Summary: A routine accident at Global Dynamics has unexpected consequences.
Categories: Non Buffy/Angel Stories Characters: None
Genres: AU
Warnings: None
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 10 Completed: No
Word count: 8331 Read: 187638
Published: 2008.09.14 Updated: 2010.07.10
Story Notes:
Disclaimer: I don't own them, Eureka and it's citizens belong to their creator. If I did own them, Season three would have been entirely different.
1. Chapter 1 by josette grover
2. Chapter 2 by josette grover
3. Chapter 3 by josette grover
4. Chapter 4 by josette grover
5. Chapter 5 by josette grover
6. Chapter 6 by josette grover
7. Chapter 7 by josette grover
8. Chapter 8 by josette grover
9. Chapter 9 by josette grover
10. Chapter 10 by josette grover
Chapter 1 by josette grover
Author's Notes:
Pre-slash, eventually will be Nathan/Jack
Jack is in the shower after yet another experiment run amok at Global Dynamics. He looks up as Nathan enters the room, stripping off his clothes and stepping under the shower, dust and foam rinsing off his body and going down the drain.
"Everything taken care of?" Jack asks, over his shoulder, turning slightly under the spray of water so it runs down his back.
"Yes finally," Nathan growls. He'd left Fargo dealing with the cleanup. Luckily the chemicals that had combined in the accident hadn't been dangerous, just annoying. Everything in the lab had been covered in a six inch thick pink foam. Water had made it start bubbling up and expand more, and the chemicals they normally use on spills to dry them out hadn't worked. In the end, they'd had to form a bucket brigade, shoveling the foam into pails and carrying it out of the room to be examined and disposed of properly.
Jack had been in Nathan's office when the alarms had started sounding, following Fargo and Nathan to the lab. The inhabitants had just been picking themselves up off the floor, knocked off their feet by the minor explosion that hadn't even triggered the blast shields. Nathan scowls, trust the sheriff to be in the building the same time as the explosion. He briefly wonders if there had been less trouble before the Sheriff had arrived in town,reminding himself to have Fargo look up the incident reports from before Carter arrived to see if there was a difference. If there was, that would be one excuse to keep that annoying man out of Global Dynamics.
Yes, that's it he nods decisively, covering the movement by ducking his head under the water and grabbing a bottle of shampoo. Get Carter out of Global Dynamics and everything would be perfect. He ignores the voice in the back of his head quietly telling him the reason he thinks Carter is so annoying isn't because the other man might be attracted to Allison, and who wouldn't be attracted to Allison after all, but because he's attracted to him.
Jack stands under the steaming hot water, adjusting the showerhead so it pulses on his back, sore from moving so many pails of foam. That foam might have looked light, but after the first twenty or so pails, it became damn heavy. He moans as he realizes just how much paperwork is waiting for him back at the office.
Nathan looks over at the moan. "Something the matter Carter?" he asks without any interest, then stops and blinks. "Carter, what happened to your hair?"
"What do you mean, what happened to my hair?" Jack asks, his eyes flying open as he turns and shuts off the shower, grabbing a towel from the shelf outside the door one handed and wrapping it around his waist before stepping out of the shower and looking at the mirrors over the sinks. He stops and stares, blinking at what he sees in the mirror before reaching back into the shower and grabbing Nathan by the arm dragging him out into the room.
"Carter, what is your problem?" Nathan scowls, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around his waist. Jack points at the mirror and Stark follows his gaze, mouth opening as he takes a deep breath to bellow.
"Fargo." Both men yell, a startled eep coming from outside the bathroom as Fargo quickens his pace, hurrying into the room with the change of clothes from Stark's office and the spare uniform Jo had delivered.
"Sir?" Fargo asks, stopping and staring as both men turning to look at him, not noticing when they lose their grips on the towels. "Why do we have pink hair?" Stark growls.
Chapter 2 by josette grover
Fargo blinks, staring at the two men. Pink hair, they have pink hair. Stark's hair is a darker pink than Carter's, but then his hair was darker to begin with. Fargo takes a quick glance at the other men's crotches, yes the carpet does match the curtains he thinks, trying vainly not to have hysterics.
Stark,seeing Fargo's look downward, grabs the suit Fargo had brought him, shoving Jack's uniform in his direction. "Fargo, quit gawking and find out what is going on." he orders, dressing quickly before walking out leaving Carter staring at his back.
The slamming of the door knocks Carter out of his daze and he quickly dresses, getting his gear and heading out of Global Dynamics. He ignores the stunned looks his appearance gets as he walks out of Global Dynamics, employees stopping in the corridor and staring at his back as he passes them.
Getting in his patrol vehicle, he radios the sheriff office to let Jo know he's heading back to town, nodding to Allison as he passes her in the parking lot.
"Nathan, what's going on? I just passed Jack Carter and . . ." Allison's voice trails off as she enters her ex-husband's office. "Okay, what happened?" she asks, dropping into a seat by the door.
"Allie, I have no idea what you're talking about." Nathan says, not looking up from his computer screen. "What makes you think anything happened? Fargo," he bellows, "Did you get that information I wanted?"
"No Sir, Dr. Stark, not yet." Fargo calls from outside, scurrying off to complete his mission.
"You're in here, normally you'd be somewhere in Global Dynamics making Fargo run to catch up." Allison begins ticking off items on her fingers. "Jack Carter just was leaving the parking lot when I arrived. And oh yes, you both have pink hair." She says dryly. "Now something had to have happened."
Jack stops at the Cafe Diem on his way to the office, walking inside to have all conversation suddenly stop like somebody had flipped the light switch. "Vincent, give me a coffee with sugar to go." he shakes his head as he walks over to the counter. On the way to town he'd decided to follow Nathan's lead, deny everything.
Vincent blinks, eyes never leaving Jack's face as his hands pour a large coffee for him, handing it over without a word.
"Thanks Vincent," Jack sighs as he takes a sip. "I needed this. I probably have a stack of paperwork as tall as I am when I get back to the office and I needed caffeine to deal with it." He walks out of the building, quietly counting off the seconds before everybody inside start talking again. He smirks as he gets behind the wheel, Stark has the right idea sometimes, being evil can be fun.
Jo glares at the door when it finally opens. What the hell has Carter been up to? She opens her mouth to say something scathing and stops abruptly when Jack enters the office, the outside light making his hair almost transparent as he walks into the room, stopping to switch on the coffee maker before walking over to his desk.
"Okay, how many billion pieces of paperwork do I need to fill out for the incident at Global Dynamics?" he asks Jo, finally looking at her.
"Were there any injuries?" She asks, blinking. His hair looks like the cotton candy she used to get at the county fair when she was younger.
"No, maybe a few bruises but nothing major." Carter answers, pulling that form out.
"Property damage?" she asks, still blinking.
"Minimal unless the pink foam stains something." Carter pulls out the paperwork for that too.
"Any untoward physical contact?" Jo asks.
"Not unless you count the bucket brigade we had to form to get rid of that stuff. Water made it grow and the drying chemicals didn't work. We finally ended up shoveling it all up and carrying it out of the room to be disposed of." He grabs that form too because if he didn't fill it out Stark would be snarking he wasn't doing his job properly.
"What caused the . . . pink foam?" Jo waves a hand in his direction as the door opens and Henry comes in. "Jack, why did Vincent just call the garage and demand I come see you?" he asks, dropping into a chair before looking at him. His voice trails off as he exchanges looks with Jo as the phone rings. Jo quickly picks it up and takes down some information.
"Small problem outside of town." she says, grabbing her jacket off the coat rack.
"Do you want me to handle it?" Jack asks, going to stand up.
"NO!" Jo says quickly in a high pitched squeak. She nervously lowers her voice and repeats herself, "No why don't you stay here and get a start on the paperwork, tell Henry what happened and maybe he can help you figure out what paperwork you have to fill out.And I'm going to find out what the hell happened at GD." she says softly. "Did you see Dr. Stark or Dr. Blake while you were there?"
"Yeah, I was in Stark's office when the alarm started blaring, I spent most of the last three hours with him." Jack gets up and refills his coffee cup, silently offering the pot to the others who quickly decline. "And I saw Allison in the parking lot as I left Global Dynamics, she seemed . . . startled for some reason."
"Gee, I wonder why." Jo mutters as she leaves the office.
Chapter 3 by josette grover
Jack hides a smile as he watches Henry watch him without making it look like he's watching him as they go over the incident reports he needs to fill out. Bending to pull something out of the bottom drawer has him hissing and holding his back.
"Jack?" Henry asks touching him gently on the shoulder as he slowly straightens up.
"Back spasm." Jack gasps out. Henry finds the spasming muscle and gently rubs until he relaxes.
"Your back is just a mass of knots." Henry says, gently moving his hands on Jack's back. "Lie down on one of the bunks, I'll rub them out." Reaching for the emergency medical supplies, which includes things you would not find outside a major hospital, he pulls out a bottle of topical anesthetic/muscle relaxer and leads Jack to one of the cells, lying him face down on the cot after helping him off with his shirt. Jack buries his face in his arms, turning his head slightly so he can see the door of the sheriff office.
"What the hell happened?"
"I was called up to Global Dynamics by Fargo, to go over something or other when there was an explosion at one of the labs." Jack says into his arm as Henry straddles him and begins pouring the liquid onto his back. He tenses automatically when Henry's hands descend on his back, but a few soothing words has him relaxing as Henry begins to work.
"What caused the explosion?"
Jack starts to shrug but thinks better of it. "No idea, when we got there they were picking themselves up off the floor. Some chemicals spilled during the blast though, and it created a six inch pink foam that covered everything."
"Six inch pink foam." Henry says in disbelief.
"Six inch pink foam." Jack repeats. "It covered everything in there."
"Why are you so stiff?" Henry asks, pressing on his back.
"The chemicals used to dry spills didn't do anything and water only made it grow, we finally ended up starting a bucket brigade of people with pails and shovels to scrape it up for disposal. The foam isn't heavy, but after the first twenty pails, you'd swear it weighed fifty pounds. I left when we got most of the lab cleaned out, they were deciding on how to clean everything else."
"Pink foam." Henry says again.
"Six inch pink foam that was hard as a rock." Jack says, moaning as Henry finds yet another knot of tense muscle. I don't know what Stark is going to do with it all."
Henry sighs. "I'm sure Nathan will find something to do with it." he continues rubbing Jack's back until all the muscles stop spasming and covers him with the shirt when he hears a small snore coming from the other man.
"Carter, come in." Jo calls from the radio. Henry grabs it off Jack's shirt before it can wake the other man.
"Deacon here," he says quietly.
"Where's Carter?" Jo asks, standing on the step of her patrol vehicle, mike in hand as she looks out at the scene in front of her. She releases the button and briefly wonders why the hell would Henry be answering Carter's radio. "Over."
"Asleep, he had a muscle spasm bending down to retrieve something from his bottom drawer. I got him lying down, gave him a massage, and he fell asleep after wards." comes the response from the radio.
"Damn it, I'm going to need his help. I think I'm going to need a lot of help." she says, staring at the scene in front of her. Fargo is staring at the building in horror, Larry is gesturing wildly,Stark is staring at him with a 'what the hell did you do this time' look ignoring everything going on around him, and Taggart is staring at Nathan in glee. "Oh yeah," she says as she sees pink foam pressing up against one of the windows of the underground levels. "I definitely am going to need a lot of help. . . and shovels."
Chapter 4 by josette grover
"Jack?" Henry gently touches his shoulder, unsurprised when the other man wakes instantly too many years of being in the military, then a marshal, and now living in Eureka giving him razor sharp reflexes.
"Yeah Henry?" Jack lifts his head from his arm, Henry's hand on his shoulder keeping him from twisting his head to look over his shoulder.
"Jo called, she needs some help." He helps Jack on with his shirt as the other man grabs the radio.
"Yes Jo?" Carter asks, blinking. He hates sleeping in the middle of the day, he feels like he's half asleep the rest of the day.
"I need your help at Global Dynamics, Carter." Jo says. "You know that foam you were telling me about? It's back, but it's not six inches anymore, it's bigger, a lot bigger." She smirks as she releases the button, hearing the moan on the other end.
"Okay, I'm afraid to ask, how much bigger?"
"A lot, it's taken over at least three rooms in one of the underground levels, and that was about a half hour ago when everybody was evacuated. Stark thinks it's locked in but nobody can get close enought to look. Fargo is trying to remotely connect to the inside cameras. So far it looks like it's confined to that one area."
Jo snickers as what sounds suspiciously like Carter banging his head on the desk can be heard over the radio.
"Okay, what did Fargo do this time?" Jack finally asks. In the office Henry silently snickers.
"For once we can't put the blame on Fargo, it was Larry. According to Dr. Blake, Fargo was taking some of the foam out for them to examine when Larry walked in."
"I didn't think Larry had the clearance to be down there." Carter says over the radio, rolling his eyes as Henry bats his hands away as he tries buttoning his shirt, handing over a glass of water and two pills, tapping his foot until Carter takes them.
"He doesn't, he had volunteered to run an errand for Dr. Blake. He came in and saw what they were doing and decided to show up Fargo by taking a sample of the foam and dumping it in the sink when Fargo asked if Dr. Stark had found a way to dissolve the foam when they were done."
"Ohhhh shit." Carter says softly.
"Ohhhh yeahhhhh," Jo drawls. "He turned on the water, smirking over his shoulder at Fargo and it leaped out of the sink like it was a monster out to eat his soul." Jack splutters, "Fargo's words, not mine Carter." She snorts. "Stark got Fargo and Larry out of there and hit the
emergency button to lock down that section."
"Should have left Larry down there." Carter mutters.
"I think Stark is thinking the same thing. Right now he's asking him if he didn't see the huge No Water sign on the door, if he didn't bother to read it, or just thought it couldn't possibly apply to him." Jo says as Stark's voice can be heard as they walk towards her patrol vehicle.
"Do you have Carter on the radio?" he brusquely asks, grabbing the radio not waiting for the answer. "Carter, get out here." he orders, "And stop by the garage, Henry isn't answering the telephone."
"I'm here Nathan," Henry says over the radio as they get into the sheriff's vehicle. Henry pushes Jack into the passenger seat, ignoring the glare. "And what happens if you have a muscle spasm while you're driving?" he asks with a raised eyebrow.
Stark looks up from a computer on the hood of Jo's vehicle as Eureka's annoying Sheriff pulls into the parking lot. One eyebrow raises as he sees the man get out of the passenger seat, moving a little stiffly as he walks over to where everybody is gathered around the
computer.
Well, most everybody that is. Taggart looks up from whatever it was he'd been doing with Fargo across the parking lot and whistles when he sees Jack's hair.
"Well you didn't tell me our fair Sheriff was also sporting magenta hair, boyo." he cuffs Fargo gently on the shoulder, the other man is still nearly knocked down.
"It's not like I can just come out and say, hey Dr. Stark and Sheriff Carter have pink hair after they showered together." he yelps.
"They showered together? Do tell." Taggart leers at the light and dark pink hair bent over the computer across the parking lot.
"Get your mind out of the gutter, Taggart." Fargo rolls his eyes, nervously keeping an ear out if the boss needs him. "They were both covered with that pink foam after the lab accident, I brought Dr. Stark the change of clothes from his closet and Deputy Lupo brought
a clean uniform up for the Sheriff."
"And their hair was normal before they showered?" A female voice asks as Dr. Blake comes over to where they're standing.
"Yes, Dr. Blake," Fargo gulps.
"And it was pink after they had their showers?" She asks.
"Yes, Dr. Blake."
"And nobody else has different colored hair after the explosion."
"No Dr. Blake," Fargo says.
"So it looks like something in the shampoo might have reacted with something in the foam." she says. Fargo nods unable to speak. "Did they shower with the others?"
"No Dr. Blake, they used the executive washroom." Fargo gulps.
"Okay, when we finally get this under control or are allowed back in, I want you to get to the washroom and grab the shampoo they used." She stops to think, "They did use the same shampoo, didn't they?"
"I believe so, Dr. Blake." Fargo says, taking a deep breath as he glows under the important job Dr. Blake has given him.
"On second thought, get everything they might have used there." she orders, turning to walk back to the others. She smirks as she hears Taggart's question about whether the rugs match the curtains and briefly entertains the notion of ordering her former husband and the Sheriff to drop their pants so she can find out. She's a doctor, she can even find a medical excuse for them to make them do it.
Chapter 5 by josette grover
"Another muscle spasm?" Allison asks Henry as they enter the elevator, growling silently as Jack tries to take the oxygen mask off again. "Carter, leave that mask on." The glare she gives him makes him stop, for the moment anyway.
"Yes, he had one at the office, I checked his back and found he was a mass of knots, rubbed them out with a muscle relaxer/topical anesthetic and then gave him two aspirin when he woke up."
"Sleeping on the job, Sheriff? And with Henry?" Stark makes a tsk tsk sound, smirking. "I thought better of you."
Carter responds with a middle finger salute.
"You'd have to buy me a drink first." Stark smirks again. Allison reaches over and swats him on the shoulder. "Nathan, quit picking on Jack." She orders as the elevator doors open.
Allison barks orders as they pull into the infirmary, nurses and doctors jumping as Nathan smirks. Within a few minutes Jack is stripped out of his uniform, blood is drawn, and an iv started before he's run down the hall to a MRI machine.
Nathan is reading the MRI over Allison's shoulder as Jack is settled in a bed, the dose of morphine Allison ordered for the pain making his head swim and his stomach churn. Henry jumps to his side, holding a basin as Jack loses the fight to keep from being sick.
"Sorry Henry," Jack slurs as a nurse cleans him up, another taking the basin and rinsing it, putting it beside him in case it's needed again.
"Not your fault Jack, that happens a lot with morphine." he brushes Jack's hair off his forehead.
"Hey Allison?" Jack asks, turning his head to look at her.
"Yes Jack?" She asks, turning to look at him.
"Did you know Nathan has a cute ass?"
Nathan splutters, spraying the sip of coffee he'd just taken across the wall. Allison grins over at Jack. "I've noticed." she says, smirking at her former husband. "It's the morphine talking Nathan," she reassures the other man.
Nathan stalks off growling, pushing his way past Fargo when he walks into the infirmirary. Fargo quickly turns around and runs to catch up to Stark as Allison quietly chuckles. "Ohhh Nathan is so mad, but the look on his face was worth it." she finally says. She looks over at Jack who's softly snoring, "Do you think he'll remember any of this?" She asks Henry. Henry shakes his head. "Well at least Nathan can stop being jealous over Jack." he says.
"Why would Nathan be jealous of Jack?" Allison turns to stare at Henry, who chuckles.
"Allison, Nathan thinks you're becoming close to Jack, that's why he doesn't like him. He hasn't realized yet that he's not jealous of Carter having feelings for you, he's jealous of you having feelings for Carter. He hasn't figured out yet that he might have feelings for Carter."
"You think so?" Allison asks.
"He's looking at Jack the same way he was looking at you before he finally figured out he was interested and asked you out on a date."
"Nathan always was clueless about anything except his work." Allison shakes her head, turning her attention back to the MRI images
Hours later Jack is lying on his stomach, a heating pad on his back to help ease the pain of strained muscles in his back. A figure walks into the deserted room, dropping into a chair by the bed, automatically reaching over to grasp Jack's hand where it lies next to his head, a thumb tracing the tape holding the line in place.
Nathan looks up, seeing an additional bag on the line, scowling as he grabs the clipboard, flipping the cover open one-handed, and begins to read, Carter had been in fine form when he'd left earlier, what had happened to the other man now?
Chapter 6 by josette grover
The nurses on duty sigh and roll their eyes when they see a light on in Sheriff Carter's room. They know who it is of course, Dr. Stark. It's definitely not Sheriff Carter, he's sleeping off a sedative they'd given him a couple of hours ago when Dr. Blake had left for the night.
In Carter's room, Nathan sighs, taking off his glasses and rubbing his eyes. The second bag is nothing to worry about, just glucose to go with the saline to keep him from becoming dehydrated because the morphine is making him nauseous. If he wasn't so tired, he'd have realized that from the beginning. Closing his eyes, he decides he can rest for a couple of minutes before going back to his lab.
The next morning an amused Allison finds himcstill asleep in the chair. Shaking her head in amusement, she pulls a blanket up over him and turns her attention to the notes in Carter's chart.
Carter mumbles sleepily as she runs a hand over his head, Allison's quiet voice sending him back to sleep. Combing his hair, she pulls a pair of scissors from her kit and takes a hair sample, combing his thick hair back in place over the tiny bare spot that should quickly grow back in. She labels the envelope and turns her attention on her husband, running her hand through his hair.
"Not tonight, Allie, 'm tired." Nathan mumbles in his sleep. Allison gives him an amused look and kisses him gently on the temple before taking hair samples from his hair and combs through his beard. This wakes him up and he blinks up at her.
"Allie, what are you doing?"
"Taking samples of your hair and beard so I can find out why you and Carter have pink hair. Now drop your pants, I need a sample of pubic hair too."
Nathan cocks one eyebrow at her in amusement. "Hate to remind you Allie, but we're not married anymore. And what if Carter wakes up?"
"Very funny, Nathan." Allison rolls her eyes. "This is strictly professional. Now drop your pants or do you want to do it in the bathroom while I get a sample from Jack?"
"You keep your hands off Carter's groin." Nathan says, "I'll take the pubic hair sample."
Allison smirks behind his back as Nathan storms over to the bed and pulls the covers off Carter.
Carter had moved in his sleep during the night. he's now sleeping on his side with pillows behind his back. Nathan ignores the tight feeling his his pants at the sight of Carter's limp cock surrounded by a nest of normally blond curls as he pulls on a pair of latex gloves from the box on the wall. Allison looks on amused as he prepares to run his fingers through Carter's pubic hair like he was going to perform major surgery.
"Uhhh," Carter murmurs, beginning to wake up.
"Shhh, go back to sleep Jack." Allison says soothingly. Nathan scowls as Carter falls back asleep,quickly snipping some of the hair away and putting it in the envelope Allison holds out. Carter's penis begins filling with blood under Nathan's attention and he whimpers in his sleep, nearly waking despite the latest dose of sedative in his system when he tries to reach for his cock.
"Allison, what do you think you're doing?" Nathan snaps as Allison comes around the bed and reaches for Jack's cock.
"Well, we can't just leave him like this, he's in too much pain to do anything about it." Allison says in her best reasonable tone of voice. "It's purely medical Nathan."
Nathan scowls and pulls her away from Carter before he begins slowly stroking Carter's cock, using the same movements that bring him release when he pleasures himself, Carter soon coming over his hands and the towel he'd had Allison bring from the bathroom that he'd laid over his groin.
Nathan cleans Carter up and places the soiled towel in the laundry cart to be cleaned while Allison covers him back up with the blankets before heading into the bathroom and returning with the pubic hair sample, ignoring the feeling of Carter's cock in his hands, pleasuring the other man like he would himself. It was purely a medical procedure he tells himself, nodding to the nurse as she comes in to change the bags on Carter's iv.
"Keep him on the sedatives and muscle relaxers, I'm going to order another MRI later today. If it's better, he can go home tomorrow if somebody can help him get around the house. Too bad Zoe is off with her mother for the next two weeks." Allison tells the nurse, initialing Carter's chart and handing it back to the nurse as they prepare to leave Carter's room.
Nathan heads down to his lab, detouring to his office and changing his clothes, a cold shower quickly waking him up. Coffee will have to do for breakfest, he quickly decides, looking up when a tray is placed in front of him.
"Eat." Allison orders. "I know you, the pink foam is a mystery and you love mysteries. You won't come out of your lab for hours, ignoring distractions like food, not even breaking for coffee because you'd have to leave the lab to get some."
"And what do you plan on doing?" he asks her, picking up the danish from the tray. She's right of course, he will be working around the clock on the mystery of the pink foam for hours and wouldn't be eating, but he doesn't have to tell her that.
Allison gives him that same amused look she gave him while they were dating and married, the 'I'm right, you know I'm right and I know I'm right, but since you aren't going to say anything neither am I' and settles down on the couch.
"Try to figure out a way to clear the affected rooms without resorting to dynamite, a flamethrower, or a group of little men with picks and shovels?" Allison says with a grin. "Then I need to go over the reports and see if there was any damages from the pink foam that would not die." she says in a deep tone.
"Fargo?" Nathan sighs.
"Fargo." Allison chuckles.
Chapter 7 by josette grover
Nathan checks over the reports from yesterday's 'incident' and heads out of the office, Allison shaking her head as she watches him leave.
Nathan swipes his pass and pushes the down button on the elevator, coming out and walking down the steps on sublevel two seeing Henry crouched over the wall of pink at the opposite end of the hallway.
"Henry, any news on cleaning this up?" he asks as he comes up behind him.
"Nothing," Henry says standing up. "I thought Jack was joking when he was complaining about the pink foam yesterday, but he wasn't kidding. This stuff is hard as a rock, I knocked a small piece loose and borrowed an empty lab."
"What did you find?" Nathan asks as the two men automatically fall into step.
"Do you have a list of the chemicals that were in the lab? The mass spectrometer couldn't figure out what it was."
Nathan brings up the report from the initial accident, handing his computer over to Henry to read. "The chemicals that were in the lab, and the ones that we think were involved in the spill. The ones with a checkmark were accounted for as undamaged when we did inventory yesterday."
"Thanks, this gives me at least a base to start with." Henry sends the report to the screen, handing Nathan his computer back. "Any ideas?"
"Allison suggested dynamite, a flamethrower, or seven tiny men with picks and shovels." Nathan's lips twitch.
"I don't think dynamite would make a dent in this, we'd have to see if this is flammable and if so, if we can put it out quickly. . ."
"Yes, I'd rather not burn down the building getting rid of the pink foam." he shudders. "Plus think of what would happen if the sprinklers turned on."
Henry winces, nodding.
"How's Jack?" he quickly changes the subject as they walk into the lab he'd taken over. Nathan raises his glasses up as he peers in the eyepiece of an electron microscope. Humming absently, he looks at the pink foam on the slide...absently wondering how Henry had managed to slice a piece off small enough to fit.
"Nathan?" Henry asks and he realizes the other man had asked him a question. Running his mind back over the last few minutes, he remembers Henry's question.
"Oh,Carter. Sleeping off his latest dose of sedatives. Allison's scheduled another MRI later today, if it's good he can go home tomorrow if somebody stays with him." Nathan says, turning his attention back to the sample in front of him. "However did you get a piece small enough to get on a slide?"
Henry chuckles. "You should have seen us. You'd have thought we were going to preform surgery I was so geared up, and Fargo kept mopping my brow so no sweat would drop onto the foam because I was so damn hot."
"Why did you have so much on?"
"We didn't want to see what would happen if sweat dropped onto the foam. Not to mention, I'd look really stupid with pink hair." He smirks at his former student who rolls his eyes at him. "But on you it looks so dignified." he smirks, clapping the other man on the shoulder.
"Ha ha ha, if the pink foam caused that, everybody would be running around with pink hair."
"Which is why Allison thinks it was something to do with both the shampoo and body wash you used yesterday and the foam. You and Jack are the only two who used both and so far, you're the only one who has their hair turn color."
"Hopefully it wears off soon." Nathan huffs. "Allison took 'samples' to check."
Henry covers his mouth and turns away so Nathan doesn't see the smile on his face. Allison always was a bright girl.
"Let's hope so, have you tried shampooing yet?" he asks in all innocence. Nathan looks at him, not fooled in the least.
"No," he growls, "I've been a little . . .preoccupied."
"Well lets hope it wears off or washes out, because bald would not be a good look on you, Nathan."
Chapter 8 by josette grover
Nathan rolls his eyes at the other man, Henry would be extremely amused at his predicament.
"I'm glad you approve of my suffering."
Henry rolls his eyes at Nathan's wounded tone, murmuring something about drama queens under his breath too softly to be heard.
"Have you thought about separating out a sample to see if it eventually dries out?" Nathan asks.
Henry nods. "I have a large block in a containment unit, I'm checking it daily. I have a small sample left over from the slides, do we want to see what effect fire has?"
Fargo gulps as he stands beside Dr. Stark and Dr. Deacon. All three men are decked out in fireproof clothing and Henry is cradling a flamethrower in his hands, Fargo doesn't even want to think where Dr. Taggart had got it from or why it had been in his office or how Dr. Stark knew Dr. Taggart had it in his office. He yanks his thoughts away from the spiral that they'd taken when Dr. Stark asks him if the preparations are ready.
"Yes sir, there's a camera recording this from the next room, Dr. Taggart is ready to pump the oxygen out of the room in case something happens and we have a fifteen minute supply of emergency oxygen, that should be long enough to put out the fire and pump the oxygen back into the room."
Stark looks at Henry and nods, Henry switching on the flamethrower and aiming it at the block of pink foam sitting innocently on the table.
Fargo is positive what happened next is going to be in his nightmares for the rest of his life. When the first flickers of flame touched the foam, it seemed to roar like the fires of hell the preachers talked about on television. It burst into flame immediately, burning brighter as the flames shot towards the ceiling. Dimly, he can hear Dr. Stark yelling at Taggart to pump the oxygen out of the room as his hands fumble for the controls to turn the oxygen on. The fire burns brightly for a long second, dying when the last of the oxygen is pumped from the room.
Stark heads for the metal table the slab of pink foam had been sitting on, Henry half a second behind him.
"Well," Henry says, his voice tinny over the radios in the helmets they're wearing. "Fire does destroy it." He stares at the blackened mark on the table, all that's left from the sample.
"Yes, but I'd rather not burn down Global Dynamics to get rid of it, it seems a little overkill."
"And the DoD would have a fit."
"That too." Stark looks up as Taggart announces he's slowly letting the oxygen back into the room. "Back to the drawing board."
Fargo drops behind the others as they leave the lab, pulling off their protective suits as they walk. That had been one of the scariest things he had ever seen, easily on a par with what had happened when Larry had turned the water on the foam yesterday. And speaking of Larry, he quietly walks around the corner now that Drs. Stark and Deacon are gone, quietly helping Fargo take off his protective suit.
Stark doesn't know how he ends up back in the infirmary, he'd meant to head to his office and check on the reports of Global Dynamics experiments. Just because a couple of floors is under attack from the Pink Foam of Dooooommmm, that does not mean that the rest of the building is going to play hooky. He sits back down in the chair by Carter's bedside and pulls up the previous day's reports on his PDA. He doesn't see the amused looks Henry and Allison give his back as he starts reading.
Chapter 9 by josette grover
"Umm Sir, I. . .I think I have an idea on how we can remove the pink foam?" A hesitant voice says quietly from the doorway of Carter's room. Nathan pulls himself away from the PDA and looks over to where Larry is standing sheepishly, if he had a hat he'd be wringing it in his hands.
Nathan raises as an eyebrow at him in a 'I'm listening' gesture.
"I was thinking, there are a number of labs that only have a small amount of the foam in them, maybe we could lock one down and pump out the oyxgen for a few hours and see if that affected it? Or maybe a space heater, the foam might dry out but not burn?"
"Henry has a sample under observation to see what happens over time, go talk to him about getting some foam and trying a couple of experiments." Nathan orders. Larry quickly scurries out of the room. "Boy's never going amount to anything," he says, shaking his head. "If he keeps letting a little experience like pink foam attacking him make him nervous."
Allison, hearing him as she walks into the room, rolls her eyes. "Not everybody is as thick skinned as you are, Nathan." She picks up Carter's medical records and checks them, pretending to ignore the 'interested in how Carter is doing but trying so very hard to pretend I'm not' look on Nathan's face.
"I'd let Carter go home tomorrow, but with Zoe off visiting her mother, there's nobody to take care of Carter in case something happens." She looks over at him, pretending not to look at him.
Stark sighs, knowing he's going to regret this. "I'll take care of him, it's not going to be more than a day or two, right?"
"Oh no more than two or three days." Allison says cheerfully... too cheerfully. Stark growls, from the huge grin on her face he knows he's been had. He puts his PDA in his pocket and stalks out of the room, all affronted righteous indignation. Once she's sure he's in the elevator, Allison leans against the wall and cackles, softly so she doesn't wake Carter. Everybody in earshot who's been with Global Dynamics long enough to know what that means shudders. Dr. Blake is matchmaking.
The next morning Stark finds himself bright and early at Global Dynamics to pick Carter up from the infirmary. The muscle relaxers and pain medication is making him loopy but he looks up at Stark in disbelief when Allison tells him that Nathan is going to be staying with him a couple of days until he can get around on his own.
"Would you rather stay here?" Stark asks, rolling his eyes at the look on Carter's face.
"No!" Carter says.
"Then get in the wheelchair and let's go. I do have other things that need my attention."
Carter finally gets settled in the wheelchair, Stark pushing it to the elevator, Allison following them with an amused look on her face as Stark barks orders to Fargo the entire time they're in Global Dynamics. Allison and Stark get Carter settled into the passenger seat of his BMW and she watches the car pull out of the parking lot before heading back into the building.
Carter has drifted off from the dose of medicine that he'd been given before they left, so Stark pauses on Main Street in front of the drug store. Allison had phoned in the prescriptions and one of the employees runs them out to the car for him. It doesn't take more than a moment and he pulls back onto the road.
"Carter, wake up." Stark says softly, a far cry from his usual brusque attitude but Carter wakes up nonetheless, blinking up at Stark.
"We're at your home." Carter looks around and nods, fumbling with the seat belt. Stark sighs and reaches down to unfasten it, rolling his eyes upward at the sky in a classic why me lord gesture. He reaches in and helps Carter out of the passenger seat, wrapping an arm around him to help him down the stairs into the bunker.
Chapter 10 by josette grover
"S.A.R.A.H, can you keep an eye on Carter's vitals?" Stark asks, getting Carter settled down on the couch. The bag from the pharmacy is put on the coffee table in front of the couch, Carter's not due for his next dose of medicine for hours, and he settles at the table, opening his ever present briefcase and pulls out a Global Dynamics issued netbook, asking S.A.R.A.H to connect him to GD's intranet. He might have to be away from his office taking care of Carter, but that's no reason for him to shirk his duty as head of Global Dynamics.
The first thing he checks is any reports on the status of cleaning the lower levels. It hadn't been the seven little men with picks and shovels that Jo had joked about, but it had been close. Ten large men dressed in full protective gear are working two hours at a time to clear walkways on the affected levels.
There are no less than five different experiments going on with the pink foam, he goes through the results e-mailed him from Fargo, Henry, and surprisingly Larry before checking the list of employees who 'just have to have the pink foam' and refusing most of them without even having to think about it. If he let them play with the foam, and he's ignoring the spurious reasons they gave him to request the foam, the whole damn building would be infested. He could just see the requisition form 'sorry sir, we need a new building, some of our more idiot scientists got hold of the foam and the whole building is engulfed now instead of a few levels'.
A few of the requests seem to have some merit, those he sends to Allison to look over for her opinion as Carter snorts on the couch, waking.
Carter blinks and looks around, "Fuck, I'd hoped it was just a dream." he mumbles. He rubs a hand over his face and yawns.
"Do you want to go to sleep Carter or are you going to be awake for more than ten minutes?" Stark asks sarcastically from the table.
"All I've done the last few days is sleep Stark." Carter says sourly, wincing as he tries to sit up. Stark's there before he even knows he's moved, grabbing Carter's arm and helping him sit up.
"How is everything at Global Dynamics?" Carter asks, trying to blink away the muzziness that comes with the drugs Allison has been pumping into him.
"Henry, Fargo, and Larry all have experiments running to see if there's a quicker way to clear the levels rather than brute strength, which is what we're doing right now?"
"Is it safe to let Larry near the foam?" Carter asks.
"I think he's learned his lesson. Henry is trying to break the foam down into its individual components, we tried fire on a tiny piece Henry managed to cut off a larger chunk."
"Do I wanna know?"
"I think Fargo was going to shit himself when the foam roared up like it did, I know I nearly did." Stark rubs the back of his head self-consciously. "We pumped the air out of the room, that put the fire out quickly. The good news is that fire does destroy the foam."
"The bad news is it would take the entire building with it?"
Stark nods.
"I can just imagine the paperwork that would bring." Carter snorts.
"Which is why I denied about a hundred requests for samples of the foam from some of our more . . ."
"Stupid scientists?"
Stark tries to frown at Carter's words, but when he's right, he's right. He ends up smirking instead.
"S.A.R.A.H, can you start a shower for me? I feel . .. icky." Carter tugs carefully at his shirt, trying not to make his back start hurting as he pulls it from his pants.
"Is that a medical term, Carter?" Stark smirks, swatting away his hands with a sigh and unbuttoning his shirt. "Arms up." he orders, pulling off Carter's shirt and peeling the t-shirt underneath it off, leaving the other man barechested.
Stark holds out his arm, allowing Carter to grab it and pulls himself to his feet.
"Coming Stark?" he asks over his shoulder as he starts up the stairs.
"What? Need me to wash your back?" Stark asks automatically.
"Aren't you supposed to be keeping an eye on me in case something happens? What if I slip and fall in the shower or have another back spasm?"
"S.A.R.A.H can alert me and I'd have to come up and scrape you off the floor." Stark says automatically. "If you're that weak, I'm sure Allison wouldn't have let you leave the infirmary. Though, I can give you a bed bath if you'd like."
Stark ducks his head to hide his smirk as Carter growls from the stairs. He watches Carter slowly make his way upstairs, ignoring the niggling little voice that sounds like an amused Allison telling him to get his ass upstairs and watch Carter bathe.
He turns his attention back to the screen in front of him, trying to get his mind back on the paperwork he'd been staring at without really looking at it when his attention is grabbed by a scream from upstairs.
Stark takes the steps three at a time, bursting into the bathroom. Carter is standing in the middle of the room, water dripping off him unnoticed as he stares at the mirror.
Stark blinks and starts to smirk, bringing Carter out of his daze. He turns to glare at the other man.
"What did you do?" he hisses, poking Stark's chest with a finger. His hair is a brilliant lime green, and Stark automatically looks between his legs. Yep . . . it's happened again.
"Quit ogling me." Carter growls. "Or I'll. . ."
"You'll what, Carter?" Stark smirks.
"I'll this." Carter grabs Stark's head and pulls him into a kiss. Stark returns the kiss hungrily ... until.
"Damn it Carter," he complains as the other man pulls him into the shower. The bottle of shampoo is opened and a generous handful squirted onto his head. Unnoticed by the two men, S.A.R.A.H quietly calls Global Dynamics.
A throat being cleared has the shower opening fifteen minutes later, thankfully S.A.R.A.H's systems have kept the water from going totally cold. Allison raises an eyebrow as her ex comes out of the shower, she smirks as she sees clothes tossed out into the bathroom. She moans as she sees the two men, hands over her eyes.
"S.A.R.A.H, send me the lot number for the products Sheriff Carter and Dr. Stark used, would you?" she sighs. "Obviously there's a interaction somewhere."
"You think?" Stark complains as he picks up his clothes. "Carter, did you have to pull me into the shower fully dressed?"
"Stark, did you have to ogle me?" Carter asks, smirking as he tosses the other man a towel. "I'm sure S.A.R.A.H can toss your things in a dryer, or would that be too plebian for the great Dr. Nathan Stark?"
Allison sighs and leaves the two men arguing behind her. S.A.R.A.H can deal with the headaches.
"No sex for a couple of weeks until Carter's back stops spasming, boys. Unless you really want to give the nurses something to gossip about." she calls when she's downstairs, smirking when she hears her ex-husband start swearing.
Disclaimer: All publicly recognizable characters and settings are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this work. No copyright infringement is intended.