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Cutter was sitting at his kitchen table-if you could really even call the tiny, pathetic space a kitchen-with a bottle of beer in hand. That was the first thing he'd gotten upon entering the house: a beer. Connor had filled him in on pretty much everything. But, Cutter had yet to show him the "something you'd be interested in" he'd spoken about.
Cutter sat there, nodding his head as it all sunk in. "Anomalies… time travel. And alternate realities? So… is that what this is? An alternate reality?"
"Uh… no, actually it's the same reality, just… changed. Somehow Helen Cutter, your wife, changed this reality completely. So, Abby, Becker, Danny, Sarah, Lester, Dian… they all have completely different lives here. You see why I need to put things back."
Cutter nodded again. He got up from the table and went to a desk that was sitting on the right side of the room. Connor could hear him rummaging through the paper and random objects that covered the desk's surface. Connor looked at the glass of water Cutter had given him; he was afraid to touch it, let alone drink it. The water was a foggy brown and the cup it was in was covered with a little dirt and mold. Connor was almost frightened of the thing… he took one finger and slowly pushed the cup across the table, as far away from him as his arm would reach.
When he heard Cutter coming back to the table, Connor moved his arm back to him and awkwardly looked normal again. Cutter just barely took any notice of the cup being closer to his side of the table, pausing for a second and blinking at the cup, then inconspicuously ignoring it and sitting down.
Cutter set down an object, wrapped in brown paper, on the table and slid it to Connor. He just looked at it in question. "What's this?"
"I found it lying outside on the ground this morning, maybe it came from my supposed 'wife'. I've no idea what it is, but I figured maybe you'd be interested in it. I don't really have a use for the thing," Cutter explained.
Connor picked it up and carefully peeled the paper off, uncovering a light blue piece of glass. His eyes narrowed at the glass and he quickly ripped off the rest of the paper. The object was a thin, glass device; sort of like the anomaly opening device Helen had, but this was a bit different. Maybe he could figure out a way to change the world back with this device… somehow.
"Well?" Cutter pushed.
"Um… I don't know what it is, exactly, but I have an idea. Thank you, Cutter. I won't let you down."
He looked at Connor like he was crazy. "Let me down? Well alright… I don't think you could, seeing as how I don't expect anything from you. Look, kid I don't care what the hell you do with that thing, or what you do at all… I still think you're a mental that escaped from an institution. But, really I just don't care so long as you don't bring me into all this. So, you can take that thing and get out of here."
Connor nodded and got up from the table, walking to the door and leaving. He heard the door slam behind him as Cutter shut it. He sighed and walked across the road, reaching an empty field; it was a perfect place to test the device… and see what it actually did.
He took a deep breath, looking around to make sure no one could see him. Then he focused on the device. "Okay... let's see what you've got for me." His fingers lightly touched the blue glass and the device glowed, coming to life and showing an extremely complex map that swirled around the screen. It looked like Cutter's map, but far more intricate and complicated. Connor's jaw dropped. "Apparently… a lot."
"Whoo, okay, um… playing with time and space when I have no idea what the hell I'm doing… that works." He chuckled at himself. His finger lingered over the device as he tried to make sense of what to do. "Don't suppose it comes with an instruction manual, eh? Err!" He shook out his hand and stretched his fingers. "Okay, here we go… I'm just gonna… guess." He chose a section on the map that was labeled '20/10 1650'. Closing his eyes, he took the chance and pressed it, expecting the worst.
When he opened his eyes, there was no anomaly, no dramatic flash of light, nothing. Instead of standing in a field, he was standing on pavement. Before he could do anything, he heard a loud horn blow and turned his head to the left. This wasn't just a pavement… it was a road, which he just happened to be standing on. His heart pumped blood fast through his veins as he panicked, frozen where he stood as the large 18-wheeler sped towards him.
Connor felt a hard force crash into him and his senses go out…
"I found him on the road. I'm not sure what happened to him, but I suppose Dian would want to know about this," Stephen said to Dr. Scott, looking at Connor's body lying on the table in the hospital room at the ARC.
"Ah, yes I suppose she would… why don't you go find her, tell her what's happened," Dr. Scott advised.
"Yes sir." Stephen left the room.
A few minutes later, Dian came running into the room and stopped dead in front of Connor. "Oh… my god! Connor, what've you done to yourself?"
Stephen ran in the room after her. "Ma'am! Please, you don't-"
"Shut up, Stephen!" She turned to Connor, tears running down her face as she looked at his body. "Jesus… what did you do, Connor?" She ran her hand down his face and her eyes narrowed. She shook her head and stopped crying. "He's not… he's not even wounded." She felt like an idiot. "He's not dead is he?"
Stephen cleared his throat. "No ma'am. You didn't let me finish explaining it to you… you got the wrong idea."
She nodded once and wiped off the tears. "Right. You said a truck was about to hit him when you spotted him standing on the road?"
"Yes, but the truck didn't hit him; I was fast enough to knock him out of the way, but I'm afraid he was knocked unconscious by my doing so," Stephen explained.
"But, he's going to be alright," Dr. Scott added. "Just a minor concussion, nothing serious. He should be awake any moment."
"Hmm," Dian exclaimed. Connor started to move. "Can you leave us for a minute?" Dr. Scott nodded and almost had to force Stephen to leave the room.
Connor moaned, rubbing his head where he'd hit it. He spotted Dian and sat up on the table quickly, eyes wide and a grin spread across his face. "I did it! I made it back!"
"Connor, calm down. Back from where? What are you talking about?" Dian stared at him, eyes narrowed.
"Wha? You didn't know I was gone? What about Helen? Is she still here?"
"No… Helen disappeared; I don't know where she went. Connor, what happened to you?"
He thought about it, and then figured it was best to just keep it to himself. "Nothing… forget it, it's nothing. I'm here, I'm alive; that's what matters."
"Damn right it is. Look Connor, you know I can't… I can't do this. I can't live in this chaos." She sighed.
"Jeez, I'm back for 5 minutes and already being told off," he muttered to himself. "Dian, what are you trying to say?"
She paused, staring at the floor. "I was wrong to think I could just have this baby with you and everything would be a happily ever after… I should've known better. Connor, your job puts your life at risk every day. And… I was right the first time; I can't take you away from Abby." She sighed again and looked at his surprised face. "Don't give me that face, Connor. Look, I told Alex the truth… I told him the baby was yours and that I didn't know what to do. He told me…" she laughed a little. "He told me to do whatever made me happy. But I know better than most… that you can't always do what makes you happy."
"Dian, I-"
"Please, Connor… don't make this harder." He held her hand and narrowed his eyes; he didn't know what to think. Although, he wouldn't fight her… he would let her do whatever she chose to do.
"Dian?" They heard Alex yell from outside and a second later he opened the door, running into the room, panting. "Oh, Connor. Mate, I thought you'd left or something. Never mind, I've been looking for you, anyway. I need you to come back to our reality. We need your help… I've mucked everything up. Future anomalies have opened all around the world, all of time and space has been torn to shreds. I need your help, mate… desperately."
Connor didn't hesitate to jump off the table and follow Alex out of the room, Dian following behind them. When they got to the main room, Alex motioned for them to stand back and he quickly opened an anomaly, hoping it would open where he wanted it to.
"Whoa!" Connor exclaimed. "How… how did you…?"
"No time to explain, just go," Alex demanded, pushing him towards the anomaly and ignoring the amazed look Connor gave him before he disappeared through the anomaly.
Dian followed, and Alex came right after them, the anomaly quickly closing behind him. The unharmed Area 51 soldiers were standing outside. Alex turned to Connor. "Alright… where do we start?"
"Um… I guess with this," he pulled out the anomaly device he'd gotten from Cutter, and the other device from when he'd first met Dian. One of these devices should be able to close the massive amount of anomalies that were open. But it wasn't going to be that simple, he was sure…
TBC in Chapter 10!
Yes, this story is coming to an end, I must say. :( But, it's been a long ride, eh? And a good one. :) I hope you've enjoyed it and i'll make the last chapter(s) great!
Review, please! Let me know what you think of the chapter, story, and new characters.