Echoes of The Past
Title: Echoes of The Past
Author: TalliW
Characters: James Lester, Jon Lyle, Monty Mammoth
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Lyle belongs to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty. I know I'm cruel to make her beta her own birthday story.
Summary: A stuffed toy brings back bittersweet memories for Lester.
AN: Written for Fredbassett’s birthday
With heavy steps, James Lester climbed up the stairs to the attic and reluctantly opened the attic door. He hadn't been up there since his ex-wife and children had moved out to life in Chesterfield with his ex-financial adviser. That day he had put everything his children had decided to leave behind in boxes. Not just for sentimental reasons, he had told Lyle several times, but in the sure knowledge that the day would come when his children would want the toys they’d thought themselves too old for at that moment.
But with the number of anomalies increasing it had become harder and harder to maintain regular contact with his children.
When his children had become young adults they had openly refused to meet him, claiming that he hadn't been part of their life for so long that he didn't matter any more.
Then, out of the blue, his daughter had contacted him and asked for the twinkling lights projection mobile she had loved so much as a baby. She was preparing the nursery for her first child and wanted to put something from her own childhood up.
Lester had hidden his hurt that he hadn't been told that he was going to be a grandfather and had promised to send her the mobile.
But it had still taken over a week to pluck up the courage to go looking for the requested baby toy.
Filled with memories of the past, Lester finished addressing the parcel for his daughter and fetched the fluffy toy he had strangely found in the same box the baby things had been in. He had bought the toy a week after the warehouse accident, inspired by the banter he'd exchanged with Cutter and in a desperate attempt to get something good out of the disastrous day.
For a while the stuffed mammoth had been the favourite of his ten year old daughter. Then it had been discarded for a fancy baby doll.
After making sure that Lyle was still busy in the kitchen, Lester crept out of the house and scurried towards the stables. The mammoth was dozing in his stall as he often did lately. Time hadn't been kind to any of them. But the instant Lester entered the enclosure Monty welcomed him with a joyful trumpet and started looking for treats in Lester's pockets.
Lester petted the Columbian mammoth gently, still full of regret that they never had found a suitable anomaly to return it to its rightful time. Still he was glad that the anomalies had stopped appearing. His estate wasn't the optimal environment for prehistoric creatures but it provided them a modicum of freedom after their last chance of going home had gone.
Sighing, Lester pressed his face against the mammoth's shoulder, drawing strength from the huge animal to face another birthday without his family.
The mammoth reciprocated Lester's gesture by hugging him briefly with his trunk before it happily munched on the apple it had found in Lester's jacket.
"Yes, I know, it's a wholly mammoth. They don't produce any bald ones. Stuffed toys have to be fluffy," Lester just declared as two arms wrapped around him from behind.
Lester glared at the amused-looking mammoth that once again had conspired against him with Lyle. Then he leaned into his lover's embrace and enjoyed the soft kisses Lyle placed on the side of his neck.
"Don't forget our guests due to your chat with Monty," Jon Lyle whispered into Lester's ear. "Becker and Danny are raiding already our drinks cabinet. Matt and Emily should arrive with the twins any moment. And Abby called to say she’ll be delayed for another hour but that Connor and the kids are on the way."
Lester quickly swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at the thought of his own children. With a false smile he faced his lover, who of course saw right through his act. But the ruckus outside spared Lester an awkward explanation.
"Uncle James, Uncle James," he heard Abby's and Connor's oldest yell above Connor's, Becker's and Danny's out of tune singing of Happy Birthday and felt the affectionate looks Lyle and the mammoth gave him.
Why was he wallowing in the bittersweet past? He had made a new family long ago.
With renewed strength, Lester straightened his back and offered the stuffed mammoth to Monty. The toy had been packed away in a box long enough.
"Just don't give it to Sid and Nancy," he said smiling as he followed the huge animal outside to welcome his godson and the rest of his patchwork family.
His life had taken a strange turn since he had started working on the anomaly project so many years ago. There had been tough times and personal losses. But overall life was good.
Author: TalliW
Characters: James Lester, Jon Lyle, Monty Mammoth
Rating: K
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Lyle belongs to Fredbassett.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to the wonderful Fredbassett for beta duty. I know I'm cruel to make her beta her own birthday story.
Summary: A stuffed toy brings back bittersweet memories for Lester.
AN: Written for Fredbassett’s birthday
With heavy steps, James Lester climbed up the stairs to the attic and reluctantly opened the attic door. He hadn't been up there since his ex-wife and children had moved out to life in Chesterfield with his ex-financial adviser. That day he had put everything his children had decided to leave behind in boxes. Not just for sentimental reasons, he had told Lyle several times, but in the sure knowledge that the day would come when his children would want the toys they’d thought themselves too old for at that moment.
But with the number of anomalies increasing it had become harder and harder to maintain regular contact with his children.
When his children had become young adults they had openly refused to meet him, claiming that he hadn't been part of their life for so long that he didn't matter any more.
Then, out of the blue, his daughter had contacted him and asked for the twinkling lights projection mobile she had loved so much as a baby. She was preparing the nursery for her first child and wanted to put something from her own childhood up.
Lester had hidden his hurt that he hadn't been told that he was going to be a grandfather and had promised to send her the mobile.
But it had still taken over a week to pluck up the courage to go looking for the requested baby toy.
Filled with memories of the past, Lester finished addressing the parcel for his daughter and fetched the fluffy toy he had strangely found in the same box the baby things had been in. He had bought the toy a week after the warehouse accident, inspired by the banter he'd exchanged with Cutter and in a desperate attempt to get something good out of the disastrous day.
For a while the stuffed mammoth had been the favourite of his ten year old daughter. Then it had been discarded for a fancy baby doll.
After making sure that Lyle was still busy in the kitchen, Lester crept out of the house and scurried towards the stables. The mammoth was dozing in his stall as he often did lately. Time hadn't been kind to any of them. But the instant Lester entered the enclosure Monty welcomed him with a joyful trumpet and started looking for treats in Lester's pockets.
Lester petted the Columbian mammoth gently, still full of regret that they never had found a suitable anomaly to return it to its rightful time. Still he was glad that the anomalies had stopped appearing. His estate wasn't the optimal environment for prehistoric creatures but it provided them a modicum of freedom after their last chance of going home had gone.
Sighing, Lester pressed his face against the mammoth's shoulder, drawing strength from the huge animal to face another birthday without his family.
The mammoth reciprocated Lester's gesture by hugging him briefly with his trunk before it happily munched on the apple it had found in Lester's jacket.
"Yes, I know, it's a wholly mammoth. They don't produce any bald ones. Stuffed toys have to be fluffy," Lester just declared as two arms wrapped around him from behind.
Lester glared at the amused-looking mammoth that once again had conspired against him with Lyle. Then he leaned into his lover's embrace and enjoyed the soft kisses Lyle placed on the side of his neck.
"Don't forget our guests due to your chat with Monty," Jon Lyle whispered into Lester's ear. "Becker and Danny are raiding already our drinks cabinet. Matt and Emily should arrive with the twins any moment. And Abby called to say she’ll be delayed for another hour but that Connor and the kids are on the way."
Lester quickly swallowed the lump that had formed in his throat at the thought of his own children. With a false smile he faced his lover, who of course saw right through his act. But the ruckus outside spared Lester an awkward explanation.
"Uncle James, Uncle James," he heard Abby's and Connor's oldest yell above Connor's, Becker's and Danny's out of tune singing of Happy Birthday and felt the affectionate looks Lyle and the mammoth gave him.
Why was he wallowing in the bittersweet past? He had made a new family long ago.
With renewed strength, Lester straightened his back and offered the stuffed mammoth to Monty. The toy had been packed away in a box long enough.
"Just don't give it to Sid and Nancy," he said smiling as he followed the huge animal outside to welcome his godson and the rest of his patchwork family.
His life had taken a strange turn since he had started working on the anomaly project so many years ago. There had been tough times and personal losses. But overall life was good.