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!

Professor Nick Cutter sat in his office staring at the phone for a long time. This was a call that he never wanted to make and had in fact promised never to call on business. The person on the other end of the phone would welcome friendship, but wanted nothing more to do with the Anomaly Research Center and the work they did there. Nick had promised that he would keep a strong division between business and their personal friendship.
And now Nick was about to break that promise.
He had no doubts that once he explained the reason for the request he'd be forgiven, but it was getting to that part of the conversation that would be tough.
He sighed, running a hand over his face. It had been a long week. The mapping of the anomalies located at the junction they had discovered had been going well for the past two months. They had sent teams through and they reported back without fail. They were beginning to gather up enough information to create a 3D model of each place in time that they traveled. It had been an unmitigated success.
Until last week.
Until Abby Maitland and her team didn't return.
The rest of the teams had been frantic when Abby never showed up and there was no response to their radio calls. Captain Becker had been forcibly restrained by his men when the decision was made that no one was going after her until they had a way to track her. It was too dangerous.
For now, at least, Abby was considered lost.
Danny, Sarah, Becker and Connor had all been very vocal with their opinions on that ruling from the Minister. Jenny had also had some colorful things to say. The Minister had ordered that one anomaly be locked down and no further expeditions were to go into it. Lester had taken their anger and accusations of betrayal with his usual unflappable demeanor. When the rest of the core team had left his office, he had stopped Cutter.
"Do you know someone that could go in and find her?"
"I do, but you won't like who I call."
"I'm not in the business of making friends, Cutter."
In the last few years, Cutter had learned better. Lester may not show it, but these people here mattered to him and when Abby didn't check in, he had seen worry in the other man's eyes.
This brought him back to the phone he had been staring at for the last half an hour.
There was only one person he knew had the skills to work with Captain Becker. There was only one person he knew he could trust to go in and do whatever needed to be done. If Abby was alive, those two would be able to bring her back home. If she was dead, well, he'd find proof and deal with whatever had killed her.
He supposed that he could call him from his cell, but that would be too much like lying. He wouldn't do that, not when he was already breaking his promise by getting him involved with the ARC again.
It was looking out his office window to see the rest of the team that spurred him to make his final decision. Captain Becker was sitting on the bench with his head in his hands. Connor had his arms wrapped around Sarah, and Danny was talking quietly to Jenny. He didn't think any of them had slept much since Abby's disappearance.
Especially Becker. Abby and Captain Becker thought that they had kept their relationship secret from everyone at work, but those that worked closely with them knew all about it. Of course, Becker losing his control at the anomaly site hadn’t helped to keep the feelings he had for the scientist under wraps. It was now well known that they were involved, but Cutter wouldn’t want to be the person to give either of them grief.
If they got Abby back.
When they got Abby back. Because one way or another, they would get Abby back.
Cutter had vowed a long time ago that he wouldn’t let anyone else lose someone that they loved – and that vow was what was warring with his promise to the person on the other end of the phone line. He remembered feeling what he now saw in the younger man’s eyes. Like it or not, there was only one person that could guarantee them a fighting chance at finding their missing colleague and friend.
There were good and bad reasons to break promises, and he figured that saving someone’s life was a good reason to do so. He hoped that the other man would agree.
Taking a deep breath, he lifted the receiver of his phone and slowly dialed the number.
The ringing went on just long enough to make someone think it wasn't going to be answered before it was, with a breathless, "Hello?"
"Hello, Stephen." Nick's voice was tired. "Is this a bad time?"
"No, not at all," Stephen assured him. "Just walked in the door. What's up, Nick?"
"I need your help."
"With what?" he asked cautiously, warily, praying it wasn't work-related. Well, to Nick's work. It wasn't Stephen's work anymore. And never would be again, if he had his way.
"I hate to ask, Stephen, because I know I promised." He sighed. "I need your help at the ARC."
"No, Nick. I said I was never coming back and I meant it."
"Stephen... it's Abby."
"What about her? If she needs something, she knows she can always call me."
"She's missing."
Stephen went cold at that. "What? When? What was she doing that got her in that situation?" He was already grabbing the keys he'd just dropped on the table.
"Last week," Nick said quietly, running a hand through his hair. "She went through an anomaly a week ago on a routine mapping mission like we've been doing and she never came back. No one has been able to find her or her security team and there's nothing coming through on the radio. The Minister has ordered that one anomaly locked down and no one is allowed to go in after her." He ran a hand through his hair. "I know I promised never to ask you to come back near the place, but the fact of that matter is... you're the best and I don't know how much time she may have left if she's still alive somewhere."
"A week ago? A week ago?" Stephen had bypassed upset and gone straight to angry. "Why didn't you call me a week ago when I would've had an infinitely better chance of finding her? Trails go cold, you sodding idiot!"
"Because I thought we could find her and I wouldn't have to ask you to come here! I led a team and so did my head of security, but we weren't able to turn up anything."
"Damn it, Nick, it's Abby we're talking about," Stephen said as he headed for the front door. "I'd face anything for Abby and you know it. There's no excuse for not calling me sooner."
"I didn't want to have to tell you that we'd lost her." There was sorrow in Nick's voice as he looked out the office window at what was left of his team. "I thought we could find her and you wouldn't even have to know there was trouble."
"It's Abby, you bastard. There are two people in this world that I would want to know if they were in trouble, no matter what. Abby's one of them."
"What do you want me to say, Stephen? I was foolish? I was wrong?"
"If we don't find her, I'm putting blame largely on you. Just so you know." And with that, Stephen hung up and slammed the phone down.
Nick winced at the phone and then settled it back into the cradle. He couldn't blame the other man for being angry at him. He rubbed his eyes.
Stephen was coming.
That was the important thing. Stephen would go through the anomaly and he would find out what happened to Abby -- and hopefully bring her home.
It was also highly unlikely he was getting out of this mess and Stephen's first trip to the ARC in two years without getting punched.
He got up from the desk and walked over to lean against the door frame. Lester had stepped out of his office and he raised an eyebrow.
"He's coming," Nick said quietly.
Lester nodded and then went back into his own office.
"Who's coming?" Danny asked him.
Cutter didn't say anything, but looked at Connor instead.
"You really got him to come back?" Connor asked. "From what he said the last time he was here, I kind of thought it was nigh on impossible for anyone to get him back here."
"It's for Abby, not for me." He sighed. "I'm probably going to get hit for waiting a week to tell him she was missing."
"Yeah, probably," Connor agreed cheerfully -- or at least, as cheerfully as any of them could manage right then.
"Connor? Don't poke at him. I know you've visited with him since he left, but being back here won't be easy for him."
"Who, me?" Connor made an attempt at innocence. "Yeah, not feeling the poking, mate. Got more important things to be worried about."
Cutter nodded. "Becker? If I trust anyone to go with you, it's this guy. He'll watch your back as you'd watch his."
Becker nodded slightly. "Right now, we need all the help we can get if we're going to get her back." And the rest of her team, yes, but he was focused on Abby at the moment.
"Stephen is the best tracker I've ever known -- and I've known a lot of people." Cutter was focused on Abby, too. Mainly because he couldn't bear it if he had to tell anyone that Abby was gone. She had become like a daughter to him and he didn't want to admit that the Minister could be right and that she was lost. "Wherever she is, he'll help you find her."
Because he knew better than to try to keep Becker from going on another search.
"Good." Becker swallowed past the pain in his throat from suppressing tears. "When's he going to be here?"
"Knowing Stephen? Within a half an hour. He and Abby were close friends so he's a bit angry at me right now."
"Good," Becker said again, nodding. "The sooner he gets here, the sooner we can start trying to find her."
And maybe the sooner he'd be holding her in his arms again.
Stephen was refusing to give into the sense of nerves he was feeling as he walked into the building. He hadn't been here in two years, and it still felt like only yesterday in a lot of ways. Only not all of those ways were good ones.
As soon as he'd passed through the entrance, he went in search of Nick. He had a lot of questions and he needed them answered before he was going to be able to find Abby. And he refused to think of it as trying to find her, only actually finding her. Because the alternative was too damn bleak.
He found everyone congregated outside Nick's office, familiar faces and a few not so familiar ones. Nick and Connor, he knew. The worried-looking man and woman, he didn't know. And the last person...
The last person was someone he hadn't seen in two years and had privately suspected he would never see again.
Nick heard Stephen's familiar tread and came around the table that everyone was gather at making plans. He didn't even try to smile at his friend because he was just too tired and worried.
"Stephen," he said, reaching out to hug him. "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it more than you know." He gestured at the rest of the group. "Connor and Jenny, you know. This is Dr. Sarah Page and Danny Quinn. And this is your partner, Captain Becker, head of our security team."
He was going to get hit, wasn't he?
No, but only because Stephen was too busy trying not to stare at Becker. "Captain," he greeted with a slight nod of his head, not wanting to let on to the others that he already knew the man.
"You can trust him, Stephen. He's Abby's bloke." Connor was oh so helpful. Connor also remembered how Abby's heart had been broken by Stephen. "He knows the anomalies."
Oh, this was all some cruel cosmic joke, wasn't it? The man he'd loved was dating the woman he'd never had the courage to truly approach.
"Then I'll do my best to get her back to you," he said to Becker, searching the man's face for any hint of reaction to him.
"Your one good deed every couple of years?" Becker said in a completely even tone of voice.
"I like to think it's a little more often than that," Stephen said, fighting the urge to smile at Becker. The younger man had always been able to make him smile so damn easily.
"Not how I remember it. Let me tell you how it's going to be. Four of my men went with Abby through that anomaly. They had high tech weapons and high tech radios. They were supposed to report back through to the main junction a half an hour after they went in. The last radio transmission was of screams, guns firing and then nothing. That was a week ago. She's been missing since -- as well as four highly trained men that were her security team and back up."
Stephen knew Becker, could see the fear in his eyes that he was trying so hard to mask. He doubted any of the others could see it at the moment. They'd only see the stark professionalism. "So you're saying you're in control, then."
A flash of memory, then -- tangled up in the sheets with Becker, fighting him playfully as the other man pinned him down -- and Stephen was hating his choice of words.
"I'm in control. That's my girl in there and I'm leading the rescue." Becker looked him in the eyes where no one else could see. "If you don't like my orders, you can leave." Oh, Becker had a reaction to him. It just wasn't very friendly.
"If I don't like your orders, I'll say so. Because if you want me to get your girl back, you'll let me do what I've been brought on to do. I won't be difficult about it, and I'll challenge you as civilly as possible, but I will voice my objections if I have them."
Pity this argument wouldn't end like all their others had.
No, no it wouldn't. Becker had a large chip on his shoulder where Stephen was concerned.
"You're the tracker, I'm the heavy guns and know how to track for the military. Don't be a raging jackass and we'll get along just fine." Until they were on the other side of the anomaly.
"I want to get her back just as badly as you do, Captain." And God, did it feel weird to be calling him that. Because he'd always been Hilary to Stephen, never Becker and certainly never his rank.
"Then there will be no problems," Becker said in his best commanding officer voice.
"I'll be good."
Becker muttered something under his breath that no one but Stephen would hear. "I doubt that." He straightened and turned to Danny. "Quinn, you got the plans laid out?"
Danny gave a simple nod. "Everything's ready to go."
"Care to explain to Tracker boy here what all of this entails?"
"Yeah. One team will stay on the outside to guard the anomaly Abby disappeared in. Connor will be there so he can open and close the anomaly down at an exact time and for an exact time. Sarah will be out at the junction, moving amongst them so that she can open and close the decoy anomalies in order to give Stephen and Becker as much time as possible inside the suspect anomaly." Danny frowned. "We can only keep the anomaly open for five minutes at a time, but we will keep opening it every half hour in an attempt to make sure you have a way back out of it."
Stephen frowned thoughtfully as he listened. It didn't sound like a perfect plan, but it was what they had. And contrary to what Becker thought of him, he wasn't going to cause any trouble. He wanted Abby back, too. He'd do whatever it took, even if that meant working with his ex.
"When do we go?"
"Two hours," Cutter said. " Long enough for both of you to grab a quick sleep because you're going to need it."
Stephen just nodded. "Two hours it is, then."
"Two hours of rest, Captain Becker."
"Fine. Two hours."
Stephen looked at Becker a moment before looking at Cutter. "Just point me somewhere I can crash and I'm good to go."
"I have the couch in my office. You can crash there." Cutter waited until everyone else had wandered away to do what they were supposed to do. When they were alone, he looked at Stephen. "I know that Becker is being a hard ass right now, but try to give him some slack. He loves Abby just as much as you do. He hand picked those men to go with her."
How could he explain to Nick that that wasn't what was weighing on him? At least, not entirely. He couldn't. So he just sighed and nodded. "He's a good man. I know."
"He is a good man. Unfortunately, he was also the first man on the scene when Abby didn't return, so he's a little abrasive with people not on the main team right now." He gave Stephen a curious look. "You know him?"
Stephen laughed bitterly. "Oh, yeah, I know him."
It didn't take Cutter long to put two and two together. After all, he had known Stephen for a good many years. "Hell. Captain Becker was the one when Helen showed back up... the one you were with when you started noticing Abby."
"Yeah." Stephen nodded. "And the one I left without so much as a goodbye."
"Damn it, Stephen, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have called you if I had realized. It was just that it's Abby and I know how you feel about her." He shook his head. "I would never have put you in this situation."
"It's all right," Stephen said with a casual shrug he didn't at all feel. "Abby's more important. But don't expect me to stick around once we get her back here."
"I wouldn't ask that of you," Cutter said with sorrow in his eyes. "I shouldn't have called you."
"It's all right, Nick," Stephen said gently. "I meant it. Abby's more important than the fact that my ex is involved with her. I want her back just as much as anybody."
"What a mess," Nick murmured, sitting at his desk. "Well, at least I can be assured that the two of you won't kill each other until you get back. You have a common goal right now. Unlike when Danny and another man went on a different mapping mission."
"Kill each other, no. Spend the entire time digging at each other's hurts and pains, yes."
"I wouldn't expect anything less. You're men," Cutter said dryly. "According to the girls, we're predisposed to that sort of behavior."
"And he has reason to dig at me," Stephen said with a shrug and a sad smile. "I didn't handle things well at all, especially with him. Left him without a goodbye... in the middle of the night, no less." Not that Nick needed details about his sex life, but still.
Cutter winced. "Ouch."
"I walked away from it all, Nick. I walked away from it all and went right to him. Because he always knew how to make everything in my life make sense. But I couldn't stay. So in the middle of the night, I slipped out of his flat and out of his life."
"Not that it's any of my business, but why couldn't you stay?" Cutter let out a breath. "That couldn't have been easy for you, but it does explain a few things about him and Abby."
"I was scared," Stephen admitted. "And I didn't want to put him at risk, either. If Helen could hurt you guys, she could find out about him and hurt him. I wasn't going to do that to him. I loved him too much for that."
"Helen was very good at finding the weak spot and then attacking it like a bloody raptor." He looked at Stephen seriously. "And you never spoke to him again after that?"
Stephen shook his head. "I didn't," he said. "I wanted to, so many times, but I didn't."
"When Lester first hired him, he was very stiff and no nonsense about his work and keeping the team safe. He knew there was danger and he was determined to keep all of us in one piece. Then Abby scared the hell out of him."
"What'd she do?" he asked curiously.
"You mean besides being Abby and taking risks for the creatures?" Cutter said, shaking his head. "There was an incident with a Dracorex -- who is now in the menagerie. She came through an anomaly with a lance in her side. The knight who injured her also followed. Abby wouldn't let the knight hurt the Dracorex and was willing to die to protect the damn thing. The knight held a sword on Abby's throat and she still refused to get out of the way. Becker wasn't sure if he could risk shooting the man because Sarah said it could mess up time lines."
"That... is so very Abby," Stephen said after a moment. "God, I've missed her." He hadn't talked to many of the team since he'd left.
"She's missed you, too, Stephen. She talks about you sometimes and there's a look in her eyes when she does. She asks about you." He held up a hand. "I know that she can call you at anytime, but I think she took that to mean if she was in trouble or needed help. She didn't want to be a bad memory of the life you were trying to get away from."
"Oh, God." Stephen groaned. "When we get her back, I'll have to make sure she knows that's not the case." Of course, when they got her back, he was damn well going to make sure she knew how he felt, Becker be damned.
Cutter had no doubts there was going to end up being a fist fight between Stephen and Becker over Abby and he was staying out of that one. He knew how his friend had felt about Abby before he walked away and it was obvious that those feelings had only become stronger in the time he had been separated from her. He also knew how Becker felt about Abby. If you add the fact that Becker was Stephen's ex...
"Stephen, I want you to be careful. Everyone keeps telling us that there is no way Abby could still be alive out there after what we heard on the radio transmission."
"Abby's stubborn," Stephen said. "She's a fighter. And if she loves Becker, then she would fight like bloody hell to survive so she could get back to him. I'll find her."
"I have no doubt that she would fight. She's become more of a fighter in the last two years and has even insisted on teaching Connor. What I'm saying is that if she hasn't come back by now, then that means she's injured." Because right now that was the only explanation he was accepting in his mind. "We don't know what might have injured her so you need to keep your eyes on everything."
"I know how to do my job, Nick."
"I'm not implying anything different," Nick sighed. "I just don't want to lose you both."
"You're not going to lose me," Stephen promised. "And I"m going to do my damn best to make sure we don't lose Abby, either."
"I would never have let her go through if I thought something like this could happen. We've been mapping the junction for a couple of months and nothing ever went wrong besides some minor issues." He rubbed his face. "But this was a new one and all of the other teams were already busy. Abby was adamant. She had some of the best trained men on her team and she said that there was nothing about the readings from this anomaly that said it would be any dangerous than the others."
"Don't blame yourself," Stephen said gently. "It could've been any of the teams. Yes, it was Abby's, and that's horrible luck. But it could have been any of the teams that went missing. Focusing on the worry will get you nowhere, Nick. You have to just trust that Becker and I will be able to bring her home."
"I shouldn't have let her go, though. I knew that she and Becker had a fight that morning and she wasn't as calm as she usually was on a site. But it was Abby and how could I say no?" Because god knew he had often used work as a way to deal with being upset.
"They fought?" And that would be Stephen growling.
"They did. I heard them, but I don't know what it was about. I didn't ask." He sighed. "Maybe I should have. But he went off to lead his team and Abby was wanting to take her team in, as well."
"Oh, he is damn well going to explain that to me," Stephen grumbled under his breath.
Cutter knew better than to comment on that.
"You should get some rest. You don't know how long this rescue mission might take." Not that he thought Stephen would sleep, not when it was Abby missing, but he could at least make the pretense.
"I'll try, at least," Stephen said with a sad smile.
"I know." Cutter smiled faintly and turned the lights down before he left Stephen alone in his office.

Part Two
Author:
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
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
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)

Professor Nick Cutter sat in his office staring at the phone for a long time. This was a call that he never wanted to make and had in fact promised never to call on business. The person on the other end of the phone would welcome friendship, but wanted nothing more to do with the Anomaly Research Center and the work they did there. Nick had promised that he would keep a strong division between business and their personal friendship.
And now Nick was about to break that promise.
He had no doubts that once he explained the reason for the request he'd be forgiven, but it was getting to that part of the conversation that would be tough.
He sighed, running a hand over his face. It had been a long week. The mapping of the anomalies located at the junction they had discovered had been going well for the past two months. They had sent teams through and they reported back without fail. They were beginning to gather up enough information to create a 3D model of each place in time that they traveled. It had been an unmitigated success.
Until last week.
Until Abby Maitland and her team didn't return.
The rest of the teams had been frantic when Abby never showed up and there was no response to their radio calls. Captain Becker had been forcibly restrained by his men when the decision was made that no one was going after her until they had a way to track her. It was too dangerous.
For now, at least, Abby was considered lost.
Danny, Sarah, Becker and Connor had all been very vocal with their opinions on that ruling from the Minister. Jenny had also had some colorful things to say. The Minister had ordered that one anomaly be locked down and no further expeditions were to go into it. Lester had taken their anger and accusations of betrayal with his usual unflappable demeanor. When the rest of the core team had left his office, he had stopped Cutter.
"Do you know someone that could go in and find her?"
"I do, but you won't like who I call."
"I'm not in the business of making friends, Cutter."
In the last few years, Cutter had learned better. Lester may not show it, but these people here mattered to him and when Abby didn't check in, he had seen worry in the other man's eyes.
This brought him back to the phone he had been staring at for the last half an hour.
There was only one person he knew had the skills to work with Captain Becker. There was only one person he knew he could trust to go in and do whatever needed to be done. If Abby was alive, those two would be able to bring her back home. If she was dead, well, he'd find proof and deal with whatever had killed her.
He supposed that he could call him from his cell, but that would be too much like lying. He wouldn't do that, not when he was already breaking his promise by getting him involved with the ARC again.
It was looking out his office window to see the rest of the team that spurred him to make his final decision. Captain Becker was sitting on the bench with his head in his hands. Connor had his arms wrapped around Sarah, and Danny was talking quietly to Jenny. He didn't think any of them had slept much since Abby's disappearance.
Especially Becker. Abby and Captain Becker thought that they had kept their relationship secret from everyone at work, but those that worked closely with them knew all about it. Of course, Becker losing his control at the anomaly site hadn’t helped to keep the feelings he had for the scientist under wraps. It was now well known that they were involved, but Cutter wouldn’t want to be the person to give either of them grief.
If they got Abby back.
When they got Abby back. Because one way or another, they would get Abby back.
Cutter had vowed a long time ago that he wouldn’t let anyone else lose someone that they loved – and that vow was what was warring with his promise to the person on the other end of the phone line. He remembered feeling what he now saw in the younger man’s eyes. Like it or not, there was only one person that could guarantee them a fighting chance at finding their missing colleague and friend.
There were good and bad reasons to break promises, and he figured that saving someone’s life was a good reason to do so. He hoped that the other man would agree.
Taking a deep breath, he lifted the receiver of his phone and slowly dialed the number.
The ringing went on just long enough to make someone think it wasn't going to be answered before it was, with a breathless, "Hello?"
"Hello, Stephen." Nick's voice was tired. "Is this a bad time?"
"No, not at all," Stephen assured him. "Just walked in the door. What's up, Nick?"
"I need your help."
"With what?" he asked cautiously, warily, praying it wasn't work-related. Well, to Nick's work. It wasn't Stephen's work anymore. And never would be again, if he had his way.
"I hate to ask, Stephen, because I know I promised." He sighed. "I need your help at the ARC."
"No, Nick. I said I was never coming back and I meant it."
"Stephen... it's Abby."
"What about her? If she needs something, she knows she can always call me."
"She's missing."
Stephen went cold at that. "What? When? What was she doing that got her in that situation?" He was already grabbing the keys he'd just dropped on the table.
"Last week," Nick said quietly, running a hand through his hair. "She went through an anomaly a week ago on a routine mapping mission like we've been doing and she never came back. No one has been able to find her or her security team and there's nothing coming through on the radio. The Minister has ordered that one anomaly locked down and no one is allowed to go in after her." He ran a hand through his hair. "I know I promised never to ask you to come back near the place, but the fact of that matter is... you're the best and I don't know how much time she may have left if she's still alive somewhere."
"A week ago? A week ago?" Stephen had bypassed upset and gone straight to angry. "Why didn't you call me a week ago when I would've had an infinitely better chance of finding her? Trails go cold, you sodding idiot!"
"Because I thought we could find her and I wouldn't have to ask you to come here! I led a team and so did my head of security, but we weren't able to turn up anything."
"Damn it, Nick, it's Abby we're talking about," Stephen said as he headed for the front door. "I'd face anything for Abby and you know it. There's no excuse for not calling me sooner."
"I didn't want to have to tell you that we'd lost her." There was sorrow in Nick's voice as he looked out the office window at what was left of his team. "I thought we could find her and you wouldn't even have to know there was trouble."
"It's Abby, you bastard. There are two people in this world that I would want to know if they were in trouble, no matter what. Abby's one of them."
"What do you want me to say, Stephen? I was foolish? I was wrong?"
"If we don't find her, I'm putting blame largely on you. Just so you know." And with that, Stephen hung up and slammed the phone down.
Nick winced at the phone and then settled it back into the cradle. He couldn't blame the other man for being angry at him. He rubbed his eyes.
Stephen was coming.
That was the important thing. Stephen would go through the anomaly and he would find out what happened to Abby -- and hopefully bring her home.
It was also highly unlikely he was getting out of this mess and Stephen's first trip to the ARC in two years without getting punched.
He got up from the desk and walked over to lean against the door frame. Lester had stepped out of his office and he raised an eyebrow.
"He's coming," Nick said quietly.
Lester nodded and then went back into his own office.
"Who's coming?" Danny asked him.
Cutter didn't say anything, but looked at Connor instead.
"You really got him to come back?" Connor asked. "From what he said the last time he was here, I kind of thought it was nigh on impossible for anyone to get him back here."
"It's for Abby, not for me." He sighed. "I'm probably going to get hit for waiting a week to tell him she was missing."
"Yeah, probably," Connor agreed cheerfully -- or at least, as cheerfully as any of them could manage right then.
"Connor? Don't poke at him. I know you've visited with him since he left, but being back here won't be easy for him."
"Who, me?" Connor made an attempt at innocence. "Yeah, not feeling the poking, mate. Got more important things to be worried about."
Cutter nodded. "Becker? If I trust anyone to go with you, it's this guy. He'll watch your back as you'd watch his."
Becker nodded slightly. "Right now, we need all the help we can get if we're going to get her back." And the rest of her team, yes, but he was focused on Abby at the moment.
"Stephen is the best tracker I've ever known -- and I've known a lot of people." Cutter was focused on Abby, too. Mainly because he couldn't bear it if he had to tell anyone that Abby was gone. She had become like a daughter to him and he didn't want to admit that the Minister could be right and that she was lost. "Wherever she is, he'll help you find her."
Because he knew better than to try to keep Becker from going on another search.
"Good." Becker swallowed past the pain in his throat from suppressing tears. "When's he going to be here?"
"Knowing Stephen? Within a half an hour. He and Abby were close friends so he's a bit angry at me right now."
"Good," Becker said again, nodding. "The sooner he gets here, the sooner we can start trying to find her."
And maybe the sooner he'd be holding her in his arms again.
Stephen was refusing to give into the sense of nerves he was feeling as he walked into the building. He hadn't been here in two years, and it still felt like only yesterday in a lot of ways. Only not all of those ways were good ones.
As soon as he'd passed through the entrance, he went in search of Nick. He had a lot of questions and he needed them answered before he was going to be able to find Abby. And he refused to think of it as trying to find her, only actually finding her. Because the alternative was too damn bleak.
He found everyone congregated outside Nick's office, familiar faces and a few not so familiar ones. Nick and Connor, he knew. The worried-looking man and woman, he didn't know. And the last person...
The last person was someone he hadn't seen in two years and had privately suspected he would never see again.
Nick heard Stephen's familiar tread and came around the table that everyone was gather at making plans. He didn't even try to smile at his friend because he was just too tired and worried.
"Stephen," he said, reaching out to hug him. "Thank you for coming. I appreciate it more than you know." He gestured at the rest of the group. "Connor and Jenny, you know. This is Dr. Sarah Page and Danny Quinn. And this is your partner, Captain Becker, head of our security team."
He was going to get hit, wasn't he?
No, but only because Stephen was too busy trying not to stare at Becker. "Captain," he greeted with a slight nod of his head, not wanting to let on to the others that he already knew the man.
"You can trust him, Stephen. He's Abby's bloke." Connor was oh so helpful. Connor also remembered how Abby's heart had been broken by Stephen. "He knows the anomalies."
Oh, this was all some cruel cosmic joke, wasn't it? The man he'd loved was dating the woman he'd never had the courage to truly approach.
"Then I'll do my best to get her back to you," he said to Becker, searching the man's face for any hint of reaction to him.
"Your one good deed every couple of years?" Becker said in a completely even tone of voice.
"I like to think it's a little more often than that," Stephen said, fighting the urge to smile at Becker. The younger man had always been able to make him smile so damn easily.
"Not how I remember it. Let me tell you how it's going to be. Four of my men went with Abby through that anomaly. They had high tech weapons and high tech radios. They were supposed to report back through to the main junction a half an hour after they went in. The last radio transmission was of screams, guns firing and then nothing. That was a week ago. She's been missing since -- as well as four highly trained men that were her security team and back up."
Stephen knew Becker, could see the fear in his eyes that he was trying so hard to mask. He doubted any of the others could see it at the moment. They'd only see the stark professionalism. "So you're saying you're in control, then."
A flash of memory, then -- tangled up in the sheets with Becker, fighting him playfully as the other man pinned him down -- and Stephen was hating his choice of words.
"I'm in control. That's my girl in there and I'm leading the rescue." Becker looked him in the eyes where no one else could see. "If you don't like my orders, you can leave." Oh, Becker had a reaction to him. It just wasn't very friendly.
"If I don't like your orders, I'll say so. Because if you want me to get your girl back, you'll let me do what I've been brought on to do. I won't be difficult about it, and I'll challenge you as civilly as possible, but I will voice my objections if I have them."
Pity this argument wouldn't end like all their others had.
No, no it wouldn't. Becker had a large chip on his shoulder where Stephen was concerned.
"You're the tracker, I'm the heavy guns and know how to track for the military. Don't be a raging jackass and we'll get along just fine." Until they were on the other side of the anomaly.
"I want to get her back just as badly as you do, Captain." And God, did it feel weird to be calling him that. Because he'd always been Hilary to Stephen, never Becker and certainly never his rank.
"Then there will be no problems," Becker said in his best commanding officer voice.
"I'll be good."
Becker muttered something under his breath that no one but Stephen would hear. "I doubt that." He straightened and turned to Danny. "Quinn, you got the plans laid out?"
Danny gave a simple nod. "Everything's ready to go."
"Care to explain to Tracker boy here what all of this entails?"
"Yeah. One team will stay on the outside to guard the anomaly Abby disappeared in. Connor will be there so he can open and close the anomaly down at an exact time and for an exact time. Sarah will be out at the junction, moving amongst them so that she can open and close the decoy anomalies in order to give Stephen and Becker as much time as possible inside the suspect anomaly." Danny frowned. "We can only keep the anomaly open for five minutes at a time, but we will keep opening it every half hour in an attempt to make sure you have a way back out of it."
Stephen frowned thoughtfully as he listened. It didn't sound like a perfect plan, but it was what they had. And contrary to what Becker thought of him, he wasn't going to cause any trouble. He wanted Abby back, too. He'd do whatever it took, even if that meant working with his ex.
"When do we go?"
"Two hours," Cutter said. " Long enough for both of you to grab a quick sleep because you're going to need it."
Stephen just nodded. "Two hours it is, then."
"Two hours of rest, Captain Becker."
"Fine. Two hours."
Stephen looked at Becker a moment before looking at Cutter. "Just point me somewhere I can crash and I'm good to go."
"I have the couch in my office. You can crash there." Cutter waited until everyone else had wandered away to do what they were supposed to do. When they were alone, he looked at Stephen. "I know that Becker is being a hard ass right now, but try to give him some slack. He loves Abby just as much as you do. He hand picked those men to go with her."
How could he explain to Nick that that wasn't what was weighing on him? At least, not entirely. He couldn't. So he just sighed and nodded. "He's a good man. I know."
"He is a good man. Unfortunately, he was also the first man on the scene when Abby didn't return, so he's a little abrasive with people not on the main team right now." He gave Stephen a curious look. "You know him?"
Stephen laughed bitterly. "Oh, yeah, I know him."
It didn't take Cutter long to put two and two together. After all, he had known Stephen for a good many years. "Hell. Captain Becker was the one when Helen showed back up... the one you were with when you started noticing Abby."
"Yeah." Stephen nodded. "And the one I left without so much as a goodbye."
"Damn it, Stephen, I'm sorry. I wouldn't have called you if I had realized. It was just that it's Abby and I know how you feel about her." He shook his head. "I would never have put you in this situation."
"It's all right," Stephen said with a casual shrug he didn't at all feel. "Abby's more important. But don't expect me to stick around once we get her back here."
"I wouldn't ask that of you," Cutter said with sorrow in his eyes. "I shouldn't have called you."
"It's all right, Nick," Stephen said gently. "I meant it. Abby's more important than the fact that my ex is involved with her. I want her back just as much as anybody."
"What a mess," Nick murmured, sitting at his desk. "Well, at least I can be assured that the two of you won't kill each other until you get back. You have a common goal right now. Unlike when Danny and another man went on a different mapping mission."
"Kill each other, no. Spend the entire time digging at each other's hurts and pains, yes."
"I wouldn't expect anything less. You're men," Cutter said dryly. "According to the girls, we're predisposed to that sort of behavior."
"And he has reason to dig at me," Stephen said with a shrug and a sad smile. "I didn't handle things well at all, especially with him. Left him without a goodbye... in the middle of the night, no less." Not that Nick needed details about his sex life, but still.
Cutter winced. "Ouch."
"I walked away from it all, Nick. I walked away from it all and went right to him. Because he always knew how to make everything in my life make sense. But I couldn't stay. So in the middle of the night, I slipped out of his flat and out of his life."
"Not that it's any of my business, but why couldn't you stay?" Cutter let out a breath. "That couldn't have been easy for you, but it does explain a few things about him and Abby."
"I was scared," Stephen admitted. "And I didn't want to put him at risk, either. If Helen could hurt you guys, she could find out about him and hurt him. I wasn't going to do that to him. I loved him too much for that."
"Helen was very good at finding the weak spot and then attacking it like a bloody raptor." He looked at Stephen seriously. "And you never spoke to him again after that?"
Stephen shook his head. "I didn't," he said. "I wanted to, so many times, but I didn't."
"When Lester first hired him, he was very stiff and no nonsense about his work and keeping the team safe. He knew there was danger and he was determined to keep all of us in one piece. Then Abby scared the hell out of him."
"What'd she do?" he asked curiously.
"You mean besides being Abby and taking risks for the creatures?" Cutter said, shaking his head. "There was an incident with a Dracorex -- who is now in the menagerie. She came through an anomaly with a lance in her side. The knight who injured her also followed. Abby wouldn't let the knight hurt the Dracorex and was willing to die to protect the damn thing. The knight held a sword on Abby's throat and she still refused to get out of the way. Becker wasn't sure if he could risk shooting the man because Sarah said it could mess up time lines."
"That... is so very Abby," Stephen said after a moment. "God, I've missed her." He hadn't talked to many of the team since he'd left.
"She's missed you, too, Stephen. She talks about you sometimes and there's a look in her eyes when she does. She asks about you." He held up a hand. "I know that she can call you at anytime, but I think she took that to mean if she was in trouble or needed help. She didn't want to be a bad memory of the life you were trying to get away from."
"Oh, God." Stephen groaned. "When we get her back, I'll have to make sure she knows that's not the case." Of course, when they got her back, he was damn well going to make sure she knew how he felt, Becker be damned.
Cutter had no doubts there was going to end up being a fist fight between Stephen and Becker over Abby and he was staying out of that one. He knew how his friend had felt about Abby before he walked away and it was obvious that those feelings had only become stronger in the time he had been separated from her. He also knew how Becker felt about Abby. If you add the fact that Becker was Stephen's ex...
"Stephen, I want you to be careful. Everyone keeps telling us that there is no way Abby could still be alive out there after what we heard on the radio transmission."
"Abby's stubborn," Stephen said. "She's a fighter. And if she loves Becker, then she would fight like bloody hell to survive so she could get back to him. I'll find her."
"I have no doubt that she would fight. She's become more of a fighter in the last two years and has even insisted on teaching Connor. What I'm saying is that if she hasn't come back by now, then that means she's injured." Because right now that was the only explanation he was accepting in his mind. "We don't know what might have injured her so you need to keep your eyes on everything."
"I know how to do my job, Nick."
"I'm not implying anything different," Nick sighed. "I just don't want to lose you both."
"You're not going to lose me," Stephen promised. "And I"m going to do my damn best to make sure we don't lose Abby, either."
"I would never have let her go through if I thought something like this could happen. We've been mapping the junction for a couple of months and nothing ever went wrong besides some minor issues." He rubbed his face. "But this was a new one and all of the other teams were already busy. Abby was adamant. She had some of the best trained men on her team and she said that there was nothing about the readings from this anomaly that said it would be any dangerous than the others."
"Don't blame yourself," Stephen said gently. "It could've been any of the teams. Yes, it was Abby's, and that's horrible luck. But it could have been any of the teams that went missing. Focusing on the worry will get you nowhere, Nick. You have to just trust that Becker and I will be able to bring her home."
"I shouldn't have let her go, though. I knew that she and Becker had a fight that morning and she wasn't as calm as she usually was on a site. But it was Abby and how could I say no?" Because god knew he had often used work as a way to deal with being upset.
"They fought?" And that would be Stephen growling.
"They did. I heard them, but I don't know what it was about. I didn't ask." He sighed. "Maybe I should have. But he went off to lead his team and Abby was wanting to take her team in, as well."
"Oh, he is damn well going to explain that to me," Stephen grumbled under his breath.
Cutter knew better than to comment on that.
"You should get some rest. You don't know how long this rescue mission might take." Not that he thought Stephen would sleep, not when it was Abby missing, but he could at least make the pretense.
"I'll try, at least," Stephen said with a sad smile.
"I know." Cutter smiled faintly and turned the lights down before he left Stephen alone in his office.

Part Two
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject
no subject