When Troubles Ain't Troubling
"Gun!" The man yelled, "Drop it!"
It all came down to that moment and Duke and Audrey reacted instinctively. Audrey dropped to the ground, curling into a ball to present the smallest target. Not having a gun she had no real choice in how she could react – it was that or stand like a goomba with her hands in the air.
Duke, his gun already out, fired three quick shots, one of which went exactly where it was needed – into the center of William's forehead. William slithered to the floor, dead before he landed.
Slowly, Audrey uncurled and stared at Duke in astonishment – William was dead and this new, Trouble-free Haven was safe.
"You okay?" Duke asked her briskly.
Audrey nodded, eyes still wide, still trying to process this abrupt change in her life.
"Great." Duke holstered his gun and strode over to the blond man tied to the chair, fishing out a pocket knife from his pants as he did. "What about you, buddy? You all right?"
"Yes." Cliff answered shakily as Duke cut him loose. "Thanks."
"So, you want to tell me what that man wanted with you?"
"He wanted me to wish Haven back the way it was." Cliff answered honestly.
"So, you're in on her delusion?" Duke asked Cliff.
"It's not a delusion, Duke." Audrey replied before Cliff could. "Cliff is troubled and his trouble created this alternate Haven. But now that William's gone Haven can go back to being the safest town in Maine, or America, or whatever."
"Okay." Duke agreed reluctantly. "So now what? What are you two going to do?"
Cliff and Audrey looked at each other blankly. They were the only two people who knew about the original Haven. They had no pre-ordained place in this Haven. They had no jobs, no resources, nothing. Duke sighed.
"Fine. Let me call this in and then I'll see what I can do for you both."
Of course it wasn't that simple. Clint had to go to the hospital for an examination and then he and Audrey both had to give their statements. The three of them discussed what the story should be on the way to the hospital and Audrey thought nostalgically of the days when she could simply say it was a gas leak. She knew better than to suggest it to Officer Crocker, however.
Finally the three of them sat around Duke's small kitchen table in his apartment.
"First of all, you both need identification – paperwork." Duke declared, scratching something onto the yellow legal pad in front of him. "Fortunately, I busted a rather gifted forger when I was a rookie in Portland. He gave up several higher-level criminals and got probation. I know how to get in touch with him."
Audrey smiled slightly – this was the Duke Crocker she remembered.
"Now, what do you two know how to do for a living?"
"I had a landscaping business in our Haven." Cliff told Duke.
"Okay, I can work with that."
"I was FBI and then I came here to Haven and joined the police force." Audrey answered slowly. "But my strength was my ability to work with troubled people. I don't think you need me here."
"So, if you weren't a cop what do you think you might like to do?"
"Vince and Dave are dead now –" Audrey mused out loud. "I wonder if I'd like running the Herald?"
"Do you know how to write an article?"
"Well, no – but I know how to write a report, and an imaginative report at that." Audrey replied.
"I hate to break it to you but "gas leak" isn't as imaginative as you might think it is." Cliff told her dryly.
"Do I want to know?" Duke asked, looking from one to the other in bafflement.
"Probably not." Audrey replied with a grin but an idea began to percolate in her mind. Maybe she wasn't qualified to be a reporter but there was something she knew better than pretty much anyone…
Six months later she answered the door of her modest, two-bedroom home to admit Duke Crocker. Nathan and Marie Hansen, Cliff and his date Jennifer Mason who had been hired to work on the Herald, and Garland Wuornos, the proprietor of a thriving tourist and fishing boat rental, were already in the back yard. Garland was grilling steaks and tiger shrimp. Nathan was mixing drinks, for those who wished a specialty beverage and Marie was organizing a folding table with the dishes others had brought for the potluck/housewarming. Jennifer was organizing another table with gifts that the others had brought to celebrate Audrey's new home.
"Sorry I'm late." Duke announced to the group in general as he and Audrey joined them. "Some kids from the high school decided to try and liberate the bronze ball in front of the church in broad daylight. I had to go deal with them."
"I'm sure you were masterful." Audrey assured Duke, exchanging a welcoming kiss.
"So masterful." Duke agreed with mock gravity. "They'll at least have the decency to try such stunts after dark from here on out."
"Well you're just in time." Garland announced from his post at the grill. "The steaks are done."
"So," Jennifer said, after everyone had filled their plates and were sitting around Audrey's fire pit. "When is your book coming out?"
"This month." Audrey answered with a combination of pride and unease. "I'm still surprised it sold."
"A romance about a woman whose moods affect the weather? Who wouldn't want to read that?" Marie asked.
"Me!" Chimed most of the guys in unison. Duke merely smiled.
"You will all have signed copies the minute I get them." Audrey promised. "You've made me feel so at home here."
"I, for one, can't imagine Haven without you." Garland assured her. "I was a lonely old man before you found me."
"Here, here!" Cliff seconded, holding out his beer in a toast.
"I wouldn't even be here if it weren't for you, Audrey." Jennifer said, clinking her glass of wine against the other various beverages. "If you'd told me six months ago how much I'd love living in a small town I'd have called you crazy. I can't believe you noticed my article about a new library and liked it enough to invite me to interview at the Herald!"
Audrey had been given an identity as a cousin to the Teagues and had inherited a portion of their rather sizeable real estate empire as a result. Most of their estate was settled by the wills left by the brothers but the Herald had been overlooked in that document. Audrey requested, and was granted, ownership of the paper along with the funds to keep it running. She'd hired Jennifer within the first month when she realized she was woefully unprepared to run or even write for a paper, no matter how small it was. Jennifer had taken to managing the Herald like a pro, however, and it now had a full-time secretary, two reporters and a press operator who doubled as a mechanic to keep their old press going.
Audrey had then taken a chance and put down her first case in Haven as a story, padding it until it had turned into a full-blown novel. Duke had spent many nights going over plots and, as their friendship grew, helping her "research" her romance scenes. Audrey looked over as Nathan brought Maria another non-alcoholic drink, pausing to pat her protruding belly possessively, and felt nothing more than a twinge of regret over losing him in this new Haven. He was happy and she – she looked over at Duke and found him studying her thoughtfully. She gave him a questioning look and he rose suddenly and pulled her to her feet with him.
"Audrey," he began with an uncharacteristic uncertainty, "I know it hasn't been all that long but…"
He pulled a small box from a pocket and opened it to show a small silver ring set with green stones.
"Would you consider forever with me?" He finished with a slight catch in his breath.
Audrey looked at the ring, tears sparkling in her eyes. She looked at the others. Garland, alive. Nathan happy, a successful doctor with a beautiful wife and daughter and another on the way. Cliff and Jennifer growing together, easing the pain Cliff had suffered when his wife from the other Haven had ended up married to another man. And Duke, the same generous protector she had met her very first day in the original Haven. The man who had saved her in two realities. Just a bit of a rebel, even as a respectable officer in a small, peaceful town.
"I can't think of anything that would make me happier." She answered finally, holding out her hand for the ring. Duke place it on her finger and gathered her in for a kiss that went on long enough that Garland suggested they get a room.
Sometimes, Audrey thought as she blinked back tears of joy, some troubles aren't trouble at all.