Disclaimer: I own nothing. I write Primeval and it's characters for the fun of a good read, no copyright intended.
A/N: For the people who actually read Author Notes and were wondering where the violence was - the mild violence I mentioned in the description will take place in Chapter 3.
Connor lay on his back in the shelter of their camp. He looked up at their creation of weaved vines, branches and patted in moss that brought the best shelter anything else did in this god forsaken era. He was supposed to be asleep as Abby kept watch, but in all honesty, he hadn't slept much in months. Ever since Abby and he decided one should always keep watch, he couldn't fine peace in Abby being out there alone; that and just being in the Cretaceous is a little unsettling to say the least. When he did sleep he found himself in a deep, hard sleep, which wasn't good for when danger came around the corner. He listened to her and Hem, she made him silently laugh every time she talked to the little creature. She had missed Rex more than he realized.
Connor rolled to his side and attempted to close his eyes and get some rest since day light was still out. He let his thoughts be silent and started to doze off when Abby called his name. His eyes had no trouble in opening as he brought himself up and out of the catacomb.
"What's wrong?" he asked, Abby looked at him and frowned.
"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have woken you." She doubted and Connor placed his hand on her shoulder.
"I wasn't asleep, what's wrong?" Abby looked him in the eyes and shook her head.
"You never sleep." Connor looked down to his feet and cleared his voice.
"That's not why you called me out, is it?" he asked as he voice rang up from his head being tilted down. Abby sighed.
"No, suppose not." She looked up in the trees and started to show the fear she had been bottling up a few hours now. "I …" Abby breathed in and let out a loud exhale, just saying it. "I keep hearing a sound of a hawk or an eagle. And just now, I heard flapping of wings… fairly large wings."
"You think it's a Pterodactyl?" Abby nodded. Connor tried not to worry or show any sign of alarm. "It's probably just scoping for a feast, their wingspans too big to land down here – we'll be fine." Abby nodded again, trying to be okay with it. Connor saw how she looked at Hem as he wondered around the camp; she wasn't just scared for their lives.
"Why don't we trade shifts tonight, eh? I can't sleep anyway."
"No, Connor you sleep better when there's still a little bit of day light, you need to sleep." Abby argued and Connor raised a brow.
"How do you know that?"
"Because I hear you shuffling around in there at night, tossing and turning until your shift comes. You haven't slept an actual night sleep since the Acrocanthosaurus attacked our camp."
"I-" Connor stumbled on his words, he decided not to stress her over this at the moment so he avoided denying it all together. "I'll be fine Abs, it's just one night."
"No, I'll be fine, Connor. You go back to bed- I'll wake you when it comes your turn." Connor growled, always eyeing her when she told him to do things he didn't agree on. Abby crossed her arms and gave him a glare – in return he gave a seized smile and dragged his feet back to the shelter, knowing it was useless to argue.
Connor flopped back on the palate and tried to find a mindset to sleep, but his thoughts kept turning back to Abby and the fear in her countenance. In the corner of his eye he saw something walking in the shelter, he looked to see Hem giving a yawn and crawling up beside him. Connor smiled as it curled up and found itself in a restful sleep. Seeing the little creature with no worries and no struggle, he envied it just like he envied the fish in the creek. They had nothing to worry about, and it was that easy. Only difference was this little guy was homeless, just like them.
Connor let his eyes rest, hearing the purring mere creature beside him. It may have been slightly weird but he liked having something cuddle beside him, it felt like it should when Abby was around. His thoughts calmed and he sooner or later found himself asleep, with Abby peaking in every now and then just to see him at peace. Or the closest they could get in the Cretaceous, she supposed.
"Connor," Abby hummed in his ear. "Conn, wake up before I shove you out of the bed." Connor's eyes creased open to see Abby sitting beside the bed with a smirk. The night had fallen in for quite some time and Abby was now sitting inside the shelter to keep watch. Her eyes were strained and tired and Hem was now cuddled in her lap. Connor sat up and yawned.
"I feel like I should say 'morning'." Connor commented and Abby smiled.
"That's because that's the first time you've actually soundly slept in weeks." He looked around and wished he owned a clock, hating to never have any kind of time but the setting of the sun and moon.
"Abby, did you let me sleep in?" he asked as he observed where the moon sat in the sky.
"I did." She said without any guilt or repentance, she even knew he'd be angry. "You needed your sleep, so I let you have it until I got tired."
"Abby, you don't need to put pity on me-"
"No, Connor, I don't need to put pity on you. But I do need to take care of you since you don't ever seem to want to care for yourself. The deal was that whatever we did, we did together- and I'm not letting you back down on that because you refuse to put yourself first every once and a while." Connor looked down with a nod, knowing she was right. "If you really cared about keeping me safe, then you'd keep yourself idiot-self safe, too."
Connor slid off the palate and came beside her. She kept her head turned away from him and pretended to keep watch, so he placed his hand on her leg and sighed.
"You're right, I'm sorry." Her head curved to see his face. "I guess I need you to remind me when I'm being an idiot every now and then." Abby gripped his hand that sat still on her jeans. She squeezed it tight and sighed.
"I just … I couldn't do this without you."
"Oi, don't go planning my funeral yet! I'm Le Connor Temple, after all!" he teased her. Abby gave a soft laugh and looked over to her oh so welcoming bed. "Go, sleep. Me and Hem are gonna do some reptile, human bonding, aren't we mate?" the creature looked up at him and then laid his head back down to sleep.
"He was up for about an hour so I think he's a bit tired." Connor snorted out a laugh and gave her a smile.
"Night." He told her, she smiled back at him and wrapped the foil blanket around her.
"G'night, Le Connor Temple."
"Ow!" Abby's eyes squinted as she heard Connor's voice outside the shelter. "Ow, ow, ow…" he mumbled to himself, Abby smiled and sat up. The sun was out- bright and early in the morning, and Connor and her traded shifts back and forth all night where he finally slept during his turns to rest. She looked down at her loosely tied shoes that she hardly ever took off, afraid something would happen and she'd have to run through the Cretaceous in socks. She reached down to tighten them when Connor came in with plastic container they had with them when they came here and a water bottle.
"Mornin', Sleepin' Beauty." He greeted and handed her the bowl to show it having a large, nicely cooked fish all cut and ready to eat. "I thought it's probably the closest we'll get to sausage for breakfast." Abby smiled and looked in the bowl to see it cut for two. She looked up at him and he explained. "As I already said, you were right – there's no just taking care of you, there's no just taking care of me. We care for each other. So today, I made breakfast for both of us."
Abby leaned in and kissed him on the cheek, whispering another thank you to him. But as she pulled back Connor took her arm and she froze, able to feel each other's breath on one another skin. Both of them wouldn't move or speak, waiting to see who might take that bold step first; Abby decided to break the silence.
"Connor, I…" she couldn't find the right words to finish what she wanted to say. Instead she noticed Connor had begun to lean in, drawing closer to her and she did the same. Before anything happened she decided to finish what she was going to say. "Connor," she whispered to him, he hummed a reply. "I've been trying to figure out the right way to say this but-" their heads snapped to their sides as they heard a small creature screech as in distress. Abby jolted out of Connor's grasp and out of the shelter, panic burning through her as she came to see nothing in sight. Connor came out behind her and groaned.
"Hem." He realized. Abby inhaled a deep breath and slowly let it release. Connor hated himself, this was his fault- how could he be so stupid? "I'm so sorry, Abby; I left him out here alone. I didn't think I'd be too long-" Abby reached for her bag and turned around to face Connor.
"It's okay, we both should have thought about it." She answered. Connor looked at her confused.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to go get Hem."
"Abby, don't be absurd." She looked at him with no sign of backing down, completely determined on her decision. Connor sighed and grabbed his bag as well, he gave her a nod and they ran for the direction the sound came from; hoping they wouldn't get themselves killed in the process.