Disclaimer – I don't own Eureka or else Emcey and I would have latched onto Ed Quinn's ankles and begged him to stay.

Summary – In an alternate universe where Allison turned down Nathan's proposal and there was no time loop, Election Day has come and a second sun has appeared over Eureka. Between trying to figure out the source of the mini sun and discovering Eva Thorne's secrets, Jack has his hands full. So he's not altogether prepared for a third problem; Nathan Stark has been acting a little strangely around the Sheriff lately…

Pairing - Jack/Nathan

A/N The first redux is EmceySquared's "Phased and Confused: Redux". She did a great job on that; it's adorable and I recomment that you go read it. The next redux is "From Fear to Eternity: Redux" and is in the process of being written by Emcey and betaed by me. We're switching off episodes and intend to continue when the series returns from it's midseason break.

Here Come the Suns: Redux

Chapter One

Zane's project was pretty impressive; Nathan had to give Thorne that as he, Allison, and their 'Chairman' watched a dummy coated in a heat resistant chemical not go up in flames despite the flamethrower being used on it. Of course, Nathan really would have preferred to have been the guy holding the flamethrower than the person listening to Allison try and play nice with Eva. It was pretty clear the two ladies were not meant to get along, but they were putting up a good front anyway.

"It's amazing what the brightest scientific minds and a big old corporate check can buy you," Allison said in agreement to something Thorne had observed. Eva had a tendency to sound like a commercial, so Nathan had a tendency to tune her out.

"Well it's too bad we can't buy the next mayoral election."

Nathan nearly laughed at the offended expression that sprang up on Allison's face. As it was, schooling his face to keep from showing his amusement was a near thing.

Thorne just smiled brightly and drawled, "just kidding Allison. I would, however, like the two of you to endorse Doctor Herrera."

"GD is to be kept apolitical during the election," Nathan cut in before Allison could say anything too derogatory about Herrera. Dr. Herrera had been hitting on Allie lately and was immune to her 'I'm not interested so get lost' glare. It was amusing, if a bit puzzling. He'd expected Jack Carter to have made some sort of move on Allison by now. "If either one of us," Nathan continued, putting his train of thought on the backburner, "were to publicly endorse Herrera then that would be construed as GD taking political interest where it shouldn't be. Besides, I don't have any particular reason to want him to win."

"Having someone to smooth ruffled feathers during the next round of cutbacks isn't a bad idea," Thorne posited.

"Well I prefer to make up my own mind," Allison responded, a hint of coldness seeping into her voice.

"You should also think about what's best for Global," Thorne wheedled.

Martha, the drone with a teenager-esque AI, flew over from one of the nearby bays and bumped its nose against Nathan's shoulder to say 'hi'. While Allison looked amused and Thorne eyed Martha worriedly, Nathan smiled and patted Martha on its top. After Martha's creation he'd been spending more time finding out about how the attack drones worked and he was a lot more impressed than he'd expected. Martha was his favorite, though, and she seemed to like him too. The doors to the drone bay started closing, though, so she darted away in order to get through to the other drones in time.

"We need a personal relationship with the town," Thorne continued, as soon as Martha was gone. "One that shows we're all on the same team."

"Are you and I on the same team here, Eva?" Allison finally asked the loaded question.

Nathan willed his phone to ring. He'd do anything to get away from these two. Thorne was irritating and secretive, yes, but confronting someone like that required evidence… and possibly a well-planned intervention group. Allison wasn't doing so well with the tactful information gathering and time-biding part and just jumping straight into the confrontational side of things.

"Of course," Eva managed to hit just the right note of 'surprised offence.' "I'd like to think we're all friends here, right Stark?"

Nathan's phone rang. It was almost enough to make him mentally promise to attend church that weekend. "Excuse me," he backed away a few steps and flipped his phone open. "Stark."

"Good. So why don't you tell me what's in the bunker under Tesla?"

Wincing at Allison's inevitable crash and burn and Thorne's expected semi-truth and calculated evasion, Nathan turned his attention fully to his phone.

"Hey, it's Carter." The Sheriff's voice was a welcome distraction. "Zane found some camera footage from the bunker under Tesla and Jo, Zane, and I just finished developing still frames at my house. There's something you should see… as soon as the debate night is over, because apparently I'm supposed to be there the entire time."

"Oh, so I'm not the only person looking for an excuse to skip out on that?" Nathan quipped. "I've had Fargo trying to bribe me to vote for Vincent all day and Thorne's been telling everyone that she's looking forward to seeing them at debate night, not to mention how she's been pushing Herrera."

"Fargo's been trying to bribe me, too." Carter laughed. "I've been telling him that bribery is a crime at least once every time I see him. Anyway, if you'll stop by my place after the debate, I can show you what we found."

"Sounds like a plan," Nathan agreed. "Thorne just pitched some half-truth to Allie about what's in the bunker, so I'll find out what she said and we can trade info."

"'Kay. I gotta go; I need to think up some sort of opening remarks…" Carter hung up while grumbling about Jo and how she 'forgot' to tell him things on purpose.

Smiling fondly, Nathan shut his cell phone and slid it into his pocket. Sometimes Jack didn't seem to realize that he'd become part of the community so seamlessly that people tended to forget that he hadn't even been there for two years yet. Shaking his head a little, Nathan forced himself to get the silly grin off his face. If anyone found out about he felt for Jack Carter before he managed to work up the courage to tell the Sheriff himself… well, bad things would happen.

Very bad things.

Now, to find out just what Thorne had said to Allison to but that angry scowl on her otherwise lovely face.

--

"Hello? Hello… is this on?" Jack smiled a bit nervously as he tested the microphones. He hated politics on a good day – he usually only paid attention once every four years in order to vote for the president – and absolutely loathed them on a bad day. Since he was being required to do public speaking, this definitely qualified as a bad day. "Hi everyone and welcome to Debate Night." There was a brief pause for some polite applauding and Jack took a moment to search for Stark. His eyes found the scientist lurking on the opposite side of Café Diem, standing in the corner furthest from the stage, glaring at Larry who was trying to get Stark to wear a 'support Herrera' hat. Clearly Larry didn't understand that while Stark might have saved him from Thorne's attempt to fire him, it had nothing to do with liking Larry and everything to do with pissing off Thorne.

"I'm Sheriff Carter," Jack continued, wrenching his thoughts away from Stark's predicament, despite how amusing it was. "And I'll be your…"

"Ugh, cut to the chase! We want issues, not filler!" Lexi exclaimed, leaning forward in her seat and clenching her fists in excitement. Her obsession with politics had rubbed off on Zoe, who was sponsoring Lucas in the election. Well, more like controlling Lucas and forcing him to run for office, but that was all semantics.

"Thank you Lexi, for your wildly inappropriate enthusiasm. So, without further ado, I give you your candidates." Jack briefly gestured at them and then went to hide with Stark in the back. As Vincent began to speak, he shooed off Larry and forced the suck-up to shut-up. While quieting Larry had been for his own peace of mind, the briefly grateful expression that flitted across Nathan's face was worth it, too.

Smirking, Stark took a drink of his vinspresso while Jack watched enviously. It had been a long day and there was no end in sight. There was nothing he wanted more than coffee. Almost nothing, anyway.

"Here, have this." Stark held out a second vinspresso from somewhere behind him where Jack hadn't noticed it.

Snagging the cup, Jack cradled the coffee close for a few seconds. "Oh, god, yes. Thank you, Nathan." Glancing up before taking a drink, he noticed that Nathan looked a bit flushed, but he shrugged the thought off. It was a little warm that evening, but thankfully the sun had gone down so it ought to cool off soon.

After Vincent and Lucas made their speeches and received their cheers, it was finally Herrera's turn. The phenologist had pulled a neat stunt with some clouds earlier that day and was clearly a smooth-talking, crowd pleaser. Allison had mentioned that Herrera had been hitting on her lately and had hinted at who'd she'd rather be flirting with. And maybe, if Nathan had left for one of those job offers he'd gotten after losing his position as Director of Operations at GD, things might have been different. Up until that night when Global had lockdown over Henry's fake contagion, Jack had thought that Allison was the one he'd wanted. But then they'd all thought that Stark had been infected by the mutated, flesh eating virus and Jack felt way more twisted up inside by that than by the idea of Allison being at Beverly Barlowe's mercy.

That was when he'd finally clued into how he felt for Nathan Stark.

So when Allison turned down Nathan's proposal a few months ago, Jack felt a little guilty for feeling so glad that she'd said 'no'. Because that meant once Nathan got over the rejection and started acting more like himself again, Jack would have his chance to find out if Stark could ever return his feelings.

"…and I will help usher in a day for Eureka!" Herrera pumped his fist into the air for emphasis.

Then the second sun rose outside.

Wait a minute…

Jack shielded his eyes for a moment and then rushed out the front doors of Café Diem, Nathan mere steps behind him and followed by everyone else from the café. Jo and Allison rushed over to stand beside them and they all squinted up at the sun in the sky.

Jack couldn't help it; he just had to say it. "It's a new day, all right."

A/N There's chapter one; I'll be posting one each evening unless something comes up. That's not likely, but you've been warned of possibility.

Also, Emcey is waiting for this to be online before completing her story and posting it. We're both college students taking some pretty tough courses (Physics, for example) and are thus tag-teaming this series to make the story writing easier on us both. :)