Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me. This is fan fiction, not for profit.

Any references to people, places, businesses, etc. are entirely fictitious.

A/N Part of the Claudia story verse (AU) Transitions, Transitions Too, Continuum, Trimming the Tree, Missing

6.2 Reeling

what's being done…

-x-x-x-x-x-x

The fallout from convergence had left nearly everyone in the world reeling.

Initially, the military and local police in many countries were hard pressed to prevent outright panic, but now things were beginning to take on a semblance of normality. It helped that the anomalies seemed to be occurring less frequently.

"Colonel Harper has been tasked with cataloging known anomaly sites," answered Lester. "Anomaly junctions, like the one at your home and the stadium, are considered a threat to national security."

"Our home's not a threat to anyone," huffed Connor.

"The fact that anomaly junctions are unmappable," continued Lester as if Connor hadn't spoken, "means just about anything could come through at any time."

"The anomaly junction at our home is not unmappable," said Connor.

"What?"

Everyone at the table turned to stare at the dark haired young scientist.

"Connor," asked Danny, "how would you know if the anomaly junction is unmappable or not?"

Connor flushed. Beside Danny, Stephen shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

"Connor," asked Abby, drawing his name out slowly, "is there something you haven't mentioned?"

If anything Connor flushed redder, but it was Stephen who answered Abby and Danny's question.

"After we finished with the monitoring system for Sid and Nancy," said Stephen, "we were bored. Sitting around waiting for medical clearance to come back to work is really no fun."

"Connor," exclaimed Abby, "you were supposed to be resting."

"Daytime telly is awful," replied Connor. "Really, I couldn't just sit at home and do nothing."

Lester narrowed his eyes and looked at the two young men.

"What… have… you… done?"

Stephen shifted in his seat again, leaning away from Lester's frown.

"When I returned to work, I brought Connor some anomaly readings and measurements," said Stephen, "whatever we could get really from the convergence."

Cutter looked across the conference room table at his former student. The Professor's eyes gleamed.

"What have you found out?" asked the Scot as a warm smile spread across his face.

Connor's face lit up with an answering grin of excitement.

"The new data is amazing," said Connor. He leaned down to take his laptop from the messenger bag at his feet. "Let me show you."

Connor pushed the fedora in front of him to one side and set his laptop on the table in its place. His fingers moved quickly as he started typing in commands.

"The display will be up in just a minute," continued Connor.

Lester turned his gaze to the young field coordinator. He had a suspicion as to where Stephen had gotten the new data. Jess was sitting next to Becker. She mouthed "Connor needed to be involved" to answer Lester's unspoken question.

"Look," exclaimed Connor happily.

A visual display appeared on the center of the conference room table. Colored lines covered the globe.

"Inputting the new information into the tracking matrix," continued Connor "shows new links between sites all over the world. And…"

"It sort of looks like an airline traffic map," interrupted Danny with a chuckle.

"Professor, your prediction calculations work better," answered Connor "now that we've got more data."

"Slow down Connor," said Cutter. "What do you mean?"

Connor looked up from the laptop and gazed at Cutter.

"Your predictions calculations worked on the King's Cross anomaly," answered Connor "and on last weeks anomaly at Wimbledon."

Jess started at Connor's words. A call about glowing lights on the train rails had led her to notify the transit authority three weeks ago. Delaying the train's arrival had saved lives.

"Were you the anonymous tipster?" asked Jess. "Stopping the train was huge."

Danny narrowed his eyes.

"Did you send us to Wimbledon last week?" asked Danny.

"I'm still working on the calculations," admitted Connor with a shrug. "The Wimbledon prediction looked like it linked to the racetrack anomaly… and if it did, I wanted you to be prepared."

"I thought the call about predators was a prank," responded Danny.

"The race track anomaly and the stadium anomaly are still mostly unmapped," added Connor with a nod as he continued typing. The display changed to show the racetrack anomaly. "There is something weird about that anomaly."

"Well I doubt the Wimbledon anomaly is connected," chuckled Danny. "Nothing came through but butterflies."

"Were the butterflies black and yellow?" asked Sarah.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

When the meeting finally ended, people started pushing back their chairs and getting up. Lester looked at Abby.

"You're with me now," said Lester. "The meeting with London Zoological Society is in ten minutes."

Abby's blue eyes twinkled in merriment.

"What," she teased "you don't want to face the board of the London Zoological Society on your own?"

"Facing the London Zoological Society and the directors of more than a dozen different zoos," answered Lester, "isn't a problem, it's just dealing with a different sort of bureaucracy."

The tone in Lester's voice surprised Abby.

"Getting the best care possible for the stranded creatures," continued Lester "is going to require expert advice. And you're our expert."

Abby smiled at the unexpected praise.

"I'll do my best," the petite herpetologist replied.

Lester nodded. On the other side of the table, Cutter moved towards the door.

"Oh Cutter," said Lester, "a Professor Bertrand of Switzerland has called several times."

"Who?" asked Professor.

"She's a university director," explained Lester, "she wants to start a training program across Europe for dealing with temporal disturbances."

Lester waved his hand at Cutter distractedly.

"Call her back," said Lester "and work something out."

-x-x-x-x-x-x

It was late when the menagerie meeting ended. Abby, Lester and the others had worked through lunch, having a meal brought in.

"Yes," said Lester, as he shook hands with the last of the zoo directors. "Good progress, really good."

Abby sighed as the man finally left the building.

"Lester, did we have to agree," asked Abby, "to send dead creatures to the science center for research?"

Lester grimaced.

"Not my first choice," admitted Lester.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

Connor was in his lab working. Abby walked up behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders. She rubbed her thumbs in his tight shoulder muscles.

"Mmmm," sighed Connor. He leaned back against her and looked up into her bright blue eyes

"How was your first day back?" Abby asked. Connor looked tired and pale, but he was smiling.

"Busy, work is busy and Cutter's back on me about the grad program," said Connor, "but it's really good to be back. How was the meeting?"

"Mostly good I think," said Abby. "There are just so many stranded creatures to take care of, it boggles the mind."

"Yeah," agreed Connor nodding his head, "and some of them, like the flock of passenger pigeons in the US, won't ever be rounded up."

Abby nodded in agreement.

"The London Zoo will continue to keep the stegosaurus and the raptors," explained Abby. "Paignton Zoo Environmental Park agreed to take the eohippus herd and Edinburgh Zoo agreed to take six of the wooly rhinoceros."

"What about Elton," asked Connor, "and the rest of the rhino herd?"

Abby grinned.

"The director of Drayton Manor Zoo said he'd take the rest of the wooly rhinoceros herd," continued Abby "and Elton's going to Wellington Zoo."

Rex landed on the desk in front of them and chirped.

"What's he doing here?" asked Abby. "I left him in the menagerie."

Connor scrunched up his face.

"I didn't like leaving him on his own," answered Connor. "Jack called said the furnace was back on again, so I figured we'd take Rex home."

"Oh good," said Abby. "Did Jack say what the furnace man thought the problem was?"

She released Connor's shoulders and moved to pick up the coelurosauravus.

"Dunno," said Connor, "the furnace is probably older than I am. It might just be getting old and finicky."

"I sure hope we don't have to buy a new furnace," said Abby.

"Me too," replied Connor.

Abby pointed at Connor's coat. Her lips curled up in a smile

"We should get going," suggested Abby.

"Yeah," agreed Connor with a tired but happy grin.

Abby walked out into the corridor. Connor shut the lights off and pulled the door behind him.

"Did you remember to talk to Sarah?" asked Abby as they headed towards the car park.

Connor nodded happily.

"Yeah, Sarah agreed to be my best man," answered Connor. "I thought she was going to cry when I told her I thought of her as my big sister… I mean… not upset crying, but happy crying… if you know…"

"Yeah, Conn," smiled Abby. "I know what you mean."

They walked a few paces more.

"We might ought to move up the wedding date," suggested Connor.

"Are you in that much of a rush?" asked Abby with a smirk.

"Well of course," replied Connor, "but that's not what I meant."

He pushed the exterior door open and followed Abby outside.

"What did you mean?"

"Becker might be getting transferred," said Connor. "Apparently the Army needs majors in other places."

-x-x-x-x-x-x