November 1914

Abigail felt herself on Cloud Nine after Cody had woken up from the surgery Carson performed. She immediately began to plan Cody's birthday party with Becky and Elizabeth. She let Elizabeth know that she could help with the cake as they walked down Main Street that afternoon and soon her friend grabbed her arm and stopped her from walking. "That's a sight I'd never thought I'd see." Elizabeth said, looking across the street at Bill escorting Henry out of the office and to a prison stagecoach.

Abigail's smile immediately faded as she looked to see what the teacher was talking about and she looked back at Elizabeth. "I'll catch up with you later."

Elizabeth nodded, suddenly feeling bad for what she had said as she realized that Abigail might be a little sad seeing Henry go. Before she could say anything else to Abigail, the cafe owner rushed across the street to greet Henry just before Bill was about to place him in the stagecoach.

"I thought you were leaving yesterday." Abigail said to him.

"I heard there was bad weather near Cape Fullerton. I didn't want to take the chance." Bill lied.

"Actually, Bill was kind enough to let me stay an extra day until there was news." Henry admitted.

"About?" Abigail asked, a bit confused.

"About your boy." He said and gulped a bit, nervous about how she would react to that. When she looked a bit in shock with no response, he spoke again. "I'm glad he pulled through."

"Thank you for that, Henry." She softly smiled at him, her stomach feeling butterflies and she tried to ignore it as she and Henry just looked into each other's eyes.

Bill looked between them, feeling awkward. "Time to get going." He finally broke the silence.

"Well, I guess this is goodbye." Abigail told Henry.

"I'll be back sooner than you think." Henry softly smiled back at her. His words not really matching reality as he was too lost in Abigail's eyes to even know what he was saying.

"I wouldn't be too sure of that." Bill said.

Abigail actually felt a tinge of sadness as Bill said that and she hoped, for a brief second, that Henry would be found innocent though she knew that he was most likely guilty. But she didn't want this to be the very last time she saw him and a part of her wished they were alone so she could kiss him one last time. "Take care of yourself, Henry." She decided to just be civil in front of everyone that watched them and she leaned forward, taking one of his arms and kissing him on the cheek.

"You too." He said, barely in a whisper before she turned and left, knowing that if she didn't leave immediately, she would try to stall Bill even more from taking Henry away from her…well, the town.

Henry watched her leave, feeling something he hadn't felt in a long time…Sadness.

He was quickly snapped out of it as Bill placed a hand on his shoulder to make him get inside the stagecoach and they left…Henry feeling certain that he would never get to see Abigail ever again and he told himself…it's what he deserved after everything he had done.

That night, the first snow fell and the ride toward Cape Fullerton was cold for Henry. He normally ran warm but feeling so melancholy about Abigail possibly being disappointed in him and never getting to see her again was keeping his body temperature lower than usual. But he never complained. The thoughts that he deserved it all kept him quiet and he ignored hearing some of Bill's remarks in the front of the stagecoach.

It was almost morning by the time they arrived at their destination. Henry shivered in the back as the stagecoach door swung open but before he could step out, they were met by a man that worked in the prison. "I'm afraid we are going to have to turn you away." The man said.

"Excuse me?" Bill needed him to elaborate.

"We are completely booked and with the weather the way it is, we cannot take in any more inmates. He will have to stay in the tents with the other prisoners just outside of town."

"Are you kidding me? We just spent hours traveling here and-"

"It's no problem." Henry told the man, sitting back down in the stagecoach. "Let's get over there before it's dark." He said to Bill, getting settled again.

Bill looked at him and hesitated before sending the man from the prison a look of disapproval and he got back inside the stagecoach before it rode off toward the tent camp.

When Bill returned home in Hope Valley, he was a bit of a grouch, not exactly speaking to anyone before heading right into the Mountie's office and going straight to sleep. When he woke the next day, he was much better and approached Abigail. They greeted each other before she immediately got to talking about the plans for Christmas in a few weeks.

December 1914

"I've heard the Christmas band, Abigail." Mr. Avery said to the new mayor as they exited the back door of the cafe, Abigail carrying a pretty decent sized box.

"I'm sure they just need a little fine tuning." She said with a hopeful tone.

"There's no such thing as fine or tune in this group." He told her with little to no faith at all.

"But you'll do it?" She practically begged him.

"Let me carry that for you." Bill took the box from the woman, almost dropping it. "Are you mailing an anchor?"

"It's a shipment of my scones." The chef replied, almost offended by his words.

"Oh…Sorry. Who's gonna get to enjoy these light, fluffy delicacies?" He asked, trying to save himself.

Abigail sighed, almost deciding not to tell him. "Henry Gowen." She admitted and she immediately noticed the lack of footsteps beside her and she smiled, turning to face him. She watched as Bill looked down at the address she had written on the box. "I know what you're going to say."

Bill looked up at her with disappointment and disapproval in his eyes. "What you do with your baking is your business….Besides, Henry could probably use some homemade treats to warm him up." He said with a hint of sarcasm. "Those tent camps get pretty cold at night."

"What tent camps?" Abigail looked at him with confusion.

Bill began to explain to her that the prison was overcrowded and that Henry had been staying in a tent all this time. A part of her wanted to slap Bill Avery for not telling her sooner and the other part of her held that back in order to offer the possibility that Henry could remain in the Hope Valley prison until the holidays were over at least. Bill, of course, thought it funny and ridiculous to think of something like that, whilst Abigail continued to explain to him that Henry deserved at least some forgiveness or else they were no better as people themselves.

They argued shortly before Abigail, of course, won the argument and Bill begrudgingly went into the mercantile to ship Henry's box and send a telegram to the tent camps up North. Abigail watched him go and smirked to herself, glad that she might have a chance to see Gowen once again. She had begun to admit to herself that she missed seeing his Sourpuss face around.

She and Frank hadn't felt the same since their first break up and now that he was off traveling to preach at hospitals and pray for sick children any chance he got, she wondered why they were even trying at all. She had written to him often yet hardly received letters back and she had begun to feel like Elizabeth, struggling to get letters from Jack up in the Northern Territories, fighting off the gangs. At least with Henry, she would know exactly where he was at this time and she was at least, always met with the truth from him.

After watching Bill go into the mercantile with her box, she smiled more and walked off to finish up some more errands. She went about her day, wondering how long it might take for Henry to arrive and what she might say to him the moment she saw him again. She had truly thought that she'd never see him again after she had said goodbye to him at the prison stagecoach weeks ago, but now that she knew she might again, she was both afraid and excited.

She never expected to feel frozen or cautious the way she had when she saw him after she'd walked into the Mountie's office later that night. "Bill? Have you heard any news about-" She lost her voice briefly when her eyes fell to the very subject she was about to bring up. Closing the door behind her, she slowly stepped further into the building, her eyes never leaving Henry as he stood from behind the cell bars. "Henry?"

"You seem surprised to see me." He told her, moving closer to the bars, a weak smile plastered on his lips.

"I wasn't expecting you so soon." She admitted. Her feelings now all over the place.

"I heard that I have you to thank for this."

"I thought you might be happy to be back in Hope Valley for Christmas." She half lied, knowing that SHE was the one who wanted him back for Christmas. Though, Henry being somewhat of a Grinch around the holidays, did not stop her from feeling that way.

"A jail is a jail." He told her. "But nevertheless, thank you."

The mayor softly smiled at the man behind bars though she wondered why she wasn't as happy to see him as she thought she would be. Perhaps everything he had done suddenly came back to her. Perhaps it was the shock that he arrived so soon without notice. Perhaps it was the fact that she wanted him to be a different man when he returned. She couldn't tell what it was. Or maybe it was just seeing him behind bars again that saddened her and she remembered that him being home was only temporary and she'd soon have to say goodbye again. She didn't know and it was eating at her. Having her hopes up for such joy to be crushed by the underwhelming feeling of emptiness only made her wish she hadn't come to the Mountie's office tonight. Perhaps a heads up would have prepared her for a better hello. It was all so complicated. A word, which she had begun to deem as Henry's middle name.

"I'm glad you're here. I was just about to tell Henry about his community service." Bill said, stepping up behind Abigail, the pair of mayors only just now realizing that another man had entered the building.

"Oh, I see…Community service." Henry almost laughed a bit, his spirits up more than they usually were. "Guess I'll be eating my share of Humble Pie this week." He joked and Abigail knew that he was having a rough time and trying to mask it with his humor.

"Well, I hope you have a big appetite." Bill stated and Abigail wanted to elbow him for saying that. Her protectiveness over Henry and the way Bill always treated him seemed to shine any time he made a snide comment such as that. But she held it together and managed to stop herself from elbowing the man whenever he did. "You'll start tomorrow at your old office. It needs a little sprucing up. That is if it's okay with the Mayor." Bill told him, his hands on his hips.

Abigail looked up at Bill beside her. "Yes, that'll be fine." She spoke in a tone with no emotion, unsure of how to feel being alone with Henry again, yet her curiosity got the better of her and she began to feel impatient for the next day to come.

"Okay, Henry?" Bill asked him, though he didn't care what his answer was.

"Well, I guess it's gonna have to be, Sheriff." Henry said, trying his best not to look at Abigail too long in front of Bill.

Bill removed his coat and went to take a seat at the desk whilst Abigail and Henry looked into each other's eyes again, her lack of emotion stinging Henry a bit. But he decided not to let it get to him as the mayor turned and left the building without so much as a goodbye.

The next morning, Bill walked Henry over to the Mayor's Office and made sure he went inside before turning to attend to his own duties given to him by Abigail.

Sitting at her desk, Abigail read over some papers she needed to sign for the businesses in town before she looked up, hearing the door open. She set her pen down, watching as Henry shut the door behind him.

"Good morning, Henry."

He nodded at her, removing his bowler hat. "Morning." The air grew silent as they just stood, watching each other for a moment. "Should I, uh…inspect the place and find what needs to be fixed or-"

"Oh!" Abigail snapped out of her thoughts, picking up a sheet of paper from her desk and she walked around it to hand the paper to Henry. "The list that Bill made for you. You can start with that front window there. It's really the only thing that bothers me." She admitted. "Everything else on the list is more just…Bill being quite picky." She forced out a chuckle, wondering why it was suddenly so awkward between her and the former mayor.

Henry nodded and went over to the window, examining it to figure out its flaws before he simply got to work without another word to her.

An hour or so later, Michael Hickam arrived to discuss some things about the Christmas parade and Henry couldn't help but listen in on the conversation, surprisingly feeling a bit proud of a few of the things Abigail said and the way she spoke to the citizens of the town.

"You seem to be growing into the job." Henry said to her once Michael had left.

"I had no choice." Abigail reminded him, looking over some files.

"Well…they respect you." He told her, feeling a bit upset with himself for never earning that type of respect.

"It's funny how it works when you don't steal from your constituents." She told him, never looking up from her papers.

That stung and normally, Henry would have had something else to say to that, but he honestly hadn't the strength for this anymore as he just looked at her, knowing for certain now that she WAS upset with him and what he did.

Abigail immediately realized what she had said and looked up at him. "I'm sorry. That was uncalled for." She admitted. The look on his face crushing her as she realized she was the one who made him feel that way. "You've been working hard, why don't you take a break?" She told him, having a seat at her desk again.

"Why did you bring me back here for Christmas, Abigail?" Henry asked her, his voice showing defeat.

She almost shrugged. "It seemed like a good idea."

"I'm starting to think that it wasn't."

"Your opinion is noted, for the record." She told him before looking back down at her papers, wondering why EVERYONE , even Henry , was against her decision to bring him home.

"What do you want from me?" He asked her, his pain almost seeping through his words.

She looked back up at him, almost unsure herself of what to say. "I see good in you, Henry."

"Maybe you see what you wanna see." He told her before getting back to work on the window without a break as she had suggested.

It was quiet again for a while before her eyes looked up at him and she watched him work. "I think you're wrong." She finally said, breaking the silence after a bit.

"About what?" He asked her.

"There IS good in you, Henry. Whether you want to believe it or not. I know that there is. And one day…you will surprise yourself and I hope that on that day….you see it too."

He changed the subject immediately. "Is Rebecca home from school?"

She internally sighed, knowing that he was dodging the subject, but she decided not to push it with him. "Not yet. She should arrive tomorrow." She told him.

"You must be excited."

"Yes, I am."

"Any word on the adoption papers yet?" He asked her, measuring the window frame.

"You remembered?" She smiled a bit to herself. "Yes…The papers went through a few days ago. I just received them in the mail this morning."

He turned to look at her over his shoulder. "So you are officially a mother again."

"That's right." She smiled a bit more.

"That's great." He said before looking at the tape measure again. "Congratulations."

"Thank you." Her smile grew even more and she wanted to use his words against him in proving to him that he WAS good, but she kept her mouth shut.

"The tree looks nice." He said to her whilst looking out the window at the Christmas tree in the center of town.

"Yes, it does."

"Wishing Tree?" He read the sign in front of it. "What's that?"

"Oh, you place an ornament on it with a wish that you have and someone else will take it to make it come true." She informed him.

"Sounds nice." He nodded before picking up the tools Bill had left for him there. "Did you make a wish?"

"Everything I want is already coming true." She told him. "I got the adoption papers. I've got Becky on her way here soon so I can give them to her and Cody together. I've got a wonderful home and a town full of loving people by my side. What else could I ask for?"

"I suppose you're right." He said. "You deserve it." The sincerity in his voice almost stung Abigail a little.

"Henry, I-"

"I think I will take that break." He told her. "I am a bit hungry." He set his things down and grabbed his hat, placing it on his head before kindly nodding to her and leaving.

She sighed to herself, wishing things could go back to the way they were with him….something she never thought that she would want

A/N: Sorry for the late update. I had a pretty busy weekend and the last few days have been hectic because of work so I took today to relax. But here's a chapter ( or two ;) for you guys ;P )