A/N: It took me ages to write this story, but now it's finally done.

A huge Thank-you to Cehsja and DrawnToDarkness for your support through out the writing progress and for beta-reading the chapters.

I really hope you guys like it, as much as I liked writing it. Reviews are very welcome.

"Becker, the story isn't over yet!" Connor called after the soldier, who had emerged from the car before it came to a complete stop in the parking lot of the ARC, but Becker didn't react as the elevator doors closed behind him. Connor turned to Abby as she climbed out of the vehicle behind the boys and came to stand beside him.

"What?" the computer geek asked his smirking girlfriend.

"I doubt he was listening to you for the past five minutes." The three of them had returned from an anomaly site together. They had left Matt and Emily at another anomaly site three hours ago, when a second anomaly had appeared.

"And why would that be? My story was really cool!"

"Haven't you noticed?" Abby grinned at him.

"Noticed what?" By now Connor was really confused and the blonde animal expert couldn't hide her amusement any longer. She started walking towards the elevator as she began to talk about her and Emily's observation.

"Ever since the incident with the beetles, Becker always runs straight to the ADD after an alert."

Connor pressed the button for the elevator, "Sure, we have to return the black boxes to Jess when we get back from a mission."

"Connor! You can't be serious." Abby gently hit his arm, "Becker always runs very quickly to the ADD. Sure we have to return them, but that's not his reason. Rather, that behavior is caused by a small, young, brunette called Jess."

Connor suddenly became wide-eyed as it all made sense to him. He looked at his girlfriend, "Is that also the reason why you and Emily always find some excuse to delay a bit before we reach the hub?"

"Hey, you noticed!" Abby gave her boyfriend a quick peck on the lips, slightly surprised that it had occurred to him. "Yes. We thought that Jess and Becker just need some time alone and staying behind Becker was the easiest and most unsuspicious way to do it. We just hope that, with giving them more time together, one of them will finally come clean about their feelings."

"Does Matt know?" Connor wanted to know, hoping he was the first guy to find out.

"Not that I know. We could see if Emily and Matt have already returned from their mission and ask him. If not, we can bring him into the loop..."

"And give Jess and Becker some more time alone." Connor ended the sentence for Abby with a grin.

"You got it!" The blonde girl grabbed his hand and the two of them went to search for their friends.

Becker didn't notice that Abby and Connor hadn't followed him. Though he was aware that he seemed to be always alone on his way to the hub lately, he had never given it a second thought. He actually enjoyed these few minutes alone with Jess, just to check if she was alright of course.

Before the future beetles had attacked the ARC, the head of security had been sure that Jess was safe there. Now he was always relieved to find her sitting behind the ADD when he returned from the field.

Today he was maybe a little more worried about her than on other days. Because of the appearance of two anomalies close in time, the team had had to split up. And while Jess was connected with Matt and Emily, who had stayed at the first anomaly, Joe, the other field coordinator, had taken over coordinating the second mission.

The moment Becker entered the hub, he realized that Jess wasn't there. Sitting in her chair was Joe. Becker quickly closed the gap to the ADD and spun the chair, with his colleague still in it, around. "Where's Jess?"

"In the medical bay."

Becker's heart skipped a beat. Jess was in the medical unit? For a split second his walls tumbled down and concern was clearly written across Becker's face. But only a moment later, when Becker turned on his heels to get to the medical bay, he was wearing his unreadable expression again.

Matt, who had watched the scene from the other side of the room, headed after Becker. "Becker, there's something..." but the head of security didn't give Matt a chance to end his sentence, instead he waved his arm in the air, gesturing for his friend to stop talking.

"No! I have to get to the medical bay!"

With a smirk on his face, Matt stopped and watched as Becker rounded the corner at the end of the corridor.

On the way to the medical wing, Becker's thoughts went wild. Jess was injured; she was in the medical section, and he hadn't been there to protect her. Something, or someone, had caused her pain, he was sure of that. He had failed again to help a friend in need.

"Where's Jess?" Becker asked the first nurse he met when he entered the hospital wing of the ARC.

"Third room on the left." Mary, the nurse, answered and entered another room without giving Becker more information.

With large erratic steps, a racing heart, and the hope that she wasn't injured badly, Becker walked towards the door and opened it with dash.

What he saw there caught him off guard.

Jess was sitting in a chair beside one of the hospital beds; she was holding a girl's hand. Slowly the field coordinator turned around and flashed Becker a smile.

"Hey, what are you doing here?" Jess spoke quietly, not wanting to wake up the girl beside her.

"Joe said you'd be in the hospital wing..." Becker trailed off. He pointed to the bed and asked, obviously confused, "Who's that?"

"That's the girl who came through the first anomaly today. You, Abby and Connor had left already."

Becker had walked towards the end of the bed and was studying the unknown girl. Her curly blonde hair looked tangled and she was so skinny as though she hadn't had a proper meal for a while. Becker didn't know what to say.

But Jess, being herself, kept talking, "We don't know her name yet. She did say something after she came through, but no one understood. Matt said it sounded like Dutch or Danish, but he isn't sure. She collapsed only moments after she stepped through. They brought her here so we can keep an eye on her. I'm here because the doctor said she might wake up at any moment. I thought it would be nice for her to have some company."

As Jess averted her gaze from the girl, the soldier felt stupid. He had been very worried about Jess for the past few minutes. It had even occurred to him to tell her how worried he'd been, but now there was no reason. Jess was fine. And before things could get awkward, Becker did what he did 'best' when it came to Jess. He fled the situation.

"Well...I think I should leave then. Don't want to scare her with too many people and I have..."

"Security stuff to do?" Jess interrupted his sentence with a small smirk as the soldier returned to the door.

"No." In search for an excuse, Becker stopped talking for a brief moment. "I have things to do," he ended his sentence and closed the door behind him.

"Things to do?" Jess looked after him with a small smile on her face. This man was unbelievable. Maybe she should really get her courage together to tell him what she felt for him. Ever since the beetle's attack, she had started to suspect strongly that he returned her feelings for him. And what Emily had told her from that day only endorsed the thought.

Jess shook her head and returned her gaze to the girl in front of her.