A/N - My first Matt / Emily story. This will be a multi-chapter story, chapter two is in the works already and should be up next week. I'll be focussing on Matt and Emily's relationship, although I might follow canon for the creatures. Just don't go expecting too many action scenes of fighting the creatures as I'm a flangst writer at heart. :) Reviews are extremely welcome, don't be shy!

Turbulent Times

Chapter 1: Highs and Lows

I'm sure you could stay if you wanted to. Do you want to?"

Jess's words were still ringing in my ears long after she'd gone. What did I want to do? Or to be more precise - what did I want?

I didn't want to go back to my husband, that was for certain. We'd only just got married before I'd disappeared through my first gateway but I lived with no illusions as to what life would be like married to him. He was a harsh man and all I was to him was something to return home to at night. He did not love me and I did not love him.

Unbidden into my mind came the image of Matt. I wasn't sure yet what I felt for him but I knew it was more than I should feel as a married woman. Already I felt closer to him than I had ever done to my husband. Matt was hard for me to figure out though. I knew he had secrets to keep and something important to do…he'd let as much slip to me and I sensed he'd come through a gateway of his own. I'd seen that look often enough before.

Perhaps I shouldn't interfere with his job, perhaps I shouldn't get too close to him? I feared it was too late for that already. My mind flashed back to several days ago…

I rattled around the kitchen as I made a cup if tea. My near-death experience had shaken me more than I liked to admit. I knew Ethan was dangerous but I hadn't thought that he'd try to kill me. Matt had had to go back to where he worked to explain himself and I had wanted to go with him but he'd made me stay in the flat while he tried to convince his boss that I shouldn't be locked up at the ARC.

I jumped as the door opened and my cup of tea fell to the floor with a crash and shattered. It was Matt.

"Sorry!" I exclaimed, "I thought you were…"

"It's all right," replied Matt, picking up the broken cup while I wiped up the tea.

"Listen, Lester says that you have to stay at the ARC but he's agreed to let you stay here tonight. It is for your own safety and I promise you won't be locked up."

"Thank you."

Several minutes later we were both sat down, me nursing a fresh cup of tea which Matt had made.

"So," said Matt, "why don't you tell me about yourself, what about before you first went through an anomaly?"

"What is there to tell? I asked.

"I don't know, tell me about your family, anything."

"What about your family?" I countered, taking a sip of tea.

Matt smiled. It didn't quite reach his eyes though, it was closely guarded. "My father is my only family, besides, I asked about you."

"There's not much to tell really. I have two older brothers, my mother died soon after she gave birth to me and I've never really cared much for my father, nor him for me."

Matt looked at me curiously. "We had our disagreements," I explained cryptically, for some reason not wanting to tell Matt that I was married, that we'd disagreed over my father deciding who I was to marry.

"What made you go through the anomaly in the first place? Most people tend to stay away from glowing circles of light."

"I don't know, I suppose I was drawn to it because I wanted a change. What about you? You must have been through lots of gateways, what made you decide on this for a job?"

"I didn't choose the job, it chose me in a way. It's something that I have to do to try and make a difference in the world. I-" Matt stopped talking suddenly, the guarded look back on his face. "I thought we were talking about you?" he asked, changing the subject abruptly.

"Were we?" I replied lightly. "I thought we were talking about each other?"

Matt didn't answer but this time there was something different about his expression as he looked at me, something that I didn't recognise but had been there earlier when he had released me from the mausoleum.

I held his gaze and found my face only inches away from his. Matt's hand reached up and touched my cheek, lingering while his lips came ever closer.

The kiss was hesitant at first, seeking acceptance, and when I gave it it became deeper, two lost souls each seeking a place to call home.

The fact that I was married was in my head for only a slight moment as we gained breath but it vanished as soon as our lips were touching again. I felt myself falling back onto the cushions with Matt's arms surrounding me and it was all too much but not enough at the same time. I fingered the hair on the nape of his neck and pulled him even closer to kiss him again and again.

It was the most wonderful feeling to be so free and without a care for once but it was over all too soon when we were interrupted by Matt's phone ringing. The incessant noise continued until Matt sat up and answered it. I tried to regain my composure while Matt spoke.

He sounded worried and when he finished he turned to me. A traitorous part of me wanted to kiss him again.

"There's been another incursion and I've got to go in. You're going to have to come to the ARC now as I don't want to leave you here alone, who knows where Ethan is."

"Alright," I replied, standing up and straightening the shirt of Matt's that I wore.

So, the question remained as to what I wanted but what did Matt want? Did he want me to stay? What had it meant? I didn't know if either of us would have come to our senses if Matt's phone hadn't rang. We hadn't spoken about it at all, it was as if Matt had put his shield back up again, especially when we were alone together. He was completely focussed on his job.

The most emotion he'd shown since then was when he'd taken me to see his father who then died. I was touched that he'd taken me there but it only made it more clear that he had many secrets to keep.

I stood before Matt with the gateway back to my time behind me. "I thought perhaps I'd tell you I would stay," I said. "If you asked me too." Matt removed his earpiece and looked intensely at me. "That I'd let this close and that would be the end of it."

I struggled for the words to continue. "But you've got this immense thing you have to do. I don't belong here, and neither do you. You came through a gateway of your own, didn't you?" I asked, already knowing the answer deep down.

Matt nodded his head slowly. "From where? The future?" I asked.

"Everything there is either dead or dying," he replied. This time it was Matt struggling for the words. "We exist underground because the surface of the planet can't sustain life anymore - it's sterile - because of something mankind did. We destroyed it. A few of us have been sent back to different times to try and prevent it. My father as well."

"And all of this has got to do with the anomalies? I asked, working it out. "Something interferes with them."

"Someone," corrected Matt. "Someone interferes with them. Unless I stop them, that's it, the end of all life on this planet. I will stop them."

Suddenly I knew what Matt was going to say, and even though I didn't want to, I had to go back.

"But you have to go," said Matt, confirming my fears. "I can't let anything else matter anymore."

Tears formed in my eyes as I stepped backwards into the glowing light. I took one last look at Matt before I turned around and stepped back into the past.