Fic - Call it Fate (part 2 of 6)
Title: Call it Fate
Author: prehistoriccat
Rating: PG
Characters/pairings: Abby/Connor, Matt
Genre: Gen, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: Characters not mine, no copyright intended
Had there been anyone other than Connor involved, he would not have given it a second thought, but anomalies and Connor just seemed to naturally gravitate to each other
“You don't have to do this,” Matt said softly. He looked at Abby with concern. He knew she hadn't slept without even having to look at the dark circles around her reddened eyes. If she'd had her way, they'd have driven up here last night but he had at least managed to persuade her to wait a few hours until it was starting to get light. He insisted that he drove her, fearing the police would have another car crash to deal with if he let her go on her own.
“I need to be here, Matt,” she replied. “The second they find him, I want to be at his side. He's been out there all night, probably hurt and likely cold and hungry.” She took a deep breath and got out of the car, striding purposefully towards the gathered group of police officers.
Matt waited a few moments, watching her and allowing her a bit of space before following. The search party were being briefed at the side of the road just by a broken fence. Matt assumed that was the point where Connor's car had left the road. About fifty metres away was a large white tent covering the wreckage and hiding it from prying eyes. A couple of men were stood by the tent, talking and comparing notes on their ipads, whilst another couple were crouched at the side of the road examining the tyre marks and measuring them. It all seemed pretty much to be following standard procedures after an accident of this type.
The search party were beginning to disperse, putting on their high visibility vests and spreading out across the length of the field. Matt and Abby watched in silence as they stood in one long line and began to walk slowly. There would be no stone left unturned in the search for evidence that would lead them to Connor's whereabouts.
The officer who was obviously in charge spotted Abby and Matt and made his way over to them, holding out his hand for them to shake. “I'm Detective Sergeant Walton, Lancashire constabulary. You must be Miss Maitland and...”
“Matt Anderson, friend of Abby and Connor. Do you have any clues as to what happened here?”
“We're piecing it all together as we speak,” the detective said, nodding over towards the men crouched at the side of the road. “The team are looking at the possibility that a second vehicle was involved, there seems to be two sets of skid marks running for a good mile before Mr Temple's car left the road.”
“Another vehicle? You mean, someone hit Connor and just drove off? Who would do that?” Abby was incredulous.
“It could be for a variety of reasons. Stolen vehicle, kids joyriding, someone driving without insurance...”
“And I take it that no-one has come forward to admit being involved?” Matt sighed, glancing at Abby who was biting down on her lower lip. He knew she was fighting a variety of emotions and trying to remain calm.
“The local garages have all been alerted and asked to contact us if someone comes in with damage that is consistent with a side impact. So far, nothing. As for the search for Mr Temple's whereabouts...” The detective turned directly to Abby to address her. “We did a sweep of the area yesterday, the local hospitals are aware and residents were out looking as well. Today's search is a more thorough one. The people you see out there are mostly police officers, all experienced in this kind of search, and there are also locals amongst them. The farmer and his labourers are searching through all the farm buildings for a sign of him.”
Abby nodded. She felt so helpless, but realised that it was best to leave the searching to the experts. She just needed to be held, and wrapped her arms around herself. Matt moved closer and placed his hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she thought it would be nice to just let him hold her, but she resisted. She had to remain strong, and whilst there was still hope that Connor would be found alive she would not give in to her emotions. She knew Matt would be there if she needed a shoulder to lean on, and for that she was grateful.
Abby's stomach growled in protest at not having her usual breakfast. Matt smiled and suggested that perhaps they should go back to the services they'd passed about two miles down the road to get something to eat. Abby refused. “I should be here,” she said.
“There's a van parked on the opposite carriageway,” the detective said. “They're providing tea, coffee and bacon sandwiches for all of the volunteers. Tell them you're part of the team and they'll let you have some.”
“Sounds good, Abby?” Matt asked.
“A coffee would be good, thank you.”
“OK, won't be long.”
Abby watched Matt stroll away, and then the detective left her to go and speak to some of the team. Suddenly she realised just how alone she felt. Hugging her arms tighter around her body, she slowly made her way towards the tent covering the wreckage. As she got closer, she could see the back end of Connor's car and it made her feel sick. The car was on its roof, the rear window cracked. Moving even closer, Abby saw the whole car, the mangled and twisted metal was barely recognisable as a car. It was a miracle that anyone had survived, let alone manage to pull themselves out and walk away.
Abby couldn't hold back any longer. She felt her body begin to shake as her sobs almost choked her. It was too much, everything seemed to spin and then her knees gave way just before an arm went around her waist and stopped her from falling completely to the floor.
-o-
He'd only been gone for a few minutes since all the volunteers were all out searching and Matt was the only one at the catering van. Abby had only wanted a coffee, but he got her a bacon sandwich anyway. She wasn't standing where he'd left her and for a moment he couldn't see her, then he spotted a police woman with her arms around Abby. Matt hesitated. Abby would hate the fact she'd broken down in public anyway; she'd hate it even more if she knew he'd seen her crying. He slowly walked towards them, catching the eye of the policewoman in the hope she'd at least warn Abby he was approaching.
Sure enough, he heard her say “Your friend's coming back, and it looks like he's got food.” Matt could almost see Abby shake herself as she straightened up and moved away from the comforting embrace of the policewoman. By the time he reached them, Abby had wiped her tears away and was forcing a smile.
“You're an angel, Matt,” she said softly.
“Come on,” he said. “Let's go and sit in the car.” Abby nodded a silent thank you at the policewoman and followed Matt silently towards where he'd left the car. She sat herself in the front passenger seat and sat sideways, legs hanging out of the car. Matt passed her a coffee and a sandwich.
“I'm not hungry.”
“You need to eat, Abby. If you don't keep your strength up, you won't be any good to Connor when they find him.” Abby glared at him. “At least have a couple of mouthfuls. You might find you're hungrier than you think.”
Satisfied that she'd taken a couple of bites, Matt sipped his own coffee and pulled out his mobile phone. “I should put in a call to the ARC,” he said. “I promised that I'd keep them updated. Will you be OK here?”
Abby nodded, so he walked away to give her a little more alone time. He wished she didn't feel like she had to hide her emotions. Even the toughest of soldiers needed to cry occasionally, and no-one would think any less of her for getting upset about the present situation. He saw her head dip down and he knew she was letting her tears fall again. Perhaps he should make this call last several minutes and give her enough space and time to let it all out.
“Are you a friend of the victim?” a voice said. It was an older man, probably late 50s judging by his thinning, greyish hair.
“I am, and you are?..” Matt was immediately on the defensive. He'd heard of reporters pursuing relatives of victims for stories, and even insurance companies trying to encourage people to make claims. If this man was going to try anything like that with Abby, he'd soon have him out on his ear.
“Colin Greg. My wife and I were the ones that discovered the crash. We've just been to the local police station to do a full witness statement and we thought we'd come and see if we could help with the search.”
Matt relaxed and shook the man's hand. “Matt Anderson. It seems you know more about all of this than we do?”
“The whole thing is very odd, Mr Anderson. When we saw the bolt of lightning in the distance, I said to Penny - that's my wife - that it was weird considering there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Then we saw a glowing light, and we thought it must have hit something and it was on fire.”
“Lightning?” Matt was intrigued. The weather yesterday had been fine, no sign of any storm in the air. Back in his own time, people sometimes connected newly emerging anomalies to lightning or electrical activity in the atmosphere.
“I know! When we turned the corner, we expected to see the crops in the field on fire but all we saw was your friend's upturned car in the middle of the field. I pulled over and Penny dialled 999 whilst I went to go and see if I could help. The weirdest thing though, the only thing I could smell was spilt petrol. No sign of anything being on fire, not even a scorch mark on the grass.”
Matt's mind was spinning. Had there been anyone other than Connor involved, he would not have given it a second thought, but anomalies and Connor just seemed to naturally gravitate to each other. Matt made his excuses to leave Colin and then called Jess.
“Matt? Is there any news on Connor?”
“Sorry, not yet. The police and a whole group of volunteers are looking.”
“How's Abby holding up?”
“You know Abby.” There was a pause. They all knew Abby and he suspected Jess would know exactly how she coping. “Listen, is the ADD working properly?”
“Of course it is, Matt. You and I ran diagnostics on it only a couple of days ago.”
Matt was puzzled. If Colin and his wife had seen an anomaly from some distance away, it would have been pretty strong and would surely have set off an alarm at the ARC. Maybe he was just clutching at straws and it really was a freak bolt of lightning that they'd seen. “I'm going to send you the exact co-ordinates of where Connor's accident happened. I need you to run a tracer on any possible activity in the area in the last 36 hours. Even the tiniest blip could be significant.”
“OK, but if there had been something, we'd have known about it.”
“Humour me, Jess. And whilst you're doing that, I need you to run a few checks on Connor's emails and computer activity.” He could hear her suck in her breath and he knew she was about to protest. “It could be nothing, but I need to be certain that his disappearance isn't connected to something sinister.” After New Dawn, Matt believed there was no way Connor would be with-holding information again, but right now nothing was making any sense and anything was a possibility.
Jess sighed. “Fine. I'll call you in a while with my findings.”
Matt ended the call and turned back towards Abby. He wondered how much of the latest developments he should tell her. It was likely to come to nothing and there was no point in worrying her any more than she already was for the time being. As he approached, he was concerned that she seemed slumped against the back of the car seat and feared she may have fainted from lack of proper sleep and food, but he soon realised that she'd simply fallen asleep. It had finally overwhelmed her. Taking the half eaten sandwich from her hand, he placed his jacket over her like a blanket and tried to adjust her position so that she wouldn't wake with a painful crick in her neck. He'd let her sleep for a couple of hours if possible, unless there was a major development that she should know about.
“Where the hell are you, Connor?” he said out loud to no-one in particular, his frustration about the situation evident in his voice.
.
Author: prehistoriccat
Rating: PG
Characters/pairings: Abby/Connor, Matt
Genre: Gen, Angst, Romance
Disclaimer: Characters not mine, no copyright intended
Had there been anyone other than Connor involved, he would not have given it a second thought, but anomalies and Connor just seemed to naturally gravitate to each other
“You don't have to do this,” Matt said softly. He looked at Abby with concern. He knew she hadn't slept without even having to look at the dark circles around her reddened eyes. If she'd had her way, they'd have driven up here last night but he had at least managed to persuade her to wait a few hours until it was starting to get light. He insisted that he drove her, fearing the police would have another car crash to deal with if he let her go on her own.
“I need to be here, Matt,” she replied. “The second they find him, I want to be at his side. He's been out there all night, probably hurt and likely cold and hungry.” She took a deep breath and got out of the car, striding purposefully towards the gathered group of police officers.
Matt waited a few moments, watching her and allowing her a bit of space before following. The search party were being briefed at the side of the road just by a broken fence. Matt assumed that was the point where Connor's car had left the road. About fifty metres away was a large white tent covering the wreckage and hiding it from prying eyes. A couple of men were stood by the tent, talking and comparing notes on their ipads, whilst another couple were crouched at the side of the road examining the tyre marks and measuring them. It all seemed pretty much to be following standard procedures after an accident of this type.
The search party were beginning to disperse, putting on their high visibility vests and spreading out across the length of the field. Matt and Abby watched in silence as they stood in one long line and began to walk slowly. There would be no stone left unturned in the search for evidence that would lead them to Connor's whereabouts.
The officer who was obviously in charge spotted Abby and Matt and made his way over to them, holding out his hand for them to shake. “I'm Detective Sergeant Walton, Lancashire constabulary. You must be Miss Maitland and...”
“Matt Anderson, friend of Abby and Connor. Do you have any clues as to what happened here?”
“We're piecing it all together as we speak,” the detective said, nodding over towards the men crouched at the side of the road. “The team are looking at the possibility that a second vehicle was involved, there seems to be two sets of skid marks running for a good mile before Mr Temple's car left the road.”
“Another vehicle? You mean, someone hit Connor and just drove off? Who would do that?” Abby was incredulous.
“It could be for a variety of reasons. Stolen vehicle, kids joyriding, someone driving without insurance...”
“And I take it that no-one has come forward to admit being involved?” Matt sighed, glancing at Abby who was biting down on her lower lip. He knew she was fighting a variety of emotions and trying to remain calm.
“The local garages have all been alerted and asked to contact us if someone comes in with damage that is consistent with a side impact. So far, nothing. As for the search for Mr Temple's whereabouts...” The detective turned directly to Abby to address her. “We did a sweep of the area yesterday, the local hospitals are aware and residents were out looking as well. Today's search is a more thorough one. The people you see out there are mostly police officers, all experienced in this kind of search, and there are also locals amongst them. The farmer and his labourers are searching through all the farm buildings for a sign of him.”
Abby nodded. She felt so helpless, but realised that it was best to leave the searching to the experts. She just needed to be held, and wrapped her arms around herself. Matt moved closer and placed his hand on her shoulder. For a moment, she thought it would be nice to just let him hold her, but she resisted. She had to remain strong, and whilst there was still hope that Connor would be found alive she would not give in to her emotions. She knew Matt would be there if she needed a shoulder to lean on, and for that she was grateful.
Abby's stomach growled in protest at not having her usual breakfast. Matt smiled and suggested that perhaps they should go back to the services they'd passed about two miles down the road to get something to eat. Abby refused. “I should be here,” she said.
“There's a van parked on the opposite carriageway,” the detective said. “They're providing tea, coffee and bacon sandwiches for all of the volunteers. Tell them you're part of the team and they'll let you have some.”
“Sounds good, Abby?” Matt asked.
“A coffee would be good, thank you.”
“OK, won't be long.”
Abby watched Matt stroll away, and then the detective left her to go and speak to some of the team. Suddenly she realised just how alone she felt. Hugging her arms tighter around her body, she slowly made her way towards the tent covering the wreckage. As she got closer, she could see the back end of Connor's car and it made her feel sick. The car was on its roof, the rear window cracked. Moving even closer, Abby saw the whole car, the mangled and twisted metal was barely recognisable as a car. It was a miracle that anyone had survived, let alone manage to pull themselves out and walk away.
Abby couldn't hold back any longer. She felt her body begin to shake as her sobs almost choked her. It was too much, everything seemed to spin and then her knees gave way just before an arm went around her waist and stopped her from falling completely to the floor.
-o-
He'd only been gone for a few minutes since all the volunteers were all out searching and Matt was the only one at the catering van. Abby had only wanted a coffee, but he got her a bacon sandwich anyway. She wasn't standing where he'd left her and for a moment he couldn't see her, then he spotted a police woman with her arms around Abby. Matt hesitated. Abby would hate the fact she'd broken down in public anyway; she'd hate it even more if she knew he'd seen her crying. He slowly walked towards them, catching the eye of the policewoman in the hope she'd at least warn Abby he was approaching.
Sure enough, he heard her say “Your friend's coming back, and it looks like he's got food.” Matt could almost see Abby shake herself as she straightened up and moved away from the comforting embrace of the policewoman. By the time he reached them, Abby had wiped her tears away and was forcing a smile.
“You're an angel, Matt,” she said softly.
“Come on,” he said. “Let's go and sit in the car.” Abby nodded a silent thank you at the policewoman and followed Matt silently towards where he'd left the car. She sat herself in the front passenger seat and sat sideways, legs hanging out of the car. Matt passed her a coffee and a sandwich.
“I'm not hungry.”
“You need to eat, Abby. If you don't keep your strength up, you won't be any good to Connor when they find him.” Abby glared at him. “At least have a couple of mouthfuls. You might find you're hungrier than you think.”
Satisfied that she'd taken a couple of bites, Matt sipped his own coffee and pulled out his mobile phone. “I should put in a call to the ARC,” he said. “I promised that I'd keep them updated. Will you be OK here?”
Abby nodded, so he walked away to give her a little more alone time. He wished she didn't feel like she had to hide her emotions. Even the toughest of soldiers needed to cry occasionally, and no-one would think any less of her for getting upset about the present situation. He saw her head dip down and he knew she was letting her tears fall again. Perhaps he should make this call last several minutes and give her enough space and time to let it all out.
“Are you a friend of the victim?” a voice said. It was an older man, probably late 50s judging by his thinning, greyish hair.
“I am, and you are?..” Matt was immediately on the defensive. He'd heard of reporters pursuing relatives of victims for stories, and even insurance companies trying to encourage people to make claims. If this man was going to try anything like that with Abby, he'd soon have him out on his ear.
“Colin Greg. My wife and I were the ones that discovered the crash. We've just been to the local police station to do a full witness statement and we thought we'd come and see if we could help with the search.”
Matt relaxed and shook the man's hand. “Matt Anderson. It seems you know more about all of this than we do?”
“The whole thing is very odd, Mr Anderson. When we saw the bolt of lightning in the distance, I said to Penny - that's my wife - that it was weird considering there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Then we saw a glowing light, and we thought it must have hit something and it was on fire.”
“Lightning?” Matt was intrigued. The weather yesterday had been fine, no sign of any storm in the air. Back in his own time, people sometimes connected newly emerging anomalies to lightning or electrical activity in the atmosphere.
“I know! When we turned the corner, we expected to see the crops in the field on fire but all we saw was your friend's upturned car in the middle of the field. I pulled over and Penny dialled 999 whilst I went to go and see if I could help. The weirdest thing though, the only thing I could smell was spilt petrol. No sign of anything being on fire, not even a scorch mark on the grass.”
Matt's mind was spinning. Had there been anyone other than Connor involved, he would not have given it a second thought, but anomalies and Connor just seemed to naturally gravitate to each other. Matt made his excuses to leave Colin and then called Jess.
“Matt? Is there any news on Connor?”
“Sorry, not yet. The police and a whole group of volunteers are looking.”
“How's Abby holding up?”
“You know Abby.” There was a pause. They all knew Abby and he suspected Jess would know exactly how she coping. “Listen, is the ADD working properly?”
“Of course it is, Matt. You and I ran diagnostics on it only a couple of days ago.”
Matt was puzzled. If Colin and his wife had seen an anomaly from some distance away, it would have been pretty strong and would surely have set off an alarm at the ARC. Maybe he was just clutching at straws and it really was a freak bolt of lightning that they'd seen. “I'm going to send you the exact co-ordinates of where Connor's accident happened. I need you to run a tracer on any possible activity in the area in the last 36 hours. Even the tiniest blip could be significant.”
“OK, but if there had been something, we'd have known about it.”
“Humour me, Jess. And whilst you're doing that, I need you to run a few checks on Connor's emails and computer activity.” He could hear her suck in her breath and he knew she was about to protest. “It could be nothing, but I need to be certain that his disappearance isn't connected to something sinister.” After New Dawn, Matt believed there was no way Connor would be with-holding information again, but right now nothing was making any sense and anything was a possibility.
Jess sighed. “Fine. I'll call you in a while with my findings.”
Matt ended the call and turned back towards Abby. He wondered how much of the latest developments he should tell her. It was likely to come to nothing and there was no point in worrying her any more than she already was for the time being. As he approached, he was concerned that she seemed slumped against the back of the car seat and feared she may have fainted from lack of proper sleep and food, but he soon realised that she'd simply fallen asleep. It had finally overwhelmed her. Taking the half eaten sandwich from her hand, he placed his jacket over her like a blanket and tried to adjust her position so that she wouldn't wake with a painful crick in her neck. He'd let her sleep for a couple of hours if possible, unless there was a major development that she should know about.
“Where the hell are you, Connor?” he said out loud to no-one in particular, his frustration about the situation evident in his voice.
.