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“In the catacombs … I didn’t get a chance to tell you,” Ichabod said, his deep voice turning husky.
Peripherally, Abbie saw Jenny and Joe exchange a wide-eyed look before turning to stare at Crane both with identical expressions of suspense and surprise. All she could feel was Crane’s hand in hers, both of them gripping tightly. She had thought at first that she was the one unable to release his hand now that they were finally reunited; but she felt the strength of his fingers intertwined with hers and she knew he felt the same, knew it with the intensity of feeling that flushed through her now that he was here before her, in the flesh, though even in her maddest moments trapped in that desolate place, when she had at times thought she might never feel or see or even hear him again.
Even the words that had appeared unbidden in her thoughts, words that she had simply known were his, she had not been able to conjure that beautiful, mellifluous british timbre that had at times frustrated and annoyed her, made her laugh, and now, they brought her to tears just at the sound of them.
And yet…
And yet… here he stood, hand tightly in hers with fingers intertwined. Not just the hand of a friend, but something more, beyond any bond she had ever felt for anyone, not even with Jenny. Gazing upon Crane, she felt her vision blur with pent up tears of relief and joy. And yet… it felt as though a wall was between them. Invisible but solid, inside she wanted to wrap her arms around him and feel him do the same. She knew he would. And yet… there was a boundary there, more solid than ever before.
They must have been standing there for a long moment, clinging to each other’s hand like a lifeline. So close, yet so far apart.
So strange, Abbie thought. She was so relieved, so joyous to see Jenny again, alive and well. But Crane filled her vision, her thoughts, and while her heart felt filled to bursting, her body was frozen in place. She dared not move lest she lose the touch of his hand, but at the same time she felt compelled to wrap her arms around him and hold him close. He looked equally torn.
“What was it?” she asked, finally. “What you meant to tell me?”
He raised his brow mischeviously, as it always did before he was about to crack a joke in poor taste. “Your move,” he quipped softly. “To counter my Queen’s Knight Four. That was a false gambit; I’d have outfoxed you handily.” He grinned, but there was something lopsided to it, something that hadn’t been there before all of this…
“Oh, Crane,” she sighed and laughed weakly, her voice cracking. One hand still clung to his, their fingers intwined so tightly it was starting to hurt. Her other hand covered her face, tendrils of hair slipping over her hand as she dipped her head. Her chest was a tight knot of pain.
Jenny cleared her throat, and suddenly she and Joe were gone, the heavy door of the library thudding shut behind them.
She felt his grip on her hand weaken, then tighten again. “Abbie…” he breathed. “These past weeks… they were unbearable for me. And now that I know that it was not just a few weeks, but months that passed for you, alone in that place, I feel… I feel sick to my stomach thinking of how you must have suffered.”
“Not your fault,” she said, her voice regaining its strength again finally.
“Maybe so,” he said bitterly. “But I should have found you sooner. I should have done more.”
Abbie lowered her hand from her face, eyes shining.
“Crane.” She said, in that tone that brooked no argument, or messing around. The one that he had come to love so utterly, and had missed so much in the time that he thought he’d lost her. “You did everything you could – and you found me. Hell, you nearly died trying to find me.”
Fingers trembling ever so slightly, she raised a hand to his cheek, fingertips touching his face tenderly. His beard was softer than she’d imagined. His eyes widened at her touch. “Lieutenant…?” he whispered, a strange look on his face. She thought she’d witnessed his every emotion, after everything they’d been through together. But this was new.
He raised his own hand to cover her own where it rested against his cheek. “Abbie…”
“Crane,” Abbie said, gathering her courage. How many times had she pictured this moment over the last ten months? As she had slowly realised how she truly felt about this brilliant, ridiculous man. Their bond had always run deep; even now she knew she needed no words to tell him what she was thinking, just from the look in his eyes, even as her rational mind tried to second guess her.
“Lieutenant…?” he murmured hesitantly, his eyes wide and dark, waiting for her move.
She wrested her hand free of his grasp, and his reaction was such a sweet mixture of surprise and confusion – then she did what she had wanted so desperately to do for so long but her time in solitude had burned away every trace of fear and regret: she pulled his face to hers, allowing her to pull him to her without resistance – and finally, finally, she kissed him.
They needed no words; he pulled back just long enough for him to look into her eyes and smile; then tenderly he reached up to gently brush her hair from her cheek, before leaning in to kiss her again.