Haven: Home Is Where the Truth Is
Lexie DeWitt has had a long day. Several, in fact, but they all seem to blur together until she can no longer decipher one from the other.
Or… maybe that wasn't how this worked.
The handsome stranger sitting complacently at the end of the bar seems to have other ideas.
He tells her his name is William. He tells her things that scare her.
"You need to remember who you were."
I know who I am, a voice inside of her insists.
(But can she trust it?)
"I'm Lexie DeWitt," she declares with a flourish of triumph. "That is who I really am."
But the way William's gaze settles on her causes her to become self-aware.
Hyper aware.
What is he hiding?
"You can sit here and enjoy your beer or you can just get out," Lexie tells him, her voice low and unnervingly calm.
"Oh, but I don't think you want me to do that," William says, taking a sip from his beer. "You need me to help you remember."
Her eyes narrow in suspicion, but before she can question him any further…
"Hey, Lex, can you help me fill these orders?" Julie, another bartender and the only friend she's made since she came to this dive of a bar, calls to her.
Lexie fills the orders of the other patrons, then saunters back to William.
"I hope you were planning on paying for that," Lexie gestures to the bottle that William takes a casual sip from. "It's a good import."
Carefully, he takes out a five dollar bill, holding it between two fingers as he meets Lexie's beautiful blue eyes. "What if I were to tell you… that you're not really a bartender?"
"Excuse me?" She reaches for the money, but William is quick to keep it out of her reach.
"Do you remember how you ended up here?"
"I don't see what that has to do with the money you owe me for your beer."
"You tell me what you remember," William replies. "And I'll let you keep the change."
Lexie considers this for a moment. "Came here from Oakland with my boyfriend. Lots of bumpy roads and air that smelled like cow manure. Not really what I was expecting. Ditched my boyfriend halfway through the trip. Stole all the cash from his wallet and stole his car keys while he was using the bathroom at a gas station."
"This boyfriend. Did you love him?"
Her eyes glaze over in contemplation for a few lingering seconds before she answers, "No."
"What if I told you that you used to know love?" William informs her. "Big love. Bigger than you can imagine. That's what I want to help you remember."
He gives her the five dollar bill.
"You should leave." Her voice holds warning, power. She starts cleaning off the bar's mahogany tabletop all while keeping a watchful eye on her mysterious and intriguing customer.
"You're just not ready," William says, frustrated, and finishing off his beer. "Guess I've done all I can for now."
As William starts to get up, Lexie takes his now empty beer bottle and carries it to the trash when suddenly…
"Hey, stay with us, okay?" A man with a trimmed goatee and dark hair looms above her.
"Come on, Parker," another voice, equally worried, murmurs gently as he tries to rub life into her warm skin. "Duke, her temperature keeps going up."
"Howard says we should bring her into the Barn," the man named Duke says.
"And leave her there?!"
"No, Nathan," Duke replies. "We'll go in and we'll stay in. Someone needs to watch over Audrey while she's trapped in that monstrosity for twenty-seven years. We both love her. We promised her we'd take care of her and she made a choice. She chose both of us. So who better than us to be by her side?"
"But what about Haven? With both of us gone…"
"We're running out of time, Nathan," Duke states firmly. "And I don't know about you, but I'm not leaving her in there alone."
Nathan meets Duke's eyes and, in that moment, a decision is made.
"Neither am I."
She feels strong arms pick up her feverish body and carry her into a vortex of blackness.
…the beer bottle almost crashes into a million shards of glass on the floor, but Lexie manages to escape from her reverie just in time. No one else seems to notice her little mishap and she throws the bottle away. But when she turns back around to address the next customer, she's surprised to find William still there.
She walks over to him, caution in her step.
"You're starting to remember," he says plainly.
Lexie's eyes start to fill with tears. She doesn't even know where they came from, but she knows that they will definitely mess up her eyeliner as she dabs at her watery eyes with her black lacquered fingernails.
Why did that feel so real? Those emotions? Was it… Is it possible that those two men who called her by a different name, but were clearly speaking to her… Did they love her?
"Haven," Lexie whispers carefully to William. "Is that what you want me to remember? And those two men…"
"When you think about Haven and those two men, how does it make you feel?"
Another tear rolls down her cheek and she doesn't notice as the bar starts to gradually fade, people disappearing one by one, the raucous din quieting into a blanket of silence around them. As she wipes the tear away, she meets William's questioning gaze.
"Warm. Safe. Loved."
Extending his hand to her, he asks, "Lexie, are you ready?"
Her voice wavers as she stares questioningly at his outstretched hand. "Where are you taking me?"
"Home," he tells her softly. "Where the truth is."
Fin.
Author's Note: Written as a "cheer up" present for RazielOmega who's been going through some rough times. This is not what I was expecting to write, but this is what came out. Just a little AU take on the first three episodes of Season 4. Hope everyone is enjoying the new season as much as I am! Also, reviews are met with heaps of cherries and virtual hugs.