Eureka, Incident 4391, Chapter 1, Contains Slash, Not Betaed.
Title: Incident 4391
Chapter: 1 of ?
Fandom: Eureka
Pairings/characters: Jack/Nathan, implied Jack/Nathan/Allison, implied Jo/Fargo/Zane, Zoe, Henry, Kevin, various other characters.
Warnings: Contains slash, not betaed, but if anyone happens to be interested *Wink Wink*
Rating: Currently PG-13, NC-17 in the future
Summary: A spill in GD causes strange behavioral changes in some of it's residents.
***** indicates a timeline change.
Henry watched as the interviewer the DOD had sent set up the cameras around him, on the table piled next to him was the data he'd collected, a small touchscreen pad holding video surveillance, medical test results and pictures sat on top of his hand-written notes and observations. He looked up as the interviewer sat across from him, making sure he was paying attention, the man hit the recorder button and began.
"We are now interviewing Doctor Henry Deacon regarding incident 4391, forthwith it shall be referred to simply as 'The Incident'. Doctor Deacon, do swear that everything you are about to say is the truth?"
"I Do."
"Very well, in the interest of continuity, would you please tell me about the events leading up to 'The Incident'?
"Well, it began during Christmas break, GD had minimal occupants at the time. Co-Directors Allison Blake and Nathan Stark were getting ready to shut down all non-essential research for the holidays, Allison's son Kevin was waiting in the office for his mother to finish. Douglas Fargo and Zane Donovan had been put in charge of shutting down some of the computers that wouldn't be in use and Jack Carter and Jo Lupo where doing a final security run to make sure no one was trying to smuggle out their projects. Zoe Carter was taking a final look at the minor project she'd decided to study for her high school exams next year while she waited for her father to finish his rounds."
*******************************************************************************
Nathan looked up as Zoe walked into his office and sat next to Kevin, the younger boy barely looking up from his drawing pad to see who had sat down before returning to what he was doing. "Anything new?"
Zoe's eyebrow raised in surprise at Stark asking her a question, but knew the sardonic tone he'd used was just how he usually sounded, so she responded. "Not much, a bit of growth but nothing major."
Stark "Hhmmdd' at her answer before returning to his screen. Behind him Allison quietly rolled her eyes before turning to Zoe. "It's a fascinating project but it's also slow moving, you will have to wait a while."
Zoe smiled at her. "I know, that's why I choose it for next years exams instead of these ones....Do you know when my dad and Jo'll be finished?"
Allison checked her watch before replying. "He checked in about fifteen minutes ago to say he'll be finishing up on level four and they'd pick up Zane and Fargo on the way back."
She'd just finished talking when her phone rang, looking at the screen she shrugged her shoulders before answering it. "Yes Jack?"
Carter's voice piped through the the device in that slightly loud way he tended to talk while he was on the phone. "There's some broken vials in lab 26, I figured we should check with you and Stark to see if it was anything dangerous."
Nathan looked up from his computer. 'What color are the vials Carter?"
There was a pause and Jack's steps sounded through the speaker before his voice once again sounded through the phone. "They're blue."
Nathan tapped on a few keys, before speaking. "Not a problem, the blue vials are harmless, new research on hormone treatments for some diseases, but nothing contagious, just clean up the glass so it's not a danger when work begins again."
There was a flurry of furious muttering from both Jack and Jo about not being a cleaning service, but the sound of glass shards being swept up as the phone hung up was proof that they'd done what Nathan had asked.
As Allison's phone hung up, Nathans' rang, he didn't even look before answering it. "Yes Fargo?"
There was a nervous shuffling before Fargo's voice came through. "We've just finished up down here and are waiting for Carter and Jo to come round for us. Is there anything else you'd like done before we come back?"
Nathan thought for a few seconds, before he replied. "No Fargo, we'll see you when you get back." There was a long-suffering pause as Allison gave a slight glare at him before he spoke again. "Good work Fargo, Zane as well."
There was a beat of silence, before the sound of Zane choking off a laugh came through, probably at the slightly shocked look that was most likely on Fargo's face.
"Thank you sir... Oh, sounds like Jo and Carter are nearly here, we'll see you in a little while."
*******************************************************************************
The interviewer looked up as Henry paused for breath before prompting him to continue. Henry began speaking again. "We still aren't sure exactly what happened, but part of it was the combination of Jack and Jo not realizing there was another vial that had broken and rolled behind a shelf, and the fact that the biological alarm system had already been switched off. I can never fully express how grateful I was and still am that neither of those vials contained anything that was potentially fatal to the people... my friends in GD that day."
The interviewer nodded in response to Henry's momentary heartfelt declaration, before steering the interview back on track. "According to prior interviews about the incident, it wasn't until GD reopened that things started getting strange?"
"For most people that's true, but as a close friend of most of the people affected, I must admit I noticed something was unusual within a couple of days. It was Christmas Eve and S.A.R.A.H had managed to guilt Jack into allowing her to throw a Christmas party."
The interviewer interrupted him for a few seconds. "So there was no evidence of major personality changes in the people affected by 'The Incident'?"
Henry took a deep breath. "None, indeed aside from a few behavioral changes, all of the people affected behaved almost normally... Anyway, as I said, S.A.R.A.H was throwing a Christmas party."
*******************************************************************************
Juggling parcels, Henry struggled to try a bunch of maneuvers, before he finally gave up. "S.A.R.A.H, I can't get the doorbell, could you let Jack know that I'm waiting outside."
There was a quiet moment, then the doors opened and S.A.R.A.H's voice piped through the speakers. "Sheriff Carter will be with you shortly Doctor Deacon."
Henry juggled the packages a little more before replying. "Thank you S.A.R.A.H."
there was no time for the friendly AI to respond before Jack arrived, he took one look at the heavily weighed down Henry. "Let me take a few of those for you... we're set up in the living room."
Suddenly Henry's burden lightened and he was able to actually see the stairs enough to get down them. The two men made their way quietly downstairs before the living room came into view. To most people it wouldn't seem like a big deal, but Henry was friends with these people and had been for a while, so he stared slightly at the people in the room.
Allison and Nathan sitting together with Kevin was pretty normal, the fact that Zoe was happily leaning against Nathans' arm on the other side however was not. Neither was the fact that Fargo was settled between Jo and Zane like he was meant to be there, indeed, as Henry looked closer, it became obvious that both Jo and Zane had an arm almost possessively wrapped around Fargo's stomach. Surprised, Henry turned to some of the other people in the room for an explanation. Taggart, Vince, Spencer and Pilar simply shrugged their shoulders, none of them had any idea.
Deciding to ignore it for now, Henry began turning back to look at Jack when he noticed the pile off to one side, it wasn't the Christmas presents the other guests had brought, they were set in the middle of the room. It took a few seconds for his eyes to fully adjust to the darker area where the pile sat. It was an odd mix of clothing, duvet's and blankets, and it was obvious not all of it belonged to Jack or Zoe. Henry recognized a few of Fargo's polo shirts, some of the more casual dresses Jo had worn when she wasn't in her uniform. these were mingled with T-shirts that were recognizable as Donovan's a number of Allison's blouses as well as Kevin's tops and what Henry recognized as a bunch of Nathans' expensive suit jackets.
Henry laughed lightly. "Bit of a mess there Jack."
Jack smiled before responding. "It's OK, just leave it."
With that, the oddities were almost forgotten as the party began, drinks were served, presents passed around and opened and S.A.R.A.H was so thoroughly complemented on the array of food she'd provided, Henry was sure he'd seen her lighting develop a pinkish tinge. But it was hard to ignore certain things, including the fact that Nathan hadn't made excuses to leave as soon as possible. Indeed, after going home and waking up early the next morning, it didn't take long for Henry to note that Nathans' car wasn't outside his house. Neither was Allisons', or Jos'. There was nothing to indicate Fargo or Donovan had gone home the night before either.
It was at this time Henry began to wonder at his friends behavior.
*******************************************************************************
The interviewer looked up as Henry paused again. "I believe it wasn't long after that time that the odd behavior started to happen at GD."
Henry looked at the man for a second. "You'd be right, not long after GD opened for the next year, their strange behavior began to become even more obvious. The first sign was the random pile of clothes duvets and blankets that appeared in Nathans' office. Some of them I recognized from the pile at S.A.R.A.H's party. After a while we began to notice a trend. On the nights Nathan had to work late, the others would start appearing at his office, usually Kevin and or Zoe arrived first, followed by Fargo and Donovan, usually Allison arrived alone, but occasionally she arrived later with both Jo and Jack after they'd finished work. bit by bit they'd arrive and burrow themselves into the growing pile of material in the office. Kevin and Zoe invariably ended up in the center of the group. Myself and some other scientists were bordering on asking them to allow us to do some tests on them, but it wasn't until something un-ignorable occurred and was caught on camera."
The interviewer blinked before asking. "And... what was this un-ignorable thing?"
Henry seemed lost for a second, before he collected himself. "It's no secret that Nathan sometimes tends to work far later than he should. This was one such time. It was nearly midnight, and Most of the group had piled together and was sleeping. Except for Nathan... and Jack. The video showed Jack quietly extracting himself from the pile and sitting next to Nathan. As far as we could tell, Nathan told Jack to wait for a bit, and he did, for a few more minutes. When it became clear that Nathan wasn't going to finish soon, Jack moved closer, and, the closest I could come to describing it, proceeded to nuzzle at Nathans' cheek. When this didn't work, Jack decided to go one step further, without warning, Jack leant forward and bit Nathan on the chin, he didn't draw blood, but it was clear by Nathans' reaction that it hadn't been a gentle nip."
The interviewer looked up from his notes yet again. "I assume Doctor Stark reacted badly?"
Henry looked at him. "No, that's just it, after Jack bit him, Nathan simply put away his work and crawled into the pile to sleep amongst the rest, Jack wasn't far behind. I've never seen anything like it in my life."
TBC
Chapter: 1 of ?
Fandom: Eureka
Pairings/characters: Jack/Nathan, implied Jack/Nathan/Allison, implied Jo/Fargo/Zane, Zoe, Henry, Kevin, various other characters.
Warnings: Contains slash, not betaed, but if anyone happens to be interested *Wink Wink*
Rating: Currently PG-13, NC-17 in the future
Summary: A spill in GD causes strange behavioral changes in some of it's residents.
***** indicates a timeline change.
Henry watched as the interviewer the DOD had sent set up the cameras around him, on the table piled next to him was the data he'd collected, a small touchscreen pad holding video surveillance, medical test results and pictures sat on top of his hand-written notes and observations. He looked up as the interviewer sat across from him, making sure he was paying attention, the man hit the recorder button and began.
"We are now interviewing Doctor Henry Deacon regarding incident 4391, forthwith it shall be referred to simply as 'The Incident'. Doctor Deacon, do swear that everything you are about to say is the truth?"
"I Do."
"Very well, in the interest of continuity, would you please tell me about the events leading up to 'The Incident'?
"Well, it began during Christmas break, GD had minimal occupants at the time. Co-Directors Allison Blake and Nathan Stark were getting ready to shut down all non-essential research for the holidays, Allison's son Kevin was waiting in the office for his mother to finish. Douglas Fargo and Zane Donovan had been put in charge of shutting down some of the computers that wouldn't be in use and Jack Carter and Jo Lupo where doing a final security run to make sure no one was trying to smuggle out their projects. Zoe Carter was taking a final look at the minor project she'd decided to study for her high school exams next year while she waited for her father to finish his rounds."
*******************************************************************************
Nathan looked up as Zoe walked into his office and sat next to Kevin, the younger boy barely looking up from his drawing pad to see who had sat down before returning to what he was doing. "Anything new?"
Zoe's eyebrow raised in surprise at Stark asking her a question, but knew the sardonic tone he'd used was just how he usually sounded, so she responded. "Not much, a bit of growth but nothing major."
Stark "Hhmmdd' at her answer before returning to his screen. Behind him Allison quietly rolled her eyes before turning to Zoe. "It's a fascinating project but it's also slow moving, you will have to wait a while."
Zoe smiled at her. "I know, that's why I choose it for next years exams instead of these ones....Do you know when my dad and Jo'll be finished?"
Allison checked her watch before replying. "He checked in about fifteen minutes ago to say he'll be finishing up on level four and they'd pick up Zane and Fargo on the way back."
She'd just finished talking when her phone rang, looking at the screen she shrugged her shoulders before answering it. "Yes Jack?"
Carter's voice piped through the the device in that slightly loud way he tended to talk while he was on the phone. "There's some broken vials in lab 26, I figured we should check with you and Stark to see if it was anything dangerous."
Nathan looked up from his computer. 'What color are the vials Carter?"
There was a pause and Jack's steps sounded through the speaker before his voice once again sounded through the phone. "They're blue."
Nathan tapped on a few keys, before speaking. "Not a problem, the blue vials are harmless, new research on hormone treatments for some diseases, but nothing contagious, just clean up the glass so it's not a danger when work begins again."
There was a flurry of furious muttering from both Jack and Jo about not being a cleaning service, but the sound of glass shards being swept up as the phone hung up was proof that they'd done what Nathan had asked.
As Allison's phone hung up, Nathans' rang, he didn't even look before answering it. "Yes Fargo?"
There was a nervous shuffling before Fargo's voice came through. "We've just finished up down here and are waiting for Carter and Jo to come round for us. Is there anything else you'd like done before we come back?"
Nathan thought for a few seconds, before he replied. "No Fargo, we'll see you when you get back." There was a long-suffering pause as Allison gave a slight glare at him before he spoke again. "Good work Fargo, Zane as well."
There was a beat of silence, before the sound of Zane choking off a laugh came through, probably at the slightly shocked look that was most likely on Fargo's face.
"Thank you sir... Oh, sounds like Jo and Carter are nearly here, we'll see you in a little while."
*******************************************************************************
The interviewer looked up as Henry paused for breath before prompting him to continue. Henry began speaking again. "We still aren't sure exactly what happened, but part of it was the combination of Jack and Jo not realizing there was another vial that had broken and rolled behind a shelf, and the fact that the biological alarm system had already been switched off. I can never fully express how grateful I was and still am that neither of those vials contained anything that was potentially fatal to the people... my friends in GD that day."
The interviewer nodded in response to Henry's momentary heartfelt declaration, before steering the interview back on track. "According to prior interviews about the incident, it wasn't until GD reopened that things started getting strange?"
"For most people that's true, but as a close friend of most of the people affected, I must admit I noticed something was unusual within a couple of days. It was Christmas Eve and S.A.R.A.H had managed to guilt Jack into allowing her to throw a Christmas party."
The interviewer interrupted him for a few seconds. "So there was no evidence of major personality changes in the people affected by 'The Incident'?"
Henry took a deep breath. "None, indeed aside from a few behavioral changes, all of the people affected behaved almost normally... Anyway, as I said, S.A.R.A.H was throwing a Christmas party."
*******************************************************************************
Juggling parcels, Henry struggled to try a bunch of maneuvers, before he finally gave up. "S.A.R.A.H, I can't get the doorbell, could you let Jack know that I'm waiting outside."
There was a quiet moment, then the doors opened and S.A.R.A.H's voice piped through the speakers. "Sheriff Carter will be with you shortly Doctor Deacon."
Henry juggled the packages a little more before replying. "Thank you S.A.R.A.H."
there was no time for the friendly AI to respond before Jack arrived, he took one look at the heavily weighed down Henry. "Let me take a few of those for you... we're set up in the living room."
Suddenly Henry's burden lightened and he was able to actually see the stairs enough to get down them. The two men made their way quietly downstairs before the living room came into view. To most people it wouldn't seem like a big deal, but Henry was friends with these people and had been for a while, so he stared slightly at the people in the room.
Allison and Nathan sitting together with Kevin was pretty normal, the fact that Zoe was happily leaning against Nathans' arm on the other side however was not. Neither was the fact that Fargo was settled between Jo and Zane like he was meant to be there, indeed, as Henry looked closer, it became obvious that both Jo and Zane had an arm almost possessively wrapped around Fargo's stomach. Surprised, Henry turned to some of the other people in the room for an explanation. Taggart, Vince, Spencer and Pilar simply shrugged their shoulders, none of them had any idea.
Deciding to ignore it for now, Henry began turning back to look at Jack when he noticed the pile off to one side, it wasn't the Christmas presents the other guests had brought, they were set in the middle of the room. It took a few seconds for his eyes to fully adjust to the darker area where the pile sat. It was an odd mix of clothing, duvet's and blankets, and it was obvious not all of it belonged to Jack or Zoe. Henry recognized a few of Fargo's polo shirts, some of the more casual dresses Jo had worn when she wasn't in her uniform. these were mingled with T-shirts that were recognizable as Donovan's a number of Allison's blouses as well as Kevin's tops and what Henry recognized as a bunch of Nathans' expensive suit jackets.
Henry laughed lightly. "Bit of a mess there Jack."
Jack smiled before responding. "It's OK, just leave it."
With that, the oddities were almost forgotten as the party began, drinks were served, presents passed around and opened and S.A.R.A.H was so thoroughly complemented on the array of food she'd provided, Henry was sure he'd seen her lighting develop a pinkish tinge. But it was hard to ignore certain things, including the fact that Nathan hadn't made excuses to leave as soon as possible. Indeed, after going home and waking up early the next morning, it didn't take long for Henry to note that Nathans' car wasn't outside his house. Neither was Allisons', or Jos'. There was nothing to indicate Fargo or Donovan had gone home the night before either.
It was at this time Henry began to wonder at his friends behavior.
*******************************************************************************
The interviewer looked up as Henry paused again. "I believe it wasn't long after that time that the odd behavior started to happen at GD."
Henry looked at the man for a second. "You'd be right, not long after GD opened for the next year, their strange behavior began to become even more obvious. The first sign was the random pile of clothes duvets and blankets that appeared in Nathans' office. Some of them I recognized from the pile at S.A.R.A.H's party. After a while we began to notice a trend. On the nights Nathan had to work late, the others would start appearing at his office, usually Kevin and or Zoe arrived first, followed by Fargo and Donovan, usually Allison arrived alone, but occasionally she arrived later with both Jo and Jack after they'd finished work. bit by bit they'd arrive and burrow themselves into the growing pile of material in the office. Kevin and Zoe invariably ended up in the center of the group. Myself and some other scientists were bordering on asking them to allow us to do some tests on them, but it wasn't until something un-ignorable occurred and was caught on camera."
The interviewer blinked before asking. "And... what was this un-ignorable thing?"
Henry seemed lost for a second, before he collected himself. "It's no secret that Nathan sometimes tends to work far later than he should. This was one such time. It was nearly midnight, and Most of the group had piled together and was sleeping. Except for Nathan... and Jack. The video showed Jack quietly extracting himself from the pile and sitting next to Nathan. As far as we could tell, Nathan told Jack to wait for a bit, and he did, for a few more minutes. When it became clear that Nathan wasn't going to finish soon, Jack moved closer, and, the closest I could come to describing it, proceeded to nuzzle at Nathans' cheek. When this didn't work, Jack decided to go one step further, without warning, Jack leant forward and bit Nathan on the chin, he didn't draw blood, but it was clear by Nathans' reaction that it hadn't been a gentle nip."
The interviewer looked up from his notes yet again. "I assume Doctor Stark reacted badly?"
Henry looked at him. "No, that's just it, after Jack bit him, Nathan simply put away his work and crawled into the pile to sleep amongst the rest, Jack wasn't far behind. I've never seen anything like it in my life."
TBC