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"New Tracks" by Aelfgyfu
PARTS: 20 plus epilogue
RATING: FRT (fan-rated teen: violence, occasional bad language)
CATEGORIES: Drama, angst, hurt/discomfort, some humour; AU, fix-it
SUMMARY: Noel Miller tries to find his place on Nick Cutter's team; Stephen Hart tries to find his way back onto the team; and Nick has to deal with them, creatures from the past, and his own stubbornness.
SPOILERS: Everything through 2.07 and my own story "Fresh Scars"
WARNINGS: Some tasteless humour, some medical detail
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Many thanks to Brilliant Husband (![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
dudethemath), kristen_mara, and lukadreaming, all of whom acted as betas and made many helpful suggestions and corrections. All remaining errors, infelicities, and poor judgement are my own.
DISCLAIMER: Primeval and its characters are owned by Impossible Pictures, ITV Productions, M6 Films, Pro 7, and possibly other entities I couldn't easily find on IMDb. No copyright infringement is intended, and indeed the story probably won't make sense unless you've watched. So watch the show, buy the DVDs, etc. I do not profit from fic except insofar as comments make me happy.
Additional notes and links to all posted parts at this story's launch page
Part 20
Thanks for all your patience, and especially for the lovely comments!
Two weeks later, Stephen slid into his seat at the morning meeting a little late, pushing towards Lester the papers that Devi had sent with him.
"Note from the headmaster's office?" Lester asked as he reached for them.
"Note from my doctor." Stephen couldn't help smirking.
That of course meant the end of whatever they'd been discussing up to that point as nearly everyone in the room tried to ask Stephen questions at the same time. He smiled and waited for Lester to talk.
"Well, good," Lester said after he'd finished flipping through the pages. "Back to the item—"
"What did she say?" Abby spoke right over the end of Lester's sentence, and she even drowned out Connor's attempt to talk.
"Well, Lester's got the paperwork...."
Lester simply glared until everyone fell silent. "Dr Jacobs has certified Stephen to carry weapons again, and Dr Gupta has concurred."
"Why did we need her to concur?" grumbled Cutter.
Connor began, "But when do you get to—"
Lester raised his voice this time: "If I could finish?"
While it might be fun to watch Lester explode, his friends were obviously getting frustrated, so Stephen took over. "I... erm... lost some ground on that... outing." He could usually speak about it now without blaming himself, though he still tended to tread lightly around the topic. "But I'm now back to where I was before it, and Devi says she'll—"
"Umm, so it's Devi now," Abby said in an undertone, then looked about quickly when she realised people had turned to look at her. "Sorry."
"She'll probably allow me to return to fieldwork in another two weeks, but only with strict limits. No going through anomalies. No situations where I'm likely to have to run flat out."
"But isn't that all of them?" Connor asked in alarm.
"The dodos did not require running flat out," Lester assisted.
Connor looked at the table. Brilliant, Lester, Stephen thought. Lester hadn't known the team well enough then to realise how Tom's death had affected Connor.
Stephen explained, "Things like getting hadrosaurs back through an anomaly, tracking in situations that don't represent an immediate danger.... She'll put limits on how long I can be in the field. But I'm finishing the physiotherapy at the clinic, probably next week. Then I won't have days where I'm already tired before something goes wrong." He would have to keep doing exercises on his own for a while, but that wouldn't be a problem.
"That's great news!" Jenny's voice rose above the others'.
"I'm still on restricted work hours. I'm not supposed to run." He didn't need mention that he'd already started working a little running back into his own routine. "Oh, and she has specifically banned climbing, of all things."
"What, like rock climbing?" Connor asked.
Stephen nodded.
"If you're not through an anomaly, why would you be rock climbing in the first place?" Miller looked as confused about that stipulation as Stephen felt.
"Because she knows he won't follow orders but hopes he won't break two at once?" Cutter suggested with a hint of a smile.
"I wonder where on earth he might have learned that sort of professional behaviour?" Lester wasn't exactly keeping the meeting on track himself.
More questions and chatter and even congratulations followed before Lester got well and truly indignant and threatened to make them all do a first-aid course again. That quieted the room.
"As I was saying." Lester checked his watch. "Jensen's audit checks out clean. We could find no connections to Helen, no funds unaccounted for, only a little sloppy bookkeeping that we're making sure he'll remedy."
Stephen had missed something. "We audited him?"
"The government audited him," Lester said with a tight smile. "At my request, but that's not for him to know. We were looking for signs of any extra income or expenses, in case he had a little side project with Helen, but we found nothing of the kind."
"Isn't that a little paranoid?" Stephen asked.
"Helen's still up to something. We can't be too paranoid," Cutter said forcefully.
Lester nodded. "And apparently he had the nerve to tell the auditors his work was too important for such an interruption. They didn't like that, so they requested more documentation than even they had any use for." Lester looked very smug.
"That'll teach him to try to poach my assistant," Cutter muttered. He looked pleased too.
"For the moment, we have no leads on Helen, but how many people here think we won't see her again?" Lester looked around the table, causing everyone else to look around. "That's what I thought.
"So, back to business. We are apparently now supplying Doctor Jacobs with so much employment that we're setting up an office for him here, a half-time post."
Cutter started studying his notes so suddenly and intently that Stephen realised he must finally have gone to the psychiatrist. He'd never said anything about seeing Jacobs. Well, Stephen was never going to tell Nick everything about his life, so he wouldn't complain about Nick. At least not today.
He'd wait until the right occasion arose to tease him about it, though he'd better pick his times very carefully.
"It will save people taking long lunch hours or leaving early, it will save mileage, and maybe you can save all the energy you've each been spending pretending you have a sudden urgent errand that does not involve a mental health professional." Lester smiled at Stephen. "Except for Mr Hart, of course."
"Because everyone already knows my business," Stephen answered.
"And if you ever actually learn to keep your business apart from the rest of your life, maybe that will change."
"You have a rest of your life?" Jenny asked in mock surprise. "Can you tell me how to get one?"
The look on Lester's face grew even more sour; he hated other people being funny when he was around. He did manage to pull them back on topic, yielding the floor a few minutes later to Henrietta on the necropsies and then Miller on better search patterns. Robinson was present, but he wasn't saying anything, and Miller seemed to take care not to look at Robinson. Connor had told Stephen that Noel had been upset about the search pattern the captain had them use, and apparently word had got further than that.
Miller was right, of course. He seemed to know the job better than Robinson did, and they'd had Robinson almost since Ryan died. Captain Robinson didn't seem cut out for this kind of work. He wasn't good at improvising or changing plans.
Lester went further and said they'd be bringing Jacobs in on cases where civilians had become involved, to counsel those who had seen too much. Stephen could hardly believe it. He thought they were pretty much leaving those people to sink or swim on their own. Apparently, they wouldn't do that anymore.
The meeting finally ended and those not on the immediate team drifted away, but not without Jenny and Henrietta stopping to congratulate Stephen.
"I can't believe I'm happy to hear that someone is allowed to carry guns again," Henrietta said with a smile, "but better you than some of those military idiots."
Stephen gave Miller a look over the vet's head. "Have I just been insulted, or have you?"
"Neither of you," Henrietta said with a sigh. "But... stick to the tranqs as much as you can, please?"
Jenny offered less pointed remarks before she left.
"So?" Connor said when only five of them remained in the room. "Star Trek night tonight to celebrate?"
He looked honestly bewildered at the noises Cutter made. "What?"
"How about a team dinner instead?" Cutter suggested. As Stephen, Connor, and Abby nodded, he asked Miller directly, "You can come?"
Miller hesitated a moment. "Sure," he said. "I'll give my wife a ring, tell her I'll be home a little late tonight."
"Good!" Cutter clapped a hand on Stephen's shoulder. "Now as long as we don't get a call...."
Both Abby and Connor groaned loudly.
"Well, that's jinxed it," Miller said quietly to Stephen. He held out his hand. "Well, welcome back." Then he started to pull his hand back. "Wait, I'm not really the one who—"
Stephen interrupted him by taking his hand and shaking it. "Did anyone even think to welcome you to the team?"
"Hey! I did!" Of course Abby had.
Connor and Cutter looked at each other and then away.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised." Stephen smiled. "It's not yet, remember. Devi—Dr Gupta—" He realised the correction only made Abby's eye-roll worse, not better and started again. "The doctor still has to give final approval, and she won't even examine me again for another two weeks."
"Yeah, but if she said you'll probably be back in two weeks, you'll definitely be back," Connor said, enthusiasm once again overriding caution or even sense. "And then we'll have two trackers! How cool is that?"
Lester stuck his head back in the door. "Don't you people have work to do?" He made shooing motions. "Do it!"
"Oh, that reminds me—Stephen, can you look over my latest report before I send it in to Lester?" Cutter asked.
"The one that was due last week?" Stephen tried to frown but couldn't pull it off. He simply felt too good.
They left the room, Connor and Abby already arguing about dinner, Miller hanging back and apparently enjoying the spectacle. Stephen went to read Nick's report. He might not be back to his old self again, but then, his new self had some advantages. Most importantly, he still had a place on the team.
FIN
PARTS: 20 plus epilogue
RATING: FRT (fan-rated teen: violence, occasional bad language)
CATEGORIES: Drama, angst, hurt/discomfort, some humour; AU, fix-it
SUMMARY: Noel Miller tries to find his place on Nick Cutter's team; Stephen Hart tries to find his way back onto the team; and Nick has to deal with them, creatures from the past, and his own stubbornness.
SPOILERS: Everything through 2.07 and my own story "Fresh Scars"
WARNINGS: Some tasteless humour, some medical detail
AUTHOR'S NOTES: Many thanks to Brilliant Husband (
dudethemath), kristen_mara, and lukadreaming, all of whom acted as betas and made many helpful suggestions and corrections. All remaining errors, infelicities, and poor judgement are my own.DISCLAIMER: Primeval and its characters are owned by Impossible Pictures, ITV Productions, M6 Films, Pro 7, and possibly other entities I couldn't easily find on IMDb. No copyright infringement is intended, and indeed the story probably won't make sense unless you've watched. So watch the show, buy the DVDs, etc. I do not profit from fic except insofar as comments make me happy.
Additional notes and links to all posted parts at this story's launch page
Part 20
Thanks for all your patience, and especially for the lovely comments!
Two weeks later, Stephen slid into his seat at the morning meeting a little late, pushing towards Lester the papers that Devi had sent with him.
"Note from the headmaster's office?" Lester asked as he reached for them.
"Note from my doctor." Stephen couldn't help smirking.
That of course meant the end of whatever they'd been discussing up to that point as nearly everyone in the room tried to ask Stephen questions at the same time. He smiled and waited for Lester to talk.
"Well, good," Lester said after he'd finished flipping through the pages. "Back to the item—"
"What did she say?" Abby spoke right over the end of Lester's sentence, and she even drowned out Connor's attempt to talk.
"Well, Lester's got the paperwork...."
Lester simply glared until everyone fell silent. "Dr Jacobs has certified Stephen to carry weapons again, and Dr Gupta has concurred."
"Why did we need her to concur?" grumbled Cutter.
Connor began, "But when do you get to—"
Lester raised his voice this time: "If I could finish?"
While it might be fun to watch Lester explode, his friends were obviously getting frustrated, so Stephen took over. "I... erm... lost some ground on that... outing." He could usually speak about it now without blaming himself, though he still tended to tread lightly around the topic. "But I'm now back to where I was before it, and Devi says she'll—"
"Umm, so it's Devi now," Abby said in an undertone, then looked about quickly when she realised people had turned to look at her. "Sorry."
"She'll probably allow me to return to fieldwork in another two weeks, but only with strict limits. No going through anomalies. No situations where I'm likely to have to run flat out."
"But isn't that all of them?" Connor asked in alarm.
"The dodos did not require running flat out," Lester assisted.
Connor looked at the table. Brilliant, Lester, Stephen thought. Lester hadn't known the team well enough then to realise how Tom's death had affected Connor.
Stephen explained, "Things like getting hadrosaurs back through an anomaly, tracking in situations that don't represent an immediate danger.... She'll put limits on how long I can be in the field. But I'm finishing the physiotherapy at the clinic, probably next week. Then I won't have days where I'm already tired before something goes wrong." He would have to keep doing exercises on his own for a while, but that wouldn't be a problem.
"That's great news!" Jenny's voice rose above the others'.
"I'm still on restricted work hours. I'm not supposed to run." He didn't need mention that he'd already started working a little running back into his own routine. "Oh, and she has specifically banned climbing, of all things."
"What, like rock climbing?" Connor asked.
Stephen nodded.
"If you're not through an anomaly, why would you be rock climbing in the first place?" Miller looked as confused about that stipulation as Stephen felt.
"Because she knows he won't follow orders but hopes he won't break two at once?" Cutter suggested with a hint of a smile.
"I wonder where on earth he might have learned that sort of professional behaviour?" Lester wasn't exactly keeping the meeting on track himself.
More questions and chatter and even congratulations followed before Lester got well and truly indignant and threatened to make them all do a first-aid course again. That quieted the room.
"As I was saying." Lester checked his watch. "Jensen's audit checks out clean. We could find no connections to Helen, no funds unaccounted for, only a little sloppy bookkeeping that we're making sure he'll remedy."
Stephen had missed something. "We audited him?"
"The government audited him," Lester said with a tight smile. "At my request, but that's not for him to know. We were looking for signs of any extra income or expenses, in case he had a little side project with Helen, but we found nothing of the kind."
"Isn't that a little paranoid?" Stephen asked.
"Helen's still up to something. We can't be too paranoid," Cutter said forcefully.
Lester nodded. "And apparently he had the nerve to tell the auditors his work was too important for such an interruption. They didn't like that, so they requested more documentation than even they had any use for." Lester looked very smug.
"That'll teach him to try to poach my assistant," Cutter muttered. He looked pleased too.
"For the moment, we have no leads on Helen, but how many people here think we won't see her again?" Lester looked around the table, causing everyone else to look around. "That's what I thought.
"So, back to business. We are apparently now supplying Doctor Jacobs with so much employment that we're setting up an office for him here, a half-time post."
Cutter started studying his notes so suddenly and intently that Stephen realised he must finally have gone to the psychiatrist. He'd never said anything about seeing Jacobs. Well, Stephen was never going to tell Nick everything about his life, so he wouldn't complain about Nick. At least not today.
He'd wait until the right occasion arose to tease him about it, though he'd better pick his times very carefully.
"It will save people taking long lunch hours or leaving early, it will save mileage, and maybe you can save all the energy you've each been spending pretending you have a sudden urgent errand that does not involve a mental health professional." Lester smiled at Stephen. "Except for Mr Hart, of course."
"Because everyone already knows my business," Stephen answered.
"And if you ever actually learn to keep your business apart from the rest of your life, maybe that will change."
"You have a rest of your life?" Jenny asked in mock surprise. "Can you tell me how to get one?"
The look on Lester's face grew even more sour; he hated other people being funny when he was around. He did manage to pull them back on topic, yielding the floor a few minutes later to Henrietta on the necropsies and then Miller on better search patterns. Robinson was present, but he wasn't saying anything, and Miller seemed to take care not to look at Robinson. Connor had told Stephen that Noel had been upset about the search pattern the captain had them use, and apparently word had got further than that.
Miller was right, of course. He seemed to know the job better than Robinson did, and they'd had Robinson almost since Ryan died. Captain Robinson didn't seem cut out for this kind of work. He wasn't good at improvising or changing plans.
Lester went further and said they'd be bringing Jacobs in on cases where civilians had become involved, to counsel those who had seen too much. Stephen could hardly believe it. He thought they were pretty much leaving those people to sink or swim on their own. Apparently, they wouldn't do that anymore.
The meeting finally ended and those not on the immediate team drifted away, but not without Jenny and Henrietta stopping to congratulate Stephen.
"I can't believe I'm happy to hear that someone is allowed to carry guns again," Henrietta said with a smile, "but better you than some of those military idiots."
Stephen gave Miller a look over the vet's head. "Have I just been insulted, or have you?"
"Neither of you," Henrietta said with a sigh. "But... stick to the tranqs as much as you can, please?"
Jenny offered less pointed remarks before she left.
"So?" Connor said when only five of them remained in the room. "Star Trek night tonight to celebrate?"
He looked honestly bewildered at the noises Cutter made. "What?"
"How about a team dinner instead?" Cutter suggested. As Stephen, Connor, and Abby nodded, he asked Miller directly, "You can come?"
Miller hesitated a moment. "Sure," he said. "I'll give my wife a ring, tell her I'll be home a little late tonight."
"Good!" Cutter clapped a hand on Stephen's shoulder. "Now as long as we don't get a call...."
Both Abby and Connor groaned loudly.
"Well, that's jinxed it," Miller said quietly to Stephen. He held out his hand. "Well, welcome back." Then he started to pull his hand back. "Wait, I'm not really the one who—"
Stephen interrupted him by taking his hand and shaking it. "Did anyone even think to welcome you to the team?"
"Hey! I did!" Of course Abby had.
Connor and Cutter looked at each other and then away.
"Yeah, I'm not surprised." Stephen smiled. "It's not yet, remember. Devi—Dr Gupta—" He realised the correction only made Abby's eye-roll worse, not better and started again. "The doctor still has to give final approval, and she won't even examine me again for another two weeks."
"Yeah, but if she said you'll probably be back in two weeks, you'll definitely be back," Connor said, enthusiasm once again overriding caution or even sense. "And then we'll have two trackers! How cool is that?"
Lester stuck his head back in the door. "Don't you people have work to do?" He made shooing motions. "Do it!"
"Oh, that reminds me—Stephen, can you look over my latest report before I send it in to Lester?" Cutter asked.
"The one that was due last week?" Stephen tried to frown but couldn't pull it off. He simply felt too good.
They left the room, Connor and Abby already arguing about dinner, Miller hanging back and apparently enjoying the spectacle. Stephen went to read Nick's report. He might not be back to his old self again, but then, his new self had some advantages. Most importantly, he still had a place on the team.
FIN
