For ivyperdita on Tumblr. Thank you for all your support. It means a lot. Hope your feels enjoy this. :) This is kind of a continuation from "Rum," if you remember that one. It's chapter 29. :) This is the piano version I listened to for "Run to You" by Whitney Houston. /watch?v=2uynjYoXeKA

"Would you like to dance, Leftenant?"

Abbie glanced at the Ipod plugged into the speakers in the middle of the table. She took a sip from her mug of tea. The last time she danced with Crane, they ended up in a drunk kiss this past weekend. It was hard to forget what his lips and tongue felt like.

"A supernatural creature is running around killing people. What makes you think we have time for a dance?"

He stared at his book. "I apologize for the inquiry. You are correct, Leftenant."

She shifted in her seat, flipped a page in her book. Jenny just had to leave this music on, didn't she? Crane had a lot more music to catch up on. Sometimes he hummed while they worked in Abbie's study. They had to take work home, since the archives was in the process of being destroyed. Jenny thought it would be a good idea for him to listen to some music. He liked all the genres he heard. A piano version of Whitney Houston's "Run to You" started to play from the speakers.

It was a great song. Abbie enjoyed it, but it irked her because it was true. All week this week, she stood outside Crane's door. They had settled into their own beds for an hour until she woke an hour later. Nightmares didn't torment her; she wasn't scared of anything. She didn't even have to talk to him. All she wanted was to slip in bed with him, so she could store him away as a recollection in case he left again. She wanted to hear his beard scrub against his pillow when he tossed in his sleep. Would the tips of his toes be cold like hers if they touched? She wondered if he snored like Santa Clause, all loud and long. He wouldn't push her away if she knocked on his door and told him what she wanted.

After the night of the kiss, no one mentioned it. They went on like normal. But Abbie wanted to talk about it, wanted to relive that whole moment when he first asked her if she missed him. She'd tell him the truth, run to him as the song stated. Her strength would have to weaken this time. Avoiding it wouldn't help them.

Abbie bent a corner in her book, reached for the Ipod to restart the song, stood up, and stepped in front of Crane. He looked at her. She held her hands out for him.

"We can take a break," she said.

He took them. Then she led them to an empty spot in her study. Crane pulled her toward him while Abbie wrapped her arms around his waist; her head was on his chest. She hummed the lyrics, sang some of them out loud while they danced.

"I want to run to you (oooh)/But if I come to you (oooh)/Tell me, will you stay or will you run away?"

"We should do karaoke again. I miss hearing your melodies."

"Just please don't sing that song about the sailor."

"I promise."

Abbie hummed some of the second verse.

"This is a lovely tune," he said.

"It is. You'd have to hear the original though to get what it's about."

"You could sing it to me."

"I've sung enough, but it's your typical love song. It's about a woman who wants the man she's in love with to comfort her. She's plays like she's so tough, but sometimes she's lonely and needs some reassurance from him. If she does turn to him, she's isn't sure if he'll stay or if he'll go. Hence the lyrics I just sung."

"Hm, that is interesting. Hopefully, he can be there for her. I would love to listen to it from its original source."

"It's a great song."

"Leftenant, I have a question to ask you."

"I'm listening."

"Who do you run to when you need someone?"

Abbie squeezed Crane a little tighter. "For a while it was Corbin. Now that Jenny and I are speaking, I run to her."

She didn't lie to him, but she didn't tell him that he was a part of that answer, too. How does she tell him that she needs him by her side, too? He was always the one good at admitting that to her. Now, it's the other way around. He makes it seem so easy.

"I'm glad you have someone."

"What about you?"

"Before, it was Abraham and Katrina. Now, it is you who I run to. Oddly enough though, it was also you who I've run away from. I do apologize for that again, Miss Mills. I won't do it again."

There he goes again. The song was almost over. Abbie gave herself until the end of the song. She put her arms between his shirt and coat, looked at him.

"There's one more person I can turn to."

"Who?"

"What if I told you I've been standing outside your door this week?"

That was the easiest way she could tell him for now.

He gave her a small smile. "What if I told you I've been doing the same?"

Abbie didn't know what to say to that. He's being doing what?

"I wait about thirty minutes after we turn into our rooms before I stand outside your door. The urge to knock is always there, but I never put it into action. I'm a coward."

She put her hands on his chest, shook her head. "I'm afraid, too. We can never deny each other though, Crane. One of us would have given in and said yes first if we knocked."

Abbie heard another song begin to play.

"Indeed. I've been wanting to talk about what happened."

She nodded. "Where do we start?"

"I suppose from wherever we need to. I should apologize for putting you in that position and making you revisit such a difficult time. It couldn't have been easy for you."

"It wasn't. I shouldn't have kissed you either. I gave you mixed signals. I said one thing and did the opposite. That was probably confusing."

"At first, I was so sure that you were just putting up a wall or trying to hide it from me. The next day though, I pondered it again. It was then that I started to doubt. Perhaps you didn't miss me as I thought you had. I—" He sighed.

"What?"

"This was selfish, and I know I had no right to ask this of you, but I wanted you to miss me, too."

"I lied when I said I didn't." She played with a button on his coat, avoided his eyes. "I missed you, too."

She finally admitted it to him. She stopped messing with his buttons and stared at him. He leaned down to let his forehead touch hers.

"I have the most aching question to ask you."

"Ask me."

"Do you ever want to run to me? Rather, do you like running to me?"

He was making this easy for her, but hard at the same time. She didn't know what he would say in response. That's what she feared.

"I always do, Crane, especially when I stood outside your door."

"You can always run to me or knock on my door."

She nodded. "If we knock tonight?"

"We won't deny the other."

Abbie opened her bedroom door and stepped into the hallway. Before she could get to Crane's room, he was walking toward hers. His only had on his plaid pajama pants and a pair of socks. She wore a pajama T-shirt with matching shorts. She smiled at him as he grabbed both her hands to pull her toward his room. He closed the door behind them.

His covers were bunched up on his bed. He let her get comfortable first. When he sat down, Abbie straddled his lap, put their foreheads together.

"I have a question," she said.

"Freely ask me what you wish." He fingers engraved shapes on her back through her shirt.

"What was your reason for almost knocking?"

"I wanted to have a memory of you. I had to know what I missed while I was away. Do you hog the sheets when you sleep? I wondered if you ever mumbled words from the 21st century I wouldn't comprehend. Are you a wild sleeper with an arm or a leg hanging off the side of your bed? Did I miss this?"

"I won't deny you if you want to find out."

"Will you deny me if I asked to kiss you?"

There was no rum involved when she kissed his lips or when his tongue and fingers conducted themselves in ways that made Abbie hanker for whatever she asked him to give her. He never denied her, and she knew she wouldn't run to him just to hear his beard scratch a pillow.