AN: Written as a request for a Primeval/Doctor Who crossover featuring a jealous Becker. Very fun to write and I hope you'll all enjoy it!
I lay no claims on Doctor Who or Primeval, but I do claim the Agrizaki and the Tikkari as they were my own creations.
—-
"You know, it could be aliens!" Connor offered, more sarcastically than seriously, remembering a time when he was more than willing to bet that anything and everything lead back to aliens.
Abby rolled her eyes, "OR, another future creature…not sure…what do you make of that Matt?"
"Never seen it before…doesn't mean it's not from the future; it's just not something I personally ever encountered or even heard about." He shook his head after eyeing the CCTV images of the creatures, finally caught on camera.
"Well, whatever the ugly things are, they need to go. Their interference with the anomalies is filling the menagerie quicker than Lester can buy a new set of ties!" Becker quipped from behind Jess' chair. His eyes were focused on the images before them, taking in every last detail; he wasn't going to let them get away next time.
"Definitely weird how they feed off the anomalies till they close…wonder what they do with that energy anyway…would be a lot to take in…and they're so little…how do they store such powerful energy in those little bodies?" Connor trailed off, his scientific curiosity taking over.
The team soon dispersed, more questions asked than answered, leaving Jess to file away the photos and write up the report. How she managed with Connor's words ringing in her head and constantly distracting her, she didn't know. Aliens…could they be?
—-
"You've got to be kidding me right now!" Becker's fuming voice snapped through the coms. "It's happened again!"
"I can see that, Captain." Jess replied, the anomaly having just disappeared from her screen.
"Yeah well, that's a problem for the three baby ankylosaurus that didn't make it through." Abby cut in before Becker could let his temper get the better of him. "Lester is not going to be happy with this."
"But how could they — it was locked! How is that possible?" Connor questioned, and Jess watched him approach what was previously the anomaly site. "They can feed off it even when it's locked…"
"Well isn't that just brilliant!" Becker railed against the observation, his irritation with the pests increasing by the second. "If this keeps happening these things are going to be the death of us!"
Jess didn't want to imagine where his mind was going, what kind of carnivorous creatures he was imagining being stuck with as their anomaly was eaten away by god knows what.
"I'll have a truck sent down for the creatures as soon as possible." She replied to Abby, knowing she had nothing she could say to Becker and Connor was off in his own world, trying to piece things together.
—-
Three more interrupted anomalies later, the team had finally been able to catch two of the pesky creatures. Not by a miracle, but rather by an invention of Connor's. It had taken him some time to tear apart the materials he used to create his man made anomaly over a year ago, but it was done; a simple magnetic plate that sent out the same frequency of an anomaly, which in turn lured in the gullible pests and stunned them with an EMD ray, shutting their bodies down completely.
"I've honestly never seen anything like this." Matt had to admit as he took a step away from the observation table on which two of the mystery creatures lied.
"What are they?" Connor asked, eyebrows raising in curiosity. "I mean…your best guess…what do you s'pose they are?"
"I don't know…I really don't know…"
"It looks like some sort of leech." Connor offered, getting eye level with the table to look at one of the stunned creatures.
"My initial thought as well, a leech that sucks up energy as opposed to blood."
"But it's not a leech…?"
"It's not that it can't be a leech…it's that…I can't figure out how it's biologically possible! This is truly…out of this world."
—-
Out of this world, hmm? Well, that settled it then; that coupled with Matt's later description of them being more like storage compartments than creatures, living storage compartments that harvested and stored the energy, was all Jess needed to hear. It was aliens, or rather, aliens with a commensurable relationship with this smaller species. It wouldn't be the first time it'd happened. Though the rest of the team would probably call her crazy for believing the Christmas tales of alien attacks, she knew better. They all had their excuses to forget it really happened, but not her, she had every reason to believe. After all, you see and live through lots of crazy things, and in your downtime you hear loads more crazy tales, when you travel with The Doctor.
"That has to be it!" Jess whispered successfully to herself as she scanned through an old folder tucked safely away under security codes and passwords; a folder full of files even she herself liked to pretend didn't exist, it was safer that way, though she could never truly forget. "These things are just like the robot santas! It's the only thing that makes sense!"
Too engrossed in scanning through the old stories she never heard the approaching footsteps behind her. Nor did she get to see the impressed smile the initially crossed the man's face.
"Ahh, Jess Parker. My brilliant Jess Parker," he mused, finally bringing attention to himself.
The voice didn't connect at first and took her by surprise, she instinctively grabbed for her nearby EMD and spun around in her chair to face the stranger. It wasn't till her fearful blue eyes met his all too familiar brown that she realized her mistake and let the EMD fall to the floor as she jumped to her feet in surprise. "Doctor!" she practically squeaked and flung her arms around him.
His grin widened and his eyes crinkled in happiness as he caught her hug and pulled her close. "You weren't really gonna shoot me with that, were you?" he asked with a chuckle as he pulled away from her again.
"No! Of course not! No! So sorry! You just took me by surprise!" She laughed through her embarrassment as her cheeks flushed. "It's force of habit, really."
"Oh, is it now? That's a new one for you." He couldn't hide the tone of disappointment; it was true then, wasn't it? They all eventually went off to become soldiers. Even his brilliant little Jess.
"The ARC can be a dangerous place sometimes, Doctor. And Becker doesn't like me unarmed…he leaves these about my station all the time…he means well really, he's only trying to protect me." She tried to assure him, already knowing where his mind was going. He was just as bad as Becker was with hiding emotion, he always left it clearly displayed there in his eyes.
"Yeaaaah…I'm sure he does…" the Doctor said, scratching at the back of his neck. "Anyway, the ARC did you say? The Anomaly Research Centre, yeah?" He asked, putting his hands in the pockets of his long coat and turning on his heels to survey the room around him. "Tracking down those uncontrollable rips in time and fighting dinosaurs and saving the world, or well, Great Britain, which is a good start! Of course, I know all about The ARC!" Not a soldier after all then, and in fact, he couldn't believe he'd nearly missed the obvious signs that Jess resided in the hub. She was still the Jess he knew and loved then, wasn't she? A smile immediately spread across his face. "You guys do a fantastic job, I must say!"
Jess couldn't help but sigh through her smile as he rambled off; he hadn't changed a bit.
"Ohh, right, but you're dealing with a new problem recently! An alien problem, as you've already discovered. That's why I'm here! Right, yes, because there's an alien force out there trying to break down the barriers of time and space using anomaly energy. I've been tracking down their little pets the last couple days, the last two brought me here. Which is good by the way, that means they've been cut off from their energy supply! And they'll have to come down here themselves!" he briefly paused and scrunched up his face, "Oh wait…hold up…that last part is probably bad news…isn't it?"
Yep, he definitely hadn't changed. "Just a little bit bad, yeah." She looked towards the ADD, wondering if it would give away any indication of the oncoming attack, then back towards The Doctor. "How long do you think we have?"
"Ehhh…enough time to devise a plan…maybe?"
—-
It was just past 6 am when Becker strolled into the hub as usual, but this morning he was stopped dead in his tracks by an unfamiliar sight. Jess wasn't sitting her chair, rather, she was passed out in the arms of another man who sat in her chair. And who the bloody hell was he? It took all Becker had not to just storm over there, instead, he walked over calmly and placed a hand on the strange man's shoulder. "I'm sorry, but…who are you? And who gave you authority to come in here? Visitors have to be passed through me and can't be allowed in while I'm off duty, I'm Head of Security."
"Oh, I'm very sorry, sir, but this is a misunderstanding…the name's John Smith —" The Doctor, shifting Jess' weight, pulled out his psychic paper and showed Becker. "I'm from the science facilities and am also a good friend of Jess', she asked if I could accompany her here at the ADD last night, she had a lot of work to sift through and needed an extra hand."
Becker grabbed the man's ID, studied it for a few moments, then nodded his head and handed it back. "And your bracelet?" Becker questioned, crossing his arms and eyebrow raising slightly. The Doctor put his psychic paper down and pushed up the sleeve of his suit, revealing one of the sleek ID bracelets given to him by Jess just a few hours ago to keep him undercover.
It all checked out, and as for being Jess' friend…well, it was obvious by the peaceful way she slept on his lap that she knew the man well. He never recalled her mentioning a John Smith before, then again she was very social and quite enjoyed talking with the other ARC workers, perhaps the name had just slipped his mind.
"All good…Captain?" He asked, finding Becker's ID and identifying him as Becker, the Captain that kept Jess well armed and protected.
"Yes, sorry. My own fault. I don't see much of the science side, occasionally forget names." His eyes did not meet the other man's though, they instead rested upon Jess' sleeping form. He suddenly felt his stomach turn and surge uncomfortably. She looked so comfortable against his chest, a small smile even resting upon her face. Why did that force knots into his stomach?
"It's all good, sir. I understand, it's a big place and you stick to your military stuff and I stick to my science stuff, completely understandable." The Doctor said, offering a smile as he tucked his psychic paper away again.
Though Becker had looked up from Jess now he did not return the smile, and when his eyes met The Doctor's he could almost feel them filling with a rage. His brows were furrowed and his face was stern. He couldn't help himself, it happened all of it's own accord. "You should probably wake her. The others will be in soon." The words came out harsh and all too unkind. It took not only The Doctor by surprise, but Becker himself. He cleared his throat and turned to walk away, John Smith's promise to wake Jess trailing behind him. He couldn't understand where that had all come from. So what, Jess had a friend help her out and at some point, like Jess does when she over works herself, she passed out…why was it such a big deal? He was just a friend…right? Why was it bothering him so much?
—-
John Smith hung around the ADD a lot longer than Becker expected him to. Not only that but he was laughing and talking with Jess so much, it directly interfered with the times he would normally approach Jess. This guy had never hung out with her so much before, so why did he have to do so today?
"Looks like somebody let the green eyed monster out of his cage today." Abby's voice rang from somewhere beside him, tearing him out of his thoughts.
"What?" He asked with enough obliviousness to fuel a tank. "What monster?"
"Oh God, Becker. Are you serious right now?" The continued look of confusion told her he was and it took everything she had not to laugh in his face. He really was so blind to his emotions that he couldn't tell how much he was seething with jealousy right now. "You're jealous, Becker."
"Wha—" Abby cut him off immediately.
"Every chance you've gotten away from the armoury, you've spent stalking around the hub and watching Jess and that John guy. Your eyes are practically firing daggers in his general direction. Or, knowing you, firing explosives."
" I am n—"
"Before you say you're not, can you explain to me why you're stalking around the hub anyway? And why you're doing that furrowed brow thing you always do when you're pissed off?"
"Bug off, Abigail."
"Ohhh touchy!"
"Just shut up!" He barked in her face, but she didn't back down. He turned away from her, only to be met with the image of Jess wrapping her arms tightly around John and him picking her up in their embrace while their laughter bounced off the walls. His face fell and he turned back towards Abby, mumbling. "Doesn't he have a job he should be doing?"
"It's a slow day. I mean, Connor spent his whole day in the menagerie with me." She reached out a hand to put on his arm but he pulled away. "It's okay to be jealous, you know?"
"I'm not jealous!"
"Of course you are, Becks. You like her, we all know you do, you don't do a very bang up job at hiding it. In fact, you fail miserably. And this, this is a really good reason as to why you should tell somebody that you like them while you have the chance. Otherwise, they think you're not interested and somebody who is moves into place." Glancing down just slightly she added, "Trust me…it happened with Connor and I."
—-
Becker slowly approached Jess, the coast finally clear of John. He just wanted to know for sure, that is…if she was willing to tell him. He took the seat next to her and she immediately turned her attention to him, beaming away as she always did. A blush crept up on her cheeks, but he tried not to take it to mean anything.
"What can I do for you, Becker?"
The cheerfulness in her voice seemed to ease him and he was able to return a small smile. "I was just wondering…er…who uhh…how you were?" Damn it.
"Oh, I'm good! Love the slow days like these!" Though there was a hint of concern in her voice and her eyes briefly fluttered back to the ADD. She was wondering just how much time they really had till the alien threat.
"Yeah…yeah…me too…" His throat had never felt so dry before and his smile became extremely forced. "So uhh…how's your friend…uh…John? Where'd he go off to?"
"Oh, yeah, he's good too. Um, he just popped off to go look for some supplies he needs for a—an experiment."
Wait, why was she hesitating? Oh great…she really does like him, doesn't she? And now I'm just making an arse out of myself by being so obviously interested in knowing, aren't I? I really have missed my chance… Becker simply nodded his head, trying to cover the sudden sadness he could feel sinking into his stomach.
Jess arched her eyebrows in concern as she noticed Becker look down, casting his eyes away from hers. He normally had no trouble keeping eye contact with her, even in times it clearly made him nervous. Was he alright?
Just as she was about to ask the Anomaly detector blared it's alarm loud and clear, cutting off any potential conversation. Becker snapped out of himself immediately, he was on his feet and directing the others in seconds. Jess reached out to push the button for the coms and, without even thinking of his cover name, she spoke into her's and called, "Doctor! You better get yourself back up here! I think it's happening!"
Becker raised his eyebrows in confusion at her words. Who was this doctor and what was happening that she knew of? His instincts as Captain took over and he crouched in front of her, his voice serious and in command, "What is happening, Jess?"
She didn't have a chance to answer him, The Doctor came barreling back into the room and somehow took command right from under Becker's nose. He spoke of an alien invasion from the Argizaki and time and space literally being torn apart using the anomaly energy that had been gathered by the Tikkari, the little leech species that transferred the energy to them. He was speaking nonsense a mile a minute and Becker didn't like it one bit. He stood up and approached the man.
"Who the hell do you think you are? This is my team! I give the commands! And I demand an explanation for all this nonsense you're spewing!"
"Right, sorry Captain, there may have been some lying involved here, but I was trying to work out a plan as fast as I could, I fully intended on telling you the truth before this happened, but time isn't always on my side."
"That doesn't answer my question!"
"I'm the Doctor, I'm a Time Lord, and if that means anything to you at all, it means I outrank you and I'm sorry Cap, but I'll need to borrow your team if I intend to save the Earth today, which I do!"
—-
"Why are you here? I thought I cast you out of this universe the last time!" The Doctor snapped, stepping right up to the leader of the Argizaki, fearless.
"We are the survivors, we are here to redeem our planet. This filthy place you call Earth has the energy we need to do so!"
"And you think I'll just let you do that? You think I'll let you destroy an entire planet so you can pull your planet back out of the oblivion I cast it into? HAH! You underestimate me!"
"You have no back up now, you are alone, Doctor."
"I am the last of the Time Lords, but I am not alone." The words were met with a chorus of laughter from the Agrizaki, the Doctor shook his head. "You laugh in the face of humanity, but they are ten times the species you'll ever be. Unlike you they learn and they grow from their mistakes."
It was in this moment Becker learned who The Doctor truly was. Not only was he the last of his species, but he was the destroyer of them too. He was the protector of the universe, the self proclaimed defender of Earth, and a man who could win a war on his own if he had to. He was public enemy number one to the Agrizaki, and to many other species too. The oncoming storm, a force not to be reckoned with. Without a doubt, a man far above his ranking.
He also learned of the Agrizaki and their planet's ultimate demise. The Doctor spoke of their dishonorable deeds; wars, enslavement and innocent deaths to name a few. It was their attempted war with the Time Lords that brought about their end and cast their planet into oblivion. Becker wondered for awhile if they were truly any different at all. Were humans not guilty of just as much? The Doctor spoke of humans being better, despite the blundering mistakes they might make, but Becker wasn't quite so sure.
That was until they showed him the difference and proved just how ruthless they were.
A blink and Becker missed how it happened, but there in front of him he now saw Jess held captive by two guards and watched as her mouth was bound shut by a third.
"Jess!" two voices cried out; one belonging to the Captain and the other to The Doctor.
"We know she is your weakness, Doctor. We know how much she means to you. You may have thought you could keep her safe by bringing all these other humans on board as a distraction, but we know the stories of this one and weknow that she is yours. And you praised yourself for bringing her home safe and alive, unlike so many others that you destroyed. But now she too will suffer, unless you give us what we want." The Lord Agrizaki let out a deep bellied laugh, knowing he had The Doctor cornered now. "You've let them get to you, Doctor, and this is why you'll always lose."
Becker turned on The Doctor then, worry for Jess flooding through him and triggering an irrational amount of anger. "How — how could you let this happen?" he growled through a clenched jaw and grabbed the other man by the shoulders.
Jess struggled to cry out to him from beneath her gag, wishing only to talk him down before he ended up doing something stupid, but her muffled cries only seemed to fuel him more.
"Becker! Please! Listen to me, I —" The Doctor tried, but the stronger man threw him against the wall and this time screamed in his face, "NO! How could you let this happen to her? To her?"
Matt and Connor came up behind Becker and pulled him away, reminding him The Doctor was on their side, and holding him back while The Doctor found his bearings again. Without hesitation he approached Becker again. "Now listen to me," he paused, making sure he had the man's attention, "Jess and I traveled together for a while and she proved to be an amazing companion and friend. I would never let anything happen to her, precisely why I brought her home when I did!"
"Is that what you said about the others too?" Becker spat out, angry tears brimming in his eyes.
The Doctor could not answer that, instead, he made direct eye contact with Becker and in a voice so harshly sincere the soldier would have no choice but to believe him, he said "I would give my life for Jessica Parker."
Becker blinked at the man, and slowly realizing his mistake tried to calm himself down again. Though he wasn't sure he expected a response, the words fell from his mouth, "I would too."
With a nod The Doctor turned away from Becker and faced the Agrizaki again, his face so contorted he didn't quite resemble The Doctor anymore. "You might as well prepare to die now. You can mess with me, but don't you ever think foreven a moment that you can mess with the ones I hold dear!" He snarled and pulled out his sonic screwdriver, waving it in their direction as he spoke his next words, "I know what you need, but don't think you'll be getting it from me!"
The Agrizaki grinned like a madman, revealing his ugly, toothy grin. "Oh Doctor, bravo, what a lovely, heroic little speech! But the fact of the matter is, we don't need to get it from you." With the flip of a switch he transferred the TARDIS on board. "We already have it."
A component of space - like the TARDIS - to go with their component of time. Once the two were mixed the anomaly would essentially be able to take them any place and any time in the universe; like their long forgotten, lost in time, planet.
A strangled cry was choked back by Becker and audible sounds of fear left the other team member's mouths, but The Doctor did not react quite as so.
"Alright. Fine," he spat, and then despair filled his voice as he watched the aliens haul the TARDIS up and bring it towards the anomaly opening in the floor, rigging it just above. "You have the ship…you owe me the girl."
If all went according to plan the Agrizaki would drop the TARDIS from it's hanging point, right into the anomaly's core. The mix of time and space would tear through the space time continuum, and more than likely destroy the Earth. With the coordinates of their anomaly dater and locator pointed for home, they would survive and be home free. They'd let Jess go but, of course, they wouldn't let them go far. They weren't stupid enough to let him be on the loose, with or without a TARDIS. He'd already figured out they had the ship rigged so the anomaly would lock afterwards and a bomb would detonate, blowing the ship up behind them, killing him and the ARC team in one shot, and destroying the ARC and Becker's army below as well.
But he would never let that happen.
They prepared to drop the TARDIS, or rather a very convincing decoy Police Box (that he hoped wouldn't be too dearly missed from Earls Court) he'd reset their transferring device to pick up in place of the TARDIS just a few minutes before with his sonic. Then he watched as they followed through with their biggest mistake yet, letting Jess go. The truth is, you shouldn't trust the companion any more than you trust the Doctor; just because they're human doesn't mean they can't be extraordinary. Jess ran for the transferring device while he ran for the anomaly dater. As the decoy TARDIS fell through the anomaly and the Agrizaki followed, he changed the date to some point in the late Jurassic; they would never have had enough time to stop themselves from becoming dinosaur food. "You were wrong…I let them get to me, oh yes, but that's why I'll always win."
Meanwhile Jess transferred the real TARDIS to the ship and was quick to usher everybody in as the anomaly locked, leaving less than a minute till the bomb detonated and the ship blew up around them. In the last seconds The Doctor sent the TARDIS out of the ship without him, against Jess' wishes, and risked his life to dismantle the bomb by himself. The ARC team gazed up at the ship, counting down those final seconds and holding their breath. A collective sigh of relief and celebration ensued as the last second passed with no explosion and The Doctor soon after landed the ship. Jess wasted no time in throwing her arms around him upon his exit.
"Brilliant as always, my Jess Parker!" He beamed as he caught her and pulled her close, "Just brilliant!" and with that went in for a celebratory kiss.
It wouldn't have been the first one she'd received, but this time she could only accept it on the cheek. She had plans to share her celebratory kiss with another this time.
"Hey…he really does mean well, you were right." Doctor said with a smile and a wink before she walked away.
Becker was looking down, having seen the kiss with The Doctor coming but not wanting to witness it. He had no idea she'd given it up to come give it to him instead. It wasn't till her familiar blue heels met the tips of his boots that he realized she'd come over.
"Becker…" she whispered, and his eyes moved to lock onto hers. "Come here," she grinned, reaching for the collar of his shirt and pulling him close.
His lips grazed hers for a moment, then next thing he knew she was placing a sweet, tender kiss on his lips.
"I don't understand…" he whispered, "I'm not the hero…"
"You don't have to be the hero." She smiled up at him and let him cup her face, bringing her in for another kiss.
"Good…because I'm just an emotional idiot, but God do I love you," he admitted with a blush burning at his cheeks.
"I guess that makes you my idiot then," she chuckled and a blush of her own took over, "because I love you too," she whispered and buried her reddening face into his chest.
The Doctor smiled fondly over at the two and he silently hoped this would be the last time Jess Parker ever got entangled in his work. She deserved her happy ending and he could never guarantee that for her. He held up his hand in a final farewell, then disappeared into the TARDIS and dematerialized into thin air.
"What the hell are we going to do with this ship?" Abby asked, grinning as she sneaked up on the two of them and wrapped her arms around them.