Jo looked down at the child in her arms, her mind racing. To believe that she and Zane had…had…She didn't even dare think about it, the thought was so foreign in her mind. She'd given up hope of them ever even really dating, so sex…was a little far from her thoughts. So preoccupied with her musings, Jo didn't notice Carter was examining them closely.
As much as I know this is a shock to Jo, and Zane, she deserves a bit of happiness in her life right now. It hasn't been easy, with only her and Fargo single in our traveling group and she lost her fiancé, Zane, in the old timeline. Carter scratched at his head again, thinking of all the laws that had probably been broken just by the girl arriving here. They were going to have a lot of work to do with covering this up. Especially from Vincent, Mr. Gossip. They even look like a cute family, Carter thought, watching the two adults react to the situation. While Jo looked stunned and kept glancing down at the girl as if to make sure she was really real, Zane just looked thoughtful, and kept glancing between Jo and the girl, Erin, like he was trying to figure something out. Everyone was startled out of their thoughts though, by the high voice that piped up from Jo's hair.
"Daddy?" Erin peered out from Jo's dark hair, her own hair blending with her mother's.
"Uh, yeah, kiddo?" It took Zane a moment to realize she was talking to him. It was all still so unbelievable. Well, maybe less so, since JoJo and the others had done nearly the same thing.
"I'm hungry." Erin stared plaintively at him over Jo's shoulder, head cocked slightly at an angle as she crossed her arms in front of her, a pose so similar to that of Jo that Zane almost laughed.
"We'll get you something sweetheart." Zane absentmindedly smoothed a hand over her hair, looking at Jo. Raising his eyebrows at her, silently asking, Jo handed Erin to him and he bent back to her ear and whispered "We need to talk, JoJo." And looking back at Carter, he said in a normal tone, "We'll take her to Vincent's then uh, home." Sending Jo a long, meaningful look, Zane turned, with Erin in his arms and started walking back across the rotunda.
Jo sighed, and holding a hand to her forehead, gave Carter a weary look. "See you later, I'm sure," and she turned and left, following Zane.
Jo stepped off the curb and approached her car, her eyes on the figures standing next to it. Zane stood leaning against her blue Subaru with Erin in his arms, and spoke in a childish voice, occasionally poking her nose. She was giggling and smacking him playfully on his shoulder with her small hands. Pausing for a second, and almost missing her next step, Jo watched the two interact and saw the definite relationship between the two. And he looked so natural, playing with his daughter. She really wished that this had all happened the normal way, and that she could have the real family she really wanted with the two people she was currently watching, that were leaning against her car.
Knowing that this was impossible, even with the way that Zane and she were progressing in their relationship, made Jo feel depression creeping on the edges of her conscious. Stumbling once, into the car, she basically announced her presence as Zane's attention instantly switched from his daughter to his girlfriend. His eyes focused on her, his face crinkling into a frown as she got in, albeit somewhat unsteadily. Sliding Erin into the back and buckling her in, Zane got into the car, where both adults just sat for a moment. Zane covered her hand with his on the stick-shift. Lowering his voice so that Erin couldn't hear him from where she was gazing curiously out the window in the back, Zane looked earnestly at Jo as his thumb stroked the top of her hand and said slowly, "Jo, we're going to have to decide what to do with her. She'll have to stay with one of us and a cover story made up for her. Also we're going to have to find out why she's here. I mean, she couldn't have just landed here by accident, I don't think."
Zane watched her a bit anxiously, as he'd seen her watching him and Erin and had seen the longing and some other emotion-had that been sadness? on her face. He had quite excellent peripheral vision.
Jo pulled away and rested her head on her other hand for a moment, sighing. "I'll have her given a genome and dna scan tomorrow, although I'm positive that we're her parents. I mean, it's not like there isn't a resemblance. We will also have to have her run through the network at GD so she can be allowed back in tomorrow." Worrying her bottom lip, Jo ran through thoughts faster than light.
"JoJo, sweetheart, we need to go," interrupted her thoughts. Zane was examining her closely, much more calm than she thought he'd be. "Erin's getting hungry."
"Of course." Jo shook her head to calm herself, and started the car.
EUReKA
Zane was worried at how visibly ruffled Jo was. Checking the backseat which had been quiet for some while, he glanced back at his daughter, his and JoJo's offspring, and instantly felt pride. To know that somehow, he and Lupo had still ended up together and had a lovely daughter to dote on seemed to make their relationship even more important in that moment.
Seeing how out-of-sorts Jo seemed as she pulled up to Café Diem, Zane glanced out at the rain that had restarted on their drive back from GD and got out. "Stay here, I'll get take-out and we can eat at my place." Jo didn't answer but he saw her slump back into her seat as he walked into the café.
Zane ordered for the three of them, remembering back to his days as a kid to determine what to get Erin. Vincent shot him a curious glance as he filled the orders, to which Zane replied to the unasked question, "I've been feeling hungry in the middle of the night recently. Been needing that grilled cheese lately." Nodding, Vincent handed the to-go containers to Zane, still slightly suspicious. Grabbing them, Zane thanked him and left before Vincent could ask too many prying questions.
Jo was in the exact same position as he had left her and he leaned over and kissed her cheek to wake her.
"Do you want me to drive?" he asked in a low voice near her ear. Eyes still shut, she replied.
"No, no I'll be fine, besides it's only a few blocks. We need to get home anyway, I think she's…" here, Jo visibly paused and swallowed, and then continued, "I think she's tired and probably up too late anyway. But first she needs to eat something." Jo started the car again and drove to Zane's house, pulling into his driveway. She parked, and rested against the steering wheel, hunched over.
Zane pulled himself out of the car, making a mental checklist of everything he needed to do to get Jo and Erin settled, as Jo seemed quite tired and overwhelmed with what had happened, and Erin was literally asleep on her feet. Zane gathered her up in one arm and then went around to the other side of Jo's car and opened her door. He leaned against it, watching her as she refused to move. Deciding something, he carried Erin inside and laid her on one side of his bed. Next he picked Jo up, whom having fallen asleep by now, only nuzzled his shirt with her face as he carried her inside. Smiling down at the woman he'd fallen in love with, he set her down gently on the other half of his bed. Going out to Jo's car one last time, he grabbed the food and locked her car up and came inside. Deciding he wasn't hungry anymore, he put the food away in the refrigerator and went to check on his girls one more time. Grabbing his pajama pants and a t-shirt, he stood at the entrance to his room, watching Jo and Erin. While he didn't consider himself an overly sentimental man, seeing his girlfriend and child in his bed left him with an odd feeling of contentment and happiness. Making sure that they were comfortable and covered with blankets, Zane left the room, cracking the door slightly so he could hear if one of them woke up.
Changing in the small bathroom off the kitchen, Zane flipped off the light and walked into his living room. It was a small room, off the back of the house, diagonally across the house from his bedroom, something Zane wasn't sure he liked, what with Jo and Erin in there. Feeling uneasy for some reason, Zane locked his front door and glanced outside. It was still raining, with a vicious wind blowing, probably somewhere around 25 knots.
Throwing a blanket over himself, he fell into a light, restless sleep on his couch. Normally he slept like a rock (not all the time though) but tonight his mind turned to nightmares, specifically ones about his girlfriend and their child.
After the third one, he woke up suddenly at the sound of breaking glass. Instantly alert, though with fear-sweat still covering his face, he could hear the sounds coming from the kitchen and grabbed the closest thing to him, a heavy book that had been laying on his coffee table. Getting up, he started to fear for the girls, regardless of how Jo could kill a man with her bare thumbs, as he could hear the treads receding. Luckily however, when he reached the kitchen and exchanged his book with a knife, the intruder had left the house. However, he still checked on them, unable to pull his sight away from them for long.
It was about four in the morning by the time he dragged himself away from his doorway and tried to get a few hours of sleep before he had to go in to work the next day. Deciding that he would deal with the mess of the vandal the next morning, Zane was worried that if he fell asleep again, the burglar would return. Falling into another light sleep anyway, Zane was able to stay asleep and nothing happened for a few hours.
An incessant beeping noise invaded Zane's not-so-pleasant dreams of him holding Jo and being unable to save her as she lay dying and an older Erin watching on. His alarm, for once, was a welcome distraction from sleep and Zane woke up tired, somewhat cranky but relieved that Jo and Erin had slept through and been safe last night.
He quietly slipped into his room and grabbed some clothes for work and glanced at the time as he finished changing and cleaning himself up. Argh, have to go wake Jo up so she can have time to go home and get changed, not that I want her to leave. Overcome by a strange protective emotion, Zane worried about her going back alone.
Walking back through the kitchen, he cleaned up the mess the burglar had left when they broke the kitchen window. After having checked everything and concluded that the thief had taken nothing but the toaster oven, Zane decided not to worry too much and would get Henry to repair the window later in the day.
Stepping quietly into his room, he observed how adorable Jo and Erin looked together and allowed himself, just for a moment, to imagine himself waking up to this every morning, only with Jo as his wife. Thoughts of a future like that spurred him into moving his plan up, although he was still cautious around her, as he did not want to accidently end up having her push him away. Seeing her asleep though, with her expression soft, her face buried in her daughter's hair, as well as her arms wrapped around the small body, hugging Erin so that her back was to Jo's chest made her look very maternal, loving, and vulnerable, too.
Zane was unwilling to disturb the peace, but he knew he had to get them up. Sitting down on the edge of the bed, behind Jo, he reached down and kissed Jo on her neck. Her eyelids started to flutter and her face moved out of Erin's hair as he trailed upwards, finally kissing her eyelids just as she tried to lift them. Meeting his ocean blue eyes with her own, sleepy chocolate ones, Jo smiled and then yawned and asked "Is it morning already?"
Zane smiled down at her and patted her arm gently where he still held it. "Yes it is, sleepyhead and somebody's got work to go to." He fake gasped and looked around dramatically, at anywhere but her. Narrowing her eyes at him, she mockingly glared at him, the half-smile on her face telling him she wasn't mad at him, but merely playing.
Turning her head back so she faced Erin, or the back of Erin, she closed her eyes. "I was somewhat almost hoping it was a dream. I don't really know what to think about her-it's all so unexpected. But certainly not unwanted," she mumbled the last part, but Zane still caught it. Kissing her hair once more, he got up to let her get up. She slowly untangled herself from Erin and slid off the bed, rising swiftly, only to stumble back to the bed, where Zane caught her before she fell.
"Whoa, whoa, you alright?" he lifted her chin so that she was looking at him as she grabbed her head.
Wincing, she replied, "I think I have a headache and just now I felt like I really wanted to go back to sleep."
Giving her a concerned look, Zane ran his fingers softly through her hair and said, "You know you can take a day off, Jo. You are the head of security and you have to learn how to delegate sometime." Shooting her a half-smile, half-smirk, he let her know he was joking, but it faded as she sat back down on the bed.
"Um, no, no; Mansfield wanted that section three report in yesterday, but Carter didn't have it ready for me. Honestly I don't know how he gets anything done without me there to prod him on the whole way. I'll be fine, Zane," moving slower this time, she grabbed her heels from the floor and her suit jacket from the chair in the corner, and stood up.
"We'll have to get something at Café Diem, unless you want the food from last night," Zane commented from the other side of the bed as he approached Erin to wake her up.
Wincing once more, Jo buttoned her suit jacket and turned to look at him. "That's fine, but I'm going to stop by my house first; need to change." She smiled softly at the sight of him trying to wake their little girl.
Erin opened her eyes sleepily and gave a little yawn. Zane smiled at her and poked her nose. "Hey little sleepyhead, welcome back," made her mock-glare at her dad and have a bit of an attitude with him.
"I'm not little Daddy! I'm in the seventh grade! How can I be little and yet in the seventh grade?" she fake pouted as she got up. Thus, she missed her two parents exchanging surprised looks.
"Well, I guess she got your smarts," Jo said shortly, turning away and walking out of the bedroom. While she knew that the girl looked like her, and talked like her, she had obviously the brains of her father, not that that was a bad thing, but it made Jo feel somewhat inferior, as though she was the only non-genius one in the family.
"JoJo wait." Zane threw up his hands, as he realized what she'd been thinking. Apparently Jo feeling inferior because of her street smarts, not book smarts (not to say that she wasn't book smart either), had been a problem in their relationship in the previous timeline too, according to Allison anyway.
A small voice asked him from where she'd been sitting behind him on the bed, "Daddy, why is Mommy mad? Is she mad at me?"
Zane immediately turned around and scooped her up, telling her in a reassuring voice, "No kiddo, nothing's your fault. Mommy's just a little aggravated right now, but we're going to go talk to her, ok?"
Jo had slipped into the bathroom while he had comforted Erin, so Zane went into the living room to wait. After clearing some of the junk off the floor, he made some room for Erin to play with some of his old tinkering projects while he thought up a cover story for her. Finally deciding on something just as Jo walked into the room, he looked up and could tell she'd been crying, but not out of sadness. Out of despair or frustration, more likely. Deciding not to say anything, he stood up and met her at the doorway, where she stood watching Erin.
"Hey, you ok?" he asked first, to find out if she was really ok.
"Yea, I'll be fine, let's just get some food and then we can stop by my house on the way to GD." Jo clutched at her head for a moment, then straightened up, looking up at him purposefully.
A remote part of Zane's brain felt a thrill that even when wearing heels, Jo wasn't the same height as him. The top of her head was only just level with his nose and he felt a bit of smug possessiveness that he was still taller than his smoking hot girlfriend. Bringing himself back to the moment, Zane nodded and then bent down and hugged her, a spur-of-the-moment action. Whispering in her ear he added, "she's almost as beautiful as you," and "if that's what only one of our children looks like, I'd hope the rest look as stunning as you do." He kissed the side of her face as the smile started spreading across her face. "It doesn't matter whether she's book smart or street smart, because she's got the best of both of us," he added quietly, pulling back a little, to gauge her reaction. Jo looked down, insecurity getting the better of her and then glancing quickly back up at him, as he could see the tears that had started to form in her eyes as she bit her bottom lip.
Before she could continue the horrible treatment of her lips, he captured hers with his and threw all the love he felt for her into it. Softly he kissed her tears away and then moved back to capture her lips again. She melted into him, his hands winding around her waist and grabbing the back of her head as hers slid into his hair. He tilted her head for better access which she willing gave until they were reminded they had an audience.
Small giggling caused them to break apart, but Zane retained his hold on her waist as they both turned to face a happy five-year-old. Erin had stopped her tinkering on the old piece of junk and was watching them, wide eyed as her mother and father (well, the younger versions anyway) made out in front of her, her small, chubby hands pressed tightly to her mouth to muffle her giggles.
Zane smiled at her, pushing Jo's head against his chest, where she fit perfectly, tucked under his chin and waggled his eyebrows at his daughter. A thought occurring to him, he asked Erin, "Did the …other… versions of us do this a lot too?"
Erin, still smiling, nodded and her smile faded. "Well, at least up until the end, they did," she looked down as she sniffed heavily and started to cry. Concerned, Jo shifted out from Zane's embrace, and after sharing a worried look, both started toward their offspring. Jo knelt on the floor next to the small girl and embraced her, a slight bit awkwardly, as she was not used to this situation, but when the little girl wrapped her arms around her, she stiffened only for a moment then relaxed a little and looked back at Zane whose hand had come to rest on her shoulder. Turning the two girls towards him, he embraced both of them, both looking like they needed reassurance, Erin securely in between Jo and him.
Laying her head on Zane's chest once more, Jo tried to get the sobbing girl to talk, to explain what she had meant, but there was no getting any more out of her for the time being. Zane shook his head at her and she silently complied, just resting there for a few minutes before she happened to glance at the clock on one of the end tables.
"We really need to leave now, as it is we're going to be late," Jo briskly picked up the now softly hiccupping girl in her arms and felt around in her pockets for her keys with her free hand.
Zane, completely forgetting what he'd been about to tell her earlier, Damn, her lips are distracting! slowly pulled away and went to go get them. "I took them to lock up your car yesterday, after you and Erin fell asleep. And you know, you're really the only one who likes to get there 'on time'," as he made air quotes around 'on time' to signify that while Jo made her own schedules and liked to stick to them, others (Zane) weren't so organized and arrived whenever.
Grinning back at him, Jo grabbed the keys from him and jerked her head slightly to her car. "C'mon let's go, you can get your bike at Café Diem."
Strapping Erin in, Zane complied, the happy little family driving off for breakfast.
Wow, so this ended up being a lot longer than I thought it would be, but Zane just kept demanding that little things be added in, like the scene with him and Jo in the living room and the schedule scene. Anyway, longest chapter I've ever written and I know the plot is a little slow, but I'm trying a different tactic than all of my other stories where apparently I switch things up too fast. So trying to stretch this chapter out a bit, for the next one will be slightly shorter at Café Diem and then up at GD. However, I have to work later today, so not sure when the next chapter will be posted.
I thought that showing Zane's thoughts and reactions to his kid and Jo's reactions put everything in perspective a little bit more. Anyway, next chapter things start to heat up, as much pressure is forced upon Jo, Erin, and even Zane. Stay tuned and review!
