Time Entangled (5/9)
Title: Time Entangled
Author: not_from_stars
Artist(s): skylar0grace
Media Link: Art Here
Word Count: 24,395
Fandom: Primeval
Genre: Angst; Het
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Abby Maitland/Connor Temple, Stephen Hart/Abby Maitland
Summary: Having worked for the Anomaly Research Center for a few years, Nick, Stephen, Tom, Abby, Connor and Claudia thought they had seen everything. But when an incursion turns out to be people instead of rampaging animals, that's not the only shock they get. Abby and Stephen are the first on the scene when Abby and Connor come through the anomaly. Abby and Connor are from a time line where some things have gone horrible wrong. Now, not only do they have to convince this time line's version of their friends what has happened, they need to find their way back to their own home and time line. Back in their world, Becker, Danny, Sarah and Jenny are working frantically to find a way to locate their friends and bring them home. Armed with two years of notes and several journals, they're doing their best to open an anomaly and get their loved ones back because they know something that the other time line doesn't. They're running out of time.
Warnings/Spoilers: This is a complete AU and there should be no spoilers for anything.
Author’s Notes: I want to thank my beta and cheerleader, enochiansigils, for holding my hand through this and not letting me give up. skylar0grace made me lots of awesome art to accompany this fic and I can't thank her enough for everything she did for me!
It wasn't too much of a surprise that in the midst of all of the research and planning that Becker slipped away to the shooting range. It wasn't just that he needed something now to vent his frustration on, it was more than that. Now, after all of this time, there was real hope of getting Abby and Connor back and he needed some time alone. The shooting range was one of the few places that he could do that. The shooting range was the one place that he could guarantee that very few people would follow him. Jess knew better than to bother him here and Jenny never came down here. The only one that might interfere with his solitude would be Danny, but he wasn't concerned about that right now.
No, right now he needed to take some time to just breathe and not give in to all of the emotions that were now threatening to overwhelm him.
Abby was in trouble.
Oh, he had known that whatever was happening to Abby and Connor couldn't have been good. After all, they had been missing for two years. Before, he could only have imagined what they were going through because they were out of reach and at the mercy of a known killer. He had quite the imagination and he had envisioned all kinds of things happening to them without him there for protection.
However, his imagination had been nothing compared to the realities of hearing things in Connor's own words. The fact that he had been forced to kill was going to weigh heavily on him and Becker wanted to be there for him. Connor should never have had to take a life -- that's what the rest of them were for. Hell, he would have expected Abby to kill Abby long before he would have expected Connor to do so.
And then he remembered why Connor had been pushed to kill. That was the part that had him fighting down the panic and hiding from the rest of the team for a few moments.
Helen had shot Abby.
She had shot Abby and Connor was worried that Abby hadn't healed.
After Sarah had read them that entry, Becker had later taken the journal so he could read those words for himself. He didn't know why he had needed to see them on the page, but he had. Now, those words would be forever seared in his memory.
Abby says she's fine, but I know that she's not. I thought she was dying on me when it first happened -- after I killed Helen, I mean. She was so still and pale and there was so much blood. I didn't know what to do. I cleaned her face and head up as best as I could and I held my shirt to her head until the bleeding seemed to stop. What if it didn't really stop though? What if it only stopped coming out and her brain is bleeding in her skull? I was so relieved when she opened her eyes again that I think I cried. All right, I know I cried. It's not like anyone is ever going to see this, after all. I cried but Abby kept telling me the shot hadn't been that bad and it had just grazed her. I know better, though. I've only been right alongside her now for five years. She's not looking like Abby and that's how I know she's in trouble. She has really bad headaches sometimes -- worse than she's ever had before. It scares me because Abby isn't one to mention she's not feeling well. I have got to get her home because I don't think she's ever going to recover without a medic. I'm really scared that if I don't get her home she's going to die. I can't let that happen. Not to Abby and not when she was only in this mess because of me and my damned gadgets...
Now, Becker closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He had to stay in control and he had to keep the panic from rising up. You couldn't be a proper captain and rescue the people you love if you were seen to be having panic attacks.
It was bad enough that Connor thought Abby was going to die, but the fact that he was blaming himself made things so much worse.
"I'm sorry, Connor," he whispered, clenching his fists at his sides as he fought back the tears that wanted to come. "I'm so sorry that I didn't protect you better. I can't make that up to you or to Abby, but I swear that when we get you back again, I will always protect you and keep you safe. You'll never have to be scared again. I won't allow that to happen."
Becker sighed and ran his hand over his face. He couldn't believe he was starting to fall about now when they had the best chance they'd had in two years to find their missing friends and get them back. This was not the time that he should be doing this. The time for falling apart has been two years ago when they had feared they would never get them back from Helen in one piece. The time for falling apart had been six months later when others that started working for the ARC believed them to be dead. The time for falling apart had been when the Minister wanted them to stop working on the anomaly Helen had disappeared through and declare Abby and Connor deceased.
The time for falling apart had long passed and he needed to pull everything he was into shape because they needed him more than ever now. Connor was alive. Abby was alive. That was all that mattered. He would deal with worrying about their conditions after they were back where they belonged.
Because they were going to come home. He and Danny and Jenny and Sarah were going to make sure of that.
"We're coming for you. You just have to hold on until we get to you. Just hold on for a little bit longer."
The room was quiet as they tried to deal with the shock of Nancy's words and in those few moments, Sid had wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He ran a hand gently along her back as he buried his face in her hair for a moment. He could only imagine how hard this was for the others, but his concern was for the woman he was holding.
Ryan cleared his throat a few times and then sighed. "What did you mean when you said that all of us are dead where you come from?"
"Just what she said," Sid responded tiredly. "In our world, we don't know anything about you. Claudia doesn't exist in our world, either. Stephen was killed and Nick was murdered. We're the only ones, besides Lester, who are left of the original team."
Abby made a sound of horror, her hand tightening around Stephen's. "He was killed?"
"Abby, hush," Stephen said, pulling her closer to him. "That's not me. I'm right here and nothing like that is going to happen to me."
Abby wouldn't let this question go, however. She looked at her doppelganger. "What happened to Stephen?"
"He was killed when he sacrificed himself to save Nick during an escape of the predators at the ARC," Sid's voice was full of regret. "There was an attack on the ARC and the only way to trap the creatures was if someone went into the enclosure to lock the door from the inside."
Abby covered her mouth with her free hand. "Oh god."
Stephen shook his head. "There was no other way, was there?"
Nancy shook her head. "Not from what Nick told us after the rest of us escaped our own traps and got outside of the building."
Abby's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Nancy and Sid. "My god. You guys have seen all of your friends and family die. No wonder you don't trust any of us."
"What I don't understand is why you say that the two of us aren't in your world," Claudia said. "Captain Ryan and I have been a part of your team since we all came together when investigating the first anomaly."
Sid let out a heavy breath. "I've never heard of Captain Ryan until we came here. But... we've heard the name Claudia Brown, before. Nick talked about her a few times, but he was the only one that knew anything about her. Apparently, there was something that happened when he went through an anomaly with --" Nancy made a small sound and this caused Sid to clear his throat. "When he came back, she was no longer there and no one but him had any memory of her. I'm still not sure what all of that was about, but when Jenny started working with us, it seemed to help him heal a little bit at a time." He looked at Captain Ryan. "It could be that you would have been part of something and disappeared at the same time his Claudia did."
"He didn't like to talk about it too much," Nancy said softly. "It just caused him so much pain that he had all of the memories and feelings about someone that none of the rest of us had any memory of. He had been in love with her, I think. He started getting over whatever had happen when Jenny was hired by Lester. They started falling in love and she was helping him move forward before he died."
"Which brings me to the next question I have," Cutter interjected. "You said that both Stephen and I was killed. How did I die?"
Sid and Nancy looked like they didn't want to answer the question from the way they both looked away from the rest of the group. Sid cleared his throat a couple of times and Nancy chewed on her bottom lip.
"Look, you two," Cutter said with a trace of impatience. "We've figured out that you're not exactly from our future, but some kind of alternate time line. Telling me what really happened isn't going to foul up anything in this time line. So stop avoiding the question and just answer me directly."
Nancy reached her hand up to squeeze Sid's arm where it was still around her. "I'll do it," she whispered softly. "I know how much it still hurts."
"It still hurts you, too, love," Sid protested. "I'm not the only one it expected."
"Yes, but I wasn't the one to find him and stay with him as he died." She ran a hand through his hair, then lifted her head to look at Cutter. "You were betrayed by someone you knew and shot when there was another attack on the ARC. You tried to stop the person who set the bombs and created a clone of you. They shot you because you wouldn't accept their way of doing things." She took a shuddering breath. "Connor... my Connor... Sid went looking for you when you didn't show up in the gathering outside. He was with you when you died and carried you outside to the rest of us. A part of all of us died when we lost you and I think it broke Jenny more than she'll ever admit to us." She gave a sympathetic smile to Claudia, who had reached out to grasp his forearm.
"Who did it? Who killed Nick?"
Stephen's voice was slightly husky from his reaction to all of the news they were finding out. It wasn't that he didn't believe them, it was just that it was so much to learn in a short amount of time.
Nancy swallowed hard. "You... it's not important."
"It's pretty important to us," Ryan said, leveling his gaze on her. "If we know who the enemy is then we can be on the look out, just in case, and keep it from happening to him."
Sid shook his head. "There's nothing you could do. None of us were able to because we didn't even see it coming. We should have, because of Stephen, but there had been so many changes and changes in security protocols that we thought we were all safe. None of us were."
"What do you mean, because of Stephen?" Claudia demanded.
"The same person who caused Stephen's death shot Cutter," Nancy explained, looking at the floor.
"And who was that," Abby's voice was gentle. She knew she wasn't going to like the answer. She just knew it and the fact that this conversation had caused her alternate time line counterpart to pale considerably had done nothing to alleviate that worry.
"Helen Cutter."
You could have heard a pin drop when Nancy said that. Just in case, Sid pulled Nancy behind him in a protective pose as he watched the reactions of everyone else in the room.
"Helen did all of that?" Nick voice was disbelieving.
"Yes, she did that and so much more," There was bitterness in Sid's voice. "The day Stephen died, she and her partner, Leek, had locked locked several of us in in another cage far from where the rest of your were being held." He pulled Nancy closer to him with his hand. "Nancy got us out of the pen where there were a couple of prehistoric creatures hungry enough to come after us."
"How did she get you guys out of such a bad situation." The voice was Stephen's and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how they had managed to get out of there in one piece. "It sounds that you guys were in pretty dangerous straights."
The older Connor took a shuddering breath. He had seen his Abby in so many dangerous situations and it was hard for him to talk about any of those times where she could have died. But the situation in question was one that she had come too close to death -- as did the rest of them. "Nancy drew off the attention of a saber toothed cat it attacked her while the rest of us got out of the room."
"She did what?" Stephen burst out in shock as his own face paled slightly.
"It needed to see one of us as the most dangerous impediment to it having a meal," Nancy explained. "I made myself the enemy and therefore bait so that everyone else could get out of the room."
"That would definitely work," Abby agreed. "Become another predator and he would lose his focus on his meal until he could take out the other predator."
"He clawed her arm pretty good, but she fought him off and made him back away from the rest of us. She used her martial arts skills on him and kick boxed him into a wall." There was definite pride in Sid's words. "None of us realized she had gotten hurt until much later, though." There was a slight frown at that.
"We had more important things to worry about at that time," Nancy murmured gently. She looked at the younger Connor. "If you ever meet a woman named Caroline Steele, you just send her on her way and don't believe a damn thing she tells you."
"Yeah," Sid agreed. "Because she's a two-faced spy who causes you to hurt Abby's feelings more than once."
"Who was she spying for?" Claudia asked.
"A man named Oliver Leek who was working with Helen Cutter."
"There's no Oliver Leek working for the ARC at the present time," Claudia informed them.
"That's good for you, then, Claudia," Nancy said. "According to our Nick, Leek showed up out of nowhere right when you disappeared from the time line."
Claudia shook her head. She was still trying to deal with the fact that she had never existed in the world these two were from -- much less that so much else had gone wrong for them. "So anyone named Leek or Steele, we need to beware of."
Sid nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, because if those two show up, then it's the beginning of the end for all of you."
"Well, isn't that a pleasant thought," commented a new voice that had everyone's heads whipping around to the entrance to see James Lester coming into the flat. "I don't like things that are signs of the end. It makes it much harder to keep things tidy and out of the public's eye."
It was Claudia who found her voice first. "James, what are you doing here?"
"I went to the containment cells to see for myself the people that came through the anomaly who looked like Miss Maitland and Mr. Temple. Imagine my surprise to find them both missing and a wayward lab technician happened to tell me that they had been escorted off the premises by Captain Ryan and his men." He looked at Ryan with a raised eyebrow, but the military captain didn't look the least bit regretful. "It didn't take very long for me to deduce that you brought them to my guest flat because taking them to one of your places would have been too obvious if the wrong people were looking for you."
"They didn't belong locked up like that," Ryan said. "They're people and the new recruits didn't follow orders. They were just defending themselves. It wasn't right for them to be punished for it."
Lester gave Ryan a look and then turned his gaze on Nancy. "So, you're the one who tried to kill my wife." He mused. "Pity, you should have tried harder."
Nancy's eyes widened. "Your wife," she managed to get out, even though her throat had gone completely dry as she listened to him talk.
Sid tensed up next to her. "Who exactly is your wife?"
Lester looked at his team and then turned back to the doppelgangers of his two youngest people. He wasn't the only one to focus his attention on the two. Nancy's face had gone deathly white whereas there were two dark spots color high on Sid's cheeks.
"Professor Helen Lester is my wife," Lester said calmly. "She used to be Helen Cutter."
"Abby!" Sid shouted as she collapsed and he barely managed to stop her from hitting the floor.
Four || Six
Author: not_from_stars
Artist(s): skylar0grace
Media Link: Art Here
Word Count: 24,395
Fandom: Primeval
Genre: Angst; Het
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Abby Maitland/Connor Temple, Stephen Hart/Abby Maitland
Summary: Having worked for the Anomaly Research Center for a few years, Nick, Stephen, Tom, Abby, Connor and Claudia thought they had seen everything. But when an incursion turns out to be people instead of rampaging animals, that's not the only shock they get. Abby and Stephen are the first on the scene when Abby and Connor come through the anomaly. Abby and Connor are from a time line where some things have gone horrible wrong. Now, not only do they have to convince this time line's version of their friends what has happened, they need to find their way back to their own home and time line. Back in their world, Becker, Danny, Sarah and Jenny are working frantically to find a way to locate their friends and bring them home. Armed with two years of notes and several journals, they're doing their best to open an anomaly and get their loved ones back because they know something that the other time line doesn't. They're running out of time.
Warnings/Spoilers: This is a complete AU and there should be no spoilers for anything.
Author’s Notes: I want to thank my beta and cheerleader, enochiansigils, for holding my hand through this and not letting me give up. skylar0grace made me lots of awesome art to accompany this fic and I can't thank her enough for everything she did for me!
It wasn't too much of a surprise that in the midst of all of the research and planning that Becker slipped away to the shooting range. It wasn't just that he needed something now to vent his frustration on, it was more than that. Now, after all of this time, there was real hope of getting Abby and Connor back and he needed some time alone. The shooting range was one of the few places that he could do that. The shooting range was the one place that he could guarantee that very few people would follow him. Jess knew better than to bother him here and Jenny never came down here. The only one that might interfere with his solitude would be Danny, but he wasn't concerned about that right now.
No, right now he needed to take some time to just breathe and not give in to all of the emotions that were now threatening to overwhelm him.
Abby was in trouble.
Oh, he had known that whatever was happening to Abby and Connor couldn't have been good. After all, they had been missing for two years. Before, he could only have imagined what they were going through because they were out of reach and at the mercy of a known killer. He had quite the imagination and he had envisioned all kinds of things happening to them without him there for protection.
However, his imagination had been nothing compared to the realities of hearing things in Connor's own words. The fact that he had been forced to kill was going to weigh heavily on him and Becker wanted to be there for him. Connor should never have had to take a life -- that's what the rest of them were for. Hell, he would have expected Abby to kill Abby long before he would have expected Connor to do so.
And then he remembered why Connor had been pushed to kill. That was the part that had him fighting down the panic and hiding from the rest of the team for a few moments.
Helen had shot Abby.
She had shot Abby and Connor was worried that Abby hadn't healed.
After Sarah had read them that entry, Becker had later taken the journal so he could read those words for himself. He didn't know why he had needed to see them on the page, but he had. Now, those words would be forever seared in his memory.
Abby says she's fine, but I know that she's not. I thought she was dying on me when it first happened -- after I killed Helen, I mean. She was so still and pale and there was so much blood. I didn't know what to do. I cleaned her face and head up as best as I could and I held my shirt to her head until the bleeding seemed to stop. What if it didn't really stop though? What if it only stopped coming out and her brain is bleeding in her skull? I was so relieved when she opened her eyes again that I think I cried. All right, I know I cried. It's not like anyone is ever going to see this, after all. I cried but Abby kept telling me the shot hadn't been that bad and it had just grazed her. I know better, though. I've only been right alongside her now for five years. She's not looking like Abby and that's how I know she's in trouble. She has really bad headaches sometimes -- worse than she's ever had before. It scares me because Abby isn't one to mention she's not feeling well. I have got to get her home because I don't think she's ever going to recover without a medic. I'm really scared that if I don't get her home she's going to die. I can't let that happen. Not to Abby and not when she was only in this mess because of me and my damned gadgets...
Now, Becker closed his eyes and took several deep breaths. He had to stay in control and he had to keep the panic from rising up. You couldn't be a proper captain and rescue the people you love if you were seen to be having panic attacks.
It was bad enough that Connor thought Abby was going to die, but the fact that he was blaming himself made things so much worse.
"I'm sorry, Connor," he whispered, clenching his fists at his sides as he fought back the tears that wanted to come. "I'm so sorry that I didn't protect you better. I can't make that up to you or to Abby, but I swear that when we get you back again, I will always protect you and keep you safe. You'll never have to be scared again. I won't allow that to happen."
Becker sighed and ran his hand over his face. He couldn't believe he was starting to fall about now when they had the best chance they'd had in two years to find their missing friends and get them back. This was not the time that he should be doing this. The time for falling apart has been two years ago when they had feared they would never get them back from Helen in one piece. The time for falling apart had been six months later when others that started working for the ARC believed them to be dead. The time for falling apart had been when the Minister wanted them to stop working on the anomaly Helen had disappeared through and declare Abby and Connor deceased.
The time for falling apart had long passed and he needed to pull everything he was into shape because they needed him more than ever now. Connor was alive. Abby was alive. That was all that mattered. He would deal with worrying about their conditions after they were back where they belonged.
Because they were going to come home. He and Danny and Jenny and Sarah were going to make sure of that.
"We're coming for you. You just have to hold on until we get to you. Just hold on for a little bit longer."
The room was quiet as they tried to deal with the shock of Nancy's words and in those few moments, Sid had wrapped his arms around her, pulling her close. He ran a hand gently along her back as he buried his face in her hair for a moment. He could only imagine how hard this was for the others, but his concern was for the woman he was holding.
Ryan cleared his throat a few times and then sighed. "What did you mean when you said that all of us are dead where you come from?"
"Just what she said," Sid responded tiredly. "In our world, we don't know anything about you. Claudia doesn't exist in our world, either. Stephen was killed and Nick was murdered. We're the only ones, besides Lester, who are left of the original team."
Abby made a sound of horror, her hand tightening around Stephen's. "He was killed?"
"Abby, hush," Stephen said, pulling her closer to him. "That's not me. I'm right here and nothing like that is going to happen to me."
Abby wouldn't let this question go, however. She looked at her doppelganger. "What happened to Stephen?"
"He was killed when he sacrificed himself to save Nick during an escape of the predators at the ARC," Sid's voice was full of regret. "There was an attack on the ARC and the only way to trap the creatures was if someone went into the enclosure to lock the door from the inside."
Abby covered her mouth with her free hand. "Oh god."
Stephen shook his head. "There was no other way, was there?"
Nancy shook her head. "Not from what Nick told us after the rest of us escaped our own traps and got outside of the building."
Abby's eyes filled with tears as she looked at Nancy and Sid. "My god. You guys have seen all of your friends and family die. No wonder you don't trust any of us."
"What I don't understand is why you say that the two of us aren't in your world," Claudia said. "Captain Ryan and I have been a part of your team since we all came together when investigating the first anomaly."
Sid let out a heavy breath. "I've never heard of Captain Ryan until we came here. But... we've heard the name Claudia Brown, before. Nick talked about her a few times, but he was the only one that knew anything about her. Apparently, there was something that happened when he went through an anomaly with --" Nancy made a small sound and this caused Sid to clear his throat. "When he came back, she was no longer there and no one but him had any memory of her. I'm still not sure what all of that was about, but when Jenny started working with us, it seemed to help him heal a little bit at a time." He looked at Captain Ryan. "It could be that you would have been part of something and disappeared at the same time his Claudia did."
"He didn't like to talk about it too much," Nancy said softly. "It just caused him so much pain that he had all of the memories and feelings about someone that none of the rest of us had any memory of. He had been in love with her, I think. He started getting over whatever had happen when Jenny was hired by Lester. They started falling in love and she was helping him move forward before he died."
"Which brings me to the next question I have," Cutter interjected. "You said that both Stephen and I was killed. How did I die?"
Sid and Nancy looked like they didn't want to answer the question from the way they both looked away from the rest of the group. Sid cleared his throat a couple of times and Nancy chewed on her bottom lip.
"Look, you two," Cutter said with a trace of impatience. "We've figured out that you're not exactly from our future, but some kind of alternate time line. Telling me what really happened isn't going to foul up anything in this time line. So stop avoiding the question and just answer me directly."
Nancy reached her hand up to squeeze Sid's arm where it was still around her. "I'll do it," she whispered softly. "I know how much it still hurts."
"It still hurts you, too, love," Sid protested. "I'm not the only one it expected."
"Yes, but I wasn't the one to find him and stay with him as he died." She ran a hand through his hair, then lifted her head to look at Cutter. "You were betrayed by someone you knew and shot when there was another attack on the ARC. You tried to stop the person who set the bombs and created a clone of you. They shot you because you wouldn't accept their way of doing things." She took a shuddering breath. "Connor... my Connor... Sid went looking for you when you didn't show up in the gathering outside. He was with you when you died and carried you outside to the rest of us. A part of all of us died when we lost you and I think it broke Jenny more than she'll ever admit to us." She gave a sympathetic smile to Claudia, who had reached out to grasp his forearm.
"Who did it? Who killed Nick?"
Stephen's voice was slightly husky from his reaction to all of the news they were finding out. It wasn't that he didn't believe them, it was just that it was so much to learn in a short amount of time.
Nancy swallowed hard. "You... it's not important."
"It's pretty important to us," Ryan said, leveling his gaze on her. "If we know who the enemy is then we can be on the look out, just in case, and keep it from happening to him."
Sid shook his head. "There's nothing you could do. None of us were able to because we didn't even see it coming. We should have, because of Stephen, but there had been so many changes and changes in security protocols that we thought we were all safe. None of us were."
"What do you mean, because of Stephen?" Claudia demanded.
"The same person who caused Stephen's death shot Cutter," Nancy explained, looking at the floor.
"And who was that," Abby's voice was gentle. She knew she wasn't going to like the answer. She just knew it and the fact that this conversation had caused her alternate time line counterpart to pale considerably had done nothing to alleviate that worry.
"Helen Cutter."
You could have heard a pin drop when Nancy said that. Just in case, Sid pulled Nancy behind him in a protective pose as he watched the reactions of everyone else in the room.
"Helen did all of that?" Nick voice was disbelieving.
"Yes, she did that and so much more," There was bitterness in Sid's voice. "The day Stephen died, she and her partner, Leek, had locked locked several of us in in another cage far from where the rest of your were being held." He pulled Nancy closer to him with his hand. "Nancy got us out of the pen where there were a couple of prehistoric creatures hungry enough to come after us."
"How did she get you guys out of such a bad situation." The voice was Stephen's and he wasn't sure he wanted to know how they had managed to get out of there in one piece. "It sounds that you guys were in pretty dangerous straights."
The older Connor took a shuddering breath. He had seen his Abby in so many dangerous situations and it was hard for him to talk about any of those times where she could have died. But the situation in question was one that she had come too close to death -- as did the rest of them. "Nancy drew off the attention of a saber toothed cat it attacked her while the rest of us got out of the room."
"She did what?" Stephen burst out in shock as his own face paled slightly.
"It needed to see one of us as the most dangerous impediment to it having a meal," Nancy explained. "I made myself the enemy and therefore bait so that everyone else could get out of the room."
"That would definitely work," Abby agreed. "Become another predator and he would lose his focus on his meal until he could take out the other predator."
"He clawed her arm pretty good, but she fought him off and made him back away from the rest of us. She used her martial arts skills on him and kick boxed him into a wall." There was definite pride in Sid's words. "None of us realized she had gotten hurt until much later, though." There was a slight frown at that.
"We had more important things to worry about at that time," Nancy murmured gently. She looked at the younger Connor. "If you ever meet a woman named Caroline Steele, you just send her on her way and don't believe a damn thing she tells you."
"Yeah," Sid agreed. "Because she's a two-faced spy who causes you to hurt Abby's feelings more than once."
"Who was she spying for?" Claudia asked.
"A man named Oliver Leek who was working with Helen Cutter."
"There's no Oliver Leek working for the ARC at the present time," Claudia informed them.
"That's good for you, then, Claudia," Nancy said. "According to our Nick, Leek showed up out of nowhere right when you disappeared from the time line."
Claudia shook her head. She was still trying to deal with the fact that she had never existed in the world these two were from -- much less that so much else had gone wrong for them. "So anyone named Leek or Steele, we need to beware of."
Sid nodded in affirmation. "Yeah, because if those two show up, then it's the beginning of the end for all of you."
"Well, isn't that a pleasant thought," commented a new voice that had everyone's heads whipping around to the entrance to see James Lester coming into the flat. "I don't like things that are signs of the end. It makes it much harder to keep things tidy and out of the public's eye."
It was Claudia who found her voice first. "James, what are you doing here?"
"I went to the containment cells to see for myself the people that came through the anomaly who looked like Miss Maitland and Mr. Temple. Imagine my surprise to find them both missing and a wayward lab technician happened to tell me that they had been escorted off the premises by Captain Ryan and his men." He looked at Ryan with a raised eyebrow, but the military captain didn't look the least bit regretful. "It didn't take very long for me to deduce that you brought them to my guest flat because taking them to one of your places would have been too obvious if the wrong people were looking for you."
"They didn't belong locked up like that," Ryan said. "They're people and the new recruits didn't follow orders. They were just defending themselves. It wasn't right for them to be punished for it."
Lester gave Ryan a look and then turned his gaze on Nancy. "So, you're the one who tried to kill my wife." He mused. "Pity, you should have tried harder."
Nancy's eyes widened. "Your wife," she managed to get out, even though her throat had gone completely dry as she listened to him talk.
Sid tensed up next to her. "Who exactly is your wife?"
Lester looked at his team and then turned back to the doppelgangers of his two youngest people. He wasn't the only one to focus his attention on the two. Nancy's face had gone deathly white whereas there were two dark spots color high on Sid's cheeks.
"Professor Helen Lester is my wife," Lester said calmly. "She used to be Helen Cutter."
"Abby!" Sid shouted as she collapsed and he barely managed to stop her from hitting the floor.
Four || Six