Fic: Time and Indifference
Title: Time and Indifference
Author:
casy_dee
Rating: T
Genre: angst,romance
Characters/Pairing: Abby/Connor, Jenny
Spoilers: Season 5
Part: 1/2
Summary: This is a birthday fic for my dear friend, tay_21! I got at leat one chapter posted when it was still your birthday! Yay! Set after season 5... the wedding got delayed and things got complicated. Much angst ensues.
A/N: My Conby muse isn't exactly alive, but it came out of hiding for Tay_21, anyway.
Time and Indifference
Abby dabbed at her mascara in the mirror, embarrassed that she’d had an emotional breakdown at work. It wasn’t like her to loose control like that, but this last blow was just too much. He hadn’t even said goodbye. She looked down at her mobile again and read the text message one more time, just to be sure.
Setting up new ARC. Canada for 30 days. Short notice, on plane. x
He hadn’t even mentioned the possibility that he’d be going. Well, at least he hadn’t forgotten her altogether… she’d been an afterthought.
Abby closed her eyes tightly and choked back another sob. Things had been good between them in the beginning. They had averted the disaster that would have ended the world as they knew it, Burton was gone, and they could even tell people what they did for a living now that the secret was out. They’d actually become minor celebrities of a sort. They were busy, so busy. Abby was more in demand than ever with so many creatures to look after, and Connor’s guilt drove him to work almost as long of hours as he had when he’d had Burton driving him. At least Abby could come visit him and force him to eat and take tea breaks, but there was a distance there that hadn‘t been before. It started the first time they put off the wedding.
The wedding date moved farther and farther out as life got in the way. First her, Jack couldn’t be there, then him, his mum wasn’t well enough to travel, and then emergencies and work and finally they just stopped trying to nail down a date. Connor would laugh about it and say they’d get married as soon as things slowed down. A year later, and thinks hadn’t slowed. Approaching two years, and they’d drifted apart. The end of the world couldn’t do it, Burton and April couldn’t do it, but time and indifference had.
There had been new hires at the ARC, and she’d become wrapped up in the menagerie side of things. To be honest, she’d allowed herself to become wrapped up in Daniel, and Connor had become wrapped up in the sudden influx of girls that were suddenly interested in the ARC’s lead scientist, and savior of the world. Connor had been uncomfortable with being labeled as sexy in the beginning, but he’d gotten used to it quickly enough. She hadn’t strayed; she loved Connor and she’d never do such a thing, but she’d flirted a bit. She’d flirted and had thoughts… she was around Daniel all day long, and she hardly saw Connor anymore. What pained her most of all was that she couldn’t say for certain that Connor had been true to her. A year ago, it wouldn’t have been a question. And for what? She didn’t really fancy Daniel, especially once she got to know him. He was like every other jerk from her past. She loved Connor, and she’d planned to tell him and make things right, and then he’d gone and done this.
She didn’t know how it had come to this between her and Connor, but it had to stop. She was bleeding out, a slow hemorrhage of her soul. Abby’s face grew hot as she felt the anger writhing in her gut. How dare he? If he thought he could just leave as he liked, then he could find somewhere else to live when he got back.
*******
Connor drank down the last of his pint in one gulp and sighed, “It’s complicated.”
Jenny made that face she always did when she thought he was evading the truth. Connor was terrible at lying, anyway.
“Okay. We’ve split up. It was meant to be temporary, but…” Connor bit the inside of his lip, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him, “but it has turned into, um, more than temporary.”
Jenny nodded, that explained the strange tension between them. Abby had said little more than they were taking a break.
“Connor, are you sleeping? You look so tired.”
Connor gave a rueful chuckle, “Not much, to be honest.”
Jenny nodded, “You miss her.”
Connor swallowed, his throat working for a moment, “Yep. I do.”
“Tell her. I know she misses you, too.”
Connor looked up, “You’re sure?”
“I know she’s sad,” Jenny said softly.
Connor made a noise of consideration, and lifted one shoulder, “She is the one that booted me out, didn’t she?”
Jenny just shook her head. She’d hoped that Connor would be the one to see reason. He loved Abby, no question about it. Always had done. What had happened to them? When she’d decided to come back to work at the ARC after they’d gone public, she‘d expected to find them already married. Connor had been quick enough to call her with the news after Abby had asked him. Connor, Abby and Becker were the main reason why she’d agreed to come back. That, and she knew the ARC needed the best PR they could find, and that was her.
With no more secrets, she felt like she could work for the ARC again. She’d expected to come back to find Connor and Abby together and happy, but instead, she’d found Connor moping about and Abby putting up a cheerful front so false that it was painful to watch. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her friends, but she wanted to fix it.
“Tell her, Connor. Just tell her that you miss her, and--”
“No.”
Jenny frowned, “Why not?”
“She tossed me out. She doesn’t want me. She was stuck with me before, and now she’s not. I’ll not make her feel like she’s stuck with me again.”
Jenny rolled her eyes, “Connor--”
“What? It’s the truth, in’t it?”
“I think I need another pint,” Jenny replied, shaking her head.
Abby peered inside the pub, looking for Jenny. She was meant to meet her for a drink after work. A moment later, she spotted her sat in a booth by the far wall. She gave a little wave and headed over.
Abby put on a brave smile and slid into the booth across from Jenny, “Hi. Could really use a drink.”
“Abby? Jenny, what’s all this?” Connor asked, looking back and forth between the two women suspiciously, holding his beer in a white-knuckled grip.
Abby narrowed her eyes at Jenny, “I don’t know, but I think someone has been plotting.”
Jenny laughed, “It’s my first day! I just wanted to have a drink with my old friends. All of them. Becker can’t make it until later, so can we all be grown-ups and play nicely?”
Abby lifted an eyebrow at Connor, daring him to say no, “Why not?”
Connor flared his nostrils, a tell tale sign he was bothered, but he answered, “Of course. Let me get you a beer.”
He sat his glass on the table next to Jenny and returned to the bar to get a pint, cursing under his breath. He missed her, but he was not about to go crawling back on all fours because she was sat across from him. Abby was not the only woman in the world that found him attractive, and he was dead set on showing her that he’d found that there were other fish in the sea. They’d agreed to keep things friendly because of work, and they’d even managed it, but they had both avoided being alone together, and avoided social settings altogether. Thank god Jenny was there as a buffer.
Jenny looked back and forth between the two of them, each nursing their drinks and going out of their way to act as if the other’s presence didn’t bother them. She raised her hand and gestured the waitress over, “We’ll need a round of Jager bombs.”
One led to another, this time with Abby buying, then next with Connor. Jenny lost track after that. Neither Abby nor Connor had much tolerance for alcohol, and in short order they were both well on their way to being as Connor put it, “properly pissed.” He was usually a smiley, happy, talkative drunk, but the liquor was not having it’s usual effect. He stared down at the table, gone silent and morose, sneaking glances from under his lashes at Abby when he thought she wasn’t looking. Abby was laughing too loudly and smiling too much. Jenny rolled her eyes and held up her mobile, as if she had to answer, and then went out the back door. Perhaps if she left them alone together, they’d actually talk to each other instead of at her.
Abby looked out across the pub, to the table, the floor, anywhere but at Connor, but her eyes kept drifting back to him. He needed to shave, he had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, and he looked as if he hadn’t been eating. His belt was a notch tighter than he normally wore it. Not that she’d been staring at his crotch, but she’d just happened to notice. Well, she may have sneaked a little peek, but it was force of habit, and nothing more.
“How was Germany?” she asked, desperate to fill the awkward silence between them.
Connor smiled brightly, “Good! Was good, yeah. Colder than Canada. Should be back for a while, though. No place like home, is there?” He looked down before she could see the shine in his eyes.
Abby bit her lip, “Where’re you staying?
He shrugged, “Old mate.”
She gave him a flat look, “Your lab?”
He’d never been able to lie to her. Not ever. Not really. “Wonder where Jenny got off to?”
“Connor.”
He gave an embarrassed chuckle, “Just kipping there. I’ve been looking around some, but…” he trailed off.
“But what?”
Connor looked up into Abby’s wide blue eyes and the dam broke. Emotion rose up in his throat so thick he couldn’t speak past it. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes, but a mutinous tear fell down his cheek anyway. He dashed it away with the back of his hand.
He drew in a deep shuddering breath, “Because I didn‘t--”
“Abby? I thought you said you were out with an old mate tonight?” Daniel said, his shadow looming over the table.
Connor cleared his throat and started to slide out of the seat.
“Connor, all right?” Daniel acknowledged him, and then turned his attention back on Abby, “Connor is an old mate, but you could have just told me.”
Abby glared up at him, “Daniel, leave. Connor, don‘t you dare move.”
Daniel laughed, “Stop playing hard to get. Tell your old mate to bugger off and--”
“Go. Away,” she bit out between gritted teeth, “I told you, I’m not interested, I’m not available, and to leave me alone.”
Connor’s brows drew together, Abby sounded as if she meant it. Was this guy an idiot? Did he not realize she’d wipe the floor with him? Hell, or even just have him sacked.
Daniel slid into the booth next to Abby, ignoring her warning.
Connor’s nose wrinkled as he got a whiff of scotch off of him. He was pretty well pissed himself, but he was no where close to as inebriated as Daniel.
Abby’s face turned white, “Get your hand off my thigh before I break it off.”
“Come on, Abby. Everyone knows you’re not all that hard to get.”
Connor didn’t think, he just reacted. His fist snapped out, just as Abby had taught him. He hauled him out of the booth and onto the floor. He clenched his fists and stood over him, secretly hoping the man would stand up and say something stupid so he’d have an excuse to hit him again. All the frustration and rage he felt at losing his precious Abby came bubbling to the surface, and he wanted to beet the sorry sod’s face until he was bloody.
Abby was beside him in a second. She lay her hand on his forearm, “I’ll handle this.”
“Daniel, you’re fired. And if you ever touch me again, I’ll geld you.”
You can’t sack me,” Daniel slurred.
“The hell she can’t,” Jenny argued. She looked between Connor and Abby, “Can’t leave you two alone for a moment, can I?’
They shared a look between them, “Guess not,” Connor answered.
He sighed, realizing his chance to put things right had escaped him yet again, “Time to call it a night,” he continued, downing the rest of his beer, “I’ll call Security to get me,” he gave a small grin, “Becker loves that.”
Jenny nodded her head in Connor’s direction, looking between Abby and Connor’s retreating back.
“Connor? You need a lift?”
TBC
A/N: I really hope you like it! Smut to follow. :-D
Author:
casy_dee
Rating: T
Genre: angst,romance
Characters/Pairing: Abby/Connor, Jenny
Spoilers: Season 5
Part: 1/2
Summary: This is a birthday fic for my dear friend, tay_21! I got at leat one chapter posted when it was still your birthday! Yay! Set after season 5... the wedding got delayed and things got complicated. Much angst ensues.
A/N: My Conby muse isn't exactly alive, but it came out of hiding for Tay_21, anyway.
Time and Indifference
Abby dabbed at her mascara in the mirror, embarrassed that she’d had an emotional breakdown at work. It wasn’t like her to loose control like that, but this last blow was just too much. He hadn’t even said goodbye. She looked down at her mobile again and read the text message one more time, just to be sure.
Setting up new ARC. Canada for 30 days. Short notice, on plane. x
He hadn’t even mentioned the possibility that he’d be going. Well, at least he hadn’t forgotten her altogether… she’d been an afterthought.
Abby closed her eyes tightly and choked back another sob. Things had been good between them in the beginning. They had averted the disaster that would have ended the world as they knew it, Burton was gone, and they could even tell people what they did for a living now that the secret was out. They’d actually become minor celebrities of a sort. They were busy, so busy. Abby was more in demand than ever with so many creatures to look after, and Connor’s guilt drove him to work almost as long of hours as he had when he’d had Burton driving him. At least Abby could come visit him and force him to eat and take tea breaks, but there was a distance there that hadn‘t been before. It started the first time they put off the wedding.
The wedding date moved farther and farther out as life got in the way. First her, Jack couldn’t be there, then him, his mum wasn’t well enough to travel, and then emergencies and work and finally they just stopped trying to nail down a date. Connor would laugh about it and say they’d get married as soon as things slowed down. A year later, and thinks hadn’t slowed. Approaching two years, and they’d drifted apart. The end of the world couldn’t do it, Burton and April couldn’t do it, but time and indifference had.
There had been new hires at the ARC, and she’d become wrapped up in the menagerie side of things. To be honest, she’d allowed herself to become wrapped up in Daniel, and Connor had become wrapped up in the sudden influx of girls that were suddenly interested in the ARC’s lead scientist, and savior of the world. Connor had been uncomfortable with being labeled as sexy in the beginning, but he’d gotten used to it quickly enough. She hadn’t strayed; she loved Connor and she’d never do such a thing, but she’d flirted a bit. She’d flirted and had thoughts… she was around Daniel all day long, and she hardly saw Connor anymore. What pained her most of all was that she couldn’t say for certain that Connor had been true to her. A year ago, it wouldn’t have been a question. And for what? She didn’t really fancy Daniel, especially once she got to know him. He was like every other jerk from her past. She loved Connor, and she’d planned to tell him and make things right, and then he’d gone and done this.
She didn’t know how it had come to this between her and Connor, but it had to stop. She was bleeding out, a slow hemorrhage of her soul. Abby’s face grew hot as she felt the anger writhing in her gut. How dare he? If he thought he could just leave as he liked, then he could find somewhere else to live when he got back.
*******
Connor drank down the last of his pint in one gulp and sighed, “It’s complicated.”
Jenny made that face she always did when she thought he was evading the truth. Connor was terrible at lying, anyway.
“Okay. We’ve split up. It was meant to be temporary, but…” Connor bit the inside of his lip, trying not to let his emotions get the best of him, “but it has turned into, um, more than temporary.”
Jenny nodded, that explained the strange tension between them. Abby had said little more than they were taking a break.
“Connor, are you sleeping? You look so tired.”
Connor gave a rueful chuckle, “Not much, to be honest.”
Jenny nodded, “You miss her.”
Connor swallowed, his throat working for a moment, “Yep. I do.”
“Tell her. I know she misses you, too.”
Connor looked up, “You’re sure?”
“I know she’s sad,” Jenny said softly.
Connor made a noise of consideration, and lifted one shoulder, “She is the one that booted me out, didn’t she?”
Jenny just shook her head. She’d hoped that Connor would be the one to see reason. He loved Abby, no question about it. Always had done. What had happened to them? When she’d decided to come back to work at the ARC after they’d gone public, she‘d expected to find them already married. Connor had been quick enough to call her with the news after Abby had asked him. Connor, Abby and Becker were the main reason why she’d agreed to come back. That, and she knew the ARC needed the best PR they could find, and that was her.
With no more secrets, she felt like she could work for the ARC again. She’d expected to come back to find Connor and Abby together and happy, but instead, she’d found Connor moping about and Abby putting up a cheerful front so false that it was painful to watch. She wasn’t sure what had happened to her friends, but she wanted to fix it.
“Tell her, Connor. Just tell her that you miss her, and--”
“No.”
Jenny frowned, “Why not?”
“She tossed me out. She doesn’t want me. She was stuck with me before, and now she’s not. I’ll not make her feel like she’s stuck with me again.”
Jenny rolled her eyes, “Connor--”
“What? It’s the truth, in’t it?”
“I think I need another pint,” Jenny replied, shaking her head.
Abby peered inside the pub, looking for Jenny. She was meant to meet her for a drink after work. A moment later, she spotted her sat in a booth by the far wall. She gave a little wave and headed over.
Abby put on a brave smile and slid into the booth across from Jenny, “Hi. Could really use a drink.”
“Abby? Jenny, what’s all this?” Connor asked, looking back and forth between the two women suspiciously, holding his beer in a white-knuckled grip.
Abby narrowed her eyes at Jenny, “I don’t know, but I think someone has been plotting.”
Jenny laughed, “It’s my first day! I just wanted to have a drink with my old friends. All of them. Becker can’t make it until later, so can we all be grown-ups and play nicely?”
Abby lifted an eyebrow at Connor, daring him to say no, “Why not?”
Connor flared his nostrils, a tell tale sign he was bothered, but he answered, “Of course. Let me get you a beer.”
He sat his glass on the table next to Jenny and returned to the bar to get a pint, cursing under his breath. He missed her, but he was not about to go crawling back on all fours because she was sat across from him. Abby was not the only woman in the world that found him attractive, and he was dead set on showing her that he’d found that there were other fish in the sea. They’d agreed to keep things friendly because of work, and they’d even managed it, but they had both avoided being alone together, and avoided social settings altogether. Thank god Jenny was there as a buffer.
Jenny looked back and forth between the two of them, each nursing their drinks and going out of their way to act as if the other’s presence didn’t bother them. She raised her hand and gestured the waitress over, “We’ll need a round of Jager bombs.”
One led to another, this time with Abby buying, then next with Connor. Jenny lost track after that. Neither Abby nor Connor had much tolerance for alcohol, and in short order they were both well on their way to being as Connor put it, “properly pissed.” He was usually a smiley, happy, talkative drunk, but the liquor was not having it’s usual effect. He stared down at the table, gone silent and morose, sneaking glances from under his lashes at Abby when he thought she wasn’t looking. Abby was laughing too loudly and smiling too much. Jenny rolled her eyes and held up her mobile, as if she had to answer, and then went out the back door. Perhaps if she left them alone together, they’d actually talk to each other instead of at her.
Abby looked out across the pub, to the table, the floor, anywhere but at Connor, but her eyes kept drifting back to him. He needed to shave, he had dark circles under his bloodshot eyes, and he looked as if he hadn’t been eating. His belt was a notch tighter than he normally wore it. Not that she’d been staring at his crotch, but she’d just happened to notice. Well, she may have sneaked a little peek, but it was force of habit, and nothing more.
“How was Germany?” she asked, desperate to fill the awkward silence between them.
Connor smiled brightly, “Good! Was good, yeah. Colder than Canada. Should be back for a while, though. No place like home, is there?” He looked down before she could see the shine in his eyes.
Abby bit her lip, “Where’re you staying?
He shrugged, “Old mate.”
She gave him a flat look, “Your lab?”
He’d never been able to lie to her. Not ever. Not really. “Wonder where Jenny got off to?”
“Connor.”
He gave an embarrassed chuckle, “Just kipping there. I’ve been looking around some, but…” he trailed off.
“But what?”
Connor looked up into Abby’s wide blue eyes and the dam broke. Emotion rose up in his throat so thick he couldn’t speak past it. He blinked rapidly, trying to clear his eyes, but a mutinous tear fell down his cheek anyway. He dashed it away with the back of his hand.
He drew in a deep shuddering breath, “Because I didn‘t--”
“Abby? I thought you said you were out with an old mate tonight?” Daniel said, his shadow looming over the table.
Connor cleared his throat and started to slide out of the seat.
“Connor, all right?” Daniel acknowledged him, and then turned his attention back on Abby, “Connor is an old mate, but you could have just told me.”
Abby glared up at him, “Daniel, leave. Connor, don‘t you dare move.”
Daniel laughed, “Stop playing hard to get. Tell your old mate to bugger off and--”
“Go. Away,” she bit out between gritted teeth, “I told you, I’m not interested, I’m not available, and to leave me alone.”
Connor’s brows drew together, Abby sounded as if she meant it. Was this guy an idiot? Did he not realize she’d wipe the floor with him? Hell, or even just have him sacked.
Daniel slid into the booth next to Abby, ignoring her warning.
Connor’s nose wrinkled as he got a whiff of scotch off of him. He was pretty well pissed himself, but he was no where close to as inebriated as Daniel.
Abby’s face turned white, “Get your hand off my thigh before I break it off.”
“Come on, Abby. Everyone knows you’re not all that hard to get.”
Connor didn’t think, he just reacted. His fist snapped out, just as Abby had taught him. He hauled him out of the booth and onto the floor. He clenched his fists and stood over him, secretly hoping the man would stand up and say something stupid so he’d have an excuse to hit him again. All the frustration and rage he felt at losing his precious Abby came bubbling to the surface, and he wanted to beet the sorry sod’s face until he was bloody.
Abby was beside him in a second. She lay her hand on his forearm, “I’ll handle this.”
“Daniel, you’re fired. And if you ever touch me again, I’ll geld you.”
You can’t sack me,” Daniel slurred.
“The hell she can’t,” Jenny argued. She looked between Connor and Abby, “Can’t leave you two alone for a moment, can I?’
They shared a look between them, “Guess not,” Connor answered.
He sighed, realizing his chance to put things right had escaped him yet again, “Time to call it a night,” he continued, downing the rest of his beer, “I’ll call Security to get me,” he gave a small grin, “Becker loves that.”
Jenny nodded her head in Connor’s direction, looking between Abby and Connor’s retreating back.
“Connor? You need a lift?”
TBC
A/N: I really hope you like it! Smut to follow. :-D