Fic: "Not the Same" (Jack Carter; R)
Fandom: EUReKA
Title: Not the Same
Rating: R
Summary: Jack trying to unwind mid-ep and deal with people in the town.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Property of SciFi/SyFy, Andrew Cosby and Jamie Paglia.
Pairing/Characters: Jack Carter, Mentions of Tess Fontana and Nathan Stark, implications of UST & AU relationship
Spoilers: Spoilers for 3x12 - 'It's Not Easy Being Green'
A/N: Written for Week 4 of the Season 3.5 challenge at eureka_tag, Missing Scene for '3x12 - It's Not Easy Being Green'
A/N#2: Edited! Wordcount increased significantly amongst other changes. Sometimes RL just gets in the way.
Jack sighs as he plops down into his desk chair, suddenly grateful for the quiet of the office.
He puts his head in his hands, pressing against his eyes and making little flashes appear in his field of vision.
Damn, damn, damn, damn, he thinks. What have I done to deserve this, her making my life a living hell? Don’t I already have enough to deal with?
He hasn’t seen this many insults-- most of them not even veiled-- since Nathan was alive. Or maybe the divorce. At least there seemed to be reasons for them then; Nathan was worried about Jack trying to take ‘his’ woman, Abby pissed off and looking for any reason to get him out of their lives. He never agreed with either one of them, but at least he could see where they were coming from, their reasons for their actions, no matter how hurtful.
With Tess, he can’t figure out what the hell her problem is.
He’s been nothing but professional and cordial towards her the whole time she’s been here. Sure, they didn’t have the best first meeting, but he was doing his job, his duty to the town to check out why there was a car parked sideways in the middle of Pinewood Way.
His responsibility, first and foremost, is to the people of Eureka and their safety. Not to making some rude, egotistical lady feel catered to because she couldn’t spare the manners to make a polite response to a valid inquiry by a clearly identified officer of the law. And many people in Eureka have gotten over small incidents like that in a blink of an eye, instead of coming at him like a harpy with razor sharp claws and fangs extended. He just can’t understand why she is so bent out of shape over everything when he hasn’t done a thing to deserve it.
All he has to do is step into the same room and she’s already making an ass of herself to insult him about something. And he can’t figure out why-it’s not like she’s been here even long enough to know anything about him anyway.
With Nathan, it seemed as much as he would get annoyed over Jack, he would still defer to the fact that he was the Sheriff, even if Nathan thought it was total crap. If the town was in danger, GD had blown something up again, or someone was about to die, Nathan at least had the balls to put the hatred aside for the few hours it took to bring things back to normal. After that, all bets were off. This chick can’t even get over herself enough to consider other people, and that’s what drives him crazy.
The clashes with Nathan were the worst in the beginning, when Jack wasn’t as sure what to stand up for with his job or what Nathan’s angle was exactly beyond marking Ali as his. By the time Nathan…. left, (he still can’t call it death, not the way it all ended- death is too final, and final isn’t dissolving into gold dust, he always tells himself) it wasn’t so much so much as fighting as it was a practiced dance, all symbolic and full of meaning that wasn’t anger or disgust. He doesn’t want to think about what it was by the end, but now he knows for sure what it wasn’t.
He knows now it was something altogether different with him and Nathan, and sometimes has this dream of another one of those ‘realities’ where things are a whole lot different than the way they are. They’ve become much more frequent since Nathan left, and sometimes when he wakes up with the sheets tangled in his legs, hard as a rock and feeling the ghosts of scratchy kisses on his lips, he can’t entirely be convinced that Nathan’s not fucking with him in his dreams. He hates the uncertainty, not knowing whether or not he’s going crazy, or he’s being haunted, or maybe he just finally realized something after the fact that he never let himself think about before.
This stuff with Tess, however, doesn’t even have the same feeling. It’s completely irrational, and he can’t make heads or tails of whatever the hell her problem is. He’s not sure if she just hates him, or men in general, or what exactly. It’s tiring. She’s like Jo on a bad day without the weapons, and one to deal with in any given century is more than enough for him.
And now he’s got people playing dangerous pranks over a stupid bowling tournament, his daughter’s boyfriend turning into the Jolly Green Giant, Fargo causing more chaos at every opportunity and his sister fighting with the father of her two unborn children who seems to be trying to do the right thing.
He really, really doesn’t need anyone else, including some new lady with a chip on her shoulder to add to the pile of crap stacking up at his feet right now. What he needs is for all of it to go away, for his town and its inhabitants to return to normal. Unfortunately for him, even if he gets everyone else to calm down, it doesn’t look like Tess and her attitude are going to leave anytime soon.
Oh, how he misses the good old days of understanding the hostility around him, he thinks.
If he’s going to be stuck in this town with someone who constantly tries to lower his self esteem by insults and harsh words every time they're in the same room, he wants Nathan back.
Fin
8/09
Feedback always welcome.
Link to all of my stories
Title: Not the Same
Rating: R
Summary: Jack trying to unwind mid-ep and deal with people in the town.
Disclaimer: Not mine. Property of SciFi/SyFy, Andrew Cosby and Jamie Paglia.
Pairing/Characters: Jack Carter, Mentions of Tess Fontana and Nathan Stark, implications of UST & AU relationship
Spoilers: Spoilers for 3x12 - 'It's Not Easy Being Green'
A/N: Written for Week 4 of the Season 3.5 challenge at eureka_tag, Missing Scene for '3x12 - It's Not Easy Being Green'
A/N#2: Edited! Wordcount increased significantly amongst other changes. Sometimes RL just gets in the way.
Jack sighs as he plops down into his desk chair, suddenly grateful for the quiet of the office.
He puts his head in his hands, pressing against his eyes and making little flashes appear in his field of vision.
Damn, damn, damn, damn, he thinks. What have I done to deserve this, her making my life a living hell? Don’t I already have enough to deal with?
He hasn’t seen this many insults-- most of them not even veiled-- since Nathan was alive. Or maybe the divorce. At least there seemed to be reasons for them then; Nathan was worried about Jack trying to take ‘his’ woman, Abby pissed off and looking for any reason to get him out of their lives. He never agreed with either one of them, but at least he could see where they were coming from, their reasons for their actions, no matter how hurtful.
With Tess, he can’t figure out what the hell her problem is.
He’s been nothing but professional and cordial towards her the whole time she’s been here. Sure, they didn’t have the best first meeting, but he was doing his job, his duty to the town to check out why there was a car parked sideways in the middle of Pinewood Way.
His responsibility, first and foremost, is to the people of Eureka and their safety. Not to making some rude, egotistical lady feel catered to because she couldn’t spare the manners to make a polite response to a valid inquiry by a clearly identified officer of the law. And many people in Eureka have gotten over small incidents like that in a blink of an eye, instead of coming at him like a harpy with razor sharp claws and fangs extended. He just can’t understand why she is so bent out of shape over everything when he hasn’t done a thing to deserve it.
All he has to do is step into the same room and she’s already making an ass of herself to insult him about something. And he can’t figure out why-it’s not like she’s been here even long enough to know anything about him anyway.
With Nathan, it seemed as much as he would get annoyed over Jack, he would still defer to the fact that he was the Sheriff, even if Nathan thought it was total crap. If the town was in danger, GD had blown something up again, or someone was about to die, Nathan at least had the balls to put the hatred aside for the few hours it took to bring things back to normal. After that, all bets were off. This chick can’t even get over herself enough to consider other people, and that’s what drives him crazy.
The clashes with Nathan were the worst in the beginning, when Jack wasn’t as sure what to stand up for with his job or what Nathan’s angle was exactly beyond marking Ali as his. By the time Nathan…. left, (he still can’t call it death, not the way it all ended- death is too final, and final isn’t dissolving into gold dust, he always tells himself) it wasn’t so much so much as fighting as it was a practiced dance, all symbolic and full of meaning that wasn’t anger or disgust. He doesn’t want to think about what it was by the end, but now he knows for sure what it wasn’t.
He knows now it was something altogether different with him and Nathan, and sometimes has this dream of another one of those ‘realities’ where things are a whole lot different than the way they are. They’ve become much more frequent since Nathan left, and sometimes when he wakes up with the sheets tangled in his legs, hard as a rock and feeling the ghosts of scratchy kisses on his lips, he can’t entirely be convinced that Nathan’s not fucking with him in his dreams. He hates the uncertainty, not knowing whether or not he’s going crazy, or he’s being haunted, or maybe he just finally realized something after the fact that he never let himself think about before.
This stuff with Tess, however, doesn’t even have the same feeling. It’s completely irrational, and he can’t make heads or tails of whatever the hell her problem is. He’s not sure if she just hates him, or men in general, or what exactly. It’s tiring. She’s like Jo on a bad day without the weapons, and one to deal with in any given century is more than enough for him.
And now he’s got people playing dangerous pranks over a stupid bowling tournament, his daughter’s boyfriend turning into the Jolly Green Giant, Fargo causing more chaos at every opportunity and his sister fighting with the father of her two unborn children who seems to be trying to do the right thing.
He really, really doesn’t need anyone else, including some new lady with a chip on her shoulder to add to the pile of crap stacking up at his feet right now. What he needs is for all of it to go away, for his town and its inhabitants to return to normal. Unfortunately for him, even if he gets everyone else to calm down, it doesn’t look like Tess and her attitude are going to leave anytime soon.
Oh, how he misses the good old days of understanding the hostility around him, he thinks.
If he’s going to be stuck in this town with someone who constantly tries to lower his self esteem by insults and harsh words every time they're in the same room, he wants Nathan back.
Fin
8/09
Feedback always welcome.
Link to all of my stories