Author's Notes: See Chapter One

Rating: T (again, portions of this might reference M-level stuff thanks to Zane's hallucinations so if you think the rating is wrong...let me know)

Notes: I am so sorry for the huge, obscene delay in this chapter. I actually had a series of writer's blocks for this chapter in terms of plot, tone and well most of it really. Thank you to everyone who reviewed this story in recent months as it was incredibly helpful for guilt-tripping myself into buckling down and getting this done. I still plan to finish this but again, it might take a while. I really want to end on a high note so the "I'll Be Seeing You" chapter needs to just perfect before I'll post it here.

Chapter Seven – The Ex-Files

Jo cursed under her breath as she glanced at the dashboard clock. Zane, damn him, appeared wholly unconcerned that they were insanely late to the Deacon's barbecue. Which, Jo conceded, was a little bit her fault. A couple weeks ago, Zane had alluded to plans involving showers, her and him. This morning, Jo had merely intended to remind him. Jo tapped a finger on the steering wheel as she drove, mentally forbidding a sigh to escape. It had been a really good plan.

Zane's hand reached across the front seat of her car, covering her own on the steering wheel and ceasing her tapping. "Jo?"

She bristled slightly at the question in Zane's voice. "I'm not chickening out. It's just that between Zoe and the Grants, this will be the most stressful party that I've attended in a long time."

Zane tilted his head a moment, retracting his hand. "Isn't it the only party you've attended in a long time?" She diverted her eyes from the road a moment to glare at him. "Kidding. Besides, your dedication and focus –" Only Zane Donovan could make those attributes sound x-rated. "Are growing on me. Especially the focus." Jo felt rather than saw him smirking at her.

Do not encourage him. Do not encourage him. Jo willed a blush out of existence before replying. "Today, I need to focus on the Grants." She puffed out a breath. "And not hurting Zoe."

"Okay, so since I'm the worst possible choice for Zoe-related corrective actions, I call dibs on spying on the Grants." Zane met her glare with ease. "Unless you'd rather me try to deal with Zoe-"

"No." Jo's voice was emphatic. Unlike a few months ago, she knew that Zane had good intentions. But judging by his response to Zoe's crush, what he lacked was any intuition for how much the girl was hurting right now. The crush on Zane was a symptom. Jo knew, with furious certainty, the real problem was whatever happened with Lucas. When that poofy-haired snot got back into town-

As they pulled up to the Deacon's home, Jo noted the cars present and those missing. "Dammit."

Zane nodded in agreement as he released his seatbelt. "It seems the Grants are busy." Jo bit her lip. The Grant's absence denied them both the pleasing distraction of focusing on the latest Eureka mystery rather than her little sister in all but name. Zane waited, eying her warily.

Under other circumstances, Jo would be very amused at Zane Donovan demonstrating restraint, patience and good sense all in one go. Right now her thoughts demanded more of her attention. Technically, Zoe already knew about Jo and Zane. In another easier life, Jo imagined a very different trip to the spa for girl-talk, with her informing Zoe of her newly-not-single status. Jo could easily imagine that Zoe's reaction full of happy squeeing and "OMG, how did this happen?please,comeonyouhavetotellme!".

After tolerating her reluctance a few moments, Zane finally spoke. "Jo, " He said, gently. "We're not going to rub her face in it. Zoe's enough of a scientist to know definitive evidence and she knows what she saw yesterday."

Jo faced him, trying and failing to keep the uncertainty out of her voice. "So why are we doing this again?"

"Corroboration. Repeatability. Establishes a pattern. Proves there's something bigger in all the chaos." Once again, Zane reached across the front seat to squeeze her hand. "Otherwise, it could be just a freak occurrence, a blip."

A two-year long blip? A non-scientist like Jo could identify that trend. Even at the height of their animosity, Jo hadn't wanted him any less. And now that she had him….Jo squeezed back. "I see no blips here." Zane grinned widely as they exited the car.

The Deacon backyard overflowed with paraphernalia for suburban outdoor fun. A table full of dishes sat off to the side, with folding chairs scattered about. In the rear corner of the yard, someone had set-up a croquet game waiting for interested parties. At another table, Fargo was doing something to a stereo which was bound to explode any minute. Jack and Alison stood off to the side, flirting over a shared bowl of guacamole. Henry & Grace clustered together, both adjusting some sort of devices attached to their temples. Henry noticed them first.

"Hey! Welcome! Come on in!" Jo hugged them both in quick succession. Zane, surprisingly hesitant at such attention, shot Jo a wide-eyed look over Grace's shoulder when the woman embraced him in greeting. Jo knew that Henry shared everything with his wife. As far as both Deacons were concerned, hacking the Pentagon and risking going back to jail to protect the town were a hug-worthy acts.

A burst of music broke up their greetings. Fargo, proud of himself, began dancing next to the stereo. Jo snickered at her boyfriend's expression. Zane had arrived in town well after Fargo reinvented himself as Dr. Stark's bumbling, tyrannical assistant but Jo remembered their boss fresh from his post-doc fellowship and considerably more fancy-free.

Jack's mocking but amused voice cut the through the music. "Having fun, Fargo?"

Fargo halted mid-jive. He straightened, clearing his throat. "Just setting the mood, Sheriff."

"Is the mood 'crazy'?" Jo's breath hitched at Zoe's voice. Scanning the yard, she found the girl seated off to the side, hidden behind a pile of plastic-ware and napkins.

Fargo bristled slightly. "Festivity is not insanity." Zoe did not deign that with a response besides a quick wrinkle of her nose. She also did not spare Jo and Zane a glance much less greet either of them. Fargo, upon watching the girl a moment, frowned at Zoe before rubbing his hands together excitedly. "When do we eat?"

"Well-" Grace disentangled herself from her husband's attention. "Vincent was kind enough to provide us some ahi tuna steaks. So, we just need to sear those and then, we are good to go." She gestured to a Redi-cool tote and a strange-looking blowtorch next to it.

Jo's stomach growled, causing everyone to grin. Zane failed to hide an especially pleased expression. She didn't have to be a mind reader to know he was thinking of the reason that they both missed breakfast. Grace picked up the blowtorch, extending it to Fargo. "If you will do the honors…" Jo smiled at the sheer delight on her boss's face.

Carter, however, groused from his position next to Alison. "Whatever happened to good old fashioned charcoal & hamburgers?"

That earned him an affectionate rebuke from Alison. "Jack, tuna is far healthier -"

Zane interjected with a rebuke of his own. "Come on, Blake! Under certain conditions, I could definitely see you as a cheeseburger kind of girl." Jo gently elbowed him in the side, earning a smirk in response. Alison shot Zane a good-natured glare. Unfortunately for Alison, Carter noticed all this and appeared more than a little interested in the (Alison + cheeseburgers) equation.

Having spent the conversation focused on setting up the blowtorch, Fargo added his opinion. "Besides, who wouldn't want to see this beauty in action? Hydrogen feeds, multi-modal temperature regulation-"

Zoe, from her perch next to the picnic table, waved a dismissive hand. "Hydrogen, ha!"

Fargo narrowed his eyes before replying in a sing-song voice. "Just one proton you contain, Yet you baffled Neils Bohr's brain. The Hindenburg was filled with you, Seems that was an error too, But that blast was downright teeny, Compared to testing at Bikini. When four of you are shoved together, That creates our summer weather. Balmer's lines are colored bright, Lyman's look like dark of night. In gas you pair up two by two, No element outnumbers you.*" Zoe smirked slightly, showing signs of her old self for the first time since Jo & Zane had arrived. Jo got the sneaking suspicion that the two were rehashing an old argument. Although why Zoe & Fargo would argue about hydrogen was beyond her.

Henry & Grace beamed at the exchange. Grace released a breathless sigh. "Woolley certainly knew how to turn a phrase." Jo nodded absently, sharing an eye-roll with Carter before a second thought occurred to her.

Jo eyed her boyfriend speculatively. "Zane, why does that poem seem familiar?" The wording, the first two rhymes. It was too similar.

Zane fidgeted a moment, conceding. "I may have modified an existing work to prove my hypothesis."

Amused, Jo leaned over, whispering. "I prefer your version." He smirked down at her, arm sneaking around her waist before she could stop him. Jo smiled, unfortunately seeing past her boyfriend to catch Zoe's expression at the gesture.

As happy as she was, Jo failed to suppress the guilty sting at Zoe's deflated expression. Cheerfulness was a Carter family trait, even in the face of town-destroying experiments. To see a Carter in such a state, no matter how inevitable or understandable or temporary, was unnatural to a certain extent. Watching Zoe out of the corner of her eye, Jo noticed the girl tense as if intending to flee. But before Zoe could make her excuses, a sharp piercing noise punctuated the homey tranquility of the Deacons' backyard.

"Sonofabitch!" Zane caught Fargo skittering away from the stereo when it emitted a flurry of sparks. As quickly as it rose, the screech fell to nothingness, leaving everyone in the backyard wincing and rubbing their ears. Zane shot a quick look over to Jo, confirming no obvious injuries or pain due to non-obvious causes such as giant bullets appearing somewhere in her body. Hey, fool me twice….

Zane's eyes narrowed as he caught the Deacons exchanging worried looks. He hadn't missed that both of them clutched the devices attached to their temples and not their ears like everyone else. He opened his mouth to ask what the hell was going on, only to be cut off by a falsely cheerful voice.

"Sorry, we're late." Everyone in the yard turned towards the gate, where the Grants stood somewhat stiffly. Beverly, arms full of potato salad, blinked innocently. "Did you have some trouble with the sound system?" She turned to her husband. "Charles, maybe you could lend a hand?"

The man beside her shrugged in his too-formal-for-a-backyard-barbeque suit. "I'm certain the Doctor Deacons do not need my wholly out-of-date assistance." Zane's eyebrows shot up at the slightly bitter tone to Mr. Grant's statement.

Grant had been hired as a science & technology historian, supposedly an expert in the out-of-date. It made no sense that he'd be bitter about his knowledge of the past state-of-the-art, unless...Zane and Jo shared a quick look as the Deacons welcomed the new arrivals. That's my girl, Zane thought. Their time-traveler was Dr. and not Mrs. Grant. Now they just had to prove it.

Three hours later, Zane shuffled around his lab bristling with defeat. In his criminal career, he depended more than once on his charm to talk his way into a system or discover information hidden from public view. Based on his performance today, however, you would never know that. Both Grants had been polite, cordial and completely evasive.

Now, taken by itself evasiveness certainly was not a crime, but put together with the recent GD hack and other aspects of the Grants' behavior, it certainly made for suspicious circumstances. While both went through the motions of a married couple, you only had to look at the Deacons or even Carter & Blake to know that the Grants' affection for each other was false.

It didn't help their story either that both were crappy liars, at least for out-right falsehoods. A couple times during attempts to talk to the Grants, Zane had to suppress laughter. As a former criminal, Zane was disappointed in both of them. Eureka being infiltrated by a temporal conspiracy was one thing, but being infiltrated by temporal conspirators who were lame at subterfuge? That was just insulting.

Jo and he both left the Deacons frustrated, spending the whole drive to GD griping to one another about the Grants from Mrs. Grant's weirdly chirpy voice to Dr. Grant's patronizing tendency to call everyone 'sport'. Zane had always assumed that he brought out the snark in the Enforcer but it appeared that when frustrated (which was something Zane knew that he did in fact bring out in her) she had a tendency for smack-talk. Like pretty much everything else about Jo, it prompted a grin and a desire to kiss her breathless.

When Zane had joked about not knowing where she utilized such skills in the past when he wasn't around, Jo's mood deflated, providing Zane his answer. How could he have forgotten? Zoe Carter was the grand high queen of Eureka smack-talk. Zane vaguely remembered getting out of GD holding early once because of Zoe had showed up to rant about some girls in her Cybernetics class and Jo, pissed at his constant interjections about cheerleader uniforms, had told him to 'Get lost'.

Jo put on a good front but Zane could see that Zoe's attitude stung. As happy as Zane was with Jo right now, he really wished Zoe would get the hell over herself. Wanting someone who didn't wanted you back, well he'd been there. And Zane knew he was at least partly responsible for this disaster. But, honestly, if Jo and Zoe were so goddamn close why was it solely Jo's responsibility to worry about Zoe's hurt feelings and not the reverse? He valued his life too much to ask Jo but Zane felt it was a valid question. Maybe if Zoe developed the hots for one of Jo's security goons….Zane idly brought up some personnel files that he did not officially have access to before stopping himself.

Past experience suggested that being a super-genius does not help when it came to Carters. Hell, both Carters possessed unofficial doctorates in making super-geniuses look like idiots. In fact, his girlfriend, who had been pretty damn awesome about 'the Carter situation', was one of the few Eureka residents who routinely demonstrated a capability for out-thinking the Carters. Zane closed out the files quickly. Better let Jo take point on this.

"Hello handsome." Zane grinned. Speak of the devi-Holy Shit. Instead of her usual monochromatic pantsuit, Jo was now clad in a sun-dress. A tight, red sun-dress that was his new favorite thing in the universe.

Zane, feeling his pulse pick up at the sight of her, gestured to her outfit. "What's the occasion?"

"Weelll," Jo moved into the room, eyes bright. "I thought due to our overnight activities that I missed an opportunity to dress appropriately for a picnic. Do you like?"

Zane snorted. "Yeah, I like." Jo smiled at him, edging ever closer. Zane's hands twitched at his sides but he decided that his girlfriend in a tightly fitted sun-dress was a sight worth savoring.

Then Zane's stupid godforsaken super-genius mind noticed something, ruining the moment. The air was flat. Every time he got within ten feet of Josephina Lupo, Zane felt like a walking Van De Graff Generator. Now, nothing. Something was wrong. He frowned at her. "Everything okay?"

She smiled up at him, hands reaching. "More than okay. You're always more than okay Zane." His eyes widened, grasping her wrists before they got where they were going.

He checked her pupils for signs of head injury. "What happened?"

"Happened? Nothing happened, Zane." Her hands started caressing the collar of his t-shirt. "Except me realizing how great you are." Her lips rose to meet his. If Zane hadn't already kissed and been kissed by Jo, he might have fell for it. But he knew her. God, how he knew her. That she nipped and sucked and gasped like it was a battle, never giving an inch and taking anything she wanted. The much-too-gentle lips on his possessed none of Jo's ferocity. Zane skittered back out of reach.

He swallowed. "Jo, I think we should go see Blake."

Jo frowned, closing the distance. "But I thought I was enough for you?" She smiled, expression suddenly eager to please. "Although, I'm okay with some experimentation if that's what makes you happy." She continued to reach, expression open and relaxed and not-at-all eviscerating him for even thinking of a threesome much less being stupid enough to ask her for one.

Zane's eyes widened. He forced himself to back up taking several deep breaths as he did so. "Jo –" His voice cracked. "you need help, medical help. That's why we're going to the infirmary, now." Jo immediately wilted but acquiesced, which was another freaky piece of evidence in the 'Jo has lost her ever-loving mind' category. Zane grabbed her elbow and dragged Jo out of the lab before his libido short-circuited morals that until this very moment he never suspected existed. This goddamn good-guy shit is one bit of trouble after another. Being the rebellious criminal was a cinch by comparison.

There was a time when having the Enforcer suggest a threesome with him would have made his millennia. A time before, and if he was honest, long before Founder's Day. But, hot as Blake was and aside from how very much the Sheriff would kill him, for two years since he'd seen her in that deputy uniform, Zane had wanted Jo Lupo and only Jo. Zane, risked a glance down at the woman he was pulling along, noting that although she smiled up at him, Jo once again made no move to protest or argue with him.

What the fuck, man? Arguing with Jo had turned into an elaborate and wildly hot form of foreplay. Having Jo show up (in a dress!), willing and compliant turned out to be nowhere near as hot as Zane would have otherwise thought.

Zane dragged her behind him, increasingly aware of stares as they passed in the hall. The past couple of months, he had gotten used to being the go-to guy for the crisis fix, for being handy in a pinch, for being trusted to save the day. Now, the scientists and security goons alike were back to staring at him like he was gonna explode any second. All because Jo went Stepford girlfriend. When he found the scientist responsible for this fiasco, they'd be begging for the pranks he pulled on Larry by the time Zane was done with them.

The doors to the infirmary opened ahead of him. Zane quickly scanned the room, seeing Blake standing over a patient. He stomped over, dragging Jo with him. "Blake, something's really wrong with Lup-"

Behind Blake, Jo was sitting on the infirmary bed. Jo in a pantsuit and looking freaked out. So, whose elbow was Zane holding? He stared back and forth. His mind rapidly supplied possible explanations. Cloning experiment gone wrong? Maybe fake-Jo was just a hologram. No, that wasn't right. Zane focused so intently on figuring the mystery out that he almost missed Blake's response.

"I take it that you're hallucinating too?"

Zane blinked. He slid his hand down faux-Jo's arm, noting that although the static tingle was not present her skin was otherwise just as soft and smooth as the real thing. "She doesn't feel like a hallucination."

Jo, apparently real-Jo, on the bed tilted her head to the right. "Neither does he." Something in Zane brightened. That terse, "don't fuck with me" attitude. That was his Jo. He dropped the arm under his hand, grinning.

Zane plopped himself down next to his girlfriend. "So, Blake, am I gonna live? Or do you need to a through exam to be sure?" He waggled his eyebrows. Blake pointedly ignored him, speaking instead to Jo.

"I'll do an MRI and EEG of Zane to see if he matches your readings. Then, I'll need to take some blood from both of you."

The scans were painless, confirming that he shared Jo's increased gamma wave activity and neurological imbalances. Zane almost made a comment about how the couple that goes crazy together stays together. Only Jo's increasingly disturbed glances to the empty space on her right stopped him. Zane tried not to worry too much about what not-him was telling her. His fake-Jo had switched to talking dirty in a breathless, submissive tone.

Thing is, anyone who actually had fucked Jo Lupo breathless (which he had) would know how ridiculous and wrong fake-Jo sounded. Although that idea about the whipped cream and cherries did have some merit.

Blake had left them alone for the most part, muttering under her breath as she examined their test results on a monitor. Sick of hallucination-Jo trying to reacquire his attention, Zane decided distract himself.

"So, I'm seeing you. And um," Zane risked a glance at the Jo by his side. "you're seeing me?"

Jo fidgeted, not willing to look at him. A part of Zane felt thrilled that he warranted crazy hallucinations. Even if Jo hadn't exactly chosen this, the fact that her hallucination was him meant that subconsciously he was important enough to focus on. Zane frowned, turning toward fake-Jo who immediately perked up at his renewed attention. Not like he was surprised at his subconscious. Jo, hot and bothered and completely willing. Except, fake-Jo for all that she was a walking talking fantasy come to life was also-

His ears pink, Zane whispered. "Mine's creepy too."

"I'm not naked, am I?" Zane snorted at that.

He shook his head. "Um, no." Zane looked at Jo, trying to be as clear as possible. "Not like you need to be, though."

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly. She moved a bit closer on the infirmary bed. "Stop, you're starting to sound like him." She jerked her head toward the right. After a moment's pause she continued. "If we're going to keep being able to tell the difference-"

Zane interjected emphatically. "She's nothing like you!"

That got him a gold star smile. Jo, hand on his arm, continued. "We can't let them confuse us. I cannot believe I'm saying this but I need you to be a jackass for a while." Jo smiled, taking the sting out of her request. "Nowhere near kind, considerate or-"

Zane glared at the empty space behind her, injecting as much mock-hurt into his tone as possible. "Your subconscious made me boring?"

Jo replied, voice soft. "Yeah, it kinda did." She looked just upset enough that Zane decided to share.

"Well, my subconscious made you submissive." Zane frowned. "And disturbingly slutty." Prior to this experience, Zane hadn't believed he'd ever considered anything disturbingly slutty but compliant and Jo together with the innuendos fake-Jo had been offering up to attract his attention, well, if the sun-dress fits.

Jo wrinkled her nose, looking disgusted if not for just the faintest upturn to her lips. "You. Jackass." Her voice was warm and pleased and making him very much wish that they were back in his apartment.

Zane leaned in close, smirking and cocky. "Mission accomplished."

"Ahem" Dammit. Blake had burst the bubble of privacy around the two of them. Fortunately, she didn't appear pissed at them flirting in her infirmary. "If you two are quite finished, " She tapped her fingers along the edge of her tablet. "let's talk about your test results."

Zane shared a not-at-all-repentant look with his girlfriend before motioning Blake to get on with it. Blake, for her part, merely raised an eyebrow in what Zane thought was amusement. "While both of you are quite healthy, there are some anomalies."

Zane felt rather than saw Jo frown by his side. "Like what?"

"Imbalances in your limbic system, mainly. It's surprising that they alone would cause such vivid hallucinations but not impossible. What has me more concerned is-" Blake's eyes widened and she whirled around. "Tess?"

What the hell? Zane leaned to the left to peer around Blake, feeling Jo do the same in the other direction. Behind Doctor Blake was nothing but empty space. He straightened, whispering to Jo. "Are we contagious?"

His girlfriend sniffed dismissively. "Contagious hallucin-" Jo frowned, as if suddenly remembered what town they lived in. "If we came in contact with a substance that affected our limbic systems and it was transferred to her when she exami-"

Blake's voice, uncharacteristically pleading, interrupted. "It's not like that, Tess! Jack and I didn't plan this! Please just let me explain-" The doctor froze and then shrunk in on herself. Having been on the receiving end of Tess Fontana's rants when she ran Section Five, Zane had a pretty good idea what Blake was experiencing right now.

"Alison" Jo rose from the infirmary bed, repeating in a soft voice. "Alison."

"No, wait! Tess, just let me-" Alison took a step or two towards the infirmary door before Jo caught her arm.

"Alison. There's nothing there." Jo's voice was gentle but emphatic. She gestured back towards Zane who decided to let Jo handle this one. Blake looked as close as he'd ever seen to ruffled. "Zane and I didn't see anything."

"But Tess?" Doctor Blake wandered back over to them, frowning. Zane opened his mouth only to abruptly close it at the good doctor's expression. Alison Blake did not freak out. She was calm and rational and, well, kinda boring really. Zane had always figured that was why her and by-the-book Enforcer got along so well.

Thinking back on a lunch over cheeseburgers, among other things, Zane knew now that wasn't entirely correct. Jo, he damn well knew she wasn't as straight-laced as he'd always thought. Bad girl Jo had quickly become one of his favorite things.

Zane noted his girlfriend's patient and wholly unsurprised expression. This version of Dr. Blake wasn't new to her. Which was a relief. Zane had enough trouble with upset females lately. Jo, he knew he could deal with, but anyone else? Based on his experience with Zoe, any help he provided was just as likely to make things explode, then burst into tears. Bad habits are so hard to break.

Blake took several deep breaths, glancing back and forth between them as if searching for some evidence that would contradict Jo's statement. Abruptly, her focus shifted to her tablet, her hands moving over the surface as she mumbled to herself. Zane recognized that look. Blake had a lead. "Mass hallucinations, possible visual cortex neurochemical imbalances, and sensory feedback-" Blake stilled, eyes narrowing at whatever her screen displayed. When she spoke, it was in a loud but even voice to the other doctor on duty in the infirmary. "Dr. Winthrop, we're leaving. You're in charge."

The man gave an acknowledging wave from behind a massive monitor screen. At that, Blake finally turned to Jo & Zane. Her voice was stiff but authoritative. "Come with me."

Zane noticed Jo's eyebrows shoot up at the tone to her friend's voice. He didn't blame her. He hadn't known the late Nathan Stark well but previously, he'd only heard that tone in Blake's voice when Stark was really, really in the doghouse. Jo shot a quelling look at Zane. Do not anger the quite literally mad scientist. No shit. Zane smiled just a little at Jo's semi-successful attempt not to roll her eyes at him. As Jo did so, she asked in a mild voice, "Where are we going?"

Alison replied, voice hard. "Grace Deacon's lab."

Jo had to hand it to Zane. He was being remarkably okay with the whole hallucination thing. Fake-Zane had not followed them. She winced, noticing a figure leaning against a laboratory door. Well, not exactly. Instead, fake-Zane appearances littered the route to Grace's lab. Each time she and the real Zane passed, the hallucination would resume his frankly serial-killer stare from doorways, down halls and in one case, from the rafters above them. Jo shuddered slightly.

For the most part, Zane followed after Alison with no comment or complaint. Jo figured seeing Alison lose it, however temporarily, probably did that trick. Most people at GD didn't really believe Alison Blake could lose it. The closest she had ever come to public demonstrations of that nature was after Nathan Stark's death. But, Alison had been busy returning wedding gifts when Fargo had held his "Dr. Nathan Stark Memorial LEDlight vigil" and the only person she'd been speaking to at the time had been Jack.

Jo, however, knew exactly how precariously controlled Alison was during that time. Three days after Nathan Stark's death/disintegration, Alison showed up at her office late one night. Initially, she had been composed but demanding. Alison wanted to know exactly what happened in that lab. Jo had tried to put her off, stating that Henry could explain better only to have Alison cut her off. In a breaking voice, the normally aloof doctor had ground out "I need to know that….that he's really gone, Jo. Henry and-" Alison had paused taking a breath. "Jack might be afraid to tell me if there's no hope."

Jo had stared helplessly, willing Alison to believe her so she didn't have to recount the awful details. Details which did, in fact, confirm that there was no hope that Nathan Stark was sucked to an alternate dimension or out-of-phase or anything else that had the slightest chance of being fixed. No one who had been looking at Alison Blake in that moment would believe she was incapable of losing it because Jo saw the nanosecond that Alison understood that her former-almost-again husband was not ever coming back.

Fake-Zane passed in front of her line-of-sight once more, pulling Jo from her recollections. Jo narrowed her eyes at the apparition. Since being outed as a hallucination, fake-Zane had been weirdly quiet. If the real Zane acted like that, Jo's first assumption would be that he was Up To Something. She noticed that they were approaching Grace's lab. Alison paused a moment outside the door.

"So, how we playing this?" Zane's voice cut through the silence. Under both women's questioning looks, he shrugged. "I wouldn't want to blow the big game, right?"

Alison nodded. "Right. Just let me ask some questions about the PTSD treatment device she and Henry were wearing at the barbecue." She turned to Jo, meeting her eyes. "And if Grace isn't answering, I need you to help." Jo blinked, surprised. Alison was no fan of the Enforcer. She usually admonished Jo for bullying defenseless scientists who just happened to have once again endangered the town and everyone in it.

They'd scarcely crossed the threshold of the lab when Jo noticed two surprising occurrences. The first was Carter, waving his hands enthusiastically. The second was Fargo and Grace trying to get a word in edgewise. Henry, looking uncomfortable, stood off to the side. Jo frowned. If she didn't know better, she'd say Henry Deacon was trying to slink away unnoticed. Which was weird and more like something Zane would do after pulling a really good prank-She froze, suddenly realizing why Alison might be quite so eager for Jo to scare Grace Deacon just the tiniest bit.

Before Jo could affix an intimidating expression, Carter noticed Alison and things got much, much worse. Instead of giddy or flirtatious, Carter instantly froze upon seeing Alison. His voice was very careful as he told Alison his news. "Ali, Stark-" He sighed, liking bracing himself for ripping a bandage off. "He's back. I saw him in my office."

Oh crap. Jo watched as Alison wilted just a little, wanting then and there to punch Grace Deacon. Alison took a wavering breath before replying. "No, Jack. He isn't." She put up a hand quickly to head off Carter's protest. Whatever her expression was, it snapped Carter's open mouth shut with an audible sound. "It's a hallucination. We're-" She gestured to Jo and Zane at her side, voice steadying as she went in explanation mode. "We're all hallucinating. You didn't-"

Jo noticed that Fargo was nodding behind Jack. Before Alison could say anything too embarrassing, he stepped forward between Carter and her. "I tried to explain it to him but Carter was too excited which-" Fargo turned toward the Sheriff. "Is a pleasant surprise."

Carter now shrugged, directing his explanation to Alison and not the Director. "I didn't get along with him but Stark wasn't a bad guy." He paused, slipping his hands in his pockets. "Besides, he never got to see Jenna. I can't imagine never seeing or knowing Zoe-" Alison crossed the distance between them, slipping by Fargo to give Carter a quick hug.

Jo frowned at Fargo a moment. "How did you know?"

Fargo hesitated just slightly, nose twitching, before answering. Maybe the others missed it but Jo knew that was one of his tells. "I'm seeing a fifteen year-old girl." At the other's stares, he huffed dramatically. "It's not as creepy as it sounds." Fargo stared off to the left a moment, an odd expression on his face. "We knew each other when we were younger."

Zane smirked. "You're seeing your high school crush?" Fargo just sniffed but did not contradict him. Jo knew her boss well enough to realize that he was letting Zane make assumptions, which may or may not be correct. Her mind was so focused on Fargo's attempt at subterfuge that she almost missed her boss's question.

"What about you two?"

Jo shared a quick look with Zane, before attempting to answer. "We are, ah-"

"Seeing each other." Zane finished for her, stepping in close and making his double-meaning quite clear.

Of course, even if it was in a surprising context, Jo didn't have time to enjoy Zane admitting that. Given that the Universe had decided it couldn't let her date Zane without some sort of cosmic realignment of bad luck, right at that moment Zoe Carter burst into the lab.

"Grace! You have to hide me-" Her voiced trailed off as she noticed everyone in the room. Jo saw her stiffen at the exact moment Zoe caught her and Zane standing together. She didn't have time to step away however because Carter spoke up.

"Hide you, Zoe? What's going on?" Carter stepped towards his daughter, only to pause at her stuttered reply.

"You know what? It's not important. You all look busy. I'll, um, go." Zoe whirled around, moving to open the door when she sucked in a breath. "Wait! This isn't what it looks like!" Jo watched Zoe's back straighten abruptly, a sure sign that the girl was furious. "You have no right to say that! Dammit, Lucas!"

Alison had walked towards the girl, laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. "We're hallucinating, Zoe. He's not there."

Zoe leaned into Alison's touch and away from what was apparently a hallucination of her ex-boyfriend. Jo wanted to join Alison in comforting the girl but didn't think she'd be welcome. Zane took her hand and she smiled up at him. Dating a hyper-observant super-genius did have its silver linings.

Zoe stared at the unopened laboratory door for a few moments before asking in an unsure voice. "We are?"

Her father injected as much certainty as possible into his confirmation. "We are."

Jo saw the moment Zoe believed them. She seemed to relax just slightly before turning around and getting to the point. "Alrighty then. What the heck is going on this time?"

Alison, voice scraped clean of accusation, turned to the room and replied. "Everyone who attended the Deacon's barbecue is hallucinating."

Jo narrowed her eyes at the guilty-looking Deacons. "Neither of you appear surprised by this revelation."

Grace shot her husband a sideways look before trying to explain. "Henry informed me of certain suspicions and why you started looking into it." The female Doctor Deacon's voice hardened. "Manipulating science, hurting Eureka, wrecking my lab." The first two were expected. The Deacons both shared a belief in the purity and sanctity of scientific research. As for the last offense…Apparently, Grace had not forgiven the temporal conspiracy for trashing her lab with redwoods from 1947 during that particle entanglement fiasco a few weeks ago. In her defense, trashing labs was a Klingon-blood-feud worthy occurrence for GD scientists.

The Mayor's wife continued. "I had this memory device we're developing for PTSD treatment which Henry and I had already agreed to test over the next couple days. This possibility is among the side effects-" She raised a hand to cut off their angry interjections. "But only under specific conditions."

Henry took over. "Which we only repeated in a small, discreetly shielded area inside the kitchen. It should not have affected anyone in the yard itself."

Zane crossed his arms over his chest, clearly not buying it. "So what happened?"

Grace shrugged appearing genuinely confused. "Something amplified our signal." At everyone's expressions, she continued more emphatically. "Look, I didn't do this on a lark. I know most of what our neighbors are working on in their home labs – there wasn't any chance of interference. I'd appreciate if someone-" Grace nodded in Jo's direction. "Would double-check the off-site research permits to confirm it but the signal that did this was too coherent to be random interference."

Henry nodded. "She's right; to increase the area of effect so largely would require a good bit of power. Today's other incident-" Henry nodded at Carter. "-at the Da Vinci Bridge was also caused by a similar acoustical oscillation generated by a very powerful signal."

Carter frowned, hands in his pockets. "Let me get this straight. You wanted to intentionally cause hallucinations in our alleged conspirators so that, while in the throes of psychological trauma, they would say or do something which would get them caught?"

Henry cleared his throat before answering. "Essentially, yes."

Zane whistled appreciatively, giving the Doctors Deacon a look of respect. "Remind me never to piss either of you off."

Jo snorted to herself but really what did they expect? She secretly had a theory that the only reason the DoD approved the founding of Eureka back in the day was so that prickly genius types would be too isolated and busy to build death rays for people who cut them off in traffic or some other relatively trivial slight to their insanely fragile little egos. That Grace had decided to "help" was not surprising. What was surprising and spoke well for the woman was her restraint and the fact that, aside from some minor hallucinations, it went off so well.

She also knew, going by Zoe and Alison's expressions in particular, that some kind of retribution was due for this mess. While the Deacons might be free of culpability, whoever was responsible for this oscillating signal would have several angry geniuses after them. Hallucinations of her current boyfriend were creepy but ultimately forgivable. Dead husbands and accusatory ex-boyfriends? Not so much. As Grace spoke, Zoe's expression had become increasingly brittle. Jo decided to head off the inevitable explosion with the real question.

"So now that we know the hallucinations work, what are we going to do about it?"

Zane snorted, squeezing Jo's hand to let her know it wasn't personal. Still, she did have a way of getting to the heart of the matter. If they were already hallucinating this badly, who knows what the Grants were going through-

"Um, question?" Zoe now sported a quizzical expression. "What alleged conspiracy are the Grants involved in?"

Everyone froze. Zane dropped Jo's hand to pull out his tablet. Fucking Carters, can't leave well enough alone even when they have a point. If he moved quick enough, modifying the video feed in the lab would be a snap-

"Relax everyone." Zane's fingers froze mid-tap. He joined everyone in the room in staring at GD's Director. Fargo rolled his eyes. "Sonic protocols are already up." Now that he had their attention, he continued.

"I was familiar enough with Doctor Deacon's device to know what the hallucination was. What I didn't know was why nor that they were related to the destruction of the Da Vinci Bridge this afternoon. The sonic protocols were a precaution in case this was Henry's idea of helping." Zane nodded to himself because, although he didn't know Deacon that well, it did sound like something the man would do. "What I am more interested in are two questions. One, who or what is responsible for this acoustical oscillator? And two, if the Grants, due arriving late, were exposed enough to cause the hallucinations?"

The Deacons nodded in sync at Fargo's questions, Henry answered the first one. "This oscillator is quite powerful, much more so than I've seen before. However, I may be able to generate some predictions of the device's capabilities based on what we have seen so far."

Fargo nodded. For the question regarding the hallucinations, Henry remained silent, clearly deferring to his wife's expertise. Grace responded. "In order to affect all of us spread around the yard and do so to the extent that it has, the area of effect would be our entire property. Even if the Grants were in our front driveway parking their car, they would be affected."

"So how do we confirm it?" Zane smirked at his girlfriend, know she wouldn't appreciate waiting around for other people to go nutso. As she smirked back, yeah, waiting around wasn't something either of them were particularly good at.

"Okay, seriously guys? What the hell is going on?" Instead of her father or Alison answering Zoe, surprisingly Fargo chose to respond. Or not, Zane thought. The Sheriff had said that the two 'talked'.

"Remembering the Founder's Day explosion that I told you about? Well, it was a bit more complicated than I could say on an un-secure line. Someone time-traveled. Screwed up my positronic lightening experiment." At Zoe's confused expression, Fargo lowered his voice. "The thing in the place that you couldn't know about?" At Zoe's nod, he continued. "Anyway, there have been some repercussions. In our investigations we realized that the Grants were not as they seem and that they were the most likely candidates for involvement in the time-traveling incident."

Zoe tilted her head thinking. "Why would someone go to all the trouble to get someone out of the past and then return to the scene of the crime?"

Zane's eyebrows went up. Jo expressed his thoughts exactly. "That's a good question, Zoe." She crossed her arms, staring at the floor a moment before continuing. "We've been so focused on the 'who', that we really didn't think about the 'why'."

Zoe, not looking at Jo, responded to Fargo. "Why is time-travel such a big deal anyway? You'd think it would be right up Eureka's alley."

Now Henry spoke. "Actually, given the nature of time in our universe, any attempt to interfere with the natural flow of time could be potentially catastrophic." Zane had always been impressed with Mayor Deacon's easygoing authority. He wasn't one to throw around his weight whether of an intellectual or administrative nature. So it was impressive the amount of gravitas that Henry Deacon injected into his proclamation.

Now, Carter frowned. "So why would anyone try in the first place?"

Because it's cool, Zane thought to himself, rolling his eyes. He shared a commiserating look with Fargo, feeling for one second a bit of kinship with the Director as Carter, Alison and Grace batted ideas around.

Zane prided himself on being six different kinds of reckless, willing to try anything if it was dangerous, fun, impossible or any of the above. Being handed servers full of classified physics data upon his "hire" at GD was a dream come true. If you knew where to look, there were tons of Nobel-prize worthy ideas for a troublemaker desperate for an off-the-grid project.

Personally, he'd always preferred the Many-Worlds interpretation of time-travel. Any paradox would be resolved by the instant creation of alternate time-lines. Every time you traveled forward or back, you were really creating alternate universe. Quick, easy and loads of potential for a mischief-maker like himself. The entanglement situation a few weeks ago quashed that pretty effectively. Zane did not even want to think about what could happen with exotic particle entanglement across parallel universes. What a mess.

But it wasn't the only piece of evidence. If you looked deep enough, specifically enough into Eureka's pretty impressive sixty-four years worth of classified physics data, then hints, patterns started cropping up. Not enough to completely dismiss the possibility but if what they were hinting at was true…well, let's just say that there were good reasons why, with all of GD's resources at his disposal, Zane focused his attention on freeing lab animals instead of building his own time machine. Zane had no problem taking the laws of physics to their breaking point but to go beyond that? Whoever was responsible for the time-traveling quite literally gambled the universe.

And, Zane suspected that Douglas Fargo had come to exactly the same conclusion once-upon-a-time. Zane imagined a young Fargo staying late, going over old data with a fine toothed comb, pulling out the hints and becoming steadily more convinced that dammit, no, he would not be the first real Time Lord. Sometimes, it kinda freaked Zane out that the person at GD he had the most in common with was their bumbling boss. In this case, he was grateful because Fargo came to the exact same conclusion that Zane had a few seconds ago.

"We know that they're crazy." Carter's eyebrows rose at the harshness of Fargo's interjection.

Zane nodded, adding his opinion. He jerked his head towards Henry. "Deacon's right. Messing with time is universe-ending." Zane met Jo's eyes, knowing she'd get it first. "I'm not one to balk at risks but I'll say what I said on Founder's Day. Whoever did this is way more nutso than you think I am."

"Thought you were." Jo replied, with emphasis on the last word but nodding.

"So, lemme get this straight." Carter shuffled in place a moment, brow furrowed. "Anyone with the physics knowledge to mess with time but willing to do it anyway is so desperate or arrogant as to be insane?"

Henry, Fargo and Zane affirmed. "Exactly, Jack." "No doubt." "Completely looney tunes."

"Guys!" Uh-oh. Jo was tapping her foot. Never a good sign. "If the 'why' isn't important then we need to focus on the 'who', namely the Grants. We need to watch them to see if they give away anything."

"Not good enough." It wasn't until everyone turned to stare at him that Zane realized he'd spoken out loud. He cleared his throat, directing an apologetic look at Jo. Thankfully, she appeared to be more interested in whatever idea he'd had than the fact that he'd just rained on her parade.

Zane grinned, causing both Carter and Fargo to swear. "Blake, if you scan them will you be able to confirm they have the same limbic imbalance as us?"

Blake frowned, clearly confused as to where he was going with this. "Yes."

Carter huffed, almost sounding disappointed in Zane. "What's the point of telling them about the hallucinations if we want them to freak out?"

Zane countered. "What's the point of not telling them about the hallucinations if we want them to freak out?"

Carter's mouth snapped shut. Jo, sounding enthusiastic, continued the train of thought. "Convince them that what they're seeing is worse than they thought, means something terrible."

"Hell, yes." Zane suddenly realized a minor flaw in his plan. "Assuming Dr. Blake is willing to put aside some medical ethics in order to mislead potential patients."

Blake met Zane's eyes, face not-at-all-amused. "They could have erased my children from the time-line, Zane." She held up a hand at Henry's attempted interjection. "Not intentionally, but if they stepped on a butterfly in 1947-" She took a breath. "What do you need me to say?"

"The truth, actually. You just need not to contradict certain impressions they may get from the 'unfortunate souls' who had more severe side effects."

Jo, barely repressing a smile, asked the important question. "What unfortunate souls?"

"Me and Zane." Zane froze, sharing Jo's look of shock at the younger Carter's proclamation. As everyone turned to look at her, Zoe counted off on her fingers. "Dad's gotta go pick 'em up. Fargo, Jo and Alison have to 'convey the seriousness of the situation'. Henry & Grace can't be there because presumably they'd be on probation or in lock-up somewhere. Who does that leave?"

Jo was nodding, but Grace had a thought of her own. "What if Henry was affected as well? I could play the guilt-ridden distraught wife." She perked up. "Who would know exactly how bad these 'effects' were but-"

Fargo finished her thought. "Because she was responsible, Grace wouldn't be fully trusted or listened to. We'd attribute her proclamations of doom to guilt." He clapped his hands together. "Sounds like a plan. Carter, go find the Grants."

"Actually-" Zane had a thought. "We need one more person."

Jo huffed by his side. "This is an awfully crowded conspiracy."

He smirked. "Trust me."

Jo wasn't surprised when Zane showed up in the infirmary with Dr. Parrish in tow. A few comments by Zane during their dates had convinced her as Chief of Security she really should keep a closer eye on the man.

What she was surprised by was Fargo's enthusiastic greeting. "Excellent. Great idea, Zane." Clearly, their boss was over the immobilization mine prank.

Parrish's eyebrows skyrocketed at that. "What exactly do you require assistance with?"

Fargo bobbled excitedly. "We need you to hint, without ever stating outright, that the neurological anomalies Dr. Blake will be discussing match those caused by the RSS device."

Parrish recoiled. "You found something else that amplifies emotive states?" He appeared convincingly horrified, grinding out a harsh rebuke. "The RSS was canceled." The disgusted disappointment in his tone prompted Jo to roll her eyes. Ah, not pissed about manipulating people's emotions, just that his method wasn't the preferred one.

Zane stepped in. "No, we didn't. We just want someone else to think we did."

Parrish blinked, studying everyone present in the infirmary before turning to Zane. "You pulled me out of my lab for a prank?" Zane shrugged, utterly failing to convey innocent intentions.

Fargo added his bit of convincing. "If that's what you wish to think, we won't stop you." Fargo held up his datapad. "There's a ZD786 neuron-stimulation interface in it for you." Now, Parrish's eyes widened. Zane shook his head, causing Jo to smile to herself. He'd probably rant some more about Fargo's tendency to overkill when it came to blackmails or bribes but, seriously, Fargo went overkill on everything. GD's boss didn't really have a neutral gear anymore than her boyfriend did.

Parrish cleared his throat, taking the time to straighten his lab coat before answering in a falsely aloof tone. "If I must."

Alison's phone vibrated in her pocket. She pulled it out, glancing at the screen before waggling her eyebrows in a disturbingly Carter-like gesture. "They're on their way."

"Places, everyone!" Fargo's voice rang in the infirmary, even though they were all standing less than a few feet from one another.

Jo followed Zane, Henry and Zoe over to the entrance to the isolation room which for today would not be entirely sound-proof. If it was possible, Zoe was ignoring Jo more pointedly ever since Fargo decided to share video of the Rage Incident as "training for their upcoming acting. He had specifically shown Alison releasing Zane in the infirmary, apparently not realizing that everyone else hadn't already informed Zoe of the incident.

Their poor, misguided boss hadn't even noticed that when Raged-Zane spoke of 'his Enforcer', Zoe sent her such a look of hurt that Jo felt like the world's worst friend. Judging by the quick glare sent his direction as Alison strapped Zane into his bed, Zoe was now equally pissed at Zane. Which made something in Jo relax. Hurt and mopey Carters were unnatural creatures, but pissed-off Carters? Prone to take risks but blessedly normal, by Eureka standards.

Grace stood beside Henry's bed but was addressing all three of their 'worst-case scenario' patients. "Unlike with the RSS, you should be hallucinating as your emotions overwhelm you. Also, considering that the limbic system isn't tied to anger, vary your emotional reactions. You should be feeling a variety of extreme emotions."

Zoe piped up with a question. "Should we be coherent? Or just babbling randomly?"

Alison and Grace shared a look before Alison shrugged. "Either." Zoe closed her eyes, mumbling several tongue twisters which Jo remembered from the girl's brief sojourn into acting shortly after arriving in Eureka. Grace and Henry were exchanging frankly sickly-sweet goodbyes. Honestly, Jo snorted to herself, you'd think they were never going to see each other again.

Zane, not one to let a chance for innuendo slide by, waggled his eyebrows as Jo approached his bed. "Got me all tied up. Kinky, Lupo."

Without hesitation, she replied. "Can't have you running off on me, can I?" She would not touch him. Not a chance. Not when she remembered just hours ago what touching him felt like. Jo clasped her hands behind her back, noting with some satisfaction that his hands strained against the cuffs.

"Please," Zane shifted, leaning up at her with a stage whisper. "You're all about the chase, Lupo." Goddamnit. Despite herself, Jo blushed. Only Fargo's voice calling everyone out of the room stopped her from replying.

"Carter's though the front gate." Fargo glanced once more into the isolation room. "Go ahead and start." Before the door closed fully, three sets of screams echoed through the infirmary.

As they waited, Jo took up position between Fargo and the isolation room door, as if she was protecting her boss from whatever was inside. Grace had collapsed in surprisingly well-faked tears. She was whining about how "she didn't mean it" and "please listen to me or you'll never fix it". Alison and Parrish stood together over a tablet, wincing and shaking their heads. Behind her, Jo heard Zane begging for his mom to let him build that fusion reactor in the basement, Henry freaking out over a lost space shuttle drifting in space beyond his control and Zoe screaming her bloody head off with the occasional "mother-fucking Lucas" thrown in.

This was the scene that the Grants and a somber looking Sheriff walked in on. Jo saw Alison stiffen the moment they entered but the woman apparently decided to let them stew a moment. Jo noticed Mrs. Grant directing wide-eyes to the screen showing the persons in the isolation room writhing in their restraints. Dr. Grant, pale and twitchy, managed to get out some form of coherent response. "I demand to know what is going on!"

Alison chose her moment well. Her eyes slid over the couple to address the Sheriff with breathless relief. "Oh thank God, Carter! You found them." She approached the two Grants, all business and placating. "How are you both feeling today?" Alison had pulled out a penlight as she asked her question, approaching both Grants with a clear intent to examine them in some detail.

Dr. Grant, still uncooperative, backed away repeating his earlier query. "What is going on?"

Fargo now stepped in, appearing to fail at blithe nonchalance with every inept bone in his body. "Just a slight glitch in an experiment." He waved a hand in a dismissive but maniac gesture. "We'd appreciate it if you'd let Dr. Blake check you out." His tone shifted to commanding half-way through the request.

Beverly Grant finally pulled herself away from the monitor to ask. "What happened to them?"

Now, Fargo and Alison shared a semi-disgusted look. Fargo, officious but vibrating in fury, answered her. "It appears that Mrs. Deacon-" His voice hardened as the woman in question sniffled in the background. "Decided that backyard picnics were appropriate places to test delicate pieces of equipment." Fargo's expression tightened as if in overwhelming anger.

Alison now interjected, laying a hand on Fargo's arm as if to calm him. "Unfortunately, Grace failed to predict how her device would interact with the stereo system. While the majority of us-" She waved at those present in the infirmary. "are unaffected. It appears certain people are more susceptible to-" Alison cleared her throat as if stalling. "adverse effects."

Doctor Grant's voiced squeaked with indignation. "Adverse effects? Is that what that is?" He pointed accusingly towards the monitors showing the current residents of the isolation room.

Beverly Grant narrowed her eyes, identifying much too confidently, too pointedly a clear violation of the stated pattern. "I don't believe I recognize him from the party." She smiled in Doctor Parrish's direction.

Parrish, for his part, merely sniffed dismissively. "I'm here for my expertise in exacerbated emotive manipulation outside of design intention." It was Mrs. and not Dr. Grant who caught the reference to the RSS device, paling slightly as she did so. Parrish continued, his voice laced with its signature disdain. "Especially in light of Mrs. Deacon's inability to account for attenuating factors."

Both Grants stiffened at the odd phrasing and its implication. Unlike the more obvious choice of 'extenuating', 'attenuating' denoted an unwanted interaction of devices. That was exactly what happened when something which should not have been there interacted with Grace Deacon's memory sharing device. Gotcha, Jo thought.

Clearing her throat, Beverly asked cooperatively. "How can we help?"

Alison sighed. "We just need to confirm that you don't show any signs of the, ah-" Zoe and Henry's pleas echoed from the isolation room. "deterioration."

Doctor Grant swallowed before nodding. "Very well."

Alison and Fargo directed the Grants to sit on an infirmary bed while Alison began examining Doctor Grant first. "Now, initial symptoms included mild hallucinations. Have either of you been seeing anything out of the ordinary?"

A part of Jo tingled at the Grants' shared expressions of horror. They were undoubtedly affected by Grace's memory device. Interestingly, it was Mrs. Grant who recovered first. She replied in a cheery, almost disappointed tone. "I'm afraid not. Honey," Doctor Grant started at his supposed wife's hand on his arm. "Have you seen anything?"

He stared past Alison and Fargo, blinking a moment before answering in a wavering voice. "No, absolutely not."

Alison visibly relaxed. "Well, thank goodness."

Fargo, more serious, interjected. "I expect that if either of you do begin showing symptoms, you'll report it immediately." His voice brooked no option for disobedience.

Parrish decided to add his own admonishment. "Yes, it does not take long for symptoms to -" He paused just in time for a pained scream from Zane to echo. "accelerate." At the last word, Grace began crying again.

Both Grants gulped. Again, it was Beverly who asked. "What are the other symptoms?"

Alison, glanced down at her tablet, as if reading from a list. "Hallucinations, emotional instability, anxiety, panic attacks, muscle spasms and various neurochemical imbalances." She gave self-deprecating shrug. "We're still trying to identify exactly what's going on neurochemically. The various fluctuations are difficult to untangle."

Pretending to sound like he was painting a rosy picture, Fargo interjected slapping Parrish on the back. "Which is why we called in an expert like Parrish. Given recent experience," Jo saw Beverly Grant's eyes widen at the second reference to the Rage Incident. Fargo continued blithely. "No one knows more about these situations than Doctor Parrish. We'll have this handled in no time."

Alison, falsely cheerful, added. "I just have to do a couple quick scans to clear you for sure and the Sheriff will drive you home."

Both Grants submitted to the scans as if they were facing the hangman's noose. Both appeared equally confused by Alison & Parrish's subsequent clean-bill-of-health. That is until Grace, fresh from a crying-jag, interjected. "You have to listen to me! Not everyone manifests at the same time! Differing baseline neurochemical states have to be accounted-"

"Mrs. Deacon-" Dr. Parrish cut her off with a cold look. "It is clear that your understanding of these matters in not as complete as GD was hoping for when funding your project." He directed a frankly creepy-comforting smile to the Grants. "It is unlikely that the Grants will suffer any adverse deterioration if they have not already begun to suffer hallucinations."

Fargo added brightly. "Which you haven't so" He shrugged. "Sorry for worrying you." Both Grants did not appear pleased with Parrish or Fargo's reassurances.

Doctor Grant, finally showing some concern for those in the isolation room, asked. "What will happen to them?"

Alison sighed dramatically. "Hopefully, we find a way to counteract the effects."

Doctor Grant bit out his next question. "And if you do not?"

Alison fidgeted as if delivering bad news and not liking it one bit. Fargo answered for her. "GD will ensure that they are taken care of." He now directed a cold look toward Grace Deacon who had resumed crying. "We will ensure everyone involved is taken care of." The supposedly-distraught woman wilted at his tone of voice.

Jack chose that moment to intervene. "So, they're clear?"

Alison and Parrish nodded together. "Yes" "Completely"

The Sheriff, pointedly not looking at the screen showing his daughter, directed his brittle expression at the Grants. "Let's get you two home, then."

Mrs. Grant shot him an understanding expression. "Of course, Sheriff. I know that you'll want to get back to your daughter."

Jack, for his part, gave off an accepting if upset smile. "Thanks for your cooperation." He slipped his hands in his pockets. "So-"

Doctor Grant stood first. "Of course." He extended an arm to his wife. "My dear, let's leave them alone to work."

Beverly Grant wished them all luck before leaving. The Grants had barely passed out of view when Grace and Alison began hovering over the records of their scans.

Jo bit the bullet and asked. "Are they affected?"

Grace, a little red-eyed but now cheerful, answered. "Definitely."

Another round of screams echoed through the infirmary. At Fargo's look, Jo went to tell them to cut it out. She hit the door control, only to be confronted with a wall of sound. Henry had apparently given up on trying to out scream Zane or Zoe and was now muttering to himself. Jo whistled loudly, cutting off Zane's "please no teacher, not the whip!" and Zoe's "battlebot spiders, oh my god they're everywhere!".

All three stared at Jo. Zane recovered first. "Did they buy it?"

Jo grinned, causing him to return it. "Oh yeah."

He jostled the straps on his wrists. "So, untie me then willya?" Jo stepped closer, hearing Grace and Alison enter the room to untie Henry and Zoe. Instead of reaching for his restraints, however, she frowned.

"I don't know, Zane." Jo trailed her eyes down his body. "You, in one place, unable to cause any mischief." She shrugged in mock-nonchalance. "That is an Enforcer's dream come true. You can't pull any pranks, upset any generals or get" Jo swallowed abruptly realizing what she was about to say. Not meeting his eyes, she now began undoing the restraints.

Zane's newly-freed fingers closed over her own as he finished her thought. "Or get hurt."

Jo stilled, blinking at him in shock and embarrassment. "You knew?" She barely registered that her overly-loud comment echoed in the room.

Zane rubbed the back of his neck. "Just figured it out recently." He gave a sheepish shrug. "I'm slow." He took a breath, before continuing. "This town isn't exactly safe, Jo. And neither of us inclined to run from danger." Something in his voice made Jo feel guilty.

As GD Security Chief, she possessed the option of reining him in if danger loomed. But, he could not do the same. There had been half a dozen incidents since they started dating. Zane had not once made any attempt to prevent her from doing her job. In fact, he was the first guy she'd ever dated who treated her running towards danger as a big-hot-feature and not a problem.

She sat down next to him, slumping slightly. Jo was thankful that Fargo had now entered the room and appeared to be distracting Zoe from eavesdropping. "I know." If this was going to work, at some point, Jo knew that she needed to trust Zane when it came to dangerous situations. Jo recovered enough to shoot him a playful look. "Besides, I now have other means of encouraging good behavior."

Zane, sitting up, leaned in smirking. "Encourage away." Only his voice wasn't joking, not entirely. They didn't shake hands or sign on any dotted lines but staring up at her boyfriend's face, Jo understood that they had just made some kind of promise to each other.

Grace's voice pierced through the bubble around Jo and Zane. "So, what do we do now?"

Jo and Zane stood together, joining the others near Henry's bed. Zoe, no longer ignoring them, now stared at Jo with an odd look on her face. Jo, for her part, attempted to ignore the younger Carter. Generally speaking, if you had evidence that a Carter was working through a problem, it was best to leave them to it.

Fargo outlined the plan. "The Sheriff will keep an eye on the Grants and communicate any symptoms he sees to Dr. Blake." He nodded to the woman to his right. "You two," He pointed at the Deacons, "Are going to determine what kind of signal could have affected Grace's device and where it could come from."

Noticing Dr. Parrish hovering patiently in the doorway of the isolation room, Fargo narrowed his eyes while pulling his datapad out. "Dr. Parrish will be leaving us and returning to his lab to revel in his new toy." Fargo's voice heavily implied 'or else'. He tapped out a sequence on the datapad. A moment later, the datapad in Dr. Parrish's lab-coat beeped. Parrish removed the device, giving it a quick glance before replying.

"Good day." He walked off, lab coat swirling behind him. His nonchalant acceptance of the situation caused Jo to gnaw on her lower lip a moment. As they heard the infirmary doors shut behind him, Jo said what she was thinking. "He knows this wasn't a prank."

Fargo nodded. "Exactly."

Jo frowned, only to have Zane clarify. "Parrish can add, Jo. If anything goes wrong, he now knows enough-"

She shot her boyfriend an impressed look. "To call the calvary."

Fargo, foot tapping, got their attention once more. "Mansfield will be arriving after dinner for the DED test which-"

Zane took over. "Is ready. I just need to adjust a few settings."

"Excellent." Fargo crossed his arms, leaning in excitedly. "I'll brief Mansfield on the situation after the test while you join the Deacons in figuring out the signal." Fargo rocked back on his heels. "Okay, everyone?" At their expressions, he gave a satisfied nod. "Zoe? You up for some dinner?"

Zoe shook herself a moment. "Sure." The two exited the labs in a haze of 'American Idol' induced fannishness. Jo loved reality TV as much as the next girl but she really didn't understand the younger Carter's obsession there.

Zane's arm came around her waist. His voice in her ear. "All that screaming. Makes a boy hungry."

Jo graced him with a smile. "I could eat." As she walked out of the infirmary, Jo made a mental bet with herself about which abandoned lab Zane would pull her into first. The supply closet outside the infirmary or the lab on the way to Section Three. As they ducked in, Jo grinned. Section Three it is.

Thank god they'd both programmed the General's arrival into their calendars. It was only the collective beeping of their datapads which promoted him and Jo to break off their "dinner" to go deal with the DED test. Even then, Zane barely made it to the lab in time.

Ten minutes after his arrival, the General waltzed in with Fargo in tow. The General appeared his normal pissy self but judging by Fargo's attitude, nowhere near furious enough to have been told about their findings regarding the temporal conspiracy. Zane gave himself a shrug. Better Fargo than him.

Zane worked on the DED test set-up, marveling at the device as he did so. Months ago, he'd never be allowed within a half mile of a project like this. But somewhere between Rage Incidents and over-emotional robots, Fargo decided to bring him into the project. If this test went well, Zane had one more successful project on his GD resume. And Fargo had a very pleased patron.

Zane was pointedly focused on the test set-up. Although he now knew fake-Jo was just that, she remained. Her diatribe of innuendo was a bit more pointed now and interlaced with snarky comments about real-Jo.

Apparently, his subconscious might still be a little pissy about Jo locking him up all those times. Zane didn't need a hallucination to tell him that. But making a big deal about something that Jo was just as upset about as him, seemed stupid. And she had kinda sorta promised to cut it out. Zane knew lots of things about Jo Lupo and one thing he was certain about was, she kept her promises. She would not be pulling rank to lock him up anymore. And his subconscious just needed to get the fuck over it.

"Donovan, are we about ready?" Zane blinked at Fargo's tone. For a second there, he could have sworn that Fargo was genuinely pissed at him. Zane frowned a little before replying.

"Just a few more tweaks, boss." It's not like Zane could entirely help the sarcastic tone. He just didn't do obedience. Still. As Fargo's eyes narrowed, Zane got the distinct impression that he shouldn't taunt the GD Director right now. Hmmm. Maybe Fargo was a bit more nervous about owning up to the Pentagon hack than he let on.

Mansfield, apparently deciding to kill two birds with one stone, chose this moment to interrogate Zane on his project. "I'm expecting your latest report on the shield tuning, Donovan."

Fingers moving over the keyboard, Zane did not risk a look towards the General as he replied. "Next Tuesday, yeah. It'll be done."

"And your progress?" Mansfield's tone was pointed. Zane might have until next Tuesday to get the report in but the General expected results now.

"Feasibility checks out, sir. We did a preliminary test with shield generators and a mock-up emitter matching the SATPARR satellites." Zane made sure to be looking at the General as he delivered the punch-line. "Saw through the shield like it wasn't even there."

Fargo winced. "I'm not comfortable with proving GD's shield is penetrable. If we can do it-" His voice trailed off.

Mansfield never lifted his stare from Zane's face. "I'm certain Donovan has a few ideas, Director Fargo." His mouth turned up in what could almost be a smirk. "Few people possess his expertise for how security measures could be turned on their masters."

Zane snorted at that, sharing a quick look as Fargo before they both caught themselves. Apparently, Mansfield did have a sense of humor. Zane hadn't directly dealt with the man since the TAP incident, for which he was grateful. But it appeared that the General, rather than holding a grudge about it, now considered Zane significantly more worthy of his attention than previously. Turning back to the DED set-up, Zane frowned. That could be a good or bad thing. Especially given his relationship with Jo.

As he made the last adjustments, Zane suddenly realized how badly this could go wrong. If Mansfield thought her compromised by their relationship, he could remove Jo as GD Security Chief. Which, Zane knew, without a doubt would devastate Jo. She loved her job just as much as Zane loved his. Zane cursed to himself. They'd been occasionally careless for all they stuck to camera and microphone blind spots while on GD premises. In making a public point for Zoe in the infirmary yesterday, he risked Mansfield's ire. Shit. Like keeping his hands to himself around her wasn't trouble enou-

What the hell? Zame frowned at the screen, hands stilled. That was weird. An EM signal permeated the test chamber. Like nothing that any of the present equipment could generate.

"Something wrong?" Fargo appeared by his side, voice conveying that everything damn well be perfect for the General. However, seeing the screen, the Director's eyebrow rose. "What's causing that?"

Zane initiated a couple quick diagnostics, which came back nominal. "I'm not sure."

Mansfield's voice pulled them both away from the screen. "Problem, gentlemen?"

Fargo turned, slipping his hands into his pockets in what may have been an unconscious mimicry of the Sheriff. "Just a few last minute adjustments."

Zane grabbed his tablet from the counter. "I'll go check the DED."

"I'll join him."Fargo slipped into the test chamber next to Zane, pulling out his own datapad as if checking his schedule. But Zane knew the Director well enough to know that he was verifying the signal Zane had detected. "It's tiny and an odd frequency." Fargo followed Zane in stepping around some cables, not looking up from his screen. "Do you think this will interfere with the test?"

Zane came to a stop next to the DED. Connecting his datapad directly to the device's main control port, he ran a couple more involved diagnostics. "It shouldn't but if it amplifies during the test-" Background signals that shouldn't be there sounded awfully familiar.

It seemed Fargo agreed as he ordered. "Send the signal waveforms to Grace and Henry. See if they think it could be responsible for our mystery attenuation." The Director rocked back and forth in place a few moments. "Can you record this as the test is on-going?"

Zane looked down at his tablet, thinking. It might take five extra minutes to set-up but shouldn't be too hard. "Yeah, so long as you keep Mansfield busy while I do the extra work."

Surprisingly, Fargo gave a dismissive wave. As if keeping Mansfield busy was easy as pie. Which, Zane realized, it had to be for the Director of GD. Otherwise, between DoD visits and demands, nothing would ever get done at GD. Fargo, glanced around a moment. The DED now blocked Mansfield's view of them. The test equipment itself loomed on either side.

Zane felt his blood turn to ice as Fargo spoke in a furiously even tone. "Excellent. Just one more thing to discuss before we return to the test."

He wasn't proud of himself but Zane gulped before replying. "Like what?"

"Like you being in a completely inappropriate relationship with someone way too young for you!" Fargo's accusation stung. Based on his attitude the past few weeks, Zane had thought the good Director not opposed to the idea of him and Jo being something other than enemies.

"Hey! You told me delicacy and security could mix." Zane shrugged, trying to figure out why Fargo suddenly would be furious about this. Fargo had to known which way the wind was blowing ever since confronting him about the cameras. "I'm trying it out." Zane thought a moment, unable to stop himself from adding. "And Jo's three months older than me."

Fargo's glare deepened at that. "What about Zoe?"

"Zoe's just a harmless crush; it'll be gone in no time. I'm with Jo." But, in the back of his mind, Zane thought, Ah-ha. Zane suppressed a smirk. He wondered if the good Director maybe had a thing for smart, wise-cracking redheads. "So, does the Sheriff know?"

Fargo's eyes narrowed. "Shouldn't you be asking me that?"

Zane shrugged. "Oh, Carter knows what my feelings are and aren't." Zane smirked. "I was asking if he knew about your thing for smart-ass young troublemakers dressed in quirky geek chic who happen to strongly resemble his daughter."

"Nonsense." The tips of Fargo's ears went slightly pink.

Zane held up his hand, extending his fingers as he spoke. "The chick who beat you in the cybernetic dog competition whose dog whistle made the whole town deaf for six hours, the chick that you had a crush on for months who you transferred to JPL when she body-swapped with Lupo in order to make a play for the Sheriff, Dr. Marten down in Aeronautics, the Other Donovan and Zoe."

Fargo went white. Unexpectedly, he neither vibrated with fury nor stilled in shock. Instead, Zane watched as Fargo, who he once caught playing with his Incredible Hulk action figures in the ARC reactor lab, transformed into the single most terrifying impression of Dr. Nathan Stark that Zane had never thought possible. Although he lacked the height of his mentor, Fargo somehow had Zane almost backing up at the disturbing assurance on his boss's face.

"Doctor Donovan, I respect and admire the Sheriff, as well as his daughter. A daughter, who I am certain, does not appreciate being condescended to by someone with no interest in reciprocating her feelings." Zane felt the cold metal of the test stand press against his back as Fargo leaned in, whispering in a tone devoid of his usual warbling hesitancy. "So perhaps we should focus on those who have recently made errors in judgment regarding young impressionable minds and not on those of us who have not." Fargo blinked. Whatever spirit of Nathan Stark possessed him fluttered away in the motion, leaving only Zane's wacky boss in its wake. "Okay?"

Zane nodded, not entirely trusting his voice.

Fargo squinted at him a little longer before nodding, mainly to himself. "Okay, then." He yelled over the DED test stand, mainly for the General's benefit. "Let's carry on with the test!"

As they made their way to the shielded booth, Zane's mind was only half on the test. The other half quickly came to several conclusions. One, Fargo totally had a thing for smart-ass, quirky, young troublemakers. Two, more specifically Fargo had a thing for one particular troublemaker. Three, Zane would never, ever bring that up again. Jesus motherfucking Christ.

"Mother-fucker!"

"Language." Grace Deacon admonished. She sighed at Zane's expression. "I know it's frustrating. Everyone knows this isn't your fault Zane." She went back to her computer.

Zane wasn't so sure about that. The test had been a frickin' disaster even at 0.4% power potential. That harmless EM signal spiked in the middle of a delicate portion of the procedure causing the power cells to overload. The resulting explosion had thrown him and Fargo several feet and almost injured the General. After the smoke had cleared, they realized the signal increase persisted causing the DED to become unstable. If something wasn't done soon, the device would emit an EM pulse which would fry the town. The DoD representative and Fargo had quickly gotten into a surprisingly vehement argument about whose fault it was and what was to be done.

After the General directed a particularly pointed comment in Zane's direction, Fargo had ordered him down to Grace Deacon's lab, supposedly to wait for disciplinary procedures but Zane got the message. The Deacons and him were going over everything they knew about this signal in order to track it down. Henry had come up with so possible design specifications for the proposed device. He was currently searching the GD database for any similar projects. Otherwise, they hadn't made much headway.

It wasn't another temporal event. Everything about it was completely wrong for that type of work. Which meant something else was going on. So either there was another group of people engaging in different secret research within Eureka or the temporal conspirators were branching out for some reason. Personally, Zane didn't know which he preferred at this point.

To make things worse, after the explosion, fake-Jo had changed tactics. Still in her sun-dress of sluttiness, fake-Jo now admonished Zane's scientific and sexual prowess. Frankly, he was pretty damn sick of her. Suddenly hair on his arms stood up, causing a part of Zane to relax. He turned around to find Jo walking through the lab door.

She shot him an understanding look. "Thought I'd check in. Any progress?"

Henry called out from behind a bank of equipment. "Definitely operating in-town. Alison and Jack are searching the likely area of origin now"

Zane took a breath, continuing. "We're trying to recalibrate the sensors for the EM shield to detect the signal. Reduce the size of the search area."

Jo folded her arms across her chest. "You can track it?" The three of them nodded. Zane saw Jo's posture loosen just slightly. "Good. Fargo and the General-" She winced. "It's pretty bad up there. I don't think Fargo's had a chance to explain a few things." She bit her lip, distracting Zane for a moment. "I don't think the General is going to give him a chance to explain."

"Shit." Zane was furious with himself. They should have known. Seriously, didn't he learn anything from Grace's party? If he hadn't been distracted as hell with the hallucinations, Zane would have thought to ask Grace for the interfering signal profile before the DED test instead of after when he'd stormed into her lab. One glance at the theoretical profile the Deacons put together and Zane knew that the signal during the DED test was a match.

A hand on his shoulder pulled Zane from his thoughts. "Hey, Fargo knows this wasn't your fault." Zane suppressed a wince. Given Fargo's current opinion of Zane, whether he thought Zane responsible for the DED test failure or not was irrelevant. However, the last thing he wanted was Jo thinking about Zoe Carter, at least as long as the teenager's crush persisted.

"Yeah." Zane shrugged, trying not to snap in frustration. He's the one that screwed up the test, not Jo. "Can't help but wonder though. After what happened at the Deacon's, should have postponed the test."

Henry, having patiently borne Zane's ranting and cursing up to now, interjected. "If Fargo hasn't briefed the General yet on the situation, you had no legitimate reason to postpone the test. At least not that the General would understand."

Jo added her own two cents. "After a major test postponement would be the worst time to inform the General of the situation-"

Zane couldn't help but contradict that statement. "Worse than after a major test failure?" He didn't add "or after a catastrophic EM pulse" even though they were all thinking it.

Jo gave a slight nod as if in acknowledgement before glancing past Zane to the monitor behind him. "You at a stopping point?"

Zane grinned eager for a distraction, especially a Jo-themed one. "I could be."

Grace overlapped his reply with one of her own. "Take him." At Zane and Jo's raised eyebrows, she pursed her lips. "You've been fuming at the monitor for a half-hour. Go relax!" Her eyes narrowed. "And come back ready to work!"

Zane leapt from his chair, saluting the Mayor's wife as he did so. "Yes, ma'am!" Henry, grinning, joined his wife in waving them goodbye as Jo and Zane exited the room.

Before the doors closed, Jo tilted her head towards the Rotunda stairs and the exit. "Café Diem?"

A large part of Zane would have preferred an abandoned lab and a meal consisting of what could be scavenged from the vending machines in Section Three. But, even he knew, as pissed as the General was with him right now, it would be worse if Mansfield caught them together on GD property. Besides, Jo was getting that tired around the eyes look that he hadn't seen since the wrap-up of the Rage Incident. However much a pain in the ass fake-Jo was, it appeared that fake-Zane was equally trying. Which just figures. He finally gets the girl and hallucination-him tries to drive her away.

"Sure." He slid his hands in his pockets, even though it wasn't exactly comfortable to walk that way. Like always, being around Jo made his fingers just itch to reach out. Knowing that it was allowed and not forbidden, miraculously, did little to ease the urge. Better safe than sorry. Zane frowned as something occurred to him. "Fargo didn't ask you to get me outta here, did he?"

Jo smiled, acknowledging the plausibility of the question. "No." They exited the stairs, crossing the rotunda. For a split second, her line of sight went past Zane, drawing his attention as well. Through the windows of the Director's office, Fargo and the General were obviously arguing. Zane's eyebrows went straight up. Fargo wasn't above the occasional comment or sycophantic but creatively-interpreted order. Now, however, the GD director was clearly in full-on thermonuclear rant mode. Jo's voice dragged him away from the scene. "Probably a good idea if we're somewhere else for a while."

As Zane turned back to his girlfriend, he noticed that she walked a good foot further away from his side. Her entire posture stiffened considerably. While he understood the why, it still rankled. He didn't want to make their lives more complicated right now either. Mansfield was one walking-talking grumpy complication. Nevertheless, Zane figured one tiny little Federal Indictment didn't warrant the likely panic attack the DoD would have upon finding out about him and Jo.

He risked a glare through the rotunda windows at the General in the Director's office. It was quick. Last thing Zane wanted was for the General catching him giving him the stink-eye. Jo, as they crossed towards the GD exit, had begun dispersing some of the gathered GD employees who were attempting to nonchalantly stare at their director standing-off against the General. Interestingly, most of them appeared more impressed with Fargo than concerned.

By the time he and Jo actually made it out of GD, they left a wave of dispersing employees in their wake. Zane's motorcycle, while awesome, was not an appropriate vehicle for the head of GD Security. As such, they had both come into work in Jo's car which, given the Mansfield situation, was probably a stupid idea. But frustrated after attempting to interrogate the Grants at the Deacons barbecue, neither he nor Jo had been focused on General-shaped repercussions. Zane silently cursed to himself as Jo pulled out of GD.

Prior to being shanghaied in Eureka, Zane had never in his life allowed anyone to dictate how he would live it. Granted, he hadn't always exercised sound judgment in that rebellion. Federal Prison neither dampened that instinct nor completely subdued it. Instead of becoming the type of prisoner let out early for good behavior, Zane went the other direction. Hacks of prison administration, tweaking the guards criminal records. But, because of his prisoner status, Zane had been forced to confront a few crap realities. Any bucking the system he did was constrained by those crap realities and had to therefore be well-considered.

After screwing up his first few hours in Eureka, Zane had grown even more reluctant to get caught with his hand in the cookie jar. Sure, he freed lab animals, taunted the Enforcer and greatly enjoyed being a pain-in-the-ass. But, let's face it; none of those things were going to end with Zane back in Federal lock-up. Jo was Mansfield's golden girl, his hand-picked watchdog. The General had a very personal stake in her pristine record. If he thought Zane was undermining that and if, given past experience, he thought Zane was Up To Something in the process? Zane felt a tickling at the back of his neck, like he used to get when the cops were chasing him.

In the corner of his eye, Zane saw Jo driving, jaw-clenched and, if he didn't know better, very eager to shoot something. Given her attitude in the rotunda, he didn't blame her. Mansfield finding out all they've done to root out the temporal conspiracy was bad but there's no way he wouldn't also find out about Jo and Zane at the same time. He figured he had a pretty good idea what fake-Zane, and therefore Jo's subconscious, was harping on.

They'd both had too much serious today. And, Zane was a lot better at not-serious anyway. "Relax, Jo. Come on, you've got two me's? You're not even having fun with it." He clucked his tongue. "So disappointing."

Jo wrinkled her nose, voice well past the 'I will taser you in the ass if it shuts you up' threshold. "Two colossal jackasses, one of whom-" Jo glared into the rear-view mirror at the empty back-seat. "I can't escape from is not my idea of fun."

Zane frowned, Jo felt like she needed to escape from him? If it were possible, he'd beat the shit out of fake-him. "You told me to be a jackass so that one's your fault. What happened to boring fake-me?"

Jo snorted. "Like the real you, he got pissy when I didn't pay enough attention to him." She shrugged, knuckles white as she gripped the steering wheel. "He changed tactics."

This morning Zane had been very proud of the fact that neither of them got much sleep last night. Noting Jo's weary expression and stiff body language, now Zane couldn't help but wonder if her lack of sleep was making the situation worse. "I could try that whole boring thing if it helps?" Jo snorted in disbelief. "What? You think I can't manage it?"

She grinned. "Not a chance." Jo sighed, frowning. "And it's unnecessary. For the most part, it's easy to tell the difference. When he was revealed to be a hallucination, not-Zane just stood there and stared." Jo shuddered. "I should have known better. In that respect, he's just like you. Quiet means Up To Something." Zane smirked, not wasting his breath contradicting Jo on that. "Now-" Jo sighed. "Now, he's talking again." She shot Zane a glance before returning her eyes to the road. "Nothing I can't handle but, let's just say, I'd rather hang out with real-you right now."

Zane lacked a proper response for that, remaining silent as Jo parked her car. He followed Jo into Cafe Diem, surprised to find both the Sheriff and Blake in there. "Hey Jo, how's it going?"

Jo shook her head ruefully at Carter's question. "Not good. The General's pissed."

Zane added his two cents. "And the DED is gonna blow soon."

Alison, carrying a couple bags of takeout, nodded towards the exit. "Hopefully, we'll find the device and shut it down before then."

Both he and Jo wished them luck as they left. Finding an empty table was no problem. It was well past the dinner rush hour. Glancing at his phone, Zane realized that restaurant would close in an hour or so.

Looking across the table at Jo, Zane recalled Grace Deacon's comments on the hallucinations. Apparently, the only way to get rid of them was to deal with whatever subconscious desire was causing them. Zane frowned as Jo ordered for both of them. Hallucination-Jo sat on a nearby table, slumping and scowling. She made faces as real-Jo spoke to Vincent. Why was she still here? Jo and him had talked about her habit of preemptively arresting him for stuff.

As Vincent walked off, Zane found himself courting trouble far more than usual by starting what would likely be a stressful conversation with an armed woman. "So, what's your drama?"

Jo's eyebrows went up. "What?" At his expression, she quit playing dumb. She frowned at something over his left shoulder. "I'm actually not sure. I thought it was-" Jo glanced around, voice dropping to a whisper. "- the arresting thing."

Zane huffed. "Me too." Fake-Jo had rolled her eyes at that, not impressed with his deduction skills and for a split second actually acting somewhat like real-Jo. He couldn't fully suppress the alternate explanation that occurred to him. It seemed unlikely but...Zane fidgeted with the salt shaker before asking. "We're good, right? After last night?"

Without hesitation, Jo answered emphatically. "Yes." Zane matched her grin, only to watch it fade abruptly. She spoke over his shoulder. "Shut up! I'm through with your mind games!"

Fake-Jo also piped up. "You two are so full of shit. You really think that you have this figured out? Ha!"

Zane snapped. "I'm great at figuring things out and so is she!" A hand on his arm stopped him. His girlfriend was directing an understanding look his direction. But, several other diners were looking in their direction with some suspicion. Even with the events of recent weeks, Zane still got the occasion "OMG, he's a dangerous criminal stare". That's not what these looks were about. No, it was the "back away from the crazy person" stare. And those bastards were looking at Jo the same way. Damnit. One more downgrade of her reputation due to him. Like Mansfield needed any more ammunition.

"Hey." Jo's fingers rubbed a spot on his sleeve, warming the skin through the fabric. "This is just normal new relationship stuff." At his expression, she rolled her eyes trying not to smile. "Okay, normal for Eureka anyway."

A part of Zane relaxed. They had already gotten through a lot to get here. Surely a couple of measly subconscious concerns would be peanuts by comparison. "Okay. It's going good." He took her hand in his own. "Really good. Still, before we both had to worried about this. So-" He gulped, staring at Jo's face as he spoke. "What were we worried about?"

Jo, hand still in his, shifted in her seat. Zane's stomach plummeted. There was something. Shit, he knew it. Looking at her, he knew she wasn't up to sharing just yet. So he gave it a shot. "Personally, I admit to wondering a great deal what a nice, upstanding girl such as yourself is doing with someone like-"

"Shut up." Jo's hand tightened in his own. "You're nowhere near as reprehensible as you like people to think, Mr 'I call my mom once a week'. I spent two years learning exactly how bad you are-" She leaned in, eyes intent on his. "And how bad you are not."

So what was her deal? And his? After voicing his concern, fake-Jo did not appear to be fading in the slightest. Zane really was with Jo on this. They were simply too good together, way better than he'd ever dreamed. Subconscious hallucinations were not going to stop it. Any Eureka hijinks were not going to stop it. Generals weren't either, dammit.

Looking at her suddenly Zane didn't care about the people surrounding them, General Mansfield, the DED test or anything really, except Jo Lupo. However much time they had wasted these last two years, Zane would not trade these last few weeks for anything. Even more threats of jail-time from the General, while inconvenient, weren't enough to dissuade him. In fact, sorting through all the fantasies and scenarios Zane had of what they'd be like, it occurred to Zane that he really never wanted it to end, to have even the slightest chance of ending. The image of him and her, older, greyer and still kicking ass hit Zane like a ton of bricks. And he must be insane to be considering this, but Zane really wanted to make that image reality.

Fake-Lupo smiled from behind his girlfriend, noticeably pleased. As she faded away, Zane heard a faint. "Took you long enough."

He barely heard the hallucination though. An idea shot into his mind like a Fourth of July firework – crazy, bold and if it worked, awesome. Grinning at Jo, he broke the spell. "Can you excuse me a second? I need to talk to Vince about an idea for a project that I just had."

Jo, still tingling from how he'd been looking at her a moment earlier, blinked at her boyfriend's retreating back. What the hell was that? One second, they were, let's face it, making eyes at each other and the next? He had to talk to Vincent? Jo frowned as she watched the two interact across the cafe. While they didn't necessary behave like they were hiding something, she recognized Zane's blithe charm for what it was.

He was Up To Something. On one hand, she really ought to be worried. On the other, she sighed. This trusting Zane to not make insanely stupid decisions had to start somewhere.

A voice taunted, as fake-Zane slid into a chair next to her. "Oh, so now you're all trusting are you? After everything you've done? Some Ranger you are Jo." Jo stiffened, not looking at the hallucination.

Ever since he'd started talking again, the delusion had not let up. Fake-Zane, no more deterred than real-Zane would be, continued. "A daredevil like him with a coward like you? Please. Who are you kidding, Jo-jo?"

Jo's teeth hurt as she tried not to scream her reply. "Don't call me that! Only he gets to call me that!"

"Who calls you what?" Her real boyfriend sat down across from her, appearing considerably more at ease. Jo narrowed her eyes at him. Something was different. Almost as if-

"She's gone." Zane blinked at her tone but Jo couldn't keep herself from being disappointed that whatever had been worrying him was so easy to deal with, while her own concerns showed no signs of abating.

Zane, for his part, fidgeted. "Yeah, but it was kinda an accident. Just sorta stumbled on it."

Jo's foot tapped under the table. "And that was it?" If all it took was thinking what you're problem was, Jo knew that she was at a disadvantage. As many times as she had outsmarted Zane in order to catch and hold Zane, she had no illusions that his intellect operated at a far higher speed than her own. "You don't have to deal with your 'concern'?" She couldn't stop herself from making air-quotes around the word.

Zane, for his part, just grinned. "Actually-" He leaned across their table, taking her hand again. "I have a plan." Seeing her expression, he admonished. "But it's a surprise. A good surprise."

Jo once again marveled that, of the two of them, the commitment-phobic felon was far more ready to deal with the consequences of their relationship than she was. But, his confidence appeared contagious. She felt something in her lighten, smirking at him in realization. He might think faster, but judging by the number of times she had caught him when he hadn't let her, she could out-do him occasionally. If he had a surprise in the wings, then she'd just have to surprise him right back. "Well, then. I'll just have to keep a look-out for anything...shocking."

Zane expression, if anything, grew more like that of a cat who ate the canary. He did not have time to reply though before Vincent showed up with their food. The gossiping cafe owner was admirably discreet at catching the two of them holding hands and staring at one another. Having skipped dinner to spend time with Zane, Jo dug into her food with gusto, an act which Zane mimicked.

Unfortunately for both of them, half-way through the meal, reality intervened. A sharp piercing noise caused glasses to shatter throughout the cafe. Jo's hands went to her ears as she recognized the sound from the Deacons. Another oscillation event.

A crunching sound echoed as the sound faded. Zane shot her a look as they both rose from their table to check outside the cafe. In the street, a passing car twisted into shapes that were only a parody of a functioning vehicle. The former driver, laying next to the car, stared at it in shock.

Zane quite serious said from next to her. "We should head back." Jo, pulling out her phone nodded agreement. First, though she had to report this.

"Carter, there was an ambush. The DED is gone." God, she hated delivering bad news. Despite the warm morning, Jo felt cold and adrift. Fake-Zane, still present, tut-tutted from behind her. "Wow Jo-jo, some Security Chief you are. I mean, we both know you're not as willing to take risks as this job demands but an oversight like this...looks horrible on a resume."

None of them had got any sleep that night. After returning from the cafe with Zane, she had gone to check on Fargo and the General. Shortly after that, Mansfield had tired of arguing, finally choosing to exercise his authority to order the DED moved. Fargo had fought it but in the end, couldn't stop it.

When she'd gone down to Grace's lab to update Zane and the Deacons, they'd shaken their heads. Moving the DED wouldn't stop the charge build-up. No matter where the DED was, if that signal was capable of reaching it, the charge would continue to build and eventually- Zane had fumed, uncharacteristically quiet in defeat. She received the distress call from the transport team shortly after.

Carter and Alison, although successful at disarming the device, had been too late. It was now clear that the intent had been to get the DED in transit. Whoever the conspirator's were, they were not foolish enough to attempt a theft inside a Section Five lab at GD. On the road outside of town, however, was far easier.

The entire ride back to GD, fake-Zane had not let up. His pointed comments about her cowardice were beyond grating. While she knew that for the most part the hallucination was full of shit, in one particular respect fake-Zane was entirely correct. The guiltly jabs each time his remarks hit home were giving Jo a stomachache. If it wouldn't be a waste of bullets she would have shot the hallucination hours ago.

As Jo re-entered the GD rotunda, she dreaded being the one to inform the General. Fargo remained in his office, working on his computer. After ordering the transport, the General hadn't waited before leaving town as well. Judging by her boss's frustrated expression, he hadn't the opportunity to update Mansfield on their progress investigating the temporal conspiracy. Which would come back to bite them in the ass later. The longer they waited to tell Mansfield about the hack, the more suspicious it looked.

Jo didn't waste time with pleasantries. "The DED is gone."

Fargo snorted derisively from behind his computer monitor. "Big surprise." He glared at the couch a moment before continuing. "I'll inform the General."

She hated to be the one to point this out but-"Sir, when the Pentagon investigates-"

"I already submitted my report to them along with my official disagreement with the decision to transport." Fargo vibrated in place with righteous fury. "Mansfield will not blame me for his own mistakes." He shifted in his seat. "How is everyone?"

"Carter and Alison are bringing the recovered device back to GD. According to her, it matches Henry's predictions pretty closely."

Fargo nodded. "Good. Something about that design is familiar to me." He gestured to his screen. "I'm searching through the proposal database now. I know that I've seen this before."

"Great." Jo continued. "Zane is digging into the Grants' backgrounds a bit more. Trying to find any link with research which could tie this to the time-traveling. The Deacons are prepping Grace's lab to perform testing on the recovered device."

"Excellent." Fargo abruptly stood, walking over to her. He glanced at the couch a couple of times but otherwise ignored whatever he was seeing there. "I need you to get the report on the DED ambush done as quickly as possible. I don't want the General accusing us of dragging our feet on this."

Fake-Zane choose this moment to pipe up. "What you? Drag your feet on something? How uncharacteristic!" She ignored him, nodding at Fargo's request.

Completing the report was a nightmare. Aside from the fact that she had to face the fact that her crack security team screwed up rather significantly, fake-Zane spent the entire two hours she interrogated the team and wrote up the report taunting her endlessly. If it wasn't digs about her relationship with Zane, it was comments on her lack of backbone in dealing with unpleasant situations. As she emailed the final report to the Pentagon and Fargo, she silently sent out a prayer that these hallucinations would be over soon.

"Hey Jo-jo, you done hiding in your office?" Fake-Zane had returned, once again calling her by Zane' preferred nickname.

Something in Jo snapped. Ignoring him hadn't worked, maybe yelling at him would. "Will you stop doing that? Are you here to tell me my ass looks great when I hold a gun?"

The hallucination shrugged, smirking. "Well, you do have a nice-"

Her palms slammed down on the desk before she could stop herself. "That's it! You know what?" Jo stood, leaning across. "You're right, okay? Happy?" She took a shuddering breath, finally admitting aloud what she'd been thinking this whole time. "I was a coward. For two years, I ran. I knew what Zane wanted and I knew what I wanted and I just spent two years making us both miserable instead, alright? I don't need you and your creepy smiles to point it out to me. Ranger or not, I spent two years treating someone who was-" Jo 's hands waved, noticeably shaking. "daring, fun and everything I never admitted that I wanted like he was shit. But, I'm not going back to that and we are amazing together! No thanks to you and your snarky comments. So if you don't mind would you please shut up?"

Fake-Zane blinked, stunned. His expression loose and open. "Two whole years?"

Jo slumped. "From the second I saw you." She glanced up at the hallucination, only to freeze. A second Zane materialized behind the Zane she had spent the last minute chewing out. The Zane who was not in fact a hallucination. Now that she saw the two of them, the differences were apparent. For one thing, fake-Zane wore a blue t-shirt, not the grey one Zane had slipped on yesterday morning as they scrambled to be presentable for the Deacon's barbecue.

As she stared, the hallucination smirked fading out. "Gotcha." Her gaze returned to the other, oh god, the real Zane.

A Zane who returned her stare like he'd never seen her before. Jo braced for the explosion. For someone like him, who took risks like breathing, no matter how understanding he'd pretended to be, spending two years frustrated and ostracized because of your now-girlfriend was bound to rankle. He took a step towards her, reaching when they jumped at the sound of her office door whoosing open.

Jo blinked back tears at Carter's voice. "Guys, I'm really sorry about this but-" He turned towards Zane. "Zane, I'm afraid that I have to arrest you for collusion in the theft of the DED device."

"What?" Both Jo and Zane responded with equal shock. Jo was all prepped to demand an explanation only to have Zane wave a dismissive hand.

"Whatever, that actually makes some sense. But first-" He put a hand up towards Carter a moment, pulling an envelope out of his back pocket. "Jo needs to see this. It's everything I dug up on the Grants. Time-travelers or not, it proves that they aren't who they say they are."

He threw it down on Jo's desk with an apologetic look at Jo. She nodded through her shock as Carter pulled Zane out of the office. Jo sat shakily, her breaths short. Before she could stop herself, she had the envelope open.

Fargo, for his part, had been adamant that Zane was being framed. The conspirators had chosen an old design proposal of his for their acoustical device but it was one of many versions available. Combined with Zane's security code being used to shutdown the protections on the DED making the overload more likely, well, it was a pretty convincing. Too convincing really when you considered how good Zane was a sneaking around.

Fargo had even gone so far as to apologize for finding the incriminating evidence to Jo when she'd called him with Zane's evidence. "Look, I'll meet the General and plead Zane's case." Fargo had frowned a moment before continuing. "Go down to the Sheriff's and keep Zane there. If he tries anything, it will only look worse. He'll listen to you."

Jo wasn't so sure about that. She had made it as far as Main Street before chickening out. She had called Jack so he could pass on that Fargo was fighting the charges and Zane really, really to refrain from doing something stupid now. But instead of joining them, she ducked into Cafe Diem.

She sat at a booth, nursing a smoothie and wondering how she would face Zane. Or, how she would face life in Eureka without Zane if Fargo failed. Her mind worked furiously. But if Fargo did reveal their work in tracking the temporal conspiracy, then the General would also find out about her and Zane. Her credibility for proving his innocence would be zero. At this point, she just had to hope that Fargo brought his A-game and that Zane would still want to-

"What about Jo? Dad says. Silly me for not listening." Jo froze at Zoe Carter's voice. Her head shot up to find the girl sliding into the booth across from her. Jo opened her mouth to stammer out an apology only to have Zoe wave a hand dismissively. "Only so many times a guy can run away from a girl before she's just not that into him anymore. Freaking coward. Besides, it's my own fault for getting in the way of the Lupo-Donovan Vibe of Destiny."

Jo couldn't stop her protest, even if that same vibe was currently driving her a little bit nuts. "We don't have a-"

"Please. I should have checked the betting in you & Zane's pool before coming back to town." Zoe waved at Vincent behind the counter, who cheerfully returned the gesture. "Do you know the odds have dipped from 100:1 against to 20:1 in favor in just the last three months? What have you been getting up to Jo? And, more importantly, why haven't I heard about it until now?"

"It's nothing. A whole lot of nothing really." Jo had agreed with Zane's plan to deter Zoe's interest, but had not properly considered the fact that 'sharing-is-caring' Zoe Carter might have additional reasons to be cross with Jo.

"So you are not now dating Zane?" No mercy, Carters. Not many people know that about them.

"Technically yes but-"

"And you didn't tell me why exactly? Don't say because I liked him, that happened recently and I checked." Zoe nodded toward Vincent again. "The bets changed weeks ago Jo. So dish, willya?"

"I thought you'd be mad." Which was true. It had always been true. Zoe was like the little sister she'd never admitted to wanting growing up. Zane had hurt her. No matter how good things had been between her and Zane, Jo still felt a little bit like a traitor for choosing him over Zoe.

The girl in question rolled her eyes at Jo's words. "I didn't like him weeks ago, Jo."

"No, because of his escape attempt. He hurt you."

Zoe blinked, wrinkling her nose in shock. "That was two years ago! Why would I care about that now? Especially when, aside from me getting hurt, it wasn't ever a big deal."

"He was dangerous-"

Zoe cut her off. "Please, Zane's a total teddy bear. He just goes grizzly around you. He's never been a bad guy, Jo."

"I know that but he almost killed you. I thought that you'd-" Jo frowned, trying to put into words. "I thought you wouldn't want me to date a guy who almost killed you." Zoe's words finally registered. "'It wasn't ever a big deal'?"

"Jo, he didn't leave." Zoe spoke emphatically and calmly. "He was out, Jo. I couldn't stop him." Zoe gestured to her own torso. "Pilar was in full melt-down mode and Lucas was pinned under what was left of your desk. Zane could have gotten away. Instead, he got Lucas out, called for help, calmed down Pilar. He waited at the Sheriff's office until Dad came back. He could have left, Jo." Zoe reached across the table for her hand. "I'm sorry for the last couple days. But Jo, if you've held yourself back for the last two years because of a semi-accident, no different than any other wacky experiment in this town, then Jo, I'm a lot sorrier for that."

Jo couldn't breathe. She'd read the report, of course. Intellectually, she knew Zane had helped after. But that wasn't the same as Zoe saying he did. Remembering their night together, she smiled across at Zoe. "He really is a teddy bear."

Zoe grinned. "Absolutely. And, as it turns out, he's your teddy bear so enjoy it, okay?"

She nodded not trusting her voice for a moment. When she did recover, Jo got out a weak "Okay."

"But, since I'm being so awesome about this, you owe me one hot super-genius."

"Well, there's always Fargo." Jo nodded at the scene across the restaurant, where Fargo had just spilled his milkshake and was now attempting to help AI Vincent clean up with predictably disastrous results. The other customers swirling around him in practiced blindness.

Stiffening, Zoe winced a little before replying. "If I concede that I deserved that for accidentally going after your guy, can we both agree to never imply anything about me and Fargo ever, ever again?"

Jo let her think a moment, just long enough for Zoe to fidget. "That's reasonable." She wouldn't have done that ordinarily. But ordinarily Carter wasn't freaking out about his daughter throwing herself at the town bad boy / Jo's boyfriend. However pleasant some of the consequences of the crush had been, it was a relief to finally have her friend back.

Zoe leaned back in the booth. "So, what's the plan for springing Zane from the slammer?"

Jo fidgeted. "We're working on it. Well, Fargo is." At Zoe's frown, she continued. "I know he's innocent. But Mansfield might not appreciate my opinion considering-"

"That you're dating the suspect." Zoe narrowed her eyes at Jo, looking for all the world like a Carter who has had just about enough of your pesky secrets. "How did that happen by the way?"

For a split second Jo thought about dodging the question, but only a second. Until that moment, Jo hadn't realized how much she missed the chance to talk to Zoe about this. Grace and Alison had been great but, if he'd been any other guy, Jo would have told Zoe about first. She stirred her tea, noting Zoe's eager expression. "Well, it all started on Founder's Day-"

THE END (for now)

Coming soon(ish)...

The General directed his next question to her. "Do you have a problem handcuffing and locking him up anytime you deem it necessary?"

Jo huffed, genuinely insulted. Her reply more emphatic than the last. "No sir."

"For the record, sir. I don't have any problem with that, either." Jo shut her eyes. Idiot. She could only hope the General forgave Zane his usual inappropriate remark.

*Once again, the poem is Douglas Woolley's "Ode to Hydrogen".