Safe Chapter 3
Title: Safe chp. 3
Author: verdrehtgeist
Rating: M
Pairing: Nathan/Duke (established)
Notes: Duke's boat had been missing for approximately forty-eight hours.
Warnings: dark themes, torture
It had been nearly fifty-three hours since Duke had gone missing. Nathan was sure they had been the longest fifty-three hours of his life.
But when he broke through that door, he realized that as long as they’d been for him, they’d been longer still for Duke.
The moment he and Audrey got in, they stopped short. Dead still. Wide-eyed and damn confused, because they’d bust in expecting to see the kidnapper -Martin Shambles, age 46, 5’10” and 240lbs (give or take a cheeseburger) - with a gun trained on his captives. Maybe they would be tied up, maybe they’d be cowering in a corner…maybe they would be too late. Already, Nathan’s mind had whipped through any number of potential scenarios.
And of all of them, not a one of them had Duke standing in the corner with a gun, too.
He said “too” because Martin was holding a gun of his own; that, at least, was how he’d thought it be. The man had his gun pointed at Duke, although when Nathan and Audrey came in, he whipped it around and-
And promptly froze, his rheumy eyes going wide for a split second before he crumpled to the ground. Blood wept from the hole in his chest that had probably had something to do with the bullet from Nathan’s gun.
For a long moment, there was silence. Nobody moved. Duke, one eye open and the other nearly swollen shut, kept his shotgun pointed at the air where Martin had once been standing. Blood spotted the front of his once-white wife-beater from his bleeding nose, the cut above his brow, and God only knew what else. His hair was matted and slicked with sweat, and his chest heaved too fast and too deep, like he couldn’t quite catch his breath.
Behind him stood a little girl.
Nathan’s first instinct was to go to him. After all the hours he’d spent worrying about him, seeing him wasn’t enough. He wanted to hold him, to feel him, to make sure that he was real and intact and safe.
But something stopped him.
There was a look about Duke…maybe it was the way his jaw clenched or the way his nose flared. Maybe it was the way his grip still held firm to the shotgun in his hand, or the way he shifted to put himself between Nathan and the little girl. Maybe it was all of that, and maybe it was something more…but Nathan knew that this would require a more delicate approach.
Of course, he’d no sooner realized that than the back door burst open and four full-grown men entered the room with their guns drawn and immediately leveled on Duke.
“Drop the gun!” said Henry, apparently taking the role of ringleader. It was like he’d seen one too movies in his life and was finally getting the chance to act them out.
The change in Duke was instantaneous. His expression hardened…it was more grim as he pulled his gun around and aimed the barrel straight at Henry. It was reflex, but he wasn’t lowering the gun, either.
Nathan wasn’t quite sure what to think about that; seeing the suspect dead on the floor seemed to throw the four officers for a loop, too. But unlike them, Nathan knew Duke. He knew that look in his eye, knew that like this, he was dangerous. But more than that, he knew that he was scared. Rattled. Shaken. And the other cops were making it worse.
“Get out,” Nathan said.
They looked at him like he was insane.
“I said get out! One of you radio dispatch; tell Laverne we need an ambulance and a coroner at the docks and the rest of you just clear out. I’ve got this.”
Which he did. He had this, or at least that was what he told himself. Because of any of the people there, it seemed to him like he was in the best position to get through the wall of panic and frenzy that had Duke holding that shotgun like it was the only life raft on the Titanic.
Luckily, his tone of voice left no room for argument, and the officers didn’t try to find some where there wasn’t any. They cleared out, albeit not without some hesitation, leaving Nathan and Audrey alone with Duke and his ward. The little girl, for her part, looked perfectly snug cowering behind Duke, and Nathan didn’t blame her. If he had to guess, he’d have said there wasn’t a scratch on her. Not if Duke could help it, and when Duke protected something…well, there was a reason he was the one with the blood all over him.
With the other distractions gone, Nathan was able to focus on what was important. Or, more, who was important. Duke.
“Duke, it’s okay,” he said and with slow, careful movements, he slid his gun back into his holster. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Audrey do the same, and he turned to her to say quietly, “See if you can get the girl. She’s making it worse.” Crying like she was, she had to be. Crying children meant stress, especially crying children he’d just saved from a kidnapper with a gun. Stress was the last thing Duke needed, ergo they needed to get the little girl out of there.
Audrey nodded, walking around to the side to where Duke wasn’t obscuring the little girl.
Nathan decided he’d take it as a good sign Duke didn’t follow her with the barrel of his shotgun. When he turned around and brought his hands back up, he held them in front of him in plain sight for Duke to see.
As he did, though, Audrey took a step forward, and Duke’s eyes snapped to her. There was a flicker of nerves, a clench of his jaw.
“Hey,” Nathan said, snapping his fingers. It worked; he got Duke’s attention back on him, allowing Audrey to carefully continue her approach. “There you go…eyes on me.” He worked to keep his voice steady…even. Calm, because Duke looked so scared. “Audrey’s going to get the little girl, okay? We need to make sure she’s alright.”
At that, Duke looked torn. It was like he knew what he was supposed to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. His head and his instincts were telling him two different things, and as frayed as his nerves were, he couldn’t seem to sort through it.
Regrettably, they didn’t have time to let Duke sort through it. They had to make sure the girl got looked at, and they definitely had to get Duke looked at. The cut above his eye looked bad - from where Nathan was standing, a little more than an arm’s length away, he could see his pupils were blown - and the way he was holding his shoulder didn’t look good. There was blood soaking through the outside of his jeans on his right thigh; Nathan really hoped he hadn’t just found the bullet from the shot fired. Either way, they were going to have to do something.
That something just…happened to come before Nathan was ready for it.
The girl must have figured out that it was okay, because without any warning, she shot out from behind Duke and threw herself into Audrey’s arms.
While that was kind of what they’d been going for, the sudden movement seemed to startle Duke, who started to reach out for the little girl. Nathan didn’t blame him; he probably just wanted to protect her.
But he didn’t need to protect her. He needed to let her go. Duke was the one that needed protecting.
So before Duke could grab her, Nathan grabbed him. He lunged forward and hooked an arm around his waist, turning as he did to keep it from jerking Duke quite so hard. The force of it still managed to lift Duke’s feet off the ground.
That was right about when things went to hell. Audrey took one look at the two of them, saw the way Duke was thrashing and the way Nathan was grimacing, and promptly started steering the little girl out to where the other officers were.
As concerned as Nathan was about the wellbeing of the little girl, though, he had his hands full with Duke. The younger man was doing his God’s honest best to get loose, and Nathan was trying desperately to wrestle him back enough to get a hold of the shotgun he was still holding in his hands.
“Duke!” he said, his voice firm but not harsh. He didn’t want to scare Duke more than he already was; he had to get that gun, though. Duke, on the other hand, was doing everything within his power to keep Nathan from doing just that. He was twisting for all he was worth, throwing all his weight forward.
It didn’t matter. Nathan had always been the stronger of the two, and even though he could feel every elbow and shoulder blade that somehow managed to find his torso in Duke’s struggles, he held firm. “I’m not gonna hurt you, just calm down.”
But Duke just tried harder. Despite his best efforts, though, Nathan managed to get a hand on the shotgun. Try as Duke might, there was definitely something wrong with his left arm, and he couldn’t keep his grip on the gun. The moment Nathan got it free, he tossed it over to the sofa, freeing up his other arm to work on keeping hold of the person himself.
With a hell of a lot more wrestling than he wanted to put the younger man through, he managed to get Duke turned around. As carefully but as strongly as he could, Nathan pulled Duke against his chest, pinning his arms between them so that he couldn’t manage much of anything anymore. He still tried…damn, he tried, but Nathan just held him tighter. “Duke, don’t fight me,” he said. “It’s okay. You’re safe…just stop fighting me.”
He kept at it. Talking to him, holding him, reassuring him. At first, it didn’t seem to make a different, but slowly, surely, his struggles started to wane. He stopped twisting and thrashing, and instead, he started to sink into Nathan’s embrace. His hands, instead of pushing away from Nathan, twisted in his shirt and didn’t let go.
Then, it seemed like everything Duke had left just left him in a sob. His legs gave out, and Nathan found himself being the only thing keeping Duke from collapsing to the ground in a boneless heap. As it were, he ended up carefully easing him to the carpeted floor, still holding him as he finally just broke down.
It was nothing dramatic. There were no wails of terror or agony, no anguished screams…Duke just buried his face in Nathan’s shoulder, and Nathan held him as he cried. Everything he’d been through, all his fear and pain and confusion wept out in slow, miserable tears that seeped through the thin fabric of Nathan’s button-up and t-shirt…part of Nathan wished he couldn’t feel Duke, so that he wouldn’t have to feel those tears, wouldn’t have to feel the way he shook.
But then, he could feel him, and some of that was the greatest relief Nathan had ever felt. Duke was there, in his arms, and though he was clearly worse for wear, at least he was alive.
So, he savored it, resting his chin on Duke’s head and trying to ignore the burning in his own eyes as he rocked the younger man soothingly. “Shh…I’ve got you. It’s okay.” He pressed a soft kiss to Duke’s hair. “You’re safe.”
Author: verdrehtgeist
Rating: M
Pairing: Nathan/Duke (established)
Notes: Duke's boat had been missing for approximately forty-eight hours.
Warnings: dark themes, torture
It had been nearly fifty-three hours since Duke had gone missing. Nathan was sure they had been the longest fifty-three hours of his life.
But when he broke through that door, he realized that as long as they’d been for him, they’d been longer still for Duke.
The moment he and Audrey got in, they stopped short. Dead still. Wide-eyed and damn confused, because they’d bust in expecting to see the kidnapper -Martin Shambles, age 46, 5’10” and 240lbs (give or take a cheeseburger) - with a gun trained on his captives. Maybe they would be tied up, maybe they’d be cowering in a corner…maybe they would be too late. Already, Nathan’s mind had whipped through any number of potential scenarios.
And of all of them, not a one of them had Duke standing in the corner with a gun, too.
He said “too” because Martin was holding a gun of his own; that, at least, was how he’d thought it be. The man had his gun pointed at Duke, although when Nathan and Audrey came in, he whipped it around and-
And promptly froze, his rheumy eyes going wide for a split second before he crumpled to the ground. Blood wept from the hole in his chest that had probably had something to do with the bullet from Nathan’s gun.
For a long moment, there was silence. Nobody moved. Duke, one eye open and the other nearly swollen shut, kept his shotgun pointed at the air where Martin had once been standing. Blood spotted the front of his once-white wife-beater from his bleeding nose, the cut above his brow, and God only knew what else. His hair was matted and slicked with sweat, and his chest heaved too fast and too deep, like he couldn’t quite catch his breath.
Behind him stood a little girl.
Nathan’s first instinct was to go to him. After all the hours he’d spent worrying about him, seeing him wasn’t enough. He wanted to hold him, to feel him, to make sure that he was real and intact and safe.
But something stopped him.
There was a look about Duke…maybe it was the way his jaw clenched or the way his nose flared. Maybe it was the way his grip still held firm to the shotgun in his hand, or the way he shifted to put himself between Nathan and the little girl. Maybe it was all of that, and maybe it was something more…but Nathan knew that this would require a more delicate approach.
Of course, he’d no sooner realized that than the back door burst open and four full-grown men entered the room with their guns drawn and immediately leveled on Duke.
“Drop the gun!” said Henry, apparently taking the role of ringleader. It was like he’d seen one too movies in his life and was finally getting the chance to act them out.
The change in Duke was instantaneous. His expression hardened…it was more grim as he pulled his gun around and aimed the barrel straight at Henry. It was reflex, but he wasn’t lowering the gun, either.
Nathan wasn’t quite sure what to think about that; seeing the suspect dead on the floor seemed to throw the four officers for a loop, too. But unlike them, Nathan knew Duke. He knew that look in his eye, knew that like this, he was dangerous. But more than that, he knew that he was scared. Rattled. Shaken. And the other cops were making it worse.
“Get out,” Nathan said.
They looked at him like he was insane.
“I said get out! One of you radio dispatch; tell Laverne we need an ambulance and a coroner at the docks and the rest of you just clear out. I’ve got this.”
Which he did. He had this, or at least that was what he told himself. Because of any of the people there, it seemed to him like he was in the best position to get through the wall of panic and frenzy that had Duke holding that shotgun like it was the only life raft on the Titanic.
Luckily, his tone of voice left no room for argument, and the officers didn’t try to find some where there wasn’t any. They cleared out, albeit not without some hesitation, leaving Nathan and Audrey alone with Duke and his ward. The little girl, for her part, looked perfectly snug cowering behind Duke, and Nathan didn’t blame her. If he had to guess, he’d have said there wasn’t a scratch on her. Not if Duke could help it, and when Duke protected something…well, there was a reason he was the one with the blood all over him.
With the other distractions gone, Nathan was able to focus on what was important. Or, more, who was important. Duke.
“Duke, it’s okay,” he said and with slow, careful movements, he slid his gun back into his holster. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Audrey do the same, and he turned to her to say quietly, “See if you can get the girl. She’s making it worse.” Crying like she was, she had to be. Crying children meant stress, especially crying children he’d just saved from a kidnapper with a gun. Stress was the last thing Duke needed, ergo they needed to get the little girl out of there.
Audrey nodded, walking around to the side to where Duke wasn’t obscuring the little girl.
Nathan decided he’d take it as a good sign Duke didn’t follow her with the barrel of his shotgun. When he turned around and brought his hands back up, he held them in front of him in plain sight for Duke to see.
As he did, though, Audrey took a step forward, and Duke’s eyes snapped to her. There was a flicker of nerves, a clench of his jaw.
“Hey,” Nathan said, snapping his fingers. It worked; he got Duke’s attention back on him, allowing Audrey to carefully continue her approach. “There you go…eyes on me.” He worked to keep his voice steady…even. Calm, because Duke looked so scared. “Audrey’s going to get the little girl, okay? We need to make sure she’s alright.”
At that, Duke looked torn. It was like he knew what he was supposed to do, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. His head and his instincts were telling him two different things, and as frayed as his nerves were, he couldn’t seem to sort through it.
Regrettably, they didn’t have time to let Duke sort through it. They had to make sure the girl got looked at, and they definitely had to get Duke looked at. The cut above his eye looked bad - from where Nathan was standing, a little more than an arm’s length away, he could see his pupils were blown - and the way he was holding his shoulder didn’t look good. There was blood soaking through the outside of his jeans on his right thigh; Nathan really hoped he hadn’t just found the bullet from the shot fired. Either way, they were going to have to do something.
That something just…happened to come before Nathan was ready for it.
The girl must have figured out that it was okay, because without any warning, she shot out from behind Duke and threw herself into Audrey’s arms.
While that was kind of what they’d been going for, the sudden movement seemed to startle Duke, who started to reach out for the little girl. Nathan didn’t blame him; he probably just wanted to protect her.
But he didn’t need to protect her. He needed to let her go. Duke was the one that needed protecting.
So before Duke could grab her, Nathan grabbed him. He lunged forward and hooked an arm around his waist, turning as he did to keep it from jerking Duke quite so hard. The force of it still managed to lift Duke’s feet off the ground.
That was right about when things went to hell. Audrey took one look at the two of them, saw the way Duke was thrashing and the way Nathan was grimacing, and promptly started steering the little girl out to where the other officers were.
As concerned as Nathan was about the wellbeing of the little girl, though, he had his hands full with Duke. The younger man was doing his God’s honest best to get loose, and Nathan was trying desperately to wrestle him back enough to get a hold of the shotgun he was still holding in his hands.
“Duke!” he said, his voice firm but not harsh. He didn’t want to scare Duke more than he already was; he had to get that gun, though. Duke, on the other hand, was doing everything within his power to keep Nathan from doing just that. He was twisting for all he was worth, throwing all his weight forward.
It didn’t matter. Nathan had always been the stronger of the two, and even though he could feel every elbow and shoulder blade that somehow managed to find his torso in Duke’s struggles, he held firm. “I’m not gonna hurt you, just calm down.”
But Duke just tried harder. Despite his best efforts, though, Nathan managed to get a hand on the shotgun. Try as Duke might, there was definitely something wrong with his left arm, and he couldn’t keep his grip on the gun. The moment Nathan got it free, he tossed it over to the sofa, freeing up his other arm to work on keeping hold of the person himself.
With a hell of a lot more wrestling than he wanted to put the younger man through, he managed to get Duke turned around. As carefully but as strongly as he could, Nathan pulled Duke against his chest, pinning his arms between them so that he couldn’t manage much of anything anymore. He still tried…damn, he tried, but Nathan just held him tighter. “Duke, don’t fight me,” he said. “It’s okay. You’re safe…just stop fighting me.”
He kept at it. Talking to him, holding him, reassuring him. At first, it didn’t seem to make a different, but slowly, surely, his struggles started to wane. He stopped twisting and thrashing, and instead, he started to sink into Nathan’s embrace. His hands, instead of pushing away from Nathan, twisted in his shirt and didn’t let go.
Then, it seemed like everything Duke had left just left him in a sob. His legs gave out, and Nathan found himself being the only thing keeping Duke from collapsing to the ground in a boneless heap. As it were, he ended up carefully easing him to the carpeted floor, still holding him as he finally just broke down.
It was nothing dramatic. There were no wails of terror or agony, no anguished screams…Duke just buried his face in Nathan’s shoulder, and Nathan held him as he cried. Everything he’d been through, all his fear and pain and confusion wept out in slow, miserable tears that seeped through the thin fabric of Nathan’s button-up and t-shirt…part of Nathan wished he couldn’t feel Duke, so that he wouldn’t have to feel those tears, wouldn’t have to feel the way he shook.
But then, he could feel him, and some of that was the greatest relief Nathan had ever felt. Duke was there, in his arms, and though he was clearly worse for wear, at least he was alive.
So, he savored it, resting his chin on Duke’s head and trying to ignore the burning in his own eyes as he rocked the younger man soothingly. “Shh…I’ve got you. It’s okay.” He pressed a soft kiss to Duke’s hair. “You’re safe.”