Connor's Secrets
Summary: Connor is too strange to be from the same place as everyone else, I mean, his fashion, the conspiracies, really, who does he think he's fooling? But the thing is, he's actually fooling everyone. Connor was also in one of the most famous bands ever, but no one knew that either. And then the Anomalies came along. And everything went to hell.
Warnings: Bad language, probably. Gore. Um, angst. Yeah, think that's it. Spoilers for all of Season 1
PLEASE READ A/N: Well, my laptop crashed and then I had no internet, so I couldn't post :( I know, there's been a lot of delays for the updates. Also, I've reposted the last chapter due to the fact that it was the unedited version. I'm so sorry, but I seem to have lost the plot (quite literally; the paper with my plan written on has vanished) and so, I'm now struggling from a case of writer's block (the horror!). Due to this, I've decided to end this fic here & will pick up where I left off with a sequel as soon as my writer's block has cleared. In the meantime, please can you vote on pairings. Thank you!
Remember to Count Your Creepy Future-Bats
"Stephen, go see what's taking Connor so long," Cutter told his friend.
"Ok," the man agreed and started to jog in the direction that Connor went in.
As Stephen got closer to the car park, he could hear growling and he started to run. He heard a shout of 'Bear' and started to sprint. He came out of the treeline at the same time as a yell of pain sounded. The man saw the creature, standing on top of Connor, biting into his shoulder. The beast was covered in blood and Bear lay, whimpering to the side. Stephen took his stance and pulled the trigger, shooting the predator. It pulled its head away from Connor, looking up at Stephen before fleeing.
The man ran over to his friend, who was now trying to sit up. The older man knelt beside the younger, "lie still."
Connor moved a hand up to his shoulder and put pressure on the wound, "Bear, is he alright?" he asked.
Stephen looked towards the prone figure of the dog, covered in blood, and replied, "I don't know, I'll go check, okay? Just stay still."
Connor nodded as the man stood. He walked over to Bear and knelt by the dog. The animal was still breathing, but there was a large bite on his back. Stephen shushed the dog and stroked him, before standing and pulling out his phone.
"Stephen?" Cutter asked.
"Cutter," he began, "I found Connor."
"What? Is he-"
"He's alive. But, he's hurt and so is Bear," Stephen knelt back beside Connor.
"How badly?"
"Connor's got a bite on the shoulder, and some shallow scratch marks on his side, he's still conscious" the man explained, "Bear's got a bite on his back, but is still breathing."
"Right," Cutter replied, "Ok, I'll get Ryan to radio the medic over to your location. Are you by the car?"
"Yeah, still by the car," just as he said that, he heard Abby's voice.
"Stephen?" she asked.
"I've got to go Cutter. I'll call you later."
"Bye."
"Abby, I need your help," Stephen said as he put his phone away.
"Oh my God," Abby covered her mouth with her hand as she took in what was going on.
"Abby, I need you to get some vets from the zoo to look after Bear for me," he told her.
The blonde swallowed, "will he-?"
"He'll be fine, just help Bear," Stephen interrupted as he took Connor's scarf off the man, and cut it in half with a knife, "sorry, Connor, you're gonna need a new scarf," said man gave a breathy chuckle, cut off with a hiss of pain.
"Okay," Abby nodded and walked over to the dog, to assess how badly hurt he was. After a minute, she ran off, muttering something about a stretcher.
"Thanks," Connor said, looking up at Stephen.
"For what?" the man asked as he pressed into the younger man's side with half of the scarf.
"Oh, you know, saving my life," the Wonderlander replied, using the other half of the scarf to keep pressure on his left shoulder, "checking on Bear an' all that."
" 'S no problem," the older man told him, "had to save your life," Connor looked at him, questioningly, "you still owe me that drink."
Connor laughed, then grimaced in pain, before saying, "good point, I do owe you a drink."
The last time the team went out for drinks, he'd made Stephen drive him home, and as payment, the Mighty Hunter had told the Wonderlander he owed him a drink.
Just then, Abby came back with two men and a stretcher. They managed to lift Bear and started to take him away as the blonde told them that it was the escaped lion which attacked them. As she was leaving, the Home Office medic arrived and started to tend to Connor. The SF- Black, his name was- moved Stephen out of the way and knelt on Connor's right, where his side was cut. Black moved the scarf, before undoing Connor's waistcoat and cutting open his white t-shirt. The medic started to clean the two, long, thin lines which stretched from below the Wonderlander's right peck to above his hip. Once that was done, he stuck a large, white plaster over the shallow cuts.
"They won't need stitches," Black explained, "they aren't deep, the blood just made them look worse than they were and they've stopped bleeding now," he moved round to Connor's left side, to look at his shoulder.
The medic moved the other bit of the scarf and tore the side of Connor's waistcoat and shirt open. He was just cleaning the bite, when Cutter and the others arrived.
"Sit up, and lean against the car," Black told Connor, who did as told, "this one's gonna need a few stitches."
The medic pulled out some thread with a sterile needle, and started to stitch the deeper punctures. After that was done, he covered it with a large plaster, and got Connor to take his shirt off fully. The man then started to wrap a bandage around the Wonderlander's shoulder. The white cloth went from the top of Connor's left shoulder, under his arm, and across to under his right arm several times. Once that was done, Stephen pulled a spare shirt out from the back of the car and gave it to the injured man.
As Connor was standing and putting the shirt on, Cutter walked over and said, "look, you should go home."
"No," the student disagreed, "I'm gonna stay," he started to button up the shirt, "I'm fine, Cutter."
Stephen, Cutter and Connor looked at the medic, who replied, "medically, there's no reason he can't stay."
Cutter turned back to Connor, "there's no way I'm going to be able to stop you from coming, is there?"
"Nope," the Wonderlander agreed and popped the 'p'.
The professor sighed, "oh, fine."
Connor smiled and the medic said, "I'll just get you a sling, and you'll be good to go."
The group then used the dogs and the oscilloscope to find the location of the wounded creature. The trail lead to animal crate storage. A great place for a lair.
"Whatever it is, it's right on top of his," Cutter said as the man looked over Connor's shoulder at the beeping device.
"The dogs should be going crazy," Stephen replied.
The group made their way into the building, the SFs keeping an eye out for any danger.
"It's in here somewhere," Connor told them.
"Cutter!" Stephen called, "you need to see this."
Said man walked over, with Connor following.
"My, god, it's given birth," the Scotsman stated.
"They're actually kinda cute," the Wonderlander said.
"There are three bodies back here," Stephen told them.
"She's storing them to feed her young," Helen said, sounding somehow happy about it, in a twisted way.
"Not so cute," Connor muttered, "and, anyway, how do we know it's a female?" he knew that the Jabberwocky species were nurtured by the males, while the females flited from partner to partner. The oscilloscope started to go haywire and he shouted, "we've got company!"
"Where the hell is it?!" Ryan shouted.
Everyone was looking up, until there was a yell of an SF being killed. In the chaos of people shooting at it whenever it came into sight, Cutter grabbed one of the babies and ran. The creature gave chase. The sound of nine gun shots, breaking glass and growling filled the air. People started running to check on Cutter, Stephen in the lead with Connor. When they got there, they saw the professor standing over the creature. It was dead.
After they packed up all the baby Future Predators, along with the body of the adult, everyone left the zoo. Cutter went back to the Home Office with the SFs, Predators and Helen. Stephen had told Connor that they should go for a drink. The Wonderlander agreed. At the bar, the assistant professor asked the student how his dissertation was coming as they sat at a booth and looked over the menu.
"I've finished it, actually," Connor told his friend.
"Really?" the man sounded surprised, "when did that happen?"
"I put it on Cutter's desk when I was at the university, earlier today," he said.
The waiter came over to take their order. They both got a beer, with a plate of cheesy chips to share. Connor was thankful, at this point, that he was ambidextrous so that he could still eat without difficulty.
"How's the arm?" Stephen asked.
Connor shrugged, "it's alright. Stings a bit, but Black gave me some oxycodone to use for the pain for a week, some Augmentin to prevent infection and some anti-sickness tablets for any side effects."
"Should you be having a beer if you've had all those meds?" the older man asked.
"Good point," the younger nodded, before yawning, "think the meds are having a negative effect on my brain."
"You want me to take you home?" Stephen offered.
Connor nodded and yawned again. Drossiness: a side effect of painkillers. The assistant professor stood and pulled his friend up, sticking close by in case the younger man needed help. After Stephen pulled up outside Lester's apartment, Connor got out of the car and insisted on going up himself.
"Are you sure?"
"I'll be fine," Connor yawned again, "I'm just a little tired."
Stephen nodded, "ok, I'll see you tomorrow."
The black haired man nodded, before turning and making his way up to the flat. He tripped on the stairs a couple of times. As he lay in bed, Connor decided that he would not be able to stay on the oxycodone.
Today, they were sending the babies back to the future (Connor enjoyed the irony of that sentence), and were setting up a permanent camp in the past. Due to all that happened yesterday, Connor had decided to go with a more Hatter-like outfit today. He was wearing purple suit trousers, a black button-up shirt, a black waistcoat, and a metallic purple tie, along with a black version of his Hatter jacket, a black hat, his gloves, and combat boots. Connor was just amazed that Lester showed up to the gathering, actually.
As it got to the time for Cutter to go through the Anomaly, everyone gathered around to see. Connor winced as he rolled his shoulder; that bite was killing him since he decided not to take the painkillers.
Claudia walked up to Cutter and started to ask him not to go. He still went. But, just as he was about to go through, Claudia walked up and kissed him. Thoroughly. Everyone awkwardly looked away. Cutter went through the Anomaly with Helen.
Ten minutes later, Connor suppressed another wince as his shoulder stabbed at him.
"You didn't take the painkillers, did you?" Stephen asked him.
"It was effecting my mind," he explained, not looking away from the Anomaly and the readings he was taking, "I can't have that while I'm working."
"If you're in pain, you shouldn't be here," his friend argued.
"I'm fine. I've had worse."
"Connor-"
"Seriously, Stephen, I'm fine."
The older sighed, before leaving the topic alone.
"Uhuh…yeah…and, you're sure," he was saying into the phone.
"Connor?" Stephen asked.
"There's no chance you could've made a mistake?"
"Connor, give me the phone," Stephen held out his hand, Connor put his hand up as well.
"Ok, I understand, thanks," he hung up, a worried and confused look on his face.
"The lab?" the older man asked.
"Yeah," the younger paused, "the creature was, undoubtedly, a male."
"It's gotta be female," Mighty Hunter frowned, "it was nurturing its young."
"Maybe, in this species, that's a job for the boys."
"It better be, because otherwise," there was a nervous pause, "there's another still out there."
There was a flickering light and a strange sound from the Anomaly. The team moved closer to the shattered mirror, cautiously observing.
"What happened?" Claudia asked as she moved closer to them.
"Not sure," Connor replied as he looked at his compass.
"Did you see something?" the woman asked.
"Nothing," Stephen shook his head, slight horror dawning on him.
"Is the Anomaly getting weaker?" Claudia swallowed.
"No. There's no change," Connor frowned.
Cutter stepped back through the Anomaly, looking slightly scared and sad.
"What happen?" Lester asked, when the Scotsman didn't speak, "did you find the Anomaly?"
"Captain Ryan didn't make it," Cutter replied, eyes downcast, "and all his men are dead. Whatever happens, nobody goes back through."
The team looked away, sad at the loss of their friends.
"Well, I'm sorry to break your new rule so soon, Nick, but, um…I'm not staying" Helen said, with a twisted smirk.
"Well, then, what did you come back through for?" Cutter sounded pissed; annoyed with his ex-wife's manipulation.
"Oh, just a little, um," Helen replied, looking at Stephen, "unfinished business. You see, Nick, it was just one of those things; I was lonely, and you didn't seem to care about me, and Stephen was so…sweet, and…attentive."
"Shut up, Helen," Stephen glared.
"Oh, you mean, you never told him?" Helen didn't sound surprised, just…pleased, "um, oh dear."
"What an extremely awkward moment," Lester piped up and Connor rolled his eyes.
"You see, I don't want to be on my own anymore," Helen continued as if Lester weren't there. She spoke to Stephen, "you once said you'd do anything for me if I gave you the chance, well here it is; come with me."
"Don't do this," Stephen frowned and shook his head.
"Well, falling for one of your students is never a good idea, but, um…sometimes these things just happen, you know," the woman admitted, now standing by the lab technician.
"How could you keep that from me for so many years?" Cutter asked as he turned to Stephen.
"There was no point in saying anything," Stephen stepped around Helen and closer to his friend, "it was a long time ago, in the past," he was pleading now.
"The past has a habit of coming back these day, doesn't it?" Helen spoke up.
There was an awkward silence as people looked at each other, Connor wincing, this time not in physical pain.
"Well, are you coming?" the spiteful woman asked Stephen, getting impatient.
"You know what I'd forgotten, Helen?" Stephen's voice was thick with emotion, "sometimes you can be a real bitch" the manipulative woman smirked. Stephen turned and walked away, Helen leaving through the Anomaly.
Everything was peaceful and quiet. Connor believed that it was all going to be alright. That was, until Cutter spoke up.
"Where's Claudia?" he had asked.
Everyone looked at him, blankly. Except Connor; he knew what was happening.
"Claudia?" Lester asked.
"Where's Claudia Brown?" Cutter asked back.
The boss shrugged, "I don't know anyone with that name."
The professor looked completely horrified, "no, come on, where is she?"
"We really don't know what you're talking about" Stephen agreed, looking worried.
"We've never heard of her," Abby agreed.
"Look, you've been working with her every day for months, so don't tell me you don't know who she is," Cutter was getting angry; thinking it was some kind of sick joke.
"No idea," Lester was confused, though he was trying not to show it, "sorry."
Cutter advanced on the suit, "where is she?" he asked angrily.
"Cutter, we don't know her," Stephen stepped forward.
"No one knows her," Abby told him.
"Wait, something's wrong; something's gone wrong," Cutter paced back towards the Anomaly. The man wasn't making much sense, "this isn't right, something's happened: something's- something's changed; we've done something, we've-" he took a breath, "something that we've done has changed the past, and she's not here anymore," he looked back at the Anomaly, "oh my God" Cutter looked at the people watching him warily, "oh my God."
A/N: So, after reading this through, I realised that Stephen & Connor's interactions might seem a bit slashy, but it wasn't intended that way. You can take it that way, if you want, but it can also be bromance. I also can't tell the difference between 'lose', 'loose', & 'loss' (same as 'choose' & 'chose') so sorry if it got them mixed up somewhere. Anyway, please vote:
Connor(Hatter)/Stephen 0
Connor(Hatter)/Jack (of Hearts) 0
Connor(Hatter)/Becker 1
Other (specify) 0
I've reposted the last chapter due to the fact that it was the unedited version. And, I'm so so sorry, but I seem to have lost the plot (quite literally; the paper with my plan written on has vanished) and so, I'm now struggling from a case of writer's block (the horror!). Due to this, I've decided to end this fic here & will pick up where I left off with a sequel as soon as my writer's block has cleared. I will be posting other one-shots because I looked up how to clear writer's block & someone suggested a 30 day challenge, so that's what I'm gonna do.
Thank you everyone for reading, following, favorating and reviewing! Hope you enjoyed the story,
Shunters