A/N: Thanks for all your great reviews so far! I know by the end of this chapter it might feel like the story is coming to an end, but it's not, so don't worry!

xxxx

Nick Cutter and his parallel gang of dino-fighters had been searching for the doorway back to his world for nearly a month now, and he was beginning to get disheartened and downtrodden. He'd hoped that this worlds Helen would appear and lead them in the right direction. He'd pondered, albeit briefly, on whether his Helen had known they had come out of the wrong anomaly, but he had dismissed it almost instantly. Now, however, he was beginning to think otherwise, and he felt stupid at again giving her the benefit of the doubt. Traipsing through the Permian era had been dangerous, and nearly all the members of the trek had had to be rescued more than once. He wondered if this was Helen's sick and twisted way of getting back at him for kissing Claudia, but then, what right did she have to be jealous anyway? After all, she had been the one to leave him; let him think she was dead all those years for her own personal gain. Was she so full of herself that she thought he would instantly forgive her and jump back into her arms? He kicked at a stone in anger, sending up a cloud of sand. His musings were soon interrupted by his other self's yelling.

"Over here!"

The group sped to the top of the hill they were on as if they were being chased by a Gorgonopsid. There, in the valley below, was a twinkling gateway of light which was distorting the land around it. Cutter 2 poked his head through it gingerly, pulling out a few seconds later with a triumphant look on his face.

Cutter 1 broke into a huge grin.

"Home?"

"Almost," Cutter 2 replied. "It's your Permian era anyway. And there's an anonmaly there."

"So this is it then, you can go home." Connor said, sounding a bit sad that his parallel adventure had come to an end.

Cutter 1 let out a deep breath. "Looks like." He turned to face the group. "Thank you. For everything. As weird as this whole experience has been I…" he trailed off, not knowing what to say. He chanced a glance at Stephen, who gave him a tight smile before turning away sheepishly. No one had mentioned the Helen incident since that fateful day, and Cutter's other self had no idea of what had been said before he'd come back. He wondered if Stephen would confess all to him, as well as wondering if he should confront his world's Stephen when he got back.

Abby approached him and kissed his cheek lightly. "Good luck," she said, smiling sweetly.

Connor pulled a camera out of his bag and motioned for Stephen to do the same.

"Little memento for you, and for us," he said, placing both the cameras a little way away on a large rock. "Everyone get together," he called out as he adjusted the focus and set the timers, before jogging back to join them and positioning himself next to Stephen. Everyone smiled just in time as the flashes went off.

"At least you can prove where you've been now," Connor said, as he walked off to retrieve the cameras.

The two Cutters shook hands.

"All the best. And good luck with Claudia."

"Thanks. You know, I'm sure your Claudia Brown is waiting for you out there somewhere."

"Maybe," Cutter 2 replied with a smile. "It's probably about time I moved on."

"Definitely."

"Here you go," Connor said, coming up to Cutter 1 and handing him a camera. "Chock full of parallel pictures."

"Thanks Connor. Right then, I guess this is it. Thank you all, again." And with a wave and a smile, Cutter stepped through the anomaly and disappeared.

Once on the other side, Cutter let out a triumphant yell before running as fast as he could towards the anomaly that would take him home. He reached it with a huge grin on his face, and turned around just in time to see the parallel anomaly fade and disappear. Facing his prize once again, he took a deep breath and stepped through.

His grin faded as he looked around and saw no one, not even a guard, waiting for him. Strange, he thought. Surely there'd at least be someone here to watch the site. Cutter made his way through the forest, pulling his mobile phone out of his pocket and switching it on. Without thinking, he dialled Stephen's number and put the phone to his ear.

"I'm sorry, calls cannot be made from this phone," the automated voice on the other end informed him. Cutter frowned and tried again. Same thing. Frustrated, he shoved the phone back in his pocket and continued walking, all the while wondering why it had been cut off.

A short while later he came to the edge of the forest. "Right then," he muttered to himself. "Phone box."

When he eventually found one, he threw himself inside and picked up the handset, let the camera he was still holding swing from his wrist on its cord. Swearing when he found he had no change, he rang directory enquiries and asked for the charges to be reversed. His joy at hearing the phone ringing down the line soon vanished as the voicemail kicked in. He pressed the 'next call' button irately as he rang directory enquiries again. This time Claudia's voicemail sprang to life. And it was the same when he tried Connor and Abby. He slammed down the receiver and took a deep breath. There was no way he was calling Lester. Giving up, he walked off towards the main road and started to try and hitch a lift back to London.

xxxx

Two hours later, after finally managing to flag someone down who didn't think he was a loony or an axe murderer, Cutter finally reached the CMU. Whilst he had been sitting in the cab of the lorry that had picked him up, listening to the driver ramble on about politics he didn't have a clue about, the events of the last month had caught up with him, and he had found himself beginning to doze. Now, even walking across the university grounds to his office was a struggle. Weird thing was, he noticed, no one was around. Even on weekends students could still be seen milling about. With a huge sense of relief, he reached his office and pushed the door open before staggering inside.

"Stephen!" he called out at the same time as the startled Lab Tech looked up in bewilderment.

"Nick?"

"Yeah, of course. Who did you think it was?"

"Jesus Christ!" he exclaimed, running towards him as he sat down.

"Hey! What happened to my office? It's tidy! And where is everyone?"

"Gone home for the holidays." Stephen shook his head. "Nick, where the hell have you been? We thought you were dead!" Stephen said, completely in shock.

"Dead? I was only gone a month. I told you that if the anomaly closed I'd have to wait for it to open again and –"

"- Wait." Stephen interrupted. "What did you say?"

"I said, I told you if the anomaly closed –"

"- No, no, no. Before that."

"That I'd been gone a month?"

"Yeah. But you see, that's not possible."

"What do you mean that's not possible?"

Stephen perched on the desk and looked at him solemnly. "Nick, you've been missing for over two years."

Cutter eyes widened in surprise. The he threw his head back slightly and gave a small laugh. "Yeah, good one." When he noticed that Stephen was still pinning him with an intense stare, he immediately pulled himself together.

"Are you being serious?"

Stephen nodded and picked up a newspaper that was on the desk. He showed Cutter the date on the front.

"Oh my God," he said, putting his head in his hands.

"Nick, where were you?"

Cutter looked up at him slowly. "I… You'll never believe me. But all the proof I have is on this camera. First I need to get it developed and then I'll explain the whole thing to all of you."

Stephen nodded. "And you really only think you've been gone for a month?"

Cutter shook his head defiantly. "Yes, just a month."

"And where are the others?"

"Helen's… I don't know where Helen is."

Stephen briefly wondered why Cutter was giving him funny look.

"And the men, Ryan and… They were killed by the Future Predator."

The two men sat in silence for a moment; until Cutter noticed something odd.

"What are you all suited and booted for?"

"Oh, crap! I'm so late! I only swung by here to pick up the present."

"Present?"

"Yeah, for Claudia's…" he trailed off and licked his lips nervously.

"What? Claudia's what? Birthday?"

Stephen shook his head. "Claudia's wedding."

Cutter jumped out of his chair like he had been stung.

"What?!"

"Look, she hasn't - I mean - she didn't have a choice. It's all her parents doing. She doesn't even want to marry him, but…" he stopped and sighed. "It's too complicated to explain right now. I just know though, that if she knew you were back, she wouldn't do it. She's never got over losing you. Not really. The only person in the world who can stop her from making the biggest mistake of her life is you. But we have to leave right now."

Cutter nodded, his face set with determination. "Let's go crash a wedding."

xxxx

Claudia bit her lip to stop herself from crying as she clung on to her father's arm. She glanced behind her at Abby, who, as she stood there in her bridesmaids dress, looked as heartbroken as she felt.

At first, Claudia had been surprised at their blossoming friendship. To an outsider, it would have seemed almost odd. They were hardly alike. But they had been through so much together; they all had, and Abby had been a great source of comfort while Claudia had been trying to deal with her sadness at losing Nick.

"You look beautiful," her father said to her.

Claudia grimaced, and then had to fight hard to resist the urge to faint as the church doors opened and the music began. She made her way precariously down the aisle, all the while feeling Abby's eyes boring into her back. She looked straight ahead, showing no emotion as she reached the alter, passing her flowers to Abby without catching her eye.

xxxx

"Get out of the way, you idiot!" Cutter exclaimed as he raced the truck up a busy main road. "How far now?"

"It's just round this corner," Stephen replied, his heart racing from the adrenalin.

Cutter spun the truck around the corner and looked for somewhere to park. To his annoyance, though it was to be expected, the spaces outside the church were full and he was forced to park up the other end of the road.

Parking haphazardly, Cutter jumped out of the truck and sped off towards the church,

xxxx

"First, I am required to ask anyone present who knows a reason why these persons may not lawfully marry, to declare it now," the minister bellowed out.

Claudia shook as she was met by silence; her groom looking at her with perverted smugness.

After a few moments, the minister turned to the groom.

"Richard Daniel Buckingham, will you take Claudia Katherine Brown to be your wife? Will you love her, comfort her, honour and protect her, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to her as long as you both shall live?"

"I will."

The minister turned to Claudia.

"Claudia Katherine Brown, will you take Richard Daniel Buckingham to be your husband? Will you love him, comfort him, honour and protect him, and, forsaking all others, be faithful to him as long as you both shall live?"

Claudia took a deep breath, trying to buy herself time. Although, what for, she had no idea. She looked to her father, who gave her a warning look.

"I –"

"STOP!"