Howard was standing watch over an impatient Mara who had her arms folded across her chest.

"Agent Howard, we accept Mara's terms," Nathan said. "All that matters to us is ending the Troubles. Haven has suffered too much for too long. If you refuse, then you're an accomplice too.

"But Mara, you have to act like Audrey in public. If people find out you're not her, someone will try to kill you and I won't protect you. Also, if I find out you're engaging in police brutality, you're out on your ass. Haven PD isn't unionized. Nobody will protect you from that either."

"Understood," Mara said, giving him a thumb's up that somehow managed to look sarcastic. "Of course that means you and Duke have to treat me like Audrey in return. Keep buying those coffee and cupcakes, Nate."

"cupcakes?" Duke said, sounding outraged, like he just found out that Audrey was cheating on him. "She and I agreed that she would lay off the cupcakes."

"Uh," Nathan said. "Sorry?"

"Keep buying them," Mara warned.

"I will, it'll be our secret from Duke."

"Don't take her side," Duke moaned.

"I haven't heard you agree to be nice to me, Duke," Mara said.

"Right back atcha," Duke said.

Howard interrupted their love fest. "All right, we accept the terms. Mara, there's aether in the Barn. If you use it for anything but ending the Troubles, we'll kill you."

"Sure, whatever," Mara said dismissively and sauntered into the Barn. Soon there was a bright light and she sauntered back out. "All done."

Nathan touched his own hand, his cheek, his jacket, his gun.

"Holy shit, I can feel!" he said.

Duke extended his hand and Nathan shook it eagerly. "I can feel it!" he shouted and pulled Duke into a bear hug.

When they separated, Nathan looked at Mara, but held himself back.

"Go ahead, hug my new girlfriend," Duke said.

"That's okay, I was always able to feel Audrey."

"My turn, if you have a knife."

"Hey, isn't anybody going to thank me?" Mara said.

Duke mouthed, Fuck you.

"Thank you, Mara," Nathan said.

"Take a hint, Duke. You said you'd promise to be nice to me."

Duke felt like an animal caught in a trap, but he knew that struggling wasn't going to get him out of it. He took a few deep breaths and closed his eyes. "I set an intention to be nice to Mara," he said. He opened his eyes and added, "Now you."

"I promise to do my best to be nice to you," she said.

"That sounded sincere," Duke said.

"Because I didn't close my eyes and 'set an intention'?" Mara said mockingly.

"You see, you're already not being nice. Audrey would have understood why it was important to me."

"You know . . . it's been so long since I was myself. Maybe you could give me a little time."

"You want to be a bitch, go do it in some other town without me."

"I think I need a drink," Mara said.

"Christ, me too," Duke agreed.

"Great!" Nathan said. "You guys go get a drink, relax, go to know each other. Everything is going to be fine."

"Nathan, I think you're already drunk."

"I am! I'm drunk on feeling! I can feel the wind. I can feel the sun on my face. Can you believe it, I couldn't even feel the sun?"

"Is our business here concluded?" Howard said, startling the others, who'd forgotten he was there.

"Yes!" Nathan said.

"I guess so," Mara said.

Duke muttered something under his breath, then said in a defeated tone: "Yes."

"All right. I'm leaving but we'll be keeping an eye on you, Mara."

"I bet you perverts will be watching me when I'm in the bathroom," Mara said.

Howard grimaced and popped out of existence.

Duke drove himself and Mara to The Grey Gull in blessed silence. He got behind the bar, poured himself a shot of vodka, and downed it before Mara could even sit down.

"I'll have a Pink Lady," she said as he poured himself a second shot. "You go ahead and get drunk, I'll drive us back to the Cape Rouge."

"A Pink Lady? Are you insane? Does this look like a speakeasy to you?"

"Fine, a cosmo then."

"Fine." Duke mixed the drink looking like he was planning on slamming on down on the bar in front of her but he restrained himself, neatly placing it on a napkin like he would if she were just a random customer. He downed his second vodka and poured a third. Considering he hadn't eaten recently he decided not to drink more and not to get drunk. Mara was not going to drive his car.

Mara took a sip of her drink and said, "Mmm, that's good, thank you. Got any snacks?"

Duke took out a big jar of pretzels from under the bar and poured some into two bowls. He didn't want to accidentally brush hands with Mara.

"You know who needs time?" he said suddenly.

"Who?"

"Me. That's who. I just lost my girlfriend. Who I love. And don't you dare tell me she wasn't real. Her feelings were just as real as mine and now she's . . . gone. Maybe not actually dead but it amounts to the same thing."

"Twice a widow."

"Widower. And both of those women died because of you. So if you're planning on keeping your streak going, why don't you just kill youself now and get it over with?"

Mara ignored the barb. "Maybe you're right, you need time to grieve what you lost. Have you heard of shiva?"

"The Indian destroyer god Shiva? You bet. Your favorite god, I'm sure."

"No, the Jewish mourning ritual."

"Sounds vaguely familiar."

"Audrey had a Jewish coworker who lost his mother. He did this thing called 'sitting shiva.' It means for seven days he didn't go to work, he didn't shop, didn't cook, didn't clean, didn't do anything but sit home and mourn. People visited him, brought him food, did everything for him. You can't really have visitors aside from Nathan because nobody know Audrey's gone, but I can do this for you. Take a week. Don't go to The Gull—tell them you're sick or something—and I'll do everything for you. I'll even wash you," Mara smiled slyly. "And then after a week you have to, well, not get over Audrey, but at least put your feelings aside so you stop treating me like crap. Like you promised."

Duke blinked. "You'd do that for me?"

"It was my idea, wasn't it?"

"Why?"

"Because it's what Audrey would do," Mara said, looking embarrassed. She took a long swig of her drink.

"Don't pretend to be Audrey when we're alone," Duke said in a hard tone.

"I'm not pretending. I have the memories and experiences of all the women I've lived. Obviously Audrey's memories are the freshest. I told you I needed time to adjust to being myself again. I told you. You didn't care."

Now it was Duke's turn to be embarrassed. "Right, well, okay, this is a good idea, thank you. But you're not washing me. We're not having sex."

"Maybe not this week, but eventually, certainly."

Duke shuddered. "You want to have sex? Suck my dick."

"Right here? It's not a health code violation? Well, it's your restaurant." Mara slid off her bar stool.

"Hey, wait, no, no, no—"

"Ohhh, you mean you were just trying to insult me by telling me to perform a sex act that you think is demeaning."

"Finish your drink, we're going."

"Can't I bring it with me?"

"Whatever. Take the bowls of pretzels too."

Mara scooped it all up and followed Duke to his car, watching to see if he was unsteady on his feet, but he seemed okay. They drove to the Cape Rouge in silence.

"Here are Audrey's keys," he said when they got there, Audrey having left her set at home, naturally, since she hadn't been expecting to come back. "Go downstairs and get me a bottle of vodka. I'm staying up here."

Mara set down her drink and the pretzel bowls on the coffee table and went downstairs without a word. When she got back, Duke was curled up on the couch. She set the bottle down, sat on the chair next to him and resumed sipping her drink.

When Duke realized she was there, he said, "Go away and let me get drunk in peace."

"No, I can't risk you falling in the water. I might not be able to fish you out."

"I won't fall in the water."

"Drunk people are unpredictable. Maybe you'll jump in the water and then forget to breathe."

"Maybe I'll jump in the water because you're sitting here."

"Then I'll go sit over here."

Mara dragged her chair behind the couch.

"Just go downstairs."

"No, you go downstairs."

"Very mature."

"Just pretend I'm not here."

"Gladly," Duke said and started crying again. He took a long swig from the bottle and grimaced at the taste. "I will definitely be drunk soon."

And so he was. Mara went downstairs and quickly made herself a sandwich and grabbed Audrey's phone, going back upstairs to plant herself on the floor in front of Duke to make sure he didn't die choking on his vomit. He was lying on his stomach, one arm dangling off the side of the couch. Mara slid it over her shoulder so his hand would be resting on her breast. She giggled a little about that.

It was almost dark when Duke finally woke up. By then Mara had brought up a bucket and a bottle of water and she wasn't sitting right next to him, which was a good thing because he immediately vomited, mostly not in the bucket.

When he spotted her, his face cycled through a bunch of unpleasant expressions and wincing with the pain of a throbbing headache.

"Don't worry, I'll clean it up later. Now you drink some water and come downstairs. I kept your dinner warm."

"I thought maybe when I woke up I'd discover this was all just a dream."

"Come on. I'll get you an aspirin too. Or you could go take a shower first."

"Shower," Duke grunted.

He let Mara help him down the stairs and into his bedroom. He even let her undress him. He wasn't aroused, just passive and sad.

"Now you," he said.

"Hmm?"

"Take off your clothes."

Mara quickly got naked and stood in front of Duke. He eyed her clinically. "Now walk."

"Walk where?"

"Up and back. Let me see you walk."

Mara sashayed away from Duke but he quickly said, "Not like that. Just walk."

She walked.

"You have her body but you don't look like her. You don't walk like her. You don't even have the same eyes as her."

"I'm not her."

"I know," Duke said. He went into the bathroom, slamming the door behind him, and locking it for good measure.