Title: Fragile
author: Cindy Ryan
notes and summary: see part one

Jo gasped and rocked back on her heels her hands flying to her face. Her mind was refusing to believe what had just happened. She turned to look at Mike and saw he had dropped the phone in his shock and was staring opened mouthed at the floor of her living room. The now empty floor. Henry's bloody bullet wounded body was gone.

"I've gone crazy."Jo whispered finally.

"If you have I've gone around the bend with you."Mike stated his voice gravelly. "Did-did that just..."

"He's gone."Jo said sadly.

"Body's don't vanish."Mike said gently.

"Henry said he couldn't be killed."Jo pointed out as she shakily got to her feet.

The room wobbled and Jo felt Mike's strong grip on her right arm easing her back to the sofa. She glanced down and saw the blood on her partner's hand. Henry's blood. Just then Jo's cell phone rang and she picked the device up from the coffee table. Abe's name flashed onto the caller ID. Jo answered not sure what she was going to say.

"Martinez."Jo greeted surprised to find her voice stronger.

"It's Abe. Meet me down at Peter Detmold park."The antique dealer instruced grimly. "You'll understand once you're there."

"Okay."Jo affirmed not really sure why she was agreeing.

"What?"Mike demanded.

"Abe needs us at Peter Detmold park."Jo said as she got back to her feet.

"Day is getting weirder."Hanson muttered.

Jo was grateful he was there not only for emotional support but physical as well. Her partner helped her into her coat and boots. She had thought briefly of changing out of the dark blue sweats she'd been wearing but decided against it. They left her townhouse and climbed into Mike's SUV.


Mike concentrated on traffic that was all his brain was able to do at the moment so he let it do that. Though as he turned the steering wheel he kept seeing the blood on his right hand. Another image his stunned mind couldn't deal with so it got shoved to the back. How he got them to the park on FDR drive in one piece Mike didn't know. On the drive Jo's phone had beeped with a text from Abe. Instructions on where to meet. Mike pulled into a snow covered parking spot and they got out. They found the older man sitting on a bench by the river. When Mike saw who was sitting next to him he stopped cold in his tracks causing Jo to stumble. Automatically he reached out to steady his partner. The man sitting next to Abe stood and Mike had to blink several times and even then it wasn't really registering. Standing dripping wet wrapped in several towels was Henry Morgan.

Jo gripped Mike's left arm tightly as she stared at the two people before them near the park bench. She could tell by her partner's expression that he wasn't feeling her nails digging into his arm. Henry's words from earlier echoed through Jo's stunned thoughts.

/I can't be killed./

Now Henry was a few feet away water dripping from him into the snow. He was wrapped in towels but from what Jo could see there was no blood on him. Alive...Henry was alive! Jo let go of Mike's arm and ran to Henry engulfing him in a hug. Awkwardly the ME wrapped his arms around her.

"How is this possible?"Jo finally asked her voice barely above a whisper.

"I've spent decades trying to answer that."Henry responded softly.

"Did you find an answer?"Hanson asked.

"Not yet."Henry said with a shake of his head. "Everytime I die I resurface in a body of water."

"There's no bullet wound."Jo said in amazement as she pulled back Henry's shirt.

"Never are any marks."Henry explained. "Let's go back to my hotel. You need to get out of the cold."

Together the four left the park.