"You've got three seconds to get the hell off my boat."
"Duke! Stop it!"
"Shut up, Audrey."
On the deck, Nathan was struggling to regain his breath and reaching for his weapon.
Dwight was trying to diffuse the situation.
"Look, I didn't mean for her to get hurt."
He looked to Jennifer. "Jennifer, I'm sorry I left you alone with them..."
Duke pulled the slide action to cock the handgun. The sound drew Dwight's attention.
"You don't speak to her. Got that?"
Dwight nodded and lifted his hands to show he was unarmed and surrendering. Duke looked ready to squeeze that trigger.
"You don't look at her and you don't speak her name. You turn around and - "
"Duke, wait."
It was Jennifer, standing behind him and her hand was on his shoulder.
"I want to hear what he has to say. Please."
Dwight could hear the ocean waves slapping against the boats and the jangle of the boarding plank that held them together. He could hear Nathan gasping for breath and Audrey holding hers. He could hear his own blood roaring in his ears. He was aware that Duke Crocker was pointing a cocked and loaded weapon at him but all he could see was Jennifer. Pale, bruised and fragile looking. There was a fire in her eyes, though. Taking a second to glance between her and Duke, Dwight realised that police presence or not, his life was in her hands.
Duke confirmed his suspicion as he lowered the weapon without retracting the slide. "She so much as flinches and you're a dead man, got it?"
Dwight nodded and addressed Jennifer.
"I had no idea they would... do what they did when I left to get the boat. And I never should have left you alone with Wade and Brad. I'm sorry. But I had to be able to coordinate with Vince and make sure where everyone was. If I'd known what they wanted to do... I would have tried sending them instead."
"You're the one that tasered me?"
Duke shook his head and raised the gun again. This time, Jennifer covered his hand with both of her own, urging him to lower the gun again.
"It's okay, Duke. I'm going to be okay because you were there and you came for me." She positioned herself to stand in front of him.
Dwight watched them look at each other for a moment and felt the embarrassment of catching an intimate moment by surprise. Nathan had been right when he said that Duke looked at Jennifer the way that he looked at Audrey.
It was a long moment before Jennifer turned back to him.
"You also... squeezed my arm. Like you were trying to... reassure me. It seemed so weird at the time. Did you know what they would do?"
"I didn't know how bad it would get."
"How was I supposed to 'confess and repent' with a gag in my mouth?"
"I don't think anyone in the Guard ever cared about that."
"Is that why you turned on them?"
"That's one reason."
She stared at him for what felt like a long time then. And in some ways her eyes were harder than those of the man behind her. Dwight took a chance on telling her about the gag.
"Wade's handkerchief is in that gag. And Aidan's fingerprints will be on the tape roll. The tear pattern will match, if you happened to keep the tape."
Duke felt Jennifer shiver in front of him and knew that her mental and physical strength was starting to fail. He retracted the slide on the gun and put it back in his waistband at his back and then wrapped his arms loosely around her; wanting to give her reassurance and available support. When she let herself rest against him, he ended the conversation.
"I kept the tape. And your evidence." He bent to Jennifer and spoke soft in her ear, "You done Sweetheart?"
She nodded and he adjusted their stance so that he was at her side, his arm around her waist. He turned her as abruptly as he dared given her condition and went back to the door to take her down stairs. Detective Wuornos was getting to his feet and at Audrey's urging, putting his weapon away.
"Do you want Wuornos here?" He made the question loud enough for the rest to hear. To understand that they were all literally living on her generosity.
"It's okay." She didn't quite have the strength to make herself heard beyond him.
"Mind your manners, Wuornos. And I think you were supposed to bring croissants."
He heard Jennifer breathe a quiet laugh.
"You up to eating, Sweetheart?"
He opened the door and lifted her into his arms. She settled in with natural ease and he carried her downstairs. "Do you have any berries?"
"As a matter of fact I do. And your sister was nice enough to make Belgian waffles."
"I love Belgian waffles with berries and whipped cream. Do you have whipped cream?"
"I always have whipped cream." He winked down at her.
She snorted with laughter.
He set her down carefully near the table. "You sure you up to eating waffles?"
"I'm hungry enough to try."
"That's a good sign."
"I thought so."
He smiled at her. "Have a seat, I'll get your plate made to order. Do you want any sausage, bacon or eggs with that?"
She couldn't stop herself from smiling fondly at him. "Just a glass of milk, please?"
When Duke nodded and started assembling her waffle she couldn't help but push a little. "So why did you start that fight with me earlier?"
She thought he concentrated a little too hard on getting the perfect curly Q on her whipped cream.
"I just thought you could use the adrenaline rush to make it up the stairs and say 'hi' to the good detective. I didn't know you would need to deal with facing one of the Guard members - no matter how turncoat he is."
It was a pretty brutal deflection and Jennifer was inclined to give him only a little slack.
"Next time, find a better way."
------------------------------------------------------------------
The trio on deck exchanged uncomfortable glances.
"All in all, I think that went pretty well," Dwight offered.
Nathan practically snarled at him.
"I mean, I know you got sucker punched right in the throat, Nathan and that sucks. But I thought I was going to have to walk the plank there for a minute. Or just get shot outright."
"You're not going to try and arrest him, are you Nathan?"
Nathan scowled but shook his head.
"No, but believe me; I'm tempted. Damn, that HURT."
"Yeah it kind of looked like it would. I didn't see that coming. Sorry."
"Not your fault."
"I know, it's yours and Dwight's. You guys should have picked a different boat, let alone picked a better way to have Dwight try to talk to Jennifer. As it is, I don't think either of them even noticed the boat." She cast a meaningful and chastising glare at Dwight.
"Yeah. I'm sorry. My boat was the most innocuous way to get Nathan out here and I did want to see her for myself. I wanted to see that she was okay. I've never seen those guys go off on someone like that...."
"Which is why you should have stayed out of sight until she wanted to see you. She's had a hell of a couple of days. She actually thought I had died because of my disappearance and because I was able to make her think I was appearing before her in the coffee shop to warn her. She thought she was seeing my ghost. And now we're going to ask her to go back and face everyone in the Guard and help Haven P.D. present a case to the DA and try to tie it in to a RICO case for the attorney general. We'll probably be lucky if Duke Crocker doesn't shoot me."
They both looked appropriately contrite. Audrey sighed.
"Nathan, just get the croissants please. Dwight, I'm pretty sure you're not welcome to stay. I'm sorry about that - "
Dwight waved her off.
"I wasn't planning on staying anyway. There's no way Jennifer is ever going to be okay with being in my presence. And, I'm going to have to be okay with that."
He turned to go back to his boat.
"Call or radio if you need me," he called with a wave and was soon moving away from the Cape Rouge.
Nathan picked up the box of croissants from where they had fallen when he had dropped them after being hit by Duke. He looked at Audrey for a moment, uncertain if he should even stay on board or call Dwight back to pick him up. He was pretty sure that he and Crocker weren't going to get along worth a damn any time soon.
"Come on," Audrey smiled and jerked her head toward the door that would take them below deck. "Duke made pancakes and I'm pretty sure he did it right."
Nathan smiled and followed her. They were met down below with a silence that was equal parts awkward, chilly, and nervous. Most of the chill coming from Duke. He was sitting next to Jennifer at the table that was like an extra long booth at a restaurant only more plush. When Jennifer seemed to shrink and hunch in on herself a little as she moved back away from her plate, Duke leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. It was a casual enough of a motion but he was still giving all signals of being ready to protect the woman by any means necessary and at hand. Nathan understood how he felt.
"Audrey told me you like croissants too, Jennifer. Rosemary's in Haven makes the best. She drizzles a honey-butter sauce on them during the baking process. They're amazing."
Jennifer smiled wanly, "I'll try them later." She took a sip of water. "Right now, just eating the waffle is sore on my throat."
One of Duke's hands disappeared beneath the table and Nathan wondered if he had a gun there, or if he was holding Jennifer's hand, or both.
Audrey buttered her pancakes and put syrup on them while trying to shut out all the things that people weren't saying out loud. Jennifer's thoughts and feelings were a torrent of memories she was struggling to shut away along with increasing confusion about her feelings for Duke. Nathan was defensive and embarrassed the way one is when they know they've fucked up and just want forgiveness. Duke was angry at everyone except Jennifer and wanted everyone except Jennifer off his boat. He had pieced together that they wanted Jennifer to press kidnapping and assault charges and was frustrated that he didn't feel he had enough influence over Jennifer, or even the right to try, to convince her to leave Haven and never look back. And he was formulating a plan, a series of plans to execute members of the Guard.
She turned a startled gaze toward him and he seemed to read her face and understand.
"Just stay out of my head, Blondie."
"You CAN'T do that. You can't kill all those people and you can't risk yourself like that. Jennifer..."
"Jennifer will be some place safe -"
"Jennifer will be miserable with worry for you and then will never be able to look at you the same if you actually ARE capable of killing so many people. She's not like that. She believes in the rule of law."
Duke looked away to Jennifer who was staring at her food without seeing it. Audrey tried harder to tune everyone out and the four of them had an uneasy breakfast together.
It was Jennifer who broke the silence.
"So I guess Dwight left?"
"Yeah," Nathan affirmed. "I can call him and he'll come get me. Or us. If you want to leave Audrey. He'll take us to Sydney."
Audrey tried to think about it without worrying what anyone else was thinking. Jennifer didn't want the decision, she could tell that much, and it was understandable. Jennifer had no idea that Duke had gone into such a protective hyper-drive that he was letting her call the shots and was ready to act as her enforcer.
Finally she answered.
"Yeah. I think I'll go. I know that Jennifer WILL be safe and she knows that I am."
The two sisters smiled at each other the relief was tangible. Audrey thought it would also let Jennifer plan a course of action with a little less pressure.
"Unless you want to come with me, Jennifer."
No one had to be a mind reader to see how unpopular that suggestion was. Nathan was hoping for alone time without the stress of having Guard members hovering around and Duke didn't want Jennifer out of his sight.
It was Jennifer's reaction that was the most interesting. She actually started to panic and it was an odd mix of not wanting to decide anything and not wanting to be separated from Duke. She thought fast to come up with a way to stay for now but keep in touch with Audrey. A frustrating endeavor since she didn't have her own phone.
"Or... how about I leave my cell phone? Nathan, you brought my charger, right? That way we can stay in touch, and you don't have to deal with trying to relocate. Or trying to buy another wardrobe."
Jennifer looked at her and smiled, not bothering with the joke about Audrey reading her mind.
"I also have stuff in my hotel room that I need to get."
Nathan frowned at her, puzzled. "What about your key?"
"I, um, left my key in my room... Just in case."
Nathan shifted his eyes over to Duke and Audrey could have throttled them both for the all-too-predictable unspoken man-to man conversation about the steps they would have to take to protect "their" women. Of all the things for them to bond over.
"Which hotel? When I get back to Haven, I'll see if they'll let me in."
"The Best Western on South 19. Room 408. Audrey, your journal is in there... And some stuff I got out of the Good Shepherd church, like that list of names."
"You got their hit-list?!"
Jennifer turned back to Audrey.
"Yeah, I was just going to take a picture of it but I didn't have time when they came in the church..."
"Oh, man. I wish that was admissible. As it is, pretty much any defense attorney is going to get it thrown out."
Nathan shrugged. "Leave that up to the lawyers. Hopefully we can come up with enough that the only move any of them have is a plea deal."
"Like turning over the leader or something?" Jennifer asked.
"We actually already have two of them in leadership positions. We need evidence." Nathan took a drink of juice. "Do you remember if you saw anything else in the church? Anything that would indicate a list of people paying them or...?"
"No. I wasn't even really thinking to look for anything like that. Just the list that Audrey mentioned in her journal."
"That might be enough to re-open the investigations into their deaths."
"Did they all die... in... in the ocean? Like...?"
Duke wrapped his arm around her and glared at Nathan and Audrey.
Audrey agreed with him. Jennifer wasn't ready for this line of thought.
"No," she answered simply and truthfully. "They didn't. They were less obvious. You said you left everything in your room, right?"
"Yeah. Oh. Damn it."
She had been getting ready to take another bite of her breakfast when her fork, over burdened by berries and waffle tipped in her shaking hand and its contents flipped onto her shirt and slid onto the leggings.
"Sorry, Audrey. I'll get them washed..."
"It's cool, I bet we can get a warrant to look in there. And I bet Nathan can bring you your clothes. Anything else?"
Nathan opened his mouth to protest that he wasn't a delivery service and promptly closed it when Audrey's foot landed - hard - on his own.
"My phone, I guess. And shoes."
"Okay. I can't promise when we can get that done, but..."
"I'll figure it out," Nathan offered. He breathed a little easier when Audrey's foot released its pressure off his own.
"How about Nathan and I clean up? Jennifer, you look ready to drop again and Duke, no offense, you look pretty wiped out yourself." Audrey wanted this whole thing over. She wanted off the boat. It was too awkward. And she did want to be alone with Nathan in the more relaxing safety of Nova Scotia.
Luckily, Nathan caught on this time and helped her along.
"Yeah. I'm sorry we couldn't come up with a better way... It's a pathetic attempt, but cleaning up breakfast is a start to making up for everything."
"I actually want a shower," Jennifer murmured. She was tired, but she was also restless. "And I want to brush my teeth." At this point, she would use Duke's toothbrush if she had to.
Duke nodded and Audrey could see his hesitation revolved around what two cops could find in his kitchen.
"Nathan, you take dish washing since I already know where most of the stuff goes. Cool?"
If he suspected an ulterior motive, he didn't let on.
"Deal."
Duke and Jennifer moved into his room and he closed the door, choosing to trust Audrey's unspoken assurance that Nathan wouldn't find anything he shouldn't and that she would overlook anything she might find. He shrugged out of his shirt and left it on the hook on the door, watching Jennifer for signs of weakness as she headed to the bathroom.
"I don't suppose you have an extra toothbrush?"
"Medicine cabinet. Top shelf. You alright?"
"Yeah."
She found the toothbrush, opened up the packaging and squeezed some toothpaste on it.
"I'm tired. But I'm alright. Did you want to take a shower? I mean... Before I did?"
He smiled at her blush and decided that they could both use some good, old fashioned teasing and flirting.
"Next time I'm in that shower with you, Duchess, you won't be tired until after, got it?"
Her jaw dropped open and a smile played at her lips at the same time a slightly puzzled expression came over her brow.
Jennifer really wanted to say something equally outrageous or flirty or witty.
"I'll, um... I'll wait for a demonstration."
She jumped back into the bathroom and closed the door before he could form a reaction, rushing to turn the water on in order to avoid any communication through the door. It wasn't until she was under the hot stream that she realized she didn't have a change of clothes or anything else to put on besides Audrey's ruined clothes.
Shit.
Duke sat on the bench against the wall of his room and tried to think about something other than the now-probably-naked woman in his bathroom. She was showing a lot of resilience to the events of the last couple of days. That, or she was repressing the shit out of her thoughts and memories. Duke sighed. Twice in two days she had almost died. And both times she got right back up and faced the horror of it. He mused for a moment on her life as she had described it and concluded that the next time he met someone who looked and acted like a Disney Princess, he wouldn't make the mistake of underestimating her again.
When he remembered that also two days in a row she had lost her clothing and currently only had a pair of leggings and tunic that needed washing, he smiled. He could get used to having Jennifer Mason hanging around with minimal clothing or wearing his shirts. He lifted his shirt off the hook and knocked on the bathroom door.
"Hey, Sweetheart, I'm leaving you a shirt. I'll put this stuff into the wash, okay?"
He couldn't help himself, he looked at the shower and all he could see was the shadow of her.
"Um... Thanks? I'll be out in a minute."
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