Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses, etc. are entirely fictitious.
King's Cross, September 2041
A/N: takes place twenty years after Normal is Overrated.
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"Princess! Wait up," called Connor Temple.
Heedless to his voice, the curvaceous brunette disappeared down the stairway lugging a shiny metal box. The sixty year old scientist bent over, hands on knees. Connor panted, out of breath. A drop of perspiration landed on the concrete between his brown boots. When a pair of heavy black boots appeared within his field of vision, Connor straightened up. Becker hadn't even broken a sweat. A snap of the security officer's fingers sent three black clad special-forces team members after Sarah Temple.
"Go… get… her…," urged Connor, still trying to catch his breath.
Becker shook his steely gray head. Hazel eyes assessed Connor in concern.
"Your daughter can take care of herself. The security team is just back up," reminded Becker. "You on the other hand..."
"This isn't…," huffed Connor, "just any… anomaly site."
The hazel eyes closed for a moment. Becker hadn't forgotten this long closed underground tunnel any more than Connor had.
"Lucien would have my head if I left you by yourself," declared Becker, referring to the ARC's current director. "You're not permitted on field work anymore."
Connor's last physical had shown a shown arrhythmia. The faint irregularity when striding across the treadmill wasn't serious, but the doctor had insisted no more field work.
"The next thing you know," continued Becker, "Jess and Cerys would hear about it."
Connor snorted. Streaks of silver showed as he ran a hand through his long dark hair.
"And say what?" demanded Connor. He raised both hands in the air above his head and waved them in frustration. "Tell me it's time to retire?"
His breathing and voice now steady, Connor strode towards the stairway. Becker fell into step beside his longtime friend.
"No," answered Becker. "Jess would call Lester out of retirement, so he could have the pleasure of sacking you for insubordination."
"Insubordination?" squawked Connor.
"Running out for a field call when you don't have medical clearance is not following health and safety regulations," mocked Becker.
Brown eyes met hazel. Sparks of mischief gleamed.
"Might be worth it, that," chuckled Connor. "Can't imagine any other way we're going to get Lester back from Bermuda."
Becker grinned in response for a moment, then his expression turned serious.
"Of course," added Becker, "I really don't fancy explaining to Cerys why you've been on a field call."
"Cerys took Rupert and Ronald up to Edinburgh," reminded Connor. "Tommy's giving them all the grand tour of the university."
Becker smiled at the reminder. Connor's oldest son was in his final year at the Royal School of Veterinary Studies. Connor and Cerys' identical twins were due to start university in the fall. Tommy preferred mammals to the dinosaurs that fascinated Connor. The younger boys idolized their older brother and had been willing to see his school, but Becker thought the twins might prefer to stay in London and attend Central Metropolitan University like their sister.
"Good," nodded Becker. "Then you tell her."
Connor's dark brown eyes rolled. The forty-eight year old Cerys Temple, a refugee from another timeline, was a formidable woman. In appearance she was very similar to Abby, Connor's long lost first wife. A people pleaser by nature, the scientist shook his head.
"She won't be back until Tuesday. I won't tell if you don't," bargained the genius. "It could be our little secret."
This time, it was Becker who snorted in disbelief. As they reached the landing, the field team appeared within sight. Three security officers flanked Sarah Temple on the platform below.
"See, she's fine," smirked Becker.
The youngest PHD graduate in CMU's Temporal Science program was a natural leader, and just as fascinated with anomalies as her father had always been. The shiny box was open. Spread across the platform were the accouterments of her trade: a handheld magnetic resonance imager, a spectrophotometer, a radiofrequency calibrator and a tiny spinning device that looked more like a gyroscope than a state of the art wireless computer processor.
"Nothing to worry about," concluded Becker.
Connor's face scrunched up in dismay.
"Ooh! I wish you hadn't said that," grumbled the slender man. "In the movies, that's always a sign something awful is going to happen."
"Connor you watch too many horror movies," chuckled Becker. "Life isn't a horror movie."
Connor's eyes narrowed. Becker turned his own gaze to see what his friend was looking at. On the platform below, Sarah Temple was bringing out another gadget. The dark haired young woman was technically talented like her father.
"Princess," called Connor, "what is that?"
The young woman flashed a bright smile and raised the gleaming box upwards. Small, rectangular, shining silver with a red dial on one side it was no bigger than the remote for a long ago telly.
"Anomalies are everywhere Daddy," answered Sarah. "And with this device, we can open them as well as close them."
Connor and Becker exchanged a horrified glance.
"No Princess!" shouted Connor. "We tried that..."
The pulsing, shimmering shards of split reality that signified the opening of a rip in time stopped Connor's next words. The anomaly was small, barely five feet in diameter. It blinked into existence, hovering over the long vacant train tracks.
"Something's coming through!" warned one of Becker's men.
"Not something," shouted Sarah, "someone!"
Connor gaped at the familiar blonde woman tumbling head over heels through the anomaly into the abandoned station. The twenty-six year old science officer for the prestigious London branch of the Anomaly Research Centre squealed like the four year old girl she had once been.
"Mummy!"
"Abby!"
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A/N2: because one reader said she couldn't stand to read the first chapter of Normal is Overrated because it was too sad. You know who you are. This one's for you. :)