Abbie sat alone in her office, chewing on her thumbnail and staring absently into space. Heaving a sigh, she leaned back in her chair.

Her life was a mess.

This was the first time in days she had a moment to herself; a moment to think and process her emotions. How was she going to deal with the mess made? She would've been better off heeding her mother's advice and keeping to herself.

She should have kept her nose out of Crane's business and not forced him to take a job working with her. She also should have stuck to her guns when Danny started pushing her buttons, but no, she just had to let those damn feelings slip again, the ones she struggled to keep under lock and key.

What the hell happened to her ability to control her impulses? She was that close to jumping Crane's bones after purring, 'Captain' to him. If it wasn't for that phone call, she would have been on the floor with Crane, her fingers tangled in his hair while she…No Abbie, calm the hell down, she scolded herself, shifting uncomfortably in her chair. She didn't even want to think about the conversation she had earlier with Danny.

She closed her eyes and rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Her life was complicated because she allowed it to happen. She had no one to blame but herself. She just needed to clear her head and figure out what she was going to do. It's like Danny said, the ball was in her court. She just wished she knew how to play the game.

Earlier that day…

Shortly after leaving her office, Abbie came across Danny and Crane in the hallway. Judging from their postures and facial expressions, the men were engaged in a pissing match of sorts. The air fairly reeked of testosterone.

Steeling herself, Abbie approached the two men, ready to diffuse the intense conversation. She wasn't sure what prompted the exchange, but she did her best to stay calm and levelheaded. She also did her best to protect Crane and save her own ass in the process.

Abbie was usually quick on her feet, but appointing Crane to a job, one he hadn't asked for, may have been a hasty solution. The last thing she wanted to do was treat Crane like the damsel in distress, but the less people paid attention to his past and complete lack of official records, the better. She knew she was walking a thin line when it came to having his back and safeguarding her career. If giving him a job within the department drew less attention to his Rip Van Winkle persona, then so be it. Her career and the life she built for herself – by herself – were worth it. She had sacrificed too much for their mission already and she wasn't willing to sacrifice that. She couldn't risk losing her work. It was her passion; her grounding force and motivation – not to mention it paid the bills and kept a roof over their heads. She just hoped Danny wanted to talk about closing the Anaconda case or go over some of the backlogged cases Granger left behind, not find out what she and Crane were hiding.

Holding back a smile, Abbie walked into Danny's office. Even though she felt apprehensive, she honestly enjoyed these one-on-one moments with Danny. It felt like old times at the Academy, back when they used to banter, make strategic plans, share drinks, and discuss mundane crap (among other things). No matter what, he always made her feel like she was equally important within the bureau. She appreciated his ability to simultaneously humble and make her feel validated. It was an interesting mix of friend and mentor, with an unavoidable undercurrent of sexual tension.

Danny shut the door as Abbie walked toward the chairs in front of his desk. Pausing, she looked over at her office to see where Crane had gone. She could see the top of his ruffled hair. He was sitting in one of the chairs inside her office while staring down at his smartphone, probably playing with his Bitmoji app. At least he was distracted and wasn't staring at them like a puppy left out in the rain. It was amazing how he could make her feel guilty with a single look. She sighed as she sat down. She was about to offer a flippant excuse for Crane's weird behavior when she noticed the humorless expression on Danny's face. She had been around him long enough to know when he was not in a playing mood. She immediately sobered up. This wasn't going to be one of those easy-going, banter-filled conversations.

She cleared her throat and tightly smiled, "So I'm guessing this is about going behind your back to hire Crane then."

He looked confused. He shook his head and muttered, "No. No, it's not about that."

She knit her brow. At least this wasn't going to be a conversation about her trustworthiness, but why was he so upset? "Okay, then what's this about?" she asked curiously.

His eyes roamed her face before taking in a sharp breath. He turned to pace around his office, resting his hand against his back. He turned toward her swiftly, opening his mouth to speak before changing his mind. He held up his hand and then let it drop. Shaking his head, he smiled at her halfheartedly. Hesitantly, he explained, "I'm not usually like this."

She smiled unsurely. "You sure?" she asked, gently teasing him.

He grinned. His eyes softened as he gazed at her for a moment, then sighed and hung his head. He leaned back against his desk, coming to rest next to Abbie's knees. Resting his hands against the edge of the desk, he peered up at her. "That," he nodded at the door, "That out there, that wasn't me."

She raised her eyebrow at him. It was true. She wasn't used to seeing Daniel Reynolds act petty when it came to playing by the rules. He was usually laid back when it came to such things, so as long as it worked out in his favor. Pointing out Crane's lack of citizenship was a peculiar move on his part. Crane's help with her cases was beneficial to both of them. She didn't understand why he felt threatened by Crane's presence.

"I don't really care what you do to help your roommate out. You've always been the one to help people. I get that," he said with certainty.

She turned her head slightly and looked at him expectantly. He was avoiding getting to the point. He must be feeling really uncomfortable – Danny was direct in everything he said and did. It wouldn't help if she interrupted, so she patiently waited for him to explain what was going on.

"I know I said what happened between us didn't have to get in the way. And it doesn't. It hasn't. I just…," he stared at her intensely for a moment before continuing, "It's getting harder for me to keep things separate. To go back to what we were before our 'dynamic' changed."

Abbie swallowed hard. She sat up straighter in her chair and folded her hands in her lap. This isn't the direction she expected this conversation to go. Flustered, she responded, "I'm not sure what you mean."

Daniel chuckled softly. He sat down in the chair next to hers and leaned forward, his knees touching her thigh. She shifted in her seat and looked at him guardedly. He gently took her folded hands into his large calloused ones. She looked down at their hands in surprise. This was definitely unexpected. He knew his office was more window than wall, right? Lucky for him, it was lunchtime. There were very few people left in the building, and most of them were distracted, oblivious, or completed uninterested in what was going on inside his office. She nervously blinked at him.

He gently shook her clasped hands, finding the determination to resume the discussion. He quietly explained, "I was attracted to you, Abs, right from the very beginning. Your passion, your determination, your talent – everything about you. And when it all ended, I didn't think we'd ever work together again. But now being around you it's…it's been bringing up these feelings I thought I could work past."

Her eyes widened as he looked at her imploringly. He leaned in a bit closer. Her heart sped up and the air seemed to get thinner. He couldn't. He wouldn't. Would he? She looked at him cagily.

"I know it's like you said, we're on different tracks. I'm your boss now, I get it. But this is something that I just can't put out of my mind."

Oh God, what the hell is happening, she thought trying to contain her panic. After laying down the rules, he was taking them back. She felt like she was going to be sick. Her nerves were on edge, but she wasn't sure if she was thrilled or royally pissed. Another emotion tried to nettle its way in there, but she adamantly ignored whatever was causing her heart to flutter in alarm. She did her best to remain calm as she searched his face for any sign of insincerity.

He looked at her nervously. "Abbie, I want … I'd like an opportunity to try 'us' out again. We made it work before. I think we deserve a chance to figure out where our working relationship can take us."

She frowned. Yup, she was decidedly pissed off. How dare he spring this on her? After everything he said when he arrived in Sleepy Hollow – "clearing the air," as he put it – he suddenly wanted a relationship with her? She snorted, trying her best not to stutter, "Relationship? I thought you said…"

Daniel squeezed her hands in his own as he closed his eyes impatiently. "I know what I said, Abs, but I need you in my life. Outside of this," he declared firmly, motioning toward his office door with his chin.

She couldn't believe it. All of a sudden he needed her? What the hell was that supposed to mean? Was she only there to satisfy his needs? Did she only matter when his urges came up outside the office? She scoffed disbelievingly, "So, what? Like colleagues with benefits?"

He frowned. "No, I…"

Abbie snatched her hands out of his grasp and stood up. He was the one who laid down the rules. She wasn't about to scrap all the progress they made in their professional relationship just because he was feeling sorry for himself, especially now that she was getting used to the boundaries. The pitter-patter in her chest reminded her that wasn't the only reason for sidestepping his suggestion.

She squeezed her eyes shut, ignoring the alarm bells going off inside her head. Damn him. He couldn't up and change his mind like that, not now. She took a deep breath to calm herself. After a moment, she held up her hands defensively, a tense smile plastered on her face as she looked toward the ground. "Listen, Danny, I…you can't ask me to do that. I've worked too hard for this. I can't throw it all away just because you changed your mind," she affirmed.

He slowly stood from his chair and shook his head, perplexed by her reaction. "You wouldn't be throwing anything away."

She blinked disbelievingly. How could he dismiss her concerns as if they didn't matter? She'd be putting her career on the line if she even thought about attempting a relationship with him. Why couldn't he understand that? She shook her head incredulously. "Maybe, to you, but to everyone else I'd be the agent that slept her way to the top. And don't tell me that's not what it would look like," she cautioned him.

He huffed and raised his eyebrow at her. "It wouldn't matter. It isn't anybody's business," he reminded her.

She folded her arms defensively. "And when has that ever been true about a woman in this field, Danny? Hmm? The instant a woman slips up is the moment she loses everything. We don't get applauded for screwing the boss," she said derisively.

He raised his eyebrows and scoffed silently. Blinking in surprise, he folded his arms across his broad chest. Abbie eyed him carefully. She may have just crossed a line. She didn't mean to say it so bluntly, but he was pushing it. He couldn't poke at her and not expect a reaction, especially when she hadn't expected it. After a moment of tense silence, he furrowed his brow. "So that's all it would be to you?" he asked quietly.

She looked down. Okay, maybe the whole 'screwing the boss' part was unnecessary. If their roles were reversed, and Abbie was the one sitting in the boss' chair, Danny would never dismiss her so flippantly. He would listen and try to make it work. Feeling her stomach twist in shame, Abbie shifted her eyes away from him. "That's all it would be to everyone else," she replied plainly.

He snorted and she looked up at him in bewilderment. Was he laughing? Had he lost his mind? She looked at him unimpressed. He chuckled, eyes filled with mirth, shaking his head. "God, that's good. You're good."

"I'm serious, Danny."

"Yeah, I get it," he said, his smile fading to a smirk. He squinted at her, as though investigating a suspicious lead, and took a cautious step forward. Abbie stood up, sidestepping the chair as she moved toward the door. He noticed her evasiveness and stopped. He nodded but huffed, "I get it but don't come at me with that offended career woman shit. You never gave a damn about what other people thought. All this, it's just talk. You don't believe it for one second. So tell me the truth, Abbie, what is it you're really afraid of?"

She scoffed, folding her arms tightly across her chest, "Yeah, you think you know me so well? What the hell do you know, Reynolds?"

He tilted his head down and took another step toward her. "What are you afraid of, Abbie?" he probed.

"I don't need this," she muttered, rolling her eyes and turning to leave.

"Yeah, run away from it. S'good. Keep clinging to all that crap you refuse to let go. Just keep it all in, Abs," he goaded.

Abbie turned and glared at him, her chest heaving, nostrils flared. How dare he hassle her? He had no right. He didn't know her. Probably, because you won't let anyone in, a voice taunted inside Abbie's head. She unfolded her arms and clenched her fists at her side, ignoring the voice.

He gazed at her steadily. "In all this time I've known you, you've never backed down from anything. You've never used those shitty excuses. So what is it? What are afraid of?" he asked her again.

"I'm not…," replied Abbie, frustrated with the direction their conversation was going. She couldn't storm out. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction. Instead, she folded her arms again and squared her shoulders.

"Just tell me."

Abbie rolled her eyes and shook her head.

"Tell me, Abbie."

Abbie glared at him. Danny looked at her expectantly. God, she hated him right now. He was going to make her do it. Leave it to Daniel Reynolds to push her to the point of no return.

"Fine!" she snapped. "You wanna know what it is, hmm?"

His face became serious as he looked at her in concern. If this is what he wanted, then this is what he was going to get. It was about to get real. She smiled wryly. "Fine. I am scared. I'm scared out my goddamn mind. I have lost everybody in my life. Everybody!" she laughed scornfully, shaking her head.

His eyes softened. She refused to let him say anything. One word out of him and she would break. "The second I care about somebody, the second I feel like everything's gonna be alright, it isn't! It never is," she firmly stated.

Daniel nodded attentively. She looked at him and felt her resolve crumble. She'd spent years trying to keep people out and now she was finally letting someone in. She breathed in uneasily. She felt light headed, drained.

"I can't take another one, Danny. I can't start this and lose you, too. I wouldn't handle it. I-I just can't. I can't," she whispered, sucking in her lips. If she kept talking, she'd choke up, so she focused on keeping the tears at bay. Images of everyone who left her flashed before her eyes. Her mother, her father, her sister, ex-boyfriends, Corbin – everybody, all the way up to the last image of Crane letting her leave the cabin before he abandoned her for nine months.

They all decided she wasn't enough. They all left with no consideration of how it would affect her. They had no idea what it took for her to accept their absence and find the strength to keep going, but her strength didn't come without tremendous effort. Contrary to popular belief, her strength had never come naturally. She worked so hard to protect herself from feeling weak or abandoned…

She squeezed her eyes shut. Right now, she just needed to focus on finding the strength to breathe and not break into a sob.

Daniel sighed when he saw a tear roll down her cheek. "God, Abbie," he whispered. He fiercely took her in his arms and embraced her tightly. He rubbed her back gently and tucked her under his chin. She shuddered, taking deep breaths to calm her nerves, breathing in his fresh-smelling cologne.

She rested against his firm chest. She had missed his touch, his scent, his arms around her. He had been her haven when she was alone for all those months. He provided her with the motivation and comfort she so desperately needed. Could he be what she needed now? Was it enough to move on? Could he be part of the life she was building for herself? After a few ponderous moments, her breathing returned to normal. She pulled away and sniffed. She looked out the glass windows of the office. Luckily, nobody had seen them.

"Sorry, I …," she laughed nervously, wiping under her eyes to avoid smearing her makeup. She was suddenly grateful no one was around to witness her ill-timed breakdown. Danny reached up and gently cupped her cheeks. She sighed reluctantly and placed her hands over his. She closed her eyes, remorseful for divulging her weakness, but relieved to share it with the one person who didn't feel the need to save her.

"No, don't apologize. Never apologize for that," he said softly, wiping her cheeks with his thumbs. "That fear you feel, it's yours and only you know what it's like, but I understand. The way I see it, you've earned all the right in the world to be scared, to be angry. You've gone through a lot."

She glanced up at him and nodded firmly. He understood what she had shared with him. The best part was he didn't feel the need to fix it or assign blame. She didn't know how Crane would have reacted in the same situation.

As amazing as he was, Danny truly had no idea of everything she had gone through. Crane, on the other hand, knew almost too much about her. It made her reluctant to show anything that resembled weakness around Crane. It didn't help when he threw it back in her face during a petty argument, just to prove a point. He upbraided her for trusting the angel Orion; and he'd recently admonished her for not telling Jenny what she knew about their father. It was irritating and made her feel betrayed. It's why she avoided having those types of conversations with him.

Danny, on the other hand, would never understand the whole supernatural, Witness with a capital "W" part of her life. He would be the first person to lock her up in Tarrytown Psychiatric if she told him the full extent of her experiences as a Witness. He wasn't the type of person to handle it, whereas Crane thrived on sharing the supernatural craziness with her. His trust and belief in her ability as a Witness boosted her ego. It gave her confidence and a sense of purpose.

Both had their good and bad sides. Both held important roles in her life. At this very moment, they were equally important to her. If someone put a gun to her head and told her to choose between them, she didn't know if she would even be capable of making that decision.

Danny, unaware that Abbie's mind was spinning out of control, smiled tenderly and lowered his hands down to her shoulders, squeezing them gently. "I just hope you see what I see. You are an incredible person, Abbie. You've achieved your goals completely on your own. You're respected in your community. You have a sister who loves you. A creepy roommate who's scary loyal to you...," he said, making a face. Abbie snorted through a sniff. He smiled gently and continued listing her accomplishments, "You have a home, friends who care about you and colleagues that admire you, including myself."

She smiled and looked down bashfully. She wasn't used to the compliments. They always made her uncomfortable, but she accepted them as gracefully as she could. "Thanks," she mumbled.

Danny tilted her chin up and gazed into her eyes. He pulled her closer. Her lips parted involuntarily as she started to melt in his dark eyes. "You might have lost a lot in life, Abs, but you have found so much more," he murmured, his puffs of breath caressing her lips.

Abbie closed her eyes and breathed in steadily, once again thankful for the absence of spectators. They stood still for a few moments. Abbie didn't know what to expect. If he kissed her now, she'd have to work twice as hard to prove herself within the bureau. After a moment of silence, she opened her eyelids just in time to notice the desire in his eyes. But, as if hearing her thoughts, he pulled away. He took a step back, giving them space, but never breaking his eye-contact with her. She shivered at his intensity and immediately craved the warmth his body provided. Instead, he crossed his hands behind his back in a display of restraint, demonstrating his ability to respect her boundaries.

"Don't let it hold you back," he advised her, his expression intense. He turned to walk back to his desk. Abbie nearly collapsed as her knees wobbled in an effort to keep her upright. She shook her head, waking from her stupor. He always had a way of putting her in a daze whenever he got close to her. And he always had a way of teasing her to the point where it would be unbearable if she didn't act. She nodded determinedly, turning to leave before she did anything impulsive she'd regret.

"One last thing," he added, resting his arm on his desk chair. Abbie turned back to face him, widening her eyes, unsure what to expect yet hoping in vain. He gave her a coquettish smile. "I expect an answer sooner or later about what we discussed, but I'm leaving the ball in your court. I'm going to let you decide where you want to take this."

Abbie nodded slowly in a trancelike state, leaving his office to return to her own. If she felt conflicted before entering his office, she was on a completely different level of confused when she left.

Hello all!

So how'd you like it? I know this was another Abbie-centric chapter but I really needed to do this for her. I hope I did her character justice by using Danny as her foil. Abbie is such an interesting character, I could write about her forever. She is my absolute fave! We need more of her!

Anyway, I'd like to take a moment to make a HUGE SHOUT-OUT to my very lovely, very talented, very amazing beta, krashingkritter. She has taken on the enormous task of helping me out with this story. I am super grateful and very blessed to have her as my beta! Thank you, krashingkritter!

So let me know what you thought. Where would you like this story to go? What's your view on what's going on with the show? I look forward to hearing from you all!

Your humble Abbie fanatic,

semul