Written for killmotion's promt on tumblr: "if Audrey doesn't continuously touch Nathan SHE WILL DIE." So here is the result, I hope you enjoy it.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything.
The Importance of a Touch
Her heart was pounding loudly in her ears, the noise of it was practically deafening, she tried to move a hand, a foot, anything but found that whatever it was that had knocked her out hadn't worn off completely yet. A twitch of a finger and a scrunch of a toe but Audrey didn't have enough control to sit up, or more importantly to get away. The scraping of a chair made Audrey aware of the fact that she wasn't alone a face loomed into her field of vision. A surgical mask covered most of his features, a scalpel was clasped in his left hand, and the scream that bubbled up in Audrey's chest came out as muted whimper.
She tried to remember how she had gotten here; there had been a case that morning, bodies turning up mutilated. The evidence didn't suggest the person was troubled which made it even more difficult for them to deal with. She had been following a lead at the local hospital; they had both agreed that a medical professional would be the best place to start. She had interviewed the doctors and nurses who were all as horrified as she and Nathan had been, but something hadn't been right. Audrey had a gut feeling that they were protecting someone so she had pressed further but the further she pressed the more they clammed up. She had been about to leave when someone had injected her with something and knocked her out.
Audrey stares up into the eyes of the man who she believes to be responsible for the deaths of at least three people, he shuffles away; "You shouldn't have asked so many questions, you've only gotten yourself into trouble." He moved back to the table pulling on a pair of rubber gloves, Audrey flinches as the snap against his skin; "Miss Parker," he pauses and Audrey can practically hear him licking his lips, "you and I are about to become much better acquainted. One might say inside and out." The cold hard line to his eyes held no humour as he mocked her. Audrey found that she could move her arms a little bit more upon discovering this she made a second realisation, she was being restrained; "Don't struggle Audrey. If you do I could slip. Wouldn't want to lose anything important." The sound of bullets being fired filtered into Audrey's woozy consciousness; "The cavalry has arrived." The masked man moves from Audrey to a desk where he pulls out a syringe; "Maybe this will make things more interesting." After filling the syringe with a clear liquid he flicked it twice and removed any air bubbles before pressing it to the crook of her elbow. The waves of pain that hit her as soon as the liquid made contact with her blood were excruciating. Her screams were no longer coming out as whimpers.
The door hits the wall with a loud bang but Audrey barely hears it over the sound of her own screams, seconds later Nathan's face is swimming into view; "Parker! Parker what is it?" he looks terrified he can't understand why she is screaming, he can see no physical wounds. He is afraid to touch her, afraid that if he touches her he would be doing more harm than good. Her screams are almost deafening, he can't bare it any longer so he tried to sooth her by placing a hand on her forehead, the silence the follows is almost instantaneous. Thinking he has killed her Nathan draws away in shock. Audrey's pain doubles and she begins to thrash as soon as he takes his hand away.
"NATHAN!" Duke enters the room, pausing in the doorway as he sees Audrey; "What- what is wrong with her?" he asks shouting over her renewed screams. Nathan is shaking his brain is trying to compute what just happened, he moves forwards again and places his hand in hers, she quells instantly; "What did you do?" Duke asked looking more than a little stunned.
"I...I don't know. When I got her she was screaming but I couldn't see...I don't know why. When I touched her the first time I thought I'd killed her, she stopped so suddenly." Something then struck Nathan, he could barely feel her, whatever had happened was killing her and he didn't know how he could fix it. Duke moved around the bed and removed the straps that were holding her down. Nathan then gathered her into his arms as his contact with her skin was prolonged he realised that he could already feel her better, she almost felt normal against his skin now; "Where are we supposed to take her? We're already in the hospital."
There was a long pause before Audrey replied; "The doctor," her voice was scratchy after all of her screaming; "he injected me. Something. I don't..." she trailed off as she tried to look around the room to locate the syringe or the vile of liquid. She shifted in Nathan's arms; "I feel much better now...you can put me down." She whispered, Nathan nodded and put on the bed sitting upright, he steadied her placing his hands on her bare upper arms. The moment he took a step away and broke the contact her eyes rolled back and she let out a strangled cry. Nathan leaped forwards once more and made sure he was in contact with her skin; "What is happening to me?" Audrey asks feebly still dizzy from the pain she clings to her partner.
"We need to find what out what the doctor injected her with." Duke says as he moves around the room; "What did it look like?" he asks turning to look at the two officers who he had a shaky friendship with. He had agreed to help them because it seemed like the doctor was one of the Rev's men, all of the people who had been killed were troubled in some way. They were innocent though, none of them had ever hurt anyone with their trouble. He had agreed on the condition that they then help him find out the information that the Rev had been withholding from him. He now searched through medical supplies while Nathan tried to calm Audrey who was on the verge of a panic attack.
Gasping for air Audrey tried to voice her thoughts on their current predicament; "W-wha-what if, what if they weren't just killing the troubled." She managed to stutter out.
Nathan looking confused, he was trying his hardest not to focus on the feel of her in his arms, it was very difficult; "What do you mean? What else could they have been doing?"
Her breaths were coming out in short sharp gasps; "What if, they were doing tests on them. What if-" Audrey paused for a moment and looked aghast as if the idea that had just struck her was so abhorrent that she didn't dare believe it could be true; "What if they were trying to get the troubles to work in their favour?"
"That doesn't make sense. The Rev has always been about wiping the troubled out." Duke interrupts before holding up a number of bottles filled with clear liquid to show them.
Audrey pulls a face; "The Rev is dead. Maybe whoever he was working with has changed the rules."
"You think they injected a trouble into you?" Duke's sceptical look speaks of his disbelief.
Audrey sighs and locks her eyes with Nathan's, he looks confused but she can tell that he is considering it; "I don't know what to think anymore Duke." She leans forward and presses her forehead against the exposed skin at Nathan's neck; she breathes him in for a moment trying to let his scent calm her. It didn't make much sense but it was the only thing that could explain what was happening to her, they had discovered that one of the doctor's victims had a very specific trouble; it reacted to other people's troubles. If this young woman came into contact with another troubled person she would also have their trouble, she acted like a sponge for troubles; "Alison Jones." Nathan's eyes narrow slightly as Audrey names her.
"You don't think?" Nathan asked looking confused.
Duke was completely in the dark; "Who?" he asked stepping closer to the pair.
"The doctor's first victim, her trouble meant that if she came into contact with another troubled person she would then have their trouble. She didn't need to touch though so I don't think they had finished whatever they were doing to her to get her trouble when she died. They killed her." Audrey realises then that she is shaking; "And her trouble would and should be killing me. My body was rejecting it so violently that the pain alone would have been enough to kill me." She then glances up at Nathan who is smirking slightly.
"That's where I come in. If this trouble absorbs other people's troubles it means that my idiopathic neuropathy-" Duke pulls a face which implies that he gets it so Nathan stops.
Duke then frowns; "You can't touch her forever though." The glare that Nathan then shoots him takes him by surprise; "What I mean is, surely this could get rather problematic if you want to catch this guy?" Nathan and Audrey look at each other once more trying to work out how they can possibly stay connected but at the same time find the guy who did this to Audrey.
Almost in unison they turn back to Duke and say; "You have to do it!"
"What? No! That wasn't part of the deal!" he tries to argue.
Audrey glares at him; "And you think that what happened to me was part of the 'deal'? Suck it up Crocker you agreed to help and now we need you more than we thought we would. You have to do this Duke. There isn't anyone else Dwight isn't back from relocating the girls, you are all we've got." When she put it like that Duke found it was impossible to say no to her. He drove the two of them back to the Grey Gull before leaving them to continue the investigation.
Audrey and Nathan sat with their hands clasped together on her sofa. Normally Nathan would enjoy any form of contact with Audrey's skin but the fact that he wasn't sure if she would survive if he let her go made him vastly uncomfortable. She moved closer and placed her head against his shoulder, he could tell she was scared. He wouldn't admit it out loud but he was also terrified.
"You know normally I wouldn't complain if I had to touch you." Nathan tried to lighten the mood.
Audrey's snorted laugh told him she had taken what he said the wrong way; "Normally?" she asked glancing up at him with smirk.
"Well, I...uh. You know. Normally if I don't touch you, you don't die. But I can still feel you." Her smirk falters as she realises something, she glances down at their joined hands, she can't feel it. It should have been obvious, she should have realised it straight away but she had been so caught up with the pain and then the absence of pain that she didn't think; "What is it?" he can tell that she is now distressed.
"I can't." She replies tears glistening in her eyes.
"You can't?" he doesn't understand, it doesn't take him long to comprehend though; "Oh Audrey." He exhales heavily, they both should have known. If the trouble that was passed onto Audrey gives her Nathan's trouble it would give her every part of it. He wants to apologise but he knows it won't help the situation; "Duke will find a cure, he will get the doctor to make you better." Nathan isn't sure if he is telling her to reassure her or to reassure himself.
"So this is what it's like being you?" she was now poking herself and pulling at her own skin.
"Audrey be careful. You'll bruise yourself."
"Because you are always so careful? Mr. I-have-nails-from-a-nail-gun-in-my-back-but-it-is-fine-'cause-I-can't-feel-it?"
Nathan smirks; "That was a rather complicated name." She hits him and he complains; "Hey! Don't abuse your power please!" She laughs and relaxes against him once more.
A loud bang downstairs signalled Duke's return, his footsteps on the stairs tell the police officers that he is alone, this has them worried as he appears the notice the small cut above his right hand and that he is carrying a small box; "You have no idea the hell I went through to get this." He grumbles as he places the box down on the small coffee table, he opens it and pulls out an empty syringe next he removes a small vile of yellow liquid from the box.
"Duke are you sure this stuff works?" Nathan asks suddenly worried that the people who worked for the Rev wouldn't care if she died.
Duke pulls a face as he fills the needle; "They promised me..." he paused as he saw that Nathan and Audrey wouldn't be taking the word of these people on face value; "also, I might have tested it on one of them first. They didn't die. He said there was a slight tingling sensation...I waited for three hours and there was no change. This is our only shot."
Nathan and Audrey glance at one another silently asking if they think the risk is worth it, they haven't been able to trust all of Duke's motives recently but neither of them believe that he would try to kill Audrey; "Ok." She agrees extending her free arm to him. Nathan watches as Duke prepares the needle before plunging it into Audrey's arm. After he has removed the empty syringe the all glance at each other waiting for something to happen. Audrey wiggles her fingers as the tingling sensation hits her.
"Anything?" Nathan asks hoping for it to work.
She glances up at him and is about to shake her head as she feels a sudden warmth envelope her, it is as if she has been wrapped in a warm blanket it covers her from head to toe and soon she is aware of the tiniest of things, the remote control for the TV is digging into her thigh, her little toe on her right foot itches, Nathan's breath is ghosting over her. Suddenly she doesn't want to let him go even though she knows that she can. She nods smiling. She watches as Duke visibly relaxes rubbing his face with his hands he excuses himself saying that he needs to open up downstairs and that they owed him big time.
"You can let go you know." Nathan reminds her once Duke has gone.
She bites her lip; "Can we not, just for a little while...I...I want to get used to feeling again." He nods trying to hide his own delight at her request.
"Your fingers are cold." He comments and she smiles nodding, he then closes his hands around hers trapping them and warming them.
"Thank you." She whispers pressing herself against him and relishing in the feel of it; "I wish there was a cure for you...I wish, I wish you could feel everything Nathan." She whispers again her eyes are suddenly sad, he however, is smiling.
"I can feel you that is enough for me." He replied with a breathtaking smile. Audrey felt her insides squirm as she nodded, she made a mental note to touch him more often, and even as she began to blush at her own thoughts she realised that they had grown a lot closer today, their relationship had shifted. Audrey was certain that this was a good thing.
A/N: YAY shifting relationships are good. So I hope that fulfilled the prompt. Reviews are amazing. No flames thanks.