Title: Milestones III
Author: DrawnToDarkness
Pairing: Jess/Becker, Connor/Abby, (background Matt/Emily)
Rating: K+
Spoilers: General knowledge of the TV series.
Summary: First in the Milestones III story, written with the prompt 'wedding'. You don't have to have read Milestones I or Milestones II to read this; just know Jess & Becker are an established couple.
Author's Note: I'm still working on the requests I was given - one or two are giving me a bit of a hard time but they'll be written eventually. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy the first chapter of the new story/series.
AN 2: Milestones III will be, as the previous stories in the series, predominantly Jess/Becker orientated and I make absolutely no apologies for it. They are my OTP and always will be. That said, the other characters will play a bigger role in this story than in those that have gone before but my focus is, as always, the Jess and Becker dynamic.
While most eyes were fixed on the Bride and Groom, the Best Man only had eyes for one person: the Maid of Honour.
It wasn't as much of a cliché as it sounded, given that the Maid of Honour was the woman he'd been in a relationship with for almost a year but, even if it was, Captain Hilary Becker couldn't bring himself to care.
She looked beautiful and, because he could, he leaned over to tell her so.
"Shh." Her cheeks turned a pretty pink, her eyes flickering from the happy couple cutting the cake to look at him. "You're not supposed to be watching me."
"Why not?" He grinned at the way she grew flustered under his gaze – a feat only he, according to her often amused family, could achieve so easily. "You're very watchable."
"Becker." The glare she threw him lacked any real heat, the pleased almost shy smile curling the corners of her lips being what he focused on first. "Behave."
He smirked at her rather than answering. His arm, draped over the back of her chair, moved so he could deliberately brush his fingers tips against the bare skin of her neck and shoulder, an innocent smile plastered onto his face when she turned her head to look at him again. Jess rolled her eyes and turned her attention back to the happy couple, though Becker was satisfied when she shifted a little closer in her chair, her head moving to rest on his shoulder as his arm settled more firmly around her.
Feeling eyes on him, he tore his gaze away from her to meet the speculative gaze of their boss. James Lester arched an eyebrow, the look on his face knowing enough that Becker felt his cheeks begin to heat. Looking away, he found himself staring directly at the team leader, Matt Anderson, whose smirk he was able to meet with a pointed look of his own as Emily Merchant, teammate and Matt's date to the wedding, sighed happily and leaned into Matt as she, too, watched the newlyweds.
Newlyweds.
It was hard to believe that they'd actually finally done it.
Though their engagement had lasted just over a year, it still felt to Becker as though the wedding had been a long time in coming. The couple hadn't even started to make concrete plans until six months ago, when Abby had given in to her fiancé's puppy dog eyes and repeated pleading for them to set a date and had enlisted an all-too-eager Jess and Emily to help them make the preparations.
Jess, as everyone had expected given her day job, had excelled at the roll of organiser and unofficial wedding planner. She'd easily navigated the potential stormy seas by reminding the happy couple that compromise was key and had made suggestions that had appeased one and satisfied the other. There were thankfully few arguments leading up to the big day and, while Becker had had to put up with the flat he shared with Jess becoming something akin to Wedding Central, he'd willingly stepped in to help whenever Jess had asked him, knowing it would win points in his favour and that he'd be so very generously rewarded by his considerate girlfriend afterwards.
A small smirk began to play on his lips at the thought of just how he'd been rewarded, one that wasn't wiped away even when Jess glanced at him and, as though she could tell the direction his thoughts had taken, blushed prettily and slapped his shoulder rather ineffectively.
Forcing his mind back to the wedding itself, Becker glanced around the room the reception was being held in. The venue had been one such compromise Jess had brokered between the couple, he knew. Connor had wanted somewhere big and flashy, somewhere he could show off his new bride to the extreme. Abby had wanted somewhere quiet and cosy, big enough to cater to the surprisingly large guest list but with small enough to have an intimate atmosphere.
Somehow, the grand room at the Natural History Museum managed to do both.
It was a subtle nod to what they did for a living, to Connor's fascination with science and Abby's love of animals. He knew at one point they'd been considering holding the reception in one of the local zoos and couldn't help but be a little relieved that they'd chosen to abandon that idea; being surrounded by living animals that reminded him a little too much of their prehistoric counterparts wouldn't have made for a relaxing environment in his opinion.
The room itself was big and spacious, but the way it'd been set up and decorated made it feel smaller than it actually was. The tables were well spaced out, giving enough room for people to wander between them, but close enough for everyone to feel as though they were involved in what was going on. The colour scheme, blue, white and purple, had been chosen by the newlyweds themselves and was proudly on display on the tables in the form of centrepieces made up of candles, flowers and coloured glass beads in clear glass vases.
The bridal party's clothing met the colour scheme requirements, too. The men wore dark blue suits with crisp white shirts. Their waistcoats were a lighter shade of blue with the dark purple Connor had chosen embroidered through it.
Jess and Emily wore dresses in the same light shade of blue, accented by purple accessories and a purple belt just below the bust of the empire-line gowns. Though he'd become accustomed to seeing his girlfriend in shorter skirts, Becker had to admire the way the longer material glided over her curves and swayed around her legs when she walked, offering a tantalising hint at what was underneath but keeping it hidden from view – from everyone but himself, of course.
The bride herself wore a dress that was never the same colour. Without a train that was befitting of most traditional bridal gowns, the white material seemed to change colour depending on what lighting she stood beneath. At some points in the ceremony, Becker would've sworn that the dress was light blue; at others, it looked a pale purple in colour. With thin, off the shoulder straps and a form fitting bodice and skirt that flowed to just below knee length, Abby looked every inch the beautiful bride and Connor's reaction on seeing her for the first time was one Becker knew the men in attendance would tease him about for some time to come, even if not one of them could blame him for being stunned at the sight of her.
Watching the happy couple exchange a kiss after cutting the cake, he felt genuine happiness and warmth blossom in his chest and found his gaze straying, once again, to the woman sitting beside him.
He'd never imagined himself getting married. Ever. The thought of finding someone he'd want to commit to in that way had never crossed his mind, never featured in his plans for the future. He'd been content having casual relationships without expectations, knowing that his choice of career meant he could be called upon to leave anyone he was in a relationship with at any given time.
Even after joining the ARC, though it meant for a more permanent location, he'd never really considered it as a possibility. The job was dangerous, that was a given, but it was also highly classified. He couldn't imagine being involved with someone who didn't know what he did on a daily basis, someone who wouldn't understand why some days he came home wanting nothing more than to forget the rest of the world for a while.
Who didn't know what kind of horrors he saw but couldn't talk about.
Before Jess, he'd never really entertaining the idea of getting romantically involved with a colleague. Yes, it solved a lot of problems but, from what he'd seen over the years, it also caused them, too. He'd not felt as strongly about anyone to chance it before, to take the risk of it maybe not working out on the hope that it would.
He'd fought his feelings for a long time, pretty much since the day he'd stepped off the lift and found her waiting for him, all warm smiles and bright colours. He'd only given up the fight when he'd almost lost her – twice, in a matter of weeks.
In the space of a year, he'd gone from being the sort of man who'd never had a committed relationship before to being one who couldn't imagine a future without the woman cuddled into him. He'd known going into the relationship that it was different, that Jess was different and he wanted more from her than just a warm body to curl up to at night but the fact that marriage was actually playing on his mind – and that he wasn't terrified by the thought – did sort of surprise him.
And it made him wonder whether Jess wanted the same thing, too.
She was younger than he was, though that wasn't really the issue. At the beginning of their relationship, he'd discovered just how inexperienced she was, both emotionally like him and physically, too, and, though they'd overcome much of that together, he still found himself wondering at times whether it was fair of him to expect her to be content with only one real romantic relationship in her life.
Not that she'd ever given him reason to think otherwise, he admitted, absent-mindedly tracing patters on the bare skin of her arm as Connor and Abby took to the dance floor in the centre of the room for their first dance as man and wife.
She was happy with him, content. Satisfied. He did his best to make sure of it, having made a promise to himself a long time ago that he'd do his best not to take her for granted. He knew she loved him as much as he loved her but whether or not marriage was something she'd started to think about, too…
"They look happy, don't they?" Tilting her head back to look at him, the smile on Jess's face was undoubtedly loving, the glint in her eyes almost dreamy.
"They do." Without looking at them to confirm it, Becker leaned down to kiss her lightly. "In case they forget to do it later, thank you on their behalf for helping make this happen."
"I didn't do much." She protested with a short laugh as he'd known she would, shaking her head. "They've got themselves to thank for ending up here."
Remembering the journey their friends had taken to reach this point – the parts of it he'd known them for, anyway – Becker could only agree with her. It'd taken them a while, he reflected, but Abby and Connor had ended up where they'd wanted to be eventually.
As the DJ announced the newlyweds wished for other happy couples to join them on the dance floor, Becker noticed Matt get up and extend his hand to Emily, and Lester stand grudgingly when his wife, Eleanor, nudged him non-too-gently in the ribs. Smiling to himself, he disentangled himself from Jess only to get to his feet and hold out a hand to her, quirking an eyebrow when she stared up at him with a smile.
"May I have this dance, Miss Parker?" He asked formally, his brown eyes sparkling.
"As if you needed to ask, Captain Becker." With an affectionate smile, Jess easily slid her hand into his and allowed him to pull her to her feet.
He led her onto the floor, aware of but not really seeing the knowing smiles and glances of their teammates and other colleagues attending the wedding. He wasted no time in drawing her against him, marvelling silently as always at the way she fit so perfectly against him. If he were a sentimental man, he might've allowed himself to think they were made for each other but, being the hardy soldier that he was, Becker banished the thought instantly and swore never to repeat it aloud to anyone.
Except, maybe, Jess. One day.
Her hand felt right in his, the other resting lightly against his chest. His arm curled around her waist, drawing her close as they swayed in unison to the song being played, the rest of the room fading as though only the two of them existed.
The Best Man and the Maid of Honour garnered quite a few speculative glances and knowing looks as the wedding celebrations continued, with more than one person wondering aloud whether the next wedding they all gathered for would be theirs.
Holding Jess close, watching her smile and listening to her laugh, Becker couldn't help but hope that it would.
To be continued in 'Approval'. (And it's probably obvious now what the 'big milestone' in Jess & Becker's relationship this story is going to be about! ;))