Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.

Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.

3.8-2 Stick Around

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Connor hadn't seen Abby since she had kissed him at the race track.

She and Jack had gone back to the ARC with Danny, while he, Sarah and Becker had stayed a bit longer at the racetrack. Connor had gathered the broken bits of the smashed anomaly locking mechanism and brought them back to the ARC to see what could be salvaged. By the time they got there, Abby and Jack were gone, and Danny was in Lester's office. Connor had been grateful when Sarah offered to drop him off at Lester's flat.

"Wait a minute," Connor asked as they were walking down the hallway towards the exit to the car park, "how did you know I was staying at Lester's?"

Becker, who was pushing open the door to the locker room, heard Connor's question. Becker snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Connor," he said "we all know you've been staying at Lester's for the past several months. We just don't know how Lester has managed to stay sane with you there."

Connor stared after the man as the door swung shut behind him.

"Not everybody knows," said Sarah gently "Abby hasn't a clue. Now come on."

Connor had followed Sarah without another word. She insisted on getting a blanket from the boot for him to sit on. Pointing at the black grime on his once yellow jacket; Sarah said "I don't want whatever that is on my seats."

She quickly maneuvered her gray compact car through the London evening traffic, reaching Lester's flat in less than twenty minutes. When Sarah had mentioned that she was stopping by the Cutter's next, he had reminded her to tell the professor that they were checking the artifact with the calibrated laser refractor.

"Eventually," he said "it's got to show us a hologram map." Sarah had merely smiled as she pulled quickly away from the kerb.

Connor let himself into the empty flat.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Becker showered off the dirt and grime from today's expedition to the future. As the hot water sluiced over his shoulders, he was thinking about the creatures they had encountered. The anti-stab vests the security team wore as part of their standard issue was some protection, but what could they use to fight those predators?

Stun grenades were his first thought. Becker would need to be sure to requisition some as the anomaly at the race track remained steady. They should be able to get the stun grenades delivered within 24 hours. He wanted to ensure that his men would be fully prepared if the anomaly reopened.

Requisitioning a long range acoustic device would take a bit more time, but Becker thought surely Lester would approve at least one. Maybe even more than one. It would be good to have extras for back up. Attached to an assault vehicle, they might even be able to take back that future.

Becker turned off the spigot and reached for his towel. He wondered if Lester would approve a requisition for a tank.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Sarah arrived at the Cutter's shortly after she dropped Connor off at Lester's flat. He was eagerly awaiting her news about the racetrack anomaly.

"What era does it go to?" the professor asked excitedly.

"We don't know exactly," replied Sarah "somewhen in the future."

Nick looked up from the twisted rods of their research model. "Then how do we plot that?" he asked, pointing at the bent rods.

"Maybe we can't," suggested Claudia. She was sitting on the couch with her feet propped up. Her hand was lying lightly on her rounded belly. "It hasn't happened yet, right?"

"We should be able to predict the anomalies," argued Cutter "where they occur and when."

"That reminds me," said Sarah "Connor wanted me to tell you… we're checking the artifact with a calibrated laser refractor. We should eventually be able to reproduce the hologram."

"Why don't you just get the security photo of the hologram from the CCTV?" asked Claudia.

"What?"

"Claudia, you're brilliant."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

James Lester let himself into the flat. Connor was sprawled across the sofa, sound asleep.

The young man had willingly moved out of his son's bedroom when Lester's wife and children had arrived for a weekend visit. The Lester's three children had taken to Connor as if he was a favorite uncle, and Connor had taken to them.

When James and Vivian had gone to the ambassador's dinner party, Connor had babysat the three children for them. They had all played video games, watched Dr. Who and chased after the diictodon's. When Lester and his wife returned, they found the children sound asleep and Connor yawning.

"It was fun," Connor had said wistfully. "Makes me wish I had a brother or sister when I was growing up."

Vivian and the children had returned home the next morning. Lester was now looking at the young man on his sofa, remembering his wife's worried words before she left.

"Something's changed," she whispered, watching as Connor and the three children cleared the breakfast things and began washing up.

"What's changed?" Lester had asked.

"In the history of my time, Connor had a younger sister," said Vivian "and he and Abby were married by now. They should be together."

"You did say you were here to change things," James reminded his wife.

"Not this!" exclaimed Vivian.

James raised his eyebrows quizzically.

"Nothing I've done would have changed Connor's personal life. Someone has been messing with the timeline," continued Vivian. "It was part of why I was sent here."

"You've told me about your first assignment," replied Lester "but not your next."

"The next assignment isn't for years," replied Vivian. "And if we don't get the two of them back together, my next assignment might not ever occur… little changes cause ripples in time, making big changes."

Lester looked at the sleeping young man. Lester remembered what Quinn had said about the race track anomaly. The future world full of predators and giant bugs wasn't part of Vivian's time either.

Tomorrow would be soon enough, thought Lester, to ask Connor what he thought of an anomaly cloaking device. Lester just hoped Connor's answer wouldn't have anything to do with Klingons.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Danny Quinn wasn't supposed to be freelancing. But if Danny wanted to have a pint with his good buddy Wilder, that wasn't freelancing. Not really anyway. Danny just needed to know some more about Christine Johnson's involvement with the anomalies.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Abby let herself into the empty flat. She had seen Jack off on the train to Northampton. He was going to stay with a mate. There was a possibility of a job at the warehouse distribution center. Personally, Abby couldn't see Jack driving a forklift and loading boxes on lorries all day, but she didn't let him know that.

She had just teased him. "Well, don't tell them about your race car driving today, yeah."

Rex chirped at her in greeting. The coelurosauravus flew down, landing in her arms.

"It's just you and me again," Abby whispered, stroking the back of his neck.

The creature chirped at her again.

"Yeah," Abby replied "I miss him too."

She wasn't talking about Jack.

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