The secret to not being harassed while time-traveling seemed to be pretending you belonged wherever you were, Nathan decided as he walked down the halls of the hospital. Of course, when several of the major structures in town hadn't been renovated since before the Eisenhower administration, knowing the floor plans made that end a lot easier to achieve.
After confidentially and authoritatively questioning the nurse at reception, Nathan was able to find out Stuart's room number. He also guessed it didn't hurt that people continued to think that he was a cop in Haven.
"Stuart?" he asked, poking his head into the man's room. Stuart didn't seem to notice him. Or anything else, Nathan soon realized with a sinking heart. Whatever drugs they had him on were probably pretty powerful. Powerful enough that he was probably too much in a haze to answer questions, let alone send two men back to the present.
Still, he had to try. If not for his own sake, for Audrey's. If he and Duke were both stuck in the past, and couldn't get home, who was going to be there to help her escape her fate? Even being trapped in the past for as little as two weeks could spell disaster for her. He knew that his father and Dwight would both do the best they could to look after Raine until they found their way home, but he didn't think that either could help Audrey in any meaningful way.
Walking all the way into the room he said, "You don't know me, but I was hoping you could help me." Stuart continued to look off into space, consumed by something that wasn't there in the room with them.
Now dressed in a nurse's uniform, Sarah reentered the room, her steps purposeful and businesslike. And she was immediately upset with Nathan. Coming to the bed, she snapped, "What the hell do you think you're doing? Who are you?" she looked outraged.
It was clear to him that although he had noticed her at the ferry, she hadn't noticed him. He supposed that Duke had provided a good enough distraction to keep her from seeing him in the background, but for once he wasn't unhappy that the other man had drawn a woman's notice instead of him.
Flustered though, Nathan took off his hat and made an embarrassed noise in his throat, which didn't do anything to remove the upset look from the nurse's face. Scrambling for an explanation, he said, "I'm a friend of Stuart's."
This did not pacify the woman. "Wrong answer. Let me help you find your way out," she said in a tone that left little room for argument. For half a second he was afraid that she was going to grasp him by the ear like his father said the nuns used to do to him as a small boy.
And then she did.
Nathan protested noisily as she dragged him out of the room by his ear. She didn't let up her grip on his abused aural appendage until they were standing outside the hospital. "My patient has made more progress in the last two weeks than he has in a year. He's very fragile and if you've done anything to damage him, I swear… I will throttle you."
He knew that he should be upset, but instead he was actually amused. The woman was not Audrey, Duke had that right. Audrey might occasionally playfully swat people, and threatened them with bodily harm when they deserved it, but she didn't act the way this woman did.
Sarah gave him a suspicious look, because it was clear to her that he wasn't reacting the way he was intended to. "Why are you looking at me that way?" she demanded to know.
Nathan blushed. "I'm sorry. You're just-"
"I'm what?" she asked sharply.
"You just remind me a lot of somebody," he mumbled.
"Who?" She looked even more suspicious now.
After a second he realized that she thought he was going to hit on her. "My little sister," he explained. "She can be really fierce too, when she puts her mind to it."
Whatever Sarah might have expected him to say, it wasn't that. She just looked confused. "I remind you of your sister?"
"My younger sister, yeah. Audrey." Nathan gave her another embarrassed smile. "Sorry. I'll leave."
"That's not what I thought you were going to say," she admitted.
"Oh?"
"I figured you compare me to some other girl you knew. Your girlfriend? Wife?"
Nathan shrugged. "Sorry to disappoint you. You don't remind me very much of my fiancée."
Sarah actually did look mildly disappointed, and it made him wonder what happened to James's father. Audrey and Duke's story about how Colorado Kid was her uncle confused him, but then, they hadn't had a lot of time to discuss it. It seemed to him as though James and Lucy had different fathers, and now he was wondering how that it happened. No other man had accompanied her off the ferry. And he was pretty sure that Stuart was only her patient. As different from Audrey as Sarah was, she didn't strike him as the type to seduce an overly medicated mental patient.
"Well, I can't say that you remind me of my late husband, either." She frowned a little bit, as if she was angry with the dead man, rather than sad about his loss. Maybe she was. "At least you're not much like John at first blush."
"That's all right."
Expression softening, she said, "Look, I'm not trying to proposition you anything, but would you like to have lunch? I'm going to go get James from the nursery, he's my baby son, and it wouldn't be bad if somebody had ice cream with us."
Nathan nodded. This was probably the best opportunity he would have ever learned anything about Sarah that could help Audrey. "As long as you promise not to pull in my ears anymore, I'd be glad to."
"I think I can honor that," Sarah said with a small smirk. He followed her through the hospital, to a nursery that he didn't know existed. It wasn't one for newborns, but the sort of place that nurses and other staff could leave their children during the work day. "So tell me more about your sister, has she ever grab you by the ear to get you to straighten out your behavior?"
"Not yet, but maybe given time," Nathan joked, but he quickly sobered up. Audrey needed time. She really did.
Duke stood in the doorway for a few moments, watching Junior write in the now familiar journal. He had just recorded Stuart Mosley's name, under the date as the header. A lifetime from now Duke would read that page and find the man. He wondered, briefly, about how the gold doubloon came into existence, it's paradox. How could he have given Junior the coin that Simon would give to him? The coin was proof that somethings could exist, and still be good, even with a chronologically altered past. Hell, even the journal he carried might no longer have a place in his future except as a curiosity. He interrupted his grandfather's thoughts, quietly stating, "I think we need to talk."
Roy looked up, surprised. "Who the hell are you? Do you know what you've done?"
Duke ran a tired hand down his face. "We should really go out to the bar. We both need alcohol for this."
Staring at Duke for a moment, the younger man nodded. "I've the feeling things are about to get worse."
Duke turned and walked out of the office, back into the large bar. He left his coat on the bar, covering his copy of the journal to keep Roy from seeing it. It was funny, in 60 years there'd be a the farmer's market here. This building would burn down in a case of arson when Duke was about 10. He heard Junior's shoes scuffing on the floor behind him. They had the same habits of dragging their feet when they walked. The thought made the time traveler snort.
Junior poured them both scotch, and an old one. "Look, after what happened today, I don't think you or your son is safe here."
Fire lit up the bartender's eyes. "Are you threatening my son?"
Duke put his hands up in defense. "No, no I'm not. I'm just saying – Just think about leaving Haven." The smuggler knew this was his only chance. "Think about never having to take orders from guys like Hank again." Surely if it galled his own soul so much to be ordered around that badly, it must upset Junior? They were alike.
"My family's been here for generations." The classic New England Townie Block.
"Look, you've got your own family now to worry about." Duke didn't know the full history, Simon had never been very forth coming and his mother hadn't ever wanted to talk about his louse of a father. "You got a wife and kid, right?"
Junior looked down, turning away. "I send them every penny I earn so they can live in a house near Derry." He picked the glass off the counter and turned to refill it. It was obviously a painful subject. He downed the shot quickly.
"Right, and you think they're going to be any safer when this guy, Hank, comes back at you?" Duke knew that his own pig-headed stubbornness could only be swayed by a danger to Audrey or Raine, and he hoped his grandfather was slightly less stubborn, or at least that his grandmother was less adventurous and prone to disaster than Audrey was. Duke had never wanted to save someone so much, except for saving Audrey from the kidnappers the previous year. He was beginning to feel like the Anti-hero in a bad comic book. "You need to get them as far away from here as possible. Take them to California. Take your kid to Disneyland." Take them anywhere, but don't let yourself be trapped in this town. You are the first good man in my family I've ever met. Don't take that from me.
Junior came back from behind the bar and sat next to Duke, laughing quietly at the thought of taking Simon to Disneyland. "Simon would love that." The smile on Roy's face was everything he'd seen in his Dad on the few occasions where they did something fun, without alcohol, without rage or shouting, or drunkenness. The smile fell, though, with the consideration. "Need a lot of dough to get that far."
Money was something that Duke could work with. Junior wasn't one of those that stayed because he wanted to, he stayed because he had to, for his son and his wife, keeping them close enough to visit, but out of Haven's madness. There was hope. He might just pull it off. "What if I could give you foolproof investment advice?"
"Says the guy who only carries pirate money?" The dream between them died.
"Says the guy who saved your life twice." Duke waited, holding out his best poker face. So very, very much was riding on this particular hand.
Junior considered, and for a moment the two men stared at each other. "Ok. My wife may take some convincing, though."
Duke couldn't believe it. He'd succeeded. Junior would live, Sarah would live, too. He leapt up in joy, grinning fit to split his own face open. "Hey, convince away!" He grasped the other man by the shoulder, "All Right!" And maybe it would be, after all this time. "Uh, where's your bathroom?"
Junior pointed bemusedly to the other side of the bar. "Over there."
Duke left for the facilities, calling over his shoulder, "Good man! Good Man!" He passed by Eddie, the kid, and this time he was hustling 4 older men at pool, betting them drinks that he could make impossible shots. He'd made most of the ones' that the others had called, and as Duke passed the table, made another. The Cue ball shot like a bullet across the green and then swerved gracefully around the 8 ball to sink the 7 that was directly behind it. The cue ball stopped moments from disaster, saved from following it's victim into the pocket. "Nice shot, kid."
"Damned hustler," one of the men complained, leaving money on the edge of the table. Another one laughed. "Driscoll's got pool balls instead of blood. You should know that by now, Jeff."
Duke continued on his way to the men's room to remove some of the beer from his system that had built up over the day. He completed that urgent matter and began to order his thoughts on how to best help Roy and his family. He exited the rest room and came back, figuring he better start with something good. "There's going to be this thing called a microchip. Invest in it. Secondly, don't bet on the Sox this entire century." Duke realized Junior was no longer waiting for him at the bar. He paused, then felt blinding pain before fading into nothingness.
As they made their way to the A&W root beer stand, Sarah explained that she had seen it from the ferry, and thought that it would be nice to eat there. Nathan agreed that it might be, but he couldn't say definitively. Of course he couldn't explain that the reason he couldn't tell her if the food there was good or bad was because it hadn't existed anymore by the time he did.
James seemed fascinated by everything that they saw on their walk there. Sarah stopped frequently, talking to him when he crowed to get her attention, wanting to point out this thing or that, although he didn't have actual words yet to express his delight in them.
Nathan looked down at the little boy. "He seems like he is an awfully good mood."
Sarah looked up at him. "If you only have a fiancée, I suppose you don't have children yet."
Shaking his head, Nathan said, not yet. "I've just become an uncle, though." After the conversation she and Duke had had, he decided not to say more. It would seem as though he was stalking her, if you just so happen to be connected to the man who had spoken to her earlier.
Sarah gave him approving nod. "I've heard that nieces and nephews are good practice. I wouldn't know, though, because I'm an only child myself."
This left him a little sad, because he realized that she had been an only child due to the fact that her mother had either died or disappeared when she was very small. It wasn't a kind legacy, but unfortunately, it was one unbroken…so far.
"Was it lonely?" Nathan asked. "Growing up an only child."
Sarah shrugged. "Not really. My mother died when I was a baby, and my father never really met anybody that he wanted to remarry. So, it had just been him and me for almost my whole childhood. I used to worry that he'd be lonely when I got married, but he up and died on me just a couple months into my marriage."
"That's a shame," Nathan said. He hadn't expected to feel bad for Sarah, but somehow he did. "And you said that your husband…"
She nodded. "Three months ago…enemy fire. We were both in the military. Vietnam," she said, and he tried not to let his surprise show that she'd been involved in that war so early: he tended to forget it had been going on longer than the 60s and 70s despite most of the older adults he knew focusing on those two decades. "I joined up as a nurse, so we wouldn't have to be separated. But it didn't help John in the end." Sarah sighed. "As soon as I started showing, they sent me home to work with vets who came back...wrong. Poor John was alone in the end."
"I'm sorry," Nathan said sincerely. He'd figured out that Sarah wasn't with her son's father, but hadn't thought that maybe he died. She looked guilty, as if getting pregnant was the catalyst for his death. Maybe in her mind it was.
"Thank you." James squawked, and she bent to spoon more ice cream into his willing mouth.
"What's being an Army nurse like?" Nathan asked , realizing that it probably accounted for her gruff demeanor. Most military men he knew had an attitude about them. So it wasn't surprising that this woman did as well.
They got their trays, and went to sit at a picnic table. Sarah pulled up the stroller next to her, but left her son sitting in it. James didn't seem to mind.
"Well, the first time you're in a war zone they say you either panic, or you just focus and know what to do. I knew what to do. I was better than the doctors sometimes," she said in a matter-of-fact way that didn't sound like bragging so much as the truth.
"Well that's what you do right, handle situations. Help people," he said, and for a moment it was easy, and he could pretend that he was just talking to Audrey.
"In a way. I work with injured vets in DC."
This surprised Nathan. "You don't live in Haven?" He guessed that made her statement about seeing the A&W root beer stand from the ferry make more sense. He had thought she meant because it was new, and had been built while she was away. Apparently not.
"No, I just got here. I just came to make Stuart comfortable. He is a unique case. My supervisor says I'm good with the strange ones."
"Well," Nathan said. "Haven is a strange place."
"My, you don't make it sound like an appealing place to raise a child," Sarah said, pausing to spoon vanilla ice cream into James's mouth. The baby smiled, and made a noise that indicated he wanted more.
"It's not so bad. I was raised here, and he didn't do me any harm. My niece will be raised here too," but as he said it he felt the spike of pain. He didn't actually know who would be raising Raine, but he did know it would be in Haven if he had any say in the matter. Hopefully the contingency plan of Garland and Dwight's would work to keep Duke there too. "You don't need to be afraid of what you can't explain here."
"Well, that's good advice in any corner of the world."
"So, you don't know anyone here? You don't know any Crocker?"
To his dismay, she put her hand on his. "You're my first friend here."
Pulling his hand away, he gave her a slight smile. "Well, I think that I should introduce you to my fiancée then. I think that you and Jessica would get along swimmingly."
Sarah looked slightly put out. Apparently he had interpreted her action correctly, and she hadn't liked being reminded that he was taken. Which, although it might not necessarily be true, he should act like it was. There was no sense in getting her hopes up, not when he would be leaving soon, God willing.
When she frowned, she looked even more like Audrey. And he found that vaguely off putting. Somewhere along the line he had wisely stopped thinking about Audrey in any way that was inappropriate. And he found now that even though he and Jess were technically not together, he still couldn't find any sort of interest in a woman who looked just like Audrey.
"Oh, that might be nice," Sarah said at last.
"She likes children, and I bet if you needed a sitter she would look after James for you," Nathan said, trying to be kind. The funny thing was, he really did think that Jess would like her. "If you end up staying."
"I might," Sarah said, "if I meet somebody who makes it worth my while."
"There are all sorts of good people here," Nathan said, not falling into the trap of telling her that he was sure she would. Somehow people always seemed to think that you meant you when you made that sort of statement.
"Mind if we join you?" a voice asked behind them, making Nathan look up. When he did, he almost dumped his ice cream into his lap.
It wouldn't have been so shocking if he didn't know who they were. But he had seen pictures of Vince and Dave when they were young, so he did know them for who they were. What had been shocking was that they were so very young. He had never quite been clear about which of the Teagues was older, but right that moment, neither of them was much older than the legal age for drinking.
The one person he didn't recognize was a thin, dark haired teenager standing behind them. The boy was cocky, that much could be told by his bearing, but Nathan noted that he wasn't brave enough to speak to Sarah. That had been Vince.
Sarah actually looked welcoming. "Sure, take a load off," she said, waving towards the empty side of the table. The three young men crowded onto the bench. "I'm Sarah. Who might you be?"
"I might be the king of France, but I'm not," Vince said. Dave elbowed him. Blushing a little, Vince stopped smirking. "Vince Teague, at your service. This is my brother, Dave, and our friend Eddie."
The boy finally found his voice. "How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling me Eddie," he complained before turning to Sarah. Then, giving her what he must've thought was a winning smile, he said, "I'm Edmund Driscoll."
Nathan felt all of the blood drain out of his face. He never would have recognized him as Reverend Driscoll on his own. Time had been rough on him, that much was easy to see because Driscoll was not a bad looking kid. But he was young: Nathan guessed he was somewhere south of nineteen, maybe as young as sixteen or seventeen.
"And who are you?" Dave asked Nathan.
"Nathan," he said, figuring that it couldn't hurt to be truthful. No one would have any idea who he was, considering that none of them knew him in that time anyway.
"You got a last name?"
"You writing a book or something?" Nathan snapped.
Unsurprisingly, Dave just nodded. "Sure am. But we're trying to get together a newspaper. We figured the town could really use one."
"I guess that would put Haven on the map," Nathan told him.
Dave's eyesight must've been somewhat better when he was young, because his glasses weren't as thick, and he looked less owlish than he did as an older person. Turning to his brother, he said, "See Vince, the public really does want paper in Haven."
It was all Nathan could do to keep from snorting. However, it was flattering to be called 'the public.'
"We'll never make a success of it," Vince said dolefully.
"You never know," Dave insisted. "Where's your sense of adventure?"
It was Driscoll's turned to make a derisive noise. "If you ever find his sense of adventure, maybe we can get him out to hunt."
Nathan eyed Sarah, wondering if she would be instantly turned off by the mention of hunting. Audrey didn't like it. But Sarah didn't seem to mind. "What sort of things to hunt?" she asked with interest.
Dave shrugged. "All sorts of things. Bear, wolves, mountain lions, partridge. Whatever's in season basically."
"I haven't been hunting in a dog's age." She didn't seem to notice when Nathan gave her a stunned look. She sure was different from her granddaughter.
"Well, you should join us sometime," Driscoll said eagerly.
"I'd have to get a babysitter for James here, but that sounds like fun."
"Vince can babysit," Dave said mockingly. "Since he has no interest in going out in the woods with us."
If Sarah realized this was sarcasm, she didn't let on. Turning to Vince with a smile, she said, "Would you? That would be so sweet of you."
"Uh, I guess I could." Vince look like that was pretty much the last thing he would like to do. This went over her head, or she had a mean streak.
Looking pleased, Sarah turned to Dave and Driscoll. "When can we go? It would have to be on the weekend, because I worked at the hospital Monday through Friday."
"Could be this weekend, since bear season's about to start," Dave said eagerly. "I can pick you up."
"Or I can," Driscoll said, not to be outdone.
Rather than be alarmed that she'd so quickly captivated the two young men (and maybe Vince as well, who knew) Sarah seemed to reveal in the attention. It didn't seem to bother her that they were younger, or already competing for her attention.
Sarah took a piece of paper out of her purse and scrawled a phone number on it. Handing it to Driscoll, she said, "Give me a call Saturday morning, huh?"
"Sure thing."
Since the young men hadn't ordered any food yet, they got up to do that.
Sarah turned to look at Nathan, seeing self-satisfied. "You were right, there are all sorts of interesting people here."
He wanted to protest and warn her away from them, especially the Rev, but he kept his mouth shut. He could make an even bigger mess of things than Duke had if one of those young men was destined to become Lucy's father. He sure hoped not, but who knew?
Duke came to and for the second the world really did revolve around him. It took a few moments to cease its gyrations enough to let him focus on the person in front of him. A few blurry moments later and he recognized Junior. He tested his bounds and found them tight, the texture of cloth and the taste of stale sweat in his mouth as a gag. He'd choke if he couldn't control his stomach.
Roy had apparently been waiting for him for a while, and seething with the infamous Crocker temper. That seemed to have passed undiluted from grandfather to grandson. "You know what I found most distressing? Well, beside the entries for years that don't even exist yet." Duke looked at the man and felt all his hopes scattering. Roy held up a discolored strip of paper. "My obituary." He carefully turned it around. "Roy Crocker survived by his wife and son." He flipped it back, reading the hand written note. "This woman, Sarah, that supposed to kill me." He held the paper closer to Duke. "You see the date? That's today."
It was an awful confirmation. Duke had deliberately avoided asking about the date, hoping that maybe, just maybe it wasn't the right date despite all evidence to the contrary. And kind, sweet, gentle Roy was gone. In his place was an angry man, a man who could and would kill to protect his family and his life. The look was familiar, as was the emotion.
"No listen," Roy commanded, rising from the chair and approaching Duke. "I know about the Troubles. So I want you to tell me who you are and what's going on." He pulled the gag from the bound man's mouth.
"I'm from the future. My name is Duke Crocker." Duke paused when Roy lowered the gun. He wondered if the pain he felt at betraying his grandfather was present on his face. He needed the man to listen. Would someone from the 50s respond to emotion? Logic? Duke didn't know, so he went with the only appeal he had left. "I'm your grandson. Simon is my father."
The disgust on Roy's face hinted at his next course of actions, and Duke spoke louder and faster. When the blood of a Troubled person touches our skin, our eyes turn silver..." Roy paused before he shoved the gag back into Duke's mouth. "Because killing curses by killing the Troubled is what we are supposed to do."
Junior looked back at him, and Duke wondered exactly why he had identified his grandfather at his best with Junior and at his worst with Roy. Clair would have a field day with it, he was sure, if he ever got back home. If he ever told her. Junior began walking backwards. "Roy, I'm your grandson. I don't want this power any more than you do. Roy, you don't have to die today." Please don't die today, he screamed inside. "We can change our fate."
Junior nodded, and said "You're right." He looked out the window, but his face lit up like he'd had some sort of epiphany. "We can change our fate. Simon can't grow up without a Dad."
Duke shook his head. "No," he agreed. Everything would be better if he could just get Roy to stave off his fate. There was something, though, some decision that had been made by the other man that disquieted Duke.
"It's the only way," a moment of hesitancy, then a firm declaration. "I have to kill Sarah before she kills me."
Duke felt his heart shatter. "Roy! Don't do this! Think about the future." He had just sent his grandfather off to start the cycle of murder. Oh God, it was all his fault.
"Oh, I am thinking about the future," Roy countered, stuffing the gag back into Duke's mouth.
Duke tried calling out long after Roy had left, unable to believe he had failed so very badly in trying to save his family.
When Nathan returned to the Haven Shore Club, all he found was Duke bound and gagged inside. For half a second he was gratified that someone actually had the balls to gag Duke to shut him up, but it didn't take long for him to realize that it was an indicator that things had gone badly. He pulled the gag out, then set about trying to untie Duke. Predictably, Duke began to speak before he was free. "Roy found my journal."
"What did you tell him?" Nathan asked, tugging at the rope.
"I told him the truth. That we were from the future and that I was his grandson."
"So he thinks you're nuts," Nathan replied, getting the last knot free.
"No," Duke said as he shrugged off the now untied rope. "Worse. He believed me. Nathan, he saw that Sarah kills him, so he went to kill her first. If that happens-"
"Lucy and Audrey are never born." Nathan felt sick.
"And Raine," Duke said hollowly. "He'd effectively be killing them, too."
a/n: still getting faces made at me when I insist people would like a third story...speak up if it's true, eh? That'd remind me to post more often too, probably.
