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Now
‘Where’s Carter?” Allison walked down the hall of Global Dynamics with a purposeful stride, her heels clicking loudly on the polished floor. Deputy Jo Lupo walked beside her, struggling to keep up with her pace. Allison was still exhausted from the previous night and had resorted to drinking large amounts of espresso and green tea energy drinks just to stay alert. Plus she never did figure out what the damn thing was about. Joe cleared her throat and Allison glanced at her irritably.
“I’m—I’m not sure Ms. Blake. He didn’t come in this morning and he’s not answering my calls—“
Allison stopped mid stride causing Jo to stumble. “Is he okay,” Allison said, her voice significantly softer. Jo opened her mouth and closed it, raising her hands in a frustrated wave.
“Honestly Ma’am. I have no idea. Carter hasn’t really been himself lately. He’s—well he’s been falling asleep. A lot. In the bathroom sometimes. It’s—awkward.”
Allison sighed and shook her head. “Fargo told me SARAH’s clock is broken. Maybe that’s why he hasn’t been sleeping.”
“Maybe,” Jo grumbled. Allison resumed walking at a rapid pace, impatient with the woman’s obvious hostility toward Carter. Ever since she’d been passed over for Sheriff in favor of an outsider (a term the locals used for anyone not born and raised in Eureka) she’d been sullen, grumpy and at times openly hostile to her new boss. Though things had gotten better between the two Jo would probably be perfectly happy to see him replaced with someone local. Of course if she got the job that was all the better. It was why Allison didn’t have much use for Jo Lupo and why she didn’t bother to slow down when the woman was forced to break out in a jog to catch up with her.
“One of our engineers has gone missing—“ Allison paused mid-sentence at Jo’s derisive snort.
“Is something funny?”
“No, I uh—well…you people do disappear a lot. I mean a lot. It’s weird that—“Jo cleared her throat, looked down and began an intense study of her shoes. “It’s just something I noticed.”
“Well,” Allison said. “I know we have our share of problems, but if you can stomach the weirdness one more time, I’d like you and Carter to look into it for me.”
“I can handle it Ms. Blake.”
“I’d like Carter’s help on this Deputy Lupo. No offense, but he has a bit more experience with missing persons than you.”
Jo straightened her back, her mouth tense. “What’s his name?”
“Dr. Riley Porter.”
“Was Dr. Porter working on something important?”
Allison sighed, her expression pained. “I—well that’s just it. I don’t know. Henry was his supervisor and he’s not here. He was invited to speak at some top secret sabbatical the DOD reserves for their high ranking engineers.” Allison mentally chastised herself for not forcing Henry to brief her on his current research projects before his trip. She generally preferred not to micromanage her people, but Henry’s projects were all so top secret and on the very cutting edge of developing technology, she sometimes had him update her as to what projects they were developing just to be on the safe side
“So you want us to figure that out too?” Jo had taken out a pen and paper and looked at Allison expectantly. Allison blinked hard and struggled to focus on what she was saying. “What he was working on I mean.”
“Uh—no,” Allison said. “I’ll have Nathan look into it.”
Jo’s demeanor turned even colder and Allison felt a slight pang of guilt. She hated restricting local law enforcement’s access to information that might actually help them find her missing employee. But she also had no idea what type of security clearance was required for the research Doctor Porter was conducting at the time of his disappearance. Allison rubbed her temple as the memory of the Dr. Porter’s ransacked office flashed before her eyes. His wife had called her private line, hysterical and barely coherent, finally crying out that Riley hadn’t been home in three days. Three days without her husband before she’d started to panic.
Another way this job twisted its way into your life.
“Look, I know I’m not making this easy for you,” Allison said. “I’d like to give you full access but right now my hands are tied.”
“They usually are,” Jo grumbled as she scribbled notes on her pad. Allison stared at her bowed head, debating whether or not grab the woman’s tight chignon and tackle her to the ground. Jo looked up and Allison pasted a smile on her face.
“Could you please tell Carter to stop by my office if you see him? I’d like to brief him on this myself.”
“Of course you would,” Jo replied. She turned around and walked down the hall, her hand hovering as always, near her sidearm. Allison closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, mumbling to herself.
“Just get through the day Allison. That’s all you have to do. Just deal with this shit and it’ll all be okay—“
“Are you talking to yourself now Allie?”
Fuck.
Allison’s hands stilled and she looked up to find her ex-husband looking down at her, with an amused expression on his face. She crossed her arms over her chest in a protective gesture and returned his gaze.
“Did you need something Nathan?”
“Maybe that’s what I should be asking you,” Nathan replied. He stepped closer, until the scent of his cologne filled her nostrils and his body heat radiated on her skin. His lips were curved in a half smile that always tied her stomach in knots. It was moments like this that used to get to her—made her wonder what the hell she’d been thinking letting this man slip through her fingers. He was brilliant, charming, and one of the sexist men she’d ever laid eyes on….
“I was going to ask you that very thing Allison. Since apparently you’ve forgotten how to run this place.” Nathan laughed and reached up to touch her hair. “Or let’s face it—maybe you never knew in the first place.”
….and also a raging dick.
Then
“It’s okay Carter.”
Carter shielded his eyes against the bright blue lights flooding Fargo’s house. He could hear the man’s hysterical babbling from his position on the front lawn and so he switched his phone to the other ear and moved further away, determined to escape Fargo’s pleas to “cut me out of this shit.”
“No, it’s not okay,” Carter said. “I promised you I’d be there tonight and I’m stuck here cutting Fargo out of sky blue electricity conducting Jell-O.” Allison laughed and Carter’s shoulders instantly relaxed. “Tell me you don’t hate me right now.”
“I could never hate you Carter. Fargo on the other hand---“
“Just say the word and I’ll switch on the sprinklers.”
He could sense her smile through the telephone. “Aww, Jack. You’d really electrocute Fargo--for me? You say the nicest things.”
“What can I say,” Carter replied, smiling. “I’m a romantic.”
“Call me in the morning.”
“Count on it.” Carter paused and listened to the sound of her breathing on the other end of the line. “Allison I—“he hesitated, the words stuck in his throat. He’d almost told her. He wanted to tell her. He was just….
“You what Jack?”
“I just wanted to say have a good night.”
“You too.”
Carter heard the distinct click of her disconnecting, and lowered the phone down in front of him, frowning down at the dark screen. “Right,” he whispered. “Carter!” He looked up at the sound of Jo’s voice. She jogged towards him, her face rigid with annoyance.
“Yeah Jo,” Carter said as he closed the distance between them.
“We got a problem. None of Henry’s tools are working. The gelatin keeps spontaneously regenerating every time he tries to cut Fargo out. The only thing we can do is try to melt it down, which could take over an hour.”
He shrugged. ““So what’s the problem? Just light him up and---“
“Fargo has to pee.”
Carter’s mouth slammed shut with surprise. “Oh,” he said. His face wrinkled with disgust as he pictured the result of such an attempt while suspended in the middle of an eight foot tall mound of jelly. “Oh—that’s—that’s just gross.”
Now
Carter sat on his couch and watched Faith poke at a peanut butter sandwich with obvious distaste. “I thought you were hungry,” he said.
“It doesn’t have jelly.”
“Trust me. Jelly’s overrated.” He pointed at the neglected food. “That—is a perfectly good sandwich. I’m sure it even has vitamins.”
“And sodium.’
“Sodium—that’s good for you right?”
Faith scowled and shook her head. “Did you really raise a kid?”
“Did my ex-wife send you here?”
Faith pushed the plate forward on the table and sat back on the couch, folding her thin arms over her chest and staring at the wall in front of her with narrow, hostile eyes. Carter looked at her, struck by a sudden wave of déjà vu. Zoë used to be just as sullen when she didn’t get her way at that age. Actually she still did it now.
The exact—same—expression.
“Oh my God,” Carter gasped. He placed his hand over his chest suddenly unable to remember how his lungs worked. “You’re not---I mean---I’m not---you didn’t—I—“He swallowed hard, his tongue refusing to fit in his mouth.
“Is that supposed to be a sentence,” Faith asked.
“Are you my---“Carter swallowed hard, the words making his throat close with panic. “—love child?”
Faith blinked at him in confusion. “Love child?”
“Yeah.”
“You watch too much Lifetime.”
“Just—answer the question.” Carter shifted in his chair, his mind racing through beer hazed memories of fumbling with bras in the backseat of his used Honda. He glanced at Faith and narrowed the list down to Tanya Brown and Larissa….
Larissa….
Fuck.
Faith sighed. “Well—if you’re asking if I’m some long lost daughter dropped on your doorstep by some woman you knocked up after a frat party ten years ago—then no—I’m not.” She tilted her chin down and raised one small eyebrow. “But since you’re sweating like that, I guess it was a strong possibility.”
“Oh, alright,” Carter snapped. “If you’re finished playing poke the Sheriff we can head down to the station and figure out how to get you home.”
“No.”
Carter blinked in surprise. “No? That’s it? Just no?”
“Hell no.”
“Okay—no swearing.”
Faith stood up and began to make her way towards the door. Carter rose to his feet as she passed and grabbed her arm, forcing her to stop. “Hey, where do you think you’re going?”
“I told you—I’m not going home. If I wanted to be home I never would have left.”
“So you ran away,” Carter asked. He dropped her arm and Faith glared up at him, crossing her arms over her chest, the sullen expression firmly planted on her face.
“Just because I’m not home doesn’t make me a runaway.”
“Well at least let me call someone,” Carter offered. “I’ll just let them know where you are. That you’re safe.”
“You’re vibrating.”
Carter frowned. “What?”
“Your phone. It’s been ringing since I got here. You don’t feel that?”
Carter rolled his eyes. “Okay, how gullible do you think I am? Don’t you think I’d know if I was—I mean if my phone was vibrating?” Faith stared at him and then lowered her eyes to his belt. Carter looked down to see a bright flashing red light, signaling an unanswered call and message. “Shit.” He looked up quickly and pointed at Faith. “You didn’t hear me say that.”
Faith rolled her eyes. “Your secret’s safe with me.”
Carter opened his cell phone and gasped. “Five missed calls.”
“I told you,” Faith said with a shrug. Carter flipped the phone open and groaned at the name at the top of his phone list.
“Allison.”
“You should go see her.”
Carter frowned down at his phone. “Yeah—I should probably go—“He shook his head and frowned down at Faith. “Wait—stop trying to get rid of me.”
“Just trying to help.” Faith turned around and flopped down on his couch. “I could wait here—while you see her I mean.”
Carter dialed Allison’s number at Global Dynamics and shook his head at Faith. “No way. I’ve got enough problems in this town without having some ten year old runaway squatting in my house. I’m taking you home.”
“Hello?”
“Allison!” Carter turned his back to Faith and switched the phone to his other ear. “I saw you called. I’m sorry—“
“Where the hell have you been all morning? I’ve been calling and---“
“I know. Something’s wrong with my phone.”
“Well I need you here. Now.”
“Okay, well—I’ll be there--” Carter turned around and looked at Faith. She had turned her body upside down on his couch, her legs thrown up over the headrest and her neck stretched at an impossible angle off the edge of the seat cushion. “I just got this---thing.”
Allison paused. “Carter, are you feeling okay?”
“What? Yeah, yes. I’m fine.”
“Good. So—if you don’t mind— could you put your thing away and get over here. Please.”
“Will do.” Carter paused as he caught her meaning. “No! No—it’s not that kind of—thing---“
“Just get down here Carter.”
Allison disconnected and Carter closed the phone with a loud snap. “Shit.”
“You swear a lot.”
“Well when you have a shitty day you tend to say shit a lot.”
“Why is your day shitty?”
“Don’t say shitty.”
“You’re evading.”
Carter walked over to the couch and tapped her shoe causing her to drop her legs to the side and down to the seat cushion. “Don’t say evading either. As a matter of fact just wipe the words shit, fuck, evade, emotionally distant and self absorbed completely from your vocabulary.”
“So—are you going?”
“What?”
“To Allison. She needs you right?”
“Right,” Carter nodded and lifted his hand in exasperation. “Of course you know Allison.”
Faith righted herself on the couch and looked up at him expectantly. “She’s the girl you love.”
“Woman. Allison is a very accomplished, very beautiful woman—not a girl.”
Faith smiled broadly, flashing deep dimples in her cheeks. “You’re so whipped.”
Carter rolled his eyes and rubbed the nape of his neck. “Okay, so—dammit. I can’t just leave you here.” He frowned and then snapped his fingers and smiled. “Lupo. I’ll call Deputy Lupo and have her come out here and---“
“Babysit?”
“Well I wasn’t going to call it that but—yeah. Pretty much.”
“No wonder she hates you.”
“Oh,” Carter waved his hand dismissively. “Jo doesn’t hate me.” Faith stared at him silent and Carter frowned. “Does she really?”
Then
Allison was pulled from her sleep by the sound of the phone ringing on her nightstand. She pushed her hair from her face and squinted at her clock.
2:00 a.m.
“What the hell?” She groped for the receiver and lifted it to her ear. “Hello?”
“Oh good you’re up.”
“Carter?” Allison propped herself up in her bed and pulled the covers higher to her chest. “It’s 2 in the morning.”
“Yeah I know—I just—well I just got done melting Fargo out of Jell-O and I—well I couldn’t stop thinking about you.”
“I can see how Jell-O could bring that on.”
“Ha—you’re funny when you’re sleep deprived.”
Allison smiled. “Where are you now Carter?”
“Guess.”
She frowned and reached out to turn on her lamp. “I don’t know,” she said.
“Come on Allie. Where do you think I’d be right now?”
Allison paused and then slid out of her bed, her satin nightgown falling down around her ankles. She made her way down the hall and into her living room, pausing at her front door. She placed her hand on the doorknob and hesitated, her lips curving into a soft smile. Allison pulled open the door to find Carter standing on her front porch, his eyes red with fatigue and his arms filled with her favorite white lilies.
He lowered the phone from his ear and shrugged. “I promised I’d be here.”
Allison lowered the telephone and her eyes bright with unshed tears. “And that’s why I love you.”
Now
“Fuck you Nathan Stark.” Allison slammed her hand on her desk and closed her eyes against the memory of his taunting voice. She new he’d only done it to get to her—his ongoing punishment for breaking his heart. It was the reason Allison couldn’t bring herself to hate him—though her palm was still itching with the impulse to slap that smug grin off his face.
“What is wrong with me,” Allison whispered. Nathan had taken great pleasure in reciting to her in excruciating detail just how much she’d fucked up in the past week. She’d forgotten to approve funding for two different departments causing development to shut down for three days. Then she’d neglected to tell security about the new genetics specialist they’d acquired, causing the poor woman to be harassed the minute she’d tried to enter the building. Add that to misplacing one of her top engineers and Allison had begun to think something was seriously wrong with her.
“Allison!”
She looked up as Carter entered her office and rose to her feet, glaring at him with irritation.
“I called you—“
“I know! I’m sorry.” He moved around the desk and slipped his arms around her waist. Allison’s eyes widened and she looked down at his hands as he pulled her against his body.
“Carter! What—“
“God I missed you last night,” he whispered. Allison gripped his arms and gasped in surprise as he lowered his lips to hers. Carter plunged his tongue into her mouth, tasting her with a long hot stroke. Allison sighed, her eyes fluttering closed as a slow throbbing began to pulse between the thighs. He lifted one hand to the nape of her neck and tilted her head so he could deepen the kiss, the hand on her waist moving lower to the curve of her behind. He pressed her hips against his and Allison’s eyes flew open at the hard length of his erection pressed against her stomach.
“Oh,’ she gasped as he moved his lips down to her neck. “Carter—“
“I feel like it’s been a month since I was inside you Allison,” he mumbled against her throat.
“W-What?” Allison’s voice was a hoarse stammer.
“You’re so tense,” Carter said. He moved his mouth to the spot on her neck beneath her ear and teased the skin with a flick of his tongue. Allison moaned and he smiled, leaning back to meet her eyes. “Come on. Fifteen minutes and two orgasms in the file room and you’ll be good as new.’
“T-Two—Carter! What the hell is wrong with you?” Allison pushed at his chest and untangled herself from his arms. Carter looked at her in shock.
“What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong with you? Why are you acting like this?”
“Why am I—you just told me you want to have sex in the file room,” she whispered harshly.
“We always have sex in the file room,” Carter whispered back.
“No. We don’t.”
“Yes. We do.”
“I think I’d remember if we had Carter.” Allison’s voice was almost back to normal, a small tremble the only sign of her agitation.
“Well—last time you came three times—so yeah. You sure as hell would!” Carter said leaned forward, drawing out his words for emphasis. Allison glanced at the door and then glared up at him.
“This is insane.” Allison gestured towards Carter, her gazed fixed somewhere on the front of his Sheriff’s uniform. “You come into my office and—kiss me---like—you--what were you thinking Carter?”
“What was I---“Carter paused and frowned. “Wait—you called me Carter.”
Allison shrugged and lifted her hand in exasperation. “I always call you Carter.”
“No—I mean yes you do. But—,” He paused, staring at her in confusion. “You haven’t called me Jack since I stepped in this office.”
“What in the hell has that got to do with anything?”
Carter stared at her, his eyes frantically searching her face. “Oh my God,” he whispered.
“What? What is it?” What’s wrong with me?
“You—you really don’t remember.”
“Of course,” she said gesturing towards him. “You might as well have a turn too. Tell me, what awesomely important, earth shattering thing did I forget this time Carter?”
Carter shook his head, his face etched with fear.
“Everything.” 