Title: V is for Valentine's day
Characters: Sarah, Becker, Connor, Abby, Mary Tremayne (OC), Sam West (OC) , Ditzy (OC) OCs mentioned: Danny Davis
Pairings: Sarah/Becker (implied)
Rating: G
A/N: Thank you to the wonderful fredbassett and fififole for being my amazing beta readers and, thank you to fredbassett, rodlox, sunsets_dinos and telperion_15 for letting me borrow their OCs.
Sarah was in a foul mood, not only was it the first time she hadn't had a boyfriend on Valentine's day; she couldn't seem to shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen to her today .
"Are you all right?" Mary asked as they looked at the anomaly Connor had just locked. Sarah had noticed that Mary seemed to be keeping a close eye on her and she wondered whether it was because she had been ordered to by Becker. Not that Sarah minded, she liked Mary. She was one of the few Special Forces members who could understand Connor when he went into one of his monologues about the anomalies. Sarah gave her a small smile.
"Yeah, I'm fine, just cold. I hope the rest of the team hasn't run into trouble."
Becker had taken a few men and gone with Abby to search the surrounding area for any creatures that may have come through. Mary winced.
"I think you may have just jinxed it." As if on cue an otherworldly screech broke the silence and a creature dashed into the bush between Sarah and Mary, Becker and his team not far behind, the Special Forces team re-grouped and team slowly surrounded the bush.
As if sensing the imminent danger the creature tore out of the bush displaying surprising agility as it ran through a gap in the circle the soldiers had formed, causing confusion as they tried to get out of its way.
"What is it?" Sam called.
"I don't know," Connor replied.
"I don't care what it is, just shoot it!" Becker yelled.
"With tranquiliser darts," Abby added, just in case anyone thought it gave them license to use bullets. It took Sarah a couple of seconds to realise that it was making a bee line straight for her. There were three tranquiliser darts sticking out of it's back but that hadn't seemed to slow it down.
"Sarah move!" Jenny shouted. Sarah moved out of its way but it changed course to follow her, self preservation kicked in and she started running.
Coming up to a pond she dove in, well it was more of a belly flop actually but it had the desired effect as the creature stopped at the water's edge seemingly considering if it was worth following Sarah. There was a soft thunk, the creature gave Sarah what appeared to be a shocked look slumped to the ground with a tranquiliser dart sticking out of its side. Looking up she was saw Becker walking up with her gun still trained on the creature in case it reared up again.
"Thank you," Sarah said sincerely.
"You all right?" Abby asked.
"Yeah," Sarah said as she waded back to shore, "really," she added when she saw the concerned look on Becker's face, "today's just not my day."
"Look at those teeth and tusks, it's like a cross-between a sabre tooth tiger and a warthog." Connor said in awe.
"Must have come from the future," Abby said, taking pictures of the creature which was still knocked out from the effects of the tranquiliser, for the database.
"Well, let's send it back before the anomaly closes," Becker said, nodding to the already fading ball of light.
"Oh right yeah," Connor said, running to his beloved device and pressing the button to unlock the anomaly. Becker and Danny picked up the hybrid between them and carried it through the anomaly.
"Just once I'd like a nice future herbivore to come through an anomaly," Abby said as she put a reflective blanket around Sarah's shoulders so she wouldn't get hypothermia.
"Future predator," Danny said just as the anomaly pulsed and then closed severing the predator's arm. They watched in disgust as it flailed around for a couple of seconds and then stopped.
"I hate Valentine's day," Sarah said.
Back at the ARC Sarah enjoyed the feeling of being warm, dry and safe. She spotted Becker coming out of her research lab and walking away in the opposite direction. Wondering if Becker had been waiting for her she was welcomed by the smell of chocolate as she entered her lab and was pleasantly surprised to see a cup of hot chocolate waiting for her on the table, steam still rising from the top. A note was propped next to it, 'Happy Valentine's day,' was scrawled across it in Becker's barely legible handwriting, Sarah couldn't help smiling.
"Maybe today won't bet that bad after all," she thought. Some papers which she had balanced precariously on top of a pile of research books chose that moment to slide to the floor. "Then again maybe not."