I promise, there's a direction for this monstrosity. :)

While Nathan signs the paperwork for the very deceased Mr. Gerald Mackenzie, Audrey steals Julia and drags her into the Medical Examiner's office where she shuts the door behind them and makes Julia swear to secrecy.

"Promise," Audrey says.

Julia criss-crosses her index finger over her scrub-covered heart. "Cross my heart and hope to die, stick a needle in my eye."

Audrey pauses and Julia grins. "Okay. Here it goes."

She tells Julia about the dreams, how one almost always follows the other before it, how vivid they are. She leaves out the bit about nearly losing it on the couch in her office, but Julia's a smart woman and she can pretty much figure it out on her own. When Audrey's done her story, Julia grabs a file folder off her desk and fans herself with it.

"I have dreams like that all the time," she says.

Audrey starts. "Really?"

"Oh sure. Brad Pitt, George Clooney. Antonio Banderas is always my favorite. Latin men know how to move."

Audrey frowns, her cheeks going pink, and she sighs. "Funny. What do you think it all means?"

"That you should rip Nathan's clothes off and acquiesce to his request."

"Julia, be serious."

Julia smirks. "I'm completely serious. He's had it bad for you right along, Audrey."

Audrey ignores this, files it away as something to be dealt with later. "What if it's someone's Trouble?"

Julia's smirk fades. "I didn't think they affected you."

"There's always an exception to the rule," Audrey says, running a hand through her hair. "Maybe this is the exception."

"Because it deals with Nathan?" Julia asks. Audrey shrugs, says nothing. Julia considers her, taps her finger against her chin. "Hmmm…a Trouble that causes lifelike erotic dreams. Terrible."

Audrey sighs. "You're useless."

"And you're complaining about dreams involving hot nakedness with one of Haven's most eligible bachelors."

"It's not even real, Julia!" Audrey says, exasperated.

"Yet," Julia amends. "It's not real yet."

"What's not real?" Nathan asks from the doorway. Both women whirl in his direction, one pink with embarrassment and the other wearing a disturbingly feline grin.

"Winter," Julia says, covering for an oddly speechless Audrey. "She was saying how it doesn't seem real."

He looks at them both, examining them for tells. He finds nothing more than he did a moment ago. "It's fifteen degrees outside, Parker – should seem real enough."

"Good to go?" Audrey asks Nathan, finally finding her voice. She can feel Julia smiling at her and she pointedly ignores it. "We've still got a report to finish and it's well after nine. We're working on six hours of overtime as it is."

Nathan nods. "Autopsy report is pretty cut and dry, no pun intended." Julia rolls her eyes at him. "Mr. Mackenzie drowned."

"No evidence of foul play at the moment," Julia says. "But I've got some test results and fingerprints I'm waiting on, so you'll have to wait for a final decision until tomorrow morning when everything opens up for the week."

"Sounds good," Audrey says. She turns to Julia. "If you think of anything, call me."

Julia nods, grinning. "Will do, Audrey. Be sure and get some sleep. A well managed REM cycle does a body good."

Audrey growls, heads out the door. She hears Nathan say good-bye, then turns to see him pause at the door.

"REM cycle?" he asks.

"Dreams," Julia says. "Lots and lots of dreams."

"I'll write up the report," Nathan says as he parks the truck outside The Gull.

The lights are on and there are a few cars parked in the lot, despite the falling snow. It started on their way back into town from the hospital, big white flakes crashing against the windshield as Nathan drove them east. Now, sitting still and taking a moment, Audrey watches the flakes drift down, wonders if Duke is finally home from his recent disappearing act. He'd taken off for warmer climates a week earlier and she hadn't heard from him since…which was probably a good thing.

"You should get some real sleep."

"Am I on the early or mid shift tomorrow?" she asks, pulling her coat tighter around herself in anticipation of getting out of the truck. Without the heat running, she could see her breath pooling in the cab. Winter was certainly upon them.

"I moved you to mid before we left for the morgue."

She smiles at him. "You're a saint."

"Knight in tarnished armor," he says with a wry smile.

She frowns at his self deprecating dig. He's been doing more of that, ever since Chris left for greener (saner) pastures. She tried smacking him every time he said something negative, but it didn't work.

"You want a drink?" she asks, surprising them both. It sounds almost like a come-on, a really terrible, overly used pickup line. He eyes her, half a smirk building, and even in the chill of the Bronco she feels her cheeks flush. She makes a note to buy blush for the first time in her life in the hopes it'll hide her constant embarrassment. "I'm too tired to sleep and I want a beer and I don't really feel like drinking alone."

He stares at her a moment longer, then unbuckles his seatbelt, turns off the truck. He opens the door and slips out into the cold, giving Audrey a few seconds to herself in the empty interior. She watches him through the foggy window, his profile silhouetted by the lights of The Gull, and she feels something build in her chest.

She may not know who she really is, but she knows that feeling. Has felt it before and sitting here, now, while feeling it for Nathan makes her head spin. He taps on the window, then, and startles her out of her reverie.

"You okay?" he asks as she rounds the truck and they head toward the stairs to her apartment.

"Yes, Nathan. You worry too much."

"No such thing where you're concerned."

She finds herself unable to make a witty retort, unlocks her front door instead. "Beer or wine or something harder?" she asks, shedding layers on her way toward the open kitchen. The moment in the car scared her, which has immediately brought up her defenses. She fights against it, but she can't keep the walls from coming up.

"Beer," Nathan says, shutting the door behind him. "Dark if you've got it."

She pulls two porters from her fridge, pops the tops, and crosses the apartment to hand one to him. She feels him staring at her as she takes a sip. "What?"

"You look like hell," he says.

She sighs. "Between you and Julia, my feelings are getting hurt."

He ignores her, presses on. "Are you sleeping more than a couple of hours?" he asks.

"We had this discussion."

"What's going on?"

She considers him, considers telling him about the dreams she's been having. The fact that they're both half naked in them keeps her from spilling her secrets. That, and her cell phone rings.

"Saved by the bell," Nathan says, and there's frustration and annoyance in his voice. She frowns at him as her phone continues to ring and he takes a long sip off the bottle of beer, shrugs as if to say 'who, me?'. Exhausted, frustrated and annoyed herself, it instantly pisses her off.

"You and I need to have a conversation at some point," she says, pointing a finger at him. "A fairly long and involved conversation." He opens his mouth to retort, but she answers her phone before he has a chance to say much more than 'gah'. "Parker."

"You should be asleep," Julia says. "Or at the very least, on your way to being half naked with a handsome man."

She rubs her forehead, turns away from Nathan so he can't see the expression that crosses her face at the mention of being half naked. "It's almost midnight, Julia. You're not calling just to check up on me."

"You sound angry. Are you getting ready to lock yourself in a cupcake room again?"

"Julia…"

"Fine. Don't let me worry about you. Whatever." Audrey laughs, despite her irritation. "Deceased female, late twenties, washed up on the shore down at Innis Cove."

"Another one?" Audrey asks.

"Yup. Looks like it might be a repeat of our friend at the pier."

She sighs, looks at Nathan. He's staring at her with an unreadable expression, his jaw set and one eyebrow raised. "We'll be there in a few minutes." She hangs up, frowns. "We've got another body."

He sets the bottle down. "Raincheck on the beer, I guess."

"Yup."

She wraps her scarf around her neck, hides her mouth – hides herself – within the layers. She's irrationally angry with her best friend and despite that, the way he's looking at her is making the hair on her neck stand up. She can't decide what would make her happier at the moment: smack him or jump on him. She's a little ashamed to say the latter…definitely the latter.

"Raincheck on the conversation, too," he says.

She nods. "Yup." Her voice is muffled by the scarf.

He holds her jacket out for her and she snatches it out of his hand before whirling out the front door. "Really looking forward to both of those things," he calls after her, following her outside and back into the cold.