Disclaimer: I don't own the characters of Eureka or the show….though I do love it and would love to live there.
Summary: Spoilers for "O Little Town". Set post-episode. Jo gets her own Secret Santa gift – something of a Christmas miracle.
Jo slammed the door of her SUV and stomped her way through the ankle deep snow to the main doors of Global Dynamics. Her breath came out in frozen puffs in the still cold air as she made her way up the stairs. Fargo was a dead man. Fargo and whatever idiot scientist had triggered the alarm at 4 am in the morning. For crying out loud, the entire town had been shrunk and then unshrunk only yesterday. Was it too much to ask for one day of peace on earth? Or at least peace and quiet in Eureka? It was Christmas after all.
She swiped her pass card and paused impatiently for the retinal scanner. The alarm bleeped softly as the doors unlocked. She wrenched them open and stomped inside. The interior of the building was dark with the exception of the soft light glowing from the cluster of tall Christmas trees left over from the party the day before. She toggled the switch on her radio with a low growl as she made her way across the dark floor of the lobby. "Carter, this is Lupo, over."
The radio crackled softly and then Carter's voice came through. "Hey, Jo. I think I may have located the source of the alarm. Looks like it was triggered in the communications room on level 2. You'd better come check this out."
Jo sighed heavily and made her way to the nearest elevator. "On my way." She swiped her card and stepped inside, reaching over to slap the button for sub level 2. She leaned her head back against the cool metal walls and closed her eyes. It was her first day off since taking over security at GD. First day since the timeline fiasco. All she wanted to do was to sleep the day away and forget that she was spending it alone. Her brothers were spread across the world doing who knew what, who knew where, and Zane…..well Zane, despite his momentary lapse of cockiness at the party the night before, was still less her Zane and more a stranger than ever.
The ache that had finally faded to a tolerable and nearly ignorable level had returned in full force when she had come to the realization that this would have been their first Christmas together in her own timeline. The momentary burst of Christmas cheer she had felt yesterday while watching everyone open their gifts had been dulled by the cold reality that had confronted her when she left the warmth of Café Diem and returned to her silent house. All she wanted to do right now was first to determine the reason she had been drug out of her warm bed at 4 am and second to lock Fargo in a padded room somewhere and throw away the key if he were involved….or maybe even if he wasn't involved. After all it was only a matter of time before he found another button to push or gadget to fool with.
Jo slipped through the elevator doors before they had even finished opening and made her way down the dimly lit corridor toward the communications room. Light spilled out of the corridor as she approached the open doorway. She placed on hand on her holster as she slowed her pace.
"Carter?" she called out.
When there was no answer, Jo slipped the gun from its holster and moved forward slowly. She edged her way around the frame of the door and slipped into the room. She swept the room with both her eyes and the gun. The room was empty. She straightened slowly as her eyes focused on a brightly colored package sitting in the center of the small conference table. She holstered her gun as she made her way over to the table to check it out.
The box was wrapped in paper similar to the one she had used to wrap her secret santa gifts. A tag hung from the large sliver bow, the words facing outward. It read: To Jo, Merry Christmas, Santa. Jo pulled the box toward her and carefully eased the top from its place. Her nose wrinkled in confusion as the rich sweet smell of Vincent's cinnamon rolls and strong fresh coffee filled the air. A second note rested on top of the cardboard coffee cup inside the box. She flipped it over. It read: Turn around.
Jo spun around to find that the four large screens on the wall behind her had been activated while she had been examining the box. Each featured a grinning face with features much like her own. Tears blurred her vision as she sunk down into the nearest chair.
A cascade of greetings came from the men on the screens along with a variety of smirks and grins she knew so well. She had an inkling of who Santa might be but had no idea how he could have pulled off the ability to find all four of her brothers at the same time.
"Are you going to say something, little sis?" remarked the blue eyed black haired man on the far right screen. "Cause if you aren't this is going to get a little old." He smirked.
Jo grinned at each one in turn. "Merry Christmas, guys. Good to see you."
"Merry Christmas, Joey. Heard you had some excitement yesterday." The man on the far left screen drawled easily as he leaned back in his chair.
Jo settled into her chair and reached back to snag one of the warm cinnamon rolls from the box beside her. She smiled back at her brothers, drinking in each one of their smiling faces in turn. Maybe this Christmas wouldn't be so bad after all.
"You have no idea." She remarked. "You guys wouldn't survive a day in this town…"
Carter smiled as he watched Jo's expression over the security monitors as she relaxed into the conversation with her brothers. It was good to see a bit of the old Jo in her smile. He turned slightly as Allison stepped up beside him. She tucked her arm through his and laid her head on his shoulder as they watched the monitors for a moment longer. "This was a good idea, Santa." She said softly. They watched for a moment longer before she raised her head and slowly pulled him toward the door. "Come on, the kids will be up in an hour and you still have to help me finish assembling a doll house and a tricycle."
Carter wrapped an arm around her with a mix of a groan and a laugh, allowing her to guide him out. He cast one last look at the screens before leaving.
"Merry Christmas, Jo."
Author's note: I didn't know how many brothers she actually had but she is pretty tough and she said 'all' so I gave her four older brothers. This story was inspired by the conversation between Jo and Zoe in "O Little Town" where Jo remarks that her favorite thing had been to watch her brothers open her gifts to them and now her brothers were all in harm's way. Also, if Zoe could figure out that Jo was the Secret Santa then surely Carter could have as well. What better gift could they give her than time with her brothers on Christmas? Other than Zane but I am sure time will take care of that. Merry late Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!