Disclaimer: You know the deal, but I guess I still have to say it anyway: Eureka isn't mine.
"Carter!"
Jack could feel his eyebrows reach for the sky as his former deputy bore down on him with all the single-minded intensity of a charging bull. Her pretty face was set, her knee-length coat flapping wildly around her churning legs, her usual neat ponytail swinging behind her like an out-of-control metronome.
He noticed that she didn't bother to spare a glance at the festive decorations draped across almost every shop lining Eureka's main drag. Nor did she stop to admire the stunning twenty-foot high Christmas tree that stood at its place of honor in the large grassy clearing next to Archmides' bronze statue. It was quite possibly because the thousands of tiny multi-colored lights that turned it from the mundane into the magical had yet to be lit; but he was pretty sure it had more to do with her full-blown concentration on him at the moment. Which was pretty damn unnerving, he had to admit.
If he didn't already know her, he'd probably be weighing the pros and cons of trying to make a break for it.
As it was, he flashed his most winning smile, hoping the friendly gesture would blunt whatever bad news was surely coming his way. He pulled his hand out of his pants pocket and gave her a small wave. "Hey, Jo."
She stopped on a dime in front of him, one hand waving away his greeting impatiently as she glared at him. "Here," she fairly growled, snatching his hand out of the air and slapping her palm face down on top of his.
Trying not to wince at the stinging contact, he marveled for about the millionth time how much stronger she was then she looked. Jo Lupo couldn't be more than average height and weight, but he'd be willing to bet his next paycheck that she could probably take down half the guys he'd known while he'd been in the Marshal's Service.
Along with a few professional wrestlers.
When she didn't immediately remove her hand, he glanced down and could just see the glossy, scalloped edge of red paper peeking from between her leather-gloved fingers.
"What's this?" he questioned, his interest instantly piqued.
"Your Christmas present," she replied, finally sliding her hand away to reveal the prize beneath.
The large smile that had started to blossom stalled in confusion on his lips as Jack's eyes zeroed in on the object lying benignly on his palm. The "gift" was a ticket for Eureka's Holiday Festival; the very same festival he was currently patrolling. The cheerful-looking piece of paper was a little smaller than a dollar-bill, decorated with red and white candy-cane stripes and a solid red border. Embossed, stylized letters were written with a flourish in large green font across the front: 1st Annual Eureka Holiday Festival.
His gaze darted back up to the younger woman's smirking face. "Um…thanks?"
She sighed, her self-satisfied expression giving way to one of exasperation when she realized that his reaction was far less ebullient than she thought it should be. "Do you even know what that represents?"
"Should I?"
Rolling her eyes, Jo shook her head, grabbed his upper arm and hauled him away from the curb with superhuman strength. She navigated the crowded sidewalk expertly, weaving and dodging bundled, laughing bodies until she'd managed to secure a relatively private spot in the deserted alcove of a shuttered storefront.
Once they were situated to her liking, she shoved her hands deep into her coat pockets and gazed up at him expectantly. When he only stared back at her blankly, she blinked and shook her head again.
Balefully eyeing the starched length of his tan uniform—almost as if she questioned his official status as a trained investigator—she retorted, "Jeez, Carter, you really are clueless sometimes."
He lifted his shoulders in a bewildered shrug. "What?"
"You really don't know, do you?" She was peering at him closely, her eyes narrowing as she searched his face.
Jack shook his head, his eyebrows dipping toward each other in a frown. "No, Jo, I really don't. What's going on?" He paused as unwelcome thoughts of world-ending experiments gone wrong assailed him. "Do I even wanna know?"
For the first time since her approach, a small smile, mysterious and impish, lifted her lips. "Oh, you want to know, all right."
"Okay, I'll bite," Jack said slowly, not quite sure if he agreed with her. "Tell me."
He watched her carefully, looking for any hint of what she was currently thinking and finding none. He could feel wary furrows wrinkle his brow as she took her sweet time answering him.
Defensively folding his arms across his chest, he decided that he wasn't quite sure how he felt about this iteration of his friend. Scary strong Jo he could handle. That was expected. Normal. Super secret, cryptic Jo, however, made him a little nervous. Not that he'd ever admit it to her, he thought as she flashed him a bemused smirk. Like she knew exactly what he was thinking and found the idea highly amusing.
After another few seconds that felt far longer, she turned to face the street once more, nodding her head in the direction of the cordoned-off intersection located about fifty yards away. "See that booth?" she asked. "The one sitting in between the stand selling Christmas tree ornaments and the one selling Vincent's homemade gingerbread houses?"
Jack followed her line of sight, his gaze settling on a booth about the height and width of a small backyard shed. It was festooned with small white lights and ropes of green garland. The entire bottom half of the wooden structure was wrapped in red and green foil paper, doing a very impressive job of making it look like a large, enticing present.
Directly above the booth, a large sign shaped like a Christmas tree ornament declared, "Kisses Fresh from the North Pole" written in bold glittery-white paint against a red backdrop.
He'd seen the kissing booth in passing as he'd done a security walkthrough with Fargo earlier that morning. He hadn't paid it too much attention then, and didn't see what was so special about it now.
Jack nodded as his gaze slid back to Jo. "Yeah, I see it." He shrugged and waited for the punch line. Surely there had to be one buried in this strange conversation somewhere.
Turning back to him, Jo flashed him that self-satisfied smirk again before continuing, "Dr. Patel was supposed to man the booth for the late-afternoon session, but she had a breakthrough with one of her experiments and had to back out at the last minute."
Jack barely managed to stop himself from rolling his eyes. Sounded just like one of the eggheads at G.D. to forgo having a little holiday fun—or any fun for that matter—in order to babysit one of their crazy, potentially life-threatening experiments.
"Go on," he prodded impatiently. He'd resolved to let her enjoy her moment of endearing, bratty little sister amusement, but his curiosity was starting to get the better of him.
"Fargo needed a replacement, so…" she rocked forward on her low-heeled boots and grinned at him with a devilish twinkle in her hazel eyes. "He asked Allison to fill in, and she agreed. That, my oblivious friend," she pointed once again to the ticket still lying so innocently across his palm, "is a ticket to paradise."
Her pronouncement threw him completely for a loop. Jack's mouth opened and then immediately snapped closed again as his mind began the slow process of attempting to wade through that startling bit of information. Allison hadn't mentioned that she was going to do a stint in the kissing booth. But then again, he hadn't really had a chance to trade more than two sentences with her today given the non-stop preparations for the opening of the town's first ever holiday festival.
He wasn't quite sure what to say or even how to outwardly react. Inside, he was a mass of roiling emotion, his stomach lurching from beneath him in a wild free fall that left him reeling. But he wasn't about to put that on display for the whole world to see.
And though he was fully aware that everyone in town knew exactly how he felt about Allison—possibly with the ironic exception of the very object of his desire—he still felt the need to protect the feelings that he'd harbored in private for so long.
He forced a smile, although really, it wasn't much of a struggle. The thought of kissing Allison again—something he hadn't had the good fortune of doing since their return from their ill-fated time travel mishap—made him feel immeasurably giddy inside.
Through sheer force of will, however, he managed to wrangle what would have been a face-splitting grin into something much less embarrassing.
And way less revealing.
"Thanks, Jo," he said sincerely, placing the ticket in his jacket pocket with care. He was still trying to get over the shock of what it was, what it represented and what exactly it was he was going to do with it, but in the meantime, the last thing he wanted to do was lose track of it.
Just in case.
Besides…he valued his life, and he knew Jo would kill him if he lost it.
Her answering shrug was modest, but she didn't even try to hide her smug smile. "Well, it's not like you'd have ever bought one for yourself. And the proceeds of all ticket sales go to charity. So…you know…" She shrugged again, her shoulders quickly rising and falling beneath the rich black wool of her coat. "Two birds, one stone."
"You're nothing if not practical, Josephina," he joked, attempting to lighten a mood that while not necessarily uncomfortable was definitely a little…awkward.
She pretended to glower at him. "That's one, Carter," she said, lifting her hand and holding up an index finger. "You've got two more. And that's only because I like you."
He grinned, and returning the gesture with a smaller version of her own, she turned away and ducked back out onto the sidewalk.
"Jo," Jack called out to her before she could take more than a few steps.
Shiny black hair glinting in the fading afternoon sunlight, she stopped and turned back to him, stepping deftly to one side to avoid the steady stream of strolling festival-goers. Her dark, arched brows were raised high in question.
"Is Zane doing a shift?" He didn't elaborate, nor did he need to. Jo knew exactly what he was driving at.
He could barely hear her quiet chuckle as she shook her head. "Nope. He volunteered for a double, but Fargo vetoed it."
Jack had to smile at that, though he couldn't help asking, "Would you have bought a ticket if he was?"
She stayed silent for so long that he began to wonder if she was going to answer him. But finally, she replied, "Zane and I are supposed to hate each other. Remember?"
Her voice was strong and clear, her tone matter-of-fact, but there was no mistaking the sad expression that had stolen over her features. Jack was suddenly sorry that he'd brought the younger man into the conversation. He of all people knew the sting of unrequited love. Or in Jo's case, a love that had never even existed.
At least not in this timeline.
"I'm sorry—I shouldn't have said anything."
"Don't worry about it," Jo said, hunching her shoulders against the slight chill that had snuck up on them in the last few minutes. "And the answer to your question is…I honestly don't know. But what matters today…right now…"—she tilted her head toward his pocket and the ticket that was nestled safely inside—"is that you don't have to worry about never knowing the answer to that question."
"You make it all sound so damn easy."
"And you make everything way too damn hard, Carter."
That shut him up.
He had no ready answer for that sound piece of wisdom, no flippant comeback to serve up as a deflection in lieu of a real response. So he opted to remain silent, choosing instead to simply nod his understanding.
He got what she was saying. He got it, and mostly, he agreed.
But if Jack had learned one thing since he'd crashed headlong into the insanity that was Eureka, it was that life was rarely that easy.
Especially his.
Especially when it came to Allison Blake.
A/N: I envision this to be a short story...maybe two or three chapters. Based on the theme, I want to get it done before the holidays are over. ;)