Fandom: Primeval

Author; Kath

Title; Time Twister

Disclaimer; Recognisable characters and the universe they inhabit, belong to Impossible Pictures

A/N; Well, who would have thought it? Back writing after four years! Enjoy!

Spoilers; Some from what we've seen so far in Primeval Series 1&2. That is; 'Anomalies' leading to various eras (including the future) are showing up in the present day. A dedicated team of scientists, helped and hindered by the Home Office, are charged with investigating the anomalies and dealing with the consequences. As this story begins, Professor Nick Cutter has returned from the prehistoric past to discover his reality has been altered...

"Where's Claudia?" There was desperation in his eyes, in his voice, in every fibre of his being. "Where's Claudia? Your assistant, Claudia?" Some blank stares, some wary. Not even the memory of his best friend's betrayal, at that moment, had mattered.

But it mattered now.

They had done the manly thing. Saved each other's lives in the heat of battle against the backdrop of a bowling alley. A bowling alley! Sometimes Cutter wondered if the rampaging beasties that came through the anomalies were as frightened and confused at their new surroundings as the inhabitants were at seeing them.

And Stephen, Stephen had actually thought that Cutter would leave him to die. Had Stephen really changed that much?

A week was a long time in the Anomaly Project. A week ago Cutter would have trusted Stephen Hart to the ends of the earth and the beginnings of time, and he would have said that Stephen would do the same with him. And now Helen's spiteful revelation had Cutter questioning every part of their friendship.

No one to talk to about this, no one to confide in.

Ironic really. Any time he and Stephen disagreed, Claudia would be the first to play the peacemaker between them. And when he and Claudia began to care for each other, it was Stephen who had understood. How could he have done that without betraying the massive secret he held? How could Stephen not have slipped up once in their friendship? There had been plenty of opportunities, drunk and sober, to confess. And not once had he done so, not once. The two people Cutter cared most about were gone from his life, just like that, in a blink. The two most important people. And neither of them was his wife...

"Sorry, Professor! Didn't realise you were still here!"

The door banging against the wall as a typically exuberant Connor Temple entered broke his concentration. But Cutter had to smile; at least one person in this tangled mess was still a known element.

"No problem, Conner, I was just leaving." Cutter scooped up his jacket and headed for the door.

Cutter walked through the unfamiliar corridors, sticking to the main routes, finding the central lift, and riding down to the lobby.

A dedicated, pristine, centre. This reality, for want of a better word, certainly took the anomalies seriously; not that his own reality didn't; it was just, this one seemed far in advance of the game. And Cutter had to wonder why that was. Had something happened here? Obviously the anomalies were not yet public knowledge, but this facility had so much more scope for research and experimentation...

Cutter paused to take a deep breath of air as soon as he stepped out the doors. He glanced back and gave a brief salute to the security guard on duty, then stepped away to gaze up at the towering structure above him.

It was all wrong. Everything was wrong. Stephen had slept with his wife, might even have had an affair! Claudia didn't exist! Lester was... well actually, Lester was just as he had ever been, and that was still wrong.

Something they had done had changed the normal, no, his, course of time.

It wasn't Ryan; he had died as he was supposed to.

Cutter bowed his head as he remembered Ryan's realisation that he was going to die. Would Ryan have tried to survive, with every painful breath, every shattered bone, if the knowledge of the skeleton had not intruded? Cutter shook his head in denial; no, Ryan's wounds were too extensive, he could not possibly have survived his injuries.

And he himself had returned immediately. He had not strayed from the trail; he had left the camp as it was supposed to be.

And Helen had stepped through the anomaly, only a few seconds behind him.

No chance to change things. No time.

Time?

Time.

He had left Helen alone. He had rejected her, again. And her revenge was to inform him of her affair with his best friend.

Stephen had never, ever, once, even hinted that there was something between himself and Cutter's wife. That was not so surprising. But what Cutter kept coming back to was that Stephen was not that good a liar. There would have been something; a stray look, a shared joke, something. Nick Cutter had been accused of being oblivious before, but surely he couldn't have missed this?

And the certainty grew on him that he hadn't. Stephen, his Stephen, would not betray him. It was Helen. Helen knew more about the anomalies than any of them did. Helen had proved that she was utterly ruthless in pursuit of her own goals. And he knew, none better, that she was manipulative. Hell, he'd known that even when they were married.

So. Helen. Helen had taken a more extensive revenge for his rejection than he could ever have believed. She'd taken Stephen, and she'd taken Claudia.

And Nick was determined to get them back. The only question was, how?

TBC