Disclaimer: Sleepy Hollow belongs to Washington Irving and FOX
Ichabod's POV
In the immediate months that follow Katrina's demise, Ichabod's life distills to one simple dichotomy: good days and bad days.
On the good days, he can remember his wife with minimal pain, a vague ache in his heart that is tinged with guilt and possibilities unfulfilled. On those days, he can smile, and laugh, and enjoy the company of others.
The bad days are blurs, filled with lost time. He feels as if part of him has been removed and he is left, severed, to roam the Earth so cleaved.
In the beginning, there are no good days. It takes two weeks before he has his first one and almost two months before he needs more than two hands to count how many he has had consecutively.
Ichabod's touchstone throughout his ordeal, the one certainty he relies on to get through each day, both good and bad, is Abbie's presence. She seems to have developed a form of mind reading around him, for she always seems to know when to leave him be or when the company of another person will be at the very least tolerable to him.
Abbie takes care of Ichabod in the immediate aftermath of the battle, staying with him at the cabin, ensuring he eats, and being present to sooth any wild flux of emotion as he grieves. She lets him cling to her when the grieving is the strongest, when Ichabod is at his weakest against his loss and she knows just how to distract him when he is suffused with melancholy. If possible, they spend more time together than they did before the solstice battle. Ichabod marvels at how seamlessly Abbie moves in and through his life and he can almost barely remember a time when he didn't know her, she's become so integral to him. And, most of all, he loves her more now than ever.
In the early days of his grief, the only secret Ichabod keeps hidden from Abbie is how he feels for her and his continuing confliction between honoring Katrina's memory and his desires. The thought that he is being punished for betraying his wife by falling in love with another woman occurs to him and for a couple of days, Ichabod believes it. But he eventually succumbs to reason. Katrina sacrificed herself to save him. Ichabod remembers the apology in Katrina's eyes before she did the spell to sever her power from Moloch's. She did not do it to punish him, of this he is sure.
So, after the first couple of weeks, Ichabod settles into mourning. For close to two months, he wears mostly black, as would have been custom in his era, and he learns to live with the ache of the loss of Katrina that he is sure will be with him for the remainder of his days. And he begins to look on the future with renewed hope, for his relationship with Abbie is stronger than ever.
It is the end of August. A little more than two months have passed since the solstice battle and the forces of evil have been suspiciously quiet throughout the summer. Abbie and Ichabod are enjoying a quiet evening in the old Armory, cataloging the resources and books on the occult over a meal of Chinese take-out. Ichabod still has a difficult time using the infernal chopsticks the restaurant provides, but the smile on Abbie's face as she teases him light-heartedly for the way he fumbles with two simple sticks of wood make it worthwhile.
Ichabod looks across the table at Abbie, who's paging through a leather bound book that's even older than he is, and he cannot bear to be silent any longer. "Abbie, might I have a word with you for a moment? Of a personal nature?" He's been using her given name since his mourning began. She's seen too much of him to be kept at such formal lengths. In public, of course, she's still "Miss Mills" or "Lieutenant", but in private Ichabod feels he can take more liberties.
His tone must have put her on guard, because Abbie looks up at him with both concern and confusion. "Of course. What's up? Everything ok?"
Ichabod's fluency in modern vernacular increases everyday and it no longer gives him pause. "I wish to extend my gratitude for all you have done for me over the past weeks. I truly do not know what I would have done if you had not been there in my time of need."
The expression on Abbie's face relaxes and she gives him a soft smile that warms his heart. She reaches across and gives his hand a squeeze. The warmth in his heart turns into a skipped beat at her touch. "Don't mention it," she says. "Besides, what are friends for?"
Ichabod smiles in return, but it feels anemic. Yes, of course. Friends. "Still, there must be some way I can repay your kindness."
Abbie's smile turns cheeky. "Let me have the last pot sticker and we'll call it even," she says with a wink that threatens to make Ichabod blush.
Ichabod decides to go along with the light-hearted turn his serious conversation had taken. "Consider it my boon to you, then." The moment passes, but Ichabod lets it linger for a silent half a second longer. She considers them friends, then. He will not dismiss such closeness for anything. But, by God, does he wish for something more.
Abbie's POV
It's almost the anniversary of Ichabod's resurrection – Abbie wishes she didn't think of it in those terms, because with the hair and the beard, she can almost compare him to Jesus and she is so not going there if she can help it. But it's been almost a year since he woke up in that dank cave and it hasn't been an easy time for him. From adjusting to the 21st century, to fighting against nightmare forces, to losing his beloved wife, if anyone deserves to have something go right with his life, it's Ichabod Crane.
Abbie wants to do something for him, something nice to commemorate the event and give him a break, but she doesn't know what. It plagues her for days that she can't think of anything and as the calendar gets closer and closer to the actual date, Abbie begins to panic.
And then, a week before the anniversary, she's flipping through the newspaper and an ad in the Arts section grabs her attention. Abbie's breath catches and she smiles. She's just had the most brilliant idea and Ichabod is just going to love it.