Disclaimer: Yeah, yeah, not mine. Think that's pretty obvious.

Spoilers: Post-season 1.

Author Notes: I can't say how much I love this show! I really didn't want to in the beginning but I'm hooked. This is my first SH fic attempt.

Their Bond

In purgatory it was impossible to keep track of time, real time. She was sure at least a few weeks had passed but it could be years for all she knew. She wondered if the woman whom she had replaced had realized hundreds of years had passed for her.

Abbie Mills glanced over at the younger memories of herself and her sister, Jennie. They just continued about their… their what? Lives? They weren't dead they were just memories. Or had her memories not existed in purgatory until she arrived and this was her own special torment? With a sigh, she glanced out the window of the plastic dollhouse and shivered at the misery. Faceless shadows wandering in oblivion.

"There's nothing you can do," her younger self softly told her.

"There's always something that can be done," she stated.

"He's not coming back."

Abbie turned to face herself. "He will if he can and if he can't I will find my own way out," she insisted, walking to another room to be by herself.

Hours turned to days which turned to weeks in the dark prison six feet underground. In the first hour of his imprisonment his thoughts had been about his kidnapped wife and the revelation that the man he had trusted with his life turned out to be his vengeful son. Soon his anger and fear was replace with guilt. He had promised to return for her, to save her. He had intended to honor that promise the same day he had made it.

That was not meant to be.

They had been warned he would hand her over to the very demon that destroyed the lives of her and her sister so many years ago but they had shrugged it off. Surely he would never agree to hand over his… his what? Partner? Friend? Something more than he wanted to think about or admit? Either way, he had scoffed at the very notion of delivering her to the hands of the monster that took his life, his wife, his son. But he had, just as had been prophesied. He had fought her briefly but she was stubborn and insisted it was for the greater good that she stay behind.

Now, in the confines of his living grave, Ichabod Crane's greatest regret was he would be unable to honor his promise to Abbie.

"Crane, where are you?" she whispered to the empty room. No matter how happy he was to be with his wife once more, she knew he was a man of his word. Tears formed in her eyes at the realization only one thing would keep him from honoring a promise and it was something she could not bear to accept.

She closed her eyes hoping sleep would finally come for her if even for just a few hours. As she felt her body relax she heard the voice she'd longed to hear for so long calling to her.

"I haven't forgotten."

She opened her eyes but he wasn't anywhere around. Figuring it was her mind playing tricks on her, she closed her eyes once more.

"I pray you are alright," he said.

"Crane? Where are you?" she called out to the darkness.

"I am currently unable to keep my promise to you," he replied.

"Parish." She needed not say more, sure that by now he knew the truth.

"Is Jeremy," he added.

"Crane, I don't understand, how are we able to communicate?" She hesitated then asked, "Are you… did he…?

"I assure you I am quite alive but he placed me in the earthly prison that had held him."

A tear escaped from her eye. He was buried alive.

"Icha, Crane, I… I'm so sorry."

"Miss Mills, you have nothing to be sorry for. I am the one who is sorry. I am sorry that you are still trapped in purgatory."

There was a moment of silence.

"Crane?"

"Yes?"

"Will we always be able to talk whenever we want to?"

"I do not know."

She took a deep breath. "Just in case this is it I want to say thank you. Thank you for everything."

"Abbie?"

Her heart skipped a beat at the use of her first name. She knew it was a very intimate gesture for him to do such. "Yes?"

"Thank you as well. You befriended me when surely most would not have. Your kindness, patience, support and friendship means more to me than I will ever be able to repay."

She bit her cheeks to keep the tears from flowing. "Friendship is not something that ever needs to be repaid. You may not realize it but you saved me, Ichabod. You renewed my faith in people and I would not nor ever could do this without you."

There was silence again. Both feared their connection had been lost until Abbie spoke.

"We will get out of this to fight another day."

In the dark coffin, entangled in root chains, Ichabod Crane smiled. "I believe you."

A smile grew across her lips as she sat on a red, plastic chair surrounded by the moans and groans of death and misery outside. "And I believe in you."