Primeval Fic: In Name Only 7/9
Title: In Name Only
Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own anything herein and no one's paying me to do it.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Children change almost everything.
AN: Bleh. Any time I get close to the end, something like this happens.
*******************************
"Dad! They're here!" Lynn called anxiously when the doorbell rang. There was a new girl in school, and Lynn had befriended her. Apparently the poor thing had had some trouble with school before and her parents had pulled her out and homeschooled her, and were now trying to reintroduce her to the regular stream. Her mother, dropping her off, looked oddly terrified.
"Hi," Connor said as he answered the door. "Please, come in a minute. Feel free to reassure yourself that neither Abby nor I is as frightening as Lynn likes to pretend."
Lynn shoved past him and grabbed her friend's hand. "Beth! You're here! Great. Let me introduce you to Gertrude so she won't be scary." Beth was Lynn's new best friend at school, and for several weeks, everything had been Beth this, and Beth that. She dragged the other girl in, pointing at their family raptor and saying, "Beth, Gertrude, Gertrude, Beth. Now come on. I need another high score to taunt Stephen with on Barbie Horse Adventures." Beth giggled, a tad nervously, and followed Lynn into the living room.
Beth's mother raised an eyebrow at the dinosaur in the hall, covered in scarves and hats. "Interesting sense of decoration you have," she said.
"She's our security system," Connor said, sticking to the standard line. "People break in, they see her, they run away."
"She scared Stephen!" Lynn called back.
"Lynn! If you can't stop eavesdropping on everyone else's conversations I'll have Beth's mum take her home!" Connor called back.
Beth's mother blinked. "Who is Stephen?" she asked, cautiously. "I'm sorry, I know I'm a little . . . but Beth's had some troubles over the years and I worry about her. We're hoping that maybe putting her back in school will help her settle back down, but . . ." she stepped forward, joining Connor in watching the two girls set up the XBox and chatter away about horses, school, some television show involving monster-fighting fairies that Connor had never quite understood and generally be as perplexing as little girls could be to an adult male geek.
"It's alright," Connor said, smiling slightly. "Lynn's had some troubles of her own. Stephen's just one of my coworkers. Kind of coopted into the role of favourite uncle. She's unmerciful to his sense of masculinity, of course, but Lynn's like that."
Beth's mother smiled a little now. "Right. So, Connor Temple, right?"
"Marion Lindsay, wasn't it?" he responded. "Nice to meet you. I-" He was cut off by the doorbell. When he answered it, Stephen was there, along with the newest member of the ARC in tow. "Stephen? Sarah?"
Stephen shrugged. "Sarah and I were talking, and she wanted to meet Lynn. I figured, before she wound up with an introduction like mine-"
"Stephen! It's Stephen!" Lynn called back to Beth. "Hi! Beth says she's really good a Barbie Horse adventures, so we're booting your high score out of the table."
Marion Lindsay's eyes were wide as she took in Stephen's movie star good looks, then cast a speculative eye at Connor, then back at Stephen. Lynn's eyes narrowed as she spotted some weird grownup brain chemical thing going on. Sarah put her arm through Stephen's, and said, "Well, you must be the infamous Caitlyn Temple. I'm Sarah."
"Dad says you were taking the mick at him about some curse. You should know that only Abby and me are allowed to do that to him," was Lynn's response.
Sarah eyed her back, while Marion seemed close to laughter. Beth had joined them all at the door, watching the whole thing curiously. "He's far too easy for that, you know," Sarah said. "I really can't help it."
Lynn looked from her to Stephen and back again. Then she said, "Since Abby's my new Mum, I don't have to worry about an evil stepmother, but if I find out you're being mean to Stephen like the goth makeup lady, I'll-"
"Lynn, you are not the Mafia," Connor cut her off. "Don't threaten people with Gertrude's head in their beds, or anything else for that matter. Stephen can take care of himself."
"I'll be watching," Lynn said with all the menace she could muster, then headed back to her now-loaded game, telling Beth all about the evil goth makeup lady.
Sarah turned to Stephen. "I see why you felt I should be introduced under controlled circumstances. She's exactly like you described."
"How was that?" Connor asked, curious.
"Like you, Abby and Lester got mixed up in a blender, with just a soupcon of Cutter's obstinacy to add flavour to the whole," Stephen told him. "Sarah and I are going to a film."
The dark haired woman shot Connor a grin, "We're going on a date, but he's too scared of you all to say it."
"Right," Connor said decisively. "So, here's the threat then. Stephen doesn't have the best track record with women-"
"Hey!"
He ploughed on, ignoring Stephen's affronted look. "So, if you hurt him, Abby and I will set Lynn on you, and you'll probably live to regret that." Lynn turned, smiled in what she clearly hoped was a chilling fashion, and drew a finger across her throat in the classic, "I will kill you," move. Connor sighed. "But before that I'll talk to Danny about what films he's taken to showing her."
Sarah's eyes were wide as she and Stephen left on their date. "That was . . . oddly reassuring," Marion told him.
"Really?" he asked her.
She nodded. "I think Beth might really have a good friend here after all." She smiled, looking relieved, and left Connor to watch the girls for the afternoon.
A few weeks later, though, Connor was at work, looking over Cutter's numbers and his mass of tubes that were an odd map projecting the ocurrences of anomalies, when his mobile rang. It was Lynn. "Dad!" she hissed into the phone.
"Lynn?" he asked. "What's up? I thought you were over at Beth's after school today?"
"I think there's a . . . an anomaly monster here," she said anxiously.
"What?" he dropped everything and turned his full attention to the phone. On a hunch, he hurried over to where Cutter was working and took a look at the location Cutter's predicted anomaly was supposed to open. The place Stephen, Abby and Jenny were looking into. The place only really a few blocks distance from where Beth's home was. "Hell. Cutter, call Stephen, now. Or Abby."
"Beth says it's been here a while," Lynn went on. "It's weird," she said. "It's got big ears and eyes and teeth and it's like a chameleon-"
She was cut off. "What are you doing?" Beth's voice, muffled by distance, came down the line.
"I'm calling my Dad."
"You can't!" Beth said. "No one ever believes. I have to feed it. It's bad otherwise. If it's fed it's not as bad."
"Dad knows people. He can get it stopped," Lynn protested.
Cutter was on the phone with Stephen, both of them, from what Connor could hear of the conversation, were confused.
"Dad, I-" a snuffling sound, then a shriek, a thud, Beth's voice shouting anxiously, and Connor cursed.
He lunged at Cutter, snatching the man's mobile. "Stephen! Lynn's at her friend Beth's and she said there's something there with big teeth, eyes, ears and it changes colour like a chameleon. They're only a few blocks from where you are, and I think it's attacked Lynn!"
"Right," Stephen replied sharply, hanging up and probably already on his way to get to Lynn.
Cutter had alrady grabbed his jacket and was tossing one to Connor. "Let's go," he said.
When they got to the scene, there was an ambulance there. And Danny. "Where's Lynn?" Connor demanded.
"With the medics," Danny told him, pointing to the emergency vehicle. Connor raced over, expecting, hoping to see Lynn making snarky comments to the emergency services. Hoping she'd just be getting a plaster on a knee. He rounded the ambulance to see Lynn, bloody, still, with three people doing things to her, attaching things and wrapping things and taping things and he wasn't even aware that he was moving until he was on his knees next to her.
"Lynn!" he gasped. "What's . . . oh God," he moaned.
He was being pulled away and he struggled. He had to be with her. "Sir!" said someone, he had the sense they'd been trying to get his attention. "You have to let us do our jobs. We have to get her to the hospital."
"He's her father," Cutter snapped. "At least let him into the bloody car." Connor felt a surge of gratefulness for the man's bullheadedness as he was allowed in to sit with Abby in the ambulance as they were driven along with Lynn to the hospital, answering whatever questions were thrown their way by the paramedics.
Hours and hours later, a tired-looking doctor finally came out to answer their questions. "Mr. Temple?"
"Yes?" he was on his feet, probably too close, probably too aggressive, but he couldn't bring himself to care, because his daughter was somewhere in the hospital after being savaged by some monster from another time. "How's Lynn?"
"We need blood," the doctor said baldly. "I'm sorry to say that her blood type's just rare enough that we just don't have enough for her. If you and your wife-"
Abby squeaked, and Connor staggered. "Then there's a problem," Connor said, not even touching the 'your wife' issue. "Caitlyn's adopted. I'll happily donate, but I don't think I'm actually compatible."
"I'll call Cutter and Stephen," Abby said hastily. "And everyone else. Just in case."
The doctor eyed Connor. "It's complicated," Connor offered. "But Cutter and Stephen are . . . cousins of hers. Not that any of us knew. Her real mother's not been properly forthcoming about . . . well . . . anything." He tried to look meaningfully at the doctor and let him draw some useful conclusions about Helen.
"I see," said the doctor noncommittally. "You can sit with her for the moment if you'd like," she told him.
Connor nodded, following the woman to a hospital room, seeing Lynn pale and still on the bed. "Oh, sweetheart," he murmured. "I'm so sorry," he dropped into a chair next to her, taking in the bandages all over her and the way her hair had gotten ripped out. "I promised to take care of you," he said softly. "Keep you from being hurt, and look at you."
A nurse came in, bringing equipment to take his blood, which he barely noticed, because his whole focus was on his daughter. Abby showed up not long after, sporting a similar bandage to his own on her arm. Then Cutter, Stephen, Jenny and Sarah. Danny arrived too, looking a tad shellshocked. Not long after that, the doctors finally got Lynn onto the IV of what she needed, the blood she needed and declared that, with the necessary plasma, it seemed she'd finally stabilised. She was, odds were, going to be fine.
Then the doctor told them, "I'm not entirely sure about who's got what relationship to who, here. But it looks to me that those two," her head nodded at Cutter and Stephen, "Are not related to Caitlyn at all."
"What?" Connor gaped. "But that's . . . how?" Suddenly he shook his head. "What am I saying? Helen."
Danny sighed. "So, it's neither of them?" he said, shaking his head. "That woman's a piece of work."
"Which is as good a segue as any, Mr. Quinn," the doctor told them. "Because it would seem that you have a fairly close familial relationship with Caitlyn."
They all turned to stare at the doctor. "I'm sorry, what?" Connor asked, blinking at her, confused.
"After the blood test results," she said with a sigh, "I pretty much violated a number of protocols, just because I wanted to confirm a thought. I had a DNA test run, and Mr. Quinn appears to be related to Caitlyn. At a distance of maybe a cousin or something of that sort." In the pause and silence that followed the doctor looked increasingly nervous until she blurted out, "I'll leave you alone. If you need something, have the nurse page me."
The whole crowd of them, in there because they were all bullheaded enough to fight the nurses to a standstill, stared at each other. "Patrick," Danny said slowly. "The anomaly in that house, the creature. Patrick vanished from that house, and all these years I blamed his friends. But it was an anomaly. He must have gone through."
"He must have survived long enough for Helen to get him to sleep with her," Cutter said sourly.
That was when a nurse came in and outbullheaded them all out, but Connor and Abby, who were down as her parents and she couldn't make them leave.
Connor was there about twenty hours out of every day, taking just enough time to go home, shower, change, eat a meal that wasn't hospital food and head right back in. He was generally aware of visitors, of Danny coming by to inform him that he'd quit the force and joined up with the ARC, because the point of being on the police was finding Patrick, and he had far better odds with the ARC of doing so.
He was aware of Lester coming by, telling him something about personal leave that he didn't really absorb, save that it meant that he was still getting money from his job even though he was sitting with his daughter instead of working. He was also aware of Stephen and Cutter promising they wouldn't stop being there for Lynn just because they were no longer obliged to.
Abby was there with him, and Connor didn't think he'd ever loved her more than when she was with him, tired-looking and stiff from the hospital chairs, but there, because she was as much Lynn's mum now as he was Lynn's dad.
And at long last, the day came that Lynn's eyes fluttered open. "Dad?"
"Hey sweetheart. How do you feel?"
She thought a moment. "It hurts. Was I right? Was it a time creature?"
"Yes," Connor said. "And before you ask, Beth's mum saw enough that Beth got to tell her, 'I told you so'."
"Good," Lynn said decisively. Then she yawned. "Can I have Squishie?"
"Here," Abby said promptly, handing over the plushie sauropod.
"Thanks Mum," Lynn murmured as she fell back asleep.
Abby looked stunned, then smiled, then turned to Connor, suddenly anxious. "I'm sure she didn't mean-"
"I'm sure she did," he said, suspecting what Abby was thinking. "But I'd been thinking for a while about asking you to make it official. Marry me, Abby?" he asked, as the relief that Lynn really was going to be okay made him giddy.
Abby kissed him, then said, "Ask me again when you're not running on a high from relief and almost no sleep."
"I'll do that," he warned her, then wrapped an arm around her and settled back in to wait for Lynn to wake again.
****************************
Lynn had made a tremendous fuss about getting back to school fast. She'd wanted to be there to threaten the other students with her Dad who worked for the government, Abby's kickboxing and Danny the Detective if they said a single horrible thing to Beth. It seemed word had got out from a couple teachers being less than discreet while gossiping about the 'poor girl, some sort of break with reality,' and it was all over the school that Beth was mad in a real and certifiable sense. When Beth had told her, Lynn had ranted for a full ten minutes before demanding, as Lester came in the door, that the man use his governmental influence to do bad things to the teachers who'd caused the rumours to start.
So, she was back in school in a wheelchair, Beth pushing her friend around, and getting Connor and Abby called in to talk to the headmistress about her behaviour.
"I understand that your daughter has been traumatised," Headmistress Jessica Grant told them, "But she must refrain from so aggressively insulting the other children."
"I've never known Lynn to do things like that without some sort of cause," Connor said, "I'll be the first to admit she's brash and I have a hard time reining her in, but she's been upset for weeks about how the other students are treating Beth," at the headmistress' slightly confused look, Connor clarified, "Beth Lindsay. She started at the school just this year."
The woman had the grace to wince. "I do realise there are problems there, but she's got such a pugnacious attitude in response that it's just alienating them both." She heaved a sigh. "I've called you in, because she's taken to upsetting the other students by calling them terminal moraines."
Connor stared. Abby was frowning to herself. "A . . . terminal moraine?" he asked carefully.
"Yes," said Ms Grant. "It's sent several students weeping to the teachers."
"Terminal moraine?" Connor said again.
She shot him a pleading look. "Just talk to her. You must understand that this sort of interaction won't be good for either of the girls in the long run. I will speak to the teachers and try to rein in the other students, but if she keeps up-"
"Calling the other kids terminal moraines?" Connor asked, still a tad hung up on that point.
"If nothing else it will backfire on her once they figure out what she's saying," the headmistress said sharply.
He nodded. "I'll see what I can do. But she's always been very difficult to dissuade from speaking her mind."
They left and Abby got her reminder of what a terminal moraine was on the way down to Stephen's apartment. They got there to see Lynn cheering on Sarah as she obliterated Stephen at Barbie Horse Adventures. Cutter was at the table, pretending badly he wasn't amused at his former assistant's predicament, and pretending equally badly that he was working. After some incident involving Helen and clones while Connor had been with Lynn at the hospital, Cutter and Stephen had been a great deal closer. Connor had tried to read the reports, but had decided in the end that he didn't want to know most of the particulars.
Stephen now had pet diictodons, Cleo and Tony, running around in his flat, and Cutter used studying them in detail as an excuse to hang about.
"Hey," Connor said in greeting.
"Dad!" Lynn eagerly wheeled herself over. "Sarah's been helping me get Stephen off all the high score boards that Beth and I couldn't."
"So I see," Connor said. "Care to tell me why you've been calling the other kids terminal moraines?"
"What?" Sarah's head whipped around to stare at them, ignoring Stephen's 'Ha!' of triumph as he beat her, maintaining his spot on the board.
"Terminal moraine?" Cutter said from where he'd been absently petting Cleo, who squeaked and joined Tony in tumbling all over the floor a moment before heading into the replacement burrow Stephen had made for them. "Do you know what that is?" he asked Lynn.
"Gravel and stuff left from the end of a glacier's leading edge," Lynn replied promptly. "But if I say it mean enough they think it's a real insult."
"Clever," Sarah said nodding. "But what happens when they figure out what that is?"
Lynn paused, thinking about that, then winced. "Oops."
"I got called to talk to the headmistress today," Connor told Lynn. "I understand you want to protect Beth and all, but getting into fights with the other kids isn't going to make it easier for either of you, and calling them terminal moraines might sort of backfire, you know."
"They keep calling Beth crazy," Lynn protested. "Batty Bethy, they're calling her. It's awful and it's making her cry!"
Connor sighed. "Just . . . try to ignore them, okay? If it doesn't get better, I'll talk to Beth's mum and we'll see if there's anything we can do. I understand, Lynn, but insulting everyone's not going to make it better."
Lips pursed, Lynn nodded slowly. "Okay, but if it doesn't get better, Dad, you have to fix it."
*************************
Seventy-two hours later, he was stuck in a tree with Stephen, staring down at circling deinonychuses on the floor below, calling their annoyance at losing their prey.
"Right now," Connor said idly, "I'm sort of torn. On the one hand, I really wish you were Abby, and on the other, I'm glad she's at home to take care of Lynn."
Stephen chuckled. "I'm rather glad Sarah's safe at home, myself, but I understand the point." He looked in the general direction of the anomaly that had taken Cutter and Helen off. "I just hope Cutter's alright."
"Yeah," Connor said, sighing. He shifted, feeling pain stabbing in all the bits of him that had gotten injured since coming through to the Cretaceous. "So, how are you at hunting and what-all without guns?" he asked. "Because the ammunition'll run out eventually."
His friend gave a wry smile at him. "I expect we'll find out a lot of things about survival until we find a way home."
Connor looked around. "Oh, to know then what I know now," he said a tad plaintively. "Really, I'd've spent more time looking into paleobotany for edible plants if I'd known."
"Who wouldn't?" Stephen replied with a sigh.
They both fell silent after that, dozing fitfully in the tree all night. The following weeks were a scrabble for survival, he and Stephen pooling their collective knowledge about survival and dinosaurs to avoid starving to death, or being eaten.
Stephen had helped him build a sort of magnetically based warning system, in case an anomaly opened nearby and they built a base camp in the middle of a giant thorny bush of some kind. It was a bit of a travail tossing out the myriad small creatures that tried to invade and join them in safety, but they dealt with it.
As things settled into a routine, they began to talk. First plotting to get home, then as that was worn out, about Abby and Sarah, then about the others at the ARC. They started to run out of those topics and began to discuss books and television, films and plays and games and sports. Then evolution and biochemistry, politics and history, archeology and animal behaviourism.
Then, quite suddenly, all the safe topics were talked out, for the most part. Stephen, quite suddenly one evening said, "Connor's not your real name, you said once. Connor . . . you had a friend named Connor. Tell me about him."
He froze a moment, then said slowly. "I . . . sometimes I really do forget it's not my name now. Conn . . . Connor was my best friend. He was practically my brother. Anyone who didn't know us thought we were twins. Fraternal twins, but we had the same build, the same eyes and hair, we talked the same and like I told Lynn once, if we dressed the same and kept apart, we could trick people into thinking we were each other."
"You miss him," Stephen said, looking sympathetically at him.
"God, yes," Jake said, his voice cracking. "That database? That's not mine, it was ours, his and mine. Conn wanted to be the next Jack Horner. He wanted to dig up fossils and build new dinosaurs and learn everything about them. He'd never planned any sort of back-up plan, never even thought a moment he might not succeed." He laughed, a little wetly through the tears creeping up on him as he remembered the friend whose life he'd sort-of stolen. "I wasn't nearly as confident. I went for two degrees. One in engineering and the like and one in biology."
"Something to fall back on?" Stephen asked.
He nodded. "We'd both applied for uni, the same one, got in, and then . . . then the accident happened." He closed his eyes, recalling the shock of the news. "Conn and his girlfriend were driving home from a weekend away together. They were on a back road, so there's no CCTV footage to see, but the police did know there was another vehicle there, it's clear that Conn swerved to avoid hitting it and drove off the road. It was raining that night and the other driver's tracks were too obscured to give a clue about what kind of car it was. There's just no evidence that they even stopped."
Now that he'd started, he couldn't stop. Lettie knew all this, everyone knew all this back home. There had never been anyone he had to tell, and there was something oddly freeing about telling the story, even after all this time. "That's . . ." Stephen shook his head in disbelief. "Didn't even stop?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing indicating the other car sat still, no footprints, nothing. And Conn and Margaret," he had to force the words out, because it was as horrible now as it was then. "They could have made it if the bastards had stopped and called for help. Margaret, they said she never woke up, but Conn . . . he had broken ribs and struggled so much to get them out that he punctured a lung. He . . . they . . ." Stephen slung an arm over Connor's shoulder as he got himself under control again.
"I'm so sorry," Stephen said softly. "I can't imagine."
Jake sighed. "I know . . . I know Conn would be fine with me doing this, with me using his name and all, but sometimes I just feel awful, because he wanted this so badly."
"And do you know why you're so useful to us?" Stephen asked him. "It's because of the engineering Con -- Jake. Because you're more than just a paleontologist. Who else could have figured out how to build a machine to lock anomalies?"
It was something he hadn't thought of, something that made him feel a little less like he was cheating his way into the ARC. "Stephen?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks," Jake . . . Connor said.
And the talk that had so carefully avoided asking hurtful personal questions, that talk turned to family and friends. Connor finally got up the nerve to ask about Helen and Stephen's time with her.
"You have to understand," Stephen said with a heaved sigh, "I'd never really wanted to go to university, but my parents were intellectuals and the idea of not going to uni was just . . . anathema." He shrugged. "I went, I did a degree, but I was more interested in adventure. I met Helen by accident. The offer was perfect. I'd get a research master's degree, she'd take me along as someone to track and shoot things. I'd get my adventures and she'd get a pair of spare hands and my parents would stop badgering me about academics."
"Wow," Connor said. "That does seem . . . sort-of perfect."
Stephen nodded. "Exactly. Cutter effectively offered me the same opportunity. I've never regretted not having the doctorate because I never wanted one, but I'll admit my parents get a bit shrill about my only having a master's."
"I sort of wish I did have one," Connor admitted. "I mean, I just sometimes feel a little like . . . I don't know, I lack authority, so to speak. I don't have a title or anything, just enormous squishy frontal lobes."
Snickering a little, Stephen said, "You're more than that, Connor."
"But try telling that to every new person that gets attached to the ARC. There's Dr. Cutter, Dr. Page, Abby Maitland, animal behaviourist recruited from Wellington Zoo, Danny Quinn, former police detective, Stephen Hart," he smirked, "The prettiest man outside Hollywood-"
"Connor . . ."
"And research assistant to Dr. Cutter, and then, drumroll please, Connor Temple, former student."
"And then you do some bit of math or computer brilliance and they shut up," Stephen pointed out.
Connor shrugged. "I know, but it might be nice to skip that and get a modicum of respect to start instead."
"Fair point."
*******************************
He'd finally got the stupid anomaly creation device to send the spinosaur home, been lowered to the ground by that Matt Anderson person, and Stephen arrived next to him and had him in a headlock. "What have I told you about idiotic heroics, Connor?"
"Leave them to you?" he asked. "Can you let me out of your armpit Stephen? Or are you going to be a complete berk about this?"
"I vote for berk," Becker said. "You've earned it, Temple."
"Bite me," Connor told him.
From behind them a wonderfully familiar voice shouted, "Connor, you bloody idiot! Don't you dare do that to me again!"
Stephen let him go. "Abby," Connor breathed as she crashed into him, knocking them both over and kissing him. "God, I missed you," he told her.
"You stink," she informed him. She pulled him to his feet and started dragging him past Stephen, who was still kissing Sarah.
But Connor stopped dead. "Sarah? What happened?"
The kissing pair pulled apart then, Stephen abruptly pulling away and staring at his archaeologist girlfriend. In her right hand was a forearm crutch, and she listed a little to that side, leaning on Stephen for support. "Sarah?" Stephen asked, looking horrified. "My God."
"I'm alright," she told him. "I'm just glad you're back."
"She was hurt trying to get you all home," Abby said. "If it weren't for Danny, I don't think she'd've made it."
"Where is Danny? I'll have to thank him," Stephen said.
Sarah made a face. "Back at home, or at least he's supposed to be. He got a broken leg and arm the other day, leaping onto the back of the dinosaur of the day. It was very dramatic until he fell off," she said.
"What are you doing here?" Stephen scolded her, picking her up and carrying her to the car he and Connor had driven to the arena in.
"I needed to see you for myself. I couldn't wait in the ARC," she told him.
Connor followed, asking Abby, "How's Lynn?"
"She's . . . Lynn," Abby said with a teary sort of smile. "She never gave up on you coming back. She's recorded all the Doctor Who episodes, every single new fantasy, horror and science fiction television show that's been new on television over the last year, all the dinosaur specials and has a list of video games she thinks you'd like lined up for your perusal."
"Tell me everything," Connor urged. "How's she doing in school? How'd the injuries clear up? Who's she threatened with Gertrude's head lately?"
Lynn's injuries had cleared up fine, she was doing well, Lester had invoked some sort of influence to get both her and Beth into a new school and had somehow magicked away tuition fees, Lynn hated that her new school needed a uniform, but she and Beth were ringleaders of a posse (Lynn's word of choice) of dinosaur enthusiasts who would likely tackle Connor the moment he got back, demanding dinosaur minutiae, and she hadn't threatened anyone with Gertrude, but Abby had the sense that Matt was likely to be the next victim.
And then they were walking into the new nerve centre of the ARC, which looked like something out of a science fiction film. "Wow," Connor said, staring at the setup that might have once been his ADD, "Sexy stuff."
"Hi," said the incredibly perky young woman. "I'm Jess Parker, and you're Connor Temple and Stephen Hart. I'm so pleased to meet you. You're practically legends around here, you know."
Stephen smiled at her, she flushed, and Connor said to him, "I told you, Stephen, prettiest man outside Hollywood."
Stephen rolled his eyes. Jess said, "I don't know, I think Becker could give him a run for his money," then she flushed and turned to the ADD.
As they'd both had to listen to Abby and Sarah giggle over Becker's good looks, they shared a moment of mutual amusement over it. Something that was interrupted by a familiar voice saying, "Let me guess. You missed the last bus back."
"Something like that," the two men chorused. The year with nothing but each other to rely on had forged a bond that Connor rather thought would always be there.
Then, from the far side of the room came a shriek from another familiar voice that made Connor's heart stop. "Let me go! Let me go I want to see my Dad! You bloody berk! You stupid, tacky-suited, poncy git!"
A man in a tacky blue suit was dragging Lynn into the room. "Who brought this brat in here!" he demanded.
Connor wasn't even sure how he crossed the room that fast, only that he had to put his fist through the bastard's face. "You let go of my daughter right now!" he growled at the man lying shocked on the ground.
"Dad!"
"Lynn," he groaned as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "God, I've missed you. Have you been good for Abby?"
"Yeah," Lynn said. "I didn't even say nasty things to the mums at my new school who called Abby bad names because you weren't there."
"Lynn?" Danny arrived at the scene, limping on his casted leg, struggling with his broken arm. "Oh, good, someone hit the berk," he said as he ignored the man in the suit, who had pulled himself to his feet. "I brought Lynn over as soon as Lester called with the news you were back."
Stephen came over. "I hear I have you to thank for Sarah still being here," he said. "So, thank you." He turned to Connor. "Nice hit."
"It's great to see you both," Danny said, and pulled them into a brief hug. "Even better if you're hitting Burton there."
"Who is he, anyhow?" Stephen asked as he gave Lynn the hug she was demanding from him.
Sarah was looking disapprovingly at the man. "The government, after disbanding the ARC, decided they had to put it back together when a stegosaurus invaded parliament."
"Really?" Connor said. "They still got the footage of that?"
"Oh, yes," Abby said. "It's sort of funny, actually. It didn't really do much. It was mostly accidental tail damage."
"Anyhow," Sarah said, "They decided to partially privatise things, so Philip Burton here gets to play tin pot dictator."
"Dad," Lynn said, "You stink."
"I'm sure I do," Connor told her.
While Burton sputtered, Lester said, "Well, I think you'll both want a few days to readjust, then we'll discuss what we're going to do as regards placing you both on teams again."
"No!" snapped Burton. "If you will recall, we have a policy of hiring only military-"
"Which we waived in the case of the previous employees being allowed to regain their positions should they wish it," Lester said pointedly.
"Mr. Quinn's injuries-"
It was Sarah's turn to snap, "Do I need to give you a list of military personnel far worse injured than Danny from far less dangerous situations?"
Burton's lips compressed and he turned with a huff. "Come on," Sarah said to Stephen. "Cleo and Tony have missed you."
"And I'm pretty sure Rex has missed you too," Abby said with a grin. "Not as much as Lynn and I have, though."
"Marry me?" Connor asked her again.
He heard Jess make a high pitched noise in the background and Lester make a disgusted sort of noise. "Say yes!" Lynn shouted.
"I'll think about it," Abby said. "Just-"
"When I'm not high on adrenaline and relief?" Connor asked her.
"Pretty much," Abby said. "I just . . ." she trailed off.
"You want to be sure I really mean it."
"He really means it!" Lynn said.
Lester sighed. "Temple, you have the romantic instincts of a dead rat."
"That's not up to your usual standards, Lester," Connor said. Then he turned to Abby, "Let's go home."
"Then you can ask again and Mum can say yes," Lynn said.
"Lynn . . ."
Lynn grumbled, cuddling into her dad and refusing to let go, forcing Connor to sit in the back seat where she could do that. When they got home, Lynn bolted past Gertrude for the telephone, "I'm calling Grandma Lettie!" and Connor headed to have a shower.
When he came out, Lettie was waiting to shout at him, cry, shout some more, then inform him in no uncertain terms he, Abby and Lynn were coming home for the weekend.
After the call was finally over, Lynn was telling him everything he'd missed on television, Abby was cuddled into his side and a hot cappucino was steaming on the table in front of him.
He didn't think it got any better than that.
Part 8
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Author: SCWLC
Disclaimer: I don't own anything herein and no one's paying me to do it.
Rating: PG-13
Summary: Children change almost everything.
AN: Bleh. Any time I get close to the end, something like this happens.
*******************************
"Dad! They're here!" Lynn called anxiously when the doorbell rang. There was a new girl in school, and Lynn had befriended her. Apparently the poor thing had had some trouble with school before and her parents had pulled her out and homeschooled her, and were now trying to reintroduce her to the regular stream. Her mother, dropping her off, looked oddly terrified.
"Hi," Connor said as he answered the door. "Please, come in a minute. Feel free to reassure yourself that neither Abby nor I is as frightening as Lynn likes to pretend."
Lynn shoved past him and grabbed her friend's hand. "Beth! You're here! Great. Let me introduce you to Gertrude so she won't be scary." Beth was Lynn's new best friend at school, and for several weeks, everything had been Beth this, and Beth that. She dragged the other girl in, pointing at their family raptor and saying, "Beth, Gertrude, Gertrude, Beth. Now come on. I need another high score to taunt Stephen with on Barbie Horse Adventures." Beth giggled, a tad nervously, and followed Lynn into the living room.
Beth's mother raised an eyebrow at the dinosaur in the hall, covered in scarves and hats. "Interesting sense of decoration you have," she said.
"She's our security system," Connor said, sticking to the standard line. "People break in, they see her, they run away."
"She scared Stephen!" Lynn called back.
"Lynn! If you can't stop eavesdropping on everyone else's conversations I'll have Beth's mum take her home!" Connor called back.
Beth's mother blinked. "Who is Stephen?" she asked, cautiously. "I'm sorry, I know I'm a little . . . but Beth's had some troubles over the years and I worry about her. We're hoping that maybe putting her back in school will help her settle back down, but . . ." she stepped forward, joining Connor in watching the two girls set up the XBox and chatter away about horses, school, some television show involving monster-fighting fairies that Connor had never quite understood and generally be as perplexing as little girls could be to an adult male geek.
"It's alright," Connor said, smiling slightly. "Lynn's had some troubles of her own. Stephen's just one of my coworkers. Kind of coopted into the role of favourite uncle. She's unmerciful to his sense of masculinity, of course, but Lynn's like that."
Beth's mother smiled a little now. "Right. So, Connor Temple, right?"
"Marion Lindsay, wasn't it?" he responded. "Nice to meet you. I-" He was cut off by the doorbell. When he answered it, Stephen was there, along with the newest member of the ARC in tow. "Stephen? Sarah?"
Stephen shrugged. "Sarah and I were talking, and she wanted to meet Lynn. I figured, before she wound up with an introduction like mine-"
"Stephen! It's Stephen!" Lynn called back to Beth. "Hi! Beth says she's really good a Barbie Horse adventures, so we're booting your high score out of the table."
Marion Lindsay's eyes were wide as she took in Stephen's movie star good looks, then cast a speculative eye at Connor, then back at Stephen. Lynn's eyes narrowed as she spotted some weird grownup brain chemical thing going on. Sarah put her arm through Stephen's, and said, "Well, you must be the infamous Caitlyn Temple. I'm Sarah."
"Dad says you were taking the mick at him about some curse. You should know that only Abby and me are allowed to do that to him," was Lynn's response.
Sarah eyed her back, while Marion seemed close to laughter. Beth had joined them all at the door, watching the whole thing curiously. "He's far too easy for that, you know," Sarah said. "I really can't help it."
Lynn looked from her to Stephen and back again. Then she said, "Since Abby's my new Mum, I don't have to worry about an evil stepmother, but if I find out you're being mean to Stephen like the goth makeup lady, I'll-"
"Lynn, you are not the Mafia," Connor cut her off. "Don't threaten people with Gertrude's head in their beds, or anything else for that matter. Stephen can take care of himself."
"I'll be watching," Lynn said with all the menace she could muster, then headed back to her now-loaded game, telling Beth all about the evil goth makeup lady.
Sarah turned to Stephen. "I see why you felt I should be introduced under controlled circumstances. She's exactly like you described."
"How was that?" Connor asked, curious.
"Like you, Abby and Lester got mixed up in a blender, with just a soupcon of Cutter's obstinacy to add flavour to the whole," Stephen told him. "Sarah and I are going to a film."
The dark haired woman shot Connor a grin, "We're going on a date, but he's too scared of you all to say it."
"Right," Connor said decisively. "So, here's the threat then. Stephen doesn't have the best track record with women-"
"Hey!"
He ploughed on, ignoring Stephen's affronted look. "So, if you hurt him, Abby and I will set Lynn on you, and you'll probably live to regret that." Lynn turned, smiled in what she clearly hoped was a chilling fashion, and drew a finger across her throat in the classic, "I will kill you," move. Connor sighed. "But before that I'll talk to Danny about what films he's taken to showing her."
Sarah's eyes were wide as she and Stephen left on their date. "That was . . . oddly reassuring," Marion told him.
"Really?" he asked her.
She nodded. "I think Beth might really have a good friend here after all." She smiled, looking relieved, and left Connor to watch the girls for the afternoon.
A few weeks later, though, Connor was at work, looking over Cutter's numbers and his mass of tubes that were an odd map projecting the ocurrences of anomalies, when his mobile rang. It was Lynn. "Dad!" she hissed into the phone.
"Lynn?" he asked. "What's up? I thought you were over at Beth's after school today?"
"I think there's a . . . an anomaly monster here," she said anxiously.
"What?" he dropped everything and turned his full attention to the phone. On a hunch, he hurried over to where Cutter was working and took a look at the location Cutter's predicted anomaly was supposed to open. The place Stephen, Abby and Jenny were looking into. The place only really a few blocks distance from where Beth's home was. "Hell. Cutter, call Stephen, now. Or Abby."
"Beth says it's been here a while," Lynn went on. "It's weird," she said. "It's got big ears and eyes and teeth and it's like a chameleon-"
She was cut off. "What are you doing?" Beth's voice, muffled by distance, came down the line.
"I'm calling my Dad."
"You can't!" Beth said. "No one ever believes. I have to feed it. It's bad otherwise. If it's fed it's not as bad."
"Dad knows people. He can get it stopped," Lynn protested.
Cutter was on the phone with Stephen, both of them, from what Connor could hear of the conversation, were confused.
"Dad, I-" a snuffling sound, then a shriek, a thud, Beth's voice shouting anxiously, and Connor cursed.
He lunged at Cutter, snatching the man's mobile. "Stephen! Lynn's at her friend Beth's and she said there's something there with big teeth, eyes, ears and it changes colour like a chameleon. They're only a few blocks from where you are, and I think it's attacked Lynn!"
"Right," Stephen replied sharply, hanging up and probably already on his way to get to Lynn.
Cutter had alrady grabbed his jacket and was tossing one to Connor. "Let's go," he said.
When they got to the scene, there was an ambulance there. And Danny. "Where's Lynn?" Connor demanded.
"With the medics," Danny told him, pointing to the emergency vehicle. Connor raced over, expecting, hoping to see Lynn making snarky comments to the emergency services. Hoping she'd just be getting a plaster on a knee. He rounded the ambulance to see Lynn, bloody, still, with three people doing things to her, attaching things and wrapping things and taping things and he wasn't even aware that he was moving until he was on his knees next to her.
"Lynn!" he gasped. "What's . . . oh God," he moaned.
He was being pulled away and he struggled. He had to be with her. "Sir!" said someone, he had the sense they'd been trying to get his attention. "You have to let us do our jobs. We have to get her to the hospital."
"He's her father," Cutter snapped. "At least let him into the bloody car." Connor felt a surge of gratefulness for the man's bullheadedness as he was allowed in to sit with Abby in the ambulance as they were driven along with Lynn to the hospital, answering whatever questions were thrown their way by the paramedics.
Hours and hours later, a tired-looking doctor finally came out to answer their questions. "Mr. Temple?"
"Yes?" he was on his feet, probably too close, probably too aggressive, but he couldn't bring himself to care, because his daughter was somewhere in the hospital after being savaged by some monster from another time. "How's Lynn?"
"We need blood," the doctor said baldly. "I'm sorry to say that her blood type's just rare enough that we just don't have enough for her. If you and your wife-"
Abby squeaked, and Connor staggered. "Then there's a problem," Connor said, not even touching the 'your wife' issue. "Caitlyn's adopted. I'll happily donate, but I don't think I'm actually compatible."
"I'll call Cutter and Stephen," Abby said hastily. "And everyone else. Just in case."
The doctor eyed Connor. "It's complicated," Connor offered. "But Cutter and Stephen are . . . cousins of hers. Not that any of us knew. Her real mother's not been properly forthcoming about . . . well . . . anything." He tried to look meaningfully at the doctor and let him draw some useful conclusions about Helen.
"I see," said the doctor noncommittally. "You can sit with her for the moment if you'd like," she told him.
Connor nodded, following the woman to a hospital room, seeing Lynn pale and still on the bed. "Oh, sweetheart," he murmured. "I'm so sorry," he dropped into a chair next to her, taking in the bandages all over her and the way her hair had gotten ripped out. "I promised to take care of you," he said softly. "Keep you from being hurt, and look at you."
A nurse came in, bringing equipment to take his blood, which he barely noticed, because his whole focus was on his daughter. Abby showed up not long after, sporting a similar bandage to his own on her arm. Then Cutter, Stephen, Jenny and Sarah. Danny arrived too, looking a tad shellshocked. Not long after that, the doctors finally got Lynn onto the IV of what she needed, the blood she needed and declared that, with the necessary plasma, it seemed she'd finally stabilised. She was, odds were, going to be fine.
Then the doctor told them, "I'm not entirely sure about who's got what relationship to who, here. But it looks to me that those two," her head nodded at Cutter and Stephen, "Are not related to Caitlyn at all."
"What?" Connor gaped. "But that's . . . how?" Suddenly he shook his head. "What am I saying? Helen."
Danny sighed. "So, it's neither of them?" he said, shaking his head. "That woman's a piece of work."
"Which is as good a segue as any, Mr. Quinn," the doctor told them. "Because it would seem that you have a fairly close familial relationship with Caitlyn."
They all turned to stare at the doctor. "I'm sorry, what?" Connor asked, blinking at her, confused.
"After the blood test results," she said with a sigh, "I pretty much violated a number of protocols, just because I wanted to confirm a thought. I had a DNA test run, and Mr. Quinn appears to be related to Caitlyn. At a distance of maybe a cousin or something of that sort." In the pause and silence that followed the doctor looked increasingly nervous until she blurted out, "I'll leave you alone. If you need something, have the nurse page me."
The whole crowd of them, in there because they were all bullheaded enough to fight the nurses to a standstill, stared at each other. "Patrick," Danny said slowly. "The anomaly in that house, the creature. Patrick vanished from that house, and all these years I blamed his friends. But it was an anomaly. He must have gone through."
"He must have survived long enough for Helen to get him to sleep with her," Cutter said sourly.
That was when a nurse came in and outbullheaded them all out, but Connor and Abby, who were down as her parents and she couldn't make them leave.
Connor was there about twenty hours out of every day, taking just enough time to go home, shower, change, eat a meal that wasn't hospital food and head right back in. He was generally aware of visitors, of Danny coming by to inform him that he'd quit the force and joined up with the ARC, because the point of being on the police was finding Patrick, and he had far better odds with the ARC of doing so.
He was aware of Lester coming by, telling him something about personal leave that he didn't really absorb, save that it meant that he was still getting money from his job even though he was sitting with his daughter instead of working. He was also aware of Stephen and Cutter promising they wouldn't stop being there for Lynn just because they were no longer obliged to.
Abby was there with him, and Connor didn't think he'd ever loved her more than when she was with him, tired-looking and stiff from the hospital chairs, but there, because she was as much Lynn's mum now as he was Lynn's dad.
And at long last, the day came that Lynn's eyes fluttered open. "Dad?"
"Hey sweetheart. How do you feel?"
She thought a moment. "It hurts. Was I right? Was it a time creature?"
"Yes," Connor said. "And before you ask, Beth's mum saw enough that Beth got to tell her, 'I told you so'."
"Good," Lynn said decisively. Then she yawned. "Can I have Squishie?"
"Here," Abby said promptly, handing over the plushie sauropod.
"Thanks Mum," Lynn murmured as she fell back asleep.
Abby looked stunned, then smiled, then turned to Connor, suddenly anxious. "I'm sure she didn't mean-"
"I'm sure she did," he said, suspecting what Abby was thinking. "But I'd been thinking for a while about asking you to make it official. Marry me, Abby?" he asked, as the relief that Lynn really was going to be okay made him giddy.
Abby kissed him, then said, "Ask me again when you're not running on a high from relief and almost no sleep."
"I'll do that," he warned her, then wrapped an arm around her and settled back in to wait for Lynn to wake again.
****************************
Lynn had made a tremendous fuss about getting back to school fast. She'd wanted to be there to threaten the other students with her Dad who worked for the government, Abby's kickboxing and Danny the Detective if they said a single horrible thing to Beth. It seemed word had got out from a couple teachers being less than discreet while gossiping about the 'poor girl, some sort of break with reality,' and it was all over the school that Beth was mad in a real and certifiable sense. When Beth had told her, Lynn had ranted for a full ten minutes before demanding, as Lester came in the door, that the man use his governmental influence to do bad things to the teachers who'd caused the rumours to start.
So, she was back in school in a wheelchair, Beth pushing her friend around, and getting Connor and Abby called in to talk to the headmistress about her behaviour.
"I understand that your daughter has been traumatised," Headmistress Jessica Grant told them, "But she must refrain from so aggressively insulting the other children."
"I've never known Lynn to do things like that without some sort of cause," Connor said, "I'll be the first to admit she's brash and I have a hard time reining her in, but she's been upset for weeks about how the other students are treating Beth," at the headmistress' slightly confused look, Connor clarified, "Beth Lindsay. She started at the school just this year."
The woman had the grace to wince. "I do realise there are problems there, but she's got such a pugnacious attitude in response that it's just alienating them both." She heaved a sigh. "I've called you in, because she's taken to upsetting the other students by calling them terminal moraines."
Connor stared. Abby was frowning to herself. "A . . . terminal moraine?" he asked carefully.
"Yes," said Ms Grant. "It's sent several students weeping to the teachers."
"Terminal moraine?" Connor said again.
She shot him a pleading look. "Just talk to her. You must understand that this sort of interaction won't be good for either of the girls in the long run. I will speak to the teachers and try to rein in the other students, but if she keeps up-"
"Calling the other kids terminal moraines?" Connor asked, still a tad hung up on that point.
"If nothing else it will backfire on her once they figure out what she's saying," the headmistress said sharply.
He nodded. "I'll see what I can do. But she's always been very difficult to dissuade from speaking her mind."
They left and Abby got her reminder of what a terminal moraine was on the way down to Stephen's apartment. They got there to see Lynn cheering on Sarah as she obliterated Stephen at Barbie Horse Adventures. Cutter was at the table, pretending badly he wasn't amused at his former assistant's predicament, and pretending equally badly that he was working. After some incident involving Helen and clones while Connor had been with Lynn at the hospital, Cutter and Stephen had been a great deal closer. Connor had tried to read the reports, but had decided in the end that he didn't want to know most of the particulars.
Stephen now had pet diictodons, Cleo and Tony, running around in his flat, and Cutter used studying them in detail as an excuse to hang about.
"Hey," Connor said in greeting.
"Dad!" Lynn eagerly wheeled herself over. "Sarah's been helping me get Stephen off all the high score boards that Beth and I couldn't."
"So I see," Connor said. "Care to tell me why you've been calling the other kids terminal moraines?"
"What?" Sarah's head whipped around to stare at them, ignoring Stephen's 'Ha!' of triumph as he beat her, maintaining his spot on the board.
"Terminal moraine?" Cutter said from where he'd been absently petting Cleo, who squeaked and joined Tony in tumbling all over the floor a moment before heading into the replacement burrow Stephen had made for them. "Do you know what that is?" he asked Lynn.
"Gravel and stuff left from the end of a glacier's leading edge," Lynn replied promptly. "But if I say it mean enough they think it's a real insult."
"Clever," Sarah said nodding. "But what happens when they figure out what that is?"
Lynn paused, thinking about that, then winced. "Oops."
"I got called to talk to the headmistress today," Connor told Lynn. "I understand you want to protect Beth and all, but getting into fights with the other kids isn't going to make it easier for either of you, and calling them terminal moraines might sort of backfire, you know."
"They keep calling Beth crazy," Lynn protested. "Batty Bethy, they're calling her. It's awful and it's making her cry!"
Connor sighed. "Just . . . try to ignore them, okay? If it doesn't get better, I'll talk to Beth's mum and we'll see if there's anything we can do. I understand, Lynn, but insulting everyone's not going to make it better."
Lips pursed, Lynn nodded slowly. "Okay, but if it doesn't get better, Dad, you have to fix it."
*************************
Seventy-two hours later, he was stuck in a tree with Stephen, staring down at circling deinonychuses on the floor below, calling their annoyance at losing their prey.
"Right now," Connor said idly, "I'm sort of torn. On the one hand, I really wish you were Abby, and on the other, I'm glad she's at home to take care of Lynn."
Stephen chuckled. "I'm rather glad Sarah's safe at home, myself, but I understand the point." He looked in the general direction of the anomaly that had taken Cutter and Helen off. "I just hope Cutter's alright."
"Yeah," Connor said, sighing. He shifted, feeling pain stabbing in all the bits of him that had gotten injured since coming through to the Cretaceous. "So, how are you at hunting and what-all without guns?" he asked. "Because the ammunition'll run out eventually."
His friend gave a wry smile at him. "I expect we'll find out a lot of things about survival until we find a way home."
Connor looked around. "Oh, to know then what I know now," he said a tad plaintively. "Really, I'd've spent more time looking into paleobotany for edible plants if I'd known."
"Who wouldn't?" Stephen replied with a sigh.
They both fell silent after that, dozing fitfully in the tree all night. The following weeks were a scrabble for survival, he and Stephen pooling their collective knowledge about survival and dinosaurs to avoid starving to death, or being eaten.
Stephen had helped him build a sort of magnetically based warning system, in case an anomaly opened nearby and they built a base camp in the middle of a giant thorny bush of some kind. It was a bit of a travail tossing out the myriad small creatures that tried to invade and join them in safety, but they dealt with it.
As things settled into a routine, they began to talk. First plotting to get home, then as that was worn out, about Abby and Sarah, then about the others at the ARC. They started to run out of those topics and began to discuss books and television, films and plays and games and sports. Then evolution and biochemistry, politics and history, archeology and animal behaviourism.
Then, quite suddenly, all the safe topics were talked out, for the most part. Stephen, quite suddenly one evening said, "Connor's not your real name, you said once. Connor . . . you had a friend named Connor. Tell me about him."
He froze a moment, then said slowly. "I . . . sometimes I really do forget it's not my name now. Conn . . . Connor was my best friend. He was practically my brother. Anyone who didn't know us thought we were twins. Fraternal twins, but we had the same build, the same eyes and hair, we talked the same and like I told Lynn once, if we dressed the same and kept apart, we could trick people into thinking we were each other."
"You miss him," Stephen said, looking sympathetically at him.
"God, yes," Jake said, his voice cracking. "That database? That's not mine, it was ours, his and mine. Conn wanted to be the next Jack Horner. He wanted to dig up fossils and build new dinosaurs and learn everything about them. He'd never planned any sort of back-up plan, never even thought a moment he might not succeed." He laughed, a little wetly through the tears creeping up on him as he remembered the friend whose life he'd sort-of stolen. "I wasn't nearly as confident. I went for two degrees. One in engineering and the like and one in biology."
"Something to fall back on?" Stephen asked.
He nodded. "We'd both applied for uni, the same one, got in, and then . . . then the accident happened." He closed his eyes, recalling the shock of the news. "Conn and his girlfriend were driving home from a weekend away together. They were on a back road, so there's no CCTV footage to see, but the police did know there was another vehicle there, it's clear that Conn swerved to avoid hitting it and drove off the road. It was raining that night and the other driver's tracks were too obscured to give a clue about what kind of car it was. There's just no evidence that they even stopped."
Now that he'd started, he couldn't stop. Lettie knew all this, everyone knew all this back home. There had never been anyone he had to tell, and there was something oddly freeing about telling the story, even after all this time. "That's . . ." Stephen shook his head in disbelief. "Didn't even stop?"
"No," he said, shaking his head. "Nothing indicating the other car sat still, no footprints, nothing. And Conn and Margaret," he had to force the words out, because it was as horrible now as it was then. "They could have made it if the bastards had stopped and called for help. Margaret, they said she never woke up, but Conn . . . he had broken ribs and struggled so much to get them out that he punctured a lung. He . . . they . . ." Stephen slung an arm over Connor's shoulder as he got himself under control again.
"I'm so sorry," Stephen said softly. "I can't imagine."
Jake sighed. "I know . . . I know Conn would be fine with me doing this, with me using his name and all, but sometimes I just feel awful, because he wanted this so badly."
"And do you know why you're so useful to us?" Stephen asked him. "It's because of the engineering Con -- Jake. Because you're more than just a paleontologist. Who else could have figured out how to build a machine to lock anomalies?"
It was something he hadn't thought of, something that made him feel a little less like he was cheating his way into the ARC. "Stephen?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks," Jake . . . Connor said.
And the talk that had so carefully avoided asking hurtful personal questions, that talk turned to family and friends. Connor finally got up the nerve to ask about Helen and Stephen's time with her.
"You have to understand," Stephen said with a heaved sigh, "I'd never really wanted to go to university, but my parents were intellectuals and the idea of not going to uni was just . . . anathema." He shrugged. "I went, I did a degree, but I was more interested in adventure. I met Helen by accident. The offer was perfect. I'd get a research master's degree, she'd take me along as someone to track and shoot things. I'd get my adventures and she'd get a pair of spare hands and my parents would stop badgering me about academics."
"Wow," Connor said. "That does seem . . . sort-of perfect."
Stephen nodded. "Exactly. Cutter effectively offered me the same opportunity. I've never regretted not having the doctorate because I never wanted one, but I'll admit my parents get a bit shrill about my only having a master's."
"I sort of wish I did have one," Connor admitted. "I mean, I just sometimes feel a little like . . . I don't know, I lack authority, so to speak. I don't have a title or anything, just enormous squishy frontal lobes."
Snickering a little, Stephen said, "You're more than that, Connor."
"But try telling that to every new person that gets attached to the ARC. There's Dr. Cutter, Dr. Page, Abby Maitland, animal behaviourist recruited from Wellington Zoo, Danny Quinn, former police detective, Stephen Hart," he smirked, "The prettiest man outside Hollywood-"
"Connor . . ."
"And research assistant to Dr. Cutter, and then, drumroll please, Connor Temple, former student."
"And then you do some bit of math or computer brilliance and they shut up," Stephen pointed out.
Connor shrugged. "I know, but it might be nice to skip that and get a modicum of respect to start instead."
"Fair point."
*******************************
He'd finally got the stupid anomaly creation device to send the spinosaur home, been lowered to the ground by that Matt Anderson person, and Stephen arrived next to him and had him in a headlock. "What have I told you about idiotic heroics, Connor?"
"Leave them to you?" he asked. "Can you let me out of your armpit Stephen? Or are you going to be a complete berk about this?"
"I vote for berk," Becker said. "You've earned it, Temple."
"Bite me," Connor told him.
From behind them a wonderfully familiar voice shouted, "Connor, you bloody idiot! Don't you dare do that to me again!"
Stephen let him go. "Abby," Connor breathed as she crashed into him, knocking them both over and kissing him. "God, I missed you," he told her.
"You stink," she informed him. She pulled him to his feet and started dragging him past Stephen, who was still kissing Sarah.
But Connor stopped dead. "Sarah? What happened?"
The kissing pair pulled apart then, Stephen abruptly pulling away and staring at his archaeologist girlfriend. In her right hand was a forearm crutch, and she listed a little to that side, leaning on Stephen for support. "Sarah?" Stephen asked, looking horrified. "My God."
"I'm alright," she told him. "I'm just glad you're back."
"She was hurt trying to get you all home," Abby said. "If it weren't for Danny, I don't think she'd've made it."
"Where is Danny? I'll have to thank him," Stephen said.
Sarah made a face. "Back at home, or at least he's supposed to be. He got a broken leg and arm the other day, leaping onto the back of the dinosaur of the day. It was very dramatic until he fell off," she said.
"What are you doing here?" Stephen scolded her, picking her up and carrying her to the car he and Connor had driven to the arena in.
"I needed to see you for myself. I couldn't wait in the ARC," she told him.
Connor followed, asking Abby, "How's Lynn?"
"She's . . . Lynn," Abby said with a teary sort of smile. "She never gave up on you coming back. She's recorded all the Doctor Who episodes, every single new fantasy, horror and science fiction television show that's been new on television over the last year, all the dinosaur specials and has a list of video games she thinks you'd like lined up for your perusal."
"Tell me everything," Connor urged. "How's she doing in school? How'd the injuries clear up? Who's she threatened with Gertrude's head lately?"
Lynn's injuries had cleared up fine, she was doing well, Lester had invoked some sort of influence to get both her and Beth into a new school and had somehow magicked away tuition fees, Lynn hated that her new school needed a uniform, but she and Beth were ringleaders of a posse (Lynn's word of choice) of dinosaur enthusiasts who would likely tackle Connor the moment he got back, demanding dinosaur minutiae, and she hadn't threatened anyone with Gertrude, but Abby had the sense that Matt was likely to be the next victim.
And then they were walking into the new nerve centre of the ARC, which looked like something out of a science fiction film. "Wow," Connor said, staring at the setup that might have once been his ADD, "Sexy stuff."
"Hi," said the incredibly perky young woman. "I'm Jess Parker, and you're Connor Temple and Stephen Hart. I'm so pleased to meet you. You're practically legends around here, you know."
Stephen smiled at her, she flushed, and Connor said to him, "I told you, Stephen, prettiest man outside Hollywood."
Stephen rolled his eyes. Jess said, "I don't know, I think Becker could give him a run for his money," then she flushed and turned to the ADD.
As they'd both had to listen to Abby and Sarah giggle over Becker's good looks, they shared a moment of mutual amusement over it. Something that was interrupted by a familiar voice saying, "Let me guess. You missed the last bus back."
"Something like that," the two men chorused. The year with nothing but each other to rely on had forged a bond that Connor rather thought would always be there.
Then, from the far side of the room came a shriek from another familiar voice that made Connor's heart stop. "Let me go! Let me go I want to see my Dad! You bloody berk! You stupid, tacky-suited, poncy git!"
A man in a tacky blue suit was dragging Lynn into the room. "Who brought this brat in here!" he demanded.
Connor wasn't even sure how he crossed the room that fast, only that he had to put his fist through the bastard's face. "You let go of my daughter right now!" he growled at the man lying shocked on the ground.
"Dad!"
"Lynn," he groaned as he wrapped his arms around her, holding her close. "God, I've missed you. Have you been good for Abby?"
"Yeah," Lynn said. "I didn't even say nasty things to the mums at my new school who called Abby bad names because you weren't there."
"Lynn?" Danny arrived at the scene, limping on his casted leg, struggling with his broken arm. "Oh, good, someone hit the berk," he said as he ignored the man in the suit, who had pulled himself to his feet. "I brought Lynn over as soon as Lester called with the news you were back."
Stephen came over. "I hear I have you to thank for Sarah still being here," he said. "So, thank you." He turned to Connor. "Nice hit."
"It's great to see you both," Danny said, and pulled them into a brief hug. "Even better if you're hitting Burton there."
"Who is he, anyhow?" Stephen asked as he gave Lynn the hug she was demanding from him.
Sarah was looking disapprovingly at the man. "The government, after disbanding the ARC, decided they had to put it back together when a stegosaurus invaded parliament."
"Really?" Connor said. "They still got the footage of that?"
"Oh, yes," Abby said. "It's sort of funny, actually. It didn't really do much. It was mostly accidental tail damage."
"Anyhow," Sarah said, "They decided to partially privatise things, so Philip Burton here gets to play tin pot dictator."
"Dad," Lynn said, "You stink."
"I'm sure I do," Connor told her.
While Burton sputtered, Lester said, "Well, I think you'll both want a few days to readjust, then we'll discuss what we're going to do as regards placing you both on teams again."
"No!" snapped Burton. "If you will recall, we have a policy of hiring only military-"
"Which we waived in the case of the previous employees being allowed to regain their positions should they wish it," Lester said pointedly.
"Mr. Quinn's injuries-"
It was Sarah's turn to snap, "Do I need to give you a list of military personnel far worse injured than Danny from far less dangerous situations?"
Burton's lips compressed and he turned with a huff. "Come on," Sarah said to Stephen. "Cleo and Tony have missed you."
"And I'm pretty sure Rex has missed you too," Abby said with a grin. "Not as much as Lynn and I have, though."
"Marry me?" Connor asked her again.
He heard Jess make a high pitched noise in the background and Lester make a disgusted sort of noise. "Say yes!" Lynn shouted.
"I'll think about it," Abby said. "Just-"
"When I'm not high on adrenaline and relief?" Connor asked her.
"Pretty much," Abby said. "I just . . ." she trailed off.
"You want to be sure I really mean it."
"He really means it!" Lynn said.
Lester sighed. "Temple, you have the romantic instincts of a dead rat."
"That's not up to your usual standards, Lester," Connor said. Then he turned to Abby, "Let's go home."
"Then you can ask again and Mum can say yes," Lynn said.
"Lynn . . ."
Lynn grumbled, cuddling into her dad and refusing to let go, forcing Connor to sit in the back seat where she could do that. When they got home, Lynn bolted past Gertrude for the telephone, "I'm calling Grandma Lettie!" and Connor headed to have a shower.
When he came out, Lettie was waiting to shout at him, cry, shout some more, then inform him in no uncertain terms he, Abby and Lynn were coming home for the weekend.
After the call was finally over, Lynn was telling him everything he'd missed on television, Abby was cuddled into his side and a hot cappucino was steaming on the table in front of him.
He didn't think it got any better than that.
Part 8
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