In this story, Nathan did not die or disappear; he is perfectly healthy living in Eureka. Jack is the one who moved away, rejoining the U.S. Marshal's. This will be slash and this is my first in doing so, so here goes:

Jack groaned as he slowly came to consciousness. He looked slowly around recognizing the room as one he hadn't been in over a year. He propped himself up on his elbows and saw a few people working further away in the large room. Yep, he was in Global Dynamics. A building he was sure he had seen for the last time a year ago. And now somehow he was back. Someone's head was going to roll, as soon as someone noticed he was awake. It wasn't like he was getting up and going anywhere.

2 weeks ago

Jack quickly ducked as bullets flew his way. He, again, thought this would have never had happened in Eureka. People in Eureka didn't shoot at him, well except Taggert and his dart gun. But as he felt the rush of energy flow through his body, Jack pushed Eureka out of his mind and focused back on Diego Sandoloz, a notorious drug runner from L.A., his latest target with the U.S. Marshal's. Jack partner, Brian, quickly signaled to Jack that he was going around to the side to try and get a shot.

Jack nodded and laid down fire to distract Diego. Brian was almost in the clear, when he tripped over something and made a loud noise, attracting Diego's attention. Diego immediately began shooting towards Brian, giving Jack the opening he needed to shoot Diego in the side between the crates he was hiding behind.

Diego immediately went down.

"Brian! You alright?" Jack yelled as he kept his weapon out and made his way towards Diego. He heard a pained groan from Brian and immediately turned towards the other agent turning his back on Diego.

"JACK!" he heard Brian call out as he felt a burning pain in his back below his bulletproof vest. He felt he was in slow motion as he fell. He saw Brian jump out from his cover and run to Diego. There was a scuffle then Brian was back, talking to him. Jack tried to respond but nothing was coming out. He reached up and grabbed Brian's arm where it was trying to turn him over on his stomach.

"Zoe…" he choked out.

"Its okay, Jack, I'll call her at the hospital." Brian reassured.

"No, no, call Abbey, not Zo." Jacked begged.

"Okay, okay, I'll call Abby, don't worry the ambulance is on its way."

Jack woke to the consistent beeping of his heart monitor. His head felt like a bag of rocks and he could barely move his arm to swipe at the oxygen mask covering his face. Immediately there was an arm pushing his arm down. Abby smiled down at him, running her fingers through his hair.

"What happened?" he mumbled tiredly.

"You were shot. You're in the hospital in San Diego. Everything's going to be okay." She sniffed as her eyes started to water.

"What's wrong with me?" Jack asked starting to get worried as it looked like Abby might start crying any moment.

The doctor entered at that moment, Jack noticed that Abby had her other hand on the on-call button.

Twenty minutes later, Jack wished he had never woken up. The doctor went through his normal routine, checking Jack's vitals and recording them. It wasn't until he lifted the blankets off Jack's legs and starting poking them that Jack remembered and realized what had happened. He had no feeling below his hips. The doctor talked about the bullet removal and the rehab Jack would have to go into but he was pretty sure the paralysis was permanent. Abby cried quietly in the corner as Jack absorbed the news then asked to be left alone. He repeated to Abby once she didn't move. Before she left, he asked one question.

"Does Zoe know?"

"No, I was waiting for you to wake up. I'll go call her now."

Jack shook his head. "Its finals week let her be. I'll call her and tell her. Don't tell her Abby."

Abby acquiesced to his wishes and before she knew it, she was in her car driving back to L.A. Jack had convinced her she didn't need to stay and to return to work. She had promised to return on the weekend.

Jack waited another two days to call Zoe. He had been in the hospital for 7 days now and already was restless, well his upper body was, his lower extremities didn't move at all. Jack kept waiting for them to do something but as the days went by, he was slowly losing hope. He was being moved to the rehab center in a few days to begin learning how his life would be in a wheelchair.

Brian had stopped by, his arm in a sling. He had been shot by Diego, but once Jack was shot, he got up, wrestled away the gun and cuffed the bad guy before helping Jack. It was all over the news that the Marshal's had caught Diego and all three had been injured. Jack was also visited by his bosses; they came to see how he was doing and promised that everything would be taken care of by the government. They had been hunting Diego for a while now and Jack catching him had made him a hero. They also promised him a promotion (office job) when he was ready to come back. But no hurry.

"Hey Zo," Jack said when his daughter answered the phone. He was calling on the hospital phone so he knew she wouldn't recognize the number.

"Dad! Where are you? I wasn't sure I would hear from you this week." Zoe replied. Every since she had left for college and her dad moved out of Eureka and became a Marshal again, she worried endlessly. He would call as often as possible, but it sometimes was days or weeks when she would hear from him. And she knew he wasn't always telling her the true story of where he was or how he was doing. She wished he had never left Eureka and she hated the fact that he was back tracking bad guys and a lot of time without backup. She cherished his phone calls, often leaving class or studying to talk to him.

"I'm in California, San Diego. How's Harvard? Did you pass your Bioethics final?" He knew she had been worried about that one, just as he knew she had 2 more finals to take.

"Yeah I passed, Professor Winston said he would grade on a curve. Has you seen mom?"

"Good! Are you ready for your other two? And yes, I saw mom a few days ago."

"You know, you never remembered my school schedule in Eureka but now you know when all my tests are. Are you spying on me?" She asked joking, but knowing this was her dad's way of staying close.

"No, no that's too much trouble. I just remember what you tell me. I don't want to call during an exam."

"Dad, you can call anytime. Are you coming here for Thanksgiving or should I buy a ticket to moms?"

"Umm-" before Jack could answer there was a page over the intercom for a doctor in another room, Jack tried to cover the phone but Zoe heard it anyway.

"Dad, are you in the hospital!" She asked frantically, moving away from her friends.

"Relax, relax, it's just a graze." He offered, wincing as he lied.

"YOU WERE SHOT?" Zoe yelled, this time moving outside.

"Hey, calm down, just a flesh wound in the arm. I've had worse." He decided to use Brian's story.

"When did this happen, why didn't you call me? Why didn't Mom call me? I can fly out this afternoon."

"Zoe! It's just a graze in the arm, I'll be fine. I'm getting out of here soon and no you are not flying out, you have exams. I'll see you at Thanksgiving and everything will be fine." Jack didn't know why he was lying but he couldn't tell his baby girl he was paralyzed and would be in rehab come Thanksgiving. Admitting it to her would be admitting it to himself.

"Dad…" Zoe sighed.

"I'm fine. I gotta go, the doctor's here. I'll call you later. Love you, Zo."

"Love you too, Dad." She got out before he hung up on her.

Zoe looked at her phone for a second before redialing the number her father had called her on.

"San Diego Hospital, how may I direct your call?"

"Jack Carter, please."

"Patient or employee?"

"Patient"

"One moment please."

Zoe waited as the phone rang and rang, just when she was about to hang up, a female answered the phone.

"Jack Carter's room, this is Delia, can I help you?"

"Is Jack there?" Zoe asked.

"He had to step out for a moment. Can I take a message?"

"Uh, no I'll call him back later. Will he be at this number tomorrow?" Zoe asked fishing for information. She could hear the woman paging through something.

"He should be at this number until next Tuesday."

"Okay thank you. Have a nice day." Zoe sputtered out. She knew her dad had lied to her, a graze didn't require a week stay and who knows how long he had been there before he called Zoe.

Zoe quickly dialed her mother's number but received her machine. This meant that her mom was in session with a patient. It was the only time her mom didn't answer the phone. Dialing another number, Zoe held her breath and nodded to herself. This was the best course of action.

"Hello" answered Zane. The number looked familiar but he couldn't place it.

"Hey Zane, its Zoe."

"Hey Zoe! How's life at Harvard?" Zane was surprised to receive a call from the youngest Carter; the only thing that would have been more odd was if the elder Carter was calling. Zoe and him had entertained the idea of dating when they worked on a project together at Harvard, but since she no longer lived in Eureka it would always be a long distance relationship and neither wanted that. He had been dating Jo for the past 6 months and couldn't be happier.

"It's good, listen I'm sorry to call but I need a favor and I need it, like, now. Are you near a computer?"

"Yes, and what's going on? How can I help?" He was in his lab waiting for Jo to show up with lunch.

"I need you to hack something for me." She got out quickly. "I know, I know you're being all good now and that's great but this is for my dad and I'm worried and he's not telling me anything."

"Whoa, slow down. What's wrong with your dad? Why would I need to hack something for him? Is he in trouble?" Zane asked as he rolled over to his computer. Jo came in with 2 Café Diem bags and he motioned for her to wait a minute.

"Dad's in the hospital in San Diego, he told me he was shot and it was just a graze but when I called back they said he would be there for another week. You don't need to be in the hospital for a week for a graze. I need you to hack into San Diego Hospital's files and see what happened to him."

"Zoe, I can't do that. Carter will tell you if something's wrong. Maybe he doesn't want you to know for a reason." Zane tried to sooth the frantic girl on the other end of the line, while Jo was writing a note to him.

What's wrong with Jack? She wrote.

Zane shrugged, and then Jo grabbed his phone.

"Zoe…" Jo didn't speak again as she listened to Zoe's side of the story. She tried to break in a few times to deny Zoe or comfort her but it seemed as if the younger girl wasn't listening. Finally Jo answered in the positive.

"If Zane looks and it's nothing serious, then we pretend this phone call never happened and you can't tell your dad you know anything. Got it?"

Zane looked at Jo as if she were crazy. He shook his head no and backed away from his computer.

"Zoe, we'll call you back when we have something. Calm down, go get a sandwich and do some homework. We'll call you back." She hung up.

"What are you doing? I could get arrested if I'm caught and there's probably nothing wrong with Carter." Zane protested.

"Please Zane, do it for me, she's freaking me out and now I'm freaking out. Just do your thing and don't get caught." Jo emphasized. She was now Sheriff and the last thing she should be doing is telling her boyfriend to hack a hospital but Zoe had her all worried. Jo deeply missed Jack and Zoe. She loved being Sheriff but hated how Jack had left and how Andy the robot had become her deputy. She talked to Jack once in a while but it wasn't the same.

Zane let out a breath and gave his Sheriff a kiss. "Only for you, Jo-Jo" and started his work.

It only took 30 minutes for Zane to find what he was looking for, hospital security was a joke. He let out a slow breath as he read what had happened to Jack.

"I don't think we should tell her this." He said moving aside for Jo to see.

"What?" She asked as she read the hospital file. She swallowed thickly as she read the prognosis. "We have too. He's going to need her even though he won't admit it." She dialed Zoe's number and put the phone on speaker.

"Did you find something? Is he okay?" Zoe asked as she connected.

"Zoe…" Jo started and trailed off, how was she going to tell her little sister the news?

"Zoe, your dad wasn't grazed, he was shot in the back." Zane told her flat out.

"Is he okay? What does that mean?" Zoe was ignoring her brain as it screamed to her all things it could mean.

"They're moving your dad to a rehab center in a few days….they don't think he'll walk again." Zane said as gently as he could as he put an arm around Jo who was choking up.

There was a sob at the other end of the phone.