8/13/2011

From: J. Trevizo

Subject: New story - Helping Hand

Rating: M for sex, very light bondage and language.

Spoiler: Post 2x5 "Roots", ignores trailer for "Audrey Parker's Day Off"

Disclaimer: Not mine because if they were Chris Brody would be on a science vessel somewhere far from Haven… like yesterday.

Relationship: Nathan/Audrey.

Summary: Sometimes you need a little help from your friends to get what you want.

Author's Note: This is more than likely OOC for both Nathan and Audrey. But following last night's… episode I felt we could all use some happy PWP smut.

Hi all – here's my second try at a Haven fic. I have other stuff in the pipeline but I wanted to get this out there. Hope you enjoy and if so, please let me know. Now, to the story…

Helping Hand

By J. Trevizo

-x-

Nathan woke up groggy, feeling unfocused like he'd either been on a bender or knocked unconscious; for all he could remember it could have been either of them. As it was he didn't remember what day it was, what time it was. It was dark, so it must be still night. He groaned and went to move his hand to his face to scrub it and wake himself up some more but found he couldn't.

His arms were raised above his head and after several attempts he found that they didn't move. He glanced up in the dim light from some candles nearby on a white dresser and found the reason why he couldn't move: his hands were tied above his head to the metal bars of what looked to be a double sized bed's wrought iron headboard. Startled now, he frantically looked around and saw that he seemed to be in a large space or room; he couldn't make out much more than the bed he was on and the dresser behind him in the darkness.

While he scanned the area he also saw that his feet were tied as well; his ankles were secured to each corner post of the foot board of the bed.

And as he looked at his feet he also noted absently that he was stripped to his boxers.

A spike of fear raced through him and he pulled urgently on the restraints, trying to find some way to get out of whatever situation he was in.

"You are in a lot of trouble Interim Chief Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos."

Nathan froze at the sudden words and quickly searched the room as best he could, trying to locate the voice that was speaking to him from the darker parts of the room.

"You've been hiding things now haven't you?"

"Who are you? What is going on? How did I get here?" he asked in rapid fire succession, his concern spurring the words from him.

"You have lots of questions there Interim Chief Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos," the voice, now obvious to him as being female said, stressing his full name and title again as he strained to try and find her in the room, finally focusing his slowly clearing head on a dark corner of the room as the probable location of the person speaking to him… and holding him captive.

"Kidnapping the Chief of Police is not a good idea," he stated, hoping to maybe scare her into showing herself and letting him loose.

"You haven't been kidnapped… technically. You're just… my guest for the moment while we address your honesty issues. You see, you haven't exactly been forthright as of late. And as a respected member of the law enforcement establishment and Interim Chief, you really need to be a bit more… candid. Especially with people you work with… like your partner."

Once the word partner crossed the woman's lips the last of the fog lifted from his brain and he realized he recognized her voice, which confused Nathan even more than he had been before. It spoke to him daily and even invaded his subconscious… especially at night, alone in his bed.

"Audrey?" he asked, befuddled.

There was a long pause, and he began to worry even more about his situation. Certainly the voice sounded like Audrey, but then things in Haven weren't always black and white. He remembered very vividly the chameleon wearing Audrey's form. For all he knew there was someone in the room with him that he couldn't see that wasn't Audrey, but just sounded like her.

"Yes?"

The confirmation of her identity eased his fears for a moment before those doubts took hold of him once again.

"How do I know that it is really you?"

"Ah, there's that suspicious mind that makes you such as good detective Interim Chief Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos. Never fear, there's no chameleon or other troubled person involved here… other than you."

"How can I be certain? Audrey wouldn't tie me up," he said simply, his hands trying to wriggle to see if he could find a way out of the ropes.

He heard a broken off laugh and recalled hearing it so many times that he almost let himself relax. But then he still didn't know if this really was Audrey, and if it was, what was going on?

"You and I both know there's one way you can be sure that I'm who you think I am," she said simply, her voice echoing through the room and his mind flashed on how he'd been unable to feel the chameleon… if this was Audrey he'd be able to feel her, "But let's put that aside for the moment. We really need to address the honesty thing, so perhaps I need to refocus this discussion… So, do you remember showing up at the Keegan barn?"

"Yes."

He did remember it very clearly. He'd been trapped by the vines in the van with Dave and Vince, listening to them talk about how Audrey could be in danger up at the Keegan's place and the fact she was there… with Chris. It had been the thing that had prompted him to find a way to get the Teagues and himself out of the van and to the Keegan's, improvising the flare/hockey stick torch that had parted the way for them. He'd been expecting to come to her rescue and maybe, just maybe make sure that Audrey was okay and not really dating the mayor's son.

Instead he'd found her in the barn, not a scratch on her, with a solution to the problem already and had been forced to watch her walk out the door with Chris's hand in hers.

His heart still ached at the memory of that sight.

And when the Teagues had again pushed him later that night to reach out to her before it was too late… by the time he'd finally given in to his feelings and tried to call her, it already had been. The next day he'd heard through the grapevine that Chris hadn't left Audrey's place over the Gull that night.

So realizing that his chance had passed, he'd clamped down tight on all his feelings, determined not to let it show how… hurt he was.

"You came in expecting I needed help… and a rescue from not just the plants?"

He gaped briefly in unease at the dark space in the corner as he saw the female silhouette of his partner shift in a chair, her pale, bare foot moving from the shadows briefly before disappearing again. What did she know…

When he didn't answer Audrey signed and continued on, finally pushing the issue.

"And you see, this is where we have a problem Nathan Thaddeus Wuornos. We've been friends, partners for nearly a year now, and during all that time you never did the one thing you needed to do… you never told me that you wanted me," Audrey stated simply from her chair in the darkness.

Nathan's eyes widened at the simple way she stated that he wanted her, like it was a fact she knew rather than a guess, the statement almost overshadowing the fact that she'd now stopped using his professional title as their conversation became more… personal. He was now even more at a loss as to understand what the hell was going on.

"I… how…"

"If I tell you that it was Duke that told me will you promise not to kill him?"

"No."

She paused, hoping that maybe he'd relent but he stayed silent. With a sigh she realized that he and Duke would have to work out their issues on their own. As it was, she had enough to deal with at the moment besides Duke.

"Fine. Maybe after I tell you want happened you'll forgive him, since it really wasn't all him," she stated, and when Nathan continued his silent act, staring towards her space in the room she decided she needed to tell him everything. "It seems that Dave and Vince came and had lunch at the Gull the afternoon after the incident at the Keegan place. They got to talking with Duke, sharing experiences and all that and they sort of told him about what they'd been talking to you about… regarding me. Of course Duke found this all very interesting since he knew about Chris…"

Nathan closed his eyes and bit back a curse. Damn the Teagues and Duke… He knew he shouldn't have gone to rescue Dave and Vince… he could have sent a patrol car to help them. And then with them insisting Audrey might need help… and all the hints about her being on a date with Chris Brody… he'd gone all MacGyver to go to her rescue, only to find she didn't need his help.

"So that evening when I saw Duke he asked me what was up with me and Chris. When I told him, he frowned at me like I'd kicked his puppy or something; I was surprised so I called him on it. That's when he told me what Vince and Dave had told him."

She stopped then, waiting while Nathan strained to try and see her in the dim light. He wanted to see what she was thinking when she thought of him having… feelings for her. If perhaps…

"Of course I didn't believe him. I just… okay, I will admit that I've been obtuse for most of the time I've been here, working with you, especially since Jess. The idea that you hadn't told me how you felt even after you told me you could feel me..." she paused, her voice catching on the last before she cleared her throat quietly and continued. "So after Duke told me, I admit I was hurt and in denial… I would never have said yes..."

"Audrey…" Nathan tried to say, wanting to stop her before she said something that would rip his heart to pieces.

"I told Duke I needed to see you. I went to the station to talk to you and you weren't there. I ended up driving through town before I ended up at the cliffs, just… thinking."

She paused and Nathan thought that it was over. That he'd damaged everything beyond repair because he'd crossed the line and… fell in love with his partner. She'd leave and he'd be stuck here alone, without her while she moved on with damn Chris Brody…

"It wasn't fair… if I had known… so I went to see him and told him I…" she rambled before trailing off once again.

"Audrey, what are you talking about?" Nathan questioned, confused once again.

She sighed and looked at him like he was slow or stupid, or both even though he couldn't see her to read her gaze.

"Chris. Do you really think I could have any kind of long term relationship with a guy that doesn't respect what I do for a living?"

He couldn't answer that. He'd never thought… hadn't even comprehended that maybe things with Audrey and Chris weren't… permanent. Any man who didn't look at Audrey Parker and think forever was an idiot in his estimation.

"The next thing I know its dark, I've left Chris feeling pissed off and angry and Duke's calling me saying I have a 'gift' waiting for me at my apartment."

At the mention of Duke he remembered coming to the Gull late in the evening to drown his sorrows at the situation with Audrey. He'd started drinking his Jack Daniels neat before Duke had ended up coming over with the whole bottle and telling him it was on the house. It should have rung alarm bells in his head but he'd been so depressed about having lost his chance with Audrey he'd been happy to let Duke pay for his alcohol as he worked to numb the emotions inside him.

"By the time I got here you were passed out on my bed. I came in and checked on you and you woke up and well… you were more chatty than normal."

"What did I say?" he asked, even if he had a really good idea already.

"You were very helpful Nathan Thaddeus," she said with a new, softer tone to her voice, now having dropped his last name as the discussion turned more… intimate. "You told me what I needed to know."

"I…"

"You told me that you'd wanted me… even before you could feel me."

Nathan closed his eyes and groaned low in his throat. She did know.

At first he hadn't told her how he felt because he didn't want her to think it was just because he could feel her. Then things had conspired to keep him from finding the right time to tell her; both the Chief and Max Hansen dying, then there was how Audrey thought she was Lucy, then the other Audrey lost her memories… He thought that she had too much to deal with and he wouldn't ask more of her than she could give him… he valued whatever he could have of her too much to lose her because he wanted more.

But in reality everyone around him, from the Teagues to Duke had all realized that all Audrey needed from him was for him to just say something? He didn't believe it…

"So Duke let me get smashed and brought me up here, knowing I would…"

"End up telling me the truth," she started and then quickly filled in, "yes, I guess he knew that your tongue would be loosened enough by the alcohol that you'd let it slip. And he was right."

"So, did Duke do this?" he asked unnerved as he pulled on the restraints, not even wanting to consider his state of near undress.

"He's got a bad habit of putting people to bed in their underwear," she noted, recalling her own experience waking up on his boat, "As to tying you up… I guess he was worried you'd wake up and leave before I got back."

"So why didn't you untie me?" he asked, bewildered at his partner and friend; he never would have thought she'd leave him like this… so… vulnerable.

Finally she stood from her chair and slowly emerged from the spot in the darkened corner. She leisurely moved towards him into the light and he could see that she was wearing a barely there black satin and lace camisole slip in stark contrast to her pale skin; her blond hair was loose and straight and her blue eyes blazed heat while her mouth turned up into a small smile. If he could have felt his heart speed up and his mouth go dry he knew he would have.

"Because I have plans for you."

"What kind of plans?" he asked with a note of both fear and desire tingeing his voice.

She came and sat beside him on the bed, deliberately settling her bare thigh against his bare side and ribcage. The moment her flesh met his all doubt he'd ever had about this not really being her flew out the window. This was Audrey… he could feel every inch of her skin where it touched his and he shuddered at the heat and softness of her body pressed against him.

"You see Nathan Thaddeus," she commented absently as she watched while she ran a single finger down the center of his chest, making him suck in a breath as that simple touch blazed a line of fire across his skin, "Having worked with you all this time I know that you're an honorable man, a gentleman. And the fact that you'd never told me how you feel about me, let alone acted on it made me worry that with you thinking that I was with Chris…."

"Aren't you?"

She swung her eyes to catch his and he wondered if he'd stopped breathing as he saw the raging passion filling her darkened blue gaze.

"He was a mistake. A lonely mistake. Do you really think I would have chosen him if I had known…"

He let his eyes close as he swallowed hard. Was she really saying what he thought she was? That she'd dumped Chris for him once she knew how he felt about her? That if she'd known weeks, months ago how he felt that she would have been with him?

"But I didn't untie you because I thought you might leave before I was able to confront you about this… about us. About what we want."

"And what is it that we want?" he asked as he looked at her again; the sound of his voice sounding foreign to him as it dropped several octaves, the roughness of it only making Audrey raise an eyebrow as she continued to drag that finger of fire along his belly and to the waistband of his shorts.

Audrey pried her eyes from his as she once again watched her finger run along his bare flesh. She couldn't believe that what Duke had told her was true, but it was… and now…

"Audrey…" he said huskily; he needed to hear her say it, to realize it wasn't a dream and that she really was here, like this, wanting… him.

"We want everything with one another," she said as she moved her finger from his skin and he almost groaned aloud at the loss of the touch before his eyes flared with lust as he watched her lick the tip of the finger that had just traced his skin with the tip of her tongue… tasting him on her flesh. "And since it took *this* to get you to admit how you feel about me I was concerned that you just might be too good a man to stay… that you would have woken up and raced out of here, especially after I told you I knew."

"I…"

"Wouldn't you?"

He didn't answer her. He wasn't sure he could. If he'd been able to leave, would he have done so as soon as he could, in fear of the potential damage this could do to their friendship, their partnership? Would he have waited to hear her tell him that Chris had been a mistake or once she'd said she wouldn't have said yes when she'd learned of his feelings for her would he have run, thinking she'd meant him instead of the error she'd admitted being with Chris had been?

He didn't know… She might have been right. But now that he knew that she had feelings for him; that she wanted to touch him as desperately as he wanted to feel her… well… he didn't want to go anywhere now.

"Maybe," he softly admitted even as he gasped as goose flesh rose along his flesh as she slid her whole hand across his shoulder and up his arm towards the ropes holding him in place.

"So now that you know I want what you want, are you going to stay?" she asked as she let her fingers entwine with his and he relished the feeling of them pressed against his. "Are you going to let yourself feel everything you want knowing I want it just as badly as you do?"

"Audrey…" he began before trailing off as his ability to feel her made him light headed as her breath and the tips of her hair tickled his flesh while she leaned over him.

She paused, her fingers still tightly caught in his before she began to slowly pull them away and moved towards the ropes binding him to the black iron headboard.

"I mean… I'm… afraid that if I let you loose…that you'll change your mind; that you'll run from this."

He could hear the broken voice behind her words and recognized it for what it was. For as much as his affliction kept him isolated from the world, besides her work, Audrey was similarly isolated. She didn't do relationships, or at least that was what he'd gotten the impression from all the months he'd gotten to know her. Or at least she hadn't… because she hadn't found someone she trusted enough to be in one.

Now that she was opening herself up to him, to offer him everything that he wanted from her, he didn't want her to regret it, to worry that he'd leave her or hurt her. And he'd do anything to prove that to her.

And his words and actions were what he could give her.

"I'm not going to leave," he answered finally, and he turned his head to see her purse her lips for a second before her eyes slipped closed and heard her breath raggedly exhale.

He tightened his fingers in hers, marveling at the feel of pressure that only came with her touch. As her fingers began to disengage from his to move to the knots holding him in place, he stopped them by gripping them tightly, making her pause and regard him with a serious yet worried look.

"You don't have to undo these."

He could see the question on her face as plain as day. Why wouldn't he want her to untie him if he was staying…

And in fact he was wondering what he was thinking as well. All he did know was that if she needed to be sure that he was going to be here with her, that he wanted her as badly as he did that perhaps knowing for certain that he was going to be there with her would make it easier for her to trust that he truly wanted this… wanted her.

It was just a little bit of control… to assure her of his feelings he could let her have that for right now, couldn't he?

"You're right," he said, and he felt her shiver against his side and couldn't help but echo the feeling. "I wasn't honest with you, for a long time. But I'm not going to walk away from this and I want you to be certain of that."

"What are you saying Nathan?" she asked softly, her eyes locked on his as she finally, simply called him by his name.

"I don't want to you to untie me… right now."

At his words her eyes widened even as the color darkened.

"You want me to…" she started, trailing off before she could actually form the words to express what she thought he was suggesting.

He looked at her and nodded ever so slightly; his eyes were dark with want, the pupils large and the blue cloudy. He let himself run his tongue across his lips… he couldn't feel it but he watched as her mouth opened ever so slightly at the sight and he couldn't help but give her one of his half smirking smiles. He'd shocked and surprised her. He couldn't help but be pleased with himself.

Before he knew it her hand had pulled away from the ropes and was now pressed firmly against his cheek. He couldn't help closing his eyes and burrowing into the supple fire that her touch against his skin caused him to feel. Then the bed moved and his eyes flew open; he felt the silken warmth of her legs press against either side of his chest as she settled across his lap. Her other hand came up and mirrored the one already on his cheek as she smiled down at him.

"Well then, I guess I should take advantage of being able to touch all of you while I have you at my mercy. But rest assured… I don't plan on not having you be able to return the favor."

And then she quickly leaned down and kissed him full on the lips.

- End chapter 1 -

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