Imagine you're a detective working on the same Sleepy Hollow case as Ichabod Crane.
*Requested by lokisbuckycxo*
1799.
You're a detective from Tarrytown, New York, that was assigned to solve a case in Sleepy Hollow. A letter was sent to you that mysterious decapitations have been occurring and they needed someone to figure out the cause. Even though you've been working as a detective for two years, you've never worked on a case that didn't take place in your town or by yourself. You took the opportunity to solve this case so that you could prove to your superior that you're worthy to handle this case yourself without any assistance since you're only used to being an assistant when working on a case with other experienced detectives.
***
When you arrived in Sleepy Hollow in a coach, you walked up to a manor to meet with the insular town elders who sent you the letter. But as soon as you made it to the library after you were told where the elders were, not only were you greeted by them, but you weren't expecting to be greeted by a young, handsome man that was with them. "Who might you be, young lady?" The oldest elder, Baltus Van Tassel, asked you. "I'm Detective (y/n) (y/l/n) from Tarrytown. I received your letter that you requested me to solve the case here in Sleepy Hollow." You explained. "But I received a letter to solve the case." The young man said. You turned to the young man, glaring at him a bit. "And who might you be, sir?" You asked, rudely. "I'm Ichabod Crane, a constable from New York City." He introduced himself.
"Oh. The Big Apple. Strange that I wasn't expecting a big city constable to be sent to this village to solve this horrific case." You said, putting your hands on your hips. "I could say the same to you, only I wasn't expecting to be greeted by a female detective. I've never seen that before, but I find it very pleasant to finally meet a female detective. Yet I'm deeply shocked that you're not afraid to solve this case." "I should be saying that last sentence to you, Mr. Crane." You said. "First of all, please call me 'Ichabod'. 'Mr. Crane' sounds too formal. Secondly, I'm not afraid of solving this case." Ichabod said. "Then, why do I clearly see fear in your eyes? Fear and disgust?" You questioned. "Why do I already feel like I'm being insulted after meeting you for less than a minute?" He asked.
"Alright, you two. Settle down." Baltus Van Tassel said, waving his hands down. Then, you and Ichabod turned to face him and the other elders. "We sent both of you a letter to help solve this case in Sleepy Hollow and we didn't think that both of you would respond. But since you both are here, it could easily work out if you two could work together on this case so that we could avoid any more decapitation incidents happening in our village." He said. "I wouldn't mind working together." Ichabod said. You crossed your arms over your chest and said, "I don't mean to be rude, sir, but I work alone." Ichabod turned to you, confused and annoyed with your attitude.
***
Later in the day, you were walking all over the village searching for clues that could lead the case of the decapitations. Even though Baltus Van Tassel and the other elders had reported to you and Ichabod that they believe that the killer was none other than the legendary, undead Headless Horseman, you still wanted to look for any proof to see if their suspicions were true or not. So far, you couldn't find anything.
You were in the pumpkin patch that was near the village, continuing to search for any clues. All of a sudden, you heard something snap from behind you that made you gasp and jump a little. You turned around and saw Ichabod standing behind you. "Don't scare me like that. I hate it when people sneak up on me." You said, as you placed your hand over your chest as your heart was racing. "I do apologize for scaring you. But it's nice to see that you can be afraid of anything that sneaks up on you." He said. You rolled your eyes at his response.
"What are you doing here, Ichabod? Can't you see I'm busy looking for clues?" You asked. "I too am looking for clues, but I have come here to see how you were doing." Ichabod said. "I'm doing fine, other than not finding any clues yet. But I'll find something hopefully soon." You said, sounding confident, and, then, you turned back to the pumpkin patch to look for clues. As you were looking, you could hear Ichabod walking towards you. "(y/n), can I ask you something?" He asked, next to you. You stopped walking and looked up at him and questioned, "What is it?" "Why don't you want to work together with me? Did you take an instant disliking to me without getting to know me first? Or do you really work alone?" He asked.
"I don't dislike you at all, Ichabod. I'm not that kind of person who judges too quickly before getting to know a person first. I don't really work alone, honestly. But I don't want to work together with you." You said. "And why's that, sweetheart?" Ichabod asked, nicely. You felt your heart skip a beat after he called you 'sweetheart'. "Because...I wanna prove to my boss that I can handle a case myself. I've been a detective for two years and all I ever done was assist experienced detectives. I feel like my boss doesn't have faith in me and I wanna do this so that I could prove to him that I'm worthy of handling a case by myself as a detective and not be an assistant." You explained.
Ichabod looked at you, with sympathy in his eyes. You could tell that he felt bad for you. "I'm sorry you feel that way, (y/n). I could understand how you feel. Some of the people from where I work don't have faith in me either. I have to be honest. It's difficult for me too when dealing with a case that sometimes involves corpses and blood. Just between you and me, I faint whenever I see blood or when something very unexpected happens to someone." He said. "I kinda had a feeling from seeing true fear and disgust in your eyes. Anyway, I really appreciate your sympathy, Ichabod. I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one who feels the same way as I do." "Of course, (y/n). I'm sure there are others out there that feel the same way as you do." Ichabod said. You nodded.
"So, do you still want to work together or do you still want to work on this case alone?" He asked. "Honestly, I still wanna work on this case alone." You answered. "That's totally fine. I'm not pressuring you. It's your choice on what you want to do, (y/n)." Ichabod said, kindly. "Well, I really appreciate you respecting my decision, Ichabod. Now, I must continue looking for some clues to see if there is a Headless Horseman responsible for the decapitations." You said, and, then, you started walking again.
Ichabod turned around and started walking back to the village. You turned back to him and called out, "Hey, Ichabod." He stopped in his tracks and turned back to you. "Yes, (y/n)?" He asked. "May the best detective solve this case first." You said, with a nod. He smiled and nodded back at you before he turned around and walked back to the village. You stared at his brown short hair for a bit as he walked off before you turned around and started looking all over the pumpkin patch.
***
For the next three days, you've been working on the Sleepy Hollow case by yourself without any assistance from Ichabod and you still haven't found any traces of clues or evidence that the Headless Horseman happens to be the killer. For some reason, every time you saw Ichabod or whenever he asked you if you found anything when you both approach each other, you would start to blush and your heart would start having that fluttering feeling. But you would avoid that feeling by walking away or say something rude to him, which you hated doing, but you couldn't help it. Your feelings towards Ichabod were soon starting become more intense because you would easily get jealous whenever Ichabod was around Baltus Van Tassel's daughter, Katrina. You wanted to tell Ichabod about your feelings towards him, but you didn't want to get distracted from the case.
***
It was late at night as you were in a cottage you're staying in, writing a letter to your boss, letting him him know how the case was coming along. It was difficult to write it to him since it wasn't a good a report for what you're writing to him. You had this feeling that once he reads the letter from you, he's gonna think that he was right about you not being worthy of being a detective solving a case on your own. You felt like you weren't ready to solve anything on your own. It made you regret of not working together with Ichabod and being rude to him.
All of a sudden, you heard someone screaming from outside. You got up from your desk and ran towards the front door to see what the commotion was happening outside. You opened the door and ran outside and you a few of the villagers scrambling around, running for their lives. You were confused on what was happening as you were looking around to see what the villagers were running away from. "What is going on?" You asked yourself.
Then, suddenly, you heard a blade from a sword drawing, which sent shivers down your spine, and the sound of horse's hooves galloping from behind you. Quickly turning your head, you were frightened of what you were seeing coming towards you, with a sword drawn out. It was none other than the Legendary Headless Horseman, getting ready to decapitate you with his sword. But you couldn't move as you were too scared to move.
But before the Headless Horsemanship could swing his sword at your head, you felt a pair of arms wrapping around you and you were pushed out of the way. You and whoever saved your life, that still had their arms wrapped around you, landed on a pile of hay, while the Headless Horseman rode his horse passed you at the same time. Breathing heavily from being frightened, you, slowly, lifted your head up to see who it was that saved you. Your heart started to flutter when you saw Ichabod hovering over you, with his arms wrapped around you, protectively, and looking down at you worried. "Are you alright, (y/n), my dear?" He asked. Without saying a word, you nodded and wrapped your arms around his neck and buried your face against his shoulder, with your body quivering a bit.
Ichabod wrapped one arm around your waist, while he placed his hand on the back of your head as he sat up and comforted you. "Shh. It's okay, (y/n). I'm here. I'm here. The Horseman is gone, sweetheart. It's alright. Shh." He spoke, softly, by your ear, while he stroked the back of your (h/c) hair, gently, with his thumb and held you close to him, as he glanced up and the Headless Horseman disappeared into the dark forest. He sighed, in relief, once the Headless Horseman was out of sight and he placed a kiss on your temple.
Moments later, you unwrapped your arms once you stopped quivering and you looked up at Ichabod. He placed his hands on your shoulders. "T-Thank you f-for s-saving my life, Ichabod." You said. "You are most welcome, (y/n). I couldn't bare the thought of losing you. A wonderful detective should never perish by the sword of the Headless Horseman. I couldn't let anything happen to you, (y/n)." Ichabod said. You were surprised when he mentioned the thought of losing you and calling you 'a wonderful detective'. "You couldn't bare the thought of losing me? But...I don't understand. I thought Katrina was the one you want after everything I said, rudely, to you." You said. He shook his head and said, "No, my dear (y/n). Katrina is nice, but she is not the one for me. I had you on my mind since the moment we first met, even when you were sassy to me."
"Really?" You whispered. Then, without saying a word, Ichabod tucked a strand of your (h/l) (h/c) hair behind your ear before he caressed your cheek with his thumb. He looked down at you with tenderness in his dark brown eyes before he leaned down, slowly, and pressed his warm, soft lips against yours. You were surprised at first when you felt his lips against yours, but, then, you kissed him back. You slightly pulled away from the kiss as Ichabod kissed you, twice, on your lips before he moved away. "Even if you have a sassy attitude, you're still beautiful." He said, softly, as he stroked your cheek with his thumb. You blushed as you slightly leaned into his touch.
"And even if I'm not the best detective?" You asked. Ichabod furrowed his eyebrows, in confusion. "What makes you say that, darling?" He questioned. "Because I have not proven that I'm worthy of solving a case by myself. I regret not working together with you and for being rude to you, Ichabod. You don't deserve me." You said, as you looked down, sadly. But, then, you felt two fingers under your chin and they lifted your head up so that you were facing Ichabod again. "Don't ever think that I don't deserve you, (y/n). I deserve you to be mine more than ever and my offer still stands for you to work together with me on this case now that we both know the Headless Horseman does in fact exist." He said.
You smiled at him and asked, kindly this time, "What do you say we get started on solving this case together?" Ichabod smiled back at you and answered, "I would be most pleased to do so, my dear (y/n)." Then, you both stood up together and brushed the hay off of your outfits. "Shall we, my lady?" Ichabod asked, politely, as he held his arm out to you. "Of course, darling." You answered, as you wrapped your arm around Ichabod's and you both walked to your cottage to start solving the Sleepy Hollow case together.