Easy reading is damned hard writing. - Honesty Chapter XXII

“Time to get up, Sheriff. It is already 8 o’clock.”

 

 Jack heard the words as they brought him closer to full consciousness and mentally cursed his house. Even semi-conscious he knew that saying those thoughts out loud would probably be a bad idea so instead blindly flapped his arm above his head muttering, “Ten more minutes SARAH…” before burying his head deeper into the grey pillow beneath him, stubbornly keeping his eyes shut. Jack was in no way ready to start this day as yet, and experience had taught him that S.A.R.A.H. would let him get away with at least one more plea for ten minutes, before those godforsaken alarms and the freakin’ light show from hell began.

 

 Nathan, who was standing just to his left holding his second cup of coffee for the morning, just watched bemusedly and took another sip. The corner of his mouth was twitching with a fond smile as he watched Jack’s face tighten as he turned slightly on the bed, burrowing deeper into the sheets and effectively going back to sleep.

 

“Now if only you were at your own house Jack, that brilliant plan might have actually worked,”  Nathan effectively drawled before taking another sip.

 

Jack ignored him and pulled the sheets up higher.

 

Carefully setting down the coffee cup on the nightstand, Nathan sat down on the edge of the bed, the smile tugging at his lips as he took in the sight of Jack trying desperately to ignore him and go back to sleep. Shaking his head at the stubborn look on the other man’s face, Nathan leaned over, braced his hands on either side of Jack and brushed their lips together, his nose nudging at him gently.

 

Jack’s sense of taste was the first to react, “Mmmm....coffee…” he muttered, as his head automatically nudged upwards against Nathan’s, wanting him to come closer so that he could deepen the kiss and get closer to that taste. Nathan only smiled and moved fractionally further away from him, making Jack involuntarily rise off the bed in order to keep in contact with his lips and that incredible combination of warmth and caffeine. Every time Jack moved closer, Nathan would pull away, and before he could properly process what was happening, Jack found himself sitting up on the bed.

 

With those watery blue eyes now reluctantly fluttering open and short blonde hair as rumpled as the bed sheets now pooled at his waist, Nathan could not help but inwardly concede that this was a sight he could easily get used to waking up to.  Once he was fully sitting up, Nathan let Jack deepen the kiss, angling his head to give him more access as Jack’s fingers curled behind his neck, tugging him closer. As Jack’s other hand tugged firmly on Nathan’s waist to pull him back down onto the bed with him, the taller man chuckled and broke the kiss, agreeing softly against his lips “Coffee…but only if you get up.”

 

Jack’s eyes immediately shot open in an indignant glare, realising that he had been tricked. Taking in the almost fully dressed scientist smirking down at him, he let himself fall back heavily onto the mattress with a groan of , “Evil sonofa…” as he stuffed a pillow back under his head and re-closed his eyes determinedly.

 

Grinning, Nathan tugged the pillow out from under his head and smacked him with it while playfully scolding, “Now get up, we’re already late.”

 

Scowling, Jack threw off the pillow and slung his arm over his eyes stubbornly, blocking out the light and the person waking him up. Just as Nathan was about to go back to getting dressed himself, Jack’s arm shot out without warning and dragged him down, pinning him onto his back on the still warm bed. Brooking no arguments, Jack used his body weight to keep Nathan down as he settled comfortably on top of his chest. 

 Apparently, he needn’t have bothered; as the taller man gracefully submitted to the roughhousing. Jack muttered sleepily against him, “What, no objections?”

 

Nathan just lay there as a curious mix of contentment and trepidation passed through him. It had been like this ever since he had awoken this morning with Jack next to him. Dragging his hand down his face he fought a quick, but thorough internal battle with himself. Meanwhile Jack was single-handedly unbuttoning Nathan’s crisp white shirt and tugging it insistently out of his slacks.

 

Taking a moment to pause the thoughts rushing through his mind at a hypersonic speed, Nathan managed to mutter convincingly menacingly, “I just got dressed.”

 

“And now I’m undressing you, what’s your point?” was the smart-assed response as warm fingers delved into his shirt, moving possessively across his stomach.

 

The playful tone made Nathan involuntarily grin, despite the fact that every nerve in his body was both on fire and yet completely sated at the same time.  Yielding to the moment, Nathan folded his right arm under his head and let his left hand stroke idly through Jack’s hair, enjoying what he knew would probably be the only quiet moment he would have today.

 

Feeling Nathan’s fingers raking possessively through his hair, Jack nodded encouragingly against him and replied with the smallest of groans, “Two more minutes and I’ll get up.”

 

Absentmindedly Nathan nodded in agreement, rubbing the short strands between his fingertips, knowing that the action would only succeed in lulling Jack back to sleep against him. Just as Jack closed his eyes a sharp beeping sound emanated from Nathan’s pocket. He lifted his head and reached down to get to his communicator, but was stopped by Jack smartly smacking his hand away while groaning, “It’s a goddamned conspiracy!” He then promptly threaded his own fingers through Nathan’s, thereby stopping him from answering what would have been the first page of the morning.

 

“It was probably Henry, wondering why I’m not in the lab as yet” Nathan said half amused, looking down at their now linked fingers.

 

“Let him wonder for ten more minutes then, “Jack said irritably closing back his eyes.

 

Nathan stayed quiet for the minute, enjoying the moment between them, concentrating on the fact that he could feel another heartbeat, slow and steady, parallel to his own, their fingers linked loosely together. Rubbing his thumb against the back of Jack’s hand, he agreed softly, “I second that motion,” feeling a smile against his chest. Clearing his throat he added, “But we are not making up like last night every time we have a fight.”

 

“Why not?” Jack angled his head up to look at him curiously, he added with a smirk, “I thought we made up pretty well.”

 

“Precisely, neither of us will ever get to work on time again.”

 

Jack burst out laughing at just how serious Nathan had said that. Settling back on his stomach he responded with a grin, “Yeah, but what a way to go… ” tightening his arm around the other man.

 

Nathan rolled his eyes and went back to idly stroking his fingers through Jack’s hair, wondering if this was the right time to bring up the topic that had been on his mind all morning, however the phone rang before he could make his decision. With the caller ID showing the bunker and expecting it to be Zoe, he held it out for Jack. Moving off of Nathan, Jack took the call also fully expecting it to be his daughter. Instead it was S.A.R.A.H. calling to let him know that Dr. Blake had called and wanted to see him at Global Dynamics within the hour.

 

As he passed back the phone, Nathan smirked, “Wife looking for you?”

 

Jack rolled his eyes, “Nice.” He then grinned mischievously and added, “No but yours is.”

 

“Touché” Nathan conceded the point as he stretched over to put the phone back.

 

“Wait, how did she know I was here? SARAH I mean.” Jack wondered out loud as he sat up and reached for his t-shirt.

 

“Smart house,” Nathan answered easily, “She would have either pinpointed the location of your car or seen here as the most plausible scenario given your mobility pattern over the past few weeks.”

 

“Fantastic” Jack muttered noncommittally, pulling the white t-shirt over his head.

 

Shaking his head Nathan offered, “Breakfast; if you stop grumbling about your house, get showered, changed and downstairs in the next ten minutes. I have to check in with Allison myself.”

 

Jack’s face lit up, the way Nathan knew it would, and immediately countered with “It’s a deal if you upgrade ‘breakfast’ to pancakes and throw in coffee.” As Nathan rolled his eyes and nodded, Jack grinned and exited the room to retrieve the bag of clothes from his jeep.

 

Nathan got up off the bed as Jack left, slowly re-buttoned his shirt and stared in the mirror directly in front of him. The more domestic they acted this morning, the more his mind began to race. Pulling on his tie, he shook his head and sighed heavily to his full-length reflection. He didn’t have time to dwell on this right now; the ATP should be his primary concern, but despite knowing this, as he opened the door to retrieve his jacket, Nathan speculated on only two things. Firstly, how long was he going to keep pushing away the thoughts and emotions that cinched the fact for him that he was firmly in love with Jack Carter, and secondly, when was he going to tell him?

 

~*~

 

An hour later they were pausing at Fargo’s station before entering the Director’s office.

 

Jack bobbed a friendly, “Mornin’ Fargo.” Nathan just held out his hand for the PC tablet that his assistant quickly handed over.

 

While those two conversed, Jack turned slightly to see Allison eyeing them hard from the level below. Jack stepped closer to Nathan , murmuring in his ear. The Director automatically stopped talking and ducked his head lower to hear him, glancing over as Jack nodded in Allison’s direction. Fargo couldn’t quite hear what was said, but could tell from the direction of the gaze that they were discussing the approaching DoD liaison. 

 

Dr. Stark looked over and laughed out-rightly, the rich sound echoing in their small area. Fargo’s eyes widened in shock; the only time he had seen his mentor that openly amused was months ago when Dr. Stark had apparently taken extreme pleasure in shooting him with a goo gun…and that had been more maniacal than anything else. Fargo’s eyes widened further as he saw Dr. Stark lean in, closer than should be legally allowed at work, and respond just as quietly- to which the Sheriff chuckled good-naturedly. Both men’s eyes were flashing mischievously. Handing back the tablet to a now dumbfounded assistant the pair headed into the office to discuss strategies for the day.

 

Within minutes Allison was striding up the hall looking distinctly harassed. As she looked questioningly towards the door, Fargo nodded in assent for her to go on in. He then added mostly to himself, “…and apparently something’s very funny.” Allison overheard him and sent a strange look his way.

 

“Where have you two been?” Allison demanded with her hands on her waist, as she came through the door of the Director’s office.

 

“Uh asleep?” Jack answered as he perched on the edge of the desk, then offered airily, throwing a sly glance behind him, ”You know how Stark is Allison, just can’t get him moving in the morning, he just sleep and sleeps …”

 

Nathan just grinned and took his seat behind his desk, hitting a few buttons to bring up the prediction programme he had been working on last night.

 

Allison just rolled her eyes, “No wonder you two are beginning to disturb Fargo.”

 

Jack muttered to himself as he pulled out his phone, “Someone should be disturbing Fargo for a change…”

 

“Is there a particular reason you were looking for us Allison?” Nathan asked neutrally, ignoring both statements, as his eyes scanned down the screen in front of him.

 

Nodding Allison quickly got to the reason she was here in the first place, “Yes, Henry wants to see you Nathan and both Generals Grant and Mansfield are waiting on us in the conference room.”

 

Scowling at the mention of the Generals, Jack interjected, “SARAH said you called for me? I hope they don’t expect me to be at that meeting, the last thing I want to do is waste time trying to figure out how to use the damn thing.”

 

Allison turned to watch him, her eyebrows furrowing, “I did call for you, but that was two days ago, Carter. I saw you that same afternoon. And no, you aren’t required to be there this morning.”

 

“Oh okay, well I just got the message and S.A.R.A.H. called by Stark to deliver it.” Jack looked back at Nathan expectantly, who answered without looking up,

 

“I’ll have Fargo do a check-up on her schematics this week.”

 

“That’s all I’m saying” Jack chimed in as he hopped off the desk and moved over to the windows, peering down to see his Deputy heading their way.

 

“Maybe S.A.R.A.H. was checking up on you?” Nathan offered, his eyes still on the screen.

 

 Jack rolled his eyes at Allison, “Tell me he comes with an off button?”

 

This coaxed half a smile out of Allison and she exchanged a quick glance with Jack before preparing to leave. Pausing at the door she added, “We are all waiting for you in the conference room, whenever you are ready Nathan.”

 

“I’ll be there in a minute.” He confirmed.

 

As she left Nathan raised his head to face Jack. “This will take the entire morning, find Henry and have him update you on any recent activity of the ATP.”

 

Jack nodded, his eyes on Fargo who was now energetically talking to his Deputy on the floor below them and pointing up to the office as Jo watched him bemusedly.

 

Absentmindedly he answered Nathan, “Yeah okay, I'm going to go rescue Fargo from whatever it is he just did, then see Henry and then head out with Jo. Someone called in a small disturbance out at Strawberry Knoll that we need to check out.”

 

Nodding, Nathan asked, “Lunch?”

 

Jack shrugged, “Sure, if you can get away from here. Give me a call and let me know.”

 

Nathan nodded as Jack turned and headed down the stairs taking two at a time.

 

~*~

 

“I hate it when you’re right, Henry.”

 

Henry looked up as his protégé stalked into the lab space, a slight sneer on his handsome face.

 

“Hey,” he offered, straightening up and wiping his hands on a rag, “So if we wanted to be positive I’d say that the energy field is holding but we’re missing tons of data –“ he then added with a wry grin, “-and if I wanted to be pessimistic I’d say we have Zeno’s paradox on our hands, one step forward with two leaps back.” Finally catching the look on Nathan’s face he added, “-but you hate when I’m right about what now?”

 

Nathan stared at him for a few seconds, torn between keeping this to himself and knowing that Henry was one of the few people he trusted in these situations. Eureka’s best engineer waited patiently as Nathan made his decision. Sinking into a chair behind the computer the taller man reluctantly admitted, “I am in love with him,” as though admitting the world was coming to an end.

 

“Ah,” was all the older man said with a big smile, “Nathan that is great news!”

 

“Couldn’t you just leave this one alone, Henry?”

 

“I know I don’t have to point this out to you Nathan” he said patiently, too patiently in Stark’s opinion, “- but me stating what is blatantly obvious to everyone but you and Jack, and you making it true are two completely separate issues here.”

 

“I know” Nathan felt slightly frustrated and knew that he had no good reason to be.

 

“But you needed an outlet for your frustrations,” Henry grinned knowingly, walking over to stand in front of him,  “-I get it. So have you told him?”

 

“No.” Nathan said firmly, then added, “Should I?”

 

“What about Zoe?” Jack’s a two for one package.” Henry offered, knowing the answer even as he asked the question.

 

“I’d faster take her and leave Carter, Henry. “ Nathan answered dryly, “Trust me, Zoe isn’t the problem here.”

 

Henry laughed, he always knew that was the case, “So then what is the problem, here?”

 

“I’m not sure” Nathan muttered more to the carbon cases on the floor than the man in front of him

 

“Which is precisely why you should be having this conversation with Jack.” Henry just smiled as Nathan glared back up at him. He remembered going through a very similar situation years ago when Nathan was about to propose to Allison.

 

“Lately you two have been… finishing each other’s sentences?” Henry offered, coming to stop in front of the seated man, “and Jack has spent the better part of the last 2 months with you, is it such a mystery how he feels?”

 

“Yes.” Nathan responded emphatically while absentmindedly turning his communicator over in his hand.

 

Henry laughed out loud, then musing to himself he added, “You could just ask him?”

 

 At Nathan’s glare, Henry rolled his eyes, “No of course not, that would be too easy for you.”

 

Henry stood surveying the man in front of him. Despite his predicament, Henry couldn’t help but smile at him. No matter what anyone else saw in Nathan, no matter how large his ego got or what power he attracted, Henry would always remember that young mathematician he had been.

 

“Stark, here is the situation.”

 

Nathan looked up in surprise, he hadn’t heard that tone from Henry in years, and it easily transported him back to his university days. Built-in responses reacted as he lifted his head and listened despite himself.

 

“You and Jack make a good couple. No one who has seen you two together will question it, so why are you?”

 

Nathan looked up, caught the gaze of his mentor, and interjected bracingly, “I’m not certain that…”

 

Henry gestured for him to be quiet and listen, “He’s just as reluctant as you to cement this Nathan, in many ways you two are a mirror pair, but so far your paths have been continuous.

 

He saw a grin begin to tug at the corners of Nathan's mouth, even as he rolled his eyes to say, “Henry this isn’t a complex analysis course, this is my life…”

 

Henry put up a hand to shush him and ploughed on, “The only concern you have really is that your relationship is not well defined, right?”

 

Nathan nodded

 

 “It’s not defined, so what do you have to do! What is the only logical course of action?”

 

Nathan rolled his eyes, “Define it or linearise it.” he answered wearily but automatically.

 

Henry clapped him on the shoulder, ”Exactly, now go define it!” then added smiling,     “-and come back down when you’re finished because we are going to be here all night trying to stabilize these levels.”

 

Thankfully Nathan’s communicator shrilled, saving him from answering. With one more long suffering glance at his mentor, Nathan got up and left the room, aware of the fact that somewhere behind him Henry was still laughing.

 

~*~

 

 Three nights later,

 

 Jack folded his arms and leaned against the darkened doorway of the Director’s office, eyeing the dark haired scientist that was totally engrossed in reading whatever it was on his screen.

 

Jack didn’t know what it was, but he was betting on something sciency. Smiling and tightening his arms around himself he vaguely remembered Nathan muttering something about a program to predict the movement of signals, in bed two night ago. Jack had been more focused on the pleasantly sated grating timbre of his voice as he muttered on with his eyes closed as he drifted off to sleep, than the scientist’s actual words. One thing he did learn that night, when Nathan Stark got good and tired…he babbled, and Jack was only too happy to listen to it.

 

He watched as Nathan paused only to tiredly rub his eyes before scanning another of the multiple translucent screens across his desk. Jack and Nathan had not laid eyes on each other since the morning they came in together, they had never met up for lunch that day and were both kept busy for the next 82 hours due to unforeseen complications.

 

Nathan had been in closed meetings on and off while working with Henry for hours at a time on Level 4, while Jack had split his time between working with Fargo and Henry on taking radion levels across Eureka and trying to figure out why several vehicles had seemed to be been disappearing around the vicinity of Strawberry Knoll. The miscreants turned out to be a couple high school kids who had decided that multi-faceted ray imagery was their newest toy to exploit and give Jack more work to do. They were currently serving time sitting in his cell at the station waiting to be picked up by their parents, while being babysat by a reluctant Lupo.

 

As he looked on, taking his time and enjoying the view, he amused himself by recalling that not four months before he was, many times, in this exact spot secretly admiring the look of concentration on Stark’s face when he had cause to come in here late at night. Jack was loathe to admit to it anyone, including himself, but in all honestly he had missed Stark a bit these past three days. Earlier today, Zoe had informed him in no uncertain terms that he now had someone his own age to complain to and should use that option and let her finish watch Gossip Girl. She’d then grabbed the phone and dialed the number for him, but Jack and Nathan had not even had the time to talk for more than a few moments.  

 

 When he had finally gotten off duty, Jack had picked up dinner from Café Diem and driven over to Stark’s house, but found it in the same state they had left it two days prior, the bed sheets pooled in the middle of the mattress and the coffee cup sitting on the bedside table. After straightening the bed and washing up the dishes they had used that morning, Jack had then come to the next place he knew he was sure to find Stark.

 

Jack pushed himself off the doorway and stepped into the dimly lit office. “So you’ve been here for three days straight Nate…”

 

Nathan smiled tiredly at both the voice and now familiar nickname, looking up from his desk briefly to peer at Jack he said, “Only Zoe gets away with that,” a hint of menace in his voice.

 

Jack rolled his eyes and walked towards him, “I’ll call you anything I want to Stark,” dropping heavily into one of the chairs in front of the desk, “but seriously you haven’t been home since what, Wednesday?”

 

“Actually Jack,” Nathan paused in his scribbling to glance up at the blonde man in front of him, “I went home for an hour yesterday,” he answered airily with a faintly mischievous smile, his gaze already back on the screen in front of him.

 

“And passed out on your couch where Fargo had to come find you?” Jack interjected, “You’re really not helping your case here, Einstein.”

 

“You know what it is like,” Nathan answered absentmindedly, “the ATP has priority one right now, until we isolate that signal none of us have off-time,” his eyes already back on the screens in front of him.

 

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it” Jack muttered, his eyes firmly on the other mans face, faintly annoyed that this bothered him so much.

 

Nathan smirked slightly, without looking up he queried, “Can I take this to mean you’re  actually missing me, Carter?”

 

“Of course not,” Jack scoffed, getting up and walking over to the windows, “-don’t be ridiculous, “ he bluffed, “I’m just using you for breakfast.”

 

Nathan smiled and Jack glanced back and gave him a little grin. Without thinking about it Nathan was standing and crossing the room, letting his fingers slip behind Jacks left ear and pulling him closer in a reassuring kiss.

 

“Fine, maybe you were missed a little…” Jack mumbled against his lips.

 

Nathan pulled away and Jack smiled, pulling him back in close, “Okay, a lot.” continuing the kiss.

 

Walking them backwards until he felt his back hit the desk behind them, Nathan continued the kiss, having missed this the past days and nights he had been isolated in Global Dynamics. Somehow the feel of Jack against him strengthened him, he could feel the previous waves of irritation and exhaustion fall away as Jack’s lips moved against his and his hands wound themselves securely around Nathan’s waist. Nathan smiled as he could smell that mix of gunpowder, fresh air, something more masculine that was purely Jack and for some reason cinnamon.

 

Nathan pulled him closer, deepening the kiss and threading his fingers deeper into Jack’s hair, hearing and feeling Jack chuckle against him as the kiss deepened, completely forgetting where they were. Ignoring the need for air Jack pressed closer as Nathan's free hand moved across his back, trapping them together and kissing him with increasingly intensity. Jack found himself responding in kind, pushing Nathan back against the desk and getting as close to his body heat as physically possible.

 

Nathan unwillingly broke the kiss when an alert sounded on his computer. Jack’s head slumped forward to Nathan's neck, trying hard to catch his breath. Nathan’s arm wrapped around his waist and held him there as he leaned backwards to check the screen.

 After a few moments, Jack stepped back and watched him, momentarily stunned by that kiss and the emotions it was invoking within him. Running his hand down his face tiredly he shook it off, subconsciously chalked it up to a combination of tiredness and lust, then checked his watch and offered, “It’s late.”

 

“Yes,” Nathan agreed as he moved around his desk to get a better look at the screen, “It is.”

 

“Are you packing it in anytime soon?” Jack asked lightly, taking in the lines creasing Stark’s forehead as he scanned the new data in front of him.

 

“No…” Nathan shook his head slightly, bracing himself on the desk, “I'm going to stick around here, the ATP has been showing unradial chaotic behavoirs,“ his eyes intently scanning down the screen.

 

“Okay.” Jack said simply, but didn’t move.

 

Looking up finally, Nathan moved back around the desk and perched on the edge as Jack came to stand in front of him again. Sitting back more fully on the desk he let his hands rest lightly on Jack’s waist, gently urging him closer.

 

“Dr. Stark are you making sexual advances towards me?” Jack mocked him playfully, “Didn’t you pay attention at that sexual harassment seminar? Dr. Young will be very disappointed in you.” He willfully ignored the fact that his heart rate was starting to speed up again.

 

Nathan just grinned wickedly and commented, “Woe be onto me then…” as he pulled Jack a little closer. Remembering something else Nathan looked up with a twinkle in his eyes, “Ann Young actually asked me out after that whole ordeal.”

 

Jack’s eyes widened, “The sexual harassment expert asked out her boss? There’s irony for you.”

 

Nathan nodded, “This was after she got the transfer from Eureka cleared, she was heading to Geneva the next week I believe.”

 

“And she made it a point to hit on you before she left?” Jack’s tone was incredulously amused.

 

“Well she asked me to dinner, not actually hit on me.” Nathan clarified.

 

“That bitch.” Jack’s smile was infectious, the determined tone in his voice making the other man grin.

 

Nathan smirked, “What happened to ‘oh Dr. Young will be so disappointed’,“ he imitated playfully.

 

Jack shook his head gravely but you couldn’t mistake the grin in his eyes, “That was before I knew she was an evil conniving, director stealing bitch.”

 

 “A lot of GD employee’s hit on me, Sheriff. It comes with the territory,” Nathan informed him with a smile, enjoying the effect his words were having and resisting to grin at the phrase ‘director stealing’. He instead pulled out his communicator and began fiddling with the screen.

 

“I was so sure they didn’t like you.” Jack crossed his arms and shook his head, “ All of them. I thought they had a secret ‘We hate Stark’ club I could join.”

 

Nathan looked up thoughtfully from what he was doing, thinking back, “No Jack, that was just you.”

 

“Ah the good old days” Jack said with a reminiscent smile, his fingers tugging lightly at the curls on the base of Nathan’s neck. “When you were the ego-maniacal bane of my existence.”

 

“And now?” Nathan cocked an amused eye-brow at him.

 

Jack nodded knowingly, “Now you’re the coffee bagel stealing ego-maniacal bane of my...”

 

 “Shut up,” Nathan suggested with a tired smile as he pocketed the phone and his hands resumed their previous position on Jack’s waist.

 

“You should go home,” Jack suggested smiling, “-and of course I mean my home … or we could go to your home, either way we should get out of here,” letting himself be pulled forward.

 

Nathan tugged him closer and let his forehead fall forward, low against Jack’s chest. He was honestly exhausted, both mentally and physically, and would love nothing more than to head onto the closest bed with Jack, but he had work to do and night was the perfect time for it. With GD mostly empty he may actually be allowed to work uninterrupted for more than ten minutes at a time.

 

Jack’s hands came up as he chuckled and massaged the back of Nathan’s neck, utterly amused at how openly affectionate Nathan was being, in his office of all places.  Nathan nodded slightly against him in appreciation as the tightened muscles in his neck began to loosen. They stayed there for a few minutes, Nathan letting Jack gently knead the knots he felt in his neck and shoulders and Jack just smiling at the feeling of Nathan Stark molding himself against him, pulling him fractionally closer every passing moment. Jack truly believed that if they stood there long enough Stark would fall asleep against him. Smiling at the thought he ducked his head down and brushed his lips against Nathan's right ear, making the man turn his head slightly to meet his lips as his arms tightened around Jack.

 

Despite the stillness of the moment, Nathan’s mind was fighting a battle, to bring up the fact that this relationship of theirs was, as yet, still undefined...or to just let it go for now, as he had three nights ago.

 There was suddenly a tiny familiar squeak of horror coming from the doorway to Nathan’s right. With his head still hanging forward and against Jack’s upper chest, and without even looking up, he groaned out, “This better be good Fargo.”

 

Jack turned his head to see what had made the noise. Nathan felt it more than he heard the light laugher, running steadily through Jack’s chest as hands resumed their actions, now gently kneading the back of his neck. It made him inwardly smile, knowing that Jack was enjoying torturing his young assistant, even as he saw legs approach shiftily out of the corner of his eye.

 

“Speak up Fargo.” He groaned into Jack’s chest, making the young assistant ‘eep’ at the sound. Despite the suggestive position Fargo had found him and Jack in, none of the previous sweetness was reflected in Nathan’s tone.

 

“I…uh…” Douglas Fargo took a few mind-numbingly long seconds to put the image of his mentor and the Sheriff out of his mind, before he was able to answer the question properly.

 

He hastily averted his eyes from staring at Dr. Stark’s arms wound securely around Sheriff Carter’s waist, and instead focused on his boss’s impatient gaze. He struggled to get his brain back on track and muttered, “I have an idea how to track the connection, or I think I do.”

 

Jack looked up curiously, even as Nathan sat up properly and looked less impatient.

 

“Yeah?” asked Jack, looking interested, “Let’s hear it.”

 

Nodding, Fargo crossed over to Nathan’s desk, taking the long way around to avoid them, and tapped two keys pulling up the predictability program from its memory. Clearing his throat and still actively avoiding eye-contact with the Sheriff, Fargo instead focused on Stark. “Dr. Stark you have been trying to predict where the signal is going to show up next and…” he nodded slightly to Jack, “…Sheriff Carter and Henry have been trying to find out where it is right now, but the entire approach has been futile because as far as we know the shifts are random.” He turned back to the screen to change the image.

 

Jack nodded in agreement. 

 

Nathan looked on, waiting to see where this was going. “Go on Fargo.” he said softly, when the young man didn’t speak for a full ten seconds.

 

The shifty-eyed assistant shoved his glasses higher up on his nose and tapped again on the screen, bringing up what Nathan recognized as the report from the last ATP accident when Jack had been injured.

Fargo continued, “Instead of trying to figure out where it’s going or where it is, I hypothesize that we can attempt to find out where it’s been and then conjecture a streamline, based on that data…”

 

“Okay, I actually got most of that,” Jack stated crossing his arms and squinting over at Fargo, “except what a streamline is, how we go about getting it and how does that help us, Fargo?”

 

“Quantum Chaos.” Nathan said softly as he slid off his desk and walked around to face the screen. 

 

Fargo nodded.

 

“Sounds familiar, so do I want the long version or the short version?” Jack asked.

 

Fargo looked to Nathan who took his seat and nodded at him to give Jack a quick overview while he thought about this.

 

Fargo struggled to find the right words, “Um…okay well chaos theory describes the behavior of certain dynamical systems whose state evolves with time, right?” Without waiting for Jack’s answer he ploughed on, “…and these systems may exhibit dynamics that are highly sensitive to initial conditions, like the signal we’re looking for in the…”

 

Jack held up his hand to interrupt him here, “That’s all great Fargo, but in the interest of time, and sparing me a very large headache, let’s go with the short version, okay?”

 

Fargo nodded, thinking hard, “Okay, um, there is a...pattern to randomness if you look hard enough…?”

 

“Okay that I understood!” Jack said snapping his fingers as he moved closer to the screen. He then added, “So, if we know where it’s been… we know where it’s going?”

 

“Yes! “ Fargo said energetically, before his face fell, “And no…” then added, “…but okay for these purposes, yes?” looking over to his Boss for clarification.

 

Nathan nodded, fixing his eyes back to the screen he added, “That is all well and fine Fargo, but how do you expect to find an initial point?” Nathan pointed to a particular spot on the screen, “The signal is going to bounce seamlessly until it finds a parallel feed.”

 

Fargo nodded vigorously, “Right, but I checked over all the reports from that last time when Sheriff Carter was hurt, the morning before and that day. Small things seemed bizarre, like Vincent came in to talk to Dr. Stern—a Level 3 radiologist who helped to build his smart-oven because it was malfunctioning that morning.” Pulling out his communicator he quickly consulted the screen and offered it to Nathan across the desk, saying, “I cross-checked the data and the signals used by the smart-oven are smaller, but parallel feeds to the one we’re looking for.”

 

“So Café Diem’s oven got affected by this thing?” Jack interjected.

 

Even as Fargo nodded, Nathan was pulling up the detailed records Fargo was referencing.

 

“We didn’t think anything of it at the time,” Fargo continued, “…but now I'm positive it was affected by the ATP signal.”

 

“Okay, but how does that help Fargo? You want to use the Café Diem smart-oven as a lure?” Nathan asked skeptically.

 

Fargo shrugged, he wasn’t quite sure about that himself, but offered defensively, “We could talk to Vincent and see if anything has been going on.”

 

Nathan nodded grudgingly

 

Fargo then added, “So we can at least get an area set up instead of Henry and me just scouring all over the town with Sheriff Carter.” 

 

Nathan still looked unconvinced; however, now Jack was slowly nodding.

 

“What?” Nathan asked the other man, but Jack held up a hand to quiet him. 

 

Jack needed to run with his thoughts; after a few seconds he was nodding again and offered, “Fargo has the right idea, just the wrong plan.”

 

“He does?”

 

”I do?”

 

 “Yeah, don’t you guys remember that week we had, what was it 50 lower level GD experiments go haywire?” Jack tried to remember the original number.

 

Nathan nodded, “Fifty-nine yes, but that only tells us that the signal got through our EM barrier and was temporarily at G.D. during the 1^st phase shifts…” He trailed off, because even as he was saying it Nathan saw what Jack was getting at. He added softly as the bigger picture became clearer, “Jacob’s field, Henry’s garage…”

 

Fargo was looking between both men, waiting for someone to clue him in, “What??”

 

Jack supplied, “Of the zonked G.D. experiments those two—Jacob’s field and Henry’s garage were the biggest ones, but all that week Jo and I had gotten calls with people’s equipment malfunctioning; some even weeks before that. I had mentioned it to Henry, but we didn’t go any further with it. Jo and I went out with each call, but since we couldn’t find the problem and eventually everything worked itself out, we closed the cases.”

 

“Malfunctioning like how?” Fargo asked, pulling up the schematics for the ATP markers.

 

“Little things that you wouldn’t look at twice.” Jack said carefully, “I remember we only thought it was weird because so many people were complaining, then Bill Johnson died…and I never thought about it again.”

 

Jack walked over and clapped his hand to the smaller man’s shoulder, “Right idea wrong plan Fargo, let’s go!” He grinned slightly at the blank look on the smaller man’s face.

 

“Go, go where?” he asked bewildered, looking between Dr. Stark and Sheriff Carter, who apparently were on the same page, but leaving him out of the loop.

 

“I have an idea,” Jack said pulling out his phone to dial his Deputy, “We have to go wake up a few people Fargo.”

 

“What? Wait, why?” this was not the plan he had envisioned.

 

Nathan nodded at Jack as he turned back to Fargo, “We’re gonna find out what’s been going wrong, around town, the little things. I know Jo took a few calls yesterday and today regarding small low-priority issues so, we’ll start with those reports.”

 

As Jack moved away slightly to talk to his Deputy, Fargo turned to Stark, “He thinks the magma connection has been causing slight disturbances around Eureka?”

 

Nathan nodded and fiddled with the screen in front of him. Jack interjected while pocketing his phone, “I don’t think, I know it because it did last time, we just didn’t take the time to notice.” Pushing his hands into his pocket he shrugged, “We wrote those off as random events and random events tend to cluster.”

 

Nathan’s eyebrow went up, eyeing Jack amusedly, even as his mind was racing ahead with the possibilities of the words.

 

“Okay so I learned that from Finn.” Jack admitted reluctantly.

 

Nathan just smiled and turning back to face them fully he picked up the train of thought; “You think you can create a pathline or streamline at the very least?”

 

“Huh?” Jack wasn’t sure what he was being asked.

 

“Track its movements,” Fargo hastily expanded, “The pathline is the path of a single particle, the streamline is the path of the entire flow.”

 

Jack shrugged and nodded, “Yeah okay, I think we can at least try and the sooner we get started the better. Come on,” he said beckoning to Fargo, “We’re gonna start waking up people Fargo.”

 

“What, now? “ Fargo squeaked an octave higher, glancing at his watch, “It’s after midnight, they’re gonna be cranky.”

 

“Yeah well better cranky than dead. Do you have a better plan?” Jack asked patiently.

 

“Wait until they’ve had their coffee tomorrow?” Fargo offered gesturing awkwardly.

 

Jack grinned and ignored him, “No time like the present! Good job Fargo, meet me down by the jeep in 5 minutes.”

 

Pausing only to throw Nathan last look of desperation, which was pointedly ignored, Fargo exited the Director’s office.

 

“We have a plan, this is good.” Jack pulled out his cell phone again, “I’m calling Henry.”

 

“He’s on Level 4.” Nathan said with his eyes still on the screen, “You should have him go with you.”

 

Jack nodded in agreement, “Okay, I’ll head down there now. Is he in the same place or should I just call him and have him meet me up here?”

 

“Your communicator won’t reach him down there, you will have to go to him. “ Nathan added, “Tell him to give Fargo a recent sketch of the energy outputs he observed earlier today and you should have him update you on the increased radion levels he noted.”

 

“Okay.” Jack made a mental note of that and came around the desk.

 

As Nathan raised his head, Jack quickly leaned in and brushed their lips together lightly. Despite knowing that this wasn’t the time for this, Nathan’s hand came up to curl around Jack’s neck, holding him there gently as he kissed him again briefly. Despite the recent revelations of a possible break in the ATP case, Nathan couldn’t shake the feeling that it was now or never to say to Jack what had been on his mind for a week now.

 

Jack said quickly, “See you in a bit,” as he moved away to exit the room.

 

Nathan let his hand fall, sighing inwardly, he called out, “Jack.”

 

“Yeah?” came the answer, as Jack spun in the doorway, his mind already on their plan of action.

 

Nathan raised his head to meet his eyes slowly, “When you get back, there’s something I wanted to discuss.” he said neutrally, forcing a note of calm he didn’t feel into the statement.

 

Jack shrugged, “Alright, want to talk about it now?” he suggested glancing at his watch, “I can spare five minutes…”

 

Nathan shook his head, “No it can wait until we see if Fargo’s idea is feasible. Keep in contact with myself or Allison during the course of the night.”

 

Jack shrugged; he had a feeling he might know what was on Nathan’s mind. “Alright,” he said carefully, “See you in a few hours then.”

 

Nathan nodded in agreement; watching Jack exit and make his way down the stairs, before finally returning his eyes to the screen.

 

~*~

 

Reaching the ground floor and spotting Fargo heading past him Jack grabbed his arm, making the young assistant turn 180 degrees to follow him to the elevators, “Come on Fargo, lets go find Henry.”

 

“What why?” Fargo asked already confused, but conceded with a reluctant, “Okay...” as Jack glared at him.

 

As the doors were closing Fargo couldn’t help but mutter out, “You two could at least get a room…”

 

Jack just shook his head, “You never cease to amaze me Fargo.”

 

They rode down in silence and as the doors opened onto level 4 Jack exited saying, “Plus an office is a room, imagine how much fun that desk he has could be…” grinning widely he strode off leaving an eeping Fargo behind.

 

~*~

 

Back in the Director’s office, Nathan kept his eyes on the pair until the elevator door had closed in front of them. Then slowly crossing back over to his desk he dialled for Allison, but another call was coming through as he waited for her to answer. Disconnecting the first call he answered the second.

 

“Stark.”

 

“Na-te?” It was Zoe, but Nathan could barely hear her.

 

“Zoe?” he concentrated on trying to hear past the static.

 

“Nate ar- you there?  I can’t get th-rough to da- SAR...”

 

“Zoe you’re breaking up, where are you?” He was hearing mostly electrical interference and could barely make out what she was saying.

 

“ Nate? I’m -t the bunke- SARAH  is freakin out-, Farg – an’t -phone-dad”

 

Nathan pushed the phone harder to his head, struggling to hear what the teenager was saying, ”Zoe what’s going on?” a slight dread curling in the pit of his stomach, “Who’s there with you?”

 

“Pila- -can’t get dad on his phone, we can’t leave – something’s wrong with SAR- and the glass doors – sm-a-hed into themsel-es.”

 

Everything clicking into place for Nathan he immediately opened the drawer of his desk and grabbed his car keys, still trying to make himself heard. On top of losing reception there seemed to be a lot of background noise on Zoe’s end of the call.

 

“Zoe can you hear me, are you hurt? “ When all he got was static in response he ploughed on, “Listen to me, your father is in a no-signal area right now, I’m on my way. Find a safe area and stay there- are you hearing me?”

 

All he heard in response was Zoe yelling indignantly. “SA-RAH, what t-he h-ell?”

Then she tried to talk to him again, “Nate I thi-nk SAR- is offline- the do-or won’t op-n and...”

 

And then the line went dead.

 

Immediately redialling all he got was a busy signal. Pocketing his cell phone he quickly crossed the room to the small office area outside that belonged to Fargo. Fingers flying over the keyboard he tried to bring up the video feed from the Bunker while pulling out his cell phone he tried Zoe again, with no response he disconnected and dialled Allison, thankfully this time she answered.

 

“Allison Blake.”

 

“Allison-”

 

“Nathan it’s after...”

 

He cut her off, “Allison, I know where the ATP is isolated, Zoe is at the bunker and there seems to be a malfunction, she can’t get out. The signal will be overriding SARAH’s commands.”

 

Even as he said it Nathan was mentally berating himself, for the past two days Jack had been constantly telling him that SARAH seemed a bit off her game. First burning dinner and then the mis-timed phone calls.

 

Allison’s alarmed voice broke into his thoughts, “Did you alert Fargo?”

 

“No and the video feed is distorted,” he replied quickly, swearing under his breath for not see this coming in the first place. “There’s too much interference , you need to alert emergency personnel and send them over and have someone get Jack and Fargo-they are on Level four with Henry.”

 

“I’m sending someone now.” she confirmed, “What are you going to do?”

 

“I am going over there,” he said firmly, “Have Jack, Henry and Fargo paged to meet me there, have Henry bring everything he needs to generate a closure field large enough to cover the underground bunker and any additional personnel he has to help contain it.”

 

“You want to surround the bunker with an absorbent energy field?” Allison was struggling to keep up with the plan, Nathan was talking too quickly.

 

“Yes once we get Zoe out.” he confirmed.

 

“How are you going to do that?” she demanded, knowing the complexity of SARAH’s operating system.

 

“I don’t know!” Nathan snapped, fear getting the better of his patience for the moment, “Just call Henry and find Jack!”

 

“I sent someone to get them, but Nathan you can’t head over there alone, “ she chided, “you don’t know the situation.”

 

“We don’t have time Allison, the sooner someone gets there the better.” He didn’t have time to argue with her, “You know what SARAH is capable of when uncontrolled.”

 

Signing off he tried Zoe’s phone again. No response. He dialled the bunker and got a pleasant voicemail message from SARAH saying that no one was available to take his call. Swearing loudly he pocketed the phone and headed for the door. 
 

Taking the stairs two at a time he made quickly for the exit, pulling out his phone to call security himself. He spotted a random IT technician fiddling with the elevator control panels, he grabbed the worker by the arm saying, “You’re coming with me and bring those.”  He gestured to the tool box on the ground, while already pulling him towards the parking lot.

 

~*~