At home, Jo threw clothes into a suitcase. She pulled a couple of books off the shelf and tossed them in, too. Zane thought he had the upper hand; well, she wasn't going to let him think that for very long. There was a knock at the door. He's early, she thought, and opened it to reveal Vincent and a pile of bags. "Hey, Jo, where do you want all this food?"
She opened her mouth, closed it, and sighed. "Put it in the trunk, Vince."
"Oh! Going away on a trip, are we?" Vincent elbowed her and grinned.
"You could say that." She popped the trunk on her car and started loading the bags. She heard Zane's motorcycle pull up. Vincent dropped the bag he was holding and picked it up again quickly to cover his surprise.
"Hey, Vince, that was fast." Zane walked up with his helmet under his arm.
Vincent stood up and smiled at the taller man. "I never expected to see you here, Zane. Are the two of you… going on a business trip?" Vincent was practically exploding with curiosity.
"You could say that. " Zane smiled. He looked over at Jo. "I'll help Vince with this so you can finish packing."
"I'm done," she said curtly and walked back into the house. She zipped up her suitcase and carried it out to the car. She opened the rear door and dropped it on the seat. Jo turned back to Zane. "Am I following you?"
He nodded and turned to Vincent. "Thanks again, Vince, your service is amazing as usual."
Vincent smiled hugely. "My pleasure. Bye, Zane, Jo." He got back into his car and drove away.
Zane turned to Jo, looking sheepish all of a sudden. Then he shook his head. "Let's go."
Jo started her car and followed Zane out of town. She was glad that they didn't have to go through the main part of town. It was bad enough that Vincent knew; having to deal with everyone staring at her would be a million times worse and she would probably lose her nerve. The road started to wind through the forest once they'd passed the last houses. She thought about Lojack and how they used to watch for him out here, but in this timeline, Taggart had taken him when he left for the Arctic.
They drove for about an hour. Jo tried to listen to music, but nothing good was on and she hadn't brought her mp3 player due to the "no tech" rule. She gripped the steering wheel tightly and scanned the road ahead. Finally, Zane turned down a long dirt road. It was surprisingly smooth, but then if Zane drove here all the time on a motorcycle, she could see why he didn't want ruts in the road. Finally, the trees opened up into a clearing and she saw the cabin. It was a one story building painted brown with blue trim. Zane dismounted and ran up the steps. He beckoned to Jo as he opened the door. Jo turned off the engine and opened the door.
The air was crisp, colder than it was in Eureka, and smelled of pine. She stepped out of the car and looked around. There was a lake behind the house a little ways and the house was surrounded by pine, cedar, and fir trees. She hugged her arms to her body; Eureka had full climate control and it was at least 15 degrees warmer there. She'd forgotten that it was really fall out here. Jo walked up to the house and climbed the steps. Zane was kindling a fire in the living room fireplace. She watched him for a minute. She'd never seen her Zane do anything like this. Before he could turn around and look at her, she moved off to explore the house. There were two bedrooms on one side and a master on the other; it looked like Zane had claimed that for himself. She peered into the bathrooms; they looked reasonably clean. The kitchen had a gas stove and oven. No microwave, but there was a coffeemaker. There was a tiny table in a nook with a bay window that looked out on the lake.
"What do you think?" Zane walked up behind her.
"It's not what I expected." Jo rubbed her arms. "I figured you would have some kind of high tech paradise with a 1000 inch tv and robot servants."
Zane chuckled. "That's more Fargo's style. Give me your keys so I can start getting our stuff in."
Jo turned and walked towards the door. "We can get our stuff in." He had her off balance; it was time for her to regain some control. Zane shrugged and followed her. Jo pressed the trunk button and grabbed her suitcase out of the back seat. She carried it in the room with the queen size bed, opened it, and took out a sweater. She walked back outside, pulling the sweater over her head. Zane passed her with loaded arms. Jo shook her head and picked up another half dozen bags.
A few minutes later, Jo was unpacking while Zane put the groceries away. It was getting warmer in the house but she kept the sweater on. She sat down on the bed; it was pretty comfortable. There were extra linens and blankets in the closet so she was sure to be warm at night. She got up and put the last of her unmentionables away in the drawer. Then she smelled coffee. "Oh, thank god," she said and walked out through the living room into the kitchen.
Zane had mugs, cream, sugar, and sweetener out. She picked up a mug, dumped a few spoons of sugar and splashed some cream in, and then poured in the coffee. She sat down in the nook and stared out at the sunset. Zane sat down across from her, coffee in hand. They sipped in silence for a few minutes. He put down his mug. "You know, I came here on vacation as a kid. I bought this place for the nostalgia and so I could get away from Eureka and all that comes with it." He looked at her; she drank her coffee. "So, are we going to talk about this?"
"No."
"No? You can't say no. That's why you're here. To talk about what happened."
Jo put down her coffee and folded her arms. "I can say no. You said I had to come here to save everyone from eternal blackmail. You didn't say I had to talk or even be civil to you."
Zane looked angry and confused. Jo suppressed a smile. She got up, got more coffee, and sat down on the couch in front of the fire. Zane sat at the table, silently controlling his temper. "Okay," he said from where he sat, "I get that you're mad about the blackmail bit. But I didn't know what else to do. You ran from me every time I tried to talk to you."
"So this is my fault?" Jo was starting to lose her temper now.
"No, that's not what I meant." Zane sighed and rubbed his forehead. "Maybe I should shut up now before I make things worse than they are."
"That's probably a good idea." Jo stared at the fire. It had been a weird day, even by Eureka standards. This Zane was even more different than she'd imagined, unless there were a lot of things she hadn't known about her Zane, too. At this point, she shouldn't be surprised. She yawned. Two cups of coffee and she was still tired. She stood up. "Is there hot water?" Zane looked up at her questioningly. "For a shower. I need a shower. Is there hot water?"
"Uh, yeah. There's hot water."
"Okay." Jo got up and walked back to her room to get pajamas and then walked into the bathroom. She opened the closet to find big, fluffy towels. Looks like Zane had been planning this for a while, she thought, remembering the fresh linens in her room. She didn't know whether to be angry or amused. She decided to be neither and turned on the shower. In a few seconds, steam started to cloud the mirror. He's got an efficient plumbing system, she mused as she tested the water. She undressed quickly and sighed with pleasure as the hot water pounded her skin.
Half an hour later, she was combing her hair in front of the fire. Zane had retreated into his room and showed no signs of coming out. Jo walked into the kitchen and opened the refrigerator. She smiled at the sight of Zane's favorite snack, olives stuffed with bleu cheese. Some things were the same. A little behind them, she could see wrapped sandwiches. She pulled out the closest one and a bottle of water and sat down at the table to eat. She gasped when she looked out the window. The sky was full of stars. Even Eureka had too much ambient light to see this much. She ate and marveled at the beauty right outside. If Zane felt as moved as she did at the sight, it was no wonder he had bought this cabin out in the middle of nowhere.
She didn't know how long she sat there, but she could tell that she was drifting. Sleep was still escaping her these days and she never stopped feeling tired. She finally got up and shuffled off to bed.