Only in the Darkness...

"Abby... look."

She didn't really want to, not right now. They were trapped in the past, stuck up a tree in the dark, likely to be killed by the raptors that had driven them up here and were probably close by waiting for another chance. Well, the raptors or... something bigger, and hungrier, and nastier. She could only be brave for so long... and the middle of a Cretaceous night wasn't the time to do it.

"Abs..." Connor said softly, "look up. Look at the sky."

There was something in his voice, something strange and surprised, that caught at the edges of her worry and made her lift her head. Connor, perched on the other branch of the tree, was staring straight up, head flung back; his face was lost in night shadow and she could only be guided by his voice and the sheer wonder in it.

The almost innocent wonder that all the blood, and death, and pain, still had not beaten out of him.

"Look up," he said again.

And she did, following his gaze... to a sky as dark and bright as satin, and stars that glittered in a sharp, clear way she didn't recall ever seeing at home. Stars that she had never seen before. Because of course...

They were looking at a sky from 120 million years ago.

"No one else will ever look at it like it is now, Abby. These stars are ours, yours and mine," Connor said. "Can you see pictures in them?"

"Connor." Her voice caught. "Don't be silly..."

"No, honestly, can you? There's none..." he waved his hands, "none of the old Zodiac, we can make up our own. Hey, I can see - over there - does it look like Lester to you?'

She twisted her head and stared at it, then back at him. "Not even slightly, Connor. It's that bash on the head talking -"

"Okay, maybe just Lester's nose. That's what I'll call it, anyway." He grinned. "And... there, that looks a bit like a dog. Or... The Koala Bear."

In spite of herself, she grinned. "How much of a bit, Connor?"

"Okay, only a little bit. Go on, you have a go."

She sighed, but looked around. "Okay... there, that looks like The Cup of Tea."

Connor blinked. "Does not."

"Does too. And that above it's The Kettle."

"Do you miss it that much already?"

"'Course I do." She grinned in the darkness. "Your turn."

"There - look straight up - that's a smile. Cheshire Cat smile, 'cause it's without a cat."

"Maybe your Koala Bear is really a big cat without the smile."

He huffed a laugh, faint but real. "And umm... over there, just above the mountain range. The Liberator!"

"The..."

"Blakes 7, Abs. Best TV spaceship ever... well, after the TARDIS. Hey, and next to it, isn't that a Sonic Screwdriver?"

"Oh you...!"

"What can I say, nerd heaven is naming a whole zodiac after my favourite shows." There was the swift white flash of his smile in the darkness. "The Sonic Screwdriver or The Lightsaber, what d'you think?"

"I think you're just making them up."

"Yeah, so? Doesn't everyone make up pictures in clouds? We get to do them in stars." He was quiet for a minute, staring at the patterns his inner geek was showing him and that Abby couldn't quite see. "Sonic Screwdriver, I think, and a Dalek - see that really bright star? That's it's telescopic manipulator arm."

She smiled in the darkness. "Or a sink plunger."

"You making fun of my worst childhood obsession?"

"Nooo, Connor," she said sweetly. "I'm making fun of you."

"Oh that's all right then."

"Looks like a… salt shaker to me."

"It's The Dalek."

"Okay, okay." She picked out a pair of tiny, slightly fuzzy star clumps overhead. "Dandelions."

"The Guitar."

"Electric?"

"Well year, of course."

"The Dragonfly."

"Cthulhu."

Her jaw dropped and she stared at him. "Connor, really? You can see Cthulhu in… that?"

"If I squint, yeah."

"You're crazy."

"Well… maybe. Maybe a fluffy toy one but definitely one of the Great Old Ones. Or several of them, I'll work it out." That smile flashed again again. "The Sparkly Embodiment of Utter Evil… I like it."

"You're crazy."

"But you love me anyway? Look, Abby," and he pointed to a bright group directly above, his voice softening, "that looks like a heart. Can you see it?"

"I... maybe."

"Let's call it The Heart, Abs. What do you think?"

"I think you're definitely crazy, Connor." And, she thought, I think I love you for all this. "The Heart it is."

-the end-