Disclaimer: While I would like to take credit for coming up with such awesome characters, I sadly cannot. Soooo… ITV um and whoever the production company is. Also the actors for bringing these characters to life for us.

Category: Angst

Pairing: Nick/Claudia/Jenny saga

Spoilers: First two season (well, first season for the US since we got both seasons as one here).

Rating: K

Author: Traci

Author Note: I took a few timeline liberties. I realize that in the UK, Primeval aired as two separate series over a period of a year or more whereas here it aired as one 13-week series. So, I sort of went with their estimated timeline as well as made my own that worked for this particular story. :D.

Summary: It's Christmas and Nick is nowhere to be found and Jenny is worried.

Good Friends and Christmas Miracles

With an annoyed groan, Jenny Lewis rolled over in her bed trying to avoid the slivers of light illuminating her bedroom. On a day off, the last thing she wanted to do was get up before noon, even if it was Christmas.

Christmas. She sighed sleepily into her pillow. Last Christmas had been hectic with visits to her parents and her fiancées parents and wedding plans. It amazed her how much things had changed in a year. No more fiancée, no more people to visit as her parents, still a little disappointed with her about the wedding cancellation, chose to visit her sister in New York instead. She had not even bothered with a tree, just a small tabletop version, this year.

Three days earlier had been the company Christmas party, which may not have happened if not for the skillful persuasion of Connor Templeton and Abby Maitland. She smiled as she remembered the enthusiasm of the younger two and how Lester had given up arguing about it realizing conceding to a party would be far less aggravating.

Then there was Nick Cutter. Reluctantly, and almost by means of kidnapping, he had agreed to attend the party but the smile he gave everyone throughout the night never quite reached his eyes. Jenny knew part of it was the loss of his good friend, Stephen, but she realized most of it was due to the fact that Claudia Brown was not there to share Christmas with him. Never really knowing the whole story, she had at least ascertained that Claudia had not been a figment of his imagination when Helen, upon holding the entire team hostage, had commented on Jenny's similarity to Claudia a few months earlier. At the party they had all wished each other a Happy Christmas, made a few token offers to call each other over the holidays and said they would see each other after the new year unless an anomaly appeared.

As she stretched and yawned, slowly coming to life, Jenny wondered what Nick was doing for Christmas. Taking a chance, she picked up her cell and dialed his number. It rang five times before going to voice mail.

"Hi Nick, Happy Christmas. I was just wondering if maybe you'd like to grab a coffee or something. Just give me a call when you get this."

Taking a sip of hot coffee, Nick watched his phone as it rang. He stared at Jenny's name on the caller ID. Their first meeting had not gone so well, especially when he terrified her by insisting she was someone else. Slowly, though, he had accepted she was not Claudia and slowly she had accepted that he had lost someone who looked and sounded just like her and was adjusting to her not being that person. Eventually they learned to respect each other and more recently began to consider themselves friends.

After Stephen's funeral, as Jenny walked with him through the cemetery offering to take him out for a drink, he turned to her and it suddenly hit him what he had been doing to Jenny all those months – and he wanted to make it up to her somehow for not accepting her for who she was but kept expecting her to somehow morph into someone she had never met. It was that very day that he had tried to let go of the past, a past that only he and Helen seemed to remember.

He had tried yet this Christmas day he knew he had failed.

The phone vibrated with the announcement of a voicemail.

He turned the phone off without listening.

With no reason to rush, Jenny had indulged in a relaxing hot bath complete with candles and soft music before starting the day. Nearly two hours had passed since she left the message for Nick and, as she sat on her couch sipping a latte, she found herself fighting the urge to go to his house anyway. It was an internal fight that she quickly lost. Grabbing her coat, she made a quick stop for coffee for both of them before continuing on to her final destination.

Arriving at his doorstep nearly half an hour later, with regular coffee in hand for him and a peppermint latte in hand for her, she rang the doorbell and waited in the dropping temperatures for him to answer. When he didn't show, she knocked. Still there was no answer. When she had first arrived, Jenny noticed his car was not parked in its usual spot but hoped that maybe he had just had to park around back. Maybe she had been wrong about Nick. Maybe he did have someplace to be. Her eyes widened with realization and she dashed back to her car and drove off.

A light snow had begun to fall but Nick barely noticed. He would sit there and be buried alive by snow waiting and hoping for a Christmas miracle if need be.

Picking up the newly familiar sound, he smiled to himself. "I should have known you'd find me somehow."

The intruder sat down on the frozen ground beside him. "No one should spend Christmas alone." Jenny handed him his coffee and stared at the open space before her. "Do you really think even if it opens again she'll be waiting on the other side?"

He glanced at her. Without her usual work-style makeup she was the spitting image of Claudia Brown.

"I didn't mean it like that. I just mean are you sure that changing the past back to what you knew is as simple as an anomaly showing up in the same place and you stepping through?"

Nick wrapped his cold hands around the hot cup Jenny had handed him. "I don't know. Probably not but if there's a chance…"

She nodded in understanding.

"Thank you," he quietly said, indicating the coffee.

Jenny smiled at him as he looked at her once more. "I couldn't really have you freezing to death in the Forest of Dean, you know. It would be a PR nightmare."

He laughed briefly. "Thank you for everything else, too. I know I haven't made it easy for you but thank you for understanding."

She reached over and placed a gloved hand around his wrist. "No need to thank me. I just wish there was more I could do to help." Pausing, she slowly pulled her hand back. "Did you and Claudia have any special Christmas traditions?"

Nick shook his head while returning his attention back to the empty spot in the woods where it had all started… and all ended in regards to Claudia. "This would have been our first Christmas together." He sighed. "I'm not even sure if we would have been together as a couple so I don't know why I'm even…"

"If she cared about you half as much as you obviously care about her, I'm sure that wouldn't have been a problem."

"What about you? Don't you have family to see?"

"Not this year," she softly replied. "After the engagement ended… well, my parents are still not happy about it. They're in New York right now."

"I'm sorry." Looking at her again, he met her eyes. "Sometimes I think this job takes too much from us all."

"But if we don't do it, who will?"

Satisfied for the time being with that answer, he took a long sip of his drink.

The snow began to fall a little harder, coating the ground around them, as the sky grew darker.

"What did you call about earlier?" he asked.

Jenny shrugged. "Seeing if you wanted to meet up for coffee."

"Oh." With his eyes still focused where the anomaly used to be, he continued. "Does the offer to grab a drink still stand?"

"Always," she responded.

Nick turned to Jenny and smiled. "Can I take you up on that tonight?"

"What about…" she tilted her head in the direction of where he had been watching.

"I guess I'm past hoping for a Christmas miracle," he replied sadly. "Besides, Christmas is also about spending time with friends."

"Yes it is," she agreed.

Nick stood up and held out his hand to her helping her up. Once standing, she shook the snow off her coat while he picked up the empty coffee cups and thermos. Seeing her shiver slightly, he put the items in his bag and slid one arm around her shoulders, pulling her against his side.

"Come on, let's get you back to the car to warm up."

Having decided on taking just one car to the local pub, Nick had offered to drive. Now, a short time later, he and Jenny sat at a small table near the fireplace he working on his second beer and she still nursing her first gin and tonic.

"I have to admit this is probably the quietest Christmas I've ever had," she said. "What about you?"

He shook his head. "I wasn't really much into Christmas that year that Helen had first disappeared. After that, Christmas became just another day off."

Jenny watched him take another drink waiting for him to continue.

"I guess this year… this year I had hoped would be different but then…" His eyes met hers. "I'm sorry. Here you are trying to cheer me up and I just keep finding a way to bring everyone down."

She reached across the table and covered his hand with her own. "You're allowed."

Without even thinking, he turned his hand over under hers and gave her hand a squeeze. "What do you say we not bring up what-might-have-beens for the rest of the night? There are still a few hours left of Christmas so let's try to make them happier."

She squeezed his hand back. "I'd say that's a very good idea, Professor Cutter."

The hours flew by as they discussed the budding relationship between Connor and Abby, made fun of Lester, argued about whether or not Rex was adorable or obnoxious and learned more about each other as friends not just co-workers.

It was a little before midnight by the time Nick drove Jenny back to her car. The snow had let up a bit after leaving a blanket of white on the trees and grass.

Pulling up beside her car, he got out and opened the car door for her.

She stood in front of him as he closed the passenger door and smiled. "Thank you for tonight."

He smiled back. "I should be thanking you." Nick hugged her and whispered, "Happy Christmas, Jenny."

"Happy Christmas, Nick," she whispered back.

Watching her get into her car, he called out, "Be careful on the roads."

"You too."

"Call me when you get home."

She laughed and closed the car door, driving off as he watched.

Once Jenny's car was out of site, Nick walked back to the anomaly spot and stood quietly for a few moments.

"Happy Christmas, Claudia," he said aloud then headed back to his car.

Claudia Brown stopped cold in her tracks quickly turned around to the spot where she had watched Nick walk out of her life. She had been sitting all night by herself in the snow in the Forest of Dean hoping for a sign, anything that would indicate Nick was still alive somewhere out there.

Then she heard his voice.

With a smile, she said, "Happy Christmas, Nick."

Nick had only taken three steps away from the anomaly site when he heard her. Turning back, his heart sank when he only saw the empty forest.

"I miss you."

"I miss you, too," came the reply that was definitely Claudia's voice.

Nick moved closer to the actual spot as Claudia did the same in her world.

"Claudia?"

"Nick?"

"You can hear me?"

"Yes! Are you okay?"

He bit back his own tears upon hearing hers through her voice. "I'm fine. Are you alright?"

"I was better when you were here," she admitted.

"Me too." Instinctively he reached out as if he would somehow be able to touch her. "I wish I knew how to fix this."

"Nick?"

"Yeah?"

"You're voice is fading."

He realized she wasn't coming through as loudly or clearly as she had at first. "Yours is too. I'll get back to you somehow, I promise."

"I know. Nick, in case this is our only chance I… I love you."

Nick smiled and his heart pounded. She really did feel the same way. "I love you, too, Claudia."

"Till New Years," he barely heard her say.

"Claudia?" His smile faded when there was no response.

The connection was lost.

Soon his smile was growing again. Claudia was alive somewhere and she loved him. Just when he had given up on Christmas miracles, he was the recipient of one.

Climbing into the car, he had just turned it on when his cell phone beeped with a text message from Jenny.

Am home safely. Stopped by church and lit a candle in Claudia's name for you. Thank you again for tonight.

He sent a message back. Maybe we could meet up for a New Year's drink? Same place, same time?

The reply came as he was backing out of the parking spot.

Forest of Dean. Five pm. I'll bring the champagne.

Carefully making his way home on the slippery roads, he could not stop smiling. He had found a good friend in Jenny that night and he had a true Christmas miracle happen with being able to talk to Claudia. He would call Jenny later and fill her in on what had transpired but for the moment he was content to enjoy the memories of what had become one of the best Christmas' in years.