Blood.

It fell around me in waves, splashing me with viscousness I couldn't even imagine getting out. It seeped through my clothes and touched me, intimate, drowning me in a river red.

Like one of the plagues of Egypt, no hope could be seen.

My eyes shifted around the red and formed a picture of a man. He was tall, beautiful, with blue eyes and scraggly hair. He watched me from the shore. There was no threat in him, just beauty. And something inside of me said, "I know him."

But I didn't. There was no part of him I knew. The eyes, though they were beautiful, were blank. His lanky posture dull. He was a ghost of someone I remembered. His old clothes tattered in the wind as I watched him watch me drown.

As the blood touched my mouth, I tried to form the phrase, "Help me." But he only shook his head.

"Death comes for us all, Miss Mills. And when it does, be ready."

XXXXXXX

I gasped awake, my back soaked in sweat. What the hell was that?! I had a lot of dreams in my past but that had to be the worst. I could taste the blood in my mouth.

The worst part was seeing Crane that way. Dark, brooding. Sure, it had been a couple of bad weeks since Katrina ran off with Headless, but not to the point of suicide.

"Get it together, Abby." I commanded myself.

The first thing to do was shower. Remnants of the dream were going to haunt me all day, no question, but I still wanted to feel as clean as possible. I spent a really long time in there too. Too long. So long that when I finally got out of the tub in my tiny towel, Crane was waiting for me.

Awkwardly.

"How did you get in?"

The thing I loved most about Crane was his innocences. "I merely found your spare key and opened the door, but had I known you were scantily clad-"

"I was showering."

"All the same." He turned away so that I could escape his gaze. It was obvious too, that he was curious.

It took me a long time to realize that he had never seen a black woman show so much skin. There was a lot of difference between me and Katrina. So I felt a little empowered that he found my "scanty-ness" something to avoid. It meant temptation. I became a forbidden fruit.

I threw on a pair of jeans and my favorite work top. As I laced up my pirate boots, he came in.

"I spoke to Katrina last night."

The chair I was leaning on slid out from underneath me, nearly causing me to fall over. "Excuse me? She finally decided to talk to you?"

He righted the chair with a hefty sigh. "It was an innocent conversation. We decided that our relationship is taking a mutual pause during this excursion of hers." I must've looked pretty pissed because he added, "It was truly mutual."

"This isn't right, Crane! She can't just… Blow you off! You aren't in a relationship… you're married!"

"Indeed." He fixed his jacket accordingly. "But much has changed in the two hundred years since we said our vows. And we did agree… Until death do us part."

His eyes finally met mine, and I was shocked to see the dark shadows underneath them. How much sleep had he had? "Crane. This isn't healthy for either one of you."

"No, it is not, but it will continue down this path. My wife is many things but not a cheat. She will remain faithful to me even during this pause."

I didn't expect the sudden pang in my heart.

"Lieutenant?"

"I…" I looked up at Crane, whose eyes had suddenly filled with something more that fear or regret. Was it pity? Hopelessness? Or maybe… "You think she loves Abraham."

Right on the nose. His face fell considerably. "I have faith in her."

"But you don't."

He wanted to fight me on it, but quickly realized I was right. "It's complicated. She tells me that she still loves me but I sense that there are some barriers that I cannot break."

"Like?"

His expression became unexcusably awkward. "Katrina had it in her head that you and I were… close."

Oh god.

It made a lot of sense. We spent a lot of time together. There was occasional tension and we trusted each other wholly. We went out together and laughed a lot. If I was Katrina, of course I would have assumed. But we weren't, we didn't, and we wouldn't.

As far as I knew.

"Did you explain that we weren't?"

He raised an eyebrow.

"Aren't?" I corrected.

"Of course I did. But a woman's jealousy… She felt alienated because I was focused on defeating molloch. You, the other witness, of course would bear half the weight. Our relationship is like that of a married couple, only without the benefits."

"Benefits?" My mouth twitched. "What are you thinking of?"

I could tell he was instantly uncomfortable because he started to make that disgusted face. "Things of a… private nature."

Now it was officially fun. "What sort of private things?" I smiled innocently

"...pleasantries, secret rendezvous… and union."

"Like, civil war?" I wanted to crack up so hard.

He bit his cheek. "Passionate union, Miss Mills. I doubt you are unaware of how children are created."

"So, sex."

He dropped his gaze and gasped exasperatedly. "Your century has no respect for the sanctity of the marriage bed."

"We don't, you're right. But it's because we're uncomfortable with innocence."

I threw my bag on and made a scary face. He chuckled lightly. "I mean you no disrespect by calling you my wife without benefits."

Shake it off, I told myself. "I'm sorry that I have been keeping you from your real wife. And when this thing is over, I hope you're both still alive to fall back in love again."

I meant it honesty, but that same tug on my heart came back. What the hell? I tried to ignore the darkness in his face.

"I do not know if this is a blow we will be able to recover from."