Then

“I don’t see it.”

“Just concentrate. It’s there, I promise.”

Jack Carter stared up at the sky and tried to do what she asked. But the truth was he couldn’t concentrate. She was too close, and the smell of her perfume kept filling his nostrils.

He wanted to kiss her.

“Do you see it?” Allison placed her hand on his forearm, giving it a slight squeeze. He turned to look at her, and she returned his gaze with an eager eyebrow life and a nod towards the sky. “Well?” She bit her lip waiting for his answer.

He wanted to tell her that yes, after twenty-odd years of never being able to make out a single constellation, with her help he had finally realized why the hell people pointed at five stars in a line and called it a bear.

But then he’d be lying. And the last thing Jack wanted to do was lie to Allison.

And he still wanted to kiss her.

“I see—“Carter paused, squinting up to the sky, his azure blue eyes alight with mischief. “—pollution.”

Allison slapped his arm and shook her head, exhaling a puff of frustration. “Stop it. There’s no pollution in Eureka.”

“Right,” Carter said, nodding his head with slow exaggeration. “I’m sure it’s all turned into puppy chow or toilet paper.”

Allison laughed and the sound crawled up his skin and made him shiver. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d gone a day without that laugh. Didn’t want to remember.

“Okay, so you’re not Galileo. I get it.”

“No, but on the bright side I’ve actually heard of that guy. So—“Carter tapped his forehead and raised his eyebrows,”—apparently there’s more up here than baseball stats. Which is—“Carter frowned, “—surprising—actually.”

“You have the most beautiful eyes,” Allison said. Carter looked at her a warm grin spreading across his lips. Allison blushed slightly, a pretty shade of pink that complimented her almond colored skin.

“Whoa, Allison Blake? I never took you for a fast woman.” He wrinkled his face in mock horror. “Complimenting my eyes? How easy do you think I am?”

“Oh shut up and kiss me Carter,” Allison groaned, leaning into his body. Carter reached up to cup her cheek, stroking the smooth skin with the pad of his thumb. His eyes lingered on her lips and rose to meet her warm brown gaze. He lowered his lips to within inches of hers, and smiled.

“Hussy,” he whispered, at her impatient grunt, just as he covered her lips with his own.

Now

“Wake up Sheriff Carter.”

“Oh goddammit!” Carter grabbed the pillow nearest his head and slammed it over his ear. He didn’t bother to look at the clock. The clawing ache of fatigue currently pounding inside his head told him all he needed to know. It was four in the morning. And his Self-Actuated Residential Automated Habitat’s clock was still broken.

It was one of the hazards of living in a smart house (although Carter had began to question that title since apparently the bitch couldn’t tell time) and in a town that was run by citizens that thought regular alarm clocks were for poor people and pussies. Carter was neither. But hell if he wouldn’t trade every rookie baseball card in his collection (even Sammy Sosa’s which still made him tear up every time he held it) if he could get one night’s sleep without hearing that fucking voice four hours before he had to be at work.

Carter flipped over onto his back and stared at the ceiling.

“Sheriff Carter?”

It wasn’t SARAH’s fault she was the broken. And yet Carter refused to respond, since he’d lost a debate the previous morning over whether she needed fixing or not. He’d left the house, halfway convinced that he was the one who couldn’t tell time until his Deputy, Jo Lupo had pointed out that his pants were on inside out. He couldn’t remember a time in his life when he had been so bone achingly tired. But that was life in Eureka. His time as a U.S. Marshal seemed positively spa like in comparison.

Carter looked at his nightstand and scowled at the telephone. He shot up in his bed and with a determined growl he picked up the receiver and dialed zero on the keypad. The dial tone was the Buffy the Vampire theme song which just pissed him off even more.

The music stopped and Carter waited through a series of groans and at least five “shits” before Douglas Fargo spoke into the receiver. “Sheriff Carter?”

“Who else would it be Fargo?”

“Oh—she’s still broken.”

“Yep.”

“I guess you want me to come down there—“

“I think that would be best.”

“Uh Sheriff?”

“Yeah.”

“You gonna do this every morning?”

“You bet your pasty white ass I am.” Carter slammed the phone down on the receiver and lowered his face to his hands. It was going to be another long day, filled with coffee runs and migraines. That was the last thing he needed. Particularly today of all days.

Carter rose to his feet, stretching his lanky frame as far to his ceiling as possible. He rubbed his eyes and stumbled towards the bathroom, his thoughts shifting to all of his carefully made plans for the evening. He’d been working on it for a while, changing his mind so many times Zoë had begun to look at him as though she was starting to question her parentage. Again. But he couldn’t help it. It had to be just right.

“Would you like a newspaper Sheriff Carter?”

“Stop trying to butter me up SARAH,” Carter replied, his irritation clear in his voice.

“I’m doing nothing of the sort. Reading while one conducts their bodily functions has been scientifically proven to increase memory and critical thinking proficiency.”

“Oh—“Carter said, pushing open the sleek glass bathroom door. “—so I’m stupid now.”

His house paused. “I was merely expressing a benefit—“

“Stupid old Sheriff Carter…” Carter mumbled the word with a singsong melody and his house paused again.

“I am sensing some hostility Sheriff Carter.”

“Well at least that part isn’t broken.” Carter shook his head and stepped into the bathroom, grabbing his toothbrush off the sink. The faucet automatically began to run, sensing his presence and adjusting the water’s temperature according to his personal settings. Carter stared down at the running water its soft flowing rhythm lulling him back to sleep.

“Douglas Fargo is at the door Sheriff Carter.”

Carter snapped his head back, and dropped his toothbrush in the toilet. He stared into the bowel, visibly shaken by his loss. “Fuck,” he whispered.

“There’s an electric toothbrush in the—“

“I know, I know! Look, my toaster is voice activated, the carpet shampoos itself, and my refrigerator tells me the number of calories of every fuckin’ thing I put inside it. Excuse me if I would rather brush my own damn teeth—“

“Ahem.’ Carter paused mid-tirade to find Fargo hovering around the doorway of his bedroom. “You really shouldn’t yell at her like that,” Fargo said. “She gets depressed when she thinks you’re not happy with her.”

“Hey, do I come into your smart house, tell you how to raise your computers?”

“Well—technically this is my smart house.”

“You wanna get arrested today Fargo?”

“No.”

“Then just fix the damn clock.”

Fargo ducked his head and scurried out of the room. Carter sighed, and looked up at the ceiling. “SARAH.?”

“Yes Sheriff Carter.”

“I’m—sorry I yelled at you.”

“It’s okay Sheriff Carter. I can tell by your vital signs that you are excessively fatigued and your blood pressure has risen significantly. Is there anything you would like to discuss?”

Carter’s lips curved into a reluctant smile and he shook his head. “No,” he said. “Unless you know Allison Blake’s ring size.”

“That would be a size 7.”

Carter laughed and spun around, reaching into his medicine cabinet for the reviled electric toothbrush. Even the obnoxious roar of its motor couldn’t wipe the grin that had planted itself firmly on his face. He’d stop by the jeweler and make sure he had gotten the size right. Vincent, Eureka’s resident culinary savant and executive chef at Café Diem, had gone over the menu with Carter five times before he’d finally kicked him out, grumbling something about having the palate of a cow.

But Carter refused to leave anything to chance. He’d been through enough disasters as sheriff of a town populated with geniuses long enough to know that if something could go wrong, some atomic physicist could make it even worse. But if all went as planned, there wouldn’t be a thing in the world that could bring him off his expected high.

Assuming she said yes.

Carter shut off his toothbrush and studied his face in the mirror. “Of course she’ll say yes,” he told his reflection.

“It’s time to wake up Sheriff Carter.”

Carter rolled his eyes. “Fargo!”

“It’s time to wake up Sheriff Carter.”

“Wake up Sheriff Carter.”

“Wake up.”

*****

Allison’s sat up in her bed, her body covered in sweat. She brought trembling hands up to her chest and closed her eyes and willed her heart to stop it erratic pounding in her chest.

Take a deep breath Allison. Get it together.

She breathed in deep, letting the air out in a slow steady stream between her lips. Her pulse began to return to normal and she opened her eyes to stare in the dark shadows of her bedroom, rubbing her arms against a sudden chill.

It had been years since she’d had these types of episodes. After she’d finished medical school and began working for the Department of Defense, she’d had them every night. A dream or nightmare, so vivid and real that her body physically recoiled from the images while she slept, would slip away when she finally pulled herself from its grasp. Even today, she had no idea what they were about. All they left behind was an intense sense of loss. Like there was something she’d forgotten or left behind.

“Stop it,” she said. “Just stop it.” Allison pushed her comforter off of her legs and slid out of bed, placing her bare feet against the hardwood floors. The shock of the cool surface calmed her, and she lowered her face into her hands, her hair falling forward onto her knees.

It had to be work. Ever since she’d been promoted to Director of Global Dynamics, she’d barely had time to even think. Every day it was some new disaster, some dire emergency brought on the latest discovery, invention, useless bullshit that she had to fix right now or the world would explode. Those people had no idea how many times she wanted to grab them by the neck, shake the hell out of them and tell them to stop fucking with shit.

And then there was Nathan. Her ex-husband had taken to skulking around the facility and shooting her resentful glares mixed up with his usual undisguised longing. Allison had responded by hiding in the ladies room during her lunch breaks, and then scavenging desperately for old slim fast bars in her desk just to avoid him. Since their last attempt at reconciliation had ended with her awkward denial of his marriage proposal, they could barely be in the same room without the conversation devolving into a shouting match. Douglas Fargo, her assistant had even pulled her aside and asked her whether it was that time of the month. She’d replied by snapping the Doctor Who figurine perched upon is desk in half.

Allison rose from her bed and made her way out into the hall. She paused outside Kevin’s bedroom, leaning her ear close to the door. There was nothing, only silence on the other side and Allison stepped back, lowering herself to the ground. She pulled her knees up to her chest and stared at the white painted wood, aching to hold her son. But she didn’t want to wake him and frighten him with the anxiety she knew showed clearly on her face. Though his severe autism limited the amount of insight she had into his inner thoughts, the panic in his eyes whenever Allison became upset or angry was more than she could take right now.

‘What is it,” she whispered. The first time it was the stress of choosing the DOD over a safe, secure family practice. After that it was marrying Nathan (which should have set off all types of bells in her head) and then their painful divorce. The logical choice would be the headache involved in running Global Dynamics and dealing with its eccentric population. Maybe it was all becoming too much for her, and this was her body’s way of telling her it was time to move on.

But this had seemed different somehow. Allison frowned down at her feet, struggling to remember her dream. But like before, it remained out of her reach, just beneath the surface of her conscious.

“What is it,” she whispered, folding her arms over her chest. “What did I forget?”

Then

“So this is like our fourth date right?” Carter leaned over and whispered into Allison’s ear, his hand buried into a large bucket of popcorn. The movie floated above them, cast over their heads as a digital hologram image so clear it was as though the actors were flying above them in person. Carter glanced up at Nicole Kidman’s high pitched scream and lowered his eyes back down to Allison’s profile. “I mean, not that I’m counting or anything—“

“You’re not?” Allison looked at him, raising a perfectly sculpted eyebrow. Carter’s mouth opened and closed, and he shook his head with a nervous laugh.

“See there? Almost caught you sleepin’. I was just making sure you—could—count.”

“Ah,” Allison said, biting down on her lower lip to hide her smile. “I see. I can spell too if you were worried.”

“Actually I was, so I’m glad you cleared that up.”

“Shhhh!” Carter turned around at the vicious whisper emanating from the back row. He pulled out his badge and raised it high into the light of the hologram, the gold shield glinting brightly for all to see.

“Sorry Sheriff,” said an apologetic voice.

He lowered the badge back down to his pocket and found Allison watching him with an amused expression. “You use that that thing for parking too?”

Carter looked at her in surprise. “Don’t you?”

“Weren’t you in the middle of counting our dates?”

“Oh right. So like I was saying, this is our fourth date right?”

Allison nodded slowly. “Right.”

“So I was thinking. Fourth dates a big deal. I mean I ate spaghetti in front of you and you didn’t even flinch when that meatball landed in my lap. That means something Allison.”

Allison tilted her head and smiled. Carter always had this affect on her. The minute he was around all the stress of the day just melted away, she was like a giddy teenager with a crush on the cute new boy in town.

And dear God he smelled good.

“What exactly does that mean, Jack,” she said. Her voice was intentionally suggestive and Carter’s face grew serious. He cleared his throat as she leaned forward her eyes on his lips.

“It uh—means that—oh fuck it.” Carter closed the distance between them and Allison took a deep breath before his lips covered hers. He kissed her with a slow patience that left her shivering. He lowered his head slightly and captured her bottom lip in his mouth, sucking gently before he touched the tip of his tongue to hers’. Allison grabbed his forearms, stifling the moan that had risen to her throat. Carter leaned back with a quiet hiss of breath his eyes tightly closed. “Okay, I shouldn’t have done that.”

“Why not,” Allison asked, her own voice low and breathy.

“Because I really, really, really want to make love to you right now.” Carter lifted his hand to stop her from speaking. “And I know it’s soon—you probably want to wait and that’s fine. I can wait but—“

“Wait. So just now when you were talking about this being our fourth date. That wasn’t about sex?”

Carter paused. “I—uh—no. I was going to ask you go away with me next weekend—camping.”

Allison leaned back. “Camping.”

“Wuss!” called a voice from the back row. Carter stood up and scanned the audience.

“How does camping make me a wuss?” Carter gestured towards the crowd with a roll of his eyes. “Well—yeah—if you go camping with a computerized tent with a flat screen TV and a full kitchenette then yeah, I guess that would be a little less than manly—“

“Carter,” Allison said. She pulled his arm and he looked down at her as though he’d forgotten she was there. He was immediately contrite, and lowered himself back down to his chair.

“Sorry about that—“

“I think we should go back to my place.”

Carter looked at her. “Your place?”

“My place.’

“Kevin—“

“Is at a friend’s.”

“So it’ll just be—“

“You and me.”

“Are you sure because—“

“Shit man, just go!”

Carter stood up, his badge in hand. “Okay that’s it---“

“Jack!” Allison looked up at him with wide eyes and Jack nodded, stuffing the badge back into his pocket.

“Right. Let’s get out of here.”

Allison stood and grabbed his hand and the theater burst into applause. Carter waved at the crowd and ducked his head. “Yeah, yeah, okay. Ha ha—“

“Don’t forget to glove it Sheriff!”

Carter ran a hand over his face and closed his eyes tight. “This is not going how I planned.” His phone ran and he looked up at the ceiling. “Really not how I planned.”

“Answer it Jack,” Allison said. She watched as he pulled the tiny phone from his pocket, silently praying it wasn’t some imminent catastrophe.

“Jo, I’m kinda in the middle—“ Carter paused and gave Allison a tense smile. “Well no, it’s not—“ he laughed and shrugged. “Well it can’t be that—“Carter frowned. “And they’re all upside down?”

Allison’s hope sank. She lowered her eyes to the ground as his voice grew low with resignation. “Okay,” he said. “I’ll be right there.”

“Awwww” the crowd groaned in unison. Jack stuffed the phone back into his pocket and gestured towards the crowd. “Thanks for the concern about my love life people. Thank you. It’s been really—creepy.” He grabbed Allison’s hand and led her out of the theater. She closed her eyes while he wasn’t looking and concentrated on the warm strength of his hand on hers.

It made her feel safe.

“I’m sorry Allie,” Carter said turning to face her. Allison looked up quickly, embarrassed at the prospect of being caught. Jack looked down at her and gave no indication he’d seen her daydreaming. She sighed with relief.

“Rain check Carter,” she said. Allison was shooting for nonchalant, but her resolved crumbled the minute he pulled her into his arms.

“Tomorrow,” he whispered. He reached up to cup her chin, stroking the underside of her lip with his thumb. “Not a damn thing is going to keep me away from you Allison. I promise okay?”

“Okay,” she said. She believed him. Jack always kept his promises.

Now

“I don’t wanna go to school,” Carter groaned. He woke with a start, blinking in the bright lights of his living room. He was dressed in his uniform, his keys clutched in his hand. “SARAH?”

“Yes Sheriff Carter?”

“Was I on the way to work?”

“Yes Sheriff.”

“But I fell asleep.”

“You said the pillow on the couch was uneven. I believe you tried to flatten it with your body weight.”

“Uh huh.” Carter rose to his feet, staring down at his keys. “Hey SARAH.?”

“Yes Sheriff Carter.”

“Could you call me a cab?”

“Yes Sheriff Carter.”

He heard a dial tone and walked towards the door, his shoulders slumped with fatigue. It opened with a loud hiss as SARAH began to recite his address to the cab company. Carter’s feet were heavy on the stairs leading up to the grassy woods surrounding the former fallout shelter that had been converted into his home. He paused on the last step and bent over to grab his knees. “Christ this gets old.”

‘You shouldn’t say Christ like that.”

Jack looked up at the unfamiliar voice. He looked around the area and found it empty. “Who said that?”

“I did.” He stood straight and turned around, squinting in the bright sunlight shining through the trees surrounding him.

“Who’s I—who are you?”

Something touched his hand and he jumped, startled at the sudden sensation. Jack looked down to find a young girl staring up at him, her brown eyes wide an unblinking. He took a step back and frowned. “Where the hell did you come from?”

“You shouldn’t say hell either. Not like that.”

“Not like—are your parents around?” Carter leaned over and the girl scowled up at him, hunching her shoulders defensively.

“That’s condescending.”

“What?”

“They way you bend over to talk to me--like you’re trying to bring yourself down to my level. It’s irritating.”

“How—how old are you?”

“Ten.”

“You sound thirty.”

“You look fifty.”

Carter clenched his jaw and straightened with a short nod. “Yep. Definitely local. What are you—chemistry whiz? Biological prodigy? Oh wait—“ Carter said snapping his fingers. “You’re wondering out in the woods. Plant genius.”

“You mean Botany.”

“Is that plant science?”

“Yes.”

“Then don’t talk back.”

The girl rolled her eyes and began to walk towards the woods. “Hey,” Carter called. “Where do you think you’re going?”

“Why do you care?”

He stalked after her, pointing at his chest. “You see the badge? I get paid to care.”

“Yay for me,” she droned. Carter frowned, studying the girl’s face. Her curly brown hair was clean, pulled back into a neat ponytail at the nape of her neck. Her tank top and jeans were in good condition, and there were no visible signs of trauma on her skin. He decided she probably wasn’t a runaway, but had no clue as to how she’d ended up in the woods near his home.

“You never told me your name.”

The girl didn’t answer. She stubbed her shoe into the ground and glared at a large tree in front of her.

“Okay,” Carter said. “If you don’t tell me your name I’ll have to arrest you.”

“For what?”

“Trespassing.”

“You wouldn’t arrest a kid.”

“I’ve arrested my own kid. Twice.”

“She’s older.”

Carter paused. “You know Zoë?”

“Everybody knows Zoë.”

“And you know me?”

She nodded and Carter moved closer to where she stood. “Hey, look. Why don’t you let me call your parents? I’m sure they’re worried about you.”

“My parents are gone,” she snapped. The girl kicked a branch at her feet and Carter watched it fly into a nearby shrub.

“Gone where?”

“Don’t be stupid.”

“Hey!” Carter said. “Enough with the attitude. I’m just trying to help.”

The girl folded her arms over her thin chest and lifted her chin defiantly. “I’m hungry.”

Carter stared down into her brown round face and sighed. “Okay. Well—how about we trade? You tell me your first name—“The girl opened her mouth to protest and Carter held up his hand to stop her. “First name, that’s all. And I’ll get you some food. Deal?” He held out his hand and she looked at it, distrust clear in her eyes. She finally accepted with a firm grip.

“Faith,” she said.

Carter frowned. “What?”

“My name. It’s Faith.”




Faith