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Fandoms: Haven, Fringe
Pairing: Audrey Parker/Olivia Dunham
Rating:
Summary: Audrey's not as unique as she thought.
Notes: Written for Porn Battle XIV. Prompts used: trapped, tequila
Whoever Olivia Dunham really was, Audrey Parker had already learned one thing about her: the woman could drink.
Halfway through a bottle of tequila (definitely earned, considering the circumstances of the last day or so), Audrey had fallen far past buzzed and well into drunk. Olivia, meanwhile, was still sitting up straight and not slurring her words.
At least she'd taken her jacket off. Audrey could remember-or thought she remembered, with her stolen memories-the FBI need to be professional at all times, in control. She'd shed that need along with her badge.
But she'd retained enough discipline to keep cool when Dunham blew into town. The agent had initially been following up on the case of the real Audrey Parker, the FBI agent who came to Haven looking for a woman who'd stolen her name and left again with a serious case of amnesia.
Dunham held her cards close, but she asked enough odd questions to make Audrey think she might be a little more understanding about Haven's Troubles than most feds. Even so, she was still an outsider. Audrey never would have trusted her if they hadn't both been caught up in the same nightmare.
One of the Rev's crusaders saw fit to kidnap Audrey for her part in helping the town's Troubled, and Olivia'd been caught up in the operation. They'd both been tied up and left in an abandoned cabin just outside of town, presumably until the kidnapper came back with his buddies. For the witch-burning, or whatever they thought she was.
Tied back-to-back in opposing chairs with Dunham, Audrey hadn't been able to see the other woman's expressions. Olivia's voice as she questioned Audrey about the kidnapper and their current circumstances remained steady, displaying no fear. When Audrey managed to scrape out of her bonds using a stray nail, she turned to see Olivia already standing and rubbing at her wrists, evidently having done the same.
Between the two of them they'd set an ambush and handily taken out the kidnapper when he came to check on them. That kind of thing tended to forge an instant connection. Dunham also agreed to let Audrey and Nathan handle the incident rather than calling in an assault on a federal agent. And that, Audrey decided, was enough reason to trust Olivia. She had to trust someone.
After all the paperwork and official business, she turned to Olivia and invited her up to the apartment over the Gull. Olivia-apparently having decided that she could trust Audrey as well, or making a good show of it-agreed.
Duke didn't do take-out but he was willing to make an exception for her, as usual. A couple of crab cakes and burgers later, all pretense of formal investigation had been disposed of, and that bottle of tequila Duke gave Audrey as a housewarming present wasn't gonna drink itself.
Olivia listened as Audrey described the Troubles, nodding thoughtfully, unfazed. She was more reticent about describing her own work, but Audrey gathered it wasn't so dissimilar. The whole world was filled with weirdness, not just Haven. She couldn't decide if that made her feel better or worse.
But her own experience warranted a special distinction: Audrey saw Olivia blink as she explained her apparent cycle of resurrection, her return to Haven every twenty-seven years with a new identity.
"I'm familiar," Olivia finally said, "with memory issues and not knowing who you really are. With not being able to separate out the lives you've lived."
They were leaning close enough for Audrey to see the fine spray of freckles under Olivia's makeup. Close enough to smell the clean scent of Olivia's skin, devoid of artificial perfumes.
The open Parker case wasn't the only reason Olivia came to Haven. The investigation had been intended as a means of distraction. She'd recently regained memories of living another life-in a timeline that had been wiped away. She was still coping with the doubled, contradictory memories.
"We're supposed to be the sum of our memories," Olivia said wryly, not without bitterness. "The problem is, they're all real. And no matter which set I choose to remember-because I don't think I can keep both-someone gets hurt. There are things about that other timeline I need to remember, events of critical importance. But that isn't fair to the people I'd be forgetting in this here and now."
Olivia's quiet distress almost made Audrey grateful that she hadn't retained the memories of her previous lives, as useful as they might have been.
"The guys don't make it any easier. Nathan and Duke..." Audrey trailed off.
"Peter and Lincoln," Olivia agreed.
In tequila bravado, if not truth. Audrey leaned in to brush her mouth against Olivia's, half expecting to be tossed across the room.
Olivia's mouth was warm, her tongue welcoming.
Audrey rested against her, grateful for simple human contact. "Think we'll remember this?"
Olivia tilted her head, thoughtful. "I think...our experiences stay with us, even if we don't remember the specifics." Her mouth curled into a smile, small but genuine. "A friend told me that there are people who leave an indelible mark on your soul. An imprint that can never be erased."
"That's...deep." And something to think on later; it had the ring of truth. But her head was far too fuzzy for deep thoughts and besides, they were both wearing too many clothes.
Olivia appeared tall, strong, seeming cold and impenetrable. Audrey looked small, delicate, seeming soft and fragile.
By the time Olivia left in the morning, they both knew neither seeming was true.