I'm very sorry about the lack of updates but exams are over now and I am Freeeeeeee! Free I say! :) so I can finally finish this story! Yey!

Chapter 15

It was dawn on the second week after the plan had been formulated. Cutter lay in bed with his arm around Jenny as the soft light crept in through the gaps in the curtains and shone on them, lulling them into a false sense of security that all was well. The baby was fast asleep, as was everyone else in the house, except Conner, who would barely sleep or eat in his determination to get the Anomaly Closing Mechanism finished, despite the protests from Cutter that if he collapsed from exhaustion, there would be no-one to finish his work. Cutter could sense that Jenny was awake next to him and kissed her bare shoulder tenderly, to which she sighed in a contented manner.

"Is it selfish that I can feel this happy when something this horrific has happened?" she whispered.

"Of course not," Cutter replied quietly. "We're going to make everything okay again. I promise."

She turned around to face him.

"But what if it doesn't work?"

"It will. It will," he said in the most reassuring voice he could muster."We just need to be patient."

She nodded and offered him a weak smile.

They started chatting quietly about there past's to take there mind off of things. Passing the time was rather difficult in this place; there was nothing to do except sit around and contemplate the possible ramifications of their plan and scrutinize it until they had discovered a dozen gapping holes. If Cutter hadn't have had Jenny with him, he would have cracked up a long time ago. They filled the time with getting to know each other, which was enjoyable. Cutter had always regretted not asking Claudia more about her life, and was determined he wouldn't make the same mistake with Jenny.

"So where did you meet Mark then?" he whispered as he traced lazy circles on her arm.

"It was four years ago, and I was on a work night out with my friends in my old job," Jenny answered slowly as she obviously strained to remember the details. "And he came up to me and asked if I wanted a drink - "

"And what did you say?"

"I said no at first," she continued with a smile. "Then he started on me saying I was a snob and that I thought I was too good for him."

"And then what?"

"And then I agreed to a drink," she shrugged.

"So let me get this straight," Cutter chuckled, "he asked you out and you said no, and then he was horrible to you and you said yes?"

"Yes."

"That's a little bit messed up."

"Well I've never been very good at relationships. It's probably because of the sterling example my parents set for me."

"Why did you cheat on him?" Cutter asked, out-of-the blue for even himself.

She turned around and looked at him.

"Nick, I was very confused . . . and I was very unhappy," she explained gently.

"So everyone who's not happy in a relationship should cheat?"

"No, of course not," she sighed. "But he wasn't exactly faithful either."

Cutter nodded and dropped the subject reluctantly. If he was honest, he had been a bit touchy about that revelation since they had played that stupid drinking game; after all, he had been cheated on by Helen and he hadn't much cared for it. It had made him feel stupid; she had abused his trust and worse still, she had ruined his friendship with Stephen that couldn't be repaired before it was too late. There was no way he wanted to go into another relationship with a cheat. But he knew deep down that Jenny was nothing like Helen in that respect; she was kind, caring, incredibly loyal and certainly not a manipulative sociopath like Helen.

"So," Jenny said, changing the subject. "How did you and Helen meet?"

Cutter had began to explain how he had been answering a question about Evolutionary Zoology in a University lecture as a student when Helen had interrupted and argued with his answer when footsteps could be heard thundering up the stairs. The door burst open and Conner charged in wearing a manically excited expression. Jenny shrieked and pulled the covers to her chin.

"Conner, what?" Cutter asked, irritated.

"I've finished it!" Conner gasped; he had bags under his eyes and a great amount of stubble on his face, but he looked happier than he had done since they had lost Abby.

Cutter straightened up immediately, excitement pulsing through his body.

"Are you sure?" Jenny asked Conner uncertainly.

"Yes," Conner nodded defiantly. "I'd stake my life on it."

Cutter and Jenny looked at each other, and Cutter noticed that his feelings of mingled dread and anticipation were mirrored in her face.

"Alright then," he said finally. "Lets go."

"No way!"

"Nick - " Jenny began, but he cut her off.

"No," he snapped, as he helped Conner load the Closing Mechanism into the pram they had decided to use as a mode of transporting it. "You're staying here and watching the baby."

"James can do that - "

"Yes, James could do that," Lester interjected hopefully, sounding like he'd rather stay in the relative safety of the house than venture outside.

"For the last time, you're not coming," Cutter argued, as though that was the end of the conversation.

"Why, because I'm the woman? " Jenny huffed, crossing her arms.

"No . . ." Cutter answered unconvincingly.

But Jenny had had enough of this . . . she had more experience with guns than the rest of them put together (with the exception of Becker of course), and she made a point of saying this.

"You could be Wonder Woman for all I care, you're still not coming," Cutter retorted.

"Right, well, we can do it my way," Jenny snapped, with her hands on her hips in the bossiest voice she could muster. "Or I can just follow you alone and risk getting attacked."

"And leave the baby unprotected? Great plan Jenny," Cutter sniggered infuriatingly.

"Becker, what do you think?" Jenny demanded; the soldier's head snapped up.

"Don't get me involved in your domestic," he replied quietly.

"No go on . . . in your professional opinion, who would you take; me or James?"

"Er . . ." Becker shifted uncomfortably, glancing between Jenny and Cutter who were both waiting for his answer with crossed arms. "Well . . . I'd take the most experienced fighter. Which would be Jenny."

"I have no objection to that," Lester added, sitting down smugly on one of the kitchen chairs.

"Ha!" Jenny said triumphantly to Cutter, who was looking daggers at Becker.

Jenny stored her gun in her belt as they all moved towards the door quietly. She turned to Lester who was holding the baby out in front of him like she was a ticking time bomb.

"You be good," Jenny said to her, taking the little girls hand, unable to stop a lump forming in her throat.

She knew this was going to be hard; she didn't want to leave her at all. But it's not like she could take her with them; it was too dangerous. And Jenny had to go. She had to play a part in getting Abby back, not to mention the whole of humanity.

"Jenny?" Cutter whispered with his hand on her lower back. "Come on."

He led her away through the door, and it was all Jenny could do to stop tears falling from her eyes. She was never going to see the baby again. But she wouldn't allow herself to show any emotion; they had only allowed her to go with them begrudgingly and crying all the way there wasn't exactly proving them wrong. So she dragged her thoughts away from the little girl and focused them on more pressing matters. As she looked around the deserted outside world, it never ceased to amaze her how eery it was; not one other living person out there. Except Helen, of course, but that was debatable. After all, the last time they had seen her, she was in a rather compromising position with a Mammoth. She might very well be dead. Jenny tried not to let her mind wonder to the fact that she certainly hoped she was, as it would appear that she was merely insecure about her and Nick's past. Which was rubbish of course. Well sort of. Jenny mostly detested the woman because of her actions; after all, she had tried to kill them at least twice already.

A familiar creepy silence pressed in on them as they walked as quietly as humanly possible towards the ARC; it wasn't far. Cutter and Conner struggled to push the baby's pram full of equipment, and Becker walked close behind them, his gun poised and ready. Every slight movement around them such as the rustling of the wind through the trees made him jump and aim.

"Will you stop that!" Jenny hissed at him quietly after the third time. "You're making me nervous!"

They approached the ARC entrance and, as agreed, they found a small nook at the side of the building. They stopped, all looking at Cutter who had pulled out the Anomaly Opening Device. He punched in some information (presumably the time they wanted to go back to) with a slightly trembling hand, and pointed it out in front of him. They all watched in awe as an anomaly burst out of the device and formed in front of them. They all looked at it for a second; Jenny had an unsettling feeling in the pit of her stomach . . . this all felt a little bit too easy . . .

"Right," said Cutter, regaining his wits. "Becker, you stay and guard the anomaly from here; don't let anything through no matter what."

Becker nodded glumly and cocked his gun indicating that he was up to the task.

"Ready?" Cutter added to Conner and Jenny, who both nodded. "Let's go."

Conner and Cutter pushed the Anomaly Locking Mechanism through first, and Jenny followed. Going through an anomaly was the strangest sensation Jenny had ever experienced; it felt as though she was walking through a waterfall, but without getting wet. As soon as they emerged on the other side, they all looked around in wonder; they could hear traffic rumbling past in the distance, and hear passers-by chatting away to each other . . . this was so strange! For a second, they all actually forgot what they had came back to do as they listened to the sounds of their world. Jenny had never fully appreciated the noise of morning rush hour before.

They peered around the corner to where they knew the anomaly the Future Predators pour out of was about to appear.

"How are we going to do this without the public seeing?" Jenny asked in a hushed voice.

"Don't worry about what they see; at least they'll be alive to see it," Cutter replied. "And anyway, I'm sure you'll be able to spin them a line."

"Oh great, no pressure then," Jenny muttered.

"I think we should go and get the Locking Mechanism set up over there before the earthquake hits," Conner interjected.

Cutter and Conner busied themselves with unloading the pram and getting everything set up, whilst Jenny paced beside them . . . something really didn't feel right . . .

"Crap," Conner burst out.

"What?" demanded Jenny nervously, bending over to take a closer look.

"One of the wires has come loose," he replied, rubbing his hand over his forehead in worry.

"Can you fix it?" Cutter asked in a strained voice.

"Just give me a minute . . ." Conner said. "Cutter, just hold that in place for me - "

From the corner of Jenny's eye, she saw something move suddenly behind the corner they had just came from. Without a word to Conner and Cutter, she walked towards it unnoticed to see what it was . . . maybe she was imagining things? As she rounded the corner, something metallic glinted in the sunlight to her left. Before she had even thought about it, she turned and launched herself at the figure and threw her against the wall.

Helen.

The force of the impact had caused Helen to drop her gun. Jenny struggled to keep her against the wall; the woman was incredibly strong.

"How did you get through?" Jenny demanded as she tried and failed to reach for her own gun; she couldn't get it without letting go of Helen.

"Your soldier boy is a bit preoccupied at the moment," Helen sniggered, her eyes looking manic - she had truly unraveled in the head.

For a second, Jenny considered calling for Cutter to help her, but Conner needed him to help lock the anomaly; it was a two man operation. As she pondered this, however, a blow came hard and fast as Helen head butted her. Jenny fell backwards and slammed to the ground with the force of it, involuntarily screaming in pain and clutching her forehead. In a split second, Helen was on top of her, all guns forgotten, and her hands were around Jenny's throat. Struggling with all her mite, Jenny just didn't have the strength to push her off, and was fighting to stay conscious as her vision started to fog. In one last attempt, and costing her all the effort in the world, Jenny reached up and grabbed Helen's hair tight, pulling it to the side and rolling her off into the floor next to her. Jenny forced herself to get up, despite the sudden dizziness that took hold of her, and she again launched at Helen and started punching her.

Despite being a privately educated girl, Jenny had gotten into her fair share of fights in school, and had always won. Helen, however, was completely different. She fought like a wild cat; she clawed at Jenny's arms, face and neck, leaving deep gashes. However, Jenny didn't let her go, and used all her weight to keep her pinned to the ground, trying to restrain the woman's wrists and keep of punching her at the same time. All of a sudden, the ground beneath them began to shake, signaling the arrival of the infamous anomaly. Jenny was momentarily distracted, and Helen pulled one of her hands free and reached downwards.

It was only when Jenny felt a sharp pain in her thigh that she realised the woman had pulled out some sort of dart and stabbed her with it.

In shock, Jenny got off her, her feet unsteady on the shaking ground. She reached down and pulled the dart out of her thigh and let it drop to the floor, but it was no good; her leg already felt dead, and she was aware that a painful numb feeling was spreading through her entire body. She staggered over to the wall to try and keep herself upright, but she felt her back sliding down it as she collapsed. Dazed, she looked up to see Helen pointing a gun at her, a smirk across her face. Jenny gritted her teeth and waited for the bullet . . . this was it . . .

Tehehe cliffhanger :) let me no your thoughts!

By the way, on a side note, I'm dying to know what everyone's opinion is on the upcoming series of primeval? With two new team members and no Lucy Brown and Douglas Henshall? Not to mention no Laila Rouass (which I have no idea how they're going to explain)?