Jo comes over to Henry's apartment to discuss his breakthrough in the case and then they have dessert with Abe and watch some Doctor Who afterward. Note: There are spoilers for the Doctor Who episode Utopia in this chapter.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.
Warnings: Blood and Gore, Temporary Character Death, mentions of Suicide
Spoilers: Scattered references to events from random episodes up through season 1 episode 8.
Author's Notes: This story is a very minor crossover with Stargate SG-1. Only one Stargate SG-1 character is mentioned in a few chapters. You won't be lost if you aren't familiar with Stargate SG-1, but those that are will be able to appreciate a bit of added humor.
Suicide is joked about and even occurs at some point during the story, but since it's in relation to a character that can't permanently die, it's not a big deal. If for any reason you think this might offend or upset you, please don't read this story.
"Hello Rudolph," Jo said with a smirk as Henry let her into the antique shop.
"Excuse me?" he answered with a puzzled expression.
"I don't think I've ever seen your nose quite this shade of red before," Jo teased.
"Clever," said Henry narrowing his eyes at her.
"Ok ok sorry, I guess it sounded funnier in my head." Henry locked up the shop again and led her upstairs. "Are you alright? Your voice sounds just as bad as it did on the phone. I thought it was bad cell reception."
Henry sniffled and shrugged. "Just the remnants of a violent sneezing fit before dinner."
"What brought it on this time?"
"I'd rather not say," he answered feeling a bit embarrassed about the circumstances.
"Come on Henry, I promise I won't laugh. I just want to make sure I don't accidentally expose you to whatever it was."
Henry smiled. "There's little chance of that happening. I was trying a prescription nasal spray and it had opposite the desired effect." He left out the part how he was foolish for even trying it to begin with due to his past experiences with that type of medication.
"Oh that's too bad. I've heard that many people find them more effective than pills," said Jo sympathetically. "Something smells good, is Abe baking something?" she asked as they entered the living room.
Henry sniffed the air unsure what she was talking about, then let out two harsh sneezes against the back of his wrist as the action irritated his nasal passages. "I can't smell much of anything right now, but he's probably making something for dessert. Would you care for some coffee?"
Jo smiled. "Sure, decaf if you have it. I'll be up all night if I have regular this late."
Henry nodded. "Make yourself comfortable, I'll be back shortly."
Jo took a seat on the couch as Henry went off to the kitchen and looked around the room. It certainly wasn't the first time she'd been in his apartment, but she really enjoyed looking at all the old antique furniture. She glanced at the laptop on the coffee table with the screen saver playing on the screen. Curious as to what Henry's big breakthrough was she tried to bring up the desktop, but unfortunately it was password protected. She started trying to type in a guess at the password when Henry came back with the coffee.
"What are you doing?" he asked sounding amused.
"Trying to guess your password," Jo answered unashamedly.
"And what's your best guess?"
"I'll bet it has something to do with scarves."
Henry chuckled and sat down next to Jo handing her a mug of coffee. "This is Abe's computer not mine. I only borrow it from time to time. Even if it were my device do you really think I'd pick such an obvious password?"
Jo laughed. "No I suppose not."
"I hope you like blueberries. Abe's made scones for dessert. They're still cooling off, but we can have them in a little while."
"Sounds good, I can't wait to try them. So what was your big breakthrough?"
Henry took a sip of coffee, then typed in the password on the computer and brought up an image of the tattooed corpse and zoomed in several times. "Do you see those numbers within the tattoos?"
Jo's eyes widened in surprise. "Yeah, hey that's binary code isn't it?"
Henry nodded. "So you know what it is then?"
"Well I can't read it or anything, but yes I've seen binary code before," Jo answered and took a long sip of her coffee.
"Likewise, I can recognize the code but not read it. I am fluent in a number of languages, but none of them include any kind of computer programming."
Jo laughed. "That really doesn't surprise me, nor am I surprised that you don't actually own your own computer."
Henry shrugged and then turned to the side sneezing harshly into the crook of his arm and sniffled. "Normally I have little use for computers outside of work and Abe doesn't mind letting me borrow his on occasion."
"Well I'll have tech get on this first thing in the morning," said Jo. "You know you could have just told me about this over the phone."
"I wanted you to see for yourself how small the coding actually is. There is no possible way something like this could have been manually tattooed. It would require some sort of robotics assisted technology," Henry explained.
Jo nodded. "You still could have told me all of this on the phone. I think you just wanted some company," she said teasingly.
Henry shrugged and didn't deny it. "Well I love Abe, but sometimes..." he trailed off.
"You'd rather talk to someone your own age?"
Henry laughed then sighed sadly. While it was true that he appeared close in age to Jo, in reality she was closer in age to Abe than she was to him. There wasn't anyone on the planet that he knew of his own age. Even to Adam he was just a baby if his claims were truthful. "It's not just about age though."
"I know. None of my other friends know what it's like to lose someone they were madly in love with. Even if we don't talk about it, it's still nice to spend time with someone who you know can relate to what you're going through."
"Yes it certainly is." Henry smiled and gave Jo's hand a quick squeeze.
Abe emerged from the kitchen carrying three small plates of scones. He raised an eyebrow when he saw Henry holding Jo's hand but didn't draw attention to it. "Are you two done working?" he asked setting a plate down in front of each of them and taking a seat in the armchair.
"Yes we're finished." Henry exited the program and closed the laptop.
"Wow these are really good," said Jo after taking a bite out of one of the scones. "Maybe you should have opened a bakery instead of an antiques shop."
"I'm glad you like them, but this is really just a hobby," Abe answered.
"It looks like he's enjoying them too," said Jo smirking when she glanced at Henry and saw him slowly chewing the scone with his eyes closed and a look of pure bliss on his face.
Abe laughed. "Yeah they're his favorite dessert."
"Indeed they are." Henry barely suppressed a moan as he took another bite. Abe had been making these scones a lot lately, but he never got tired of them.
"Time for a bit of entertainment I think." Abe turned on the TV and brought up Netflix then selected Doctor Who.
"You watch Doctor Who?" Jo asked surprised.
"Well I started watching the show when I was in my twenties and I never stopped enjoying it all these years later," Abe replied. "Have you seen it?"
Jo shook her head. "Only a few scattered episodes."
"Great, I'll show you some of my favorites!" said Abe grinning.
Henry narrowed his eyes at Abe and shot him a look that was a cross between 'don't you dare' and 'oh not again'. He knew Abe was going to put on the Utopia episode in which they learned that the character Jack Harkness had lost the ability to die permanently after an accident. He knew that it was unlikely that Jo would associate that character with him, but he was still uncomfortable watching the episode in her presence. Abe merely gave him a fake innocent smile in return. "I guess we're going to be here awhile," he said resignedly.
"Actually I should probably get going, but you boys have fun. Thanks for the dessert Abe."
"Oh come on, just stay for one episode," Abe insisted.
Jo smiled. "Alright, what the hell, why not?" she answered figuring it couldn't hurt to stay a little longer and humor Abe if it made him happy.
Henry stifled a trio of sneezes against the back of his hand and then stood up. "I'll be right back, you two start without me." Though the medicine had caused his symptoms to die down considerably, the tickling in his nose would still flare up unexpectedly. He retrieved a couple of handkerchiefs from his room and then returned to the living room sitting back down next to Jo and settled in for the long haul knowing that they'd probably be watching more than one episode despite what Abe had said. When he glanced at the screen he saw that Abe had indeed selected the Utopia episode as he had predicted.
"You tricked me!" Jo exclaimed laughing when it was over. "You convinced me to stay for one episode and then picked one that ends with to be continued. Now I have to see what happens next." Abe chuckled and played the next episode, neither he or Henry mentioning the fact that this was in fact a three part episode. She felt a bit annoyed when 'to be continued' flashed again at the end of the second episode, but she didn't say anything. She really wanted to see how this ended. Henry dozed off in the middle of the third episode and slumped over against her with his head on her shoulder. "Should I wake him?"
Abe shook his head. "Nah, he's seen this before. Let him sleep, he's had a rough evening."
Jo nodded. "Yes he told me." She tried to move Henry off of her without waking him, but he kept falling back against her in the same position, and she resigned herself to effectively cuddling with him and absently stroked his hair as she watched the show. When it was over she gently woke him up so she could untangle herself from him.
"So what did you think?" Henry asked after stifling a yawn.
"I liked it," said Jo smiling. "It was exciting and funny at the same time. That Jack character was certainly interesting."
"You thought he was hot didn't you?" Henry teased.
Jo ignored his comment. "I thought his immortality was interesting. I mean he wasn't an alien or a vampire or anything, just a normal human who can't die permanently due to some weird accident. Can you imagine living like that? I mean I'm sure it must have its down sides, but it would be wonderful to live forever and get to experience all sorts of amazing things."
"Yes I can imagine it quite well," Henry found himself answering bitterly despite knowing it was probably the wrong thing to say. In truth he was somewhat jealous of Jack Harkness. At least when he died his body and clothing didn't vanish. After Jo left he glared at Abe. "You just had to show her those episodes."
"They were good episodes," said Abe feigning innocence. "Ok ok, I just thought it would make it easier for you when you tell her the truth about you. You could start off by saying remember Jack Harkness from those Doctor Who episodes we watched?" Abe explained when Henry continued glaring at him.
"Abe I'm not telling her the truth about me anytime soon. Not unless circumstances require me to," said Henry firmly. "And somehow I sense that bringing Jack Harkness into it will just make her think I'm joking."
"You might have a point," Abe admitted. "You could always tell her that the character was based on you though," he said facetiously.
Henry just shook his head and laughed. In some ways it certainly did feel like the writers had based the character on him, but of course that was impossible.