Ageless
"My, what is your secret?"
"How is it you look younger every year?"
"Good heavens, why would such a lovely young thing like you marry an old man like that?"
Paige could have written a book with all the comments about her youth over the years. She and Nathan had been married twenty years before he finally told her the truth about herself. She wasn't from this planet and she wasn't going to age like him. That still felt like a horse kicked her in the gut when she remembered that evening.
Now the children were grown. James and his wife Lisa were visiting the Grand Canyon with their three children. Every summer they took the children and their ancient RV and visited some national landmark. Lydia had married a doctor and lived in Portland. They had three year old twins. Garland ran a boat service for tourists in the summer and wrote the sports column for the Haven Herald. His wife, Tracy, taught third graders. They were expecting their first child in December. And Duke, their miracle baby who had almost died at birth from complications, was away at college, studying physics.
"Nathan, we have to do something." Paige said after they'd eaten a nearly silent meal. Nathan knew what she was talking about, though. They'd been having this conversation more often of late – ever since he'd had a minor heart attack. "I'm going to end up in a lab somewhere if we don't."
"What should we do?" Nathan wanted to know.
"Move?" Paige suggested. "We could change our name. No one except the children would have to know where we were."
"You don't trust Liz to protect you anymore?"
Elizabeth Hendricks, Dwight's daughter, was now the highest ranking detective at Haven PD. The odds were in favor that she'd step up as Chief when the current Chief retired.
"There are too many people in Haven now." Paige pointed out. "And I've never known the secretive Haven you talk about. I don't see how my special nature can remain unknown here."
"You could go back to the barn." Nathan suggested heavily. He clearly didn't like the idea but he'd finally come to terms with the fact that he couldn't keep her to himself back when Audrey had left him to save Haven from the troubles.
"Don't be silly." Paige smiled tenderly at him. "I may not be your Audrey Parker anymore but I love you. I'm not going back to the barn until death do us part."
"Fine. We'll talk to Dwight. I'm sure there's a guard safehouse still around that we can make use of." Nathan agreed.
"Let's try for one further south." Paige suggested. "I don't think the cold here is good for you."
"You worry too much." Nathan covered her hand with his own, wondering when it had gotten so wrinkled and covered in liver spots.
"I worry just the right amount." She countered firmly. "Now go drink your beer in the back yard. I'll join you as soon as I've cleaned up."
"I'll help you." Nathan offered.
"You'll go drink your beer in the back yard." She ordered him. "Then you can help me start packing."
"Whoa! When are you planning on hustling us out of here?"
"Next week at the latest. To be honest, Nathan, I don't like the way Doctor Fuller looks at me lately."
"Is he giving you a hard time? I still have pull at the station, you know."
"Not like that, Nathan. He looks at me like a project. It makes me uneasy. Honestly, if I thought I could, I'd just pack us each a bag and leave today."
"Okay, Paige. You clean up and I'll go out back. Don't take too long." Nathan left, as casually as he could, and pulled out his phone as soon as Paige could no longer see him.
"Dwight – we've got a problem. Paige and I have to disappear." He said urgently, placing his beer down on the patio table and pacing to the back fence of the yard. "Please tell me you still have some Guard related miracle up your sleeve."
"He doesn't have anything that will save Paige." Vincent said, simply appearing in the back yard. "Fuller is from some secret government interest and they're planning on picking up Paige tonight. Meet me at the lighthouse."
Just like that Vincent was gone. Nathan hung up on Dwight went into the house, locking the back door behind him. Paige was just starting the dishwasher when he entered the kitchen, pulling on his jacket and handing her one to wear.
"We're going to the lighthouse." He told her. "I've got a surprise for you."
Paige smiled uncertainly. She knew something was up but not what.
"Keep an eye in the mirrors. I think we're going to be tailed." Nathan said in an undertone as he and Paige entered their dark blue sedan. Paige's eyes widened with worried comprehension.
They were followed but no one interfered when they parked the car and walked up the rocky causeway to the lighthouse. Nathan produced a key that he'd failed to return when he retired as Chief of Police after his heart attack. It was a master key to all the notable landmarks of Haven and it let them into the lighthouse. It had been rebuilt, for the fourth or fifth time that Nathan knew of, after it had imploded following Croatoan's arrival to Haven.
"I'm glad you're here. We haven't much time." Vince greeted them as they climbed down the ladder into the lower level of the lighthouse. Above them the floor smoothed out and the hatch leading down vanished from view.
"Hello, Dove." Croatoan stepped through a door in the stone walls. "Did you miss me?"
"Do I know you?" Paige cocked her head. Nathan braced himself. Vince didn't seem worried but Nathan still didn't trust Croatoan, even though he'd last seen him half a century ago.
"I'm your father." Croatoan said genially. He stepped forward and placed two fingers on Paige's forehead. A white light flared and Paige's eyes widened. She sagged slightly when Croatoan removed his fingers and Nathan put his arms around her supportively.
"What did you –"
"Nathan it's okay." Paige interrupted. "I'm okay. Dad just gave me my memories back."
"I'm going to do more than that, Dove." Croatoan told her.
Before Nathan could move Croatoan put one hand over his head and concentrated fiercely. A golden glow poured from his hand and showered down over Nathan. Paige twisted in Nathan's arms and watched in amazement as Nathan became younger before her eyes. When Croatoan lifted his hand Nathan appeared to be the same age he'd been when Paige's broken down car brought them both together all those years ago.
"Now, the question is: Where do you two want to go? We can try relocating you somewhere remote but it's a long shot. The world is just too interconnected. Or you could join Vince and I in the Barn. Nathan can survive the Void now. Or you could go to our world, Dove, and see what's become of it. What do you want to do?"
Vince's head cocked and he looked up.
"The agent is reporting that you two have entered the lighthouse but not exited." Vince announced gravely. "Better make up your minds quick."
"What about the children?" Nathan asked urgently. "What will happen to them?"
"They're waiting in the Barn. Vince felt we should collect them first." Croatoan answered. "That Duke of yours is quite the brain. He'll do well in our world, if you choose to settle there."
"You changed them too?" Nathan asked, a weight he hadn't realized he'd been carrying lifting from his heart as he realized that he didn't have to abandon his children.
"Of course. They are my grandchildren and great-grandchildren, after all."
"We should discuss this in the safety of the Barn." Paige suggested. "Who knows what the government will do when they realize we're gone?"
"Destroy this lighthouse for one." Vince observed dryly. "It seems this spot is cursed for lighthouses, although this one has managed to stand longer than most."
"There's nothing to discuss." Nathan said as they headed for the door. "Of course we'll go to your world, Paige. You should get to know where you came from. The children should know their heritage as well."
"One last adventure?" Paige smiled at Nathan, young and strong and vigorous again.
"Oh no." Nathan assured her. "This is just the start of many. Your homeworld won't know what hit it once the Wuornos clan descends on it."
Croatoan chuckled delightedly.
Outside the lighthouse anonymous black vehicle after anonymous black vehicle began to gather. Curses could be heard and excuses made by nervous underlings. In Haven Elizabeth Hendrick's computer beeped to announce an incoming message and she opened the email addressed to her. Nathan, elderly but not as old as he'd been when he entered the lighthouse, appeared on her screen.
"Liz, if you're getting this then it means that Paige and I are gone. Don't worry about us – we'll be fine. Your father already has my power of attorney and our will. Just watch your backs. Our sudden disappearance means that the government was after Paige. Take care of yourselves."
The message finished and Liz sat in stunned silence for a moment which was broken by colorful curses when the image on the screen suddenly fractured into fragments on the screen to be replaced by a glowing blue screen. Her computer had been completely wiped. She had her work files backed up but her music library was going to have to be downloaded all over again. She pulled out her phone and dialed her father.
"Dad? They're gone. Said you have power of attorney over their stuff. I'll probably be home late – I see a suit coming my way. Yeah, love you too. Bye."
She smiled slightly as the government official approached her door. She might not have come until the end of the troubles but Lizzy the Lionhearted knew how to keep her town's secrets. She was about to make Uncle Sam very unhappy indeed.