A/N: I hope you like it! I'd love to hear what more of you think.

Facing a Creature

Telling people the truth had never really been a problem for Connor. Even confessing his feelings to Abby, though difficult, wasn't something he feared. He just hadn't been able to find the quite the right words but he managed it eventually. No, for him, what he'd most struggled with was his image. Everybody he knew saw him as the geek, the nerdy kid, whilst he was surrounded by people like Becker, Men of Action, who outclassed him in so many ways. He didn't have big muscles like Becker or Matt. He wasn't as good as leader as Danny was. He wasn't even as intelligent as Cutter was. And he was useless with guns compared to Becker and his men. The only thing he'd ever been good at was trivia quizzes, video games and inventing things, though not necessarily things that were of any use.

Nobody thought he was brave because he was always overshadowed by the others. It was Becker's acts of heroism in the future that everyone remembered. It was Stephen's self-sacrifice that had saved them all from Leek's gladiatorial games. It was Danny who had courageously followed Helen through the anomalies to stop her poisoning all the human ancestors. It was Jenny who had been brave when confronted with the mushroom fungus. But when he had found himself stuck with the hyenadons, he'd hidden away from the adults and locked the door instead of going out and facing them. Even without an EMD, Becker probably would have still gone out there.

But Connor feared the creatures; it was as simple as that. Becker was fearless when charging down a creature just like Matt was fearless with the T-Rex, but every time Connor came face to face with something carnivorous like the future predators or the giganotosaurus, he froze. His fear incapacitated him. And then he ran.

He even worried that Abby might leave him, finally seeing him for the coward he was. Desperate to keep her, he knew he had to do something to show her how brave he was – though, of course, if he had spoken to Abby about all of this beforehand, she would have told him his fears were ridiculous.

But it wasn't easy. Connor had grown up being pampered by his mother. She'd let him stay home the moment he got a runny nose and always wrote to the school principals when he was being bullied. He had his "allergies" and she gave him all the sympathy he desired. But Connor got a shock when he first met Nick Cutter and Stephen Hart and was introduced to the world of anomalies. There was no time for allergies. There was no possibility of being afraid. Somehow he'd managed to fool them all and had been kept on as a member of the core team, going into the field despite his heart being full of conflict and terror. If he belonged anywhere, it was at the ADD with Jess or in the lab, not on the front line with an EMD and a bunch of dinosaurs chasing him.

But what Connor appeared to have misunderstood was that being fearless didn't mean you weren't scared. It meant being able to overcome your fear, as he soon discovered in one eventful convergence.

His heart pounded. He was alone, stranded from the rest of the ARC team, because he was supposed to be locking the anomaly whilst they rounded up the creatures that had managed to disperse from the site of the glowing orb of light. But he wasn't quite as alone as he would have liked. Before he got the chance to even initiate the locking sequence, a raptor had skittered through the anomaly, swiftly followed by two more. Picking up his trusty EMD, Connor aimed and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened. The damn thing had jammed. Instinctively, he knew that wouldn't have happened if he'd invented it.

Grinning like the Cheshire cat, one of the raptors took a step closer and Connor froze, knowing his life was over. His life was going to be over and he hadn't even married Abby yet. That would always be his biggest regret.

Forgetting about the comms unit in his ear and the phone in his pocket, he backed up; contemplating trying to run but found his feet and legs seemed to be out-of-sync with his nervous system. Whilst his brain was screaming at him to run, his body seemed to be listening to some silent, but loud music that blocked the messages from being heard and understood.

Moving, two of the raptors came to be at his sides, leaving him surrounded with the possibility of more coming through the still unlocked anomaly. He couldn't even reached the locking device now.

Connor trained his eyes on his laptop, still sitting untouched, and threw himself flat just as a raptor jumped for him. He watched it fly over the top of him as a mass of blurred colours whilst he rolled for all he was worth and practically punched the enter button. The anomaly locked as the electrical charge was fired into it, leaving Connor with three seething raptors.

Still scared, more like petrified, Connor picked up his useless EMD and held it close even though it would be of no use protecting him. The three raptors advanced. His heart was beating unevenly as his death came closer and he closed his eyes, ready to feel their claws and teeth sinking into his flesh. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes and found himself determined to go down fighting. Flipping the EMD in his hands so that he was holding the wrong end, he proceeded to use it like a sword in a fencing match to whack the raptors and keep them at bay.

He kept it up for as long as he could, though he didn't even know how much time had passed, when suddenly a succession of EMD bolts passed him and nailed the three raptors, knocking them unconscious. Relieved and in disbelief that he was still alive, Connor dropped his own now severely damaged EMD just in time to have Abby throw herself into his arms and place kisses all over him.

"That was the bravest thing I've ever seen," she whispered.

Connor sadly shook his head. He knew the truth. Despite how it may have appeared, his racing heart was still evidence of how truly terrified he had been.

"It was. You were fearless," she insisted.

"Feel my heart, Abby. I'm still afraid of them," he replied sadly.

Her hand was already resting over his heart and though she paused a minute to really feel how fast his heart was beating, she told him again, "Being fearless doesn't mean not being afraid; it means being able to overcome your fear, like you did just now when you faced those raptors. Matt wouldn't have been able to beat them like you did."

"He would. What I did was easy," Connor countered.

"What is it going to take for you to believe me?" Abby asked in frustration. "I don't care who could do it, Connor. I only care that you did it! And I love you for it. I'll always love you no matter how brave you are," she declared, pressing her lips against his to stop any protests he might have.

A/N: So what did you think? Leave a review if you've got time.