Title: Science and Soulmarks

Rating: PG/K+

Word Count: 999

Disclaimer: If I wrote it, it wouldn't be published because it would be locked in endless revision.

Summary: Frank is a logical person. One thing soulmarks are not is logical.

Pairings: At the end, Frank/Nancy.

Author's Note: So I was stuck/stymied/unable to focus on a story, despite all the ones I need to update, and when someone asked if I was willing to do a companion to "When It Blooms" from Frank's perspective, I actually went for it, even as much as it fought me.

To answer a guest's question: Soulmarks are an indicator of soulmates. They're either symbols or words depending on who develops the universe. I prefer symbols/marks over words, and I used that for this universe because I sort of created it, but the concept isn't mine.

Science and Soulmarks

Frank had always considered himself a practical person, and one thing soulmarks were not was practical. Or logical, for that matter. He'd never understood how the world could exist with them, since they flew in the face of almost all scientific theories about how the universe was created. How did the particles making it up know the right person for everyone? Was it fate that decided it? That didn't seem right, and Frank didn't like to believe in fate, either, that his life was scripted and set long before he was born. He wanted to be able to choose his own path, and having his soulmate determined before he was born didn't agree with that.

Then again, that was siding with the group that said soulmates were set at birth, and there was some debate about that, since most people discovered their marks around puberty or a few years after. Frank didn't understand that one, either, since teenagers were far from the people they were going to be in a few years time and maturity, and one had only to look at Joe to know that a soulmark was not an indication that a person was ready to find their soulmate. It wasn't like Joe hadn't tried. Frank didn't think Joe had met a girl yet he hadn't flirted and compared marks with, and if it was someone he really liked, he tried to get Frank interested in her, since his mark had yet to show itself.

For his part, Frank welcomed the freedom of having no soulmark. He liked being able to set his own course without worrying constantly about missing his soulmate by the choices he made, and it made working relationships a lot less complicated. He didn't have to worry about emotional entanglements because most people left him alone about that sort of thing when they learned he didn't have a mark.

It also allowed him to do things others weren't able to do—a soulmark couldn't be altered or faked, and it was more identifiable than any tattoo. Being without one meant he could go anywhere, be anyone, and so he was chosen for more interesting assignments—a lot of deep cover work—that others couldn't do. Joe would grumble about it until the next pretty girl came along and distracted him, leading to another despairing monologue about why he never seemed to find the right one for him.

Frank was pretty sure he'd memorized that speech back when he was still in high school, but he let his brother vent anyway. Since it mattered so much to Joe to find his soulmate but Frank was more than content without one, he figured he could be supportive enough to listen and reassure Joe that day would come someday, even if it meant yet another argument about why Frank didn't mind not having a soulmark at all.

"You could still get one, you know," Joe reminded him. "There's no set age for getting a mark. They show up 'when we're ready' according to the mystics. Or when we meet the right person."

"In your case, when you meet the wrong one," Frank had told him, since all Joe's mark had done was tell him who he wasn't supposed to be with, not who he was. "I don't know why we always have this discussion—I'm fine without a mark. There's no saying I won't get one because science still hasn't figured out what triggers the marks, but I don't need one. My life is good and I don't want to change things. It's easier not to be involved."

"I'd say that makes you inhuman or something, but that's what Nancy says, too, and for all her tendency to get overly involved in cases, she's got a big heart and is usually doing it to help people. Then again, I'm not sure about you... You seem to be more logic than heart."

Frank rolled his eyes. "There's nothing wrong with logic. And it isn't even about being marked or not being marked—if I'd found someone I cared enough about, none of it would matter. I'd show enough emotion to make you forget I was ever logical—which, come to think of it, I have done for you, since rational thought goes right out the window when you're in trouble."

Joe laughed at that. He ended the call with another story about his last case with Nancy, and Frank almost wished he'd been there for that. He'd like to meet Nancy, since he almost knew her already, what with all of Joe's tall tales, but he liked that she didn't fall for Joe's crap and seemed to be a competent investigator herself. He hadn't pushed the issue, though, not since the last time Joe tried to tell him that her lack of mark and his meant they were soulmates (neither of you has a mark—it's perfect) and Frank still wanted to decide that himself.

He'd been in between assignments, and Joe as usual invited him to crash at his place, which Frank did, since it had been almost a year since he'd seen Joe in person. He just wasn't expecting to meet Nancy at the same time.

None of Joe's stories or descriptions had prepared Frank for her, and when he held out his hand for her to shake, he felt nervous in a way he never had before, getting an irrational sense that this was a very important meeting somehow.

His soulmark finally showed itself, and he wanted to be angry about that, about losing his ability to choose, but he had a feeling that he might have made this choice anyway, since Nancy was all he'd heard about and more, and being with her was like being with a friend he'd known all his life.

Science didn't have a good definition or explanation for what soulmates were, but that one had always seemed fitting to Frank, that friend and companion you wanted for life.