Farewell

After the home of Jane Duncan Percy was turned into smoking ruins, John, Joss, Abbie and Crane returned to the Archives to find that Jenny, Irving, Shaw and Fusco were all there waiting for them with Finch and Bear.

As Finch was in the process of packing up his equipment and preparing to leave, he handed Captain Irving a list of addresses. "You might want to check these out, Captain. I find the lack activity on these properties suspicious. I haven't been able to link any of them to the coven, but you may want to do your own investigation."

Irving took the list and looked it over. "Thanks Mr. Finch, I'll check it out. Now if you all will excuse me, I have day job I need to get back to." He paused and grinned. "Apparently, there has been a mysterious rash of fires in old abandoned houses lately that needs investigating." He shook hands with Finch and left.

Jenny sighed. "I should probably get going, too. I have a therapy appointment this afternoon I can't miss." Jenny went to hand John the gun he had given her, but John waved her away. "Keep it," he said. "I have several."

"Really?" Jenny asked with a big grin on her face as she stroked the weapon.

"I did not just see you gift my sister with an illegal weapon!" Abbie groaned as she slapped her hands over her eyes. John and Jenny just smirked at her. She turned to Joss and asked, "How do you put up with this?"

Joss just smiled. "I keep telling myself it's for the greater good." She looked over at her mate with a fond smile. "And it usually is."

Jenny took her leave without any further goodbyes. Joss had a feeling she was going to squeeze in some target shooting with her new gun before her appointment this afternoon.

Finch stood up and looked at John. "Ms. Shaw, Detective Fusco, and I are going to drive back to New York now. Will you being joining us?"

John shook his head. "We'll be few hours behind you. Joss wants to stay and chat with Abbie for a while."

Finch nodded. "Then I suppose we will see you tomorrow morning at the usual time. Come Ms. Shaw, Detective Fusco, we have a long drive home and Ms. Groves has been left to her own devices for far too long."

Fusco and Finch both paused and looked at Shaw expectantly. Shaw looked confused. "What?"

"We're just waiting for you to yell 'I'm driving' like you always do," Fusco explained patiently.

"I'm practicing my couth. Couth people don't do that," Shaw loftily explained.

Fusco raised an eyebrow. "Does that mean I get to drive home?"

"Don't push it."

"Couth people let others drive once in a while. I'm just sayin'…"

Shaw and Fusco walked out the door as they continued squabbling like siblings. Bear watched them go and whined a tiny little whine.

Crane shot Finch a pitying look. "How do you tolerate them?"

Finch pulled a prescription bottle out of his pocket and held it up. "Powerful pain killers. I should be asleep before we hit the interstate." Then Finch shook hands all around and followed Shaw and Fusco out to the car, leaving the Alphas and the Witnesses alone in the Archives.

Joss looked over at the men. "Abbie and I are going down to the diner. I hear it has great apple pie. Can we leave you two alone unsupervised?"

John smirked back at her. "We're in a room filled with magical and possibly dangerous artifacts. What could go wrong?"

Joss crossed her arms and glared at her mate.

Crane chuckled. "Go ahead with Miss Mills, Detective. I assure you I will keep Mr. Reese out of trouble."

Joss snorted. "Good luck with that, whole platoons of soldiers have tried to keep him out of trouble and failed." She gave her mate a peck on the lips and she and Abbie left for the diner.


Joss and Abbie sat across from each other sipping their coffee, talking and just enjoying some girl time with each other. Abbie kept staring out the window as they chatted, obviously troubled about something. Finally, Joss set her coffee cup down. "OK Abs, out with it."

Abbie sighed; she knew it was no use denying that she had something she wanted to get off her chest to her highly intuitive friend. "How much do you know about the time Jenny and I vanished for four days? Back when we were in high school?"

Joss shrugged. "Just what you told me the other day."

Abbie took a deep breath. "I lied, Joss. Jenny told the truth and I lied. I threw my own sister under the bus so I could stay out of the loony bin."

Nothing Joss could have said or done would have surprised Abbie more than what she said next. "It was the right thing to do," Joss said matter-of-factly as she picked her mug up and took a sip.

"Hear me out. Abbie," Joss said quickly, holding one finger up in the air when Abbie opened her mouth to protest. "There is something going on here. Something I don't pretend to understand. You have an important part to play in all of this, whatever this is, and you can't play that part if you're locked up and medicated. I think you were meant to lie. I think you were meant to do what it took to be out here and not in there when Crane woke up."

"Jocelyn Carter, saying that lying was the right thing to do?" Abbie couldn't believe her ears.

Joss laughed. "Yeah I know. But Abs, if there is one thing I have learned in the past few years, it's that things are rarely black and white. Sometimes a lie can be a good thing if it protects something bigger.

"I'm not saying I've lost all my ethics, but I realized that sometimes you have to bend the rules a bit for the greater good. You can be too rigid, and that, I have learned, is as bad as not being rigid enough."


"How did you and Detective Carter meet?" Crane asked handing John a cup of coffee. They were seated in the Archive, letting the women have some girl time together.

"I got arrested," John said casually, taking a sip.

Crane smiled. "Oddly, that is how I met Lieutenant Mills."

John grinned. "The Police Department, where the girls are."

Crane returned the smile. He liked the Wolf. He didn't think he would at first, but he was pleasantly surprised to find that he did. "In my time, women were not allowed to be constables. I'm glad that mistake has been rectified."

John grew quiet. "So am I, or I would be dead now."

Crane raised an eyebrow in surprise. From what he had seen of this Wolf over the last couple of days, he found that hard to believe.

John saw Crane's look of surprise. "Finding her… saved me. I lost someone and I was considering ending it all. I had nothing left..." his voice trailed off.

"And then you found the good detective," Crane prompted.

John looked down into his coffee cup and smiled fondly, thinking of his mate. "I needed to be reminded that there are people out there worth fighting for, good people."

Crane sighed deeply and regarded his own cup of coffee pensively. "I understand. I am fortunate to have Miss Mills. Otherwise, I too would be alone."

John held up his coffee mug. "Here's to our ladies."

Crane's mug clinked as it gently tapped John's in a toast. "To Lieutenant Mills and Detective Carter."


"Are you still upset about not being able to take the FBI position?" Joss asked.

Abbie shrugged. "I thought I had my life all planned out, but it seems fate had other plans for me. I've… come to terms with it. I had to stay here, I get that now." Abbie smiled. "Besides, if I had gone to Quantico, I'd be alone, and I wouldn't have Crane and Jenny right now. I think I like not being alone.

"What about you? I never got the story on your deal with the FBI."

This time it was Joss's turn to shrug. "Fate had other plans for me too, I guess. There were a lot of rumors around the guy I was dating at the time. They weren't true, but they were enough to scare off the FBI. I was guilty by association.

"I do know that if I had gotten the job, I wouldn't have John and Cali right now, so I definitely came out way ahead. I was pissed at the time, but now I wouldn't trade my life for anything. As a guy I know is fond of saying, it's a funny old world."

Abbie laughed. "Well your friend has that right."

Jos snickered. "He's not really a friend. But he is right a lot of the time."

The women chatted amiably for the next half hour. Joss showed Abbie Cali's latest baby pictures and reported on Taylor's progress in selecting a college to attend. Abbie talked about her effort to rebuild her relationship with her sister and her failed attempt to maintain a friendship with Luke Morales.

After a while Abbie looked out the window and nodded in the direction of the street. "Your ride's here."

Joss and Abbie watched as John parked the SUV and he and Crane climbed out. Joss was amused to watch most of the female and a few of the male heads turn to stare as her mate and the patriot walked into the diner.

John sat next to Joss and Crane sat next to Abbie. "I hate to break up the girl talk, but if we're going to make good on your promise to Taylor to be home for dinner, we need to get going," John said.

Joss checked her watch and nodded, realizing he was right.

John slid out of the booth and helped Joss up while Crane did the same for Abbie. John tossed some bills on the table to cover the ladies' pie and coffee and a generous tip and the four walked out to the SUV.

Joss gave Abbie a hug. "You know all you need to do is call if you need us. With Cali and Taylor, we have a vested interest in preventing the Apocalypse too."

Crane leaned down to receive his hug from Joss. "Thank you, Detective. There are some tasks that only we as the Witnesses can do, but it is comforting to know that we can call on your considerable skills in a time of need."

"You can," John said as he shook Crane's hand and accepted his own hug from Abbie. "Don't hesitate."

Crane and Abbie stood on the sidewalk and watched as the SUV pulled away from the curb and turned for the interstate.

"A most extraordinary couple," Crane murmured.

Abbie nodded her head, a smile on her face. "Yes they are. Come on, let's get back to Archives."

THE END


Thank you to everyone who left a review! I am humbled by the over whelming positive response to this fic. I wasn't sure if their were a lot of POI fans who also happened to be Sleepy Hollow fans, but it seems there are and it appears I may convinced a few of you to check out Sleepy Hollow as well. I'll try to write another crossover fic soon.

A special shout out to my betas, carolinagirl919 and ReeseisLAVAhot. I can not praise these ladies enough for putting up with me. wolfmusic218 deserves a shout out as well for all her encouragement.

Don't worry, there are more Wolf stories to come, they just won't leave me alone.