Primeval Fanfic: The Dark Room
Title: The Dark Room
Author: TalliW
Character: Lester, Team; several pairings
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Primeval is the property of Impossible Pictures. I write just for fun.
Acknowledgments: Thanks to Fredbassett for beta-reading. I couldn't have done it without you.
Lester didn't know when it had all started. He had heard of the Dark Room on the top floor, directly under the roof, the first time when Cutter had proposed to him clumsily twelve hours after he had fired Stephen. But he was sure the room had been a refuge for the employees at the ARC for much longer.
It seemed everyone else had heard about that place long before him. Even Leek had been in on the secret.
Lester still shuddered when he remembered the one time Leek had joined him and Cutter. But the rules, written on a sheet of paper and pinned to the wall, had to be followed. He'd been introduced to leather and vinyl that day and couldn't sit properly for a whole week.
Since then Lester had visited the green-painted room many times, alone, or with Cutter or Jenny.
Lester hadn't bothered to tell Quinn about the room. If the guy was really so clever he would find out for himself.
Lester hadn't been up there since Cutter's death but he knew that room had been one of the first places which had been restored after the explosion.
Two days after the terror bird incident, Connor had lead Quinn up to the top floor and apparently had introduced him properly to the Dark Room. Lester had spied the abrasions on Quinn's wrists from the manacles installed there, which were just a tad too tight for an average sized man.
He knew the team used the room regularly now. He'd seen Jenny heading up there with Sarah every second day to forget her grief over Cutter for a while. After Jenny had left the job, Sarah went with Becker or Abby. One day he'd even seen Abby and Connor mounting the lift to the top floor together.
A week ago Lester had visited the Dark Room for the first time after Helen's attack, driven by loneliness and the yearning to feel alive again. He quickly had got company...
Now he sat alone in the Dark Room. Everyone else was gone. Dead or stranded in time.
He gently touched the black silken sheet, clinging to the illusion that it still smelled from the last encounter in spite of the fact that he had changed the sheets himself afterwards.
The previous night he'd been here with Connor, keeping him cradled in his arms until dawn whilst Danny lay pressed against his backside.
With a wiff of fury Lester whipped the sheet of paper from the green wall and crumpled it in his fist.
But he could still read the words, without difficulty, on the crinkled paper. Or perhaps the text was just burned into his mind after seeing it one time too many.
This is your sanctuary to find release from a stressful job. After stepping over the threshold you agree to participate in activities for mutual benefit.
Rule No 1: No one leaves the room without gratification.
Rule No 2: What happens inside this room stays inside this room. Outside the Dark Room it never happened.
Rule No 3: Keep the room clean. Fresh bedclothes and detergents are in the drawer together with antiseptic tissues and condoms.
Rule No 4: There are no other rules. Everything is allowed here. But use a safe word.