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....

Speed

JPOV

"Tell me again why I couldn't have stopped for coffee first?" I asked Jo. She knew I was cranky when I didn't get my coffee.

"Look , this woman hit something and I can't find it. If you like we can wait till someone else hits the thing." Jo snapped at me. Testy today.

"Wow. What happened?" Henry asked as he climbed out of the tow truck.

"Hit something." I told him simply.

"Any idea what?" Henry asked. It was hard to keep my temper in check without my normal coffee fix.

"Jo can't seem to find it." I told him , glaring in her direction. She just sneered right back.

"No coffee this morning." Henry stated. I sent him a glare as well.

I focused my attention on the vehicle. Whatever she had hit had done a number on the car. Fluid was leaking freely from under it and the front end was a twisted heap of metal. Seeing no clue on the car I looked at the scene surrounding us. It was a deserted road with trees lining each side of it. There were skid marks where the car had been turned by the impact. Other than that there seemed to be no evidence of another object. I was starting to question the validity of the woman. Sure there was damage to her car , but she may have hit a tree and claimed that it was something else to avoid trouble. I was about to suggest this to Jo when Taggart came walking out of the tree line decked out in full camo.

"Taggart. What are you doing?" I asked trying to contain my laughter at his appearance.

"Tracking." He answered as though it was obvious.

"Tracking what?" I asked.

"Tall , hairy , savage. Large shoe size too." He answered with a smirk. I was at a loss.

"Please tell me your not on your big foot search again." Jo said as she walked up with Henry at her side. I didn't even try to contain the laughter this time. There was no way she was serious. The smartest people in the world live here and Taggart may be a bit eccentric , but no one was going to claim that big foot existed here. Taggart scowled at her.

"He likes the dense forests and the climate would be ideal." Taggart exclaimed. I stopped laughing immediately.

"You can't be serious?" I asked incredulously.

"Of course I am sheriff." Taggart said.

"And you called me crazy for wanting to start a baseball team." I said to Jo.

"Well , that is crazy in this town." She said.

"Can we get back to finding what caused the accident? And it wasn't big foot." I said hastily as Taggart opened his mouth.

"I was going to suggest you look that way sheriff." Taggart said pointing behind me.

I turned to look in the direction he indicated. Sure enough there was a path of destruction in the tree line. I shot a look at Jo. She had missed this? It was kind of hard to miss. I followed the broken path. Whatever had crashed through here had caused serious damage. I had no ideas that we would find whatever it was alive. Anything that had come through here would be in pieces. I came through a patch of trees and found a large lake , but that wasn't all. Laying limp against a tree was the mangled body of what I assumed was a man. It was hard to make out any features of the body.

"I found it." I yelled to the rest of them.

A collective gasp announced their arrival. I turned to see Jo with her hand over her mouth and I couldn't blame her. It was rather gruesome. I found myself wondering how the woman had failed to see the person that now lay broken a hundred feet from the car that hit him. Henry , Taggart and I managed to carry the remains up to the road without any further damage. Jo had to dash behind a group of trees to rid herself of her breakfast. She joined us again as we placed the body on a stretcher that Henry had in the back of the truck. We all surveyed the body with interest. I noticed a ridge on the forearm.

"What's that?" I asked.

Henry scanned the area with a portable MRI he had developed. It resembled a pen.

"That would be a tracking device. It serves the purpose of one except it is used by GD for identification purposes. He was either a scientist or an experiment." Henry explained as the scanner revealed a quarter sized disc just beneath the skin.

"I know how we can figure out who it is then." I said as I pulled out my phone and dialed Allie. She picked up rather quickly.

"Carter. I want to join your team if you ever get enough people." She said as way of a greeting.

"That's nice , but it's not why I was calling. We have a body here that has a GD tracking device in it's arm. Maybe you could come help us figure out who we have here and keep it quiet." I stated in full on business mode.

"Of course. I'll be right there." She said and hung up.

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Twenty minutes later there was a line of black suvs that came to a screeching halt in front of us. Allison stepped out of the first one followed by none other than Nathan Stark. Damn that woman!

"Carter." Allison said as the reached our group.

"Blake. Stark." I said showing my contempt at her disloyalty.

"Carter , I had to inform Nathan. It's GD protocol." She said apologetically. I wasn't giving in that easily.

"Take the body and get it back to GD." Stark said. He was avoiding making eye contact. I didn't blame him. I knew that the town had been whispering about the two of us since the missile incident. Everyone seemed to believe that we were the perfect match for each other. In reality we hadn't spoken since he helped me out of the jeep.

I was not exactly eager to get around to a conversation with him. My feelings had only grown in the time apart. Zoe had talked me to death about it. Always wanting me to tell her how I felt about Nathan. Hinting that it would be a great thing if we would get together. I chose to feign ignorance. It was easier that way. I hadn't given in to her demands to discuss the issue.

"You do realize that this is an investigation and the body is a huge piece of evidence." I told Nathan , still looking at him.

"It may be , but he was a section five employee and I rank higher than you so I am in charge now." Nathan said coldly. I watched as the team gathered up the body and Nathan ordered Henry to take the car to GD for examination as well. Henry didn't argue. Jo and I left.

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I was so pissed off I couldn't think straight. Jo watched as I paced back and forth. We had left the scene hours ago and I was still angry that Nathan had taken the body away. I was the sheriff in this damn town and it was my job to look into things like this. He just had to exert that snotty authority of his though. Allison had called earlier to apologize , but Jo insisted that I was out. I wasn't about to accept an apology when the injustice was still going on.

"Maybe if we find out what happened then they will have to turn the case back over to us." Jo suggested. It was a nice thought , but we had no evidence to start with. The body would have been the only place to get any answers and that was being held in GD. No way were they going to let us examine it.

"Jo , we have no body , no evidence and no idea where to look." I stated plainly. The door to the office banged shut and I turned to find Henry standing there with a smile on his face.

"I have the next best thing." He said as he held up the MRI he had used earlier.

"How can a scanner help?" I asked.

"Like this." He said and turned the device on. A holographic image of the mangled body appeared on the desk.

"This is great Henry. Maybe those goons from GD missed something at the scene. You work with this and we'll be back." I told him , grabbing my keys and heading out the door , Jo right behind me.

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NPOV

I hated the fact that I had to be so mean to Carter , but I had to follow the rules. I was personally quite content to let him get to the bottom of this mystery , but Allison had reminded me that it was my responsibility. I could have been nicer when I informed him of the reason that I had to take the case from him , but I knew that the stubbornness in him required a more forceful approach. Still I didn't have to like what I had to do. In fact I loathed my job at the moment.

On top of this investigation I had two teams competing to finish a prototype in the next few days. Fargo led one team and that required a lot of attention on it's own. He was the most accident prone person in town , possibly the world. I swear trouble lives to mess with him. All in all I was a busy man. I needed to keep my thoughts on work and away from Carter. Allison already bugs me about the man constantly. She refused to let me remain silent about my feelings toward him. Even after I yell at her she still insists that I tell him how I feel. I usually ended up with a headache.

I had a team working on the body that Carter recovered. It was obvious that something was going on around here and I intend to get to the bottom of it. Even more since Carter was convinced that we couldn't handle an investigation. Someone knew something about what had happened and once the body was identified I would have something to go on.

It wasn't long before identification was made. It was one of the team members I had working on the prototype. He belonged to the rival team of section five guys working against Fargo. They had to know something. They spent so much time together since I assigned the task that they practically lived together. I needed to meet with the team and question them.

My line of questioning got me no where. They claimed that he had been ill and was sent home sometime yesterday. I was inclined to believe that they were hiding something. I wasn't going to let that slow me down though. I would never live it down if I needed Carter to solve this thing. He would taunt me relentlessly. I had to figure this out. I was deep in thought when I was alerted that Carter was having lunch in the cafeteria with Allison. I knew that meant that he was up to something. I made my way down there and found the two of them standing at the table of the rest of the dead man's team. Carter was holding a device that was projecting an image of the body.

"Having fun , Carter? I thought I told you that you were off the case." I told him. I had to hand it to him , he was persistent.

"One of them know what this guy was on and I want to know what they know." Carter said. The men looked like they were about to heavy.

"Why do you think that they know what happened? And drugs really?" I asked skeptically. Why would scientists need to do drugs?

"Because these guys are eating way to much. That drug we found in the victims blood would have accelerated his body's functions. They need extra food to compensate." Carter said. It was a rather smart assessment , but I was still unclear as to why the food thing would be a sure clue. Maybe they were just hungry.

"Carter , just because they have a lot of food doesn't mean they are doped up." I said. Carter looked ready to blow a gasket , but at that moment there was a rush of air and we all looked around. Fargo was twitching uncontrollable and moving at warp speed. One moment he was standing the next he was seated with a tray filled with food. Carter smirked at me.

"You were saying?" He said sarcastically. I had to give in to his theory now. Damn the man for being right.

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JCPOV

I had done it. The scowl on Nathan's face was rewarding. He had no intention of letting me solve this case , but now he was forced to let me work it. I had them put the entire team in lock up. I wanted them to stay there overnight. All those hours without their wonder drug would make interrogation easier. If they were going through withdrawal they would let the truth slip out. Nathan was skeptical of the plan just like he had been of everything else since this began. I thoroughly enjoyed his frustration.

I made my way home. Sarah hated it when I was late for dinner. I swear I came to this town a single man. I had left my wife , Zoe's mother , when it was obvious that we no longer worked the way we had in the beginning. Since moving here though I had gained another nagging wife. This one was none other than my own house. Only in this town. Zoe was in the kitchen when I walked in.

"Hey dad." She said.

"Hey , Zo. Beer me Sarah." I requested. It had been one of those days.

"Bad day , dad?" Zoe asked as I picked up my glass of beer out of the door of the refrigerator.

"Yep. Have you done your homework?" I asked looking over the file I had concerning the case. Henry had given me the info he had and I had seized a bottle of what Fargo had stolen out of the lab the team was working in.

"Yes , dad. Have you talked to Nathan about how much you like him?" Zoe asked. I choked on my beer.

"Zoe! Drop it. It's never going to happen okay." I told her sternly. I was tired and Nathan was at the top of my list of things I didn't want to discuss.

"Whatever you say dad , but I know he has the hots for you to." Zoe said and my retort was interrupted by Sarah.

"There is someone at the door , sheriff." She stated. I had no idea who it could be , but I was ready for the work day to be over.

"Oh , that would be the friend I made today." Zoe said as she made her way to the door.

"You made a friend? That's great. What's her name?" I asked as I made for the couch.

"His name is Dylan." Zoe said casually.

"Sarah we need to talk about increasing security." I said as the color drained out of my face.

"I am equipped with the best security on the market , sheriff." She said.

"I mean against boys." I told her. There was no way one of the little fuckers was going to get to my baby girl. I don't care if Sarah zaps them or incinerates them.

"Dad , this is Dylan." Zoe said as the snot nosed punk walked in the door. He had black hair and looked generally shifty.

"You know I own a gun right?" I said as a greeting. I was making sure that he understood I had no problem shooting him.

"Dad! Come on Dylan , let's go study." Zoe said , leading him up to her room.

"Keep an eye on that boy , Sarah." I told her as I walked back to the couch.

"Yes , sheriff." Sarah replied.

It took me an hour to make my way through the file that I had. It was pretty clear that whatever they had been juicing with was highly dangerous. Henry had recreated the accident and determined that the guy had hit the car. It would have been a joke except for the fact that he had discovered that the man was running at over 500 miles an hour. Apparently he had tripped and hit the car. I picked up the vial of clear liquid that Fargo had stolen. It was an unknown drug so I would need to take it to Henry in the morning. My guess was rocket fuel.

Suddenly there was a burst of wind. I fell off the couch as the file scattered. I looked up in alarm. The papers were strewn around the room and the vial was no where to be found. I heard Zoe running down the stairs as I spotted a message on the wall.

"What was that dad?" She asked in a scared voice.

"A warning." I said and pointed at the wall.

Written in pencil was a threat. ' Back Off.' It was obvious that someone wanted the case dropped. My first instinct was that one of the suspects had escaped GD to get the vial back. I was also inclined to think that there was someone else involved. Tomorrow was going to be another long day , but I was going to get this guy.

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In the morning I was met by Jo at GD. We were going to interrogate the guys from section five today. They had sat long enough. We met with Allison and Nathan outside the holding cells. I watched the monitor that showed the three of them. The were all twitching horribly. Perfect.

"Are you sure they have been here all night?" I asked. I needed to eliminate them as the thief.

"Yes. We would have noticed if they left. Besides , they are secured to the chairs." Allison said.

"Well , someone broke into my house last night. Someone moving to fast for Sarah to catch." I told them.

"Do you plan to ever talk to them?" Nathan asked condescendingly.

"When they're ready." I said.

"Will that be sometime this year?" Nathan said sarcastically.

Silence overcame us as one of the guys shook unnaturally and shouted to be let out. This was what I had been waiting for. He was ready to spill his guts.

"He's ready." I said and Jo followed me into the room.

"Have a nice night?" I asked conversationally. The guy looked tempted to rip my head off. I took the tape recorder out of my pocket and handed it to Jo. I heard Nathan make a comment about it , but ignored him.

"Someone broke into my house last night and since you and your buddies are all stuck in here that means that there's someone else out there. Now how about you tell me about that." I started. He looked at the door and refused to make eye contact. So he was going to be stubborn.

"Look we know you and your friends have been juicing with whatever that crap was. Now we know there was someone else. Your friend died from the stuff so you're looking at murder. It would be in your best interest to talk before I walk out that door." I told him. He remained quiet.

Jo and I started to walk out. We made it to the door before he spoke. I had to smile at Nathan through the door. He cocked an eyebrow at my smile. He was so cute. For a minute my heart skipped a beat as I thought about him giving me that look in a completely different context. I snapped back to the task at hand. I turned and walked back to the suspect.

"Please. We thought it would be okay. We just needed something to keep up. We had to finish and this was the only wayyyyyyyyyyyy..." Was as far as he got. He seemed to freeze. I looked at Jo , but she was just as lost as I was. I looked toward Nathan and Allison , but they were clueless to. I waved my hand in front of his face , but he showed no sign of recognition. We walked back out to join Nathan and Allison. I was pissed.

"I was this close." I said holding up two fingers to demonstrate this.

"Their bodies must be trying to compensate for the drug. They've slowed down to a stop." Nathan said. I stared through the door. If only there was some way to hear what he had been saying. I looked at Jo again. She was watching the guy , still holding the tape recorder. Wait a minute.

"Jo give me the recorder." I said as they all looked at me like I was crazy. I rewound the tape and hit play. Once it got to where he froze I sped it up. His voice came through at normal speed.

"He told us that it was safe in moderate doses. He had been taking it as well. Even though he was an intern we trusted him." I shut the tape off. We had the info we needed to find this other suspect. I caught the expression of awe on Nathan's face and smirked at him.

"Do you have a list of interns at GD?" I asked. This guy had to have access to GD and my house. How he got in and out without me knowing the door opened was still a mystery....

"Is one of them named Dylan?" I asked , dreading the answer.

"Yes , there is one Dylan. Why?" Nathan asked.

"That's my daughter's boyfriend. That son of a bitch was hiding in plain sight. He was at the house last night studying with Zoe." I explained and ran off. I had to get to Zoe.

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Fifteen minutes later I was running through the halls of Tesla high school. I reached Zoe's class and dashed in. The teacher looked at me in shock as though she had never had a parent run into her classroom before. Come to think about it , she probably hadn't. I reached Zoe , who looked embarrassed.

"Dad , what are you doing here? It was one kiss in the hallway , you could have waited till I got home." Zoe said. That stopped me for a minute before I remembered why I was here.

"I'll get to that later. Where's Dylan?" I asked.

"I don't know.I'm not his keeper." Zoe said. I grabbed her arm and started pulling her toward the door.

"Come on. I'll bring a note tomorrow." I told the teacher as we ran out the room.

I led her to the car and promised to explain on the way. I needed to get her to GD where she would be safe. I was taking no chance that he would use her to get to me. I climbed in the car and felt a sharp pain. I reached in my pocket to see what was in there that I sat on. It was the baseball I had been carrying to be ready to play at any moment. I put it back in and shifted it so I could sit down.

We reached the main road to GD before I remembered that Zoe was waiting for me to explain to her about Dylan. I really didn't want to. I preferred that she remain separate from my work , but that seemed unlikely when she was dating the suspect.

"It was Dylan that left me that warning last night. He's been taking this speed drug. I mean that literally. It makes the person run at over 500 miles an hour. That was how he trashed the living room and you never noticed." I told her. She was about to protest when I felt mind blowing pain and the world turned black.

I awoke to the smell of water and the feel of sharp rocks in my back. I opened my eyes to see that I was on the shore of a lake not to far from the road. My first thought was Zoe. I sat up and the pain shot through me. I grunted in effort. I spotted Dylan twenty feet away. He was squatted down with his head in his hands , muttering to himself.

"Dylan , where's Zoe?" I asked as I managed to sit all the way up.

"I told you to back off. Why did you have to keep digging?!" He said as he looked up at me.

"You pulled me out the car. Where's Zoe?" I asked again as I managed to get to my feet. The pain was intense , but I ignored it.

"I told them to watch the dose. They didn't listen. That's not my fault!" He said in a pleading voice. He looked deranged.

"I understand , Dylan. You can still get out of this." I told him. He looked at me.

"I'm going to lose everything because of you!" He screamed and the next thing I knew I was on my back and my jaw hurt like hell. He had sped over and hit me. I started to stand back up.

"You have got to stop doing that." I yelled at him. I looked at him and he was holding a gun. I reached for mine , but it was gone. The bastard had taken it when he hit me. I was scared now. He was going to shoot me with my own gun. That was irony for you. Zoe came running up yelling for me.

"Stay there , Zoe. Dylan , don't do this." I pleaded with them. He pointed the gun at me and pulled the trigger. It clicked. My mind was racing. He had the safety on. I reached in my pocket for the only thing I had , the baseball. He tried in vain to find the safety. I watched as he threw the gun and I waited for him to rush me. He started to run and I cocked my arm back and let the ball fly. It hit him as he hit super speed. It had to hurt. He was thrown back on to the ground. Out cold. Zoe ran up to me. I hugged her with force.

"Two things. First always check the safety. Second , never rush the mound when the pitcher has the ball." I said to the unconscious Dylan.

"Let's get out of here , kiddo." I told her.

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I decided to have dinner at Cafe Diem tonight. Zoe was staying at a new friend's house. A nice girl named Pillar. I had made sure she was normal. No homicidal tendencies. Sarah was a little mad that I wasn't letting her cook for me. I figured I would need to argue my way back into the house later. I walked into Cafe Diem and my eyes roamed the room. Nathan was sitting alone at a table. He looked up at the sound of the door opening and I waved at him. He smiled and waved me over.

"Everyone back to normal?" I asked as I sat down.

"Almost. I heard you have a great arm , Carter." Nathan said.

"Well , that idiot took my gun so I used what I had." I said. Nathan chuckled at my statement. I felt my heart warm at the sound.

"How do you feel?" He asked. The concern was barely noticeable in his voice.

"Like I was pulled from a moving vehicle , but Allison said I'll be fine in a few days." I told him. I looked around to find every eye was on the two of us.

"You've noticed that we seem to be a topic of gossip these days." Nathan said. I wondered if anyone had dared to approach him yet.

"It seems that way. I can't even escape it at home. Zoe won't drop it and she even corrupted my house." I told him with a laugh.

"Sounds worse than Allison. Think they have a point?" He asked while staring a the table. My heart stopped for a minute. Surely he was joking. He looked up at me and there was a vulnerability in his eyes. I swallowed hard and opened my mouth a few times before I found my voice.

"Maybe." I said. It was only one word , but it was all I could manage. He looked at me for a minute then spoke.

"Maybe." He said. A smile graced his handsome face and I couldn't help smiling back.

PUSH THE BUTTON....YOU KNOW YOU ARE DYING TO...