Fic: A New Dawn - 3/11 - Same Old Problem
Title: A New Dawn - Chapter 3: Same Old Problem
Fandom: Primeval
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2300 (total so far: ~7000)
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of series four is fair game. Anything after that is purely coincidental.
Summary: My own take on where Primeval will/should go in series five. Matt doesn't think Connor's work is quite as innocent as Philip would have him believe, and a familiar face makes a reappearance.
Notes: I've tried to stay as true to the tone of the show as possible, but there may be a little more angst than the series usually contains. Also, some of the language used is slightly more coarse than in canon, but that's a rare occurrence and not hugely offensive.
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval, or any of the characters.
It was becoming less and less unusual for Matt to only see Connor during an alert - the rest of the time, he was hiding himself away in that laboratory. And today was no different - Connor had arrived at work and immediately disappeared into his lab.
“Can I help you, Matt?” came Philip’s voice from behind him. Matt turned to face him, but said nothing. “I don’t often see you in this part of the ARC,” Philip continued.
“Took a wrong turning,” replied Matt, flashing his trademark facetious smirk. “Actually, I was wondering what it is exactly that’s taking up so much of Connor’s time.”
“Work,” said Philip shortly.
“What kind of work?”
“I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that's relevant. Excuse me,” Philip said as he tried to walk towards the lab. Matt moved ever so slightly to block his path.
“Connor is a valued member of the team - of my team - and it seems to me the work he’s doing for you is starting to steal his attention from his real job.”
“I beg to differ,” said Philip. “When I gave Connor this job, he assured me he could handle it. And I believe he can.”
“He can’t do both jobs forever,” said Matt. He wanted to kick himself for letting himself care so much, but the fact remained that if Connor wasn’t already guilty by association, he soon would be.
“Again, I disagree,” said Philip, slipping past Matt. “You can fire him if you want to, but he’ll continue to work for Prospero. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Philip turned his back on Matt and walked away, giving him one last hostile glance before entering the lab.
+++
Philip entered the lab to find Connor engrossed in his work, a look of deep concentration etched on his face. He didn’t even seem to notice that the door had opened. Philip cleared his throat, expecting Connor to look up at the sound, but the only response was a slight twitch of Connor’s head.
“Connor.”
Connor replied with a quiet murmur of acknowledgement, that same expression still unchanging on his face. Philip made his way slowly to look over Connor’s shoulder. He was studying a diagram - a device of some sort - scribbling notes and numbers all over various pieces of paper. Philip picked up one of the sheets and studied it, but put it back down almost immediately upon finding he couldn’t decipher Connor’s scrawl.
“What’s all this?” asked Philip eventually.
For the first time, Connor looked up at him. “This is a breakthrough,” he said. Philip could swear there was a smile trying to push its way onto Connor’s face. A complete turnaround from the edgy bundle of nerves he had spoken to a few days ago.
“Go on.”
“It’s a way of closing anomalies.”
“We already have a way of closing anomalies, Connor,” said Philip, his disappointment at the anticlimax ill-disguised.
“No,” Connor replied, “we have a way of locking anomalies. This could close them completely.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”
Philip cocked an eyebrow, his interest piqued again.
“I managed to get a pretty good look at the device Helen Cutter was using - the one me and Abby used to get back,” Connor continued. The boyish glee in his voice reminded Philip of the first time they had met. “I think I’ve figured out how it works. I’ll need a few more days but I reckon I could build a prototype. A working prototype, hopefully.”
Philip smiled. The boy was certainly clever. Hiring him to work for Prospero was definitely a good move.
“And…this device can open anomalies as well?” asked Philip.
“Well, yeah…but beyond getting the creatures back home, we wouldn’t need to.”
The creatures hadn’t even crossed his mind, but Philip nodded anyway. Right now, telling Connor what he wanted to hear was probably the best option. Besides, after finding out that Connor had told Matt about his work for Prospero, Philip was beginning to think the less Connor knew, the better.
“This is good work you’re doing, Connor,” said Philip. He glanced at the diagram again. “Were you planning on telling the rest of the team?”
Connor nodded. “If that’s okay.”
“Of course,” replied Philip, smiling. He was well aware that the more he told Connor to keep to himself, the more the boy would start to question him. “Although, if I were you, I’d wait until you’re sure the device will work before you raise their hopes.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Connor gestured to the sheets of paper strewn across the desk. “I should probably get on with it, then. It’s not gonna build itself!”
“In that case, I’ll leave you to it,” Philip said, making his way out of the lab. The corridor outside was empty, save for a couple of botanists at the far end. Matt had obviously gone to skulk elsewhere. Just as well. A man like Matt could hide a lot behind an irreverent smile and a flippant remark, and Philip suspected he knew much more than he was letting on.
+++
The past few days, compared to the weeks that had preceded them, had been mundane - or as mundane as things get when you chase dinosaurs for a living. Jess was grateful for the chance to somewhat wind down after the chaos of everything involving Emily and Ethan, and with the news that Becker was well enough to go home, things were certainly looking up.
When she entered the locker room, she was met by the unusual sight of Becker wearing civilian clothes - something she had only seen a couple of times before.
“Morning!” she said brightly as she opened her locker.
“Morning,” Becker replied, something resembling a smile flickering on his lips. Jess rooted in her locker. She had completely forgotten what she was looking for. Feeling Becker’s eyes on her, she avoided his gaze.
“I, erm…I appreciate the gift,” he said after a while. She turned to see he was holding the stuffed bear that she had left by his bedside. “I assume it was from you,” he added as he fiddled with the stuffed hot water bottle that the bear was clutching.
Jess nodded. “Yeah. I just thought it was cute.” She smiled and looked away. The sight of Becker holding that bear was making her go weak at the knees. That half-smile he was wearing wasn’t helping much, either. She closed her locker, giving up on whatever it was she had been looking for.
“So, they’re letting you go home?” she said, hoping the change of subject didn’t sound quite as forced and stupid to Becker as it did in Jess’ own head.
“Yeah,” said Becker, putting the bear in his locker and closing it. “They want me to take medical leave. Again.”
“But you don’t want to.”
Becker shook his head and leant back against the lockers. He stared straight ahead, his expression impassive. “With everything that’s happening, I just feel I need to be on the front line.”
“But it’s all over now,” said Jess. “Things are back to normal, now Emily and Ethan are gone.” She saw Becker's head move slightly - a nod, maybe. "It's a shame Danny had to go too, though," she added as an afterthought.
Becker’s head turned sharply to look at her. “Danny’s gone?”
“Oh….” Jess felt like kicking herself. Bringing up Danny’s departure was definitely not the way to make Becker feel better, and doing it so matter-of-factly, as if it was the most normal thing in the universe…smart move there, Jessica. “I thought someone had already told you…” she said quietly.
“Why has he gone?” He didn’t look at her as he spoke, and his voice was low and hoarse.
“Eth-- I mean, Patrick went through an anomaly. Danny went after him.” Becker did nothing to show her he had even heard her answer. “I’m sorry…” she said, her voice still quiet.
He turned to her. His expression was grim but there was a softness in his eyes. “You don’t have to apologise,” he said. “It’s not like it’s your fault.”
“It’s not your fault, either,” she said, no doubt in her mind that that was what he was thinking.
“If I had just shot him when I had the chance - ” Becker was cut off by the piercing siren of the ADD. Jess glanced out of the door to see a flashing red light intermittently illuminating the corridor.
“I should go,” said Jess. Becker nodded. As she reached the door, she turned back to face him. Seeing the blank look on his face, an uncharacteristic impatience overtook her, just for a moment. “I don’t know how many more times I have to tell you, Becker,” she said, her voice firm but compassionate. “It’s not your fault.”
Without waiting for a reply, she left. As she walked down the corridor, she could feel his eyes following her, a smile playing on her lips as she resisted the urge to look back at him.
+++
“No sign of a creat - oh. Scratch that, we’ve got an incursion.” Connor’s voice rang through Abby’s earpiece.
“Where?” she asked.
“Kitchen,” came the reply. Abby wove her way through the restaurant tables - most of which had been overturned in the panic - and into the kitchen. She found Connor crouched next to the locked anomaly, beholding the creature before him with awe. It was a greenish-brown colour with a long tail, and judging by its size, it was only a few weeks old. It had managed to topple over a bowl of food and was poking its beak-like mouth around in the mess on the floor.
“Kinda cute, really, isn’t he?” said Connor quietly as Abby crouched next to him.
“Kind of….” Abby smiled slightly as the creature wandered over to her and sampled the leg of her jeans. Apparently not impressed by the taste of denim, it turned its attention back to the food on the kitchen floor.
“Agilisaurus,” said Connor. “From mid-Jurassic Asia.”
“Connor…” started Abby. It was a few seconds before she continued. “Later on, we need to talk.”
Connor looked away from the creature and turned to Abby. “Sure. About what?”
The sound of Matt’s unnecessarily noisy entrance to the kitchen cut off Abby’s response and startled the little dinosaur. It made a weird hoarse screeching sound and ran to a far corner of the kitchen, a rather large sprig of coriander hanging from its mouth.
“Everywhere else is clear,” said Matt, as Abby and Connor stood up and turned to face him. “No other creatures.” He looked towards the dinosaur, which had ventured back over to the pile of food on the floor. “Herbivore?”
Connor nodded. “Completely not dangerous.”
“Good,” said Matt. “Right, let’s get him home.”
+++
Getting the baby dinosaur back through the anomaly had been harder than Connor had anticipated. Their first plan - to open the anomaly and usher the creature through - had proved impossible. As a result of reopening the anomaly, they had ended up with four other baby dinosaurs running around the kitchen, resulting in chaos not unlike the Great Dodo Chase of 2006.
Eventually, however, they had managed to get all the creatures back through the anomaly, albeit with rather a lot of damage to the restaurant’s kitchen. After the anomaly had been re-sealed, Matt had gone outside to try and quell the rumours of prehistoric portals and dinosaurs, leaving Connor and Abby stationed inside to keep an eye on the anomaly.
“What was it you wanted to talk about?” asked Connor.
Visibly nervous, Abby took a deep breath. “Yeah…” she said breathlessly. She paused for a few seconds, seemingly looking everywhere but at Connor. “Actually, maybe we should do this at home.”
“Do what?” asked Connor, dreading the answer. “Abby…if…” He struggled to get the words out. “If you want some space…that’s fine…I guess…I mean…”
“No, no,” said Abby. “It’s not that.”
A huge weight lifted off Connor’s shoulders. “What is it, then?” he asked.
“I…I’m pregnant, Connor.”
Connor felt his mouth drop open. “You’re…as in, with a baby?”
Abby nodded.
“Oh my God. Oh, wow. That’s…that’s amazing.” Seeing the look on Abby’s face, Connor’s excitement waned a little. “You…you don’t think it’s amazing, do you?” he said, failing to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Abby sighed. “I don’t know what to think,” she said quietly. “I don’t know…”
Connor moved towards her and pulled her close. “We’ll work it out together,” he said. “I promise.”
+++
“Quiet, isn’t it?” said Lester, as Philip examined the main operations room. It was completely empty, except for Jess, who was engrossed in her work at the ADD. Most of the guards had been sent with Matt, Abby and Connor to deal with the anomaly - or more specifically, to deal with the creatures.
“I suppose so,” said Philip. Truth be told, he quite liked the ARC when it was this quiet. Just a few scientists, getting on with their research - doing what the Anomaly Research Centre was established to do. Speaking of research…
“Excuse me, James,” said Philip. “I have some work to do.” Lester nodded and Philip walked away, towards his Prospero lab. Maybe now would be a good time to try to make some sense of Connor’s scribbles.
The sight of the lab door swinging shut after someone entered made Philip stop in his tracks. Connor must have forgotten to lock the door properly…but still, everyone knew that lab was private. Ready to fire whoever it was that was prying, he made his way towards the lab. Upon entering the lab, he saw that the woman had no wristband. She wasn’t an ARC employee.
Philip smiled. “Helen Cutter, I presume? I was wondering when we would finally meet.”
Fandom: Primeval
Rating: PG
Word Count: ~2300 (total so far: ~7000)
Spoilers: Everything up to the end of series four is fair game. Anything after that is purely coincidental.
Summary: My own take on where Primeval will/should go in series five. Matt doesn't think Connor's work is quite as innocent as Philip would have him believe, and a familiar face makes a reappearance.
Notes: I've tried to stay as true to the tone of the show as possible, but there may be a little more angst than the series usually contains. Also, some of the language used is slightly more coarse than in canon, but that's a rare occurrence and not hugely offensive.
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval, or any of the characters.
It was becoming less and less unusual for Matt to only see Connor during an alert - the rest of the time, he was hiding himself away in that laboratory. And today was no different - Connor had arrived at work and immediately disappeared into his lab.
“Can I help you, Matt?” came Philip’s voice from behind him. Matt turned to face him, but said nothing. “I don’t often see you in this part of the ARC,” Philip continued.
“Took a wrong turning,” replied Matt, flashing his trademark facetious smirk. “Actually, I was wondering what it is exactly that’s taking up so much of Connor’s time.”
“Work,” said Philip shortly.
“What kind of work?”
“I'm sorry, but I fail to see how that's relevant. Excuse me,” Philip said as he tried to walk towards the lab. Matt moved ever so slightly to block his path.
“Connor is a valued member of the team - of my team - and it seems to me the work he’s doing for you is starting to steal his attention from his real job.”
“I beg to differ,” said Philip. “When I gave Connor this job, he assured me he could handle it. And I believe he can.”
“He can’t do both jobs forever,” said Matt. He wanted to kick himself for letting himself care so much, but the fact remained that if Connor wasn’t already guilty by association, he soon would be.
“Again, I disagree,” said Philip, slipping past Matt. “You can fire him if you want to, but he’ll continue to work for Prospero. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” Philip turned his back on Matt and walked away, giving him one last hostile glance before entering the lab.
+++
Philip entered the lab to find Connor engrossed in his work, a look of deep concentration etched on his face. He didn’t even seem to notice that the door had opened. Philip cleared his throat, expecting Connor to look up at the sound, but the only response was a slight twitch of Connor’s head.
“Connor.”
Connor replied with a quiet murmur of acknowledgement, that same expression still unchanging on his face. Philip made his way slowly to look over Connor’s shoulder. He was studying a diagram - a device of some sort - scribbling notes and numbers all over various pieces of paper. Philip picked up one of the sheets and studied it, but put it back down almost immediately upon finding he couldn’t decipher Connor’s scrawl.
“What’s all this?” asked Philip eventually.
For the first time, Connor looked up at him. “This is a breakthrough,” he said. Philip could swear there was a smile trying to push its way onto Connor’s face. A complete turnaround from the edgy bundle of nerves he had spoken to a few days ago.
“Go on.”
“It’s a way of closing anomalies.”
“We already have a way of closing anomalies, Connor,” said Philip, his disappointment at the anticlimax ill-disguised.
“No,” Connor replied, “we have a way of locking anomalies. This could close them completely.” He snapped his fingers. “Just like that.”
Philip cocked an eyebrow, his interest piqued again.
“I managed to get a pretty good look at the device Helen Cutter was using - the one me and Abby used to get back,” Connor continued. The boyish glee in his voice reminded Philip of the first time they had met. “I think I’ve figured out how it works. I’ll need a few more days but I reckon I could build a prototype. A working prototype, hopefully.”
Philip smiled. The boy was certainly clever. Hiring him to work for Prospero was definitely a good move.
“And…this device can open anomalies as well?” asked Philip.
“Well, yeah…but beyond getting the creatures back home, we wouldn’t need to.”
The creatures hadn’t even crossed his mind, but Philip nodded anyway. Right now, telling Connor what he wanted to hear was probably the best option. Besides, after finding out that Connor had told Matt about his work for Prospero, Philip was beginning to think the less Connor knew, the better.
“This is good work you’re doing, Connor,” said Philip. He glanced at the diagram again. “Were you planning on telling the rest of the team?”
Connor nodded. “If that’s okay.”
“Of course,” replied Philip, smiling. He was well aware that the more he told Connor to keep to himself, the more the boy would start to question him. “Although, if I were you, I’d wait until you’re sure the device will work before you raise their hopes.”
“Yeah. Yeah, that’s a good idea.” Connor gestured to the sheets of paper strewn across the desk. “I should probably get on with it, then. It’s not gonna build itself!”
“In that case, I’ll leave you to it,” Philip said, making his way out of the lab. The corridor outside was empty, save for a couple of botanists at the far end. Matt had obviously gone to skulk elsewhere. Just as well. A man like Matt could hide a lot behind an irreverent smile and a flippant remark, and Philip suspected he knew much more than he was letting on.
+++
The past few days, compared to the weeks that had preceded them, had been mundane - or as mundane as things get when you chase dinosaurs for a living. Jess was grateful for the chance to somewhat wind down after the chaos of everything involving Emily and Ethan, and with the news that Becker was well enough to go home, things were certainly looking up.
When she entered the locker room, she was met by the unusual sight of Becker wearing civilian clothes - something she had only seen a couple of times before.
“Morning!” she said brightly as she opened her locker.
“Morning,” Becker replied, something resembling a smile flickering on his lips. Jess rooted in her locker. She had completely forgotten what she was looking for. Feeling Becker’s eyes on her, she avoided his gaze.
“I, erm…I appreciate the gift,” he said after a while. She turned to see he was holding the stuffed bear that she had left by his bedside. “I assume it was from you,” he added as he fiddled with the stuffed hot water bottle that the bear was clutching.
Jess nodded. “Yeah. I just thought it was cute.” She smiled and looked away. The sight of Becker holding that bear was making her go weak at the knees. That half-smile he was wearing wasn’t helping much, either. She closed her locker, giving up on whatever it was she had been looking for.
“So, they’re letting you go home?” she said, hoping the change of subject didn’t sound quite as forced and stupid to Becker as it did in Jess’ own head.
“Yeah,” said Becker, putting the bear in his locker and closing it. “They want me to take medical leave. Again.”
“But you don’t want to.”
Becker shook his head and leant back against the lockers. He stared straight ahead, his expression impassive. “With everything that’s happening, I just feel I need to be on the front line.”
“But it’s all over now,” said Jess. “Things are back to normal, now Emily and Ethan are gone.” She saw Becker's head move slightly - a nod, maybe. "It's a shame Danny had to go too, though," she added as an afterthought.
Becker’s head turned sharply to look at her. “Danny’s gone?”
“Oh….” Jess felt like kicking herself. Bringing up Danny’s departure was definitely not the way to make Becker feel better, and doing it so matter-of-factly, as if it was the most normal thing in the universe…smart move there, Jessica. “I thought someone had already told you…” she said quietly.
“Why has he gone?” He didn’t look at her as he spoke, and his voice was low and hoarse.
“Eth-- I mean, Patrick went through an anomaly. Danny went after him.” Becker did nothing to show her he had even heard her answer. “I’m sorry…” she said, her voice still quiet.
He turned to her. His expression was grim but there was a softness in his eyes. “You don’t have to apologise,” he said. “It’s not like it’s your fault.”
“It’s not your fault, either,” she said, no doubt in her mind that that was what he was thinking.
“If I had just shot him when I had the chance - ” Becker was cut off by the piercing siren of the ADD. Jess glanced out of the door to see a flashing red light intermittently illuminating the corridor.
“I should go,” said Jess. Becker nodded. As she reached the door, she turned back to face him. Seeing the blank look on his face, an uncharacteristic impatience overtook her, just for a moment. “I don’t know how many more times I have to tell you, Becker,” she said, her voice firm but compassionate. “It’s not your fault.”
Without waiting for a reply, she left. As she walked down the corridor, she could feel his eyes following her, a smile playing on her lips as she resisted the urge to look back at him.
+++
“No sign of a creat - oh. Scratch that, we’ve got an incursion.” Connor’s voice rang through Abby’s earpiece.
“Where?” she asked.
“Kitchen,” came the reply. Abby wove her way through the restaurant tables - most of which had been overturned in the panic - and into the kitchen. She found Connor crouched next to the locked anomaly, beholding the creature before him with awe. It was a greenish-brown colour with a long tail, and judging by its size, it was only a few weeks old. It had managed to topple over a bowl of food and was poking its beak-like mouth around in the mess on the floor.
“Kinda cute, really, isn’t he?” said Connor quietly as Abby crouched next to him.
“Kind of….” Abby smiled slightly as the creature wandered over to her and sampled the leg of her jeans. Apparently not impressed by the taste of denim, it turned its attention back to the food on the kitchen floor.
“Agilisaurus,” said Connor. “From mid-Jurassic Asia.”
“Connor…” started Abby. It was a few seconds before she continued. “Later on, we need to talk.”
Connor looked away from the creature and turned to Abby. “Sure. About what?”
The sound of Matt’s unnecessarily noisy entrance to the kitchen cut off Abby’s response and startled the little dinosaur. It made a weird hoarse screeching sound and ran to a far corner of the kitchen, a rather large sprig of coriander hanging from its mouth.
“Everywhere else is clear,” said Matt, as Abby and Connor stood up and turned to face him. “No other creatures.” He looked towards the dinosaur, which had ventured back over to the pile of food on the floor. “Herbivore?”
Connor nodded. “Completely not dangerous.”
“Good,” said Matt. “Right, let’s get him home.”
+++
Getting the baby dinosaur back through the anomaly had been harder than Connor had anticipated. Their first plan - to open the anomaly and usher the creature through - had proved impossible. As a result of reopening the anomaly, they had ended up with four other baby dinosaurs running around the kitchen, resulting in chaos not unlike the Great Dodo Chase of 2006.
Eventually, however, they had managed to get all the creatures back through the anomaly, albeit with rather a lot of damage to the restaurant’s kitchen. After the anomaly had been re-sealed, Matt had gone outside to try and quell the rumours of prehistoric portals and dinosaurs, leaving Connor and Abby stationed inside to keep an eye on the anomaly.
“What was it you wanted to talk about?” asked Connor.
Visibly nervous, Abby took a deep breath. “Yeah…” she said breathlessly. She paused for a few seconds, seemingly looking everywhere but at Connor. “Actually, maybe we should do this at home.”
“Do what?” asked Connor, dreading the answer. “Abby…if…” He struggled to get the words out. “If you want some space…that’s fine…I guess…I mean…”
“No, no,” said Abby. “It’s not that.”
A huge weight lifted off Connor’s shoulders. “What is it, then?” he asked.
“I…I’m pregnant, Connor.”
Connor felt his mouth drop open. “You’re…as in, with a baby?”
Abby nodded.
“Oh my God. Oh, wow. That’s…that’s amazing.” Seeing the look on Abby’s face, Connor’s excitement waned a little. “You…you don’t think it’s amazing, do you?” he said, failing to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Abby sighed. “I don’t know what to think,” she said quietly. “I don’t know…”
Connor moved towards her and pulled her close. “We’ll work it out together,” he said. “I promise.”
+++
“Quiet, isn’t it?” said Lester, as Philip examined the main operations room. It was completely empty, except for Jess, who was engrossed in her work at the ADD. Most of the guards had been sent with Matt, Abby and Connor to deal with the anomaly - or more specifically, to deal with the creatures.
“I suppose so,” said Philip. Truth be told, he quite liked the ARC when it was this quiet. Just a few scientists, getting on with their research - doing what the Anomaly Research Centre was established to do. Speaking of research…
“Excuse me, James,” said Philip. “I have some work to do.” Lester nodded and Philip walked away, towards his Prospero lab. Maybe now would be a good time to try to make some sense of Connor’s scribbles.
The sight of the lab door swinging shut after someone entered made Philip stop in his tracks. Connor must have forgotten to lock the door properly…but still, everyone knew that lab was private. Ready to fire whoever it was that was prying, he made his way towards the lab. Upon entering the lab, he saw that the woman had no wristband. She wasn’t an ARC employee.
Philip smiled. “Helen Cutter, I presume? I was wondering when we would finally meet.”