Chapter two is complete! Hope you enjoy it!

The brakes of Jo's car squealed slightly as she pulled up outside the shop that night, her headlights casting golden beams of light down the road. Looking into the shop from where she sat she saw Abe come into the room and head towards the desk, yelling something over his shoulder. A few seconds later Jo saw Henry come in, laughing. He went up to Abe and stood behind him, resting a hand on his shoulder as he learnt over to see what Abe was looking at on the desk.

He looked much more at ease and like himself than he had during the day.

After a moment Abe straightened up, waving a small piece of paper at Henry as he turned to leave the room. Henry called something after him, his face crinkled in a smile, but Jo wasn't sure what they were discussing. To her their mouths were moving but no sound was coming out.

As she watched Henry strode towards the window, looking out down the street away from Jo, the smile slowly dropping off his face. His posture returned to the one she had seen him wear in the morgue earlier that day, as if the weight of the world rested on his shoulders. The smile was completely gone by now, replaced instead with an empty look.

Jo opened the car door and slammed it behind her, the sound echoing down the empty street. The sound must have reached Henry through the window, as he turned towards Jo. When he saw her a small smile grew on his face, although Jo noticed that it didn't reach his eyes.

"Detective." Henry greeted her as he opened the door to allow her in.

"Hey, Henry." Jo replied as she stepped over the threshold.

"To what do I owe this pleasure?" He asked as he held out his hands for her coat.

"To be honest, Henry, I came to see how you were." Jo said as she folded the coat over his arm. "You seemed a little bit down today. Is something wrong? You can tell me anything, you know."

Henry bowed his head slightly, a slightly more genuine smile tugging at the corner of his mouth, causing his lines around his eyes to crinkle slightly. It was only then Jo realised how many wrinkles he had, and how much he had seemed to age in the last… she cast her mind back, trying to think. How long had it been? How much he had seemed to age in the last few months.

"That's very kind of you, detective, but I am more than fine." He said, raising his shoulders slightly before dropping them in a casual shrug.

"Really?" Jo sked sceptically. "I do mean it, you know. You can tell me anything." She studied Henry as he looked down at his hands, his fingers turning his pocket watch over one way before turning it back the other way.

Eventually he looked up, his face more relaxed than she had seen it all day apart from when she watched him with Abe though the window. "I know. And thank you for that, and for coming to see how I was faring, but I assure you I am my normal self." Henry sent her a brief smile before gesturing towards the door. "I'm sorry, detective, but it is getting rather late…" he trailed off, hoping she would get the message. She did.

"Of course, I don't want to keep you up." Jo smiled at him as she took her coat back. "Night, Henry. Abe." She nodded towards Abe who had just entered the room. As the door shut behind her she turned, catching Henry's eye. Anything. She mouthed at him, raising her eyebrows slightly, before waving to Abe and turning to head towards her car. As she stepped out of the doorway she heard the key click in the lock as Henry locked the door, and she couldn't help but feel as though she was being locked out, both from the shop and from Henry.

It wasn't until she was seated in her car with the engine running that she realised that in their whole conversation Henry hadn't called her by her name once, instead referring to her as 'detective'.

"What was that about?" Abe asked as Henry locked the door behind Jo.

"Nothing." Henry assured him, removing the key from the lock with a clunking sound. "She was in the neighbourhood on some personal business and she just popped over for a minute of two."

"What business does Jo have in this part of town at past nine at night?" Abe asked sending Henry a sharp look.

"She didn't say and I didn't ask." Henry replied, watching as Jo's car pulled away from the curb and disappeared into the night.

"Henry." Abe huffed, his sigh filling the room, "I overheard some of your conversation. For Jo to come here asking if you're ok, she must have a reason to believe you're not." He waited to see how Henry would reply. His father stood by the shop door, looking out into the darkened street filled with lights.

"Truly, Abe. I'm fine." Henry finally responded, although Abe could tell that he wasn't fine from the stoop of his shoulders and the tension in his neck.

"Come on, Henry." Abe raised his voice slightly in exasperation. "I've put you back together and gotten your life back on track so many times in the past, do you really think once more is going to make a difference to me?" He let that skin in, watching Henry's back. "Aw come on, Pops, you know I can help you."

At that Henry snapped and turned to face Abe, his voice also rising in volume. "That is not the point, Abraham. You are my son; you are not meant to deal with my emotions and help me. That is not how it works." He stormed past Abe and up the stairs to the apartment, his steps echoing around the shop.

"Well that went well." Abe mused to himself as he heard Henry's door shut loudly above him.

Henry sat down on his bed, his anger already evaporating. He picked up the photo of Abigail from his bedside table; a replica of the one in his laboratory.

"I've tried, just like I promised you I would. But this case is hard for me, and people are noticing." He said, looking down lovingly at the photo. A tear dripped of his nose and landed on the glass of the frame, shining above Abigail's face. Henry gently wiped it off. "I promise," he said to her, "I'll be stronger from now on."

But as the night grew darker and longer and quieter it also grew more sinister for Henry. And he knew he might not be able to keep that promise. No matter how hard he tried. No matter how much Abigail had believed in him.

Please review with your thoughts! Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates it!