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“Cutter!” Connor said, his voice going high and tight in Nick’s ear.“We’re moving as fast as we can, Connor,” Nick huffed.He and Stephen had been some distance from the anomaly when Connor’s warning that it was starting to destabilize came. They’d immediately taken off running back to the anomaly, and Nick was beginning to think he needed to spend more time in the gym with Stephen rather than in the labs with Connor and Abby.Nick knew that Stephen could outrun him, but Stephen was keeping pace. He’d tried to send Stephen on ahead, but Stephen had refused to speed up. Nick glanced behind them, hoping the landscape would be empty, but the creature was still there. They needed to lose it before they reached the anomaly, but there was no time for anything fancy.With only one option available to them, Nick put on a burst of speed. Stephen, damn him, kept up easily. They crested a hill and the sparkling diamonds of the anomaly came into view through the palm trees. Nick’s relief at seeing it was so profound that his legs almost buckled. Stephen grabbed his arm and dragged Nick along until he regained his footing.A cry from behind them made Stephen stumble. Nick reached out this time and said, “Keep moving, Stephen.” Stephen doubled down and Nick was caught up in his wake.The anomaly had looked small when they’d first spotted it and Nick had thought it was a matter of distance. As they got closer, though, the anomaly remained small. “It’s closing,” Nick said.They were closing the distance, but Nick didn’t know if they’d make it in time. Stephen’s grip tightened as he propelled Nick along so quickly that he wasn’t sure his feet touched the ground. When they reached the anomaly Stephen practically shoved Nick through and dove after him.Nick hit the ground and rolled into what turned out to be Abby’s legs. Connor’s screech of happiness rivaled that of the creature they’d left behind in the Tithonian. Nick opened his eyes to a sun that had passed its zenith hours ago and a swath of green grass beneath him. It was very different from the humid jungle they’d left behind.The anomaly snapped closed, the spinning shards of glass winking out of existence and leaving the immediate area a little more dim. Nick found Stephen’s ankle and squeezed it. He let out a loud sigh, like air being let out of a balloon. They’d made it back.Nick was just about to sit up and resume his role of team leader by asking Connor what the bloody hell had gone wrong with the anomaly when Connor said, “What’s that?”Guns were raised, something cried out piteously, and Nick let his head fall back onto the ground with a thunk.“It’s so cute!” Abby said.Nick turned his head to see the creature they’d tried to outrun nuzzling up against Stephen, probably in search of food and warmth. It was a nice day outside of London, but the temperature and humidity differentials between here and where they’d just been were substantial.“I thought we’d lost it,” Stephen said as he picked the creature up and held it to his chest. Providing warmth as much as protecting it from the guns currently pointed at it.“So did I,” Nick said, and realized that his throat was sore from the ragged breathing he’d done while running.Colin Jamison, the soldier who’d drawn the short straw of accompanying them to the anomaly while Captain Becker was out sick looked like he wanted to shoot Nick and Stephen right along with the creature. First they’d convinced him to let them explore the anomaly without him, then the anomaly had started to close with them on the other side, and to top things off they’d brought a creature back through with them.“We didn’t mean to,” Nick said.Jamison did not look appeased.~*~Lester was waiting for them back at the ARC. He was frowning when they pulled in, and the frown only deepened when Stephen got out of the SUV with the creature in his arms.“Why isn’t that creature in a cage?” Lester demanded.“Because it cried when Stephen tried to put it down,” Abby said, not hiding her glee at the situation.“And it was adorable,” Connor said.“You could’ve sedated it,” Lester said.“I suggested that, sir,” Jamison said.“We didn’t have the correct dose for a creature this small,” Nick said. “We didn’t want to accidentally kill it.”Lester’s lips thinned as he took in the creature. “My office. Now.”Lester turned on his heel and left. Nick exchanged a look with Stephen. He gave some orders to the techs regarding the equipment that needed to be unloaded and checked over before they got called out for the next anomaly, then the four of them, plus the creature, headed for Lester’s office.Lester tapped his fingers on his desk as if he’d been waiting for them longer than a few minutes. Nick took a seat in front of Lester’s desk. Connor and Abby stood in the back. Nick had to bite back a smile when Stephen sat in the chair beside him and the creature chittered and made itself comfortable on Stephen’s lap.They way Lester stared at the creature, they were all lucky he couldn’t shoot laser beams out of his eyes. (Especially Stephen, given the placement of the creature.)“How did this happen?” Lester said.“The Compsognathus or the anomaly closing prematurely?” Nick said.Lester stared hard at Nick before saying, “Both.”“There is still a lot we don’t know about the anomalies,” Nick said. “Why they form, why some only stay open for a few minutes and others a few days. I’m sure Connor recorded everything and has a lot of data to comb through.”Connor nodded his head and belatedly said, “Yes. Sir.”Nick was desperate to know why the anomaly had lost stability and nearly stranded he and Stephen on the other side, but he knew they’d be lucky to get any definitive answers from the data. The anomalies were not easily quantifiable.“And what about this creature?” Lester said with distaste.“We happened upon the nest just as this one’s egg cracked open,” Nick said. “It took one look at Stephen and imprinted on him.”“It did not imprint on me,” Stephen said.Nick glanced at the creature in Stephen’s lap, then gave Stephen a raised eyebrow.“Oh my god!” Connor said. “It thinks you’re it’s mum!”Abby made a sound. Nick couldn’t tell whether she was sniffling or stifling a laugh.“When Connor told us the anomaly was starting to destabilize we took off running. The creature followed us, but we thought we could outrun it.”“It must’ve been pretty determined,” Stephen said.“Yes, it must have,” Lester said dryly.“The anomaly closed before we even realized it had made it through,” Nick said. “It wasn’t as if we could re-open it and send the creature back.”Lester nodded. “And what do you plan to do with it?”“What other option is there except to keep it here?” Nick said.“What other option, indeed,” Lester said. “Do you think it’s a good idea to keep the creature here?”“What are you suggesting?” Abby said with a warning tone.She’d been quiet until Lester had put a third option on the table, by implication if not stating it outright.“I’m not suggesting anything,” Lester said, unruffled. “I just want to make sure we’ve thought this through. This creature doesn’t belong in this time.”“But it’s here now,” Abby said.“Bring me a proposal,” Lester said. “Until then, keep it locked up in the lab.”Abby didn’t argue, but Nick didn’t fool himself into thinking that she was satisfied with Lester’s decision.~*~Nick set Connor to going through the data from the anomaly while he and Stephen helped Abby set up a habitat for the small creature. Compsognathus grew to the size of a mondern-day turkey, so the newly-hatched creature was only slightly larger than a baby chick. Connor used the computer in Abby’s lab so he could talk to them while they all worked. Nick left them to go to the mess and scavenge some food for the creature. He knew that the Compsognathus ate small vertebrates, such as lizards, and possibly small insects, but he didn’t know how a mother Compsognathus would feed her young.Nick guessed that she might masticate the food first and he was considering grinding up some steak when he came across a package of ground lamb. The meat a grown Compsognathus ate would have been alive at the time, and possibly swallowed whole if the intact lizard remains found in the thoracic cavity of the specimen discovered in Germany was any indication. That wasn’t possible now.Nick opened the package and broke up some of the meat into a plastic bowl. He put it in the microwave and filled a bowl with water while the meat warmed. Nick hoped it would be enough to simulate a recent kill after having been chewed first by the creature’s mother.Abby and Stephen had finished setting up a large habitat with separate areas for bedding, the food and water bowls Nick carried, and a litter box. Abby was holding the creature, which was chewing on her fingers, while Stephen looked on like a worried mother.“It’ll probably like this better,” Nick said.The creature’s nose went up when Nick set the bowl down by Stephen. It scrambled around and practically fell out of Abby’s lap. Stephen kept the creature from sticking its beak-like mouth in the bowl and instead fed it small chunks by hand.“We don’t now how long it’s been since he’s eaten,” Stephen said.Stephen was correct. The last thing they needed was the creature eating too fast and making itself ill, then being sick. Still, Nick couldn’t help think that Stephen had other reasons. They’d talked about getting a pet, but their schedules were so unpredictable right now, never knowing when an anomaly might open and they’d be called away.It would be better when they had a second team trained, but that was far off in the future. Cats, being more self-sufficient than dogs, might’ve been an option, but they hadn’t gotten much further than talking about it. Now this creature had fallen into Stephen’s lap (almost literally), and he was already getting attached to it.The Compsognathus fell asleep after it had been fed. Stephen and Abby began work on a proposal for Lester. Connor continued to study the anomaly data. Nick started on his report. By the time the creature woke, hungry, the four of them were nearing the end of their stamina.“Why don’t we continue this tomorrow?” Nick said.“Abby’s put in an order for special food for the Compsognathus,” Stephen said after Nick stole more meat from the kitchen – chicken breast that he cut up into small pieces and heated in the microwave. “Do you think his mother’s worried about him?”“I don’t know,” Nick said. They didn’t know if dinosaurs felt the same attachment to their young as humans. “We know it’s a male, then?”“Not definitively,” Stephen said.Once the creature was sleeping beneath a combination of heat lamp and humidifier, Nick said, “Come on, let’s get a few hours sleep before he wakes again.”Nick hated staying in the quarters at the ARC, but that was the better option to sleeping on the floor in the lab. They were up twice during the night and fed the Compsognathus the rest of the ground lamb. Nick left a note of apology in the kitchen.Despite not having gotten much sleep, they were both up early. The Compsognathus made it’s displeasure at being locked up very clear. Stephen put some crumbled sausage from their breakfast into an empty water bottle and gave it to the creature. Getting the bits of sausage out of the opening kept the Compsognathus busy (and more importantly, quiet) so they could make more progress on their paperwork.Abby and Connor showed up early. Both had their hands full of bags. When the Compsognathus saw them it let out some loud squawks and chitters.“Hello to you, too,” Abby said. “How are you this morning?”The Compsognathus chittered back as if in reply.Nick shook his head. “What do you have there?”“We stopped by to pick up some things for Nathan.”“Nathan?” Nick said.“We can’t just keep calling him ‘the creature’ or ‘it’,” Abby said as she pulled the first item out of the bag. “A leash and harness so we can take him outside until he figures out the litter box.”“Bless you,” Nick said. It had been his task to clean up several messes of that variety during the night while Stephen fed the creature. Fed Nathan.Abby unpacked the rest of the loot while Stephen hooked the cat harness around Nathan. She’d gotten a variety of toys to keep Nathan occupied, as well as a few small lizards and frogs.“We’re going to need an outdoor enclosure,” Abby said when they all accompanied Stephen and Nathan outside.Nick and Stephen exchanged a look. He expected that request to go over like a fart in church.~*~Connor had all sorts of readings from both sides of the anomaly, but he wasn’t able to determine what might have caused the anomaly to suddenly destabilize.Weeks passed and they settled into a routine. Now that they had lizards and other small vertebrates, as well as some small insects, such as crickets, which they could release inside the habitat, Nick and Stephen could go home to sleep in their own bed at night. Nick (and his back) owed Abby for that.Each morning Stephen (and by extension, Nick) took Nathan outside before they got their own breakfast in the mess. Abby was in the lab most of the day so Nathan was rarely alone. Stephen stopped by to visit and take him out again between the gym and the shooting range and working with Connor on a device to keep the anomalies open, which Lester had fast-tracked after Nick and Stephen’s near misadventure.Nick picked Stephen up from the lab at the end of the day, where he could be found playing tug with the braided rope or running his hand over Nathan’s newly-acquired downy feathers.Abby and Stephen introduced Connor’s friend Duncan to Nathan and let Duncan feed him and walk him with one of them in attendance. Their forward planning paid off when they got notice of another anomaly opening and had to leave Nathan in Duncan’s care.Three weeks in Connor said, “We’ve got a problem.”“You’ll need to be a little more specific,” Nick said.In response Connor showed them the website where someone was offering a ‘real live dinosaur’ for sale with a photo of Nathan attached.“How did you find this?” Nick said.“I’ve got programs set up to scour the internet for certain key words in case there are other anomalies out there we don’t know about. Most of them I can dismiss.”“Whoever set this up works here at the ARC,” Nick said.“Whoever set this up was in this lab,” Connor said.“Let’s find out who was in the lab just before this notice was put up.”Nick called Becker in on the investigation since the ARC didn’t have security outside the soldiers who accompanied them on missions. Connor’s digging uncovered one person who entered the lab without a work-related purpose for being there. Still, Nick had Connor run the two lab techs who helped Abby out and Duncan, just to be thorough. They all came up clean.That was not the case for Colin Jamison, who had some debt that could be paid off with the proceeds from the sale. That alone wouldn’t have been enough to convict the man, but, aside from the black mark on his record because of the incident surrounding the anomaly Nathan came through, he’d been stupid enough to place the ad from a computer right here inside the ARC.Becker took over the investigation and set up a sting by responding to the ad and offering to purchase the creature. Jamison was smart enough to reject a face-to-face meeting, but Becker caught him red-handed at the computer while he was corresponding with the ‘buyer’. Jamison was arrested and charged with violating the Official Secrets Act, among other things.~*~Just when things were settling back down, the anomaly into the Tithonian reopened.“What if his mother moved her nest?” Stephen argued during the Skype conference with Lester after they’d sent the rover through to determine the era. “Or the anomaly opened in a completely different area of the Tithonian?”“The creature belongs in the Tithonian,” Lester said. “I’m sure he, it, will figure things out.”“Figure things out?” Stephen said in a tone Nick was afraid would get him fired. “Nathan has only ever been hand-fed ground lamb and allowed to chase down lizards and frogs in his enclosure. That does not in any way prepare him to live on his own in a totally different environment than the one he’s become accustomed to.”“I have to agree with Stephen,” Nick said, speaking up before Stephen could say something he’d regret.Lester snorted. “Of course you would.”“So do I,” Abby said. “Sending Nathan back to the Tithonian without more preparation would be a death sentence.”“Don’t have anything to add, Temple?” Lester said dryly.“I don’t want him to go back, either. I’d miss the little bugger. So would Duncan. We’re teaching him to open our soda cans for us.” Connor wiped the grin off his face and cleared his throat. “Also, the unprepared and certain death thing.”“I’m having Na–, the creature crated up and brought to you. We’ll talk again after you’ve had a chance to further explore the other side.”Lester disconnected the call before they could argue. Stephen fumed silently as they got their packs on. They stepped through the anomaly into palm trees and humidity with Becker and two soldiers. He’d left two soldiers behind with Abby and Connor in case anything got past them.“Anything look familiar?” Becker said.Stephen swallowed hard and looked away, so Nick said, “Yes.”Nick and Becker shared a look, then Nick touched Stephen’s shoulder. “Let’s go, Stephen.”Nick’s hand fell off when Stephen took a step forward and led them in the direction of the nest where they’d witnessed Nathan peck his way out of his shell, and where the creature had taken one look at Stephen and decided Stephen was his mum and followed them back through a closing anomaly.Becker and his men held their weapons at the ready, but there was no sign of any creatures. There hadn’t been last time, either, but with the rush due to the anomaly closing prematurely Nick hadn’t thought much about it. Now he wondered if the creatures were intelligent enough to know that the anomaly wasn’t good news. Nick shuddered at the thought that a future predator might’ve made it into this lush era. The creatures wouldn’t have stood a chance against it.As they drew near the nest Stephen slowed and held up his hand. The rest of them stopped. They waited. No sounds reached their ears. Nor did any Compsognathus, adult or young, appear. Stephen moved closer and Nick had to force himself to remain where he was. Stephen gave the nest a wide berth as he approached it, then moved closer. When Stephen stood right in front of the nest his shoulders slumped. Not in disappointment, Nick recognized, but in relief.Nick moved forward now, ahead of an annoyed Becker, and reached Stephen’s side to see for himself. The nest was empty and had the feel of abandonment. Nick touched the tips of his fingers to Stephen’s wrist, then stepped away from him.“Looks like the nest has been abandoned,” Nick radioed to Abby and Connor. He clicked the radio off on their loud cheer.Becker, who’d spent some time with Nathan after spoiling the kidnapping, grinned at Nick. “What a shame.”“We should probably look around,” Stephen said, interrupting their celebration. “We don’t want Lester to think we didn’t try hard enough.”“Lead the way, Doc,” Becker said.Stephen ignored the nickname he’d earned by finishing writing, then defending his thesis between travels through the anomalies, and headed out. They found a set of tracks, but they were old and led nowhere. Aside from that, there was no sign of life near the anomaly.By the time they stepped back through the anomaly, the SUV bearing Nathan’s crate had arrived. Stephen went immediately to check him out despite Abby’s assurances that she’d already done so and he was fine. Nick had Connor ring up Lester while Stephen was occupied with Nathan and gave his report. Becker stood at his shoulder with a neutral expression and backed up everything Nick said.“So what’s your conclusion, Cutter?” Lester said.“That the young Compsognathus cannot be returned to the Tithonian at this time.”“I expect a full report on my desk tomorrow morning,” Lester said and disconnected the call.Connor gave Abby an exuberant hug at the news. Nick gave Connor a quelling look when it appeared he might be the next recipient.Nick gave Stephen the good news, but Stephen remained pensive. “It could come up again.”“Not the way I’m going to write up my report,” Nick said.Becker left three of his men with Connor to continue monitoring the anomaly until it closed. The rest of them returned to the ARC with Nathan.Lester wasn’t waiting for them when they returned, but he usually wasn’t unless the mission had been a cluster fuck. Nick watched as Stephen and Abby got Nathan resettled in his habitat, making sure the heating lamp and humidifier were set properly. Nick refilled the water dish with fresh because he knew Nathan was going to need it when he came off the tranquilizer.They wrote up their reports in Abby’s lab so they could keep an eye on Nathan. Abby checked him regularly and finally announced that he was waking up. Stephen inserted himself into the enclosure with Nathan and gently pet him as he regained consciousness. Nathan made soft questioning chirps and Stephen comforted him.Lester appeared at Nick’s shoulder when Stephen had Nathan outside to do his business. “How’s he doing?”Nick gave Lester a look. “He seems to be doing well.”Lester nodded. “Good. Don’t forget your report. Make it persuasive.”Before Lester got too far Nick said, “If you didn’t want to send him back, why make us go through all that?”“Do you think I make the final decision? How happy do you think the Home Office is to know that we’re keeping a dinosaur, no matter how . . . small here? Persuasive, Cutter,” Lester said again before disappearing.Nick smiled as he turned back to watch Stephen try to persuade Nathan to relieve himself instead of chasing a cricket that had gotten loose.In years to come, when the Home Office had no choice but to come clean about the anomalies and they opened the menagerie to the public, the mammoth would be the favorite of the adults. But Nathan and Rex would be the favorites of the children because they allowed the kids to pet them and would take food from their hands.But right now it was just the three of them. Nick walked up behind Stephen who’d given up cajoling and stood watching Nathan. Nick wrapped his arms around Stephen and rested his chin in Stephen’s shoulder, his cheek pressed against Stephen’s.“Did you ever think we’d end up here?” Nick said.“No.” Stephen turned his head so his lips brushed Nick’s cheek.Nick turned to meet Stephen’s lips.“But I’m glad we did.”It had taken them a while to find a place were they could be comfortable with each other, but they’d finally done it. Nick couldn’t imagine his life any other way, now. “Me too, Stephen.”Nick and Stephen kissed until Nathan gave a pleased squawk and the scent of his finally relieving himself reached them. They broke apart and looked at each other before bursting into laughter.“I hope you brought the bag,” Nick said.Stephen grumbled, but he praised Nathan for a job well done as he cleaned up after him. Nathan raced ahead of them when Stephen asked if he wanted to go see Abby. Stephen slipped his hand into Nick’s as they followed him.“Uh oh,” Stephen said when Nathan managed to open the door on his own.Nathan gave them a look that said, hurry, then disappeared inside the ARC. Stephen looked at the leash he’d removed so Nathan could wander around outside on his own. “Uh oh,” he said again.Nick laughed, which made Stephen laugh. They reluctantly released the other’s hand and followed Nathan into the ARC. Nick and Stephen passed people who were used to Nathan, but looked surprised to see him wandering around without an escort. Nathan was already inside the lab by the time they reached it; hopefully Abby had let him in, not that Nathan had also figured out how to by-pass the scanner.Inside the lab Nathan was begging treats from Abby while Connor, who must’ve just returned, went over the second set of readings from the anomaly. Nick wondered if there was anything new that might give them some insight into why the anomaly had destabilized the first time they’d gone through it, and why it had opened a second time in the same place.Nick laid his arm across Stephen’s shoulder as they watched the other three. Soon he was reminded of the ‘very persuasive’ report he still needed to write. “Alright, team.” Nick removed his arm from Stephen’s shoulders and rubbed his hands together. “Let’s get our reports done so we can keep this little bugger.”Abby and Connor high-fived each other; Stephen gave Nick a grateful smile. Nick glanced around at his team before getting down to work. He’d lucked out with these people. It was true what they said, that it was the family you chose that counted. Somehow Nick had chosen very well.The End