In response to the many questions following the story- Shipped Apart. I mentioned a story where Zane locks Jo in a massage room at the Shangri-La Spa in order to get her to talk to him. The story didn't exist…until now.

The Shangri-La Spa

Chapter 1

Zane jogged past the intersection looking left and then right before he continued to run onto Main Street. There was no sign of her yet.

He ran towards Café Diem, and slightly winded opened the front door. Breathing a little heavier than normal, he grabbed the table just inside the door and gestured towards Vincent. "2 Vinspresso' s, please."

Vincent leaned against the counter and looked over at him, taking in his slightly disheveled workout clothes. "Out for a little early morning run," he asked wryly.

"The early bird gets the worm," Zane replied with a smirk.

Vincent shook his head as he began to make the ordered coffee. "How long are you going to keep this up," he asked him.

"Well that depends," Zane hedged. "What's the pool up to these days?

"Longest odds we've seen in a while," Vincent told him unashamedly as he walked the two large cups of his vinspresso to the table. "There you go, one black and one Jo special. Not that it's going to help," he muttered under his breath.

Zane ignored him, and took a small sip of the frothy coffee bomb and bit back a whimpering sigh. He hadn't had to run this much in ages, and certainly never after a girl. They usually were the ones running to him.

"If you don't mind me asking," Vincent said, interrupting his train of thought, "why are you setting your sights on Jo. Won't Zoe have something to say about that?"

Zane took another sip of coffee as he studied Vincent's face. He saw quickly that he'd only be confirming what Vincent already knew and decided to throw him a bone.

"Zoe's a nice kid, but it was never a serious thing. She knew that. Odds are she'll be seeing someone her own age by the weeks end," Zane said grinning. "It was fun to mess with Carter though."

Vincent just rolled his eyes and went back to his espresso machine.

Zane caught a glimpse of Jo's profile as she walked past the café windows and he sat upright in his seat. Showtime, he thought to himself.

The door jingled as she walked in and headed straight for the counter, and as he had suspected missed seeing him in her initial café wide scan.

"Morning Vincent," she said quickly, "can I get a coffee to go- I'm in kind of a hurry this morning." Vincent didn't answer, merely gave her a pained expression and looked over her shoulder, and she froze as it clicked.

"Morning Jo-jo," Zane said as she turned to face him, her expression blank, but dread building in the pit of her stomach. "I lost sight of you back on Neptune, but figured that you would be heading this way soon enough."

"What do you want," Jo asked wearily.

"You're always in such a hurry these days- a guy can hardly get a chance to talk to you for five minutes." He stood and handed her the cup of coffee gesturing to the table. "Now you have a few minutes so we can talk."

"I need to get to work," Jo muttered and turned to leave.

Zane leaned in closer and whispered, "The Jo Lupo that I know would have never run away."

When she made no further move to leave, Zane walked around until he faced her. "Five minutes," he said. "We need to talk Jo."

Something in the way that he stood in front of her staring her down reminded her of her Zane and she relented. Five minutes she muttered and turned on her heel and walked back to the table.

Zane followed and sat slowly as if not believing that she wouldn't try to run again.

Vincent came over before either of them could speak with a plate of fresh pastries and left them on the table. He turned and walked away muttering to himself about changing those odds.

Zane smiled at the departing chef and picked up a pastry, gesturing it towards Jo. "You must be hungry," he said when she didn't reach for one herself. "For the past two weeks, all you've been doing is running. So are you training for a marathon, or has avoiding me become a full time occupation?"

Jo opened her mouth to answer, but Vincent walked past again with a fresh pot of coffee and she had to wait until he passed by. She started again, her voice low. This isn't the place to discuss this, she said.

No it isn't Zane countered, but since you won't talk to me at the office, you avoid me when you're out in public and I can't get near you at Carter's house, I had to resort to alternative measures.

When Jo said nothing he leaned forward. "Jo, you need to tell me what's going on so that we can deal with it. Trust me a little," he urged.

Jo looked up at him, her hazel eyes assessing him. Emotions were plainly visible in her normally guarded face.

Breaking eye contact she looked back down at her coffee cup. "I can't tell you anything, because there's nothing to tell. I was hallucinating and I'm better now, end of story."

"You know that's bull," he said quietly, but Jo didn't look up at him again. "Hallucinations don't begin to explain half of what I've been seeing. My grandmothers ring, you suddenly calling me Zane instead of Donovan, You then start calling the Head of GD Fargo instead of your usual Dr. Fargo or Douglas. I call him that to needle him, but suddenly you, Carter, Dr. Blake and even Henry are doing it. You're protecting this guy Grant," he continued, "who has now conveniently left Eureka, even though I know he's bogus. Then there's the little things," he said when she was still silent. He reached out and put his hand on her arm. Jo's eyes watched as he caressed her arm with his thumb. He waited a beat, and then said, "The Jo Lupo that I know would have told me to get my hands off of her."

"Get your hands off me," Jo said quietly.

He shook his head, causing her to glance up at him. "No, No," he said with a grin. "She would have done it while pinning the offending hand behind my back and shoving my body against the nearest flat surface all the while telling me to dream on." He smiled wider, "Hell, chances are I'd have done it just to get a reaction."

He leaned closer to her so as not to be overheard. "The Jo Lupo that I know sure as hell would never have kissed me back the way that you did. Like it was familiar."

Jo looked away as he mentioned the kiss. "It was a mistake." She said trying to quell the emotion in her voice.

"Then why can't I stop thinking about it," he asked her softly, moving his hand back to her arm once more, but she withdrew it from the table.

"You need to tell me-" he began but she cut him off.

"I don't need to tell you anything," she said temper rising. "For the last time, there's nothing going on," and standing quickly she walked out of the café.

Zane watched her walk past the window again and leaned back in his chair trying to suppress the urge to chase after her again. She was right about one thing; Café Diem was way too public. But aside from ambushing her on her way to work and kidnapping her he was becoming frustrated. He bit out a sigh and rubbed his hands through his hair before taking another sip of his quickly cooling coffee. No, that wasn't it, he admitted to himself. He enjoyed a good puzzle and this one had engaged him on every level. He was pretty sure that he knew what had happened, but the how and the why were what was really sparking his curiosity. He picked up his half eaten Danish and took a large bite. As he chewed he wondered what he was like in the other timeline. He polished off the rest of his Danish as Vincent came back over.

"Jo didn't eat anything again," he said perplexed, but these were her favorites he said looking down at the still full plate of pastries.

"Guess she's lost her appetite," Zane said.

"She's been off her normal eating schedule for weeks now," Vincent said pointedly looking at Zane, "and she's not sleeping."

When Zane looked back up at him quickly, he continued. "Oh please," he said, "anyone with eyes can see that." He stared off absently out the window in the direction that Jo had been walking. "I was so sure that she was going to rip your arm off this morning..." he trailed off looking perplexed.

Zane half choked on the sip of coffee that he'd been drinking. He cleared his throat quickly and countered. "She's just really down about her house. I was just trying to offer my sympathies," he said with a smile.

"Your sympathies," Vincent mocked, "Oh please, cause that's the reason that you're chasing her all over town."

Zane's easy smile faltered. "Something like that," he said slowly as he stood.

"Those are really long odds," Vincent said still watching him.

Zane let out a quick laugh, his smile back in place. "Never underestimate the underdog," he told Vincent with a wave. As he walked out the door he called out over his shoulder, "Thanks for the coffee."

Vincent watched him leave musing all the while. 'Jo not eating, not kicking Zane when she had the chance. Maybe I should put $20 on the bet,' and humming to himself he returned to his kitchen to create the culinary masterpiece that would be lunch.

Zane walked down the street in the direction of his apartment. The problem of how to get Jo alone to talk to him was almost as big as what he would say to her when he managed to do it. As always when he was alone and thinking of her his thoughts returned to that kiss. He'd never dreamed that she would have responded like that. Actually he thought, he'd been dreaming about her responding to him like that for ages. But wanting something to happen and having it actually happen was mind boggling even for someone as smart as him.

He walked up the two flights of stairs to his apartment and once inside threw his coffee cup in the recycler in the kitchen and sat on the couch and kicked off his sneakers. He looked around his apartment. It wasn't half bad, anything was better than prison. When the DOD had offered him Parole in Eureka, he'd jumped at it, thinking that he was getting off easy. Unfortunately word of his impending arrival and his reputation had preceded him and it hadn't made it easy to get settled and fit in. Then it was just his luck that the first girl that caught his eye was in law enforcement, and so focused on her career that she was unwilling to give him the time of day. So he'd embraced his bad boy rep as much as possible, and until recently it really hadn't bothered him. He kept himself just shy of doing anything truly major that might get his parole revoked, but he never was really interested in making a place for himself in Eureka. He was just passing the time. But the thought had surfaced in recent weeks and it kept nagging him. If Jo was as he suspected, from an alternate time line, that ring meant that in some other universe he'd not only been just as attracted to Jo, but that he'd found some way to make her date him. There was no other way that she would have gotten that ring unless he'd proposed. He shook his head again at the thought. Him- tied down to one girl for the rest of his life…willingly. He must have really been different where ever Jo was really from. It was those little things that made him itch to know. He blamed it on the scientist in himself, but wouldn't anyone want to know? What changes had occurred. How was he different? How did the ripple effects through the multi-verse change the world around them. How far would those ripples go? He simply had to know more.

He flicked on his TV screen and switched over to the computer input and picked up his wireless keyboard and typed in his password. With a few keystrokes he hacked into the GD System and opened a screen to view Lupo's daily schedule. He'd been forced to hack in last week when he'd been unable to track her down. He noted that she had a morning staff meeting with her team, then a lunch break with Allison followed by a team building session with Fargo. As he studied the schedule a new appointment opened on the calendar. Jo had just confirmed an appointment at the Shangri-La spa for a massage before her team building session that afternoon.

Zane grinned as a devious plot began to form in his mind at how he could creatively corner Lupo. She'd be spitting mad, but if he timed it right she'd be stuck with him for an entire hour. His head already spinning with possibilities as he outlined his next move, he headed towards the bathroom to take a shower and to plan. If nothing else he would make sure that Jo learned that the Zane in this universe never gave up.