Claudia stood with her arms folded, rocking absentmindedly back and forth on her heels. She stared at the anomaly intently, only pulling her gaze from it every-so-often to check her watch. Two hours. Two hours since he had disappeared through the shining gateway. Two hours, and not a peep. Inwardly she was panicking slightly, but she mentally smacked herself around the head and told herself not to be so stupid. The future anomaly could be anywhere, and it might take them a while to find it; and then they had to get back again.
She didn't hear Abby creep up behind her, and she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder.
"You okay?" Abby asked gently, concern radiating from her eyes.
Claudia gave her a small smile and nodded. "I will be. As soon as they're back, I will be."
"As soon as they are back or as soon as Nick is back?"
Claudia blushed and then gave a small laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about," she said, trying hard to sound innocent but failing miserably.
Abby grinned at her. "Yeah, right." She placed her hands on her hips and chewed her lip for a second in thought. "Can I confess something?"
"Of course," Claudia said, tearing her eyes away from the portal and giving Abby an encouraging look.
"We've um… we've all had a little bet going on. It's kind of obvious that you two have liked each other for quite some time now. Well, I say 'kind of', what I really mean is 'extremely'."
Claudia blushed again, the delicate pink of before turning a bright burning red.
"Anyway," Abby continued, "You've just won me 20 quid. So, thanks." She didn't know quite where she had got the confidence from to admit all this, but somehow she knew that the Civil Servant would not be mad, not when her face was still glowing from that kiss.
Claudia laughed again, more heartily this time. "Why are you telling me this?"
"I just want you to know that we all think it's great, that's all. You've been good for him, especially since Helen arrived back on the scene. You're the one that's finally helped him to move on. Stephen's loving you for it."
The two women looked over their shoulders at Stephen and smiled. He looked back at them, his expression confused and he raised his eyebrows as if to say, 'what did I do?'
They turned away from him, grinning knowingly.
"Speaking of Stephen, what's going on with you two?"
"Oh, nothing," Abby said, disappointedly.
Claudia nodded. "Still, I think he does like you."
"Yeah, right. When has he ever given that impression? And the whole being bitten by a giant centipede thing doesn't count."
"I've seen the way he looks at you. But, I get the impression he's had his fingers burnt in the past. That's why he's holding back so much."
Abby stared at Claudia sceptically. "How can you tell?"
"I'm good at reading people. You have to be in my job. You see, I knew Lester was an idiot the first time I saw him. I didn't need him to open his mouth to confirm it."
Abby chuckled. "Yeah. Well, as for Stephen… I don't know."
"Give it time."
The girls jumped when Stephen and Connor suddenly shouted out in alarm. The anomaly was beginning to expand, throbbing and twisting erratically, the sparkling broken ice effect growing brighter and brighter.
"Get back!" Stephen yelled, and Claudia and Abby turned and ran towards the group.
"What's going on?!" Claudia shouted.
"What's he done? What the hell has Cutter gone and done?" Lester demanded.
"Nothing!" Connor said. "No one can control what the anomaly does!"
There was a great blast of light, and the anomaly gave a great crackle, as if an electric current was surging through it. With one last heave that made the ground and the trees shake, it spun up into the air and imploded with a deafening snap.
Then there was silence, which was only briefly broken as leaves that had been disturbed from the trees softly hit the ground. Mouths hung open. No one dared to move.
After a few more moments, Stephen stepped slowly forward and came to a stop right where the anomaly had been. The others edged up warily behind him. Claudia, now that the shock was beginning to set in, let her tear-filled eyes overflow. She made no sound as they streamed down her face and dripped onto the forest floor. She glanced at Abby fearfully, and saw that the feisty zoo keeper was also struggling to keep her emotions in check.
Connor took a deep breath and dared to whisper. "What do we do?" he asked shakily.
"It's bound to open again," Stephen said, trying his best to sound confident. "It has before, right? And even if it doesn't, they're bound to appear through another one. Helen's with them. She'll find them. She always does."
"And what if she doesn't?!" Claudia suddenly snapped, her wet face glistening in the last few rays of sunlight that were forcing their way through the trees. "What if something's happened to her? What if she's run off and left them?!"
Stephen grabbed her shoulders. "Then Nick will find it! I thought you trusted him?"
"I do! But I don't trust her. Not one bit." She brought a hand up to her face and wiped her eyes.
Lester called out to the SAS team and they came bounding over. "Make sure this area is covered. No one is to leave this spot unattended."
"What are you doing?" Claudia asked.
"It took months for this anomaly to reappear. The best thing we can do now is go back to London and wait for something to happen."
Claudia went to protest but Stephen shushed her. "He's right. We'll be no good here."
Lester nodded. "Good."
"But know this," Stephen said as Lester started to walk off. "As soon as another anomaly opens, I'll be straight through it."
Lester turned and walked up to Stephen so that he was almost nose to nose with him.
"You'll do no such thing. I'm not going to be held responsible for your disappearance as well."
"What makes you think I'll disappear too?"
Lester snorted. "What is there to convince me that you won't? Claudia, with me please." With that he strode off, taking a few of the SAS team with him.
Claudia glared at his back. "I'm not going with you!" she called out after him.
Lester stopped and looked back over his shoulder at her. "Are you disobeying orders, Miss Brown?"
"Yes, Sir."
He pondered this for a second before pinning her with an irate stare. "My office, first thing Monday morning."
They watched him disappear through the trees and after a few minutes, Stephen led the group through the forest and back to the truck. He opened the door for Abby and Claudia and the two shaken women climbed in, Claudia's breath hitching in her throat as she saw Cutter's jacket thrown haphazardly on the back seat. Abby gave her a tight, sympathetic smile.
"He'll be okay," she whispered.
As Stephen started the engine, the stereo burst into life, Joy Division blasting through the speakers. He laughed. "Nick's favourite album," he said, shaking his head and switching off the CD player. With that, he turned the truck around and headed off back towards London.