Disclaimer: Not mine not copyright intended
A/N: Time has moved on for Abby and Danny, who have settled in a domestic routine ... but that contentment is about to be shaken. Thanks for the reviews so far ... comments are really appreciated!
It was only when Danny had mentioned the fact that tonight was the 7th full moon he'd seen since they'd been here that Abby thought about how long they had been away.
"You've been keeping count?" she said, surprised. She had given up after the fifth week. Time passing didn't seem to matter any more, she just concentrated on getting through the day that lay ahead.
Danny nodded. "Do you think the cycles are the same as at home? Have we been here seven months or more or less?"
"No idea." She said. Her mind drifted and two terrifying thoughts hit her. One she didn't even want to think about and pushed it straight to the back of her mind. There was little she could do about it now, so there was no point worrying yet. The other thought was more pressing though. "Half a year. We've been pretty lucky with the weather so far, but what if we're heading towards winter now? I don't even know whether there are definable seasons here, but it could get very cold soon."
"You're right. We should at least prepare for the cold. I've been thinking that maybe we should try drying out some the hides from the creatures I kill. We could make a blanket of sorts, maybe even stitch together some kind of warm jacket each." Danny looked at Abby and saw her wrinkle her nose. "Don't worry, I know you get all girlie and squeamish about killing creatures!" he laughed and kissed her forehead gently. "Me big hunter!" He started to beat his chest with his fists, making Abby laugh.
"Just as long as you don't start dragging me into the cave by my hair and expect to have your wicked way with me whenever you want." She said.
"I thought you liked that?" Danny said, grinning.
Abby thumped him playfully, then settled into the warmth of his arms; resting her head on his chest. "Seven months." She sighed. "Do you think they're still looking for us?"
"Of course they are. Connor wouldn't let them give up on you." Danny squeezed her tightly, stroking her hair. Abby closed her eyes and tried to picture Connor. It was getting harder to remember what he looked like; his face wouldn't come into her mind as clearly as she wanted it to. "I hope he's giving soldier boy a hard time!" Danny added.
After a few moments silence, Abby said "What do you think Lester told Jack and Kate about what happened to us?"
"He probably had one of his ministry cronies come up with some story to tell them." He replied. "Or maybe he managed to get Jenny to come back. She was good at the old cover stories."
"You liked her, didn't you?" Abby said, smiling.
Danny blushed. "There's no point dwelling on what might have been."
"No, but if you could go back and change things, would you do anything differently?"
"With Jenny?" Danny said, puzzled.
"In general, with your life. Would you have made more of an effort with your marriage if you'd known how things would turn out?"
"My only regret there is not fighting harder for Damian. If I had my time again, I'd be a better father to my child." Danny sighed and blinked away a tear forming in the corner of his eye. Abby sensed the change in his mood straight away and looked up at him. Did she tell him about that thing she didn't really want to think about? Maybe voicing it out loud would make it less scary? She wasn't ready to think about it yet though, so she just leaned into him and kissed him softly on the lips. He returned the kiss, warm, soft, tender, and then leaned back against the cave wall. "What about you? If you could do things differently with Connor, what would you do?"
Abby thought for a moment. "Things happen for a reason. Perhaps we never actually got together because we weren't meant to."
"That's rubbish and you know it!" Danny said. "You two just need to actually sit down and say how you really feel. Maybe if he'd been here instead of me, the pair of you would have worked things out. He's probably sat right now with a soldering iron and screwdriver in hand, desperately trying to make one of those anomaly opening things and missing you like crazy." He sighed, and Abby thought she caught a moment of sadness in his eyes.
"Maybe he is, or maybe he's still stuck in the past too. Who knows, perhaps he even ended up with Helen Cutter and ..." she laughed, the thought was completely ridiculous.
"Stranger things have happened." Danny smiled. "Some might say that us being an item is equally unlikely."
"Is that what we are?" Abby said, sitting up and looking him straight in the eye. "An item?"
He took her hand and tangled his fingers into hers. "I don't know. Everything here is just... It could all change when we get home." There it was again, Abby noticed, that look of sadness. She rested her head on his chest and snuggled into his embrace.
"We should get some sleep." She whispered. "If we're going to start making blankets and things tomorrow, we need rest." She closed her eyes.
"Yeah." Danny whispered.
-o-
Abby found she couldn't sleep. The thing she had tried to push to the back of her mind wouldn't go away. It was begging her to acknowledge it, and the harder she tried to fight it, the more it pushed into her thoughts. Eventually, she gave up fighting and decided she should at least try to reason with herself. She carefully slid out of Danny's arms so as not to disturb him, and crept outside to sit by the dying fire.
As far as she could remember, she had only had 3 periods here. They had caused her a great deal of anxiety; not only the discomfort and mess but she was concerned that any predators would smell the blood and be drawn towards their camp. When it stopped happening, she was actually relieved and put it down to her poor diet and weight loss. The thought that it might mean she was pregnant had not really occurred to her; a baby had never featured in any of her plans and she was the least maternal person she knew. But not wanting a baby didn't mean that you couldn't get pregnant did it?, and she cursed herself for being so stupid.
She didn't feel pregnant; not that she knew what it felt like. Women she knew that had been pregnant had said to her "I just knew." She hadn't been sick either, other than the couple of occasions she'd eaten something bad; and Danny had been sick too. She pulled up her t-shirt and ran her hand over her stomach, trying to decide if it was swollen or not. It was hard to tell; she had lost a fair bit of weight and if anything her jeans felt loose. She decided she couldn't be pregnant; her body was just not showing the signs.
Just as she was about to turn to go back into the cave, she saw Danny come out. "Are you OK?" he said.
She wrapped her arms around him and kissed him. "Yes. I was just having trouble sleeping that's all and I didn't want to disturb you."
"Anything you want to talk about?"
"No, it's fine. It was just all that talk about home earlier." She figured there was little point sharing her thoughts with him; there wasn't anything to worry about as far as she was concerned.
-o-
It had rained during the night, and everywhere just felt gloomy the next morning. Danny had gone down to the lake as usual, leaving Abby to try and salvage some of their food stores that had been left exposed. Most of it was sodden and although she hated wasting food, it had to be thrown away. As she was clearing it away, she heard Danny's panicked voice shouting her name. She stood up and could see sheer terror in his eyes.
"What's wrong?" she said, rushing to his side straight away.
"There's a family of T-Rex's by the lake, I counted at least 5 of them!" he breathed, struggling to speak. "We have to go into hiding!"
"Follow me!" Abby said. Staying at the cave was not an option; it was too exposed and the little fire that kept away most creatures would not scare something as large as a T-Rex. They headed towards where the trees grew thick and tall and found a tree with branches low enough for them to scramble onto. Both were pretty good at climbing now, and it wasn't long before they were high enough to feel safer. They sat there, trying to get their breath back whilst contemplating what the next move should be.
"Maybe they're just passing through and stopped for some water?" Abby said.
"Let's hope so. If they decide to take up residence then we will have to think about moving on." The thought of having to share their watering hole with some of the most deadly predators this era had was not a pleasant one. They waited for several hours; hoping the group would move on, but as time passed it became obvious that they were at least settling in for the night.
Abby felt her stomach growl. It was the first time in ages that they had not had at least some fruit to eat, and because they'd left in such a haste, neither had their water bottles with them. She tried to settle between a couple of branches, but she was too small and she kept slipping. She was growing increasingly frustrated; tiredness and hunger getting the better of her. It didn't help that Danny had found himself a comfy spot and was grinning, watching her struggle.
"Stop it!" she snapped. She immediately felt bad. After all this time, it was the first time she'd spoken sharply to him.
"Sorry, Abby." He said, his smile turning to a more serious look. "What can I do to help?"
"Stretch my legs by six inches?" she said.
"Come here. You can lay on me." He beckoned. Abby scrambled over and settled on him. "This is nice." He said, stroking her hair.
"You're sure this is OK? You're not uncomfortable are you?" she said.
"You're so tiny, I hardly know you're there." They lay together in silence, listening to the sounds of the night for a while. "Abby. You do know that whatever life chooses to throw at us, we'll get through it?"
"Where did that come from?" she asked.
"I've just been doing a lot of thinking, that's all." He muttered. His brow creased into a frown. "If our friends haven't moved on by morning, we will have to think about going back to the camp and getting as much as we can before we leave. We can't stay with them around."
Abby closed her eyes. Leaving their base and starting over again would be hard. She remembered how difficult those first few days had been before they had found the cave and the lake. Going back to that was unthinkable.
As morning broke, it became obvious that they would have to move on. They decided it was too dangerous to even go down to the lake to refill their water bottles. They went back to the cave and gathered together as much as they could carry, tools, weapons, some fish and fruit. Abby took one final look at the place they had called home for so long, and began to cry.
"Hey, it's OK. We can do this, Abby. We'll find somewhere else. What was it you said? Everything happens for a reason..." Danny tried to comfort her, but he felt incredibly sad too. This place had special memories, and leaving was gut wrenching.
"Which way do we go?" Abby said at last, trying to pull herself together. Getting emotional would only hamper their progress.
"I think we should try to follow the stream that feeds into the lake and head up towards the mountains." Danny said. "We need to be at a higher point to keep an eye on what's approaching, we don't want any more nasty surprises."
"OK." Abby said, straightening herself and pulling her rucksack onto her shoulders. "Lead the way." She followed Danny out of the clearing, wondering when they would feel as content as they had here again.