He sits by her bed. "Audrey. Audrey, you need to wake up." What he says varies, but he keeps repeating her name. For some reason, that's important. One time, he thinks he sees her stir, but he knows he imagined it. She doesn't wake up, no matter what he says or does.
There's a certain point in the night when a nurse comes up and states very firmly that visiting hours are over. He doesn't have the strength to argue, but he silently promises that he'll be by her side every second until she gets better. It's the least he can do.
Something supernatural is going on. He knows that much. She was right; the memories were causing all those things. Would they have caused the coma? He decides he doesn't want that to be the answer because it would mean there's nothing he can do. Then he decides his way of approaching this is unacceptable.
Face the facts. Don't pretend something's true when you know it's not. Those were his, and ultimately her, downfalls. He won't let it happen again. He won't - can't - lose her again. He doesn't know if he'll be able to take it.
Two years are a long time to wait for a person, especially when he counts every day, every minute, every second without her. Especially when he thinks somehow, some way, he could've stopped it. If he had done something different, would she have never left?
The moment he saw her in his office is the happiest moment in his entire life. The moment right after that, when he finds out that she lost her memories, might be the biggest let-down of all time, but then he remembers Sarah and how, even though she had different memories, she was so much like Audrey. He had settled then, and he's settling now, but he honestly doesn't care. Two years taught him that he should take what he can get and she's the best thing that ever happened to him.
The next morning as soon as the hospital doors open, Nathan sits next to where Audrey lies still. It doesn't matter that doctors and everyone else with a professional opinion tell him that she won't wake up today. Rain or shine, he'll be by her side.
Today, Duke shows up. He is impatient, which he shows in his pacing. He takes the room in 3 long strides, then turns around and does it again. Duke had never been one to pace; he had always been cool-headed and collected when disaster struck. Audrey is different from those other "disasters," though. She's more important. So he stays by her side, even though she will choose Nathan when she wakes up.
The two men sit by her side as the days pass by, leaving only when the nurses and doctors look like they're going to call security. On the 12th, just a week after she first showed up, the doctors tell them that she might not make it.
"She's getting worse at an astounding rate. We're not sure how much we can do for her," Doctor Catran, Audrey's main doctor, says.
Nathan speaks first. "There has to be something you can do. And you're not going to stop trying."
"No, of course not. I was wondering if either of you know what caused her coma. It might help us know what to treat her for," the doctor adds. Both men shake their heads. Though they know it has something to do with the memories, they don't know what, and even in Haven, that's an odd reason to be in the hospital.
.:.
Audrey is suffering. Duke can see it in how she tosses and turns in her bed. She's having bad dreams like the one before. They're hurting her. He can see it in her tossing and turning and in the things the doctors say. She's not getting better, and the chances of her not waking up are increasing daily. But he stays because that's what friends do, until one day when he decides there's been enough waiting at her bedside because she's not going to wake up on her own. They have to take action, help her, because that's what friends do.
.:.
Duke has contacts. That's one of the blessings of being a smuggler; people tend to know things, and he can put that knowledge to use. In the end, it isn't one of his contacts that tells him what he needs to know. It's Vince.
In his desperation, he goes to the Herald. He doesn't think the men will know how to save her; if they had, they would've, but it was worth a try, and none of his contacts had been able to tell him anything.
The bell on the door makes an annoying little ding as Duke barges into the Haven Herald uninvited. The two old men are used to it; Audrey, Nathan, and Duke had visited them often enough for information they had never disclosed. He wonders if they feel bad about it now. There's no way they don't know; these men know everything that goes on in this town.
"How do I help Audrey?" he asks, right down to business. He has no time for small talk.
"We don't know," Dave answers.
"Cut the crap," Duke says, his eyes ablaze. He doesn't really know if they know, but he'll press them until he's certain.
"Well," Vince begins, "there might be a way."
.:.
Nathan is surprised to find himself sitting across from Duke in the Grey Gull. The restaurant's normal hours have long since passed; there isn't a light on in another house in Haven at this hour. This isn't what surprises him, though. It surprises him that Duke could figure something out. He doesn't know what it is, but Duke must have something to call him over this late at night.
"You get something?" Nathan is direct and to the point.
"Well, maybe. You're not going to like it."
"What is it?"
"Vince says there's only one way to make sure Audrey is okay," Duke hints. Nathan is getting frustrated.
"Well?"
"She has to go back in the barn. And someone has to go with her."
"No. That's not the solution. We'll find another way."
"Then find it, dammit, but find it soon. Or she'll die." Nathan pauses. This sounds like a worst-case scenario, something they should be trying with all their hearts to avoid.
"Why does someone else have to go in with her?"
"Her old driver is dead. Someone has to guide her." This just further confirms that it's all his fault. He killed Howard. Now someone has to go with her, guide her, and they probably won't ever be back, and that's his fault, too.
"Oh." His short, monosyllabic response doesn't match the turmoil in his head.
"And I'm going to be the one to do it," Duke adds. Nathan's first thought is no. They can't both leave him again. He wouldn't be able to handle it. Not again.
"No. It's my fault her driver's dead; I should be the one to do it," Nathan argues. Maybe, just maybe, he could see her again before she turns into the next girl, and that's all the reward he needs. And Sarah was a lot like Audrey. He wouldn't mind being around them.
"You're the chief of police. You've got a whole life here. Besides, I already disappeared once; who's going to notice if I do it again? It's not like I made a big entrance." Much as he hates to admit it, Duke is right. He already disappeared; no one even has to think he came back.
"I'm going to work on finding that other way," Nathan says with more certainty than he feels.
"And I'm going to work on getting this one ready," Duke counters.
.:.
Nathan does try. He slacks considerably on his police duties, but he doesn't care if they fire him as long as he finds a way. But he doesn't.
He searches for hours, for days, and he wishes he had the time to search for months, even years, because he would. He would never stop searching.
But now he has to because she's dying, and Duke already figured this whole thing out. And, much as he hates it, Duke is going to be the one to follow her into the barn, even though Nathan would drop everything, follow her anywhere. He wants to. But he can't. He's the chief of police. So he gets back on his case and tries to pretend he's not dying because there's only a couple days left before she has to go.
.:.
Duke's ready to follow her, to forget his life in favor of hers. To save her. That's what friends do, and that's what he has to do. He'll follow her into the dark yet again, and he would do it a thousand more times because she's Audrey, and she changed him. He no longer just looks out for number one. He'll do anything for her.
At the same time, he hates that it's a necessity, that she couldn't just stay in Haven because that's what he wants to happen as much as Nathan, but he knows he can't. He isn't kidding himself. He's acting, doing what needs to be done.
.:.
When the day comes around, Nathan is filled with a dread it would be hard to match. His love, his Audrey, is leaving yet again. He only has a matter of minutes left to take her in, memorize her face, her scent, her warmth before she's gone. Duke will be gone again, too, and his entire world will shut down, but he'll have to keep himself together for when she - and, hopefully, he - returns.
They check her out of the hospital that day against all medical advice; the doctors tell them that without the machines, it's only a matter of time before her heart or something else important fails. They do drive a little faster than planned; if Audrey dies, the entire plan will be worth nothing. It's all for her, so it's going to succeed. There's not a way in the world either man is going to let it fail.
Duke drives them there in his car because Nathan's Bronco hasn't been holding up too well. Nathan sits in the back and holds Audrey steady, trying to ignore her touch but at the same time noticing how cold she is. Duke doesn't comment as Nathan wraps his jacket around her shoulders, just like he had done when she was awake.
They arrive in a clearing near a forest just 15 minutes away from Haven, or at least that's how far away it is when they're driving at a breakneck pace to get her there in time. Vince and Dave tell Nathan that only Audrey and Duke can be there when they go into the barn. So he helps Duke get Audrey out to the clearing, then goes back to the car. He doesn't bother waiting because there's nothing to wait for. He drives Duke's car back to his house.
.:.
Duke has to carry Audrey to the place. Vince and Dave have everything set up nicely for him, but he has to do this on his own. He doesn't know how they know what to do. Has this ever happened before? They left a small sheet giving directions. He supposes he may as well forget his questions; he won't ever get to ask them now. The two men are old, and it's very unlikely they'll make it another 27 years. It saddens him; infuriating as their holding back information had been, they're nice at heart.
Duke performs the odd little ritual. He has to say something in a language he doesn't understand and do some odd thing with his arms, and that makes him feel like a superstitious idiot, but it works and the barn appears. He says a quiet goodbye to Haven and walks into the barn carrying Audrey.
.:.
Nathan stops at the liquor store before he goes to his house. Whiskey, straight up. He goes home and drinks deep. She'll return; he knows that, but it's so far off. 27 more years, and that's too many for him to wait, but he knows he has to, so he will.