Disclaimer – I don't own it, otherwise there would be another episode dedicated completely to Abby and Connor's wedding, with Becker and Jess getting together during it.
Author's note – Sorry for the fact that it's so long, I couldn't bare to split it up.
The Woo-ment of Jessica Parker
Abby's day had started off quite normally. Well, as normal as things ever get in the ARC. But then her normal day had gone completely down the drain as soon as Becker stepped into her office with a nervous look on his face. That should have been her first clue: Becker was never nervous. When in the future, he'd led a pack of hungry predators off without even a thought for his own safety; he didn't even bat an eyelid. Abby had once wondered if anything made the Captain nervous. Upset? Yes. Guilty? Definitely. But nervous? A possibility, but he'd never shown it as openly as he did then.
Unfortunately, Abby's day got even weirder by the first words out of the Captain's mouth. "I need your help." He murmured uncomfortably. Abby understood why he was uncomfortable, Becker never asked for help unless it was the only option he had left and even then he tried not to.
"What do you need?" she asked suspiciously.
"Advice." He winced. All traces of Abby's previously normal day had been eradicated now.
"On what?"
"Asking Jess out." His voice was barely above a whisper. Abby nearly made a squeal of excitement but she reined it in, afraid that Becker would retreat at the slightest of movements. Like a skittish animal. She needed to remain calm, even though she had been waiting for this day since Becker handed Jess the chocolate bar with no orange. In fact, she wouldn't be the only one who was excited, once they'd settled back into the 21st century Connor and Abby had started a bet to see when Becker and Jess would get together, after Becker had been shot by Ethan (and Jess had refused to leave Becker's side while he was in the medical bay) Matt and Emily joined the bet along with a few of the medical staff, then after the bomb incident a couple of soldiers joined. During the weeks after the beetle incident nearly all of the ARC staff were in on the bet, and finally after the New Dawn fiasco and the predators in the ARC Becker had been sticking to Jess' side like glue for about a week because she was still jumpy, and Lester had gotten so annoyed at the pair he'd finally placed his own bet. And now they were all just waiting.
And the day had finally come.
Abby couldn't suppress the smile that spread across her face. "What brought this on, may I ask?"
Becker suddenly found his combat boots the most interesting thing out there. "She was talking to him again today." Abby knew immediately who Becker meant. Ross; the kiss-up slim ball from the government who was here all week for meetings about the ARC's funding now that Phillip was gone. A kiss-up slim ball that Jess had to be polite to, so that she and Lester could persuade him that they could fund themselves. Abby also knew that Jess loathed the man, and it takes alot to make happy-go-lucky Jess hate someone, but this man had done it. Abby, however, wasn't going to tell Becker this because if she did he might think that it was okay to go back to his little bubble world now that he knew he wasn't going to lose Jess.
Abby knew it was wrong but she was just trying to help her friends in the long run. "Well, she has been talking about him quite a bit." Only about what a complete dickhead he is though. "And I suppose she has spent alot of time with him the past couple days, you can really get to know someone in such a close environment." That was the problem; Jess didn't want to know this guy.
Abby felt so bad when she saw Becker's face drop and she almost gave up the whole thing before it got out of hand, but then she saw the blazing determination in his eyes and decided to see where this went first.
"I'm going to do it." Becker stood straighter and puffed his chest out slightly. Looking like he was preparing for battle, "I'm going to ask Jess out." He faltered.
"What is it?"
"Urm... how do I ask her out?"
ooo
"Right. What do we know about the target?" Connor questioned. He slammed a metal pointer onto a picture of Jess, which was resting atop her file on the table.
"How did you get that?" Becker asked, pointing towards Jess' file. "And when did we start referring to her as 'the target'?"
"Lester has a copy of each file, you know. He's just as keen to get the two of you together." The tips of Becker's ears went pink "And she became 'the target' as soon as this operation started. Now, about the target..."
"Operation?" Becker interrupted. Connor huffed angrily at the soldier. "All I wanted was some advice." He turned to glare at Abby, who was stood next to Connor. Matt and Emily stood at the other end of the table, watching on with amusement. Becker had the feeling that Lesterwould be here too, making sarcastic remarks, if he wasn't in meetings all week with Jess and Ross.
"Well, this is an important event and shouldn't be treated as a simple execution." Becker raised his eyebrow at Connor, who smiled sheepishly back. "Plus, I've been banned from my lab for a month because of the whole 'New-Dawn-nearly-destroying-the-World thing'. So I'm really bored. Also since Phillip registered me as officially working in a lab I need to be re-clearanced for field duty, so I haven't been allowed on any alerts either! And Jess has been busy since then; spinning cover stories, paperwork and the fact she's been in meetings, like, 24/7 and hasn't had time to do it."
Becker just rolled his eyes. "Just get on with the plan." Becker conceded. Connor whooped loudly.
"And so begins the wooment of Jessica Parker!" Connor exclaimed with volume, Becker shushed him.
"Jess is always flicking through the CCTV, she might hear, keep it down."
"No she won't." Matt injected "She's in those meetings all day; one of the other techs is manning the ADD. This is why we need to do the planning now."
"Fine. And woo-ment isn't a word, Connor." Becker sighed.
"Yeah it is. Like Engage, Engaging, Engagement. Woo, Wooing, Wooment." Becker groaned; he had enlisted the wrong help for asking Jess out.
"Right, well, back onto the mission." Connor said in a dramatic voice "We," he pointed at himself and Abby with the metal pointer "know that the subject likes cheesy rom-coms. So, maybe you could make a romantic gesture?"
"Romantic gesture?" Becker looked at Connor like he'd turned into a diictodon and back.
"You know: roses, love poems, chocolates, romantic strolls..." Abby listed off, Becker's facial expressions were getting funnier (more panicked) by the second.
"Okay," said Emily gently, putting a reassuring hand on Becker's shoulder "Do you know where the nearest flower shop to your home is?"
"No."
"Can you write poetry?"
Becker just looked at her.
"I'll take that as a 'no'. What about chocolate? Jess likes chocolate."
Becker got a hopeful expression, "I can get her chocolate!"
"Precisely!" Connor exclaimed, waving the metal pointer around dangerously, "What could go wrong?"
ooo
Operation: The Wooment of Jessica Parker
Plan: Chocolates are a Girl's Best Friend
Operatives: H. Becker, C. Temple, A. Maitland.
P.O.A (Plan Of Action) – Deliver chocolates and win over Jess' heart, then ask her out.
Attempt: 1
"This is Sid. POA (Plan of Action): To sneak the chocolates onto subject's desk, without subject realising it. Location: just outside the Main Ops room. Target: spotted, in Lester's office with The Slimball ogling at her boobs."
"Connor! Put a sock in it!" Connor heard Becker hiss down the comms they were using.
"My codename is Sid." Connor huffed, and then murmured quietly, "Just because you wish you could ogle at her boobs without getting done for it, I'm sure Jess wouldn't mind..."
"Connor." Becker warned.
"Sid." Connor insisted.
"Both of you; stow it!" Abby's voice came onto the comms.
"But he's taking all the fun out of it!" Connor whined.
"This isn't some stupid T.V programme, and it's certainly not a mission. It's just me trying to ask Jess out. I only wanted advice, not a bored, whining Connor who doesn't know the meaning of the phrase 'shut up' and clearly has seen too many bad spy movies recently."
"Becker, I know you're annoyed and jealous but don't take it out on Connor. It's not his fault that he says what he thinks; his brain filter was removed as a child. And I was the one who had to watch said spy movies with him." Abby said.
"Who said I was jealous?"
"Becker, no offence, but anyone with eyes can see you're jealous. You don't need to say a thing." Connor said smugly.
"I'm not jealous."
"So then you won't mind me telling you which part of Jess' anatomy The Slimball's looking at now...?" Connor never found out the answer to that question because just at that moment the anomaly alert went off. "Bugger. Fine; you win this time Becker."
Operation: Put on hold.
ooo
Operation: The Wooment of Jessica Parker
Plan: Chocolates are a Girl's Best Friend
Operatives: H. Becker, C. Temple, A. Maitland, E. Merchant.
P.O.A (Plan Of Action) – Deliver chocolates and win over Jess' heart, then ask her out.
Attempt: 2
It ended up being two missions because just as they were returning from the first a second one opened up. So after an Iguanodon in a pub shortly followed by a baby raptor at a hen do the team were thoroughly worn out. And Becker was in an even worse mood because as they were coming back from the first anomaly Jess was called out of co-ordinating by Ross because something urgent had 'come up' to which Connor had made a dirty remark and Becker had scowled all the way to the second site, plus, the tech who filled in wasn't nearly as good as Jess. Then again, in Becker's eyes, anyone who wasn't Jess wasn't good enough. So the team returned to the ARC grouchy, tired, and in Becker's case, jealous.
"So, shall we put the chocolates out?" Connor asked a couple hours after returning.
"Oh yes, she's gone down to the basement for some files at the minute, perfect timing!" Abby cheered, her mood brightening slightly, if Jess and Becker got together within the next two days she won the bet, "Where are the chocolates?" Everyone looked towards Connor as he'd had them last.
"Um." Connor looked sheepish, which was never a good sign. "Well, I had them in my hand when the alarms went off so I put them down to go over to the ADD-"
"Put them down? Connor, you were crouched on the floor!" Becker said in a harsh whisper.
"Yes, well, it may have been the floor I put them on, but..."
"Find them."
"Okay."
ooo
Connor searched high and low for the chocolates but to no avail. He'd asked everyone. It wasn't until he was on a break that he found them, he'd opened the bin to put the used teabag in and the empty box of chocolates sat inside.
"Crap." Connor said to himself, "Becker's going to kill me."
ooo
"I'm going to kill you Temple." Becker stepped menacingly towards the scientist, who proceeded to duck behind Abby. "They were expensive."
"I thought you didn't mind since 'Hotel Chocolat' was Jess' favourite."
"I didn't mind when I thought it would be Jess eating them. I've just paid god knows how much to feed an unknown member of the ARC staff!"
"Sorry."
"You need to go out and buy some more." Becker glared.
"I can't, I haven't typed up my reports yet. And you know if we don't hand them in on time Jess gets irritated." Becker continued glaring.
"Look." Emily declared; trying to keep the peace "I have written my reports" she still refused to use a computer, "I will go out and get Jess some chocolate."
"Thank you Emily." Both Connor and Becker chanted.
ooo
Emily had placed the newly bought (not quite as good but still good) chocolates on Jess' desk with the note Becker had written from before:
To Jess, your favourite chocolate. Enjoy – Becker.
Simple, but to the point. Becker had already used up his non-existent romantic gesture skills on the chocolate.
It wasn't until four o'clock that Jess made her way to her desk. And at that precise moment the main team all conveniently had work to do in the Main Ops room. She quickly spotted the chocolate resting on one of her keyboards and picked up the note gingerly. Reading it through, her smile grew with each word. She then looked at the chocolates and her smile dropped. Becker felt his heart drop with her mouth, his growing confidence in the plan had instantly evaporated. What was wrong? Didn't she like the chocolate? Why wasn't she smiling?
"Emily." Becker hissed; they both sidled out of the Main Ops room unnoticed, quickly followed by the rest of the team.
"What happened?" Connor asked.
"I don't know. Emily, what kind of chocolate did you get her?" Becker said.
"There was so much to choose from, all these different flavours. So I went with the one I thought would most appeal to Jess. There was a bar with little bits of orange in it, it looked simply delicious." Becker's jaw fell open in shock. Of course Emily wouldn't know about Jess' 'no orange' rule. But of all the cruel twists of fate...
Then Becker remembered something that made his blood run cold. The note. 'Your favourite chocolate' he'd put, now it looked like he'd not only forgotten that she didn't eat it but he thought it was her favourite. What kind of an insensitive jerk did he look like now?
"Oh God, no!" Becker groaned, clasping his head in his hands.
"What is the matter?" Emily inquired. Abby filled her in on Jess' dislike for orange chocolate. Emily apologised profoundly and Becker told her it wasn't her fault. He should have gone out and got the chocolate himself. After a couple of minutes Becker decided to go apologise to Jess and tell her he'd been too busy and Emily had offered to pick it up. Skipping out the 'woo-ment plan' part. As long as she knew he hadn't forgotten that she didn't like orange chocolate.
However when he'd gotten to the ADD (the rest of the team trailing along behind) Becker noticed Jess wasn't the only person there. Ross was there too. And he was staring a part of Jess that made Becker want to repeatedly punch him and then blast him with an EMD. Jess had obviously heard his footsteps, she turned and smiled at him, albeit rather sadly. Becker felt terrible. But as terrible as he felt, it wasn't going to get him to stop glaring at Ross. Who, coincidently, hadn't noticed Becker's approached as he was staring too hard at Jess.
"So, Jessica-" Ross started.
"Miss Parker." Jess corrected uncomfortably but he carried on as if he hadn't heard her.
"I was wondering if you wanted to come up to my temporary office to go over some files because..."
"Jess!" Becker finally blurted. Ross finally looked up from Jess and Jess turned to look at Becker expectantly too. "About the chocolate-"
"Oh, yes." Jess said "Thank you Becker. That was very sweet of you to get me some..." she trailed off, looking down. Becker noticed the unopened bar of chocolate sat at the front of her desk.
"Chocolate?" Ross asked in a nasal drone, "You know, I found these excellent chocolates just lying around. No one claimed them so I helped myself. I must say, they were delicious! Hotel Chocolat, or something like that." Becker jaw dropped for the second time in half an hour. No, no it couldn't be...
Jess sighed longingly. "I love Hotel Chocolat." she whispered, Becker felt his heart drop down alongside his jaw.
"I think I might have some left, you could come up to my temporary office, if you like." Connor, honest to god, thought Becker was about to kill the man. He looked like he was trying to restrain himself from pouncing, Connor thought he better intervene before Becker murdered Ross, it might be slightly hard to explain to Lester. Then again, it would take away the hassle of having to suck up to the guy...
Becker watched as Ross and Jess left to go up to his office to go over their reports and files and eat the chocolates Becker had bought for Jess. Becker's nostrils flared.
"Becker, don't kill him!" Connor said; half joking, half serious.
"But he's gone off with my girl and is going to be feeding her the chocolates I bought." Becker huffed angrily.
Abby 'aww-ed' quietly.
"What?" Becker asked sharply.
"You called her 'your girl'." Abby said as if it was obvious. Becker looked shocked at that revelation, like he'd said it without even thinking.
"Hey, that Slimball doesn't have any chocolates left, I saw the empty box in the break room's bin," Connor exclaimed out of nowhere "He's just lured Jess into his office under false pretences! Probably trying to grope her or something."
Matt looked between Connor and Becker. "Um, Connor. I thought we were trying to persuade Becker not to kill Ross, and saying stuff like that isn't really going to help." Matt trailed off as everyone turned to look at the murderous expression on Becker's face.
Becker turned on his heel and stomped off to the shooting range presumably, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like 'I'm going to shoot something.'
"I'm afraid this is a mission failure." Connor shook his head dejectedly.
Operation: Fail.
ooo
Operation: The Wooment of Jessica Parker
Plan: Flowers Make Everything Good
Operatives: H. Becker, A. Maitland
P.O.A (Plan Of Action) – Send Jess her favourite flowers, and then ask her out.
Attempt: 1
It was evening, and Becker had finally gotten round to telling Jess that Emily had picked up the chocolates. Jess had said it was fine, but seemed relieved that Becker hadn't forgotten her chocolate preferences. She had ended up giving the bar to Emily because she'd seemed fascinated with the bits of orange. Becker, happy that Jess now knew it wasn't his fault the chocolate had orange, was passing Abby's office on his way out when Abby had shot out of nowhere, grabbed his arm and drag him into the room.
"What the?" Becker said, shocked.
"Okay, flowers. Flowers will work." Abby said decidedly, she needed Becker to ask Jess out by tomorrow or she lost the bet (and she was, of course, also looking out for her friends happiness), she handed Becker a piece of paper, "This is the address of the local florist, go and get Jess some sunflowers, or daisies. They're her favourites. Then have them deliver the flowers to Jess' flat, you know the address, right?"
"Yeah," said Becker, handling the paper carefully, like it was going to blow up any second. Abby saw his facial expression.
"It's not going to kill you, is it?" She asked.
"No."
"Because if you think it's necessary to arm yourself while you face the perils of a flower shop and the old lady who runs it, then you be my guest and ask Matt if you can borrow one of the EMDs. I want to see his face when you do."
"Please, Abigail. I already have spare EMDs in my car." Becker scoffed.
"Does Matt know?"
"Of course not."
"Of course he doesn't. Right, stop stalling Mr. I'm Armed and go compete your mission of buying Jess some flowers."
"Fine."
ooo
Ding.
The chime went off when Becker opened the door, as soon as he stepped into the shop he was assaulted with a heavily smell of flowers. He could almost imagine Abby saying 'Of course it smells of flowers, it's a flower shop!'. Becker took another step into the room. He looked around cautiously.
"How can I help you dear?" A withered yet jolly voice asked. Becker started, for Head of Security he wasn't half on edge.
"Ur, I've come to buy flowers?" He asked hesitantly.
The old lady laughed, she must have been about 70, "You aren't the first nervous young man in here, son. The only ones who don't seem nervous are married or in here every other week, each time for a different girl. But I'm sensing this isn't like that, she's special, isn't she?" The old lady had a knowing twinkle in her eye.
"Yes. Yes, she is er- Sorry, what's your name?"
"Claire. And you are?"
"Becker."
"Right then Becker. Why don't you tell me a little about this girl, and we can see if there's anything she might like here."
"Her flatmate said she likes sunflowers and daisies." Becker stumbled, moving slightly towards the counter.
"Ah, brilliant! I love a customer who knows what they want. What colour?"
"Colour?" Sunflowers were yellow and daisies were white, weren't they? Becker had thought he was making progress, but apparently he was back at base one.
"Yes. I have some different coloured daisies. You make them with food colouring, I don't like that sort of thing but I made the mistake of letting my niece help with the orders. She loves them but ordered too many."
"They'd be perfect. What colours have you got?"
"Red, blue, yellow, white, green and purple."
"Can I have those please?"
"Of course." She paused for a second, she scrutinised Becker's face. "Do you want these delivered?" she said with a smile. Becker breathed a sigh of relief.
"Yes, please."
Claire laughed again. "I'll go get them for you now."
She came back a moment later, and asked Becker what the address was and told him the price.
"Do you want to send a note with it?"
"Yes please, can I write it?" Becker asked, not wanting to offend the lady, but he'd seen her messy scrawl when she'd written out the address. Becker knew where Jess lived and still had a hard time reading the lady's writing.
"Of course." She handed him the paper and pen. Becker thought for a minute before writing:
I really like you, and hope you feel the same.
Your secret admirer.
Then, in the morning, when she'd tell him about the lovely flowers she received he'd tell her it was he who'd sent them.
"Perfect." The lady smiled.
ooo
Becker strolled into the ARC the next morning feeling strangely happy, today was the day that he would ask Jessica Parker out.
But, of course, he had to jinx it.
Before Becker could have even thought about going to ask Jess if she received any flowers, Abby came hurtling out from the stairs to the car park and dragged him into an abandoned room. Becker heard Connor and Jess following up the stairs now too; he went to move but Abby held him back.
"I wonder why Abby's in such a hurry?" Becker heard Jess ask.
"I'm sure she just has um, menagerie stuff to do." Connor said lamely.
Becker could see Abby rolling her eyes. "Have you been teaching him how to say the lamest excuse at the most inopportune time?" Abby asked Becker sarcastically under her breathe.
"Oh, okay. Well, I'll see you later Connor." Becker heard Jess heels clicking off to the meeting room, and to Ross.
Once she had gone, Connor started to call out, "Abby?" he hissed into the empty corridor, "Abby?"
"In here, you goon. And be quiet!" Abby opened the door and dragged Connor through too.
"Would someone like to tell me what the hell is going on?" Becker said as soon as the door slammed shut.
"We didn't want you asking Jess about the flowers before you knew." Abby looked towards Connor nervously.
"What?" Becker asked, feeling dread rise up inside him.
"The flowers never arrived,"
"What!"
"Let me finish," Abby scolded, "We thought maybe you had chickened out," Becker made a noise of indignation, "but then we overheard the girl next door raving about the beautiful flowers she received from an unknown person. And we figured out what happened."
Becker groaned, the lady's handwriting must have messed up the address. So instead of delivering the flowers to number 5, they must have been delivered to number 6.
Bugger.
"On the plus side," Connor ranted nervously, "The girl next to us wouldn't shut up about how nice they were, and even Jess commented how much she liked them…" Connor trailed off at the glare Becker had sent his way.
Operation: Fail.
ooo
Operation: The Wooment of Jessica Parker
Plan: A Nice Walk Clears the Head.
Operatives: H. Becker, A. Maitland, C. Temple, E. Merchant, M. Anderson, J. Lester.
P.O.A (Plan Of Action) – Take Jess on a romantic stroll, and then ask her out.
Attempt: 1
"As we all know the last two attempts at the wooment of Jessica Parker failed miserably,"
"No need to keep pointing it out." Becker grumbled. Connor ignored him.
"And so we resort to Plan C. Don't worry Becker, if you screw this one up too, they're still 23 more letters."
Becker glared at him.
"Now," Emily began, "since chocolates and flowers did not work and you refuse to write poetry, we have to resort to the last thing on the list."
"Which is?" Becker asked hesitantly.
"Romantic strolls." She replied decidedly.
"You're joking." Becker said.
"I most certainly am not. You will accompany Miss Parker on a romantic stroll through the park and she shall be delighted at your wooment of her."
"Great, now you're saying wooment too."
"I am not certain that it is a word but as Connor pointed out rightly, it sounds like it should be." She nodded her head; a decided gesture that meant this conversation was over.
"Go on, Becker. Abby and I will see if we can get Lester to let you and Jess have a slightly longer lunch break." Matt said, "On the promise that if there's an alert you'll come straight back." Becker had insisted on that.
"I'm sure Lester will. He's just as keen for the two of you to get together as the rest of us." Connor quipped before he darted out the door, Abby and Matt followed.
"Why aren't you going with them?" Becker asked Emily.
"I am going to be within range to save the plan if, and I quote Matt, 'Becker bloody screws up again'." Emily smiled.
"Of course." Becker sighed, trying to remember this situation was his own fault. This is what happens if you ask for help, he told himself.
ooo
Becker and Emily entered the Ops room side by side and not talking. Out of the corner of his eye, Becker could see Matt talking with Lester while Abby distracted Connor so he wouldn't say anything.
Jess was in her chair at the ADD. Alone. Now was the perfect opportunity. Becker left Emily with a whispered 'I don't care what Matt says, don't interfere.' and made his way over to Jess.
"Hi Jess." Good, Becker thought. Smooth.
"Hey Becker!" Jess said cheerily. Her smile momentarily blinded Becker with its wattage.
"Hey." He said. "Urm, would you," Becker knew he was never this tongue tied around Jess, maybe it was because he was about to ask her to go out with him on a sorta date, but he felt like the nerdy geek asking out the head cheerleader. "Would you like," He wasn't a nerdy geek, he was a grown man, he wasn't scared of anything. Let alone a girl of 5ft 4, who wouldn't harm a fly. Unless the fly was like the thing that had come out of the future anomaly last week, that fly was 6ft in length and spat poison. Becker shook his head to clear his wandering mind. "Would you like to go for a walk in the park with me?"
Jess looked confused. "Now?"
"Yeah," Becker rushed out, "Well, it's such a nice day and I thought you might want to stretch your legs after being in the meeting room all week," With Ross, "And it is our lunch break. I asked Lester and he said," a quick glance at Lester's office, Matt was stood there with his thumbs up, "he said, we could have a slightly longer lunch break."
"Really? I'd love to; I'll just get someone to cover the ADD while I'm gone." Jess had barely finished her sentence when Connor popped out of nowhere.
"I'll cover it for you!"
"Oh, thanks." Jess said.
"No problem. Have a nice walk!" He waved.
"How did you know we're-"
"Bye." Becker said forcefully to Connor, he turned to Jess and said more gently, "Shall we?"
ooo
"…and then Susan elbowed me in the stomach." Jess giggled as Becker recounted what happened at his last family gathering. Now that he was out of the ARC and away from the eyes of his co-workers, he had relaxed. "Okay, it's your turn." He said.
"Mmm, okay. When I was seven I got irritated at my brothers lack of colour in his wardrobe, so I tie dyed most of his clothes. He was furious. So was Dad, he had to go out and buy my brother pretty much a whole new wardrobe. Mum found it pretty funny, and I was happy because I got to keep the clothes I'd wrecked." Becker laughed, that sounded like Jess.
They were walking in the park, right round the huge body of water in the middle. It was too big to be a pond, but too small to be a lake. It just was. Becker was planning on ignoring it until Jess squealed "Ducklings! Aww. Aren't they cute?"
Jess ran up to the edge of the water and Becker followed with a smirk on his face. Of course she'd like cute, fluffy animals. It was so Jess. She was cooing to one, trying to coax it into coming closer. Becker was stood a few paces behind her, watching in amazement as the baby duckling paddled a bit closer. "Trust Jess to coo a bird successfully." He muttered.
The moment was ruined when Becker heard Connor's voice in his ear. "Cooment. That should be a word too. Coo. Cooing. Cooment!" Becker stopped for a minute, trying to work out if he was going mad; he was hearing Temple's voice in his head. Then he heard Abby's "Shut up Connor, he'll hear!"
Becker realised he'd left his comms unit in his ear "What the hell do you think you're doing?" he hissed, walking back a couple more paces so Jess wouldn't hear.
"Making sure you don't screw this up." Matt's Irish twang said in Becker's ear.
"Bugger off!" Becker hissed back, switching off his comm and putting it in his pocket. He didn't need his friends acting as chaperons.
"For a man who fights dinosaurs for a living you sure do seem scared of ducklings." Jess joked, Becker noticed how far back he was standing. He walked up to her and knelt down next to her, only to realise that Jess was cradling one of the ducklings in her hands, the mother was watching close by in the water.
"How did you?" He started but then shook his head. Even animals couldn't resist Jess' charm. Figures.
"Do you still have your comm in?" Becker asked.
"No, I left it out for the meeting. Why, has something happened?" Jess started to get more panicked. In return the duckling seemed to be getting worked up as well.
"No, I was just curious." Becker said, calming Jess and the duckling down. The little ball of fluff snuggled into Jess' warm hands. Becker was so busy watching Jess' look of amazement that he didn't notice until Jess yelled.
"Ah!" she cried, dropping the duckling into the water in surprise, the mother duck quacked and they both swam away. But Becker was more worried about the beetle crawling across Jess' leg. He flicked it off but it was too late. There was a small mark with a drop of blood. Becker looked at Jess' face, she looked pale.
"Jess, where's your epi-pen?"
"In my car." She whispered. They had taken Becker's car to drive down to the park, Becker had an epi-pen in his car as well but it was still parked on the other side of the pond. No, it was too big to be a pond. Too damn big. It would take ages to get back around it.
"Damn it." Becker muttered as he helped Jess up. "I've got an epi-pen in my car, don't worry." Jess nodded.
They'd only made it 20 paces when Jess started to get faint; her legs were going to give out soon. Becker didn't want to pick her up like he'd done the last time because A) the public may get alarmed if a man was carrying a limp woman through a secluded area and B) he needed to be able to run.
"Jess, I'm going to give you a piggyback." Jess nodded woozily. Becker helped her climb on his back. Now, they'd just look like a couple messing around to the public and Becker could run to the car quicker. "Hold on." He whispered.
While running Becker became aware of several things. One, he had screwed up again; maybe Matt and Emily were right. At least he had 23 more letters, just like Connor said. Two, he had just agreed with Matt and Connor on something, so he may be going mad. And three, he could feel Jess' grip getting looser around his neck.
It had taken them half an hour to walk to where they had been, and with Becker running as fast as he could while trying to keep Jess on his back it took just over ten minutes to get back. By which time Jess was rapidly losing consciousness.
"Come on, come one." Becker muttered between pants of breath, he reached the car and slid Jess into the passenger seat; he went into the glove compartment and pulled out the epi-pen he kept there.
"You're going to be alright. You're going to be fine." Becker said.
"Fine." Jess agreed faintly.
ooo
Becker had decided to drive Jess home. It was better, she was sleepy and needed rest. He told her he'd tell Lester what happened. "Thank you." She'd muttered as he'd tucked her into bed.
He'd whispered back "No problem." And kissed her forehead, but she was already asleep.
When Becker entered the ARC stone-faced he'd been approached by the rest of the team, their looks of excitement to get the dirt on what happened after Becker had switched off the comms morphed into ones of worry when they saw the fact his was alone and moody.
"Where is Jess?" Emily asked.
"Home." Becker replied shortly before turning into Lester's office to explain why their field co-ordinator wasn't in.
Operation: Fail.
ooo
Operation: The Wooment of Jessica Parker
Plan: Urr, There Isn't One…
Operatives: H. Becker
P.O.A (Plan Of Action) – Wing it.
Attempt: 1
"It's okay Becker," Abby consoled.
"Yeah, just because you screwed up doesn't mean- ow!" Abby elbowed Connor in the stomach.
"What Connor meant was, you're blowing this out of proportion." Abby glared at Connor as he opened his mouth with the expected 'I didn't mean that!' he shut his mouth.
"She could have died!" Becker exclaimed.
"No, she couldn't have. Jess says she doesn't know what the future insects did but with a normal beetle like that the worst that could happen was her fainting and being unconscious until she had the injection."
"But she could've slipped into a coma if she'd stayed unconscious longer!"
"Becker. Lester said that Jess is perfectly fine to come in today, she just needed rest and when we got back home yesterday she was okay. This isn't your decision." Abby warned, a dangerous tone in her voice.
"Now," Matt said dryly, "Go cheer yourself up and look at Jess for a bit while we figure out how to fix this mess you call your love life."
"Do I not get a say in this?" Becker demanded.
"No." Emily said, "Now shoo."
ooo
"Hey Jess. Are you feeling alright?" Becker walked up to the ADD.
"Yeah, I'm fine." She smiled, "Thanks for the piggyback ride yesterday." She knew he wouldn't accept a thank you for the epi-pen, so she'd have to be content with this.
"No problem," he grinned, "You managed to get out of the meetings then."
"Lester told Ross I was unfit to be trapped in an enclosed room, staring at another creepy crawley." She grinned. As if, Becker thought, she found it amusing that Lester had referred to this guy she liked as an insect.
"I thought you liked Ross." Becker stared at her, confused. That's what Abby had told him.
"Him?" Jess pulled a face and gave a delicate shudder, "Goodness, no! Ew!"
Becker smiled. A smile filled with relief and happiness. He'd kill Abby later.
"What's got you so happy?" Jess asked.
"Nothing." He tried to rein in his smile, but to no avail. "Hey, Jess?" Now's a good a time as any.
"Yes?"
"Would you- would you like to go out with me? On a date?"
"Really?" Jess said, a smile already breaking out on her face. Becker nodded. "Yes! Yes, I would like to."
"Brilliant." Becker said, feeling like a weight had been lifted. "Just one more thing."
"Yes?"
Becker swooped down and kissed her.
ooo
The main team walked into the Main Ops room to tell Becker what their plan was. Only to find Lester watching the ADD, only he wasn't watching the ADD, but the field co-ordinator sat next to it snogging the hell out of the Head of Security.
"Sickening, isn't it?" Lester drawled.
"But, we had a plan." Connor said.
"Looks like he figured it out himself." Lester said, "And it's the 4th, I believe. That means I've won the bet, Miss Maitland please inform people that they owe me."
I started this about a year ago and never finished it, I was transferring everything from my old laptop to my new laptop and found it amoungst the cobwebs. Since it's the Easter holidays and it's snowing so I can't go out, I thought I'd finish it.
I'll probably be posting others that I've found and am only just completing. So keep a look out.
Please review.
E is for Idiot x