Forever

Lesson Not Learned

Jo gaped.

"Would this be a bad time to say 'I told ya so'?" Abraham asked. He slipped the gun into a pocket of his coat, and she continued to stare.

"Oh, come on; He'll be fine."

"Where.... Where does he come back?"

"Who, Henry or Adam?"

She gave him a sharp look. "Abe, two men are fighting over me right now. Both can come back alive. Be serious for once."

"I am serious. Let's go, I'll tell you on the ride there."

---

"He comes back in the river..... Naked?" She chuckled to herself and watched the shore for any trace of a butt-naked man. Abraham couldn't resist laughing himself.

"Yeah. You know how many house calls we've......." He trailed off as her hair shifted from its place at her temple.

There was a scar the size of a nickel there.

"Uh..... Jo?"

"What?" She leaned over to get a better look past the bridge support to comfirm her suspicions and a smile crossed her face. "God, that's a riot. I see him."

Abraham sighed and sat back, not daring to keep going. The woman would find out by her-

"What the hell's on my head?"

- Self.

"Don't worry! That's the Scar. From your first death. Henry's got one on his chest; Remember?" He gripped the steering wheel tightly and drove up necpxt to Henry, who was sitting on a bench and trying to salvage an ounce of dignity. Jo's face brightened considerably when he climbed into the back seat, dripping wet and humiliated beyond his personal record.

"How was your swim?"

"The water was warm." Henry muttered through clacking teeth. Jo looked back at him and gave him her jacket.

"Don't say a word about it being a woman's. Maybe no one will know."

He gave her an exasperated look. "Detective, there's pink on the inside collar. I assure you that this will be be just as humiliating as dripping wet and naked."

But all three chuckled and Jo finally turned to him again as Abraham dropped him off at the Antique shop.

"Look.... About earlier.... And me kissing you....."

He out a hand up and winked. "What kiss?"

She gave a relived smile and Abraham drove off to take her to her house.

---

As soon as he was dressed in warm clothes, he sat back in his lab and stared at the journals he had made with Abigail. To reassure himself that the interactions with Jo were alright, he opened the note and read it over a few times, the familiar ache of having her lost returning.

"I swear, on a' these days you're gonna become rooted in place to that chair."

Henry whipped around, rising out of his seat and tensing his arms. The hooded man in the doorway kept his head down, but from the scratchy, rough tone of his voice he could identify it as Adam.

"What? Little nervous?"

"What are you doing here?"

"Hmm. Not even a welcoming hug." The figure drew closer, and raised his voice more with each word. "You know what happened today? Wanna explain to me?"

"What happened?" Henry knew there were plenty of things that had occurred, but he didn't know which one.

"Didn't play moron with me!" Adam growled. "Your IQ's practically seven hundred fifty something and yet somehow you're the dumbest person alive!"

"I don't-"

The hooded immortal delivered a swift kick to Henry's ankle, making him grip the edge of the table for balance. "You kissed her."

Oh. Right. That.

"Yes... But it was purely of relief that we were both alive."

"So you kissed my relative? Wanna get 'Adam Cooties'?"

Henry raised an eyebrow and crossed his arms. "No, it wasn't-"

"Listen, Morgan, I'm gonna make this clear once and only once. You stay away from her. I don't want her heart broken because you can't let go of the God-damn past. And now that she's an immortal, you're gonna have to be getting used to these attacks."

"Attacks?"

"Yeah, what do you think happened in the alley? A tea party? Oh, right; You'd know exactly how the Boston Tea Party went because you were There."

"How does that pertain to-"

"You weren't a Patriot."

Henry was getting agitated; Adam knew it. The man had a way of making the simplest occurrence go from a minor happening to an explosive situation.

"Yes, I wasn't a Patriot. I dressed as an Indian with the others."

He laughed. Oh, how he loved playing games with Henry Morgan. But there was something the other immortal needed to know. He had to.

"Well, 'fore I go, Henry...." He stepped up close to the tense Medical Examiner's ear and whispered, "We're not the only ones."

Henry's breathing sped up and he backed away. "You're.... You're lying."

Adam grinned. "Am I? All of them, Henry, all of the most important people, the most memorized people, all of them never truly went away."

"What are you saying?"

Adam had done the exact same when he found out. He had made contact with Hitler before and never realized it until he saw an image on the internet. At a bookstore just down the street, of all places.

"What I'm saying is that George Washington, Araham Lincoln, Harriet Tubman, Josef Stalin, and even Hitler never died. They're still here, Henry. If you don't believe me, I can get Stalin to come over here. He'll tell you everything."

"Who's the oldest..... Immortal?" Henry decided he didn't like the use of that word the moment it left his mouth.

"George Washington. He helped all the others."

"Who else.....?" This was a surprising amount to take in. Especially coming from Adam.

"Everyone else!" Adam yelled, spreading his arms wide. "We are immortal, Henry, we don't give in to death!"

The outburst unnerved Henry. Adam was usually soft spoken, didn't say more than he needed to. This was uncharacteristic, especially the fact that he was giving Henry information he usually only reserved for murders.

"Dad?" Abraham came through the door, and scowled when he saw the hooded immortal standing before him.

"And This is why I told you to keep a shotgun down here."