"That was a remarkably sizable explosion!" Crane shouted. He somehow still sounded cultured, which was intensely unfair.

"That's what she said," she muttered.

"I beg your pardon?"

"You're preaching to the choir," she said, a bit more loudly. She wouldn't have thought his usual puzzled-by-the-21st-century face could get more confused, but there it went.

"What?"

She rolled her eyes heavenward, grabbed him by the lapel of his absurd coat, and pulled him down while simultaneously going up on her tiptoes. "I KNOW IT WAS A BIG BOOM."

"Ah! Of course. Although you were rather farther away, Miss Mills." Now that he was closer she could see thin trails of blood trickling from his ears, and she briskly tilted his head to the side so she could look at them more carefully.

"That doesn't look too good, Crane." She turned his head back to face her squarely, hoping he could read her lips somewhat. "Are you hurt anywhere else?"

"If you mean am I perforated, I don't believe so," he replied. Her calves were starting to ache so she sank down off of her toes. "I was flung through the wall by the blast wave before the fragments of fractured golem could hit me."

"Fragments of fractured golem. Try saying that five times fast," she said. Crane was still bent almost double, earnestly watching her mouth as she spoke, and she sighed. "Come on, sit down before you fall down." He did, half-collapsing into a tangle of long limbs like a great dane puppy.

"Are you all right, Abigail?" he asked. He only used her first name on special occasions, since it was 'too forward' of him to be so casual on the job, and she was always surprised by how he said it. Of course, right now his hearing was shot and he was half shouting, so tender tones were right out.

"I'm fine," she said fondly. As always, she wanted to return the favor by calling him by his first name, but she couldn't take 'Ichabod' seriously, and it wasn't really right to snicker at a man who'd just been blown up.

"Well, I think I am about ready to subject myself to the potential dangers of modern medicine," he said plaintively. "I don't suppose you have some adrenaline on you?"

"Adrenaline ain't hardly a cure-all," she said drily. The sirens were getting ever closer, and she heaved herself back to her feet; Crane made as if to follow her, and she planted a hand on his shoulder to hold him in place. "Nope, you stay down. Not really dignified to collapse in front of God and everybody."

"I don't know what you said," he said from his position near her hip, "But I do think I'll stay here."

Apparently no one had been sure what emergency services had been called for, because there were police cars a plenty but no ambulances among them. Most of the responders attended to the scene, but Luke and Captain Irving came right to her and Crane. "Abbie?" Luke said, looking over the area with astonishment before glaring slightly at Crane. "What the hell happened?"

He had always been the jealous type. When they were dating it made her feel desirable and powerful, now it was just a pain in the ass. "Plenty," she said briefly. "Crane needs an ambulance, he was close to the explosion." Luke opened his mouth as if to argue, but was cut off by Irving's dry voice.

"That sounds like a good idea, Morales. Why don't you go call an ambulance and let them know what to expect." Luke's mouth snapped shut, and he did as he was told. Irving looked the two 'witnesses' over, and Abbie tried not to wince as she imagined the pathetic picture they must present. "Do I want to know, Mills?" he asked.

"Most likely not, sir," she said honestly. Crane was actually leaning against her leg by now, and she was unable to resist the urge to surreptitiously pet his hair just a little. Although Irving's eyes never left hers, his expression grew more sardonic as she was apparently not surreptitious enough. "Just, um…it's taken care of. Although if you could sign the requisition forms for a truly Godly amount of C4…."

"And back-date the forms, I assume."

"That might make things, uh, cleaner. Sir."

Nothing about his expression or posture changed but there was an impression of a sigh. "You're right, Mills. I don't want to know. We'll deal with it as soon as Crane is taken care of." With that he left them, and Crane sighed heavily.

"I find your Captain unnerving," he said, in a whisper that wasn't quiet at all. "And I'm sorry to cause trouble, Lieutenant, but I believe I'm about to lose consciousness."

She crouched down. "Well, if you can hold off on that for just a few minutes you can pass out all you like in the ambulance." He smiled at her artlessly and she couldn't help but smile back.

"I take no pleasure in being blown up, but the company is most comforting," he said.

"Oh, shut up," she said, but patted his head one more time.