Not What Kills You

Chapter 1

"I've never been good at keeping quiet Jo.." Jo sighs and takes another gulp of her whiskey as Henry speaks, even though she had asked him not to.

"What kills us, is not what stops our heart from beating but what prevents us to living." Jo looks deeply into Henry's eyes.

She knows he's right. That she needs to learn how to live again, how to love. She also knows that he's been prying open the doorway to her heart.

"I know you're right." She mumbles.

"You need to deal with Sean's death eventually." She nods her head and downs the rest of her drink.

"But not tonight." Henry nods his head, his brown curls bobbing slightly.

"No, not tonight." she watches as he pours her another drink.

She takes it thankfully, and downs it in one go. She wants to drink, to become numb from the pain, no matter how bad she will no doubt feel in the morning.

"Henry, how do you deal with it?" Henry had to take a second to realise what Jo meant.

"It's hard. You can't really deal with it, you just...live with it." Jo just stares at Henry, she doesn't understand why his wife would leave.

"What happened with Abigail?" Henry was taken back by her blunt question.

"What do you mean?" He scrunched up his eyebrows in confusion.

"Abigail. I know you're still in love with her...so what happened?" Henry sighs and looks down at his drink, tracing the rim of the cup with his index finger.

"She left. I came home one day, To a 'dear John' letter and never saw her again." Jo's heart broke for her coworker.

"I'm sorry that happened." Henry waves her off and takes a drink.

"Wasn't your fault Jo." She placed her hand on top of his, squeezing as he holds hers too.

After a few more drinks or so, Henry took hold of Jo's phone and keys. He called Abe from Jo's phone and asked him to pick them up. He may have been more sober than Jo, but he was definitely drunk too.

"Abraham! Could you give me a hand?"

Abraham gets out of the car and opens the back door for Henry who, at the moment, has Jo passed out in his arms. He put her down in the back seat as carefully as he could.

"Thank you Abraham." Abraham rolls his eyes and shakes his head as he puts the key in the ignition.

Ever since detective Jo Martinez walked into his father's - Henry - life, he has been doing all sorts of things like tonight. Getting shot at, jumping into line of fire, get drunk with her, doing everything he can to protect her.

It's not like Abraham is mad about it. He is mad that Henry can't man up and tell Jo how he feels, or open up to her about his immortality.

"You might need to make that ghastly hang over remedy for Jo and I in the morning.

"Sure thing Paps." Abraham responds, turning off the car outside the antique store. He gets out and opens the back door for Henry before opening the front of the antique store, letting Henry in with Jo in his arms.

Henry knows that if he puts her in his bed she'll freak out in the morning, so instead, he puts her on the couch, taking off her heels and putting a blanket around her. Pressing a chaste kiss on her forehead.

"When are you going to tell her?" Henry sighs and walks toward his bedroom, Abraham following him.

"Henry, don't ignore me." Henry turns around to face Abraham.

"I can't tell her. She'll never believe me Abraham, you know that." Abraham shakes his head.

"Mom believed you." Henry couldn't respond.

Abigail did believe him. But she saw him disappear and of all the relationships he had had, only she believed.

"Abraham I'm tired and not entirely sober." Abraham nods his head and walks away to his room.

Closing his door, Henry sighs and leans against his door, catching his breath and thoughts before undressing and getting into bed.

That one woman on his mind, the same one that's been on his mind every night before he sleeps for the past few months. Detective Jo Martinez.