Title: The New Vacation Destination

Author: Jedi Buttercup

Disclaimer: The words are mine; the world is not. I claim nothing but the plot.

Rating: PG.

Summary: Jack snorted and plucked at his tie. "That's kind of what we do every day, Jo." 600 words.

Spoilers: Eureka through Season 3

Notes: For the pre-Season 4 Eureka Tag Warmup Challenge at LJ: #2 - Time Travel. A cracky rather than serious take on the challenge.

"So, Carter," Jo said, clearing her throat. "You going to join the expedition this weekend?"

"Expedition?" Jack looked up from his paperwork, frowning in confusion at his deputy's profile. "What, you mean that virtual reality sim thing Fargo's been talking about? I thought Allison had banned him from running it."

"Only on work nights," Jo replied with a shrug and a wry smile. "It was kind of a time suck for the researchers, go figure. But he got the go-ahead to do a six-hour demo this Saturday. Everyone who can will be there, even the new guy; they want to really test the project's limits. Full immersion, everyone in costumes, a mission to solve in a limited amount of time, the works."

Jack snorted and plucked at his tie. "That's kind of what we do every day, Jo," he reminded her.

She looked up from the gun she was cleaning long enough to roll her eyes at him. "Not like this," she said. "Fargo's loaded the AI with all the history texts he could, so it'll be as period-realistic as possible. He'd have done half the media files in town, too, but Allison's vetoed pop culture for now; she doesn't want to give the system any ideas. No 'fighting the future', in other words."

"How much do you want to bet he's already run that one in private with Julia, anyway?" Jack asked dryly, trying to shake off the mental images of naked Fargo demanding someone's clothes in a bad Austrian accent.

Jo chuckled. "I don't think you'll get any takers on that one," she said. "Anyway, the project team's picked the World War II era for the first wide-scale simulation-- set right here in Eureka, appropriately enough. You want to play town sheriff, 1940's style?"

"I'd have thought you'd have already locked that role down for yourself," he replied, grinning at her.

"It's the forties," she said primly, as she deftly reassembled the gun and sighted down its barrel.

That was true, of course; but he sensed something else there beneath the casual assertion. "Or... could it be that you've decided to go as something else? A ballerina, perhaps?"

"Keep guessing, Carter," she sing-songed, getting up to put the gun away.

Jack considered that a moment longer, watching her move with narrowed eyes. "No, no, I bet it's something connected to whatever Zane will be going as, isn't it?" A conversation he'd overheard between his deputy and her boyfriend the week before about the sad news that the nurse from the famous World War II kissing photograph had died that summer came to mind, and he snapped his fingers. "A nurse! You're going as a nurse."

"Something wrong with that?" she asked, lifting her chin.

"No, not at all," he replied, his grin widening.

"Hmm," she replied suspiciously, turning back to her desk. "Oh, and one more thing. Tess called. She said she might be able to swing this weekend, so I told her all about the project."

Jack's jaw dropped. "Josefina! You underhanded little...!" he began indignantly. Then his brain began to offer up images of his long-distance girlfriend dressed for the period, and he shook his head with a sigh.

"Okay, okay; I'll play the sheriff or detective or whatever law enforcement role's been written into the thing. I'm pretty sure I've got an outfit that will work. But let me just say? I'm glad Fargo settled on imaginary time travel instead of the real thing." The last thing Eureka needed was another Weinbrenner waiting to happen.

"If you say so," Jo replied, with a triumphant smile.

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