I thought in this chapter, I'd try and do it from Conner's point-of-view ,as I've never wrote from this angle before. For me, he's quite a hard character to inhabit, but I shall give it a go nonetheless. Hope you like . . .

Chapter 4

Conner sat at his preferred station at the Anomaly Detector, swivelling casually in the chair as he allowed his gaze wonder around the room. As usual, his eyes were steered automatically towards Abby. She was over by the animal containment facility, feeding bits of vegetation to the Columbian Mammoth that they had still not been able to return home. He sighed quietly to himself as he watched her stand on her tiptoes to reach the Mammoths trunk. He had never looked up the term 'hot' in the dictionary, but he was almost certain that if he did, he would find a picture of Abby next to it. He shook his head slightly and forced his gaze elsewhere; he was sure he was starting to drool, and had no intention of bathing in his own saliva. Again.

As he glanced over towards the laboratory, he spotted the Professor and Jenny through the gigantic window. The former was sitting down at a desk with his back to him, and the latter was leaning on the desk facing him, seemingly chatting away to Cutter happily.

That's odd, Conner thought to himself. They seemed to be in unusually close proximity to each other.

Conner watched them, rather intrigued. He had always sensed that there was a spark between them two; and if he (as dense as he was) could see it, it must have been obvious to everyone. However, every time he had been with Jenny and Cutter together, they were usually bickering about something or another; both possessing the uncanny ability to be able to wind each other up. But now as he looked at them, something seemed different; it was almost as if they were dating. He watched as Cutter reached for Jenny's hand and held it. This took Conner aback; it seemed as an unlikely occurrence as Lester inviting them all on holiday. Cutter then stood up and rested his hands on Jenny's hips, and she leaned over and whispered something in his ear, a smile on her face that he had never seen her use before. Conner looked away quickly, feeling a tingle of embarrassment creep up his neck; he was sure he wasn't meant to have seen that - he felt like he had just intruded on a privet moment. But in spite of himself, he looked back at them; it was the equivalent to watching a shark attack - he didn't want to watch it, but he seemed unable to look away. Then he gapped in disbelief as the two exchanged a slow, intimate kiss before breaking apart and looking around slightly to see if anyone had seen them.

Go Professor! Conner thought to himself in amusement, feeling a rush of pride towards his mentor. It's about time he got some -

"What are you gawping at?" Abby's voice said suddenly from his left, making him jump violently.

"Nothing - I'm not doing anything," he stammered, turning back to the silent Anomaly Detector.

"Okay," said Abby slowly, smiling at the apparently stupid look on his face. "I swear you've started getting weirder by the hour."

"Abby?" Conner asked, unsure as to whether he was ratting the Professor out or not.

"Hmm?"

"Have you noticed anything . . . strange . . about Jenny and Cutter recently?"

Abby looked over at them. Conner followed her gaze, and was disappointed to see that the 'lovebirds' had moved away from each other, and were now engaged in separate activities as though they had not just shared an intimate moment.

"What do you mean?" Abby asked suspiciously.

"Well," Conner continued, rubbing his head in confusion. "I think . . . no, I'm sure . . ."

"Conner, what on earth are you babbling about?" she asked in obvious amusement.

He took a deep breath, preparing himself for his big announcement.

"I think Jenny is getting it on with the Professor," he burst out, unable to put it in a less crude manner.

After a slight pause, Abby laughed and looked over at them again.

"You think those two are sleeping together?"

"Yeah."

"Those two?" she repeated, pointing over at them, obviously indicating the false cold postures they had adopted. "They can't stand each other half the time!"

"I know what I saw!" Conner insisted. "They were just in there feeling each other up - "

Abby slapped him across the back of the head, her expression a mixture of shock and disbelief.

"Owch!"

"You are so perverted!" she gasped, before stalking away back across to the Mammoth.

"I didn't imagine it!" he shouted after her, feeling a twang of injustice. "Unless . . . did I?" he added to himself under his breath, feeling confused.

He continued to observe Jenny and Cutter from a distance, slightly obsessed with gathering any evidence to their secret rendevous to prove to Abby that he was not depraved enough to conjure up a fantasy about them in his mind.

Finally, after stalking them with his eyes for a long while, he decided that he should simply go and ask them both if they were going out. They were all adults after all . . . and if he was honest with himself, he was starting to worry that he had in fact imagined it. He needed to be sure. So he slouched over to the room and entered, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. They both looked up from the separate files they were skimming through. Cutter grunted a greeting and returned to his work.

"Hello," Jenny said warmly as she too focused her attention back on her files.

Conner hovered by the door, having second thoughts about his great plan now he was in front of them. He respected these two people more than anyone else he'd ever met; they were both brilliant. Cutter was like a surrogate father figure to him, and Jenny had became a sort-of sister substitute - a very bossy sister, but a sister none-the-less. Did he really want to embarrass them both by outing a romance that they had obviously chosen to keep private? But he was so so curious!

As he steam-rolled through these thoughts, he saw Jenny turn to look at him again with a quizzical look.

"Something on your mind Conner?" she asked, her eyebrow raised.

"I . . .er . . ." Conner stuttered, shuffling his feet. "Well . . ."

Jenny and Cutter were both staring at him in a kindly questioning manner.

"I wanted to know - " he began nervously, but stopped short as something very odd happened.

The ground beneath their feet began to shake violently.

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