Work Text:
Unrealized Potential
Jack could not believe he finally got to kiss Allison. Sure it was with Stark standing right there, but that kinda made things even better and not in some kinky threesome way, at least this time. Stark was watching his victory and Allison was pretty into it. She had a smile on her face when he stopped and looked at her. There was a soft glow on her face and felt like this was it, this was the moment he had been waiting for since day 1. Then that efficiency lady showed up. Weird, but...it was Eureka.
“Way to cut to the chase, Sheriff.” Dr. Childress said. “Direct. Focused. Efficient. Kudos .”
“Thanks?” Jack said and kinda felt good about that. Stark was quiet, probably because his approach had required him to sink down almost a foot in order to kiss Ally on a level that wouldn’t bend her neck uncomfortably. Seemed like a practiced move on his part, should have been awkward but he had a certain grace about him for a seven foot tall guy. That...wasn’t the point here and he should be more concerned with the fact that lady gave him an A+ on his kiss report card. Things were looking up. Might as well go in for another kiss...
"Oh dear.”
Oh dear? Jack stopped and looked at her. Really !? This wasn’t about her, just about her interrupting. He could feel Stark hovering, a snort of amusement coming from the man.
“That approach lacked confidence. It was too tentative, no woman likes that." Dr. Childress said, disappointment evident in her tone.
Seriously lady? Jack felt his momentum come to a grinding halt as Allison added her own commentary.
“True.” Ally said with a nod.
Stark came into view and leaned into the conversation and said, "Shocker."
“Try it again, this time with confidence.” Childress instructed.
Jack sent a glare Stark's way as he walked off and Childress kept talking, telling him how to kiss. Her words faded as he hyper-focused on Stark and then walked after him, pulled him around and said, "Here's the real shocker."
Jack grabbed Nathan by the sleeve, turned him around and pulled him down into a kiss. He heard Ally say 'Not really' and the other woman clap and say "Nice job, Sheriff". The kiss was forceful, filled with want and would have been accompanied by dramatic, heart-fluttering music from the orchestra if this was some black and white classic film. Stark began to kiss him back, right before he woke up.
The good news was the town forgot about seeing him naked. Twice. The bad news was that Nathan Stark had already heard, in vivid FargoColor detail, about his dream. So when he went to GD to try and get answers and save everyone, Stark was already there.
"Any findings from your little experiment that you want to tell us about, Sheriff?".
Fuck. Jack walked into Allison’s office and Nathan was casually sitting in a chair beside her desk smiling at him. That smug smile of his accompanying the mocking question was bad enough, but Allison trying to hide her smile was somehow worse. Fine. He'd roll with it. "For a genius who calls himself a chemist, you clearly need some chemistry still explained to you."
Nathan quirked an eyebrow. Well that wasn't what he was expecting. Carter walked right up to the desk unphased, keeping his eyes locked on his. His entourage of Henry, Fargo and Lupo all filed in the room behind him and stayed quiet. He tilted his head up at Carter and replied, "Then I'll buy you a coffee and you can explain it to me."
Jack bit his lip. He should have expected Nathan to roll with it too. Bastard always had to have the last word. Not today. "Coffee's free."
"I'm free tonight if you don't want to sleep and want to make those dreams a reality." Nathan said and cocked his head and gave him a long, appreciative look over. Carter narrowed his eyes at him, trying to get a read on whether or not this was some kind of joke. He honestly couldn’t say what it was, other than impulsive. Felt good though and something told him that Carter would feel good too. “You clearly enjoy being naked in front of me.”
Allison glanced at Jack, curious how he would handle how quickly Nathan escalated things now that this was very personal. She also looked at the other people in the room who were wide eyed and silent as Nathan and Jack turned their little love triangle on edge. She wasn’t sure how she felt about this, even if the energy between them was absolutely crackling right now.
"I’m a little more worried about going to sleep permanently than where I'm going to lay my head tonight.” Jack said then saw that smug look that said Nathan took that as a victory. No . He was not backing down. "Especially since I don't share well and the last thing I want is this town enjoying a free show that's more involved than a kiss. So if you'd like to see that, maybe you'd like to use that PhD from MIT and help me fix this. Unless that’s only good for water heater repair?"
Nathan grinned. Game on. “Sure. Sounds like a date.”
“Stark, people are dying.” Jack reminded him.
“While you’re dying to kiss me.” Nathan said and stood up. “Whose priorities are skewed?”
“Please.” Jack said with a mocking snort of his own. “You’re the one who just had to watch me in the decontamination shower. Did you really have to stand there and watch? You’re not my doctor and you’re not head of GD, so exactly why did you need to supervise me getting hosed off on someone’s lawn?”
“My shower’s more than big enough for both of us. I’ll show you a more efficient way of getting clean later.” Nathan said and folded his hands and smiled. “First we have to solve your little problem.”
“This is not my problem! It’s your problem!” Jack said and remembered why he came here to begin with. He pointed an accusatory finger at Nathan. “It’s your music thing. Your project is causing this! We ruled out everything else. It’s causing high levels of acetaminophen.”
“Acetyl choline .” Nathan singsonged as he looked at the results from Henry's tests on his tablet.
“Don’t push me.” Jack growled. “You stole the dream prototype.”
“I borrowed it for my own independent study.” Nathan said. “Got permission from the Director, herself.”
“It’s causing the shared dreams!” Jack said, this time to Allison. She looked guilty. “Come on Allison, don’t protect him of all people!”
“No, it’s not causing the shared dreams.” Nathan said and looked to the other people in the room who were shocked into silence by how quickly he had turned Jack’s dream into a date and then how fast they got right back into arguing like normal. “There is no reason it would affect random people more or less the entire town.”
“Well it is!” Jack’s rebuttal was weak but it’s not like anyone expected a scientific explanation from him.
“It doesn’t have that kind of range.” Nathan explained.
“What if it was amplified by something?” Jack asked. “You know, like how everything in Eureka is only locally damaging until it gets blown out of proportion and threatens the very existence of the universe? Like the Science Fair magnets and the thing on the roof? Or...the EM field or the toxic waste spill? ”
“It’s...possible.” Nathan said, leaned on Ally’s desk and played with his chin hairs as he considered it. There were a number of projects that could act as an amplifier, most notably The Artifact. If Kevin was tapped into it and he was utilizing the dream machine, it could have unanticipated effects. However, he was not going to suggest that as an answer unless they ruled out everything.
“There is a pattern here and we’re just not seeing it yet. Who was affected?” Jack said and turned as he looked for the answer and released that he had an audience for his little go-around with Nathan. Jo gave him that ‘way to seize the high ground by trying to top the tallest guy in the room’ look and he knew he was in for some teasing later. Fargo looked conflicted, probably sad he couldn’t live vicariously through dreams to kiss his boss. Henry seemed happy for him? Them? Well, he definitely was not surprised or just lived in Eureka long enough to accept everything was plausible. Super.
“50 people have been determined to be the dreamers.” Henry said. “They are the ones doing the dreaming and the rest are merely enjoying the show.”
“50 exactly?” Jack asked.
"50 with elevated Acetylcholine levels." Henry nodded.
“We had 50 unique complaints.” Jo said.
“So what do they all have in common?” Jack asked.
“Never living up to our true potential?” Jo replied.
“Uh…” Jack watched her eyes dart to Nathan and then back at him and then shrug. Really? Banging Stark was going to be his feather in his cap? Seriously ?!? She had been in this town for way too long. “Same pay grade? G3.”
“That’s work schedule. It’s set hours.” Allison said. “For safety reasons. Emergency services. Network engineers.”
“Network engineers…network!” Jack said in his classic ‘Eureka!’ moment. He looked at Nathan who was waiting on him to share his revelation. “What about that neural network thing? The thing the efficiency lady...um Dr. Childress is working on? Could that do it? Could that amplify your dream thingee range?”
“Could.” Nathan said and allowed himself to truly appreciate Carter. He had respect for him for arriving at the conclusions he did. There had been resentment with that until now and he attributed it to the fact that Ally relied on him and his ‘shot in the dark random word association approach’. All this time his problem had been his attraction to the guy? He was actually jealous that Carter's attention was on her? Well, that put things into perspective. “Let’s shut it down.”
Dr. Childress smiled at them as she explained the premise behind her research. “We all sleep a third of our lives away. I figured why not find a way to take advantage of that down time?”
“Yeah. Sure, why not?” Jack said and rubbed his arm as she so happily explained her science fiasco of the week like this was the Nobel prize committee interviewing her. She had been in Cafe Diem with them! She saw his dream and was even in it! How could she so calmly make a presentation about her project?.
“So I created a neural network of employees with a regular sleep schedules.” Childress continued.
“Yeah G3 employees.” Jack said, trying to hurry her up.
“Exactly.” Childress said and was glad someone paid attention to her and took notes. “I tap into their minds with this computer and used their combined brainpower to problem solve.”
“What a sec...you’re taking advantage of people’s brain power while they sleep?” Jack asked. What the hell was wrong with people around here?
“It’s underutilized potential and it’s also in everyone’s contracts that they might be randomly selected to participate in a double blind case study from time to time.” She replied and then went over to her monitors to show off her work.
Jack looked to Nathan and then to Allison and whispered. “Is it?”
“I told you to read your contract before you signed it.” Allison whispered back.
“That was two years ago before I realized the kind of awful people who worked here.” Jack hissed back and then looked back at Childress. “I’m guessing you randomly tapped into...oh say...50 people?”
"Yes. They’re essentially wireless transmitters.” Childress said.
Nathan listened but stayed silent. He was taking in the data on the monitors and the information from Childress and combining it with what he knew about his own project. It wasn’t looking good. At least it wasn't the Artifact, at least they had information to stop this. Instead of engaging in discussion he was running through options on how to do just that.
“And everything we dreamed has been networked to everyone else?” Jack asked.
“It doesn’t work that way.” Childress laughed. “That’s impossible.”
“Until it’s not.” Jack replied.
“Maybe not by itself, but in combination with Dr. Stark’s dream machine it’s possible.” Allison glanced at Nathan and saw he was absorbed in the problem solving. She asked, “Why the sudden buildup of acetylcholine?”
“Probably lack of sleep.” Nathan said and watched Jack kneed his arm, trying to keep feeling in it. That meant they were running out of time. Whatever solution they came up with, had to be the right one because they weren’t going to have time to come up with a second option.
“People in the study were randomly selected based on the regularity of their sleep patterns.” Childress protested.
“Yeah, but the toxic waste truck driver was pulling double shifts and nobody in town has been sleeping normally this week.” Jack said.
“We’ll shut down the network immediately.” Childress admitted defeat.
“That won’t solve the buildup of acetylcholine in the test subjects.” Nathan said, trying to keep this impersonal. “Their bodies are overproducing the compound like a hyperactive gland.”
“If you cleanse the system of the compound entirely it may reset the body’s rate of production.” Childress offered.
“Okay good! Let’s do that.” Jack said.
“The excess neurotransmitters are acting like toxins in your body and I have no idea how we scrub that out.” Allison admitted.
“So GD has the most advanced waste reduction system in the world and we can’t clean this stuff out of us?” Jack asked incredulously. Sometimes, he really hated this place.
“I’m sorry, Carter..” Allison said and then looked to Nathan as he made a ‘hmm’ sound.
“Maybe we do.” Nathan said and Jack looked at him hopefully, with a look that said he knew if anyone could solve this it would be him. OK, maybe he did actually like the guy a lot more than he cared to admit.
“So you and Stark, huh?” Jo asked as Jack came to her bedside to see how she was doing.
“So you and Stark , huh?” Jack threw right back at her with a grin. “Senorita Josephina?”
Jo grinned at him and said, “ He kissed me.”
“So did Fargo. Stark wanted to marry you.” Jack said with a grin and she closed her eyes and shook her head. “Well, they’re both lucky that you didn’t get your hands on a sword and show them how kicking ass is really done...in Spanish.”
She laughed and he took her hand and squeezed it reassuringly. “Well, the dream ended before we found out what happened to Don Diego. Maybe there was a naked guy looking for some coffee….in his kitchen.”
“Ya know.” Jack interrupted her. “I didn’t take you for someone who would lack the confident approach. Maybe we can have a double date with you and Fargo?”
“My trigger finger still works, Carter.”
“Legs are going to work just fine too.” Jack gave her a warm smile and rubbed his arm as it started to lose more feeling. He bent down and kissed her on the forehead. “We’re going to fix this.”
“Your boyfriend have a plan, does he?”
“Funny.” Jack said and closed his eyes as she patted his cheek and snorted. “I really hate this town.”
“Hey. You really want to help me?” She watched him open his eyes and then said, “Just make sure the date happens today .”
“You bet on me?” Jack said. “Why didn’t you tell me? Hey, was this your dream?”
“Your kissing debacle was certainly not my dream.” Jo said with an eye roll. “And tell me how well it would have gone if I told you that you were flirting with Stark this entire time? If I pointed out that you talked about him more than Allison? You would have denied it and said something about it being your charisma and personality then put off the inevitable for way longer than was profitable for me.”
“Thanks Jo. Really appreciate it, partner.” Jack said and the tingling in his arm was getting bad enough he almost lost feeling in all of it. “Alright, I better go see what the genius cooked up to solve this.”
“I bet he finds a way to get you naked again.”
“Yeah.” Jack said as he walked away and waved. “Probably will.”
More test results were back and things were not looking great, they didn’t have a bunch of time to fix this. Nathan‘s mood went from teasing and flirty to focused and professional. That was never a good thing. Of course, the solution was hardly exciting.
“It’s the waste reduction system.” Nathan said, his booming voice trying to mask how uncertain he was about this process. “Once you’re in there we’ll flood the chamber with oxygen rich plasma. It’s going to take time to adjust but once you take the plasma into your system the chemical reaction should do all the work.”
"So you're going to drown me?" Jack said and looked at Nathan. "Just to get out of a date?!"
"No, I'm trying to save your life so you can live long enough to date." Nathan said and walked over and adjusted Jack's wetsuit and checked the sensors on it.
"Sure. I just have to drown without drowning first." Jack said and looked over at the tank. "Well, this wasn’t exactly how I pictured you taking my breath away."
"It’s chemistry.” Nathan said. “Have to get you back to normal so you can’t second guess all this. Then you and me, Cafe Diem. Well first you should go home, shower, and change. Wear that blue shirt, leave the collar unbuttoned. If things go well, we can take dessert to-go and maybe you will need that acetaminophen tonight."
“Acetylco... oh .” Jack said as he thought he caught Nathan in a mistake, but he was implying he’d need Tylenol to help with some muscle pains. Oh .
Nathan put his finger on his chin and made him look up at him again as his eyes drifted away and a blush tinged his cheeks. “Your body is going to fight it, your survival instinct will kick in and it’s going to be difficult to override that. Relax, don’t tense, take a little in at first and get used to the feeling. Keep your body loose. Sink into it and take more when you’re ready. The harder you fight the worse it’s going to be for you.”
Jack felt Nathan’s finger roll over his lip and his hazel eyes were fixed on his own, and he could tell he wasn’t mocking him right now. He recognized the glimmer of lust and swallowed hard. “Are we still talking about the dunk tank?”
“Why wouldn’t we be?” Nathan asked, his voice more husky than soft.
“Ok.” Jack said and felt like he was already oxygen deprived as that took the air right out of him. There was a brief flicker of something as Nathan blinked away the arousal. Maybe hesitation? Maybe his confidence was shaken a little? Maybe this flirting was real all along and they were on the verge of doing something about it and even the cocky Nathan Stark wasn’t sure where he stood? He licked his lips and said, “Yeah. I got this. Suppress the gag reflex and swallow.”
It was Nathan’s turn to catch his breath. Jack’s smile said he knew what he was saying and this wasn’t their usual game. Realizing how dangerous this was and that he might not get a second chance, Nathan tilted Jack’s chin up, bent forward, and softly kissed him. “Kiss for good luck.”
“I didn’t think you’d believe in that kinda thing.” Jack said after he recovered from the kiss that was very real and way better than in his dream. It made his extremities tingle...or maybe that was the neurological issues.
“What? Taking advantage of an opportunity to get what I want?” Nathan asked.
Jack’s smile returned. “I’m not going to be that easy.”
“I’m pretty persuasive.”
“Ok, I might be ...if I stand here any longer because I’m pretty sure I just lost feeling in my whole arm.” Jack said and concern replaced the sexy smile on Nathan’s face. “Guess it’s time to take the plunge.”
“I’m right here. I stop if you can’t take anymore.”
“ God …” Jack said and ran his good hand through his hair and turned around. He had to bail, Nathan wasn’t even trying to be suggestive right now it and he was worried he was going to get in the tank and hyperventilate and die because he was too excited.
“Sorry. Bad choice of words.” Nathan said and went over to the computer console and tapped a button to page Allison to let her know he was ready to begin. He asked for some privacy before the experiment, selfishly needing to know where he stood before going forward with this risky solution. “I won’t let you die, Jack.”
Jack climbed the stairs to peer into the tank and see what he was signing up for. “Ok, run through what this does again?”
“It’s an oxygenation filtration system. It should remove the excess acetylcholine from your system.” Nathan looked up as Allison came in and he immediately busied himself with the computers to avoid her reading him.
“In theory.” Jack said and put the hood up on his suit and closed his eyes. He really didn’t want to die by goo in a waste disposal tank.
“Yeah. In theory.” Nathan replied quietly.
Jack opened his eyes and stepped into the tank and tried to stay calm as the door closed. He looked out the glass at Allison and Nathan who both looked worried. That was never good. He tried to look confident, look like he had all the faith in the world in these people, but his heart was pounding because he knew what was coming as the fluid started to rush into the tank. This was going to suck.
“Just breathe in Jack, slow and easy.” Nathan instructed. He tried to keep his voice soft and reassuring but it was hard to watch as the tank filled with blue liquid and submerged Jack. He could tell he was holding his breath, instinct, and a little swallow of the substance made him wince. Instead of calling him an idiot and lecturing him on the difference between swallowing and breathing, he gently repeated. “You have to take the fluid into your lungs . Breathe.”
Jack didn’t know why he wanted to taste the stuff first, maybe it would have some reassuring taste like pie. He always wanted to inhale pie. Although part of him was glad it didn’t taste like pie because it would forever ruin his favorite food by reminding him of this horrible horrible experience. Losing the ability to breathe was terrifying.
“Breathe.” Nathan said, his voice monotone. Calming. Smooth. Jack looked at him, almost apologetically because this was not that easy.
Jack felt the pain of his oxygen deprived lungs, the burning sensation at the very core of his body. Panic began to set in as he couldn’t hold off any longer and he began to shake in anticipation of having to open his mouth and suck in what was surrounding him. He shut his eyes and opened his mouth and found out there was something worse than the feeling of not breathing--it was the feeling of breathing in liquid.
“We have to get him out of there.” Allison said as Jack tried to inhale and started convulsing.
“Wait.” Nathan said, too sternly. It was a command to both of them to not bail on this. It was their only option as they had run out of time. Jack began to flail in the tank, his body reacting to the presence of fluid in the lungs. He could stand still no longer and crossed the lab in two long strides to put his hand on the glass of the tank. “Jack, look at me!”
Jack body tried to cough,his body’s attempt to expel the foreign substance, but it only made him suck in more fluid. His lungs screamed and felt like they were on fire now. His body went into panic mode, he barely heard the tapping on the glass. He began to sink, unable to float anymore, his body feeling like a heavy weight and almost foreign to him as he focused entirely on the lack of ability to breathe. Unable to move, he looked out at Nathan as he experienced pain and fear like never before.
“Look at me.” Nathan said and pressed his forehead against the glass and Jack tried. He could see him struggling to ignore his own imminent death and lock eyes with him. Nathan almost caved, he almost hit the damned button to evacuate the tank but that would do them no good. Jack’s body was shutting down before he went in the tank, there was little chance they could revive him if he was already weakened going in. “You look me in the eye when you’re writhing around like that.”
Jack had a sudden ‘ What?!? ’ empty his brain of all thoughts, including how much it hurt to drown. His brain kicked over and he wondered if this was another dream, or maybe he was dead. Color seemed to fade to gray, the blue of the plasma more the color of a dreary fog. It surrounded him, that dampness permeating everything and suffocating him. He shivered as warmth left his body and darkness began to start to swallow his vision. He could barely see Nathan, just the shadows of a figure. He felt his body give up the fight and just accept death.
“Jack, breathe.” Nathan said and sank to the bottom of the tank with him. Seconds passed as he felt himself coking up, thinking he lost him. Cursing himself for thinking Jack was invincible. Slowly Jack’s eyes began to flutter and focus, his chest heaving as he took in the fluid.
“ Acetylcholine levels are dropping. Oxygen is on the rise.” Allison read from the screen as Nathan blocked her view of Jack, as he crouched in front of the tank.
Jack was numb. He felt peaceful and calm, he could hear the fluid bubbling and his vision seemed to be coming back. When he focused on Nathan, he looked scared and emotional. He moved around a little, his body responding to his command to sit up again. He breathed. It was slimy, but it didn’t hurt. It was disgusting and heavy and he wanted to not think about it. He mouthed the words ‘Did it work?’ and he got a wide grin in response. Nathan had an amazing smile, something he saw in full color now. Where the hell had he been hiding that all this time?
Jack ran his hand through his hair as he walked into Cafe Diem and scanned the restaurant for Nathan. He had spent the rest of the night at GD under observation and to supervise the rest of town as they endured the hell of the waste tank themselves. Then he took Zoey home and called her in to school sick for the day so she could sleep in. He took a shower, considered getting into his uniform but chose his blue shirt and jeans before heading back into town.
He was having second thoughts about all this, more nervous than he wanted to admit, and apprehensive about this all being another one of Nathan’s games. Oh well, it’s not like he didn’t already make a fool out of himself by being naked twice and kissing Nathan in a dream. What was there to lose? If anything he was showing his bravery in the face of certain public embarrassment. He got a cup of coffee just as Henry noticed him and he gave him a warm smile, then picked up a donut and napkin.
“Good morning, Jack.”
“Hey, Henry.” Jack moved over to the lounge area with his coffee and was relieved that if this all went to shit he could save face by saying he was here to catch up with his best friend.
“How are you feeling?”
“Like I just got a whole body enema.” Jack said with a grin and took a bite of donut.
“That’s a great mental image, thanks for that.” Henry chuckled.
“You’re welcome.” Jack said and thought about the glimpse of a dream he had last night, the one where Henry flashed some sort of light in his face. he swallowed his donut but before he could circle around the chair and take a seat, he felt someone behind him and turned and almost spilled his entire cup of coffee on Nathan. “Shit”
Nathan watched a splash of coffee land on his shirt and frowned. “Now who’s trying to get who naked?”
Jack looked at his full hands and grunted, popped the donut in his mouth and used the sugar covered napkin to try and pat off the coffee from Nathan’s shirt.
Nathan sighed as Henry grinned and Jack rubbed his abs and a lower abdominal muscle without realizing what he was doing. He wrapped his hand around his to stop him, as it was going to get embarrassing for both of them in a second. Jack looked up at him with the donut in his mouth. So this was what he could expect as things unfolded for them and it couldn’t be further away from what he was used to. But that didn’t dissuade him, he wasn’t surprised and he actually could admit now he found it endearing. “It’s fine. Why don’t we get a table before you spill more coffee on the floor or Henry?”
“Mmmhmm?”
Nathan took the napkin so Jack could free up his hand and take his donut out of his mouth. “Do you want real breakfast or just donuts?”
“Breakfast sounds good.” Jack said and Nathan walked away to secure them a table. He glanced at Henry when he cleared his throat.
“I’ve known Nathan for a long time.” Henry said, he could see Jack was uncertain about taking this step. A little shove seemed appropriate. “He has never worked as well with anyone as he has with you.”
“He calls me an idiot.” Jack reminded him.
“Clearly a defense mechanism.” Henry said. “You chase after him, call him out and hold him accountable. You challenge him and don’t back down even when he does call you an idiot. Don’t stop now.”
Jack nodded. “Thanks for the pep talk. Really.”
“You’re welcome.” Henry said as he watched Jack walked over to the booth, everyone else in the cafe too tired or too occupied to realize what was happening. Everyone except Vincent. He almost didn’t want to interfere, this was not how things went the first time however Nathan didn’t stay in Eureka last time. The timeline was already altered and he couldn’t help but wonder if this was how things were really supposed to go, before he set things off course by saving Kim. If so, good for them.
Jack casually walked over and sat down at the booth with Nathan and set his coffee down. He didn’t look at Nathan and neither of them said anything. He just stared into his slightly less full coffee cup and asked himself if this was worth it. It’s not like he was lusting after the guy for years, even if he would readily admit he was gorgeous and beyond brilliant. They had shared their close moments, like with Callister, and then both gone back to their respective corners for the next round of fighting over Allison. He was interested, he wasn’t going to deny that. “Look…”
“I know, we showed zero interest in each other until 2am this morning.” Nathan said.
“Not according to the gambling population of Eureka.” Jack let his eyes slowly leave his coffee cup and noticed Nathan was playing with his hand, a nervous gesture. Ok, so they were both on some equal footing here. Time for that confident approach. He looked up and looked him in the eye. “Look, I’m going to be honest with you, this kinda caught me by surprise. Do I want to give it a try and see where it goes, yeah, but not if you’re going to treat this like some experiment where you write off the damage as acceptable risk.”
“Isn’t that the very definition of a relationship?” Nathan asked, trying to keep things light.
“Well, yes, but...you know what I’m getting at.” Jack said. “I’m the one who gets sacrificed in this town and you always end up without a speck of dirt on you and finding some silver lining. That’s got to stop now. It’s been a while since I dated anyone and God knows I wasn’t a good husband, but I’m not desperate just to be with someone. I guess what I’m saying is that…”
“Neither one of us has time for games.” Nathan came to his conclusion for him and he nodded his agreement. “We’re both dedicated to our jobs, are still climbing out of the wreckage of a failed marriage, have high ranking positions of authority in a high risk town and very rarely approach things from the same direction. We don’t have time to waste and we certainly don’t want to be compromised by each other. “
“Yeah.” Jack said and looked down at his coffee. So this was getting shot down before they even started, well at least maybe they could make a friendship out of this.
“I still want it.” Nathan said, hearing the admission of defeat in Jack which was not where he intended to go with this. Bright blue eyes looked up at him. “Are we going to fight, yes. Is this going to be difficult with our positions in town and the focus of everyone on us, yes. Are all the statistics adding up to say there is a probability of failure, yes…..but they're always against us. We have something here and I want to pursue it. Nothing earth shattering was ever obtained by someone who respected the rules and odds saying it wouldn’t work.”
“Well I would appreciate less rule breaking but...”
“Through everything, you’re the only one who hasn’t left me, Jack. Despite how much I piss you off and how much you don’t agree with me, you always come check on me. You understood me when Callister came back and I never thanked you or told you what that meant to me.” Nathan said and smiled at him. “That sounds selfish, but considering you’re a selfless, self sacrificing pain in the ass, I think one of us should at least know how to force you to do things for yourself for a change. That man is me.”
“Uh..” Jack had to smile a little, even if Nathan had his head spinning. “I probably would have more time to myself if you rein in your destructive science experiments.”
“That’s not happening.” Nathan said and reached over and grabbed his hand. “What is happening, is dinner tonight. You and me. Do you want me to make reservations or do you want me to make dinner?”
“Uh…” Jack felt stupid. He felt like if this was ever the time to call him about being an idiot, it was now. Nathan just rubbed his hand though, and waited on an answer. “You cook?”
“God.” Nathan snorted and ran his hand over his face as he smiled. This was Jack Carter, through and through. His reply made him relax, lightened the mood enough to make him smile. “You have two options and somehow find a way to answer with neither.”
Jack laughed and felt in that moment that this really was a thing. This was a thing that could work. “Dinner here. It will make my daughter and Deputy very happy and I want this out in the open.”
“Alright.” Nathan said. “6 pm.”
“Ok.” Jack said and they took a moment to stare at each other, realizing that they were really going to do this. He smiled and said a lot more definitely. “Ok.”
Nathan took his hand back and stood up. “I have to get back to GD and sort through all the data from last night.”
“Yeah.” Jack threw his thumb over his shoulder and said. “I got paperwork too.”
“I’ll see you later, Jack.”
“Yeah, you will, Nathan.”
Jack watched him leave and go to the counter, presumably to make plans for dinner. Jack looked down at his coffee and circled the lukewarm cup with his hands. Nathan had just held his hand, he was actually a pretty affectionate guy under that wall of sarcasm and bite. Deep down, he knew he would be. He lifted the coffee cup up to get a drink and said, “Here’s to unrealized potential.”