Chapter seven:
'What a bloody day,' Connor thought as he moved to his desk and stared blankly at the artifact. He felt physically and emotionally drained yet again and hoped this wasn't some developing pattern.
First, the team had been arrived at a possible anomaly sight only to be waved away by another government facility team and a creepy Christine Johnson. Next Lester had the nerve to ask if the detector had been probably working, as if he would even be able to turn it on. Connor assured Sir James Lester that the detector and portables had been and were now running properly.
Later on an anomaly had appeared and Connor foolishly believed his luck had finally changed because now he could test his new invention, the Anomaly Locking Mechanism. He had been so excited until he had been locked in a hanger with Jenny. Not that he minded being stuck in a hanger with his new team leader, just frustrated him that they had been tricked in there by some sleazy reported and for all his intelligence he couldn't manage to get them out. He even had stupidly tried to kick open the door while Jenny was on the phone. He prayed to whatever god that she had not realized what he was doing.
Connor was beginning to seriously worry about their predicament till the bloody precious, always has wonderful timing, Danny Quinn showed up to free the two. Yet, Connor felt some satisfaction as the man begged to practically be let on the team all the while Jenny said 'No.'
Oh, then they found out a Giganotosaurus, or G-rex, had come through the anomaly. Then they had to help the idiotic news crew and the sleazy reptilian reporter. He hoped Abby would never hear him or Jenny use those terms while describing people – she would have killed them both. All the while Connor felt like a kid trapped by bickering parents as Danny and Jenny both gave him orders then fought about it.
Then the ALM blew up in his face, even after he prayed to his god. The team had to stop the G-rex as it ran wild on an airstrip. At least he got the ATM to work and in front of Abby too. Though his genius seemed limited today, he had had the stupid idea of trying to create a diversion which left him with a bloody head ache, literally. Then he had to have his ass saved, yet again, by Danny Quinn in a helicopter before being eaten.
Good news was Danny Quinn had not been eaten (he guessed), a herd of G-rexes had not gotten lose through the anomaly, and he had been able to lock the anomaly and proved his new invention did work. The most enjoyable part was that Jenny and himself had agreed that Cutter would have been proud of them today.
Those had to been the most important points, the good things that resulted from all the bad. It was Murphy's Law or something like that. Yet, it still had been a tiring day and he wished he could go home. Why couldn't he go home? Oh yea…
Topping the whole day off, some guy named 'Jack' called Abby's phone only to leave a message that he would 'show her a good time'. The nerve of that guy and Abby who he had thought stopped sleeping around. Those thoughts had bugged him for the rest of the day till Abby had straightened every little detail out.
Good news was he had been wrong at that time and the boy named Jack just running around the flat in nothing but a towel had been Abby's brother. Bad news was he had nowhere to stay despite what he had told Abby. Now he was forced to stay at the ARC while taking care of Sid and Nancy.
Connor wanted to smack his head off his desk if he did not need it to fix and keep running all his inventions around the office. "Not staying here, I hope, Mr. Temple?" a voice bellowed from behind Connor. Spinning around to face Lester he stated, "Just working to finish up the final touched on some of the equipment." Lester nodded before heading towards the door, but of course stated, "I'm not authorizing any overtime, Connor," he reminded and Connor nodded grimly. It was going to be a couple of long days.
~.~
The next couple days had been uneventful as he worked on the ALM and the artifact with Sarah. At least he got to be with Sarah and see Abby around the office since he had to stay at his bloody office. Though, he was not going to tell anyone that, especially Lester.
Then there was the whole fungus monster incident that just had to ruin his week. First he found out the fungus was contagious then they found out it was parasitic as it turned people into fungus monsters! As Lester had stated, "This'll be difficult to explain to the next of kin: good news-he's not technically dead. Bad news- he's turned into a mushroom!" as he talked about one of Johnson's men. All the while Connor was trying to figure out the fungus, Danny had broken into the ARC, was suppose to be under arrest but decided to work with Sarah on their artifact.
It was bad enough that Danny Quinn now seemed an unofficial part of the team and flirting with Sarah, but now he had to work with the man to contain a future aggressive fungus! How could the day get any worse? Oh, by accidently destroying Abby's entire flora in her precious temperature control lab, that's how. They had managed to find out extreme cold could destroy the fungus and spores but it probably killed Abby's plants and almost killed Connor. He was never going to eat mushrooms again.
At least no one, from the team that meant anything to Connor, had died, particularly Jenny. He could not deal with another death and especially if Jenny had died from the fungus or the cold. Yet, he did not know how he was going to deal with Jenny leaving them. More than ever since Danny Quinn was now their team leader.
~.~
Connor felt exhausted as he rested his head down on his desk. After the day of nearly dying from hypothermia and Jenny quitting the ARC team, he wanted nothing more than to go home and lay in his bed. But, oh yea, that's right! Abby's little bother, er…brother Jack, was sleeping in his nice comfy bed and Connor could have wept. Actually he began to right until exhaustion took him over and he had fallen asleep.
Sarah marveled at how cute Connor could look when he was complete zonked out. While he looked peaceful mumbling in his sleep and definitely needed the rest, she knew he should be in his own bed at Abby's flat. She was just going to have to wake him up and convince him of that.
Connor was muttering something about six pedals but only four directions* when Sarah began to shake him awake. "Connor? Connor….you need to wake up. Sleeping like that can't possibly…" she was suddenly cut off when he awoke with a gasp, "That doesn't seem physically possible!"*
Sarah was confused and asked, "That you need to wake up, Connor?" He stared at for a moment and she decided to drop since he probably did not remember what he was muttering in his sleep. "You can't sleep at your desk, Connor. Why don't I drive you home since Abby already left for the day? You need a good rest in your bed," she offered with a smile but Connor's expression was not what she expected.
Connor looked like he could have wept while he stared blankly around the office. He ran one of his fingerless gloved hands down his face before stating, "I can't." Sarah's confusion grew as she asked, "What do you mean you can't?"
"You know that Jack, I talked to when I sort of answered Abby's phone?" he asked her knowing if he told Jenny about it she would have told Sarah. Sarah nodded before exclaiming, "Abby didn't kick you out of your guys' flat for some other bloke, did she?"
Connor shook his head, instantly wanting to defend Abby but his shoulders sagged in realization. "Well, sort of yes. She did kick me out but temporary and I agreed to it," he stated. Sarah continued to stare as she silently pressed him on for more details.
"Jack is actually Abby's baby brother and he needed a place to stay. Being that Abby is his sister she told him he could stay in a room while he's here. But she asked me if he could stay there and I consented. I also told her I had mates I could stay with but that's a lie considering I haven't talked to any of my proper friends since I began here at the ARC so…the point is I'm staying here at the ARC so I doubt the cot I'll be sleeping with is any more comfortable than the desk. Thanks for being concerned about my well-fair, Sarah, but I'll be fine," he said as he picked up his mug of cold tea. Disgusting as it would probably be, he needed something since he mouth felt eerily dry. He hoped he didn't embarrass himself in front of Sarah by talking is his sleep again, he already done that in front of Abby.
"So that's why those two Diictodon were running around," she muttered in understanding. "But Connor, it's too dangerous to stay here without guards in the middle of the night. Like today with the fungus creature, you don't know what will happen around here and if something happened to you…" she argued but could not think of anything but one idea. "Come home with me, Connor."
It came out more demanding than she meant to, resulting in Connor nearly choking on the old tea he was nursing. "What?" he asked with wide eyes. "Stay at my place, Connor. It is better than staying here when god knows what could happen. Please? I have a pull out couch I'm sure is better than any cot you found around here," she tried to convince him as she moved behind his to run his shoulders. "Al'ite," Connor relented as he spun around to face Sarah, "You've convinced me," he agreed with a grin.
Sarah probably would have rejoiced at being able to convince him but was caught off guard by his chair moving out from under her hand and she landed in his lap. She was startled for a moment, especially with Connor's face so close to hers but then she smiled and leaned up to kiss him with a thank you. Connor was equally surprised with Sarah on his lap and her lips on his but he wasn't complaining. He gently wrapped his arms around her waist to pull her closer.
Eventually the two needed air and decided it was best to leave then before anything else happened. Connor gathered his bag and Sid and Nancy then followed Sarah out of the ARC to her car, unaware of the newly installed security cameras.
A.N.: Yea, so glad I could update! Even better is that you read it! You did read it right? Not just skim through it and decide to read the author's not?
* means if you can name the series I'm referencing I shall award you, and …let me total recall what I was going to say and not make something up on the spot. : )
Really, I want to write at least one more one-shot before the end of summer and I want it to be fun. So for the first four people who state the series I was referencing in a review- also write a random idea (T and below only please) and I'll combine the ideas into a story.
Thank you for reading; hope you enjoyed.
