"Unfortunately, with last night's…death toll…I'll need you to stay in for the night, until I can reassign somebody for the routine nighttime anomaly check up." Lester said to Jess, a hint of sympathy in his words as he folded his hands in front of him.
"I understand, sir, it's fine. I have it all under control!" Jess replied, assuring him with her usual confident grin despite how tired she was already feeling.
"Captain Becker will be staying the night as well. He insists on double and triple checking security, as he should be." He added before turning away. He wouldn't mention that he actually asked Becker personally to stay, as he trusted very few others to look after Jess the way he did. God forbid another anomaly open outside the ARC and another rabid pack of Hemicyons come through and kill her just as ruthlessly as they killed the small group of night shifters.
Jess nodded her head and hid her all too obviously growing smile, more than glad she would be working with him. Not only because she knew from the past that he would do anything to protect her, but also because it simply meant more time with him, and there was nobody else she'd rather spend her time with. "All will be fine here, sir, I promise." she called out to him as he began to walk away.
"Jessica!" Becker yelled for what seemed like the hundredth time, successfully making her jump out of her skin. "You were drifting off again." he said giving her a small, apologetic smile. "You were off for a good 10 minutes just now."
"I'm sorry." Jess stifled a yawn as she apologized, she was really having trouble keeping her eyes open despite the rather large coffee she'd finished not too long ago. "I was never good at staying up, not even when I crammed for tests." she admitted, glancing shyly up at Becker now, wondering if he would find it weak of her. "What time is it?"
His face softened, as did his voice; "Just past 2 am, and my offer still stands, Jess. I will take your place at the ADD if you want to sneak off somewhere to take a rest. One of my men will stand guard for you, nothing will happen."
She shook her head, determined to work the rest of the shift and be awake for when Connor came to relieve her. "That's very kind of you, Becker, but I'll be fine. Just a few more hours to go!"
"Right." Becker said, nodding his head before walking off to the nearest office, where he proceeded to pull a chair from and bring it over to sit next to Jess. "If that's the case, I suppose I might as well make it my official duty to keep you awake then." he shot her a grin, "If that hasn't already become my official duty. I've only had to wake you…oh…three times now?"
It was nearing 4 am when Becker knew Jess was too far gone to sleep-deprivation, she had been working for nearly 24 hours straight now; another 2 hours would put her there in fact. She was far too determined to leave her post, but he wasn't too sure she even knew what she was doing at this point. He himself was used to this kind of thing, he was trained for this, and even though he was tired, he could easily work past it. This was nothing compared to the mission he remained awake 3 days straight for. But for Jess? She was obviously losing it now.
"I'm sorry…wha—what did you just say?" he asked, snapped out of his thoughts by the words he swore he heard Jess say.
Jess giggled, "I said; wouldn't this be nicer if we were cuddling together?" she repeated, smiling tiredly over at him. "I don't know…" she twiddled her thumbs and shrugged, "It sounds nice to me."
His eyebrow rose immediately and he wondered if Jess had any idea of what she was saying. Somehow, he really didn't think so. If the lack of usual blushing upon so much as saying hi to him was any indicator at all. "I—I…" he stuttered out, suddenly becoming nervous enough for the both of them. Did she really expect an answer anyway?
"Becker," she said, stopping him from attempting to say anything more in reply, and staring at him very seriously. Much more serious than the giggling mess she'd been minutes ago. "I like you…a lot…a whole lot."
"Jess…you're exhausted," was all Becker could manage in response. Not that he didn't like her back - no, he loved her - but he just wasn't too sure this was the proper way for her to let her feelings spill, if they even were her real feelings and not just silly things she was saying because she was so sleep-deprived. "Wh—why don't you close your eyes and get some sleep?"
"No, Becker…I love you. I really, re-" a big yawn escaped her mouth and when it finally passed, she looked at Becker again. "really do," she finished.
He couldn't find anything to say, he just stared at her while his heart began to beat faster at the words. He tried to remind himself that she was beyond tired, that she couldn't possibly mean any of it - but he couldn't. Despite how tired she was, there was a certain sincerity about the way she'd said it that was now fueling the hope he had that she meant it, that she loved him as much as he loved her.
"Wait…" she said, slumping forward slightly. "You're right…" she looked awestruck for a moment, like she couldn't believe the realization that she'd come to, then let out a breathy laugh as she looked at his confused face. "I'm exhausted!"
His voice came out lower than before as he replied, "Close your eyes then, get some sleep."
"I still want to cuddle with you."
Becker wasn't sure what to say to Connor as he approached the ADD and found Jess curled up against him, fully supporting her weight and running one hand through her hair gently.
"She got tired…really, really tired." He tried, feeling the back of his neck heat up as Connor raised his eyebrows at him.
"There's a couch here…not to mention, the beds in the medical bay. I mean, they're not the greatest but -"
"Just shut up, Temple," Becker grumbled, not wanting to tell Connor the full story.
"I am so telling Abby about this!" he snickered, throwing his bag to the floor beside the ADD. "We've had bets going for weeks with the others!"
"You're ridiculous," Becker said, shooting him a glare.
"Whatever, mate! I'll be right back, have to use the loo." he said, shaking his head and grinning before walking away.
Becker took that moment to very gently take his hand from Jess' hair and use it to shake her awake. "Jess…Jess…Jess!"
Her eyes flew open and when they immediately met Becker's, so closely, she was momentarily confused and tried to sit up, only to find that she couldn't quite manage that because she was in his lap. Her eyes opened even wider and an internal panic started to rise in her. "What —?"
"Connor's here, you can go home now," he answered, watching as she took in her surroundings. He could feel the back of his neck starting to burn again.
"Wait…what happened?" she asked, her voice croaking slightly. Whether it was because she hadn't quite regained it from sleep or because she was beginning to become nervous, she wasn't sure.
"We can talk about that another time," he said, giving her a sheepish smile as she placed her feet on the ground and slid from his lap. "Perhaps when you're more awake."
"Oh God…" she groaned, realization hitting her and she closed her eyes tightly in embarrassment. "I said something stupid didn't I?"
"No." Becker answered, almost too quickly. He watched as her eyes opened again and a blush creeped across her face. "I didn't think it was stupid."
"Becker…what did I say?" she asked, desperation leaking into her voice.
"Well, for starters, at one point you said pip pip, cheerio!" He said with a grin, hoping to ease her tension. When he saw her lips quirk up and saw her shake her head at the silly statement, he let out a sigh, ready to lay on her what she really wanted to hear. "You also asked to cuddle with me…and…well…you may have told me very specifically why." he tried to answer without actually having to say the words 'I love you', too nervous to use those words himself.
Jess' face could not have turned more red and she immediately looked down at the floor, too embarrassed to look at Becker any longer now that her worst fear was realized.
"Jessica," he said, very strongly to urge her to look back up. "I told you…I didn't think it was stupid. Not in the least."
She looked up again and met his gaze, her blush still fiercely taking over her face. "But I told you how I feel about you, didn't I?" she asked, her voice very soft and holding hints of nervousness. "I told you that I love you…"
Becker licked at his quickly drying lips, he didn't know how he should respond and he could feel his heart beating once more at the three simple words. He ran his hand through his hair and it rested on the back of his neck, then he nodded. "Yeah…those might've been the words you used…"
Jess nodded her head, "Okay…well then…if you'll excuse me, I need to go home and never come back again," she said quickly, turning on her heels to hide the ever growing blush.
"Wha — why?" he called out to her, his eyebrows furrowed. "What if I loved you too?" He wasn't sure where he'd suddenly gotten the courage to say it, but it made him smile when she stopped where she stood and turned back around. "I mean…I don't let just anybody cuddle with me. Sleep-deprived or not."