Fic - Aftershock (part 5 of 7)
Title: Aftershock
Author: Prehistoriccat
Rating: T
Characters/Pairings: Abby, Jess, Connor, Philip Burton
Genre: Angst, Gen
Disclaimer: Characters are not mine, no copyright is intended
Warnings: Contains spoilers for series 5
A/N: Written for angstbigbang Thanks to my wonderful beta reader evenstar_estel and to the awesome luvconnor for the artwork
“And there's no way you could have got from the anomaly, got changed and in here unless... there's two of you.”
The clean, breathable air on the other side of the anomaly took Abby's breath for a moment. It felt good to fill her lungs again and the warmth of the sun on her face made her smile. Glancing back, she took a final look at the anomaly and the two people she was leaving behind as it slowly faded. Nathan would have switched the machine off - no going back for her now, and no way for Matt and Nathan to join her.
A familiar voice jolted her back to reality and she picked herself up, looking for somewhere she could hide until she was certain where and when she was. There was a narrow alleyway between two houses about 5 metres away, so she ducked down it and pressed herself against a wall to hide herself in the shadows.
“Jess, are you sure the co-ordinates are right? There's nothing here.” It was Matt, and he was alone. Jess was obviously telling him the anomaly had closed and he was turning away to go back to his car. “OK, well I'll go and join Abby and Becker at the other anomaly. The old theatre on Croft street right?”
Abby smiled and felt her heart pounding. The device had worked! She was in the exact day that she needed to be - she remembered that Matt had arrived late because he'd been dealing with some personal business and that she and Becker had had to leave Connor behind at the ARC to do some work for Burton.
It was the thought of seeing Connor again that urged her forward. It had only been a couple of days since he'd died, and she hadn't allowed herself to grieve for him yet. Now she didn't have to. He was alive here and as long as she did this right he would remain alive - along with everyone else. She could also make sure that Matt didn't send Emily away and admit that he had feelings for her, and maybe they could focus on finding Ethan and holding him so that when Danny finally came back he could work things out here without having to disappear again.
Making sure Matt had left, she came out from her hiding place and tried to work out where she was. The street was very familiar, and Abby half smiled. She didn't believe in fate, but something had brought her to this point. At the far end of the street were some apartments nearing completion; apartments that she and Connor had moved into about a month from where she was now. They were the first ones to move in and had had the complex to themselves for 10 days before another couple moved in opposite them.
If she walked, it would take her almost half an hour to get to the ARC. Normally, that wouldn't concern her but she needed to be there as soon as possible. If Matt was already on his way to the theatre, then events would be unfolding at the ARC too. She had to get there and find Rex before Connor's scan did and locked down everything. The local bus route would also take too long, so she had no choice other than to flag down a black taxi cab in the High street.
Getting into the ARC itself was not a problem - she was still Abby Maitland and her biology hadn't changed, so her tag worked and the retinal scan on the main entrance recognised her and she went straight in. Staying hidden was another matter. To get into the menagerie and the air lock, she would have to go past the main hub where Jess sat.
As she approached, she heard Connor's voice and a lump came into her throat. It was taking every ounce of self restraint she had not to just run over to him and hug him. His voice was slightly raised; a rarity for him, so Abby crept closer to try and hear what was going on. She could hear her own voice over the comms, and Becker's, then realised that this was when Becker had locked the anomaly and Matt was trapped the other side. It meant Connor and Jess would be distracted for a few minutes as they tried to persuade Becker to unlock the anomaly, giving Abby a chance to sneak past.
The small office next to the Menagerie was empty. The proposal she'd been working on when the alarm went off was strewn across the desk and the small air vent in the far corner was hanging off its fastening. That was where Rex had got in; he'd done it a couple of times prior to today and she'd been meaning to get it fixed properly. The truth was, she liked it when Rex squeezed through to come and see her so she was in no rush to get it done.
“Rex?” Abby waited for the familiar chirrup that would tell her where he was. He answered her but she couldn't see him. He must have still been inside the air vent. “Rex, come here!” She tried not to sound angry or impatient with him because she knew he wouldn't come otherwise. When he still wouldn't come to her, she searched in the drawers of her desk for a grape or piece of apple that she usually kept as a treat for him.
“Look what I've got for you!” She called out, holding a grape in the air. It worked; Rex squeezed out of the air vent and swooped down to land on Abby's shoulder. As he nibbled on the juicy grape, Abby stroked his head and smiled. “Do you have any idea of the trouble you cause?” she said softly. “Wrong place at the wrong time.” As he finished eating, Rex nuzzled into Abby's neck as if asking her for more and Abby began to head for the door to take him back to the menagerie. As she moved, she spotted a red beam of light on the wall opposite sweeping towards her - Connor had started the scan. Panicked, she looked for a way to get to the door without crossing the beam but it was impossible. Moments later, it touched her and Rex and an alarm sounded.
-o-
“What have you done?” Jess looked at Connor. The ARC had plunged into darkness and all around them doors had locked and shutters had gone down. The rest of the staff had evacuated the building as commanded by the electronic voice that had boomed out when the alarm sounded.
“Something bad?” Connor responded, looking at the incomprehensible jumble of letters and numbers on the computer screen in front of him.
Jess tried to raise Matt on the comms, but it seemed all external links were down. “Did you not know the scan was linked to the emergency lockdown?” she said to Connor, a slight hint of annoyance in her voice.
“I don't even know what lockdown is! Philip never mentioned any of this to me. What kind of idiot gives someone a job to do and doesn't even brief them properly?”
“Perhaps you'd like to explain to this 'idiot' how a creature came to be running loose in the ARC?” Philip's voice rang out over the intercom. Connor's heart sank - clearly internal communications still worked. It was his first proper day back in the ARC and he wasn't making the greatest of impressions. In fact, if he made it through today without being sacked it would be a miracle. He needed to do something to rectify his error.
“Let's worry about details later. How do I disarm the lockdown?” He tried to sound confident, but inside he was shaking.
Jess began typing furiously on her keyboard with a frown on her face. “I should be able to, I've got clearance.”
“Not any more,” Philip said. “I designed it so that in an emergency only senior staff would have control.”
Another voice crackled in the air. “Connor, you have to help me!”
“Abby?” Connor was confused. How could Abby be here? He'd only been speaking to her a few minutes ago; she was at the anomaly with Matt and Becker.
“I'm trapped in the office next to the menagerie with Rex. You have to get Philip to disarm the lockdown and soon!”
Philip had moved into the room and was leaning on the barrier, looking down into the hub. The smile tracing across his lips was almost like one of a snake luring its prey towards it before attacking. “It's just not your day today is it, Connor? First you trigger off the emergency lockdown, then you insult your new boss... and now you've managed to trap your girlfriend in an electronically sealed room which is slowly having all of the air sucked out of it.”
“What? What kind of security system does that?” Connor couldn't believe his ears.
Philip walked slowly down the stairs and towards Jess's console. “I designed it to neutralise any threat from an escaped creature permanently.”
“Connor!” Abby's panicked voice came over the intercom.
“Philip, you have to disarm it now! She'll die if you....”
“Easy Connor. Can't have an employee dying can we? Not so soon after losing Dr Page... too many awkward questions would be asked.” Philip smiled and entered in his passcode to the computer. He waited whilst it did a retinal scan to confirm his identity and then he typed in another sequence of letters. The ARC sprang into life again and Connor breathed a sigh of relief.
“Clearly I should have just let you go off chasing overgrown lizards. You're a danger to have around.” Philip turned on his heels, gave Connor a scornful look then disappeared into his office. Connor watched him and then turned to Jess.
“Great. Now he thinks I'm a complete idiot.”
“At least you still have a job, Connor,” Jess smiled. “And isn't being out in the field what you actually wanted?”
“True.” He sniffed and wrinkled his nose. He should be going to make sure Abby was OK, but something was puzzling him. Jess had a similar expression on her face as she began to check the whereabouts of the field team.
“Connor? How can Abby be with Matt and Becker at the anomaly and be in the office here too?”
“Maybe she gave her black box to one of them when she came back?” It sort of made sense, but at the same time it didn't. He'd only been speaking to her a few moments before the lockdown - there was no way she could have got herself into that room.
-o-
The relief was overwhelming. Abby had heard the conversation between Connor and Burton over the intercom and knew she'd stopped Burton from being impressed by Connor's computer skills. The first part of her mission was complete, all she had to do now was make sure that the version of Matt here knew it was Burton he was looking for.
The door of the office opened, and Connor stood there looking at her with a slightly bemused expression on his face. She couldn't help it; seeing him there alive and well made her cry.
“Abby?” Connor was at her side in an instant, his strong protective arms circling her and holding her against his chest. “What's going on?”
“Just hold me!” She couldn't stop shaking and the familiarity of Connor's body against hers only made it worse. Her Connor was dead; she thought she'd never feel this again. His fingers curled into her hair and she felt the warmth of his breath as he kissed the top of her head and then her forehead. Looking up, she saw the concern in his soft, chocolate brown eyes and suddenly she pushed aside the fact that this wasn't her Connor and sought his lips with hers.
It was a kiss that tasted almost as sweet as honey and felt like coming home; warm, comforting, safe. Her tongue tangled with his for a moment and when he pulled away, holding her face with both of his hands. “Someone has some explaining to do,” he whispered. “When you left earlier, you were in a white shirt and jeans, and your hair was tied back.”
Abby closed her eyes and smiled. Trust Connor to have actually noticed something like that, most men probably wouldn't.
“And there's no way you could have got from the anomaly, got changed and in here unless... there's two of you.”
“I came through an anomaly.” Abby wiped the tears from her cheeks and sat upright. She knew as soon as the words left her mouth what Connor's reaction would be.
He blinked, trying to remain calm. “How far from the future are you from?”
“About six months.”
“Am I dead?” Abby nodded. Connor practically exploded. “Didn't we talk about this in the Cretaceous? We can't change our own past; what will be will be. If you've come back to warn me how I die then I don't want to know... I can't know! You know how I feel about that, Abby and I'm surprised you...”
“It's not that straight forward, Connor! It's not just you that dies.”
“Then explain it to me, Abby. Explain why you've broken every rule that Cutter came up with.” Connor leaned back and folded his arms, a stern look on his face.
“I don't even know where to begin!” Abby blinked back her tears. Connor's face softened and he took her hand.
“How about you start with why you came to this point?”
So Abby began with the events of the day as they'd been - with Burton being trapped and not her, and how Connor had had to hack into Burton's security system to rescue him. She told him that Burton had been so impressed he asked Connor to work for him at Prospero on a project called New Dawn.
“Oh great! So you just stopped me from getting a job with Philip!” Connor rolled his eyes. Abby felt her heart sink when she saw his expression. She knew how much he admired Burton and the thought of actually working for him would be like a dream come true for him.
“You changed. Burton made you think that you were working on something that would benefit mankind, but he was just feeding you lines to make you do his dirty work. He knew Helen Cutter - when Danny comes back in a few weeks from now, he tells Matt that Helen had papers on her with Philip Burton's name on them, and that's what alerted us that he was up to no good.”
Abby could see Connor trying to get his head around what she'd just said. His eyebrows knitted together as they often did when he was deep in thought. What she was going to tell him next would blow his mind, and he'd probably get angry too. She removed the wristband that Matt had given her and took off the small chip. She placed it on the desk, and just as Matt had done for her she switched it on and a screen flickered into view.
“What the?” Connor's mouth dropped open. He'd never seen such technology except in a Sci-Fi film.
“This belongs to Matt. He's from the future... many years in the future. His world was barren, the air unbreathable and no life could exist on the surface.” The images Matt had shown her appeared - London in ruins, a desolate, barren landscape and people struggling for air.
Connor swallowed. He couldn't find his voice to even argue with Abby; he just looked at her, begging her to continue with what she knew.
“It was caused by someone interfering with the anomalies, and Matt was sent to try and find who it was and stop them.”
“Philip.” Connor said, the realisation hitting him hard. His hero had destroyed the world.
“And you,” Abby said softly. She squeezed his hand. “Burton had you doing all the research in secret, isolating you from everyone - including me. By the time Matt and I realised what was going on, it was too late. New Dawn was a giant machine that opened a huge man made anomaly. He told you that the energy that could be harnessed from it would provide free energy for everyone, but instead it would poison the air and destroy everything.”
Tears fell silently down Connor's cheeks as he stared at the images in front of him. He had destroyed the world! How could he have been so stupid as to be taken in? “How did you survive?” he finally said, turning to Abby.
“We destroyed New Dawn, and we thought that was it and we'd won. Burton was killed and we walked away, back to the ARC and normality.” Abby's hand moved unconsciously to the ring on her left hand; Connor's ring. Did she tell him about the conversation they'd had on other side of Philip's anomaly? Or that she'd asked him to marry her when they got back? “But the anomaly was too powerful and it tried to reopen, sending out a powerful aftershock of gamma radiation and destroying everything in its path. I was saved because I was in the Menagerie at the time, and Matt was in the panic room. There was a young guy on the outside too, Nathan Somerville. He hid inside a concrete underground bunker then came and found Matt and I. By some miracle it turned out he was a bit of a computer geek and he understood your research notes. It was him that created an anomaly small enough for me to come through … and here I am.”
“Here you are,” Connor tried to smile. “So you left Matt and this Nathan behind to die?” Abby could only nod. Tears were prickling her eyes again and she couldn't fight them any longer. “Everyone died?”
“I saw your body, Connor! Becker's, Jess's, Lester's... do you have any idea how that felt?” She let out a loud sob and Connor's arms folded around her tightly. She held onto him as if her life depended on him, and she felt the dampness of his tears on her neck.
After some minutes, Connor finally pulled himself together and released his grip on Abby's trembling body. “It's all going to be OK now though, yeah? Be kind of fun having two of you around...”
“No, Connor. It's not all OK yet. Burton was working on New Dawn before you came along; you just provided the final piece in the puzzle. He could still do it.” Abby wiped her face, trying to compose herself.
“Then we have to stop him, Abby. We'll tell Lester, and Matt and Becker and … you, and we stop him somehow.” The look of sheer determination on Connor's face was one she hadn't seen in a long time and it made her heart leap. They could actually do this.