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1) Sarah cycle: 1955/56: 20/21 years old
One day, when Dave Teagues was 20 years old, Sarah Vernon, a nurse, stepped into the office of Haven Herald, the local newspaper that his family owned. She was a striking sight, late 20s, early 30s with bright curly red hair. She was looking for some help and while she was new in town she already knew about the Troubles. She told Dave and his brother, Vince, that she was lead to them by a couple of time travelers sent back and forth in time by Stuart Mosley, a new Troubled resident of Haven’s VA hospital, although she refused to tell either one of them the names of the time travelers.
The Teagues are always involved with the Troubles, so none of it is really surprise. Sarah talks about the Troubles openly, which is different. Most people don’t talk about them, and the Herald’s job is to keep them secret. But it becomes clear soon that Sarah isn’t for being kept in the dark or hiding from things. She faces everything head on, whether it is a surprise pregnancy, or figuring out that over fifty years ago, she was a woman named Veronica. It all must have taken its toll, but she always did her best to help people with the Troubles.
Dave can tell that Vince fell for Sarah quite quickly, despite the pregnancy. Dave didn’t, which is good because they don’t need more things to bicker about, but it was also his first clue that there might be something different about him. But he still loved Sarah dearly, and wanted what was best for her and her child. Sarah had a healthy, beautiful baby boy, who she named James. (Even though it’s his middle name, he doubts he was the name inspiration, but it’s still lovely) Before the cycle was over, she disappeared for a bit and when she reappeared, James was gone. They never really talked about it. She rarely talked about James during the brief time she had left, and she never mentioned who his father was.
Dave’s heart broke for Sarah. It was his idea, once the Barn started appearing and they found out about the Hunter, that they should blow it up. That way, Sarah didn’t have to go, and she could raise her son here in Haven. Instead, she leaves Vince with her mystery rings, one male and one female, that were passed on to her, and that will be passed on again.
Because she can’t stay. The Barn won’t blow up, because the Barn isn’t just a barn, but something magical. So, Sarah had to go, after tearful goodbyes. When it was time for her to go, the Barn keeper, Howard, came to take her away and Sarah went willingly. She was always so strong. Before they both disappeared within the Barn, Howard gave Dave an odd look he wouldn’t understand until years later.
2) Lucy cycle: 1980s/1983: 48 years old
Vince inherits the position as Guard leader before the next cycle. He also seems to finally get over Sarah during the 1970s, and marries someone else. They are happy for a time, but once the next cycle officially begins (of course, some Troubles came back way before 1981), Vince makes the messed up decision to trigger Simon Crocker, so that he would kill Vince’s father-in-law before his wife’s Trouble could come back. When she finds out, his wife divorces him and never comes back to Haven. It’s all so ugly. Dave is kinda glad he managed to avoid all that. Especially since it’s not the only bad marriage around, and his heart hurts for the poor kids involved. The next generation will have it tough.
When it comes to himself, though, Dave lets people think he never got over Sarah, that he was so in love with her that he could never move on. It’s easier to let people think he has a broken heart rather than that there is something different about him. Sometimes he misses Sarah so much though, that he almost convinces himself of it too. But he knows it’s not true. But he’s still a happy and fulfilled person. He has the Herald, he has his brother and he has friends. He doesn’t need anything else.
Nothing could have actually prepared Dave for Lucy Ripley’s arrival. Long, straight brown hair, stubborn, with sad eyes. She’s different, yet the same. It’s fascinating yet vaguely horrifying. This poor girl. Having to go through this over and over again. After the loss of his wife, and with Lucy bringing back his feelings for Sarah, Vince isn’t very good to Lucy at the beginning. He hopes he can bring her memories back somehow. It’s ugly and doesn’t work. Lucy doesn’t trust Vince much after that, for good reason.
Dave finds it difficult to keep James and Sarah a secret from Lucy, and when Lucy finds a picture of Sarah in the Haven archives, he doesn’t see a reason to hide the truth from her. She deserves to know. She always does. When they tell Lucy the truth, Vince gives her the male version of the ring. Lucy is curious about it, what it means, how it works, but none of them really have any idea. Dave is not sure how he feels about Vince’s choice. Sarah had both rings. Keeping the female one makes Dave think Vince never really got over, and that he’s probably falling for Lucy again.
Lucy and Garland Wuornos make a good team, and Lucy need the Teagues less than Sarah did. Dave is a bit saddened by that, but while he was younger than Sarah, now he is older than Lucy, and its best for her to deal with the Troubles with people of her own ‘generation’. That’s not Dave and Vince anymore, but they give all the help to Lucy and Garland as they are willing to take. With certain reservations of course. Dave’s not happy about them, but sometimes they seem necessary.
Seeing James Cogan all grown up is bizarre, after 0only briefly seeing him as a baby, but there is definitely a resemblance between James and his mother(s). Dave is surprised that Sarah would have left the Cogans with a picture of her but it also makes sense. James deserved to get to know his birth mother, and his birth mother deserved to get to know him. Dave mostly stays out of that relationship. It’s a delicate, complicated relationship that doesn’t need outside interference.
And some of it hits too close to home for Dave. While he’s never been anyone but a Teagues, son of James and Margaret Teagues, brother of Vincent, he always knew he was adopted. Unlike some other families[author’s note: Wuornoses], the Teagues role in the Troubles was always too important for his adoption to remain a secret. Vince had a role as a first born Teagues, even though Dave was actually older. But adopted families and their complications still get to him.
Then, as is wont to happen in Haven, something terrible and unexplainable happens: Not long after James has come to town, he’s found dead at East Beach, no marking or cause of death. And somehow, Dave woke up next to him. He has no memory of what happened, his whole day is missing. Did he kill James? He doesn’t know. He’s not the only one with missing memories, but he never tells anyone about his missing memory. When Vince is out of the hospital, he just tells him that he was home all day, that he has no idea what happened. He’s not quite sure whether Vince believes him, but they never talk about it.
After James dies, everything falls apart. Simon is out of control, and he and Lucy get into a fight that ends with Simon drowning. Lucy runs away, wanting to leave Haven and all its pain behind, while James, now known as the Colorado Kid per the Herald, is buried in unmarked grave plot 301. But the cycle has to end, and it was Vince’s job as the leader of the Guard to make it happen. So, Vince gathers his troops and they hunt Lucy down, bring her back to Haven in time for the Barn. By then, James’ wife Arla has come to Haven to look for her husband, but finding out he is death seemed to cause a nervous breakdown and she disappears. Dave is horrified by all of this. A part of him wishes Lucy had gotten away, sacrificing her over and over again cannot be the only option they have. It hurts to see Lucy go.
Before she makes the same sacrifice Sarah did, Lucy begs Garland to dig up James’ body and bring it back with her to the Barn. Apparently it can save him. Dave hopes it can. Lucy loves her son so much, and Dave has unexplainable guilt about it, that he hopes something good will happen to them.
After the Troubles are gone once more, Dave sometimes sees Garland playing with the male ring, and he wonders when Lucy might have given it to him. Dave also is the star witness in a Max Hansen multiple homicide case, so the Troubles being gone don’t mean everyone isn’t still being affected by them and the damage they leave behind.
3) The female form is quite nice, but Dave prefers old time pornography, it’s less revealing, and leaves more to the imagination. And he can be charming and quite flirty sometimes, if he wants to be. But he still hasn't fallen for anyone or wanted to have sex with anyone and he's fine with that. He lets other believe that the only woman for him are Sarah and Lucy, and in some ways, they are correct. He probably has one more cycle left in him, and he will help the next version of her, like he always does. He has his brother and friends that are like family. He feels fulfilled by that.
4) 2000s
Nathan Wuornos returns to Haven after 4 years at Orono and another year at the police academy, and he looks oddly familiar. A little like Max, a lot like Elizabeth, his personality is all Garland but there is something else to him too. Then Dave sees him at just the right angle and he has a theory. Could Nathan be James' father? There are no pictures of James left in Haven, because it was important to keep his identity secret. The cycle hasn't really started yet, so there's still years until there are any answers to be had. But the resemblance is uncanny. Stuart Mosley still lives in Haven, now with a family of his own, although he hasn’t had to use his Trouble in years. Sarah’s talk of a time travel and mentioning that James’ father wasn’t born in 1956 has lead to some theories between Vince and Dave over time. When Dave brings this one up, Vince agrees that it’s one of the more likely scenarios. But they won’t know the truth for years.
5) Audrey cycle 2010: 75 years old
Her name is Audrey Parker, and she's an FBI agent, with blonde, medium length hair. (James isn't with her, and Dave wonders why.) Unfortunately, Vince is getting even creepier in his old age, and Dave has to try his best to offset that. They can’t freak Audrey out so much that she’ll go away, but they also need to make sure she stays in Haven. The Colorado Kid picture is their best arsenal. But they have to ease into it. This time they look like grandfathers and Dave doesn't mind going in that direction. But it’s a fine line between helpful old men and creepy old men. Helping her pick out a dress for the Second Chance reopening, and getting her a dress for her birthday might cross the line a bit. But they have good taste, and Audrey accepts their advice.
Deciding how to give Audrey the information she needs, and when is difficult. Dave wants to help her, as always, and he is well aware of Audrey’s struggles with finding out more about her ‘mother’, but this time Audrey really has other people who to talk to about these things, and she doesn’t rely so much on him and his brother like Sarah did, and Lucy too. Dave and Vince also constantly fight about it, and neither seems to really settle on a position about it. They’ve been through 3 cycles, yet they still know so little about why this happens. Knowing how to handle Haven’s secrets has never been easy.
What is easy is seeing Nathan falling for Audrey. For some reason, Garland doesn’t want that to happen, but he refuses to say why. Garland was still with Elizabeth during the last cycle, and Dave doesn’t think Garland fell for Lucy. But there must be something about the last cycle that makes Garland weary of the growing connection between Nathan and Audrey. Dave wonders whether he should bring up his theory about James’ paternity to Garland. He decides against it, because he doesn’t know how Garland would react to that.
But Dave has always been very fond of Nathan, he has seen himself in it. He wants Nathan to get some happiness after everything that boy has been through in his life, and will still go through. Even though losing Her hurts every time, it’s still worth it to know her, love her. He wants Nathan to get to have that, since he and Audrey seem to be the only ones who don’t notice their feelings for each other.
6) 2x2 Fear & Loathing
When Dave looks into the eyes of Jackie Clark, he sees Sarah Vernon, looking sad and lonely. It’s his greatest fear. The fear of finding out he was responsible for the death of Sarah’s son. There has never been any leads on the case. Garland gave up on the case pretty early, as much as it frustrated and pained him. He wanted to give justice to Lucy and James, but there were no leads. Audrey arriving in Haven, with the Colorado Kid picture being the thing that kept her here until she became attached, it keeps that case fresh in everyone’s minds. It didn’t help Garland, and it isn’t helping Dave.
Vince: Back at the bus station, that person that you thought you saw, your worst fear, was it Lucy?
Dave: No. I wish it was.
Vince: I’m sorry.
Dave: No, you’re not.
Vince can’t know what Dave worries about, what he fears. It’s one of the few secrets he’s kept from his brother. A snippy comeback ends the discussion.
7) When Audrey comes back from meeting the real Lucy Ripley (just like Lucy before her), she is angry and it’s clearly time to be more open with her about what they know. Vince tells her about Sarah, and finally she is in possession of one of the rings again. No one still knows what they mean, but Dave finds it very symbolic that while Nathan wears the male one, Audrey now has the female ring. Dave doesn’t know what she does with the ring or when she and Nathan notice the similarities, even though Dave is not quite sure that telling Audrey about Sarah now was the right call, he is a bit of a romantic at heart and appreciates that.
8) Extended cycle 2011
Audrey is gone, possibly dead and Dave and Vince are on their way to identify a body. It's sad and surreal, but while Vince just concentrates on his own feelings, disregarding everyone else, it bothers Dave. He's never felt about anyone the way Nathan felt about Audrey, or how Vince has felt about his wife and also about Sarah and Lucy. But that doesn't mean he didn't love them all, and he wishes people would recognize that more. Yet, he still feels for Nathan and the terrible situation this town put him in.
Dave hopes they won't find Audrey's body, and as painful as it is, that they will be able to use the alternative way to end the Troubles, even if it means Nathan's death. He would prefer if there was still another way to do it. He might not love like everyone else, but he wants happiness for Audrey, for Nathan. But until they find Audrey, before they can do anything at all to fix this mess, Haven just has to adjust like it always does.
9) Over the years, Dave has figured out what his deal is. He's asexual. The internet is such a wonderful thing, sometimes. He's fine keeping that information to himself. He's not sure even Vince would understand it. But it makes sense to Dave, and that is what matters.
10) Dave was always pretty sure he might have to die for Haven. He has fought long and hard against the possibility, his own survival becoming more and more important over time. But as his origins became clear, the reasons for why he was drawn to thinnies, why Howard looked at him the way he did, as he realizes he did kill James, that he has been used by Croatoan for horrible acts, how he has no control over his actions anymore, his fate becomes sealed. Going down fighting, even if it is within his own mind, stopping Croatoan from erasing time, it’s the best he can do. He has to do it, and he wants to do it. He has caused so much pain without knowing it, and he’s the only one who can do this.
He promises to Vince that he’s going to survive this, but he knows he’s lying. He won’t come back from this. But it’s alright. It’s for Haven. It’s for finally finishing what happened on that day in 1983, on the day he was brought to Haven by Byron Howard. His time is up. He had a good life, and he dies doing the right thing. It was worth it.