Disclaimer: I don't own these characters or this world. I just like to be a part of it sometimes

Author's Notes: This is all A/U, but I think it's safe to say that everything we've seen so far up to the finale of 5A applies.

So, as of this morning, my work project is officially done! To celebrate, here's a drabble. I'm still a little behind on writings, but should be able to catch up this weekend. Thank you all so much for your patience!

Prompt: Nathan tries to plan a romantic night for Audrey but a new unseen before Trouble threatens his plans. (Courtesy of STforRK)

Summary: It's part of their life to deal with Troubles, but that doesn't make it any less inconvenient.

Troubles Ruin Everything

He was without a doubt, more nervous than he had ever been in his entire life. He wanted tonight to be perfect, because tonight was the night he was finally going to be a man, and ask Audrey to marry him – even if his nerves were threatening to kill him right now on the spot.

The desire to ask Audrey to marry him had been eating at him for weeks now – hell, since the day he first realized he could feel her – but his nerves had always gotten the better of him, and he was at the point where he was pretty sure Audrey would just end up asking him. Which, would be amazingly embarrassing. But then again, their relationship was anything but normal.

And because there was no way in hell he could concentrate, he was staring at the clock on the wall in their office – the clock which had to be broken, because there was no way a perfectly working clock would be ticking this slowly. Maybe there was a Trouble activating that was causing time to slow down.

To distract himself from the slowly ticking clock, he mentally went over the checklist of things for tonight. The local florist was delivering flowers to his house, and had a key to get in to set them all up, the jeweler had the ring ready to go for him to pick up on the way home, and all the ingredients for dinner were already at home and ready. The only thing he needed to do, was to find an excuse to leave early so he could get home and have everything ready for when Audrey made it there.

Somehow, he had miraculously convinced her to drive her own car today – she always seemed to be able to mooch a ride off of him – so he had the freedom to come and go as he pleased. Now, if that damn clock would start ticking faster so it would be later in the day and be more plausible for him to leave, and not return.

That damn clock. Why was it going so slow? Maybe it was broken. Just as he was about to rise out of his seat to check, Audrey snapping her fingers in front of his face shattered his concentration, and he looked up at her. When had she walked over to his desk? Hadn't she just been sitting at hers only moments earlier?

"Nathan, what's wrong with you?"

He shook his head, which suddenly felt cloudy, but didn't really understand her question. "What?"

"You've been staring at that clock without moving for an hour. What's wrong with you?"

What? An hour? It was 9am when he had glanced over at it, and even with his musings, it could only be a few minutes later. But as he looked at the clock again, it was showing 10am. He had been staring at it for an hour. What was going on? He must have gotten lost deeper in his thoughts than he had thought.

"Um, nothing. Sorry, just thinking."

"Those must be some deep thoughts."

He watched as she put her hands on his desk and leaned over, which allowed the neckline of her shirt to dip just a bit, giving him a delicious view. He knew she was unaware of the view she was giving him – hell, she knew exactly what she was doing – so he grabbed a stack of paperwork to distract himself, and started flipping through it as he tried to think of a witty response.

"Whoa."

Her voice had him pausing to look up at her, and when he saw the worry in her eyes, he could feel his blood quicken. "What's wrong?"

"Nathan, you just…um…it's like you were on fast forward."

"What?"

"Look at your paperwork."

He looked down and realized that the stack he was holding was almost gone – as if he had been working steadily through it for a while. He glanced up at the clock and when it read 10:30am, he knew something was definitely wrong. "Um, I think there's a new Trouble."

With the day blurring between time running slow and fast, he was never more conscious of time than he was now. If they didn't figure out this Trouble soon, they would end up being at the station all night – because time speeding up and slowing down was proving dangerous in town – so they could solve it as soon as possible. But, staying at the station meant his romantic plans for the evening would be thwarted. They could wait – they'd waited this long – but he didn't think he'd make it through another day of this self-imposed torture. Especially since he and Audrey decided it was safer for the both of them if he stayed in the office since they weren't sure when time would speed up or slow down for him. For the most part, time was going at a snail's pace for him, other than the brief speed up mid-morning, and another around lunch time. But, with time going so slow, it was giving him ample time to do some research, and after another speed up mid-afternoon, he hit a breakthrough.

"It's a kid."

"Excuse me?"

He looked over to Audrey's desk and grinned. Finally something was going his way. "It's a kid. Think about it. Time has been slowing down since early this morning, only speeding up 3 times – all three times that kids are normally on breaks at school. The rest of the time, they're stuck in a classroom, where time seems to stop if you're a kid."

Audrey nodded. "Makes sense. So, now what?"

He glanced up at the clock and was relieved to see it was ticking at a normal pace for once. "We focus on the elementary schools – the only ones that have recess – and narrow down the kids who come from Troubled families. We can rule out the kids of known Troubles, and with that, we should be looking at only a few possibilities. It'll just be a matter of some phone calling, and then a house visit for you to work your magic."

"And then we'll do whatever it is you've been thinking about all day?"

Her question floored him, and for a moment, he didn't know how to respond, so, he floundered, immediately busting himself. "Um, what are you talking about?"

Audrey smirked. "Please, Nathan. I know you well enough to see when you've got something cooking in that head of yours."

"I don't know what you're talking about. You're seeing things."

Audrey snorted, but didn't say anything else, so he was safe for the time being. Now, all he had to do was to figure who was causing this Trouble so he could get her home and start the next chapter in his life.

"Well, that was easier than expected."

"I'm just happy I was able to help Luke, He's such a sweet kid."

He couldn't help but stop and pull her into his arms at her words. "Audrey, you help everyone who's Troubled. Including me." He leaned down to press his lips to hers, but pulled himself away before he lost himself too far in her touch. Reaching out, he grasped her hand in his, pulling her towards the Bronco. His plans might have to be tweaked a bit, but it didn't bother him in the slightest. This night was going to happen.

"What are we going to do?"

"Something I've wanted to do for a while."

Upcoming Prompt: Audrey convincing Nathan to give her his secret recipe for Pancakes (Courtesy of Guest)