Disclaimer: Don't Own, Don't Sue! ;D
Summary: Abby does not survive the Mer incident. Connor takes her death very hard and leaves the ARC. Stephen does not die during the Leek creature bunker incident. Several months following Abby's death, Stephen pays a visit to Connor, claiming that they desperately need his help on a case. Sarah Page comes on the scene and joins the ARC. Connor gets caught up in the ARC once more as he continues to struggle with Abby's death. But, can he be saved?
A/N: Yay! The 20th fanfic just in time for my 20th birthday (November 15)! Enjoy!
Chapter 1: Broken
"The time is going to come when you say that enough is enough
The time is going to come when you stop beating yourself up"
-"Broken" by Everclear
It had been eight months to the day that he lost the girl of his dreams
Eight months since Abby was killed because of the ARC.
Because of Nick Cutter.
Connor would never let it go. He couldn't. He had never even told Abby that he'd loved her.
Shortly after her body was discovered, Connor had felt his legs give out as he fell to the ground weeping. A funeral was held immediately the following day.
At the funeral, very few people had shown up. Abby's brother, Jack, Stephen, Jenny, Lester, Cutter, and himself.
However, as soon as they had finished burying Abby, Connor had snapped.
It was the day he quit the ARC.
"This—this i—i—is all your—fa—fault!" Connor had shouted at Cutter in between sobs.
"She wouldn't have had been killed if you hadn't made that call!"
"Connor, I—I'm sorry." Was all Cutter could reply.
"That's not good enough! Sorry isn't going to bring Abby back!" Connor shouted as he ran over to Cutter and punched him square in the jaw, knocking him to the ground.
Everyone was beyond shock.
Connor went to hit him again; but Stephen had managed to grab him and pull him away from Cutter.
"Not here, mate." Stephen muttered so only Connor could hear.
If Lester hadn't any self-control or public decency, Connor was almost certain that he would've pulled up a chair and asked for popcorn.
Jack had blocked everything out as he stared down at his sister's grave, staring in shock as he wept.
Cutter didn't move from the ground, grasping his jaw as he stared down in shock.
Jenny moved over to Stephen and Connor, asking that Stephen take Connor home before anything else happened. Stephen nodded as Jenny once again voiced her condolences before returning to Cutter to help him to his feet.
"I quit!" Connor shouted as Stephen guided him to the car. "Don't you ever expect me back, you bastard!"
True to his word, Connor never set foot in the ARC again. In fact, he had never even left the flat since that day.
Stephen and occasionally Jenny would turn up to check on him, but he usually turned them away.
Connor couldn't bring himself to pack away Abby's things or even go through them.
The flat had fallen into utter disarray, as the dust became thick on just about everything.
Connor ate very rarely and when Jenny or Stephen had brought food for him, he usually shared it with Rex or gave it all to Rex.
He had a bit of a beard starting to form.
He had given up shaving a few weeks ago.
His hair was slightly more interesting. About a few months after his resignation, Connor had gone into a fit and cut his hair very short to his head, so that it was slightly spiked.
He usually milled around the living room or his own room. Doing his best to avoid Abby's things.
He tried to convince himself, at one point, that Abby had left him to go live elsewhere because they'd had a row.
It fell apart when he'd call her phone, which had since been out of service.
It was the middle of the night following the eight-month anniversary of Abby's death that Connor had received a buzz at the door.
The ADD went off in the ARC.
The researchers on ADD-duty had pinpointed the origination of the anomaly to be in the British Museum.
"That's a big place." Stephen muttered.
"Yeah, well, have Becker bring extra men. Until we know what we're dealing with, it's better to be safer than sorry." Cutter announced as he loaded a gun heading toward the garage.
"Jenny," Stephen called to the young woman. "A word?"
Jenny looked at Cutter, who continued toward the garage, before she turned and quickly walked toward Stephen.
"What is it?"
"You know that we're gonna need extra help on this, besides Becker's men."
"What do you mean?" Jenny asked hoping that Stephen had an answer much different than what she was thinking.
"We need to bring Connor back."
Jenny's heart sank. "Stephen, you heard him eight months ago. He's not coming back. Just leave it. We've got work to do."
Stephen nodded as Jenny turned and followed the direction of Cutter.
"I'll catch you guys up! I'm gonna grab some extra supplies from storage!" Stephen called after her.
"Please, don't do anything stupid." Jenny muttered to herself, knowing what Stephen truly meant.
Connor lay in bed, staring at the ceiling.
He had assumed that whoever was behind that god-awful knocking and buzzing would eventually get bored and just leave. But they didn't.
"Give me strength." Connor muttered as he threw himself out of bed and stomped toward the door.
"What the hell do you want?" Connor shouted as he threw open the door.
"I want to talk." Stephen said firmly.
"At three in the morning? I'm sure could've picked a better time, Stephen." Connor replied sardonically.
"Sorry, but it's kinda important. Can I come in?"
"Only if you plan on leaving afterwards." Connor answered dryly, as he stepped aside to allow Stephen to enter the flat.
So, what did you think? Continue or not? Break's coming up soon, so I'll try to update a bit more! ^^
Please Review! ;D