Forever

Confrontation

"Lucas!"

He sat up coughed, rubbing his eyes and pushing Henry away. "I'm fine. It blew up and stunned me, but you snapped me out of it."

Relief seeped into Henry's limbs and he nodded, standing. Suddenly, a defeaning crack richocheted across his skull, and it took a moment of realize he'd just been slapped. When his sight cleared of the menacing white electric shapes, he saw it was Jo.

"What did I tell you?"

He took a moment to think on purpose, inwardly pleased she cared about him. "Take the elevator?" He missed the mark, too.

"No! When you pulled the 'Shoot me' stunt! That was the second time and I told you-"

"That I have a noticing lack of self-preservation," He said, flicking his eyes around the lab to see who needed help. His heart thumped as he realized how many had died. But there was one man down closer to the explosion site, and he pushed past Jo, muscles alive with the sensation of determination. She stared after him, aware that he had seen someone who needed help and there wasn't any stopping him.

He checked the man's pulse. Faint and frantic and all over the place, but it was there and so he found the wound on his stomach and pressed his hands against it, telling then man to breath and keep speaking to him until the paramedics arrived. He was about to lift his hands from the wound when another explosion rocked the lab.

He was too close to it, and pain splintered from every nerve in his body. With a crack Henry's head struck the lab floor and memories bubbled in his head, going back to when Abraham was a child and to his release.

He was three feet below the surface, looking out into the gray skies of afternoon. Cold water sparked him awake and he kicked his feet, holding his breath. His head broke the surface and the memory of how he died drifted back into his mind as he swam to shore. It wasn't as cold as before and he managed to call his son before anyone (In an officer's uniform, anyway) Saw him. He crouched behind a dumpster while he waited for Abraham, realizing the depth of the situation as he remembered Jo had been there, maybe even saw him die. Then another thought occurred; What if she had been killed? He pushed it away and focused on who had planted the bombs-

Adam.

That sly, little-

A car horn honked and Henry took a chance, sprinting for it and getting into the passenger side before anyone say him, aside from a few people he hoped weren't women. The snickering proved otherwise and he felt his cheeks redden as Abaraham gave him a towle and some clothes. While he struggled to put the clothes on in the front seat, he asked how Henry died.

"Adam! That bastard planted some kind of bomb at the lab!"

"Ooooh. Then you may not be happy to hear that I got a call from Jo about you being dead......"

Henry stared, every part if him feeling relief that there wouldn't be more hiding, and dread and anger at Adam and the interrogation he'd be out through. Just tired of it all, he put Hus head in his hands and closed his eyes, asking for his sin to drive him to the lab.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

If he died, where the hell did his body go? Jo scanned the carnage again as paramdecis scoured the building, and felt utter regret. She had been trying to warn Henry about the telltale clicking of another bomb about to blow, and she'd been trying to warn him before it had exploded. But instead of helping him, Jo had ducked behind a desk.

A pang of guilt shot through her heart and she tried to shake it off. He had been the one to go and risk his God damned life like he did all the time, didn't he? And-