Disclaimer: Primeval belongs to Impossible pictures, no copyright intended

A/N: Thanks to those following this. Means a lot to get those emails saying someone has added me to their favourites or alerts, and to get reviews .... same format as last chapter, the present in normal type, future in italics :)

"Where the hell have you been!?" Abby screamed at him as he stepped through the anomaly back into 2010. She thumped him on the shoulder.

"You should have been back over an hour ago, my men alerted me that you'd gone through on your own and hadn't come back when they unlocked the anomaly" Becker said. "We were preparing to go in after you"

"I'm sorry" was all Connor could say. "I just lost track of time" He was shell shocked after the revelations he had just had heard.

Abby hugged him "I thought something had happened to you!" He pulled her closer, not wanting to let go. Sensing something was wrong, Abby whispered "you OK?"

"Yes" he said, not entirely convincingly. "Just hold me for a while" She acknowledged his request with a squeeze, resting her head on his chest. He stroked her hair and fought back the tears he could feel welling up.

"We should get back to the ARC" Becker said, heading towards the car.

"We'll walk back" Abby said. She gave Becker a look, one he understood to mean "I'll talk to Connor". They watched Becker drive off, then started a slow walk back themselves.

Connor was unusually quiet. Abby was concerned, what had happened to him? What had he seen that had troubled him? She linked her arm through his as they silently made their way through the street. Eventually, she spoke. "What was through that anomaly Conn?"

"You really don't want to know" he said. He slid his free hand into his pocket and felt for the CD, just to make sure it was there.

"I do, Connor. Maybe I can help you make sense of whatever…."

"I don't want to talk about it Abby." He snapped. He saw the look of hurt on her face and realised what he'd done "Sorry. It was just …. It's something I have to deal with on my own for the moment. One day, you'll understand"

Abby knew not to push it, this was not the Connor she knew. All she could do was watch out for him, and be there when he was ready to talk about it.

--

Back at the ARC, everyone went about their own tasks. Connor shut himself away in a small side office, one he used to use when he was developing the software for the anomaly detector. He hadn't been in here for a while, but it was a good place to be alone with his thoughts.

He couldn't get his head round what the near future held. The ARC was going to be used as a facility to process creatures to be used as weapons of mass destruction, and he and Abby were going to be key people in that, albeit against their will. He tried to imagine how his future self felt, he'd had to live with it … no wonder he had seemed so much older than just the five years. The look of desperation on his face as he handed over the CD would haunt him. Was destroying the ARC the only way out? And, if he did destroy the ARC, what would become of him and Abby, and the daughter they should have? With no anomaly project, Abby would have no reason to stay around him. He would be destroying more than just a building and a few computers.

The others all left Connor alone for the rest of the day, except Abby. She'd taken him a coffee and tried to engage him in a conversation, but all she could get out of him were a few grunts and nods. When she returned a couple of hours later with another coffee, the other cup was still on his desk in the same place she'd left it, untouched and cold. She swapped them over without a word and gently squeezed his hand. He looked at her and half smiled, before turning back to his thoughts.

--

A couple of days passed, but Connor could still not shake himself out of his mood. He became more and more withdrawn, arriving for work and shutting himself straight into his office. Even Abby had given up trying to get him to talk. She'd wait for him at the end of the day to drive him home, their journey would be in almost silence – thank god for the radio, Abby thought. Once home, he'd disappear up to his room, or just sit on the sofa staring at whatever was on the TV. Abby had told Sarah she was giving him one more day, and if he didn't shake out of it, she was going to beat it out of him.

He lay on his bed, his hands under his pillow. He'd hidden the CD there, rather than leave it at the ARC where anyone could find it. The more time that passed, the more scared he became. He couldn't do it, but if he didn't, what was he condemning the world to? It was late, a glance at the clock told him it was just after 2am, and yet he could hear movement downstairs. It was unusual for Abby to be awake, she could sleep through anything. He wiped his face, realising he'd been crying, and hoped Abby hadn't heard him.

The stairs creaked, "Conn? You awake?" Abby called in a hushed voice. Did he answer her? He decided not to, she'd go away if she thought he was sleeping. "Conn?" the stairs creaked again, she was coming up. He lay as still as possible. She came into his room and sat on the end of the bed. "I know you're awake Connor, I heard you crying"

Damn! He sat up. "Sorry, didn't mean to wake you" he said.

"Don't apologise. Something is obviously really bothering you, and I'm worried about you" she said.

"I can't talk about it, Abby. I'm not even sure I understand it myself. I saw things Abby, I was told things I shouldn't know, things I wish I didn't know. But now I do, it's on me to do something about it."

"Tell me, Connor" Abby said, moving closer to him. "Maybe I can help?" He shook his head. "Whatever it is, if there's something that can be done about it, then you don't have to do this alone" she placed her hand on his shoulder.

"Just promise me you'll stay with me, Abby, no matter how bad it gets?"

She pulled him to her, allowing his head to rest on her chest, stroking his hair "I'll always be here, Connor", as she kissed the top of his head, she felt his body relax and he began to sob. It was a start at least.

--

Connor had been on edge for the last three days. The fact nothing had changed was bothering him, surely his younger self would have uploaded the program by now? What if something had gone wrong? Had he been caught? Did the program fail? Or worse still, had he bottled out?

He rolled over in bed and put his arm around Abby's waist. At least she was sleeping soundly. He huddled closer, feeling the curve of her body against his, fitting together perfectly. If she hadn't stayed with him through all of this, he would have ended his own life long before now, that was how much he needed her. Her slow, steady breathing was a comfort and he listened for a while before he allowed sleep to overtake him.

They were awoken suddenly by banging and shouting. Someone was breaking down their door. Connor grabbed the baseball bat he kept by the bedroom door and made his way down stairs, Abby following him.

"Hands in the air, Temple!" shouted a soldier. He did as he was told, as three rifles were pointed towards his head.

"What's going on? How dare you break into our home and …." Abby started shouting

"You too, Abby, hands in the air where I can see them!" the soldier yelled. She did so, fearing that, if she didn't comply, those rifles aimed at Connor would be fired. They both watched silently, as two more soldiers began ransacking the house, opening drawers, lifting cushions, emptying cupboards. They were obviously searching for something. Abby looked at Connor, beads of sweat dripping down his neck.

"Where is it Temple?" the lead soldier yelled.

"I don't know what you're talking about" he said.

"We've been monitoring your activity recently. You hacked into the ARCs security systems last week and downloaded something to a disc. What have you done with it?"

Abby closed her eyes. What had Connor done this time? She could hear Claudia crying upstairs and calling "mummy" – she wanted to go to her, but Connor needed her more at the moment.

"I told you, I don't know what you're talking about" Connor said.

"You know exactly what I'm talking about. Do the words, suicide software, mean anything to you?"

Abby gasped. Connor had talked about the ARC having something hidden in its security system that could be accessed and used to destroy the ARC, but it had all been theory. Had he actually found it?

Connor was being defiant. He shook his head. "You leave me no choice, Temple" the soldier said, grabbing Abby and pointing a pistol at her forehead. "Either you tell me what you did with the disc, or I pull the trigger"

Abby's eyes were wide with fear and tears falling down her cheek. "If this is something important Connor, that can end the hell we're in, then don't tell them" she sobbed.

"Abby!" he couldn't do it. He couldn't let Abby be killed for the sake of a disc that he no longer had anyway. "OK … I'll tell you. Just let go of my wife and let her go and attend to our crying child, they've done nothing wrong" Abby was released. "Go and get Claudia, she needs her mum" he whispered.

"Right, Temple. You tell me everything. Where is the disc? And how did you manage to go through an anomaly a few days ago without being detected?"

Connor grinned "I don't have the disc any more. I gave it to someone else who can do far more damage with it than I can"

"Who did you give it to? You took it through that anomaly didn't you?"

"No. But someone did" Connor was almost laughing now. Abby returned with a now quiet Claudia in her arms. She was confused, what was Connor finding so amusing?

"You were seen by a couple of our soldiers, and we have you on CCTV going through. You tampered with your alarm so that you could go through and hand over the disc to someone" one of the rifles touched Connor's cheek. "Who has the disc?!"

"You'll have to work that one out yourself. But by then, it'll probably be too late" Connor said.

A laptop was pulled out of one of the soldier's bags and set up. "Show him the footage, let's see him deny he went through when he sees this" the lead soldier said. Moments later, they were watching a video of Connor going through the anomaly. Abby realised straight away who she was watching and made eye contact with Connor. He winked at her.

"This was taken during the last anomaly alert a few days ago?" she said. "Then it can't possibly be Connor. If you check your security logs, you'll see Connor was inside the ARC the whole time"

"Did you check?" the lead soldier asked the guy operating the laptop. He shook his head. "Then find out if she's telling the truth" Moments later, it was discovered that Connor had logged into the ARC system at 8.34am on that day and did not leave until 6.03pm. A second check revealed Connor had gone into the ARC during the anomaly, and left shortly before it closed "OK. I don't know how you did this, but we will find out. You two are not to leave this house until further notice"

The soldiers all left, except for one who was posted by the front door. Connor breathed a sigh of relief and indicated for Abby to pass Claudia to him. He hugged her and kissed her head.

"Right, Connor. You owe me an explanation here. Our home is broken into at the early hours of the morning, I have a gun held to my head … and then I look at a CCTV recording of you from the past wandering around in our time and going through an anomaly."

"You'd better sit down" Connor said "This is going to take a while"

--

Connor seemed more himself the following day. He was sat at the detector instead of hiding away, and was laughing and joking with Danny. Abby was relieved to a certain degree, but he still hadn't opened up to her about what he'd seen on the other side of the anomaly. He'd fallen asleep in her arms after sobbing for almost an hour. Whatever was weighing on his mind was huge, she knew it.

The anomaly detector alarm sounded, and within moments they were all gathered around Connor. "Where is it?" Danny asked. Connor was shaking. "Connor?" Danny said

"It's …. At the building site again" he said, his voice shaking.

"The same one as the other day?" Becker said, looking at Abby. Connor nodded. Everyone headed off towards the cars, except Connor. Abby realised he wasn't following and went back

"I can't go" he said.

"What's so terrible beyond that anomaly that you can't face it?" Abby said, holding his hand. Connor kept silent. "Well, if you won't tell me, then I'll go through it myself and find out!" she walked off, without looking back, but she could hear Connor's footsteps behind her.

When Abby and Connor arrived at the site, Becker and Danny were scratching their heads. "It was already locked when we got here" Danny said. Connor didn't look surprised, and they all looked at him.

"They locked it on the other side" he said.

"They?" Danny said "Who's they?"

"The anomaly team of the future. If that's the same one reopened, then on the other side of it is the ARC, five years in our future" Connor slumped to the ground.

"That's where you were a few days ago?" Abby said, crouching at his side. He nodded. "This is what has upset you so much?" he nodded again.

"You saw our future?" Sarah said. "And it's …. awful?"

Connor nodded "You couldn't even begin to imagine what it's like" he hung his head.

"Then try us, Connor. Tell us what you saw" Danny said.

Standing up and walking back towards the car, Connor shouted "I can't, I just can't! It's bad enough I know what happens … I can't burden the rest of you with it!" he got into Abby's car and closed the door. The rest of the team exchanged looks, and then Abby went after him. Danny began setting up the locking device

"What are you doing?" Sarah said

"We unlock it, and we go through. We need to find out what Connor knows" Danny said. "Sarah, you know how to do this right?" she nodded, and set up the device. They fired it up and pointed it at the anomaly. It didn't work. She tried again, and again, but it wouldn't unlock.

"I'm guessing that their device on the other side is stronger than ours" Sarah said. Danny was annoyed. He sighed and began walking back to his car. He ordered Becker to post a couple of men by the anomaly and to call him if the anomaly unlocked.

--

Abby and Connor drove home in silence again. At least now she knew partly what was bothering Connor, but she still had more questions than answers. She had to get Connor to tell her what he'd seen somehow. She was trying to work out how to do it, when a terrible sight stopped both of them in their tracks. The door to their flat was hanging off it's hinges, obviously kicked in by someone. Connor made his way cautiously up the stairs, Abby just behind. Their flat had been trashed. Everything that could be emptied had been.

"Burglars?" Abby said.

"What kind of burglar breaks in and doesn't take the TV, the games console, the stereo…?" he looked around him. Nothing of any value had been taken.

"You're right. It's almost like someone was looking for something" Abby said, then a thought hit her "Rex! … Sid and Nancy!". They both began searching frantically for the three dinosaurs, calling them and checking every hole they could think off. Sid and Nancy were found cowering under Abby's bed, and Rex was curled up in the rafters as high as he could go. It was a massive relief.

"So, if not them, what was the intruder looking for?" Abby said.

Suddenly it hit Connor, the anomaly reopening …. He ran up to his room and lifted his pillow. It had gone. The CD was nowhere to be seen. That was what the intruder had come for. He felt sick. He began to make his way down the stairs when he heard Abby yelp. He ran down and came face to face with a rifle. Abby was struggling to free herself from two soldiers who were holding her, one with a gun to her head.

"Let her go" Connor said, trying to remain calm. "This is nothing to do with her, she doesn't know anything about it"

"We finally worked it out, Temple. How very clever. Using yourself to do your dirty work" the soldier said. "Sending the suicide software back through time with your past self, that's how you got through the anomaly without the alarm sounding"

"Someone had to stop you!" Connor shouted.

The soldier laughed and spat at the ground near Connor. He waved the CD in the air "But the plan has failed, Temple. We win and you lose" He started towards the door, and turned to the soldiers "Kill them" he growled

"That's it!" Connor yelled. "You've stopped me from destroying the ARC by taking the disc. But if you kill me and Abby, then we win. You need us to get you where you are now. If you kill us in 2010, then the next five years change – no-one to develop the ARCs technology to where you have it now, no-one to handle the creatures when they come through the anomalies." He was breathing hard, his heart pounding in his chest. "So go on, kill us".

There was silence. He waited for the click of a gun. He could hear Abby's breathing but he couldn't look over at her, he didn't want to see the fear in her eyes.

"We got what we came for. Let's go" the soldier said, and the group left. Abby ran straight to Connor and wrapped her arms around him. He pushed her away and went to sit on the stairs, his head in his hands.

"Do you want to explain to me what all this is about?" Abby demanded. "I have a gun pointed at my head and my flat wrecked, you at least owe me some kind of explanation!"

"You're right. I'm sorry." Connor sighed. Abby sat next to him on the stair, holding his hand. "Where do I even begin?"

--

The soldiers reached the locked anomaly, mission accomplished. They weren't surprised to find Becker's men there, and they had no fear, they outnumbered them and had far superior fire power. The lead soldier pointed something at the anomaly and it unlocked, they all went through, pointing their guns at Becker's men the whole time, until they had all disappeared through, back to 2015.