Cause I felt like it…
She was always so strong. It seemed like there was very
little that could get through the impenetrable armor that was Grace Abigail
Mills’ emotional barriers. Still, given all they had been through, given all
that they had sacrificed, even her barriers would fall at least once.
She fought so hard against the rising tide. It felt like everything that had happened to
her over the course of her life was bombarding her, pulling her down deeper
into a dark sea of emotions that threatened to drown her.
She’d come within inches of losing Crane tonight. Watching
the light slowly drain from his eyes while she stood by helplessly bound had
spurred her into action to save someone she loved but it also managed to break
something inside of her. As they made their way back to the cabin, Abbie sank
further and further into herself, trying desperately to catch any ray of light,
any fresh air that she could.
Ichabod could feel the desperation and fear radiating off of
his tiny Lieutenant. He’d been sensing it rising for weeks now. He knew she
needed to let go; he knew she needed to release everything she’d been bottling
up over the course of her life but this was Abbie. He knew that she’d do so
when she was ready, preferably when she was alone but knowing her as much and
as well as he did, he knew she needed someone – something to catch her when she
They’d barely made it through the door when she started to
tremble and hyperventilate. Ichabod did the one thing, the only thing he could
for Abbie; he pulled her small frame into his substantial one, enveloping her
into a tight embrace. She collapsed into him, taking him down with her as she
sobbed silently. He held her there in a crumpled heap, his large hands cradling
her head to his chest. He said nothing; he simply kissed the crown of her head
repeatedly and allowed her to cry – to let out everything that she felt she had
to hold in.
Ichabod did the one thing that no one else ever seemed to
allow Abbie to do – be vulnerable.