Fear
My entry for "F" of the A-Z Primeval FanFic Challenge
Who? Series 4/5 Cast
When? Post-series 4 (though I'm ignoring the fact that Emily left)
Please note: I drafted most of this story prior to Series 5 (before the Watch promos even started). All I'd seen when I started writing was the lift confrontation between Abby and April on Janice Byrne's showreel.
Part One
0830HRS: CONTROL ROOM, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON
Becker leaned back in his chair – utterly bored – and looked over at a familiar head of reddish brown hair. It swished backwards and forwards as Jess moved up and down the console in her chair, working in a continuous stream of movement. Her attention darted from person to person, screen to screen and it made Becker feel a bit giddy. An outsider would think they were in the middle of something serious, but Jess worked just as earnestly during the quiet times that bored Becker rigid. He watched, slightly in awe, as she glanced from one screen to another in quick succession, her fingers moving frantically over the keys.
Lester was peering over her shoulder, monitoring progress and poking his nose in like the control-freak he was. When he touched one of the controls on the console, Jess swatted at him with her fingers, smacked his arm and sent him packing with a quick-witted remark.
Sometimes, Becker thought, Jess could be so childlike: innocent and playful and almost carefree. It was those moments when he was reminded how young she actually was. There was always that little jolt of fear that she was too young, in his opinion, to be in this job.
Still, when the anomaly alert sounded, there was no one he relied on more to keep them all safe. Jess was efficient, dedicated, focused and brilliant. She was wise well beyond her years and could cut anyone down to size if she needed to – Becker included – and that demanded respect, regardless of age.
Amused and intrigued, he sauntered over to see what had got her in such a whirl so early in the day.
0915HRS: CIRCLE AND METROPOLITAN LINES, LONDON UNDERGROUND, LONDON
Connor took the underground to work that morning and it gave him plenty of time to mull over the events of the day so far.
Abby had pulled up to the kerb – a little too fast in his opinion – outside the tube station and huffily said goodbye. He'd tried to kiss her cheek but she'd moved away, the remnants of that morning's argument too clear in her head to accept any affection. Disheartened, Connor had climbed out of the Mini and watched her drive away with that sinking feeling he got every time she was angry with him. The fear that maybe this time she'd see sense.
It hurt to be reminded that she was too good for him. He had no hope of ever living up to her expectations, not now that they were back here, in the real world. His work was so important but she couldn't see it. She didn't understand and just said that she didn't like him working for Burton. When he asked her why she always blamed it on female intuition and there was no scientific basis for her concerns that Connor could relate to.
He asked her to see the bigger picture, but she complained that he was too intent on that big picture to focus on the individual, the person stood right in front of him. She was wrong. Or at least, he really hoped so. He had waited too long for this: both for Abby to be his girl, but also for the chance to work with one of the country's leading scientists.
So one argument preceded another and they had been running in this circle for weeks. And now here he was: literally darting around the city, counting down the stops on the yellow line.
Something felt different today when he clambered out at Baker Street and changed to another crowded carriage on the Metropolitan line. The feeling in his stomach was not so much sinking, but plummeting. He hoped the rubbish commute was worth it. He hoped desperately that his job was worth Abby being mad at him the whole time.
It better be worth it, he thought again. He rubbed the back of his neck, unconsciously aware that he was being watched but being too preoccupied to notice.
1100HRS: CONTROL ROOM, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON
"Abby?" Jess asked, her eyebrows pulling together as she frowned at her screen.
"Yeah?" Abby replied coolly, without looking round from her workstation. She continued to tap into the keyboard as she wrote up a report for Lester.
"You said earlier that Connor was working for Philip today."
Abby shrugged. "That's what he told me." Underneath her casual tone, lay a hint of doubt. "I can only assume he's at one of the satellite labs."
"Right." Jess' frown deepened. "And he didn't mention anything about Matt?"
Abby shook her head. "No." She walked across the room to look over Jess' shoulder at the screen. The central monitor showed a faded out map that was almost impossible to decipher with two blinking red dots floating in the middle of a grey smudge: one labelled Connor Temple, the other Matthew Anderson.
"Strange," Abby agreed. "Matt hasn't taken much of an interest in Connor's new job up until now."
Jess nodded but continued to frown, tapping away at different buttons with no noticeable response on the computer. "That's not the only thing that's odd," she pointed at the monitor. "This is the best map I can get on screen. I can't load any floor plans and every attempt I make at accessing their CCTV network is blocked. I don't understand. It's like they're..." She fished for the right word.
"Unplottable?" Abby finished her sentence.
"Exactly!"
Abby raised an eyebrow. "How very Harry Potter!"
Jess couldn't help but giggle. "Well, I did think that April looked a bit like Luna Lovegood when we met!"
A brief smirk passed across Abby's face until Becker interrupted, pulling them back to the present situation.
"Why don't you try calling Matt's mobile number?" he suggested. "You could get co-ordinates from that."
"Good idea," Abby said and Jess immediately started to dial.
With their attention on the ADD, in a flurry of activity fuelled by speculation and intrigue, they didn't notice the other person in the room. In the background, Emily sat and listened, her mouth set in a grim line.
1100HRS: PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, LOCATION UNKNOWN
From the outside it was a fairly nondescript building: a prefab, nothing special. Just concrete panels, breeze blocks and render, with metal beams dividing each section as though it had been put together like a jigsaw. For a moment, Matt thought he'd got the wrong building but then he saw the discrete Prospero logo by what appeared to be the main entrance.
He walked briskly towards it, ready with a plausible story to give security, but was surprised to find none. No security guard, no password or swipe card entry. Just an automatic door that hissed open and let him through.
He was faced by a long, stark white corridor. Everything was quiet and if he hadn't have watched Connor enter the building an hour or so before, he would've believed it deserted.
The silence was broken by the loud ringing of his mobile phone. Groaning, he grudgingly answered it, keeping his voice down though his ring tone had probably alerted someone to his presence already.
"Jess, can I call you back?" he said before she had chance to speak.
Jess' voice was unusually hesitant on the end of the line. "Um, sure… but Matt, where are you?"
"Later, Jess." He knew he was being brisk, rude even, but now was not the time. He hung up before Jess could reply and turned off his phone.
At that moment, a bespectacled face appeared around the door of the lab up ahead and fixed him with an accusing glare.
1110HRS: CONTROL ROOM, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON
The line went dead and Jess turned to her colleagues. "That wasn't just me, right? He was being odd."
"Very odd," Abby agreed with a frown.
"But we spoke to him so we have his co-ordinates," Becker pointed out. "Look, something's coming through now. So we don't need his directions."
"True." Jess nodded and busily began retrieving the data and loading a map. She still couldn't access her usual aids of CCTV and floor plans, but at least she had something. It was her job to know where everyone was at all times.
How was she meant to do that when all she had were two red dots blinking on a blank screen?
"Somewhere in north west London," she said and the relief was clear in her voice. "Near… Wembley it looks like."
"Wembley?" Abby said and a strange expression crossed her face.
"Mean anything to you?" Becker asked.
"No…." She looked away from the monitor. "No… I had no idea where he was." Her voice was quiet, like something was troubling her. She was avoiding their eyes, her own becoming teary.
Jess frowned. "Are you ok?"
Abby nodded, blinking rapdily. "Sure… I better get back to work. Finish this report."
She wandered back off to her work station. Jess and Becker exchanged quizzical looks, but were soon distracted as a more detailed location map loaded. Feeling better to have some data to work with, Jess' attention was diverted from Abby's problems and she re-focused on her screens.
Only Emily was witness to the silent tears that fell into Abby's lap as she held her head in her hands.
1115HRS: LAB FIVE, PROSPERO SATELLITE RESEARCH LABS, VERIFYING LOCATION
When April ushered his team leader into the lab, Connor did a double-take. "Errr... Matt?" he questioned. "How did you get in here?"
"Through the front door," the older man stated pedantically.
"I found him in the corridor," April added unnecessarily and went back to her work.
Connor looked perplexed. "Why aren't you at the ARC?" he asked a slightly different question, whilst still looking for the same answer: why was Matt here?
Matt sat down on a stool next to the workbench Connor was using, making himself at home. "Connor, my job isn't just about sitting in the ARC and waiting for something to happen. I'm your team leader. So, I'm checking up on my team."
"Well, actually… I'm working for Prospero today."
"I thought we were one and the same," replied Matt, though he actually thought the opposite was true.
Connor frowned and scratched the back of his head absentmindedly. "I didn't think Philip had given anyone else our location."
"I'm sure there are many things that Philip hasn't told you," Matt answered the question indirectly, without actually lying. He was vaguely amused by Connor's confused expression. You could almost hear the cogs whirring. "So, anyway," he carried on, "Now that I'm here, why don't you talk me through what it is you're working on?"
"I… can't," Connor said, hesitating a little. "Confidentiality and all that jazz. You'll have to talk to Philip."
"He's proving to be a bit elusive." Matt wondered if Connor had heard from Philip more recently than the ARC, but if he had, he didn't respond with any confirmation.
"Connor?" April sidled up to him with a clipboard, pushing black thick-rimmed glasses further up the bridge of her nose. "Can you sign this off so I can start the prep work?"
"Sure," he replied, a little distracted and scribbled on the dotted line without reading.
He turned back to his team leader. "Look, Matt, this is really bad timing. I've… I've had a rubbish morning. We're behind with the experiment, Philip's been on my case to make it work this time and to top it all off, Abby's… well, she's not exactly happy with me right now."
"Trouble in paradise?"
Connor didn't find that comment helpful. "Something like that. But, seriously, can we have this conversation another time?" When Matt didn't respond either in agreement or protest, Connor took matters into his own hands. "April?" he called to his lab assistant. "Can you show Matt out please?"
April came over and Matt looked between them. They made an odd pair. He hoped Abby wouldn't find any cause for jealousy in this current set-up. Still, that wasn't his problem.
He shook his head. "Don't worry," he said to April. "I can see myself out, you're obviously both very busy."
1300HRS: MENAGERIE LAB, ANOMALY RESEARCH CENTRE, HAMMERSMITH, LONDON
After lunch, Abby hid away in the menagerie lab. Although well-meaning, she could do without Jess worrying and wanting to know what was wrong. She wasn't sure she could even explain it. Not to Jess. The only person that might understand it was Connor and he wasn't there.
Abby hadn't known where Connor was today and it hadn't really bothered her this morning. She hadn't even thought about it until Jess had asked, too wrapped up in the fact that he was working for Prospero to think about anything else.
It was only when Jess had revealed the location of the satellite lab, that Abby realised she hadn't had a clue. Oddly enough, that scared her. It scared her more than she would ever admit.
She'd let him go off to work today, dropped him at a random tube station, unaware of his destination. She had never exactly been the type of girlfriend to keep tabs, but shouldn't she always know roughly where he was? For emergencies or whatever.
For a year in the Cretaceous they'd only had each other. She'd always been aware of where he was and he was never far away, because he was looking out for her too. They'd relied on each other completely and they'd shared everything with each other.
Now there were so many – too many – things that he wouldn't or couldn't tell her. She didn't like this new secrecy between them. It made her nervous, a shiver of anxiety in the pit of her stomach; constant butterflies and not the good kind.
Fear had been a big part of their lives during that year in the past – she should be used to it – but it seemed wrong to feel fear in the present. There shouldn't be anything to be afraid of, not now they were home safe, should there?