Rifiuto: Non Miriena
A/N: Yes, this is all third person point of view, mainly focused on Jenna.
Her parents shared surprised looks, before Jack asked, "Don't you remember them, Jenna?" She bit her lip.
"No. Not really. Well... I... I have... very vague memories of them." Allison nodded. She opened her mouth, but her cell rang, cutting her off. After scanning the text message, she looked up.
"I'm sorry girls, but we've got to get going. Henry needs us back at GD. We'll see you both for dinner?" The two nodded, and after quick hugs and kisses, they rushed off. Once their parents were gone, Jenna got up, nodding for her sister to follow her. They headed through the park, passing by Memorial Gardens and going towards the church.
"Why are we here again, Jen?" Joey asked, watching her sister make her way towards two small plots. Jenna ignored her. She pulled a small teddy bear from her bag, then knelt between the two stones and set it between them. "Um... Jen... Ah... I have to get back... I have... I have to go... I... I'll see you at home?" When she didn't reply, the younger woman left, hurrying from the cemetery. Jenna didn't try to stop her. She knew that Joey hated cemteries, that they scared her. She didn't blame her...
But Jenna wasn't scared. In fact, she enjoyed her visits to the cemetery- it was the only time she got to see her aunt and uncle. As she knelt down, she caught sight of the many trinkets and things left at their graves. One message- written on a rolled up piece of paper near Jo's marker- caught her eye, and she knelt down, picking it up.
You truly are Eureka's guardian. Rest in Peace, sweet guardian angel.
She sat on the ground, between the two plots, the piece of paper in her hands, tears flooding her eyes.
Jenna Stark had been highly affected by both Jo's death and Zane's. She'd practically witnessed Zane's- at nearly eight-years-old, she'd followed him to the town line, and had heard, rather than seen, the crash that had killed her beloved Uncle. Zane had lost his life in an accident three years after Jo's death- most in Eureka thought it was a planned suicide, and even Jenna couldn't blame him if he had. She remembered the lost look on his face, the pain whenever anyone mentioned Jo, and refused to speak about her.
Until the day he died.
She closed her eyes, that day all too clearly coming back.
She'd rushed out to him, throwing her arms around him, begging him to take her with him, and he'd pulled her onto his lap, wrapping her in a hug. He'd told her softly why she couldn't come and before he set her back on her feet, he'd whispered something that even now, made her blood run cold.
"Auntie Jo will be so proud when I tell her that you want to be in law enforcement."
Back then, the statement had only confused her, but now, she knew what he'd meant, what he'd been planning. Zane hadn't wanted to live without Jo- she'd even gone so far as to joke about him swearing off women for the rest of his days if she ever passed away. While she had once joked about it, Zane then took it seriously when she did die. Jenna knew, that after her death, he never looked at another woman- at least not the way he'd looked at Jo.
Except her.
Zane loved Jo, and he loved Jenna too, and told the child how, if Jo had lived, they'd have had children who were as sweet as her. She knew that Zane considered her as his niece, even introducing her to his mom one Christmas. Tessa, of course, had been thrilled that Zane was watching out for the child Jo had loved so, and she'd complimented Carter and Allison, thanking them for letting Zane dote on Jenna, now that Jo was gone. The child took his thoughts away from the woman he loved being gone, if only for a little while.
Now, she curled up on the ground, in between the stones, sobbing. Twenty-one years had passed since Jo died in that FTL explosion down in Section Five. Eighteen since Zane's accident had taken his life.
And all she wanted, was her aunt and uncle back.
"Jack, did Jenna seem... off to you?" The sheriff turned to his wife, sighing.
"Something wrong with Jenna?" Henry asked, from his desk. Carter moved away from the window.
"She... wanted to know about Jo and Zane." He replied.
"More than that. She's in the cemetery, sitting there, staring at their stones." The three turned to see Joey enter, tugging her jacket close.
"I thought we left you at-"
"You did, Mom, but... we walked to the cemetery, and... I got creeped out and left. I hate cemeteries. Although, I think if Jen could, she'd live there. Just... beside Aunt Jo and Uncle Zane. And be perfectly happy." She shivered. "My sister is fracked up."
"Josefina Charlotte!" The younger woman flinched. She crossed a line whenever her full name was used, and she knew it.
Jenna always called her lucky- "You have Auntie Jo's name. You're named after her. Do you know how lucky you are?", to which she'd replied that, "It's not lucky! It's a curse!"- because she was the namesake. Allison and Carter had seen it as a fitting tribute to their deceased friend. Jenna was jealous, and the child in question hated it. Her parents unwilling to call her Jo- too many painful memories would be brought up, Carter had once said- so they called her Joey, instead. It was a nickname everyone in Eureka adopted.
There was only one Jo, and there always would be.
"I'm sorry, Mom, but she is! I'm worried about her! When we were walking to the cemetery, she said something about traveling... in time to... meet them or... something... I don't know! But I'm worried!"
Henry glanced from the girl to her parents, the old worry about time travel flashing before his eyes. "Maybe we'd better keep Jen under observation. Or at least... talk to her."