Danny must have been more tired than he thought. It wasn't until the plane started to descend over the hot tarmac of an isolated Indian runway that his eyes opened again, and he took a moment to gather his surroundings. Abby was chatting with Hemple quietly in the back seat and Sarah was sleeping still, her head resting upon Danny's shoulder. Wilcock was reading what looked to be magazine about collector's guns. Danny turned his attention back to the woman leaning against him. He smiled and gently ran his finger along her forearm where it rested on the armrest between them. He was tempted to kiss her forehead, but resisted because Wilcock was still there beside them and he didn't want to get caught.
It was a shame to wake her, he decided, but as the plane touched down he knew he had to.
"Sarah," he whispered to her. "We're here."
She stirred at her name and her eyes fluttered open. She stared at him, puzzled for a moment before realising where they were, and then blushed as she sat up. "Sorry."
It was Danny's turned to be puzzled. "For what?"
"Using you as a pillow."
Danny chuckled quietly. "If I'd been awake, I'd have enjoyed it. As it stands, I didn't notice until a moment ago, so you've really nothing to apologize for."
Wilcock put his magazine into a bag and glanced at them both. " 'Bout time you both woke up. You both make for exceptionally boring seatmates."
"You should've slept too," Danny retorted as he stood up and stretched his legs. "I don't want anyone sleeping on the job out there."
"Never could sleep on a moving plane," Wilcock shrugged, "And even if I could, Abby and Hemple were being too loud. Not sure how you two did sleep."
"Been a long day," Sarah replied quietly, thinking it seemed like much longer than the mere eleven hours it had been since her and Danny's car crash in the snow. She joined Danny in standing and soon the entire team found themselves stepping out of the plane and onto a metal ramp in the sun as they descended dazedly from the aircraft.
The weather here wasn't just hot, it was humid. They hurried off the metal ramp that burned them with it's reflection of heat even when they were careful not to touch the handrail. Vapours seemed to rise up out of the black tarmac creating almost invisible waves that frustrated their eyes and the team found the air to be thick and stifling. They'd barely made it a quarter of the way across the short runway and already they were perspiring.
Danny turned to Sarah with a teasing grin, "So, warmed up yet?"
She nodded, too hot to even voice a reply and contrary to her thoughts a couple of hours ago, a bit of snow suddenly didn't seem so bad. She wondered how her Kajal managed to live in these conditions day after day. Surely they had a colder season to, but she'd never felt humidity like this in England. The heat made her feel sluggish and slow and somehow it even made her bag feel heavier. She didn't know how Hemple and Wilcock were managing while dressed in all black. She could see that their tee-shirts were already soaked with sweat, but they didn't look at all phased.
Abby was dressed the best for the weather in her loose, thin-matrialled white tank top and jean shorts. Plus she'd actually thought to bring a water bottle and Sarah envied it greatly. She'd been so caught up in thinking about Kajal that she'd not really planned for the weather. Her clothing was fine actually, a beige flared skirt that fell about mid-shin and a black tank-top, but if she'd have been thinking she'd definitely had brought water and a wide-brimmed hat as well.
She glanced at Danny and saw that he had a water bottle too and, when he saw her looking, he offered it graciously to her. Sarah grinned and accepted, downing a large gulp of the lukewarm water in relief. "Thanks," she said, the liquid refreshing her enough that she could speak again.
He grinned at her as he took the bottle back and chugged a bit more of the water down himself before answering, "No worries, can't have anyone passing out from heatstroke, can I? Want some more?"
Sarah nodded gratefully and took a few more sips, being careful not to use up too much of Danny's water before handing it back. He took one more gulp himself before wiggling his eyebrows teasingly at her. "You wanna know an even better way to keep cool?"
Before Sarah could guess what he was up to, he'd dumped the rest of the water bottle over the top of her head. Sarah shrieked, earning them both a couple of amused glances from Abby and the soldiers, and swatted at him, but she was too hot to give him proper chase and she had to admit that the water clinging to her hair did feel terrific.
"I'll get you back when we get somewhere air conditioned," she promised.
"Oi! I'se just trying to help out," he grinned at her.
"Just because I enjoyed it, doesn't mean I don't get to have revenge," she teased.
Danny just smiled at her, thinking that he was looking forward to it.
The group checked into the hotel Lester had booked for them before heading to the anomaly, mainly because they needed to refill their water bottles and get rid of all the items they were carrying so that they could be more efficient in chasing the dinosaurs. His own room was at the end of the hallway, he found, and Hemple and Wilcock had the room next door. Sarah and Abby checked into the room on the other side of the soldiers'. Danny filled his water bottle to the brim with cold water and then drank heartily from it, trying not to reflect too hard on the fact that Sarah's lips had been touching the same rim. It didn't work, he was still thinking about it. A knock came on the door and he found the subject of his decidedly juvenile thoughts standing on the other end with a smile.
He stepped aside to let her in. "Hey," he greeted her. "You got the locking device ready?"
She shook her head. "Hemple has it. I can work it, but that think is heavy!"
She plopped down on his bed, placing her backpack beside her. "You don't mind, do you, if I just hang out here until everyone's ready to leave? Abby's chatting with Connor on the phone and I feel like I'm eavesdropping. Tad awkward."
He smiled at her sympathetically, "Lemme guess, she gave him a lecture about letting the animals out and then they nervously talked circles around each other, trying to tell each other how much they were missing each other without using words."
"Well duh," she smirked at him. "It's painful to listen to."
Danny nodded his agreement as he plopped down beside her, but thought secretly to himself that he wasn't much better than the two of them when it came to his feelings for Sarah, just better at hiding it, maybe. He made a vow to himself that it was not going to take years for him to ask her out and that he and Sarah would never be the subjects of such similar mocking behind their backs.
"Well, I hate to do this to you," he said out loud, "but I'm afraid I have to make a phone call before we leave too."
Sarah groaned and started to stand up with a sigh, but Danny caught her elbow and tugged at her. "Not a personal one, you're welcome to stay, just didn't want you to think I'm being rude. I have to call the ARC and find out the co-ordinates of the trash dump this thing opened up at and find out if it's still open."
"Good luck with that."
"What'dya mean?"
"Connor's the one manning the ADD right now and he's still on the phone with Abby."
It was Danny's turn to stand and leave the room, telling Sarah he'd be right back, as he stormed down the hall to find Abby and order her to hang up.
It was an hour later before they reached the landfill. The anomaly was still open, to everyone's relief, but Danny really worried about how they planned to round up all the coelurosauravus and he was even more concerned about the possibility of a gorgonopsid coming through. It was getting dark out now and Danny wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing. It was good because the air had cooled a bit now that the sun was hiding behind the horizon, and because the children they'd seen from the CCTV had gone indoors and he didn't have to worry about them hanging around anymore. It was bad because it made his job of searching for the prehistoric visitors even harder. Either way, good or bad, there was nothing he could do about it, so he decided not to dwell on the matter for too long.
He glanced at Sarah and saw the look of silent disappointment on her face. He knew what she was thinking, she was hoping her girl would still be here. He knew it was crazy, that the possibility of it actually being her girl were slim, but he was convinced because she was and he found himself moving a step back to be at her side. "It's better," he whispered to her, "if she's not here. We don't know what else could come through."
Sarah turned to him, surprise written on her face that he'd read her so fast, but she didn't deny her thoughts. "I know," she replied, "but I so wanted to see her. I just… I love her you know. It almost hurts to be so close and not be able give her a big hug."
Danny smiled at her, "Then we'll make sure we find her before we leave, Sare, after the dinosaurs are through. We'll stay til we find her."
"Really?" she questioned, a look of amazement lighting up her eyes. "You'd do that for me?"
" 'Course, Sare, promise." He hesitated and then draped an arm over her shoulders, "In the meantime, you could always give me that hug."
Sarah laughed, but she also wrapped her arms around his waist, giving him a quick squeeze before quickly pulling away again.
"There's one!" Abby's voice suddenly interrupted their thoughts about each other as they followed her pointing finger to see the bright green lizard soaring softly into a tree.
"Alright, Abs," Danny said approaching her. "This is your specialty. How do we get them?"
"Won't be easy," she replied, "but we could make use of some fruit. Rex's favourite are apples. We might be able to tempt a few down. Anyone have some?"
No one did and Danny was going to send Hemple into the marketplace to get some, but he knew it'd be shut down at this time of day.
"Sorry," Abby apologized. "I should have thought to bring some earlier, but I guess the heat was getting to me."
"Or the separation from Connor," Danny teased and to Abby's embarrassment, even the soldiers failed to completely stifle their chuckles at her expense.
"Oh, shut up, everyone," she ordered, stamping her foot a bit, her face flushed, but then she grinned herself and retorted back at Danny, "It's not like you'd be any different if you didn't have Sarah at your side."
Danny frowned. Were his feelings really that obvious? Maybe he'd misjudged how well he'd been hiding them. He glanced at Sarah to see if she'd heard and the surprised expression frozen on her face as she stared at him told him that she had. He gave Abby a glare, even though he knew he'd deserved the remark, as he grumbled digruntedly, "Watch it, Abigail, or I'll throw you back through the anomaly with all the lizards."
Then he quickly changed the subject as he turned to the rest of the team and took charge, "Hemple, take Sarah to the anomaly and set up the Locking Device. I want you two to get that thing locked and stay on guard ready to open it again as we bring the creatures to you. Wilcock, Abby, you're with me. We'll scan this area for the creatures. We need to find and catch these things, preferably before the anomaly closes."
Everyone nodded and moved to do their jobs. As they separated, Abby sidled up to Danny and whispered an apology to him. "Sorry, I shouldn't have said that in front of her."
"It's fine, Abby. If we're going for honesty, I don't plan on dancing around my feelings for Sarah nearly as long as you and Connor have anyways. If she knows, she knows. Maybe not the way I'd planned on her finding out, but I don't know what my plan was so…" he shrugged.
"Least you're not denying it."
"Didn't seem like there was much point. Now, are we going to talk about our feelings all night, or are you going to follow orders and help get these creatures home?"
Abby grinned and moved off to scan the trees at the edge of the landfill, leaving Danny to search and think on his own.