An Easter treat, because you can never have enough Connor/Abby, and stars are beautiful :)

I'm not that good with romance, so you may have to bear with me, any useful tips to help me improve will be much appreciated :)

To my Great Auntie Jill, whose smile could light up any dark night, I will miss you x

Stargazers

Connor Temple rested his back against the wall of the cave that had been his stone home for nearly a month now. His legs were stretched out before him; his feet lay inches away from the dying embers of that night's fire. He was still wearing the same shoes he came through the anomaly in, which were now tatty and muddy.

Connor's eyes were shut as he tried to prevent his head drooping down over his chest, but with little success. He was so close to sleep, the night watches and constant worries had caused him many sleepless nights. His body was very close to shutting down for the next ten hours, or until a very annoyed Abby shook him from his slumber.

For now however the world remained peaceful and silent, the cave stayed dark. There was nothing Connor could hear apart from the sound of his own deep breathing, and the makeshift anomaly detector of keys being swayed by a gentle wind and clinking against tin.

No anomaly would open tonight, but Connor was about to find out, that perhaps this wasn't a bad thing.

"Connor," The sound of someone calling his name ripped through the silence, but Connor was so close to sleep to him it was nothing but a distant echo.

But then the voice called again, louder.

"Connor!"

Connor's eyes snapped open as he realised it was Abby calling his name. Panicking, he leapt up to his feet, sleep completely forgotten, and rushed outside.

The world outside the cave was just as quiet as the world inside. Abby's voice had fallen silent again, and there was no sound of a creature attack, as Connor had guessed what the alarm call was for. He gazed into the darkness, but could see nothing apart from the tall shapes of trees in the distance.

"Abby?" Connor wanted to cry out, to find Abby, but it was somehow impossible to break the silence, and he was afraid of any creatures lurking near by, so his voice came out in a whisper.

"Over here," came the immediate but hushed reply.

Connor looked around, trying to determine the source of Abby's voice, but still he could see nothing. He heard an annoyed sigh.

"Up here," Abby's whispered voice beckoned.

Connor looked up; his eyes fell upon a large, rocky outcrop, just beside the cave he had just been in. On top of the outcrop, was Abby. He could just make out her thin legs stretched out through the darkness; her arms leaning back against the rocks, lifting the upper part of her body off them. She didn't look as if she was in any sort of trouble, in fact, she looked quite relaxed.

"What's the matter?" Connor asked in a loud whisper that was carried by an invisible breeze. "Do you really need to shout in the middle of the night, anything could hear you!"

"I need to show you something." Abby replied, ignoring Connor's second question, in which he sounded a lot more annoyed than the first.

Still unsure of what was going on, Connor scrambled up the rocks to the large outcrop where Abby was lying. He moved as quietly as he could, which wasn't very quiet at all. Fortunately the trees around them were silent, there would be no monsters out tonight.

Abby lay back on the rocks when Connor reached her, and gestured him to do the same. He did so, still unsure of what she wanted, but had a feeling it wasn't anything to do with dinosaurs. The air was cool, but the rock still held some warmth from when the blistering sun shone down on it during the day. The warmth felt nice against Connor's back, despite the fact that it wasn't the most comfortable place to be lying.

"OK then," Connor said, not bothering to keep his voice down any more, "what is it?"

Abby just gave a blissful smile, the one that always made Connor stop and stare (luckily for him it was dark so Abby didn't notice) and looked up at the sky.

When Abby heard Connor's deep intake of breath beside her, she knew that he too was staring up at the night sky and could see its beauty.

The sky was full of stars. Little blinking, bright lights, shining through the darkness and emptiness of space down on planet Earth. It was a clear night, there wasn't a cloud in the sky to block out the stars, and they all shone down proudly as if to show this to the silent world. Each star looked bigger and more majestic than Connor had ever seen them. A crescent moon shone overhead, but it didn't match the glory of the thousands of stars, it looked like there wasn't a square foot of sky that hadn't got at least one star, which sparkled like a diamond.

"Wow," Connor breathed, his voice low as if he was worried he would scare away the stars.

"No light pollution, no planes, no clouds and no buildings. We can finally see the stars," Abby whispered, and Connor suddenly noticed how close the two of them were, their bodies almost touching in the darkness. But it didn't feel strange.

"Aren't they beautiful?" Abby asked into the silence.

"They're amazing," Connor admitted. He had never taken the time to look up at the stars, and now he wondered why he hadn't. The stars were so far away, they were nothing but dots shining in the sky, and yet they were something much, much more. "You know, I can get why those Greek philosophers stared up at the sky all the time now," Connor added, turning his deep thoughts into more light-hearted comments.

Beside him, Abby smiled.

"But I've never been able to see any centaurs or crabs or bulls or whatever they draw from the stars," Connor continued.

Abby gave a soft chuckle, "neither do I," she admitted. It was hard to see any shapes or forms in the stars, there was so many of them clustered together. But that didn't stop them from looking so stunning.

She cocked her head to one side, so it was suddenly resting against Connor's, she squinted up at the sky.

"Although…" she began.

Connor tried his best to turn his head to look at Abby, but it was hard when he didn't want to dislodge the position of her head resting on his. His heart was suddenly beating a lot faster at the feeling of her soft hair and warm skin.

Abby pointed up at a group of stars, "those ones do make a shape of a horse," she said slowly.

Connor narrowed his eyes to try and see the same thing as Abby. "Oh yeah, sort of…horses aren't meant to have five legs though," he pointed out.

Abby rolled her eyes, "that's its tail."

"Oh…"

Abby laughed. Connor smiled at the light-hearted sound, he couldn't remember the last time Abby gave an honest laugh, one that showed she was truly happy, one that showed there was no worries weighing down her soul.

Silence fell as the couple continued to gaze up at the stars hanging in the sky. Connor wasn't sure how long they lay there, but the stars didn't fade away, dawn was still a long way off.

Suddenly, Abby gave a long, sad sigh, her mind deep in thought. "Do you think they're a sign of hope?" She asked quietly.

Gazing up at the glimmering stars, they certainly felt like little beads of hope sewn together by the black sky. A sign that there was always light in the darkness, even though there may well be dark days ahead. But Abby and Connor were together, and one day, they would find their way home.

Connor found Abby's hand through the darkness, he took it in his and squeezed it tightly, giving her comfort. After a short pause, she squeezed back.

"You know Abby, if every night is going to be like this, maybe stuck here isn't a bad thing after all." Connor said gently.

A small smile flickered across Abby's face. "And I wouldn't want to be stuck here with anyone else," she told him.

And that, somehow, was how Abby and Connor knew they were always meant to be together, and always would.

They spent the rest of the night lying there, hand in hand, staring up at the stars, feeling the warmth of the rocks and their bodies, and smiling, despite everything they had been through.

To anyone else, they were just two stargazers, lost in a dark world that was not there own, just two humans struggling for survival and hanging onto to the hope that kept their hands entwined. But, like the stars, they were something much, much more.

And from then on, whenever Abby or Connor felt alone, they knew they would always have each other, and the stars.

Happy Easter everyone!

Hope it wasn't too cheesy and that you enjoyed it, please review :)