Summary: With autumn comes the town play and this year in the alternate EUReKA it's a little awkward when Zane and Jo are both selected as the leading couple by Grace, the director. This was written for my fairytale challenge and is set after the 1/2season finale but before the Christmas special.
Disclaimer: I don't own Zane Donovan, Josephina Lupo, Vincent, Cafe`Diem, Jack Carter, Zoe Carter, or any other recognizable canonical elements from the SyFy television show, "EUReKA." I am not affiliated with SyFy either so this story, which is written for entertainment purposes only, has no real bearing on where the true show is going unless I make a lucky guess or twenty.
A/N: This story is a response to my own fairytale challenge mentioned in the FanFiction forum, "The Good Sparks: a JoZane forum."
Chapter 1: I Always Knew You Were Smart
When Zane caught the ring in midair he was blindsided. Momentarily he felt nothing but mute shock and then his eyes gleamed in momentary anger. "What are you doing with my grandmother's ring?" The silence was utterly suffocating and then Carter came in. Now if you knew Zane then you'd know that it takes a lot to completely distract him from his purpose for being somewhere. Times like these were when Zane was glad that Carter didn't overdo his duties as the Sheriff. Carter wrote off him digging into his pants for an object as not a weapon. He got the envelope out and tossed it onto Jo's desk, making well sure that he stared straight into her frightened, unseeing stare so that she got the message, "You need to look at this."
For a while he was distracted by being a subservient and cooperative suspect, but when Carter finished interrogating him without any worthwhile conclusions and he was left to rot in the cell until Jo came through for him, his thoughts refocused on the little slip of metal and adamant between his fingers.
His mind went wild with ridiculous scenarios on how she possibly could have gotten it. Like Carter he hadn't made any definite conclusions, so he thought back on what hadn't made sense recently with their interactions. Like any good scientist he went over his conclusions and reformulated all of his hypotheses as to why she had been acting strange.
Among the things that he could not calculate as of late had been Jo Lupo and her friends, whose dynamics had changed completely within three hours of when he had last seen each of them. Jo's reactions to him; more importantly, and then his reactions to her shortly afterwards had completely thrown him and his logically planned life like it hadn't been since his capture and arrival to the forbidden town. He didn't know who he was anymore whenever she was within sight, or when he knew she was nearby, or when he had a particularly emotionally charged encounter with her and couldn't stop thinking about it.
He had begun to become emotionally invested in her and it really freaked him out; especially since on the surface it hadn't seemed that she had any attraction for him at all. He realized now that it was because of the incident where he'd tricked her into telling him how to get free when he'd first arrived in Eureka that he had become such a nemesis in her mind; one that could be as crafty as Satan.
He remembered her stiff posture when she threw open the cell door and ordered him out. He'd been so shocked after she cut off their depraved banter and gestured towards the town Sheriff Office's front door that he did exactly what she wanted him to do, leave.
He also recalled how during Fargo's inspection she'd avoided his gaze and then caught the beanbag he'd aimed at Fargo's face and scolded him. After that he recalled that during the RSS-incident he'd thought of nothing but her as soon as she'd tackled him to the wall with swift, elegant, yet effective movements. He remembered their faces being a mere centimeter from each other and how he'd relaxed in her grip.
He remembered ticking her off at the rocket race when he'd flirted with a blonde chick that worked a few labs over from Parrish's lab and then the scanty remnants of his memory from when he'd been drugged on oxygen and she had been calling his name frantically. He recalled her annoyed expression when he'd sat up like nothing had happened, and her standing up to the General for him. He remembered her risking her job at Global when she again let him go; this time because she believed in him. He remembered foolishly returning to face the music and the car ride soon after that where he'd tried to ask her about her recent change in behavior.
Unfortunately he'd been cut off by another O2 sensory overload and he barely managed to save them. He was always getting into trouble around her and he found that he craved the odd, life threatening innuendo. Their other car ride on their way to question Kevin about the TAP had been filled with tense silence, and Zane had been thrown when she went along with his plan. She'd proven countless times that day that she trusted him with important circumstances. He called her Jo-Jo after concluding that he could trust her too.
He remembered during Miss Donovan's visit when Fargo had that silly muffin stand and the VIP carpet out. He'd tried to swipe a muffin and Jo had good-naturedly smacked his hand before he could grab one. She'd lightly scolded him but he'd caught her impish smile out of the corner of his left eye.
He'd been in his lab when he'd heard about her being in the infirmary. Zane had realized that day that he actually cared about her and it frightened him. His brain had actually seemed to stop working because he couldn't stop worrying about her; so he'd gotten her something he'd thought that she would read and tried to get Allison to give it to her when his resolve to check on Lupo had broken. The knowing look that Doctor Blake had given him had scared him almost as much as knowing that his brain wasn't working when he needed it to do so. Doctor Blake told him that he could give it to Jo himself; that she'd be waking up soon. Sitting next to an unconscious, vulnerable Jo with the magazine firmly clutched in his fingers he'd never felt so trapped before in his life. None of his calming exercises worked because all of them relied on him being able to focus; he'd never been in a position where he just couldn't divert his thoughts away from the subject of worry before. When Josephina actually did wake up she still looked vulnerable and Zane wasn't used to seeing her like this; he had to get out of there.
That's the real reason he'd started sort-of dating Zoe; he had wanted to feel in control again. Only he hadn't; it had made the exchanges from then on all the more tense.
Absentmindedly he began counting all of the new cracks in the ceiling from the last time that he'd been in there. About midway through he stopped counting when he recalled Jo's pained words, "We don't fit," as if she hadn't completely believed them, as if they'd had something more than a competitive fight for dominance augmented by heavy sexual flirting. Okay, he admitted finally to himself, perhaps he did have a thing for her, but why had he felt so… shocked and angered when she'd nearly thrown the ring into his face? Did he want her to keep it?
A chill ran down his spine when he realized he'd very much like to see her wearing it. Feelings hidden beneath the surface began to come to the surface for him to examine and he suddenly knew that feelings for her had developed when he hadn't been conscious of the fact. Did he have split personality disorder?
Okay the plan was to confront Jo with what he knew and if she didn't admit to enough then he'd simply test it when she turned her back on him by pulling her into a kiss; she wouldn't be able to hide the truth from him. As soon as he came to that conclusion he fell asleep.
The next morning before they went searching for Grant and the DED-device he confronted her and she used Andy as a shield. Somehow she managed to do that and still looked so vulnerable from the pressure of his questions. She looked strange that way, vulnerable; he couldn't handle a vulnerable Lupo so he decided to give her an out for now and said something along the lines of, "This isn't over Lupo; we're going to discuss this when you get back."
Her vengeance for making her uncomfortable and asking questions that were too painful for her to answer was to make Andy stare endlessly at him; the guy didn't even blink so Zane tried to ignore him by absentmindedly forming and solving complex math equations in his head. From what Carter had told him of the DaVinci Bridge's collapse he tried to figure out how much mass actually crumbled and fell off; this of course was entirely speculative as he hadn't measured the site after the damage.
For recreational purposes he'd measured it after his arrival to Eureka; after all every project in Global Dinamics wasn't enough to occupy him; not even his own legitimate projects held his attention after he figured out how to complete them. What drove his interest in science wasn't his curiosity; his brain moved so fast that he equated how exactly he should interact with people. He knew exactly how to flirt with every type of woman, with or without other women around them, at all of them or just a few or even one. He knew exactly how to avoid authorities on and off the computer; the only reason that he'd been caught by the law in the first place was that the computer that he'd been working on had been too slow. His pride about finishing every activity he set his mind to had helped him conveniently forget that by his calculations the FEDs would be there before he could escape.
It'd been a few hours before she returned, and with a few quick words the robot wasn't staring at him anymore. Andy let him out all smiles. "Sorry inconvenience, Mr. Donovan. The evidence was overwhelming."
Zane couldn't keep himself from laughing at Andy's words as he shut the cell door behind him. "Well, you can relax 'cause I'm not gonna sue you."
"Well, glad see the experience hasn't hardened you," Jo-Jo replied in a businesslike tone. "Thanks for your help," she said as she was hurrying out the door and Zane was angry over her avoiding a topic that he was sure he had a right to know about, not for intellectual reasons but for personal ones.
"Hang on," he demanded, "You're not getting off that easy, Lupo." He stopped following her when she stopped and turned to face him.
He figured that he needed to get it out before he tried any desperate measures. "I'm not stupid. I know something's happened with the five of you and part of it had to do with us." Well that was much more blunt than he'd intended but…
"Zane let it go," she nearly sounded as if she were pleading; he could hear the stress underlying her reasoning tone. "Grant's been cleared and so have you," she misdirected.
"I'm not talkin' about Grant," he said calmly. Then he stepped a lot closer to her for intimidation purposes. She'd be more likely to tell him what was going on if he invaded her space. He'd learned from growing up that less lies made it past you if you were staring someone straight in the face. "You had my grandmother's engagement ring, Jo." She was avoiding looking at him so he pressed harder. "Come on; tell me what we were to each other."
She glanced at him and hesitated; then it appeared she'd made up mind as she swallowed and she said, "Nothing," a false smile on her face while he gazed at her imploringly. "I gotta go," she once again hurriedly tried to leave but the huge gaps in the conversation and many of the tells that enable you to know if another person was lying to you were immediately apparent.
Feeling a little desperate to know and wanting to not let her escape before he could properly interrogate her he lightly tugged on her wrist before she could get too far. They glided together like they'd done so many times and her mouth tasted like Vinspresso, which he was sure he'd never drunk before so his memory identifying it was a puzzlement. He fought an instinctive battle with her tongue as he and she were standing at just the right balance and he was quite sure he'd never kissed someone so well on the first try with anyone. He could feel the tension and the heat in the atmosphere around them so he paused.
Drawing back, though he would have liked very much to continue, he asked, "Then why didn't that feel like the first kiss?"
Her throat caught and she avoided his gaze once more. She looked as if she was about to finally tell him something concrete when Zoe suddenly entered the station. "Zane!" Jo jumped back from him like he was the cookie jar and she the guilty child. "Hey. I just heard the good news; we should go and celebrate." As she clung to him he couldn't help but feel how wrong it felt to have her clinging to him. "Jo, do you wanna come?"
"No. No, no, no you two go ahead, I'll see you tomorrow," she said backing away at a frantic pace now.
The smile for Zoe fell from his face as he gazed forlornly after her retreating form.
Before he knew it, he and Zoe were at Café Diem celebrating his release; only Zane didn't have much of an appetite, nor was his mind on anything that Zoe was saying. He felt like a jackass. Why the… why had he… because he didn't want her to leave. He wanted some confirmation that this whole thing wasn't just a fluke, that she did feel something for him; that's why. He grimaced into his plate as he thought about how she'd definitely be avoiding him for quite some time. Everything after that kiss seemed bleaker. Would Jo even talk to him; let alone be anywhere alone with him anytime soon?
Zoe was still prattling on about something. "Yeah, sure," he said without thinking.
"Really?" Zoe yelled in extreme excitement and satisfaction.
Wincing, Zane pointed a confused look at Vincent who didn't look too happy to help him in his predicament, whatever it may be; or perhaps not because he was headed towards their table with drinks they hadn't ordered that were now being set in front of them. Suddenly Vincent smirked, "You're really going to try out for the play?" Play, what play? It must have been what Zoe had been talking about. He cautiously glanced at Zoe and slowly nodded at Vince.
"That's brilliant! I'll have lots of fun coordinating colors around your skin tone," Vincent said with enthusiasm. When Zane pointed another questioning look in his direction Vincent added, "I'm going to be the technical director," as if that explained everything.
"What's…" Zane began to ask but Zoe cut him off. "He's going to design the set, the sounds, and the lighting plans for the whole show."
"Oh, that's amazing," Zane answered. "Congrats on the position," he complimented Vince. Vincent gave him a strained smile as they hadn't been as cordial to one another after he and Zoe began spending time together without other people. Zane then took a pull on the drink that Vince had offered him, only to realize that it seemed to be a flat soda; Zane wouldn't give him the satisfaction though of letting him know anything was wrong with the drink. Then out of respect, Vince grudgingly mentioned the play's information being on a flyer next to the door.
"Zane?" Zoe began hesitantly, "was there something going on at my Dad's station that I should know about; between you and Jo I mean?"
Zane heaves a sigh of frustration and answers, "I'm not sure; somethin's been goin' on with a group of people in town and it could be any number of disproved theories that no one here would believe in. Sometimes I think I'm close to finding the answer and then it just slips away out of sight like it was never there to begin with."
Zoe sighs and then says, "Yeah I know; my Dad's been acting really weird and at first I thought it was because he was finally in a couple's relationship with Allison but… his behavior can't all be from that. I'm surprised that you noticed something was… off; Vincent hasn't even noticed," she remarked with an astonished tone.
Zane grins in response, "I always knew you were smart Zoe Carter."
"I'm glad you think so," she remarked sardonically, "so you wanna tell me why you were making out with Jo?"