Coming Full Circle {5/8}

[shadowcat]

Title: Coming Full Circle {5/8}
Author: enochiansigils and not_from_stars
Artist: azarsuerte
Fandom: Primeval
Pairing/Characters (if no pairing): Kahlil Pierce/Niki Becker
Rating: PG-13
Warnings: Completely AU and makes mention of things that happened in the past for Niki's family. Some events made up or embellished for explanations of attitudes.
Word Count: 26,403
Summary: Being in love with the daughter of Captain Becker, Abby Maitland and Connor Temple isn't easy. It's even harder when you're the exact image of your uncle -- a man who hurt them more than anyone else ever has. However, Kahlil Pierce hasn't let that deter him -- especially when he knows that Niki Becker loves him just as much. When Niki doesn't return with the rest of her team after an excursion through an anomaly, Kahlil doesn't stop to think before he goes in to look for her. Finding his injured girlfriend was the easy part. Trapped on the wrong side of anomaly with no way to get home, Kahlil has to use all of his skills to keep Niki safe while at the same time having faith that her family will find a way to bring them home.
Notes: Written for oc_bigbang 2011. We do not own Primeval or the concepts, but Kahlil and Niki are all ours.






Kahlil was pretty sure he was an idiot. What had he been thinking, bringing up the whole subject of moving in while they were in the middle of something where they needed to be at the top of their game? Especially when Niki so obviously wasn't at the top of her game, for all she was trying to hide it and downplay things.

But at least they'd parted with things all right between them, something he was grateful for. They couldn't afford fights or arguments right then. If she was unhappy with him -- which he wouldn't blame her for, really -- they could deal with it when they got home.

And not when. If. Because he refused to believe they wouldn't. Her family might not care that he was there, but they would definitely care that she was. Which meant that if they got her back, they'd get him back.

Which wasn't to say that someone wouldn't be tempted to leave him behind for a moment. But he trusted her family enough to get over that. Make him miserable later, maybe, but that was something he could deal with. He'd taken enough flak for being who he was.

As he reached the water site, his mind was on the situation he'd just left back at the cave, which was why he didn't pick up on the rustling of leaves. He filled the canteens quickly, wanting to get back to Niki as quickly as possible. She needed her rest, especially if they were going to figure out what was wrong with her head -- or try figuring it out, at any rate.

He capped the second canteen, stood with both in hand --

-- and that would be when he caught the rustling of leaves.

Kahlil went tense, turning his head slightly, eyes searching the trees for what could have caused the noise.

From off to his left, something came rushing at him. Swearing -- but clutching the precious canteens in a death grip -- Kahlil took off at a run, not wanting to take the time to try and identify whatever it was that was chasing him.

The creature lunged for Kahlil, catching him roughly on the arm with its beak. As soon as that beak attempted to close around his arm, Kahlil crazily knew what it was -- gastornis, based on the vague glimpse he'd gotten and the way it was trying to break his arm. Luckily and thankfully, he was quick enough that all the gastornis managed was to take a rather large and bloody chunk out of his arm. Granted, that was bad enough, but it wouldn't be fatal.

He broke into a full-on sprint, darting around trees and jumping over fallen branches and covering whatever ground he had to in order to get away from the damn animal. Five minutes of that sprint had him feeling the blood loss, but it had also gotten him far enough away from the gastornis that he could slow to a walk. Thank God the creature was an ambush predator and not big on the chasing people for extended periods of time or Kahlil might be in trouble.

And he was in enough trouble as it was, with the way his arm was bleeding. If he didn't take care of it, there'd be even more complications of the situation. Logically he should have cleaned it off back at the water site, but he'd been infinitely more interested in getting away from the gastornis than he had been in stopping for something as at the time trivial as cleaning and bandaging his wound. Besides, he didn't think he'd be able to do it on his own. He'd need Niki's help, if she could manage it.

He was maybe fifty yards from the cave when he heard the one thing he'd been terrified of ever hearing.

A gunshot.

Pushing himself past the injury and the blood loss, he broke into a run. If Niki was shooting at something, then something had gotten into the cave. And if something had gotten into the cave, he had to pray that Niki could either take it out or chase it off. Preferably just chase it off; a dead creature in the cave would A: potentially screw with the fossil record and B: be a draw for predators. Including, potentially, more of the gastornis that'd gotten him.

"Niki?" he yelled as he reached the cave. "Niki, talk to me!"

God, he hoped she answered him.



Niki hadn't planned to close her eyes after Kahlil was out of sight, but she did. She was just in so much pain and so tired from trying to be strong and hide it from Kahlil. She knew he would probably take it badly -- or wrong -- when he found out that she had been hiding things from him, but she was Abby Maitland's daughter. She had developed the skill to hide her feeling and her injuries from people close to her. She was also really good at the guilt and self-blame.

The earthquake hadn't been something that any of her team had expected when they went through the anomaly. They were going to do recon of the era and bring back samples for their scientists to examine and study. Getting caught in a natural disaster hadn't been part of the plans. She remembered the ground shaking and ordering her men back through to safety. The next thing she knew, she was falling and everything went dark. She hadn't blacked out for long because she heard Kahlil calling for her -- which meant he had only come through at that time.

She sighed. She had hurt him earlier, but how had he expected her to react? She was injured -- possibly worse than she let on to him -- and they were trapped. She wasn't sure of a lot of things going on right now and she certainly hadn't expected him to talk about them moving in together.

Especially here and now. She wondered if he had been taking lessons from Connor.

At the thought of her father, Niki could feel the burn of tears. They hadn't exactly parted on the best of terms and she really hoped that they would get the chance to fix things. Never once in her life could she remember her mother or either of her fathers being so unhappy with her that they had just walked away from her. She knew her parents had reasons to hate or fear Phillip Burton, but why couldn't they accept that Kahlil was nothing like his uncle? They might look alike, but they were two very different people!

The movement of something at the mouth of the cave caused her to open her eyes. She frowned watching the shadows at the cave opening. She knew it wasn't Kahlil because he would announce himself to make sure he didn't get shot. She tensed, slowly getting to her feet as quietly as she was able to. There was no way she could stay sitting on the ground and make an easy target.

When the creature came further into the cave, Niki bit the inside of her cheek. Borealosuchus. At least, that's what she thought it was. She watched it as she brought the gun up. The blasted thing must have been attracted by the smell of her blood. When it opened its mouth, she knew that he was about to charge at her. There was no way she could move fast enough to outrun the creature. However, there was the problem as to what would happen if she used a gun and what it would do to the fossil record.

Before Niki could make a decision, the creature charged at her. She dove to the side, bringing up her gun and firing at it. Screw the fossil record. She wasn't ready to become some creature's lunch. Her head hit the ground as she fired the gun and she swallowed the gasp of pain that went through her body as the rest of it hit the ground. She brought the gun up to fire again, seeing those teeth too close to her. The teeth came down into her arm as the creature's body collapsed.

Niki couldn't help the gasping sobs that came from her chest as she stared at the dead animal attached to her arm.

"Niki? Niki, talk to me!"

"Kahlil!" It wasn't so much of a shout as a cry in response to hearing his voice. "It's all right. It's dead."

Because that was going to make him feel so much better.

"Better it than you," Kahlil called back to her as he reached the cave and entered it slowly, trying not to look as shaky as he was starting to feel. "Are you all right, love?"

She kicked at the predator's body and then bit back a sound of pain as she tore the teeth out of her skin. "I'll live. He won't."

"We need to clean that up now," Kahlil said, gesturing to her arm as he dropped to his knees at her side, setting the canteens down.

This might have sounded better if not for the way his jacket was torn and bloody to match his arm.

Niki noticed that right away. "Kahlil! What happened to your arm? Oh god. We need to fix that."

"You're more important," he said firmly. "I'll be fine."

The look she gave him would probably have gutted him if she had the strength behind the glare. "Please, Kahlil." There was fear ... and guilt in her voice.

"... all right." The fact that he simply agreed and started gingerly peeling his jacket off spoke volumes as to how much pain he was really in.

She reached to take the jacket and her face paled even more. "Oh, love. Love, I'm sorry." She reached for one of the canteens so they could clean his arm.

"Being a creature snack wasn't on my list of ways I wanted to spend the day," he said dryly. "Let's get ourselves cleaned up, let me rest a bit, then I'll head back out on another water run."

"No," and that was clear panic in her voice. "Not again." That would be a telling sign that Niki was not and pulled together as she had been pretending to be to Kahlil.

"We're going to need the water, Niki," he reasoned, cooperatively holding his arm out so she could help him tend to it. "Especially if we take care of your arm, too."

He hated that panic in her voice, but now it was his turn to be the strong one. And that meant taking care of all their needs.

She hadn't been planning on taking care of her arm, but now that he had drawn attention to it, she knew that there was no way he wouldn't be making sure it was cleaned out.

"Let me clean this out for you and then there should be some kind of cloth in my pack that we can use as bandages."

"And then I'll worry about your arm for you." He gave her a gentle smile, though it was more than a bit tired and weary.

"All right," she said softly, pouring the water carefully over his wound. "What was it?"

"Gastornis, I think," he said, wincing slightly. "Ambush predator. Not good with the super fast speeds, which is probably why I was lucky enough to get away from it."

She swallowed. "Yeah. Terror birds are definitely ambush, They can't run for long or at high speeds."

"I don't think it's too bad, though, considering." Oh, Kahlil, where did this optimistic streak come from?

"It could have been much worse," she said quietly as she carefully wrapped a bandage around his arm.

"It could've," he agreed. "Could've gotten my arm flat-out broken."

"I'm glad that didn't happen."

"So am I," he said. "Be that much harder to make sure you're safe if I had a broken arm." Even injured, his first thoughts and worries were still of her.

"If it wasn't for me you wouldn't be in this mess," she said tonelessly as she finished bandaging his arm.

"And if it wasn't for me, you'd probably be in a whole lot worse situation," Kahlil pointed out. "Trying to survive all on your own... at least now you've got me to take some of the burden."

"You got hurt."

"I'll be fine, though. I've been hurt worse in the line of duty, so to speak."

"But that was something you expected. You shouldn't get injured being trapped in your girlfriend's line of work."

"Niki, listen to me." His voice was firm but gentle. "I love you. I was terrified when I thought you were going to be stuck here. All I could think about was getting to you. I was scared at the idea of you being alone, yeah, but I was scared even more at the idea of me being alone. You're the most important person in my entire world. Without you, I don't have anything."

He brought his hand up gingerly to touch her face. "But even still, it was my choice to come through that anomaly, and it was a choice I made gladly because of the fact that you're the most important person in my world."

Niki searched his eyes for a moment and then leaned her face into his hand. "I'm scared I'm going to lose you, Kahlil. Even before this, I was afraid that I wasn't good enough for you and you would figure that out. Now, I'm afraid I'm going to get you killed."

"I can't think of a better way to die than in the name of keeping you safe," he said softly. "Not that I want to, so don't even start thinking that, but if it happens... at least it'll be in the name of keeping you safe."

"I want to go home. I want us to both get home."

"We're going to, love. They'll find a way to get us home."

She would have nodded, but she was just too drained to move much right now. "How is your arm feeling now?"

"Sore," he said. "Really, really sore. But better than I was expecting it to." He gave her a Look. "Now your turn."

Niki hesitated only a moment before she stopped holding it close to her and held it out to Kahlil. It looked bad. She'd say it looked worse than what it was.

Kahlil forced himself not to go into overprotective mode like his instincts were telling him to. "Okay, it looks... well... it looks like you had teeth buried in your arm." He smiled weakly. "I'm sure it won't look that bad once we get it cleaned up."

"I'm sure it just looks bad. You know that there are a lot of vessels on the surface of your arms."

"You're probably right," he said, even as he examined the wound more closely as he cleaned it.

She would thank him later for buying into her lie. It was something she needed right now. "Crocodiles and their ancestors are vicious. Probably lucky I wasn't in the water when he found me."

"Not gonna lie to you, it doesn't look fantastic," he said as he finished pouring water over the wound. "But it doesn't look nearly as bad as I was expecting." Which was true enough in its own way.

She smiled faintly. "He expected an easy meal."

"But he didn't get it." Kahlil smile proudly as he bandaged the wound up. "Proud of you for that, love."

"The fossil record is going to be messed up."

"Not if I dig the bullets out of the damn thing." Kahlil looked as enthusiastic about the idea as he felt about it, which wasn't very.

"No. You're hurt, love," she said firmly. "When they come for us, they can retrieve that thing, too."

"I like that idea a whole lot better," he admitted. "Though mine's staying on the back burner." He'd do it if he had to.

"We should move it out of the cave, though," she said, forcing more strength into her words than she was feeling. "The blood will attract more predators and we can't afford for that to happen."

"No, we can't," he agreed, looking even less enthusiastic about moving the creature than he had been about digging the bullets out of it. "This is going to hurt so badly, isn't it?"

"Not much if we do it together," she said firmly.

Kahlil weighed which would be easier, letting Niki help or trying to keep her from it. Letting her help won, if only because the quicker they got it done, the quicker they could both relax. Well, such as it were.

Allowing Niki to help would be a lot easier than trying to prevent her from doing so. If she had to fight against him with that, then it was highly likely that she would end up hurting herself even more -- and that would make her condition a lot worse than they wanted it to be.

"All right," Kahlil said with a sigh. "Let's get this over with, shall we?"

Niki nodded, struggling to get to her feet without any help. Now that something had attacked Kahlil, she was going to be even more stubborn about trying not to lean too much on him.

"Let me help," he said, getting to his feet and holding his good hand out to her.

Taking a deep breath, she shook her head, forcing herself to her feet. "You're hurt."

"That was my good hand, love. You'd have been fine."

"Not worried about me," she said panting as she tried to catch her breath.

"Well, I am."

"Worried about you," she responded, straightening up.

"Niki, you're the one that's worse off," Kahlil said. "Even with my arm injury, you're still worse off. I'm not going to stop worrying about you."

"I know," she said, lifting her head to look into his face. "I would never ask you to, Kahlil. Just, right now, being stubborn is the only thing that is going to make my body cooperate to help you."

"Then let's keep being stubborn just a little longer," he said after a moment. "Get this godforsaken thing out of here and chuck it somewhere."

She nodded, moving slowly back to the creature that had tried to kill her and grabbing it's tail.

Kahlil moved to get a good grip on the front of the creature. "Okay, ready?"

"As ready as I'll ever be," she responded.

"Let's do this, then."

She nodded and started to tug the creature to the opening of the cave.

It took a few minutes of effort -- as well as copious swearing on both their parts -- but they finally managed to get the creature outside.

Niki insisted that they get the thing several feet away from the cave and when they had finally achieved that, she was out of breath and struggling to stay on her feet.

"Let me help you back to the cave, at least," Kahlil said softly. "You'll do no good to yourself if you fall over before you get back."

She nodded, not wasting her breath and talking. She knew she was in bad shape and if she argued with him, she'd reveal way too much about her condition.

He moved to her side and slipped his arm around her. "Don't be afraid to lean on me for a minute."

"Are you sure I won't hurt you?" Her voice was weaker than she would have liked it to be.

"I'm positive," he said. Even if it did hurt, though, he'd never let on. Not when she needed him.

She nodded and leaned against him. "Let me know if it hurts."

He bit back a sharp hiss of pain and shifted his arm slightly. That helped enough that he could start leading her back towards the cave.

Niki didn't hear the hiss of pain or else she wouldn't have leaned against him. They were inside the cave when she finally spoke again. "I hurt, Kahlil."

"I wish I could help," Kahlil said quietly. "I wish I could make the pain go away, make you better. But I can't. So what can I do?"

"Just don't get eaten," she said quietly, her eyes slightly out of focus. "I don't want to lose you."

"I won't, love. I promise." And he'd be damned if he wasn't going to keep that promise.

They managed to get to the back of the cave where Niki felt the most comfortable and then she slid down the wall to sit.

Kahlil eased himself into a sitting position next to her. "We're going to get home, love. You know they won't leave us out here. And then we'll be able to get you proper medical treatment." Because he could no longer deny that she needed it.

Niki nodded slowly, closing her eyes. "Kahlil?" She said after a long moment of quiet.

"Yes, love?"

"If we ever get married, we are not going camping for the honeymoon." Her words were slightly slurred as she leaned her head against his shoulder.

He laughed softly. "I promise, no camping. Our honeymoon's going to involve an exceedingly nice hotel room and us spending lots of time in it."

"I like that idea. Lots of amenities."

"I'd be able to spoil you absolutely rotten, which you would deserve."

"I think I could look forward to that," she agreed, her voice trailing off for a moment.

"Feel free to look forward to it."

"What are you looking forward to?"

"It's silly, but... I'm really looking forward to getting to have time alone with you after this."

"That's not silly. I want to lay in bed and have you holding me and not being worried about closing my eyes."

"When we get home, we're taking a couple days and just laying around together." He chuckled softly. "I'd say throw some shagging into the mix because face it, this is us, but you'll still be too injured for it. So lots of cuddling instead. It's almost as good."

"Can you take that kind of time off from work?"

"They don't argue with me when I want time off."

"I'm glad of that, then."

"So am I." He'd fight for the time off if he had to, though. They'd need the time together after this was all said and done with.

"Do you think Dani is close to finding us a way home?"

"Either close or sleep-deprived from not finding one yet," Kahlil replied, trying for levity and not quite hitting it. "But it's Dani, so knowing her and the team she has access to... it should be soon."

"I'm not sure how much optimism I have left right now, Kahlil," Niki said, closing her eyes.

"That's why I'm here," he said gently. "I have enough for the both of us."

She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'm just so tired. And I hurt so much."

"Go to sleep, love," he said softly. "I'm right here."

"I'm afraid I won't wake up if I do."

"Then talk to me. Keep talking, keep yourself awake," he suggested.

"Do you ever get scared?"

"I do," he said. "I'm just very good at not showing it."

"What are you afraid of?"

"Losing you."

"Not going anywhere."

"I know, but... part of me is very, very irrational about the idea."

"I love you too much to leave you, Kahlil."

"I know. I don't worry about you leaving me. I just... worry that your job will take you from me." But he got points for sounding reasonable about it and not all overprotective.

"It would take a lot more than my job to take me away from you."

"Not if your job gets you killed. Which is always a possibility."

It's a possibility with yours, too," she reminded him. "Just you know what to expect with mine."

"You must hate my job," he said.

She sighed. "I hate not knowing what it is or what you're doing sometimes, Kahlil. I expect I hate your job about the same amount as you hate mine."

"And I loathe your job sometimes," he admitted. "I'd never try and stop you from doing it, but... sometimes I really, really loathe it."

"Not counting this, what is it about my job that you hate so much?" She had dropped her head onto his shoulder.

"The uncertainty," he said after a moment. "The not knowing if you're going to have an uneventful day or if everything's going to go to hell in a handbasket."

She smiled faintly. "That can happen with any job or any person's life, you know?"

"Most people's jobs don't involve dinosaurs and prehistoric creatures, though."

She didn't have an argument for that. "But it's something I've been around all of my life."

"I know, but it still scares me."

"It scares me sometimes, too, but I love it."

"Then that's what matters."

"Do you love your job?"

"Most of the time," he admitted. "Which doesn't speak well of me as a very nice person."

"You're a good person, Kahlil. I wouldn't love you if you weren't."

"I may be a good person, but I'm hardly a nice one most of the time." It was different when he was with her, though. She made him feel different.

She was quiet for a moment and then reached her hand out to take his gently. "But you have never done anything but be good and nice to me."

"I knew you were special the moment I saw you," he said, lacing their fingers together.

"I knew you were special and that I wanted you the first time you touched me."

"I wanted you, too. It's why I asked you out that same time."

"You never had any hesitation, even when you found out who my parents were," Niki said groggily. "I saw it in your eyes. You were worried about what might be said, but I saw how much you still wanted me."

"I'm a Burton, love. We don't let anything stand in the way of what we want. Only in this instance, it worked out for a good thing."

"You're a Kahlil," she said, her head drooping for a moment. "My Kahlil."

"Yours forever."

"It's getting dark. Have we really been talking that long?" It wasn't getting dark at all. "You know, because you risked your life to come after me, my mom is so going to suddenly become fiercely defensive of you."

"That might actually be scarier than her not liking me," he joked, hugging Niki against his side protectively.

"Mom is loyal and when people fight for her loved ones, she is their best weapon."

"Your mother is a remarkable woman. I've always thought that."

"She really is. She will try to keep her hurts buried, but her loyalty and her love shows through."

"Just goes to show you how badly she was hurt by my uncle... she tries keeping her hurts buried but they're so evident when I'm around."

"She doesn't mean to do that."

"Oh, I know," he assured her. "I'm just saying it's a really good measure of how badly she was hurt."

"She tries," Niki agreed.

"I'd like her to not be so hurt when I'm around. I know that's easier said than done, though."

"She'll get better, love, especially after we get home."

"I hope so, but if not... I'll live. I promise."

"It will be better," Niki insisted.

"I hope you're right, love. Be nice if you are."

"It will. She doesn't care about herself as much as she cares about her loved ones. You showed balls coming after me and she'll appreciate that."

"I wasn't going to leave you here alone."

"And I am so thankful for that. Being hurt out here alone would have killed me."

"I don't know what I'd do if I lost you," he said softly.

"The same thing that I would do if I lost you?"

"Probably," he agreed. "If that thing is fall apart, drink for a week, and be miserable for a good long while."

"Pretty much, yeah."

"Good thing we don't have to worry about it."

"No, we don't."

"They'll find a way to get us home."

"I know." Niki was silent for awhile. "I don't feel well, Kahlil."

"I know you don't, love. I know."

She sighed softly. "You're worried."

"Damn right I am."

"Why?"

"You're hurt. Possibly badly. You need medical treatment. Every moment you're not home getting the treatment you need is a moment there could be complications. And it kills me inside that there's nothing I can do for you about it."

"Kahlil... you are doing something for me, something that I need more than anything right now."

"I am?" he asked, trying to keep the doubt from his voice and not succeeding entirely.

"You are," she whispered. "You're here and you're giving me something to hold onto. You're showing me your love and you're keeping me warm."

"Wish I could do more, though."

"You're doing what I need to hold on."

He smiled sadly at that. "Then I'll do my best to keep doing it."

"With you holding me, nothing could take me away from you."

"I won't let anything happen to you, love. I promise."

"I know you won't. You never would."

"Because I love you."

"I love you, too."

Kahlil sighed. "Everything's going to be okay. I promise."

She leaned more into him, too tired to realize that she was putting more weight on him.

He winced slightly but took the weight. Her comfort was more important at the moment than his -- she was the one who was hurt worse, after all.

"I really do love you so much," she said quietly.

"I know, love," he said. "I've never doubted that."

"That's good then," Niki sighed softly, closing her eyes.

"I will never, ever doubt it," he promised.

"That's a good promise. I like that promise."

"I'll repeat it whenever you need me to."

Niki smiled and kissed his shoulder.

"We're going to get through this, love."

"I know," she murmured. "You wouldn't allow it to happen any other way."

"No, I wouldn't."

"Because when it comes to us, you're very stubborn." That was said with tired affection.

"Damn right I am."

"And mine."

"And yours," he agreed.

"I love you so much."

"I love you, too. I love you so much it's scary."

"I'm not afraid. Not when I have you."

"I don't ever want you to be afraid," Kahlil said quietly. "I want to protect you from everything bad in the world. I know I can't, but it doesn't stop me from wanting to."

"There will be times I need to fight on my own," Niki said softly. "But I don't mind being protected by y0u."

"Doesn't mean I can't want to protect you, though, even if you have to fight on your own."

"That's a nice feeling."

"I can't be the only person who's ever wanted to protect you, though."

"No, but it's different because you aren't someone I've known my whole life."

"Hopefully you'll never mind my wanting to protect you."

"I won't. It feels nice," she murmured.

"It feels nice that you let me," he admitted.

"We need that with each other, I think."

"I think so, too."

Niki slumped against him a little more. "I hope Dani finds us soon," she murmured before she went silent.

"She will, love. She will."

Niki didn't answer him.

Kahlil's heart leapt into his throat as he checked Niki's pulse; steady enough, all things considered. Just asleep.

With Niki asleep -- or unconscious -- he was free to acknowledge just how badly his arm really hurt. He acknowledged it and shoved that fact aside. He still had to worry about Niki, no matter what.




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