All was well in the small town called Eureka. It was a late Wednesday afternoon and Jo had just gotten off work. For once, today had been a relatively easy day, nothing super hard, nobody blowing anything up (except for a minor controlled explosion in lab 17a), no fights (only over the last cheeseburger in the cafeteria) and Zane was behaving himself (for once!). Although, Jo was pretty sure it had something to do with the fact that…the beeping of her cell phone cut off that train of thought. Picking up without looking at the caller id, Jo answered.

"Lupo."

"Jeez, JoJo, is that how you greet every random person off the streets?" his voice made her smile.

"Well," she coyly answered with a smirk, "it's not every day I'm dating a hobo."

"Point taken, JoJo." Zane answered with a grumble. "Anyway, I was just wondering if you were doing something for dinner?"

"What did you have in mind?" she replied, getting into her car.

Zane smirked, and Jo could hear it in his response. "I'm thinkin' burgers at Vincent's tonight."

"Sounds good, meet you there at 7," and Jo hung up, looking forward to a relaxing evening bantering with Zane.

While she had never told him what exactly had happened with her time-traveling companions and herself, he had pretty much guessed precisely what had happened. Including their relationship from before the time-skip. They hadn't talked about it though, except for when he'd told her his theory. They had pretty much skirted cautiously around the subject and talked about other things. This had eased his suspicion and distrust of Jo though, and they had become friends. They'd started hanging out more, getting to know each other again and becoming fast friends. Jo had hardly dared to hope again, but she was afraid that she was falling in love with the former felon all over again. Only this time, she hoped it wouldn't end the way her last try with him had. She wasn't sure, but she thought, hoped, rather, that maybe, just maybe Zane was possibly developing feelings for her. This was slightly proved by the somewhat-more-than-friendly dinners they'd been having every other night at Vincent's. Their banter had been very lighthearted lately, but with lots of double meanings and lots of flirting. Jo thought things were starting to look up for once in her life.

EUReKA

Zane sat at one of the back tables in Café Diem, where he could easily see whoever came in, but they wouldn't be able to see him right away. He fiddled with one of the buttons on his dressy button-down as he watched the door like a hawk.

He looked up distractedly at Vincent who'd shown up to see if there was any new gossip for his betting pool on him and Jo.

"So, meeting Jo here again for dinner, Zane?" Vincent casually inquired, shooting Zane a sly glance he completely missed.

"Uh yeah, but she's late, something she never is,…" Zane trailed off as Jo practically ran into the café, looking around for him.

Zane was impressed at her clothes, as always. She looked so hot, yet simultaneously beautiful. She wore a black pencil skirt that hugged her frame and a tight, red v-necked, short-sleeve shirt that was just slightly see-through, as Jo was drenched from long, flowy, dark hair to black high-heels. It had started pouring as the sun set, and apparently Jo hadn't brought an umbrella, not that he was complaining. He whistled as she spotted him and said, loud enough for her to hear as she approached him, "well hello there beautiful; looking radiant as ever, even when wet." He smiled at her blush, her favorite crooked grin on his lips as she reached him and dropped a kiss on her cheek.

"Hey, Carter needs us. Sorry, we'll have to eat later," Jo gave him an apologetic half-smile before grabbing his hand and leading him past Vincent, who stared after them unabashedly. Vincent wasn't sure if Jo was just making the excuse up as a pretext, or if it was a valid justification. But he sure as heck wouldn't let a day go by without finding out if something juicy happened while they were alone.

The well-dressed couple walked out into the rain, Zane pulling Jo closer as they crossed quickly to her car on the other side of the street. Getting in the passenger's side, Zane paused a moment in putting his seatbelt on to ask seriously, "Was this a real emergency, or was it just an excuse to make out with me where Vincent's not watching?"

Half turning, Jo shot him an exasperated, yet amused glare and told him off tartly.

"Yes, I made up the excuse to get you alone since I can't go half a day without kissing you at least once. No! Carter actually needs us for something. He paged me 15 minutes ago."

Zane contemplated her answer for a second and then brought up a tricky subject. "Well, I don't know; apparently in the other timeline you and I were pretty much glued together. I talked to Allison yesterday." As he glanced at her, he saw the shock in her eyes and how hard she was gripping the steering wheel and knew he'd gotten her.

"But JoJo, I'm starting to think, that wasn't a bad thing at all," he eased her hands off the wheel and taking them, turned her towards him. Surprise, uncertainty and shock flitted across her face and he leaned forward, meeting her lips softly.

For a moment, she didn't respond, but then Jo melted into the kiss, her lips hungrily molding to his. Zane's hands wound their way into Jo's silky hair and he cradled the back of her head, getting a better position on her mouth. Meanwhile Jo's hands had twisted themselves into the front of his shirt, crumpling the smooth, white fabric.

However, Jo's phone chose that moment to ring and they broke apart instantly. Zane suddenly realized what an uncomfortable position she had probably been in, as she'd tried to get closer to him, but the stick-shift had gotten in the way. Jo fumbled to grab her phone from her pocket, until Zane noticed she didn't have any pockets, or a purse. Kinky, he smirked as he took in her disheveled state, her lack of breath, her swollen lips and her slightly rumpled clothing, where she'd hidden her phone in her bra. Knowing that he had done that to the Jo Lupo made his ego swell and his heart thump. (A/N: Aaaaaaaaand totally ruining the moment here, but CHEESIEST LINE EVER! Lolsorryguyz'kdonenow XP) Leaning back in his seat as Jo started the car and drove while talking to Carter, Zane admired the way Jo's lips moved as she talked until she hung up.

"Carter has horrible timing," he told her as he quickly glanced out the window as she looked at him for a second while shifting. He didn't want her to see just yet that he'd been checking her out and had become quite absorbed in those soft, delicious-tasting lips of hers that were oh-so-red and molded perfectly to his whenever they were together. They tasted like spices, cinnamon, and had just a hint of gunpowder behind it all and Zane was quite afraid and yet thrilled, that he was becoming addicted to them. Or rather, Jo herself, in general. She was such an intoxicating young woman, and he had liked her ever since he'd stepped foot in Eureka almost three years ago. But after being turned down time after time, he'd eventually given up, figuring the only way she would notice him now was if he played the part of the screw-up, the trickster, and needled her relentlessly. But ever since Founder's Day, when she and five of the other prominent citizens of Eureka had started acting strangely, he thought he might have a chance again. However, he was much more cautious this time, as at first he couldn't figure out why Henry, Allison, Fargo, Jo, and Carter had started acting really weird and there'd always been something fishy about Dr. Oldspice, who'd been redacted less than a month after mysteriously arriving at Eureka.

Wrenching his thoughts back to the present, Zane caught the last part of Jo's sentence and realized she'd been asking him something. "Wait, say that again?" he asked and she complied.

"I said, did you believe her? Allison, I mean." Jo kept her voice low and eyes on the road in front of her, almost as though afraid of what he might say.

"Well, since she basically repeated what I already knew, except for the part about um…you and me,…yea. Yea I do believe her. About everything." Zane stumbled over the words 'you and me' afraid he'd send Jo on the defensive again and quickly changed the subject.

"Are we headed to GD?" he asked, glancing uncomfortably at Jo, wondering if the previous subject would always haunt them like this and they would need to talk about it if they ever moved forward with their not-relationship-relationship thing that was currently happening.

"Yes, although Carter said that "it", here she emphasized with air quotes, "was found inside GD and didn't even set off any alarms, except for one," briskly she answered him, although he noticed the slight waver in her voice that she tried to hide. One thing that he'd always hated was how every time she couldn't deal with something, she would hide. Hide behind that stupid little mask she'd forged, as Fargo's little Enforcer. Something'd go wrong, and BAM! Enforcer mask in place, nerves hidden behind that fake, so fake, calm reassuring voice of reason that sometimes he'd taunt her just for hiding behind her wall of lies that she'd built for herself. Granted, he'd probably caused half of that wall, but he didn't feel guilty as she was the one who'd stepped on his heart several times, until she'd changed. Or rather, the new Jo appeared. The one who had to be handled carefully, like a china doll, or else her fragility would be smashed in an instant. Allison had told him Jo was in a fragile state of mind right now and anything could break it. That's why he'd been trying to avoid fights or the subject with her. Plus the fact that he was pretty sure that he now loved her and didn't want to hurt her had something to do it as well.

He realized that he'd zoned out again as Jo's face was now quite close to his, calling his name repeatedly, her voice growing concerned. Leaning down and giving her a quick kiss, he smiled reassuringly at her and said, "Zoned out, sorry about that. Let's go," as he noticed they were now parked in front of GD in Jo's special parking spot. As head of Global Dynamic's security department, Jo had her own parking spot, office, army (of security officers), and a fleet of the signature black SUV's designed to Jo's own specifications in case they were needed for anything from a high-speed chase to a guard group. In some cases, Jo wielded almost more power than the Director of GD, Douglas Fargo.

Zane didn't bother with the umbrella that he'd brought with him to the café, only pulled up his hood and waited for Jo to lock her car, before walking inside and showing the nightwatch security officer his badge. The officer waved them through without even checking Jo's badge, as he would recognize his boss anywhere. Zane too, was a familiar sight with the chief-of-security, but it was a formality that they stuck with, just in case. Arriving at the rotunda, Carter was waiting for them, along with someone else.

A small, probably five-year-old girl sat on the floor by his side, absorbed with something. She had long wavy black hair that trailed down to her shoulder blades that looked a little like Jo's hair. Zane couldn't tell what color eyes she had since she was still busily looking down at the floor. However, just as Carter started across the floor, a bit of a rueful and puzzled expression on his face, the girl looked up.

Even across the room, Zane could see the piercing blue eyes that widened as the girl looked at them. Getting up from her position of leaning against the stairs by the director's office, she flew at them, exclaiming "Mommy!" and "Daddy!"

Jo just barely managed to catch her, as she'd launched herself at Jo as soon as she was within three feet of them. She stumbled into Zane, who caught her by the waist and held on, peering over her shoulder at the small girl she now held somewhat awkwardly.

Joyful blue eyes smiled back at him as the girl, who definitely looked like a combination of Zane and Jo, hugged Jo's neck and snuggled closer to her.

Jo glanced back at him in shock, his own reflection mirroring hers in her eyes. The little girl just sighed contentedly into Jo's hair and proceeded to fall asleep. Then together, both of them looked at Carter, who by this time had reached them, and was scratching the back of his head. Never a good sign.

"Hey guys, sorry to call you away from your dinner, but uh, this little girl appeared in your office, Jo, just as I was about to leave those reports about the sectronomer explosion in section three last week on your desk. I had no idea where she came from, just that one second she wasn't there, and the next she was. I asked her her name and she said it was Erin Akira Donovan. I thought that maybe she was unrelated, but…" here Carter trailed off in his explanation and shrugged. "She does look like you a bit Zane."

Zane, mind blank, lifted the girl's face off Jo's shoulder and examined her again, but much more closely this time. Carter was right, darn him. She did look like him and yet, she had a different figure and longer, leaner face than him.

Meanwhile, Carter continued his story. "So then I asked her what she was doing here and she said "waiting for my mommy" and when I asked her who that was…" he was interrupted by Jo at this point.

"…she said me, I'm presuming." Jo finished his sentence and Carter nodded uncertain as to how they would react.

Zane had a faraway look in his eyes as he contemplated the scientific meaning of space travel (something Jo'd already done) when Jo glanced back at him again, a look of shock on her pretty face, and suddenly it hit him. Shit! I had a child with Josephina Lupo?

Mwahahahahahahaha! evil authoress laughter I love confusing and teasing poor Zane. How is he going to live with the fact that in some future still yet unknown, he had a kid with Jo? And how will Jo react to finding out that her lost love blossoms into something so much more? Well, I know, but yall will have to bear with me here until I can type up the next chapter. I think this is the longest first chapter I have ever written, but luckily, it's all just buildup for an awesome climax. I know exactly where this story is going so yall won't have to wait for uncertainty in the plot, but I am not sure I like the kid's name. So we'll see, may go back and change that. But hope yall enjoy the story!