Author's note: Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Henry…

Eleven weeks. Jo had asked for space eleven weeks ago and Henry was missing her like crazy. He wanted to help her adjust to life as an immortal, but her interactions with him had been very professional. Lucas and Hanson were worried about her. They knew something had changed about her, but neither knew what. Henry had considered telling Lucas that Jo was now immortal, but he decided that it wasn't his secret to tell. At least Hanson had bought the photos of "young Henry."

Eleven weeks ago…

Three days after Jo became immortal, Henry was called to a crime scene she was going to be at. "Good morning, detectives."

"Morning, Henry." Jo tried to sound happy to see him, but there was a noticeable undercurrent of tension.

Henry remembered that they had been using an illness to give her some time to adjust. "It sounds like you are doing much better today, Jo."

"I'm doing better than this guy, at least. His name is Michael Abbott. His neighbor found the body this morning when he came out with his dog for a walk."

Henry went about his job, examining the body with his usual practiced efficiency. Lucas wasn't talking much, but when Henry looked at him, the young man's smile was as goofy as usual. Henry realized that Lucas was afraid of saying the wrong thing now that he was in on the secret. With everything that had happened with Jo, Henry had almost forgotten that he'd told Lucas. He'd have to tell Jo that Lucas knew before the young man said anything to her.

Henry thought he and Jo had been acting very naturally, but Hanson cornered the M.E. near the van. "Okay, what is going on between you two?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You and Jo are being very careful with each other again. Something happened. Should I be concerned?"

Jo rounded the back of the van to see her partner in Henry's face. "Hanson!"

Hanson backed up a step. "I don't like it when you two aren't getting along. What is going on?"

Jo sighed. "Henry and I are taking a break."

Hanson turned back to Henry. "What did you do?"

"This isn't on him, it's on me." Jo looked Hanson in the eye. "If you think about it, it should be obvious why."

Hanson's face fell. "Sean."

"Exactly. Now, I'm pretty sure Henry needs to get the body back to the morgue, so you need to let him out of your interrogation zone."

Jo walked away from the two and Henry retrieved the packet of photos Anneliese had given him a couple nights ago. "Detective, a family member mailed these to me a couple days ago. It's a couple photos of me with my uncle."

Henry looked at the photos. "That's you as a kid?"

"Yes."

Hanson nodded. "You really did grow up to look just like him."

Present day…

Henry sighed as he stepped out of the back of the cab and headed into the crime scene. This store was usually open to the public by now, but the police had shut them down so the detectives could work without interruption. Employees were all being interviewed by uniformed officers, but the detectives were in the back of the store by the walk-in freezer. The body was in the freezer, ice coating most of it.

"Hey, Henry." Jo stopped next to the M.E. "Not what you were expecting, is it?"

"No, I can't say it is." He took a look at the door. "This is designed to ensure you can't get trapped inside. How did someone get trapped in here?"

"We were kinda hoping you could tell us."

Hanson opened his notebook. "We're sure there wasn't an obstruction in front of the door; security footage and witness statements both rule that out. We also know there wasn't a lock on the door."

"Which may imply that the mechanism itself was faulty." Henry put on a pair of gloves. "We'll need to get the body out of there before I can do an exam. Have the pictures been taken?"

Lucas stepped out of the freezer wearing a thick coat. "It is very cold in there." He handed Henry the camera. "Let me know if there's another angle you need."

Henry took a look at the pictures and smiled. "Very good, Lucas. These pictures will be very helpful."

Lucas grinned. "Thanks, Doc. What now?"

"Now we get the body out of the freezer."

Jo…

Eleven weeks. Jo had asked for space from Henry eleven weeks ago and she was missing him like crazy, but it had to be this way. She needed to figure out who she was now that death was no longer an eventuality. She watched as Henry helped Lucas pull the body out of the freezer. She'd been furious when Henry told her that Lucas knew he was an immortal. He'd quickly assured her that he hadn't told Lucas she was immortal, and while she watched the assistant, Jo could tell that Lucas was in the dark about her own immortality.

Henry looked up from the body. "Do we have an I.D.?"

Hanson consulted his notebook. "Doris Bryndelson. She was an assistant manager here."

Jo made a note. "I'll talk to the employees about her."

"Already did." Hanson looked back at his notepad. "She was the closing manager last night. The closing cashier called the general manager just after closing to report that Doris seemed to have left without telling anyone. The manager came in to close up shop and left a note on his desk to fire her later. No one seems to know how she ended up in the freezer."

"Any enemies?"

"Everyone at the store. Apparently, she threw her weight around due to the somewhat recent promotion. No one liked her very much."

Jo watched the scene get processed with the usual thoroughness she'd come to expect from a Dr. Henry Morgan case. She helped Hanson conduct interviews of the staff, but everything felt very routine. She could tell that she was struggling to adjust to the idea of immortality. The conversation she'd had with Anneliese right after the change had helped a bit. Jo knew she needed help adjusting; if her pride wouldn't let her go to Henry for help, maybe she should turn to Anneliese.

Hanson fell into step with her as they left the store. "So… how are things between you and Henry going? It's been, what, a couple months?"

"Yeah." Jo thought about how best to respond. "I'm still struggling. I think I might need some therapy. I know I rushed it right after Sean died."

"Oh." Hanson wasn't sure what to do with that confession. "Did you need… a recommendation… or…?"

"I've got a… lunch appointment with someone. I'll let you know how it goes."

"So… does that mean you and Henry…"

"Whether or not Henry comes back into my life romantically will be decided after I go to this therapist. I need to worry about me before I start worrying about him."

Hanson stopped by his car. "Look, Jo, I'm not trying to force the two of you together. I just… I really liked the two of you when you were dating. I don't like seeing you tiptoe around each other. Do we need to stop working cases with him?"

Jo shook her head. "No. At least, not yet. Let's give the therapist a try before deciding anything like that, okay?"

"Okay." Hanson opened his car's door. "Are you coming into the precinct before the appointment?"

Jo glanced at her watch. "I don't think I'll have time. I'll see you after."

Jo got into her car, but she didn't have a therapy appointment. She headed for the Events by Stana office instead. She didn't want to show up unexpectedly, but she needed someone to talk to, and she felt she might chicken out if she called ahead. She parked in the garage and rode the elevator up to the right floor. The receptionist remembered her from the first case they came here for and directed her to Ms. Deverodova's office.

Anneliese opened the door, a little surprised. "Jo! I didn't expect to see you today. Is everything okay?"

"Can we talk? In private?"

Anneliese asked the receptionist to put in a lunch order and brought Jo up to the roof. "What's going on? Is Henry okay? Are you?"

"Henry and I are taking a break. My decision. I just… how did you adjust to being immortal?"

Anneliese looked at Jo for a long time. "What's going on, Jo? Walk me through it."

Jo sighed. "After you left that night, I asked Henry to give me some space. I wanted to figure out what being immortal now meant to me, but I've been struggling. I didn't want him to hover over me and treat me like glass, and now I feel like asking him for help would just make everything that much worse. I don't know what to do."

Anneliese had a soft smile on her face. "I see. You want advice, but don't feel like Henry can be objective."

"He's always been protective of me. I don't want to be shielded from the realities of our…"

"Existence?"

"Yeah."

Anneliese nodded. "My adjustment period was long and messy, mostly because I didn't have anyone to turn to with any of this. I also didn't even know it was possible beforehand. You have an advantage in both departments. I know you're an independent woman, but doing this alone will ruin your life for a few decades."

"That's why I'm reaching out to you." Jo leaned against the wall. "What do I need to do to adjust?"

"Two things come to mind. You need to get very good at lying, and you need to come to terms with death. I know the second one seems odd, but you are going to die a lot over the course of your extended life. Especially since you are close to Henry. Pierre is very interested in Henry…"

"Pierre?"

"You know him as Adam. A long time ago, I knew him as Pierre. He was a very different man back then. At any rate, he's obsessed with Henry, which puts you in his crosshairs. And now that you are also immortal, it stands to reason that you will also become part of his obsession."

"Oh, good. That's exactly what I wanted to think about right now."

Anneliese chuckled at Jo's sarcasm. "Honesty with those who know will also help. The biggest thing about being immortal is being prepared. Henry was always stressed before you both met me, correct?"

Jo nodded. "Yes."

"That's because death involved him trying to get home while naked and trying to avoid anyone seeing him in one of the most populated cities in the world. Now he has a stash of clothes hidden near his rebirth point. He still has stress, but one major source of it is gone. What have you done to prepare for death?"

"I've hidden my stash with yours and Henry's, but that's about it. What should I do?"

"Henry hadn't done this yet, but you know Pierre… Adam has. He has a concealed blade on his person and so do I." Anneliese pulled a push dagger from her belt buckle. "We keep concealed blades on us for a quick escape from dangerous situations. Now, as a cop, you have a gun on you most of the time, but you don't have a mentality that would let you use it on yourself, do you?"

Jo watched the dagger get returned to the sheath. "No, I don't."

Anneliese nodded. "You don't have to develop that yet, but adjusting to the idea that it might be necessary someday will help."

"How? How could killing yourself ever be a good thing?"

"Has Henry ever told you about Doctor William Gower?"

"Yes."

"Did he tell you the things that man did?"

Jo hesitated as the memory returned. "Yes."

"Can you not think of a reason why he might have needed to kill himself? Especially when you know you can't truly die?"

"I guess."

Anneliese looked out over the city. "You won't need to die often. You might go years without dying. But you are in a very dangerous job. Death is an occupational hazard for you. I know none of this is helping you adjust to being immortal, but these are things you need to think about."

"But what helped you adjust to this life the most?"

Anneliese turned to Jo. "Dying. Which was easier back then. Disease was everywhere, and a severe lack of anything resembling modern medicine meant many of them could easily be fatal. But the only real way to adjust to the process of dying and being reborn is to die and be reborn. A lot. It won't be easy at first, but eventually you won't be afraid of it anymore."

A/N: Stay tuned!