I know what you are thinking, another one? Well this one has been rooting around my brain and i am doing a tester to see if it is worth continuing. Let me know its an AU and those are always tricky.

Enjoy

The doorbell was blowing a staccato warning as he made his way from the basement into the front parlor room. Ten years in this country and he still felt like a stranger in his own house. The red and blue flashing lights outside were a reminder to a time not so long ago, or linseed oils and caustic sheets drenched in disinfectant.

The door played again, and he heard two voices on the other side. One, an assertion of belief, familiar in its tone; the other was new, female, and held a distinct note of annoyance.

He threw open the front door to find the two voices were not as disembodied as he had feared. A woman, dressed in a brown law enforcement uniform stood next to the boy on the stairs. He noticed that the boy was nearly if not equal to the same height as the smallish brown woman .

"You Ichabod Crane?" She asked from under her sheriff's hat. Crane scanned his brain trying to recall if it were good guys who wore brown.

He nodded, and with a fold of his arms leaned against the frame of the massive front door. "WHat did he do now?" he asked, directing the question to the sheriff but casting a pointed look at his errant progeny.

She turned to the boy at her side and pushed him forward a bit. For his part, Jeremy wisely chose to keep quiet, something Crane knew he was all too good at; and something that usually marked wither a guilty conscious or a half hatched plan of future evil. "Do you not know what time it is?" She directed her question at the man in the doorway.

Under her stare the elder Crane fidgeted as if the sermon had lasted too long. He brought his arm to his face and was surprised at its honesty. "Its 11 pm." he said more to himself than in answer to any accusation. He then parried an accusation of his own. "What are you doing out so late?" he finally addressed his son. The boy was dressed in shorts and a hoodie and held onto an over grafffittied skateboard. He shrugged but offered no verbal recompense for his nocturnal actions.

Crane looked back at the woman in uniform and offered her a grim veneer. "I had no idea it was this late..."

"Lieutenant Mills. Sleepy Hollow Sherriff's Department." she filled in for him. "Your son was not only caught out an hour past curfew, but he is also suspected of-"

Crane grabbed the ten-year-old's arm and drew him into the open door. "Lieutenant Mills, I thank you for the safe return of my son, however it is much past his bed time and i am sure you understand there is a need for familial concourse.

The woman at the door offered a brief look of confused shock before speaking. "Look, he is obviously way underaged to be out at this time of night, on his own. I brought him home this time, next time I catch him won't be as polite and cordial a concourse."

"Guess i just won't get caught next time." Jeremy mumbled as he allowed his father to lead him into the house.

"Thank you Lieutenant." Crane threw over his shoulder. But there will not be a next time.

"Uh-huh" Abbie answered as she headed to her car.