Disclaimer: Nor Sallad or I own Primeval and it's characters, we just really love to write them. No copyright intended.
A/N: I tend to ramble in my Author Notes so I really should leave this to Sallad... Taking place after Series 5, spoilers for the entire series. Sorry.
Dedicated to Cehsja!
The prehistoric creature swam in a circular motion, bringing his eyes to follow it as it went. The creature paced in the water, finding itself stuck in a closed off section of the pool. It was stuck, which was the opposite of how he felt at this moment.
He closed his eyes and took a long, subsided breath before opening them to see a familiar face in front of him.
"Lost in thought?" Abby said with a smirk, placing her hands on the side of the pool. His legs hung of the edge, feet dipping into the water. She brought herself up beside him.
"Better than being lost in the past."
Abby smiled, now sitting beside him dripping with water. "I can relate – though I was chased by Raptor rather than about a dozen giant, really ugly birds."
He looked at her with a raised brow and snorted.
"Wha'?"
"Just didn't think Abby Maitland would call any kind of creature ugly. Perhaps working with them long enough starts to change your mind, yeah?"
"More like being chased by them," she said with a laugh, then in a moment of silence Abby sighed. "How long were you there?"
He shrugged, "'Bout a year. Made me realize some things, ya know."
She crooked her head to him, "Like what?"
"Like I wish I had a fish."
Abby laughed and shook her head, looking down at the prehistoric type catfish. "This one might be a tad bit too big for your flat," she smirked.
"Can always get a bigger flat." She smiled again and looked down, seeing a deep wound scraped down his leg. He dragged her out of her thoughts by his voice. "I don't suppose you know of a flat that's any bigger than the Pliocene."
"Well I don't know 'bout bigger, but I know of some that are a whole lot friendlier."
"I'm not rooming with you and Connor now, if that's what you mean."
Abby laughed, "Not in my dreams. We just got a place to ourselves. Jess is welcome to new comers, though."
"I don't fancy she knows me very well."
Abby let out a chuckle and shook her head. "Trust me, she knows you."
He looked at her confused and furrowed his brows. "Bit worried now, though I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I do work for the bloody government."
It was then silent. He looked over across the pool that an anomaly from the Pliocene to his present time had opened hours back to see Connor and the team talking over the creatures. "How is everyone anyway?"
"By everyone do you mean the team or me and Connor?" She said, continuing to smirk at him.
He laughed and nodded, "Are you two still…?"
"We're engaged, actually," she said happily. He wasn't surprised, but that still almost wanted to bring him to tears.
"Best be invited to your wedding."
"I even made an invite for you, just in case you ever made it back."
Abby's attention was brought to Connor across from the pool when he was calling her to come help with something. She looked at him once again and grinned. "Good to have you back, Danny." And she jumped into the chlorine water to make her way over to the rest of the team.
Danny smiled to himself, seeing him now in a pool, not in some dirty, polluted lake to find no safety in. He could actually see the bottom of this, which was a nice change. Danny was home. He couldn't believe it, but he was home.
Danny sat at a table, all to himself, watching everyone talking amongst themselves. He observed as Becker smiled, with a bubbly brunette known as Jess sitting in his lap, and the Victorian era Emily made the future guy, Matt, dance with her. And of course the bride and groom teasing and laughing over who knows what, sitting at their own table, enjoying themselves.
He never was much for weddings, they were always either too happy or too drunk. His mind kept going back to his team, missing some people that were no longer here.
Suddenly someone took a seat beside him. He craned his head to see his temporary flat-mate looking like his normal bored self.
"Nice wedding, yeah?"
Lester rolled his eyes, trying to seem as irritated as possible. "I suppose, if I should find my employees marrying enjoyable. It was a rather tolerable wedding, though."
Danny smirked. "Considering that you were in the wedding and all."
"Don't be jealous now, Quinn. You were also included."
Danny smiled, seeing right through his vulgar exterior. "Never said I wasn't." and seeing the face Lester made towards the happy couple he went on. "So basically, you're happy for them and you can't wait to become Granddad Lester."
"If they dare call me that I will get the bloody EMD's myself."
Danny laughed and shook his head but said nothing, giving Lester time to speak his mind. "Danny... it seems we're in a bit of a fix."
"What's that, Guv? The happy couple make a mess of things again?"
Lester scoffed. "I wouldn't be surprised, but this time it's about you."
"I didn't eat the cookies, I swear!"
"What cookies?"
"I… Forget it." He said, hiding his face by taking a sip of his drink.
He rolled his eyes and sighed. "As I was saying, this is about you, specifically anomalies."
"Do I look like an anomaly to you?"
"Do you actually expect me to answer that, or shall we move on to a more pressing matter than your bantering?"
"Never thought you to be one to turn down a good exchange, so I'm guessing it must be urgent."
"Yes, urgent enough that I don't have time to wait for Connor and Abby to return from their lollygagging in the Bahamas."
"I'm touched. You should give these pep talks to your employees more often."
"Do you not care about this at all, or are you done playing Three Stooges?"
"I'm all ears, you just don't seem to be saying anything I haven't heard before."
Lester groaned and pulled out a picture from his suit, putting it on the table for Danny to see as Abby stepped onto the stage to toss the bouquet.
"What's this, your blue ribbon photography entry?"
"It's where I'll put you if you don't straighten up and take a closer look at the photograph."
Danny smirked and picked up the picture while Jess loudly caught the flowers. "It's real pretty, Lester, but just what do you want me to-" He paused, seeing a blurred face behind an old, foggy window. "Is that…?"
"As I said, we have a bit of a mess to fix."
"Has she been stuck there this entire time?" Danny said with panic in his voice.
"That's what we want you to find out."
He took another look at the face of the long-lost Sarah Page. "What do you need me to do?"
Connor took his bride's place on stage and announced it was the men's turn. Not paying attention, Lester opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by something being slung into his face. He looked down to see the suspender fall into his lap. They both watched Jess, bouquet in hand, skipping over to them with a wide grin. "I believe we've been assigned the next dance," she extended her hand to Lester.
He immediately moaned but complied, standing up to take her arm, while ignoring the on-stage couple's smirk.
Danny, on the other hand, was too caught up in thought about the image of his once lost Dr. Sarah Page.
Becker, Lester and Wilcock, one of Becker's men, stood at the scene of an anomaly – its light radiating as they chatted among themselves and waited for the one and only Danny Quinn.
"I know – we should have a tank." Becker agreed with Wilcock, making it loud enough for Lester to hear.
Lester rolled his eyes. "Fine, get a tank, lend it to Temple, and then watch us all get blown up. The Minister will be very proud."
Becker smirked at him and before Wilcock could reply in return they heard a motorcycle rolling behind them.
"Look what the Pliocene dragged in." Becker remarked, seeing Danny driving it up between him and Lester. "Having fun?"
Danny pulled off his helmet, his smug expression plastered on. He tossed Wilcock the headpiece as he made his way off the bike.
"Mr. Quinn, is it quite necessary to drive the motorcycle up the ramp and into our breathing space?"
"Got a problem with Teresa?"
Lester sighed. "Oh Lord, he named the thing."
"After you come back from the past and all you own is a motorcycle, yeah, you start to bond. So, where's the anomaly lead?"
"Future, where else?" Becker replied.
"Whoa, whoa. Last time I was informed, Matt and them got rid of that hell. Did the team decide to pull a joke on the bloke from the past?"
"There's always to be a future, Quinn. No matter what we do. They only postponed it." Lester clarified.
"So… Does Connor know about this…? Does Matt know about this?"
"That's not any of your concern at the moment. Your only concern should be Sarah Page, and getting her out of there."
"Okay, so me and action man go in-"
"I'm afraid 'action man' isn't coming with you."
Danny glanced at Becker and then back to Lester. "Why is that?"
"A certain field coordinator suggested otherwise, saying it would be wise if we kept our longest lasting team member at bay."
Danny left out a chuckle, finding it amusing that, of all people, Jess is the one he tended to listen to more than anyone. "I see who she fancies most."
"Listen, I still say I should go along just in case-" Becker paused, hearing Jess' voice in the com nagging at him. He let out a sigh and handed Danny his gun. "You'll need this."
"That's comforting."
"Future predators may not be around anymore, but we're not for certain what is." Wilcock spoke up. Danny's brows rose, taking in a deep breath and looking back at Becker.
"Oi, if I don't come back then I'd like to tell Abby and Connor something before I go."
"Don't be ridiculous, Quinn."
"Every time I ever went through that bloody anomaly the words of 'I'm coming back' came out of my mouth and I never told them goodbye. I regretted that, and I'd like to tell them this time."
"Good luck on that, they're leaving for the Bahamas in an hour."
"Then give me a phone."
"Connor broke mine."
Danny sighed. "Course he did, lemme guess, he ran over it with a tank?"
Wilcock laughed and Becker ducked his head. Lester then shoved a cell phone in Danny's face, bringing his attention to him. "Go on, don't use up too many of my minutes or you'll be paying for them." Danny smiled, thanking him, but Lester just brushed him off. "Yes, yes. Go on, we don't have all day."
He went to the contacts, seeing Abby's number first, and the phone rang until he got her voice mail – something with her and Connor saying they were off to paradise for the week. He thought about trying Connor's but he knew Abby probably turned off his phone as well.
"Uhh, listen, Abby – Connor you too – I'm going somewhere, somewhere not so safe to say the least and well…" he looked, Lester and Becker eyeing him. He made a face towards them and turned away. "You two be safe. Don't know much about the Bahamas. My guess is there's not a lot of creature threats out there, but just … stay out of trouble. And if you happen to never hear from me again, well, taking care of Teresa for me – Abby, don't let Connor ride her. Ever." He then felt Becker's hand on his shoulder so he hung up and handed Lester his phone.
"You ready?"
Danny smirked and gave a nod. "Not much of a question, is it?"
Becker clapped his shoulder, standing in front of the wide, open anomaly that flashed gleams of light. "Danny, some advice…"
He looked at him, putting a foot out to step through. "Yeah?"
"Don't die."
Danny laughed, "I'll try." And he disappeared into the rip in time.
"Anyone else have this horrific voice in the back of their mind?" Lester asked. "Screaming 'He's going to always make it back'?"
Becker rolled his eyes and crooked his head back, wondering if Sarah Page could still be alive, and if she could, how?
Danny leaned against a wall, having heard a noise behind him. He breathed shallowly, allowing himself to think. 1… 2… 3… 4… He whisked around the corner, gun in his hand, ready to shoot. The creature just crawled towards him, and Danny lowered his weapon to see a future maggot. A breath of relief escaped him as he turned around and continued on his way through the old, forgotten building. The future sure isn't what it's cracked up to be. The only thing I see flying around the sky is the man-eating bugs!
He glanced around the room, if you could call it that. It was gray and falling apart from dust and age, but one thing caught his eye. A book, or more like a journal, looking out of place from the rest of the building. He examined it more closely to find it had fingerprints on it, almost as if it had been dusted off recently. He opened it to find a name at the top of the page: Doctor Sarah Page.
"Sarah…" He mumbled. "Sare? Sarah!" Calling for her, he ran through the building and went through a doorway, leading into what seemed to be a bedroom. Her tangled hair in her face, eyes peacefully closed, her chest rising and falling. "Sarah!" He ran to her and shook her awake.
Her eyes fluttered open, still half asleep. She mumbled something under her breath before looking at Danny and seemed to force a smile. "You came."
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