AN: Hey everybody, I'm sorry it's been so long since I updated this story. I can't really write over the summer months, and it's taken me a while to settle back in at my university. I'll try to make my updates much more frequent.

The short length of this chapter is a… placation of sorts while I write a longer interstitial chapter.

Jack blinked up at the white-and-speckled ceiling tiles and started, jerking upright, fingers scrabbling at his hip. Where was he?

There was an uncomfortable pinch in the back of his hand and tugging like tape on his chest and forehead, and a rapid, steady beeping.

He was in the infirmary at Global.

Jack sighed, trying to calm his heart from the moment of panic and reaction. He looked around and saw Zoë curled, asleep in a chair, and Nathan asleep, arms crossed on the mattress, head pillowed on his arms. Jack was surprised that his sudden movement hadn't woken Nathan. He reached out and touched Nathan's shoulder. There was no response.

"Nathan-" he pressed down and Nathan's head came up, eyes blinking blearily at the room. He turned to look at the source of the pressure on his arm and jerked, staring up at Jack, eyes slowly widening.

"Jack."

Jack was taken off guard by the emotion in Nathan's voice in the moment before Nathan slammed into him, squashing him back against the pillows in a tight embrace. Jack lifted his arms and hugged Nathan back.

When Nathan pulled away, hands still on Jack's shoulders, he was breathing hard, eyes glistening. "God, Jack."

Jack looked at the raw emotion on Nathan's face and lifted his hands, gripping Nathan's forearms. "I'm here, Nathan."

Nathan took a shuddering breath. "You died." His voice came out as a croak.

The pulse gun, Jack remembered suddenly, recalling the searing heat that crawled across his chest and the engulfing peace and warmth of the black and the light that followed.

He reached out for Nathan, feeling his arms trembling under his hands, and drew him against his chest, pulling him back into an embrace and tucking Nathan's head to his shoulder with a hand in his hair. "I'm so sorry, Nathan," he soothed, "God, I'm so sorry."

Jack's heart lurched. It had only been three weeks.

Only three weeks since they had buried Callister and he had gone and died on Nathan, died in front of Nathan.

Jack held him until the trembling subsided, rocking slightly as he soothed.

He had come to terms with his own mortality years ago, but he knew it wasn't so for other people. When he eventually died, he would be dead. His will gave everything to Zoë, including the half a million dollars in life insurance, and was so air-tight that Abby couldn't touch a cent. His parents held his power of attorney and there was fifteen grand in a semi-hidden account for funeral expenses so his family wouldn't be caught off guard.

Nathan pulled away and wouldn't look at Jack, cheeks slightly red. Eventually he spoke.

"Zoë saw you get shot. Some asshole kid in one of her classes showed her the video that somebody took."

Jack looked away from Nathan and spotted Zoë, curled and sleeping in a chair. He felt a stab of guilt for not thinking of her immediately.

"Is she okay?" He turned to look at Nathan. "Why is she wearing scrubs?" He blinked, realizing Nathan was wearing the same thing. "Why are you wearing scrubs?"

It took Nathan a moment to answer and his voice was hoarse when he did. "I got b- blood on my shirt, and it got on Zoë and she freaked out and so did-"

Jack could see faint traces of blood on Nathan's arms and he realized it must have been his. And that Nathan must have carried him at some point. He grimaced. "Mine?"

Nathan just nodded.

He glanced over at Zoë, who was still sleeping. If a kid at school had shown her a video of him dying, she probably needed sleep to de-stress. Jack changed topics and asked, wondering if Nathan really had carried him, "How's your back?"

"My back?" Nathan frowned at him.

Oh shit. Had Jack misread the location of the bloodstains on Nathan's arms? "I- I mean, I weigh like one eighty-five."

"Oh." Nathan appeared to understand. "Uh, I didn't really notice. Adrenaline, I guess."

Jack grimaced. "All the way here? You're gonna feel that tomorrow."

Nathan cleared his throat. "Actually, the thing we used to fix you is in Section 5."

Jack looked down at his hands and clenched his fists, which were starting to feel a little tight from the saline drip. "I didn't-" he looked up at Nathan. "Thank you."

Nathan gave him a shaky smile and an even shakier laugh. "No problem."

Placing a hand on Nathan's interlaced fingers, he said, "I mean it. Thank you."

Nathan glanced at him, eyes soft, and nodded.

There was something else in his eyes, though, something darker, damaged. "Nathan, you said 'we.' Who else was with you?"

There was a very long silence. "Carl. He used the source of the exotic particles that gave him his ability to use entanglement fields to fix you."

"So I was exposed?" Jack frowned, not wanting to deal with what was happening with Carl to happen to him.

Nodding Nathan said, "We both were." Jack's eyebrows jumped up in surprise and Nathan continued. "But I don't think we've changed. They did molecular level full-body scans on you, SOP, and I think the doctor would have mentioned something about exotic particles."

That was… marginally reassuring, in the way of most reassurances regarding to science in Eureka. "Where's Carl?" Jack asked, "I want to thank him."

The hurt around the edges of Nathan's expression swept across his face and Jack grimaced.

"After he fixed you," Nathan let out a sharp breath and paused, swallowing, "He killed himself. I- I tried to talk him down, like you were in the Square, but-"

Jack squeezed Nathan's hands and shook his head. "Sometimes there's nothing you can do. You can't blame yourself. The people nearest, emotionally or physically, to people who commit suicide tend to blame themselves. You can't. It's not healthy; I know, I've been there."

"Daddy?"

Jack looked up at Zoë, who was slowly unfolding in her chair.

"Oh, God! Dad!"

There was a clatter of noise, like chair legs scraping over the floor and suddenly Jack's arms and lap were full of teenager. Zoë was crying into his shoulder, arms tight around him as she repeated something incoherently into the fabric of his hospital gown. He returned her embrace, pulling her close against his shoulder as she sniffled. "It's okay," he murmured, "I'm here."

He could feel her smile suddenly against his shoulder and she rose away to look at him. "I know. I was just worried."

Jack smiled at her and cupped her cheek, rubbing away a tear. He hugged her again, kissing her hair and looked up at Nathan. He was startled by the softness in Nathan's eyes and offered a small smile, feeling strangely warm when Nathan returned the expression. Jack cleared his throat and looked away, smoothing a hand down Zoë's back.

There was a sound at the door, and it swung open, allowing Dr. Baxter, a man Jack recognized from his emergency treatment for the bite from the giant black widow at Seth's, in.

Zoë clambered off his lap, making Jack wince a moment as one of her knees landed on an area that was a rather sensitive. He looked up at Dr. Baxter as he said, "Okay, Sheriff, I just need to do a final exam and you'll be good to go. But, I do need to know, do you have a ride home?" He looked pointedly at Zoë, "Preferably one with a valid license?"

Jack turned to stare at her, his eyebrows creeping upwards, and she ducked her head and blushed.