Fic: Reframing a Question
Author: helsinkibaby
Fandom: Sleepy Hollow
Pairing: Frank Irving/Jenny Mills
Rating: g
spoilers : everything to date to be safe, but set in the future
Summary: Frank gets out of Tarrytown Psych and goes to see Jenny, with a question.

"Jenny?" There was a wary note to Abbie's voice when she returned to the kitchen from answering the doorbell. Turning curiously, Jenny knew why. "It's for you," Abbie continued, darting a look from the man standing beside her to Jenny and then back again. She looked like she'd rather be anywhere else and if Jenny wasn't so busy trying to keep her knees from knocking together, she'd probably find it quite amusing.  

"Frank." She heard her own voice as if from very far away and on the periphery of her vision she could see Abbie's eyes grow wide as she heard her sister call her ex-boss by his given name. It came as a shock to Jenny to realise it was the first time that that had ever happened and she almost felt sorry for her sister - knowing about their relationship was a far cry from actually seeing it. 

"Jenny." Frank's voice was quiet, measured. It still made the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. Frank glanced over at Abbie. "Mills..."

Abbie didn't let him finish, snatched up her phone and car keys from the kitchen counter where she'd left them. "You know what, Crane mentioned something at the archives he wanted me to take a look at." It didn't even sound like she believed it herself. "So I'm going to go. And I will see you later."

She barely looked at the two of them as she left, but neither Frank nor Jenny were looking at her. Jenny's eyes raked up and down his frame hungrily and it was only when the front door slammed that she cleared her throat, shifted on her feet. "Abbie told me you were back... How are Macey and Cynthia?"

Frank nodded.  "Good." A pause, a visible swallow. "They're going to go away for a little while... And I'm not gonna know where they are. We have an email address set up so I can email them when..." He waved a hand. "When all this is over. Whenever that is."

"I'm sorry." Jenny frowned, because she knew, better than anyone, how hard he'd fought for his wife and daughter, what he'd sacrificed for them. 

He shrugged, forced a small grin to his face. "Hey, I've only just had my soul returned to me," he reminded her, as if she needed reminding. "Until we know if there's any fall out... This is the better way." He almost sounded like he believed it, almost had her believing it too. Then he took a step closer to her. "How are you?" 

It was only a step, she told herself. There was no reason why it should make her feel like the room was closing in on her, no reason why her heart rate suddenly speeded up. "Good," she said, keeping her voice light. "Trying to stay out of jail, you know how it is..."

Under the circumstances, she knew it was a bad joke the moment she said it but he chuckled anyway.  "I saw you earlier, in town," he said and she was momentarily caught flat footed, wondering when he meant, when she'd been in town. Then she remembered, just as he said, "You were with Fred from Scooby Doo."

Jenny's jaw dropped for a moment as she realised that he meant Nick, memory supplying a long forgotten childhood image that was scarily accurate. Then she realised what he'd said, how he'd said it and her jaw snapped shut again. "Are you jealous?" she asked, half in disbelief, half in anger and he was completely calm when he replied. 

"Yes I am."

Her heart gave a lurch at the words and she found herself gripping the counter to centre herself. She took a deep breath, then another, then another before she found the wherewithal to speak. "Frank-" she began and when she looked up, he was standing right in front of her. 

Close enough to touch.

Close enough that she could smell his cologne, feel the heat of his body, of his gaze on hers. 

Close enough that a hundred memories of him, of them, flashed through her brain, leaving her nearly weak with desire. 

"Nick's a treasure hunter," she managed. "He's been helping out." 

It was the truth but not entirely and from the lift of one eyebrow, Frank knew it. "Anything more than that?"

He wasn't even touching her, she realised. His hands were by his side and yet all she wanted to do was lean into his, feel his body against hers. "Sometimes," she admitted. "We go back a long way." 

But not once, not even recently, had Nick made her feel anything like this. The realisation thrilled and terrified  her. 

A frown line appeared between Frank's eyes. "Well, that's too bad," he said and her stomach dropped until he added, "For him." 

Closing the distance between them, his body was pressing against hers and he reached out one hand, laid it on her cheek. Her eyes, of their own accord, fluttered shut and she took a deep breath. "It's been a long six months," she heard him say quietly and she looked up at him, eyes suddenly wide. 

"I wanted to see you..." she began, because she had. But first, she'd been obeying his wishes, because he hadn't wanted anyone to see him in jail. Afterwards... well, there had been other reasons. 

"I know," he said, a gentle smile on his lips. "I understand why you couldn't... Believe me, I have no great desire to ever go back to Tarrytown Psych." 

The bare mention of the place sent a shudder down her spine; she couldn't help it. His thumb swept up and down her cheek, his other hand finding her hip, moving around to the small of her back. "I have no right to ask you this," he continued. "We had a couple of good months in the middle of a Biblical war six months ago... but if things hadn't happened like they did with Macey, with Anticef..." That name was good for another shudder. "I think things could have been different between you and me."

This close, she couldn't disagree with him, not the way her breath was coming in shallow gasps, not the way her heart was hammering. He must be able to hear it, she thought to herself. 

"I've spent the last six months thinking about my life," he told her.  "What I've done, what I could have done differently. What I wanted to happen when I got out." Her hands are on his chest now, one right above his heart and it's beating just as hard as hers is. "I gave you a choice, the first day we met. I'm asking you the same question now."

She knew what the question was, remembered all too well standing in the sheriff's department, staring up at him like she couldn't believe what she was hearing. 

In the present, as in memory, she heard him say, "Are you in or out?" 

She didn't have to think about her answer for nearly as long, sliding her arms up his chest, around his neck, bringing her lips to his as she whispered her answer. 

"In."