*A/N: This episode is an AU, and would fit in the Eureka timeline sometime after Zoe leaves for college at the end of Season 3.
Sheriff Jack Carter arrived downstairs in the morning to find his daughter, Zoe, home on summer break, lounging on the couch. He stopped.
"And is this how you're going to spend your entire summer?" he asked.
Zoe did not open her eyes, "Mm, absolutely, Dad! What about you?"
Carter wagged a finger at his daughter as he grabbed the coffee SARAH the smart-house poured for him, "Don't even go there, honey. Jobs don't have summer breaks, and I have a job. I was lucky Jo said she could handle things for the weekend so I could come all the way to Portland and pick you up at the airport." He playfully smacked her on the head with a magazine and she opened her eyes and grinned at him.
"Seriously, though," Carter continued, "I've been meaning to ask you, how has college been treating you? Any different than Tesla?"
Zoe rolled her eyes, "A lot different, Dad! In some ways, I'm used to being around a bunch of super-geniuses, so in some of my classes I feel a lot smarter than everyone else, but then again, there is so much I still can't understand!" She twisted a small strand of hair around her finger thoughtfully. "Dad," she began tentatively, "Have you ever... y'know, thought about what life would be like if I was a Eureka kid?"
Carter dropped onto the couch next to her, "Excuse me?" he asked.
"I mean," Zoe tried to explain, "Like, if you and mom had moved to Eureka before I was born, or maybe you came when I was just a baby, and I became as smart as all the other kids in Eureka; have you ever thought that way?"
Carter shook his head with a wry smile, so Zoe pressed further, "Come on, Dad; they're discovering a billion new things about genetics every day! Sometimes I just feel so stupid and lost when I think about how much I don't know about stuff that the other Eureka kids do. Honestly," she locked eyes with her dad, "If someone at GD came up with a way to boost a kid's intelligence, would you buy into it? Would it be something you'd do for me?"
Carter paused for a long time as he considered the implications of his daughter's question.
"I don't mean to interrupt," SARAH put forth regardless, "but if you don't hurry, Sheriff, you'll be late for work."
Carter jumped up, "Well, I guess we'll have to finish this conversation later," he told Zoe, kissing her on the cheek, "Have a good day, sweetheart."
"Bye, Dad," Zoe replied, disappointment ringing in her voice.
Carter ignored it as he attempted to resume life as normal. The truth was, Zoe's question bothered him because in fact he had in the past occasionally toyed with the idea of making Zoe as smart as all the other kids, so nobody could tease her being just average. What if there was a way to expand a person's brain capacity past normal levels, without killing the person? Having genius-level minds certainly did no harm to the other kids in Eureka. Then again, this was his daughter he was dealing with. Would being a genius change their relationship? Could they still relate on the same level if Zoe was super-smart?
Carter shook his head as he pulled up in front of the sheriff's office.
Jo was on the phone when he walked in.
"Uh-huh... okay, and you checked the locks?... All right... Anything else missing or harmed in any way? Ok, we'll look into it as soon as we can. Ok, bye." Just when she was about to hang up, the phone rang again. Carter waved to his deputy, but Jo rolled her eyes and handed him a stack of messages that she had accumulated already in the morning. "Good morning, Sheriff's office, this is Jo," she said into the receiver, then as Carter looked over the messages, she began writing a new one, "Ok, and where was this?" She began writing down the location, then stopped, "Wait, I thought that was abandoned," she remarked to the person on the other side. "Oh... ok, we'll check it out, thank you."
She put the receiver down and slid a hand over her forehead.
Carter read off some of the messages, "The sheets disturbed in a locked guest room at the Williamses? Dr. Marlene says that someone is disturbing her cows? Dr. Tenold wants to report... dirty dishes in the sink?"
"And this," Jo handed him the latest message, "is somebody coming out of Beverly's early this morning."
Carter chuckled, "Sounds like a lot of people missed me."
Jo stood up, "No, Carter, I missed you; these people actually needed you. I've been answering calls all weekend. I almost couldn't leave because everyone just kept calling every time I'd get a chance!" She shook her head, "Gawd, I hope they finish the troubleshooting on Andy soon! I was just beginning to wonder if I would ever miss being your deputy, and the truth is, after this weekend," she stared Carter in the eye, "I don't," she stated.
Carter laid the stack back on Jo's desk. "Well, let me just say that I felt a lot more comfortable leaving the position in the hands of someone who wouldn't malfunction. I missed you, Jo, even if you didn't miss me." he winked at his former deputy. "So: it looks like we have an invisible intruder on our hands. Is GD trying something?"
Jo shook her head, "I doubt it. They're doing a bunch of ecological experiments right now; invisibility wouldn't be on the list."
Carter looked again at the last message, "Wait, Beverly's? I thought that was boarded up and nobody wanted to go near the place any more."
Jo threw up her hands. "There's definitely something going on."
Carter rolled his eyes as he ran out to his jeep, "Something always is," he muttered.
"Where should we start?"
Carter turned back to Jo, "Ok, with everyone else we can assume that the intruders had some purpose for breaking in; we can handle those later. What we want to know is, why would the person or people go to Beverly's? Are they all still there? I'd say we start with Beverly's and make our way around from there."
"You're the boss," Jo replied, getting into the car with him.
Carter grinned, "Now, see? Andy would never say something like that."
Jo grinned mischievously, "You want to hear me say something else Andy would never say?"
"No! Let's just go!"