Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
3.11 Twists and Turns
"…and sometimes other people from other times… come to our world …"
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Lester shut the bathroom door behind him.
"Vivian," asked Lester "what's wrong?"
The taps were opened full blast, and the dark haired woman was wringing out a wash cloth. She raised the cloth to her face and began to wipe around her reddened eyes.
"Cutter asked what else is the same, and what's different," replied Vivian, speaking more to her reflection than to her husband. "There are so many things in this time that don't match the history I learned growing up."
"You've said that before," reminded Lester. He stepped closer, reached around her hips and turned off the spigot.
"The only timeline I really know about is the one where Abby and Connor came back into Hyde Park," continued Vivian as she wiped her face again. "And that timeline… where Abby and Connor were already married… is a total fiction now in this universe."
"You told me once that Abby and Connor were your great-great grandparents," replied Lester, suddenly looking concerned. "You're not going to disappear on me… now that they're not here… not married…"
For a moment, Lester seemed to be holding his breath. He leaned closer to Vivian, resting his hand on the side of the sink.
"Are you?"
"Don't be ridiculous James," said Vivian.
She turned away from the mirror to face her husband directly, finding herself mere inches away from him. Vivian inhaled the scent of James Lester. He brought his hands to stroke her arms, drawing her closer.
"Have you been watching Connor's science fiction movies again?"
"Maybe," admitted Lester. "I sort of thought of it as research really."
"I'm right here, right now," whispered Vivian "tangible… in this present… I'm real… and I'm not going anywhere."
"Good," breathed Lester. His lips curled up in a smile. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
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In the main area of the flat, Jess and Becker were standing near the pinball machine with Sarah and Jamal. Everyone was carefully juggling plates of food. Jess was babbling on about the tracking program. Stephen and Danny were seated at the table with Mrs. Hart. Danny had swiveled a chair backwards and straddled it. He waved his eggroll at the closed bathroom door.
"I think one of us should go check on those two," joked Danny.
"Be my guest," replied Cutter with a smirk.
The Scot was standing beside the table fixing a plate for Claudia, while she stood by jiggling Stephanie, trying to keep the baby entertained. Suddenly Nick's face looked serious. He lifted his gaze from the lo mein noodles to look at Jess.
"Did I just hear you say," asked the Professor "that Connor's tracking program has some links between anomalies that we don't have on the anomaly research model?"
"Well… yes," replied Jess looking flustered.
"And why wasn't I told?"
"I thought you heard us," began Jess.
"When we were talking about that, it might have been before he arrived," reminded Sarah. "Cutter, she only just hacked Connor's laptop."
"Yes, but this might be important," said Cutter, setting the plate down on the table. He walked towards the laptop. "I need to see this."
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In the bathroom, Vivian pushed away from Lester and moved past him. She pointed at the closed door.
"A version of Danny, not that one in the room out there, but another Danny," she said "came to the library of Temporal Research requesting assistance… I was only supposed to be in this time period for three different fifteen minute segments."
"I've known you for more than twenty years," said Lester as he leaned back against the sink. "What changed?"
"The device to take me to my next assignments, and then back home," said Vivian "was run over by a bus."
"Good," replied Lester. "Saves me the trouble of having to find it and smash it."
He pushed himself up from the sink, turned around to face the mirror and began studiously inspecting his tie.
"We need to decide what to tell the others," Lester began. His fingers began to undo the bright fabric from around his neck.
Vivian returned aross the tiled floor to stand beside him. Lester shifted his hips, moving sideways to face his wife. Vivian reached for the red silk around his neck.
"Let me," she said.
She started to twist and turn the fabric around his neck. She was quiet for a few moments, biting her bottom lip as she concentrated on making the intricate knot.
"They won't want to hear a history lesson you know," she said finally.
"Yes," agreed Lester. "Let's start with what we do know... you said… Becker, a spinosaurus and me… were all present in the timelines where Abby and Connor returned. Right?"
"That's correct," replied Vivian. She smoothed the tie flat against his chest, and then left her hands resting lightly on his lapels.
"What about the other team members?" asked Lester.
"Do you really think they want to hear about friends dying too soon," asked Vivian "or worse yet… not even existing?"
"No," agreed Lester. "I suppose not." He brought his hands to her waist and pulled her forward.
"Well… we'll just have to work with what we have," whispered Lester. He leaned his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. Vivian leaned into him, leaning on him. For a moment that was just theirs, time stopped. Then the two pushed apart. His eyes caught hers.
"Shall we?" asked Lester as he looked towards the door.
Vivian nodded. Then, together, Lester and his wife finally left the bathroom to rejoin the others.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Cutter was leaning over Jess's laptop, excitedly talking with Jess and Sarah. Becker was leaning on the wall nearby eying the coelurosauravus. Rex appeared to be very interested in the remnants of dinner left on Jess's plate. Claudia and Danny were talking. Claudia had passed baby Stephanie to Mrs. Hart to hold. For the first time this evening, the older woman had an actual smile on her face. In the kitchenette, Stephen and Jamal were boxing up leftovers and putting them in the fridge.
Faces looked expectantly at the Lesters.
"We've been discussing the various options for finding Abby and Connor," began Lester.
Danny smirked.
"Yeah, right."
Lester stared at the lanky red head and raised one eyebrow ever so slightly in a gesture that seemed to dare Danny to continue. For a moment, no one spoke.
"We got a lot of advantages the other timelines didn't have," said Lester smoothly. "For starters, none of the other timelines had all of you… here… working to bring Abby and Connor back."
"And what are the disadvantages," asked Cutter, narrowing his eyes at the ARC's director.
"It appears that we can expect a rather large creature to come back with Abby and Connor," replied Lester. "A spinosaurus to be exact."
"What's a spinosaurus?" asked the chief of the ARC's security.
"Here," said Jess as she turned her laptop towards Becker. "Take a look… this is a representation based on fossil records. It's not exact, but… it's a good guestimate."
"It's a rather large predator," began Cutter "from the cretaceous…"
"A mean mouthful of teeth," said Danny.
Becker looked at the representation on Jess's laptop.
"That creature is huge," he exclaimed. "Getting that thing back through an anomaly and locking it is going to be difficult. We should really get a tank!"
"If we want to get Connor and Abby back," protested Sarah "we shouldn't be locking the anomalies."
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Abby, Connor and Percy had been walking for a two days before they found the first signs of trouble. A neighboring village that sometimes traded, and sometimes fought, with the friends they had just left appeared to have been attacked recently.
"Breaking the exterior walls," said Percy worriedly, "that wasn't done by someone wanting to stay."
"What do you mean?"
The threesome was looking down on the larger village. Their vantage point on the stone roadway high on the crest of the hills let them observe without being seen. Damage to the village below was readily evident in the shattered gate and crumbling stone wall. Smoldering fires were lit along the village perimeter and armed men paced back and forth, keeping guard.
"Usually invaders try to take over a village, to shelter for the winter," explained Percy. "It's late in the season for this type of destruction."
"Whoever attacked," said Connor "the villagers will be on guard… scared… they're not likely to take to strangers."
"Right, we should go around," said Abby.
"Yeah," agreed Percy. "We should get off the main road for a while, stick to the hill trails."
"Those poor people," sighed Abby.
She shivered in the cold.
"Do you think that whoever attacked that village is still here?"
"Hope not," replied Percy "but three people on foot can stay out of sight a lot easier than armed men on horseback."
"I hope you're right," said Abby as she followed Percy onto the narrow path away from the road.
Connor took one last glimpse of the village. He looked into the darkening forest. Percy and Abby were already out of sight, lost in the thick green branches.
"Wait up!" called Connor as he too slipped into the forest.
As nightfall neared, the group started to look for a place to shelter. Their first night on the road, they had camped beneath some evergreens overlooking a nearby stream. They'd awakened to frost. This second night, they wanted to find someplace less exposed.
"We might lash some branches together for a lean to," suggested Percy. "The evergreens are good for that."
"Or we could try the hut," said Abby.
"What hut?"
They had almost walked past the small thatch covered hut without seeing it. The huts location was betrayed only by the smooth pathway heading to its entrance. The low lying log base appeared to be a jumble of fallen trees, while the thatch roof resembled the nearby hillocks more than something manmade. The path up the mountain slope was the only indication of human presence in this part of the forest.
"What is this hut used for?" asked Abby.
She stooped to follow Percy as he pushed aside an ancient piece of leather hanging over the tiny opening that served as a doorway.
"It's a wood storage hut," answered Percy as he tried to stand.
The center of the hut was the only place high enough for him to straighten up. Connor was crouched by the doorway, looking around cautiously. At Abby and Connor's questioning look, Percy continued.
"Do you remember all the firewood at Henri's village?" asked Percy. "We would have woodsmen cutting firewood, store it in huts, and then later we would have carts haul the firewood into the village."
"So the pathway," said Connor pointing to the smooth ground sloping down the hillside, "it's caused by people and carts from the village we saw earlier?"
"Yeah, but no one is coming here tonight," replied Percy "We can stay inside… it will be warmer."
"There are no tracks in the path," said Connor "it looks like it hasn't been used recently."
Connor remembered the bonfires surrounding the village, and he briefly wondered if maybe the villagers might need more wood soon. He might not have agreed with Percy's idea to stay in the hut, except Abby sneezed just then.
"Yeah," agreed Connor "warmer is good."
He pulled the leather flap back across the entrance. Inside the tiny hut, logs were stacked against the side and rear walls. There was a small opening near the center of the roof. Directly beneath the opening a circle of rough and blackened stones gave evidence of a previous fire. The surrounding dirt floor was covered with broken chips of wood and pieces of bark.
"After it gets dark," said Percy "we can build a fire. Just a small one… so we don't make too much smoke."
"We'll have to be careful," joked Connor "to not set the roof on fire."
"That's not even funny Connor," replied Percy "we don't want anyone seeing us."
The last of the dried fruit and sausage, along with nuts they had gathered earlier that afternoon, made a meager dinner. Percy curled up between the small campfire and the door to sleep, while Abby and Connor huddled together at the rear of the hut. Percy was soon snoring. Abby leaned her head on Connor's chest. The gray cloak made a warm wrap, swirled under, around and over the two of them.
"Are we doing the right thing Connor?" asked Abby. "A journey like this… with winter coming soon."
"We all agreed," reminded Connor "better to start now than in spring when barbarian armies are on the move."
"It seems as if they're on the move now," said Abby remembering the village they had seen earlier.
"Yeah," agreed Connor "but we've got to stick to the plan."
"The plan was for us to walk fifteen miles a day for the next four weeks or so on a paved road," replied Abby "to get to the shore… and then look for a way to cross the channel."
Her blue eyes gazed at Connor. The worry she felt was only intensified by the worry she saw in reflected in his dark brown eyes.
"Do you think we've walked thirty miles in the two days since we left the village?" Abby asked.
"With all the ups and downs, twists and turns," sighed Connor "it feels like a hundred… but I doubt we've even gone fifteen miles."
Abby gasped in dismay.
"We've based our travel estimates on what the monk, Herman, told Percy about his journey," reminded Connor "we might be closer to the shore…"
"Or farther," whispered Abby.
Connor nodded.
"It's hard on Percy," said Abby. "It might be too much for him."
"He didn't want to stay behind," replied Connor "and we couldn't leave him. It wouldn't be right."
Abby and Connor drifted off to sleep between quiet whispers and promises. In the morning, they woke to see snow blowing in through cracks and chinks in the outer walls of the hut. And to hear the sound of voices coming up the hill.
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