It was strange to be researching events that she knew had happened hundreds of years ago... yet were still somehow unfolding. One day would result in nothing, the next she'd run the same search and Sarah would discover something new.

While there was little to go on, she was able to find the occasional mention of the missing ARC team members, and what little she found had to be enough to satisfy the deep seated need the others left behind had for information on their missing friends.

Her lab had become the meeting place for the other members of the team in between anomaly alerts and their regular duties. They'd either help her or keep her well fed and watered, eager to learn everything she was able to discover.

During the beginning of her fifth week at the new ARC, Sarah made a discovery she was loathe to share with the others. Her heart sunk and her stomach knotted with dread and she was almost pleased when the anomaly alert went off and the team left to deal with it.

Her relief didn't last very long, however, as she was summoned to the hub only to be told gleefully that the anomaly led to the fifteenth century – and was a possible way home for their missing teammates.

"Have you found anything further?" Emily asked as the core team reluctantly remained to the ARC, after no activity at the anomaly site led to them being forced to leave it being guarded by a small security team comprised of Becker's men. "Is there any mention of Jess or Becker and what happened to them?"

The way she hesitated gave it away, and Sarah found herself ushered into Lester's office, the team gathering around to hear what she had to say.

"There's no record of either of them after October 1502," she began by saying.

"There wouldn't be, would there? If they came through before then?" Lester looked around to see if anyone else was as confused as he was, and was gratified to see the core team seemed to share his lack of concern at Sarah's announcement. "They've only been gone five weeks. You've tracked them down from April to May, which means they should be coming home any day now..."

It was Danny who answered, shaking his head. "Time doesn't work that way through the anomalies, Lester. A few weeks here could be a few months there."

"And that does seem to be the case," Sarah continued before anyone else could speak. "If Jess is the same Jessica that Queen Elizabeth exchanged letters with up to October 1502, and I have every reason to believe she is as the name Jessica wasn't very common. In fact, the first reference to it outside of these letters was in Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice so the chances of there being two Jessica's in 1502 is small to the point of being non-existent." Taking a moment to catch her breath, Sarah looked down at the records she'd printed off. "Sir Hilary Becker accompanied King Henry VII into battle when his claim to the throne was challenged by a distant relative of the House of Lancaster. It was a short but brutal battle with many casualties on both sides."

"Was Becker one of those casualties?" Abby's grip on Connor's hand tightened as the couple stood together near the door. "Sarah?"

Lifting her head to meet Abby's gaze, Sarah shrugged helplessly. "I don't know," she said honestly. "I wish I could say with certainty that he survived but there is no mention of him after the record of who was summoned to fight alongside the King."

"What about Jess?" Sitting forward in her seat to see Sarah past Danny, who sat in the chair between them, Emily didn't react when Matt let a hand drift to rest on her shoulder in a gesture of solidarity. "You said she was exchanging letters with the Queen up until October 1502. Why did those letters stop then?"

"Again, I wish I could tell you." Sarah's expression was pained. "They simply stopped. The last letter in the collection that was uncovered is dated the 19th October 1502. It was written a few days after the battle began, sent by Queen Elizabeth enquiring after her friend's wellbeing and inviting her to return to the palace so that they could await news of their husbands together. The letter must have been returned undelivered as it was found amongst Queen Elizabeth's belongings, with those written to the Queen by Jess."

The revelation was met by momentary silence. The group looked at one another, each fearing the worst but no one willing to give voice to their fears.

"Maybe... Maybe they both came through the anomaly, yeah?" Connor suggested hopefully. "Maybe that's why there's no record of them after then, they both disappeared because they both came home?"

"Maybe, Connor." Matt gave the dark haired scientist a nod, unwilling to dash the hope by pointing out that the longer the anomaly remained open with no activity, the less likely it was that that scenario was true. "I guess we just have to wait. The anomaly shows no signs of getting weaker. Maybe one or both of them will come through it soon."

She stood in the small clearing, staring at the flickering lights in front of her as though it was the first anomaly she'd ever seen. Strangely, though she'd been hoping and wishing for one to appear every day for over six months, Jess felt no desire to go through it.

Not on her own.

Even if she'd known with absolute certainty that it would lead her home, back to the friends and family she loved and missed so much, she wouldn't step through it.

Not without Becker.

She wouldn't leave him on his own here, not when there was a chance he'd come home to her. She wouldn't abandon him, no matter what she knew he would have told her to do had he been there.

She squared her shoulders and turned on her heel, picking up her skirts as she walked through the woodland towards the small house not too far away.

Away from the anomaly and the potential route back to the present that it offered her.

It wouldn't be home anyway, she told herself. Even if it led her back to the day she'd left, without Becker at her side, it wouldn't be home.

:/