***So...I searched for any inspiration that I could use to write this concluding chapter of Rebirth and came up with nothing but I figured I could do this chapter like I usually write my smut stories...write it little by little until it is perfectly written for you guys to read...so enjoy!***
**Disclaimer: I don't own the rights to Haven or it's characters...I just own the rights to my imagination...so please don't sue me.**
Chapter 3: Back Home in Haven and an Awkward Reunion (Audrey Parker Point of View)
The first thing I feel upon waking up is the cold surface of a deck and I began breathing hard as I tried to figure out just where and who's place I had just crash landed, I cautiously opened my eyes to look around my surrounding and realize that I knew just where I had landed.
'Could it be that I am now back in Haven? I mean this place looks exactly like the Grey Gull...could it be that they found a way to separate me from that evil bitch look-a-like of me? Did it work or am I stuck in some kind of purgatory because I am now dead?' I couldn't help but think as I laid there resting on my side facing the front entrance of The Gull.
"Who the hell is that?"
I hear coming from what sounds like to be Duke's voice as it penatrates through my deep thoughts and it is then I start hearing someone's footsteps walking tentatively towards me and it is the FBI training and curiousity in me that gives me the courage that I hadn't had in weeks to be able to turn around and face whoever is walking towards me. My defenses suddenly drop the moment that my eyes meet the matching blue eyes of my partner and boyfriend...Nathan Wournos...and I almost cried out of relief when I see the shock and wonder in his eyes.
'Nathan...' I trail off in thought as my arms immediately reach out to wrap around his neck and am delighted to feel him return the gesture as he holds on tightly to me as I am holding on tightly to him. Both of us afriad to let go of one another for fear that we would lose each other.
"Thank you..." I practically sob near his ear as I hold on tightly to him only to shrink against him from the view of both Duke and Mara the moment I catch sight of them.
"Hmmm...how cute...a lovers embrace...so this is the Audrey you so desperately wanted back in your life...it is all so very cute that I could just barf."
Came the sudden gut piercing voice of the very woman they had just released me from and I immediately felt sick to my stomach as I began to hide myself against Nathan's chest, being stuck inside of her was bad enough but now I had to face the bitch who caused the town so much trouble. We all had to face her and to be honest...I didn't want this bitch anywhere near me or Nathan...furthermore I don't want to cohabitate with her in my apartment.
'Why is she still here?' I wondered to myself, pushing myself further into Nathan for safety.
At the sound of Mara's sneer, I immediately felt Nathan's protective arms tighten themselves around to the point where someone would surely have a hard time trying to pry me out of his arms. Not that I would ever let them because I was pressing myself just as tightly to him as he was and I never wanted to seperate from him. Ever.
Nathan and I nearly jumped out of our skins at the sight of Mara sneering at both of us and shared a confused but shocked glance at Duke as he stood there trying to consider what just occurred before sharing the same look of disgust with Nathan as they both glanced at Mara. An obvious question beginning to brew between the two of them.
"What do we do with her?" Nathan asked, the question directed at Duke as he didn't bother addressing Mara by her name.
"I don't know yet...I don't even understand what just happened here...I don't understand why Mara is still here after we finally have Audrey...who is..." Duke replied, trailing off when he notices me crouching down and tucking tightly behind Nathan's leg, "...is naked? Nate...why is Audrey not wearing any clothes?"
It was then that I suddenly realised that I was fully nude and had been nude since the moment I woke up on the ground and upon realising this fact, I immediately started covering myself with my hands as I felt Nathan's eyes on me. I met his eyes with a nervous look as I felt embarrassment burn across my face and watched as he moved his body block any view of my naked body from the eyes of the others.
'Hiding my naked form from Duke would be pointless since he has seen me naked before when he had to rescue me after a hailstorm caused by Marion's trouble through me into the ocean off his boat...though I really don't need Nathan knowing about that information right there.' I thought before mentally adding, '...and besides...he already knows about what almost occurred between Duke and I in Colorado...so I don't want him knowing that he is actually the third guy to see me naked since the moment I entered Haven.'
"Ummm...you wouldn't mind grabbing some clothes that Audrey could wear from upstairs..." Nathan asked, as Duke's attention drifts between Nathan and I in mere minutes.
"Yeah...I'll be back in no longer than a minute..." Duke replies, fishing out a set of keys in one hand while grabbing his gun with the other, "...this is for if little miss trouble in chains over there tries to give you trouble."
"Thanks Duke..." Nathan replies, taking the gun from Duke's hand and passed it over for me to hold.
"No problem...I will only be a minute or two..." Duke replied, as he was leaving the Gull to head upstairs with the key to Audrey's apartment in his hand and soon he was gone.
As soon as he was gone, I looked over to see Nathan shedding his leather jacket as he draped it over my bare shoulders and at the same time maintaining eye contact with Mara, whom was currently glaring at him and was now sitting back in her chair.
"Here..." Nathan replied, offering up his jacket to help cover me, "...until Duke comes back with some clothes."
"Thanks." I replied, all the while giving him one of my sweetest smiles that I have ever given him as I quickly put the jacket on and burrowed my nose into the inside and reveled in the comforting scent of him.
"I've missed you."
The sending of that statement of his takes me aback as I was feeling the exact same thing for the past six weeks since my mind and body was hijacked by Mara after the thing with the cave had happened, I had missed Nathan more than anyone in the world and spent some of that time trying to find my way back to him.
"I've missed you more..." I replied, reaching out to Nathan with outstretched arms as I felt him gather me up in his arms and I never wanted him to ever let me go.
"I forgot to ask...but how are you feeling?" Nathan asks, and I felt the soothing feeling of his hand as it ran up and down my back.
"I am fine...now that I am in your arms again..." I stated, turning my head against his chest to find Mara now staring at me.
'Bitch.' I thought, as I leaned more into him and hid my face into his chest as I ran my hands all over his back before turning my attention back to Mara.
"How much havoc did she wreck in Haven while controlling my body?" I asked, curious as to just how much I would be dealing with as a result of her.
"She killed two people." I heard him reply, as he ran his hand through my hair and I lifted my head up to meet his warm ocean blue eyes.
"Nathan...I don't want her in my apartment." I replied before adding, "...and I don't want her anywhere near you or me...I don't want anything to do with her."
I felt him nod in understanding as we both glanced at Mara in concentration of what we should with her now that I was back because neither I nor Nathan wanted to deal with this evil bitch, which left Duke to take custody of her up on his houseboat until we could be able to safely arrange a switching over of custody to Dwight whenever possible.
However, as Nathan was about to answer me verbally, we both suddenly heard Duke making his way back into the resturant carrying some pants and shirt that he gave to me on his way back to takeover watching Mara. I quickly took the articles of clothing from Nathan's hands and immediately put them on as Nathan tried his best to give me some privacy by blocking any view of me as I was putting on the shirt.
'God...it sure does feel good to have some clothes on right now...' I thought, mentally relaxing a bit as took my hair out of the inside of my shirt.
"Thanks Duke..." I replied, smoothing out the wrinkles out of my shirt and moved to stand in front of Nathan to give Duke a heartfelt hug.
"Don't mention it...sweetheart...though you have to give your boyfriend some credit...because he never gave up hope that you were still in there." Duke replied, hugging me back with a friendly smile on his face with a hint of relief.
'No doubt. My man can be pretty stubborn and persistant when it comes to something he cares desperately about...in this case...when it came to getting me out. I ought to really thank him for everything he has done to save me tonight as soon as we figure out what to do about my brunette doppleganger...'
It was at that moment that the doppleganger decided to speak her mind about something that I couldn't guess until she made a reference to Nathan.
"Can you talk to your boytoy about his need to threaten people's lives...because he threatened mine earlier...blondie?" Mara sneered, as she placed her attention on her nails as I had to keep myself from swinging my fist into her face.
'Time to shut this bitch up...' I thought, trying to keep myself calm as my mind raced on how to go about doing that without killing her until I immediately came up with a bright idea and looked between Nathan and Duke.
"Does she still have that stun belt on her..." I asked, watching both Nathan and Duke nod immediately and Mara roll her eyes in annoyance.
"Let me guess...you want to use the remote on her..." Duke replied, with a smile forming on his face.
'Oh...yes please.'
"May I..." I trail off, as I looked between Nathan and Duke, "...okay which one of you has the remote to the stun belt..."
"I do." Nathan replied, and I watched as he moved his hand behind him to reveal the remote and hands it to me where I take it and carefully inspect the buttons on the remote before looking at Duke questioningly.
"Duke...how do I...um?" I trail off, watching as Duke makes his way over to me in order to see what is wrong.
"It is this button..." Duke explains as he let a finger hover the said button in order to guide my finger into position on the button, "...right there...just press it and watch her stumble over in pain."
"Gladly..." I replied, letting a small smile flow onto my face as I look back towards Nathan in an effort to get his approval and watch as he quickly nods as I get ready to press down on the button.
"Oh...I doubt that little miss blondie will have the guts to shock me...she is way too nice and too good to press the button...I mean look at her...she is all talk and no action...sad really...that I am so much tougher than h-OH SHIT!" Mara flinches as her mighty rant ends on a hiss after she feels a jolt of electricity flow through her kidneys, causing her to stumble over and grip her stomach and wait for the pain to subside.
However when it doesn't, Mara gathers some strength that she could handle to lift her head up to instantly meet my look of pure hatred and I was currently holding my thumb down on the button and not letting go. I continued to hold down onto the button until both Nathan and Duke gently remove the remote from my hands and give me a shared look of concern etched on both of their faces as I ran back to the safety of Nathan's arms.
"You okay?" Nathan asked, a look of concern in his eyes as he smoothed a strand of hair back behind my ear and held me tightly to his chest.
"Yeah...I am fine now...just needed to do that to her...have been wanting to do something towards her since I got split from her minutes ago...by the way I was the one who kept her from finishing you off after she shot you that one time. I didn't want this bitch to take away my last hope of getting out of her safely...I am so sorry if any of you had to deal with her relentless emotional torture." I replied, nodding against his shirt and tightening my arms around Nathan as I placed my ear gently on the place where his heart resided.
"How did William even put up with a bitch like her?" Nathan asked, his voice filled with wonder as he holds me even tighter in his arms.
"I don't know...and to be completely honest...I don't even want to know. I just want to be as far away from her as soon as I possibly can...just being around her gives me a sick feeling." I murmered, hiding my face deeper into his chest to escape the chance of glancing at Mara.
'She must have been good in bed in order for William to tolerate her insanity...although from meeting William it is hard for me to even determine whether or not one was eviler and crazier than the other. Who knows? Those two might have been a match made in hell.'
"I understand completely." Nathan replied, pressing a soft kiss to my head as I felt his head turn to look at Duke who was having a staredown with Mara, "...what do we do now, Duke?"
I watch as Duke snaps his attention from Mara to look at Nathan and they both look at each other patiently as it looked like Duke was currently thinking over what to do next in his head.
"Meet us in 10 minutes at The Rouge...and wait while I chain up little Miss Troublemaker to a chair below deck..." Duke instructed, his words directed at both Nathan and I as his eyes remained rooted on Mara, "...we'll talk more about what to do with her..."
"Excuse me...but her is sitting right here!" Mara bellowed, from her spot chained to the chair as she began to stand up to face Duke.
"Hey trouble bitch...would you like to be tazed again?" Duke retorts sarcastically, waving the remote in her sightline as he gestures his finger over the button as he watches her facial expression change drastically as she settles down back into the chair that she had since vacated.
"Go to hell..." Mara sneered, quietly at Duke as she recrosses her legs in defiance in his direction.
"Funny...because that is the exact same thing that I and Haven's beloved crime fighting couple want you to do...but except we apparently still need your expertise...so you might as well start getting comfortable and acting polite. Starting now...if you get into the trunk without fighting me...I promise I will not taze you again." Duke replies, a dark chuckle dripping out from his voice as he makes his way over to grab onto Mara's arm to pull her to a standing position.
"Somehow I highly doubt that..." Mara smirks darkly, allowing herself to be led out of the resturant and to his jeep.
While Duke was busy hauling Mara out of the resturant and into his car...Nathan and I continued to hold onto to each other and never letting each other for fear that we wouldn't see each other again.
"Do you think Duke can be able to handle Mara on his own?" I asked, concern for Duke's safety against Mara settling into the bottom of my stomach as I held onto Nathan as we both watched Duke's Jeep pull out of the Gull's parking lot until we could no longer see it.
"Well...I was with Mara the longest...and despite having to deal with her trying to proposition me...she thought that if she seduced me into having sex with her than it might make the night at the cabin go by quicker...didn't work as I turned her down and made her sleep by herself that night. She got annoyed and called me a prude because I was turning down sex with her because I wanted to remain faithful to my girlfriend whom she was possessing." Nathan explained, clutching me tightly against him as hatred for her slowly started to grow deep within me at the mere thought of that bitch trying to sink her claws into my Nathan.
"So...Duke should have no problems dealing with her..." I replied, as I found myself tempted to go find Mara and taze her again for kissing Nathan and found myself also looking in the direction of Nathan blue Bronco currently parked in one of the parking spaces.
"Yeah..." Nathan replied, following my gaze from where it was staring longingly at the Bronco, "...you ready to go meet Duke?"
"Yeah..." I trailed off, as I slowly made my way towards the door with such slow movements that I had to grab onto Nathan's arms to keep from falling down as my legs felt like they had been restrained from moving for long periods of time.
"You okay Parker...?" Nathan asked, his voice etched with concern and I couldn't help but mentally smile at hearing my last name uttered from his lips because that was when I finally knew that they had gotten me home. That I was safe.
"Yeah...just please don't ever let go of me Nathan..." I pleaded, gripping onto his arm.
Nathan doesn't say anything as he looks at me before gathering me up into his arms and I was too tired to even protest at being carried to the passenger side of the truck, so I allowed myself to relax at the feel of his arms covering me as my head hid into his neck.
For the first time in six weeks since I got possessed by Mara...the ultimate creator of the troubles...I finally felt safe laying in my lover's arms as he neared the passenger door and prepared to open it as he shifted my weight carefully in his arms and set me down gently in the passenger's seat. He laid a soft kiss on my lips before making sure that I had my seat belt safely secured and laying a final kiss on my forehead as he gently shut the door and made his way over to the driver's side.
"I missed being in the Bronco...Nathan." I found myself replying as I snuggled up close and laid my head onto his shoulder before adding, "...but I missed you more..."
I felt him relax against my head at those words I just uttered as they were true words and the right ones for him to hear.
"I missed you too...I've missed you so much...dealing with Mara was torture...and everyone didn't believe me when I kept on saying that you were still in there...Dwight especially." Nathan replied, his voice almost cracking as I could feel him remembering what he went through during the past six weeks I was trapped inside Mara.
"Well...I'm here now and I am not going anywhere anytime soon..." I promised, even though I kind knew that was kind of impossible to promise him that but we couldn't worry about that now that we were all going to be dealing with Mara in the meantime.
As he began pulling out of the parking lot and started his drive to Duke's houseboat, it was then that I began to feel sleepy and decided that taking a short nap on the way to Duke's wasn't such a bad idea as I felt drained to the bone from being split from Mara and wanted nothing to do but sleep.
It wasn't that long of a nap anyway as I was gently nudged awake by Nathan's hand against my shoulder as I slowly opened my eyes to meet the sight of Duke's houseboat staring back at me, while Nathan was softly speaking something to me that I couldn't quite understand until my ears woke up.
"Audrey...it's time to wake up...we are here." Nathan whispered, gently near my ear as I slowly began to become aware of my surroundings.
"Whaaa?" I groaned, stifling a yawn as I stretched in my seat as I aimed a sweet smile towards Nathan, who smiled back at me while I unbuckled my seat belt.
"Why don't I draw you a bath tonight after we get home from meeting Duke?" Nathan suggested, as he unbuckled his own seatbelt while switching the truck off.
'Oh...how I absolutely love this man...' I thought, mentally smiling as I was already looking forward to doing nothing but relaxing in my bathtub while Nathan gives me a back rub.
"I would absolutely love that..." I replied, as I leaned over to give him a brief kiss on the lips before pulling back to open my door to step out of the truck at the same time that Nathan stepped out. Both of us shutting our doors as Nathan locked it before dropping the keys into his pocket.
Nathan and I quickly link hands as we walk together onto the steps of Duke's boat just as Duke walks up to meet us.
"Is she secured?" Nathan asked, not bothering with pleasantries as Duke opened up the entrance to the inside of his home and prepared to let us both inside.
"Don't worry Nate, I have her chained up to a chair below deck...so she shouldn't be a problem for now...though she is bitchy as hell. The urge to smack has become hard to resist these days...you know?" Duke replied, opening the door and stepping aside to let us inside as he quickly produced a glass of water and offered it to me to drink. For which I accepted gracefully as I hadn't remembered the last time I had a glass of water before taking a seat in an empty booth nearby.
"So...what do we do now?" Duke asked, crossing his arms as he leaned back against the sink as glanced between Nathan and I for any possible options.
What to do with Mara. The million dollar question that I didn't have any problem letting Duke and Nathan figure out for now since I had made it clear to Nathan a while ago that I wanted nothing to do with her.
"Well...the guard is going to want to have custody of Mara...but we really can't cart her off to them with Dwight still out of town." Nathan replied, crossing his own arms as he looked back at Duke and I.
'Dwight's gone? Gone where?' I thought, as held the glass of water in both hands while I continued to watch both men talk.
"Where is Dwight anyway?" Duke asked, shrugging himself off the kitchen sink as he walked his way over between the both of us.
"Dwight didn't really say where he was going to be...he just said that he would be gone for a while and that to keep an eye on Mara...make sure that she doesn't try anything stupid on us while he's gone. But, I doubt the majority of the guard members are just going to follow Dwight's order to back off of Mara until he has returned from wherever he went off to...meaning keeping both Audrey and Mara alive is going to be tricky until then." Nathan replied, running his hand uselessly through his hair as if he were desperately trying to think up something better than what he just said.
"Well...obviously...Mara will be remaining in my custody until then..." Duke scoffed, before adding sarcastically "...it isn't like that will be hard to do."
"Well...whatever you do Duke...just keep that bitch as far away from Nathan and I as you possibly can." I replied, giving Duke a look that brooked no argument and it caused him to sigh in response.
"Well...sweetheart...I will do my very best to keep her away from you two...speaking of which...how are you feeling?" Duke replied, looking at me carefully.
"Fine...tired...just feeling like I had been fighting for control of my body with my own original self...and it was NOT fun at all...I am just relieved that I am alive now and that she can't harm anyone anymore." I replied, heaving a heavy sigh as I took a sip of water and hugged myself in order to try and calm myself.
"Well...we are all glad to finally have you back because honestly dealing with the creator of everyone's troubles has not been fun at all...so sorry if you had to deal with the pain of being chained up to furniture 24/7 or the shocks of the stun belt to your kidneys...we had to think of something to keep Mara from getting the upper hand on us." Duke replied, as he shoved his hands into his pockets.
"It's okay Duke...I understand...you guys were doing what you needed to do in order to keep her contained." I replied, trying my hardest to bite back a yawn after that response.
"I guess one other reason why it would be better to keep Mara alive is the fact that we don't know whether or not you two are linked together...you know...like you were with William." Nathan stated, with a look on his face that he was no doubt thinking the same thing I was thinking as we both remembered the time that we found out the hard way that William and I were connected. I know that Nathan still blames himself for causing me to get shot even after I assured him that I never blamed him for it.
And to be quite honest, Nathan wasn't the only one at the time who had to keep himself from landing a well deserved punch to William face as I too had to keep from causing myself from having a black eye. All of which wasn't easy to do so.
"Well...I hate to say it but until we can actually be sure on whether or not they are actually connected...we are going to have to keep Mara alive in the meantime." Duke uttered, with a tone of pure regret in his voice as his eyes were directed downwards where Mara was surely being held.
"You know...honestly...I just want to go home and wash myself of her presence...and maybe burn anything she might have touched." I stated, hugging myself as I started to get up and walk towards the door, "...bye Duke...see you later."
"Bye...take care and forget about you-know-who below deck tonight...and let Nathan take care of you as I am not quite sure whether or not he has let you know of this fact but this was just as brutal for him to go through." Duke replied, giving me a quick hug as I am on my way towards the door.
"Okay..." I replied, quietly as I no doubt knew that fatigue was setting in my voice as I was at the door before realising that I was missing something or more someone to be exact.
"Nathan..."
At my voice, Nathan switches his attention on Duke towards me as he sees me looking at him expectantly with my hand outstretched as I waited for him to grab it and take me home. Away from any view of Mara.
"Here..." Nathan replied, digging into his pockets to hand me the keys to his Bronco, "...go ahead and start the truck and I'll be there momentarily..."
"Okay..." I replied, grabbing the keys and slowly made my way outside where I was met with the cool autumn air as I made my way to unlock the Bronco and stepped inside to buckle up and start up the truck and wait for Nathan.
I hadn't realised that I had even fallen asleep until I woke up to the sound of the driver's side door opening and almost panicked until my eyes opened to find Nathan climbing into the truck and staring at me with a look of love and concern, as he proceeded to turn the ignition on and prepared to drive away from the docks.
"Hey..." I replied, giving him a sleepy smile as I turned my body fully to face him.
"Hey...we could just go straight to bed when we get home...if you want." Nathan replied, seeing my tired expression on my face as he dug into his pocket to hand me my ring of keys.
"While sleeping in my own bed with the man that I love does sound enticing...I do believe that you promised me a soothing bath when we got home." I replied, thanking him as I accepted the ring of keys from his outstretched hand and sifted through the keys to find my apartment keys.
"I am worried about you drowning due to how tired you are..." Nathan trailed off, giving me his form of a worried expression as he glanced at me briefly before putting his attention back to the road.
'Oh my god...this is one of the things that I desperately missed experiancing from Nathan...his need to take care of me and protect me from harm...I used to find it so annoying even though I understood where he was coming from but now that I am here...I would let him convince me to sleep in tomorrow and go into work late because overall...I missed Nathan so so so very much.' I thought, moving closer to him in order to lay my head on his shoulder and snuggle into his side as his arm instinctively wrapped itself around me as he held me to him.
"I won't drown if you are there with me." I stated, giving him a smile as I watched a small blush creep up onto his face as he kept his attention on the road where we had neared the road leading up to The Gull's parking lot.
'Oh...I have missed this...' I thought, as the drive once again made my head feel heavy as I felt my eyes close on their own accord and felt myself slide down until my head hit Nathan's lap and I was lulled to sleep by the feeling of Nathan's fingers running through my hair.
I didn't wake up until the moment we arrived at my apartment and this was when I knew that I was finally home and away from danger.
I was finally home.
***So there we have it! Three chapters over the point of views regarding what I believe went down the moment after they split her from Mara...I really hope you guys liked it as they weren't all that easy for me to write. First person point of view has never been my strong suit as I am more used to writing third person but like I said...I hope everyone enjoyed the story. Please review as reviews mean alot to a writer like me.***