Henry seeks sanctuary at Jo's place after an allergic reaction drives him out of his own home.

Disclaimer: I do not own any of these characters. I'm merely borrowing them for my own amusement.

Author's Notes: This is essentially a deleted scene from my story Erratic Sensitivities. It takes place shortly after chapter 15, which is currently the last chapter, but I still don't consider this to be a sequel because in the event that I decide to continue the main story, I don't see this chapter having much to do with the rest of the story plot-wise. It's not strictly necessary to read Erratic Sensitivities before reading this, but it will help you understand the premise behind this story better. I had originally decided not to include this chapter in the story itself because it doesn't actually have any plot at all that relates to the rest of the story, but I thought some people might still like to read it, so I decided to write it anyway.

When Henry came home from work he found Abe in the living room with the chessboard set up. "I take it you were wanting a rematch from this morning's game?" he asked with a chuckle.

"Yes I thought we could play while dinner is cooking. I'm going to beat you one of these days if it's the last thing I do," said Abe smirking.

"If you do beat me, I really hope it's not the last thing you do," Henry replied giving Abe's shoulder an affectionate squeeze and kissed him on the forehead. "Just give me a moment and I'll be right in." He went up to his room and removed his coat, scarf, and waistcoat and put them away before rejoining Abe in the living room. About ten minutes into the game he could feel himself starting to become congested and his nose was starting to itch as well. He frowned unsure what was bothering him as most of his allergies had disappeared after his last death and as far as he knew there wasn't anything in the apartment he was allergic to. He sniffled and did his best to push these concerns aside and focused on the game and made another move. Over the next few minutes the symptoms of an impending allergy attack escalated until he finally sneezed muffling it against the back of his arm. Abe blessed him with a raised eyebrow. After the fourth time he sneezed Abe reached over and felt his forehead. "I'm not ill," he said pushing Abe's hand away.

"You could have fooled me. I suppose you're right though being a doctor and all. Repetitive sneezing must be a sure sign of good health," Abe answered sarcastically. "You don't feel feverish though," he conceded.

"That's because I'm not feverish and I can tell the difference between a cold and an allergic reaction," he retorted then muffled two sneezes into the back of his wrist. He didn't have a handkerchief on him, so he grabbed some tissues from the box on the end table next to him and blew his nose.

Abe frowned. "But the only things that showed up on your last allergy test were cats and dust. We don't have a cat and the house is clean."

Henry shrugged. "I suppose I must be allergic to something that I didn't test for, and as I've told you there are a lot of things that can't be tested for with a skin test because medically speaking they are chemical sensitivities rather than true allergies even if the symptoms are much the same." He thought for a moment before continuing. "I don't suppose you've started using a new shampoo or laundry detergent or anything like that?"

"Nope," Abe answered with a shake of his head.

Henry nodded and sneezed again into a wad of tissues. "I should probably check anyway given my history. Just because a product never bothered me before doesn't mean it's safe now. Perhaps I should do that now while you finish up dinner. We can continue this game later."

"You just want to stop because you know I'm winning," said Abe jokingly.

Henry rolled his eyes and got up and left the room. He made his way to the upstairs bathroom and sniffed Abe's shampoo, soap, and other personal care products as well as the ones he used himself. None of the products seemed to exacerbate his symptoms, but he did feel himself getting gradually worse the longer he was in the apartment. He even tried sniffing all of the laundry and household cleaning products and didn't have any luck there either. He then went down to his laboratory and performed another allergy test just in case there had been any false negative results on the last one. When the test was finished it showed the exact same results as the previous one had, that he was allergic to cats and dust. Knowing he wasn't going to get any further figuring this out tonight, he decided to go up to his room and take some allergy medicine before he got any worse. Just as he was swallowing the pills he heard Abe calling him down to dinner. He stuffed a couple of handkerchiefs in his pants pockets and headed back down to the kitchen.

Abe winced in sympathy when he saw how much worse his father looked compared to earlier. His eyes were all red and watery and his nose was definitely taking on a dark shade of pink and he suspected it would become bright red before the evening was over. "Any luck figuring out what's causing this?"

Henry shook his head and caught a set of three wet sneezes in his handkerchief and blew his nose before answering. "Unfortunately not, my symptoms have been getting worse, but I have been unable to pinpoint a cause. I even performed another allergy test just to be sure, and it had the same results as the last one."

Abe nodded. "Did you take anything for it?"

"Yes, just before you called me down, though there's no telling how effective it will be since this is the first time I've had to take allergy medicine since my most recent death." They sat down at the kitchen table and Henry saw that Abe had prepared a splendid meal of roast beef, salad, and soup, though the type of soup surprised him. "Matzah ball soup?" he said with a raised eyebrow.

"What? It's good for congestion."

Henry shrugged and tasted the soup. It was much spicier than he was expecting and the spices were too much for his already irritated nose and caused him to sneeze twice forcefully into his handkerchief. After he blew his nose he could indeed feel the congestion in his sinuses starting to break up. "What did you put in this?"

"Not telling," said Abe with a wink.

Henry shook his head and smiled at his son and then continued to eat the soup. After dinner they finished up their chess game and Henry managed to win despite the fog his allergies had left him in. Sometimes he wondered if he should just let Abe win from time to time, but he knew Abe would never want to win that way. Normally at this point he'd read for awhile, but he was tired so he decided to watch TV with Abe before bed. Abe put on some old black and white sitcom reruns and really seemed to be enjoying them. Henry wasn't paying much attention to the shows and he let his mind wander. He found himself wondering what he could possibly be reacting to right now and wondered if Adam had something to do with it. The medicine he had taken had helped somewhat, but it hadn't completely eliminated his itchy nose and sneezing. At least Abe's soup had taken care of the worst of his congestion.

At some point he must have dozed off, because he was suddenly jolted awake with a sharp tickle in his nose that caused him to double over sneezing into the crook of his arm. He looked over and saw that Abe had fallen asleep as well next to him on the couch. He pulled a throw blanket from the back of the couch and covered his son with it before heading up to his room to go to bed properly. The next time he woke up his nose was tickling like crazy and he groaned thinking it was surely way too soon for the medicine to have worn off. He also felt like there was a large weight on his chest and he started to panic a little thinking he was having an asthma attack. That was a very real concern for him since it was the cause of his last death. He sneezed four times in rapid succession and when he opened his eyes he found himself staring face to face with a rather large cat that had decided to curl up on his chest. At least that explained the weight on his chest and he breathed a small sigh of relief that he wasn't actually having an asthma attack, or at least not yet. It also explained why he'd been sneezing since he got home. The cat must have gotten in somehow after he'd left for work in the morning. He tried to push the cat off of his chest, but it wouldn't budge and actually seemed to be digging its claws into his pajamas. He sneezed again explosively and instead of being startled, to his astonishment, the cat actually started purring. Then the cat did the worst thing it could have possibly done and started nuzzling his face. He shouted for Abe after sneezing several more times.

Abe woke with a start hearing his father shouting his name and ran up to his father's bedroom. He almost burst out laughing at what he saw, his father trapped underneath a very large cat sneezing his head off, but he managed to restrain himself. He scooped up the cat off of his father's chest and cradled it in his arms scratching its belly. "Hey cutie, how'd you get in here? I'm sorry, I guess I was wrong. It seems we do have a cat."

Henry managed to sit up and caught another sneezing fit in a handful of tissues that he grabbed from the box on his nightstand and blew his nose repeatedly. "Not for much longer though I trust," he answered with a hoarse congested sounding voice.

"You aren't suggesting that I throw him out in the middle of the night are you?" Abe asked with an appalled look on his face. "What if it's someone's pet?"

"There's no collar," Henry pointed out and muffled another set of sneezes into a fresh batch of tissues.

"That doesn't necessarily mean anything. He's in better shape than I'd expect for a stray."

"Abraham, even if you throw the cat out of this house right now, I'll still be sneezing from all the dander left all over the apartment until the whole place is thoroughly cleaned. I'd really rather not exacerbate matters by letting him stay."

Abe sighed. "Look it's late, but I'll try calling one of my lady friends who owns a cat. Maybe she'll be willing to take him given the circumstances. If she doesn't answer though, I'll shut him up in my room and figure out what to do with him first thing in the morning."

"Fine," said Henry with a small groan of defeat. "Just get him out of here." He watched Abe carry the cat out of his room and surrendered to another harsh fit of sneezing. He blew his nose and got up and took another double dose of allergy pills. An hour later his symptoms still hadn't calmed down and now he was starting to feel a slight tightness in his chest and knew that if he didn't get out of there he'd wind up having an asthma attack for real. He got dressed and packed up an overnight bag and let Abe know he was going to find somewhere else to spend the night before he left the apartment.

An hour later Henry found himself outside of the door to Jo's apartment. He wasn't sure why it had been his first instinct to come here, but as long as he was here he figured that he might as well knock and hope she wouldn't be too upset with him showing up this late unannounced. He knocked on the door and when after a few minutes there was no answer he was just about to turn around and leave, but then the door finally creaked open. Jo was standing there looking disheveled with sleep tousled hair wearing a powder blue bathrobe and matching slippers. It was probably the first time he had seen her without makeup on and he rather thought he liked her better that way.

"Henry it's one in the morning, what are you doing here?" she asked in a rather irritated voice. Then she saw how awful he looked. His eyes were puffy and bloodshot and his nose was even redder than his eyes were. "Huh, I guess the allergy remission didn't last very long."

Henry sniffled. "No the hay fever didn't come back, but I told you that I was still testing positive for a few things."

"Yes and I recall you saying that they were minor allergies. This certainly doesn't look like a minor reaction."

"When I said minor I was referring more to how easy I thought it would be to avoid the allergens rather than the severity of the reaction," Henry explained and muffled a couple of sneezes in the crook of his arm. "Clearly I was wrong. Look I'm sorry, I shouldn't have come here. I apologize for waking you up."

"No it's ok, but what exactly did you come here for?" she asked wondering if he had run out of tissues and couldn't find anywhere open this late.

"I was actually hoping to claim sanctuary here," Henry answered gesturing to the overnight bag sitting on the floor. "I know I should have called first, but I really had to get out of the apartment."

Jo raised an eyebrow wondering what exactly had happened to him. "Well this isn't a church, but come on in."

"Thank you," said Henry as he followed Jo into her apartment. It had a more modern look to it than his own home, but it was warm and inviting. "I had briefly considered asking Lucas if I could stay with him, but I didn't think you'd appreciate the murder/suicide that would be waiting for you in the morning," he said with a wry grin.

Jo laughed. "You're right, that would really have ruined my morning."

Henry sat down on the couch in Jo's living room and set his overnight bag down next to it. "If you don't have a guest room, the couch will suffice."

"I do have a spare bedroom and I'm sure you'll be more comfortable there than on the couch," she answered sitting down next to him. "Tell me what happened though."

Henry pulled his handkerchief from his pocket, sneezed wetly into it, and blew his nose before answering. "Somehow a cat got into the apartment sometime after I left for work. My allergies started acting up shortly after I got home, but I didn't find the cat until after I woke up sneezing and discovered it curled up on my chest. It was too late at night to do anything about it, but Abe is going to get rid of the cat first thing in the morning. I stuffed myself with antihistamines, but they weren't doing much good, and I knew I had to get out of there when I started to have trouble breathing."

Jo nodded and smiled sympathetically at Henry. Now that he mentioned it, she could hear a slight wheeze in his breathing. "You've really got to get yourself an inhaler."

"Yes I know, but even if I had one, it probably would have been unwise for me to remain in the apartment under the circumstances," Henry pointed out. "It will probably take a couple of days at least for Abe to clean all of the cat dander out of the apartment, but I don't want to impose on you any longer than necessary, so I will check into a hotel tomorrow."

"Don't be silly. You're welcome here for as long as you need to stay," Jo assured him.

"Are you quite sure?" Henry asked raising an eyebrow.

Jo shrugged. "It gets lonely here sometimes. I wouldn't mind the company. I'll be right back. The guest room is down the hall, second door on your right if you'd like to go get changed for bed."

Henry nodded. "Thank you, I think I'll go do that." He picked up his overnight bag and made his way to the guest room. He changed into a pair of pajamas and put on a robe over it and slippers on his feet. He was almost hesitant to go back out to the living room dressed like this but he wasn't sure why he felt self-conscious about it. Jo had seen him naked after all when she had found him emerging from the river, and yet somehow this seemed more intimate. Still she didn't seem to have a problem with him seeing her in her sleepwear, so he supposed there was no need for him to feel embarrassed for her to see him this way. He went back to the living room and sat on the couch again and gazed around the room. He was surprised at the lack of photographs around the residence. He had expected to see at least a few of her deceased husband, but perhaps it was still too painful for her.

Jo returned to the living room carrying two mugs of tea. She couldn't help grinning when she saw what Henry was wearing. The robe he had on was so old fashioned and elegant looking that it seemed like it was from a time long past and that it should be referred to more as a dressing gown than a robe. She shook her head as an odd image of him wearing a fez and smoking a pipe came to mind. She sat down next to him and handed him one of the mugs.

"Is there a reason you look so terribly amused?" Henry asked noting the smirk on Jo's face.

Jo shook her head. "I guess I really shouldn't be surprised that you dress as fancy for bed as you do during the day."

Henry sniffled and took a sip of the hot drink. "Peppermint tea?" he asked surprised at the flavor.

"Yeah, I drink this stuff all the time when I have a cold so I thought it might help you breathe easier," Jo explained.

Henry nodded and stifled a sneeze into his handkerchief. "Thank you Jo. That was very thoughtful of you." He took another sip of his tea and savored the warmth of it and how good it felt sliding down his throat.

As Jo sipped her drink a strange thought occurred to her. "I wonder if... no nevermind," she dismissed the question she had been about to ask.

"What is it?"

"Do you think it's possible that your stalker let the cat into your apartment?" she asked feeling slightly ridiculous even broaching this theory.

"The thought did cross my mind. I certainly wouldn't put it past him. No way to know really, unless he decides to contact me to take credit for it." He rubbed his nose feeling like he was going to sneeze again, but the urge faded. "Well I think it's past time we were both asleep," he said and finished his tea.

"No arguments here," Jo took the empty mug from Henry and finished her own drink. She got up and put the mugs in the kitchen sink and then returned and walked back to the bedrooms with Henry. "Hold on one second." She opened up the hall closet and pulled a box of tissues from one of the shelves and handed it to Henry.

Henry smiled. "You do think of everything don't you?"

"I wouldn't be a good host if I didn't," said Jo smiling back. "Do me a favor though. If you start having trouble breathing during the night, please don't wait until you're nearly dead before you come and get me."

Henry couldn't help chuckling in spite of himself. "I promise, but I don't see myself deteriorating again unless you've got a cat hidden somewhere in the apartment. Thank you again for letting me stay here tonight."

"No problem. I'm sure you'd do the same for me if I needed a place to crash."

"Yes, indeed I would," Henry answered without hesitation.

"Goodnight Henry. Feel better"

"Thank you Jo, goodnight." As Henry drifted off to sleep in Jo's guest room, he smiled and began to formulate a plan to repay her for her hospitality.

As of right now I don't plan on writing any more of these deleted scenes, but if you have any ideas for other deleted scenes you'd like to see or ideas for how you'd like to see the main story continued, please feel free to let me know and I will certainly consider all suggestions, but I won't make any promises.