DISCLAIMER---I DO NOT OWN ANY OF THE CHARACTERS , NAMES , PLACES OR ANYTHING ASSOCIATED WITH EUREKA---SADLY---I WOULDN'T MIND OWNING SHERIFF CARTER---SIGH....
What I've Forgotten
JCPOV
It was quiet in Eureka. A rare time indeed. I had recovered from the stress of the Susan Perkins fiasco. Zoe was settling in nicely. I was still surprised that she had made her way here though. Maybe I was stupid for believing that she had missed me in the years since divorcing her mother. Either way we had a long way to go before we were the perfect father and daughter. The entire town was buzzing with the news that a new scientist would be joining the ranks. Everyone was excited. Everyone but me. I knew that it would mean one more brainiac to clean up after.
I was avoiding anything that had to do with Nathan Stark. The man was insufferable. Sure he was hot as hell , but his personality had bled though enough to make me keep my distance. Poor Fargo was his assistant and scared to death of the man. I sure wasn't gonna try to make sense of my feelings toward him when people were terrified of him. It would be suicide. So I was content to stay away from GD and leave any place that Nathan happened to be in. It was working well so far.
Today the new geek was joining the squad and Allison was after me to meet him. That meant going to GD and possibly running into Nathan. That was unacceptable. So I was going over paper work while Jo cleaned the guns. That female Rambo still refused to let me near them. Either way I was keeping busy to keep my mind off of Nathan. The man really was insufferable. Jo's voice brought me out of my musings.
"Did you remember to get Zoe's costume from Vincent?" She asked. Damn , I forgot!
"I'll pick it up and take it to her at lunch." I told her , ignoring the implication that I had forgot. Jo only smirked at me. I made my way over to Cafe Diem. I had to hand it to Vincent. The man knew how to please the people. He could make you anything you could dream of. I aggravated him though because I went for simple foods. I walked in and saw Henry seated with a man and a woman that I had never seen around town. I got the costume from Vincent and walked over to say hi to them.
"Henry. How are you today?" I asked.
"Jack. This is my old friend , Jason Anderson and his wife , Kim." Henry pointed to them as he introduced us. I could tell that there used to be something between Henry and Kim. Even if it was over , Henry still looked at her that way.
"Nice to meet you. Sheriff Jack Carter." I introduced myself. With a wave I was off to put Zoe's costume in the car. I opened the back hatch and looked at the costume for the first time. What the hell were they doing? This thing looked like an octopus. As I was pondering the stupid purple thing Henry came up beside me. I turned and noticed that he was alone.
"Hey , what happened to your friends?" I asked as I stuffed the strange costume in the jeep.
"Oh , they have work to do. He has a new force field vest in the works and a test scheduled for later today. There's still a few bugs in it so they went back to work." Henry explained. The thought offered me no comfort. Anything that has bugs still in it usually equals trouble for me.
"What does it do and how can it go wrong?" I asked. Henry laughed at my foul mood directed at the experiment.
"It protects soldiers in the field so they survive attacks. Besides what on earth could ever go wrong?" Henry answered and I paled at the thought.
"In case you haven't noticed all sorts of things find a way to go wrong in this town." I told him. He just chuckled like I was out of my mind. I bid him goodbye and walked back in the office. Jo was still in the middle of cleaning the guns. She really needed a boyfriend. The rest of the day seemed to go fine. Until the phone rang. I made Jo answer it as always. She glared , but answered it anyways. I was so close to having a nice lunch break , but that was ruined.
"That was Allison. She wants us up there while their testing. Said it was so that if it worked we could field test them." Jo said as we got in the car and headed to GD. This meant that I was probably going to see Nathan. I really didn't want to deal with him right now.
It was already bad enough that the man evoked certain feelings of lust in me. When he had been touched by Walter and was in the infirmary the way his shirt was unbuttoned just a little drove me wild. I had been dreaming of the man since then. Safe to say that I took very long showers in the morning. Thank god SARAH let me have some privacy in there. We arrived at GD and were met by Fargo who led us down to where they would be testing. Poor kid had it bad for Jo.
"Ahh if it isn't the elusive sheriff. Having a nice day?" Stark asked as we joined the group. I tried to stop the shiver that ran up my spine at the sound of that sultry voice. I tried and failed , but only Jo noticed. She gave me a look , but didn't say anything.
"Yeah. That is until something gets screwed up." I answered not daring to look at him. They started up the force feild that surrounded a vest strapped on a manaquin. It was only visable for a second then they started the test. First was a round of small caliber bullets. Once they were sure that the field held they moved onto larger calibers. It was rather amazing to watch.
Sure , most vests could resist different caliber rounds , but it was incredible that a fifty cal failed to make a mark. I looked around the room and saw the pleased looks on everyone's faces. Everything was running smoothly. Looks like they were going to have a perfect test. That meant that Jo and I would be sporting the vests shortly. Then they got to the fire portion of the test. It didn't even stop the flames. The manaquin was ablaze in a second.
"Damn it!" Jason shouted in frustration. I was sure that even without fire protection the vest would save countless lives. Still I knew that these people were always looking to up the stakes on anything on the market today. It had to be the best.
"Well , I want that corrected before the test in front of the General in the morning." Nathan told him. He turned and looked at me. He stared at me for a minute before he turned away , a faint blush creeping into his cheeks. I was sure that no one would notice if they weren't staring at him. He turned and walked out of the room without another word.
"Well , I guess you will have to wait till later to use the vests." Allison said before leaving to. I just shrugged at Jo. Jason was looking over everything trying to figure out the problem. Kim walked up to him and tried to say something , but he merely shrugged her off and stormed out of the room. She was left looking hurt , but Henry tried to comfort her. I took that as our cue and led Jo out of the room.
As we walked out of the building I remembered that I was supposed to drop off Zoe's costume. Jo agreed to go back to the office while I ran the errand. I was driving down the road from GD into town when a car came speeding in the opposite direction. Pissed off that the smartest people in the world would risk their lives like that , I flipped on the lights and pulled a u-turn. The car pulled over quickly.
I put the car in park and got out. Walking up to the vehicle I had the feeling that I knew this car. I shook it off until I reached the door. There was Jason Anderson with Beverly Barlow in the passengers seat. I was intrigued by that fact. Beverly ran the local B&B. Of course sometimes she was the resident therapist. Still it didn't excuse the speeding.
"You know how fast you were going?" I asked. They both looked uncomfortable. It made the detective side of me wake up and take notice.
"Sorry sheriff. I was trying to work through my frustration." Jason answered.
"Uh huh." I said. If he chose to cheat on his wife that was his problem.
"It's not like that sheriff. We were having a session." Beverly chimed in.
"Right. Well , you're still getting a ticket." I told them.
"We really can't be seen together." Beverly whispered to Jason. I realized at that moment that I had left my ticket book in the jeep.
"I got to get my book." I said and walked back to the jeep. I found it hiding under the seat and turned back to the car. Jason got out of the car and started walking toward me. My instincts went on high alert.
"Get back in the car." I said watching his every move.
"Look sheriff we can't have it get out that we were together." Jason said. I had had enough at this point. I pushed on the radio in my ear.
"Yeah , Carter." Jo said.
"Yeah , I need some back up out on the road to GD." I told her. I started to write the tag number down.
"Sorry about this sheriff." Jason said and there was a flash. I was standing in the road wondering what the hell I was doing there. I heard a car approaching and turned to see Jo pull up and jump out , gun drawn.
"What's the problem?" Jo asked. I stared at her in confusion. I had no idea why I was here let alone what she was talking about. She seemed to sense my confusion.
"You called for back up. So where's the trouble?" She asked again. I was lost. I had no memory of talking with her since I left GD.
"I can't remember." I told her honestly. She looked at me like I had lost my mind. At that point anything was possible.
Once we got back to the station I had been running everything over in my mind. I brought my ticket book in with me. That was my only clue. I had it in my hand for a reason. Just one that I couldn't remember. I looked over it now. There was a partial tag number. That might help.
"Look at this. It's a partial tag number. I think I was writing someone a ticket when I called you. The only question is who." I told Jo. She looked at the book and went to her computer. She put the numbers in and waited while it searched. I stood behind her. In a few minutes it revealed that there were to many possibilities. I was pissed. That was the only clue. Jo walked over to the window while I tried to remember anything.
"Wait a minute. Try this. 36H-59L." Jo said. I typed the numbers in and was instantly rewarded. The name Jason Anderson flashed on the screen. Well , that explains who.
"How did you know the rest of it?" I asked her. She merely pointed out the window. Parked in front of Cafe Diem was Jason's car with the tag clearly visable. How the hell was it that I didn't remember anything?
"I passed that car when I was driving to you." Jo said. I was about to say we should go confront him when the door opened and Henry walked in.
"Henry. What brings you here?" I asked.
"I think that Jason did something." He said. I was thoroughly intrigued now.
"Let me guess. You're missing a chunk of time?" I asked. He started at me and nodded.
"Kim and I were trying to fix the problem with the field. I put on a pot of coffee and the next minute Jason walks in a solves it. I bump my hand against the pot and get burnt. It was full. A whole pot of coffee made in seconds." Henry attempts to explain.
"Is it possible that he has some kind of time stopper?" I ask.
"That wouldn't explain why we can't remember." Henry pointed out.
"Well , how about a memory wiper?" I suggested. Henry looked thoughtful for a minute.
"I guess he could. Either way he has something that he's using." Henry conceeded.
"Alright. Then lets go have a talk with him." I say and we walk across the street into the cafe. Jason is sitting alone reading the paper. I walk behind him , Jo takes my left and Henry my right. I lean down to talk in his ear.
"I need you to come with me." I tell him. He looks up to see the three of us. Jo's hand poised over her gun.
"Sorry. That's not going to happen." He says as he stands up. I draw my gun and pull the trigger. Then there's a flash that has nothing to do with my gun. I blink rapidly to clear my head. Henry is standing in front of me holding his arm looking just as confused. Jo takes in the scene and rushes to Henry's side.
"Why did you shoot Henry , Carter?" She asks and I think about the last thing I remember. I was at the office. I have no clue how we ended up here and why I had my gun out. Jo looks at me expectantly.
"I....I don't remember." I tell her.
Back at GD Henry is looked over and is going to be fine. Allison looks pissed. I still have no clue what happened and after everyone is questioned , not a single person saw me draw my gun and shoot him. The whole thing unnerves me. How can I not remember a thing like that? As I'm thinking Allison and Stark walk up. Allison offers me a small smile while Stark looks at me strangely.
"I'm sorry , Carter , but I need your gun." Allison says quietly.
"Really? I'm not gonna massacre the town." I say. Stark actually chuckles , but Allison remains stern. I hand over my gun and walk off.
Jo and I arrive back at the office and I notice something out of place. My ticket book is sitting on the desk. That isn't right. I always keep it in the backseat of the jeep. I pick it up and look over it. There is a partial tag number written on a ticket. I look at Jo who is eying me funny.
"Look at this Jo." I tell her and hand her the book. She looks at the page and looks at me confused.
"It's a partial. So you started to write a ticket and changed your mind." She says , obviously not getting it.
"Jo where do I keep my book?" I ask trying again to convey this to her.
"In the backseat." She answers.
"Exactly so what is it doing here? And that partial , I bet that has the answer to what happened." I tell her. She rolls her eyes and goes to sit at her desk. She eyes the computer strangely before looking at me.
"What's the first three numbers on that ticket?" She asked. Now I'm the one who's confused. I look at it and tell her anyway.
"36H. Why?" I ask her. She shakes her head at the computer.
"Because I have a Jason Anderson pulled up that matches that number." She says. I was about to say something when the door opens and Zoe walks in. She looks at me in a way that tells me she's mad and it's directed at me.
"You didn't bring me my costume." She says. Damn , I forgot about that. Before I can apologize she speaks again.
"That's okay though because I got a different part." With that she walks right back out headed home I guess. I look back at Jo and remember what we were discussing before.
"Okay. So we are missing chunks of time and it all points toward Anderson. How much do you want to bet that we went to Cafe Diem to confront him and he zapped our memory with a device again?" I ask her. She thinks it over for a minute and agrees with me. I tell her to stay here while I go to GD to talk with Anderson. That way if I get zapped again at least she'll remember.
I walk into GD and head to Stark's office. He needs to know about the whole thing. I walk in without knocking and find him shifting through papers. He looks up and sees me. I feel my breath hitch as I notice that the top two buttons of his shirt are undone. Giving me a nice view of his tanned skin. I try to refocus my thoughts before they get out of hand.
"Can I help you , Carter?" He asks focusing hard on his work.
"Anderson has a device. Something that he's using to make people forget things." I tell him the best I can. He looks at me like I have three heads.
"Sure he does , Carter. Is that why you shot Henry?" He asks sarcastically. It pisses me off.
"Look , I think that we worked it out and went to confront him at the Cafe. He used the device on us to make it seem like I shot Henry on purpose so that he would get away scott free." I told him. He sighed and looked me in the eye.
"There is no such device. You shot Henry for some reason and trying to place the blame on someone else won't help matters." He said getting up to usher me out of his office. I was royally pissed now.
"You just can't even entertain the idea that I may be right can you?" I ask angrily.
"Maybe you've lost your mind Carter. Either way stay away from him." Stark snaps back and I find myself entranced with the way his lips move. I find myself leaning toward him. He is still looking at me and thoroughly pissed off at me now. I can't control it. He's just to damn inticing when he's like this. I crash my lips to his and hold it there for a second. Then I remember what I'm doing and who I'm doing it with. I turn and run out of the office and out of GD.
I make it home before the thoughts of what I've just done creep in on me. I kissed Nathan. I can't believe that I did that. Even more unbelievable is that I liked it. Hell , who am I kidding? I loved it. In fact , my entire body loved it. Especially seeing as how I'm sporting the biggest hard on right now. I bury my head in the pillow and pray that I wake up tomorrow to find that the whole day has been a bad dream.
In the morning I ignore any one in the hopes that I will not be reminded of what I did last night. Henry stops by as soon as I walk in and for a brief moment I'm afraid that Stark sent him. Then I remember that I did shoot the man.
"Henry. I'm so sorry. But I think that Jason is behind this entire thing." I proceed to explain everything that Jo and I discovered when we returned to the station and the theory that we have about the shooting. Henry believes us. Now we make a plan to confront him. I got the idea when I walked downstairs to find Zoe practicing and a kid filming the whole thing.
We go to GD and get Stark. I avoid his eyes and he does the same. Jo tells him what we plan to do. He agrees to come with us and we walk to his office and call Jason up. While we're waiting I glance at Nathan and find him staring at me. Before I turn my head I catch the small smile on his face. Maybe this won't be so bad. Maybe he feels the same way. I'm pulled back to reality when Jason walks in the door.
"I never though you would steal from me. I trusted you. What else have you done that other people did first?" Henry asks. Jason takes us all in.
"You can't honestly believe them?" He asks Stark.
"Of course I do. Now where is the memory wiping device?" Stark asks coldly. Jason bows his head and sighs.
"I guess I need to wipe your memory further." He says as he pulls something out of his pocket. Next thing I know we are all standing there in confusion. Allison walks in a minute later and rips my shirt open. At first I'm shocked at her behavior. Until I look down and find the camera. Curious I look at her for answers. We follow her and watch what has been recorded. Jason is testing the vest at the moment.
We all walk down to confront him , but are stopped by Kim. She looks at us apologetically then we are standing there wondering what happened. I run a hand over my chest and feel something. Opening my shirt I find the camera. In Allison's hand is a portable screen. It doesn't take long to figure out that Kim has realized what Jason has been doing and plans to get revenge. We make our way down to the testing facility. Jason is already strapped up and waiting for the first round.
"Wait!" I scream.
"We're testing sorry." Jason responds. Stark steps in.
"Kim has your memory device. I bet she used it on you. Do you really trust her to go through with the test?" He asks. Jason looks at her.
"I only turned the power down. Just enough so that it would hurt. He stole so much from me." Kim explains. Jo takes them both away. I stand there thinking over what I have been forced to forget. I look over at Stark and feel like there's something with him that I should remember.
"Do you feel like there's something that happened between us that you should remember?" I ask. He looks at me for a minute and nods.
"I guess we'll never know." He says and walks out. It bugs me the rest of the day , but I know that I can never retrieve that memory so I let it go. Jason is stripped of his discoveries and sent away. Kim was released since she didn't really do anything. Zoe's play goes off without a hitch. It is a strange one though. I wait for her outside thinking once again about Stark. I barely notice when he walks up beside me.
"I'm sorry that I didn't believe you." He says. I look at him. It's the first time I've heard him apologize. I like this new side of him.
"That's alright." I say. He just nods. We stand there in silence for a while. I can feel the heat coming off him and it makes my heart accelerate.
"Goodnight , Jack." He says and walks off. I stare after him.
"Goodnight , Nathan." I say to his retreating back. Amazed that he has actually called me by my first name.
GOOD GOD THAT WAS LONG....PLEASE SOMEONE REVIEW....I LIKE IT WHEN YOU REVIEW...MAKES ME FEEL LIKE PEOPLE ACTUALLY LIKE THE STORY...DON'T MAKE ME BEG....