For PrimevalChick! Get better soon, Thea! :)

One Unexpected Holiday

Connor turned his head, looking at the electronic clock next to the couch... it was three in the morning and yet another sleepless night for Connor. He had only slept 3 hours or less every night for the past week, and it was starting to affect his work at the ARC. Lester had been riding him to get a hundred things done, but nothing was working right and it was killing Connor. What he needed more than anything right now was sleep, though… and all he could do was lay on the couch, looking up at the ceiling, thinking about whatever ran through his head.

Finally he gave up on trying to fall asleep and figured he'd do something productive, presuming he didn't screw it up like everything else recently. Sitting up on the couch, he looked at the messy flat... "Guess it's a start," he muttered to himself. Connor hated having to clean the flat, but there wasn't really much else he could do with how foggy his head had been lately; he needed something to do that didn't take much thought.

He picked up a pair of dirty boxers off the floor, flinching when he saw Sid sleeping under them. The Diictodon whined a complaint and looked up at him. "Oh… Sid, mate, you scared me. What are you doin' under there? Eh?" Sid cried loudly and Connor laughed, picking him up; he set the Diictodon down on his bed next to Nancy, who was curled up sound asleep.

"What are you doing still up?" Abby asked, coming into the living room.

"Oh… I can't sleep," Connor admitted.

"Again? Connor, this has been going on for a week now… I'm worried about you."

"Nah, Abs, I'm fine," he lied.

She eyed him skeptically. "Yeah. Well, come on then; you can sleep in my bed, it's more comfortable."

His eyes lit up and wide, devious, grin stretched across his face. "Yeah?"

She slapped him on the arm. "Not like that, you idiot."

"Ow! Alright… you said it, not me."

Abby chuckled. "You can sleep in my bed, and I'll take the couch. For tonight," she added.

"Okay. You sure you don't want to just… share the bed? I mean…" She slapped him again and they both laughed.

"Get some sleep, Con."

He walked off and Abby heard her bedroom door close. She sighed and laid down on the couch.

Connor went into work the next morning, and just like the other days… he couldn't do anything right. He'd spilled coffee on Becker, he tripped over one of the cords on the A.D.D., disconnecting it and missing an anomaly while it was offline, and he almost let the dinosaur they were trying to get back in the anomaly go. Needless to say… it had been a bad day, and the day was only half over.

Now he was trying to fix the Anomaly Locking Device since the dinosaur they'd chased today broke it. He wasn't having much luck though.

"Temple!" Lester yelled, walking to him.

"Yup?" he replied hesitantly.

Lester didn't look happy. "Right, I don't know if you've noticed, but you've been like a one-man-wrecking-ball around here for the past week."

"Sorry, Lester. I just-I haven't been getting any sleep."

"Ah, well maybe you need… and, God, I hate to say it, but maybe you need a vacation," he said with reluctance.

"Whataya mean?"

Lester exhaled. "Look, uh… I've got a reservation at a nice hotel in Cardiff, but my plans have changed so I would just cancel them anyway. If you want, you and Abby can go up there; take a break, get back to where you don't break things, hm? It's Friday so I'll give you the rest of today and the weekend up there, how's that?"

"That's not much of a vacation…"

"What do you think I am? Santa Claus? You've got two and a half days; that should be enough."

"Yeah… yeah alright."

"Good. You can go. And, uh, take lizard girl with you." He pointed at Abby who'd brought Rex with her by mistake- he'd stowed away in the trunk of the Mini.

Connor and Abby went to Cardiff, arrived at the hotel by 6 o'clock and ate free dinner. It was a nice hotel, but didn't allow animals; so they were having Sarah watch Sid, Nancy, and Rex for the weekend.

By the time it was dark, they had one problem to deal with… there was only one bed. Connor figured he wouldn't sleep anyway, so they both kind of ignored the fact; Abby went to bed and Connor was reading a book. It was 3am when Abby woke up, Connor still reading. "Con? Come on, get some sleep," she ordered.

"I can't, Abs. Besides… there's only one bed." He chuckled.

"It's fine. We're both mature adults-" she cut off and rephrased. "We're both adults… get in bed, Connor."

He laughed. "No girl has ever said that to me before."

"Oh, shut up."

Connor got in the bed. It felt weird, being in the same bed as Abby like this. He didn't see the point, anyway; he still wasn't going to sleep.

"Connor?" Abby said.

"Yeah?"

"Still not asleep?"

He laughed. "Unfortunately, no."

She turned to him, propping her head up on her hand. "Then I'll stay up with you."

"No, Abby. That's illogical."

"No it's not. Maybe If I just talk, I'll bore you to sleep," she teased.

Connor laughed. "You could never bore me, Abs."

She smiled, slightly surprised by his response. They both went silent. Abby didn't even really realise what she was doing, but she leaned forward and pressed her lips to Connor's. It was unexpected-for both of them-and much like their first kiss. Abby pulled away, not quite sure why she'd just done that. She narrowed her eyes. "Sorry…"

Connor's face was shocked. He cleared his throat. "No… no, I… thank you," he managed to get out.

Abby was a little embarrassed. Things hadn't really gotten awkward between them since they had their first kiss, so that shouldn't have been any different. "Did you like it?" she found herself asking, though she really didn't know why.

"What?" He was a little taken by surprise. "Yeah… why wouldn't I?" he added with a small chuckle.

She smiled and shrugged. She looked at him and they both moved forward, their lips meeting again, this time Connor was more prepared. Abby, very unexpectedly, pushed her tongue into his mouth, the kiss intensified. She pulled back and laughed at the look on his face. She smiled and said, "Tonight, you're going to sleep." She kissed him again, moving herself from beside him to on top of him, both legs on either side of his hips. She laughed again. "Oh, you're going to sleep," she said deviously and stripped off his shirt.

It was one very unexpected holiday, indeed… and one that Connor Temple will never forget...

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