"I think you had better start explaining, Miss Merchant." Said Lester as he reclined in his chair looking to all the world indifferent. Jess looked at Cutter though tired eyes; he was leant forward ready to listen to whatever she said, a look of intent concentration on his face.

Jess sighed, there was only one way to deal with this really.

If she hadn't have been so weary Jess would have undoubtedly been uncomfortable under the close scrutiny of the three other people in the room, as it was she just resigned herself to what she would have to do.

"Well, for starters," she began, "my name isn't Emily. It's Jess. And where I'm from…" Jess mumbled the last part inaudibly.

"For god sake speak up!" Said Lester impatiently from across his desk.

"I'm from 2012." Said Jess loudly before carrying on in a faster and more worried tone than before, "I just said I was from further in the future… I didn't want to cause any trouble! When I first joined the ARC all everyone said was be careful of the time lines! One tiny thing goes wrong and suddenly BANG!" Jess said her voice growing steadily louder and her hand gestures more erratic. "One mistake and before you know it you've sent a raptor back into Victorian London!" She tailed off her rant to see that all of the men in the room had gone quiet while watching rant; she began to feel the heat rising in her cheeks.

Silence reigned in the office for a moment before Lester broke it, though wisely deciding that he wasn't going to ask about the raptor comment for the sake of his blood pressure.

"You said your name is Jess, what's your surname?"

"I can't tell you…I'm alive in this time, it might get complicated if you…"

"Well it's hardly like I'm going to bring you in for questioning is it?" Scoffed Lester, "Contrary to popular belief I do quite like things to run smoothly."

Jess weighed up her options for a second; on the one hand she really didn't want to give them her surname for she knew that she could be searched for and found in a heartbeat, but on the other hand she knew Lester. She trusted him and knew that deep down he had only his teams best interests at heart, even if he denied it until his dying day.

"Parker. Jess Parker."

"Right, Miss Parker start from the beginning."

"Well, what do you want to know? I can't tell you everything… can I? It would make it a bit easier if you knew everything, but you won't want to hear- this must be what it's like to be Matt-"

"Wait, stop." Said Becker, holding up a hand to stop the rapid flow of words, "Slow down. Who's Matt?"

"Oh, Matt's the new team leader," said Jess oblivious to the way that Cutter had tensed slightly at her words, "he's your friend…well, sort of. He did shoot you once, but you did deserve it-"

Jess broke off seeing Becker's shocked face before hastening to add, "With an EMD, not a real gun!" There was a pause in the conversation.

"So Matt's your team leader?" Said Cutter with an odd humourless smile on his face.

Jess's face paled at his words when she realised she'd let slip. "Oh God," she whispered, "I'm sorry-"

"Don't be." Said Cutter firmly, "Just tell me one thing. What happened to Helen?"

Jess swallowed thickly before she answered, "She tried to wipe out humanity, three people followed her though an anomaly. Two of them stayed where they were but one of them carried on after Helen. He saw her die."

Both Lester and Becker looked shocked at this news and though he tried to hide it Jess could see the relief under Lester's work façade. Cutter only continued to look at her, his expressions hidden underneath a mask of thoughtfulness.

"Well," he said softly, his accent lilting his words, "now the only question is how to get you back to your own time. How did you get here in the first place, it seems a pretty big coincidence that you ended up only a few years into the past."

"We had a machine." Said Jess looking at her lap and fiddling with the hem of her sleeve, "A machine that could make anomalies, there was, well…a bit of a drama with it and it was stored away but…I sort of, accidentally, turned it on. Long story short, I had to walk through the anomaly."

Both Lester and Becker looked as though they wanted to question her story but Cutter talked over them,

"Do you think you could make another of these machines?"

The question made Jess pause, she had seen the plans and occasionally Connor would bounce ideas off of her seeing as she was the only one who would understand even half of what he said so she supposed that it might be possible to create a similar device. If she had help.

She voiced this to Cutter when Lester sat a little straighter,

"We would be happy to offer you any technicians you would require until you manage to rebuild this device-"

"I'll only need one." Said Jess. She sounded confident when she said this. It was a far cry from the rambling woman who had occupied her chair only moments before.

"Ok," said Lester giving her a questioning glance, "you may have one person help you-"

"It's a specific someone." Said Jess, really beginning to feel the full extent of her exhaustion as she realised who she was going to have to meet, "I'm going to need Connor Temple's help."

All three of the men in the room shared a uneasy glance, each unwilling to say the next sentence,

"Look," said Cutter, "the boy's got a good brain on him but I'm not sure how much help he'll be-"

"It's ok," said Jess rubbing a hand over her eyes in equal parts of frustration and tiredness, "You don't understand." She paused as she tried unsuccessfully to stifle a yawn, "Is there anywhere I can lay down for a bit?"

"Yes, of course." Said Lester, "Becker, would you show her to the accommodation?"

"Of course." Said Becker automatically. He waited for Jess to stand up and even let her pick up the EMD, probably sensing that she would be no harm now that they had talked to her.

In fact everything seemed to go quite well as they both walked down the ramp and across the main work area. That was until a certain voice piped up behind them,

"Yo, Action Man!"

….

A/N- Thank you once more to all of the lovely people who out there who responded to the story, I hope you like this bit! More reviews would be loved but until next time, all my best- V