Summary: Abby was wondering where Becker kept disappearing off to. Now, she intends to find out. A light-hearted tale set just before series 5, episode 1. [One Shot]
Disclaimer: I do not own the characters or anything you recognise from Primeval.
Author's Note: Not much to say here, apart from please read and review. Oh, and Becker really likes guns.
The Dido Mystery
Abby had often wondered where Becker disappeared to at lunchtimes. Every day, except of course when there was an anomaly alert, he would vanish. At first Abby had suspected he was seeing someone, but none of the people she had asked about it seemed to know anything. The only person who was likely to know was Jess, but Abby didn't dare mention it in case she was wrong and her actions damaged the pair's relationship irreparably. What she needed, Abby thought, were some solid facts. So she started taking notes.
Every single day, at exactly 11:50, Becker left his station in the main control room of the ARC. The regularity and regimented nature of this wasn't surprising; ex-soldiers supposedly never stopped being soldiers. What was odd was where he went. He didn't leave the ARC. In fact, he went in the opposite direction to the exit. There was only one thing Abby could do if she wanted to know the truth. So the next time Becker left the operations room, at 11:50 like always, Abby followed him.
She kept a significant distance between them. Sure, she may have been following him, but she didn't want Becker to know that she was following him. And being a trained soldier meant that he was a lot harder to keep tabs on than Connor. But she was no slouch, and she managed to dive round a corner, just in time to see Becker disappear into the armoury.
"What are up to, Becker?" she asked to no-one in particular.
She moved a little closer and, trying to look as inconspicuous as possible, pressed her ear to the door. It took her a few moments to filter out the background noise, the sound of people moving up and down the corridor and the quiet hum of the air conditioning, before she heard his voice.
"Oh Dido, it's been a while since I saw you. How've you been keeping?"
Abby recoiled from the door. So Becker was seeing someone. But why would he do so inside the ARC and why would he choose the armoury? She knew Becker liked guns but this was just ridiculous. Abby's mind worked fast. If this mysterious Dido was someone from outside the ARC, then how had they made it inside without the security personnel noticing? For a moment, Abby considered the possibility of Dido being another ARC employee, but she dismissed the thought just as quickly. She knew for a fact that no-one called Dido worked for the ARC. She couldn't decide what to do.
Part of her wanted to report it to Lester and let him sort it out through official channels. But the other part, the inquisitive part, wanted to know who Dido was, how Becker had smuggled her into the ARC and why he had decided to hide her in the armoury of all places. In the end, her inquisitive side won. She didn't have enough evidence to go to Lester about it. She swiped her ID tag, and the armoury door slid open with a hiss.
Abby had expected to see quite a few things, not all of which she was entirely comfortable describing. What she did not expect to see was Becker, sat calmly at a workbench, talking softly to himself and cleaning a shotgun.
"Can I help you, Abby?" he asked, not looking up from his work.
"I… I…" Abby thought for a moment. She hadn't expected to be the one answering questions. "I was wondering who Dido was."
Becker glanced up at her and raised an eyebrow, but didn't respond immediately.
"It's just," continued Abby, her confidence growing, "that if you're seeing someone I really think you should have told us."
To her surprise Becker started laughing. It took him a full two minutes to compose himself before he replied.
"Abby Maitland," he said, gesturing at the shotgun lying abandoned on the table, "meet Dido."
X
"You named your shotgun?" Abby didn't even try and hide her disbelief. Sat opposite her, Becker looked remarkably calm.
"I have named all of my weapons, Abby. I had never realised it was such a problem."
"It's not a problem," said Abby, "it's just… why?" Becker frowned.
"Quinn had a stick called Molly; I have a shotgun called Dido," he paused, "amongst others. What's the difference?" Abby shrugged, she really didn't have a response to that.
"But why Dido?" she asked eventually.
"In Virgil's Aeneid, Dido is the princess sent to stop Aeneas. She ends up burning herself on a pyre. She's a very tragic character." Abby raised an eyebrow; she had never particularly viewed Becker as the cultural type. "Just because I'm a soldier, Abby, doesn't mean I don't read." He paused and lifted the shotgun up in both hands, like it was some sort of holy relic. "And this particular shotgun is a very tragic weapon."
"How so?"
"Because since her predecessor, Catherine, was lost in the distant future by our mutual friend Danny Quinn, Dido has never been fired in anger. And that, Abigail, is a very tragic story." Abby shook her head at the soldier's reasoning.
"Heart breaking," she said.
"Indeed." Becker looked around the armoury. Abby got a distinct feeling that he missed using the weapons in there. She supposed that since Matt had brought the EMDs into service, they hadn't had call to use lethal force to counter the creature incursions. If it wasn't for Becker, the armoury would probably have fallen into a state of disrepair.
"Still, seen as how you're here. You might as well meet the rest of the team." Becker stood and walked over to a shelf on the wall. He picked up two weapons, and placed them on the workbench next to Dido.
"Let me guess," said Abby, "these two are Sooty and Sweep?"
"Not quite," said Becker with a grin. He picked up one of the guns. "This is a Heckler and Koch MP5SD. It's a silenced submachine gun. I call it Alice, after my niece. She's silent, but deadly."
"Oh right," said Abby, "and the other one?" Becker looked across at her and she noted a wicked glint in his eye.
"This one is my personal favourite." He picked up the weapon and held it against his shoulder, testing the weapon's weight and aim. "This is Alice's brother. A Heckler and Koch G36 assault rifle with a barrel-mounted torch and grenade launcher. I call it Neville."
Abby frowned.
"Seriously, you called it Neville? Why?"
Before Becker could respond, the alarm started to sound. No-one needed to tell Abby or Becker what to do, they'd done it all before hundreds of times. There was an anomaly. They had to act and they had to act quickly. Becker quickly placed Neville, Alice and Dido back on the shelf, before grabbing a couple of EMDs and heading for the door. Abby grabbed a slightly smaller, pistol-sized version of the weapon and followed him. She caught him up halfway down the corridor; Becker could be fast when he got moving.
"So?" she said. He frowned and glanced sideways at her, still moving.
"So what?"
"So, why did you call the other gun, the G36, Neville?" A wide grin appeared on Becker's face. He was obviously proud of the name.
"That's simple. You can't spell 'Neville' without 'evil'. And when that bad boy starts firing," Becker raised one of the EMDs he was carrying and imitated firing the gun, "evil is the only way to describe it."
Author's Note: Again, it's just light-hearted; I don't think Becker would really have such an attachment to his guns. Please review and remember; you really can't spell 'Neville' without 'evil'. Neville Longbottom fans, I apologise…