From Where We're Standing [4/8]

[shadowcat]

Title: From Where We're Standing
Author: enochiansigils and not_from_stars
Fandom: Primeval
Pairing/Characters: Abby Maitland/Hilary Becker, Implied Stephen Hart/Hilary Becker
Rating/Category: PG-13
Summary: Two years ago, Stephen walked away from the Anomaly Research Project and vowed never to set foot near an anomaly again. However, when Nick Cutter calls him for help, he can't say no. Abby Maitland is lost on the other side of an anomaly and her time is running out. Stephen agrees immediately, because he's still in love with Abby. He wants to get her back and let her know how he feels. However, there's a complication that he hadn't expected. Captain Becker -- Abby's boyfriend and Stephen's ex...
Words: 36,000
Notes: Written for casestory Big Bang 2011. We want to thank our wonderful artists for this: weaselett, sexycazzy, and pink_flame_87. Thank you guys so very much for the gorgeous art you made for us!











Stephen had been just about to shake Becker awake for his watch when he heard something, the same something he'd heard before. He bolted to Becker's side, shaking him awake. "Becker, wake up! I know what direction she's in!"

Becker was awake in an instant. "Let's go, then!"

Stephen nodded, grabbing his backpack and shrugging it on. There was no telling what kind of condition Abby was going to be in, aside from most likely not very good. She'd at the very least need the first aid kit.

Becker followed as Stephen led.

"Don't do it," Becker said as they walked. "Don't tell her how you feel. I'm begging you, Stephen, and I've never begged you for anything."

An uncomfortable pause as they both remembered certain times probably best left in the past and unremembered.

"In this context," he clarified. "You know I don't like begging."

"I'm not doing it to hurt you," Stephen said, half listening for any other yells or screams as they walked. "I'm doing it because I love her."

"You wouldn't know love if it bit you on the arse," Becker said lowly.

"Funny, your sister said that to me right before she introduced us. She was thrilled to be proved wrong. How is she, by the way?"

"Still single, and if you go near her, there's a whole other level of getting your arse kicked that you'll be experiencing."

"Relax, Becker. I have no interest in your sister, not even as a random shag. Not anymore."

"Do me a favor and don't ever mention shagging Anne again, please." The expression on Becker's face would've been comical in less horrifying situations. "It hurt enough knowing you'd just been working your way through the Becker siblings. Good thing we don't have any others or God only knows which one of us you'd be with now."

The two of them were quickly discovering previously unknown skill at taking the cheapest shots possible to inflict the maximum emotional hurt, apparently.

Before Stephen could make a retort, though, they heard one last shriek. "This way," he said, pointing and heading off, not even paying attention to see if Becker was following because of course he would be.

Hopefully, they were just about to find their Abby.



Abby made her voice work one more time to call for help. She was getting discouraged though as she realized how weak she was sounding. If no one heard her before too much time passed, she wasn't going to make it out of this. She had been here for awhile and from the sound and feel of things, she wasn't going to last very long past this night.

Becker and Stephen dropped down by the hole she'd fallen through, the hole that seemed to be actually a small cave entrance of some sort. "Abby?" Becker called, shining his flashlight down into the darkness.

She lifted her head when she heard him turning her face towards where she thought that she was hearing him. "Becker?" Her voice was almost gone from screaming and dehydration, but it was loud enough to carry up to him as she lifted herself back up on one arm. "Becker, is that really you?"

"It's me, Abby my girl," he said, forcing himself to stay calm. "It's really me. I'm here. We're here for you."

He was going to owe Stephen for this.

If she had the energy, she probably would have sobbed from relief. She wasn't going to die down here.

"We were attacked by a rhinoceros," she rasped. "I don't know what happened to my men, but they haven't been here."

"They didn't make it," Becker replied. "I'm sorry, Abby."

That was a new kind of pain that went through her. Those were Becker's men that he had trained and sent with her. "I'm sorry, too," she said, ducking her head.

"We need to get her out of there," Stephen murmured, being careful not to let Abby hear him. "If she's been down there this whole time, her body is shutting down, Captain."

"How do we get her out, though?"

"Drop a rope down to her and have her tie it around her waist. We'll pull her up that way."

"Becker!?" Abby's voice was panicked. "Becker, are you still there?"

Becker just frowned. "I'm right here, Abby." Shit. She couldn't see him. Well, that put a whole new wrinkle or two in things.

Stephen frowned, sucking a breath in through his teeth. "Aren't you shining your light down into that cave?" He whispered.

"Yeah," Becker whispered back. "I am."

"Oh fuck," Stephen whispered, his face turning white. "She must have a bad head injury. One of us is going to have to go down there and get her."

"I'll go," Becker said. "You being down there with her would freak her out right now, I think."

Stephen looked like he would argue the point, but then he heard Abby's frightened voice coming back up through the opening of the cave. "Fine."

"Hang in there, Abby," Becker called. "I'm coming down for you."

Abby nodded and then had to fight not to let her body make herself lose consciousness again. She couldn't, not when she was so close to getting out of here. "Be careful, Becker. It's dark down here and I haven't really been able to deduce if there's anything dangerous beyond the rocks and dirt."

"Got it," he called to her. "Don't you worry, Abby, I'm on my way down and I'm gonna get you out of here."

Stephen was very focused as he set up the harness and held it out for Becker to strap himself into. Him doing it was not even an option. While Becker was doing that, he dug out a blanket.

"Wrap her up in this before you strap her to you," he instructed. "Her body is probably in shock and we need to get her warm."

Becker only nodded before making one last check of things and heading down to get Abby.

Abby was laying back down on the cave floor, trying to relax now that she knew Becker was here. She listened as he was making his way down from the surface. It didn't surprise her one bit that he was coming down himself. After however much time she had been missing, she knew that he wouldn't have let someone else be the first one to get to her.

Professional appearances or not.

Becker had thrown professional appearances out the window ages ago. And if Abby made it through this, he'd never give a damn about them ever again.

"It's all right, love," he said as he touched down on the floor of the cave. "It's all right. I'm right here and I'm going to get you out of here."

She heard him and she turned towards his voice as best as she could. "I'm in pretty bad shape, love," she said softly, her voice starting to fade. "I don't know how long I've been down here. Can't put my weight on my left leg and my right arm seems hurt. Ribs, too. The creature apparently thought I needed a flying lesson."

She wasn't too keen on mentioning how much pain was in her head and she hoped that he wouldn't ask or notice. If she had been bleeding, she was pretty sure it was too dark down here for him to see it.

"I knew you'd come for me."

"Of course I would," he said as he worked to wrap her up in the blanket. "Even if we did have to call in a tracker for me to be able to find you."

"I knew you would," she murmured. "I knew that I just had to hold on long enough for you to get to me. It doesn't matter that you had help from a tracker. Just matters that you came and I could tell you I was sorry."

"That doesn't matter," he said, getting her hooked to him. "None of that matters. All that matters is that you're going to be okay."

"It does to me," she countered. "I didn't want the last words between us to be a fight."

"But they weren't," he pointed out. "I love you, Abby my girl, and that's the important thing."

"I love you, too, Hilary," she whispered quietly. "I always will no matter what." She swallowed, her voice fading for a moment. "And I'm so sorry about your men. We had no warning, the attack came out of nowhere."

"At least you made it," Becker said. "I think my men would agree that as long as someone survived, they didn't die in vain."

"I had to hold on until I could see you again and make sure you knew that I loved you and that our fight should never have happened."

"I know you love me, Abby. I'll never not know that."

When Abby felt herself secured to Becker, she let her head drop to rest against his chest. "Thank god for that."

"Just relax," he said softly. "You'll be out of here in a minute and then we can get you home."

Stephen wrapped the end of the rope several times around a tree and then a boulder before he leaned back and started slowly pulling the two people out of the underground cave. He had been shining a light down in an attempt to see Abby, so when he saw that Becker had her securely attached to him, he worked to bring them to the surface. He was relieved that they had found her, and even more determined that she know how he felt. If she was with him and away from anything having to do with the ARC, she would never be in danger like this again.

Becker was only dimly aware of Stephen's presence, so focused was he on Abby at the moment. "We're out, love. Now we'll get you home and checked out and then you and I are ignoring the world for a week. How's that sound?"

"That sounds like a wonderful plan, love," Abby murmured. There was so much more that she wanted to say. "Think Lester will give us the time off?"

"I'm sure we can convince him."

Abby didn't hear his response as at that moment, she finally lost the battle to stay conscious. Once she knew that Becker was there and that he had forgiven her for the fight, the last of the strength had drained out of her. Her head hit his chest at about the same time that they were standing on solid ground and away from the mouth of the cave.

He took a step back at the impact. "Let's get her home," he said to Stephen. "Now."

Stephen's mouth tightened while he listened to Becker talking to Abby as he was undoing the harness straps. When he saw her collapse against the other man, he reached out to touch her. "Abby!"

"She's unconscious," Becker said caustically. "Guess you won't be professing your love for her until later."

"Shut up, you bloody idiot," Stephen snapped. "We have to get her stabilized and radio for assistance. It's dark and we can't risk trying to carry her up the cliff and all of the way to the anomaly site with nothing but flashlights."

"So stop hovering and start radioing."

Stephen glared at him, but grabbed his radio. In quick fashion he told the teams that they had found Abby. He then told them that they were camping for the night and would be bringing her to the anomaly site the next morning. "Get out the next time it opens and let Professor Cutter know that she's been found."

Becker was doing his damnedest to not focus on Abby as much as he wanted to, but it was difficult.

Stephen took a second blanket out of the packs and spread it out on the ground.

"Lay her on this and we can use it as a stretcher to get her up the cliff and back to the caves we were in earlier. It will be easier than you trying to get up the cliff face with her in your arms."

Becker knelt slowly, laying Abby down on the blanket carefully.

Stephen watched, trying not to be impatient. As much as he wanted to grab Abby and run, he knew that putting her on the blanket like this would be much easier on whatever injuries she might have. When they got to the cave, he could do an inventory of what had been hurt and try to stabilize her condition until they could get her home.

Becker hated feeling like he didn't know what to do, hated feeling like he was out of his element, but Abby had always had a way of completely unnerving him in all the best ways. Only this wasn't all the best ways, it was one of the worst.

"Becker," Stephen snapped. "Pull yourself together and help me get her to the caves. If we don't get her there so I can check her out this whole thing is going to have to have been for nothing." He hated thinking like that, but snapping at Becker kept him from losing his grip at seeing how battered Abby looked.

Part of him wanted to snap right back, but part of him was grateful for the shock to get him going again. "Right," he said with a sharp nod. "Let's go, then."

"Did she have the chance to tell you what happened?" He asked as they started up the cliff, being careful to try to find a path that would jostle their patient the least amount.

"She said they were attacked by a rhinoceros. It sent her flying, apparently."

"Oh god. If she hit her head, that could account for the blindness." Stephen was trying not to let himself start shaking. If she had gone flying and landed in the cave, there could be internal damage and bleeding. "Not to mention dehydration for being down there for a little more than a week."

"Stop thinking about it," Becker said. "Until we can get her to camp and work on getting her stabilized, stop thinking about it. The important thing is that we have her and that we can focus on getting her the help she needs."

"Part of my job is wilderness triage, Becker. This definitely falls under that heading."

Becker didn't say anything else; trying to help just wasn't working. And trying to encourage Stephen certainly wasn't working, either. Why did he keep trying?

They finally managed to get up the cliff with their precious patient and when they got to the caves, Stephen moved them further into the back than they had been before.

"She'll be less likely to attract predators from back here -- especially if we're between her and the opening of the cave." He explained. "We need to make her a pallet of some kind. Something with a little more comfort and that will protect her from the coldness of the ground."

"So what can we use?" Becker asked.

"Are there any other blankets in the other packs or any cloth at all? Leaves could also be used with the blankets between them and her body."

Becker made a swift check of the other packs. "Two more blankets," he reported after a moment.

"Good. Fold them in half and then half again. That should help her body be comfortable while we work on... oh shit." Stephen shook his head. "I think her leg is broken and her knee out of joint. We'll need some splints."

It just kept getting worse and worse. Becker folded the blankets to give himself something to worry about for a second besides Abby's physical condition.

After Becker had folded the blankets, Stephen carefully lifted Abby up. He held her close to him for a few moments more than necessary and then lay her down on the makeshift pallet. He smoothed her hair back from her face gently. "You're going to be all right, Abs. I promise. You're going to be all right."

Becker wanted to snarl, to snap at the other man to leave Abby alone, but Stephen hadn't actually said anything wrong. He was being gentle and tender and concerned, and how could Becker argue with that?

The look in Stephen's eyes said he had a pretty good idea what the other man was thinking and he didn't give a damn. He straightened Abby's leg gently, glad that she was unconscious as he tore her pant leg open to examine the injury.

Becker moved closer, still staying well out of the way but being close enough at hand that he could help if Stephen needed it.

"Yeah, her knee is messed up. It's too swollen for it to have just been hit. You're going to have to help me put it back into place and then help me split her leg." He shook his head. "What in the hell did she hit for all of this damage to occur?"

"She said the rhinoceros sent her flying," Becker said. "Could she have smacked it against something and done it that way?" He leaned closer and peered at her shoulder. "Can we shift her a little? Something looks off about her shoulder here."

He was fully expecting Stephen to give him trouble about that, for listening to some instinct.

Stephen didn't argue with him, just did what Becker required.

Becker swore immediately. "Gored in the shoulder," he said, pointing to one wound. "And then those two wounds, that I'm not sure what they are yet. The one on her back looks like it could be a gore wound, but I'm not sure. I don't think so. I think it's probably where it caught her when it sent her flying -- which would explain the knee, if she smashed into something."

Stephen muttered something. "I hate creatures who gore you. The pain goes right through you in a never ending loop."

Becker looked at Stephen in concern at that, before he could stop himself. He shouldn't care about Stephen's pain anymore, but that had caught him by surprise.

"Check her head," Stephen said, not bothering to look at Becker. He was completely focused on assessing Abby's injuries and deciding how to best help her until they could get her to a hospital.

Becker didn't say anything, just did what Stephen said. Concern for Stephen wasn't getting him anywhere, so he'd just focus on his concern for Abby. "Damn it," he said when he drew his hand away from her head. "She's hurt here, too."

"She's so beat up. What the hell happened when that creature gored her," Stephen muttered. "Get bandages out of the med kits. I assume you know how to treat head wounds, Captain?"

"You don't need to treat me like I'm a complete idiot," Becker said as he went for one of the med kits. "And even if my military training had somehow managed to gloss over that fact... you taught me." Because their relationship hadn't been based solely on sex.

"With the way you were just staring at everything, I wasn't sure if you had left your common sense in your other jacket or not," Stephen snapped. He looked back down to where he was moving his hands along Abby's leg. "This is going to hurt, baby, and I'm so sorry for that."

Becker wanted to snap at Stephen for that, probably should have, but he just held it in. Saying anything to Stephen wasn't helping, so he did the only thing he could do. He focused on worrying about Abby.

"Hold her upper arms, Becker. I need to pull her leg to put her knee back into place."

Becker nodded and moved to hold Abby's arms. "I'm so sorry, Abby my girl," he whispered. "I'm so sorry."

Taking a deep breath, Stephen pulled hard on her leg and there was a soft popping noise as the knee was forced back into place.

Becker winced slightly at the sound.

Stephen didn't even look at him as he started wrapping her knee. "I'm never letting this happen to you again, love," he said as he wrapped the knee. He looked around for branches so that he could splint her leg and her arm.

"It's a risk we all run with our job," Becker said as he looked around for branches, finding a couple.

"Which is why I plan to convince her to get away from the ARC with me. All being there does is cause pain. She deserves better."

"Take her away from me and I will ruin you, Hart."

Oh, look. Someone was tired of not fighting back.

Stephen merely raised an eyebrow at him. "I'm not military, so I highly doubt you can do anything ot ruin me, Captain Becker. I'm not an employee of the ARC, so nothing can be done to me there, either."

Becker just smiled slowly. "You forget what my sister does for a living," he said. "Anne could find all sorts of highly inventive ways to make your life a living hell and if you hurt me again, she would gladly do so."

"Oh that's very brave, hiding behind your baby sister," Stephen mocked as he splinted Abby's broken leg.

"Baby sister who's very, very good at exploiting weaknesses," Becker said mildly, actually relaxing now that he was finally speaking his mind.

"I'm sure that it will impress Abby a great deal," Stephen countered as she made sure the splint on her leg was secured.

"About as much as stealing her away from someone she loves will impress her."

"You're just in a panic because you know that you don't stand a chance and I can take her."

"You'd have been in a panic over losing someone you loved, too, if you'd ever run the risk of losing me. Or if you'd ever actually cared."

"We are not talking about our past," Stephen snapped. "We're discussing Abby and her future. With me."

"And her present. With me."

"We need to take off her shirt so I can bandage these wounds from being gored. She could have already started developing an infection in them." Stephen had decided to be dismissive of Becker's comment about the present.

Becker just nodded. "Help me? I can't manage it on my own, not without hurting her."

"She's not going to feel it, Becker, she's unconscious." But he knew where Becker was coming from, so he helped the other man carefully remove the shirt she was wearing. "I have an extra shirt in my bag that we can put on her after we get everything cleaned up. She can't put this back on." Probably because Stephen had pulled a knife and carefully cut away the material that had been forced into the worst of the wounds. His face whitened a little as it caused fresh bleeding. "I'm so sorry about this, baby, I am."

"She can't hear it, she's unconscious." But there was a note of not quite humor in it as he returned the vague dig in what was going to have to pass for a friendly manner.

Between the two of them, they managed to get Abby's shirt off.

"Shut up," he muttered as he started wiping blood away from her shoulder. "God, this one is deep. No wonder she can't use her arm."

"Tell me how I can help." Because if Stephen knew what he was doing, Becker wasn't going to get in the way.

Stephen was focused on taking care of Abby and so he nodded. "I need water so we can rinse this out and I can see how deep the blasted thing gored her. If there's any kind of ointment in the kits, we'll need that, too." He cursed. "Her side is bruised badly, so there could be cracked or broken ribs. Between all of this and her head wound, I'm surprised that she managed to stay conscious for so damn long."

"Because she had hope," was all Becker said before moving off to gather water and search the kits for any kind of ointments that'd help.

And once she knew Becker had found her she had let herself pass out. But Stephen wasn't going to voice that thought.

"If we can make sure gets stabilized and then we get to the anomaly site, we should be able to get her to the hospital before it's too late."

"God, I hope we can," Becker said as he came back with water and ointment. "Thankfully the kit had something. Not sure how good it'll be, but it's something."

Stephen was carefully applying ointment to worst of the wounds when the sky opened up outside the cave.

"Oh you have got to be kidding me!" He cursed. He shook his head. "We can't take her out in that. She's already in danger of infection."

"So we wait it out in hopes that it isn't going to last long and make an alternate plan."

Except the only alternate he could think of was staying there until it ended. Damn it.

"Well, there's nothing to do about it right now. We'll get her taken care of as best as we can and then decide from there."

Becker nodded. As much as he didn't like it, Stephen had a point.

"Did you get me an extra shirt to put on her after she's bandaged up? She has to be kept warm."

"Got it right here."

Stephen nodded and didn't say anything for a few moments as he took care of the most of her wounds. Afetr they were bandaged as best as they could be, Stephen carefully pulled the extra shirt over her head. The shirt wasn't his, but he decided not to poke Becker about it.

"If I hold her, can you clean out the head wounds?"

"Of course." It was said matter-of-factly.

Stephen nodded and cradled Abby's limp body against his, making sure Becker had a clear view of the deep wounds that needed tending.

"It's going to be all right, sweetheart," he murmured. "You're going to be just fine."

Becker was tense as he worked, forcing himself to keep his touch gentle as he cleaned.

Stephen did his best not to hold Abby too close and make Becker even angrier at him, but it was hard not to. She looked so frail.

Becker could understand the need to protect Abby from everything, which was why he did actually force himself to relax during this. He had enough to be tense about without adding that to the mix.

"Okay, there we go," he said as he finished.

Stephen kept himself from double-checking Becker's work by sheer willpower alone and moved so that he could lay Abby gently on the pallet. His fingers brushed her cheek and then he covered her up with the extra blanket.

Becker appreciated the not double-checking his work, even if Stephen didn't realize it.

"So now what?" Becker looked at Stephen. Yes, Becker was in charge, but Stephen was the tracker. Stephen knew this kind of thing.

"We have to wait out this rain. It doesn't look like anything punctured a lung, but I'd rather not have her get pneumonia and then find out that a rib did slice into her like that."

Becker didn't like the thought of that, either.

"Take turns sitting with her, then?"

"Yeah." He took a deep breath and forced the words out. "Why don't you stay with her first."

Becker smiled at that, an actual real smile. "I will. Thank you."

Stephen shrugged and headed to the mouth of the cave with a gun. The last thing he needed to see was Becker holding Abby close to him. He couldn't fault the other man for being worried, but he was the one who she should be being held by.

Becker sat next to Abby, watching her intently. "Hang in there, Abby my girl," he said, touching her face gently. "Just hang in there."

Stephen was very deliberately keeping his back to them and staring into the rain.

After a while, Becker started watching Stephen. As much as he hated the man for leaving him and as much as he hated him for wanting to take Abby away... he couldn't truly hate him. He was trying, though, because hating him was better than the alternative.

"How is she doing?" Stephen called over his shoulder.

"The same, far as I can tell," Becker replied. That wasn't exactly a good thing, but at least she hadn't gotten any worse.

"So the wounds aren't bleeding more? That's a good thing."

"No bleeding," Becker confirmed.

"Thank god. That means we shouldn't attract predators."

Becker just nodded slightly. "So she'll be safe for a while. Well, safe as we can make her."

"No one will get past me to get to her."

"No one will get past either of us," Becker corrected. Because whatever their problems with each other, they knew the other would die for Abby.

"We'll keep her safe and alive."

"Damn right we will."

On that much, they could agree.

"And I tell her that the fight was a misunderstanding."

"What did the two of you fight about, anyway?" Stephen asked, turning slightly to finally look at Becker.

"I'm not even sure how it became a fight," Becker admitted, running a hand over Abby's hair. "I was talking about one thing and she apparently thought I meant something else."

"And it went from there and you couldn't figure out how to fix it without your words making it even worse."

"Pretty much," he agreed, hating that he was talking this out with Stephen of all people. "I wanted to make the relationship more serious because I love her and I worry about her... she somehow got the idea that I wanted to pull away."

"You're good at serious relationships," Stephen said after a moment. "You'd have made it work if you had a chance."

"I still will make it work, Stephen," Becker all but growled. "She's mine and you're not taking her from me."

"Maybe not, but I'm damn well going to try."

Becker stiffened. "You were not just stupid enough to say that to me."

"I don't think of it as being stupid, I think of it as being honest with you."

"I guess that it's a good thing that you're so honest about your plans so I can laugh when Abby turns you down."

"You never know."

"I do know. Unlike some people, Abby is loyal."

"I'm loyal, too. When people deserve it."

"I didn't do a damn thing to deserve what you did, Stephen," Becker bit out. "Not a thing and I'm not about to let you break Abby's heart again. Just leave us alone."

"Goddamn it, Hilary, I left to keep you safe," Stephen snapped. "I left so you wouldn't get killed by someone who wanted to hurt me."

Becker's look was full of disbelief. "Whatever," he said quietly. "I'm not arguing with you, it might upset Abby right now if she hears people fighting."

Stephen decided not to point out that Abby was unconscious. He'd finally gotten to say what he should've said a while ago. He'd take that as enough of a victory for the moment.

Becker was completely focused on Abby right now. The multitude of injuries that she had scared him, as did the fact that she hadn't been able to see anything when he first saw her. "Abby my girl, you have to be okay," he said quietly to her as he stroked her hair. "You just have to."

"She will be," Stephen said quietly. "She's a fighter. She won't let this beat her."






Part Three | Part Five