Sorry it took awhile, but my school work has been plaguing me even though it's nearly end of term! Enjoy, hope you like it.


Lois felt the safety and security of strong arms holding her tight. She felt like a child asleep in her father's arms as he carried his sleeping baby to her bed, wishing her dreams to be filled with unicorns and Santa Claus.

Nick watched her stir slightly in his arms, seeing her comfort and relief. She was younger then Jenny, her hair wasn't auburn like Claudia's or as dark brown as Jenny's. It was an unusual darkish brown that shimmered under the sun's rays which only just managed to escape the clutches of the branches above them.

Jenny had eyed her warily at first before her gaze became a little tender, 'What about genetics?'

Nick heard her mumble, 'Well…she must have your genetic make up, or just plain old DNA…maybe she's-'

'What?' Jenny was beginning to look concerned at that point.

'We can go to the future right?' he smiled.

'Yes…'

'And we can go to the past?' he beamed wider, causing Jenny to glower at him.

'Well duh, if you hadn't noticed there's a great big bloody dinosaur running around in the forest of Dean!' she snapped sarcastically, only quietening when the woman in Nick's gentle limbs curled closer to him.

'Then in the future we can come back to the past…this past, right here, right now.' He was beginning to grin like the cat form Alice in wonderland.

Jenny stopped walking altogether, causing him to stop suddenly too, 'What are you say? My genetics plus the future-'

He watched with amusement plastered across his face, she took one look at his smug face and began to walk ahead of him in a huff.

'Don't you want to carry you daughter Jen?' he called after her retreating figure, still finding it funny.

'She's not mine, not yet.' Jenny yelled back, trying to push what the future held for her out of her mind, but failed and walked back to Nick to look at her again.

She felt like she was looking in the mirror. She reached out a hand to touch her cheek and shivered, it was porcelain, slightly paler then her own. Her nose and cheekbones, however, were definitely not hers. The fathers? Who was the father of her child? She pushed the dark hair off her face and spotted it. She looked at the tiny, silver, rectangle locket which hung around her neck. Jenny saw Nick freeze, his muscle tense and his eyes focus completely on the locket.

'I think we-' he began.

'Can we do a DNA test, just to see if you are right?' she said, completely absorbed by the face of her future child.

'I don't think that's necessary.' He muttered and began to walk, leaving Jenny to watch him, doubt and confusion visible in her eyes.

-

'Where is she?'

Helen tried to stay calm, but that was almost impossible since she was staring down the barrel of a gun, 'I don't know Ben.'

'What did you tell her? That we were dead? Like you told Stephen?' he spat, he was furious, 'I'll ask you again, where is my wife?'

She smirked and regretted it, the muzzle of the automatic pressed against her forehead, 'I don't know, I really don't.'

She watched him with curiosity, the man was a professor, and yet felt completely at home with a gun. His hair was usually tousled and ash blond like his mother's. His eyes, however, were completely like his father's, hazel. His guts? Perhaps growing up around the anomalies had given him that edge, but Helen suspected it was more then that, having Lois as a wife was sure to come with hidden extras…like having to kill a Utahraptor that was about to decapitate her because she ignored what he had said…for about the millionth time.

Ben felt dead inside, he loved Lois more then anything…she was his best friend, his companion, his lover and his wife. Yet she was gone, lost, maybe thinking that she had never been born or some other crazy story that Helen had made up…and that was what they were…stories, lies and yet they could tear people apart with one fluid movement.

'We all know how this ends Helen…but I could end it here and now.' He glowered at her.

'You wouldn't…because as you just pointed out we know how it ends, everyone in the future knows what happens to me, to you, to Nick, to Jenny…but not to Lois. No-one knows if she makes it, not even you…doesn't that make you angry? You can save everyone in the world Ben…but not your wife.' She sneered at him and smiled inside at her desolate prophecy.

He felt the ground being ripped from underneath him and fell to his knees, tears stinging at his eyes. When he looked up, Helen was gone.

-

Nick's eyes didn't move from the locket, he remembered it…ever so well as though he was the little kid on the bleak moors of Scotland once again.

'Nick, Harry!' Nick turned at his mother's distressed voice.

'C'mon Harry!' he yelled to his younger brother who was admiring a frog he had found.

Harry looked up, 'But look Nicky-'

Harry grew quiet at the stare his big brother gave him and trudged towards the house. Nick watched his brother and took one last glance at the barren landscape he called home before heading inside.

'What?' Harry's bottom lip quivered dangerously, 'but Grandma…'

Nick felt his heart sink as his mother collected her youngest son into her arms and wept silently. He watched as she attempted to smile at him, she frowned at his blank expression…but then again her eldest offspring had never reacted well to sincere news when others were around.

Nick heard Harry's howling as he left the room in search of their father and his scowl deepened further, why was he so attention seeking?

'Nick?' his mother watched him worriedly, slightly confused at his lack of response, 'Why aren't you crying?'

'She told me not to,' He whispered, trying not to show his sadness, 'she said it's a sign of weakness.'

'Nick? You seriously don't believe the ramblings of an old woman do you?' she tried to laugh humorously at her mother's strictness with her son. She had always been fond of her "wee little scrap" as she had dubbed Nick, her first grandchild, the day he was born.

'She told me it was her dying wish and that I mustn't do it…what's a dying wish?' his naivety shone through his face which was grubby from playing on the marshes and moors.

'Never you mind…now go play.' She smiled weakly, Nick had always done as his Grandma had said and asked.

Nick sat alone on the big rock he and Harry had discovered a couple of months ago while in search of "bog monsters" and "marsh pirates." He drew the tiny object from his torn trouser's pocket and stared at it ominously. The silver glinted in the dying sun's rays, the locket was no bigger then the top part of his little finger and was perfect for holding. He could see the engraved patterns of leaves and stroked it with his small, delicate child's fingers. His mind wondering to how it cane into his possession…

'I want you to have it Scrap,' She muttered, her eyes watching him as she slipped into his small hand, 'my mother gave it to me when I was little…since I have no granddaughter to give it to, you can have it…keep it safe.'

'But I can't-'

'Nick,' she warned before saying, 'give it to your daughter…if you ever have one.'

She winked at him, holding his hand tightly as though not wishing to let go.

'And what if I don't?' he asked forlornly, tears pricking his eyes.

'Oh, well that's no way to behave now is it?' she teased, 'I'm sure you will…and stop crying, it's a sign of weakness…and that's an order since it's my death wish…no-one should cry then the world would be a happier place.'

She wiped away his tears and he grinned, holding his beloved Grandma's hand.

It couldn't be. The woman in his arms was wearing one exactly like it…could she be not just Jenny's daughter but his own? What if somehow Claudia came back…could she be theirs? His mind was racing trying to find a reasonable explanation. Slowly he put her down on the floor, watched by a curious Jenny, and reached into his pocket. He drew out the same locket and opened it, inside were two pictures of a war general and a young woman, both extremely old. Deciding quickly since Jenny was still a distance behind him; he bent down and opened the locket around the woman's neck. He couldn't tell whether his heart sank or soared…could she be his…and Jenny's…child? Or someone else's? Namely Claudia's? It couldn't be a coincidence at all…he watched Jenny, his friend walk up the steep incline in her boots and say something merrily about loving "boots."

He smiled and picked Lois up just as Abby stumbled onto the pathway.

'I told you Connor!' she yelled back into the foliage.

'Whatever!' the bush scoffed, replying in retaliation and spitting out a rather windswept Connor.

'What the-' Abby began.

'Don't even go there.' Muttered Jenny, finally reaching them a little out of breath but not doubling over like Connor.


please review, the next chapter is mainly about Jenny begining to remember parts of Claudia's life...

GPR