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 Connor

…King's Cross…

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Matt struggled to rise from the ground beside the train tracks. The violent explosion at King's Cross station had thrown the team leader from the future off the platform. The broken train compartment beside him had shredded in the blast. Shards of metal stuck out at odd angles where it had pierced the concrete. Matt stood up, thankful that he hadn't been standing there.

"Over here Matt," called Becker.

The team leader reached for the hand Becker offered. There was a strange expression on Becker's face. The soldier pulled Matt up.

"Thanks mate," replied Matt.

Becker didn't say a word. The team leader looked around. On the boarding platform, the devastation from the blast looked even worse. Matt breathed thankfully as he saw Emily in the distance. The beautiful Victorian had her back turned to the two men. Matt couldn't tell what she was looking at. He also couldn't see the rest of his team.

"Where are Abby and Connor?" asked Matt.

Becker silently gestured towards Emily. The soldier's usual stoic expression seemed frozen on Becker's face. Matt shook his head as he strode the length of the platform towards Emily. As Matt neared Emily, he saw Abby. The blonde was kneeling on the ground near a heavy blue metal garbage bin similar to the one Matt and Connor had used once to hide from an explosion.

"Where is Connor?" asked Matt as he stopped on the left side of Emily.

Emily turned her face towards Matt. Tears were streaming down the Victorian's face. She reached out and grabbed Matt's arm, pulling him to the right as she herself moved further in that direction. Matt gasped.

"Connor!"

The young scientist was sprawled on the concrete floor. The bin crushed most of the dark haired man's body. Only his head and the left upper part of his torso showed. Connor's face was turned towards Abby, his arm reaching out. The upturned hand covered in a bloody fingerless glove was within inches of Abby's kneeling form. From the amount of blood oozing across the floor, Matt knew. Connor Temple was dead.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Lester looked like he aged a century in the time it took Matt to tell about the explosion.

"He just saved the world," sighed the ARCs director, "and now he's gone?"

Lester glanced out into the hub. Emily stood with Jess. The two women surrounded Abby. The blonde hadn't said a word since the explosion. She had moved to follow the ambulance crew when they lifted the bin and loaded Connor's body onto the gurney, but Becker had stopped her from following and ushered her into the SUV.

"Is she in shock?" asked Lester.

"Maybe," said Matt. "Don't really know."

Lester turned to Becker.

"Abby and Connor were sharing a flat with Jess," said the bureaucrat. "The streets of London are still crawling with creatures, the police and the army. I want you to make sure that Abby and Jess get home safely."

"Certainly," replied Becker. He shifted his stance and looked out the glass office window. "Now?"

"Of course I mean now!" exploded Lester. The sharp nosed gaze turned back to Matt. "And see if you can find that brother of Abby's. He might be useful."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Becker escorted Jess and Abby into the posh flat that they shared. Abby finally spoke. Her voice sounded distant and far too calm to Becker's ears.

"I'm going to lay down," said Abby. "You two don't need to worry about me. I'll be fine."

Becker and Jess watched as the blonde walked down the hallway to the rear bedroom.

"You should stay," whispered Jess, "if something happens, and I need to take her to the hospital or…"

Becker remembered the way his mother had been in the first days after his father had passed away. The soldier could almost hear Connor's voice whispering… don't leave Abby alone! Becker looked at the bright sofa in the living room. It looked to be too small for the soldier to stretch out on.

"Yeah," agreed the soldier. "Do you have some spare pillows and blankets?"

Jess raised her eyebrows. She looked from Becker to the sofa and back to the soldier again.

"Yeah, I've got spare pillows and blankets," said Jess, "but, I was hoping, I mean, it's just... Would you mind if I stayed with you? I don't want to be alone tonight."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Sometime in the deep darkness of the night, Abby started crying. Becker didn't know who woke first, but Jess was off the sofa and down the hallway before the soldier could get his feet on the floor. He followed the heavy choking sounds of sobbing. Jess sat on the bed holding Abby. Becker sat down on Abby's other side. Together, Jess and Becker did the only thing they could. They held Abby while she wept.

-x-x-x-x-x-x