Gravity

Chapter 3 : Consider This

Characters/Pairings: Connor, Abby, Stephen; Connor/Abby pre-ship.

About: Set right before S2E4, the "I can't! I love you!" episode. :3 Abby goes to Stephen to rant about Caroline, and gets some advice. Too bad Caroline's plans ruin everything. As usual.

"I mean it Stephen, Connor's girlfriend is the witch from hell!" Abby's voice was sharp, but she managed to keep her tone low enough that Connor, sat halfway accross the room at the ADD, wouldn't hear her ranting. Stephen was still chuckling and she swatted at him, annoyed. "You're not taking this seriously!"

"Abby, Abby, are you absolutely sure you're not just jealous?" He said, drawing out the repetition of her name in a slightly chiding way. It got on her nerves.

"Jealous? Of Caroline?!" She scoffed, eyes narrowed at him. She shook her head. "No, I'm not." Stephen looked skeptical. "I mean it! His girlfriend closed Rex in the refrigerator! She claimed it was an accident but I know it wasn't."

"She knows about Rex?" Woops. Abby nodded, rolling her eyes.

"She knows he's a rare breed of lizard that doesn't like her one bit."

"Well, it still could've been an accident, Abby." Stephen said offhandedly, turning away from the railing and walking back up the ramp.

"No, it's obvious Caroline did that to Rex on purpose. You should see - whenever Connor's not looking, she gets this haughty, 'i'm better than you and i can do whatever i'd like' look on her face." Stephen shook his head, a little amused at this. "And, you know how Connor only thinks the best of people. He trusts everyone until they've proven otherwise. She hides these barbs in nice words so he doesn't know she's being unfair."

"And maybe," Stephen pointed out, "You're being unfair to Connor." She paused, blinking at him, looking a little confused and a helluvva lot defensive still.

"What do you mean?"

"You don't see the way he looks at you, do you Abby?" Stephen said quietly.

"Since when are you offering me relationship advice - with connor?!" Abby snapped, pretending to ignore his words.

"Hey, you came to me." He told her, smiling. She shook her head.

"Why would Connor get a girlfriend if he's still... if he still fancies me? Not that I'm interested in him that way, but I don't get it." She was lying through her teeth, honestly. Recently she'd been thinking more about Connor - at least until he'd gone and gotten himself a girlfriend who so obviously hated her.

"Abby, I'm not going to bother answering that, because you know. Here, look at it this way. If she makes Connor happy, shouldn't that be all that matters?"

She looked away, leaning on the railing. Watching with a thoughtful expression, Connor fussing with the ADD and the other equipment at his station. Stephen smiled and walked away, to find Cutter and go over some things from the last anomaly call.

In some ways, Stephen was right, even if it hurt to admit it. Caroline made Connor happy, she could see that. Abby's more obvious (to Connor, at least) rebbuttal to Caroline's attitude and hidden meanings wasn't helping him in the least. And a tiny part of her fought back at these thoughts, because even if she didn't want to admit it, she liked Connor as more than a friend, and she was not only worried about Connor (because he was so trusting it would be way too easy for someone to take advantage of him, honestly) but also... alright, fine. She was jealous. And yet another piece of Abby fought with that much clearer thought, because she only liked Connor as her best friend, didn't want to loose him, and was jealous for purely platonic reasons. Of course.

Abby sighed, bumping her forehead against the railing as she admitted that her mind was in complete chaos right now.

She moved away from the railing and down the ramp, towards Connor, smiling. Caroline wasn't as important as her friendship. She could make more of an effort...

Connor was on the phone with Caroline, of all people. She could tell by the silly expression on his face and what she could overhear. Abby caught her scowl and moved closer anyway, smiling warmly at Connor and perching on the edge of the station, making sure she wasn't hitting any buttons or in his way at all. Connor finished his call with Caroline and met her eyes.

"Oh, er, hi Abbs. Sorry 'bout that. I did tell her not ta call when we're at work..."

"Hey, Connor, it's okay, really."

"Yeah?"

"Mhm!"

"Erm, that's great! But... er, Abbs? Do you mind if I go out ta theatre with Caroline tonight, then? I know, it's movie night, bu' apparently it was really hard for 'er to get these tickets and she told me she tried to get three but the other one would've been a seat halfway across the room and four aisles down and -"
Her expression, which was clearly very irritated -though she was so, so far beyond simply iritated at him now - cut him off. She opened her mouth to say something scathing, when suddenly sirens filled the space.

Anomaly Call. Of course. Well, that was just dandy.