Title: Insidious Whispers
Characters: Zane, Jo, Beverly
Rating: PG13
Warnings: Language (?)
Disclaimer: Don't own it. Spoilers for 4.19
Summary: Both Zane and Jo have little voices in their heads.
Author's Note: I actually plotted this out and prepared myself for it to be an AU immediately after tonight's episode. I'm mildly surprised that it's technically not. Yet.
Also- more Zane angst because I godsdamn like it.

Zane sat at the table in his kitchen and pushed some food around on his plate. The discussion and the dinner he had planned on with Jo had not gone the way he had hoped. Instead of hanging out at Cafe Diem talking with Jo over one of Vince's concoctions, Zane had just gotten a to-go bag after his miserable attempt to work things out and headed back to his place.

Alone.

So fucking alone.

She hadn't reacted the way that he had expected at all. Surprise that he wanted something more would have been his first guess. Hell, he was surprised that he wanted more than to just fall into bed with her a few times a week. But, instead, he was treated to some blase`, mildly apologetic psychobabble bullshit about not knowing what she wanted and needing some time and not being able to wait for him because 'who knows what the future holds' or whatever.

If he hadn't known that all major personnel had been checked for nanobugs, Zane would have wondered if Jo had been brain hacked like Alison. But Jo had been scanned. He remembered her complaining about it.

So, instead of having a valid justification for her recent behavior, he was left with the obvious conclusion: she just didn't care.

Zane had no doubt that Jo loved Other!Zane. From what he had been able to piece together, the guy had been Eureka's version of a fucking rock star. Helped save the town on his first day, department head within a year of hitting town and little-to-no prison time. No additional jail time. Released to his own recognizance after a day. No tracking anklet. No tazering. Patents out the ass and a Nobel nod. Oh yeah- and years dating Jo.

Years. With one woman. And only one woman. How weird was that?

She hadn't said yes to Other!Zane though. She hadn't said no to him either. And Jo seemed happy when they spent time together. For one brief moment in time, Zane had thought that he had a chance to have the life that the other prick version of himself had lived.

But then she had turned down going to Titan with him. And when he had gotten the balls to ask her to wait for him, she had said no. Two flat out rejections. What was a guy supposed to think?

If anyone had asked, Zane would have told them exactly what was going on in the mind of a person in such a situations- a lot of confusion thanks to three separate voices constantly arguing. Well, only two were arguing. The third one mostly just asked the other two to shut up.

The first voice was a familiar one. It was the one that had told him that stealing was fun, rules were for other people and that it's not illegal if you don't get caught. That voice had been Zane's guiding principle for most of his life.

Except lately. Lately he had been listening to the other voice- the one that sounded suspiciously like him mom. That voice had been telling him to try to work within the rules, listen to what other people had to say and that Jo was worth the hassle.

Listening to that voice had gotten him pardoned and a spot on Astraeous. Or, at least, listening to that voice had gotten him in good with Jo- who had, in turn, gotten him his pardon and a trip to Titan.

The third voice was the only one that made much sense and all it wanted was for the other two to be quiet.

The voices in Jo's head were much less complicated. They just whispered in her ear and nudged her in the 'right' direction. They told her that Titan was just one more sibling rivalry that she didn't need in her life. The voices told her that she had to make sure it was this Zane that she wanted to be with and that she wasn't just chasing ghosts. They also told her that she should look into a life outside of Eureka- just in case she was missing something.

It was something worth thinking about anyways.

'Of course,' Beverly thought as she stared at the monitors, 'it's much easier to make decisions when someone is helping you think.'

Injecting Jo with the nanobots before locking her in her own cell had been a brilliant idea. Waiting a few weeks before activating them, though, had been pure genius. In their dormant state, the nanobots were undetectable. It had been aggravating to have to wait and it was tedious having to merely suggest instead of taking control but, in a short time, Eureka would be missing one of it's most diligent protectors- amongst others.

Soon, Euereka would be in more capable hands.

Hers.