Title: The Other Side of Avoidance
Author: KourtTears
Rating: T
Pairing: Jo/Zane implied
Summary: Jo knows Fargo told Zane something …she just wishes they would stop avoiding her so she can find out what it means for her and Zane. Tag to 'Liftoff'.
Author's Note: This plot bunny has been on my mind all week. It hasn't been beta-ed so all mistakes are mine. Deleted scenes for 'Christmas in July, Take Two' are being written but I wanted to get this out before the next episode. Hope you enjoy!
And try to find the Leverage quote! I thought it was appropriate since I was watching that while writing this.
Jo was sitting behind her desk thinking. Just like she had been doing all week. And what was she thinking about? That was an easy one. She was thinking about what she always thought about or rather who she always thought about.
Zane.
And in this particular incident she was also thinking about Fargo. More specifically what Fargo had said to Zane while up in space.
And Jo just knew Fargo had said something because they both had been acting…weird. Well, weird for them...not Eureka weird or anything.
And how does she know this? That's another easy one. Because of Zane.
She noticed something that same afternoon they had gotten back to Earth. She had been in Café Diem getting dinner (a sandwich since the electricity was still on the fritz) when she noticed Zane sitting in the back. Now before the whole dying in space thing, he would have sauntered up to the counter and made small talk (i.e. pester her about her secret). But not this time. No, this time he stayed at his table. She would have just figured that he hadn't noticed her except he had been staring at her. So she waited for her food and he never approached her, he just stared.
She figured he was coping with his near death experience and wasn't in the mood or right frame of mind to try and cajole her into telling her secret. She had shrugged, collected her dinner and left the Café assuming things would be back to normal the next day.
But they weren't. Zane had been in the Rotunda when she had walked in. He had glanced at her then turned back to the scientist he had been talking to. The same thing happened during her regular morning walk-through, at lunch and as she was leaving.
The next day it was even worse, she didn't see him in any of the usual places. Or even the unusual places. Now normally this was cause for alarm as it usually meant Zane was off pulling some prank or getting into trouble or causing a catastrophe but not this time. And she knew this because she had checked the security feeds and Zane had been in the labs he had been scheduled to work. On time and he was actually working. No explosions or broken lab equipment. Something was obviously going on.
Jo's theory that something strange was going on was confirmed when Fargo got back into town. After being in DC for almost 3 days, Jo was expecting a long meeting to go over the details of what had happened while the director had been away. Instead she had gotten a quick visit from Fargo spouting off some crap that he had read the memos and reports she had left on his desk and that everything was okay and he would see her tomorrow. Before she could even get out from behind her desk he was gone.
The next day she had seen Fargo leaving the room or corridor just as she entered (she was starting to think he had some kind of Jo detection gadget…and if he did she was going to lock him up in a Section Five lab…again) and she hadn't seen Zane at all.
So yeah, something was up. And she knew exactly what it was. Fargo had told him. That little weasel had told Zane what they had been to each other. Okay, she didn't know it for sure but really, what else could it be?
So Zane knew that he had loved her (in another world) and that she had loved him (and that might not be limited to another world).
And what was his response? He avoided her and didn't it suck to be on the wrong side of that finally.
And Fargo obviously knew she knew because he had been, yep that's right, avoiding her too.
She had been tempted more than once over the past few days to hunt down Zane and ask him exactly why he had been avoiding her. And she almost had but there was that voice in the back of her mind that kept presenting her with the worst case scenarios (the best case scenario being he would pull her into a long, steamy kiss but she wouldn't admit that to anyone least of all herself).
Worst case scenario #1: She confronted him, he scoffed and then walked away.
Worst case scenario #2: She confronted him and he said, "I thought this was what you wanted…and then walked away.
Worst case scenario #3: She confronted him…and well, different words and then he walked away.
Normally Jo was the first to step into danger and in the old timeline she hadn't ever been scared to be hurt. But this new timeline? Well, except for the Head of Security gig, this timeline had kicked her enough times that she was reluctant to put herself out there just to be kicked again.
So instead of doing anything, Jo was sitting behind her desk watching security feeds of Zane and Fargo working together. Seriously? One almost death in space and they were the best of friends? She continued to watch as Zane fiddled with something, held his hand out and Fargo slapped some utensil into it and Zane used it to do something to the something in front of him.
As she watched Fargo laugh at something Zane had said, she realized she'd had enough. She was going to find out exactly what Fargo had told Zane (though she already knew but proof was always a good thing). And she was going to make Zane talk to her about it.
With this decision made Jo checked to make sure her Taser was on her hip and still charged and headed out of her office. Yeah, she was going to get the answer she wanted but first a quick stop at the Non-Lethal Weapons lab to borrow an i-mine from Parrish. They would stop avoiding her even if she had to glue them to the wall to make it happen.
Author's Note #2: Please let me know what you thought of it! Also, does anyone know if (and what) Jo's brothers' or father's names are? I need it for the deleted scene and I didn't want to make the names up if they were already named.
Thanks!