"This sure would be easier if we had some guns right about now don't you think?"

"Is this really the time for that Nick?"

Refusing to take his eyes off the raptor trying to circle around them, Nick just let out a loud snort. "Was before really the time to get distracted ogling a college student and let him steal our guns?"

He wasn't sure what hurt more, that Stephen allowed Connor to ambush them and take their guns (after 'accidentally' tranquilizing him) or that Connor had attacked his own team and taken their guns in the first place.

"To be fair he wasn't ogling Connor," Abby corrected from between where he and Stephen were shielding her with pool cues, the small blonde struggling to reload the jammed rifle.

Swinging the pool cue when his raptor got to close, Nick snorted again when he heard Stephen agreeing with the blonde. "Oh if I know Stephen, which I thought I did, he'll sleep with anything that so much as looks at him," he snapped, swinging a third time and managing to clip the raptor on the tip of its nose.

"I didn't sleep with you," Stephen shot back.

"Not like you didn't try," Nick couldn't help but mutter.

"Oh come on! Is this really the time?" Abby interrupted, "Break!"

Nick stepping away from Stephen with a scowl, he swung wildly at the raptor and held it back as a bright orange dart appeared in its neck, Abby cheering behind him.

"A little help here Abby!" Stephen shouted, Nick turning and seeing that the other man's raptor was getting a little too close and personal with the tracker's arms, the man keeping them barely out of reach of jagged snarling teeth.

Moving forward to help, Nick stepped back in fear as the raptor's head snapped around and it caught the pool cue in its mouth, tearing it from the Professor's grip and crunching it in half in one easy movement. Stephen's pool cue quickly joining it on the floor after his former best friend shattered it over the back of the raptor's head, Nick swallowed nervously as the raptor ignored his two teammates and instead started after him.

He didn't wait to see what it wanted, instead turning and sprinting away as the raptor hissed behind him.

He wasn't going to make it. There was no way that he could escape a raptor when it was this close to him. It was going to sink its teeth into his neck and tear his throat out right in front of Stephen and Abby, neither of whom would be able to stop it in time.

As the raptor slammed into his back and tackled him to the floor, Nick found himself realising a hard truth. He forgave Stephen. He couldn't blame Stephen when he was just as easily fooled by Helen as all the other men she'd cheated on him with. And why wasn't the raptor eating him already?

Opening his eyes slowly, Nick blinked in shock at the raptor muzzle leaning over his shoulder and lying on the cold tiled floor, tongue sticking out of its mouth as it lay there breathing slowly with something orange flashing just outside of his vision.

"Oh yeah, I'm awesome. Oh yeah, I'm awesome. Oh yeah, I'm awesome".

Unable to help himself, Nick burst into (only slightly) hysterical laughter at the sight of Connor standing there with two of their stolen handgun doing some weird little shuffling dance, the man happily singing "Oh yeah, I'm awesome" as Stephen and Abby rolled the raptor off him.

Oh yeah… he definitely missed Connor.

"Oh hello!"

"Connor, you are aware that that's a man-eating raptor right?"

"It's not man-eating," Connor corrected automatically, "There aren't any men around for it to eat".

Sighing, Nick shook his head slowly as he watched his once-teammate gently pet the baby raptor in his arms. "When it wakes up and bites your hand off, I'm not going to dissect it so you can have it back".

"Oh you're a good friend ain't ya?" Connor muttered, "Some team leader you are. At least Jack cares about his team's health. He used a resurrection glove to bring Owen back to life, but you won't even cut up a dinosaur to get my measly hand back!"

Looking to Stephen and Abby for help, Nick could only sigh again when they both shrugged at him, none of them apparently understanding that reference.

"So Connor, if you ever wanted to re-join civilisation, there's a paying job waiting for you at the A.R.C on my team," Nick declared, deciding to just dive straight into it before Connor could turn him down.

"Why would I want to re-join civilisation?"

"Because uh, well…"

Dammit.

"You have a way with words, Professor," Connor deadpanned, watching as Stephen and Abby vanished into the anomaly with the raptors on the carts. "No wonder you attended all your classes".

Actually he stopped attending his classes because they were always filled with barely legal girls who wore low-cut tops and fluttered their eyelids at him, not because of any difficulty speaking in front of people. But whatever, it wasn't like that mattered to Connor either way.

"You'll have a home, friends, and a job doing what you love," the Professor tried hopefully. "You'd be on my team out here in the field, and you'd be able to work on making official versions of your little anomaly detector – which would be patented in your name".

"Thanks, but no thanks Professor," Connor refused again, standing up as Stephen and Abby dragged the cart back through the anomaly and gave them the all's clear. "I have a life in the past".

"But you've got to be lonely!" Abby blurted.

Connor just shrugged, putting on what Nick immediately recognised as his tough-guy face. "Considering that the last person I met in the past tried to kill me and take my stuff, I'm okay with being alone".

"But".

"I should go," Connor interrupted, looking at the anomaly, "I want to be long gone before the raptors wake up. So thanks for the job offer, Professor, but…"

Trailing off as he shrugged again, Connor just hefted the baby raptor up onto his shoulder and started towards the anomaly, Nick reaching out to grab Abby's arm as she tried to run after him.

"It's his choice," he whispered to the confused-looking blonde as they watched Connor go.

And then the anomaly closed.

"You know, Professor," Connor began casually as he blinked between the team and the missing anomaly, "I think I'll take that job after all".

ON THE OTHER SIDE

And yay! The A.R.C team are back together again like they should be! I hoped you enjoyed this story (which I can't believe I wrote in only four hours). Let me know if you'd like to see any more Primeval stories, because I'm a fan and would like to write more.

ON THE OTHER SIDE