Just a Little Mad 8/9
Title: Just a Little Mad
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own Alice 2009 and I don't own Primeval, and if there's anything else anyone recognises, well, I don't own that either.
Rating: PG
Summary: Luckily for Stephen, Connor is more than what he seems.
Notes: Spelling is bouncing all over the English-speaking world, because Alice would spell it, 'realize', so when it's her PoV everything's spelled American. When it's Stephen, Connor or David (Hatter), it'll be spelt Britishish, and someday I'm going to make a joke about how someone had spelt, spelt wrong.
************************************
Stephen seemed to freeze before Connor sighed and said, "David, do us a favour and make sure no one's listening?"
He poked his head out from the curtains, then came back in to sit beside his twin. Connor had some sort of weird Oyster needle in a vein, a long plastic tube attached to a bag of something he'd been assured wasn't just water, and a bunch of other things stuck onto him all over, making a weird machine beep and make wiggly coloured lines. It was reading his heartbeat, that much David could tell, but the rest of it, he wasn't so sure of. Stephen, Alice and Alice's dad had been very calm about it, in fact they'd become a lot more calm once Connor'd been attached to the machines, so he had to trust them the machines were good things.
"No one's about," he assured Connor, setting up with a crack in the curtain so he could see if someone approached.
"Right," Connor said, then took a deep breath. "We're sort of violating the confidentiality agreements we signed with the Home Office to do this, but it'll give you," he nodded at Alice's dad, "A sort of official excuse for where you've been. Or at least, our boss'll provide you with paperwork to back you up."
Alice cut in, "Magic portal in time," she declared. "I need an explanation."
"Basically, not many people know, and we sort of found out by accident, but the Earth's magnetic field produces these random anomalies that lead to different times," Connor explained.
Breaking into the explanation, Stephen said, "We've seen animals come through from the Permian, raptors from the Cretaceous, a pteranodon in London . . ." he trailed off with a shrug. "All sorts of animals from all over prehistory and some that we think may have come from the future."
"And these magnetic anomalies literally transport you through time?" Alice's dad, he really was going to have to find out the man's name, asked.
Connor nodded. "Absolutely. Thing is, right after we found out, this government bloke was right there, and the next thing we know it's all a big classified conspiracy."
Far more interesting in practicalities, Alice said, "So, you're going to suggest that Dad . . . fell into one of these?"
"They open and close essentially at random," Stephen explained. "There's no telling, yet anyhow, when one will open or when one will close. If your father walked into one, fell into one, got pushed, it could have immediately closed behind him, leaving him stranded in . . . whenever. And while he might have found another one, it's almost guaranteed that next one wouldn't have led back home."
Alice's dad nodded. "So, I've been trying to get home through these . . . anomalies for years. Your government will basically come up with some sort of cover-up to let me go back to my normal life?"
"Lester should," Connor said. He turned to Alice. "We'll just say that you fell into one that opened in New York and ran across your dad then. Along with me'n Stephen and David."
Finally David spoke up. "So, we'll be telling everyone what exactly?"
"That when we were fourteen you went missing," Connor said. "That me and Mum, Winnie Temple, we thought you'd died, yeah?" Then he shot Stephen an exasperated look. "Then we tell them that the reason my name's been Temple all this time was because me and Mum saw someone get killed we shouldn't've and we had to hide."
That was all a bit strange. "Seems complicated," David said doubtfully.
"There's a lot that's written down in Oysterland," Connor said with a shrug. "Nearly everything gets recorded somewhere. And if they can't find where you got writ down, they get all weird and mistrustful and mimsy about it. If you don't give 'em a reason for you not being written down, well, lots of trouble happens."
****************************
While Connor explained to his brother about birth certificates, citizenships, passports, taxes, census numbers, social security numbers (or whatever they called them in England), driver's licenses and all the other identifications that Alice had always taken as completely obvious things you did to verify someone wasn't pretending to be someone they weren't, Alice and her father pinned Stephen down, demanding details about what sorts of things they should have seen.
Jabberwockies seemed to be a good starting point, her dad adding in details of other Wonderlandian creatures he'd seen, both of them getting their stories straight about the bizarre future they'd be telling Stephen's boss about.
"I have to call Mom," she realized aloud. "God, she'll think I was kidnapped or something. She'll freak out."
"You can't tell her anything yet," Stephen told her. "Look, we've got to get you and your dad organized and whatever excuse Lester fobs everyone off with before you can tell her anything."
She sighed, but he was right about that. Right now there were too many holes in her dad's story that they couldn't explain to her mom. "I guess you're right." Then she looked over at Hatter -- David. He looked a little shellshocked. "Hatter? David? You okay?"
"You're looking mimsy," Connor said. "Your eyes look like they're about to start dancing on stalks."
"I'm not a tove," grumbled the wild-haired twin. "It's just . . . no wonder you kept not believing anything I said," he told Alice, shaking his head. "No one here believes anything if it's not writ down six different ways and another one on alternate Tuesdays."
Her dad laughed. "That's the truth. I mean, for some people a handshake's as good as a contract, but they're few and far between."
David just looked perplexed by it all. "I hope the White Rabbit catches up to us with that package Jack promised," he said.
Connor's cell phone rang and he answered it, frowning. "Hello?"
*******************************
Stephen could hear the sound of Cutter's voice from where he was, even if he couldn't make out the words. Nick's strident tones were unmistakeable. "Connor?" he asked.
"Yeah, Stephen's here," Connor assured him. Suddenly he looked shifty. "I don't know what you're talking about, Professor, I got in through the back."
That explained it. Nick wasn't going to accept the line about Connor's magical ability to walk through walls, or closed doors as the case may be, and was trying to get an explanation out of Connor. The geek winced. "Really, professor, you must have been overreacting or seeing something or sommat like that." He looked relieved when Nick apparently let up for the moment. There was another pause, then he turned to Stephen. "Cutter wants to talk to you."
He found himself shaking as he took the mobile from Connor. "Nick?" he said hesitantly.
"Are you alright?" his friend demanded.
"I'm fine," Stephen assured him. "Connor pushed me through that anomaly barely in time, but . . . yes. I'm fine."
Nick seemed to let out a breath he'd been holding. "I don't suppose you could explain how the hell he ran through that door?" he asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Stephen dissembled. "He got in when I wasn't looking through one of the side doors behind the animals." Before Nick could reply, he blurted out, "I'm sorry."
"What?"
His boss, team leader, supervisor and best friend was sometimes all-too predictable, but their friendship hadn't been through anything like this before. There wasn't a precedent, save that Stephen knew Nick was unforgiving of personal errors like the one he'd made. "Helen," he said by way of explanation. "I shouldn't have listened . . ." he shook his head. "No, I simply should have known better. I was an idiot. Back then and now. It's just . . ." he trailed off. It was indefensible.
"Stephen," Nick's voice was rough. "I should apologise. I was so angry that I didn't think. I didn't think about Helen's part in things and I didn't think about you."
"Nick-"
"You know me better than anyone, Stephen," he said. "I'm as much at fault for throwing that all away as you are. I just should have known what Helen was doing. She was my wife."
The response was habit. Years of friendly ribbing had him saying before he thought, "How could you have known, Nick? You never understand women."
Silence. For a moment he was terrified Nick would let him know that the joke wasn't welcome, that he wasn't welcome anymore, then a soft snort came down the line. "I don't think I've ever denied that, Stephen."
As he started to smile, it felt strange. Mostly because these past few weeks, days, ever since Helen had ripped his friendship with Nick to pieces, the camaraderie and laughter they'd shared had become rare and strained. "Well, then maybe we could agree that we were both wrong and try to put it behind us?" he asked. "No offense to Connor, but he's not the sort I'd ever be best mates with."
Connor waved a forgiving and dismissive hand at him, chattering away at his brother a mile a minute. "I'd like that. I'll need support when Lester produces the new captain for the SFs he's been threatening us with."
Suddenly Connor's mobile started beeping, declaring that he'd overspent his regular contract account and would have to pay extra for the charges being racked up on the international call. "Nick, Connor's mobile's just run out, I think. I'll talk to you soon," he said hastily. The snippy female voice in his ear telling him he wasn't getting anything else out of the phone.
Connor made a face as the mobile was handed back to him. "I wasn't exactly set up for overseas roaming," he said wryly. "That's going to cost."
"Charge it to Lester," Stephen suggested, feeling incredibly carefree. Nick had forgiven him, Connor had risked himself to rescue the tracker and Lester had agreed to let Stephen back in. It was as though all the things that had been falling apart since Helen's reappearance were finally mending.
*********************************
They'd talked for hours, him and David, but eventually Connor had fallen asleep. Despite what he'd said to everyone, he was still tired and there was a security to sleeping in the Oyster world that couldn't be matched, mostly because he could pretty much rely on no one coming to drag him off to be dragged before the Queen of Hearts and beheaded. He woke from a sound sleep to a shout. "Connor!"
"Abby?" he mumbled, confused. He just barely got his eyes open and focused before she was on him, kissing him.
"Don't ever do that again!" she shouted the moment their lips separated.
Stephen's amused voice came from behind them. "I think you're offering mixed signals, Abby," he said.
"No, I'm not," she denied. "You're an idiot Connor, and you're not doing that again."
"I'll bet he'd do whatever you asked him to if you keep on kissing him," David declared, mischievously. Abby turned and got her first look at him. She blinked. "David Hatter, at your service," he said, sweeping into a bow.
She hadn't let go of Connor's hand yet. He smiled and didn't bring it to her attention. "Abby, this is my brother, David. He went missing when we were fourteen, and it looks like it was through an anomaly."
She blinked at his twin, then seemed to utterly dismiss him. "Why are you in hospital?" she demanded. "Is this like that time you got a concussion and didn't tell me until I found you vomiting in the loo in the middle of the night?"
"Really?" Stephen asked. "So, this wasn't a one-time event, you're just generally prone to underestimating just how badly you've been injured?"
Abby snorted. "Only when it's important. When he stubs a toe he's just a big girl."
"Temple," Cutter's voice cut through the moment. "Stephen," he said.
There was a long pause as the team looked at each other, then Stephen offered up, "I'm sorry."
Then Abby let go of Connor's hand and flung herself at Stephen. "Missed you," she mumbled. When she backed away, Cutter stepped up to Stephen and pulled his longtime friend into a hug.
When they stepped back they stared at each other, and Connor could have sworn they were communicating telepathically. Then Cutter nodded, Stephen nodded, and it was like the whole world suddenly untilted itself from a change in axis he'd become so used to he hadn't realised it was that wrong. Cutter turned to them now, saying, "Lester's got a private plane from the minister and we're to take you back to London in it, then to the ARC."
It was a little longer than that for them to grab a nurse, get Connor unhooked from various machines and released, but eventually they left, heading for the airport, the plane that was yet another example of Lester's terrifying powers of bureaucratic magic, and home.
Part Seven
Part Nine
Return to Other Fandoms Archive
Return to Primeval Archive
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own Alice 2009 and I don't own Primeval, and if there's anything else anyone recognises, well, I don't own that either.
Rating: PG
Summary: Luckily for Stephen, Connor is more than what he seems.
Notes: Spelling is bouncing all over the English-speaking world, because Alice would spell it, 'realize', so when it's her PoV everything's spelled American. When it's Stephen, Connor or David (Hatter), it'll be spelt Britishish, and someday I'm going to make a joke about how someone had spelt, spelt wrong.
************************************
Stephen seemed to freeze before Connor sighed and said, "David, do us a favour and make sure no one's listening?"
He poked his head out from the curtains, then came back in to sit beside his twin. Connor had some sort of weird Oyster needle in a vein, a long plastic tube attached to a bag of something he'd been assured wasn't just water, and a bunch of other things stuck onto him all over, making a weird machine beep and make wiggly coloured lines. It was reading his heartbeat, that much David could tell, but the rest of it, he wasn't so sure of. Stephen, Alice and Alice's dad had been very calm about it, in fact they'd become a lot more calm once Connor'd been attached to the machines, so he had to trust them the machines were good things.
"No one's about," he assured Connor, setting up with a crack in the curtain so he could see if someone approached.
"Right," Connor said, then took a deep breath. "We're sort of violating the confidentiality agreements we signed with the Home Office to do this, but it'll give you," he nodded at Alice's dad, "A sort of official excuse for where you've been. Or at least, our boss'll provide you with paperwork to back you up."
Alice cut in, "Magic portal in time," she declared. "I need an explanation."
"Basically, not many people know, and we sort of found out by accident, but the Earth's magnetic field produces these random anomalies that lead to different times," Connor explained.
Breaking into the explanation, Stephen said, "We've seen animals come through from the Permian, raptors from the Cretaceous, a pteranodon in London . . ." he trailed off with a shrug. "All sorts of animals from all over prehistory and some that we think may have come from the future."
"And these magnetic anomalies literally transport you through time?" Alice's dad, he really was going to have to find out the man's name, asked.
Connor nodded. "Absolutely. Thing is, right after we found out, this government bloke was right there, and the next thing we know it's all a big classified conspiracy."
Far more interesting in practicalities, Alice said, "So, you're going to suggest that Dad . . . fell into one of these?"
"They open and close essentially at random," Stephen explained. "There's no telling, yet anyhow, when one will open or when one will close. If your father walked into one, fell into one, got pushed, it could have immediately closed behind him, leaving him stranded in . . . whenever. And while he might have found another one, it's almost guaranteed that next one wouldn't have led back home."
Alice's dad nodded. "So, I've been trying to get home through these . . . anomalies for years. Your government will basically come up with some sort of cover-up to let me go back to my normal life?"
"Lester should," Connor said. He turned to Alice. "We'll just say that you fell into one that opened in New York and ran across your dad then. Along with me'n Stephen and David."
Finally David spoke up. "So, we'll be telling everyone what exactly?"
"That when we were fourteen you went missing," Connor said. "That me and Mum, Winnie Temple, we thought you'd died, yeah?" Then he shot Stephen an exasperated look. "Then we tell them that the reason my name's been Temple all this time was because me and Mum saw someone get killed we shouldn't've and we had to hide."
That was all a bit strange. "Seems complicated," David said doubtfully.
"There's a lot that's written down in Oysterland," Connor said with a shrug. "Nearly everything gets recorded somewhere. And if they can't find where you got writ down, they get all weird and mistrustful and mimsy about it. If you don't give 'em a reason for you not being written down, well, lots of trouble happens."
****************************
While Connor explained to his brother about birth certificates, citizenships, passports, taxes, census numbers, social security numbers (or whatever they called them in England), driver's licenses and all the other identifications that Alice had always taken as completely obvious things you did to verify someone wasn't pretending to be someone they weren't, Alice and her father pinned Stephen down, demanding details about what sorts of things they should have seen.
Jabberwockies seemed to be a good starting point, her dad adding in details of other Wonderlandian creatures he'd seen, both of them getting their stories straight about the bizarre future they'd be telling Stephen's boss about.
"I have to call Mom," she realized aloud. "God, she'll think I was kidnapped or something. She'll freak out."
"You can't tell her anything yet," Stephen told her. "Look, we've got to get you and your dad organized and whatever excuse Lester fobs everyone off with before you can tell her anything."
She sighed, but he was right about that. Right now there were too many holes in her dad's story that they couldn't explain to her mom. "I guess you're right." Then she looked over at Hatter -- David. He looked a little shellshocked. "Hatter? David? You okay?"
"You're looking mimsy," Connor said. "Your eyes look like they're about to start dancing on stalks."
"I'm not a tove," grumbled the wild-haired twin. "It's just . . . no wonder you kept not believing anything I said," he told Alice, shaking his head. "No one here believes anything if it's not writ down six different ways and another one on alternate Tuesdays."
Her dad laughed. "That's the truth. I mean, for some people a handshake's as good as a contract, but they're few and far between."
David just looked perplexed by it all. "I hope the White Rabbit catches up to us with that package Jack promised," he said.
Connor's cell phone rang and he answered it, frowning. "Hello?"
*******************************
Stephen could hear the sound of Cutter's voice from where he was, even if he couldn't make out the words. Nick's strident tones were unmistakeable. "Connor?" he asked.
"Yeah, Stephen's here," Connor assured him. Suddenly he looked shifty. "I don't know what you're talking about, Professor, I got in through the back."
That explained it. Nick wasn't going to accept the line about Connor's magical ability to walk through walls, or closed doors as the case may be, and was trying to get an explanation out of Connor. The geek winced. "Really, professor, you must have been overreacting or seeing something or sommat like that." He looked relieved when Nick apparently let up for the moment. There was another pause, then he turned to Stephen. "Cutter wants to talk to you."
He found himself shaking as he took the mobile from Connor. "Nick?" he said hesitantly.
"Are you alright?" his friend demanded.
"I'm fine," Stephen assured him. "Connor pushed me through that anomaly barely in time, but . . . yes. I'm fine."
Nick seemed to let out a breath he'd been holding. "I don't suppose you could explain how the hell he ran through that door?" he asked.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Stephen dissembled. "He got in when I wasn't looking through one of the side doors behind the animals." Before Nick could reply, he blurted out, "I'm sorry."
"What?"
His boss, team leader, supervisor and best friend was sometimes all-too predictable, but their friendship hadn't been through anything like this before. There wasn't a precedent, save that Stephen knew Nick was unforgiving of personal errors like the one he'd made. "Helen," he said by way of explanation. "I shouldn't have listened . . ." he shook his head. "No, I simply should have known better. I was an idiot. Back then and now. It's just . . ." he trailed off. It was indefensible.
"Stephen," Nick's voice was rough. "I should apologise. I was so angry that I didn't think. I didn't think about Helen's part in things and I didn't think about you."
"Nick-"
"You know me better than anyone, Stephen," he said. "I'm as much at fault for throwing that all away as you are. I just should have known what Helen was doing. She was my wife."
The response was habit. Years of friendly ribbing had him saying before he thought, "How could you have known, Nick? You never understand women."
Silence. For a moment he was terrified Nick would let him know that the joke wasn't welcome, that he wasn't welcome anymore, then a soft snort came down the line. "I don't think I've ever denied that, Stephen."
As he started to smile, it felt strange. Mostly because these past few weeks, days, ever since Helen had ripped his friendship with Nick to pieces, the camaraderie and laughter they'd shared had become rare and strained. "Well, then maybe we could agree that we were both wrong and try to put it behind us?" he asked. "No offense to Connor, but he's not the sort I'd ever be best mates with."
Connor waved a forgiving and dismissive hand at him, chattering away at his brother a mile a minute. "I'd like that. I'll need support when Lester produces the new captain for the SFs he's been threatening us with."
Suddenly Connor's mobile started beeping, declaring that he'd overspent his regular contract account and would have to pay extra for the charges being racked up on the international call. "Nick, Connor's mobile's just run out, I think. I'll talk to you soon," he said hastily. The snippy female voice in his ear telling him he wasn't getting anything else out of the phone.
Connor made a face as the mobile was handed back to him. "I wasn't exactly set up for overseas roaming," he said wryly. "That's going to cost."
"Charge it to Lester," Stephen suggested, feeling incredibly carefree. Nick had forgiven him, Connor had risked himself to rescue the tracker and Lester had agreed to let Stephen back in. It was as though all the things that had been falling apart since Helen's reappearance were finally mending.
*********************************
They'd talked for hours, him and David, but eventually Connor had fallen asleep. Despite what he'd said to everyone, he was still tired and there was a security to sleeping in the Oyster world that couldn't be matched, mostly because he could pretty much rely on no one coming to drag him off to be dragged before the Queen of Hearts and beheaded. He woke from a sound sleep to a shout. "Connor!"
"Abby?" he mumbled, confused. He just barely got his eyes open and focused before she was on him, kissing him.
"Don't ever do that again!" she shouted the moment their lips separated.
Stephen's amused voice came from behind them. "I think you're offering mixed signals, Abby," he said.
"No, I'm not," she denied. "You're an idiot Connor, and you're not doing that again."
"I'll bet he'd do whatever you asked him to if you keep on kissing him," David declared, mischievously. Abby turned and got her first look at him. She blinked. "David Hatter, at your service," he said, sweeping into a bow.
She hadn't let go of Connor's hand yet. He smiled and didn't bring it to her attention. "Abby, this is my brother, David. He went missing when we were fourteen, and it looks like it was through an anomaly."
She blinked at his twin, then seemed to utterly dismiss him. "Why are you in hospital?" she demanded. "Is this like that time you got a concussion and didn't tell me until I found you vomiting in the loo in the middle of the night?"
"Really?" Stephen asked. "So, this wasn't a one-time event, you're just generally prone to underestimating just how badly you've been injured?"
Abby snorted. "Only when it's important. When he stubs a toe he's just a big girl."
"Temple," Cutter's voice cut through the moment. "Stephen," he said.
There was a long pause as the team looked at each other, then Stephen offered up, "I'm sorry."
Then Abby let go of Connor's hand and flung herself at Stephen. "Missed you," she mumbled. When she backed away, Cutter stepped up to Stephen and pulled his longtime friend into a hug.
When they stepped back they stared at each other, and Connor could have sworn they were communicating telepathically. Then Cutter nodded, Stephen nodded, and it was like the whole world suddenly untilted itself from a change in axis he'd become so used to he hadn't realised it was that wrong. Cutter turned to them now, saying, "Lester's got a private plane from the minister and we're to take you back to London in it, then to the ARC."
It was a little longer than that for them to grab a nurse, get Connor unhooked from various machines and released, but eventually they left, heading for the airport, the plane that was yet another example of Lester's terrifying powers of bureaucratic magic, and home.
Part Seven
Part Nine
Return to Other Fandoms Archive
Return to Primeval Archive