Disclaimer – If I owned Eureka, then second season would have been slashier.

Author – Emcey

Info – AU of 2nd Season Episode "Noche de Suenos".

Teaser – It was all Dr. Childress' fault. If it hadn't been for her dream, Nathan never would have been standing around daydreaming about what kissing Jack Carter was really like. Stupid fangirl…

Chapter Three

The two of them stared at the bomb for a second, as if unable to comprehend what its presence meant. Jo was the first to recover from the surprise. "Shit!" She grabbed Nathan's arm and shoved him towards the shooting range. "Get in there!"

Nathan stumbled through the open door and turned to clear up what was going on, only to see Jo slam the door. He grabbed the door handle, but nothing happened when he tried to open it. He gave it a few extra tries anyway. Then a blast shook the building and knocked Nathan to the ground.

The door creaked open and, dizzily, Nathan looked into the corridor, which was filling up with smoke. "Jo?" Nathan yelled, struggling to his feet.

"I'm fine." The door to the interrogation room opened, letting out Jo, Jack, and a handcuffed Dr. Honda.

"We should get out of here," Jack posited, coughing on the smoke a little. "That explosive didn't do much structural damage, but…"

Nathan nodded in agreement, not much liking the smoke that was filling the air. They all hurried up the stairs and out of the building. Dizzily, Nathan leaned against the side of the station, panting for breath. It felt like there was a vise around his chest, though the feeling eased as he sank to the ground and sat.

"Nathan?" Jack's voice was worried, so Nathan looked up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Nathan assured him. Jack held out a hand and, once Nathan took it, hauled the brunette back to his feet. "We should get out of here."

"Stark's right," Jo agreed, whapping Honda when she caught him staring at her chest. "That explosive wasn't really powerful enough to do much and was too noisy being dropped down there. Whoever left it was trying to flush us out."

Jack nodded unhappily. "Let's head back to GD, then." He walked over to his jeep and started to open the driver's door only to pause and frown deeper. He crouched down tracing something with his fingers. When his hand reached the bottom of the door, Jack looked under the jeep and let out a curse. "God Dammit. There's another bomb under my car." He stood up and glared at Honda. "It's hooked into engine, meaning that your friend was going to kill all of us, you included."

"Dr. Stone isn't my friend. She contacted me after my previous project lost funding while Stark was still in charge," Honda admitted. "This was all her idea; we were just waiting for the opportune moment to kill him."

"Dr. Angela Stone?" Nathan clarified. When Honda nodded, Nathan continued. "She works in of the cryogenics lab. I assigned her there shortly before I lost my position as Director of Research. In her previous project, there were major irregularities in both the research and the money allocation. I put her in cryogenics to keep her out of the way while GD's internal security went over her project. Then Allison became Director of Operations and it all became her problem, so I haven't really kept up with what's been found on her yet."

"She's being fired," Honda said quietly. "That's why this was the opportune time. At least, for her…"

"Jo, check your car too," Jack sighed and then looked at Nathan. "We should see if your car's been tampered with as well."

-=-=

After leaving Dr. Honda with GD's security guards, Jack and Jo left Nathan behind to go track down Dr. Stone, who was currently not in GD.

Nathan sighed and went to the medical wing to see how his assistant was doing. Seeing Hodgens in a coma was pretty eye opening. All he could think of was how he'd nearly been left the same way… that if Jack hadn't woke him up then the possibility existed that he'd have become comatose anyway. A hand on his shoulder caused Nathan to jump; he'd been too engrossed in his thoughts.

"Allison?" he asked, startled.

"I'm glad you're okay," she said with a smile. "When I heard you'd been exposed to the cryogenic compound, I was worried."

"Thanks," Nathan responded dryly. "How's Kevin doing?"

"No shared dreams last night, but after all that happened with the town-wide shared dreams I thought I'd leave the receiver off for a few days." Allison shrugged, though she seemed a little put off when Nathan didn't say anything in response. "Kevin wants to see you… make sure you're okay. He knew something was wrong this morning, but I didn't realize what he'd been trying to tell me until Fargo discovered Hodgens in a coma. You should come over for dinner tonight."

"I'll stop by to see him after school, but… let's not do dinner," Nathan responded quietly.

Allison regarded Nathan curiously, if a bit unhappily. "Why not?"

He wasn't sure what to say. There was so much to choose from. Them having dinner like a family sent the wrong message to everyone, especially Kevin, who seemed to be under the vague impression that his parents were getting back together. He really wanted to see if he could convince Jack to have dinner with him. He wanted a night off where he didn't have to worry about anything: not GD or the Artifact or Henry or Kevin.

Maybe that was a little awful of him, but he was human and, if nothing else, the stress was getting to him. Nathan needed time to worry about something that would resolve itself, one way or the other, fairly quickly.

He needed Jack to be there for him.

"I just don't think it's a good idea right now," Nathan said firmly.

Allison pursed her lips and stared at Nathan the way she would something she was about to dissect. Nathan knew that she was trying to rattle him, to get some sort of reaction from him. He refused to shift or twitch or do anything else that would give her any information to work with.

"Almost two months ago you were trying to repair our marriage and now you don't want to come over for dinner? What's going on here, Nathan?"

"I'm not trying to figure out what's wrong with Kevin in order to fix our failed marriage," Nathan hissed before he could stop himself. A scowl appeared on his face. "If you remember, you're the one who served me with divorce papers, so I don't know why you're bringing that up.

"In fact, since it's been brought up, I'm not helping Kevin because I'm obsessed with the Artifact, either. If anything, it's the reverse. I found out about the Artifact because of Kevin. When I discovered he was somehow connecting to it - before the field transferred to him - I wanted to know more; I had to know if the Artifact was somehow responsible for the fact that Kevin never responds to medication, knows all those equations we've never taught him, and all those other inexplicable quirks about him. I needed to know that he was safe. So, yeah, I got caught up in researching the Artifact and I inadvertently put Kevin in danger because of my obsession. That's why I'm so focused on fixing him.

"For me, this isn't about you, Allison, or finding out the answers held by the Akashic field. This is about Kevin."

"I know that!" Allison snapped angrily.

"Do you? Two nights ago you were questioning my motives in helping my son. Allison, someone who understood my priorities – who understood me – would not have said what you did." Nathan was suddenly reminded of some of the fights they'd had before he'd left for Washington. Allison had never really understood his priorities, but that was partially his fault. He never been particularly fond of explaining himself.

"So you're refusing to spend dinner with Kevin because you're mad at me, is that it?"

"No. I'm not mad at you, Allison," Nathan knew the statement sounded false as the words came out of his mouth. He was frustrated and his voice echoed that emotion. "I need time to get away, even if it's just one night. I need to get away…"

"From me," Allison filled in quietly.

"From the past," Nathan corrected. "We're not in love anymore, Allie. But we do still love each other. With all the time we've been spending together, we might even make our relationship work again… until the same problems we had before show up because they never went away. All we'd do is hurt each other. You're my best friend, Allie, and if we screw up with each other again I'll lose my best friend. I don't want that."

"We could make it work," Allison said wistfully. "We could find the compromise we couldn't before."

"No, we can't."

"Nathan…" The door to the infirmary opened, interrupting whatever Allison was about to say.

"We caught her," Jack announced, walking inside. "Jo borrowed Taggart's bloodhounds and, well… are you okay?" He looked between the two, noting their unhappy expressions.

"Sorry, Jack," Allison apologized. "You caught Dr. Stone; that's great. It's just… we were in the middle of discussing something…"

"Actually, your timing was perfect," Nathan interrupted. "There's nothing left to discuss," he added pointedly to Allison.

"I'll be sure to let Kevin know you're alright," Allison said coldly, revoking his invitation to visit. She stalked out of the room while Nathan kept his mouth firmly shut to keep from saying anything that would piss her off further.

"I walked into the middle of a fight, huh?" Jack asked as soon as the door shut behind Allison.

"Yeah, well… I said a few things that were true, but that she didn't want to hear." Nathan shrugged. "Now she's mad at me. Allie will get over it, though. She's not the sort to stay mad for long."

Jack tilted his head to the side and regarded Nathan curiously. "Are you okay?" he reiterated.

"I'm still tired," Nathan admitted quietly. Talking to Jack felt natural; had felt natural ever since Jack had understood what Callister meant to Nathan. He'd managed to resist being friendly, though, because Allison liked Jack and Nathan had wanted to get the past back. But the more they'd worked together the more Nathan would forget his reasons for trying to ignore Jack. Now, though, none of that mattered. The past forty-eight hours - starting with Childress' dream - Nathan's reasons had been stripped away and slowly replaced with new ones that all supported venting to Jack.

So he did.

"Part of me feels like I never quite woke up. I've been off-balance all day."

Walking up to Nathan, Jack put a hand on Nathan's arm. "Maybe you've just been stretching yourself too thin lately. Trying to do everything alone… Nathan, if you need help there are people who would drop what they're doing and help you if only you'd ask. Henry, Fargo, me…"

"Allison and I both agreed not to tell anyone about Kevin's condition; we thought we could handle it alone." Nathan's eyes dropped away from Jack's and he looked down at the floor. Okay, he'd been the one advocating going it alone, but he'd thought, at the time, that Henry was too busy grieving for Kim and thus unobjective while the affects of the Akashic field would go over the heads of everyone else. "We haven't been able to understand what's happening to him, though. On the day of the accident with the Artifact, Kevin's therapist was having an unscheduled special session with him and one of the doctors in section five. Had I realized Kevin would be down there..." Nathan paused and moved back on target. The radiation trail had gone straight to Kevin, after all. Had Kevin been somewhere else in GD, the energy might have hurt even more scientists that just those in Section Five. It was better not to dwell on 'maybe' and 'could have been'. "Well before I became Director of Research, Kevin was identified as having a connection to the Artifact. So when it exploded, the energy it stored within itself had to go somewhere."

"Yeah and it killed several scientists and nearly killed you, too," Jack responded. "Is it killing Kevin, too?"

"It's doing to him what it did to Carlson. The human body can only change so much before it breaks down. The energy – the Akashic field – is altering Kevin's DNA." Nathan started in surprise when he felt a hand cup his cheek and found himself looking into Jack's determined blues eyes.

"When I first arrived in Eureka, one thing was almost instantly apparent; amazing things happen here when people work together. Somehow you will save Kevin. We'll find a way."

Remembering Jo's words from earlier - If words fail, just kiss him. No one can fail to get the meaning of a kiss. Trust me. – Nathan leaned forward slightly and was pleased to note that Jack was moving forward to meet him…

Then they were springing apart as, completely oblivious as to what she was interrupting, a medical doctor walked in to check up on Hodgens.

"I… uh… should go… um… help Jo secure the criminals," Jack stammered and hurried towards the exit. He paused in the doorway though and turned back to Nathan. "Think about what I said, okay?" Then he was gone.

"Lover's spat?" asked the doctor.

"Okay," Nathan growled, "first, we weren't fighting. Second, we aren't dating. Third… my life is not a fanfiction. Leave me the hell alone and fantasize about someone else's personal life!" He stormed out.

The doctor watched in amusement. "Awww… I love it when things come together like this. Those two are so perfect for each other."

A second doctor walked up and whapped the first upside the head. "Stop day dreaming and get back to work."

-=-=-=

Nathan caught up to Jack in the elevator and sent up a silent prayer of thanks when no one else joined them. The doors shut sealing the two inside for the ride back to the main floor. Jack was studiously ignoring Nathan in favor of the door, though, which was not so lucky.

Taking a gamble, Nathan reached out and hit the elevator stop button. Technically stopping the elevator was only supposed to be done in emergencies, but it wouldn't red flag anything unless an emergency switch was flipped after stopping it. Sometimes an elevator full of careless scientists would accidentally smack the button and it happened often enough that maintenance insisted on the emergency switch installation.

"What are you doing?" Jack demanded.

"We got interrupted," Nathan explained, smirking a little at the disgruntled expression on Jack's face.

Blushing some, Jack shrugged. "We'd… uh… stopped talking," he objected.

"True," Nathan allowed. "We weren't interrupted in the middle of a conversation. We were, however, interrupted in the middle of something else." He took a step towards Jack, crowding into the other man's personal space.

In reward, Jack's eyes began dilating and his breath hitched, almost unnoticeably. "Nathan," he breathed uncertainly.

In reverse of earlier, Nathan brought a hand up to cup Jack's face. His thumb slid back and forth slowly across Jack's cheek and the blonde leaned into it slightly.

"Nathan, what are you doing?" he repeated breathily.

"Picking up where we were interrupted," Nathan responded, his own voice growing huskier. Then he leaned down to bridge the gap between them and met Jack's lips with his own.

Immediately Jack was kissing back, the sheriff's hands reaching to slide up Nathan chest and then fist his shirt somewhere near his collar. Nathan's free hand moved around to the small of Jack's back while he deepened the kiss. His tongue slipped into Jack's mouth; Jack's taste was intoxicating and then suddenly there was Jack's tongue moving against his own…

They pulled apart reluctantly, breathing harshly in an attempt to regain equilibrium. Their foreheads remained touching, though, and they stared into each other's eyes.

"You're not just messing with me, are you?" Jack asked roughly.

"I'm not messing with you, I promise," Nathan responded. Impulsively, he kissed Jack briefly and nipped lightly at his bottom lip when he pulled back. His hand dropped away from Jack's face to land on the blonde's waist. Pulling back, he said, "I've been so busy chasing the past, I nearly missed what the future could be. I'd like for us to be just that… us."

"I'd like that too," Jack agreed. "Just… I can't be a secret or something like that," he warned. "So that means you're going to have to take me on dates and…" Jack trailed off with a worried shrug.

Nodding seriously, Nathan smiled. "Then we can start tonight. Will you have dinner with me at Café Diem when you get off work tonight?"

"Yes." Jack's response was immediate and emphatic. "I've got on-call this evening," he added in warning.

"Alright," Nathan said, nuzzling Jack's ear.

Jack's hands relaxed their grip and moved up to hold Nathan's shoulders. "You know… when we get out of here, all those slash writers are going to go crazy with elevator stories."

Nathan laughed softly. "They can fantasize all they want, Jack. We're the ones who get the real thing."

A/N – Afterwards, Nathan told Henry what was going on and the two of them found a way to save Kevin. Allison realized that she was hanging onto her relationship with Nathan because the past seemed safer than the future since both she and Kevin had been happier then. She then realizes that she's glad that Nathan's found happiness again, even though he couldn't find it with her. Zoe decided that Nathan was cool and there were happy endings all around. Of course… there were lab accidents, too.

There are always lab accidents.

I wrote this for Kit's list and I hope everyone enjoys.

Kit's Beta Note – Awww… how cute. Though… Jack's pretty scary when he interrogates people.