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fredbassettTitle : A Walk in the Park
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 12
Characters : Lester, Abby, The Mammoth
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Lester does something long overdue for a special friend.
A/N : Written as a belated birthday present for the lovely![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
knitekat. I hope you enjoy it, sweetie!
Lester glanced at the clock on his office wall.
6.30pm.
What he wanted was more coffee, but what he needed was a break from the seemingly endless procession of irritating emails that were landing in his inbox with the endless determination of an entire tribe of lemmings hurtling off a cliff. As fast as he replied or pressed delete, more arrived. Thanks to his youngest son’s obsession with the Ninja Turtles, he was now even starting to imagine them yelling ‘cowabunga!” as they pinged into existence….
It was definitely time to take a screen break.
For once, the majority of the ARC’s inhabitants had gone home on time. There had been no anomaly incursions for a week and by now everyone’s paperwork – except his own – seemed to be almost up to date.
The soldiers had spent most of the last two days frittering away taxpayers’ money on the firing range, but as Ryan had found a way of recharging the expenditure to his regiment under the catch-all heading of training, Lester had simply left them to it. He’d long since learned that discretion was the better part of valour where the special forces contingent was concerned.
The scientists, unfortunately, were less easy to distract. Far from catching up with a backlog of academic work, Cutter had roamed around the building like the Ghost of Christmas Past, doing anything in his power to avoid knuckling down to a conference paper that the ever long-suffering Stephen had all-but written for him, whilst Connor had spent most of the week determined to blow every electrical circuit in the building.
The only one who hadn’t caused him any irritation at all was Abby and, come to think of it, he’d barely seen her all week.
There was someone else Lester had seen very little of all week, and it was high time he rectified that omission. Retrieving a large bag of apples that had languished under his desk for several days, Lester made his way down to the section of the interior car park that had been reserved for a very special inhabitant of the Anomaly Research Centre.
As the ridiculously over-sized doors drew back, Lester could smell the warm musk of the mammoth. Abby kept his pen scrupulously clean, helped by any member of the security team who happened to have incurred Ryan’s wrath, but even so, it was impossible to disguise the smell of a 10 tonne animal that had been living there for the past few months.
Lester made his way towards the enclosure, a smile quirking his lips as he saw the mammoth’s huge head turn to watch him approach. The small, dark eyes looked down at him, and a questing trunk snaked out as though sniffing the air. Pulling one of the apples from the bag, Lester held it out on the palm of his hand. It was promptly taken off him and popped into the mammoth’s mouth. One crunch and it was gone. Three more followed in quick succession.
Dropping the carrier bag on the concrete floor, Lester reached up to pat the strong, leathery skin of the long trunk. The mammoth reached out in turn and ruffled Lester’s hair. He smiled up at the huge creature, conscious that he owed his life to the animal and wishing that he could repay it with something better than a dark pen in the corner of a car park.
He wasn’t sure if it was just a product of his imagination, but the mammoth looked to have lost weight and seemed more listless than usual, hardly surprising, as they were must have been gregarious creatures, roaming a bygone word in huge herds, much as their distant kin had once done in Africa before poachers had done their evil work.
Lester patted the mammoth’s trunk again. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “You deserve better than this.”
“Yes, he does,” an equally quiet voice agreed.
Lester turned to see Abby standing in the shadows at one end of the pen, watching them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You didn’t.” He hadn’t been aware of her presence, but he knew that the mammoth wouldn’t allow anyone other than a friend to come near him, so the sound of her voice certainly hadn’t startled him. He ran his hand down the mammoth’s trunk. “Is he all right?”
“Do you want me to tell you the truth or just what you want to hear?”
“Tell me the truth.”
“No, he’s not all right. He’s trapped millions of years outside his own time in a world where his natural habitat and his own kind have been eradicated. He’s stuck in a pen too small for him and he hasn’t felt sunlight or wind on his hide in months. He’s pining for his own kind and he needs more exercise than he can get walking up and down inside here. He’s dying, Lester, and we’re the ones killing him. There are times when I think it would be kinder just to ask Ryan to put a bullet in his brain.” She fell silent, staring at the floor, as if unwilling to meet the mammoth’s eyes - or Lester’s – after her last statement.
Lester drew in a long breath and let it out again equally slowly. “Then what can we do to make things better for him?” he asked, being careful to keep any hint of challenge out of his voice.
“He needs to be able to go outside, to roll in the grass, and eat something other than dried hay. That would be a good start.” Abby’s tone was combative, as if she expected him to immediately disagree with her.
“Then that’s what he shall have.” Lester reached out to unlatch the gate on the pen. “There’s no time like the present.”
Abby’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Lester couldn’t resist the temptation to roll his eyes. “Miss Maitland, this is a top secret government establishment. In theory no one should be able to get close enough to spy on us, and if they do, then I’m sure we can rely on Jenny’s ingenuity to fob them off. She does so love DA notices.”
He swung the gate open and held out his hand. The mammoth curled his turn around Lester’s wrist and seemed quite happy to follow him across the car park. With Abby at his side and the mammoth following him like an overgrown and surprisingly obedient puppy, they made their way down the long, curving ramp and out into the main car park. If the security guards seemed surprised by the slow procession, they were professional enough to keep their views to themselves.
Lester turned away from the main gates and made his way around the side of the building to the open area of grass and trees at the rear. Quite why the MoD had insisted on a man-made lake in the middle of the grounds, Lester had never quite fathomed but what he did know was that they’d been as mad as a flock of particularly wet hens when he’d succeeded in filching the building off them before it had been quite finished.
As soon as the mammoth’s enormous feet touched the grass, he felt a new energy in its step. The early evening sunlight was still warm, and a light breeze was blowing, just enough to dispel the sultry heat that had kept the air conditioning working at full capacity for most of the day. The trunk unwrapped itself from around Lester’s forearm and the mammoth lifted it up to scent the air, now far fresher than the cooped-up interior of the ARC.
He reached up and patted the creature’s shoulder, feeling the coarse, bristly hair beneath the palm of his hand. “Go on, make yourself at home. And I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to bring you out here.”
Moving slowly and carefully, as though it could scarcely believe its new-found freedom, the mammoth took a step away from Lester, then another, and another, until it was moving more freely than it had done in months, its trunk swinging freely between its legs and its tail swishing the air, as though dislodging imaginary flies. The mammoth made its way over to the lake and snuffled at the water before sucking some up and squirting the liquid into its mouth. After drinking its fill, the mammoth sucked up another trunk full and then sprayed it over its back.
Lester and Abby watched as the mammoth uprooted a patch of long grass next to the lake and then stood there, chewing, as it took in its new surroundings. The small, leathery ears twitched and flapped, and the mammoth bent its knees on the bank of the lake, sinking into the soft earth and proceeding to blow water all over itself.
Lester felt tears prick at his eyes. He didn’t care how many cover stories they had to dream up. The mammoth wasn’t going back to living in a dark, enclosed car park. It deserved better than that. The occasional visitor with gifts of fruit wasn’t enough, and they’d only been fooling themselves on that score.
Abby tucked her arm through his and they stood there for the rest of the evening, watching the mammoth amble around the lake exploring his new surroundings, listlessness gone, hopefully not to return.
Maybe one day they would be able to return the mammoth to his own time, but until then, Lester would make sure the creature lived the best life they could contrive for him.
Starting immediately.
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 12
Characters : Lester, Abby, The Mammoth
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Lester does something long overdue for a special friend.
A/N : Written as a belated birthday present for the lovely
knitekat. I hope you enjoy it, sweetie!Lester glanced at the clock on his office wall.
6.30pm.
What he wanted was more coffee, but what he needed was a break from the seemingly endless procession of irritating emails that were landing in his inbox with the endless determination of an entire tribe of lemmings hurtling off a cliff. As fast as he replied or pressed delete, more arrived. Thanks to his youngest son’s obsession with the Ninja Turtles, he was now even starting to imagine them yelling ‘cowabunga!” as they pinged into existence….
It was definitely time to take a screen break.
For once, the majority of the ARC’s inhabitants had gone home on time. There had been no anomaly incursions for a week and by now everyone’s paperwork – except his own – seemed to be almost up to date.
The soldiers had spent most of the last two days frittering away taxpayers’ money on the firing range, but as Ryan had found a way of recharging the expenditure to his regiment under the catch-all heading of training, Lester had simply left them to it. He’d long since learned that discretion was the better part of valour where the special forces contingent was concerned.
The scientists, unfortunately, were less easy to distract. Far from catching up with a backlog of academic work, Cutter had roamed around the building like the Ghost of Christmas Past, doing anything in his power to avoid knuckling down to a conference paper that the ever long-suffering Stephen had all-but written for him, whilst Connor had spent most of the week determined to blow every electrical circuit in the building.
The only one who hadn’t caused him any irritation at all was Abby and, come to think of it, he’d barely seen her all week.
There was someone else Lester had seen very little of all week, and it was high time he rectified that omission. Retrieving a large bag of apples that had languished under his desk for several days, Lester made his way down to the section of the interior car park that had been reserved for a very special inhabitant of the Anomaly Research Centre.
As the ridiculously over-sized doors drew back, Lester could smell the warm musk of the mammoth. Abby kept his pen scrupulously clean, helped by any member of the security team who happened to have incurred Ryan’s wrath, but even so, it was impossible to disguise the smell of a 10 tonne animal that had been living there for the past few months.
Lester made his way towards the enclosure, a smile quirking his lips as he saw the mammoth’s huge head turn to watch him approach. The small, dark eyes looked down at him, and a questing trunk snaked out as though sniffing the air. Pulling one of the apples from the bag, Lester held it out on the palm of his hand. It was promptly taken off him and popped into the mammoth’s mouth. One crunch and it was gone. Three more followed in quick succession.
Dropping the carrier bag on the concrete floor, Lester reached up to pat the strong, leathery skin of the long trunk. The mammoth reached out in turn and ruffled Lester’s hair. He smiled up at the huge creature, conscious that he owed his life to the animal and wishing that he could repay it with something better than a dark pen in the corner of a car park.
He wasn’t sure if it was just a product of his imagination, but the mammoth looked to have lost weight and seemed more listless than usual, hardly surprising, as they were must have been gregarious creatures, roaming a bygone word in huge herds, much as their distant kin had once done in Africa before poachers had done their evil work.
Lester patted the mammoth’s trunk again. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “You deserve better than this.”
“Yes, he does,” an equally quiet voice agreed.
Lester turned to see Abby standing in the shadows at one end of the pen, watching them.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t mean to startle you.”
“You didn’t.” He hadn’t been aware of her presence, but he knew that the mammoth wouldn’t allow anyone other than a friend to come near him, so the sound of her voice certainly hadn’t startled him. He ran his hand down the mammoth’s trunk. “Is he all right?”
“Do you want me to tell you the truth or just what you want to hear?”
“Tell me the truth.”
“No, he’s not all right. He’s trapped millions of years outside his own time in a world where his natural habitat and his own kind have been eradicated. He’s stuck in a pen too small for him and he hasn’t felt sunlight or wind on his hide in months. He’s pining for his own kind and he needs more exercise than he can get walking up and down inside here. He’s dying, Lester, and we’re the ones killing him. There are times when I think it would be kinder just to ask Ryan to put a bullet in his brain.” She fell silent, staring at the floor, as if unwilling to meet the mammoth’s eyes - or Lester’s – after her last statement.
Lester drew in a long breath and let it out again equally slowly. “Then what can we do to make things better for him?” he asked, being careful to keep any hint of challenge out of his voice.
“He needs to be able to go outside, to roll in the grass, and eat something other than dried hay. That would be a good start.” Abby’s tone was combative, as if she expected him to immediately disagree with her.
“Then that’s what he shall have.” Lester reached out to unlatch the gate on the pen. “There’s no time like the present.”
Abby’s eyebrows shot up in surprise.
Lester couldn’t resist the temptation to roll his eyes. “Miss Maitland, this is a top secret government establishment. In theory no one should be able to get close enough to spy on us, and if they do, then I’m sure we can rely on Jenny’s ingenuity to fob them off. She does so love DA notices.”
He swung the gate open and held out his hand. The mammoth curled his turn around Lester’s wrist and seemed quite happy to follow him across the car park. With Abby at his side and the mammoth following him like an overgrown and surprisingly obedient puppy, they made their way down the long, curving ramp and out into the main car park. If the security guards seemed surprised by the slow procession, they were professional enough to keep their views to themselves.
Lester turned away from the main gates and made his way around the side of the building to the open area of grass and trees at the rear. Quite why the MoD had insisted on a man-made lake in the middle of the grounds, Lester had never quite fathomed but what he did know was that they’d been as mad as a flock of particularly wet hens when he’d succeeded in filching the building off them before it had been quite finished.
As soon as the mammoth’s enormous feet touched the grass, he felt a new energy in its step. The early evening sunlight was still warm, and a light breeze was blowing, just enough to dispel the sultry heat that had kept the air conditioning working at full capacity for most of the day. The trunk unwrapped itself from around Lester’s forearm and the mammoth lifted it up to scent the air, now far fresher than the cooped-up interior of the ARC.
He reached up and patted the creature’s shoulder, feeling the coarse, bristly hair beneath the palm of his hand. “Go on, make yourself at home. And I’m sorry it’s taken us so long to bring you out here.”
Moving slowly and carefully, as though it could scarcely believe its new-found freedom, the mammoth took a step away from Lester, then another, and another, until it was moving more freely than it had done in months, its trunk swinging freely between its legs and its tail swishing the air, as though dislodging imaginary flies. The mammoth made its way over to the lake and snuffled at the water before sucking some up and squirting the liquid into its mouth. After drinking its fill, the mammoth sucked up another trunk full and then sprayed it over its back.
Lester and Abby watched as the mammoth uprooted a patch of long grass next to the lake and then stood there, chewing, as it took in its new surroundings. The small, leathery ears twitched and flapped, and the mammoth bent its knees on the bank of the lake, sinking into the soft earth and proceeding to blow water all over itself.
Lester felt tears prick at his eyes. He didn’t care how many cover stories they had to dream up. The mammoth wasn’t going back to living in a dark, enclosed car park. It deserved better than that. The occasional visitor with gifts of fruit wasn’t enough, and they’d only been fooling themselves on that score.
Abby tucked her arm through his and they stood there for the rest of the evening, watching the mammoth amble around the lake exploring his new surroundings, listlessness gone, hopefully not to return.
Maybe one day they would be able to return the mammoth to his own time, but until then, Lester would make sure the creature lived the best life they could contrive for him.
Starting immediately.
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Date: 2015-08-18 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-18 06:49 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2015-08-19 07:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 08:24 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-19 12:27 am (UTC)For some reason, my eyes seem to have sprung a leak.
*sniffles delicately*
That was beautiful and sad.
Kudos.
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Date: 2015-08-19 07:32 am (UTC)Thank you!
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Date: 2015-08-19 11:39 pm (UTC)*returns it to owner*
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Date: 2015-08-19 01:05 pm (UTC)This is the best care poor Monty can get in these circumstances.
Well done, Lester and Abby.
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Date: 2015-08-19 05:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-08-20 07:09 am (UTC)Superb little read, with some great touches, especially anything involving Ryan, all very clever :)
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Date: 2015-08-20 12:27 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2015-08-27 06:46 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2015-09-01 08:03 pm (UTC)One of the frustrating things about Primeval was the writers apparent cluelessness about actual animals.
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Date: 2015-09-02 07:35 am (UTC)*nods* I think there just wasn't enough time to explore those issues, and it showed!