Beta-read by Tania. Written in answer to kriadydragon'sprompt for the ficlet meme on LJ and also for my h/c bingo card where the prompt was blood loss.

...and now with feeling

There were times when Nathan felt nothing was real. It was a lot like dreaming, when the world just passed you by in a haze. The sounds were dull, the colors were strange and mostly, people were acting crazy. The fact that the Troubles made people act crazy a lot in Haven didn't help Nathan distinguish between his waking and sleeping moments.

So when after a rather grueling day filled with strange happenings, wild chases and Audrey solving it all, the world started to spin, and Nathan didn't think much about it. He was either dreaming or... Really, he wasn't sure what the other option was. So he stopped thinking about it, he asked Audrey to come for a celebratory dinner because they had no time to stop and eat - and maybe that was the reason why the room was suddenly moving of its own accord?

"Okay, I'm just going to the ladies room and we can go grab a bite," Audrey spoke and was gone before Nathan could so much as smile at her. Shaking his head a little, trying to clear it, Nathan frowned when the table seemed to move a feet to the side. Blinking, Nathan put out a hand to touch his desk, to assure himself it hadn't become alive or something, but there were dark dots starting to appear on the edge of his vision and he miscalculated the distance. His hand passed the desk by inches and went through air, which was getting kind of wavy anyway. Taking a step forward, trying to find some place to anchor himself, Nathan stumbled, his feet suddenly too heavy to lift properly. The dark dots in his vision rushed together and the lights went out even before he hit the floor.

oOoOo

Someone was pulling him from the dream. Nathan let out a groan and his eyes slid open, squinting to see a fuzzy head. He had to blink several times to clear his vision. He knew even before though that the head belonged to Audrey, because he felt the brush of her fingers against his skin.

"Nathan?" She asked and he blinked, then hissed out in pain as her finger touched a place that simply hurt. Audrey winced and the finger was gone, instead there was a dull pressure of a bandage being put in place.

"Sorry, I have to try and stop the bleeding. I'll try not to touch the wound," she added with a tight smile and Nathan was of half mind to tell her that she can touch it, just to make him feel, but even in his fuzzy state he knew that was stupid, because even he didn't enjoy the sensation of pain, just the mere fact he could feel.

"S'okay," he mumbled and grimaced at how weak his voice sounded. "What happened?" He asked, looking around. He was lying on the floor, right next to the traitorous desk that didn't catch his fall and that was now back to its unmoving form. There was something bunched up under his legs to keep them elevated and he recognized it as a treatment for shock.

"You tell me, Rambo. I came in to find you on the ground, unconscious. By the way, thanks for the scare."

"Sorry," Nathan mumbled, but Audrey shook her head.

"That's not what you should be sorry about. It's the fact that you forgot to tell me you have a stab wound on your back. Oh, and by the way? From now on, no dark jackets. They hide blood much too well."

Nathan blinked in confusion.

"I was stabbed?" he repeated and Audrey gave him a disbelieving look.

"Maybe not stabbed, exactly. But something made a rather imposing hole in your side. So... what were you doing in the time when we weren't together?"

"I didn't do-" anything, he wanted to add, but then he remembered one moment and closed his eyes in frustration. "Stupid," he said to himself and banged his head against the floor.

"Hey!" Audrey protested and Nathan looked up at her frowning face.

"Don't do that," she admonished. "Hell, don't even move. For all I know you gave yourself a concussion when you blacked out from the blood loss. So, stay still, and tell me what happened." She gave him her no-nonsense look and Nathan sighed resignedly.

"It was probably a wooden splinter or a nail. When I went to Jeremy's house, his... telekinesis or whatever it is... knocked out the front door and I slammed into the porch. My... jacket got caught on something when I was getting up, but I didn't think about it, because Jeremy was running to the car and I went after him. It must've been then."

"Great. So... You probably landed on some rusty nail and were walking around with an unattended wound for what... Three hours?" Audrey asked in disbelief and Nathan just gave a small smile and a shrug.

"Might have been," he said and Audrey let out an exasperated sigh.

"Luckily I had my tetanus shot the last time I got cut on something, so it should be cool," Nathan said easily. Before Audrey could retort, the door opened and in peeked a nervous deputy.

"The ambulance will take a little longer, they ran into some trouble on the bridge. Maybe we could take him in by-" the young man paused when he saw Nathan's eyes were open and a wide smile split his face. "Oh sheriff, you're awake!"

"Yeah, awake and peachy. What kind of trouble?"

"Oh, nothing serious, just a small car accident. Trevor Myles drove drunk onto Nelson bridge. He's alright but the car is blocking the road so it might take a little while for the ambulance to get here. Are you sure you don't want a ride?"

"No he doesn't," Audrey replied before Nathan even opened his mouth. "He hit his head and I don't want to move him before the paramedics can make sure he didn't do too much damage. We will wait."

"Okay, I'll get back on the mike then and monitor the situation. If you need anything just call out, Agent Parker," the deputy said then closed the door. Nathan just looked at Audrey with disbelief.

"What? It's not like I can't pull rank when you're down, you know," she smiled and Nathan snorted.

"Like you need me unconscious to do that," he muttered, and then squirmed, becoming tired of the one way view. He was at the station after all, and lying flat on his back on the floor could hardly be good for the morale. Also the black dots were hiding in the side of his vision now so he was probably better. Pushing up on his elbows, he tried to sit up, but became woozy as soon as his head lifted off the ground.

"Nathan! What was I just saying about not moving around?"

"I'm fine," Nathan protested even as Audrey pushed him down, her eyebrows raised in a look that clearly said: Really? And why the hell should I believe you? And Nathan let out a sigh and gave up. He wanted to protest some more, but he realized that Audrey's hand was lying on his bared chest, right over his heart, and he could feel it. He went totally still. Audrey's hand moved away and Nathan moved with it, going up. Audrey pushed him back again with an exasperated sigh.

"Stay down or I will handcuff you to the table," she threatened, but then her lips twitched and her hand stayed on Nathan's chest. "I know what you're doing, Sheriff," her smile said, but she didn't move away and Nathan relaxed, focusing on the single feeling of the warm hand laid gently over his heart. It was still there five minutes later when the ambulance arrived and for that short time, Nathan felt the world couldn't be more real.

The end