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#Zane Donovan
frakyeaheureka · 6 months
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emmanelson · 2 years
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NIALL MATTER and ERICA CERRA as ZANE DONOVAN and JO LUPO in EUREKA (2006-2012)
Zane, I need you. Right here in the hall? Oh, you naughty little minx, you...
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john-bracket · 9 months
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isharaneith · 6 months
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Whumptober 2023 – No. 2
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“I’ll call out your name, but you won’t call back.”
Thermometer1 | Delirium | “They don’t care about you.”
— Jo, look at the coffee. — I don't care about… — It's frozen solid. Zane! — Zane!
Like, reblog or comment if you save, please.
1 – my train of thought was thermometer → temperature → hypothermia
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nightingalewritings · 10 months
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Sound off! Who’s ready for the Eureka fandom to be revived from the dead aka come to Retci’s show of being in love with this show and nonstop posting. Lol
Definitely have some canary in the tube tho! Can’t wait for all of y’all to see our girls. And there maaaybe a long ass story in the works as well!
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emmaelix · 1 year
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Can someone tell me if the Eureka fandom is dead? Cause I'm on my third rerun and I desperately need fluff. (Just finished rewatching Founders Day)
Please, someone, anybody out there, I need to rant about how perfect Jo and Zane are!
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sarabahama · 10 months
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Top-tier ship.
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oldfangirl81 · 1 year
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Nathan Stark: Hey is this the new kid?
Zane Donovan: Who you calling kid, Spartacus?
Nathan Stark: Cocky, I like him.
Jack Carter: You would.
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I keep thinking about Another Zane’s “you hate that? Yeah, you hate that” when he calls Lupo “JoJo” for the first time because it’s such a big moment for both of them. Like. Her world is being rocked because the pieces are starting to align a little bit, she’s basically just been thrown into the realisation that things are slowly starting to go back to how they should have been. He’s using a nickname for her that Original Zane used, and it’s terrifying and exciting and she doesn’t know what to do with it. And he picks up on that. And he gets ready to backpedal. Asshole, wind-up merchant, lives-to-piss-people-off Zane Donovan has a moment of gearing up to backpedal. He sees her reaction, but obviously he doesn’t understand it, and his first thought is that he’s uncovering something that he shouldn’t, that he’s completely unintentionally reopened an old wound, and he’s ready to take it back.  And then he realises that she isn’t distressed, she’s just floundering a little. He hasn’t upset her, he’s just caught her off guard. He assumes that she’s pissed off at him undermining her authority, but not in a way that’s going to actually affect her or bring up bad memories. And so in true Zane Donovan style, he doubles down. 
And I fucking love it
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wipbigbang · 1 year
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WIP Big Bang 2023 Round Starting April 1st!
What is the WIP Big Bang? Good question! This is a Big Bang with one goal in mind: to clean out your fanfic drafts folder. These are stories that were unfinished for whatever reason, that authors returned to and completed, and the art that goes with them!
Please read our FAQ/check out our schedule for more details.
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can i have a bi jo and/or trans and bi zane from eureka icons? if youre still doing those that is.
There is a severe lack of Eureka screencaps or just like picture of the characters so I may have to rewatch some of my favorite episodes go get some. Anyway, hope this is what you wanted :)
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frakyeaheureka · 2 years
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sakebytheriver · 1 year
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Zane and Jo are that specific kind of straight couple written under compulsory heterosexuality where there's enough spark between the two of them that I can turn them into a bi4bi couple in my head
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john-bracket · 9 months
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thewickedbohemian · 2 years
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An update of this post because @firstginger​‘s quiz got a makeover, it’s not in a reblog as that’d make things too long
Eureka
Allison Blake - hartebeest
Beverly Barlowe - kingfisher (sure it’s not same kind of daemon as Alison’s like before and I’m not sure how the bci shenanigans would work like that but disregarding that one arc it’s otherwise a perfect fit)
Douglas Fargo - peregrine falcon
Grace Monroe -  dwarf mongoose
Henry Deacon - snowcock
Holly Marten -  dutch warmblood horse
Jack Carter - white-tailed deer
Jim Taggart - roadrunner
Jo Lupo - Pallas’ cat
Nathan Stark - snow leopard (freaking “Lord Asriel kinnie” Nathan Stark, there’s parallels making me burst out laughing right now)
Tess Fontana - shelduck
Trevor Grant - common gecko
Vincent - sparrow
Zane Donovan - caucasian tur
Zoe Carter - Nubian goat
Warehouse 13
Artie Nielsen -  Himalayan cat
Claudia Donovan - African civet
Leena -  king quail
Mrs. Frederic - wolf spider
Myka Bering - European mole
Pete Lattimer - California sea lion
Steve Jinks - alligator snapping turtle
The Librarians
Cassandra Cillian - sable
Eve Baird - okapi
Ezekiel Jones - motmot (no, @merwinist, I didn’t just rig this to get him a tiny-enough-for-thieving daemon)
Flynn Carsen - golden eagle
Jacob Stone - Himalayan tahr
Jenkins - crayfish
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elizaisthetruehero · 2 years
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Stranger with My Sister's Face Chapter 7
So I haven't updated this in months, but hi! Here's another chunk of it.
Got Section 5 clear, Chief.
The Glaciology lab was wrecked, a few techs are in the infirmary now.
Reports came in through her earpiece, and Jo fell back into old practices that had been drilled in long ago. Identify the potential threats, catalog damages for future reference, and ignore the casualties lying in the infirmary. There wasn't anything she could do for them now. None of them. Just focus on the next mission, make sure no one else joined them.
Carter ran up to her, dirt and oil smudged on his face, his uniform wrinkled with stains to match, “Hey, how’s it going over here?”
She busied herself with the tablet in her hands, logging Diaz's report of loose monkeys from the psychology lab before answering him. “Fargo managed to get the Astraeus programming off of GD’s systems, we’ve got crews cleaning up-“
“How’s Zane?” he asked, cutting her off before she could avoid the subject. Jo kept her eyes on her tablet, noting which of GD’s vital systems were still down and taking a breath before answering Carter.
“He’s still in surgery, but they should be finishing up soon. And even after they finish up he'll be out for at least an hour." He looked down at her, hunched over with those eyes that were far too gentle and understanding. Far more than she deserved. She felt like she was being catapulted back to Founder's Day, when the day was in that period in-between "bad" and "worse", and she wanted him to stop looking at her like that. Jo had been spending too much of today in the past. She didn't have time for that. “I’m going to go check in with Fargo again, make sure he didn’t blow himself up again,” she said, shoving a corner of her mouth up into a weak smile, and striding away, a faint, “Okay,” behind her.
Debris shot out around him, people were running around looking like chickens with their heads cut off, sparks were flying from loose wires, cables and beams still jutting out from twisted walls, and Tony could do nothing but stand there in the middle of a hallway and look like an idiot. A useless idiot. What the fuck am I doing here? It wasn’t the first time the thought had crossed his mind since he came to Eureka, but this was the strongest he’d felt it. His hands were shaking in a way they hadn’t in years. Not since his first combat missions. This was supposed to be an easy assignment. All it had done was throw him curveballs he’d never been prepared for.
First his sister, then Zane, then everything in this fucking town. Sleepy little science community his ass. Fucking liars everyone who’d sent him here.
Where the hell was Allison, or Fargo, or Deacon, or anyone useful? He was sent here so the DOD would have a representative in a crisis. What the fuck was he supposed to be doing when there actually was a crisis? He could triage, offer emergency medical assistance, but somehow he didn't think that was what he was sent there for.
A data pad was shoved at him, barely in his hands, almost tumbling out, before whoever handed it to him was running off. “Come on, we need someone with clearance to reset each of the systems in the biomechanics and quantum physics labs.”
Tony followed behind, logging in and pulling up the original settings and parameters for the different labs on the data pad. Acrid smoke billowed around them as doors opened, and he didn’t allow himself to hesitate before walking through. Finally, something he was used to.
----
Carter shoved air through his teeth, hands on his hips, and took a look around the rotunda, taking in the chaos that was slowly calming down. Fargo had come through, getting everything back online, all that remained was the cleanup. Though this might just be a redaction level offense.
Henry strode in, dust on his face and clothes, but no worse for wear, and Jo behind him, exhaustion heavy on both their faces.
“How’s the rest of GD?”
Henry nodded, “Good. It’s going to set everything behind by at least a week, but that’s nothing new.”
“Does that mean I get a week of calm?” At the dry look he got from the two of them, he changed tone, “I checked in with people in town, whatever this was didn’t spread outside of GD. Which, considering how much stuff always turns out to depend on GD or be linked to it…”
“We got lucky,” Henry said.
“That’s one way of looking at it,” Jo muttered, her brow pinched and head dipped, focused on the data pad she hadn’t stopped staring at since he’d seen her last. She’d changed clothes earlier, but it hadn’t done much good, dust showing up in patches against the black of her suit. Her jaw was clenched, and Carter knew she hadn’t stopped to breathe since the lights went out earlier.
He walked over to her, gently moving her pad down, “Hey, it looks like things are calming down. Do you want to go check in on the infirmary?”
She ignored him, pulling the data pad back up, scrolling through the alerts, “The infirmary sustained no structural damage, and they’re up and running. Did something change?”
“No, but Jo, it’s late, you’ve been running around all day, and GD’s now putting itself back together. Everyone here’s had enough practice recovering after a disaster. Go sit with Zane.”
Henry placed a hand on her shoulder, his voice soothing, “He’ll probably be out of surgery soon. If we need you, we’ll call.”
Jo looked at them like a deer in the headlights, like she’d be crazy to follow their suggestions, shaking her head. “Look, they’ll call me, and after he gets out, he’ll still be unconscious. No need for me to take up space there.”
“Well, I need to talk to Allison. She is the acting Head of GD, and surgery’s where we’ll find her right now. No point in dragging her out. Come on, let’s go.”
“I, uh,” she stammered, following Henry out, Carter taking a look around before joining them. They made their way through GD, looking like a bizarrely themed Haunted House. They joked about disasters of the week and rebuilding guidelines being memorized, but God, this could wear on a person.
They got to the infirmary, and the 14-year-old intern from Tesla almost ran into them as the doors opened, "Oh, good, there you are. Dr. Deacon, Dr. Blake could use another pair of hands in Operating 2. Said it was a little trickier than she thought, and a couple of doctors are down."
Jo’s voice cut through, panic laced, “What does she mean trickier than she thought?”
The teenage girl looked at the normally stoic and terrifying Chief of Security in confusion, then understanding dawned on her face, “Oh, I can’t say, HIPAA and all that. But Ms. Lupo,” she paused, smirking, “Zane Donovan’s still in Operating 3 with Smithline. In case you were wondering.” She and Henry went off to the operating room, leaving Jo and Carter standing there.
“You going to be okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you generally don’t take it well when Zane manages to get himself hurt,” Carter said.
“I take it fine,” she snapped, though the fight left her when she saw Carter’s raised eyebrow and the disbelief that was probably all over his face. “No, I don’t,” she whispered, leaning back against the infirmary wall, looking so much smaller than she normally did, head tucked into herself, shoulders hunched. “I ought to put a leash on that man,” she grumbled.
“Wouldn’t make a difference.”
“You’re right. How he manages to live this long while being this accident-prone, I’ll never know. A mystery of the modern world.”
Carter chuckled, “Like how Vincent manages to get an entire town addicted to everything he puts in front of us.”
“Or how Fargo hasn’t completely destroyed the town yet.”
“Good point.”
The door sprang open, and Tony raced into the room, someone’s arm slung over his shoulder. “Found him while I was down in biomechanics clearing the system resets. Turns out the reason it wouldn’t go down was that Lopez was stuck there,” he explained as Jo and Carter rushed to help ease Dr. Lopez down onto a cot, waving over an M.D. to check out his leg. As Lopez and the cot he was on were rushed off to the infirmary proper, Jo and Tony turned to each other, leaning against the walls. “So, any word on Zane yet?”
“Still in surgery.”
“Sorry.”
“Hey, don’t be. I’m sure he’ll be out and back to his annoying self in no time,” she said, forcing a strained smile to her face. Tony just looked at her, raised eyebrow, clearly not believing her, but not calling her out on it. Yet. “Come on, let’s get out of the entryway, the waiting area is over here.”
They made their way to the waiting room, Jo pausing to check in on the less injured people who hadn’t needed surgery, or were already out. Tony kept a hand braced on her back between her shoulder blades, feeling the tension gathered there. In the waiting room, more of a hallway that happened to have some chairs in it, time blended together, the two of them sitting in silence, Tony unsure of what to say to her. None of what he’d seen in that room earlier today had matched what he knew of Zane or his relationship with his sister, and he was feeling out of his element. Offering comfort was always Nicky’s job. Though she’d never accepted it easily.
 Dr. Smithline came out, still in their scrubs, and motioned over at Jo. “Excuse me,” she said, the first sound in several minutes, stood and walked over, heels clicking, her arms crossed over her chest, appearing as though she was trying to hold herself together. The two women stood close, heads bowed together. Whatever the doctor had to say didn’t seem to comfort Jo, but it didn’t make it worse. Smithline backed up, giving a nod to Jo, then to Tony, before disappearing from the doors where she came out of.
Jo wiped her face, her shoulders slumping, “Zane’s out of surgery, stable for now, but he’s going to be here for a couple of days.”
“I thought the docs were supposed to be really good at their jobs. Traumatic injuries were no big deal, discharged in time for dinner.” Tony said.
Jo just glared at him through wet, bloodshot eyes, “The pipe cracked while it was in his shoulder, and coolant got into his bloodstream. They’re still filtering it out, and they want to keep him overnight. Besides, his lungs got bruised up, so he’s on oxygen until it heals, plus they’re going to have to rebuild his shoulder, and they can’t get started on that until he’s been awake and they’ve gone over the options.”
“Do they know when he’ll wake up?”
“Smithline says he’ll be sedated for at least a couple of hours, if until not the morning. The filtering is apparently unpleasant, and between that, his shoulder, back, and the general blood loss they want him unconscious as long as possible to rest.”
“Even with the head wound?”
“They uh, they’re not too concerned about that. They did some initial scans, and they’ll run more tests after he wakes up, but Zane’s got a hard head. That’s the least of their worries right now.”
“He’s going to be in pain for a while when he wakes up, isn’t he?”
“They’ll probably have him on the good drugs for a day or two, then start weaning him off.”
Tony looked at her in confusion, “The good drugs?”
She waved him off, “It makes morphine look like Children’s Tylenol, but they added in something that makes it much less addictive.” She’d become very familiar with the good drugs in her early days in Eureka following her Army discharge.
He just shook his head, “Alright. Are you going to be waiting here then until he wakes up, or…?”
“Uh, yeah. There’s not much else I can do for GD, and there’s only so long they’ll want to keep him sedated for. I’ll stay here until he’s properly awake, and talking to the doctor at least.”
“Okay. Let me know if you want me to bring you something from the cafeteria or something.” Or another change of clothes, he thought, noticing the dust that had settled, and the grease smeared that shone off in the hospital lighting.
“I’m not hungry,” she muttered.
He looked at her, concerned, and whatever kept him from calling her out on her shit previously no longer applied. “You need to eat something. I’m pretty sure you never got lunch, and I know you’ve been here for about 12 hours. So, either you pick something you want to eat, or I’ll pick something out for you. Your choice.”
Jo conceded defeat, “I’ll take a chicken salad sandwich”.
---
The chair’s arms were digging into her legs where she’d drawn them up after settling next to Zane’s bedside. Her sandwich sat on the table next to her, half eaten and lukewarm by now. She kept a loose hold on Zane’s hand that wasn’t in a cast, her other hand scrolling through the data pad, though she’d been staring at the same point on Larry’s report for 20 minutes, his analysis on the building repairs not settling in her brain.
Zane’s fingers shifted lightly in her grasp, and Jo looked up from her data pad, searching his face for signs of movement. His eyes fluttered open, and he blinked blearily up at her.
“Hey, how are you feeling?” she asked, keeping her voice soft and steady, settling the pad down next to her dinner, delicately trailing her fingers along his cheek, brushing hair out of where it had flopped in front of his eyes.
“Fuzzy,” he rasped, grimacing.   
 She tapped the call button quickly, “Yeah, I think they gave you the good drugs.”
“I don’t like the good drugs.”
 “Trust me, you want the good drugs right now.” Zane just frowned in response, and before he could muster up the strength to say anything else, Allison came in to stand at the foot of his bed.
“Hey, how’s my favorite patient feeling?”
 “Like shit.”
Allison chuckled softly, “Yeah, you had a pipe go through your shoulder, we needed to run your blood through the filter, your back is a giant bruise, and we’ve got you on the good drugs.”
“I don’t like how the good drugs make me feel.”
“Well, I don’t think you’d like how you feel without them.”
Zane just pouted and whined, trying to lean up, “So, when can I get out of here?”
Allison shook her head, smiling at Zane’s predictability, “Okay, clearly the pain meds are doing their job if you think you’re getting out of here tonight. We can probably release you tomorrow, but you’re going to be back here for more work on your shoulder,” seeing Zane’s eye lose focus, she redirected. “But we’ll worry about that tomorrow. Why don’t you get some rest? You’re going to need it.”
“Okay,” he muttered as Allison left, then he turned to Jo. “Can you bust me out?”
She chuckled, then leaned forward to smooth his hair back away from his face, “Not happening. Try not to be a complete pain in the ass for the doctors.”
“I don’t like doctors.”
“Neither do I. But you are an unnecessarily awful patient. But you’ll be here for a while, and I won’t stop them if they decide to take revenge for any of the pranks you’ve pulled in your time in Eureka.”
“I’m not that bad.”
She fixed him with a look that clearly stated, stop pretending I’m a complete idiot. "I've read your file. And I've seen some of them in action. Don't give them any reasons or reminders."
Zane glanced around, looking like he wanted a subject change, “How’s Tony?”
“He’s fine, he’s not the one who got stabbed with a pipe. Look, why don’t you just get some sleep, alright, so you can get better?”
“How bad is it?”
Jo forced a smile to her face as she tried not to notice how drawn out, pinched, and pale his face was, "You're going to be fine."
“You’re fussing over me. Kinda suggests that I’m not,” he pointed out, his incessant need to be right being very inconvenient for Jo's patience.
“Don’t be stupid. You’re going to have to be here for a couple of days, and then you’ll be right back to annoying everyone.”
He grumbled, “You were in and out, and that was after getting a bullet to the chest.”
“You’re a little less straightforward. Stop arguing with me, and get some rest, okay?”
"Fine," he mumbled as his eyes drifted shut, but he maintained his grip on Jo's hand, slowly loosening as he drifted off. She rubbed her thumb along his knuckles, watching the lines on his face smooth. Jo let out a breath, leaning back in her chair, and closed her own eyes as she relaxed for the first time since that morning in Zane's kitchen, keeping her hold of Zane, shifting her grip so it fell closer to his wrist, and fell asleep to the gentle thud of Zane's pulse beating below her fingertips, lulled by the sounds of the machines working to keep that pulse going.
---
Allison strode into the room, out of her white coat now that the number of casualties in the infirmary had gone down and she could resume her duties as Head of GD, followed by a trembling slip of a doctor hunched over herself, staring at the data pad they were holding. Dr. Brunner, she recognized, remembering having to approve the security measures for the animal test subjects when her lab was undergoing repairs. She tried to recall what her project had been on, but it escaped her. But since some scientists here flitted between projects every hour, there was no guarantee that what she'd approved would even be related to why she was here.
"Zane, I'm glad to see that you're feeling better."
"Better being a relative statement," he said, grumbling at his arm, still in the sling.
She calmly smiled at him, warm and reassuring, "Well, I have someone here who can probably help with that. This is Dr. Brunner, and she's the expert at repairing traumatic injuries like yours, specializing in ball-and-socket joints. I'll let her explain what she wants to do, and we'll cross our fingers," Allison said, and then left the room. She was probably still busy with the last of the clean-up and getting Astraeus back on track.
Zane looked at Dr. Brunner skeptically, brow arched, arms pulling towards each other in an attempt to cross, but the sling got in the way of the effect, "I'm about to be a guinea pig for something, aren't I?"
"Well, we've actually done the guinea pigs already, Dr. Donovan. But, uh, you will be the first human experiment that's not in a petri dish. So, sort of, yes," she tapered off, fingers tapping on the edge of her data pad. A nervous tick Jo had noticed during her inspection. She’d tapped her pad from the time she’d turned around and noticed Jo and Fargo standing in her lab. The clacking of her nails on the plastic was even louder today.
"So, the pipe went straight through the bones in your shoulder and pretty much demolished them. It also severed an artery and did cause some nerve damage as well. I'm concerned about the fact that you're having trouble grasping with the left hand, and moving the arm."
“I can’t move my arm because the joint that I use to move it got turned to dust,” he snapped, eyes blazing.
She ignored his outburst, continuing on with her presentation, taking a deep breath. “What I want to do is take some of your stem cells from your bone marrow, and essentially graft them onto the damaged tissue with the solution, which would allow your shoulder and tissues to regrow themselves. We would fill the area with cartilage to keep the skin in place, keep the arm in a sling to keep it stable, and slowly remove the cartilage to allow room for the new tissue. While there are mechanical shoulder replacements, those have complications, are less effective, and would probably need at least one replacement during your lifetime. This would, hopefully, be a permanent solution. Once it's done, you'd have your own shoulder, and wouldn't need to be on immune suppressants like a transplant would require."
“Okay, so you’re going to regrow my bones a la Harry Potter. Sounds great, let’s get to it.”
"Zane, we are going to have to proceed slowly with the treatment. Regrowing tissues attached to another organism is tricky and can result in tumors, or an extra organ in the area if we go too quickly, or if we try to do too many types of tissues at once. We've done the lab and animal trials,"
“Yeah, and I bet those were very humane.”
Dr. Brunner ignored him again, staying focused on the data on her screen, “and we know what causes problems, and what to avoid.”
“Just tell me how long this is going to take. I got projects that I need to finish up before Astraeus, is that going to be a problem?” Zane asked.
The doctor took a deep breath before exhaling, bracing herself for the unpleasant part of the conversation, finally looking up towards Zane, but keeping her gaze fixed on a spot over his good shoulder. "Zane, regrowing the tissues in your shoulder is going to take weeks, if not months. And even after the shoulder is back, you will have physical therapy you'll need to do if you don't want it to be for nothing. Your projects, that won't be a problem. You being on the Astraeus on the other hand…"
Zane’s face shuttered, his fingers twitching in Jo’s hand, “What are you saying?”
“I’m not filling out any paperwork or anything just yet, I do want to get a second opinion. But Mr. Donovan, you’re likely medically disqualified from mission selection. You won’t be going to Titan.”
"You're joking, right?" When the doctor didn't start laughing or even crack a smile, Zane grew agitated, “No, that's not possible. I'm like, one of the few people who was actually in good enough shape to start with to go to space. This is insane."
Jo rubbed his knuckles with her thumb, , “Okay, Zane, we’re still in the infirmary,  She said she wanted a second opinion, just wait for one.”
Zane calmed down slightly, nestled amongst the sheets of his hospital bed, his glare not diminishing at all, “Fine.”
The doctor looked at them both, nerves on her face, then motioned at Jo. “Look, why don’t you get some rest. Ms. Lupo, can I speak to you outside?”
Jo nodded at the doctor, stood, and paused to press a kiss to Zane’s temple before following her outside. “You think he won’t be able to go on the Astraeus mission?”
“If there are future missions, and the treatment goes well, he’ll be able to go on those. But if he goes for the prosthetic, the injury would heal in time for Astraeus, but…”
“A mechanical joint replacement would make him ineligible, especially if he’s not used to it.”
“Exactly,” she paused, then handed a data pad over. “Look, I think that this is his best chance long term. But the next year, it’s going to be unpleasant. Zane’s going to be in and out of the infirmary a lot.”
Jo nodded, "I'll handle him. Thank you, Dr. Brunner." She took the data pad that spelled the end to Zane's Astraeus participation and tamped down the urge to throw it across the room. She stepped back inside the room, sat back down, and tried to take Zane's hand, but he wouldn't take it, picking at the blanket he'd thrown off his legs earlier. She laid the pad down on his lap.
“Sorry you went through all the trouble of getting Wen to pardon me,” Zane said bitterly, eyes focused on the wall past Jo’s shoulder.
“Hey, it wasn’t for nothing. Brunner thinks you'll be able to go on future missions-"
"But not this one. Not the first."
"No," Jo drew out, searching for the words, "but let's be honest, you and Fargo on the same mission? The two of you surviving the pod was a miracle, no way the Astraeus wasn't going to blow up. Hell, with just Fargo it still might implode. Save yourself the trouble."
"You're probably right," he chuckled, then finally turned to face her, "but you're still going."
Jo stilled, her breath stuck somewhere in her chest, wondering. "We don't even know if they'll pick me," she said weakly.
"Yeah, they will. Hey," he said, "you're going."
"Will you be here when I get back?"
He snorted sharply, "Are you kidding? According to this, I'm going to be in treatments and physical therapy for the next year. Where am I going?"
"Oh, I was just wondering if you thought Andy was going to be adequate security to keep the medical staff from killing you."
"Haha, very funny Lupo."
"I'm serious, you're a terrible patient. Really quite insufferable."
"You'd know that, wouldn't you?"
She cast her eyes down on her lap, "I've had some firsthand experience with you a few times, yes."
"And you still stuck around," the corner of his mouth turned up, "Good to know."
"Oh, I just didn't tolerate you being a pissy little shit. And I know how to handle you when you're being one. And how to make you listen. And worst came to worst, which cuffs you hadn't cracked yet."
"You sure that list is up to date? Considering everything?" Zane asked, the edge of his mouth jerking upwards into something that didn’t quite look like a smile.
Jo just shook her head, and lightly smacked his good shoulder, "Don't even think about it. Let’s just get you home, okay?"
Zane gave her a wan smile, "Alright. Let's get out of here."
---
Tony sank into the chair in Zane's living room, and turned to face the invalid on the couch, "So, how's it feel to be out of the hospital?"
Zane shook his head, "I'm going to be in and out of the infirmary for the next month."
"Yes, but now you get to sleep in your own bed. You don't get woken up ten times a night by nurses asking if you need anything, or adjusting your monitors, or other patients can't shut up,"
"No, Tony, tell us how you really feel. Don't bottle it all up," Jo said, smiling as she put the sodas down in front of the three of them, opening Zane's and handing it to him before picking her own back up, sitting down and curling into Zane's right side. "Zane might get the impression you liked your overnight stay at Memorial when you got your appendix taken out."
"Oh, you're just as fond of hospitals as I am."
"If not less so. Jo's probably the worst."
Jo leveled the two of them with a glare, "I am a reasonable person who listens to medical professionals, thank you very much."
Zane choked on his soda, and Jo grabbed him a napkin, which he grabbed, then waved off any future fussing. "Seriously, JoJo?"
"She still refuses to sit still, even when she gets hurt, doesn't she?" Tony asked, a slight grin on his face.
"Especially if she got hurt."
"Okay, how about we talk about literally anything else?"
"Nah, I like this topic of conversation."
"She broke her arm once, and when she got home with the cast, started chasing us around."
"Yeah, that sounds like something you'd do," Zane said.
"What are the two of you doing?"
Tony grinned at her over the top of his bottle, "I think it's called bonding, Josie. You said you wanted me to get to know him. You said you wanted me to give him a chance."
She turned to him, horrified, "This isn't what I meant."
"Too bad. I'm your brother, and that comes with certain privileges, like torturing you. And since Grandma will haunt me if I actually start kicking your ass-"
"Like you could if you tried."
Jo was ignored as though she hadn't said anything. "I'm going with psychological torture. Besides, your boyfriend did push me out the way of a falling wall. I can extend a peace offering. Tell some fun stories from when we were kids. Reminisce"
"Really? That's what this is?" Zane asked, skeptical.
Tony pointed a finger at him, wagging as he made clear, "This is a one-time thing you're getting. No favors, no teaming up, no being buddies. I reserve the right to start hating your guts again if I so choose. So don't get any ideas."
"Wouldn't dream of it," said Zane, grinning like the cat who got the canary.
Jo stared at her soda, wondering if Vincent had figured out how to instantly turn water into wine. Or in this case, Coke Zero into Jack Daniels. "I hate the both of you."
"I know."
* * *
"So we're on this field trip, and it's our first field trip ever, because we'd lived on overseas bases our entire lives, and one of the chaperones is running around, looking distraught. Turns out, Jo here decided to sneak past the security guards, because she wanted to go see the Planetarium show again. Instead of moving on to the next exhibit. She wouldn't get out of her seat, and when the guard went to grab her, she punched him. They ended up getting me and Nicky to come to calm her down."
"You're the ones who taught me to punch first, ask questions later," Jo grumbled. “And the
"So, you're to blame for that attitude. Thanks, man."
"What did you do to get punched?"
"Never mind that," Zane brushed him off, before turning to grin at Jo, who was now tucked into the other side of the couch, her feet jammed under his thighs. "So, every little kid wants to be an astronaut?" he asked.
Jo jerked her toes to shove them into his thigh, "Oh, shut up."
"Don’t remind me. Our dad's best friend, Uncle Ralph,"
"My godfather," Jo added.
"Yeah, he gave Jo a kids book about space for her fifth or sixth birthday or something, or maybe it was a Christmas present. Anyways, she carried that book around like most little girls carry around dolls. Dragged it everywhere, got upset if it got dirty, raised a fuss if she couldn't bring it someplace, and was constantly spouting facts out of it. It was annoying."
Zane grinned at Jo, teasing smile and brow waggling, "Sounds adorable."
She set her beer down on the coffee table and swung her "I think you’ve had enough excitement for one evening. You need rest, and it's gotta be time for your meds."
"I don't think they're all necessary."
"Yes, they are. I don't want you in so much pain you toss and turn and make it worse. Got it?"
"I think you want me unconscious so I can't listen to your brother tell more stories from when you were kids."
"That's definitely a bonus," Jo muttered as she dug through the bag that had the various pills, and counted out the antibiotics, the good drugs, and the prep for Brunner’s regrower, tipping them into Zane’s hand before grabbing the empty bottles and dishes and heading to the kitchen. She wondered if she should take advantage of Tony telling stories. She might not get a better chance to find out if there were any differences between the timelines. At least, not without risking being sanctioned permanently.
"Okay, I think I'm being kicked out. Nice seeing you, have a good night, try not to get yourself killed in your sleep," he said, a quick smirk at his lips, dotting a quick kiss to the top of Jo's head, holding a hand up in acknowledgment at Zane, before making his way to the door. It opened, then shut with a click.
Jo continued cleaning the kitchen, wiping the counters down while keeping an eye on Zane. She put the pitcher of iced tea back in the fridge along with the leftover takeout Zane had picked at, tossing the empty bottles in the recycling.
Zane frowned, and reached out, making grabby motions with his right hand, "When'd you, why're you over there?"
She just smiled softly, only a few feet away from him, "Okay, so I think the good drugs are kicking in right now."
He whined, his head leaning back against the edge of the couch, eyes squinted, pout forming. She brushed his hair out of his eyes and kept stroking his hairline, running her fingers through his hair absentmindedly, enjoying that he was allowing her to fuss over him, now that they were out of GD, had no emergencies or audiences waiting for them. Just the two of them in the quiet of his apartment. She grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch that his mom had sent his first Christmas in Eureka. At least, that's when it had shown up before, maybe this Zane got it as a birthday present, or an X-days out of jail present. She'd never know. If she went around looking for every difference between the timelines, she'd have gone crazy by now.
She really needed to stop looking.
"We'd probably be getting married now," Zane said, completely out of the blue.
Jo startled, her fingers tangling in his hair and jerking among the knots. “What?”
“You’d want your family there, and Tony’s been in town. We would’ve been engaged for months, and we’d probably want to have it before the Astraeus launch. We’d be married, JoJo. If Grant hadn't gone and screwed around with the timeline.”
“You don’t know that,” she said quietly, not looking him in the eye.
His voice was just as soft as hers, but a lot surer, "You said yes Jo." His head snapped up, and Jo felt his thumb rubbing the joint where ring finger met the top of her hand. "I remember that much. I remember you rushing into that Sheriff's station, all happy and excited and, and you loved me, and you said yes. You said you'd marry me. And I hate that I hurt you then, I never would have said what I said if I had known, I was upset, and I thought you were trying to screw with me somehow, and if I could take it back I would. If I could put that look on your face I would."
"Just stop." When Zane stayed quiet, Jo took a breath, and let it out. She wasn't ready for this conversation. Not with this Zane, not with any Zane. Why did he want to talk about her timeline so fucking much? "How did we meet?" When Zane stayed quiet, she turned to him, keeping her eyes on her lap, her voice shaking as she asked again, "You and the other Jo, how did you meet?"
He took a breath, and winced, "Look, JoJo, maybe we shouldn't get into this..."
"When we first met, Carter had to talk me out of shooting you."
"See, why are you asking questions you already know the answers to?"
She looked up at him, "Because I didn't. This Jo didn't go into details about you in her files, especially not at first. That's just what I remember."
"Really?" At Jo's jerky nod, he snorted, "Nice to know some things don't change.” Zane tilted his head back over the side of the couch, shaking his head. “Look, I don't know where I screwed it up, Jo. I got to Eureka, and I thought you were gorgeous and funny, and I liked that you didn't take my shit when I was in your jail cell. We spent some time talking, and I thought, maybe. And then I asked you out, and you wanted nothing to do with me."
 "Considering what a mess we were at the beginning, and how irritating you can be? Not surprising."
"And that wasn’t the last time, I spent months trying to get you to agree to just one damn date, but the only time you’d even look at me was when I screwed something up at GD,”
"Is that why you played all those pranks? You wanted attention?" Jo shook her head. "You can be such a three-year-old." She remembered before everything when that first date had gone so poorly, he had waited outside the church, threatening to hold his breath until he passed out if he needed to, offering to beg. In all the ways that matter, he’s still Zane. Some things don't change.
“Sorry JoJo. But in my defense, you’re pretty when you’re mad,” he smiled at her, tangling their fingers together. “Come on, what was going to be our first dance?”
Jo closed her eyes, pulling her hand away, “I hadn’t even said yes Zane. We didn’t get as far as picking a date, or planning anything.”
“I remember you saying yes.”
“You don’t even remember asking.”
“Sorry.”
She shook her head, “Don’t apologize, none of this is your fault.”
“Still. It sucks for you.
"It's not that bad. Could've been worse."
He shrugged, "Not much. The you, before everything, she, I think if she'd said she was going to marry me, we'd get her head checked."
"I'm sorry."
"Don't apologize. You didn't taze me." He was quiet for a moment, uncharacteristically still, and Jo thought maybe they would be done with this conversation, that they could go to bed and maybe the drugs would really kick in and he wouldn't remember it in the morning. Hopefully, he wouldn't. "You didn't taze me, right? Before?" No such luck. When were the meds to knock him out going to fully kick in? And why did this Zane want to talk about their feelings and the past all the time?
"Um, you had the cuffs your first couple days in Eureka, but we only had to shock you a few times, and Carter released you pretty quickly."
"Wait, I was only in the cuffs a few days? I thought you said we started out pretty similar."
Jo bit her lip, worrying a chapped bit between her teeth, "I take it you were locked up a bit longer."
"Yeah. A bit," he looked at Jo, saw her start to open her mouth, and cut her off, "and don't say sorry."
"Okay, I won't."
Zane was quiet for another minute, his hands still playing with her fingers, the fingers of her other hand still stuck among the strands of his hair. She gently started to extricate them, then undid the knots as best as she could. "You ever wonder what the difference is between the two? How Grant not existing past 1947 changed us?"
All the time. "No, not really."
"I know I'm different. I've heard you and the others talk. Like he was a different person. Sorry, I'm not like him."
Jo's voice shook, and she considered running out of the apartment, back to Carter's, just to stop him talking and asking. But she'd “I told you, stop apologizing, okay? And don't say stuff like that."
He turned to face her, propping his chin on her shoulder, surly expression on his face, ready for a fight. "Why? We both know it's true. I've talked to the others, they've given hints on the differences. There's a general consensus he was significantly less of a screwup. Fargo even said something about being in charge of a lab, Henry said that I worked with him on the Big Bang data, Allison trusts me, they don't let screw-ups who have problems with authority near any of that. Okay, it's fine Jo."
"No, it's not fine."
"Look, we both know you were seeing me as a piss poor substitute. You didn't exactly jump into my arms when you realized what I was like, even after I was figuring things out. You'd much rather have your Zane back, and Jo-"
"No, I don't!" Jo's voice shook, cutting through the atmosphere as she felt like her world was shattering. "I don't want you to turn into him, or that version of you, or whatever we're calling it.
“We were never perfect.” Jo picked at the blanket covering her lap, desperate to look anywhere else, to feel anything other than his eyes on her. “I wasn’t perfect, and he wasn’t perfect, and we probably weren’t perfect together," she whispered, voice hoarse. "You want to know what it was like before 1947? Fine," she bit out, venom coating her tongue, spraying out with her words.
"Our first date was brunch at Cafe Diem on a Sunday morning, I wore a sundress because I'd just gotten out of Church, and you were already there, your hair all spiky, and you handed me a rose, and pulled my chair out and were sweet, and fidgety which at the time I thought was you acting weird, and now I realize was you actually being nervous. And it went great,” her words rushed out of her, pent up since her phone rang on Founder’s Day, since she’d been thrown off course and off kilter like never before. Now that she’d started spewing the story of how she’d known Zane Donovan before, she wasn’t going to be able to keep any of it down.  
“Until I walked out in the middle of it. Because we were talking, and having a nice time, and then I felt like an idiot for being there. Like any moment you were going to come to and realize that half of what you were talking about was stuff that I didn't understand because what you do is insane, even by Eureka standards, and I didn't want to be there when the other shoe dropped.
"You know what the other Zane said to me when I told him I loved him for the first time. He told me I could take it back. He asked me to, gave me a million outs, practically begged me to, and when I didn't take them, we broke up. It was only for a week, but still. And you, you just kissed me and said you'd see me later. And I know it seems stupid, but,” she cut herself off, a last ditch attempt to choke down the words that she’d been biting back for months, that were spewing out of her now, shoving all the similarities and differences between these men with the same faces that she’d known in her face. Not granting her any respite.
"I don't think the other Zane would have helped me study for the Astraeus. Well, no, he might have considered asking me to study up if he thought he was a surefire placement and didn't want to go without sex for 6 months. But listen to an offhand remark about wanting it when I was a kid, and coming up with lesson plans when he was grounded with no path in sight to that ship? I don't think it would have occurred to him. I don't think he would have thought I could do it."
"Bullshit, of course you-"
"That's what you say. But we've already established that we have some different experiences in our pasts, remember. And I don't think he would have thought I was smart enough to go to space,” Jo bit her lip, worrying it between her teeth, her voice a hoarse whisper, “He definitely would have cheated on my test for me. Loved me enough for that. But think I could pass on my own?” she shook her head, “No. That's not what we were."
"I loved him. I was so in love, and happy, and wanted to be with him. But when I saw him down on one knee in the station, I just froze. I couldn't say anything. Not a yes, not a no, not a 'what are you doing, where did this come from?' Maybe if we'd gotten back to our timeline and I'd been able to say yes to the version of Zane that remembered asking, we'd have been fine, be able to get past it. Or maybe we wouldn’t. I'll never know. So no, I don't want you to turn into that version of Zane, okay. So drop it, and stop saying shit like that, okay?"
Zane stared at her dumbly, then nodded, "Got it." He reached for her, pulling her towards him on the couch, laying down so that she was on top of him, his sling digging into her chest, ignoring her protests. "Just come here, okay?" She stayed silent, nodding her assent into his neck, avoiding his left side, but still able to hear his heartbeat, slow, steady, and rhythmic.
"We should probably get up and go to bed soon." A whine came from above her, the arm around her tightened, and she didn't bother to hide her snort.
"I'm fine here."
"You won't be in the morning. Up. Bed, Mister."
"Yes, Ms. Lupo."
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