Haunted
Title: Haunted
Author: TalliW
Characters: Jenny Lewis, Nick Cutter
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty.
Summary: Jenny is haunted by a ghost from her past
AN: Written for Cutter’s Lab, Fic challenge No. 28: Visiting Nick's grave after she leaves the ARC, Jenny meets someone unexpected - Nick Cutter.
I think it might qualify for the Halloween challenge in Primeval Denial as well.
Jenny was positive she was hallucinating. The other option, that he was a ghost, was simply too strange to even consider. Although her maternal grandmother would have said it was the most logical explanation when visiting a grave at sunset on All Hallows' Eve.
Quickly, Jenny closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. If she opened them again the phantom would be gone and she would drive home and spent the rest of the evening with Michael.
Jenny sighed as she thought of her boyfriend. It had been stupid to go to Cutter’s grave. It hadn't brought her any closer to a decision. Michael was still waiting at home for an answer to his life-altering question and she was running around a cemetery like a headless chicken looking for something she couldn’t even put a name to.
What was wrong with her? She should have jumped for joy at Michael's marriage proposal instead asking him for a respite.
Michael Miller was everything she had been searching for in a man all her life, wasn't he?
When Jenny opened her eyes again the phantom was still there, watching her silently.
She felt her heart flutter in her chest and knew why she hadn't given Michael an answer right away. Although she loved him, he certainly didn’t invoke the strong feelings in her that Cutter had done.
But the man she could see standing at the end of the next row of graves wasn't real. He was just a figment of her imagination. Cutter was gone, killed by his insane wife. She had to let go of the past and move on with her life. She'd left the ARC for this very reason, after all.
Still a part of her couldn't forget the blond man who had annoyed her as much as he had intrigued her. Maybe she would never get over him and the pain of Cutter's death would leave a hole in her heart for the rest of her life.
Jenny squared her shoulders and started walking away from Cutter's grave. Getting maudlin again wasn't going to help matters. She had to make important decisions for her future before she could face Michael.
Jenny had walked past three graves when she heard the noise. She didn't have to turn around to know the phantom was following her.
Angrily, she swirled around.
"Why can't you leave me alone?" she hissed.
The phantom hesitated for a moment as if contemplating her words then continued moving towards her.
Dozen of thoughts shot through Jenny's mind in the small space of time before the phantom reached her. With a sinking heart, she realised that she didn't mind if Cutter was a ghost or any other uncanny being as long it meant she had the chance to speak to him for one last time. There were so many things she had wanted to tell him and never had worked up the courage to do before the day Helen had blown up the ARC.
It was time to stop running away from her feelings and time to face what she'd had been fighting to accept all the months she had worked alongside Cutter.
Now Fate was presenting her with the opportunity to say goodbye to the love of her life. Maybe that would finally give her closure so that she could find at least some small measure of happiness with Michael.
Jenny was completely calm when the phantom stretched his hand out and touched her cheek.
"You are solid. And warm," she whispered in surprise.
"I wouldn't have taken you for someone who believed in ghosts," the not-phantom said, amused.
"You are real?" Jenny asked aghast.
"Yes, I'm real. They managed to bring me back to life in the ambulance."
"But why...?"
Cutter answered before Jenny could voice her question.
"You know I was a wreck after Stephen's death, working myself to exhaustion just to forget my share of responsibility for his early death. I couldn't return and start going through the motions again. Not after everything what happened. Besides Helen was still alive and set on killing me."
"Does anybody know?"
"Lester knows."
"But not Connor?"
Cutter shook his head. "Connor couldn't keep a secret if his job depended on it. We couldn't risk him blabbing."
"And apparently you didn't trust m... anyone else either."
"It was better if everyone thought me dead."
Jenny had an angry retort on her tongue but then she noticed the shadows under his eyes and the lines around his mouth that hadn't been there the last time she had seen him and bit back her cutting remark.
Cutter looked her directly in the eyes and morosely muttered, "There was just a large problem with me thinking I could just leave and never look back."
Then he lowered his head and swallowed drily a few times.
Jenny waited patiently until Cutter had gathered his thoughts and continued speaking, still struggling with the concept that Cutter was really alive.
"I realised that after I had lost Stephen as well I couldn't bear to lose you, too."
Although Jenny had hoped the reason for his return had something to do with her, his revelation staggered her.
"You never had me in the first place," she reminded him softly.
"But I wanted to. If you knew how many times I thought about kissing you since I went into hiding."
"Are you sure you don't mean Claudia Brown?"
Jenny was proud of herself that she managed that to say without any trace of bitterness.
A pained smile graced Cutter's face. "I guess I deserve that. But no, I wasn't thinking of Claudia Brown. Jenny, I don't expect you to be her, if that’s what you're afraid of. I have accepted what happened. It’s you I dream of. It’s you I want to go to sleep with and with you I want to wake up with in the morning."
While Cutter's confession was quite flattering, Jenny wrinkled her forehead into a frown. It had just occured to her that this might be a ruse. Nick Cutter had never been so eloquent about his feelings. Maybe this man was another one of Helen's clones. The one she had encountered had been trained well enough to fool her and everyone else at the ARC after all.
Cutter noticed her expression and shuffled his feet nervously.
"I'm sorry if that came across wrongly. I'm not very good with these things."
"That was quite a speech," Jenny mumbled tensely.
"Well, I practised it on a Thescelosaurus. But it was trying to hit me with its tail so I guess I wasn't all too convincing to it, either."
Jenny noticed the gleam of laughter in his eyes and forgot her doubts. The most vivid recollection she had from speaking with the clone was his lack of emotions. She would bet jokes would have been totally alien to him.
No, the man next to her couldn't been anyone else but the real Nick Cutter.
"You aren't going to hit me too, are you?" Cutter asked, slightly worried, as Jenny raised her hand towards his face.
Jenny burst out laughing and Cutter joined in. And, still laughing, they kissed.
The search for Jenny Lewis was stopped six weeks after her boyfriend had reported her missing.
The case was not filed under unresolved but instead administratively closed after James Lester had received a photo from Jenny's mother, showing a laughing woman with brown hair arm in arm with a blond, scruffy-looking man in front of a massive mountain, covered with trees and bushes, which appeared to be just a tad bit different to present day vegetation.
Author: TalliW
Characters: Jenny Lewis, Nick Cutter
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty.
Summary: Jenny is haunted by a ghost from her past
AN: Written for Cutter’s Lab, Fic challenge No. 28: Visiting Nick's grave after she leaves the ARC, Jenny meets someone unexpected - Nick Cutter.
I think it might qualify for the Halloween challenge in Primeval Denial as well.
Jenny was positive she was hallucinating. The other option, that he was a ghost, was simply too strange to even consider. Although her maternal grandmother would have said it was the most logical explanation when visiting a grave at sunset on All Hallows' Eve.
Quickly, Jenny closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart. If she opened them again the phantom would be gone and she would drive home and spent the rest of the evening with Michael.
Jenny sighed as she thought of her boyfriend. It had been stupid to go to Cutter’s grave. It hadn't brought her any closer to a decision. Michael was still waiting at home for an answer to his life-altering question and she was running around a cemetery like a headless chicken looking for something she couldn’t even put a name to.
What was wrong with her? She should have jumped for joy at Michael's marriage proposal instead asking him for a respite.
Michael Miller was everything she had been searching for in a man all her life, wasn't he?
When Jenny opened her eyes again the phantom was still there, watching her silently.
She felt her heart flutter in her chest and knew why she hadn't given Michael an answer right away. Although she loved him, he certainly didn’t invoke the strong feelings in her that Cutter had done.
But the man she could see standing at the end of the next row of graves wasn't real. He was just a figment of her imagination. Cutter was gone, killed by his insane wife. She had to let go of the past and move on with her life. She'd left the ARC for this very reason, after all.
Still a part of her couldn't forget the blond man who had annoyed her as much as he had intrigued her. Maybe she would never get over him and the pain of Cutter's death would leave a hole in her heart for the rest of her life.
Jenny squared her shoulders and started walking away from Cutter's grave. Getting maudlin again wasn't going to help matters. She had to make important decisions for her future before she could face Michael.
Jenny had walked past three graves when she heard the noise. She didn't have to turn around to know the phantom was following her.
Angrily, she swirled around.
"Why can't you leave me alone?" she hissed.
The phantom hesitated for a moment as if contemplating her words then continued moving towards her.
Dozen of thoughts shot through Jenny's mind in the small space of time before the phantom reached her. With a sinking heart, she realised that she didn't mind if Cutter was a ghost or any other uncanny being as long it meant she had the chance to speak to him for one last time. There were so many things she had wanted to tell him and never had worked up the courage to do before the day Helen had blown up the ARC.
It was time to stop running away from her feelings and time to face what she'd had been fighting to accept all the months she had worked alongside Cutter.
Now Fate was presenting her with the opportunity to say goodbye to the love of her life. Maybe that would finally give her closure so that she could find at least some small measure of happiness with Michael.
Jenny was completely calm when the phantom stretched his hand out and touched her cheek.
"You are solid. And warm," she whispered in surprise.
"I wouldn't have taken you for someone who believed in ghosts," the not-phantom said, amused.
"You are real?" Jenny asked aghast.
"Yes, I'm real. They managed to bring me back to life in the ambulance."
"But why...?"
Cutter answered before Jenny could voice her question.
"You know I was a wreck after Stephen's death, working myself to exhaustion just to forget my share of responsibility for his early death. I couldn't return and start going through the motions again. Not after everything what happened. Besides Helen was still alive and set on killing me."
"Does anybody know?"
"Lester knows."
"But not Connor?"
Cutter shook his head. "Connor couldn't keep a secret if his job depended on it. We couldn't risk him blabbing."
"And apparently you didn't trust m... anyone else either."
"It was better if everyone thought me dead."
Jenny had an angry retort on her tongue but then she noticed the shadows under his eyes and the lines around his mouth that hadn't been there the last time she had seen him and bit back her cutting remark.
Cutter looked her directly in the eyes and morosely muttered, "There was just a large problem with me thinking I could just leave and never look back."
Then he lowered his head and swallowed drily a few times.
Jenny waited patiently until Cutter had gathered his thoughts and continued speaking, still struggling with the concept that Cutter was really alive.
"I realised that after I had lost Stephen as well I couldn't bear to lose you, too."
Although Jenny had hoped the reason for his return had something to do with her, his revelation staggered her.
"You never had me in the first place," she reminded him softly.
"But I wanted to. If you knew how many times I thought about kissing you since I went into hiding."
"Are you sure you don't mean Claudia Brown?"
Jenny was proud of herself that she managed that to say without any trace of bitterness.
A pained smile graced Cutter's face. "I guess I deserve that. But no, I wasn't thinking of Claudia Brown. Jenny, I don't expect you to be her, if that’s what you're afraid of. I have accepted what happened. It’s you I dream of. It’s you I want to go to sleep with and with you I want to wake up with in the morning."
While Cutter's confession was quite flattering, Jenny wrinkled her forehead into a frown. It had just occured to her that this might be a ruse. Nick Cutter had never been so eloquent about his feelings. Maybe this man was another one of Helen's clones. The one she had encountered had been trained well enough to fool her and everyone else at the ARC after all.
Cutter noticed her expression and shuffled his feet nervously.
"I'm sorry if that came across wrongly. I'm not very good with these things."
"That was quite a speech," Jenny mumbled tensely.
"Well, I practised it on a Thescelosaurus. But it was trying to hit me with its tail so I guess I wasn't all too convincing to it, either."
Jenny noticed the gleam of laughter in his eyes and forgot her doubts. The most vivid recollection she had from speaking with the clone was his lack of emotions. She would bet jokes would have been totally alien to him.
No, the man next to her couldn't been anyone else but the real Nick Cutter.
"You aren't going to hit me too, are you?" Cutter asked, slightly worried, as Jenny raised her hand towards his face.
Jenny burst out laughing and Cutter joined in. And, still laughing, they kissed.
The search for Jenny Lewis was stopped six weeks after her boyfriend had reported her missing.
The case was not filed under unresolved but instead administratively closed after James Lester had received a photo from Jenny's mother, showing a laughing woman with brown hair arm in arm with a blond, scruffy-looking man in front of a massive mountain, covered with trees and bushes, which appeared to be just a tad bit different to present day vegetation.