Lucas gets let in on Henry's long story. Hanson delivers an ultimatum ... sort of.

vvvvvvvv

Chapter Text

"What gives?" Det. Hanson bravely demanded of his boss, Lt. Reece, and his partner, Det. Jo Martinez. His green eyes pierced theirs from under his scowl as he stood in Reece's office with his fists shoved against his hips.

"Detective - " Reece began before being cut off by him.

"Don't Detective me!" he cautioned her.

"Mike!" Jo interrupted. "Watch yourself; this is our boss you're barking at," she reminded him.

Seeming to realize the shaky situation he'd set up for himself, he dropped his arms and unballed his fists but released only part of his scowl as he looked at his partner then back at his boss. "Sorry, Lieu," he quietly apologized.

Reece closed her eyes and nodded then raised her head up, keeping her eyes trained on him. "You're feeling a bit left out," she stated.

"Damn straight!" He shrugged slightly and lolled his head from side to side when Jo slapped him on the arm. "Sorry!" He breathed in deeply and let it out. "It's just that you (he pointed at Reece) and you (he pointed at Jo) know something about the Doc and you're keeping it to yourselves. Keeping it from me. Now, if he's in some kinda trouble, I want in on ... I mean I wanna help, too! I'm part of this team, too, ain't I?"

Reece inhaled deeply and exhaled as she sat down behind her desk. She gave him a weary, apologetic look before replying, "Yes, you are."

"And I'm a pretty good detective," he pointed out.

"Yes, you are," Reece agreed again, sighing.

"So ... lemme in," he said. "Lemme know what the problem is and how we can help Henry."

Reece hesitated before replying. She dropped her eyes to her clasped hands then glanced up at Jo. She then looked again at Hanson. "We ... Jo and I ... both stumbled upon something about Dr. Morgan by accident. But neither of us are at liberty to tell you or anyone else what it is." When Hanson set himself to object, she added, "I'm sure that you have his best interest at heart just as we do."

Hanson quickly nodded and opened his mouth to speak again.

Reece raised one hand and lowered her head a bit. "Henry has done nothing illegal but it is totally up to him to share his private concerns with you."

Hanson sighed and placed his hands on his hips, looking away from her. "Okay. Nothing illegal." He then looked back at her. "But like I said. I'm a pretty good detective myself." His scowl softened into a smug smile.

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Jo warily asked, squinting at him.

"He's going to do his own digging," Reece dryly concluded.

"Why?" Jo asked. "We found out by accident," she reminded him. "Henry has never ... intentionally hurt anyone. We all have secrets, private things we don't want to share with anyone else."

"You're saying that neither of you two checked him out behind his back?" he asked. When met with their silence, he nodded and smiled. "Just as I figured."

"Why is it so important to you to do this?" Reece asked. "I mean Jo and I had our own reasons but ... what's pushing you?"

"My wife, Karen," he blurted out. "She wants to meet him. Says he sounds interesting and she won't stop bugging me about it. Got the boys buggin' me, too. They wanna meet the doctor who cuts dead people up!" He closed his eyes and shook his vigorously. "Tell you the truth, I'm not so sure I want him in my home like that around my wife and kids if he's, he's ... some kinda ... I don't know what kinda wacko. Don't get me wrong. I like the Doc. But I can take him in small doses at work because he's good at what he does. Great, as a matter of fact. But invite him into my home without checking him out to find out why he's so strange and close-mouthed about himself?" He shook his head, his eyes widened a bit. "Nah, no way.." He pointed at them again. "You guys know what's up with him and if you don't tell me, well ... "

Reece silently studied him for a few moments then looked at Jo, who sighed and dropped her shoulders.

"Before you do anything," Jo began, "let me talk to Henry first."

Hanson bored his eyes into hers and said, "Just let him know that I'm on his side; that I can be trusted, too."

Jo lowered her eyes, blinking, and mutely nodded.

vvvv

Abe was standing behind the retail counter in the shop with his back to whomever had just entered. "Be with you in a minute," he said as he turned around. When he saw the look of resignation on Henry's face and the look of anticipated glee on Lucas' face, he knew somethign was up. "Uh, hey, uh, Henry. Lucas," he awkwardly greeted them.

"We have a guest," Henry announced. He looked at Lucas and advised him to go upstairs and make himself comfortable, that he would be with him in a moment. Lucas nodded and began ascending the stairs to the second level living quarters..

"This, I can see," Abe replied as he watched Lucas disappear up the stairs. "He stayin' for dinner?" he asked, turning back to his father. Henry pressed his lips together and nodded. "Okay. What's on the, uh, menu? Same thing we 'fed' to our two recent lady guests (Jo and Reece)?" he asked.

Henry sighed before replying, "It would seem so."

vvvv

Miraculously, it took only a few minutes for Henry to confirm his young guest's suspicions about him. A vivid imagination and nearly 20 years of having fed it a diet of graphic novels with increasingly sophisticated and implausible story lines made Henry's job a lot easier than he had ever thought it would be. But no matter how "stupid cool" Henry's condition was to Lucas which made him reach an even higher level of true greatness, it was also apparent that he sympathized greatly with him.

"Wish you didn't have to go through, you know, dying in order to maintain your immortality," Lucas told him.

"Lucas, my dying from time to time does not maintain my condition," Henry explained. "It's just an unfortunate aspect of it."

"Oh, is that what it is?" Abe murmured, rolling his eyes.

Henry drew in a deep breath and held it as he leveled a look of disapproval at his son.

"And that," Lucas said as he chuckled and wagged a finger between the two of them, "is just as cool. You're the kid (pointing to Abe) and he's the Dad (pointing to Henry)." He continued to softly laugh. "See, I knew it sounded like you were talkin' to a kid during that phone conversation in your office earlier."

"See, even a stranger picked up on that," Abe said, addressing his father. He looked at Lucas and added, "Will you tell him that I'm grown now and I've been tying my own shoes for the past 65 years?"

"Abraham, that isn't the point," Henry began. "You potentially put yourself in harm's way when you ran off to investigate a murder case on your own! I was ... worried about your safety," he quietly added.

"Awww, Pops," Abe replied with a blushing smile.

"Awww, you guys," Lucas gushed, his voice pitched in a higher register. With a wide grin plastered on his face, he rose from his seat on the sofa and approached Abe.

"What's he doing?" Abe asked his father out of the side of his mouth. "I don't think I like that gleam in his eyes."

"He loves to hug," Henry replied with a deep sigh.