Better Late Than Never
Summary: Before the funeral Stephen's sister confronts Cutter about her brother's death and his feelings for her brother. A tiny bit of sad Nick/Stephen slash.
Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval, that much is painfully obvious because if I did own Primeval this story never would have been written, because 2x07 would have never happened.
Author's note: I'm a Dutch student of the English language, writing these stories is part of my learning curve so any feedback on my mistakes is very much appreciated.
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"Cutter!" Nick Cutter turned from his hushed conversation with Connor at the sound of his name. There she stood, the person he dreaded seeing the most. She was dressed with style, all in black, except for her shoes which were oddly out of place run-down red sneakers. It was probably her last in-joke with Stephen. Her eyes were red rimmed and her mascara had left runny tracks underneath them, she had obviously been crying... of course she had been crying, her brother was dead.
"We need to talk." She said it softly, but confident and almost commanding.
Nick couldn't help but stare at her and marvel for just a few seconds at how much she looked and sounded like Stephen. Everything about her made him want to go back home, crawl into bed and forget everything that had happened since that first anomaly, pretend the whole damn world didn't exist. Instead he answered: "Alright, come on."
He led her away from the small crowd that had gathered to pay Stephen their last respects. When they were well out of ear-shot he turned to her again. "What did you want to talk about Anna?"
Suddenly her composed face turned fiery with barely controlled anger. "What the fuck is going on Cutter?"
Of all the things he'd expected, this wasn't it and Nick found himself floundering. "What? I...what...what do you mean?"
"Don't play me for a fool, what happened to him? For real and none of this car crash accident bullshit you told me over the phone." Her eyes shone full of anger and she spat the words at him.
"Anna, I don't know what you're talking about, he died in a car crash, that's what happened." Even as he said it Nick saw the images of Stephen getting ripped to shreds in his minds eye and he knew he didn't sound believable. Jenny had made up that story, horrible car crash, lorry versus car. It sounded almost degrading to him, it seemed to just wipe away the sacrifice that Stephen made to save them all.
"Look at you, you don't even believe that story yourself, I can't believe you had the guts to call me with that story!"
Nick had insisted that he should be the one to break the news to Stephen's little sister and Lester had agreed, probably thinking it would be somehow easier on her if she heard it from someone she knew, or maybe Lester just thought it would save him the trouble. Nick had met Anna several times, she and Stephen had been pretty close, even though they lived on different continents. Suddenly Nick felt horrible, she was right, he had gone with Stephen to visit her in South-Africa twice, slept in her house, how did he have the guts to lie to her so blandly? "I'm sorry." It was all he could get out, and he knew it wouldn't be enough.
"You're sorry? You're bloody sorry? That's not gonna work Cutter, Damn it tell me the truth Cutter!" She was raging, her arms flailing in angry gestures.
"I can't, I'm really sorry Anna, I am." Nick looked away from her, looking at her only made the pain worse.
"Damn it Cutter, I thought you loved him..." She sounded so sad, so dejected, as if he had just crushed her last hopes.
"I did!" It was out of his mouth before he could stop himself or at least make it come out less angry or surprised. It wasn't an entirely new realisation, he had known he loved Stephen for a while now, but watching him die had made him realise that ignoring that feeling had been a terrible idea.
"Then why are you standing here lying to his little sister?" The anger had gone, but it still sounded as a harsh accusation. "What is it you're not telling me?"
"Anna..." He sighed, he didn't know what to say to her anymore.
"Alright if you won't tell me how my brother died at least tell me you were there." Now she was pleading, asking him to give her that peace, that at least he hadn't died alone.
"I...I was." He wanted to tell her that he looked into those clear blue eyes for as long as they were open, how he'd tried to tell him with his eyes how he'd felt. He wanted to share his personal hell with her, but he couldn't.
She nodded. "That's... thank you." And suddenly she was hugging him.
Awkwardly he held her, patting her back. "For what?"
She locked her eyes with his, her face so close he could feel her breath on his face. "For being there, for loving him, I know he loved you too." Suddenly she laughed, a sad mirthless laugh. "If only he had taken my advice and had just bloody kissed you..." She trailed of. Softly she planted a kiss on his cheek and before she walked away she told him: "I'm sorry you found out he loved you too late."
Nick watched her walk away, tears silently falling. "Better late than never."
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Alright now that I've done the 'oh-my-god-they –killed-Stephen' fic it's time to resurrect him again for fanfiction purposes. Reviews are always appreciated!