A/N: I hope you guys like this! Enjoy!
Mr. Crane Goes to the Theater
After getting off of work, Abbie walled into the house and found Ichabod watching The Flintstones. She rolled her eyes as she put her purse down. "Again?"
He looked up, "Ah! Leftenant! Welcome home!"
"Hey, Crane. Are you seriously watching The Flintstones again?"
"I find it very entertaining."
"This is the third week in a row."
"Only for an hour each day!"
"Three hours on Saturday and Sunday, Crane."
Ichabod fell silent. "I cannot be blamed for the show being entertaining."
Abbie rolled her eyes. "Go get dressed. We're going to the theater tonight."
He looked at her, curiously. "We are?"
"Yep."
"And what play shall we partake in?"
"It's a live version of A Christmas Carol," Abbie said.
Ichabod scoffed. "A Christmas Carol? Please, come now, Leftenant."
Abbie groaned, "Oh, come on. You said that you liked it!"
"I do."
"So?"
"I see no point in leaving when we can spend a perfectly fine evening at home. Furthermore, we can just as well watch it on television. There is bound to be one of the many interpretations of it playing soon."
Abbie rolled her eyes.
"Therefore, I see no point in…"
"It's in Italian."
He stopped and looked at her. "I shall require fifteen minutes to be ready." He hurried upstairs while she smiled and shook her head.
An hour and a half later, they had driven to a theater in a neighboring town. After parking, Ichabod took notice that, when they passed the wall of attractions, he saw no poster for A Christmas Carol. He was about to bring it up but notice that Abbie hadn't broken her stride. He decided to keep to himself for now and follow her.
Abbie walked up to the ticket box office and smiled at the ticket lady. "Hi. Uh… two tickets for Cherevichki under the name Mills?"
Ichabod jerked his head back. He looked at her, "Leftenant?"
She looked at him and smiled before turning her attention back to the ticket counter.
He smiled back as Abbie received the tickets and presented them to him.
"Shall we?" she asked.
"We shall indeed."
Four hours later, Abbie and Ichabod walked back into the house, after picking up a pizza on the way home. Ichabod sang the entire way back, revisiting almost every song from opera, and Abbie smiled and laughed all of the while. They walked into the house as he completed his vibrato.
Abbie just shook her head as she set the pizza and her purse down, "I'm gonna go ahead and assume you liked your surprise."
"Immensely so," Ichabod replied.
She smiled. "I'm glad."
He stared at her. "What prompted you to grace me with such a gift?"
She shrugged, "We've had a hard year. What with that crap with Pandora's box and everything."
"Yes. It was quite… crappy, indeed."
"We just needed to unwind and…" she smiled, "and I wanted to do something nice for you. Call it an early Christmas gift."
He smiled.
She headed for the refrigerator and grabbed a couple of beers and some napkins as well.
"Did you enjoy it?" Ichabod asked.
"Surprisingly, yeah, I did." She handed him a beer. "I thought it was really sad almost but it turned out okay."
"Indeed. Though it was composed past my time, Mr. Tchaikovsky most certainly captured the essence of the play authors who came before him."
"I was hoping you'd like it. What, with it being written in the 1800s and all."
"I am more than capable of enjoying things past my unfortunate death. Why, I thoroughly enjoy those… Marvel movies you insist we see."
"And yet you complained so much when we watched Jessica Jones?"
"Her behavior is most unbecoming of a lady!"
"So you said. Every. Single. Episode."
Ichabod just sighed. "It's merely my opinion. That being said, it's still quite the enjoyable program."
Abbie laughed.
"But, returning to the matter at hand, I once again express my gratitude for your gift."
"You're welcome."
"What part of the play made you sad?"
"I just think it was sad that Oxana almost lost Vakula." She stared at Ichabod. "I can relate."
He stared back at her. "We both can. Though in our case… you would be Vakula and I would be Oxana."
"Now, there's a mental image." She stared at him in silence. "That whole thing with the Box did a number on us both."
"Indeed."
Abbie set the bottle down on the table and leaned on one of the dining room chairs, "So, why haven't you said anything before now?"
Ichabod set his bottle down, as well, and placed his hand behind his back, "I wasn't sure how to. How do you express fear like that?"
"Fear of what?"
"Of losing you. Of imaging living life without you here."
"You'd never lose me, Crane. Ever. Even if…" She stopped. "If something happens… if something had happened… you've always got me."
"I hope you know the same is true for me. However and whenever you need me, I'll always be there."
"I do know that. And thank you."
He nodded.
She shrugged and fidgeted with her fingernails. "I guess that's one way I related to the play. I get how Vakula felt. Something always keeps you here. Keeps you alive." She stared at Ichabod. "Or someone."
"And what kept you here?" Ichabod asked.
Abbie's voice caught as she wanted to answer but she wasn't sure. She took a deep breath and admitted the truth, "You kept me here. You keep me here. You always have. Since the day I met you, you've changed things around me, Crane. You even changed me, despite how much I fought it."
He smiled. "You changed me, too. True, like you, I was resistant to it, at first. But… I am glad that you were even more stubborn than I was."
"I guess… we both needed changing. A lot of changing."
"It wasn't entirely terrible, was it?"
"Not for me. You?"
"Not at all."
Abbie paused. "What if I said… more about me changed? And… it was how I looked at you?"
Ichabod considered the question. "I would ask… what changed, exactly?"
She bit her lip. "I want to tell you but… I want to show. Would… you mind if I showed you?"
"Not at all."
"I mean… show you the way I want to."
"My answer doesn't change."
Abbie tucked lips in then walked over to the cabinet, opened it up, and pulled out a piece of Christmas decoration that she'd been debating to put up.
Mistletoe.
She turned around, holding it in her hands.
Ichabod straightened up when he saw it.
Abbie walked over to him and stood in front of him.
He stared at her in silence, staring directly into her eyes. Not only gave her his quiet permission but he, wholeheartedly, wanted her to do what she was thinking.
She had a few doubts left about whether or not she should do this but she cast them aside. She put the mistletoe over his head, slightly difficult due to their height difference, but, regardless, she held it over him, lifted up, and kissed him.
It was a soft kiss but it sent waves of electricity through both of them.
They separated and Abbie slowly started to lower the mistletoe. Ichabod caught her wrist.
Abbie stared at him.
"Allow me." He took the mistletoe from her.
"You don't have to," she said.
He put his arm around her waist and pulled her closer. "And if I want to?"
"I'm not stopping you, am I?"
He started to lift his hand.
She stopped him and whispered, "You don't need it."
He stared at her and tossed the mistletoe on the table. He pressed his lips to hers and she wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him closer. They kissed for several minutes before Abbie patted his chest.
"We…" she cleared her throat, "whoa. Haven't felt anything like that in… ever."
"Agreed," he said, breathlessly.
"We, uh, we should eat. Food's gonna get cold otherwise."
"Yes." He paused. "But we can revisit this later, yes?"
"Oh, hell, yeah, we are," she replied, immediately.
He laughed. "Thank you for my gift, Abbie. Thank you for confessing your heart to me."
She smiled. "Thank you for listening."
He motioned toward the dinner table. "Shall we?"
"The sooner we do, the sooner we can… revisit this."
"Prepare to see pizza eaten in record time."
She laughed.
A/N: What did you guys think? Leave me some reviews, please! Thank you!