Fic - Sleepless Nights
Title: Sleepless Nights
Author: rollieo122
Fandom: Primeval
Characters: Becker, also mentions Matt, Abby, Danny, Connor, Sarah, Lester, Emily, Cutter and Jenny
Rating: PG, I guess
Word Count: ~710
Summary: Instead, after waking up after yet another nightmare, he settled for another sleepless night.
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval, ITV and BBC America and various other people do...
Spoilers: The webisodes, 4x01 and 4x03 for definite... So general series 4 mostly.
Author's Note: Well, this is my first fan fiction for quite a long time... I guess I was inspired by the new series, and the webisodes more than anything. This has been knocking around in my mind for a while, kinda writing itself, until the a couple of weeks ago, when I wrote half of it. Since then it sat half finished on my hard drive until last night, when I finally finished it.
Oh, I have a challenge - bonus points if you spot the CSI NY reference, and tell me why it's also relevant to Primeval. But now, I shall stop rambling and let you read...
~~~
Sleepless Nights
He was running, running towards the sound of the voice calling his name. He ran as fast as he could, but it didn't seem fast enough. He could feel the sweat dripping into his eyes, running down his back and sticking his clothes to him, but still he kept running. The voice was starting to get closer, and he could see a woman being held up in the air by a creature. The woman screamed his name again.
He stopped, raising his gun to fire at the creature, but realised it was too risky. He might miss the creature and hit the woman instead. He lowered his gun and started running again.
Suddenly there was a weight on his back and he was forced to the ground, his face in the mud. He could hear the heavy breathing of the creature above him. He tried to breathe, but the combination of the weight on top of him, the mud and the fact that he was still out of breath from running made it difficult.
The creature dug its claws into his back, and he barely held back a scream. The pain was excruciating as the creature continued to claw at his back.
The last thing he heard before he lost his battle with consciousness was the woman screaming his name desperately.
"Becker!"
~~~
Becker woke up and sat bolt upright, breathing heavily. He was covered in a cold sweat. As had been the case most nights since the fateful last rescue mission, he had been woken by another nightmare about Sarah's death.
He sighed. Every night since Danny, Abby and Connor had gone missing, he'd dreamt about them. More recently, the dreams about Sarah had replaced those about the others. His job was to keep the team safe, and protect them from harm, and look how well he'd managed that: three of the four were missing, presumed dead, and the other one actually was dead. His thoughts turned to Jenny and Cutter. Jenny had left, and Cutter had been killed, shot dead by his own wife. He had failed.
Becker looked at the clock, running a hand through his hair. 3:33am. He sighed again, before getting out of bed, knowing he wasn't going to go back to sleep after that. He'd just have to think of something else to do to take his mind off things until it was a suitable time to get ready to go to work.
~~~
The night that Abby and Connor returned was the first night in a very long time that he'd completely slept through. That night, he didn't dream about Sarah, or about Danny, or other people he'd failed. That night, he didn't dream at all, just slept, knowing that Abby and Connor were safe.
~~~
The nightmares were not gone for long, though, and the next night he woke up after dreaming about Danny. He hoped that the ex-policeman was alright, and wouldn't blame him for not coming and looking. They'd tried that, and look where that had got them.
While his mind still lingered on that thought, he must have dozed off again, because he woke up about an hour later, having had another nightmare, this time about Sarah. He simply stared at his clock, watching the minutes tick by.
~~~
The day the fiasco with Emily started was not a particularly good one. That night he dreamed about Matt going through the anomaly, and what could have happened if he hadn't come back, or even if he had returned, but was injured. Yet again they would have been without a team leader. Lester knew what Matt was like, but that wouldn't stop Becker getting the blame.
~~~
All he longed for was one full night's sleep where he didn't dream about Danny, Sarah, or any of the team. One night where he could sleep through the night without a nightmare which kept him awake for the rest of the night. One night that wouldn't remind him of his failings.
He thought about taking sleeping pills, but then that would affect his reaction times at work, and that could have disastrous consequences. Instead, after waking up after yet another nightmare, he just hoped that Danny was alright wherever he was, and settled for another sleepless night.