Conceptual Misconceptions
TITLE: Conceptual Misconceptions
FANDOM: Eureka
PAIRING: Jack/Nathan
RATING: PG13
CATEGORY: Humor, Angst, First Time
SUMMARY: Looking back on it, Carter was pretty sure that he should have guessed something was wrong when Nathan Stark bit him.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written for lazigyrl for the DWB/DH Birthday Auction. She's kindly given permission for the story to be posted right away rather than after the three months offered in the auction.
Looking back on it, Carter was pretty sure that he should have guessed something was wrong when Nathan Stark bit him. Of course in Jack’s defense, at the time, Stark had a hand down Jack’s pants and was doing some pretty…distracting things with it. He was pretty sure that that right there was excuse enough for why he didn’t immediately call GD. He was also pretty sure that it was a good enough reason to place the blame for their current position solely on Nathan Stark’s shoulders.
“We still need to run a few more tests, keep you under observation,” Allison said, her voice coming through the speaker on the wall. Jack could see her in the observation room looking down on them. She had her arms crossed and she looked pissed. Jack wasn’t sure whether that was because Stark had been playing with something he technically wasn’t supposed to be or because when she found him, Stark had been halfway to giving Jack possibly the best orgasm he’d almost had in years.
“Allison,” Nathan said, “we’re fine.” He slid off the bed he had been lying on and moved to lean against the wall, still a little shaky from the injection he’d had, his arms crossed over his chest in a mirror of Allison’s stance. Stark also looked pissed. Jack wasn’t sure whether it was because he managed to get himself infected with some kind of horny-making super hormone or if it was because Allison stopped them before Nathan had the chance to finish what he’d started.
Jack wasn’t sure he wanted to know…
“I thought you said the shot Taggert gave Stark neutralized the,” Jack made a circle with his hand, raising his eyebrows, “whole, groping unsuspecting Sheriffs thing. Hey, should I be in here? Is Stark still affected?” Jack eyed the man across the room warily, taking a step back. Not that he necessarily had a problem with a Nathan Stark that wanted to get hot and sweaty, but he certainly didn’t want an audience. Jack’s eyes moved back to Allison and the pinched look on her face.
“It did,” she said.
“Great!” Jack answered enthusiastically, heading for the large double doors of the observation room. “Then you can let us out.”
“The H-3569 that Nathan was infected with is experimental, Carter,” Allison explained, a tinge of impatience in her voice. “We’re not exactly sure yet if you were infected. We need to keep you under observation for a few more hours.”
Jack’s eyes widened, his hand going to his neck where Nathan had bit him hard enough to break the skin. At the time Nathan’s hand on Jack’s dick was enough of a distraction from the pain of the bite but now his neck was throbbing. He glared at Nathan who at least had the good grace to look contrite. “You,” Jack snarled, “you infected me with some unknown GD sex drug!”
Nathan raised an eyebrow before rolling his eyes at Jack. “First of all, it’s not unknown, it’s experimental and second, it’s not a sex drug.”
“Says the man that came barreling into the station, slammed me against a wall and shoved his hand down my pants,” Jack scoffed.
Nathan’s eyes dropped and Jack felt himself flushing as Stark gave him a thorough once over before meeting Jack’s eyes with a cheeky grin. “You weren’t exactly complaining as I recall,” Nathan said.
Jack narrowed his eyes and began pacing the room. The last thing he needed right now was to start thinking about how he had most definitely not been complaining. Was it getting hotter? Jack pulled at the collar of his uniform shirt.
“Carter?” Nathan asked, sounding a little worried and Jack smiled because he kind of liked the idea of Stark being worried about him. “You okay?”
Jack turned, about to tell Nathan he was fine, when he suddenly found himself moving closer to Stark instead, his gaze roaming over the man’s body. His hand fit nicely on Nathan’s hip but it felt amazing skimming under Nathan’s shirt to the soft, warm skin underneath and when he slipped his hand into Nathan’s boxers, Jack was pretty sure he’d never felt anything better than the hard, thick, silky heat of Nathan’s cock.
“Jack,” Nathan said and Jack was pleased to note his voice sounded a little breathless. “You’re infected, Jack. You don’t really want to do this.” Nathan was rocking his hips forward, pushing his cock into Jack’s hand even as he was trying to talk him out of it.
Raising his eyes to meet Stark’s, Jack grinned and leaned in, his voice ghosting over Nathan’s cheek as he whispered, “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time we met.”
Nathan’s forehead met Jack’s shoulder and his arms circled Jack’s waist pulling him closer, his breath coming in hot pants against Jack’s neck as Jack circled a thumb over the head of Nathan’s leaking dick. “Dammit,” Nathan muttered, lifting his head and capturing Jack’s mouth in a heated kiss before he stepped back and hit a button on the wall. “Allison,” Nathan said, arousal and resignation in his voice, “get Taggert.”
--
Jack woke up with a groan, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. “What hit me?”
“That would be Taggert’s shot,” came a voice from his left and Jack turned his head, squinting at Nathan.
“Oh god,” he muttered, shutting his eyes. “I haven’t felt this hung over in years.” Nathan chuckled from where he was sitting beside Jack’s bed. Jack opened his eyes again. “How come Taggert’s shot didn’t affect you like this?” Jack asked, accusation clear in his voice.
Nathan smirked. “It did. I’m just better at hiding it than you are.”
Jack didn’t have the energy to respond to that. “Considering how shitty I feel right now,” he groaned, “Taggert’s shot sure as hell better have worked.”
“You’re H-3569 free,” Nathan confirmed.
“Good,” Jack said, relief flooding through him. And then relief was quickly replaced by embarrassment. Fuck. “Uh,” he started, feeling his cheeks flush as he remembered what he’d done to Stark.
Stark’s chair scrapped against the floor as he stood up. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, not meeting Jack’s eye. “You were under the influence of an experimental hormone,” Nathan said with a twist of his mouth. “We can forget it ever happened.”
Jack felt his stomach drop. He didn’t want to forget what happened. He wanted it to happen again, preferably somewhere more private where they wouldn’t be interrupted again. “Alright,” he said slowly, “if that’s what you want.”
“It’s for the best,” Stark said with a decisive nod of his head. “See you around, Carter.”
--
And Nathan Stark was true to his word. For weeks after ‘The Incident’, as Jack had started to come to think of that afternoon in his head, Nathan avoided him. For all intents and purposes it was as if that afternoon had never happened. If Jack saw him at all Stark was turning a corner and disappearing into the vast maze of Global Dynamics.
No matter where Jack tried to ambush him, Stark managed to escape. Jack was starting to think the man was monitoring GD’s surveillance in an effort to dodge him.
But Jack was a lot smarter than Nathan gave him credit for.
“I knew you’d have to come home eventually,” Jack said conversationally from Nathan’s couch. It was only because Zoë was spending Spring Break with Abby and Jack had a backlog of vacation days that he had been able to devote the time necessary to catching Nathan. He’d broken into the man’s house three days before and hadn’t left.
Nathan’s face cycled through several expressions finally landing on irritation. “What are you doing here, Carter?” Nathan snapped, tossing his briefcase on the hall table and stripping out of his coat before stalking toward the kitchen.
Jack followed at a leisurely pace, grinning as it gave him a perfect view of Nathan’s ass. “Waiting for you,” he said with a shrug.
Nathan threw him a look of exasperation and then began pulling food from the fridge and cupboards. “How long have you been here?” Nathan asked, eyeing the dirty dishes in the sink and the small collection of beer bottles on his cupboard with distaste.
Jack sat at the kitchen table, putting his feet up on the dark wooden table top, ignoring the pointed glare Nathan gave him. “Three days,” Jack answered, putting his hands behind his head and watching Nathan as he began assembling something for supper. “I wasn’t planning on staying - crazy, I know, but I thought you’d come home from work like a normal person - but I have to admit, I’m starting to like it here.”
Nathan shook his head with a huff of irritation and what Jack hoped was a dash of amusement. “The least you could have done was put your dishes in the dishwasher,” he muttered.
Jack looked sheepish when he said, “I would have but…I couldn’t find it.” And if he was being honest, he’d gotten a little spoiled by SARAH and now avoided housework like the plague.
Nathan smirked at that. Pointing to a spot on the right side of the kitchen, he raised an eyebrow. “Make yourself useful if you’re not going to leave. Second button on the right.”
Jack grinned and bounced up from the chair, walking to the sink to grab his dishes. “What are we having?”
Nathan looked at Jack in amusement. “We?”
“Well,” Jack said, walking the dishes to where Nathan had pointed, hitting the second button on the right and watching the dishwasher appear out of the wall. “You’ve kept me waiting for three days. I think the least you could do is make me supper.”
“Considering you broke into my house and I didn’t actually know you were here I’d hardly call that making you wait.”
Jack shut the dishwasher and moved back to where Nathan was chopping up some carrots. He leaned his back against the counter and stared at Nathan’s profile in silence for a moment before sighing heavily. “We can’t keep pretending that nothing happened, Nathan.”
Nathan’s eyebrow rose and he turned, giving Jack a half-hearted smirk. “I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job of doing just that,” he said.
Jack glowered. “Alright fine,” he snapped. “I don’t want to keep pretending that nothing happened between us.”
“Carter,” Nathan sighed, putting the knife down on the counter and letting his head hang.
“No,” Jack growled, grabbing Nathan’s bicep and turning him around to face him. “No more pretending, no more hiding. Something happened between us, Stark and dammit I want it to happen again!” Jack pulled Nathan into a hard, determined kiss.
Nathan stood stalk still.
Jack pulled back with a defeated shake of his head. “I’m sorry.” He took a step back. He never should have come here, never should have pushed. “I’m going to…” He motioned behind him and spun around heading for the door. Nathan didn’t try to stop him.
--
For a week Jack buried himself in paperwork, sending Jo whenever there was a problem at Global, sneaking home after dark when everyone else in town had already called it a night, slipping into the station early enough to beat even Jo into work. Basically he was doing everything he could to avoid running into Nathan Stark. The fact that he still felt himself flush in embarrassment whenever he thought about what happened just made him feel that much more like an idiot. He couldn't believe he'd let himself get so caught up in the fantasy he'd created in his head that he'd missed all of the obvious signs. Stark wasn't playing hard to get, he just didn't want to be gotten. Plain and simple, even a sheriff with a slightly above average IQ could figure it out...eventually; Nathan Stark was straight.
Jack let his head thunk down onto his desk, closed his eyes and tried to banish all thoughts of Nathan Stark from his mind.
"You're going to have to face him eventually," Jo said helpfully from across the room. Unfortunately she'd been the first one to walk in on Stark coaxing Jack into an almost orgasm and had called Allison, asking her if she was missing a particularly frisky scientist. She didn't know about the rest of it, but Jack knew she wasn't stupid, knew she could probably guess something more had happened after they'd been given Taggert's shot.
"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered, not bothering to lift his head.
"I'm just saying," she said as she got up and poured herself a cup of coffee, "You can't hide out in here forever. You're the sheriff, Carter."
Jack raised his head and glared at Jo. "Thanks, I'd forgotten."
Jo snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I'm sure Zoë will be happy to have SARAH to herself. Maybe she'll invite Lucas over for some studying."
Jack's glare intensified but he pushed away from the desk. "Alright, I'm going."
"See you tomorrow, Carter," Jo tossed back with a half wave and a smirk.
--
Zoë had come back from LA three days before, full of excitement, a belly button piercing, a fake tattoo and electric blue streaks in her hair, dressed all in black. Jack bit his tongue the moment he saw her, fighting the urge to ask her if she was thinking of starting her own emo band. Three days later the streaks in her hair were still there, as was the piercing, the tattoo was starting to fade and her attire no longer seemed depressed. Jack supposed it was an improvement.
“Sarah, door,” Jack mumbled, hoisting his gym bag onto his shoulder. He was exhausted from hiding and all he wanted to do was take a hot shower and crawl into bed.
Thanks to Fargo sound proofing SARAH Jack didn’t hear the blaring bass of some heavy metal alternative pop something band until the door opened. The bass thumped in his chest like a second heartbeat, his ears ringing and head pounding at the volume of the music. “ZOË!”
His daughter was bobbing her head in time to the music, her back to Jack as she moved about the kitchen. Lucas was at the kitchen table, books spread out before him, his eyes never leaving Zoë. “Sarah,” Jack shouted, “shut that noise off!”
Silence filled the room and Jack closed his eyes sighing happily. “Thank you,” he muttered, opening his eyes to meet Zoë’s gaze.
“Dad! You’re home early,” Zoë said, looking momentarily guilty.
Lucas jumped up from the table. “Sheriff,” he said nervously and Jack suddenly wished he was back at the office. He really didn’t feel like dealing with this situation right now.
“Lucas,” he said with a nod and turned back to Zoë. “Last time I checked,” he said, “I’m pretty sure my rule about no boys in the house without supervision hadn’t been abolished.”
“Dad,” Zoë half whined, “we’ve got a big project due for school and Lucas is my lab partner.”
“You could have asked, Zo,” Jack said tiredly, tossing his bag on the couch.
“I tried,” she answered, crossing her arms. “You’ve been a little hard to get a hold of lately.”
Jack winced. “Yeah, sorry sweetie I’ve just been really busy.”
Zoë raised an eyebrow and glanced at the answering machine. “Too busy to call Stark back apparently.”
“What?” Jack blinked in surprise.
“He’s called like fifty times Dad.”
“Oh,” Jack said, looking at the blinking light on the answering machine. “I’ll uh, I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” he said quickly. “I’m going to take a shower. How much longer will you two be working on this?”
“A couple more hours,” Zoë answered, placing a can of soda in front of Lucas with a grin that made Jack’s headache throb that much worse.
“Fine,” Jack sighed. “SARAH, parental mode D-4.”
Zoë rolled her eyes. “Like we’d do anything with you upstairs,” she scoffed, her eyes widening a little guiltily as Jack narrowed his own. “That didn’t come out right.”
“I should hope not,” Jack muttered as he grabbed a beer and headed for the stairs. “Done by nine, Zoë - no exceptions. SARAH, kick Lucas out if he’s still here by then.”
“Yes Sheriff,” SARAH’s voice sounded above Zoë’s whined, Dad.
--
The next morning Jack dragged himself from bed and into the real shower he’d made Fargo install, letting the hot water pound down on his back, easing his tense muscles. He hadn’t slept well at all, tossing and turning and thinking about Nathan.
After Lucas had left and Zoë had finally gone to bed, Jack crept downstairs and listened to the messages Nathan had left. Each one sounded innocuous enough but Jack could tell that with each unanswered phone call, Nathan was getting more and more aggravated.
Tough, Jack thought to himself. Stark could get as pissed off as he wanted. Jack had good reason to avoid him and just because Nathan Stark apparently didn’t agree, that didn’t change the fact that Jack had no intention of dealing with the man. Not until this whole embarrassing situation was a long forgotten memory.
--
Jo smirked at him when he shuffled into work and Jack scowled at her. It was barely six o’clock in the morning, she usually wasn’t in until seven and by that time Jack was actually awake.
“What are you doing here?” he muttered, holding the cup of coffee he’d picked up from Vincent’s close to his mouth, blowing on it before taking a sip. Mmm Caffeine.
She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly and held out a stack of pink papers. “Your messages,” Jo said, shoving them toward Jack and heading for the door. “Tell Stark that I am not your secretary. I’m going home.”
Jack frowned down at the messages and then called out, “Wait!” He looked anxiously at Jo, “You can’t go.”
Jo raised an eyebrow. “I’ve enabled you long enough, Carter.” She pointed at the messages in Jack’s hand. “Deal with this.”
--
Jack’s idea of dealing with this was to continue avoiding Nathan at all cost. He sat in the station and prayed like he never had before that he didn’t get a call about yet another crisis at Global.
By the time the end of the day came, around midnight for Jack, he breathed a sigh of relief. Other than a few domestic issues, and one scientist trying to blow up his house, Jack had spent the entire day at the station without hearing a peep from Global Dynamics.
He drove home, whistling to himself, feeling better than he had in days. Finally he could see light at the end of the tunnel. He was sure that in a few days everything would blow over and this whole thing with Nathan would be like it never happened.
“Sarah, door,” Jack said to his house, stepping inside and tossing his jacket on the back of a chair as he sorted through the mail.
“So, this is what constitutes normal to you?” a voice said from his living room and Jack’s eyes snapped up to see Nathan lounging on his couch. Nathan looked down at his watch. “I’m pretty sure most normal people would have been home hours ago.”
“How did you get in here?” Jack all but growled, knowing the answer before Nathan spoke.
“I asked your house politely to let me in,” Nathan replied with a cheeky grin, reaching for the glass of wine on the coffee table.
“Sarah!” Jack shouted, throwing the mail on the kitchen table and eyeing the leftover supper that Zoë had left out for him.
“Sssh,” Nathan said and Jack looked up, watching as Stark made his way into the kitchen. “Zoë is sleeping.”
Jack winced because the last thing he wanted was for Zoë to wake up and find Stark in the house and start asking questions he didn’t have the answers to. Curiosity was her second name and he knew she was starting to wonder what exactly was going on between Jack and Nathan.
“What do you want Stark?” Jack asked wearily, turning toward the fridge. “Beer me, Judas,” he muttered.
“We need to talk,” Nathan said, sliding onto a stool at the kitchen table.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve said everything that needs to be said,” Jack answered, downing half his beer in one go. He placed the glass on the table and eyed Nathan over it. “Or do you really enjoy seeing me suffer so much that you can’t just let my mistake go?”
“Mistake?” Nathan said slowly, his dark eyes unreadable.
“Look, so I got the wrong idea, okay. I get that. You’re straight, you’re not interested, it was all the drugs. Can we just forget it ever happened - isn’t that what you wanted?” Jack grabbed his beer and headed for the living room, sinking into the cushions of the couch with a weary sigh.
Nathan stood in the kitchen for a moment before following Jack back into the living room, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. “Jack,” Nathan muttered, shaking his head. “You didn’t make a mistake, I did.”
Jack snorted and finished his beer. “Fine, if you want to take credit for this mess, be my guest.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nathan growled. Jack stood again, ready for another beer and desperate to distance himself from this conversation but Nathan stood too, grabbing him before he could turn away, pulling him closer. “You surprised me, that’s all,” he muttered, his gaze on Jack’s lips.
When Nathan leaned in and kissed Jack, he froze. Nathan pulled back and smirked. “See?” He cupped Jack’s cheek, running his thumb over Jack’s bottom lip. “But unlike you,” he murmured, “I’m not running away.” The second time he leaned in, Jack met him halfway, his arms circling Nathan and pulling him even closer.
“I’m an idiot,” Jack muttered between kisses, poking Nathan when he didn’t disagree.
Nathan grinned. “I didn’t exactly help the situation,” he admitted, his hands sliding under Jack’s shirt to roam the warm expanse of his back.
Jack sighed at the touch, leaning in to kiss Nathan again. A cough behind him had Jack jumping away from Nathan like he’d been burned. Zoë stood on the stairs behind them, her arms crossed, her hair sticking up wildly. “Zoë!”
“I seem to recall a rule about no guys allowed in the house unsupervised.” She grinned at the look on her father’s face before hurrying down the stairs to hug him. “It’s about time,” she whispered in Jack’s ear, winking at him before she turned to Nathan. “Hurt him and--”
“I won’t,” Nathan promised.
Zoë nodded. “Good.” Then she surprised both Jack and Nathan by moving in and wrapping her arms around Nathan in a tight hug. When she released him she turned back to Jack with a grin. “Sarah, off-spring mode B7,” she said cheekily before bounding back up the stairs. “My room is sound proof,” she called as she disappeared.
Jack frowned and then blushed. Nathan curled a hand around his waist and grinned, pressing a kiss to Jack’s temple. “I’m not in a hurry, you know,” Nathan offered.
Jack turned to him with a snort. “I might not be ready to have sex with you with my kid in the next room,” Jack said, wrapping a hand around Nathan’s wrist and pulling him to the door, “but I’m more than ready to go to your place.”
“What about Zoë?” Nathan asked, letting himself be pulled along.
“Off-spring mode B7,” Jack said by way of explanation. “Sarah’s on babysitting duty with my cell, Jo’s cell and every other emergency contact number I could think of on speed dial in case anything happens.”
Nathan chuckled, tugging Jack closer, his hands sliding over Jack’s body. “Well, Sheriff,” he said, “what are we waiting for?”
Jack pressed himself against Nathan, his own hands wandering. “Absolutely nothing,” Jack answered with a grin. “I already have everything I was waiting for right here.”
FANDOM: Eureka
PAIRING: Jack/Nathan
RATING: PG13
CATEGORY: Humor, Angst, First Time
SUMMARY: Looking back on it, Carter was pretty sure that he should have guessed something was wrong when Nathan Stark bit him.
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Written for lazigyrl for the DWB/DH Birthday Auction. She's kindly given permission for the story to be posted right away rather than after the three months offered in the auction.
Looking back on it, Carter was pretty sure that he should have guessed something was wrong when Nathan Stark bit him. Of course in Jack’s defense, at the time, Stark had a hand down Jack’s pants and was doing some pretty…distracting things with it. He was pretty sure that that right there was excuse enough for why he didn’t immediately call GD. He was also pretty sure that it was a good enough reason to place the blame for their current position solely on Nathan Stark’s shoulders.
“We still need to run a few more tests, keep you under observation,” Allison said, her voice coming through the speaker on the wall. Jack could see her in the observation room looking down on them. She had her arms crossed and she looked pissed. Jack wasn’t sure whether that was because Stark had been playing with something he technically wasn’t supposed to be or because when she found him, Stark had been halfway to giving Jack possibly the best orgasm he’d almost had in years.
“Allison,” Nathan said, “we’re fine.” He slid off the bed he had been lying on and moved to lean against the wall, still a little shaky from the injection he’d had, his arms crossed over his chest in a mirror of Allison’s stance. Stark also looked pissed. Jack wasn’t sure whether it was because he managed to get himself infected with some kind of horny-making super hormone or if it was because Allison stopped them before Nathan had the chance to finish what he’d started.
Jack wasn’t sure he wanted to know…
“I thought you said the shot Taggert gave Stark neutralized the,” Jack made a circle with his hand, raising his eyebrows, “whole, groping unsuspecting Sheriffs thing. Hey, should I be in here? Is Stark still affected?” Jack eyed the man across the room warily, taking a step back. Not that he necessarily had a problem with a Nathan Stark that wanted to get hot and sweaty, but he certainly didn’t want an audience. Jack’s eyes moved back to Allison and the pinched look on her face.
“It did,” she said.
“Great!” Jack answered enthusiastically, heading for the large double doors of the observation room. “Then you can let us out.”
“The H-3569 that Nathan was infected with is experimental, Carter,” Allison explained, a tinge of impatience in her voice. “We’re not exactly sure yet if you were infected. We need to keep you under observation for a few more hours.”
Jack’s eyes widened, his hand going to his neck where Nathan had bit him hard enough to break the skin. At the time Nathan’s hand on Jack’s dick was enough of a distraction from the pain of the bite but now his neck was throbbing. He glared at Nathan who at least had the good grace to look contrite. “You,” Jack snarled, “you infected me with some unknown GD sex drug!”
Nathan raised an eyebrow before rolling his eyes at Jack. “First of all, it’s not unknown, it’s experimental and second, it’s not a sex drug.”
“Says the man that came barreling into the station, slammed me against a wall and shoved his hand down my pants,” Jack scoffed.
Nathan’s eyes dropped and Jack felt himself flushing as Stark gave him a thorough once over before meeting Jack’s eyes with a cheeky grin. “You weren’t exactly complaining as I recall,” Nathan said.
Jack narrowed his eyes and began pacing the room. The last thing he needed right now was to start thinking about how he had most definitely not been complaining. Was it getting hotter? Jack pulled at the collar of his uniform shirt.
“Carter?” Nathan asked, sounding a little worried and Jack smiled because he kind of liked the idea of Stark being worried about him. “You okay?”
Jack turned, about to tell Nathan he was fine, when he suddenly found himself moving closer to Stark instead, his gaze roaming over the man’s body. His hand fit nicely on Nathan’s hip but it felt amazing skimming under Nathan’s shirt to the soft, warm skin underneath and when he slipped his hand into Nathan’s boxers, Jack was pretty sure he’d never felt anything better than the hard, thick, silky heat of Nathan’s cock.
“Jack,” Nathan said and Jack was pleased to note his voice sounded a little breathless. “You’re infected, Jack. You don’t really want to do this.” Nathan was rocking his hips forward, pushing his cock into Jack’s hand even as he was trying to talk him out of it.
Raising his eyes to meet Stark’s, Jack grinned and leaned in, his voice ghosting over Nathan’s cheek as he whispered, “I’ve wanted to do this since the first time we met.”
Nathan’s forehead met Jack’s shoulder and his arms circled Jack’s waist pulling him closer, his breath coming in hot pants against Jack’s neck as Jack circled a thumb over the head of Nathan’s leaking dick. “Dammit,” Nathan muttered, lifting his head and capturing Jack’s mouth in a heated kiss before he stepped back and hit a button on the wall. “Allison,” Nathan said, arousal and resignation in his voice, “get Taggert.”
--
Jack woke up with a groan, staring at an unfamiliar ceiling. “What hit me?”
“That would be Taggert’s shot,” came a voice from his left and Jack turned his head, squinting at Nathan.
“Oh god,” he muttered, shutting his eyes. “I haven’t felt this hung over in years.” Nathan chuckled from where he was sitting beside Jack’s bed. Jack opened his eyes again. “How come Taggert’s shot didn’t affect you like this?” Jack asked, accusation clear in his voice.
Nathan smirked. “It did. I’m just better at hiding it than you are.”
Jack didn’t have the energy to respond to that. “Considering how shitty I feel right now,” he groaned, “Taggert’s shot sure as hell better have worked.”
“You’re H-3569 free,” Nathan confirmed.
“Good,” Jack said, relief flooding through him. And then relief was quickly replaced by embarrassment. Fuck. “Uh,” he started, feeling his cheeks flush as he remembered what he’d done to Stark.
Stark’s chair scrapped against the floor as he stood up. “Don’t worry about it,” he said, not meeting Jack’s eye. “You were under the influence of an experimental hormone,” Nathan said with a twist of his mouth. “We can forget it ever happened.”
Jack felt his stomach drop. He didn’t want to forget what happened. He wanted it to happen again, preferably somewhere more private where they wouldn’t be interrupted again. “Alright,” he said slowly, “if that’s what you want.”
“It’s for the best,” Stark said with a decisive nod of his head. “See you around, Carter.”
--
And Nathan Stark was true to his word. For weeks after ‘The Incident’, as Jack had started to come to think of that afternoon in his head, Nathan avoided him. For all intents and purposes it was as if that afternoon had never happened. If Jack saw him at all Stark was turning a corner and disappearing into the vast maze of Global Dynamics.
No matter where Jack tried to ambush him, Stark managed to escape. Jack was starting to think the man was monitoring GD’s surveillance in an effort to dodge him.
But Jack was a lot smarter than Nathan gave him credit for.
“I knew you’d have to come home eventually,” Jack said conversationally from Nathan’s couch. It was only because Zoë was spending Spring Break with Abby and Jack had a backlog of vacation days that he had been able to devote the time necessary to catching Nathan. He’d broken into the man’s house three days before and hadn’t left.
Nathan’s face cycled through several expressions finally landing on irritation. “What are you doing here, Carter?” Nathan snapped, tossing his briefcase on the hall table and stripping out of his coat before stalking toward the kitchen.
Jack followed at a leisurely pace, grinning as it gave him a perfect view of Nathan’s ass. “Waiting for you,” he said with a shrug.
Nathan threw him a look of exasperation and then began pulling food from the fridge and cupboards. “How long have you been here?” Nathan asked, eyeing the dirty dishes in the sink and the small collection of beer bottles on his cupboard with distaste.
Jack sat at the kitchen table, putting his feet up on the dark wooden table top, ignoring the pointed glare Nathan gave him. “Three days,” Jack answered, putting his hands behind his head and watching Nathan as he began assembling something for supper. “I wasn’t planning on staying - crazy, I know, but I thought you’d come home from work like a normal person - but I have to admit, I’m starting to like it here.”
Nathan shook his head with a huff of irritation and what Jack hoped was a dash of amusement. “The least you could have done was put your dishes in the dishwasher,” he muttered.
Jack looked sheepish when he said, “I would have but…I couldn’t find it.” And if he was being honest, he’d gotten a little spoiled by SARAH and now avoided housework like the plague.
Nathan smirked at that. Pointing to a spot on the right side of the kitchen, he raised an eyebrow. “Make yourself useful if you’re not going to leave. Second button on the right.”
Jack grinned and bounced up from the chair, walking to the sink to grab his dishes. “What are we having?”
Nathan looked at Jack in amusement. “We?”
“Well,” Jack said, walking the dishes to where Nathan had pointed, hitting the second button on the right and watching the dishwasher appear out of the wall. “You’ve kept me waiting for three days. I think the least you could do is make me supper.”
“Considering you broke into my house and I didn’t actually know you were here I’d hardly call that making you wait.”
Jack shut the dishwasher and moved back to where Nathan was chopping up some carrots. He leaned his back against the counter and stared at Nathan’s profile in silence for a moment before sighing heavily. “We can’t keep pretending that nothing happened, Nathan.”
Nathan’s eyebrow rose and he turned, giving Jack a half-hearted smirk. “I think we’ve been doing a pretty good job of doing just that,” he said.
Jack glowered. “Alright fine,” he snapped. “I don’t want to keep pretending that nothing happened between us.”
“Carter,” Nathan sighed, putting the knife down on the counter and letting his head hang.
“No,” Jack growled, grabbing Nathan’s bicep and turning him around to face him. “No more pretending, no more hiding. Something happened between us, Stark and dammit I want it to happen again!” Jack pulled Nathan into a hard, determined kiss.
Nathan stood stalk still.
Jack pulled back with a defeated shake of his head. “I’m sorry.” He took a step back. He never should have come here, never should have pushed. “I’m going to…” He motioned behind him and spun around heading for the door. Nathan didn’t try to stop him.
--
For a week Jack buried himself in paperwork, sending Jo whenever there was a problem at Global, sneaking home after dark when everyone else in town had already called it a night, slipping into the station early enough to beat even Jo into work. Basically he was doing everything he could to avoid running into Nathan Stark. The fact that he still felt himself flush in embarrassment whenever he thought about what happened just made him feel that much more like an idiot. He couldn't believe he'd let himself get so caught up in the fantasy he'd created in his head that he'd missed all of the obvious signs. Stark wasn't playing hard to get, he just didn't want to be gotten. Plain and simple, even a sheriff with a slightly above average IQ could figure it out...eventually; Nathan Stark was straight.
Jack let his head thunk down onto his desk, closed his eyes and tried to banish all thoughts of Nathan Stark from his mind.
"You're going to have to face him eventually," Jo said helpfully from across the room. Unfortunately she'd been the first one to walk in on Stark coaxing Jack into an almost orgasm and had called Allison, asking her if she was missing a particularly frisky scientist. She didn't know about the rest of it, but Jack knew she wasn't stupid, knew she could probably guess something more had happened after they'd been given Taggert's shot.
"I don't want to talk about it," he muttered, not bothering to lift his head.
"I'm just saying," she said as she got up and poured herself a cup of coffee, "You can't hide out in here forever. You're the sheriff, Carter."
Jack raised his head and glared at Jo. "Thanks, I'd forgotten."
Jo snorted, rolling her eyes. "Fine. I'm sure Zoë will be happy to have SARAH to herself. Maybe she'll invite Lucas over for some studying."
Jack's glare intensified but he pushed away from the desk. "Alright, I'm going."
"See you tomorrow, Carter," Jo tossed back with a half wave and a smirk.
--
Zoë had come back from LA three days before, full of excitement, a belly button piercing, a fake tattoo and electric blue streaks in her hair, dressed all in black. Jack bit his tongue the moment he saw her, fighting the urge to ask her if she was thinking of starting her own emo band. Three days later the streaks in her hair were still there, as was the piercing, the tattoo was starting to fade and her attire no longer seemed depressed. Jack supposed it was an improvement.
“Sarah, door,” Jack mumbled, hoisting his gym bag onto his shoulder. He was exhausted from hiding and all he wanted to do was take a hot shower and crawl into bed.
Thanks to Fargo sound proofing SARAH Jack didn’t hear the blaring bass of some heavy metal alternative pop something band until the door opened. The bass thumped in his chest like a second heartbeat, his ears ringing and head pounding at the volume of the music. “ZOË!”
His daughter was bobbing her head in time to the music, her back to Jack as she moved about the kitchen. Lucas was at the kitchen table, books spread out before him, his eyes never leaving Zoë. “Sarah,” Jack shouted, “shut that noise off!”
Silence filled the room and Jack closed his eyes sighing happily. “Thank you,” he muttered, opening his eyes to meet Zoë’s gaze.
“Dad! You’re home early,” Zoë said, looking momentarily guilty.
Lucas jumped up from the table. “Sheriff,” he said nervously and Jack suddenly wished he was back at the office. He really didn’t feel like dealing with this situation right now.
“Lucas,” he said with a nod and turned back to Zoë. “Last time I checked,” he said, “I’m pretty sure my rule about no boys in the house without supervision hadn’t been abolished.”
“Dad,” Zoë half whined, “we’ve got a big project due for school and Lucas is my lab partner.”
“You could have asked, Zo,” Jack said tiredly, tossing his bag on the couch.
“I tried,” she answered, crossing her arms. “You’ve been a little hard to get a hold of lately.”
Jack winced. “Yeah, sorry sweetie I’ve just been really busy.”
Zoë raised an eyebrow and glanced at the answering machine. “Too busy to call Stark back apparently.”
“What?” Jack blinked in surprise.
“He’s called like fifty times Dad.”
“Oh,” Jack said, looking at the blinking light on the answering machine. “I’ll uh, I’ll talk to him tomorrow,” he said quickly. “I’m going to take a shower. How much longer will you two be working on this?”
“A couple more hours,” Zoë answered, placing a can of soda in front of Lucas with a grin that made Jack’s headache throb that much worse.
“Fine,” Jack sighed. “SARAH, parental mode D-4.”
Zoë rolled her eyes. “Like we’d do anything with you upstairs,” she scoffed, her eyes widening a little guiltily as Jack narrowed his own. “That didn’t come out right.”
“I should hope not,” Jack muttered as he grabbed a beer and headed for the stairs. “Done by nine, Zoë - no exceptions. SARAH, kick Lucas out if he’s still here by then.”
“Yes Sheriff,” SARAH’s voice sounded above Zoë’s whined, Dad.
--
The next morning Jack dragged himself from bed and into the real shower he’d made Fargo install, letting the hot water pound down on his back, easing his tense muscles. He hadn’t slept well at all, tossing and turning and thinking about Nathan.
After Lucas had left and Zoë had finally gone to bed, Jack crept downstairs and listened to the messages Nathan had left. Each one sounded innocuous enough but Jack could tell that with each unanswered phone call, Nathan was getting more and more aggravated.
Tough, Jack thought to himself. Stark could get as pissed off as he wanted. Jack had good reason to avoid him and just because Nathan Stark apparently didn’t agree, that didn’t change the fact that Jack had no intention of dealing with the man. Not until this whole embarrassing situation was a long forgotten memory.
--
Jo smirked at him when he shuffled into work and Jack scowled at her. It was barely six o’clock in the morning, she usually wasn’t in until seven and by that time Jack was actually awake.
“What are you doing here?” he muttered, holding the cup of coffee he’d picked up from Vincent’s close to his mouth, blowing on it before taking a sip. Mmm Caffeine.
She walked over to him, smiling pleasantly and held out a stack of pink papers. “Your messages,” Jo said, shoving them toward Jack and heading for the door. “Tell Stark that I am not your secretary. I’m going home.”
Jack frowned down at the messages and then called out, “Wait!” He looked anxiously at Jo, “You can’t go.”
Jo raised an eyebrow. “I’ve enabled you long enough, Carter.” She pointed at the messages in Jack’s hand. “Deal with this.”
--
Jack’s idea of dealing with this was to continue avoiding Nathan at all cost. He sat in the station and prayed like he never had before that he didn’t get a call about yet another crisis at Global.
By the time the end of the day came, around midnight for Jack, he breathed a sigh of relief. Other than a few domestic issues, and one scientist trying to blow up his house, Jack had spent the entire day at the station without hearing a peep from Global Dynamics.
He drove home, whistling to himself, feeling better than he had in days. Finally he could see light at the end of the tunnel. He was sure that in a few days everything would blow over and this whole thing with Nathan would be like it never happened.
“Sarah, door,” Jack said to his house, stepping inside and tossing his jacket on the back of a chair as he sorted through the mail.
“So, this is what constitutes normal to you?” a voice said from his living room and Jack’s eyes snapped up to see Nathan lounging on his couch. Nathan looked down at his watch. “I’m pretty sure most normal people would have been home hours ago.”
“How did you get in here?” Jack all but growled, knowing the answer before Nathan spoke.
“I asked your house politely to let me in,” Nathan replied with a cheeky grin, reaching for the glass of wine on the coffee table.
“Sarah!” Jack shouted, throwing the mail on the kitchen table and eyeing the leftover supper that Zoë had left out for him.
“Sssh,” Nathan said and Jack looked up, watching as Stark made his way into the kitchen. “Zoë is sleeping.”
Jack winced because the last thing he wanted was for Zoë to wake up and find Stark in the house and start asking questions he didn’t have the answers to. Curiosity was her second name and he knew she was starting to wonder what exactly was going on between Jack and Nathan.
“What do you want Stark?” Jack asked wearily, turning toward the fridge. “Beer me, Judas,” he muttered.
“We need to talk,” Nathan said, sliding onto a stool at the kitchen table.
“I’m pretty sure we’ve said everything that needs to be said,” Jack answered, downing half his beer in one go. He placed the glass on the table and eyed Nathan over it. “Or do you really enjoy seeing me suffer so much that you can’t just let my mistake go?”
“Mistake?” Nathan said slowly, his dark eyes unreadable.
“Look, so I got the wrong idea, okay. I get that. You’re straight, you’re not interested, it was all the drugs. Can we just forget it ever happened - isn’t that what you wanted?” Jack grabbed his beer and headed for the living room, sinking into the cushions of the couch with a weary sigh.
Nathan stood in the kitchen for a moment before following Jack back into the living room, sitting on the opposite end of the couch. “Jack,” Nathan muttered, shaking his head. “You didn’t make a mistake, I did.”
Jack snorted and finished his beer. “Fine, if you want to take credit for this mess, be my guest.”
“That’s not what I meant,” Nathan growled. Jack stood again, ready for another beer and desperate to distance himself from this conversation but Nathan stood too, grabbing him before he could turn away, pulling him closer. “You surprised me, that’s all,” he muttered, his gaze on Jack’s lips.
When Nathan leaned in and kissed Jack, he froze. Nathan pulled back and smirked. “See?” He cupped Jack’s cheek, running his thumb over Jack’s bottom lip. “But unlike you,” he murmured, “I’m not running away.” The second time he leaned in, Jack met him halfway, his arms circling Nathan and pulling him even closer.
“I’m an idiot,” Jack muttered between kisses, poking Nathan when he didn’t disagree.
Nathan grinned. “I didn’t exactly help the situation,” he admitted, his hands sliding under Jack’s shirt to roam the warm expanse of his back.
Jack sighed at the touch, leaning in to kiss Nathan again. A cough behind him had Jack jumping away from Nathan like he’d been burned. Zoë stood on the stairs behind them, her arms crossed, her hair sticking up wildly. “Zoë!”
“I seem to recall a rule about no guys allowed in the house unsupervised.” She grinned at the look on her father’s face before hurrying down the stairs to hug him. “It’s about time,” she whispered in Jack’s ear, winking at him before she turned to Nathan. “Hurt him and--”
“I won’t,” Nathan promised.
Zoë nodded. “Good.” Then she surprised both Jack and Nathan by moving in and wrapping her arms around Nathan in a tight hug. When she released him she turned back to Jack with a grin. “Sarah, off-spring mode B7,” she said cheekily before bounding back up the stairs. “My room is sound proof,” she called as she disappeared.
Jack frowned and then blushed. Nathan curled a hand around his waist and grinned, pressing a kiss to Jack’s temple. “I’m not in a hurry, you know,” Nathan offered.
Jack turned to him with a snort. “I might not be ready to have sex with you with my kid in the next room,” Jack said, wrapping a hand around Nathan’s wrist and pulling him to the door, “but I’m more than ready to go to your place.”
“What about Zoë?” Nathan asked, letting himself be pulled along.
“Off-spring mode B7,” Jack said by way of explanation. “Sarah’s on babysitting duty with my cell, Jo’s cell and every other emergency contact number I could think of on speed dial in case anything happens.”
Nathan chuckled, tugging Jack closer, his hands sliding over Jack’s body. “Well, Sheriff,” he said, “what are we waiting for?”
Jack pressed himself against Nathan, his own hands wandering. “Absolutely nothing,” Jack answered with a grin. “I already have everything I was waiting for right here.”