Disclaimer: Not mine, no copyright intended

A/N: Thanks to those who have commented on this or added to your favourites and alerts ... hope this doesn't disappoint - angsty angst on its way... (because I know you all love it when we hurt Connor!)

Connor sat, curled in the foetal position fighting back the urge to cry. He knew losing control of his emotions would not help him and he had to try and stay calm. There had to be some rational explanation as to why they had locked the anomaly and not come back for him, he just couldn't think of it right now.

He glanced up at the hole he had fallen through and could hear the Ceratosaurus still moving around nearby. Even if the anomaly was unlocked, he probably couldn't make it there before those things were on him. He had his tranquiliser gun, but it was only a small pistol, and his pellets would have no effect on those huge creatures. Maybe there was another way out? The cave was pitch black, apart from the small amount of daylight filtering through the hole, was it possible there were tunnels leading off it? He had to try.

He stood up and stretched his aching muscles, he'd jarred himself quite badly when he fell and was now feeling the effects. A thought struck him, maybe the others were unlocking the anomaly for a few minutes at a time and checking whether the creatures had gone before they came looking for him? They wouldn't think to look underground, and if he was crawling through tunnels whilst they were searching the forest for him, they'd miss each other. He had to leave them something to show where he went, but what?

He managed to climb back up towards the hole again and poked his head out. The anomaly was still locked and the Ceratosaurus still pacing around. He tried to look for something he could put by the hole that would indicate to the others where to look for him. However, other than ferns and stones there wasn't anything. It had to be something of his, that way they wouldn't miss it. He took off his hat and placed it by the hole. Even if the creatures trampled on it, it would be recognisable.

"Ok, Connor." He said to himself. "Let's find a way out of here." He dropped back down into the cave and tried to decide which way to go. He was going to have to do this by touch. He swallowed hard and took a deep breath as he slowly shuffled towards the one wall he could see. He placed both his hands on the wall then moved them slowly along to his right. Taking small sideways steps and moving his hands along the wall, he made his way into the darkness.

Several minutes later, having moved slowly and cautiously, he had made his way all the way around to the point he had started from. "Damn!" he cursed, slumping to the ground. He had been convinced that he would find a way out. He leaned back against the wall and felt his eyes stinging with the tears he was refusing to cry. Why had they left him behind? Even if the others weren't prepared to come back for him, surely Abby would have done? Then he shut his eyes and thought back to the argument they'd had the other night, and what she'd said earlier. She thought he was crowding her, always in her face … well, she'd got what she wanted now hadn't she? He felt a single tear trickle down his cheek, he was losing his battle.

"Abby!" he yelled, not expecting a reply but part of him needed to just say her name out loud. "Abby!" His throat tightened and the tears finally beat him as they began to flow freely. He rested his head on his bent knees and wrapped his arms around them, giving in to his emotions at last. He'd never felt so alone.

-o-

Connor sat there for a number of minutes. He was still trying to think of reasons why the others had left him? The thought did cross his mind that they had been looking for a way to get rid of him for some time now, and this was the perfect opportunity: "Sorry, Lester, we had to leave him behind because he was about to be eaten by a herd of carnivorous dinosaurs." He could almost hear them saying it now. "Oh well, he was annoying anyway." Lester would say. He shook his head and wiped his eyes, he had to stop thinking like that. Being negative was not going get him out of here.

He had to decide what to do next, glancing back up at the hole. As he shifted to try and see if the Ceratosaurus had gone, he felt a draught from somewhere to his left. It sent a chill through him because it was cold, but he smiled. It meant there must be another hole somewhere, he'd just missed it before. He had to try to find it, so this time he stayed on his knees and felt along the wall of the cave with his hands. About halfway around, he found it. He moved his hands into the hole to try and determine if it was just an indentation or a proper hole. It seemed to be a tunnel of some kind and it sloped upwards.

He tried to see if he could see any light, but it was completely black. There was definitely a breeze though, and that had to be coming from some kind of opening to the surface. The tunnel felt pretty narrow, it was going to be a tight squeeze, but he had to take a chance. The first metre or so wasn't too bad, and Connor managed to pull himself through quite easily. He checked the walls around and above him before moving forward to make sure they were solid, the last thing he needed now was for the tunnel to collapse around him. However, once the full length of his body was inside the tunnel, things changed.

It had been some time since he'd felt like this, and he had thought he'd got over it. It was a familiar feeling, and not a welcome one. His chest felt tight, his heart racing and his breathing began to quicken. He felt beads of sweat on his face and a wave of nausea swept over him. Ever since he'd been stuck inside an old chest freezer as a child, he had suffered from claustrophobia, and it had given him many nightmares well into his teens. He couldn't move, the fear had all but paralysed him. He tried to think of all the things he'd been told to do, but all he could of was not being able to breathe.

He clenched his fists and took a deep breath. That felt better. "Come on, you can do this!" he told himself. He felt a breeze on his face and that gave him incentive to move forward again – surely this tunnel had to lead outside into the open? Very slowly, inch by inch, he crawled along, pausing occasionally to try and steady his breathing again. After some time, his hand couldn't feel anything else in front – the tunnel had ended and there was another cave.

Fortunately, the ground of this new cave wasn't too far down, and Connor was able to slide on his stomach onto the floor. A huge sense of relief overwhelmed him, it was great to be out of that tunnel! He rolled onto his back and squinted his eyes, trying to make out shapes in the darkness. Was it is his imagination or did it seem slightly lighter in the far corner? Maybe it was the way out? He rolled back onto all fours to make his way over there, reaching out with his hands to feel his way along the ground. He expected to touch hard stone, but what he touched sent a chill of terror through him. If he wasn't mistaken, he had found the remains of something: a creature that had probably gotten itself trapped down here like he had and wasn't able to make it out.

"No no no no no no!" Connor whimpered. He had to get out of here, and fast! He began to scrabble around frantically but he quickly realised that was pointless. He felt his body shaking and then an overwhelming feeling that he was suffocating. Somewhere, deep inside, he knew that this was just his irrational fear taking over, but he couldn't find a way to overcome it. His chest was hurting and his head spinning, and Connor believed he was about to die.

-o-

Abby had no idea where she was. She had walked for the best part of an hour, going wherever her feet took her. Now that she had cleared her head, she needed to work out what to do next. Going back to the ARC was not an option since she'd effectively handed in her resignation to Danny, and she didn't like the thought of going back to the flat knowing Connor wouldn't be there. There was a pub on the corner of the street she had ended up in, so she decided to go in and find out where she was and take it from there.

As she walked up to the bar, every pair of eyes in the pub followed her. This was obviously the sort of place only frequented by the locals, and certainly not the sort of place for a young woman on her own to be hanging out in. She ordered a vodka and orange juice and glanced around her as she waited for the barman to make her drink. None of the patrons looked approachable, in fact most looked downright creepy. The barman was her best bet.

"I hope you can help me, actually." She said as she paid for her drink. "I'm lost. Is there a bus stop or a train station near here? I need to get back to Edenbridge." Her mind had suddenly been made up. She was going back to the anomaly site.

The barman scratched his head. "You're miles away, love." He said. "There's a bus every hour that'll take you into Edenbridge, think you just missed one though."

"Thank you." She said, taking a seat at the small table closest to the bar. She felt very uncomfortable, and right now she'd give anything to see Connor's smiling face sitting opposite her. She'd been pretty horrible to him the last few days and now she was regretting it. What if he had died? Their last memories of each other would be that stupid argument they'd had. She knew exactly why she had pushed him away, but explaining it was too difficult.

"I can take you to Edenbridge if you like." A voice said. A man in scruffy jeans and a paint stained t-shirt was stood by her table. Abby looked up at him. "Its OK, I'm a taxi driver, got my ID here." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet. He flipped it open and showed Abby his taxi license and ID badge. "It's my day off, but you seem desperate. Pretty girl like you shouldn't be wondering around on her own in a place she doesn't know."

Abby shuddered. She'd rather take her chances and walk back to the anomaly site than get into a car with this man. He was probably harmless, but this whole place gave her the creeps. "I don't have much money on me. Silly of me I know, but I had an argument with my boyfriend and stormed off. He's probably driving around looking for me right now, I should start walking back the way I came." She said, knocking back her drink.

"I wouldn't expect payment, told you, it's my day off." He said.

"Thank you, but I'm fine. Honestly. Connor is probably halfway here by now." She stood up and left as quickly as she could. Outside, she stood and leaned against the wall, breathing hard. Had she really just implied Connor was her boyfriend? She would usually be doing everything she could to make people believe he wasn't. A tiny smile flickered across her face, before pulling herself together and starting back along the road towards the anomaly site.

The scenery didn't look familiar at all, but then again, she hadn't really taken any of it in earlier. She quickened her pace, needing to get back to the site as soon as possible. She wasn't sure what she was going to do when she got there but she had to try something. If Connor was still alive, he'd been alone for almost two hours now. Somehow she was going to have to persuade the soldiers guarding the locking device to let her unlock it. Maybe she was going to have to do the "girl thing" and flirt a little.

As she approached the anomaly site, she could see three figures sitting by the locking device. One of them was Danny. He was the last person she wanted to see right now, she would never forgive him for abandoning Connor.

"Had a feeling you'd show up." Danny said.

"Connor's my friend, and I refuse to just leave him. Even if he is dead, we owe it to him to bring his body back and let his family grieve for him properly." Abby said angrily.

"I know. You're absolutely right. I made the wrong decision and I'm sorry." Danny said.

"It's not me you should be apologising to, Danny." She said. "So what are you doing about it?"

"We unlocked the anomaly a few minutes ago, those creatures are still just the other side. I've called for back up, Becker and his team are on their way over."

Abby sniffed. It was the very least he should be doing. "If you'd done that in the first place, we could have Connor back by now."

"How many times do I have to say I'm sorry, Abby!" Danny snapped. "I know I messed up, and if something has happened to him then I'll resign."

"Unlock the anomaly, I want to check for myself." She said. Danny nodded to the soldiers and they unlocked it. Abby and Danny moved closer, they could see the Ceratosaurus just beyond the other side. Danny turned to the soldiers to instruct them to lock it again, but in that moment, Abby made a run for it. She had gone through the anomaly.

Abby kept herself as close to the ground as she could and moved slowly. These creatures were large and she hoped their visual range was limited. The undergrowth would keep her hidden to a certain extent. Something touched her back and she almost let out a scream. A hand was on her mouth. She turned to find it was Danny.

"I knew you were going to pull a stunt like this!" he said.

"I'm not just sitting around waiting for the cavalry to arrive." Abby pulled away from Danny's grasp and began crawling on all fours towards the point where she thought she had last seen Connor. Danny followed, maintaining a distance. He'd seen that look on Abby's face before, one of complete determination and no-one was going to get in her way. He also knew that a lot of it was just a front and that somewhere inside was a scared and vulnerable woman.

Abby spotted it first, a piece of grey fabric. As she got closer she realised it was the fedora hat that Connor had been wearing. She picked it up and began to sob. Danny was at her side in an instant and wrapped his arms around her. "It doesn't mean anything, sweetheart. It fell off whilst he was running, that's all." He said.

She held the hat to her chest and wiped her face with her free hand. "Connor. Where are you?" she whispered.

Danny was scanning their surroundings, he stood up to try and get a better view and almost lost his footing. "Abby, look." He pointed to the hole he had almost fallen into. "Do you think he fell down here?"

Abby grinned. "I would say that's a certainty. If anyone is going to fall, then it's Connor." She was already shuffling herself to the edge of the hole ready to drop into it.

"Wait, you don't know how much of a drop it is. You're no good to him if you injure yourself." Danny said. He was searching through the backpack that Becker always insisted at least one of them carried when they went through an anomaly. "Torch!" he said, pulling it out and handing it to Abby.

She shone it down. "Doesn't look too bad." She said. "Come on, let's go find him!" and she dropped down into the hole.