Title: One Day
Author: GageWhitney
Rating: K
Pairing: Nathan/Audrey
Disclaimer: Very much not mine.
Summary: "What do we do now?"
Later, Nathan follows Duke back to the Grey Gull and finds Audrey sitting by herself at the bar. He drops into the seat next to her. "It's done," he says by way of greeting, and she knows exactly what he's referring to.
"I'm sorry, Nathan." She signals the bartender to bring two more bottles of beer.
"Did you send Duke out there?"
"He asked after you when I got here. I might have told him where you'd be." He nods. "How are you doing?" she asks, her voice quiet.
He shrugs, because there's no good answer to that question at the moment. "How are you doing?" His eyes search her face.
"Yeah," she says, blowing out a breath. "You just missed Agent Howard. And by that I mean, other Audrey's other Agent Howard."
Nathan raises his eyebrows. "There's another Agent Howard, now, too?"
"Yep." Their beers arrive, and she takes a sip before idly fiddling with the label. "She told him I was in the wind. That I escaped up to Canada."
"That was... nice of her?" he offers, and she makes a noncommittal noise in response to his assessment.
"She went to the motel. She told him she's going to stick around anyway for another couple days to finish checking it out."
"I'm sure she will."
They're quiet for a minute before she says, "What do we do now?"
"Well, I'd rather stay in the states, I think," he suggests with a slight chuckle. "I hear Massachusetts is nice."
"No," Audrey says, wrinkling her nose. She decides to play the game. "I'd want to go somewhere I've never lived before."
"Hmm," he says. "Rhode Island?"
"Think further," she says. "What's that saying? 'Go west, young man'?"
"Okay. How about the West Coast? Washington or Oregon. Maybe California, even. All the way on the other side of the country."
She mulls this over, imagining herself as a West Coaster. "I could be on board with that."
"Me, too. A nice town near the beach, maybe. I like being near the water."
"A little house with a porch and a view of the ocean," she says dreamily. "That'd be nice. With a couple of those big Adirondack chairs so we can sit and have coffee in the mornings."
"Yeah," he says with a nod. "A big garage, maybe."
"For your decoupage?" She knocks her shoulder with his and grins widely. He's glad to see it.
"Exactly." He's smiling now, getting into the fantasy. "And I'd plant a garden. Grow tomatoes, maybe some lettuce. Cucumbers."
"Sounds good. And a little too healthy. Maybe I could get one of those mixer things and make cupcakes." Audrey giggles, then sighs heavily. "You think we'd still be cops in this other life?"
He shakes his head. "No. Definitely not. I think I might want to do something with my hands. Build furniture, maybe."
"Hmm," she says. "I thought that I've always wanted to be a cop, but maybe that wasn't me." She takes a minute to ponder, and he's worried for a moment that she's gone down a bad path in her thoughts, before she says, "I could get into the baking thing. Maybe my love of cupcakes is a sign. I could get really good at it and open a little store."
Nathan laughs, sounding relieved. "I think I like this plan." Somewhere, his plan also includes a good local school system and a swing set he builds in the back yard, but he keeps that to himself.
"I like it, too. We could lead a whole new life, Wournos."
"We could. One day," he says.
She nods in agreement. "One day. But for the time being?"
"We go home," he says, suddenly sounding weary. "Get some sleep. And tomorrow morning, I deal with the aftermath of everyone finding out about the chief."
"And I deal with alterna-me running around Haven." She drums her fingers along the side of the glass bottle. "You think 'one day' could be someday soon?"
"I hope so." He takes a long sip. "Until then, we'll get through this. Together."
She clinks her glass lightly against his. "Deal."