Characters: Connor, Abby, Danny Quinn, Nick, and Corporal Baumann
Spoilers: None
A/N: I own nothing of "Primeval" that belongs to Impossible Pictures and I make no money from this, clearly. This is a crossover between "Primeval" and "The Bunker" and no one will have needed to see "The Bunker" to understand this. And no, I didn't just write this on a whim.
Summary: After weaving through a labyrinth of anomalies to get back to the present, Connor, Nick, and Abby are thrown into WWII-Germany where they meet Danny's German doppleganger, who seems to know Connor. Safely back in the shelter, Danny consoles Connor over his nightmares of the Albertosaurus before Nick and Abby appear with news of an anomaly sighting.

II. A Stout Heart

Thunderous footsteps resounded in the hollow slumber that Connor had tried to find sanctuary in. His breath quickened as the fearsome theropod neared him. In the dream, Connor found that the Albertosaurus was a determined sort who had no problem in keeping up with the winded human. The hot, sticky breath coated Connor's backside, only prompting the young man to run faster. But for every turn the mighty hunter was right on his heels, ready to swallow him whole!

Connor rounded a large boulder and a massive head suddenly swung around the side of it; its jaws stretched so wide that Connor could see down its throat. The Albertosaurus lunged at the youth, swallowing him in terrifying darkness. Connor barely heard himself scream before he was jerked awake. Warmth hit the side of his face like a late summer wind but instead of being comforted by this, Connor recoiled from it. Choking blackness clouded his vision and angry snarls hammered into his brain.

"Don't eat me, don't eat me!" Connor wailed, thrashing about in his delirium. "I don't taste good! I don't taste good!"

"Eat you?" Danny grasped Connor's shoulders firmly, holding him against the side of the hole. "Connor, wake up! It's me, Danny!"

Connor jolted awake, gasping loudly as though he was inhaling air for the first time. He grabbed hold of whatever was touching his arm and stared wide-eyed into the snow-covered forest. How he came to be in a standing position was beyond Connor's concern. For the moment he was completely lost in this purgatory until Danny's voice began drawing Connor's mind back to the present. Though Connor seemed awake, his conscious state seemed to be still traveling somewhere in the late Cretaceous epoch.

"Please Connor, snap out of it! It's me, Danny!"

"Danny?" Connor shifted his gaze in the direction of the voice. The look of true fear in Danny Quinn's eyes was almost as troublesome as the Albertosaurus that had lurked in his dreams. The sight alone shook Connor free from the clutches of his nightmare. He demanded shakily, "Danny, why are you looking at me like that?"

"I thought I had lost you," replied the elder man in a short breath. His heart was still racing from the sudden upset in the youth. "What happened Connor? What is it that you're not telling us?" Danny released the young man's arms before pulling himself back up to his sitting position on the side of the ditch. By now Connor had calmed down some and was staring into the small fire that had earlier warmed his face. Folding his hands in his lap, Danny sighed, "Come on Connor, I know something is wrong. You haven't been right since the last anomaly we went through."

"Danny I--" Connor blew a short breath of air and turned his face from the fire. He shut his eyes, his head hung in shame. "I wouldn't even know where to begin."

The poor kid. Was he this far gone that Connor was starting to lose touch with reality? Surely starvation played tricks on the mind but could it cause someone to lose sanity in less than three days? Danny wasn't sure what to say but the one thought that stood clearly in his mind was the necessity to keep Connor talking. If Connor was exercising brain power, that meant that the kid was still conscious.

In a gentler tone, Danny said, "Why don't you start with telling me why you were waiting for that giant deer to leave trail marks your back."

Connor jerked his head up, his eyes locking with Danny's. Confusion clouded the young man's eyes as he inquired softly, "What giant deer?"

"What giant deer?" Danny couldn't believe his ears! Connor was truly mad now! "The one that was…" The sincere disarray in Connor's pale face stirred another thought in Danny's mind. Leaning forward slightly, Danny inquired, "What were you staring at, Connor?"

"The Albertosaurus," Connor replied simply. "It had eaten all the soldiers and it was coming for me. There was nobody there with me; I was the last one left. That's why they were hunting me." Connor shook his head before shifting his gaze back to the muddy walls of the ditch. "Danny, that American soldier… Joey…" Connor drew in a long breath to try and steady his shaken nerves. "I saw him…"

Tilting his head, Danny said, "Yes, I heard you tell Nick that you found Tolbert's body near a boulder. We saw what was left…" Danny silenced himself in knowing that reminding Connor of the single arm that remained of the soldier would not ease his suffering. So instead, Danny agreed calmly, "Yes, you found him."

"No, I didn't just find him," replied Connor as he shook his head. Cold tears had begun stealing their way down Connor's muddied cheeks. "He was alive and wounded. I told him to hold on and that I would get to him but that's when the Albertosaurus lunged at him. Franco grabbed my arm and pulled me away. I tried to go back to him but this other soldier wouldn't let me. He said that it was hopeless and that I should be glad that the Albertosaurus was distracted."

For a moment Connor paused, his gaze going up to the small embankment behind him as Danny stared at him, the shock silencing him. When at last Connor had found his breath again, he continued, "Franco told me that we were all going to die there and that if it wasn't one creature that would kill us it would be another. That nothing we did, no matter the anomalies we went through, that we'd slowly be picked off."

"Franco was a selfish bastard who spoke out of his arse," Danny interrupted with a sniff of annoyance. He despised that man for briefly taking over the team. The deciding factor had truly been when Franco held the rifle to Danny's head after rendering Nick unconscious. Perhaps it was for these two reasons that Danny held no sympathy over the traitor's death.

"Well, he must have known something for he was the next one the Albertosaurus came after," said Connor softly. He looked back up at Danny. The youth's tears were gone, though they had left their mark across his dirty face. "I watched him die too. And if he's gone, that means one of us--me, I'm next…"

Danny shook his head and spoke up, "No, don't you dare start thinking like that Connor! Don't start thinking like him! What did he know about dinosaurs that didn't have the words: 'big paycheck' scribbled after its name ? You are our expert here and you know how it is in the movies; the experts don't get eaten, they have to live."

"Not me," Connor whimpered, his hand clasping his face in agony. "I'm the nerd, remember? The geeky, sci-fi obsessed always die! We're always the ones who keep mucking it up for the rest of the team and slowly but surely death finds us!"

"Connor, this isn't a movie and you are not going to die." Heaving an exasperated sigh, Danny looked away from the young man. Darkness was settling in the forest though the dusk would not come for a few more hours. But already the air temperature was dropping rapidly. Danny prayed that the fire would burn long enough for Nick and Abby to return. He didn't need to elevate Connor's problems by having to search for the missing pair in the darkness.

"Franco said that I was going to," Connor mumbled, pulling Danny out of his thoughts, "He said that we all were going to be predator food and look at what happened to him! He was right!" Coldness robbed Connor of the warmth that had once been the encouraging fuel for his will to live. "I don't want to die Danny." And then Connor disappeared from sight, finally slumping back into the ditch.

Worrying about the others would have to wait. Looking down at the shivering youth, Danny wanted to scold him for his foolishness. Since when did Connor start listening to that sort of rubbish? But as the quiet, broken sobs filled the air, Danny was moved to compassion and he soon joined Connor at the bottom of the ditch. Pulling over his backpack, Danny rolled out the wool blanket and pushed it to Connor's chest, adding to the one from earlier.

"You will not die Connor," Danny stated firmly. "This will not last forever and soon we are going to be on our way home. The only thing we really have to fear right now is the cold and I won't let you freeze to death. We have a fire, it will keep you warm." Placing himself next to the youth, Danny slowly pulled Connor against him. "You're safe Connor, you have nothing to fear here. We're a strong team and I promise that I'm not going to let anything happen to you. Whatever would have you dead would have had to destroy me first before I'd let anything happen to you."

"I don't want you to die either."

His voice, so small and weak, it hardly sounded like the goofy kid that Danny had grown fond of over the year that he had known him. Danny gently rubbed Connor's arm, hoping to bring an end to the constant shivering. "Just worry about yourself for the moment Connor. You are very brave and very strong to have endured all that you have."

"I feel so… weak," Connor murmured, drawing closer in Danny's embrace. He brought the blanket up so that it could provide Danny with some warmth as well. "It's like I have no strength left in me. I'm so cold that I don't even know if there is any life left in me to continue trying to survive. All I feel is fear."

"Everyone feels fear, Connor," Danny whispered.

"But you're not afraid of anything." This brought a chuckle from Danny which resulted in an immediate exclamation from Connor, "But you don't! You played chicken with the g-rex in a helicopter, dangled over the side of the lorry while a terror bird was trying to eat you; you had no qualms about dragging a nearly unconscious pyroraptor back with you through the anomaly… and that was after having survived a week out in the ocean, on a log… with it! Danny, you know no fear!"

"Being brave isn't about facing some horrible monster, it is having the courage to face adversity knowing full and well that the task before you is far more important than your own life. Fear is common. But we can either choose to be ruled by it, or command it." Danny paused for a moment, his blue eyes going to the top of the ditch as a way of releasing the tension in his distant gaze. "When I saw you go down, I thought you were dead. And as I watched over you, I feared that you weren't going to make it. When I heard those screams echoing in the woods yesterday, I was scared that Franco had sacrificed you to the Albertosaurus."

"The theropod kind of ruined his plans on that," Connor added in a grumble. He turned his head and for a moment contented himself in watching Danny stare into nothing. A slow smile of admiration began to glow on Connor's face as he questioned, "You actually care about us, then? We are more to you than just bait for predators?"

"Of course you are more than just bait," replied Danny with surprise. His face fell in disappointment and he regarded Connor with a worried frown, "Do you think I would honestly put you in a situation where you could actually die? Connor, I may do things that begs question but I am not heartless. You guys are my family. Outside of the anomaly team, there is…" Danny let out a deep sigh, his eyelids drooping some in sorrow. He breathed in a whisper, "…emptiness. We are a family, so much the better when we are all together. I declined Nigel's job offer at Prehistoric Park."

"You're daft Danny! You should have taken it!"

"Prehistoric Park doesn't have what Lester gave me when he allowed me to join the team."

Connor continued to stare at Danny and watched as the warmth of hope brightened the elder man's face. He could scarcely breathe the question that was on his mind, but Danny was already one step ahead of him.

"A real home away from home," Danny whispered. "Something I could believe in, fight for, and fight with. For most of my adult life I have been waging a personal war, vying for vengeance, and finally finding that no matter how much I wanted blood, it could never bring back my kid brother. It was only in letting go, and finally doing the right thing, that I found peace. My brother is gone, but in his death, I've found where I belong."

Connor leaned his chin against Danny's shoulder and shut his eyes. He could feel his friend's hand still around his shoulder, providing him even more warmth. What misgivings Connor had about his courageous leader! All this time Connor had been lead to believe that Danny was just a reckless individual who only cared about the well-being of his raptors and defeating his old enemies. How could he have known that Danny considered them all to be part of his extended family?

Managing to lift his chin a little, Connor spoke in shame, "Thank you, for all you've done for me."

Danny smiled at Connor and playfully tussled his hair. "It's what families are here for. And Connor, please do yourself a favor and mourn. You've been through a lot and nobody here, especially me, or even Nick, are going to think any less of you for it."

"What about Abby? I don't want her to see me like this."

Again Danny chuckled. "Something tells me that women do not see this so much a fault as they see this being a man humbling himself before his emotions."

The first glimmer of light broke across Connor's face, sweeping from one cheek to the other. "You know, for an old man, you sure are smart."

"Cheeky git," smirked Danny, once more ruffling Connor's short hair.

A relaxed sigh escaped Connor's lips and once more he felt his eyes drifting shut. With a renewed spirit, Connor's heart felt light and finally content. The roars of the Albertosaurus, once so deafening in his ears, were no more. Calm had filled him entirely and now gentle, rolling hills beckoned him to his slumber. The enormous figure of the giant Irish elk bayed a friendly welcome. Connor's head touched Danny's shoulder, his breath steady and peaceful. At last, in the safety of his kith, Connor was able to sleep.

Danny gazed at Connor for a moment, a pleased smile resting on his lips. He could never have his brother back though finding redemption in his loss through the rescue of the pyroraptor named Pod had been a relief to his burdened heart. But it was this team that had given him such great hope for a future. At last he was truly needed. The tired warrior sighed contentedly, his heartbeat full and proud. He would watch over Connor and keep him safe. No matter the cost, Danny would see him home.

Darkness had begun encompassing the forest as well as the small shelter by the time Danny heard the sound of approaching voices. Nick's thick accent was even more unmistakable in a land cloaked in silence. Normally the thought of the Scot approaching him would send uneasiness through him but not this time. Nick wasn't his enemy and whether Danny could admit it to Nick or not, Danny needed him. Nick's natural sense of logic was vital to balancing Danny's foolhardy impulses. It had been through this calm sense of direction that had kept Danny alive thus far in this labyrinth!

Abby reached the ditch first and crouched on the edge, her face lit with amusement. She let her head fall to the side, her grin wide. "This is almost too cute to break up. Oi, Connor!"

Danny smirked and looked up at Nick. "Find anything out there besides giant deer and snow?"

The true leader of the team stood silently for a moment, his excitement contained to expose only the slightest of smirks. "Much better Quinn, much better. There is an anomaly but it doesn't lead home. It's close, but not quite it."

"Is it warm there?" Connor mumbled in between yawns.

"It's warmer than here, but not paradise," Abby smirked. She offered her hand to Connor, "Come on! There's an abandoned house on the other side! There is food there, see!"

As Connor turned his face out of Danny's shoulder he felt something hard smack into his chest. He picked it up and held the oddly wrapped thing to the light of the fire. His eyes widened some with question, "What is a K-ration?"

"It's food!" Abby exclaimed. "Come on Connor, let's go! Let's get out of here!"

"This is better than what I had dreamt about!" Connor remarked, now grabbing hold of Abby's hand and letting her help guide him out of the ditch. "Of course, anything almost would be better than diving head-first into the garbage cans trying to salvage a perfectly good burger."

"You are ridiculous," Abby remarked, giving Connor a playful nudge.

Connor felt his spirits lifted higher as he watched Abby. Surely things could only get better now! Turning around, Connor took hold of Danny's wrist and aided in pulling his other leader out of the hole. "Did you hear that Danny, civilization!"

Danny's face seemed to glow in the light of the fire. He nodded his head solemnly before patting Connor briskly on the shoulder. "I told you that everything was going to be okay." Looking to Nick, Danny dipped his head respectfully at him, "You lead Cutter, we'll follow."

As the four began their trek through the snow, Danny felt a presence behind him. Surely it was nothing. He pressed onwards, tailing behind Connor and Abby and smiling at their playful jokes. As much as he wanted to join in on the fun, he couldn't shake the presence that seemed to be following him. The hairs along the back of his neck pricked and he suddenly turned his head over his right shoulder.

Several yards back stood the silhouette of the giant deer.