Chapter 1 –Talking Things Through

Nick Cutter sat on a log, his head resting in his hands. Why could no one remember who Claudia was? He glanced at the anomaly; ever since Helen had disappeared back through it the anomaly had been growing and shrinking, but never fading. The thought had crossed his mind that Helen had been responsible for Claudia's disappearance, but he hoped it wasn't true. That would mean a trip through the anomaly to change the past back to how it was supposed to be if she had. He looked up as Stephen stopped in front of him. For a few seconds the two men looked at each other in silence, and then Stephen held out his thermos.

'Thirsty?'

Nick took the offered flask cup and held it in his hands, the warmth of the drink helping to warm his hands against the slight chill in the forest.

'I'm sorry, Nick,' Stephen said as he sat next to the Professor, 'I wanted to tell you but I never felt it was the right time. You were grieving for Helen and I didn't want to ruin your glowing view of her. I wanted you to remember her as a good wife, not as a cheating bitch.'

Nick smiled sourly and looked at Stephen, 'Is that your excuse?'

'I'm not making excuses, Nick, I'm telling you the truth.'

'I'm finding that hard to believe.'

'When have I ever lied to you?' Stephen demanded.

'This whole business with Helen-'

'I never told you I didn't have an affair with her,' Stephen said, 'I never mentioned anything to do with it so I didn't lie to you. That's also why I never lied to you in the whole course of our friendship. Do you have any idea what this has been doing to me since we became friends? Do you know what she did to me after it happened?'

Stephen broke off and looked off into the forest, 'I'm sorry, Nick.'

He stood up and Nick watched his friend, saw the pain in his eyes. 'Sit down, Stephen, and tell me the truth about what happened between you and Helen.'

Stephen looked at him, and Nick held his gaze until Stephen sat back down and, looking down at the leaf litter under their feet, he started to speak.

'She was my lecturer and I'd just read one of your papers on evolution and the pieces that don't fit in Darwin's theory and I stayed behind one day to talk to her about it. She told me to come to her office the next day and I agreed. This carried on for about a month, I'd go into her office every few days and we'd talk about certain theories; I enjoyed it, I thought I was getting extra help with my course and I thought we were becoming friends. Sometimes she'd talk about you, saying things about you that I desperately wanted to argue about, even though I didn't know you I didn't think you could be as bad as she was making out. She said some of your theories had no foundations, and that you threw yourself into your work too much; it made me slightly angry because I'd read many of your theories and agreed with most of them. We'd end up having debates over them. Then one night she put on the wounded, unloved wife act and I... I tried to comfort her and it went further than I wanted it to. It happened right at the end of my degree and when I next went to see her...' Stephen paused, it was obvious to Nick that Helen had obviously upset the man beside him now, and from what Stephen was telling him it seemed Helen had just used her younger student.

'She told me our night had been fun, that I was sweet but she had more important things to do than worry about one of her students that had crazy ideas and supported theories with no basis. She was so cold and taunting. At the time I thought maybe I'd come to love her, but after that day I knew I couldn't. She'd used me, I don't know what for or why, but she did and it hurt. Then she went missing and I felt guilty about thinking about her like that. I saw the job going for your lab technician and I applied,' Stephen looked at Nick, 'You know the rest. We became friends and I wondered what had made Helen say all those things about you being an uncaring husband. I saw how you grieved for her all these years and I've felt guilty since the day I got the job that you should be working with me when I'd slept with your wife. But I couldn't leave the job, Nick, you became too good a friend for me to lose and I loved the work too much. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry...'

Stephen buried his face in his hands, unable to look at the Professor next to him. Nick sighed and looked over at the anomaly that Helen had disappeared through. He knew what Helen had done; she'd used Stephen as a way to get back at Nick for loving his work, maybe she would have told him she'd had an affair at some point if they had had many more arguments over their work. He'd known the younger man had had his heart broken in the past, something that had caused him to have a string of girlfriends who had cared more about his looks and body than him as a person but Nick had never interfered. Stephen was a private person, preferring to keep his personal life to himself, and it had taken Nick a long time to break down the walls Stephen had so carefully built around himself. Now he could understand why. Helen was a master at tying people in emotional knots, and if she'd acted exactly as Stephen had said (which Nick was more inclined to believe than not seeing as Stephen had never actually lied to him before as he'd never mentioned his relationship with Helen outside the fact that she'd been his lecturer) then he could see why it had affected him so deeply, especially since he'd been at least eight years younger at the time. Nick placed his arm around Stephen's shoulder and brought his friend into a hug.

'Come on,' he said as he felt the younger man return the embrace, 'I trust you, Stephen, and I know what Helen was like, even if I did want to keep hold of this glowing picture of her. I can't forget what you did but I can forgive it. Just don't give me a reason to think I've done the wrong thing, okay?'

Stephen smiled at the Professor, 'Thank you.'

Nick clapped him on the back, 'You've done more for me than you know, Stephen, and since I've known you I've trusted you more than anyone else, so I don't see why I still can't.'

The sound of Abby's voice calling for Nick made the two men look up; the anomaly was glowing brighter and a dark shape was forming in it, as if something was coming through. Both of them leapt to their feet as the SAS men ran into formation around the anomaly. As the guns were being set up something very large ran out of the anomaly, crushing two of the men. Another Gorgonopsid.

'Everyone get to the cars!' Nick shouted and there was instant movement as everyone made to escape the angry predator. Stephen made a quick detour to grab a gun as the SAS continued to fire at the Gorgonopsid (A/N: Sorry but I had to put this note in. Is it just me or in the first episode when the Gorgonopsid attacks and the SAS are firing at it none of them can kill it and yet Stephen [who isn't as well trained as the SAS are can kill it with a few bullets when not all of them actually hit it in a place where it could be killed. Am I the only one who is a little confused that about ten trained SAS people can't hit a giant dinosaur and yet one fairly untrained guy can? Ok slight rant over now). Eventually instinct kicked in and the men made a break for it, leaving the dinosaur to run for who he liked. And at that moment it was Nick Cutter.

'Cutter!' Stephen shouted, trying to alert the man to the dinosaur that was charging at him; Nick looked up and changed course, trying to outmanoeuvre the larger creature. He felt something knock into his shoulder that sent him flying behind some bushes and the sound of gunfire. The sound of a deafening roar was followed by silence that was broken by a sickening thud as something fell near him. Nick looked up and saw Stephen lying on his front at the base of a tree.

'Stephen!'

Nick half crawled, half walked, to the younger man and checked for a pulse, breathing a sigh of relief when he found one. He started to check his friend for injuries as everyone else slowly realised the dinosaur was lying dead just outside the anomaly.

'We need to get him to a hospital,' Nick said as one of the SAS men came over, 'He's still alive.'

& & & & & &

A few hours later Nick Cutter was sat in a hospital ward watching Stephen Hart sleeping in the bed in front of him. It turned out that Stephen had been thrown back against the tree and the whole of his back was badly bruised, he also had a gash on the back of his head and a small puncture wound on the small of his back where a branch had been broken off the tree leaving a small stump that had been thrust into his back when he'd hit the trunk. He was lucky not to have broken any bones but the doctors were still worried in case he developed an infection. Nick looked up as a coffee cup was handed to him; he smiled at Abby who took the chair next to him.

'How is he?' she asked, Nick looked at her as she remained focused on Stephen; she was worried about him, and she obviously cared more than she let on. He had guessed Stephen had been developing stronger feelings for the blonde, but he had never confronted Stephen about it.

'Can you watch him for me? I need to get home and check some things over,' Nick asked, standing up to leave. Abby had the deer caught in a headlights look for a few minutes.

'I don't think I should... I mean...'

'Abby what happened between me, Stephen, and Helen is between us. I've forgiven Stephen, he knows I have, and it's going to stay in the past and not come back,' he told her, 'He told me what happened and I can see that it was Helen's fault more than his. If I can forgive him why can't you?'

Abby looked down at the sleeping Stephen, 'I never... I never had to forgive him, Cutter. I just don't understand anything that happens with us... sometimes I can tell what he's thinking or feeling and other times I don't have a clue and sometimes I never know where I stand with him...' she trailed off, realising she was starting to ramble.

'Abby, Stephen's a very private person, Helen made sure he was secretive after the affair, I can see that now. But I think you might be able to help him in more ways than you'd probably think of. He's gone from one bad girlfriend to the next, none of them really caring about him as a person. Please don't be one of the crowd.'

Abby smiled sadly at him, 'That makes two of us,' she said. Nick sat back down in the chair and looked at her, studying her face. Abby realised he was waiting for her to elaborate.

'I usually end up with the guys that are good looking, funny when they want to be... and more interested in their images than in me. They want me to stop working at the zoo and go work in an office or something. They don't want an independent woman who works cleaning out animal pens and works with reptiles; they certainly wouldn't want a woman who works investigating anomalies,' she said with a smile, 'In a way I'm hoping Stephen won't turn out to be one of the crowd, as you put it.'

Nick smiled and stood up, placing his hand on her shoulder, 'When he wakes up you two need to talk a few things through. Tell him thank you from me, and tell him he didn't have to save my life I'd already forgiven him.'

Abby smiled and nodded, watching the Professor walk out of the ward before turning her gaze back to the sleeping man in the bed she had perched on. She stood up and leant over to push a few strands of his hair back, running her fingers down the side of his face before sitting in the chair, watching him as she got lost in her thoughts. From outside the ward Nick Cutter watched the young woman with a smile on his face. For once Stephen had chosen the right woman to set his heart on, all he had to do now was tell her. Nick turned and walked out of the hospital, his thoughts now on the one person he wished he knew was at this moment. Claudia Brown.

A/N: Heya, well this is the first chapter finished. Thank you to everyone who's reading this. Please review I want to know what you think. Next chapter should be up soon. Plan for the next chapter:

Stephen wakes up and he and Nick talk

Connor moves out of Abby's flat for a week to visit his mum

Please, please, please review. If there's anything you want to happen tell me and I'll see if I can somehow fit it into the story. No promises though.

Ciao for now,

Starsword