Chapter Text
Tracy doesn't really like small towns. The shopping is terrible and the dating options are limited (her abrosexuality is currently making her feel very bi and dating heavy, even though she didn't have much luck in Chicago). It also won't quite get her the rush she went into emergency medicine for. But she's heard that Haven, Maine isn't any old small town, but one with lots of interesting conditions, so hopefully she won't lack excitement. And it's near enough to a few bigger cities and it's close to Mass. so she could visit home if she wanted. It’s still New England and she has missed it a bit.
She's not planning on being here long, but there was an interesting resident opening, so she decided to try it. She feels like giving back to smaller communities. While Haven is not New Zealand, it’s still very different compared to Chicago.
She works at Haven Regional Hospital, and she is surprised just how busy the ER actually is. She saw a lot of weird things in Chicago, but Haven in on another level. She’s up for the challenge, sure, but the secrecy surrounding a lot of her cases weird her out. In a good way.
She’s been in Haven about a week when the weather starts doing really weird things, that not even Maine can really account for. That leads to lot of busyness. A fog arising out of nowhere leads to lots of car accidents and MVCs. Including a near miss one for someone rather grumpy.
”Hey, I’m Nathan Wuornos, I almost got hit by a car. I’m supposed to get an MRI, and I think those are overrated.”
Tracy smiles, “Let me guess. You’re not a doctor, but I’m guessing someone who deals with these a lot. EMT?”
”Nope.” Nathan shows her his badge. “I’ve just had a lot of these over the past few years. I know my body well enough to know when there’s an issue, and I don’t think that’s the case.”
”Alright, Detective Wuornos. Let’s see. Dr. Eleanor Carr is the one who sent you here, I’ve met her, she’s trust worthy. Let me be the judge of whether this was useless or not. Let’s get you to Radiology.”
”I know the way.”
”Good. I’m kinda new so you can lead me there.”
Nathan and Tracy exchange smiles.
Tracy completely buys Nathan’s stick, because he clearly knows the routine by now. She also doesn’t see anything unusual in his scans and he seems cognitively fine.
”You were right. You’re good to go.”
”Thanks.”
”I didn’t realize being a cop in a small town Maine is so dangerous that you’d need to keep coming for MRIs,” Tracy comments, genuinely curious.
Nathan smirks a bit ”You’d be surprised.”
”Maybe I will. This town is really not what I expected.”
”Yeah?” Nathan asks, his lips pursed together like he’s trying not to say something.
”Yeah.”
”Well, I have a case to finish, so nice to meet you…”
”Tracy. If things are the way you say they are, we might meet again soon.”
”We might.”
***
The weather keeps getting weirder and more random, but when Tracy tries to engage people in small talk, no one says anything beyond, ‘It’s Maine, you’ll get used to it’. Tracy is pretty sure that is not the whole case but she knows it’s a small town cliché to not to talk to outsiders. She can bide her time. She finds herself surprisingly curious about what it is that makes Haven tic.
One thing she does appreciate about small towns? The gossip is everywhere. Everyone knows everyone else’s business and even though they are not exactly telling it all to Tracy, she still hears a lot. It doesn’t take long before she starts hearing about ‘you-know-whats’, and that really piques her interest. She wonders whether the weather is connected to those.
***
A few days after their first meeting, she meets Nathan again. Nathan got shot in the shoulder by a stray bullet while working on a case. Tracy is not completely sure about the timing, but she suspects it happened while that freak storm was happening.
Nathan is again a model patient, so much so she starts wondering whether there’s something to it. He has the demeanor of someone with a chronic condition but he doesn’t show much signs of that. Well, that’s why they are called invisible conditions.
”It doesn’t look too bad. Does this hurt?” she asks as she puts pressure on his shoulder. She needs to figure out whether the bullet damaged anything there.
”I don’t know.”
That answer definitely raises Tracy’s curiosity.
”I have IPN, idiopathic neuropathy. I can’t feel anything.”
”Oh.” Tracy tries to keep her interest in check. Sometimes she can be a bit too enthusiastic about interesting cases. “That’s why lots of MRI visit.”
”That was my 9th in the past few years.”
”Wow.”
Nathan looks at her curiously. “You find my condition exciting?”
Tracy laughs, ”A tiny bit. It’s a pretty rare condition. So you don’t feel anything, physically?”
”Nope.”
”How long have you had it?"
”I had it as a kid and it came back a few years ago. And ‘no’, you cannot write a paper on it.”
”Wasn’t going to ask.”
”Right," Nathan's voice is full of sarcasm.
”Alright, your shoulder is done. You will have to wear the sling for a few days, so that you don’t aggrivate the wound. Can you do that, Nathan?”
”Yes, I can. I am not a child.”
”Oh. Sorry.” She did sound a bit condescending, didn't she?
”It’s fine. I’m used to it.”
As Nathan is getting ready to go, Tracy asks, “Hey, what do you think about this weird weather we’re having?”
Nathan half shrugs, “It’s Maine. The weather’s weird here. Bye, Tracy.”
”Bye, Nathan.”
***
Tracy starts settling in Haven more easily than she thought she would. There isn’t really much shopping to do, but she takes in the ocean and the woods and really enjoys the deceptively calm atmosphere. She makes weekend trips to Portland, but it really isn’t much better than Haven, and even makes way to Boston for the first time in many years. There she gets some much needed retail therapy and meets up with friends. Coming back here really wasn’t that terrible a decision.
Yet Haven’s weirdness continues. People keep seeing butterflies before strange stuff happens, like metal ball sculptures destroying bars and rogue electric cables at the Junior High.
One day, a woman comes to the hospital, talking about her foster son’s horrible night terrors. The kid, Bobby, seems really exhausted, so she gives them some medicine that she thinks might help with the terrors and suggests some counseling. There’s not much else she can actually do.
***
Tracy adapts to Haven’s culture quite quickly. Weird things keep happening, with weird symptoms and conditions popping up everywhere and how meticulous their reports have to be. The town is clearly hiding something, yet, she’s not quite local enough to know what. She’s pretty sure it’s something everything knows but doesn’t talk about.
Tracy has already heard about the Freddy when the call comes that something went down over there. Supposedly the head doctor, Rudy Lucassi, had a break down and attacked the staff, and some patients probably also got violent. They don’t tell the whole story to Tracy, but she’s picking up on these things already.
Tracy listens intently for any rumors or information she hears, wanting to find out what is really going on. She’s become friends with the coroner, Eleanor, and she often listens to her frustrations about this town and its weirdness, although she refuses to give her any answers, even though Tracy is pretty sure she has some. Which is weird, because she trusts her enough to talk up her daughter, Julia, to her, in a way that Tracy is pretty sure means she wants to set them up once she comes back from wherever she is (Eleanor thinks it’s Darfur, but Tracy gets the vibe she’s not sure).
Looking at the Freddie patients, it's clear someone has really done a number on these people. One of them got defenestrated, and lots of others were otherwise attacked. She gets her hands on a toxicology report on Lucassi, but there are no odd drugs in his system. Very peculiar. She wishes she could talk to Lucassi, maybe he has some idea what happened to him.
Although the Freddy situation is barely under control, soon they get new patients from the Shiny Scupper. Tracy’s seen the place, although she hasn’t gone inside, since it’s not her type of place. More violence, and attacks. Some of the behavior seems like adrenaline rushes, so Tracy decides to make that a possible cause in her reports. A few attackers are brought to them sedated, and seeing the aftermath, the blackouts, the uncertainty, she really wants to know what is going on, for everyone who is affected by whatever this is.
She gets a surprising source of information when Nathan comes back to the ER, looking like an absolute mess. There’s another man with him, and Tracy can immediately tell that the two of them got into a fight with each other.
They seem to be continuing their fight verbally as the other man quietly asks Nathan something he clearly doesn’t like. Tracy can only make out,
”Be straight with me. The Troubles are back, aren’t they?” before Nathan shuts the other man, Duke, up.
’The Troubles’? Is that what is going on here? Catchy term. But she doesn’t have much time to think about that before they are at the desk.
”Hi, Tracy.”
”You know a nurse? Good for you, Wuornos.”
”I’m a doctor,” Tracy says, annoyed.
”Even better,“ Duke continues and there’s something about the way he says it that makes Tracy let out a frustrated laugh. It has been pretty quiet for her on the romance front since she’s been to Haven (she hasn’t even really checked where her abrosexuality has her sexuality now), but she really shouldn’t go for just any charming flirter.
She looks at her watch, her shift is ending soon. She will just get these two guys handled and then go home. Or maybe do some investigating.
”Fix him first, “ Nathan says, and there is none of that sarcastic cop to be seen now. Tracy’s pretty sure Nathan is the one who was affected by whatever this is, and he’s clearly upset about it.
”Alright. Stay here, I’ll come pick you up soon.”
She takes Duke behind a gurney and starts taking a incident report.
”What seems to be the matter?”
”I just got punched and strangled for a bit, so my throat is pretty sore physically and I won’t mind stitches on my cheek, but I’d prefer it if you wouldn’t damage my lovely face.”
Tracy laughs again. Duke is definitely charming, and flirty, and cute. “I’ll try my best.”
She concentrates on the physical check-out, at the same time wondering whether Duke might be willing to talk about what is going on in Haven. “Mind telling me what actually happened?”
Duke falls silent, clearly thinking exactly how to talk about what happened. He ends up going with, “I told you already.”
Tracy looks towards the waiting room, where Nathan looks like he wants to burst out of his own skin.
”It was Nathan, right? Something happened to him, and he attacked you?” Tracy decides to be blunt. She doesn’t know who knows what in this town, but she’s pretty sure Duke is in the know.
Duke looks at her suspiciously.
”Look, I haven’t been here long but I already know Haven is not an ordinary town. And I came here from Chicago, so trust me, I know weird. We’ve been getting patients like you and Nathan all day. I just wanna know if there is something I could do to help.” She decides not to mention that she heard the term ‘Troubles’ from him.
The look on Duke’s face changes, like he was seeing a long lost relative. “You know, you really remind me of someone.”
”I’ve been getting that a bit.”
”Look, if Nathan wants to talk some more about what happened, then that’s on him. But I’ve said all I’m going to say. Unless you’d like to go to dinner with me sometime, then I’ll definitely have a lot more to say.”
Tracy smiles, “I bet you do. Fine. You’re done. It’s gonna take a few days for your cheek to heal, but it shouldn’t scar. And here’s a prescription for painkillers for your throat. You’re free to go.”
”Thanks. Although me and Nathan still have something to deal with, so I’m gonna wait for him.”
Tracy is curious about that, but lets it go. “Suit yourself.”
They walk back to where Nathan is sitting, still very anxious. “Your turn.”
Nathan follows Tracy behind a gurney. He looks terrible.
“Do you need to throw up?”
”Only emotionally. I think.”
”Let me know if you do. We have containers for that.”
Tracy starts with putting some rubbing alcohol on Nathan’s lip, cheek and knuckles. Nathan is none the wiser. He really is an easy patient. She tries to look him over, but his clothes obscure most of him.
”Um, I need you to take off your jacket, I need to check you for injuries I can’t see and you can’t feel or remember.”
Nathan takes of his jacket and Tracy notices two things. One, his elbow has burns. Two, he’s wearing a black ring on his middle finger, which she hadn’t noticed before.
She concentrates first on his elbow. “Do you know where you got this?”
Nathan looks at his elbow with a weird disinterest. “No. I blacked out.”
Tracy nods. She’s not surprised that whatever this is lead to self-harm behavior for some. Whatever it is, it does a number on people’s inhibitions.
”That’s a cool ring,” Tracy decides to go with a different tactic. Nathan is still barely here, so a topic change might help.
Nathan looks first confused, then looks down at his right hand. “Oh, thanks.”
”Wrong place for a wedding ring, though.”
”Yeah, it’s not that type of ring.” Nathan takes a moment to decide whether to elaborate. “It’s an ace ring.”
Tracy is surprised Nathan actually told her, but she’s glad. “Cool. I’m abrosexual myself. Can’t wear rings at work and I’m not sure a black ring is my style, exactly. But it works for you.”
The topic change seems to be working, Nathan is coming back into himself more, ”Abro, huh? That’s cool. I’m actually demi.”
”Aspec high five,” Tracy says and Nathan does go to high five her when Tracy adds, “Maybe that can wait until I’m not actually wearing bloody gloves.”
”Probably, yeah.” Nathan is smiling again. Good.
”Are you ready to talk about what happened?”
The smile freezes on Nathan’s face.
”Look, I know something is going on here. Duke called them 'the Troubles'. At a hospital, you hear a lot of rumors. Weird weather, butterflies freaking havoc, stuff like that. This isn’t a normal town. I think I want to help.”
Nathan takes a long look at her, trying to decide whether to trust her, ”If something weird is going on, these so-called Troubles, what can you do about it?”
”I don’t know yet. I just think I want to.” Tracy can’t quite explain it to herself. Haven should not be her type of town, yet somehow, it is. “Patients like you, like Duke, have been coming in and out all day. There has to be some type of cause. Do you know what it is? Or who it is?”
She can see Nathan react to her last question, clearly she hit a nerve. “You know who it is, don’t you.”
”Am I done?” Nathan asks abruptly.
Tracy looks him over, “Yes.”
”Thanks.” Nathan takes his jacket and leaves quickly, and Tracy can see that he doesn’t even wait for Duke, who has to scramble after him.
Tracy looks down at her watch. Her shift is over. She rubs at her eyes, it’s been a long and tiring day. But this day and its events won’t leave her alone. What does she have to do to get these people to trust her with what is going on? For them to tell her about these Troubles. She’s involved with dealing with them, she deserves to know what is going on. But there's really nothing else she can do right now. She needs to go home.
But before she can leave, a man comes to the desk with a woman with an injured arm.
"Please, you have to help my wife!"
Tracy looks around, she's the only one available. A few stitches won't hurt. "OK, follow me."
"Can we, is there any way to go somewhere isolated?"
Tracy looks at them with slight suspicion, but she does know a place. "Yeah."
Tracy takes them to a room she didn't know the use of before, but it's far enough from everything, and slightly sound proofed that Tracy thinks that is good enough. She starts dealing with Lily's hand but soon she starts twitching and mumbling something unintelligible, pulling her hand away from Tracy and seemingly trying to write in the air.
"Oh no. I was hoping I still had time." Ray picks up a harmonica from his pocket and with a "I'm so sorry about this," he starts to play.
The difference in Lily is almost immediate and the smile on Ray's face as he stops playing is a sight to see. But as soon as he knows Lily's alright again, he looks at Tracy and she can't interpret the look on his face.
"Nothing happened to you, why?"
Tracy has been watching it all unfold curiously and now, she's as confused as Ray.
"So, you're the cause? You've been doing this to people? Through music?"
Ray looks confused at her knowledge. "Yes. My grandfather told me to stay away from music, but I didn't listen. Lily writes music too. This whole thing is new though."
"Have you heard about the Troubles?"
"You know about them?"
"A little bit. I've seen your handiwork all day today."
"I didn't mean for anyone to get hurt. I just want Lily to be OK."
"Ray, if keeping me sane is hurting people, I don't want you to keep doing it."
"I know that. I don't want to hurt people either. I was going to take you out to sea on my boat, far enough from everyone else to affect them. But the effect wore off and you hurt your hand. I needed to get you fixed before we could go."
"Does Nathan Wuornos know about this? I think he was looking for you just now, with Duke Crocker."
"Duke knows where my boat is. Do you think they will stop us from leaving?"
"I don't know. Nathan was really shaken up in the aftermath of your Trouble. Maybe I could talk with him? Explain it. I think the fact that this Trouble didn't effect me gives me some authority."
Ray looks indecisive but eventually nods. "Call him."
***
They meet up at Ray's boat and Tracy explains Ray's plan to Nathan.
"How can he be sure he won't effect anyone else? I can't have him put other people in danger."
"Nathan, I know the sea. I can stay at a safe distance, and only go to shore when we absolutely need supplies. I can't not help Lily now that I know how. This is best for everyone."
"And it's not like you can really charge him with anything," Tracy adds.
Nathan gives her an annoyed look while Duke laughs a bit.
"Maybe that is for the best," he finally relents.
Ray and Lily share happy smiles and they get on the boat. Tracy, Nathan and Duke wave them off.
After they disappear over the horizon, Duke leaves, although not before telling Nathan that they need to talk about something soon. Nathan just nods.
Then it's just Tracy and Nathan.
"So, you know about the Troubles?" He asks, not really looking at Tracy.
"Almost nothing except that they exist, I guess."
"The timing doesn't make sense," Nathan says only half speaking to Tracy. "Ray must have fixed Lily not that long ago. Weren't you affected?" He looks at her now.
"No, I wasn't. Nothing happened to me when he played the harmonica."
"I don't understand. It took one note, maybe two of the piano for me to lose my sanity. How can you be fine?"
"I don't know," a note of panic is creeping into Tracy's voice.
"Still want that aspec high five?" Nathan asks seemingly out of nowhere.
Tracy looks down at her bare hand, "Sure, I guess."
Nathan holds up his hand and Tracy slaps hers to his.
The reaction on Nathan's face is something she has never quite seen before.
"I felt that. My Trouble is that I don't feel anything. But I felt you. How?"
Everything is suddenly happening so much and Tracy can only say, "I don't know."