"Welcome to Haven 2037"
By December21st
Fandom: Haven
Rating: PG
Pairing: Nathan/Audrey
Warnings: Some swearing, Spoilers through 3x09 "Sarah"
Summary: In the year 2037, the woman previously known as Audrey Parker arrives in Haven.
Beta: Thanks once again to lone_pyramid for using her finesse with the English language on my behalf, and suggesting other story improvements along the way.
Duke glances around the dining area of the Grey Gull, taking in the faces of the dinnertime crowd, trying to quell the tinge of anxiety in the pit of his stomach. Calm down, he tells himself. They only got into town yesterday. It could be weeks before they start checking out the local restaurants.
It hadn't helped that Claire had called him about a dozen times during the day to find out if he'd spotted them yet. He hasn't heard a peep from Dwight, but he's pretty sure that he would have let Duke know if he'd seen their friends.
Duke's head turns automatically as someone comes in the main door, and for a moment he freezes. It's her. "Audrey," he breathes. Her hair is brown, tight curls that stop short above her neck, but it's definitely Audrey. Not a face he'll ever forget, no matter how many years have passed. The head waitress shows Audrey to one of the tables for two along the wall, overlooking the water. It looks like she's by herself, and Duke frowns.
"No, no, no," he mutters angrily. "The bastard promised." He limps towards Audrey's table with the assistance of a sleek black cane.
"Hi there!" Duke knows his smile isn't even remotely genuine, but under the circumstances, it's the best he can do. "Haven't seen you in here before."
Audrey looks up, meeting his eyes. Duke can almost see the possibilities running through her head. Over-friendly local? Dirty old man trying to pick up a woman half his age? Salesman?
"I'm Duke Crocker. This is my restaurant," Duke explains, finally remembering to talk after an awkward pause. He'd known what to expect, but that was completely different than seeing her again face to face after all these years.
Audrey relaxes and smiles. "Hello there," she greets him, and Duke gets the impression of a Southern drawl. "I'm Emma Sloane. Just moved to Haven." She pauses a moment, noticing his cane, and nods towards the chair across from her. "Take a load off?"
"Don't mind if I do." Duke sits, still not able to keep his eyes off of Audrey's face. "So what brings you to town?"
"I'm a writer," Audrey explains eagerly. "I've done some freelance magazine pieces on small town America. Haunted ghost towns, mystery spots, man hit by lightning seventeen times, that sort of thing. All of a sudden last week, my editor calls and says he wants a book! He even offers up his brother-in-law's summer house in Haven while I write it. And here it is five days later, and hello Haven!" The speech patterns aren't Audrey's, Duke notes, but the enthusiasm for the job hasn't changed.
He's betting that Audrey ... no, what was it, Emma's editor bears a striking resemblance to someone who was calling himself Agent Howard the first time Duke met him. Duke would respect the guy if Audrey hadn't shown up to dinner alone. But the bastard had promised.
"I'm sure you'll like it here. Who knows, maybe you'll even want to stay," Duke offers. Audrey nods politely.
"Anything unusual ever happen around here?" she asks, and Duke can see that it's not going to be a problem getting her involved when the time comes.
"Of course! Why, only last week, every dog in town started barking at three in the morning," Duke tells her. He doesn't tell her that it was because of a Troubled veterinarian. Vince and Dave had been so much better at this than him. Which reminds him. "It's too bad the only reporter in town missed all the excitement. She left a few weeks ago to work for a daily paper in Augusta. The local paper, the Haven Herald, could probably use an experienced journalist helping out around the place.
"Well, I won't have time, because of the book, but it sounds perfect for John. He's a journalist too." Audrey replies.
"John?" Duke asks, suddenly hopeful.
"You talking about me behind my back again?" a friendly voice asks from behind Duke. The man belonging to the voice comes around the table and kisses Audrey in greeting. "Sorry I'm late, hon. File backup in Beijing."
"My husband, John," Audrey explains, smiling up at him. Nathan smiles back at her.
"John Sloane," Nathan introduces himself, offering a hand to Duke. Nathan's hair is shaggier and darker - and that is so not fair Duke mentally complains, considering his own salt-and-pepper locks - but otherwise Nathan looks the same as he did when Duke last saw him, twenty-seven years ago.
Duke shakes hands with Nathan, having once again to remind himself not to stare. He introduces himself, getting out of the chair, at the same time wondering, What would you think, Nathan, if I told you that we were kids together? That we were on the same Pee Wee baseball team and filled sandbags side by side when Haven got hit by that bad storm our sophomore year of high school? What would you think if I told you that you arrested me three times before you became Police Chief of this little town, the town you think you never laid eyes on before yesterday?
"Mr. and Mrs. Sloane, it was a pleasure to meet you. Dinner's on the house," Duke tells them, and then walks back to the bar after they thank him. It wouldn't do to be too pushy, not this soon.
I guess Howard kept his promise after all, Duke admits to himself. He calls Claire and lets her know that Audrey and Nathan are back. She makes him promise not to let them leave before she gets there.
They're sitting at their table, talking. Nathan smiles at Audrey (Duke promises himself he'll learn their new names later) and reaches across the table, tucking a loose curl behind her ear. The look that he gives her hasn't changed in twenty-seven years. He'd do anything for her. And the way her face lights up as he looks at her hasn't changed either.
They're too busy looking at each other to catch him staring, so Duke watches their hands for a moment. It takes him a minute or two, but he spies a glint of silver that they're both wearing. He'll get a closer look later, but it looks like Agent Howard made good on his promise about the rings too.
"It has to be real," Audrey had said, all those years ago. "When we find out who we really are, and who we used to be, we have to know that what we have is real. You saw how hard it was this time. We won't have the time to find each other every time we come back to Haven."
So as the deck of the Cape Rouge rolled under their feet, Duke had performed his only wedding ceremony as the captain of a ship, and Nathan put the ring that once belonged to Sarah on Audrey's finger, and Audrey put the Chief's old ring on Nathan's finger, and they'd kissed and cried and exchanged hugs with Duke and Claire and the Teagues brothers, the only ones there to witness the joyous occasion.
Nathan had been the one to propose, but keeping the rings had been Audrey's idea. Now they're supposed to come to Haven as a couple, wearing the same rings. Every time. Agent Howard had complained to Audrey that she was making things a lot more complicated, and she hadn't argued, just told him that he'd have to find a way in a tone that brooked no arguments.
Duke watches as Nathan snatches his hand away from a candle flame, laughing and shaking his fingers as though he'd singed them a bit. He hopes that Audrey and Nathan manage to encounter a few Troubles before something happens to trigger Nathan's own Trouble. No need for them to start panicking about a mystery medical ailment when the answer is so much more straightforward. Well, for Haven, anyhow.
He'll have to figure out how to dole out the secrets of Haven to the couple that are themselves Haven's biggest secret of all, how to warn them of the dangers that lay in wait for them without giving too much away. There's a steamer trunk upstairs filled with pieces of Haven's mysteries that they'd gathered up, with mementos and photos of loved ones, with journals containing information that shouldn't ever be forgotten.
But all that can wait. For now, he'll let them be happy and together, a normal couple in a normal world. There will be enough time for everything else later.