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 8 – "Rocky Seas"
The weekend was supposed to be clear skies and sunshine. When Friday rolled around, it was dark and rainy. Duke still had insisted on going out. Audrey really didn't feel so great about that. She knew that boats didn't let storms hold them up, but with Haven…she preferred to be safe when she could.
"It really doesn't look good," Audrey said. She followed Duke around on the Cape Rouge as he prepared it.
"It's fine."
"That's a massive storm system heading our way," she said as she pointed to the skyline.
"I've taken the Cape Rouge out in worse," Duke told her. "Trust me. I know this boat."
Trust him. That wasn't really what she wanted to do right now. She wanted to get off the damned boat. Audrey stared back at the dock as Duke finally got his boat underway. The rain was already falling and in the distance she could see Nathan and Dwight standing there. She was sure that he was worried as hell. She didn't blame him. She needed this extra bit of time with Duke, though. To try to crack what was going on.
She wanted to wave. Audrey didn't want to bring attention to them though. She was trying to remain as still as she could. She pulled up the hood on the rain jacket she'd brought along. It was then that she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She pulled it out and read the text message. 'Stay safe.' She typed in a reply. 'I will. I'll be back soon.' She wanted to get the message out before she got too far.
Duke looked over to her. "Don't tell me that Nathan's trying to get you back to the station already."
Audrey smiled. "No, he just texted to say for us to be safe."
"Ah. That's nice."
"I thought so. Thoughtful."
Duke nodded. "See…it's just some rain… Nothing too dangerous. I figure we'll go out a few miles away from Haven and then just coast with the waves for a while."
It didn't sound exciting. It sounded like an excuse for him to get her away from Haven. It also gave him the excuse for them to sleep in the only bed he had onboard. She wasn't sure how that was going to work and was thankful that Nathan hadn't brought that up before she'd left. Of course, he may not have realized it. Once he did, he'd probably flip.
"Are you sure we have everything?" she asked. Audrey figured that now was the time to ask. If they got out a ways and then realized they had forgotten something then it would be quite a trek to get back to Haven.
"Yes," Duke said. "We have everything. I even made sure that we have plenty of food for some delicious meals."
. . .
The day felt like it just went on forever. Audrey had tried to keep busy, but that wasn't easy. It had been mostly raining. She'd played a few games of solitaire, she got smart after the first time she'd tried to do it on the table and the boat had shifted and all the cards had gone flying everywhere. She'd sat on the bed and the fabric of the blanket on top had been enough to keep the cards mostly in place.
What time was it? Surely it was Sunday and they were heading back to the harbor in Haven… She knew that was a lie. It was still Friday… She looked over at the clock on the bedside table. It wasn't even lunch yet. She sighed. Audrey wanted it to be over. She knew that most people wished for weekends to last forever, but she just wanted this one to be over. She wanted to be back with Nathan.
"You know you don't have to hide down here," Duke said.
Audrey looked up. "Who's steering the boat?"
"I thought maybe we'd stop off at The Knot."
"You mean the little island where we almost got killed on my last birthday?" she blurted out, surprising herself and Duke.
"Yeah…" he said slowly and eyed her.
"I guess I remember that…sort of…" Audrey said, trying to recover. She couldn't screw up now. She didn't even know what Duke was up to yet.
"Well, that's good. Some things are coming back to you."
Audrey nodded. "You got me a locket."
"That's right."
She smiled. "Has the weather passed?"
"No, it's still raining pretty hard. It's why I figured I'd keep her here for a while. No one's occupying the island currently so I figured that we wouldn't have to watch out for chameleons."
"That's always a plus."
"I thought so," he said and moved to sit down with her. "Playing solitaire? Not so exciting."
"I didn't feel like standing out in the rain," Audrey told him honestly. "With my luck, I'd probably get knocked off the boat and lost in the sea."
"I wouldn't let that happen," Duke told her and reached out to gently caress her face.
She wanted to pull away….to tell him that he couldn't touch her… Instead, she fought instinct and pushed her face against his hand. "Not sure what you had planned for this weekend… I had sort of hoped that we'd stayed in Haven and seen the movie at the theatre."
"Nathan would have called you if you were in town," Duke said. "He'd ruin the whole weekend."
"The world may need saving," she teased lightly.
"It's your weekend off—"
"Not technically—"
"Let Nathan save the world this weekend," Duke told her.
. . .
Duke had the bright idea to go out onto the island where she'd once spent her birthday (mostly in a steamer trunk). Audrey hadn't liked the idea. She knew that the chameleon was dead, but it still gave her the creeps. What if he wasn't the only one? But she agreed. After all, she was packing. If she needed to, she could shoot something.
"See, this isn't so bad," Duke commented as they walked along the shore.
"That's because there isn't a torrential downpour for like two minutes," Audrey teased. "It's been raining nonstop pretty much since we left Haven. Not sure we're going to have a lot of sunshine this weekend."
"That's okay," Duke said with a smirk. "I'm sure I can think of some things we can do inside while it pours…"
"I'm sure you can," she remarked.
"You know you really need to relax."
"I'm relaxed."
Duke shook his head. "No, you're not. You're still tense…and I'm sure you'd be able to go back to Haven and go right back to work…"
"What's wrong with being dedicated to my job? Obviously I'm good at it…I must be, right?" Audrey asked, remembering that she wasn't supposed to remember her life. It was hard, though. She obviously couldn't just act stupid. Well she could, but that really just wasn't like her. Plus, the doctors had told them before that it would probably be temporary.
"Yeah, I guess you're pretty good at it," Duke admitted.
"Thanks…loads of confidence in me, I see," Audrey said and punched his shoulder for good measure. "You know…I've been remembering more about that day…"
"What day?" Duke asked.
"The day I forgot… I remember there being a house…and then there wasn't a house…but it looked like there had been one there. The grass…it was depressed…and discolored… It doesn't make sense…"
"I don't think anyone's ever lived in that area before, but I could be wrong…" Duke shrugged. "I wasn't paying attention to what the grass looked like. I was more concerned about you being okay." He moved closer to her and put an arm around her, pulling her closer as he did so.
"Well, I am okay…it's still confusing, though…"
Duke stopped and pulled her closer.
Audrey automatically tensed up. She looked upward. "We should probably head back to the Cape Rouge…it looks like it's going to let loose again…"
"We'll dry…"
Audrey looked back to find Duke leaning towards her. She pulled back and out of her arms. Okay, so she hadn't even made it twenty-four hours and she wanted to kill him. Okay, so technically she was leading him on…but she needed to for the information. "You're going to tell me what happened that day, Duke… No more lies."
"What are you talking about?" Duke asked.
He was clearly confused. "You kidnapped me… Took me to that place. Your friends almost killed Nathan…" Audrey blurted. Emotions rose in her and she tried as hard as she could to keep her tears from blurring her vision.
"Wha—you remember?" Duke asked.
"I only forgot for a day…and I really don't think deep down that I really forgot…" Audrey told him. "Being at the station with Nathan was enough to bring about both of our memories… Funny how people are connected in Haven."
"You and Nathan?" Duke sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "All this time…you've been pretending?"
"Tell me about the house… Why were you trying to erase us?"
Duke laughed. "You'd think that with you and Nathan being detectives and all that you would have figured it out by now."
Audrey was angry. This wasn't funny. She was being serious. She wanted answers and she wanted Nathan. She wanted the world to not be spinning out of control so quickly… Answers would help that. "Tell me!"
"Audrey, I tried to help you."
"You weren't helping! You were trying to re-write things!"
"They didn't kill you," he pointed out. "That's what they wanted to do. To kill you both."
"Why?"
"Nathan's troubled…and he's the chief now," Duke explained. "Why wouldn't they want him dead? Everything else hasn't worked out very well for them as they've been trying to replace him."
"And me?" she asked. Tears were freely falling from her eyes now. She blinked away the tears.
"They wanted the cycle to end… They said that you just come back… You come back when the troubles return. They think that you cause them," Duke explained. "I don't believe that," he admitted with a shrug. "But the opportunity to re-write history a bit was tempting… I thought I could make you happy, Audrey…"
Audrey shook her head. "Nathan's been right not to trust you."
"Of course he's been right… He's Nathan."
"Take me back to Haven."
"So you can do what? Tell Nathan? Put me in jail?"
"I don't know…"
"If you tell Nathan, he's just going to kill me."
"He wouldn't—"
"I'm sure he could come up with a list of reasons of why the world would be better off without me."
Audrey shook her head. The tears still fell. She honestly wasn't sure what to think about Duke's betrayal. In one sense, she wanted to believe him. To believe that he'd saved their lives and that he was just trying to help…in his own twisted way. But on the other hand, she really didn't know where Duke's loyalties truly lay. That was the hard part. Nathan was her partner, her friend…and something so much more. She knew she could trust him. But Duke…she didn't know what to think.
"Then leave Haven," she found herself saying.
"I made a promise to stay in Haven if the troubles returned."
"Then I guess you'll have to keep your head low and avoid Nathan and I then," Audrey told him flatly and wiped the tears from her eyes.
"That's it?"
"I don't know what else to say, Duke. You've made it clear through your actions that I can't trust you…"
"They'll kill you…and Nathan," Duke told her.
Audrey stared at him. "Then let them come."
"Audrey…"
"Nathan and I have jobs in Haven… To serve and protect all of the residents of Haven. If they're troubled then they probably need us even more. I'm not going to run from that," Audrey told him. "I'm not afraid…"
"You really should be."
Audrey stared at him for a long moment. "Take me back to Haven."
. . .
TBC…