The Cape Rouge, Port of Fandom, Friday afternoon

[betterthanaplan]

Linda	Well. Linda watched the young woman leave her office, and blew out a breath the second the door was closed. This was… well, unexpected, she wanted to say, but when was anything expected in her life? Nothing since Lucifer, that was for sure. She had to call Duke. She knew that. Lucifer wasn’t going to thank her for it. She knew that too. Ring… ring…
Duke	"Linda!" Duke greeted. "I didn't forget an appointment, did I?"
Linda	"Duke," Linda said, plastering a smile on her face even if he couldn't see her. "No, you're not scheduled for another few days, but I needed to talk to you about a new patient who just left." A pause. "A young woman," she said. "Talking about a barn."
Duke	Duke was just going to willfully ignore the cold shiver that ran down his back at that. Until he absolutely couldn't anymore. "Farm girl, maybe?"
Linda	"No," Linda said, looking up at the door. "No, I don't think so. She said she was hearing voices. People yelling about meteors, about barns... and somebody called Audrey." She'd definitely heard that name before. "Duke, I think she might be related to-- what you left behind."
Duke	Duke sat abruptly. Luckily he was nowhere near the gunwale when he did, so he just ended up on a crate and not in the water. ". . . She's troubled," he said, after a long moment. "She definitely heard Audrey?" He'd been almost resigned to thinking she was dead. Almost.
Linda	"She said she heard-- a few voices," Linda said carefully. "A man, calling out for Audrey. A woman, talking about her son. A lot of chatter about a barn and meteors. I don't know exactly what it all means, but... it felt like something I should tell you."
Duke	"Yeah, no, that's -- that's good to know, I guess. Um." Duke shoved his hand through his hair. "I -- who is she? Is she from Haven? Does she know you're talking to me?"
Linda	"I may have mentioned that I knew someone who... had similar experiences," Linda said. Tactfully.
Duke	"Okay. Okay." Fuck. He was not at all prepared to deal with this. He wasn't in Haven-mode! "Right. Um. Okay, I definitely need to talk to her. Am I going to freak her out if I talk to her?" It was connected to Haven. Freaking out was unavoidable.
Linda	"Do you really need me to answer that?"
Duke	"I mean. You could lie to me and be reassuring," Duke snarked. "Right. Um. I guess . . . I'll talk to her. This . . . person. With a trouble. Does she know what troubles even are?"
Linda	"I don't think so," Linda said, heaving a big sigh. "She's from Boston, just moved here."
Duke	"And promptly found a new therapist who knows about troubles." Duke sighed. "Yep, that sounds like Haven's work. Did you tell her about me?"
Linda	"I didn't think it was my place to give her those kinds of details," Linda said. "But I can give you her address, if you want it."
Duke	"Yeah. That'd be -- good, I guess. And I'm sure I'll have lots to tell you at my next appointment about it."
Linda	"Duke," Linda said. She chewed on her bottom lip. "Be careful?"
Duke	Duke let out a faintly bitter laugh. "I'll do my best."
Linda	Linda gave him the address, then hung up with a sigh. She was... just going to preemptively clear her schedule for Lucifer, now.

---

Duke	Duke hung up his phone, biting back a curse. This -- well, it wasn't the worst way that Haven had decided to fuck with him. But it still wasn't going to go over at all well, was it. "Luce? Tavi? I, um. I need to tell you something."
Octavia	Nothing good started like that. Octavia looked concerned as she came into the room.
Lucifer	"Please tell me it's nothing dramatic," Lucifer said, following after her.
Duke	"Would that I could," Duke said, shaking his head. "Linda has a troubled patient."
Octavia	They hadn't talked about Haven in a long time. And 'troubled' had other, more general uses. But maybe Octavia was refusing to connect the dots only because she still could. "... And?"
Lucifer	"She's a therapist, all her patients are troubled," Lucifer pointed out. His cluelessness was definitely genuine.
Duke	Yeah, he could have phrased that better. He was kind of lost in how much he hated this right now. “Haven troubled. She’s, um. She’s been hearing the Barn. Me, yelling for Audrey. In the Barn.”
Octavia	And there came the unavoidable dread. Octavia stared at him.
Lucifer	"Oh, enter terrible plot development, stage left." Lucifer pinched the bridge of his nose.
Duke	“Yeah.” Duke let out a heavy sigh. “She, uh. She thinks she’s actually insane.” He laughed uncomfortably. “Which isn’t surprising, but — anyway, um. Turns out people in Haven think I’m dead?” Look, he was dealing with a lot of weird information today.
Octavia	Octavia should probably do something other than just stare some more. "Did she tell you that?"
Lucifer	"Suppose you were in a large building when it exploded," Lucifer said, eyeing Duke warily.
Duke	“Fell apart?” Duke shook his head. “Uh. No. I tried calling Nathan to see what’s going on and everyone kept telling me I couldn’t be Duke because Duke’s dead.”
Octavia	"But you could get through to Haven." Not a question. More like Octavia was stating it outright to get herself to accept it. (She hadn't yet realized how fast her heart was racing all of a sudden.)
Lucifer	Lucifer sighed loudly. The reality of the situation clearly hadn't quite hit him yet. "Does this mean we have to roadtrip back to your hellhole?" he asked. "Word chosen deliberately, I assure you."
Duke	Duke swallowed, hand in his hair. He didn’t like this any more than they did. “I — I think we do. Jennifer needs help, and — and Audrey’s still missing and Dave said Nathan’s on the run. . . .” He trailed off, shaking his head. He couldn’t believe this was happening. It’d been more than a year, and he’d almost started to relax. “You don’t — have to come. But. I could probably use the backup.”
Octavia	"You are not going on your own," Octavia snapped. The burst of anger wasn't directed at anyone here: it was a crutch. He'd been on his own, last time. And look at how that had turned out. (The floor felt like it was giving out underneath her.)
Lucifer	"I would've made some flippant comment about how you must be losing your mind, but Octavia covered it quite nicely," Lucifer said, gesturing towards her. None of this sounded especially good. But after seeing the way Duke had been since coming back the last time, Lucifer also didn't see the point of arguing with him.
Duke	Duke nodded, giving them a shaky smile. “Thanks. I’ll, uh. I guess I’ll let Jennifer know. And maybe after this . . . we can finally be done.”
Octavia	The panic Octavia was ignoring did not buy that at all. But Octavia forced a nod.
Lucifer	"We'll just pack up, check in on what's going on over there, fix whatever needs to be fixed, and then ride out of there as fast as possible with your nerves soothed one way or the other," Lucifer said. Optimistically.
Duke	“Yes. That. Exactly.” Duke really wanted to believe in that optimism.
Octavia	Octavia... nodded again. She didn't buy this, either. (And her heart sounded like thunder in her ears.)
Lucifer	"Right, well," Lucifer said, looking at Duke a bit helplessly, like a train that just ran out of steam. "Now what?"
Duke	"I'll . . . call Jennifer. And . . . I guess we rent a car?" He was kind of hoping someone gave him a hug first.
Octavia	Octavia looked a little too frozen in place for that. The reality of the situation was really starting to seep in, now. She looked off to the side. Breathed in.
Lucifer	Lucifer rolled his eyes. "I'll buy something," he said. He glanced at Octavia. Frowned. Glanced back at Duke's face. Frowned again. "... Are you two all right?"
Duke	"Uh huh," Duke said distractedly, staring at his hands now. He shook his head and looked up, squinting. "Not really, no. It's Haven."
Octavia	"Sha," Octavia muttered, in agreement. She looked up, at Duke, his face, and something... shifted, finally. And then she did, stepping up to him. He looked like he could use a hug. (She didn't know what she could have used. A drink?)
Lucifer	Lucifer sighed. He reached to snag a bottle of bourbon off the counter (priorities!) and followed her. "C'mere, then," he said, "We hardly need to leave today."
Duke	Duke leaned against Octavia the moment she was close enough, then made a grab for the bourbon the moment it was. "Great! I'm just going to get trashed in the meantime then. Any objections?"
Octavia	Octavia said nothing as she wrapped her arms around him. It felt like disaster was knocking on their door. Again.
Lucifer	"None at all," Lucifer said, and closed his arms around them both once Duke had the bourbon. (Like a shield.)
Duke	"Oh good." Duke took a long swig from the bottle and let his partners keep the world away for a little while.

[contents of the phone call are NFB. The squirrels are welcome to report on the trio being unhappy to be about to go on a trip, though! Preplayed with the inimitable my_own_advocate and okteiviakom. THUS BEGINS HAVEN SEASON FOUR!]