Rifiuto: Non Miriena

"Zane? Zane!"

She turned in a circle, searching for him, frantic. He was nowhere to be found. She was absolutely and completely alone. Somehow, someway, the man she had grown to love had vanished, leaving her within this white, neverending abyss. Tears began to cloud her vision, and she struggled to breathe.

"Mommy!" She turned, expecting to see another image from what could be- what should have been- their future together, but instead, she found herself staring at an image on a video camera.

"Go to Mommy, Nessa! Look! Mommy's over there! Go on!"

"Come here, sweetheart!"

Jo swallowed, heart leaping into her throat as she watched herself come into view on the screen and kneel down.

She wore a pair of worn and ripped jeans and a red off-the-shoulder top that cinched in at the waist and exposed very light cleavage. Her long black hair was down in loose, soft waves of silk, and she wore a set of gold bangles on her right wrist. She was barefoot, and appeared to be in the living room of a beautiful mansion. "Come here, Nessa! I'm right here, baby! Come here!" A moment passed, before she looked up at the camera. "I don't think she's going to come to me, Ev." He chuckled.

"She'll come to you, Jojo, she's just being stubborn, like-"

"You?" Her grin was infectious, and he laughed.

"I'd say she's more like you." He replied. She glared at him, sticking her tongue out.

"I'd say my granddaughter's like both of her parents." The camera panned, to see James Lupo, holding Vanessa in his arms. He pressed a kiss to his granddaughter's cheek, and she squealed, wrapping her arms tight around his neck.

"Dad?" Her voice was choked with tears; the last time she'd spoken to her father, she'd been a teenager, and had broken off all ties with him in a fit of rebellion.

"Dad! She's not going to come to me if you're here!" Jo cried, hands on her slender hips as she stood. Evan chuckled, and walked into view; he made a beeline for Jo, grabbing her around the waist from behind and pulling her into his arms.

"Evan!" She screeched as her husband lifted her off the floor and spun her around. "Evan Cross, you put me down! Now!"

"I don't think so, Jo!" He replied, even as he set her back on her feet and pressed a firm kiss to her temple. She turned to look up at him, and with a wide smile, captured his lips in a deep kiss.

"Oh for God's sake!"

"Get a room!"

"Don't you two ever get tired of sucking face?"

Jo teared up even more as the voices of her older brothers entered the frame, and the camera panned, showing Ricco sitting on the sofa, his wife with him. Emily, if Jo remembered correctly. Ricco's high school sweetheart. Luca came into view, a four-year-old boy hanging off his shoulders, small arms around his neck, and Jo choked on a sob. That meant that...

"Davie, put down the camera! This is Evan and Jo's party, they should be the ones running the camera!"

"Since when is family dinner up in Vancouver our party?" Jo asked, as Evan tightened his grip on her waist. She reached up, wrapping an arm around his neck.

Davie had died in Iraq, not long after she returned stateside. In her timeline, her middle brother never got the happy ending depicted here.

"You do know that if I hadn't gone into the Army that I'd-"

"Have been a director in Hollywood, we know!" His siblings cried in unison. His only brother-in-law laughed, pulling his wife closer.

"So when exactly are you two going to give me a grandson? Or another granddaughter?" James asked, and the camera shifted quickly from the older man to the couple, who shared startled looks.

"What... makes you think we're going to have any more kids, Dad?" Jo asked, glancing at Evan. James scoffed.

"Well I'm hoping you do. It's my duty as their grandfather to spoil my grandchildren rotten. Besides, you are my only daughter. And you're married to a man that... couldn't be a more perfect match for you, Josefina. I'm proud of you." She gave her father a small smile, before turning back to her husband.

"What do you think?" She whispered. "Should we tell them?"

"Whenever you're ready to, Jojo." She nodded, turning in his arms and taking his face in her hands.

"I'm ready now. It's been long enough; I think it's safe."

"Tell us what?" Luca piped up. "Come on, what are you two hiding?" Several minutes passed, before Jo curled into his embrace, tucking her head beneath his chin.

"You'll get your wish, Dad. In about... five months." He rubbed Jo's back, squeezing her gently. "We're having a baby."

Cries of shock and congratulations were heard, and she pulled away, looking up at her husband. He kissed her firmly, before holding her close.

"Why didn't you tell us sooner?"

"I thought there was something different about you, Jo!"

"So there's a reason why you're glowing!"

She laughed, accepting the hugs and kisses going around. Excitement filled the room, and after several minutes, Davie's wife Amy asked,

"Boy or girl?" Jo took a deep breath, unable to hide her excitement.

"Boy. We're having a baby boy." Then, she turned back to Evan, and captured his lips in a deep, loving kiss.

Tears began to slide down Jo's cheeks as the image continued to play. So she'd been pregnant in this timeline- and this was obviously before Eureka, so at some point, either before or after, she'd lost the baby. And it had obviously, very deeply affected her. Pile a miscarriage on top of being forced to move over a hundred miles away to another country for a job, being forced to leave her husband and daughter and everything ever known, and Jo could understand why her alternate had been so bitter, so hateful. She'd had everything she'd ever loved taken away...

Maybe they weren't quite alternate versions after all.