Disclaimer: I do not own Primeval, only my OC.

So I was reading a Primeval fan fiction when I realized something, their are almost no Abby/OC stories! We see OC romances for almost all the other characters but not her? I decided to remedy that. Don't get me wrong, I do love the Conby pairing but I thought it would be fun to write an Abby/OC story. R&R!

The parking lot in front of the store was abandoned. A woman ran across the abandoned parking lot as a massive creature walked out of the forest, stalking its prey. The woman climbed into an empty barrel and remained as silent as possible, trying to avoid detection.

Unfortunately it didn't work and the creature had her scent and slammed its head against the barrel, severely denting it. The woman scampered out of the barrel and ran to the store. She desperately hit her hands against the glass double doors, trying to catch the attention of an employee who was cleaning the floors. The workman inside the store ignored her, thinking that she wanted to buy something after hours.

Seeing that he wasn't going to get inside she ran over to the cars and tried to hide from the creature, only for a car to land in front of her. The creature continued to knock cars out of the way forcing the woman to run back into the forest. The creature let out a deafening primal roar before following the woman into the forest.

That was the last time anyone would see Helen Cutter for eight years.

-8 years later-

Abby Maitland's day was not going well, after another failure of trying to get the two newest lizards to mate she had been informed that the sponsor to the reptile house had cut funding. She had been offered a spot in the bug house, but she had refused. Despite the fact it would allow her to spend more time with her best friend, she would much rather work with the reptiles.

"Abby!" The blonde turned around to see her best friend Nathan Cooper walking towards her. The slightly tanned, blue eyed, black haired zookeeper loved insects and arachnids as much as Abby loved reptiles. Looking up at her best friend who stood about head higher than her she could see the concern in his eyes. "I heard about the sponsor pulling out." Nathan explained.

Abby simply said, "It happens." Nathan internally sighed, he knew that Abby loved working with reptiles, and the loss of the reptile house would be devastating to her. "Hey, you know if you want I could call my parents and see if they could lend some money."

"No Nathan, I don't want to have to put you trough that, plus what would make you think they would lend money to zoo?" Abby asked. Nathan's silence was all the answer she needed. Turning her attention to the file she was holding she asked, "Hey can you give me a ride to the Forest of Dean?"

Nathan raised an eyebrow at Abby's request. Abby's car had been in the shop for the past week, so Nathan had been driving her to work and back, so there wasn't a problem if he could do it or not, but he didn't know why Abby wanted to go to the forest of Dean at a time like now. "Of course I can, but why do you want to go?"

"There's a kid there who wants to give the zoo an exotic reptile he's been keeping as a pet, I thought I would look into it." Abby told him.

Nathan sighed, he knew that Abby was trying to get the cut funding off her mind by doing this, but he couldn't refuse his best friend, especially after what just happened. "Sure, let's go punch out and we can head over there."

After phoning ahead to the family the two zookeepers followed the directions they had found on the internet to a residential area by the forest. The mother of the son who sent the picture greeted them in the driveway.

"We never expected a personal call." The woman, Mrs. Trent told them.

"All part of the zoo service Mrs. Trent." Abby explained to her as they walking into the house.

"It's only a lizard." Nathan frowned slightly at that statement. He didn't really like people who didn't care about animals. One of the reasons that he and Abby were such good friends was because of their mutual like of the animal kingdom.

After meeting Ben, the owner of the lizard he walked the two of them up to his room to show them his lizard. Nathan felt like he had walked into a different house after walking into Ben's room. Whereas the rest of the house had been dull and orderly, Ben's room was the exact opposite. Model dinosaurs on the shelves, hanging from the ceiling, Nathan felt like he would find having conversation with Ben much more enjoyable than his mother. "I see you like dinosaurs Ben." Nathan said.

"Yeah, their awesome." Ben replied. A chirping as heard on the bed. Looking over Nathan saw a green lizard with a frill on its head and a pair of wing like appendages folded on its side. "His name's Rex, found him in the forest. Looked him up in a book and it said he was a flying dragon from Southeast Asia."

"Draco volans." Abby whispered. After another moment of looking at the lizard she said, "But he's not Draco volans."

"He isn't?" Nathan asked, surprised.

Abby shook her head in the negative she confessed, "In fact I don't know what he is." Rex jumped off the bed, on to a dresser and climbed up to a shelf.

"I thought you were an expert." Ben said.

"She is." Nathan confirmed.

"If I'm right you've discovered a completely unique species." Abby explained, looking at the teen who had a dumfounded expression on his face.

"Huh, cool." Ben said smiling.

"I need you to show me exactly where you found him." Abby told the young boy.

After telling Mrs. Trent where they were going the three of them, along with Rex walked to the forest. Abby had Rex wrapped in a blanket to keep him warm from the cold bitter air. "It's too cold for him to have lived here; he must have escaped from a private zoo or something." Abby said.

"I found him around here somewhere." Ben said. Abby and Nathan looked for any sign that might indicate where Rex had come from when Ben caught their attention, "Abby, Nathan."

"What?" Nathan asked as he looked at the boy who was considerably paler than he had been a minute ago. Following the boy's gaze the two zoo keepers saw what had Ben so pale. A dead cow was hanging in the low branches of the trees. After a moment of shocked silence Nathan spoke up, "It's fresh."

"What?" Abby asked.

"There aren't any flies on it which means it's only been dead for a few hours at most, so whatever killed it is still here."A moment later a deafening roar carried through the trees, and if Ben was pale before, now he was white as a sheet. So Ben did what any kid would do facing a scary situation, he ran.

Abby and Nathan followed him, trying to get him to slow down. "Slow down Ben!" Abby cried as she ran, trying to keep a good hold on Rex with Nathan behind them.

"Maybe it was a leopard." Ben said, trying to rationalize what they had just seen. "Sometimes they'll drag their prey up into trees to eat them later."

"Don't be silly," Abby retaliated, "There are no leopards in the forest of Dean."

"And even if there were, it wouldn't have been able to drag a full grown cow into the trees." Nathan said, poking another hole in Ben's idea.

"I don't care, it's weird I'm getting out of here." Ben told them, picking up the pace.

"Ben, wait!" Abby yelled, but it was a futile attempt, Ben was too scared to slow down. Abby and Nathan tried to catch up but Abby tripped on a log. Nathan grabbed Abby by the waist to prevent her from falling face first into the ground. Rex, who had jumped out of Abby's grip when she tripped, was now flying above the duo's heads. Abby smiled, watching in amazement as Rex weaved through the trees, before realizing that Nathan's arm was still around her waist. "Uh, Nathan?"

Nathan, who had also been watching Rex looked down, realizing what he was still doing, "Oh! Uh, sorry." Nathan said, quickly releasing his grip on Abby. The duo followed Rex until he landed in a large bush.

"Come on Rex." Abby said in a soothing tone, trying to coax the reptile out of his hiding space. Suddenly, Rex began to act scared and tried to get as far into the bush as he could, all the while being quite. Abby and Nathan froze on the spot when they heard the sound of gigantic footsteps coming from the other side of a small river. With his heart pounding in his chest Nathan very slowly turned and looked at the river and his eyes widened at what he saw in the reflection. A large head with two gigantic saber like teeth at the front and an equally gigantic mouth full of razor sharp teeth. He put a hand on Abby's shoulder who had also spotted the creature's reflection to try and calm her. Which wasn't really working, considering that he too was terrified of what they saw. After what had to be the longest minute in their lives the creature walked away. As its footsteps faded Rex began to chirp again.

Night had set in the forest and Abby and Nathan were still lost in the thick trees. After coming to a small clearing Abby asked, "Ok Rex, which way now?"

"What am I, chopped liver?" Nathan asked in mock hurt tone. Abby gave him a playful glare before the both froze after hearing a deep grunting sound from behind them. Turning slowly they took a step back in surprise at the sight of a huge creature grazing on the grass. The creature noticed them and turned to face them. Abby and Nathan began to back up slowly from the creature as it roared at them.

"Rex!" Abby whispered as she lost her grip on the reptile who scurried behind the trees. Nathan tugged on her shoulder to bring her attention back to the muti-ton beast in front of them.

"Don't move." Nathan and Abby turned behind them to see a group for four people, three men and a woman, also staring at the creature.

"Is it real?" Abby asked, who had returned to gazing at the creature.

"Some kind of experiment, maybe," the man at the front of the group muttered to himself in a Scottish accent. "Hybrid, throwback. Who are you two?" he asked.

"Abby Maitland," Abby answered.

"Nathan Cooper," Nathan also added, "Were keepers at Wellington Zoo."

The man approached it, shining his torch to get a better look at it. "It's a reptile. Five or six tones at least. Large supratemporal bosses. Huge oestroderms on its back." He muttered as he quickly broke the creature down examining it. The rest of his group also began to approach the creature.

"It must be some kind of anapsid," the man concluded.

"A tortoise?" Abby and Nathan asked. As the man tried to get a better look at it the creature roared, making everyone but Abby take a step back. "Stay in its field of vision," she said, "You're making him nervous," she finished.

"I was right. There was a dinosaur in that warehouse," the youngest of them said snapping a picture of it on his phone.

"Don't do that." Nathan said as the creature roared again, startled by the flash.

"Whatever it is," the woman snapped, snatching the camera phone from him, "Its classified until I figure out what the hell to do with it."

Abby and Nathan explained to the group why they had come to the forest as they walked back to Ben's house, who they were relieved to find ok, but this room was smashed up.

"I'll be making a complaint, they've filled his head with all kinds of stupid ideas" said Ben's mother as she pulled the quilt over Ben's bed "Just look at the state of his room!"

"It was the dinosaur," Ben protested

"The simple truth is Miss Maitland got carried away" the Scottish man, whose name Nathan had learned was Professor Nick Cutter said "Ben's pet was nothing more than exotic than Draco volans. It's a Southeast Asian flying lizard."

"There was a monster though. It chased us. Come on Abby and Nathan, tell them." Ben said, still holding true to his story.

Everyone in the room turned to look at the two of them

"I don't really know what happened, Ben, we just got frightened." Abby said

"That's all", Nathan concluded. Nathan could tell she didn't like lying about what had happened, neither did he, but they were told by the woman, Claudia Brown, who was a government official, not to tell anyone what they saw.

"But I saw the past. Prehistoric times. I was there." Ben argued.

"You saw the past?" Cutter asked.

"There were desert and rocks and things," Ben said turning to him, but after a moment he could tell no one was going to believe him and he stormed out of the room.

"I blame the telly. Excuse me." Ben's mother said walking out of the room after her son.

"I know you two feel bad about lying," Claudia said to Abby and Nathan once they had left the house, and were walking back to Cutter's car, "But if word of this gets out, who knows what the consequences might be."

"Your all gonna have to sigh the Official Secrets Act." Claudia stated.

"Whoa, since when did this become an official secret?" Cutter asked stopping and turning to look at Claudia.

"About 10 minutes after I finally persuaded my boss not to have be sectioned," Claudia said.

"Yeah, well, right now we have a far more urgent problem" Cutter said, catching everyone's attention, "That creature we saw may be many things but it's certainly not a ruthless predator that drags its prey up into trees."

"Well, you can't be sure of that," Claudia in a disbelieving tone at what the professor was saying.

"He can," Abby said, "It's an herbivore. Pure veggie."

"You mean there's another one out there?" Claudia asked.

"We saw it." Nathan said. Everyone turned to look at him.

"What did it look like?" Cutter asked.

Nathan shrugged, "Only saw the head, but it was big, long snout, two saber like teeth at the front of the jaws, and rows of smaller teeth behind them."

"Great," Claudia said sarcastically.

"What did Ben mean when he talked about seeing the past?" Cutter asked, "These animals have to be coming from somewhere."

"What are you saying?" Claudia asked.

"I'm saying that the answer is in that forest," Cutter answered, "And maybe Ben found it."

"We have to get back to Connor and Stephen," Cutter said. Claudia nodded, and headed towards the car, the rest of them following. The idea Cutter explained as he handed out torches, was to scare the beast to make it go where it felt safe.

As they approached the spot that they had left the other two, Cutter started yelling out to them. "Stephen!"

The animal roared at the sudden noise and light and started running in the opposite direction.

"Whoa, where's it going?" Nathan heard the younger of the two, Connor ask.

"Leave it go," Cutter yelled "It's scared! Let's see where it thinks it's safe." The group chased the dinosaur for a short distance before it ran into a glittering hole in the middle of the forest, vanishing from their view. The object looked as if shards of broken glass had been suspended mid air with light shinning through them, creating an amazing effect.

"Where's it gone?" Nathan heard Claudia ask.

"Home," Cutter answered simply.

Claudia had called in backup to secure the 'anomaly' as Cutter called it. By morning the entire area was filled with government security guards and research equipment. Claudia wanted the two of them to stay because of their experience with the creature and the Anomaly so Abby and Nathan had called the zoo saying that they wouldn't be able to make it today. Nathan sat down next to Abby on top of the pile of boxes she was sitting on and said, "Bet this isn't how you expected to spend today huh?" Abby just rolled her eyes at Nathan's joke, but had a small smile on her face.

Stephen walked over and handed to two of them some coffee. "So how you two feeling?"

"Confused, frightened… exhilarated." Abby said.

"Kind of reminds me about the day we met." Nathan said, thinking back to the day they met almost 18 years ago.

Nathan wasn't really sure where he was going. He wiped his dried tear stains as he walked deeper into the forest. He had run away from home- again. He had asked his parents for a pet spider, but his parents had profusely refused. He knew that that wasn't something to cry over but his parents had gone further and yelled at him for having an 'unhealthy interest' in insects and arachnids. Nathan sniffed a little, he knew his parents wanted him to be like them, businessmen, refined and proper. Nathan didn't want to be like that, he didn't mind getting his hands dirty, and he much preferred the company of invertebrates to people. He wanted to work with insects when he grew up, but his parents wanted him to take control over their company when he was old enough. Nathan sighed, he didn't get why his parents just couldn't accept him for who he was.

The sound of crying reached his ears. Nathan considered heading back home before his parents became too worried, but his curiosity got the better of him and he followed the sound. Reaching a clearing his eyes widened at the sight of a blonde girl about his age sitting on a log sobbing. Her face was marred by a black and blue bruise that was roughly in the shape of a hand.

Nathan accidentally stepped on a twig and the girl's head shot up towards the sound. Her eyes widened at the sight of Nathan. Nathan slowly approached the girl and said, "Hi, I'm Nathan."

The girl stammering nervously replied, "I-I-I'm Abby."

An awkward silence passed between them, broken by the occasional muffled sob from Abby who was doing her best not to cry in front of someone she just met. Her hand traveled up to the bruise on her face, reminding her why she was crying. Her mother had slapped her hard- again. She was doing that more and more she noticed, especially after she had drunk. Abby guessed it had something to do with the fact that her father had been going away on longer trips leaving her home alone with her abusive mother and her two year old brother.

"So…uh, what are you doing here?" Nathan asked, trying to break the ice.

Abby sniffed and rubbed the bruise. It was still sore, but it didn't hurt as much as it use to. "Nothing."

Nathan glanced at the bruise before asking, "Did someone hit you?"

Abby sniffed again, tears building up in her eyes threatening to fall again. Nathan realized the mistake he made and walked over to Abby who flinched a little at his approach. "I'm sorry, I-I didn't mean to make you cry." What Nathan didn't notice was the tree root in his path. His foot caught on it and he fell to the ground with a soft thud. The layer of leaves on the ground softened his fall and made some of the leaves fall on him. Abby giggled a little at Nathan's misstep. Nathan normally wouldn't have liked someone laughing at him, it reminded him of the bullies at school, but surprisingly Nathan found himself laughing with her. Getting up and brushing the dead leaves off of him he sat down on the log next to Abby, who didn't flinch this time. "So… What are you doing here?"

"I could ask you the same thing." Abby shot back. Her regular feisty personality was now rising back to the surface.

"But I asked first." Nathan argued, but seeing that Abby wasn't going to answer anytime soon he relented. "Okay I'll tell you."

So Nathan told her about his love of bugs and how his parents wanted him to follow in their footsteps and that he needed to abandon his 'weird interest'. "I don't think it's weird."

Nathan looked up surprised at Abby who had just interrupted him. "You don't?"

Abby shook her head, "No, I think it's cool you like bugs- I'm not a big fan of spiders, but I love reptiles."Nathan blinked; he hadn't expected someone he just met to support him on a subject that people who had known him for years didn't agree with him.

"So what are you doing here?" Nathan asked after a moment of silence.

"My mom." Abby said in a voice so small Nathan could barely hear.

"Did she do…?" Nathan gestured to her bruise. Abby nodded.

"Does your dad know?"

"He doesn't know, and I don't want to hurt him by telling him mom hurts me."

"Friends?"

"I don't have any friends."

"I could be your friend." Abby's head shot up surprise at Nathan's statement. Nathan himself was surprised at what he just proclaimed.

"Really?" Abby asked.

"Yeah, really."

Abby smiled, having a friend sounded nice.

Nathan wasn't sure how long they stayed in the clearing but once it got dark the two of them decided it would be best to go home. They had barley gotten out of the forest when Nathan heard his name being called. "Nathan!" Looking towards the source Nathan saw this mother and father walking towards him. "You are in so much trouble young man!"His mother practically screamed grabbing his arm roughly. "When we get back you'll-" Nathan didn't bother listening to his mother, but instead turned towards Abby, who had just been joined by his father. He waved to her with a smile. Abby smiled and waved back.

"Who was that?" Abby's dad asked curiously, now that his panic over where she had been most of the day was over.

"A friend." Abby said simply.

The sound of chirping brought Nathan out of his memories. Looking up Nathan saw a pair of men pick up a massive cage holding Rex and carrying it off. Abby saw the same thing and asked, "You don't think they'll hurt him?"

"Of course not." Nathan comforted, putting his hand on her shoulder, but he could see the look on her face was still worried about Rex's well being.

Claudia took Abby and Nathan along Cutter to the Home Office, sat them down and gave them papers to sign. They had already been told what the Official Secrets Act was and now they were signing papers to say they agreed not to tell anyone what they had seen.

After they had finished Nathan followed Cutter and Abby out into the hallway to meet Claudia Brown and her frowning boss James Lester.

Follow me," James said leading the way, "This… phenomenon, Professor. Claudia tells me you have an explanation."

"A theory," Cutter corrected, "The boy's experience proves that there's a concrete landscape on the other side of the Anomaly. And I think it's the Earth many millions of years ago."

"And this Anomaly, as you call it is a door between time zones in the world's history?" Lester asked.

"Hmm," was Cutter's reply.

"Suppose this remarkable theory's correct, what are the immediate risks?" Lester asked.

"Famine, War, Pestilence. The end of the world as we know it. You know the usual stuff."

"I think I could do without the facetiousness."

"Well, I could do without standing in some anemic office in White hall, talking to a civil services pen pusher," Cutter shot back, "When I should be out exploring one of the most significant phenomenon in the history of science."

"Technically, I'm not actually a civil servant," Lester corrected, "More a …trouble-shooter without portfolio in the PM's office."

"You mean you're a government hatchet man?" Nathan asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Colorful, but surprisingly accurate," Lester said turning to him.

"And there's something else you should know." Cutter said bring Lester's attention back to him, "I intend to find out what happened to my wife, whatever the risks, so I'm going through the anomaly. And if you want to stop me, then your gonna have to shoot me."

James Lester chuckled, as Abby, Nathan and Claudia all looked at Cutter in shock.

"Well, I hope it doesn't have to come to that," Lester said.

Lester brought them to a window overlooking the lab that was holding Rex. Some people where inside trying to get samples from the lizard to confirm that it was in fact from the prehistoric era.

"You really shouldn't handle a lizard like that," Abby commented as they scientist poked and prodded the lizard.

"Let the experts do their jobs," Lester replied.

"They don't know what they're doing," Abby mumbled, "You really shouldn't mess with an angry lizard."

"I'm terrified," Lester mocked.

"Do they even know he can fly?" Nathan asked.

"Fly?" Lester asked, as he and Claudia looked at Nathan.

There was suddenly shouting from inside the room, Nathan looked up to see the men inside trying to catch Rex who was now airborne. The door to the room opened and he flew out. Nathan chuckled and followed after Abby and Claudia. They looked over the banister leading to the lower floors, where Rex had flown.

"Rex!" Abby said

"Come on," Nathan said entering the elevator first, Claudia and Abby following. They reached the 1st floor, and as the doors opened they hurried out to see the doors to the elevator opposite them close. Rex had just gotten in it.

"He's going up," Claudia said, noticing the dial of numbers over the doors. The three hurried back into their own and hit the top floor button

They hurried through an office full of people, who where ducking trying to avoid the flying lizard above them. They made it to the last office room; it was empty except for Rex who was sitting on top of the highest open window looking out.

"Rex," Abby said, "Don't do it Rex." she said "It's not your world out there anymore."

Nathan looked up as Lester and Cutter entered the room.

"Try some of this," Abby was saying, "You'll love it." she held out a piece of chocolate to the prehistoric lizard who chirped happily from where he sat. "I promise," Rex tilted his head and flew out of the window. "Rex, come back," Abby called. But the lizard had gone.

Suddenly, Rex appeared in the window and he flew back in and into Abby's arms. Nathan laughed as Abby turned around; smiling triumphantly and holding Rex like a new born. "Now you can say you're experienced in calming down dinosaurs," Nathan joked. Abby just smiled, relieved that the prehistoric reptile had returned to her.

"Good decision, Rex," Abby said.

"Oh those risks you were talking about," Cutter said as Lester turned to leave "There's one I didn't tell you about, running down your back." Lester looked at his back and cursed at the sight of the greenish fluid that hadn't been there a minute ago. Nathan held back a laugh as Lester sighed and walked out of the room.

"It's so perfect," Cutter commented with a smile.

The group returned to the Anomaly with Rex to return him back to his natural habitat. Nathan could tell Abby didn't like it but there was no use arguing, the decision had been made. Stephen was still out hunting for the second creature. Conner had told them that it was a Gorgonopsid, and after seeing the photo of it Nathan and Abby had to agree, its head looked exactly like the head they had seen in the forest.

Walking up to Cutter Abby handed him Rex. "Please take care of him," she said handing the lizard over. "Take care of yourself too," she added, reaching up to kiss Cutter's cheek.

"Yeah, we'll be fine," Cutter said, moving towards the Anomaly. Standing beside Abby, Nathan watched as the professor disappeared through the Anomaly into the past.

Nathan was worried, it was almost 8:00 pm and Cutter and Captain Ryan still haven't come back, and the Anomaly was weaking. Its magnetic field was losing strength and it was shuttering, like it was going to collapse. Just as the Anomaly looked like it was going to close Cutter and Captain Ryan came through.

"Cutter?" yelled Claudia.

Nathan heard a chirping and looked by a tree to see Rex. "He must have come back through the Anomaly when we weren't looking." Tapping Abby on the shoulder she looked over to where he was pointing. The two of them discreetly moved away from the group towards Rex. Abby took her scarf off she covered his head with it to calm him down and was about to pick Rex up when they heard a low growling noise. Everyone turned swiftly to see the Gorgonopsid running out of the trees towards them.

Abby shouted, "Run!"

Military personnel tried to stop the creature, but the site was in complete panic. An unfortunate soldier who got too close was struck by the head of the thousand pound beast, throwing him into a car which he landed on with a sickening crunch.

Abby tried to follow Nathan but tripped; the creature saw her struggling and its hunting instincts kicked in, zeroing in on the stragglers, or in this case Abby and Nathan. She screamed. "Nathan!"

"Abby!" Nathan cried running back to her. Despite the fact he was terrified, he couldn't leave Abby. Gripping her under the arms he tried pulling her up, but she kept slipping on the wet leaves and dirt.

There was a loud noise, like a car horn. Abby and Nathan looked up to see Stephen arrive in the 4x4. Seeing the car as the greater threat the Gorgonopsid charged the vehicle head on. Neither opponent wavered as they charged each other at full speed. The creature struck the vehicle head on and went down with a thud and severely dented the front of the car. Stephen got out unharmed and walked around the open door to look down at the seemingly dead creature. Looking up he walked towards the stunned group. Just then the Gorgonopsid eye opened and it attempted to get up, growling and roaring.

"Stephen! Catch!" Cutter shouted throwing a discarded gun to him. Stephen caught the gun and fired about a dozen shots into the Gorgonopsid before it fell to the ground dead.

The entire forest seemed to sigh in relief that the prehistoric carnivore was dead.

Abby, Nathan, Connor and Stephen were waiting outside for Cutter to finish his meeting with Lester.

Walking out of Lester's office Cutter wordlessly walked by the group, who fell in formation behind him. "So now what?" Nathan asked curiously as they made their way out of the Home Office. Abby and Connor just shrugged their shoulders, only for Cutter to speak up.

"Isn't it obvious?" Cutter asked not bothering to turn around.

"We get to hunt dinosaurs." Stephen finished with a grin.

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