Primeval WIP: Losing (21/...)

[talliw]

Title: Losing  (21/...)
Author: TalliW
Pairings: Lester/Cutter
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Primeval are the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun. So don't bother me
Acknowledgments: Thanks to fredbassett for beta-reading. I couldn't have done it without you.



James woke up to the feeling of a hand caressing over his biceps, kneading the hard muscles in his arms then wandering down over his flank and teasing his hip.

"Morning, sleeping beauty. It feels good to wake up with you," Nick whispered in the other man's ear.

Lester groaned: "I'm not a beauty and I'm not wide awake either."

"For me you're both." Nick stated and started to suck on his neck.

Lester tried to hide his head under the pillow. "You're over-sexed, Cutter!"

"You didn't complain yesterday when you were fucking me."

James grinned at the memory. He had teased Nick all night before he'd finally granted them both release.
Afterwards, his lover had stimulated him so much that James had even managed to get it up for a second round.

Nick Cutter slid closer and pressed his erection against the other man's arse.

"Please let me sleep. Just another hour," James pleaded. But to no effect.

Nick's hands slowly started to roam over James' chest, creeping down to the morning erection he knew James sported too.

"All right, you win. Turn on your back!"

With a pleased smile, Nick Cutter followed the order.

James went straight to Nick's cock. With brief, effective strokes which draw deep groans from his lover, he brought Nick close to orgasm very quickly.

Then Lester bent down and let his tongue flicker over the large blood-filled head of Nick's cock.

Nick jerked up and, in brief spurts, he shot come out onto his own belly with James watching from beside him.

"Happy now?" he asked when Nick sunk back down onto the bed.

Nick closed his eyes, spent, but James poked him in the side.

"Now be a good boy. Go into the bathroom, take a shower, a cold one, and then make breakfast. I'll take a nap while you're doing that."

Nick chuckled and stroked James' tousled hair before he stood up and shuffled into the bathroom. He loved grumpy James in the mornings.

After he had showered, he sat down beside James on the bed. "I thought you were responsible for the breakfast in this relationship. You know what my coffee tastes like."

Lester moaned, annoyed.
"It's Saturday. I've earned a nice relaxing weekend after the week I've had with my annoying team leaders. So don't complain about making breakfast once in a while. Just accept that today it's your turn."

Nick grinned. "You're absolutely right. You topped last time and now it's my turn again.
I promise you I'll fuck you so hard later you'll scream with pleasure but not before I've touched every centimetre of your body with my tongue," he whispered to James.

James groaned again, but this time not in annoyance. Nick smirked and stood up to prepare breakfast.

He loved the easy banter with Lester. It was something he'd never had with Helen. Sometimes he asked himself what had actually drawn him to that woman. It wasn't her nice personality, that was for sure.

When Nick came back into the bedroom half an hour later, Lester lay in bed, asleep, with Nick's pillow in his arms and a smile on his face.

"Breakfast is ready, darling," he called and nipped brief on James' left nipple before he left the room.

"One day you're going to kill me, Cutter," James mumbled as he walked into the kitchen full clothed 5 minutes later.

Nick bowed down to him and kissed him briefly on the lips.
"But what a great way to die, James," he replied as he moved toward James' neck and sucked his earlobe into his mouth.

He knew they would end up in bed again, slowly peeling the layers of clothing from their bodies and exploring each other tentatively, like insecure teenagers on their first date. It was something they enjoyed greatly and some of their weekends were almost entirely spent that way.

But the day didn't go as planned. In the afternoon, they got a call from Stephen. Another Anomaly had appeared, this time in the middle of the Stamford Bridge Stadium.

The twelve peacefully grazing Triceratops on the playing field could have been funny if the club manager hadn't been whinging about his nice turf, now trampled down and being eaten. And if the man hadn't kept reminding them every 2 minutes there was an important game for Chelsea FC in exactly 24 hours time.

The dinosaurs on the field didn't bother him in the slightest. He just wanted them gone before they destroyed more of his nice turf.

When they finally arrived home late that night, Nick just wanted a quick fuck before they got off to sleep, completely exhausted.

On Monday Nick directed a puzzled look at the small note on his desk in the Central Metropolitan University.

"Meet me today at 5 o'clock at Elm Park in Havering."

Nick recognised the place as the old above-ground station of the London underground where he and Helen used to meet sometimes when they were students.

He didn't really want to see his ex-wife again after their latest unpleasant conversation. But he knew he would be there at the appointed time just to satisfy his curiosity. He felt it was better to be informed about what his bitchy ex-wife was up.

After what she had done to Stephen it wasn't possible to be too careful where Helen was concerned. Currently she wasn't exactly Stephen's favourite person either. He thought that perhaps it might be sensible to take his recently regained friend as backup to the meeting.

Lester grimaced at the note on his desk in the ARC. He didn't have any interest in meeting that bitch again. Unfortunately, his immediate superior had a different opinion.
James Lester sighed. Sometimes he really hated this job.

Going behind Nick's back was not the way he'd wanted to handle the situation but he hadn't known how to address the topic with Nick without revealing too much. The talks with Helen had been much too private for his taste and he was afraid Nick wouldn't understand the situation correctly.

Of course the command of absolute secrecy from the Home Office wasn't making it any easier for him.

Lester hadn't mentioned the private parts of the conversation with Helen Cutter to his boss either. It wasn't anyone's business what he did in his private time with Nick.

James Lester crumpled the small note in his hand. Like a obedient dog he would be there, waiting for Helen Cutter to make the deal the Home Office was so desperately interested in. And later he would tell his lover all about it. To hell with non-disclosure.

At 5 pm, Lester met Helen Cutter at Elm Park. Her grinning face made him sick at first sight. He trusted the woman about as far as he could throw a large dinosaur. She reminded him too much of the velociraptor Cutter's team had captured in the shopping centre. By now he knew she was as cold-blooded as that dinosaur as well.

"Hello, Lester, still buggering my husband, I presume?" she greeted him.

Lester gritted his teeth. "Ex-husband!" he corrected.

Helen ignored his objection. "Did you get what I wanted?"

"Here are your Social Security documents, a new passport and your divorce papers. In the envelope is the key to a small flat you can use for now. Inside the folder there's also the details of your new bank account. If you cooperate with the government there will be a nice cash transfer every month. The Home Office wants the first report on the Anomalies by Wednesday. Welcome back to society," Lester said stiffly.

Smugly, Helen took the file Lester held out to her.

"Don't you think a handshake is in order?" she asked, challengingly and held her hand out towards him.

Nick and Stephen watched from behind a parked car across from the station as Lester shook hands with Helen after giving her what they presumed was secret information.

Something shattered inside Nick in that moment.

He felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest and was lying bleeding on the ground next to him. James had betrayed him. The man he loved and trusted had lied to him and allied himself with his scheming ex-wife. Moaning, Nick sunk slowly to his knees, his hands desperately pressed against his eyes as though that could undo the dreadful scene he had just witnessed.

Stephen crouched in front of him and hugged his distraught friend. He still couldn't believe what they had witnessed. Although, he had harboured suspicions about Lester, he had also seen the man's love for Nick the day he had opened the cold store door. The feelings he had seen in Lester's eyes had been genuine, he was certain of it.

That couldn't be the same man who was now collaborating with Helen no more than 25 metres away from them.

There had to be another explanation for the display. He would get to the bottom of it later but right now he had to take care of the friend who was clinging desperately to him.

Stephen sat next to Cutter in the pub, watching him empty his third drink in a row. When Nick winked at the bartender again he finally reacted.

"You've had enough to drink, Cutter. Alcohol isn't helping."

Cutter put his head in his hands. "James told me the same thing a few days ago when you and I were still at odds and I'd had a skinful of drink the night before," he whispered brokenly then gulped the next drink.
"Fuck!" he yelled. "I trusted him. How could he do that to me," and then nodded for another drink.

The bartender said to Stephen quietly: "Look, mate, I don't want any trouble here. I think you'd better take your friend home."

Stephen was of the same opinion. Nick hadn't ever reacted so emotionally and with the alcohol in his bloodstream he slowly seemed to be losing control.

But it was more difficult to convince his friend of that. Finally, Cutter saw reason and followed him out of the pub, fortunately without any obvious sign of drunkenness.

While Stephen drove him home, Nick stared blankly out of the car window the whole way.

At the house, Nick Cutter was anxiously expected by James. He hadn't heard from Nick the whole evening. The only information he'd had was that Stephen and Nick had left the ARC at quarter past four in the afternoon.

Not calling when he was late was unusual for Nick.

So when the frontdoor opened and Cutter stumbled in, James hurried towards his lover to pull him into his arms. He stopped instantly when he realised Stephen was following Nick.

Nick Cutter stared at James with suspicious, narrowed eyes. James didn't know what to make of Nick's behaviour. Under his accusing look James slowly grew more uncomfortable. His gaze flickered over to Stephen, uncertainly. He wished the other man would go so he could sort out with his lover what was bothering him. But Stephen didn't leave. He just closed the frontdoor behind him and turned around again, his face giving nothing away.

"How could you do that?" Nick finally started. "How could you betray us like that?"

James looked puzzled.

Then Nick cried: "I saw you with Helen."

Lester froze. He gulped to fight off the lump in his throat. "Nick, let me explain.... It isn't what you think... "

"So, then you don't work for Helen and haven't been giving her infomation about the project?" Nick asked maliciously. "Don't take me for a fool. I know what I saw."

"I did nothing like that. Actually, Helen works for the Home Office now. In exchange we've provided her with what she needs to get back into society - a new passport, money, a flat."

Lester looked pleadingly into Nick's eyes trying to make him understand.

"That was the only thing we could do to prevent more incidents with casualties the way she had threatened."

"You knew it was Helen behind the bunch of prehistoric animals popping up all over the place. And you didn't deem it necessary to inform your team? Or me?" Nick yelled.

"I was under strict orders not to reveal anything about the deal in the offing with Helen."

Nick Cutter clenched his hands into fists, shaking with rage. Stephen touched Nick's shoulder soothingly and the man drew deep breaths in an attempt to calm down again.

"I take it that was not the first meeting with Helen, then," he said slightly more composed. "You didn't arrange all that in one meeting. I want to hear all about the others."

"Mr. Hart, if you would leave us alone for a moment," Lester prompted.

But Nick cut in: "Stephen stays. There isn't anything he isn't entitled to hear."

Lester was hurt by Nick's words. It was a secret and private matter after all and the man had witnessed enough already. Nervously, he looked over to Stephen who stood there awkwardly, his arms folded across his chest.

Slowly, James started to tell of his first meeting with Helen.

When he saw the flash of fury in Nick's eyes, Lester didn't dare to look at him again. He continued with his story, his head bowed.

James Lester just hoped his lover could forgive him for his silence.
He consoled himself with the thought that Cutter had forgiven Stephen for the crime of committing adultery with his wife.

He surely could overlook the fact that James hadn't told him about Helen instantly, couldn't he? After all Helen was a topic Nick hadn't been very talkative about either.

After Lester had finished he just stared into space, waiting for Nick's reaction.

"Did you ever think of the ramifications of your actions, James? Gambling with Helen over me....," Nick said in disgust.

"Nick, I didn't ...," Lester tried to explain, but Cutter ignored his attempt.

"You were fighting over me like a pack of hyaenas over a corpse and people died because of that.
I thought there was a nice, caring man behind the facade of the cold-blooded bureaucrat. I thought I could trust you. Now I see I don't know you at all."

"Nick, try to understand... I.."

"I don't want to hear your excuses.
You know what happened with Stephen and how much I was hurt by his betrayal. Yet still you went behind my back with Helen. Tell me, did you sleep with her too?"

Lester sputtered, outraged: "Of course not. I'm not that deranged."

Despite the seriousness of the topic, Stephen felt inclined to laugh. Perhaps he was finally going bonkers caught between all the madness with Helen, Lester and Nick?
He had to get out of here as quickly as possible.

"Nick, I think, I'd better I go now. You'll be all right, won't you?" he asked his friend.

"Yeah, I think I can manage on my own from here. Thanks for being there for me," Nick answered, suddenly feeling very tired.

When Stephen had left the house, Nick turned to James again. "I can't live with someone who thinks he has the right to make decisions about my life and makes secret arrangements with my scheming ex-wife."

"Nick, please, don't do this to us. You're too agitated to think right now. I'm sure we can work it out later," Lester pleaded.
"I don't want to lose you," he whispered, afraid.

"Perhaps you never had me in the first place, James."

After saying that Nick felt a lump in his throat, his eyes filled with tears and he turned away, ashamed. Lester shouldn't see how much he had hurt him.

"Do you want me to go?" James Lester asked stoically.

Nick nodded. "I think it's for the best. You can spend tonight in the spare room. But by tomorrow evening I want you gone. It's time you looked for a home of your own."

With drooping shoulders, Nick walked into the bedroom, leaving James behind, still standing in the doorway of the living room.

When James finally moved he noticed it had started to rain outside. It seemed to him that the sky was crying for them as well.

Both men settled down for the night. Nick Cutter in the master bedroom and James Lester in the spare room.

They lay there in the darkness, both lonely, both desperate.

And in the morning both their pillows were damp with tears.