Rifiuto: Non Miriena

Thanks to Hendrick248848 and Mrs. Fantasy for reviewing 19 and Ghostrider for reviewing 14, 18 and 19.

"She's so pretty! Why is she so tiny?" Jenna looked up at her parents, who sat together on the sofa, watching their children.

"Because she's only a day old. She'll get bigger, don't worry." Jack told the little girl, as he pulled her onto his lap.

"What's her name?" Jenna asked, reaching out to run her fingers over her sister's small hands. The baby reached up and took ahold of the girl's finger, an action that made the girl squeal in delight. They shared a knowing smile before Jo said,

"Erica. Erica Samantha."

"Really?" Jo nodded. Jenna looked down at her sister. "We can call her Eri. Or Ria."

"Or Sam." Jack said, making eye contact with his wife.

"If we call her same, people will think we're talking about our son. I don't want her to go through that. I went through that when I was growing up because my brothers insisted on calling me either Jo or Joey, and then never explaining that it was short for Josefina, not Joseph." Jo took a sip of her water before adjusting her hold on her daughter. "Anyway, now we can get back to normal."

"Normal? Normal?" Jack pulled away to look at her. "Jojo, I don't know if you've forgotten, but... this is EUREKA! THERE'S NO SUCH THING AS NORMAL!" Jo rolled her eyes, and leaned over to kiss him on the lips in an attempt to quiet him.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting to hear from you today. What's up?" Jo asked, tucking the phone into her shoulder as she settled on the sofa, Erica in her arms.

"I'm good. How are my girls?" She didn't hide the giddy smile as she watched her daughter nurse.

"We're doing good. Now what's wrong?"

Silence met her. "Nothing."

"Jack. I know you. Now what is it?"

"It's nothing we can't handle here at GD without you." He replied.

"What's wrong?" She demanded, not letting it go. He sighed. "Jack. You know I'm going to find out eventually."

"We have... a bit of a situation down at GD."

"How big of a situation?" She asked.

"Oh not very. Just a... small firecracker on the fritz."

"On the fritz how?"

He laughed nervously. "Jojo, do you remember when Kevin accidentally set off that huge fireball in the kitchen, and it got loose and went after every firearm in the town about... two years ago?"

"Including my own firearms?" She replied. "It ignited four of my pistols and melted two of my proton shotguns. I wanted to kill Kevin. Yes, Jack, I remember. And please, don't tell me that that's what this is again, because if it is, I will personally kill you myself."

"It's not that, Jojo."

"Then what is it?" She watched her daughter for several minutes. "Jack? What is it?"

"I'm not sure how, but the geeks in the Adjustable Fire Lab were experimenting with firecrackers as missiles and let a couple of them loose. We've been trying to find something that can catch them without doing much harm to the town-"

"Have you tried a magnarlicus?"

"A what?" She sighed, buttoning her blouse and standing. She moved upstairs with their daughter in her arms, headed for the baby's room. For a moment, she set the phone down and laid the little girl in her crib and turned the mobile Fargo and Holly had given them on. Several captured stars moved around in a circle, playing a gentle tune as the mobile turned. The blinking lights and soft music soon put the baby asleep. Straightening, she picked up the phone again and gently gave the mobile another push.

"Sorry about that, I just put Eri down for her nap. Now, what were we talking about?"

"Magla..."

"Oh, right, magnarlicus. It's a magnetic, invisible force field designed to attrack fireballs. Once caught, the balls desintegrate."

"Hold on a minute." She sat down in the rocking chair in the corner of her daughter's room and waited, watching the mobile above the crib, letting the gentle tune lull her to sleep...

"We've tried it!" She jumped, her eyes snapping open, the phone clattering to the floor. "Jo? Jojo, are you okay?" Quickly, she reached down and snatched it up, embarrassed that her husband had caught her falling asleep.

"Sorry. What did you say?"

"We tried the net thing. Anything else?"

"How... how about the arkelisa?"

"The what?" She rolled her eyes.

"Hold on, I'll be right down." She started to set the phone down and get up when he spoke up.

"You can't leave Sam home by herself, she's four weeks old!"

"I'm not leaving Eri home, I'm bringing her with me." She said, going to the crib and scooping her daughter up.

"You can't bring a baby to GD!"

"Well I can't leave her home! And you need my help!"

"Jo-"

"Stay there!" She got everything ready and then grabbed her handgun.

"You grabbed one of your handguns, didn't you?" Jack asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"So you cannot put a handgun in the car with our four week old daughter!"

"Stop worrying, we'll be fine, and I'll be there in a few minutes."

It didn't take her long to get to GD. Nothing appeared out of the ordinary on the drive over, but when she reached everyone in the main lobby of GD, she saw that Jack hadn't been exaggerating. Burning piles of rubble that had once been computers, holes the size of elephants, and missing tiles made the whole place look like a warzone. Certain departments were on lockdown, and the research lab was on the fritz, attempting to figure out what the problem was caused by and how to trap it. Jack rushed up to her as soon as she made it into the hall.

"I thought I told you to stay home with Sam." He said, kissing her quickly.

"You need my help, obviously." She replied.

"Oh, is that Erica? She's gotten so big!" Holly cried, coming over to the baby and scooping her up.

"So, what exactly are we looking for?" Jo asked, now that her daughter was in the loving hands of Dr. Martin, who adored the baby.

"Psychotic firecrackers." Jack told her as they joined the others. She nodded. "Still think Eureka's normal?" He asked, turning to look at her.