Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.
Warnings: Mentions of nausea and vomiting.
Spoilers: This story takes place after Season 1 Episode 8 and makes a vague reference to something that happened at the end of this episode.
Jo stopped by the morgue after work to ask Henry if he wanted to get a drink with her. As she approached his office she saw that he was doubled over bracing himself against his desk with his right hand and had his left arm wrapped around his abdomen. She rushed to his side and saw that he was flushed and sweating. "Henry what happened? What's wrong?"
"Stomach..." Henry managed to groan out between waves of pain.
Jo placed her hand on his cheek and felt that he was burning up. "How long have you been like this?"
Henry was in too much pain to answer at first, but quickly answered once the pain had subsided enough. "I've been experiencing moderate abdominal cramping for several hours, but it didn't get this bad until about ten minutes ago."
"Where exactly does it hurt?"
If Henry wasn't in such agony he would have been amused at her trying to assess his medical condition. He doubled over in another wave of pain and could only point to the area on the right side of his abdomen.
"Hmm, you're running a bad fever right now. Have you had your appendix out?" she asked knowing that the spot he was pointing to was in the general area of the appendix.
Henry wasn't sure how to answer this one. He'd had his appendix out, multiple times in fact, but it would always come back the next time he died. Whenever possible he would simply euthanize himself if he had another attack of appendicitis. It was far less painful than surgery and he didn't want to arouse suspicion should the hospitals catch on to the fact that he'd already had his appendix out in their facility. He had been about to call Abe to come and get him before Jo had burst into his office.
"Nevermind, of course you haven't," said Jo interrupting his thoughts. "I would have seen the scar when I saw the one on your chest."
"Please take me home Jo," Henry begged trying not to whimper.
"Are you crazy? If it is your appendix then you could die! You're going to the hospital." She dialed 911 on her cell phone, gave her badge number and the building address, and explained the situation. "Ok the ambulance should be here soon. Do you think you can make it to the building lobby?" Henry nodded, but he swayed on his feet when he let go of the desk and tried to walk. Jo caught him around the waist before he fell over. "Ok, just lean on me Henry." They slowly made their way to the building lobby and sat down in a couple of chairs to wait for the ambulance.
"I just want to go home," said Henry in a soft voice, with an expression of almost childlike fear. "Call the ambulance and tell them not to come. Abe will take care of me." He hated being in the hospital, but he was mostly scared of dying during surgery and all the problems that would cause. He knew that it was much less likely to happen than it would a hundred years ago, but it was still a big concern for him.
Jo shook her head in disbelief. She couldn't believe a doctor as skilled as Henry would want to risk his life like this. "No one likes going to the hospital Henry, but it's better than dying. You're really sick right now."
"Yes sick... going to be sick," he replied suddenly feeling like he was going to throw up from the pain and he covered his mouth with one hand.
"Shit, ok hold on." Jo quickly found a small trashcan and handed it to him.
Henry snatched the trashcan from her and started gagging as his body was wracked with dry heaves. Nothing came up though. He had thrown up a couple of times in his office before Jo had arrived and there was nothing left in his stomach. He set the trashcan down once the nausea had passed. He closed his eyes and groaned at the intensified pain that the spasms had caused. He was vaguely aware of Jo rubbing his back and he opened his eyes and smiled weakly at her.
Jo was relieved that he hadn't actually thrown up because that was never a pleasant thing to watch, but the dry heaves had clearly taken a lot out of him. His face was even more flushed than it had been and he was covered in sweat. "Just sit tight. I'll be right back," she said giving his shoulder a quick squeeze. She ran off to the nearest bathroom, wet some paper towels in the sink, and then quickly made her way back to Henry and started wiping down his face and neck with the makeshift cold compresses.
Henry sighed, the coolness of the wet paper towels on his skin was a small comfort. "Thank you Jo."
"Just take it easy, the ambulance should be here any minute. You're going to be fine," she said grabbing hold of his hand squeezing tightly trying to reassure him.
"Yes I know," he said trying to smile at her and hide how much pain he was in. Moments later the paramedics arrived, and got him up onto the stretcher. He knew that they were taking his vitals and Jo was talking to them, but it all seemed a blur. He was in so much pain at this point that he was barely holding on to consciousness. The paramedics started an IV on him and injected him with something that took the edge off the pain. They wheeled him out of the building and loaded him into the ambulance. Much to his surprise Jo climbed into the back of the ambulance with him. She held his hand once more and stroked his palm in small circles with her thumb as a small attempt at comfort. He drifted in and out of consciousness during the ride and at some point he was aware of Jo calling Abe to let him know which hospital they were going to.
Shortly after arriving at the hospital Henry was taken for some imaging and was whisked off to the operating room as soon as they could confirm that he did in fact have appendicitis. When he woke up he saw both Jo and Abe sitting in chairs by his bed. Jo was doing something on her smart phone and Abe was fast asleep.
Jo looked up from her phone and smiled at Henry. "Hey you're finally awake."
"What time is it?" he asked struggling to sit up until a sharp stab of pain in his abdomen stopped him. He gasped from it and fell back against the bed.
"Whoa take it easy there, you've got a lot of healing to do," said Jo and handed him the controls to adjust the bed along with the pain pump. "It's about a quarter after midnight."
Henry nodded and raised the head of the bed up a little bit. He stared at the pain pump for a few seconds but didn't press the button on it. "How's Abe holding up?"
Jo shook her head and smiled. It was so like him to be more worried about Abe when he was the one who'd just had major surgery. "He's fine, he's just tired and worried about you. You were really lucky you know. The surgeon said that if you'd gotten to the hospital an hour later your appendix would have probably burst before they could operate. Use the pain pump, you don't need to put on a brave face for me."
"I will later. I'd like to remain alert for a little while longer."
Jo rolled her eyes but didn't argue with him. "You want to hear something strange?"
"Always," Henry replied with a weak smile.
"The doctors said that according to your chart you'd already had your appendix out. That's a pretty big clerical error."
"Yes, though it's understandable. I've been here before thinking I had appendicitis when it turned out to be food poisoning," Henry lied. "I was rather hoping that was the case this time as well."
"Yeah no such luck. Well I should go and let you get some rest. I have a feeling you won't give in and use that pain pump until I'm gone," said Jo sardonically.
Henry chuckled. "Yes you're probably right. Thank you for saving my life Jo." He felt slightly ridiculous saying it, but Jo didn't know that he was never in any danger of dying permanently and he knew she'd appreciate the sentiment.
Jo just shrugged and smiled. "I just got you here. It's the surgeon that saved your life." She stood up and patted him on the shoulder. "Get well soon Henry." She walked to the door and turned to give him one last smile before she left.
Henry looked over at Abe half tempted to wake him up so that his son would know that he was ok, but quickly changed his mind. Abe would know he'd be fine and they'd talk in the morning. He sighed and pressed the button on his pain pump and soon fell back to sleep.