Chapter Two – The Past meets the Present
On a quiet street in the small town of Walton On Thames, a woman was stood on the balcony of her top floor flat, leaning against the metal railing of the balcony, she watched as the world slowly passed her by. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she stepped back inside her flat and walked into the kitchen, deciding to make a cup of tea.
Just then, a sound by the front door startled her, swinging round with raised fists, she watched as two letters fell from the letterbox before landing on the rug below. Breathing slowly, she walked to the front door and picked the two letters up and paced back into the kitchen. Looking at them carefully, she opened them one by one. The first was a bill, while the second was an invitation to a function at Whitehall. Ripping the expensive paper it into two halves, she deposited the invitation in the bin and finished making her tea. Carefully holding the steaming mug in one hand, she slowly sat down on the plush sofa and placed the mug on the coffee table in front of her. She turned the television on and up flashed Sky News, which was showing the report of the bomb hoax in Central London yesterday. She then absent-mindedly turned to look at a picture on the bookshelf. It was her old team, and she missed them.
Jennifer Lewis had retired from the Anomaly Research Centre three years ago , and a day didn't go by when she didn't think about it. When she had first quit her role at the ARC, Jenny felt elated. After all, she had nearly died that day, and she knew she had had a lucky escape given the fact that many of the ARC employees rarely got to draw their pensions. Jenny sat back on the sofa and closed her eyes, remembering the day her former exciting life ended.
As soon Jenny had got back to her flat, and enjoyed a nice soak in the bath, she was straight on the internet and booked herself a Caribbean Cruise. The next day she packed a suitcase and left her old life behind. While Jenny was on the cruise ship, she enjoyed the feeling of being able to relax without fear of a something-a-saurus trying to eat her, but as she lay on the deck chair, watching the handsome waiters giving out drinks, all she could think about was the ARC. Were the team okay, how were they doing without her? And these thoughts lasted the entire month she was on the cruise; she couldn't stop thinking about the team.
There was Abby Maitland; Jenny always respected the way she was with the creatures, the way she handled them and always tried to get them home through the anomalies – even if they were trying to eat her.
Connor Temple, the computer wizard of the ARC. Jenny used to think he was just a geek, who was good with gadgets. But as Jenny got to know, she saw the way the he matured and turned from a boy into a man.
Sarah and Becker, the newest recruits to the ARC. She admired Captain Becker's determination to protect the rather reckless team, risking his life to safe each and every one of them. And Sarah Page, the Egyptologist who had seen the damage and heartache the anomalies and creatures cause first hand. And now she was an active member on the team. She knew the team were in good hands with ex-police officer Danny Quinn taking over her role as team leader.
Another person she missed was James Lester, her old boss. Jenny had never seen a man with so many suits, he may have had a sarcastic and uncaring exterior, but on the inside, Jenny knew he actually did care about his team.
And Nick Cutter. She wasn't really sure how she felt about Cutter, even now. The professor had died years ago, yet Jenny still thought about him everyday. At first, she thought he was barking mad, with all his babble about Claudia Brown. But eventually, he grew on her, she forgot about this Claudia woman he confused her with, until the ARC fire. When Cutter was killed by his deranged wife Helen, it was Jenny who had been handed Cutters personal effects due to the fact he had no other family. In the box, Jenny had found a picture of him and her. Except it wasn't her, it was Claudia Brown. And in that moment, Jenny's world fell apart.
But now, three years on, she moved on with her life, she was finally seeing a future for herself. She had a new job, working for a Public Relations company; she had a new set of friends, and was even seeing someone. Jenny knew she would never forget about the ARC, and she didn't want to either. It had been such a huge part of her life, and it would always be.
Suddenly, the shrill ringing of the doorbell bought her out of her thoughts, she slowly stood up from the sofa and walked towards the front door, not knowing her past was about to come crashing into her present.
The following day after Lester had told the ARC team about the hopeful return of Jenny Lewis to the Anomaly Research Centre, the four core members were in bright and early that morning. Connor and Jess and had been sat round the computer system that made the ADD. They had been trying to find a positive I.D match on Jenny, but since she had left the ARC, it seemed she had kept a rather low profile.
"Jess, have you put in the right details?" Connor asked her.
"Of course I have, I pulled up the details from her-" but she was interrupted by Connor and Becker, who had been walking through the Hub towards the ADD.
"-file" they said, grinning at each other.
"Yes, from her file. Im gonna stop this you know, your making me out to be a stalker" she said to the two of them, they both laughed at her and turned back to the computer screens.
"How hard can it be to find our old teammate?" Becker said, looking at Conner.
Connor shrugged his shoulders.
"No idea, it has been three years I guess since she left. I know me and Abby haven't seen since we got stuck in the Cretaceous though, what about you Becker?" Connor asked the solider, who just shook his head.
"Wait, does she know about…Sarah?" Connor asked quietly, he saw the expression on Becker's face change as he shook his head. Jess covered Becker's hand and squeezed it, just as the AAD made a noise. Jess turned again to face it and smiled.
"I found her" Jess smiled at the two men on either side of her.
"Are you sure?" Connor said, just as Abby came walking thought the doors into the Hub.
"As sure as I can be, all her details match" Jess said.
"Right, what's the address?" Becker said, standing up and putting his jacket on.
"18 Charles House, Walton on Thames" Jess recited as Connor scribbled it on a piece of paper "It's about fourteen miles from here".
"Thanks Jess, you going to come with us?" Becker asked her.
"Best not, someone should stay at the ARC, just in case of an anomaly" Jess replied, smiling at the captain. Connor and Becker stood up and walked towards the doors. Abby had grabbed her jacket and was already there.
"And where do you lot think you're going?" a voice said loudly, the three of them turned and saw Lester standing there, arms crossed looking at them.
"We found Jenny's details, were going there" Abby explained.
"Oh…" Lester said "Let me guess, you just going to bring her here?" he said.
"Well yeah" Connor said, looking at his boss. Lester studied his employees closely, debating whether he should be sending these monkeys or whether he should go personally.
"So, can we go?" Connor asked, bringing Lester out of his musings.
"Yes fine, call when you've persuaded her" Lester replied as he turned around curtly and walking into his office.
"Good luck guys" Jess called giving them a thumbs up, she then watched as they left the Hub and disappeared from view.
An hour later, Becker was driving his black Ford Fiesta down Mayfield Road; Abby was sat in the front giving Becker directions as the captain hadn't trusted Connor with the satnav.
"It should just be on the right past these shops…there" Abby said, pointing towards a new block of flats. Becker slowed the car down and drove into a car park in-between the two blocks. The three of them got out of the Fiesta and walked towards the entrance of the apartment block. Connor was about to push the buzzer for number 18 when someone came out of the heavy security door. Becker grabbed it before it shut and the three of them stepped inside. They walked through the corridor and towards the lift. Becker pressed the button and they waited for the lift to come.
"Do you think she'll be in" Connor asked the others.
"Ah…" Becker hadn't really thought that, would they hang around or just head back to the ARC.
"We'll just around wait if she's not" Abby said to them answering Becker's unasked question. The lift beeped and the metal doors slid open allowing the group to step inside, the doors shut behind them and the lift slowly started going upwards. Once they had reached the fourth floor, the doors opened and Abby led the way, in front of them there was a door. She pushed it open and there was another door in front of them. Tentatively, she pressed the doorbell to number 18 and waited. From the other side, they could hear footsteps come towards the door, the three waited nervously, not entirely sure of the welcome they were going to receive.
A/N - That's it for now, going to try and do weekly updates!
D :)