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Stephen narrowed his eyes as he looked to where Connor and Jess were talking. He’d had his reservations when Jess first arrived, she was so young it was hard to imagine her in a job like this, but during their first call with her, she’d managed to hack into some security cameras, direct them where they needed to be, removed the footage of the entire evening after saving copies for their own records and managed to prevent any witnesses or injuries in the team, all without stepping foot out of the building.
She’d proved her worth then, and gained the respect of the Special Forces guys and everyone else. Not that Abby or Connor needed to be proven anything, they’d both taken to her the moment she’d arrived, personally recruited by Lester.
Jess and Connor had quickly bonded over their love of technology and spent all their time working on a new project of Connor’s. At first, everything seemed fine. They sat next to each other, putting together circuit boards and other computery-bits. They had to sit close together, so it made sense that their arms or hands would brush occasionally. It made sense that as they spent more time together and talked more, they’d become closer friends and start chatting and laughing. The touches would get a bit more natural and casual. It was all completely expected, normal, and understandable.
Stephen tried to push it aside because every time Abby came to get her fiancé to drag him home at the end of the day, Connor always gave her those lovestruck looks. He and Jess would finish up whatever they were doing and say goodbye. Connor always seemed so happy to see Abby and was more than happy to follow her home, with no hint that he’d rather sneak off with Jess.
It would have made sense to Stephen if he had, though. When he and Nick had first met Connor at the University, the boy was an oddball right from the off, so they hadn’t believed him when he said he was engaged. Until they met Abby in the forest, and she’d greeted Connor with a quick kiss before they both focused back on the creature in front of them. Stephen had no idea how they worked as a couple. Aside from this job, and a love for prehistoric animals, the two didn’t have anything else in common. It would make much more sense for Connor to be attracted to Jess. She was pretty (if a bit young for Stephen’s taste). She was clearly intelligent. She loved tech just as much as Connor did. She was just as bright and bubbly as he was and shared a lot of movies and TV shows in common with Connor.
But Connor remained at Abby’s side, so Stephen tried to pass off the touches and the easy friendship Connor had developed with Jess.
Then they moved away from the table to start putting the project together on the floor inside the housing unit. It was going to be the biggest computer Stephen had ever seen. As they worked, they’d brush up against each other more often. Connor sometimes put a hand on her back or slung an arm over her shoulder. Sometimes she’d put her hand on his knee or thigh as she leaned past him to grab something on his other side rather than asking him to pass it over.
Then they’d started whispering together and going quiet when Abby came up.
Stephen knew something was up. Something big. He was busy with his work a lot of the time, as well as going over Nick’s reports to make them viable to submit, so he didn’t get to observe them 24/7. He didn’t know whether they were sneaking off during work hours. He knew they were taking lunch at the same time, disappearing to a little café off premises and coming back nearly an hour later, though they both kept their phones on, and the one time they’d been called to an Anomaly while the two had been off they’d returned sharpish.
He was absolutely sure Connor was hooking up with Jess behind Abby’s back.
And Abby was utterly ignorant. Why would a guy like Connor ever cheat on someone like her? She was way out of his league.
But today, Stephen couldn’t just stand back and do nothing. Not when he’d seen Connor pull out a ring and seen Jess’ face light up. She knew Abby and Connor were engaged. Maybe Connor had convinced her those were just rumours? It’s not like either of them wore an engagement ring. The closest either of them got was the gold ring that Connor wore on a leather cord around his neck.
Point is, Stephen couldn't stand by and do nothing anymore.
As soon as he’d seen Connor pull out that ring, he’d charged over and grabbed hold of the little geek. He dragged him away from Jess and tossed him to the ground, punching him twice in the face before Ryan and Becker pulled him off.
Lester came charging down his ramp, “What the bloody hell is going on here?”
Stephen sneered at Connor, who was being pulled to his feet and fussed over by both Jess and Abby, “Tell them! Go on! Tell them!”
“I would if I knew what you think I’ve done.”
“Don’t play dumb!”
“I’m not playin'!”
Stephen scoffed and jerked his arms, still held tightly by the two captains.
Nick reached out cautiously, “Stephen, just calm down and talk to us. What is it you think Connor’s done?”
Stephen looked between Connor and Abby before realising that Connor would never admit to what he’d been doing. If anything, he’d just be better at hiding it if Stephen was the only one who noticed, “He’s been cheating on Abby with Jess.”
Connor, Abby and Jess all looked utterly baffled by the accusation, looking between each other in confusion. Nick shook his head slowly, frowning. Claudia folded her arms and narrowed her eyes at the three but seemed to judge their reactions genuine and turned her attention back to Stephen.
Lester dropped his arms from where he’d folded them, tossing his hands into the air, “That is preposterous.”
Stephen shook his head, “They’ve been flirting since Jess got here. They’ve been taking long lunches together outside the building for an hour. I saw him giving her a ring! He was telling her how beautiful and stylish she is, and was gearing up to propose! As if he isn’t already engaged!”
Abby’s eyebrows both raised at that, “A ring?” She turned to Connor. It seemed like she’d believed him in that at least, “Con, I told you I didn’t need a ring,” What the hell? Why did she assume it was for her? Connor was giving it to Jess!
Connor nodded. “I know, but this one is special,” He looked Stephen in the eye, “First, I have not been flirting with Jess. She’s basically like me little sister. I am so not interested, even if I wasn’t with Abby. Second, we take lunch at the same time every day because we’ve been working on the Detector together. It’s easier if we get to a point where we can put it down, take lunch together, and then get back to it, rather than one of us working alone. And as for the ring. I don’t know if you’ve noticed this, Stephen, but; Jess is A: a woman, B: has an impeccable sense of style, and C: is not so much a ‘hopeless romantic’ as she is standing at the front of the parade float with a megaphone.”
Jess giggled self-consciously and ducked her head.
Abby chuckled slightly and nudged Connor, “So, you were getting her opinion?”
Connor nodded, “With our jobs, wearing a ring is risky. Too high a chance of it falling through an Anomaly, getting damaged, or even it causing damage. A lot of people have to get their rings cut off because they’ve injured themselves on it, and their finger’s swollen up or something.”
Abby nodded, “Yeah. And I don’t want you spending loads of money on something I might lose millions of years in the past.”
Connor nodded, “Yeah, plus you’d have to take it off any time you worked with the animals for a lot of the same reasons. Plus, a diamond ring has too many facets and places for stuff you don’t want getting in it to get in it.”
Abby slowly nodded again, “Yes, those are reasons I don’t want a ring.”
Connor ducked his head slightly and picked up the ring box from where it had fallen, “Well, I did this anyway. It’s not a normal diamond engagement ring; I know that’s not your style. I figured you can just wear it around your neck. It's cleaner, no risk of breaking a finger and less chance it'll get lost. And I know you don’t want me spending a lot of money, so I didn’t. It’s worth more in sentimental value than it is money. I got me mam’s ring engraved.”
Connor popped the ring box open to reveal a simple gold band. The same band he always wore around his neck, now that Stephen was actually looking.
Abby smiled and gently kissed Connor’s cheek, “You’re so sweet, Connor,” She picked it up out of the box and turned it over, examining the engraving on the inside, “FMH*TML*TMH*TML*? What does that mean?”
Connor smiled sweetly, “From My Heart, To My Love, To My Home, To My Life.”
There was a chorus of ‘Awww’ from various people around the room, including a muffled happy squeal from Jess.
Abby grinned and pulled Connor down for a gentle kiss.
Lester interrupted the lovely moment, “Alright. Hart, my office, everyone else, back to work,” He nodded to Connor, who nodded back before turning his attention back to Abby. Lester turned and headed back up the ramp.
As Ryan and Becker dragged him up the ramp to Lester's office, Nick following along with a fierce scowl, Stephen knew he'd messed up big time, and there was no easy way out of this. He was in so much trouble; with Lester, with Nick, with the University, with Abby, Connor, and Jess, not to mention everyone else who works here who would undoubtedly be hearing about this within the hour.
Oh, he was so screwed. And it was his own damn fault.