As the others filed out of the room, Older Connor turned to the four of them and clapped his heads, "Alright, time for a tour! As we said before, this is the conference room. Obviously it where we do fancy meetings. Usually we just use Lester's office, which is that big glass room there and down that way is of course the main hub, where you arrived."
They followed Future Connor out of the conference room and towards the elevators, watching him point things out as he walked, with her doppleganger taking up the rear as though they were school children in danger of wandering off. Then again, that could apply to their Connor who was taking in everything with an excited expression, more than once having to be pulled out of the way of an employee or something inanimate he was about to walk into.
"Abby's lab is down that way, that has catwalk access to the menagerie, of course, and there's also the armoury, change rooms, the gym…" He continued, motioning to the hallway left of the elevators, then to the right, "That way is the breakroom, Matt's office, Becker's office and the security office, which is also kind of Becker's. Seriously, I don't think I've ever actually seen him in his office. Don't think I've ever seen inside it either. That's kind of sketchy, wonder what he's hiding in there."
"I've been in there." Future Abby assured him, swatting gently at his arm, "It's way neater than yours. And he's got all these pictures of us all up. It's sweet."
That brought that familiar pout back to Future Connor's face, "What'd he let you in there for?"
"'Cause he likes me better." She teased. For a second it seemed that their presence was forgotten as they watched her future self reach up towards his face like she was maybe going to pinch his cheek, but she seemed to think better of it as she caught sight of Stephen over his shoulder, letting her hand drop back to her side and clearing her throat as Future Connor turned away to call the elevator down. "Anyway, um, if you take this elevator down there's the parking garage, the menagerie, and the loading bay. Nothing that exciting."
It had been a little odd for her to see her and Connor's future selves behaving so overly familiar with each other, but she supposed by now they had in fact been friends and flatmates for long enough to grow close. She couldn't help wondering what it was going to be like to have someone who knew her so well and who she knew so well in turn, but she quickly pushed that aside in favor of something else her doppleganger had mentioned. "I would love to see the menagerie."
"I knew you were going to say that." Stephen chuckled, "One track mind."
"Actually, I wouldn't mind having a look down there either." Cutter admitted, "If you don't mind."
"Oh no, of course," Her future self couldn't seem to help lighting up a little at the interest they expressed in her creatures, "I'll take you down there once you get settled."
"What's upstairs?" Connor wondered allowed as the elevator doors opened and they began piling in.
"More labs, yours included, medical, and the rooms you'll be staying in." The older blonde informed him, pushing the button for the next floor up, "That's where we're going."
When the elevator reached their destination, they were quickly lead down the hall, pausing only to point out the door to Connor's lab, which Abby noticed was fitted with a lock that required a code, and the first aid room.
A little further down the hall, Future Connor and Abby stopped in front of two sets of unmarked doors facing each other in the hall. Each door had one of the same high tech looking locks as Connor's lab on the outside, but Future Connor pushed the door to the nearest one open with ease, "Here you go. They're all the same, we mostly use them if someone needs to spend the night for medical reasons."
"Or once in a while if one of the creatures is sick, Connor and I take shifts sitting up with them, but I keep a cot down to my office for that." Future Abby explained.
"That's really sweet." Abby smiled, peering into the room. It was nothing fancy, really just a plainly dressed single bed and nightstand with a lamp, though the wall across from the bed had a painting hung on it that was really just a mass of swirly colours. It reminded her of the non-descript, inoffensive artwork chosen to make hospitals seem more friendly, the kind of art no one really liked or disliked, it was just there.
Her Connor, she noticed, seemed less concerned with the size and decor of the rooms and was instead eyeing the lock on the exterior of the door. Catching his eye, Future Abby put her hand on his arm and smiled reassuringly, "Jess disabled the biometric locks for you, you're not prisoners. And there are locks on the inside for privacy."
That was only a slight comfort, she wasn't wild about the idea of being locked in, but it did little to soothe the gnawing feeling in her gut as it sunk in that they would be spending the night, and likely much longer, in this strange place. They had only been here for a few hours and she was already homesick for her flat and her lizards. Who was going to take care of her lizards? Future Abby had opened up the other rooms and was busy getting Stephen, Cutter, and Connor assigned to rooms and settled, but Abby was beginning to feel a little overwhelmed all of a sudden. Wandering into the first room, she sank down on the edge of the bed, taking in a big breath and holding it for a few seconds in an attempt to calm herself. She was starting to panic a little, she noted, as she tried to focus on not letting her body go numb.
"It's a lot, isn't it." It sounded like a question, but there was an oddly knowledgeable tone to Connor's voice as he said it. She didn't look right at him, keeping her eyes trained on the bland white ceiling, but out of the corner of her eye she saw Connor, no, Future Connor, crouch down in front of her. "Not knowing when or… or if you're going to get home."
Not trusting herself to speak, she nodded numbly. Hesitantly, he reached over and put a hand on her knee, a small gesture of comfort really, but suddenly she could feel her feet on the ground again. She let go of the breath she was holding in a little gasp, her gaze snapping to his face in surprise. Startled, or perhaps fearing he'd crossed a line, he started drawing his hand back, but impulsively, she grabbed him, holding him in place. "No, it's… could you stay for a minute?"
"Okay." He nodded, patiently holding that position, though she was sure the concrete floors must be painful on the knee he had braced on the ground, "I know it won't make everything better, but maybe tomorrow Abby and I could bring you guys some things. Change of clothes? A little something of home, maybe?"
"That would be nice." She admitted. Her Connor had once joked that every day they should dress in clothes they'd be okay wearing forever if they got stuck through an anomaly, but she hadn't really taken it to heart and, well, she didn't fancy wearing this outfit forever. "When did you get so insightful?"
"You beat it into me over the years." He joked gently and, in spite of herself, she couldn't help a small smile that he matched, giving her knee a light squeeze, "But don't worry, I still seem to put my foot in my mouth at least once a day."
"Everything alright in here?" Both her and Connor glanced up at the door to find her double leaning against the door frame, watching them. For reasons unknown to her, Abby got this odd feeling, not unlike the time in high school when she'd been caught snogging someone else's boyfriend at a party and she let go of Connor's hand.
"Feeling a bit overwhelmed." He told her, letting his hand slip off her knee, but otherwise not moving.
Other Abby didn't seem as annoyed with walking in on them as she maybe would have been if the roles were reversed and her Connor was in this position with some other version of her. Instead her future self seemed to regard her with a look of kind understanding as she wandered over, absentmindedly placing her hand on Connor's shoulder, "I'll bet you are. We've been through anomalies plenty of times, but coming face to face with yourself… it's been a little much for me to wrap my head around, too."
"I was saying we could maybe bring them some stuff tomorrow." Connor told her, putting his hand over the one resting on his shoulder and giving it a light squeeze before getting to his feet. As he rose, she couldn't help but notice he winced every so slightly when putting all of his weight on his left leg, likely another old injury she may have watch her Connor get.
"Yeah, that's a good idea." Her double agreed, helping him up, then giving her an apologetic look, "Abby, I know I said I'd take you and Cutter down to the menagerie, but it's actually getting on a bit and Connor and I, um, we have somewhere to be at six. Is it okay if we wait until tomorrow?"
"Yeah, that'd be fine." She agreed, actually feeling a little relieved, "I'm feeling a bit tired actually, I might just turn in."
"If you like." Older Abby nodded, "But if you're hungry, Jess said she'd go pick you all up some take out. Connor was keen on pizza, but I think Cutter and Stephen out voted him so it'll probably be Thai."
"Sure, thanks." She smiled awkwardly, "I should probably go see how they're all doing."
"Okay, we'll see you tomorrow." Older Abby promised, smiling kindly.
Venturing out of the room, she paused, watching her and Connor's future selves disappear into the elevator together before turning her attention to the others. She must have looked a little out of sorts because Stephen gave her a rueful grin, "See, that freaks me out, so I can't imagine how you must be feeling."
"It's certainly… interesting." She admitted, running her fingers through her hair.
"Suddenly I know how Kirk feels in Star Trek when they go to the mirror universe and meet their evil doppelgangers." Connor pipped up, looking up from the take out menu that he'd been scouring. "'Cept instead of evil, they're just more… fit."
"They are being really nice, all things considered." She mentioned, ignoring his last comment, "This is probably weird for them, too, but future me just seems really… I don't know? I'm not sure I'd be as nice if our roles were reversed."
"They certainly have matured." Cutter nodded approvingly.
"I suppose it has to happen eventually." Stephen teased, giving Connor's head a playful shove and dodged out of the way as Connor swatted at him in return.
Abby scoffed, giving Stephen a disapproving look, "I'm mature."
"Really? You just implied that if they were in our time, you would maybe try to fight future Abby." Connor pointed out, then his face lit up, "Actually, could you? I wouldn't mind seeing who would win that…"
He fell sheepishly quiet as they all glared at him. Cutter sighed, "Look, we're going to have to make the best of things here, so maybe you should just try and avoid your future selves."
"Might not be that easy." Stephen pointed out, "They are the only people we know here."
"And Lester." Connor pipped up again, helpfully, though Stephen didn't seem to appreciate his effort.
"My point exactly." Cutter nodded, "Connor and Abby should, at the very least, not be left alone with the future versions of them."
Stephen hesitated, then made a face, "You're right, we probably shouldn't leave Connor alone with future Abby, he might drool on her."
"Stephen," Cutter warned as Connor ducked his head to hide how his face turned bright red, "Leave him be. We all did our fair share of staring at everyone, this is a pretty strange situation after all."
"Well at least there's one thing we can all agree on." Stephen announced, taking the food menus that Connor was still holding and beginning to flip through them again as the conversation quickly devolved back into arguing about what they all wanted for dinner.
Abby wished she could say that the hesitant knock on her door woke her, but she was having absolutely no luck sleeping. She generally struggled to sleep in strange places, it reminded her far too much of being a kid in the system, bouncing from family to family, but this was worse than usual. Sighing, she climbed out of bed and made her way across the freezing cement floor to the door, unbolting it and peering out. Connor was standing on the other side, her Connor, clad only in his boxers and undershirt, much like how he slept at home. He also seemed to be fretting over the temperature of the floor, but looked up as she opened the door, his face apologetic, "Sorry. Did I wake you?"
She shook her head, "Can't sleep."
"Me either." He admitted. An awkward silence fell between them for a moment and she was starting to wonder if that was all he spoke again, his tone nervous and hurried, "Abby, about what Stephen said earlier, about me staring at future you…"
"Connor, it's fine." She assured him, "I did my fair share of staring at future you, too. And future me and everything."
"Right, yeah," He nodded sheepishly, "I just didn't want you to think I was… being inappropriate."
"I think she would break your arm if you tried." She admitted, then, after a moment's hesitation, opened the door a little wider, "Do you want to come in? It's bloody freezing standing here."
Not really waiting for an answer, she turned and headed back to bed, leaving the door open behind her. Luckily, he decided to follow her, closing the door before coming to sit on the end of her bed. Being dressing in nothing more than her nickers and t-shirt, she pulled the blanket over her legs to keep warm, tucking her knees up to her chest and crossing her arms on top of them.
"This is really… big, huh?" He blurted out once they'd situated themselves comfortably, "Them, I mean. And us being here."
"Yeah," She agreed, "It's doing my head in a little."
He gave her a funny look, kind of pouty with maybe a hint of jealousy, "Is that why you were in here with him, alone, while we were all out there?"
"He was just being nice." She assured him, then, after a moment of deliberation, admitted, "It was a little weird, though, he talked like he'd done this sort of thing before. Been stuck somewhere, I mean."
"Well, that's something to look forward to." He pulled a face that she couldn't help laughing at a little, which seemed to perk him up a bit. "But maybe now that we suspect it's going to happen, I can avoid it."
That was an attractive idea, she didn't fancy the worry she knew was in store for her if he did get trapped somewhere, but she sighed and shook her head, "This is why Cutter doesn't want us hanging around them. The more we know, the more we'll want to try and change and who knows what could happen? You could avoid getting stuck somewhere and die instead. Or we could cause another Claudia Brown. We could change this whole future."
"We may have already." He pointed out, "They were really surprised to see us. Other Abby thought future me was pulling her leg about us being here. I get the feeling they never did this part, which means the second we got here this future stopped being an eventuality and started being just a possibility. So maybe we should be learning as much as we can to make sure things turn out… right."
"I wish I know what the right answer was." She admitted grimly, "We can talk to Cutter about it in the morning and in the mean time, lets try and get some sleep, yeah?"
He nodded, getting up from the end of her bed and seemingly reluctantly heading towards the door, stopping just short of actually leaving. "Abby, could I…?"
She raised an eyebrow, "Could ya what, Connor?"
He blushed a little and shook his head, "Nevermind, it's nothing."
"Connor." She called as he reached for the door again, not sure if she was taking pity on him or seeking her own comfort when she offered, "You can stay if you like… on top of the blankets."
"Yeah?" He couldn't hide a small grin, "I mean, if you want me to."
"Don't make me regret this." She warned, shuffling over and patting the bed beside her. Rejoining her on the bed, they took a minute to get comfortable in the limited space. It wasn't that different from falling asleep on the couch together on movie nights, she decided, leaning her cheek against his shoulder as he leaned his cheek against the top of her head in turn.
"Night Abby."
"Good night Connor."