Disclaimer: I no own The characters of Tim Burton, i f I said that I did he may come looking for my head or worse he may send the Hessian to do it. I own Catheryn Crane and thus far no one else.

I also hereby dedicate this chapter of The Hessian to my man Matthias, I am truly flattered that you love the story and hope you like this chapter as well as the ones that precede and follw it


The Hopes of a Hessian

Chapter Three

I lay flush against my darling Katrina in the bed but as much as I chased sleep it would not allow me to find it, instead I found myself reminsicing on the events that has brought about the here and now. When Katrina and I had left Sleepy Hollow literally without a backward glance we had both felt as though we owned the future and nothing bad could touch us. We married soon after moving to New York and adopted the young Masbath as our own son, I stayed in my position as Constable Crane, we prospered and a year later we celebrated the birth of Ichabod Crane Jr. he had been named after me but he was very much Katrina's child, he shared her hair and eye colour. Never doubt that I loved my children very much and I adored the fact that they resembled Katrina but then came the feeling that I was never to see my lineage, that Katrina overpowered my line with the strength of her own. But I would never have complained they had my name but her looks a fair trade in my eyes. He even inherited her gifts of magic and casting. The same was true of little Elizabeth who arrived a year later, my children loved me dearly but they possesed a stronger bond with their Mother.

Young Masbeth found his calling, he moved out to go to Medical School as soon as he was able, he was a bright boy who was very much devoted to his studies, though not of my flesh and blood there were days where he reminded me more of myself than my own children, though unlike me the sight of blood did not unnerve him quite so terribly. Ichabod Jr. moved out to seek his fortune when he turned eighteen, he hasn't yet settled down. An english gentleman began to pay court to Elizabeth when she cameof age and she had eyes for none but him they courted a decent amount of time as was expected, they became engaged and then married, Katrina and I approved of the match highly knowing that he would be good to our little girl. Little Elizabeth Crane became Mrs. Robert Langley. He moved her back to his home in the English countryside. Less than a year later we were traveling to visit them to celebrate the birth of our first grandchild, Catheryn Langley. The moment I laid eyes on her I knew that I could never deny that child anything even though I was not her parent. Unlike most babies she had been born with a full head of raven black hair that was as soft as down and coloured exactly like mine, her eyes even resembled mine. When Elizabeth set her in my arms I was lost, I felt that eternal connection that knows no words and obeys no boundary. She had me wrapped around her tiny finger and she could not even crawl. My looks would live on as would my legacy, I became eternal that day.

Tragedy struck the little family that Elizabeth had began in the english countryside, Catheryn had just turned five years old, I received a letter from Elizabeth explaining that the nearest town had become suspicious of her gifts, so suspicious that she was afraid of the dreadful consequences. Katrina and I responded with haste but by the time we had arrived, we were too late . Elizabeth had been executed for practicing witchcraft, and Robert as well for being a co-conspirator. But thank God they spared Catheryn, we quickly gathered what little was left to her and brought her back to New York, she was no longer Catheryn Langley, she from that day forward would be known as Catheryn Crane in the hopes that the horrible events would never come back to haunt her. The only thing that haunted her was the traps in her own mind. when she became old enough to comprehend she blamed Katrina for the deaths of her parents had her mother never been taught to use her gifts, they would never have died in her eyes. She still blames Katrina and to this day never calls her grandmother or nanna crane. Katrina even blames herself but I refuse to let her carry a guilty conscience to do so would let people like my father win. But we cannot say we are completely guilt free either.

Catheryn was the daughter I craved when both Ichabod Jr. and Elizabeth were born and it seems that her peace of mind rests solely on the shoulders of the Hessian Horseman a fact that nearly undoes me but I am powerless to stop it, Catheryn is scared to death of the Hessian walking into Hell without a backward glance, I am scared to death of taking her to Sleepy Hollow, and surrendering her to madman that will inflict unspeakable tortures on her person, are Katrina and I really making the right decision, or are we walkign into a trap of the worst design. It would kill me to lose Catheryn after fighting so hard for her in the first place. these are my last troubled thoughts before sleep takes me.