"You know I'll always be there for you, right? No matter what. I don't care what happens, if your car breaks down In the middle of the night, or whatever, I'm there. You know that right?"
"Yeah… Jack, what's this about?" Allison Blake wondered, looking at Jack like he was crazy.
"It's just… I have this thing. And I have to get it off my chest, but I don't know how you'll take it, and I just want you to know that you'll always be one of my best friends no matter what happens." He was visibly nervous. They were sitting on the hood of his jeep, outside of town. They were obviously trying to get away from the gossips and busybody's abundant in Eureka, as he looked like he had something important to say.
"Jack, just say it."
"Alright, well, this is gonna sound weird. And I mean weird by Eureka standards. Remember when we had the problem with the thing?"
Allison interrupted him, "the problem with the thing, very specific".
"The dream thing, with the dreams coming true?"
"The Story-Teller. Yeah."
"Well, you know how I got stuck in it?"
"Yeah, what's with you and psychology experiments gone wrong, huh?"
"Got to be crazy to work in a town like Eureka. Anyway, it apparently brought up some hidden memories. And this is gonna sound insane when I tell you this, but… oh hold on."
He sat up, put his elbows on his knees, put his head in his hands, and rubbed his temples; trying to figure out how to say what he was going to say without sounding completely insane.
"Okay, well, when Kim died, Henry was distraught. He wasn't himself. He would do anything to get her back. And he did. He went back in time and stopped the accident. Or got her out of the way. But either way, she didn't die. And life went on, for four years. Until there was this whole space-time continuum end of the world thing."
"Holes in the fabric of time. How could he be so reckless!?"
"It was Kim! I would've done the same thing. In fact, what I did was worse. In that timeline, things were different. Things were great. Stark was gone, but not dead. Zoe was valedictorian, Kevin was cured, and you… were married. To me. And I know things were different and everything, I know! But listen to me, please. Alright? Things may have changed. A lot. Zoe isn't going to be valedictorian, she's not going to eat the grass, and Stark and Kim are dead. But my feelings haven't. I love you. I'm IN love with you. And it isn't just because I remember what happened in the alternate timeline. If it was, I wouldn't have been telling you this. I'm not that selfish. But I've always loved you. Always. I was an idiot to not realize, or act, on it sooner."
"I…"
"No, let me finish." Jack was agitated, wishing she would give him a chance to explain.
"I didn't want to come back. I almost let the world die, so I could be with you, then. Because I knew that now wouldn't be the same. It couldn't be the same. But I did, and it hurt so bad, that Henry erased the memories with the hour-erasy device. He tampered with it. He was supposed to do it to himself, or have me do it, but he didn't want to forget. So he's NOT the Henry we knew, he really isn't. He's living with this daily pain… of what could've been. And I don't know…. Never mind. Henry's another subject. The point is I love you. And I don't care if you don't feel the same way; I just had to tell you, to know that you know that."
"Jack, shut up!"
He clamped his mouth shut, looking very uncomfortable. He didn't deal with rejection well.
"Jack, this all seems a little… far-fetched. But I know you wouldn't tell me about it if it weren't true. I would have loved to see this world, it sounds amazing. But it's not real. Not anymore. What is real is you, and me, here." She turned into him, tucking her right leg under her left, gesturing.
"Jack, I love you. You're my best friend. And to say that there weren't… feelings would be a lie. Your attractive, I'm not blind. And, in the past few months… I never really thought I could feel this way. And it's ridiculously cliché and horribly overdone, but, I think I love you to."
Jack was awestruck. He dealt horrible with rejection, but he had practice. This blatant… non-rejection had thrown him.
"I…"
"Don't tell me you're going to back out now. If you think your bad at rejection…" She trailed off and chuckled awkwardly.
"I… NO! No. It's just… I was prepared for awkward silence and laughter and months of trying to get back the friendship.
"Well, we could always do that, but I figured honesty was the best policy…"
"Oh, yeah."
"So, where does this leave us?" She was curious to how far he had thought ahead.
"Well, I figured a whirlwind romance and shotgun wedding should do the trick. No, I thought we'd start with a date. You know, you, me, dinner." He trailed off, hoping the horrible joke had done its job in relieving the tension.
"Uh…Sounds good. The date, not the wedding." She looked pleased.
"OH, god!" He groaned.
"What? What is it?" She asked, alarmed.
"Where's the only place to eat in town?"
"Uh, Café Deum?" She suggested, confused.
"And who's the biggest gossip in town?"
"OH."
"Yeah, oh. And they say you're the genius."
"Well, my IQ really does say I'm a genius." Allison retorted, nudging him.
"Rub it in" He nudged her back, smiling.
They were both enormously relieved that they had reverted to their normal playful banter. Jack wasn't much of a heart-to-heart, despite his caring deeply, and Alison could only imagine what had happened in the other future. She wasn't sure what she had told him, what he had seen, what they had done.
"You're going to see Henry soon" She said, seemingly out of the blue, though he caught up quickly. "It's not fair to you, or me. You get these four apparently amazing years that aren't going to happen, and I don't get to share."
"I figured. It's enough for when I need something to hope for, but once I have the real thing. I mean, I taught you a lot of things. I don't even remember the first time we had sex…"
"Hey, wait a minute, remember? We haven't had sex. The other we did. And that's why you need to see Henry." She was obviously disturbed. She now knew how Susan Perkins had felt. Except this was weirder. She thought. Maybe it was just because it was her.
"Uh, yeah. Right. Think we could change that? Only its been a while… Might take a bit longer…" He smirked.
"I don't put out on the first date. You'll have to wait." She got off the hood of his jeep and walked around the side, opening the passenger's door.
He followed suit and opened the driver's side door. "OH, come on!"
"Sorry!"
"No your not."
"So we never decided your place or mine?"
"I thought you didn't put out on the first date"
"We haven't been out on the first date. I was TALKING about the first date. I don't put out until the third date."
"Ah, come on. And my place. At 7. SARAH can make dinner. We can have ZO baby sit Kevin. She won't mind. She'll win her bet." He whined the first sentence, then moved onto smug and into pure sing-song in the last sentence. He was much to proud of his daughters' winning a bet on his love life to be healthy.
"She can't bet! She's not of legal age! You're the sheriff, you should be, oh, I don't know, stopping her!" Another thought occurred to her. "And what about Vincent? Isn't it illegal to help a minor gamble or something?"
"It's just a silly side-bet with Pilar. No harm. And yes, there is, but he's very good about keeping the kids away."
"I still don't think you should be encouraging this." She was upset at having lost her battle, she wasn't giving up completely.
"Maybe not, but its fun. She gets all grumbly when she loses, and she can't complain to me, so when I tell her to buck up, she has to pretend to. And when she wins she's on Cloud Nine for days!" He looked like he had won a million dollars.
Jack dropped Alison off at her home and proceeded to SARAH.
"WELCOME HOME, SHERRIF CARTER. WOULD YOU LIKE A BEER? I RECORDED THE METS GAME, IF YOU WISH TO WATCH IT."
"No thank you, SARAH. Where's Zoe?"
"ZOE IS UP IN HER ROOM. I BELIEVE SHE IS READING A MAGAZINE BEHIND HER BOOK, IN THE CASE THAT YOU COME INTO HER ROOM."
"Thanks SARAH" Jack said, amused, while he heard Zoe shout from above:
"SARAH!!!"
Jack walked up the stairs to Zoe's room, interested in what she was doing, and also wanting to tell her that she was busy tomorrow.
"ZO? Whatcha doin?"
"Calc. Or… whatever equivalent Eureka employs."
"Uhuh. Whatcha really doing?" He could see through her. He had done the same thing.
"Look, it takes me so long to find these! I have to read them! Their my only normal interaction!"
"I get it. Truly. Now maybe you won't bug me about my baseball.
"Maybe. What did you want?" She rolled off the bed and stood up, crossing her arms over her chest.
"You're busy tomorrow night. Alison needs a babysitter, and you're it." He was just too damn smug.
"What? No! I have a date with Lucas!" She was surprised at the injustice.
"OH. My lucky day. I don't care! You're babysitting." Jack was really enjoying this.
"Why can't you? I mean, if she needs a babysitter and the end of the world doesn't come along. Again. OMYGOD! You have a date! With Allison! Really?"
He was surprised she caught on so quick. He really did need to pay more attention to whatever the hell those people were teaching his daughter.
"Uh… Yeah. She's coming over here. You know, small town, big mouths. And we need you to watch Kevin. Only you can't tell anyone, that's the whole reason we're doing this under cover thing."
"Got it! Okay. I'll watch Kevin. I'm working till 6, so when do I need to be there?" Zoe was glad her dad and Alison had gotten together. Not only would she win her bet with Pilar, but she might get a new stepmother out of the deal.
"Uh…7. So, get to your homework. I'm going to bed."
Zoe sat back down on her bed, happy. She loved her dad, and this was obviously making him happy, however new it was. She text Pilar.
Double or Nothing. By next week.
A.N.
SO, this is my first Eureka. YAY! Nobody really updates, and i can never find eureka on, so i thought i'd post. its in my head for a few chapters, but i only have the first written down. I post sporadically, if at all, so i'm sorry for avid readers. but i'm warning you now, so thats good! lol. I'm sorry if some of the comebacks are a little gilmore-girl ish. i'm not fluent enough in it to post a g.g. fanfic, but i've been reading enough where i may someday, and it may have leaked. I don't have a beta, so i don't know. if anyones interested in being a beta, i would love it.
I don't own Eureka. I just wish i'd be recruited.