Chapter Text
After a whole week of non-stop dealing with the Troubles, Nathan and Audrey are given a few blissful hours together at Audrey's place. They need the rest since both of them have been running on fumes for days now.
Nathan flops on her bed as soon as they arrive but Audrey still feels restless. She paces around her place, seeing how much damage the Troubles have done to it.
After 5 minutes of that, Nathan sighs as he leans on his elbow and watches her pace.
"Parker. We need to... sleep."
The catch in Nathan's voice gets her to turn around to look at him, and she's pretty certain that Nathan doesn't want to just sleep. It brings a smirk to her face and she sighs.
"Soon," she tells him huskily. She is not sure what it is that bothers her but she can't calm down yet.
Nathan rubs his eyes (a leftover habit from years ago he still can't shake) and gets up from the bed. He gets behind her and wraps his hands around her, kisses the nape of her neck, nuzzles her neck, sighs happily. Audrey leans back against him and sighs, hers more melancholy.
Nathan sways her a little, turns his head to see the piano.
"Wanna play something? I could sing."
Audrey turns in his arms to look at Nathan in the eyes, "You sing?"
"I know a few songs," Nathan says with slight hurt in his voice.
Audrey pats his cheek, giving him an apologetic smile. "OK. Let's see if my mysterious piano skills and your songs match." Now there is real excitement in her. It's something to do. Nathan loosens his hold of her waist but Audrey holds onto his hand as they make their way to her piano.
Audrey sits on the bench and Nathan follows.
"So, what will it be, Wuornos?"
Nathan tries to look extra thoughtful which makes Audrey giggle. "How about... Patsy Cline?"
"I might know a song or two. Which one? "
Nathan's face becomes genuinely thoughtful, something clearly weighing his mind. "Crazy."
Audrey quirks her eyebrow. It's not that she doesn't get why it might appeal to him. But it still feels a bit odd. Before she can ask, Nathan continues,
"It was Mom's favorite. She would sing it all the time. Sometimes... I sang it with her. It didn't matter if I could feel or not. I could connect with her through song ." Nathan's voice lowered to a hoarse whisper. Audrey strokes his cheek again. He turns and kisses her palm. For a moment, all is silent. Audrey thinks of little Nathan, about the boy with a fish in a picture that was always on the Chief's desk but disappeared home with Nathan after he passed. About the woman she's seen in pictures around that house, the woman who Nathan looks like, Elizabeth.
She needs to think of something else, so she start humming 'Crazy' in her head trying to see whether her fingers know the melody. Her fingers fly over the piano keys not yet making a sound. She does know it.
When she looks up at Nathan again, he has a small smile on his face.
"You know, you have a mom now. You could do something like that."
Audrey lets out a laugh and it feels good. "I think we're too old for that. And I..." she shakes her head in frustration, "I think Charlotte might be a bit too much like Mara."
Nathan pulls her to him sideways, kisses her temple and whispers, "Give her time. She might surprise you." He pulls back and adds, "Or not, and we have to deal with a terrible mother-in-law who lives too near and can't leave. It will be fine. Or at least funny. Trust me, that's what TV tells me so it must be true." Nathan says completely seriously and Audrey's not sure if it's really that funny or if she's just too damn stressed out and tired . Whatever the case, she leans on Nathan and laughs non-stop for 5 minutes. And Nathan just holds on to her, smiling.
Eventually, he rubs her back to help her calm down. "OK, Parker. You promised me some music."
She wipes tears from her eyes and kisses Nathan for a moment. Because she can.
"OK, let's see what these fingers and your pipes can do." She wiggles her fingers.
She starts playing, her fingers moving as naturally as breathing, like she's played all her life. It's still odd. Yet it's also somehow natural. She tries not to think about it.
Nathan just sways to the music at first next to her. Then he starts singing.
Crazy, I'm crazy for feeling so lonely
I'm crazy, crazy for feeling so blue
I knew you'd love me as long as you wanted
And then someday you'd leave me for somebody new
Worry, why do I let myself worry?
Wondering what in the world did I do?
Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you
I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying
And I'm crazy for loving you
Crazy for thinking that my love could hold you
I'm crazy for trying and crazy for crying
And I'm crazy for loving you.
His voice is deep and rough and he holds the notes in an exaggerated way. It's terrible but he looks like he is really enjoying himself, at one point getting off the bench to really belt out a note, arms stretched wide, and Audrey's playing becomes distracted from giggling at Nathan's terrible singing yet delighting in his seemingly carefree performance which is so uncommon yet becoming of Nathan.
After she stops playing, Nathan sits back next to her on the bench and quenches her giggles with kisses. On her mouth. Slowly moving towards, then reaching her ear. Down her neck. When she brings his lips back properly to hers, it also allows Nathan to catch her legs and soon he is carrying her to the bed they should have been sharing for the past hour.
"Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos, you have the weirdest seduction techniques ever," she tells him after he has laid her on the bed and they are making good time getting out of their clothes. Nathan leans down to her, rubs her nose gently with his own and looks her deeply in the eyes.
"They work on you. That's all that matters."
"Hm, that is very, very true."
Those are the last coherent words either one of them says for the rest of the night.
(They manage to sleep and rest, too and the next day they are again ready to deal with the Troubles)
***
A few days later, the Gull is destroyed. Audrey didn't have much possessions but it still breaks her heart. It was home to her.
She moves in with Nathan for good after the darkness trouble and the town's electricity woes are fixed. She uses the blue fish keychain Nathan got her to hold her keys and she loves it, because it is big and bright and helps her find her keys when she loses them, as she often does.
Nathan doesn't have a piano, but he does occasionally sing when the mood strikes. His voice has its own charm that Audrey learns to love. It becomes her new home.