Spoilers: 2x05

Content notes: teeth-rotting fluff, Jenny POV.

Thanks to my wonderful and patient beta, Carmenita. :)

How to Deal with Haunted Objects

It's hard to decide if something is a cursed or hunted object. Cursed objects have varying effects, ranging from - but not restricted to - changing a person's behavior, magnifying feelings or influence luck or lack of it.* Usually - though it's not a rule set into stone - a cursed object takes longer to kill the victim, while a haunted object can do it in a week.

*Don't feel bad about if a cursed object affects you, their wretched effects can be overcome and if you do so, it only proves your bravery, worthiness and good heart.

Jenny stares (and smiles a bit) at Ichabod's ridiculously cursive handwriting in her leatherbound book, which she started as a means to distract herself and keep her thoughts calm and collected - an advantage in a war against all kinds of evil.

While Abbie has to work on an endless line of cases by Sheriff Reyes's side 24/7, it falls to Jenny and Ichabod to tackle the supernatural angle. Jenny's mouth quirks up on one side as her phone pings again, Abbie asking for an update, she can feel her sister's restlessness and itching to do some real work, she can imagine her all tense muscles and bottled up energy. But they have to cover their bases with Reyes to smother her distrust.

It wouldn't be so bad, if Hawley hadn't decided to be useful, which in its own is suspicious because that man serves only himself, though as a paid help is really effective and productive.

In any other circumstances, she would be glad for the information he's willing to provide even if she had to watch her back to not let him ran off with whatever they're searching for. This has been an ongoing challenge between them (Jenny 13, Hawley 6, not that anyone's counting), though the one time in Central Europe doesn't count because he cheated. (Not that the sex wasn't mind blowing, she doesn't regret it, but finding the police in her hotel room as a morning after gift wasn't in the top ten of things she likes to wake up to.)

"No, absolutely not." Ichabod indignant voice pulls her out of her reverie and forces her to assess the situation in front of her. "Miss Jenny, this soulless mercenary betrayed us time and time again, we surely can't be in such a desperate situation to even consider enlisting his help."

Jenny has to bite the inside of her cheek to keep a straight face because seeing the usually collected Ichabod Crane unravel is almost comical. In one of the shadowy corner of the Archive Hawley just grins like he's having the time of his life - God only knows how he found them, though the man is resolute if he sets his mind to finding something.

"Oh, come on, Shakespeare, a little mind game along the way will only keep you sharp," he says gleefully. The challenge is clear in his words, daring them to take his offer, and it's clear that if there's one second of a chance, he'll steal the haunted jewelry and sell it to the highest bidder, if he doesn't already have a client. The effect is instantaneous, Crane tenses, his jaw muscles flex, he's like a wire taunt too tight, ready to snap any moment.

"Well, I say we don't have time to waste," Jenny cuts in, before Crane can muster out a remarkably creative string of curses. She shrugs on her leather jacket and walks out, motioning to Hawley to show the way.

Hawley is the one to take the lead, he drives them to a nearby town, where the last victim of the strange series of murders lived. They go into a antique shop, where the air is heavy with the smell of old books and wood polish. There's beauty in the chaos of scattered objects - here lies a pile of old, carved wooden toys, there hangs a delicate glass wind chime - they hold memories long forgotten, something that attracts Jenny. She likes to breathe in the must of this strange air, and imagine other people's stories, how they loved, how they lived and what their families were like - maybe if she tries hard enough she can filter some happiness from these memories, and glue together something inside of her that broke a long time ago in that damned forest.

"Yeah, we're looking for something special, something that's just a shiny piece of metal, something with character," Hawley drawls, his charming mask full on.

The rings they're looking for belonged to a Romeo and Juliet like lovers. Some people find this fact utterly romantic, but what they don't know that star-crossed generally means dead - and not in a getting old together way - which equals ghosts.

"Yes, I have jewelry like that," the store clerk says in his most charismatic way. "It has a rich history, not gaudy, absolutely unisex, it's the perfect engagement ring for a pair like you." And with that he already starts to open the showcase, and pulling out a silk padded tray.

"Oh, dear Lord, no -" Ichabod starts to protest, and his vehemence seems to amuse Hawley to no end.

"Don't be coy, honey, you deserve the best." A pat to the firm back of Ichabod.

And though their situation is not even funny, Jenny can appreciate a joke now and then, because she learned a long time ago, that she can't stop living just because the end of the world is imminent. Yeah, it might be morbid, but they're fighting demons, so she lets herself have this indulgence.

And in that moment - which proves a serious error later - she notices a glint in Hawley's eyes that wasn't there before. Jenny knows that deep down they're cut from the same cloth: putting up a strong, careless facade but underneath their skin the loneliness runs like poison and the tangle of abandonment and trust issues threatening to smother them and carve them hollow and brittle. But for Jenny, when Abbie came back to her life - strange and calm and loveable Ichabod following in her trail all - brave and so changed, it helped her rebuilding herself, sparking hope, not just sheer determination pushing her on her way.

So when she notices the look Hawley gives Crane, it sparks an almost painful recognition - it's her face, her emotions when Crane and Abbie stepped into Corbin's cabin and Abbie finally believed in the supernatural, in their destiny, in her. It's the unbearable hopefulness, a yearning for belonging to somewhere.

And as Jenny watches Crane rattled and fuming, she notes that he's not angry, he doesn't despise Hawley in spite of his numerous assertions: It's just the way Hawley gets under someone's skin, inside someone's head - he makes his presence known in intense ways, you catch yourself arguing with him, taking up his challenges, playing his games, anticipating his self-serving ways, so you have to pay attention to his every little moves. And then when you're not looking, he slips into your life, he becomes part of your routine, your list of chosen partners, and sometimes you even start to miss him.

It took Jenny a good part of a year to figure out his methods, and she still isn't sure it's conscious on Hawley's part - no matter how manipulating and charming he can be. However the more interesting question that has Jenny wonder is when Crane will realize that he's one of the reason that has Hawley coming back.

Every ghost is different, some appear to be human, even solid, though in some cases they don't cast shadows, some has the well known ghost shtick with being semi-transparent and/or invisible.

As far as we know the only ways to exorcise a spirit is: cleansing the object with a cleansing potion (See appendix C. Potions, anti-dotes and other sticky slimes) or pacifying the ghost, helping it with its unfinished business.*

* Which is admittedly hard when the ghost only wants to slaughter the people she sees fit. Only go with this route if you know their story thoroughly. Sometimes history can be altered drastically and it takes too long to unearth what happened truly. If you're in mortal danger, don't rely on this solution.

It isn't a surprise when Jenny and Crane manage to make a mixture of herbs and holy water to cleanse the rings that they find a note saying "Oops, really sorry." in their place. Jenny just starts to form a plan that involves some very pointy objects and mentally pours through the known list of Hawley's associates to try and get them back.

Crane prowls the little cabin back and forth, fuming, spitting out creative curse words, and Jenny can see why it's amusing to Hawley to lit the fuse of Crane's temper. And then Crane suddenly stops and turns to her.

"Why would he do this? I'm sure even he has enough of a brain to comprehend that the angry spirit would kill his buyer."

"Well, you said he's soulless and only interested in money," Jenny says casually. She doesn't mean the words - maybe she would have had once when Hawley didn't believe in what go bumping in the night, but now it's different, he's different. She uses her words as a test, probing Crane, and they have their desired effect.

"Well, I dared to hope that since he's well aware of the supernatural dangers, he…" He doesn't finish it, and doesn't have to. It's clear that as much as he's complaining about him, he had hope, he saw something good in him, believed in him. And isn't this the most important thing, especially now?

Jenny shrugs, and searches for words that are good enough, but doesn't find any. It all comes down to Hawley, he has to see his chance and he has to want a better life for himself.

But Somehow she can't blame him, it's not easy to give up the illusion of safety, to believe in things that will shred you to pieces and eat you alive. If you let your nightmares be real then you have to deal with them. But Jenny knows that sooner or later things will catch up with him, as it's usual.

And sure enough, Hawley bursts into the cabin in a whirlwind of apologies and desperation. He doesn't even acknowledge Crane's vehement questions and accuses, just states, "I might have gotten myself into some serious trouble."

It's a sign for Jenny that Hawley's changing, even if he doesn't realize this yet. Usually when he's in trouble, he doesn't for help, because he is used to the fact that no one ever helps, the only person he can trust is himself.

"I saw the ghost in the mirror this morning, slashed throat, dripping blood and everything," he tries to say this in a nonchalant way, but there's a little hiccup in his voice, which is too easy to read to Jenny.

"No problem." Jenny shrugs, because yeah, saving people from stupid mistakes and dangerous magical artifacts is her thing. "If you give us the rings, we can cleanse them, exorcise the spirit and save your ass in less than a minute." The pained look Hawley gives her is the only answer she needs. "But of course you already sold it, and with our luck it's on the other side of the ocean by now."

"Yeah, maybe…"

"What was going on inside your head? Surely, the words 'cursed' or 'haunted' or 'murdering spirit' are not too hard to grasp! Not after everything you - we have seen…" Ichabod's voice cuts through silence, and each word hits Hawley like a dagger.

"I thought the spirit wasn't going to target me. I'm not really her type." Hawley stands up straighter, as if he could brace himself for his bloody death and win.

Even to Jenny Nick's words ring false, because even she could have told him, that yeah, he's exactly the ghost's type: The spirit thinks her only goal in the afterlife is mercy kill the poor souls who lost their way in life, who are disappointed and broken hearted. Nick Hawley fits to this pattern to a T.

Maybe the guy has some deep denial issues too, because lying to yourself is the easiest way to avoid life, Jenny doesn't know exactly what had happened to Hawley to make him like this, but she can see that his walls are starting to crack and crumble, and underneath there is someone who's confused and hurt and yeah, worth saving.

Apparently Ichabod sees the same thing, because his voice softens when he says, "Well, fortunately, I've found an other way to defeat this spirit."

If the haunted object can't be obtained,* search for the spirit's bones. It has to be buried in a crossroads or where three ley lines intersect. The cleansing ritual is easy, use the aforementioned cleansing potion on the remains and recite this incantation:

"Restless spirit, leave our realm, and find peace in the next world."

Not sure if the words has to be exactly this, or anything with the same meaning can be used. Research needed. **

* Beware of conning privateers and their so called charisma, or the capability of being highly annoying.

** Highly unnecessary. A bit of tradition never hurt anyone.

Jenny tries to ward off the ghost with an iron amulet made for especially this purpose, holding it high, and Hawley doing the same with his copy, but it doesn't seem effective. The spirit grasps Jenny in a flash and before she can react, she's sailing through the air, crashes hard into a tree trunk and crumbles to the ground.

She halfheartedly notes that she'll never trust those monks who gave them this magical amulet, when she hears Nick cry out.

"Hurry up!" Hawley croaks as loud as he can while the ghost materializes in front of him, her shape semi-translucent and shifting. She's like a tarp, hanging in the stormy wind, ragged and barely there, it's like simply her own will keeps her together.

Meanwhile Ichabod tries to hurry up as far as Jenny can see through the dizziness and nausea, and wonders about a concussion. Madly digging into the dirt with his bare hands where the three ley lines intersects, - the shovel they brought long gone, the ghost was a much better at assessing danger to herself then they expected -, Crane tries to bury and cleanse the bones of the spirit. In Jenny's opinion, it was a miracle that they found her original grave at all and in time too.

She tries to stand, to somehow defend off the ghost who tries to kill Hawley, but the world shifts under her, and she can barely take one step, when Nick starts to sputter out water. How freaky are these kind of ghosts, really? she thinks. Manifesting water into the lungs of their victims?

"Restless spirit, leave our realm, and find peace in the next world," Crane rattles off hurriedly, and maybe it indicates how hard she hit her head, but the first thing she thinks about is how well suited is Ichabod's voice and lilt for spells and incantations.

And then as suddenly as the ghost first appeared, she vanishes, carried away on a blow of wind, like litter scattered away. The relief they all feel is imminent and absolute and it clings to them as a second skin: It's in Hawley's relieved, big gulps of air, Ichabod's relaxed muscles and Jenny's slumping against a tree.

Neither of them breaks the silence, there really are no words for this, they are alive - yet again -, there's only enjoying the little things: a breath a lung draws, a beat of a heart, the coolness of the dirt on the skin.

Jenny doesn't really know if this high alerted state is the cause or something else, but when Hawley manages to get on his feet, the first thing he does is to stumble toward Crane, maybe to thank him for saving his life. Jenny doesn't expect a big, hearty thank you, or a grand speech, but when Nick does reach out a hand to help Ichabod up, which he accepts with silent gratitude - a sign that he's also rattled by Hawley's near death experience, Nick doesn't stop there. He grabs Ichabod's lapels, pulls him closer, and kisses him right on the mouth.

It's not passionate, not sloppy, nothing dramatic, just a brush of lips, but the effect is the same: Something shifts and something breaks - and Jenny can't really pinpoint what it all means or what changes it will bring. It could start or end something, it all falls to Ichabod now.

Who at first goes rigid, but then relaxes and doesn't push Nick away. And when Hawley pulls away, he doesn't go into an angry rant, so that sure means something.

"So you're my white knight in shining armor now, right?" Nick teases, with a hint of thrill in his voice.

"As flattered as I am to earn your gratitude, Mr. Hawley, you should do well to refrain from these kinds of emotional outbursts. I'm a married man, and a faithful one at that, but that surely doesn't mean anything to you…"

And yeah, as they start toward Jenny, bickering in their own way, she thinks that maybe there's something there that has a chance to grow. And as far as she's concerned, she's glad, because no matter what Crane thinks about his wife, no matter how hard he tries to amend what is broken by so many lies and destiny itself, maybe their relationship is too strained, and in danger of shattering, and he'll definitely need someone to pick up the pieces. And that might as well be Nick Hawley.