AN: Okay, so I realized that there may have been some confusion over why Kieren wasn't with Mac and Connor, and I puzzled over that choice myself, until I came up with the outline for this chapter and the next while lying in an armchair in my grandfather's office. I think I was sleeping when I thought of it, acutally, but, anyways! Hope you enjoy this chapter and that it isn't confusing! :3
AN2: This does mean that I probably won't go with my original idea of multiple possible endings... but who knows...
Before Connor had made the decision of who would go through the anomaly to the junction, he had spent hours pouring over his research.
It was to his surprise the conclusion that whatever had happened had been pure coincidence - he and Kieren stepping through into the alternate timeline with Jacks and Claudia instead of Jenny and Abby.
The changes would affect both timelines, so, had he stepped into the correct timeline and found things as normal as ever, he would not have known that the space time continuum was about to unravel completely.
Connor's theory meant that if he wanted to get back to Abby, he would have to find a specific anomaly that led to the other timeline : fixing what needed to be fixed was unlikely to end in him returning to Abby immediately. So Connor had split his attentions between the two dual projects of identifying and predicting the anomalies they needed.
It was why only he and Mac went through, as Connor was reasonably sure there would not be any timeline shift while they were at the junction.
Connor knew when he emerged from the Junction Anomaly that he was in Jackalyn's timeline, as Claudia was there with Kieren and Becker.
"Our Mac vanished, the other one sacrificed himself, but I made sure the timelines were set to rights. Everything happened the same as it had the first time." Well, he was pretty sure. Apart from 'give Mac an ARC uniform and send him through to his doom', the EMD and anomaly detector had all been guesswork.
It was a quiet trip back to the ARC, and Connor felt guilty. Becker and Claudia had known Mac for longer and much better than he had in the past month or so. They'd just lost a good friend and a teammate. (So had Dylan and Evan, but he would definitely try and contact them later, and apologize)
He didn't try to console them : while 'all of space and time won't go to shit now, yay!' appeased his guilt a little, along with the knowledge that Mac would have done it either way, it would do nothing for the rest of this Mac's team. Kieren was quiet too, more contemplative than usual for the generally upbeat and easygoing man.
"You're coming out to dinner with us, aren't you?" Connor looked 'round at Jacks standing in the doorway to his lab, an eyebrow raised. For the first time he saw her independantly from Abby. Her clothing style was different, and her hair was short with pink streaks. Jacks was a little quieter, and yet more inclined towards words than his Abby was. She was also not the 'lizard girl' who wasn't afraid to say what she meant that he knew in his timeline. Jackalyn was a different person.
He wanted to get home, wanted to see his wife, and kiss her and hug her and never let go. Connor glanced down at the desk, eyes scanning the documents spread across it.
"I really need to find the pattern, Jacks..."
"One night with the group. If you're still here tomorrow night I'll leave you be with a sandwhich, but we're honoring Mac, and the others want you to be there, too..."
He hesitated, but then aquiesced. It wouldn't take too long, and maybe stepping back would help him work out how to predict an anomaly to another
timeline.
"I've got it! I think!" Connor exclaimed, standing up so fast that the stool he'd been sitting on tumbled to the floor with a loud metallic clang. He winced, but the full-blown grin on his face didn't waver for more than a moment. Jacks and Kieren cheered. Matt nodded, eyes sparkling.
He hadn't realized that a crowd had formed in his lab until after he'd announced his victory, and looked around with surprise.
"That's great Connor!" He heard Jess over his coms, and grinned.
"I c'n get back ta Abby!"
He had predicted an anomaly that would open in a month (on its own) up in Nottingham, about 2 and a half hours away from the ARC. According to his new device, and all of the research he had done on the Permian anomaly (Cutter and the Claudia-Jenny 'shift') and the first recent junction anomaly, the Nottingham one would lead to the same location in the other timeline.
Or, at least, a timeline. He was more or less certain it was his, though. The data matched his own home timeline's data nearly perfectly. With the device, he could open it as soon as he wished, and he and Kieren could go home!