Fic: Left in the Cold (part 2)
Title: Left in the Cold
Author:
casy_dee
Rating: T (M later, maybe)
Genre: adventure,romance
Characters/Pairing: Abby/Connor
Warning: none
Spoilers: Season 5
Part: 2/3?
Summary: This is a birthday fic for my dear friend evenstar_estel. Set after season 5. Abby and Connor journey to Iceland to set up a new ARC. A little work, some champagne, hot springs... but nothing ever goes that smoothly.
Read Chapter 1 HERE
Chapter 2
He woke to pain, and a big lot of it. Connor was no stranger to head injury. He knew exactly what the nausea and hammers pounding in his skull meant. He’d managed another concussion, and from the damp stickiness he felt on the back of his head, he’d sliced his head open. Again. Great. He tried to convince himself that opening his eyes was a good thing. Abby is right; at this rate, I’ll be a vegetable before I’m forty. He’d had entirely too many head injuries than was good for him, and knowing his life, this would not be the last.
He groaned and made himself reach up to explore the damage. A large lump on the back of his skull, and a matted clump of dried blood on top of the lump. Confused, he opened his eyes to see vast blue sky. He blinked, trying to focus his chaotic thoughts on how he’d come to be lying there. His first thought was a creature, his second was to be amused that his first thought was of a dinosaur, and then it hit him. The plane ride, the crash, Abby screaming in his arms…
“Abby!” he shouted as he tried to scramble to his feet, stumbled, and fell to his knees, “Abby!”
He struggled to gain his footing, searching the area for any sign of his fellow passengers. He was alone. He didn’t even see any wreckage. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket, cursed softly when he saw he had no reception. He figured that he couldn’t be too terribly far from everyone else. He’d just have to find them… find Abby. He drew in a deep breath and collected his thoughts. He was in a near panic at the thought that Abby was laying on the frozen ground, hurt or… no. No, he was not going there. Connor wiped his hands over his face and lifted his chin. He had to think.
“Search in a spiral. You’ll find her,” he murmured.
There was a national park office near the base of the volcano; it seemed as good a direction as any, once he found Abby. He nodded to himself, his feet finding the path more confidently now, planning what he would do once he found her calmed him somewhat. He would find his wife. He had to.
###
Abby pressed the wadded up shirt against Lara’s abdomen, “Stay with me. We’ll get you some help.”
Lara gave a feeble nod, but didn’t open her eyes. Abby pressed her lips together to stop the trembling. She was watching Lara die, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The pilot was already dead, lying not five meters away with his skull cracked open, and she didn’t see any evidence of the other two members of the scientific team… or of Connor. If he was dead, she choked back the hard lump rising in her throat, shook her head to dispel the thought. That's not helping. Abby was a practical girl, and she knew there was nothing to be done with finding Connor. She’d just have to take care of Lara and hope that help would come to her.
The shout took her by surprise. Lara had gone still and silent, and Abby had fallen into a fugue whilst trying to keep her conscious and breathing. She lifted her head and listened, half afraid that she’d imagined it. Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited, echoing so loud in her ears she was afraid she couldn’t hear anything else over the din of it. A moment later, she heard it again. A voice. It was a person. A person, but not Connor.
“Over here! We’re over here!” Abby shouted.
Einar limped into the clearing with the aid of a tree branch he was using as a makeshift crutch. Bloodied and pale, he seemed so relieved to see her she fought hard to keep the disappointment from her face. Far from a savior, she’d just managed to find another person to look after. She swallowed down despair. Just because Connor hadn’t found her didn’t mean he wouldn’t. He was out there somewhere, looking for her.
“The others?” she asked him.
Einar shrugged, “I was alone.” He limped over to where Lara lay, struggling to breathe, and sat, "Lara, fyrirgefðu. Hjálp er að koma."
Abby nodded, bit her lip and cleared her throat, “Will you stay with her? I need to find supplies if we’re to last until they track us down.”
Einar nodded, pain etched deeply into the lines of his face, “I can,” he reached in his pocket and drew out a box of matches, “but start a signal fire first, yes?”
Abby grinned, “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see that.”
Einar shrugged, “Lara complained about my pipe, but I think she’ll not mind as much in the future.”
Abby forced a chuckle, “I’ll not be gone long. If I can’t find what we need nearby, I’ll come back and we’ll wait it out with what we’ve got.”
Einar nodded his agreement, so she set to work. Abby got a small blaze going near Einar and Lara, stacked a pile of deadwood nearby to feed it, and then headed north towards the smoke she’d spotted on the horizon, careful to clearly mark her trail. Perhaps the smoke was where the plane had crashed? If she could find the main wreckage, she’d have her supplies, and she’d be able to lay a trail back to Lara and Einar. The quicker they were found, the better, and a burning aircraft made a better beacon than she could build.
###
She'd thought she'd find the remainder of the crew quickly. She had braced herself to find them either dead or in poor condition, but she'd not expected it to take quite so long, and she was hurting. She hurt, was tired, and she wanted desperately to see Connor again, alive and well. Not helping, Abby, she chastised herself again. She was meant to be finding the plane, and that was that. It was something she could do, and she’d do it, nomater how tightly fatigue gripped her, or how badly her body ached and her head hurt. The worst of it wasn't her body; it was the ache in her chest every time she thought of Connor. She was sure she’d feel it if he were gone, but she still had a nagging sense of uncertainty.
She pressed her hand to her ribs, wincing as she made contact with tender flesh. She pulled up the tail of her shirt and inspected the large purple mottled bruise that was blossoming across the left side of her body. That would explain why it hurt to breathe, anyway. She was still much better off than Lara, so she might as well ignore it and put one foot in front of the other. She’d gotten through rough patches in her life by the same philosophy. It hadn’t failed her yet.
“Abby!”
Abby froze, her heart in her throat, “Connor!” she shouted back.
Connor grinned, relief flooding through him. He’d been nearly at the limits of his endurance, the nausea and dizzy spells forcing him to stop more than he would have liked. His spiral search likely resembled a drunken pub crawl rather than a orderly search pattern, but he'd not let himself give up whilst Abby was out there.
“Over here!” he called.
They shouted back and forth until they managed to close the distance between them. Abby all but launched herself into his arms, ignoring her bruised ribs as she squeezed him as hard as she could.
“Oy, easy sweetheart. I’m here,” Connor murmured into her hair.
“Where the hell have you been?” she whispered, “I’ve been worried sick.”
Connor gave a short laugh, “Yeah, me heart about gave out when I woke up and you weren’t there.”
The pulled apart enough to look at each other, trading a gentle smile. Connor rested his forehead on hers, “Are you okay?”
Abby pressed a soft kiss to his lips then pulled back to look into his dark chocolate eyes, “Am now.”
TBC
A/N: Reviews are love and muse food. Me needs food for the muse. :)
Author:
casy_dee
Rating: T (M later, maybe)
Genre: adventure,romance
Characters/Pairing: Abby/Connor
Warning: none
Spoilers: Season 5
Part: 2/3?
Summary: This is a birthday fic for my dear friend evenstar_estel. Set after season 5. Abby and Connor journey to Iceland to set up a new ARC. A little work, some champagne, hot springs... but nothing ever goes that smoothly.
Read Chapter 1 HERE
Chapter 2
He woke to pain, and a big lot of it. Connor was no stranger to head injury. He knew exactly what the nausea and hammers pounding in his skull meant. He’d managed another concussion, and from the damp stickiness he felt on the back of his head, he’d sliced his head open. Again. Great. He tried to convince himself that opening his eyes was a good thing. Abby is right; at this rate, I’ll be a vegetable before I’m forty. He’d had entirely too many head injuries than was good for him, and knowing his life, this would not be the last.
He groaned and made himself reach up to explore the damage. A large lump on the back of his skull, and a matted clump of dried blood on top of the lump. Confused, he opened his eyes to see vast blue sky. He blinked, trying to focus his chaotic thoughts on how he’d come to be lying there. His first thought was a creature, his second was to be amused that his first thought was of a dinosaur, and then it hit him. The plane ride, the crash, Abby screaming in his arms…
“Abby!” he shouted as he tried to scramble to his feet, stumbled, and fell to his knees, “Abby!”
He struggled to gain his footing, searching the area for any sign of his fellow passengers. He was alone. He didn’t even see any wreckage. He pulled his mobile out of his pocket, cursed softly when he saw he had no reception. He figured that he couldn’t be too terribly far from everyone else. He’d just have to find them… find Abby. He drew in a deep breath and collected his thoughts. He was in a near panic at the thought that Abby was laying on the frozen ground, hurt or… no. No, he was not going there. Connor wiped his hands over his face and lifted his chin. He had to think.
“Search in a spiral. You’ll find her,” he murmured.
There was a national park office near the base of the volcano; it seemed as good a direction as any, once he found Abby. He nodded to himself, his feet finding the path more confidently now, planning what he would do once he found her calmed him somewhat. He would find his wife. He had to.
###
Abby pressed the wadded up shirt against Lara’s abdomen, “Stay with me. We’ll get you some help.”
Lara gave a feeble nod, but didn’t open her eyes. Abby pressed her lips together to stop the trembling. She was watching Lara die, and there was absolutely nothing she could do about it. The pilot was already dead, lying not five meters away with his skull cracked open, and she didn’t see any evidence of the other two members of the scientific team… or of Connor. If he was dead, she choked back the hard lump rising in her throat, shook her head to dispel the thought. That's not helping. Abby was a practical girl, and she knew there was nothing to be done with finding Connor. She’d just have to take care of Lara and hope that help would come to her.
The shout took her by surprise. Lara had gone still and silent, and Abby had fallen into a fugue whilst trying to keep her conscious and breathing. She lifted her head and listened, half afraid that she’d imagined it. Her heart pounded in her chest as she waited, echoing so loud in her ears she was afraid she couldn’t hear anything else over the din of it. A moment later, she heard it again. A voice. It was a person. A person, but not Connor.
“Over here! We’re over here!” Abby shouted.
Einar limped into the clearing with the aid of a tree branch he was using as a makeshift crutch. Bloodied and pale, he seemed so relieved to see her she fought hard to keep the disappointment from her face. Far from a savior, she’d just managed to find another person to look after. She swallowed down despair. Just because Connor hadn’t found her didn’t mean he wouldn’t. He was out there somewhere, looking for her.
“The others?” she asked him.
Einar shrugged, “I was alone.” He limped over to where Lara lay, struggling to breathe, and sat, "Lara, fyrirgefðu. Hjálp er að koma."
Abby nodded, bit her lip and cleared her throat, “Will you stay with her? I need to find supplies if we’re to last until they track us down.”
Einar nodded, pain etched deeply into the lines of his face, “I can,” he reached in his pocket and drew out a box of matches, “but start a signal fire first, yes?”
Abby grinned, “I can’t tell you how glad I am to see that.”
Einar shrugged, “Lara complained about my pipe, but I think she’ll not mind as much in the future.”
Abby forced a chuckle, “I’ll not be gone long. If I can’t find what we need nearby, I’ll come back and we’ll wait it out with what we’ve got.”
Einar nodded his agreement, so she set to work. Abby got a small blaze going near Einar and Lara, stacked a pile of deadwood nearby to feed it, and then headed north towards the smoke she’d spotted on the horizon, careful to clearly mark her trail. Perhaps the smoke was where the plane had crashed? If she could find the main wreckage, she’d have her supplies, and she’d be able to lay a trail back to Lara and Einar. The quicker they were found, the better, and a burning aircraft made a better beacon than she could build.
###
She'd thought she'd find the remainder of the crew quickly. She had braced herself to find them either dead or in poor condition, but she'd not expected it to take quite so long, and she was hurting. She hurt, was tired, and she wanted desperately to see Connor again, alive and well. Not helping, Abby, she chastised herself again. She was meant to be finding the plane, and that was that. It was something she could do, and she’d do it, nomater how tightly fatigue gripped her, or how badly her body ached and her head hurt. The worst of it wasn't her body; it was the ache in her chest every time she thought of Connor. She was sure she’d feel it if he were gone, but she still had a nagging sense of uncertainty.
She pressed her hand to her ribs, wincing as she made contact with tender flesh. She pulled up the tail of her shirt and inspected the large purple mottled bruise that was blossoming across the left side of her body. That would explain why it hurt to breathe, anyway. She was still much better off than Lara, so she might as well ignore it and put one foot in front of the other. She’d gotten through rough patches in her life by the same philosophy. It hadn’t failed her yet.
“Abby!”
Abby froze, her heart in her throat, “Connor!” she shouted back.
Connor grinned, relief flooding through him. He’d been nearly at the limits of his endurance, the nausea and dizzy spells forcing him to stop more than he would have liked. His spiral search likely resembled a drunken pub crawl rather than a orderly search pattern, but he'd not let himself give up whilst Abby was out there.
“Over here!” he called.
They shouted back and forth until they managed to close the distance between them. Abby all but launched herself into his arms, ignoring her bruised ribs as she squeezed him as hard as she could.
“Oy, easy sweetheart. I’m here,” Connor murmured into her hair.
“Where the hell have you been?” she whispered, “I’ve been worried sick.”
Connor gave a short laugh, “Yeah, me heart about gave out when I woke up and you weren’t there.”
The pulled apart enough to look at each other, trading a gentle smile. Connor rested his forehead on hers, “Are you okay?”
Abby pressed a soft kiss to his lips then pulled back to look into his dark chocolate eyes, “Am now.”
TBC
A/N: Reviews are love and muse food. Me needs food for the muse. :)