This is a sequel to my fanfiction 'A Lot can Happen on Vacation'. (If you haven't read that, please do.) I had to think long and hard before I decided to just go for it and write a sequel. I hope this doesn't spoil the ending I left you with, and if you're happy with that ending, stop reading now.

I don't own Primeval, despite aggressive attempts on my part. Impossible Pictures, you'll submit to my will someday… Let's not go there, shall we?

Chapter 1

Connor's gun pressed into her skull. Her words rang true, but he was frozen to the spot. Was it worth it? Could he lose his reason for living to save the world?

(some amount of time earlier)

Jenny quaked in her bed. Haunting words and images wound their way through her deepest consciousness, penetrating her and cutting her off from the world around her as she slept. She could see the ARC in flames as it had been all those months ago…she could hear her mother's scolding voice, it was her own fault for falling for a loser. (She hadn't told her mother the whole truth, only that she was left in the dust for another woman. She thought it would earn her some sympathy, but then her mother was without that sort of thing. A heart.) She saw Nick's body in the casket of oak that would bear him for all eternity in that stagnant cemetery. She could recall her sobs that night in her hallway--she hadn't even made it to her bedroom when the heartbreak reared its ugly head. Every tear, every anguished cry, every time she hit the wall with a balled fist was relived in nightmare. With a ravaged cry she woke in a pool of sweat.

She sat up, pushing her hair back with one hand and leaning up with the other. She breathed slowly, trying to calm herself and not doing the best job.

She still had these nightmares, so long after Nick…she didn't think about it anymore, not awake. She gritted her teeth and pulled herself out of bed without even a sideways glance at the clock. She knew it was late.

Her thoughts were confirmed upon seeing the starry backdrop of the sky out of her flat's front window. She ignored it, still groggy from sleep but awake enough to make some coffee and take a vigil on her couch.

She winced at the first sip. It was good, delicious even, but after spending several late nights at the ARC filling out forms and relaying reports of anomalies to the SCA (Security Council on Anomalies) she had grown sort of fond of the gritty texture and bitter taste of the ARC's coffee. At the ARC, most of the work in preparing the coffee was done yourself, while Jenny's coffee machine did all but drink the coffee for you. She supposed she had grown fond of the ARC's coffee in much the same manner as she had grown fond of her boyfriend.

Danny was certainly not the ridiculously romantic sort of man Jenny imagined in her wildest fantasies. He was practical and quick-thinking, and very stubborn. Was that what she loved about him? She used the term 'love' easily in reference to him now. She remembered their first meeting. He'd threatened them. He still joked about it, saying he'd arrest her if she was out of line. She'd sometimes remind him that she outranked him. Most of the time she'd just play along.

She suddenly heard a sound from her kitchen. It wasn't like one of the normal creaking noises the flat made--what was it? It sounded like a footstep, and she tensed, gripping her mug tightly. She slowly made her way towards the kitchen, prepared to jump out if anyone stood there. Who would be there?

Working at the ARC, she was used to assuming the worst and having something even worse come to pass. She peeked around the corner and saw…no one.

She inhaled slowly. No, it was just her mind playing tricks on her. It wasn't the first time. She turned around and cried out when she saw a woman sitting on her couch, nursing a bleeding arm. Her mug fell to the floor, shattering and searing her toes with hot coffee, but she barely noticed as the woman looked up at her.

"Hey," the woman said, looking back down to her injury. "I don't suppose you have an ice pack? Some peas or something?"

Jenny's mouth worked but she found no words, so she settled for stepping backwards to her freezer and opening the door, snatching a bag of peas. She crossed back towards the woman and tossed it to her before getting on her knees and pushing the shards of glass aside from the mug. She'd clean it all up later.

"Could you tell me just exactly who you are?"

The woman glanced up at her again. She had light brown hair, which was matted to her skull with sweat, and eyes that peered at Jenny almost blankly, yet there was emotion behind them, however stoic they seemed. There was something terribly familiar about them, as well. They were so watchful, so fierce. The woman thought a moment before answering, though she dodged the question. "You don't seem all that shocked to see me here. In this time, are anomalies a sort of public…fad?"

"Excuse me?"

The woman raised her eyebrows. "Apparently not. Then you know about them from elsewhere?"

Jenny sighed. "Just tell me who you are. I can make things easy or hard for you if I want."

The woman only pursed her lips and shrugged. Jenny noticed unhappily that the rag she was holding to her bleeding arm was her hand towel. "You're government, aren't you?" the woman asked suddenly.

"Actually, yes," Jenny said. She didn't have much hope that the woman would talk at this, but she might as well throw it out there. Finally the woman gave the response she wanted, and at the same time, the last response she expected to hear.

"The name's Helen Cutter."

Jenny remembered the eyes.