Shades of Grey Chapter 4
Title: Shades of Grey Chapter 4
Author: TalliW
Characters: Stephen Hart, Tom Ryan, Nick Cutter, James Lester, Abby Maitland, Connor Temple, Jenny Lewis, Oliver Leek, Lyle, Finn, Helen Cutter, Ditzy
Rating: K+, T in later chapters
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Lyle and Finn belong to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty.
Summary: Ryan has survived but he isn't the man he was. Can Stephen and Cutter manage to work together to help him? Perhaps Ryan has changed in more ways than it appears on first sight.
Prologue
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
"Stephen, what will happen with me? Where am I going to live?" Ryan asked anxiously.
"I'm sure something will come up."
"Mikey said people without family end up in orphanages where they have to work all day."
"That's nonsense."
"But if Granny is gone who will take care of me?"
"Stop worrying! First you have to get better and then we'll see about it. Okay, Ryan?"
"No! Go away! I want the other one. He doesn't lie to me. And stop calling me Ryan all the time. My name is Tom Richards."
Cutter was surprised to see Stephen sitting in the corridor instead of with Ryan in the room. He'd called Connor and Abby to get an update about how things were at the ARC and then he'd driven around for some time. Finally he'd decided to return to the hospital. His reaction towards Stephen had been a little over the top and he knew it.
"How's your chin?" With his head Cutter indicated to Stephen's jaw where a faint bruise had formed.
"I’ll survive."
"Perhaps you should see a nurse about it."
"Don't be ridiculous, Cutter. You don't hit that hard."
"Yeah, sorry about that. My temper got the better of me. When you mentioned Helen I just..."
Cutter looked a little helpless, not knowing why Stephen's words had upset him so much. He'd had never even considered having a family and he knew he wasn't particularly good with kids except when they were intrigued by dinosaurs. And Helen was even worse. She had barely managed to conceal her disgust when one of their friends had proudly showed her some baby pictures. Stephen did have a point. Most children would have been traumatised by such parents.
"I’d better no mention her then for a while," Stephen said wryly and Cutter knew he'd been forgiven. He considered telling Stephen in return that he had forgiven him too but that would be a downright lie. Stephen's betrayal still hurt a lot and he would need time to get over it.
"Now tell me why you aren't with Ryan?"
"Doesn't matter. Go in. Looks like you’re his favourite person now," Stephen said sullenly.
"Really? Yesterday he still thought I was boring and couldn't wait for you to come back." Cutter sat down beside Stephen and fixed him with a look. "Come on, Stephen. Out with it. What happened?"
"Apparently he prefers someone who tells him the hard truth instead eluding the question or cushioning the blow."
"Blimey! That again. I really didn't tell him about his family. He made the guess himself. I just couldn't lie to him and raise false hopes."
"However it was, he threw me out because I was dishonest with him. That ringing any bells?" Stephen's tone was bitter. "Perhaps I always should come out with the unvarnished truth, no matter the cost. It hasn't done me any good trying to spare people's feelings, has it?"
Frustrated, Cutter ran his hand over his face. It seemed everything was coming down to that one topic again. On the spur of the moment he decided to address the problem and get rid of it, once for all.
"Is that the real reason you never told me?" he asked quietly.
"One of them," Stephen responded in a similarly quiet voice. "I was also afraid to lose your friendship. But that has now happened anyway, hasn’t it? So I might just as well have saved myself all those years of heartache and worry that you might accidentally find out."
"To learn you had an affair with my wife has been a hard blow. I knew Helen often used her charming persona to get what she wanted but it never went beyond flirting. I had no reason to assume she was unfaithful to me."
"I don't know if there have been others. It was a one-off between us. I had only been in a few of your lectures at the time and you seemed like the typical absent-minded professor who didn’t care about anything but his work. I was a stupid student, in awe of my charming tutor and flattered by her attention. One afternoon, during a private lesson in your house it just happened. Helen went missing a week later. When you approached me and offered me the position of your lab assistant the twinge of conscience was so bad I almost told you over a dozen times. But you were so deep in grief I didn't want to destroy the picture you had made up of Helen. She was probably dead. So why tarnish her memories and hurt you unnecessarily?"
"All right. I can understand your reasons. I don't know if it might have made anything easier for me to have known about Helen's infidelity back then. I certainly wouldn't have relied on you as much and I suppose I might have ended up as a drunk. And just for the record I still consider you a friend. It might take some time through until I'll trust you again. That all I have to say on that topic. Now we should drop it and never mention it again."
As soon Stephen had nodded in agreement, Cutter got up and headed in the direction of Ryan's room. "Come on. Don't even try to tell me he doesn't want to see you. Ryan thinks the world of you. He’s probably already forgotten about your quarrel."
"Wait, Cutter! What exactly do you know about Ryan? He said his name is Tom Richards, not Ryan."
With astonishment clearly written on his face, Cutter turned around. "Well, he must have been adopted. Or he might have changed his name deliberately."
"You think?"
"It's just an idea. I don't know anymore about him than anyone else."
"He never has been very forthcoming with private information. Apparently all we know is that his family passed away many years ago. I called Lyle and he was just as surprised about the name. After he'd calmed down from his laughing fit over Ryan cuddling a stuffed rabbit."
"Perhaps Connor can find something out."
"If he was adopted the documents will be kept under wraps."
"That's why I said you should set Connor on it. He can probably find a way to get into the archives."
"You know that's illegal."
Cutter shrugged his shoulders in response. "Almost everything we do within the anomaly project has a touch of illegality. Besides Connor's research would be in a good cause. After all, we can't just go to the authorities and ask them to give us the information."
He pursed his lips as Stephen muttered, "Why ever not? Lester probably has enough connections to get Ryan's file without us breaking the law."
"Then ask him yourself. I'll certainly not approach Lester unless there is no other way."
Forcefully, Cutter opened the door and stepped in.
Stephen rolled his eyes and resignedly followed Cutter into Ryan's sick room. Whenever Lester came up Cutter seemed to get exceptionally defensive lately.