Disclaimer: I don't own Eureka, the characters, or their cannon.
A/N: I have been desperately avoiding addressing the Zoe issue in this fic, but I thought it was about time. I tried to make it a realistic, albeit angsty, way to handle it. There's a little less Jo/Zane interaction in this one, but no worries, it's still all about them. :) Appearances made by Zoe, Carter, &the rest of the Fab 5.
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Jo had been trying to burn off all of her depression and frustration, and had been doing it the least violent way she knew - jogging. She had made a loop around the perimeter of the town and was now jogging back through the middle to her car. Maybe she would go back to Carter's for a bit before going to GD's gym and doing some strength training.
She had been crossing at a designated crosswalk when one of the drivers started yelling at her. Jo managed to ignore him until she caught her name. Looking back, she saw it was Zane.
Because of her run, she did not have the energy to work herself up into a really irritated mood. Instead she felt soft tug of longing in her chest, and she was too worn out from her long run to try to fight it. She really did not want to see Zane right now, but he was causing a scene in the middle of town, and she doubted he was going to stop on his own.
"Should you be jogging so soon after surgery?" he called out.
Jo blinked. Surgery? Oh, the bullet. "It's been weeks, Zane. And Dr. Blake gave me a clean bill of health. Remember?" But she was still flattered he cared, even though she wished she did not.
"I know. Hey... uh... you want to get coffee?"
"What, right now? Is this something that can wait until work tomorrow?" She felt gross and sad, and the last thing she needed was to be out in public like that with the person causing half of those feelings.
But the gentleman in the car behind Zane's, who had long since given up honking his horn, had an opinion of his own. "Just say yes already so he'll move his damn car!"
Zane threw a dirty look over his shoulder, and Jo sighed in defeat. She pointed up ahead to a parking spot, and moved out of the crosswalk so the cars, which had lined up mostly patiently behind Zane, could continue on. She reached the same time he did, and stood outside his rolled down window, arms crossed over her chest. Yeah she felt defensive. At least she acknowledged that.
"Is it something about the project going on at GD?" she asked cautiously.
His brows furrowed for a second. "No, not exactly. I... I just want to talk."
Her own eyebrows rose. "Talk? About things that can be said in public, or things that have to be said behind sound-proof walls?"
"Come on Jo-Jo, just a casual date-like hour or two. No work, no secret stuff. Just us and a couple of coffees."
She frowned in confusion. "Zane... a date? What about Zoe?" Jo had been trying to avoid thinking about him and Zoe, but at this point it was impossible. Zoe meant so much to her, not only as one of her few female friends, but almost like a sister. She wanted to hate Zoe for being with Zane, but she could not. So she had been trying to stay out of her way.
"Zoe? What about her?" he asked, looking confused.
"She's one of my best friends, Zane. And you're dating her."
His jaw dropped a little. "I... I didn't know. That she was your friend, I mean. Sure, we've gone a few dates, but that's it."
Jo sighed. "Zane, she's really in to you. And... I won't be the one to hurt her like this. It's already hard enough as it is keeping everything from her."
"But Jo... what about what we had?"
"What WE had? I don't think so, Donovan. It's what I had with someone else." She had to believe that. She had to believe that there really was another Zane - her Zane - waiting for her. Otherwise she might give up all hope.
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He could not believe she just threw that back at him. He could tell she was about to walk away, and at this point he was embarrassed and frustrated with her. He had asked her out - again, and once again been turned down. And she had rubbed it in her face that he was not her Zane. Not as good, not as... perfect. Once again he felt the strange feeling of being jealous of himself.
"Fine," he finally snapped. "Enjoy having coffee with someone else."
Before he could be hurt any more, he put the car in reverse and pulled out. He left her there, staring at him, expression shuttered, arms crossed over her chest. If she wanted to hold on to her perfect Zane, let her.
Yeah, he was a little upset. He had gone out of his way, put himself on the line, probably even made himself look like a fool, and for what? So she could make him feel like a loser. He did not need that. He could make himself feel like a loser all on his own, and suddenly one of the two people in the town he thought actually might respect him obviously favored the better version of him.
And the other was barely 18. Zoe. He sighed as he thought about the tangle he was in. He enjoyed irritating Carter, and he appreciated the attention and exuberance Zoe always showed him. And while going on a few casual dates with Zoe had been fun, he had not expected her to take it as far as Jo seemed to think she had. Had he been giving Zoe the wrong impression about their relationship? While she was in town for the summer, they had flirted and gone to dinner. But Zoe was still a kid and had a lot of growing up to do before ... well, before he could consider her as anything more serious.
As he pulled to a stop outside of his house, he realized that somehow he was going to have to have a conversation with Zoe. One where he asked just how serious he thought they were.
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Instead of heading home to Carter's place or to the GD gym, Jo went to see how her new house was doing. The first team had quit after the incident where half of them were turned to stone, so now she had a new team on the job. Ever since she had learned that it was Zane who Zoe had been all aflutter over, Jo had been on Fargo's case to hurry the house along. There was nothing worse than Zane coming to the house for a date... with someone else.
A separate shed had been set up next to the foundation and framework of the house to house all of her furniture. GD had an orientation department which assisted in the relocation and orientation of new employees, and Jo had enlisted the aid of the woman in charge to take care of the furnishing of her house. As long as there was a secure gun room and a dojo in the back, anything would be fine. The movers were on standby, and as soon as her new foreman, Clark, gave the word, her house would be ready in hours.
She spoke with Clark, and he seemed optimistic about finishing the house by the end of the week. Jo was surprised it would be done so soon, but there were also a lot more people working on it this time.
While she was walking the perimeter, she got a call from Carter.
"Lupo," she answered.
"Hey Jo. Is... everything okay?"
"Yeah, why? What's wrong?" What disaster had struck now? She looked around her, senses on alert for danger.
"Nothing, nothing, Allison just said she saw you and Zane arguing in town. And then when you didn't come home..."
Jo sighed, letting her body relax after confirming there was no danger or eavesdroppers nearby. "No, I'm fine. I came over to see how the building was coming along for my new house. It should be done by the end of the week."
"Really? That soon? But I mean, how are things with you and Zane? I know it's hard for you. Grace gave me a call. She was worried about you."
"I'll be fine."
"Okay, well, if you ever want to talk about it..."
"What are you going to say, Carter? Are you going to tell me it'll be alright? We don't know for sure. We have no idea if we can get the bridge device to work again, if when we go back we'll be able to change anything, or get back to the old timeline. What if it - and him - are gone forever?"
"Listen, Jo, I don't know if we will ever able to get back to our original time line. This may be all we have now. And... I hate to see you so sad. If there was any way you and Zane could have here what you did then -"
"I don't know, Carter," she cut him off. "I'm going to be out for a bit before I come home. I need to clear my head, to think."
"Sure Jo. Whatever you need."
What Joe needed was a change. Maybe moving would be the first step in starting over. New job, new home, maybe even new hobbies. Anything to take her mind off of her breaking heart.
Jo hoped it was enough. Something needed to change soon or else she was not going to be able to stay in Eureka much longer.
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Carter hung up the phone and was about to call Allison back when he heard one of the worst sounds in the world. It was the sound of almost certain disaster and drama. His daughter's voice.
"Dad, what's going on?"
He turned slowly to see Zoe standing with her hands on her hips at the bottom of the stairs.
"Hi Honey. How was your day at school? I didn't realize you were already home."
"Well, I have been for a while. Did you really mean all that stuff you just said on the phone?"
"It's... it's not what you think, Honey."
"Don't lie to me. I could tell something was wrong when you came and visited me. Are you... from a different time line? Where is my real dad?"
Carter rushed over to her. She began to look worried and a little scared, and she shied away from him. "Honey, I am your real dad I guess, well, it's a little complicated. And I couldn't tell anyone."
"So explain it to me. And you did tell people. You told Jo."
"It's not that easy. And Jo... already knew."
"You mentioned Zane on the phone... him too? Who all is involved with this? And why isn't it easy?"
"Because we could get in real trouble if people ever found out what happened."
Zoe crossed her arms over her chest and looked affronted. "I can't believe you won't tell me. Don't you trust me?"
She looked ready to storm out, so Carter quickly grabbed her and hugged her. "Of course I trust you Zoe."
"Then explain it to me."
Carter had to break up the shouting match between Fargo and Zoe barely minutes after they had arrived at the head of GD's office. He was mad that she had found out and that they had to tell her, and he obviously did not trust her. Zoe was stamping her foot and demanding to be treated like an adult. It was Henry who finally managed to not only explain what had happened to Zoe, but also impress upon her the importance of the situation.
"If it's known that we violated the time travel protocols, Zoe, they would imprison us. They would imprison us, run tests on us, interrogate us for information, and would likely never let us go."
Carter watched his daughter slowly glance around at all of the faces in the room. He had brought her up to Fargo's office in GD, where Fargo had set up a masking system to keep others from listening in. Henry had met them there, as had Grace and Allison. Grant was gone, globetrotting somewhere, and Jo had declined to attend.
"It's not like every time I get into an argument with my dad I'm going to threaten to tell or anything," Zoe grouched.
"We know, Zoe, but it might be harder for you not to mention it. Accidents and slips do happen, and your father probably thought telling you as little as possible would make it easier on you," Allison tried soothingly
"Not as if Zane could find out twice," Fargo snorted quietly too himself, but Zoe honed in on the mention of that name immediately.
"Zane knows? Really?" she brightened up. Then she turned thoughtful. "But you all hate Zane! Why would you tell him, and not me?" She looked insulted.
"It was one of those little slips I mentioned," Allison started.
"Who? Who slipped up?"
Allison glanced at Carter. In fact, they all glanced at Carter. Zoe, of course noticed, and turned to face him as well. "You, Dad? YOU told Zane?"
"No, I didn't tell Zane! Remember a week ago when some of us were having hallucinations?" She nodded carefully, having only heard a little bit about it.
"Well, Jo hallucinated that she saw Zane. And there was one - or two - instances when she spoke to the real Zane as if he were the fake one. And she accidentally said a few things that made him confront her about it."
"I don't understand... why was she seeing Zane? Didn't you say you and Allison each saw your exes?"
Grace decided to save him from this part of the already uncomfortable conversation. "In the timeline that they come from, Zoe, some things are different. For example, Henry and I," she glanced fondly at her husband, "we barely knew each other."
"But Jo and Zane..." she continued, looking back over at Zoe, "they had been dating for two years, since he arrived in Eureka. They were just about to get engaged. In fact he proposed the day everything changed."
Zoe's mouth dropped, and the rest of her quickly followed onto one of Fargo's white couches. "But.. Jo and Zane hate each other!"
"Maybe they did in this timeline, but it was a different Jo. This Jo loved... and probably still loves, Zane."
"Oh my god she must hate me!" Zoe gasped.
Carter rushed to deny it. "Of course not. She doesn't blame you at all. But it is... hard on her."
"That's why she's been avoiding me since I started seeing him," she said softly. "I thought it was just because she disapproved. But has she... she hasn't tried to stop me from seeing him, has she?"
Carter shook his head, and exchanged a look with Grace. They knew Jo was hurting a lot on the inside, but she was having trouble letting anyone else see. If somehow things could be better with Zoe, they might be able to keep her from leaving.