Fic: Reality - Part Eight of Eight - Epilogue (Connor/Abby, angst, hurt/comfort)
Title: Reality - Part Eight of Eight - Epilogue
Author: Roguie/ SunSpecOps/ Danae Bowen
Fandom: Primeval
Characters: Connor Temple/Abby Maitland
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, Romance
Rating: M - violence, perceived death, sexual situations.
Word Count: Approximately 22k in total; 1100 this part.
Spoilers: Set Post Series 5 - everything is fair game.
Summary: Sometimes life isn’t what it seems, but the damage done while they believed it? Well, that is never easily left behind.
Disclaimer: Primeval quite obviously doesn’t belong to me - if it did, I’d need a whole new rating for the things I’d do to Niall Matter. :D Please don’t sue, my house is small, my car is useless and my dogs are pains in the arse, but they’re all I have.
A/N: This fiction is what it is because of the direct influence of evenstar_estel, tay_21, wilemina_29 and prehistoriccat. Hah! I promised a roller coaster, did I deliver? Here it is folks, the end to this wild ride I’ve taken my self on, and hopefully a good lot of you all. This little piece here is a special gift to tay_21 and evenstar_estel who constantly poked, prodded, wibbled and laughed with me as I struggled to put this all together. Thank you, ladies, without you, I doubt Connor and Abby would have had such an ending.
~~~E~~~
It was the little things that struck the heaviest chord. When Adria first came home, they did the best they could at not comparing her to Jamie, not with her big blue eyes, the soft down of blonde hair that just barely shadowed her soft skull, her cheeks pink and plump, little red lips always curled up into a smile. She was a spoiled baby, her every need met almost before she needed anything, a store’s worth of toys decorating the floor of the lounge and her bedroom.
At one point they’d considered leaving the flat that Evan had given to Abby the day she’d arrived on Canadian soil, the day she’d put all of this in motion, but they found having friends so close by comforting, an almost familial bond forming with their new team. Evan, himself, surprised them; scientist, independently wealthy, a bit of a daredevil, a lot of a player, to discover his love of children was perhaps the greatest shock of it all. Hardly a day went by when ‘Uncle Evan’ didn’t stop in, swinging the tiny little girl up into his arms, playing with her every minute he spent conversing with Connor and Abby with regards to what was happening at the ARC. They could never be sure whether those talks were an excuse to visit Addie, or whether Addie was an excuse to ask for their advice, but either way, his presence was welcome.
Ten months to the day they brought Adria home, she took her first steps by herself - not holding her daddy’s hand, not holding the coffee table or the sofa, all by herself, little Adria Temple crossing the lounge with these tiny stuttering footsteps that brought a huge grin to her face, blue eyes shining, her four little teeth flashing with the girth of her grin.
It should’ve been something beautiful to watch, this chubby, happy little girl so proud of herself, but in her place, Abby saw the ghost of her little boy that never was, tottering across a dark cave, so weak yet so determined as he took step after unsteady step. When the tears started to fall, the trembles shaking her body as she lay on her sofa, remembering a face that lived only in her heart, Connor leapt to his feet, knowing without pause that the pain in her heart mirrored the pain in his own, and that no words would ever be enough to heal the still raw wound of loss.
Instead of words, he reached down and scooped his little Addie into his arms, loving how her cries of “Dada” fell from her lips in giggles, her laughter contagious as he swung her around before dropping her in her Mama’s arms, watching as her chubby little fingers immediately tangled in Abby‘s hair, her tiny face instantly resting in the crook of her Mama’s neck.
“Mama,” she whimpered softly, a little voice so full of innocence that her own blue eyes filled with tears at just the sight of Abby’s. She patted Abby’s cheek softly, her lower lip trembling as she waited.
“Oh, baby,” Abby murmured, unable to stop the smile from breaking through her tears as she let the little girl snuggle into her body, immediately at ease in her Mama’s arms.
The few steps she’d taken must have tired Adria straight out, because in moments of being in Abby’s arms, her little eyes closed and she began snoring softly, a sound that never failed to bring a giggle to Abby’s lips.
“She’s your daughter,” she grinned at Connor, the accusation now a familiar if not daily tease.
Connor settled beside his girls, resting his head against the back of the sofa, his hand coming up to gently stroke his little girl’s back as she snored away peacefully. “I don’t snore, I dream emphatically,” he replied automatically, closing his own eyes as he rested against their warmth, comforted by the mere presence of his little family in his arms.
“Some nights you could emphatically dream me into the next room,” she grinned, resting her head back, her breathing slowing.
“Lies, you’d never leave me bed, you’d miss me too much.”
They’d said the same words a thousand times, but her own line died on her lips as she worried her lip between her teeth, sighing softly. “You never tell me what it is that you dream so emphatically about.”
He didn’t open his eyes, but his lips curved into a smile and he slid his arm around his wife, his finger into his sleeping baby’s hand, before he answered her softly.
“Me life, Abs. I dream about me life.” He yawned softly, snuggling down into her warmth. “There’s nothing better out there, is there, then?”
This time when the tears came, he was far too close to asleep to see them, but it didn’t matter. They were tears bred from happiness, from struggling to come the full circle they’d come and never wavering in their love for each other. Abby let her tears flow freely, unashamed of the salty trails that stained her cheeks, because Connor was absolutely right. There never had been, never would be and never could be anything better than their life right that moment.
They’d been given perfection.
She wouldn’t waste a single second.
~~~fin~~~
If You Missed Them, Catch Up Here!
Part One | Part Two | Part Three | Part Four | Part Five | Part Six | Part Seven