Posted originally on the Archive of Our Own at works/5475560.
Rating: Not Rated Archive Warning: Major Character Death Category: Multi Fandom: Haven Relationship: Friendship - Relationship Character: Nathan Wuornos, Duke Crocker, Jennifer Mason, Gloria Verrano, Bill Mc Shaw, Dwight Hendrickson, Officer Stan, Rebecca Rafferty Additional Tags: Angst Stats: Published: 2015-12-20 Words: 2785 Requiem For A Pirate
by Silverwolf65
Summary
Post-Series Finale. Nathan and the others gather together to bid Duke and Jennifer a fond farewell.
Mull of Kintyre, written by Paul McCartney and Denny Laine
Redemption Song, written by Bob Marley
Buddhist Prayer For the Departed
Requiem For A Pirate
I don't own these characters, if I did, Mr. Crocker would still be with us! But I wanted to give Duke something that we didn't get to see on the show, but something he richly deserved-a proper sendoff.
It's been a week now, since the Troubles ended, Duke died and Audrey left. It's surprising to Nathan; it's felt as though it were a lifetime ago, not a week.
Also surprisingly, he has held it together remarkably well. There were so many people that needed to be tended to, so many explanations that had to be given, that he hasn't had time to deal with much else.
But Gloria's phone call last night has brought the reality that he's lost the two people he cared about most in the world crashing down around him.
After Duke's death, she'd had Jennifer exhumed, and then sent both their remains to Bangor for cremation, and their ashes combined.
She tells him she's asked Red Coleman to take them out on his boat, The Montenegro to inter their cremains into the sea, and that there would be a ceremony of sorts.
"Duke wasn't much for religious pomp and circumstance," she said in her usual manner. "But they both deserve to be remembered."
"When's the ceremony?" Nathan had asked.
"Tomorrow evening-a little before sunset," Gloria had told him.
So now here he was, standing on the dock, feeling the ache in his chest once more, seeing The Cape Rouge in the distance, still moored, waiting for her new owner. He thought back to all the times he'd been aboard her. He hadn't been able to bring himself to board her again after Duke was gone. Dwight and Gloria had seen to things; boxing up Duke's belongings, arranging for the sale of the boat.
Gloria had also seen that the money Duke had in the bank was placed into a trust fund for Jean when she turned 21, or attended college, whichever came first.
"I think he'd want her to be looked after," she'd said, and Nathan had to agree. Even though Duke had never gotten to so much as lay eyes on his daughter, he truly did care for the little girl. "I think that was his one regret, that he couldn't do more for her."
"Duke gave her something more than money. Something that only he could give her," Nathan had told her. "He gave her freedom from the Crocker curse. No one will ever have to come to Jean and ask her to kill a family member to end their Trouble."
But even through all the platitudes, underneath it all, Nathan was still hurting from the guilt of taking Duke's life from him.
It hurt; it physically hurt in his chest. Dwight had said that Duke had told him he didn't know why Nathan hadn't been able to see him. That maybe he felt guilty about killing him.
You got that one right, Duke, Nathan thought glumly. He'd told himself it was what Duke had asked him to do. Everyone had said it was the right thing to do.
Then why do I feel so bad about it? he thought, blinking back the tears.
Dwight and Lizzie walked down the dock towards him, and Nathan managed a smile for the girl, who held a bunch of flowers in her arms.
"Hi, Lizzie," he said. "Nice flowers."
"Hi, Chief Wuornos," she answered. "I brought them for Mr. Duke and Miss Jennifer."
"I think they would like them, very much," Nathan assured her.
A Haven PD squad car pulled up to the dock, and Stan and Rafferty climbed out, and walked down to the dock.
"What's up?" Nathan asked.
"We asked Gloria if it was all right if we came too," Stan said.
"You should," Nathan answered. "He was your friend too."
Rafferty blinked hard a few times. She looked as though she'd been crying. He'd seen her sniffling the last few days, and he wondered if she might have felt a bit more for Duke than she'd ever let on. Neither of them had spoken about the time he and Duke had been body-switched and Duke had to convince her that he was really in Nathan's body by disclosing a rather intimate secret. Nathan hadn't questioned her further; and Duke had been too much of a gentleman to ever disclose a lady's secrets.
Another car pulled up, and Bill McShaw and his wife Meg got out, along with an older man carrying a large bag.
Nathan's heart ached anew. Bill was the last 'Second Chancer' left, and he and Meg had their arms around each other before they both hugged Nathan.
"Thank you for asking us," Bill said.
"You guys were friends with Duke almost as long I was," Nathan said. "Nathan Wuornos," he introduced himself to the older man. "Thank you for doing this today."
"Jack McDermott," the man replied. "And it's my pleasure. Billy told me how much your friends meant to you all. Least I could do."
The last car pulled up, and Gloria, Vicky, Lincoln and a guy that Nathan recognized as James Pierce, the lead cook from The Grey Gull got out. Vicky retrieved Aaron in his carrier, and Gloria carefully cradled the silver box that held Duke and Jennifer's ashes in her arms as they walked up.
Red peered over the side of the boat, his bushy white beard glowing like a halo in the afternoon sun.
"Are we leavin' or what?" he asked. "I ain't sailin' the dock out there-get on the damn boat!"
"Keep your shirt on, old man, we're coming," Gloria shot back, and Nathan smiled faintly.
Everyone boarded the boat, and after a few minutes, the engines rumbled to life and they set sail for the open sea.
Nathan stood along the rail, looking out at the water, and he felt Dwight come up beside him. It still felt strange that he could feel again, and he thought back to when Ian Haskell had stolen his Trouble. He'd been able to feel once more and he remembered Duke's offer to hook him up with some ladies to 'help him process', and his smile faded.
"It was the right thing, Nathan," Dwight said.
"What was?" Nathan asked.
"You know what I mean," Dwight replied. "I see it in your face. The guilt's eating you alive. He asked you to do it. He saved us all, Nathan," he continued.
"I think if I could have seen him one last time, I-I don't know," Nathan sighed. He looked at Dwight. "I would have said I'm sorry, for all the times I never said it before. Audrey said it-that's how she brought him back from Croatoan's influence."
Dwight nodded. "Gloria told me about it. She also said that Duke knew there was no other way. He even asked her to help him; but she said she couldn't bring herself to do it. And she also said that you were a true friend to Duke, because you could."
"Then why doesn't it feel like that?" Nathan asked without looking at him.
"Maybe in time, it will," Gloria spoke, coming alongside Nathan. "It won't lessen the pain, Nathan; we just learn to live with it," she told him, and put a hand on his. "We're about there," she exhaled. "Time to get this show on the road."
They felt Red slow The Montenegro down, drifting to a stop, and dropped anchor.
The group of mourners gathered at the bow, and Gloria stepped up before the little gathering.
"First, I wanted to say thank you all for coming today," she began. "Duke wasn't a terribly religious person. I guess I'm not either, having seen what I've seen in our lifetime," she remarked, the little group smiling knowingly. "But we're going to give these two a proper sendoff."
She turned to the silver box, gleaming in the late afternoon sun.
"Duke Ezra Crocker, you were sometimes the most infuriating person I ever knew," she said, using the middle name that Duke had always hated. "And then you could turn around and be the most compassionate and caring person I ever knew. Where you learned that, I don't know. I do know it didn't come from your folks. I think it came from your friends," she went on, glancing at the gathering, her tone softer. "That they loved and cherished you enough so that you learned to be a better man," she finished. "I'm very proud of you, Kitten-I always will be."
She stopped, and drew a shaky breath before continuing.
"Jennifer Ann Mason-I wish I could have gotten to know you a little better, honey," she addressed the box. "But you made Duke happy; that was something that was always in short supply in his life, and if you gave him that, well then, that makes you good enough for him in my book."
She exhaled. "That's all I have. If anyone else wants to say anything, now's the time."
Bill McShaw got up next, and told of how much it had meant to him that Duke had done so well running The Grey Gull, that he knew that his parents and Geoff would be proud as well.
"I imagine Duke and Geoff are probably off somewhere, eating peanut butter-and-jelly sandwiches," he smiled. "I'll miss you, buddy," he finished, and stepped back.
Dwight stepped forward next.
"Duke and I weren't the best of friends," he said. "In fact, if you had asked me two years ago what I thought of Duke Crocker, well, I can't say what I thought of him in my daughter's presence," he continued, glancing at her. "But then I got to know him. I realized under his 'I-only-care-about-me' facade, was someone who was deeply committed to his friends, to Haven, no matter how much he-or others-insisted that he wasn't," he added wryly. "Even when he knew what the cost would be-and it was a heavy price. It cost him Jennifer-the woman he loved. I know what that's like," he continued, thinking of Charlotte. "And yet despite the heavy toll- he wouldn't turn his back on his town. He tried to for a while, but his heart wouldn't let him desert Haven."
He turned, facing the box. "The Vikings believed dying in battle meant you went to Valhalla, or heaven. Duke gave his life to help end the Troubles. And he even taught me something in the end-how to have faith," he mused aloud, gazing at Lizzie. "Even against impossible odds," he finished softly, and touched the box. "Till Valhalla, Duke."
Nathan swallowed hard, and stood before the little group.
"I guess it's no secret how Duke and I felt about each other," he said quietly. "Audrey once said that we were the best of frenemies," he noted. "We were always at odds as kids; and yet, he would take up for me if anyone else pushed me around, as though it were only his privilege to pick on me. We drifted apart for a long time. I stayed in Haven and became a cop; and he sailed off, doing who knows what. But when I needed him-when we needed him-he was there for us. I remember you invited yourself along when the Troubles first returned," he remembered. "But when the going got really hard, you may have said you didn't care about this town or its people, Duke; but Audrey saw through that," he continued. "And after a while, so did I. I never said so, though. You weren't big on 'mush', as you called it. But I wish I had now," Nathan soldiered on, his voice breaking. "I wish we could have been more supportive of your loss of Jennifer, and I'm sorry that we stranded you with-" he broke off. "But we were all in the dark, just trying to find our way. And even when it would have been the easiest thing for you to just walk away, when I asked, you came back to Haven to save us all. You saved Audrey's life, her first day in Haven," he said quietly. "You came through for her. You came through for all of us. I told you that you were the bravest man I ever knew. And that's true. You are the brother I never had. I am proud to have been able to call you my friend, Duke Crocker," he concluded, wiping his eyes.
He moved back, and Gloria put a reassuring arm around him, and hugged him closely as Stan moved forward, unfolding a paper he'd taken from his pocket.
"I remember Duke was always good to me, he was good to everybody at Haven PD," he began. "He had a way of almost making you feel bad when you'd bust him on something, because he was so charming," he went on, getting faint smiles from Dwight and Nathan. "But he was a good guy under it all. We talked sometimes. I remember once we talked about religion. Duke told me he was something of a Buddhist," he said shyly, unused to speaking before people. "Since there's no Buddhist temples in Haven, I looked this up, and Gloria said she thought it was appropriate."
He drew a deep breath, and began to read:
O Buddhas and Bodhisattvas
abiding in all directions
endowed with great compassion
endowed with divine eyes
endowed with love,
affording protection to sentient beings
consent through the power of your great compassion to come forth.
Consent to accept these offerings concretely,
laid out and mentally created.
O Compassionate Ones
you who possess the wisdom of understanding
the love of compassion
the power of doing divine deeds and of protecting in incomprehensible measure.
Duke and Jennifer are passing from this world to the next.
They are taking a great leap.
The light of this world has faded for them.
They have entered solitude with their karmic forces.
They have gone into a vast Silence.
They are borne away by the Great Ocean of birth and death.
O Compassionate Ones
protect Duke and Jennifer, who are defenseless.
Be to them like a father and a mother.
O Compassionate Ones
let not the force of your compassion be weak, but aid them.
Forget not your ancient vows.
As he read, Dwight nudged Lizzie, and she began to drop the flowers one by one into the water below. When he had finished, Stan stepped back, and Gloria nodded.
"Very nice, Stan," she murmured. She gestured toward the stern, where Jimmy had opened his bag, and removed a set of bagpipes, and James picked up his guitar. After a few moments, they began to play.
Nathan recognized the tune, Mull of Kintyre, and he remembered hearing Duke sing it one night when he'd had a few too many after a rather difficult Trouble.
Far have I traveled
And much have I seen
Darkest of mountains
With valleys of green
As painted deserts
The sunsets on fire
As they carry me back to
The Mull of Kintyre
Mull of Kintyre
O mist rolling in from the sea
My desire
Is always to be near
The Mull of Kintyre
The song finished, the sound of the bagpipes echoing out over the water, fading into the distance, only the sound of the sea and Meg and Rafferty's quiet sobbing, Stan's arms around her shoulders, whispering softly to her, and Gloria wiped her eyes.
James plucked out the next tune, and began to sing.
Old pirates, yes, they rob I
Took I from the merchant ships
Minutes after escape I
From the bottomless pit
But my hand was made strong
by the 'and of The Almighty
We forward to this generation
Triumphantly.
"Redemption Song," Gloria murmured. "He loved Bob Marley's music."
"It was Duke's favorite song," Nathan answered.
As James began the second verse, Nathan took one side of the chest, and Gloria held the other as they lifted the small box to the railing, and opened it, tipping its contents into the water as James continued to play, the ashes swirling into the wind as the sunset cast billions of diamonds on the water, all its colors ablaze, as though it too were honoring the pair whose lives were being celebrated.
Nathan looked back towards the gathering, and for a moment, he saw them; two figures, standing on the upper deck, a man and a woman, and he realized that he was staring at Duke and Jennifer, their arms around one another. Duke gazed back down at him, and he smiled.
It's all right, Nathan, he heard Duke's voice in his head. It's okay.
Nathan blinked, and they were gone, and he wondered if he'd seen them at all. He turned his head back to the ocean, to the place where Duke and Jennifer would always be together forever, sleeping beneath the sea Duke had loved so well in life.
Out on the ocean, Nathan couldn't swear to it, but he thought he saw a greenish flash on the horizon as the sun put herself to bed in the sea. And for the first time, he felt a sense of peace. Audrey and Duke might be gone; but the love they left with him remained-and as long as he lived, it always would.
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