THE LAUNCH

A EUReKA FANFICTION

AUTHOR: Djap

PAIRING: Nathan Stark x Jack Carter

GENRE: Coming Out

RATING: PG

DISCLAIMER: I don't own the boys and I won't make any money with them. Pity.

LANGUAGE: English

SO TAKE A GLASS OF WINE, LIE BACK AND ENJOY

DJAP

…

The Launch

a Djap story

…

Gods of the theater, she was nervous. She usually was whenever she acted in Eureka's most recent stage play. But this time it was worse, because she was also pretty angry at her father and his partner right now.

Jack had always been a very stubborn person in the first place, but in the headlight of the latest developments in his private life he grew even worse. As far as she was concerned only three hours before he'd just gone too far for once and for all.

He'd gone and seriously hurt his partner this time with his odd sense of privacy and while he was at it, he'd hurt his daughter as well. Worst of all, he didn't even realize what he'd done wrong and still believed he was right about it.

Zoe had accepted Nathan as her stepfather right away after the first awkwardness. Hell, the scientist and former head of GD practically lived with them by now. As soon as he'd started dating her father, he'd just been part of her life too. It obviously was no duty for him he needed to oblige, but came just natural to him. He'd accepted that she was part of Jack's life without any complaint and so she'd accepted that he wanted to be a part of this family too.

Of course it wasn't everything roses living with those two stubborn men and she knew she could be quite a personality herself, but despite the occasional fight it still worked out just fine between them. So she had no idea why her father was having this many problems to go public with their relationship. She knew, Nathan despised the secrecy about their relationship, as he needed to keep so many secrets at his work. But he had gone along with it so far, because he believed somehow her father would get over it. If she was totally honest about it, she actually feared how long Nathan would put up with his partner denying him. If Jack didn't watch it, he'd probably loose the best relationship he'd had in years just because he tried to avoid some slight inconveniences.

So what happened if some people didn't approve of their relationship? Nathan was still one of the most powerful men in town, and so was her father in his own way, as people just generally liked who he was. And military rules didn't apply either as this was mostly still a place for science – not war.

That was the reason why Zoe decided to give things a little push in the right direction: she did never imagine in her wildest dreams how mad Jack would get about her offering Nathan the second pass she'd gotten for the first row though. Of course she'd given her father the other one and expected both to come to the play, hopefully as a couple.

She wanted Nathan to be there as much as she wanted her father to be there, but right now she was glad that both wouldn't watch this particular play.

To her surprise Nathan didn't say anything as Jack started yelling at her. In her opinion he was telling just a load of shit, but he often did whenever he was faced with situations, which frightened him. So she'd rolled her eyes, took a deep breath and fought back on Nathan's behalf. This wasn't about her, it was about Nathan and his right to be with her father.

So she was pretty shocked when Nathan finally did raise his voice, but not to fight with Jack but with her instead:

"Zoe, keep out of it!" he'd yelled "This isn't your fight. Back of!"

Although he was right of course, she was pretty hurt at his angry words.

"But don't you want to be there for me? I really want you to."

She'd admitted but Nathan had cut her off:

"Not if it means I'd do it against Jack's will."

Well, that sentence had sure hurt her alright. She hadn't said a word as tears, which he couldn't quite hold back anymore, had spilled over her cheeks. She turned, grabbed her theater bag and left the bunker without another word. She'd heard her father yelling after her, but she didn't look back.

As she arrived at the theater she'd mostly gotten herself back together but judging by the looks she received from the rest of the theater crew she looked like hell. Some of them tried even to approach her, but she fought them off and locked herself in the changing room.

The worst thing was, she concluded finally finishing her make-up, that Nathan was right. It was his fight to pick and his decision to stick with Jack's wishes. But wasn't she a part of this family too? Had her opinion on this really no impact? Nathan had chosen Jack as his partner, she had just come along. Of course he'd choose his lover's needs over hers. It still hurt like hell, especially after she'd split up with Lucas only a few days ago.

Very likely that break-up was the reason why she'd decided to interfere in the first place. She didn't want them to leave each other and feel this broken and lost as she was feeling herself right now. She'd just tried to help and what did she earn? Yelling and betrayal.

A knock on the door brought her back to the task ahead though and with a final deep breath she steeled herself for the play. On the way to the stage she wondered if it was time for her to move again. Perhaps they both really needed to figure this out alone without her interfering. She was old enough now and would soon go to college. Perhaps she shouldn't visit the local one, where Lucas would be too, and go for one in another state instead.

She dropped that thought too as she finally arrived behind the stage waiting for her cue to enter.

When she was finally ready for her performance and made her first moves, she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks, mouth hanging open and her eyes blown wide at her first glimpse of the audience.

At the first row right in front of everyone else sat no other than the two men which had been on her thoughts most of the night since she'd left the bunker. They were looking pretty handsome with Nathan actually wearing his tux and her father in that dark brown suit she'd bought with him for special occasions like these. On both their faces was a mix of pride and apology to see and Zoe couldn't stop the silly grin from forming on her face.

Their hands were entwined and rested in a heap on Nathan's thigh, while practically everyone in the room was staring at them in shock or amusement. But when Zoe finally got back into her role and started playing again most people shrugged it off and concentrated on the stage again.

As Zoe snuck a secret look she saw the smug grin of Nathan, who reassuringly patted Jack's shoulder and the slowly relaxing form of her father, who finally learned, that people weren't going to make his life hell just because of his surprising choice of partner.

All in all Zoe would never remember a time, when she'd performed quite that excellent as that evening.

…

Endless End

Finished 12th June 2010