22 September
129.892 BCE
Abiquiú, New Mexico
Nathan's heart quickened at Haakon's grip, but the quaver in the time traveler's voice and the sweat sheening on his forehead drove an icy ball into Nathan's gut. "Man, are you all right? Do you need to rest?"
Haakon sagged back in his chair. His lean features reflected the ghostly glow of the computer screens. "I'll be fine. Just give me another day or two. You'll see." An impish smile flickered on his face, and his voice turned steady. "I could use some real food. Is there any more of that bacon in the kitchen?"
At least he wasn't going to die. Nathan couldn't help himself and grinned back. "You bet. Bacon, orange juice, coffee. The eggs will have to be scrambled. There's only egg powder, not the real thing."
"Sounds heavenly." Haakon struggled to his feet. His abs and shoulder muscles rippled under the dusting of black hairs that coiled on his body. Fascinating. He must have caught Nathan ogling him, because he said, "Can you get things started while I find some clothes? Running around in boxers while you're fully dressed is having the strangest effect on me."
Nathan almost offered to strip down himself. He could imagine the conversation. If you're uncomfortable, I'll just ditch these chinos and we can both be in our underwear. His body reacted at the vision of the two of them, half naked, embracing. Don't go there. "I'll be in the kitchen, then. Do you like your bacon crispy?"
"The crispier the better."
Nathan padded on bare feet to the cooking alcove. On autopilot, he set the table, loaded the toaster, and arrayed the ingredients on the table. Before long, he had bacon and eggs sizzling in a skillet.
Dammit, what’s wrong with me? Haakon was hiding shit from him; that was clear. There'd been something in the control room that scared him, just now. Whatever it was, he was no longer hell-bent on going back to the future.
Plus, he'd evaded the whole question about Nathan's eyesight. He stopped and touched his chest, worrying about Haakon's question about whether he'd had any pains there.
He turned the bacon and chewed on his lower lip. It had all happened so fast, two days ago. First, they'd been in the Rune Cave in the middle of winter. Then he'd woken up here, with what felt like the worst case of the flu ever. Haakon had said something to him, too. Something about injections, but he couldn't be sure. He didn't think Haakon had drugged him. At least, it didn't feel like it.
He needed answers. But every time he tried to ask, Haakon either passed out, or Nathan's libido took over and flushed everything but lust out of his head. Sheesh. He wasn't sixteen. Sure, rebound sex might help him get over being dumped by his loathsome ex, Claude. But he needed to find out what was going on here, not have sex, no matter how hot that might be.
Besides, something deep inside Nathan told him that a relationship with Haakon could never be a casual fling.
Muscular arms embraced him from behind, and breath heated his neck. Haakon murmured in his ear, "This smells wonderful."
Nathan tensed and concentrated on the skillet. "Just about ready. You want to get your plate?"
"Sure." Was that a kiss that brushed against his ear? Haakon released him and returned with his plate.
Nathan turned and scooped bacon and scrambled eggs onto the proffered dish. God, he looked even better in blue jeans and an over-size sweatshirt. "Uh, I think I'll whomp up some for myself. Go ahead and start."
Haakon sat at the table and started shoveling in food. "It's awesome. You're a physicist, a first-class medic, and now you can cook, too. Is there anything you can't do?"
I can't stop thinking what it'd be like to make love with you. Stop it. Answers, dammit. "I can't figure out what's going on here." He poured more instant egg goop into the skillet and peeled off three strips of bacon. "What did you find back there in the control room?"
"The presets weren't what I expected, is all. No big deal."
Nathan swallowed an angry retort and kept his eyes on the stove. "It didn't seem that way. I thought you were going to take me back to 2018."
"I was. Usually, these standardized stations have pre-sets back to Chicago Control. Whoever used this place last must have screwed them up. Don't worry. It'll just take a little more programming." He stopped to take a swig of juice. "This really hits the spot. You even fixed toast."
"There was a frozen loaf in the freezer." Nathan frowned. He walked to the table for his plate and returned to the stove, where he dished up his eggs. The bacon needed to crisp a bit more. "When we first got here, something knocked me out."
"Jump jeebies. Everybody gets 'em, but they're harder on newbies."
Jump jeebies. What the fuck? He kept his voice even. "Would it be too much to ask for an explanation that's in English?"
Haakon's tone turned defensive. "Hey, I'm sorry." He took another bite of eggs. "Traveling in time always involves some quantum effects. They screw with your neural network. It's the uncertainty principle. The farther you travel, the greater the effects. We jumped over a hundred thousand years to get here."
Nathan slipped his bacon onto his plate and turned off the burner. "Quantum effects. How, exactly, can those be worse for newbies?"
"Don't ask me. I'm a historian—an applied historian. Somebody else does the engineering. Could you tell me how a TV works?"
"Yes."
Haakon blinked and grinned. "Okay, bad example. You're a physicist. Could you tell me, oh, I don't know...how antiviral drugs work?"
"I see your point." Nathan frowned and stared at his plate. If he didn't look at Haakon's rugged features, maybe he could stay on topic. "Speaking of drugs, what did you give me when we arrived here?"
This time, it was Haakon's turn to look away. "Give you?"
"You said you injected us. Both of us. Right after I got you in bed." In bed. That brought images he didn't need. "Just tell me, will you? It's worse not knowing. Why don't I fucking need my glasses anymore? What did you do to me?"
Haakon sighed. "I'll come clean, I promise." He stood. "Is there coffee around here?"
"It's in the cabinet over the brewer." Nathan pointed. "Don't change the subject, dammit."
"I'm not. But I'd like a cup of java. You want one?"
"No. I mean, yes." Shit. "Just tell me what's going on."
Haakon fiddled with the coffee maker and pushed buttons. The burr of coffee grinding halted their conversation for a few seconds. When it stopped and started squirting brown liquid into a cup, he spoke. "You were unconscious when we got here. We both were. I passed out a couple of times getting to the medic kit. By the time I got to you, your heart had stopped."
The air puffed out of his lungs and his stomach chilled. "No shit? You saved my life, then?"
"No less than you saved mine. In fact, you saved mine twice. Once back in Iowa, and once here." He pushed the coffeemaker again. When it stopped buzzing, he spoke. "I gave you an injection of nano-docs. They're what saved your life. You take cream or sugar?"
"Black's fine." He shouldn't be this calm, not after learning he'd almost died. "What are nano-docs?"
"Again, I'm not an expert. What I understand is that they are tiny robots, built on a supra-molecular scale. They are a self-organizing, networked system and, in mass, self-programming. They basically organize and augment the body's natural defenses against disease and trauma."
"That sounds like science fiction."
"Yeah. Well, we're sitting here in the Pleistocene drinking coffee."
Smart ass. "So you shot me full of these things? What's that make me? Frankenstein?"
Haakon shrugged. "Don't worry. You're not a Borg or anything."
"What?" Nathan scowled and his face heated. What did the tennis player have to do with anything? "Stop jerking me around."
"I'm not. I'm trying to explain."
Nathan knew he should be angry, but it was hard to disbelieve that earnest tone and those puppy-dog eyes. "So explain."
Haakon leaned forward. "Look, what the nano-docs do is they fix things. Like your eyesight. It probably took them a day or so, but they corrected whatever it was that made you need glasses. They're self-programming, like I said." He brought the two coffees to the table and sat opposite Nathan.
Nathan's skin crawled and he shivered. "Are they still in me?" He scratched his arm, half expecting little mechanical worms to skewer out of this skin.
"I'm afraid so. They're self-replicating, too, to an extent." He hesitated, as if there were more to tell. "The med kit could send a self-destruct command to them, if you want."
"Can they hurt me? It just seems creepy, like something from The Outer Limits."
"No. They'll help protect you from jump jeebies when we return to the future. I'd keep 'em if I were you."
Haakon reached out and stroked Nathan's hand, sending goosebumps prickling up his arm.
That felt so right. Distracting, too. Keep on topic. "So, when will we be going back to the future?"
"Tomorrow, I think. I need to check the programming in the control room. I could use another night recovering before we jump, too."
"To 2018?"
"Eventually, yes." Haakon sipped his coffee. "But I want to connect up with other Timekeepers, first." His mouth spread in a smile that lit the room and warmed Nathan's heart. "Besides, I'd like for us to get, er, better acquainted tonight. If you're willing, I mean. I don't want to be pushy."
That jolted his libido off the upper end of the lust scale. He squeezed Haakon's hand. "Be as pushy as you want. All you gotta do is whistle. You know how to do that, don't you?"
Haakon's grin grew wider. "Let's see. Just put your lips together and blow, right?"
Then he whistled the opening notes from "Somewhere Over the Rainbow," and Nathan's heart melted. Haakon stood and tugged Nathan to his feet by both hands.
They hugged, and Nathan lost himself in the time traveler's strong embrace, in his musky scent, and in the heat boiling within his body. Haakon's fingers flowed through his curls, over his ear, and down his neck. Lightning skittered down his sides. His fingers clawed at the muscles writhing on Haakon's back.
Haakon's lips brushed his, and their bodies clenched closer.
Nathan opened his mouth, eager, inviting. Haakon's tongue flicked against his lips, and then thrust deeper. First their tongues touched, then their souls.
Perfection.
****
Nathan lay on his side, watching Haakon sleep. Even in repose, his body seemed coiled for action. Those rippled abs and narrow hips reminded him of a wasp, ready to sting. Nathan stirred and grinned, remembering Haakon's sting from last night. It was like nothing and no one before. He'd follow this man to the ends of the earth. Or time.
Haakon gave a little snort, and his eyes opened. A smile trifled with his lips, and his index finger played with Nathan's mouth. "You."
Nathan snuggled against the man's hairy chest. "What?"
"Just that. You." He stroked Nathan's hair. "It's corny, but I'm wondering where you've been all my life."
"I feel the same." Nathan sat up. "You know, I don't really believe in love at first sight."
"That's a relief. Your first sight of me was on the ground, with an arrow sticking through my chest."
"Actually, my first sight of you was taking a pratfall."
"How romantic." Haakon kissed his eyelids. "You have eyes made for kissing."
"Original. I've read Fitzgerald, too." He scooched closer. "But don't stop. I love it."
"I'll never stop. I promise." Haakon heaved a sigh. "But you know, we can't stay here forever, lovely as this is."
"Why not? It looks to me like this place is stocked for months."
"At least six months for two people, if it's the standard setup, and we could live indefinitely off the countryside if we had to. But we need to get back to civilization." Haakon sat on the edge of the bed. "Would you fix me coffee while I shower? Then you can shower while I check out the control room."
An hour later, Nathan, dressed in sneakers, blue jeans, and an Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt, wandered into the control room. Haakon huddled over the controls, his fingers flashing on the keyboard. He was similarly attired, except his sweatshirt had a picture of a rooster and the legend "I heart" above it. A Celtic cross was back, hanging about his neck.
Nathan touched the cross. "I thought this was busted."
Haakon stroked the back of Nathan's hand. “I jiggered it with some re-programming. It’ll do in a pinch until I can get a replacement.”
" So, how's it going?"
"Not bad." He turned his head to smile at Nathan and pat his hand. "In fact, I'm almost done. I've found the settings for a safe house in Chicago. The era isn't ideal, but I'm sure I'll be able to hook up with agents across town at Control."
"I've been to Chicago, for a Bulls game. Windy and cold. Hated it."
"Well, with any luck we won't be there long." Haakon pursed his lips. "Are you ready? We may as well go now."
"'Twere well it were done quickly," he quoted.
"Hopefully, this blow won't be the be-all and end-all."
Nathan snickered. "You're so cute when you misquote MacBeth."
"Quiet. This is serious. Stand next to me." Haakon pushed a button on the screen, and the now-familiar sonics of time travel squealed through the room.
Nathan huddled next to Haakon and gripped his hand. "You didn't say when we are headed, just where."
"October 22, 1962." He said something more, but the shriek of the time machine drowned him out.
Nathan frowned. There was something familiar about that date. He was never very good at history. Wasn't the president assassinated sometime around then?
Then jump jeebies hit him with nausea, and needles of pain flashed all over his flesh. Not as bad as before, but not pleasant. A kaleidoscope of colors swirled about the two men, and the control room vanished.