Chief of Police, Garland Wuornos, was sitting at his desk looking through a lunch menu for a nearby diner when his morning was interrupted by Audrey Parker.
"Well, good morning to you too Agent Parker." He said when she just walked in with a purpose. Yeah. A purpose to ruin a perfectly good morning. Lucy never did know when to knock. Wait. Stop. She isn't Lucy anymore. Wonder where her sister is. Emma always did like to be late.
Audrey had reached across and placed a picture on his desk. "I need to know more about her." She announced.
"I'm fine, thank you very much, nice of you to ask. I didn't know you were still in town." He replied back dryly.
"That's it? That's all I get? The folksy local cop brush-off?" She asked incredulously.
Garland replied with "I was shooting for civil."
She started to respond when his phone rang.
"This is the chief." He said into the phone. He immediately straightened. "Are you sure?"
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Nathan come into his office. "I'll send someone right over." He hung up the phone as they both turned to leave. Well, well, well, looks like Emma's joining us after all.
"Nathan?" he barked out.
He watched as his son turned and walked back into the office. "Yeah, Chief?"
"I need you to go to this address. There's been a disturbance." Garland handed his son a piece of paper, that he'd scribbled a random address on. He just needed him to go in that direction.
Lucy's last words to him was ringing in his mind.
Don't let him give up. Don't keep them apart. She needs him and he needs her. She will be the only one who could touch him. As soon as we cross that town line again . . . Just help them stay together. It's important.
"I can't. Send Stan." Nathan said confused.
Garland muttered under his breath. So low that even with Nathan's excellent hearing he didn't catch it. "Why not?" He barked a little frustrated.
"There's been an incident at The Rust Bucket. We need to go investigate it." Nathan said.
Chief Garland looked over at Audrey. "I'll answer one question about her if you go and do the bar thing by yourself." He knew he had caught her by the way her eyes lit up slightly.
"That's it? One question, which you will answer honestly, no matter what I ask?" She asked skeptical.
Garland sighed but nodded. I'm going to regret this, aren't I? Dammit Lucy, this better be pretty important.
Nathan and Audrey looked at each other then back at him.
"Okay." Nathan said at the same time Audrey said, "Sure."
They looked at each other weirdly before heading out.
Pretty damn important. His son was on to him.
Nathan had dropped off Audrey at the Rust Bucket on his way to that address. Looking down every once in awhile to check the address, he missed the car that was hidden in some bushes on the side of the road.
The address was a bust. It ended up being an empty lot.
What was the Chief up to? Nathan thought as he travelled back to town.
He saw the car this time. A black ford truck half hidden in some bushes.
He pulled off to the side and got out of his truck. He walked up to the mess and saw the driver passed out in the front seat. He looked down to see gasoline leaking slowly but steady.
"Crap." He pulled the door open and reached inside, grabbing the blonde haired girl in the front and nearly dropped her from shock. He didn't have time to think before he noticed a flickering spark near her feet. He gathered her up, ignoring how he could feel her, and ran away from the truck just as the gasoline caught fire.
Sophie Anne Parker was worried and confused. When Audrey's boss, Agent Howard, called to tell her that her sister had taken a vacation and stayed in Haven, Maine, she 'bout went into shock. Her sister had never been like this.
Her sister and her had always been close. Growing up in the system meant that they were split up. Sophie was a few years younger than Audrey. Where Audrey was 29, Sophie was 26. They had reconnected when Sophie turned 18 and went into college to become a ME. Audrey had used her FBI contacts and had found her right after her graduation from high school. Literally. Right after. She was walking out of the auditorium when a voice had said, "I'm so proud of you." and she was then scooped up for a hug by an enthusiastic Audrey.
She was in shock at first. She hadn't seen Audrey since she was 9, Audrey, 12.
"Audrey?" She had asked in a whisper.
"Yeah, it's me Soph."
They had hugged and went out to lunch. Well, in Sophie's case it was brunch, since she had ordered waffles. "Best food there is. Ever." She had declared. "Nothing beats waffles. Not even pancakes."
Audrey had spent about three months with her until Sophie had forced her back to work. Every now and then she'd call and they would catch up. And by every now and then, she really meant once a week.
She had finished her basic college training and now had a job as an intern ME at their local coroner office in Ohio.
Sophie had unfortunately, or fortunately, been adopted at nine. That was why she and Audrey had lost touch. Audrey was nearing 13 and nobody wanted teenagers.
Sophie with her strawberry blonde hair and her emerald green eyes was so beautiful that the family wanted her. Not Audrey. She hated them for that. Her relationship with her "Parents" had gone downhill from there. She stubbornly held on to her last name as Parker. Even refused to think about changing her name to Gates. Who the hell had a last name as Gates? It sounded like a self righteous last name and Sophie had clung to her and Audrey's last name in hopes of her sister finding her.
So, coming back full loop, Sophie had immediately gotten some time off and had drove to Maine herself to find out if her sister had hit her head and had amnesia.
She had just reached the Haven town limits and started feeling sick to her stomach. The edges of her vision had started to blacken around the edges and she had fainted. Her car coming to a stop in some bushes. She was glad she had her seatbelt on.
She regained consciousness as she felt a blast of heat and someone's arms wrapped around her. She looked up into blue gray eyes that were filled with shock and awe as he looked at her.
"Stop staring." She slurred. "'s rude."
She was pretty sure she had a gash on her forehead. She felt blood dripping in her eyes. She raised a weak hand and swiped groggily at her face. She looked at her hand and saw the crimson liquid. She cursed.
"Help me up." She ordered. She stood on her wobbly legs, made to take a step forward and collapsed back into the man's arms. "Sorry." She said.
"It's okay." He replied.
She heard an ambulance in the distance. "Great." She muttered.
She struggled to stand, and immediately fell back. "So that's not happening. Help me sit, please?" She asked.
He lowered her to the ground. "Do you have family around here?" He asked.
The ambulance arrived before she could answer. The guy seemed reluctant to let her go. She was loaded up and driven to the hospital before she knew it.
"Name?" The nurse asked when she was there.
"Sophie Anne Parker." She replied. She was lost in thought about that guy and felt the impression that she knew him or something. "Who's that guy who saved me?" She asked the nurse.
"Nathan Wuornos." She replied. "Part of the Haven PD."
"Soph?" A frantic voice overrode the nurse's. "Sophie? My word. Are you okay?" A blonde mass of curls blocked her vision.
"I'm fine." She said. Sophie's mind was somewhere else.
She heard fingers snapping in front of her face. "Earth to Soph."
Sophie looked down. "Audrey? You're here?"
"Yeah, Sophie?" Audrey looked concerned.
"Mhm?" Sophie swayed back and forth. The edges of her vision darkening again.
She vaguely heard Audrey shouting her name before she collapsed back on the bed.
Audrey was down at the Rust Bucket looking into the huge metal ball that had somehow found its way into the front room of the bar when she got a call from Nathan.
"Parker."
"Parker? Do you have a sister?"
"Yeah, why?" Audrey was suspicious.
"Because she is here in the hospital."
"Sophie?"
"Yes, a Sophie Anne Parker. I thought that too big of a coincidence-"
"Come take me to her. Please?" Audrey demanded.
"Already on my way."
Audrey hung up the phone. Sophie.
When Audrey arrived at the hospital she had demanded to see her sister and had even flashed her badge to go back. She called her sister's name and pulled her into a hug. Sophie looked dazed and disoriented. She was sitting on the edge of the bed. She wasn't fully in it.
Typical Sophie. Never did like being the patient.
When Sophie collapsed, Audrey was shoved out of the way as nurses flooded Sophie and pushed her bed away.
"Where are you taking her?" Audrey called after them.
One nurse stopped. "To her own room. She just passed out because of the medication we gave her. You're welcome to come up after we get her settled." The nurse hurried off.
Audrey walked into the waiting room and spotted Nathan sitting in one of the chairs.
"What happened?" She asked him.
"Car accident." Nathan said, looking at his hands. "When I got there, the gas tank was leaking, I got her out in time. The truck exploded."
"Soph's gonna be pissed. She loved that truck. Wouldn't let anyone else drive it. Reminds you of anyone?" Audrey said with a smirk.
Nathan looked lost in thought and Audrey left him alone.
A few hours later, Sophie woke up.
"Oooh. My head." she moaned.
"Doesn't surprise me. You took quite a hit." A voice said.
"Audrey? What the hell are you thinking? You never go on vacation. It practically takes me a hammer and chisel to pry you away from work to come visit me for Christmas. Then all of the sudden you take a vacation to here?"
Tala