Connor
Disclaimer: None of the characters are mine, but belong to Impossible Pictures.
1.
Connor's heart is beating wildly in his chest. "You're pregnant? How did this happen?"
"Yeah, and I would like to know that as well!" Abby, having been just a bathroom door's thickness away, heard the exchange perfectly and naturally was beyond mere anger – she was past furious and rapidly approaching enraged. "Connor, why is she looking for you?"
"Because it's his child," Caroline half-turned and met Abby's stare with her own and the air practically shuddered from that collision. "Nice to see that you're not dying like Connor had claimed."
"Yeah, about that," Abby's gaze had softened somewhat, "why is that? Not that I am upset about that, of course, but-"
"But I am in the city and have decided that it would be better for me if you lived," Helen said calmly as she had silently walked over to Jenny's spot in the room. "And now I am guessing that it would be better for everyone if it was just the three of you here, right?"
Even as Helen was saying these words, she was dragging Jenny out of the room, so all that Abby had to do was nod in agreement and turn her attention back to Connor and Caroline. "Well?" she said curtly. "What has happened?"
"You were dying, Abby, really dying," Connor slowly said, visibly shuddering, as he remembered the hellish nights and days. "I didn't know whom to turn to-"
"And so you turned to her. You couldn't have turned to Jenny-"
"Jenny had lost Nick. I doubt that she would have been much of an advisor," Connor shook his head. "Abby, look – you were dying, the doctors said that you will die within the week from blood poisoning and organ rejection, and there wasn't anything they or anyone else could! Lester is in France, getting Danny from Corsica, Sarah and Becker flatly told me to go on my vacation leave or whatever, and Jenny, well..." Connor fell silent.
Abby paused herself, wondering if she should point out that Jenny has apparently shacked up with Helen Cutter, but decided against it: apparently – here Connor was adamant – Helen had saved her life, and Abby wasn't about to look that sort of a gift horse in the mouth.
"Anyways," Abby slid back away from the slippery issue of Jenny Lewis and Helen Cutter, "you called her? And she listened?"
"Yes, yes I did, like all always have on our dates," Caroline answered suddenly, before Connor could. "I'm guessing that you usually don't do that?"
Now the temperature in the room was practically frigid. "I beg your pardon, what did you say?" Abby growled (Connor practically felt his manhood with away).
Caroline didn't respond verbally – rather, she just stared down at the other woman with a rather unimpressive look. Connor, unfortunately, decided to speak up and thus pretty much managed to make a mistake. "Abby, look," he said quickly, "on our old dates I used to do most of the talking and what-not, and I guess when I have called Caroline that night, we sort-of fell into that old routine-"
"And into the bed."
"Abby, it was my bed! We do sleep in separate beds!" Connor all but howled, confused and more than a bit angry at himself.
"You're right," Abby snapped. "We do sleep separately... Connor, I don't want to see you until the end of the week – at the very least, you understand?"
"Yes Abby," Connor said, quiet once again.
He and Caroline just left.
2.
Yet once in the hospital's hall, the two of them had a confrontation of their own.
"Connor-" Caroline began, but the young man shushed her.
"Caroline, the child is mine, isn't it?"
Caroline's cheeks turned a darker brown than what they were before. "Yes," she said, "it is – you know..." she paused. "Anyways, we can set up a doctor's appointment, and have an expertise and all those other things... and when we prove that the child is yours, what then?"
Connor paused, thinking quietly. As if on purpose, Helen's words about Nick Cutter and his dreams came into his mind, her look – for all the anger that he still felt towards her, that facial expression had hurt him much more than he had expected... maybe it was time to be more like his role model in more than just time-anomaly-related things.
"I'm not sure how to explain this," he said slowly. "Abby... she meant a lot to me, and probably always will, no matter what – do understand this... But if this child is mine, then we will raise him, together, somehow, no matter what."
"We will?" Caroline said quietly.
"Yeah," Connor nodded, and added, largely to himself, "and I think I should be getting back into my studies as well, yeah..."
As the two young adults just stared quietly at one another, Connor's cell phone began to ring. It was Lester's secretary, Lorraine, who was essentially running the ARC during Lester's absence in England – a time anomaly has opened up in a scrap yard, and it had to be dealt with as soon as possible.
4.
The time anomaly just sort of levitated there, its' chromatically white glow augmenting the light of the sun. The fact that a salty smell of the sea was wafting through it as well, adding a further element to the overall idea of a tropical paradise lying on the other side of it as well.
"Caroline? Thanks for giving me the lift – I guess that once the others arrive we'll be able to take it down from here," Connor told the mother of his (potentially) child. "I guess that you can go now."
"Oh no I won't – I certainly want to, but I won't," Caroline shook her head. "If you're going to put with me, I clearly have to work for it as well."
Connor blinked. "Even I know that the grammar in this sentence is atrocious, but thank you for the sentiment-"
"Connor?" Jenny's voice started the younger pair, "me and Helen have got your message – oh, this is the time anomaly, hah?"
"Yes, yes it is," Connor responded, sounding somewhat cross. "Now unless Mrs. Cutter-"
"It's doctor, doctor Cutter," Helen sounded quite cool and collected. "Try to remember it, Mr. Temple."
"Um, people? I think I can see some movement on the other side of it – and it's big," Caroline didn't sound very self-assured.
"How big?" Everybody immediately shifted their attention towards the time anomaly, only to see a huge bird's head poke out through it, armed with a wickedly hooked beak. Connor realized it in an instant:
"A terror bird! Everybody – back away!"
The terror bird immediately fastened its' attention onto him and stepped through the time anomaly completely. It was huge, easily two or three meters tall, armed with a wickedly hooked beak and sharp claws on its feet and wings.
"Oh my, it looks almost like a raptor from the Jurassic Park™ movies!" Caroline exclaimed. "Or a carnivorous ostrich."
"A carnivorous crane, actually – bird, not human invention," Connor couldn't help commenting. "I and the others had once confronted a whole flock of them – Danny eventually lured them back using a sound recording... but I don't think that that will work here. Helen – any practical advice?"
"None," the latter replied carefully observing how a second terror bird seemed ready to join the first. "And incidentally, what's the ARC's current policy on dealing with these situations?"
"Um, we don't tend to kill prehistoric beasts unless it's absolutely unavoidable – you remember the brontothere situation – and besides, the Special Forces will – or rather won't - be here quickly enough to use violence, unless you have any-"
A loud honk from Caroline's car startled everyone, including the prehistoric predators, which stopped advancing and instead began hissing like geese, lashing out with their oddly-shaped wings at the car.
"Good idea!" Helen quickly caused Jenny's vehicle to honk as well, startling the terror birds even further. "Caroline, while Jenny and I try to distract them, get yourself and Connor into the car and slowly advance upon them – maybe they'll take the cars for toxodon or glyptodonts and back away."
"Good idea," Connor exclaimed, "and if it doesn't work it's always better-"
The terror birds charged incredibly fast, striking like snakes with their long necks and huge beaks. Unlike the terror birds previously encountered by Connor, these two seemed to be slimmer and quicker, using speed rather than strength to overpower their prey... besides the huge beaks and talons, of course.
Instinctively Connor screamed as the bird on the right swung its' beak right at his head only to whirl away at the last moment as Jenny's car almost smashed into its' legs instead. The bird – and its' mate – jumped away and Connor quickly climbed into the car.
The terror birds struck again, this time simultaneously at the windshield of Caroline's machine, even as the latter was driving away from them, cracking the glass with ease. Caroline practically shrieked as she saw her windshield break apart and the terror birds begin their joint charge, when Helen lashed out through the window of Jenny's car, striking the terror bird on the right with her taser at its' neck. Promptly, the bird collapsed and the other one lashed out with its' beak... only to have Helen dodge and slam its' taser into its' head, dropping it down as well.
Then there was only silence, until Connor finally broke it. "That was fast," he admitted.
"No, it wasn't. Compared to the meat-eating dinosaurs that I had to outrun, they were slow, and not just because they're starving and exhausted."
"Say what?"
"These birds are starving and exhausting. The sabre-tooth cats are pushing them out of their usual territory," Helen explained slowly. "That's why they attacked the cars – they were desperate."
The time anomaly chose this moment to wink out. "Oh bugger," Helen muttered, as she pulled out the manifestation device. "I will need to re-charge it soon enough."
"Actually," Connor said slowly, "I have a better idea."
"One that can get you into better graces with Abby?"
"Yes," Connor nodded, half blushing and half glowering. Fortunately, no one, not even Helen Cutter decided to challenge him on that...
5.
The look on Lorraine's face, when the latter saw the two terror birds trussed up and ready to be studied behavouristically at the ARC was rather flabbergasted; as soon as she saw Jenny and Helen enter in the wake of Connor, the secretary quickly grew professional again. "Oh, Ms. Lewis, hello there. I'm sorry, but Mr. Lester still isn't back – something about an invasion of bulldog-sized sabre-toothed weasels-"
"That's perfectly understandable, Lorraine," Jenny said with a professional look of her own. "The animals from the future are even nastier than the ones from the past; still, weasels are weasels and I'm sure that James will get the best of them – eventually. Anyways, this time I came here because of the terror birds and what-not, so, uh, I'm not here on business – this time."
"Thanks for understanding, Ms. Lewis," Lorraine nodded gratefully and scurried away to accommodate the terror birds.
Jenny, meanwhile, turned to Connor. "Well, thanks for the exciting afternoon, Connor, but Helen and I should probably go now, right?"
"Not exactly," Connor shook his head. "We really need to talk." He turned to Helen. "I am truly grateful what you did to Abby and what you said to me has a good point, but we still need to talk." He paused and turned back to Jenny. "Um, do you remember where the office that dealt with public damages was?"
"You mean my office?" Jenny said, lifting an eyebrow. "Who had taken over for the PR after I left?"
"I'm not sure," Connor admitted, looking rather guiltily, "after you left, the late Christine Johnson began to encroach onto our Center in person, so I'm not sure that we hired anyone new," he winced.
"I see," Jenny's voice sounded quite cool and even. "Then I guess we'll just go up to it, all the same, to check the condition. Ms.-" she turned to Caroline.
"Steele," the latter helpfully explained.
"Right, Ms. Steele, we will sort out the situation with your car."
"Good to hear it," Helen said calmly, "and I, I suppose, will wait in the cafeteria in the meanwhile-"
"Helen," Jenny said slowly. "You're coming with us – please don't push it."
For a few moments the two women just stared at each other, and then Helen nodded in accord:
"Oh, very well, you're the one with the people skills."
Connor, for his part, just released a breath that he was subconsciously holding.
7.
The office was musty and dry, clearly not overly used in recent times, but still kept in workable conditions by the ARC's stuff.
"Lovely," Jenny sounded clearly disdainful and unimpressed. "Lorraine has done all that she could, I see." She marched over to one of the drawers, opened it, and withdrew a form. "Right. Ms. Steele, you write-up your report, and I'll get it across."
"How? Lester's absent-"
"But Lorraine isn't, and since she's the acting head of the ARC in Lester's absence, we can get this done before today – hopefully," Jenny shrugged casually. "You can use one of the tables in here to fill it."
"Thanks," Caroline nodded gratefully, and walked a bit off to the side, beginning to write down the details on the form already.
Connor, meanwhile, turned back to Jenny – and Helen, who was standing a bit off to the left, watching him curiously. "Right, now, please explain to me how the two of you came to be."
"I decided to be spontaneous, not unlike how Nick and Danny were," Jenny shrugged, "and here's the intermediate reason."
"Neither Nick nor Danny would want that-"
"I know, and this isn't exactly what I had in mind either, when I had my spontaneous idea, but if I hadn't... Abby would be probably mostly dead by now, so some good is coming out of it already."
Connor's eyes narrowed. "Perhaps, but Abby got sick-"
"Technically, she had a parasitic infestation – initially," Helen interrupted.
"No, she hadn't. The ARC's medical staff-"
"Can I first explain?" Helen somehow looked down on Connor despite the fact that the young man wasn't that physically shorter than her. "By the time of late Cretaceous, there were fully developed mammals, as opposed to the small cynodonts of the Triassic. This means that a lot of parasites – ticks, worms and insects – had evolved to prey on them. Among them were certain small midges or flies that infested the mammals, ah-"
"Lower intestines?" Connor suggested helpfully.
"No. A much gender-specific opening."
"What? That's crazy, that's-"
"That's nature for you," Helen said slowly. "This family of insects got extinct roughly around 65 million years ago alongside their main mammalian hosts, but as I said before, we arrived in the Cretaceous several million years before that time."
"But Abby wasn't a Cretaceous mammal!"
"Abby is still a mammal, and that was good enough for the flies. However, then you went backwards through time, to the Jurassic, so they got disassembled and assimilated in the process."
"Say what?"
"Look. Let's suppose that today one of the glass shards created by the terror birds grazed your arm and cut it. Then you went 4 million years into the past, before you got born, let alone cut your arm, and-"
Connor blinked. "Are you saying that going back in time before you get hurt sort of erases all of it?"
"Yes," Helen nodded and turned to Jenny. "While going forwards in time after you get hurt instead hits you with accelerated physical healing that drains your body's natural resources and leaves you weakened, plus there's a fact that bleeding and time travel can create some very nasty, potentially lethal side effects, so I don't advise you using them like some sort of a panacea."
Connor – and Jenny – stared at Helen in astonishment. "How-? How's that possible?" Connor said weakly.
"I don't exactly have a concrete answer, outside of the fact that we're dealing with time itself – the creatures that come through it are just a side effect, so to speak," Helen shrugged. "Frankly, the ARC has been very lucky under Lester's management that it never had to deal with anything worse than giant futuristic weasels and the like. Anyways, where were we?"
"I'm done," Caroline walked over and heard the last question. "What are you talking about?"
"The good doctor, was, uh, explaining some facts about time travel," Connor shrugged slowly, as Jenny carefully took Caroline aside and began to explain the next step in the ARC's insurance policy. "So, what happened next?" he turned back to Helen.
"Well, first you jumped roughly another 70 million years backwards in time, before the parasitic specie has even evolved, let alone infested your girlfriend. Consequently, the eggs or larvae of her parasite got broken down into molecules and assimilated into her body. Then you jumped forwards at least 150 million years – beyond the lifespan of those insects, beyond the lifespan of that whole species, so naturally, when you came here, Abby's body had expelled the now-dead parasites in that fit that you naturally mistook for diarrhoea... but unfortunately this meant that some alkaloids still managed to enter her blood stream, causing that condition of hers," Helen paused. "I don't know anatomy, even human anatomy, all that well, but I do know that alkaloids shouldn't be in the blood stream, as your girlfriend has shown."
"Her name is Abby," Connor sighed. "But she's healed now, yes?"
"Yes," Helen nodded. "But where do you go from there?"
At that moment, though, Lorraine came into the room, phoned to it by Jenny regarding Caroline's windshield, and Connor opted to not respond, for if he had chosen to do so otherwise, he would have had nothing to say...
8. Several hours later
It was late evening, but Connor was only now returning to theirs – or only Abby's – flat. Surprisingly, the lights were on, which meant that Abby was already home... or their flat was being robbed. Unsurprisingly, Connor briefly mused about turning around and leaving the scene, whether of a crime or not, but then he decided to follow his deceased idol in more ways than just one and went in.
It was Abby. She was released from the hospital, and the look on her face was pretty much identical to the one worn by Connor. "You're late," she said flatly.
"You're early – I thought that I had till the end of the week."
"Oh! Can't wait to move out, can you?"
"No! Abby, you, I-" Connor floundered for words, for the right words to describe the situation, "we-"
"Connor, why did it have to be her? Couldn't you just have gotten a hooker off the streets if you were so desperate?"
"I didn't want sex, I just wanted a friend."
"Don't you have any other friends? You know, people who hadn't worked for that weasel, Leek?"
"Yes, and I love them dearly, but while you were dying I really didn't want to listen to the philosophy behind Harry Potter™ series or the pros and cons of the latest as opposed to the previous DnD™ edition. I just wanted somebody to listen, and Caroline, well, she proved to be a good listener."
Abby was silent, but then she inhaled and spoke again. "If she's keeping the baby and the baby is yours, then she is probably in love with you, because, honestly, I cannot think of any mercantile reasons, and the prehistoric animals gave her the creeps."
"I know."
"Connor, do you love her?"
"Nowhere as much as I love you – and what about you?"
Now it was Abby's turn to be quiet, and then she spoke. "I had the biggest crush on Stephen for the longest time, but he, he never gave me time of the day, he was in love with either Nick, or Helen, or maybe both of them somehow – we'll never know, I wasn't even the runner-up," she chuckled bitterly. "I was never unpopular in school or even in the zoo, but being passed-on in favour of an older woman or a man was a shock. I even learned all of those martial arts for his sake – and then he died."
"Abby, I am not Stephen, I-"
"I know, and you're great in your own way – you got Rex back, you dealt with the raptors and the other dinosaurs, you have tried to rescue me from the sea monsters from the future," Abby exhaled. "I know all that, yeah, and that's why I can't get between you and Caroline, I guess, not without coming out as a total and frigid bitch."
"Abby, look-"
"No, Connor, you listen: you have a lot on the plate, and so do I, and frankly I think that we should give each other a bit more room to manoeuvre around each other and Caroline and then we'll see-"
Wordlessly, Connor nodded in agreement, but then he remembered something:
"Is it a bad time to tell you that we brought two terror birds this afternoon? I thought that you would like have new animals to work with when you get out of the hospital."
Abby groaned, but a small smile appeared momentarily on her lips all the same.
"Connor, good night – we'll talk more in the days to come."