Title: Turkish Delight
Author: Pinkcat4569
Rating: T
Spoilers: No
Description: Jess may have gone too far with the entertainment for the canteen's tribute to Turkey night. She dons a belly dancer's outfit and performs, but Becker's reaction is not what she anticipated.
Disclaimer: This is just for fun. I do not own Primeval or its characters. I am not a Muslim, and I hope no one is offended by the belly-dancing. Also, lots of countries have a tradition in belly-dancing, I discovered, but it looked like Turkey was one the first, plus, I had a ready-made title!
Author's Note: This is a quick little thing, quick and little for me, anyway, this tumbled out right after I finish a Night in India. Don't worry, Toga Night is coming.
Turkish Delight
"Ok, everyone, I'm about to announce the theme for the next "ARC around the world night."
"Will there be alcohol Miss Parker? If not, then I'm not coming."
"Yes, there will be. Apparently, the citizens love it so much, they've made it their national drink."
Cheers went up in the control room.
"Very good," said Lester. "Carry on."
"So," said Jess, sliding up next to Becker. "Anyone interested in my outfit for Turkish Delight night?"
There was a groan. "Horrible pun, Jess. Was it a pun? Anyway, horrible," said Connor. "So, I guess, Turkey?"
"You bet," said Jess with a smile.
"Why?" asked Becker.
Jess looked at him with annoyance. "How rude! You just insulted an entire country, with one word!"
Becker smirked.
"There is a lot to celebrate in the nation of Turkey: kebabs, couscous, fezzes, and of course, Turkish Delight. The evening will be interesting," said Jess, "and exciting."
Becker rolled his eyes.
"Trust me," she said, then she winked at him.
What did she have planned, thought Becker.
Turkish Delight Night was underway. Chef Bernie had prepared an incredible menu. It had two appetizers, Calamar Tava, fried calamari, and for the vegetarians, zucchini with feta cheese. For the entree, Bernie made grilled lamb and pepper kebabs, seasoned chicken kebabs, and grilled salmon. He also made two vegetarian entrees: stuffed eggplant and eggplant kebabs. The meal was rounded out with flaky pastries served with cheese, couscous and a salad of calamari and mint. Lokma, balls of fried sweet dough was served for dessert along with the famous Turkish Delight, a confection of gel, sugar, and nuts. Bernie made one with pistachios and one with hazelnuts.
Lester and other spirit-oriented ARC employees enjoyed the national drink of Turkey, raki, an anise flavored drink that could be diluted, but Lester forbid it.
"The décor is a little sparce, don't you think, Parker?" said Lester between gulps of raki.
"Well, I had planned some beautiful gold and red cushions, but somebody wouldn't let me use them," she said nibbling on Turkish Delight.
"That's because you were insane. Do you know what she wanted to do, Becker?" He asked the other person at the small table. "She wanted to cart all these chairs and tables out, and replace the chairs with cushions, and have us eat on the bloody floor. First, of all, it would kill my delicate back and second of all, do you know what kind of shenanigans these depraved people would have on those cushions? No thank you, Miss Parker."
Becker laughed. "I see you fancy yourself a sultan," he said, referring to the complete sultan's outfit the director of the ARC was wearing.
"I am a sultan," he said, emptying his first bottle of raki.
Jess shook her head, and saw Connor and Abby across the room. Abby looked normal, but Connor was wearing a fez.
"Between the two of you and Connor, I feel under dressed," said Becker.
Jess was wearing a long golden skirt with lots of material folded up so it looked like she had layers and layers, all hanging down vertically. When she moved the fabric swayed with her. When she twirled, the skirt was very, very full.
"You're kind of covered up," said Becker, indicating the shawl she wore, completely covering up the top of her dress, and a head scarf.
Jess ate another piece of Turkish Delight. "I am reflecting the mores of the country, well, some of them. Traditionally, women were modest and wore burkas, those are head scarves, much more restrictive than this one, and long, modest dresses. Then there were women who did not wear so much, like for instance, belly-dancers."
"Belly-dancers," said Becker softly. "I approve."
Jess giggled and smiled. She was very excited.
"Bernie's starting clean-up, so I should get the entertainment going. Becker? You sit here, please," she said depositing him on the last bench before the small area where she planned the entertainment to perform.
Then, Jess disappeared. He began to look around for her, when his two lieutenants, Flowers and Vale sat down on either side of him.
"Ok," said Becker, "What's going on?"
"What do you mean, chief?" asked Vale. Vale was young, blond, and attractive, or so Becker supposed.
"What I mean, Vale, is you should be sitting with the young pretty women, flirting and teasing them," said Becker. "And you," he said turning to Flowers, "shouldn't you be hanging to the back so you can sneak out to phone your wife?"
"She's due any day sir," said Flowers.
"I know, and it's your first born, so you have a right to be nervous. Why are you two here?"
The men said nothing and looked away. Becker was about to get up to find Jess when lively music began.
A small barefoot woman ran in, her face completely covered by a veil, but Becker had an uneasy feeling. He'd seen that dress lately, the lower half anyway. She had been wearing a shawl to hide what turned out to be a barely there top. It was basically a golden bra decked out with beads and golden coins. They all made noise as she moved. There was a golden belt of bells wrapped around her waist. It made even more noise.
As she twirled the veil came off revealing Jess' face. Becker was stoic, but his eyes were wide in surprise.
Jess shimmied, and swayed her hips. She started slowly, then picked up speed. She was gyrating wildly, then she started to turn and twirl. Jess still held the veil that had covered her face. She spun around again before dropping it. Then she removed another veil this one, tied to one side of her waist. She spun and took a few steps toward Becker and dropped it at his feet.
Jess noticed that his eyes never left her, but he seemed a little tense. Perhaps belly dancing for him, at least in public, was not a good idea.
She decided to leave the other veils for now. It looked like Becker was about to blow. She put her hands on her hips as she moved backwards, still shaking her hips side to side. She then moved her arms up above her head and as she brought them back down, she hit the cymbals on her fingers.
The audience was responding well, clapping and nodding their heads. Becker was still. She noticed that Flowers had his hand on Becker's shoulder. She thought that perhaps she should wrap this up. She shimmied a couple more times, and prepared to remove one final veil, this one tied to the other side of her waist, as she did, Becker's face blushed red. Jess saw his entire body twitch, and Vale put his hand on the shoulder.
This had been a very bad idea. She was glad she had been cautious and asked Flowers and Vale to watch Becker in case he got...excited.
She had planned to drop the veil on top of Becker's head, but now, frankly, she was scared. She decided to err on the side of caution and dropped it harmlessly beside her. She did two more twirls, then stopped, and put her hands up, ringing the cymbals. The drumbeat stopped with her.
There was wild applause, shouts and cheers and quite a few whistles and wolf calls. Jess smiled brightly, but her eyes were damp and ready to rip like a waterfall. She smiled again, bowed and ran out. She retreated to the lady's room and cried.
Had she totally turned Becker off? Had her bold little display ruined any affection he had for her? What if he now thought of her as some sort of harlot? She wasn't. It was just a dance. It didn't mean anything.
She put her robe on, wondering if he now thought she was some kind of floozy, then looked down at her bunny-slipper-ed feet, and she burst out laughing. She was sexy indeed!
She dried her tears and wiped her face. She felt under the robe to take off the belt of bells. She hadn't planned on changing. She was just going to re-fasten the veils as before. She decided that she didn't care, and left the room in her robe and slippers. She opened the door and walked into Becker.
Even though she wiped her tears, it was obvious to him that she had been crying.
"Uh, sorry," he said, "For running into you."
"It's nothing," she said, pushing past him.
"Wait," he said, but she was moving as fast as she could without breaking into a run. "Jess, wait, please."
It was the "please," that made her stop. She slowly turned to him.
They stood in the hall just outside the canteen. Becker sighed and walked up, "I'm sorry that I made you cry."
"It's stupid. So you didn't like it, no big deal."
"I liked it."
"No you didn't. I don't blame you. It was just a dance. It doesn't mean I'm trashy or obvious, or anything."
"I know."
"You do?" she asked, looking at him for the first time. "Then why did you look so mad?"
Becker chuckled. "I guess because I was mad. I didn't know how to react and I was mad at myself."
Jess looked down. She didn't completely buy this explanation.
Becker sighed. "I guess I was also mad that...others were watching...other guys," he said slowly and slightly reluctantly. "I was jealous."
Jess' heart began to race. She smiled. Then she was confused. "Of what?"
Becker laughed. "That was a pretty sexy dance Jess. I was jealous that you were...sharing it with guys...beside me."
Jess smiled. "So you aren't mad at me?"
He laughed again. "No, of course not."
Jess laughed in relief. "I was sure you were."
"No, but would you do me a favor?"
"What?"
"Next time you get the urge to belly-dance, ask me first."
Jess suddenly felt coy, and brave, and powerful. "Now, why Captain Becker, should I do that?" She moved close, right under his lips.
Becker smirked. "Because, Miss Parker, it might upset me."
"Why on earth would it do that?" she asked coyly.
"Because I'm not the kind of guy who likes the girl I'm dating to shimmy in front of other men."
"Are we dating? I had no idea."
"That's probably because I haven't asked you out yet."
Jess blushed. She was so delighted, and excited, and in disbelief, and anxious, and...
Becker reached down and kissed her. He honestly kissed her right there in the hall. She surrendered to the kiss and relaxed into his arms. There was no one else in the world to them, just then. It was only Becker and Jess kissing slowly and deeply, and frankly, for a long time.
They finally pulled apart, and Jess laid her head on his chest.
"Would you like to go out with me sometime, Miss Parker?"
"Yes," she said softly.
Becker smiled, and kissed the top of her head. "As for your belly-dancing...it was incredible."
"Thank you."
"Your welcome. Don't do it again, please, at least..."
Jess smiled and looked up at him and said, "at least not in public?"
"You see how well we understand each other? It's amazing."
She smiled again, leaned up and kissed him.
Lester stumbled down the corridor. He was barely standing. Footsteps approached, and Matt appeared.
"There you are! I've been looking everywhere. Whoa! Boss, don't you think you should go to bed? Come on, let's go to bed."
"I'm flattered Anderson, but I'm married, and what about Emly?"
Matt smiled. "Boy, are you plastered."
"Yes, yes, I am. I'm going to call the minster and petition to have raki made our national drink."
"You do that sir," said Matt. Lester pulled himself away, and promptly fell onto the floor. Matt heard snoring. "That was fast."
He began to pull Lester up, when he heard music coming from the armory, not a place one usually hears music. He walked quietly up and peered in. His eyes grew wide, his mouth dropped open, and he shook his head.
Inside, Becker sat on one of the tables holding the EMDs. A few feet from him, was Jess, belly-dancing her heart out. Becker clapped, 'awed,' 'oohed,' and whistled. Jess shimmied, shook her hips, and removed one of the layers of her skirt. They were actually veils attached together as a skirt. She danced around, closing in on Becker. She draped the veil around his neck seductively. She pulled back, still holding the veil as he held the other end. Finally she let go, and he kept his prize.
On the floor were three or four discarded veils, which explained why so much more leg was visible to Matt than before. She had a sort of leotard thing on, but Matt couldn't see it very well through the veils she still had on. He figured that was a very good thing, considering Becker's temper. Jess continued dancing, and Matt decided he should leave before Becker caught him.
He turned around, saw Lester snoring still, and commented, "He gets a belly-dancer and I get you, with a belly full of Turkey's national drink. Come on, let's get you sorted." He pulled Lester up, and over his shoulder.
With one last glance to the armory, he mumbled. "I think I'll suggest to Emily that she should take belly-dance lessons."
End of Turkish Delight