Time passed since previous chapter- 2 weeks
Series 4 Episode 1
This chapter is dedicated to Katy-Alice Cullen for being the only one to review and let me know what she thinks :D Thank you!
Disclaimer: I own nothing except Sofia...Damn!
Chapter 3- Welcome Back
"So you and Matt seem quite friendly lately." Jess inquired looking at Sofia from the corner of her eye just as they entered the Opps room.
"Well we are friends Jess." Sofia replied leaning against one of the desks near the ADD as Jess sat down spinning to face her.
"Come on, you know what I mean." Jess exclaimed wanting information, Matt was as quiet and reserved as usual except with Sofi. He was still quite reserved with her but he seemed more outgoing in a way.
"We're just friends Jess. We have a lot in common so we have a lot to talk about." Sofia told her. "Anyway I could say the same for you and Becker." Sofia said standing up properly to head to the menagerie.
"What! No we err we have a lot in common." Jess rushed out blushing embarrassed someone had noticed her crush on the Captain, even if it was only Sofi, who was like a sister to her.
"Sure thing Jess. Guns and fashion, yeah I can see the link." Sofia called pretending to think about it while backing down the corridor still facing Jess. Unable to think of a comeback Jess stuck her tongue out at her just as Becker entered the room. With the speed at which Jess pulled her tongue in and the bright shade of red she turned, Sofia was unable to control herself and burst into laughter. Looking back and forth at the horrified Jess and the hysterical Sofia, Becker just shook his head but didn't hold back the smile.
"Sometimes I can't actually believe how immature you two can be." Becker announced going over to his desk.
"Maturity is overrated." Sofia called after she finally managed to contain herself and carried on heading down the corridor, turning back to look at Jess one last time. She was focused solely on the ADD her cheeks still flushed red. Sofia couldn't help the chuckle that escaped her mouth.
After leaving the menagerie to allow the maintenance work to be done Sofia just roamed the corridors like usual. Lester often badgered her about not working, but she did, just in her own time. Her thoughts drifted to what Jess had said before. She'd never admit it and luckily she was good at hiding what she was actually thought but she did have a bit of a crush on Matt. She felt a hormonal teenager around him, which was embarrassing. And she thanked the heavens that they did have quite a bit in common so they had quite a bit to talk about. Just because she'd never admit to liking him didn't mean she didn't want to spend time with him. It was probably just a passing fancy anyway which is good because Matt probably didn't see her in that way. Looking up she silently cursed, she'd walked to Matt's office without meaning to. Well it gave her something to do and his door was open so she'll take that as a welcome in gesture.
Matt was once again thinking about Sofia, much to his annoyance, or so he tried to tell himself. They had spent a lot of time together over the last few weeks and he had enjoyed it. But he was starting to become distracted enough that Gideon had noticed, which led to a very long lecture about not getting to personally involved with anyone. Shutting his eyes he tried to think of something that wasn't Sofia related. But that all went to hell when her voice broke the silence, not that it bothered him if he was being truthfully honest.
"I never asked where did you get some of these plants from? Since travel through anomalies is forbidden." Opening his eyes he looked towards her. She had her back to him looking at some of the prehistoric plants. She had her hair down at the minute which was bone straight and she looked to be wearing what appeared to be the same outfit she wore when they first met. However if she was anything like Becker it was probably one of a hundred identical outfits. Unlike the other military personnel Sofia's uniform normally varied from day to day but still remained professional looking.
"Some of them were salvaged from the collection Abby Maitland had." Matt replied.
"Abby? She's one of the members who is currently lost on the other side of an anomaly right?" Sofia inquired turning to face him.
"Yeah she was." Matt answered mentally scolding himself for letting her have such an effect on him; it wasn't like he'd never seen a beautiful woman before. Before either could say anymore an alarm sounded through the ARC. Sofia quickly tied her hair back with the hair tie that was always on her wrist, it still amazed Matt how quick she could do that.
"That's not the anomaly alarm." She said looking to Matt then walking into the corridor.
"No it's not." Matt replied putting his ear piece in and then following her.
"Talk to me Jess." Matt called through the comms.
"It's my entire fault. I released the air lock on the menagerie to early, they were doing maintenance work and the creature got out. God I'm sorry." Jess's voice came over the comms sounding slightly frantic and annoyed.
"Concentrate Jess, have you got a visual?" Sofia said in a calming voice.
"It's heading down the south corridor towards Lab 3." Jess informed them before noticing the two blinking dots on her screen that represented Matt and Sofia.
"Matt! Sofi!"
"We know Jess." Sofia answered just as she got the CCTV up showing them both facing the Dracorex. Sofia just stared at the Dracorex the closest room was Lab 3 but that was behind them and Princess would probably charge at any sudden movement.
"Back up needed south corridor by Lab 3, I repeat back up to south corridor." Jess's voice rang over the PA system.
"Sofia, slowly back up to the lab." Matt ordered her, deciding not to argue she did what he said but keeping her eyes locked on Princess.
"Hello." Matt said to the Dracorex before rushing to get a metal tray off the table next to him holding it up just as Princess charged. He was thrown back right into Sofia who went down under his weight.
"Quick up you get." Matt rushed out pulling Sofia up and into the lab just as Princess righted herself.
"Are you OK? I didn't hurt you did I?" Matt asked checking her over.
"I'm fine Matt." Sofia reassured him smiling.
"You both OK? Sofi, Matt can you hear me?" Jess called.
"We're fine." Matt answered
"Get out of there Jess." Sofia rushed starting to worry when she saw which way Princess went. She and Matt looked at each other before running down the corridor.
"I've just got to back up the system this is all my fault." Jess replied.
"Forget about that and get out of there." Matt called getting worried as well, Sofia pushed herself faster.
"She's coming your way." They both said at the same time. Becker ran into the corridor just ahead of them.
"Opps room." Matt called not stopping in his run. Before reaching the opps room Becker turned down a different corridor so they could make sure the opps room was covered from all sides. Upon entering the opps room Sofia could see Jess hiding behind a pillar and Lester stood in front of the lift. Becker came through the opposite corridor, catch pole in hand, and ordered some of his men to collect the tranq guns. She could hear Jess talking to the Dracorex but she was too busy looking at Matt who had just walked over to the water dispenser, she raised her eyebrow at him when he took the water dispenser bottle. Turning back to the Dracorex Matt caught the look on Sofia's face and just smiled before turning to Jess and the Dracorex
"Down boy, sit." Jess called to the creature.
"Actually it's a girl." Matt said before slamming the bottle to the ground getting the Dracorex's attention. Once Princess's back was to Jess, Sofia motioned to her to move to her side which Jess had no problem doing.
"Here Princess." Matt said leading the Dracorex into Lester's office.
"No, no not my office." Lester complained coming to stand next to her and Jess, Becker also joining them. They all watched as Matt poured water into a small bin which the Dracorex started drinking from as he left the office and joined them.
"Right. So there was nowhere else it could have gone?" Lester asked.
"I was improvising." Matt shrugged. Sofia smirked at the look of disdain of Lester's face. After a few moments Becker left to go and see what was taking the tranqs so long whilst the others stayed by Lester's office. Looking up Sofia saw Princess finish drinking and roar at the window before starting to trash the office, the effort it took to keep from laughing was almost too much, the look on Lester's face was priceless.
"You know I'm sure there is a perfectly rational explanation for all of this. Err...Jess?" Lester said pointing to Jess.
"It was..." Jess started before being cut off.
"My fault sir. I was over seeing some maintenance at the menagerie, there was a problem with the air lock and the Dracorex got spooked and bolted. It won't happen again." Sofia cut in looking at James. He just raised his eyebrow but let it slip, it didn't overly matter anyway now it was contained. As he turned to leave Becker entered his office.
"Becker's going to tranq her shouldn't be long now." Matt informed both Sofia and Jess turning back towards the office.
"Shouldn't one of you be helping him?" Jess asked looking back and forth to Matt and Sofia.
"Probably." Sofia answered grinning.
"But where would the fun be in that." Matt finished grinning also. Once the Dracorex was sedated Becker joined the trio.
"I will have sleeping beauty moved to the menagerie." Becker announced.
"Good work meet me in the armoury in half an hour, you to Sofia." Matt said turning to leave before being stopped by Becker.
"Why?"
"Haven't you heard?" Jess asked looking at both the confused looks on Sofia's and Becker's faces. "The EMD's have arrived.
"Oh yes the toy guns." Becker said not looking impressed.
"If the toy guns had been here this morning this wouldn't have happened." Matt stated before turning a leaving.
Sofia was just admiring one of the bigger EMD's when Becker finally turned up.
"You're late." Matt called throwing an EMD to him.
"Oh great tasers." Becker complained. Sofia just stood back and watched them bicker. They were like a pair of kids.
"I can't believe you actually shot him." Sofia said shaking her head.
"He asked for it. Literally." Matt defended himself. Sofia laughed shaking her head again.
"You two really are a pair of kids." She told him grinning. Matt just laughed with her as they carried on down the corridor. Matt had just bid Sofia farewell as he went into his office and she carried on to the shooting range when he heard Phillip Burton stop her, he couldn't help but listen in.
"Good morning Lieutenant. So why did you cover for Jess? I had the logs checked; the air lock was opened from her terminal."
"Yeah I was using her computer." Sofia replied. This wasn't the first time Matt noticed how strained and uptight Sofia sounded when talking to Phillip.
"You're a terrible liar. To be honest I don't really need to know. Good management is about picking the right people for the job and letting them get on with it, until they screw up." Matt was leaning on the door frame to his office by this point and could see Phillip walking down the corridor, Sofia had her back to him and he could also see how tense she was.
"What's your problem with Phillip?" Matt inquired curious.
"I don't know. He just makes me really uneasy. I don't like him, something's off about him." Sofia answered turning to face him, before giving him a small tight smile then heading to the shooting range again. Matt watched her until she was gone.
Sofia was jogging towards the opps room, the alarm blaring loudly and Jess's voice soon joining the noise.
"Anomaly detected, stand be for data transmission readings. Location details and route downloaded to all black box units."
Sofia got to the opps room stopping beside Matt grabbing her own black box.
"Estimated journey time 11 minutes, population density high." Jess finished, Matt and Sofia jogged to the garage getting into the last car.
Upon arriving at the anomaly site a bit later than everyone else, they saw Becker talking to two very dirty people, a man and a woman.
"Isn't that Connor and Abby?" Sofia asked Matt turned to her and she could see the question in his eyes.
"I read the files and have seen the pictures." Sofia answered the unspoken question smiling.
"Well let's go meet the last two members of the first ARC field team." Matt said climbing out of the car; Sofia followed his lead and got out heading to Becker, Connor and Abby.
"Matt, Sofia I'd like to introduce you to two of my good friends." Becker started.
"Abby Maitland, Connor Temple. It's good to meet you I'm Matt Anderson." Matt greeted shaking both their hands.
"And I'm Sofia. It's lovely to meet you both." Sofia greeted also shaking both their hands.
"Matt is the new team leader and Lieutenant Sofia is my second in command." Becker introduced them further.
"I will have someone escort you to the ARC." Matt told them as Sofia went over to the rest of the men to ensure everything was going smoothly. She wasn't really paying attention to the four behind her, speaking with one of the other men when suddenly the anomaly opened. Raising her EMD quickly she backed up and ordered for someone to re-lock the anomaly but the order was sent to late as a roar was heard before the creature was seen. As she was the closest she saw it first.
"Spinosaurus! Everyone move back now!" Sofia shouted so everyone could hear her. Everyone moved out the way as the Spinosaurus charged past, stopping to roar at them before charging down the street.
"Get that anomaly locked." Matt shouted getting into one of the cars with Becker. Sofia got into a different car with Jake, one of the usual military personnel, he was driving and was about to follow Becker and Matt until Sofia told him to go down the next street along so they would be travelling parallel with the dinosaur. As they were driving Sofia climbed out the window at the back of the car, so she was now kneeling on the bed of the vehicle, it made it easier to get a good aim. Following the directions from Jess they turned a corner to see the Spinosaurus ramming a bin truck, Sofia could see Matt inside and could also see Becker in one car and Connor and Abby in another blocking the Spinosaurus from going anywhere. And by Jess's directions to the arena the dinosaur would have to go down the road herself and Jake were currently on.
"Jake we're going to have to get this big girl to follow us." Sofia called through the window.
"Great." Jake said. Sofia turned her EMD to medium level, she'd managed to get Matt and Becker to give her one of the bigger guns which she was thankful for. That level would annoy it but not bring it down, which wouldn't be too good in the middle of a street.
"When I say now, start beeping." Sofia said taking aim. "Now!" Sofia shouted shooting at the dinosaur's hind leg just as Jake beeped multiple times. Everyone's attention turned to them, including the Spinsaurus who roared very loudly before starting to charge.
"Jake now would be an excellent time to start driving." Sofia shouted as the Spinosaurus got closer and she was just sat there in the open. Suddenly the car lurched knocking her off balance and onto her stomach. Getting back onto her knees she could see the Spinosaurus following as well as the others vehicles not far behind. Finally getting into the arena the Spinosaurus went for another bite at her, Sofia could feel the breath of the Spinosaurus on her back and neck as she threw herself from the back of the car, narrowly missing being catch in its jaws. The arrival of the other vehicles distracted it long enough for her to get a safe distance away.
"Everyone get into position, fire on my command." Becker ordered over the comms to everyone. As she readied her gun Matt stood next to her.
"We'll be having words later about how reckless that was, and how close she was to eating you a second ago." Matt stated keeping his eyes on the dinosaur. Sofia smiled.
"Were you worried about me Matt?"
"Later."
Everyone was ready and waiting for Becker's command when Connor suddenly ran into the middle of the arena.
"Hold your fire." Becker ordered quickly.
"What is he doing? Does he do this type of thing often?" Matt asked turning to Becker.
"Yeah, every now and again." Becker answered. Sofia shook her head.
"And how does it normally turn out?" She asked.
"Err, depends."
"We can't fire with Connor in the way." Matt called grabbing a bag and running off telling a soldier to go with him. Becker and herself kept their guns aimed at the dinosaur, when it suddenly started to charge for Connor. Before they could do anything S club 7 started playing through the speakers and the lights started flashing, looking up Sofia could see Abby at the control deck. Connor ran further into the centre of the arena, all the soldiers including Becker and Sofia ran into better positions when Matt was lowered from the ceiling above Connor.
"Connor, grab hold." Matt shouted holding out his hand, which Connor grabbed. They were lifted into the air just as the Spinosaurus took at bite at them, luckily missing.
"Fire!" Becker ordered once they were high enough, only she and Becker actually shot at the dinosaur, but it still went down. Sofia looked up in time to see Connor and Matt drop slightly.
"Something's wrong." She said quiet to herself, as they dropped again.
"Line must be jammed." Becker said next to her also looking up. Looking down at the Spinosaurus, Sofia saw her starting to wake.
"Oh. Just great." Sofia claimed raising her EMD again. She quickly looked up as the Spinosaurus jumped up at them. She saw Connor drop that strange glass device he had and the dinosaur swallowed it. Just as it landed it lit up and you could see the anomaly open up inside her before completely disappearing, dinosaur and all.
"That's something I never thought I'd see." Sofia stated lowering her EMD once again.
"Same." Becker announced still looking at where the Spinosaurus used to be, much like herself.
Once back at the ARC Sofia went straight to Jess to give her, her black box while Connor, Abby, Matt, Becker and Lester walked over a bit slower. Abby and Connor were taking everything in and talking to Lester, until finally they were all gathered around the ADD. Jess turned to face everyone.
"Hello, I'm Jess. It's so good to finally meet you guys, Becker's told me everything. You guys are like legends around here." Jess greeted as enthusiastic as always.
"Cheers mate." Connor said still staring at the ADD.
"Whatever, I thought you were dead." Becker stated trying to keep a straight face.
"Where's Sarah?" Abby asked looking around. Everyone suddenly went quiet; Sofia had read the file so she knew. The look on Abby's face told her she had figured it out.
"Abby, Connor I can't tell you what a relief it is to see you two. Forgive me I'm..." Phillip announced coming over, Sofia couldn't help but tense up slightly. No matter what she couldn't help but feel on edge around this guy. She could see Matt looking at her from the corner of her eye; he had noticed her change in posture.
"Phillip Burton. I know..." Sofia zoned out the rest of the conversation and watched as Connor and Abby were led to Lester's office. Sofia, Matt, Becker and Jess were all stood watching Connor and Abby try and fight for their jobs.
"It's so harsh." Jess said, Becker looked at her before turning and walking away. Sofia shook her head and went to walk away as well but Matt called her.
"Sofi, can we talk please?"
"Sure, your office?"
"Yeah that'll be fine." Matt nodded walking next to her down the corridor, both missing Jess's smile at the pair.
"So, what is it you want to talk about?" Sofia asked settling into one of the chairs in his office.
"I think you know." Matt said leaning back on his desk facing her.
"Matt we had everything pretty much under control." She said rolling her eyes.
"I don't think you realise how close that Spinosaurus was to getting you today. You've been here less than a month, just be more careful." Matt told her trying not to make it obvious how much it actually scared him seeing the Spinosaurus's teeth practically scrape her back.
"So you were worried." Sofia said smiling.
"Of course I was, just be more careful." Matt said. Getting up from her seat she walked over to Matt and gave him a hug. The action shocked him and she had already pulled back before he could react.
"I'm sorry I scared you and I will be more careful." Sofia stated smiling before leaving Matt's office. Once she was gone Matt couldn't stop the smile that came to his face. Grabbing his keys Matt walked to the garage, he'd have to go see Gideon what with Connor and Abby being back, he now had more possible suspects. Whilst thinking of this on the drive Matt's thoughts were drawn to Sofia again, but mainly focusing on her reaction to Phillip again. It was strange. Shaking his head Matt tried removing all thoughts of Sofia, he could do without another lecture from Gideon.
Thank you for reading again :) I'd really like to know what some of you think if that wouldn't be too difficult. Review please :)
Cammie x