embarkation | i feel my soul waist deep and sinking

Entry tags:

@verse: altered states

i feel my soul waist deep and sinking

Who: Jo Martinez and Henry Morgan
Where: The Residences
When: TBD
Rating: PG
Summary: Jo washes up in the Hudson in an alternate New York City, and finds out Henry is there.

Henry was usually the type to wake up in the Hudson, and once the shock of nearly drowning in the disgusting water had worn off, she was relieved about two things - that she wasn't naked, and she wasn't dead.

On the other hand, her phone was wasted, her gun was flooded, and someone had slipped a strange smart phone in her pocket. Jo quickly found her relief turning into confusion, anger and a little bit of fear.

It didn't take long to find herself at the Residences, staring down at the instructions on her phone and back up at the building for a few moments. Her wet, filthy clothes clung to her body and the cold rush of the New York winter air was starting to get the best of her, so she finally pulled in a shuttering breath before pulling open the door and stepping into the lobby. The blast of warm air from the heater was a relief, but it didn't do much to stave off the chill that had seemed to seep clear down into her very bones.

"What the hell is going on here," she murmured to herself, clutching the smart phone in her hand and glancing around the lobby again. Jo could feel her heart thundering in her chest. There was something not right about any of this.

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Jo continued to follow him, keeping her pace abreast with his as they moved down the street. The bustling roads of New York City looked familiar enough, and Jo knew they were in the Battery. There were some things that were strange, though; a street name here that seemed off, a shop there that didn't look familiar. But New York was a thriving, living city, and what Henry was implying didn't fully sink in even as they made their way down the sidewalks.

"Marginally. I'm not sure I feel great about were this is going," she admitted.

Henry could have taken her to the city block where the antique shop should have been, but he didn't have it in him. He couldn't imagine a world where Abe had never been. It didn't cross his mind as something he could accept.

"I don't either and I've been living this nightmare for a week on my own," he said as they approached the precinct in which Jo worked and opened the door. He let her go in to find what she may.

Something was amiss the moment Jo walked in. The air felt different. Usually when she swept into the precinct, she felt comfortable and collected, as if she was walking into her own apartment. But there was something not right about this experience. The looks she received from uniforms were abnormal - confused, if not bordering on hostile. She didn't recognize the receptionist at the desk, or the three detectives gathered in a corner, their voices lowering as she passed. Her heart seized in her chest and Jo looked around, her teeth clenching.

"No one knows who I am," she whispered, as the realization sank in.

He knew what she would feel. It was the same he'd felt when he'd walked into the medical examiners office. It was an emptiness where a home should be. He hated to see her go through it, but it was important for her to fully understand.

"I know," he said putting his hand on her lower back and pushing her back towards the door, "I know."

She didn't fight him when he moved her towards the door again, barely even registering his hand on her back, guiding her back out into the cold New York air. Her head was still swimming with horror and confusion as she tried to fight her way out, and she wasn't sure if it was minutes or hours before she could finally speak again.

"How could this happen?" she finally asked, looking at Henry for answers she knew he didn't have.

He walked with her down the familiar streets of New York. It looked so much like home, but it wasn't. A few shops were different here and there and one in particular wasn't there. He was avoiding those streets very much on purpose.

"I could explain multi dimension theory all day and it won't help. Let's just say someone with too much technology has taken us from home and given us to a world that is not ours."

Jo followed him in a haze. Her mind was reeling. Here she was, passing by familiar shops and streets, watching taxis coast by, the sounds of New York that she had memorized lulling her deeper into her hopeless confusion.

"That's not possible, Henry," she argued, but her voice was weak and unsure, so different from how she usually spoke. "Even... Even if that's true, there has to be a way for us to get home."

He kept an arm around her, kept her close and tried his best to comfort her. He didn't know what he could say. He didn't have the answers that she wanted. He didn't know anyone that did.

"There should be less, but I've only been here a week. I don't have all the answers and honestly the longer I'm here the more questions I have. I'm so sorry, Jo. There is no reason for you to be here."

"If you're here, that's reason enough," Jo argued. He was her partner, and the fact that he was in trouble, trapped here all alone, with no help and no one to get him out deeply bothered her. Granted, to her, she hadn't known any different, but it still felt like a betrayal to someone who had become a really important part of her life.

"You're the smartest guy I know, Henry. If you can't find a way out of here, I'm not convinced I can, either."

Her worry touched him, but it was misplaced. He could handle this situation and in an obtuse way he was always safe. He had no worry for his own life, but no he had to worry for Jo's. It did give him a great sense of purpose though, a drive he hadn't had before.

"No pressure than," he teased having already put similar pressure on himself. He had to get her out of here.

"No pressure," Jo teased. She felt tense and afraid, but even she had to admit there was something comforting about Henry being there. She wasn't sure if it was just the relief of not being alone or Henry himself, but either way, it felt like a large weight lifted off of her shoulders.

"So, what's going on? Where are you staying? Is the antique shop still here?"

Henry needed Jo to be here to give him the drive and the hope that things could and would change. She'd already opened up his world back home, surely she could do the same here.

"There are apartments they allow us. You saw mine earlier and we'll have to look for your room assignment on the board. Don't ask me how I know, but it'll be there," he said purposely ignoring the question about the shop. He couldn't bring himself to think of that empty building on that street corner. Upon finding it he'd spent some time making very manly tears.

"That means whoever gives us these apartments is who is taking us," Jo stated. "That's the only way they would know our names."

She was thinking aloud; musing on the information she had and giving Henry the opportunity to elaborate or correct her. She still felt confused, but he was grounding her, and she was thankful for that.

"I want to go to my house and see if it is still there."

She had come to the same conclusion he had. He wasn't surprised by that in the least. She was bright. It was her job to connect things. He wondered what she'd do when the fact she was no longer a detective set in.

At her request he was instantly brought back to the moment when he found Abe's shop completely abandoned and different. It solidified everything in a way that nothing else had. It had been ages since he'd wept, but the thought of not having his son drew long forgotten tears to his eyes.

"No," he said firmly putting an arm around her, "We should get you to your apartments. Settle you and then perhaps go buy you some proper, dry, clothing."

"Why not? Henry, I just want to see if it's still there."

That was her home. It was the house she had shared with her husband, where she had spent the last year and some change spending the nights missing him. Somehow, not being able to go home made this all the more frightening and real, and she shied a little from his embrace.

"Where did you get these clothes anyway?"

"Fine," he said deciding they could pull off the bandaid faster that way. It would feel too real and really hurt. She needed that though, for it all to be real. He changed their direction as they crossed the street.

"Another detective, Kate Beckett. I noticed you were both the same height and weight ratio. She was rather confused when I stormed up upon her and demanded her clothing. I think she almost arrested me."

"Another detective?" Jo seemed to not hear anything else he just said as she stared at him, suddenly excited again. If she wasn't the only cop, surely that meant that someone else was working to get out of here, too. The clothes were now the last thing on her mind, even as she was leading him out of the Residences and in the direction of the subway. They had a little bit of a hike from the Financial District to Washington Heights. "How many other people are here, Henry?"

Henry had been working to get out of here. He'd drown himself in the Hudson just to see if dying would send him back. It hadn't, obviously. He doubted a second detective would do them any good. They needed a physicist.

"Two dozen at least," he said although he hadn't been the most social, "They are all from what we would consider parallel worlds."

"Parallel words, invisible kidnappers, a New York that isn't even our New York. I feel like I'm losing my mind."

Jo couldn't remember a time she felt this insane since Sean died. And even that had been different. Stricken with grief, the rest of the world had seemed to rush past her for days while she stood completely still, wondering when she would wake up from this nightmare and unable to admit to herself that she knew it was real. Reality had sunk back in slowly, and this wasn't all that different. Faster, perhaps. Not as terrifying, especially since this time, she didn't have to navigate the fear alone.

"Anything else you wanna surprise me with?"

He played with the idea of telling her 'I'm a two hundred year old immortal, Abe is my son and I murdered a man just a few weeks ago because a lunatic told me to', but he held his tongue wisely.

"Nothing that I am aware of," Henry said with an heavy air to the words, "But I am as blind in this as you are."

"At least we can be blind together," she encouraged him, completely unawares to his true thoughts and reflections on the matter. Jo know that Henry was the quiet, withdrawn type, and that he no doubt had his secrets; but her wildest imagination couldn't even touch the truth.

Her pace had slowed as the walked, and once she spoke she came to a stop and took a breath, turning to face him. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I shouldn't go home. If there's someone else there..." Her home had been the one she shared with Sean. Her memories and their history still lived within those walls, even if he was dead. If she found someone else living there, found all those memories lost, she wasn't sure how she would feel.

He stopped with her at the crosswalk. He hadn't removed the arm from her shoulders, needing to comfort her as much as she needed the comfort. It made him feel as if he might be in control of something.

"It's for the best," he said giving her a knowing look and then letting his arm drop. He hadn't wanted to go either, but he'd gone to her house the first week he'd been there. A young couple lived there, a brunette and a blond who looked perfectly happy. It was the second time his heart had broken in so many days.

Jo let out a soft sigh when he dropped his arm. Her shoulders felt strangely cold and she rolled them gently, her eyes pressing shut as she let her head drop back. Just like that, her whole life was gone. Erased, like it had never existed in the first place, all in one confusing moment and she had no idea how to get it back.

"What now, Henry?"

"Dinners, I should think. Perhaps a little shopping. We could pick you up a few new sets of clothing and get you more setup," Henry suggested knowing that she would need something of her own. It was important she felt she had something to hold onto. He hoped he could be part of that as well since he'd need her to be part of that which he held onto.

Jo was holding onto him, and she had no intent of letting go. Her affection for him as a partner and a friend had never been something she had taken the time to hide from him; if anything, she felt he was the one that pushed her away. But the distance between them seemed to be vanishing moment by moment as they worked together more and more. Jo hoped eventually he would trust her enough to stop holding back.

"You never really struck me as the shopping type, Henry," she teased. "You really sure you want to spend the afternoon with me picking out jeans and shoes?" Even Sean had usually ran for the hills when he was given that option.

i feel my soul waist deep and sinking

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