serene_quill (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
serene_quill) wrote2007-11-14 08:09 am
serene_quill) wrote2007-11-14 08:09 am
Entry tags:
Last Call, Part 2
Title: Last Call, Part 2/3
Pairing: Jack/Nathan
Rating: R, overall NC-17
Word Count: ~2800
Warnings: Spoilers through Season 2, especially certain cliffhangers from episode 213, “A Night in Global Dynamics”.
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, but if I did, this is how season 3 would kick off.
Nathan had somehow gotten dressed and upright and made his way into GD after Allison’s call that morning. He left his sunglasses firmly in place on his face even after he’d entered the building. He’d planned to go to Café Diem and retrieve his car first, only to find he didn’t have his keys. He searched all over, but figured Vince must have taken them at some point.
“Dr. Stark!” Fargo greeted him, overly loud, and Nathan glared at him. The effect was lost on Fargo, as Nathan’s eyes were completely hidden. “Good, I was hoping to find you before you saw Dr. Blake. I have some things for you to sign, and…”
“Contrary to my presence here, Fargo, I am taking the day off,” Nathan replied dryly. “Take it up with me tomorrow.”
He left Fargo behind, stammering something, which tripped a flash of memory from the night before. Apparently he’d reduced what’s-her-name from zoology, Dr. Solis or something, to tears the night before. He made a mental note to track her down and apologize sometime soon. That list was growing pretty quickly as Nathan slowly woke up. He spotted Carter headed in his direction, and nearly missed a step. His mind had chosen that moment to remind him of Carter slowly unbuttoning his shirt… He cleared his throat, steeling himself. Of course Carter had undressed him. He hadn’t been in any state to do it himself, had he? Certainly it had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to get Carter out of his…
“Stark?” Nathan snapped out of his thoughts, catching the worried look on Carter’s face. “Hey, you with me?”
Given the nature of his last thought, Carter’s casual words threatened his already shaky composure and he struggled against blushing. “Yeah, still not quite coherent, I guess,” he replied quietly. The lack of snappiness seemed to alarm Carter more. “I’ll be fine, Carter,” he growled, which eased some of the worry off the sheriff’s face.
“Good, ‘cause I can only save your ass once a week. Quotas, you know?” Carter replied, falling into step with Nathan as they headed toward Allison’s office. “So, what’s her big emergency?”
“All I got out of her was something about section five,” Nathan replied.
“Oh good, just what I need. Henry gone, you hung over, and the world about to blow up.”
“Henry will be back,” Nathan insisted firmly. “We’ll see to it.”
“Yeah, and then I’ll have a talk with him about gaming felonies,” Jack muttered, puzzling Nathan for a moment.
“Ah, you found out about his and Vince’s betting pool,” Nathan said sagely. “Are they clearing that out since Allison said no?”
“No, it only clears if someone actually hooks up according to Jo,” Carter trailed off, looking strangely at Nathan. “You knew about this?”
“You’re surprised that they bet on which of us would end up with Allison?” he asked, frowning slightly.
“Not exactly,” Carter muttered. Nathan was still frowning, and Carter shrugged in his direction. “Never mind, forget I said anything.”
“There another bet going on?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow. Carter ignored him though, stepping a bit more quickly into Allison’s office.
“Let’s get to it, shall we?” Allison said quickly, and Nathan looked up, a little surprised by the cold note in her voice. He sat down, removing his sunglasses. “Section Five sensors reported radiation in the artifact chamber this morning.” Seeing them both start forward, she added, “It was a false reading. I sent a team to sweep the room, and they’ve found a lot of crossed signals and readings throughout the entire level. We’ve got no clear camera or sensor footage of the chamber or the corridors leading in from about 1am onward last night.”
“You’re thinking someone, probably Beverley, got in last night,” Nathan concluded. “Why?”
“The field left Kevin,” Carter said, sitting up straighter. “The dead artifact is still being stored in the stasis chamber right?”
“She was checking on if it had reactivated,” Nathan finished.
“Or someone she was working for,” Carter added. “Could she have really made it back into GD and down to Section 5 with the additional security we’ve had around here the past few days?”
“You think there’s someone still on the inside?” Nathan asked, turning the possibility around slowly in his mind. “Would make sense.”
“Okay, boys, this tangent isn’t helping us. The artifact is still dead, and no sign of the Akashic Field.” Allison folded her arms over her chest, her face stony. “That’s what they’ll report to whomever Beverley was working for. Do we have anything to be worried about?”
“Well, this might be a stupid question, but is there a chance that might happen? All that energy went somewhere, right?” Carter asked, and Nathan turned his head, considering the man silently. “Okay, the creepy staring thing? Getting old,” Carter remarked. Nathan frowned, trying to place when he would have been staring at Carter before now.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so unused to you actually having a valid point when it comes to something scientific,” Nathan deadpanned. He sounded convincingly condescending he decided. If his head would stop pounding, he’d know for sure, but it was the best he could manage. “I’ll look into that.”
“Fine,” Allison agreed, a little too easily. “Tomorrow. Go home, Nathan.”
Nathan let his gaze slide to Allison, keeping up his creepy staring thing as Carter called it for a moment. “Fine,” he agreed, standing a little too quickly for his pounding head’s equilibrium.
“Oh, hey,” Carter’s voice stopped him, and Nathan was careful to turn more slowly than he had risen. Carter dug into his pocket and produced Nathan’s keys. “Here. Forgot to leave these with you.”
Nathan managed to catch the keys, memory suddenly catching him quickly. His fingers groping inside Jack’s pocket, inching along his thigh, god, he didn’t want to stop, Jack… Jack’s hand around his for one brief moment, his voice, saying he didn’t thinking trying to start something with Jack would help him feel better tomorrow… the tone didn’t sound like Jack wanted to hit him for his advances… no, too much to hope for, stop…
“Stark?” Nathan blinked, suddenly aware that while he was thinking, the sheriff had risen and moved closer to him, as had Allison.
“Are you okay?” Allison asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“Hangover,” he muttered. “Memory filtering back. The usual. I’m fine, Allie, Jack.”
There was along pause, and Nathan looked up cautiously. Jack was looking shocked, but pleased, while the icy touch was back on Allison’s face. “You must be feeling really bad,” Jack observed wryly. “You never call me Jack.”
Nathan blinked, reviewing what he’d said. “Huh,” he said, shrugging. “Well, as long as it freaked you out, it was worth it.”
Judging from Jack’s narrowed eyes, Nathan decided his cool tone and indifference hadn’t fooled the man. Jack looked like he was puzzling over something, and suddenly Nathan fervently wished his memories would come back. “Look, Carter, can you give me a lift back to my car?”
Jack looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Nathan was certain something had happened the night before. “Yeah, okay,” Jack agreed reluctantly. “Unless, Allison…”
“No,” Allison announced decisively. “You two go on, and I’ll see you tomorrow, Nathan.” The ice seemed to have melted as she saw the awkwardness between them.
Nathan followed Jack out of GD, both men silent as they walked. Nathan watched Jack carefully, trying to trigger a memory. “Okay, seriously, stop staring!” Jack burst out suddenly, slowing to fall into step with Nathan.
“I was behind you,” Nathan protested. “You couldn’t see me staring!” Belatedly he added, “If I was, which I wasn’t.”
“You sound like a twelve year old,” Jack commented. “I’m going to knock this down to a game of ‘I’m not touching you’ in a minute.”
Nathan gave him a look, which only made Jack grin and stick out his finger. “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you!”
“Quit it,” Nathan growled, brushing past Fargo as they headed out the main doors to GD.
“But I’m not touching you!” Jack replied with a laugh.
“Keep it up and I’ll touch you!” Nathan threatened darkly.
The doors closed behind them as Fargo finished dialing a number on his phone. “Hey, Vince, it’s Fargo. I want another twenty on Sheriff Carter and Doctor Stark. No, I wouldn’t tell you if I had any inside information!”
*-*
The ride back into town was spent in a much more comfortable silence then had fallen over them at GD. Nathan tried to avoid staring, but he was struggling to figure out why he had decided to stop looking at Jack whenever he could. He had a moment of guilt when they’d gotten in the Jeep. He’d just proposed to Allison, and here he was contemplating how good Jack looked. He cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Carter, did I do something last night? Something I should know about?”
Jack looked uncomfortable. “Well, I heard you nearly took off Dr. Silas’s head off.”
“Silas, that’s her name,” Nathan snapped his fingers, updating his mental note to apologize. “But not what I meant.”
“I told you this morning, we’re good,” Jack said quickly, sounding a little defensive.
“Yeah,” Nathan agreed, sensing Jack’s hurry to end the conversation. “Just because you said so doesn’t mean I didn’t do something last night that…”
“Look, Nathan, the point here is that you don’t remember.” Nathan forced his mind onto the conversation, not how Jack sounded saying his name. “Just… save this conversation till you do. Then we can talk, if you still want to.”
“You’re freaking me out, Carter.”
Jack chuckled, suddenly at ease again. “Consider it payback for using my first name earlier. I started thinking you were brain damaged from all the scotch you drank last night.”
“Nah, I can still recite the laws of motion,” Nathan joked. “That gets me at least one up on you.” He relaxed back into his seat, watching Jack for a long moment. The sheriff pulled the car into a parking spot. He turned the engine off, and was about to undo his seat belt, noticing Nathan’s gaze. “I know, don’t stare,” Nathan commented, and Jack smiled. Nathan briefly contemplated getting out of the Jeep, but his eyes were locked with Jack’s. The tension grew, filling the space between them.
“We should…” Jack said softly, and Nathan nodded, not really caring what he was agreeing to. “Right,” Jack continued, still not moving.
There was a loud thud as Jo hit the window with her palm, making both men jump. Jack opened his door, and Jo grinned at him widely. “Hey Carter,” she greeted him. “Just on my way to add some more money to my current bet.”
“Oh for the love of—” Jack groaned, slamming the door behind him. Nathan slowly climbed out, considering the Jeep for a long moment. He was missing something, something about the Jeep…
He walked slowly toward Café Diem, aware enough to process that there was a suddenly drop in the conversation level around him as he entered. “Vincent,” he greeted the other man, who had just awkwardly shushed the woman he was speaking with as Nathan sat down. “From what I recall, I owe you an apology for my behavior,” Nathan said, swallowing his pride.
“Don’t worry about it,” Vince replied, obviously hiding a smirk. “It’s nice to have some non-lethal amusement around here. Besides, I should probably also apologize, since I’m the one who sort of told Allison about you hitting on the sheriff last night.”
“You what?” Nathan asked, his mind jerking to a full halt at Vince’s words. His full force glare made Vince wince.
“Well, it’s not like I just outright told her, I mean,” Vince was babbling. “Deputy Lupo and I were just talking, mainly about the betting pool, and I said I was doubling my money on you and Carter after you were all over him last night, but…”
“Stop,” Nathan pleaded, his head aching. He tried to get his thoughts in order to respond, but what spilled out was, “Carter and I? When did that become a betting option?”
“Oh, Henry was the first to bet on it, probably a week or so after everything with Raynes went down…” Vince seemed to sense this was a bad direction, and shifted abruptly. “Fargo jumped on right after the thing with the flower pollen that made us all a little crazy. Jo was after the force shield that almost killed Fargo, and I figured that if it was good enough for them…”
“Right,” Nathan set his head on the counter, and Vince set out a cup of coffee. “Thank you,” Nathan muttered gratefully. Suddenly Allison’s coolness made sense. She’d assumed he’d rebounded into bed with Jack just a day after proposing to her. She understood later what Nathan himself hadn’t until right then. It wasn’t just a rebound but something that had built over a long time, alongside what he had believed he’d been building with Allie. She’d known all along, though, which was why she’d told him no when he proposed.
“For what it’s worth,” Vince said, nodding subtly to where Jack was standing outside, discussing something with Jo. “He’s not going to say no to you.” As though sensing Nathan’s gaze, Jack looked up at him and promptly missed the curb as he walked toward Café Diem. “Oh yeah, I’ll put another 50 on that.”
*-*
Nathan gave up on the article he had been trying to read and tossed it back onto the pile on his desk. He wandered out to the backyard, lying down in the wide woven hammock he never used anymore. He rewound his day, solemnly making a pact with himself never to drink again unless he had a good recording device on him so he could simply hit rewind and know exactly what hole in his memory was bothering him. Nathan had always been able to remember what happened when he got drunk in perfect clarity. But sometimes it took three or four days to come back, which was far too long, given how Carter was acting.
The sun was warm enough to lull Nathan into a drowsy half sleep, aided by the breeze gently rocking the hammock. He let his mind wander and found himself walking through the day before, up to his decision to get spectacularly drunk. Vince taking his keys after a couple of drinks. His making an unambiguous offer to Dr. Gray, who had just celebrated his 65th birthday, just to prove he could. Hitting on a lot of people, slowly drinking more as they carefully extracted themselves from the conversation, worried for their jobs. And then Jack had arrived.
Jack, whom he had wanted in some small corner of his mind ever since Callister, because he hadn’t judged Nathan’s sadness. Jack, who had actually called him a father. Nathan suddenly remembered his arm around the other man’s waist, his free hand sliding over his chest. His fingers sliding along the man’s thigh inside his pocket. Nathan pressing tiny kisses along the man’s throat, pressing Jack into the side of his Jeep, desperately wanting to press their lips together. Jack promising they could talk, as soon as Nathan remembered.
The memory followed Jack’s fingers down the buttons of Nathan’s shirt and vanished into fantasy, wishful thinking running the images now. Jack wouldn’t just gently remove the shirt, his fingers would skim the skin below, tracing the lines of muscle and sinew down until he reached Nathan’s jeans. He’d tease as he slowly undid the zipper, his fingers dipping into Nathan’s pants, running along the hardness tenting his boxers. His name, slipping out from between Jack’s lips, just before they came together for a kiss…
“Nathan.”
God, so good, his name in Jack’s deep voice…
“Nathan?”
Nathan jerked his eyes open, suddenly processing the fact that the voice wasn’t coming from his mind. Jack was standing over him, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “Having a good nap?” Jack asked lightly, though Nathan caught a bit of a smirk. Jack had noticed the bulge in Nathan’s jeans.
“Until a moment ago, yes,” Nathan replied, squinting against the setting sun to peer up at Jack. He had changed from his uniform, into jeans and a soft looking, well-worn black sweater. “What are you doing here?”
“Promised Allison I’d stop by and see if you were okay, making sure you hadn’t decided to drown your troubles again tonight.” Jack was rambling, his face starting to flush in a way that Nathan found adorable.
“No, I’ve decided against drinking ever again until I find a reliable recording device so I remember who to avoid and who to apologize to the next day,” Nathan informed Jack.
“Probably a good plan,” Jack agreed, rocking on his heels in a manner that Nathan was starting to recognize as a sign of Jack carefully measuring his words before he spoke. “So, still no remembering, huh?”
“Actually,” Nathan said, sitting up a little, “I think we should probably talk.”
Pairing: Jack/Nathan
Rating: R, overall NC-17
Word Count: ~2800
Warnings: Spoilers through Season 2, especially certain cliffhangers from episode 213, “A Night in Global Dynamics”.
Disclaimer: Don’t own them, but if I did, this is how season 3 would kick off.
Nathan had somehow gotten dressed and upright and made his way into GD after Allison’s call that morning. He left his sunglasses firmly in place on his face even after he’d entered the building. He’d planned to go to Café Diem and retrieve his car first, only to find he didn’t have his keys. He searched all over, but figured Vince must have taken them at some point.
“Dr. Stark!” Fargo greeted him, overly loud, and Nathan glared at him. The effect was lost on Fargo, as Nathan’s eyes were completely hidden. “Good, I was hoping to find you before you saw Dr. Blake. I have some things for you to sign, and…”
“Contrary to my presence here, Fargo, I am taking the day off,” Nathan replied dryly. “Take it up with me tomorrow.”
He left Fargo behind, stammering something, which tripped a flash of memory from the night before. Apparently he’d reduced what’s-her-name from zoology, Dr. Solis or something, to tears the night before. He made a mental note to track her down and apologize sometime soon. That list was growing pretty quickly as Nathan slowly woke up. He spotted Carter headed in his direction, and nearly missed a step. His mind had chosen that moment to remind him of Carter slowly unbuttoning his shirt… He cleared his throat, steeling himself. Of course Carter had undressed him. He hadn’t been in any state to do it himself, had he? Certainly it had nothing to do with the fact that he wanted to get Carter out of his…
“Stark?” Nathan snapped out of his thoughts, catching the worried look on Carter’s face. “Hey, you with me?”
Given the nature of his last thought, Carter’s casual words threatened his already shaky composure and he struggled against blushing. “Yeah, still not quite coherent, I guess,” he replied quietly. The lack of snappiness seemed to alarm Carter more. “I’ll be fine, Carter,” he growled, which eased some of the worry off the sheriff’s face.
“Good, ‘cause I can only save your ass once a week. Quotas, you know?” Carter replied, falling into step with Nathan as they headed toward Allison’s office. “So, what’s her big emergency?”
“All I got out of her was something about section five,” Nathan replied.
“Oh good, just what I need. Henry gone, you hung over, and the world about to blow up.”
“Henry will be back,” Nathan insisted firmly. “We’ll see to it.”
“Yeah, and then I’ll have a talk with him about gaming felonies,” Jack muttered, puzzling Nathan for a moment.
“Ah, you found out about his and Vince’s betting pool,” Nathan said sagely. “Are they clearing that out since Allison said no?”
“No, it only clears if someone actually hooks up according to Jo,” Carter trailed off, looking strangely at Nathan. “You knew about this?”
“You’re surprised that they bet on which of us would end up with Allison?” he asked, frowning slightly.
“Not exactly,” Carter muttered. Nathan was still frowning, and Carter shrugged in his direction. “Never mind, forget I said anything.”
“There another bet going on?” Nathan asked, raising an eyebrow. Carter ignored him though, stepping a bit more quickly into Allison’s office.
“Let’s get to it, shall we?” Allison said quickly, and Nathan looked up, a little surprised by the cold note in her voice. He sat down, removing his sunglasses. “Section Five sensors reported radiation in the artifact chamber this morning.” Seeing them both start forward, she added, “It was a false reading. I sent a team to sweep the room, and they’ve found a lot of crossed signals and readings throughout the entire level. We’ve got no clear camera or sensor footage of the chamber or the corridors leading in from about 1am onward last night.”
“You’re thinking someone, probably Beverley, got in last night,” Nathan concluded. “Why?”
“The field left Kevin,” Carter said, sitting up straighter. “The dead artifact is still being stored in the stasis chamber right?”
“She was checking on if it had reactivated,” Nathan finished.
“Or someone she was working for,” Carter added. “Could she have really made it back into GD and down to Section 5 with the additional security we’ve had around here the past few days?”
“You think there’s someone still on the inside?” Nathan asked, turning the possibility around slowly in his mind. “Would make sense.”
“Okay, boys, this tangent isn’t helping us. The artifact is still dead, and no sign of the Akashic Field.” Allison folded her arms over her chest, her face stony. “That’s what they’ll report to whomever Beverley was working for. Do we have anything to be worried about?”
“Well, this might be a stupid question, but is there a chance that might happen? All that energy went somewhere, right?” Carter asked, and Nathan turned his head, considering the man silently. “Okay, the creepy staring thing? Getting old,” Carter remarked. Nathan frowned, trying to place when he would have been staring at Carter before now.
“I’m sorry, I’m just so unused to you actually having a valid point when it comes to something scientific,” Nathan deadpanned. He sounded convincingly condescending he decided. If his head would stop pounding, he’d know for sure, but it was the best he could manage. “I’ll look into that.”
“Fine,” Allison agreed, a little too easily. “Tomorrow. Go home, Nathan.”
Nathan let his gaze slide to Allison, keeping up his creepy staring thing as Carter called it for a moment. “Fine,” he agreed, standing a little too quickly for his pounding head’s equilibrium.
“Oh, hey,” Carter’s voice stopped him, and Nathan was careful to turn more slowly than he had risen. Carter dug into his pocket and produced Nathan’s keys. “Here. Forgot to leave these with you.”
Nathan managed to catch the keys, memory suddenly catching him quickly. His fingers groping inside Jack’s pocket, inching along his thigh, god, he didn’t want to stop, Jack… Jack’s hand around his for one brief moment, his voice, saying he didn’t thinking trying to start something with Jack would help him feel better tomorrow… the tone didn’t sound like Jack wanted to hit him for his advances… no, too much to hope for, stop…
“Stark?” Nathan blinked, suddenly aware that while he was thinking, the sheriff had risen and moved closer to him, as had Allison.
“Are you okay?” Allison asked, looking genuinely concerned.
“Hangover,” he muttered. “Memory filtering back. The usual. I’m fine, Allie, Jack.”
There was along pause, and Nathan looked up cautiously. Jack was looking shocked, but pleased, while the icy touch was back on Allison’s face. “You must be feeling really bad,” Jack observed wryly. “You never call me Jack.”
Nathan blinked, reviewing what he’d said. “Huh,” he said, shrugging. “Well, as long as it freaked you out, it was worth it.”
Judging from Jack’s narrowed eyes, Nathan decided his cool tone and indifference hadn’t fooled the man. Jack looked like he was puzzling over something, and suddenly Nathan fervently wished his memories would come back. “Look, Carter, can you give me a lift back to my car?”
Jack looked distinctly uncomfortable, and Nathan was certain something had happened the night before. “Yeah, okay,” Jack agreed reluctantly. “Unless, Allison…”
“No,” Allison announced decisively. “You two go on, and I’ll see you tomorrow, Nathan.” The ice seemed to have melted as she saw the awkwardness between them.
Nathan followed Jack out of GD, both men silent as they walked. Nathan watched Jack carefully, trying to trigger a memory. “Okay, seriously, stop staring!” Jack burst out suddenly, slowing to fall into step with Nathan.
“I was behind you,” Nathan protested. “You couldn’t see me staring!” Belatedly he added, “If I was, which I wasn’t.”
“You sound like a twelve year old,” Jack commented. “I’m going to knock this down to a game of ‘I’m not touching you’ in a minute.”
Nathan gave him a look, which only made Jack grin and stick out his finger. “I’m not touching you, I’m not touching you!”
“Quit it,” Nathan growled, brushing past Fargo as they headed out the main doors to GD.
“But I’m not touching you!” Jack replied with a laugh.
“Keep it up and I’ll touch you!” Nathan threatened darkly.
The doors closed behind them as Fargo finished dialing a number on his phone. “Hey, Vince, it’s Fargo. I want another twenty on Sheriff Carter and Doctor Stark. No, I wouldn’t tell you if I had any inside information!”
*-*
The ride back into town was spent in a much more comfortable silence then had fallen over them at GD. Nathan tried to avoid staring, but he was struggling to figure out why he had decided to stop looking at Jack whenever he could. He had a moment of guilt when they’d gotten in the Jeep. He’d just proposed to Allison, and here he was contemplating how good Jack looked. He cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. “Carter, did I do something last night? Something I should know about?”
Jack looked uncomfortable. “Well, I heard you nearly took off Dr. Silas’s head off.”
“Silas, that’s her name,” Nathan snapped his fingers, updating his mental note to apologize. “But not what I meant.”
“I told you this morning, we’re good,” Jack said quickly, sounding a little defensive.
“Yeah,” Nathan agreed, sensing Jack’s hurry to end the conversation. “Just because you said so doesn’t mean I didn’t do something last night that…”
“Look, Nathan, the point here is that you don’t remember.” Nathan forced his mind onto the conversation, not how Jack sounded saying his name. “Just… save this conversation till you do. Then we can talk, if you still want to.”
“You’re freaking me out, Carter.”
Jack chuckled, suddenly at ease again. “Consider it payback for using my first name earlier. I started thinking you were brain damaged from all the scotch you drank last night.”
“Nah, I can still recite the laws of motion,” Nathan joked. “That gets me at least one up on you.” He relaxed back into his seat, watching Jack for a long moment. The sheriff pulled the car into a parking spot. He turned the engine off, and was about to undo his seat belt, noticing Nathan’s gaze. “I know, don’t stare,” Nathan commented, and Jack smiled. Nathan briefly contemplated getting out of the Jeep, but his eyes were locked with Jack’s. The tension grew, filling the space between them.
“We should…” Jack said softly, and Nathan nodded, not really caring what he was agreeing to. “Right,” Jack continued, still not moving.
There was a loud thud as Jo hit the window with her palm, making both men jump. Jack opened his door, and Jo grinned at him widely. “Hey Carter,” she greeted him. “Just on my way to add some more money to my current bet.”
“Oh for the love of—” Jack groaned, slamming the door behind him. Nathan slowly climbed out, considering the Jeep for a long moment. He was missing something, something about the Jeep…
He walked slowly toward Café Diem, aware enough to process that there was a suddenly drop in the conversation level around him as he entered. “Vincent,” he greeted the other man, who had just awkwardly shushed the woman he was speaking with as Nathan sat down. “From what I recall, I owe you an apology for my behavior,” Nathan said, swallowing his pride.
“Don’t worry about it,” Vince replied, obviously hiding a smirk. “It’s nice to have some non-lethal amusement around here. Besides, I should probably also apologize, since I’m the one who sort of told Allison about you hitting on the sheriff last night.”
“You what?” Nathan asked, his mind jerking to a full halt at Vince’s words. His full force glare made Vince wince.
“Well, it’s not like I just outright told her, I mean,” Vince was babbling. “Deputy Lupo and I were just talking, mainly about the betting pool, and I said I was doubling my money on you and Carter after you were all over him last night, but…”
“Stop,” Nathan pleaded, his head aching. He tried to get his thoughts in order to respond, but what spilled out was, “Carter and I? When did that become a betting option?”
“Oh, Henry was the first to bet on it, probably a week or so after everything with Raynes went down…” Vince seemed to sense this was a bad direction, and shifted abruptly. “Fargo jumped on right after the thing with the flower pollen that made us all a little crazy. Jo was after the force shield that almost killed Fargo, and I figured that if it was good enough for them…”
“Right,” Nathan set his head on the counter, and Vince set out a cup of coffee. “Thank you,” Nathan muttered gratefully. Suddenly Allison’s coolness made sense. She’d assumed he’d rebounded into bed with Jack just a day after proposing to her. She understood later what Nathan himself hadn’t until right then. It wasn’t just a rebound but something that had built over a long time, alongside what he had believed he’d been building with Allie. She’d known all along, though, which was why she’d told him no when he proposed.
“For what it’s worth,” Vince said, nodding subtly to where Jack was standing outside, discussing something with Jo. “He’s not going to say no to you.” As though sensing Nathan’s gaze, Jack looked up at him and promptly missed the curb as he walked toward Café Diem. “Oh yeah, I’ll put another 50 on that.”
*-*
Nathan gave up on the article he had been trying to read and tossed it back onto the pile on his desk. He wandered out to the backyard, lying down in the wide woven hammock he never used anymore. He rewound his day, solemnly making a pact with himself never to drink again unless he had a good recording device on him so he could simply hit rewind and know exactly what hole in his memory was bothering him. Nathan had always been able to remember what happened when he got drunk in perfect clarity. But sometimes it took three or four days to come back, which was far too long, given how Carter was acting.
The sun was warm enough to lull Nathan into a drowsy half sleep, aided by the breeze gently rocking the hammock. He let his mind wander and found himself walking through the day before, up to his decision to get spectacularly drunk. Vince taking his keys after a couple of drinks. His making an unambiguous offer to Dr. Gray, who had just celebrated his 65th birthday, just to prove he could. Hitting on a lot of people, slowly drinking more as they carefully extracted themselves from the conversation, worried for their jobs. And then Jack had arrived.
Jack, whom he had wanted in some small corner of his mind ever since Callister, because he hadn’t judged Nathan’s sadness. Jack, who had actually called him a father. Nathan suddenly remembered his arm around the other man’s waist, his free hand sliding over his chest. His fingers sliding along the man’s thigh inside his pocket. Nathan pressing tiny kisses along the man’s throat, pressing Jack into the side of his Jeep, desperately wanting to press their lips together. Jack promising they could talk, as soon as Nathan remembered.
The memory followed Jack’s fingers down the buttons of Nathan’s shirt and vanished into fantasy, wishful thinking running the images now. Jack wouldn’t just gently remove the shirt, his fingers would skim the skin below, tracing the lines of muscle and sinew down until he reached Nathan’s jeans. He’d tease as he slowly undid the zipper, his fingers dipping into Nathan’s pants, running along the hardness tenting his boxers. His name, slipping out from between Jack’s lips, just before they came together for a kiss…
“Nathan.”
God, so good, his name in Jack’s deep voice…
“Nathan?”
Nathan jerked his eyes open, suddenly processing the fact that the voice wasn’t coming from his mind. Jack was standing over him, a small smile playing around the corners of his mouth. “Having a good nap?” Jack asked lightly, though Nathan caught a bit of a smirk. Jack had noticed the bulge in Nathan’s jeans.
“Until a moment ago, yes,” Nathan replied, squinting against the setting sun to peer up at Jack. He had changed from his uniform, into jeans and a soft looking, well-worn black sweater. “What are you doing here?”
“Promised Allison I’d stop by and see if you were okay, making sure you hadn’t decided to drown your troubles again tonight.” Jack was rambling, his face starting to flush in a way that Nathan found adorable.
“No, I’ve decided against drinking ever again until I find a reliable recording device so I remember who to avoid and who to apologize to the next day,” Nathan informed Jack.
“Probably a good plan,” Jack agreed, rocking on his heels in a manner that Nathan was starting to recognize as a sign of Jack carefully measuring his words before he spoke. “So, still no remembering, huh?”
“Actually,” Nathan said, sitting up a little, “I think we should probably talk.”