A/N: Alright, somebody needs to write me some Teddy/Henry. I don't care. Just . . . something. I'm desperate. On another note, as much as I wish I did, I don't own any of it.
A week had passed since the lock down. It had turned out to be nothing, really. The "missing" patient had been hiding in the basement. Nevertheless, it had the staff looking over their shoulders.
A week had passed since Teddy and Henry had had mind-blowing sex in his room, during the lock down. Against the wall. In the chair. On the bed.
And now, Henry was being released. Teddy was trying not to act like a giddy little school girl, but she would have been lying if she'd said that she wasn't excited. His release meant that he was okay. The second surgery had been highly successful.
So much for it not mattering. So much for it being nothing. So much for just friends. So much for that cocky little grin and those gorgeous eyes being resistible. She hated that she had no control over herself when it came to that man. Hated that her knees went weak when he kissed her. Hated in a good way, of course.
"You ready to get out of here?" Henry signed the last dotted line and swung his bag over his shoulder. He was wearing the same clothing he had worn on their date.
She took his hand when he extended it to her, and they fell in step together as they exited the hospital. Teddy would be back, but hopefully, Henry would not. "So where, exactly, are we going?" she asked as they reached not her car this time, but his truck.
"It's a surprise," he told her. But he'd never been very good at keeping secrets. After opening the passenger door for her, he tossed his bag into the center seat and got in behind the wheel. Before he turned the key in the ignition, he shifted his position in the seat so that he was facing Teddy, "I'm not good with surprises. So, I'll tell you. We're going to my place so that I can shower and get into some clean clothes. Then I have to talk to you about something. Then, maybe, I'll show you something. And after that, maybe, I'd like you to meet someone."
She chuckled, "What a man of mystery you are."
x
It turned out that they didn't live too far from one another. Six blocks, to be exact. They established that they often bought their morning coffee at the same place. That the stop light before the entrance to the mall never changed. That the same old man went through the recycling outside of the apartment buildings.
The apartment building that he lived in was approximately the same size as hers, but less appealing on the outside. Graffiti plastered the right side of the building almost completely, until your eyes scanned above the second floor. The glass in the front door looked as if it had been kicked in, and then rather than having the glass changed, the unknown handyman had taped over it with electrical tape.
But, Teddy wasn't one to judge a book by its cover. She had learned long ago that being too judgemental got you nowhere.
When Henry opened the door to his apartment on the sixth floor, Teddy found herself pleasantly surprised. His place was surprisingly tidy to say that he was a man, and that there was no woman living with him. There she was, expecting him to be stereotypical, when he had proven at least a dozen times that he was far from the stereotype.
"I'm . . . intimidated, I think," she said as she scanned the area.
Dropping his bag onto the couch, he raised a brow, "Why's that?"
"Even my house isn't this clean."
"Oh. Yeah. I'm . . . uh . . . kinda sorta a clean freak. I mean, not crazy-in-need-of-therapy clean freak, but, you know, don't leave anything hanging around. If a fluff is on the couch, make sure you vacuum the carpet, too."
"Are you serious?"
"No," he broke into a smile, "The old lady next door, her name is Evelyn, she comes and cleans once a week."
"How can you afford a cleaning lady?" There was skepticism in her tone. Henry had proven to be a joker about many serious matters so far, she wasn't sure he was being legitimate.
Taking off his running shows, he shrugged and began unbuttoning his plaid shirt, "I can't. But . . . she can't afford the rent, so one outweighs the other, I guess." He allowed his shirt to drop to the floor and then stepped forward, unbuttoning her jeans.
"What do you think you're doing, Mister?" she teased.
"I'm going for a shower."
"Mhm?"
"Thought you might like to join me," Henry suggested, moving his hands to the zipper. His knuckles brushed against the sensitive skin above her underwear, causing her heart to skip a beat. She ran her hands across his broad chest, outlining the muscles beneath his shirt. God, she wanted him naked. Correction: she needed him naked.
x
They'd stayed in the shower until the water ran cold. Now Henry placed gentle kisses on Teddy's shoulder as she brushed her hair in the mirror, a towel wrapped around her. He took the brush from her hand and set it down on the bathroom counter, grasping her by the waist and turning her round so that she faced him.
Teddy instantly recognized that he was serious, his eyes searching her face for something, but she wasn't sure of what, exactly. His thumb stroked the terrycloth with a steady rhythm over her ribs.
"Teddy," he began. He was making her nervous, "I want a divorce."
A/N: Yup. Evil, evil cliffhanger. :) Review!
