Chapter Text
There is a moment where the world suddenly comes into sharp focus, when you can see someone’s next move before they make it- see their mistake and correct it. For Jack Carter- Mayberry incarnate- that moment came while he was holding his broken ribs, trying to breath as Fargo and Nathan freaking Stark tried to work out what was needed to end the time loops and save the world from being torn apart. He had been through at least a hundred of these loops himself now, and he knew that since they couldn’t fix this remotely someone would have to be in the chamber and do it manually- he’d puzzled that out a dozen loops ago, but each time he had mentioned it to Stark, to Nathan, the other man had denied the truth of it. Doing it manually would kill the person in the chamber. But this time. This time he hadn’t mentioned it and he could see it in the lines of Nathan’s body when he realized it. And the damned stupidly smart scientist planned on being the one to go into the chamber- to be the one who died saving Eureka and that wasn’t going to happen.
Jack snorted internally- he knew he was at the end of his rope- he had injuries on top of his injuries and he was pretty sure there was some internal bleeding going on in there too. There was a chance he wouldn’t even make it if this was all fixed so he would be the one in that Chamber. Zoe was almost 17 and Lexie was in town- and she would be staying if she had her way at the moment . And if she left and Zoe wanted to stay, well Jack had gotten his legal shit together when this loop started. If Lexie didn’t want to stay in Eureka then Stark and Allison would have custody of her until she turned 18 since Jack had sole legal custody of his daughter. With that in mind Jack Carter slipped into the chamber and sealed it before Stark had the chance to make his move. The hiss of the chamber sealing drew the two arguing men’s attention.
“Carter, get out of there now, you have no idea of what you’ll have to do. Of what it will do to you.” Stark barked out- his green eyes almost black and his face holding a hint of panic. Jack grimaced, grabbing the tablet he had snagged and connecting it to the machine in a pointed movement- ignoring his bodies protest as he did. He looked back up at the countdown then Stark.
“I’ve been through at least a hundred loops Stark, and in every loop I’ve gotten a new injury alongside my learning. I’m not as dumb as the IQ score planted in my file suggests so I can do this. And even if you were in here sacrificing yourself on your damned wedding day… There’s no guarantee I would live with the internal bleeding I have going on that’s been unchecked since I woke up this loop. SARAH had my legal affairs, Zoe stays here if she wants to- either in Lexie’s custody or yours and Allison’s. Keep her safe and make sure Jo get’s to be Sheriff- she’ll do a damn fine job of it.” He gasped out- before looking at the timer. He was running out of time- but the vid he had recorded this morning would cover much of what he had to explain. He had known that one way or another this was his last loop, so he had been prepared for this. Stark’s face went tight.
“Carter… Jack. Your daughter needs you to get the hell out of that machine. Hell Eureka needs you.” He tried protesting. Jack managed a smile as his eyes connected with Nathan’s through the glass. He knew- from a daring kiss a dozen loops ago- that the man didn’t dislike him as much as he acted like he did. Hell in that loop Nathan has vowed to call of his wedding if they managed to stop it- since he knew he could have Jack like he had wanted from that first day, but had assumed he couldn't have based on his perception of Jack's sexuality. But that wasn’t in their cards it seemed.
“Take care of yourself, and them all Nathan.” He replied, before starting to input the sequence. He didn’t flinch as Nathan started banging on the tempered glass of the chamber- deftly typing the things he needed to. Once that timer hit 6 it wouldn’t matter if he had finished his duty or not. He would be dead, and well… If he was going to die he was going to save the world first.
“Don’t do this Jack!” Nathan barked out, almost desperatly as Jack's finger paused, waiting for the right moment. When Jack pressed the final command in he looked into Stark s eyes once more- and then smiled even more brightly as he knew nothing. Stark froze and the world went black and Jack knew he’d gotten it right.
Nathan watched as the Sheriff finished the sequence with dread weighing heavily on his chest. Then the clock passed Six o’clock and Nathan sighed… Only to see the first fleck of Carter break off. It was only when Carter’s face was half gone that he heard Fargo’s happy dance. This wasn’t supposed to be happening. He wasn’t supposed to be watching the Sheriff dissolve- the irrational man had beaten the odds so many times before… but here it was.
“Stop it.” Nathan barked- and he wasn’t sure who he was talking to- Fargo and his stupid cheering when he was watching Jack dissolve into trillions of particles, or Jack himself. Fargo’s eyes snapped to the chamber and he fell silent for a second- before yelping and typing something into the door panel. A shield briefly sprang into existence before fading from sight. Nathan turned and shot a suspicious glare at the pale and shaking man who was watching the Sheriff fade from sight.
“What the hell did you just do?” He snapped, feeling the weight of Jack’s death slam into him Fargo’s eyes snapped to him and he stuttered for a few moments before visibly pulling himself together. His eyes wandered back to the chamber before meeting Nathan’s though.
“Once a month Sheriff Carter reviews the experiments on sight that he has clearance through GD to see. Personally I think he should use the clearance I saw in his heavily redacted government file instead so he could review all the experiments in GD period- but he gets a little testy when I point out that I did some…. recreational hacking and know some things that I really shouldn’t. During his reviews he examines the safety contingencies more then anything. When he finds something that should be implemented he fills out a work order from with the proper safeties, and then somehow he gets your signature on them. Once that’s done the safeties are normally implemented and we tend to have less problems if the experiments get out of hand.” Fargo explained. Nathan blinked, feeling confusion well up as he processed what he had been told.
“So once a month Carter evaluates on sight experiments looking for safety needs… and then gets my signature to approve them. Damn it- I really should read whatever he shoves under my nose and talks at me until I sign them. So I’m to understand he saw the need for an additional safety on this lab? How long ago and what it the nature of the safety? And why the hell did he need my signature- Allison’s would have gotten the same results and she probably would have signed the papers without poking and prodding” He muttered, wondering what Carter had been thinking. He wouldn't have had to push Allison if the Safeties were valid. Fargo blinked, before grinning.
“The Sheriff knew that if he had your signature then any disgruntled scientist was less likely to come to you and complain about the addition to their labs. Or at least that’s what he told me- and it worked, Weinberger wasn’t happy about the shield- but once he saw your name on the order he shut up. It was about 3 months ago, and the shield is designed to contain photons- in case of accidental cohesion loss or something like that. It wouldn’t have been strong enough to stop the loops but it can contain the Sheriff right now until we can fix this.” Fargo responded, frowning at the room around then. Nathan’s breath hitched at the statement and the well hidden ‘if we can fix this’. Containing the trillion plus pieces of Carter while they worked on a solution would be helpful- they wouldn’t have to concentrate on gathering him back together at least. And just like that the Scientist knew he had to look over the other safeties the other man had snuck approval from him on.
“We’ll need to install a photon magnet at the door to gather and push any pieces that decide to come with us back into the room so there is complete containment.” He murmured under his breath- the mind Carter always mocked rapidly coming to a conclusion and planning his next move. He needed to get to the wedding and tell Allie it wouldn’t be happening today- if ever, because once he called it off he doubted she would still want to remarry him with the looming responsibility of getting Carter back into this time stream in one piece and her own hang up about losing him to work again. That had been one of her reasons for walking away from him in the first place after all. And then he needed to get Jack’s will before that sister of his did so he knew his rights in all of this.
Jack wanted Zoe to stay in Eureka and Nathan would make sure that she did- if that was what she wanted but Lexie Carter didn’t have his confidence when it came to caring for Carter’s brilliant daughter. So he wanted proof that if she didn’t follow Jack’s will he would be the one making the decisions. Allie might try and sway him into following Zoe’s blood relative’s will, but Nathan had looked into Jack's eyes as he had spoken that wish, and he would be damned if he let the man down by letting his sister run off to gods know where with the daughter Jack had fought for.
“Right, let me make the call and then I believe you have somewhere to be.” Fargo murmured, pulling out his phone and dialing. Nathan looked back to the chamber and bit the inside of his cheek. He should have been the one in there, but he understood Carter’s reasoning. Carter took his job of protecting the citizen’s of Eureka seriously, and Nathan Stark was one of those citizens. It didn’t mean that he had to like his reasonings though. Nathan was pissed that the injured man had taken the ultimate leap and found himself dead to the world without even blinking an eye. His mind wandered back to Carter’s last words, and then Fargo’s and he spun to look at the other man as he hung up his call. His eyes narrowed on the smaller man and Fargo twitched.
“Carter’s redacted files that you mentioned, what exactly was in them that you were not supposed to know? GD does extensive background checks on all employees and they keep records to match that. Your comments on Carter analyzing what safeties are needed for the entire in house experiments that he had access to and his own statement about a planted IQ score leads me to believe much of what we thought we knew about our town Sheriff are false.” the joint head of GD asked seriously- a hard look glinting in his green eyes. Fargo gulped.
“Understand I only hacked his other files- ones that were not stored anywhere on GD servers mind you- because I was putting him in S.A.R.A.H. to live and I didn’t want to chance him hurting her, or you know making her explode, because he didn’t understand the complexities of her inner workings. When I confronted him on the fact that he could easily be employed as a Department Head with his IQ and work history before he was a Marshal he shut me down. Apparently he needed the distance from that life from some reason, and since I knew he wouldn’t be endangering my A.I. I left it at that. When he came to me about looking over the safety protocol I told him to have at it since I knew it was well within his capabilities I didn’t see any harm. I know for a fact he only went to other people about creating the safeties installed part of the time. He did all of the rest, including some of the installations on his off time. It’s my theory that even though he was distancing himself from his background that he needed an outlet for those good ole creative energies us scientists are known for.” Fargo replied earnestly. Nathan just stared at him for a moment- remembering all the times he had insulted Carter’s intelligence and wondering just how the blue eyed man had resisted decking him.
“We’ll be talking about withholding information later Fargo. Carter’s transition to Eureka would have gone a lot smother had we known his full history- legally obtained or not.” He finally bit out- refusing to feel guilty for tormenting the blonde based on the information he had known. This almost wedding probably wouldn’t be happening had Allison known, that much was for sure. He knew his ex-wife and fiance well enough to know that bringing home average to her family wouldn’t be acceptable. (A small part of him winced, knowing that he himself was taking another look at the currently presumed dead man, and even though he had been attracted to Carter in an abstract way knowing the other man could match him in an intellectual debate made that attraction more than just a physical appreciation. Not that it had stopped Nathan from fantasizing about Carter before he had proposed to Allison.) The intercom buzzed suddenly- breaking him from his introspection.
“Dr’s. Stark and Fargo- the device has been installed. You are free to exit the room.” A voice informed them. Nathan sighed, rubbing a hand over his face before heading towards the door. On a normal day informing loved ones of their family member’s demise or disappearance was one of his least favorite things to do. Allison took the brunt of it because she worked with people better. But today wasn’t a normal day. Today Eureka had lost Sheriff Jack Carter, and Nathan had a feeling it would never be the same until they had him back among them.
As he exited the room that Jack Carter’s particles were trapped in he paused for a moment- mentally promising the other man that this wasn’t the end. That he would do everything in his power to see him returned to this time stream and to his daughter. And then maybe. Just maybe Nathan would take a chance and see if the other man was interested in him. He knew that Allison was off the table, knowing his promise to Carter would leave her in the wayside, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t try and see if the snarking that he and Carter engaged in at every turn wouldn’t lead somewhere. Fargo bumped into his back- breaking him from his thoughts and he continued out, already resisting the urge to bury himself in his lab and start working on the newest problem he faced. That was just how his mind worked, and hopefully Carter wouldn’t mind it as much as Allison did.