Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
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Abby was fidgeting.
She had awoken in the recovery room. Nurses were constantly monitoring her blood pressure. After an hour Abby had finally been wheeled into the maternity ward. The orderly had told her to stay there. Don't get out of bed or we'll put you back in the recovery room he'd told her.
Abby still felt woozy. The meds she had been given were making her head spin. Abby didn't think she could get out of bed. She was now sitting in the hospital bed, fidgeting.
Where was her baby and where was Connor?
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Fifteen minutes later, a cheerful looking nurse pushed open the door to her room. She looked at Abby, then turned to speak to someone in the hall.
"She's in here," the nurse said, "let me do my checks, then you can go on in."
The nurse crossed the tile floor to Abby's bedside.
"Where…" began Abby.
The nurse smiled at her conspiratorially. "They're in the hall," she answered Abby's unspoken question "I'll let them in after I take your vitals… you gave us quite a scare you know."
"What are you talking about?" asked Abby as the woman grabbed her wrist to take her pulse. She was counting silently to herself and didn't speak for a moment.
"They didn't tell you in the recovery room?" asked the nurse when she finally spoke.
"Tell me what?
The nurse wrapped a blood pressure monitoring device around Abby's arm.
"You started hemorrhaging… passed out… right after the baby was born," the nurse answered.
"Normally we would keep you in the recovery room for constant monitoring for another couple of hours," she added "but doctor said best to put you in a regular room where your husband could see you or we'd have another patient on our hands."
The nurse opened the door to the hallway. "You can see her now," she said.
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Connor entered the room. His brown eyes were worried. He was carrying a little bundle swaddled in a pink blanket.
"Abby, are you all right?" Connor asked.
The nurse wheeled in a shiny metal hospital bassinet behind him. It looked more like a filing drawer than a baby bed thought Abby.
"When you get tired of holding her," said the nurse "put her in here and we'll take her back to the nursery."
Abby watched as Connor came closer to her bedside. He didn't seem to be paying any attention to the nurse's words.
"Yeah, right," he said. But he never took his eyes off of Abby.
"Abby, are you all right?" Connor asked again.
"Yeah, Conn, I'm fine." Abby said as the nurse slipped out of the room. "Connor, what happened? Is the baby alright?"
"Abby… Abby," said Connor, his brown eyes filled with tears threatening to spill over. "I thought we lost you there for a moment."
"You're not losing me Connor," Abby responded. Even though her head was pounding, she said "I'm fine. What about the baby?"
Connor grinned. "Abby are you ready to meet our daughter?"
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Connor held the little pink bundle up to Abby. She started to take the baby, but stopped. She was staring at Connor's hands. His hands were wrapped in gauze bandages.
"Connor, what's wrong with your hands?"
"Nothing's wrong," he answered. She glared at him.
"It's just… in the car… coming over here…" he continued "you really held on tight when you were having contractions... doctor's wanted to bandage me hands… mainly think they wanted to keep me out of the way…"
All of a sudden, Abby remembered Beth's graduation from so long ago. The girl from dance class had held on tight to Connor too, she had clawed his wrist leaving red marks.
"It's not nothing," Abby hissed "just like it wasn't nothing when Charlie's sister scratched your arms up."
"What? The scratches aren't important Abby," said Connor in confusion "and neither was Charlie's sister … why are you bringing her up now?"
"Connor," asked Abby incredulously "are you going to tell me I'm not important someday? Charlie's sister obviously thought you two had a history…"
"The only history we had was being dance partners years ago…" interrupted Connor "I don't know why she…"
"Because I told her," interrupted another voice quietly. Abby and Connor turned to see Beth standing by the door.
"When you were stuck at home… after the accident… Connor… you seemed so lonely," Beth continued "I told her what you had said about liking her and wanting to take her to the Fall Dance… told her that she should visit… but she never did."
"Well that sort of explains why she always acted like she owned me when I went back to school the next year," said Connor "but really I don't remember ever saying I liked her… liked dancing with her, but… can't dance with broken legs."
In the momentary silence following Connor's words, Beth held up her smart phone.
"Connor… Abby…" she asked "May I take a picture of the three of you?"
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The nurse had interrupted them just as Beth's phone camera clicked.
"You need to get out of here," the nurse scolded Beth "she needs her rest… no other visitors today."
Beth had left quickly, promising to send the picture to Connor's Mum and all their friends. The nurse had checked Abby's vitals again and then followed Beth out of the room.
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"Abby," said Connor cautiously "the nurse said that the pain medication they gave you might make you…"
"Might make me what?" Abby snapped.
Connor stepped backwards clattering into the bassinet. He was still holding the little pink bundle. Not a sound could be heard. He took a deep breath.
"Might make you not quite like yourself," he said quietly "makes some people… umm… uh… aggressive."
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Aggressive with antisocial behavior, psychopathic… Abby remembered the words from the court hearing months ago. The woman who had stalked them, throwing bricks into the front window of their home had been described with those words.
"I'm not like that woman you lived with at uni," Abby hissed angrily.
"Never thought you were," replied Connor. He looked at her warily.
"You love me… for who I am… you don't go around trying to control me…" he continued "she…" He stopped speaking for a moment.
"You don't treat someone you love like that," he concluded quietly.
Abby remembered the solicitor. She and Connor had requested a restraining order against the woman. The solicitor had told them that the woman had been diagnosed with some sort of bipolar disorder and would be sent for therapy and medication. The solicitor didn't really think the woman was a threat to them.
"Do you think I'm dangerous?" Abby asked.
"No!" exclaimed Connor. "You're wonderful, brave and kind and smart…"
"That's how your mother described Juliet," interrupted Abby.
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"Well, the two of you are a lot alike," admitted Connor "but you're..."
"Then why didn't you marry Juliet?"
"We had talked about it… maybe… someday… after uni," began Connor "we had talked about going to the local university… you know, the one Beth graduated from… we were going to go there together."
Abby just stared in amazement. She'd never heard Connor speak of this before.
"But then I got the scholarship to Central Met… Juliet kept telling me I should go there… it had the programs I really wanted… it was a better school…"
Connor took a deep breath. The little pink bundle in his arms squirmed a bit, then settled.
"Juliet kept saying that she didn't want to hold me back… and then her parents decided to move the family to the Gambia… so she went with them instead," he continued. He closed his eyes for a moment, the long lashes looking darker than ever against his pale face.
"I wrote every day… for two months after Juliet left," he said "then I got a letter where she told me to quit writing… told me to go on to uni and get on with me life… she was getting on with hers."
"Oh Connor," said Abby. It sounded so harsh she thought, not like the Juliet she had met at Beth's graduation. "I thought she loved you."
He looked surprised at her words.
"Juliet did love me," he answered "she loved me enough to set me loose… I wouldn't have gone to Central Met if I had kept on pining away for her… would never have met Cutter or gone to the Forest of Dean… I would never have met you."
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The little pink bundle Connor had been holding carefully all this while squirmed and let out a tiny little squeaking noise, then settled again.
"Abby," asked Connor "are you ready to meet our daughter?"
"Yeah."
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Connor stepped forward and pulled the little blanket back.
"Isn't she beautiful," he breathed.
Abby looked at the baby. Their daughter had dark brown hair and even darker eyelashes, long and lush like Connor's thought Abby. She listened as he talked excitedly about their little girl… seven pounds, seven ounces… 21 inches long… they had both been rushed out of the delivery room when the doctors realized Abby was going to need additional care. Connor paused for a moment.
"Don't scare me like that again please," he begged.
"I'll try not to," answered Abby. He gave a tremulous smile at her response.
"I got to feed her," Connor said proudly "She drank a whole four ounces."
"What?" exclaimed Abby "I wanted to breast feed…"
"Abby," said Connor gently "the pain meds the doctor gave you… it's not good for a baby… she'll need to have formula until…"
"Until the meds are out of my system," said Abby.
"Yeah," said Connor. "Abby… hold out your arms."
Connor gently placed the tiny baby in her arms. "Scoot over a bit," he said.
"What," asked Abby "are you going to get up in the bed too?"
"Sure," replied Connor "it's big… we can all fit quite easily."
Abby blinked at his words. She had heard Connor say something quite like that before.
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"Ohhh," she gasped.
"What?" asked Connor.
"That's what you said…" began Abby "when we went to your Mum's home the first time… in the single bed with the star wars comforter… you had someone in that bed with you before… it was Juliet!? Wasn't it?"
Connor blinked and his face flushed a bit.
"Abby," he said firmly "I never took anyone to bed in that room besides you… I just know how big the bed is… like I know how big this bed is."
Connor didn't feel the need to tell Abby about the details of his love for Juliet. Really, it just wasn't polite to kiss and tell. But, he could almost hear Stephen coaching him again… she needs to know that it's over.
"Juliet and I… we were each other's first love… but we've both moved on."
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"You and Sarah are the only women in my life now," said Connor.
Abby narrowed her eyes.
"What?" Connor asked "What have I said now?
"What about your Mum, and your sister…" began Abby, "Jess, Emily, Jenny… and what if we have another daughter?"
"Another daughter?" asked Connor. "You mean… you might… you want to have another baby?" He looked so hopeful at that moment.
Abby nodded yes. She scooted over and patted the bed beside her, Connor was quick to join her.
Looking down at the beautiful little girl snuggled in her arms, Abby replied "I want a half dozen at least."
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The next time the nurse came to check Abby's vital signs, she brought a bottle for little Sarah Leia Temple.
"Really," the nurse said "I should take the baby back to the nursery… and you… Mr. Temple… you should go home."
"I'm staying right here," Connor replied. "We're staying together."
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And if… somewhere in that hospital an anomaly opened…
And if a woman dressed in dreary khaki were to step through… she would have seen a long legged man with red hair starting to gray standing guard at the door to the young Mrs. Temple's hospital room.
Nobody dangerous was getting past him.