Primeval crossover ficlet: Once Upon a Time
Title: Once Upon a Time
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own either Doctor Who or Primeval and anything herein you recognise from elsewhere, I don't own either.
Rating: PG-abouts?
Summary: Connor's about to get a very big shock. So's the Doctor, actually.
A/N: You can blame the Sunday Chat for this. *mutters* crossovers *mutters*. Not a very big Who fan, but I've seen enough to get bunnies, damnit. Also, yes, I like the first two seasons and I like writing Stephen. So . . . that's when we are. Just FYI. Also, I don't know enough about Who to continue this past this point, but Connor's enormous brain just gave me the idea. And if someone who does know Who better wants to spin off from this point, feel free.
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An anomaly had opened up at the north end of the country and the whole team was taking a well-deserved break while Abby teased Connor mercilessly about how he was avoiding an old high school girlfriend he'd had a bad breakup with before he left for university.
They were the first ones to the little outdoor cafe they were meeting for some lunch, so Abby was there when Connor's mobile rang.
"Hello. . . . Mum?"
She perked up at that. She'd always pictured Connor's mum as sort of stereotypical and greeting people at the door with fresh-from-the-oven biscuits.
"Wait. Slow down, Mum. What do you have to tell me. . . . . What about Dad?"
He began to slowly frown, then got more and more tense. This couldn't be good. Connor's eyes met hers a moment, he clenched his jaw a little, then he said. "What do you mean? Are you saying that this . . . you had an affair? That he's my real father?"
That was a horrible thing to tell someone over the phone. Abby reached across the table and squeezed Connor's hand, hopfully in a comforting fashion. He gave her a brief smile, more grimace than smile, then refocussed on the conversation.
"But Mum . . . Mum! Why now? Why are you telling me this now?"
Stephen showed up, raised an eyebrow and said, "What's going on?"
"John Smith? That's it? John Smith? That didn't strike you as weird? That's all you know?"
"Connor's mum just told him that his dad's not his real father and she had an affair," Abby explained.
The tracker's eyes went wide and he whistled softly. "Hell of a thing to tell someone over the phone."
Connor's voice went funny. Then again, so too did his conversation, clearly. "A police box?"
Stephen and Abby both turned to look at Connor at that.
"What do you mean, you're telling me because of the police box?"
Two pairs of eyebrows climbed up, and they both sat down on either side of Connor, who was starting to look like he was on the edge of a nervous breakdown.
People were sitting down at the surrounding tables, but Stephen and Abby were far more interested in the half a conversation they were hearing and the young man whose eyes were wide with shock and who mouthed to them in distress, "She's gone mad." He was shaking his head slowly as he said, "Mum, take this slowly. There's no police box in front of the house. What do you mean the police box in front of the house is making you tell me?"
Cutter showed up then, his arrival getting Abby's attention for a moment, and she saw him take in the scene of her on one side of a clearly distressed Connor, holding his hand, Stephen on the other, a look of deep concern on his face and a hand on Connor's shoulder, as if to help brace him. "What's going on?"
Stephen answered. "Connor's mother seems to have gone a bit," he gestured with a hand in the classic, twirling signal for utterly batshit crazy, adding. "She just told Connor that the police box in front of her house made her tell him that someone else is his father."
Cutter sat down, sympathy written all over every inch of him. "Poor kid," he said, nodding at Connor.
"So, just so I've got this clear," Connor said slowly. "An alien, who was pretending to be human, told you his name was John Smith. You had an affair, he turned back into a regular alien because of a pocket watch, then he walked into a police box, which vanished."
Something smashed to the ground at the table next to them, but no one was paying attention. The other three exchanged looks, and Cutter and Stephen began a hasty consultation on who would be best to call over this, and whether or not Lester would be reasonable about Connor having time off to cope with his mother.
"Oh. The police box was his space ship . . . How can you expect me to take you seriously when you're claiming that the extra chambers on my heart aren't a natural mutation but the result of crossbreeding with an alien?"
Finally, the minor uproar at the next table got their attention, save Connor's, and they turned to see a young blonde woman, clearly holding back a man with messy hair, wearing a large coat, suit, tie and converse, who was focussed intently in their direction, while having a furious argument with the blonde.
The sound of Connor closing up his phone brought their attention back to the fourth member of the team. "Cutter, I don't know how long I'll be off, but I can't . . ."
"No, Connor, I understand," Cutter told him. "You take care of your mum, let us know if you need anything."
"Thanks," Connor said simply, and started to walk away.
"No, no, no!" said the man with the converse, sprinting after Connor. He pulled an odd device with little lights out of his coat and waved it in the air. A moment later a police box appeared directly in Connor's path, as if by magic. Abby, Stephen and Cutter were on their feet at once, chasing after the man, who was also being chased by the blonde. Connor had stopped dead, then put a hand on the magically appearing blue box, an arrested expression on his face. "You can hear her, can't you?" the man with the converse asked him. "You can hear the TARDIS?"
"What's going on?" Abby demanded as they raced up to the pair.
The blonde girl snapped, "Doctor, you can't just . . . could you just take a minute to explain what's going on?"
Connor's eyes were glazed over and he looked like he was strung out on something. "What are you doing to my student?" Cutter demanded in fury. Stephen was subtly working his pistol into a position he could use it at a moment's notice.
The man, whoever he was, looked about, then said, "Right. Everyone in."
A moment later they were inside the police box, which was a lot larger on the inside, and Connor was sort of bonelessly seated on the floor, while the man with the funny clothes knelt next to him. "Oh, I didn't think it was possible," he was muttering. A brilliant smile lit up the stranger's face as he said, "I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you. Can I make it up to you, somehow?"
"I don't understand," Connor said, his eyes locked on the man.
"He's not the only one," Stephen muttered. The unknown blonde slapped his arm, maybe a little harder than warranted.
"Shut up," she hissed.
The man's smile got a little wry, as he said, "Connor, I'm your father."
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