It's a bit shorter than usual, but I needed it to be because I left it on a clifhanger. Yes, you'll probably hate me for leaving it there. *Hehe*


It was quiet in the car, each held captivated in their own thoughts. Jenny sat beside Nick, who was driving steadily through the dark night. Lucy was asleep in between Connor and Abby, her head lolling considerably. Abby was stifling yawn after yawn, despite the fact it was only eight o'clock or there abouts, and Connor was staring absentmindedly out of the window, his head pressed against the cool glass.

A couple more minutes passed and Abby slipped into an uncomfortable sleep, soon followed by Connor, who began to snore gently.

Jenny let the silence play out for several minutes, before she could no longer stand it, 'I'm sorry.'

Nick froze, his knuckles turning white as he gripped the wheel harder, 'Nothing to be sorry about.'

Jenny shook her head, gazing solemnly out of the window, 'No Nick, there is.'

He watched in pain as a tear fell from her eye, 'What?'

She shifted, awkwardly, 'I shouldn't have kissed you, it was wrong. I know Claudia would be hurt if she knew that I…the two of you knew each other before I even came on the scene, even though I have no idea what happened to her, I know that I look exactly like her and that you loved her, that you want her back, and that you wished she existed instead of me.'

Jenny finished, recomposing herself, completely avoiding his gaze, as she unknowingly to him, stared mournfully out of the window.

'Jenny I-'

'You love Claudia Nick, and it was wrong of me to ever assume that I could kiss you.'

'Jenny-' he was about to tell her how he knew more about her, then he ever did with Claudia.

'Where are we?' a muffled voice yawned, Lucy sat up, stretching slightly. Looking back in the rear view mirror, Nick noticed the red rims around her eyes, and knew she'd been crying, in spite of the calm expression she wore.

'Nearly there.' Nick was surprised to find a quiet voice echoing his own, he glanced sideways at Jenny, who was watching Lucy over her shoulder, a small smile adorning her lips.

Lucy leaned forward between the seats and sighed, 'Anyone offering a lift home? After all the preliminary reports are done of course.'

'I'll drive you home,' Abby chimed in, startling the three awake, 'I need rescuing from Connor's loathsome lecture on why star wars is legendary.'

'Sure.' Lucy grinned.

'I would have taken you home Lucy, but my car's at Nick's house, sorry.' Jenny apologised, the sincerity in her voice actually caught Nick off guard.

'It's fine Jenny, really. I was nice of you to consider it.' Lucy retorted, placing a comforting hand on Jenny's shoulder.

Nick observed the two, back at the theatre he had noticed Jenny being rather cautious around Lucy, watching what she said. She seemed to be assessing something which frightened her a bit, something she didn't understand. Yet now, there was an easy air between them, as though they had accepted each other, like a surrogate mother accepting a child. However, there was still an unsettled vibe radiating off Jenny, as though she was troubled by something. Although now it didn't seem to be directed towards Lucy, but him. She'd apologised to him, and was adamant that she was even going to notice his presence for the rest of the night, and he had to drive her to his house so she could pick up her car.

Great, Nick thought darkly, stuck in a car with Jenny Lewis for several more torturous minutes.

Even though he tried to think that spending more time with her was bad because he didn't like her, he knew he was lying to himself. It was bad because something had seriously disturbed her, she was acting completely different, and it worried him.

When they finally reached the ARC, Nick drew up in a parking space.

'Thanks for the lift Nick.' Abby grinned, patting his shoulder has she hopped out.

'Yeah, thanks.' Lucy smiled, following Abby's lead.

Connor awoke, looking around, 'Oh, not this place again!'

'Yep, paperwork, let's hop to it.' Jenny teased.

As the other three sluggishly made their way towards the government building, Nick held Jenny back.

'What?' she murmured.

'Please Jenny, you don't have to apologise.'

'But I do-'

He kissed her quickly, roughly, so as to prove a point, 'Now we're even, you don't have to apologise.'

She looked at him startled, 'What?'

'Jenny I don't like it when you're withdrawn from me, I like the you I saw this morning. I want things to be at ease between us, okay?'

She gave him a genuine smile, 'Okay.'

He smiled gently back, and led her towards the ARC.

-

Jenny had finished her papers long before anyone else, and since she had a ride back with Nick, she'd fallen asleep at least an hour ago, waiting.

Nick couldn't help but glance at her head resting on the desk, and thinking she looked somewhat cute, like an exhausted child after a long day. If it wasn't for the ripped t-shirt, smidgeons of blood, and dressing were her wound was, it would have been the perfect picture for a photographer. Picture perfect.

He tore his tired eyes away from Jenny and tried to focus once again on his reports; gleefully realising he was almost done.

Lucy had finished her paperwork shortly after Jenny, about 30 minutes after to be precise. It seemed that to the pair of them, writing wasn't such a hassle, not like it seemed to be for Connor, who regularly asked how to spell something. It had been Abby's idea to buy him the dictionary for Christmas, which he tended to "lose."

Lucy yawned, seating herself beside Nick.

'You okay?' he asked, looking up.

'I'm okay, a bit tired though.' She yawned once again, her eyes watering.

'Aren't we all?' he chuckled, nodding in Jenny's direction.

Lucy followed his gaze, 'So that's where your attention's been for the past hour or so?'

She sniggered as he made a noise, 'You assume too much.'

'Nope, I merely observe,' She sighed, 'Nick, if you love her, tell her.'

'It's not that simple,' she gave him a quizzical look, 'Okay, where to start. About nine years ago, my wife, Helen Cutter, disappeared, presumed dead. We all thought she was dead, then eight years later one of my students, Connor, turns up with a newspaper article with the CCTV picture of a Gorgonopsid on it, but we didn't know it then. We thought it was a hoax, so Connor, my lab assistant Stephen and I, went out to the forest of Dean-'

Lucy let out a strangled cry, biting her lip immediately afterwards, standing up and putting her hands behind her head, as though guilty of something.

'What?' Nick grabbed her arm, to stop her leaving, and pulled her back down into the spare chair.

'Carry on-' she urged.

'Lucy.' He growled in warning.

'Okay, okay, I was found in the forest of Dean 20 years ago as a baby, by a dog walker.'

Nick shook his head, 'No…'

He stood up so suddenly that Lucy jumped, shocked beyond her own belief, as he headed for the locker rooms. She frowned after him.

Angrily, she sidled over to Connor's table, 'What's up with him?'

'Dunno…' Connor looked just as dumbfounded as her.

'What happened, you know, in the beginning?'

Bit by bit, Connor and Abby filled her in with what they could, including the reappearance of him from the future anomaly expedition, Leek and Helen, and the mysterious Claudia Brown. The only thing they left out was Stephen, both in too much pain to mention him.

-

Nick punched the locker with his fist. It couldn't be possible, it just couldn't be. How could Helen ever be that heartless?

He began to cry, hot, salty, anguished filled tears.

He knew whose eyes they were.

Or whose eyes he thought they were. At first he had looked at Lucy, realisation hitting him hard as he stared into a mirror of his own eyes, only darker, tainted by Helen's dark brown ones.

Had Helen had his baby? Had she then abandoned her 12 years in the past, so when he, Nick Cutter, finally met his daughter, Lucy Mae, she was 20 years old and none the wiser?

No. He tried to lie to himself, that it was just one big coincidence; that she had nothing to do with him or Helen.

But the handkerchief, H.C., and the ammonite, it was no coincidence. Helen wanted him to know who Lucy was. Why abandon her own child? To spite him? To hurt him? Or did she panic?

As he thought about it more, he saw less and less of himself in Lucy. He couldn't see Helen in her either, just some similarities, hair colour for instance. Lucy was auburn, yet strikingly similar to Helen's colouring. Nick was more inclined to think of her hair colour like Claudia's, but then again, both Helen and Claudia were very alike, brown hair, brown eyes…the same applied to Jenny. Was that his type?

It explained why he naturally got along with Lucy; and perhaps Jenny's odd behaviour towards her when they first met.

Yet he began to doubt again.

And then he knew.

Stephen and Helen had had an affair, behind his back. Did Helen become pregnant with Stephen's baby and tell no one? It would explain why she didn't come back. Not with the baby at least. Why? Why would she even do that though? What was the point? Why not lie to him and say the baby was his? Stephen had been his friend…and now he came back to haunt him?

'Nick? What's wrong?' it was Lucy, standing in the doorway. Those shockingly beautiful eyes filled were with concern. Her halo hair naturally curled around her face, a mix between auburn and brown, stunning. She looked so innocent, so angelic, a charmer.

And Nick wasn't staring into his own eyes any more.

He was staring into the eyes of his dead friend.

Stephen.