DISCLAIMER - Not mine.

A/N - This is supposed to be a longer story, but I s'pose we shall see. Anyways, please enjoy - read and review. Thanks.

Ben dragged himself reluctantly out of bed. He had spent the previous night trying to chat Amy up in The Nags Head. It had seemed like a great idea then, but as he struggled into his uniform at four in the morning, Ben changed his mind. Amy, though beautiful and clever, was not worth the stampede in his head. He dragged himself to the bathroom.

The only positives were that he didn't feel sick, and he didn't have to see his boss before making his deliveries. Ben flattened his hair with some water, and splashed his face clean. He checked his watch. With a ten minute drive to the dairy, and the fifteen minutes it took to check the orders, he had ten minutes to spare. The young man muttered under his breath, and hurried up.

He grabbed an apple and a bottle of water on his way out of the house – courtesy of his mother's health kick – and jumped into the car. It was a battered old Ford Fiesta. He had done all the work himself, including fixing the rattling from the engine by hitting it with a spanner and patching up the paint. Fortunately, it ran quite well, because that was as far as his talents went. Ben wondered absentmindedly, as he swerved to avoid a rabbit, whether that could be why Amy kept turning him down.

The car sputtered alarmingly. Ben swore. He muttered a prayer under his breath, and sighed in relief when the noise stopped. It had been through six owners, including his cousin, who had driven it like a Formula One car. It was a miracle the old girl was still on the road. When it started sputtering again, Ben rolled his eyes.

"Come on, Betty..." he said.

This time, the great car god in the sky wasn't listening, Ben was sure, because Betty rolled to a stop. He let his head fall against the steering wheel. His boss had already lectured him about lateness, and now there was no way he would get into work on time. Just when he thought things couldn't get any worse, fat, heavy raindrops began drenching his windscreen.

"Perfect. Bloody perfect." said Ben.

He got out of the car and drew his jacket tighter around himself. The sky was dark. There would be a storm before the rest of the village even got up. Ben kicked a tyre out of frustration. He hadn't wanted to be a milkman. The job was a temporary thing, to raise money so that he could go to university and study biochemistry. Ben glared darkly at Betty, and wished he had taken his Gran up on her offer to stay in Edinburgh.

With a heavy sigh, Ben lifted up the hood. It was steaming, and pinging as it cooled down. There was no way he was going anywhere. He was ready to kick the tyres again, when a soft click-click-click made him freeze on the spot. Ben didn't know why he couldn't move, but his thumping heart persuaded him not to argue. He stayed absolutely still as something walked up behind him breathing heavily. Ben clutched the spanner in his left hand. He held his breath as a vast head appeared next to him.

The spanner was obviously inadequate. Ben squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Whatever the creature was, it was the height of two tall men. It looked like a giant lizard of some kind. Ben tried to ignore the voice in his mind. You know what that is, Benjamin. He wondered faintly why the voice sounded like his Gran. That's a dinosaur! He swallowed, and tried not to move at all. It was right by him now, obviously aware that he was alive. Ben held back a frantic sob, as a large nostril sniffed at his hair.

Abby sat at her table, yawning. Her hair stuck up in a hundred different directions. Connor had stumbled in at a ridiculous time in the morning, very drunk, and she hadn't been able to get back to sleep. She was glad that he was getting out more. Still, Abby thought sleepily, that doesn't mean you can't make him suffer for this. It was still only quarter past five, and she didn't have to be up till seven.

Rex jumped up onto the table, and tilted his head to the side. He edged closer to her cup of tea. Abby snatched it away.

"Bad lizard!" she said, scowling.

He skittered across the table, and flew to the other side of the room. It was ridiculous, but Abby couldn't help feeling he was giving her a disapproving look. She guiltily abandoned her plans for revenge, deciding that Connor could be let off just the once. Gulping the last of her tea, the young zoo keeper made her way back to bed.

It was then that her mobile blared into life. Abby raised plaintive eyes to the ceiling, and shook her head. She answered it reluctantly.

"Abby."

"Creature sighting, North Yorkshire." It was Cutter, and he sounded no more awake than she was.

"Right."

"We need to go now."

She made obscene gestures at nothing in particular, and took a deep breath. "Why now, Professor?"

There was a heavy pause. "Because they think it ate somebody. And because the universe hates us."

Abby made a general sound of agreement. "Dinosaur eats somebody, yeah, sounds like the universe has a problem. Do you want me to wake Connor up?"

She explained about the student's drunken night out. Abby very much doubted he would be in a fit state to chase after dinosaurs, even if they waited till midday. Connor never had been very good at holding his drink.

Cutter sounded amused, at least. "No, allow me. You can have the pleasure of waking him up when he tries to go back to sleep."

"Sounds good."

"Pick you both up in twenty minutes."

Abby slid her phone shut. She rushed up to her room, and threw clothes about in an effort to find something suitable to wear. It had been a while since she'd done any laundry. Finally, she found something, and rushed to the shower. Since working with the team, Abby had perfected the art of the two-minute shower. She was out of the bathroom in seven minutes, and had tea and toast ready ten minutes later. Just as quickly, she raced into Connor's bedroom, hopping over the mess, and crouched down next to him.

"WAKEY WAKEY!"

He shot up, and shrieked.

"What the bloody hell was that for?" he demanded, looking like the undead.

"Cutter and Stephen are going to be here in…" Abby checked her watch. "About ten minutes. Get up, jump in the shower. There's tea and toast downstairs for you." She grabbed his arm as he tried to go back to sleep. "Now!"

He wasn't out of the shower when the others arrived ten minutes later, so she made more tea. They sat at the small table, all trying to stay awake. Abby sneaked a quick glance at them both. Stephen looked dazed. Cutter looked like he hadn't actually woken up at all – like someone had just pointed him in the right direction and pushed. When Connor appeared at the bottom of the stairs five minutes later, she was annoyed. He looked fine, as though he hadn't been out at all.

"Hello everybody." Connor said cheerfully. He ignored the glares shot in his direction. "Is this mine?" Without waiting for a reply, he shoved half a slice of toast in his mouth and downed the remaining cup of tea. "Come on, then, let's go!"

Stephen followed him first. Cutter was next, with Abby last, to make sure that Rex stayed in the flat.

"I thought you said he'd been out."

Abby glanced in surprise at Cutter. "He has. I mean- he did. No, that's not right…"

"He's not hungover."

She gave her flatmate an appraising look. "I think he' s still drunk. Don't worry Professor, he'll fall asleep in the car, and wake up feeling like a brass band's playing in his head. I brought painkillers, water, and doughnuts. Perfect cure." Abby said. She checked the bag. "There's spare doughnuts as well."

Cutter perked up a bit. "What kind?"