A/N: Written for clea2011's birthday.

Preventative Measures

Becker opened his eyes on a white ceiling, hearing the soft beeping of monitors in the background. Hospital, then. No wonder his head hurt so much. It came back to him in a moment, an anomaly in the ARC, and Jess…

"Jess!" Becker struggled to sit up, moving to pull the IV out of his arm.

"I'm right here," came Jess' familiar voice. "Stop that this instant or I'll call a nurse."

Becker sat back, swallowing a sigh of relief as his eyes took in the sight of Jess standing by the bed, whole and unharmed. "Thank God. Are you all right?"

"You would ask that, even though it's you in hospital."

Jess sounded on edge, frustrated, and Becker chewed his lip. "Are you sure nothing's the matter?"

"No, I'm not at all sure," Jess started, drawing a step closer and glaring at him.

Becker was beginning to think there was a problem. She wasn't being nearly as accommodating as she should have been, considering the situation. He didn't think it was wrong of him to expect a bit of fussing but instead it appeared as though he was going to be yelled at.

Oh, well. Wasn't like it would be the first time.

"You… you bastard!"

Becker blinked. He was roughly 99.9 percent positive that he had never heard Jess swear before. He was, however, undecided as to whether or not he was surprised that when she finally broke, her ire had been directed at him.

"What were you thinking?" Jess continued, her voice shaking. "That was the stupidest, most thoughtless, idiotic… Do you want to get killed? Do you?"

Silence fell for an instant while Becker tried to figure out if he was actually meant to answer. "No?" he hazarded.

Jess' breath heaved and Becker noticed the wetness in her eyes. Oh, Christ. She was going to cry. He was such a prick, he'd made a girl cry.

"Don't cry, Jess," he said.

"I'm not crying!" Jess balled her hands into fists at her side and then swept around, her back to him, like she was trying to regain a sense of equilibrium. When she turned back around, colour was still high in her cheeks but there were no tears.

She sank down onto the side of Becker's hospital bed. "Don't do it again, okay?"

Becker didn't say anything because he wasn't sure a lie would do any good. Any promise he made would be a lie and they both knew it. If it meant keeping Jess out of harm's way he would do anything, no matter what it meant for his own safety.

Instead he turned his palm over, laying it on his thigh. Jess took his hand, squeezing it a little too tightly.

"I don't need you to save me," she said.

"I know you don't. But that doesn't mean I won't try."

Jess finally smiled, small and tentative but real. "You've always got to be the big hero, don't you?"

It was easy for Becker to match her smile. "That's what they pay me for."

She leaned down, pressing her face into the crook of his neck, and Becker wrapped an arm around her back. Her hair smelled like flowers and Becker breathed it in. "Let's make a deal," she said, breath tickling Becker's skin.

"Okay. What do you have in mind?"

"Next time you decide to heroically swoop in to my rescue, I reserve the right to shoot you after."

"Er," Becker said, feeling absolutely justified in his confusion. "Doesn't that strike you as rather counter-productive?"

Jess pulled back a bit, her face barely any distance at all from Becker's. "On the contrary, I think it will be a lovely deterrent."

"If you say so." Could he kiss her? Would she mind? It was only that her mouth was right there and it was incredibly distracting. He wondered if that was the point.

"I do say so," Jess said and made up Becker's mind for him, pressing her mouth softly to his.

Becker decided it was probably best not to mention the flaw in Jess' plan. If he got to have this every time he got hurt, getting shot didn't seem so bad any more.

End