I do not own Audrey, Nathan, or any of the characters created for Haven. I only own the original characters. This story is set a year into Nathan and Audrey knowing eachother.
001
Nathan woke up to the sound of a ringing alarm clock, and slapped his hand wildly in the darkness. The sun had not yet risen in the township of Haven, though he didn't know how much difference it would do when it did rise. The fog had been unmanageable lately, causing problems for everyone commuting. He'd been working overtime just lending aid to the department for traffic control, and that was split with his usual job of investigating actual crimes. He rose after a few blissful moments of silence, which were interrupted by the sound of rain beginning to splatter at the window nearest his bed. With a grunt to vocalize his discontentment with having to be awake at four AM, he stood and walked on bare feet across the hardwood floor to the window. He flipped back the curtain and looked across the yard, into the cold swell of ocean beyond. He had to be at PWM in a few hours to pick Audrey up, and he already had a feeling this day wasn't going to be a good one.
He dressed with the sound of the radio in the background, having chosen a morose Requiem Mass to start his day with. Well, he didn't choose it precisely, but that was what Janet and Nigel, the older couple who ran the small classical station, had selected that morning to begin with. He sat down in front of a bowl of cereal, mouth set in a firm frown as he tried to go over the things he needed to do that day. The list included Audrey's welcome back party, which Duke had gone to absurd amount of trouble over, especially since the Grey Gull was going to be used as the stage for. He needed to find a way to get her there without her being suspicious, which was going to be impossible considering the woman was an FBI agent. He didn't know why it had to be a surprise, honestly – it wasn't like Audrey was modest, so she'd probably love the idea that the locals had missed her. She had become one of them over the course of her stay, especially since Nathan had accepted her (though that had taken some time).
He still didn't know how to react when he saw her. They'd gotten close over the year that they'd known eachother, even began dating. Audrey had all but been grounded there, setting up office in the area after the local government had pulled strings to keep her around. They claimed that she was invaluable to their police department, and Audrey had found a way to work there and turn into more of an adviser with her FBI status for cases of a 'strange' nature. She seemed to specialize in the weird, which probably explained why Nathan was drawn to her. Duke had been, too, at first, and Nathan had kept his opinions to himself about it, since Audrey would do whatever Audrey wanted to do. Luckily, it hadn't panned out, and Duke became more of a brother-figure to her than he had even to Nathan. Nathan was okay with that, though – it meant that he wouldn't have to worry about Duke trying his luck with her again.
They'd gotten more serious right before she'd been summoned by her overheads, and they hadn't really even gotten a chance to talk about what had happened. When he tried to talk to her on the phone, she sounded tired and overworked. She was always happy to speak to him – Audrey wasn't good at feigning happiness, he knew – but she couldn't ever hide the stress in her voice. It was as though there was a shadow over every word she said, and he knew that it was going to bite him in the ass eventually. Whatever it was, she didn't seem to want to talk about it on the phone, so when she'd finally told him she was done with her obligation and coming back, Nathan was thrilled and terrified at the same time. Audrey had been in Haven long enough, and was connected enough to it, that she seemed to have Troubles of her own. Nathan didn't know how that would bode in conjunction with his.
As he filled his old blue truck up, he took a few minutes to psychoanalyze the fact that she'd called Haven home. She'd said, "Flight lands at seven fifteen. Can you believe it? Two days and I'll be home!" He grunted again as the gas pump clicked off, and thrust the device into its holder. What did she mean, home? Did she consider Haven her home, finally? Did she consider HIM home? He frowned more deeply than before, and made his way through the rain to go inside and pay Reggie, the cashier.
"Mornin' Nathan!" the petite brunette chirped. She was standing on a blue milk crate, shoving packs of cigarettes into their sliding holders in the display behind the counter. She jumped down and brushed her shirt off, then gave him a big grin. "Today's the big day, ain't it?" she asked, hopeful.
"Big day?" he asked. He set a twenty dollar bill down on the counter, glancing behind her through the window at the rain as it fell in big gusts.
"Yeah! Audrey's comin' home, right? It's Friday! Are we all still due at Duke's roundabout eight? Jeff and I are gonna bring some odds and ends we got for her, if you don't mind. I know nobody said anything about gifts, but we just couldn't resist a few." She practically danced in place.
When was it that they'd started calling her Audrey and stopped calling her Agent Parker? Had to have been some time when Nathan didn't recall, but somehow the town had taken to her in a way he'd never imagined. Her absence seemed to have make them grow even fonder, actually – Nathan could say the same for himself, but he was too proud to admit it. He smiled to Reggie.
"I don't think anyone will mind. And yeah, eight o'clock. I'm going to try and get her there on time, but you know how she likes to talk," he said with a laugh.
"That I do, officer," she said with a bright grin. "Rain should clear up the closer to Portland you get. I heard it on the radio. Hey, will you tell Jan and Nigel to quit with the classical music and play somethin' a little more contemporary? I 'bout went back to sleep, and I would have, too, if the dogs didn't start barkin' at the rain," she added.
For some reason, this made Nathan's smile more broad and genuine. The way the town all seemed to overlap itself was uncanny, Troubles or no. He suddenly couldn't wait to see Audrey, to tell her about all the things she'd missed, to kiss those lips of hers. "I promise, I'll say something. See you, Reggie," he called over his shoulder with a hand held in the air and two fingers up as a wave goodbye.
Nathan drove into dawn, and as he did the fog and rain began to clear, slowly but surely. By the time he reached Portland International, it was sunny and cool. The high for the day was only seventy-something, despite it being August, but that would be plenty warm for him. He didn't live so far north because he wanted a good tan, after all. His phone rang twice on the way to PWM, once from his father, to tell him that someone's cows had gotten out and had wandered all the way into the streets of Haven, and once from Duke, to tell him that he was Satan for making him get up so early to prepare. Nathan was thankful that he was far enough away that he didn't need to deal with either pressing dilemma.
As he waited in the airport terminal for Audrey, he felt butterflies in his stomach for the first time in a long time. Would she still feel the same way she had when she left? She'd told him that she wanted to try her hand at a real relationship, and he felt the same way – and then, of course, her job put itself in the middle of them. She always put her job first, but so did Nathan, even though he couldn't precisely help it. He didn't think she could, either, but that's why he liked her so much. Audrey had a real sense of duty and loyalty, not like other women he'd met. She was also bold, and brave, and she had a good sense of humour.
He nearly dropped his coffee as he saw her form appear at the top of the escalator. She was relaxed back on one leg, the other crooked slightly against the luggage she had been tugging behind her. Her blonde hair was in its usual fashion of waves, secured at the nape of her neck with a black elastic band and pushed over the shoulder of her light blue button-down. He didn't understand how she could be so enchanting just [i]standing[/i] there, staring off into nothing. She had obviously not expected him to be there yet, but that had more to do with the fact that she'd spent the last 12 or so hours moving through the timezones. She wasn't even sure what time it was, but the lack of sleep made her attention span shrivel down to the size of a gnat, and she almost tripped coming off of the moving steps.
"Audrey!" he called. He resisted the urge to run over to her, instead opting to walk quickly, and was very surprised when she looked up with that stunned expression she had so well – open mouth, eyes wide, body frozen in mid-bend to catch herself. She lit up like a Christmas tree as soon as she registered what was going on, though, and before he'd made it all the way to her, she'd taken a jump for him, wrapping her arms tightly around him.
"I missed you," she breathed. He felt her tighten her grip on him, almost like she was afraid that if she let go, he'd vanish, and he buried his head into the nook of her shoulder.
"I missed you, too. Now come on, let's get you home," he said. He was taking a chance with that 'home' word again, almost like he was testing to see what she'd say. Audrey just smiled at him and grabbed her suitcase. "Your stuff should be in the claim by now," he informed her, taking her free hand as they walked.
"God, that flight was terrible, Nathan. I haven't slept in like, two days," she told him, making gestures with the hand he held, causing his arm to raise and lower as she spoke. "Sea-Tac is the most crowded airport on the face of this planet. I left there at, like, eleven last night, right? Layover in Denver, then again in Philly. It sucked. I kept waiting for the gremlins from Twilight Zone to start ripping panels off of the plane and fling them into the turbines. If I never get on another plane again, I will not be heartbroken."
Nathan laughed. "That bad?" he asked, arching his brows at her in disbelief. "I'd have thought you'd loved to get away," he said as they approached the claim. He broke free of her to snatch her bags off of the rotating rack. The bright red ribbon he'd tied around both of the handles was still in tact, and he felt a little triumphant about that.
"Stop fishing," she warned him. Audrey was blunt, which would take some getting used to all over again, but it wasn't a trait that he'd miss. At least he knew she wouldn't be lying anytime soon.
"I'm not fishing," he insisted, "but it still baffles me that you'd rather stay here, especially when your talent for the weird has caused you to pick up popularity with unexplained FBI cases that are pending all over the states."
"Well, you're not all over the states," she said matter-of-factly. "Come on, I want to take a nap before the party." She nodded her head towards the large doors that lead out of the airport and spilled out into the daylight.
"Party?" he asked, following behind her with the other two bags. "What makes you think there's a party?"
Audrey turned as she walked, pointing at him. "Because, Nathan Wournos, I know you." She grinned and raised her eyebrows at him, then spun back around to face the front just as she reached the door. She pushed it open and began heading for his Ford, with or without him.