Rifiuto: Non Mirena
A/N: Written: 2013.- Licia
"Blame it on me;
They just want a scapegoat
I just tried to fit in!
You've got to beg just to get in line!
The fights... The lies...
I just tried to be good!
You've got to beg to get out of the woods!"
- No Next Time,
Chasing Madison ft. Lauren Dunn
"Zane? Is that true?"
He couldn't get the pained look in her eyes out of his head, like she had something up her sleeve that she wasn't tell him. His heart constricted, and he turned to Grace. "Ex... excuse me for a moment. I'll be right back."
Without another word, he hurried to the door, forgoing a jacket as he reached the door. "She had her phone." He stopped, turning to see the girls sitting on the stairs.
"What?" Zane made his way to where his daughters were sitting; even Cate looked concerned, though she tried hard not to show it. He didn't notice Allison and Henry getting up from their seats. "Say it again, Ela?"
The ten-year-old met his gaze, worry in her eyes. "She had her phone in her pocket. Told us to be quiet."
He sighed in annoyance, before turning and stalking back to the door. "Stay here, all of you!" Then, he stepped onto the porch, trying to figure out which way she could have gone, before the sound of sniffling caught his attention. He turned. "Back on the car again?" She met his gaze as he made his way over. "Thought you said you were going for a walk." She shrugged, and he climbed up to join her.
"I did. Came back here, but couldn't bring myself to go back inside." Silence settled between them, before she spoke up again. "I... I called and..." She swallowed hard. "I left a message for General Mansfield-" She didn't have to finish that sentence for him to know what she'd said in that message.
"No, Jo, you didn't!"
"I didn't tell him outright, I just told him to call me back, and that it was.. important."
"Josephina, what were you thinking?" He grabbed her shoulders, turning her to face him. She met his gaze.
"That... that I cannot let you and the girls take the fall for me. I can't let anyone take the fall for me. This is my mistake. Whatever I did to get here... I know the consequences of time travel, Zane. I've done it once before. I know the consequences, and-" She stopped, swallowing thickly. He sighed, silence falling between them. "I can't let you and the girls-"
"It's not your choice, Jo. Not alone. This is a family decision-"
"We're not a family, Zane!" He quickly covered her mouth with his hand, before sliding off her car and helping her down. He tugged her back into the house. Once the door was closed behind them, he removed his hand from her mouth, and tugged her back into the living room, glancing at the girls with a jerk of his head. Carter, Allison, Henry and Grace looked up; they'd been discussing the possibility that Jo was really a time traveler, comparing what they knew of her and what Jo herself had told them. Zane gently pushed Jo onto the empty space beside Allison, before perching on the arm. Allison studied her old friend, worried.
"You don't look well, Jo."
The Head of Security gave her a rueful smile. "That's what happens when you... call General Mansfield with the intentions of turning yourself in for breaking time travel protocols." She swallowed thickly.
"So, the sticker on your car... that says two-thousand-twelve, is really from two-thousand-twelve-" Carter started.
"I thought we already established that, Carter." She sighed. "Yes. It's from two-thousand-twelve." The sound of small feel brought everyone turning as the girls finally came into the room, having sat on the stairs and listened for the last several minutes. "So, go ahead, ask me anything. What do you want to know about my Alternative time? Or I can tell you about my original timeline, what I remember, anyway."
Henry, Grace and Carter exchanged glances, unsure of what to say, but Allison, who had known Jo the longest- next to Henry- spoke up. She didn't fully doubt Jo's story, but there was the part of her, the scientist in her, that was skeptical of what her friend was saying. "How did you end up in Eureka?" Jo raised an eyebrow. "Or... what brought you too Eureka?"
The end of Jo's mouth quirked the tiniest bit. "After the towers fell in two-thousand-one, I served an eighteen-month tour in Afghanistan; I was one of the first to go over. I was eighteen." She sighed. "I did three tours all together, ended at twenty. Wounded horribly in combat, lost four of my platoon, was..." She glanced at the girls. "Was taken prisoner, in a hostage situation, and," She swallowed, feeling Zane's hand on her shoulder; absentmindedly, she reached up, grabbing his hand and squeezing. "and... tortured, is really the only correct way to put it. Was found a year later, shipped back stateside and honorably discharged." She quickly removed the shirt she was wearing, only leaving her bra on. Everyone winced, seeing the discolored scar tissue that covered her left shoulder from the burns she'd received when a molotov cocktail had gone off near her platoon. Jo had gotten the worst of it, though she'd managed to save five of her platoon, and while it was only the worst of her injuries, it wasn't the only only one.
Allison and Henry shared a glance; they both remembered being briefed on the new Head of Security's military experience, and the fact that she had been classified MIA, along with another member of her team, for a little over a year before being found; left for dead in the deserts of Afghanistan and brought back to the states. Clearly, it wasn't just their Jo that had suffered such a fate. "I ended up in a hospital in New York; I don't remember which one. My military career was over before it'd even really begun. Though given what I went through..." She stopped, taking a shaky breath as she pulled on her shirt again, hiding the scars from view. "My friend Evan Cross, was with me the entire time I worked on recovery."
"The one in Vancouver, who came down to help us on that project." Zane clarified bitterly, and after a moment, Henry and Grace nodded. Her head snapped back as Zane squeezed her hand, and he blushed, loosening his hold. Right, this Evan is not-. He gave her a quick, sheepish smile and muttered an apology, that didn't go unnoticed by the others.
"No, my Evan, not yours." Jo replied, turning back to Zane. He narrowed his eyes.
"What's the difference?" Jo opened her mouth, before she decided better of it and waved it away.
"Evan was my childhood friend; when I got better I went up to Vancouver with him and helped him to start Cross Photonics. I was one of his partners; I was part of the reason the company got off the ground. I may have attended the Point and served in the war, but I have two dual degrees."
"Really?" Annaleigh asked, and Jo nodded. "What are they?" The girls had curled up in the armchair, enraptured by Jo's tale. She met the second youngest girl's eye.
"I have a dual Masters in Economics and Business and an MD-PhD. in Neuropsychology and Military Psychology." Eight sets of eyes widened in surprise.
"You... have... how come you never said anything?" Carter demanded, shocked. Jo shrugged.
"I'm a grunt with a gun, Carter. No one here ever seemed to care. I got both degrees done while I was at the Point; it was so I could help other veterans after my own career was over. I just... wasn't expecting my own career to be over so soon." She tossed her head, sighing. "After I came back, once I was fully healed, I went up to Vancouver and was able to help Evan and Brooke get Cross Photonics off the ground. I'm one of three partners in that company."
"Three?" Zane asked, and she turned to him.
"Yeah, Evan, Ange, and I." She ticked each off on her fingers. "Evan is the CEO, I'm the COO and Ange is the CFO. I answer to Evan, and Ange answers to me. We run it together- or, ran it together, until I came to Eureka. I still have a stake in the company, I still have my position; that was one of the things I made Evan promise me when I left- that I would still be COO, even if I was now at Eureka- and my place on his Special Projects team is still waiting for me if I ever choose to take it. Now, I'm... more of a silent partner, I guess."
Silence had settled as Jo had talked, and after a moment, she glanced at all of them. It was Henry that spoke next. "Everything you just said, is exactly what is in her personal file; her degrees, her business ventures, all of it."
"Wait, so they have the same history-" Carter started.
"This Jo and our Jo share the same history. They may be from different timelines, but their histories are the same, even if their presents are not. So therefore, both Hawking and Deutsch are correct. It's the choices that led them to these points in their lives that are different." Zane said, as Jo wrapped her arms around herself. She began to fidget, something uncommon for her unless she was exceedingly stressed. After a moment, she stood and began to pace.
"Look, I said wasn't a science genius, and I'm not. I may be a Doctor of Psychology, an Economist and a businesswoman, but under it all, I'm a grunt with a gun; my family has one of the oldest military histories in the United States. My grandfather served, my father served, all my brothers served, I served. And while my brothers all chose degrees specifically to the military, I went the other route. I watched my father come home from multiple tours and decided that when- if- I ever got out of the service, I would put my skills to good use. So I worked on getting my degree in Psychology. I focused on Neuropsychology and Military Psychology specifically so I could help other veterans. The Business and Economics degrees were simply a whim, I never thought I'd actually used them. They looked nice on paper, but when Evan started talking about a startup, I figured, why not?" She sighed. "I may not be a genius like the rest of you-"
"Actually, Jo, having an IQ of one-hundred-eighty-nine puts you in the genius category." Grace spoke up.
"Wait... you... you never said anything about having that high of an IQ!" Carter cried. "Or... other... you..."
"Carter." The sheriff turned to Zane, who glared at him.
"What? It's just a... oh, come on, Zane! You're seriously going to deny knowing about-"
"She never talked about it, okay? I knew... very little about her background. She never told me anything other than the basics, and what I could learn from hacking her file." Everyone turned to him, and Jo finally spoke up.
"You hacked my- her- file?"
He sighed, getting up and going to her. "I wanted to know more about her after she first arrived, so I hacked into her file." He reached out, taking her hands. "Look, your histories are the same. Only your presents are different. Deep down?" He reached up, caressing her cheek. "Deep down, you're my Josephina."
She lowered her head, pulling away. "No, Zane, I'm not."
"What you are, Jo, is a very wealthy woman, in your own right, even without your salary from Global." Henry said. She nodded. "Cross Photonics is... one of the most revolutionary tech companies in the world. You and your partners are... exceptionally wealthy. You're three of the richest people in the world. Though from what I can figure, Cross puts a lot of his wealth towards philanthropy-"
"That's... that's common for Evan. I did the same; there's... an account that I have, back in my..." She stopped. "No, in the original timeline, that is strictly for philanthropic ventures. I don't know if it's the same here, but I was surprised to find it was still there in the Alternate timeline."
"Wait," Annaleigh spoke up. "So... are you saying that... Mama is... that we're... rich?" Zane rolled his eyes. Of course the girls would latch onto that.
"No. Your mother is. Jo is. We are not, and I would not want us to be. We do well, with what your mother and I make."
"Yeah, well, Section Five guys say they don't get the best houses, but they do." Jo replied, leaning close to Zane. "Which is why I'm kinda surprised that you and the girls live in my house. Well, what is my house in the Alternative timeline. Especially when you could be living in one of the bigger houses on Los Altos Avenue. You know, since you're Head of Section Five and all."
Zane snorted softly, crossing his arms with a roll of his eyes. "Well, I may be Head of Section Five, but big houses have never interested me. Besides, we're happy here. Coriolis is our home." Jo raised an eyebrow, but kept quiet.
"Well, I live in an underground bunker that has more opinions than my ex-wife." Carter spoke up, and both Jo and Zane struggled to keep from laughing.
"There is that." Zane choked out. "I guess Jo and I should be grateful you aren't SARAH, right, AIDA?" He asked, turning his attention to the ceiling.
"I would never give you an opinion unless you truly wished for it or requested it, Zane. Unlike most AI's, I respect yours and Jo's privacy."
The Section Five Head nodded, releasing a slow breath. "I know she was fairly well-off when we got together, but I didn't know how exactly. Nor did I really care. I asked once, and she said it was a business venture," He stopped, his bright blue eyes darkening.
"Zane? Is everything okay?" A moment passed, before he met Grace's eye.
"Yeah. We just... there were days when we didn't see eye-to-eye, especially before she left." He met Jo's gaze, and she sighed, pulling away. "Hey." He grabbed her arm. "Where are you going?"
She turned back, meeting his gaze. "The bathroom. Where did you think I was going?" A moment passed, before he let her go. Once she was gone, he turned back to the others.
"I know none of you probably believe her, but she is Jo, she just has a slightly different past to the Jo I married."
"Actually, Zane, their pasts seem to be fairly similar." Henry said. "What Jo could have done was moved through a parallel universe."
"Obviously." Zane muttered, and Carter saw a hint of the young, reckless, troublemaker who had first arrived in Eureka all those years ago. He sighed, slipping his hands into his pockets. "You know, theoretically, every universe is different, but the closer they are, the more alike they are, with maybe just one difference. A green sky instead of blue-"
"Or cats chase dogs?" Eleanora asked from her seat in the armchair.
Zane nodded. "But.. ultimately, people are who they are, deep down. You told me that, Carter." The sheriff started, surprised the young scientist remembered his words of wisdom. "I mean... it's Jo. She's... small, and scrappy and surprisingly strong-"
"Scrappy?" Cate asked, speaking for the first time since Jo had revealed her secret to the others.
"Yes, baby girl, scrappy. She's the most determined person I've ever met. Whatever she puts her mind to, she does. Granted, she's a bit of a gun nut, but... that's... growing up with three brothers, doesn't surprise me." He thought a moment, and then waved it away. "Never mind. Point is, she's the same person my wife was... is... is?" He wrinkled his nose. "just... she comes from a different timeline. Jo is Jo, she's no one else but Jo. Just because her past is slightly different, just because her timeline was different doesn't mean she is. The woman I love- the woman I married- and..." He gestured towards the woman making her way back to them. "her are the same person. They just come from two entirely separate, alternate timelines."
"So... what do you want us to do?" Grace asked. Zane sighed, watching as Jo dug into her pocket for her phone. He did the math in his head. Cate had been brought home about one a.m., and it was well past four a.m. now. Thank God it was Saturday, meaning everyone could sleep in. He watched Jo pull her phone from her pocket and bite her lip. She glanced at him, before taking the call and turning away, slipping outside. Once she was gone, Zane turned his blue eyes back to Grace.
"I want you all to help us keep Jo's secret. Either... until we find a way to send her home and get my wife back, or we figure out how she ended up here in the first place."
"And... if she doesn't end up going back?" Carter asked slowly.
"Then we figure out how to help her transition to this timeline as easily as possible." Zane's gaze snapped to the door as Jo slipped back into the house and returned to the others, ending the call.
"... it's nothing to do with Global, General. I promise. Actually," She glanced over her shoulder, catching Zane's eye as he made his way towards her. "it has to do with broken protocols. Yes, Section Five-forty-nine, subsection two. I'm very aware of what that is General." She bit her lip as he stopped, stunned. Please forgive me, Zane. I'm doing this for you and the girls. "... I'm fairly sure, Sir. I believe there's a time traveler in Eureka. Thank you, Sir. Yes, talk to you soon."
"Jo, how could you?" She stepped back, ending the call and lowering the phone.
"This has to do with me and me alone. I'm sorry, Zane. But I can't put you or the girls at risk. I can't put any of you at risk."