WAY OF THE GUN
Chapter 2
(edited 01/29/2011)

"Carter, what the hell happened here?" The words seemed like they were coming from a far off place, until they were repeated with a firm shake of my shoulder. I turned to look into the eyes of my one-time deputy Jo Lupo. We'd met when I took the sheriff's job. She'd been deputy to Bill Cobb, my predecessor. Our relationship hadn't always been the smoothest, but over the years we'd become friends.

Most people would have said she was being stern, and angry, but I knew this Jo a hell of a lot better than most people in town. I could see the wild desperation in her eyes as she took everything in, me included.

About six months ago we, together with three other friends, had been thrown back in time to 1947. Something we did must have changed history, because when we got back things just weren't the same. Among other changes, Jo had somehow become Chief of Security for Global Dynamics in this reality.

What happened? I couldn't really say much, I think I just muttered an brilliant "Um...", or something equally witty. That's me, witty Sheriff Carter, Mister Everyman, Mister Andy Griffith, Mister I-Just-Killed-My-Daughter's-Best-Friend.

Fuck.

Something washed over me, and I was finally able to collect myself enough to start actively making decisions again. I quickly reviewed recent events to make sure I knew what I was going to do next.

The shooting had happened (it was safer to think of it as 'the shooting'), then I had collected doctor Baxter and moved him outside. On the way I'd called Lupo and GD security. Andy, my robot deputy, had arrived next and promptly set up the "crime scene" holograms after giving Baxter a prompt once-over with that creepy x-ray vision, or whatever it is.

Baxter had gone nuts then, exploding into manic action and trying to run back into the house, but between me and the terminator we managed to keep him under control. He settled for sitting on the doorstep weeping like a madman. A lot how I'd be if I had lost Zoe like the Grahams had... No... Not now.

What then... yes... no hospital in town so GD medical was on the way. Besides, Baxter was one of their researchers so they were going to have to come and look at the scene anyway.

Then Jo had arrived. She'd been asleep, or very nearly so, or... yeah, that was a hickey on her neck. Her hair was tangled and only recently pushed into a loose ponytail. Reality was back with me now. I sighed and leaned against the one of the Big Brother black SUV her office used, shaking my head.

"I don't know, Jo." I said, wearily, rubbing my hands over my face, fighting to keep the memory from coming back up. "Yet." I said with what must have been a considerable amount of anger because of how she flinched away from me. I took a few breaths to ease up before I continued. "Something got inside that girl's head, what I faced in there was only marginally Pilar Graham, and when I... did what I had to..."

"Carter, don't second guess! Not right now!" She said, fiercely, her hand back on my shoulder. "Analyze, evaluate, but don't second guess. We'll figure it out. After that you can armchair it." She shook her head and turned away to look at the scene, absently brushing some hairs away from her face. The whole area was lit by the crazy strobing of red and blue emergency lights. Every single light in the house was on now, and I could see Deputy Andy walking around inside through the front window.

"You and Zane, eh?" I said to Jo. She stiffened and whirled toward me, eyes wide in shock. Then her hand clasped against the love-bite on her neck and she blushed redder than the emergency lights were painting her.

I smiled. "Relax, Jo. I'm not your Dad, I'm your friend."

She eased up a notch and grinned a little ruefully. "We're sorting it out, I think. We were talking and... well... he just up and kissed me, like in the Sheriff's office a few weeks ago. Smug bastard..." She blushed again, I think.

I nodded. "I trust your judgment. We've already included Grace, if you think he's with it, you've got my vote." She almost glowed for a second, then the newer, very assertive her took back over.

"Like I need your approval!" she said, smugly.

The break from the seriousness of the event was good, but reality came crushing down on us at about the same time. I rubbed at my eyes and stepped away from the support of the vehicle. There was a foul taste in my mouth, bile mixed with copper and iron. I hoped it was just that I'd bit my tongue... or something.

"Seriously, Carter. What can you tell me?" Security Chief Lupo said, switching noticeably from the friend to the professional. She needed to find out what was going on as bad as I did. It would still be my beef, after all there had been two murders... three depending... but Baxter was her responsibility as well.

I sighed and tried to marshal my thoughts, to recall the exact events. After a moment I said, "I responded to a 911 from Baxter's wife. She said her daughter and her daughter's friend were fighting, and that it was getting serious. She was a lot more stressed than that, you'll hear on the tape... recording... whatever." I shook my head. Of course it wouldn't be a tape. Probably some insane version of a memory crystal recorder that would cost hundreds of thousands of dollars.

"She was really panicked, and I could hear really horrible screaming in the background, then the line went down. I got on the horn with Andy while I was on the way and drove here as fast as I could. You'll see Pilar's car... um..." Jo's hand on my arm helped me focus again. "Her car, in the ditch about a quarter mile down the road."

"Yeah" said Jo, "Noted that."

"I think that may be where she dislocated her shoulder at." That was definitely one of the harder things to piece in. An injury like that was pretty painful, you didn't just go walking around after that.

"Did Mrs. Baxter say anything about Pilar needing medical help?" asked Jo. I take back my barb about soldier's and cops. She learned how to be a cop pretty damned well too.

"No" I said. "But she wasn't awful coherent." I paused a bit, trying to reorder everything. "I got here too late for most of it. Luisa and Sharon were already dead or dying. I think Sharon, um... Mrs. Baxter... may have been just barely alive but the wound was arterial and Pilar had that gun on me." I tried to focus, see what I might have missed in the heat of reaction.

Desperation hit me! "Jo, please tell me that she had a real gun! That's a real gun in there with her body?" Oh God, what if I'd made a mistake? What if it was a toy? What if-

"Yeah, Carter! Relax. Andy told me a bit about it while you were standing here once we got here. It's an old Colt M1911, pretty much an antique from the second world war." Relief and guilt hit me in equal measure, each warring for top spot in my current mental circus. "Mr. Graham is a member of the gun club, we've shot together before. I recognized it... it was one that he'd inherited from his grandfather. Sentimental family heirloom or something like that."

Great, more emotional baggage, but at least it explained how she'd gotten a gun without any serious alerts. Oregon, well mostly Portland, but large parts of the state are pretty liberal when it comes to gun control laws. Add to that the town is run by the Department of Defense and it's not as though there's a quaint little gun store run by a genial old man spitting tobacco into a tin pot. "Okay. I went through the front door, gun out as soon as I saw Sharon on the floor. I heard what sounded like an animal screaming from the kitchen and moved in to see what I could see. I think I called names. That's when I saw Luisa's body and knelt to check her out."

"Pilar came out of the kitchen, holding Doctor Baxter with her injured arm, the one with the dislocated shoulder, and she had that gun pressed up under his chin." Ding, ding, ding. New ringside contender for Horrible Things I've Witnessed To Haunt My Dreams. This crap wasn't supposed to happen here... L.A., sure. Hell even Oklahoma. Not Eureka, Oregon. I think we're on Google as "bucolic".

"Wait a minute." said Jo. "Her injured arm?" she asked, the disbelief evident in her voice.

"Yup. Like it wasn't bugging her in the least." Jo only shook her head. "You remember... well of course you remember the anger-ray thing Parrish cooked up earlier this year. But you may not recall what other people were acting like during that as clearly as I do. In that they were really angry. Lots of screaming and yelling. This was... different."

"How so?" She asked. There was a hint of the sardonic in her voice. "I remember the event pretty well, Carter."

"Yeah" I said, "I know. Not meaning to infer anything, Jo. You did great in that." I remembered what she'd said then. That I was stepping all over her, not letting her do her job, things like that. She really had done great, held it together and even protected Allison.

"It's just that this was more... I dunno... pure. It was like something was riding her. Right before I had to shoot..." I only paused slightly, if I forced myself to continue dealing with it I wouldn't break down in public again. "Before that there was this moment where she sort-of snapped out of it, started looking confused. I thought I had a chance to talk her down, but then whatever it was resumed control and that was that."

Jo nodded. She looked around thoughtfully for a bit. "No other options? You're usually pretty handy about that kind of thing."

I bit back on a really hurtful reply. The very last thing I needed right now is someone else telling me I didn't need to kill that little girl! Instead I just said, "No, ma'am. No. Other. Options."

Her head snapped around and she glared at me for a second, slightly confused as well, but then she must have realized what it was she'd said. "Sorry, Jack." she apologized.

I sighed. "So am I." I looked around for a bit, then said sternly, "Jo. I'm in on this 100%. If it's some GD lab bullshit there's no locking out the Sheriff on this one. I will go one hundred and ten percent official if I have to!" I would too. It had happened in the past that they company had decided to lock me out. The likelihood of that these days was slim to nil, but that depended too on how much the military brass wanted to get involved. If this was some pet project of General Mansfield's, he'd shut me down. And hard.

She responded with a thoughtful nod. When she spoke there was fire in her voice, "Carter, if this is a GD mix-up I want you to bust whoever is responsible into a bloody pulp. We'll worry about police procedure later!"

There was another batch of sirens approaching. That would be the cars from GD Medical. I hadn't called her but I wondered if Allison was with them. I didn't want her to see this, but the more rational part recognized that wherever we were going with this relationship, she wouldn't appreciate me trying to 'protect' her from the uglier parts of her own job.

I shook my head. "No, Jo. We follow procedure on this one. I don't need my impulses telling me what to do."


Disclaimer: I do not own Eureka or any of the characters or situations, I'm just playing around in their universe for fun and an educational experience.

Author's Notes: On editing this, I find that I really like how this chapter works. Very minor tweaks in this one. To forestall questions, yes, I am assuming that the Zoe/Zane thing from the first half of season 4 is resolved. It plays out later some, I hope you like it.

Please R&R and let me know what you like and don't!