oddegg | Fic: Primeval, Chopper fic Outtake

Title: And what are your intentions towards my ~~daughter~~ geek?
Characters: Danny, Nick, Connor, Jenny
Rating/Warning: PG, gen with implied reference to slash.
Summary: There’s talking, and then there’s… The Talk!
Word Count: 1,545
Disclaimer: *insert amusing disclaimer here*
A/N:This is a bonus reel outtake from Connor/Danny Chopper fic: part deux, with Nick and Danny talking in the hospital.

* * *

Oh god. He just knew that this was going to rank as one of the most excruciating experiences of his life.

And, coming from a man who was in hospital recovering from a gunshot wound and the surgery it had necessitated, Nick felt that statement had weight.

He looked up into blue eyes that were a lot darker than his own and said
“So. Quinn. Connor’s mentioned you quite a bit”

Danny Quinn was looking a lot like a man who was feeling awkward but not wanting to show it. He glanced at the door towards the direction that Connor had just left and said darkly
“Has he really…”

Nick continued, his own voice bland
“You’ve been spending quite a bit of time with Connor, haven’t you?”

Now Quinn was looking puzzled – and uneasy, like someone who hasn’t worked out the answer yet but is beginning to think they won’t like it when they do. He replied hesitantly
“Um – yeah. We’ve… he’s been crashing with me at my place”

And that gave Nick the perfect opening, which he reluctantly took. He raised his eyebrows and said flatly
“Really? ‘Crashing’? I was under the impression from Abby that it was a bit more than ‘crashing’”

What Abby had actually said was that Danny and Connor were, ‘Obviously fucking like bunnies. And eyefucking each other in the labs at every opportunity, which is a bit annoying’. But she’d been grinning while she said it.
He added smoothly
“Unless that’s what they’re calling it nowadays. Connor’s quite a bit younger, isn’t he, so he’d know”

Quinn had similar colouring to Nick and so he had a vague twinge of fellow feeling for the painful flush of colour that washed over the man’s face. He opened his mouth to say something but Nick cut him off before he could start
“Connor’s a nice lad, isn’t he?”

“Errr, I… He’s ok. I mean, yes! Yes, he’s-”

The other man seemed off balance from the quick turn in conversation and Nick worked to keep him that way, firing off questions without giving Quinn a chance to answer properly
“He’s ‘ok’? Hmm. He’s ‘ok’ at work as well, isn’t he? Good at his job? He’s been with us from the start, did you know that? Gets on well with everyone. Jenny likes him a lot”

That last he added as an extra little dig; having heard all about Quinn’s first encounters with Jenny and the team in vivid, complaining detail. Jenny had made one or two other tetchy comments about the man during her visits to the hospital, but even when she called him ‘infuriating’ Nick could hear the faint proprietary tone beginning to creep into her voice and knew the man must be finding his place on the team. And speaking of team…
“And he gets on well with the soldiers as well. I don’t believe you’ve spent much time with the lads apart from Becker yet, have you? When I’m better we’ll have to take you out; get to know you. Maybe take you through one of the anomalies, though we’d have to take care”

He paused. Quinn looked like if an anomaly opened up then and there and swallowed him he wouldn’t have minded. Nick continued
“Because it can be dangerous, you know. Playing around with things like that; treating them casually. Not giving them their due care and attention. People can end up hurt. Accidents can happen, even with the soldiers and their guns there. Are you fond of your kneecaps?”

Nick hadn’t been sure if Quinn’s face could get any more horrified but it did at that particular non-sequitur. He tapped his finger on his chin and added thoughtfully
“Of course, now that I think about it, someone could very easily get lost in the past deliberately. I suppose it’s a good thing we’ve got an ex-police officer on the team now, if one were inclined towards criminal activities the Permian would be a good place to dispose of anything… unwanted”

Quinn had a rabbit in the headlights look now and he said faintly
“Along with zoos apparently”

Nick beamed widely at him
“Ah! I see you’ve been talking to Abby! Her and Connor are quite close. Nice girl, just like Connor’s a nice – oh, no. What was it you said? An ‘ok’ lad. Which I’m sure is a perfectly adequate way for his new… friend to describe-”

“Look!” Danny suddenly burst out “I like him, ok?”

Nick observed the other man silently for a long moment.
Quinn was, if anything, even redder with embarrassment than before and his voice was mortified, but he met Nick’s eyes squarely and he was obviously sincere – and, for god’s sake, he was obviously waiting for Nick to say something, to give some sort of indication of approval. Nick didn’t have it in him to torture the guy any further – he settled back into his pillow and quirked a small smile at him as he said
“We all do. It’s one of the greatest mysteries we’ve come across as to why”

Before Quinn could reply there was a flurry of movement by the door and Connor bounced back into the room, mouth already motoring
“Sorry Nick, I couldn’t find the sort of pen you said you wanted – and the woman in the shop said that she’d never actually had anything in other than ballpoints so-”
He broke off abruptly and looked from Quinn’s flushed face to Nick’s sardonic smile, grinned nervously and asked
“What’s up guys? What’s happening?”

Nick’s smile relaxed into something softer and more genuine. He said
“Nothing, Connor. Danny and I were just having a little talk about work and the anomalies. And it’s probably time for you to go now – I think the doctor’s coming round to check if I’m ok to be released at the end of the week. Say hello to Abby, won’t you? And Quinn?”

The man froze in the middle of hustling Connor away and slowly turned and looked back with apprehension. Nick smiled in a friendly manner
“Do remember what I said about being careful with the anomalies, won’t you?”

Quinn swallowed, nodded and pushed a questioning Connor out of the door. Nick could hear the lad’s ‘what was that about?’ grow fainter as they went down the corridor and he pushed himself up on his elbows to listen for a moment and check they were gone before letting his head drop back and saying into the empty, quiet air of the room
“Well. That was an incredibly uncomfortable experience”

“Oh, I don’t know. Personally I found it quite entertaining!”

Jenny came out from behind the curtain concealing the other bed in the room where she’d been hiding and grinned at Nick as she added
“And at least you’ve won the bet. As adjudicator I’m happy to inform the lads that you fulfilled the requirement to make Quinn squirm. With some panache, actually”

Nick hitched himself up on his pillows with care and said ruefully
“Yes, well I’m not sure if I’d rather just have conceded because inwardly I was cringing about as much as he was! Damn Lyle, what sort of man makes wagers with someone while they’re on a morphine drip anyway?”

Jenny shot him an incredulous look as she sat down in the visitors chair and then said, in a tone implying the answer should be obvious
“The sort of man who’s in the Special Forces?”

Nick thought back to some of the insane stunts the soldiers in their backup team had pulled – both during the job and in their free time – and some of the just plain evil tricks they sometimes played on each other and then said slowly
“…Good point”

He’d probably got off lucky actually. He looked over at Jenny, who was smoothing the blanket down on his bed with an automatic gesture that spoke of how many times she’d done this while he was in here. She caught his eye and smiled at him; affectionate but slightly puzzled and he realised he was staring. He smiled back and said lightly
“Well – I won anyway. So how’s about I take you out for dinner and dancing to celebrate once I’m out of here?”

She frowned a little bit and said repressively
“Nick…You’ve had major abdominal surgery recently, you’re not even going to be up for dinner when you get out let alone dancing!”

He smiled persuasively
“A rain check then?” when she hesitated he pressed his point and said softly “I would really like to have dinner with you, Jenny Lewis”

Nick wasn’t sure if it was the sincerity in his voice or the fact that he’d used Jenny’s proper name instead of teasing her by calling her Claudia, but something worked. Jenny’s face softened and her brown eyes were warm as she gave him her answer
“Ok then. We’ll take that rain check as soon as you’re properly better”

She looked hesitant for a moment, then gave him a small smile and said cryptically
“There was something I wanted to tell you, but it can wait till then”

Nick looked down to where her hand was, so close to his that their little fingers where almost touching. He gave her a wide smile back
“I can’t wait”