Disclaimer: Primeval and it's characters are not mine, I am just a person who loves to write. No copyright intended.
A/N: So I've been taking a while on my new projects and the other day I decided I should take a break from those stories and write a short about Sarah and Connor, because I loved those two so much(as friends)! Hope you enjoy!
This is a Conby short, but it's mainly Sarah and Connor 'till the end.
Jenny stood in the lab with Sarah, a sad look across her face. Cutter's death wasn't going easy on her. When Connor came peering in the room it hurt Sarah even more, the expression on his face wasn't the normal look Connor gave, it was worse than the one Jenny had been hiding. Connor was always happy, but he hadn't seemed very happy the past week – understandably so.
"Have you guys seen Abby?" he asked and they both shook their heads.
"Haven't seen her, sorry. Why?" Sarah asked.
"She left her mobile at the ADD, she missed a call." He said with an even more sad tone to his voice. He walked off and Sarah could tell it was more than just Cutter's death bothering him now. And that was the start of Sarah deciding she was going to help Connor, because if anything he needed a friend.
Connor wandered in the lab, seeing Sarah cleaning up the artifact. It had been a few days since the G-Rex day of fun where Connor had started to cheer up when all of the sudden, he seemed rather sad again. The locking mechanism worked and everything seemed to be okay, except for the obvious things like Cutter's demise, but something seemed to be bothering him still.
"Connor, where are your shoes?" she asked as she looked to see him wearing socks into the lab. He looked down, then looked back at her and shrugged.
"Took me shoes off."
She raised a brow. "Why?"
"Can't very well sleep in me boots, now can I?" he mumbled to himself and Sarah didn't bother to question.
"The cleanings going slow, but it's looking good." She said to change the mood. He looked at her a bit hopeful and nodded as he leaned up against the counter and bent over to survey the artifact.
"When'd you think it'll be 'bout done?"
"Couldn't say." Sarah said disappointed. He nodded and shrugged.
"No rush, I guess." And then he sighed. "Is Abby in yet?"
"Don't know, don't you two usually car pool? Or, that's what I assumed since you always come in together."
"Came in a bit earlier than everyone else today." He explained but it came off more as a lie.
She smiled at that explanation though, glancing back down at his feet. "Hence the lazy act of not wearing shoes."
Connor smiled a bit. "At least I'm wearing trousers."
Sarah once again let the comment slide. Connor didn't even seem awake, not to mention in the mood for questioning. "You and Abby all right, then?" She realized after asking, it being a question and all, it fell into the questioning category.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just wondering, you seem a bit … depressed. I know when you two argue you're on the gloomy side."
Connor laughed at that. "No, we're not arguing. Guess if anything I just miss her."
"From not carpooling? And you two insist on being 'just mates'."
Connor smiled at her. "I used to say the same."
He kept mumbling and it was aggravating her now. "What was that?"
"Nothing." She wanted to roll her eyes. "If you see her let me know, yeah?"
Sarah nodded and he walked out of the lab, saying something about getting some shoes on. She just shook her head and watched him walk away. After a while she saw him with boots, chasing some kind of creature around and asking if she'd seen a beaver like creature anywhere. Sarah said no, since she hadn't, but wondered why on earth he'd have Sid and Nancy here, knowing that those were the beaver like one's they always raved on about.
Sarah came into the lab a bit late that day to see Connor staring at the artifact, as he always did when no one was around. Poor thing, he was still taking Cutter's death hard and Jenny leaving did not help whatsoever. And on top of that Abby and he had been acting weird around each other, too weird for words.
She came beside him and laid her hand on his back. He turned to her and smiled. "I'm taking your seat, ain't I?" he stood up and offered it to her but she shook her head.
"I'm fine. You okay?"
"Couldn't be better!" he said with a grin, but Sarah could see through it. He was much happier than he had been though. The artifact was practically finished and Connor had been trying to find out what it did, which led to them discovering it mapped out the anomaly occurrences. When Christine came in and was then later defeated he had hadn't been happier, or so it seemed. But Sarah had gotten to know Connor pretty well and she could see when something was still bothering him – like Abby for example.
"Abby looked well today," Sarah commented as she noticed her in the hub looking for Connor when she, Sarah, arrived.
"Oh is she here? I got here early." Connor said, now looking anxious to see her.
"You've been getting here early, I've noticed."
Connor almost blurted out that he was living with Lester and Lester came in before everyone else, but he had been telling him to keep it hush-hush and he knew Sarah told Danny everything. And Danny told everyone everything.
"Yeah, been working on some things. Like for the artifact."
Sarah nodded, not fully believing him. "Go," she said with a smirk and Connor walked out with a smile, happy to find Abby. Those two were quite pathetic.
The day had been long and they had all been threatened by a knight in shining armor. Literally. Sarah was proud of herself, getting him to go back in the anomaly safe and sound. She knew he was happy and married now, and that made her smile even more.
Connor came rushing past her, going who knows where. "Connor!" she called after him and he took a sudden halt, looking at her with a smile.
"Yo?"
"You did good today." She assured him.
He let out a laugh and walked back to her. "I think you'd be the first since Jenny to tell me that. You did good today. "
"Thank you. And I think people should tell you that every day, since you usually do more than any of us – you work hard."
"Thanks, Sare. You do, too." The look on his face was content, but he also looked like he was in a rush. She wanted to say it, seeing Connor and Abby in the field always assured her their feelings for each other. After debating for a moment, she decided to say it – she and Connor were pretty close now, and he talked about Abby to her more than often.
"Thanks. Also I want to say, I always kept quiet because I wasn't sure but seeing it today in the field – tell Abby how you feel Connor, before you end up getting yourself killed for her and never letting her know."
Connor looked down and nodded, knowing she was right. She was surprised to not get a look of shock or something, but she guessed he'd been thinking about that as well. "I had Becker and his men threaten some kid today just for her 'bout forty minutes ago, and yet she still doesn't see it."
That came off a bit random, but she was curious what he meant. "She doesn't see how you feel?"
Connor shook his head. "That, but what I'd do for her. Everyone always said I was oblivious."
Sarah laughed and gave his arm a squeeze. "She'll see it. How could she not? I don't work in field work enough, but when I do, I see how much she means to you."
"You and everyone else."
She laughed once more. "Yeah, I'd say so."
"Well I've gotta go, Lester's waiting for me as impatiently as ever." He ran off and Sarah gave a wave – she then suddenly realized who this strict roommate he'd been going on about was. James Lester.
After the anomaly to the future was locked he saw how tense Connor and Abby were, something between them was frazzled. But once Jack and Abby had a long conversation about, what Becker said was Connor, Abby came over to her with a grin.
"Sarah,"
"Yes?" Sarah asked with a gracious smile.
"Connor, where is he?"
Sarah couldn't hide the smile. She just had to. "At the end of the stairs," she pointed down to the steps. "He's messing with the tech and such. What he always does in the end of anomaly jump."
"Right, making sure none of the patterns have changed. Got that from Cutter." She thanked her and walked off, Sarah smiling to herself. She watched until Abby was out of sight, she wanted to see what happened but was called by Becker. When they were all leaving Abby looked a bit distressed, but Connor – who was in her car – was grinning the entire ride. When Danny came up to her at the ARC his expression made her laugh.
"What are you so happy about?" she asked, seeing Danny with a gleeful smirk.
"Our prayers have been answered!" he said jokingly, Becker in hearing range. "Guess who I saw kissing?"
Danny eyed Becker and Sarah looked at him, he glared at Danny and cleared his throat.
"I haven't kissed anyone, don't look at me."
Danny chuckled. "No, it was Romeo and Juliet."
"Uhh, Danny…" Sarah said with a smirk in return. "I don't think they're still alive. Not just because it was a very long time ago."
"Sarah, spoilers!" he teased her and sighed. "No, I mean Connor and Abby."
"Not surprising." Becker spoke up. "I'd been seeing it coming, ever since Rex was gambled by her brother."
"Rex?" Sarah said confused.
"Their pet prehistoric lizard." Danny explained.
"I knew that wasn't a normal lizard on E-bay!" Sarah exclaimed. They both looked at her curious but she went on. "What happened?"
"Connor had me go to the kids house, threaten him, all over a lizard that I guess would have become messy if it sold to anyone – but, he's been really protective over her recently anyway."
"Isn't he always?" Danny said with his usual smug look.
"Yeah, but this has been more than normal. I think it's because of him living at Lester's."
Sarah wanted to desperately stay a part of that conversation but one of the lab assistants came in the room, asking her if she would come help him with something. She agreed, knowing it was her job considering she hardly had one anymore, but she wished she could have heard what they had to say, since they both worked with Connor and Abby in the field much more than she ever did. Once she made it back to Becker, Danny had gone off worrying about other things and Becker was back to his gun cleaning. It was hopeless. Sarah had now decided the only other option was to simply do the easiest but most difficult way possible – ask Connor himself.
Connor walked in the lab and looked at Sarah. She was cleaning the artifact some more, although it was practically complete now. She was bored and there were still some ridges to clean out. He stood beside her, watching her as she stayed focused on her job – Connor let out a sigh and turned towards the room across, seeing it once to be Cutter's lab.
"What Connor?" she asked, twisting the stool she sat on to look at him. She saw the sadness in his eyes and looked away to see her.
"Bored is all." He replied. Connor always made her laugh, and she understood how he felt about being bored. It had been a quiet few weeks at the ARC.
"I know how you feel," she said as she tossed the tools she used to clean out all the future grime and let out a sigh as well. "I'm starting to think I'm just imaging the dirt on this artifact. I think it's all gone then I look again and it's back."
Connor smiled. "I had that happen to me when we first got Sid and Nancy … Abby'd tell me to put me hat away, I'd do it, and then she'd yell at me because it was in the floor again. Found out Nancy just really liked me hat."
Sarah would have laughed, but what Connor said confused her. "Why was Abby telling you to clean up your things…? What do you mean 'we'?"
Connor realized then that he moved in with Lester soon after Sarah had started working there – when she first had started there Cutter kept her working with him all the time and they never got the chance to talk much. After that he kept those things to himself, being that it was very sensitive to him. "Abby and I, we live together – or, use to that is."
"Oh! So … you two are dating?" Sarah knew the answer to that. 'Just mates' was his answer, she could hear it already. But this gave Sarah the opportunity to finally get some dirt on them – or, that sounded bad. She just wanted to know what was going on for goodness sake!
Connor scoffed at that, but seeing Sarah's look he just put on his 'ain't bothered' face and shook his head. "Just mates and flat mates, but her brother came to visit and I then became Lester's flat mate."
Sarah gave an 'ouch' response and hissed as if burned. Wait, she knew those details, why was it she had never put together they actually lived together? It also explained all the missing each other gush. She then put her elbow on the counter and decided to continue. "But you would prefer to be more than mates?"
Connor looked at her somewhat taken aback from that question. No one in the entire team ever had the guts or the care to ask that question. Not even Abby. "I've liked Abby from the start, gotten used to being her pal now."
This time it was Sarah's turn to scoff. He looked at her with a questionable expression and she laughed at his reaction. "C'mon Connor."
"Wha'?" he said, coming off offended.
"Well for one you said 'like'."
"So?"
"You honestly think I'd fall for that? I've been working with you for what, over ten months now? All you ever talk about is Abby. And in the field, well that's a whole other thing."
He wanted to shrug but he felt he did that too often around Sarah. "There's a lot to talk about is all." Connor realized in the past that he just seemed to take down his happy act if she was here, which he wasn't sure if that was a good thing or not. It wasn't the Connor wasn't happy, he just wasn't as happy as he wanted people to think and that became draining.
"I'm not complaining, just saying that you seem to fancy her a whole lot more than you seem to let on." He didn't seem to get it. Of course he didn't. Sarah sighed again and faced him completely. "You now live with Lester, correct?"
Connor rolled his eyes. "Yeah."
"What's worse to you; living with Lester or not living with Abby?"
Connor hesitated and he then looked down and shrugged. Sarah laid an arm on her shoulder and smiled at him.
"It can't be easy, m'sorry."
Connor nodded, agreeing. Maybe a joke, even a small one, would lighten the mood. "Living with Lester is pretty hard, but it beats living in the lab."
"Connor!" she slapped his arm and he grinned at her. "You know what I meant. Why don't you just tell her?"
"Let's see where that would play out. 'Hey Abby, I'm in love with you. Can I move back in the flat?'" she frowned and he nodded. "Besides, Abby already has relationship issues, and the last thing she need right now – after Cutter's death and all – is to have me pouring out my feelings for her."
"Connor, you know she feels the same, right?" she said with her hand put back on his shoulder.
Connor looked at surprised, though he wasn't completely unaware of this speculation. "You livin' in my dreams too now?"
"C'mon, like you can't tell." Connor looked at her blank faced. "It's obvious!"
"She is the one who kicked me out of the flat."
"You just said it was for her brother. And I've heard you two discussing it before, Abby's says it's only temporary."
"I thought you didn't know we lived together."
He was so gloomy lately, Sarah mused. Now yes, when with the entire team he was perfectly fine, but when he was around her he seemed to act – She guessed, since he was comfortable, he acted how he felt. Maybe it was because he knew she didn't fall for his happy-go-lucky act at times like this, who knew.
Sarah realized she hadn't responded so she covered her story. "Well I didn't, I just heard you two talking about how he would be moving out soon. I always assumed it was just her complaining, but in reality it was you." She teased him but he just stared at the counter. "I'm teasing, Connor. I hear your conversations, and it's the lack of complaining on your side that kept me a stray from knowing you lived together."
"Yeah." Connor knew he should say more than that, but he wasn't in the mood for talking right now. He really just wanted to sulk in his own self-pity at the moment, which Sarah never allowed him to do.
Sarah saw now he wasn't talkative. That's great. It always happened like this. Connor would ramble on about how amazing Abby was, and when she encouraged him to tell her, he grew quiet. But he seemed extra worried this time, like something was really bothering him. Sarah wondered if it had anything to do with what Danny told her. "Connor, can I ask you something?"
He looked at her, seeing the curiosity in her eyes he couldn't deny her a simple question. "Why not?"
"Did Abby kiss you?" She wasn't going to hesitate now.
He looked at her confused, wondering where that came from, but he figured it wasn't really that shocking that she knew. "Why, did she say something?"
"Danny said he saw you two kissing."
"Well then," Connor let out a laugh. It may not be amusing to Sarah or Abby, but it was to him. For whatever reason.
"I'm sorry to seem nosy, it's just … doesn't that say she loves you back?"
He wanted to say yes, but anymore he had no idea. For a while Connor would say he was pretty sure of Abby's feelings for him, but now he really wasn't sure of anything. "It says she possibly liked me back at one point, yeah."
"Connor!"
"She's ignored me for the past three days, Sarah. When she comes to work she won't look at me, she pretends she doesn't even see me. She hides in the menagerie all day, to her pleasure there hasn't been an anomaly."
"Connor, just tell her you want- no, need- to talk. She's probably just scared you don't feel the same as she does, 'specially since all you do is go the opposite way from her. For her, she might think you'll say you're just mates, like you always do."
Connor shook his head, disagreeing. "That's Abby's words, not mine. I say what she wants me to say."
She groaned and sprung her arms out in frustration. "You two are just a mess!"
Connor looked at her lost and she shook her head at him. Connor didn't want to talk about it, and Sarah was determined to get it out of him; that was definitely going to end well.
"She's made it a mess." He insisted.
"And you've done a great job at cleaning it up, haven't you?"
Connor frowned. She was right, of course. But what was he supposed to do?
"Besides, you two were a mess before she decided to kiss you." He didn't say anything back. "Did she happen to say why she kissed you?"
He slanted his mouth to the side, thinking about it for a moment. "She said thank you for being meself, in ways, I was protecting her from getting hurt from her brother and she thanked me. I started to ramble about how I felt about her, which didn't come out well, and she kissed me. Sorta rules out her not knowing how I feel, doesn't it? Besides, like I said, Abby's a bit scarred from her past relationships. If anything she just decided I'd be a mistake."
Sarah smiled at him, just seeing him so crushed – he looked like a lost puppy. "Well that would be a silly decision."
"Not many people would agree with you on that."
"Connor Temple, you have dozens of women in the lab alone that ask you out daily."
"I do?"
Sarah looked at him astonished. He could be so oblivious! "Did you think Mindy was offering a coffee with her because she liked paying for other people's coffee?"
"No, suppose not."
"I understand, I really do; you love Abby and it's hard to see yourself with other women. Don't ever give up on Abby either, if you had said yes to Mindy I would have slapped you right across your temple! But don't ever decide you're not worth it, Connor. I know Abby doesn't think that."
He didn't respond again. How could she prove that Abby loved him back? Right at that thought she saw Abby herself slowly eyeing the lab, seeing what she and Connor were up to. She seemed to want to talk to him. "Abby!"
Abby's face went white. Okay, so maybe she was just considering it. "Erm, hi, Sarah!" she said with a weak smile.
"Can we help you?"
"I… uhhh…" she looked over at Connor and he was looking at the artifact, hiding his face from her. Sarah was fixing to punch him in the arm when she spoke again. "Hey, Connor."
He looked at her with a soft smile. "Abby," he said with a nod and was quiet for a second before trying to break the awkwardness between them. "How's Jack?"
"Good, I guess… He left, actually."
Connor's eyes widened and he gulped. "Oh, uhh…" she hadn't told him this, which Connor took that as she didn't want him to move back. "Sorry."
"Nah, I was getting tired of him. A girl can only deal with her brother for so long." She said jokingly, but was rather serious at the same time. Sarah laughed but Connor wasn't saying much, too stuck on the thought of maybe, possibly moving back.
"You know what?" Sarah said standing up. "I think you two need to talk. Connor, use your words, we all know you can. Abby, let him move back in – he's dying at Lester's." and she left at that, making it even more awkward between them. Suddenly she peeked back in and blurted, "Here's a conversation opener, Connor wants to know why you kissed him!" before disappearing out of the room and Abby looked at him with wide eyes.
"I'm sorry, Sarah's being…-"
"Actually, Connor … I, uhh… Listen, I actually came in here to talk to you … just Sarah was in here, didn't want to bring it up with her present."
"Oh, I see…"
"Connor, would you want…?" she sighed. "Maybe I should just keep quiet."
Connor saw how hard it was for her, he knew it had to be. Abby had had trouble with relationships since she was a kid, and that relationship would have been her parents. She didn't seem to ever trust the right people, and when she finally did she was always afraid to go further into it – she was almost timid.
"Abby," she looked up at him, meeting his eyes. "Would you answer what Sarah said? For me?"
"I dunno, Connor." She saw that puppy dog look, he looked so hurt and confused. She felt horrible for what she'd done to him. "I just did. It wasn't very smart of me, seeing where we are now."
"If you hadn't walked away right after kissing me then avoiding me every other minute after that it wouldn't be this way."
Abby narrowed her eyes, knowing he was right, but also knowing it wasn't all her fault. "You did your fair share of avoiding yourself, Connor."
"Only because I knew you were going to say what you're telling me now."
She hated when he assumed, just hated it. He didn't know her that well. "And that would be?"
"That kissing me was a mistake!" Okay, so maybe he did know her that well. "Just like I've always been to you."
"Connor-!" she looked down to the ground and leaned against the wall. He was so … she didn't even know. "I never saw you as a mistake."
"Sorry then, guess I always misinterpreted." The sarcasm in that was a little too heavy for Connor. She looked up at him hurt and then looked back down before he saw it.
"Listen, I just … I just didn't want things to be weird between us, yeah?"
"So you thought making me think you hated me the best resort?"
"Connor, I didn't think at all!" she was looking at him now, tears in her eyes. "When I kissed you, I did it because I was tired of thinking. I was tired of overthinking every detail! I just did what I had wanted to do since…" she sighed, searching for something her eyes could focus on. "It was a thoughtless act, and I'm sorry."
He looked at her confused. She was staring at the artifact now and he stepped closer to her, but she refused to look at him. "Why are you sorry?"
She looked up at him this time, hearing his warming voice ease up. That cold, emotionless Connor was fading away. "For hurting you."
Connor shook his head. "Kissing me didn't hurt me, Abs. The ignoring part just didn't feel so good."
"I know… I just … I didn't know what to do."
Connor couldn't let her have it all be put on her. He was just the same amount of stubborn. "Me either. It wasn't your fault."
They stayed quiet for a few minutes, at first the silence was okay but then it became awkward and they heard Sarah knocking on the door.
"Sorry, forgot my mobile!" she picked it up and paused, looking at their stance. "The next step would be to admit your feelings and kiss, but that's just what I've heard." She said with a smirk and walked out.
Abby looked at Connor, he looked at her. They both had no idea what to say. Connor decided to speak up first. "Abs, I… I tried to tell you this at the racetrack, I just… I don't know how to express how I feel! I … I feel I – we could…"
"Connor," she said with a smile. "Can I speak first?"
"Please do."
She laughed a little and cleared her throat before speaking. "I had been trying to figure out the best way of saying this, but everything became really long and cheesy, and I found out that it all turned out really cheesy so I suppose that would be the best route. So, Connor Temple, I feel like we'd be pretty great together. Because for one, I've found myself in love with you."
Connor grinned at her, pulling her in closer to him. "And for two?"
She grinned back at him. "Well, I was hoping you'd say that would be because you love me back."
"Of course I love you, Abs." he leaned in to kiss her hair. She pulled back and he grinned again. "Always have, haven't I?"
"Connor," she said, beaming at him in return.
"Yeah?"
"I think this is the part when you kiss me." And Connor happily obliged.
"Sarah!" Danny came running over to her as she stood beside the lab door. "Do you not hear the anomaly alert and see the light flashing?"
Sarah smiled. "No, I do."
"Okay… great, then." He said with arched brows. "Where's R2D2 and C3PO at?"
Sarah gestured to look through the lab door so he did so, and when he looked back all he could say was, "Guess I should change that to Leia and Han, then." And walked off. Sarah laughed at him and she moved away from the door – letting them have their privacy. And as she did walk away, she couldn't help but not grin – she had a feeling gloomy Connor wouldn't be seen around the ARC for quite some time.
The End
Reviews are like pie.
I love pie.
