"You and James seemed to be getting along," Audrey said as Nathan eased his Bronco toward the center of town. The familiarity of the cab helped to sooth her frazzled nerves, but not enough. She felt like she'd drank seven cups of coffee but she'd only had two. And four cupcakes. But who was counting.

Nathan's smile was so uncharacteristically boyish that it calmed her for a moment as her heart sped up for an altogether different reason. He looked unburdened – proud – and she couldn't help falling in love with him just a little bit harder. "He's amazing."

She wanted that with James – easy affection and expected closeness – but she'd never been any good with kids and skipping right to the adult stage hadn't seemed to help either. "I wish I could remember the time we spent together when I was Lucy. Or whatever time we'd had when I was Sarah."

He reached out and found her hand across the seat, interlacing their fingers and resting them on her thigh. It was a comforting weight; an intimacy they'd never been allowed. "You found him a safe home. The Cogans took good care of him. He was happy." His thumb traced a soothing pattern across the back of her palm and she knew he was her lifeline in this whole confusing mess.

"What else did he tell you?"

"He said that Sarah asked that he come to Haven in 1983 to find her."

She sighed. "But he found Lucy instead. And we know how that went. He's still kind of freaked out from thinking she killed him."

"He'll come around. He was very concerned I was using you to feel something, so that's a start."

He said it lightly, like a joke, but she picked up on his uncertainty even before he continued a few moments later. "You know that isn't true, right?" He was awkward, tentative, like a teenager already half-certain of rejection and the thought was so absurd she laughed and smacked him lightly on the shoulder with her free hand.

"Of course! If you were selfish like that you would have made a move much sooner. Which I wouldn't have minded, by the way."

She couldn't imagine a world where he'd take advantage of her like that. This wasn't the appropriate time or setting to tell him how much she looked forward to giving him back all the sensations he has lost. She wished she could take his affliction away completely, but if he could only feel one thing in the entire world she was glad that it was her.

But they didn't say such serious stuff in the Bronco. They teased and bantered – or at least they used to before they started taking separate cars to crime scenes. She had absolutely no desire to retrieve her car from Nathan's apartment and take it anywhere.

"Of course, there was that awkward high five stage," she mentioned, remembering all the strange, overly familiar gestures from her stoic partner that had seemed to come out of nowhere. There had been nothing aggressive in it. It had simply been odd. "That was weird."

Nathan smiled sheepishly, and she knew he'd been reassured. "Not my finest hour."

"Wasn't bad weird. Just weird."

His fingers tightened slightly around hers. "I kept thinking I'd imagined the whole thing. I just wanted to be sure."

She wanted to take that anxiety, grind it to dust, and scatter it into the wind. She'd been repulsed by the idea of Chris needing her to feel normal but she longed to make Nathan feel that way. Perhaps because he'd never ask that of her. "If you're ever unsure again, I give you full permission to remind yourself."

He pulled their joined hands to his mouth, pressed a kiss to the area his thumb had been tracing, and didn't say a word.

She'd always hated the cliché about butterflies in people's stomachs but she remembered this very cab filled with butterflies. The way their wings fluttered, erratic and dangerous, was exactly how she felt.

They continued the drive in silence and she tried to look out the window to assess all the changes in town. They had a job to do and she couldn't let herself get distracted, easy as it would be to lose herself in the wonder that was Nathan Wuornos.

"I still can't believe Vince was the head of the Guard all this time." There had never been anything menacing about the man – aggravating, most certainly – but there had always been something endearing under than bumbling, close-mouthed façade. He was harmless. But the Guard was anything but – all menacing tattoos that haunted Duke and whispers of imaginary information that pulled Nathan away from her. They should have been on the same side, helping the Troubled, but there was some ingrained difference that would always be a wall between them – she valued the lives of everyone in Haven, while they only cared for those bound together by their afflictions.

"I asked him about that. Told me I shouldn't have interfered with the Barn and now I had to live with the consequences. Haven't exactly invited him out for drinks since."

It was just one more thing Vince Teagues would have to answer for.

When Nathan pulled up to the Haven Herald office Audrey was shocked by its appearance. "The place looks new." The paint was brighter and the steps were no longer worn. There were no flower pots on the banister either, and while the font on the hanging sign looked more modern it was also stark and cold. The lighthouse was gone as well. Just the words, all whimsy gone, made her nervous. It wasn't right. Too much had changed. Was it all her fault?

"It was hit by one of the meteors. Practically razed the place. They had to rebuild."

The meteors were supposed to stop. That's why she had gone in to the Barn. She felt like Howard had lied to her, and the resulting surge of betrayal made little sense and did no good. He had lied to her the entire time she'd known him and now he was dead.

"Looks nice," she said, but she didn't mean it. "Where did they get the money? Is there such thing as meteor insurance?"

"Don't know. But in Haven there should be."

She let him open the truck door for her but she led the way into the building. The steps no longer squeaked under her feet, but the bell that rang when she entered the office was abrasive rather than cheerful.

"You owe me some answers."

Both men's heads snapped up quickly. Dave's eyes grew comically wide. "Audrey."

"It isn't Audrey," Vince snapped. "She'll have a new name now."

"Her hair's the same, you twit," Dave retorted. "And it isn't time for another one. Something went wrong with the Barn. The Troubles are still here, and so is she."

"She can also hear everything you're saying, you know." Just like always, she was torn between aggravation and endearment. But this time she wouldn't let them weasel their way out of answering her questions.

"She wouldn't know to come here if she didn't remember," Dave reasoned.

His words got through to Vince at last. "Audrey, is it really you?"

"Yeah. And the Troubles aren't gone, and the Barn's destroyed, so I really need to figure out another way to stop this."

"The Barn can't be destroyed." Vince's response was too automatic; he'd spent a lot of time convincing himself of that.

"I know you tried blowing it up in the fifties and that didn't work, but this time it kind of imploded and then burned down. I don't think it's coming back."

"We don't know anything," Vince claimed.

"Now we all know that's a lie."

They had the courtesy to look chagrined, but they didn't budge.

"The only way to get by in this town is to keep things close to the belt," Vince finally answered.

"So I've seen. But all that's accomplished is the same thing happening every twenty-seven years. Don't you want to find a way to stop the Troubles for good?"

"They weren't stopped at all this time." She finally recognized a glimmer of the Guard front man in the steeliness that had found its way into Vince's tone, turning a simple statement into an accusation.

"I know. I want to fix that. But I need your help."

Their excuses were immediate and almost simultaneous.

"I think you overestimate our usefulness," Vince said.

"Our archives were destroyed by the meteors," claimed Dave.

Audrey rolled her eyes and pivoted toward Nathan, who was watching with crossed arms from the doorway. "A little help?"

He smirked and shrugged. "You're doing fine."

She turned and took another step toward their desks. "Okay. Playing hardball. You like information, right? So how about a trade? An answer for an answer."

"I don't believe you know anything we'd be interested in." Vince was evasive and defensive, but Audrey recognized opportunity in the way Dave mostly stayed out of the conversation. Although she could possibly work Vince up enough to get him to reveal something, Dave was already considering talking. He was the weak link.

So she looked him in the eye when she showed her hand. "The Colorado Kid was Sarah's son, right? I know who his father is."

It felt wrong to barter with such information, as if she was using both her son and her once and soon-to-be-again lover as blackmail, but she needed the Teagues' cooperation. She needed them to give her a place to start, because no matter what happened with Nathan tonight or tomorrow or a few weeks down the road she'd never be able to really relax until the Troubles were over. And she wanted the freedom to fall into Nathan's arms and not come up for days.

"How do we know you're telling the truth?" Dave had taken the bait, and Audrey had to suppress the urge to celebrate her victory.

"I've never lied to you. I'm not going to start now." They locked eyes. She wasn't sure what got to him, but she could see his resolve crack and shatter. Perhaps it was some remnant of loyalty to the woman she'd once been.

"What's your question?"

Vince made a noise of protest, but he didn't stop Audrey from asking.

"Sarah left her son in Colorado to be raised by someone else, and she told him to come find her in 1983. How much did she know about all this, and how did she find out?"

"'All this' is very vague."

"The Barn. The Troubles. New identities every twenty-seven years."

Dave sighed and pulled off his glasses, folding them carefully before pinching his nose. He seemed to be gathering his thoughts, and Audrey could hardly believe that he might actually tell her something important.

"She didn't know anything when she came here. But she loved a good mystery, almost as much as she loved helping people. It was our mother who noticed she looked like a woman who'd come to town almost thirty years ago. Margaret Thomas. We started digging around together. Found out about the Barn, and the way the Troubles cycled. After she found out she was pregnant she was determined to stay. But something changed before she had the baby. It was like she'd given up."

"Sarah was no quitter!" Vince exclaimed, slamming a hand against the desk.

"She accepted her fate. But she wouldn't tell us why. We tried to send the Barn away without her."

"You tried to blow it up," Audrey clarified, remembering what Howard had shown her.

"Yes. When that didn't work—"

"Leave it, Dave," Vince warned.

"No. She has a right to know. Maybe it'll help."

"There's nothing about what we did that day that helped."

"What did you do?" Audrey asked.

"We told Sarah that she didn't have to go into the Barn. That she should just stay. Go back to Colorado, raise James somewhere safe, forget about the town and its Troubles."

"Did she listen?"

Dave swallowed. "She did. Till the meteors started."

Vince's response was so booming Audrey found herself flinching back from the sound of his voice even before the words sunk in. "First one hit the school. Twenty-seven children died. More were injured – horribly injured. Sarah was devastated."

"She was furious," Dave continued, quiet and contrite in contrast to his brother's fury. "Last thing she ever said was how we never should have tried to stop her. That she was meant to go into that Barn."

The pieces clicked as she turned toward Vince. "That's why you started the Guard. To make sure that was always what happened."

"He was blinded by emotion. Sarah knew she had to go in the Barn then, but she didn't want to keep going back forever. But he couldn't see the difference."

"There is no difference! The cycle repeats again and again and again, and all we can do is weather it out."

"Sarah thought there was another way," Dave claimed. "Maybe she found it."

"But she didn't tell you?"

"No. She did keep a journal, though. I'd catch her writing in it sometimes. But she'd never show it to me. Said a lady's thoughts were private."

"Do you know where she might have left it?"

"No idea. Might have taken it with her."

Audrey drew herself to her full height and tried to look menacing. These men had helped pick out her wardrobe once, and she wasn't sure she was convincing. "This isn't one of those times where you lie to my face and act like you have no idea what I'm talking about, is it, because I swear to God…"

"No. We don't have it. Scouts honor."

"Neither of you?" She looked deliberately at Vince, who was sulking. He frowned at her with furrowed brows, but he eventually shook his head.

"Neither of us."

"All right. Well, it's a start, I guess. Thanks. I'll see you around." The fact that Sarah kept a journal was a lead, even if she had no idea yet how to follow it. She now knew Dave was more likely to talk and Vince still had something to hide, and she was sure they'd given her some clues to interpret their dynamic. The next time she came to see them she'd be ready.

"Wait. The Colorado kid's father. You promised." There was something pleading in Vince's tone that stopped Audrey in her tracks.

"Nathan." She glanced back at him and smiled. "It's Nathan."

"How is that possible?" Dave asked, and his befuddlement was amusing but she didn't let herself laugh.

"There's a question for the next time I need answers, isn't it? See you later, boys."

"Be careful," Vince called after her.

She waited until they'd left the office before she stumbled into Nathan, giggling.

"When that starts getting around I'm going to have a lot of awkward explaining to do."

"Should have thought of that before you knocked me up before you were born."

The smile he flashed her was devilish. "Fair enough."

"Nathan, honey, you there? Someone just phoned in a disturbance outside the bank." The radio on Nathan's belt crackled to life. Haven's dispatcher sounded older, but it was still a sign not too much had changed.

"Duty calls." He unclipped the radio. "We're on our way, Laverne," he said into it.

"We? Who are you with?"

"I'll explain later."

"She still calls you honey?" Audrey asked once they were back in the Bronco.

"Yeah. She's actually more of a mother hen now than she used to be. Think she's a bit worried about me."

"She doesn't have to worry anymore. But I appreciate her looking out for you."

"Does she pack your lunch and remind you to clean your room?" she asked a few seconds later.

"No," he said petulantly. "Did sew some buttons on for me a few months back, though."

"That's great because I am awful with a needle."

His head snapped to the side to look at her as soon as he realized the domestic implications of her statement. The best part was she wasn't even messing with him.

"You're an easy mark, Wuornos." She reached over and patted his thigh, pleased when he almost jerked out of his seat.

"I'm sure you could come up with some way to make it worth my while to mend your clothes."

"I can think of a few." His voice had turned husky and it took everything she had not to shiver. This was something they'd never done in the Bronco. There had always been a line their flirting didn't cross. But the Barn had erased it, leaving so much delightful territory to discover.

But all playfulness drained from him as they approached the bank. "I need you to stay in the car," he said as he cut the engine.

"Yeah. Because that's going to happen."

"I'm serious."

"I know it's been a long time for you, but I was in that Barn for like five minutes. I'm not rusty. We were chasing after that guy at your reunion two days ago."

"You don't have a gun." Once again, she'd forgotten. She'd given it to Duke, and they hadn't gotten back to the station yet to issue her another one.

"Laverne just said there was a disturbance. How do you know I'll need a gun?"

"I know."

"We're wasting time." Audrey exited the car and Nathan scrambled out after her.

Six men had a seventh surrounded, and much to Audrey's aggravation five of them had guns drawn. Nathan pushed her behind him, drawing his own weapon. She hoped the group would be too focused on each other to notice their arrival; she and Nathan had hardly been stealthy.

Perhaps she was rusty. It was a rookie mistake. Or maybe she should have spent less time thinking about sexing up her partner and more focused on top-notch police work that kept her alive.

The leader of the group was taunting the man in the middle, who was sobbing like a child. He was well dressed in a business suit, somewhere in the early years of middle age, and he had the look of someone who spent most of his time behind a computer.

Those who made up the circle were far rougher around the edges, wearing jeans and boots and jackets – typical attire of the average laborer. Two of the men had their sleeves rolled up, and Audrey could see the Guard tattoos there, black and foreboding against their pale skin. Only one of the men seemed not to belong – well dressed like their victim, except for the strange gold gloves that he wore.

"Why Chief, it's so good of you to join us," one of the tattooed men called, and Audrey really wished she had a gun.

Nathan made another effort to hide her from view, but she didn't let him get away with it. She wouldn't let him take a bullet for her. Neither of them was getting hurt today – not after everything else they'd already been through.

"Help me," the man in the middle begged.

"Yes, let's see if the Chief of Police can get you out of this." Audrey could hear the man's smile even though she couldn't see him.

"What's going on, Bernie?"

"Alistair here was trying to skip town."

"Don't see the harm in that."

"Why of course not. Flee while the getting's good, away from this cursed town and its Troubled inhabitants. Good riddance, I say."

"Then why the gun show?"

"If he was afraid for his safety he should have just left. But you know, those rich, Untroubled folk, they don't know how to cut their losses and run."

"He came to the bank to withdraw something," Nathan reasoned.

"Cool half million. You could build quite a new life with that money. A safe, secure life in a place we'd never find you, right?"

The Troubled men all took a step forward, tightening the noose, and Bernie reached out and nudged Alistair in the chest with his gun. "I don't want anything to do with this town! I don't mean you any harm."

"No harm? What about your sister in Portland with her news station? Didn't you mean it when you told Carol you were going to give her the story of a lifetime?"

"She told you that?" Alistair choked.

"We have eyes everywhere." Surely the other man in the suit owned these particular eyes, but Alistair was too panicked to make the connection.

"You thought you could sell us out!" one of the other men accused. "Crawl off somewhere safe and laugh when the military came in to restore order and cart us off to some lab to get studied like freaks."

"You are freaks!" Audrey could feel the atmosphere shift, and knew the outburst was a terrible mistake.

"Let me take this from here," Nathan tried, placating. "I'll see that he's detained. No one on the outside will be informed."

"What law are you going to charge him with breaking, officer?" The man's laugh, deep and carefree, had a manic quality that filled Audrey with dread.

"I'll worry about that."

"No, no. As much as it would amuse me to let you further undermine the very system you swore to uphold, we won't play games with our safety. We'll be taking care of this ourselves."

Audrey couldn't bear to stand by and do nothing any longer. "You can't!" she shouted, stepping away from Nathan. All eyes turned to her, quickly followed by all guns, and if Alistair was a smarter man, or less terrified, he would have used that to his advantage.

"No," Nathan bellowed, grabbing Audrey and pulling her behind him once more. His grip was like an iron shackle on her arm, but he didn't seem to realize he was hurting her.

"If it isn't the Police Chief's little whore." Bernie's voice had turned from syrup to arsenic, and although she didn't have all the pieces yet she began to understand Nathan's fear.

"Leave her alone," Nathan growled.

"We won't lay a hand on her - today. She needs to realize what she's done – just like you have. But once she understands, she will pay. You can't protect her."

"Wanna bet?"

"Yes." Without even turning Bernie emptied two slugs into Alistair's chest. The man fell with a strangled cry, but he wasn't dead. Blood bubbled from his mouth as he gasped for air. Audrey wanted to run to him, staunch the bleeding, apologize, but Nathan wouldn't let go.

"There's your first lesson, whore, over what choosing love over duty has wrought." Bernie spit on the dying man, and Audrey swallowed her sobs but she couldn't stop her tears. "You were supposed to be our salvation. Instead you left us in this hell."

She hadn't meant to, she wanted to scream, but she couldn't make her throat cooperate.

"A moment like this ought to be memorialized, shouldn't it? Winston."

The man with the gloves stepped forward and knelt beside the dying man. He peeled one of the gloves off, revealing a hand that looked gold and scaly. "Should have left without the money, Al," he muttered, sounding contrite. He grasped Alistair's arm, which after a few seconds began to resemble the banker's hand. In less than a minute he was entirely golden, one hand clutched to his chest and his face frozen in a grotesque grimace.

"Best run along, officers. Surely you have some paperwork to sign after this tragic accident."

"You can't do this!" Audrey exclaimed, finally finding her voice.

"Parker!" Nathan sounded nearly hysterical but she was so devastated and furious that she didn't care.

"We protect our own. Those outside Haven will not be allowed to interfere. I think you'll soon find that we can do anything we need to make certain of that."

"You won't get away with this." They'd killed a man in broad daylight in front of two law enforcement officers and they didn't even seem worried. Audrey's mind was reeling. Even in Haven that wasn't how the world worked. No one lived without consequences.

Bernie actually seemed surprised, though perhaps it was her audacity when they were clearly outgunned. "He hasn't told you anything, has he?"

"We need to go," Nathan demanded.

"We need to do something!"

But she didn't know what, and before she could figured it out he had grabbed her by the waist and tossed her over his shoulder. She shrieked, mortified and infuriated, and beat at his chest with her fists. "My God, Nathan, let me down!"

But he pretended not to hear her until he dumped her into the Bronco. Long after her throat was hoarse all she could see when she closed her eyes was red and gold.

/*/

Author's Note: Believe it or not, next chapter is actually the one most of you have been waiting for, I think. The ideas for this just keep multiplying. I'd love to hear what you think! Reviews keep me motivated.