A/N: This is a story I've had rolling around in my head since before I finished "Heavy." I wasn't really sure if I would ever write it , but after I let my beta have the first few chapters to look over, she basically threatened my life if I didn't. So, I guess what I'm saying is: if you don't like it, blame my beta. It's entirely her fault this exists.
If you haven't read my first story "Heavy," you might want to do so because this does follow the timeline I established there, but this story can stand on its own if necessary.
Chapter One- Evolution
Jess glared at the digital clock on the computer screen and mentally willed the seconds to tick by faster. (Do digital clocks 'tick'? she mused to herself. Perhaps 'blink by faster'? Whatever.) It was Friday evening, nearly time to leave work, and she was anxious for the weekend to begin. Only twenty minutes separated her from her goal.
There was a time when the absolute highlight of Jess's day was coming into work in the morning. She loved going through security and getting to present her badge identifying her as a high-ranking member of the ARC. She loved getting there early enough to make the first pot of coffee so it was ready for the rest of the team when they arrived. She loved organizing her desk while waiting for her legion of computers to boot up. Lester, usually so aloof and abrasive, was, surprisingly, much more friendly in the morning than he was throughout the rest of the day (Jess suspected this might be because no one had time to properly annoy him so early in the morning). Few people enjoyed their jobs as fully as Jess did and she could not bear to miss a moment of it. Before finding a job at the ARC (or more technically, the government had found her for the job straight out of school- very cloak and dagger, as she liked to describe the affair), the best she could have hoped for was, she thought, a boring job at a software company, poring over lines of code all day. Her job at the ARC made her feel like a superhero.
She still loved her job, of course, in spite of the risks and long hours. How many people get the opportunity to be a part of something like the ARC? But recently, her favorite part of the day was getting to leave work- shutting down her computers and collecting her bag and coat from her locker. As much as she loved being the field coordinator at the ARC, there was another title she was much prouder of and even more enthusiastic about: Becker's girlfriend.
She and Becker had tried their best to keep their relationship quiet in the beginning, agreeing that it would be best to keep their private lives separate from their professional lives, to a certain extent at least. However, once Connor and Abby knew the secret was out in less than a week. To their chagrin, no one- not even Lester- had been surprised to learn that the two were seeing each other. Everyone seemed to treat their relationship as the inevitable culmination of their having met. Of course, that did not stop Abby and Connor from teasing Jess at every opportunity. Apparently it was one of Abby's greatest joys in life to make Jess blush. Becker was far too much of a gentleman to threaten Abby to keep her from teasing Jess- at least, not seriously- but he felt no such qualms about intimidating Connor. As a result of this, Connor did his best to relegate his commentary on their relationship to times when he was certain he was in no danger of Becker overhearing him.
Lester preferred to feign complete ignorance of the couples under his command at work. Jess suspected it was because he hated the idea that he was actually running a time-traveling dating service and it helped him keep up the façade that he had no interest in the personal lives of his employees. Matt and Emily had kept their relationship mostly professional for the past year, but in the wake of the New Dawn incident and the apparent end to the "Ethan crisis," the two had finally admitted their feelings to one another and were now dating. Jess knew- though she had been sworn to secrecy- that Emily had asked Lester for permission to move out of her quarters at the ARC and into Matt's flat. Lester had insisted that he would have to consider the request and the possible security risks it presented, but Jess knew he would give in before long. As much as he loved to play the tough, unfeeling boss, Jess suspected that he harbored a soft spot in his heart for their happiness, especially after more recent events at the ARC.
The past year had been a big year for everyone- culminating in the harrowing adventure of stopping Philip Burton and New Dawn- and everyone at the ARC was enjoying some much deserved downtime. Connor and Abby were back on track in their relationship; Connor was making impressive progress in his research on anomalies and Abby was working harder than ever to improve the menagerie for the creatures they were unable to return to their own times. Lester seemed to have proven his value to the minister, who had finally agreed that private businesses had no part in governing the ARC, and was enjoying having more input on how the ARC was run. Emily was still learning to live in the modern world, but was beginning to enjoy and even embrace certain aspects of the new world she lived in (primarily, shopping with Abby and Jess). Matt seemed happier now that the threat of New Dawn was behind them, but was still secretive and distracted at times, as though he was not convinced that their troubles were entirely behind them. Only when he was with Emily did he seem truly carefree and happy.
Personally, Jess was enjoying having extra time to spend with Becker. Even once they officially started dating after the incident in the parking garage, they did not have much free time to spend together outside of the ARC. Their shifts were long, the work was dangerous, and they were often too exhausted after work to do anything more than pick up some take away on the way back to his or her flat and fall asleep in front of the television.
"Relationship Becker," as it turned out, was a very different man than "Captain Becker." He had always been a mystery to her before they started dating and she had spent the past year enjoying unraveling some of those mysteries. One of her first, and very happy, discoveries had been that he could cook. Somehow she had always imagined him as more of a takeout guy, but in reality, he was a wonderful chef. More than that, he was kind and funny and exactly as obsessed with firearms as she had always suspected.
Becker was also very old-fashioned when it came to relationships. When she had hinted that he should consider moving in with her once Abby and Connor were married and had found a place of their own, he had blushed and mumbled something about appearances. At first she had been annoyed at his somewhat eighteenth-century attitude, but eventually the romantic in her won out and she decided she was lucky to have found a man who was so concerned about protecting her honor. And if she was really being honest with herself, she wasn't ready to face having to share a closet- let alone a flat- with a "significant other" yet, even if that "other" was Becker. She simply couldn't take the risk that he might ask her to throw out some of her shoes to make room for his things. But a girl could dream.
She leaned forward and propped her elbows up on her desk, holding her head between her hands, as she narrowed her eyes and refocused her attention on the digital clock displayed on the central monitor of the ADD. There remained only a few more minutes before Lester left and the night shift would begin to trickle in. She was permitted to leave on the weekends as soon as her replacement reached the security gate, so she was anxiously watching the security log for his name to appear on the roster. Prior to the convergence event, anomalies had been so common that members of the primary team worked nearly non-stop with no real regard for shifts of weekends. In the short amount of time since then, they had all gotten a much needed taste of freedom, and had become fiercely protective of their time away from the ARC. She began to consider the possibility of bribing her weekend replacement into coming in a few minutes early on Friday evenings so she could leave that much earlier.
"Daydreaming about your boyfriend again?" a voice interrupted her thoughts and she spun guiltily in her chair to face the approaching figure.
Downstairs in the armory, Becker was not faring much better.
He glanced over at the mountain of paperwork that threatened to tip off of his desk and spill onto the floor with a growing sense of trepidation. Lester had recently decided that the significantly diminished number of anomalies was an excellent opportunity for some of the staff who had been "delinquent" in keeping up with their field reports over the past year to catch up. Why it was so important for him to backfill the older mission reports was a mystery to the ARC staff, but it was clear from the tone of his email that Lester would tolerate no dissention in this matter. While Becker had thought he was safe, having turned in his reports in a very timely fashion in keeping with his military training, Lester had sent for his reports to be fetched from storage and requested that Becker review his reports and add more detail because, to quote Lester: "A report that consists of one paragraph describing the incident followed by five describing how the situation could have been dealt with more effectively with heavier firepower is hardly the type of document the minister enjoys reading."
While he hadn't been given a real time limit for completing the work, he knew that Lester would expect to see some progress before he left for the weekend and his work ethic prevented him from even considering leaving to enjoy his weekend with Jess before finishing at least a few. He glanced at his watch and noted that she would be preparing to leave soon, and since she hadn't responded to the text he had sent her earlier, he needed to make sure she had a way to get home.
Gazing over at the stack of papers once again, he groaned and pushed himself away from his desk (which he had insisted be moved to the armory as soon as he had time to put in the request- he couldn't bear being cooped up in an office all day, and for some reason, being in the armory surrounded by weapons calmed him). He would grant himself a five minute break to square things away with Jess before confining himself to the armory once again to begin afresh.
Becker lived for the action of the ARC. His whole professional career had been dedicated to dealing with the extremes of life. Downtime was not something he was usually good at dealing with, but after the past year, even he was grateful for the temporary break from world-threatening disasters. It was amazing how much perspective he had gained as a result of the incident with Philip Burton. Compared to the fiasco of New Dawn, what was a flock of pterodactyls attacking the London Eye? The job was still dangerous, but after surviving the past few years, even he was beginning to feel more complacent about the risks and confident in his team's abilities.
The past year had brought more than just a break in the seemingly endless stream of misadventures the team seemed destined to endure: He and Jess were officially a couple. It had been an interesting transition for both of them, moving from friends and coworkers into a romantic relationship. Overall, it had been far easier than Becker had expected, though there had been a few difficult moments, particularly in the initial stages. Instead of having to deal with the awkwardness of informing their coworkers of their decision to date (or, more frequently trying to keep up with who Connor had already informed), they had been forced to endure several dozen versions of "Well, of course you are" and "About time, too." It had been a very long time since he had been in any kind of a relationship, let alone a serious one. He had believed his job to be too risky and his life too uncertain to ask another person to put up with and so he was a bit out of practice. Learning to share your life with someone, no matter how strongly you feel about them, is always a challenge and Jess, for all her beautiful qualities, was not without her flaws.
For example, Becker had yet to find a time when Jess was not her usual perky self. Whether it was six o'clock in the morning or on her way to the dentist's office, Jess attacked life with a kind of zeal and energy that left him stunned. Maybe this wasn't a flaw, precisely, but it would grate on anyone's nerves after a long day at work. His reputation as the stern, emotionless officer was in danger of being infected by her enthusiasm for everything.
She was an absolute genius, as well. Not that she hadn't mentioned it once or twice in the past, but seeing her in action, armed with nothing but her laptop and enough coffee to run a small plane, she was as dangerous as he was with a gun. And not just about computers either: There was an excellent reason she was the field coordinator for the ARC. She had an incredible memory for details and sorting through complicated situations, which made playing board games with her nearly impossible. Jess had tried several times to teach him how to use the computer system at the ARC, but he had never been a particularly attentive student, preferring to spend the time flirting and trying to distract her, a task at which he nearly always succeeded. In return, he attempted to teach her some simple self-defense techniques. Those lessons hadn't gone as he'd planned either. Not that he minded. Usually.
For the first time in a very long time, he was honestly happy. He still worried constantly about the danger she was putting herself in by being in a relationship with him. A small part of him knew that he would always worry about her. He would worry about her if he was a banker or chef or any other normal job- it was just in his nature to worry about everyone he worked with. And he had quickly found out that Jess did not appreciate being thought of as a helpless damsel who was incapable of taking care of herself. But, unexpectedly, the good managed to outweigh the bad and he could not imagine his life without her anymore.
Their lives had certainly not been easy over the course of the past year. After that near fatal experience under lockdown, Becker always carried an epi pen on his person, just in case. Watching Connor and Abby's relationship nearly fall apart after their return through the anomaly under the stress of the New Dawn Project had been a major warning to him: nothing was impervious. Given enough stress, any relationship could fall apart. The ARC had been in a state of upheaval with power struggles throughout Philip Burton's reign that had put even more stress on their personal relationships with their coworkers. But, with New Dawn and (hopefully) the threat of the end of the world a month behind them, things would continue to settle. Unexpectedly, Becker was beginning to suspect that they may have a chance at a happy ending after all.
As he rounded the corner and entered the Hub, he saw Jess engrossed in conversation with Connor and Abby. Judging by the broad smile on Connor's face, he was teasing Jess again. Though he would never say it out loud, he was pleased that Connor and Abby were still together. His annoyance at their relationship adding extra drama to the team, though valid, was overcome by the desire to see his friends happy. Glancing at his watch, he decided that it was late enough that most of the ARC personnel would have already left for the weekend, and therefore there was little risk of anyone seeing him break his usually professional demeanor for a moment of fun. Winking at Connor and placing a finger over his lips, took advantage of Jess's distraction to sneak up behind her, waiting for the opportune moment to strike.