This one-shot is one more conversation that I wished had happened in season 2. Based on the "What Lies Beneath Episode" S02E16 you will need to be caught up with season 2 to understand where this is all coming from. Also, this takes place before the events of my other one-shot "Sorry" but there's no need to read them in order.
*I own nothing Sleepy Hollow related. I wish I did but I don't.
Enjoy - Hibkei
"Alright, let's get back to work, shall we?" Abbie rose from the table as she spoke beckoning Ichabod and Jenny to join her back in the stacks of books with a look.
"Right behind you Lieutenant." Ichabod made to follow her, hands clasped behind his back while Jenny followed a little less enthusiastically.
"There is not enough coffee in the world to make this day any more tolerable," Jenny complained loudly as she cast a longing glance behind her towards their empty styrofoam cups.
They spent the next ten minutes in frustrated silence looking through old texts for information on an artefact which could emit frequencies which caused distress to demons but was completely harmless to humans. They figured if it was real and they could get their hands on such a thing it would only help to have something like that in their arsenal.
"Guys, I don't think we're gonna find anything useful here," sighing, Jenny closed the book she was holding open with a loud thump.
"Come on Jenny it's only been a few minutes," Abbie replied.
"Patience, Miss Jenny is quite the virtue," Ichabod intoned.
"Don't make me throw another book at your head Crane," Jenny arched a brow in his direction as she continued, "If we count the time we've spent since this morning it's been more like all day."
Abbie sighed her agreement and rubbed her eyes.
"You know what would be handy? Jenny asked the room, "The Fenestella," she finished with mock enthusiasm.
"Jenny!" Abbie groaned loudly, "seriously when will you stop going on about the Fenestella?"
"Some time around never. I mean seriously you guys a room with a wealth of knowledge for the Witnesses and you just blow it up!" Jenny flung her hands in the air accompanied with an exasperated huff.
Ichabod tried to take an indignant stance and repeated the mantra he had said to himself and Abbie countless times since that moment two nights ago,
"Miss Jenny, the decision we made was undoubtedly the right one, if not the popular or easy one."
"Look down your nose at me all you want Ichabod Crane. You guys are beyond crazy for doing what you did."
"Jenny!"
"Yea sis, that's my name alright." Jenny glared for a bit then softened her tone as she seated herself in one of the old chairs. "Guys look, I know that you've been out of sync and off your game in a major way so I'll blame whatever is going on with you two on what you did down there two nights ago but don't for one second think that you made the right call."
Abbie made to speak but Jenny cut her off,
"Abbie I swear to God if you call my name one more time ..."
Abbie closed her mouth and took a seat across from Jenny. Crane came closer, leaning against a stacked bookshelf and looked between the two sisters.
"Miss Jenny, the Lieutenant and I were in complete agreement that night with each other and what we felt we must do. We were not 'out of sync' as you put it but a perfect pair working towards a goal with a common belief. The wealth of knowledge was not worth the risk to human life."
Ichabod smiled warmly at Abbie when he was finished speaking and she tried to return the gesture but she faltered slightly. Ichabod seemed to notice and eyed her with slight concern.
"Do you disagree Lieutenant?" He asked, his voice pitched slightly higher than normal.
"No, I don't disagree Ichabod. We talked about this," Abbie responded with more confidence than she felt.
Jenny shook her head in disbelief at this exchange.
"You got those men out of there. The Reavers were no longer a danger to them. If you had played your cards right, the Reavers wouldn't have been a threat to anyone," Jenny stressed the last word and sat forward in her chair as she regarded them both. "You could've called me. Together the three of us could have lured them away from the power source of the Fenestella and dispatched them one at a time. At least we could've come up with a plan and tried to salvage things and if we failed so be it but you guys didn't even try." Jenny's voice had taken on a pleading quality by the end, begging them to see what she did.
"You guys think you're on the same page. You think that was a victory for you down there that night but to me it's just evidence that something's gone awry. You're not thinking in those we always find another way terms that you do so well. That doom and gloom, we have no choice? That's not you. It's just not." Punctuating her words with a firm shake of her head Jenny reached across the table and took Abbie's hand in hers.
"That was an invaluable resource Abbie, Crane," she looked up at the silent Ichabod as she finished, "Why are you sabotaging yourselves?"
Abbie pulled her hand free of Jenny's. She turned to Ichabod willing him to frame a counter argument that she could not.
"It was the right thing to do," he said weakly.
"Even so, why didn't we take even one book, one page of one book, a scroll, half a scroll?" Abbie asked quietly.
Ichabod was stunned into silence.
"We did not think of it," he finally managed to choke out.
"That's not like us," Abbie said with consternation.
Jenny looked from one to the other and back again. There was confusion, doubt, perhaps even simmering irritation and frustration in their faces. She knew regardless of what they wanted to tell each other or themselves that trouble was brewing under the surface for the both of them. She had seen it in the way Abbie looked sometimes when Ichabod intimated that his time and efforts were more suited to saving those who did not wish to be saved rather than focusing on their mission. She had seen her sister looking adrift and unsure and she hated it.
She had also seen Crane sinking under the weight of his own indecision and his refusal to choose to commit to their work. Jenny watched the drama unfold from the sidelines, offering words of encouragement and empty platitudes to Abbie when she saw her face crumple with doubt. Jenny tried to give stern words and tough love to Ichabod when she thought he needed them.
However, the reality was, she was on the outside of the bond these Witnesses had and she always would be. The only ones who could bring things back into accord were the two of them. If she could help steer them in that direction then she was only too willing to do so. After all, the fate of the world pretty much depended on them. The both of them. But sometimes she genuinely wondered if Ichabod had forgotten that in his haste and his desire to latch on to his past so tightly that it was hurting Abbie, himself and their cause.
She could understand and even - because of her own life and experiences - empathise with the way he felt he needed to hold on to Katrina and to some messed up twisted hope that he could save his son. The son he didn't even know he had. The son who had tried to kill them, who had ruined Frank's life and countless others. But no, it could not stand. It just couldn't.
Jenny sighed and pushed out of her chair.
"Please you two, figure this out before you do something even more ridiculous, something damaging and irreparable." She addressed both of them with her words but her eyes and her meaning were focused solely on Ichabod and he fidgeted under her gaze.
"I'll leave you to it. I'll go through some of Corbin's files and see if I find anything useful for our search. Call me later Abbie." The loaded look she gave her sister clearly translated into, call me later and tell me what he had to say.
Abbie gave her a small nod and Jenny left the archives altogether sure that even if she heard from her sister later it would just be excuses and empty promises. She rubbed at her temples as she traversed the tunnels wondering how much worse it was going to have to get before it got any better.