FIC: [Haven] The Bunny Returns (PG13)

[roseveare]

TITLE: The Bunny Returns
AUTHOR: roseveare
RATING: PG13
LENGTH: ~9,000 words
SUMMARY: 'If cuddling something cute and fluffy could keep a lid on whatever this Trouble was... Sorry, but Nate was taking one for the team.' A small girl and an exploding woman prove a Troubled challenge while Nathan is still stuck as a hare.
NOTES: sequel to Rage Bunny. Thanks to Rabbitt for beta-reading. :D
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The Bunny Returns

"Wake up, Mister Fluffity Bunny..." The sing-song voice sailed lazily into Nathan's consciousness, making his ears twitch, making him squirm a little and hunch tighter into his sleeping ball. There was awkwardness awaiting, in the need to acknowledge the intrusive alienness of those long ears -- not to mention the rest of the body shape that came with them -- anew in waking to the day, and the soft, warm comfort of sleep seemed a better idea altogether. "...Mister Fuffity Bunny is all warm and snuggly in his bunny bed..."

Nathan twitched again, with irritation. What was Duke thinking? A moment later, something poked the tip of his ear and he squirmed fiercely and lashed out.

"Seriously," said Duke, in his normal voice. "How are you this difficult to wake? Aren't those enormous headflaps even more sensitive than your usual... enormous headflaps? And here I'm stuck because I promised I wouldn't do any..." He stepped back and made exaggerated air-quotes as he intoned ominously, "'Unsolicited touching'." The pencil he'd tweaked Nathan's ear with was lodged between his fingers.

Nathan gave a discontented hiss and climbed to his paws and shook himself, trying to shake off the feeling of being poked along with the feeling that amounted to having fur, the bristling wash of sensation across his skin whenever his movement caused all the little hairs on his body to move themselves.

Little hairs. Well, Nathan was currently a little hare. Duke would have got a pun out of that. It was frustrating to be hanging on Duke's words, unable to communicate easily and having none of his own. Duke had been surprisingly accommodating about making an effort to keep him a part of things, finding ways to pose meaningful yes|no questions. But Nathan still didn't feel like a part of things. Like this, he couldn't really contribute. If he had ideas, he couldn't communicate them. Nathan didn't generally talk a lot, but he'd discovered that having the ability taken away was all kinds of frustrating and depressing.

He jumped down from the couch. It made a comfortable bed, at least, although not quite so comfortable as the first night, when he'd huddled up on a corner of Duke's bed, digging into the sheets, too tired and confused to really think about or contest the idea. In the saner light of morning they'd both agreed that had been too weird -- or Duke posed the question and Nathan agreed -- so he'd made a kind of nest on one of the couches out of a richly patterned meditation rug and a few throws and pillows.

"Three days," Duke said, as Nathan craned up on his back legs for extra height. "Law of averages, it should happen any time." Nathan could not wait to change back into himself. Even if he wasn't looking forward to the conversations he'd have to have with Duke and Audrey.

Sensation was new, but if he had to be a hare, at least he wasn't a Troubled hare, and it was not physically possible to stay furious with the world for three days when he could actually once again feel it. Still not remotely happy to be a small, fluffy animal, and unable to easily communicate with his friends, mind -- but by this time that anger was a dull ebb.

It helped that Duke had stopped being quite so mother-hen about everything and seemed to accept now that Nathan was in control of his own faculties even if he was an animal; that he wasn't going to run into traffic or let anyone harm him if he had any input in the matter.

Nathan ate breakfast from a bowl on the floor. They'd started out with him on the table, three days since, but honestly it was easier than trying to maintain dignity using furniture designed for human-shaped-bodies. He really didn't want Duke hauling him around any more than necessary. He wasn't helpless, just smaller and differently shaped. But Duke didn't appreciate his furniture jumped all over and his ornaments smashed, either, and really, things had become more dignified as soon as he allowed himself to admit he wasn't human right now and deal with the situation practically.

"You ready?" Duke asked, standing up from the table, and Nathan bobbed his head in a nod, leaving what seeds and grains and salad leaves remained in the bowl. Duke grabbed the gym bag that contained Nathan's clothes. When the change back happened, clothing was going to be a factor. Nathan only hoped he was going to be able to get out of sight if it happened in public. They headed out, Nathan scampering around Duke's feet.

The sight of Duke's feet was getting more tedious every day, but there wasn't much Nathan could do about it. He'd rather run than be carried. At least that was something he still could do. If this continued much longer, the boredom alone might kill him.

He was used to working. Like this, his world was reduced to hanging around Duke and the Gull, and seeing Audrey enough times a day that she could get her fill of looking at him, sighing, and looking hassled, and he could feel even worse about not being able to work... There was nothing he could do, and he was tired of lazing on his side while Duke or Audrey worked. He found the most release bolting across the sports field or the beach when Duke took him out for Duke's idea of a safe, supervised exercise. Running wasn't useful, though. It was just treading water, surviving this situation of being stuck, hanging on for this ordeal to be over.

He needed it to be over soon.

***

Duke had got used to keeping half an eye for the Nathanbunny around his ankles as he walked. At the start, he'd panicked pretty hard about roads, big dogs, and random strangers who could pick up and make off with a small animal for crazy reasons of their own. But Nathan could look after himself better than that, so in the end, Duke just kept a watch on the relative positions of his feet and the hare.

It was actually difficult to think of it as Nathan unless it was actively being a shit. Duke wasn't sure if he'd got more rabbitty or just worn out his anger and was bored stiff because this seemed to be stretching on forever. Duke had a lot more personal tolerance for lazing around doing nothing than Nathan did, and he was pretty sure he'd be bored by now.

The hare got out of the car with him, bounding clear over the driver's seat from the passenger side, and raced circles round his ankles as he shut the door. Duke figured that behaviour for energy burn-off, because the animal Nathan had gotten himself turned into was a fast, hyperactive ball of fuzz that had to spend a whole lot of time being still and sensible in order to be Nathan. He was having to remind himself of that reasoning a lot, because otherwise he'd forget and start melting at the sight of the little goof, and then petting might accidentally happen and they'd be on dire territory.

Because soon this Trouble would run its course and they would both have to live this down. It was probably just as well for all three of their sakes that Nathan had gone home with Duke and not Audrey. In the meantime, he'd do his damnedest to remember to restrict himself to the shoulder area when those illicit rubs did happen, and not stray into any other areas that, on a human Nathan, would be more intimate.

Hell, he'd done a massage for a crewman on a sailing jaunt a time or two, no reason he couldn't do the same for Nathan as a human or a hare, if he'd have ever let him. But Nathan was touchy about being touched, and particularly about being touched by Duke.

A few women were already parked up outside the Gull, with a car full of surfing gear, and they exclaimed about the hare moving around Duke's feet as he tried to pass. That was the kind of thing that had become his worst nightmare of the last few days.

"Don't," he warned the one kneeling to offer a hand out to Nathan. "He really doesn't like that." Fortunately, they weren't assholes about it like some people were, and didn't try to corner Nathan and force their petting on him, sticking their fingers in his face. There'd been blood before.

"What kind is he?" asked the one on her haunches. "I didn't know you could train them like this."

"Uh," Duke said. "He's a Blue Maine Attitude Problem. Lepus Obstreperous Nathanicus. Excuse us." He injected a little more force into the last words and rounded the women to continue into the Gull, Nathan butting at his ankles hard to make clear that he'd heard that.

"Pack it in," Duke grunted, swinging his leg out of the way as a heavier thump threatened to compromise his balance. "Kept them from fussing on you, didn't I? Though if it was me, I'd take the attention." The kneeling woman had been hot.

Nathan did that hiss-snort thing, but stopped trying to bowl Duke over.

The first day they'd done this, Duke had placed a basket in the corner of the bar room and taken the approach of treating Nathan like a well behaved dog. He hadn't said it in those terms to Nathan, quite, but had said he could have the run of the place and come and go as he pleased, and this way they'd be maintaining a somewhat normal appearance in terms of Nathan having been turned into a frickin' animal.

The lessons learned in the first few hours of that day had, by lunchtime, manifested in a sign pinned to the wall above the basket: "DO NOT TOUCH THE BUNNY. Do not pet, prod, tease, or otherwise disturb the bunny. The bunny may look cute. It is not cute. It is a fuzzball of distilled rage. Leave it alone."

Nathan had nipped him for the sign on first seeing it, and sign and hare both had attracted some laughs, but the sign coupled with Nathan's baleful glare had kept people at more of a distance.

Duke put some fresh water down in a bowl next to the basket, then left Nathan to it and went about doing his own thing. He was slowly reworking menus, among other tasks, now that he had more of an idea what was involved in this restauranteur gig, but he probably didn't need to be at the Gull all day, today, and he was sure Nathan would be pleased to spend a less-public afternoon back on the boat. Or... maybe he'd gather up all his paperwork and notes and drive them off along the coast, up to some isolated beach with lots of sand, where Nathan could run and Duke could meditate and enjoy the location in between working on his notes.

He'd been working ten minutes when he got distracted by a problem with one of the taps and lost track of things for a while.

"Duke." Tracey's voice intruded his focus, carrying a sharpness that suggested it was either very urgent or that this was not the first time she'd spoken. Perhaps it was both. She continued as soon as she saw him looking up. "Your rabbit's got company. Might need you to stage a rescue."

Duke swore. He didn't need to be getting the first aid kit out again today. He leaped up from under the counter and rounded the bar.

Nathan's new friend was a pint-size girl of, at Duke's best guess, around eight. Her floral patterned dress hovered above grazed knees and her dark hair was bound in a stubby, messy plait. She was hunkered down, leaning her crossed arms on the edge of the basket, talking and making faces at the bemused hare.

Duke was tempted to let it lie. Nathan wasn't going to bite a kid, and he hardly thought the girl would harm Nathan. Then she reached out both arms, curled her hands around Nathan's middle as he tried to squirm away, and picked him up.

"Ohhhhhh, no," Duke was across like a shot. "You do not want to pick up this bunny. Believe me, kid..." He tried to soften his voice because the girl's face had taken a startled, shocked cast at being told off... and also because her accompanying physical reaction seemed to be to cling to Nathan harder. Nathan struggled but Duke could tell
he was trying not to use his claws. He gave Duke a look of aggravation like it was his fault. "...Put him down?" Duke wheedled. He was going to get *so much* return for this later in crappy attitude and parking tickets.

The girl pouted. Duke made a grab for Nathan. For a rescue, he was sure he'd be forgiven. But the girl skittered back and let out a plaintive, "Why? I just wanna hold him!"

"Because he is one cranky bunny who doesn't like being picked up. Come on, kid, let's all be friends here. Put him down." He got an even more sullen glare and the kid pulled Nathan in closer to her chest. "...I'll trade you ice-cream?"

***

It would be nice, Nathan considered, if Duke's preventative measures didn't double as an excuse to insult Nathan while he couldn't make any response back. It would also be nice if they were composed of any kind of action.

He liked kids, and didn't want to damage the girl, but he didn't want to be picked up bodily and hauled around against his will either. He struggled, his fast-beating heart and all his fear responses wanting to claw, to bite, but he held tight control of those, merely trying to worm out of the grip.

"C'mon, look how unhappy he is. He wants to be on his feet and in control. How'd you feel if some giant swooped along and picked you up?" Duke was trying to negotiate with the kid, at least that much was an earnest effort.

"He's a bunny," the girl asserted. "How d'you know he's unhappy? Maybe he wants to be stroked?"

Duke laughed. "Trust me, he does not want to be stroked. Imagine he's a person. You wouldn't just pick up anyone and start petting them, would you?"

"But he's a bunny..."

"Technically, he's a hare, and... this is hare-napping. Kid, put the bunny down."

Nathan sank his claws into the girl's cardigan with a hiss, listening to the sound of woolly fibres popping. She yelped and almost dropped him, but... clung on instead, yowling, "Okay, okay, okay! I'm gonna put you down, bunny!" while she scrambled to set him on a nearby table. Nathan felt a bit guilty. He'd have been fine with the drop, but the girl didn't know that, and keeping hold was brave.

He still jumped loose onto the top of the round bar-table as soon as he had chance, twitching his head angrily, feet skittering on the polished surface. From Duke's wince, he guessed the finish hadn't survived contact with his claws. He whirled around and Duke's hand was suddenly there in front of him, and Duke's voice assured, "Okay."

"He's a mean bunny," the girl said.

"Yeah." Duke scowled at Nathan. "I thought you liked kids."

Nathan didn't care to dignify that. Let Duke try this perspective. See if he'd still judge, then.

The girl was now giving him a dubious look. "What's his name?" she asked Duke.

"Nathan."

"Nathan?" she repeated, voice rising. "That's not a name for a rabbit."

"It sure is," Duke said, sourly, "because that's what he's called. You don't argue with that, okay? What's your name?"

The girl pressed her lips together sullenly, but after a moment said, "Pam."

"Well, I don't like that name. How about I decide that's not a proper name? Maybe I'd rather call you something else?"

She scowled at him. "Fine."

Nathan butted Duke's hip, where he stood next to the table, then whuffled at the girl's hand.

"Oh, sure," Duke's voice dripped sarcasm. "Make nice now."

"See? He likes me," Pam said, and then, pouting and poking at her ripped knitwear, "He tore my cardy."

"Don't pick him up again," Duke said, and looked down as Nathan kicked him with a hind leg, "What?"

"He's talkin' to you."

"He definitely is not," Duke retorted quickly. "And if it seems like I'm talking to him, that's because I am clearly messed up in the head. In fact, clearly I am that, anyway, to put up with this." He shoved Nathan away from him, and if that was how it was going to be, he was going to get more scratches on his table's polished finish. Nathan readied his claws.

"Ah, where's your folks?" Duke asked, an instant before Nathan was about to start hacking actual words into the table. "Kid, are you all right?"

She fisted her hand and pushed it against her lips, teeth sinking into the skin, and wavered before responding, as a glimmer of moisture crept into her eyes, "My mom told me to wait here."

"And where did your mom go?"

"Town." Pam's foot kicked against the wooden floor. "I don't know how long she'll be, 'cause she was real upset when she left, so I want to play with the bunny."

"This wo-- your mom left you. Alone. In a bar?" Duke summed up flatly. "To go and do what in town, exactly?"

"It's bad." The girl's voice had sunk to a muted, scared whisper, and she hugged herself and gave Nathan a look that resented the lack of bunny-hugging comfort available when there was a fluffy animal right there. "I can't. I, I dunno if I should. The scary man was mean, and the God-people all shouted and pointed, and what she said was bad."

"You're freaking me out, kid." Duke did look alarmed, and the kid looked more reluctant than ever. Nathan huffed and crept over to her side of the table and let her put her hands on him. She nervously pulled at his ears.

...Ouch.

But the bribery worked. "She said Haven's a bad place, but even if the God-people were right, they're mean and bad too, and it might as well all be destroyed." Pam sniffed and her eyes ran suddenly untempered. "She said this was far enough, and there were people here who'd-- who-- Mister, I don' think mom was meaning to come back..." She sort of and grabbed Nathan, dragging him off the table and into her arms, as she collapsed to her knees. He screeched in surprise and tried to not actively damage her as he was pulled headlong, though he didn't have much control of where everything went.

"Hey, hey..." Duke's hands pulled at both of them, trying to get Nathan at least not-upside-down in her grip. All Pam seemed to care about was blindly hanging onto something soft and fluffy. "Kid, I'm sure she hasn't left you. We'll fix this. I'm gonna fetch someone who'll fix this."

Nathan got his head up from the stranglehold and tried to meet Duke's eyes. This sounded like either a Trouble or some kind of vendetta linked to the Troubles and they definitely needed Audrey. Duke met his eyes and showed a stalling hand again, or maybe that palm was a helpless apology, because he seemed to be abandoning Nathan to the kid's clinging arms.

"Kid -- Pam -- can your mom do stuff? Maybe something that... that regular people can't do?"

Pam just stared at him and Nathan snorted.

"Oh..." The kid blinked suddenly. "You mean like... like... the way that she exploded the bear?" She started sobbing, and screaming, and Nathan pushed his face into her neck and snuggled for all he was worth and did his damnedest to calm down the abandoned and potentially dangerously Troubled kid in the only way that offered itself.

***

"What the -- what do you mean your mom exploded a bear?" Duke was officially freaking out now. Let the kid cling to Nathan for dear life, if cuddling something cute and fluffy could keep a lid on whatever this Trouble was. If what her mom had was also in her... Sorry, but in this circumstance, Nate was taking one for the team.

"In the woods, in the camper, near the fire. She made it blood and bits and yuck and it was--" Her voice rose to a scream, and it was all too obvious what it had been like. "Her poor finger was... but it was alright, she said, she said she had enough left..." Pam, by now, was outright wailing.

"Hug the rabbit," Duke said, making a decision. "What I asked? Forget I asked. Just hug the bunny. Nathan wants to play now." He fixed Nathan's eyes, flailing inside. Nathan's eyes were hard and canny and accepting, even if they were also kind of under siege from all the hugging, and they said, Get Audrey. Duke could get behind that idea. "Pam... sit down with Nathan, I'm gonna get someone to bring you a giant ice-cream, and a milkshake with an umbrella and cherries and chocolate in it, and I'm gonna go find your mom for you, okay?" He shot a last flailing look at Nathan, then abandoned him to the kid's mercy.

He dashed to the counter to tell Tracey that he had a Haven crisis and she should spoil the kid rotten. Then he grabbed his phone from behind the counter and was ringing Audrey as he pelted out the door. The call connected but the signal was scratchy. He could only just make out her words.

"Where are you?" he asked.

"--the woods. Something weird--"

"Exploded bear?" Duke guessed.

"--know what it was yet. How do you?"

"Look, I gotta tell you something." He rattled off what he'd just learned as he took stock of the vehicles in the Gull's parking lot and ran over to the prominent battered camper van. It had brownish stains and a dent on one side. "Shit. Shit. Audrey, this woman's got some freakout brown-note of a Trouble, and she's got it in for Haven. You need to be back here and on this. She's already headed for the centre of town, maybe as much as half an hour ago."

"--at least that long to drive back. Is Nathan--?"

Duke groaned. "Still the hare. I mean, he's helping, don't get me wrong, he is abso-fucking-lutely indispensable to project keep-the-kid-calm, but--" His laugh turned into a groan. "Alright, I get it. I hear you." She hadn't even said it, goddamn it. "I'm gonna head into town and look for this woman. If we've got the kid, I think she'll hold off. She sent her out of the way of whatever she was going to do." He leaned to pick up a rock from the ground, no time for finesse and lockpicks, and broke the window to let himself into the camper.

"What was that?" Audrey asked.

"I'm gonna get us a photograph, if I can."

"Okay. I'll... try to figure some way to explain this to the station to get more people out to help the search. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Duke put the phone away and climbed on board the camper. Inside was a dump. He noted the headbanging Jesus on the dash. The girl's words about the God-people echoed in his thoughts... Was he looking at one of those people whose head the Rev had gotten inside? She didn't seem the type, but the world was full of all sorts. People didn't necessarily all fit neatly in boxes. He rooted quickly through all the crap and managed to find a couple of snaps of the girl with a woman, who looked young to have a kid Pam's age. The kid looked four or five at the time, but surely her mom wouldn't have changed too much. He scrambled out again and shut the door, yanking a blind down to obscure the fact the window was broken.

He dashed back inside.

"I do not know how that cranky pet of yours hasn't savaged that kid's nose off by now," Tracey supplied with a dark look as he came back in, and given Tracey's opinion of the hare, things must be dire for her to be speaking up on Nathan's behalf. Duke winced and made his way over to the kid's table. She was almost obscured behind the pile of ice-cream, but still had Nathan hugged to her with one arm. Nathan was apparently still managing to be nice.

Duke presented one of the photos to Pam. "That's your mom?"

The kid's eyes brimmed again as she nodded.

"Sorry... Need to be sure." He scraped his hands through his hair. They needed to get moving. Whatever Pam's mom had planned did not sound good, and they had to do this stat. "Pam, I need you to come help me find your mom and, uh, help her. You can bring your ice cream." He eyed Nathan, puffed-cheeked beneath the chokehold of her hugging arm. "Obviously, bunny is coming too."

***

Pam had to put Nathan down in order to hold and eat her ice-cream in Duke's truck, and he was grateful to be left to scramble around for balance on the edge of the seat. Duke had pinned the photograph of Pam's mother to the radio unit where Nathan was able to see it and memorise her features. The truck bounced along with the scenery invisible from where he crouched, so he concentrated on the picture. The little girl looked a lot like the mother in miniature, except that in the picture, mom's hair was short. She wore a T-shirt with an anarchy symbol on it. On the picture, they were on the hood of the camper, the mother perched, the daughter sitting, held for balance by her mother's arms. There were a few stickers with activist symbols and slogans on the camper. The scene around them had other people, tents and campers in the view and a festival air.

"'M not allowed ice cream," Pam said, nervously, guiltily, scraping the spoon around the empty sundae glass. "Mom says it's got dead animals in it."

"Uhm, milk's an animal product," Duke said, "but there are positively no animal fats and no dead animals in my ice-cream. I think this ice cream is probably safe, and if you think she'd mind anyway, well, we won't tell her." He grabbed the glass and spoon and ditched them theatrically into the back of the truck. "How's that?"

The girl tried for a shaky grin, and Nathan groaned as he was pulled back into the limpet-hug. It came out as a hiss.

"He makes funny noises," Pam said.

"You be a good little soldier." Nathan suspected that Duke's smile was mocking him.

"Why'd you give him a person name?" Pam mumbled, her fingers curling back and forth through the fur of Nathan's neck. Even after the rough handling, it was hard not to melt into the sensation. She'd found a good spot and it kept sending tingles through his sensation-starved body. It was all sorts of a mixed blessing that Sally Oliver's Trouble had overridden his own for this transformation.

"I didn't," Duke said, exasperated. "He's called Nathan. That's his name. He has a people-name because... well, because he's a very clever and special bunny. Smart as a person. Most of the time."

"I knew you were talkin' to him," she accused, and started playing with Nathan's ears again, giggling when her prodding made them twitch and him hiss again. That was seriously annoying. "An' he understands back. Mom says people in this town are strange. That was before she started sayin' they were bad, after the mean man in black."

"Don't think about that, sweetie," Duke said. "Uh, go easy on his ears. Also, try not to touch his butt--" He screwed up his face as the prodding hands left Nathan's ears and pulled at his tail instead. Nathan let out a yip of surprise that was kind of more an unearthly howl. It made the girl jump, and it almost had him bolting over her and over the back of the seat despite himself. "--'Cause that's just weird."

"He makes really funny noises," Pam squeaked.

"All bunnies do. Who knew, huh?" Duke shook his head.

Nathan hissed at them both for good measure. The truck drew to a halt. He craned his head and saw traffic lights.

"She say anything that might give us a clue where she was heading?" Duke's voice was slow with caution. "Your mom? She left the camper, right? All your stuff was in there. So was she on foot, or did she take a cab?"

"She does this." Pam raised a sticky thumb and leaned forward over the dash, brandishing it. "And cars stop." She pressed her lips together. "She said Haven's centre was rotted and it had to die. Can... c'n you kill a place, just like that, mister?"

"Duke," Duke said. "It's Duke, and do not even start on that name, okay, kid? As for this place, I'm guessing it'd crawl back like a cockroach no matter what."

Nathan was fairly sure that was a less than helpful answer for the child. Pam giggled, though, and said, "He thinks you're dumb, Mister Duke."

"Yeah, I'm being judged by my bunny. No surprise there." The truck slid to a halt again, and this time Duke unpeeled his seatbelt and pushed his door open, and Nathan could see they were on Main Street. "Okay, this is the geographic centre of town. We'll just have to get out and start looking. I'll... phone my friends, tell them where we are and see if they can't come help. Are you gonna carry that bunny?"

Nathan glared at Duke as a traitor as Pam pulled him against her chest. Duke shut his door and was on the phone to HPD when he came around to open the passenger door. The kid scrambled out of the truck without loosening her hold on Nathan one bit. Great, so now he was stuck as a comfort animal when he could be out helping look for Pam's mother? He couldn't even tell Duke how little sense that made. He was fast, and able to cut through the core of the town much quicker than they could. He struggled to escape from Pam's arms, needing to communicate that somehow.

"What is wrong with you?" Duke snapped, lowering the phone. "Nathan, she needs--"

The girl's emotional state was one thing. Stopping the mother, who had already blown up a bear and was unquestionably Troubled now, was another. They needed to find and stop her. Nathan hissed and kicked.

"He wants something," Pam said. "I think that he's tryin' to tell us something. Like Lassie. Or that dolphin. I don't think dolphins are cute, though." She pouted in judgement and started to put Nathan down.

"In this instance, I think probably he's trying to tell us something rude," Duke agreed. Nathan left Duke's guiltily aborted curse behind on the air as his feet touched pavement and he took the opportunity to... hare off.

He raced between pedestrians and across the traffic, moving up and down the street, stopping and half climbing up steps, looking in doors and windows to try and see inside. No, no... He moved on, his legs a blur, heart racing almost as fast as his long and quick feet. Then he saw her, standing near a patch of grass at the roadside. She was posed oddly, her face concentrated, scrunched up, her arms raised, all her limbs twisted and locked in strain. There was a bloody bandage on her hand, and an area of conspicuous absence the shape of a finger. She had two fingers missing from her other hand, but they were clearly far older injuries, unbandaged.

Even as a hare, Nathan's stomach turned a little as he realised the significance of the missing parts. They weren't just looking at the prospect of wanton destruction, but a Troubled suicide. Her explosive Trouble must activate in her body parts themselves, and she was preparing to use her whole body to destroy Haven.

It looked like she was right now in the middle of giving that a serious try.

There was no time for finesse, for Nathan to run back and alert Duke to the find. He didn't have a lot of options for doing something about it, either. But, well, there'd been animal rights stickers on the camper in the photograph, and if the daughter loved animals enough to be distracted and comforted... perhaps there was a chance that the mother could be swayed just by his presence, too.

He braked himself by bowling up against her ankles, and he rubbed and huddled up there, trying to make himself felt through her focus and her boots and thick, dust-coated, wear-battered jeans.

"What--?" He heard her ask hoarsely. Her feet moved away, then her face moved down. "A hare, here--? Oh!"

The ground shook and she stumbled, falling to one knee, and wailed a long, thin, thready cry. "No... no... I wanted it to be everything! I don't want to be--" She sobbed and her mouth gaped wide with pain as she held her leg, shifting her grip desperately on the limb.

"Hey! Lady, whatever you're doing, stop!" Duke and Pam were running across the street toward them. "Mom, stop!"

"No!" Pam's mom screamed louder still. "You can't be here. Run, Pammy! Run away. Go! Go!" She flailed her arms desperately.

"You need to stop this," Duke said. "For her safety. For everyone's safety. Whatever you were planning, your daughter is right here now, so you need to call it off!"

"I'm trying!" she screamed back, and fell into a moan and clutched her leg harder. "You're Crocker... aren't you? Why did you bring her here? You were supposed to... help her. The church always said... Crockers were allies..."

"Lady, I have no idea what you're talking about!" Duke exclaimed. "Nathan, get the kid away!"

"Nathan!" Pam echoed, looking scared, holding her hands out in desperate plea. Nathan realised the fear might have a newly specific direction, and on reflection, the better part of valour might be to not be in contact with the exploding woman if she blew. He ran back to Duke and Pam.

"The hare... is 'Nathan'...?" Pam's mom asked incredulously, teeth grit through her pain.

"Believe me, this is not the time for that story," Duke said. "Ma'am, focus. Breathe with me, meditation breaths... I've seen your hippie van, you can do this." He took a whoop of air and gestured with his hands for her to join in as he let it out. "You can control this. Push it back. Whatever your thing is, put it back."

"I... I... Get her away from me!"

"Mom, no! Don't!" Nathan had avoided Pam's reach before, but he bounded in close now to attach his jaw around the hem of the little girl's dress and tugged, trying to get her away. At the very least, she shouldn't witness this.

"Go, Pam," Duke said. "Go with Nathan." He turned back and added, "You want to be sure she's safe, make sure this doesn't happen. You want to see her taken care of, make sure she still has a mom. Come on, with me now, breathe..."

Duke's voice faded beneath the girl's squeal of, "Let go, I'm walking, I am, let go!" and the rushing in Nathan's ears. The exertion to drag Pam away, who despite her protests was still hesitating more than she was walking, was a lot of effort for the size he was right now, and he lost track of how long he'd been pulling. His jaw ached from dragging her. As far as they'd come, the ground was still grumbling and jarring beneath them, but he didn't know how much more time they had. It might be best to take cover now, while viable shelter offered itself. They were a reasonable distance away. He pushed open the door of the shop they were passing by with his head. The seemingly Herculean task became infinitely more possible as the door gave all of a sudden, and he looked up to see Pam's hand pushing.

There was something about explosives and getting in the bath, he was sure. The sales assistant, who'd been gaping out of the window at all the rumbling and disturbance, looked up and gaped instead at the sight of an animal dragging a little girl into their bathroom store instead of his anticipated customer.

Nathan yanked Pam toward the nearest bath, and frantically patted his paws against the side of it, to Pam's bemusement -- until he jumped in, and she climbed in after.

"What's going on, little girl?" the sales assistant asked, utterly confused. His expression sort of collapsed and gave up. "Aw, heck, what you gonna know? I'm out of here." He stumbled and fell on his way to the door as the ground shook harder, picked himself up and ran on out of the store.

"Nothing's gonna happen," Pam whimpered, and caught Nathan and hugged him to her before he could think to dodge, pressing them both down into the bottom of the bath. "Mom's gonna be okay. The nice mister's gonna help her." Nathan hissed softly at that description of Duke. "She's gonna be alright." Her arms hugged tighter.

Nathan worried fiercely about Duke, abandoned to talk down a human incendiary device. Even though that responsibility was not exactly something Nathan was able to take on at the moment.

"He's goin' to be okay, too," Pam whispered, for some reason deciding that Nathan could use the comfort of hearing that.

And the world exploded around them.

***

Nathan jolted upright, his ears ringing, and looked down to see a small arm slung around his waist and the girl in her floral dress and cardigan pressed into the base of the bathtub. There was still plaster falling from the ceiling, speckling white bits into her hair.

He stared around, blinking, and realised slowly that he couldn't feel the arm around his waist. But... his Trouble had been gone for the past three days, hadn't it? He'd been able to feel everything since he'd changed into the hare. Had he been injured badly enough to return his body to a state of numbness?

Then he realised something else had also changed.

He cursed with the realisation of being human, naked, and clung hold of by a very young girl. Fortunately, the bathroom store had props scattered about its showroom and there was a towel on a rail within reach. He grabbed it and wrapped it around his waist.

Pam looked up at the movement, her face stark and tear-stained. "That wasn't..." she said, in a small, begging voice. "She's not dead." She blinked, horrified and accusatory, at Nathan, and scrambled up, tearing her arm loose as she looked desperately around. "Who are -- Why -- Where's Nathan?"

"I'm Nathan," Nathan said roughly. His voice scraped and cracked from disuse, and the words seemed unfamiliar, hard to shape in his throat.

"You're not Nathan. Nathan's a bunny."

"I was the bunny," Nathan said. Her eyes were huge and appalled. She hadn't just maybe-lost her mother, she'd also lost the rabbit. "He's alright. I was always a, a--" He swallowed and forced out, "A magic bunny. Pam, we need to get up and go out." His legs trembled and tried to slide from underneath him as he rose, human body not quite knowing what to do with the question of balance after so much time spent as something that moved on four legs. He managed to get a leg over the side and tumble out of the bath. Checked the towel was still secure. Clumsily forced numb fingers to pull the knot in the side of it tighter. He suspected he was flashing a slice of ass at the side facing away from the girl, but he tried to focus on balance and get to his feet. The poor kid's mom... There were more important things at stake than his embarrassing state. They had to find out what had happened, but if it was the worst, he didn't want her to see.

"Let me carry you, this time." He reached down for the kid.

"You're sure you're Nathan?" she asked suspiciously.

"Swear it. Long bunny ears and all." She gave a small, dissatisfied snort -- she had clearly preferred the hare -- but held her arms out in return and let him pull her in and lift her up. Her legs wrapped around his waist. It took him a moment to balance them both, compromised as his balance already was.

He could see the back of her hair if he slid his eyes sideways. Her head was pressed against his ear. If anything bad awaited them, he'd see it first, and could back away and keep it from her sight.

"We're going to find out," he said. "We'll go find them. Hold tight, kid."

She giggled sadly as he hefted her a bit higher against his shoulder and started walking. "I c'n see your butt."

He looked down to check the towel was at least still around his waist. "You already saw it," he pointed out grimly. "When it was fluffy and had a white, tufted tail."

***

The pavement was inconsiderately hard and rough beneath Duke's face, and he hoped the grit he could taste among the blood in his mouth wasn't a broken tooth, but since he seemed to be faceplanted into the ground, it could go either way. His nose hurt. Hopefully that wasn't broken, it was his best damn feature. His knees and the palms of his hands felt like they'd been grated.

...The woman had exploded? The woman... hadn't exploded? What the hell had happened?

With an enormous groan, he hauled his head up to greet whatever awaited, though he was fairly sure it would be something he didn't want to see that would haunt his nightmares forever. Then again, that was just Tuesday in this town.

The woman was... at least intact enough that he registered her still being there. The relief whuffed out of him. Then he thought, well, if she had really exploded he'd have been extremely unlikely to survive it, standing right next to her.

Why the hell did he even do this shit, again?

"Hey..." He reached out a hand, and his eyes happened to fall beyond Pam's mom to the welcome bizarre sight of Nathan Wuornos heading down the street toward them, holding the kid and clad only in a towel. He carried Pam with her face pressed against his shoulder, one of his hands cradling the back of her head.

Duke, hit with the stupid stick after almost being exploded, took a few seconds to really register what he was seeing. Meantime, Pam's mom grabbed his hand and sobbed into the back of his palm, and he made vague efforts to divert her gaze toward the approaching pair.

"She's alright. Hey, your kid's alright. You saved her..." His eyes drifted back and the other half of the equation dawned. "Nate! You're... it's good to see you back."

He actually felt it as a loss for a moment, remembering that Nathan had been the hare and, damn it, he was going to miss that grumpy little fellow hanging around. He was going to miss the company. But Nathan being back was great for Nathan, for whom the transformation into a relatively cuddly critter had clearly been some form of special torture.

"...Yeah," Nathan chewed, and looked down at himself and his jaw tightened even further. But he turned the girl around in his arms, speaking softly to her, lifting his hand from her hair so that she could see her mom, still alive and there and in one piece. The kid's joy and relief at seeing her mom was okay was almost enough to make Duke forget that he'd almost freakin' died for that.

His stomach sunk to his boots as he grasped the oncoming moment of less-than-good when Pam's mom saw her daughter in the hands of a naked male stranger. Fortunately, Nathan was also intensely alert to it, and sped his efforts to disengage and set Pam's feet on the ground. "I'm a... police officer, ma'am. I'm... this... I don't have my badge."

Duke snorted despite himself as Nathan's hand slapped up against his empty hip.

"That's not Detective Wuornos' usual uniform." Duke put his hand on the woman's shoulder. "What's your name, sweets?"

She glanced his way only long enough for her expression to suggest that was the wrong choice of an endearing term, but croaked, "Charity."

Then Pam's feet were pounding across the pavement toward them, and Duke was getting himself out of the way as Pam hurled herself into her mom's arms. Charity winced -- something was definitely hurting. Duke wondered what had gone that he couldn't see. She'd been holding onto her foot, and her feet were hidden encased in mid-calf boots.

"Call Audrey." Nathan ran the last few steps of the way, too, a stumbling, shambling gait, clutching onto his towel. "I don't have my phone, either." His eyes crawled worriedly over the family reunion.

Duke was on it, sitting back on his ass in the street and not bothering to try and get up, try and figure out if anything was damaged yet. Audrey's voice sounded positively angelic, though she laughed at him when he told her as much. Something harsher in his laughter must have clued her in, because she asked intently, "What happened?"

A very concentrated sum-up later, Duke signed off with, "....bring some pants." He lowered the phone and looked at Nathan. "Audrey's coming. Other people are already on their way." Police, ambulance, plus the usual perplexed team of gas men, probably.

Nathan uncurled one of the arms clutched over his chest, for whatever benefit in terms of coverage that provided, in an effort maybe to look less vulnerable, and asked, "You alright?"

"I'm good." Duke smacked his grazed hands together, dusting off, and hoped it was true, because his face still hurt like hell. "How about you... Nathan?"

Nathan looked down again, expression flattening, and declined to answer that, since Duke could clearly see how virtually every part of him was just fine. "Here." Gruffly, Nathan leaned and offered that hand. Bending and reaching flashed a bit more of him. Nathan's hands were ingrained with a grey-brown, smoothed-off coating of dust from being walked on as paws for the last several days. His palms felt smooth and cool against Duke's skin. Duke had harboured some concerns, but nothing collapsed as he made it upright with Nathan's help. Nathan's hands stayed on his arm and shoulder as he got his bearings and looked around the street. There were broken windows on the nearest shops and some bushes had lost leaves. A few other people were picking themselves up from the ground or looking like they'd just done so.

Well, mostly they were looking at Nathan. Duke tried not to draw much attention to that part as he said, "Seems like it was more a... shockwave... than a blast. Makes a change for you to be the one hauling me around, after the last few days."

Nathan gave him a narrow study.

"...Aaand are we never speaking of this again, are we? Check." Duke shook his head and sighed.

Nathan said, a bit like it hurt, "Thanks for letting me crash on the Rouge." His expression was odd as it lingered too long and he added, "You know it was still me? Up here--" He pointed to his head. "Even if I couldn't talk, or communicate."

"Nate, you can't talk normally," Duke countered, a fraction wearily. "But just so you know, yeah, it was easy to forget sometimes. Which I guess is why I feel like I'm gonna miss my furry little buddy."

"Funny." Duke hadn't been joking, but Nathan's retort wasn't wholly bitter, and he even thought there might've been a hint of amusement in the curl of Nathan's lips.

"I left your kit bag back at the Gull in all the..." He gestured at Nathan's towel-clad state. "Sorry."

"Saved the town," Nathan said. "Saved the Troubled person." Apparently that was worth it.

A horn sounded, cutting through the thick air as Audrey's rental car pulled to a halt, sides muddied and much the worse for wear. Further down the road, sirens were approaching. "Nathan!" Audrey greeted with a delighted grin. As she passed him a pair of pants through the window, it turned into an outright leer. "Hard to be a Chief of Police without these... Haul 'em on, Wuornos, because I for one am glad this mess is about to become your mess and I don't have to play Acting Police Chief Parker anymore."

***

Having hands back was well worth the trade-off of not being able to feel them. Nathan smiled at his fingers and then splayed them on the desk. Then he picked up a pen. There was so much paperwork to do, and Audrey's organisational methods were a horror.

He'd thought it would be awkward to make the transformation back, to talk to Duke and Audrey again after they knew he'd got himself changed into the damn hare. But in the end, it had all blurred into the chaos. There'd been too much to do to even think about that part. Now, he was just back. He liked being back.

Duke stuck his head around the door. "I thought you'd want to know your little friend is reunited with her mom again at the hospital. I waited while they dealt with the damage, so the kid had some company, didn't have to see--" His face scrunched up and he shook his head, shook it away. "Though you also might like to know she did ask about her friend Mister Bunny Man."

Nathan gave him a look.

"...No, I thought not," Duke said.

"What did she lose?" Audrey asked, coming in, manoeuvring Duke bodily out of blocking the open door.

"They think they can save the foot. It didn't explode, as such. A few toes are gone for sure, though, too much damage to the soft tissue. She seems to have mostly pulled it back. They said the tight boots she was wearing might've worked to at least keep everything together and minimise the damage." Duke looked suitably appalled by the words he was speaking. "Good thing Lucassi was on shift."

"What did you find?" Nathan asked Audrey.

Her face flattened with a severe lack of amusement. "Charity turned up at the Rev's church this morning. Begged for Driscoll to save her, to help her with her curse. He turned her out in front of the whole service. Not just for her Trouble... Her kid and her lifestyle featured pretty prominently in that bastard's off-the-cuff sermon, from what I hear..."

Nathan swallowed. It had never happened like that with him, but he'd tasted the Rev's rejection of him for his Trouble in smaller and less public ways for years.

"She almost went nuclear then and there, but pulled it together for the kid..."

"...Then took the kid out to a place far enough away to be safe and came right back to internalize the Rev's song in one big explosion to wipe out as much of this cursed little town as she could," Duke said, his smile sarcastic and bitter. He raised his eyebrows at Nathan. "Good thing the kid likes bunnies."

"...Yeah." Nathan did have to give him that one.

"You should go talk to her," Duke encouraged. "Seriously. Make the kid feel better."

"It doesn't work so well without the ears and the fluffy tail." Nathan shook his head. He was back in his office, he had work to do, and he was staying right here.

"Your loss. Could've had a friend for life."

Audrey laughed, recovering a fraction from her grimness. "I'm going to go catch up to Charity at the hospital before they discharge her, and run her across to Pastor Donnelly on the other side of town. He's not so hardline on the Troubles or the rest, and we need to make sure she keeps this Trouble under control."

"Just her and her kid travelling around in that camper should give as good an incentive for that as anything, if she can only take on board that being Troubled isn't the same as being evil. No matter what the Rev claims." Nathan frowned. "Pam could inherit her Trouble, too. She's going to need to teach her control."

"Well, I'm heading out to ensure damage limitation for the future. Wish me luck." Audrey departed the room again with an ironic wave, leaving Nathan with Duke.

"So, Nathan..." Duke ventured, breaking the resounding silence of their exchange of stares. "Temporary roomie. It looks like here's where we part ways. Guessing you're glad to be your old... Nathany... self again?" He wrung his hands and offered something like a smile, backing for the door.

Nathan stared at him and the last few days flashed again across his mind... The companionship, for all its annoying moments... The way Duke had always been careful to respect his space, even if he was an animal... The illicit evening back-rubs... "You run, don't you?" he asked, abruptly. "Or... exercise, you do... yoga. All that. So you might run."

Duke flailed with his hands and asked faintly, "Um, where are we headed here?" He looked like he might be experiencing a flicker of panic. Maybe Nathan had read him wrong.

"You don't have to," Nathan retracted. "But if you want to, I can pick you up tomorrow morning, and we'll head out over to that long stretch of bay at Creighton Sands. The tides should be right."

"Are you feeling well?" Duke asked, the bubble of incredulous laughter in his voice. "Being a bunny didn't scramble the cogs up there?"

Nathan sighed. "I'll miss... running," he asserted. "If you don't want to, then you don't. I just thought..." He gestured angrily at his desk. "Anyway. I have work to do. Don't you have a restaurant to manage?" He put his head down, aggressively, but Duke was still watching him when he glanced up several seconds later.

Duke showed his palms and backed away. He'd almost reached the door before he said, "I'll be ready, Nathan. Crack of dawn?"

Nathan nodded, and tried again to get his head back down to his work, but Duke still hovered in the door.

"Olive branch?" he suggested. "Or lettuce leaf?"

The bad joke made Nathan grimace, but somewhat to his surprise, he discovered that he could joke about it. Especially after Duke had unquestionably taken great care to look out for him, for the three days he hadn't been himself. "Some kind of salad crop," he allowed, attempting a small smile.

"Well, good." Duke's smile was not small, it was huge, all white teeth and unreserved jubilation. "...I will see you in the morning, Chief O'Hare..."

Nathan rolled his eyes and opened his mouth, but this time, Duke had already fled.

Enough about Duke. He shook that treacherous smile away. He'd had paws for three days, and now he had a lot of catching up to do.

END