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fredbassettTitle : Breaking the Ice
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 12
Characters : Claudia, Lester, (Cutter, Stephen, Ryan)
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Sometimes Claudia wishes she could just thump some sense into people.
A/N : Written for the![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
primeval_denial monthly challenge, prompt 2, "Like most intellectuals, he's intensely stupid."
“Why does the wretched man have to be so infuriating?”
“Is that a rhetorical question, James?”
“Yes, of course it bloody well is. Can’t the idiot see that Hart is utterly besotted with him, not his bitch of an ex-wife?”
Claudia couldn’t quite manage to wrestle her eyebrows under control.
Lester glanced at her and frowned.
“You’re a man,” she said, by way of explanation. “No one expects you to be perceptive when it comes to emotions.”
Lester was clearly fighting against an almost overwhelming urge to roll his eyes. Eventually, he gave up the unequal struggle and allowed his eyeballs to get some exercise. “Possession of a penis does not automatically imply imbecility. We don’t all labour under the same mental restrictions as the irascible academic.”
“I think the Home Office has regulations governing the use of the word ‘penis’ in the workplace.”
“Does it? How splendid. I shall say it more often. Now, where were we?”
“You were expressing your opinion on the subject of Cutter’s inability to see what the military team has been running a book on since they first clapped eyes on the pair of them.”
“If Cutter and Hart get together in the next three weeks, I gather Captain Ryan will win enough for a holiday in the sun once they finally let him out of hospital.”
“How on earth do you know that?”
Lester smiled wolfishly. “It’s my job to know everything.”
It was Claudia’s turn to roll her eyes. But the annoying thing was that Lester was right, which probably explained why he was no doubt taking home a six figure salary.
Very few people in the ARC knew that Lester regularly visited Ryan in hospital. She hadn’t realised that, either, until she’d arrived early one day, nearly two months ago, and had seen her boss leaving Ryan’s private room. He’d been dressed casually in jeans and a well-worn cashmere sweater and had looked tired but more relaxed than she had ever seen him. Claudia wondered what sort of odds she would get on a bet that her boss and Ryan would be an item before the year was out.
“And so how do you propose to resolve the problem?” Claudia asked.
“Do I look like a human resources consultant? This sort of touchy-feely thing is far more up your street than mine, I would have thought.”
Six months ago, Claudia would just have bristled internally but said nothing. Now she simply retorted mildly, “How many times have I told you not to be a sexist arsehole, James?”
Lester made a show of consulting a leather-bound notebook on his desk. “That’s three times this month, and 16 times since we started working together. But you were a little backwards at coming forwards when it came to expressing yourself to start with.”
“You mean it took me three months to realise that under the sharp suits and even sharper tongue lurked a heart of…”
“Pure granite,” Lester said quickly. “So how are we going to deal with the ridiculous man? They can’t be allowed to carry on like this. Hart’s kicked puppy look is getting too much even for me.”
“I think you need to take Cutter out for a drink after work and have a heart to heart talk with him.”
“Are you serious?” Lester looked alarmed.
“No.”
“Good. Perhaps this needs a woman’s touch…?”
“I think we’ve had enough of a woman’s touch on this one, thank you very much,” Claudia observed. She gestured to his notebook. “That was your fourth sexist remark this month, by the way.”
Lester duly made another tally mark in his notebook. “Stop changing the subject. We need a solution. Perhaps Captain Ryan would be kind enough to knock some sense into the man’s thick skull? It worked last time.”
A slow smile spread across Claudia’s face. “It didn’t, didn’t it?”
The story of how Ryan had persuaded Cutter to come back from that first trip into the past had reached legendary status on the anomaly project. Despite a seemingly unprepossessing start, the two men had forged a strong working relationship based on mutual respect.
If anyone stood a chance of breaking the ice that had driven Nick and Stephen apart, it was Ryan. Now all she needed to do was break it to him.
Or perhaps Lester was in a better position to do that….
Author : fredbassett
Fandom : Primeval
Rating : 12
Characters : Claudia, Lester, (Cutter, Stephen, Ryan)
Disclaimer : Not mine, no money made, don’t sue.
Spoilers : None
Summary : Sometimes Claudia wishes she could just thump some sense into people.
A/N : Written for the
primeval_denial monthly challenge, prompt 2, "Like most intellectuals, he's intensely stupid."“Why does the wretched man have to be so infuriating?”
“Is that a rhetorical question, James?”
“Yes, of course it bloody well is. Can’t the idiot see that Hart is utterly besotted with him, not his bitch of an ex-wife?”
Claudia couldn’t quite manage to wrestle her eyebrows under control.
Lester glanced at her and frowned.
“You’re a man,” she said, by way of explanation. “No one expects you to be perceptive when it comes to emotions.”
Lester was clearly fighting against an almost overwhelming urge to roll his eyes. Eventually, he gave up the unequal struggle and allowed his eyeballs to get some exercise. “Possession of a penis does not automatically imply imbecility. We don’t all labour under the same mental restrictions as the irascible academic.”
“I think the Home Office has regulations governing the use of the word ‘penis’ in the workplace.”
“Does it? How splendid. I shall say it more often. Now, where were we?”
“You were expressing your opinion on the subject of Cutter’s inability to see what the military team has been running a book on since they first clapped eyes on the pair of them.”
“If Cutter and Hart get together in the next three weeks, I gather Captain Ryan will win enough for a holiday in the sun once they finally let him out of hospital.”
“How on earth do you know that?”
Lester smiled wolfishly. “It’s my job to know everything.”
It was Claudia’s turn to roll her eyes. But the annoying thing was that Lester was right, which probably explained why he was no doubt taking home a six figure salary.
Very few people in the ARC knew that Lester regularly visited Ryan in hospital. She hadn’t realised that, either, until she’d arrived early one day, nearly two months ago, and had seen her boss leaving Ryan’s private room. He’d been dressed casually in jeans and a well-worn cashmere sweater and had looked tired but more relaxed than she had ever seen him. Claudia wondered what sort of odds she would get on a bet that her boss and Ryan would be an item before the year was out.
“And so how do you propose to resolve the problem?” Claudia asked.
“Do I look like a human resources consultant? This sort of touchy-feely thing is far more up your street than mine, I would have thought.”
Six months ago, Claudia would just have bristled internally but said nothing. Now she simply retorted mildly, “How many times have I told you not to be a sexist arsehole, James?”
Lester made a show of consulting a leather-bound notebook on his desk. “That’s three times this month, and 16 times since we started working together. But you were a little backwards at coming forwards when it came to expressing yourself to start with.”
“You mean it took me three months to realise that under the sharp suits and even sharper tongue lurked a heart of…”
“Pure granite,” Lester said quickly. “So how are we going to deal with the ridiculous man? They can’t be allowed to carry on like this. Hart’s kicked puppy look is getting too much even for me.”
“I think you need to take Cutter out for a drink after work and have a heart to heart talk with him.”
“Are you serious?” Lester looked alarmed.
“No.”
“Good. Perhaps this needs a woman’s touch…?”
“I think we’ve had enough of a woman’s touch on this one, thank you very much,” Claudia observed. She gestured to his notebook. “That was your fourth sexist remark this month, by the way.”
Lester duly made another tally mark in his notebook. “Stop changing the subject. We need a solution. Perhaps Captain Ryan would be kind enough to knock some sense into the man’s thick skull? It worked last time.”
A slow smile spread across Claudia’s face. “It didn’t, didn’t it?”
The story of how Ryan had persuaded Cutter to come back from that first trip into the past had reached legendary status on the anomaly project. Despite a seemingly unprepossessing start, the two men had forged a strong working relationship based on mutual respect.
If anyone stood a chance of breaking the ice that had driven Nick and Stephen apart, it was Ryan. Now all she needed to do was break it to him.
Or perhaps Lester was in a better position to do that….
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no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 09:13 pm (UTC)From the perfect first line through the wager and repartee about the sexism counting to the zinger of an ending, that was completely sublime.
No one does Lester's voice better than you.
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Date: 2016-01-29 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 09:32 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-29 09:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 09:45 pm (UTC)ROFL!
Too many lines to quote them all here, your Lester is perfect, snarky and funny, and Claudia is just awesome ^_^
Loved it to pieces!
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Date: 2016-01-29 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 11:13 pm (UTC)*purrs again*
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Date: 2016-01-29 09:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-28 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-29 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-29 07:36 am (UTC)“I think the Home Office has regulations governing the use of the word ‘penis’ in the workplace.”
“Does it? How splendid. I shall say it more often. Now, where were we?”
“You were expressing your opinion on the subject of Cutter’s inability to see what the military team has been running a book on since they first clapped eyes on the pair of them.”
“If Cutter and Hart get together in the next three weeks, I gather Captain Ryan will win enough for a holiday in the sun once they finally let him out of hospital.”
LOL! and YAY!
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Date: 2016-01-29 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-29 03:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-01-29 09:14 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-03 10:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2016-02-04 10:06 pm (UTC)no subject
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Date: 2016-02-22 07:52 am (UTC)