Rifiuto: Non Miriena
He chuckled.
Zane and Jo looked up. She pulled away, wiping her eyes.
"I promise, I won't get into any trouble."
A younger Zane- probably about eighteen or so- was chatting on the phone with his mother. He sat at a table outside a small coffee shop, typing away on his laptop.
"Where-" Jo asked, looking back at him.
"Um... New... New York. The Downtown Bistro in Manhattan, just off the Business District. I bounced around New York for a bit. Spent a couple nights in jail, made bail, worked my way through the districts. This was-"
"September eleventh." Jo cut him off. They could see the towers in the background, and minutes later, a quartet came out of the coffeeshop, laughing about something.
"Honestly Tam, I don't see how you can stand not wanting to play with those two gorgeous boys!"
"I spend the majority of my time away from them, Josie! Jadie's the one that gets to spend all her time with them, when she isn't working the restaurant."
"Yes, but as your- and our- sacred duties as aunts, those boys need to be spoiled. Until they're rotten."
Jo started recognizing her own voice. Zane looked at her.
"You were-" She nodded.
"It was a trip. One last week together before we went our separate military ways. We'd stopped by Windows on the World the day before to see Jadie, had had lunch with her, and were... planning on going back that afternoon. Jadie had planned on taking a break and meeting us at Windows to have... one last lunch date before we all left, but..."
"But the towers were hit." She nodded.
"And Jadie was killed." Zane shivered. The thought that he and Jo had been in the same city, at the same time, was enough to excite him, but the thought of her, Rowley, Hertz and Blythe, being in Windows on the World at the same time while he was down below...
It scared the hell out of him.
The possibility that she could have been trapped on the one hundred sixth floor with the other patrons and workers of Windows, could have died either from smoke inhalation, jumped, or when the tower collapsed one hundred and two minutes later, terrified him. The very real possibility that she wouldn't be in his arms now raced through his mind, and he struggled to shake the image away.
"Yes, well, the three of you can, but-" Jo turned, catching his eye, and he looked her quickly up and down before giving her a quick smile. She blushed and returned it with a small one of her own. But suddenly, her attention was diverted, and she looked up, shielding her eyes from the sun.
"Josie, what are you-" Suddenly, everyone's attention turned skyward.
They saw the outline of a plane flying overhead. Watched as it made its way towards the tower, waited for it to turn, only to watch it crash into the North Tower. Cries of shock erupted from the other patrons, and Zane stood, unable to take his eyes off the sight. Minutes later, a second plane crashed into the South Tower.
Chaos erupted.
"Oh God."
"Mom. I'll talk to you later... something's happened..." He hung up the call, joining as everyone rushed to the World Trade Center. They were met by people rushing from the towers, heard the screams, watched as firemen and police rushed to help. Everything seemed to slow. The South Tower collapsed, even as the North remained standing. She dropped her bag, her coffee cup, and rushed to join the fray of officers going to help, but was held back.
"No! I'm military! Please! Let me help! I'm Army, damn it! I'm General Lupo's daughter! Let me help!" But she was shoved back, forced to run as the tower finally began to collapse in on itself, sending a burst of ash and smoke their way. The five rushed through downtown Manhattan, along with hundreds upon hundreds of others. The girls were separated; Jo found herself latching onto Zane's hand as they ran.
"We have to get inside!" He screamed; she nodded, looking back to see the cloud behind them. Eventually, they stumbled, hitting the pavement and slamming into each other. Rolling over glass and debri, becoming covered in dust as the cloud washed over them, even as they huddled in each others' arms behind the van they'd rolled behind.
The memory brought back images of the dust cloud explosion that had caught her, Carter and Zane- her Zane- back in the other timeline.
She buried her face in his chest, he held her close, burying his face in her hair as the cloud enveloped them and all of downtown. Moments passed that felt like hours. Eventually, they pulled away, to find themselves surrounded by destructions and ash. Both were coated in it, with only their eyes untouched. She looked up at him.
"I'm Jo."
"Zane." They akwardly shook hands, and he said, "Never expected this would be the way to meet a girl." She scoffed, looking down at her clothes.
"Do you think it's over?" He shrugged.
"Let's go find out." When they stood, they found that they were not the only ones coated in fine, granulated dust from the towers. As they made their way down the street, still holding hands, they couldn't help taking in the sight of destruction around them. People helped others down the street, towards any shelter they could find. Screaming and crying could be heard. Moments passed before he said, "Come on. Let's go find a firehouse." He led her through the streets, coming upon one that would be famous the world over for not having lost a single man, and stumbled into it, dazed.
"The towers, they just... they fell... collapsed in on themselves... ash... all over the street." One of the men took Jo aside, but Zane was reluctant to let go of her hand. After hours of asking everyone if they'd see three young women fitting her friends' descriptions, the three stumbled into the firehouse, dazed, shaking and just as covered as Zane and Jo. Hugs and questions were exchanged, stories of where they'd hid when the cloud washed over them, and what exactly had happened were asked and answered, when Tam asked,
"Jadie... she must have gotten out... right?" She turned to look at her friends. One of the firemen spoke up.
"If she worked in Windows, she wouldn't have survived." Tam shook her head, rushing from the firehouse. The others followed; they made it towards the debris, and she stopped, shaking her head.
"No! She has to be in there! She has to be!" But police held her back. Twelve hours, they stood, watching as the crews worked to pull people- any, dead or alive, whole or partial- from the wreckage. Hardly anyone survived, not many were still corpses to pull. After fourteen hours of watching them, Tam rushed towards the debri, but Jo and Gwen held her back. "Jadie!"
Eventually, her knees gave out, and Tam crumbled, taking Jo and Gwen with her, as her scream sliced the air.
Zane glanced at Jo. He saw her struggling to keep from crying.
"They found nothing. Not a scrap of Jadie left. Not even a fingernail or strand of hair. She's an empty coffin back in the cemetery in Jersey. I... enlisted not long after. Went over to Afghan."
He nodded. This memory was seared in his mind. It was as much Jo's memory as it was his, maybe even moreso. So he couldn't say that he wasn't relieved when this one faded, and one of her memories appeared next.