Nathan woke up as sunlight started creeping through the windows. He was in a now familiar position, on his back with Audrey curled up into his side. The thing that was different this morning was the way the majority of his body could feel her curled into him. Every square inch of skin possible was tingling with the remembered feeling of their night together. He could feel her head resting on his arm, her right arm and leg draped over his body and his entire right side pressed into her.

It was a strange combination of sensation and lack of sensation, as where her touch was absent from the left side of his body ached for her. He was thinking of those harlequin clowns that had opposite sides of their body decorated differently when she started to stir.

Audrey stretched, feeling the wonderful tightness in her muscles that came from participating in a little more activity than she was used to. It was a wonderful kind of soreness, and one she was looking forward to experiencing again. She looked up at Nathan, realizing that he was already awake.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Morning," he smiled.

"What are you thinking about?" she asked.

"Clowns," he replied.

Audrey sat up, crossed her legs and stared at him. "Clowns?"

Nathan felt the loss of her touch painfully and reached out to reestablish contact. "You know the ones that have one color or pattern on one side and another on the other side?"

She nodded, not sure where this line of thinking was going.

"I was thinking that I was like that," he explained. "One half of me was alive, touching you, and the other side was dead, no sensation. It was a weird feeling," he shrugged.

Audrey reached out, taking both of his hands in hers. "Oh," she said. "I'm sorry."

Nathan shook his head. "No, nothing to be sorry about, it was a stray thought while I was watching you sleep. Believe me, I'm happy, not complaining at all."

Audrey studied him for a moment. His eyes were bright and his body language was open and receptive. Well he is naked, she thought and giggled.

Nathan looked at her, trying to figure out the reason for the smirk, then he realized her eyes were assessing his current state of dress, or lack of it.

"Officer Parker, I do believe you are guilty of indecent thoughts!" he exclaimed.

She playfully shoved his shoulder, but when he didn't let go of her other hand, they both tipped over onto the bed, laughing. They lay there, smiling at each other for a few moments.

"I don't know how we are going to keep up this act of not liking each other," Audrey admitted. "I'm going to have a hard time keeping my hands off of you."

Nathan liked the sound of that. He had worried about being out of practice, it had been so long since he could feel what he was doing in that department. She seemed happy, so he couldn't have been that disappointing.

"I say we concentrate on finding Branson and just try to act like nothing has changed," he commented.

"Sometimes, it is easy to let Lexie come to the forefront," Audrey admitted. "It's almost like I could just let her take over, it just scares me a little."

"I won't let you disappear," Nathan assured her. "I'll always bring you back."

Audrey wanted nothing more than to just lay there, looking at Nathan's face and maybe continue the events of the previous evening, but her conscience was starting to remind her that there was a man that needed stopping.

Nathan sensed the change in direction of her thoughts. He understood and felt the same way. It was wonderful to have a chance to be themselves, to forget about the mistakes they had made, the hurt they had caused and just be a boy and a girl that liked each other, but that wasn't really their reality. If he ever wanted it to be, they had to accomplish a few things first, starting with Philip Branson.

Nathan sat up. "We were planning on looking up relatives of Branson's," he reminded her.

Audrey sat up also, wrapped the sheet around herself as she got up to move into the bathroom. "We need to get to the station, maybe check with Vince and Dave to see if they know if there are any Warrens or Bransons left in Haven."

Nathan started to look around for his clothes as Audrey disappeared into the bathroom. He had found everything except his left shoe when Audrey peeked around the door frame. He looked over at her, noticing the expectant look on her face.

"Coming?" she asked.

She didn't have to ask twice, the missing shoe momentarily forgotten.


A couple of hours later, Nathan and Audrey were in the Bronco driving to a small town south of Haven. Vince and Dave had known of a cousin on the Warren side that had moved out that way after she had gotten married. Audrey felt that their visit to the Herald had gone well, and that they hadn't given anything away, but she also knew that Dave already suspected the truth about her personality.

They had passed the time driving so far with companionable silence and light chatter. Audrey liked the change in Nathan, but had been impressed at how he was able to still act tortured and depressed in front of others. It made her realize how deep his pain went, and how easy it was for him to pull on that persona like she did Lexie. She decided to make sure that she would always bring him back as well.

Her thoughts turned to the case. Sara had come to the station again, having heard that Branson had escaped. She was finally able to calm Sara down, but not before Stan had come into the office to help with the commotion. Sara had recoiled at his touch, but it was too late. She was so upset that it only took moments for Stan to experience her fear and lose his sight.

Nathan had to drive him home, explain the situation to him and get him safely and comfortably arranged. Audrey had taken Sara home, eliciting a promise from her to stay there. Audrey was counting on her guilt at blinding Stan to help her to remember the importance of keeping that promise.

Nathan also had the pleasure of bringing Dwight up to speed, and he wasn't happy at Stan's situation. He mentioned having the Guard relocate Sara again, but this time he seemed less reluctant to bring them in. Nathan had bought them more time by assuring the chief that they had a lead, and that it wouldn't take long to wrap this up.

All of these things had happened almost as soon as they had gotten to the station that morning, but they had taken so long to sort out, they didn't get to the Herald as soon as they would have liked. As a result, it was much later in the morning when they arrived at the little house where Branson's supposed cousin lived.

They parked the truck on the street in front of the house and the front door opened before they had even made it half way up the walk. A pretty older woman stepped out into the sunshine, and Audrey noticed that she had brown hair streaked with grey and a kind looking face.

"Hello," she said. "I think we may have spoken to you on the phone, we're from Haven PD."

The woman nodded. "Yes, I am Anna Smithsdale. You wanted to talk about my cousin Phil?"

Audrey and Nathan had reached the point where Mrs. Smithsdale was standing. "Yes, ma'am," Nathan replied.

"Hmm, ma'am," she commented. "Nice to see manners on a young man. You two come in, and call me Anna." She turned to walk back into the house. Audrey smiled at her 'young man' and then they followed her.

Once they had gotten inside and out of the sun, Audrey noticed that Anna's eyes were a deep and striking blue color. They sat down in her living room, after declining her offer of coffee.

"What do you need to know about Phil?" Anna asked.

"We think he has done some things, some bad things, and we are really trying to understand why," Audrey explained.

Anna sighed, but she didn't seem surprised at Audrey's news. "What kind of bad things?" she asked.

Nathan leaned forward in his chair. "We believe he is responsible for at least two kidnappings," he said.

"Two?" she asked, and Audrey noted the surprise in her voice this time.

"You know about Sara Heron, don't you?" she demanded.

Anna seemed to shrink into herself a little. "I suspected back then, but I wasn't sure. I didn't think anything while she was gone, just after she came back. But, by then, no one could find Phil, and I talked myself out of believing it."

Nathan could see Audrey picking up the scent, she knew they were on to something vital, and she was listening very intently. "How about we start with Sara then," he said. "Why did you think he took her?"

Anna looked up, remembering. "I had just gotten married, and moved here when that girl was taken. I remember hearing about it when we came back from our honeymoon. I felt bad for her, but I really didn't pay it much mind, as I was preoccupied with setting up my new house and settling into being a wife."

She cleared her throat and continued, her face changing to reflect the sadness at her next memories. "When they found her, wandering the streets, I heard about it from my mother. I was visiting her when I saw Sara's picture in the Herald." She paused, seeming reluctant to continue.

"You saw how much she looked like you, didn't you?" Audrey prompted.

Anna looked at Audrey, shocked. "Yes," she said slowly. "She looked a lot like me. This second girl that you think Phil took, does she have brown hair and blue eyes?"

"Yes she does," Nathan answered. Before she could ask, he continued, "We found her, she's safe."

Anna looked relieved. "Why does he take girls that look like you?" Audrey pressed.

"You have to understand, Phil didn't have an easy life," Anna started to explain. "His mother was a Warren, my daddy's sister. When her husband died, she didn't have much luck finding a job. She moved in with my uncle, her and my father's other brother."

"Ok," Nathan writing down a tentative family tree in his notes. "I'm guessing that was not a good thing for Philip?"

"No," Anna said sadly. "My uncle was a bastard, treated Philip like hell, but my wonderful aunt didn't do anything about it. My daddy tried to intervene a couple of times, but there was only so much he could do."

"Your family is Troubled, isn't it," Audrey asked. "Did this have something to do with that?"

Anna nodded her head, not surprised at this line of questioning. "It kind of did. The family's Trouble never affected me, never affected any of the Warren women. My father was careful to always stay calm. He said it was the key to beating the curse. I never heard him raise his voice, not once, never saw him upset, not until he found out that Phil was being locked in a room all the time."

"Was it a little room, under the stairs?" Audrey inquired.

"You seem to know a lot," Anna replied. "Yes, it was. My daddy found out and flipped. My uncle was keeping him in there all the time. The family Trouble seemed to hit Phil harder than usual for the men in the family. Most of the Warren men could control it to some degree."

"So, people didn't forget them as much?" Nathan broke into her recounting.

"No," Anna agreed. "They didn't. Not unless they wanted it that way. And it wasn't like people forgot all about them, just various degrees to forgetting. But Phil was different. No one could remember him, or anything about him. The Trouble kicked in for him young, right after his father died. His mother didn't really teach him how to handle it, how to control it, and my uncle didn't really have the desire to. He just locked him in that room to keep track of him."

"How long would he be kept there?" Audrey asked, afraid of the answer.

"Weeks," Anna replied sadly. "My daddy took him here when he found out, and he stayed with us for awhile, but we couldn't keep him. My aunt got a job, moved out of my uncle's house and demanded Phil back. The Troubles passed and my father had to let him go."

Audrey felt like she was starting to understand Philip Branson. He was a victim here, but that didn't change their need to stop him. "How old was he when this happened?" she asked.

"He was young, he was only seven," Anna almost whispered, the pain at retelling this obvious.

"He's a little older than we originally thought," Nathan remarked. He looked at Audrey, "This would have been in the late 50s."

Audrey looked back at the older woman, feeling sorry for what they were putting her through. "There are still a lot of questions here. Why did you think it was Philip after you saw a picture of Sara? How are you connected to all of this?"

"I remembered him," Anna said simply. "For some reason, I was never effected by his Trouble. It was so hard for him, and it was worse for him than any other man in our family. Even his own mother forgot about him for a time. Once he was here, my father even forgot about him, and usually, the men in our family remember each other."

"Did you every understand why it was so much stronger in Philip than in other Warren men?" Audrey asked. "Or why it didn't effect you?"

"No," Anna said sadly. "If I had, I may have been able to help him. He often said that I was the only person he really and truly had, that no one else loved him enough. He always believed that the reason I remembered him was that I loved him more than anyone else."

"It's amazing what love can accomplish," Nathan said quietly.

"Life happens, though," Anna continued. "We grew up, the Troubles stayed away for a long time. My uncle died and then Phil's mother died. He didn't seem too bothered by either event, not that I blamed him. Phil just moved along through life, not seeming happy or at peace. I always felt like he didn't know where he belonged."

"And then the Troubles came back, right around when you got married?" Audrey asked. "Had you spent a lot of time with Branson before you got married?"

"Not really," Anna said. "I wish we had. We were quite close when we were kids, through the early part of high school. But, I was a little older, and started dating. We drifted apart after that."

"I think you knew it was Branson when you saw the picture of Sara because you knew he was trying to recreate your relationship from when you were younger," Audrey stated. "You saw yourself in Sara. And then I'm sure that you knew they traced the house she was held in back to your uncle's old house."

"I'm sorry," Anna said sadly. "You're right."

"Why didn't you come forward?" Nathan asked.

"The Troubles were back. Not every one was kind to the Troubled," she explained. "He didn't hurt her, and no one would have remembered him even if I did. Part of me was in denial, thinking that it wasn't him."

"He took another girl this week, and he did hurt Sara," Audrey countered.

"What do you mean?" Anna asked, startled.

"Sara Heron lives in fear of the man that took her. She lives with her mother, afraid of her own shadow. Not a day goes by where she doesn't feel like she isn't back in that tiny room under the stairs," Audrey said, her emotions starting to get the better of her.

When Anna didn't say anything, Nathan interjected. "Sara is Troubled, too. When she gets upset, anyone she touches is forced to live her fears with her. She is afraid of the little, dark space she was kept in, so everyone she touches has been going blind for a time."

Audrey realized the older woman was softly crying. She looked up at Audrey, tears streaming down her wrinkled cheeks. "How can I make this right? What about the second little girl?"

"Molly was found after only a few days. She was in your family's cabin by the water," Audrey explained. "Branson got away, however. We need to know where he may go, we have to find him."

"I don't know, I swear," Anna insisted. "I haven't seen him here."

"Do you know where he has been all this time?" Nathan asked. "Sara saw him on the street and that's what kicked her Trouble into high gear. If he had been around Haven all these years, I believe she would have seen him sooner."

Anna thought for a moment. "I'm not sure of that either," she said. "I've been gone, too. My husband was transferred out to Washington state years ago. We've only come back a few months ago when we retired."

Audrey and Nathan looked at each other. "He's been following her," Nathan started.

"And he came back when she did," Audrey finished.

Audrey looked back at the older woman. "I know how you can help."