Title:
Fandom: Eureka
Pairing: Nathan/Jack
Rating: PG-13
Spoilers: None, Set before season three in my.
Summary: Part Three in my "There's Always A Device" universe. It's not always fun and games at the Carter house.
Disclaimer: Don't own, really want.
Author's Note: This is part three. There's Always a Device was supposed to just be a one shot, I never intended to take the storyline any further, but since everyone kept demanding more, I kept getting more ideas so I wanted to let you know that these stories only exist because you guys.
Zoe bound down the stairs inputting something into the PDA she was holding. "Morning Nathan." She didn't bother to look up, she knew he'd be in the kitchen, where he'd been every morning for the past three months. She reached for the coffee cup on the counter and Nathan snatched it away before she could grab it. "Not so fast." He said to her. Zoe looked up. "Where's your dad?"
"In the shower." Zoe told him.
"What's he singing?" Nathan asked.
"Queen." Zoe answered.
Nathan thought. "We Will Rock You?"
"No." Zoe smiled. "Bohemian Rhapsody."
"Ok, we've got at least five minutes." Nathan glanced over at the stairs. "Switch." Nathan passed Zoe the coffee cup and Zoe handed over the PDA. Nathan quickly started going through her notes, adding things here and there, taking away stuff that wasn't right. Zoe pulled the coffee up to her face and inhaled deeply, releasing a sigh of contentment. Nathan looked up at her. "Five minutes Zo, you want to smell it or drink it?"
"Oh relax." Zoe took a sip. "He loves Queen, he'll probably move onto Another One Bites the Dust when he's done."
"Ok, remember last week when he was singing Pink Floyd and you said he'd do the whole B side of Dark Side of the Moon?" Nathan smiled. "Then he got shampoo in his eyes."
"Yeah but I went out and bought him some Johnson and Johnson No More Tears." Zoe smirked.
Nathan looked at her for a second and smiled. "You're turning into quite the evil genius aren't you?"
"I'm learning from the best." Zoe beamed proudly. "Are we still pretending that you're not spending then night and showing up every morning before work for breakfast?"
Nathan sighed. "Give your dad a break ok, and," he turned the PDA where she could see it. "Pay more attention to your secondary output measurements." He fixed a few numbers and Zoe looked sheepish.
"I always forget about those." Zoe sighed.
"Dr. Stark, Zoe, Sherriff Carter's heading to the stairs." S.A.R.A.H. announced.
"Crap." Zoe set the coffee cup down on the counter and slid it in front of Nathan as he tossed her the PDA back.
"Good Morning Sherriff." S.A.R.A.H. said loudly, a little too loudly. Jack paused in the doorway to the kitchen and looked at Nathan and Zoe suspiciously.
"Morning." Jack smiled and put his hands in his pockets. "Whatcha doing?" He asked the two of them while rocking back and forth on his heels.
"Breakfast." Zoe smiled and reached out for the serving platter. "We've got Blueberry muffins, fresh from Café Diam, your favorite."
"No thanks." Jack smiled and walked over closer to Zoe. "Whatcha really doing?" He asked and looked down at the PDA in her hands.
"Oh, just some work, you know on that Summer project for GD." Zoe's smile never faltered.
Jack stared at her for a second before holding out his hand and snapping his fingers. "Give it." Zoe passed the PDA over and as Jack looked through her notes she glanced at Nathan with a panicked expression on her face. He shook his head very slightly, telling her to keep cool. "You did this all by yourself?" Jack looked up and Zoe smiled again.
"Of course." She scoffed.
"Uh huh." He handed it back to her. "What does this mean then?"
Zoe looked down and gulped. "Well the purpose of the experiment is to see if it would be advantageous to try and harness the energy given off from shock waves, basically these are the dissipation rates in different mediums, solids, liquids, gasses." Zoe answered.
Jack looked at her dubiously for a second before turning to Nathan. "Is that…is that right?" He whispered.
"Yeah." Nathan nodded at him and Jack frowned.
"Like you'd tell me if she was lying, you two are in cahoots."
"Cahoots?" Nathan raised an eyebrow and smirked as Zoe hid a laugh with a mouth full of orange juice.
Jack turned his gaze to Nathan and smiled. "Whatcha drinking there?"
Nathan looked down and seemed surprised to find a cup of coffee in his hands. "Just my morning coffee." He answered.
Jack leaned closer and looked in the cup. "That's your coffee?"
"Yeah." Nathan nodded.
"Looks a little light brown." Jack smiled. "Since when do you take four sugars and three cream?"
"I like to change it up every now and then." Nathan replied.
"Really." Jack challenged him. "Take a sip."
Nathan shook his head. "I'm not really thirsty right now."
He tried to set the cup down and Jack grabbed it, holding it in Nathan's hands. "One sip." He said. Nathan glanced quickly at Zoe who looked scared and brought the cup up to his lips. He sipped slowly and smiled at Jack. "Swallow." Jack told him.
Nathan groaned and turned around, spitting the coffee into the sink as Jack just smiled. "God Zoe that's atrocious. I can literally feel cavities forming in my mouth." He grabbed her orange juice and took a long sip to wipe the sickly sweet taste away.
"Come on." Zoe jumped up. "One sip, you couldn't handle one sip? I BS'd my way through that whole sonic wave thing and you can't take one little sip of coffee."
"That is not coffee." Nathan defended himself.
"I knew it." Jack smiled at the two of them. "Cahoots." He shook his head. "I would have expected this from you two but S.A.R.A.H." He looked up at the house. "How could you do this to me? We had an agreement about Zoe and coffee."
"I'm sorry Sherriff. I was weak and…" She trailed off. "They made me an offer I couldn't refuse."
"You bribed my house?" Jack asked incredulously.
"You used the house to spy on me." Zoe countered.
"Yeah I did, because of things like this. You are so grounded." Jack laughed.
"Grounded. In what universe is that fair?" Zoe balked.
"You know the rules Zo." Jack pointed out, cross his arms over his chest. "You've been sneaking coffee and cheating. You're smart enough to realize there would be consequences."
"I'm also smart enough to realize that Dr. Stark is coming over at six at night and not six in the morning." She said crossing her arms over her chest, a perfect mirror image of Jack.
Jack froze with his mouth open. "Well that…" He dropped his arms to his side. "You…" He paused thinking for a minute and then looked confused. "There are blueberry muffins?" He turned to Nathan.
"Here." Nathan held one out to him and Jack took it without another word.
After Zoe sat back down and they all had a few bites of breakfast Jack turned to Nathan. "So wait, let me get this straight. You're supplying her with coffee and doing her homework?"
"Checking her homework." Nathan corrected.
"Whatever." Jack waved him off. "I don't see what you're getting out of this deal."
"I am not above buying your daughters affection." Nathan shrugged.
"And I'm not above accepting bribes for my affection." Zoe added.
Jack looked between the two of them. "The both of you are despicable." He took another bite of the muffin. "And these are ridiculously delicious."
"I've gotta go." Zoe got up and grabbed a piece of muffin off Jack's plate.
"Hey." He swatted at her hand but she just smiled and kissed his cheek.
"Bye Dad." She walked around him and stood up on her tip toes and gave Nathan a kiss on the cheek. "Bye Nathan."
After it had sunk into the both of them what had just happened, they stood there staring at each other. Zoe smiled weakly, hoping that she hadn't just crossed some line and Nathan could tell she was worried. As nonchalantly as he could he kissed her forehead and turned to the coffee machine as if this was an everyday occurrence, nothing to be embarrassed about. "By Zoe."
She just smiled and walked out of the house. Jack stood up and walked over to Nathan. "Wow, did you see that?"
"I did." Nathan smiled slightly. "So I guess she really does like me."
Jack looked at Nathan confused and realized that he was actually worried about Zoe liking him. As much as he'd been joking about buying her affection, there was a small part of him that thought it was the only way. "Of course she likes you." Jack told him. "She loves you. How could you even think otherwise?"
"Jack, there are a lot of people in this town who tolerate me, a lot who pretend to like me, and a select few who actually do." Nathan pointed out. "No one loves me." Nathan grabbed for the coffee maker to pour a fresh cup.
"Come on." Jack shook his head. "That's not true. Fargo loves you." Nathan glared at Jack. "And Allison and Kevin." Jack said. "And I love…" He stopped himself, but not soon enough. The two men stared at each other and said nothing.
"Dr. Stark, is there a reason why you're pouring coffee all over my clean floor?" S.A.R.A.H. asked.
Nathan looked down and realized his cup was over flowing. "Damn it." He set the coffee on the counter. "I'm sorry S.A.R.A.H."
"It's ok." S.A.R.A.H. told him and Jack and Nathan watched, far more mesmerized than they should have been as S.A.R.A.H. cleaned up the mess. The coffee was sucked down into the floor and a fine mist was sprayed from under the counter tops where the spill had been then a burst of hot air dried the whole thing.
"I still can't get over stuff like that." Jack said finally. "I think this is the first place I've ever lived where I didn't have to own a mop and a broom."
"Have you ever owned a mop and a broom?" Nathan smirked at him.
Jack thought about it for a second and smiled. "I'm almost positive Abby had one when we were married."
They stood staring at each other, neither one wanting to broach the subject of what Jack almost said. "Right, I've got an early meeting." Nathan grabbed his jacket and headed to the door.
"And if I don't get to the office before Jo, she sits at my desk and pretends to be Sherriff." Jack followed Nathan out.
"I'll talk to you later?" Nathan asked when they made it outside.
"Yeah, dinner around seven?" Jack asked.
"Sure." Nathan nodded.
"Oh and could you have a talk with Fargo about making sure my house isn't bribable?" Jack requested.
"I'll see what I can do." Nathan smiled and leaned over giving him a soft kiss before they turned in opposite directions and got into their respective vehicles. Nathan breathed a sigh of relief that he'd managed to get out of there without having a nervous breakdown. They'd had a close call in the kitchen that morning and the implications of it were still twisting Nathan's stomach into knots. He wasn't sure he was ready to hear Jack say that just yet, he knew he wasn't ready to reciprocate. He was getting there, but that was a big step and they just weren't in that place yet. He couldn't help, however, but allow himself to remember the small feeling he'd gotten when he thought Jack was going to say it, the warmth that spread out in his stomach, but he shook his head and kept on driving.
By eleven o'clock that night Jack was pacing back and forth in front of the door, fuming. Nathan and Zoe never showed up for dinner, it wasn't even until fifteen minutes ago that he got a call from Fargo informing him that Dr. Stark and Zoe just left Global Dynamics and they were heading his way. He didn't even have the proper vocabulary to express how angry he was at this moment in time. "Sherriff, your blood pressure is severely elevated and your breathing is irregular, perhaps if you sat down and I made you some nice tea…"
"I don't want any tea." Jack growled.
"Maybe you should calm down before Zoe and Dr. Stark get here." S.A.R.A.H. said. "Before you do or say something you'll regret."
"Oh trust me there will be no regrets." Jack said.
"Dr. Stark's car has just pulled in, followed by Zoe's." S.A.R.A.H. said. "Are you sure I can't make you some nice peppermint tea?"
"S.A.R.A.H." Jack snapped and the house was silent.
The door opened a minute later showing Jack two happy, laughing people. "Where the hell have you been?" Jack asked.
"Jack." Nathan stepped forward. "It was my fault. She wanted to stay late and I told her it was ok. I was there the whole time."
"The readings we were getting were amazing." Zoe added.
"I had some work to do anyway so it was no big deal." Nathan informed him.
"No big deal?" Jack scoffed. "No big deal?" He screamed. "You I'll deal with in a minute." He said to Nathan, his voice on the verge of breaking. "You." He turned to Zoe. "You know the rules, if you're going to be late, you call."
"I couldn't, no phones on in the labs." Zoe told him.
"You couldn't take two minutes to leave the lab and give me a call?" He asked. "You didn't call, you're home four hours after you said you'd be and one hour past your curfew."
"Come on its summer, I still have a ten o'clock curfew?" Zoe whined.
Jack glared at her. "You're grounded. Two weeks, house arrest." Jack told her.
"I was with Nathan, working, it's not like I was out drinking and picking up bikers." Zoe scoffed.
"I don't care if you were with the Pope feeding the homeless you know the rules Zoe." Jack said.
"Jack." Nathan took a step forward.
"You don't get to talk yet." Jack snapped at him.
"That's not fair. What about the project." Zoe asked.
"I don't care." Jack shrugged. "Two weeks." He pointed to the stairs. "Go to bed."
Zoe looked between her Dad and Nathan then stormed up the stairs and slammed her door. Nathan coughed. "Can I talk now?" Jack didn't say anything. "She was with me at Global, she wasn't in any danger."
"She was at Global Nathan." Jack screamed at him. "The only place in town I have to go to three or more times a week because of explosions or lab accidents, of course she was in danger."
"The project was putting off remarkable input and if she would have turned it off, it would have been detrimental to the results." Nathan said.
"Of course, it's always about science with you isn't it?" Jack asked him.
"No, this is about Zoe." Nathan said. "She wanted to stay, and I said it was ok."
"But you don't get to make that decision." Jack told him. "I get that you're trying to be the cool guy, and so does Zoe so she took advantage of that, but I'm still her father and I make the decisions."
"And I have no say?" Nathan asked. "No input."
"No." Jack screamed.
"I care about Zoe as much as you do." Nathan said calmly.
"You care about her liking you, about being the good guy." Jack countered. "But that doesn't help when she pulls crap like this."
"I care about her breaking curfew." Nathan pointed out. "I care that she didn't call, I hadn't realized that, I assumed that she cleared everything with you. But Jack I don't think that the punishment fits the crime."
"You don't think?" Jack laughed.
"Yes she was wrong, she should have called you, but this project is important, and not for the scientific applications, for Zoe, this could lead to research grants, college scholarships, and internships." Nathan sighed.
"I don't care." Jack told him. "No more project."
"You're being irrational." Nathan tried to reason with him.
"I'm being irrational?" Jack threw up his hands. "I can't do this with you right now." He said before turning around and storming up the steps. Nathan flinched when he heard the door slam. Jack was right of course, that wasn't Nathan's decision to make and Zoe had taken advantage of their relationship. He rubbed his eyes and turned to the door.
"Nathan?" He heard a small voice and turned around to see Zoe. "I'm really sorry I put you in the middle of this."
"It's ok Zoe." He assured her.
"No you guys are fighting because of me." She had tears in her eyes and he walked over and gave her a hug.
"No, we're just…fighting." He said. "It was bound to happen sooner or later." He kissed her forehead. "Go to bed."
"You aren't staying?" She asked as he walked back to the door. "He's just mad right now if you give him a little while he'll cool off."
"I think it's better if I just go home." He told her. "I'll see you later."
"Ok." Zoe nodded and watched him walk out.
"There isn't any possible way that you are actually this stupid." Nathan growled at the intern. "I know that because you wouldn't have made it to Global if that were the case. You're going to take this and re-do it and keep redoing it until I think you've finally gotten a grasp on the concept, or if that's too much trouble I can call up every college you applied to and be sure to tell them what a complete and total idiot you are."
"Nathan." Allison snapped, hurrying over to his side as the poor intern burst into tears. "Could you excuse us a minute?" Allison asked softly and the girl ran off down the hallway. "What the hell is the matter with you?" Allison asked him. "You made that poor girl cry."
"Well she needs thicker skin if she wants to make it." Nathan shrugged and started back to his office.
"You need to talk to Jack." Allison told him, struggling to keep up with his long, hurried strides.
"That doesn't have anything to do with what just happened, that girl is incompetent, and also it's none of your business." Nathan snapped at her.
"Oh it became my business when you started treating everyone around here as if they were personally responsible for everything that's wrong in the world." Allison pointed out.
"This is Global Dynamics." Nathan smiled slightly. "It's entirely possible that they are."
"Nathan, I've got Doctors so on edge they can't even do their work, two maintenance workers threatening to sue us for verbal abuse and Fargo is running around here like a puppy who got punished for peeing on the carpet." She closed his doors. "You need to talk to Jack and you need to do it now before you tear someone's head off for walking funny."
"Allison, I'm fine. It's been a week and obviously he doesn't want to talk to me either. This is my problem; you need to stay out of it." Nathan said and that was true, almost every call from Global to the Sherriff's office was handled by Deputy Lupo this week and every time Jack saw Nathan in town, he turned and walked in the other direction.
"Fine, the both of you are being so stubborn, I wash my hands of you. I don't care what you do." She turned and stormed out of Nathan's office and he sighed.
He sat there trying to calm himself down for a few minutes when there was a delicate knock on his door. "Dr. Stark?" Fargo asked cautiously, not moving from the safety of the hallway.
"What?" Nathan snapped and immediately cringed as Fargo jumped startled.
"Those papers you wanted." Fargo edged slowly into the room and laid the papers gently on the table turning quickly to leave.
"Fargo!" Nathan called out and the smaller man stopped hesitantly. "Why don't you take the rest of the day off?"
Fargo turned slowly and smiled. "Yes sir." He walked out of the office, a little more happily.
Nathan was reaching for the papers Fargo had brought in when he heard a scuffle outside the door. "You can't just go in there." Fargo cried out in a panic as Nathan's door flew open and Lucas stood panting, doubled over, trying desperately to catch his breath. Fargo was right behind him, his eyes wide with fear. "I tried to stop him."
"It's ok." Nathan assured him. "Lucas, what's going on?"
"Something's wrong with the project." He managed to say.
"So call Dr. Jacobs, he's the project supervisor isn't he?" Nathan frowned.
"Can't find him. It's gonna blow and she…she locked herself in." Lucas said.
Nathan's blood went cold. "Who?" He asked and when Lucas didn't answer he grabbed the young man by his shoulders and pulled him upright. "Who?"
"Zoe." Lucas said, unrestrained fear in his eyes.
Nathan was out of the door before he'd even finished saying her name. "What the hell is she doing here? She's supposed to be under house arrest."
"She bribed S.A.R.A.H." Lucas jogged to keep up with Nathan. "We were doing the final test today, she said she wanted to see it."
"Stupid, irresponsible…" Nathan muttered and turned to Fargo. "Shut off level nine and evacuate the labs. Call Allison and the Sherriff, but don't let him in the room." Fargo nodded and stopped walking to take out his phone. "Tell me what happened?"
"We've been studying the effects on sonic waves in real-time environments but wanted a laboratory setting that would enable us to artificially create our own waves so we built a device."
"There's always a device." Nathan mumbled punching the elevator button with more urgency than he ever had before. "What kind of device?"
"Basically it's just a heavily reinforced steel box." Lucas said sheepishly. "We don't really have the funding to do anything…"
"Lucas." Nathan snapped at him as they got in the elevator.
"Right, anyway, we borrowed it from Section 12, it was used as an underwater tank of some kind and we'd been replacing most of the rusted out elements. We thought we had everything taken care of." He sighed.
"But you didn't?" Nathan asked.
"When we started the wave manipulator, Zoe noticed that the couplings were shaking, just a little but the initial waves are small, barely more than a ripple on a pond." Lucas said.
"But they're going to grow?" Nathan asked and Lucas nodded. "And let me guess, once you start the machine, you can't stop it?" Lucas nodded again.
"The second set of waves completely ripped one coupling off and that's when Zoe ran in. She locked me out. She's trying to reinforce the others but the waves are getting stronger and stronger and I don't think…"
"Ok, I need you to calm down and get me the schematics on the box and the wave machine. If we can't get her to fix the box in time maybe we can get her to turn the machine off." Nathan said and Lucas nodded running in the opposite direction as Nathan steeled himself to enter the lab. He saw the machine first, lights blinking, dials whirring and knew enough from looking over Zoe's notes that it was built well enough that a simple reset switch wouldn't be available. He dared to move his head to the left and saw Zoe, crouched over a steel box that was attached to the device with a wrench in her hand, working furiously to tighten a bolt. She kept glancing at her watch and after a few turns of the wrench, stopped what she was doing and wedged herself in between the box and the machine and held her hands over her ears as a ripple of energy seeped through the open couplings and permeated the room.
Nathan breathed a sigh of relief. She was smart enough to keep count, and even smarter to shield herself. She waited another five second before getting up and getting back to work. She had three more bolts to go, that was as long as nothing else had been knocked loose from the constant barrage of waves. He could see her lips moving, counting and he caught her eye. She visibly relaxed when she saw him and reached over to the wall tapping a button. "Thank God." She said.
Nathan smiled, even though he hadn't done anything, her relief at his mere presence was palpable and if he did nothing more than calm her down that was at least something. "Whatcha doing Zoe?" He called out.
"Oh you know, tinkering." She laughed and Nathan knew that laugh, it was her, "I'm totally freaked out but not showing it" laugh.
"Unlock the door." Nathan said calmly. Lucas ran in the room with a stack of papers and handed them to Nathan who flipped through, quickly scanning everything.
"I've got two more to go." She said moving to the other side of the room.
"You'll never get them finished before the pressure crushes you and the room." Nathan said.
"And half of GD." Zoe said sheepishly.
Nathan's head shot up. "You managed to generate enough power to create a wave that will demolish half of Global Dynamics?"
"I tinkered a bit." Zoe practically blushed and as much as his heart was racing, as much as he wanted to break through the glass and forcibly pull her out of that room, he felt a little bit of pride well up in him.
"Right then, now you really have to unlock the door." Nathan walked closer.
"No, I can do this." Zoe said, working furiously on the bolt. "I've got the timing down and no one else could fit in that space and you know it. I'm the only one."
Nathan sighed. Just because she was right didn't mean he had to like it. "Ok." He said finally. "But you keep count and you do exactly as I say." Zoe nodded her head and Nathan talked her through the repairs. She had one particularly stubborn bolt left when Lucas lifted his head up from the computer. "One more wave and then it won't matter where she hides, it'll be too powerful, crush everything in the room."
Nathan nodded grimly. "Ok, Zoe you've got to concentrate." Nathan said. "And work fast."
"I'm working as fast as I can." She said, sweat on her forehead. She glanced at the clock and moved to the hiding place, crouching down and dropped the wrench. She cursed, pulled herself back out to grab it when the wave hit. She barely had time get back in the hole with the wrench grasped tightly in her hand and Nathan saw her hand get caught, a scream pull from her throat as the force of the wave slapped into her. That one was way too strong; Nathan actually felt his teeth vibrate as the wave spilled into the room.
"Zoe!" He screamed.
"I'm ok, I'm fine." She panted holding her injured hand against her chest. "I think I broke a few fingers." She whimpered and Nathan let his forehead drop against the window, the panic in his chest when she screamed, easing only slightly.
"Ok, it's fine, you're ok. You've got one more to go." She nodded and pulled herself out of the space and got to work. It was slower than it needed to be, her good hand injured and every breath Nathan took felt like fire in his lungs.
"Got it." Zoe said making her way to the door, slapping the lock and the door slid open. Nathan pulled her out and back as Lucas closed the door again. They all turned to window and relaxed visibly when the next wave hit and the box held. Zoe jumped up in excitement and hugged Lucas, then turned to Nathan who was frowning so hard at her she immediately calmed down.
"Hospital." He said turning around with no doubt in his mind that they would be following.
"Where is she?" Jack asked storming into Global, a murderous look on his face.
"Jack, calm down." Allison rushed to his side.
"Don't tell me to calm down. Fargo said Zoe locked herself in a room with some sonic wave thing that was basically about to explode. A room, by the way she wasn't supposed to be anywhere near seeing as how I put her under house arrest five days ago." Jack was fuming, equal parts panic and indignation.
"She's fine. She fixed it, she got out of there. Her hand suffered a little damage a few broken fingers and a sprained wrist. She's in the hospital wing now getting bandaged up." Allison said. "But you need to stop and take a deep breath before you go down there and kill her." Jack stopped glared at Allison who didn't back down. "She was stupid and reckless and broke not only your rules but a few Global's as well. She also stopped half the building from exploding and saved a very important project. Not to mention that she's scared and she's sorry. Jack's breathing was slowing down, evening out the more Allison talked. "You have a tendency to overreact whenever Zoe's involved."
"She's my daughter." Jack screamed.
"Everyone is someone's daughter Jack." Allison pointed out to him and Jack cracked a small smile. "Or son, whatever, you know what I mean. Sure you get frustrated with everyone else but not like you do with Zoe."
"As her father, I'm responsible for Zoe." Jack pointed out.
"And as Sherriff, you're responsible for the people of this town, but you never try to ground them for six months." Allison smiled.
"You think that would work?" Jack cracked a real smile and they both laughed, easing some tension.
"Jack, just cut her some slack. I'm not saying forget it happened, I'm not saying not to punish her, just don't overreact." Allison begged him.
"Ok." Jack took a deep breath. "Can I see her now?"
"Yeah." Allison motioned for Jack to follow her and they headed to the hospital wing.
The doctor finished wrapping Zoe's wrist and smiled. "All done." Zoe looked up at Nathan who was pacing back and forth.
"She's fine?" Lucas asked.
"A few weeks for the wrist, maybe a month on the fingers, she'll be perfect." The Doctor smiled pulling off her gloves.
"You two leave." Nathan barked at the Doctor and Lucas. They both jumped slightly and headed for the door. Zoe made a motion to follow them and Nathan turned his glare on her. "You stay." She sat back down on the bed and sighed.
"Nathan." Zoe started.
"When we're at Global, it's Doctor Stark." He snapped at her. Zoe seemed taken aback. "Are you out of your mind?" He screamed. "What could possibly have possessed you to do something so stupid?"
"The whole project could have been ruined, along with half of Global." Zoe said. "I should have just let it happen?"
"Let me think, the project or your life?" He pretended to weigh the two options. "Of course you should have just let it happen."
"You would have gone in." Zoe said defiantly.
"I would have tried." Nathan admitted. "And your dad would have stopped me. I would have been pissed for a few days but at least I'd be alive." Zoe deflated. "You got lucky, very lucky, next time you might not. We have rules about things like this for a reason and until you realize that I'm pulling your GD clearance." Zoe looked at him indignantly. "That's right, you can't work on any project for Global without my express permission and under no circumstances may you even enter the building unless accompanied by your dad."
"But…" Zoe protested.
"Not only did you blatantly disregard at least three Global regulations, you were grounded. You shouldn't have even been here, house arrest. So seeing as how you obviously don't understand what that means, I'm confiscating your car."
"You can't do that." Zoe cried.
"Global gave you the car and Global can take it away." Nathan smiled. "Plus your grounded again. One month."
"A month!" Zoe said. "That's not fair."
"Fine, two months, you want more, keep talking." Nathan had stopped pacing now.
"You may be able to revoke my clearance, and apparently take my car but you can't ground me."
"Actually, he can." Jack said from the doorway. Both Zoe and Nathan turned surprised to see him standing there, watching the whole thing. "And you got lucky, because if I would have gotten here before him, it would have been six months."
"Six months, I like that, that's better." Nathan turned to Zoe.
"Dad!" Zoe screamed.
"No, I would have been overreacting. Two months is good, but if I could just add something?" Jack asked Nathan.
"Be my guest." He crossed his arms over his chest and smiled as Jack approached Zoe.
"No cell phone, no computer." He smiled. "No boyfriend."
"Dad!" Zoe jumped up. "That's so completely unfair." When he didn't relent Zoe seemed to deflate. "What about the project? I started it, I want to see it through." She looked up defiantly.
Jack looked at Zoe then at Nathan. "That's up to Nathan. You broke Global rules."
Nathan looked at Jack and realized he was leaving it all up to him, giving him the power to make this decision and telling Nathan with a look that he would support him whatever he chose. "I might be able to find something data oriented for you to do, from home." Zoe smiled slightly. "There's going to be quite a bit of data to go through and sort when the machine runs its course. Boxes and boxes of pages." Zoe's smile fell and Nathan raised an eyebrow. "How does that sound."
"Great." Zoe said quietly.
"And of course since it seems Dr. Jacob isn't paying as much attention to this whole thing as he should have been, I'm taking over as project supervisor immediately. You will answer directly to me." Nathan said.
"Yes sir." Zoe mumbled and Jack smiled his approval at Nathan. "This sucks." She whined.
"I know, this sucks, we suck, your whole life sucks." Jack put an arm around her shoulder. "Save it. Go get in the car, wait for me."
Zoe grabbed Jack's keys from him and walked out of the room. She stopped in the doorway. "Dr. Stark, I'm sorry. For breaking the rules, for making you worry."
"I'm just glad you're ok." He assured her and she smiled before walking out. Nathan realized suddenly that he and Jack were alone in a room together. "So, I'm sorry, for stepping on your toes like that with Zoe."
"No, you did good." Jack nodded appreciatively. "I'm sorry for the other day, when I said you had no say, no input. If we want this to work you're going to have to have some input."
"She's your daughter Jack. I don't want to take over, I just want to know that my opinion matters." Nathan pointed out.
"I know. I overreacted, we had a huge fight and ended up not speaking for a week." Jack sighed. "Didn't go exactly as I planned."
"You had a plan?" Nathan raised an eyebrow.
"Well you weren't supposed to leave that night. You were supposed to follow me up the stairs, we were going to yell for a little while longer and then make up." Jack told him.
"Oh." Nathan felt sheepish. "That's a good plan. We'll do that one from now on."
"How about this." Jack sighed. "I promise to try my hardest not to overreact if you promise not to just walk away every time I get mad at you. I'm probably going to get mad at you a lot, and just because I'm mad doesn't mean I'm done."
Nathan sighed. "Right. I'll try and remember that."
"Good." Jack sighed. "Cause I missed you."
Nathan felt all the pressure that had built up in his neck and shoulders over the past few days melt away when Jack said that. "I missed you too." He admitted and Jack took two steps forward and pulled Nathan in for a hug, resting his head on the taller man's chest. They stayed like that for a while, just enjoying being in each other's presence again when Jack broke the silence. "You know that thing I almost said last Monday, in the kitchen."
Nathan swallowed remembering the whole exchange vividly. "Come on." Jack shook his head. "That's not true. Fargo loves you." Nathan glared at Jack. "And Allison and Kevin." Jack said. "And I love…" "Yeah." Nathan said cautiously.
"I stopped myself because I thought it was too soon. I didn't think, I don't know, I guess I didn't think you were as invested as I was, that maybe this was more fun than serious to you." Jack pulled away and looked up into Nathan's eyes. "But after what happened with Zoe today, and seeing how you were with her…I've said it before, there's no such thing as too soon in Eureka. I love you Nathan, and it's ok if you don't feel the same way but I'm not going waste any more time not having said it."
Nathan looked down at Jack and felt a lump in his throat. Five days ago he had been consoling himself, telling himself that it was alright Jack hadn't finished the sentence because he wasn't ready to hear it. Hearing it now Nathan knew he was ready, knew that he'd been ready, knew that a part of him had been holding back a little, afraid that Jack would never be ready. "I love you too." Nathan whispered before leaning down and kissing Jack softly.
An annoying beep emitted from Jack's pocket and they both pulled back as he grabbed his phone. He read the screen and laughed showing it to Nathan. "Did you forget I was sitting it the car? You can make out later, tell Nathan diners at eight." He smiled and handed Jack the phone back.
"S.A.R.A.H.'s making lasagna." Jack offered.
"I'll be there at eight." Nathan assured him.
"Seven thirty." Jack countered with. Having been apart from the man a whole week he didn't want to wait any longer.
"As soon as I can get out of here." Nathan replied. "Your daughter left me with a lot of paperwork."
"I'll ground her for another month." Jack shrugged. "See you later."
"See you." Nathan nodded as Jack walked out of the room.
The next morning Zoe came down the stairs, much less jubilantly than she had the week before, glaring at both Nathan and Jack who were seated happily eating breakfast. "Fine S.A.R.A.H. geez, I'm out of bed, I'm walking down the stairs."
"Blueberry muffin?" Jack held one out to her.
"What is going on with her?" Zoe asked. "She set my alarm for five thirty this morning and refused to turn it off."
"Oh yeah, she works for me again." Jack smiled. "Nathan had Fargo fix her, she can no longer be bribed or blackmailed and there's no way you can override any direct order I give her."
"That's fair." Zoe said sarcastically then plopped on the stool. "So you told her to wake me up at five thirty?"
"You've got a lot of work to do today." Nathan poured her an orange juice and passed it over, motioning to the six boxes stacked on the dining room table. "Last night's data." Nathan frowned. "Well half of last night's data."
"You were serious about that?" Zoe looked between Jack and Nathan and sighed. "This sucks." Zoe dropped her head on the counter. "You woke me up at five thirty in the morning to go through data? Can I at least please, have coffee?"
Nathan and Jack looked at each other as if they were actually debating it and then turned to Zoe and said definitively, "No."
Zoe groaned again and turned to Nathan. "What about buying my affection?" She asked hopefully.
"If I want to buy affection, I'll get one of Dr. Young's AI dogs." Nathan smiled.
"Oh so now it's the two of you against me?" Zoe asked. "You guys are in cahoots?"
"The way God intended it." Jack kissed her cheek. "I gotta go."
"I'm right behind you." Nathan took one last sip of coffee before pouring his cup out in the sink, then dumping the rest out of the coffee maker. "I want those sorted by output values and then cross referenced by time stamp. And since you have no distractions I think you should have no problem getting it done by dinner." Nathan walked over and kissed her cheek.
"I'll swing by at lunch to check on you." Jack told her. "Try not to get into too much trouble ok?"
Zoe made a face as the two of them walked out the door. They both stopped and turned. "We saw that." Nathan told her and Zoe glared with her arms crossed over her chest.
"If you're not going to be eating breakfast, would you like to shower before you get started on your work?" S.A.R.A.H. asked.
"This sucks." Zoe grumbled to herself. "Pilar lied, this is so not like "My Two Dads" ."
"I have that show in my database." S.A.R.A.H. said. "But I should warn you that Sherriff Carter and Dr. Stark have strictly forbidden television until your two month grounding is up."
"Save it S.A.R.A.H." Zoe pulled herself off the bar stool and headed for the stairs.
"I don't understand." S.A.R.A.H. said. "It's already saved in my databanks. Would you like me to save it again?"
"No, it's just an expression, I didn't mean…" Zoe sighed. It was going to be a long two months.