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....

Man Of Steel

JCPOV

It's been a week since I've seen Stark. In that time I've evaluated my feelings toward the man. Yes , I find him attractive. Yes , I kissed him. Yes , I pleasured myself to thoughts of him. Yet in the time I've had to think about it , I've come to the conclusion that it was all because of that stupid project. It had to be. I can't have feelings for Stark. I was married to Abby for years and we were happy. She gave me Zoe.

"Carter!" Allison startles me out of my thoughts.

"Sorry. I was thinking." I tell her. I know she has her suspicions about why I haven't been near GD. I just hope she's way off.

"You need to get your physical so we can insure you. You needed to be at GD at 9." She says. I hate doctors.

"Look that's just tempting fate. You know , 'Insure a cop today , he's dead tomorrow.' " I tell her. She gives me a stern look.

"If you don't get the physical , we can't employ you." She said with finality.

"Do I have to?" I whine at her. I really hate seeing a doctor.

Before she could answer , the phone rang. Jo answered as I listened intently. Please need me. I wanted to get away. Maybe a case would buy me enough time so she might forget I need to get the damn physical. A guy can hope.

"That was Carl Carlson." Jo said and Allison nodded in acknowledgment.

"Well , what did he need?" I asked , eager for something to do.

"A ride. He always got a ride to work on important days from sheriff Cobb." Jo explained. Yes , something to do.

"Well , I guess I'm busy." I told Allison and headed out the door. I made it to my jeep before I realized that I had no idea where the man lived. I sighed and walked back in.

"Where am I going?" I asked. Jo handed me a post it with his address on it. I ran back out and headed to Carl's.

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Ten minutes later I was pulling up to a decent sized house. A man was standing in the doorway , looking nervous. He came off as odd. I climbed out and walked toward him.

"Who are you? Where's Cobb?" He asked anxiously , backing away as I approached.

"I'm sheriff Carter. I replaced Cobb when he retired. There was a town meeting about it." I explained.

"Okay. I need sheriff Cobb. He always drove me to work on special days." He said and retreated back in the house , slamming the door. I walked up and knocked. Carl opened the door , but frowned when he saw me.

"You're not sheriff Cobb." He stated. This guy had issues.

"Well , he moved so can I give you a ride or not?" I asked. He looked torn.

"Fine , but I hope your jeep is clean." He replied as he shut the door. Then he did the oddest thing. He checked that the door was locked five times before he walked to the jeep.

"Okay. Let's get you to work." I said.

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Twenty minutes later we arrived at GD. Carl Carlson was obviously a germaphobe. It took five minutes before he would get in the car. He had to sanitize the seat. As thankful as I was for the excuse to get out of my physical , I was at my limit with Carl.

"Well , here you are , Carl." I told him and turned to leave , before I ran into one or both of the people I was avoiding.

"But sheriff Cobb always came down to my lab with me." Carl said. I turned around to tell him no and spotted Allison headed my way.

"Okay. Lead the way." I told him. We caught the elevator in time to escape Allison.

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"Do I really need to wear this?" I asked Carl. I was covered in scrubs from head to toe. I felt like an idiot.

"Yes. I can't introduce any outside organisms." He told me.

"So what are you working on?" I asked.

"Regeneration. I hope to find a way to allow humans to regenerate missing limbs like lizards can regenerate their tails. Now , stand back. I have to put one drop in , no more." Carl said as he carefully positioned a dropper over the beaker sitting inside a machine.

I watched as he carefully let one drop fall. He breathed a sigh of relief. He turned around to look at me and I heard something fall. He spun around and looked down at the beaker. I had a bad feeling about this.

"Uh-oh." Carl said.

"Uh-oh?! What does that mean?" I asked.

"Run!" Carl yelled , but it was to late. I was blasted through the window as the beaker of chemicals exploded and the world went black.

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NPOV

It's been a long week filled with thoughts of Carter. That kiss blew me away , but after a week of thought I can see it in a new light. On his part it had to be the project. My part was the one I was confused about. I couldn't have feelings for Carter. I was married to Allison for years. I loved her. Most importantly I wasn't gay.

I was thrust out of my thoughts by an explosion in the building. This wasn't as rare as one would think. Still as head of GD I needed to check it out. I headed toward the scene , following the emergency personnel. Carl Carlson's lab. What a surprise.

"What happened here?" I asked the nearest person.

"It was my fault , sir. I knocked the vial into the beaker." Carlson said.

"You've caused enough problems around here that I have no reason to doubt it was your fault." I told him.

"We need some help over here!" One of the guys yelled from the next room. The emergency squad ran to help and were carrying someone out moments later.

"Oh my God , Carter." Allison said.

My heart was racing. It was worse than last week. He was cut up from going through the window. He looked so innocent. My stomach clenched at the sight of him so vulnerable , so hurt. I managed to control myself as they carried him off to the infirmary. That was the last straw. Carlson had hurt Carter. He had to go.

"You're fired , Carlson. The team will be by shortly." I told him then headed back to my office.

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JCPOV

I awoke in the infirmary at GD. The memory of what landed me here slowly came back to me. I had been with Carl when he knocked the vial over causing an explosion. That threw me through a window. I sat up slowly and looked around. I seemed to be the only one who was injured.

"Carter. How are you feeling?" Allison asked.

"Like I was thrown through a window." I said sarcastically.

"This wouldn't have happened if you had come to take your physical." She said. I preferred to think that this was the cause. It was a curse.

"Yeah , yeah. Can I go?" I asked.

"Yes , you can. You need to oversee Carlson's expulsion from Eureka. And here." She said and slapped something on my neck.

"Oww. What the hell?" I asked rubbing the spot she had hit.

"That's a portable physical. Don't try to remove it." She said as she handed me my clothes and closed the partition.

I got dressed and walked out. I had no idea what she meant about Carl. I really wanted to stay away from Carl.

"So what did you mean about Carl?" I asked as we walked out of the infirmary.

"He's been fired. That means that a cleaning team will be making sure that all GD materials are returned and then he will be escorted from Eureka. You need to make sure he signs all the paperwork and then take him to the city limits." Allison explained.

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I pulled up to Carl's house and was shocked at the activity. There were men everywhere. Taking boxes out of Carl's house as he watched helplessly. I walked up to him.

"Hey , Carl. How are you" I asked.

"I have nothing left. And I have to sign this." He said pointing to a four foot stack of papers.

"Well , do you have a place to stay tonight?" I asked.

"No. I don't even have a toothbrush." He said. I felt kinda bad for him.

"You can stay with me if you want. My house is a smart house so you know it's germ free." I suggested. He looked like he had won the lottery.

"Thank you. I'll be by later." He said. I headed to the house to get his room set up.

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"What are you doing , dad?" Zoe asked as she came in from school.

"We are having a guest stay with us. He should be along as soon as he finishes a mountain of paperwork." I told her as I finished making the bed.

"Why is he staying here?" Zoe asked.

"Well , he was fired and they took his house." I told her. She was about to say something when my phone rang.

"Carter." I answered.

"Sheriff. I won't be needing that room after all." Carl said. I was confused.

"Where are you Carl?" I asked , worried that he was doing something stupid.

"Da Vinci bridge." He answered. Shit!

"Wait till I get there." I said and headed out the door.

I pulled up on the bridge and found Carl standing over the rail. The idiot was going to jump because he got fired.

"Carl..." I said gently.

"You didn't need to come." Carl said.

"Well , you don't let friends do things like this." I said as I climbed over the rail next to him.

"What are you doing? We aren't friends. No one likes me." Carl said.

"Of course I'm your friend. How about we go and get a beer." I suggested.

"I don't drink beer. A bar is way to dirty." Carl said. Of course he was a germaphobe.

"Well , my fridge has beer. What do you say?" I asked. He thought about it for a minute then nodded.

"Okay. Let's get out of here." He said and started to climb back over the railing. He was almost over when his hand hit one of his wet wipes and he slipped. He grabbed my hand and we both fell. As I fell behind him I thought of Nathan. Would he miss me when I was dead? I should have given it a chance. I hit Carl and the world went black for the second time today.

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I could hear ringing. Was that supposed to be in heaven? I opened my eyes and saw the bridge above me. I wasn't dead. How the hell was that possible? I fell at least a hundred feet. I should be dead. I looked around for Carl , but he was gone. There was a hole where he hit. What the hell was going on here? I realized the ringing was my phone and answered it.

"Hello." I said. My ribs hurt when I breathed.

"Carter , are you okay? Your vitals went crazy." Allison's voice met my ears.

"I fell. How did you know anyway?" I asked.

"Your portable physical. It seems that you may have broken a bone. What did you fall off of?" She said.

"Just great." I said avoiding the question. "I gotta go." I told her. I needed to find Carl.

I walked back up to the road and after a long time I made it to Henry's. I walked to a chair and called out to him. He emerged from under the hood of a car. He was covered in grease and oil. He looked at me and rushed over.

"What happened ,Jack?" He asked.

"I fell. Have you seen Carl Carlson?" I asked.

"He was here , but he ran off. Did he have anything to do with what happened to you?" Henry said.

"I fell off the bridge after him. I landed on him and when I woke up he was gone." I told him.

"Jack , I think you hit your head pretty hard. No one could have survived that fall and Carl didn't look that bad." Henry said slowly.

"We really did fall from the bridge." I told him. He looked at me like I was crazy.

"Okay , let's get you checked out." He said. We climbed in his car and headed to GD.

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Later that night Allison called to tell me that they had brought Carl in for testing. It seems that he met Stark at Cafe Diem and stabbed his own hand. The freaky part was that it healed itself. I headed out to GD. This may explain why he had survived the fall. I pulled up and made my way in. I ran into Stark on my way to the lab they were holding Carl in.

"Sheriff." He said. I was still avoiding the man so this was awkward.

"Stark." I said. He joined me as I limped toward the elevator.

"Are you okay?" He asked as we got in. I looked at him carefully. He looked concerned.

"Just fell off a bridge." I said and he nodded. We stood in silence as we headed to our floor.

"Look about last week..." He started , but we came to a stop and Allison met us at the door. She didn't look happy.

"Carl's gone. He telekinetically threw stuff at on of the lab assistants and ran. We need to track him down. We need to find him quickly." She said.

"So his brain power is increasing as well as his ability to heal." Nathan said.

"Actually we think that his healing was a part of his increased brain power. We need to get him back here so we can figure out where this is taking him." Allison said.

"I'll start in town. Call if you find him." I told them and left. I wanted to get out before Nathan could talk to me about the kiss last week. I know that I was regretting not settling things when I thought I was going to die , but that conversation scared me. I drove back to town thinking about him.

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I spotted Carl as I pulled up outside Cafe Diem. He was holding his head and muttering to himself. He looked like hell. I walked carefully up to him. I figured that he might listen to me before anyone from GD.

"Carl , are you okay?" I asked. He looked up at me in fear.

"They want to study me. They won't let me go. I need to get away from here." He said frantically. I was stuck by the thought that he must feel like a lab rat.

"They only want to help you. You have no idea what this will do to you." I told him. That was as far as we got when cars pulled up. Security from GD jumped out of the cars along with Stark and Allison.

"Carl , you need to come with us." Stark said.

"I know what your hiding , Stark. Maybe you should tell everyone who you kissed." Carl taunted him. My heart stopped. I didn't want everyone to know what had happened between us. I shot a look at Nathan and he seemed to mirror my thoughts. Suddenly one of the security guys fired the gun he was holding. Carl held up his hand and deflected the bullet. I felt a burning in my chest and looked down.

"Carter!" Nathan yelled and ran to me. I saw the hole in my shirt and realized that the bullet had hit me. I fell toward the ground and felt Nathan's arms catch me.

I watched them tackle Carl to the ground and Allison call for help. Nathan was staring at me with a look of fear on his face. I wanted to erase that look from his handsome face. It didn't belong there. I wanted to tell him that I was fine , but I couldn't speak. Nathan leaned in closer and spoke to me.

"Please be okay. I need you to be okay. I...I..." That was all I heard. The world turned black again. I had a fleeting thought that I really needed to have a day without blacking out before I was lost to the darkness.

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NPOV

Carter passed out and I was scared. I hadn't been able to tell him that I had feelings for him. All the times he had been in danger today put it in perspective. I didn't care that the whole thing was confusing. I needed to let myself follow this where it took me. I wanted to be able to be with him if he would let me. I needed to tell him and the consequences be damned.

He was ripped from my arms and taken to the infirmary. It didn't look good. Carlson was screaming that he could help. I was willing to give him a chance when the doctors said that they couldn't fix the damage. I watched as Carl moved his hands over the wound. He had his eyes shut in concentration and he started to glow. I watched in amazement as the bullet lifted out of Carter's chest and the wound glowed. Just as Carter gasped for breath Carl shimmered and disappeared like smoke. Carter was left alone. I sighed in relief.

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JCPOV

They had told me what had happened after I passed out. It seemed that Carl destroyed himself saving me. I was thankful. I still hadn't talked to Stark about everything that had happened since last week. When I had awoken after getting shot I saw him looking relieved and that was it. We hadn't seen each other since. All the near death experiences let me admit to myself that I cared for him. I couldn't deny that any longer. I decided that it was his move. I didn't want to scare him off. When he was ready he would come talk to me. I was glad for the few days off I had. It gave me all the time I could want to fantasize about Nathan. He really was hot in my mind. I did learn the first time though not to call out his name or Sarah would wind up calling him one day. That would be an awkward conversation.

PUSH THE BUTTON AT THE BOTTOM....YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO...