Honesty Chapter XXI
Title: Honesty (21)
Author:
snarkyandsparky
Catagory: Angst, humour, romance
Rating: NC:17
Pairing: Jack/Nathan
Word Count: 6,263.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I like to play with them once in a while...
Author's Note:
coke_monkey is my beta and we love her for it. Thanks for doing a tremendous job on this . Also the awesome icon above is the work of
kei_rinwe thank her for her mad skillz.
Summary: Complications and Commitments
chapter 20
Ten minutes later, Nathan was leading Jack into another room on Level 4 where they found Henry already speaking to another scientist. Jack moved in a wide circle around the large boxlike structure that dominated the room. It was painted red with smaller grey panels, all of which was surrounded by a translucent bubble that was slightly distorting its features.
“This is the controller?” Jack was sceptical.
Nathan nodded, glancing up from his tablet PC. “Yes it was built to mimic the design for a wind generator.”
“Uh, this may be a stupid question, but why?” Jack asked
“Easier to smuggle out of Eureka’s perimeter?” Henry offered.
Jack shook his head, musing to himself that Eureka’s scientists never ceased to amaze him. He added, “Well one thing we do know, Dr. Malcolm has a sense of humour.”
“How do you deduce that?” Nathan asked without looking up from his PC tablet.
“Check out his control panel.”
Nathan and Henry came around to stand next to Jack and read the tiny brick red panel holding a dial, which had a different word written at each 36 degree mark.
Breezy Windy Very Windy Chicago Surrender Dorothy
“Tell me that’s not funny.” Jack said smiling slightly.
Henry shook his head, “This machine has been causing the havoc all over Eureka, Jack.”
“No your KC whatever has been doing that.” Jack countered, still smiling at the tiny painting of a blonde girl in pig-tails depicted next to the ‘Surrender Dorothy’ button.
“This controls the KCA.” Nathan reminded him.
That made Jack stop smiling for a moment.
“Is stupid contagious Dr. Stark?” Dr. Gobin, the white coat who’d been speaking with Henry, asked nonchalantly as he came to stand next to Nathan. He rolled his eyes at the Sheriff slightly, expecting Stark to share his disdain.
“Hey, I’m standing right here!” Jack said indignantly.
Stark answered Dr. Gobin cheerfully, “No but fired is, get back to work.”
Looking confused, Dr. Gobin instantly averted his eyes and backed away.
Raising an eyebrow Jack quipped, “Did you just stand up for me?”
“He was in my personal space.” Nathan deadpanned without looking up at him.
“Right.”
~~*~~
Back in the Director’s Office, Nathan sat behind his desk, calmly facing Allison, the General and Henry. Fargo sat in the corner squinting at his laptop, while Jack was again standing by the glass, looking down at the activity below.
General Grant, Henry and Allison’s quiet discussions halted when Jack spoke, “So we find this thing, have Henry put up a big force field around it and that’s it?” His voice thoughtfully optimistic; while annoyed that he had been kept in the dark for so long at least now the end was in sight. Soon Eureka would be free of this particular danger.
Henry nodded and offered “Theoretically yes, just on a much larger scale, since this signal is unhindered.
Jack noted that Allison and Nathan had remained quiet and were having their own silent conversation with their eyes. “What?” he asked Allison.
“You’re right, that is the plan of action here, Carter,” Allison said, but only after trading another small glance with Nathan
Jack nodded, “So let’s get to work on finding this thing. The faster we do that, faster we can destroy the whole damn thing and be done with it.”
When no one answered him he added, “Right?” The silence that met him held in the air for a full minute.
Finally Henry stood, shook his head, patted Jack on the arm and then left the room. The silence got louder and only Jack’s confusion compelled him to break it.
“What?”
It was General Grant who spoke, “This project belongs to the DoD Sheriff Carter and there will be no destruction of DoD property on my watch. Despite Eureka’s previous problems with this experiment, Dr. Stark has assured me that we can trust him in this matter.”
“What do you mean?” Jack was positive the General wasn’t saying what he thought he was saying.
“Our job is to find the signal and destroy that.” Nathan clarified, his eyes on Allison as he answered.
“Then what?” Jack needed it to be explicitly stated.
“Then the DoD will take over.” Allison added, glancing over at Jack.
“Meaning?” he felt something heavy drop into the pit of his stomach and he just knew that this is what Nathan had been going to tell him earlier. He wanted them to say it; actually he wanted Nathan to say it.
Allison fell quiet as Jack turned away from her to face Nathan, “Nathan?”
Nathan cleared his throat and answered neutrally, “The ATP will be fully reactivated and given Level 5 clearance at GD.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. “ Jack had seen it coming but hearing it said so unemotionally disturbed him to a higher degree. “They’re going to weaponise the damn thing?” The calmness and optimism that was previously in his voice had vanished, “How the hell can they…” By this time he was spluttering with his indignation and was quickly becoming angry.
The General sat up stiffly in his chair, clearly not in the mood to argue, “Sheriff Carter, the fact remains that the KC ATP is capable of manipulating any signal within its reach and has great stealth potential. If this power could be focused, it would be infallible on a battle field.”
“Doesn’t the military already have scramblers that can do that?” Jack interjected.
“Yes” he admitted, “but this signal is untraceable.”
Jack fell silent, trying hard not to lose his temper.
As the silence rose around them the General glanced at his watch and stood, “I have to get going, Dr. Stark make sure and keep me informed of any progress.” As he exited he paused at the doorway, nodding to Allison, “I will see you at Tesla in an hours time Dr. Blake. I am looking forward to see what the students come up with for the Heisenberg this year,” and left the room.
There was silence as Jack stared at Nathan, who met his eyes briefly before turning away to face Allison, “Allison what manpower do we have available to us?”
Before she could answer Jack had interrupted, “You’re really going to let them do this? You’re going to hand over the machine that killed two people in this town and almost killed me…to the Department of Defence and allow them to keep it here and turn it into a weapon?”
“Jack…” Allison started.
“The military will do anything to get this technology under their control.” A voice bitterly replied from behind Jack.
Jack’s head shot up to see Henry standing in the doorway, he had returned after the General had exited.
“And you, Henry, how could you of all people go along with this? You must have seen this coming when you agreed to help them.” Jack couldn’t help but ask.
Henry shook his head exasperatedly, “I was doing Nathan a favour, Jack. There is nothing in me that wants to see this technology, or any such technology for that matter, turned into the military’s newest weapon.”
“Then when he asks you…” Jack turned here to glance pointedly at Nathan, “…you say no. Look…” he turned to face Nathan angrily again, “…you just figure out how to contain it when the signal shows itself again.” He turned to Henry and said pointedly, “You and I are going to figure out where in Eureka this thing is.”
As Nathan made to interrupt, Jack refused to let him, “No you had your chance, just do your science thing and figure it out before it hurts someone else. Then we can worry about the DoD.”
“Jack you can’t seriously expect Nathan to go up against…” Allison began, but Jack cut her off with an angry glare.
She tried again, “Jack, Nathan has no…”
He ignored her completely and turned to face Nathan, “I don’t care what you have to do, just be ready when we find the signal.” With one last glance at Allison, Jack exited the room.
After he left, Henry stayed for a moment, watching for Nathan’s reaction. The Director nodded in Henry’s direction saying softly, “Go with him, help him track it and take Fargo with you.”
Silently Henry and Fargo left.
Nathan turned in his chair to face Allison, shaking his head slightly he held her worried gaze. It was going to be a long day.
~~*~~~
One hour later Nathan was striding into the main hall at Tesla high school. Although he would not have time to stay and watch the Heisenberg competition he had come along with Allison to help Zoe set up her project as promised.
Making his way over to the table with her name - he found it empty. Glancing at his watch he quickly scanned the room, but could not locate the younger Carter. Five minutes later after a short conversation with the project manager of the competition, Nathan’s blood pressure rose as he stormed out of the room and made his way down to the Computational Analysis classroom.
He quickly entered the classroom labelled ‘Computational Analysis and Its Applications - Dr. A. Bascom’ and evaluated its occupants. Zoe was perched on a desk in the far corner of the classroom. Her back was to him and her arms folded in front of her - she appeared distinctly pissed off. Dr. Bascom, the coding theory teacher, sat at her desk with her lips pursed as she flipped through what he recognised to be a hard copy of Zoe’s data output readings for her Heisenberg project. She and Nathan had put that final copy together themselves only last week.
Clearing his throat to get their attention, he proceeded up to the front desk. Nathan glanced at Zoe, who looked initially surprised to see him there, but then gave him a ‘can you believe it?’ roll of her eyes and nodded in her teacher’s direction.
He stopped in front of the teacher’s desk; apparently she had not heard him enter. Pushing his hands deep into his pants pockets he cleared his throat again and waited expectantly.
Looking up to see what was blocking her light, Dr. Bascom nearly jumped out of her skin as she exclaimed, “Dr. Stark! What are you doing here?” She quickly stood and came around the desk to shake Nathan’s hand. “What can I do for you?”
“What is going on here?” Nathan asked simply, giving a small nod in Zoe’s direction.
Angela Bascom faltered for a moment, her eyes glancing between Zoe and Stark; she didn’t have the slightest idea why the Director of Global Dynamics was currently standing in her classroom enquiring about Ms. Carter. Finding her tongue she said uncertainly, “I asked that Zoe Carter’s father be called in to deal with this Dr. Stark, I am not entirely sure why…”
Nathan gave a careless wave of his hand and cut her off. “The Heisenberg commences in under an hour and Zoe Carter’s table is completely vacant, some sort of explanation seems in order Dr. Bascom.”
She gave a sigh, as though exasperated that he had been unnecessarily troubled with this. “I'm sorry they bothered you Dr. Stark, let me assure you that this is way below your level of concern. I can deal with this when Zoe’s father, that’s Sheriff Carter, gets here. We can give the display space to someone else.” She threw a slight glare at Zoe, as if it were her fault the head of G.D. had wasted his valuable time to come down here. She then smiled at Nathan as though he would be pleased to give the available space to another, more deserving student.
Zoe opened her mouth to retort angrily, but a glance from Nathan and slight low motion of his left hand stopped her. She instead clamped down her mouth and turned her head to glare out the window again, although it was crystal clear to him that she was itching to say something, probably rude, in her own defence.
“You may be surprised as to what ranks on my level of concern today Dr. Bascom,” Nathan said coolly.
Zoe attempted and failed miserably to hide a small smile of satisfaction, while still facing the window.
Nodding as though she understood this, Dr. Bascom turned back quickly to her desk to retrieve the booklet she had been perusing distastefully when he had first walked in. As the coding teacher turned away from him Nathan walked over to the teenager and keeping his eyes out the window he asked quietly, “You alright?”
“She’s a total maniac, besides that I'm just awesome, Nate.” Zoe said with a roll of her eye, but giving him a small grateful smile. Zoe could tell just from just his tone that, unlike her dad, Nathan was already 100% that sure she hadn’t done anything wrong. He was on her side from the moment he had walked in the door. Despite knowing that she had given her Dad enough reason to be doubtful in these situations, she was still inexplicably grateful that Nathan didn’t even remotely question her innocence here.
He gave her a small nod in return and walked back to the desk; meeting Dr. Bascom as she came back over to him, holding out the booklet.
Nathan waved it off. “What is this about? And I’d appreciate it if you kept the explanation short as I don’t have a lot of free time today.”
“Yes sir. “ Dr. Bascom replied quickly, “Ms. Carter’s project for the Quantum Computation Project was an analysis for a theoretical movement of Non-Newtonian Hydrodynamic Moments of Protogenes.” She stopped and gave a tired sigh before continuing, “This would have been an exciting new step into molecular palaeontology.”
Nathan nodded; he agreed fully. “I fail to see the problem.”
“Well, Dr Stark,” she said lowering her voice, -the results that Zoe Carter produced are way beyond her ability and one can only surmise that…”
“Did she provide accuracy reports?” Nathan cut across her sentence and knowing full well that he had told Zoe how to go about creating those.
“Yes! I did! She just-“ Zoe shot at her teacher from across the room, clearly utterly frustrated.
Nathan’s hand silently flickered again and she fell quiet.
The teacher totally ignored her outburst and continued with the Director, “Yes Dr. Stark, but there was no way that Ms. Carter would have been able to produce those results herself, they would take years of sorting and re-calibrating experimental output data from an existing experiment.” She lowered her voice again and added. “Something she does not have access to.”
“Ah.” Nathan said simply, seeing the issue.
Dr.. Bascom gave a satisfied smile. “Exactly Dr. Stark so she must have either cheated or simply fabricated the results. Hence the entire project must be scrapped as her output data is entirely worthless and a waste of time to anyone.”
She glanced at the teenager, expecting her to be ready to confess, only to find Zoe was watching her with slight pity. Slightly confused she turned back to the Director, expecting to hear that she had been right to ban Zoe from the competition and that she should be suspended from all other competitions for the rest of the year as punishment, at the very least.
She was wrong, his eyes were cool as they focused on her, and held a trace of slight irritation.
Looking Dr. Bascom in the eye, Nathan held out his hand motioning for the booklet, which she eagerly handed over.
Nathan watched Zoe as he opened the booklet and slowly thumbed through the first five pages, knowing by heart what he was looking for. Folding back the cover he turned his gaze back to the teacher and handed the booklet back.
She was confused, “Sir?” she asked questioningly.
“Did you read the acknowledgements section of Zoe Carter’s project Dr. Bascom?” he voice was even, his tone bordering on impatience.
“No…” she admitted reluctantly, “…but I hardly…”
“Please read it.” he cut across softly.
Confused but doing as she was told she read aloud, irritation in her voice, “I’d like to firstly thank-” her irritation turning to disbelief at this point, ”Dr. Nathan Stark , the Director of Global Dynamics, Eureka, for the use of an …” She stopped reading and looked up, her words faltering as she stammered at Nathan, “but…”
“Didn’t Ms. Carter explain this to you?” Nathan asked. Slight irritation and anger were clear in his voice, although his face remained the picture of indifference.
“Why … she mentioned that the…but I…” Dr. Bascom stammered, glancing between Zoe and Stark.
“You thought she was lying.” Nathan said simply.
Regaining her composure Dr. Bascom raised herself to her full height, which still only reached Nathan's third shirt button, and said in a crisp voice of disbelief, “Dr. Stark don’t be ridiculous, an Implicator with its genetic Initiator?” she huffed her growing irritation. “We both know that technology was only pioneered by you five years ago and that no others exist either in Eureka or the entire United States. Therefore, they certainly wouldn’t be one available to a teenager without a connection to Global Dynamics.”
Taking a breath she continued her rant, “And while Ms. Carter did show some interest in your research at the beginning of the project I fail to see how you can possibly excuse her for using your name as a source with her inability to produce accurate work!”
Nathan patiently waited for the small rant to finish, before slipping his hands back into his pockets, and glancing at Zoe. The teenager was once again shaking her head in disbelief. Nathan returned his attention to Dr. Bascom who was waiting for his response.
“I gave her the Implicator. “ Nathan said coldly, locking eyes with the coding teacher.
“You…you what? Excuse me?” The dumbfounded teacher asked.
Nathan folded his arms in front of him and continued, “She isn’t lying, and neither are her results fabricated. We have both been working on this project, as allowed by the Heisenberg rules, together for the past 3 months. Her results, all of which are her own analysis, are actually quite thought-provoking, and will no doubt be put to some further study at Global Dynamics this summer.”
“You helped her with…you gave a teenager a device that took years and millions…?” Clearly Dr. Bascom only heard the first sentence.
Nathan rolled his eyes, glancing at his watch as his impatience finally won and he called out to the teenager. “Zoe?”
“Yea?”
“Go set up your project, I’ll be upstairs shortly to help. You have 45 minutes until judging begins, however I can probably convince Dr. Blake and General Grant to give you another 15 minutes.”
“Thanks Na-Dr. Stark.” she said with an over-exaggerated sigh before hopping off the desk and exiting the classroom before her teacher could object.
She didn’t have to bother, Dr. Bascom was properly stunned into silence, more so by the fact that the head of G.D. was on a first name basis with her student, than at being wrong.
Nathan waited until he was sure Zoe had exited the classroom before turning back to the teacher. “I suspect you owe your student an apology Dr. Bascom.” He said simply as he handed back the booklet. He then added, “And an ‘A’ for some exceptionally brilliant work…especially for someone without that, ah… link to Global Dynamics?”
By now Dr. Bascom was nodding vaguely as she clutched the booklet to her chest. Nathan heard heavy familiar footsteps approaching the classroom. He glanced back at the door and added quietly, “And I am assuming that you also fail to see the link between Ms. Carter and myself, which is why you did not believe her and completely dismissed the idea that I would give her access to my personally classified materials.”
She nodded numbly.
Nathan nodded to the door slightly, “That link is about to walk through those doors. I suggest that you have a very good reason for disturbing him from work today and detaining his daughter with no viable rationale, other than of course your own biases.”
Shaking his head at how even amongst the faculty the thought of norms was propagated; Nathan turned and exited the classroom leaving an open-mouthed Dr. Bascom behind.
As he reached the door he saw Jack hurriedly approaching him, his hands in the pocket of his leather jacket, his forehead creased in concern. When he looked up and saw Nathan, his expression crossed between a slight scowl and surprise; clearly he was still smarting over their last meeting.
“I got a message from the school saying there was a problem with Zoe. What did she do now?” Jack asked, avoiding his eyes.
“She hasn’t done anything,” Nathan corrected him a little more sharply than was probably necessary. He motioned behind him to the classroom doors, “Dr. Bascom will explain, I’m needed upstairs.”
Leaving a confused Jack to walk into the classroom, Nathan turned and headed up the stairwell.
~~*~~
That night…
Nathan was in his office staring intently at the tablet screen on his desk, replaying a dozen plausible scenarios of energy field constructions. He had spent the day between here and Level 4 trying to imagine every plausible scenario and option for dealing with the KCA and it’s housing with minimal potential damage to its local environment. He had spent long relentless hours in predictability programs trying to pinpoint its source and gauging at what strength it may be operating - all of which would clue him into a means of identifying its presence.
Looking up, hearing the soft knock at his door, he found Allison watching him carefully. As they held eye contact, Nathan knew that unlike Jack, he did not have to explain himself to her concerning this. Allison had been in this business long enough to know the rules and understand the politics of his position. She entered and perched on his desk, taking in the tiredness in his eyes and the firm set of his mouth.
“Any luck?
He shook his head and asked softly, “Where’s Henry?”
“On Level 4 updating his readings, he is planning on taking field readings tonight and comparing against those taken a month ago.”
Nathan nodded, “He’s hoping the radion levels show themselves.”
She nodded. Giving a small sigh she stood and placed a small memory chip on the center of his desk saying, “I thought you might want to see this.”
~~*~~
One hour later,
As Zoe sprawled out on the couch doing her homework, S.A.R.A.H. announced that Dr. Stark was at the door. After asking S.A.R.A.H. to let Nathan into the bunker she smiled and offered amiably as he came into view, “Hey.”
Nathan took off his outer coat and came around to stand in front of the couch, looking at her expectantly.
She rolled her eyes, “2nd place, I think they’re starting to call me the 2nd place kid.”
Nathan smiled, “Allison told me.”
Zoe tried hard to suppress the grin but wasn’t doing a very good job of it. The corners of her mouth were lifting upwards, “I’d hug you but, you know…”
Nathan grinned, “Well done Zoe and we’ll get the Heather’s next semester.”
Zoe grinned broadly, “See this is why I like you - we understand each other.”
Nathan offered a rare genuine smile. Looking around he asked, “Where’s your dad?”
“Upstairs,” she said waving vaguely behind her, “You should go find him before he burns dinner.”
Nathan instead took a seat facing the teenager and pulled an envelope from his inner pocket with two short stemmed white roses. “Allison asked me to present you with this cheque, she said that there wasn’t time with all the chaos happening this afternoon at Tesla?”
Zoe grinned and rolled her eyes, “Well the Heathers won, of course, but some kid who tried to use the application for planet orbitations lost control of the demonstration and things just got real crazy after that.”
Nathan grinned standing, “I bet, but 2nd place is great. I’m very…” He was cut off by Jack thundering down the stairs two at a time.
Barely acknowledging Nathan with a nod, he made his way into the kitchen calling out, “You were cheated!”
Zoe smiled and rolled her eyes at her father’s usual rant, and then turned back to Nathan. She didn’t seem to notice the slight coldness between the two men.
Nathan just smiled and turned back to her, feeling a bit unsure in what he was previously going to say. He really wanted to tell her that he was proud of the way she had handled herself today. The chip Allison had left him showed the footage taken at the competition earlier in the day. Zoe had handled most of the questions thrown at her with ease.
He held out his hand for her to shake it, Zoe eyed it for a moment then glancing up at him she slipped off the couch to face him. She glanced around Nathan to make sure her Dad was facing away from them, and then quickly moved into him squeezing slightly. A muffled “Thanks,” was said against his chest.
Nathan couldn’t help the smile or the feeling of pride that started to grow exponentially in his chest and course through him as he returned the hug a little awkwardly. He added softly, “And the roses are from me…” At this he felt her tighten her hold on him fractionally.
“Really, thanks for all of it Nate; first the project and then today with Dr. Bascom…” The words were spoken low but Zoe tilted her chin up to look at him as she spoke, the look in her eyes speaking volumes as well. Zoe wasn’t used to showing such open affection, but there was something about Nathan. Ever since that night they spent talking in Jack’s hospital room, it had been easier for her to open up with him.
“Anytime.” He promised quietly, truly meaning it.
It was in that moment Nathan felt the first genuine fatherly rush towards Zoe. For years to come he’d remember it. With Kevin, it had been when he was four and stood in the doorway of Nathan’s office at home, silently waiting for the man to stop writing so he could ask him to make him a sandwich since Allison was late in coming home. Nathan had looked up only by chance to see the small child facing him unsure of what to do. Nathan had made the sandwich and not yet quite comfortable with how to interact with the small boy on his own, they had fallen into silence. After a few moments Kevin had scrambled onto his knee and Nathan had continued working, with Kevin asking him questions about what he was writing. Nathan had begun absentmindedly telling him about Archimedes. It soon became their night-time ritual.
This was that moment for Nathan with Zoe, her shining eyes and hesitant smile couldn’t quite hide the pride contained within. She had pulled back but his hand was still resting heavily on her shoulder when Jack walked in.
“They like modelled a black hole or something.” She rattled on gleefully about the Heathers. “Dunno, don’t care. 2nd place was a cash prize.”
“Goes in the bank for college.” Jack said pointedly, making Nathan aware that he was in the room.
Zoe rolled her eyes, “Okay fine. How long until dinner Dad? I told Pilar I’d be at her place by 7.”
Jack shrugged, “Probably half an hour.”
She threw Nathan a look and said with minimal amusement, “He’s freaking out S.A.R.A.H. by cooking himself.” She settled herself back on the couch and slipped back on her headphones, tuning back into her schoolwork.
Jack turned and went back into the kitchen without saying a word. Nathan followed, resting his briefcase down on the island next to where Jack was chopping carrots.
“Staying for dinner?” Jack asked, not quite meeting his eyes.
Nathan didn’t immediately answer, he just watched the blonde man chopping the carrots with more force than necessary. “You’re still angry.” He concluded softly.
Jack looked up to meet his gaze, his blue eyes glinting . “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Nathan nodded.
Jack watched him for a moment, sighed and then continued, “However, I understand your position.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, “Jack stopped butchering the veggies long enough to look at him, “But I don’t have to be happy about it.”
Nathan nodded, he agreed,” I’m heading back to Global; I just came to congratulate Zoe and drop off the cheque.”
Jack nodded. He wasn’t quite able to let go of his anger as yet and still did not have any desire to rehash the situation. He was afraid he may begin to yell if he tried, so instead he just offered, “It’s been an incredibly long day and it’s not over yet. I’m holding on for Jo at the station tonight and S.A.R.A.H. has burnt everything she’s tried to cook this afternoon.”
Nathan nodded, “I’ll have Fargo take a look at her.”
“Thanks.” Taking a deep breath and trying to act normal Jack offered. “So I hear you saved the day, saving Zoe from the wrath of Angela Bascom and then convincing General Grant to give her time to set up the experiment. Impressive.”
Nathan shrugged, “Bascom was out of line, you would have cleared it up just as quickly.”
Jack shook his head, “Doubt it, I’m not a Dr. anything. Anyway, Zoe and I really appreciate it.”
Nathan nodded, hesitated for a minute then stepped forward.
Jack automatically stopped cutting and angled his face up to meet him in a brief brush of their lips.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Nathan said quietly before picking back up his briefcase and turning to go as Jack continued to watch after him.
As the door closed behind Nathan, Zoe caught her father’s eye. She slipped off her headphones and commented easily, “Are you two fighting?”
To which Jack replied, “How about you let me worry about it and you do your homework?”
Rolling her eyes and glancing at the two perfect white roses on the coffee table she put back on her headphones and made a mental note to check in with Nathan tomorrow.
----
3: 25 AM
Using the key Nathan had put in his pocket earlier; Jack let himself into the house and silently made his way through the darkness, up the stairs and across the corridor into the main bedroom. The moonlight from the windows, gave him just enough visibility to make out Nathan asleep on his right side, his hand curled under the pillow.
As quietly as he could manage, Jack quickly kicked off his shoes and shed his uniform shirt. He hadn’t planned on coming here, but after hearing what had actually happened in the Tesla classroom from Zoe over dinner, getting back home to an empty house, and then finding the key in his pocket when he’d started to change his clothes - Jack had changed his mind and driven over.
Slipping beneath the sheets Jack pressed lightly against Nathan's bare back, letting his left arm slip across the warm body to the man’s stomach. His lips nuzzled against the sleeping man’s neck as he softly murmured into his ear. “Wake up.”
His hand slipped upwards to rub possessively against Nathan’s chest as he pulled him firmly back against his own body. Jack’s head ducked down to kiss the back of Nathan’s neck again, breathing against him and taking in his scent, causing him to shift in his sleep. Jack’s hand slid down his chest, touching lightly over the material of his track pants - causing another shift. Hs nose nudged behind Nathan’s left ear, rubbing softly into his hair, muttering “Babe…” while his hand played low and firm on his stomach.
In the darkness surrounding them as the moon hid behind a cloud, Nathan shifted slightly at first, then turned instinctively into the warmth next to him and moved into Jack, burying his face deeply into his neck, tangling their legs together and letting one arm rest heavily on the waist now next to him..
Jack grinned and let his hand move upwards to thread his fingers thickly into the curls at the base of Nathan’s head and held him there for a moment, lulling the man into a deeper sleep against him. As Nathan’s breathing evened out again, Jack softly ran his hand down his back and slipped lower to slip under the waistband of his track pants.
Nathan muttered softly and his eyes fluttered.
“Oh sorry did I wake you?” Jack asked innocently as he watched.
At Jack’s playful voice Nathan's eyes opened suddenly and Jack could see the progression of his thoughts cross his face. He began slightly unsure as to who was in his bed touching him, and then grew to recognition, followed by a darker smouldering look.
That last look made Jack swallow hard. In all honesty he had half expected Nathan to roll his eyes and tell him to let him sleep.
Nathan’s only response was to thread his hand roughly into Jack’s hair and drag him up closer into a deep kiss, his other hand immediately pulling at the waist of Jacks pants.
Nathan’s intensity and the power of his kiss halted any further thoughts whatsoever in Jack’s brain. His heart began racing as he could feel the passion pouring off of the man next to him as his hands roamed possessively in the dark.
Jack was just being playful- waking him up to make love after a long day of arguing, but there was something more desperate in Nathan’s manner and Jack was quickly getting lost in it. Nathan soon had him panting with every touch as his fingers moved fluidly across his body
“Slow down.” Jack gasped breathlessly as he threaded his fingers back through the other man’s hair and slowing the kiss, wanting to enjoy every moment of this after such a rollercoaster of a day. After Nathan had left him at the bunker he had spent five hours with Henry and Fargo, fruitlessly checking readings all over Eureka to see if they could find a way to track the inertial signal.
Nathan nodded against Jack’s lips and moved down to his neck spreading open-mouthed kisses; Jack could feel his heartbeat pounding relentlessly against his own. He quickly broke away, pulled off his jersey and tugged at Nathan's tracks, just wanting to feel the man laying next to him.
“You’re still angry.” He heard Nathan murmur into his ear, his lips again skimming there. It wasn’t a question, it was simply a statement.
“I’m still not happy about your choices.” Jack assured him, staring into the darkness, even as he spoke his fingers were tracing across Nathan's stomach, “But when have we ever agreed on something to do with Global? Given the chance I’d blow up the entire of Level 5. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
Jack was finding it harder to talk as Nathan moved lower, his forehead pressed against Jack’s upper chest, his hands hot and roaming insistently over his body in the dark. Jack gave up on talking altogether and ended with a groan of, “Eureka might blow up tomorrow, and sleeping without you tonight just wasn’t an option.”
Nathan smiled against his chest, relief coursing through his body at Jack’s words. He had honestly expected to be sleeping alone for a long while after today’s arguments.
Jack could feel him smile and for some reason it made his mouth go dry and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to feel that unbridled passion Nathan had woke up with. Dragging Nathan back up to kiss him, they began a heated struggled to free themselves from the confines of their clothing.
Nathan kissed him hard, even as he responded thickly, knowing it had to be said, “I have no control over what the General does with the KCA.”
“We’ll see.” Jack breathed out, his hand fumbling for the string of the lamp on the bedside next to Nathan’s head, so he could see what he was doing; he added with a groan, “Who triple ties knots on track pants?”
Nathan rested his hands over Jack’s slowing his progress, making the man look down at him. Nathan raised his right hand to cradle Jack’s cheek, looking him in the eye, making all their movements slow down.
Despite the gentleness of the touch, Jack’s heart began to race harder than before; he could hear it echoing in his ears, in the darkness surrounding them. He could feel that Nathan was about to say something important.
As Nathan’s lips parted, Jack ducked down and kissed him softly, touching him reassuringly, but not ready to hear it all the same.
Nathan froze against him and debated whether to pull back and say what he’d wanted to for days now. All thoughts ceased though as Jack’s tongue slipped past his lips and stroked his tongue gently. He knew what Jack was telling him without any words.
As Jack’s hands moved to hold his waist firmly and pull them together roughly; Nathan heard the unspoken words in every movement between them. For tonight this was enough. As Jack's lips moved across his neck and painfully slowly down his chest, Nathan reached out and turned off the lamp. He closed his eyes and yielded to the sensations, letting him touch and explore.
It was what they both needed tonight.
chapter 22
Author:
snarkyandsparky
Catagory: Angst, humour, romance
Rating: NC:17
Pairing: Jack/Nathan
Word Count: 6,263.
Disclaimer: I don't own them, but I like to play with them once in a while...
Author's Note:
coke_monkey is my beta and we love her for it. Thanks for doing a tremendous job on this . Also the awesome icon above is the work of
kei_rinwe thank her for her mad skillz.
Summary: Complications and Commitments
chapter 20
Ten minutes later, Nathan was leading Jack into another room on Level 4 where they found Henry already speaking to another scientist. Jack moved in a wide circle around the large boxlike structure that dominated the room. It was painted red with smaller grey panels, all of which was surrounded by a translucent bubble that was slightly distorting its features.
“This is the controller?” Jack was sceptical.
Nathan nodded, glancing up from his tablet PC. “Yes it was built to mimic the design for a wind generator.”
“Uh, this may be a stupid question, but why?” Jack asked
“Easier to smuggle out of Eureka’s perimeter?” Henry offered.
Jack shook his head, musing to himself that Eureka’s scientists never ceased to amaze him. He added, “Well one thing we do know, Dr. Malcolm has a sense of humour.”
“How do you deduce that?” Nathan asked without looking up from his PC tablet.
“Check out his control panel.”
Nathan and Henry came around to stand next to Jack and read the tiny brick red panel holding a dial, which had a different word written at each 36 degree mark.
Breezy Windy Very Windy Chicago Surrender Dorothy
“Tell me that’s not funny.” Jack said smiling slightly.
Henry shook his head, “This machine has been causing the havoc all over Eureka, Jack.”
“No your KC whatever has been doing that.” Jack countered, still smiling at the tiny painting of a blonde girl in pig-tails depicted next to the ‘Surrender Dorothy’ button.
“This controls the KCA.” Nathan reminded him.
That made Jack stop smiling for a moment.
“Is stupid contagious Dr. Stark?” Dr. Gobin, the white coat who’d been speaking with Henry, asked nonchalantly as he came to stand next to Nathan. He rolled his eyes at the Sheriff slightly, expecting Stark to share his disdain.
“Hey, I’m standing right here!” Jack said indignantly.
Stark answered Dr. Gobin cheerfully, “No but fired is, get back to work.”
Looking confused, Dr. Gobin instantly averted his eyes and backed away.
Raising an eyebrow Jack quipped, “Did you just stand up for me?”
“He was in my personal space.” Nathan deadpanned without looking up at him.
“Right.”
~~*~~
Back in the Director’s Office, Nathan sat behind his desk, calmly facing Allison, the General and Henry. Fargo sat in the corner squinting at his laptop, while Jack was again standing by the glass, looking down at the activity below.
General Grant, Henry and Allison’s quiet discussions halted when Jack spoke, “So we find this thing, have Henry put up a big force field around it and that’s it?” His voice thoughtfully optimistic; while annoyed that he had been kept in the dark for so long at least now the end was in sight. Soon Eureka would be free of this particular danger.
Henry nodded and offered “Theoretically yes, just on a much larger scale, since this signal is unhindered.
Jack noted that Allison and Nathan had remained quiet and were having their own silent conversation with their eyes. “What?” he asked Allison.
“You’re right, that is the plan of action here, Carter,” Allison said, but only after trading another small glance with Nathan
Jack nodded, “So let’s get to work on finding this thing. The faster we do that, faster we can destroy the whole damn thing and be done with it.”
When no one answered him he added, “Right?” The silence that met him held in the air for a full minute.
Finally Henry stood, shook his head, patted Jack on the arm and then left the room. The silence got louder and only Jack’s confusion compelled him to break it.
“What?”
It was General Grant who spoke, “This project belongs to the DoD Sheriff Carter and there will be no destruction of DoD property on my watch. Despite Eureka’s previous problems with this experiment, Dr. Stark has assured me that we can trust him in this matter.”
“What do you mean?” Jack was positive the General wasn’t saying what he thought he was saying.
“Our job is to find the signal and destroy that.” Nathan clarified, his eyes on Allison as he answered.
“Then what?” Jack needed it to be explicitly stated.
“Then the DoD will take over.” Allison added, glancing over at Jack.
“Meaning?” he felt something heavy drop into the pit of his stomach and he just knew that this is what Nathan had been going to tell him earlier. He wanted them to say it; actually he wanted Nathan to say it.
Allison fell quiet as Jack turned away from her to face Nathan, “Nathan?”
Nathan cleared his throat and answered neutrally, “The ATP will be fully reactivated and given Level 5 clearance at GD.”
“You’ve got to be kidding me. “ Jack had seen it coming but hearing it said so unemotionally disturbed him to a higher degree. “They’re going to weaponise the damn thing?” The calmness and optimism that was previously in his voice had vanished, “How the hell can they…” By this time he was spluttering with his indignation and was quickly becoming angry.
The General sat up stiffly in his chair, clearly not in the mood to argue, “Sheriff Carter, the fact remains that the KC ATP is capable of manipulating any signal within its reach and has great stealth potential. If this power could be focused, it would be infallible on a battle field.”
“Doesn’t the military already have scramblers that can do that?” Jack interjected.
“Yes” he admitted, “but this signal is untraceable.”
Jack fell silent, trying hard not to lose his temper.
As the silence rose around them the General glanced at his watch and stood, “I have to get going, Dr. Stark make sure and keep me informed of any progress.” As he exited he paused at the doorway, nodding to Allison, “I will see you at Tesla in an hours time Dr. Blake. I am looking forward to see what the students come up with for the Heisenberg this year,” and left the room.
There was silence as Jack stared at Nathan, who met his eyes briefly before turning away to face Allison, “Allison what manpower do we have available to us?”
Before she could answer Jack had interrupted, “You’re really going to let them do this? You’re going to hand over the machine that killed two people in this town and almost killed me…to the Department of Defence and allow them to keep it here and turn it into a weapon?”
“Jack…” Allison started.
“The military will do anything to get this technology under their control.” A voice bitterly replied from behind Jack.
Jack’s head shot up to see Henry standing in the doorway, he had returned after the General had exited.
“And you, Henry, how could you of all people go along with this? You must have seen this coming when you agreed to help them.” Jack couldn’t help but ask.
Henry shook his head exasperatedly, “I was doing Nathan a favour, Jack. There is nothing in me that wants to see this technology, or any such technology for that matter, turned into the military’s newest weapon.”
“Then when he asks you…” Jack turned here to glance pointedly at Nathan, “…you say no. Look…” he turned to face Nathan angrily again, “…you just figure out how to contain it when the signal shows itself again.” He turned to Henry and said pointedly, “You and I are going to figure out where in Eureka this thing is.”
As Nathan made to interrupt, Jack refused to let him, “No you had your chance, just do your science thing and figure it out before it hurts someone else. Then we can worry about the DoD.”
“Jack you can’t seriously expect Nathan to go up against…” Allison began, but Jack cut her off with an angry glare.
She tried again, “Jack, Nathan has no…”
He ignored her completely and turned to face Nathan, “I don’t care what you have to do, just be ready when we find the signal.” With one last glance at Allison, Jack exited the room.
After he left, Henry stayed for a moment, watching for Nathan’s reaction. The Director nodded in Henry’s direction saying softly, “Go with him, help him track it and take Fargo with you.”
Silently Henry and Fargo left.
Nathan turned in his chair to face Allison, shaking his head slightly he held her worried gaze. It was going to be a long day.
~~*~~~
One hour later Nathan was striding into the main hall at Tesla high school. Although he would not have time to stay and watch the Heisenberg competition he had come along with Allison to help Zoe set up her project as promised.
Making his way over to the table with her name - he found it empty. Glancing at his watch he quickly scanned the room, but could not locate the younger Carter. Five minutes later after a short conversation with the project manager of the competition, Nathan’s blood pressure rose as he stormed out of the room and made his way down to the Computational Analysis classroom.
He quickly entered the classroom labelled ‘Computational Analysis and Its Applications - Dr. A. Bascom’ and evaluated its occupants. Zoe was perched on a desk in the far corner of the classroom. Her back was to him and her arms folded in front of her - she appeared distinctly pissed off. Dr. Bascom, the coding theory teacher, sat at her desk with her lips pursed as she flipped through what he recognised to be a hard copy of Zoe’s data output readings for her Heisenberg project. She and Nathan had put that final copy together themselves only last week.
Clearing his throat to get their attention, he proceeded up to the front desk. Nathan glanced at Zoe, who looked initially surprised to see him there, but then gave him a ‘can you believe it?’ roll of her eyes and nodded in her teacher’s direction.
He stopped in front of the teacher’s desk; apparently she had not heard him enter. Pushing his hands deep into his pants pockets he cleared his throat again and waited expectantly.
Looking up to see what was blocking her light, Dr. Bascom nearly jumped out of her skin as she exclaimed, “Dr. Stark! What are you doing here?” She quickly stood and came around the desk to shake Nathan’s hand. “What can I do for you?”
“What is going on here?” Nathan asked simply, giving a small nod in Zoe’s direction.
Angela Bascom faltered for a moment, her eyes glancing between Zoe and Stark; she didn’t have the slightest idea why the Director of Global Dynamics was currently standing in her classroom enquiring about Ms. Carter. Finding her tongue she said uncertainly, “I asked that Zoe Carter’s father be called in to deal with this Dr. Stark, I am not entirely sure why…”
Nathan gave a careless wave of his hand and cut her off. “The Heisenberg commences in under an hour and Zoe Carter’s table is completely vacant, some sort of explanation seems in order Dr. Bascom.”
She gave a sigh, as though exasperated that he had been unnecessarily troubled with this. “I'm sorry they bothered you Dr. Stark, let me assure you that this is way below your level of concern. I can deal with this when Zoe’s father, that’s Sheriff Carter, gets here. We can give the display space to someone else.” She threw a slight glare at Zoe, as if it were her fault the head of G.D. had wasted his valuable time to come down here. She then smiled at Nathan as though he would be pleased to give the available space to another, more deserving student.
Zoe opened her mouth to retort angrily, but a glance from Nathan and slight low motion of his left hand stopped her. She instead clamped down her mouth and turned her head to glare out the window again, although it was crystal clear to him that she was itching to say something, probably rude, in her own defence.
“You may be surprised as to what ranks on my level of concern today Dr. Bascom,” Nathan said coolly.
Zoe attempted and failed miserably to hide a small smile of satisfaction, while still facing the window.
Nodding as though she understood this, Dr. Bascom turned back quickly to her desk to retrieve the booklet she had been perusing distastefully when he had first walked in. As the coding teacher turned away from him Nathan walked over to the teenager and keeping his eyes out the window he asked quietly, “You alright?”
“She’s a total maniac, besides that I'm just awesome, Nate.” Zoe said with a roll of her eye, but giving him a small grateful smile. Zoe could tell just from just his tone that, unlike her dad, Nathan was already 100% that sure she hadn’t done anything wrong. He was on her side from the moment he had walked in the door. Despite knowing that she had given her Dad enough reason to be doubtful in these situations, she was still inexplicably grateful that Nathan didn’t even remotely question her innocence here.
He gave her a small nod in return and walked back to the desk; meeting Dr. Bascom as she came back over to him, holding out the booklet.
Nathan waved it off. “What is this about? And I’d appreciate it if you kept the explanation short as I don’t have a lot of free time today.”
“Yes sir. “ Dr. Bascom replied quickly, “Ms. Carter’s project for the Quantum Computation Project was an analysis for a theoretical movement of Non-Newtonian Hydrodynamic Moments of Protogenes.” She stopped and gave a tired sigh before continuing, “This would have been an exciting new step into molecular palaeontology.”
Nathan nodded; he agreed fully. “I fail to see the problem.”
“Well, Dr Stark,” she said lowering her voice, -the results that Zoe Carter produced are way beyond her ability and one can only surmise that…”
“Did she provide accuracy reports?” Nathan cut across her sentence and knowing full well that he had told Zoe how to go about creating those.
“Yes! I did! She just-“ Zoe shot at her teacher from across the room, clearly utterly frustrated.
Nathan’s hand silently flickered again and she fell quiet.
The teacher totally ignored her outburst and continued with the Director, “Yes Dr. Stark, but there was no way that Ms. Carter would have been able to produce those results herself, they would take years of sorting and re-calibrating experimental output data from an existing experiment.” She lowered her voice again and added. “Something she does not have access to.”
“Ah.” Nathan said simply, seeing the issue.
Dr.. Bascom gave a satisfied smile. “Exactly Dr. Stark so she must have either cheated or simply fabricated the results. Hence the entire project must be scrapped as her output data is entirely worthless and a waste of time to anyone.”
She glanced at the teenager, expecting her to be ready to confess, only to find Zoe was watching her with slight pity. Slightly confused she turned back to the Director, expecting to hear that she had been right to ban Zoe from the competition and that she should be suspended from all other competitions for the rest of the year as punishment, at the very least.
She was wrong, his eyes were cool as they focused on her, and held a trace of slight irritation.
Looking Dr. Bascom in the eye, Nathan held out his hand motioning for the booklet, which she eagerly handed over.
Nathan watched Zoe as he opened the booklet and slowly thumbed through the first five pages, knowing by heart what he was looking for. Folding back the cover he turned his gaze back to the teacher and handed the booklet back.
She was confused, “Sir?” she asked questioningly.
“Did you read the acknowledgements section of Zoe Carter’s project Dr. Bascom?” he voice was even, his tone bordering on impatience.
“No…” she admitted reluctantly, “…but I hardly…”
“Please read it.” he cut across softly.
Confused but doing as she was told she read aloud, irritation in her voice, “I’d like to firstly thank-” her irritation turning to disbelief at this point, ”Dr. Nathan Stark , the Director of Global Dynamics, Eureka, for the use of an …” She stopped reading and looked up, her words faltering as she stammered at Nathan, “but…”
“Didn’t Ms. Carter explain this to you?” Nathan asked. Slight irritation and anger were clear in his voice, although his face remained the picture of indifference.
“Why … she mentioned that the…but I…” Dr. Bascom stammered, glancing between Zoe and Stark.
“You thought she was lying.” Nathan said simply.
Regaining her composure Dr. Bascom raised herself to her full height, which still only reached Nathan's third shirt button, and said in a crisp voice of disbelief, “Dr. Stark don’t be ridiculous, an Implicator with its genetic Initiator?” she huffed her growing irritation. “We both know that technology was only pioneered by you five years ago and that no others exist either in Eureka or the entire United States. Therefore, they certainly wouldn’t be one available to a teenager without a connection to Global Dynamics.”
Taking a breath she continued her rant, “And while Ms. Carter did show some interest in your research at the beginning of the project I fail to see how you can possibly excuse her for using your name as a source with her inability to produce accurate work!”
Nathan patiently waited for the small rant to finish, before slipping his hands back into his pockets, and glancing at Zoe. The teenager was once again shaking her head in disbelief. Nathan returned his attention to Dr. Bascom who was waiting for his response.
“I gave her the Implicator. “ Nathan said coldly, locking eyes with the coding teacher.
“You…you what? Excuse me?” The dumbfounded teacher asked.
Nathan folded his arms in front of him and continued, “She isn’t lying, and neither are her results fabricated. We have both been working on this project, as allowed by the Heisenberg rules, together for the past 3 months. Her results, all of which are her own analysis, are actually quite thought-provoking, and will no doubt be put to some further study at Global Dynamics this summer.”
“You helped her with…you gave a teenager a device that took years and millions…?” Clearly Dr. Bascom only heard the first sentence.
Nathan rolled his eyes, glancing at his watch as his impatience finally won and he called out to the teenager. “Zoe?”
“Yea?”
“Go set up your project, I’ll be upstairs shortly to help. You have 45 minutes until judging begins, however I can probably convince Dr. Blake and General Grant to give you another 15 minutes.”
“Thanks Na-Dr. Stark.” she said with an over-exaggerated sigh before hopping off the desk and exiting the classroom before her teacher could object.
She didn’t have to bother, Dr. Bascom was properly stunned into silence, more so by the fact that the head of G.D. was on a first name basis with her student, than at being wrong.
Nathan waited until he was sure Zoe had exited the classroom before turning back to the teacher. “I suspect you owe your student an apology Dr. Bascom.” He said simply as he handed back the booklet. He then added, “And an ‘A’ for some exceptionally brilliant work…especially for someone without that, ah… link to Global Dynamics?”
By now Dr. Bascom was nodding vaguely as she clutched the booklet to her chest. Nathan heard heavy familiar footsteps approaching the classroom. He glanced back at the door and added quietly, “And I am assuming that you also fail to see the link between Ms. Carter and myself, which is why you did not believe her and completely dismissed the idea that I would give her access to my personally classified materials.”
She nodded numbly.
Nathan nodded to the door slightly, “That link is about to walk through those doors. I suggest that you have a very good reason for disturbing him from work today and detaining his daughter with no viable rationale, other than of course your own biases.”
Shaking his head at how even amongst the faculty the thought of norms was propagated; Nathan turned and exited the classroom leaving an open-mouthed Dr. Bascom behind.
As he reached the door he saw Jack hurriedly approaching him, his hands in the pocket of his leather jacket, his forehead creased in concern. When he looked up and saw Nathan, his expression crossed between a slight scowl and surprise; clearly he was still smarting over their last meeting.
“I got a message from the school saying there was a problem with Zoe. What did she do now?” Jack asked, avoiding his eyes.
“She hasn’t done anything,” Nathan corrected him a little more sharply than was probably necessary. He motioned behind him to the classroom doors, “Dr. Bascom will explain, I’m needed upstairs.”
Leaving a confused Jack to walk into the classroom, Nathan turned and headed up the stairwell.
~~*~~
That night…
Nathan was in his office staring intently at the tablet screen on his desk, replaying a dozen plausible scenarios of energy field constructions. He had spent the day between here and Level 4 trying to imagine every plausible scenario and option for dealing with the KCA and it’s housing with minimal potential damage to its local environment. He had spent long relentless hours in predictability programs trying to pinpoint its source and gauging at what strength it may be operating - all of which would clue him into a means of identifying its presence.
Looking up, hearing the soft knock at his door, he found Allison watching him carefully. As they held eye contact, Nathan knew that unlike Jack, he did not have to explain himself to her concerning this. Allison had been in this business long enough to know the rules and understand the politics of his position. She entered and perched on his desk, taking in the tiredness in his eyes and the firm set of his mouth.
“Any luck?
He shook his head and asked softly, “Where’s Henry?”
“On Level 4 updating his readings, he is planning on taking field readings tonight and comparing against those taken a month ago.”
Nathan nodded, “He’s hoping the radion levels show themselves.”
She nodded. Giving a small sigh she stood and placed a small memory chip on the center of his desk saying, “I thought you might want to see this.”
~~*~~
One hour later,
As Zoe sprawled out on the couch doing her homework, S.A.R.A.H. announced that Dr. Stark was at the door. After asking S.A.R.A.H. to let Nathan into the bunker she smiled and offered amiably as he came into view, “Hey.”
Nathan took off his outer coat and came around to stand in front of the couch, looking at her expectantly.
She rolled her eyes, “2nd place, I think they’re starting to call me the 2nd place kid.”
Nathan smiled, “Allison told me.”
Zoe tried hard to suppress the grin but wasn’t doing a very good job of it. The corners of her mouth were lifting upwards, “I’d hug you but, you know…”
Nathan grinned, “Well done Zoe and we’ll get the Heather’s next semester.”
Zoe grinned broadly, “See this is why I like you - we understand each other.”
Nathan offered a rare genuine smile. Looking around he asked, “Where’s your dad?”
“Upstairs,” she said waving vaguely behind her, “You should go find him before he burns dinner.”
Nathan instead took a seat facing the teenager and pulled an envelope from his inner pocket with two short stemmed white roses. “Allison asked me to present you with this cheque, she said that there wasn’t time with all the chaos happening this afternoon at Tesla?”
Zoe grinned and rolled her eyes, “Well the Heathers won, of course, but some kid who tried to use the application for planet orbitations lost control of the demonstration and things just got real crazy after that.”
Nathan grinned standing, “I bet, but 2nd place is great. I’m very…” He was cut off by Jack thundering down the stairs two at a time.
Barely acknowledging Nathan with a nod, he made his way into the kitchen calling out, “You were cheated!”
Zoe smiled and rolled her eyes at her father’s usual rant, and then turned back to Nathan. She didn’t seem to notice the slight coldness between the two men.
Nathan just smiled and turned back to her, feeling a bit unsure in what he was previously going to say. He really wanted to tell her that he was proud of the way she had handled herself today. The chip Allison had left him showed the footage taken at the competition earlier in the day. Zoe had handled most of the questions thrown at her with ease.
He held out his hand for her to shake it, Zoe eyed it for a moment then glancing up at him she slipped off the couch to face him. She glanced around Nathan to make sure her Dad was facing away from them, and then quickly moved into him squeezing slightly. A muffled “Thanks,” was said against his chest.
Nathan couldn’t help the smile or the feeling of pride that started to grow exponentially in his chest and course through him as he returned the hug a little awkwardly. He added softly, “And the roses are from me…” At this he felt her tighten her hold on him fractionally.
“Really, thanks for all of it Nate; first the project and then today with Dr. Bascom…” The words were spoken low but Zoe tilted her chin up to look at him as she spoke, the look in her eyes speaking volumes as well. Zoe wasn’t used to showing such open affection, but there was something about Nathan. Ever since that night they spent talking in Jack’s hospital room, it had been easier for her to open up with him.
“Anytime.” He promised quietly, truly meaning it.
It was in that moment Nathan felt the first genuine fatherly rush towards Zoe. For years to come he’d remember it. With Kevin, it had been when he was four and stood in the doorway of Nathan’s office at home, silently waiting for the man to stop writing so he could ask him to make him a sandwich since Allison was late in coming home. Nathan had looked up only by chance to see the small child facing him unsure of what to do. Nathan had made the sandwich and not yet quite comfortable with how to interact with the small boy on his own, they had fallen into silence. After a few moments Kevin had scrambled onto his knee and Nathan had continued working, with Kevin asking him questions about what he was writing. Nathan had begun absentmindedly telling him about Archimedes. It soon became their night-time ritual.
This was that moment for Nathan with Zoe, her shining eyes and hesitant smile couldn’t quite hide the pride contained within. She had pulled back but his hand was still resting heavily on her shoulder when Jack walked in.
“They like modelled a black hole or something.” She rattled on gleefully about the Heathers. “Dunno, don’t care. 2nd place was a cash prize.”
“Goes in the bank for college.” Jack said pointedly, making Nathan aware that he was in the room.
Zoe rolled her eyes, “Okay fine. How long until dinner Dad? I told Pilar I’d be at her place by 7.”
Jack shrugged, “Probably half an hour.”
She threw Nathan a look and said with minimal amusement, “He’s freaking out S.A.R.A.H. by cooking himself.” She settled herself back on the couch and slipped back on her headphones, tuning back into her schoolwork.
Jack turned and went back into the kitchen without saying a word. Nathan followed, resting his briefcase down on the island next to where Jack was chopping carrots.
“Staying for dinner?” Jack asked, not quite meeting his eyes.
Nathan didn’t immediately answer, he just watched the blonde man chopping the carrots with more force than necessary. “You’re still angry.” He concluded softly.
Jack looked up to meet his gaze, his blue eyes glinting . “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Nathan nodded.
Jack watched him for a moment, sighed and then continued, “However, I understand your position.”
“Do you?”
“Yeah, “Jack stopped butchering the veggies long enough to look at him, “But I don’t have to be happy about it.”
Nathan nodded, he agreed,” I’m heading back to Global; I just came to congratulate Zoe and drop off the cheque.”
Jack nodded. He wasn’t quite able to let go of his anger as yet and still did not have any desire to rehash the situation. He was afraid he may begin to yell if he tried, so instead he just offered, “It’s been an incredibly long day and it’s not over yet. I’m holding on for Jo at the station tonight and S.A.R.A.H. has burnt everything she’s tried to cook this afternoon.”
Nathan nodded, “I’ll have Fargo take a look at her.”
“Thanks.” Taking a deep breath and trying to act normal Jack offered. “So I hear you saved the day, saving Zoe from the wrath of Angela Bascom and then convincing General Grant to give her time to set up the experiment. Impressive.”
Nathan shrugged, “Bascom was out of line, you would have cleared it up just as quickly.”
Jack shook his head, “Doubt it, I’m not a Dr. anything. Anyway, Zoe and I really appreciate it.”
Nathan nodded, hesitated for a minute then stepped forward.
Jack automatically stopped cutting and angled his face up to meet him in a brief brush of their lips.
“I’ll see you tomorrow.” Nathan said quietly before picking back up his briefcase and turning to go as Jack continued to watch after him.
As the door closed behind Nathan, Zoe caught her father’s eye. She slipped off her headphones and commented easily, “Are you two fighting?”
To which Jack replied, “How about you let me worry about it and you do your homework?”
Rolling her eyes and glancing at the two perfect white roses on the coffee table she put back on her headphones and made a mental note to check in with Nathan tomorrow.
----
3: 25 AM
Using the key Nathan had put in his pocket earlier; Jack let himself into the house and silently made his way through the darkness, up the stairs and across the corridor into the main bedroom. The moonlight from the windows, gave him just enough visibility to make out Nathan asleep on his right side, his hand curled under the pillow.
As quietly as he could manage, Jack quickly kicked off his shoes and shed his uniform shirt. He hadn’t planned on coming here, but after hearing what had actually happened in the Tesla classroom from Zoe over dinner, getting back home to an empty house, and then finding the key in his pocket when he’d started to change his clothes - Jack had changed his mind and driven over.
Slipping beneath the sheets Jack pressed lightly against Nathan's bare back, letting his left arm slip across the warm body to the man’s stomach. His lips nuzzled against the sleeping man’s neck as he softly murmured into his ear. “Wake up.”
His hand slipped upwards to rub possessively against Nathan’s chest as he pulled him firmly back against his own body. Jack’s head ducked down to kiss the back of Nathan’s neck again, breathing against him and taking in his scent, causing him to shift in his sleep. Jack’s hand slid down his chest, touching lightly over the material of his track pants - causing another shift. Hs nose nudged behind Nathan’s left ear, rubbing softly into his hair, muttering “Babe…” while his hand played low and firm on his stomach.
In the darkness surrounding them as the moon hid behind a cloud, Nathan shifted slightly at first, then turned instinctively into the warmth next to him and moved into Jack, burying his face deeply into his neck, tangling their legs together and letting one arm rest heavily on the waist now next to him..
Jack grinned and let his hand move upwards to thread his fingers thickly into the curls at the base of Nathan’s head and held him there for a moment, lulling the man into a deeper sleep against him. As Nathan’s breathing evened out again, Jack softly ran his hand down his back and slipped lower to slip under the waistband of his track pants.
Nathan muttered softly and his eyes fluttered.
“Oh sorry did I wake you?” Jack asked innocently as he watched.
At Jack’s playful voice Nathan's eyes opened suddenly and Jack could see the progression of his thoughts cross his face. He began slightly unsure as to who was in his bed touching him, and then grew to recognition, followed by a darker smouldering look.
That last look made Jack swallow hard. In all honesty he had half expected Nathan to roll his eyes and tell him to let him sleep.
Nathan’s only response was to thread his hand roughly into Jack’s hair and drag him up closer into a deep kiss, his other hand immediately pulling at the waist of Jacks pants.
Nathan’s intensity and the power of his kiss halted any further thoughts whatsoever in Jack’s brain. His heart began racing as he could feel the passion pouring off of the man next to him as his hands roamed possessively in the dark.
Jack was just being playful- waking him up to make love after a long day of arguing, but there was something more desperate in Nathan’s manner and Jack was quickly getting lost in it. Nathan soon had him panting with every touch as his fingers moved fluidly across his body
“Slow down.” Jack gasped breathlessly as he threaded his fingers back through the other man’s hair and slowing the kiss, wanting to enjoy every moment of this after such a rollercoaster of a day. After Nathan had left him at the bunker he had spent five hours with Henry and Fargo, fruitlessly checking readings all over Eureka to see if they could find a way to track the inertial signal.
Nathan nodded against Jack’s lips and moved down to his neck spreading open-mouthed kisses; Jack could feel his heartbeat pounding relentlessly against his own. He quickly broke away, pulled off his jersey and tugged at Nathan's tracks, just wanting to feel the man laying next to him.
“You’re still angry.” He heard Nathan murmur into his ear, his lips again skimming there. It wasn’t a question, it was simply a statement.
“I’m still not happy about your choices.” Jack assured him, staring into the darkness, even as he spoke his fingers were tracing across Nathan's stomach, “But when have we ever agreed on something to do with Global? Given the chance I’d blow up the entire of Level 5. We’ll figure it out tomorrow.”
Jack was finding it harder to talk as Nathan moved lower, his forehead pressed against Jack’s upper chest, his hands hot and roaming insistently over his body in the dark. Jack gave up on talking altogether and ended with a groan of, “Eureka might blow up tomorrow, and sleeping without you tonight just wasn’t an option.”
Nathan smiled against his chest, relief coursing through his body at Jack’s words. He had honestly expected to be sleeping alone for a long while after today’s arguments.
Jack could feel him smile and for some reason it made his mouth go dry and he suddenly wanted nothing more than to feel that unbridled passion Nathan had woke up with. Dragging Nathan back up to kiss him, they began a heated struggled to free themselves from the confines of their clothing.
Nathan kissed him hard, even as he responded thickly, knowing it had to be said, “I have no control over what the General does with the KCA.”
“We’ll see.” Jack breathed out, his hand fumbling for the string of the lamp on the bedside next to Nathan’s head, so he could see what he was doing; he added with a groan, “Who triple ties knots on track pants?”
Nathan rested his hands over Jack’s slowing his progress, making the man look down at him. Nathan raised his right hand to cradle Jack’s cheek, looking him in the eye, making all their movements slow down.
Despite the gentleness of the touch, Jack’s heart began to race harder than before; he could hear it echoing in his ears, in the darkness surrounding them. He could feel that Nathan was about to say something important.
As Nathan’s lips parted, Jack ducked down and kissed him softly, touching him reassuringly, but not ready to hear it all the same.
Nathan froze against him and debated whether to pull back and say what he’d wanted to for days now. All thoughts ceased though as Jack’s tongue slipped past his lips and stroked his tongue gently. He knew what Jack was telling him without any words.
As Jack’s hands moved to hold his waist firmly and pull them together roughly; Nathan heard the unspoken words in every movement between them. For tonight this was enough. As Jack's lips moved across his neck and painfully slowly down his chest, Nathan reached out and turned off the lamp. He closed his eyes and yielded to the sensations, letting him touch and explore.
It was what they both needed tonight.
chapter 22