Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
A/N Part of the Claudia story verse (AU) Transitions, Transitions Too, Continuum, Trimming the Tree
5.4-1 AU Bugged
…"our lives seem to be all at sixes and sevens"…
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Abby left Patrick and Rex in the kitchen. When she reached the bedroom upstairs, she found Connor standing by the desk. His hands gripped the back of the straight backed chair tightly. His whitened knuckles showed in sharp contrast against his bruised skin. Connor was staring at a small cylindrical device.
"Hey," greeted Abby softly. "Are you missing me yet?"
Connor turned his head towards Abby. The warm glow in his dark eyes answered Abby's question. A slow smile spread across his face, bringing an answering smile to her face.
"Yeah," replied Connor. He winced as he stepped away from the chair. "C'mere."
Abby stepped inside his embrace and wrapped her arms gently around him, careful not to squeeze too tightly.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Lester reached across the dark wood desktop and wrapped his hand around his glass of whisky, but he didn't raise it at Danny's toast.
"Hmm," said Lester "I thought you were going to the past. Weren't you going to rescue our errant public relations specialist?"
"Percy didn't want to come back," replied Danny. "He found his Lady Emily and wasn't going to leave her… not for anything."
"And certainly not for us," added Stephen.
"Sarah told me you left the middle ages," said Lester, "searching for Helen."
Both Stephen and Danny nodded.
"Just how many Helen's are there?" asked Lester.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor snuggled in to Abby. He rested his head on her shoulder, then he sniffed.
"You smell," he whispered, stepping back with a wry smile.
Abby nodded.
"Big ugly creature with bad breath," Abby explained. "Why don't you tell me about your day, while I change out of these clothes?"
Abby noticed the way Connor's body swayed. She sniffed loudly and wrinkled up her nose, quickly changing her tune.
"Better yet," suggested Abby "why don't you lay down, while I take a quick shower?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Cutter arrived at the ARC just as Claudia, Sarah, Emily, Matt and Becker finished unloading the SUV. Sarah, Emily and Matt walked down the corridor towards the locker room, while Becker turned the opposite way heading towards Jess's workstation. Claudia stopped, waiting for her husband.
"Oh Claudia," sighed Nick as he stopped briefly to kiss her, "Sorry… I've got to get Matt…"
Claudia placed her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows as the professor hurried past her. Cutter strode right up to Matt, tapping him on the shoulder. Sarah and Emily continued on their way with just a brief backwards glance at the two men. Matt turned to see Cutter stopped mere inches away from him.
"You need to come with me to Lester's office," said Cutter shortly.
"What for?" asked Matt in surprise.
"Because we need to know where every person from your time was sent," replied Cutter. "And exactly what your mission was supposed to be."
"Nick," said Claudia with a hint of a frown. "I'm coming too."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby came back to the bedroom a short while later, wearing her pink flannel pajamas. Connor was lying down, stretched out on the bed with his arm over his eyes much like he had been Monday morning when Abby had gone to work.
"Tell me about your day," prompted Abby.
"Not much happened around here since lunch," replied Connor. "I'll bet your day was way more interesting."
Connor's eyes followed her movements as she walked around the room. Abby opened the closet door and tossed her dirty clothing into the hamper, then she dropped her short black boots by the foot of the bed. They landed with a soft thump on the rug. Connor inhaled sharply.
"I heard Cutter stopped by," said Abby.
"Yeah."
Abby turned away from Connor and picked up the hairbrush on the dresser. She glanced at Connor in the mirror as she began brushing her short blonde hair.
"Patrick said you two were yelling at each other," continued Abby. "What for?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Danny sat back in the stuffed black leather chair with a sigh.
"One Helen is more than I ever wanted to meet," the lanky red head replied.
"We lost track of her in the eighteenth century," added Stephen.
Lester leaned back. He rested his elbow on the arm of his chair, holding his chin in his hands as he gazed at the two men.
"Let me get this straight," said Lester "you left the middle ages chasing after Helen, lost her somewhere in the eighteenth century and somehow returned from the Jurassic. How is that possible?"
"It was the cretaceous," said Danny. "Not the Jurassic…"
"The dating calculator combined with the anomaly map that Connor created," answered Stephen "has made it possible for us to travel through time… somewhat accurately…"
"I wanted to put the blue cell phone back," interrupted Danny. "I thought… there might be a time… when another Connor and Abby… could use it..."
"And…?" asked Lester.
Before Danny could answer, Cutter barged in followed by Claudia and Matt.
"I don't know where or when all the others were sent," huffed Matt. "and the mission was simply stop anyone... at anytime... from messing with the anomalies."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby looked up to watch Connor's reaction to her question. The rueful smile on Connor's face surprised her.
"Cutter's never going to change," replied Connor. "He still thinks most of my ideas are a load of rubbish."
"No Connor," Abby objected "Cutter has always said you've got a good brain, and you know more about anomalies… than…"
"Than Cutter," finished Connor.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Lester's office wasn't really designed to hold six people. The furniture was a bit too bulky, and it didn't help that the people inside were all very talented, highly strung… and very opinionated.
"And exactly what do you mean when you say messing with the anomalies?" asked the Scot.
"Interfering with the natural order," replied Matt grimly.
"People have always interfered with nature," replied the Professor. "Every time a person plants a seed… or waters a plant when it's dry…"
"Some people call that progress," added Claudia.
"That's not what I meant," snapped Matt.
"Why don't you tell us what you mean?" asked Danny. He gave Matt a grin, but the younger man noted the serious expression in Danny's eyes.
"In my time, the earth is ruined," began Matt. "The land is harsh… desert mostly and the air is toxic."
"People live in the Kalahari," reminded Danny "and in London smog too."
"Nothing lives on the surface in my time. We've got mutant bugs, insects the size of cars," added Matt, "giant rats and predators too…"
Cutter stared at the man from the future. The professor remembered something Helen had said once… three quarters of all animal species are either bats or rats. He'd doubted her numbers at the time, but never really bothered to check. He started to ask a question, but Claudia spoke first.
"What kind of predators," asked Claudia.
Matt crossed his arms and looked grim.
"Predators like that half a thing that come through the anomaly at the race track yesterday," replied Matt with a frown "but bigger... meaner..."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
"Seriously? Did you tell Cutter that?" Abby asked.
"No," sighed Connor, little tension lines creased around his eyes, "but I should have."
"Then what were you and Cutter yelling about?" asked Abby as she set the brush back down on the dresser.
Connor pointed to the device resting atop his bureau. The slight motion caused him to wince again.
"Cutter seems to think I know something about that gadget," replied Connor "It reverses polarity on the anomalies… I told him I didn't make it and I haven't got a clue how it works."
Abby walked over to the bed. She reached her hands out towards Connor's chest.
"Maybe you just forgot," teased Abby as she slid her hand slowly down his chest, "that device does have your logo on it…"
Connor grabbed her hand and held it still in his right hand. Abby stared at their joined hands in surprise as Connor continued to talk.
"Cutter said the device was made by a Connor Temple, but it wasn't me Abby," said Connor seriously "and I couldn't have forgotten that… the technology is just too different."
"Connor," said Abby, "you create a lot of things. You dream up more new ideas than most people… maybe you're confused… or you just forgot."
Connor looked at Abby with a strange expression on his face. His dark eyes looked hurt. He released her hand.
"Did Dr. MacAllister ask you to spy on me?" huffed Connor. "I told him… stuff…"
Connor's face flushed and he looked down for a moment. He took a deep breath and then looked back at Abby.
"Are you two working together behind my back?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Jess opened the door to Lester's office. She held a finger to her lips, while behind her… Becker held up a piece of paper marked with big black letters.
WE'VE BEEN BUGGED
Lester rolled his eyes.
"Seriously," Lester asked "has anyone heard from Christine Johnson lately?"
Becker shook his head from left to right. Lester's eyebrows went up in surprise.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
In the power station, the receiver squawked abruptly and fell silent.
"Aww," sighed April. "Just when the conversation was getting interesting."
Aurora's long bony arm reached in front of the smaller blonde woman and turned off the device.
"We'll have to leave now," said Aurora. "They might be able to reverse trace our reception and find this place."
"Where are we going?" asked April.
"Back to London," answered Aurora. "We've got to stop Connor Temple."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Abby held Connor. Her initial outburst… "It's for your own good! Connor! Listen to me, please!" had met resistance. It wasn't until she had climbed up in the bed beside him, turned his face towards her and repeated her plea, that he listened.
"People react differently to pain medications," Abby explained. "Dr. MacAllister just wanted me to watch you, in case you had a bad reaction… or if the pain was too much… and you needed the medicine back again."
"Everything hurts," admitted Connor, "but my head works better without that stuff."
His eyes were closed and his head was lying across her lap. As she leaned back against the pillows, Abby stroked Connor's forehead lightly with her fingertips.
"Thought me brain was broken along with everything else," mumbled Connor. "You might not love me anymore if…"
"What?" asked Abby in surprise.
"I heard you introduce me as your genius boyfriend at the Christmas party," Connor continued. "I'm not much of a boyfriend now am I... Abby... I want you to be proud of me… don't want you to be shamed of me…"
"Connor, I'm always proud of you," replied Abby "and I love you."
"Would you love me even if I forgot something important?" asked Connor.
Abby leaned down and lightly kissed Connor's forehead. She straightened back up and resumed stroking his forehead.
"You forget important things like eating," chuckled Abby "when you're working on a new idea, but I still love you."
"What if I got confused?"
"I am talking to the man who puts his socks in the microwave," reminded Abby.
"That's not confused," protested Connor in a sleepy relaxed voice, "is just warm."
"I still love you."
"Would you love me even if I woke you up when I have horrible nightmares?"
"What kind of nightmares?" asked Abby.
"Dunno," answered Connor. "Nightmares about boots…"
"I thought you liked my boots," chuckled Abby.
"Love your boots Abs," replied Connor sleepily. He yawned. "Your boots are soft and black and right sexy… not mean boots… hard and hurtful… with loads of spiders…"
Abby's blue eyes widened in surprise at Connor's words. What kind of boots were hard and hurtful? And where did the spiders fit in? What kind of nightmares was Connor having?
"Might have to get a really big slipper for the spiders," teased Abby.
Connor made no response. Abby looked down at his sleeping form. She yawned and leaned further back on the pillows. Those questions would have to wait, she decided. Right now, all she was going to do was hold on to Connor.
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