"That," said Duke pointing with disgust, "is the creepiest thing that I have ever seen". Inside the cooler at Frank's, cellophane wrapped turkeys sat neatly in a row. The scene almost looked normal until periodically one of the birds would let out a warble and begin rocking to and fro. "And remember Nathan, I saw your pantomime to "Don't Worry Be Happy" in our 3th grade talent show.

For a moment it looked like Nathan was going to retaliate with his own pointed barb, but instead he just smiled good naturedly at Duke and walked over to ask Frank some follow up questions. "See! That's exactly what I'm talking about. What the hell was that? I bring up what has become known in Haven Elementary circles as the 'McFerrin Fiasco' and he just smiles and walks away? Something is very wrong with him, Audrey. And it's freaking me out."

"Yeah," Audrey agreed, "that was definitely strange." She looked pointedly at the back of her partner's sandy blonde head as if the answers to his new Duke acceptance were written there. Could Nathan be under the influence of someone troubled? Sure she'd be immune, but wouldn't Duke be affected or the guys down at the station? She was roused from trying to recollect any odd, or odder than usual, behavior down at the precinct by a loud squawking sound from the cooler. "Okay let's focus on the song trouble for now, who knows maybe it's related to whatever's going on with Nathan."

They had already been heading down to Frank's shop to begin their investigation when the call from the man in question came through to Nathan's cell. It seemed that even in a town like Haven, squawking frozen poultry was enough to warrant a call to the police. Duke had come along for the ride. Not wanting to be around while Dwight did whatever it was he did to 'clean' and as an eyewitness to the presumed ground zero of the Days of Christmas affliction, the partners had thought he'd be an asset to their investigation. That was until they'd walked into the small grocery store. Duke had not been kidding about Frank's animosity towards him.

"What do you want, Crocker?" he sneered as they entered the front doors.

"Relax old man. I'm with them," Duke indicated to Nathan and Audrey.

"I see your ways finally caught up to you, boy," Frank said to Duke. "Make sure you lock him up for a good long time officers," he told Nathan and Audrey.

"All-righty," said Audrey shooing Duke further into one of the aisles and out of the old grocer's line of vision as Nathan addressed Frank, "Actually sir, we're hear responding to your call about some trouble with your poultry."

"What did you do to piss him off?" Audrey whispered when they were well out of view of the front counter.

"I stole a Twix bar."

"What? Today? Why?" Audrey asked incredulously.

"In the 4th grade," Duke answered looking at her like she was nuts, "Because I was hungry. Old man Frank really knows how to hold a grudge."

When they'd finally finished questioning Frank and loaded the offending turkeys onto the back of the Bronco, wrapped tightly in a blanket to muffle their calls, the 3 climbed inside and began heading back towards the water.

"Well not too much new information," Nathan sighed. "Frank did give me a few more names of people who might have been in around the time you were there, Duke. I say we call it a night, let this storm pass and see what we can figure out in the morning. If anymore troubles pop up, I'm sure I'll hear about them."

"Maybe there won't be anything for awhile. I mean '5 golden rings' is when the song's tempo slows down, right?" Duke asked looking expectantly at Nathan and Audrey in the front seat. Both looked back at him with blank stares. "You know, Fiiiiiiive goooooolden riiiiiings," he sang in a shaky off-key voice. Audrey's blank stare turned to a grin at his singing but Nathan only raised one eyebrow and glanced back at him through the rearview mirror with distaste.

"What?" Duke asked him.

"I didn't say anything," Nathan replied.

"Yeah, but you were looking at me funny!"

Nathan looked about ready to launch into some retort that the 2 had probably thrown back and forth at each other for decades, when he cast his eyes sideways to Audrey and then back to Duke. "Sorry, Duke." He said earnestly, "I didn't realize."

Audrey shot Duke a concerned look over her shoulder, which he returned with a puzzled shake of his head and the 3 rode on in silence for the rest of the ride to the marina.

"You really think Dwight's been able to clean up my boat in just a few hours with this blizzard going on?" Duke asked.

"He's good at what he does," Nathan answered simply.

"He better be. You 2 can expect a bill for any damages I find," Duke admonished wagging his finger at them.

"Yeah right," said Audrey laughing. "More like you can expect a bill from us for Dwight's services."

"You're joking, right?" Duke asked looking nervously between the partners. "She's joking, right Nathan?"

"Goodnight, Duke" the 2 responded in unison and Duke stepped out of the truck with a defeated, "Night" and a wave over his shoulder.

As soon as the door shut behind him, Audrey turned in her seat to fully take in her partner beside her.

"What?" said Nathan glancing awkwardly back at her.

"How are you feeling, Nathan?" she asked looking at him with concern.

"Fine. I'm feeling fine," he answered a little warily.

"Mm-hmm," she said, "and nothing new has happened recently? No unexpected visitors or run-ins?"

"No," said Nathan slowly looking at her with concern now. "Why? What's up?"

"That is exactly what I want to know, Nathan. What is up? You do realize you missed about 100 opportunities to make snide comments at Duke tonight, right? You laughed at his jokes? You let him tease you?"

"He wasn't teasing me. Don't put it that way. It sounds weird." Nathan deflected.

"Aha! So you don't deny being nice to him."

"No, detective," Nathan smiled over to her, "I don't deny it."

"So don't you think that's a little odd? You're never nice to Duke."

"And you think I might be influenced by someone troubled," said Nathan finally putting the pieces together. "It's not a trouble, Audrey. I know why I'm being nice to him and it has nothing to do with a troubled person."

"Alright, then why?"

He paused a moment looking over at her, "Let me ask you this. Do you like it, your closest friends getting along better? Does it make you happy."

"Yes," she answered simply. Because it did make her happy, happier than she had realized.

"Then don't worry about it, okay?" Nathan smiled and pulled up into the lot of the Grey Gull. They'd arrived without Audrey even noticing. "Looks like you're going to have to swim for it again," he told her with a grin. "Goodnight, Audrey."

"Goodnight, Nathan."