Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses, etc. are entirely fictitious.
A World Without Abby
…King's Cross revisited…
-x-x-x-x-x-x
In an instant Connor's world changed.
Abby and Connor were talking about the last time they had been at King's Cross station so many years before.
"That anomaly right after convergence," laughed Abby. "Remember? The anomaly that closed before we got to it."
"How could I forget?" replied Connor. "It was right after you proposed. For a moment there we thought the anomalies were gone for good and the world was returning to normal."
"Normal is overrated," smirked Abby. Their daughter tugged free from her mother's hand and ran towards the edge of the platform.
"Sarah," called Connor, "come back here." He moved to go after the child, but Abby laid her hand on his arm.
"I'll get her," said Abby, "watch Tommy."
Connor glanced down at the sleeping infant in the pram as Abby moved to follow their daughter. In the distance the sounds of the oncoming train could be heard.
"Sarah," chided Abby as she turned the little girl away from the tracks, she pointed to the line painted on the platform floor, "you're supposed to stay behind that line. Go to Daddy now."
Connor knelt down to scoop up his daughter as the little girl returned him. Abby stepped forward to follow after the child. At that instant, the big person next to her, juggling multiple bags and totes, turned sideways. The topmost tote swung loose and knocked into Abby. The blonde staggered backwards trying to regain her balance. She fell to the tracks below.
"Abby!" cried Connor.
The sound of screaming travelers and screaming brakes announced the train's arrival.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker awoke to the sound of another scream. He rolled over with a groan to grab the cell phone. The readily identifiable Led Zeppelin ring tone announced Lester's calls.
"Doesn't the man know we're supposed to sleep in on Saturday mornings?" grumbled Becker.
Jess rolled over beside the soldier. Her hugely pregnant belly pressed against Becker's back.
"Hil, please... answer it," said Jess sleepily. "And remember Saturday morning lie ins are a thing of the past when the baby is born."
Becker pressed the little green button. Lester's voice, sounding strained and shaky, spoke.
"What?" exclaimed Becker. He sat up abruptly. "Yes, of course, I'll go get them."
Jess's eyes travelled up from Becker's belly button, across his chest and up to his ashen face.
"What's wrong?" asked Jess as Becker set the phone down on the nightstand. Her husband turned to face her. Tears filled his hazel eyes, and he looked worried. He placed his hand upon her rounded abdomen.
"I don't want to upset you," said Becker softly, "it might be bad for the baby, and…"
"Tell me," insisted Jess. She sat up beside the soldier. "I'm stronger than you think."
Becker hesitated a moment. He thought Jess was one of the strongest persons he'd ever known, but this...
"There's been an accident," began Becker. And by the time he finished speaking, Jess was crying too, but she was also standing and reaching for her clothes.
"I can't believe the world can be so harsh," said Jess, "I'm coming with you."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor looked up as he heard the rat-a-tat-tat of heels approaching. Becker and Jess were coming down the corridor of the King's Cross Administrative building. The dark haired scientist jiggled the little girl on his lap.
"Look Sarah," coaxed Connor.
The child lifted her dark eyes to look down the corridor where her father pointed. Her bottom lip trembled.
"Uncabeca," called the little girl.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker was surprised. The precocious preschooler had been talking in complete sentences for quite some time, and had been calling him Uncle Hil for even longer. Becker couldn't remember the last time the child had called him by the old baby talk name she'd now used. Becker lifted the little girl up into his arms and looked at his friend.
"Oh God," said Becker, "did she see what happened?"
"No," replied Connor quickly. "I was holding her, her face was turned the other way. All Sarah knows is that she wants her mum."
Connor's face scrunched up miserably.
"And mum's not here," he concluded.
Jess placed her hand on the handlebar to the pram.
"We're taking you home," the field coordinator announced.
"No," objected Connor. He glanced down at his sleeping son. "Tommy will be waking up soon, and he'll be hungry. We need to get to the grocers for… I don't know, bottles and formula and… and stuff."
The realization of what Connor meant dawned on Jess. Abby had been breastfeeding, just a Jess hoped to do when her own child was born in another month.
"Right," said Jess, realigning her to-do list in her mind. "Grocers first and then home."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby's memorial service was packed.
Jess recognized Connor's parents from their frequent visits to London, and no one could miss Connor's brother. His fraternal twin looked so much like Connor that people who didn't know them well sometimes thought they were identical.
"It's good to see so many family and friends here to support Connor and the children," whispered Jess to Becker.
Her husband pointed to a sandy haired young man coming in the door just then.
"Yeah," replied Becker with a grimace, "even Jack showed up to remember his sister. Pity he didn't show up more often when she was alive."
"Don't be mean," hissed Jess.
"Do you know how many times over the years that Abby or Connor has asked me to help find that prat?" asked Becker.
"He's here now," reminded Jess, "and that's what matters."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
After the memorial service, Jack approached Connor where he was still sitting in front of the podium that held Abby's picture. The scientist was trying to tuck a blanket around the infant in his arms. Little Sarah was clinging to her father's right arm and making it hard to adjust the fabric.
"Connor," greeted Jack.
His brother-in-law looked up at him. Jack inhaled sharply at the sight of Connor's dark brown eyes. Abby had once told Jack that Connor's eyes were part of what made her fall in love with him. Connor's eyes are warm and kind and when he looks at me, it's like he sees someone special, and I want to be that person for him. Now, Connor's eyes were reddened and there was nothing warm or kind in the gaze he turned on Jack.
"Jack," replied Connor with a curt nod. "Good of you to come."
Jack blinked. As if he wouldn't come, but then Abby's brother remembered all the times he hadn't been there. Jack swallowed. He sat down in the empty chair beside his niece.
"I'm sorry," said Jack. "I wish… I wish…"
Jack stopped speaking for a moment. Then he breathed out and squared his chin and tried again.
"I wasn't the best brother," admitted Jack. "But I want to help. What can I do?"
"Do you know how to change a nappy?" asked Connor.
"No," replied Jack, "but I can learn."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Becker didn't understand at first. He was sure Jack was just trying to mooch off Connor.
"Why are you letting that prat move in with you?" asked Becker.
"My parents wanted me and the children to leave London," replied Connor. "Move back home where they, Cormac and his family, all of them, could help me raise the children."
"You and the children should stay here in London, Jess and I can help," said Becker, and thought Becker so would many others from the ARC. "You know that!"
Connor's brown eyes gazed at his friend. For a moment, Becker saw a spark in his friend's dark eyes.
"I know," agreed Connor. "But you and Jess are going to have a baby of your own soon, I can't ask you…"
"You don't have to ask," interrupted Becker. "We'd do anything for you and the children."
"Child care closes at six. At two in the morning, if Tommy needs a nappy change and Sarah wakes with a nightmare," explained Connor, "I need someone at home to help."
Becker wondered for a moment if both children woke at the same time often, and then he wondered if Sarah was the only one waking with nightmares.
"But seriously," questioned Becker, "Jack?"
"He's their uncle too," reminded Connor. "And if Jack wants to help, I'm not going to turn him down."
And so Jack moved in to the Temple family's spare room.
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