"Umm… Con?"

Connor turned his head and looked up at Abby. Concern was filling her face. "Can I… can I talk to you?" her voice cracked.

Connor nodded and gestured to the space next to him. She sat down. For a while, there was silence.

When Anomaly had come back, Connor had separated himself from the others. He was still embarrassed about being caught eavesdropping, though it could hardly be called that.

He sighed and looked at the cold, blue and green flames dancing in front of him. He'd taken a branch from the fire the others were sitting around and started his own. Anomaly had insisted he take it, saying it was too dangerous for him to do otherwise.

Abby was trying desperately to think of the words she needed to describe what she was feeling. Finally, she blurted it out. "Con, I have a feeling like… like I'm going to lose you."

He turned to face her. "What do you mean?"

She sighed and looked down, unable to look at him. "I… I can't shake this feeling that… that whatever happens… you're going to die."

Abby could feel his gaze burn into her. "Why would you think that?"

"I don't know. I know it sounds stupid, but…" She sighed and looked at the blue-green flames. "It's just… this place. It's so…"

"Creepy?" Connor guessed.

"I don't know. Maybe. It feels… like it's a part of time that we don't even understand. That we could never understand.

Connor nodded slowly. He'd been feeling the same way about this place since he'd gotten here. He looked back at the fire. "Yeah…"

She looked at him for a long time. Finally she spoke again. "Connor?"

He looked at her.

"If… if something happens, no matter what it is… I want you to know something."

His expression grew puzzled.

Abby came a little closer. "Connor… I… I… I don't know how to say this…"

He kept his eyes locked on hers.

She looked at him for a long time, then closed her eyes and brought her lips to his.

Connor froze. His thoughts were racing. A million questions fired off in his mind, and were answered just as suddenly as he realized one simple little truth.

She loves me!

He found himself kissing her back. His heart was pounding.

She loves me!

He could hear the others, not quite as far away as he'd thought. Cutter and Steven were chuckling. Jenny was having a bit of a fit about how she 'hoped Lester didn't hear about this.' But he didn't care. None of that mattered. Only one thing mattered.

She loves me!

After a moment, Abby broke away, smiling shyly. It wasn't like her to be shy.

Connor swallowed. "Umm… wow." He whispered weakly.

Abby's smile widened. "Make sense yet?" She whispered in reply.

Connor nodded slowly. "Yeah…"

She looked at him for a long time, and they sat in silence.

Finally, he spoke up. "Abby?"

"Yeah?"

He looked at her. "I love you too." He whispered softly.

She smiled and turned back to the fire.


Jenny sighed, frustration filling her face. "Well. That's a violation of about a million codes."

"Do you think about ANYTHING else?" Cutter joked.

Jenny raised an eyebrow. "Of course. But that doesn't excuse…"

Cutter sighed and cut her off. "We're years into the future. We're facing a city who knows this land far better than we do, and they're far more experienced at fighting, especially in this terrain. Don't tell me you wouldn't want to say goodbye."

"Goodbye is fine." Jenny replied. "But we could still get back, and that could get them into enough trouble to…"

Cutter interrupted her again. "They just want to clear things up. Wouldn't you like to know something like that before going into a situation like ours?" His eyes gained a playful twinkle.

Jenny sighed, but Cutter didn't give her a chance to respond. He moved closer, closed his eyes and kissed her.

Steven's eyes widened. This time, Anomaly chuckled.

Shock filled Jenny. But she was more shocked when she found herself kissing him back.

When Cutter broke away, Jenny looked at him with wide eyes. Desperate to remain some image of being calm, she cleared her throat and sat down, forcing her face to go blank.


"The odds aren't THAT bad." Steven growled.

Anomaly chuckled. "Don't tell them that."

He sighed. "Why does everyone have to become all emotional just because there's something like this going on?"

"Because they don't face this every day." Anomaly replied. Her eyes had suddenly aged, and she seemed much older than she should be. "You and I, Steven, we're different. We're the soldiers, the ones who are always ready for the battle because the battle has always been ready for us. We're used to this." Her eyes softened. "They aren't."

Steven looked at her. "We have no chance, do we?"

"Five humans, and one future human, against an army of anomaly-and-technology-controlling future humans?" She looked at him. "You tell me."

Steven sighed. "I figured as much." He pulled out his gun and loaded it.

"I thought I told you to leave that behind."

He shrugged. "Like you said, Anomaly. We're soldiers. Would you go anywhere without your knife?"

Anomaly smiled. "You're learning."

There was silence for a long time. Finally, Steven spoke up. "What are you thinking?"

Anomaly looked down. "I'm wishing I was more like them." She replied, gesturing to where Abby and Connor were sitting next to each other, Connor's arm around Abby's shoulders. "They don't know anything about fighting, about battles. I've been fighting since I was born." Her eyes locked on Steven's. "I never had a choice."

Steven nodded slowly. "I guess I can understand that." He sighed.

Anomaly looked at the fire. "I also think it's going to get a whole lot worse."

A/N: Sorry about the short chapter, and about how long it took to get it up here. The next chapter should be longer, and it should take less time.