Disclaimer: I do not own any part of "Eureka". The characters, nor idea, belong to me.

You've Got Mail

Sitting at the computer was nothing new for Zoe, what was new was that her father was screaming at her to finish her homework instead of browsing the web. Where is he? she thought to herself as she finally turned away from the screen. The house was empty save for her, and it was nearing seven pm. Her father usually came in at six. But, Zoe supposed, as Sheriff in a town of accident prone geniuses, you can be a little late sometimes.

She turned back to the computer and let out a sigh, she was bored, apparently googling random images wasn't that interesting when it didn't bother someone else. "Sarah!" Zoe called out.

"Yes, Zoe. Are you getting hungry? I could fix a dinner for you while you wait for Jack," the house answered back in it's monotone voice.

"No, thanks," Zoe said back, scrolling the mouse around her homepage. "No, Sarah, I was just wondering if you could," she stopped and rolled her eyes, "if you could, I don't know, make disgruntled noises at me?"

There was a slight pause before Sarah answered. "I'm sorry, Zoe, but I don't quite understand what you mean by that."

With a quick shrug, she laughed, saying, "Never mind. Forget it."

Zoe closed down her computer and went to the phone. After dialing on of the few numbers she knew by heart (thanks to contact lists), she heard the deputy's voice answer before the second ring. "Lupo."

Jo Lupo wasn't complicated and so the casual greeting didn't exactly stun Zoe. "Hey, Jo, it's Zoe. Do you know if my father was planning on abandoning me tonight or...?"

"I don't know, the Sheriff prefers to ignore you straight to your face," Jo responded with a hint of sarcasm. "But, hey, what do I know? I'm only a measly deputy, but you. You are his daughter, what do you think?"

Before she could answer, Zoe heard her father on the other side wrestling the phone away from Jo. Zoe tried not to smile, she wanted her father to hear how upset he was that he hadn't called and he wouldn't if she was reprimanding him through a smile. She was able to subdue the smirk by the time her father got the phone away from Jo. "Hey, honey, listen I'm going to be a little late tonight."

"Really," she said, eyes wide at the simplicity of her father. She held the phone close and lowered herself onto the couch she had been leaning on, "Yea, I figured that when you were late."

"I'm sorry I didn't call before but we're working on this case. Apparently a retired GD guy got his hands on some nuclear, bio-hazardous, ionic, platonic---" Before he could go on Zoe heard Jo correcting him in the back and though it sounded a little muffled she could here her father say, "From now on, Deputy, you can only correct me when I'm right." As Zoe tried to figure out how, exactly, they were related, her father was back on the line. "Anyway, whatever it was it caused a bit of a scene in town and we have to sort it out. Are you okay there by yourself?"

A small ding sounded from her laptop and Zoe got up to walk to the counter where she had left it. "Yea, sure, whatever. Sarah already offered to make me some food." She opened the computer and saw a little message pop up on screen. It was weird, Zoe would've swore she had shut down the computer, but there it was a "You've got mail" envelope. Zoe clicked on it as her father went on about not staying up to late and doing her homework and brushing her teeth before bed, the usual father-daughter talk. As soon as the e-mail opened onto her screen there was a loud bang and a bright blue light that seemed to come from everywhere. Then all was dark and all Zoe could here was her father on the other end of the line calling out her name.