Primeval - Season 3
Chapter Five
The Fungus
"Right foot - blue"
16-year-old Kara Cutter, groaned as she looked down and tried to move her right foot to the blue circle a few meters to the right of her. She could hear a chuckle from above her and turned to glare at the person, who had decided to play this stupid game.
"I don't know what your laughing at!" she hissed "This was your idea. I don't even like this game!"
"You're doing fine" the voice answered, and Kara had to resist the urge to roll her eyes.
"Yeah, right," she grumbled as she felt him move, her breathing hitched slightly as he did so. He was practically hovering over her now, they were chest to chest, her heart was beating wildly in her chest, and she was sure he could feel and hear it. His eyes connected with hers, and her breath caught in her throat. They were so close.
"Are you okay?" he asked her, his breath tickling her face
She nodded, not really trusting herself to speak.
"Uh, you gotta, place your left hand on green" he said to her
"What?!" she snapped "I cant reach that!"
The green was at least two lines away from where she was. There was no way she could reach it without falling.
He grinned, "You have too…"
With an inward groan, Kara carefully slid her hand further away from her, she felt her body getting lower to the ground as she did so. But she was determined not to fall. He chuckled softly again, and she glared up at him. God, she wanted to kiss him so bad, but she couldn't do that, one she would be embarrassed about it, and two, he had a girlfriend. Besides, she was on 16, what on earth would he see in her? She was just a kid to him. His best friends kid.
"Your turn," she said
And has he moved into his next position, the front door opened and slammed closed. The sudden noise, caused her to jump, and her hands to slip. With a scream, she landed on her back with a thud, gasping as he landed on top of her. She pushed him off of her, and glared down at him, as she held her chest, and got to her feet. Wheezing slightly, as she tried to breathe.
"What's going on here?" asked a new voice,
Kara looked up to see her dad, standing in the doorway. He had just come back from the University. He had been spending a lot of time there recently, and even though it was the weekend, he was determined to go. Leaving Kara with his best friend. Who decided to play stupid games, instead of just leaving her to do her own thing.
"He wanted to play twister," Kara explained "And do you have to slam the front door?"
"Sorry," Nick apologized for the front door "And you don't like twister"
"I tried to tell him that," she explained "But he wouldn't listen. Now if you excuse me…im gonna go change"
She had been stuck playing twister in her pyjama's which were a light blue, long-legged pants and long-sleeved button up shirt. As she disappeared upstairs, Nick turned back to the man on the floor. He was grinning sheepishly, and pulling himself to his feet, before kneeling to clear up the twister mat.
With a small smile, Kara closed the front door of her house behind her and locked it. Grace hadn't returned home last night, and Kara was kinda wondering where she was. She had phoned Grace multiple times this morning, but the phone had been switched off. But that's not what was making her smile. It was the fact that, she had spent half the night, at home, her home, alone with Captain Becker.
What was gonna happen now at work? Was everything going to be smooth, or rocky? No one could find out about last night, colleagues weren't supposed to have relationships with each other. But then again, rules were meant to be broken, they were just guidelines, how would your learn if you didn't break a few rules? But, she did know that no one could know about the previous night.
After buckling Nick up in the car seat, Kara clipped her seat belt into the lock, and started the car. For 9:00am on a Friday morning, she was feeling wide awake. Normally, she would grumble and fight with herself to get up and drag herself into work. But today was different. And she didn't know why. Well, she may have had a reason to go to work today, she had to find out sooner or later didn't she?
The ride was silent, Nick was chatting in the back of the car, to the small toy Kara had brought along with her. Instead of driving straight to work, Kara stopped outside a small coffee shop, where she bought herself a small coffee, a juice and two muffins. Before she continued on her way.
The ARC was wide awake, everyone, it seemed was there early, even Connor. Which was a surprise, cause normally he came in when Abby came in. Where was Abby, anyway? She made a note to ask Connor later, entering her new office, she placed everything on the desk in front of her, and jumped when the alarm blared. But it wasn't an anomaly alarm, it was the intruder alarm. Thinking the worse, Kara hurried out of the office, only to collide with the one person she didn't want to see. Becker.
They didn't have a chance to say anything to one another, as Jenny and half of his men appeared suddenly around the corner. He stepped away from her, and led the way down the hallway, Kara following alongside Jenny.
"Talk to me" she said, as she stopped beside Becker, he looked back at her, before speaking.
"We have an intruder in Sector 7" he explained, as much as she hated to do it, they had to pretend nothing happened last night.
"No identification as of yet," supplied another solider beside them
"Is it small and ugly, in a kind of cute way?" Connor asked, as she joined them "Just a guess" he said, as Kara threw him a confused look
Closing in on the door, that was Sector 7. Jenny turned to Kara. "Helen?" she questioned. It had happened before, why wouldn't it happen again.
"Prepare to shoot on sight," Kara said, turning back to Becker and nodding lightly. She held no guilt for ordering him to shoot her mother on sight. She held no respect for the woman anymore.
Becker nodded, and turned back to the door as he kicked it open. Danny Quinn appeared in the doorway.
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Woah!" he said, his hands up at the guns aimed at him
"I don't believe it!" Kara said, in disbelief, was this guy following them?
"You've really got to do something about your security," Danny said
Closing her eyes, Kara breathed out deeply, and turned away from the doorway, Connor chuckled as he joined her, in walking back down the hallway.
"What are you laughing at?" she asked him "What have you let loose in here?"
"Nothing," he said, looking at her, but she could tell he was lying "Gotta go," he added and hurried off down the hallway. Kara rolled her eyes, as she turned back into her office, placed Nick on the chair behind the desk, and passed him a juice box from the bag in front of her. She could hear voices behind her, and turned in time to see Jenny and Becker leading Danny towards the Main Ops room.
"Kara is so gonna kill me!" Grace mumbled as she dashed around her boyfriend's place, looking for her clothes. Adam watching her in amusement. "She's gonna kill me! Oh, she's gonna kill me so bad!"
"Why are you fretting?" Adam asked, and Grace shivered slightly from the sound of it. "She's not gonna kill you, you're a big girl"
"Yeah, but I was supposed to be at work an hour ago!" Grace explained
"Where exactly do you work?" he asked her
She froze. Damn, he hadn't asked her this, what could she say? She had signed an Official Secrets Act for god sake, she couldn't break that "Um…I work for the government…" yeah, that should work
"Doing what?" Adam asked curiously
"I don't know, I only started yesterday, and Kara's very secretive about it"
Adam didn't say anything. After she had dressed, Grace kissed him goodbye, before hurrying out of his apartment, and into the car her cousin had given her. She had to get home, dress into something appropriate for work, and then head back to the ARC.
Making it to the Cutter household, she quickly unlocked the door letting herself in, before racing upstairs to dress. Once she had thrown on a pair of jeans, trainers and a t-shirt, she grabbed her jacket, threw her hair up into a ponytail and returned downstairs, where she collected her bag from the coat rack by the door and was gone. It was a good thing, Kara had given her the ARC address, cause she didn't have a clue where it was.
Adding the address to the GPS system, it told her exactly where to go. She made it in record time, showing her new ID to the guard outside, before parking beside her cousin's car. She climbed out and hurried into the building. Kara was no where to be found, so instead of going looking for her cousin, she entered the locker room, opened her new locker and placed her bag and coat inside, before heading for the Main Ops room.
Connor Temple, was running all over the place searching for something, he hurried past her but as he opened the double doors she stopped him.
"Connor?" she said "Have you seen Kara?"
"She's in Lester's office," Connor answered "Top of the ramp"
"Thanks," Grace said, and started the climb. She had only been in Lester's office once, inside was, Kara, Jenny, Becker, Lester and another person, whom she hadn't seen before. She knocked lightly before letting herself in, it was pointless to knock, seeing as the door was made of glass and they could see it was her already.
Kara gave her a look, before handing her Nick. "Wait for my in dad's office," she said quietly as Grace nodded and left with her cousin. Folding her arms, Kara returned to her attention to Lester and the others.
What was going on? Grace thought, who was that man, sitting before Lester, he was a new face and she was sure that she hadn't seen him before. She usually remembered everyone she saw, and she definitely didn't remember him. Carrying Nick, on her hip towards her cousin's office, Nick giggled as he played with the silver locket around her neck.
"Auntie Grace" she said smiling "Mama?"
"Mama, be back now baby boy" Grace answered, as she entered the office. It was still bare, Kara really needed to spice this place up a bit. A few pictures would give the place some life. With a small smile, she noted to surprise Kara later today, by fixing up the office for her.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Lester asked Danny, Grace had just left with Nick, and Kara had remained to find the reason behind Danny being here.
"Its my last ambition to fight dinosaurs, save the world" Danny explained, Kara shook her head lightly, as Lester looked at her, Becker and Danny "Look, I just want to help, that's all"
"I warned you to stay away from this, Danny" Kara said softly, before beside him
"See, I thought you were flirting." Danny said, looking up at her "Its so difficult to read women these days"
Kara threw him a dark look.
"Can you pistol-whip him?" Lester asked of Becker,
"Sir?" the captain asked
"Just a thought" Lester said, before getting to his feet "Mr. Quinn - "
"Its Danny,"
"Mr. Quinn" Lester said, standing with his arms behind his back "The fate of the nation possibly the world, hangs on what we do here. Its not a place for chancers and wide boys"
"My brother was killed by a creature" Danny said unexpectedly "Don't ask me to pretend it didn't happen"
"Doing this job wont bring your brother back, Danny" Kara told him
"You've seen what I can do, and I want in" Danny finished, without possible cause that he had heard a word Kara had said.
Kara sighed, she knew Danny wasn't gonna go away unless he became part of the team. "Keep him around," she said looking towards Lester "At least for today. Who knows, we might need the help"
And she turned and disappeared down the ramp, across the main ops room, and out of the double doors towards her office. She could hear Becker behind her with Danny, but she was sure Jenny had stayed in the office with Lester. So far, this morning had gone relatively well. Except for the little encounter with Becker, she couldn't avoid him forever, they were on the same team, but the least they could do was talk about it, and come up with some compromise.
Grace was sitting on the chair behind the desk, Nick was sitting on the desk, playing. He looked up when Kara came in and smiled. "Mama" he cried, holding his arms out to her.
"Hi baby," she said with a smile, as she lifted him into the air and twirled around with him. The baby laughed, and so did Kara.
"How was the meeting with Lester?" Grace asked, and Kara looked up, a smile on her face, she had stopped twirling with her son
"Oh, it wasn't a meeting," Kara said "We found Danny breaking into the ARC, so we took him to Lester. Everything's been edgy since my mum broke in here. Lester has ordered all security to be tightened. it's a wonder Danny could get in"
Grace nodded
"Hey, were where you last night?" Kara asked "You didn't come home, and you didn't answer any of my calls this morning"
"You called me?" Grace asked, reaching for her phone, she flipped it open, but there was no message saying that she had any missed calls
Kara furrowed her brow in confusion, "I called you about four times," Kara explained "I wanted to know where you were, you didn't call last night to say if you'd be home. I was getting worried"
"I was okay," Grace said "I stayed at Adams"
"I take it Adam is the new boyfriend?"
Grace smiled "Yeah," she said
Kara laughed softly "Well, tell me, what happened?"
"Nothing happened," Grace said "Just a movie date, then we went for a few drinks, and somehow we ended back up at his place."
Kara nodded, but didn't say anything further on the subject. Once Grace had disappeared from the office, on a phone call, Kara sat Nick back down in the chair and turned around to look at the office. Grace was right, this place was bare. A knock on the door behind her, made her turn.
"Miss Cutter?" said a young girl, there were too many people at the ARC to remember everyone's name "We were wondering what to do with these, we cleared them out of the lab earlier this week."
Kara took the box from the woman, "Thanks," she said as she placed it on top of the desk, and started looking through it, it was all her father's stuff. Something caught her eye, it was a shredded piece of paper. Kara lifted the paper and scanned it. It was half a picture of Claudia Brown.
Thinking back to the day her father died, Kara sighed. She had to tell Jenny. Pocketing the picture, Kara lifted Nick, back into her arms and made her way out of the office, and started her search for Jenny. She found the older, woman in the lab, her back to the door.
"Jenny?" Kara said softly, not wanting to startle the older woman, she turned, a smile on her face when she saw it was Kara.
"Hey, are you okay?" Jenny asked, as she smiled down at Nick, and stroked his cheek softly.
"Yeah, everything's fine," Kara said with a smile "I just wanted to show you something"
"What's that?"
Kara bit her lip softly, this wasn't going to go well, but she had to do it eventually. It was the only way to show, that she and her dad had been telling the truth all along about Claudia Brown, she pulled the half a picture from her back pocket of her jeans and handed it to Jenny, who turned it over and gasped.
She looked up at Kara, who was staring at her, and nodded.
"Jenny, I know your smart enough to know that, that isn't you" Kara said softly "Its Claudia Brown"
Jenny was speechless. "So, she was real?"
Kara nodded "Yeah, she was real. Like my dad tried to explain to you, Claudia Brown was real. She lived in another evolutionary timeline, that was real as this one. Me and dad, stepped out of that time period, and stepped back through into yours"
"So your not from this time?" Jenny asked confused
"Im not sure," Kara answered "But I am sure, that from the time I came from, the ARC didn't exist, we were Home Office. Claudia Brown existed, you didn't, Stephen was alive and Nick here wasn't. The only people who knew things had changed, was me, my dad, and my mum."
"So what are you trying to say?" Jenny asked
"Im not trying to say anything," Kara answered "Just my dad, wanted you to know the truth, and since he isn't here to explain it to you, I thought it was up to me. Also, my dad whispered Claudia Brown before he died, he still believed that she is you, on some level deep inside, you are Claudia. She is the timid side of you. Jenny. A side that my father knew, too much of. And he never got to see her again, but he did you. You are Claudia Brown, whether you believe it or not"
Jenny was silent for another moment before handing Kara back the picture. "So, your dad and Claudia, where they -"
"Together?" Kara asked "No. They would have been, if we had stepped through back into the right time line. But I think my mother is the reason for this change. She knows how to control time. That's why we were so desperate to acquire her help in the past."
Jenny nodded, and just as she was about to say something. Becker appeared in the doorway.
"Kara, Jenny," he said looking at the two of them "Anomaly alert"
Kara looked across at him, and nodded, before turning back to Jenny. "Whether you believe me now, is your choice. But at least you know the truth" she said, before turning and following Becker down the hallway, Nick in her arms.
It was a quiet walk. It seemed to take forever.
"You've been avoiding me," Becker suddenly said, breaking the silence
"What do you mean?" Kara asked, looking up at him
"Kara, what happened last night," Becker said "I wouldn't change it, for anything"
Kara breathed deeply, "Me either," she said
"Then why have you avoided me nearly all morning?"
Kara sighed "Because the last time something like this happened, I was hurt. I had gotten hurt. I just don't want that to happen again"
Becker stopped, in front of her, causing her to stop, before she crashed into him. The hallway was empty, except for them. He reached out, and touched her face softly, tilting her head so she was looking at him.
"I would never hurt you," he said softly, almost in a whisper
The small hair's on Kara's neck, stood on end and she shivered slightly. Why did he have this affect on her? It didn't seem fair. Her eyes lifted up slightly, and locked with his, and as it had done, last night, her breath caught in her throat. He was so close, his hand still holding her face with the slightest touch. She parted her lips to speak, but was interrupted, by someone clearing their throat.
Kara and Becker jumped apart, and turned to see Jenny standing behind Kara, her arms folded over her chest.
"So where's the anomaly?" she asked a smirk on her face
Kara shook herself clear of her foggy thoughts and hurried past Becker, and towards the car park. She passed Nick to Grace, and slid into the front seat of the car, as Grace clipped up Nick in the car seat before joining in her cousin in the front. Kara started the car and pulled out, the others following.
Entering the building block of apartments, Kara noticed Grace looking around, with apprehension. Like she knew the building or someone in it. She decided not to comment on it though. Reaching the home in question, Becker had to break down the door to get in, he and his men infiltrated the place first as the rest of the team followed. It was empty. Still holding Nick, Kara lead the way into one of the bedrooms, Jenny and Becker following after her. They were searching for any identification of who the apartment belonged too.
Kara was aware of the fact that Becker was following her every move. She looked over her shoulder at him, as she stood at the double glazed windows of the bedroom. The view over central London was amazing.
"Nice view," she murmured
"Mhm," she heard him agree softly with her, she turned so that she was facing him properly, she didn't want to avoid him that morning, but she seemed to find it difficult to be around him, when she liked him as much as she did. When did she become so nervous? She was never like this around Stephen, and she had loved Stephen from a young age.
"Anything?" Jenny asked coming back into the room
Kara sighed, this was going to be difficult. It seemed the only way she could be around Becker, the way she was last night, was if they were either alone or if the whole team new about last night. She wasn't sure if she wanted them to know. So how long could they keep up the charade?
"Yeah," Kara said, holding up an identification card, she had found in the bedside table draw "The place is owned by a Sir Richard Bentley. He's a chairman of the AVS Finance Group"
Jenny nodded, and the three of them headed back out into the living room, where Connor, Abby and Grace was. Kara relayed what she had just explained to Jenny and Becker, to Abby, Connor and Grace, before turning towards Abby who spoke.
"First we need to find out what this is," the blonde said, motioning to what appeared to be dust on the floor
"Is it fungal?" Connor asked, making his way over and kneeling down ready to touch it
"Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Whoa!" Abby said, lowering herself into a crouch, stopping Connor from touching anything "Maybe,"
Grace watched as Abby produced a cotton swab and box, as she attempted to scrap a bit of the dust from the floor. It proved tricky. "Oh," she said as she finally caught enough for a test.
"Nice," Grace said, in slight disgust
"Mhm," Abby answered, placing the cotton swab back into the box and handing it to Connor "And you need to go analyse it, quick"
Connor sighed and looked up at Kara, who nodded.
"Thanks," he said taking the box and standing up straight once more
"No problem," Abby said
"I stay?" Grace asked, turning to face her cousin
"For now," Kara said, wanting to keep Grace and Nick close to her at this time.
Grace nodded, and watched as Connor left. She reached for a book on a near-by table and started flipping through the pages not really taking anything in. Kara was on the phone, a little further away from her, but she wasn't registering much at the moment, her mind was straying to Adam, he called earlier, to say that he couldn't make their dinner date tonight. He had to work.
"Kara, you have to out of there" Connor said through the phone "Quarantine the whole block now. This fungus is toxic. Its incredibly aggressive. You need to trace anyone who's been exposed to it."
Sliding her phone shut, Kara spoke "We need to find Sir Richard now"
Becker moved beside her and she turned to Jenny, as she spoke "I can call his office. See if he's there?"
"Thanks," Kara said, turning back to Grace who was still reading aimlessly through the book in her hand. Nick, was playing with the necklace Kara wore, and was oblivious to anything going on around him. She had to get him out of here, if what they were dealing with was as toxic and aggressive as Connor said it was. "Grace…I need you to go back to the ARC. Find Connor, and help him with anything that needs doing to prevent this fungus from spreading. Research"
Grace sighed, she knew she wasn't gonna be out here for long. So far, her new job sucked. She hadn't gotten to do pretty much, except sit in the ARC all day. Kara hugged and kissed Nick, before handing him over to Grace, and handing the keys to the car over as well. "Be careful!" was her last warning, before Grace left the building.
"That was his office," Jenny said, returning as Grace left "He's catching a train. He'll be at St Pancreas any minute"
Kara nodded and picked up the book that her cousin had been looking for. She turned it over so she could see the blurb on the back and held it up for Jenny and Abby to see. "That's our guy," she said, before leading the way out of the building. At least they knew who they were looking for now.
After stopping to get something to eat for Nick, Grace pulled into the ARC car park once more. She got her baby cousin out of the car seat in the back and headed into the main hallway. The alarm was ringing again. What had happened this time? She didn't know the difference between the Anomaly alarms or the intruder alarms just yet, but as she made her way into the main ops room, she noticed everyone congregating around one particular spot.
"What's going on?" she asked, as she approached Sarah. Connor and the man from earlier, whom her cousin had said was Danny, were standing in front of everyone, wearing Bio Hazard suits.
"Everything under control?" Lester asked as he joined them shortly after Grace had
"Everything is fine," Connor answered "He's helping me" and he walked past everyone into the new research lab.
"Right," Lester said, as the rest watched from the protective side of the glass
Grace peered into the lab, one of the men that had come in with Christine Johnson was lying on his back, covered in what appeared to be fungus. He was unmoving, and she could tell he was dead.
Danny was standing beside him, he looked up at Connor and then out towards the glass and shook his head slowly. Grace was right. The man was dead.
"You killed one of my men," Christine said, turning to face Lester
"Care to explain why he was trespassing in a security zone, Christine?" Lester asked
Christine was silent.
"We'll send you a full report when the postmortem's in" Lester continued "Now for your own safety. I suggest you leave"
Grace watched as the woman in question stared hard to Lester, before leaving, Captain Wilder following. One of Becker's men, who had stayed behind at the ARC, followed after them, making sure that they left the premises fully. And didn't hang around. For unknown reasons.
"What are you doing back here?" Sarah asked, when she turned to face Grace
"Kara sent me back, after Connor's phone call. Said that I was to help research where the fungus came from and everything. She just done it to get me and Nick out of the field"
"I can understand where she is coming from," Sarah explained "She lost her dad, she doesn't want to lose you or Nick too"
Grace sighed. She knew this was the reason. She just wished her cousin would stop being so over-protective. She missed the fun loving Kara. The one she knew before she left London 12-years-ago.
Having only one car, left, Abby, Jenny, Becker and Kara climbed into the silver SUV and pulled out of the apartment building block, and headed down the roads towards St Pancreas train station. They needed to find Sir Richard, before he infected anymore people. Pulling up outside the station, Kara and Abby were the first two out of the car, and already in the crowd and heading towards the stairs, when Jenny and Becker joined them.
"Excuse me," Abby said as she reached a man and woman standing around talking "Have you seen this man?" she asked
The couple shook their heads no. Kara sighed and turned to Jenny.
"The train's departing from the platform at the far end" Jenny said, and the four of then hurried down to the departing point.
There was no Richard Bentley in the surrounding crowd, and for all they knew he was already on the train or he wasn't even here yet.
"Guys, we need to rethink this" Kara said, calling Jenny, Abby and Becker's attention back to her, the other three grouped around her "Becker, you check the train"
"Right" he said and disappeared from view onto the train.
"Better start making plans to evacuate" Kara said to Jenny and Abby, once Becker had disappeared from view
"We could be lucky, you know." Abby said "Maybe he hasn't been contaminated"
"I doubt that," Kara said, as she looked around for any sign of Sir Richard. It was Jenny's job to plan the evacuation. Suddenly Abby's voice rang out, and Kara spun around to face her friend, who was heading back up the platform.
"Sir Richard!" she called, Kara gave chase, but by the time she had reached Abby, they were stationary and the man had gone.
"He's not on the train" Becker said, as he came to a stop beside them once more
"I don't get it" Abby said "Im telling you, I saw him here a minute ago"
"Well, he's not here now," Kara said running a hand through her hair, brushing it out of her face.
"Over there," Abby said again, and Kara looked back around to the place where her friend was looking. There in fact, was Sir Richard Bentley.
"Lets go," she said, before she and Abby were off again, full sprint towards the exits of the train station and back out onto the London streets.
Crash!
That's all she could hear as she looked up from playing with Nick. There was a crashing sound coming from the main Ops room.
"Now what's happening?" she mumbled to herself, before standing and picking up Nick as she left the cool office darkness for the hallway outside the door. She made her way back down the hallway, the crashing sounds getting louder and louder with each step she took. She entered the main ops room, through the double doors, everyone was congregated around the glass, over-looking the new lab once more.
"What's happened?" she asked, as she stopped beside Sarah, and peered into the room. A fungus like creature, stood there. "Where the hell did that come from?"
"What is that is the better question" Lester said, as he joined them.
In the form of a temper tantrum, the creature lashed out at the table of samples before the glass, sending them crashing to the ground with shattering noise. No one was able to answer his question, mostly because nobody knew what the hell it was.
"Well, this could be tricky to explain to the next of kin" Lester said from beside Connor "Good news, he's not technically dead. Bad news, he's turned into a mushroom"
Grace turned to look at him, before sharing a look with Sarah.
"What are we going to do with it?" Lester asked
The creature retreated backwards and growled at the glass. It was obvious it could see them, the only problem it was having was reaching them.
"This all happened when it reacted with the saline solution" Connor explained
"Well, all fungi like damp environments, right?" Sarah asked "So, why don't we just try drying it out?"
"Bake the hell out of it," Connor said, as he moved towards the temperature control box on the wall beside the double doors "We'll see what happens"
"Something tells me this isn't going to end well" Grace mumbled to herself, as she turned back to the glass, maintaining a firm hold on Nick.
Stepping out onto the sunlit, London streets, Kara turned to the sound of creature roars from the subway beside them. It was almost pitch dark, and damp, perfect conditions for fungus. So, walking between Becker and Jenny, she entered the darkness. As two SUV's pulled up behind her. Becker's men had arrived.
"Sir Richard?" Kara called into the darkness
Her only reply was a growl, from the distance. He was in there. But he had changed. She shuddered at the possible thought, of what they may find. When they found him.
Looking across at Jenny and Abby, she led the way further into the darkness. In search of the man that was, or once was, Sir Richard Bentley. What awaited them, they didn't know.
The tunnels were darker than anticipated, soft streams of light shone on the walls, from the torches Kara, Jenny and Abby had been supplied with from Becker and his men, Kara and Abby also acquired hand guns of their own. They had always used guns, and weren't gonna stop now. They needed protection. This is what they got.
"These tunnels must go on for miles," Jenny said "We're gonna need some light"
After issuing Jenny with a extra strong lighted torch, the field team, turned wildly to the sound of movement and growling. Seeing as Kara was ahead of everyone, Becker, moved so he was positioned beside her, slightly in front of her. A motion that didn't go un-noticed by Jenny or Abby, and they shared an identical grin, that was missed by both Becker and Kara.
"What are you doing?" Kara asked, as she stepped around Becker, so she was level with him
"Protecting you," he answered her
"I don't need protecting!" she said "The last people who tried that ended up dead, I don't need a third" she added
"Its my job to protect you," Becker responded not looking at her.
Kara sighed "I know, but please, don't act like im a child who cant take care of herself"
He didn't get the chance to answer her, as they moved on down the tunnels. He sighed, as Kara insisted that she be ahead of the others, along with Abby. Why didn't she just listen for once? And let those who wanted to protect her, do their job? She was so stubborn. Yet, he still liked her for it. His mind shifted back to last night, and smile graced his lips as he followed after them.
The temperature controls were now up to 85.0 degrees, that was searing hot, the creature should have at least disintegrated by now. It was too hot for any fungus to handle. Why hadn't anything happened?
"Its not responding," Danny said, as he, Sarah and Grace stood in front of the glass.
"Right, so come on," Lester said "What's plan B?" he asked
Four heads turned in his direction. Neither of them had a clue what to do next.
"You know just once." He said, "Just once would be nice"
"Keep turning the heat up," Grace said, down the line to Connor "See how high it has to go, before it responds"
Connor nodded, and carried on upping the volume of heat. The flowers had started to wilt under the pressure, of the heat, and Abby was gonna freak when she saw them.
The heat was no one 100.0 degrees, and it had finally started to respond.
"Now look," Danny said
The green of the fungus was turning red with heat. It looked ready to explode.
"Something's happening" Grace said, Nick was now asleep on her shoulder. The creature was expanding, with pressurised heat, soon it exploded, covering the glass in front of them with slim. With a shout, everyone ducked, although they couldn't be hit, because of the glass.
"Result" Connor said from behind
"Yes!" Danny said, turning and giving Connor an high five.
"100.0 degrees" Grace said "It explodes at 100.0 degrees Celsius."
"What generates heat at 100.0 degrees?" Sarah asked
"Flamethrowers," Grace said in one word.
Meanwhile, back in the dark, damp underground, Kara had given in to Becker's protective stances, and was now walking alongside him, she had gotten tired of their little dance a few minutes ago, when he insisted on her being careful, every move she made.
Abby and Jenny were at a distance from them, shining their torches into every possible crack, checking for any sign of movement. Kara rolled her eyes, as she felt Becker brush against her for the second time in the past two minutes.
"If you wanted to be close to me, all you had to do was say" she whispered to him "You didn't have to be so protective! You weren't like this before!"
"What are you talking about?" Becker asked her, "I've always been like this, you've just never noticed it"
Kara stared at him, through the darkness. He had always been protective of her? How come she had never seen it before? Maybe cause she was too busy with Nick or Grace, or she was used to having her father's protection, that she had never noticed the acts of others on the team. Especially Becker's.
They entered a new tunnel, and Kara could hear the faint rustles of movement. As everyone was looking around at the surrounding tunnels, she turned her attention skywards. There hovering above them, clinging to the wall for protection, was the creature, Sir Richard Bentley had become.
"Abby" she said softly "Jenny"
The two girls joined her, shining their own streams of light at the creature. It growled at them, trying to get out of the light, and into the protectiveness of the shadows. If they allowed that to happen, then they would have lost it again.
"Take it out now!" Becker's voice rang out behind them
"No!" Kara yelled, but it was to late, one of the younger officers took aim and fired
The creature growled, and dropped down in front of them. It approached the man, that had taken fire, and touched him, knocking him over, before it took off into the darkness once more.
"Stay back! Don't touch him!" Kara ordered as soldiers raced forward to help their fallen comrade. She let out a growl of her own, before turning to Becker angrily "You just helped it escape!" she snapped
"I was doing my job!" he snapped back
"Your order, scared it," Kara argued "It reacted in the only way it new best! And that's cost us the life of another member of this team!"
Becker was silent, and Kara turned her back on him, she was well peeved now, and turned to Jenny and Abby who was crouched down beside the body of the young officer. He looked no older than 25 at the very least.
"We need a containment unit down here straight away," Jenny said over her headset
"That didn't work," Connor said to say to Lester "but its gonna be even better. Gonna incinerate it"
Grace didn't understand a word of what was being said, but it was clear it was an end of a conversation they had as they entered the underground car park.
"Makes sense" Lester said,
"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Lester said, as Danny stood and loaded one of the boxes into the SUV "what do you think you're doing?" he asked him
"What does it look like im doing?" Danny asked
"Oh, yes, brilliant idea" Lester said "Lets send the criminal out on the city streets with a flamethrower"
"Im not a criminal" Danny said, reappearing again from behind the open door of the car
"You broke in here, didn't you?" Lester said
"Yeah, but I didn't steal anything did I?"
"Your splitting hairs," Lester argued "The point is. A, you should be in custody, and B, your not apart of this team"
"Done a pretty good job for us. Twice" Grace said
"Three times actually," Danny contradicted, and Grace glared at him.
"We need all the help we can get Lester," Sarah said "I think we should trust him"
"Fantastic," Lester said "I've only been here five minutes, and I've already got a mutiny on my hands" he watched as Danny loaded another Flamethrower into the car "Do you know how to use that thing?"
"Well no, but how hard can it be, eh?" Danny asked
"Not helping," Grace said to him as she shook her head
Connor was standing in front of the car, messing around with the flame thrower. Kara was right, he did watch too much TV.
"Right, he and Miss. Hunter here goes, you two geniuses stay here!" Lester ordered of Connor and Sarah
"You're kidding," Connor said "I so wanted to fire this"
"Find a way to stop this thing before it infects anyone else" Lester ordered, and as Grace passed Connor, she handed Nick over with a light kiss to the baby's forehead, before getting into the car beside Danny, and buckling up.
"I don't want anymore fungus the dogey man" Lester continued "The management accepts no responsibility for personal loss or injury" he added to Danny who had started the car.
"Good luck" Connor said, after he had added the last of the flamethrowers to the car and hurried back into the ARC with Sarah and Lester and baby Nick.
While waiting for the containment unit or help from the ARC, Kara lent against the wall beside Becker and Abby. Becker was shining his torch into the dark tunnels ahead of them. Suddenly her phone rang, and Kara pushed herself off the wall and disappeared a little further away, she could hear Abby talking behind her, but she was only listening to Connor on the phone.
"Danny and Grace are on their way down with Flamethrowers" Connor said
"Grace and Danny?" Kara asked "Why them two?"
"Lester wants me and Sarah to stay behind, and think of a way to stop the fungus from spreading" Connor explained "Relax. Nick is fine. He's here with me"
Kara let out a slight sigh, and hung up the phone before turning back to the others. "Look, don't let your man get near it" she said to Becker "I cant risk anyone else being infected"
"How are we supposed to contain this thing?" Becker asked her "when our gunfire is completely ineffective?"
"Well, Danny and Grace our on their way down with flamethrowers" Kara explained
"Danny?" Abby asked as three heads turned in Kara's direction
"He volunteered"
"He's keen"
"Yeah, that's one way of putting it" Kara said, though her mind was on Grace, who was on her way down.
"Im sure, Grace has reasons to be coming down here" Jenny said, breaking through Kara's thoughts
"Yea, to scare the hell out me!" Kara said.
Grace had always been into dangerous activities. And most of the time growing up, it was up to Kara to keep her cousin from doing anything to dangerous. Once when she was 7 and Grace was 5, Kara had broken her wrist, pulling Grace from out of a tree. She had fallen, and landed on her wrist, breaking it in three places.
At least 10 minutes after the phone call. Grace and Danny entered the underground tunnels. They were loaded with Flamethrowers, it seemed Kara or Becker had sent up SAS soldiers to help them carry everything back to the team. Soon, they were all once again together. Grace wasn't surprised that Kara, wasn't happy she was down here, but she wanted to help.
"I want to help!" Grace had argued
"I needed you with Nick," Kara said, she was paranoid now about her baby
"He's with Connor and Sarah, at the ARC," Grace reassured her "He'll be fine"
"After everything that has happened at the ARC," Kara said "You cant be sure of that!"
"Are you sure about this?" Jenny asked, turning to Danny
"One hundred percent," Danny confirmed, "Come on, lets go"
"Excuse me," Kara butted in "Um, sorry, who put you in charge?"
"Look, if im gonna go in there first," Danny said, stopping and turning to face her "Then, im gonna cal the shots, okay?"
"Okay, follow him," Kara said giving in, "But at a distance2
"So, look, we corner it, and then we grill it, right?" Danny asked, turning to face them once more
"Isn't that cruel?" Abby asked
"What?" Danny asked, turning to her
"Well, that thing, used to be a man not long ago," Ness replied "Suppose he's still in there somewhere"
"Okay, so we ask it nicely, and then we grill it, all right?" Danny asked, coming up with a suitable compromise
Abby sighed "Thank you," she said, before following after Danny. Kara and Grace beside her, each with a flamethrower, in hand
The walk wasn't as long as the previous ones, it wasn't so dark anymore either, not with the flickering of the light across the dark, damp walls. Turning off onto a new tunnel, the team stopped at the top of a small flight of stairs, which lead deeper into the underground, tunnels. Water was dripping over head, and it was really dark, even with the streams of light from the torches, and the flickering of the flame throwers.
"Dark and Damp" Abby said "Just like I said"
"Yeah, bingo," Kara said, from behind her, and they stepped off the steps together. "Split up!"
Danny sent her a look, but she ignored him. She was still in charge of the operation.
"Keep, your headsets on, encase we need each other" she added, as she walked away with Grace, Becker and his men.
"What if we lose connections?" Grace asked, as she walked alongside her cousin
"Hopefully we wont, be that far out of reach" Kara answered "If your scared, just stick close"
"I aint scared," Grace whispered, as Kara's flame heightened as she turned onto a new corridor.
Suddenly Danny's voice crackled over their headsets. "Guys, get down here," he said "We've got him cornered. He's got nowhere to go"
Kara turned around to face Becker, and motioned to the second junction of tunnels, that should have come out, right beside the ones Danny, Jenny and Abby where in. They came out beside the others, five bursts of flames erupted, and the creature backed up away from them. Jenny, had backed away from them, she was talking on the phone. Suddenly her voice rang out, yelling at them to stop, as they edged closer with the flames.
"Stop!" Jenny yelled
"What?" Kara and Danny asked, as everyone pulled back the flames
"Fire doesn't work!" Jenny said "Stay away from it!"
"Woah!" Grace cried, as Kara pushed her sideways as the creature tried to escape. They both, hissed as they hit the wall, with hard thuds. But the creature was heading for the upper levels. Becker and his men, plus Danny had gone ahead to try and stop it.
"Come on," Kara said pulling Grace, up from the wall and the two, sprinted ahead with Abby and Jenny.
"Its gone up the stairs," came Becker's voice over the headsets, but the girls had already become level with the guys.
"Has the truck arrived yet?" Kara asked
"Its seconds away," Becker answered
"Then what?" Abby asked
"I'll get back to you," Danny said, as he headed up the stairs
"For a minute I thought he knew what he was doing," Grace said, as they followed Danny
Kara nodded, and followed, coming out on the upper level behind Danny, Becker and the rest of the Special Forces. The creature, was above them, trying once more to avoid the streams of light from the torches. The team had abandoned the flamethrowers, now that they knew that fire didn't work. So how were they gonna kill this thing? If Fire didn't work. Logically, the opposite of fire was ice. Maybe they could freeze it.
Pulling out her phone as it rang, she flipped it open and backed up from the others,
"Lester?" she said, down the line "Okay, we've got to cool it. But there's no chance of hold it here, its too dangerous"
Suddenly the phone was taken from her grasp, and she turned to glare at the person who had done it. It was Danny.
"Listen, the longer we wait, the more people get infected" Danny said down the line
"Just keep it busy until the freeze truck arrives," Lester said
"What do you suggest we do?" Danny asked "Give it the Financial Times to read, while we're waiting?"
Kara stared at Danny in disbelief, he wasn't helping the situation he was in with Lester, one little bit.
"Look, we're bringing it to the ARC," Danny said "Get everything ready, all right?" Lester wasn't going to like this, and neither did Kara. As she took her phone from Danny, her mind switched to Nick, and she turned wildly to Grace, who was staring at her, pure terror on her face too.
"We have to get there first!" Kara said, and pulling her cousin by the hand, they hurried out of the tunnels, after the creature, which had taken off moments before.
"I'll see you there," Danny said, as he hurried past them and into the truck in which the creature had disappeared into. But Kara and Grace didn't hang around, like Jenny, Abby and Becker, they made a bee-line for Grace's car.
"Abby!" Kara yelled out of the window to her friend "You coming?"
"Yeah," Abby answered and hurried towards the car getting into the back
And speeding ahead of Jenny and Danny who where in the truck, Kara, Grace and Abby headed straight towards the ARC, Becker and the remainder of his men behind them.
Making it to the ARC after the containment truck, how that had happened, Kara didn't know. But she didn't question it. After she had parked the car, she climbed out, and came face to face with Jenny and Danny. The back of the truck, was missing its doors.
"Where's it gone?" Kara asked nervously
"We've lost it" Danny explained
Abby, Grace and Jenny exchanged looks and braced themselves. Kara wasn't going to like this.
"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'VE LOST IT!" Kara exploded
Becker and Danny cringed, as Kara exploded. Now they knew not to bring her any bad news, or to cross her for that matter.
"Relax, its in the ARC." Danny said "We just don't exactly know where!"
"You Danny Quinn" Kara said starting forward "is treading on thin ice" and walking around him, she entered the building, Grace following after her.
Connor was standing in the hallway leading to the main Ops, room, cuddled happily in Sarah's arms was baby Nick, and Kara let out a breath of relief as she took the baby from Sarah and held him close. Grace smiled, as she reached her cousin's shoulder, and smiled down at the baby.
"What do we do when we find this thing?" Grace asked, turning to Connor
"We force it down this corridor and into the Main Operations room" Connor explained
"How are we gonna do that?" Abby asked
"Freezing Carbon Dioxide" Connor answered her, looking behind him at the silver extinguishers. Danny made his way forward and picked one up. "And whatever you do, don't let it touch you" he added
"I wasn't thinking about shaking hands with it" Danny said, passing out the extinguishers.
"There are two more of these in the Ops room," Kara said, "Grace, take Nick and stick close to Abby and Connor. Jenny, come with me" she said and handing her son over, she hurried towards the double doors with Jenny, and into the Main Ops room.
Stepping over the air pipe that was trailing across the floor, Kara breathed out, it was freezing in the Main Ops room.
"Temperatures dropping, fast" Jenny said
Kara nodded "All right, lets find these fire extinguishers and get out of here" and she set about to find the extinguishers. Once she had she handed one to Jenny, and set to fix the top of it, while Jenny answered her phone, once she was done, she turned to Jenny.
"You go ahead," Jenny said, "Danny, hi"
Kara pushed open the double doors, and turned left into one of the research labs. She heard a growling noise, and stopped moving, she looked up and turned to the glass over-looking the main ops room. Jenny was standing in there, lowering her phone to her pocket, she turned around, and the creature was looming over her. Kara's heartbeat increased, as Jenny lowered to the ground to pick up the fire extinguisher, beside her.
"Jenny," Kara said, as she watched her friend try to make it to the door, but the creature stopped her in her tracks, as it came to halt, blocking the doors from her reach. Moving back to the door, Kara was stopped by Jenny's yells.
"Kara, stay there!" Jenny yelled from the other side of the glass "Its too dangerous!"
Kara, watched in fear, as Jenny removed the pin from the extinguisher and started squirting the cold air out at the creature, as she backed up away from it. She moved closer to the glass, just as the rest of the team, entered the room behind her.
"The creature's searching for heat," Connor said, as he came to a stand still beside her
"But its freezing in there!" Kara protested
"Its Jen's body heat," Danny said "Its drawing it towards her"
"Come on," Kara whispered, as she continued to watch Jenny, she hated the feeling that she could feel now. She felt helpless.
Right before their eyes, Jenny's fire extinguisher, started to run out of air. Kara felt her heart stop beating, as the air died all together, and the creature got back to its feet.
"Jenny!" she said, slamming the glass in front of her "Jenny! Come on!"
"No, no, no. Stay on your feet, Jenny!" Connor said from beside her, as Jenny started to stumble, before she slid to the ground beneath her.
"Jenny!" Kara cried helplessly again,
She couldn't watch this anymore. She had to get Jenny out of there, all Kara could see at that moment wasn't Jenny Lewis, but she could see Claudia Brown, all over again. If she lost Jenny at this point, then she lost the only connection to Claudia too. Even if Claudia had gone and wasn't coming back, whether Jenny believed it or not, she was the woman Kara had grown fond of in another time plane. She had lost too much, she couldn't lose Jenny too. She apart of the original team. And Kara still longed for that team to return.
All they could do was watch. Watch as the creature approached the freezing form of Jenny, in its search for heat.
"Its gonna kill her," Grace said
"Turn off the cold air" Lester instructed
"The creature's not dead yet," Sarah said
"Jenny's gonna die if we don't!" Kara and Abby argued
As Jenny tried helplessly to raise the extinguisher to protect her, it fell limply at her side with a thud. She had no energy to do anything. She was too cold, and she was slowly dying. Freezing.
"Give me a minute" Danny said, and he disappeared from the room
"Eh?" Connor asked, but their answer came in the form, of Danny, bursting into the Main Ops room, yelling.
"What's he doing?" Abby asked
"Over here!" Danny yelled, letting of a puff of frozen air from the fire extinguisher he was carrying. He made his way towards the creature, that was looming over Jenny, once more. It sensed his approach and reached up to attack him, another form of heat, that it craved, so badly.
Danny ducked and backed away at the last minute, and hit the creature with the bottom of the canister.
"He's making it angrier" Grace murmured, and Kara remembered what Danny was like with the G-Rex.
Being backed into a corner, Danny raised the nozzle of the extinguisher, he tried to spurt some air out of it, but it didn't work. It was either blocked or broken, or empty.
"Oh, that's just great!" Kara moaned, as she watched Danny throw the canister aside, she could also tell that Danny was starting to freeze too. In a few moments he would end up like Jenny, and where would that get them? It would get them nowhere.
"If he survives this," Kara muttered "I'll kill him, myself!"
Just as the creature reached for Danny, it froze.
"Its working," Connor said "The creature's freezing. It's…it's dying"
Suddenly the creature froze all together, and cracked, shattering like a piece of glass.
"Go!" Kara said "go, go, go, go!" and she entered the main ops room with Abby, Becker, Sarah and Connor. Grace, still holding Nick, remained behind with Lester.
"Lets get her out of here!" Danny ordered, as he skidded towards Jenny
"No, don't touch her!" Connor yelled
"What?" Danny asked
"The only chance she's got is if the cold kills the fungus" Connor explained "We wait, okay?"
Kara looked towards her friend and nodded, she trusted him. It was still freezing in the Main Ops room even with the large coat she had been provided with. Her breath was mere steam, as it erupted from her lips, and just like the others around her, she was shivering.
After about 3 minutes wait, Danny moved forward to pick up Jenny's body.
"No!" Kara said, as she and Connor pushed Danny back
"Danny, listen to me" Connor said
"Its killing her!"
"I know!" Connor snapped "But if we take her out now, she's gonna end up like that thing over there! We wait! Its our only option! Trust me!"
Danny didn't know whether he wanted to believe it or not, but he nodded nonetheless. Beside, he wasn't gonna get her out of here, alone. The others trusted Connor. Swallowing, Kara breathed sharply, the cold air attacking her chest. It was starting to become painful, and she winched as she breathed deeply, holding her chest.
"Kara, get out of here!" Abby said, from beside her, as she winced again from the sharpness in her chest
"Im fine," Kara said, not taking her eyes off Jenny
"Your not helping anyone if you pass out on us too" Abby said, "Go on! We'll get Jenny out of here!"
Kara looked around at her blonde friend, and nodded. She couldn't argue at this point, her chest was too tight. Getting to her feet, Kara gave Jenny a fleeting look, as if apologizing that she couldn't stay, and hurried out of the room, she made it back to the research lab with Lester, Grace and Nick, as she leant against the table. Her breathing coming sharply, and painfully.
The doors to the main Ops room opened with a crash, and Kara looked up as the others brought Jenny in. They laid her out on the table that she had been leaning against, attaching wires to her. Abby was at her head, holding an oxygen mask over her mouth, and pushing air into her lungs.
Grace had disappeared, but soon, re-appeared, handing Kara a small bluish grey inhaler. Kara smiled, and took it from her cousin, before pressing it to her lips, and releasing the pump, and breathing deeply. Once she was sure, she could breath again, she joined her friends at the table, as they tried to revive Jenny.
"Not again" Connor was mumbling, as Abby continued to squeeze air into Jenny's lungs, whilst checking for a pulse. Kara reached out tentatively to brush her fingers across Jenny's frozen face, her eyes were closed, and she was a grey colour. She could feel tears in her eyes once more, as she gazed down at her friend, that she had known for little over two years.
"Come on Jenny," she whispered "I cant lose you too…please,"
"If she stays like this for another few minutes, we've lost her" Abby said
"Please, come on Jenny," Kara whispered as Connor continued to mumble across from her "Don't leave us now….come on Claudia, you cant leave" realising what she had said, Kara sucked in a sharp breath. It had occurred to her, that if she lost Jenny she lost Claudia Brown, but she had lost Claudia once, she didn't want to lose her all over again, even if she wasn't Claudia Brown at this moment in time.
"Come on, don't bail on us now" Danny said, as he took hold on Jenny's hand
"Come on," Abby said
"Anything?" Connor asked
Kara looked up at Abby, to see she was smiling,
"I've got a pulse," Abby whispered
Kara let out a breath she hadn't realized she was holding. Jenny was alive.
"Yes!" the team said, in a collective of whispered cheers.
"Here she comes," Danny said
"Nick," Jenny whispered as she woke up. Kara felt two or three tears ripple down her face, as Jenny mentioned her father's name. Had Jenny see her dad in the past few minutes, that she had died? She smiled at the thought, maybe her father really hadn't left them, he was still with them. Watching over them. They were after all, his family. He had always promised her, that he wouldn't leave her.
"He's gone," Kara said sadly "Remember?"
"Yeah," Jenny said, as a tear slid down her face from her eyes. Kara reached out and wiped them away softly, her sadness reflected in Jenny's face. "Can I have that back now?" she asked, as Danny still had hold of her hand
"Oh, sorry," Danny said, letting go of her hand "Hey, hey, welcome back" and he then started to laugh in relief. Causing everyone, but Kara to laugh. She was helping Jenny to sit carefully up, on the table. The older woman was still freezing, and Kara took a large coat from Connor, and wrapped it around Jenny's shoulders as she was helped down from the table carefully.
Later that day, Kara sat alone in her office, she was staring aimlessly into Space. Nick was beside her asleep, in the buggy, that he still had. Kara's mind was on autopilot, and she was thinking about everything that had happened today. From the discovery of the fungus, to the chase of the search of Sir Richard Bentley to the heart racing rescue of Jenny Lewis. Kara couldn't help but feel happy that Jenny was still around, but she had already spoken with Jenny after the rescue, and learned that she was leaving.
So with a sad sigh, Kara sat thinking about everything that Jenny and she had been through, since the PR joined the team. At first Jenny didn't believe anything about dinosaurs, being her new job, that was until she met the Worms. Of course, Jenny and Nick had argued like kids, because Jenny had taken the elevator to the 13th floor, where the worms were. It was then, that she started to believe in the prehistoric times.
Kara smiled lightly, at the memory of her father, Jenny and herself in the bunker of Leeks. Jenny was talking about Helen, being Nick's wife and that he should have kept her under control. She laughed softly, before there came a knock on the door. Looking up as the door opened, a small smile graced her lips, as Becker appeared, in the doorway.
"Hi," she said softly, as he closed the door behind him and walked further into the room
"Hi," he answered her, stopping near the edge of the desk and looking down at her "I just wanted to say sorry, for snapping at you earlier"
"My fault," Kara said "I shouldn't have had a go at you, you were just doing your job. I guess, I was a little panic stricken because the creature had claimed another life. And that life just happened to be a member of this team."
"Your protective, aren't you?" Becker asked "Of us…your team?"
"Yeah," she answered, getting up and walking around so she was standing beside him "This team is my family. I do whatever it takes, to protect those I care about"
Now she was practically chest to chest with him, and staring up at him "You being one of them. All I kept thinking today was, I cant lose anyone else. That's why it was so hard, to keep myself in check around you today…and the memory of last night wasn't helping."
Unexpectedly, Becker reached up and cupped her face again, he then dipped his head and pressed his lips against hers in a tender kiss. She let him lead and soon she felt herself being pressed against the door, that had been closed by Becker himself, as the kiss gradually became more passionate. Kara moved to pull away, but it seemed Becker was resistant to let her. This was different to any kiss she had before. Even last night.
Flashback
"Im glad your okay," Becker said, when Kara had cried herself out of tears, they were sitting so close on couch, his arm was still around her. And although she had been crying, she still look cute as she always did.
"Im sorry," she whispered "I didn't want you have to see that. But every time someone mentions my dad, it happens. Sometimes I can catch myself, but this time I was taken by surprise"
"Its my fault," he said softly
Kara looked up at him. Their faces were so close, in the darkness of the living room. Slowly, not realizing what was happening, Kara felt her lips brush against his ever so softly. Catching herself, she moved to pull away, but was caught by surprise when his lips reacted against hers. Granted she had liked him since she first met him, but she never knew, that she would be here, sitting in her living room, kissing the Captain Becker. His kiss of soft and gentle.
Slowly and reluctantly they pulled away from one another. And Kara's eyes fluttered open slowly, and a smile graced her face. She stared at him, as he stared straight back, possibly surprised that she had made the first move.
"Im sorry," she whispered
"No," he said, and he dipped his head once more and captured her lips in a slow searing kiss.
End of Flashback
"Your promised this wouldn't happen!"
Kara yelled as she stood in Lester's office, facing the window overlooking the ARC. Christine Johnson had just left, with the word that Danny would be the Nick Cutter's replacement. Kara hadn't taken this lightly, mostly because after her father, she was to step up to the role of leader.
"I didn't change anything," Lester explained "You still take over you father's charge. Everyone on this team looks to you. But we need someone of Danny Quinn's background alongside you"
"So what, he is second in command?" Kara asked
"No." Lester said "You will each share the responsibility of the role of leader. Understand?"
Kara sighed and turned to looking over her shoulder at Lester and then back down at the team "Fine. I think I handle that."
She watched as Grace entered the room, carrying Nick. Kara sighed, she really needed had get him home and ready for bed. "Are we finished here?" she asked, turning around and crossing her arms.
"Yes," Lester said "You're dismissed"
Kara nodded and hurried from the room. She descended the ramp and stepped off into the Main Ops room. She made her way towards Grace and lifted Nick into her arms, where we lay his head into her shoulder, she smiled down at him as she pressed a kiss to his forehead.
"You ready?" she said, turning to Grace, who nodded "Im heading home…bye guys," she said to the team as she and Grace headed towards the double doors, and the hallway leading to the car park. She smiled at Becker on her way out, receiving one in return, before she and Grace disappeared from their view completely.
After stopping for some food, Kara and Grace made it home. Nick had fallen once more to sleep, and Kara couldn't blame him cause it was really late. So once more, instead of bathing him, she changed him immediately into his bed clothes and put him to bed. Before heading back downstairs with Grace for some food.
"So, what's going on with you and Becker?" Grace asked, as she scooped a fork full of Chinese rice into her mouth.
"Nothing." Kara said, as she bit into her own food
"Liar," Grace accused "I saw that smile you gave him, before we left…what's going on between you two?"
Kara sighed, there was no point hiding it from Grace.
"I kissed him" Kara said
Grace squealed, "When?"
"Last night," Kara said "He came to apologize for having a go at me that yesterday, and he mentioned Dad, and I got upset. He comforted me, and it sort of happened. I kissed him, and he kissed me back. And then earlier, in dad's office, he kissed me."
Grace was grinning madly, and Kara was starting to regret telling her anything.
Opening her mouth to say something, Grace was cut off by a knock to the front door. Looking around at one another, Kara jumped from her seat and peered through the window. There at the front door stood Becker, just like last night. She gasped and pulled back, letting the curtain fall back into place.
"Who is it?" Grace asked
"Its Becker," Kara responded "What's he doing here?"
Grace squealed and bounded out of her seat and towards the front door, it took Kara a minute to realize her cousin had gone. Before she nearly screamed "No!" and scrambled off after her cousin. "Grace, don't open the door!"
"We cant leave him out there!" Grace protested
"Upstairs," Kara said pushing her cousin towards the stairs "Go! Upstairs!"
"I wanna know what he wants"
"Grace! Go!"
"You just want him alone," Grace teased, but headed towards the stairs, she giggled as she watched her cousin check her reflection in mirror in the hall. "Kara and Becker in a tree…"
"Would you go!" Kara hissed, as she turned from the Mirror to check if her cousin had gone, she then pulled open the door, with a smile. "And what do I owe the pleasure, tonight?" she asked
Becker smiled at her "I wanted to talk to you…about earlier"
Kara felt her stomach drop, before letting him in. Was he here to talk about how he had made a mistake? That kissing her was a mistake, even though he had said he wouldn't change it for the world? Was it Stephen all over again? She prayed that it wasn't, and followed him into the living room, but not before catching the look Grace had on her face, before she disappeared from view.
A/N: Thanks for the reviews, and adding's to your favourites and story alerts. Glad your enjoying the story.
This chapter was slightly faster than the rest. Was actually surprised that I could write it so good, cause this episode wasn't one of my favs.
As by request from Grace (yes, the same girl whom, Kara Cutter's cousin is named after) she wanted me to have Kara tell Jenny about Claudia Brown and that Nick had said Claudia's name (Jenny's name) before he died. So, Grace, I hope your happy darling. I full filled your request. Lol.
Anyway. Enjoy. Tell me what you think. Reviews are appreciated. They make me write faster. Cant, promise a new chapter within the next few days. I have to update my second Primeval fic, its due for an update. And I haven't even, wrote the chapter yet. But I will be back, with more brilliant Kara Cutter, Grace Hunter, Baby Nick and the rest of the team fics very soon.
Love you all.
Kara xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
