Characters: Evi Ryan, Jennifer Mason, Duke Crocker, and Jordan McKee. Contains some Jordan-related spoilers from mid-season 4. Some Evi/Jordan, which is not a ship I knew I needed in my life until this story, but now I kind of can't think about anything else.

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Chapter 7: Evi Ryan [Evi Crocker]

The first thing she does- after planting her ass on a desk and uselessly watching the chaos for half an hour- is corner Duke's new girl. It's not jealousy, of course. They didn't do monogamy even when they were married. She's just curious.

"So. You're Duke's girlfriend." Evi says. The girl- Jennifer- looks up, looking terrified, and nods. "Hi. I'm his wife. Oh, don't worry about it, I'm not mad."

"Duke has a wife?" Jennifer asks incredulously.

"He didn't say? Well, I am dead. And even before that…" Evi waves a hand. "Never mind. It doesn't matter. I'm irrelevant. I just have questions. See, you're not what I would have expected. You're… adorable."

"Right. I'm not the kind of girl you would imagine Duke sleeping with," Jennifer says, a bit crossly, and would you look at that- the stick has a spine.

"No. No, that's not it at all. You're just not the kind of girl I would imagine him calling back afterward," Evi explains.

Jennifer frowns. "Maybe he wouldn't have. You fell in love with Duke the crook. But he's not that anymore. Now he's Duke the hero. And Duke the hero called me back."

"You've got two parts of that wrong, sweetheart. Firstly, he's always had this obnoxious hero complex. Annoyed the hell out of him, and me too, but it didn't spontaneously generate in the presence of Haven. And secondly, I never fell in love with Duke of any variety."

Jennifer blinks her enormous eyes. "You married a man you didn't love?"

"Sure. It wasn't love, but it was fun," Evi says. "I'm not like Duke, or blonde cop, or you- I'm guessing. I'm not any kind of hero. I've never expected a fairytale ending."

"Anyone can be a hero," Jennifer says earnestly. "I think I'm a hero and I still sleep with a nightlight. You just have to try."

"I tried," Evi says flatly. "I tried to be selfless, help Duke. Maybe even help Haven. I'm pretty sure it was the worst thing I've ever done. I'm not built for it."

Jennifer's brow furrows- maybe she believes in the innate goodness of all people and Evi is a new conundrum or maybe she's just never considered the possibility that she's suited to heroism in a way not everyone is.

"I'm gonna go now," Jennifer says nervously.

Evi's surprised she held out this long. "Bye."

Next she flags down Duke. "So I met your girlfriend. She's precious."

He gives her an exasperated look. "Tell me you didn't scare her too badly."

Evi's pulling a 'who, me?' face when she notices someone over Duke's shoulder. "Who is that?" she asks.

Duke turns. "Sasquatch? He was here when you were. He just had more ridiculous hair then."

"Not him. The bombshell."

Duke starts in surprise, even though that woman is obviously Evi's type. "Her name's Jordan," he finally gets out. "Careful, Ev."

Duke might not know it, but nothing gets her more interested than being warned away. Duke leaves, off to do something Evi's not interested in, and she approaches the woman. Jordan.

"Hey," Evi says, smirking at her. "You… are not like the other small-town flannel-clad monosyllabic weirdos who populate this town. I'm Evi Ryan."

"Jordan McKee," she returns. She smiles, and it softens her previous pissed-off look. "So, are you back from the dead too?"

"Yep," Evi says grimly. "Kind of surreal, but it's hard to bitch when it's my own damn fault."

"It's not stopping me," Jordan mutters.

"Oh, you too? Who offed you? If you don't mind me asking."

Jordan heaves a sigh, one hand going to the torn clothes on her abdomen. "Wade Crocker."

That was about the last thing Evi was expecting. "No shit! Wade?"

"You know him?" Jordan asks.

Evi nods. "I used to be married to Duke." She watches Jordan's eyebrows slowly creep up her face. "Look, it seemed like a good idea at the time. Wade, though… He was Duke's favorite relative. Only one who didn't seem like a terrible person, believe it or not. He and I, though… At first I thought it was just me he didn't like. He had plenty of reason…"

"Then what?" Jordan asks.

"Met an ex-girlfriend of his. He didn't do anything to her, either, but apparently she got the impression that he's not fond of women," Evi explains. "After that, I started seeing it. I never told Duke- no proof, and I figured he deserved to like at least one family member."

Jordan sighs and pulls herself onto the nearest desk. Evi sits beside her.

"I was trying to manipulate him," Jordan says slowly. "And he knew it, he must have. I was the one who activated his Trouble." Evi frowns, remembering that the Rev had said that Crockers were the anti-Trouble, but doesn't say anything. "Told him he could save Haven. I was trying to do the right thing, but I was wrong, and even if I wasn't, Wade… he was worse than me, out-manipulated me. And when he ran out of use for me… Do you find this funny?"

"No!" Evi insists, forcing herself to stop giggling. "I find this bizarre! Let me get this straight. You were trying to do the right thing by manipulating a guy you thought was a good guy, but the guy you were manipulating was a bad guy and was actually manipulating you. And even though you were trying to do the right thing, you went about it in such a screwy way that it turns out what you were doing was terrible the whole time, and then the cross-manipulation fellow murdered you. Have I got all of that?"

"Yes," Jordan grits out, glaring at her. "What of it?"

"How certain are you that you and I are actually different people?" Evi asks.

Jordan blinks. "Sorry. What?"

"Mine was Reverend Driscoll. Apparently everyone but me knew that he's actually a scumbag. He told me I could help Duke and Haven by assisting him. I tried to use him, but he used me, then killed me," Evi explains.

"You thought that you were doing the right thing by helping out the Rev," Jordan repeats incredulously.

"Look, no one told me that he's a psychopath," Evi says. "I didn't know. And yes, I know I fucked up. The worst thing I ever did was the one time I was trying to be a hero."

Jordan lets out a long, heavy breath. "Yeah. Yeah, that sounds familiar."

Evi reaches out and touches Jordan's bare forearm. Jordan flinches away, then quickly changes her mind and grabs Evi's hand.

Evi smiles at her and watches Jordan tentatively smile back.