Haven, Maine, Sunday Fandom time
Aug. 2nd, 2020 03:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
betterthanaplanIt took Duke a while to notice that his phone wasn't connecting to Fandom anymore. He was a bit busy dealing with Nathan's fervent desire to hang any and all crimes happening in Haven around his neck.
"Do you really think that I would hurt Geoff?"
"No I don't," Nathan said. They stood in the middle of Duke's hotel room, the scant few things he'd brought up from Fandom scattered over the bed. He hadn't packed enough to deal with all this. He should have brought more booze. "We need to know what you saw."
"He walked me back here," Duke said. "Okay, he was upset about what happened at the dinner."
"Did he blame anybody?"
"Geoff?" Duke shook his head. "He blamed everybody."
Audrey leaned forward from from she sat in the corner. "Anyone in particular?"
"No." Duke sank down onto the bed, idly picking at his shirt from last night. "I know he seemed like a monster, but he wasn't. Outside of the kitchen, he was a good guy."
"Why'd he talk to you last night?" Nathan asked.
Duke glared at him. "Because he was upset, Nathan. He needed somebody to talk to. He told me about the fight he had with his brother. He felt trapped."
"So what was all this business with the knife?" Audrey asked.
Duke got up to raid the minibar. "When I was a kid. . . . I had a pellet gun. We shot a duck. Later, when Geoff tried to cook it, it escaped and came flapping at us. Scared the crap out of us. Bill tried to put it out of its misery with a pocket knife. Geoff stopped him. Said 'maybe it deserves a second chance.' Geoff used the pocket knife to make us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead." He pulled out a tiny bottle of cheap scotch and cracked it open with a sigh. "Ever since then we've been giving each other second chance. Hence the name of the restaurant." He sighed, giving Nathan a long look. "It was meant to be a second chance for them."
And it had gone up in flames. Just like Nathan and Duke's second chance. Just like everything else in this god-forsaken town.
He should ask Lucifer about that. Maybe Haven really was god-forsaken.
Audrey let the moment hang just a little, then pressed on. "So you talked. And. . . ?"
"I told him that I would help him in any way I could." Because that was what Duke did. Threw himself on other people's problems. "He said he didn't feel well. I came inside and he left. I heard a noise on the boardwalk; I didn't . . . think anything of it." He tossed back the entire mini-bottle of scotch in one go. "I thought he tripped."
He sat back down on the bed, elbows on his knees, face aimed at his hands, even while he shot another glare up at Nathan through his hair.
Nathan stared back, not saying a word.
Audrey stood. "I think I'm going to go talk to Meg and Bill again."
Nathan nodded and ducked out the door. Duke heard them talking in the hall, something about John Roberts, the Lobster Pup guy. He wasn't listening too closely though; something had caught his eye in the bottom of his overnight back. He pulled it out, turning it over between his fingers.
Octavia's locket. She must have slipped it into his bag while he wasn't looking. He lifted it to his lips and closed his eyes, then reached for his phone.
really wish you were here to punch Nathan again, he texted. He watched the little bar at the top of the messenger app try to send it. Watched it hang for ten seconds, twenty, a full minute. Got hit with a sickening burst of deja vu.
It was hanging in exactly the same way his texts to her while she was on the Ground had.
He got up to pace, squeezing the locket and feeling the edges of it bit into his palm as he pulled up the Portalocity app.
We're sorry, it said. Service to and from your current universe has been indefinitely suspended. There was a graphic of a crying gnome.
Duke threw his phone against the wall, not even trying to bite back his roar of frustration.
Octavia was going to kill him. Assuming he made it back to the island again in time for her to try.
Audrey found him down by the docks, sitting curled up against a post not far from where the Rouge would be tied up, if she weren't still sitting in the Port of Fandom, 600 miles and who knew how many dimensions away. He looked up from the water as she sat down a few feet away. He couldn't explain Fandom to her — not without risking getting locked up in the Freddy, maybe, or at least becoming the target of her next trouble investigation — but he could at least talk about Geoff.
He'd lost one of his best friends and the woman he loved in the span of 24 hours. At least Octavia he might not have lost permanently.
"You know, Geoff hated the water." He bobbed his head, full of restless, useless energy. There was nothing to fix here, and it was driving him nuts. "He did. He got sick every time we took him out. In fact I think he cooked fish as revenge on the ocean."
Audrey smiled a little and looked away. Duke stared back down at the water.
"And then he died in it." Audrey looked back over at him, smile gone. Duke leaned his head back against the post. "It's a shame. Any other circumstance, I would have appreciated the irony."
Audrey glanced away again. He could see her groping for something to say. So Duke just kept filling the silence.
"One hell of a grand opening, huh."
She latched right onto that. "They'll never forget it, that's for sure."
Duke studied her for a long moment. If he was going to be stuck here — and it looked like he was definitely going to be stuck here, hopefully not for a full seven years like Octavia had been — he needed her on his side. He wanted her on his side. It was her resemblance to Lucy, sure, to one of the few adults he could remember from his childhood who'd made even a token effort to care for him, but more than that, it was just — her. Her prickliness, her upright awkwardness.
The way she came over to sit with him, even when she clearly had no idea what she was doing when it came to comforting the bereaved.
Duke lifted his hand to fidget with Octavia's locket. It hung between his whistle and his prayer wheel pendant, not far from his heart. "By the way, you looked nice in that dress last night."
Her lips quirked, like she wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not. "There it is again. 'Nice.'"
Duke looked at her seriously. "I meant nice."
Her eyes flicked to his and away a few times, like she had no idea what to do with that. Duke's heart broke a little to see it. He wouldn't have thought it could break anymore than it already had today, but there it was.
"Thank you," she said finally.
Duke let that hang for a moment, then decided to give her a break. "It was nice to see another side of Officer Agent Parker."
She grinned, relieved that his joking tone was back. He was always the entertainer. "I am pretty sure you saw every single side of me the day we met. When you fished me out of the water."
She gave back as good as she got when it came to teasing, at least. "It's a shame you're a cop."
"And why's that?"
"I don't usually socialize with cops." It was a blatant lie, these days — thanks, Danny — but it was an easy groove to fall back into.
"Did it ever occur to you that that might be their choice?"
Duke made a show of taking that question seriously. "No." He managed to keep his straight face for all of about three seconds before looking down with a faintly bitter chuckle.
He might not see Danny again, either. He was a little surprised by how much that thought hurt.
"Hey, I know it's not going to fix anything," Audrey said, trying again at the whole reassuring friend role. "But I'm going to figure out what happened to your friend."
And that right there. Duke suddenly understood.
Audrey was a fixer, too.
He nodded. "I know you will." He held her gaze for a long moment, then gave them both a break. "Officer Agent Parker."
The wake was scheduled for that evening. They'd had one as quickly for Bill and Geoff's parents when they passed. Duke wasn't much feeling up for company, but he couldn't tell Bill that. He went into town to pick up some clothes. He'd only packed enough for an overnight, and it wasn't like he had his trusty old crappy laundry machine from the Rouge to clean up with.
He didn't have anything. He barely had any cash. He ducked into the thrift store on Main, feeling all of thirteen again, looking for something he could wear to Toby Greenblat's bar mitzvah on the cheap so he could get the free food.
Just, you know. A lot taller.
He ran into Dwight on the way out, another crappy old sport coat tucked into a bag under his arm. (He knew how to class it up, but he'd decided at a young age that if he couldn't afford anything nicer, then people were just going to have to put up with him looking scruffy. It'd become something of a way of life since then.) Dwight looked startled to see him.
"You're here."
"So it would seem."
"Your boat's not."
"Nothing gets past you, does it, big guy. There are other ways to travel."
Dwight snorted. "Not for you."
"Because you know me so well."
Dwight shrugged. Then, after a moment, something seemed to give way in him. "I heard about Geoff. It's a shame."
"Yeah." Duke nodded, still bristling. "Yeah, it is. Thanks so much for noticing."
"Did they even know they were troubled?"
Duke felt cold. "They're not."
"They are, actually," Dwight said. "Their great uncle was in the Guard. Why do you think all the food's been going bad?"
Duke stared up at him. He could feel something shaking in his chest. Bill and Geoff were behind the food trouble. Of course they were. And he'd been helping them out, dodging through the kitchen with Geoff, surrounded by knives. . . .
And now Geoff was dead.
"Did — did Bill —"
Dwight shook his head. "I don't know, sorry. You should send him our way, though. We can help him out, get him set up somewhere he can't hurt anyone else."
"You can help him out." Duke nodded, a smile that was more sneer spreading across his face. "You can help — why the fuck didn't you offer that before Geoff died?"
Dwight looked around, flashing a charming smile at a passing woman with a stroller, even as he yanked Duke into an alley. "You want to keep your voice down?"
"Not particularly, no! You knew they had a trouble!"
"Not the details! Bill and Geoff's parents never had any issues with it. And frankly, I try to keep the Guard off of troubled people unless the people themselves ask."
"What the fuck is the Guard?" Duke hissed. "Why can't anyone in this goddamn town give a straight answer about anything?!"
"Haven's secrets are need-to-know, Crocker," Dwight said. "And you've been out of town a long time." He nodded down to the bag under Duke's arm. "I'm sorry for your loss."
And then he left. Duke stared after him, grinding his teeth.
"Yeah," he muttered. "That's not suspicious at all."
The wake was canceled again as quickly as it had been scheduled. Apparently, all the food for it had gone mysteriously bad. Duke had spent part of his emergency cash on a jacket for nothing. Gloria found him moping outside the hotel and dragged her back to her house for dinner.
"What's with the face?" she asked him, as she plopped a carton of orange chicken in front of him (apparently, Gloria did not cook). "This is from that place over off of Route 1. 100% guaranteed not to be locally raised, no chance of it going sour on us."
"That's not —" Duke shook his head and sighed. "I'm stuck here."
"They'll do that boy's wake tomorrow. Don't worry about it."
"Gloria." Duke stabbed at the carton with his chopsticks. "I'm stuck here."
"Duke," Gloria said. "My boy's grown. I don't speak brooding teenager anymore. You're going to have to spell it out for me."
Duke rolled his eyes. "I told you about Octavia, right? How she went missing for awhile?"
"Something about timelines and interdimensional travel?" Gloria shrugged. "Whole thing just gave me a headache."
"Yeah. Well. Now I'm missing."
Gloria tilted her head and studied him for a long moment. "Ah."
"Ah." Duke set his carton down, none of it eaten. "'Ah, that makes sense, you're screwed'? 'Ah, you poor fool, everything will be fine'?"
"'Ah, sounds like a job for some nice, strong gin,'" Gloria said, getting up and coming back to the table with a big bottle.
"I like bourbon better."
"You're in my house, kitten, you're getting gin."
Duke huffed and nodded. She poured him his drink, then tipped the bottle up to her lips for a swig of her own before sitting down.
"Alright. That should stave off the headache for a bit. Lay it on me."
So he did. He told her about how he'd planned only to be in Haven for one night, about cancelling his portal when Bill and Geoff got into it at the opening. About his texts to Octavia not going through, and Portalocity telling him he was cut off. He even talked about having to make a couple hundred bucks in cash and two changes of clothing last for the foreseeable future, because his boat and all his usual resources were ten years in the future.
"Well. That I can help you with. I've got a spare room and enough cash to spot you some decent clothes."
"I . . . can't ask you to do that, Gloria."
"I know. 'Swhy I'm offering. Should have done it a whole lot sooner, but I'm human, I make mistakes."
"No, seriously, I can't —"
"You will. Now shut up and eat your take out."
Duke looked down at his plate and sighed. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good boy."
The wake turned into a combination farewell to Geoff, and a send off for Bill and Meg. They were moving to a farm outside of town, some place they could grow their own food and not threaten the town's stock any time Bill got upset. He was also, Duke learned, scheduled for regular meetings with Claire and looking into some mood stabilizers to help keep his trouble in line.
Duke wondered, if Geoff was still alive and they knew about his trouble, would Bill have asked him to take care of theirs for them? To save Geoff the possibility of poisoning the medium he'd loved so much?
He ducked out early, made it all the way to the marina before he remembered his boat wasn't there, and turned back for another night at the hotel. He appreciated Gloria's offer, but from the hotel he could at least hear the water, even if he couldn't feel it moving beneath him while he lay in bed and failed to sleep. He checked his phone at least once every hour, praying it would connect to Fandom, but it never did.
He passed a couple of days like that, in a haze, nudged back and forth by Gloria and finding himself at the water's edge again and again. He was drowning on dry land, just like Geoff had said. Just like he'd been as a kid, trapped in Haven with few friends and fewer prospects, glared at by random people on the streets and smirked at by the Rev and the more loyal members of his flock. He drank himself to sleep most nights, and sometimes in the middle of the days, too.
Then Audrey came to find him, making jokes about smelling the alcohol fumes from down the hall, and dragged him out to the Second Chance, where Meg and Bill were sitting by a fire.
"I'm sorry about Geoff, man," Duke said, pulling Bill into a hug. (He could be okay for Bill. He thought maybe Audrey knew that, knew how it felt to only be strong for other people.)
Bill pulled back and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for coming."
"What's up, Bill?"
"Usual deal," Bill said, picking up a simple, elegantly made wooden box. "This time I set the price."
"Mystery box?" Duke asked.
"Mystery box."
"Alright, I'll bite." Duke pulled his dwindling wad of cash from his pocket. He was going to have to find some paying work soon. He hadn't been able to connect with the Bank of Fandom over the last few days, either. "How much?"
Bill looked down at the box and at Duke's cash. "Twenty?"
Duke raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" He pulled off a twenty dollar bill and held it out. Bill took it, and lifted the box up again for Duke to open. Duke took a deep breath and lifted the lid.
A deed sat inside, on a lining of black velvet. A set of keys sat on top. Duke's eyes flicked from the box to Bill's face and back.
"The Second Chance? I —"
"I don't want to run it without Geoff," Bill said, the faint sound of tears in his voice. "Brings me nothing but anger, and — like I talked about with Agent Parker, stress doesn't agree with my digestion."
Duke glanced at Audrey, then back at the deed, pressing his hand over his mouth.
"I can't take your restaurant, Bill."
"Ah, go on, Duke." Bill pressed the box forward just a little. "That's as close to keeping it in the family as I can get. You're the only Second Chancer left."
Duke swallowed. He opened his mouth to argue again, then looked over at Audrey, who nodded, a faint smile on her face.
"I — I don't know what to say. I —" He didn't live here.
Except — maybe now he did. He didn't have much choice, not until this universe and Fandom's linked up again.
"Hey, you know the rules," Bill said, gently teasing. "There's no refunds. Besides, you could use a legitimate business."
Duke shook his head and bobbed his hand, looking at the deed again. "When you put it that way." He picked up the deed and the keys, and Bill snapped the box shut again, turning to Meg.
"You really think I can make a career out of this woodworking?"
"Honestly?" Meg said. "I don't care. I'm just glad to have my husband back."
They kissed, and Duke stepped around them to sit down next to Audrey.
"How much of this was your idea?" he asked softly. She looked away, tilting her head with a tiny smirk, and for a moment she reminded him more of Octavia than Lucy. "Officer Agent Parker. That's downright underhanded."
She looked back at him over her shoulder. "Maybe I just like having you around."
"Yeah. Well, someone's gotta be Nathan's token scapegoat."
She shoved him with her shoulder. "Don't sell yourself short. You're everybody's chosen scapegoat."
Duke nodded, rocking with her shove and staring at his keys. "You can't talk to me like that, officer. I'm a legitimate business man now." He looked back at her. "Guess we're both locals now, huh?"
"Guess so."
"We're both going to have to invest in way more flannel."
She laughed. "One flannel," she said. "We can share it."
Duke chuckled. "Hot." He pocketed the keys and stood, half-turning back to her. "This isn't going to be easy, you know."
"What, you being a legitimate businessman?"
Duke snorted. "That, either."
Audrey studied him, that tiny smile on her lips again. "It won't," she said after a moment. "But I think it might be a little better if we're on the same side."
"Yeah, well, tell your partner that."
"I will." Duke glanced at her. She looked like she meant it.
"See you at home, Agent Parker."
"Yeah," Audrey said. "See you."
[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from and expanded upon 1x04, Consumed]
"Do you really think that I would hurt Geoff?"
"No I don't," Nathan said. They stood in the middle of Duke's hotel room, the scant few things he'd brought up from Fandom scattered over the bed. He hadn't packed enough to deal with all this. He should have brought more booze. "We need to know what you saw."
"He walked me back here," Duke said. "Okay, he was upset about what happened at the dinner."
"Did he blame anybody?"
"Geoff?" Duke shook his head. "He blamed everybody."
Audrey leaned forward from from she sat in the corner. "Anyone in particular?"
"No." Duke sank down onto the bed, idly picking at his shirt from last night. "I know he seemed like a monster, but he wasn't. Outside of the kitchen, he was a good guy."
"Why'd he talk to you last night?" Nathan asked.
Duke glared at him. "Because he was upset, Nathan. He needed somebody to talk to. He told me about the fight he had with his brother. He felt trapped."
"So what was all this business with the knife?" Audrey asked.
Duke got up to raid the minibar. "When I was a kid. . . . I had a pellet gun. We shot a duck. Later, when Geoff tried to cook it, it escaped and came flapping at us. Scared the crap out of us. Bill tried to put it out of its misery with a pocket knife. Geoff stopped him. Said 'maybe it deserves a second chance.' Geoff used the pocket knife to make us peanut butter and jelly sandwiches instead." He pulled out a tiny bottle of cheap scotch and cracked it open with a sigh. "Ever since then we've been giving each other second chance. Hence the name of the restaurant." He sighed, giving Nathan a long look. "It was meant to be a second chance for them."
And it had gone up in flames. Just like Nathan and Duke's second chance. Just like everything else in this god-forsaken town.
He should ask Lucifer about that. Maybe Haven really was god-forsaken.
Audrey let the moment hang just a little, then pressed on. "So you talked. And. . . ?"
"I told him that I would help him in any way I could." Because that was what Duke did. Threw himself on other people's problems. "He said he didn't feel well. I came inside and he left. I heard a noise on the boardwalk; I didn't . . . think anything of it." He tossed back the entire mini-bottle of scotch in one go. "I thought he tripped."
He sat back down on the bed, elbows on his knees, face aimed at his hands, even while he shot another glare up at Nathan through his hair.
Nathan stared back, not saying a word.
Audrey stood. "I think I'm going to go talk to Meg and Bill again."
Nathan nodded and ducked out the door. Duke heard them talking in the hall, something about John Roberts, the Lobster Pup guy. He wasn't listening too closely though; something had caught his eye in the bottom of his overnight back. He pulled it out, turning it over between his fingers.
Octavia's locket. She must have slipped it into his bag while he wasn't looking. He lifted it to his lips and closed his eyes, then reached for his phone.
really wish you were here to punch Nathan again, he texted. He watched the little bar at the top of the messenger app try to send it. Watched it hang for ten seconds, twenty, a full minute. Got hit with a sickening burst of deja vu.
It was hanging in exactly the same way his texts to her while she was on the Ground had.
He got up to pace, squeezing the locket and feeling the edges of it bit into his palm as he pulled up the Portalocity app.
We're sorry, it said. Service to and from your current universe has been indefinitely suspended. There was a graphic of a crying gnome.
Duke threw his phone against the wall, not even trying to bite back his roar of frustration.
Octavia was going to kill him. Assuming he made it back to the island again in time for her to try.
Audrey found him down by the docks, sitting curled up against a post not far from where the Rouge would be tied up, if she weren't still sitting in the Port of Fandom, 600 miles and who knew how many dimensions away. He looked up from the water as she sat down a few feet away. He couldn't explain Fandom to her — not without risking getting locked up in the Freddy, maybe, or at least becoming the target of her next trouble investigation — but he could at least talk about Geoff.
He'd lost one of his best friends and the woman he loved in the span of 24 hours. At least Octavia he might not have lost permanently.
"You know, Geoff hated the water." He bobbed his head, full of restless, useless energy. There was nothing to fix here, and it was driving him nuts. "He did. He got sick every time we took him out. In fact I think he cooked fish as revenge on the ocean."
Audrey smiled a little and looked away. Duke stared back down at the water.
"And then he died in it." Audrey looked back over at him, smile gone. Duke leaned his head back against the post. "It's a shame. Any other circumstance, I would have appreciated the irony."
Audrey glanced away again. He could see her groping for something to say. So Duke just kept filling the silence.
"One hell of a grand opening, huh."
She latched right onto that. "They'll never forget it, that's for sure."
Duke studied her for a long moment. If he was going to be stuck here — and it looked like he was definitely going to be stuck here, hopefully not for a full seven years like Octavia had been — he needed her on his side. He wanted her on his side. It was her resemblance to Lucy, sure, to one of the few adults he could remember from his childhood who'd made even a token effort to care for him, but more than that, it was just — her. Her prickliness, her upright awkwardness.
The way she came over to sit with him, even when she clearly had no idea what she was doing when it came to comforting the bereaved.
Duke lifted his hand to fidget with Octavia's locket. It hung between his whistle and his prayer wheel pendant, not far from his heart. "By the way, you looked nice in that dress last night."
Her lips quirked, like she wasn't sure if she should be insulted or not. "There it is again. 'Nice.'"
Duke looked at her seriously. "I meant nice."
Her eyes flicked to his and away a few times, like she had no idea what to do with that. Duke's heart broke a little to see it. He wouldn't have thought it could break anymore than it already had today, but there it was.
"Thank you," she said finally.
Duke let that hang for a moment, then decided to give her a break. "It was nice to see another side of Officer Agent Parker."
She grinned, relieved that his joking tone was back. He was always the entertainer. "I am pretty sure you saw every single side of me the day we met. When you fished me out of the water."
She gave back as good as she got when it came to teasing, at least. "It's a shame you're a cop."
"And why's that?"
"I don't usually socialize with cops." It was a blatant lie, these days — thanks, Danny — but it was an easy groove to fall back into.
"Did it ever occur to you that that might be their choice?"
Duke made a show of taking that question seriously. "No." He managed to keep his straight face for all of about three seconds before looking down with a faintly bitter chuckle.
He might not see Danny again, either. He was a little surprised by how much that thought hurt.
"Hey, I know it's not going to fix anything," Audrey said, trying again at the whole reassuring friend role. "But I'm going to figure out what happened to your friend."
And that right there. Duke suddenly understood.
Audrey was a fixer, too.
He nodded. "I know you will." He held her gaze for a long moment, then gave them both a break. "Officer Agent Parker."
The wake was scheduled for that evening. They'd had one as quickly for Bill and Geoff's parents when they passed. Duke wasn't much feeling up for company, but he couldn't tell Bill that. He went into town to pick up some clothes. He'd only packed enough for an overnight, and it wasn't like he had his trusty old crappy laundry machine from the Rouge to clean up with.
He didn't have anything. He barely had any cash. He ducked into the thrift store on Main, feeling all of thirteen again, looking for something he could wear to Toby Greenblat's bar mitzvah on the cheap so he could get the free food.
Just, you know. A lot taller.
He ran into Dwight on the way out, another crappy old sport coat tucked into a bag under his arm. (He knew how to class it up, but he'd decided at a young age that if he couldn't afford anything nicer, then people were just going to have to put up with him looking scruffy. It'd become something of a way of life since then.) Dwight looked startled to see him.
"You're here."
"So it would seem."
"Your boat's not."
"Nothing gets past you, does it, big guy. There are other ways to travel."
Dwight snorted. "Not for you."
"Because you know me so well."
Dwight shrugged. Then, after a moment, something seemed to give way in him. "I heard about Geoff. It's a shame."
"Yeah." Duke nodded, still bristling. "Yeah, it is. Thanks so much for noticing."
"Did they even know they were troubled?"
Duke felt cold. "They're not."
"They are, actually," Dwight said. "Their great uncle was in the Guard. Why do you think all the food's been going bad?"
Duke stared up at him. He could feel something shaking in his chest. Bill and Geoff were behind the food trouble. Of course they were. And he'd been helping them out, dodging through the kitchen with Geoff, surrounded by knives. . . .
And now Geoff was dead.
"Did — did Bill —"
Dwight shook his head. "I don't know, sorry. You should send him our way, though. We can help him out, get him set up somewhere he can't hurt anyone else."
"You can help him out." Duke nodded, a smile that was more sneer spreading across his face. "You can help — why the fuck didn't you offer that before Geoff died?"
Dwight looked around, flashing a charming smile at a passing woman with a stroller, even as he yanked Duke into an alley. "You want to keep your voice down?"
"Not particularly, no! You knew they had a trouble!"
"Not the details! Bill and Geoff's parents never had any issues with it. And frankly, I try to keep the Guard off of troubled people unless the people themselves ask."
"What the fuck is the Guard?" Duke hissed. "Why can't anyone in this goddamn town give a straight answer about anything?!"
"Haven's secrets are need-to-know, Crocker," Dwight said. "And you've been out of town a long time." He nodded down to the bag under Duke's arm. "I'm sorry for your loss."
And then he left. Duke stared after him, grinding his teeth.
"Yeah," he muttered. "That's not suspicious at all."
The wake was canceled again as quickly as it had been scheduled. Apparently, all the food for it had gone mysteriously bad. Duke had spent part of his emergency cash on a jacket for nothing. Gloria found him moping outside the hotel and dragged her back to her house for dinner.
"What's with the face?" she asked him, as she plopped a carton of orange chicken in front of him (apparently, Gloria did not cook). "This is from that place over off of Route 1. 100% guaranteed not to be locally raised, no chance of it going sour on us."
"That's not —" Duke shook his head and sighed. "I'm stuck here."
"They'll do that boy's wake tomorrow. Don't worry about it."
"Gloria." Duke stabbed at the carton with his chopsticks. "I'm stuck here."
"Duke," Gloria said. "My boy's grown. I don't speak brooding teenager anymore. You're going to have to spell it out for me."
Duke rolled his eyes. "I told you about Octavia, right? How she went missing for awhile?"
"Something about timelines and interdimensional travel?" Gloria shrugged. "Whole thing just gave me a headache."
"Yeah. Well. Now I'm missing."
Gloria tilted her head and studied him for a long moment. "Ah."
"Ah." Duke set his carton down, none of it eaten. "'Ah, that makes sense, you're screwed'? 'Ah, you poor fool, everything will be fine'?"
"'Ah, sounds like a job for some nice, strong gin,'" Gloria said, getting up and coming back to the table with a big bottle.
"I like bourbon better."
"You're in my house, kitten, you're getting gin."
Duke huffed and nodded. She poured him his drink, then tipped the bottle up to her lips for a swig of her own before sitting down.
"Alright. That should stave off the headache for a bit. Lay it on me."
So he did. He told her about how he'd planned only to be in Haven for one night, about cancelling his portal when Bill and Geoff got into it at the opening. About his texts to Octavia not going through, and Portalocity telling him he was cut off. He even talked about having to make a couple hundred bucks in cash and two changes of clothing last for the foreseeable future, because his boat and all his usual resources were ten years in the future.
"Well. That I can help you with. I've got a spare room and enough cash to spot you some decent clothes."
"I . . . can't ask you to do that, Gloria."
"I know. 'Swhy I'm offering. Should have done it a whole lot sooner, but I'm human, I make mistakes."
"No, seriously, I can't —"
"You will. Now shut up and eat your take out."
Duke looked down at his plate and sighed. "Yes, ma'am."
"Good boy."
The wake turned into a combination farewell to Geoff, and a send off for Bill and Meg. They were moving to a farm outside of town, some place they could grow their own food and not threaten the town's stock any time Bill got upset. He was also, Duke learned, scheduled for regular meetings with Claire and looking into some mood stabilizers to help keep his trouble in line.
Duke wondered, if Geoff was still alive and they knew about his trouble, would Bill have asked him to take care of theirs for them? To save Geoff the possibility of poisoning the medium he'd loved so much?
He ducked out early, made it all the way to the marina before he remembered his boat wasn't there, and turned back for another night at the hotel. He appreciated Gloria's offer, but from the hotel he could at least hear the water, even if he couldn't feel it moving beneath him while he lay in bed and failed to sleep. He checked his phone at least once every hour, praying it would connect to Fandom, but it never did.
He passed a couple of days like that, in a haze, nudged back and forth by Gloria and finding himself at the water's edge again and again. He was drowning on dry land, just like Geoff had said. Just like he'd been as a kid, trapped in Haven with few friends and fewer prospects, glared at by random people on the streets and smirked at by the Rev and the more loyal members of his flock. He drank himself to sleep most nights, and sometimes in the middle of the days, too.
Then Audrey came to find him, making jokes about smelling the alcohol fumes from down the hall, and dragged him out to the Second Chance, where Meg and Bill were sitting by a fire.
"I'm sorry about Geoff, man," Duke said, pulling Bill into a hug. (He could be okay for Bill. He thought maybe Audrey knew that, knew how it felt to only be strong for other people.)
Bill pulled back and patted him on the shoulder. "Thanks for coming."
"What's up, Bill?"
"Usual deal," Bill said, picking up a simple, elegantly made wooden box. "This time I set the price."
"Mystery box?" Duke asked.
"Mystery box."
"Alright, I'll bite." Duke pulled his dwindling wad of cash from his pocket. He was going to have to find some paying work soon. He hadn't been able to connect with the Bank of Fandom over the last few days, either. "How much?"
Bill looked down at the box and at Duke's cash. "Twenty?"
Duke raised an eyebrow. "That's it?" He pulled off a twenty dollar bill and held it out. Bill took it, and lifted the box up again for Duke to open. Duke took a deep breath and lifted the lid.
A deed sat inside, on a lining of black velvet. A set of keys sat on top. Duke's eyes flicked from the box to Bill's face and back.
"The Second Chance? I —"
"I don't want to run it without Geoff," Bill said, the faint sound of tears in his voice. "Brings me nothing but anger, and — like I talked about with Agent Parker, stress doesn't agree with my digestion."
Duke glanced at Audrey, then back at the deed, pressing his hand over his mouth.
"I can't take your restaurant, Bill."
"Ah, go on, Duke." Bill pressed the box forward just a little. "That's as close to keeping it in the family as I can get. You're the only Second Chancer left."
Duke swallowed. He opened his mouth to argue again, then looked over at Audrey, who nodded, a faint smile on her face.
"I — I don't know what to say. I —" He didn't live here.
Except — maybe now he did. He didn't have much choice, not until this universe and Fandom's linked up again.
"Hey, you know the rules," Bill said, gently teasing. "There's no refunds. Besides, you could use a legitimate business."
Duke shook his head and bobbed his hand, looking at the deed again. "When you put it that way." He picked up the deed and the keys, and Bill snapped the box shut again, turning to Meg.
"You really think I can make a career out of this woodworking?"
"Honestly?" Meg said. "I don't care. I'm just glad to have my husband back."
They kissed, and Duke stepped around them to sit down next to Audrey.
"How much of this was your idea?" he asked softly. She looked away, tilting her head with a tiny smirk, and for a moment she reminded him more of Octavia than Lucy. "Officer Agent Parker. That's downright underhanded."
She looked back at him over her shoulder. "Maybe I just like having you around."
"Yeah. Well, someone's gotta be Nathan's token scapegoat."
She shoved him with her shoulder. "Don't sell yourself short. You're everybody's chosen scapegoat."
Duke nodded, rocking with her shove and staring at his keys. "You can't talk to me like that, officer. I'm a legitimate business man now." He looked back at her. "Guess we're both locals now, huh?"
"Guess so."
"We're both going to have to invest in way more flannel."
She laughed. "One flannel," she said. "We can share it."
Duke chuckled. "Hot." He pocketed the keys and stood, half-turning back to her. "This isn't going to be easy, you know."
"What, you being a legitimate businessman?"
Duke snorted. "That, either."
Audrey studied him, that tiny smile on her lips again. "It won't," she said after a moment. "But I think it might be a little better if we're on the same side."
"Yeah, well, tell your partner that."
"I will." Duke glanced at her. She looked like she meant it.
"See you at home, Agent Parker."
"Yeah," Audrey said. "See you."
[NFB, NFI, OOC welcome. Adapted from and expanded upon 1x04, Consumed]