Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own words the rest belongs to SyFy, and a tiny part I borrowed from TNT's Leverage because it seemed so Jo like.
"The hell you are!" Zane snapped back at her. He didn't want to let her out of his sight and he sure as hell didn't want her anywhere near Marcus again. If the woman thought he was letting her leave the building to risk her life she better damn well think again
Small Room off of the Infirmary
Clayton had brought Jo her things then gone off to get the team and equipment they would need together. Jo had gone into the room to put on her tactical gear, hoping to get away from Zane's incessant protests that she not do her job. No such Luck he'd followed her right in. Jo decided to continue to ignore him and change anyways. Sometimes she actually did forget she wasn't one of the boys.
Exasperated Zane tried again to reason with Jo "Do you have any idea how dangerous the…" He never finished his sentence in front of him stood Jo in nothing but her underwear; no lingerie, matching bright royal blue lingerie. The vision in front of him completely sidetracking Zane from his original goal. Familiar why did it look familiar? Oh, OH! Zane thought to himself I bought her that set. She'd kept them? "Um, are those some of the ones I bought you?" he asked her in a strangled voice. He clenched is hands at his sides and drew in a few shallow breathes. The sight of her far out doing any fantasy he'd ever had. When this is over I'm buying her a pair in every color I can imagine, he vowed to himself.
Jo looked up from what she was doing smiling at him. "I don't remember." She lied; they'd been her favorite pair so when Larry had blown up her house she'd replaced them. She just wasn't about to let Zane know it. She finished getting dressed trying now to ignore the fact that the anxious worried expression he'd been wearing had changed to one of intense heat. Now was not the time, she needed to focus. It helped that Jo still remembered the last time they been alone together and everything Zane had said to her. Her old insecurities and doubts about the relationship surfacing again.
It also didn't change the fact that as soon as she got Jenna and Jack back she'd be leaving Eureka with the rest of them. General Mansfield was already on his way. What she didn't know yet was whether or not she'd be leaving in the custody of the DOD or if she had enough time to go on the run. Jo knew Allison wouldn't leave until she had Jenna back and knew what had happened to Jack, but maybe she could convince the other three to leave now. Jo looked at Zane again and sighed "I need to keep some emotional distance between us if I'm going to survive leaving him" she thought.
Zane watched the emotions play across Jo's face and knew exactly what she was up to and he was having none of it. He walked up to her and pulled her into his arms, Jo started to pull away but Zane whispered "Don't Jo, please just don't. I thought you were dead, I need this." Jo's body relaxed into his and she allowed him to just hold her. Zane had always known he'd never be able to talk Jo out of going after Allison's daughter and Carter herself, but he couldn't help wanting to keep her some where she'd be safe. He knew this wasn't the right time really to start the conversation he was about to but, something inside him told him if he didn't fix things between them now he might never get the chance. He pulled back slightly and putting a finger under her chin gently raised her head to look him in the eyes.
"I need you to listen to me, let me get this out" he started. Seeing the serious look in his eyes Jo simply nodded and waited for him continue. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry for everything I said to you during our fight." Seeing that Jo was about to interrupt him he held up a hand. "No let me finish, I need to say all of this first." Jo nodded her head again but remained silent.
Zane pulled away and ran a hand through his hair, he was nervous. This was the chance he'd wanted her to give him and he didn't want to screw it up. "I was angry and hurt after I'd found out about everything, worse I was wrong about what I'd thought had really happened. I said those things not because I believed any of it but because I knew it would hurt you back. I know that makes me an ass. All I can say is that I was jealous." He snorted at himself in disgust. Jo simply waited knowing he wasn't done. Zane started pacing around the small room "I was jealous of the idea that there was another me, one you loved, one you thought about when I had you in my arms. I thought I was nothing more than a substitute until you could get back to him." He laughed mirthlessly "The first time in my life I care enough about someone to actually be jealous and I was jealous of myself."
Zane walked over to her and gave her a quick and gentle kiss. He wasn't sure how to continue, how to tell her what he was thinking and how he felt. Instead he asked her the question he dreaded the most. "Why don't we fit Jo?"
Jo hadn't been expecting the question so she hedged her answer "I don't know, I was hallucinating and I thought it would make you go away."
"You do know Jo, why did you say we don't fit?" Zane asked again afraid of her answer but knowing he couldn't do anything about it until she told him what it was.
"It wasn't any one thing" she said quietly so quietly Zane almost hadn't heard her. She began again more firmly this time. "It was a combination of so many different things it's hard to explain. When I threw the ring at you I felt like I was trying to live someone else's life without any cliff notes on how to go about it. You weren't you at least not the you I remembered and I had no idea how to be the me you remembered. My job was different, I'd lost my home and the longest most serious relationship I'd ever been in had never even happened. Nothing fit, especially not us. Jo let out a small but sad sigh before continuing. "It was easier to cling to my insecurities in order to make myself move on."
"What insecurities?" This was what he needed to know, this Zane knew was what needed to be resolved if he was ever going to have a real future with her. "Talk to me JoJo."
Jo tried to explain "I'm a practical application kind of person and you're the one that comes up with the ideas in the first place." Seeing the confused look on his face she put it more bluntly. "You're smart, really smart and I'm not. A part of me has always been waiting for you to tire of the fact that I can't keep up and leave me for someone who can." Recalling she'd had this same conversation with Zoe after Jo and Zane's first date.
"Jo you're smart" Zane started but she interrupted him "I know I'm not stupid and in a normal town I probably wouldn't have had an issue with it. But this is Eureka where 99% of the residents have multiple degrees in something. You were right; around here I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer. I can't sit around and discuss Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle with you. Hell I barely have a concept of what it is."
"Way to go genius" Zane thought disgusted with himself "When you try to blow up a relationship you really go all out." Zane took Jo by the shoulders forcing her to look at him. He decide that he needed to be as blunt, no misunderstandings between them. "No you couldn't debate me on the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle any more than I could go in depth with you on how to kill a man with my thumbs. But my passion is physics, science, it's what I was born to do. You, your passion is combat and protecting people it's what you were born to do. We're both equally good at our jobs, but that's what they are our jobs. We have lives outside of Global Jo. Science is not my whole life any more than combat training is yours. We both have other interests, some of which we share."
Zane pulled Jo into his arms and decided to go for broke since they were being so honest with each other. "I have my own insecurities about us you know. You're a good person and I a convicted felon. I keep waiting for the axe to fall and for you to figure out I'm not good enough for you. I've been a screw up my whole life."
Jo pulled back and looked at him with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "In case you haven't noticed I'm not completely adverse to breaking a few laws myself. It's not my first choice for dealing with a situation and I'd really rather avoid it altogether, but I will do it if I know it's for the right reasons. Hell Zane I had you hack the pentagon." Jo placed her hand on his cheek "I know why you stole that money from the DEA and I know what you did with it. While I don't condone what you did I do understand why. As for being a screw up your whole life that's not true. I know exactly why you were expelled from MIT and I know it was Marcus's fault not yours." This shocked Zane he had thought no one but him had known Marcus caused that explosion. Jo continued softly "You're a good person Zane all you've ever needed was someone to give you a chance and a reason to show it."
Zane bent his head forward and kissed her deepening the kiss when he felt her respond. "All I want to do is lose myself in her" He thought and started to push her back against the wall. They were interrupted by a banging on the door and Clayton calling to Jo "We're all set, let's rock and roll." Reluctantly Jo stepped out of Zane's arms saying "I need to go" and walked back out into the infirmary with the others.
The Infirmary
Jo took her comm unit from Clayton and placed it on her ear while walking over towards Henry. Softly Jo told him "You, Grace and Fargo, you need to go. Get out of here while you still can. Before Mansfield gets here."
Looking serious Henry shook his head no and said "I know we haven't really been showing it lately but you're not alone in this Jo. We are in this together, we're staying, besides you might need us."
Jo glanced over at Fargo and seeing the surprisingly mulish expression on his face knew she wouldn't have any better luck with him. Sighing she thought to herself "ok we all go down together". She didn't like it but from her time in the military she understood it. Nodding to them she turned to Allison and took the other woman's hands "I know it's difficult not to be afraid for Jenna and Jack, but I will bring them back to you. I'll leave my comm line open so that you know when I've found them."
"I know you will" Allison replied firmly. She had to believe in Jo and her abilities or she'd lose her mind with worry for her little girl.
Jo turned to head for the door when suddenly Zane grabbed her by the arm and spun her around. "After everything you have already and are about to put me through tonight I expect a proper hello when you get back. And you damn well better come back." He told her the worry for her clearly written across his face. Then he kissed her again trying to show her how much he loved her without having to actually say the words.
Jo stepped away "I'll be back" she promised him. The problem is I'll be leaving you for good once I do she thought sadly her heart breaking all over again.
Clayton stood to the side surprise showing on his face. The bane of his entire professional existence here in Eureka was head over heels in love with his boss. "Serves Donovan right" he thought "Lupo definitely won't put up with any of his crap."
For the second time since coming to Eureka Jo drew in a few calming breaths and once again gone was Jo Lupo head of GD security and in her place stood Jo Lupo Army Ranger. This time there were other people in the room and they did all take a cautionary step back from her. All except Clayton, he knew that look he'd worn it himself. Clayton had served under Jo in the army and he fully appreciated how deadly she could be, hell he'd relied on it a time or two. It told him everything he needed to know, they'd be successful tonight no matter what Jo had to do. Jo and Clayton nodded to each other and headed out the door, Clayton's expression now mirroring Jo's.
The rest all looked at each other after Jo left. It was Fargo that spoke what they all had been thinking "That was quite possibly the single scariest thing I've ever seen. I hope to God she never looks at me that way." The rest of them all nodded their heads in silent agreement.
"I almost feel sorry for Beverly and Marcus" Henry said with emphasis on the almost.
Allison and Zane both snorted and in unison said "I don't."
Fargo's Office
The five left behind had all decided to move to Fargo's office and wait. With Beverly and Marcus out there and Marcus having taken Beverly's version of the bridge device they had thought it wise to do this with sonic protocols running. No need to make it even easier for the DOD to get evidence against them. They didn't know what Beverly wanted but the fact that she had her bridge device back didn't bode well for them. She'd already tried to send Grant back was that what she was trying to do with Jack?
None of them were saying much just tensely sitting around the office listening in on Jo's comm line. At first they had heard general discussions among her team about what to expect and if everyone was geared up and fully ready to go. Now suddenly Rock music started blaring away at them. Allison, Grace and Henry looked up at each other in surprise. It sounded more like a road trip than a mission suddenly. "She calls it mood music" Fargo stated "something about keeping the stress levels low while still getting ready to go in fighting."
"Actually that's pretty smart" Henry said, "keeps their minds off of thinking about what could go wrong."
"Well it's not working for me." Zane said worriedly. Allison nodded her agreement with this. Her mind had already gone through several scenarios were things went horribly wrong. They all fell back into silence to wait out what was going to be a very long night.
After what seemed like forever to the five the music suddenly shut off and they were greeted with the sounds of tires squealing and what sounded like a very loud crash.
The Road Leading Out of Eureka
"What the hell?" Jo ground out while trying to keep control of the modified black Humvee she was driving. The vehicle had been it hit on the roof by something very big. Into her comm line she calmly spoke to Clayton who was driving the matching vehicle behind her. "We have incoming, get everyone out".
"One O'clock" Clayton responded as another large object crashed down on the road in front of them. Both Jo and Clayton pulled hard on their steering wheels bringing the vehicles to a stop just short of each other and what appeared to be a small satellite now laying on the road. Everyone scrambled out of the cars and headed into the tree line.
Seeing nothing else headed their way at the moment Jo went out on the road to inspect what had hit her Humvee in the first place. It looked to her like complete junk. She looked it over and found an American flag on it with the word Apollo 12 on its side. "Perfect this is just freaking perfect" she thought angrily to herself. Reaching up she pushed the button on her comm unit that established two way communications with Global. "Henry, I thought you and Fargo were going to stop all this déjà vu crap. We're getting pummeled by space junk out here." Jo dropped to the ground as something else went flying over her head to crash into a tree across the road. "What's next is a toilet from outer space going to crash down on my headed turning me into a grim reaper?" Jo asked letting out an exasperated breath. Back at GD Zane and Fargo snorted at Jo's reference to the old TV show Dead Like Me.
She heard Henry's reply back "Fargo and I have a theory but we need Zane's lab and his program to test it. We don't want to be wrong and completely destroy the timeline trying to stop this."
Exasperated Jo sarcastically responded to Henry "Well there are five scientists one of which is Zane himself sitting in a room together. How about you guys get to work on that before my team and I find ourselves out here facing the next ice age, or disappearing into another dimension. This is getting really old really quick."
"We're on it Jo, just be careful" Zane spoke up.
Jo got back up and went over to Clayton. "We're close enough, we'll head out on foot from here." All of her men responded immediately and ran back out to the cars to grab their gear.
Zane's Lab
The five scientists entered Zane's lab to find the Stark clone sitting at Zane's station intently studying what was on the screen in front of him. Henry began explaining the theory he and Fargo had and telling Zane exactly how he needed the other man to change the parameters of his program so they could begin testing. Zane walked over to his work station asking Stark 2.0 to get up so that he could get to work. Stark rose wearing the same expression Nathan used to have when he knew something the rest didn't, the smug look that said he was the smartest one in the room and he knew it. Henry had always privately disliked that look on his old friend and thought it looked even worse on his clone. Zane sat down and saw the two still merging streams of light that wrapped around each other like a snake on the screen. "Ignore that no matter how I change my programming I haven't been able to get rid of this error" Zane with frustration evident in his voice told Henry.
Stark decided to enter the conversation "Your theory is incorrect and won't work, also that is not an error." Privately wondering if the next generation of scientists would be smarter than the ones he had to deal with now. He doubted it.
The other five turned to look at him with surprise. "What do you mean it won't work? Our thinking is perfectly sound." Fargo started in.
"Of course it's an error, that" Zane waved at his screen "Isn't even possible."
Stark looked at them all with smug derision. Humans really knew very little about the universe. "No that is this time line and you" he indicated Henry, Allison and Fargo "tore by taking your trip up and down it. What you're seeing is the timeline repairing itself. Reliving moments of your lives is the price you have to pay for what you did and it won't stop until the timeline is fully repaired. You're really very lucky that's all the universe is doing to punish you." He spoke to the group like he was addressing a class of intellectually challenged 8th grader's.
The five were stunned, maybe some of the data held by the Stark computer was corrupted. Henry spoke up "You're talking like the universe is a living thing with a consciousness of its own."
"It is, just not in the restrictive ways you define the concept." Stark replied. "You will not be able to stop what's happening and may actually cause more damage if you try. I would be happy to go over this in great detail with you, although I doubt any of you would actually understand it."
Allison rolled her eyes the Nathan clone really had some of Nathan's worse traits down pat. "So what are we supposed to do wait for it to finish repairing itself and hope one of us doesn't die in the mean time?"
"Yes" Stark said simply but with a tone of finality.
"Jo" Henry started.
"I heard" she cut him off "can't tell you how much this just makes my night complete."
The five started debating with Stark over who was right them or him.
The Woods just outside Eureka
Jo rose her hands indicating to her team to stop and get down. Jo and Clayton simultaneously hit a button on the night vision goggles Parish had made especially for their use. It allowed them to block out anything in their field of vision but humans. "I count thirteen spread out and fully armed." Jo said.
"I've got the same count" Clayton replied. Switching back to normal mode he continued "What I don't see is what their guarding, there's nothing else out there but trees."
Jo spoke into her comm unit "Hey guys I think Beverly is cloaking whatever building she's in again. We need to get it shut off."
She heard Allison reply "Someone will need to scan the area and get a reading on the signature. We can't help you shut it off until we know what's she's using to do it."
"Got it" Jo said back than turning to her men began to issue orders. "Clayton work with Global and find me that building. The rest of you fan out and surround them. Do Not Engage, unless I give you the word. I'm going to take care of our unwanted friends."
Jo heard Zane's agitated voice over her comm's "Christ Jo you just said there were thirteen guys out there what the hell are you…" Jo hit the button on her comm unit to cut Zane's voice off before he could finish.
"Chill Donovan" Clayton chuckled "Lupo's simply going for a walk in the park."
Everyone took off to follow Jo's orders. Clayton kept his comm line open with Global to work with the scientists. He had to admit sometimes having them on their side made things easier, but only sometimes.
Zane's Lab
Allison and Grace worked with Clayton to figure out how to turn off whatever Beverly was using to conceal the building she was in. Zane sat at his work station his hands clenched into fists. He felt completely useless with Jo out there taking on all those men on her own. "And she accused me of being an adrenaline junkie!" He thought to himself "The woman is a menace to herself and my sanity. She shouldn't be allowed to leave the damn building."
The five heard Jo's very serious and deadly voice quietly speaking "twelve" then a pause and what sounded like a rush of air followed by something quietly striking something else, "eleven" another pause two more rushes of air followed by quiet blows "nine". They couldn't hear anything else over the line, If Jo was moving she was a ghost.
"What is she doing?" Fargo asked.
It was Clayton that replied his tone indicating just how impressive he found his boss "She's counting down, letting me know how many of them are still left standing."
This went on for what seemed an impossibly short amount of time everyone listening in on Jo until she'd reached one. Zane's emotion's swung back and forth between his desire to lock her up in her house so she could never put him through this again and being totally impressed by just how skilled she really was. Everyone's assessment of Jo's capabilities went up several notches. It had taken Jo only eleven minutes to silently move through the woods and take out twelve armed men.
Jo's voice came over the speaker at them "And then there were none. It would be nice if I had a building I could see about now."
Grace's answered "We've got it, as soon as Clayton does what Allison and I told him you should be able to see it."
"Clayton you're getting slow in your old age." Jo commented deadpan.
"you should be able to see it ….Now." Clayton answered and muttered under his breath "slow my ass you try interpreting geek speak."
"That is so hot" Zane said to Jo just happy she hadn't gotten herself shot or killed.
"I know" Jo responded with a smile in her voice. Her voice back to being all business Jo told her team "Secure those men and wait for my orders. I'm switching off my Comm I don't want to be detected approaching."
There was a long period of silence, all of them waiting tensely for Jo to speak to them again. Finally Jo quickly switched her unit back on and said "I have a visual Beverly and Marcus are both in there. Jack and Jenna as well they look unhurt." Then she just as quickly switched her comm back off.
Allison finally began to allow herself to feel real hope that she would soon have her little girl and Jack back home were they belonged.