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THE CLAUDIA BROWN EFFECT
by saresare
After seeing Nick's photograph of Claudia Brown, Jenny travels to her childhood home to uncover the truth of her past, discovering exactly what caused the infamous timeline shift.
DISCLAIMER: I own nothing.
RATING: K+
Contains: Implied violence
STATUS: One-shot
SPOILERS:
Major: Episode 1.6
Minor: Episodes 2.4, 2.6, 3.5
Jenny was resting her head in her arms, leaning over the railings in the main operations room. Out of the corner of her eye she saw Nick approaching.
"How are you doing?" he asked.
"Three months ago, my idea of a life or death issue was getting front row seats at London Fashion Week." Jenny turned to look at him, an eyebrow raised dubiously. "How do you think I'm doing?"
"You don't have to do this," he said. "You know, you can quit."
Jenny curled her hands around the railing and leant back. "I think I'll take my chances." She nodded, trying to reassure herself as much as him.
"Look, Claudia."
Jenny uttered an exasperated gasp and laid her forehead against her fists.
"I'm so sorry," Nick murmured. "Jenny."
"Do you know what? You saved my life. So just for tonight, you can call me anything you like. But for the record, I really hate that name."
Nick nodded. "Okay."
Jenny watched him, her stomach fluttering faintly. He really seemed to believe she was a different person.
"Does your fiancé … does he know what you are doing?" Nick asked.
"He knows I'm working for the government, that's all. Luckily he's not very curious … Not about my work anyway." She sniffed ever so slightly. "So what about you? Do you have someone?"
"Erm …" Nick began awkwardly. "No. I'm not particularly good at that. My wife left me eight and a half years ago to travel through the anomalies and the next woman I liked, she …" He hesitated, searching for the right words. "She left."
This was the place their mother had died all those years ago. They'd watched from an overhanging tree branch as she fought with the gorgonopsid that had killed their siblings; she'd been protecting her only two surviving infants.
The huge shining orb was there too, its rays dancing off the ground as it floated in midair. The creature's echolocation bounced haphazardly off the shards of light and irritated its sonar. Its brother had been killed a few months ago by another gorgonopsid, and it wanted revenge. Those pink animals that had dragged them away from their mother had fled through this light, and it was here again, flickering enticingly.
The creature emerged into a forest, the towering flora blocking out the faint glittering from the stars. It flitted through the trees and came across a road; on the other side was a chain of houses. Something was reverberating loudly from inside one of the houses; the high pitched squeal sent resonating waves through the creature's cranium. It bounded over.
Inside a woman was cradling her newborn, gazing down at her precious bundle. A man sat on the sofa beside her, stroking the baby's flaxen hair. They'd spent the last half hour rocking her to sleep, and she'd finally stopping crying.
"What should we name her?" the mother murmured softly.
"What about Claudia?" the father suggested. It was her grandmother's name.
The mother smiled. "Hello little Claudia," she whispered. "You're beautiful."
The baby gurgled and shuffled slightly, unconsciously wrapping a tiny hand around her finger.
There was a deafening smash and the front window caved in. Fragments of shattered glass flew everywhere as a bulky grey creature burst into the room, its shoulders hunched and its huge claws glinting in the glow of the fireplace.
"Excuse me, Miss Lewis. We didn't know what to do with these. Professor Cutter had no family." The woman handed the box to Jenny and left.
Jenny inhaled sharply as her gaze wandered over the contents. She shuffled through a pile of blueprints and pushed aside a constructed model of something. She pulled out a small ripped photograph, the pieces carefully taped together. She stared at the image in front of her, unable to quite believe her eyes.
Sarah walked past the open doorway and glanced inside, pausing when she noticed Jenny's stiff posture, her shoulders hunched slightly as though in distress. She wandered over and saw that she was holding a photograph of herself. "When was that taken?" she asked.
Jenny shook her head in amazement. "It wasn't," she replied. "It's not me ... it's Claudia Brown." Her breath caught in her throat, the tears threatening to rebel. "Oh my God, Sarah. I used to be somebody else."
Jenny wiped the tears away angrily; she'd promised herself that she wouldn't cry. The house was just as she remembered. The rose garden was blooming out the front and the pebble driveway rolled underfoot as she approached the door. She hesitated, but took a deep breath and knocked four times, each thump against the wood tightening the knot in her stomach.
Moments passed. Finally an elderly woman opened the door, her short grey hair falling in curls across her shoulders. "Jenny!" she exclaimed. "What a pleasant surprise! It's so good to see you, my dear. It's been too long, far too long. Come in, tell me what brings you to Manchester."
Jenny followed her inside, settling down on the floral couch while the woman bustled about in the kitchen. She ran her hand along the coarse fabric, memories surfacing. She smiled, a rogue tear escaping and sliding down her cheek. It had been years.
Rachel wasn't really her mother. She'd been orphaned within days of birth, her parents murdered in cold blood. Rachel and Jackson had been kind enough to give her a home after suffering infertility, and she hadn't really thought much of her biological family. When Jenny had moved to London and later been offered government employment dealing with rampaging dinosaurs, she'd drifted away from her adoptive parents.
But seeing that photo had spurred her to return – this quaint little cottage in the country held the secret to her past. Everyone had considered Nick mad when he'd tried to convince everyone she was someone who'd never existed. Oh, how she missed Nick! She buried her face in her hands and let the sobs wrack through her body, succumbing to the emotion tearing her apart.
Rachel emerged from the kitchen and set a tray of tea and biscuits on the table. "Jenny, dear? What's wrong?" She took a seat beside her and grasped Jenny's hand in hers.
"I want to know about my life … before my parents died."
"I don't know that much," Rachel replied. "A lot of the information was classified."
"What were their names?"
"Melissa and Robert Brown."
Jenny's heart leapt into her throat. Brown. Nick's words echoed in her head. She'd been a Brown.
"What was my name?" she asked, her voice barely audible.
"They hadn't named you yet."
Jenny sighed in disappointment. Deep down she already knew the answer, but she desperately needed that confirmation. There were still so many missing pieces, like why were they murdered? If the world had changed, then what did that have to do with her parents? Why was it only her life that had been affected?
"There is something else, though," Rachel said. "Melissa called emergency. The whole thing is recorded and in evidence. I didn't want to listen to it." She shook her head sadly.
Hope flickered through Jenny. She had to get that tape.
Nick and Jenny turned the corner. Helen was standing on the top step, hands on hips, grinning down at them. "It's time we talked," she said.
"What about?" Nick asked.
Jenny switched her gaze between the two, eyes wide in trepidation. Helen approached her, examining her face. "Fascinating," she whispered. "The same as Claudia in every external detail."
That name. She was quite sick of hearing that name. She was not Claudia! She was Jenny!
"Eyes, hair…" Helen continued. "In all visible ways, she's the same woman and yet she's completely different." Helen reached out a hand to stroke her cheek.
"Back off," Jenny snapped, tilting her head away.
Helen placed a hand on her chest dramatically. "A little more aggressive, perhaps, than the original," she purred. "Claudia Brown becomes Jenny Lewis, a new person with a new identity. Interesting."
"Here you are, Miss Lewis."
A folder landed on the desk in front of her. Because the case was confidential, she'd had difficulty intercepting the evidence. But her government background and her ties to the murder had eventually gotten her the information she yearned for. Finally she could unveil the truth. The officer left the room and she shuffled through the papers inside the folder.
A gag erupted from her throat as a photograph fell from the pile. It was her father, his throat ripped out and open wounds crisscrossing his body. He had the same auburn hair as her, the same deep brown eyes. She bit her lip and shoved the image back inside, fighting the river raging behind her eyelids. She found the tape and inserted it into the player she'd brought with her. Swallowing the last remnants of apprehension, she pressed the play button.
"State your emergency," came the calm voice of the operator.
"Oh my God, you have to help me!" Melissa's frantic screams exploded from the silence.
Jenny doubled over, the tears let loose. Her mother's terror engulfed her. Her heart thumped wildly and she felt like a dark cloud had shrouded her.
"Please, please, it's killed Bob, it's killed him! Don't let it hurt her!" There was a thump and a scratch on wood. Melissa must've been crawling along the wall, clutching her daughter to her chest. The baby was bawling loudly.
"Ma'am? ma'am? Please, tell me where you are so we can send out a patrol." The operator's composed demeanour was ruffling, the panic creeping into his voice.
Another thump. She'd dropped the phone. Her frantic sobs came from somewhere nearby. The floorboards creaked and a caw-like clicking broke through the woman's pleas.
Jenny's skin crawled. She knew that sound.
"No! No! Don't hurt Claudia!"
It was too much. Jenny fled from the room, her body trembling in anguish. She fell to her knees outside the station, her aggrieved wails ascending to the sky like a desolate siren.
Danny spun the wheel enthusiastically, the van tilting slightly as it swerved around the corner. "Hope someone's paid the congestion charge," he quipped as they flew around another bend.
"You're actually enjoying yourself, aren't you?" It was more of a statement than a question. Jenny failed to suppress a smile.
"Well, you only live once!" Danny's face was plastered with a huge grin.
"Not in my case, apparently."
Danny shot her a confused look. "Come again?"
Jenny's smile receded. "Long story."
Two years earlier.
"This is the second incursion, Sir." Leek scurried after Lester, waving a bunch of documents around.
Lester turned around and faced the scrawny nuisance. "Yes, Leek, I can count, believe it or not."
"Sorry, Sir, sorry."
Lester resumed walking along the halls of the Home Office, struggling to rid himself of his irritating parasite. Of all the officials in the Office, the team got landed with Oliver Leek.
"But, Sir," Leek continued, thrusting the papers in Lester's face again. "I do believe we need to set up a permanent program to deal with these …. anomalies, as Cutter calls them."
"A permanent program?" Lester sneered. "What do you suggest, Leek? Offering the creatures a college where they can apply for citizenship?"
"No, no, of course not," Leek stammered. "If Cutter is right and these things are commonplace, then we'll need a team of specially trained professionals who –"
"Isn't that what these civilians are for? You know, Leek, you're really driving my patience at the moment."
"Please, Sir, if you'll just let me explain." He paused for a moment to recollect his dropped documents, then hurried to catch up with Lester. "I propose building an institution designed specifically for these occurrences. To study them and ... such."
Lester stopped, suddenly interested. "Where do you suggest we get the money from? Dig blindly in the soil and hope for oil?"
"I've already spoken to the Head, Sir." Leek handed him the papers. "They've approved a budget plan for the administration of an anomaly research centre."
Lester flicked through the sheets, vaguely scanning the pages. "Well, Leek. I think we've finally found some use for having you here."
"Where's Claudia?"
They looked up at him in surprise. "Claudia?" Lester asked.
"Where's Claudia Brown?" Nick repeated.
"I don't know anyone of that name," Lester stated.
An icicle of uneasiness shot down his spine. Surely they were joking?
"No, come on. Where is she?" Nick demanded. This wasn't funny.
"We really…" Stephen took a cautious step forward. "We don't know what you're talking about."
"Never heard of her," Connor agreed.
"Look, you've been working with her every day for months." This was really beginning to frustrate Nick. What were they playing at? "Don't tell me you don't know who she is."
"No idea," Lester said nonchalantly. "Sorry."
Nick's heart leapt into his throat. No, no, no! Nick grabbed Lester's shoulders and shook him, the fear gripping him like a stringent claw. "Look, look, where is she!"
"Cutter," Connor interjected. "We don't know her!"
"No one knows her!" Abby added.
Nick let go of Lester and turned to the anomaly. "Wait, something's wrong. This isn't right," he babbled. "Something's gone wrong. Something's happened, something's changed. We've done something, we've …" He could barely breathe. Claudia … Claudia was gone … vanished without a trace from existence. "Something that we've done has changed the past and she's not here anymore."
Abby, Connor, Lester and Stephen continued to watch him anxiously. The reality hit him like a sledgehammer. "Oh, God. Oh, my God."
Connor glanced at his compass. "It's closing," he warned.
He couldn't leave her! He had to fix this! He sprinted at the anomaly, desperate to get her back.
"No, no!" Stephen seized Nick and held him back.
"No! I have to go!" Nick shouted, fighting with his captor. This couldn't be happening. Not her, not Claudia. She'd begged him not to go through in the first place, her intuition presaging her. It was his fault! He had to save her! "I have to make things right!" he hollered.
"Don't be stupid," Stephen hissed. "You'll get marooned there."
Nick watched in horror as the anomaly shuddered and imploded, sealing the fate of Claudia Brown.