Title: Complicated
Rating: PG-13 or T just to be safe
Summery: Abby has a long term secret and when she finds out she's knocked up, she has to tell Connor it may not be his baby. Spoilers for Series 1-4.
A/N: I have no idea where this plot bunny came from. I'm a big Connor/Abby fan and yet...this happened.
This wasn't happening...this wasn't happening... this was happening...
Abby paced around her flat that she shared with her on-the-rocks boyfriend Connor Temple, clutching a cup of tea and waiting for him to come home. He was off with Burton again but he swore when he responded to her text that he would be back tonight.
Not like the time he ran off to Scotland with Burton and stayed gone for two weeks...if he hadn't have done that then maybe she wouldn't be in this condition...
Oh hell. She couldn't blame it on him, it was her fault. She shouldn't have kept up the friends with benefits arrangement after she got with Connor. But he ignored her, took her for granted and basically treated her like she was always supposed to be there no matter how wrapped up in his own life he got.
It was different in the Cretaceous, they only had each other. She should have known if they ever got back he would go back to being the self absorbed emotionally stunted man he always was. There was a reason she shot him down before-
The sound of the key in the lock shook her out of her downward emotional spiral. Connor seemed surprised to see her still up when he slipped in the door.
"Abby, I said you didn't have to wait up." He crossed the room and hugged her, "It's sweet of you though." He leaned in to kiss her and she couldn't bear it. She ducked away from him. "Connor, I have to tell you something."
He knew her well enough to know when she was really upset and he jump to the wrong conclusion immediately. "Abby...It's just a rough patch, we'll get through this-"
She cut him off, "It's not that Connor. Sit down. There's things I've never told you about me, and I'm pregnant."
He was floored with shock. "You pregnant?"
"Yeah. Positive."
"You're not breaking up with me?"
"No." She replied and thought, 'you might break up with me.'
"That's wonderful!" He grabbed her in a big hug, "aren't you excited?"
"Oh...sit down Connor. I have to tell you something. It's complicated." He seemed to catch the serious vibe off of her and tried to reassure her. "The baby's going to be fine, what are you worried about?"
"Connor, promise me you'll let me explain everything before you go flying off the handle? Promise me?"
"I promise. What are you so worried about? I'm happy about the baby."
"Yeah...before we were dating...I had a friend...with benefits..."
He was dismissive. "So? Lots of people do. That was before-" Connor stopped himself, "You're not saying...you've kept this up? You cheated on me?" It was like he couldn't stop the words coming out of his mouth.
"You let me explain!" Abby snapped. "It's started years before there was an us," she waved her hands between them, "He didn't want a relationship and neither did I. It was just sex. We were both just lonely."
Connor started stuttering..."But, you knew I loved you..."
She wasn't having any of that, "No! You took it back, remember, pretended you didn't say anything at all to me and then ran off with Caroline to the movies? Remember that?"
He looked ashamed of himself, but grudgingly admitted, "Yeah."
"What did you expect me to do? Sit at home and weep for you? I went over to his place and got drunk." Abby visibly calmed herself down, "and laid. My life was my life before we were in the Cretaceous. I never held any of your old girlfriends against you."
"You kissed me, when Becker told you about how we got Rex back!" Connor seemed to be digging for an emotional grenade he could toss at her.
"I did. And you didn't do a damn thing about it, you didn't ask me out-"
"We were already living together! We had dinner every night!"
"That's it! That's exactly it! You acted like you wanted me for a girlfriend but you never tried to romance me or kiss me or anything! I needed a hug every once in a while!" She needed more than a hug, "I didn't have all eternity to hang about waiting on you to make a move so I did. And you didn't do a damn thing about it."
"So you would have gone out with me before we were trapped?"
"Yes. If you had manned up and asked me. You never did."
"So you had your fuck buddy?"
"Yeah. My fuck buddy." She echoed his own crude words back to him. "I have needs Connor, I needed somebody to hold me occasionally, and it wasn't going to be you."
"Why'd you keep it up then after we got back? You had an affair Abby." Now he was pulling the kicked puppy look on her. "I thought we had something special."
"We did. We do. We broke things off after I got back. He thought I was dead and suddenly I wasn't." It was supposed to just be one last time, just so he could reassure himself she was really there and really alive.
"Obviously you didn't or you'd never be telling me this." It was like a train wreck. Connor wanted to run out of the flat and keep running as his life came crashing down around his ears but he just couldn't get off the couch.
"You got wrapped up in Burton. Who is a sleazebag no matter how much you worship him. Remember when he waltzed into my lab and told me he was going to euthanize all the creatures? He was going to kill Rex and you just stood in the corner and kept your mouth shut? Remember that?"
"Abby, I was in shock." Connor tried to stammer an excuse, "I thought you'd forgiven me for that."
"Nope. I just moved past it. That same night you worked late and I told you I was out with some mates? I went over to his house. I was upset and angry and he just...let me vent and we ended up in bed together." They fell back into the routine they had established for years, with a little extra sneaking around.
Bitterly Connor said, "So we have a fight and you run to him? Is that how it worked?"
Abby thought about it. "No. That was the first time. Like I told you, we'd been friends with bennies for years. No emotional crap. Just...it's nice not to be totally alone. It's nice not to always wake up alone." Another not so subtle dig at how Burton dragged him off for days at a time. "He told me he doesn't want to screw up my life."
"Actions do speak louder than words then. Is it his baby? Is that what you're dancing around?"
"I don't know."
"Did you tell him before you told me?"
"Yes." Connor looked like he might cry. "Why?"
"To see what he wanted to do. If he had said he had no interest in a child then frankly I probably would never have told you about him."
"But he didn't did he?"
"Yeah. He said he couldn't ignore his own baby. He said I should have told you a long time ago." She was pacing now and waving her arms around angerly, "He thought I had when we were in the cretaceous, I mean, he thought it was a big thing not to mention. He was a bit cross with me about it."
Connor found himself agreeing with his girlfriends lover.
"Connor, I don't think you really want to be with me. I think that the way you treated me before we were trapped, and the way you've gone back to treating me is just how you are. It's who you are. I can't live like that, I can't be ignored. I think that's why I went back to him."
"So you are dumping me then?"
"No. Like I said, he doesn't want to do the whole boyfriend/girlfriend thing."
"Let me get this straight, I'm not a good enough boyfriend, so you run off to some bloke who doesn't want to be a boyfriend at all?"
"For a couple of years we worked just fine. It's nice not to be alone and Connor, just about since we first got back I've felt alone. You've left me for Burton."
"I'm not shagging him!"
"But he makes you feel special right? Unique?" Connor couldn't deny it and he wasn't sure how she had turned this around on him. "I don't know who's baby it is. It's dangerous to do a test before birth, it could cause a miscarriage so if you don't want me or the baby that's fine, I'll manage on my own. If you do then we'll have to wait until it's born to find out for sure."
Abby went to get up and he grabbed her hand and pulled her back down on the couch. "Does he? Want you?"
"It would complicate his life enormously if I was in it. But he won't leave me out on the street and he does want the baby, if it's his."
"Is he married?"
"No." Protesting that she still had some standards would be a bit illogical at this point.
"Is it someone I know?"
"Yes."
"It's someone from work isn't it? It's Becker!"
"No! It's not Becker."
She couldn't bring herself to say it but she didn't have to, he was puzzling it out. He was always very clever. "Someone you've known for years...someone that has no interest in dating you, just fucking...it's Lester." Now he looked like he might vomit.
"Yeah. It's James."
Connor leaned back in shock. "That bastard...that utter bastard...he pretended to be my friend...and all the time he was shagging my girlfriend!"
"Not all the time, just before we were together and after you ran off with Burton!"
"He let me live with him, after you tossed me out!"
"I asked him, once I realized you were living at the ARC." She had tossed him out because she couldn't take his panting after her from a distance anymore. "We weren't together then."
"You know, I wondered why he would. He hated having me there, messing up his nice tidy flat. Sid and Nancy drove him bonkers."
Something else occurred to Connor, "Phillip said Lester convinced him not to be known forever as the man who killed the dinosaurs." Her lover had saved her precious creatures while he had stood mute.
"Yeah."
Suddenly it was overwhelming, "I can't...I can't be here now. I've got to go. I've got to think about this." Connor stood up and Abby rose with him. "I'm so sorry. I never meant to hurt you."
"Yeah..." she could see the tears in his eyes, "missed the mark on that one."
He picked up his keys and left. Abby sat back down on the couch, then pulled out her phone. There was really only one person she could call.
"Hello?"
"I told him."
"How did he take it?"
"He's angry, and upset. I expect he's going over to your place."
"Thanks for the warning. How are you?" This was what Connor consistently failed to do and probably didn't understand that he was failing. James cared how she was, even if he had no interest in official female companionship.
"I'll be alright. It was harder and easier than I thought. I don't know if I made him understand why I carried on with you after we got back though."
"He neglected you. Even I could see that and not just because you came over here crying more than once." Reminding her of all that seemed to stiffen her resolve. "I'm coming over too. I don't know if Connor will get drunk before or if he's headed there now but I'll stay out of sight until he gets his mad out."
James laughed, it was such an out of place sound considering what all was going on. "You mean after he takes a few swings at me?"
"Yeah...be careful all right?"
James poured himself a shot of whiskey and downed it while he contemplated the upcoming fight. This was going to be hell. It was about a twenty minute drive between Abby's new flat and his condo. Connor Temple managed it in ten. James thought about having another shot before he answered the door but that would really be putting off the inevitable.
"I know you're in there!" Connor bellowed as he banged on the door again.
James swung it open, "If we're going to fight then do it in here." He snapped at the younger man. "Come in."
Connor had evidently not been expecting such an upfront greeting.
"Well? Where do you want to start? Want a drink first?"
"What the hell? You screw around with my girlfriend and now you offer me a drink?" Enraged, Connor swung at him, a huge punch that Lester handily blocked, a legacy of having five brothers.
"Connor, we can all be rational about this!" Connor responded by swinging again, and again, until Lester grabbed his arm and spun him around in a headlock. "I'll let you up if you'll quit trying to punch me." He bargained.
"Bastard. Fine."
"Drink? I think you need it. It's always hard finding out how monumentally you've fucked up."
"I've fucked up? How dare you! You're the one shagging my girlfriend!"
"You mean the girlfriend that was left to fend for herself while you disappeared with Burton for two weeks last summer? You were gone four days before you even pulled your head out far enough to let her know you were still alive!"
He kept talking as he led the way into his study, if any drinks or blood got spilled it wasn't going to stain anything in here. Stunned, Connor was following him while he continued his tirade.
"You mean that same girlfriend that thought she was going to have to watch her beloved creatures die at the hands of your new best mate? Are we talking about the same woman here? 'Cause you sure as hell haven't been treating her like a proper girlfriend!"
Lester was pouring Connor a glass full while he was talking, "I've been wanting to have this conversation with you for a while now! So lets just let it all out in the open."
"I can't fucking believe this." He was being lectured by his girlfriends lover!
"Neither can I. I can't believe she still wants to be with you."
"Me?" Connor retorted, "She said you don't want to be with her at all!"
"I like being a bachelor. I'm too set in my ways to marry and that's what a woman like Abby deserves! Someone that will marry her and look after her and love her!" He sneered at Connor, "Why she picked you for that I have no idea."
Lester took a big gulp of his own drink, "Look, I think we can both agree we care for Abby and one of us is going to be a father. I don't want to ruin her life. The gossip at work would make her miserable if this got out. Do you love her enough to at least prevent that from happening?"
"I'm not going to tell everyone that she had an affair with you!" How incredibly embarrassing.
"Do you even want the baby?" Lester asked him, watching him closely.
"Yes! I was really excited about it for about four seconds, until Abby kept talking."
"So if it's your and hers...what are you going to do?"
"You've got no right to ask me that!"
"As the man she runs to when she can't stand you anymore, I think I can."
Connor positively glowered at him. "You complete bastard."
"That's the facts. You ignored her, until she was the only woman on earth! If you want a future with her you are going to have to shape up Connor."
Lester's phone chirping distracted them both momentarily. He flipped it open and read the text before looking up at Connor. "Do you think you can at least be civil to her and not upset her more than she already is?"
He was stunned, "She's texting you?"
"She's downstairs, but if you don't promise not to make her cry again I'll tell her not to come up."
"Again?"
"Connor, you've broken her heart a couple of times now and I've had to clean up the pieces. Can you be civil or not? We all have to make some plans."
He spoke through gritted teeth, "I can be civil."
Lester looked extremely skeptical but he sent a short note back to her. 'Come up, it's open.'
They sat in stony silence for a few minutes until the soft click of the front door opening let them know she was there. Neither of them got up and it didn't take her long to locate them sitting at opposite sides of the study.
"Hey." Abby said softly as she walked in. She took in the half empty whiskey bottle on the table and couldn't decide if that was a good thing or a bad thing. She sat alone, in a comfy easy chair in the corner.
"I want to know how all this started." Connor waved his hand between them.
"That's none of your business," Lester told him firmly, "Before you were together, that's not your business."
Connor looked like he was going to argue the point but Abby cut him off. "I don't mind telling him." She knew he was going to need some details.
James looked worried, but nodded for her to continue if she wanted. "All right then. As you like." He went back to sipping his drink. Connor jolted as he remembered the very first night they were stranded in the Cretaceous. He had been fantasizing about her in a bikini on a beach...she had encouraged him with a soft 'as you like.' Hearing the same phrase from Lester was like a dagger to the heart.
She turned to Connor, "Remember the spider creatures in the tube station?"
"Abby! That was like, a week after we went to work in the ARC!"
"Let me talk," she said softly, with one hand protectively on her stomach. "I had a really bad crush on Stephen, I visited him in the hospital and that's when I found out he had a girlfriend."
She looked at her hands for a moment before continuing. "I went to a pub and got totally trashed. I was completely irresponsible. The barman said he was going to call me a ride, he flipped through my phone. I told him to call my mate Jessica, but I was slurring and he heard it as James."
Connor looked over at Lester, "She was drunk? You took advantage of her?"
"No I most certainly did not! Let her finish."
"I don't really remember much about leaving the bar. It was really late and he didn't know where I lived and I was passed out by that point so he took me back here." Abby rolled her eyes at Connor, "You know there's plenty of room here. I woke up completely alone, still in my clothes in the second bedroom."
"And?"
"And nothing. I was terribly hung over and embarrassed. He made me some tea and when I could stand without swaying he took me back to the bar to get my car."
"That's it? How did that turn into...this?" Connor was extremely skeptical.
"That next morning while I was lying on the couch trying to get the room to stop spinning, he mentioned that he didn't often have company over. He said if I felt the need to get trashed I could just come over here and save him the drive."
"I was joking, at the time." James interjected.
"I didn't think you were."
Connor waved at them to just stop. "So what? When did you start the...the..."
"Benefits part? After the friends part happened." Abby told him coolly. "I came over a few times. We were both lonely and we knew it was totally inappropriate for us to be hanging out after work together so I never mentioned anything to anybody. We weren't dating, just..."
James actually laughed, a completely improper sound at this particular junction. "Yeah...just...sometimes things just happen. We managed to work together without it affecting our professional relationship. Connor, we were always up front with each other. I wasn't looking for a girlfriend."
"Why? Why am I not good enough for you but he is?"
Abby snapped, "He never ignored me Connor! He never pretended to fall in love with me and then took it back!"
"That was before! What about the whole entire year we spent together, depending on each other every single day? I really was the last man on earth." He leaped to his feet, ready to keep ranting.
"You took it back Connor! As soon as someone and something more interesting came along! You've been treating me like-" Abby started to get really angry but James cut them both off. "Sit back down Connor. You promised you wouldn't upset her."
Connor clenched his fists but he stiffly sat back down. "After we got back, why didn't you break it off? Hell, for that matter why didn't you tell me while we were there? You were convinced we would never get back!"
"I didn't tell you because just mentioning that I'd been coming over here for a kiss and snuggle for nearly three years was a big thing to drop on you!'
He really didn't want to think about them kissing or snuggling. He circled back around to his first question, "Why didn't you break it off? You said you loved me!"
"I do love you damn it but sometimes..." Abby tried to get a hold of herself, and James stepped in, "she did break it off. She came over here and told me that we had to stop."
"But it started up again."
"Yup and it was your fault. I don't remember exactly what you did but imagine my surprise when she showed up on my doorstep, crying over you." James said sourly and Connor could tell he was genuinely angry at him for hurting Abby.
"And it wasn't all me emoting on him." Abby interjected, desperate to make him understand, "You don't realize but James is under tremendous pressure and whenever someone is killed- we both needed someone." Abby tried to defend them. "It was too easy to fall back into the same pattern as before."
"Until now. You're pregnant." Connor whipped his head around to stare at Lester. "What the hell are you planning? You've said over and over you don't want a girlfriend or a wife. I'm not good enough but you're evidently preferable to me!"
"I'm terrified." The older man confessed to them both. "I'm absolutely terrified the child is mine." The naked emotion in his face gave Connor a pause.
Abby looked like she might start crying, "I'm so sorry, to both of you. I never meant for any of this to happen. It just happened..." Now she did start crying.
James glanced over at Connor and when the younger man just sat there he sighed and got up. "Connor, if you really love her then comfort her!"
Connor looked like a deer caught in the headlights and froze. James groaned and went over to Abby, this type of thing was why she kept coming to him. He pulled her up out of the chair and hugged her. "Don't worry, we'll work this out, all three of us. It'll be alright." He eyeballed Connor in a significant way.
He sat there and watched them for a moment before it clicked, why she kept turning to James. The other man was right, he had monumentally fucked up. Connor walked over to her.
"Yeah, Abby, I'm not mad at you anymore. I understand now, I mean, I'm still a little-" James's look shut him up. They could talk about this later, when his girlfriend wasn't sobbing in her lovers arms right in front of him. Connor was right there and James accomplished a deft move that left her in Connor's arms.
"I'll leave you two alone for now." 'Be nice.' he mouthed at Connor. "I'll put some tea on. We've got a lot of planning to do."
Whatcha think? If anyone is interested in betaing this for me please let me know, or just leave a little constructive criticism. Thank for reading.