Haven: Daylight Would Be More Judicious
Title comes from the Sylvia Plath poem 'Candles'
When Duke and Nathan find Audrey, they don't find her in Haven. They find her 30 miles outside of Haven in the middle of a lush forest where an abandoned warehouse occupies a seemingly forgotten space.
She's bound and gagged, tied to a chair in the middle of the warehouse as Duke notices the weathered plywood creak beneath the soles of his shoes. He watches as Nathan approaches her unhesitatingly, her body still as loose strands of blonde hair cover her face. Duke is the one who gasps audibly when Nathan gently lifts her head, only to reveal an unconscious Audrey whose face had been a mask of unrelenting struggle.
"Parker…" Nathan murmurs.
"Is she…" Duke barely manages to choke. He doesn't want to say the word. He's already lost Evie. Isn't that enough?
"Parker… wake up," Nathan pleads.
"Audrey," Duke grits between his teeth, his voice heavy with anger and worry.
When Audrey's eyes start to flutter, the two men exchange glances before each breathing a sigh of relief.
Later (much later), she doesn't fail to notice the way both men act around her, how both men are extremely attentive to her needs (in their own ways).
I'm not a doll. I won't break or shatter into a million pieces, she tries to tell them unconvincingly. But I still don't know who I am or where I come from…
Her and Nathan aren't together for more than two months before they break up (it's better for both of them; their partnership way stronger than any romantic relationship they have can ever be).
A year later and she's still having nightmares about her kidnapping. About how hazy the events had been because she thinks she may have been drugged in addition to the mark the taser left on her chest. About how she thinks she was close to being erased. About how she had an inkling of a thought that Nathan and Duke would never find her.
She wakes up drenched in sweat and shaking uncontrollably until a familiar pair of arms encircles her and she feels the roughness of his goatee scratch her cheek when he whispers soothing words into her ear. "It's okay, Audrey," Duke whispers as she snuggles into his chest. "It's over. You're safe."
He feels Audrey's breath brush against his chest as she sighs, saying nothing. She falls asleep knowing that he's always there, that he'll always protect her.
She never tells Nathan about her nightmares.
There are some things Duke will never tell Audrey. Like how Duke and Nathan nearly killed each other when Nathan found Duke's whistle and no trace of Audrey on their pancakes for dinner date. Nathan's eyes were blazing and his heart was racing as he spewed words in Duke's direction. It had been a battle of guns and venomous words, of sweat beading on slick skin and mistrustful eyes shooting daggers of seething hatred.
When Nathan had come at him, Duke's eyes had glowed with an intense ferocity neither had been expecting and Nathan had been thrown off Duke in an instant.
"WHERE IS SHE? WHERE'S AUDREY?!" Nathan had bellowed.
"HOW THE FUCK SHOULD I KNOW?!" Duke had yelled back.
Even when their battle had come to a standstill and they had found Audrey together, Duke doesn't forget. He never forgets that day.
A year after Audrey's kidnapping, he still has nightmares, too. About his fight with Nathan. About never seeing Audrey again. Some nights, Duke bolts upright in bed, his skin sticky and drenched in sweat as he forces air into his lungs.
He feels her soft hands on his chest as her right hand reaches up to gently cup his face. "Duke… Duke, what's wrong?"
"I'm fine," he lies. "Really. Don't worry about me. Go back to sleep."
He kisses her forehead gently and his left hand finds a blonde curl to wrap around his finger before tucking it behind her ear. She's gazing at him now with wide, pensive eyes.
"Are you sure? You can tell me," she prods gently, blue eyes searching his brown ones.
"I'd rather not talk about it," he tells her and she's forced to accept his words as sufficient enough. For now anyway.
He's already told her how much he had worried about her when she'd gone missing, but he'll never tell her about his near deadly confrontation with Nathan. He doesn't want to hurt her. What she doesn't know couldn't hurt her and he wouldn't be lying to her if he never told her the story at all. If he just completely avoided the issue, she could never accuse him of lying to her.
She knows he has his secrets (hell, so does she), but this is one she'll never find out.
There are some things Duke will never tell Audrey. He never tells Audrey about his nightmares.
The rays of sunlight that stream through the windows of Duke's boat in the early morning invade his dreams as he opens both of his eyes. His eyes land on the empty space on the bed beside him and drift downward where he finds her sitting precariously on the edge in the silk robe he'd gotten her as a 'just because' gift.
He's never been good with judgment or making decisions that didn't involve The Grey Gull or placing a bet in a poker game (or the amount of parking tickets he has continued to accumulate), but he's always hated mornings. Always judged them. Daylight would be more judicious if he didn't have to face it at all. If he didn't continuously work on becoming a better person because of Audrey. If he wasn't already a better person because of her. He sometimes wonders what each new morning would bring if she had never come to Haven and he had spent the rest of his life being miserable. What will happen when the Troubles are gone and Audrey Parker has disappeared for good?
He pushes the thought from his mind as he moves toward her, admiring the way the sunlight dances where the curve of her neck meets her bare shoulder – a place the robe does not cover.
"Good morning," he whispers as his lips press against her hair and she instinctively leans into his touch.
"I couldn't sleep. I've been up for awhile," she tells him.
"Did you have another nightmare?" he asks, brushing her blonde hair back as his arms wrap around her, pulling her against his chest.
"No," she replies. "I just couldn't sleep. My mind races sometimes. I still can't find the answers I'm searching for."
"But you will," he reassures her. "I'll make sure of it."
She's still not used to this. His comforting presence. How he's so real and there. Will she ever be that kind of real? Can she ever be? He's a constant in her life, a person she could never imagine living without. He completes her in ways Nathan cannot. In ways Nathan never will. She's still not used to this consistency, of searching eyes, of longing hearts and the way he makes her feel. The way her body comes alive when he brushes a reassuring hand along the bare skin of her naked back or when their bodies move together in pulsing rhythm beneath the sheets, rocking against the crashing waves pounding against the side of his boat.
His voice brings her out of her reverie. "Do you want me to make you some breakfast?"
"Blueberry waffles?" she asks hopefully, a smile creasing her lips.
He grins. "Coming right up."
Fin.
Author's Note: Mollivanders, I hope this lives up to your expectations! I tried. It went through a few changes, but I think it flows better now. I hope it fits at least the gist of the prompt. Glad I could post this before this semester of graduate school gets too intense for me and before the Season 3 premiere. The Nathan/Duke scenes are very loosely based on some of the promos that have been released. Reviews are appreciated. Hope everyone reading enjoys it! :)