A/N: This is a case fic that happens around the time of Countdown, 4x06. Nathan and Audrey haven't learned about the escalation of the Troubles yet, nor about the two threatening 'men' from the barn assaulting people. They haven't personally dealt with their feelings or own situation yet either. I hope you like it. I am using it as my NaNoWriMo piece, so I just started it yesterday. I'd love some feedback.

Disclaimer: I only own the storyline, not the characters or settings.

Prologue – September 1983

The light hurt her eyes even though it was early morning and the sun wasn't all the way up yet. She winced as she looked up at the noise a squirrel made in a tree. She was cold and the ground hurt her bare feet. She wasn't sure where she was going, she didn't even recognize the street she was walking down. Being outside seemed like a dream, except she couldn't really remember having any dreams lately.

She had been brave when she woke up. She had given up on the idea of getting out of the tiny room a long time ago. But the house had been so quiet for so long and she was getting very hungry. Her hunger had made her brave. She had tried to turn the knob slowly, so slowly, in case he was nearby, she didn't want him to hear her.

She shuddered, and not just from the cold. She didn't want to think about him.

"Are you alright?" a nearby voice called out.

The girl turned, ready to run. She saw a lady on the other side of the street. She started moving faster, she didn't want to go back to the tiny, dark room, but she stumbled on her numb feet and fell on the ground.

"Honey, no," the lady said in a kind voice, as she was running over to her. The girl looked up as she tried to sit and saw the lady seemed nice. After all, the man was a man. She had never heard a woman, so maybe she was safe.

The woman was wearing a light jacket, as it wasn't too cold in early September. She took it off and wrapped it around the little girl. She paused to look at her sitting on the ground. She was in a dirty t-shirt, sweatpants and no shoes or socks. Her hair was uneven and uncombed. Her face was very pale and her eyes were sunken in her head. "Who are you?" she asked softly.

The little girl looked up at the nice lady who had given her the soft coat. "I don't know."

The woman looked startled. "You don't know your name?" she asked. The little girl shook her head slowly. She tried another question, "Where did you come from?"

The little girl shrugged her shoulders, she didn't want the lady to be mad that she couldn't answer her questions.

The lady looked around, not sure what to do. She was afraid if she moved, the little girl would disappear. She had to call the police, something wasn't right here. She noticed her neighbor opening the door to get her paper. "Tammy!" she called.

Her neighbor looked over at the sound of her name. "Call 911, this little girl needs help."

Present Day

Audrey was sitting at her desk catching up on some paperwork. She was giving serious thought to pretending that Lexie knew nothing about completing paperwork when Nathan came in their office.

"Morning," he said as he handed her a cup of coffee.

She tasted it and nodded, "It's okay, not too hot."

"Thanks," Nathan said as he went over to his desk. Things had been awkward since he had figured out she was only pretending to be Lexie. He was upset that she hadn't told him, she was upset that he was trying to make her kill him to end the Troubles. They were in a kind of emotional stalemate. Audrey had put it on the line the day before when she had admitted that she loved him. They really hadn't talked much since then.

Just then, the phone rang, it's shrillness in the silence making her jump. Nathan answered it, listened for a moment. "Okay, thanks, Laverne. We'll check it out."

"Weird 911 call, probably a Trouble," he explained as he hung up the phone. "Woman called in saying she just went blind all of a sudden. She's pretty freaked out, paramedics are on the way, but we should probably check it out." He had stood up while he was talking, grabbing the light jacket he had left over his chair.

Audrey was already on her feet. "Were there any more details than that?" she asked.

Nathan shook his head, "Nope," he replied.

The drive over to the house was quiet. Audrey couldn't stop thinking about the woman they were going to talk to. She was mostly past the fact that the Troubles were supposed to be gone. She had been pretty angry that Nathan had shot Howard, and her sacrifice had been for nothing. She had to admit that part of her was glad to be back, back with him and Duke. The guilt was also there, guilt she was reminded of with every new Troubled person they encountered.

Nathan was also caught up in his thoughts. He felt like he had messed everything up, more so than usual. He knew he was terrible at the emotional things, like relationships. He realized that he should have gone after Audrey yesterday, after she had stormed off. He had just been so shocked that she had said it out loud, Because I love you. He kept hearing it in his head, but he felt like when he didn't go after her, he had lost his opportunity to do anything about it. Things were so tense now, he didn't know what to do.

He pulled up to the curb, behind the ambulance. There was a little commotion outside, a few neighbors trying to see what was going on. Nathan and Audrey hopped out of the Bronco and walked up to the front door. There was a uniformed officer that Audrey didn't know at the door who let them in.

At first glance, Audrey noticed how nice and homey the little house was. The hallway that led to the living room was covered in family pictures. The scene in the living room was far from serene, however.

There was a woman sitting on a grey couch. She looked to be in her thirties. She had short brown hair and a slight figure. She was obviously agitated, and was demanding answers from the paramedic that was kneeling in front of her. He was looking into her eyes with a light. Her pupils were huge, but she acted like there was no light at all.

"What is happening to me?" she cried.

Audrey immediately went over to her. "Ma'am, my name is Lexie, and I am with the Haven police department. My partner is here, too, Detective Wuornos." Audrey took the woman's hand, and even though it seemed like she was going to pull away, she didn't. "What's your name?"

"Beth Markins," the woman replied.

Audrey continued to hold Beth's hand. "Beth, can you tell me what happened?"

Nathan came closer to the women, and the paramedic continued his ministrations, checking her blood pressure.

Beth took a deep breath. "I was reading. It was my day off, and I was really excited to finally have a chance to start my new book. I had been reading for a few minutes when all of a sudden, I started to feel anxious." She frowned. "It was weird, like I was afraid, but that's silly, I was reading a romance novel."

"It's okay," Audrey soothed her. "Just keep telling us what you remember."

"As I got more and more nervous, it became harder to read. Then out of the blue, with no warning, I just couldn't see anymore. Everything went dark. I tried to close my eyes, to see if something would be different when I opened them again. It wasn't," she was becoming more upset, on the verge of tears now.

"Was anyone in the house with you?" Nathan asked.

"No," Beth replied. "My husband is working. "I'm a substitute teacher over at the high school, but they didn't need me today, and since that doesn't happen often, I was planning on having a day to just relax."

The paramedic stood up. "I can't see any physical reason for what is happening, but there could be something going on that I can't see. I'm going to get my partner, and I think we should run you to the hospital for some tests."

Beth became more agitated. "I just don't understand."

"We'll follow you to the hospital," Audrey said. "We'll also call your husband, and let him know what's going on." She squeezed Beth's hand gently. "You won't be alone."

Beth nodded, and said "Okay, thank you. I got so scared, I called 911. I didn't call my husband yet."

The paramedics came in with the stretcher, and they helped the woman onto it. They all left the house together, with Audrey thinking ahead and grabbing Beth's purse off of the table in the hallway. Nathan made sure the house was locked up, and they both went over to their car.

Later, Nathan and Audrey were walking down the corridor in the hallway towards Beth's room when they heard yelling. Looking at each other for a split second, they both started running without saying anything. The sounds were coming from Beth's room. A doctor and several nurses were in the room, and a man that Audrey could only assume was Beth's husband was standing in the corner.

Beth looked over at the door when they came running in. "I can see!" she was yelling. She was so excited, that she was trying to get out of the bed, but the nurses kept pushing her back. Nathan and Audrey tried to stay out of everyone's way, and eventually, everything calmed down.

The doctor looked serious. "Mrs. Markins," he began. "All of the tests we did came back negative, there is no reason that I can see, physical reason anyway, for your spontaneous loss of sight. I'd like you to stay a few more hours so we can observe you, and see what happens."

Beth nodded vigorously. She reached towards her husband, who immediately came forward to take her hand. He sat down in the chair next to the bed. "We'll stay as long as you think we need to, doctor."

Audrey looked Mr. Markins over. Could either of them be Troubled? she wondered.

The doctor and nurses left the room, leaving just the four of them. Nathan spoke first, "Beth, we're the detectives that were at your house, Lexie DeWitt and Nathan Wuornos."

Beth looked calmer. "Thank you for coming with me, what do you think happened?"

Audrey walked over to the other side of the bed. "Have you heard of the Troubles?"

"Yes," Beth's husband said. "I'm Troubled. My family always has been, but it has nothing to do with blindness."

"Can we ask what your Trouble is, Mr. Markins?" Nathan asked.

"Sure," he replied. "But call me Ben. Our Trouble isn't too bad compared to some I've seen. I get sick," he explained. "I mean really sick. I have to be careful, because if I catch a cold, I get a crazy high fever and am in bed for days. Doctors have always said it was impossible to get such a high fever and come out of it with no brain damage." He shook his head. "I mean it is killer, and it takes me forever to recover, but eventually I am fine. I've just been a hand washing nut my whole life."

Audrey thought about it for a minute. "So, never anything with your sight?"

Ben shook his head. "No," he said.

Nathan looked at Beth. "What about your family?"

"No one in my family has ever been Troubled before," she said. "I was always glad of it, because I see how much Ben suffers when he gets sick, but nothing before."

Audrey sat down in the other chair. "I'm sorry to ask you again, but could you start at the beginning and walk us through what happened?"

Beth recounted her morning step by step, but Nathan and Audrey couldn't see any clues in anything that she had told them. It didn't seem like it was a mutation of her husband's Trouble, and they felt like they had nothing to go on. They left the hospital a little while later, after promising to check up on the Markins' to make sure the blindness hadn't come back.

"What do you think?" Audrey asked when they were back in the Bronco. "Trouble or no?"

Nathan shrugged. "It's Haven. It's probably a Trouble. With what is going on lately, I wouldn't be surprised if she was getting a new Trouble, like catching a cold."

"I just wish we could be sure," Audrey said, frustrated.

They drove in silence for a few minutes after that. "Let's go back to her house and if we can find anything there." Audrey suggested.

"Sounds good," Nathan replied.

They had spent the better part of two hours in her house, and they found nothing that suggested anything that could have triggered the Trouble. The house was immaculate, with soap everywhere, but Audrey felt that was a result of Ben's Trouble. They headed back to the station, at a loss, until something more happened.

Something more happened that afternoon when there was a small explosion at the high school when a chemistry teacher had an accident with some chemicals during class. Audrey and Nathan went right over to the school when they heard the teacher was saying that she couldn't see. By the time they had gotten there, the teacher's sight had returned, even though it had only taken them a few minutes to drive over.

They had talked to the teacher at length, after the firemen had left. The paramedics had left also, since they couldn't find anything wrong, and she declined to go to the hospital. The teacher, Anabeth Tomlinson, had lived in Haven all of her life, and had been teaching at the high school for 10 years. She had heard of the Troubles, but stated that no one in her family was Troubled.

She had been instructing the students on how to complete an experiment when she started to get upset. She said there had been nothing that caused her to get scared, no student had acted threateningly. Then, a few minutes later, she suddenly couldn't see. She dropped the chemicals she was holding, and while flailing her arms, had knocked over several others. She had the presence of mind to yell to the students to get out of the room, so there were only minor injuries when the chemicals had reacted to each other. Then, a few minutes after the firemen and paramedics arrived, her sight had returned.

Her story was so similar to Beth Markins, it really didn't provide Nathan and Audrey with much more information to go on. Tomlinson had heard of Markins, but they didn't know each other well. They headed back to the station, feeling like they were missing something.

"Maybe it has something to do with teachers?" Audrey ventured.

Nathan looked over at Audrey as he got out of the truck. "That's the only link I can see so far. Let's go over their movements and financials to see if they intersect anywhere else."

Audrey nodded as they walked into the station. What was going on? she wondered to herself.