Author's Note: This is the last chapter. I hope that you will enjoy it.

Chapter 16

Henry puffed out his cheeks and blew out the air in them. He couldn't believe how nervous he was. Once his mind cleared, it was such a simple decision. He should be calmer than this.

He knocked on the door and shoved his trembling hands deep into his pockets. He hoped that Jo would understand what he needed to do. The first opportunity that he would receive, he would repay her for it.

The door swung open, revealing a more well-rested Jo. The corner of his lips tugged toward the sky. No one would believe how exhilarating it felt for him to see her. How comforting it was to know that she was there for him no matter what happened in his life.

Her hand found his and tugged it out of its hiding spot. As their hands became intertwined, his breath hitched in his throat. The gesture was entirely innocent in nature. Yet, it jolted his senses and erased everything but the awareness of her presence.

He shook his head in amazement while he let her pull him into the room. How could she affect him like this? It was almost as if everything that she said or did was infusing him with life. Every gesture, every word stirred feelings and impulses deep within him that made him want to do everything in his power to please her in return.

Once the door closed, she released his hand. He shook himself out of his haze. As she perched herself on the edge of the bed, it reminded him of his task.

He shoved his hand back into his pockets and began to pace. What he had in mind would change their relationship forever. She had the freedom to say no, and, if she did, he would find another way to do it. Yet, he could not continue unless he knew what she thought about it.

He pirouetted toward her and gave her a lopsided, sheepish smile. "I need to ask you for a favor."

Jo's face fell, stabbing Henry's heart and sinking it in the process. "What is it?"

He swallowed back his tears and smiled again as he stepped closer to her. "I would like to purchase an airlines ticket. When I had bought mine in New York, the ticket agent had given me a curious look and asked me why I haven't obtained it online."

The conversation and his thoughts then, as faint as they were, flowed back to him. He swallowed. He should have never attempted to run that night. He should have listened to the voice in his head telling him to return to the shop. If he had, maybe none of this would have happened.

He looked back at Jo. Then again, a part of him wouldn't trade the last few days for the world. Had he remained in New York, he would have attempted to conceal the full truth from her again, and he would have hidden his pain and refused comfort from both her and Abe. Furthermore, he wouldn't have come to realize just how much the life that he had lived had become a part of him.

He sucked in some air and summoned some more courage to continue. "As I don't have access to the Internet or a credit card, I was wondering if you could help me purchase one. I will repay every penny to you as soon as I can."

With glistening eyes, she glanced away for a moment. "Where do you want to go?"

Jo's quivering voice sent a shot of adrenaline through him. Perhaps this was why he was so nervous. She must have been thinking that he was leaving her behind forever.

He stared at his shoes for a moment to reign in his emotions and smiled. "New York."

"New York?" She repeated, almost as if she hadn't heard him correctly.

Unsure of what he could say, he nodded.

She then grinned. "You're coming home?"

Home.

The word sent another wave of comfort and peace over him. He closed his eyes and smiled. The last time that he had felt truly at home anywhere, it was two centuries ago. After Nora had committed him to the asylums, no other place had given him the same comforts and freedom that he had long enjoyed…

…except one.

The memories of his life in New York rolled past him. He had never realize it, but he had returned there as frequently as he had London. And it was the only other place where he felt that he could be himself. Perhaps he had already thought of the city as his home without his notice.

Feeling Jo's eyes on him, he opened his. She bit her lower lip in thought. After a moment, she leaned forward. "When we were in Houslow, I picked up your boarding pass. It felt twice as thick as mine. Is that normal?"

Henry's mind went straight to the moment that he had discovered the document. He shook his head. "It's not." He scoffed. "I had wondered the same thing myself when I had come to myself and realized what had happened."

Her eyes flew to the left as they always did while questioning witnesses. "Do you mind getting it?" She turned back to him. "I want to test a theory."

He wasn't sure of what she would find, but he immediately returned to his room and located the pass. Once he reentered her room, she motioned for him to hand it to her.

She flipped it over and ran her fingers over it. She then pressed a fingernail onto the side of the pass. His eyes widened as a second piece of cardboard separated itself from the first and fell away from its hiding spot.

She scoffed. "You're going to have to learn how to use a computer. That way, you can see what you are buying."

She handed him the formerly-concealed ticket. His jaw fell open at the sight of the code indicating a return flight to New York set for the beginning of next week.

His knees loosened, and he eased himself onto the bed. How was that possible? He was convinced that his flight was a one-way trip.

She joined him on the bed and laid her hand behind him. Her eyes studied his for a moment, and she smiled at him.

"Do you want to talk about what you were thinking before you ran?" She tilted her head. "Maybe we can jog your memory of that night."

He searched her eyes. He had been unsuccessful in determining his mindset at the time that he had run. Perhaps they could figure it out…together.

"It would appear that my initial assessment of Neil Young's body of work was correct."

Jo watched as Henry expertly hoisted the duffle bag which she had packed out of the cab's trunk and handed it to her in one fluid motion. "How so?"

"His arrangements are an utter cacophony, but his lyrics are reminiscent of Yeats and Frost." He slung his satchel over his shoulder and reached back into the trunk for his suitcase. "I believe that's also the reason I enjoyed Bob Dylan's early works and the songs that Hanson had sung at the karaoke bar a few weeks ago." He looked back up at her. "Has Dylan retired? I haven't heard his music lately, and Abe hasn't mentioned anything about his death."

"Where have you been living? In a cemetery?" Their cab driver closed the trunk and stared at Henry.

He chuckled and bowed his head. "I generally don't listen to modern music. I prefer symphonies, operas, and some jazz." He reached into his pocket. "How much do we owe you?"

As Henry paid the man, Jo grinned. She had never thought that she would see the day in which Henry Morgan would lavish high praise on rock musicians. At the rate they were going, she, Abe, Mike, and Lucas would be turning him into a fan of rock and roll before she knew it.

"You and your girlfriend have a nice day." He pocketed the cash that Henry had given him and made his way toward his door.

What?! Me and Henry? Together?

"We're not dating." Both of them replied simultaneously as the driver drove off.

She and Henry exchanged looks. It was the third time that day in which someone had mistaken them for a couple. Just hours earlier, the receptionist who had checked Henry into their hotel had called them boyfriend and girlfriend again when they had returned their key. And at the airport, a gate agent who had noticed that they had been assigned seats several rows apart had asked Jo if she wanted to sit next to Henry. She had denied the perceived purely romantic nature of their relationship, but she had eagerly accepted the offer.

Then again, they had been almost inseparable after she had fished him out of the Thames. The only times that they had been apart had been at bedtime and bathroom breaks. What if that was giving everyone the impression that they were together?

She chuckled as she took one last look at the disappearing cab. "To answer your question, Bob Dylan's still producing music. I'll let you listen to some of his more recent stuff the next time that we return from a scene, and I think that I can find some more Whitesnake songs for you to enjoy."

They turned back to the shop. Henry happily sighed as he studied the building's façade. "I had thought that I would never see this again."

She lowered her gaze. For a while, she had thought the same thing.

His eyes found hers. "Well, shall we?"

She grinned. "Of course."

He pushed through the entrance first and held the door open for her. As she crossed the threshold, she gaped in amazement at everything that had happened since the last time that she had come here. Then, she was confused and frustrated about him, wondering if she would ever get a peek into his mind. Now, she was closer to him than she had ever been before.

Abe sat at the desk in the corner, reviewing his paperwork and being oblivious to the pair in the room. She wanted to say something to him, but she held back. Now was not her time for that.

Henry set his suitcase and satchel down on the floor. "Abraham?"

Abe stirred himself from his work, looked at the pair, and then stared at them in disbelief. He then removed his reading glasses, eased around the desk, and joined them in the middle of the shop. He threw his arms around his father. "Pops!"

Henry wrapped his arms around his little boy and held him tightly. "My apologies for what I had put you through lately."

Abe pulled away and observed Jo before staring the older man in the eye. "When I whisk a girl off somewhere, I would pick Italy or Tahiti. But London?"

She glared at the younger Morgan. She and, based on his description of the city, Henry preferred Paris.

Henry laughed. "We were already there. I might as well show Jo where I had lived."

She smiled at the memories of seeing the cottage that had served as Belton-Sutton's general hospital. The house where the Morgan family had lived after World War II. The park that had once been the prison where his cellmate—a Catholic priest, of all people—had helped him escape. The intersection where Abigail had discovered Henry's condition. The suburbs where Henry had investigated Jack the Ripper. Places that told a little more of the story of his early days. When they weren't touring the city, they had spent their time talking about their lives, and she had surprisingly talked him into watching a game of cricket on TV.

Tears found the corners of her eyes, and she swallowed them back. They had even gone to Holy Trinity Church's cemetery and laid a pair of bouquets on the graves of Henry's sisters. Henry then broke off a twig from one of the trees and laid it on his brother's grave. She wrapped her arm around his shoulder as he had broken down and had told her how much he missed them.

While they had been at the florist's, she had asked if he wanted to lay some flowers on his mother's grave as well. He shook his head. As they stood beside his siblings' graves, he mentioned that it was still too soon for him to see the family estate again. Although he had felt more peaceful than he had when they had been there, he hadn't want to risk the memories of Nora's betrayal overwhelming him to the point where Jo would be unable to bring him out of the past. Perhaps they would go there again when he was ready.

Henry's presence called to her. He grinned and bowed his head before looking back at Abe. "This had to be the sloppiest run that I had ever made."

She grinned at the immortal. "Maybe you wanted to be caught."

He chuckled. "You might have a point."

Abe placed his hands on his hips and shifted his weight. "So, what happened?"

Henry sighed again. "From what I can remember and what Jo and I had been able to piece together, recent events had sent me into a blind panic. As I began to pack, my mind must have cleared long enough for me to realize that I truly did not want to leave my life here in New York behind. I must have jettisoned my business attire, abandoned my satchel and journals, and took my American passport and enough cash for a two-week stay in my destination. I must have selected London since it had served as my home for many years. I remember going to JFK and using my real name for the flight, and I remember not worrying about the consequences of being found. I don't remember checking to the hotel, but I do remember setting my luggage in the room and collapsing onto the bed. When I woke up in Houslow a full day later, I assumed the worst, and I didn't want to return." He turned to her. "Fortunately, you, Lucas, and the NYPD noticed my absence and pursued me."

"You still wanted us to be a family, and you needed time to think about everything that had happened lately."

Henry turned back to his son, his mouth agape at the memory of Abigail's similar decision. "I guess that you could say that."

"I appreciate you two calling me when you finally decided to come home." Abe's eyes darted from his father to the detective. "So, what happens now? Pops didn't leave under the best of circumstances."

Catching herself squaring her shoulders, Jo reminded herself of whom she was talking to. "Tomorrow morning, Henry and I will go to Lt. Reece's office and tell her that Adam had used your father's therapy session and his trips to the river to blackmail him into stealing the pugio. Henry and I will add Adam's photograph, blood sample, and fingerprints to the suspects' database and see if they match any other crimes both here and internationally. If Lt. Reece gives me permission, I will start combing the surveillance footage from our crime scenes to check if Adam was there when we were. I will also begin a background check on his alias of Dr. Farber and see if anything else comes up."

"How are you going to explain his locked-in syndrome?"

"I will tell Lt. Reece that Adam and I had met in the tunnel so that I could give him the pugio and that he had collapsed after I had left him." Henry licked his bottom lip. "As much as I would like to keep him away from Jo, I will be adding her name to the list of contacts that I had given the hospital. That way, she would be apprised of the situation as well."

He shifted his weight. "In the meantime, Jo has given me six months to disclose my condition to Lt. Reece. At the same time, the three of us will need to select which stories I can safely tell Lucas and Hanson when they ask about my past. They've been inquiring about it a lot lately, and I would prefer to tell them something rather than to let their assumptions fill in the gaps. If and when the truth eventually comes out, they won't be confronted with the lies and half-truths that I had told Jo."

"Yeah, I'll help you do that." Abe then smiled. "Did you two enjoy yourselves?"

Jo beamed with pride and pointed at Henry. "I talked him into seeing the Changing of the Guards for the first time."

Henry pointed at himself. "I was raised to respect the king's or queen's residence. One did not view their security practices as it protected the monarch from assassination."

She looked back at Abe. "He treated it like we had an audience with the queen. He wanted to go back to the hotel and change into the only suit that he had brought."

Henry glared at her for a moment before breaking his gaze and bowing his head. "I still don't fully understand everyone's fascination with it." He shoved his hands into his pocket and smiled at his son. "It, however, was quite interesting to watch."

Abe laid a hand on Henry's shoulder. "I'm glad that you had a chance to rest. I know it wasn't easy for either of you to deal with the truth."

Jo lowered her gaze. It certainly wasn't, but, if she had the chance to do it all over again, she wouldn't change a thing.

She looked at father and son. Perhaps it was time for her to leave. That way, they could catch up.

She tapped Henry on the shoulder. "Call me anytime you want. You have my number now."

He gazed at her. A moment later, he took her into his arms and pulled her close to him. He placed his lips near her ear. "Thank you for everything."

She closed her eyes at the unexpected gesture. Something about the way that he was holding her felt so natural, so perfect.

She pushed her thoughts aside. He was truly grateful for her actions, and she shouldn't let more romantic notions cross her mind. "You're welcome."

He held her for a moment longer. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Abe's eyebrows shoot up and him turning away from them. What was he thinking?

Henry slowly released her, his eyes slightly filled with disappointment. Was there a chance that he was feeling the same way that she had?

She quickly pushed the thought out of her mind. He would tell her one day…when he was ready.

She picked up the duffle bag that she had used instead of the small suitcase which she had carried a few weeks ago. As she headed toward the door, she took one last look at Henry and Abe as they talked about the flight to JFK. She smiled as she flipped the sign to "Closed" and walked out the door. Henry was finally home.

Author's Note: How long does it take Henry to tell Lt. Reece the truth about his condition? That's a story for another time. Right now, I don't have one planned, but who knows? Maybe I will think of something. If not, I'll leave it to your imaginations.

To confirm something for the Jenry shippers, yeah, their hug is definitely too long to be considered a purely "Thank you" embrace. For your information, they're back to where they are in "The King of Columbus Circle". Maybe their hug is a hint that Paris might be happening before they know it? :)

Like I had said in the last chapter's ending Author's Note, I am working on a couple of stories. The first one will be posted in a few weeks.