As nearly all of my stories this one takes also place right after is a Jo/Zane-fic dedicated to the upcoming Christmas episode and how I hope it will work out … I hope you guys enjoy it.
And of course thanks to all for reading my stories and reviewing them. And also –again- special thanks to Rya for all the corrections. :o) And now, enjoy reading it. I hope you'll like it!
Christmas time was coming up and everyone was already in the right mood for it. Every one besides Zane & Jo.
Zane stood in his kitchen starring on his mobile. He wasn't sure if he should call her or not. She was everything he could think about after that kiss. This was something he dreamt of since he arrived in Eureka. He asked her out tons of times but she always denied it and now there was his chance and he was not going to miss it. He dialed Jo's number and it rang.
"C'mon Jo. Just pick up." He was nervous but he knew that they had to talk. She turned him off but the last thing he wanted was leaving a message on her mailbox. He switched off his mobile, went to the freezer and put out some rocky road ice-cream. He took a spoon and went over to the couch in his living-room.
"Fine. If you keep on avoiding me, I can do the same. I won't run after you anymore." He knew that it was a lie but he needed to relax and switched on his TV. He tried to clear his thoughts 'cause everything he could think about was her and this awesome kiss they shared. He had no idea why but it felt familiar. She knew exactly how to respond and he knew that this wasn't their first kiss. He zapped through the TV shows the rest of the night. He couldn't sleep any way so he decided to stay awake watching TV and eating ice-cream.
Jo sat on Carter's couch in the living-room watching one of her favorite soaps when her phone rang it she discovered Zane's name on the display. She turned it off. The last thing she wanted to do was talking to him. Even though she knew that she couldn't avoid him for the rest of their lives, she knew that she needed to delay it as long as she could. What should she tell him? How should she explain this kiss? These and a lot of more questions ran through her head and whatever she did she couldn't stop thinking about it.
"Hey Jo, want a beer?" Carter came up from the kitchen with two beers in each hand handing her one over.
"What if I say no? Will you drink both?" Jo smiled.
"I could." Jo took one and Carter placed himself next to her.
"So, any plans or Christmas yet?" Carter asked her while trying to watch a soap with her.
"Oh yes, I will stay here drinking beer and watching all of my favorite soaps."
"Could be worse."
"Really?" Jo looked over to Carter and he added at her with a smirk: "Yes, I could throw Zane in jail and ask you to look after him while I enjoy Christmas with Allison."
"Oh yeah thanks Carter, that helps a lot." Jo turned back to the TV trying not to think too much about it.
"Still that bad, huh?" Carter asked.
"Yes."
"So these glimpses that you caught couple of weeks ago are gone? Completely?"
"Worse. They are there. More present than I ever thought." Jo sighed and Carter looked at her in a happy way.
"But that's good, isn't it? I mean, you still love him, don't you?"
"He kissed me and … I kissed him back." Jo said still looking the direction of the TV. Carter caught her sad gaze and didn't understand what had happened but if Jo was kissed by the man she loved she should be damn happy especially because it is months ago that she was able to.
"Not good?" Carter asked confused.
"Worse. Zane knows that something's wrong with the five of us and maybe that we changed the present." Jo turned to Carter and their eyes met. Jo cleared her throat and Carter could see her having tears in her eyes "He knows that we meant something to each other because I threw his grandmother's ring at him after telling him that I was romanticizing our relationship the whole and if he would go on seeing Zoe he could go ahead because I'm done with it."
"Oh Jo, no."
"Yes!" Jo emptied the full bottle of beer. "I guess I need something stronger than that, Carter!"
The next day Jo kept avoiding Zane and for her luck she hadn't had to face him for the whole day even though he tried hard to get her but being one step behind her he failed. Jo was busy with the security updates which needed to be done before the Christmas party started. The tree was built up and it smelled like cinnamon. This was Fargo's idea to stimulate the celebrating feelings. Jo was annoyed by his overwhelming good mood and tried to spend as much time as she could in her office. When she heard a familiar voice screaming through the floor she stood up from her chair and went to the door. Actually she thought that this timeline couldn't get any worse right now but maybe she was wrong.
"Jo. Beautiful. I really missed you." Taggart went over when he saw he to give her a huge, tight hug.
"Tag!" She tried to play along but had no idea what to think about that. She didn't know if they were still together in this timeline or anything else or whatever had happened between them.
"What? You look like you've seen a ghost, my dear."
"No, … Tag, good to see you." Jo cleared her throat.
"Is everything alright with you?"
"Yes, why not!" She tried to behave as normal as she could in this awkward situation.
"Great. I've already asked the others if they'll come up to Café Diem tonight for a drink or two to celebrate that I am back. Wanna come?"
"Yes, sure."
"Great!" Taggart said and left again for work. Jo stood in the middle of the floor surprised by this reunion but quickly stepped back into her office when she saw Zane entering the floor on the other side.
Jo entered Café Diem and saw Taggart sitting in the corner and telling one of his adventurous stories to some younger scientists of Eureka including Fargo who was always fascinated by his stories.
"Ah Jo, come over to us." Carter yelled from a table in another corner of the café. He sat there with Allison, Henry and Grace and Jo went over to meet them. She sat down and looked over to Taggart.
"So, what about you and Taggart?" Carter asked.
"I have no idea. Could this get any worse?" Jo asked and as her left word was outspoken Allison pointed to the door.
"Maybe it could, Jo. Look." She said and Jo turned around. Zane stood in the door watching over to her.
"Oh no, please."
"Jo, you don't have to talk to him." Allison said tried to calm Jo down.
"Yes, I have to. But I wish I had some drinks before doing it." Jo sighed and watched over to Carter who nodded. "You can do it, Jo. I know it."
"Jo, you and Zane had something awesome. Think of that before doing any mistakes." Allison said and Jo gave her a confused look.
"I had to tell her about … you and Zane." Carter admitted. Allison looked over to Zane who stood still in the door. Then he walked over to an empty table on the window side of the café. Jo turned around. She remembered her and Zane always sitting on that table together when they decided to have dinner.
"Jo." Allison took her hand which lay on the table and she looked at her "You and Zane are supposed to be together. You two were together and he does have feelings for you in this timeline, too. He kissed you."
"This doesn't mean that he has feelings for me."
"Jo. Try to believe in his good side. He is still your Zane." Allison said in a calm voice.
"No, he is definitely NOT MY Zane. He is completely different."
"Actually he is" Henry added. "Everyone is still the same in this Eureka but they seem to be a bit different in their behaviors because of their different knowledge and experiences they made. Even Zane is still the one you fell in love with."
"No, he is completely different. My Zane was nice, he helped people while this ONE …"
"Jo, calm down. All we want is the best for you." Carter said.
"Jo, the reason why the Zane you used to love acted the way he did was because of you. Remember when he first came to Eureka? You thought of him the same way you do for THIS Zane now." Allison started to explain.
"You even wanted to shoot him." Carter added.
"Just … winging him." Jo corrected.
"No matter what. He was a felon when he came to Eureka but he changed into a good man because of you, Jo. If you wouldn't have been he wouldn't turn out like he did. This is the best example for how he is supposed to be when you are not with him." Allison said nodding over to Zane.
Jo had to think about something her Zane said to her on the proposing 'You already made an honest man of me.' Could it really be her? Was she the reason why he changed?
When she decided to go over to him to talk with him about what had happened he already stood behind her.
"Jo, mind if we have a talk?" Zane asked nervously. Jo got up and passed him "I can't sorry." She tried to get out of Café Diem but he ran after her and grabbed her arm to pull her around. She froze by his near can't get her eyes off of him.
"Please, Jo. We need to talk." Zane said looking deep in her eyes where he found the same sad look she always had when seeing him. "You owe me that!"
"I owe you nothing." Jo responded and when she tried to get off of him he held her tight and she could feel his breath.
"We are standing under mistletoe." Zane whispered and his lips got closer to hers when both closed their eyes and kissed. They whole Café Diem watched over to them when they deepened the kiss. No one ever expected seeing that. Jo and Zane kissing in this timeline was something impossible. They hated each other and always fought and especially Vincent's jaw fell on his counter when he saw the two of them standing in the door way under mistletoe kissing.
Carter and Allison looked at each other. "I knew that they are meant for each other.
"Not just you, my dear." Carter added.
"What's that?" Fargo ran over, sat down on the empty chair and yelled while pointing at them.
"Well Fargo, if two people really like each other …"
"I know that Carter. But what now? What if she tells him what had happened? We can't risk it!" Fargo said angrily.
"I think we can trust Zane." Allison said and watched in the round.
"It seems that he really loves her and if so he would never do anything to hurt her." Grace said and looked over to them with a smile "And besides, she deserves some happiness. Don't you think so, Fargo?"
"And no one told him anything by now. And if Jo decides that we can trust him, we should trust her." Henry added and the rest agreed. Besides Fargo.
After a couple of minutes Jo and Zane lowered the kiss and starred at each other.
"OK how about one of my special Christmas drinks now?" Vincent went over to them with two bottles of his new mix and hand them over to the two leading them over to the counter. The rest of the group went over to them to cheer up with a glass of Vincent's special and to pre-celebrate Christmas.
Jo could see that Zane felt really uncomfortable in the group. He stood next to her and tried to keep his smile but this was an awkward situation for him and he had no idea how to handle it. The door opened and cold shower ran down his back "Zane!" Zoe said happily giving him a hug. Everybody in this room knew what had happened between Jo and Zane just a couple of minutes ago and now Zoe came up. The girl of whom everyone thought he was dating. She hugged him and placed herself between Zane and Jo.
"What's wrong? Do I have anything between my teeth or why are you all looking at me?" Zoe questioned and everyone felt disappointed. Even though they were all happy for Jo, they knew that one of them will get hurt right now. He couldn't go along with both of them.
"Zane?" Zoe recognized that something had happened. She was a smart girl and all the others behaved definitely weird.
"Look Zoe …" Jo tried to explain.
"Zoe we should go." Carter said but was interrupted by Zane "No Carter." He stopped Carter from doing any action and took Zoe's hand and leaded her a few steps away from the group to the back of Café Diem.
"Zoe, we need to talk."
"OK Zane, what's going on here?"
"I don't feel the same for you as you do for me."
"What?" Zoe looked confused. "Zane I thought you and me …"
"That's the point. Zoe I really like you. You are a very close friend and I like hanging around with you. But … there is no 'you and me'." Zoe's eyes got wet and she tried not to cry. She always tried to be grown up for Zane.
"If it's because of my dad …"
"No, Zoe."
"Because of the age differences …"
"No. What I'm trying to say is that I don't have these kinds of feelings for you. I want us to be friends and I am sorry if I hurt you."
Zoe passed him not saying a word and the first tears started to crawl down her cheek. She passed the group and Jo tried to grab her arm and ran after her "Zoe, I'm sorry, we didn't meant to hurt you."
"What?" Zoe turned around facing Jo "You didn't mean to hurt me?" She got confused but realized what had happened. "You and Zane?" Jo was shocked. She thought Zane told her the whole truth which included her and him but it seems he didn't. Zoe looked over to her Dad "And you knew that?"
"Oh Zoe, no … I …" Carter tried to explain but wasn't able to as Zoe interrupted him immediately.
"NO. Dad. I don't want any explanation. From no one of you." She turned around and left Café Diem.
"Maybe you should first let her calm down. She won't talk to you anyway." Allison said to Carter. She knew that he was sad and angry with himself but he couldn't do anything right now. Zane passed the group "I should go now." He grabbed his jacket and left Jo and the rest of them behind.