| The
truck they hired at the airport seemed to be missing its
suspension, either that or the shock absorbers were just
shot. Either way, every pot hole or rock that
Charles hit knocked Erik's teeth together and it was
beginning to grate on his already taut nerves.
They'd been chasing down mutants for what felt like
forever, flying out every which way, getting turned down
more more often than their offer was accepted. It
was more social contact than he'd had all his life, but
Charles was strangely good company and all his expenses
were paid for, although he was never been quite certain
who by. They'd seen New York and Tokyo, Sydney and Shanghai, but today they were driving the coastal road to Haven, a tiny town on the Maine coast. Erik had trawled the world once before, searching for Schmidt - Shaw - eventually finding him off the coast of Florida just to have to watch him escape. Charles' fault. Finding him again, killing him with Charles' help, with Charles in his head. He didn't think he would ever understand how he felt about that, about the new life he had found himself living since. About Charles Xavier. He was glad to be on solid ground for longer than it took to traverse an airport, and although he hated to admit it, Haven looked like a beautiful town. He hadn't stopped to look around too many times in his life, he hadn't had much to appreciate, but he felt like Charles had done a lot of appreciating in his and for whatever reason he wanted to catch up. As they followed the coastal road they could see the docks, big boats rolling gentle in the water then the town come into view; houses painted in vivid blues and reds, the clear ocean and slate roofs. He glanced across at Charles and saw what he knew he would see - a happy smile, wide eyes; he'd already fallen in love with the place. Charles was the kind of person who fell in love easily. As soon as they got into the town, Charles pulled the truck up to the curb and switched off the engine, settling in his seat and raising two fingers to his temple. Cerebro gave them co-ordinates, but they were co-ordinates of towns and people just didn't tend to stay in one place very long. They didn't get names, faces, exact locations. Once they reached the town or city, Charles had to remember the feeling of them, had to recall the memory of a brief image and had to find them on his own using only what he picked up in just moments of mental contact. He used the impressions he gleaned from the mutants using Cerebro to track down him or her; sometimes it was quick and easy, other times it took days of exploring, of Charles reaching out with his mind, careful not to hurt, careful not to scare. He would become overwhelmed in large cities, opening himself to so many thousands and thousands of minds filling his head with the thoughts and dreams and nightmares of strangers and it hurt him. Erik could see how badly it hurt him, how it set off migraines. Here, though, it took a minute, maybe two. Then Charles dropped his hand and turned to him with a smile as bright and vivid as the houses running the length of the road they were on, a perfect road. "Found the mutant?" He hesitated, then he nodded and reached for the keys, turning the engine over and pulling carefully away from the curb. * * * "You won't believe what happened to me last night." Nathan watched Duke raise his head and stop sweeping, watched him take a deep breath and fold his hands deliberately over the end of the broom handle. He leaned against the wooden doorframe and crossed his arms, waiting for Duke to ask, knowing he wouldn't and knowing eventually he would have to stop waiting or they would be there all day. He gave it thirty seconds before he pushed away from the doorframe and stepped into the cool of the bar. "I went for a drink, on my own, like I have done often over the years. And the night was panning out to be the same as every other night, when this great looking and surprisingly eloquent guy offers to buy me a drink. And, listen to this because you definitely won't believe it," he faked a laugh, "one drink turned into five, we went back to my place together and wound up in bed!" Duke's eyebrows rose but he didn't show the surprise that Nathan's story would have engendered in other people. His partner for one. And naturally that wasn't a surprise. Nathan went on. "We have this great, crazy time. Unbelievable. And it's incredible, because at some point during the night I could suddenly feel him! Without warning, I could feel his touch, and seriously, I've never come so hard or embarrassingly quickly in my whole life." For a moment, he dropped the humorous tone. "It was the best sex of my life." Smiling again, he carried on with his story. "Then, this morning, I wake up and guess what? He's left! Cheeky son-of-a-bitch has left. What's strange is that... I don't know why he's left, because I know where he lives." Duke hung his head. "Okay, okay." He got serious, and a little curious. "Why'd you leave?" Leaning the broom against the bar, Duke stepped forward, closing the gap between them. "I didn't know how you were going to be this morning, I didn't know if I'd still be welcome." He looked up from under long, dark lashes. "And I know you know where I live...." Nathan sighed softly but he smiled when he nodded. He reached out to comb his fingers through Duke's hair, loving the sensation of the thick, clean strands falling over the back of his hand. "I'm a morning guy, Duke." Duke covered his hand with his own, brought it to his mouth and kissed Nathan's palm. "Message received and understood." Nathan nodded, voice gentle and affectionate. "Good." * * * There was something strange about this town. Charles could feel it like static at the edge of his mind. The mutant they'd come for was incredibly strong and there was something weird about the mental footprint too, beyond the usual. Other mutant minds were open, they called to him when he was using Cerebro, beckoned to him once he got within telepathic range. But although this mind was easy to locate generally because it shone in the quiet of such a small town, it didn't call to him, didn't identify itself. Charles didn't know what it meant and he was a little wary of finding out. But he was there, he was with Erik, and he couldn't bring himself to turn around and leave. He risked a glance across at the man in the passenger seat, caught him looking back and smiled. The urge to read Erik's mind again was almost more than he could ignore at times. The first touch to it, out in the black, freezing water, showed him everything in a painful flash of blood, rage and pain. He went deep because he had to ensure he was heard and felt. He was desperate for Erik to let go of Shaw's sub that night, desperate to save Erik's life, a life he'd witnessed in retrospect like a bad horror movie. He hadn't touched Erik's mind since, as much as he'd wanted to, as tempting as it was. He was aware of his own blossoming feelings for the man and he was curious, more than curious, to find out if those feelings were mutual. But he lived by ethics and morals, because if he didn't he could seriously hurt people, damage them, even kill them. He could command someone to kill themselves with just a thought. Worse, he could know everything and too often that wasn't a good thing. If he tried anything, Erik would feel it, and he didn't want to piss him off any more than he already had. He snapped his eyes back to the road, caught Erik's smirk out of the corner of his eye and hoped to God he wasn't blushing. It was pathetic really that a grown man, a powerful man like himself, was acting like a hormonal teenager in heat. Instead, he concentrated on the mutant they'd come here to find and guided the truck through the town and down to the coast, to a bar called The Grey Gull. * * * Nathan pulled the blue jeep up behind Audrey's car and killed the engine. Since she called him he'd been trying to decide whether or not to mention what happened last night between he and Duke. She was going to find out eventually, whether it happened again or not, whether it turned out to be a short or long term thing. Because nothing between he and Duke was ever harmonious or simple. Even the best sex of his life was going to involve a string of arguments, a lot of broken furniture and hours - even days - of the silent treatment. They'd already had their first misunderstanding and it hadn't even been twelve hours. Audrey was definitely going to find out. She was standing on the boardwalk looking out across the ocean, and he was surprised that there wasn't the usual police and media circus that accompanied most call-outs. Not that there was too much of either in Haven; he and Audrey were basically the police in the town, Dave and Vince were the media. Together he supposed they were the circus. But there was just Audrey and she wasn't bent over a body, she was just staring out at the water. "Morning," he murmured as he approached, moving shoulder to shoulder with her. She turned, smiled brightly and he knew this was going to be a good day. He was hoping the night would follow suit but there were no guarantees with he and Duke so he thought it was best to let things happen and go with the flow. "Whatcha doing?" "Look at the water." He did as he was told, looking out over the water. It was a cloudy day, but warm. The sun was hidden, but the water sparkled as if bright sunlight was reflecting off the surface. It was beautiful. It looked natural, would have been if not for the clouds but as it was, it was eerie. He got a strange and sudden urge to call Duke, to share it with him. "Is someone doing this?" He heard the awe in her voice and it was akin to what he felt at that moment. When he thought about it, the events of the previous night deserved a little awe. "Someone must be, because it's definitely not nature and it's definitely not God." He could hear his smile in his own voice and it must have been coming through loud and clear because Audrey was looking at him with that patented half-smile of hers, the one that screamed curiosity, and once she got curious about something she didn't let go until she had answers to her own satisfaction. "Are you okay?" He nodded. "It's just a beautiful day, that's all." Surprisingly, she dropped it for the time being and looked back out at the sparkling water. "Seems like you're not the only one who thinks so." He picked up on her meaning. "At least it's a trouble that isn't causing too much trouble." He resisted the urge to laugh at his own joke because she wasn't laughing so it probably wasn't funny. It didn't wipe the smile from his face. He was happy, he realised. He never thought he'd be happy thanks to Duke. * * * Charles stopped the truck on the slope alongside The Grey Gull, a dark grey/blue three-story wooden building right on the shore, with decking out front, seats and tables laid out for casual drinkers and smokers. Erik was mostly relieved that the truck ride was over, for the time being at least, but he was struck again by the beauty of the place. He glanced at Charles, who had moved down closer to the water and was staring out at it. When he looked, he saw what had Charles so mesmerised; the water was sparkling. There was no direct sunlight, just cloud, but still the water was sparkling. "Is this part of it?" Erik asked, not taking his eyes from the strange sight. "Is the mutant we're looking for causing this?" At his shoulder, Charles shrugged. "Cerebro doesn't tell me what the mutations are. I can only read that when I get close enough." "And you're not close enough?" Charles looked at him, raised his eyebrows and touched two fingers to his temple. Erik watched his facial expressions change as he tried and encountered what could only be described as resistance, a block of some kind. Erik had seen the expression before, once, when they encountered another telepath. "Charles?" A flicker of pain crossed his face and he dropped his hand. "It's resisting you?" But Charles shook his head. "It's not resistance, at least not deliberate. It's something else, as if... I'm speaking a different language, trying to communicate in a way that isn't understood by the mind I'm trying to communicate with. If that makes sense." It didn't, not really. But Erik wasn't ever going to forget hearing and feeling Charles in his mind that night in the water. He had understood because Charles had spoken to him in English. He supposed there were many other languages of the mind, many other mental dialects, that Charles could have spoken in. And if the brain's waves could be read, if Charles could communicate on such a low level, what did it mean if Charles couldn't make himself understood at all? Was this a powerful mutant, or an incapable on? Erik dropped a hand to Charles' shoulder and squeezed gently. He had been finding himself touching Charles at every opportunity recently; the squeeze of a shoulder, the pat of a knee, the touch of a hand. He wanted more too, wanted everything Charles was willing to give. If he could only persuade Charles to give it. There were times when he thought he saw the same questions in Charles' eyes, almost wished his friend would read his mind and see the desires there, respond one way or another. But since that first night, Charles was being the model of maturity, a model telepath. It was as frustrating as it had been a relief back at the beginning, when Erik had strictly forbade Charles from reading his mind during the first days of their acquaintance. So really he only had himself to blame for the man's impeccable behaviour. "How do you know he or she is here?" "It's where the light's shining brightest." Charles very rarely talked in Haiku, but when he did Erik found it best not to question him, and instead just to go along with it. He turned from the water and started along the decking to the entrance of the bar with Erik following. The doors were open, a radio playing quietly inside the bar and a man's voice accompanying the happy track. Badly. Charles stepped inside, rapping his knuckles on the glass in the open door. "Hello?" "We're closed until noon," the voice called out of nowhere. Erik stepped up behind Charles' shoulder, just as a tall man in khakis and a blue denim shirt appeared from around the corner. His black hair was pointing in all directions and his slightly creepy facial hair was limited to his sharp chin and top lip. But it was his big brown eyes that struck Erik, they were oddly soothing, putting him immediately at ease which was no mean trick in itself and highly unusual. Barman seemed like the perfect career choice for someone with such a face. Either that or career criminal. "Can I help you?" His tone was similar to many Erik had heard during their travels. Coming face to face with Charles was a disarming experience; he was a very, very good looking guy with good hair, beautiful blue eyes, full lips, good cheek bones. Unfortunately, or fortunately for Erik, he dressed like a failed college professor. It meant Erik didn't have to spend too long fighting off would-be suitors. "We're looking for... someone," Charles started, and his words sounded like a come-on. Erik was reminded of when they picked up Darwin driving a New York cab; the filthy undertone of Charles' voice that suggested they were doing exactly that. It didn't put this guy off though, in fact it seemed to encourage him. Something inside Erik switched immediately into possessive mode the moment the guy smiled, and he took another step forward, putting himself between Charles and the tall sexy stranger. "My name's Erik Lehnsherr, this is Charles Xavier." The man reached out his hand. "Duke Crocker, owner of this establishment." He shook Erik's hand with a firm grip before turning and offering a handshake to Charles, who was flirting like he couldn't help himself. "So... who are you looking for?" Erik looked at Charles, because this was the moment he usually revealed who they are and what they could do, but he was just looking incredibly uncertain. Duke glanced at one then the other, and Erik couldn't blame him for being confused. "You don't know? O-kay. How about I make some coffee and you talk about it between yourselves?" Erik nodded. "Thank you, that would be very kind." It sounded as old fashioned as some of the things that came out of Charles' mouth on a regular basis, and taking his companion by the shoulder he lead him back outside to a table on the patio. "Is that him?" he hissed as they pulled out metal chairs and sat down. It was warm, despite the clouds and the passing threat of rain. "I don't know. There's no... signature. All I felt when I touched his mind was a headache, and just... a hint of something." "What does that mean?" "I think it's him. But I don't he knows he's a mutant." Erik held open his hands uselessly. "What can he do?" "I don't know. And I don't think he knows either." * * * They stopped on Main Street for Audrey to get a coffee before heading to the station. They didn't hit a single red light on the way. "Wanna tell me why you're brimming with happiness today?" she asked him as he stepped out onto the curb from the jeep and he realised then that he was whistling. He did, but he wasn't quite sure how to. He wasn't one hundred percent sure how it happened in the first place and even though he knew she was going to find out about it eventually he didn't know where to start. 'Duke and I fucked last night,' sounded too crude and didn't describe the sunshine he felt in his soul this morning or the expression on Duke's face when he'd found him back at the bar. He stopped her at the bottom of the steps up to the station house. "Duke and I...." She waited patiently for thirty seconds and when he didn't continue, said, "You and Duke... resolved your differences?" There was nothing suggestive in her tone and it was a coward's way out but he took it. "Yeah. We talked, finally, had a couple of beers, rehashed old arguments and apologised for everything we had to be sorry for." She slapped his shoulder and the sensations shot along his nerves like streaks of lightening. "It's about time!" she told him, and he agreed with her. He was going to tell her everything, eventually, maybe tonight. But not here, not at the station. It felt like an excuse even to him. But it wasn't as if he was lying. They had talked, just that it was gone three a.m. and they were lying naked together in bed when it happened. They did settle their differences, at least some of them, maybe not in any orthodox way but definitely in their own style. His sense memory kept reminding him of how Duke's rough fingers had felt against his skin, how soft and wet his lips had been, the perfect solidity of his body. He was hard just from remembering. Desperate to hide that fact, he jogged up the steps and into the station. The smell of the place alone was enough to wilt his erection, but Audrey's voice helped too. "So, making up with Duke has put you in a good mood?" It definitely wasn't something he wanted to talk about within earshot of the entire Haven police force, so he shrugged and nodded. "Like you said, it's been a long time coming." And to his relief she let it drop. He had until she saw them together, because then she would definitely work it out, so he needed to have told her before that happened. Which, given the name being displayed on his phone when it rang before he had even sat down at his desk, didn't give him a lot of time. He pressed the 'answer' button. "Duke." "Hey." He didn't sound like it was a social call, with the fake good humour in his tone, and it stopped Nathan from making an immediately sarcastic reply about missing him already. "Don't mean to disturb you while you're working, honey, but there are two guys here and they're kinda freakin' me out." What he immediately felt was the usual frustration he'd come to associate with hearing Duke's name, let alone his voice, yet with something new laid over it, something warm, a feeling of contentment. "Who are they?" 'They said their names are Erik Lehnsherr and Charles... Xavier. I think they're looking for someone." "Who?" "I don't know, they don't have a name." "So... what's freaking you out, exactly?" "They're... weird. One's dressed like a school teacher and the other one's dressed like James Bond." "But they're not brandishing weapons or threatening you in any way?" He wasn't trying to be dismissive, he didn't think he was coming off as dismissive, but Duke had been just a little paranoid recently. "No, they're not threatening me, Nathan." Duke sounded pissed off and although he knew it was something he was going to have to get used to he didn't want it to taint today. Today was supposed to be a good day. "Okay, okay. We'll be with you in fifteen minutes. Just... keep them there, okay? You armed?" "Of course." "Just don't shoot anyone unless they shoot you first." He hung up before Duke could get snarky with him. "Parker!" It was a ten minute drive to the Gull, which didn't give him long. Audrey was still sucking on her coffee, seemingly happy to go out on a wild goose chase. The sun was still struggling to make it through the clouds but still it was turning into a hot day. "Listen, Audrey... Duke and I... last night... we kinda... we...." She was staring at him now, waiting, asking when he didn't go on, "What did you do? I thought you said you sorted things out? You didn't hurt him, did you, Nathan?" He couldn't help but laugh. "No. The opposite, actually." She was still looking at him and he knew her mind wouldn't go there without being led. "We wound up in bed together." He glanced at her, taking his eyes from the road for just a second, long enough to catch her wide-eyed expression, the dangerous tip of her coffee cup. Reaching out with one hand, he straightened it but said nothing, letting her work out what her first question was going to be. It took her about thirty seconds. "You and Duke?" She paused. "Really?" He smiled. "Yes and yes. As I was at the Gull last night, winding him up... I thought things would come to a head and that we'd end up fighting. But instead he admitted he cared about me and I... I care about him." "So you wound up in bed?!" It apparently wasn't the most obvious conclusion to half a lifetime of fighting, even though it felt that way to Nathan and it had definitely felt that way last night. "It was... cathartic. And really fucking good." He was grinning. "I could suddenly feel him, like I can feel you." He stopped for a red light and looked at her properly, saw her smiling in that way she did when she was comprehending something that shouldn't be right or real, but just was. He saw that expression more than he probably should. She said, "Okay," and slurped her coffee through the plastic lid. "So... are you guys dating now?" Nathan honestly hadn't given it too much thought. He didn't know the circumstances of Duke's marriage, but apart from Evi he hadn't ever known Duke get serious about anyone, certainly not in Haven. So he just shrugged. "Duke isn't the romantic type and I can't imagine us staring at each other adoringly over an ice-cream sundae, so I would say no. But I am holding out for a lot of replays of last night." Audrey nodded slowly, "riiiight," and grinned at him like she didn't believe a word of it. But Nathan was already pulling up beside the Gull, behind a rental truck that had seen better days. "Who are these guys again?" she asked, mostly business if not all; she was still looking sideways at him as if she was seeing a side of him that she'd never seen before and maybe that was true. In Haven, weirdness was a daily event. He'd become so used to that so that other things - the banality of Colin and Michael who lived together out on Mitchell Point, the men who dressed as women and sang disco songs at the Orpheum on a Saturday night, the dubious club on Rosemary Street with the blacked out windows and chains in the basement - they had become commonplace a long time ago. Even the Winchesters out on Cowdry Island who were more rumour than fact. Him sleeping with Duke was the least strange thing to happen to him in the last few years. He wasn't about to start worrying about what would happen next or why it happened in the first place. Instead he followed Audrey along the decking to the front of the Gull where two strangers were sitting at one of the tables, drinking coffee and leaning across the table into one another as if the rest of the world had creased to exist. They definitely didn't look in any way threatening, and although the one in black seemed like he might sport a tattoo or two, it probably wasn't of a compass with little men at each point. They weren't from Haven. They were just passing through. Nathan couldn't imagine what had gotten Duke so uptight about them, unless his call really had been a rouse just to get Nathan back there. He bade the two men good morning and stepped around Audrey inside. Duke was behind the bar, fidgeting and looking nervous. Nathan leaned on the bar, crossed his arms and stretched his neck out, waiting for Duke to lean down next to him. "I'm here. What's wrong?" just slightly less sarcastically than he would have done at the same time yesterday. "The guys outside. There's something.... They're creepy." "They're creepy? You live in Haven and you're telling me those two normal looking men are creepy? Did you miss the shadowman, the stuffed animals coming to life and the shapeshifter living on the hotel on the island? Not to mention the strange weather, the plagues of Egypt and that time you aged fifty years in two days?" But he didn't even crack a smile. "I'm telling you something isn't right. Whenever they look at me I can feel... something in my head. Like things crawling around in my brain." That got Nathan worried. "Oh, God, Duke, please don't lose it now." "I'm not losing it, Nathan! I swear, I'm not making this up. Everything's fine until he looks at me." So it was strange, but this was Haven and God knew Duke had put his faith in him based on wilder explanations than that. "Okay. Let me talk to them. Stay here." Duke took a deep breath, nodded and thanked him. Then he looked up. "Does Audrey know about us, by any chance?" Nathan followed his gaze over to where his partner was standing in the doorway, drinking her coffee and looking at them both with a dopey grin. He rolled his eyes and nodded his head. "Unfortunately." Pushing up from the bar, he gave her a stern look as he went out to where the two strangers were sitting, pulled up a metal chair and sat at their table. They both turned to look at him and he felt lightheaded for a moment, just a moment, before there was nothing and he put it down to blood rushing from his head. The taller one, obvious even seated, held out his hand and introduced himself as Erik Lehnsherr. He had a strange accent, American but with a European smoothing to it that Nathan couldn't help but want to listen to. Nathan shook his hand, and the hand of the second man, Charles Xavier. A stranger pair he hadn't come across. Maybe he and Duke.... "Nathan Wunous, Chief of Police," and it sounded odd to introduce himself in that way, something he wouldn't ever get used to, something he really didn't want to. "Welcome to Haven, gentlemen." Xavier thanked him but Lehnsherr looked partly suspicious, partly amused. "Does the Chief of Police welcome all visitors personally?" Nathan smiled, shook his head and admitted, "Duke called me, the owner. We've had some... trouble in the town recently, he's just being cautious." This time it was Xavier who responded. "We're not here to cause trouble, Chief Wuronos, I can assure you, and we're not here to harm anyone. We're looking for someone, someone I hope we're going to be able to help." "So you won't mind telling me who you're looking for? And quite how you're planning on helping them?" They shared a glance then, but Xavier seemed to be open and trusting. Old-fashioned, Nathan thought, in automatically assuming that the Chief of Police in a small town could be trusted. "We don't know the name of the person we're looking for, only that he or she - he, I think - will be different in some way, able to do something other people can't do." Nathan's first thought was that the guy was taking the piss. But he sounded so sincere, there wasn't any humour in his tone or in either of their faces and he started to think that maybe they really didn't know about Haven, about the Troubles, and that Xavier's description could be applied to around half the town's population. "Do you mind telling me how you know this person is in Haven if you don't know who is it?" Another glance, another pause. "Because whoever it is will be like us." Suddenly all the chairs and tables rose, lifting several inches into the air, altogether, in sync. He spotted Lehnsherr's fingers held up off the table, as if he was conducting this weird, silent metal symphony. Then he lowered his fingers, and the furniture returned to the decking. "What the fuck...?" It was Duke behind him, but Nathan didn't have a chance to respond, because he felt that lightheaded sensation again, just for a moment, before Xavier was smiling over his shoulder at Duke. "The two of you found one another last night," he said, nothing in his tone but shared happiness. "It suits you both, according to your partner, and... it's about time, what with Duke being... a pain in your ass for so long." He was quoting, although which one of them, Nathan wasn't sure, but it was as if he'd been told it, or he'd read it. He was reading their minds! Nathan pushed his chair back suddenly, hand going automatically for his gun. In the same instant, Xavier's hand reached for Lehnsherr's arm and he held him back, his other hand rising in apology. "I won't do it again, you have my word. I was just showing you what I can do." In Haven they'd seen a lot of strange stuff. Admittedly what they'd been shown was weirder than usual - what these men could do seemed voluntary, they could command their abilities - for want of a better description - at will. Usually the Troubled of Haven started acting out when they were stressed or upset or angry. Or they were like he and Chris Brody, with permanent conditions that didn't quit. These two seemed relaxed, not upset or stressed or angry. Although Xavier seemed frustrated about something. "Please, call me Charles. And this is Erik." Nathan wondered if it was just coincidence, a stray thought, or he'd peeked into his mind again, but he didn't feel the tell-tale lightheadedness so he gave the guy the benefit of the doubt. He ignored what Charles revealed about he and Duke, glad it wasn't news to Audrey, and decided he could come clean too. "In this town, I'm afraid to say, you'll find as many people who are different as are 'normal'. Looking for one person with... an ability like yours will be like looking for a needle in a haystack. You can start with me." He held out his arm. "I can't feel pain." Charles held up his own hand. "Do you mind if I take a look?" It took a moment for Nathan to understand, then he surprised himself by nodding. He expected to feel more, but it was just the same momentary tingling, then it was gone again, and Charles was reaching for his hand, not trying to hurt him, taking his fingers and pressing them between his own. "You don't feel anything?" "I feel... pressure. I feel the internal workings of my body. But pain, sudden sensations, don't register." "Except... when your partners touch you." For a moment the word 'partners' confused him, then he glanced behind him, at Audrey standing at his shoulder, and he understood. "Audrey's my partner. Duke's my... good friend." He didn't dare look back towards the bar. "Nevertheless, you can feel both of them." "You read all that from such a brief contact?" Charles opened his mouth but it was Erik who spoke first. "He read everything." "Not everything," Charles corrected him, a little hurt for reasons Nathan wasn't sure he wanted to know about. "Just about your affliction, because I doubt you refer to it as a gift, even though that's what it is." "How can you say that not feeling anything is a gift?" "You don't feel pain, it doesn't debilitate you. If the need arose, you could survive in situations that would kill other people through the simple belief that they are unable to go on." "But by the same process, I can be fatally injured and not know it, not seek medical help when I need to." Charles accepted that with a graceful tilt of his head. "If you don't know who you're looking for, and you don't know what their... gift is, how do you know they're in Haven?" Charles half-smiled. "Trade secret I'm afraid. Let's just say I have a way of tracking down... people with abilities - mutants, as we call them," Nathan laughed at that, he'd never thought of himself as a mutant, "and when I saw this mind it was like a bright light shining in the darkness. Whoever it is, he or she is very powerful." "Powerful?" "Like myself and Erik. Our abilities are honed, we've trained, we know how to focus ourselves and we're capable of defending ourselves and harming others if we need to. Others have different abilities, some can fly by various means, some can control the climate or weather around them, others can change shape." Audrey pulled up a chair to the other side of the table, and said, "we've seen one of those." Erik's head snapped around to look at her. "A shapeshifter?" "More or less. At least, someone with the capability of inhabiting different bodies." He turned to Charles, "Is that who we're looking for?" "That guy died," Audrey told them before they got too excited, "eight months ago. Sorry." Charles shook his head. "Whoever it is, they're definitely alive. I thought he was here...." They had no hope, Nathan decided, and pushed his chair back. He had come to the conclusion that the men were no threat to Duke, no threat to the town, and it was time to get back to work in what they laughingly called 'the real world'. Audrey was clearly taken with them, and he was tempted to suggest she that stayed, kept an eye on them and on Duke. But Duke was a big boy - a very big boy - and he could take care of himself. So could Charles and Erik for that matter, possibly better than any of them from what he'd seen. Presumably if Charles could read minds, he could influence them, maybe even control them. And if Erik could command metal... the possibilities were almost limitless. Ideally he wanted them gone from Haven - they had enough problems of their own - but he didn't feel like telling them to leave town. So instead he suggested that he and Audrey meet them back at the Gull that evening, they could have some food, a couple of drinks, and talk some more. He wasn't sure why he made the suggestion and he couldn't help but wonder if the idea was even his own, but it made sense. Audrey lit up with a happy smile. With the agreement in place, Nathan ducked back inside the bar where Duke was half doing the accounts, half listening to the conversation happening outside. His weariness and his willingness to stay out of it was surprising. Duke was usually the nosey sort, wanting in on anything that might make him a dollar, or more recently anything that might help him work out the mystery of the man with the compass tattoo. "Are you okay?" Duke looked up at him, big brown eyes betraying his fear. "They're fine. Nothing to be scared of." He might have been a bit of a bastard about it, so to compensate, he rubbed his hand against Duke's cheek and after consideration he leaned in to touch an almost chaste kiss to his lips. "We'll be back later." Duke looked at him, pupils blown. "I suppose there's an urgent need for you to get back to work?" Nathan smiled, tempted despite himself. "There's more of an urgent need not to set a precedent of having sex with you in the pantry." "Really?" "Really." He hesitated a moment more before turning and leaving, taking Audrey with him, waving goodbye to Erik and Charles with the promise they'd hook up later. * * * Erik watched Charles push his chair back across the boards and walk to the wooden railing. He leaned his forearms on it and looked out across the sparkling water, and it struck Erik yet again just how beautiful he was, in mind and body and spirit. Everyone he had met since the death of his parents wanted something for themselves, wanted to use Erik for profit or power. Charles wanted nothing from him, had never asked him for anything but faith and trust and amazingly, Erik had been willing to give him those things. Up to that moment he hadn't questioned why, but in the strange town where it felt like something was bubbling just under the surface, he thought he might have finally been ready to ask the question, and accept the answer. As he watched, Charles rolled his shoulders, and massaged his temple. "Are you all right?" Charles nodded, but he obviously wasn't. Erik rose from of his chair and crossed to stand behind his companion, hesitating before putting his hands on his shoulders and starting a deep massage of his own. "You've had a headache since we arrived here." "It's nothing." "It's something, Charles." He pressed his thumbs into the muscles either side of Charles' spine, across his shoulders, working out the tension there. "We could leave. This place... it's not right. If it's true what they said about the shapeshifter, there could be others here and they could be dangerous, hiding, not wanting to be found. We should leave." But Charles shook his head like Erik knew he would. "There's only one in this town, I just can't get a fix on who or where. It's as if..." he sighed, "as if whoever it is is... everywhere." "You brought us here." "I know. I thought... I must have been wrong." It made no sense. Erik touched his forehead to the back of Charles' head, then before he could change his own mind, he lifted his chin and kissed his scalp through his hair. Charles tried to move but Erik held him in place for a second or two. "I don't like to see you in pain." He let the real meaning behind his words sink in before releasing his grip on Charles' shoulders and letting him turn. "Erik... please don't start something you can't finish." "You've turned my life upside down." "And you mine." Charles' blue eyes filled with pain and it hurt Erik to think that he caused that. "I've never met anyone like you before. If we fall in love and you betray that, I don't know what it would do to me." Erik could feel the smile creeping over his face. "You think we could fall in love?" Charles smiled at him then, and shrugged. "Maybe. You know, you're definitely my type; tall, slim, dark-haired, good with your hands." He was teasing and Erik knew it, teased right back by brushing his fingertips over his chin, following the line of his jaw, the curve of his ear until he was combing his fingers into the hair at his temple. "You're going grey," he murmured, letting amusement into his voice. "Pointing out my physical failings definitely isn't going to get you into my pants," he warned, and Erik laughed. Charles was still looking at him as if he was the whole world, as if the bar and the town had ceased to exist and it was just them. It made him feel like a king, like a god, made him feel like he had received permission to kiss Charles. He leaned down, closed the gap and touched his open mouth to Charles' lips which parted as he sucked in Erik's tongue. Erik's body immediately took notice, dick standing to attention. He could feel Charles too, hard against his leg, and wrapped his arms around the man, pulling him in close, hoping there was a hotel near by because he wasn't sure he could wait until they got back to Westchester before taking what was clearly on offer. "Wow, there is clearly something in the air." They broke apart, Erik's hands sliding to Charles' hips. The bar owner - Duke - was looking at them with a half-grin on his face. "There's a guest house half a mile up the road. Audrey and Nathan will be back around six." Erik hesitated, but Charles pushed him towards the truck and in his head he heard the words, ::you're not backing out now:: He went, willingly. * * * The first thing Nathan noticed was that the cut flowers, that Vince and Dave sent him earlier in the week for reasons best known to themselves, were bright, vivid with life and smell. And that wouldn't have caught his attention except for the fact that they were dying yesterday; he'd made a mental note to take them out to the trash then promptly forgotten. Looking at them now, they looked as if they'd been freshly cut that morning. He told himself that they have been - that someone had been in and swapped the dead flowers for fresh ones. Dave and Vince, most likely. They were the ones who forever obsessed about his well-being, mentally and spiritually. It was strange, but no stranger than the ocean sparkling with sunlight under a cloudy sky. No one was getting hurt today and he made the executive decision to let it go, taking his seat behind his desk. His ass had barely touched the leather when Audrey appeared in the doorway to tell him that there had been a car accident on the corner of Main Street and Hill Climb, so he was out again. It didn't seem that today was going to be a good day for paperwork. The scene was a mess. The ambulance had only just arrived and they were cutting the driver of a blue sedan out of the car. A small crowd had gathered; there were plenty of shops and cafes in the immediate vicinity and a crowd was gathering. A uniformed officer was keeping them at bay. The driver of the brand new jeep that had apparently been coming down Hill Climb on the wrong side of the road at the same time the sadan had tried to turn up it was being checked out by paramedics. As soon as he was pronounced to be fine, Nathan arrested him and handed him over to uniform. They got the other driver out of his car, and at first glance he looked a mess. There was blood everywhere, staining his shirt, soaking his trousers, caked around his forehead, nose and mouth. So it was more than a shock than a surprise when the ambulance crew stopped working on him and instead of announcing that he was beyond their help, actually told Nathan that the guy was perfectly all right. "What?" Backing up their diagnosis, the driver sat up from where he was lying on the road. He was rubbing the back of his head but he looked, as they said, perfectly fine, if slightly perplexed. He wasn't the only one. Something definitely wasn't right, as in Haven 'not right', and Nathan started looking around for viable suspects. Suddenly he was thinking about the sparkling water that morning and the flowers in his office, and he was looking for someone to hold responsible even if, for once, there were good things happening. Audrey was obviously reaching the same conclusion, because she was scanning the crowd for anyone she recognised, and Nathan noticed her eyes snag on someone. He followed her line of sight and it made sense when his gaze fell on Rosa Marley, the lady who owned and ran the flower shop at the top of Main Street, two doors down from the offices of the Haven Herald. What made Audrey hone in on her, he wasn't sure, and it wasn't as if they had any reason to go and arrest her on the spot - she had literally done nothing wrong, that they knew of. He watched Audrey walk over and speak to her, obviously keeping it light by the laughter that reached him after a few minutes. When she returned, she was smiling. "Let's get back to the station." So Nathan called a couple of beat cops to keep the peace until the scene was cleared, and a local garage to clear the wreckage of the car and the truck, and he and Audrey headed back to the station, stopping on the way to get her another coffee. Once back in his office, he pointed out the flowers and she had apparently noticed them before, because she told him, "Rosa walks her dog along the beach first thing in the morning. Dave and Vince have been buying flowers from her shop for years and when I first caught her watching the scene of the accident, she was smiling. I don't mean a nasty smile, I mean a good smile, a happy smile, like all's right with her world today and she just wants to share it with everyone." Nathan shrugged. "Well, I suppose as long as she doesn't stay this happy forever we could let this one be." Audrey grinned around the lid of her coffee cup. "Maybe she has a new man in her life." The suggestive wiggle of her eyebrows was just over-playing it and he told her so. "Hey, you were a very happy man this morning too, don't forget. And don't think I didn't see the sweet little goodbye kiss you gave Duke right before we left the Gull." He hoped he wasn't blushing. "How about the two at the Gull?" "What about them?" She almost choked on her coffee. "Are you trying to match-make?" He shrugged, not wanting to dig himself in too deep, not wanting to end up wearing her drink. "Why are men so utterly clueless? Honestly, Nathan, you didn't see the way they were looking at one another? If they're not already sleeping together they soon will be. Unless of course it takes them as long to work it out as it did you and Duke." He ignored the jibe and tried to recall seeing anything between Lehnsherr and Xavier that would suggest a closer relationship than just travelling companions. "Why do women see everything?" he asked, more of himself than of her and she didn't reply, just smiled an affectionate smile and sat back in her chair. "Did they really say they were searching for a mutant?" "But when they say 'mutant' I think they mean someone like them. You saw what Lehnsherr did with the patio furniture and while Duke might have said something about us to them, Xavier was... convincing." "You really think he can read minds?" "Nothing surprises me any more." "I"m not sure we'd notice the difference between a troubled person and a mutant. I mean... he said there was only one, that he could only feel one, didn't he? If he was talking about the Troubled, he'd be able to feel hundreds. But if someone with a special gift wanted to hide, Haven would be the ideal place." "A bright light shining in Haven?" Nathan leaned forward across his desk. "You're the only shining light in this town, Audrey." She leaned forward too, met him half-way. "You're a creep, Nathan. And you should start thinking that about Duke now you two are all lovey-dovey." He sat back. "I'll admit that Duke does has some special gifts, one of them being his mouth," he had to will his body not to react to the sense memory, "but if I ever start referring to him as a shining light, you have permission to shoot me." She shook her head. "You two are unbelievable, you know that? You spend eighteen months yelling and fighting, then one night you make a connection and boom! Everything changes." He couldn't quite get a handle on her tone. "If it helps, it isn't the first time." Her eyes went so wide he was surprised her eyeballs didn't roll out onto the desk. "You and Duke... before?" "Years ago, once. We were seventeen. I think it was part of why things were so... difficult between us." Her expression was enough to tell him she wanted every detail, even those he wasn't willing to reveal. "The Chief was working nights, Duke and I found a bottle of his Scotch and drank half of it. We found porn on cable and one thing led to another." He shrugged but he was certain he was blushing. She was grinning at him. "What? You've seen winter here. There's nothing to do!" "Nothing but grab your best friend's dick, apparently." But she whispered it, and she was turning red too as if she couldn't quite believe she'd said it. Smiling at her, he replied, "I don't remember you grabbing my dick last Christmas." The tension between them eased. "Oh, you would definitely remember that." * * * Erik and Charles headed back to the Gull around five. They'd checked into the hotel Duke had pointed out to them, got a double room with stunning views of the shore. Not that they'd spent any time enjoying the view. They'd spent the entire time enjoying each other. Charles had made Erik straighten the metal bedstead before they left for the evening, because Erik had been using the elaborate headboard to broaden Charles' horizons and it had done wonders for Charles' headache. Despite his word-perfect, well-worn pick-up lines, Charles hadn't had too many lovers in his life, and there had been more women than men. The last man he slept with, before Erik, was a blond, blue eyed finals student in Oxford, one night when he'd become snow-blind over his thesis and had walked the length of the city to a specific pub where it was known that picking up another man wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. Danny had bought him his second pint and taken him back to his rooms where they'd messed around for a while before Charles had fucked him then left in the small hours of the morning. Erik was the first man to have fucked Charles but he hadn't told him that and didn't intend to. He meant what he'd said earlier, that he was sure they could fall in love. But he didn't want to tie Erik to promises made in the heat of the afternoon. He was happy to wait, to see where it would go. Despite feeling uncomfortable in Haven, there was something about the place that also made him feel hopeful. It was a warm evening, with the sun finally managing to break through the clouds, and they sat back outside again, taking the patio table closest to the end of the decking, closest to the water. A waitress served them cold beers and handed them food menus. "How long do we stay?" Erik asked, their orders taken, and Charles sighed softly because he didn't have an answer. He wanted to stay until he discovered the mutant hitherto masked in the strange town, but if someone didn't want to be found, he didn't want to hunt them out. There was another reason too. He wasn't sure how what was happening between he and Erik would translate to their world of teaching kids and consulting with the CIA. But they travelled often, leaving the school in the trusted hands of those adult mutants they'd recruited to teach and care for the students they'd located or attracted, and that gave them plenty of time alone together. "Another day," he decided, dragging his eyes from the still sparkling water, although there was a reason for it now - the sun was out and shining, low out on the horizon. "Then we head home." He was relieved when Erik leaned across the table to chink their beer glasses together. "Another day and another night." Sitting back, he drank his beer and once again reached out with his mind, seeking the mutant who had managing to evade them. There was nothing, and it was strange because he realised that there really wasn't anything. There was usually background static, the ebb and flow of random thoughts and strong feelings of thousands and thousands of complete strangers. He was an expert at blocking the background noise and it was why he hadn't noticed before now, before he had dropped the blocks and opened himself up to it. "Charles? What's wrong?" "Someone's blocking... everything." He was aware it didn't make too much sense. "If I choose to, I can usually hear passing thoughts, feel strong emotions. At the school, at night, I can read the students' dreams. I mean, I don't. But I could. Sometimes my blocks slip when I'm asleep, I step into other people's dreams by accident and when I wake up before the blocks go back up...." "But in this town?" "There isn't anything. As if something or someone is blocking it all." Erik frowned, showing the tiny lines at the corners of his eyes. "How's the head?" "Empty." It was a weird feeling. But as he dropped each block, as he fully opened his mind for the first time in years, it felt... good. * * * "So who wants coffee?" Audrey tipped the chair back too far and almost fell, dropping her feet from the edge of Nathan's desk to the floor just in time to right herself. "Duke!" She felt as if she had been caught doing something she shouldn't, which was half true. They hadn't done anything but talk since returning from the scene of the accident hours ago, except for taking a call from the hospital reporting that the driver of the car who should have died had been released without so much as a bruise. They'd been trying to predict what other good things Rosa could influence, and talking about what might go wrong if she had a particularly bad day and what approach they'd take to that hypothetical problem. Audrey had finished her second coffee hours ago, so when Duke arrived with refills it was as welcome as it was unexpected, although if he’d expected anything but the usual eye-roll from Nathan, he would have been disappointed, but if he was he didn't show it. "Latte for the lady," he lifted one of the venti cups from the cardboard tray and handed it to her. "Americano, straight up, for the gentleman." She almost fell off her chair again. Not once, in eighteen months, had she heard a single endearment come out of Duke's mouth aimed at Nathan. If she hadn't seen them kiss in the bar earlier she might not have believed what Nathan had told her about them. But this was proof staring her in the face. Duke deliberately brushed his fingers over Nathan's as he handed him the second cup and the expression on Nathan's face was as close to bliss as she'd ever seen it. At this juncture, Duke would usually have left, of his own accord or because Nathan threw him out. But this time he lifted the third coffee and dumped the tray on Nathan's desk, dumping his ass in the two-seater against the wall. She wasn't surprised Nathan didn't order him to leave but she was surprised at the sudden level of comfort between the three of them. The tension had gone; tension she had thought was based on dislike and distrust. She would never have believed it could have been based on anything else. Apparently she was wrong. "Why can you feel him?" she asked softly after a quiet minute passed, looking between the two of them. "Why can he feel you?" Duke asked immediately, defensive and possessive all at once, and she couldn't help but laugh which at least made Duke look away, a mite embarrassed. "Sorry." "Girls, girls," Nathan was grinning like a lunatic, and it was good to see him happy, "there's no need to fight over me. You're both welcome to touch me anytime you want." "Hey!" It was sweet that Duke was the possessive type. Audrey, with her hands wrapped around her coffee cup, looked over the plastic lid at him and gave him her sweetest, most innocent smile. "You know, I get him all to myself eight hours a day." "Absolutely, but they’re the eight hours that he's fully clothed." She laughed when Nathan's eyes widened and he tried his damnedest not to choke on his coffee. "What exactly are you doing here?" he finally asked, a question that was usually his first whenever Duke came to the station. And Duke usually had an answer, but this evening he just looked cagey. "Duke?" "Those guys...." "Which guys?" "Charles and Erik.” Nathan frowned. “The ones who freaked you out this morning? I told you, they’re safe. Not a single tattoo in sight." "They’re back at the Gull. They went away for a while, but I... saw them walking back. So I made a break for it." "You are such a girl!" That came from Nathan. "They're just two men visiting Haven!" "People don’t just visit! I'm telling you, something's not right with them." "This is Haven," Audrey pointed out and Duke turned on her. "That's your answer for everything, both of you!" He took a deep breath, sat back, legs out, looking so downright despondent that apparently Nathan decided to take pity on him. "Okay, okay." He sat up in his chair. "We'll come back to the Gull with you, all right? Will that make you happy?" Duke beamed, nodding sheepishly. "Thank you." Audrey rolled her eyes. "And if there's anything else your local police force can do for you, any little dogs or cats you're scared of...." Reaching forward, Duke slapped his knee, presumably unaware of just how camp it looked. * * * "This is a very strange town. So beautiful on the outside yet so... fucked up on the inside." Charles stared into his third cold beer of the afternoon. "You know... the whole world is like this town." "You're drunk." It was a fair accusation. "That's maybe true. But it doesn't change anything." He looked up, over the rim of the glass, at Erik. "You do." There was a glimmer of amusement in his voice when he asked, "I do what?" "Change everything. My life isn't ever going to be the same, and I"m not just talking about the phenomenal sex, I'm talking about it all; the -" The headache came on so suddenly, like a hammer to the brain, it stunned him for a moment. He dropped his glass, the shatter of it lost on him as he curled his head down, screwing his eyes shut. He heard the scrape of metal on wood, felt one of Erik's hands on his knee and long, strong fingers gripping his shoulder. "Charles? Are you all right?" He lifted his head, and thankfully the pain settled back quickly to something manageable. He could hear a truck door slamming closed, the song of the gulls circling above them, and a woman's voice close by asking too if he was okay. The waitress cleared up the broken glass quickly, for which Charles apologised, but she reassured him that it was fine, and she would bring him another. Meeting Erik's concerned eyes, he forced a smile to his lips. "I'm fine." "Don't lie to me." "Honestly, it's just a headache. It just came on so quickly...." Erik stood, squeezing Charles' shoulder, hovering. "Please, Erik," he didn't feel drunk anymore and that was a shame because he'd been enjoying it, "I'm fine." He all but commanded Erik back to his chair, and as he went the two police officers from earlier in the day approached their table. "We're a little bit early...." They must have sensed the tension, or maybe it was still in the set of Erik's shoulders, because the male officer - Nathan - also asked if everything was all right and Charles again promised that he was fine. His mind had been open to the peace and quiet that had suddenly been shattered, now he had his blocks back in place, whatever it was had dimmed, the pressure easier. "Hannah told me you needed another beer." The bar's owner - Duke - appeared and leaned over with a fresh glass. Charles' hopes of rediscovering drunkenness were sparked and he reached for the glass gratefully. But the moment he touched Duke's fingers, his mind exploded. Several things happened in very quick succession. Charles dropped his second glass, grabbing Duke’s hand to hold him in place while he quickly touched his fingers to the man’s temple. In the same instant that Nathan made a grab for Charles, and Erik made a grab for Nathan, Charles froze everyone, leaving himself staring into Duke's big brown eyes. Which blinked. "It's you…" Charles' control was shattered, something more powerful than him overriding him and setting things right again. All four men fell into one another, Duke shrugging Erik away, "Get off me!" Charles dropped his hands and sat back, staring, and it was left to Audrey to exclaim, "What the hell just happened?" “He’s the mutant we're looking for.” Duke’s eyes hadn’t left his until the moment he spoke, and until then Charles would have put money on him knowing what he was, what he was capable of. But the moment that he did speak, then real, honest-to-God innocence came into those eyes and whatever part of his mind knew was lost again. “You’re calling me a mutant?” "I always suspected," Audrey put in, and Nathan chuckled. Charles smiled, tried to touch his mind to get him to sit down but couldn’t. So he tried the old-fashioned way. “Please.” Duke sat, Nathan next to him, Audrey on the other side of the table. “You don’t realize, you don’t know….” Can't know, Charles realised, mustn't ever know. “Can’t you read his mind?” Erik asked and Charles shook his head. “Trying to is what’s been causing my headaches." He smiled, and he hoped it looked more genuine than it felt. "Your mutation allows you to block me, block any telepath I would imagine. It's very groovy, although you'll appreciate that it's not compatible with my own gift.” “What are you talking about?” that was Nathan, and Duke, “I’m not blocking anything.” “You don’t know you’re doing it but you are. It's why I couldn't find you, and I couldn't understand why." There was a moment’s pause before Nathan laughed, and Duke joined in, although there was a hint of anxiety about the sound. "Let's say, for a moment and hypothetically, that you're not talking crap. What does that mean, for me?" Charles shrugged. "Not a lot, unless you happen on another telepath and I've only met one other. If you do, that person won't be able to read your mind - your thoughts, feelings, emotions - as they can read normal people. Your head is your own and completely private. That's what it means." Erik was looking at him curiously, but he ignored it. "So... that's it?" "Yes. Sorry. Unless you've discovered that you possess a superpower you're keeping to yourself, that's it." Duke shook his head, laughing although there was still a sense of unease. "Nope, no hidden superpowers. Sometimes I wish." Nathan picked up the subject, to Charles' relief. "Wish what? What would your ideal superpower be, Duke?" "I can guess," Audrey murmured suggestively, and Duke wiggled his finger at her, "You behave yourself, young lady; there are gentlemen present." Nathan elbowed him. "If you had a superpower...." "I'd want to swim underwater without diving equipment - you know, develop gills or something, discreet ones of course." Audrey raised her eyebrows and said, "I'd want to fly! Who wouldn't want to fly?" Duke shook his head. "I"m scared of flying. What about you, Nate? What superhero would you be?" It was surprisingly easy, and he risked a tiny touch to the minds of everyone but Duke, taking away the impact of what he'd said, pushing it just slightly away from their consciousnesses. Not too far back, in case Duke bought it up again. Charles let the conversation flow, ordered a round of drinks when the waitress had cleared away the remains of the second broken glass, and put some time between the revelation of Duke being a mutant and the questions that were burning a hole in his mind. When there was a natural break in the chit-chat, he asked as nonchalantly as he could, “These… happenings you talked about, the Troubles?” Nathan nodded. “When did they start?” He pitched the question as one of general interest, and with another subtle touch to everyone but Duke, that was exactly the way it was taken. Nathan thought about it. “There were Troubles when we were kids. But it stopped. I went to college and Duke left.” “And when did they start again?” "Around... eighteen months ago." Charles turned to Duke. "And despite the weirdness you still came back?" He kept it light, humorous, and that was how Duke responded. "If I'd known there would be more weirdness, I might never have come back, but I was already here. I'd been back... a year at least." It was the reply Charles was expecting. "So... tell me more about the weirdness." * * * "And you're leaving first thing in the morning?" Nathan clarified even as he shook Charles' hand, and Charles didn't miss the amusement Erik wasn't showing. "You have my word," he promised, meaning it. They didn't belong in Haven, they were close to outstaying their welcome. Audrey had already gone up to the apartment above the Gull where she apparently lived, and Nathan left in his jeep, which surprised Charles; he'd expected him to stay around. Maybe Duke didn't live at the Gull. Maybe he would go back to Nathan's place. He wanted to know, and immediately he realised he was being nosey. He didn't peek. Duke had already headed into the bar, presumably called on to lend a hand. Outside it was turning into a chilly night, but in the warmly lit bar it was getting busy. As soon as they were alone, with Duke busy and the other two gone, Erik leaned forward over the table and murmured with interest, "You lied." Relieved that everything he'd said seemed to have been believable enough for them to fall for it, Charles gazed at him. "You're reading my mind now?" "Not at all. It's just that when we arrived in Haven you said that the mutant shone like a light. If Duke can block you, how did you seen that?" "He's not blocking me. You're right, I lied." "Why?" "Because it's him." "Yes, that's what you said -" "-I don't mean he's the mutant. He is, but he's so much more; the most powerful mutant we've come across." Erik looked confused. "Because he can block you?" "He's not blocking me!" "Then what is he doing?" Charles glanced around to check they were still alone. "When I tried to freeze everyone so that I could read him, he countermanded my mental command. He didn't know he'd done it, but he was setting things right, back to how they should be. By his own reckoning at least. The town is masking him, hiding him, because it is him - this town, it's his creation." He watched Erik's head turn, gaze sweeping over the shoreline. "I don't mean the place itself, the architecture. I mean these Troubles as they call them, the weirdness. It's all him. A child's imagination in overdrive, painting everything it can think of on the town like a canvas. I think… Haven is… his creation, his world. When he was a kid his imagination created this place, somewhere incredible where strange things happened, where there was mystery around every corner. There was a boy, Nathan, who couldn’t feel anything and despite it all they became firm friends. Then Duke grew up, the Troubles stopped, he had other things on his mind – women, men, fishing, whatever else he got into. New adventures that didn’t need any more mystery than were already inherent. He left town, lived for a while. Then… something happened. He missed the town, missed the unknown, missed that thing we lose when we get older and the world becomes a dull place. So he came back. And again he started creating, re-made the Troubles. Every affliction, every curse the people of this town display comes from his imagination, deep in his mind, places he has no knowledge of. These aren’t dreams, they aren’t fantasies, not in the way we know them.” It took a moment for that to sink in before Erik accused, "You didn't tell him." If there was one thing Erik stood for it was the freedom of an individual to be given all the facts and allowed to make their own choices. But if Duke ever found out... what Charles had seen in that moment of connection was enough to drive anyone mad. "Ask yourself, Erik, what would you do if you knew you were causing people to... to make food go bad, or to replicate themselves over and over again, or giving them the power to kill through a drawing. If you knew you'd taken away a child's ability to feel sensation - and not just any child but your best friend." Realisation dawned; in the grey eyes, on the surface of his mind. "The only way to stop it would be..." "To kill yourself. I won't do that to him, and neither will you." "But Charles, all the people he's hurting!" "Not deliberately." "He's a menace! How many lives could we save by ending his?" Charles shook his head, hand flat on the table between them. "We can't play God. I won't allow it." "But we let him continue to? We let him carry on controlling the lives of everyone here?" "Yes." He spoke the word out loud as he placed it too straight into Erik's mind, not a command as such, but half a warning at least. Erik didn't even know he'd backed off. "What's the significance of Nathan's affliction? You said earlier that he can only feel Audrey and Duke. I get Duke, but why Audrey?" Charles had to think about that. “I think Nathan is the anti-dote to the killer Duke's psyche invented. The threat comes from someone sworn to protect the Troubled, so Duke aligns himself with the Troubled.” “He’s done more than align himself, Charles.” “He’s fallen in love. But I think he fell in love a long time ago. Remember, his mutation is in his subconscious. It’s working for him but our subconscious contains all our fears as well as our desires; it’s also working against him. Then maybe Nathan was supposed to be the perfect victim - a boy he could torment who wouldn't go crying to teacher because he didn't know it hurt. Or maybe he was just looking for a reason to hone in on him, to be close to him, even if that meant tormenting him to show off to his friends and stay on the right side of the high school demographic: to be one of the cool kids. For whatever reason, when they were kids he took Nathan's ability to feel. And when it all started again, Nathan was given the same affliction because they were still fighting. But things have changed. He gave Nathan Audrey's touch because she was in a position to have that physical contact with him. Once Duke himself was also in that position, he gave him his own touch too. But none of it's done consciously, he has no idea at all that he's doing this. Which is why we aren't going to tell him and we aren't going to kill him." He'd promised not to pry, but some thoughts were too close to the surface to miss. "Charles, he's dangerous." "So are you. So am I. We've never spoken of ending our own lives prematurely. And if these Troubles have been going on for hundreds of years, there were others before Duke, possibly his family, possibly not. If we... get rid of him, we don't know that the town won't choose someone else to take his place. This needs to play out, what's happening here. And we need to leave." * * * Nathan drove to Duke's boat, leaving the deck lights off, bringing on the galley lamps as he found a beer by the light inside the fridge and went back up on deck. Incredible how easily his life could fall into line next to Duke's. He would never have believed he'd be aboard the man's floating home, waiting for him to finish work so they could share a bed. It was a clear night now the clouds had broken. Nathan didn't know what the temperature was like, he usually followed suit with what others around him wore, fitting in the way he had all his life. Except for Duke. Duke had long ago been his rebellion, back when they'd got together the first time. Nathan wasn't sure if that's what he was now, or if he was just grasping at straws; keeping something close to him that he'd always considered to be his; his bully, his best friend, his pain in the ass. His lover. Only Duke didn't belong to anyone. Maybe he belonged to Haven. He'd tried to leave, never said what had brought him back but something had, and it sure as hell didn't have anything to do with his good-for-nothing father - the line he sold Evi, the line he sold anyone who asked. Duke was here for reasons completely his own, maybe he wasn't completely aware of them himself. Something about Haven had drawn Nathan back to it, the same thing had drawn Duke. Nathan wasn't deluded enough to think it was each other. He heard footsteps on the boardwalk, Duke's boots on the steps, crossing the deck and stopping just behind him. He felt firm fingers at the small of his back, trailing up the the curve of his spine to nape of his neck before long fingers combed up into his hair. "I wasn't sure you'd be here." Duke's voice, low, soft, unsure Nathan would have said if he didn't know better. Duke was always sure of himself, of his welcome. He didn't go where he wasn't. "Figured if I came here you'd be less likely to make a run for it come dawn." He turned slowly, feeling Duke's fingers trail across the sensitive skin on his throat. Of course, every inch of his skin was sensitive where Duke - and Audrey - were concerned. "Wasn't planning on leaving until lunchtime," Duke's fingertips came to rest on Nathan's jaw, and slowly he leaned in to kiss him, hesitant at first, then his tongue slid between Nathan's lips. Nathan felt the rough rub of Duke's mustache and goatie against his face, tilted his head to slide his tongue over Duke's, into the wet heat of his mouth. Duke's hands on his hips, pressing against him, mouth to toe, the solid length of him, all hard muscle, strong fingers moving to grasp Nathan's ass. Nathan gripped Duke's shoulders hard and pushed him back barely an inch. "Bedroom," he hissed, meaning it. Duke nodded his agreement. Out here on the deck was too public - FBI agents were forever dropping by. * * * "The problem with fate is that it messes with the mind." Erik was waiting for Charles to start the engine of their truck, to get them out of Haven. He was always going to harbor mixed feelings about the town; he and Charles, a relationship he’d known from the moment they met was going to be one of the most important of his life, had moved to the next stage here. Last night had been perfect, with the exquisite sensation of making slow love to Charles for hours, falling asleep with his sated lover in his arms, waking with a warm mouth on his cock and Charles inside his mind. It was the most intimate thing he'd ever felt. All those memories were now tied forever to this strange town. At the same time, the world now was even more complicated than he’d imagined, and not just his own. Here was a town drowning in its own blood even as the good guys tried to stem the flow. And the irony was that it was one of them who was responsible for it all, albeit unknowingly; someone more powerful than either he or Charles, someone who had no idea what he was capable of. Maybe it was a good thing, because that kind of power could drive someone insane, knowing what Duke had been responsible for could drive him insane. Then the dominos would begin to fall and the consequences could be catastrophic for the people of Haven. “What fate awaited you, did you think, before I found you?” Surprised at the question, Erik turned to look at Charles. “Why do you ask?” “Let me put it another way. Are you where you thought you’d be at this juncture?” He shook his head. “No. You know it isn’t. I never expected you, not in a million years." "Do you think fate expected you to be here?" He was used to losing his way during conversations with Charles. "I don't know what that means." Usually Charles would explain himself in a different way, would make himself understood. But he didn't this time. Instead, he said tangentially, "Duke is a mutant. But he’s the next generation, he’s what our children’s grand children will be. We’re not ready for him." Erik waited, held his tongue until Charles had finally started the engine, taken the handbrake off and was moving the car out of the hotel car park. "Can you honestly live with this, Charles?" "With what?" "Knowing this place is here, so many people's fates at the mercy of one man, one careless man." Charles slowed when he reached the road, checked in both directions and pulled out, heading towards the road out of town, putting The Grey Gull in the rearview. "Yes," he answered Erik's query eventually. "I'd rather live with that than live knowing I'd killed a man, directly or indirectly, by telling him something he was never supposed to know." They drove out of Haven in silence, Erik staring at the 'Welcome To Haven' sign in his wing mirror until it was out of sight. "How do you think it'll end?" he asked. Charles didn't answer. There wasn't an answer, not yet. It would end, eventually, the fantasy would play itself out. He could only hope he was making the right decision, just walking away. He wouldn't be able to live with himself if he'd caused the death of an innocent man, but the question of Duke's innocence was always going to haunt him. He felt Erik's hand on his shoulder and turned, smiling. ::Are we okay?:: Erik nodded. In time Charles could teach him to communicate mind to mind, over long distances; they'd never be apart. But for now the smile on his face, the love in his eyes was enough. Even if he never learned, it would always be enough. |