Title : Some Enchanted Woodland
Author :
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
bigtitchRating : 18, Slash
Characters : Stephen/Cutter, Lyle, Kermit, Ditzy
Disclaimer : No names, no pack-drill
Spoilers : None
Summary : The Secret Santa for
[Bad username or site: gold arrow @ livejournal.com]It was three days before Xmas and Stephen was wanking in the shower. As the hot water cascaded over his head and down his back his mind took him to a place where Nick Cutter was kneeling before him sucking on his cock. Cutter was smiling as he took enthusiastically to his task. His tongue was so talented, swirling around the head of Stephen's cock while sucking with just the right amount of pressure. It was so good. So good. So ... goooood.
Stephen came in white spurts. He stood for a moment with his head down now watching his come wash down the drain.
It was a release. Nothing more. Cutter had barely looked at him since he had come back through the anomaly with Ryan to discover that he had been thought dead, had been killed in one of Helen's schemes, while he had been trying to survive in the past. He badly wanted to rekindle their earlier closeness, but didn't even know where to start.
He shook his head and reached for his towel to discover Lyle standing in the doorway to the showers.
'You know, some people might have said something instead of just standing there,' Stephen said.
Lyle shrugged. 'Some people might.'
Stephen brushed past him. It was pointless trying to shame Lyle. The man was impervious to it.
'Nothing wrong with a good wank,' Lyle observed. 'But it didn't seem to make you happy.'
'It wasn't the wank,' Stephen started. 'It was...' He couldn't find the words.
'Not the person you wanted to be having sex with,' Lyle supplied.
Stephen grunted and started drying himself.
'You know, for two intelligent academics, you have so little common sense between you and Cutter.'
Stephen looked up, startled.
'In the whole ARC, the only people who don't know you two are pining after each other are Cutter and yourself.'
'Cutter's pining?'
'Like someone's stolen his favourite fossil.'
'Oh.' Stephen thought about approaching Cutter and declaring himself. Then he shook his head. 'There's too much past between us,' he said.
'Then find something new and start from there. Please. For all our sakes!'
'Since when did Jon Lyle give out relationship advice?'
'I'm an officer, aren't I? They put me on man-management courses. And besides, Mum ran an agony aunt column for a while.'
Stephen's mouth fell open at the thought of Lyle's formidable mother dispensing sympathy to the needy.
'It didn't last long,' Lyle said. 'They said she didn't have the right tone.'
'Well, it's not easy,' Stephen said, still mentally shuddering at the idea. 'I think I'm glad I got the son and not the mother.'
-----
It was Christmas Eve at the ARC and that meant a skeleton admin staff, but a fully stocked set of special forces and 'away team' members. So Stephen was sharing the building with Cutter and Lyle's bunch. It was a quiet day with the odd feeling that you really should be elsewhere doing more important stuff. Connor and Abby were at Connor's parents' house. Lester was away with his children. Stephen was in his office comparing footprint casts with ones online wishing he could find a reason to talk to Cutter in his office.
His office door slammed open.
'GRENADE!' a voice yelled as a small object landed on the floor.
The door slammed shut again.
Stephen looked up from the reflexive crouch he'd assumed between his desk and the filing cabinet. The 'grenade' was a small parcel of christmas serviette fastened with a rubber band. He opened it to reveal a warm mince pie, only slightly crumbled from its express delivery.
He opened his office door and looked down the corridor to find Ditzy, Finn, Lyle and Kermit proceeding down the hallway in an approved MoD four-man 'brick' formation in full assault kit, including respirators, but wearing Santa hats.
'These aren't bad,' Cutter's voice spoke behind him.
Stephen tried his. 'I think they've added a bit of brandy in there.'
'That's why I said they aren't bad.'
The anomaly alarm went off. The commando Santas stood up from their crouched position and raced to the atrium. Stephen stuffed the rest of the mince pie in his mouth and followed them, Cutter close behind.
-----
Alan, the technician in charge of the ADD while Connor was away, pushed his over-large elf hat back from his eyes and pointed at the map display. 'Syon Park.'
Cutter checked his watch. 'It's dark, they'll be shut.'
Alan was already typing into a database and shook his head. 'It's dark. They have an Enchanted Woodland light display walk through the arboretum going on.' He reached for the phone. 'I'll get the local police to tell them to evacuate.'
'Credible bomb threat again?' asked Lyle.
Alan grinned. 'It usually works.'
Lyle turned to to the rest. 'Okay guys. Kit up. Time to get the blues and twos going.'
-----
It was a thrilling experience sitting in an emergency vehicle being expertly driven at speed through the darkened streets of a city. They went through Brentford High Street at something way over the speed limit with Stephen only having to grab the dashboard once, when a party of revellers decided on the worst possible time to cross the road and nearly invited themselves to an extended stay in A&E. Luckily Lyle's reflexes were up to the job and he swerved round them, leaving nothing worse behind than a bus driver suddenly needing a change of underwear.
They turned off from the street and drove down a narrow lane only dimly lit by street lights. A high brick wall stretched away to the their left. At one end a policeman stood waving them forwards and to the left. A few minibuses were pulled up under a sign advertising 'Snakes and Ladders'. Beside them a handful of police wearing helmets and carrying round shields were standing.
'Looks like they've sent the riot squad. They must have heard you were coming boss,' said Finn from the back seat.
'They're learning,' was Lyle's comment as he screeched to a halt inches from the nearest minibus.
'Where's your boss?' Finn shouted to the group of police.
'Over by the entrance!' one of them pointed towards a confused gaggle of people under bright lights further along the lane.
The ARC team jogged over and one of the helmeted police broke away from the group and went to meet them. His expression was that of a man whose toilet had just overflowed and was expecting them to dump a new load of shit over his feet. 'You made good time,' he said.
'For once we're not far away,' Lyle replied.
'What have we got?'
'An anomaly. We won't know until we see it. How's the evacuation going?'
'We're still waiting for two teams to come back in.' This was from a middle-aged woman in a green fleece with Syon Park embroidered on it. She had a pleasant face and competent-looking eyes. Her badge said 'Alice Waverley - Volunteer Coordinator'. 'We used our standard evacuation plan. The staff have gone in with torches to escort people back here. Luckily, the dark means the public tend to stick to the paths.'
'What area are we talking about?'
Alice produced a map of the grounds. 'Just round the lake with a detour to the house itself. It's a mile and a bit long.'
The team gathered round to have a look.
'You don't look like the bomb squad,' Alice remarked. She smiled when they turned to look at her. 'That's okay. It doesn't look like a bomb.' Her smile broadened. 'The most we've got out there is a big disco ball. We don't run to big, sparkly, free-standing light effects. It's over by the far end of the lake.'
They walked through the entrance. 'Do you want me to turn the lights off?' Alice asked.
'Do you have any strobe lights?' Cutter asked.
'God no! We want to entertain our visitors, not give them fits.'
In the darkness, trees could be seen lit up in green and purples.
'Keep them on then, the more light the better.'
As they were talking a scared-looking family arrived accompanied by a man in a Syon Park fleece carrying a bright torch.
'Alice, there's something out there,' he said. 'I didn't get a good look at it, but I heard it.'
'Where?' Lyle asked.
'Near the lake by the UV light tunnel.'
'Okay we'll deal with it from here.'
'There's still one gardener out there,' Alice warned.
Lyle nodded. 'We'll look out for him. Stephen, you're with Finn and Ditzy. Take the left-hand side. Cutter, you're with me and Kermit. We'll go the right-hand route. Last one to the anomaly gets them in at The Ship when we get back!'
-----
The park was dark with oases of light where trees had been floodlit in various colours. Some trees had decorations hanging from them and some had little festive scenes set up at their bases. Stephen was sure that they would be charming and entertaining to walk past if they weren't searching for something that could kill them.
There was a roaring sound to his right and all four of them swung their weapons in that direction. Smoke lifted from the surface of the lake, but it came from the head of a plastic sea monster. Stephen exchanged slightly sheepish looks with Finn. At least the display wasn't getting shot on general principles.
A disco ball high in a tree scattered shards of light on the branches and ground. It was pretty, but they were looking for a different light display.
Suddenly, there came screams from the darkness past the disco ball lights. Stephen started shining his torch into the dark, trying to see what was there. He spotted a light shining back in his direction. As they got closer he could see it was in the hands of a woman sheltering two children behind her and shining her torch frantically in the dark. It illuminated a large shape that loomed over them.
What Stephen saw momentarily stopped him in his tracks. It was a T-Rex in all but size. The shape was right, but it only stood the height of a man. It's teeth looked dangerous enough, though. It moved forward, clearly not letting the light shining in its eyes deter it from its prey anymore.
A shot rang out and the creature stumbled. Another shot and it fell sideways.
'Nice one, Finn!' Stephen called.
'Ahem!' said Ditzy running forward, rifle pointing at the T-Rex where it twitched on the ground.
Finn joined him, but it was obvious that another bullet was not necessary. The T-Rex gasped and then was still.
'Is that what I think it is?' Finn asked.
'T-Rex. Juvenile, though.' Stephen replied.
Ditzy was checking on the civilians, who were standing there, shocked. 'Are any of you hurt?'
'No,' said the woman gardener, holding a shaking hand to her head. 'What's happening?'
'We need to get you back to the entrance,' Ditzy said, avoiding her question. 'Finn here will escort you.'
'I can manage,' she said, bracing herself. 'I know the way.'
'We don't know how many of these are out there,' Stephen said. 'There may be an adult still alive.'
Ditzy finished giving Finn his orders: 'Get them out and then come straight back here. If there's more of these about we'll need all the firepower we can get!'
Finn disappeared off back down the way they had come with the woman and children in tow. Stephen and Ditzy carried on into the dark, wary and watchful. The dark held teeth. But where was the anomaly.
-----
The light shows continued as they carried on. They could see the lights from the torches of Lyle, Cutter and Kermit reflected on the still surface of the lake.
Then Ditzy pointed ahead. 'There it is!'
Stephen saw it then, amongst some trees. Less garish than the artificial light displays they had been passing by. More beautiful in its way, but much more dangerous.
Stephen held up his hand as they ran up to it and started quartering the ground with his torch as Ditzy stood guard. He was looking to see what tracks remained there.
Lyle and the others approached. 'What have we got?'
'Juvenile T-Rex back there,' Stephen didn't bother to lift his head from his task.
'An ex-T-Rex,' Ditzy said. 'Sorry professor, but it was attacking some children.'
'Ach, too stupid to live then,' Cutter said. 'Any more to worry about, Stephen?'
'I don't think so,' Stephen said. The ground is trampled but I can't see more than one set of creature prints.'
'Has anyone gone through?'
Stephen stopped and looked at Cutter. 'You had to say it didn't you?' He looked at Lyle, seeing acceptance and permission in his face. 'Well, let's do it, then.'
He stepped towards the shining lights of the anomaly.
-----
He arrived in bright sunlight on a green hillside. He blinked against the light of the sun. Ditzy quickly pulled on a set of sunglasses and scanned the area for threats.
'Stephen!'
'What?'
'Over there!' Ditzy gestured with his gun. Another T-Rex, this time alive, was walking by the brow of a hill in the middle foreground. A smaller version walked beside it.
'Oh my god!'
'What?'
'That creature we have back there. It's not a juvenile! It's an adult. It's a new species.'
'Any children?'
Stephen pulled himself back into the present day. He scanned the ground. 'No, no tracks apart from ours.'
He looked at the new dinosaur, never before seen by man and wished he'd brought a camera through with him.'
'Professor what are you doing?'
Stephen turned round to see Cutter standing beside the anomaly and squinting against the bright sunlight.
'Good question,' he said. 'What are you doing?'
'I could ask the same of you!'
'I'm checking no kids came through!'
'Did they?'
'No.'
'That's good.' Cutter raised the camera round his neck. 'We need to document this better. Fuck me! Is that a new species?'
In spite of himself, Stephen couldn't help but grin. The Cutters always had their priorities sorted.
-----
'Are you seriously going to spend Christmas Day dissecting a dinosaur?'
They stood together in the ARC's garage supervising the unloading of the new dinosaur on to a trolley.
'Well it's better than...' Cutter didn't finish his sentence.
Better than spending it alone, Stephen supplied in his head. He considered his own options.
'Want some help?'
'But weren't you spending it with the lads?'
'They won't miss me. We can drop in for a drink and turkey sarnie in the evening.'
'Okay then. I'll talk to Norman about getting the temperature sorted in Lab 2.'
'See you tomorrow.'
Cutter was already walking down the corridor - he just waved in acknowledgement.
Stephen went to the locker room. The adrenalin had left his system, but he didn't feel frustrated or on edge. He felt happy. Lyle stood beside one of the clothes hooks, stripping off his bdus.
'Good shout,' he said.
'Not bad,' Stephen said. 'The fun really starts tomorrow, though.'
Lyle looked quizzically at him.
'New species to describe,' Stephen explained.
'Takes all sorts.'
'Well, thanks to Ditzy's sharp-shooting we've got nearly a perfect specimen to examine. Can't waste the opportunity.'
'Make sure you don't,' Lyle said significantly.
Stephen looked puzzled. Lyle picked up his towel and shower gel and leaned in close as he walked past him. 'That smile on your face isn't just because you have a new species to play with. Don't waste it.'
Stephen blushed. Maybe this Christmas might be the start of something after all.
The End
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif){kind=small}
