My first Primeval fic. Based off the relationship between Cutter and Connor. Whenever I see it I see it as father/son, so I just had to write this fic. I also have another weird fic idea, involving Connor of course. Is it just me, or is he totally like the saviour of the world, everyone else is just there to prepare him for the epic battle.

"So." Abby said, swinging her legs off the edge of the table, eyes tracking the back of Nick Cutter as he moved around his office, picking up and disregarding a number of post-its filled with his illegible scrawl.

"What is it Abby?" Cutter asked her, and Abby knew he was becoming annoyed at her continued presence. After all, she wasn't Connor, she knew when to take a hint and leave the man alone; especially on this matter. But Connor was the reason she was here, her flatmate had been more and more withdrawn waiting for the results of the test to come back. Abby knew the reasons why of course, which was why she was here. Connor was her friend and he deserved to know.

"If it turned out Helen was lying..." Abby began, only to stop as she realised there was no tactful was to broach the subject. Cutter had been like an angry bear since Helen had dropped her latest bombshell.

Cutter went still. "I'd be relieved."

Abby's legs stilled, and she stared wide eyed at his back, knowing that this information would break Connors heart, even if the test did come back negative. Connor idolised Cutter, any hint of disapproval sent the younger man into a frantic overdrive to prove himself. This sort of response would be devastating.

"I hope you don't intend to say that to Connor." Abby said sharply.

Cutter gave a loud sigh that made his shoulders drop. "No Abby, I don't intend to say it quite like that."

Abby's eyes narrowed. "You'd actually tell him you were relieved..." she trailed off and hopped to her feet. "And what if it turns out she wasn't lying? What would your feelings be then?"

Cutter sighed again. "Drop it Abby." he said.

"I can't Cutter. Connor's my friend, and none of this is his fault, but he's the one who's going to be most affected by this." She sighed and leaned against the table.

"What exactly is it going to help for you to know Abby? Will it somehow help Connor to know that I'd be disappointed if it turned out he really was my son? What point will any of this serve. It would just be better for all of us if Helen was really lying." Cutter snapped out, his voice strained.

There was a nervous laugh at the door, and Abby's heart sank, she could see Cutter's shoulder tense.

"Well..." Connor swallowed hard, and when Abby turned to look she could see he had heard almost every word, and just for once she wished real life was like television, where he had just misinterpreted, where the conversation had not been as damming as it was. But there was no room for that right now.

"Connor." Cutter had turned, and it was clear he was sorry for how harsh his words had sounded, but the truth of them was clear in his face.

"Well it's a good thing I checked the results before coming over." Connor blustered, trying to hide his hurt, but it was painful to see. "No need to be disappointed Professor. Turns out she was lying after all. What a relief huh?"

And Connor was in motion, waving his hands around in distracting ways, drawing all attention away from his face. "I mean, I have no clue what she was even thinking. Seriously who would ever buy you and me being related. And even thinking about it makes my head hurt, 'cause if it were true I'd only really be what? Seven? So yeah, great news this. Guess I'd better get back to work on the anomaly detector. Yeah... Talk to you later."

And he was gone, and Abby felt her heart break for him. She was just about to whirl round to Cutter, to start berating him for his insensitivity when he words caught. She had been the one to approach Cutter, the one to keep pressing. She could try and dress it up all she wanted, concern for Connor, or whatever else, but she was as much to blame right now for his hurt as Cutter.

"He's lying." Cutter said, and he suddenly looked old.

"What?" Abby managed to get out past the lump in her throat.

"He can't lie worth a damn." Cutter said, more to himself than to Abby. "Shit."

Cutter was out of the office before Abby could think to ask him where he was going. She slumped back against the table and fought the urge to cry.

Of course Helen hadn't been lying. Nick had always known; he had always been able to read her like a book. She wore her emotions on her sleeve. How he hadn't seen it before he didn't know. It seemed so damned obvious after she'd told him.

It didn't take him long to find Connor, who was typing furiously on his laptop.

He stopped and watched. He hadn't been lying about how he would feel if Connor did turn out to be his son. And he wasn't about to go over there and make excuses, because excuses would do nothing more than make Connor feel worse, and he had done enough of that for one day.

"You gonna let me see those results?" Nick asked, because there was no way of easing into this conversation.

Connor looked like a startled rabbit when he looked up. "No need surely. I mean, you got what you wanted so there's nothing else to say... or see I suppose."

"I'd still like to see them."

Connor looked away. "It'd be better if you didn't Professor."

Nick took a seat next to him and sighed. He had never considered kids, had assumed he and Helen would maybe have one or two, and he'd learn how to be a father gradually. To be suddenly faced with a grown up son, a young man he had begun to grow fond of before this knowledge came to light.

How he had not seen it before he couldn't begin to guess. He had Helen's eyes, he was filled with the same excitement as she had once been, and he was as hopelessly hopeless as he himself had been at that age. There were hundreds, thousands of other little tells that should have alerted him, but none of them had.

He wracked his brain for something to say. Something that wouldn't sound as condemning and hurtful as his previous words.

"So... you would have been seven, if she had stayed."

He couldn't stop the flat tone that crept in. There was no way to turn this into something amusing. But he knew once the words were said, and Connor flinched that they had been taken the wrong way.

"Connor, I-"

Alarms blared through the control room and Nick bit back a curse as Connor jumped up from his seat and was halfway across the room.

"Connor!" he called over the noise, and Connor froze, glancing back nervously. "We'll talk about this when we get back."

Connor gave a jerky nod and was out of the room a second later. Nick had a feeling that his talk with Connor would not go as planned. In fact, the sinking feeling in his gut was telling him that he might not get the chance to talk to Connor at all.

I hope you enjoyed the fic. There will be at least another chapter at some point in the future.