Forget Me Not

Setting: Season 2 After Lockdown assume that there will be spoilers.

Chapter 1

"Morning Duke," Audrey greeted as she padded down the stairs from her apartment.

"Morning beautiful, what are you doing here at this time of day?" Duke's face lit up as he took in the attractive blonde.

"Going to work," Audrey responded, confused. "Everything all right? Rent isn't due is it?"

"Rent? Do you own the building?" Duke asked innocently.

"Okay stop mucking around Duke, you're starting to worry me and you're going to make me late," Audrey warned.

"So where do you work? Not let me guess, with looks like that I'd guess air hostess but it's Haven and no uniform… you'd look sexy in a nurses uniform but you're not carrying a bag so unless your uniform is in your locker at work that's out too… wait I didn't hire you and then forget did I? I'm feeling a bit foggy this morning, I must have had a big night," Duke flashed his most mischievous grin.

"Do you seriously not know who I am?" Alarm bells were ringing in Audrey's brain now. Memory loss? In Haven? The likely explanation seemed pretty obvious…

"Oh sweetie, I'm sorry, did we…?" Duke asked gently.

"No! Duke, I'm your friend and your tenant, I work with Haven PD. Think about it Duke you must know me."

Duke studied her blue eyes seriously, for a minute it looked like he recognised her but then he shook his head. "Sorry, nothing."

"What about Nathan Wuornos?" Audrey asked. "Do you remember him? He's my partner on the force."

"Little Nate? The Chief's boy? Sure I played Little League with him, but just between you and me he's a bit of an uptight wanker if you ask me. Trust me honey whatever Nathan's told you about me is probably all lies. Give me a chance to show you otherwise," Duke crooned and gave her a wink.

"Duke! We know each other!" Audrey took his hands in hers. "Listen to me, what is the last thing you remember?"

"I was tending the bar last night, then my Friday night guy took over so I thought I'd relax and enjoy a few myself…. I don't remember having more than one drink but I must have had more than a few because that's all I remember."

"Do you remember talking to anyone? Did you see anyone who looked like they were trying to get your attention?" It was like questioning someone who was concussed, or brain damaged, she tried not to dwell on the last part of that thought.

Duke shrugged, "Claire was there of course," Duke smiled wistfully.

"Claire?"

"My girlfriend," Duke enthused. "She's amazing. You'd love her."

"Since when?"

"Since forever."

"Duke until last week you living with your wife, but she died, before that you were dating, I definitely know you don't have a long term girlfriend. And you just tried to pick me up."

"That does sound like me, the last bit I mean. Wait, I had a wife? Wow, now that does not sound like me. And she died? I should probably be upset about that," Duke reasoned, but he was oddly disconnected from his own reality.

"You were, I mean you are."

"So were you interested, when I tried to pick you up?" Duke asked with an eyebrow wiggle.

"No, not like that, Duke we're friends."

"So why don't I know your name? I think maybe we need to get to know each other better," Duke invited.

"This Claire, did you stay over on your boat last night?"

"There's no need to get jealous sweetie," Duke teased.

"I'm not jealous, I'm investigating. So did she sleep over?" Audrey asked directly.

"Yeah, of course, she's my girlfriend. I think we're going to get married," Duke admitted, suddenly besotted again. It seemed to Audrey like every time he thought directly about Claire he turned into a lovesick puppy but the rest of the time he was his usual self – minus a lot of recent memories, but not all of them or he wouldn't have known to come to The Gull and open up. Maybe because he'd been at The Gull when he met this Claire? Or was it more to do with the fact it was women he was forgetting? Maybe he'd only forgotten his recent memories of Nathan because they involved Audrey. He'd obviously forgotten Audrey and Evie. Audrey wondered how many other women he'd forgotten but she didn't really know the names of any of Duke's conquests. Maybe she'd ask about Julia, but she'd save that for later, it was hard enough keeping him focused for long enough to get any useful information.

"That I've never heard of before. Tell me about her? What does she look like?"

"She's amazing, gorgeous, smart, funny," Duke enthused, a love-struck look on his face.

"That's lovely, but how tall is she? What colour is her hair? Her eyes?"

"I'm not really… I mean I guess she's medium, yeah medium hair, medium eyes."

"Medium isn't a colour Duke."

"What does it matter? She's beautiful, you really should meet her. I should probably go and see her. I miss her," he sighed as if his heart was crushed by her absence.

"Where does she live?" Audrey persisted.

"I… I don't know." Duke looked confused.

"Alright, you're coming with me."

"So you do want to get to know me better? Officer if I didn't know better I'd think this was a ploy to spend more time with you?" he teased.

"Trust me, it's not. Please Duke, just get in the car, we need to find this 'Claire' as soon as possible."

"I don't want her to get into any trouble," Duke said anxiously.

"I just want to help her, I'm worried she might have a problem, do you remember the troubles Duke?"

Duke nodded but he still looked scared and uncertain. "But I still don't know your name."

"Audrey Parker," Audrey smiled. "Now get in the car."

Duke nodded and went along with the kindly stranger's request. Audrey pulled out her phone and rang Nathan. "Nathan its Audrey, we've got a problem and it looks like we have a troubled woman who is affecting the memory of the men she beds. I'm going to take Duke to the hospital just to make sure he hasn't got a head injury but it defiantly sounds like the troubles. Get Vince and meet me here so we can try to get a sketch together…. Yes I said Duke. I know, who would have thought? Get someone there to start looking for other cases of sudden memory loss as well, and ask Dave to look it up in the archives. Okay. See you soon."

"So are you Nathan's boss?" Duke asked, genuinely curious.

Audrey smiled, "No he's my boss actually. He's everyone's boss while he's acting Chief."

"Wow, he did alright for himself. His Dad must be proud," Duke observed with just a trace of bitterness.

"Yeah he turned out pretty good, but his Dad's dead, do you remember that?"

Duke shook his head, a concerned look in his face.

"Okay let's get you checked out okay?"

Duke nodded uncertainly.