He knew the moment she walked into the room and not because of the hush that fell. It was that awareness he had had of her since the first time she'd stopped James from picking on him in middle school. He'd seen her name on the list, curious that she would join the very force that institutionalized her sister and made them the 'crazies of Sleepy Hollow'.

"Abbie Mills." Sheriff Corbin smiled warmly. "Welcome to the police training." Andy didn't remember getting that warm smile from Corbin.

His eyes followed her as she threaded through the classroom, her back straight and her chin up, daring anyone to mention that night or her sister. No one did, of course. They'd gotten their gossip earlier.

His heart leapt when she stopped at his desk. "Andy."

"Abbie."

She smiled. "Never thought I'd see you here."

"Me too. But it's good to see you." This time, her smile reached her eyes and she sat next to him.

Most days she was like everyone else.

"Coffee?"

He shoved a cup of the foul smelling liquid under her nose. It was a cliché that police stations served bad coffee but in many ways, Andy thought their police station was very much a cliché.

"Don't suppose you have donuts?"

"Don't I always?" He shook a brown paper bag in front of her, pulling it out of her reach when she tried to take it. "What should you say?"

She rolled her eyes at him. "Thank you."

"Thank you, oh bringer of breakfast," he grinned.

Laughing, she swatted him and snatched the donuts. "You live nearer to the donut place. It's a matter of convenience. Look at you. You stole a donut." She reached over and wiped something off the side of his mouth.

And it flared up again. That awareness.

When her eyes darkened, he realised she felt it too.

Their first kiss was sloppy, nothing really to shout home about except that it was Abbie Mills he was kissing. They were on patrol and a weekday night in Sleepy Hollow meant the town really lived up to its name. After driving about for a while, they parked, opened up the coffee they snagged and chatted about their fairly mundane lives.

At least his was mundane. A brother still in high school, a mother working two jobs to make ends meet and a father he'd never met.

"How's your brother?" She took a sip of the coffee, much better than anything scrounged up from the station.

"Grounded. He got into a fight again at school."

"You should talk to him."

"I have. He thinks I'm a loser." Andy ran a hand through his hair as he wondered how long it would be before he arrested his brother. "Thinks those kids he runs with are cool. Mum's given up - told him to do whatever the hell he wants - her words, not mine."

She placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. "He'll come around. Don't give up on him."

He wanted to know about her sister - was she really mad, was she getting better - but the one time he'd brought her up, Abbie had changed the subject. The pain in her eyes ensured he never mentioned her again.

"What are you doing this weekend?"

"Are you asking me out Officer Andy Brook?" He could hear the teasing note in her question. Normally, he'd laugh it off, but tonight, he wondered why that had to be a joke.

"And what if I am?"

She didn't reply immediately and regret set in. He opened his mouth to take back the words, turn it back to the joke it usually was.

"Well," she licked her lips and he found himself unable to stop looking at them. "then I say yes. Only I don't want to go fishing."

"No fishing," he said because that was all his brain was capable of processing, because Abbie Mills was agreeing to a date, because maybe life wasn't so shit after all.

"I like pizza." There's a glint in her eyes. He smiled. He liked pizza too.

The kiss was sloppy but Andy figured they had time to practice.

And practice they did. A lot. Even in the patrol car as she laughed and told him how wrong it was and laughed again when he jumped at every sound.

She was everything he wanted to be.

Off duty, he spent it at her house, lounging on the tattered sofa as they watched the sixth hundred rerun of America's Next Top Model.

"I liked you since middle school," he confessed one day.

"Yeah? That's a long time for a crush." But she smiled and the slight flush in her cheeks pleased him.

"You rescued me from that bully remember?" He dragged her to him, encircling her waist. "You're my knight in shining armour."

Her laugh rippled down his body. "And what am I rescuing you from now?"

"A lifetime of loneliness." His lips crash down on hers, and she pressed herself closer as her hands went to his belt.

Andy looked at his hands. He could almost see the blood on them.

She was at home when he called, her smile welcoming and warm. Her arm twined around his neck and her lips brushed against his cheek. "This is a surprise. A nice one."

Slowly, he removed himself from her hold. Her suspicions were raised, especially when he was unable to maintain eye contact with her.

"What's wrong?"

"We can't - I mean I can't -"

She watched him silently, refusing to help him with his struggle. He deserved every bit of it. Making a deal with the devil - what had he been thinking? But it was done and now he'd to make sure he didn't pull Abbie down with him.

"This isn't working."

The hurt showed only in her eyes. Her voice was calm when she finally spoke. "Fine." Then she closed the door.

They never spoke for the next three months.

He pined for her but he kept his distance. So far, being the devil's lackey hadn't entailed any actual work, aside for that little fire he set at the church, but one could never be sure. He wanted to tell her that whatever she saw in the woods that day with her sister was real. Perhaps that would ease the pain he sensed in her. But he didn't.

They rebuilt their friendship brick by brick but there were no more joint breakfasts and the last time he brought her donuts, she'd politely declined. But when they raided a house together and came out of it unscrapped, he smiled at her and she smiled back and something of their old friendship returned.

"Andy, this is Detective Luke Morales." His hand was taken in a firm grip.

"Good to meet you."

Andy nodded.

Officer Sharma died in a freak accident. He had been a close friend of his and Abbie. Grief suffocated the precinct and Andy sought fresh air at a nearby park.

So did Abbie.

She called it comfort sex. He took what she would give.

He knew when it happened. The cold that gripped his heart, the whispering in his head. Why did she have to be involved? He tried. He wanted to knock her out, bring her far away from Sleepy Hollow but even that he couldn't do. He hadn't been able to save his brother. He clearly wasn't able to save her either.

When the devil came for him in the cell, it was a blessed relief.

Except it wasn't the end.