Just a Little Mad 9/9
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: And the ending which is too short to be worth it, but I hope wraps things up, at least. Thanks for your patience everyone.
********************************
"You're where!?" Alice winced, then winced again as heads around the room turned to look at where Carol Hamilton's voice was audible to all and sundry as she shrieked at her daughter through the phone lines.
"London," Alice said sheepishly.
Her mother's voice sounded just a tad pleading as she said, "You don't happen to mean London, Ohio, do you?"
"There's a London in Ohio?" Alice couldn't help but ask.
A sigh. "Why are you in England?"
"There's a . . . thing. A classified thing," Alice said. "I kind of ran into it when I went after Jack."
"Jack?" her mother sounded perplexed.
"He was being kidnapped," Alice explained. "And then after I got him away I found out that he's engaged to D . . . someone, and . . . anyhow, I can't really talk about it," she finished, well aware of how completely inadequate the explanation was.
"Alice."
"I found Daddy," she blurted out.
There was a clatter that sounded like her mother dropping the phone, a few seconds of indistinguishable noises that might have been her mother sobbing, screaming into a pillow or doing some unholy religious ritual that, between Wonderland and temporal anomalies, Alice wasn't so sure wasn't an option anymore. These days she had to think twice before believing in six impossible things before breakfast. "Robert?" her mother said into the line, her voice trembling.
"There was . . . the British government classified it," Alice said. "But there were . . . terrorists and . . . I should let Daddy explain," she said.
She heard her mother say, "He's there?" but her dad yanked the phone away from her.
"Carol?" he said. There was a pause, then Alice, embarrassed at the look on her father's face, edged away to give him some privacy as he told his wife the story that Mr. Lester had constructed for him to explain his absence for so many years. She headed to the lab where she knew Connor had been helping David get used to the so-called Oyster world. When she got there, the woman that Connor had a crush on and lived with, Abby, was taking David through the basics of how to use a computer while Connor pouted off to the side.
Having seen Connor hacking with his laptop, digging through government files like it was child's play, she suspected, "Got too technical for him, didja?"
"I just wanted-"
"Conn," David interrupted, "I get that you've perfected the ability to dig through this computer security and suchlike, but I'm not you." He smiled at Abby, who flushed, and Alice felt a sudden unreasonable surge of jealousy.
She stifled it, but not before the words slipped out. "So, Connor said you're a pretty good kickboxer."
"Junior national champion three years running," Abby replied. "How come?"
Now that she'd started she'd be damned if she wimped out now. She might look like a jealous shrew, but better to go all out than to look like a wimpy jealous shrew. "I teach competition Judo back home. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to spar sometime. I don't often get to see what it's like against another style."
Abby eyed her a moment, then grinned. "Sounds like a plan. Maybe once I'm sure David here's got the basics down we could toss the SFs out off the practice mats."
***********************
The more he saw of the Oyster world, the more bewildered he felt. David stared around at people who did jobs he didn't think anyone'd ever be needing to do, and here people could devote their whole lives to looking into what it was a particular animal ate or building weird gadgets to tell you how to get places. He still didn't know exactly what a 'sat-nav' was, only that it was a little thing in Connor's girl's car that spoke like a girl version of the rabbit-headed March and told you how to get places. It was actually sort of disturbing.
Now, Alice had challenged Conn's Abby to a sparring match and David wasn't looking forward to seeing the nice blonde girl have her arse handed to her by Alice's not-Gift. But as they settled in to watch, a bunch of the not-suits that were called SFs, the ones that worked with Connor as opposed to the not-suits that Alice called the police, they began to make bets. Alice's dad, Robert he reminded himself, was naturally betting on Alice while Connor shot David an apologetic look and bet on Abby.
"Not to worry," he said, trying to hide his uneasiness about the whole production. "Abby's your girl. You could hardly go betting against her."
Connor shot him a sharp look. "No need to worry about Alice," he said. "I'm sure Abby'll be nice to her."
Stephen showed up with that Oyster that was his best friend. David was still pretty leery about that one and the Lester one. They were both very sharp and he had the feeling that if he slipped up a moment they could be in for a world of hurt.
"Jack dropped me a line," he told David as he dropped to the bench beside the twins. "He's got that package he promised you." He smiled. "Actually, he wanted to know if you wanted to meet up for a night out at a pub some time."
"Oh?" he asked, trying to ignore Alice doing some very interesting stretches out on the floor and Connor leering amiably at her. "Connor, stop trying to annoy me by looking at my girl. You've got one of your own."
"He doesn't," said Cutter with a shrug. "Unless something's changed drastically, isn't she still playing 'c'mere, go away'?"
Connor made an irritated sound while David agreed to meet up with Jack, because the Heart monarch would probably be the sanest person David would meet for a very long time. At least until he acclimated to the strangeness that was the Oyster world.
Then the match started and David shook his head all over again at the kind of work Oysters were putting into things that had nothing to do with getting enough food to get by or anything else important. Because while Alice was grabbing and kicking and ducking and throwing once or twice, Abby was punching and kicking and jumping and it was utterly different from what Alice did.
The match was a draw and David looked down at the fist he was so proud of. This was all going to take some getting used to.
***************************
Stephen was comfortably sprawled in a deck chair in Nick's back yard, watching the Hatter twins and Alice and Abby run around like lunatics playing some sort of game David had played with Connor when they were younger. It was one part wordplay and one part tag. As much as he liked Connor better, owed him his life and understood the other man loads better than he had before, Nick was his best friend. "Oh to still be young enough to get away with acting that much the idiot," he said to Nick, grinning.
"Don't point it out," Nick told him with a sigh. "As much as I like dealing with Connor, God knows the lad's brilliant, but sometimes it's like he's from somewhere else entirely."
From Nick's other side, Robert joined in, "I realise it may just be from being lost in time, but I feel that way about Alice all the time." The two scientists had formed a subtle sort of pact to resist any and all efforts Lester put into controlling them and Stephen very much liked the other man. Robert's wife had appeared less than twenty-four hours after Alice had called her, and following the tearful reunion the pair hadn't stopped acting like newlyweds for a moment. In fact, Carol and Jenny both emerged from inside the house bearing a tray of pastries apiece, one of which was snatched away by the ravening group of twenty-somethings on the back lawn. "You don't have to play housewife," Robert told her as she settled onto a chair next to him.
Nick studiously ignored the loving pair as he plucked out one of each type of pastry with all deliberation while Jenny studiously ignored him to take what seemed like half of the chocolate ones. "Lester mentioned he'll be bringing in his new head of the SFs and security," Stephen said. "I was wondering if you wanted to get David to come by and inflict himself on the man in tandem with Connor. Worst case scenario and all that."
"You two are horrible," Carol said. "Please try to avoid doing anything that would screw things up for David and Alice. I don't want her first serious relationship to fall apart just as it's taking off."
"If we don't have him do it, Cutter will," Stephen told her, "And he's ornery enough to be worth five of David when he wants to be difficult and smug."
Nick eyed him. "So speaks the man who abandoned me in the rainforest for a date."
Ah, Allison. "That wasn't a date, Nick. That was some of the best sex I've ever had."
Jenny sighed and shook her head. "If you instigate an attempt at comparative sizes of anatomy, Stephen, I will find a way to make you very uncomfortable."
*************************
David hadn't quite known what to make of Winnie Temple pretending to be his mum, but Connor watched as they negotiated out a way to act with each other that worked for them. David had slept on his and Abby's couch for a couple weeks at first, but after Dr. Hamilton had decided to stay with the ARC and her mother had moved to London, bringing her consulting business with her, David had started spending time with the pair, getting to be Carol's assistant. Alice had found a dojo to work at not long after, then a flat, then David had made the transition to living with her.
It was nice, this, having people to talk to about what he and Abby and everyone else did who weren't actually part of things. It was even better having his brother back.
He couldn't believe it. Ten years before he'd thought himself alone, squaring his shoulders before walking into the Oyster school. Now he had his brother, family and friends and a sort of safety he'd never have found in Wonderland.
"Are you daydreaming now?"
He turned back to his work, "Cutter, Action Man is coming."
Part Eight
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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: And the ending which is too short to be worth it, but I hope wraps things up, at least. Thanks for your patience everyone.
********************************
"You're where!?" Alice winced, then winced again as heads around the room turned to look at where Carol Hamilton's voice was audible to all and sundry as she shrieked at her daughter through the phone lines.
"London," Alice said sheepishly.
Her mother's voice sounded just a tad pleading as she said, "You don't happen to mean London, Ohio, do you?"
"There's a London in Ohio?" Alice couldn't help but ask.
A sigh. "Why are you in England?"
"There's a . . . thing. A classified thing," Alice said. "I kind of ran into it when I went after Jack."
"Jack?" her mother sounded perplexed.
"He was being kidnapped," Alice explained. "And then after I got him away I found out that he's engaged to D . . . someone, and . . . anyhow, I can't really talk about it," she finished, well aware of how completely inadequate the explanation was.
"Alice."
"I found Daddy," she blurted out.
There was a clatter that sounded like her mother dropping the phone, a few seconds of indistinguishable noises that might have been her mother sobbing, screaming into a pillow or doing some unholy religious ritual that, between Wonderland and temporal anomalies, Alice wasn't so sure wasn't an option anymore. These days she had to think twice before believing in six impossible things before breakfast. "Robert?" her mother said into the line, her voice trembling.
"There was . . . the British government classified it," Alice said. "But there were . . . terrorists and . . . I should let Daddy explain," she said.
She heard her mother say, "He's there?" but her dad yanked the phone away from her.
"Carol?" he said. There was a pause, then Alice, embarrassed at the look on her father's face, edged away to give him some privacy as he told his wife the story that Mr. Lester had constructed for him to explain his absence for so many years. She headed to the lab where she knew Connor had been helping David get used to the so-called Oyster world. When she got there, the woman that Connor had a crush on and lived with, Abby, was taking David through the basics of how to use a computer while Connor pouted off to the side.
Having seen Connor hacking with his laptop, digging through government files like it was child's play, she suspected, "Got too technical for him, didja?"
"I just wanted-"
"Conn," David interrupted, "I get that you've perfected the ability to dig through this computer security and suchlike, but I'm not you." He smiled at Abby, who flushed, and Alice felt a sudden unreasonable surge of jealousy.
She stifled it, but not before the words slipped out. "So, Connor said you're a pretty good kickboxer."
"Junior national champion three years running," Abby replied. "How come?"
Now that she'd started she'd be damned if she wimped out now. She might look like a jealous shrew, but better to go all out than to look like a wimpy jealous shrew. "I teach competition Judo back home. I was wondering if you maybe wanted to spar sometime. I don't often get to see what it's like against another style."
Abby eyed her a moment, then grinned. "Sounds like a plan. Maybe once I'm sure David here's got the basics down we could toss the SFs out off the practice mats."
***********************
The more he saw of the Oyster world, the more bewildered he felt. David stared around at people who did jobs he didn't think anyone'd ever be needing to do, and here people could devote their whole lives to looking into what it was a particular animal ate or building weird gadgets to tell you how to get places. He still didn't know exactly what a 'sat-nav' was, only that it was a little thing in Connor's girl's car that spoke like a girl version of the rabbit-headed March and told you how to get places. It was actually sort of disturbing.
Now, Alice had challenged Conn's Abby to a sparring match and David wasn't looking forward to seeing the nice blonde girl have her arse handed to her by Alice's not-Gift. But as they settled in to watch, a bunch of the not-suits that were called SFs, the ones that worked with Connor as opposed to the not-suits that Alice called the police, they began to make bets. Alice's dad, Robert he reminded himself, was naturally betting on Alice while Connor shot David an apologetic look and bet on Abby.
"Not to worry," he said, trying to hide his uneasiness about the whole production. "Abby's your girl. You could hardly go betting against her."
Connor shot him a sharp look. "No need to worry about Alice," he said. "I'm sure Abby'll be nice to her."
Stephen showed up with that Oyster that was his best friend. David was still pretty leery about that one and the Lester one. They were both very sharp and he had the feeling that if he slipped up a moment they could be in for a world of hurt.
"Jack dropped me a line," he told David as he dropped to the bench beside the twins. "He's got that package he promised you." He smiled. "Actually, he wanted to know if you wanted to meet up for a night out at a pub some time."
"Oh?" he asked, trying to ignore Alice doing some very interesting stretches out on the floor and Connor leering amiably at her. "Connor, stop trying to annoy me by looking at my girl. You've got one of your own."
"He doesn't," said Cutter with a shrug. "Unless something's changed drastically, isn't she still playing 'c'mere, go away'?"
Connor made an irritated sound while David agreed to meet up with Jack, because the Heart monarch would probably be the sanest person David would meet for a very long time. At least until he acclimated to the strangeness that was the Oyster world.
Then the match started and David shook his head all over again at the kind of work Oysters were putting into things that had nothing to do with getting enough food to get by or anything else important. Because while Alice was grabbing and kicking and ducking and throwing once or twice, Abby was punching and kicking and jumping and it was utterly different from what Alice did.
The match was a draw and David looked down at the fist he was so proud of. This was all going to take some getting used to.
***************************
Stephen was comfortably sprawled in a deck chair in Nick's back yard, watching the Hatter twins and Alice and Abby run around like lunatics playing some sort of game David had played with Connor when they were younger. It was one part wordplay and one part tag. As much as he liked Connor better, owed him his life and understood the other man loads better than he had before, Nick was his best friend. "Oh to still be young enough to get away with acting that much the idiot," he said to Nick, grinning.
"Don't point it out," Nick told him with a sigh. "As much as I like dealing with Connor, God knows the lad's brilliant, but sometimes it's like he's from somewhere else entirely."
From Nick's other side, Robert joined in, "I realise it may just be from being lost in time, but I feel that way about Alice all the time." The two scientists had formed a subtle sort of pact to resist any and all efforts Lester put into controlling them and Stephen very much liked the other man. Robert's wife had appeared less than twenty-four hours after Alice had called her, and following the tearful reunion the pair hadn't stopped acting like newlyweds for a moment. In fact, Carol and Jenny both emerged from inside the house bearing a tray of pastries apiece, one of which was snatched away by the ravening group of twenty-somethings on the back lawn. "You don't have to play housewife," Robert told her as she settled onto a chair next to him.
Nick studiously ignored the loving pair as he plucked out one of each type of pastry with all deliberation while Jenny studiously ignored him to take what seemed like half of the chocolate ones. "Lester mentioned he'll be bringing in his new head of the SFs and security," Stephen said. "I was wondering if you wanted to get David to come by and inflict himself on the man in tandem with Connor. Worst case scenario and all that."
"You two are horrible," Carol said. "Please try to avoid doing anything that would screw things up for David and Alice. I don't want her first serious relationship to fall apart just as it's taking off."
"If we don't have him do it, Cutter will," Stephen told her, "And he's ornery enough to be worth five of David when he wants to be difficult and smug."
Nick eyed him. "So speaks the man who abandoned me in the rainforest for a date."
Ah, Allison. "That wasn't a date, Nick. That was some of the best sex I've ever had."
Jenny sighed and shook her head. "If you instigate an attempt at comparative sizes of anatomy, Stephen, I will find a way to make you very uncomfortable."
*************************
David hadn't quite known what to make of Winnie Temple pretending to be his mum, but Connor watched as they negotiated out a way to act with each other that worked for them. David had slept on his and Abby's couch for a couple weeks at first, but after Dr. Hamilton had decided to stay with the ARC and her mother had moved to London, bringing her consulting business with her, David had started spending time with the pair, getting to be Carol's assistant. Alice had found a dojo to work at not long after, then a flat, then David had made the transition to living with her.
It was nice, this, having people to talk to about what he and Abby and everyone else did who weren't actually part of things. It was even better having his brother back.
He couldn't believe it. Ten years before he'd thought himself alone, squaring his shoulders before walking into the Oyster school. Now he had his brother, family and friends and a sort of safety he'd never have found in Wonderland.
"Are you daydreaming now?"
He turned back to his work, "Cutter, Action Man is coming."
Part Eight
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