Title: a sharp shock to your soft side
Fandom: Primeval
Ship: Jess Parker/Hilary Becker
Rating: PG
Word Count: 1,816
Warning: mild language
Disclaimer: They are not mine. The title comes from Soft Shock by the Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs.
Spoilers: Everything up to the season five finale.

A/N: I think there were at least two scenes missing from the finale. Here they are. The first takes place right before the team heads out to New Dawn. The second is after they come back. I apologise in advance for the fluff. Beta'd by the wonderful fringedweller who helps me keep my pronouns straight.

Summary: There were two things that Becker needed to do. This is what they were. Jess/Becker.

As the dreadful prospect of options two and three ran through his mind, Becker went back to check on Lester before they all headed back to the New Dawn site. He wasn't too surprised to find Jess trying to contact a team of medics still out in the field via her phone. She was seated next to Lester's bedside and Becker was relieved to see that some of her spark was back, her fingers tapping madly across the phone's surface. He crossed his arms over his chest and simply watched her.

She'd looked so lost, so traumatised when he'd rounded that pillar. Her fear made his own spike and he had to swallow back his own panic at seeing her with Lester bleeding on her lap and simply remain calm.

He'd noticed some of her energy coming back as she helped Abby set up the sound program. After he'd shot that creature and looked up, she had been staring at him with the smallest of satisfied smiles on her face. He hadn't been able to resist the smirk he knew had formed on his own face.

Now, they were heading back out there to hopefully end this thing once and for all.

Or to just end all things.

Christ, that was maudlin, he thought to himself. He remained still in the doorway while she made another call and finally got in touch with the Gamma team and ordered their immediate return to the ARC.

She hung up and spotted him in the doorway.

"You're going back, aren't you?" she asked softly, her hands clutching her phone.

"Connor thinks he has a plan that will work," he said.

"Will it?"

"Honestly?" Becker sighed. "Your guess is as good as mine."

"I'm afraid I've never been very good at games of chance," she said looking over at Lester.

Becker followed her gaze. He took in the ripped shirt and the blood staining the other man's clothes and knew that something Jess had done had saved Lester's life. Something brave. Something possibly violent and most definitely dangerous. Which reminded him...

"I want you to take this," he said reaching behind him to get what he'd hurriedly grabbed from his locker. He held it out to Jess and her eyes widened.

"That's your Glock," she said eyeing the firearm in his hand.

"Yeah," he said. "I know it's a bit heavier than what you've trained with, but I'm not leaving you here with just an EMD. Take it. Please."

Jess met his eyes and stood up, her bare feet making no sound as she walked towards him. She held out her hand and he carefully placed the gun in her hand. The weight of it made her hand sag slightly, but she quickly found her grip and he nodded with approval.

"Remember to squeeze and not pull," he said. "And make sure your stance is-"

"Firm and stable," she filled in with a tiny smile. "I know. I won't forget."

Becker swallowed as he looked into her eyes. He could feel the weight of what he was about to go do and he had the irrational urge to simply grab her and run. Run as fast and as far as he possibly could.

But the urge faded as quickly as it arrived and he knew it was time for him to go.

"I have to-" He jerked his thumb in the direction of the hall behind him.

"I know," she said with a nod. She stood up straight, her arms by her side, his gun grasped tightly in her right hand. Her eyes were overly bright as she said as encouragingly as she could, "Good luck, captain."

Becker nodded briskly and turned on his heel. He got about two metres from her when he stopped.

"I was going to ask you out to dinner," he said not turning around. "The other day, before we were called into Lester's office for Matt's bombshell, I had planned on asking you out." He squared his shoulders and stared down the empty hallway and said, "I just wanted you to know that."

"I probably would have said 'yes'," she said softly from the doorway behind him.

He turned his head to meet her eyes. "'Probably'?"

She rolled her eyes. "Okay. Definitely." She smiled at him. "I would definitely have said yes."

Becker smiled back briefly and turned once again to leave. He only made it a metre this time before turning around and striding back directly to her.

He grasped her waist and covered her mouth with his. She made only the tiniest of noises before she was gripping his neck with her left hand and parting her lips under his, her right hand that still held his gun pressed against his ribs.

She grazed his lower lip with her teeth and he groaned into her mouth and knew that his grip on her skin was going to leave bruises, which only made him pull her closer to him.

He mentally catalogued every sensation, the softness of her lips, the curve of her waist beneath his hands, the flutter of her eyelashes against his cheek, the way she tasted. Everything was memorised and he hoped to God he'd get another chance at this.

"Becker! We have to go!"

Matt's voice made them break apart. Becker looked at Jess and huffed out a quiet laugh.

"What?" she said her cheeks flushed and her lips rosy.

"Nothing, just always wanted to know what you looked like after a proper kiss," he said.

His comment made her smile, which he'd been hoping for, and she said, "Well, you should see me after a proper snog."

"I'd like that," he said.

"So would I," she said. Then she lifted herself up on her toes and sweetly kissed his lips. Then pressing her forehead to his she said, "Go. Save the world and then come back and ask me to dinner."

"Yes, ma'am."

She was the first person he saw as they walked back into the ops room and he felt a tremendous sense of relief at how much more alive she looked. Her face was clean and she was smiling and most telling of all, her wonderfully impractical shoes were back on her feet.

He felt a surge of lust, giddiness, fondness and oh the hell with it, love race through his body and he was fairly sure that if Abby and Connor hadn't been there, he'd have picked her up bodily and thrown her down on a nearby table in order to run his hands up and down her sides and then hitch up her skirt and just bury himself inside of her.

But, instead he settled for a broad smile that matched hers and pressed his hand to her back while he followed her out the room.

"Did Matt actually drive your truck into an anomaly?" she asked, her eyes wide and her lips still curved up into a smile.

"He did," Becker said chuckling. "The man has nine lives, I swear. He-oh, hell." He stopped in the middle of the hallway.

"What?" Jess asked looking concerned and stepping in close.

"My truck," Becker said cringing. "My keys. To my flat. Damn it, Matt."

Jess stifled a giggle. "Can't you pick the lock?"

"With that new electronic security system you put in after the whole Ethan thing?" he said, starting to walk again. "Not bloody likely."

"Perhaps I can pick the lock, then," Jess said.

"Perhaps you can," he said with a nod. Then he attempted to go for nonchalant, and was pretty damn sure he failed, as he said, "Do you like Moroccan food?"

Jess glanced over at him and said, "I've been known to enjoy a tagine on occasion."

"Well, there's a decent place in SoHo that does a very good tfaya," he said.

"Oh?" Jess said casually. "Sounds lovely."

"It is."

They kept walking until Becker finally stopped. Jess stopped as well and faced him.

They stared at each other for several moments until she said softly, "Are you truly having that much difficulty finding the words? You already know the answer."

"I'm rubbish at this stuff, Jess," he said meeting her eyes. "You know this. Just, give me a second."

She lifted her chin and waited patiently while he just looked at her. Then with a straightening of his shoulders he said, "Jess Parker, would you like-"

"Yes, all right. I'm fully capable of ingesting a pill," Lester's voice interrupted them as he was rolled around the corner in a wheelchair being pushed by one of the medics. The medic caught sight of Becker and immediately sighed in relief.

"He wants to go to the ops room," the medic said.

"Excuse me, my vocal cords are still in working order," Lester said firmly. "I can inform them of my requested destination, thank you."

Becker swallowed his groan of irritation but heard Jess' own disappointed sigh. It cut through him and as he walked over to Lester he fought the urge to propel the man into the nearest lab.

Then he caught sight of the bandages on Lester's mid-section and the way Jess and he gave each other commiserating looks that he'd seen men in his unit give one another after a hellish mission and all his feelings of resentment fell away.

"It's good to see you up and about," Jess said to Lester, the sincerity in her voice making Lester smile slightly.

"Well, I know if I left it to everyone else, it would all fall into anarchy sooner rather than later," Lester said. Becker couldn't help but chuckle as he walked around to push Lester back down the hall towards the ops room.

Lester continued to talk to Jess, giving her a laundry list of things that needed to be done and Jess nodded in agreement with most of the suggestions.

As they approached the entrance to the ADD, Becker stopped so abruptly that Lester jerked in his wheelchair.

"Good God, man," Lester said. "What is it now?"

Becker looked at Jess who was looking at him in surprise.

"Jess, would you like to have dinner with me tomorrow night?" Becker asked.

A lovely smile spread across her face before she bit her lower lip. "Why captain, this is all so sudden," she teased.

"Jessica," Becker said warningly.

"Yes," she said quickly. "I'd love to." Her voice softened. "Thank you for asking."

Becker grinned at her and started to push Lester once again.

"Was that the first time you've ever asked a woman on a date, captain?" Lester asked sounding amused. "There is such a thing as ambiance and romance, you know."

"Why bother? I got the answer I wanted," Becker said with a shrug and Jess gave his arm a soft smack with the back of her hand. He gave her another grin and a wink.

"That's beside the point," Lester said. "Just remember to open the doors for her and bring her flowers."

"Yes, sir."

Which he did.

A lovely bouquet of wildflowers in every colour he could find.

~The End~