Hey there everyone!
Wow! I'm glad to hear that everyone is enjoying the story as much as they are! Thank you so much for your reviews and praise. It encourages me to keep writing this :)
So, this chapter kind of ran away from me. Or rather, Sarah, my OC, ran away with it and I followed, lol. But I hope you like her and the chapter. Especially since I fear she's here for the long haul. :)
Let me know what you think!
M
He's running. He's running as fast as he possibly can, desperate to get to Abe. He doesn't know where he's going or how long it's going to take him to get there. All Henry knows is that he has to get to his son before Adam does. Henry stumbles,landing painfully on his knees in the middle of a forest as he does so. Although he could have sworn that he had just been in the city, he doesn't question the scenic change. He merely gets up and continues to run.
"You're too late," a voice says and then suddenly Henry is staring down at Abe's body, his blue eyes staring up at Henry without recognition.
"No!" Henry cries, falling onto the ground and cradling his son in his arms. Tears spilled out of his eyes, taking his soul with them as they fall upon Abe's forehead before eventually dropping to the ground. When there is no move from Abe to wipe them off, his arms tighten around Abe and he cries harder. Henry is no stranger to loss but this, this was something else entirely. This was utter desolation. This was having your heart and soul ripped out of you while you were still breathing and not knowing who you are without them.
A hand rests on his shoulder and Henry starts, looking up into the faceless form of his tormentor and Abe's killer. His eyes grow cold and angry as his mind goes through the many ways he's died and begins to contemplate which one he would choose for this man. He knows that Adam wouldn't stay dead, much like he never did, but he was seriously considering murdering him out of pure spite and revenge.
"Come now Henry," Adam's voice pouts, no doubt sensing what Henry was thinking. His hand squeezes Henry's shoulder before the sensation seems to fade altogether. "We both know that it wasn't me who killed Abe."
Those words send a chill down Henry's spine and he looks up, searching for his tormentor. When Adam is suddenly nowhere to be found he looks down at his now-empty hands and sees nothing but red. His stomach drops, threatening to empty at the sight. Blood soaks them, dripping off his fingers as though it were nothing more than water. And beneath them, lying on the cold, hard, New York ground is Abe, blood soaking through his shirt.
oOo
Henry woke with a start, sitting up quickly and taking what felt like his first breath in hours. His heart was pounding so hard it actually made his chest hurt. The pain searing through his side distracted him away from the nightmare he'd just experienced and Henry clenched his teeth against it, instinctively wrapping his arm around the injured side in foolish hopes of getting it to stop hurting.
"It's alright," a gentle voice coos as one feminine hand grips his arm and the other lays itself on his thigh. Henry flinches at the familiarity in the contact and the hand on his leg withdraws, moving to his other arm instead. A minute or so passes before the voice speaks again. "Henry, you're going to have to breathe again at some point."
Brown eyes suddenly focus on the person in front of him and Henry releases the breath he's only realized that he's been holding and offers a smile to the woman in front of him. Sarah smiles back, letting go of him so that she can go and sit in the chair she'd placed beside the bed they'd brought in. Her lab coat, he notices, is lying over the back of the chair closest to Abe's bedside and what appeared to be a bag with her things sat on the floor beside the chair. Apparently she'd gotten off duty and had been watching over Abe while Henry had slept.
"Better?" she asked him after he'd returned to a more regular breathing pattern. She looked concerned but Henry also knew that she would only show that to a point. He suspected that that was more out of his desire to remain private rather than her own but he wasn't positive.
While they were considered by one another to be friends, they were not close yet. Much like he and Jo were, actually. But since Sarah was more open with her emotions, it had been easier for Henry to get to know her, and to grow to like her, as well as for her to become closer with Abe without Henry's knowledge or consent. Abe, Henry was perfectly aware, positively adored her and had tried on multiple occasions to 'get them together', as it were. But though she didn't seem to mind being thrown into one-on-ones with Henry, he had, at first, taken to resenting the pushing. Evidently she could sense this, even though he had done his best to be polite and not let it show, and so she had been careful to not only dissuade Abe from doing so anymore but to also check with Henry whenever she was invited - by Abe- over for dinner.
Now that he thought of it, Henry was oddly touched by how she tried to take his feelings and desires into account. Not only in the past but in the present. There was no logical reason for her to still be in the hospital, watching over Abe if not for Henry's benefit. It was..endearing and it warmed Henry's heart ever so slightly.
"Yes, thank you," he said even though the pain hadn't fully receded yet. He blushed a little in embarrassment but didn't bother apologizing to her. She'd seen worse things during her time as a medical professional, of that he had no doubt. Not to mention she'd witnessed him having a nightmare during his brief stay in hospital when he'd been shot. Logically, he didn't truly have a reason to feel discomforted. But then again, pride rarely deferred to logic and so here he was. "How long have you been here?" he asked, shifting so that he was sitting upright with his legs over the side of the bed and his socked feet on the floor.
"A little over two hours," she answered with an implied shrug. After scrutinizing him a bit longer, probably to make sure that he was truly alright, she got up and went back over to the chair by the bed. She grabbed her things and moved them to the other side, the one with the hard chair, and then sat down, seeming to settle in as much as she could. "According to Jo you'd been fast asleep for a few hours by the time I'd arrived, so it seems you've gotten a good five hours of sleep today. Which is good since I happen to know that before that you'd barely slept at all."
The lecture Henry heard in her voice made him chuckle. He, too, went over to the bed. An after performing a quick, cursory, exam to make sure that Abe was improving and comfortable, he sat down , placing his hands in his lap and preparing to get comfortable while he was there.
"You need to take better care of yourself," Sarah said, continuing with her lecture. While Jo always implied these things, Sarah was the type to say them out loud. Having once been a mother, she had no reservations about treating a grown man like a child if she believed it to be necessary. "Abe will need you to," she added, looking into his eyes to make sure he was listening and not just brushing her off.
"I know," Henry reminded her with resignation in his voice.
Coming from others it might have sounded as though she were trying to guilt him into taking care of himself but the truth was that it was merely a point of fact. They both knew that Abe would be weak and would need more care than usual once he was released from the hospital. And since there was no other that could help, that task would fall - gladly - to Henry. Being ill or overtired would do neither Abe nor himself any good. "I'm working on it."
Her eyebrows rose in a silent challenge. "You need more work then," she quipped dryly, sitting back in her seat and lounging. She pulled a book out of her bag, a scar on the underside of her arm briefly flashing in the fading afternoon light, and proceeded to attempt reading it.
Henry cocked his head and smiled, momentarily ignoring what he'd seen. Until now, he'd only really ever seen her in long sleeved shirts. A part of him was always curious as to why since it hadn't been all that cold whenever he had seen her. But since she'd respected his privacy, he had respected hers. Besides, he'd already taken guesses and from what he'd just noticed, he hadn't been that far off the mark.
"Is that your medical opinion?" he jokingly asked while doing his best not to smile too broadly or smirk.
Again she raised an eyebrow at him, her book closing in her lap. But it seemed she could not hold her stern expression any longer. A smile curved at her lips and soon she was laughing, the sound deep and throaty. "Oh shut up," she said in typical American fashion. If she'd had anything other than a heavy book in her hands she probably would have thrown it at him as well. Henry joined in on the laughing, taking care not to breathe too deeply so as not to aggravate his injured side.
In the bed, Abe fidgeted and lightly stirred. Figuring their laughter had woken him, Sarah offered a silent apology and went back to her book. Henry smiled, grateful for the appearance of privacy. Abe turned his head towards Henry's side, his brows furrowing a little. "Dad," he said, his voice little more than a whisper. Henry looked over at Sarah to gauge whether or not she heard that. Judging from her ill-concealed eyebrow raise, she had but she kept silent.
Wondering how he was going to explain that away, Henry stood and sat down on the bed beside Abe's hip. "I'm here," he said, grabbing his son's hand. "How are you feeling?"
Abe drew in a strained breath and his brows furrowed again. "Better," he answered, obviously lying through his teeth. He opened his eyes and looked up at Henry, observing God only knows what in Henry's expression.
"Nice try," Henry called out, knowing that Abe simply wanted to get out of the hospital sooner. "Now how do you really feel?"
"If you can get the elephant off my chest, I can tell you," Abe wheezed, wincing a little.
Henry sighed and stiffly got up to prepare a breathing treatment. It was long past time for one, actually, but since Abe had been sleeping somewhat soundly Henry had decided that it could wait until his son had woken up. He stopped moving when he felt Sarah's hand on his shoulder and looked around at her. She handed over the contraption with a smile and then went back to her chair and began reading again.
After raising the bed so that it was easier on Abe, Henry handed the nebulizer over to his son and waited for him to begin breathing on it. It was then that Henry sat back down in his own chair, shifting a little to get more comfortable. Abe's brows furrowed again and Henry cocked his head to the side, moving as though to stand back up. Abe waved a hand to show that he was fine and Henry felt himself relax a bit.
"You okay?" Abe asked after taking a deep draw of the medication. It was obvious that staying awake was costing Abe any energy he may have gained and it hurt slightly for Henry to see.
"Yeah, I'm fine," he said with a warm smile and a slight chuckle. "Finish your treatment and then you can go back to sleep."
"I'm tired of sleeping," Abe, essentially, whined. His childish self generally came out when he felt horrible. It was kind of adorable, actually, but Henry wouldn't admit that out loud to his son. At this time in his life, Abe would be mortified. Oddly enough made it a bit tempting for Henry to disclose, actually. Abe's eyes closed briefly and then, with what looked like a lot of effort, he opened them again. "Besides, somebody's gotta take care of you."
"That's what I'm here for," Sarah interjected. With her book officially back in her bag, she got out of the chair and came to sit on the bed where Henry had recently vacated. She grabbed Abe's hand and gave him a very bright smile. Henry watched as Abe smiled almost dumbly back at her, settling into the bed as though he was more than happy to go back to sleep now. "Don't worry," she said in a faked conspiratorial whisper, "I'll watch over him while he watches over you."
"Good," Abe said with a sigh.
Sarah took the nebulizer from Abe's somewhat limp hands and placed it on the bedside table. She trailed a hand from his forehead down to his cheek, effectively brushing the hair off his face. Eventually, she moved her hand from his face to comb through his hair and then would go back. It was a very motherly thing to do and Henry found himself momentarily wishing that Abigail was here to do that for Abe and not Sarah. It was a silly thing, honestly, but there it was.
"Get some rest, Abe. It'll do you more good than worrying about Henry," Sarah whispered, her voice now gentle.
Henry's head cocked slightly to the side so that he could observe her expression better and he did his best to hide an eyebrow raise of his own when he noticed something akin to love on her face. Not the kind of love a mother would have for her son, of course. Even though that was how she seemed to be treating Abe, Henry knew she was merely doing that for Abe's benefit. No, this look seemed to be how a daughter would feel towards her father or grandfather. Odd.
"Somebody's got to," Abe mumbled sleepily before his eyes closed and remained that way. For all his talk about not wanting to sleep more, Henry noted that he hadn't been able to stay awake for very long and he smiled with the knowledge. He'd have to bring that up when Abe was more aware and feeling better.
Sarah waited until Abe was fully asleep before she got up and then she pushed the rolling bedside table to the corner of the room so that it wasn't in the way. When finished, she turned around and leaned back against the bed, half sitting on it, and crossed her arms over her chest, scrutinizing Henry. "How are you doing?" she asked after a bit.
Henry remained quiet, trying to decide how to answer her. His first instinct was to lie. But suddenly the effort to do so felt draining and Henry wasn't sure he had the energy to do it at the moment.
In front of him, Sarah smiled. "Why don't you go get a bit more sleep?" she suggested, nodding her head towards the abandoned bed. "I promise to wake you if anything changes."
Henry looked over at Abe and felt himself hesitate. Eventually his rational mind kicked in and he realized that he there wasn't much he could do other than let Abe rest and perhaps get more himself. With a sigh, Henry stood.
"Good," Sarah said, sounding very pleased. Henry heard her follow behind him as he made his way back to the bed and then sat down on it. Without a care for the lecture he was sure to receive, he leaned over to remove the brace, only to stop with clenched teeth when his side reminded him not to do that yet.
"Tired of wearing the brace already?" Sarah asked as she sat down in the chair in front of him. Her voice was thicker than usual, making Henry look up to gauge whether she was teasing him or not. After seeing the smirk on her face, he concluded that she was and smirked in return.
"You wouldn't believe how hard it is to sleep with it on," he answered, sounding almost abashed at being caught.
"Actually, I would," she said, reminding him that she did have experience with a knee brace. He looked down at the floor, ashamed that he'd forgotten so crucial a detail for her and saddened that he'd brought it up.
When they'd first begun talking, they'd both been careful not to release too much personal information. But eventually, over a glass of wine for him and some root beer for her, they'd delved a little into their pasts. For the most part she hadn't really told him anything that he hadn't already guessed. It was probably why she had begun with those parts, actually. Since he had already stated them as fact - similar to the way he'd done with Jo when she'd first entered the morgue - they were easier for her to say. But then she'd gone into detail, explaining about the car crash that had killed not only her husband but her two boys as well. The accident - a drunk driver - had left her quite badly injured. It was then that she'd decided to go into the medial profession, she'd said, doing her best to hide how much telling the story had cost her.
After a few minute's silence to allow her to gather herself, Henry had told her about Abigail. In vague terms to be sure but she'd easily been able to see how much he still grieved her loss and she'd easily empathized with him. Tears, fresh from her own story, had spilled down her cheeks as he'd talked. She had wiped them away as quickly as she had been able to, but they had fallen nonetheless. And though Henry hadn't been able to tell whether they were from her own pain or from what she sensed from him, he'd felt, just as he had with Jo, that he wasn't alone in his grief.
That was the bond they had formed. The entire situation had been so similar to the way he and Jo had met that Henry had had several bouts of deja vu during their conversations. But then he'd discovered the ways in which Jo and Sarah were different and he'd eventually stopped comparing them altogether. For some reason he found it slightly easier to open up to Sarah than he did Jo. It was through no fault of Jo's, of course, but it was the truth.
Henry was brought back to the present by the sound of velcro being undone and he looked down to see that Sarah was gently taking the brace off his leg for him. She laid it down on the floor, out of the way should anyone need to get around, and then sat back on her heels, eventually sitting back in the chair. She smiled at him, the light that was normally present in her eyes dimmed by haunting memories.
"Get some rest, Henry," she said a little more distantly than she normally would have.
Without another word, she got up and went back to the hard chair by Abe's bedside. Once again, she pulled her book out of her bag and began to read it, settling in for a night of watching over the both of them.
Henry smiled, appreciating more than he could say that she was willing to watch over Abe while they both slept. He knew he could rest easy knowing that someone with medical training was keeping guard over Abe. If only he could find the same peace in his dreams.
oOo
Sarah smiled when she heard Henry's breathing even out and deepen. She was glad to see that he was going to try and take better care of himself and not fight her and Jo quite so much. Not only would it save her and Jo the future headaches but it would save him pain.
From an early point in their meeting, there had been something about Doctor Henry Morgan that had drawn Sarah to him. It could have been his accent, or how politely he had treated her even though he had been in a fair amount of pain from his wound. Or it could have been the gentle way he had smiled whenever his friend, Abe, had come by. It could very well have been the love she'd seen coming from him whenever the two men were together. Or it simply could have been something else entirely. Whatever it had been, Sarah had been sold on him.
She'd been a little saddened when he'd left the hospital. Of course she was glad that he was healthy enough to leave but she'd had this feeling that it was going to be the last time she would ever see him again and that thought had made it hard for her to see him go.
But then she had run into Abe when he'd come to the hospital for a check-up and after having caught up with one another, the older man had invited her to a dinner at the antiques shop that he owned. When he'd made it a point to mention that Henry would be there, Sarah had declined, claiming that she didn't want to intrude. But as Abe wouldn't hear of it, she had eventually given in and agreed to come.
Over the next several months she had slowly begun to spend more time with them. Sometimes Henry was there, sometimes he wasn't. Sarah was fine with either scenario as she'd begun to enjoy Abe's company as much as she did Henry's. She liked listening to Abe's stories from the past and she liked learning about the different antiques which could be found around the shop. In fact, it took her far less time to get close to Abe than it had Henry. From what she'd been able to tell, Abe enjoyed her company as much as she did his and before long, Sarah found herself caring about Abe as though he were a part of her family (though she doubted the feeling was returned).
Then one July night, she and Henry began to open up about their pasts. It had been harder than she would have thought to talk about her husband and kids to him and she'd damn near cried so many times that she'd wondered why she'd even tried not to. She had believed that she had gotten her tears in check when Henry had begun talking about Abigail and the sheer amount of love that he obviously still felt for her combined the pain she saw in his eyes and expression had been so close to what she felt that the tears had simply fallen without her permission. She had brushed them away as quickly as possible, not wanting to embarrass him but she'd seen the pitying expression on his face and she had hated herself for putting it there.
Pity wasn't something that Sarah wanted from anyone. Kindness and caring, yes. Even acceptance. But never pity.
When she'd heard that Abe was in the cardiac unit, Sarah had felt her heart stop. She'd traded many favors in order to be assigned as his doctor. She knew that William, that is Doctor Kisic, her attending, had been hesitant but then he'd made her a deal. Go to dinner with him and he'd allow it. He'd been trying to get her to go out with him for months so his compromise hadn't come as a shock. Even though she despised the arrogant and sleazy man, Sarah had agreed without a second thought. If it meant being able to see that Abe gets the best care she can find as well as to check up on Henry, she would sleep with him. Of course, neither Henry nor Abe needed to know that. God, she didn't even want to try and imagine what they'd think if they did.
To her right, Henry shifted in the cot, whimpering a little. It had been like this before he'd woken up and she hoped that that didn't happen again. He needed the sleep. Not to be plagued by whatever torments awaited for him in his dreams.
She quietly closed her book and placed it in the seat she had just vacated and then went to go see if she could soothe him back to sleep. Hoping against hope that he wouldn't either wake up or remember this, she sat down in the small space by his right hip and did the same thing that she'd done to get Abe back to sleep.
"Sh, Henry, it's alright," she cooed in a near nonexistent whisper as she lightly trailed her fingers down the side of Henry's face. His tortured expression softened and he seemed to quiet a little but as he still appeared restless, she continued with her ministrations. As though of their own accord, her fingers found their way into his thick and somewhat curly hair. They brushed through it in slow and controlled motions, reminding her of how she used to get her youngest son, Harrison, to sleep when he'd fought it. Much like it had done with little Harry, Henry calmed and he released a comforted sigh before settling again.
Sarah waited a little longer, wanting to make sure that Henry was truly asleep again, before she went back to her chair. She stopped short when she noticed a pair of blue eyes watching her from the hospital bed. When had Abe woken up?
"Hey," she greeted with an embarrassed smile. Moving the book, she sat down and then grabbed Abe's hand. "How are you feeling?"
"A bit better," he answered, sounding only slightly wheezy. His bushy eyebrows furrowed as he asked, "Did you used to do that for your sons?" At Sarah's look of blatant surprise (she had yet to share her past regarding her family with him), he offered her a small look of apology. "I may have listened in while you two talked."
"Of course you did," Sarah answered with a small eye roll. It made sense now that she thought about it.
Not long after becoming a regular around their household, Sarah had discovered how protective the two men were of one another. She'd seen hints of it whilst Henry had been recovering from the GSW, and shortly after when Abe had come down with a bad cold. But it had come more so into HD clarity when Henry had come home one day, moving very stiffly.
After a lot of pushing and prodding, almost literally, from Abe, Henry had admitted to having been in a slight 'motor vehicle accident'. It hadn't been anything too serious and he had assured them that both he and Jo were alright. But, he'd added after attempting to stare down a glare from Abe and failing miserably, he was a bit sore. Of course, 'sore' wouldn't have been what Sarah would have used to describe how Henry had probably felt. Bruised had been more like it. Evidently the car had been hit on Henry's side which had left him with a rather vivid contusion on his right side and across his chest where the seatbelt had tightened on him. It was then that she'd had the pleasure of watching Abe mother-hen his stubborn friend, going so far as to call the ME's office and call him in sick for the rest of the week, based off Sarah's diagnosis, of course. Needless to say, the favor was now being returned in the form of Henry's ever-constant presence and care.
Knowing that, the fact that Abe had listened in on a private and potentially personal conversation shouldn't have surprised her. He had wanted to make sure that he had been right in bringing her into their lives and making sure that she didn't want more from Henry than he was able to give was one way to do it.
Sarah sighed, doing her best to remain stern-looking. Normally she didn't take pleasure in making a sick man squirm but she sort of believed that this one had it coming. But when he looked back at her, refusing to back down, she gave up knowing full well that when it came to the battle of wills and her - Abe (or Henry) would win every time. She smiled, chuckling a little.
"Yes, I did," she said, finally answering his question. "My youngest." She paused when her voice seemed to die and her eyes filled with tears. Clearing her throat to in hopes of drying her eyes, she started again. "My youngest was a cuddler. And like most kids he would refuse to sleep in spite of being exhausted; even as a baby." She smiled at the memories, wiping away a tear when she felt it fall. "So I got into the habit of running my fingers through his hair. It was one of the quickest ways to get him to calm down enough to fall asleep."
"Mh," he answered, shifting a little.
Since he seemed uncomfortable, Sarah got up to help, glad for any and all distraction from her current thoughts and memories. She raised the top half of the bed so that he was slightly more upright. The position would make breathing a bit easier for him, though, unfortunately, not painless.
"Thank you for that," he said. When she looked at him questioningly, he clarified. "It helped me sleep."
Sarah sighed. So he hadn't seen her do that to Henry. Thank God! She didn't know if she would live down the embarrassment.
She smiled at him, giving his hand a small squeeze. "Anytime," she said, meaning it. "But you should try to get some more rest. Your body will need it if you want to get out of here any time soon."
"Twist my arm, why don't ya?" he joked, closing his eyes a bit in the process. He opened them again, their attention solely on the younger man in the bed across the room.
"Don't worry," she said, hoping to ease the worry she sees in his face. "Henry's sleeping peacefully too."
"Mm," Abe somewhat sleepily agreed. He seemed to nod off entirely and so Sarah released his hand and sat back in her chair. She jumped slightly when he said, "Thanks to you," and then finally gave in to his body's needs.
TBC