Disclaimer: Primeval and all its characters belong to someone else.

Summary: - Connor needs help- and so does Vancouver!

New Dawn is over, but Connor still feels the after effects badly. Matt and Lester have a plan to help him get his confidence back by sending him to Vancouver to help the newly formed Vancouver ARC- and to retrieve something that belongs to him!

Another fluffy chapter- just can't seem to help myself!

I didn't expect this story to go on for so long, but we're nearly at the end now!

Vancouver Calling

Chapter Thirteen- A Day to Recover

Connor awoke with a groan. His whole body was aching, especially his face and lips which had taken the full force of the iron bar that Gracie's brother had wielded. He slowly rolled over, with a muted "Ow!"- trying not to disturb Abby who still was in a deep sleep beside him. He was really glad they'd been given the day off to recuperate from their injuries and the nasty events of the day before.

He tried to get out of the bed as quietly as he could, but couldn't help the odd whimper every time he moved. He finally inched his way out of the bed and crept as silently as possible to the kitchen to get himself some painkillers- which Connor always kept handy, knowing how many times he'd been injured!

Although the tablets hadn't had a chance to kick in yet, he thought that he felt a little better, and decided to make breakfast, and share it with Abby back in bed. As he worked, the tip of his tongue hung out of the side of his mouth as he concentrated on scrambling eggs, making toast and percolating coffee, so they would all be ready at the same time- no easy task for Connor! He set the tray nicely and added a small vase with a single flower in for effect. Now for the hard part- actually carrying it back into the bedroom- not going to be easy with his sore limbs and hot coffee! He tried to bend his knees to get a good traction to pick up the tray, but that hurt too much! He stood up again. He leant forward to pick up the tray, but his back ached and he quickly stood up again, jarring it, and making him yelp! This was going to be harder than he'd imagined, he thought.

"Connor- what are you doing?" Abby's voice said from the doorway.

"Oh! Abby! You're up! I was gonna bring this to you in bed! Well, if I could figure out how to carry it…bit achy…"

"How sweet! Thank you, Connor! Let's just have it here! Have you got some painkillers? My head's killing me from that bump!"

Connor tossed the painkillers over to Abby, and as she helped herself, he re-laid the tray's contents onto the kitchen table. "There!" he said, proud of his achievement. "Come on, Abby- sit here, and drink some coffee while it's hot!"

"This is lovely!" Abby complimented him as they settled down to their breakfast. Connor had a little trouble eating, but he managed to find a way to get the food past his swollen lips into his mouth, although it took a little longer than usual.

"Poor Connor!" Abby said softly, moving to his side. She bent down and kissed his lips. "Does that help?" she asked.

"A bit! Try it again!" was the reply in a pathetic voice.

"How about this? And this and this!" Abby said, raining gentle kisses onto Connor's lips and face.

"Mmm! Much better! But you missed a spot…" and with that Connor pulled her towards him and kissed her, gently parting her lips and allowing his tongue to play with hers. As their kiss got deeper and more passionate, Connor suddenly pulled apart. "Ow! Sorry!" he said, sadly. "That hurt!"

"Poor baby! Never mind, as soon as you're better, I'll kiss you until I'm the one who makes your lips sore!"

"Promise?"

"Promise!"

Connor grinned a toothy grin amid another exclamation of "Ow!" and held her tight for a moment. Abby stepped away from Connor to pour some more coffee and turned to him seriously. "Connor…"

"Yep?" He asked, gingerly trying to eat some toast.

"Can we talk?"

Connor stopped dead, holding his half eaten piece of toast. It was never good when someone wanted 'to talk!'

"Er… Of course. You can say anything to me, Abby. I ... anything you want, because it'll be Ok with me…I can…"

"Connor! Stop babbling!"

"Sorry, cos, you know if you're going to… I mean…if you don't want…"

"Shut up, Connor!" Abby cried, exasperated.

"Shutting up!"

Abby sighed, then took a deep breath. "Connor- about Gracie…" Connor looked startled but didn't speak as he waited for Abby to continue. "Did you ever date her?"

"What! No! Never, I swear on my mother's life!"

"Did you kiss her?"

Connor nearly choked on his mouthful of toast. "No! Never!"

"Did you ask her out? Give her any reason to think you were her 'man'?"

"No! No! I swear! Please… you've gotta believe me, Abby! I would never… after all we've been through together! I'd never do that to you! I love you- I only want to date you. I only want to kiss you! Please….." Connor was distraught. He couldn't bear Abby to think he'd ever betray her in that way.

Abby looked closely at Connor as he sat there tearfully, his eyes pleading with her to believe him. He was frantic- he'd only just found her again after New Dawn- he didn't want to lose her now. For all his bravado when she'd said she wanted to 'talk', he knew he couldn't handle it if she'd told him she didn't want to marry him after all!

Abby turned calmly back to her coffee. "That's alright then." She simply said. She wholeheartedly believed Connor, and felt the burden of doubt lift from her shoulders. Connor still seemed confused, though.

"What…Does that mean…? Do you believe me? Are we alright? Are you gonna leave me?"

"I believe you, Connor- of course I'm not going to leave you! I told you I was going to kiss you once your lips were better, didn't I! I just needed to know, that's all. I do believe you! Everything's going to be OK!" Abby moved back to Connor, her coffee now forgotten, and kissed him gently on his battered face. She took his hand and slowly led him back to the bedroom to prove to him that they were fine- they were more than fine! They were a unit! A couple! They were going to get married and become husband and wife!

~~oOOo~~

Abby and Connor lay in bed together, happy to be near each other- happy to be alive and not lost through the anomaly Gracie had tried to push them through. They wondered what time and where they would have ended up- the Cretacious- the Jurassic? Connor laughed and said...

"I think it would have taken us to Middle Earth, - we could have helped Frodo…What?" he finished as Abby shot him a look.

"Nerd!" she said "Well, I think it would have taken us to the sixties. Imagine the fun we'd have- pirate radio, the clothes!"

"Yeah! That would be cool! Or mythical times- I'd like to see Medusa- you know, the one with snakes for hair. That would really be something!"

"Connor- you'd be turned to stone, so you wouldn't really like to see her, after all!"

"Oh yeah!"

They continued in this vein for a while, getting sillier and sillier until Connor started to tickle Abby after she called him a 'nerd' for the umpteenth time.

"Nerd, am I- I'll teach you!" They giggled and Abby jumped out of the bed and ran to the living room. Connor tried to jump out of the bed, but the pains that shot through his body reminded him that he was still aching after the events of yesterday. He slowly followed Abby, and found her in the bathroom, under the shower, her clothes in a heap on the floor.

As he stared, she looked at him, smiling, and said- "What are you waiting for… come on!"

He licked his lips- his throat seemed to have constricted, and he couldn't move or breathe. Suddenly, life coursed its way back into him, and he slowly removed his clothes and joined Abby in the shower.

"Oh, I so love you!" he said.

"Me too!" she whispered…..

~~oOOo~~

They spent the rest of the day lazily, just enjoying being together. Abby called Becker to say 'Hi' and he said there hadn't been much going on in the UK ARC. They'd had a few anomalies, but no one had been hurt, and they had managed everything easily.

"I'll be glad when you're both back, though!" Becker told Abby, "Lester's been in a worse mood than normal! Connor always took the slack and prevented the rest of us from the sarcastic tongue lashings! I recon Lester misses him more than he'd ever admit!"

"And how's Jess?" Abby asked slowly.

"Er…fine." Becker replied curtly.

"And how are you two…panning out? Still together? Or….?"

Connor choked on his cup of coffee. What? Jess and Becker? What had he missed? Abby nodded to him, confirming his amazed thoughts and he rushed to the phone...

"Becker! You and Jess! Why didn't you tell me? When did this happen? Tell me everything!"

They clearly heard Becker's groan- Abby put it down to embarrassment, but Connor put it down to bad temper. "Er… of course, that's your business! No need to…" he stammered.

Becker actually laughed out loud. "It's OK, Connor- we're just taking it slow- seeing how things go…you know!"

"Well I think it's great!" Connor said "Send her my love... well not my love... well not like that…but you know..."

"Good to hear you're still the same bumbling Connor! Some things never change!" Becker laughed, as he said goodbye to them both.

As Abby hung up the phone, Connor turned to her excitedly-"I can't wait 'til we get back home. Oh- I'm gonna get some fun out of this!" he said gleefully, already planning on how he was going to pull Becker's leg over this bit of news!

Abby shook her head. He was such a child, sometimes! Still, one thing was sure; they didn't have very much time left in Vancouver and would soon be going home. Then they could begin their new life together- definitely get their own flat, plan their wedding and finally become husband and wife. The future looked very bright…..

To Be Continued…

I hope you enjoyed this! I mentioned mythical times and Medusa, as I've just re-watched an interview with ALP, and he said that would be pretty cool! I was thinking of adding it to my story, but changed my mind!

Please review!