After working on the anomaly project for a couple of years Captain Ryan had started to believe that nothing could surprise him any more so he really should have seen this coming. "I can't believe it," he thoughtas he sat at his desk. He flipped over the security pass for the ARC's newest recruit and re-read the name printed on it for what felt like the thousandth time. Sarah Page. His ex-girlfriend. "I honestly can not believe it."

Priding himself on being able to keep his personal and professional lives separate he had treated her like a stranger when they had ended up working together after an anomaly had appeared in the British Museum. Now he had time to get over the initial shock of seeing her again and reflect on what had happened he couldn't help feeling pleased that she had taken the whole thing in her stride. He thought that would be as far as her involvement with the anomalies would be, however Cutter had other ideas and offered her a place on the team. Ryan frowned, he knew he owed Cutter his life since Cutter had dragged his barely breathing body back through the anomaly and into this different version of their own world but there were still times when he wanted to kill the guy or at least knock him out.

"Maybe I can convince Cutter to hire a different archaeologist. It's not that she wouldn't be a useful addition to the team," he reasoned, "after all she had come up with the solution to send the Pristichampsus back through the anomaly, on the other hand I've seen what this job does to people and I don't want her to end up completely obsessed like Cutter, bitter like Helen or dead like Stephen." A knock on his office door pulled Ryan out of his reverie.

"Come in." Sarah walked into his office and shut the door.

"You asked to see me?"

"Yes, have a seat." Ryan glanced at Sarah's hands as she pulled out the chair on the other side of his desk and was glad to see no sign of either an engagement or wedding ring.

"How are you?" He asked.

"Fine, considering my whole world's just been turned upside down."

"I know the feeling," he thought.

"How are you?" She asked looking at him with concern.

"I'm all right," he answered a little defensively. She raised an eyebrow sceptically.

"You look exhausted," she told him gently trying not to agitate him. Ever since Stephen's death Ryan had been working harder to protect the team and he believed it was this which had prompted Lester to hire Becker to share the workload with him.

"This is a tiring job," he replied, Sarah's eyes narrowed just slightly as if she could tell it wasn't the complete truth but she let it go, changing the subject.

"Is that for me?" She asked looking at the security pass in Ryan's hand.

"Yes, but are you sure you want it?"

"Of course, how else am I going to get into the building tomorrow?" Ryan shook his head.

"You know that's not what I meant."

"Look, I'm an archaeologist-"

"Technically you're an Egyptologist," He interrupted.

"Which is a field of archaeology and being able to work with something that creates links to the past is my dream job."

"They link to the future too."

"Really?" She asked astonished.

"Dangerous creatures have come through from there." He added thinking of the future predator. Sarah rolled her eyes.

"Yeah, that Pristichampsus was a teddy bear."

"I'm just trying to keep you safe."

"You're in charge of security here so won't I be safe anyway?" She couldn't help smirking as she watched Ryan struggle to find an answer that wouldn't make him or his men sound incompetent. He sighed.

"There's no way I can talk you out of this?"

"Petting the mammoth was the clincher."

"I knew we shouldn't have kept it." Sarah grinned and reached over the desk and gently prised the security pass from Ryan's grasp.

"I'm staying Tom, the sooner you accept it the better. I'll see you tomorrow."

As he watched her leave he knew it was going to be a lot harder for him to keep his personal and professional lives separate.