Connor entered the main corridor of the ARC with a cup of tea and sat down in front of the A.D.D. Leaning back in the chair, he was trying his hardest to stay awake. He hadn't been getting much sleep and was starting to get an irrational fear that it was insomnia. It was typically Connor to get paranoid so easily.

As his thoughts continued- drifting to conspiracies about what the government might be doing to him to cause his insomnia; mind probes, secret chips implanted in his brain by aliens, mind control, etc. -he started slipping into sleep. Until a loud alarm jerked him out of it, causing him to spill his tea all over his lap and jump out of the chair as the hot liquid burned the flesh of his thigh. His screaming, and the little dance of pain he did, attracted more attention than the alarm did.

Lester came out of his office and paused upon seeing Connor and his display. But, he quickly wrote it off in his "Things to try and forget I ever saw" list he had in his mind. He yelled down to Connor, choosing not to comment on his yelling and jumping, "What are you waiting for? Track that anomaly."

"It's- I… I just-" he stuttered. With a sigh, he started typing into the A.D.D. and pulled up the location.

Danny came in, Becker and Abby following, and went up to Connor, leaning on his shoulder casually. "What've we got?" he asked.

Connor slid out from under his arm and replied, "The anomaly is in a remote area around the highway. We might have some trouble finding it, but at least there aren't many people around… no one should get hurt if something comes out."

"Oh, good," Lester said as he walked down the stairs from his office. "Then we won't have much need to worry about civilians snooping about, now will we?" His phone rang in his pocket. He took it out to look at it. "I've got to go. Danny, Connor, Abby, and Becker… try to keep this away from any press." He eyeballed them for a moment with a warning look, and then left out the front door of the building with some of his men following.

"Where do you think he's going?" Abby asked, standing next to Danny.

"No idea. But, it doesn't matter; we've got an anomaly to close. Connor, get the equipment."

They arrived at an empty field a while later. Danny walked over to Connor and said, "Where is it?"

"The detector says it should be right over that hill." He pointed to a large hill in from of them with his gun.

Danny looked at Abby. "Should he really have a gun?" Abby just shook her head and mouthed "No" while Connor wasn't looking. "Alright then." They started over the hill, but when they reached the other side there was nothing there. "What happened? Did it close?"

Connor looked around. "No, it's over there." They spotted it to the far right of the hill and ran to it, finding a woman lying, wounded, in front of it.

Danny reached her first. Kneeling down next to her, he put his fingers on her neck. "I've got a pulse." He leaned closer to her. "Hello? Can you hear me?" But she didn't respond.

Connor kneeled next to her on the other side. "We've got to stop the bleeding, something's bitten her leg." He turned to Becker. "Did we bring the first-aid?"

"Yes, it's in the car, I'll go get it." Becker ran back over the hill.

The woman started moving her head, groaning. Her eyes opened and she sat up, holding Connor's hand to support her. "Don't try to stand; I think your leg might be broken. I need you to tell me what did this to you. Was it small? Big? Ugly… maybe dinosaur-like?"

"Who are you people- wait, you know about what comes out of the orbs?" she yanked her hand away from Connor's when she realised he was holding it.

"Uh… we call them anomalies, but yeah. Did you come through this one?"

"Yes. I didn't think anyone else knew about them." A small squeak came from behind Danny, and a tiny, weasel-like creature came through the anomaly and crawled onto the woman's shoulder.

"Whoa," Danny remarked. "What's that?" He reached out his hand to try and pet it, only to receive a sharp bite. "Ow!" he nearly yelled, jerking back his hand that now had small teeth marks on it.

"It's a Deltatheridium. It only eats insects, don't worry." The woman smiled. "I was in the Cretaceous when I found it; it was being chased by a Spinosaurus. And, before I knew it, I was the one being chased. The bloody thing grabbed my leg before I escaped through the… uh, what did you call it?"

Connor answered, "Anomaly."

"Right. I like that better than the orb." She laughed at herself.

Becker reappeared from behind the hill with a big black box. "Here you go. I called an ambulance too, they'll be here soon. What's your name Ma'am?"

"Dian Brown. The ambulance you called, their part of your little group right? Your group of, what? Anomaly catchers?" Danny was working on her leg, and she was holding Connor's hand again without really noticing.

Connor was happy to correct her accusation, "Actually, we're not just a group. We're a whole research center. We are the ARC." He's voice sounded very proud and like he was trying to sound cool. "Anomaly Research Center. Pretty much says everything right in the title, dunnit?" A cheeky grin spread across his face, causing Dian to stare for a moment, taking in his features… she wakes up from being attacked by a dinosaur to find four strangers surrounding her, one of which she thoroughly enjoyed the presence of. Connor, she thought, with a dreamy expression… maybe it was just the loss of blood making her like that.

Danny accidently pulled the rap too tight and Dian groaned in pain, snapping out of her stare and crushing Connor's hand. "Ow, Ow, Ow, Ow!"

"Sorry." She let go.

"Well, good news is, your legs not broken. The creature didn't touch the bone at all; it's just a flesh wound. Now, what about this thing?" He pointed at the Deltatheridium. "Why's it acting like you're its mum?"

"I don't know. I guess it's just grateful that I saved its life." The creature was still on her shoulder; curled into a ball. "But, I do know that if this anomaly doesn't get closed, then we might all be the Spinosaurus' lunch." She got a small, chocolate bar sized, handheld electronic out of her pocket and handed it to Connor. "Here. Just point it at the anomaly and push the red button. That will close it."

Connor pushed the button, and Dian yelled, "No! Not that one!" just a bit too late; the anomaly closed and another appeared.

"Okay, what happened?" Connor threw his hands up in the air as if he'd broken something. "I pushed the red button." He handed the device back to her.

"No, you pushed the small red button!"

"Well, you didn't exactly say big or small, did you?!"

"Ugh, never mind, just help me up and I'll do it."

Danny was standing next to her when he spoke. "No, I don't think you should put any pressure on that leg."

"I'll be fine," she retorted defiantly while Connor helped her stand and supported her on his shoulder. She started to push some buttons on the electronic and things came up on the small screen. "Okay, you've opened an anomaly from the future."

"What? How?!" He exchanged looks with Danny and Abby; it must be like the type of technology that Helen had, to be able to open anomalies.

"All I needed was a big brain and some future technology. Here we go." She was about to push a button when the device was slashed out of her hand by something in the anomaly. "Everyone get back! You, get your gun pointed at that thing." She pointed at Becker and indicated toward the anomaly.

He gave her a look, but obeyed. They all stared at the anomaly until they saw movement. A creature about the size of a horse came bursting out of it. It almost looked like a prehistoric wolf with sabers, long claws and a sail on its back.

Dian spoke in a rushed tone, "Change of plan. That gun won't do any good, I've seen this thing before, and it's way too fast for a bullet to catch it."

Becker ignored her completely and shot at it anyway, only for it to dodge the bullets and then shift into a different, bigger creature. "What the hell?!" Becker's eyes widened. "What is it?"

"It's what Native Americans call a 'Skin Walker.' This thing where the legend came from; they claimed that it was a witch that could shape-shift into any creature… they were half right. And, you've just severely pissed it off, so I suggest we do something." She quickly grabbed a pole out of the backpack that was hanging on her back, and pointed it at the creature… she waited as it charged towards them; waited until it was so close Connor was yelling at her to do something. Then, something shoots out of the pole she was holding, shocking the creature and knocking it to the ground.

Connor flinched at the sound of the creature's screeching in pain. Silence followed. Becker was the one to break the silence, "Is… is it dead?"

"No, just paralyzed," Dian replied. "Let's get it through the… the uh… anoma-"

"Whoa! Whoa!" Connor caught her as she fell unconscious.

Abby ran over to her. "She's lost too much blood; we've got to get her some medical attention, now."

They arrived at the hospital around noon. Abby, Connor, Danny, and Sarah were there. Becker was back at the A.R.C, filling Lester in on what had happened.

At the moment, Abby was the only one in the hospital room with Dian; the others were talking to the doctor. When Dian started moving, Abby called to the others, "Guys! She's awake."

It was hardly pleasant for Dian to wake up to a group of people surrounding her. "What time is it?" The question wasn't directed to anyone in particular.

Danny answered. "1:56. you've been out for an hour and a half. How do you feel?"

"Uh… I don't." she was too full of the pain killers to feel much of anything. "Did you uh… get the creature back through the… the thingy." She was defiantly drugged.

"Yeah we did; no worries." Danny smiled.

The doctor came in and said, "Oh, good, you're awake. I was just telling your friends that you can go home now. You'll be a bit… how do I put it… loopy, for a while. The drugs should affect you for a few more hours." He turned to Danny. "If she feels any pain after the drugs wear off, give her one of these." A small yellow bottle was taken out of the doctor's pocket. "Be careful, though. Some patients have developed addictions, so no more than two pills a day." Danny nodded and took the bottle. The doctor left with a pleasant smile on his face that never seemed to leave, he was one of those people.

Dian was staring at her hand in a zoned sort of way. Connor chuckled and said, "Oookaay, I think the drugs are officially kicked in."

"Yeah. Abby, do you mind keeping her at your flat for a while? Just until she recovers and we can sort everything out."

"I guess she could stay on the couch, since we got Connor his own room in the basement." She gave Connor an awkward glance. Ever since their kiss, things have been a bit weird. And now, she wasn't exactly sure how she felt about him getting a more permanent room at her flat. She didn't know what it really meant to him or to her for that matter.

"Great, then let's get her out of here. You and Connor can drop her off at your flat, one of you stay with her and the other come back to the A.R.C so we can finish up for the night."

Danny and Sarah left, leaving Connor and Abby to get Dian out of the hospital. While they had no problem getting her out of the building, getting her into the car was a bit difficult in the state of mind she was in. She kept going limp, and getting distracted by things. Eventually they got her in, and she fell asleep on the way to the flat.

When they got there, Connor carried her in and set her on the folded out couch. "Right. What now?"

"Well, you can stay here. Make sure she doesn't break anything or hurt herself. I'll go back to the A.R.C."

"Why do you get the easy job?"

"Don't argue with me, Connor." She left out the front door.

"Oh… for crying out loud!" Rex flew up next to him, greeting him with a few happy chirps. "Why are woman so complicated, Rex? Bet you never had that problem. I mean, you don't even have to work very hard for a female's attention. You basically fight for your right to mate, and then you get the girl without any say from her. Why can't things be that simple for me?" Rex gave him a few more chirps and Connor laughed. "You know, mate, you'd think I'd get used to how hot it is in here." He looked over at Dian. "You don't think she'd mind if I wore my normal house clothes, do you, Rex?"

After he got undressed, down to his underwear-which of course was very normal for him- he went into the kitchen and found Sid and Nancy eating the chips out of the cabinet. "No! Guys, come on! Get out!" He shooed them out of the kitchen. "Oh, look at this mess." A loud clang came from the living room. "What now?"

In the living room, Dian had woken, she'd knocked over a lamp trying to steady herself. "Sorry," she said when Connor came in the room.

"It's fine. How are you feeling?" He saw that she was still a little drugged. "You know, I think you should sit down." He set her down on the couch and began picking up the pieces of the lamp.

"It's Connor, right?"

"Yeah."

"Why do you and your girlfriend keep three prehistoric animals in your flat?"

"Uh, that's… that's a bit of a long story. They're sort of our pets, I guess you could say. And, Abby's not me girlfriend… no matter how hard I try," he added.

"Oh, sorry." She sat there watching him for a moment as he went into the kitchen and threw away the lamp. She was enjoying it, considering he was in a t-shirt and boxers. Her head tilted as her eyes gazed after him. "You got a girlfriend then?"

He gave her a look. "Um… no, no I don't… currently. I mean, it's-it's sort of complicated; mine and Abby's relationship."

She laughed. "Curiouser and curiouser," she said, obviously wondering about the underwear.

"You should probably get some more sleep." He blushed a little; sort of embarrassed about the conversation.

"No. I can't sleep, it's too hot." She stood up. "I've got to take a shower."

"That's not a good idea." He grabbed both her shoulder, stopping her in her tracks.

"Look, I've been traveling through anomalies for... God knows how long! They don't seem to have showers in the past and I'm afraid it isn't possible to stay in the future long enough for that… so could you just let me go!" He let her go by, a bit shocked by the outrage.

Rex came up to him again. "Women, Rex." Shaking his head, he sat on the couch and let out a large huff of air. "Mind you… she's beautiful, don't you think, Rex? Like a goddess. And she's gonna be staying here for a while..." He smiled to himself as impossible thoughts brewed in his head, then chuckled, knowing he's was being rediculous. He couldn't even get the girl he loved, much less this gorgeous woman he didn't know... although he was just about ready to completely give up on Abby. He had thought it over many, many times; the kiss, and all. But he came to the conclusion that it meant nothing except a thank you... a very... thorough thank you. He sighed and leaned his head back on the couch.

TBC in chapters to come! There are 5 chapters so far and number 2 will probably be put up today, so VERY SOON, I promise.

Please review- Critisizm is needed and welcome, Praise is loved and thanked... Love for all who review! :)

P.S. the T rating comes into play in chapter 2 and on... it may rise to M later, but i'm not sure yet; depends on reviewers. ;)