Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, or any of the characters. I am not making money from them.

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Zane awoke to a pounding in his head and a light touch on his face. He cracked open his eyes, and was immediately sorry he did. Jo was standing over him, glaring. He closed his eyes and tried to think what she could be mad about now.

"Zane, are you okay?"

"What did I do now?" he groaned.

"Zane. I need you to focus. One of my captains, Anush Patel, knocked you out. You were on your way to Dr. Conner's lab. I need you to tell me what happened."

He frowned. Man he had a headache! Probably from the alcohol he had earlier. At the Ivy... with Jo. She had said he was bad at stick shift. How had she known that? He had followed her to GD...

"He told me to leave. Said he had everything under control. When I refused he started babbling about chain of command, and then I guess he hit me."

As his vision cleared and Jo came better into view, he could see her glare was more of a frown of concern. He was not sure if he had ever seen that look before. Maybe when he had crashed in the General's car during space week, but even then his memories were a little fuzzy.

"We should get you to Dr. Blake so she can look at your head."

"No, I'll be fine. I'm concerned though. I think your teams are definitely affected by whatever is going on."

"I agree. This is just like what happened earlier this year... hopefully not as violently so. From what I've seen on the monitors, people are reacting differently from each other." She helped him sit up, and he found he did not mind her touch. At least at the moment he was not afraid she was intending to do physical harm to him with it.

"Reacting differently?"

"The more aggressive types, like my team," she sighed," are more prone to lashing out physically. Others seem to be resorting to boasting, starting unscheduled project tests, and badmouthing each other."

"Sounds like high school. Or at least from what I see on TV."

Jo flipped open her phone.

"Hey Carter. Zane was hit in the head by one of the security team. Does Allison have any medical staff who can check it out?"

He tried to wave her off but she ignored him.

"Great. Have them meet us in Dr. Conner's lab. And watch out for Brown and his team. He didn't seem as aggressive as Patel, but they might not be as professional if they feel like they have to prove something."

"So what happens when we get to the lab and Rambo is there?" Zane asked, finally standing slowly. The world had settled down and stopped spinning, so he thought he would be fine to walk. He stumbled his first few steps, and was more than willing to take Jo's help in continuing. After a bit he thought he could probably handle walking on his own, but he decided having Jo's arm around him was much nicer than not.

"I take over and reassign his team elsewhere."

"And if he tries to impress you? Maybe with his fists to my head again?"

"From what I can tell, when I got here, they don't view me as a potential mate. I'm ahead of them in the chain of command."

"And if they decide to buck the chain of command?"

"I remind them why I'm in charge and they're not."

She sounded like Jo as usual; tough and to the point. It was, as always, hot.

"Do you have your gun on you?" he asked suddenly.

She shook her head. "I let Carter have it in the car on the way over. God I wish I hadn't."

"How about your taser?"

She looked at him, confused. "Left it in Security Ops. Why?"

"Because I wanted to ask you out, but I wanted to make sure wasn't going to get hurt when I did."

"Oh no," she groaned, "you've been infected too."

"Why would you think that? Can't I ask you out for brunch? Or better yet, maybe to finish our drinks at the Ivy?"

"As flattering as it is," she said, though her voice did not sound as if she was flattered, "you're under the influence of alcohol and pheromones, and just received a head wound. I need you to focus on the crisis at hand."

"Dr. Conner's lab. Rambo. Got it." Maybe he did feel a bit funny. He needed to focus though. For Jo. And GD. They needed him. Jo needed him.

It was a very strange feeling, that people were counting on him to solve the problem. It had happened when he had just arrived, but then he had clinched his position as bad boy in Eureka. No one really counted on him for anything. Until Jo.

They turned a corner, and found one of Patel's team standing outside Dr. Conner's lab, looking fierce. Zane could not really tell them apart, but he could see the scowl on his face.

"Show time," he whispered.