Rifiuto: Non Mirena

A/N: Written: 2012. Rewritten: 2013. Found: 2019.- Licia

2010

Summer slid into fall, and school started up again, which meant Jo was once again busy with not just her schedule, but Shai's as well; juggling dance, homework, work, helping Zoe with her homework, as well as the general craziness that was Eureka. Jo and Zane had started dating in late July, but she hadn't felt comfortable enough to tell him about Shai yet, but she knew she'd have to tell him soon. She just wasn't expecting it to be so soon- soon, being after the first of the year. But honestly, Jo hadn't even said anything, he'd found out purely by accident.

"But I don't want to, Mama!"

Jo rolled her eyes, kneeling down to meet her daughter's eye level. "Now you listen to me, Shai Elizabeth, school's important."

"But Mama-"

"No 'buts', Elizabeth." The girl's face fell immediately realizing that the use of her middle name meant her mother wasn't to be played with. "Look, when I get done with work today, we'll go home, we'll make cookies, and we'll put a movie on and it'll be just a girl's night, okay?"

"Promise, Mommy?" Jo grinned softly as her daughter held up her pinkie. She grinned, reaching out and hooking her pinkie with her daughter's, as Zane stepped into the cafe.

"I promise, baby girl." She whispered, kissing their fingers. The child giggled, throwing her arms around her mother's shoulders. Jo didn't notice, until she'd stood.

"Ah... baby girl?" Jo's head snapped up, dark eyes widening in surprise.

"Zane." Shai turned, waving excitedly when she spotted him.

"Hi, Zane!" Only Jo caught the forced look of surprise on his face as his brilliant mind began to put two and two together. Jo glanced down at the little girl by her side. After a moment, she knelt down to her daughter's eye level.

"We've got some time before you need to be at school, so how about you go get something so you have it for lunch today, okay?" The girl nodded as Jo kissed her head. "I'll be over in a few, honey." Once the child was gone, Jo turned back to Zane as he made his way towards her. "Zane, I-"

"When were you going to tell me you had a kid, Jo?"

She opened her mouth to speak, before biting her lip. "I didn't know how." She whispered, crossing her arms. "What would you have said if I'd introduced you to her immediately after we started dating, Zane? Hmm? 'Oh, by the way, Zane, just so you know, I have a just-turned-eight-year-old little girl. I know you don't seem like the kids type, but why don't you try playing insta-father?' Yeah, that would have gone really well."

Silence fell throughout the cafe; Jo'd been unaware that she'd been raising her voice, and that everyone, including Shai, were now listening. Zane raised an eyebrow at her, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Oh, well, you could have told me, Jo. That would have been the polite thing to do. And honestly, I don't know that I would have stuck around, if I'd known ahead of time that you have a kid-" He shook his head before his gaze landed on Shai, sitting at the counter. The little girl's face had fallen, and she looked about to cry.

Jo followed his gaze, and she sighed, reaching up to rub her face. "Shai-" She turned from the young physicist, hurrying back to where her daughter was sitting. "Lo siento, no quise que, carina-" But the girl shook her head, pulling away from the deputy. She slipped off the stool, rushing from the cafe, heading for Tesla. "Shai!" She glanced at Zane. "Damn it." Without another word, she hurried from the cafe, just passing Carter on her way out.

"Hey, Jo, what's-" He turned to the others. "What's going on with Jo?" And it was then that Carter's gaze landed on Zane. "What did you do?"

The younger man sighed. "Did you know she had a kid?"

A moment passed, before Carter beckoned him over to the counter; taking a seat, the sheriff beckoned Zane to sit. After Vincent set the coffee before them, Carter spoke up, considering his words. "Shai was born in two-thousand-one. Jo was... eighteen or so." Zane started, surprised. Jo was a teenage mother?

"When was she born?"

"October two-thousand-one. She turned eight last fall."

"So her father must be in the picture then?"

Carter set the cup down, folding his arms on the counter. "No, there is not father. Jo's the only parent Shai's ever known."

Zane furrowed a brow. "What does that mean?"

"Shai's adopted." Vincent said, setting a plate of pancakes in front of the sheriff and a Belgian waffle in front of Zane. "She and Jo arrived here in two-thousand-five."

"We don't know all the detail, but we know that Jo found Shai when she was just a baby, on an abandoned road in Afghanistan, while she was on tour. She was one of the first to go over after the towers fell. Her family's back in Jersey, but here, Jo is all that little girl has; she's Shai's entire world. And if Jo kept Shai a secret from you, then she kept Shai a secret to protect her. Jo may be Shai's entire world, but Shai is Jo's entire world as well. Everything she does is for that little girl. She kept her daughter a secret to protect her, not to harm you. She doesn't know if she can trust you around Shai, that's why she kept quiet about her."

"We've watched countless men walk in and out of their lives, and though Jo likes to pretend that she's not hurt, we know that it hurts her. It hurts them both. So if you're going to be in Jo's life, it means you're going to be in Shai's life. They're a package deal, Zane. You don't get Jo and not get Shai. You take them together, or not at all." The tubby chef leaned against the counter. "We will always be there for Jo. She's our deputy, and Shai's our girl. The question is, do you want to be there with Jo and her daughter or not?"

Jo hurried down to Tesla; it was a huge relief to find that Shai had come straight to the school. She sighed as Shai came into the principal's office from class, head down and tail between her legs. With a sigh, Jo went to her daughter. "Shai, don't run off like that. You scared me half to death."

"I'm sorry, I just..." She stopped, hiccuping, and reached up to wipe at the tears on her cheeks. Jo tugged her daughter into her arms, burying her face in her daughter's curls.

"I know, baby. You know that I would never chose anyone over you. You're my baby. If it's just us, then it's just us, the way it's always been. We don't need Zane Donovan; we don't need anyone, just each other." The girl threw her arms around her mother, burying her face in her shoulder. Jo held her close, tensing as her phone rang, and Jo pulled away. She knew who it was, and quickly turned it off before reaching up and taking her daughter's face in her hands. "Are you going to be okay through the rest of school, carina?" The child nodded, as Jo gently stroked her fingers through her hair. "Okay. If you need anything, or you don't think you can handle the rest of the day, you get in touch with me. Okay? I love you." Shai nodded, and Jo kissed her quickly before letting her go back to class.

Not long after getting out of her last class before lunch, Shai left her books in her locker and grabbed her phone and headphones; Jo allowed Shai to have a phone for two reasons- music and emergencies. Without a word the eight-year-old grabbed her sandwich and went in search of a quiet place she could hide out and listen to her music; she was halfway through her sandwich when she saw Zoe, Lucas, and Pilar dash past and decided to follow them. Tucking her headphones into the pocket of her sweatshirt, she skulked behind the teenagers, stopping only when they got to the basement.

"- we should tell a teacher? Or someone old?"

"Let's just look around a little. We're old enough to make our own decisions, don't you think?" Zoe asked.

"Can I come?" The three jumped, turning towards her, Pilar letting out a shriek of surprise. "Shai!" Zoe hurried over to her. "Shai, what are you doing here?"

"What are you doing here?" She countered, crossing her arms. Zoe was was momentarily reminded of Jo, and had to mentally remind herself that Shai was adopted.

"We're..." She glanced at her adoptive sister's daughter. "we're going to go exploring." A moment passed, before Zoe sighed. "As long as you don't tell your mom and Zane or my dad, you can come too, Shai." The girl's face fell.

"Mama and Zane aren't together anymore. He found out about me, doesn't want anything to do with her."

Zoe tugged the girl close. "Zane's a guy, and he's stupid for giving up your mom, and you. And if she kept you secret from him, she did it to protect you." She glanced at the others, holding tight to Shai's hand. "Come on, let's go look around."

The halls were long, drafty and dank; the smell of years and years being locked up filling their noses. Zoe kept a tight hold on Shai's hand, and the younger girl let her. There wasn't any light, so they used the lights from their phones. The concrete floor was slick in some places,

"This place is like an underground city. We've been walking for an hour, and should really go back." Pilar piped up.

"Don't you want to know what this place is?" Zoe asked.

"I know it's creepy."

"I think it's cool." Shai replied, moving to dart ahead, until Zoe grabbed her wrist.

"Oh, no, no, no, we stick together, Shai-Shai. If you got lost down here, your mom would kill me."

Zoe-" She squeaked when Zoe squeezed her wrist, but didn't try to rush ahead. "Fine."

They continued for several minutes, before some sort of noise came from a door not far away. Zoe glanced at Shai, who shrugged. At this point, they'd been walking for a little over an hour or two, definitely through lunch. Suddenly, they stopped; Zoe turned to all of them. "Do you hear that?"

"Yes, it's common sense saying, 'Get out and go to Chemistry class." Pilar replied, as Shai tugged Zoe forward, moving towards the door where the noise seemed to be coming from.

"I think it's coming from in here."

"Zoe! Shai! What are you doing? Come on, you never go near the creepy noise! Have you never seen a horror movie?" Pilar whined, as Lucas rolled his eyes and followed them; eventually, Pilar brought up the rear. After a moment, Shai turned the light on her phone on again, sticking it in her sweater pocket, only to let out a shriek.

"Rats!"

That was all Pilar had to hear, before she bolted down the hall. The others followed; after running down several sets of stairs, and turning down three or four different hallways, they finally caught up to Pilar; Shai turned back in time to see Zoe stumble and slam into the wall. "Zoe!"

Shai absolutely loved Zoe; the blonde had been in Shai's life from the moment she and her mom had moved to Eureka; Jo was Zoe's older adoptive sister, and Carter was similar to Shai's uncles, the only different was that he was stateside and so Shai got to see him more often than Ricco, Davie and Luca. Zoe had taken to Jo and Shai from the moment they arrived in Eureka, and Shai, having been raised by Jo, learned very early on that 'never leave a man behind' was something her mother lived by, and so Shai followed her mother's example.

"Are you okay?" With Lucas' help, they were able to get her back on her feet.

"Did they get you?" Pilar asked, hurrying back to them.

"Yeah, Pilar, the rats tripped me." Zoe bit back sarcastically as Lucas wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Where do we go now?" Shai asked, looking around. She pulled her phone out of her pocket shining the light down the nearest hallway. The pace at which they went now was slower. Shai kept a tight hold on Zoe's hand; eventually, Zoe's ankle got to her, and they stopped to check. The black, purple and blue bruise worried Shai, a lot, though not as much as the noises coming from the door not far from them.

"What if that's the rats, come back for us?" Pilar whimpered; Zoe grabbed onto Shai's wrist, tugging the younger girl close. Footsteps sounded, not far away; something seemed to open and close. Pilar backed up, only to bump into someone. She let out a shriek.

"Cripes, what's with the screaming?"

Shai started, dark eyes widening. "Zane?"

"Zane, what are you doing down here?" Zoe asked, as Shai curled close to her. Zane looked around at each of them, his gaze locking on Shai.

"You took the words right out of my mouth."

Jo grabbed her phone, answering on autopilot. "Deputy Lupo."

"Hello, Jo. It's Principal Wallace."

She furrowed a brow- why would Principal Wallace be calling Jo? Had something-

"Hello, Principal Wallace, is... is everything okay?"

"Shai's missing, Jo. She never showed up for her History class." Jo's heart plummeted into the floor at her feet.

"I... I'll be right there." Once the call was ended, she bolted from her desk, calling Carter on the way to her car. "Carter, it's Jo. Shai never made it to her first class after lunch-"

"I think this is the fastest way back." Zane had taken over walking with Zoe; Shai never left her side or let go of her hand. They made their way down to what appeared to be some sort of control room. They walked her over to the tables in the center, helping her to lean agianst it.

"This is awesome!" Lucas replied, looking around.

"This place goes back to the thirties. These are analogue computers. Look, don't touch."

"Okay, it's a prehistoric Apple Store. Can we go now?" Pila asked.

"The emergency power's holding out. We can rest here a moment if you want."

"No, let's just... keep going." Zoe replied.

Zane's gaze shot to Shai, who joined them. It was clear she wasn't going to leave Zoe's side. Though he spoke to Zoe, his gaze was locked on Shai. "I think that might be broken."

"Maybe." Zoe sighed, standing. "Let's just keep moving." Zane nodded, turning his gaze from Shai in time to see Lucas press a random button. Alarms began to blare and red light began to flood the room, as the doors appeared to close-

"No! Wait!"

"What? Maybe it still works?" Lucas asked, shrugging, oblivious to his innocent mistake. Shai turned in time to see Zane scramble back to the doorway, where he'd set his backpack just outside it.

"No, no, no! Damn it!"

"What's going on?" Shai turned to Zoe, who reached for her, pulling her close.

"Security doors." Zane replied, turning back to them. "They're locking us in."

The lights went out, casting them all into darkness.