Kith & Kin I

Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures™.

As Abby, Connor and the rest of the ARC employees (except for those who were away for some reason or another, as Nick and Jenny were) were gathering in a lobby, their mood was uncertain. Roughly a day ago, yet another time anomaly had manifested itself – but this time it was in the House of Commons, right in the middle of a session. Admittedly, no one got hurt – well, not seriously hurt – but wheels had been set in motion, decisions made or altered, and suddenly the ARC found itself to be at least partially owned by a private entrepreneur and billionaire, one Philip Burton.

James Lester didn't like this, neither did most of the ARC senior employees, but, sadly, they did not have the right amount of political pull to overall the ministry's decision, and so, there they were, about to meet their new boss – well, co-boss, really, since Lester was still in charge of at least one half of the ARC.

"Well, it may not be too bad," Connor was telling Abby with his trademark optimism. "I mean, Prospero Enterprises are nothing if not prosperous, and, well, they're renowned for their technological breakthroughs..."

"Aha," Abby said in a neutral tone of voice. Regrettably for her, she couldn't help but suspect that at least a part of Connor's optimism was derived not from Prospero's financial prosperity, but from one of its employees, Jess Parker, who was roughly their same age and was dressed more provocatively than even the gone and unlamented Caroline Steele. "Technological breakthroughs. What sort of technological breakthroughs?"

"Um," Connor gave Abby an askance look. He wasn't as smart when it came to young women than when it came to technology or dinosaurs, but he had known Abby for quite a while, and currently he couldn't help but suspect that the young blonde was upset about something. Shouldn't he try to console her?

However, before Connor could make-up his mind one way or another, the two of them joined the rest of the ARC crew in the lobby, and the moment was gone.

"...And so," James Lester was continuing to talk, ignoring the fact that there were still some people absent, despite Connor and Abby being present, "our Centre now is a joint, public-private operation," a grimace briefly distorted his face, "with the private half run by Mr. Philip Burton. Despite the legal division, though, this is a joint affair, so, his employees will be working side by side with us. Everyone, say hello to – among others - Ms. Jess Parker and Mr. Matt Anderson!"

There was a smattering of uncertain applause.

"Well, that is that," Lester finished his semi-grand speech abruptly. "Everyone, back to your duties now." The ever-present Lorraine approached him suddenly from the side and thrust him a memo. "Hmm? I see..." he stopped even pretending to be interesting in the meeting and left abruptly for his office instead.

"...That was weird," Connor told Abby, but the blonde wasn't listening, but eyeing the newcomers. Sure, they didn't look threatening, but-

But Abby thoughtfully eyed the very discreet glance that Anderson had given her cousin, and she wasn't sure what to make of it, either.

"Helen!" Abby exclaimed, as they were all returning from Lester's very curt speech. "Wait up!"

"Yes?" The older woman half-turned to face her cousin. "What's up?"

"You tell me," Abby said, crossly. "That Anderson... I think he was eyeing you. You met him in your travels abroad?"

"Yes," Helen replied after a brief, but thoughtful pause. "I have."

"And?" Abby pressed on.

"It's complicated," Helen confessed, "and private."

"Well, if you want private," Abby cast a meaningful glance, "we can always go to the coffee corner..."

"I'd rather not aggravate Lester at the moment," Helen countered. "Let's go back to the animals and talk there instead."

"You'd not aggravate Lester?" Abby said, almost incredulous. "How'd that happen?"

"Eh, it's fun, but not all the time," Helen replied, dismissively, "and besides, we do need to talk-"

"Can we talk?" Matt suddenly appeared on the scene, startling Abby... the same way that Helen tended to do – by quietly sneaking up on the young blonde from behind. "I mean, is it really you?"

"Yes," Helen admitted, almost with an eye roll, "it's me. Anyways, some introductions are in order: Matt, this is Abby, a cousin of mine; Abby, this is Matt – he's from the future."

Abby and Matt exchanged looks that were almost equally confused. "Say wha-?" Abby finally spoke.

Helen exhaled. "I can explain."

"Ah, Mr. Temple, Ms. Page," Lester said with a jocularity that was completely faked, "so happy to see that you've responded so timely, eh?"

"Mr. Lester, what's wrong?" Sarah asked quietly before Connor could, thankfully. "Why's the happiness?"

"From the lack of embarrassment," Lester replied flatly. "This is Mr. Peter Conroy. Madame minister sent here him to us to deal with the scientific aspects of our studies."

Wordlessly, Connor and Sarah exchanged a glance. "Are you saying that we're fired?" Connor asked, his voice suddenly lower and more dangerous than ever.

"No!" curiously, it wasn't Lester, but Mr. Peter Conroy who replied. "You two – and your co-workers, I assume – have been dealing either with the technological aspects of the time anomalies, or the animals. I'll be heading the studies of the time anomalies themselves, I've got my degree in physics, you see?"

"I do," Sarah admitted, suddenly. "You'll be examining if the time anomalies..."

"How they fit in into our world – or if not, why not," Peter Conroy finished, almost smiling. "Why don't we go to your office and generally figure-out how we will co-operate from now on?"

"Yes, let's," Connor agreed, thoughtfully. "We should warn you – what we've got is less of an office, and more of a glorified work station."

"Consider me duly warned," Peter agreed, and the three of them left Lester's office.

"What a smooth bastard," Lester muttered in a near admiration, and then realized something. "And where's Jack?"

"So, you're Philip Burton?"

The question came from behind the man in question, startling him, slightly.

"Yes," Philip admitted, quickly regaining his composure, "it's me. That's who I am. And you are?"

"Jack, Abby's brother," the younger man easily admitted, "hello."

"Hello back," Philip responded, somewhat sourly. "Do all the people here tend to sneak up on each other?"

"Mostly; for various reasons, but mostly yes," Jack admitted. "Some don't, it's a personal option, really."

"Hmm," Philip mused, even as he stared at Jack's big and honest gaze. "Speaking of personal, am I correct in assuming that people here aren't too excited about this merger?"

"Relatively speaking, they're neutral about it all," Jack responded after some thought. "Lester's, however, is unhappy about it for some reason, maybe personal, maybe not. I'm guessing he's just indignant that you've caught us flat-footed after the dinosaur in the House of Commons' mess."

"That's unfair," Philip argued. "I've been, actually, trying to contact them for months before, but James has been unhelpful, and Mrs. Cutter even less."

"...I'm guessing that you don't mean Jenny?" Jack said after a pause. "She's the Mrs. Cutter nowadays, not Helen – she and professor have divorced each other first. The latter and Jenny married some time before and are on their honeymoon, actually. Calling Helen Mrs. Cutter is liable to backfire – badly."

"Anything else I should know about?" Philip spoke after he thought over this new development. "About James's employees, I mean?"

"Well, yes," It was Jack's turn to think it over. "And about Mr. Lester himself. Like, did you know that he was never able to defeat professor Cutter in a drinking contest?"

"A drinking contest?" Philip repeated incredulously.

"Yup," Jack nodded, cheerfully. "A drinking contest – make that several. Every time professor Cutter was able to defeat Mr. Lester, causing the latter no end of frustration. Now here comes you, another direct character, and poor Mr. Lester is threatened in his masculinity even more, pardon my crudeness."

"Hmm. You know, I've got an idea," Philip said slowly. "Thank you for your time. You've been very helpful, young man." With these words he quickly walked off, failing to notice a very peculiar grin that appeared on Jack's face.

"Oh yes, everybody – I am on a roll," the younger Maitland whispered, even as he rubbed his hands.

For several moments – as Matt and the two cousins fed the dracorex and the Columbian mammoth their greens – there was just silence, until Helen decided to break it at last.

"It all began during one of my travels," she finally spoke, more to Abby than to Matt. "I went almost one thousand years into the future, and found the humanity almost extinct due to a combination of various factors." Matt coughed, but Helen ignored him. "Anyways, that combination caught me flat-footed, unfortunately, and if wasn't for Matt's father, Gideon, I probably would've died. Since, however, I was saved, I had to repay him and recuperate as well. So, in the end, I ended up raising young Mathew here as a governess or a nanny – though I prefer the term governess out of the two. Mathew?"

"Wait a second. You raised him? But he's older than me? How old are you?" Abby spoke before Matt did.

"Very old – but very well preserved for my age," Helen said, wryly. "Let's just say that I have hit menopause some time back and leave it at that. Mathew? So, what are you doing here?"

"After Vigdis attack and you were gone, father was able to push his project through, and I, of course, was a part of it. We're here to prevent the future from coming true," Matt spoke up suddenly. "...Will you help us?"

"Us? Who's 'us'? Gideon's here?" Helen blinked, incredulously. "Guess I owe the old goat at least one last visit."

"Yes," Matt replied, slowly. "I guess you should. So," he turned to Abby, "you're her cousin?"

"Me and my younger brother, Jack," Abby classified. "I think you saw him around earlier... or not. Jack's sort of irresponsible, even I seem to be unable to make him behave for long... though Lorraine tends to try. A lot. But, that's family to you – can't live with it, can't live without it."

"Hmm," Matt said, thoughtfully. "It sounds like-"

And then a time anomaly alarm interrupted him.

"Hey, Connor, Sarah – what's all the commotion?" Danny Quinn spoke as he came to the scientists' part of the ARC. "And who's your new friend?"

"This is Mr. Peter Conroy," Connor explained helpfully. "He'll be studying the time anomalies themselves, as opposed to the means of containing them, or the animals that'll be coming through them."

"Hmm, I see," Danny nodded solemnly. "So, did Burton introduce you later, because I don't remember Lester-"

"I don't work for Mr. Burton, a great scientist that he is," Peter interrupted him, quite coldly, "I am, sir, Her Majesty's man, through and through!"

"Mr. Conroy works for the government, Danny," Sarah explained helpfully, albeit belatedly. "I'm not sure if Burton's fully aware of his presence here just yet."

"Hmm," Danny repeated thoughtfully, and then looked Peter straight in the eye. "Just what is going out there, Mr. Conroy? What's the government up to? The dinosaur in the governmental building was bad, but how does Philip Burton fits into this? Or is there something else?"

"That, Mr. Quinn, is a bit further out than your clearance can take you," Peter Conroy said firmly.

"Really?" replied Danny. "We'll see."

And then the time anomaly alarm shrieked.

"James."

"Philip," Lester muttered in irritation, as he shifted around to confront his new co-owner of the ARC (for a lack of a better word). "I don't know where Lorraine has gone off, but... is that a bottle?"

"Yes," Burton kept his own face carefully neutral. "I thought that we've gone off on the wrong foot, so maybe a little friendly drink will be in order to set things straight?" His vocal tone was specifically calibrated to piss Lester off, and he succeeded at it quite nicely.

Lester opened his mouth, closed it, looking at Burton with a greater intensity than before – and indicated to his table. "Sit down, Philip," he said, going for cordial, and not quite succeeding. "You want a friendly drink? You got it!"

...When the time anomaly alarm rang, both men were too far gone to care; when Lorraine came back, she had a nervous eruption, but that was later.

"So, as you can see, this is where time anomalies are now being detected at," Connor was explaining to Danny and Sarah. "By the way, did I sound like Yoda right now?"

"Just a bit," Sarah admitted, "a really tiny bit. Where's the time anomaly located at – Jess?"

"At the crossroads of 27th and Vine," Jess replied, just as hesitant as Sarah herself was. "Um, Sarah Page, right?"

"Yes, I'm Sarah. These two are Danny and Connor. Those two are Abby, Helen, and-"

"Matt, Matt Anderson," Matt explained helpfully. "Is everybody here?"

"Yes," conferred Becker, as he appeared from yet another corridor. "Sorry for being late. Had to do some paperwork." He blinked, as he took a good look at Jess's new team-orienting station. "That's new."

"No, not really," Connor replied, "we've been building this station for quite a while, Mr. Burton's finances and staff just gave us a boost-"

"I think, Connor, he was talking about Jess. She is new around here, arrived only this morning," Abby spoke up suddenly.

"Um," Jess said, slowly, as she tried to figure out if Abby was actually being hostile or not, "well-"

"Let's go," Danny said quickly, "Sarah-"

"I'll stay here and man the fort with Jess," Sarah said slowly. "Besides, if she's left alone, Jack might decide to prank her, or something."

"In other words, it's the same as usual," Becker said tersely. "Hopefully, though, it won't be another stegosaurus."

"That makes all of us, then," Abby said, looking nervously between Danny and Becker – lately the relations between the two of them were getting kind of tense, in no small part because of Sarah. Usually it was sort of fun, but right now... it sort of wasn't.

There was a brief pause, when everyone waited for someone else to say something, but nobody was volunteering. Therefore... everyone just packed up and left to deal with the time anomaly... except for Sarah and Jess, who stayed behind.

"What was that?" Jess asked a short while later, after she had given the ARC's field team the instructions how to get to the time anomaly.

"What was what?" Sarah asked the younger woman.

"That, that bit at the end-"

"Oh, that. Abby and Connor are in a relationship, sort of, and are somewhat possessive of one another," Sarah said, almost cheerfully. "Abby's just jealous for no good reason."

"She is! I mean, there is no good reason," Jess said, with an almost frantic quickness. "I'm sure that Connor is a great guy and all, though his taste in clothing could use improvement, don't get me started on the hat, but I, I don't like him like that."

"And that's good," Sarah said, almost smiling again. "Now, uh, are you seeing anyone?"

"Pardon?" Jess blinked, caught completely flat-footed. "Are you trying to be chatty with me?"

"Yes," Sarah admitted, "it is nice to meet new people. We, at the ARC are a rather static though peaceful bunch; ever since Nick and Jenny got married, things have been quite quiet around here, and-"

"Jack!" Lorraine's shriek echoed throughout ARC's main lobby. "Sarah! Did you and the new girl see this barely pubescent wretch anywhere! He has done it again!"

"You need help?" Sarah called back.

"Yes! Tell the new girl to come up here as well," Lorraine added. "Burton's involved as well."

Sarah and Jess exchanged looks as they abandoned – Jess, admittedly, with some reluctance – the control station and went to help Lorraine with whatever her problem was. And when they saw what it was, they realized that Jack was indeed in trouble.

The dinosaur was massive, easily 5 meters tall, over 10 meters long, with a beak-like mouth that it used to crop leaves off the suburban trees.

"It's not from the Jurassic, that's for certain," Helen said thoughtfully, as she half-turned to face Connor. "The Cretaceous?"

"Yup," Connor nodded (he still didn't like Helen all that much), "it's an Iguanodon, an herbivorous dinosaur."

"Make that two herbivorous dinosaurs," Abby added, as the second Iguanodon – a juvenile – looked from behind the bigger beast. "So how are we going to handle them?"

Silence fell. "When we went to face the stegosaurus, we ended up in a PR nightmare because we twiddled our thumbs, and Jenny wasn't around to back us up," Becker said sourly. "How about we take an opposite approach here and charge?"

"Just an observation," Helen couldn't help but say. "These two look exhausted. We charge them – they'll probably decide to stand their ground and die, rather than flee."

"Flee? From what?" Becker said incredulously... and then a huge, three-toed foot slammed onto the ground through the time anomaly.

"The G-Rex! It's back!" Abby gasped.

The giganotosaurus, as if it had heard and realized that it had been recognized, shifted briefly its stance towards the humans and roared a challenge, before switching back to the Iguanodon mother and young.

"Connor! Do something!" Abby hissed, forgetting in the heat of the moment – the giant carnivore was rather impressive and intimidating in appearance – that she was standing next to Matt, rather than Connor. Matt, however, took no offense at the apparent confusion, but raised his taser and fired a shot.

Immediately, the giganotosaurus shuddered and toppled, as if hit in the head by a giant.

"It's the new EPDs," Matt explained helpfully to shocked Abby. "They can topple a tyrannosaurus at a full strength-"

With another roar, maybe less loud, but just as furious, the giganotosaurus got back onto its feet.

"Bad news for us, Matt," Connor said sourly, "but this dinosaur is bigger than a T-Rex, and possibly even sturdier. Maybe you should hit it again, just for luck-"

The Iguanodons bolted. Though they were smaller and shorter than the carnivore, they were built as solid as the American bison, and quite a bit bigger. The giganotosaurus, conversely, was still shaking-off the after-effects of Matt's shot. Therefore, the herbivores bowled into it and tumbled back into the time anomaly together at once.

There was a brief pause, and then Helen carefully walked over to the time anomaly, and stuck her head there before pulling it out almost immediately.

"The carnivore's dying, or will be dead soon enough. The herbivores have trampled it something nasty. Connor, you want to seal this time anomaly?" she said as she moved away from it.

Wordlessly, Connor did just that, even as he stared at Danny. However, it was Matt who asked the question: "What did you do?" he asked the ex-detective.

"Stink grenades. The stink in question is the smell of rotting meat. Animals either love it or hate it, but it distracts them all the same," Danny explained willingly. "Plus, last time – with the stegosaurus – Helen got talking about her experience with the dinosaurs in the Jurassic and she mentioned that some of the plant-eating dinosaurs stampeded if startled. So, I startled them to see if they will attack the G-Rex, and they did, basically."

"Giganotosaurus, Danny," Connor winced slightly. "When Nick heard me calling it the G-Rex the first time, he lectured me about the responsibility about the proper names in palaeontology for an hour and a half."

"And you loved it," Abby added wryly.

"Yes, I did," Connor admitted, "but if Nick decided to lecture Danny, Danny won't. So consider this a pre-emptive warning or something."

"Acknowledged," Danny nodded sombrely, before switching his attention to Matt. "And nice reflexes too, by the way."

"Thank you," Matt nodded in reply, looking only marginally happier than Becker at the current turn of the events. "Incidentally, I understand now something else-"

It was then that Abby's cell phone rang, startling everyone. "Yes?" Abby said, seemingly suspecting that she knew what was expecting her on the other side. "What did Jack do this time?"

She listened for some time, winced, and switched her phone off. "Guys, we need to get back quickly – Lorraine sounded really pissed-off at Jack this time."

To Matt's relative surprise, the others exchanged knowing glances and took off back to the Centre as fast as legally possible.

When the field team returned from the field, they were met both by Sarah and Jess for a change. "Danny," Sarah exhaled sharply, "remember when Nick and Lester began their drinking competitions, and how Lorraine had to involve Jenny to snap them out of it, eventually? Well, apparently Jack told Burton about it, and the latter decided that it was a good idea to show Lester up. Only he didn't. When Lorraine found them in Lester's office, it was definitely a tie."

"Hey, don't get mad at me! I just thought it was a good idea!" Jack piped-up, peeping from behind Sarah.

"Of course you did," Abby exhaled, sounding more sad than anything. "Just as you thought about betting Rex in your card game. Come on, let's bring you to Lorraine so that we can grovel some."

"Do we have to?" Jack whined.

"Oh, yes!"

Philip Burton awoke with the worst headache he had for a long time. "What has happened? Who won?" he muttered as quietly as he could.

"Well!" Lester's assistant, Lorraine something, exploded like a Chinese firework, "just like a man! You two are a pair of real men, you know? Mr. Lester, now that Jenny Cutter isn't here... I admit I didn't truly expect you to be back-sliding so soon! At least professor Cutter has had some common sense... Mr. Burton seems to be no better than you are!"

"And what does that suppose to mean?" Burton asked somewhat huffily.

"I'm sorry?" It wasn't Lorraine who said that, but Jack, who suddenly appeared in the medical wing. "Lorraine, I really thought that it was a good idea."

"Jack," Lorraine sounded more exasperated than anything. "You remember how it was when Mr. Lester had his drinking competitions with professor Cutter, right? What made you think that that was something else but a bad idea?"

"I don't know," Jack looked innocent and regretful at the same time. "I just did?"

"Abby," Lorraine muttered to the shorter woman, "keep your no-good brother out of my sight for the next 12 or so hours, would you?"

"Done," Abby Maitland said briskly even as she led Jack out of there.

"I'm missing something here, aren't I?" Burton muttered half to Lester and half to himself.

"Yes, sir," Jess Parker snuck into the room. "The ARC functions like an extended, semi-dysfunctional family. That's why it is so efficient. You'll probably understand better once you've slept it off." She left.

"Drunks and dinosaurs – that's our motto," Lorraine muttered as she left as well.

As Burton sank back onto one of the ARC's medical wing's beds to sleep off his hangover, he couldn't help but wonder if Lester's – and his own - underlings were onto something...

To be continued...