Rifiuto: Non Mirena
A/N: Written: 2013.- Licia
Monday
Jo awoke at one a.m. Quietly, carefully, she slipped out of bed and got dressed in her running gear; it was earlier than her normal morning run, but oh well. Slipping her phone into the pocket of her zip up sweater, she slipped out of the house, shutting the door softly behind her before taking off. With her music in her ears, she let her thoughts drift away as her feet carried her through the town. Eventually, she stopped at the bridge overlooking the river at the edges of town.
As she let her muscles recoil and her heart rate return to normal, she removed one of her earphones, leaning against the railing. The cool, early, early predawn air wrapped around her, tugging at the ends of her ponytail, and she closed her eyes. You're making the right choice. Turning yourself into Mansfield today will the best thing you've ever done; it's justice and retribution for getting away with it when you went back to nineteen-forty-seven.
As she stuck the earphone back in her ear and continued on her run, she briefly thought that she was making a mistake, before she cast the thoughts aside. By the time she returned to the house, she was in desperate need of a hot shower; gooseflesh broke out over every inch of her skin, and she quickly hurried down the hall to the master bedroom.
"Mama?"
She stopped, turning to see Eleanora in the hallway. Part of her way screaming to ignore the child; she wasn't Jo's child, after all... but the other part of her... the secret maternal part of her that had always wanted children... she turned to the girl, going to her. "Ela, what are you doing out of bed?"
"You aren't really going to leave, are you?" The ten-year-old asked, rubbing the sleep from her eyes. Jo bit her lip.
"Sweetie, I have to. I don't belong in this timeline, and I broke the rules. Daddy has to have told you that you need to follow the rules."
The girl nodded. "But, he also says that they should be broken for the right people and right reasons, too."
She sighed, pulling the girl into a hug. "And he's right." Gently, she rubbed Eleanora's back as the child clung to her. "But," She pulled away, taking the girl by the shoulders. "you also need to understand that sometimes, people follow the rules to protect those they love. That, sometimes, following the rules is the only way to make a wrong right again, even if it means hurting the people you love. Okay?" Slowly, the girl nodded. "Okay. Go back to bed. You still have a few hours before you have to be up for school." Once the girl was gone, Jo slipped into the bedroom, heading for the shower, unaware of Cate and Annaleigh listening from the shadows.
After finishing her shower, Jo quickly dressed in a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, writing a note for Zane and leaving it on the nightstand, before grabbing her black trench and pulling it on to ward away the chill before slipping out of the house. She kept a change of clothes in the lower drawer of her desk; she'd change by seven and be ready for Mansfield. By the time she made it to GD- nothing like a walk to work- it was nearly four-thirty. It wasn't uncommon for Jo to often come into work exceedingly early back in her timeline; she saw it as her time to get the things she hadn't gotten to the day before done, and just spend some time relaxing as she went over that day's schedule; it was one of the few times she had the building to herself before everyone else arrived.
After punching in her code, she entered the building. It was quiet, the darkness casting creepy shadows on the walls around her. Her sneakers squeaked on the marblesque floors, and she nonchalantly made her way towards her office on Level Four. All of the main offices were on the fourth level- the Director of Global Dymanics', the Director of Security's, the Medical Director's- with the exception of the 'Heads; of the Sections; Sections Nine, Eight, Seven and Five's offices all resided on the floors of their sections. Section Five was three floors down from Level Four, and two above Section Fourteen where the Nuclear Testing took place.
Zane had said that 'Head of' is the informal title, which, surprisingly makes sense. I never felt comfortable being called 'Director of Security' in the Alternate timeline. She sighed, slipping into her office and releasing a breath. Pushing herself away from the door, she went to the coffeemaker and started a pot, taking a seat at her desk and turning on her computer. As it booted up and powered on, she stood, moving to fix a cup of coffee, before returning to her desk.
She had a stack of request forms to look over- all various forms for various projects, most of them being in Section Five. She could see Zane's signature at the bottom of the majority of them, and knew that he would only approve project requests to send to her and Henry if he thought they had true potential to expand GD's research. She read through a few of them, signing off on a few, setting them into a pile on the corner of her desk. After signing off on the ones she knew would benefit the company's research, she gathered them up, setting them in a nice pile on one side of her desk before turning to the second stack; this one was bigger, it clearly looked to be more than a month or two of backed up... well, Jo wasn't sure what. Sighing, she grabbed a small section and began to flip through it.
Project proposals, incident reports, security checks... something fell to her feet, and she knelt to pick it up. She quickly unfolded it, brows knitting together as her own handwriting came into view; it was a set of letters folded together. She quickly folded them up, she shouldn't be looking at it... but she couldn't help herself-
Dear Director Deacon,
I hereby formally tender my two-week resignation as Global Dynamics' Director of Security, effective immediately. I am sorry for any inconvenience my abrupt departure may have caused you, but I have included a recommendation for Gwendolyn Rowley to take over my position. I shall finish my final two weeks to make sure everything is in order, and that the shift of power within the Security Director's office is smooth. Thank you for having given me the opportunity to work at Global Dynamics. I wish you all the best.
Sincerely,
Josephina Lupo
She started. So her alternate self had actually gone through and written out a letter of resignation, but clearly she'd never handed it over. She moved it, pulling the second letter forward.
Zane,
I'm so sorry to do this to you. I know it does not seem fair, but I cannot do this anymore. I cannot stay married to you, pretending that everything is wonderful between us, that we're happy, when we're not. The first few years of our marriage were wonderful. And at first, I thought we could make it work; I thought having Annaleigh and Eleanora would make me happy, if we had a big family, but it didn't. It made everything worse.
I greatly respect you, Zane, but I cannot love you. I do not love you. I don't know that I ever did. I have always been in love with Evan. Which means that I will be moving back up to Vancouver and returning to Cross Photonics once my two weeks are up at Global. I'm sorry, Zane, but I cannot do this anymore. I think I was more in love with the idea of being with you than you. I am giving you full custody of the girls and please let them know that they are not responsible for my decision.
Sincerely,
Jo
She swallowed thickly, anger silently coursing through her at her alternate self's words. It sounded, to her, that she was blaming Zane for the breakup of their marriage, that she was painting herself the victim, and the Evan the knight come to save her. She wanted to go back through whatever wormhole or timeline surge she'd passed through, find her alternate self, and throttle her. How dare she- her phone went off, her alarm alerting her to the fact that it was six-forty-five. Shit. Mansfield, would be here in ten minutes to speak with her about-
She quickly shoved the letters into the bottom of the pile she still had to work on, and then yanked open the lower drawer of her desk, grabbing her duffel and shutting it. She hustled across the rotunda, ignoring those of her team and the other scientists who were slowly drifting into Global for the start of another work week.
Once in the bathroom, she slipped into a stall and stripped down to to her undergarments. She grabbed the slacks she'd put in the duffel and then stopped, her fingers brushing against something else. After a moment, she pulled out a long-sleeved, dark grey sweater dress. It was actually very pretty. After a moment, she shoved the slacks back into the bag and removed the dress, slipping into it. It wasn't so much a thick sweater-type dress, as it was a soft material she couldn't name off the top of her head. She then pulled the pair of simple black stiletto heels in the bag out, and stepped into them, and then slipped out of the stall. The reflection that met her was one she didn't recognize.
The slight v-neck of the dress showed just a hint of cleavage, and it hit to just above her knees, leaving a shapely silhouette. She fixed her makeup; never let them see you sweat when accounting for your mistakes; looking professional gives you an edge over others, especially in sticky situations, and people are more willing to not only believe you, but take your words into account. She put the last touches on her lip gloss and stepped back, tucking it into her duffel. At the last minute, she yanked the tie from her hair; it cascaded down her back and over her shoulders in a cascade of soft black silk. Though I doubt this is what Mama meant.
Was she really considering using her feminine wiles to trick Mansfield? No, of course not.
Was she going to try and distract him long enough to either work her way out of the trouble she'd gotten herself into or come up with a convenient excuse he'd actually buy? Possibly.
Did she have any sort of plan? Not at all.
Even if it blows up in my face like I know it will, at least I'll have put up a good front and tried. She smoothed the skirt of her dress. A small part of her also was hoping that the last image Zane had of her would be this one, before Mansfield took her away to be either sanctioned in solitary or killed for breaking time travel protocols; give the poor guy something stunning to remember. Then, she slipped out of the bathroom, across the rotunda and back to her office, checking the time. Six-fifty-five. Time to spare.
Releasing a breath, she smoothed the skirt of her dress one last time, and then, grabbed her coat, pulling it on. The coat would help hide her shaking, while still looking professional; with a sigh, she left, her heels clicked smartly as she walked; it was evident that she commanded the attention of everyone there, regardless of whether they were wide awake or not. Though the sight of the normally stiff Director of Security- who always wore black power suits, her hair in a tightly controlled ponytail- now sporting a formfitting, slinky heather grey dress beneath a familiar black trench, and stiletto heels, her hair cascading down around her shoulders and back, was one not to be missed, and everyone came a standstill. Even Mansfield stopped, stunned at the striking image of the Security Director making her way towards them.
Lifting her head, she strode across the rotunda, as people entered the building, heading for their respective sections and labs. She caught sight of Zane, slightly irate- most likely at her leaving after getting back from her run- with a cup of coffee from Cafe Diem in his hands, in conversation with Allison, Henry and Grace, though she couldn't hear a word they were saying. He looked exceedingly sexy in a pair of dark wash jeans, dark green button down and heather grey blazer, the light stubble on his cheeks offsetting his baby blues. Allison stopped her conversation with him, Henry and Grace, all surprised at the sight of Jo in the coat, dress and heels. She glanced at them before turning her attention to General Mansfield, her military training kicking in.
"Director Donovan."
She cleared her throat softly, giving Mansfield a small smile as she tucked her hands behind her back and clicked her heels together. "General."
"I understand you have-" He stopped and Jo raised an eyebrow.
"Yes, General?"
Mansfield nodded once; he knew the Lupo family, had served with Jo's father. When James's wife had died, Mansfield and his wife had stepped in to help raise the kids. He had actually tried to dissuade Jo from going into the military, to no avail. He had essentially, poached Jo for the job at Global when she was in Vancouver, running her company with Cross. In her short military career, she'd risen through the ranks, something not uncommon for one of the most prestigious military families in American history- being honorably discharged with the rank of Lieutenant General; something completely unheard of for someone so young- especially a woman. She was the only female Lieutenant General to reach such a rank by age twenty, but then again, it really didn't surprise him. It was Jo, after all. She had grown up and been raised in the military her entire life; he really shouldn't have been surprised. Now though, he studied her. She's grown so much over the years... "I understand that you have supposed information in regards to a breach of Section Five-forty-nine, subsection two-"
"That's correct."
He nodded. "Shall we?"
She held out a hand, stepping back and allowing him to pass by before following. With one last glance over her shoulder, she caught Zane's gaze, before quickly falling into step with Mansfield as they headed to her office on Level Four, either unaware or ignoring the fact that Zane followed close behind.