Forever

Resurfaced

Several months had passed before Henry had any unusual experiences. Adam didn't call, but then; He hadn't been working on an especially difficult case and he definitely hadn't kissed Jo.

Where was he with her? He didn't know, but he wanted to find out. Henry would pester her with questions, and each time she'd hold up and hand and stop his interrogations in its tracks.

As for meeting the most prominent people in the world- Slapping one, no less- Henry decided it was a dream; He'd ask Adam about it next time. If there was a next time. If he told anyone about it, they'd be skeptical, and he didn't want Nora all over again. Truth be told, he loved the woman, and putting him in the Asylum had been an act of love, but he was still saddened by the fact that she had gone and given him away. As he was staring at a case file of a woman who looked similar to her, his mind took him to places other than his office, places he hadn't recalled in conscious memory.

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

"Why have you been acting so...... Flippant with your life? Do you know what I would do if you weren't here?" Nora cornered him in the kitchen, in his way from taking one of the pastries she had made. Henry sighed. He wasn't acting flippant; He was more wary. He didn't want to die in public and have it taken the wrong way. Those were sensitive, cautious times, and the slightest resemblance to anything witch-like or demon like brought attention.

"I'm not!" He protested.

Nora folded her arms and gave him a withering look. "I'm worried for you. For your health...."

"My health? I'm in perfect condition." He said.

She looked weary, and reached up to place her fingers on his temples, then ran them down his chin. He wanted to pull back and ask her what was wrong, but couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Not your health here." Nora brought her hand down to tap his chest. Then she tapped his forehead. "I'm worried for your health... In here."

"You're not-"

"Open your eyes, love!" She stepped back and allowed him to reach absentmindedly for a pastry. "You think you can't.... Die! That's impossible! You're a doctor, you should know eternal life isn't even.... Logical!"

"I don't think I can't die; I know I can't. And it's not even that I can't die. Of course I can. I go through the pain, but it never-"

"Enough of this! You think you are some god! Henry, you are not. You're as mortal as I am. Look at me. Look at me." She pulled his chin so he was forced to face her, but he cast his eyes downward. This wasn't what he had been expecting when all he wanted was to have a lemon tart she'd made.

"You can't keep on like this."

"I can prove it to you!" He turned away, and she screamed at the top of her lungs. When he looked back, she hugged him tightly.

"Don't! Don't kill yourself!"

That was exactly what he'd been trying to avoid.

"I'm not! Look." He put the tart in his mouth and pulled off his shirt, showing her the mark on his chest. "See? That's where I was shot, Nora! They hit me point-blank with the pistol. If they were farther it would have been smaller- But because he was inches away, this shows that it exploded so near to me; The trajectory....." She'd turned his back to him and stared out the window, into the blackness of night. He pulled his shirt back on and silently ate his tart, wondering what she was thinking.

After several minutes of awkward quiet, she dragged her gaze away from the window and looked at him with such fear in her eyes it made Henry feel like he was being branded as a fool.