Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Connor's mother had dragged Lester off, and Matt had discretely left… to find a phone… even though he had his cell phone and com with him. That left Abby and Connor standing alone in the corridor, staring at each other.
"We should talk," she said.
He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, "Yeah," he agreed.
But the two nurses had other ideas. Berating him for leaving the hospital without being discharged, they didn't listen to Connor's attempts to explain. Lunch with his mother was not a good reason to miss an MRI in their opinion. They insisted he change back into his hospital gown. Once done, they bundled him into a wheelchair in spite of his protests.
"The doctor," the younger red headed nurse reminded him sternly "says you're to have an MRI." Abby stared in a daze as they absconded with him.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Matt settled into a chair in the waiting room. Opening up his smart phone, he started searching… creature sightings, right? Wasn't that what Connor had said led him to the anomalies in the first place? What else had come through yesterday? And maybe he should find out some more about Lester's wife… but what was her first name? He couldn't just google Mrs. James Lester…could he?
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby was lost in thought when Connor's mum came up behind her.
"Perhaps," the older woman began bitingly, "we should have our talk in there." She gestured toward Connor's room. "It'll be a bit more private."
Nodding with trepidation, Abby began to follow the woman.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
The pretty red haired nurse wheeled Connor back into the room in time for him to hear his mother's last words.
Abby and Connor's mum turned to look at him in surprise.
"Thought you were supposed to have an MRI," said Abby with a questioning tone.
"Machine's broke," he said rising from the wheelchair. His face flushed and he looked away from Abby, apparently finding a need to stare at the beside lamp.
"I'll just leave you lot," said the nurse as she backed out of the room in embarrassment. "Remember, I'll be back at three and we'll try this again," she added.
Abby closed her eyes, the nurse must have heard some of what Connor's mum had been saying she thought… which meant Connor heard too.
"Connor," began his mother, "I was just telling …"
"Mum," he interrupted firmly, looking directly at his mother, "No."
Connor's mother looked up at him in confusion. He had never said no to her like that before. She opened her mouth to speak, but Connor cut her off.
"You mustn't talk to Abby like that."
"Mustn't?" she began incredulously, rolling her eyes in exasperation, "Mustn't talk to some one who treats my child…"
Each word Connor's mother spoke seemed louder than the last to Abby, and she just wanted to sink into the floor.
"Mum," he interrupted again. "I'm a grown man," he reminded her, "not a little boy who needs his mum to chase the bullies away."
"Abby and I will sort things out," he closed his eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and continued, "or not… on our own terms."
The woman visibly deflated at his words, shoulders sagged and her eyes filled with tears.
Abby was still reeling from the woman's words, and Connor's… did she really come across as a bully?
"Mum," said Connor in a softer voice, "I love you, and I know you mean well, but this is between Abby and meself. I can handle my own," he stopped for a moment, flustered, "relationships," he concluded.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby and Connor watched from the doorway of his room, as his mother got into the elevator with Lester and Matt. Their boss had offered to take her back to her hotel as he and Matt were passing it on their return to the ARC. Privately, Abby thought, Lester was trying to get on Mrs. Temple's good side, surely she had a good side.
Connor turned to look at Abby, "Why," he asked simply "did you come back?"
"I wanted," she faltered "to… to make things right, you know…between you and me."
"Abby," he began quietly "I fancied you from the first moment I saw you, but it wasn't until later, after I'd had the chance to know you that I really …" he swallowed hard and began again. "When I thought that I had lost you, that's when I knew…I love you Abigail Sarah Maitland…want to spend the rest of my life with you, but I need to know that…"
"Yes," she interrupted, "I love you too... I meant every word... and I want to spend the rest of my life with you… but I'm scared…" her bottom lip trembled, but she continued, "I've told you what my parents were like…"
Connor remembered what she had told him. The light bulb finally clicked on.
"Abby," he said gently, stepping closer, "I'm never gonna leave you." He wrapped his arms around her, bringing her even closer. "Whether you and I are the only two people in the world, or whether we're in a world full of other women…you are the only woman that matters… to me," he whispered.
She looked up into his eyes, "Best not tell your mum that," she advised.
Their lips met. For a few moments, time stopped. The world went away, and it was just the two of them, as it should be.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Trying to make small talk on the ride over to the hotel, Lester asked Connor's mother, "What brought you to London?"
She looked at him sharply, gave him a look that seemed to question his intelligence thought Lester.
"Your wife," she replied "was kind enough to let me know my son had been taken to the hospital…should have been you calling," she admonished Lester. "Next thing you know you will be losing him again like you did before…really you know… you should be more careful…" she continued on chiding him.
Matt smirked at little at Lester's sigh, very glad that he was driving.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
The silence in the SUV was a welcome relief thought Lester after they had dropped off Connor's mother. Shame to break it, but he needed to let Matt know of the coming changes… challenges…oh bloody hell, just get on with it he told himself.
"Matt," he said, "You're aware that people come through anomalies as well as creatures?"
"Hmmph," Matt snorted with amusement, "You mean like me and the rest of us…the staff at the ARC? Or Helen? Or are you talking about ordinary people caught up like Ethan and that medieval knight and the legionnaires yesterday?"
Lester closed his eyes in annoyance. Maybe that hadn't been the best way to begin.
He tried again, "Sort of, but that's not exactly the point I was trying to make," replied Lester.
"Well what did you mean Lester?" Matt asked impatiently as he pulled into the parking garage.
"People… all sorts of people… from many different time periods…come through anomalies," said Lester tiredly "much more frequently than creatures."
Matt gripped the steering wheel of the SUV tightly as he tried to process that thought. More frequently? He pulled in between the lines, parking the car. As he cut the engine off, he turned to look directly at Lester, but the questions he was going to ask stayed unspoken as Lester continued to speak.
"We're not the only ARC in England you know… in fact, England is not the only country to have an ARC."
"What?" asked Matt in amazement.
"My wife," said Lester proudly, dropping his mask ever so briefly, "She heads up the London office that deals with people… returns the one's she can… finds homes for the ones she can't… those legionnaires… they're going to Rome, the Italian ARC has already found a place for them… they'll be working as historical re-enactors at the Coliseum."
Lester paused, letting his words sink in. Letting Matt come to grips with what he was saying.
"The anomaly detector we use is set to find anomalies that are open to time periods over ten thousand years ago…her ARC has a detector calibrated to detect anomalies that lead to more recent time periods…we would never have found Emily's Victorian anomaly if it hadn't been fused with the other one…"
Matt just stared. How could I have missed this he asked himself. What else is going on? He couldn't complete his mission without all the information.
"You know," began Matt, "I don't believe I caught your wife's name…"
Lester turned his head slowly, looking directly at Matt, his narrowed eyes flashing dangerously. "You didn't" he said curtly, "official secrets act."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
A/N – I hope you enjoyed reading one more version of the Primeval multi-verse as much as I have enjoyed reading the other creative stories on this website. Thank you for reading.
