IMPORTANT! This is sort of a crossover with Hannah's, It Could Be Worse chapter fic! Meaning, JO KNOWS his secret! Just a heads up.

Thank you all for reading and reviewing! :D Disclaimer: We own nothing.

Henry took a sip of his water, enjoying the company of his son and taste of Abe's good food. He always enjoyed Abe's food - but some dishes never grew old, and this held many memories of some of Abe's earlier attempts at cooking. He smiled at the memory.

"If you had one day off, and you could go anywhere, with anyone, where and who?" Abe asked, breaking the silence. He looked up from the plate, meeting his father's eyes with a look of curiosity.

Henry looked up from his food, and carefully swallowed his bite before answering. "Must I have only one companion?"

"Alright, fine, you've convinced me. Two." Abraham stabbed at his food, still looking at Henry as he took another bite, chewing and swallowing and staring in wait.

Henry smiled. "I would take Abigail and you, and go to an empty field and spend the day there together - with picnic meals, of course." He sighed, and asked before taking another bite, "And you?"

"I don't know. Probably the same," he answered and frowned at his plate, cutting at the spaghetti squash then taking yet another bite.

"May I ask, why the question?"

"Can't I ask my father a question?" Abe replied, but eventually went on to elaborate. "I just want... Need you to let someone else in. Because we both know I'm not going to last much longer- I know how much you hate this topic. I just need you to understand that, eventually, you'll need someone. Someone else."

Henry flinched as Abe elaborated. "No, I don't like to discuss it..." He replied in a subdued tone. "And I perhaps I will. Someday."

"Yeah," Abe said quietly, his only reply.

Henry sighed, upset that he had ruined the comfortable silence they had before, but still unable to face the inevitable conclusion to Abe's part in his life. Chewing on a bite of garlic bread, he carefully searched the steamed broccoli for worms - an old habit he hadn't been able to drop. Thinking of the first time Abe had found worms in his broccolli (he had been fascinated at first, until he realized what the slimy taste from earlier in his food had been - then had knocked over his water glass in his haste to leave the table and rinse out his mouth), Henry started chuckling. Seconds later, he knew he made a mistake of laughing with food in his mouth.

"Henry?" Abe asked cautiously, seeing the expression that passed Morgan's face. "Henry? What happened?" he asked, starting to stand up, palms on the table. "Dad?"

Henry's fork clattered to the table, and bounced down to the floor. His hand automatically went to his throat as he struggled to bring in any air. He struggled to stand up, he mind beginning to blur into panic; and he stared at Abe in fear as he was unable to answer his son's worried questions.

Abe cursed loudly, crossing to the other side and putting his hands on Henry's shoulders. Frozen, he tried to think of what to do. He couldn't exactly call 911 in case Henry died while the paramedics were there, watching. He tried standing behind his father to the left, supporting his chest with one hand and leaning him forward, giving him sharp blows between the shoulder blades with the heel of his free hand.

Henry could feel Abe near him, could feel the hits on his back - but was unable to focus on anything. Getting dizzy from lack of air, he stumbled, and his vision began to black out around the edges.

Vaguely, a thought crossed Abe's mind. He was getting to old for this. For all of it. "Henry, listen to me, you're going to be okay," he said, pain and exhaustion lining his voice.

Henry reached out with one hand and tried to grab the edge of the table to support himself, but instead tipped over his cup of water as he collapsed to the floor. Faintly, he heard Abe saying something to him, and he tried to latch on to that - to calm himself down. In the forefront of his mind, a voice was screaming that Abe was abandoning him - not even trying to save him. In the background, quickly fading behind oxygen deprivation, logic pointed out that Henry was in no danger of permanent damage, and Abe was getting too old to be expected to do things like this all of the time. Terrified, Henry reached out a hand to Abe, praying that he would understand and take it.

Abe got next to his father, taking his hand, staring at him through tired eyes; a pained stare. He hated this. Pain was the main reason people feared death, and Henry didn't die. He just experienced pain, death eluding him for what seemed to be eternity. Not that Abe wanted him to die. But he'd learned that there were much worse fates than death.

Henry grasped Abe's hand with all of his strength, accepting the comfort it offered and saying goodbye - for the moment - to his son.

Moments later, his eyes slid shut and his grip relaxed.

As soon as Henry's grip went lax, the immortal disappeared.

As Henry gasped and awoke again, he was aware of two things: he hated choking to death, and there was someone screaming.

"Henry Morgan! What do you think you're doing in my wash machine?"

The doctor opened his eyes and looked around him in confusion, the last vestiges of panic finally leaving his mind. Realizing he stood in the midst of Jo's rapidly filling washing machine, He blushed and avoided looking anywhere near the detective. "Would you be so kind as to pass me a towel?"

Jo sighed and pulled a green, terrycloth robe off the hook behind the bathroom door. "Here." She handed it to him and looked away while he put it on and climbed out of her washer. "Do I want to know what happened?"

"I ate broccolli."

She blinked at him, trying to connect brocolli - the vegetable that's always said to be healthy - with Henry's death, especially considering as he had no alergies. "Okay..." She finished loading up the washer and then shut the lid. Turning back to Henry, she asked, "Do you need a ride home tonight?"

"Yes, please - thank you."

"No problem." She gathered up her license and car keys and led the way out to her modest car. Henry buckled himself into the passenger seat, and the ride back to Abe's Antiques was short and quiet.

When they pulled up in front of the shop, Henry quickly unbuckled and got out of the car. "Thank you, Detective - I will return your robe to you tomorrow."

"It's fine - and, Henry?" She called after him as left, "Be careful!"