They lay in each other's arms until the sky faded from black to ink-blue. Each knew the other's thoughts, despite the fact that barely a word was spoken between them. Both were painfully aware that their time together was coming to a close – that soon they would have to face the music.

Their lovemaking was tender but strained, passionate yet tinged with sorrow. As pleasurable as it had been, it was simply too dangerous to try it more than once. A first time was an introduction, an acknowledgement of long-suppressed desires. A second would be a promise of more.

Eventually the silence became unbearable.

'Crane?' Abbie whispered.

He hummed in response.

'We have to go.'

They dressed in silence, the fear of what was coming weighing heavily on their minds. Abbie could not stop thinking about the horrible dilemma that Crane faced – to turn himself over to evil or watch his wife die. She found that even she had some room in her heart to pity Katrina. It was all she could do not to dwell on her own suffering – on the knowledge that Crane might soon be ripped from her life.

'So how do we play this?' she asked as casually as anything, as if this was just another mission. When he didn't reply she felt fear gripping her like an icy hand. Her mind went blank; for once there were no plans and strategies buzzing through her head. There was nothing but the leaden weight of the inevitable.

Crane turned to her with a formality that made her shrink inside. It was as if they were strangers again – not newfound lovers – he the professorial time-traveller from Revolutionary times, she the tough, ambitious cop with a painful history. When he looked at her, there was a sadness there that she couldn't stand.

'Abbie.' He reached forward and clasped her hands in his. 'Whatever may occur today, I want you to know that I regret nothing that has occurred. Every step that I have taken, every choice I have made has led me to you. My transition to this era has been bewildering and devastating by turns, but my life would have been a pale, insipid thing but for you. You have made my little life something splendid.'

Abbie snatched her hands from his with a sudden fury. 'So that's what this is? You want my blessing for a suicide mission?'

Crane tried to interject but Abbie ignored him. 'Last night was not goodbye, do you hear me? You do not get to say goodbye.' Without realising it, her voice had raised to shouting. 'We will get Katrina back alive, but I will not sacrifice you to do it.'

'I wish it were that simple,' Crane said softly.

'It is,' Abbie whispered – her voice hoarse. 'I'll make it that simple. I'm strong enough for us both.' She reached up and tenderly stroked his cheek. 'We've been through too damn much to lose each other now. Not for a moment. Not even for whatever dumb, self-sacrificial, heroic plan you got in mind. Got it?'

Crane gave a slow, painful smile. 'Got it.'

The road was ghostly as Crane and Abbie approached, their arms occasionally brushing as if in silent acknowledgement of their intimacy. Jenny had given them the directions to the remote stretch of country road where the encounter was to take place. Abbie Googled the address and immediately saw that it was the ideal location – flat and isolated with not much cover for an ambush. She knew that they were hamstrung every way they looked.

In one selfish moment, Abbie allowed herself to wish that Crane was less noble, less big-hearted than he was. Abbie quickly remembered herself. Despite everything that had happened between them, she knew that he would never allow Katrina to be killed. Besides, if he was less of a man, she never would have fallen in love with him to begin with.

No, this was the only way. Crane would hand himself over to Reyes and her coven. He would be strong – too strong to submit to darkness. Abbie grudgingly reminded herself that he had recently shown himself to be vulnerable to Sapphire's magic. How could be resist a witch as powerful as Reyes?

Her mind shut down, unable to contemplate the idea of Crane being manipulated for the cause of evil. He would rather die than do such a thing. The thought gave her pause. Perhaps that was what Crane expected of her – to have the strength to do what he could not.

Could she? Would she ever be able to summon up the strength required to murder the man she loved?

'Right there, Witnesses.' An all-too familiar voice cut into her thoughts.

Reyes appeared from a large copse of trees on their right. There was a disinterested, bored look in her eyes that Abbie had once mistaken for steely determination. She could now see it for what it was – a detachment from the struggles of life and the frailty of lesser mortals. She had got to a stage where she just didn't care anymore.

'I hope you're going to be sensible about this.'

'We are,' Crane replied. 'I mean to hand myself over, but first I must know that Katrina is safe.'

'Very well.' She clicked her fingers. Almost immediately two figures appeared from the dense thicket. Abbie witnessed the struggle to remain calm in Katrina's expression and the explosion of relief when she saw Crane.

Abbie let out an audible gasp as she recognised the man who held Katrina in his iron grasp. She looked up at Crane and saw the same horror reflected in his eyes.

It was Frank Irving.

'There!' Reyes murmured in triumph. 'I wanted to see the look on your stupid faces when you figured it out. Magnificent.'

'Frank, how could you?' Abbie was so shocked and betrayed that the words were thick and sluggish on her tongue. She turned to face Reyes. 'What have you done to him?'

'Nothing he didn't want,' she replied nonchalantly. 'Power is extremely seductive, even to the most pure of heart. Life is so mundane, don't you find? Struggling day by day to gain advantage with no reward. You've suffered so much grief and trouble, Grace Abigail Mills. And for what? Some outmoded notion of piety. Isn't it so much easier to let go and accept the inevitable?'

'Not for all the world.' As confident as she sounded, Abbie was filled with despair. Reyes had paraded her trophy of Frank Irving in front of them for a reason. He was her prized recruit – their friend. It was a display of Reyes's power, that she could potentially turn anyone. To Abbie, it was the ultimate demonstration that she was now utterly alone.

Reyes gave a horrible grimace of victory. 'How wonderful. That will make this more fun.'

'Don't do it, Ichabod!' Katrina screamed suddenly.

'Do it, Ichabod,' Reyes countered blandly. 'Otherwise I will be forced to stop the heart of your darling Lieutenant here.'

Crane looked at Abbie in terror. 'Do not,' he commanded. 'I will do as you ask.'

What followed seemed to happen in a strange kind of slow-motion. She was able to see everything, yet was helpless to act.

'Somnis mortis!' Katrina held up her palm and a beam of light shot forth from it, hitting Crane square in the chest. He flew backwards and collapsed to the ground.

Before anyone could react, Katrina placed the same hand over her own heart and whispered the words, 'Mortis cordis.'

Weeks passed, and Abbie watched as Crane slowly came back to life. Watching him struggle with the shock of Katrina's death and Frank's betrayal was almost too much for Abbie to bear. As much as she longed to help him, she knew that it was his burden to bear alone.

One afternoon, she sat on the front steps of the cabin, waiting for him to return from one of his solitary walks. Since that awful day when Katrina had bravely taken her own life – taking herself out of the equation – Sheriff Reyes had disappeared from Sleepy Hollow. Her assistant said that she was taking some personal time, but it seemed that her coven had also gone into hiding in her absence.

Abbie was also trying to deal with Frank's turn to evil. It was almost impossible to imagine how such a good-hearted, moral man could embrace darkness so eagerly. Perhaps it was as Reyes said, that eventually the trials of life would seem too difficult to overcome when presented with the chance of power. She wondered if she would be strong enough to resist such an offer.

'Lieutenant,' Crane remarked without surprise, 'I've been hoping for a chance to speak with you. Shall we go inside? '

'Let's stay here and catch the last of the sun.'

Crane smiled agreeably and sat down beside her. After a few moments of silence he spoke. 'As you can imagine, these past few weeks have been very painful for me. Grieving for Katrina, thinking about our future…'

'You think we have a future?' Abbie asked evenly.

'Do you not?'

Abbie looked directly at him. 'I've been thinking about us too – about how easy it was to manipulate Frank. And you.'

Crane seemed puzzled and hurt by her statement. 'Captain Irving had pressure points. His family… Macey. Who can tell what your Sheriff Reyes offered? Who knows how he compromised himself?'

'It's no different with you, Crane. The moment Reyes threatened me you were willing to sacrifice yourself. I could see it in your face – there was no hesitation or doubt, no thought of the mission.'

'I remember it distinctly,' Crane admitted. 'I was willing to turn myself over to the coven to save Katrina, but in that moment I would have gladly died to save you.'

Abbie fixed her eyes on the lake, concentrating fiercely on getting the words out. 'That's why we can't be together. Because when it comes to the crunch, we have to be ready to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the world. How can we do that when all we care about is each other?'

'I confess…' Crane spoke with difficulty, his voice choked with tears. 'I confess that I have come to the same horrible conclusion. I love the world too much to love you, my songbird.'

Abbie nearly crumbled at his words. She felt any hope of happiness decay and collapse like sand inside of her. 'We have a war to fight, against Reyes and her coven and whatever else Moloch decides to throw at us. We have to be ready. And perhaps someday… someday we might be able to…'

'Revive the magic?' Crane said teasingly, though his heartbreak was evident as Abbie looked at him.

She leaned over and kissed him gently. 'Friends then?' she asked eventually. 'And partners?'

'Always.'

She slowly stood up and walked away without looking back. She felt like a child again, feeling disappointment and betrayal at realising that she lived in a world without magic and wonder. Steeling herself, she strapped herself into her car and headed back to work.