Occasionally he'll call her Abbie, more often Miss Mills or Lieutenant. These formalities are not just way to show respect to his fellow witness, but to keep some kind of tradition alive for him in a world that has gone rogue with its casualness.
But sometimes he remembers that her first name is Grace. And with that name comes a confluence of memories and ideas that flood his mind.
Grace.
And he wonders, why does she defer to Abbie instead? Abbie is the nickname of her middle name; it is as though she is disregarding her first name altogether. But why?
It is so fitting.
It is grace that allows her to float and flitter about the police station or a crime scene the way she does even though such environments are often filled to the brim with masculine energy. She is capable and formidable but still retains her femininity, she walks with confidence but she is not trying to be one of them. She doesn't want to be one of them. She is a woman, without a doubt, and seems to be comfortable with it. Her walk is purposeful, and yet alluring. He has caught himself admiring her once or twice before, and reprimanding himself for having less than savory thoughts for this fellow witness.
It is that characteristic internal grace that allows her to have empathy for him, to at least try to understand what he is going through. To offer a small bit of comfort to him when she mentions how he is now home, how he belongs in Sleepy Hollow in the here and now.
Perhaps his conversation appears more regal in this astoundingly casual time, but such a trait is to be expected from someone essentially frozen in time for more than 200 years. When she speaks, however, even with this modern day tongue, her voice is calming and steady—save for when she is in trouble or yelling at a basket-faced umpire, but who can blame her at those moments.
He knows he will continue to call her Miss Mills, or Lieutenant, even Abbie on occasion. Those titles work effectively. But that will not stop him from wondering how it would sound and feel to have "Grace" roll off his tongue as he speaks to her.
