HELLO PRIMEVALIANS! Goodness, it has been a while, hasn't it? I'm guessing this story has become a "monthly updated" one, which it hopefully won't continue to be...hopefully. Anyways, here is part 2 to chapter 9! I would like to thank every one of my reviewers/alerters/favoriters/readers-who-I-don't-know-about. You all are awesome, and I hope that this story is at least half-way descent.
Anyways, on a really quick note, if you also like Doctor Who, and have seen the "Death of the Doctor" Sarah Jane Adventures episode, I just posted a Primeval/Sarah Jane Adventures One-shot that revolves around a certain Primeval character...So check that out if you're interested.
So, anyways...ONWARD WITH THE STORY!
"So, the impossibly Fascinating, yet extremely dangerous brut you found last week was a drawing you created?" asked Lester. "Well, if we learned that sooner at least some of this big jumbled mess would be fixed."
"Aquadorectasaurus," corrected Emma, "and yes, I created it."
"Splendid, a new genius child to brag about to the press; now we have to put you into custody."
"No!" responded everyone else.
"We already lose someone from our team," said Patrick, "and I'm not about to make it two."
"And besides," said Nicole, "Emma said it was only her completed creatures that we've seen, and the aquadorectasaurus is the only one she's completed so far in that journal."
"And I've already decided not to complete any more until this problem is solved."
"Oh, very well," said Lester dryly. "Just so long as you don't complete any more creatures, because trust me, if you do, the consequences will be dire; not to mention the entire Earth would go into a screaming panic and I would probably lose my job…"
"One more thing," said Patrick. "If you ask me, I think Cutter needs to be involved with all of this. With Stevie disappearing and the drawings coming to life, he may be able to help us."
"I stills ay its risky," said Alex, sounding as if nothing would change his mind.
"Come on, Alex. We need to do this. Just think about it, what could it hurt if we tell just one more person?"
Alex sighed, his arms crossed in front of his chest, and thought for a moment. He really didn't want to do this, but deep inside, he knew Patrick was right. He finally nodded his head, agreeing at last. Patrick then went off to fetch Cutter while the rest of the team stayed put.
Lester sat by himself in a corner, thinking to himself. Seeing the team so close to their family made him think of his. As a boy, he thought he had the best family in the world. His parents were getting along perfectly; his dad at the ARC (though, he didn't know at the time) and his mum teaching at a preschool. He had two older brothers and an older sister; James the second, Brenda, and Stewart. James II went onto being a high school history teacher, and Brenda became a lawyer. Stewart was closest to him, his other siblings being over five years older than him. They were only twenty months apart, and they did everything together. So when Stewart died when Lester was twelve, he took it harder than the rest of his family.
His other siblings were in college and high school, and with his parents both having full-time jobs; Lester couldn't help but feel alone. Incredibly alone. He would come home from school, and there would be nobody there. His mom would come home around five, and start to make dinner. His sister, who was in high school at the time, came home and went straight to her room to do who knows what. His father was always at work, and would come home at random times in the night.
Nobody in the Lester family knew what an impact Stewart's death made on him, because Timothy Lester kept everything to himself. It took months of seeing a psychiatrist to help him get over the death, and even more months to finally open up to his parents. Those had been hard times.
So watching Alex Becker go through his sister's disappearance brought back memories of Lester mourning the loss of Stewart. He knew what Alex was going through. He could feel tears start to form in his eyes, but quickly blinked them back He couldn't show weakness at work. What would his father think? He was a Lester for god's sake. He had a reputation to keep up!
Nicole was watching Lester as he sat in the corner of the conference room—all alone. She saw the tears well up in his eyes as he looked off into the distance, probably in deep though. She couldn't help but feel bad for the poor man. The stress of the job was probably getting to him. Nicole slowly sat up from her chair was walked over to her boss. She sat down in front of him, and took his hands into hers. Instantly, Lester snapped back to reality and laid his eyes on her. Nicole couldn't help but blush slightly, but hid it as soon as it came.
"I'm fine," Lester said, looking at Nicole, as if answering her unspoken question.
"Are you sure?" she asked, not believing him one bit. "The stress of the job gets to us all; believe me, I've been there."
"It's not that," he whispered, his gaze not leaving her.
One look into those eyes, her warm, brown eyes made him crack. He explained his family to her, the pressure of being successful in school because of his older siblings, his brother's painful death, and Nicole listened. She listened to every word he said until he closed his eyes and hung his head.
"My whole life, I've been expected to do so many things! That's why I took this job at the ARC; to get away. But then there were the expectations and reputations my father made of being "static with a dry sense of humor." I guess that sort of how I am, but not all the time. I just feel as if I have this image I need to keep up."
Nicole wrapped her arms around Lester and pulled him into a hug, which helped him relax a bit. He brought his arms around her waist as well and hugged back, savoring the contact between them. He cared for this woman greatly, but it was really hard to hide the fact from himself. He just wished he could be there for her as much as she was for him.
When the two broke their hug, their hands joined once again, and he grasped hers tightly, not wanting to let go. That moment, Lester felt was a good time to, perhaps, tell her his feeling. Or just ask her out for a drink, if anything.
"Nicole," he said, but quickly got cut off by the door to the Conference Room opening and Patrick announcing his presence.
"The great and noble Patrick has entered the room," he said nobly, but no one turned around to greet him. "And look who has decided to grace us with his presence."
This got everyone's attention. They all turned towards Patrick to see that he indeed had another person with him. It was a man, about twenty, with light brown hair that stuck up slightly in random places. He also had hazel eyes; a mixture of blue and brown. Emma was the first to recognize him.
"Luke," she screamed as she ran up to the man and jump-hugged him.
The man laughed and hugged Emma back.
"Hey Em!" he exclaimed. "Ah, it's been forever!"
Luke then let go of Emma, and she dropped to the floor.
"I thought you were at Brown," she said.
"Well," said Luke, sitting down on a near-by chair. "I just finished my term and got my exam results back last week. Then, I decided to drop by and give you guys a hand at the ARC. I think you guys might need me a little more than my textbooks do."
"Luke, mum and dad said to stay at University!" scolded Emma. "You didn't have to come back."
"But I wanted to," he said, "and besides, I signed up for classes starting in January. If mum and dad aren't back by then…we'll see. Let's just not worry about that now."
Emma nodded and took a seat next to her older brother. Luke was then introduced, or re-introduced with the rest of the team. The only members he didn't know were Captain Fowler and Lester. He shook both the men's hands respectively. When he got to Nicole, though, he picked her up and spun her around, with caused her to giggle. Lester watched this scene, a bit angry at what was going on.
"How have you been?" Luke asked and he set Nicole down.
"Good," she responded. "Chasing dinosaurs and fighting the PR while you hide behind books! Never thought I'd see the day."
Luke laughed and shook his head. He was glad to be home.
Becker had locked himself in the armory all day, trying to avoid everyone. He didn't really want to put up with Sarah being mad at Stephen flirting with her the other day and didn't want to put up with everyone in the ARC asking him about it. It was completely embarrassing! Oh well, he had his guns to occupy him. He did love his guns.
As he picked up a machine gun and looked it over, he wondered what would happened if he "accidentally" shot Stephen with it. He could easily erase the security camera footage and could cover up the whole mishap quite easily. Becker shook his head at the thought and put down the gun. Stephen wasn't a bad guy; he just didn't know what happened after he died. Becker wasn't mad at Sarah either; she had just been a witness to the action and couldn't have done anything about it. Though, he could have at least slapped him with the other hand. That would have been a sight he wouldn't want to miss.
Meanwhile, Emma and Fowler were sitting at a lab table in the hug and planning something very special; Alex's birthday! It was coming up fast, and they were planning a surprise party. Originally, it was going to be Stevie and Emma planning, but taking in current events, Fowler decided to step in and help.
As Emma tried to explain the difference between yellow and white cake to Fowler, they were approached by Danny Quinn, who was looking very worried.
"Have you guys seen Jenny?" he asked. "I can't find her, and I'm getting worried. The only times she doesn't talk to me for this long is when she's trying to avoid me.
"Sorry Danny," said Emma. "We'll tell her you're looking for her though."
Danny nodded then walked through the double doors, into the corridor that led to the armory. The two watched him leave, and out of the corner of their eyes saw Jenny enter the hub.
"Something's going on between them," observed Emma.
"Why do you say that?" asked Fowler, as he continued through the party catalogue in front of him.
"He's such a bloke," thought Emma. "It's obvious, isn't it?" she said aloud. "Jenny's nervous about Cutter being there, so she's starting to second guess herself and her choices."
"I'm sorry," said Fowler, finishing off the catalogue. "I don't watch soap operas every day, and why would Jenny be nervous."
"I read," responded Emma, "and for those who haven't done their background check on the ARC, I'll fill you in. Jenny had feelings for Cutter before he died, but wasn't sure if Cutter liked her because of the whole "Claudia Brown" incident, I'm sure you've heard of that story." Fowler nodded. "So anyways, Jenny has obviously never truly gotten over her feelings for Cutter, and she doesn't want Danny to notice and leave her."
"So the ARC background history is like one big soap-opera, and that's what you read," clarified Fowler, trying to hide a smile as he teased Emma.
Emma sighed, rolled her eyes, and slammed her head on the table in front of her.
"You are impossible," she groaned.
"I know," shrugged Fowler, "but you know I'm just teasing right?" Emma stayed silent. "Right?" Fowler asked again, a bit panicked at what Emma's response would be.
"I'm just teasing you," she said, sitting up properly.
Fowler cracked a smile, and the two got back to work on planning Alex's party. As the two looked through numerous decoration magazines, the two continued to talk.
"So when's your birthday?" he asked, as he flipped through the magazine quickly.
"October 29th," Emma responded. "I'll be seventeen this year." *Seventeen? That's it?* Fowler thought. *I thought for sure she was at least eighteen!* "What about you?" Emma asked. "Is it coming up soon?"
"Actually, it just passed by," said Fowler. "The thirteenth of July." He purposefully left out his age.
Emma, though, didn't seem to notice; for she was too appalled by the fact that Fowler hadn't said anything to her that day. They were at work all day. Why hadn't he said something? She asked him this, and he said it had slipped his mind. Not quite believing his reply, she nodded and continued on with planning. Fowler, however, didn't go back to work right away. He pretended to be looking through a cake design magazine, but instead was stealing side-glances of Emma. He was doing a good job of covering them up for a while, but got caught within the first five minutes when Emma said,
"I can see you doing that."
"Doing what?" he asked, trying to get out of being caught
Emma just rolled went back to her magazine. Fowler stood up, about to leave, but whispered something into Emma's ear before he did so. It was soft, and Emma laughed when Fowler finished. He smiled, pleased with his work, as he walked away to his office.
Danny was finally able to catch up with Jenny as she was leaving her office to give Lester the paperwork from the last mission. She heard him approaching, and tried to escape without him noticing, but Danny blocked Jenny's escape route with his arm.
"Jen, we need to talk," he said simply.
"Okay," said Jenny, pretending that nothing was wrong. "What would you like to talk about?"
"Jenny, you've been acting weird ever since Cutter came from the supposed dead. What's going on?"
When Jenny didn't answer or even look at Danny in the eye, Danny grabbed he arms, not too tightly, and tried to get her to look at him.
"Jen, you're scaring me. This isn't you. I'm not sure what's going on or how to help unless you tell me why you're avoiding me."
Jenny slowly looked up and met his gaze. She saw nothing but love, worry, and concern in his eyes. With a deep breath, she found the courage to tell him.
"Danny, I'm not sure if I told you this or not, but I use to have feelings for Nick Cutter. Feelings that I'm afraid to have come back just because he's back and cause you do leave me, which I don't want to happen either, but I—"
Danny shushed Jenny from a further ramble but putting his index finger ever so lightly on her lips. Jenny looked at Danny once again, and was surprised to see that his expression didn't change.
"Jen, I'm sorry to tell you this, but there's no way you're getting rid of me. That is, unless you kill me, but I don't want to give you any ideas," he teased.
Jenny cracked a small smile and Danny rested his forehead on Jenny's, leaving almost no space in-between their faced. He said the next bit in a hushed voice, which sent shivers down Jenny's spine.
"And even if you did mess up, I would always be there for you. I love you, Jen, and there's nothing that could ever change that."
Danny closed whatever space was between him and his wife and kissed her deeply. Jenny didn't hesitate, and kissed him back with the same amount of love and passion. Danny conjured every feeling for Jenny he could and released it in the kiss. It was as if he was telling her "I've got you, and I'm never letting you go." Now, this kiss hadn't been like the kisses the couple had shared lately. This was like the one they shared on their wedding night after they had gone home.
Deciding that it would be best not to share a snog in the middle of the hallway, Jenny reached behind her and twisted the handle to her office door. The door swung open and the two stepped inside. Jenny threw her reports for Lester aside as Danny kicked the door shut with his foot. Nothing matter at that moment then the two of them, together.
Connor was, like many other workers at the ARC today, locked in his office. He needed time to think after what happened the previous day. He had been wondering whether or not to tell anybody what he found. He had almost Abby when she came in to give him some tea. Luckily, he was able to refrain himself from doing so.
Just the thought of him being a father was so overwhelming. He was wondering why he had made such a connection with Emma earlier on. Should he confront her with the situation? Or maybe Lester would be better to tell…UGH! Connor's brain was literally swimming in questions.
What finally did get Connor out of his train of thought, and even out of his office, was when he heard an alarm go off in the ARC. Though, this wasn't the usually anomaly alarm; it was unfamiliar to him. That is, of course, until he heard Patrick yell "FIRE!" in a panicked scream all through the hallways. Unsure of what to do, for there had never really been a fire at the ARC before, Connor raced off towards the hub.
Apparently, that's what everyone else in the building thought as well. The hub was crowded with confused workers not sure where exactly to go.
"Don't worry," announced Lester from his balcony. "It's just a fire drill. The minister wants us doing one every week from now on."
"Why the hell does he want us to do that?" asked Patrick from somewhere in the mass of people.
The rest of the workers in hub broke out into questions as well, which caused another loud wave of noise.
"SHUT IT!" roared Lester, sounding quite lion-like. This got everyone quiet again, and their attention once again went to Lester. "Thank you," he said while straightening his tie. "Exit through the front. Then line up so I can do roll call to make sure we have no one straggling behind. "
Once Lester finished speaking, the entire facility of workers made a mad rush to the exit, trying to push their way to the front.
"You'd thin they've never been in a fire drill before," mumbled Lester as he picked up a list of the workers and leisurely made his way down the ramp.
"Well," announced Lester once he reached the workers as he looked at a stopwatch in his hand. "It took you lot thirteen minutes and forty-seen seconds to get out of the building. To say I'm "impressed" would be the complete opposite of what I was going to say, which is "we need to take a 'how to get out of a government facility safely in case of a fire' class."
The entire staff groaned. Even the soldiers were caught rolling their eyes at the idea of taking a class on fire drills. Lester looked shocked at the response.
"Lucky for you lot, I was joking!" he stated. "Now let's see if we have everybody. If not, and this was a real fire, then it'll be a lot of bloody paperwork."
After going through the list, it became known that Danny and Jenny Quinn didn't manage to make it out of the building yet.
"Where the hell are those two love birds?" asked Lester.
"We're here," shouted Danny as he and Jenny breathlessly made their way to the rest of the facility workers.
The state that the two were in surprised the team greatly. Danny's hair was even more messy, if possible, his shirt was wrinkly and seemed to be put on hastily, and his earns were unzipped. Jenny, on the other hand, also had messy hair and wrinkled clothing. Her blouse also seemed to not be necessarily buttoned up all the way. Jenny blushed as she saw the gaze of the entire staff on her and her husband. Danny nervously scratched the back of his neck.
"Uh, what's up gov?" he asked.
Lester shook his head disapprovingly.
"I'm not going to ask."
So, what did you think of the ending? Hahaha, I couldn't help myself, and it will play an important in a future chapter (if it ever gets published). ANYWAYS, reviews are greatly wanted. I love reviews, and really want to hear what you have to say (even if you hate it, that's fine with me). So, thanks for reading and REVIEW!
~Logan ;)