Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Staring into the half-empty glass of scotch between his hands Nathan had to admit that he couldn't fault Henry for leaving. Even with most of his focus on his current project, he had recognized that his professor was struggling.

Truth be told, Nathan didn’t actually know the reason why Professor Yamazaki decided to marry Anderson of all people when her feelings for Henry had been so blatantly obvious to everyone. One day the two of them had been flirting in the research lab at MIT, unbothered by their star student working on a challenging equation with a single-minded focus, the next Henry was sitting next to Nathan looking utterly heartbroken.

He had asked, of course, but whenever he brought up the topic Henry's eyes would glaze over with raw pain and confusion and so Nathan stopped questioning the circumstances.

The following two years had been more productive than he could have hoped for, both men now free from personal obligations and with their eyes set on the goal. Their motivations were different but Nathan, young and naive hadn't realized that his professor used their work as a means of escape.

Or maybe he had, his alcohol-addled brain accused. Desperate to prove himself worthy as a scientist he simply hadn't cared why they made so much progress as long as it worked in his favor. His self-deprecating chuckle felt bitter as his overactive mind continued to search for the signs he had missed. Or ignored.

Here he was, attempting to drown his guilt not only over the imminent departure of his hurting friend but also over the fact he still wished Henry would stay and continue to spend his days and nights solving problems and furthering Nathan's career trajectory. He emptied the rest of his glass in one go before closing his eyes with a deep sigh.

„You alright there?" Startled by the uninvited question and sudden presence on the barstool beside him Nathan immediately opened them again, ready to scare the intruder off for interrupting his self-indulgent pity-party and was met by lovely blue eyes focused intensely on him.

In a split second, Nathan decided he didn't mind this stranger’s attention after all. Quite the opposite really. The handsome features of the young man were very welcome in the dingy bar usually frequented only by professors and their peers.

„Better now, " he winked and ordered another round of drinks for the both of them. The stranger's eyes widened a fraction and Nathan was deeply satisfied with the way the blonde's gaze wandered from his face down to his well-toned body. No matter how much he hated to waste time away from his studies, he took pride in the additional benefits of the frequent workouts needed to keep his research-related frustrations at bay.

He was delighted to notice a blush spreading from the man's cheeks up to his ears even in the dim light of the pub.

This evening might just turn around.

Chapter Text

Jack doesn’t think about Angela Fairfield often, not anymore. Mostly he remembers her on the anniversary of her death, every time, for nineteen years now. He buys her favourite flowers and has them delivered to her grave or visits her himself if he’s in the area. Her parents call him every time to thank him, which makes him wonder whether they knew it was Angie behind the wheel and not Jack, but he doesn’t dare ask.

He'd rather they blamed him than sully their image of their lost daughter. Partly it had been the shock, that kept him from revealing the truth to the police back then. Unfortunately, even though they had both been sober, people had assumed Jack must’ve been drunk when he lost control of the car. He can’t bring himself to regret the secrecy every time he remembers the rumours and nasty treatment that had followed him after the accident.

Whenever he reads another article about school kids getting killed due to drunk driving, he shudders to think that the mean comments would have been directed against the ray of sunshine, that had been his first serious girlfriend, instead. No, it had been for the best.

The only person who ever questioned his story had been her brother Michael, whom he had become friends with after Angie’s death. He’d even helped him move into his dorm back when he started studying at MIT. It had been a hard conversation but mostly it had felt good to have someone to talk to. Sadly, the last time he’d spoken to Michael had been several years ago and sometimes he thought about calling him up. At least he had been until he got ‘promoted’ to the backwater town sheriff.

Ever since the unfortunate car crash that landed him in a town called Eureka, Jack thought of Angela more often. The crash itself had been more or less harmless this time, of course, but it brought back memories he wasn’t fond of and he couldn’t quite manage to swallow them back down.

So when Susan Perkins entered the station mere hours after her own funeral Angela was on the forefront of his mind. All these unhelpful ‘what ifs’ that he thought himself free of came back with force. A second chance for that amazing person he once knew would mean the world, but at what cost?

Susan was clearly distressed, scared and as of today the mother of a child she hadn’t known existed yesterday. And to top it all off Jack learned that people came back from the dead around here often enough that there was a form for it.  924-B in triplicate. How absurd.

When Susan told him to do whatever was necessary, that all she wanted was to get back to her normal life, all Jack could say was, “Yeah, I can relate.”

More than anything Jack wanted to be back home, in his normal life, chasing criminals and his delinquent daughter alike, without any of this craziness that came with his new job.

Jack listened to Allison Blake’s explanation about the tight-lippedness of D.A.R.D.A. over the newly assigned director of Global Dynamics as he followed her through the main doors and into the building. Despite the late hour, the lobby bustled with activity and Jack suspected that this behaviour was far from normal and an attempt to get a look at the new director instead.

Apparently, the noisy scientists weren’t the only ones who had yet to meet King’s replacement and judging by her tone Allison was not impressed by the secrecy surrounding the new appointment.

“Okay, so why am I here?” he asked, as they walked through a blue hallway lined with hexagon-shaped windows placed in every door. Distracted, Jack tried to see what was behind the glass but he couldn’t make heads or tails with all the futuristic equipment that was being handled by even more scientists in white coats.

 “Well, you wanna use the new molecular bio-scanner on Susan Perkins' body and this new woman, right?”

“Maybe.” He didn’t. At least, not really. What he wanted was to get back to LA where the dead didn’t come back and he could see his teenaged daughter not nearly often enough.

 “Yeah, well, all requests to use laboratory resources for police applications must be submitted to the Director of Research.”

 “Who we haven't met yet,” Jack remarked wryly, unable to hide a smile. Since he’d first met the no-nonsense D.O.D. Agent, Jack revelled in getting her to drop her guard every now and then. Just then her tiny answering smirk proved his ongoing triumphs.

“Exactly.”

They had just rounded another corner when Allison stopped in her tracks, causing Jack to stumble a bit in his effort to not run into her back.

“Nathan?”

Caught off guard by the animosity in Allison's voice Jack wasn’t as fast in recognising the man who had turned around at the mention of his name, using his right to readjust expensive-looking cufflinks with a neutral expression. In his sleek, black suit jacket the tall man with his dark hair and trimmed beard made for an imposing figure.

Thoughts of Michael Fairfield and Cambridge still fresh in his mind Jack made the connection to another tall, dark and handsome man he had met eighteen years ago easily. The same tall, dark and handsome man, in fact. Jack wondered if he would’ve recognised the vaguely familiar face as quickly if Angela and the time after her death hadn’t been on his mind that much as of late.

Jack remembered sitting on the passenger seat of Michael’s truck and the time it had taken them, to get all his belongings to the third floor of Simmons Hall. He remembered their talk and the crushing guilt that had driven him to a nondescript bar near the campus, sending him straight into the arms of the only man he’d ever been with.

At times he could hardly believe that night ever happened. He’d never been interested in men before and barely paid them any mind after. If asked, he would describe himself as 100% straight. Yet the evidence to the contrary stood right there in front of him, looking undeniably hot in a well-cut suit, a blue dress shirt and a black and yellow striped tie.

The nearly two decades that had passed since then had clearly been kind to him.

“Allison,” the man began, a slow smile growing as he looked at her, “I swear I was just about to call you.”

“What are you doing here?” Allison paused, obviously coming to the same conclusion Jack had arrived at. ”You're not ...”

“Afraid so,” Nathan confirmed his new position as the director of G.D., his smile getting even wider, on the edge of smug. And damn if that smile wasn’t just as attractive on his forty-year-old self as it had been at twenty.

“You're moving back to Eureka?”

“Moved, actually. Yesterday. Same office, same house. Surprise! I probably should've called sooner.” The false sincerity in his tone was belied by the winning smirk he didn’t even bother to hide. “Probably.”

Faced with Agent Blake’s cold anger Nathan changed tactics and turned towards Jack. He held out a hand to shake in greeting while Jack tried his hardest not to act as if he'd seen the second ghost of the day. “You must be the new sheriff I've heard so much about. Nathan Stark.”

Jack tried to recall if they had ever exchanged names, but he didn’t think so. It hardly mattered now. Wildly he wondered if he needed a 924/B for this apparition, too.

 “Jack, Carter,” he introduced himself to a man he had seen naked before. Not helpful, he chided his rebelling brain. “So, you two used to work together?”

“I mainly work with her son Kevin, but Allie and I had our moments.”

Now, this was just uncomfortable, the way the two were looking at each other. Allison’s angry glare was no less intense than Nathan’s suggestive one. Clearly, there was a story and Jack would be lying if he said he wasn’t curious. He needed to get away to sort out his thoughts, quickly. Instead, he decided to refocus their attention.

“Anyway, I was looking into something and wanted to know if I could use your bio scanner-molecule-thingy.” Jack winced. That could have come out better.

With an unbothered mask of professionalism Nathan, or rather Stark, turned back to the sheriff. “Of course, anything I can do to help.”

If Jack had been expecting any signs of recognition on the handsome face he would’ve been disappointed. Again, it had been nearly two decades since then, he couldn’t fault him for not remembering.

Before he was forced to analyse why he was feeling disappointed regardless, the three of them were interrupted by Fargo, who told Stark his furniture would be delivered tomorrow. Jack was not bitter about it, truly. Why would he? He’d only been running after his own furniture for days now. Never mind that he didn’t have anywhere to put it.

Moments later Stark dismissed them as politely as possible. “A lot to catch up on. Sheriff,” he said. “It's been a pleasure.”

Jack didn’t agree in the least. Uncomfortable, yes. Strange, maybe. But there was certainly no pleasure involved this time around.

“Allison, it's good to see you,” Stark said, keeping his gaze fixed on Agent Blake again, sending a message Jack didn’t or rather didn’t want to understand. With a parting smile, he turned and walked off down the hallway, leaving Jack and Allison behind in a tense silence.

Trying for casual and failing miserably Jack asked the obvious question as soon as he was sure they wouldn’t be overheard. “So you two have a history?”

He forced himself to grin at her in a teasing manner and noted that Allison was way too occupied to tell him to mind his own business. She was probably lost in her own memories of Nathan Stark.

“You could say that,” she answered, tone flat.

“What, ex-boyfriend?” Jack asked, not quite sure if he actually wanted the answer. For the past few weeks, he had flirted with the beautiful D.O.D. Agent whenever possible, with less success than he cared to admit. It didn’t help that it was this man specifically who might be his rival for Allison Blake’s attention.

“Not exactly.”

Good, Jack thought, although he was still cautious. Allison's crossed arms and stoney face gave none of her thoughts away. She didn’t even look at him while he tried to wiggle an answer from her. “Well, what exactly?” Jack's grin probably looked closer to a grimace.

“He's my husband.”

Oh, this was bad.