Title: Wonder
Author: GageWhitney
Rating: T
Pairing: Nathan/Audrey
Disclaimer: Very much not mine.
Summary: Audrey wonders about her new partner, sometimes.
Note: Comments, including constructive criticism, are welcomed and appreciated.
Audrey wonders about her new partner, sometimes.
Stopped at a red light. Eating lunch at her desk. Trying to fall asleep. Her mind wanders, and she thinks of him.
Nathan is broody and handsome and secretive and Troubled, different than anyone and everyone else she's ever met, and she thinks he almost sounds like the description of a guy found in the pages of a cheap romance novel.
If this was a romance novel, she imagines, he'd be the loner, the quiet, awkward, mysterious man who's spent his whole life on the outskirts of society, never quite fitting in and choosing to close himself off instead. He'd meet and fall for the protagonist, a woman with her own set of issues, and they'd learn about themselves and each other while forming an unbreakable bond and having the best sex of their lives.
Whether this is a thoroughly accurate description of Nathan, the actual person who isn't a Harlequin hero, she's not quite sure (and she definitely doesn't want to think about what this fantasy says about herself).
In any case, he's fascinating to her, pure and simple. Despite, or maybe even because of, his attempts to distance himself from others, she finds herself drawn to him, and she wonders.
She wonders about his history with Duke, who isn't exactly an upstanding citizen but doesn't seem to be the delinquent scumbag Nathan think he is.
There's a story there, of that she's certain, and she thinks maybe that maybe they used to be friends, a long time ago. Good friends, probably, who parted ways badly and were never the same. Over a girl, perhaps, or Nathan's affliction, or any number of things that tear people apart, supernatural or otherwise.
She's kind of determined to mend the hole in their relationship, whether they want her to or not.
She wonders about his relationship with his father, if they were ever close and what got them to where they are now. And what about his mom? He's never mentioned her, and the Chief hasn't either, so she's never broached the subject. She supposes she's got enough mother issues for the both of them at the moment.
She wonders about his affliction – idiopathic neuropathy, if that's even what it really is. She's tried looking it up on the internet a handful of times, and it's done nothing but left her with more questions than answers.
Okay. He can't feel pain. Check. But what about temperature? He seems to wear clothing appropriate to the weather, but he could easily fake that. Pressure? Probably, if he's walking around and driving and picking things up. Pleasure? She really hopes he can feel pleasure. For his own sake, of course, and not for any selfish reasons at all.
All right, so sometimes she wonders what he'd be like in bed – and really, why shouldn't she? She's never been the girly type, never one to send notes in class, folded up tight into teeny paper footballs, bearing messages like, do you like me?, circle yes or no. She's not drawing little hearts or N.W. + A.P. 4EVER in her notebook.
But Nathan is good-looking and fit and interesting and sweet, and sometimes when he stands close to her or cracks a joke that only she seems to get is a joke, she gets a warm, tingly feeling in her gut. Maybe somewhere a little south of her gut.
Sometimes, he looks at her in a certain way, and she's sure he thinks about it, too.
He's fascinating to her, strange and beautiful and complicated and damaged, and she wonders if Nathan is a puzzle she's ever going to solve.