A/N: A short vignette set after the season finale. I don't own Eureka or the characters. I'm not making any money off of them.
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Jo pulled into the rest area, the sky darkening. She'd been driving for hours since leaving Eureka, and if it wasn't for her empty gas tank she would still be driving.
She wasn't running away. At first this idea of hers had almost felt like that. But no, this was about more than running. It was about finding herself. Finding out what she wanted. She hadn't been lying to Zane when she told him she just didn't know.
Gas tank full, a passenger seat full of snacks for the road ahead, Jo went to open the glove compartment to find her map of California. She once heard the coastline was beautiful, and she had never managed to find the time to take a road trip down it. Now was her time.
But instead of her hand finding the map, she found a dark blue envelope. Curious, she pulled it out. There was no name on the outside. Inside was a folded piece of paper and a ring.
Her ring. Well, the one she had worn around her neck for months. The one the other Zane had given her when he asked her to spend her life with him.
She almost didn't want to read the letter, but she made herself open it anyway. She turned on the interior light of her car to read it.
Jo -
I wanted you to know that I will be thinking of you. And more than that, I hope you'll be thinking of me too. I'll take this back if you don't want to keep it, but I'll feel better if you hold on to it for me for the next few months.
I'll miss you.
-Z
"Damn him," she muttered. She had not even told him she would be leaving, but Zane had to go and insert him into her fresh start anyway.
After a few moments of resting her head against the steering wheel, Jo folded the letter back up, and put it and the ring back in the envelope, and then back in the glove compartment.
She'd figure out later if she wanted to keep the ring for good this time. For now, she had a tank full of gas and an open road in front of her.
