Author's note: Hello everyone. For some time now, I've had this idea for a spinoff of Primeval about Jenny Lewis and how she would cope with anomalies and creatures after leaving the ARC. I thought it was time for some fresh material for Primeval fanfiction, so I decided to write it up. Those of you familiar with my work will know that I previously wrote another series of stories also entitled The Jenny Lewis Chronicles. This is a reeboot of those stories and they should not be viewed as being the same thing. Anyway, hope you enjoy it:
"Good Evening. This is Mark Cipher with the Evening News"
"Tragedy struck in Vancouver today when a major commerical building was destroyed in what police are calling 'an unexpected and extremely unfortunate freak accident'. At about 2:00 pm, local time, residents of the surrounding suburbs reported hearing a loud bang, and some also reported seeing a giant fireball rising into the sky. By the time authorities arrived on the scene, over half the building had been destroyed and most of what remained was on fire."
"The building in question was the headquarters of Cross Photonics, a Vancouver based software company. Further examination had shown that the cause of the destruction was a powerful explosion from inside the building itself, the cause of which no one has been able to identify as of yet."
"Five people have been killed in the blast, including company co-founders, Evan Cross and Angelika Finch. Mr. Cross was known by many of his co-workers as an eccentric, but likeable man who often seemed distracted in his work. Some sources also say that in his spare time, he travelled within Vancouver and its surrounding areas in search of the rips in time known as anomalies. He-
Suddenly the screen went black and the news report was gone. Curled up on the sofa in her dressing gown, Jenny Lewis turned around to see who had turned off the TV. Of course she knew who it was already, her husband Michael Miller, standing there in a tweed dressing gown holding the remote control and wearing the look of the man wearied from a long, long battle with his wife.
"Michael, I was watching that!" Jenny protested.
"I know, for the eighth time since we recorded the news a week ago" said Michael. He put the control down and went over to the drawn living room curtains. As he pulled them apart, silvery morning light poured into the room. Jenny raised her hand as it touched her eyes. As she averted them from the light, her gaze fell upon the unguarded remote control and for a moment she was tempted to grab it and continue watching the news report. But then she heard Michael coming over to her and decided against it.
"Jenny" said Michael, "I know you've been thinking a lot about the things you used to do before we met. I know it's not been easy for you not to, what with our wedding, all that madness with the creatures last year and now this report. But you have to snap out of it! You said it yourself, that was your old life. We have a new one now, and unless you stop thinking about the past you're never going to be able to live it properly." He leaned closer to her.
"So, can you try to let it go now? Let this be the last of it?" He said, raising an eyebrow as he did so. Jenny was silent for a while, she looked down at the sofa, then at the TV, then back at Michael. She smiled.
"Alright" she said.
"Good" said Michael, planting a kiss on her lips. Jenny rose from the sofa and wrapped her nightgown around her.
"Well, anyway, I should probably get ready. I've got work" she said.
"Of course, of course" said Michael, going to the kitchen to make himself breakfast. Jenny, looking as poised and confident as she usually did, went about her own morning routine. She did her hair, she changed into her work clothes and ever present high heels, she had breakfast, kissed Michael goodbye and hopped into their silver Aston Martin. But as she drove to work, a despondent look crept back on to her face.
Let this be the last of it. That was all very well for Michael to say. He hadn't had the sort of life Jenny had had before she met him. He hadn't seen half the things she had. The experiences she'd had during that time were, try as she might, nigh impossible to forget, now more than ever.
About six years ago, Jenny had been working as a governmental PR agent when she was assigned to a secret government organisation known as the ARC. Together with an elite team of scientists, zoologists and soldiers, she had helped to investigate and study anomalies, doorways that allowed creatures from the past and future to enter the present. The ARC's job was to contain these creatures and return them through their anomalies whilst keeping the whole thing a secret from the public. It was dangerous work, and frightening more often than not. Yet somehow, Jenny had soldiered on and stuck with that team through it all, whether it was chasing a dinosaur down a runway or being captured by a power hungry madman with an army of creatures at his beck and call.
Then one day, it had all become too much. A man whom Jenny had been in love with, team leader, Nick Cutter, was murdered by his insane wife, Helen. A few weeks later, Jenny herself had come close to death when she was trapped in a freezing cold room with a deadly futuristic fungus. After that she had decided enough was enough and quit her job at the ARC. It was not without some regret. She'd made very good friends on that team who she was sorry to leave behind. Abby Maitland, the quick minded, spunky zoologist who could always be counted on to be brave and unflinching in the face of a dangerous creature, whilst trying to find a way to secure its wellbeing. Connor Temple, the nerdy, socially awkward technician who beneath it all was braver and more heroic than many ARC soldiers. Yet, Jenny had been firm in her decision and walked out of the ARC's doors, never to return.
After that, she had done everything in her power to put her old life behind her and forget all about it. She got herself a new job, visited her parents more often, met up with old friends and even went out to parties with them from time to time. It was at one such party that she had met Michael, an aspiring musician. He'd immediately taken an interest in her and Jenny, who apart from anything else, was keen to put the pain of Nick Cutter's death behind her, allowed herself to be taken with him. As time passed, their relationship blossomed and then two years ago, Michael had proposed and Jenny had accepted. With help from Jenny's wealthy family, they were able to secure a lovely stately home as a wedding venue. And come the day before the ceremony, Jenny was certain that she was about to scrub out the last traces of her anomaly hunting lifestyle.
She was wrong.
Quite by accident, she ran into Abby, Connor, and new team leader Matt Anderson in the cellar of the stately home, where they had just located an anomaly and sedated a prehistoric dog like carnivore called a hyenadon. While pleased to be in the company of her old friends again, Jenny was horrified at the thought of Michael discovering the truth about her past, and the next day, right in the middle of the vows, her nightmare had come true. Not one, but two hyenadons had burst into the room and started attacking everyone in it, including Michael. Fortunately for him, Jenny's ARC training had come back to her and she had been able to subdue his attacker. Afterwards she had had no choice but to tell him the truth, and was certain that he would be put off by the strangeness of it and leave her. Luckily he wasn't and the wedding went ahead as planned.
Afterwards, the couple had moved back to Jenny's hometown in Oxford, where they had bought the lovely two storey house where they lived now. But no sooner had they moved in then more of Jenny's old life came back to haunt her. All over the world, in the space of a few hours, hundreds of thousands of anomalies had opened up in what later became known as the Convergence. Jenny and Michael had taken refuge in their house and so were relatively unaffected, but the news stations and newspapers of the world had had a field day. For weeks afterwards it was all anyone seemed to talk about. The ARC had been forced to admit its role in the handling of anomalies and the creatures that came through them and now, a helpline had been set up for anyone who wished to report a creature sighting or anomaly incursion.
But as with all big events, eventually the novelty wore off. The world carried on in much the same way as it always had, except now it was in the knowledge that there were dinosaurs around. Michael was no exception to this. Understandably, he was all too keen for life to go back to normal.
For Jenny though, it was different. She had not wanted to be one of those people cowering inside their homes waiting for some creature to break in and kill them. She had wanted to be out there, dealing with the anomalies with her fellow team mates. On that day, all the fear, wonder and incredible exhilaration of ARC life had come back to her. And those embers had burned ever since. It seemed like there was nothing in Jenny's life that didn't remind her of her past, even now as she waited at the traffic lights. When she saw the multiple TVs in a shop window, she thought of the ARC's anomaly detector. When she saw a pair of dobermans being taken for a walk, she was reminded of the hyenadons. Even the sight of a child playing with toy dinosaurs in the car next to her was enough to make her think of the G-Rex.
At work, everything was a blur for Jenny. She smiled and nodded as her boss filled her in on some dull PR project. She sat at the computer in her office and tapped at the letters on the keyboard. At lunch, she ate with the office girls and pretended to listen to their inane gossip, while being painfully reminded of better lunchtimes spent with her friends at the ARC. Finally, towards the end of the day, the temptation became too strong. After checking that no one was looking, she typed the words 'Anomaly Research Centre' into Google. She directed the cursor to the search button and prepared to select it.
'Let this be the last of it' said Michael's voice in her head at that moment. Jenny sighed and resignedly crossed off Google. But then she buried her face in her hands.
She had left the ARC all those years ago to pursue a normal life, a better life so she thought. Well at first it had seemed that way, but now she realised just how right Danny Quinn had been when he'd told her she'd never be able to forget her time on the anomaly team. Normal life was boring, she wanted her old life back. If only she could have it.