My Slice of Haven

The old father time clock struck midnight and Poppi was exhausted but still she sat up with her head in her hands with tears staining her freckled cheeks. When she had returned to her childhood house after the station, there was a feeling there that hadn't been when she'd first arrived. But it was heavy and thick, almost suffocatingly morbid and dangerously powerful. A sudden knock over the wooden door however jump started Poppi from the feeling of despair crushing her.

Her bare feet, boots cast to the boot rack next to the front door, padded across the cold floorboards and she opened the door.

"Surprise baby." Jason stood in the midnight darkness still in his suit with a bunch of roses in his hands. "You sounded so distraught on the phone that I had to leave early." The tall chestnut haired man with a killer pearly white smile gently pushed past Poppi into the home immediately looking around. "Wow. So this is where my Poppi grew up huh?"

Her skin crawled at being called 'baby' and 'his', there were very few things that Poppi couldn't handle but being claimed like a piece of furniture was top on her list of things that drove her insane. But she bit back her acidic tongue and shut the door. "Yea, this is home sweet home. Well it was for at least fourteen years."

"It's gorgeous." Jason was a real estate agent so his definition of what was gorgeous differed muchly from most people's. He dropped the roses on the coffee table and shrugged his coat off to drape it over the back of the chocolate suede lounge suite three seater.

Clapping onto the mess this man was making Poppi got the irks and moved the items away, heading to the kitchen with them. The coat went on the coat rack next to the back door and the roses in the sink. This was, for the moment, her house and being back in that house brought up old routines like they were yesterday.

Jason noticed the tick in Poppi's stride as she padded back into the lounge area. "You haven't unpacked, do you want me to do that for you?" He pointed to her unzipped over night bag.

Her head shook. "No. I can live out of a bag for a few days. I told you not to come." There was a sense of irrational irritation tugging at Poppi and for the life of her she tried to shove it down. After all Jason just thought he was doing the right thing and that didn't make him a bad guy. Most girls would have given their right arm to have a guy like Jason. He had a great job, money, good looks and wasn't a jerk. However he wasn't for Poppi and she knew that. She had always known who was though.

"I know but like I said you sounded so not...you. You're usually so cool, calm and collected." He looked at her with puppy dog brown eyes.

"Okay." She raked a hand through her hair and let it flop back into place. "I guess...you can stay in the guest room upstairs."

"Great, I will go grab my bag." He beamed a smile at her to which she replied with her own uneasy one before Jason left only to come back moments later.

"Second door on the left." Poppi pointed towards the staircase. "Just don't touch anything, okay."

He chuckled. "Don't worry babe."

Again her flesh shivered in the most unpleasant way, Jason being there wasn't what she needed. What she needed was to find out where her father was. Frustrated she huffed and turned towards where the fireplace sat and again found her eyes drawn to it.
What was it about the fireplace? They had used it in the winter where her father would roast marshmallow's over the flames, but that she could see clearly in her minds eye. There was something else about it that scratched under the surface, Poppi only wished she could get at it. It felt important, so why couldn't she remember?

Her finger's pinched the bridge of her nose in a sudden reaction to the violent headache growing inside her head and down her neck to spread over her shoulders. Her stomach churned and Poppi's sore, over tired body dropped into the lounge chair.

The sound of the shower began to tap on the floor above her head and she rolled her eyes, first thing was first. A sleep as good as she could get it and find a way to get rid of Jason in the morning.

* * *

Duke Crocker hadn't expected to see Nathan on his boat, the Cape Rouge, early that morning. But then again he really didn't expect the detective to tell him that Poppi Amber was back in town staying in her missing father's house. So the third thing he hadn't factored in for his day was a trip down the Amber gravel pathway to knock on the door of the house Poppi once lived in. Yet that is exactly what he found himself doing.

As he stood in front of that door he could remember the day he'd found out Poppi had left without telling him. It was the same day sixteen year old Duke had decided to man up and tell Mr Amber that he was madly in love with Poppi and wanted her father's approval to openly court her. He had been devastated to find she was no longer there especially after spilling the truth about them to Thomson Amber. In the father's anger he had told young Duke that he had sent his daughter away because of him.

In front of him the door opened as he was stuck between his memories and contemplating turning and leaving that house. "Can I help you?" A questioning males voice asked.

Duke rose a brow, another unexpected thing to add to the day's growing list. "Well...you're not Poppi..."

"Ahh no, and who are you?" Jason was looking back at this stranger wondering who was calling after his girlfriend at seven in the morning.

Duke rubbed the back of his head wondering what to say next. "Just an old friend of Poppi's. Heard she was back in Haven is all."

Poppi had fallen asleep in front of the fireplace not long after hearing Jason turn the shower on. Her eyes sleepily opened to peek over at the clock. It was seven and she could hear voices at the front door. Not being the best morning person Poppi's face was less than impressed as she shuffled to her feet and made her way towards the door.

"This really isn't the most appropriate time for visits." She moved Jason's arm out of the way so she could take her place at the front door and as she did her gaze came to rest upon eyes that were immediately recognisable.
"Duke..." She was almost breathless seeing his face again. Even though he had gotten older Duke was still Duke and here was no mistaking him for anyone else. It looked as if the lanky boy she knew had grown up to be a guy that filled out into his skin with muscle and a well kept form. And he was so much taller than she remembered.

Duke was looking down at Poppi with an open mouth and he could feel the weight of tears prickling the back of his eyeballs. "I shouldn't have come here." He turned towards the pathway and began to stalk away as fast as he could without giving away just how unnerved he was by seeing her again. Looking down into the freckled face when he thought he would never ever see it again in a million years tore open an old wound he thought long scarred over.

"Wait Duke, don't walk away like that." Poppi jogged after him with bare feet over the gravel ignoring how the loose stones bit into her foot. "Ouch!" She cried as the flesh of her foot connected with a shard of glass.

As quick as he had turned away Duke turned back to see Poppi balancing awkwardly on one foot while picking glass from the other. "Are you okay?" He asked coming to her side and taking her arm in his to assist her procurious balancing act. He looked down at the blood dripping from her foot and staining her fingers and gulped down hard. Why'd she have to come back now?

"Just glass..." She dropped the last of it on the grass next to the pathway and looked back up to Duke. "You don't have to run away from me you know."

"What like you didn't run away from me? Your dad told me why he sent you away." Duke snapped in reply as he gently turned Poppi around towards the house with her arm tucked around his waist. He was far too tall and her too short to have her arm around his neck. The woman had barely grown since he last saw her and he had no other place to put his arm other than around her shoulders.

"My dad sent me away because I reminded him too much of mum and he couldn't take it." Her reply was just as short and snippy.

Inside the house Jason was in the kitchen. "I am not good with blood...so maybe you could fix that?"

Both Duke and Poppi rolled their eyes. "Some boyfriend you've got there." Duke plopped Poppi on one of the two single seaters.

"First aid is under the kitchen sink. And he is not my boyfriend." She whispered the last part with a hiss and glowered at Duke.

Duke set his jaw with a click before going to fish out the first aid.

"Is she okay?" Jason asked as Duke pulled out the kit.

He looked at the man disapprovingly. "She'll live."

Poppi already had her hand out for the first aid when Duke returned and thankfully so. Duke wasn't sure about the family history of the Amber's since he was never able to get close, but it was most likely that Poppi had a bloodline like so many in the town of Haven had that made her blood dangerous to herself when around Duke.

"What did my dad tell you?" For a moment she looked to Duke with a softness he remembered from her. Almost as if she were looking at him in the same way she used to.

Poppi let her eyes roam over the adult Crocker. His hair was still dark but it was thick and long enough to push back into a knot. He sported a moustache and short goatee and from what Poppi could see under his pushed up jacket sleeves had a tattoo on his left bicep but couldn't read all the text.

Duke could see Poppi's wonderfully green eyes running over him and he pulled down the sleeves of his jacket. "He told me he sent you away because of me. Because you were scared of me...if I knew you were that frightened of me I would have left you alone-"

"Duke, I was never afraid of you." Her brow dropped, why would her father have said that? "What was there to be scared of? Did I ever once act like I didn't want to be around you?" She dumped the last of bloody cotton buds into a pile before placing a plaster over the cut and further crossed her leg over her knee.

Duke noticed from the hem of her dress that rode up as she changed the position of her leg that she had a tattoo on her right thigh otherwise hidden by the dress. "No." He shook his head as he thought back to the precious hours they'd stolen away for one another. "You seemed happy when you were with me."

"And I was." She replied. "I don't know why dad would have said that...we both know he hated your family. Maybe it had something to do with why." She began to ponder and sat back in the chair. "Nathan thinks he's just packed a bag and left Haven."

Duke looked over to her as she began to lose herself in thought. "Did you ever talk to your dad after you left?"

"No, he wouldn't call and when I did he wouldn't answer." Tears began to well in her eyes, it cut Poppi deep to know that she was the reason her father no longer loved her. It wasn't her fault she looked so much like her mother though, but it didn't make a difference. "I guess he stopped loving me."

It pained him to see her thinking that, he and everyone else in Haven knew better. "Poppi, your dad didn't stop loving you. After he sent you away we all saw how that took a toll on him. He was so sad all the time and angry at himself for letting you go. You were all he had left." Duke bit down on his lower lip. "Listen, go get washed up and changed. I'll take you for coffee, there is something you need to see. Still soy latte with three?"

She nodded. "Didn't think you'd remember."

"How could I forget hunting around for soy milk in those days?" He chuckled with a heavy tone as she left to do as requested.

Jason had been hanging back in the kitchen just inside the doorway listening, but finally plucked up the courage to come back into the lounge room. "So I am going to take a wild stab in the dark here and guess you're just not an 'old friend' of Poppi's?"

Duke gave the man a cheeky smile. "You guess right."

Jason sighed. "How did you make it work with her man? She is just stone cold sometimes."

Starting to think he should have been writing down all the things he hadn't anticipated in order to keep up with them Duke leaned forward and thumbed his goatee. "Poppi isn't all that complicated. I learned early on that she just wants someone to love her. She isn't cold either, actually the opposite to most of the other women I've dated. Sure we were just kids back then but I doubt she has changed all that much."

Sticking a hand on his hip Jason huffed. "I guess I'm just not you then. I saw the way she looked at you and how she said your name. I try so hard to be there for her and to show her I care. It'll never be enough though." He rubbed a hand through his hair.

Duke pondered what the man was saying and what Poppi had told him about the real reason her father had told her about moving her away from Haven. Perhaps there was a chance for him and Poppi now she was back? Stranger things were happening. He could hear the bathroom taps shut off and the floorboards creak as Poppi got out of the shower. "Like I said, for Poppi it's about the love. You can flash your cash at her all you like but that's not the thing she looks for."

"And if I am not sure if I love her? We've only been seeing each other for a couple of months." The more Jason spoke to Duke he found the more and more he was unsure about the girl upstairs. Sure she was knock out gorgeous and when the mood struck her was a hilarious and fun person to be around...but was she someone Jason could see getting any further with?

"If you don't know by now, it's already answered for you." Duke was watching the man's face tick over.

"Do you love her?" Jason asked.

There was no denying it for Duke and he nodded with the most assurance about it. "I never stopped."