A/N: This is inspired by a song from Eric Champion Lyrics posted at the end if you wanna read them. As always, please review. I'd really love to know what you think. Thanks.
Disclaimer: Primeval and its characters belong to Impossible Pictures. No copyright infringement is intended.
Temptannie
This first part will not actually be included. It's the lyrics to the song that inspired my story. It's called Temptannie, by Eric Champion. It's from the 90's but I'm not sure that matters. It just seemed kind of perfect for the Connor/Caroline dynamic. I always liked it, but when I thought of it in this context, the story just laid itself out for me. (Just ignore the sin line if it bugs you, J/K) Thanks.
Well, I'm standing in the corner of the room, trying hard to quell the steam of your perfume,
As you look, I turn the other way...but you keep on staring anyway,
And the pain of our acquaintance seems to loom,
Was it not enough: the scar you left on me?
Is there something of myself that you still seek?
And you come in front of one and all,
And you push me up against the wall,
And you stroke my hair and you say, "Did you miss me?"
Well, not at all.
Get away, get away,
Get away, get away.
Well, you take my hand and say to come with you,
And you tell me all the things you'd like to do,
You can spit you lies right on the floor, 'cause I've laid down in your bed before,
And I've had to pay the price for all my sins,
Well, not...not again, yeah.
Oh, get away, get away,
Get away, get away for me,
Let me be, Temptannie.
Connor didn't really like big crowds. He never had. He felt his insecurities from his school days still lingered somewhere in his subconscious and this was one of the ways that they manifested themselves. Abby had been eyeing this big event for months now and Connor had surprised her with tickets. It was a very exclusive rock concert with two of Abby's favorite bands playing for a local children's charity. Connor didn't even want to think about how much the tickets had cost him.
She had seen an advertisement in the paper and had lamented how much she would love to see those two bands play together. She hadn't meant for Connor to go out and procure tickets, she knew they were expensive. Connor could never refuse her anything though; once he found out she wanted something.
So, now Connor was fighting his way back through the crowd of people at the loud charity concert to the bar at the back of the room. The room itself was crowded with an odd mix of people. There were the older 'charity' type crowd who were way over-dressed, and then there were the younger people whose parents had clearly bought their way in, and last off were the minority of the crowd. Those like Abby and himself, not really fitting in to any crowd but big fans of the two bands performing.
Connor spotted the familiar-looking head of curly dark hair before she saw him. He did a double-take and then fled towards the bar in the opposite direction from the unwanted acquaintance. Unfortunately for Connor, his quick movement caught the eye of the pretty, dark haired girl he was all too quick to avoid. Connor made a beeline for the bar, now very anxious to get back to Abby. He ordered their drinks, turned around, and almost smacked straight into Caroline Steele.
Crap, he thought silently. He felt all his self-confidence drain out of him in a single instant. All the hurt, pain and shame she had caused him came flooding back to his mind. She made him feel like an ant with just one look. Like a tiny little ant.
Caroline gazed up at him and he tried to shuffle around her.
"Hey, Connor." Her hand snaked up his chest to wrap possessively around his purple scarf. He could smell the alcohol rolling off of her and mingling with her heady perfume. "Long time no see. How've you been?" She leaned in way too close and pulled on Connor's scarf.
"I… uh… I…" Connor could not seem to make his mind work. He did not want to be here, not with her. He swallowed convulsively.
Caroline stopped pulling on his scarf and pushed at his chest. Connor had nowhere to go, and found himself being pushed up against the wall of the suddenly exceedingly hot room. He felt like he couldn't breathe. Worse yet, when he did manage to pull in a breath of air it brought with it the sickeningly sweet mix of her perfume and the alcohol. He felt the blood drain from his face as nausea churned in his stomach.
Her hand reached up from his chest and stroked his hair. "I missed you, Connor, I have a hotel room not far from here. We could catch up, have a very entertaining evening. I know I took you for granted before, but I am more than willing to let you see what I know you've been missing." She smiled seductively up at him, as if she were doing him a great service or favor.
Slowly, under the surface, Connor began to feel another emotion, it was red and intense and the nausea began to subside.
"So, what of it, Connor, I don't see that silly little blonde around anywhere to get in the way. Did you miss me? Mmmm?"
Connor went from feeling red to seeing it. The mention of Abby brought back his senses and his self-worth. He stood up straight, no longer pushed back into the wall. He reached over and set the drinks on the bar then turned back to face her again.
"Not. At. All." He took another step to put a little more distance between them. "I have not missed you for one single moment. What delusion are you living in to think that I would after what you put my friends and me through? Get away from me, and stay there. You can spit your lies on the floor; I'm not swallowing them anymore, Caroline. All I ever got from you was pain." His voice was a low growl. He'd had time to process his emotions since the last time he'd seen her in the graveyard. He also wasn't the same man he'd been four years ago.
Caroline looked taken aback, for a moment. Then the smile crept back onto her face. "Come on, Connor, don't be like that. It was just a job; it didn't mean anything. It's different now-."
"Yeah, it is different." He held up his hand to reveal the band of gold that encircled his ring finger. Just then a small white hand laced its way around his arm, showing off the matching gold and diamond-encrusted ring to his own.
"Hello, Caroline. It's been a long time." Abby smiled sweetly at her. Abby had nothing to fear, she'd won the prize when Caroline had not even realized there was one to be had.
"Oh… uh… hi, Abby." It was Caroline's turn to stumble over her words, and the haze of alcohol did not help her gain the upper hand with Abby. "So, I g-guess congratulations are in order. When did you two…" Caroline motioned to their rings.
"A year and a half ago," Connor answered, no longer even looking at Caroline, but rather gazing down at Abby with unabashed total devotion written all over his face, the anger had melted away the minute Abby had touched him. "We're expecting twins in a few months. We just found out last week. This was our last little hurrah before Abby gets huge and then the babies get here."
"Connor," Abby punched him lightly in the arm. "I'm not going to get huge."
"If I take care of you properly, you most certainly will." He leaned down and kissed her sweetly.
Caroline finally started to get a clue. "Well, that sounds lovely. I hope you two have a very happy life together and-" Caroline cut off as all the colour drained from her face. She belched once, brought her hand to her mouth and then ran for the bathroom as all the alcohol she had consumed earlier began to rebel in her system.
Abby couldn't help it. She started laughing. She looked up at Connor and straightened her expression. "I'm sorry, I guess that's not very funny. I do know what she feels like after some of the mornings I've had recently."
"You're not mad then?"
"For what? You were just talking to her."
"Yeah, just talking. She started it," he finished up a little defensively.
"Connor, I trust you and I know how much she hurt you. She could never even tempt you. Especially when you get to come home to this every night." She guided his hand to her breast. And a dopey grin spread over his face.
"Yeah," he said moving closer. "She's got nothing on you." His other hand circled around her waist dipping below the band of her jeans and reaching down further to cup her rear end.
Abby laughed and leaned into his touch as she pushed herself up on tiptoes to kiss him.
"Honestly, Connor, you looked for a moment like you were going to need rescuing. What changed?"
"Mmm, you saw that, did you?" Abby nodded her head in ascent. "She called you a silly little blonde. Imagine, the mother of my children, a silly blonde. It made me… upset." Abby giggled a bit at this. "I was in the middle of explaining why I was not remotely tempted by the prospect of being alone with her in her offered hotel room when you came over."
"Seriously, she came on to you?"
"Well I was a bit confused by that at first, too. She made me feel… uh, inadequate. Then I remembered - I had you. She has nothing I need or want. My world's whole and complete." Abby wrapped her arms around him.
"I'm so glad you finally realized how important you are to me. I love you; there's nothing inadequate about you. Nothing whatsoever. You fit me perfectly, and there's absolutely nothing I would change about you. I only came over because you looked for a moment like you had forgotten that."
"I had… for a moment." He kissed her forehead. "Thank you, love." He squeezed her tighter to him. "Oh, right." He reached over to the bar and grabbed their drinks. "I believe you were in the middle of a desperate craving for Dr. Pepper with lemon?" He made a face on the last word.
"Oh, yes, you remembered." She unwrapped her arms from around him and he watched as she chugged the entire, very odd, beverage combination down in next to one gulp. She then handed him the glass back and he turned back around to get a refill. He knew he'd be teasing her for the next hour or so about how she could burp louder than Becker. God, he loved her so much.
Caroline was already forgotten… again.
A/N: Here are the lyrics for the song that inspired this ficlet. Please press the review button and tell me what you thought. Thanks for reading.
Well, I'm standing in the corner of the room, trying hard to quell the steam of your perfume,
As you look, I turn the other way...but you keep on staring anyway,
And the pain of our acquaintance seems to loom,
Was it not enough: the scar you left on me?
Is there something of myself that you still seek?
And you come in front of one and all,
And you push me up against the wall,
And you stroke my hair and you say, "Did you miss me?"
Well, not at all.
Get away, get away,
Get away, get away.
Well, you take my hand and say to come with you,
And you tell me all the things you'd like to do,
You can spit you lies right on the floor, 'cause I've laid down in your bed before,
And I've had to pay the price for all my sins,
Well, not...not again, yeah.
Oh, get away, get away,
Get away, get away for me,
Let me be, Temptannie.