Author's Note- Okay! Here it is! The bit we've all been waiting for! Well, I've been waiting to write it… I don't know if you've been waiting to read it. Well, anyway- Abby and Stephen reunion in this chapter!

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Helen and Abby had left the cave two hours ago and Abby was beginning to wonder if they were actually going to get any closer to Stephen at all. If she was honest with herself, she was beginning to get quite worried- they were getting further and further away from home with no sign of another living creature, let alone another human being.

"Not too far now." Helen said suddenly breaking the silence. Abby nodded, though she was scared that maybe Helen had never told the truth- not for the first time since entering the anomaly had Abby thought it was a trap. She listened to the crunch of the gravel under her feet. Her supposedly stable walking boots were beginning to fall apart and tear, and Abby felt her patience rapidly going the same way.

Helen watched as Abby drove herself forward, motivated by only one thing. Helen was slowly gaining admiration for the girl- she had expected her to tire by now, at least falter slightly and fall behind, not continue, determination taking over her exhaustion. Helen looked around anxiously. She needed to open the anomaly less than half a mile away and she needed Abby to be unconscious, or at least, not witness it.

"Abby." She said and the blonde turned to face her. Helen noticed that her expression was agitated, her patience stretched.

"What?" she asked, her voice mirroring her annoyance.

"I'm sorry." Helen smiled. Abby sent her a questioning look, but didn't have time to ask what she was sorry for as Helen's fist landed on her temple, hard.

She smiled as Abby fell to the floor, unconscious. She'd be out for a while yet, but Helen decided not to rest and hauled Abby onto her back, surprised to find how light she was. With any luck, this time, the plan would work.

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Connor had been sat by the anomaly detector all morning, but still nothing came up.

"Connor…" Nick came to his side and sat next to him, "Sitting here won't do you any good."

"What else do you suggest I do, then?" Connor asked.

"I know it's hard, but I don't think that the anomaly's likely to re-open soon." Cutter said gently.

"It will!" Connor insisted, "We just have to wait and it will!"

"Connor- just leave it for a bit, if it opens again, we'll know." Nick suggested, "Come and have some lunch with Jenny and I."

"I don't need any lunch- I'm not hungry."

"You are going to come and have some lunch if I have to drag you away from this infernal machine." Cutter said firmly, "Now, come on."

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Stephen could still not sleep. He didn't know why, but worry overcame every other emotion in his body. He looked around himself and took another gulp of water. As far as he could tell, Helen had been gone longer than she ever had before and, though this worried him, he knew that this was not the reason for his sense of worry.

Sighing, Stephen sat up. He had never known such boredom- there was never anything to do in this place, and he hated it. He had always liked to be doing something. That was why he hated being ill- he wanted to be out there, doing something, not cooped up in bed. Being here was ten times worse than being stuck in bed. If he was stuck here alone for much longer, he was afraid he'd go insane.

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Helen hit the button on her own detector one last time and the anomaly disappeared into thin air. She smiled- she had done it. Well, pretty much. True, now that she was in this anomaly, she had no control over the other one and it may open, letting Nick and his now very small team through, but that wouldn't make much difference. Not to Helen anyway- as far as she knew, they didn't know that Abby's abrupt disappearance had anything to do with her.

She stuffed the future detector into her bag and lifted Abby again, holding her limp in her arms this time, instead of carrying her piggy-back-style. She walked another half a mile, before laying Abby on the floor again. She looked over the dunes and grinned. As soon as Abby woke, they would go over the next few dunes and find him. Shortly, he and Abby would meet again.

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Connor bit into his sandwich, deep in thought, when a noise yanked him from his thoughts. He leapt to his feet, and ran through to the next room, where the detector was flashing and sounding the alarm.

"CUTTER!" he called, "Cutter! The anomaly!"

"Where is it?" Nick came over and Connor turned to him grinning.

"It's the same one!" he told Nick, "We can go and get her! We can get Abby back!"

"Maybe." Cutter patted his shoulder, trying not to let him get his hopes up, "Maybe."

They kitted up and got into the range rover, Connor almost bubbling over with excitement. He got in the back, now alone with neither Stephen nor Abby to sit with and Nick got into the driver's seat, Jenny next to him, sat nav. in her hand.

Connor was grinning from ear to ear, convinced that they were going to get Abby back. Nick, however, had a foreboding premonition that something was about to go terribly wrong and it wasn't just Abby that had fallen into Helen's trap.

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Helen looked up as Abby stirred and her blue eyes flickered open.

"What happened?" she slurred, her hand flying to the side of her head.

"You hit your head." Helen lied, "I carried you some of the way to save time."

Abby looked up at her suspicious, "Ow." She moaned, feeling the bruise on her head.

"Oh, don't be such a drama queen- you'll live." Helen sighed, before pointing over the dune, "Twenty minutes that way."

"What?" Abby gaped at her, hope taking over her face.

"Twenty minutes that way." Helen repeated, "He's twenty minutes that way."

Abby smiled, a real smile that lit up her face. She hadn't smiled like that since Stephen had been alive and she stood immediately, ignoring the dizzy feeling she got.

"Come on!" she said, unable to push the smile from her face. Helen smiled at her, but it was a fake smile. She watched the girl hike over the dunes, new hope in her step, and the smile disappeared as soon as Abby's back was turned. Guilt bubbled away inside her, and Helen pushed it away, yet again. No one had died… yet.

Abby almost ran up the last dune, holding her breath. Suddenly felt really nervous- what if Stephen didn't want to see her? What if it was a trap? If she found out that it was a trap now, after she had come this far, Abby didn't know how she'd cope. As she neared the top of the dune, she slowed down, scared of what she might find.

"Go on then." Helen urged. Abby looked back at her and Helen nodded. Abby smiled weakly and took a deep breath before proceeding over the top.

Then she saw him. At first, it was hard to tell who it was. He was huddled in a ball, chin resting on his knees. His back was turned to her so she couldn't see his face and he couldn't see her. She felt her eyes burn and tears threaten to fall as happiness overwhelmed her. Suddenly she realised that she was frozen at the top of the dune. She smiled at her stupidity and ran down the other side towards him. She desperately wanted to call his name, but her voice failed her. Eventually, she came to a halt behind him and smiled.

"Hello Stephen." She croaked.

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It took them 45 minutes to get to the anomaly site where Abby had vanished yesterday.

"Connor…" Nick started, beginning to feel anxious about them following Abby through.

"Yeah?" Connor turned to him, his eyes bright. Cutter sighed, he couldn't disappoint Connor that way.

"Wait one minute." He said, before turning to Jenny, "You'll keep an eye on things here won't you?"

"What?" Jenny cried, "No. I'm coming, Nick."

"No you're not- it's too dangerous." Nick shook his head.

"I can cope with a bit of danger." Jenny raised her eyebrows.

"No, Jenny." Cutter told her firmly, "As much as I'd like you to come along with us, it's simply too dangerous." He lowered his voice, "I think it's a trap. I just can't disappoint Connor, Jenny, you know how much this means to him."

"If it's a trap, Helen will kill you." Jenny pointed out.

"No. I know Helen- she may be many things, but she's not a murderer." Nick said.

"She murdered Stephen," Jenny muttered.

"No she didn't." He said, but he sounded unsure.

"Look," Jenny sighed, "If you're walking into a trap, I'm following you. It's as simple as that." She paused and decided that if she was going to admit her feelings to him, she would do it now, "I don't think I'd like life without you much, Nick. Please don't leave me here alone."

"I know, Jenny." Cutter pulled her into a hug, "I don't want to leave you, but I care for you too much to put you in danger. You'd be better off staying here."

"I'd be better off with you." Jenny whispered.

"No. I'll go with Connor and you can wait here for us- we will be back." Nick said.

"But you can't promise that!" Jenny exclaimed, pushing him away, "You're just going to leave me behind, just as you left Claudia!"

"How do you know about her?" Cutter asked.

"The photo in your wallet." Jenny admitted, "That was her, wasn't it Nick? That was Claudia and you left her behind to go through an anomaly, but when you came back, she was gone."

"How did you know that?" Nick asked again, scared.

"I guessed, Nick. It's really not hard. I know I'm completely different to her, but I feel the same way that she did." Jenny took a deep breath, "I love you, Nick and I always will."

"Jenny, I… I feel the same way," he took her hands in his own, "But don't you see? That's why you can't come."

"Please?" Jenny begged, "I don't care if I die out there. I'd rather die with you by my side then to let you go through alone and die an old woman without ever seeing you again. Please?"

Nick looked into her eyes and sighed, "Lester's going to kill me." He smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Jenny smiled back, before leaning in and kissing him.

"Come on, then." She said, pulling him over to the Connor's side, who was watching them, his eyebrows raised.

"You ready?" Nick asked Connor.

"If you guys are." Connor grinned.

"Right, then." Cutter said, "Let's go make what's possibly the biggest mistake of our lives- but we'll do it together."

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Stephen jumped and looked round. Abby smiled shyly and his jaw dropped as he stood.

"What are you…? How did you…?" he stuttered.

"I came to see you." Abby whispered, a tear of happiness sliding down her cheek. Stephen smiled at her and Abby smiled back. Suddenly she could stand it no longer and she flung her arms around his neck, planting her lips on his and kissing him like she had wanted to ever since they had first met. Stephen kissed her back, one of his hands reaching round her body and pulling her closer, the other nestling its hand in her hair. He swept his tongue over her bottom lip, asking, begging for entrance, and she gladly accepted. She leant towards him, closing all space between them and resting her hands on the small of his back, where they stroked it, her cold fingers brushing his warm flesh.

When they finally broke apart, Abby rested her head on his shoulder.

"God, I missed you." She whispered.

"I missed you too." He said, "More than you could ever imagine."

"But you're…" Abby faltered, "You're dead."

"I'm not anymore." Was all Stephen could say in reply.

"What happened?" Abby lifted her head off of his shoulder and looked into his piercing blue eyes.

"I don't know," Stephen said truthfully.

"I don't care." Abby laughed with relief, "I don't care how or why we are here, just as long as it's not a dream."

"It isn't a dream." Helen interrupted their conversation.

"Helen." Stephen looked up, "What are you doing here?"

"I delivered your friend, here." Helen said, but spoke again before Stephen could ask any more, "You two better get some rest, Abby especially, as it's a long way back."

"Where are you going?" Stephen asked suspiciously.

"I'll be back before sunrise." Helen told him, "I'm just going to go somewhere else so that you two can get better… acquainted. After all, you haven't seen each other for weeks and I'm sure you'll have plenty to talk about." She smiled knowingly, before turning and disappearing over the dune. Stephen squeezed Abby's hand and tried to follow Helen, but Abby stopped him.

"Leave her." She said, "She's right- we need a rest. And I want to just make the most of the time I've got with you."

"I don't trust her." Stephen said.

"Neither did I, but she bought me here and I'm okay." Abby pointed out.

"Abby, when she leaves me here, I can't get out," Stephen looked at her, "And, believe me, I've tried."

"Have you tried hard enough?" Abby asked.

"What? Of course I have. I've spent hours trekking through the desert and the only thing that kept me going was the thought that I might see you."

"But… but Helen said that you didn't want to come back because you didn't think I liked you."

"Well, you did say that you were all better off without me. And what does Connor think of you running off to find me?" Stephen asked bitterly.

"What?" Abby cried. She didn't want to argue with him, not after they had been apart for so long, not after she had mourned for him, but she couldn't help it.

"Connor." Stephen repeated, "Isn't he a bit jealous?"

"Why would Connor be jealous?" Abby raised her eyebrows at him.

"Oh, come on!" Stephen sighed angrily, "Stop pretending you don't know what I'm talking about! Helen's told me all about you and Connor! And about what you said, don't try and deny it Abby- Helen heard you say it!"

"Say what?"

"That you thought you, Connor, Nick and Jenny were better off without me! To be honest, I don't know why you came all this way to find me, when you just argue with me." Stephen shouted. At this, Abby looked away so Stephen wouldn't see the tear fall. He sighed.

"Abby?" He took her hand, but Abby pulled it away, "Oh, Abby don't be like that!" he glanced at her, "Oh, god. Abby, I'm sorry. Hey, don't cry." He reached up and brushed his finger over her cheek, wiping away the tear.

"I never said anything like that Stephen." She whispered, "I never have and I never will."

"But…"

"Stephen, what did you say just one minute ago- you don't trust Helen on leaving us here, so why did you believe her when she said that?" Abby interrupted him.

"She lied." Stephen nodded, "Oh, God. Abby, I'm so sorry."

"Stop it." Abby shook her head, "Stop saying you're sorry. I don't know why she said that, but it doesn't matter right now- all that matters to me is that we're together."

"Yeah, you're right." Stephen nodded, "And she's gone now."

"So…" she reached up and stroked his cheek, "We have some re-acquainting to do."

"You are not in any way romantically linked to anyone since I died?" Stephen teased.

"Well… We found your photo. I guess I got quite close to that." Abby grinned.

"Oh dear. When you say… re-acquainting… what were you thinking of?"

"I think you know what I was thinking of." Abby murmured, snuggling into his shoulder.

"Did you know, that you are a huge flirt Abby Maitland?" Stephen laughed.

"Yes." Abby replied, "And I know you love it."

"You are so right." Stephen snickered and kissed her passionately. It didn't look like they'd be getting that rest for a while yet…

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Thank you so much to all reviewers and believe me, this is very far from over! Helen still has a few tricks up her sleeve… and a plan to carry out. And sorry that most of the paragraphs are tiny this chapter. I'd love to know what you think of the reunion! So you know what I'm gonna say next!!!

Please review,

Steph