Connor was haunted, he was sure of it. Not haunted by memories, no, there was a ghost that followed him around. The worst part was the fact that it wasn't just an ordinary ghost, it wasn't one he was terrified of, it wasn't something he wanted to kill. It was Cutter.

The first time he had ever seen the ghost, was a day after the death of him. Lester had given everyone a day off to put themselves back together, to mourn, or to relax. Connor spent most of the day crying, staring off into space, and sleeping. At twelve in the morning, he woke with a scream. He was sweating and shaking profusely.

He saw a figure sitting on the end of the couch and he had tried to scream, but he was silenced by what he saw. It wasn't a stranger, it wasn't scary, it was Cutter. For a moment, Connor questioned whether everything had just been a bad nightmare, but he realized, Cutter would never be in his flat at midnight. Ever.

"Cutter?" Connor whispered, furrowed brows, fear creeping into his body. The man didn't say anything, he only smiled and faded away. It wasn't a devious smile, it wasn't threatening, it wasn't even mildly scary. In fact, it was a friendly smile, a nice, welcoming, warm smile. But that almost made it worse in Connor's eyes, it was the most terrifying thing at the moment because he knew…he knew, Cutter was dead. He had carried that man outside of a burning building and they were sure as hell going to bury him in just a few days. Logically, he screamed again, making Abby run out of her room, worried for him.

"Con, what's wrong?" She questioned groggily.
"He—-he—-he was there, Abby!" He stuttered, tears falling from his face, as his shaking hand pointed to the spot where Cutter had sat. Or at least, he swore the professor sat there just a minute ago.
"Who was there?" She looked at where he was pointing, completely confused.
"Cut—-Cutter." Connor claimed, his chest heaving. "I—I swear, he was there, he smiled at me."
"You were traumatized, Connor, maybe you're having hallucinations. He wasn't there, I promise you, he died." Abby bit her bottom lip, her eyes filling with mist. She definitely didn't like uttering those words, but she had to stay strong for Connor. She had to stay strong for everyone.
"But…Abby—-" He shook his head, but immediately he got a finger on his lips and he knew it was time to shut up.
"Do you want to sleep in my room or do you want me to stay out here with you? I don't mind either way," She suggested.
"Just—-want you here with me…" He sighed, feeling Abby's arms wrap around him, holding him tightly, it didn't seem as if she was going to let go. That was a good thing, he needed someone to hold him right now.
"Okay, okay, calm down…calm down," She stroked his head gently, a practice that Abby had learned when her brother was young and couldn't sleep. "It's okay, it will be okay…promise," She reassured, leaning up to kiss his head. "We've always made it, we always will…"

It wasn't long before he lied his head on her lap and fell asleep, trying to forget the image of the man that had sat in front of him. Abby stayed up all night making sure he stayed asleep, trying to calm every nightmare he came across.

Connor was working in the ARC the next time he came across Cutter. He was absolutely exhausted, but he insisted on continuing his work. He had to keep working. It was all he had to hold onto, it was all he knew, it cleared his mind, it was helping him. Besides, if he finished this device…well, maybe, just maybe, he would prevent anyone else from dying. He was tired of his friends dying, absolutely tired of it.

Then he heard a noise and suddenly, he was freezing. Curious, he looked up from his papers and let out a gasp. He was back, Cutter was back, and he was smiling a soft smile, seemingly entranced by the way Connor was working. Connor wanted to scream, he wanted to run, he wanted this all to be real. But it couldn't be real, he was going mad, he was seeing hallucinations, Cutter was dead.

Finally, he decided to speak up. "Cu—-Cutter?" He whimpered, looking as the mirage nodded. Why wasn't he speaking, why wasn't he doing anything, why was he here? "I—-I miss you," Connor forced out of his mouth, seeing the face of his old professor frown, almost as if he was sad that he could possibly be missed. Then the door swung open and Cutter was gone just as quickly as he came. "No! No! Don't go!" He begged.

"Connor?" Sarah asked, daring to step into his office. "Who are you talking to?"
"…No one." Connor sighed, running his fingers through his hair. "Absolutely, positively, no one…"
"Okay," She smiled as politely as she could. "Well, you're exhausted and probably really hungry, not to mention the fact that you haven't been home in two days…maybe it's time you stopped working for a bit?"
"I can't stop now, Sarah!" He shouted, he had certainly been irritable and testy these days. Almost bitter, completely unlike himself. "This will save lives, don't you understand? I have to do this!"
"I understand completely, of course I do…but—-everyone thinks you really need to get some sleep and maybe take a bit of a break."
"What I need is not sleep. What I need is to be alone, no one stops pestering me! I'm alright, okay?"
"Right, of course. I'm sorry, Connor." She had to give up, she'd never seen Connor like this and she could only guess, no one else had either. She would probably send Abby to drag him out of his office in twenty minutes. "I'll be going now, I'm sure you're doing great."

Just as soon as Sarah left, was when Cutter appeared again. Connor practically shot a glare towards him, but realized he couldn't. He could never be mad at Cutter, not that mad, at least. His old professor was shaking his head, silently scolding the boy with his eyes.

"Cutter, why are you doing this to me? Why?" He pleaded, but when Cutter's mouth opened, he closed it just as quick and disappeared. Connor had his head in his hands, only to keep himself from banging it repeatedly against the desk. He wanted to do anything to stop the insanity.

Connor was running and running, smoke surrounding him. He was coughing, but he kept going and going. Finally, he made it to the room, the room he needed, the room where he saw the man lying there. Barely breathing, looking up at him, depending on him.

"Cutter!" He snapped his eyes open, realizing he had let out a shout. When he looked over, Connor saw the man there, smiling reassuringly, wanting to comfort him more than anything. "Please…please…talk to me, that's all I want…" With his shaking hands, he reached out to touch him, but he felt nothingness. Sighing, he sat back, immediately pulling on his chain for some kind of comfort.

"I'm going insane, I know I am…absolutely bonkers. How else would I be seeing you? You're not here, you're dead! Dead, dead, dead! We buried you last week, I was there, I saw!" He sobbed. "You won't even talk to me! My own fucking hallucination!"

Again, Abby came running out, seeing Connor throwing a pillow at the ground, shaking his head vigorously, pointing to the end of the couch. "He was there, I swear! Make him go away, make him stop!"
"Cutter? Are you talking about Cutter?" She asked lightly, sitting on the couch next to him, as he nodded clutching onto his head.
"He won't—-he won't stop, Abby. This is the third time…"
"Maybe we should get you some help, there's nothing wrong in getting some outside help." She offered, grabbing his hands and rubbing them gently, trying to calm down his breathing. She could almost see his heart beating out of his chest.
"N—-no. I don't want to, I'm scared."
"Alright, then…we won't force you," Abby pulled him into a hug. She knew Connor needed help…and he needed help fast.

Connor had gotten a nasty cut to his head, nothing too surprising. The boy was clumsy, especially when he didn't have a lot of rest behind him…and he never did these days. He was running off ten minutes.

He had been forced to spend the night in the hospital, he had almost died out there, but he didn't. He wished he knew why, maybe he would have preferred it. It would've been a hell of a lot better than feeling as if he was drowning in his thoughts, seeing Cutter, feeling depression. But something, more specifically, someone had been protecting him. Connor felt it, that was the only thing that had prevented his death.

When the doctors left him to sleep and he closed his eyes, he felt someone desperately close to him, leaning over him. Connor opened his eyes and immediately saw Cutter's staring back at him.

"You're safe," His hoarse voice sounded. Not quite the way Connor remembered it, but it was certainly his. "I've got you…"
"You—-you spoke…"
Cutter smiled, nodding, resting a hand on Connor's shoulder.
"You can touch me, but I can't touch you?" He took a deep breath, his eyes never leaving Cutter's.
"Sorry…can't change that." Cutter chuckled, when he heard the door open and saw someone coming in, he disappeared, leaving Connor there breathless, a satisfied smile on his face, if only because he spoke.

In the Cretecous, every other corner held the image of Cutter. Eventually, he stopped screaming about it. He stopped being scared. There was nothing to be scared of…being he knew, no matter where he went, no matter what he faced, his old professor was there to protect him and he was always there to say how proud he was of Connor and Abby too. For getting together, for surviving, for…making it so far.

And Connor knew that when he shook the Anomaly opener, the one that had been dead for at least a year, he knew Cutter had somehow revived the batteries. It was too much of a miracle to be luck.

He didn't see Cutter much after the past, in fact, it was as if he completely disappeared from his life. He was blinded by his admiration for Philip, but lying half dead in the future, waiting for death to come, hoping for death to come, praying that they would take him away, burn him for his sins, he had betrayed the whole team, he had practically caused the end of the world. He helped Helen. The words were nasty in Connor's mind and they tasted bad on his tongue. Helping Helen was the last thing he ever wanted to do.

But then he saw a figure in front of him and he lifted his head weakly to look. Cutter. His heart stopped, it'd been years. It'd been two years since he had seen his ghost, or hallucination, or whatever he was.

"Connor…it's not your fault." Cutter said, his voice was exactly how Connor remembered it, but he weakly shook his head to argue.
"It is," He coughed out. The future air was terrible.
"No, no, no. You saw a chance, you took it…I forgive you, Connor." Cutter reassured him. "But I need to ask something of you."
"What?" He furrowed his eyebrows.
"I need you to forget about me. I need you to let me go…you're holding me here. You're holding me on this Earth,"
"I—-I don't want you to go." Connor muttered, tears in his eyes, though he didn't think he could cry at this moment.
"I need to cross over. With Stephen and Sarah, with Tom Ryan and the rest of the team,"
"No…please…"
"I'll visit. I promise, but…I need to leave."
"Cutter—-"
"I'm sorry." He stated.
"I love you…" Connor cried, resting his head on the sand, burying his face once again.
"I love you too." Then he was gone and was instead replaced with Abby and Matt, pulling him up.

"We saw a figure," Matt stated. "Who was it?"
"Cutter." Connor said, numbly. "But he's gone now. He won't be here again."
"Connor—-"
"Abby…I know what I saw."
Abby turned to Matt and he just shrugged, he wasn't going to tell Connor what he did and didn't see. After all, there shouldn't have been anyone else in the future…who else could it have been, if it wasn't what Connor was saying?

But that wasn't the final time Connor saw Cutter's face. It was the wedding between him and Abby, one of the best days of his life…and after they stated their vows, and they said 'I do', after the groom kissed the bride, the two of them turned to the audience, family and the ARC surrounding them all, clapping, smiling, crying…but when Connor looked in the back…he saw them.

Cutter. Stephen. Sarah. Tom Ryan. Tom. Everyone that had died in his life all stood together, smiling proudly, clapping. Stephen raised a drink in his hand, but it was probably as ghostly as him. When Abby glanced where Connor was, she saw only a glimpse of Cutter and Stephen, but when she wiped her eyes, they were gone. She figured it was her imagination.

And when they walked back down the aisle as husband and wife, it was the ghost team that congratulated him.

"I knew you could do it, mate," Stephen whispered, disappearing into nothing.
"I never thought you'd get the hot chick," Tom said, also leaving.
"I always knew you and Abby would get married one day. You're perfect," Sarah stated, fading away.
Tom Ryan just clamped his hand down on his shoulder and nodded before going.
Cutter lingered, staring at him, a huge fatherly smile sitting on his face. "You've done so well, Connor…you've grown up so much." Then he was gone.

"Connor?" Abby asked, pulling him along. "Why'd you stop? There was nothing there,"
"What? Oh…um…I don't know. Just so…flabbergasted that you're mine." He grinned, leaning down to kiss her. He knew she couldn't see them, she didn't believe in ghosts, but he did.

Connor didn't see them after that, he assumed they crossed over…he assumed he had finally let go, he had finally stopped holding them to Earth, and they had finally left to their own world. He knew that one day, he'd see them again. He just hoped it wouldn't be soon.