A/N: A Jo/Zane fic about what would happen if, at the end of season 5 episode 5, instead of kissing him as her answer, Jo just left? Naturally Zane would follow. I don't own the characters nor am I making any money off of this.
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Jo took off, out of Eureka, with barely a look back in her rear view mirror. Yes, she was running again; from Zane, from her fear, and her indecision. He had asked her to decide, once and for all, and she had left. She hadn't meant it to be her final answer but a request for more time, but that would probably equal the same thing by the time she came back.
She drove west. Drove all night until she pulled over in a rest area and slept in her car. She grabbed some junk food and coffee and then kept driving. She was racing…. something.
She stopped when she hit Oklahoma, although that was more a matter of necessity than anything else. She blew a tire on the highway and although she could fix the tire herself, something seemed off with her alignment. She had listened to her brothers obsess over cars when she was younger to know that could be a bigger issue, so she went looking for a garage. Normally she'd just have Henry check it out during his lunch break but…
The man in the garage said they could do it tomorrow morning. "I don't have a cell phone with me," she started to explain, but he waived her off before she even got to the part about her ridiculously interrupted walkabout.
"If you're visiting, try staying at the hotel right in town. There should be rooms this time of year. I can call for you over there."
She left her car there, declined a ride, and walked the mile back to the main street of the small town. She rented a room at a motel called the Happy Inn with faded yellow curtains and a white picket fence. The sign advertised weekly rates, and several of the porches had flower pots and the odd bike or moving box. She wondered what time of year The Happy Inn didn't have rooms available.
The woman behind the counter when she checked in wore a name badge that read Mable. Jo gave her a half-hearted smile as she took her room key.
"Breakfast comes with your room, and it's served from 6-9. Nothing fancy, but there's coffee."
Jo nodded. Had Mable seen the circles under her eyes? Her dreams were full of Zane. She laid down on the worn bedspread and closed her eyes, not even bothering to remove her boots.
