Let's Go Home
Chapter 3
Summary: It's a new morning in Sleepy Hollow. How will this day turn out for our favorite residents?
AN: For reference, I have decided that Luke's partner's name is John.
And Now, the Continuation...
Icabod opened his eyes, slowly gaining awareness of his surroundings. He was in an unfamiliar room, yellow sunlight streaming through the window. He was wrapped in the singularly fluffiest, softest, warmest blanket he'd ever felt.
'This is Miss Mills' home,' he thought, 'She brought me here last night, after we returned Thomas to Roanoke.'
He sat up and stretched his cramped limbs. The couch was a little short for him, but still far and beyond more comfortable than the often scarce accommodations that he'd become accustomed to in his recent life as a soldier in the Revolutionary War.
Piled on top of a box in front of him were his clothes but, more importantly, on top of that was a brown paper bag. Could it be?
Icabod swung his feet onto the ground. He grabbed the paper bag and reached inside. Yes! Donut holes. He immediately popped one into his mouth. The receipt was markedly missing from the bag. There was, however, a yellow paper square stuck to the side.
It read, "Back around noon – A" in Miss Mills' handwriting.
Happily munching on the sweet baked goods, Icabod picked up his clothes. They were remarkably clean and dry and, yes, even smelled lightly of flowers. Miss Mills had apparently already left for the day and let him sleep. How could she have had time to clean his clothes and even gone out to buy breakfast, all without waking him? How long had he slept? After the adrenaline wore off, while riding in Miss Mills' vehicle, everything was rather fuzzy.
His head was much clearer now, thankfully. He bit into another donut hole and stood up, stretching his arms. In two large steps he crossed the room and lifted the curtain, peering out the window onto an unfamiliar street. It was clearly mid-day.
Icabod looked down, alarmed to see himself dressed in the only half-remembered blue cotton shirt and ridiculous heart-patterned pants that barely reached past his knees.
'Miss Mills could return at any moment!' he panicked, 'No, no, no…'
Icabod hastily removed the foreign garments and again donned his own shirt and pants. He looked at the door, still closed, and sighed with relief.
He looked around the small apartment more calmly.
'Now, does she have a coffee machine somewhere in this calamitous mess?'
….
Detective Luke Morales leaned back in his desk chair and twirled a Sleepy Hollow Sherriff's Department pen around and around his fingers, lost in thought.
He felt distinctly uneasy, like he'd made a mistake somewhere and didn't realize it, like he had walked right by something important but hadn't seen it, like something had very nearly gone disastrously wrong but nobody was doing anything about it. This uneasy feeling had been nagging him, always in the pit of his stomach, for the past several weeks. In fact, it had really started around the time this Icabod Crane character showed up, when Sherriff Corbin was murdered.
It wasn't that he thought Crane was the killer, or even ill-intentioned, but Luke didn't trust the man. It was simply that Luke could tell when he wasn't being told the whole story. This instinct was part of what made him a good detective. Luke could usually tell right away when people were lying to him or consciously omitting something. And now it was happening right here, within the Sherriff's Department. Not only Abbie, but Captain Irving as well, were definitely keeping him out of the loop.
Whatever they were hiding had something to do with Crane, he was sure of it. He just couldn't pin anything down. The man legitimately was on loan from the Oxford history department. Luke's uneasy feeling wouldn't shake.
If anything, the feeling had gotten stronger after the events at the hospital over the past few days. The mystery boy appearing out of nowhere and then disappearing again without explanation. The boy that, Luke had overheard, could only communicate with Crane.
There was some missing piece to all this, there had to be.
As a child Luke had always dreamed of becoming a detective. He'd just known that was his purpose; that he was meant to become Detective Luke Morales. Well, then the Twin Towers fell and a new purpose was born in him. After a few years of fighting in the desert, Luke eventually realized that his old dream was still in his heart. He left the Army and worked his way up until he became a detective. It was more than just a job. He was meant to do this, to solve the cases others couldn't.
And now he couldn't see clearly what was happening right in front of him! It was infuriating! Never mind that Abbie would hardly speak to him anymore. He just couldn't understand her and that is what really made it so hard to move on. He had no idea what she was thinking these days.
"Hey!" John hit Luke's shoulder with his notebook, causing him to drop the pen. "You coming or what?"
Luke snapped back to the here and now. He sat up straight and told his partner, "Yeah, man, I'm right behind you."
'Focus!' Luke admonished himself, 'Just do your job! That's all you can do.'
Putting the pen back on his desk, Luke grabbed his coat and started to follow John out to the parking lot.
Just as he was leaving the office, none other than the beautiful Abbie Mills was walking towards him. He held the door for her.
'Keep cool, man,' he told himself.
"Hey Abbie."
"Hey Luke," she replied.
"Where's your shadow, Abbie?" He couldn't help it. He knew he sounded petty, yet again, but the words escaped before he could stop himself.
"He's sleeping," Abbie stated and kept walking into the office. Didn't even slow down or look back once.
Luke was dumbstruck. He couldn't move. His mind spun, 'How could she say that? What?! He's sleeping? What did that mean? How does she know that Crane is sleeping? Where is he sleeping? More significantly, where has Abbie been sleeping? Does this mean Abbie and Crane are… No! Don't jump to conclusions. You have no direct evidence. But why would she say that to me?'
With those two words, said so casually, Luke felt suddenly nauseous. He looked around in desperation, only to see John leaning against their squad car, arms crossed over his chest. His partner's smirk was visible from across the parking lot.
Fighting to remove the stricken look from his face, Luke walked over to the car. Whatever John was going to say, he didn't want to hear it, but he had no choice.
"Buddy, when are you gonna get over her?" John went around to the driver's side but kept talking. "Because this here," he waved his hand in Luke's general direction, "it just ain't healthy, man."
"You got that right," Luke muttered as he got into the car.
John turned the ignition. "I tell ya what, let's us go over to Louie's Place after shift tonight. Grab some beers, maybe some dancing with a pretty girl or two. That's the medicine right there."
"Maybe you're right."
"I know I'm right." John grinned. John didn't always understand his partner, he didn't even know the whole story between Luke and Abbie, but he could sure tell when his friend needed some cheering up.
…..
Abbie had just sat down at her desk when Captain Irving called her into his office.
"Lieutenant Mills! In my office."
"Yes sir!"
As soon as she stepped inside, the Captain said, "Close the door."
She complied. "What is it, sir?" Abbie asked, growing concerned.
Captain Irving leaned against the edge of his desk.
"So here it is," he began, "When the boy, Thomas, appeared two days ago they did a blood test on him. Turns out he never had any modern vaccinations, not a single one, highly peculiar for any American child today. Now, I'm telling you this because this morning I received a call from one of the lab techs at the hospital. They also did a blood test on Mr. Crane."
Now apprehensive, Abbie asked, "Is this a problem? What did they find?"
"He couldn't tell me the specifics, but he started asking all kinds of questions I quite frankly don't have the time or, for that matter, the answers for. I told him that Crane was on loan to the Sherriff's Department from Oxford as a consultant for some cases. Maybe his immunizations have expired or some such."
"Okay…immunizations, right."
"Anyway, Lieutenant, you might want to get our resident time traveler over to the hospital and make sure he has all his shots before somebody calls the National Enquirer or worse, more feds." Irving pointed his finger at her, eyebrows raised, "Got it?"
Abbie nodded, "Got it, sir. I'll take him over to the clinic."
"Good," Irving said, just as his phone rang. He waved Abbie out of his office and picked it up.
…
TBC
AN: I think Luke deserves some sympathy. He's just hearbroken and confused is all. Anyway, next chapter it'll be back to the Abbie and Icabod Adventures with bonding time at the doctor's office!