Title: What's Done is Done

Author: Jedi Buttercup

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

Rating: PG.

Summary: Jo lifted her gun and took aim at the next target, emptying the clip with precise, methodical accuracy. 700 words.

Spoilers: Eureka 4.7 "Stoned"

Notes: *hugs Jo*

Jo swiped a hand under the rims of her protective eyewear, rubbing away the suspicious blurriness clouding her vision. She was not going to cry again, damn it. She was Chief of Security at Global Dynamics; she was a former Deputy Sheriff; and she'd been an Army Ranger. She was the only person in the world currently certified to handle every one of the weapons produced by the most dangerous small town in America. She was stronger than this; she was more than just half of an uprooted relationship, no matter how much of her heart had gone into it.

She lifted her gun and took aim at the next target, emptying the clip with precise, methodical accuracy. Rinse, reload, repeat; she'd been at the public range for half an hour already, and she didn't think she'd be stopping any time soon. Eventually, she figured the familiar repetition would calm her down; it hadn't yet, but it was either that or get drunk at Carter's, and she really didn't feel like being around him while he was still on Cloud Nine about finally getting somewhere with Allison.

She frowned. Four years for two kisses; she'd have decked any man who made her wait that long for a confirmation of his feelings. And who knew, maybe she had; maybe that was why Josefina Lupo had still been single in this timeline, while not-her-Zane had been busy HoloSkyping with impressionable college students.

Jo swore under her breath and emptied another clip. Yeah, and that was the other reason she didn't want to be at Carter's place right now.

She knew she wasn't being fair. Of course Zane wouldn't have shut himself up like a monk without Jo to pursue, and of course Zoe wouldn't see his attention as a betrayal of a friend. He was funny, smart, and hot; and the thing that had made Jo drag her feet at first in the other timeline-- his criminal record, and the untrustworthiness it had initially represented to her-- would have been absolutely no barrier to former Felon Spice Zoe Carter. Jo had no reason in the world to be jealous; this Zane never had been hers, and didn't seem at all inclined to think he ever would be.

No. And why would he? She'd apparently never given him any kind of encouragement until it was actually her giving the encouragement, by which time it had already been too late. Everything could change in a blink, as she'd told Zoe; it had just been a bigger blink than she had thought.

It wasn't like she could warn Zoe away from him, either, not after all the encouraging things she'd said when she hadn't known who the "older guy" was. Jo lowered the gun and closed her eyes, freeing a hand to rest over the engagement ring on its chain, and willed the image of them touching in the infirmary away. What if it was more than infatuation, as Carter protested? They'd looked pretty cozy. If they'd talked about more than just her studies and his projects....

Jo opened her eyes again and frowned at the shredded targets. Now there was something to consider. Had they put their heads together about the strange things going on lately? Had Zoe told him about her dad's weird behavior when he'd visited her at Harvard? Had Zane laughed with her over Jo's "joke" about marriage on Founders' Day?

She winced, but logically continued the line of thought. Would Zane mention the Dr. Grant problem-- including Jo's evasive comments? Leaving any version of Zane with only half a puzzle was just begging him to try and solve it, and she certainly wouldn't underestimate Zoe's intelligence.

Maybe she'd subconsciously been counting on that, when she'd completely failed to give a coherent response to his suspicions. Maybe she'd been hoping to have an excuse to spill the secret without breaking her word to the others....

...Maybe she still was.

She sighed and wiped sweat away from her forehead. Well, what was done was done. She could hardly do anything about it now, except what she was already doing.

Jo called up the next target, then raised her gun and began again.

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