A/N So originally this was supposed to be only a one-shot but then all of the wonderful reviews I got from you guys sparked some inspiration and this short segment came out. This should be the last chapter.

Thank you so much to everyone who did review. I didn't have a chance to respond individually but I did read and love every one that I got! :)

It's The Poison Running Through Your Blood

It was easy to forget that, despite his immortality, Henry wasn't invincible. Perhaps that was why it was so hard for Abe to accept seeing him in such agony.

For so long, Henry had seemed so untouchable. Even when he died, it didn't really affect him much. All of Abe's life, Henry had been a strong, but quiet, force to be reckoned with. And just like any child, Abe had always looked up to the man who raised him, even more so when his father proved to be almost hero-like in his inability to age or permanently die.

As Abe grew older, he knew his father wasn't some superhero, but even now, decades later, Abe still had trouble thinking of Henry as human, as able to be hurt. Henry was always untouchable. He should be untouchable.

He shouldn't be shaking and crying and frantically tearing into his forearms as he knelt on the floor, no longer possessing the strength to even stand. He shouldn't be hurting so. He shouldn't be so helpless, so vulnerable, so... normal.

To see someone so unbreakable brought down by something that affected any normal person seemed wrong somehow. Henry was anything but normal, he shouldn't be able to be broken by something so ordinary.

It physically hurt to see Henry suffering and be unable to do anything about it. It had been a small mercy when Henry had passed out, leaning against Abe some hours before.

Unfortunately, that reprieve had been nothing but short lived as Henry's body rebelled against him, even refusing to let him have the haven of unconsciousness for very long.

Abe didn't leave his side throughout the horrible night that was full of pain, vomiting, and hallucinations. Abe wasn't sure which was worse, when Henry, in his delirious state, desperately cried out for him or when he called for Abigail. No amount of soothing words or gentle touches could seem to break through to Henry's fevered mind but Abe spoke and held him nonetheless.

It was a strange thing how their roles seemed so reversed now. In the grand scheme of things, it hadn't been all that many years since Henry had been the comforter and protector, and still he tried to be, but the older Abe got the more they had had to pretend for the world's sake and the more they had started to take on those personas, until Abe was more and more worrying about and caring for Henry instead of the other way around.

The older Abe got, the more he dreaded the time when he would be gone. Not for himself, but for Henry. The centuries old man had suffered so much loss in his long life and it was only inevitable that there would be more. Although he didn't express it often, Abe loved Henry with all his heart. No matter how old, or not, either of them got, Henry would always be Abe's father and Abe would love and care for him as long as possible.

The hours spent in Henry's lab as he detoxed seemed to stretch on forever. His moments of lucidity were few and far between as he writhed, cried out, and suffered both mentally and physically. In Henry's long life, he had never taken drugs of any kind. He had always been wiser than that. This addiction had been forced upon him, but sadly, the body didn't differentiate between willing and unwilling dependence.

Abe kept watching the clock as the minutes and hours ticked by. He was waiting for dawn, although he wasn't sure why. Withdrawal didn't have a timetable. This wouldn't just stop with the rising of the sun. And yet, Abe still found himself waiting for the sun to come up. Somehow things never seemed quite so bad in the light of day. The sun didn't bring some magic fix-all when it rose but it did bring something with it. Something that got many people through many terrible things.

It brought hope.

As Abe gently ran the damp cloth over Henry's fevered face, he found himself in desperate need for some hope.

He turned to look at the clock again as it ticked away another minute, signaling yet another hour closer to dawn.

"Another hour closer to hope," Abe murmured, gripping his father's hand tightly and wishing, for the first time in years, that time would move faster.

A/N Any good? Please let me know! :)