Title: Dana (AU season 3)

Fandom: Haven
Pairing: Audrey Parker/Duke Crocker, Audrey Parker/Nathan Wuornos
Categories: AU
Length: Epic, 71,970
Warnings: Violence, touches of dubious consent due to the complexities of Audrey's changing identities.

Author on LJ: n/a
Author Website: audreythree on AO3

Summary: Two years after Audrey Parker disappeared... Dana Bellamy rides into town.

Review:
This is my first rec here and I feel like I'm starting with a bit of a cheat, because this epic rec is actually three stories. But I find it very hard to separate out parts #1 Dana and #3 Audrey from each other: one picks up exactly where the other ends, and really it's two parts of one long fic to me, and #2 Ricochet is a delightful little fill-in for the backstory of this particular canon divergence.

This is one of the 'Audrey comes back to Haven with a new name (and new hair) and no memory of Duke and Nathan' fics that abounded after the finales to seasons 2 and 3 (this one season 2), so it's thoroughly Jossed now, with a different interpretation of the working of Duke's curse, among other things, but still so worth the read. (It has a few things in common with season 4, in fact: I think this is one fic that called the show on a few things.) It's also highly overlooked in this fandom, perhaps because it simply doesn't categorise well: isn't Audrey/Nathan or Audrey/Duke but both, when so many fans are all for one or the other, and isn't the popular Audrey/Duke/Nathan OT3 either but approaches more of a V relationship with a solid friendship between the two men.

The story follows Dana, the newcomer to Haven, rediscovering the Troubles and her abilities to help stop the Troubles, and rediscovering Duke and Nathan at the same time, wrapping up with its own conclusions and revelations about Haven's secrets.

The main reason for reading, the characterisation in this is gorgeous, complex and human, and the interactions between the three leads. I like the touches with Nathan, in particular -- in part 1, from an outsider point of view that doesn't like him -- his portrayal subtle and heartbreaking. This is a darker, different Duke than in canon, changed by circumstances, but not changed so very much. The new face of Audrey, Dana, is a strong and convincing personality in her own right. The relationship between the two men isn't portrayed as sexual (yet, although as a fan of the pairing I'm always thinking, hey, it can go there) but the links between them are so obviously strong, that they can continue to find a connection and not a source of friction in their love for the same woman.

Dana (AU season 3)