Picture of Avery is in the cover image for this fanfic. I would consider listening to 'Drown in you' By Daughtry for this chapter, especially the second half.
Avery stood outside of Lester's office with Abby waiting for Nick.
"So are you a student like Connor?" Abby asked getting to know Avery. Avery had honey blond hair that reached just under her breast and startling blue eyes. "I don't mean to be rude."
"That's quite alright, yeah I'm a student. I'm currently studying Evolutionary Zoology. The course my father runs. Though it would be great if he showed up one in a while to teach the students." Avery said chuckling.
"He doesn't do the lectures?"
"No. He prefers to be out in the field with Stephen. I study the same course as Connor but we never ran into each other. I don't have any friends who are interested in the same things as me. None of them really care about learning about animals and evolution." Avery said. "What do you do at Wellington zoo?"
"Oh I look after the reptiles. Well I used to, they had to make some cutbacks."
"Well if these anomalies keep appearing, you may have a new job."
Abby was cut off from replying when Nick and Claudia came out from Lester's office. Nick clutched several papers in his hand. He handed one to Avery telling her that it was permission for her to go through the anomaly. "I know that you would come along even if I told you, you couldn't go. So why not make it legal." Nick said.
They sat at Claudia's empty desk and read over the papers. There were several statements saying that the home office would not be held responsible if any accident's occurred. Avery signed it though she did not like all the agreements.
At the anomaly site Nick and Avery were checked over by medical personal. Rain had started to drip slowly and several tents were placed to keep equipment dry. Connor was trying to get Stephen but he wouldn't answer his phone.
Claudia approached Nick back in professional mode. She did not like anyone going through the anomaly, into the unknown.
"It's 18:55. I want you back no later than 20:00 hours." She explained. "If the first contact works out, we'll go from there."
They were approached by Captain Ryan who wore his full gear and carrying a big gun.
"What's he doing here?" Nick asked.
"This is Captain Ryan. He's a gulf war veteran with extensive desert experience. We don't know how dangerous it will be on the other side of the anomaly." Claudia explained. Seeing that Nick was about to argue Claudia added "No, arguments, Cutter. He goes as well."
Avery, like her father, thought that they would be the only one's going through the anomaly, then they could do what they wanted to do with no restrictions. But of course the government would want to keep an eye on the situation.
Avery shivered, she pulled her red plaid over shirt tighter on her figure. She wore a black singlet underneath. Her clothes were better suited for warm weather which were rare for England, but she figured it would be quite warm on the other side of the anomaly. Considering reptiles moved better in warm climates.
Nick and Ryan shook hands reaching a mutual understanding that they won't get in each other's way. Abby approached with Rex. Reluctant to let go, she handed the lizard bundled up in her pink scarf for warmth to Avery.
"Please take care of him. Look after yourselves as well." She asked giving Nick a kiss on the cheek and Avery a warm hug.
Ryan walked away from Claudia, and he, Avery and Nick walked towards the anomaly. He accepted a canvas bag from one of the soldiers, containing supplies. Avery glanced back at the forest of dean in case this was the last she saw of it, and then they stepped through the anomaly.
They stepped through to a landscape entirely different from the bare forest behind them. It was warm as Avery expected. The landscape was mostly barren, full of volcanic rock, with few trees and bits of scrub brush. In the distance several volcanoes smoked ready to blow at any moment.
On the other side of the anomaly, Claudia, Abby and Connor are watching the anomaly. Connor gets a note pad out of his pocket, dropping his pen. It falls to the floor rather than being attracted to the anomaly.
"My pen. The magnetic field didn't take it. The anomaly is getting weaker." Connor said looking worriedly at the anomaly.
Avery released Rex and he flew away. Ryan dumped his gear and began sorting through it whilst Nick stares around in amazement.
"Give us an hour. One hour on our own." Nick said gesturing to Avery.
Ryan looked at them unsure. Nick's hands pressed together against his mouth, he could not believe what he saw around him.
"I've got a radio." Nick said. He turned and walked away, looking around.
Avery glanced at Ryan who doesn't look entirely pleased, but lets him go. He meets Avery's eyes and gestures with his head towards Nick, silently telling her she could go.
They walked in silence for a while just looking at the prehistoric scenery. They walked until arriving at the top of a hill, where there is a pretty impressive view. The hill next to it was covered in trees spread far apart from each other. Rex flew by going to join several Coelurosauravus in the distance. A family of Scutosaurus' grazed on a nearby hill.
Nick cupped his hands around his mouth and called out. "Helen!" he looked around at the barren landscape for any sign of his wife. A vast sea lay a kilometer to his right.
Avery walked a little ways down the hill but stopped when a voice called out.
"Professor!" Someone called from behind them. Nick turned around and Ryan waving at them from the bottom of the hill. Avery climbed back up the hill to stand next to her father
"Professor! Over here!" He called out.
They followed him to a ruined campsite. A tent lay in pieces scattered around with several small metal boxes.
Nick crouched down by a crumpled metal tin and opened it. Contained within was food and medical supplies. Nick picked up a yorkie bar and stood up shaking his head. "People. Somebody's been here before us." He said chucking the bar back in.
"Well, whoever it was they didn't get far. Over here." Ryan led them over to the other side of the camp and showed them a skeleton; Nick crouches by the body. Ryan spots something in the ground and digs it out. He unearths a camera, in its case, and passes it to Avery.
Avery turns the leather camera case around, inscribed with gold letters are the letters HC.
"H.C." She whispers. Then aloud to Nick she say's "It's Mum's."
Nick and Ryan stood up shocked.
"Is it her?" Ryan asks softly as not to upset them.
Nick crouches down and counts the ribs of the skeleton.
He sighs in relief. "No, it's a man." He says.
"How did he die?" Ryan asked.
"I don't know." Nick tells him standing up. He puts an arm around Avery silently asking if she was alright.
Ryan checked his watch and told them that it was time to go. Nick refused to leave, his wife was out here somewhere and he could find her. Ryan apologizes to nick while taking a pistol out of a side holster. He hit's nick in the back of the head with it knocking him out.
"Hey what did you do that for?" Avery shouts at him. "He just wants to find mum."
"I have orders to take both of you back alive, and I intend to not disobey it." Ryan tells her hoisting Nick over his shoulder and walks towards the anomaly. Avery follows him relunctantly, she wants to do nothing but find her mother.
Nick regains consciousness as they near the anomaly, Ryan helping him the rest of the way.
When they get to the anomaly site Nick takes a swing at Ryan but misses as he is still sluggish from waking up. Ryan punches him in return knocking the Professor to the ground. Avery crouched next to her father and helped him to sit up.
"Don't… do that again." Ryan says out of breath. He looks towards the anomaly and notices it starts to flicker and dim.
"The anomaly! It's disappearing!" He shouts. He hikes his bag higher on his shoulder and runs forward.
Nick and Avery don't follow him, Ryan stops when he notices.
"Quick! Do you want to be trapped here forever?" Ryan shouts looking between the pair and the anomaly in worry. If they don't hurry they won't make it home.
Nick shakes his head. "I'm staying here to look for my wife."
"I'm not leaving you behind."
"Well what do you want to do? Shoot me?"
Ryan goes and kneels down next to the pair holding his gun to stay balanced. They both face the anomaly as it flickers faster.
"All right. You stay, I stay." Ryan tells them, staring forward.
Avery sends Ryan an exasperated look as Nick says "That's… that's just childish."
Nick looks between the anomaly and Ryan trying to make up his mind. On one hand this may be the only chance of finding his wife, he does not want someone to stay away from home because of his own selfishness. "All right." He says getting up.
Nick grabs Helen's camera from Avery and runs through the anomaly, Ryan right behind him. Avery sends one last look at the volcanic landscape then jumps through the anomaly after her father.
They hit the ground on the other side. The sky had turned dark and it took a while for Avery to adjust to the darkness. Claudia, Connor and Abby run forward to help them. Avery was disorientated, everyone was talking over each other and several people were flashing a camera at them.
They stood up as Connor asked what it was like on the other side. They started to talk before a growl interrupted them. Everyone turned to see a gorgonopsid run out of the tree sending people running. The soldiers turned to fire on the beast but their aim was off as they scrambled out of the Gorgonopsid's path.
Connor trips, and Avery fell over him. He scrambles back to his feet bringing Avery with him. By now everyone is moving, Connor, Abby and Avery in one direction, Nick and Claudia in another. The soldiers stopped firing as the target was moving too fast. A soldier screams as the Gorgonopsid tosses him.
Avery watched as the Gorgonopsid slowed down and knocked over one of the floodlights. As he roars the light sends his face into shadow, Avery briefly thought that he looked like a monster from a horror story. It swings its head towards Avery and stared at her in hunger. She stood frozen like a deer in headlights. His gaze was as piercing as any predator. She unfroze and ran.
She stopped when she realized she was not being chased. The Gorgonopsid had found easier prey. Claudia had fallen and Nick was trying to get her up. The Gorgonopsid advanced towards them.
Headlights and a car horn distract the Gorgonopsid as Stephen arrives in the 4x4. They meet head to head and the Gorgonopsid goes down. The front of the 4x4 is badly damaged, but Stephen gets out unharmed. He walks towards Nick and Claudia, who are looking at him in shock.
The Gorgonopsid opens one golden eye and roars, he gets up and looks towards his attacker. Nick scrambles to grab the abandoned machine gun and passes it to Stephen.
Stephen shot the creature in the head and a killing blow to his side. It takes a step forward and collapses, it tries to stand up again but crumpled as its front leg could not hold its weight. The Gorgonopsid let out one last dying growl then collapses. Its side stops moving and it lays still.
Avery walked forward hesitantly, the creature could be faking like the last time, but that last sound was too weak. She kneeled next to its motionless body and placed her hand on its head.
The next day Lester, Claudia, Nick and Avery are in the Home Office. Nick and Avery sat at a round table looking at a screen showing pictures of Helen Cutter in the Permian era.
"We developed the film in the camera you brought back." Lester said standing behind the table.
"It's her, It's Helen." Nick said taking his hand off his mouth.
"I'm sorry for your personal loss, professor." Lester said after turning the screen off. He walked around the table and stopped next to Nick.
"This camp that you discovered. There were no clues as to who made it, or what it was for?" Nick shook his head and he walked back to his original position.
Avery still looked at the blank screen thinking about what happened to her mother. When Helen had left 8 years ago Avery was only 14 years old. The day her mother disappeared Avery was not overly worried as her mother had done it several times before. It was two days later that her father reported her as missing.
Avery tried to stay strong but she crumbled a week after her mother's disappearance. Her grades suffered and she was close to failing when her father convinced her to get back on track.
"The thought that someone was there before us is far from reassuring. And I used to think the EU Common Agricultural Policy was far-fetched. Still, at least the immediate Crisis is over." Lester said.
Avery stayed quite as her dad moved towards the window, gesturing. "Some, force, out there, ripped the boundaries of space and time to shreds. Maybe it's happened before, in which case, every single thing we thought we knew about the Universe is wrong. Or, this is the first time. In which case, what changed? What happens next? Believe me, it's very, very far from over." He said.
Nick brushed past Lester and Claudia and leaves the office, Avery hot on his heels. Abby, Connor and Stephen fall into step with him from where they were waiting outside the office.
Nick sat in his chair at his office. It has gone dark outside and the room is lit only by a couple of desk lamps, as not to disturb Avery. Avery was asleep on a cot in the office. She dragged it in a year ago, deciding that they needed somewhere to catch some sleep, even if it was an hour or two, after the boys had spent one too many nights at the office.
He sat staring into space. He picks up picture of Helen up from his desk and looks at it. He shakes his head and places the picture face down on his desk. He stands up and walks into a small lab at the side of the office. There is a noise in the office, and a shadow moves across the room. It stops briefly at Avery's bed and reaches down to touch her hair, but it retreats as Nick comes out of the lab. Avery wakes as the shadow retreats.
"Hello? Avery?" He called out as Avery moves to stand. He moves back to his desk. The photo is gone, and a living ammonite is lying in its place.
They hear footsteps running away from his office. They follow the, and ends up on a walkway nearby where he and Stephen had met Connor. Helen is standing under a streetlight on a nearby road. When she sees Nick and Avery have seen her, she starts to move away.
"Helen!" Avery and Nick called out together. Nick runs towards the retreating figure, but she is gone by the time he gets closer.
Extra-long chapter for a late update. I hope you enjoy, and I've changed the characters of this story as this will be a Becker/Avery story, but it won't be for a while because this is only season one and he does not appear to season 3.
But maybe they will meet before then.