Becker let go of me as he reached out to take his weight against one of the shelves before he lowered himself to ground. I turned, pulling the door closed right in front of me, heralding the immediate suffocating grasp of panic that returned with a vengeance and a pain in my chest.

I heard Becker sigh– an expression of pain and relief–but I couldn't breathe so I had no air to utter a response.

All the places I've been forced into– this was the most like that fucking chest freezer. It was cold and it was dark in there and the inside of the freezer lid looked just like the back of the door only inches from my face.

My hand shot out in reflex, stopping just beside the handle before I caught myself.

Becker.

Becker was injured. He was dying, right now, and if I didn't do something he wouldn't survive much longer.

I managed to inhale. 'Ah, nope, nope, small…' I muttered beneath my breath in broken stammers. I screwed my eyes shut. 'Small, walls, okay.' I snapped my eyes shut.

'Anna,' Becker repeated, trying to clear any semblance of pain from his tone to appear calm.

'Yep,' I replied so he knew I was listening.

'I need you to breathe.'

'I am,' I returned in a much higher pitch than my normal voice, 'I'm breathing.' I turned quickly round, opening my eyes, like I thought it would be easier to rip off the bandage but in reality the fridge was even smaller than the image of it I'd built up in my head and I immediately stepped back and collided with the door. An irate and panicked hum vibrated out my throat and I clenched my hands to fists at my side. 'I'm fine,' I said. I wasn't. I was seconds away from a panic attack. 'You're hurt,' I continued, like I was trying to remind myself of that, 'you're hurt,' I repeated, 'you're bleeding.'

'The venom's spreading,' he replied. His jaw tightened.

I swallowed again and took a deep breath as I stepped forward, glancing suspiciously around at the walls before I began to lower myself in front of him. 'Let me–' my hands were shaking as I reached out to peel the fabric of his trousers back from the wound. 'Let me see.'

Another harrowing noise of pain slipped past his lips. My gaze snapped up in concern to his face and his eyes met mine. 'How bad?'

I collected myself, pausing just for a second to force the fear into a pit deep inside me so that I had nothing to focus on but him. 'I've got to tie it up,' I said. My hand fell to the clip of his belt and I undid it.

His eyes widened slightly and he shifted further into the shelves as I starting to pull it from around his waist. 'What are you doing?'

'I need to stop the bleeding,' I answered simply. The belt came free and I looped it immediately round his thigh and pulled it tight. He hissed. 'Sorry.'

'How long have I got?'

My brow twitched by way of explanation. 'I'm gonna go as quick as I can.'

'Oh.'

'What?'

'I've known you long enough now to know it's never good when you don't give me a straight answer.' I pulled the belt even tighter and he winced again. 'Are my chances really that bad?'

'You might have to cancel your date,' I replied. 'But you should be able to reschedule.'

And as our eyes met again, I watched his brow crease in confusion. 'Date?' he repeated like he'd already forgotten.

'You said you had somewhere to be,' I reminded him.

'No,' he responded immediately, 'I just… I can't remember if I locked my front door this morning,' he explained, 'I'm not–'

I pulled the belt even tighter around his thigh whilst I thought he was distracted, and passed him a sympathetic look as his deep and guttural groan cut off whatever it was that he was trying to say.

'Noises like that Becker… people'll talk.' I slid my backpack down onto the ground beside us, and ripped it open. I pulled out several sealed packets of bandage. 'I'm gonna pack the wound to stop the venom spreading. Right.' I stood up, just for a second to search the shelves, but I couldn't find hind nor hair of what I was looking for. I turned back to the door. 'Matt, can you see the kitchen?' I asked. 'Is it clear?'

'What?' Becker immediately echoed, as I reached for the door handle.

'Camera's on the blink,' Matt answered. 'I can't tell.'

I sighed and looked back at Becker. 'I'll just be one second.' I slid the door open.

'What are you doing?'

'I'll be right back,' I assured him, as I stepped out and pulled the door shut behind me, plunging him back into darkness.

The kitchen was mostly clear. There were only a few conscious creatures all the way on the other side, who either hadn't noticed me, or simply weren't interested as I scanned the kitchen for a pot of salt.

When I found it, I almost swore again when I saw it was the opposite side of the kitchen to me, balanced atop the edge of the cooker against the back wall. I jumped up on the nearest worktop and started running towards it.

I had to hop down to reach over on the other side, and in my haste I hadn't bothered to check my surrounding for any of the therocephalian. I should have been more careful; the moment my feet touched down on the tiles, there was a roar beside me and a juvenile creature jumped out.

I jumped, stepping back to dodge out the way and immediately colliding with the edge of the cooker. The salt pot wobbled, before it came tumbling down to the ground at my feet, and not wanting to bend into the creature's reach to pick it up, I kicked it back towards the fridge. It scuttled across the tiles and collided square with the door.

Okay.

I reached back, snatching up a tray from the hob and slamming it against the creature's head, just as it lunged at me again.

The noise reverberated, clanging like a gong, and calling the attention of the other creatures in the room.

'Anna?' Becker's voice sounded through my earpiece. But I couldn't reply; I was way too busy jumping back up onto the counter and sprinting back towards the fridge before the creatures could cut me off. 'Anna…' the second time my name echoed back to me it was must quieter and pained than the first. I hurdled a gap in the units and kept going, pushing myself harder so that he wouldn't get trapped in there. 'Anna…' And the last time was so quite I almost didn't hear it, as I jumped off the last counter and misjudged the distance, so collided rather heavily with the fridge door. I didn't have time to express the pain or get annoyed at it because the creatures were right behind me.

I shifted back just enough to slide the door open, and ducked to collect the salt as I stepped into the fridge just before the creatures reached me and slammed the door closed.

I sighed. 'There, see. Told you I'd be back.' And I took a moment to study Becker pale and unamused face as I dropped to my knees in front of him. 'Hang in there.'

I reached out, ripped the material of his trouser open around the wound in his thigh then reached for the salt. My hands were already slick with blood, and unscrewing the lid was an almost impossible task because I could hold on to it. But somehow I managed. I held the pot above the wound and paused.

'Hey,' I said, as I swallowed a lump in my throat at the thought of what I was about to do, 'um, I'm not gonna lie to you, this is gonna sting like a little bitch. Look at me.' His eyelids started drooping, I put the heel of my palm down on his shoulder and shuffled closer to pull his attention up to me. 'Look at me–' his gaze locked with mine, and I nodded once reassuringly, '–you're gonna be fine.'

And I tipped the salt across the wound.

A terrible noise, a hiss mixed with some sort of wicked groan cut through his lips. And his hands twitched towards the wound and he gripped his thigh, digging his nails in as though to combat that pain with another.

'I know, I know,' I soothed in response. I tossed a pinch over my left shoulder then threw the empty pot to the ground and reached down to pack the salt tightly into the wound. My hand covered his, his head lolled forward and immediately reached up with the other to catch his cheek. 'Becker,' I said, as I held his head up and squeezed. My blood–stained fingers slipped across his cheekbone, and I had to pull back from the wound to catch his other cheek in my hand to shake him. His eyelids drooped again. 'Don't you fucking dare close your eyes.'

I squeezed his cheek, trying with a new gripping sense of desperation to keep him awake but I was fast running out of options and ideas, almost as quickly as he was running out of time.

He looked still. My focus snapped down to his lips for a second to try and see if he was still breathing but I couldn't tel. I had to lean in to get close enough to feel him exhale.

Then, choiceless and already apologetic, I pulled my hand back from his cheek to gain momentum to slap him.

Either that or my voice managed have pulled him back from the edge of unconsciousness. He groaned. 'Such appalling beside manors.'

I laughed in relief. 'Come on, stay with me Beck.' He opened his eyes again. 'Fucking aces.' I ripped into a pack of bandages with my teeth and started wrapping it tightly round the wound.

'Jesus, Havisham. That mouth,' he said. And I was reprimanded. He rested his head back against the shelves and grit his teeth.

A clunking on the other side of the door brought my attention to it. 'We need to go, okay? I need to get you to medical, get an antidote while there's still time. That's gonna mean going back out there. And I'm gonna need you to do what you do and get your gun.'

He instantly started looking round for it.. I caught a hold of the strap and dragged it back within reach.

'Let's get out of here.'

I looped my arm back around him, helping him onto his feet again, and reached for the handle to the door. 'Ready?' he nodded. 'On 3. 1… 2… 3.'

As soon as the door opened, the creatures lunged forward, and the sound of his weapon firing echoed back through the empty.

I quickly lost count as I maneuvered us back through the units towards the kitchen doors leading back into the canteen; we wouldn't get back over the wall in this state.

Something caught my eye, just as I was about to reach the door handle, as it came sailing over the dividing wall, and rattled onto the ground.

And I couldn't even locate it quickly enough before the whole room started filling with smoke.

I had to cough to clear both the smell and textured from my lungs and wafted a hand across my face a few times.

'What the hell is that?' Becker demanded in a hoarse groan. I stood back against the wall and peered through the fog.

It smelt like chemicals. My eyes started to water. 'Connor,' I replied knowingly.

'Ace?' Danny's voice called.

'Yeah!' I returned quickly. 'We're here…' And a moment later I saw the two of them masked and armed, stepping through the fog with the boys they'd rescued were behind them. 'Ah, god, Connor,' I continued with a grimace, 'that stinks.'

He crossed quickly through the kitchens towards us. 'Becker?' he questioned immediately. Becker was leant back against the wall beside me, pale and clammy and looking rather like limp lettuce, but he just about managed a grunt by way of explanation in reply.

'He's fine,' I translated cheerily, 'just a flesh wound. He'll be right as rain in no time once I've got some medicine into him.'

He groaned again, 'uh, I hate you.'

'Yeah yeah.' I turned my head back to Connor and Danny. 'Good job,' I said.

I could see Connor's grin even beneath his mask. 'Thank you very much. There should be an ambulance here any minute.'

'Perfect, come on then, Becker, let's fix you up.'

Danny helped me get him back to the doors and into the ambulance. I rode with him all the way back to A.R.C, where after a few injections to ease his pain and a few quick tests on his blood I was able to mix an antidote and administer it to the wound.

And leaving Becker in the medical bay for a couple of hours for observation, I went back up to Ops to collect some files that I could work on whilst I waited to see if the treatment was working.

I was just about to cross the landing towards the steps leading down to my desk when the door to Lester's office shot open so quickly I nearly jumped.

'Doctor Havisham!' Philip called, 'can we speak to you?'

I froze; the events of the day had distracted me quite effectively from the argument we'd had that morning. I'd forgotten all about it until that moment, where looking at Philip everything came back to me. I bit down on the inside of my cheek.

'What do you want?' I returned coldly.

'Just a minute,' Philip continued.

I looked him up and down. 'I'm busy.'

'Trust me, you'll want to hear this.'

I leant forward to look around him into the office to where Lester was sitting behind his desk. I caught his eye, eyebrow twitching questioning, to which he responded with a nod.

So, choosing to trust him, I forward and stepped through the doorway.

The door was closed behind me. 'Doctor Havisham. On reflection…' Already sensing where this was going, my attention snapped back around to Lester, almost in disbelief, and my lips parted to turn up into the brief semblance of a smile. 'We think it might be wise to give our creature policy a bit more thought. We wouldn't want to do anything too hasty.'

Lester hummed. 'Very wise,' he commented as he in turn shifted his attention back to me. And I could see he was fighting a smile of his own.

'Thanks for the advice, James,' Philip responded. 'I shan't forget this.'

Neither would I. Nodding respectfully and giving in to a grin that blossomed up across my face, I walked back to the door– not to exit– but to hold it open for Philip.

And I made that very clear by staring at him, waiting for him to take the hint, before I added an addition nod for good measure.

Philip finally seemed to get what I was doing. Blank–faced and unamused, he started walking towards the door. Just before he could go through the door, I held out a hand to stop him. He paused, turning his head to look at me. I held his gaze.

'If you ever try something like that again,' I said, still smiling despite my wintery tone, 'I'll feed you to the mammoth.'

Philip's expression soured. I let him go and he strode out towards the lifts.

'I know you did this,' I stated, coming back towards Lester's desk. I stopped opposite and stared at him but he refused to acknowledge it and kept his chair facing the window. 'Thank you.'

'You know that overfed mammoth of yours saved my life once.'

'I thought I'd saved your life,' I replied so that he knew I knew exactly what he was talking about. It wasn't what he'd said at the time. He wouldn't get away with it.

'Quite accidently I recall.' He nodded once with a sense of finality. 'But Manny was the implement; it would have been rude not to return the favour.'

I leant forward, bracing my hand on the edge of the desk as I leant over and just about managed to press a kiss to his cheek.

If he was in any way surprised, he didn't show it and the rest was left unsaid as I rocked back, turned towards the door and made my exit.

Becker wasn't in the medical bay when I got back. The on–call doctor showed me the results of the check up and I agreed with her that it was more than safe to send him home but I found him in the locker room. Because I just wanted to get one final look at him for my own peace of mind just to see if he looked any better.

I came round the corner but was immediately stopped in my tracks by the sight of him.

The last time I'd seen Becker without a shirt on had been purely for medical reasons. Even though I'd seen then I hadn't taken the image in; I hadn't looked. This time, for some reason, it felt different.

I hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling a lot more like an intruder than a friend here to help, and knowing I needed to alert him to my presence so that it wasn't weird, I tapped a knuckle again the door. 'Knock knock,' I said, softly.

His head came round towards me and he smiled. 'Anna,' he returned, 'hi.' He twisted, leaning back against the tables where the gun cases from the mission today were still laid out.

'How do you feel?' I immediately responded with a sigh.

'Yeah, well, you know. Bit sore. Still breathing though so I can't really complain.'

I gave him a straight lipped, lopsided smile in response and gestured somewhat awkwardly to him. 'Do you… need a hand?' I questioned.

His head inclined in confusion. 'Huh?'

'You seem to have gotten your shirt off alright...'

And as though he wasn't aware that he hadn't put the other back on he suddenly looked down at his own bare chest. 'Oh…' he said slowly. 'Um…'

I came a little further into the room, scooping up his flannel from one of the tables as I passed it and threw it over to him.

'Thanks,' he said, as he caught it and put his arms in.

There was something about his expression that I hadn't been able to see from a distance, but now, closer, it was obvious that there was something bothering him. And almost panicking that he was still in pain, I reached out, laying a hand over his as he was doing up the buttons. 'Are you okay?' I questioned.

And the first response I got was a sigh.

My eyes widened as I pulled my hand back. 'Are you in pain?' I asked.

He just shook his head. 'No… not really, that morphine has already kicked right in.'

'Then what is it?'

His mouth twitched uneasily as he collected himself before he could respond. 'We lost two innocent people today.'

And I knew what he was going through. This was perhaps the most familiar feeling the two of us could relate to despite all of our differences and opinions and experiences. It was something that never got easier with time either.

'When we first started here, we didn't know what we were doing,' I admitted in response, 'we didn't know about anomalies for days after they'd opened, and we were losing people– good people–soldiers and civilians all over the place.' I took a deep breath. 'It was tough,' I said honestly, 'it made it feel like anything we did was already in vain because people had already died so we weren't really making a difference.'

'Those people weren't your responsibility.'

I shook my head. 'Course they were.' My mouth curled up of its own accord to a sad sort of smile. 'As a doctor I have a responsibility of care always. And as a person, me, of all people should know how valuable life is. We try as hard as we can to do what we can, but we're human too.'

He was unconvinced. 'We should have done better.'

'We saved people today,' I said, 'people who would have died too if we hadn't been there. Before the detector, we wouldn't have known about that anomaly until Monday when the children went inside. By then the whole school would have been overrun, who knows what would have happened. We did do better. And… I know it hurts but the truth–' I had to stop and clear my throat. 'The truth is we can't save everyone all the time.'

He brought his head up, expression wary as though wondered who exactly I was talking about when I said that.

The reality– take your pick. Mum, Will, Tom, Ryan, Stephen, Nick, the baby. Sarah.

'Anna…' he said in a tone so soft it barely carried above a whisper. 'I–'

'Anna! Becker!' Matt called as he appeared rather suddenly in the doorway and cut Becker off. 'Good, I've been looking for you two all over the place. I've been reviewing the footage from the theatre.' He wasted no time in coming straight over, extending his hand to show us the screen of the device in his palm– a change in conversation so jarring it almost gave me whiplash. 'It looks like you were right, those creatures weren't the only thing to come through that anomaly.'

I took the device from him and held it out between Becker and myself. The camera footage played– a CCTV tape from a building across the street that showed our trucks pulling up then we saw ourselves coming out and entering the building. The footage sped up, we watched an empty street for a moment before the theatre doors opened, and a man in a double–breasted coat came out the building.

I nodded. 'A man.'

My tone brought Matt's attention to me. 'You knew?'

'I thought about it. Those creatures may have dragged that woman through, but did they fuck lay her down on a mat and cover her body.'

'Where's he come from?' Becker asked.

Matt shrugged. 'I've been back through the footage. No one else enters that building on the morning of the incursion other than you. And even on the days leading up to it there's no one matching that appearance entering or exiting the building. The only explanation is he came through the anomaly.'

'And that means he could have come from anywhere,' I clarified. 'His body language.' I rewound the footage to watch it again. 'There, see, he isn't surprised by the streetlights or the cars, or the styles of the buildings; the postmortem confirmed what we thought about the woman– she was 19th century but he could be from somewhere else. And, as far as we know, he's still out there somewhere in London?'

Matt nodded. 'I tried to follow him but there aren't really enough cameras in that area, he disappeared.'

'Great,' Becker returned sarcastically.

'What do you think he wants?' Matt asked.

It was my turn to shrug my shoulders. 'Who says he wants anything?'

'Maybe he's just looking for a way home,' Becker suggested. 'I mean, we locked the anomaly, right? So, he doesn't have any way to get back, maybe he's looking for another one.'

Then it was pretty unfortunate of him to get stuck in a time where we knew about anomalies immediately and usually had them closed off within the hour.

'How do we find him?' Matt questioned in return, 'to send him home.'

'I don't think we do,' I admitted. 'I think he'll find us.'

Matt groaned under his breath. 'Oh, and how do I put that in a report?'

'Mention the man,' I returned with an amused sort of smile, 'I'll handle the rest.'

'Okay,' he replied gratefully, 'oh, speaking of… I've got a whole load of stuff I need you to sign off on before it can go onto the system, it's on my desk.'

'Right, yeah, okay, I wanted to talk to you actually, just a few things, don't worry. Do you want to…' and I gestured back to the door.

'Now's good,' he confirmed with a nod.

'Great.' And I was just about to start off towards the door when I suddenly remembered, '–Becker. Was there something you were gonna say?'

Becker straightened up, 'I– no… it's fine… some other time.'

'Alright.' I smiled back at him. 'You go home, get some rest, Doctor's orders.'

He nodded. 'Okay, yeah. I'll see you guys later then.'

And I passed a short wave back to him as Matt and I walked back towards the door and went out.