The five o' clock alarm woke Abbie as it did almost every morning. She reached up and turned it off mechanically, hardly recognizing her own action through the fog of sleep. She climbed out of bed and plodded to the bathroom in a trance, had anyone tried to speak to her there would have been no response. Her routine was set so deeply that her body carried it out, regardless of the presence of her mind.
A full shower later and Abbie had still not woken completely. She dressed in only underwear and a bra, then padded toward the kitchen. This was her routine: shower, underwear, then coffee while she air dried. What she did not expect was a red faced Crane to break her routine as he choked on his tea, spluttering and staring up at the ceiling.
"Forgive me Leftenant..." He starts, but Abbie is immune to his babblings. She needs her coffee first.
Crane continues for a few moments before he seems to understand that she's not going to respond and finally snaps his mouth closed. When Abbie turns around a few sips of coffee later, he starts his speech.
"Miss Mills, it is most improper of you to be walking around in that attire." He still stares at the ceiling. "Especially with a man present."
If the coffee hadn't woken her, that definitely did. "Excuse me?" Abbie all but shouts. Ichabod opens his mouth but she makes no pause for his response. "This is MY house! You have no right to tell me what is or isn't acceptable in my own home!" When she stops for a breath, she can see the hurt in his eyes and regrets her harsh tone. She begins to apologize but he speaks before she can.
"Right, of course. My apologies Miss Mills, I do not know what I was thinking. This is your home and I have no right to complain about what you do in it...If you'll excuse me, I will retire to my bedroom." And then he is gone.
Abbie sighs, feeling like an asshole. She didn't mean to hurt him, and his complaints were justified although not well stated. 'Well, at least he knows that I'm not a morning person,' she thinks, and continues with the rest of her day.
Ichabod appears at the precinct during her lunch break, brown paper bag in tow.
"Crane! Hey, what are you doing here?" She asks, even though she's glad to see him. She'd grown to really appreciate his company, but she tries not to think to much on it.
"After my foolishness this morning, I thought I could bring you lunch as an apology," he said, the hope in his eyes all too evident. She laughs, finding it ironic that no matter how tall or strong he is, Crane is much like a child in some ways, but she doesn't mind. If anything she finds it adorable. What-adorable? She shakes her head, quickly banishing the thought.
"Crane you didn't have to do this. It was my fault anyway, I'm sorry for snapping at you." One look at him and she knows she's forgiven.
"Frankly Miss Mills I was feeling quite lonely anyway. I thought it best to come here before I accidentally destroyed any of your fancy household items." His eyes are twinkling as he smiles down at her.
"Good call Crane," she laughs, "I'm almost done here, wanna hang around and get some ice cream after?"
His eyebrows shoot up in a mixture of excitement and curiosity. "Ice-Cream," he says, testing the words on his tongue. Abbie wonders how his voice can make even the simplest words sound so amazing.
"Yeah, trust me you'll love it. Let me just pack up a few things and we can go."
Ichabod nods, hands behind his back, standing ramrod straight and patient as ever. However, when he fidgets it is clear that he needs something to pass the time.
"Grab that chair over there and come sit beside me Crane."
He does as he's told, at first dragging the chair noisily, but after a look from Abbie he picks it up and places it beside her.
"Here, play with this, it might keep you occupied for a little while. Then again, a genius like you could probably solve it in under two minutes."
He looks down at the rubics cube.
"The goal is to get a solid color on every side of the cube," Abbie says when she notes the inquisitive look on his face.
"Ah! Yes alright! Quite the interesting puzzle," he mutters. And after that Abbie's lucky if she can hold Crane's attention for a minute or two, he's so focused on solving it. Of course he doesn't want her to know that he's solving it FOR her. Her 'genius' compliment had definitely stroked his ego, and he wanted to live up to it. Though he studied the cube and doubted he could finish in under two minutes.
At last he solves it, and he holds the cube up to her proudly, relishing the impressed look on her face.
"I knew you could do it Crane, and just in time to leave. Ready for one of the greatest modern inventions ever?" She asks happily, excited to expose a new wonderful thing to him.
"Of course m'lady," he stretches an arm out to her, smiling goofily.
Abbie laughs and takes his arm. "Always the charmer Crane, lets go."