TITLE: If
Summary: "If I stay in Eureka." Jo felt a brief flash of blinding panic at the thought.
If I stay in Eureka.
Jo felt a brief flash of blinding panic at the thought. But he wouldn't leave, not now anyways. Not when he had an all but guaranteed spot on the Astraeus Mission. But after that…who knew what would happen.
"What's going on in there?" Zane asked, breaking her out of her rather depressing train of thoughts.
"Oh. Grace asked Henry to marry her," Jo said, glancing back at her friends wistfully. It still hurt when she thought about her own wedding that she would have been planning had it not been for Founder's Day.
"Sorry," Zane said.
"You're sorry they're getting married or renewing their vows or whatever they'll call it?" Jo asked, perplexed.
"No. That's actually pretty awesome. I meant sorry you're not planning yours."
"It's fine, doesn't matter," Jo said and looked away.
Zane was quiet for a moment and then said, "You know I'm not going anywhere, right?" Jo didn't answer and Zane edged closer to her, his hand sliding next to hers. "I'm not going to leave. I've got things here."
"Like the Astraeus mission," Jo said.
"And other things," Zane said, his pinkie moving to play with hers. "Besides, Henry got me thinking about the mechanics of certain activities in zero g."
"Oh come on," Jo said in exasperation. Of course he would turn it into a joke. And she really didn't want to know how Henry figured into it all. She turned and started to head back into Café Diem.
Zane grabbed her arm – again and boy, was she getting tired of that move – to pull her back to him. He reached up to cradle the back of her head and said without a trace of mirth in his eyes, "I'm not going anywhere, Jojo, because everything that I want is right here." He kissed her softly and sweetly. Her arms came up to curl around his neck and he pulled back but stayed close. "We are going to space together, Josephina Lupo. And somewhere down the line you will get to plan your wedding. But just not…not yet. I just need a little more time. And after six months on a spaceship you might not want to marry me anyways."
He kissed her again just as soft and sweet. She was pretty sure she was trembling from what he had said and because on the new timeline he hadn't kissed her like this if they weren't already naked and sweaty.
Zoe had asked if she loved him. And here and now under the moon her heart felt full to bursting.
He pulled back again and said, "Come home with me?"
"I'm tired. I had to beat up my own security team before breakfast – which I never got, then I was forced to take a test in my pajamas, Larry trapped me in an isolation chamber with Fargo, Parrish, Dr. Martin, and you, and your little robot things almost killed us because supersonic waves or whatever fried them. I want sleep."
"That's okay too," Zane said. "Sleep is fine."
Jo sighed, "Okay."
Zane kissed her once more before they walked away hand in hand.