Primeval WIP: Skirmish (35/...)
Title: Skirmish (35/...)
Author: TalliW
Pairings: Lester/Cutter, Stephen/Lyle, Abby/Connor
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval are the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Finn and Lyle belong to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Fredbassett for beta-reading. I couldn't have done it without you.
Lyle marched into the staff canteen with a sour look on his face. The day had started as bad as he currently felt.
He hadn't slept well last night. Stephen's crestfallen expression after he had rebuffed him had haunted him in his sleep and he'd woken up from a very kinky dream about the man.
Then the shower had run out of warm water just at the moment he'd soaped himself and afterwards his shoe lace had snapped when he was getting dressed.
Fumbling for his car key while the rain poured down on him wasn't lifting his mood either.
Yesterday afternoon Stephen Hart had apologised to Private Fox and then he'd praised him for his quick reactions at the cottage in front of the other soldiers in the common room.
Hart had shown great courage with this conduct. Lyle didn't know many bosses who would admit to a mistake so openly.
Watching Stephen Hart friendly smile at the young soldier had filled him with envy. The day before that charming smile had been directed at him and now Stephen treated him with polite indifference.
Not that he could blame Hart after his own crappy behaviour. This time he really had botched things up.
On top of all that he missed the daily talk in the staff canteen with the guy. It had become routine to drink tea or a soft drink and talk about every day things.
Now he sat there alone, sipped at his mug of tea and missed Stephen's company.
That was ridiculous. He'd only snogged the bloke a bit and they even hadn't got to the serious stuff. How could he ache for him so much?
When his old school friend sat down across from him at the table, Lyle groaned quietly.
Needless to say Jetrow had picked up on his mood and was determined to get to the bottom of his depression. And usually he was very successful in his interrogation.
Lyle took a deep breath and straightened his back, hell-bent not to make it easy for his friend.
Lester flipped through the file Connor Temple had given him.
Of course, he'd hoped Connor would get some useful information out of Helen's data even if she had tampered with it but the theory the young man had developed was actually brilliant.
And the idea came at exactly the right moment. If Temple's theory proved to be true then the plans to takeover the Anomaly Project through the military would be out of the game. Only scientists could manage to put the idea into practice.
Now he only had to convince the Prime Minister of this...
Abby looked Connor in the eye and smiled. Connor smiled right back before he turned his attention back to Marcus and his discussion about the true reason the dinosaurs died out.
But some minutes later, Abby and Connor were making eye contact again and the whole process started anew.
Marcus watched them for 20 minutes and finally gave up trying to get a sensible conversation going and left them alone.
Feeling bored, he walked into the common room where Finn welcomed him with the questions: "Hi Babyface, how's it going with your friends? Any chance they've moved forwards so we can collect our bets?"
"You're betting if they get together or not?" Babyface asked, shocked. Feelings weren't something you should make fun of, in his book.
Finn grinned. "You must admit it's hilarious how they're dance around each other. You can still get into the bet if you want. The most popular scenario right now is that Abby gets so fed up she hits him over the head and drags him to the nearest bed."
Marcus just shook his head and left the room.
An hour later he came back with a annoyed face. "I've another scenario you can wager on. Abby and Connor never come together because Babyface kills them first," he snarled.
Abby had told him under a promise to keep mum that Connor was shy and she had to move slowly so as to not scare him, exactly thirty five minutes before Connor had told him the same about Abby.
At the moment he didn't know if he should bang their heads together to get them to see reason or whether he should shoot himself instead.
He hoped the person he fell in love with wouldn't be such a dork or he would voluntarily commit himself to a life in a monastery.
Nick Cutter had reserved a table at the Chinese restaurant for Friday and was thinking about a way to get Lester back to his place after the dinner.
He doubted he would have the patience to get through weeks of dating, longing and awkwardness again.
Even though James needed to create new memories, it didn't mean they couldn't do that at a quickened pace.
He had to touch his lover soon or he would go insane with yearning. Repeating their first kiss on the couch could be a good start.
But he was worried. Hopefully everything would go to plan.
But they hadn't heard from Helen in quite a while. Despite everything she had done, Nick was sure she still wanted him back and that she hadn't given up yet.
She hadn't intended to bind him to Lester, she'd just wanted him broken and his relationship with James irreparably destroyed. Perhaps she even had an antidote for the drug and could free him of its effects.
When Stephen passed his office Nick waved him in.
"Stephen, I've got to find Helen. And I could use your help."
"Do you think Lester isn't trying to get hold of her already?
"Perhaps I know a way to contact her..."
"You mean you knew a way to find Helen and you haven't used it to capture her?"
"It's a spontaneous idea. I've had other things on my mind previously. Besides I have to talk with her in privat."
At Stephen's frown he added: "I want her in prison just like everyone else but I have to find out more about the drug. If we throw her in a cell she won't answer anything. I've got more chances of getting information out of her in an open talk."
"How will you do it and what do you need me for?"
"I just need you to be there in case she tries anything again. I'll be waiting for her at the same time every day at our old park bench where we shared the first kiss. I'm sure she's still around. She liked to watch me suffer. It's not Helen's style to give up so easily. If we're lucky she will show up."
They both agreed that Stephen should hide in the bushes in the park while Nick sat down on the bench looking seedy and depressed.
After the team had secured an Anomaly in a furniture warehouse without any problems or prehistoric visitors, Cutter and Stephen acted on their plan.
Cutter waited for an hour in the dawn without any sign of Helen and finally gave up, resolving to repeat it tomorrow.
After another evening watching films together, Abby had finally had enough. Flirting and smiling hadn't brought her a single step closer to Connor. The love story she had insisted on hadn't motivated him either. It seemed she really would have to do everything alone without the smallest help from him. Abby sighed in frustration. She was a young vibrant woman who hadn't had sex in ages. She was determined to change that. But a more aggressive method might be necessary to reach her goal.
Lyle couldn't believe his luck when Stephen Hart sat down at his table in the staff canteen.
"If you should ever change your mind, just give me a sign. Apart from that, I hope we're still friends," Stephen said with a small encouraging smile.
Jon Lyle just nodded with relief and ordered another tea before he started to tell Stephen about the newest practical joke Finn and Jetrow had played on the two annoying lab technicans.
"How does it feel, Nick? Wanting someone who doesn't want you? That must hurt terribly," Helen cooed, from her position leaning on a tree next to Cutter's car in the car park.
"Speak of the devil and the devil shows up! Stephen and I were only talking about you yesterday."
"Really? Well, then give him my best wishes next time you see him and perhaps some kisses too. Stephen is a great kisser, did you know that?
Oh, I forgot, you go more for stiff-backed bureaucrats. It's a pity the bureaucrat hasn't got any interest in an aging aggressive professor anymore, has he?"
"Why did you do that? Why the drug, Helen? Haven't you caused enough damage already?"
Helen looked him up and down than decided to give him an honest answer instead of the nasty remark she already had on her tongue.
"You should feel what it's like to be alone and afraid. Thanks to my idiotic assistant it took an unexpected turn. But perhaps now you can understand for once how terrible it must have been for me to lose you."
"Are you out of your mind, Helen? You were the one who left me. Eight years ago, Helen. I waited eight years."
Helen shook her head in denial: "You abandoned me long before I discovered the first Anomaly, Nick. And when I came back you refused my invitation. You rejected me self-righteously despite the fantastic things we could live to see together. That hurt, Nick. Very much."
"Not that again. Besides it was me you were angry with. You didn't have to hurt the other people around me." His rage was flaring up despite the sedative he'd taken. The audacity the woman still had mad him angry.
"I thought you would care for Stephen at least but you had to draw him into your sick game as well. He was such a nice boy once but you had to defile him too.
And what happened with Lester, Connor and Abby because of you is unforgivable."
Helen showed no emotion, just adjusted her knapsack.
"I wasn't the one who attacked them," she said mockingly.
Nick wanted to grab her and shake her until she understood what she had done but he realised losing control like this wouldn't be helpful. He had to get some answers and Helen would eventually be in a good enough mood to provide them.
With a seemingly calm voice he asked her: "What do you know about the drug? Is there an antidote?"
"None, for all I know."
"When stops the effect of the drug?"
"It eases after some time but it seems it never fades completely."
Cutter took a deep breath in shock.
"Are you saying that Connor is now bound to pine for Abby for the rest of his life? Just like I do for Lester?"
Helen shrugged carelessly.
Nick Cutter stared incredulously at her, an idea forming in his mind.
"You've undergone the same, I'm right, Helen, aren't I?" He laughed scornfully. "That explains your fixation for me. I think I should be flattered you chose me above Stephen."
A small smile played on her lips.
"You were still my husband, Nick. Stephen was always only a poor substitute for the man I really desired."
"Why didn't you come back if you were craving for me?"
"And give you the satisfaction of knowing you've got that sort of power over me? Never!"
"And what about your seduction attempts? Sleeping with me would have bound you to me even more."
Helen raised an eyebrow. "That's interesting. I didn't know that."
"Then you should be glad I refused your proposal. And how did you find out about the effect of the drug in the first place, Helen?"
Helen screwed up her mouth at the memory. "I ate a tasty fruit one day and some hours later I felt like hell and went crazy without having the opportunity of returning to you."
"The sight of a horny Helen Cutter going berserk must have been a scary experience for the dinosaurs."
Nick grinned in satisfaction when she winced at his words.
But Helen composed herself quickly.
"It was nice to talk with you, Nick. But now I've other matters to attend to."
"Helen, wait. I have some more questions," Nick called, already regretting his mean streak and chasing her away before he'd got his answers.
"Ask them next time, Nick."
The next moment Helen was gone.
Nick bit his lips in frustration. Arresting her and throw away the key would probably be a better option than trying to make sensible conversation with Helen.