Butcher & Blackbird

Rowan falls asleep while he is still inside of Sloane, but Sloane cannot sleep. He wakes up and they have sex again. Sloane notices that Rowan got a tattoo of the raven drawing she left at his restaurant. Rowan says he would kill someone for Sloane or die for Sloane, implying that he loves her without saying the word “love.”

Rowan asks why Sloane did not leave after he killed Francis in West Virginia. He sensed that she wanted to. She explains that she felt like he needed her to stay, which was a refreshing and nice feeling. Sloane asks what Rowan said to Francis before killing him, and he admits he said Sloane was his. They go to sleep.

Rose did not mind Rowan and Sloane being loud because she has lived with a circus since age 15. Fionn looks like he did not sleep well. He says Sloane should take a couple of weeks off of work until her arm no longer needs to be in a sling. She also should have someone stay with her. She is about to volunteer Lark, but Rowan insists on bringing her to Boston to stay with him while her arm heals instead.

Sloane and Lark eat at 3 in Coach, where Rowan has a table permanently reserved for Sloane. Sloane is now moving into Rowan’s apartment in Boston permanently. She will be working remotely, and she has brought Francis’s cat with her. Rowan joins Sloane and Lark; Sloane is pleased with how easily they get along.

Rowan takes Sloane to show her his new restaurant, which has not opened yet but is almost ready. Reservations are already booked in advance. He named it “Butcher & Blackbird” in honor of their nicknames. There are also raven decorations to honor Sloane. They tell each other they love each other. They cook some dishes that Rowan is thinking of including on the menu, and he asks Sloane’s opinion about them. They have sex in the restaurant, then walk home.

Rowan is stressed out because things keep going wrong at 3 in Coach while he is simultaneously trying to prepare Butcher & Blackbird for opening. He wishes he could kill someone to relieve the tension, but he does not have time. Having Sloane around helps, but Rowan worries because he asked her to move to Boston to be with him, and he is barely around because he is working so much. Sloane claims that she does not mind being alone so often, but Rowan worries that she is lying.

On opening night at Butcher & Blackbird, Rowan works in the kitchen to prepare dishes. The restaurant is full, mostly of regular customers from 3 in Coach. Sloane is 45 minutes late. Rowan worries that she has been hurt or arrested until she arrives with Lachlan, Fionn, Rose, Lark, and Anna. Sloane says she was late because Lark and Lachlan were flirting and possibly hooked up. After Rowan is done cooking, he goes to the front of the restaurant to give a speech thanking everyone for coming. Dr. Stephan Rostis, the serial killer from the gala, is there.

The next morning, Sloane reads the reviews of Butcher & Blackbird. They are very favorable, but Rowan is not surprised by this because it was mostly fans of 3 in Coach that attended opening night. Still, he thinks the restaurant is off to a good start. Sloane suggests maybe they can make Dr. Stephan Rostis their annual target instead of asking Lachlan to choose someone. Rowan is fine with this idea but wants to “hunt” him together instead of in competition. He thinks this would be safer and he does not want to lose Sloane. He says he has enough to worry about and cannot handle the thought of losing her on top of it all. Sloane seems to think he is saying that she is a burden. Rowan clarifies this is not what he meant, but Sloane says she is going to get coffee with her friends, and then run errands. Rowan has to attend to a problem at 3 in Coach in the afternoon and invites Sloane to meet him there and then go have a drink.

When Rowan arrives at 3 in Coach, which is closed for the rest of the day, he finds David still there. Different staff members are supposed to drive David home each day, but today’s person must have forgotten. Rowan fixes the broken equipment, then tells David he will drive him home as soon as Sloane gets there. Rowan goes into his office to put his tools away, then feels a gun to his head. An unfamiliar man’s voice identifies him as the Boston Butcher and says that when the Orb Weaver arrives, Rowan must make her leave, otherwise she will be killed.

Sloane arrives at 3 in Coach, feeling special because Rowan entrusted her with a key. Sloane has decided to trust that Rowan does not think she is a burden, although it might take her a few days to shake the feeling from his comment. When Sloane sees Rowan, he looks upset and says she needs to leave and return to Raleigh. He claims it is not working out between them because they are not normal, and pretending to be so is futile. He claims to have made a similar comment between April 10 and 13, at the gala, but Sloane does not remember this. He says they are both monsters, calls Sloane a “psycho,” and argues that he is too busy with his restaurants to have a relationship.

Sloane runs back to the apartment and cries. She showers, purchases a ticket to Raleigh, and calls Lark to tell her about the breakup. While discussing how little sense it makes with Lark, Sloane realizes it is bizarre that Rowan claimed to have made a comment about not being normal at the gala between April 10 and 13, because those were not the dates of the gala. The gala was near Rowan’s birthday, so he should have remembered. Sloane checks her texts to see what Rowan messaged on those dates and finds a message about semen ice cream, which is what David was eating at Thorsten’s house. Sloane checks a secret camera she planted in the restaurant and sees that David is holding Rowan captive. She calls Lachlan and asks him to research David while she heads to the restaurant to help Rowan.