Primeval WIP: Conflicting (17/...)
Title: Conflicting (17/...)
Author: TalliW
Pairings: Lester/Cutter
Rating: R
Disclaimer: Primeval are the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun. So don't bother me
Acknowledgments: Thanks to fredbassett for beta-reading. I couldn't have done it without you.
On Monday morning, Stephen went into the ARC to see Abby. He needed to know if she had more insider information about Nick and Lester. Apparently, she had seen more than everyone else put together. He had been too busy mourning his lost friendship with Nick to realise what was going on.
Unfortunately, Abby hadn't arrived yet but Connor was there. The young men was currently busy telling him excitedly about his date with Abby but Stephen had tuned him out after the first round of description of the menu they'd ordered at KFC.
When James Lester walked in, Stephen gave him a dirty look.
That, of all things, Connor picked up on. He stopped his silly babbling about the pros and cons of Variety Meals and slipped into caring-buddy mood.
"That's was about the little surprise in the club, wasn't it? You didn't know about that and you're angry now. But they haven't done anything wrong.
They're just friends and want to spend some time together. They don't have to ask for permission to go out."
"Friends, who hold hands under the table?" Stephen muttered bitterly.
Connor shrugged. "They like each other. What's wrong with that?"
Stephen turned an annoyed look on Connor. The boy really had no clue at all. Everything was wrong with the picture he'd just painted.
Stephen felt ill. All the years it had just been him and Nick. They had been best friends who were working together.
He had developed a deep fondness for the man and had followed him wherever he went. Later, he had felt something more than friendship.
Now he was the outsider, the villain, who had betrayed his best friend.
The talk they'd had had helped a bit, but there was still a long way to go. Stephen was sure Nick would forgive him in the end once he had acknowledged that his marriage was not the happy one he had tried to believe it had been. Stephen did hope they could be close friends again and all would go back to the way it had been before, or even better, if he ever found the courage to tell Nick about his feelings.
But now there was Lester. It looked like Nick wanted to replace him entirely.
Angry, Stephen left the building, leaving a worried Connor behind.
Nick Cutter grinned in contentment.
The weekend had been nice with some cuddling, kissing and hot oral sex.
Nick had found out that he had strong inhibitions which prevented him kneel down in front of James but he'd also discovered that going down on him on the bed was rather fine.
He had also learnt that James had a very talented and wicked tongue, using it to explore body parts which Nick never had considered as erogenous zones.
He still got all tingly just thinking about the things James had done.
But the best parts had been James' homecooked dinner served in bed and their joint bubble bath.
Now a happy and relaxed Nick Cutter walked into his office in the Central Metropolitan University with the intention of showing the Dean that he still was a valuable member of the university. He had several ideas for publications and wanted to work on them.
Cutter had just booted up his computer when Stephen Hart walked in.
On the outside the man seemed to be calm but the furious look in his eyes betrayed him.
Nick asked politely: "Good morning, Stephen. What can I do for you?"
But Stephen had no time for kind words.
He stared accusingly at Nick.
"Last time we talked you told me we should be honest with each other in future. You said I should have trusted you and told you about my fling with Helen so long ago. Those are such great words but they don't mean much if they don't apply to both sides."
"I don't know what you're talking about, Stephen, and I'm not in the mood for guesswork. To tell you the truth, I just want some peace. I have work to do."
"Oh no, Nick. That's not working this time. You can't brush me off so easily.
You always think everyone else is in the wrong. But when you do the same as them it's all right. Why the double standards, Nick?"
Nick stared at Stephen, wide-eyed.
Now that Stephen had the professor's undivided attention he said just one word: "Lester!" and gauged Nick's reaction.
To his credit, Nick controlled himself well. Only a faint flicker at the corner of his mouth betrayed his anxiety.
"What about Lester? He's in charge of the ARC, that's all."
Stephen snorted.
"Oh, I can tell you what's the matter with him. I think you're having a sordid little affair with Lester. Or should I put it even more bluntly: You're having it off with the bureaucratic jackass we've got to work for. Is that any way for our high and mighty team leader to behave?"
Well, so much for honesty and fidelity," he said bitterly. "Looks like the great Nick Cutter isn't so impeccable in his behaviour, after all. I'm curious to see what Helen will say when she finds out you've been going behind her back."
"I don't think she has the right to say anything," said Cutter, coldly. "Besides, we aren't even married anymore. And I don't like your accusations, Stephen. What I do in my private time is entirely my business."
"Not when it concerns me too," Stephen replied angrily.
"So you're divorced now. You didn't consider it necessary to tell me that, either?
We've known each other for more than 10 years. I thought we're friends. But all I really 'am is your lap-dog. I run after you all the time. I'm supposed to do what you say and to think the same as you. Whenever I have my own opinion which is different from yours, you belittle me.
I was there for you all that time but I made one single slip in all those years and you just discard me.
Do you think it's easy for me?" Stephen demanded. "I told you how much I regret what happened with Helen."
Nick Cutter's anger flared up as well: "I trusted you and you slept with my wife. That's something I can't put behind me so easily. I know Helen and I had some issues in our marriage but now I have to keep asking myself time and again how many of those troubles arose because of you."
Stephen shook his head. "You really don't get it. Helen still wants you. She was only with me because you couldn't satisfy her needs. You've both used me as a pawn because you couldn't handle your problems alone. Now I'm so mixed up in your game I can't think straight anymore and I'm so sick of this shit."
"You don't know what you're talking about, Stephen," Cutter said icily.
"Oh, I know all about what happened between the two of you. Helen told me how you pushed her away and buried yourself in your work. But I'd never thought you might have married her as a alibi because you preferred dicks all long and were just too afraid to come out.
If I'd known that all it would take to get you up is a hard cock in your arse then the three of us could have been a happy little family all along."
Nick dashed forward, grasped Stephen by the shoulders and shook him.
"You're a fool, Stephen. You don't know jack-shit. Helen told you lies and you were stupid enough to fall for it."
"Yeah and the thoroughly honest Nick Cutter never told me any lies. Oh no, he just kept me in the dark instead. You're as bad as Helen if not worse."
Nick was mute with rage. Angrily he pushed Stephen away and stormed out of the office.
Stephen woke up with a bad headache. In his idiocy, he had drunk himself into a stupor after the quarrel with Cutter.
Right now he didn't even know if he still had a job at the ARC or even at the university. After all, Nick was a influential man.
With the pounding in his head he couldn't hear himself think. It took nearly 30 seconds for him to realise the noise was coming from the door and not from inside his head.
Stephen stumbled to the frontdoor. If it was Nick it would be better to get this over with now.
When he opened the door he saw the prim and proper form of James Lester standing on his doormat.
"Good morning, Mr. Hart. I'm here to inform you ...."
Stephen interrupted him quickly. "I must be held in high regard if the boss himself is here to fire me. It looks like Nick hasn't got the balls to do his own dirty work."
Without batting an eye, Lester started again: "Mr. Hart. I'm here to inform you about your promotion to team leader of the ARC's Special Team One. As of now, Lieutenant Lyle and five of his men will take orders directly from you. Your team will be deployed every time an Anomaly appears but will operate separately from the scientists' team and will be reporting only to me. Congratulations!"
Lester had turned around and walked back into the lift before Stephen had understood what Lester had told him.
Then Stephen ran after him and stopped the door of the lift before it closed. "Wait, I'm not fired?" he asked, confused.
"You're a valuable member of the project. It would be unwise to fire you despite your disgusting behaviour towards your superior."
In a menacing voice, Lester continued: "Mr. Hart, in the future I insist that you keep out of your peers' private life. And I expect there to be no gossip. Do you understand me? "
Stunned, Stephen nodded automatically. He stepped back and the lift door closed.
Stephen trudged slowly back to his flat. 'So this is how it feels to accept a bribe,' he thought and felt cheap.