yes well in the heat of any moment we all have an instinct for self-preservation." Henry's voiced with a small shrug using his spare arm that was not in the sling.
The movement of his arm is what brought her mind back to what happened in the woods by that gas station. She certainly had a few words for the resident ME.
"Yeah but it's the choices we make after those moments that count right?" Henry stopped moving as Jo's words, his back to her.
"You know, your self-preservation instinct seems nonexistent." Jo continued as she glared daggers at Henry's back.
Part of her wanted to hit him as hard as she possibly could, another just wanted to throw her arms around his thin frame and hug him breathless. She was angry that he was so callous with his own life but at the same time he was almost instantly willing to trade his life for hers.
Perhaps he saw the two of them as more than just partners. Maybe as actual friends, or at least well on the way to being such a thing. Jo found she rather liked the thought.
Something still needed to be done about Henry's disregard for his own life. If he was her friend then he had to know he could not just throw his life away. Regardless of how he saw it his life had great value to her, maybe even more value to her than him if his behavior was any indication.
She was still trying to decide between the punch and the hug. Instead she decided to go with the middle ground to avoid extremes.
"Henry look at me," Jo had had enough of the back treatment so she used her assertive detective voice on him hoping it would work. She was relieved when it did and he turned around.
"Don't ever pull another stunt like you did at that gas station. You understand?" Jo's brown eyes never for a second looked away from Henry's own dark orbs. She would not say it to Henry but she figured a man who notices everything like he does probably caught the real sentence she was not saying. The one she was unsure how he would react to.
You're not allowed to sacrifice yourself, you mean too much to me to die in my place.
Henry did not utter a single word. Instead he nodded slightly with a small bashful smile.
Good, he was at least a little guilty for making her so worried.
As she moved to leave Jo had a thought. She looked over her shoulder at Henry whom had taken a seat in his office. The sling was going to make work difficult for a while.
Biting her lip softly she thought about seeing if he wanted to go out for drinks again like they had done before on a few occasions. It would be a great way to unwind and calm down after what happened today.
Jo sighs as she turned back to the elevator. She would have gladly marched right in there to drag him out of his office if she did not already have an appointment with Reece. The piece of paper the lieutenant gave her earlier still in her pocket.
With one last look behind her Jo began to leave when she saw Henry watching her. He offered her a small smile followed by a tiny wave. She could not help but return both gestures.
Oh yes, they were definitely going out for those drinks later.
If anyone is interested I might try doing a reverse chapter, same thing but from Henry's view instead.
Review please.