Fic: "Testing New Variables" (Jack/Nathan; R)
Fandom: EUReKA
Title: Testing New Variables
Rating: R
Summary: Nathan’s found himself a new variable to test - the new sheriff in town.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Property of SciFi/SyFy, Andrew Cosby and Jamie Paglia.
Pairing/Characters: Jack Carter/Nathan Stark
A/N: Written for the 2009 starks_lab Secret Santa Exchange with the prompt: "What would have happened if Nathan had pursued Jack instead of Allison on his return to Eureka?"
A/N #2: Thanks to serene_quill for the beta.
He’s not absolutely sure that it’s just ‘an electrolyte imbalance’ when his gut twists in a funny way as the new town sheriff stands at the foot of his infirmary bed, looking a little bit lost. Ever since they met in his office yesterday, he’s been referring to the new guy with his down home style name and classic corn fed good looks in his mind as ‘Mayberry’.
‘Jack’ is such a simple name, and he seems on first impression to fit the simplicity and homeliness of both of the monikers. He’s handsome, which catches his interest, and his clear attraction to Allison makes him even more interesting, enough to make it worth the effort to see if he’s worth pursuing. He likes brains with his beauty, and although this new guy might not be the smartest in town, he might still be tolerable-and with any luck, interested in him.
As he eases himself up from the bed, still sore and muscles firing in random painful bursts, he can’t seem to control the part of himself that has to give a good show. He flashes Mayberry a good long look at his abs, and the confident sheriff suddenly won’t meet his eyes anymore as the tension in the room increases tenfold.
Nathan knows he’s handsome, something to look at, and the reaction he gets just confirms that the new sheriff isn’t as ‘all American boy’ as he likes to pretend. Nathan’s willing to bet Mayberry feels whatever it is crackling in the air around them too, but his backwater, repressed, law-enforcement self can’t reconcile the idea of being attracted to another man. Too bad too, because he’s handsome enough, and if his head isn’t empty, he’d be worth a nice screw.
They continue talking, and Nathan can’t help but poke at this new creature to see how he reacts. Like any new experiment, Nathan has a desire to investigate, watching the cause and effect relationship of a given action upon his new element-- the sheriff.
Mayberry gets huffy when confronted about Ali, snipping back curtly and clearly offended, but still manages a parting shot. Nathan can’t help but notice how blatantly the sheriff stares as Nathan redresses himself. Nathan can hear the other man’s sharp intake of breath as he moves, flexing and pushing his shirttails out of the way as he gives Mayberry another show. Mayberry takes the bait and fails miserably at being discreet about his interest despite clear effort on his part to do so.
Mayberry high-tails it out of the infirmary as fast as he can, and Nathan smiles, pleased with himself. Yeah. Definitely repressed, but also most definitely interested, whether he’s ready to admit it or not. This one might be worth pursuing, depending on how he turns out- he won’t suffer fools for the sake of a good fuck.
*********
Nathan spends the next few months finding ways to antagonize the new sheriff every time their paths cross. Some attempts are more successful than others, ending in screaming matches and threats of bodily harm. More often than not, Mayberry goes storming out in a huff-- his typical reaction. Nathan finds it rather fascinating, and the whole situation is infinitely more interesting when he can stay calm and watch the sheriff’s reactions carefully than the times where he’s just as angry himself by the end.
Ali gets annoyed at him over his fights with Mayberry, complaining nearly every time and chewing him out twice as much over his behavior. He recognizes the signs-- she likes Mayberry too-- but he doubts she’s interested in a relationship of any sort right now, given how recently theirs went up in flames. She does seem to feel the need to protect the sheriff, as though Nathan is being a big, bad bully and Mayberry needs defending.
Nathan argues every time that both he and the sheriff are grown men, able to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner suitable for men of their age. Ali never believes him, always giving him her ‘bullshit’ look, and argues that 5 year olds are better behaved than they are at times. It never ends well.
It’s a moot point, really. Poking Mayberry is just too much fun, and Ali’s going to feel like she needs to be the knight in shining armor for a while until everything between them settles down.
**********
Callister comes back to town and everything goes to hell. Although figuring out what makes Mayberry tick is his new pet project, the last thing he wants is to show any weakness to the other man for more reasons than he wants to consider.
Mayberry is much kinder than he expected, speaking softly and not taking advantage of Nathan’s raw wounds. Nathan’s impressed, because he doesn’t think he’d have the same self control and benevolence, more likely to dissect the sheriff like an anatomy specimen to watch his reactions than leave him alone to lick his wounds in peace.
Instead, he was kind and gentle, and most of all understands that Callister is something special, something truly unique. He even has the audacity to call Nathan a father like him, but not accusingly, just with a quiet understanding that Nathan would always admire after that.
After that night at the bus station, in his mind ‘Mayberry’ becomes ‘Jack’, and a much more complicated creature at that. He finds that his entertainment is not just idle anymore, but has turned into something more. No longer bothered by the idea that the other man didn’t have the intelligence to keep up, he’s surprised to find that the sheriff’s ‘brains’ are in his ability to handle people the right way-better than anyone he’s ever seen.
Nathan runs into him the next day, and Jack says nothing but, “How you doing?” in a quiet voice, looking directly into his eyes. Jack looks only slightly better than Nathan feels, and he suspects that Jack had plenty to deal with himself last night handling Zoe and trying not to panic about her leaving every few minutes. He knows he would, if the tables were turned.
Jack’s compassion is surprising, and adds a depth to the man that he hadn’t anticipated. He decides then that the sheriff is worthy of more consideration than he was previously willing to give, and Nathan can’t ignore the warm twisting in his gut at the prospect of finding out more about him. His new experiment.
**********
By the end of the next week, he’s ready to murder them all. Fargo’s stupid invention, Taggart and his out of control nanoids, and Allison and her damned divorce papers. Each of them alone is enough to give him a bad day, but compounded upon each other and he’s about ready to steal the gun from Jack’s belt and shoot someone. Or multiple someones, damn the consequences.
When Jack asks him about his dream, he’s purposefully evasive and he doesn’t want to divulge all of the subjects of his dream-- especially since two of them are standing there in front of him, and he isn’t sure either would take too kindly to the content.
He isn’t lying when he tells Jack he dreamed about having control over everything, but what he doesn’t share was that ‘everything’ included control over both of them-- including in the bedroom. Ali is definitely one of the prominent features of his dreams, but last night’s in particular had a long segment where Ali had been replaced with Jack, sprawled out on his bed, hands bound to the headboard and fire in his eyes as he lay helpless beneath Nathan.
It’s not the first, but certainly the most vivid of recent fantasies involving the handsome sheriff. Ever since he started letting himself look at Jack not as a the village idiot with a badge but rather an intelligent and capable member of the town, he’s found his thoughts drifting more and more towards him. It’s as if his brain decided that once found to be intelligent enough, Jack was capable of being something more than just the too stupid annoyance that floated constantly in and out of his daily routines.
He hasn’t yet devoted much energy to thinking about this for fear that doing so would end up sucking him into far more of a mess than he ever wanted or had the energy to deal with. He has enough fires to put out daily with running GD and dealing with Ali that he doesn’t need another layer of confusion and unnecessary stress mixed in.
If he admits any of this to them, he can’t even begin to imagine the fallout. Jack being a repressed law enforcement type would quite possibly stroke out on the spot, and he’s not sure if Ali would be jealous that he’s thinking about someone else or use it as another reason to flay him open. Either way, it won’t end well.
So instead he’s evasive, letting them draw their own conclusions. It’s easier for everyone that way, and they behave just as he expected. What he doesn’t expect, however, was Jack’s little ‘plan’ and the feeling that twisted and burned in his gut as Jack practically dry humped Ali right in front of him.
Carter surprisingly predicts correctly that jealousy will move his subconscious response enough to come after the offenders. What Jack couldn’t know, and Nathan himself never would have expected, is that he isn’t sure who he wants more-Ali or Jack.
As he watches them kiss, his first instinct is to pull Ali away, to take what his heart still instinctively recognizes as his, divorce papers be damned. But as he keeps watching, it doesn’t take long for that first instinct to fade as something else starts to twist and burn at his gut, and he gets the same instinct to pull Jack away instead. The longer the charade goes on, the longer he finds himself trying to imagine what Ali tastes, feels as Jack kisses and strokes her gently. The voracity of this curiosity surprises him, stronger than he has felt about anything for quite a long time.
The urge to intervene is incredibly strong, but instead he sits stock still, schooling his reaction to almost indifference as he watches the scene before him, convincing himself that inaction and outward indifference are the most appropriate reactions.
Once the nanoids lay in sandy piles across the dance floor, he looked at Jack, lingering on his ruffled appearance and heavy breathing. The man looks like he’s well on his way to being properly debauched, and Nathan has to bite his own tongue very, very hard to keep himself from seriously contemplating the merits of adding to the debauchery. There are countless reasons of why this is a bad idea, but self discipline is the only thing keeping him standing still at that moment.
“You okay?” Jack says suddenly, brow furrowed.
Nathan blinks once, trying to channel his thoughts. “Fine.”
“Maybe you should let the doctors check you out. You don’t look so fine.”
“I’ll be fine as soon as this day is over and this-“ he tears the tiny ‘mental mouse’ transducer off his neck, “Is destroyed and Fargo spends the rest of his life cleaning Taggart’s animal pens.”
Jack smiles at that a little, and Nathan feels his gut start to stir again. Shit. He gives Jack a small nod and leaves, ignoring the squawking protests of Fargo and Ali as he slams the door behind him. He’ll deal with them tomorrow-- Fargo will have figured out most of what he’s currently freaking out about, and he’ll have a 50/50 chance that Ali will have cooled off about the whole incident too.
*********
A false alarm from a meddling smart house was not something he needs to top off the last few days of cleaning up the fallout from Seth’s botanical experiment. Between the hundreds of human resource issues, destroyed experiments and resignations made under the influence of the pollen, he’s spent pretty much all of his time reviewing reports and spending time in meetings about how to repair the damage everyone made and not actually moving anything in all of GD forward.
Not to mention his spectacular fight with Ali in front of Carter and Fargo in the middle of GD. He hasn’t talked to her since she saved him from nearly committing suicide via the artifact, so single minded in his desire to know that he didn’t care about what he even had left to live for. Ali knew what buttons to push to get him to follow, but she hasn’t said more than a few words at a time to him since, making him feel just as abandoned as when he followed the sirens’ song to the artifact.
Instead, for his troubles, he gets trapped inside an insecure smart house with abandonment issues in a tiny room with Jack and nothing to do but try to figure out how to get out of the situation.
He watches as Jack paces around the small space, torn between receding into his own mind to find a solution and appreciating Jack’s smooth movements around the room. He hardly needs an excuse to just watch, and the fact that for once there is no imminent danger lets him enjoy watching the sheriff move and mumble out loud about their options, talking to himself.
Nathan makes sure his amusement doesn’t show, because the last thing they need right now is to get into the inevitable fight over Nathan’s amusement at his antics. Jack may not intend to amuse, but he does. Nathan is content to let Jack mumble on as he brainstorms solutions on his own until the room starts to rapidly change temperature.
At first, the cool air is nice compared to the stifling closeness of the two of them, but as the temperature continues to steadily drop, it becomes uncomfortable quickly. He recognizes it as a compliance tactic of B.R.A.D.’s, but knows that Jack won’t understand the implications-including how quickly they are losing control of the situation.
Nathan starts to shiver, unable to control his body’s reaction to the temperature drop. Jack seems to be getting colder, but still staying somewhat warm as makes his track around the small space. S.A.R.A.H. is going to spend hours trying to repair the little divot he’s making in the carpet.
“Aren’t you cold?” Jack asks suddenly.
Nathan blinks, surprised at the sudden outburst, but doesn’t reply. He just stares at Jack, thinking about how to escape.
“No, of course not, you’re the great Nathan Stark, nothing ever affects you,” Jack says with an edge of bitterness to his voice.
Nathan doesn’t reply, but considers Jack’s tone and words.
“Stark?” Jack squirms, stepping closer and looking him over. “Ok, now you’re starting to creep me out.”
Nathan smiles to himself. Sometimes it’s just so easy….
“What, Carter?”
Jack blinks at him, startled at the sudden reply.
“Are you ok? It’s a goddamn icebox in here.” Jack shivers again, pulling the robe closer to himself.
“Fine.” Nathan shivers again. He can feel the shivers passing in waves through his body, but has no control over it, too far into autonomic response and well past his usual force of will.
“You don’t look so fine,” he says, watching Nathan carefully. He feels like squirming under the scrutiny but forces himself to stay still. “You’re shivering. Are you cold?”
Nathan rolls his eyes. “Thank you, Sheriff Obvious.”
“Why is it getting so cold in here? You built it, fix it.”
“Firstly, I didn’t build this, Fargo did. Second, the extreme temperatures are part of B.R.A.D.’s reactionary strategy,” he says while nodding toward Fargo and Beverly steadily stripping off clothes in what appears to be a ‘hot room’.
Jack looks over at them and back to Nathan. “What the hell is B.R.A.D.?”
Nathan sighs. “B.R.A.D. is just another manifestation of Fargo’s complete incompetence.”
Jack stares at him disapprovingly. “He’s an AI, like S.A.R.A.H., but his main functionality was for wargame simulation, not giving you a cushy house.”
Jack looks at him with an odd expression. “So this is just going to keep getting worse until we figure a way out.”
Nathan doesn’t reply, and Jack goes back to pacing. Nathan lets his thoughts drift, trying to find a way around B.R.A.D.’s endgame, until he notices Jack standing very close to him looking rather concerned.
“Stark? Stark? Can you hear me ok?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” He speaks to Jack as if he’s slow. His hearing is just fine, as measured at his last required physical.
“Because I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while now and you weren’t responding, and your lips are turning blue.” Jack looks down momentarily, almost bashful.
“I’m fine. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No, you’re not. You may think I’m stupid, but I’m not, and I know hypothermia when I see it. Stubbornness and arrogance can’t overcome temperatures this cold. Especially when all you’ve been doing is sitting still.”
Before Nathan can stop him, Jack envelops him with the ends of the robe, moving close and rubbing his back.
He tries to push Jack away, confused by the sudden invasion of his personal space. “What are you doing?”
Jack stands firm, hands fisting in the back of Nathan’s shirt to stay in position. “Keeping you from dying. Conservation of body heat. You should know this, Mr. I-have-a-million-PhDs-and-awards. Nobody dies on my watch, not when I could have done something about it.”
“Not that bad-“
“It is.” Jack scolds him rather firmly. “Now shut up and accept help like a man, and die on your own time, not mine.”
Nathan’s surprised enough at Jack’s behavior that he actually does stay quiet and still, soaking in the warmth and attention. Jack’s movements become less and less frantic as time goes on, and Nathan hits a point of recovery where he’s suddenly very aware of Jack’s close proximity. The twisting burn starts back up in his gut again, familiar now but no less disconcerting.
He looks up at Jack’s face and doesn’t recognize the expression there. Jack glances away quickly, but still stays close, acting the serious protector. He watches Fargo and Beverly hug through the panes of glass, slightly nauseous at the idea of them even touching, but then suddenly the glass slides away as quick as it appears and they can breathe again. Jack jumps away from him startled and looking slightly guilty. Nathan gets up, slightly unsteady, and goes to find Henry to brainstorm ways to get them out of this hellhole bunker before B.R.A.D. kills them all.
*******
A couple weeks later they’re alone in Nathan’s office, sorting out the last of the formalities on a N-4053/C and they’ve managed little more than minor civilities since the B.R.A.D. incident. After an explosion a couple days ago in Section 4 got a piece of him, he’s been on pain medication they gave him that has some inhibition lowering side effects and he’s let his mind drift to the clear issue between himself and Jack.
Jack’s hands him the last set of documents and is about to leave when Nathan calls him back.
“I… never said thank you for what you did while we were stuck in the bunker.”
Jack looks blankly at him, clearly surprised, and takes a moment to respond. “You’re welcome, I guess. Like I said, nobody dies on my watch if I have any say about it.” Jack’s words are measured and careful, a blatant tell that he’s hiding something.
Nathan stands up and walks around to the other side of the desk and leans against it.
“True, you seem very much to follow that letter of your job even despite your own peril. That, however, was not the only thing I was referring to.”
Jack looks like he’s about to puke or bolt from the room, possibly both. The man is amazingly perceptive about people, even if his intelligence level doesn’t quite measure up in this town. Amazingly, he stays in one place, eyes slightly panicked but focused on Nathan’s every move.
Nathan pushes himself off the desk and moves slowly towards Jack, giving him every opportunity to move away. Jack doesn’t, and Nathan notices a slight trembling in Jack’s hands as he gets closer. As he leans in, he pauses one last time to give him an out. Jack’s still frozen in place, and Nathan takes it as invitation to proceed and softly kisses him.
It’s awkward and flat and tentative, and Jack doesn’t react at all- no screaming, punching, or running out of the room-but no acceptance either. He watches Jack’s eyes and can see the emotions running through them, and the longer Jack doesn’t do anything, the more he mentally prepares himself for a sexual harassment suit and awkward dealings with the Sheriff’s office for the rest of his career in Eureka.
Much to his surprise, Jack finally leans in and kisses him back, this time a little less awkward and much less tentative. The kiss doesn’t last long, but when they break apart, Jack gives him a bright, animated grin.
“You’re welcome. Maybe you can return the favor next time.” He draws his fingers gently down Nathan’s tie and turns to walk out of the office, a little extra swagger in his step.
Nathan shakes his head, smiling to himself. He has a feeling he’s underestimated Jack Carter, and he’s going to enjoy finding out just exactly how much.
Fin
12/09
Feedback always welcome.
Link to all of my stories
Title: Testing New Variables
Rating: R
Summary: Nathan’s found himself a new variable to test - the new sheriff in town.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Property of SciFi/SyFy, Andrew Cosby and Jamie Paglia.
Pairing/Characters: Jack Carter/Nathan Stark
A/N: Written for the 2009 starks_lab Secret Santa Exchange with the prompt: "What would have happened if Nathan had pursued Jack instead of Allison on his return to Eureka?"
A/N #2: Thanks to serene_quill for the beta.
He’s not absolutely sure that it’s just ‘an electrolyte imbalance’ when his gut twists in a funny way as the new town sheriff stands at the foot of his infirmary bed, looking a little bit lost. Ever since they met in his office yesterday, he’s been referring to the new guy with his down home style name and classic corn fed good looks in his mind as ‘Mayberry’.
‘Jack’ is such a simple name, and he seems on first impression to fit the simplicity and homeliness of both of the monikers. He’s handsome, which catches his interest, and his clear attraction to Allison makes him even more interesting, enough to make it worth the effort to see if he’s worth pursuing. He likes brains with his beauty, and although this new guy might not be the smartest in town, he might still be tolerable-and with any luck, interested in him.
As he eases himself up from the bed, still sore and muscles firing in random painful bursts, he can’t seem to control the part of himself that has to give a good show. He flashes Mayberry a good long look at his abs, and the confident sheriff suddenly won’t meet his eyes anymore as the tension in the room increases tenfold.
Nathan knows he’s handsome, something to look at, and the reaction he gets just confirms that the new sheriff isn’t as ‘all American boy’ as he likes to pretend. Nathan’s willing to bet Mayberry feels whatever it is crackling in the air around them too, but his backwater, repressed, law-enforcement self can’t reconcile the idea of being attracted to another man. Too bad too, because he’s handsome enough, and if his head isn’t empty, he’d be worth a nice screw.
They continue talking, and Nathan can’t help but poke at this new creature to see how he reacts. Like any new experiment, Nathan has a desire to investigate, watching the cause and effect relationship of a given action upon his new element-- the sheriff.
Mayberry gets huffy when confronted about Ali, snipping back curtly and clearly offended, but still manages a parting shot. Nathan can’t help but notice how blatantly the sheriff stares as Nathan redresses himself. Nathan can hear the other man’s sharp intake of breath as he moves, flexing and pushing his shirttails out of the way as he gives Mayberry another show. Mayberry takes the bait and fails miserably at being discreet about his interest despite clear effort on his part to do so.
Mayberry high-tails it out of the infirmary as fast as he can, and Nathan smiles, pleased with himself. Yeah. Definitely repressed, but also most definitely interested, whether he’s ready to admit it or not. This one might be worth pursuing, depending on how he turns out- he won’t suffer fools for the sake of a good fuck.
*********
Nathan spends the next few months finding ways to antagonize the new sheriff every time their paths cross. Some attempts are more successful than others, ending in screaming matches and threats of bodily harm. More often than not, Mayberry goes storming out in a huff-- his typical reaction. Nathan finds it rather fascinating, and the whole situation is infinitely more interesting when he can stay calm and watch the sheriff’s reactions carefully than the times where he’s just as angry himself by the end.
Ali gets annoyed at him over his fights with Mayberry, complaining nearly every time and chewing him out twice as much over his behavior. He recognizes the signs-- she likes Mayberry too-- but he doubts she’s interested in a relationship of any sort right now, given how recently theirs went up in flames. She does seem to feel the need to protect the sheriff, as though Nathan is being a big, bad bully and Mayberry needs defending.
Nathan argues every time that both he and the sheriff are grown men, able to conduct themselves in an appropriate manner suitable for men of their age. Ali never believes him, always giving him her ‘bullshit’ look, and argues that 5 year olds are better behaved than they are at times. It never ends well.
It’s a moot point, really. Poking Mayberry is just too much fun, and Ali’s going to feel like she needs to be the knight in shining armor for a while until everything between them settles down.
**********
Callister comes back to town and everything goes to hell. Although figuring out what makes Mayberry tick is his new pet project, the last thing he wants is to show any weakness to the other man for more reasons than he wants to consider.
Mayberry is much kinder than he expected, speaking softly and not taking advantage of Nathan’s raw wounds. Nathan’s impressed, because he doesn’t think he’d have the same self control and benevolence, more likely to dissect the sheriff like an anatomy specimen to watch his reactions than leave him alone to lick his wounds in peace.
Instead, he was kind and gentle, and most of all understands that Callister is something special, something truly unique. He even has the audacity to call Nathan a father like him, but not accusingly, just with a quiet understanding that Nathan would always admire after that.
After that night at the bus station, in his mind ‘Mayberry’ becomes ‘Jack’, and a much more complicated creature at that. He finds that his entertainment is not just idle anymore, but has turned into something more. No longer bothered by the idea that the other man didn’t have the intelligence to keep up, he’s surprised to find that the sheriff’s ‘brains’ are in his ability to handle people the right way-better than anyone he’s ever seen.
Nathan runs into him the next day, and Jack says nothing but, “How you doing?” in a quiet voice, looking directly into his eyes. Jack looks only slightly better than Nathan feels, and he suspects that Jack had plenty to deal with himself last night handling Zoe and trying not to panic about her leaving every few minutes. He knows he would, if the tables were turned.
Jack’s compassion is surprising, and adds a depth to the man that he hadn’t anticipated. He decides then that the sheriff is worthy of more consideration than he was previously willing to give, and Nathan can’t ignore the warm twisting in his gut at the prospect of finding out more about him. His new experiment.
**********
By the end of the next week, he’s ready to murder them all. Fargo’s stupid invention, Taggart and his out of control nanoids, and Allison and her damned divorce papers. Each of them alone is enough to give him a bad day, but compounded upon each other and he’s about ready to steal the gun from Jack’s belt and shoot someone. Or multiple someones, damn the consequences.
When Jack asks him about his dream, he’s purposefully evasive and he doesn’t want to divulge all of the subjects of his dream-- especially since two of them are standing there in front of him, and he isn’t sure either would take too kindly to the content.
He isn’t lying when he tells Jack he dreamed about having control over everything, but what he doesn’t share was that ‘everything’ included control over both of them-- including in the bedroom. Ali is definitely one of the prominent features of his dreams, but last night’s in particular had a long segment where Ali had been replaced with Jack, sprawled out on his bed, hands bound to the headboard and fire in his eyes as he lay helpless beneath Nathan.
It’s not the first, but certainly the most vivid of recent fantasies involving the handsome sheriff. Ever since he started letting himself look at Jack not as a the village idiot with a badge but rather an intelligent and capable member of the town, he’s found his thoughts drifting more and more towards him. It’s as if his brain decided that once found to be intelligent enough, Jack was capable of being something more than just the too stupid annoyance that floated constantly in and out of his daily routines.
He hasn’t yet devoted much energy to thinking about this for fear that doing so would end up sucking him into far more of a mess than he ever wanted or had the energy to deal with. He has enough fires to put out daily with running GD and dealing with Ali that he doesn’t need another layer of confusion and unnecessary stress mixed in.
If he admits any of this to them, he can’t even begin to imagine the fallout. Jack being a repressed law enforcement type would quite possibly stroke out on the spot, and he’s not sure if Ali would be jealous that he’s thinking about someone else or use it as another reason to flay him open. Either way, it won’t end well.
So instead he’s evasive, letting them draw their own conclusions. It’s easier for everyone that way, and they behave just as he expected. What he doesn’t expect, however, was Jack’s little ‘plan’ and the feeling that twisted and burned in his gut as Jack practically dry humped Ali right in front of him.
Carter surprisingly predicts correctly that jealousy will move his subconscious response enough to come after the offenders. What Jack couldn’t know, and Nathan himself never would have expected, is that he isn’t sure who he wants more-Ali or Jack.
As he watches them kiss, his first instinct is to pull Ali away, to take what his heart still instinctively recognizes as his, divorce papers be damned. But as he keeps watching, it doesn’t take long for that first instinct to fade as something else starts to twist and burn at his gut, and he gets the same instinct to pull Jack away instead. The longer the charade goes on, the longer he finds himself trying to imagine what Ali tastes, feels as Jack kisses and strokes her gently. The voracity of this curiosity surprises him, stronger than he has felt about anything for quite a long time.
The urge to intervene is incredibly strong, but instead he sits stock still, schooling his reaction to almost indifference as he watches the scene before him, convincing himself that inaction and outward indifference are the most appropriate reactions.
Once the nanoids lay in sandy piles across the dance floor, he looked at Jack, lingering on his ruffled appearance and heavy breathing. The man looks like he’s well on his way to being properly debauched, and Nathan has to bite his own tongue very, very hard to keep himself from seriously contemplating the merits of adding to the debauchery. There are countless reasons of why this is a bad idea, but self discipline is the only thing keeping him standing still at that moment.
“You okay?” Jack says suddenly, brow furrowed.
Nathan blinks once, trying to channel his thoughts. “Fine.”
“Maybe you should let the doctors check you out. You don’t look so fine.”
“I’ll be fine as soon as this day is over and this-“ he tears the tiny ‘mental mouse’ transducer off his neck, “Is destroyed and Fargo spends the rest of his life cleaning Taggart’s animal pens.”
Jack smiles at that a little, and Nathan feels his gut start to stir again. Shit. He gives Jack a small nod and leaves, ignoring the squawking protests of Fargo and Ali as he slams the door behind him. He’ll deal with them tomorrow-- Fargo will have figured out most of what he’s currently freaking out about, and he’ll have a 50/50 chance that Ali will have cooled off about the whole incident too.
*********
A false alarm from a meddling smart house was not something he needs to top off the last few days of cleaning up the fallout from Seth’s botanical experiment. Between the hundreds of human resource issues, destroyed experiments and resignations made under the influence of the pollen, he’s spent pretty much all of his time reviewing reports and spending time in meetings about how to repair the damage everyone made and not actually moving anything in all of GD forward.
Not to mention his spectacular fight with Ali in front of Carter and Fargo in the middle of GD. He hasn’t talked to her since she saved him from nearly committing suicide via the artifact, so single minded in his desire to know that he didn’t care about what he even had left to live for. Ali knew what buttons to push to get him to follow, but she hasn’t said more than a few words at a time to him since, making him feel just as abandoned as when he followed the sirens’ song to the artifact.
Instead, for his troubles, he gets trapped inside an insecure smart house with abandonment issues in a tiny room with Jack and nothing to do but try to figure out how to get out of the situation.
He watches as Jack paces around the small space, torn between receding into his own mind to find a solution and appreciating Jack’s smooth movements around the room. He hardly needs an excuse to just watch, and the fact that for once there is no imminent danger lets him enjoy watching the sheriff move and mumble out loud about their options, talking to himself.
Nathan makes sure his amusement doesn’t show, because the last thing they need right now is to get into the inevitable fight over Nathan’s amusement at his antics. Jack may not intend to amuse, but he does. Nathan is content to let Jack mumble on as he brainstorms solutions on his own until the room starts to rapidly change temperature.
At first, the cool air is nice compared to the stifling closeness of the two of them, but as the temperature continues to steadily drop, it becomes uncomfortable quickly. He recognizes it as a compliance tactic of B.R.A.D.’s, but knows that Jack won’t understand the implications-including how quickly they are losing control of the situation.
Nathan starts to shiver, unable to control his body’s reaction to the temperature drop. Jack seems to be getting colder, but still staying somewhat warm as makes his track around the small space. S.A.R.A.H. is going to spend hours trying to repair the little divot he’s making in the carpet.
“Aren’t you cold?” Jack asks suddenly.
Nathan blinks, surprised at the sudden outburst, but doesn’t reply. He just stares at Jack, thinking about how to escape.
“No, of course not, you’re the great Nathan Stark, nothing ever affects you,” Jack says with an edge of bitterness to his voice.
Nathan doesn’t reply, but considers Jack’s tone and words.
“Stark?” Jack squirms, stepping closer and looking him over. “Ok, now you’re starting to creep me out.”
Nathan smiles to himself. Sometimes it’s just so easy….
“What, Carter?”
Jack blinks at him, startled at the sudden reply.
“Are you ok? It’s a goddamn icebox in here.” Jack shivers again, pulling the robe closer to himself.
“Fine.” Nathan shivers again. He can feel the shivers passing in waves through his body, but has no control over it, too far into autonomic response and well past his usual force of will.
“You don’t look so fine,” he says, watching Nathan carefully. He feels like squirming under the scrutiny but forces himself to stay still. “You’re shivering. Are you cold?”
Nathan rolls his eyes. “Thank you, Sheriff Obvious.”
“Why is it getting so cold in here? You built it, fix it.”
“Firstly, I didn’t build this, Fargo did. Second, the extreme temperatures are part of B.R.A.D.’s reactionary strategy,” he says while nodding toward Fargo and Beverly steadily stripping off clothes in what appears to be a ‘hot room’.
Jack looks over at them and back to Nathan. “What the hell is B.R.A.D.?”
Nathan sighs. “B.R.A.D. is just another manifestation of Fargo’s complete incompetence.”
Jack stares at him disapprovingly. “He’s an AI, like S.A.R.A.H., but his main functionality was for wargame simulation, not giving you a cushy house.”
Jack looks at him with an odd expression. “So this is just going to keep getting worse until we figure a way out.”
Nathan doesn’t reply, and Jack goes back to pacing. Nathan lets his thoughts drift, trying to find a way around B.R.A.D.’s endgame, until he notices Jack standing very close to him looking rather concerned.
“Stark? Stark? Can you hear me ok?”
“Why wouldn’t I?” He speaks to Jack as if he’s slow. His hearing is just fine, as measured at his last required physical.
“Because I’ve been trying to get your attention for a while now and you weren’t responding, and your lips are turning blue.” Jack looks down momentarily, almost bashful.
“I’m fine. I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“No, you’re not. You may think I’m stupid, but I’m not, and I know hypothermia when I see it. Stubbornness and arrogance can’t overcome temperatures this cold. Especially when all you’ve been doing is sitting still.”
Before Nathan can stop him, Jack envelops him with the ends of the robe, moving close and rubbing his back.
He tries to push Jack away, confused by the sudden invasion of his personal space. “What are you doing?”
Jack stands firm, hands fisting in the back of Nathan’s shirt to stay in position. “Keeping you from dying. Conservation of body heat. You should know this, Mr. I-have-a-million-PhDs-and-awards. Nobody dies on my watch, not when I could have done something about it.”
“Not that bad-“
“It is.” Jack scolds him rather firmly. “Now shut up and accept help like a man, and die on your own time, not mine.”
Nathan’s surprised enough at Jack’s behavior that he actually does stay quiet and still, soaking in the warmth and attention. Jack’s movements become less and less frantic as time goes on, and Nathan hits a point of recovery where he’s suddenly very aware of Jack’s close proximity. The twisting burn starts back up in his gut again, familiar now but no less disconcerting.
He looks up at Jack’s face and doesn’t recognize the expression there. Jack glances away quickly, but still stays close, acting the serious protector. He watches Fargo and Beverly hug through the panes of glass, slightly nauseous at the idea of them even touching, but then suddenly the glass slides away as quick as it appears and they can breathe again. Jack jumps away from him startled and looking slightly guilty. Nathan gets up, slightly unsteady, and goes to find Henry to brainstorm ways to get them out of this hellhole bunker before B.R.A.D. kills them all.
*******
A couple weeks later they’re alone in Nathan’s office, sorting out the last of the formalities on a N-4053/C and they’ve managed little more than minor civilities since the B.R.A.D. incident. After an explosion a couple days ago in Section 4 got a piece of him, he’s been on pain medication they gave him that has some inhibition lowering side effects and he’s let his mind drift to the clear issue between himself and Jack.
Jack’s hands him the last set of documents and is about to leave when Nathan calls him back.
“I… never said thank you for what you did while we were stuck in the bunker.”
Jack looks blankly at him, clearly surprised, and takes a moment to respond. “You’re welcome, I guess. Like I said, nobody dies on my watch if I have any say about it.” Jack’s words are measured and careful, a blatant tell that he’s hiding something.
Nathan stands up and walks around to the other side of the desk and leans against it.
“True, you seem very much to follow that letter of your job even despite your own peril. That, however, was not the only thing I was referring to.”
Jack looks like he’s about to puke or bolt from the room, possibly both. The man is amazingly perceptive about people, even if his intelligence level doesn’t quite measure up in this town. Amazingly, he stays in one place, eyes slightly panicked but focused on Nathan’s every move.
Nathan pushes himself off the desk and moves slowly towards Jack, giving him every opportunity to move away. Jack doesn’t, and Nathan notices a slight trembling in Jack’s hands as he gets closer. As he leans in, he pauses one last time to give him an out. Jack’s still frozen in place, and Nathan takes it as invitation to proceed and softly kisses him.
It’s awkward and flat and tentative, and Jack doesn’t react at all- no screaming, punching, or running out of the room-but no acceptance either. He watches Jack’s eyes and can see the emotions running through them, and the longer Jack doesn’t do anything, the more he mentally prepares himself for a sexual harassment suit and awkward dealings with the Sheriff’s office for the rest of his career in Eureka.
Much to his surprise, Jack finally leans in and kisses him back, this time a little less awkward and much less tentative. The kiss doesn’t last long, but when they break apart, Jack gives him a bright, animated grin.
“You’re welcome. Maybe you can return the favor next time.” He draws his fingers gently down Nathan’s tie and turns to walk out of the office, a little extra swagger in his step.
Nathan shakes his head, smiling to himself. He has a feeling he’s underestimated Jack Carter, and he’s going to enjoy finding out just exactly how much.
Fin
12/09
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