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

A/N - The last chapter has arrived. I know its happy because, 'yay, more Jack/Nathan' and sad because the updates are ending... but just remember that in about a week or so Emcey Squared will be posting "From Fear to Eternity: Redux". Also, we're working on a series rewrite starting with the pilot episode and having Nathan there early. From there, we're going to show how everything changes, starting with Jack and Nathan being friends from the start and then developing a relationship. :)

Additionally, I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed, added my story to their update alerts, or added me to their author alerts. It is really, really nice to know that so many people enjoyed the story.

Chapter Six

Nathan panted softly and leaned his forehead against Jack's. "We should get going."

"Right. We have a town to save." Neither of them moved away. Jack's arms were laced comfortably around Nathan's shoulders while Nathan ran his hands slowly up and down Jack's spine. "The sun isn't going to put itself out…"

Tilting his face, Nathan captured Jack's mouth with his own and slipped his tongue in. For a few moments he enjoyed experiencing the taste of Jack, something he couldn't quite place but was at once familiar and addictive, and the warmth that ran through his body, so very different from the oppressive heat from the second sun. This time, when their kiss ended, Nathan forced himself to untangle from Jack. He didn't want to, but there would be more time for them later.

They started to gather up the XRT when someone wolf whistled… loudly.

Before even turning around, Jack said, "hi, Jo." He moved to face Jo. "Are you taking the last of the scientists to the evacuation zone?"

"Yeah," Jo confirmed, smirking at the duo. "So… now that you've checked each other's tonsils with your tongues, are you going to save the town now?"

"Why else would we be carting this," Nathan lifted up the XRT, "around?"

"Thorne's waiting outside to try and talk you two out of using that. Have fun…" Grinning impishly, Jo left the room.

"She's really weird."

"You have no idea…"

They started carrying the equipment out into the hall, just in time to see Jo disappear behind the far corner laughing.

"She's going to go gossip now," Jack muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Gossip about what?" Thorne asked. Just as Jo had warned them, Eva had been waiting outside the door for them.

"It's a small town," Nathan responded. "You'll find out soon enough. We sort of have a schedule to keep, so… if you don't have anything left to say we should get a move on."

"I thought we agreed to evacuate the town," Eva complained, pushing aside the topic of gossip as she glared at the duo.

"We have evacuated the town." Jack tilted his head to the side and regarded her curiously. "What are you still doing here?"

"None of your business. Stop playing games, Sheriff, Stark."

"We're not," Nathan snapped. "The XRT will work, Thorne."

"If you two don't die first."

"It's my job to protect the town, Eva," Jack objected.

"It isn't Stark's."

"Someone who built the XRT needs to be there. The only other volunteer was Zane." Nathan smirked as Thorne winced. "That's what I thought."

"If there is one thing that I've learned in my life it's that no one should be left behind. That includes you two." There was sincerity in her voice.

"I'm sorry, Miss Thorne. I really am." Gesturing to the end of the hall that Jo had left in. "The evacuation needs to be enforced and you need to go to one of the camps. This isn't a request."

When Eva nodded, Jack and Nathan started in the direction of the exit.

--

"It looks pretty bad. Are you sure the rocket can handle it?" Jack asked as he drove towards the designated launch site.

"It's an untested delivery system, Jack," Nathan smiled a little despite the situation. He was getting used to calling Jack by his first name fast. "The mini-sun is out of control. Theoretically, it should work."

"We just need to make theory reality." Jack parked the truck. He and Nathan got out and immediately began setting up the XRT.

"Ready?" Nathan asked as he started fiddling with the computer interface. They backed up as he started counting down for launch. But, just as Nathan reached "seven", the sun released a solar flare that sent out an EMP. The rocket sparked, smoked, and… died. "Sometimes I hate Murphy's law."

"Oh, I always hate that one," Jack stared at the rocket in shock. "Murphy must have had a grudge against this town, because that law always applies. I'll call Allison."

While Jack talked to Allie over the phone, Nathan went over to crouch beside the rocket. Desperately, he tried to find some way to fix it, to salvage the situation somehow. But the wiring was melting and he was starting to feel lightheaded and dizzy like he had the previous night when he'd been reminded of how close he'd come to spontaneously bursting into flames. "God dammit," he growled, shoving the casing shut.

"Nathan, let's get the rocket back into my truck." Jack pulled out a vial of some sort of green liquid. "We've got an idea." He tossed the vial over to Stark. "Do you recognize that?"

"It's Zane's heat protection formula. He's been working on this for weeks and stands up surprisingly well to flame throwers." Nathan stood up slowly. "With this we could easily withstand the sun's worst heat for a few minutes."

"We're going to Herrera's lab to use some of his rocket boosters; Kylie and Henry say they're compatible with the XRT. It's almost directly beneath the sun, though." Jack walked over and started picking up the equipment.

"With this, we'll have plenty of time to find the boosters and launch the XRT." Nathan shoved the vial into his pocket so he could pick up the rocket. "Time for plan B."

--

Nathan's arm throbbed with pain from where he'd used it to shove the metal doors to Herrera's lab open. It was dark, at last, as the final rays of the real sun disappeared over the horizon and the second sun began burning itself up. The heat had noticeably dropped and he was lying on the scorched ground beside Jack, who was idly tracing designs on the back of Nathan's hand… probably without realizing what he was doing. All in all, despite the burns Nathan felt oddly… at ease.

The last of the second sun went out in a huge puff of smoke. "That was actually a pretty sunset."

"Yeah, it was… wasn't it?" Nathan lightly linked his fingers with Jack's. "So, about our date. Let's have it… tomorrow?"

"After the winner of the election is announced?" Jack paused and then added, "I'd like that." He scooted a little closer to Nathan. "We should head back into town…"

"Yeah, I need to get my arm looked at." He raised the arm in question so that Jack could see the burns. There was just enough light from the lab to see by and the shadows played across Jack's face enticingly.

Jack sat up and reached over to hold onto an unburned part of Nathan's arm. "You should have said something."

Propping himself up on his undamaged arm, Nathan said, "there wasn't time. Besides, you burned yourself, too."

"I just…" Jack's voice held a note in it that Nathan couldn't quite identify. "I can't stand to see you hurt. I… as I said before, I've known for a while what my feelings for you are, Nathan, and… I love you. I've been in love with you for a while now and..."

"Good," Nathan cut off Jack before he could start to babble and sat all the way up so that there wasn't much space between their faces, "because I love you, Jack." He bridged the distance between them to kiss Jack. Jack pulled away after a few moments with a pained hiss, cradling his burnt arm close. "I don't like it when you're hurt either," Nathan said softly. Reluctantly, he stood and pulled Jack up with him. "Let's get back to town… where there are first aid kits and burn relief."

"My bunker isn't far from here," Jack observed slyly. "SARAH's got a fully stocked first aid kit… and air conditioning."

"And water…" Nathan agreed, not needing further incentive. "You're just trying to get me back in your home."

"You caught me," Jack laughed. "My nefarious plot has been uncovered."

"I told you," Nathan linked his hand with Jack's again, "people just gravitate to my charming personality."

"I'm not so sure about the charming bit, but…" Jack started walking, tugging Nathan along, "I'm certainly drawn to you."

--

Jack hadn't been able to keep the grin off his face all day, even on the few occasions when he'd forgotten about the burn on his arm and painfully whacked it against something. He kept drifting off into his thoughts and wind up remembering the way Nathan's voice had sounded when he'd said "I love you, Jack" or the way they'd fallen asleep together the night before, curled up on the couch.

Zoe and Lexi had left a message – which said 'We approve.' and had their signatures on it – for them in the morning and practically half the town conspired with Allison and Jo, who both conspired with Fargo, to make SARAH turn off Jack's wake-up alarm for the day. Thus, waking up with Nathan was on Jack's mind too, as was just about everything else about the man…

After Jack finally got into work, Jo started teasing about how his head was in the clouds. But she was happy for him… and for Zane, who'd apparently won some sort of bet that had been riding on who would end up with whom.

It was evening now, almost time for his first date with Nathan, and Jack couldn't keep his mind on the upcoming events. His concentration only grew worse as the reason for his distraction sidled up next to him, kissed him lightly on the lips, and then said, "your daughter and your deputy are scary, scary people."

"What?"

"Zoe told me that if I break your heart that she'll kill me with a shovel and Jo said she'd help hide my body. They're scary, scary people. Your sister was there, as well. She was just standing there, smirking. So… she's kind of scary, too." Nathan grinned and then pulled Jack into a booth near the podium that had been set up in Café Diem.

They were both sitting on the same side of the booth and it was hard to stay irritated at the ladies in his family – Jo had definitely become the unofficial sister to at least him, if not to Lexi as well – when he was pressed against Nathan's side while the dark haired scientist was idly stroking his thumb against Jack's wrist. "Zoe's getting payback for me threatening Lucas all the time," Jack managed to respond coherently.

"He's not so bad is he?" Nathan asked, genuinely curious.

"I suppose not," Jack shrugged. "I like him better than Dylan, who invented that super-speed drug or the other guy… who tried to invite Zoe to a cabin for a weekend. I still don't want him to be the Mayor, though."

"It would certainly be awkward."

"You two look horribly sunburned," Henry observed, sliding into the empty side of the booth and smirking at the two. "Certainly took you two long enough to get together, by the way. I lost my bet over a month ago because you were both going so slowly."

"Henry, shut up," Nathan grumbled and pouted.

"How are your arms?" Henry happily ignored Nathan's suggestion.

"Itchy," Jack complained, holding up his bandaged appendage. "That means its healing, right."

"It does," Nathan assured him.

"I also stopped by to say that I'm happy for you. You are two of my best friends and hopefully now I can stop being Switzerland every time GD finds itself at odds with the Sheriff's office." Henry looked hopeful.

"Oh, no, we'll still fight over GD's insane projects," Jack said, putting a frown on Henry's face.

Nathan nodded in agreement. "It's too much fun. We just have to make sure to remember it's our jobs and not a personal attack."

"Yeah, well, I'm sure you'll figure something out." Henry started to get up and then added, "what the two of you did last night was brave… mythic even."

"Maybe selfish," Jack amended. "I've gotten pretty attached to this town."

"Well the town is pretty fortunate to have you two protecting it." Henry laughed as Jack demurred humbly and Nathan made a jokingly egocentric comment. "What about Thorne?"

"We're working on it," the couple chorused.

"May I have your attention, please?" Lexi called from behind the podium. "Everyone?! Hello!! Quiet!!" She waited for silence to fall before continuing. "Thank you. Okay… all the ballots are in. It was a very close race, but after a late night surge at the polling booths, our new mayor elect is…" she paused a few moments for dramatic effect, "Mr. Henry Deacon!!"

There was a lot of cheering, but Henry exclaimed 'no!' in surprise. "No, no, no… wait, I wasn't even on the ballot," Henry objected, getting out of the booth and hurrying the few steps to the podium.

"I kind of started the write in campaign," Lexi said and then scurried behind Henry to force him to take the podium. "And two certain some ones gave you their official endorsements." She gestured to Jack and Nathan.

"Better you than Herrera," Nathan responded. "The write in campaign was the only reason I voted."

"Please accept, Henry," Jack added. "Lucas is the runner up."

"Really, this is a surprise." Henry took a deep breath, trying to figure out what to say. "I'm honored. I'm not one for making campaign promises, but… um… I will say this; what makes Eureka special is not the ideal behind it. You, this community… this family is what makes this town unique and I am so very proud to be a part of it. And it's this family that I promise to protect, no matter what. Um… thank you?" The entire room stood up to clap for him.

"See, Jack," Lexi said, "sometimes the system does work."

"Sometimes it does, Lex," he agreed. Glancing around the room and at everyone who was rushing to shake Henry's hand, Jack turned to Nathan and said, "it's going to be a while before we get dinner, isn't it?"

"Vincent certainly isn't anywhere near the kitchens," Nathan agreed. He paused and then said, "I'm a good cook… and we're not far from my house..."

"I certainly won't say no," Jack replied. "Uh, Lex, will you…"

"I'll tell Zoe. Now you two go on, have fun, and don't come back home until the wee hours of the morning… if at all. Okay Jack?"

"Yes, Lexi," Jack's expression grew faintly impish and suddenly Nathan wondered just what he'd gotten into. Whatever it was, he was definitely looking forward to it.

A/N – The whole Henry being Mayor thing was predictable after the awesome speech he made. I really liked that, though. Despite what he's done in the past, I think Henry will make a great Mayor.

In Avatar, Azula can shoot lightning at people and Zuko can't. Zuko is still cool, though, 'cause he can redirect lightning attacks.