We're still on an M chapter here but it's the last one. Chapter 10 and the remainder of the story will be back to T.


Chapter Nine

Zane led Jo from the bathroom and pushed her onto the bed. They were both still wrapped in his towels as he climbed on after her.

Jo sat uncomfortably at the head of the bed while watching him crawl towards her. She couldn't believe she was even entertaining the idea of recreational activities while in this state. Even though this was her umpteenth time at the body-swapping rodeo, Zane was being so casual about the whole affair. It was infuriating.

Yet …

This time it was different. She'd been so angry and confused after Julia had stolen her identity. Even when Zane had kissed her in that GD cell, it was relief she felt more than attraction. Plus, her body had started breaking down almost immediately afterwards and the remaining experience involved either panicking or a great deal of pain. When it came to switching places with Fargo, the idea of him as an anatomically correct human being, much less a sexual object, was unthinkable. Just changing from his laser tag clothes into his suit had been as un-sexy and annoying as she'd imagine intercourse with him would be.

In her head, she imagined Fargo's voice chastising her for being harsh. Then she grew further irritated by how that thought muddied her already complicated identity issues.

But with Zane? Even though she was in control of his body, it was still his body. And it was nude and wet and as delicious-looking as she always found it.

Shifting against the pillows behind her, Jo groaned inwardly. It was horrifying how easily the lower half of her new body could betray her now. If she didn't stop thinking about his hotness, Zane would certainly discover how intriguing his flirtations were to her; then he'd never get off her back about fooling around. Even if she was curious—a fact she refused to admit to him—they needed to get to GD and find some answers, not waste away the morning having freaky sex. There hadn't been any updates this morning from Grace or anyone else but surely this new development had to mean something.

"Relax, Jo." Hearing her voice with Zane's inflection snapped her focus back to how quickly he was advancing on her. "This doesn't have to be torture. I just want to satisfy our curiosity. For science," he added.

"For science my ass," she muttered, crossing her arms.

He smirked at her. "Well, if you insist." He threw off his towel and kneeled next to her, bare from head to toe. Jo's instinct was to turn away which had Zane bursting into full-blown laughter.

"You can't tell me you're embarrassed by your own body."

"Zane, can you pretend like this is at least a little bit weird to you?"

He shrugged. "You think it's weird, I think it's an opportunity. Now lay back." He gently pushed at her shoulder and Jo found herself leaning against the wall. "Good. Now I'll just get closer …" Zane inched himself backwards until he was brushing against her.

When he tried resting himself along her body, or what was actually his own body, he froze unexpectedly.

Now it was Jo's turn to be amused. He thought he was so cute but his discomfort being this close to another male form, even if it was his own parts, had just exposed a flaw in his plan.

"Problem?" He scowled and pursed his lips at her challenging raised eyebrow. Sitting back up, she tried to prey on his frustration. "Now do you understand why this is a terrible idea? Let's just go find—"

Zane's arm flew up to nudge her shoulders back again. "Not so fast, you're not off the hook. I was surprised is all." There was a pause as if he was gathering his courage and thinking of how to proceed. Jo had expected him to abandon or at least modify his plan but, instead, she felt him wriggling down against her once more, careful to steer clear of certain areas.

"I can go put on some pants if you want." Her sarcasm slipped easily into a stern seriousness. "Or better yet, we can act like adults and go talk to Grace and Allison about the situation. You do realize that us swapping bodies like this is a problem, right? You remember how freaked out you were yesterday? Because I do, quite well."

Jo hoped he would see reason; she didn't want to abandon him or anything. Under normal circumstances, she welcomed a little sexual creativity with him. But they were so far removed from "normal circumstances" right now, even by Eureka standards. She simply couldn't ignore this kind of discomfort; it was difficult to see how they could realistically enjoy each other.

While she'd been lost in thought, Zane finally settled himself flat against her, tense and awkward. He sighed. "I remember worrying about you, JoJo," he murmured while stroking her knee. "I also remember that nothing Grace or Allison tried made any difference; all they did was run tests. I'm not saying we should skip out on them and have crazy Doppelgänger sex all day, I'm just saying that we should take a few minutes to do some empirical research."

"Doppelgänger sex? Really?"

Zane waved off her dig. "At best, we'll switch back automatically just like you and Fargo did. And at worst," he paused and swallowed roughly before continuing. "At worst, I get to be with you throughout. It's a little more intimate than either of us ever could have imagined but not a bad gig by my estimate."

"Zane—"

He squeezed her knee to cut her off and regain her attention. "It'll make us better lovers, that's for sure. And if I can find a few new ways to turn you on I'll count this day a success no matter how disastrous it started." His words were quiet, reverent almost. He took her chin in his free hand and tilted her head down to stare into her eyes. "Hey, I know you're scared. Don't think that I'm not anxious about this too. But we can either head to GD and sit around while the 'experts' run their tests or we can make the most of the situation and have a little fun in the process."

Jo looked down into her own face as he spoke to her and saw the longing and the playfulness of his words. She saw the fear too along with his sincerity—and that was the killer. Sometimes she really hated when he was this persuasive.

"So," he said with confidence, realizing he might be winning her over. "No need to move." Smiling up at her, he let his fingers stray slowly from her face. His weight against her shifted as he straightened his shoulders, apparently determined to see the situation through.

"Are you sure?" she responded. He was putting on a brave face now but she was still a bit skeptical about whether he could go through with it. Neither could predict how things would go no matter how awesome Zane thought it'd be playing with her body.

"Yes, I'm sure. I am secure enough in my masculinity to roll with this."

"You are 'secure in your masculinity'" she mocked. "Zane, you literally have a vagina right now." He looked down at himself and winced at her observation.

Jo sighed and wondered if she should bother with any more stalling tactics. Even though she'd agreed to satisfy his curiosity for a while, it didn't mean she was as comfortable as he was going with this particular flow.

"You're probably right though," she continued. "You have to be pretty confident in your manhood to be so comfortable with that hair trimmer of yours."

He huffed at her tone. "Hey, I believe in man-scaping. And don't give me that attitude because I know you love it." He tilted his head up again to face her. "You know what, Babe, you're really killing the mood right now and I'm determined to get my trouble's worth out of this debacle." Further adjusting his body against Jo, he tried to find the most comfortable position for his plans.

A mood-killer was she? In response to his unintended challenge, Jo grabbed his hands and guided them until he was cupping both breasts. Fingers joined, she gave a squeeze through his grip. Zane's sharp intake of air confirmed her point.

"And you're back," she joked. She smirked down at his expression which was still filled with wonder at the sensations of which a female body was capable.

When Zane gathered his wits about him again, he smiled. "Now you're getting into the spirit of things." His hands hadn't left her breasts she noticed. "This feels amazing by the way."

Strangely, she was getting used to hearing his words in her voice as if that were a semi-normal thing in their life.

Jo rolled his eyes. "You've been around my body enough to navigate yourself I'm sure." The tension to her posture gave away her nervousness at being this intimate with Zane. She wondered—and feared—how far he'd want her to go and what kind of help he wanted from her. But it was difficult to deny the flush of warmth at how much he enjoyed her body.

Zane scoffed. "What fun is that though? I want the VIP tour where you show me all your favorite spots." He replaced his hands with hers against the breasts in front of them. "I want to feel the things you like."

"You already know what I like," she argued, cheeks red at his boldness and her reaction to his provocation. "Although I guess your request makes sense given how much you love to get in my pants."

Zane hummed his approval. "Mmm, that I do. Please, Jo? I want us to experience this together." He leaned over and pressed his lips against her chest. "Would it help if I said pretty please?" He glided his leg along hers in a slow seduction. "Just close your eyes and pretend everything is as it should be. We've just shared a bath or I managed to finish giving you a massage. Or I've just come back from my run and I'm all sweaty and manly the way you like."

"Shut up," she laughed but his scenarios were relaxing. Those were good times, back when they were still keeping things light and sneaking around. She closed her eyes in compliance.

"It's only the two of us here, Jo, and I want you to show me what happens when you're all alone and thinking of me."

Jo had to admit that his motivation was stimulating. She was starting to ache in unfamiliar places and wasn't quite sure how she should go about addressing it in their current position.

She continued to make use of Zane's hands to touch and stimulate as she would her own body. With his further encouragement, she thoroughly explored her breasts, extracting every sensation he was now pleading from her. She went from cupping him in her hands to teasing a nipple or caressing her fingers along his now sensitive skin. Each touch met with his approval.

Eyes, still closed, she guided her hands downward stroking her belly button, tickling her torso, cradling her hips. His fingers beat hers to the wet center of his new body where he predicted the most explosive reactions would occur; Jo tsked his urgency and removed his probing hand. Instead she took her time building up his arousal. She registered Zane's frustrated pleasure as he requested a particular touch or vocalized a favorite impression. He let himself enjoy the ways she chose to play with him; what started out as a stalling tactic was turning into an interesting game.

If they were really going to do this, she would at least let it linger so he could experience the passions he so freely brought out of her.

After a particularly blissful stroke of her fingers, Zane gasped and Jo opened her eyes to examine his reaction. With Zane in possession, her entire body was flushed, a dark blush kissing her cheeks and spilling down her neck. Zane had closed his eyes as well and was gripping his bottom lip between his teeth while she continued to move her fingers against him. He seemed oblivious to everything around him save the feel of her touch against him and his hands urging her on. His right leg was absently rubbing against her thigh and he was moaning as he turned to rest his cheek against her arm.

It was an odd thing, seeing herself like this. She could almost forget she moved with Zane's likeness, touched with his larger hands and kissed with his lips, chin stubbled and scratchy. Instead of the discomfort she thought would accompany this experience, she felt love and attraction; a familiar connection with only a hint of embarrassment.

There was a satisfaction building at how much Zane enjoyed being sexed by her hands. Watching him writhe against her, analyzing his responses, it was like seeing everything that her body was capable of in its deepest moments of gratification. Was this what she looked like to him when they were together? It was an intriguing, insightful experience. She'd have to thank him for it later when the dust settled on this predicament.

Closing her eyes again, Jo sensed the friction of slick skin sliding along toned mass; Zane's newly acquired softness against the solid power she embodied from inside him. It was as if nothing had changed; it felt like every other time he'd surrendered to her. As he got closer to his release, he joined his fingers with hers, wanting to feel her everywhere, testing which pressure was too much and which was not enough. He protested when one hand retreated upwards but then gasped in appreciation when she roughly grasped a breast and revisited some of their earlier explorations.

As she heard Zane reaching the peak of all their stimuli, she tangled her fingers in his now longer hair and peppered his neck and shoulders with open-mouthed kisses. That never failed to send him over the edge during their regular lovemaking. When she felt him tense up, all wetness and pulsing vibration against her fingers, she urged him on with erotic pleas whispered into his ear. She encouraged him to let go, to understand how good he could make her feel when they made love. Zane's full-throated cries echoed against the walls, warming every part of her body.

That sound conjured a different kind of contentment than she'd ever expected.

Zane's deep breaths broke the silence of the room, his murmurs of fulfillment joining soon after.

"That was …" He paused, trying to find the right words to articulate what he had just experienced in her body. He closed his eyes again and licked his dry lips, happy to revel in the moment for a while. Jo waited patiently for him to get his faculties about him.

Finally, he opened his eyes and tilted his head up towards her. "Every time you touched me was like this throbbing. And not just where our hands were but in my toes and in my hair and … and everywhere." Bringing his hand up to his face, he wiped the sheen of sweat from his brow and flopped his arm across her with abandon. He continued to rub his legs together as the waves of pleasure dissipated. "There was this amazing buildup that got better and better. Every second I'd say to myself, 'this can't get more intense' and then it was too much. But always I wanted more too because I needed something to keep it going or to make it stop." He watched her grin at his incoherent explanation. "I know I'm not making sense."

She was indeed amused at how much a scientist he was, wanting to analyze and record his data after a successful experiment. But he'd never had a field test quite like this. It was hard not to smile about his post-orgasm euphoria. Not that she didn't appreciate sex; she certainly enjoyed it, especially the amazing sex she had with him. It just never occurred to her how different their reactions actually were.

Zane rested his head against her chest, wavering from side to side every so often. "I am never giving your body up, JoJo." He closed his eyes again and smiled as he came down from the dopamine high they'd just created.

Chuckling, Jo covered his hand with hers. "You say that now but something tells me you'd change your tune when you got your first period or actually had to go through child birth."

As soon as she said it, the nerves rose up. She didn't want him to feel awkward about her last suggestion. They were so early in their committed relationship that issues like co-habitation and having kids seemed a little tricky still.

Luckily, Zane was too far gone to think much of it. "I'll take it, Lupo, no problem. That was like the best thing I've ever experienced in my life.

Now Jo was full on laughing. "I'll remember you said that."

From beside them on the nightstand, Jo's phone started ringing. She picked it up to answer but then remembered that she wasn't in her own body and that might cause some confusion for whoever was on the other line. Zane certainly was in no mood to speak for her in his state, not that she would trust him to avoid causing some mischief otherwise.

Checking the display, she saw that it was Grace, probably calling to check in on her. If there was anyone who wouldn't need a complex explanation right now, it was she.

"Hello." Jo barely avoided answering with her customary "Lupo" greeting.

"Hey, Zane. I guess you're back from your run. I just got the message you sent earlier about checking on Jo but I don't have much news. Actually, I was calling for her. Is she around?"

Jo's immediate response was an exasperated sigh and an eye roll in Zane's direction. "It's me, Grace. There was another neural transfer this morning, this time with Zane."

A pause. "This is … extraordinary."

"You're telling me." Swapping ears, Jo nudged Zane who was still reclining against her. He balked when she pushed him into a sitting position but she needed to focus. "I guess you'll be our first stop when we get to GD."

Grace was silent again on the other line, no doubt processing this new variable. Jo could hear her pecking on the computer in the background. After a few seconds of stillness, she remembered herself. "Yes, yes. Please come straight to the infirmary. We need to run new PET and SPECT scans on both of you right away before this gets any worse. I found some elevation in your Z-wave patterns as compared to other Astraeus crew members. I'm not sure what it means and I want to go over my data with Henry first before I say whether it's concerning."

"I don't know what that means either but I'm sure you guys will get to the bottom of it." Henry had long ago earned Jo's steady faith in him and she trusted Grace as well, even in the short amount of time she'd known her. "We were just about to head over there so we'll be there soon."

By now, Zane had gotten a little bit of control over himself and was scrutinizing her. She didn't trust that look.

"Okay, Jo, I'll see you in a few. Bye."

"Bye." Jo disconnected and returned her phone to the nightstand.

Zane crawled away from her to kneel back on his legs and continue his perusal.

Jo frowned. "What?" He cocked his head to the side, grinning at her in a way that identified him even in her body. His wheels were definitely turning about something again. "And you wanna put some clothes on now? You've had your fun for the moment."

"Don't think you're going to get out of this so easily."

She pulled her legs up and moved to swing them onto the floor. "We're way past getting out of this easily. You just heard me on the phone with Grace. She wants us at GD so she can run some scans or whatever."

"I guess I didn't make myself clear." Zane grabbed her shoulder and pulled her back down onto the bed. "I should have said 'don't think you're going to get off so easily.'" He shimmied over to the side of her, putting a hand on her chest to see what kind of reaction he would get.

Jo swallowed at the strange sensations his touch was causing her, the electricity racing from her stomach down to her groin. This was all too weird.

"I'm good, thanks." She'd meant for it to be a definitive statement to keep him from moving forward. But the breathy delivery was only too encouraging for her playful boyfriend.

He smiled at her, his hand moving from her chest to her abdomen. "Oh, I know you're good. You were very good to me just now."

Jo closed her eyes and tried to concentrate, although it was very difficult with the amount of lust he'd stirred within her in the last ten seconds. Damn him and his sneak attacks.

"We've gotta go," she pleaded. Shaking her head to clear the fog, she abruptly sat up, forcing Zane's hand to slide even farther down and almost completely derail her attempts to escape.

"Five minutes, JoJo." He took her momentary paralysis to sneak behind her and cradle her in his arms as she had just done for him. When his hand creeped underneath her towel and made firm contact with the hardness growing between her legs, her strangled moan was the only response she could manage. With just that one touch, she was overwhelmed with powerful sensations of pleasure, more focused and urgent than she had ever felt in her life.

"Make that ten minutes," he added.

Her last coherent observation was the sound of her own voice in her ear. "What kind of boyfriend would I be if I didn't return the favor?"

TBC …


AN: As you can tell, my angle here wasn't about "crazy Doppelgänger sex" but more a focus on expressing ownership over one's own body and sharing that sexuality with one's partner. Both Zane and Jo strike me as characters who are fairly comfortable on that front (Zane more so than Jo in my mind). Please forgive my grammatical errors in this chapter. As you can imagine, it was a challenge to keep all the possessive pronouns consistent and coherent. My beta and I gave it our best shot but we were bound to screw it up a few times.

I know we went a little bit off the rails in the last few chapters. But we return to our regularly scheduled story in the next chapter. There's plenty more fun to be had with a body-swapped Zane and Jo waiting around the corner.