The funeral for FBI Agent Abbie Mills was front page news in the Sleepy Hollow Gazette. Close to three hundred people attended the memorial service. Nearly the entire Sherriff's Department came to show their support as well as the countless people whose lives she'd touched in one way or another over the years.

For Ichabod Crane, however, the whole thing was more or less a blur.

He had tried to write some words to say but after cutting out the parts about their bond as Witnesses and anything else that might not have an easy explanation, it simply didn't feel right. He gratefully let her father deliver the eulogy.

After the last of the guests had dispersed and Jenny had returned to the hospital to check on Joe, Ezra Mills found Ichabod sitting on one of the folding chairs near the grave, staring into the distance.

'Let me tell you a story,' the older man said, sitting down beside Ichabod.

When the lonely Witness said nothing, Ezra continued, 'Now, when I was in boot camp we were on a training maneuver way out in the woods, hadn't slept in two days. And on top of it all there was this steady cold rain, the kind that chills you to the bone. I was ready to quit. I wanted to walk away and be done with it all. Then my instructor told me something I'll never forget.'

'Stop feeling sorry for yourself and go help someone else.'

Those words became Ichabod's mantra in the following days. He repeated them in his head, summoning the fortitude to walk through the foyer of Abbie's house with another stack of flattened cardboard boxes under his arm.

The living room and the non-essential kitchen items were already packed, so he walked up the stairs and continued walking past the closed door to Abbie's bedroom. Today he would work on her office. She had quite a collection of books and CD's and movies in addition to all her saved textbooks and notes from school.

Ichabod popped open one of the collapsed boxes and expertly pushed the flaps into place. The whole thing was a marvel of ingenuity. He looked around the small room, deciding where to start.

His eyes fell on the framed picture beside the laptop on the desk. He picked it up, blew off the dust, and stared into the past. It was a candid moment, most likely snapped on Jenny's cell phone.

The two Witnesses were at brunch. Ichabod had a smug little smile and a twinkle in his eyes and Abbie's face was lit with a brilliant grin, clearly caught mid-laugh. He couldn't remember now what he'd said, but it must have been something absurd.

'How am I supposed to do this?' he thought now.

He looked around the room miserably. This house represented everything that was important to him, everything that he'd come to love about his life in the 21st century. And now he was supposed to dissect that life, box up each little piece of himself, and pack it away. Never to be seen again.

"Abbie..." he said aloud, his voice catching in his throat.

Then he blinked and his resolve hardened again.

"No, I'm not doing that," he said softly.

Ichabod had promised himself that he would only talk to her at her grave. If he allowed himself to give in, he would never be able to let go. And he had to let go, because he had no other choice.

So he placed the photo back on the desk and turned to the first bookshelf and got to work.

...........................................

Light shining through the window and onto her face woke Abbie from a deep sleep. She rubbed her eyes tiredly. Her surroundings slowly came into focus.

She was in her bedroom, warm and cozy with her fluffy comforter pulled up to her chin. The memories of yesterday came back to her in pieces...the catacombs, the box, saying goodbye to Crane on the porch swing. It all felt like a dream. If she was back home, it had to have been a dream.

"Crane?" she called out, throwing aside the covers and getting out of bed.

She opened her bedroom door and yelled again, "Crane!"

Breaking into a run, she searched the whole house only to find it empty. It was her house. Everything was in its place but something was wrong. She tried to swallow down the fear that was creeping up her throat.

"I guess it wasn't a dream," she said to the quiet.

"What's happening?!" she yelled at the top of her voice, fists clenched tight, tears of frustration welling in her eyes, "Why am I still here?! You can't leave me here!"

A sharp knock on the front door startled Abbie. She was startled again when she opened the door.

"Captain Irving?"

The man smiled, "It's just Frank these days."

"It's good to see you again," Abbie said, then frowned, "but I have some questions."

"I have good news, Mills. We've found a loophole of sorts. You're getting a second chance at life!"

Abbie was dumbfounded.

"What?" she asked, incredulous.

"Let me explain," Frank said, and Abbie noticed that he held a manila folder which she surmised held her case file.

"It turns out that you aren't completely dead. Like Corbin told you, the whole Witness Phoenix reincarnation thing kicks in when a Witness dies. And, normally, this special Witness Limbo realm is only created when a Witness dies. So..." he opened the folder and scanned through his notes.

"Alright, so you ended up here after you went into Pandora's box and then the box self-destructed. All the supernatural monsters already in the box returned to the supernatural realms where they were created and you were sent here."

"Okay..." Abbie waited for him to get to the point.

"But the thing is; your body was never destroyed. Your spirit passed on but your physical self never actually died. That's why you're here but you didn't move on when you were supposed to, after your dream visit to the other Witness."

"So basically I can't be reincarnated or whatever because I didn't physically die?" Abbie wanted to make sure she understood.

"Yes," Irving nodded.

"But do I get to go back to Earth? Or am I stuck here forever?" she asked, unnerved by the mere possibility of the latter option.

"You're going back to Earth," Irving reassured her.

Abbie rubbed a hand over her eyes, feeling overwhelmed by the sudden change in her destiny. She'd gone through all that; saying goodbye to Crane and accepting the fact that her life was over...for nothing?

"I'm real sorry we didn't figure it out sooner, Mills," Irving said, reading her reaction correctly.

She took breath to collect herself and gave her former superior officer a smile, "Better late than never, I suppose."

Frank Irving held out his hand, "Feeling up for a swim?"

"Why not?" Abbie felt her hope returning.

The moment she took his hand, between blinks, they were transported to the banks of the river. A light breeze flitted through the tree tops and the sun glinted off the slow moving water.

"This is a connection point between dimensions, like the well in the Catacombs. Swim across the river and by the time you make it to the other side, you'll be back on Earth," Irving explained.

"That's it?" Abbie asked, looking between the water and her old friend.

"Yeah, that's it. Oh, and one more thing. There's one catch," he said, flipping open the file to check his notes.

"See, the rules are real particular about food. Since you ate the apple pie and ice cream back in the diner, that food connects you to this realm. Once you're on Earth again, if you ever eat apple pie and ice cream, you will...die."

"Seriously? I'll just drop dead?" Abbie asked.

"Hey, I don't make the rules. If I did, first thing I'd do was write them in English. But my point is you don't want to mess around with this one. Never eat apple pie and vanilla ice cream again. Together or separately. Actually, just to be safe, I would avoid any type of ice cream, apples, or pies in general. Pizza pie should be fine," he advised.

"I can do that," Abbie decided.

Then she wrapped her arms around Irving. He was momentarily surprised but he smiled and returned the hug.

"Thank you for watching out for me," Abbie said gratefully.

"Your journey's not over yet, Mills. Make the most of it," Frank Irving told her and, with those words bright in her heart, Abbie waded out into the river.

..................................

TBC!

Preview: Abbie and Ichabod are finally reunited!