Henry and Abe orchestrate his death, and James finally learns the truth about Henry.
Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.
Warnings: Adult Themes, Slash, Temporary Character Death, mentions of Suicide
Spoilers: General spoilers for the whole of Season 1.
Author's Notes: This story exists in an alternate universe in which James Carter is alive in present day. Henry and James had been dating for awhile before Henry started working with Jo. I'm not sure when exactly this story is supposed to take place, but it's probably before the events of episode 8. This story was written for the Big Reveal Ficathon event.
Henry opened his eyes when he heard James return to the bedroom, and sighed in relief when he saw that Abe was with him. "Abraham, good you're here. Tell James I'm telling the truth and I'm not insane."
"Henry, no one thinks you're insane," James tried to reassure him. "You've just got a high fever and you're not thinking clearly right now."
"That's why we're going to take you to the hospital. You need to get better," said Abe.
Henry's mouth dropped open at Abe's seeming betrayal. "Abe! You promised you..." he trailed off when he caught Abe's pointed look and saw the syringe he was holding. In that moment, he knew exactly what Abe meant to do. He really wished that a demonstration wasn't necessary. He didn't want to traumatize James that way, but he didn't know what other choice he had under the circumstances. At least it wouldn't be nearly as bad as witnessing him dying a violent death as Abigail had when she had found out. Henry then began to make a show of yelling and pleading not to be taken to the hospital.
"Henry please calm down. If you really don't want to go to the hospital, we won't force you," Abe said in a soothing tone. "You need to rest though. How about some more medicine for the pain? I grabbed some morphine from your lab."
Henry quieted down and nodded. He was truthfully still in a considerable amount of pain, and dying would be a relief. James rolled up the sleeve of his non-injured arm and cleaned off a spot with an alcohol swab. Abe handed James the syringe, and with a pained look on his face, James injected the medication into his arm.
James removed the needle from Henry's arm and patted it. "There rest now. You should be feeling better soon." James bit his lip to stop himself from crying. A part of him hated himself for doing this to Henry, even if it was for his own good.
"Yes I will. I'm sorry James. I love you and I'll see you soon..." Henry trailed off and closed his eyes as he felt consciousness slipping away from him.
James sighed heavily and sat down hard on the edge of the bed once Henry had fallen asleep. "I guess we should get him down to the car now. I wonder what he was apologizing for?"
Abe ran a hand over his face. "He was apologizing for what's about to happen. I should probably apologize as well."
James looked up at Abe with widening eyes. "What are you talking about? What's about to happen?"
Abe shook his head. "Don't look at me. Look at Henry. You need to see this."
James turned back to look at Henry. He was unconscious and lying so still. Too still... "Oh my god! He's not breathing! What was in that syringe?"
"It was morphine, just like I said. It was a highly concentrated lethal dose," Abe replied trying his best to stay calm. He always felt horrible killing his father, and now he had the added guilt of tricking James into doing it.
"What the hell is wrong with you? I thought he was like a son to you!" James shouted in outrage and disbelief, before climbing on top of Henry to give him mouth to mouth resuscitation.
Abe sighed and grabbed James gently, but firmly, by the shoulders to pull him off of Henry. "Just let him go."
James wrenched himself out of Abe's grasp. A big part of him wanted to restart the mouth to mouth, but he knew it was too late. He threw himself down on the bed next to Henry, gathered him into his arms, and started sobbing into his chest. He couldn't believe that Henry was gone just like that. James felt so overcome with a mixture of grief and despair. He was also filled with immense guilt that he had been the one that had killed Henry. Most of all, he was furious with Abe for tricking him into it. "How could you do this Abe! We could have gotten him to the hospital and saved him. There was no need to euthanize him!" James ran his hand lovingly through Henry's hair and caressed his cheek as he placed a tender kiss on his lips. "My poor sweet Henry. It shouldn't have ended like this. I'm so sorry..."
Abe just stood there wringing his hands in silence. He didn't try to interfere with the grief James was feeling. There was no way he'd believe him that Henry would be alright until after his body disappeared. It was taking his father a bit longer than usual to disappear though, and he was starting to get nervous. He let out a huge sigh of relief when Henry finally vanished in a flash of light, leaving behind only a very shocked looking James. Abe sat down on the bed next to James and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"What was that? He just vanished... I don't understand what happened..." James stammered, staring up at Abe with unfocused eyes and started shaking. "I think I need you to take me to the hospital. I must be having some sort of nervous breakdown. I'm seeing things..."
"It's ok, you're not having a nervous breakdown. What you saw was real," Abe said trying to reassure James.
"But how? That's not normal! People don't just vanish when they die!" James shouted desperately.
"It's normal for Henry. He was telling you the truth. He really is immortal. He did die, but I promise you he's fine. Under other circumstances, he might have tried to convince you with old photos and documents rather than traumatizing you by witnessing his death, but he was very sick, and we simply didn't have time for that. We really need to go pick him up now," Abe said gently.
"Pick him up? You know where he is?' James asked softly, not quite sure what to believe at this point.
"Yeah, when he's in the city he almost always returns in the East River," Abe explained.
"The East River?" James furrowed his brow as he thought for a moment. Then it finally hit him. "He doesn't really sleep walk does he?"
Abe chuckled. "Nope. Every time he turns up naked in that river it's because he just died."
"Wow... I just... this is all so much to take in," James murmured feeling very overwhelmed.
Abe nodded solemnly. "Believe me I know, but there will be plenty of time for stories and explanations later. We really need to go get Henry now. It's a cold night and we don't want him getting sick again. If you need some time alone, you can stay here while I go pick him up."
James thought for a moment, weighing his options, then shook his head. "No, I'm coming with you. I need to see him as soon as possible."
Abe grinned. "Ok then, let's go." He fished the emergency duffel bag full of clothes and towels from the closet and then led James down to the car.
After they arrived at the river, Abe parked the car, got out, and started to head toward the river with James cautiously following behind him carrying the duffel bag. James had been mostly quiet during the ride over, only occasionally mumbling incoherently to himself, and Abe was worried about how he would react when he saw Henry. Abe looked around, but he didn't see Henry and it was starting to get dark. "Henry? Where are you?"
"I'm over here," Henry answered, his voice coming from behind a nearby bush.
James's eyes widened and his mouth dropped open as he heard the familiar British accent. He looked over to Abe who was giving him a 'What are you waiting for?' expression, and motioned for him to go bring Henry his clothes. He cautiously approached the bush. He wasn't sure what he was so nervous about. It was only Henry right? But it was a Henry who had kept a very large and bizarre secret from him, and he still wasn't sure what to think about any of this. He moved around to the far side of the bush and saw a wet and naked Henry, huddled up on the ground shivering with his arms wrapped around his bent legs. He dropped the duffel bag in shock and fell to his knees in front of Henry. "My god... it's really you Henry..." he said breathlessly.
Henry looked up at James and smiled shyly. "Yes James, it's really me."
James felt his eyes filling with tears and he lunged forward to wrap his arms around Henry. He hugged him close, holding on tight to reassure himself that Henry was really there, and broke down sobbing. After a moment, Henry returned his embrace and rubbed his back soothingly. "You were dead... I thought I'd lost you..." James choked out between sobs.
"Yes I was dead, but I'm fine now," Henry said softly as he pulled back slightly to look at James and wiped away his tears. "I meant it when I told you I would never leave you, and now you know that I'll be able to keep that promise." James grabbed the back of his head and pulled him in for a fiercely passionate kiss. Henry couldn't help but let out a small moan as he hungrily kissed James back. After a few moments, he forced himself to break the kiss, pulling away slightly. "As much as I'm enjoying this, I should probably get dried off and dressed before I die again of hypothermia."
James grimaced and nodded. He opened the duffel bag, pulled out some towels, and helped Henry to get dried off. He then handed Henry items of clothing one by one. Just as Henry was about to put on a shirt, James noticed that the wound on Henry's arm had disappeared. "Your gunshot wound... it's completely healed."
"Yes, I did tell you that would happen," Henry answered with a wry grin.
James sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm sorry I didn't believe you Henry."
"It's alright James, I understand," Henry replied gently as he finished getting dressed. "It's something that would have been very difficult for you to believe even under normal circumstances, but I believe I was quite hysterical at the time, and I don't blame you for thinking that I was having fevered delusions. I'm just sorry that I put you through such pain. You know that the last thing I would ever want to do is hurt you, but I hope you understand now why going to the hospital was not a safe option for me under the circumstances."
"Yeah I think I do," said James a bit uncertainly. He still wasn't entirely sure he understood anything that had happened that night.
Henry nodded. "Well if you don't fully understand now, you will later after I've had a chance to properly explain things. We should really head back to the car now. Abe will start to grow impatient."
"I'm not sure why I should care about making him wait," James grumbled as they started to walk back. "He tricked me into giving you that injection. You have no idea how much it broke my heart when I thought I'd killed you."
Henry sighed. "I understand, but James, you are a trained physician and Abe is not. Would you have really let him do it himself?"
"No, I suppose not," James grudgingly conceded.
"Besides," Henry continued, "if you are going to be upset with Abe, then you shall have to be upset with me as well. I knew what he planned to do as soon as I saw him holding that syringe. Yet I said nothing and I played along."
"Maybe I'll be angry with you later. For now, I'm too busy being grateful that you're alive and well," James answered squeezing Henry's hand. "Be honest with me though, why do you keep morphine in your lab? Are you an addict?"
Henry sighed. "I will admit to experimenting with opiates at one point in my life. For someone like myself, there were no permanent consequences. Ultimately, I did this more to better understand and treat patients who were addicted or who had overdosed than I did for recreational purposes. Now, I only keep it on hand so that I may die peacefully in my sleep for those occasions where I need to die in a controlled manner."
James nodded thoughtfully. "Alright, I believe you. You've died a lot haven't you?"
"Unfortunately yes," Henry answered sadly. "More times than I can count."
"God I just... I can't even begin to imagine all that you've been through." James stopped walking and turned to put his arms around Henry, softly pressing his lips to Henry's forehead.
Henry sighed and leaned into James's touch. He couldn't believe how accepting James was being. He hadn't had that with anyone since Abigail. He only hoped that James would continue to support him after he heard the whole story. He clasped James's hand in his and brought it up to his face, placing a tender kiss on his knuckles. The two of them jumped and separated when Abe started honking the car horn. Henry rolled his eyes and laughed. "We'd better go."
When Henry and James reached the car, they both climbed into the back seat. Abe started up the car and pulled out onto the road. Henry sat leaning against James with his head resting against his chest, and James had his arms wrapped around him. Henry was still cold despite being dry and dressed, so he was grateful for James's body heat. They didn't talk on the ride home. Henry often felt physically and emotionally drained after a death, and he found it difficult to keep his eyes open. James was emotionally drained as well, and the pair of them soon drifted off to sleep.