A Two Four Five

"I couldn't put my finger on it and it was driving me nuts. Something was definitely different with her."

T

Disclaimer: I own nothing and no one.

AN: Just something that was floating around on the laptop.

I couldn't put my finger on it and it was driving me nuts. Something was definitely different with her. It wasn't until I caught her out of the corner of my eye at Cafe Diem that it hit me.

She was sitting by herself at the counter waiting for her food. I was sitting in the back at a table by myself. She hadn't noticed me when she breezed in and placed her order, hadn't paid attention to who was sitting where and eating what like she usually does. No, her mind seemed to be on something else.

But unlike other times I had caught her unaware, this time instead of that god awful frown that seemed to live on her face, her lips were quirked upward and her mood was downright cheery. A far cry from her usual sullen depressed countenance.

So I got to thinking about it.

It's her smile. She actually has one.

Most of my stay in Eureka has been littered with her disappointed frown, or her pissed off frown. Her every day frown. Her 'leave me alone' frown. Her 'I'm so mysterious' frown. Even her 'I'm really very happy' frown. The woman has more versions of unhappy than the colors in the spectrum. I guess I got so used to seeing her frown that her smile is almost unnerving.

It's also very convincing and highly addictive.

I've discovered that once she starts smiling, it's damn hard to make myself stop trying to reproduce the effect. Which is more than a little inconvenient because it's also highly attractive.

Even more so than those captivating chocolate eyes of hers. The ones that make you feel like she's reaching right down into your soul and tying a little knot to it so you can't ever escape. Not that you'd want to. When she turns those eyes on you in the bedroom it doesn't really matter what came before or what's coming after. You just kind of hold on and hope it never ends.

Now her smile... that's another story all together.

She ought to be required to carry a permit. It's the most dangerous concealed weapon I've ever encountered. Men all over Eureka have fallen prey to it, I'm almost certain. It's like she sucks your will to do anything but hers right out of you. She smiles and you're suddenly a mindless zombie devoted to her every whim.

What's even better is that she seems to have no idea of this unforeseen effect. Which makes you want her even more. Makes you crazy really.

I shake my head to clear it and look away. It's dangerous to fall prey to her smile in public.

She hasn't been smiling for long. I know because had she been doing so I would have been a goner a long time ago. No, the smiling is a relatively recent development.

I try to trace it back to a single incident but find my mind is kind of cloudy on the matter.

Enforcer Jo never smiled. You never expected her to. But she didn't seem to carry around a load of unhappiness so heavy you thought it might suffocate you as well if you stood too close like Founder's Day Jo did either. If Enforcer Jo was unhappy you never knew it.

Now Founder's Day Jo, well every thing about her dripped with misery. It's painful to look at the obvious joy on her face now and remember how miserable she looked those first few months after the time traveling incident. At the time I noticed a change in her but never would have guessed that I had anything to do with it. Or just how truly miserable she actually was.

Standing up, I walk over to the counter to join her and she dazzles me with a simple 'oh you surprised me but I'm not objecting' smile.

"Hey." She greets me and I feel like my mind is mud. What was it I was going to say again?

"Hey." Mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery right? Cut me some slack here, I'm not used to that upward tilt of her lips. It's the sexiest thing she's done all day.

I don't think she used her smile when I kissed her that first time... or actually when she kissed me. I may have initiated but by the time we were through it was almost all her.

Maybe it's not just her smile, those lips are pretty deadly when pressed against just about anything. The other night we were supposed to be studying but some how her lips ended up wrapped around...

"Earth to Zane? Hello?" She chuckles and I try not to look embarrassed.

It was a popsicle... she was eating a cherry popsicle, get your heads out of the gutter. Though she has had her lips on that too.

What? I'm only human.

"Sorry. You wanna join me?" I point back to my table like a moron. She's still smiling.

"Can't, gotta get back to GD. For dinner maybe?" She asks with that hopeful smile that you just can not say no to.

"Sure." I smile back. Vincent drops her food off and she stands to leave. I stand too and lean in.

Her lips meet mine in a short peck and as she pulls back her face lights up even more.

"Bye." She bites her bottom lip in that uncertain quirky way that makes me want to press her against the wall and erase all her doubts.

"See ya." She turns around and practically skips out of the diner.

Yup, I figured out when she started wielding that weapon. It was about the time we first started sleeping together. It only showed up full force in the last week though.

When she decided it was okay to be seen with me in public. Even to kiss in public.

My Jo. I think I like that one the best.

She turns around to look at me once more from outside on the sidewalk. I wink at her and she nearly crashes into Carter and Allison as they pass. I watch her apologize, smile still in place.

Maybe I'm not as defenseless as I thought.

Maybe she has a weakness too.

It's worth experimenting on. Hey, what kind of scientist would I be if I didn't at least try to figure out if I have a similar effect on her?