Author's Note:
As some of you know, I am super good friends in real life with another author here, SveaR. We usually tend to have a lot in common (other than the fact that we live on different continents, which is decidedly inconvenient at times). So much so that we often seem to read each other's minds on things. SO... when we both emailed each other the first chapter of our new stories, we shouldn't have been surprised one bit at the one major element of similarity. We wrote these without consulting each other and neither are a copy of the others. The plots and pairings are different so we really hope that you read and enjoy both anyway :)

"I hate the snow," Sarah complained to Danny as she snapped closed her seatbelt buckle.

Danny glanced at her from the driver's seat as he started the car. "S'not so bad, but I could live without it too."

"It looks pretty enough," Sarah expanded on her thought, "but I get so nervous when we have to drive in it."

He raised an eyebrow. "Sarah, you get nervous in the car whether there's snow or not."

"I don't: unless I'm with you. Your driving freaks me out a bit."

"Hey!"

"And now you're driving in the snow and I'm feeling pretty petrified."

"There is nothing wrong with my driving."

"Not if you have a death wish, no. Danny! Watch the road!"

Danny swerved quickly to avoid the car turning right across his path and then skidded on some ice, sending them bonnet first into a ditch. The sunroof and windshield both shattered upon impact. He cursed under his breath and immediately looked to Sarah to make sure she was okay. She looked a bit shaken up, but seemed otherwise fine and even managed to give him a weak smile. "I wasn't implying that I have a death wish, Danny. No need to help me out with it."

"Sorry," he grinned back at her, trying to make the best of a bad situation. "I guess I misunderstood." He undid his seatbelt and tried to open his door, but it wouldn't budge. "Guess I'm crawling out your side then," he muttered.

Sarah suddenly let out a gasp as she undid her own belt and for a moment he thought she was hurt after all, but then she cried out, "Danny, you're bleeding!"

"I am? Where?" he asked, relieved that she was fine. She slid closer to him and gently touched his ear, bending the tip forward so she could assess the cut. Danny closed his eyes, not in pain, it was too numb to hurt actually, but in pleasure at her closeness. One of these days the brave, fearless team leader part of him would summon up the courage to ask her out, he promised himself.

Out loud he asked, "My ear? How'd I hit that?"

Sarah nodded, "I don't think you did. Glass from the windshield is my guess. It's not deep though and I don't see any glass still in it."

Danny opened his eyes again and turned to smile at her. "So what's the prognosis? Do I live?"

Sarah sat back again with a grin, "For now, provided you stop driving in the snow."

"Wasn't my fault she cut me off. She could have waited until it was clear, and there's not even another car on the road!"

Sarah glanced around through the side windows and frowned, "Would also have been nice if she'd stopped to see if we were okay. Witch!" She reached into her purse and pulled out her phone to call the ARC.

"Where the hell are they?" Danny grumbled over an hour later. "It's bloody freezing out here!"

"You're kidding," Sarah responded sarcastically, her teeth chattering. "I hadn't noticed."

Danny glanced at Sarah where she stood leaning against the car and stomping her feet to keep warm. He silently slipped off his coat and put it over her shoulders. "Sorry."

She smiled at him and inched closer and Danny took the hint, pulling her against himself in an attempt to keep them both warm.

Five minutes later one of the ARC vehicles finally pulled up and Connor hopped out with a cheerful whistle. "Hop in, Guys!" he grinned at them both. "Sorry I'm late. There was a bit of a crisis at the ARC involving Sid and Christine Johnson and then me and Abby got in trouble for laughing too much which wasn't in the slightest bit fair because we know Lester found it funny too and…"

"Shut up, Temple!" Danny ordered, "Sarah and I are soaked and freezing and I've gotta bleeding ear apparently. We'd really like to warm up before we hear what Sid did."

"Right," Connor nodded, looking slightly sheepish. "To the ARC then?"

"Or preferably somewhere tropical," Sarah muttered as Danny helped her in.

Sarah had changed into a spare dark blue and tan shirt and skirt set she kept at the ARC and she was still blow drying her hair when the anomaly alert alarms started going off again. She groaned as she switched off the hairdryer and made her way to the ADD. Danny was already there, also donning clean dry clothing and looking like he was still freezing. His hair was still damp too, Sarah noted. If the anomaly was outside they were both going to freeze.

Connor was still trying to pull up the co-ordinates and for some reason it seemed to be taking him longer than usual. He mumbled incoherently at the screen. Finally when it seemed he wasn't actually doing anything, Lester cleared his throat and spoke. "Well?"

Connor read out the co-ordinates and then glanced up at the rest of the group and added bluntly, "That's in India."

"India? As in the country India?" Abby asked after a moment of stunned silence. She moved behind Connor, putting a hand on his shoulder as she leaned over him to view the computer screen for herself.

Connor nodded as his fingers flew along the keyboard once more, searching for security cameras that he could hack into.

Lester turned away. "Good, not our problem then. Now, would someone please shut off that blasted alarm so I can have some peace and quiet?"

"We can't just ignore it!" Abby protested.

"And why not?" Lester grumbled unhappily.

"Because they don't know what to do is why. They might start killing creatures for no reason!"

"Or messing with timelines," Jenny put in. "I, for one, am quite content with who I am and don't need to turn back into Claudia Brown or someone else all together."

"You'd never know if you did," Connor pointed out.

Danny hesitated and then said, "Well we can't just send a full team over across the world. What if an anomaly opens up here in the meantime?"

"Finally some sense," Lester responded. "If you wanna tell them how to deal with it, Abby, I'll find you a phone number."

Abby opened her mouth to reply, but the images that suddenly popped up on the screen from the camera that Connor had found left everyone rendered suddenly speechless. The anomaly seemed to be in the middle of a large landfill. About a dozen bright green lizards were soaring and diving in the air and a lone giant of a dinosaur stood still, almost camouflaged against the mountains of trash and dust.

"Coelurosauravus and scutosaurus," Connor said quickly. "Anomaly must lead to the Permian. Hopefully there's no gorgonopsids in the area, but we've got to get that closed."

Sarah wasn't looking at the dinosaurs though. Her eyes, as well as those of the rest of the team, were focused on the group of barefooted children dressed in rags chasing happily after the flying lizards and paying no heed to the trash surrounding them. After a long period of silence, Danny finally cleared his throat and asked, "How the hell are we gonna round up the flying ones?"

Lester coughed, "Who said you were going to?"

"Someone has to lock it. Connor's right about that. I'm not saying send everyone but the sooner we can get there the less chance there is of something carnivorous coming through. I'll go for sure. I've spent the afternoon freezing in the snow and blimey if it doesn't look hot and sunny there. I'll take a couple of Becker's soldiers with me and perhaps Sarah, if you like," he directed the last part of this towards her. "After all, you were the one talking about tropical weather weren't you?"

Lester glanced at Sarah, "And what's she going to be doing?"

"I can work the locking device," Sarah said quickly. "I would like to go."

"Fine," Lester finally consented with another glance at the screen. "Take Abby too. She can help you with the behavioural patterns of anything that comes through and probably has the most experience with chasing after the flying kind."

"Okay," Danny agreed.

"Can Connor come?" Abby asked hopefully and Danny saw the grateful look that Connor threw her way, but he shook his head.

"Not this time, I'm sorry. There's a good chance you'll be needed here." He felt bad when he saw the crestfallen expression on Connor's face. Abby glared at him and he shot her a look of apologetic understanding.

Abby turned away then, wrapping both her arms around Connor's neck and Connor seemed to cheer up visibly at that. "S'okay, Abs," he said. "Danny and Lester are right. We can't all go. Becker, Jenny 'n me will stay here and hold down the fort, yeah? Anyway, one of us has to look after the pets."

"Do you want me to stay too?" she asked him and Connor shook his head. "No! You want to go, Abs. I know you do. Just, stay safe, okay?"

Abby nodded and Lester glanced at her, "And Abby. Please don't bring any more pets home!"

"We'll see," was the only promise Abby granted him. "Rex could do with a playmate."

"Or you could return him," Becker pointed out, earning glares from both Connor and Abby.

"Never!" Connor spoke vehemently. "Rex was returned once and he chose to come back on his own. He's used to being fed and all by now. He needs his mum and dad."

Jenny started to say something in response, but she was interrupted by Sarah and the team never found out whose side she was going to take.

"I know her!"

"Who?" Danny asked, puzzled.

Sarah pointed to one of the children on the screen, a girl of about ten years. "Her! That's my Kajal!"

Everyone turned to look at Sarah.

"You can't possibly," Connor protested. "Sarah, the picture is grainy and faded and there's over a billion people living in India. The chances of you recognizing someone you know are miniscule, impossible really."

"I don't care about the odds or the grainy picture," Sarah retorted. "I know it's her. I just do!"

The rest of the team gave her the same doubtful look that Connor was, but they kept their mouths shut.

"Her name's Kajal," Sarah insisted. "She's got two brothers. Eby is a year older than her and Mukesh is two years younger. Please, we have to go now. Nothing can happen to her. I love that girl more than life itself. Please!"

"Right," Danny muttered, more than a little confused. "Let's go then. Lester can you have a private jet made ready for us?"

Lester stared at him as if he'd grown a second head. "Yes and I suppose you want a limo to the airport too?"

"Just the jet," Danny responded without missing a beat. "I'll drive."

"To hell you will," Sarah said, her attention snapping away from the screen finally. She snatched Danny's keys from his shirt pocket before he could react. "I'm getting to my Kajal in one piece, thank-you very much."

A few hours later Danny watched Sarah as she stared out the window during take off. He was sat beside her and one of the soldiers, a man known as Wilcock sat on his other side. Abby and the other soldier named Hemple sat just behind them. Wilcock was currently leaning over the seat to discuss something with Hemple and Abby was texting someone, probably Connor, but Danny paid no heed to any of them. Sarah's hand was clutching tight to a brick red binder she'd brought with her and Danny wondered vaguely what was in it, but more than the binder itself he noticed the way her knuckles had turned white. Despite the fact that she got scared every time she got in a car, at least when he was behind the wheel apparently, he had a feeling that her anxiety this time had nothing to do with the flight. She was worried about this little girl still. He wondered if it was at all possible that she was right about the child's identity. He wouldn't have thought so, the video had been so unclear he wasn't sure he'd have recognized his own mother, but she seemed so certain that he found himself believing her.

"Sarah?" he questioned gently. She turned to him so he continued. "How do you know her?"

"Kajal?"

"Yeah. I mean, it seems rather random, don't you think? She's some poor kid on the other side of the world. How did you meet her?"

"I sponsor her through one of those charities that help poor kids and their families."

"Oh," he responded. He thought about it for a moment and then said again, "My aunt did that. When Patrick went missing she sponsored some kid in South America somewhere with the same name as a tribute to him. My mum hated it, said it was like Aunt Penny was trying to replace my brother."

"What did you think?"

"To be honest, I never thought much about it either way. It didn't bother me like it did my mum. I guess I'd have found it odd if she'd named her own kid Patrick or something, but this boy already had that name so…" he broke off with a shrug.

"Does she still sponsor him?"

Danny shook his head, "No, he got too old or something. They sent her another kid but I couldn't even pronounce the new kid's name, let alone remember it. That kid might be too old now too, haven't seen my aunt in years. No idea if she still does that sorta stuff."

"How old was he when you last saw her?"

Danny shrugged again, "I dunno."

"Oh."

He hesitated a moment and then said, "She didn't actually "know" the kids though. She just got a report about them and a photo each year or so and that's about it. She wouldn't have recognized him if she'd seen him in person, let alone on a fuzzy video."

Sarah glared at him and Danny quickly continued before he got himself into her bad books, "I'm not saying you're wrong, Sare. I'm just wondering how you can be so sure it's her."

Her expression softened a bit. "We're quite close, Kajal and I. She's like a long distance daughter to me and she sends me loads of extra photos. I just, I just have this really special bond with her, you know? I know it's her."

She hesitated and then suddenly passed Danny the binder. He gave her a questioning look before opening it. Inside were years and years worth of letters and pictures from the young girl. He flipped to the end to find the most recent picture of her and stared at it, trying to see if he could recognize her. It did look like the girl in the video, but he knew there was no way he could really tell if the playful child running through the trash dump was the same one as the one standing stiffly in front of a tin wall. He browsed through the letters, reading them. Kajal did seem to admire Sarah a lot, he thought as he read the child's words to her. But then again, how could one not admire Sarah? She was pretty amazing. He glanced up at her and saw that she was watching him, scrutinizing him as if trying to see what he thought of the letters.

"These are pretty cool," he said smiling at her. "I wonder why Patrick or what's-his-name never wrote to my Aunt Penny like this."

"Did you aunt ever write to them?"

Danny wrinkled his forehead as if the idea had never occurred to him before and then shook his head, "No, I guess she didn't."

Sarah gave him an amused look, "Well then…"

"I suppose you have a point," he chuckled, handing her back her binder. He glanced at his watch and then leaned back in his seat. "It's a long flight, Sare and we've gotta be on our game when we get there. Get some sleep."

A/N: This story is dedicated to my own beautiful children in India... Kajal, Eby and Mukesh (Who are not siblings in real life). If you want to see pictures of them, go to my blog (Link on my profile)