A/N: Oh, my! Thanks for the lovely feedback. For some reason, this story is coming out in bits and pieces. I'll try to make future chapters a little longer.

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It'd been four weeks since the last encounter with Moloch, the Horseman and various and sundry minions and demons. The thirteen weeks between the Spring Equinox and the Summer Solstice was the period when evil was at its weakest. While there was no true rest for the wicked, Moloch and the Horseman retreated – for the time being. Lambs could be born and fields planted. Homes could be fortified and hearts could mend. Parrish went back to his flat in Hartford; Jenny off to "acquire" another rare object. Crane and Abbie orbited each other, 230 years of destiny their gravity. It was a time for them to be together, not as Witnesses but as two people helping each other through battle fatigue.

Crane lived half the time at Corbin's cabin and the other at Abbie's. Abbie lived half the time at her apartment and the other at Corbin's cabin. There was no design to this arrangement. It was simply that each slept where the other was. They discovered that when they spent more than a few hours apart, darkness began to creep in around the edges.

Some days, Crane would ride the "omnibus" into town, arriving near the end of Abbie's shift at the bus stop in front of the police station. Abbie always watched him, smiling a little as he stepped carefully to the sidewalk then turned to thank the "omnibus matron" with a small bow - every time. Other days, Abbie would pick up takeout food or purchase dinner fixings at the market then drive to the cabin. Crane would greet her on the porch with a "Lieutenant! What a pleasant surprise", genuinely surprised and happy, as if he had not seen her just that morning when he left her apartment.

Anyone watching would believe them lovers but their relationship was chaste. He slept on Abbie's fold out couch, she in the tiny loft in Corbin's cabin. They talked, they read, they hiked. They napped in the cool spring sunlight after picnics of egg salad sandwiches and beer. In those first weeks, proximity was comfort enough.

That was to change abruptly - almost by accident.

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