Title: The Day We Died

Author: Shannon – shannyfish

Disclaimer: I do not own "Haven" or its characters, Syfy and other people do. This is merely for entertainment purposes only.

Rating: PG-13

Summary: When Duke is confronted by friends of Reverend Driscoll that promise to give him the answers he so desperately wants, will he sacrifice everyone and everything he holds dear? How will the town of Haven be forever changed? Audrey/Nathan

Warning: All of Season 2 is fair

Author's Note: This fic takes place after the events in 02.10 "Who, What, Where, Wendigo?" Reviews make me happy :D And I'll write faster too! So, keep that in mind! And yes…I totally stole the title from the Fringe episode!

. . .

Chapter 4 – "In the Safety of your Arms"

Audrey had checked out. They'd cleaned, treated, and bandaged her hands. One of her wrists was twisted but nothing major and the bruise would just heal on its own. No concussion and no other injuries though. So for that, Nathan was grateful. He'd had to force himself to stay away for the police station while they processed Duke. He was afraid of what he could possibly do to him.

"I'm really fine, Nathan," Audrey insisted. He'd been pacing pretty much the whole time she'd been there. He'd finally stopped when the doctor had come in and cleared her to leave. He looked beyond worried and she could understand, but at the same time they were going to have to talk about Duke. Nathan wasn't going to like that.

"I'm going to take you home," Nathan told her gently.

"Home? Home where?"

Nathan looked at her. "I really don't think it's safe at your apartment at the Gull."

"Maybe we need the space…" Audrey said, not able to look at him while she spoke.

"I would be upset with Duke if he'd assaulted someone else, Audrey," Nathan said. He closed the distance between them. "Maybe I'm a bit more protective because it's you…" he said. He lifted her chin, so that he could look at her. "Maybe it's because you've been through a lot."

"You know I can take care of myself, right?" Audrey asked quietly.

Nathan smiled at her. "You know, I know that. You've saved me a fair number of times…"

Audrey smirked. "Are you counting the times that I've saved you from burning your mouth because the coffee was too hot?"

"Maybe," he said, still smiling as he shrugged.

She smiled at him for a moment and then finally spoke up again. "Take me home," she whispered.

. . .

"Do we have to talk about this now?" Audrey asked. They hadn't been at his place for more than two minutes before Nathan had started to bring up Duke. They had stopped for lunch and they'd also stopped for cupcakes, but Audrey still just didn't want to talk about it. She wanted to forget it had happened, she wanted to forget that a lot of things had happened.

"I got you cupcakes," Nathan pointed out.

"They don't fix everything, you know."

"Duke assaulted a police officer."

"I'm suspended," Audrey pointed out. "Without pay even. Does that count?"

"Actually, it does." Nathan sighed. "I'm not trying to be mean, Audrey. I just want to make sure that Duke doesn't come after you again. He's angry, we know that. He wants answers, answers that the rev apparently had… He needs space and possibly confinement to ensure he doesn't try to do anything else stupid."

Audrey was sitting on the couch and watching Nathan pace, again. She was already eating a cupcake and hoped that it would calm her nerves. "He hates me now… I don't know if I blame him, though."

"You mean Duke?"

Audrey nodded. "I feel like maybe—"

"Don't blame yourself, Audrey."

"I don't want to press charges, Nathan. He did that because I shot the rev…because of the choice I made."

"I understand that," he said. Nathan finally stopped pacing. "I do. I'm just worried that Duke isn't going to stop coming after you… He may not be troubled, but he's acting out and he could get violent…more so than today. If the inquest panel decided that they thought you were in the wrong with the rev's death and fired you from the department, I still think Duke would blame you. I don't think it's an easy thing to fix. The only way I know how to keep you safe is to keep Duke locked up…for the time being."

"Maybe if I talk to him…"

"That hasn't worked so far."

"I have to do something, Nathan," Audrey told him. "I feel so useless as it is."

"You tried talking to him today. He could have killed you."

"He wanted something, but I don't think he was trying to kill me."

Nathan sighed. They were going to be back and forth about this. He knew that. "I should go down to the station. It shouldn't take long, though."

"I'll be fine here," Audrey told him.

Nathan headed for the door, but stopped to look back at her. She seemed so small lately. He was sure it was because of everything that had been happening… She'd been emotional and un-Audrey-like. He understood, he just wanted to keep her safe.

. . .

"Do you think about the chief?"

"Everyday I walk into the station," Nathan replied.

"He would have been really proud of you. I hope you realize that. He was proud of you before, but he'd been so impressed at everything you've done," Audrey told him.

"I sort of got kicked out as chief…and you're suspended… Pretty sure he'd say I was screwing up," Nathan told her.

"I don't think you're screwing up," Audrey told him. They'd been there in bed, staring up at the ceiling. It had been a long day. Audrey had been lying there for most of the early evening and Nathan had found her there and had lain down next to her. Most of the time they'd just stayed like that in silence.

"Are you mad at me?"

The question was the last thing she'd expected to hear out of Nathan's mouth. She turned on her side, so that she was facing him. He was still staring up, but she could see him. She wanted to see him. Why did he think such a thing? "No," she answered firmly. "I don't think I could ever be mad at you, Nathan."

"Audrey, I know you don't want to talk about Duke, but I have to tell you something," Nathan told her. "He had a gun. I don't know if he was planning on using it or not… He couldn't have known you'd be with Dave and Vince, but it was on him when they processed him. Apparently the whole time you were at the hospital, he kept going on about how you needed to die…how you were a murderer and they finally had to call in a shrink. They're keeping an eye on him…making sure there's nothing wrong with him."

"He's on a seventy-two hour hold?" Audrey asked with concern.

Nathan turned so that they were face to face. "It wasn't my idea, but I have to say that maybe it's for the best. Maybe he snapped or something…"

"Well that's three days you don't have to worry about my safety…" Audrey pointed out. "Though now that you've let me crash here…I may never leave…"

Nathan smiled at her. "I probably wouldn't complain about that."

"Probably?"

"Well, I would probably complain if you got comfortable to re-paint. I'd prefer not to come back to pinks and florals," Nathan told her. A bright smile spread across his face as he continued to stare at her.

"A nice yellow wouldn't hurt you, though," she teased. "Brighten this place a bit."

"I have you," Nathan told her. "You tend to brighten things up." He reached out and caressed her cheek.

Audrey blushed and moved closer to him, throwing her arms around him and pulling him close. How did Nathan seem to make things better? Maybe it was because he was her partner and best friend…or maybe it was because there was a connection there. It was something deep…and sometimes it was subtle…but it was definitely there. "I wish we could just stay like this…"

"I think that would make things a little difficult…" Nathan teased.

Audrey laughed and hugged him tighter. "I don't care. We can deal with difficult."

"That's true…"

Silence passed between them for a long time. Nathan was just cherishing the feeling of Audrey in his arms. The brief touches of skin to skin…Nathan could stop and live in that moment without a problem. It would be easy to just get lost in that moment. To stay with Audrey.

"We should take a few days off," Nathan suggested.

"Whenever I try to take a day off, it never ends well," Audrey told him. "Last time the day repeated…several times…people died…"

He could see her starting to get upset. He knew that that had been really hard for her. She'd seen the deaths of her friends, those she cared about. "You saved us…"

"I told you I'd fix it," she whispered. "I couldn't lose you."

"Let's go to Eustis," Nathan told her. "We can get a cabin and just forget about the troubles for a couple of days…"

"Nathan, we can't just both leave," Audrey told him.

"Why not?"

"Because we're needed here…"

"The rev's gone. We don't have to worry about returning to finding him in the chief's office," Nathan told her.

"We can't just go," Audrey told him. "As much as I'd love to," she told him as she moved back out of his arms and stared at him. "And I would love to, Nathan. We have to wait…at least a couple of weeks…"

"We both have leave…"

"Who will keep an eye on things if we go?"

"I'll assign someone."

Audrey frowned. "Who can you really trust there, Nathan?"

Nathan returned the frown. "We wouldn't be too far away…"

"Please…can we wait like two weeks? Wait for them to decide what they're going to do with me and let things settle down over the rev?"

"What do you have to be so logical all the time?" Nathan asked.

Audrey laughed. "Do you not remember the crying?"

"I mostly remember all the empty boxes from Rosemary's."

She laughed again and moved so that her head was resting against his chest. "Things will settle down soon enough and then we can go… I promise." Nathan got up without warning and at first; she'd thought he was mad with her. He disappeared out of the room and she just laid there in confusion. He returned a minute or two later with a calendar and pen in hand. He laid the calendar down on the bed, so that she could see it. "What are you doing?"

"I'm marking it on the calendar," Nathan told her. "This way you can't back out of it later."

"I wouldn't do that to you, Nathan," Audrey told him with a smile. "I honestly would jump at it right now if it didn't seem like Haven and life itself here was falling apart."

"Two weeks, right?"

"What do you think?" Audrey asked as she scooted closer to where Nathan had set the calendar down. "How long until they come back with their decision about me?"

Nathan shrugged. "They should have said that you did nothing wrong right after they talked to you…so they're taking a long time. Maybe a couple more days…"

"How about we plan two and a half weeks from now?" Audrey suggested.

"That sounds logical," he teased and marked it on the calendar. "There's no backing out now…"

"No backing out," Audrey repeated.

"I'll call tomorrow and see about a cabin. It's beautiful up there…lots of things to do too," Nathan told her. "Just depends on what you like to do."

"Not golfing…"

He smiled and laughed a bit. "That wasn't what I was thinking of. There's hiking and fishing and other things to do outdoors."

"I like hiking," Audrey told him.

"Good."

"So…" she said after a moment and stared up at him. "What exactly are we doing for dinner?"

"What do you want to do?"

"Can we do something fun?" Audrey asked. "Go out?"

"I know somewhere where we can get pancakes," Nathan offered.

Audrey made a face. "I don't feel like pancakes."

"I suppose they serve things other than pancakes there…"

"Sounds good…"

Nathan leaned in and placed a kiss on her lips. He smiled after a moment and then found her returning the kiss. If things weren't so bleak, Nathan was pretty sure that he'd be walking around Haven all the time smiling like a fool.

. . .

TBC…