Time Entangled (9/9)
Sep. 2nd, 2011 08:36 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
deeperwondermentTitle: Time Entangled
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
not_from_stars
Artist(s):skylar0grace
Media Link: Art Here
Word Count: 24,395
Fandom: Primeval
Genre: Angst; Het
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Abby Maitland/Connor Temple, Stephen Hart/Abby Maitland
Summary: Having worked for the Anomaly Research Center for a few years, Nick, Stephen, Tom, Abby, Connor and Claudia thought they had seen everything. But when an incursion turns out to be people instead of rampaging animals, that's not the only shock they get. Abby and Stephen are the first on the scene when Abby and Connor come through the anomaly. Abby and Connor are from a time line where some things have gone horrible wrong. Now, not only do they have to convince this time line's version of their friends what has happened, they need to find their way back to their own home and time line. Back in their world, Becker, Danny, Sarah and Jenny are working frantically to find a way to locate their friends and bring them home. Armed with two years of notes and several journals, they're doing their best to open an anomaly and get their loved ones back because they know something that the other time line doesn't. They're running out of time.
Warnings/Spoilers: This is a complete AU and there should be no spoilers for anything.
Author’s Notes: I want to thank my beta and cheerleader,enochiansigils, for holding my hand through this and not letting me give up. skylar0grace made me lots of awesome art to accompany this fic and I can't thank her enough for everything she did for me!
"Abby... Nancy," Claudia said, trying to get the other woman's attention. "You keep mentioning a device that Sid has. What kind of device?"
Nancy tried focusing her eyes on Claudia. “It opens anomalies.”
“I took it from Helen,” Sid explained. “It will open any anomaly that has only been closed two days or less. It’s how Helen was covering her tracks as she caused trouble. She didn’t need to be confined to the timeframe of the anomalies because she could open any of the ones she tracked as long as it was within two days.”
The room was silent as they absorbed what Sid was telling them.
“There’s a way to open the anomalies and not just track, map or close them?” That was the younger Connor as his mind raced over all of the possibilities of such a device.
Sid nodded. “I don’t doubt that it’s something you’ll be able to figure out and create here for your own team. The technology comes from the future, but it looks like it could be made with anything we have on hand in your time or in ours. Just until all of this happened with Helen, it never occurred to me that I should try to create something like that. We were focused on other things and I had just created my locking device when she took Abby hostage.”
“Locking device?” Cutter asked.
“Connor invented a device that locks down anomalies until they close on their own,” Nancy said proudly. “He locks them and it keeps anything dangerous from coming through so there are no injuries or attacks.”
“It was one of the things that Helen wanted me for,” Sid said quietly. “She wanted my devices and wanted me to invent different ones for her own use.”
“The barmy bitch wanted to control time and the way the world evolved.” Nancy slumped slightly against Sid. “She wanted to re-shape everything to her own liking. It was one of the reasons she ended up killing Stephen and Cutter. Neither one of them would join her on her mad quest.”
“At least I didn’t lose my mind,” Stephen sighed, shaking his head.
“Well, you kind of did,” Sid corrected him. “You believed her when she said that Lester was in league with people that wanted the technology of the ARC to be used to destroy the natural order of things.”
“And when she said that Lester had kidnapped her and killed the three of us.” Nancy added.
“Excuse me?” Lester gave them a withering glare, but it didn’t seem to faze the two doppelgangers of his people. “She said I did what?”
“She told Stephen you had killed Cutter, Abby and I. He believed her and tried to rescue her from the ARC and get revenge on you.” Sid’s voice was tired.
“He tried to make things right when he realized how easily he had been played,” Nancy reminded him.
“It didn’t hurt you any less, though,” Sid said, gently stroking her cheek.
“I don’t think that I would like your world very much,” the younger Abby commented softly.
Nancy looked at her counterpart from this time period. “Then don’t trust that bitch any longer or your world will end up a lot like ours.” She gave a faint smile. “And don’t ever, ever stop fighting for what you believe in and who you love.”
The younger Connor groaned. “Damn it, now she’ll never pay attention to when she’s in danger herself!”
Nancy shrugged as best as she could, but didn’t look the least little bit sorry. “We care a lot about you guys.”
“Not going to apologize for it,” Abby echoed.
“I don’t expect you to… either of you,” Connor said. “But we worry about you, too. You pay so much attention to everyone else that you’re often blind to your own danger.” He looked at Sid. “You have to back me up on this.”
“Abby knows exactly what I think and how I feel,” Sid said with a note of something in his voice. “Of course, it took me a long while to be honest with her about my feelings and I’m not going to get involved in anything between the two of them. I know better from just being with mine.”
Connor sighed and shook his head.
“As much as this episode of love and longing is quite fascinating for all of us to watch,” Lester interrupted. “There is the small matter of how we’re supposed to help send you back to where you came from.”
“And we’re sending you back much better armed,” Ryan said firmly. “No arguments.”
Cutter nodded in agreement. “Much better armed. We’re going to give you a chance at surviving if we have to send you back through time.”
“What about preserving the fossil record?” Nancy asked in a voice that Cutter was positive was getting weaker.
“Sod the bloody fossil record,” Cutter said tartly. “The safety of the two of you is a lot more important than preserving some old bones and plants.”
“Would someone like to explain to me why you didn’t tell us that you had one of those damn things long before now?” Danny’s voice was hard as he glared and Matt and Jess while he kept a firm hand on Becker’s arm.
Matt looked unperturbed at the anger that was radiating from both men. “We had to do everything we could to preserve the time line, you know that.” He responded. “We didn’t realize that we were here to rescue them and not kill somebody, instead.”
“We knew that you were tracking anomaly openings,” Jess explained. “But we didn’t know exactly what you were trying to do or that it was so time critical.”
Danny shook his head. “Two years. Two years we’ve been trying to find a way to get to where they are and you had the damn garage door open to do so all along.”
“Danny,” Jenny cautioned. “They were trying to save their world.”
“And we’ve been trying to save Abby and Connor,” Becker snarled at her.
“But the lives of two people don’t measure up against the lives of an entire world, no matter how we feel about it,” Sarah said carefully. “What matters now is that they’re going to help us and we’re going to get our friends back. That should be more important than anything right now.”
“Fine,” Danny nodded, but the look he gave Matt said that this conversation was far from over. “How is this thing supposed to work now?”
Jess was looking down at the device in her hand. “We go out to the original anomaly site where they disappeared and go through it. Then this will alert us to the different places anomalies have opened from there and we trace their route. It will only hone in on the sites that they’ve passed through.”
“And how exactly does it do that?” Danny demanded.
“The same way that it got Matt and I here,” Jess said as she hit a button and a glass vial popped up. She carefully took the vial and showed it to Sarah and Jenny. “We follow their DNA signature.”
Sarah took the vial, knowing that there were samples of everyone’s DNA on file. It was something that had been implemented after the whole Eve/Helen incident. “I’ll be right back.”
Jess watched Sarah leave and then looked at Danny. “Our device followed your DNA signature to get us to be able to open the correct anomalies to get back to this time.”
“So we’re going to be tracking their DNA through time?” Jenny questioned. “What if something has happened and they’ve been separated?”
Becker winced, but paid attention to Jess as she looked at Jenny.
“Then it will take us to the nearest one and we can recalculate the search coordinates from there to key in on the remaining person we’re trying to find.”
“It all sounds almost too easy,” Danny sighed, shaking his head and trying to not get his hopes up about it.
“Compared to everything you’ve already done or been through to find them, it is easy,” Matt agreed. “But all it will do is allow us to go back and forth through the anomalies to find them. It won’t protect us or them from whatever resides in that time period. For that, we’re on our own.”
“Understood,” Becker said. “I’ll make sure that we’re all geared up for anything that we might encounter out there.”
“Which begs the question, who is going on this mission,” Jenny said quietly.
“Jen, you and Sarah are too important to the team and to the ARC specifically,” Danny said firmly. “That means the two of you stay here.”
Jenny’s eyes hardened. “I have every right to go after them as you do.”
“We can’t lose you or Sarah,” Matt agreed. “But that’s all right, because Jess will be here to keep you company.”
“I’ll be doing what?” His angry wife demanded.
“You’re staying here,” Matt responded as he smoothly took the anomaly tracker out of Jess’ hands. “You’re needed to keep them safe in case anything happens and someone else shows up.”
“Helen is dead,” Jess snarled. “They’re not in danger from her any longer.”
“They’re not in danger from this time’s Helen,” Matt’s voice was calm. “What if a different version of her comes through while we’re manipulating time and the anomalies?”
Jess glared at him. “I hate you.”
“That’s not what you said in bed last night.”
“That’s before I started wondering if I could use the anomaly to emasculate you.”
Jenny had to bite her lip to not laugh at the other woman’s response. She swallowed the laughter and schooled her face before turning to Danny.
“So you, Becker, and Matt are going?” At his nod of affirmation, she shook her head. “Fine. But you’re taking at least three more men with you. Each of you will have someone watching your back at all times while you’re doing this.”
“Jen –“
“It’s not up for discussion, Danny. You’ve read Connor’s journals just as thoroughly as I have and you know that some of those creatures are ambush predators.”
“I don’t want to endanger more people than necessary, Jenny,” Becker finally said. “If it’s as dangerous as we think, I don’t want to put anyone else into a hazardous situation.”
“Your men have been trained for this,” Jenny responded firmly. “They know the risks that come with this job and they would be plenty put out if they knew that you were trying to keep them from taking part in a rescue mission that several of them have been hoping would happen for over two years.” Becker shook his head, but Jenny smiled sharply before he could say anything. “It’s take extra men or you take me, Sarah and Jess with you, instead.”
Jess laughed in delight while Matt and Becker stared at her with a mix of shock and horror.
“That’s playing dirty pool, Jenny,” Danny finally found his voice.
“I know.”
After Ryan and Stephen had overseen the assembling of better outfitted backpacks, the group from the ARC loaded back up in their vehicles. It didn't take them long to get to the clearing in the woods where they had first found Sid and Nancy. By this time, Nancy was fighting to keep her eyes open and keep her body moving forward. However, it was becoming more and more obvious to everyone around her that she was fading and fading fast. The stress lines in Sid's face seemed to be getting deeper even as they watched.
Once they were sure they were at the correct site, Sid reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a device that had what appeared to be small lights all over it and a few buttons that he pushed in a quick sequence as he pointed it into the distance.
Nothing happened.
"No, damn it, come on." Sid muttered, frustration lacing his voice. "We still have a few minutes, don't do this."
Still, nothing happened.
"Maybe you should shake the thing and check the batteries," Lester said dryly.
"It's not like a remote from a television," Nancy glared at him coldly. "It's just a bit difficult at times because it's been through a lot." She made her way to stand beside Sid. "It's all right, Connor. Just give it a few moments. It doesn't always work right away, you know that."
"What if we're too late?"
"We're not," she said softly. "We're not. Like you said, we have a few minutes. It hasn't been two days, yet."
Sid took a deep breath and started keying in a sequence of numbers again. This time, he put them in a bit slower, thinking that perhaps he had typed in something wrong by mistake.
Still nothing happened.
"How long were we unconscious for," Sid demanded, looking at Cutter.
Cutter frowned. "A little more than twenty-four hours, I believe," Cutter answered quietly. "We were worried when you didn't wake up sooner, but the medic said you two looked like you needed rest."
"So we're too late, then," Sid said quietly, his hand dropping to his side. "This one has already closed."
"It's all right, Connor," Nancy said gently, her hand reaching to squeeze his arm. "We'll just go through the next one that opens from this time."
Sid turned his head to look her and a startled cry came from his lips as she fell against him. "Abby! Abby, answer me! Abby!"
Everything seemed to happen at once.
When Sid's voice turned to panic, Ryan and Stephen were at his side immediately. Ryan was searching for a pulse when their Connor's shouted an alert.
"Uh guys, something's happening!"
Ryan immediately swung up Nancy's unconscious body in his arms and moved to place her beneath a tree that was hopefully out of harm's way. Pushing Sid back behind him, he crouched next to Stephen, bringing his gun up to aim at the anomaly that appeared to be opening.
"Abby and Connor, get ready to try to tag whatever comes out of there!" Ryan shouted his orders. "Claudia, you and the Professor stay back until we've identified what's going on. Lester --"
"I'll follow my own orders, thank you," Lester said calmly as he pulled a handgun out of his pocket and stood guard over the fallen Nancy. His people all looked at him in surprise. "This is hardly the time for questions," he snapped. He gestured at them to pay attention to the anomaly that was opening in front of them.
When the shouting ended and the anomaly stabilized, everyone stood silent as six people stepped through the anomaly. Ryan and Stephen’s hands tightened on their guns until Sid's face broke into a surprised smile.
“Becker! Danny!”
It didn’t take him long to move from where he was standing with Ryan’s men to grab Becker in a hug. He clung to him for a long moment before he turned and hugged Danny.
“Damn it, Connor,” Danny shook his head. “Never again, do you understand me? You are never to play hero like that again.”
“I didn’t know if we’d ever see you again.” Becker said quietly, looking him over. “We tried everything we could think of and it was only recently that we found your journal.” He brushed hair back from Connor’s face and studied him. “You look like hell.”
“Well, it’s been hell,” Connor admitted quietly. “No matter what anomaly opened, we just couldn’t seem to find the right one home. But I know how to open anomalies to different times so we can study them at our leisure and learn from them.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Becker’s voice was full of emotion. “Connor, what about Abby? Where’s Abby?” He wasn't able to hide the fear in his eyes.
Connor turned to the group standing beneath the trees. “Captain Ryan! It’s okay. These are our friends.” Connor looked back at Becker. “She’s hurt, Becks. She’s hurt badly. Helen shot her before and then when we got here, there was a fight and she was shot with tranquilizers and she just lost consciousness. She's never done that before.”
Ryan walked up with Abby in his arms and looked Becker up and down thoroughly. “Captain Tom Ryan,” he introduced himself. “I’m head of security here at the ARC.”
Becker nodded. “Captain Becker. I’m the head of security at our ARC facility back home.”
“You should take better care of them, you know,” Ryan’s eyes were full of emotion. “They’re pretty important. I’ve been looking after our Connor and Abby for awhile. They’re special and I don’t like the thought of anything happening to them.”
“You’re not telling me anything that I don’t know,” Becker acknowledged. “If I had been sure I could take the shot without hitting Connor that bitch never would have gotten away with the two of them.”
Ryan nodded and handed Abby over to Becker, watching as the younger man held her close to his chest protectively.
“It’s pretty bad, Captain Becker,” Ryan said. “We couldn’t get her to go to the A&E, but then again, she was right in that we didn’t have enough time for anything like that if we were going to find a way to get her and Connor home. If we had insisted we wouldn't have been here when you came through.”
"We would have tracked them down," the red-headed man standing near Danny commented.
Becker looked past him to the trees where the others were standing. “Captain Ryan, there’s something you need to know… Helen Cutter…”
“Is not a worry for us, here.”
“Did Abby and Connor tell you what happened in their world?” Danny demanded as he decided to step closer to this conversation. “Helen killed people we all cared about and kidnapped the two of them.”
“That won’t happen here.” Ryan’s voice hardened a little. “It’s been taken care of. Everyone is safer here than they have been in your world.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“Because Lester will take care of her himself.” Ryan looked from Becker to Danny. “He had a choice between his team and his wife and he's chosen the well-being of his team.”
“His wife?” Danny’s eyes were full of surprise. “Lester married that bitch?”
Ryan shrugged. “There is no love lost there. I’m not even sure why they got married in the first place. But once these two came through the anomaly and we started learning what happened in their world… well, it was going to end up in a divorce, anyway. Now, it will just end up happening sooner -- as soon as we make sure that she's not the threat to us that the one in your world was to you.”
“Anything that they decide to do now would probably have happened anyway. It just got sped up by her counterpart trying to do things she had no right doing and ruining other lives in the process,” Connor said, coming back to the three men. He gave Ryan a tired look. “Look, I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass, but I don’t know how long this anomaly is going to stay open and Abby really needs a doctor. That, and it’s been over two years. I really want to go home and I know if she was conscious, she’d want to go home, too.”
Ryan nodded, squeezing Connor’s arm before leaning in to drop a kiss on Abby’s head. “You guys go and get her home because if you let her die, my men and I will hunt you down.”
A muscle in Becker’s jaw clenched as she looked at Ryan. “I don’t need to be told how to take care of my people, Captain.”
“Apparently you need a refresher course or else they wouldn’t be in the condition that they’re in now, Captain.”
“Stop it,” Connor snapped. “Both of you. Captain Ryan, what happened wasn’t Becker’s fault. It was Helen’s fault and no one else’s. Becker, we don’t have time for this. Abby is dying.”
Becker sighed, shame filling him as he looked down at Abby’s body in his arms. “You’re right. We need to get her home. Sarah and Jenny have been worried sick about the two of you.”
Connor nodded, then looked at Ryan. “Thank you for everything you did to help us. I know hearing some of the stuff we had to say was hard to deal with.”
“I’m just glad that we were here when you came through. I would hope that if something like that ever happened to our Abby and Connor, someone would be there to help them, too.”
Danny nodded. “We’d help them no matter what. We’ll take our two and go home and let you get back to looking after your own people.”
Ryan stepped back and watched the men turn to walk through the anomaly. He could see that they were just going to make it because it was pulsing as it got ready to close down.
“Good luck,” he said quietly as he watched them step through the anomaly. He sincerely hoped that everything would be all right for those two, now. He certainly hadn't liked the glimpse of what his friends could become when lives went to hell around them.
Becker let out a sigh of relief as he held Abby close to his chest and walked beside Connor. For over two years he had been scared to death about what was happening to the people he loved more than anything. For two years he had been worried that he would never see them again.
But that had changed. They had kept fighting and kept searching and now they were back where they belonged. He wasn’t going to let anything harm them ever again.
“I’m never going to let you two go,” Becker promised Abby softly as he stepped through the anomaly. They were home and everything was going to be all right now.
He didn’t even look back as he heard it close down behind them.
Eight ||
Author:
not_from_starsArtist(s):
skylar0graceMedia Link: Art Here
Word Count: 24,395
Fandom: Primeval
Genre: Angst; Het
Rating: PG-13
Characters/Pairings: Abby Maitland/Connor Temple, Stephen Hart/Abby Maitland
Summary: Having worked for the Anomaly Research Center for a few years, Nick, Stephen, Tom, Abby, Connor and Claudia thought they had seen everything. But when an incursion turns out to be people instead of rampaging animals, that's not the only shock they get. Abby and Stephen are the first on the scene when Abby and Connor come through the anomaly. Abby and Connor are from a time line where some things have gone horrible wrong. Now, not only do they have to convince this time line's version of their friends what has happened, they need to find their way back to their own home and time line. Back in their world, Becker, Danny, Sarah and Jenny are working frantically to find a way to locate their friends and bring them home. Armed with two years of notes and several journals, they're doing their best to open an anomaly and get their loved ones back because they know something that the other time line doesn't. They're running out of time.
Warnings/Spoilers: This is a complete AU and there should be no spoilers for anything.
Author’s Notes: I want to thank my beta and cheerleader,
enochiansigils, for holding my hand through this and not letting me give up. skylar0grace made me lots of awesome art to accompany this fic and I can't thank her enough for everything she did for me!"Abby... Nancy," Claudia said, trying to get the other woman's attention. "You keep mentioning a device that Sid has. What kind of device?"
Nancy tried focusing her eyes on Claudia. “It opens anomalies.”
“I took it from Helen,” Sid explained. “It will open any anomaly that has only been closed two days or less. It’s how Helen was covering her tracks as she caused trouble. She didn’t need to be confined to the timeframe of the anomalies because she could open any of the ones she tracked as long as it was within two days.”
The room was silent as they absorbed what Sid was telling them.
“There’s a way to open the anomalies and not just track, map or close them?” That was the younger Connor as his mind raced over all of the possibilities of such a device.
Sid nodded. “I don’t doubt that it’s something you’ll be able to figure out and create here for your own team. The technology comes from the future, but it looks like it could be made with anything we have on hand in your time or in ours. Just until all of this happened with Helen, it never occurred to me that I should try to create something like that. We were focused on other things and I had just created my locking device when she took Abby hostage.”
“Locking device?” Cutter asked.
“Connor invented a device that locks down anomalies until they close on their own,” Nancy said proudly. “He locks them and it keeps anything dangerous from coming through so there are no injuries or attacks.”
“It was one of the things that Helen wanted me for,” Sid said quietly. “She wanted my devices and wanted me to invent different ones for her own use.”
“The barmy bitch wanted to control time and the way the world evolved.” Nancy slumped slightly against Sid. “She wanted to re-shape everything to her own liking. It was one of the reasons she ended up killing Stephen and Cutter. Neither one of them would join her on her mad quest.”
“At least I didn’t lose my mind,” Stephen sighed, shaking his head.
“Well, you kind of did,” Sid corrected him. “You believed her when she said that Lester was in league with people that wanted the technology of the ARC to be used to destroy the natural order of things.”
“And when she said that Lester had kidnapped her and killed the three of us.” Nancy added.
“Excuse me?” Lester gave them a withering glare, but it didn’t seem to faze the two doppelgangers of his people. “She said I did what?”
“She told Stephen you had killed Cutter, Abby and I. He believed her and tried to rescue her from the ARC and get revenge on you.” Sid’s voice was tired.
“He tried to make things right when he realized how easily he had been played,” Nancy reminded him.
“It didn’t hurt you any less, though,” Sid said, gently stroking her cheek.
“I don’t think that I would like your world very much,” the younger Abby commented softly.
Nancy looked at her counterpart from this time period. “Then don’t trust that bitch any longer or your world will end up a lot like ours.” She gave a faint smile. “And don’t ever, ever stop fighting for what you believe in and who you love.”
The younger Connor groaned. “Damn it, now she’ll never pay attention to when she’s in danger herself!”
Nancy shrugged as best as she could, but didn’t look the least little bit sorry. “We care a lot about you guys.”
“Not going to apologize for it,” Abby echoed.
“I don’t expect you to… either of you,” Connor said. “But we worry about you, too. You pay so much attention to everyone else that you’re often blind to your own danger.” He looked at Sid. “You have to back me up on this.”
“Abby knows exactly what I think and how I feel,” Sid said with a note of something in his voice. “Of course, it took me a long while to be honest with her about my feelings and I’m not going to get involved in anything between the two of them. I know better from just being with mine.”
Connor sighed and shook his head.
“As much as this episode of love and longing is quite fascinating for all of us to watch,” Lester interrupted. “There is the small matter of how we’re supposed to help send you back to where you came from.”
“And we’re sending you back much better armed,” Ryan said firmly. “No arguments.”
Cutter nodded in agreement. “Much better armed. We’re going to give you a chance at surviving if we have to send you back through time.”
“What about preserving the fossil record?” Nancy asked in a voice that Cutter was positive was getting weaker.
“Sod the bloody fossil record,” Cutter said tartly. “The safety of the two of you is a lot more important than preserving some old bones and plants.”
“Would someone like to explain to me why you didn’t tell us that you had one of those damn things long before now?” Danny’s voice was hard as he glared and Matt and Jess while he kept a firm hand on Becker’s arm.
Matt looked unperturbed at the anger that was radiating from both men. “We had to do everything we could to preserve the time line, you know that.” He responded. “We didn’t realize that we were here to rescue them and not kill somebody, instead.”
“We knew that you were tracking anomaly openings,” Jess explained. “But we didn’t know exactly what you were trying to do or that it was so time critical.”
Danny shook his head. “Two years. Two years we’ve been trying to find a way to get to where they are and you had the damn garage door open to do so all along.”
“Danny,” Jenny cautioned. “They were trying to save their world.”
“And we’ve been trying to save Abby and Connor,” Becker snarled at her.
“But the lives of two people don’t measure up against the lives of an entire world, no matter how we feel about it,” Sarah said carefully. “What matters now is that they’re going to help us and we’re going to get our friends back. That should be more important than anything right now.”
“Fine,” Danny nodded, but the look he gave Matt said that this conversation was far from over. “How is this thing supposed to work now?”
Jess was looking down at the device in her hand. “We go out to the original anomaly site where they disappeared and go through it. Then this will alert us to the different places anomalies have opened from there and we trace their route. It will only hone in on the sites that they’ve passed through.”
“And how exactly does it do that?” Danny demanded.
“The same way that it got Matt and I here,” Jess said as she hit a button and a glass vial popped up. She carefully took the vial and showed it to Sarah and Jenny. “We follow their DNA signature.”
Sarah took the vial, knowing that there were samples of everyone’s DNA on file. It was something that had been implemented after the whole Eve/Helen incident. “I’ll be right back.”
Jess watched Sarah leave and then looked at Danny. “Our device followed your DNA signature to get us to be able to open the correct anomalies to get back to this time.”
“So we’re going to be tracking their DNA through time?” Jenny questioned. “What if something has happened and they’ve been separated?”
Becker winced, but paid attention to Jess as she looked at Jenny.
“Then it will take us to the nearest one and we can recalculate the search coordinates from there to key in on the remaining person we’re trying to find.”
“It all sounds almost too easy,” Danny sighed, shaking his head and trying to not get his hopes up about it.
“Compared to everything you’ve already done or been through to find them, it is easy,” Matt agreed. “But all it will do is allow us to go back and forth through the anomalies to find them. It won’t protect us or them from whatever resides in that time period. For that, we’re on our own.”
“Understood,” Becker said. “I’ll make sure that we’re all geared up for anything that we might encounter out there.”
“Which begs the question, who is going on this mission,” Jenny said quietly.
“Jen, you and Sarah are too important to the team and to the ARC specifically,” Danny said firmly. “That means the two of you stay here.”
Jenny’s eyes hardened. “I have every right to go after them as you do.”
“We can’t lose you or Sarah,” Matt agreed. “But that’s all right, because Jess will be here to keep you company.”
“I’ll be doing what?” His angry wife demanded.
“You’re staying here,” Matt responded as he smoothly took the anomaly tracker out of Jess’ hands. “You’re needed to keep them safe in case anything happens and someone else shows up.”
“Helen is dead,” Jess snarled. “They’re not in danger from her any longer.”
“They’re not in danger from this time’s Helen,” Matt’s voice was calm. “What if a different version of her comes through while we’re manipulating time and the anomalies?”
Jess glared at him. “I hate you.”
“That’s not what you said in bed last night.”
“That’s before I started wondering if I could use the anomaly to emasculate you.”
Jenny had to bite her lip to not laugh at the other woman’s response. She swallowed the laughter and schooled her face before turning to Danny.
“So you, Becker, and Matt are going?” At his nod of affirmation, she shook her head. “Fine. But you’re taking at least three more men with you. Each of you will have someone watching your back at all times while you’re doing this.”
“Jen –“
“It’s not up for discussion, Danny. You’ve read Connor’s journals just as thoroughly as I have and you know that some of those creatures are ambush predators.”
“I don’t want to endanger more people than necessary, Jenny,” Becker finally said. “If it’s as dangerous as we think, I don’t want to put anyone else into a hazardous situation.”
“Your men have been trained for this,” Jenny responded firmly. “They know the risks that come with this job and they would be plenty put out if they knew that you were trying to keep them from taking part in a rescue mission that several of them have been hoping would happen for over two years.” Becker shook his head, but Jenny smiled sharply before he could say anything. “It’s take extra men or you take me, Sarah and Jess with you, instead.”
Jess laughed in delight while Matt and Becker stared at her with a mix of shock and horror.
“That’s playing dirty pool, Jenny,” Danny finally found his voice.
“I know.”
After Ryan and Stephen had overseen the assembling of better outfitted backpacks, the group from the ARC loaded back up in their vehicles. It didn't take them long to get to the clearing in the woods where they had first found Sid and Nancy. By this time, Nancy was fighting to keep her eyes open and keep her body moving forward. However, it was becoming more and more obvious to everyone around her that she was fading and fading fast. The stress lines in Sid's face seemed to be getting deeper even as they watched.
Once they were sure they were at the correct site, Sid reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a device that had what appeared to be small lights all over it and a few buttons that he pushed in a quick sequence as he pointed it into the distance.
Nothing happened.
"No, damn it, come on." Sid muttered, frustration lacing his voice. "We still have a few minutes, don't do this."
Still, nothing happened.
"Maybe you should shake the thing and check the batteries," Lester said dryly.
"It's not like a remote from a television," Nancy glared at him coldly. "It's just a bit difficult at times because it's been through a lot." She made her way to stand beside Sid. "It's all right, Connor. Just give it a few moments. It doesn't always work right away, you know that."
"What if we're too late?"
"We're not," she said softly. "We're not. Like you said, we have a few minutes. It hasn't been two days, yet."
Sid took a deep breath and started keying in a sequence of numbers again. This time, he put them in a bit slower, thinking that perhaps he had typed in something wrong by mistake.
Still nothing happened.
"How long were we unconscious for," Sid demanded, looking at Cutter.
Cutter frowned. "A little more than twenty-four hours, I believe," Cutter answered quietly. "We were worried when you didn't wake up sooner, but the medic said you two looked like you needed rest."
"So we're too late, then," Sid said quietly, his hand dropping to his side. "This one has already closed."
"It's all right, Connor," Nancy said gently, her hand reaching to squeeze his arm. "We'll just go through the next one that opens from this time."
Sid turned his head to look her and a startled cry came from his lips as she fell against him. "Abby! Abby, answer me! Abby!"
Everything seemed to happen at once.
When Sid's voice turned to panic, Ryan and Stephen were at his side immediately. Ryan was searching for a pulse when their Connor's shouted an alert.
"Uh guys, something's happening!"
Ryan immediately swung up Nancy's unconscious body in his arms and moved to place her beneath a tree that was hopefully out of harm's way. Pushing Sid back behind him, he crouched next to Stephen, bringing his gun up to aim at the anomaly that appeared to be opening.
"Abby and Connor, get ready to try to tag whatever comes out of there!" Ryan shouted his orders. "Claudia, you and the Professor stay back until we've identified what's going on. Lester --"
"I'll follow my own orders, thank you," Lester said calmly as he pulled a handgun out of his pocket and stood guard over the fallen Nancy. His people all looked at him in surprise. "This is hardly the time for questions," he snapped. He gestured at them to pay attention to the anomaly that was opening in front of them.
When the shouting ended and the anomaly stabilized, everyone stood silent as six people stepped through the anomaly. Ryan and Stephen’s hands tightened on their guns until Sid's face broke into a surprised smile.
“Becker! Danny!”
It didn’t take him long to move from where he was standing with Ryan’s men to grab Becker in a hug. He clung to him for a long moment before he turned and hugged Danny.
“Damn it, Connor,” Danny shook his head. “Never again, do you understand me? You are never to play hero like that again.”
“I didn’t know if we’d ever see you again.” Becker said quietly, looking him over. “We tried everything we could think of and it was only recently that we found your journal.” He brushed hair back from Connor’s face and studied him. “You look like hell.”
“Well, it’s been hell,” Connor admitted quietly. “No matter what anomaly opened, we just couldn’t seem to find the right one home. But I know how to open anomalies to different times so we can study them at our leisure and learn from them.”
“We’ll talk about that later,” Becker’s voice was full of emotion. “Connor, what about Abby? Where’s Abby?” He wasn't able to hide the fear in his eyes.
Connor turned to the group standing beneath the trees. “Captain Ryan! It’s okay. These are our friends.” Connor looked back at Becker. “She’s hurt, Becks. She’s hurt badly. Helen shot her before and then when we got here, there was a fight and she was shot with tranquilizers and she just lost consciousness. She's never done that before.”
Ryan walked up with Abby in his arms and looked Becker up and down thoroughly. “Captain Tom Ryan,” he introduced himself. “I’m head of security here at the ARC.”
Becker nodded. “Captain Becker. I’m the head of security at our ARC facility back home.”
“You should take better care of them, you know,” Ryan’s eyes were full of emotion. “They’re pretty important. I’ve been looking after our Connor and Abby for awhile. They’re special and I don’t like the thought of anything happening to them.”
“You’re not telling me anything that I don’t know,” Becker acknowledged. “If I had been sure I could take the shot without hitting Connor that bitch never would have gotten away with the two of them.”
Ryan nodded and handed Abby over to Becker, watching as the younger man held her close to his chest protectively.
“It’s pretty bad, Captain Becker,” Ryan said. “We couldn’t get her to go to the A&E, but then again, she was right in that we didn’t have enough time for anything like that if we were going to find a way to get her and Connor home. If we had insisted we wouldn't have been here when you came through.”
"We would have tracked them down," the red-headed man standing near Danny commented.
Becker looked past him to the trees where the others were standing. “Captain Ryan, there’s something you need to know… Helen Cutter…”
“Is not a worry for us, here.”
“Did Abby and Connor tell you what happened in their world?” Danny demanded as he decided to step closer to this conversation. “Helen killed people we all cared about and kidnapped the two of them.”
“That won’t happen here.” Ryan’s voice hardened a little. “It’s been taken care of. Everyone is safer here than they have been in your world.”
“How can you be so sure of that?”
“Because Lester will take care of her himself.” Ryan looked from Becker to Danny. “He had a choice between his team and his wife and he's chosen the well-being of his team.”
“His wife?” Danny’s eyes were full of surprise. “Lester married that bitch?”
Ryan shrugged. “There is no love lost there. I’m not even sure why they got married in the first place. But once these two came through the anomaly and we started learning what happened in their world… well, it was going to end up in a divorce, anyway. Now, it will just end up happening sooner -- as soon as we make sure that she's not the threat to us that the one in your world was to you.”
“Anything that they decide to do now would probably have happened anyway. It just got sped up by her counterpart trying to do things she had no right doing and ruining other lives in the process,” Connor said, coming back to the three men. He gave Ryan a tired look. “Look, I’m sorry to be a pain in the ass, but I don’t know how long this anomaly is going to stay open and Abby really needs a doctor. That, and it’s been over two years. I really want to go home and I know if she was conscious, she’d want to go home, too.”
Ryan nodded, squeezing Connor’s arm before leaning in to drop a kiss on Abby’s head. “You guys go and get her home because if you let her die, my men and I will hunt you down.”
A muscle in Becker’s jaw clenched as she looked at Ryan. “I don’t need to be told how to take care of my people, Captain.”
“Apparently you need a refresher course or else they wouldn’t be in the condition that they’re in now, Captain.”
“Stop it,” Connor snapped. “Both of you. Captain Ryan, what happened wasn’t Becker’s fault. It was Helen’s fault and no one else’s. Becker, we don’t have time for this. Abby is dying.”
Becker sighed, shame filling him as he looked down at Abby’s body in his arms. “You’re right. We need to get her home. Sarah and Jenny have been worried sick about the two of you.”
Connor nodded, then looked at Ryan. “Thank you for everything you did to help us. I know hearing some of the stuff we had to say was hard to deal with.”
“I’m just glad that we were here when you came through. I would hope that if something like that ever happened to our Abby and Connor, someone would be there to help them, too.”
Danny nodded. “We’d help them no matter what. We’ll take our two and go home and let you get back to looking after your own people.”
Ryan stepped back and watched the men turn to walk through the anomaly. He could see that they were just going to make it because it was pulsing as it got ready to close down.
“Good luck,” he said quietly as he watched them step through the anomaly. He sincerely hoped that everything would be all right for those two, now. He certainly hadn't liked the glimpse of what his friends could become when lives went to hell around them.
Becker let out a sigh of relief as he held Abby close to his chest and walked beside Connor. For over two years he had been scared to death about what was happening to the people he loved more than anything. For two years he had been worried that he would never see them again.
But that had changed. They had kept fighting and kept searching and now they were back where they belonged. He wasn’t going to let anything harm them ever again.
“I’m never going to let you two go,” Becker promised Abby softly as he stepped through the anomaly. They were home and everything was going to be all right now.
He didn’t even look back as he heard it close down behind them.
Eight ||
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-09-03 12:31 pm (UTC)totally loved this AU! But the ending left me with so many questions! lol
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 05:22 am (UTC)Would it help if I said "Yes, Cazzy, there will be a sequel"? :D
no subject
Date: 2011-09-04 12:07 pm (UTC)**sharpens the poking-for-a-sequel stick**
**camps out next to the new kitten, waiting for more**
no subject
Date: 2011-09-09 03:31 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-09-11 01:54 am (UTC)thanks for sharing...