Summary: With autumn comes the town play and this year in the alternate EUReKA it's a little awkward when Zane and Jo are both selected as the leading couple by Grace, the director. This was written for my fairytale challenge and is set after the 1/2season finale but before the Christmas special.
Disclaimer: I don't own Zane Donovan, Josephina Lupo, Vincent, Cafe`Diem, Jack Carter, Zoe Carter, or any other recognizable canonical elements from the SyFy television show, "EUReKA." I am not affiliated with SyFy either so this story, which is written for entertainment purposes only, has no real bearing on where the true show is going unless I make a lucky guess or twenty.
A/N: This story is a response to my own fairytale challenge mentioned in the FanFiction forum, "The Good Sparks: a JoZane forum." If you don't understand theatre jargon that I may use then please feel free to ask about what I meant.
Chapter 3: the More I See You
Jo crept into the town's auditorium, which was much bigger than Tesla High School's, and was often used for academic speeches and presentations on GD's progress. Grace was giving a speech about synchronizing work timetables for practice if you were chosen for the play. She didn't even know why she'd let Jack convince her to come; well actually she did. She'd wanted to take her mind off of the time space continuum and all the associated crap that went along with it; like covering up the fact that the machine that had been made by Beverly and her unknown, traitorous, Global Dynamics associates had something to do with Grant's and Einstein's Bridge Device. Carter had hinted that there would be multiple forms of dance in the play, including ballet. It wasn't surprising that he knew what was going on with said play because his best friend was married to this year's Director.
Jo had sharp eyes but even she couldn't discern who all of the dark silhouettes were with how dimly lit it was at the moment. Grace told the relatively large group of would-be actors that they would start out by gathering on the stage with a partner for a dance and then afterwards they would do cold-reading of the script with the same partner. The crowd rose from their chosen seats and climbed the steps and onto the apron of the large stage. Before Jo moved from the shadows and onto the stage she was shocked to see Fargo there and talking amiably with Zoe of all people. Guilt caused Jo to catch her throat and stop breathing for a moment, but she breathed again and slowly proceeded to the stage while everyone was finding a partner.
She went stock-still when she heard a familiar suave voice ask, "May I have this dance?"
She pivoted in place and was about to say no when she realized that everyone else already had a partner; strangely there was an even number of males and females among those auditioning. She stiffly nodded and guardedly allowed him to come almost as close to her as he was a few days ago.
He was looking into her eyes and slowly, with trepidation, gently placed her left hand on his right shoulder, grasped her right hand in his left, and firmly pressed his right hand against her mid-back. Then he glanced into her eyes again to make sure that he wasn't overstepping his bounds.
She could feel his strong arm around her and couldn't decide whether to sink into his form or run away. She didn't do either and surprisingly he kept a respectable distance. "Hi," she said quietly, as the beginning interlude of Nat King Cole's version of, "The More I See You," played.
Each time I look at you is like the first time
Each time you're near me the thrill is new
And there is nothing that I wouldn't do for
The rare delight of the sight of you… for…
The more I see you, the more I want you
Somehow this feeling just grows and grows
With every sigh I become more mad about you
More lost without you and so it goes
Can you imagine how much I love you?
The more I see you as years go by
I know the only one for me can only be you
My arms won't free you, my heart won't try
Surprisingly Zane was an exceptional lead and she idly wondered why she and her Zane had never danced with one another despite actually visiting the ballet together on their second date.
I know the only one for me can only be you
My arms won't free you, my heart won't try
After that song ended a more fast paced song came on and it became clear that Zane had no training in any certain styles of dancing since he seemed to be winging it and their dancing became rater hilarious to watch as other dancers paused and chuckled a little upon spotting their silly and yet plausible dance forms. It was so ridiculous that Jo found herself laughing as well. They had to stop before long as they were out of breath. Chuckling they headed back to the audience seats and picked up a set of sheets for their cold reading.
They worked on how they would play the scene together. The eldest princess was doing the routine welcome along with the routine chalice of wine filled with a sleeping draught number and the wounded soldier follows the advice of the elderly woman, fooling her into believing that he is drinking it by letting the drugged wine spill down his chin and into his scarf. The eldest is clearly intent on keeping her sisters from losing their nightly romantic adventures while the ex-soldier is curious and intrigued with the cunning princess.
After their 5 minutes were up and Grace called everyone back, other people began performing their cold readings and Jo was genuinely impressed with how good even Larry was at acting. Lucas, whom had returned to town for the summer, and Pilar performed a stunning version of the same scene that Jo and Zane had received and then Zoe blew everyone away with her scene, even with Fargo stuttering his responses and staring straight at the paper through the entire thing. However not all of the cold readings were so magnificent; many looked as if they'd never done this sort of thing before, and now it was Zane's and her turn. Oh boy.