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 The Wizard's Return
"…back to England."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Cutter was standing in front of the anomaly when Abby, Connor and Becker stepped back into England. Danny, Sarah and Stephen stood behind him. Behind them, another half-dozen security personnel stood. It looked as if they were preparing to go through… a rescue mission perhaps.
"Glad you're back," greeted Cutter. "What took you so long?"
The Professor's eyes glanced from one team member to another. Abby looked a little disheveled. Otherwise, she appeared fine. Becker had his weapon slung over his shoulder, one arm supporting Connor and a sword held in his other hand. Not a hair was out-of-place. The soldier looked as if he had just come out of the locker room at the ARC.
"Oh the usual," said Becker "picking up stuff Connor dropped."
"Hey," responded Connor indignantly "I didn't drop the sword."
Cutter turned his gaze to the young scientist. The slim, dark haired man was standing between Abby and Becker. Connor stood on his right foot only. His left knee was bent, keeping his weight off his left foot. Connor had one arm thrown across Abby's shoulder, his other arm was around Becker for support.
"What happened to you?"
"We were almost to the anomaly," replied Connor. "I tripped… but don't really know…"
"He tripped over a small mammal," continued Abby "fell backwards and rolled down the hill."
Connor was looking around the garden and parking lot. The sign near the parking area entrance identified the place as the Clearwell Caverns Visitor's Center. Two of Becker's security staff stood in front of the building near the anomaly locking mechanism.
"Where's Percy?" asked Connor. "He was with us…"
"Worthington settled a man in the Visitor's Center office," explained Cutter. "Perhaps we should go in the office to talk… we can get you into a chair."
"Good idea," agreed Abby.
The core group turned away from the anomaly and started towards the building. Becker called instructions out to his security team.
"There are some dracorex running around," Becker said "they're not dangerous, so tranquilizers only. Round them up and then we can return them."
Connor's eyes widened as he noticed the man following Danny towards the Visitor's Center.
"Is that Stephen?" he whispered to Abby.
"Can't be," answered Abby. "Or can it?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Percy was sitting in a large padded office chair in front of a big metal desk. Another empty chair a few feet away was also facing the desk. Percy was still holding his lower abdomen. He looked up as the team entered. Sarah, Danny and Stephen filed into the room and moved behind him to stand along the wall. Abby, Connor and Becker entered the room sideways, as together they were too wide for the door. Percy frowned at Abby.
"You kicked me," said Percy "and then you pushed me."
Abby and Becker walked Connor over to the other vacant office chair. Abby released her hold on Connor as Becker eased the scientist down into the seat. Connor slipped the rucksack off his shoulders and settled it on the floor beside his feet. Cutter walked past them all and went to the facility manager's desk. Cutter turned around and sat on the desktop facing all of them.
"You grabbed me," replied Abby "be glad I didn't kick you any harder."
"Or lower," said Sarah with a smirk.
"I was just doing what Connor asked," huffed Percy.
Abby turned to look from Percy to Connor. Her eyes narrowed as she gazed at Connor.
"Percy," hissed Abby "what did Connor ask you to do?"
Percy started to say something, but Connor waved his hand to silence the man. Connor's dark brown eyes gazed directly at Abby.
"Abby," began Connor "I just asked him… if there ever came a time when I couldn't go on… to make sure you were safe."
"You… you… you," spluttered Abby. "You're totally daft! You might have been killed."
"And you," said Connor.
"But luckily," interrupted Cutter, forestalling any argument, "you weren't."
Connor looked up at the professor and then around the room. His gaze settled on Danny.
"And since we're still here," Connor said "I guess that means Helen didn't succeed in stopping humanity from ever starting."
"At least in this universe," said Danny.
Danny looked at Abby and Connor quizzically.
"Do we have the right Abby and Connor," asked the former copper.
"What?" asked Abby.
"You found other timelines!" exclaimed Connor in sudden realization.
Connor turned to look at Stephen.
"Are you from a different timeline," asked Connor "or a clone?"
"I'm not a clone," replied Stephen.
He looked at the two newly returned members of the ARC curiously.
"I understand the Stephen from this timeline died," said the brown haired man. "Were the two of you friends?"
"Yeah," said Connor closing his eyes at the memory, "we were friends."
"Just friends," added Abby. She placed her hand on Connor's shoulder.
"I ran into this Stephen in the Pliocene," explained Danny "couldn't leave him there."
"How did you get home?" asked Connor. "And what happened to Helen?
"That Helen," said Danny carefully "is no longer a threat."
"Danny took a round about way to return home," said Cutter. "He was gone for four years in his personal timeline."
Abby's blue eyes opened wide in alarm. Connor collapsed against the seat back with a sigh. He looked up at Cutter.
"Four years!" exclaimed Connor.
"How long have we been gone?" asked Abby. She looked worried.
"No… no… don't misunderstand," said Cutter. "Danny got back to our time just three days after you first disappeared."
"Today is Friday," said Becker answering Abby's question "August 28, 2009."
"Rex, Sid, Nancy and your other pets are fine," added Sarah reassuringly.
The relieved expression that crossed Abby's face was visible to everyone. The panic in Connor's face was just as evident.
"We left Rex, Sid and Nancy at Lester's," said Connor. "If they've done any damage at his London flat…"
"Relax, they're with me," said Stephen. "I've watched all the creatures at Abby's flat."
Abby and Connor exchanged a glance at this news.
"Have you been living at my flat?" asked Abby.
Stephen nodded.
"Don't worry," he said "I didn't go into your things. I just used the empty bedroom upstairs... and the kitchen... and..."
"We've all used your front room," said Danny "for a meeting area."
Abby's eyes opened wide at that comment, but she didn't say anything as Cutter started speaking again.
"How long do you think," asked Cutter "you have been away?"
Abby and Connor exchanged another glance and then looked at Percy.
"We left the cretaceous," said Abby "after one night."
"I thought the anomaly opening device had lost power," said Danny in a puzzled tone. "How did you get away?"
"We found another anomaly opening device," continued Connor.
Connor bent forward and picked up the rucksack. He unzipped it and started rummaging through it. He dropped the red hooded sweatshirt on the floor beside his feet. Then he pulled out his black cell phone and set it on top of the sweatshirt. Finally, Connor pulled out the broken anomaly device. He didn't notice Danny staring at the black cell phone.
"Used this device," said Connor "to get to another time and place. That's where we met up with Percy."
"The leaves were almost all gone from the trees when we first got there," remembered Abby. "And we returned to the cretaceous shortly after the first snowfall."
Connor was nodding in agreement.
"Yeah," he said "we were there a season… so... maybe three months."
"More like four months… maybe five," disagreed Percy. "We had a dry summer… leaves fell from the trees earlier than usual… and a warm fall… snows were late… you really haven't seen winter there."
Cutter looked closely at Percy for the first time.
"You're not looking too good. The last time I saw you," said the Scot "you were close to Abby and Connor's age… now you look older than me."
"Probably am," replied Percy "it's been at least ten or twelve years since I last saw you. I must say… you're looking better now."
Jess's voice crackled in Becker's ear bud. He grinned.
"Lester wants to know what's keeping us," the soldier said "Perhaps we should continue this debriefing at the ARC."
-x-x-x-x-x-x
When they arrived in London at the ARC, Lester was waiting for them in the car park. He was standing with his hands clasped behind his back. Lester looked a trifle bored.
"Finally," greeted Lester as if their delayed return were something that had personally inconvenienced him.
"Good to have you…" started Lester.
Lester stopped speaking in mid sentence. His eyes narrowed as Becker helped Connor from the SUV.
"What have you done to yourself this time?" asked their boss. "You know how I hate filling out health and safety forms.
"Good to see you Lester," started Connor.
"Did you miss us?" asked Abby with a smirk.
"Off to medical with you three," ordered Lester looking at Abby, Connor and Percy. Lester waved at Becker and the others, "In my office… now."
"No!" exclaimed Connor.
"What?" asked Lester. He raised his eyebrows.
"The sword is magnetized," explained Connor. "You can't take it in where the computers are… it will wipe the entire system."
Lester turned to gaze at Becker and the blackened sword he was still carrying.
"And what are we going to do with that?" Lester asked. "I certainly don't want it left lying around here."
"Um… uh… I suppose," replied Becker "I could keep it in my flat until we decide what to do with it… but I don't think I can take a sword on the subway with me."
Lester adjusted the settings on his ear bud.
"Miss Parker," said Lester "would you kindly drive Captain Becker home?"
-x-x-x-x-x-x
"I'm sorry," said Becker yet again. "I didn't mean to inconvenience you. I could have driven the ARCs SUV. "
"No, no… it's not an inconvenience," replied Jess.
The petite brunette was smiling as she navigated her bright orange car through the busy London streets.
"Those big SUVs really aren't practical for rush hour traffic," she added as she pulled up to the curb. "I'll wait here for you."
Becker blinked. He tried to think fast, if only he wasn't quite so distracted by the beautiful young woman in front of him.
"You should probably wait inside," Becker stammered. "It might take a bit for me to put this sword away… got to make sure it's… secure."
Becker held his breath for a moment. Did he sound like an incredible git he wondered or worse yet like some lech trying to make a move on the young communications specialist?
Jess turned off the ignition.
Becker locked the sword away in his gun cabinet and then returned to the front room of his flat. Jess was staring at some of the commemorative pictures he had on the wall above the sofa. The large picture from Afghanistan was a bittersweet reminder of his former friends… and their loss. The sand colored beret above the picture and the medals mounted to the left and right of the picture were a mute testament to Becker's actions in that far away desert country.
"You were in SAS," said Jess, obviously recognizing the emblems.
"Yeah," replied Becker.
"And now you've got a real sword of your own," smiled Jess.
"The ARCs really," said Becker "but yeah, I'll keep it for now… as long as there are no flames involved."
Jess looked momentarily confused by his comment, but then she remembered the cap badge with its downward pointing Excalibur, wreathed in flame.
"That would violate health and safety," Jess replied with a chuckle.
Becker grinned at her quoting Lester.
"Uh… can I make you a cup of tea?" he asked.
"Oh, no," answered Jess "being late my first day after the promotion wouldn't exactly look good."
She opened the front door and stepped out of the flat.
"Congratulations," said Becker as he followed her outside. "What is the promotion?"
"Part of the consolidation of the ARC and ARCH," explained Jess.
Her eyes were lit up and if anything, her smile was brighter than before.
"My new job title is field coordinator," Jess said "and it pays better too."
"That's wonderful," said Becker.
The brave soldier took a deep breath, and decided to continue.
"We should celebrate," he said. "May I take you out for dinner… tonight?"
Jess unlocked her compact car and then looked up at him through her long eyelashes.
"I've already got plans tonight," she said regretfully.
Then Jess took her own deep breath.
"How about next Friday?" she asked.
"Perfect," breathed Becker.
-x-x-x-x-x-x
Connor was sitting on the examining room table with his leg stretched out in front of him. Abby and Percy had already been dismissed to rejoin the others in Lester's office. The corpsman removed the furry leggings Connor had worn through multiple time periods and set them in a pile at the end of the table. Then he cut off the remaining bottom of Connor's left pants leg and began wrapping Connor's sprained ankle.
Claudia came into the medical department carrying Stephanie. Connor gaped at the woman and baby.
"Well I guess we have been gone a while," said Connor.
Claudia was shaking her head. It was a little awkward, but she tried to give Connor a one-armed hug.
"I'm so glad you're back," Claudia said with a smile "don't know how we've managed without you and Abby."
Connor flushed a bit.
"Glad we're back too," replied Connor. "It looks like we've missed a few important things while we were gone."
"There have been some changes," agreed Claudia "work… has been a bit crazy lately."
"Crazier than usual you mean?" asked Connor.
Claudia nodded. Then Connor looked a little closer at the baby.
"Boy or girl?"
"A girl," answered Claudia "her name is Stephanie."
The corpsman put the last clip on the wrapping and stepped back.
"I'll just get you a pair of crutches," the medical technician said before stepping out into the corridor.
The sound of voices caused Connor and Claudia to look towards the door. Lester, his wife, Cutter, Abby, Percy, Danny, Stephen, Sarah, Jess and Becker entered the room.
"It's late," said Lester "we should all go home… resume the debriefing on Monday morning."
"I think that sounds great," said Connor. "Home."
Lester turned to stare at the ARCs technical wizard.
"Danny has offered Percy a place on his sofa," said Lester. "Everyone else can go home. But before my wife and I return to our home in the country for the weekend, I wanted to make sure you had a place to stay."
Connor opened his mouth, and then shut it without saying a word. He hadn't thought about where he would be staying when he returned to England.
Abby walked across the room to stand next to Connor.
"He's my boyfriend," said Abby.
She reached for Connor's hand.
"And he's coming home with me."
-x-x-x-x-x-x