Chapter 10
They staggered back through the door of Jess's apartment tired and filthy. They had destroyed New Dawn and saved the passengers on the train. Anomalies still existed and the ARC was still required - there would be no normal lives for them.
Until an anomaly to the future opened they had no way of knowing if they were successful or what they had changed. There was no question of Connor using his technology to open a man-made anomaly to find out. Hopefully the future was now a blank canvas, waiting to be written, without the interference of Helen Cutter. They could only hope that the futures she had visited to meddle and steal technology no longer existed - paradoxes that Connor and Matt would one day analyse and expound upon, but not now, not yet.
Lester had told Abby to take a couple of days with Connor before returning to the ARC for de-briefing. Though battered and bandaged from his encounter with the predators, Lester was still able to arrange for Connor to see the top lung specialist three days later. He'd called in a few favours and met the man's outrageous demands to secure him and his team's full co-operation. Lester had to be sure that there were no repercussions from the toxic storm Connor had endured. Matt had briefed him on the possible consequences of Connor's exposure. James was not going to risk losing his top scientist and the only remaining expert on anomalies. Not now. Not after all this.
-0-0-0-
Jess had already showered at the ARC to remove Lester's blood from her body, leaving Connor and Abby full use of the apartment bathroom to remove the dust and grime of New Dawn from their hair and skin. Jess gave them their space, disposing of their ruined clothes and sorting out food and drink whilst they tried to wash away the horrors of the day.
There had been joys too - the elation of closing the New Dawn anomaly, and Matt's return against all odds. Then Abby had proposed and Connor had said "yes" - how could he not? But now Connor was coming down from his adrenaline high and was beginning to sink back into depression.
He was apathetic in the shower, accepting Abby's gentle and loving ministrations but unwilling to respond to them.
"Sorry Abby love, I've got a headache and me lungs still ache. Can we just eat and then go to bed?"
They climbed under the duvet and Abby turned towards her fiancé, expecting at least the comfort of a cuddle, but he was curled in on himself, hugging the far side of the bed, his back to her. She reached out to stroke his neck and shoulder, but he moved away from her touch, even closer to the edge of the bed.
Abby rolled back to her side of the bed and curled into a ball. Even when Connor had been working all hours at Prospero she had not felt this alone. She was terrified that, having fought so hard to get him back, she was about to lose him again.
For the next two days he was lost in his thoughts, a shadow of his former self. If Philip wasn't already dead Abby would have readily killed him for the way he had destroyed her brilliant man.
Connor spent his time staring into space, surfing the web or watching the news reports of the aftermath of Convergence and the ARC clean up operation. His cough, whilst still distressingly bad, was subsiding even as the death count rose. He hadn't touched his video games, which scared Abby more than she thought possible. Digital carnage seemed inappropriate to lift the darkness from his soul. He saw little point - he had caused enough carnage already!
She found him staring at the news, his body shaking. She drew him into her arms ready to discover what was wrong, but he started speaking before she could ask, his voice trembling, eyes never leaving the scenes of destruction. "I knew what was coming Abby. We could have been ready. These people are dead because of me!" Tears rolled down his cheeks and the look of pure anguish on his face broke her heart.
She knelt before him with his cheeks in her hands. "Connor, you know Convergence would have happened anyway. You suspected it would happen and you did what you should have done, confided your fears to the head of Prospero. Philip was the one who dismissed your concerns and sidetracked you onto other research. He failed to tell anyone else so we could prepare. He was so certain that New Dawn would solve everything, but, as usual, failed to consider how many deaths would occur before New Dawn took over. He was only concerned with his clever gadget, not the human costs. It was Philip, Connor, not you. You did everything right. This is not your fault and no-one will blame you."
"But, so many lives have been lost!"
"Connor, you are a good, kind, honest man. You did everything you possibly could, and in the end you stopped New Dawn and saved humanity's future ... our future. If you want to think on anything, think on that."
-0-0-0-
The doctors carried out x-rays, scans, blood samples, and a whole raft of tests on the uncomplaining Connor. He endured every invasion without reaction, barely raising his head and answering questions in monosyllables. It was down to Abby to provide the detailed information. Matt had meticulously documented the indicators and symptoms of diseases caused by exposure to the toxic storms. Abby scanned through Matt's list and her heart clenched in fear.
It was mid afternoon when they were finally released with prescriptions to ease his aching lungs and appointments to come back in one week for results and possibly further tests.
Connor was lifeless, his hands shoved in his pockets and his feet dragging.
They headed to the ARC to start their de-brief. Reaching the entrance, Connor stopped, reluctant to go inside. Abby dragged his right hand out of his hoody pocket where it had spent the day. She laced her fingers through his and smiled at him.
"Come on Con. Let's get this over with."
Connor walked into the building keeping his eyes on the floor, his head down and his left hand still shoved in his pocket. He tried to pull his right hand away from Abby's but she wouldn't let him, simply holding it tighter and not letting go.
One of the soldiers approached them along the corridor. Connor's eyes flicked up and a look of fear flashed across his face. He ducked his head lower and tried to shrink out of the way. As the soldier passed he glanced at the huddled form. He suddenly stopped dead in the corridor and turned towards them.
"Mr Temple?"
Abby stopped and Connor froze, unsure of what to expect. He knew they would blame him for this latest disaster and the men they had lost during Convergence. He knew it was all his fault and that he should be accused, vilified, made to pay.
Slowly Connor and Abby turned around.
"Yes, Parsons isn't it?" Abby tried to keep her voice upbeat and her face smiling, but she could feel Connor's trembling hand and knew he wanted to escape.
"Yes ma'am. I just wanted to say ..." Parsons paused, looking confused and at a loss for words. His eyes darted around as he struggled to express himself, then he snapped smartly to attention and executed a perfect salute. "Well done sir, ma'am."
Then he was marching off down the corridor.
Connor was frozen to the spot, eyes wide, staring at the disappearing back of the soldier.
"Abby, what just happened?"
"I think Connor, that that means you're not to blame."
She smiled gently at him and drew his unresisting left hand from his pocket, wrapping both his hands in hers and clasping them to her chest. "Despite what you may think of yourself and how much you blame yourself, it wasn't your fault. You were used by Philip and Helen. You were tricked. But you didn't build New Dawn, Philip did. You didn't turn on New Dawn, Philip did. And Philip didn't stop New Dawn, you did."
Connor was still bewildered as he looked at Abby while she smiled at him. Then, she went up on tip-toes and gave him a peck on the cheek.
"Oh!" He smiled for the first time in days.
"Come on Con, we'd better get on."
They walked through the doors into the Hub. Before them stood Becker, Jess, Matt, Emily, the techs and some of the soldiers not currently in the field on clean-up operations, a few of them clad in bandages and casts. Lester sat in Jess's chair clutching his cane, still weary but determined to personally oversee the repair of the ARC and dismantling of Prospero.
As Connor and Abby approached, someone cried out "Here they are!"
The assembled team began to applaud, and some cheered. Abby pushed Connor forward into the room and stood back herself, also applauding.
"But, but, it was my fault. If I hadn't worked with Philip, given him the data he needed, none of this would have happened."
Matt stepped forward. "Mate, look at it this way. If New Dawn hadn't happened, I would probably never have been born and I certainly would never have come back." He threw a quick glance over his shoulder to the smiling Emily before turning back to Connor. "As you said yourself, Philip Burton was a genius and even without you he would probably have got there anyway, especially with access to Helen Cutter's research. So New Dawn may well have been inevitable. But the point is you stopped it. You shut it down and saved the future. You're a bloody hero mate, so stop beating yourself up about the bad stuff and start remembering how you saved the world!"
Connor, still wide eyed and disbelieving, looked at the smiling faces of his friends. "So I'm not going to be fired?"
Lester raised himself on his cane and made his way towards his top scientist.
"Of course you're not. Who else is going to work out how to predict these things and shut them down. Good grief man, you're worse than Becker at blaming yourself for everything."
"Oi, I don't do that!" Becker exclaimed.
"You do darling." Jess leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Becker's waist.
His hands unconsciously wrapped around her shoulders in return, pulling her closer to his body as he glared angrily at Lester.
Suddenly he became aware of who was in his arms. He looked down in bewilderment at Jess's smile. "Did you just call me darling?"
"Yes darling."
"Oh." Becker looked confused, but his arms still remained wrapped around her. He thought for a second about this unexpected turn of events, then, like a good soldier, decided on a strategy to turn this to his advantage.
"Err, in that case, I don't suppose you'd like to have ... have dinner with me tonight?"
"Love to. Although I think your place would be a good idea as I'm sure Connor and Abby will need my place to 'talk'."
"Um, my place as in ...?" His raised eyebrows completed the question. He couldn't quite believe this was happening. "Um, are you sure? I mean ... "
"Yes darling. I keep an overnight bag in the locker room in case of emergencies, so there's no need for me to go home. Unless you don't want me to stay of course." She was making that delicious pouty face that made him long to kiss her. Perhaps now he would.
"No, no, I'd love you to. Err, are you sure it's not too fast?"
Jess giggled. "Silly. We've been dancing around each other for over eighteen months. After all that's happened recently I think it's about time we made a move, don't you?"
"Well, alright then." Yes! This was really happening! He couldn't believe his luck - she wanted him!
"About time Action Man!" a voice called out from by the ADD where the rest of the team had gravitated to give the new couple a little privacy.
Jess whirled round and glared at the heckler. "Really, James! I never expected that from you!"
-0-0-0-
What a difference a day made.
Connor staggered through the apartment door, trying hard not to knock Abby's head on the door frame. He carried her carefully, her arms around his neck as she gently nibbled his ear.
"Where?"
"Bedroom."
"Now?"
"Oh yes!"
Some while later, they lay, curled in each others arms, naked and exhausted but deliriously happy.
"Abby, I really am so sorry. I will never know why I put Philip's word above yours. I can't believe I did it. How can you ever trust me again?"
"Because I know why you did it even if you don't. I knew that you would never be able to resist what Philip was offering. You had been starved of technology for over a year, and you came back to find one of your scientific heroes had taken over the ARC - your baby. I saw it in your eyes that first day we were back. You were smitten. Burton was clever. He offered you a way to continue Cutter's legacy."
"But it wasn't Nick's."
"No, but someone like Philip Burton doesn't get to be a multi-billionaire without knowing how to manipulate the truth for his own ends. You never stood a chance my love. He'd read your files. I got Jess to check back through the logs. He knew about your dad and he knew about your devotion to Cutter. He tried to make himself your new father figure even though he never deserved the role. I'm just thankful you didn't fall for April."
"Sorry, what? What do you mean fall for April?" His confused reaction showed he'd never even thought about April that way, much to Abby's relief. So she'd never made a move on him, although Abby wondered if it might have been different if Connor had ever shown any interest.
"I'm fairly sure she was there to keep you on the straight and narrow by any means possible including seduction. After all, Philip had access to the Caroline Steele files."
"But I guessed about Caroline from the start and was never attracted to her."
"I know, but that's not what the files say. I had a look. They say she was sent in to seduce you and keep you off balance and away from the anomalies and the ADD while Leek and Helen infiltrated the ARC. Don't forget, Caroline was part of Helen's plan. If it worked once, why not use it again on poor, gullible Connor." She reached over and stroked his cheek, letting him know she thought him neither poor nor gullible.
"But I was poor, gullible Connor. I was just seduced by the project, not the people."
"Con, stop beating yourself up over it. You were duped by a master manipulator who had access to almost everything about you including those psych tests we did when we first joined. You really didn't stand a chance." She kissed him slowly and lovingly. "Luckily he hadn't realised those psych tests were seriously out of date following our time in the Cretaceous, especially mine. You've changed me for the better. The old me would have got angry and shut you out leaving you even more vulnerable. I'm not that person any more. I know the value of what I have and I fight to protect it." They kissed again, snuggling closer into each others arms.
"Although, if he hadn't tried to destroy the creatures in the menagerie, and worked you in to the ground I would probably have been taken in too. If he'd been nice to me instead of trying to drive a wedge between us New Dawn may just have succeeded and then where would we be? The point is, you saw through him in the end and you put it right. You were the only one who could."
"Only with your help Abs. Thank you for not giving up on me."
"Couldn't ever do that Con. What we do, we do together. That's the deal, especially now." She happily wiggled her left hand under his nose allowing his father's wedding band to glint on her ring finger.
He was smiling lovingly at her, then his face clouded. "I just hope I'm around long enough to enjoy this. I saw Matt's list. Any one of those diseases could be fatal. I don't want to leave you Abs, but I may not have a choice."
She stroked his cheek. "Con, don't get maudlin on me. You've got the best care and they'll be monitoring you all the way. If, and it's a big if, something shows up then they'll treat it right away. And I'll be with you, helping you fight, no matter what." She was terrified, but determined not to let her fear consume her, or him. He needed her strength as she needed his love.
Connor pulled her close to his chest so she could hear his beating heart, her head tucked under his chin. Together they were unstoppable and he was never going to let her go.
"Did you really mean what you said, in the bunker, about marriage and children?"
"Of course I did Con. I told you, I want a future with you and no-one else."
His face shone with pure joy. "Me too. Thank you Abby."
"My pleasure Con. After all, I have a pretty big debt to repay you. Just call it Abby Therapy."
THE END
Well that's it. What do you think?
Want to know what happens next? This story leads into 'Parenthood', but I may revisit at a later date.