God's Primeval

“Oh he’s just a man. He thinks he’s not like every man out there but he so is.” Rose rolled her eyes at the thought, sometimes he could be such a typical man and it drove her crazy. At the moment he drove her crazy 99% of the time.

“I mean I’ve said we’re going back to human names now and —- well we’ve talked about Donna a lot.” She said quietly and looked at her stomach. “It’s a long story. But it would be — well she’s the reason for everything.” Rose murmured as she thought about the fiery redhead that had done so much for them. She knew what Donna’s fate was and it broke her heart to think of.

“Every man thinks he’s not like every other man out there, but most are.” Abby scoffed, rolling her eyes, “Connor’s better than most, but he is smothering me a little bit these days.”

Connor had plenty of similar feelings, but he’d been diving headfirst into every single thing thrown at him since their return. Anything to get back to work or some chance at normalcy. He wasn’t letting himself stop to think about much else, so when they’d offered the job somewhere else, he’d taken it— it wasn’t home, it wasn’t normal, but he could still throw himself into the work. He wasn’t sure working at ARC would have been much better, considering the change in staff and leadership. No Cutter… no Danny… just new faces. Well, besides a couple.

While sorting through some things— new things, things they’d have to get used to until they could afford their own things— he’d glanced over to Abby at the window. While he didn’t stop to think, she certainly was. At her question, he wandered over to a spot beside her. “—I don’t think there was any other option.”

“No, I guess there wasn’t.” She admitted quietly. There were, of course, other options. There always were. She could have stayed in London, Lester had offered her a place running the menagerie again, or she could have left completely, walked away from the anomalies and dinosaurs and tried to start over, but neither of those felt feasible. Not if it meant being without Connor. He was, after all, the last familiar comfort she had left. The last of the original field team. After a moment, she continued, “I’m going to miss Becker, though. I might even miss Lester.”

It was really hard not to when he made that face at her. He looked like a puppy that had been forced into one of those ridiculous costumes that you saw stuffed in lady’s purses. But the costume in question was a tux. And the problem was not the sizing ( which was very nice indeed ) but the poorly done up tie that looked like a child trying to imitate their father. Jess had seen her own father wear bow ties on many occasions and had grown used to helping him straighten or tie them over the years. 

She bit her lip to try and keep the smile that was beginning to crinkle her eyes from growing. Mirth showed through her eyes as she tried to reel herself back in from enjoying his anguish.  

“ Not even for Matt and Emily? ”

It was definitely understood by now that they were a forever couple; no matter how often they would bicker. It was simply a matter of would Matt ever propose and would Emily accept being married again after her last unfortunate marriage.

“Here,” she said, stepping forward and batting his hand away. “Let me. You’ll actually choke yourself if you keep that up.” 

Her fingers deftly unknotted his tie. Readjusting the lengths on either side she glanced up at him before feeling a blush start to creep over her face. His face was closer than she’d thought. Clearing her throat she began to work again.

“It’s a bit easier when you can see it.”

[ @godsmuses ]

“No.” He replied quickly, his face turning more sour the more she struggled to hide her smile. Then he thought and sighed and conceded, “Okay... perhaps for Matt and Emily, if they asked very, very nicely. But Matt would definitely let me wear my dress uniform instead of this outrageous penguin suit. At least in that I don’t need anyone else to fuss with my tie for me.”

He could understand why Abby and Connor wanted a tux instead. The military was already an overbearing presence in their work life, they hardly wanted that in their wedding photos as well, but understanding didn’t make it any more comfortable for him.

The Doctor was looking at him and he sighed “Well it’s not that simple as have to have passed classes in regards to TARDISES and be qualified. Technically you’re supposed to have a license. I sort of failed there and I ended up stealing this one.” he admitted. He though soon had a big grin on his face. “Don’t need classes anyway, I do things my way.” “Though normally TARDISes are better flown with 6 pilots, But I make do and I fly fine.” He sometimes wasn’t aware he wasn’t the best when it came to the TARDIS. He chuckled and he smiled. “Yeah I suppose so.” he was always happy to show new friends the inside his ship.

“Heh, that sounds a little like me. I like to find me own way of doing things, too. I’ve never nicked a time machine without a license, though. Obviously.” He chuckled, “Mind you, I did once borrow one of my foster mum’s cars. Got in a good deal of trouble for that. Can’t remember why I did it, actually... stupid teenager impulses, I guess.”

Oh. Miss, was it? He was adorable.

“ Or perhaps it is above your clearance, Captain. Is that going to be a problem ? ”

She arched a brow at him, a mildly amused expression crossing over her features.

“ I thought not. ” 

The urge to reach out and just pat his cheek was strong. Especially when he didn’t shake her hand. She wondered how long it had taken him to grow that stubble. 

She was pulled back to the conversation as he corrected her on his name. If there was one thing people learned about her it was that she did not like being told what not to do. It just made something more appealing to her. It also made her a tad more mischievous. 

“ Well, I prefer Anthea, ” she informed him with a shrug. “ Parents also tend to like me. And I have been told that my soul is in need of a priest. So I don’t mind. They all sound like interesting company. ”

Hilary it was. She made a mental note.

“No, I suppose it won’t be considering how highly recommended you are by such powerful people.” He conceded, though his tight expression made it clear that he wasn’t thrilled about it. People with powerful friends and no last names tended to top his list of people to keep a close eye on, especially since the recent losses to the team, and she was definitely proving worthy of that list.

“Well, Anthea,” He allowed himself a short, sharp, humorousness laugh, at her comments, “I assure you that they are all entirely unworthy of your time unless you enjoy the company of small minded, hateful hypocrites.”

“Oh it doesn’t work he’s number one on the planet for talking. Coming up with a compromise is impossible. Thankfully I know ways of getting him to shut up, but usually it involves taking clothes off and that’s too much effort right now. I’m like a beached whale.” She commented with a sigh.

“We’ve literally got a couple of weeks to think of a name. Look at you! You’ve got longer than me to go and you’ve got your name all sorted.” Rose rambled with a sigh. “We know it’s a girl, there was no way he was accepting any more surprises.”

“Well, he should be careful because I am number one on the planet for having access to velociraptors.” She chuckled, “Well, that’ll shut any man up. It is good to know he’s not a complete alien, though.”

“Do you want me to come mediate.” She joked, “You know, I’ve been told i’m quite good at putting the boys in their place.”

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to snap, I just…” Alex let her voice fade out as she listens to Abby, “Hm. Yeah, well, you haven’t heard him talk about it. Oh, Christ, I have to tell Lester too, doctor says I can’t do field work anymore.” Alex pulled at one of her fingers in an attempt to take her mind off it.

“The screws never went all the way back in. You’d probably have to rope Jess into helping, but you know how she’s a bit on edge about the creatures.”

“Alex, it’s fine.” Abby assured her, sighing slightly, “Well... I guess there’s no real way of knowing how he’ll react until you tell him. Speculating will only make you feel worse. You’re right, you should tell Lester, though, so he can take you off of active duty. I waited way too long with Nikki, I didn’t want to give up field work until I absolutely have to so I waiting until I was showing and I don’t know if Connor has ever gotten over the stress of it all.”

Rose exhaled as she listened to her best friend rambling away. She knew this kind of life story from start to finish. Having those feelings for someone and never expressing them, fearing that you wouldn’t hear those three words back. Boy did she knew that feeling well.

“I was in a lot of life and death situations. And I mean every single day give or take. There was never a random ‘I love you’ there. When I thought I’d never see him again? Yeah it —“ She hesitates for a moment and anxiously played with the key on her necklace chain. “Yeah you say it then. Not because you worry it’s what they want to hear but because you have that gut fear in you that you’ll never see them again. They don’t come out of nowhere. You don’t tell someone a lie if you think you’re about to die. If you think you’re literally about to let go of them. Trust me.” She sighed and twiddled her thumbs of her keyboard to keep herself distracted.

“One day you’re going to have to tell me all about your old adventures.” She requested, forcing a half smile like she was trying to cheer herself up, though it quickly fell back into a fretful look.

The Doctor was looking at him. “Something like that, But we don’t have other schools and start young,” he explained. The time lord was leaning on the wall of the TARDIS. “I didn’t actually pass all my classes and I struggled a lot. But I didn’t learn well by being taught, I learned better by doing.” “Ahh well I’d rather avoid home, my people are stuck up and they don’t much like the way I do things. Plus if I go home there are too many responsibilities. I find earth very interesting.” 

“So you go to Time Lord school your whole life and then they let you have a time machine and you get to just... do whatever you want? Within reason, I mean, there must be rules, right?” Even with rules, that sounded like a pretty sweet gig, Connor could already list a hundred things he’d want to see if he had the ability.

She can feel his presence before he even says anything. Her eyes barely even look up when the coffee appears. Though she knew that tone of voice she chose to ignore it; or rather not to turn and look at him because he would then be able to convince her to take a break. And she couldn’t do that. Not right now.

“ I’m fine, Becker, ” she said as she continued to type.

The sound of typing fills the silence as he stands beside her.  She can feel the disapproval coming off of him.  Finishing her current task she lets out a sigh, leaning forward to retrieve the drink he’d brought her. Taking a drink she finally turns to him as if proving she is taking a ( small ) break.

“ Thank you, ” she finally says after nearly gulping down a third of the drink. Though she doesn’t want to admit it, she had really needed that. 

Slumping back in her chair she turns the chair to face him. It almost swallows her.

“ I’m almost done, “ she promises, fingers curled around her cup.

“You’re not fine, you’ve been here for almost eleven hours.” He scowled, “I know it’s been a busy day, but surely there’s someone else who could take over for a little while.”

He knew, of course, that there was little chance of actually talking her into stopping, so he huffed and took “his spot” leaning against the corner of her desk, sipping his own coffee.

Finally.

Since its creation, the Government’s PA had shown an interest in the project known as the A.R.C. . It had always been a highlight to read Lester’s status updates before they were sent on to Mycroft The Minister. 

With the retirement of Jenny Lewis…or Claudia Brown? She was still unsure on all that. There had been an opening at the ARC. She hadn’t been much on ( there were no impending wars ) so Mycroft had agreed a holiday would be acceptable. Her holiday, of course, had come in the form of more work. If it was anything else she might have complained but she’d always been interested in the ARC . She supposed there was still a little girl somewhere inside of her that was excited by the idea of dragons. ( And yes, she knew they were dinosaurs not dragons. )

So here she found herself standing at the security check waiting to be escorted up to her new office. Typing up a last text to Mycroft she looked up at her name.

“ That’s because I didn’t give one. ”

Extending a hand to the dark haired man she took in his appearance. Anthea had reviewed all the personnel files on her way over this morning. This had to be the Captain. So they were bringing out the heavy guns ( pun possibly intended ) already.

“ Hilary, was it? ”

“You didn’t?” Becker raised an eyebrow at that, perhaps there was a reason he’d been asked to do this that didn’t include his “pretty” face. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust her, after all she came highly recommended by the minister himself, but, well, it was his job to be at least a little suspicious of everyone and given their recent loss... well he didn’t want another Nick Cutter on his watch. “You know, Miss, that makes it sound like you have something to hide.”

Welcoming new employees was not something that usually fell under Becker’s job description, but Lester had requested that he handle Jenny’s replacement personally. He had protested, of course, he was head of security, not a tour guide, but it had been insisted that they wanted to put their best foot forward in this case and Becker brought a professionalism and charm to the situation that some of his co-workers lacked. The word charm had confused him as there were certainly more charismatic and diplomatic people employed at the ARC, but Abby had heavily implied that what it really meant in this case was that he was generally regarded as being fairly... pretty.

“Of course it’s bloody Becker’s, I just haven’t told him yet. He’s never wanted kids, Abby. Gonna have to tell him soon though, he’s starting to notice things. I’m close to turning into a football, he just thinks I’ve been eating a lot.” more words spilled out than Alex would have liked. You just said you didn’t want to talk about it, why are you talking about it? “I’m just…I’m just scared he’s going to be mad.” Alex shook her head and gave Abby a small smile. 

“I think a cuddle would be nice. And, you know, there’s always the vents if you want to smuggle them out. I sneak in to visit Princess through the vents when I’ve forgotten my card.”

“Alright, alright, I had to ask.” She raised her hands defensively, “Look, though, lots of people think they don’t want kids until they’re faced with actually having them and then they change their minds. I never wanted kids. I never wanted to risk turning into my mother. But when I found out about Nikki... well it changed things for me. Especially since she was Connor’s. Becker might be the same way, you never know.”

The Doctor was looking at him and he chuckled “Well most time lords do have TARDISes but I am different than most and this TARDIS is considered obsolete by them. But she isn’t to me,.” he didn’t care if she was an older model. He still thought his TARDIS was the best. “Its a rank, sometimes referred to as my species, But not all Gallifreyan get to become time lords. They have to go to the academy for one to earn it,” He nodded and he smiled “Yes she is too an extent in some ways,” he was glad that Connor was excited and enjoying what he was being told.

“Oh, yeah, that makes sense.” Connor nodded, “Like university, right? I was at university before we discovered the anomalies, Professor Cutter, Stephen, and I, that is. I was going to be a paleontologist, but I guess I kind of dropped out, though. Didn’t really have time for classes with all that’s been going on.”