Zoe Stone

+ leaving him in the dull red glow of emergency lighting.

“Fuck…”

TBC

+ Thinking it odd but shrugging it off, he resumes his course toward the elevator, pressing the appropriate button and sucking at his teeth, waiting for the inevitable ascension. Around two seconds after the doors slide shut, the power cuts out, +

+ Exiting the stairwell and heading toward the elevator bay, he stops abruptly, turning and retracing his steps to peek into the security room. Which was completely empty… +

+ recommendation is she’s clear to continue field duty…”

And now…

Jordan had only gotten as far as the ground floor before recalling that only the secure elevator went up as far as Nicholls’ office level. +

+ insecurity… this notion of, not being certain of who she really is… Lotta factors at play, all impacting on her emotional state.”

“Is she a threat to friendlies?”

“Only if they sufficiently piss her off,” Aziz had chuckled, “But, no, unlikely. My official +

+ “Trauma. I’d say the final straw was Falcon’s disappearance. He seemed to be the only one she was really… close to. Except her father, of course…”

“Who was killed in action six years ago…”

“Exactly. Add in her sister’s death, mother’s death, and her underlying +

+ calm under pressure. Zoe takes that to the next level. If she’s pushed hard enough, she doesn’t just keep her emotions in check, she stops feeling them all together.”

“And how long does it last?”

“Seconds, hours, weeks, impossible to tell.”

“What caused this?” +

+ In fact, in many ways, she’s the perfect Mockingbird. Even more so than her father or grandfather were…”

Quirking his eyebrows, he’d urged the other man to continue with an almost desperate series of nods.

“You see…” Aziz explained, “You need your Mockingbird to stay +

+ shut down emotionally under episodes of extreme stress.”

“So, unfit for the field then?” former Director Doyle had sighed heavily, coming to the immediate conclusion that he’d wasted immeasurable time and money on Zoe Stone and her training.

“I’m not saying that at all. +

+ the stairs, knowing he’d only go stir crazy with his own thoughts and maddening guilt in the elevator. What the fuck had he just done?

Just under two years ago…

“Her pathology is quite unique,” Dr Aziz had stated, “She’s not insane, not psychopathic, but seems to… +

+ “Zoe, listen…”

“Fuck off, Jordan.”

Squeezing his eyes closed, he’s also learned from her psych file that there’s no point trying to engage her in any conversation when she’s like this. He shouldn’t have pushed. Turning on his heel, he exits the holding cell area via +

+ Opening his mouth to speak, recalling the promise he’d made to himself to tell her that Lily was alive once he had her safely locked up, he pauses. She’s already taken a seat on the bed, and is staring intently at nothing at all, facing away from him. +

+ otherwise, “No, you’re not.”

Exiting the car, he heads around to her door, wasting no time escorting her to the holding cells. The sigh of relief he breathes once he has her inside and the door has closed with its less than subtle hiss and electronic beep is obvious. +

+ lot, he starts to realise the gravity of what he’s just done, turning around to fully face her, “Zoe. Hey kid, talk to me. I’m sorry, okay?”

Her head slowly pivots to meet his gaze, her dark eyes blank and devoid of anything resembling any sign of affect, shallow or +

+ and meaningless to her now. Everything was. Only one thing mattered. The job. That invisible emotionless veil has descended upon her and shut her feelings down. Invisible to everyone, but Jordan.

“Shit…” muttering under his breath as he parks in the Department underground +

+ tenderness. The notion that is hitting her hardest of all, is that she should have known this all along. Should have paid closer attention to all the shit that had gone wrong since she started to let herself feel… something.

“Zoe?”

She hears his voice but it’s hollow +

+ staunchest and only ally returning in a slow and steady stream. The coldness she’d fought so desperately to shed, because she wanted to let herself believe love was at least possible. But Jordan was right. People like them, like /her/, couldn’t afford the luxury of such +

+ Resting her elbow on the windowsill, she cradles her forehead, unable to help wondering if he’s right. Opening her mouth, she considers making another comment but decides against it.

She can feel herself inwardly shifting, the dark coldness that had once been her +

+ Gritting her teeth, she returns her attention to out of the window and finds herself actually looking forward to being locked in a Department holding cell if it meant she would be left the hell alone. +

+ “You sure about that?” he knows he should stop, but something spurs him onwards, deciding on a whim to put to use a specific piece of information he’d gleaned from her psychiatric file, “I mean, how could he, Zoe? When even /you/ yourself still don’t know.” +

+ Jordan pauses for a brief second before softly chuckling, shaking his head, “Wow. You really believe, that don’t you? That Flynn won’t run away? Even once he learns who you really are?”

“He knows who I really am,” her words indicate conviction, but her tone is faltering. +

+ “I… I don’t even know how to respond to that…”

“Trust me, I did you a big favour.”

“Yeah you did,” she doesn’t even bother arguing with him, instead taking the opportunity to bite and bite hard, “Because you leaving meant I was free to find someone who won’t run away.” +

+ being Zoe, she doesn’t shy away from exactly what she's thinking.

“So, that’s why you left me? Because you knew I’d started to love you,” her tone is the complete opposite of his; calm and even.

“No,” he doesn’t hesitate, “I left because I’d fallen in love with /you/.” +

+ in their lives that Jordan had ever raised his voice to her. He was usually so calm, so easy going, this was… almost not him, at all. Had he really been gone so long that he’d changed so completely? Several beats pass before she finds herself even able to speak. But Zoe +

+ that?! Did you forget that love equals death in our world?! That it means /nothing/ but making bad decisions and fucking everything up?!”

Zoe finds herself in shock, feeling completely at a loss at how to react to his totally unexpected outburst. This was the first time +

+ problem with me /maybe/ having feelings for someone else.”

“You really don’t know?”

“No. I really don’t know.”

“Because people like us aren’t supposed to fall in love, Zoe!” his sudden and uncharacteristic explosion of rage genuinely startles her, “Or did you forget +

+ her to rub her temples in frustration and let out a series of deep breaths. She hates that there’s only one right answer to his question, as far as she knows anyway.

“No.”

“So, why would I start now?”

“I don’t know. But I also don’t know why you apparently have a +

+ “I…” hesitating, he shakes his head, “I can’t get into all that now. Maybe another time, but not now. But trust me when I say, I had to.”

“Trust you?” she scoffs, “You’re kidding, right?”

“Have I ever lied to you?”

The question feels almost like a challenge, prompting +

+ Jordan leaving notes for her had been nothing new back then. But they’d always been sweet, funny, something she’d loved. Until that one. The one that changed everything. The one that broke her heart. +

+ “Yeah, I guess you’re right. Doesn’t really change anything though…”

“Why the hell did you leave anyway? Your note was… hardly enlightening…” she feels a lump in her throat at the memory. +

+ jealous? You think I want you back? That I’m only here now to pick up where we left off? Oh kiddo, you couldn’t be more wrong about that.”

“Where /we/ left off? /We/? No. /You/ are the one who left. /You/. You and I stopped being /we/ right then and there.” +

+ in love with him, aren’t you?”

“What the hell do you care?”

“Oh, I /care/, Zoe. I care plenty.”

“Bullshit. You left. It’s been /two/ years. You don’t get to magically reappear in my life and pull this jealousy crap.”

He lets out a cold chuckle, “Wait, you think I’m +

+ “Two of you, one of me. Couldn’t risk you usin him as a distraction and slipping away again.”

“You really think I’d throw him under the bus like that?” her tone has instantly shifted from bored to enraged.

“Holy shit,” he grins, but there’s no mirth in it, “You really are +

+ mirror, trying to think of what to say to her. And most importantly, deciding what /not/ to say to her.

“I know he was there; you know. I’m not stupid,” he eyes her in the mirror, studying her reaction.

“So, why not just arrest both of us?” her reply almost sounds bored. +

Chapter 2 Solo Part 31 – “Harsh Truths”

Feeling a modicum of déjà vu, Zoe sits silently in the backseat of Jordan’s car, staring out the window and watching the city fly by. As with their last such encounter, Jordan keeps shifting his gaze between the road and the rear-view +

+ Shaking his head, he focuses on the screen and starts to type.

“I do trust Zoe.”

He speaks the words aloud to himself, his fingers and mind working swiftly. He had to trust her. Because right now, he has no other choice. And he has a job to do.

TBC

+ getting to work. He had to trust her. Exhaling slowly, he looks down, feeling the weight of everything catching up to him. And now this. The latest blow. +

+ suddenly shown up out of nowhere and she’s willingly handed herself over to him? Adamant that she trusts him?

“No. Course I don’t trust him. But I /do/ trust Zoe.”

Storming angrily from the room, he sits down heavily at the desk and fires up his laptop to start +

+ “It’s obvious those two have a very deep and carnal history.”

Corvax grits his teeth, quietly seething. His mother was never wrong about these kinds of instincts. Why hadn’t Zoe told him? Until this moment, he had no idea she even had any ex-boyfriends. Now one has +

+ “Her… her what?” his pulse quickens, suddenly hating the turn this has taken even more.

“Men. Always blind to what’s right in front of you,” casting a brief glance toward Steven who looks just as bewildered as her son, she coldly smirks, +

+ his mother turning to face him with a look of annoyance on her face.

“Surprised you let her go with him,” her tone is so accusatory, that it catches him off guard.

“She trusts him. And I trust her.”

“You trust her ex-lover?” +

+ she can convince him to be content with arresting only her so Corvax can keep working. Everything depended on him now.

Unable to resist, Corvax rises from his seat to listen in on the exchange, taking care not to be seen. Once Zoe and Jordan depart, he emerges, +

+ the right call, then… okay.”

Nodding, feeling certain she’s doing the right thing, she pulls away from him and heads to the living room to surrender herself. While she still finds some of Jordan’s past behaviour unforgivable, she knows he’d never hurt her. She just hopes +

+ every five minutes if you’re done yet. This isn’t a job for the Mockingbird, and you know it. It’s a job for Corvax.”

“Okay,” he nods, once again hating the plan she has in mind, but knowing she’s right, “I don’t know Jordan. But I trust /you/. So, if you think this is +

+ “Who the hell is…?

“No time. I promise I will tell you everything later. Right now, you need to focus on finding and shutting down that Trigger.”

“Z, I can’t do this without you.”

“You have to. And I think you can do without me nervously pacing behind you asking +

+ one…” squeezing her eyes closed, she feels what she’s about to admit and it makes her almost cringe, “That one I trust. Jordan’s a good guy.”

“Jordan?” looking completely puzzled, given he’s never heard of him despite having worked at the Department for almost six months, +

+ “Turn myself in.”

“What? No,” shaking his head, he grabs her shoulders, “No, no, no. I can’t let you do that. We can’t trust the Department. Connor’s workin for Thawn. I’m not…I won’t let you do this.”

“If it was any other agent, I wouldn’t even consider this. But that +

+ and Flynn were indeed here.

“What traitor?” Jordan’s eyebrows go up, genuinely curious.

Racing back to Corvax as quickly as she could, Zoe leans in close to him and whispers urgently, “Stay here. Keep working. I’m gonna buy you some time…”

“What are you gonna do?” +