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serene_quillTitle: A Modest Proposal, Chapter 6: Do Over I Do Over (Part 3)
Pairing: Jack/Nathan, Jack/Allison, Nathan/Allison, Jack/Nathan/Allison
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: Don’t own!
Warnings: slash, threesome, spoilers through 304: I Do Over, AU
Summary: Time moves on, until it doesn’t...
Previous Parts can be found here
It turned out that Zoë and Lucas were working on a project that required a vacuum capable of doing quite a lot more than just containment, so they had appealed to Lucas’s uncle, a high ranking scientist at NASA, who had sent them his own prototype vacuum seal chamber. Nathan made sure to insist Zoë and Lucas had points for the project before he ordered it transported to GD and set up around his clock.
“You think this will work?” Jack asked, looking skeptical as they set to work installing the new vacuum seal around the clock. “I mean, my daughter’s science project saving the universe?”
“Uh, it’s happened before,” Fargo observed, hand gestures indicating falling objects. Nathan smiled to himself, remembering Jack pulling the plug on that particular science project before realizing the debris would fall on him.
“Nah, that was just the town, maybe the world,” Jack replied, rolling his eyes. Zoë shot him a faux exasperated look.
“Look, I have something to say,” Weinbrenner burst out suddenly from where he was helping Lucas with the external connector cables. “If the seal fails, if it has to be done manually, I should be the one to do it. I started this mess, I’ll finish it.”
“Dr. Weinbrenner, no one expects—” Jack started to say, but Weinbrenner cut him off, surprisingly standing his ground.
“I expect it,” he insisted, looking over to Nathan. “It’s my mess. I should clean it up.”
Nathan stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. “Okay,” he agreed, looking over at Jack to confirm the other man would agree.
“How about we worry about it if the seal fails?” Jack said quietly, looking over to where Zoë was helping install the seal casing. “And can’t I return the two of you to Tesla yet?” he objected, wincing as Zoë stripped a cable in front of him to rewire a connection. Nathan checked her work, nodding quickly to approve it.
“Nope,” she replied, grinning. “Our project, we see this through,” she said, sighing. “Besides, if it works, we have to do a full write up for Dr. Stratham in order to get our A. If it doesn’t, the project will be back at Tesla, no harm, no foul. But it would be nice if Dr. Stark—”
“Nathan,” the scientist corrected her from where he was adjusting the clock.
“Nathan,” Zoë repeated, rolling her eyes. “Would write this up for us so we can have extra credit even if it doesn’t work.”
“Good thinking,” Lucas commented, trading a grin with Zoë that had Jack clearing his throat. “Back to work, sir,” Lucas mumbled, and Nathan caught the smile Zoë hid at her dad’s overprotective nature.
“Consider it done, Zoë,” Nathan told her, and caught Jack rolling his eyes, similarity to his daughter scarily clear. “Problem, Sheriff?”
“You, trying to buy my daughter’s affection with extra credit,” Jack remarked dryly. “Just because you gave her an internship does not mean I’ll actually be letting you steal her to work up here regularly. And not ever again during a crisis, even if you do need her to bail you out.”
Nathan smirked, knowing what Jack was actually telling him was that he was doing good. “I’m with you on the crisis clause,” he informed Jack, as close as he could get to admitting if the pair weren’t already so familiar with the system, he wouldn’t have allowed their presence. Jack nodded, understanding his meaning.
“Okay,” Zoë said, sliding out from under the vacuum seal. “Try that, Fargo.”
Fargo hit some keys, and Nathan heard the hiss of pressurizing. “Looks good,” he said, nodding to her, checking the clock. Less than ten minutes, but enough time to run a test, Nathan noticed, finishing clicking the clock connections into the new vacuum casing.
“All right, we should probably test that interface, make sure it’s lined up properly from both sides,” Nathan said, looking over at Lucas and Weinbrenner. “You two all set?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Weinbrenner replied, and Lucas frowned, still inspecting the cables, but nodded.
“Hair boy, what’s wrong?” Jack asked, and Lucas looked up.
“Sorry, sir, but I was just worrying about the feedback that could build up because of the plutonium… you know what, I’m probably being overly cautious, I’m sure it’s fine.”
Nathan paused, coming around to check Lucas’s connectors, but they seemed solid. “It’s just, the wiring seems insufficient to support the potential charge build up should it start pulling energy from the plutonium,” Lucas told him, and Nathan nodded.
“The seal should give before then, but Fargo, add a shutdown subroutine in case we do cause an overload,” Nathan ordered, and his assistant nodded. Nathan walked over to Jack, letting a little of his concern show.
“You don’t think this will work,” Jack observed, voice low in Nathan’s ear.
“I’m worried about the connectors, and the seal still seems like it won’t hold, not for this,” Nathan admitted, sighing. “One of us may have to try the manual route.”
“I hate to say it, but Weinbrenner has a point, and it’s the same bullshit line I let you use on me often enough. His mess, his project, no one else fixes it,” Jack observed, seeing Fargo looking expectantly at them, a little disturbed by their whispered confidence.
“Start the trial,” Nathan directed his assistant, sliding a hand subtly behind his back in order to grip Jack’s quickly, seeking and offering reassurance. He let go a moment later, frowning and moving closer at the odd whine the machine made.
“Is that… is the seal holding?” Jack asked, stepping closer.
“Just barely,” Fargo shouted as the noise grew louder. “I think it’s going to fracture, hang on, I’ll bring it back down so we can shore up…”
The seal didn’t just fracture, it exploded outward in a shower of glass and electricity, the bulk of which caught Jack and Zoë. “No!” Nathan shouted, ignoring the fact that he had a large wedge of glass in his own arm as he flew over to where they had fallen.
Jack was gasping around a shard of glass buried in his abdomen, bleeding but breathing, so Nathan turned Zoë over, seeing that she had caught the electrical blast, her eyes glassy and empty. “Zoë,” Jack gasped, trying to turn toward her, and Nathan grabbed Jack’s hand automatically, keeping his body between them so Jack couldn’t see his daughter.
“Shut it down, Fargo,” Nathan ordered into the eerie silence of the room. “We’ll handle the time loop manually on the next loop.”
“Zoë?” Jack asked again, gasping in pain as he formed the words.
“Stop talking,” Nathan ordered him quietly. Lucas was in shock, silently shaking against the wall, beyond Jack’s sight, and Fargo looked numb. “She’s unconscious,” Nathan lied. “You’re loosing too much blood, Jack. We’ll let time loop, it’ll lessen the wound, and I’ll be able to treat you. Then we come back to deal with time loop.”
“Less?” Jack asked, and fortunately Weinbrenner answered.
“It, uh, it’ll… you go back to your previous self, so the lack of injury plus injury will knock it down to a smaller cut,” Weinbrenner rambled, surprisingly coherent for what he was staring at just past Nathan. “A few loops ago, before thing started bleeding through, you’d have been back to normal. But now you’ll need some laser stitches, but nothing big.”
“’Kay,” Jack managed, gripping Nathan’s hand, sighing. “Light headed,” Jack murmured, clenching at Nathan’s hand. “Check Zo for me.”
“It’s okay, Lucas has her,” Nathan replied, checking his watch. Just seconds now. “Okay, Jack, here we go, I’ll get Allison, and she’ll stitch you up, and…”
There was a flash, and as Weinbrenner predicted, the cut was shallower, glass missing, as they rematerialized in the shower, though oddly, they were still clothed. “Okay,” Nathan breathed, then shouted, “SARAH! Get Allison up here now!”
He grabbed Jack, ignoring the lance of pain in his arm, carrying him into the bedroom and laying the man out on the bed, ripping open his uniform shirt as he did. The undershirt followed seconds later, and he pressed a towel to the still bleeding wound. Jack, perhaps fortunately, had passed out.
“Oh my god,” Allison gasped, turning back to Zoë, who was just a step behind her. “Get the emergency medical kit from SARAH, downstairs in the living room,” she told the teenager, sending her flying out of the room. Nathan sat back, letting Allison take over, his head spinning. “What happened?”
“Weinbrenner accelerated a photon past the speed of light, caused the flow of time to bend back in on itself,” he explained. Zoë hurtled up the stairs, shoving the kit at Allison. “Jack and I’ve been looping in time for several days now. Living same day, over and over.” He sagged, and Zoë paled, looking at his arm.
“Oh my god, get your suit off,” she demanded, running for a washcloth. Nathan struggled to comply, peeling the blood soaked suit jacket off. The dress shirt was ruined as well, so he peeled it off, leaving the wound in his forearm exposed. Allison hissed, wincing at the injury but turning back to cleaning off the wound in Jack’s stomach. “Okay, how’d you two get hurt?” Allison asked, handing Zoë a second antiseptic cloth. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I need you to look after Nathan. Can you handle it?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Zoë said, taking a deep breath and starting to clean the cut.
“We tried to use Zoë and Lucas’s vacuum to insulate the new plutonium clock,” Nathan told Allison, who was now checking a laser stitch tool. “It exploded, and fortunately we were close enough to looping that it saved Jack. That wound was a lot deeper.”
“Does that explain this?” Zoë asked, tugging up her shirt to show a small black starburst scorch mark on her abdomen. It was surface level, no depth, and judging by Zoë’s face, no pain, but Nathan’s head fell.
“You were hurt,” Nathan admitted, eyes closing. “I got you hurt. I’m sorry, Zoë.”
“Whatever, it’s like a tattoo,” she told him with forced cheerfulness, taking the liquid stitches from Allison. “It’ll give Dad something to freak out about.”
Once his arm was sealed, Nathan tugged Zoë into a hug, amazed by how relieved he felt. He could tell she was surprised by his action, but she returned the hug, face pale with worry. “Okay, the injury translating to Zoë, who isn’t looping, means things are getting worse, universe folding in on itself. Means this is probably the last loop, so we’ll have to let Weinbrenner do this manually.”
Zoë held onto Nathan tighter, watching Allison finish the stitches, sealing off the last edge of the wound. “Is he okay?” Zoë asked, and Allison nodded.
“He’ll be okay,” she replied, first injecting a depressor of pain killers, then a second of blood replenishing nanites, and a final one of antibiotics into Jack’s neck, pressing a shaky hand to her cheek. Nathan said a silent thank you to Fargo for updating the first aid kit with the latest GD tech. “Nathan, why didn’t you reset time manually during the last loop?” Allison asked. “Even if it were deeper, GD could have handled Jack’s injury. No major organs were hit, it…”
Nathan looked pointedly at Jack, waiting till Zoë was looking away, then let his eyes flicker to her. Allison’s eyes filled with understanding, nodding once and trailing off. “So we have one shot at it?” she asked, mechanically checking Jack’s pulse, nodding as she counted. “Good,” she murmured to herself, turning to Nathan expectantly.
“One shot,” Nathan agreed. “Weinbrenner volunteered to be the one to manually activate the particle acceleration.”
“Nathan volunteered first,” Jack groaned, hand instantly going to poke at the stitches as he woke up.
“Hands off,” Allison scolded him, tugging his hand into hers. She carefully started bandaging the wound, apparently satisfied her work would hold.
Zoë let go of Nathan, burrowing into her dad’s arms. “Dad!”
“Did you really just risk the fucking universe for me?” Jack asked wearily, holding Zoë tightly, wincing a little as Allison checked the stitches again.
“No,” Nathan scowled, gently brushing Jack’s hair back from his face. “We’re going to do it manually now, and then the four of us are going to have dinner and answer Zoë’s questions and figure everything out.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Jack agreed, sitting up slowly, leaning on Allison for support.
“You’re not going,” Allison insisted, and Jack rolled his eyes.
“You gonna trust him not to risk his neck?” Jack asked, jerking his head at Nathan, who scowled. “I’ve had much worse, Allison, and I’m not doing the heavy lifting on this one. But if something happens to Nathan and we do squeeze one more loop out of this, I need to know how to proceed.”
Allison was quiet, thinking about it. “Okay, we all go,” Allison agreed.
“Do you still want to try working with the vacuum seal Lucas and I are using?” Zoë offered, and Jack’s grip tightened on her.
“Not a chance,” he said firmly. “You got hurt. And you’re not coming this time.”
“Agreed,” Nathan’s voice was dark, and Zoë blanched.
“Was it my fault?” she asked in a small voice, and Nathan sighed, feeling even lower than before.
“It was mine,” Nathan admitted, reaching out and setting a hand on her head gently. “I let you and Lucas help, and I got so caught up in checking what you two were doing, I slipped up. I should have double checked Fargo’s programming, cleared the lab before starting the test… something.”
“I’d be willing to bet it was no one’s fault,” Allison remarked dryly. “Jack, we’re going to have our hands full with keeping these two from blaming themselves for everything.”
“The flip side is they take credit for everything too,” Jack grumbled, taking the hand Nathan offered to help him to his feet. “I guess I’m going in casual,” Jack decided, looking at the tattered remains of his uniform.
*-*
Allison kept a careful eye on Jack, stopping him anytime he tried to get up out of the chair she’d settled him into when they’d arrived. Nathan and Fargo were installing the clock, Nathan’s movements practiced where they had no reason to be, which convinced Allison of how much Nathan and Jack needed out of the time loop more than any injury or weary look they’d let slip when they thought no one was watching. “Stay put or I’ll sit in your lap,” she hissed at Jack when he started to move. “Do you want me to get you a wheelchair?” she added aloud, and Jack went from flushed to indignant in record time.
“Laugh it up now,” Jack muttered. “When this heals, you’re going to pay.”
“How many times have I explained the dynamics of three people in one bed to your daughter, by the way?” Allison asked in a whisper, and Jack grinned.
“Okay, call it even,” Jack conceded, touching his stomach gingerly. Allison crouched down, untucking his shirt and checking the bandage. “Hey, watch your hands, your fiancé might get jealous,” Jack joked, and Allison smiled, surprised by how amusing the idea had become.
“Not much to get jealous of, Carter,” Nathan smirked across the room at them, shaking his head. “I’m the one saving the day here.”
“And I’m the one with the girl trying to take off my clothes,” Jack replied cheerfully, grinning unrepentantly when Nathan flipped him off.
“We’re all set,” Nathan remarked, handing the tablet to Weinbrenner, showing him the control’s modifications. Allison turned back to Jack, checking his expression to be sure that the sheriff was aware of the most likely outcome.
“Two minutes,” Fargo reminded them, and Allison checked the clock, the possibility that it could have been Nathan, not Weinbrenner, in the accelerator flashing in front of her eyes. She and Jack weren’t strong enough to make it alone yet, especially given how devastated it would leave them.
She looked up, her eyes meeting Nathan’s for a moment, and her heart kicked up a notch, so similar to the feeling she’d had this morning as she patched Jack back together. “Help me up,” Jack said softly. She offered him a hand, watching as Nathan finished the last connector and stepped aside so Weinbrenner could finish his own checks.
“All set,” Weinbrenner confirmed, forcing a smile as the computer announced, “20 seconds till initialization.”
“Sheriff, I’m sorry I got you and your daughter hurt,” Weinbrenner said to Jack. “I guess I just panicked when I was about to be redacted. I really didn’t mean any harm.”
“You fixed your mistake, which doesn’t always happen around here,” Jack told him, shrugging. Allison was amazed at his easy forgiveness, and a cool chill slid down her spine as she suddenly realized what must have happened the loop before.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Weinbrenner said, beginning to input codes. “See you around, Sheriff.”
He finished typing the code, and Allison watched as the numbers continued to roll forward, passing 6:00:00:00. The computer chirped cheerfully, indicating the photon had been successfully accelerated. “Yes! He did it!” Fargo crowed, turning back to the accelerator, noticing what everyone else in the room was staring at. Weinbrenner was frozen in the moment. “He did it,” Fargo said softly.
Allison watched as the scientist slowly dissolved, vanishing a molecule at a time in front of her. Jack looked wearily at her, and Allison tugged his arm gently. “I want you in the infirmary to get checked out,” she informed him, setting her jaw stubbornly when she saw him open his mouth to object. He paused, and she could see him decide to back down.
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed. “Just get me home for dinner with Zoë tonight.”
“Oh, I guarantee that,” Allison agreed, smiling. She followed Jack to the infirmary, keeping an eye on him through the large window overlooking the exam rooms as she waited for Nathan to catch up. He didn’t say anything when he joined her, simply joining her at the window as Jack’s bandage was changed, hooked to an IV of real blood, his blood count still low.
“Jack doesn’t know,” she observed quietly, folding her arms.
“No,” Nathan agreed, eyes fixed on the sheriff.
“Are you going to tell him?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“No.”
“How bad was it?”
Nathan sighed, head dropping and eyes fixed on the floor. “We lost her. I made sure Jack didn’t see. Told him she was unconscious. Time looped, and she’s fine. He doesn’t need to know that, Allie. It’ll kill him to think she was in that much danger.”
Allison sighed, uncertainty settling heavily on her shoulders. “I’ll trust you for now, Nathan, but I think he should know. Protecting him from it doesn’t change that it happened.” She turned, setting a gentle hand on his good arm. “And you have to live with it. You can’t bury it, Nathan, I’ve already noticed how much more attached you are to Zoë.”
“Jack will chalk it up to her being injured,” Nathan replied simply. “It shook me, as it ought to.”
“Nathan,” Allison started, and stopped when she saw the resolute look on his face. “Fine, deal with it your way then,” she told him irritably, leaving him at the window and stepping into the infirmary, signing out an overly eager to leave Jack. “You can take me home with you, but sleeping’s all you’ll be doing on those stitches for about a week,” she informed Jack as they joined Nathan once more in the elevator to the garage.
“A week?” Jack asked, looking over to Nathan pleadingly. “She’s telling me no sex for a week.”
“Don’t want to rip your stitches,” Nathan replied with a grin. “Sorry, Jack.”
Allison smiled to herself as she listened to the other two bicker the entire drive home, mostly playful teasing. She entered the bunker ahead of them, seeing Zoë in the kitchen working on dinner, her smile lighting up the room when she saw them.
“Congratulations, you guys restored space and time!” she greeted them cheerfully. “Well, I guess, unless there’s some sort of weird phenomenon like in string theory where actually every loop continued on, and we’re just the continuation of the latest loop, but then I think Nathan and Dad wouldn’t be here…”
Allison laughed as Nathan and Jack helped Zoë continue her wild theories, softly touching Zoë’s shoulder as she helped her with the dinner, unable to help wondering if she was more attached to Zoë now as well, even if only loosing her in some hazy bit of time and space she knew nothing about.
*-*
Nathan sneezed twice, shaking his head at Zoë’s curious look. “I guess I’ve caught a cold,” he mused, automatically checking his sinuses.
“Great, probably gave it to me just for spite,” Jack grumbled, picking up a sock from the floor and handing it to Zoë.
“Nope, that’s the one Allison couldn’t find before she went to pick up Kevin this morning,” Zoë told her dad, handing it back. “I really don’t want to know why it’s in the living room.” She’d quietly accepted the relationship, though only implicitly approving. Nathan would catch her watching all three of them with an evaluative eye occasionally, still uncertain about the dynamics, and from her glances, he suspected she was waiting to see if her dad would be left out in any way. He’d be screwed if it ever happened, he knew.
“Oh, good, I’ll add it to her drawer,” Jack drawled, giving Nathan an odd look when he sneezed again, three times this time. “Are you allergic to me?”
“Oh, if God would only be so kind as to cure me of you that way,” Nathan snarked, rolling his eyes as he looped his arms around Jack’s hips, kissing his temple before moving back to hold him loosely as Jack worked on fixing his breakfast. “I’m only allergic to one thing—”
“There is an unexpected visitor at the door,” SARAH announced, pulling up the external cameras on her view screen to show a blonde woman.
“Auntie Lexi!” Zoë cried happily, and Nathan saw Jack’s shoulders slump slightly, Jack allowing himself to sag against Nathan for one brief moment before he pulled away completely.
“She’s three days early,” Jack observed.
“Shall I let her in?” SARAH inquired.
“Yes!” Zoë called out as Jack emphatically said, “No!”
The door swung open, and Nathan sneezed again, sinuses now pounding. He hung back by the breakfast bar while the woman rambled something about travel days and astrological signs and some surprisingly sharp words for Jack, who hid his hurt well. His eyes narrowed even further as he sneezed once more when Lexi pulled ‘Grandma Lil’ from her handbag. “Cats,” he finished his earlier sentence, and Jack looked over as Nathan sneezed again.
“Lexi, put the cat in the guest room,” Jack told his sister, rolling his eyes as she headed up, looking affronted by Nathan’s sneeze. “SARAH, do you have an antihistamine for Nathan?”
“No good, I’m too allergic. I need something stronger than she’ll have,” Nathan told Jack, sighing. “I’ll owe you breakfast at Café Diem tomorrow, okay? I need to get in to GD anyway.” He sneezed again, cursing under his breath as he took one of the tissues that popped up out of the wall, SARAH anticipating his need.
“You’re staying with me tonight if you want to get any,” Nathan added in an undertone to Jack, who grinned apologetically. “See you later today.”
With Lexi having vanished up the stairs, Jack didn’t hesitate to lean in and kiss him goodbye, the kiss lingering a little more than usual if Zoë’s soft cough was anything to go by. They were supposed to discuss telling Lexi that afternoon at lunch, but Nathan didn’t see that conversation being likely to happen with her having arrived early. “Be careful,” Jack told him sternly, and Nathan’s cocky grin was ruined by his sneezing.
He made it to the surface, breathing deeply, letting his head clear, and then took out his phone to dial Allison. “She’s three days early, with a cat, called Jack uptight, and was babbling about astrological signs,” he said dryly.
“Oh, are we still playing the guess why Jack thinks you’ll hate his sister game?” Allison asked, sounding a little distracted. “That sounds like a laundry list of how to push your buttons, Nathan, not a real guess. And I thought we agreed, she’s probably just like Jack, not scientifically inclined.”
“I wasn’t playing,” Nathan replied dryly, sneezing once more. “She’s here, has a cat, and babbled out something about travel days and her sign like it was a good reason to show up early, and Jack hides it well, but she knows how to jab at him too well.”
“Damn. Jack wasn’t exaggerating, was he?” Allison sighed, sounding resigned. “Look, it’s just a visit, right? You can behave yourself for a week or so.”
“What’s in it for me?” Nathan countered, grinning as he settled in his car, flipping on the air scrubbers, a Henry upgrade he now really owed the man for installing.
“Hmm, remember about two weeks ago, before the whole time loop fiasco, after you and Jack and I had that big fight about GD materials transport, and Jack and I were making nice to you?” Allison purred, and Nathan felt his cock twitch at the memory.
“Hard to forget,” he replied.
“Well, let’s just say we’d be willing to talk repeat performance, maybe even aim at topping it,” she told him, and Nathan could practically hear her grin. “As long as you behave.”
“And if I don’t?” Nathan couldn’t resist asking, and Allison laughed.
“You don’t, and I cuff you with Jack’s handcuffs and leave you to his mercy,” she remarked. “I’ll sit back and watch.”
“You’d do that anyway,” Nathan accused her, sighing. “Okay, we still meeting for lunch?”
“I’ll plan on it, even if it’s just the two of us,” Allison reassured him. “But knowing Jack, he’ll bring his sister to lunch, give her a cat free chance to make a good impression?”
“Hint taken,” Nathan reassured her. “I’ll reserve judgment for now.”
“You talk with Jack about what happened to Zoë?” Allison asked, but Nathan guessed from her tone that she already knew the answer.
“See you in an hour,” he dodged uncomfortably, and he heard Allison give in with a slight sigh.
“Love you,” Allison said.
“Love you too,” Nathan replied, before snapping his phone shut with a sigh. He put the car in gear, heading back to his own house for the first time in days.
*-*
“Hey,” Jack greeted Nathan and Allison, giving Nathan a wary look as he pulled up a seat at the table. “You freaking out on me yet?”
“Concerned you’re the normal one in your family, Carter,” Nathan remarked, giving Jack a smug look that instantly had Jack relaxing, glad to see the other man was rolling with the oddness.
“Lexi’s supposed to be meeting us here at 12, so we’ve got fifteen minutes,” Jack told them, tapping his fingers on the tabletop and ignoring Nathan’s check of his watch to confirm that it was already past the noon mark. “I’m rethinking the disclosure,” he said softly, looking at the table instead of at them. “I thought… you never realize how much you’ve changed till there’s someone who doesn’t want to see it, huh?”
Jack chanced a glance up, surprised to see a knowing look on Nathan’s face and compassion on Allison’s. “Consider disclosure tabled for now,” she said softly, smiling at him. “And Jack? We see it, and it’s all been good.”
Nathan discretely reached over, pressing his fingers to Jack’s ID bracelet, giving him a small smile as he pulled his fingers away. “Your choice when we tell her,” Nathan agreed, and Jack let out a shaky breath, overwhelmed by the subtle support.
“Hey, Jackie,” Lexi called out, sliding into the fourth seat, nodding to Nathan. “You didn’t introduce me to your friend this morning, rude.”
“Couldn’t stay,” Nathan interjected before Jack had a chance to open his mouth. “I’m severely allergic to your grandmother apparently.”
“Grandma?” Allison asked, looking blankly at them.
“A Tibetan monk told me my cat is the reincarnation of my grandma Lil,” Lexi chirped happily. “Hi, Lexi Carter.”
“Allison Blake,” Allison said, and Jack caught the note of amusement in her voice. “Nathan Stark, my fiancé, who usually fills your shoes for trying to annoy Jack.”
“Aww, Jackie always wanted a big brother,” Lexi replied, and Nathan coughed, choking on his coffee, making Jack loose his composure and choke back a laugh as well.
“I’d have to hang myself if Carter was my younger brother,” Nathan remarked with cheerful double meaning, and Jack was forced to bring a hand up to cover his mouth, laughter about to burst out.
“Hey, familia, can I get some orders?” Zoë asked, coming over to their table.
“Uh, menu?” Lexi asked, looking baffled.
“Never in this place,” Zoë replied, pretending to be scandalized. “Vince can make anything you want. Take a minute to think while these three do their usual lunch negotiation.”
“Thai,” Jack suggested, and Allison tilted her head.
“I’m game, start with hot and sour soup with shrimp?” she suggested and Nathan nodded.
“Red curry and duck, with fried noodles?” Nathan continued, the pass along game continuing. They’d found that once all three had agreed on a nationality, they would each pick one part of the meal, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Vince, as usual, made each dish to feed a small army, and they would split it three ways.
“Cinnamon Khanom La,” Jack concluded, and Zoë grinned, nodding to Lexi.
“Easiest that’s ever been managed,” she told her aunt. “You want the same, or got something specific in mind?”
“I’m fine with that,” Lexi agreed, looking in amazement at Jack. “Wow, big bro, you actually like this food or just humor your lunch companions?” she teased.
“It’s a much more efficient system than the original proposal these two had,” Allison explained dryly. “I believe their idea of how to settle lunch orders involved borrowing Fargo’s battlebots?”
Jack looked away, pretending to be innocent, while Nathan simply grinned a rather scary grin. “And I’m humoring them, they both love Thai, while I just want the soup and dessert,” Allison continued, and Jack suddenly saw all too clearly why the DoD had wanted her for the political and diplomatic end of Eureka. “So, Lexi, I understand you’ve been travelling with the WHO?”
“She was with her very own Dr. WHO, a total cutie,” Zoë put in, setting coffee in front of everyone, looking surprised when her aunt handed the mug back.
“Just water for me,” she told Zoë, shrugging. “Kicked the coffee habit a while ago.”
“So how is Duncan?” Jack asked, ignoring the questioning look Zoë shot him. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring him with you, he’d have loved this nuthouse.”
“Yeah, we’ve sort of split,” Lexi admitted, biting her lip in a way that told Jack there was more to the story. “So, what’s new with your love life, Zoë tells me you’ve got a girlfriend, been seeing someone. Am I going to get to meet her?”
“Probably not,” Jack replied, glancing over at Allison and Nathan, lips tugging slightly at the ‘clearly aiming for polite’ stare of Nathan’s. “Out of town for the week,” he tried.
“Oh, I’ll be here longer than a week, silly,” Lexi put in, and Jack tried not to wince, then caught Allison hiding a smile at the too similar look on Nathan’s face. “We can talk about that later though. So, Allison, what do you do?”
Jack settled in, glad Allison was playing diplomat and soothed by the fact that Nathan had hooked his ankle around Jack’s under the table, giving him a small smirk as he did. When Allison and Nathan left to return to GD, Jack sat back, looking warily at Lexi. “So, longer than a week?” he repeated, and she shrugged.
“Look, the truth is I left Duncan in a little bit of a hurry,” Lexi told him, drinking her water. “Didn’t want him to find out I was pregnant.”
“Okay, I’ll bypass the pregnancy rant for a moment,” Jack muttered, trying to focus. “It’s not Duncan’s?”
“Oh, it is, but if I’d have told him he’d have done the whole honorable thing, tried to marry me, all that nonsense,” Lexi replied, brushing off the idea like it was ridiculous. “Ugh. He’s better off saving the world, and I’d rather he did it when he wanted to be with me.”
“Lexi, it’s his child too,” Jack remarked with a sigh. “Look, if you don’t want to marry him, then say no, but you can’t just not tell him. I’d be lost without Zoë, and I’d never have forgiven Abby for any time where I didn’t know my kid.”
“I can raise a kid on my own,” Lexi replied, huffing angrily.
“Oh, I have no doubt,” Jack agreed, folding his arms. “And if you tell him, and he leaves you to do it on your own, you’ll have my full support. But you can’t take away his choice in the matter. You can stay, Lexi, but if you haven’t told him in the next couple of weeks, I’ll have Nathan track him down and invite him here.”
“You wouldn’t!” Lexi sat up, looking offended.
“I wouldn’t tell him a thing, just clue him in on where to find you,” Jack continued, and Zoë came over, giving them a weird look. “And you’ll be welcome to stay here for prenatal care, but again, I will track Duncan down.”
Jack knew he was being hard on Lexi, but his discussion that morning with her had told him she was still as flighty as ever, looking for him to be as stern and decisive as ever. “Uh, Aunt Lexi, what Dad’s trying to tell you is that he loves you and is looking out for you,” Zoë remarked, giving her dad a pained look.
“And will make sure if nothing else the father of your child takes care of his financial obligations,” Jack added cheerfully, and Zoë sighed, rolling her eyes at him.
“And at the end of the day is still the pain in the ass sheriff, whether we like it or not,” Zoë tried, and Jack smiled.
“Hey, make sure you introduce your aunt to Lucas when he arrives,” Jack said, picking up his phone as it beeped at him. “He’ll love that almost as much as when you introduced him to Mom. Kid’s a little jumpy,” Jack told Lexi patting her shoulder. “Two weeks, then I track him down. Congratulations, by the way, I’m hoping for a nephew.”
He headed out, ignoring the death glares from the two blondes, sighing as he headed toward the station, seeing Jo join Lexi and Zoë in the cafe. Maybe Nathan would let him hide out at GD for the afternoon.
“Chief,” Jo greeted him when she came back from lunch an hour later, grinning and handing him a Vinspresso, which almost scared Jack more. “Have I told you today that you’re my hero?”
“Huh?” Jack managed eloquently, and Jo shrugged.
“One of my big brothers found out about a year ago that he had a 7 year old son,” Jo replied, nodding to him. “Nearly killed him to find out that way. I’ve got your back… though your daughter’s a little pissed at me.”
“I met Duncan once, and he’s a decent guy,” Jack said, shrugging. “Just figured he deserves to know.”
“Well, when you need a couch to camp on…” Jo trailed off, looking mischievous. “Oh, or do you want to tell me about your mystery girl now?”
“There’s no mystery girl,” Jack groaned, rolling his eyes.
“You know what I find interesting is that your daughter is actually managing to keep her lips zipped on this one,” Jo continued, stalking playfully toward Jack’s desk. “Come on, Carter, tell me!”
“Ha, and everyone in town would know within 2 hours,” Jack replied teasingly. “You tell Zane, Zane can’t resist telling Fargo, Fargo can’t say no to Vince, and boom. I want to have a private life for a little while, just till I’m sure it’s actually going somewhere.”
Jo pouted which quickly dissolved into a sly grin. “Hey, if there’s no mystery girl, is it a mystery guy?”
Nathan entered on the tail end of this and huffed disbelievingly as he sat in one of the visitor chairs, propping his feet on Jack’s desk. Jo looked a little freaked out, so Jack just sort of shrugged, equally bewildered. “Something I can help you with, Stark?”
“No,” Nathan replied simply, raising an eyebrow as Jo backed away cautiously, edging her way to her own desk.
“Okay,” Jack dragged the word out slowly, giving Nathan a blank look.
“Hiding,” Nathan admitted, shrugging. “Thorne had a list of redactions, I’ve decided against redactions, so we’re at an impasse. She has to get me to sign off on these, because after someone made a call to the DoD about security being spread so thin a critical project almost made it out of the building this morning, her blank check suddenly bounced.”
“Uh huh, what’d you have Fargo steal?” Jack asked knowingly.
“Nah, Zane pulled this caper,” Nathan replied, rolling his head back to look at Jo. “He did really well too.”
“I’m sorry, did you just tell me my boyfriend is going to be charged with stealing from GD?” Jo demanded, folding her arms in what Jack recognized as her ‘I must not pull my gun’ stance.
“No, we told the general it was an exercise in demonstrating how redactions had detrimentally affected productivity,” Nathan explained. “I may have also said cut staff meant section 5 was no longer going to be working on that big bad weapon he wanted, just defensive projects.”
“About time,” Jo snorted, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to act like Stark and take control of this situation for weeks.”
“Ditto,” Jack admitted, frowning as Jo started thumbing through a phone book. “Do I want to know?”
“Gotta treat my hero to something special tonight,” Jo told him, grinning. “I imagine Allison will have something similar up her sleeve for you, Dr. Stark,” she added before she picked up the phone and dialed.
“Not her thanks I’m looking for this time, or at least not till later tonight,” Nathan said in a low undertone, his eyes meeting Jack’s, brimming with desire. “8 pm. Take a long dinner break.”
He dropped his feet to the floor, nodding to Jo as he left. Jack frowned, a little curious about the intensity in Nathan’s gaze, but let it fade from his mind as he prepared to fight Jo for who had to take what shifts that evening.
*-*
“Nathan?” Jack called out as he entered the dark house, content that he and Jo had decided to forward all phones to the emergency line, which tended to discourage people from calling the on call officer unless it was actually important. It would, he hoped, buy him enough time with Nathan to enjoy whatever the scientist was cooking up.
He left his gun and his belt in the cabinet just inside the door, his usual habit, pausing for a moment and listening to the oddly quiet house. He headed up to the bedroom, surprised to find a folded note on the pillow. Unfolding it, he chuckled as he read, “Not interested in unwrapping my prize tonight.”
Jack stripped, his brain strategizing where exactly Nathan was and determining that in spite of the silence, he had to be close by. He lay down, waiting, and sure enough, Nathan slid into the room a moment later, lifting an eyebrow. “Wasn’t sure you’d go for this,” Nathan commented, removing his tie and teasingly trailing it up Jack’s torso. “Not how we usually play.”
“I’m all yours,” Jack replied easily, surprised by how relieved he was to have the burden of control slip away for a little while. Nathan’s large hands slid up his ribs, slowly stretching Jack’s arms up over his head and securing them with the tie. “Your prize,” he murmured, and Nathan crushed their mouths together, dominating Jack quickly. Jack was surprised to find himself tugging against the tie a little, used to taking control with Nathan or fighting him, usually giving Nathan the dynamic that freed him from being in his GD headspace. This was different, and for a moment, Jack tensed, uncertain of his ability to simply hand over control like Nathan wanted.
“Shh, let go,” Nathan urged him, mouth suddenly hot on Jack’s throat. Jack arched into the touch as Nathan’s hands ran lightly along Jack’s abs, suddenly aware that this wasn’t just about Nathan. The burdens he’d heaped on himself throughout the day were falling away, world slowly contracting down to Nathan’s mouth and fingers on his skin. He groaned as Nathan’s tongue dipped along the hollow of his throat. On a shuddery breath, Jack gave in to the sensations.
As though sensing Jack’s submission, Nathan wrapped his fingers around Jack’s hard cock, slowly stroking in a way that made Jack whimper, trying to buck into the touch and get real friction. Nathan held his hips tightly though, chuckling as he did. Then Nathan backed off completely, standing and stripping quickly. Jack watched the clothes peel away, eyes raking over the sharp lines that defined Nathan’s muscles. “See something you like?” Nathan smirked, clearly aware of his captive audience.
“Never gets old,” Jack admitted, tugging at his bonds a little. “Even if I do think you should hurry the fuck up and screw me through the mattress now,” he demanded, and Nathan slid back over to press his body into Jack’s. His hands started at Jack’s wrists, gliding slowly down his body, once, twice, three times completing the circuit. “What…?” Jack started to ask, and Nathan silenced him with soft nips along his lips.
“Love the way you feel,” Nathan mused softly. “Love your body against mine.” His hands slid down to cup Jack’s ass on the fourth pass, tugging slightly to position Jack. One hand came up under the pillow under Jack’s head, pulling out a tube of lube.
Jack tried to stay still as Nathan stretched him, but ended up squirming and pushing back onto Nathan’s fingers when they brushed over his prostate. Nathan used his height and weight advantage to push Jack back down, reminding Jack who was in charge. Jack nearly whimpered, but Nathan was pushing into him a moment later, slick cock sliding in slowly, but his hands were pinning Jack’s hips knowingly, preventing Jack from trying to force him to move faster.
“Dammit, Nathan,” Jack started to swear as Nathan continued to move with slow deliberate strokes, just enough to tease Jack. “I’ll—”
His threat evaporated in a groan when Nathan snapped his hips, moving faster now, forehead resting against Jack’s as he moved, movements fierce and hitting his prostate each time, all thought fleeing Jack’s mind. Jack was hovering close to the edge, trying to hold onto his control, and Nathan lowered his head to Jack’s throat, the soft touch of lips and tongue tracing his neck was too much to resist, and Jack let go, coming with a cry. Nathan continued to move, but Jack could see the fragile control the scientist was clinging to. “Your turn to let go,” he murmured, leaning up enough to catch Nathan’s mouth in a hungry kiss, gratified as he swallowed Nathan’s shout.
Nathan fumbled at the tie enough that Jack slid free, arms instantly snaking about Nathan’s ribs. “How’d you know?” Jack asked softly, shifting a little so Nathan could get comfortable.
“I love you,” Nathan reminded him gently. “Being able to tell when there’s too much weight on your shoulders comes with the territory. You do it for me all the time,” he added, kissing Jack’s throat gently.
“You’re too good for me sometimes,” Jack observed, feeling oddly humbled. “Prolly just a good thing I love you too much to give you up.”
“Mm hmm,” Nathan agreed, curling into Jack with a surprisingly tight grip. “Get a little rest, I plan on taking you again before you go home to that nut job.”
“You’re really not going to get along with Lexi, huh?” Jack asked, wondering how often he’d end up in the middle.
“It’s very simple,” Nathan yawned. “You’re mine. I protect mine. No one hurts mine. And whether you’ll own up to it or not, her narrow view of you hurts you. So I protect you. Simple.”
Jack blinked hard, burrowing into Nathan’s embrace, wondering if it really was that simple. “Just this once, listen to me. I promise the world won’t end,” Nathan commented knowingly, and Jack smiled, relaxing and deciding Nathan could be right, just this once.
Pairing: Jack/Nathan, Jack/Allison, Nathan/Allison, Jack/Nathan/Allison
Rating: FRAO
Disclaimer: Don’t own!
Warnings: slash, threesome, spoilers through 304: I Do Over, AU
Summary: Time moves on, until it doesn’t...
Previous Parts can be found here
It turned out that Zoë and Lucas were working on a project that required a vacuum capable of doing quite a lot more than just containment, so they had appealed to Lucas’s uncle, a high ranking scientist at NASA, who had sent them his own prototype vacuum seal chamber. Nathan made sure to insist Zoë and Lucas had points for the project before he ordered it transported to GD and set up around his clock.
“You think this will work?” Jack asked, looking skeptical as they set to work installing the new vacuum seal around the clock. “I mean, my daughter’s science project saving the universe?”
“Uh, it’s happened before,” Fargo observed, hand gestures indicating falling objects. Nathan smiled to himself, remembering Jack pulling the plug on that particular science project before realizing the debris would fall on him.
“Nah, that was just the town, maybe the world,” Jack replied, rolling his eyes. Zoë shot him a faux exasperated look.
“Look, I have something to say,” Weinbrenner burst out suddenly from where he was helping Lucas with the external connector cables. “If the seal fails, if it has to be done manually, I should be the one to do it. I started this mess, I’ll finish it.”
“Dr. Weinbrenner, no one expects—” Jack started to say, but Weinbrenner cut him off, surprisingly standing his ground.
“I expect it,” he insisted, looking over to Nathan. “It’s my mess. I should clean it up.”
Nathan stared at him for a long moment, and then nodded. “Okay,” he agreed, looking over at Jack to confirm the other man would agree.
“How about we worry about it if the seal fails?” Jack said quietly, looking over to where Zoë was helping install the seal casing. “And can’t I return the two of you to Tesla yet?” he objected, wincing as Zoë stripped a cable in front of him to rewire a connection. Nathan checked her work, nodding quickly to approve it.
“Nope,” she replied, grinning. “Our project, we see this through,” she said, sighing. “Besides, if it works, we have to do a full write up for Dr. Stratham in order to get our A. If it doesn’t, the project will be back at Tesla, no harm, no foul. But it would be nice if Dr. Stark—”
“Nathan,” the scientist corrected her from where he was adjusting the clock.
“Nathan,” Zoë repeated, rolling her eyes. “Would write this up for us so we can have extra credit even if it doesn’t work.”
“Good thinking,” Lucas commented, trading a grin with Zoë that had Jack clearing his throat. “Back to work, sir,” Lucas mumbled, and Nathan caught the smile Zoë hid at her dad’s overprotective nature.
“Consider it done, Zoë,” Nathan told her, and caught Jack rolling his eyes, similarity to his daughter scarily clear. “Problem, Sheriff?”
“You, trying to buy my daughter’s affection with extra credit,” Jack remarked dryly. “Just because you gave her an internship does not mean I’ll actually be letting you steal her to work up here regularly. And not ever again during a crisis, even if you do need her to bail you out.”
Nathan smirked, knowing what Jack was actually telling him was that he was doing good. “I’m with you on the crisis clause,” he informed Jack, as close as he could get to admitting if the pair weren’t already so familiar with the system, he wouldn’t have allowed their presence. Jack nodded, understanding his meaning.
“Okay,” Zoë said, sliding out from under the vacuum seal. “Try that, Fargo.”
Fargo hit some keys, and Nathan heard the hiss of pressurizing. “Looks good,” he said, nodding to her, checking the clock. Less than ten minutes, but enough time to run a test, Nathan noticed, finishing clicking the clock connections into the new vacuum casing.
“All right, we should probably test that interface, make sure it’s lined up properly from both sides,” Nathan said, looking over at Lucas and Weinbrenner. “You two all set?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Weinbrenner replied, and Lucas frowned, still inspecting the cables, but nodded.
“Hair boy, what’s wrong?” Jack asked, and Lucas looked up.
“Sorry, sir, but I was just worrying about the feedback that could build up because of the plutonium… you know what, I’m probably being overly cautious, I’m sure it’s fine.”
Nathan paused, coming around to check Lucas’s connectors, but they seemed solid. “It’s just, the wiring seems insufficient to support the potential charge build up should it start pulling energy from the plutonium,” Lucas told him, and Nathan nodded.
“The seal should give before then, but Fargo, add a shutdown subroutine in case we do cause an overload,” Nathan ordered, and his assistant nodded. Nathan walked over to Jack, letting a little of his concern show.
“You don’t think this will work,” Jack observed, voice low in Nathan’s ear.
“I’m worried about the connectors, and the seal still seems like it won’t hold, not for this,” Nathan admitted, sighing. “One of us may have to try the manual route.”
“I hate to say it, but Weinbrenner has a point, and it’s the same bullshit line I let you use on me often enough. His mess, his project, no one else fixes it,” Jack observed, seeing Fargo looking expectantly at them, a little disturbed by their whispered confidence.
“Start the trial,” Nathan directed his assistant, sliding a hand subtly behind his back in order to grip Jack’s quickly, seeking and offering reassurance. He let go a moment later, frowning and moving closer at the odd whine the machine made.
“Is that… is the seal holding?” Jack asked, stepping closer.
“Just barely,” Fargo shouted as the noise grew louder. “I think it’s going to fracture, hang on, I’ll bring it back down so we can shore up…”
The seal didn’t just fracture, it exploded outward in a shower of glass and electricity, the bulk of which caught Jack and Zoë. “No!” Nathan shouted, ignoring the fact that he had a large wedge of glass in his own arm as he flew over to where they had fallen.
Jack was gasping around a shard of glass buried in his abdomen, bleeding but breathing, so Nathan turned Zoë over, seeing that she had caught the electrical blast, her eyes glassy and empty. “Zoë,” Jack gasped, trying to turn toward her, and Nathan grabbed Jack’s hand automatically, keeping his body between them so Jack couldn’t see his daughter.
“Shut it down, Fargo,” Nathan ordered into the eerie silence of the room. “We’ll handle the time loop manually on the next loop.”
“Zoë?” Jack asked again, gasping in pain as he formed the words.
“Stop talking,” Nathan ordered him quietly. Lucas was in shock, silently shaking against the wall, beyond Jack’s sight, and Fargo looked numb. “She’s unconscious,” Nathan lied. “You’re loosing too much blood, Jack. We’ll let time loop, it’ll lessen the wound, and I’ll be able to treat you. Then we come back to deal with time loop.”
“Less?” Jack asked, and fortunately Weinbrenner answered.
“It, uh, it’ll… you go back to your previous self, so the lack of injury plus injury will knock it down to a smaller cut,” Weinbrenner rambled, surprisingly coherent for what he was staring at just past Nathan. “A few loops ago, before thing started bleeding through, you’d have been back to normal. But now you’ll need some laser stitches, but nothing big.”
“’Kay,” Jack managed, gripping Nathan’s hand, sighing. “Light headed,” Jack murmured, clenching at Nathan’s hand. “Check Zo for me.”
“It’s okay, Lucas has her,” Nathan replied, checking his watch. Just seconds now. “Okay, Jack, here we go, I’ll get Allison, and she’ll stitch you up, and…”
There was a flash, and as Weinbrenner predicted, the cut was shallower, glass missing, as they rematerialized in the shower, though oddly, they were still clothed. “Okay,” Nathan breathed, then shouted, “SARAH! Get Allison up here now!”
He grabbed Jack, ignoring the lance of pain in his arm, carrying him into the bedroom and laying the man out on the bed, ripping open his uniform shirt as he did. The undershirt followed seconds later, and he pressed a towel to the still bleeding wound. Jack, perhaps fortunately, had passed out.
“Oh my god,” Allison gasped, turning back to Zoë, who was just a step behind her. “Get the emergency medical kit from SARAH, downstairs in the living room,” she told the teenager, sending her flying out of the room. Nathan sat back, letting Allison take over, his head spinning. “What happened?”
“Weinbrenner accelerated a photon past the speed of light, caused the flow of time to bend back in on itself,” he explained. Zoë hurtled up the stairs, shoving the kit at Allison. “Jack and I’ve been looping in time for several days now. Living same day, over and over.” He sagged, and Zoë paled, looking at his arm.
“Oh my god, get your suit off,” she demanded, running for a washcloth. Nathan struggled to comply, peeling the blood soaked suit jacket off. The dress shirt was ruined as well, so he peeled it off, leaving the wound in his forearm exposed. Allison hissed, wincing at the injury but turning back to cleaning off the wound in Jack’s stomach. “Okay, how’d you two get hurt?” Allison asked, handing Zoë a second antiseptic cloth. “I’m sorry, sweetheart, I need you to look after Nathan. Can you handle it?”
“Yeah, I got it,” Zoë said, taking a deep breath and starting to clean the cut.
“We tried to use Zoë and Lucas’s vacuum to insulate the new plutonium clock,” Nathan told Allison, who was now checking a laser stitch tool. “It exploded, and fortunately we were close enough to looping that it saved Jack. That wound was a lot deeper.”
“Does that explain this?” Zoë asked, tugging up her shirt to show a small black starburst scorch mark on her abdomen. It was surface level, no depth, and judging by Zoë’s face, no pain, but Nathan’s head fell.
“You were hurt,” Nathan admitted, eyes closing. “I got you hurt. I’m sorry, Zoë.”
“Whatever, it’s like a tattoo,” she told him with forced cheerfulness, taking the liquid stitches from Allison. “It’ll give Dad something to freak out about.”
Once his arm was sealed, Nathan tugged Zoë into a hug, amazed by how relieved he felt. He could tell she was surprised by his action, but she returned the hug, face pale with worry. “Okay, the injury translating to Zoë, who isn’t looping, means things are getting worse, universe folding in on itself. Means this is probably the last loop, so we’ll have to let Weinbrenner do this manually.”
Zoë held onto Nathan tighter, watching Allison finish the stitches, sealing off the last edge of the wound. “Is he okay?” Zoë asked, and Allison nodded.
“He’ll be okay,” she replied, first injecting a depressor of pain killers, then a second of blood replenishing nanites, and a final one of antibiotics into Jack’s neck, pressing a shaky hand to her cheek. Nathan said a silent thank you to Fargo for updating the first aid kit with the latest GD tech. “Nathan, why didn’t you reset time manually during the last loop?” Allison asked. “Even if it were deeper, GD could have handled Jack’s injury. No major organs were hit, it…”
Nathan looked pointedly at Jack, waiting till Zoë was looking away, then let his eyes flicker to her. Allison’s eyes filled with understanding, nodding once and trailing off. “So we have one shot at it?” she asked, mechanically checking Jack’s pulse, nodding as she counted. “Good,” she murmured to herself, turning to Nathan expectantly.
“One shot,” Nathan agreed. “Weinbrenner volunteered to be the one to manually activate the particle acceleration.”
“Nathan volunteered first,” Jack groaned, hand instantly going to poke at the stitches as he woke up.
“Hands off,” Allison scolded him, tugging his hand into hers. She carefully started bandaging the wound, apparently satisfied her work would hold.
Zoë let go of Nathan, burrowing into her dad’s arms. “Dad!”
“Did you really just risk the fucking universe for me?” Jack asked wearily, holding Zoë tightly, wincing a little as Allison checked the stitches again.
“No,” Nathan scowled, gently brushing Jack’s hair back from his face. “We’re going to do it manually now, and then the four of us are going to have dinner and answer Zoë’s questions and figure everything out.”
“Okay, let’s go,” Jack agreed, sitting up slowly, leaning on Allison for support.
“You’re not going,” Allison insisted, and Jack rolled his eyes.
“You gonna trust him not to risk his neck?” Jack asked, jerking his head at Nathan, who scowled. “I’ve had much worse, Allison, and I’m not doing the heavy lifting on this one. But if something happens to Nathan and we do squeeze one more loop out of this, I need to know how to proceed.”
Allison was quiet, thinking about it. “Okay, we all go,” Allison agreed.
“Do you still want to try working with the vacuum seal Lucas and I are using?” Zoë offered, and Jack’s grip tightened on her.
“Not a chance,” he said firmly. “You got hurt. And you’re not coming this time.”
“Agreed,” Nathan’s voice was dark, and Zoë blanched.
“Was it my fault?” she asked in a small voice, and Nathan sighed, feeling even lower than before.
“It was mine,” Nathan admitted, reaching out and setting a hand on her head gently. “I let you and Lucas help, and I got so caught up in checking what you two were doing, I slipped up. I should have double checked Fargo’s programming, cleared the lab before starting the test… something.”
“I’d be willing to bet it was no one’s fault,” Allison remarked dryly. “Jack, we’re going to have our hands full with keeping these two from blaming themselves for everything.”
“The flip side is they take credit for everything too,” Jack grumbled, taking the hand Nathan offered to help him to his feet. “I guess I’m going in casual,” Jack decided, looking at the tattered remains of his uniform.
*-*
Allison kept a careful eye on Jack, stopping him anytime he tried to get up out of the chair she’d settled him into when they’d arrived. Nathan and Fargo were installing the clock, Nathan’s movements practiced where they had no reason to be, which convinced Allison of how much Nathan and Jack needed out of the time loop more than any injury or weary look they’d let slip when they thought no one was watching. “Stay put or I’ll sit in your lap,” she hissed at Jack when he started to move. “Do you want me to get you a wheelchair?” she added aloud, and Jack went from flushed to indignant in record time.
“Laugh it up now,” Jack muttered. “When this heals, you’re going to pay.”
“How many times have I explained the dynamics of three people in one bed to your daughter, by the way?” Allison asked in a whisper, and Jack grinned.
“Okay, call it even,” Jack conceded, touching his stomach gingerly. Allison crouched down, untucking his shirt and checking the bandage. “Hey, watch your hands, your fiancé might get jealous,” Jack joked, and Allison smiled, surprised by how amusing the idea had become.
“Not much to get jealous of, Carter,” Nathan smirked across the room at them, shaking his head. “I’m the one saving the day here.”
“And I’m the one with the girl trying to take off my clothes,” Jack replied cheerfully, grinning unrepentantly when Nathan flipped him off.
“We’re all set,” Nathan remarked, handing the tablet to Weinbrenner, showing him the control’s modifications. Allison turned back to Jack, checking his expression to be sure that the sheriff was aware of the most likely outcome.
“Two minutes,” Fargo reminded them, and Allison checked the clock, the possibility that it could have been Nathan, not Weinbrenner, in the accelerator flashing in front of her eyes. She and Jack weren’t strong enough to make it alone yet, especially given how devastated it would leave them.
She looked up, her eyes meeting Nathan’s for a moment, and her heart kicked up a notch, so similar to the feeling she’d had this morning as she patched Jack back together. “Help me up,” Jack said softly. She offered him a hand, watching as Nathan finished the last connector and stepped aside so Weinbrenner could finish his own checks.
“All set,” Weinbrenner confirmed, forcing a smile as the computer announced, “20 seconds till initialization.”
“Sheriff, I’m sorry I got you and your daughter hurt,” Weinbrenner said to Jack. “I guess I just panicked when I was about to be redacted. I really didn’t mean any harm.”
“You fixed your mistake, which doesn’t always happen around here,” Jack told him, shrugging. Allison was amazed at his easy forgiveness, and a cool chill slid down her spine as she suddenly realized what must have happened the loop before.
“Well, here goes nothing,” Weinbrenner said, beginning to input codes. “See you around, Sheriff.”
He finished typing the code, and Allison watched as the numbers continued to roll forward, passing 6:00:00:00. The computer chirped cheerfully, indicating the photon had been successfully accelerated. “Yes! He did it!” Fargo crowed, turning back to the accelerator, noticing what everyone else in the room was staring at. Weinbrenner was frozen in the moment. “He did it,” Fargo said softly.
Allison watched as the scientist slowly dissolved, vanishing a molecule at a time in front of her. Jack looked wearily at her, and Allison tugged his arm gently. “I want you in the infirmary to get checked out,” she informed him, setting her jaw stubbornly when she saw him open his mouth to object. He paused, and she could see him decide to back down.
“Yes, ma’am,” he agreed. “Just get me home for dinner with Zoë tonight.”
“Oh, I guarantee that,” Allison agreed, smiling. She followed Jack to the infirmary, keeping an eye on him through the large window overlooking the exam rooms as she waited for Nathan to catch up. He didn’t say anything when he joined her, simply joining her at the window as Jack’s bandage was changed, hooked to an IV of real blood, his blood count still low.
“Jack doesn’t know,” she observed quietly, folding her arms.
“No,” Nathan agreed, eyes fixed on the sheriff.
“Are you going to tell him?” she asked, not sure she wanted to hear the answer.
“No.”
“How bad was it?”
Nathan sighed, head dropping and eyes fixed on the floor. “We lost her. I made sure Jack didn’t see. Told him she was unconscious. Time looped, and she’s fine. He doesn’t need to know that, Allie. It’ll kill him to think she was in that much danger.”
Allison sighed, uncertainty settling heavily on her shoulders. “I’ll trust you for now, Nathan, but I think he should know. Protecting him from it doesn’t change that it happened.” She turned, setting a gentle hand on his good arm. “And you have to live with it. You can’t bury it, Nathan, I’ve already noticed how much more attached you are to Zoë.”
“Jack will chalk it up to her being injured,” Nathan replied simply. “It shook me, as it ought to.”
“Nathan,” Allison started, and stopped when she saw the resolute look on his face. “Fine, deal with it your way then,” she told him irritably, leaving him at the window and stepping into the infirmary, signing out an overly eager to leave Jack. “You can take me home with you, but sleeping’s all you’ll be doing on those stitches for about a week,” she informed Jack as they joined Nathan once more in the elevator to the garage.
“A week?” Jack asked, looking over to Nathan pleadingly. “She’s telling me no sex for a week.”
“Don’t want to rip your stitches,” Nathan replied with a grin. “Sorry, Jack.”
Allison smiled to herself as she listened to the other two bicker the entire drive home, mostly playful teasing. She entered the bunker ahead of them, seeing Zoë in the kitchen working on dinner, her smile lighting up the room when she saw them.
“Congratulations, you guys restored space and time!” she greeted them cheerfully. “Well, I guess, unless there’s some sort of weird phenomenon like in string theory where actually every loop continued on, and we’re just the continuation of the latest loop, but then I think Nathan and Dad wouldn’t be here…”
Allison laughed as Nathan and Jack helped Zoë continue her wild theories, softly touching Zoë’s shoulder as she helped her with the dinner, unable to help wondering if she was more attached to Zoë now as well, even if only loosing her in some hazy bit of time and space she knew nothing about.
*-*
Nathan sneezed twice, shaking his head at Zoë’s curious look. “I guess I’ve caught a cold,” he mused, automatically checking his sinuses.
“Great, probably gave it to me just for spite,” Jack grumbled, picking up a sock from the floor and handing it to Zoë.
“Nope, that’s the one Allison couldn’t find before she went to pick up Kevin this morning,” Zoë told her dad, handing it back. “I really don’t want to know why it’s in the living room.” She’d quietly accepted the relationship, though only implicitly approving. Nathan would catch her watching all three of them with an evaluative eye occasionally, still uncertain about the dynamics, and from her glances, he suspected she was waiting to see if her dad would be left out in any way. He’d be screwed if it ever happened, he knew.
“Oh, good, I’ll add it to her drawer,” Jack drawled, giving Nathan an odd look when he sneezed again, three times this time. “Are you allergic to me?”
“Oh, if God would only be so kind as to cure me of you that way,” Nathan snarked, rolling his eyes as he looped his arms around Jack’s hips, kissing his temple before moving back to hold him loosely as Jack worked on fixing his breakfast. “I’m only allergic to one thing—”
“There is an unexpected visitor at the door,” SARAH announced, pulling up the external cameras on her view screen to show a blonde woman.
“Auntie Lexi!” Zoë cried happily, and Nathan saw Jack’s shoulders slump slightly, Jack allowing himself to sag against Nathan for one brief moment before he pulled away completely.
“She’s three days early,” Jack observed.
“Shall I let her in?” SARAH inquired.
“Yes!” Zoë called out as Jack emphatically said, “No!”
The door swung open, and Nathan sneezed again, sinuses now pounding. He hung back by the breakfast bar while the woman rambled something about travel days and astrological signs and some surprisingly sharp words for Jack, who hid his hurt well. His eyes narrowed even further as he sneezed once more when Lexi pulled ‘Grandma Lil’ from her handbag. “Cats,” he finished his earlier sentence, and Jack looked over as Nathan sneezed again.
“Lexi, put the cat in the guest room,” Jack told his sister, rolling his eyes as she headed up, looking affronted by Nathan’s sneeze. “SARAH, do you have an antihistamine for Nathan?”
“No good, I’m too allergic. I need something stronger than she’ll have,” Nathan told Jack, sighing. “I’ll owe you breakfast at Café Diem tomorrow, okay? I need to get in to GD anyway.” He sneezed again, cursing under his breath as he took one of the tissues that popped up out of the wall, SARAH anticipating his need.
“You’re staying with me tonight if you want to get any,” Nathan added in an undertone to Jack, who grinned apologetically. “See you later today.”
With Lexi having vanished up the stairs, Jack didn’t hesitate to lean in and kiss him goodbye, the kiss lingering a little more than usual if Zoë’s soft cough was anything to go by. They were supposed to discuss telling Lexi that afternoon at lunch, but Nathan didn’t see that conversation being likely to happen with her having arrived early. “Be careful,” Jack told him sternly, and Nathan’s cocky grin was ruined by his sneezing.
He made it to the surface, breathing deeply, letting his head clear, and then took out his phone to dial Allison. “She’s three days early, with a cat, called Jack uptight, and was babbling about astrological signs,” he said dryly.
“Oh, are we still playing the guess why Jack thinks you’ll hate his sister game?” Allison asked, sounding a little distracted. “That sounds like a laundry list of how to push your buttons, Nathan, not a real guess. And I thought we agreed, she’s probably just like Jack, not scientifically inclined.”
“I wasn’t playing,” Nathan replied dryly, sneezing once more. “She’s here, has a cat, and babbled out something about travel days and her sign like it was a good reason to show up early, and Jack hides it well, but she knows how to jab at him too well.”
“Damn. Jack wasn’t exaggerating, was he?” Allison sighed, sounding resigned. “Look, it’s just a visit, right? You can behave yourself for a week or so.”
“What’s in it for me?” Nathan countered, grinning as he settled in his car, flipping on the air scrubbers, a Henry upgrade he now really owed the man for installing.
“Hmm, remember about two weeks ago, before the whole time loop fiasco, after you and Jack and I had that big fight about GD materials transport, and Jack and I were making nice to you?” Allison purred, and Nathan felt his cock twitch at the memory.
“Hard to forget,” he replied.
“Well, let’s just say we’d be willing to talk repeat performance, maybe even aim at topping it,” she told him, and Nathan could practically hear her grin. “As long as you behave.”
“And if I don’t?” Nathan couldn’t resist asking, and Allison laughed.
“You don’t, and I cuff you with Jack’s handcuffs and leave you to his mercy,” she remarked. “I’ll sit back and watch.”
“You’d do that anyway,” Nathan accused her, sighing. “Okay, we still meeting for lunch?”
“I’ll plan on it, even if it’s just the two of us,” Allison reassured him. “But knowing Jack, he’ll bring his sister to lunch, give her a cat free chance to make a good impression?”
“Hint taken,” Nathan reassured her. “I’ll reserve judgment for now.”
“You talk with Jack about what happened to Zoë?” Allison asked, but Nathan guessed from her tone that she already knew the answer.
“See you in an hour,” he dodged uncomfortably, and he heard Allison give in with a slight sigh.
“Love you,” Allison said.
“Love you too,” Nathan replied, before snapping his phone shut with a sigh. He put the car in gear, heading back to his own house for the first time in days.
*-*
“Hey,” Jack greeted Nathan and Allison, giving Nathan a wary look as he pulled up a seat at the table. “You freaking out on me yet?”
“Concerned you’re the normal one in your family, Carter,” Nathan remarked, giving Jack a smug look that instantly had Jack relaxing, glad to see the other man was rolling with the oddness.
“Lexi’s supposed to be meeting us here at 12, so we’ve got fifteen minutes,” Jack told them, tapping his fingers on the tabletop and ignoring Nathan’s check of his watch to confirm that it was already past the noon mark. “I’m rethinking the disclosure,” he said softly, looking at the table instead of at them. “I thought… you never realize how much you’ve changed till there’s someone who doesn’t want to see it, huh?”
Jack chanced a glance up, surprised to see a knowing look on Nathan’s face and compassion on Allison’s. “Consider disclosure tabled for now,” she said softly, smiling at him. “And Jack? We see it, and it’s all been good.”
Nathan discretely reached over, pressing his fingers to Jack’s ID bracelet, giving him a small smile as he pulled his fingers away. “Your choice when we tell her,” Nathan agreed, and Jack let out a shaky breath, overwhelmed by the subtle support.
“Hey, Jackie,” Lexi called out, sliding into the fourth seat, nodding to Nathan. “You didn’t introduce me to your friend this morning, rude.”
“Couldn’t stay,” Nathan interjected before Jack had a chance to open his mouth. “I’m severely allergic to your grandmother apparently.”
“Grandma?” Allison asked, looking blankly at them.
“A Tibetan monk told me my cat is the reincarnation of my grandma Lil,” Lexi chirped happily. “Hi, Lexi Carter.”
“Allison Blake,” Allison said, and Jack caught the note of amusement in her voice. “Nathan Stark, my fiancé, who usually fills your shoes for trying to annoy Jack.”
“Aww, Jackie always wanted a big brother,” Lexi replied, and Nathan coughed, choking on his coffee, making Jack loose his composure and choke back a laugh as well.
“I’d have to hang myself if Carter was my younger brother,” Nathan remarked with cheerful double meaning, and Jack was forced to bring a hand up to cover his mouth, laughter about to burst out.
“Hey, familia, can I get some orders?” Zoë asked, coming over to their table.
“Uh, menu?” Lexi asked, looking baffled.
“Never in this place,” Zoë replied, pretending to be scandalized. “Vince can make anything you want. Take a minute to think while these three do their usual lunch negotiation.”
“Thai,” Jack suggested, and Allison tilted her head.
“I’m game, start with hot and sour soup with shrimp?” she suggested and Nathan nodded.
“Red curry and duck, with fried noodles?” Nathan continued, the pass along game continuing. They’d found that once all three had agreed on a nationality, they would each pick one part of the meal, appetizer, entrée, and dessert. Vince, as usual, made each dish to feed a small army, and they would split it three ways.
“Cinnamon Khanom La,” Jack concluded, and Zoë grinned, nodding to Lexi.
“Easiest that’s ever been managed,” she told her aunt. “You want the same, or got something specific in mind?”
“I’m fine with that,” Lexi agreed, looking in amazement at Jack. “Wow, big bro, you actually like this food or just humor your lunch companions?” she teased.
“It’s a much more efficient system than the original proposal these two had,” Allison explained dryly. “I believe their idea of how to settle lunch orders involved borrowing Fargo’s battlebots?”
Jack looked away, pretending to be innocent, while Nathan simply grinned a rather scary grin. “And I’m humoring them, they both love Thai, while I just want the soup and dessert,” Allison continued, and Jack suddenly saw all too clearly why the DoD had wanted her for the political and diplomatic end of Eureka. “So, Lexi, I understand you’ve been travelling with the WHO?”
“She was with her very own Dr. WHO, a total cutie,” Zoë put in, setting coffee in front of everyone, looking surprised when her aunt handed the mug back.
“Just water for me,” she told Zoë, shrugging. “Kicked the coffee habit a while ago.”
“So how is Duncan?” Jack asked, ignoring the questioning look Zoë shot him. “I’m surprised you didn’t bring him with you, he’d have loved this nuthouse.”
“Yeah, we’ve sort of split,” Lexi admitted, biting her lip in a way that told Jack there was more to the story. “So, what’s new with your love life, Zoë tells me you’ve got a girlfriend, been seeing someone. Am I going to get to meet her?”
“Probably not,” Jack replied, glancing over at Allison and Nathan, lips tugging slightly at the ‘clearly aiming for polite’ stare of Nathan’s. “Out of town for the week,” he tried.
“Oh, I’ll be here longer than a week, silly,” Lexi put in, and Jack tried not to wince, then caught Allison hiding a smile at the too similar look on Nathan’s face. “We can talk about that later though. So, Allison, what do you do?”
Jack settled in, glad Allison was playing diplomat and soothed by the fact that Nathan had hooked his ankle around Jack’s under the table, giving him a small smirk as he did. When Allison and Nathan left to return to GD, Jack sat back, looking warily at Lexi. “So, longer than a week?” he repeated, and she shrugged.
“Look, the truth is I left Duncan in a little bit of a hurry,” Lexi told him, drinking her water. “Didn’t want him to find out I was pregnant.”
“Okay, I’ll bypass the pregnancy rant for a moment,” Jack muttered, trying to focus. “It’s not Duncan’s?”
“Oh, it is, but if I’d have told him he’d have done the whole honorable thing, tried to marry me, all that nonsense,” Lexi replied, brushing off the idea like it was ridiculous. “Ugh. He’s better off saving the world, and I’d rather he did it when he wanted to be with me.”
“Lexi, it’s his child too,” Jack remarked with a sigh. “Look, if you don’t want to marry him, then say no, but you can’t just not tell him. I’d be lost without Zoë, and I’d never have forgiven Abby for any time where I didn’t know my kid.”
“I can raise a kid on my own,” Lexi replied, huffing angrily.
“Oh, I have no doubt,” Jack agreed, folding his arms. “And if you tell him, and he leaves you to do it on your own, you’ll have my full support. But you can’t take away his choice in the matter. You can stay, Lexi, but if you haven’t told him in the next couple of weeks, I’ll have Nathan track him down and invite him here.”
“You wouldn’t!” Lexi sat up, looking offended.
“I wouldn’t tell him a thing, just clue him in on where to find you,” Jack continued, and Zoë came over, giving them a weird look. “And you’ll be welcome to stay here for prenatal care, but again, I will track Duncan down.”
Jack knew he was being hard on Lexi, but his discussion that morning with her had told him she was still as flighty as ever, looking for him to be as stern and decisive as ever. “Uh, Aunt Lexi, what Dad’s trying to tell you is that he loves you and is looking out for you,” Zoë remarked, giving her dad a pained look.
“And will make sure if nothing else the father of your child takes care of his financial obligations,” Jack added cheerfully, and Zoë sighed, rolling her eyes at him.
“And at the end of the day is still the pain in the ass sheriff, whether we like it or not,” Zoë tried, and Jack smiled.
“Hey, make sure you introduce your aunt to Lucas when he arrives,” Jack said, picking up his phone as it beeped at him. “He’ll love that almost as much as when you introduced him to Mom. Kid’s a little jumpy,” Jack told Lexi patting her shoulder. “Two weeks, then I track him down. Congratulations, by the way, I’m hoping for a nephew.”
He headed out, ignoring the death glares from the two blondes, sighing as he headed toward the station, seeing Jo join Lexi and Zoë in the cafe. Maybe Nathan would let him hide out at GD for the afternoon.
“Chief,” Jo greeted him when she came back from lunch an hour later, grinning and handing him a Vinspresso, which almost scared Jack more. “Have I told you today that you’re my hero?”
“Huh?” Jack managed eloquently, and Jo shrugged.
“One of my big brothers found out about a year ago that he had a 7 year old son,” Jo replied, nodding to him. “Nearly killed him to find out that way. I’ve got your back… though your daughter’s a little pissed at me.”
“I met Duncan once, and he’s a decent guy,” Jack said, shrugging. “Just figured he deserves to know.”
“Well, when you need a couch to camp on…” Jo trailed off, looking mischievous. “Oh, or do you want to tell me about your mystery girl now?”
“There’s no mystery girl,” Jack groaned, rolling his eyes.
“You know what I find interesting is that your daughter is actually managing to keep her lips zipped on this one,” Jo continued, stalking playfully toward Jack’s desk. “Come on, Carter, tell me!”
“Ha, and everyone in town would know within 2 hours,” Jack replied teasingly. “You tell Zane, Zane can’t resist telling Fargo, Fargo can’t say no to Vince, and boom. I want to have a private life for a little while, just till I’m sure it’s actually going somewhere.”
Jo pouted which quickly dissolved into a sly grin. “Hey, if there’s no mystery girl, is it a mystery guy?”
Nathan entered on the tail end of this and huffed disbelievingly as he sat in one of the visitor chairs, propping his feet on Jack’s desk. Jo looked a little freaked out, so Jack just sort of shrugged, equally bewildered. “Something I can help you with, Stark?”
“No,” Nathan replied simply, raising an eyebrow as Jo backed away cautiously, edging her way to her own desk.
“Okay,” Jack dragged the word out slowly, giving Nathan a blank look.
“Hiding,” Nathan admitted, shrugging. “Thorne had a list of redactions, I’ve decided against redactions, so we’re at an impasse. She has to get me to sign off on these, because after someone made a call to the DoD about security being spread so thin a critical project almost made it out of the building this morning, her blank check suddenly bounced.”
“Uh huh, what’d you have Fargo steal?” Jack asked knowingly.
“Nah, Zane pulled this caper,” Nathan replied, rolling his head back to look at Jo. “He did really well too.”
“I’m sorry, did you just tell me my boyfriend is going to be charged with stealing from GD?” Jo demanded, folding her arms in what Jack recognized as her ‘I must not pull my gun’ stance.
“No, we told the general it was an exercise in demonstrating how redactions had detrimentally affected productivity,” Nathan explained. “I may have also said cut staff meant section 5 was no longer going to be working on that big bad weapon he wanted, just defensive projects.”
“About time,” Jo snorted, rolling her eyes. “I’ve been waiting for you to act like Stark and take control of this situation for weeks.”
“Ditto,” Jack admitted, frowning as Jo started thumbing through a phone book. “Do I want to know?”
“Gotta treat my hero to something special tonight,” Jo told him, grinning. “I imagine Allison will have something similar up her sleeve for you, Dr. Stark,” she added before she picked up the phone and dialed.
“Not her thanks I’m looking for this time, or at least not till later tonight,” Nathan said in a low undertone, his eyes meeting Jack’s, brimming with desire. “8 pm. Take a long dinner break.”
He dropped his feet to the floor, nodding to Jo as he left. Jack frowned, a little curious about the intensity in Nathan’s gaze, but let it fade from his mind as he prepared to fight Jo for who had to take what shifts that evening.
*-*
“Nathan?” Jack called out as he entered the dark house, content that he and Jo had decided to forward all phones to the emergency line, which tended to discourage people from calling the on call officer unless it was actually important. It would, he hoped, buy him enough time with Nathan to enjoy whatever the scientist was cooking up.
He left his gun and his belt in the cabinet just inside the door, his usual habit, pausing for a moment and listening to the oddly quiet house. He headed up to the bedroom, surprised to find a folded note on the pillow. Unfolding it, he chuckled as he read, “Not interested in unwrapping my prize tonight.”
Jack stripped, his brain strategizing where exactly Nathan was and determining that in spite of the silence, he had to be close by. He lay down, waiting, and sure enough, Nathan slid into the room a moment later, lifting an eyebrow. “Wasn’t sure you’d go for this,” Nathan commented, removing his tie and teasingly trailing it up Jack’s torso. “Not how we usually play.”
“I’m all yours,” Jack replied easily, surprised by how relieved he was to have the burden of control slip away for a little while. Nathan’s large hands slid up his ribs, slowly stretching Jack’s arms up over his head and securing them with the tie. “Your prize,” he murmured, and Nathan crushed their mouths together, dominating Jack quickly. Jack was surprised to find himself tugging against the tie a little, used to taking control with Nathan or fighting him, usually giving Nathan the dynamic that freed him from being in his GD headspace. This was different, and for a moment, Jack tensed, uncertain of his ability to simply hand over control like Nathan wanted.
“Shh, let go,” Nathan urged him, mouth suddenly hot on Jack’s throat. Jack arched into the touch as Nathan’s hands ran lightly along Jack’s abs, suddenly aware that this wasn’t just about Nathan. The burdens he’d heaped on himself throughout the day were falling away, world slowly contracting down to Nathan’s mouth and fingers on his skin. He groaned as Nathan’s tongue dipped along the hollow of his throat. On a shuddery breath, Jack gave in to the sensations.
As though sensing Jack’s submission, Nathan wrapped his fingers around Jack’s hard cock, slowly stroking in a way that made Jack whimper, trying to buck into the touch and get real friction. Nathan held his hips tightly though, chuckling as he did. Then Nathan backed off completely, standing and stripping quickly. Jack watched the clothes peel away, eyes raking over the sharp lines that defined Nathan’s muscles. “See something you like?” Nathan smirked, clearly aware of his captive audience.
“Never gets old,” Jack admitted, tugging at his bonds a little. “Even if I do think you should hurry the fuck up and screw me through the mattress now,” he demanded, and Nathan slid back over to press his body into Jack’s. His hands started at Jack’s wrists, gliding slowly down his body, once, twice, three times completing the circuit. “What…?” Jack started to ask, and Nathan silenced him with soft nips along his lips.
“Love the way you feel,” Nathan mused softly. “Love your body against mine.” His hands slid down to cup Jack’s ass on the fourth pass, tugging slightly to position Jack. One hand came up under the pillow under Jack’s head, pulling out a tube of lube.
Jack tried to stay still as Nathan stretched him, but ended up squirming and pushing back onto Nathan’s fingers when they brushed over his prostate. Nathan used his height and weight advantage to push Jack back down, reminding Jack who was in charge. Jack nearly whimpered, but Nathan was pushing into him a moment later, slick cock sliding in slowly, but his hands were pinning Jack’s hips knowingly, preventing Jack from trying to force him to move faster.
“Dammit, Nathan,” Jack started to swear as Nathan continued to move with slow deliberate strokes, just enough to tease Jack. “I’ll—”
His threat evaporated in a groan when Nathan snapped his hips, moving faster now, forehead resting against Jack’s as he moved, movements fierce and hitting his prostate each time, all thought fleeing Jack’s mind. Jack was hovering close to the edge, trying to hold onto his control, and Nathan lowered his head to Jack’s throat, the soft touch of lips and tongue tracing his neck was too much to resist, and Jack let go, coming with a cry. Nathan continued to move, but Jack could see the fragile control the scientist was clinging to. “Your turn to let go,” he murmured, leaning up enough to catch Nathan’s mouth in a hungry kiss, gratified as he swallowed Nathan’s shout.
Nathan fumbled at the tie enough that Jack slid free, arms instantly snaking about Nathan’s ribs. “How’d you know?” Jack asked softly, shifting a little so Nathan could get comfortable.
“I love you,” Nathan reminded him gently. “Being able to tell when there’s too much weight on your shoulders comes with the territory. You do it for me all the time,” he added, kissing Jack’s throat gently.
“You’re too good for me sometimes,” Jack observed, feeling oddly humbled. “Prolly just a good thing I love you too much to give you up.”
“Mm hmm,” Nathan agreed, curling into Jack with a surprisingly tight grip. “Get a little rest, I plan on taking you again before you go home to that nut job.”
“You’re really not going to get along with Lexi, huh?” Jack asked, wondering how often he’d end up in the middle.
“It’s very simple,” Nathan yawned. “You’re mine. I protect mine. No one hurts mine. And whether you’ll own up to it or not, her narrow view of you hurts you. So I protect you. Simple.”
Jack blinked hard, burrowing into Nathan’s embrace, wondering if it really was that simple. “Just this once, listen to me. I promise the world won’t end,” Nathan commented knowingly, and Jack smiled, relaxing and deciding Nathan could be right, just this once.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-06 06:09 pm (UTC)And whether you’ll own up to it or not, her narrow view of you hurts you.
That's perfect, because the Lexi/Jack dynamic is like that.
And Zoë dying one loop and Nathan not telling Jack - oh, that breaks my heart a little bit. And the "See you around, Sheriff," was just a perfect way to twist 3x04.
I'm greatly enamoured with this AU, which is saying something, considering I'm usually very bad with reading things which aren't completely within my pairings (which Jack/Nathan/Allison doesn't really come under). But this is just shiny.
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-08 02:57 am (UTC)Yay, glad you find it believable! It's always my biggest goal and biggest struggle, because I want it to be very real and problematic yet wonderful!
Nathan not telling Jack
0=) Me? Causing potential trouble? *looks innocent*
I'm greatly enamoured with this AU, which is saying something, considering I'm usually very bad with reading things which aren't completely within my pairings
That's so amazingly flattering to hear! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much, even if it's not your usual cup of tea! Thanks for reading & reviewing!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-06 11:46 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-08 03:06 am (UTC)Jack's reaction to Nathan hiding things. To protect him. Again.
He may need to break Nathan of that habit.... lol!
Thanks for reading & reviewing! Glad you're enjoying it so much!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-07 04:52 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-08 03:07 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-08 01:49 am (UTC)It's also interesting to see how three characters who are basically workaholics make time for each other.
I've enjoyed every bit of this you've posted to date, and I'm eagerly looking forward to more!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-08 03:09 am (UTC)Thanks, I like Nathan's very matter of fact way of dealing with it. It all comes down to what's his!
Glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for reading & reviewing!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-10 10:00 pm (UTC)I love the complicated relationship that you're creating between the three of them, how they're having to work at it, and how it's about love and comfort and friendship, not just sex. And that they have to try to make it work within the framework of their existing family ties - Zoe, Kevin, and now Jack's sister.
More soon, please!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-12 03:01 am (UTC)I definitely wanted to spend more time exploring how they would make it work, not just the fact that it would be ridiculously hot! =)
Thanks for reading & reviewing!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-17 01:00 pm (UTC)I was just troling around your lj craving some jack/nathan when i saw it and i gotta tell u this story just gets better and better :-D!!
thanks for `continuing it!
oh on a side note, I have to tell you that you made me grin yesterday. Remember my story second chances, well i joined fic finishing to get it done and everyones great there but so far ure the only one to guess the twist in the story and thats pretty impressive :-D
thanks again for writing this, its making me like allison again, id been turned off the last season of eureka,
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-17 03:57 pm (UTC)=D Yay, my predictive powers reign supreme! LOL. Excited to hear you're finishing it!
Allison is definitely the hardest part, I've sort of had to take the pieces of her I like and decide to chuck some stuff out. Her cannon character is just to all over the place!
Thanks for reading/reviewing!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-17 01:13 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-05-17 03:57 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-25 01:12 am (UTC)Great~ wrapping it up! I'm totally behind Weinbrenner taking the fall, and things fixing non-fatally (Um, at least for our starring cast members?) with more loops to think it out. (Yeah,
I really love the handling of Lexi's arrival, too. Interesting stuff. =D And I appreciate that Jack's fully ready to support her but recognizes that he'd want to know about any possible kids.
I love your writing so much. =) Keep it up!
(no subject)
Date: 2009-06-25 02:36 am (UTC)Would love to see AU versions of the episodes!
LOL, Jack inherited a little of my personal bias about Lexi's attitude about Duncan's parental rights! But I felt the show (esp being about a single dad) should have brought it up!
Thanks, glad you're enjoying it! Thanks for the reviews!