Even though it was late spring, the water was still cold. Abbie clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering and continued swimming. At last she reached the riverbank and climbed out, only slipping in the mud once.

She stood on the shore and bent over to catch her breath. When she looked across at the other shore nobody was there.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?"

Abbie spun around to see a young woman in workout clothes running towards her with an alarmed expression. It took Abbie a moment to process what the woman was saying because her present meant that Abbie was definitely back in the land of the living!

"What happened? Are you hurt?" the woman asked.

Abbie took stock of her appearance. She was wearing the same clothes she'd been wearing when she went into Pandora's box, only now she was soaking wet and her legs were splattered with mud and her shoes were full of silt and small pebbles.

"Uh, I'm okay," Abbie said, "I uh, was running and I fell in. It's real slippery over here."

It was an awkward excuse considering that the running path was a good fifteen feet from the riverbank at that spot. The woman seemed a little bewildered but accepted the explanation.

"You must be freezing!" she said, still worried.

"I'm okay, really," Abbie said, wringing excess water out of her hair, adding pointedly, "I don't live far."

"Uh, okay," the woman hesitated before moving on, "Be careful!"

As she watched the woman run on down the path, Abbie realized that she could hear traffic nearby. A wide grin spread across her face. She raised her hands to the sun, enjoying the warmth on her face.

'I'm alive!' she shouted the words internally because she was afraid someone would overhear and decide that she was crazy. After everything she'd been through, that was the last thing she needed.

After wringing out her clothes as best she could and emptying out the sandy sludge from her shoes, she was ready to go home.

Feeling something in her pocket, she pulled out her cell phone. Unfortunately, it did not survive the journey through dimensions. Abbie briefly considered flagging down another jogger and borrowing their phone. She was anxious to see Crane and Jenny, but decided that it was probably best to break the news of her return in person.

Abbie followed the winding trail until it came out in a neighborhood that she recognized near the Sheriff's Department. She started heading towards the center of town and the sun and a light breeze helped to dry her clothes a bit.

Abbie came to an intersection and when the 'Walk' sign lit up, she hesitated. She'd been intending to check the Archives first and then, if Crane wasn't there, continue on home. A strange feeling tugged at her, telling her to turn instead.

She followed the feeling and turned down the street. As she walked, the feeling got stronger until she realized she was being drawn somewhere. She broke into a jog, turning this way and that.

Before she knew it, Abbie was standing under the entrance to the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery. She couldn't quantify the feeling that had drawn her there but serving as Witness to not one but two apocalypses had taught her to trust her instincts.

She wandered through the peaceful cemetery until she spotted an instantly familiar figure kneeling in front of a new gravestone. Her heart leapt into her throat. She walked towards him, feeling like she was in a dream.

When she got closer and she could hear the familiar rise and fall of his voice and saw him place a small bouquet beside the headstone, saying softly, "You are missed," she realized that being in a dream didn't quite characterize what was happening. It felt like she was looking at the world from a distance, like she was a ghost.

Abbie found her voice, "Crane..."

He froze in place.

She spoke his name again, a little stronger this time, "Crane."

He flinched then gave a small shake of his head, 'no'. He stood abruptly and started walking briskly away from where Abbie stood, unseen behind him.

"Ichabod! Wait!" Abbie yelled, running to catch up.

At the sound of his name, Ichabod faltered. A half second later Abbie reached him, throwing her arms around him from behind.

Looking down, Ichabod Crane was stunned to discover two very real arms wrapped tightly around his chest. He put his hands on hers, he instantly knew they were her hands, and turned around to face –

"Leftenant!"

There she was, the woman with sparkling brown eyes that he would recognize anywhere, staring up into his face.

"What is happening?" his words nearly stumbled over each other, "Is this another dream?"

"No, it's real. I'm really here," Abbie Mills smiled up at him.

"What do you mean?" Ichabod was scared to believe it.

"I'm alive!" Abbie grinned.

Ichabod threw his arms around her in a crushing embrace. Tears sprung to his eyes and for several moments he couldn't speak at all. He could only hold her, his mind not quite able to accept that she was real, that she was here.

"But...but how is this possible?" he asked, releasing her and cupping her face with his hands, searching for answers, "You were gone!"

"I know. That's what I thought too. But we found a loophole. Turns out I wasn't totally dead after all. It's like...my spirit passed on when Pandora's box self-destructed but my physical body was supernaturally absorbed and that doesn't actually count as dying. Anyway, I get to come back!"

"Oh, Abbie," Ichabod hugged her again, "This is too good to be true! I can scarce believe it!"

Abbie closed her eyes against her own tears as she returned the hug. The comfort of his solid body against her and the tender way that he held her head against his chest was nearly overwhelming.

"My dear Abbie...I love you so. I cannot begin to describe how happy I am," Ichabod said, clutching her tightly, "I missed you terribly."

His words swirled around her heart and a sick feeling of guilt crept up on her.

'It was easy for me to accept dying because I got to leave everything behind,' Abbie thought, 'What if it had been the other way around? If I lost him instead? I couldn't bear it.'

"I'm so sorry," Abbie sobbed, burying her face in the soft cotton of his favorite jacket, "I left you."

The brave Witness had spent so many months pushing aside her own fears and uncertainties. Now she couldn't hold back any more. All the emotions she'd fought so hard to restrain were spilling over.

"Don't say that. It wasn't your choice to leave. You did the right thing," Ichabod said gently.

Abbie took a shaky breath and rubbed her eyes.

"You did everything right," Ichabod said with genuine warmth in his voice.

With the initial shock of their reunion receding, Ichabod realized that his partner was cold and wet. He shrugged out of his colonial jacket and draped it around her shoulders.

"Let's go home," Abbie said, feeling tired but happy.

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

TBC!