Twice in a Lifetime / by Serene_Quill (R)

[makoyi]

Title: Twice in a Lifetime
Author: Serene_Quill 
Fandom: Eureka
Pairings: Jack/Nathan, Henry/Kim, Jack/Allison
Genre: Romance, Time Travel
Length: Medium (Words:42,399)
Admin Note: rec'd on fancacke


Author's Summary:

When you’re messing with quantum mechanics and looping in time, you never can be sure how many times you’ve tried to correct the same mess. Because it is a time loop, because only a select one or two carry the memories, maybe the events of “Once in a Lifetime” were just one loop. And one time, maybe Henry got it just right for himself, and Jack, Nathan, and Allison didn’t manage to stop Henry when they sent someone back, causing the next loop, the events of episode 112, “Once in a Lifetime”. But those events don’t matter now. Because this is the story of the loop before. And while in quantum mechanics, it didn’t actually happen, in the heart, it did.

Review:
This fic takes a canon episode exploring alternate timelimes involving relationships established entirely offscreen and cleanly inserts another time loop involving one of the most popular fandom pairings (Jack Carter/Nathan Stark) without contradicting canon at all. This fic starts with a little Fridge Logic ("Why did Nathan walk away and go to San Francisco? Why didn’t Henry manage to shut down the experiment altogether?") and builds a great fic to answer those questions --- it's what has sparked tens of thousands of fantastic stories in fandoms like Harry Potter but it's not easy to make it work in Eureka's canon with it's twisted timelines, frequent time loops, and super-soft-and-squishy 'science' that serves up plot devices each episode. 

I like this fic because it takes the relationship development slowly (compared to other Eureka shipping fics) and because it plays so very well with canon.  I found the non-linear storytelling a little tricky --- pay attention to the date tags for each section.  I also badly wanted a happy ending even though I knew from the start that I wouldn't get one for this non-canon pairing because the fic was designed to play well with canon.  Still, I think this is definitely one of the shining 10% in the Eureka fandom.

Twice in a Lifetime (on AO3)

Cover: