So, do any of you remember me saying "I should get this all finished in 3 weeks."
That didn't happen.
These last two weeks:
I had the worst labs at uni. I spent Monday doing the preliminary work, Tuesday 9-6 in labs doing the experiment. Tuesday evening starting project write up and eating. Wednesday in the library doing more write up. Wednesday midafternoon- evening- night getting ready and going to Christmas Ball, Thursday morning last minute addition and handing in the write up, Thursday afternoon was spend doing all the work I had put off and handing that in by 5.30.
Friday, I was up and in uni for 9, at work in town for 12, I finished promptly at 6 and was picked up immediately to go home for my Dad's birthday meal for the evening. Back to uni-home on Saturday. Boyfriend got ill in the evening. Spent Sunday looking after him. Monday I took him to hospital and stayed till midnight. Tuesday I spent in hospital still. Wednesday he left, Thursday I went to his parents home until a couple of days ago when I got back to my normal home. I've had no internet since.
This isn't designed to bore you with my life but to show how little time I have had. I barely get to open my laptop these days :(
I do miss you all!
Disclaimer- I own nothing to do with this :( Not even a DVD.
Okay so the update!
Over the next two months, life was perfect. After a few altercations, Marianne had finally comprehended the idea that there was no her and Becker and that no matter what she did there would never be her and Becker again. Becker's sight had been repeatedly tested and everything was as it should be.
Jess and Becker were taking their relationship slowly. Or at least they were trying to! They'd both been trying to fight their attraction for so long that now they had each other they were struggling to keep their hands to themselves. Becker still had reservations about being too old for Jess, despite there no longer being a worry that she would become his carer.
Jess, herself was still new to the world of relationships. As much as she cared for Becker, as much as she loved him, she found it hard to trust either of them to take the 'next step.' Each time she went over, each time they kissed, her mind was going wild. Insecurities raced, the problem being her inexperience compared to Becker's. She knew in her head that it shouldn't mean anything but it was still there.
Lastly, but certainly not least on the list of things that Becker worried about, Bounty's wound from the surgery had fully healed so Jess was taking the opportunity to teach her to dance to the cheesiest songs she could find. Which, sadly, only added to the list of things for Becker to worry over.
-/-
While Jess was ecstatic that the not-so-little dog was better, Bounty Hunter had taken to following the colourful girl around whenever she was at Becker's, which was most of the time.
At first it had been the cutest thing in the world, Bounty's enthusiasm when she greeted Jess was greater than when she saw Becker, when the dog had an option on who to sit on she would choose Jess, but when Jess nearly fell over the collie while leaving the bathroom it started to get annoying. Soon Jess couldn't leave the house without hearing Bounty start whining softly from inside. She found her feet pinned to the floor by a 19Kg 'puppy' when she stood at the sink getting a glass of water and when she sat down on the sofa, Bounty would jump up, pressing her nose into Jess's arm, demanding attention.
"Bounty!" Jess laughed half in frustration. "Just lie down and keep me company, quietly!
The dog continued, pawing at her sleeve.
"Look! You're getting attention!" Jess vigorously rubbed both of her hands over Bounty's head, making the girl lift her head into the hands and smile in the manner only a dog can. The second Jess stopped Bounty demanded more.
"Bounty." Jess looked the dog in the eyes. "Down!" She spoke firmly but the girl still didn't listen. "Bounty, I said- Bounty! Bounty Hunter! BECKER! YOUR DOG WONT LEAVE ME ALONEEEEE!"
Becker walked into the room, grinning at the sight before him. "You said you wanted her to like you." Then in an authorative voice he spoke to Bounty. "Lie down."
She immediately complied, her head falling into Jess's lap.
"Show off!"
"You love it really."
Jess rolled her eyes, just because she loved it didn't mean that Becker had to know. "Siddown." She grinned as Becker complied.
"At least you follow my commands."
Becker's eyes narrowed as he realised he had been had. "Alright, alright. What are we watching then?"
"North and South."
He looked at her blankly. "What?"
"It's kind of… Pride and Prejudice but in the industrial revolutionary times."
"Jess…" There was a warning in his voice.
"Yes, Becker?" She didn't give him a chance to reply. "I believe you said you didn't want to miss a sight." She raised an eyebrow and, for a moment, Becker contemplated asking her if she'd practiced. "So, you're going to sit here, shut up and enjoy this film with me, okay?"
"How long is it?"
"It's a BBC mini series. Four one hour episodes."
Becker made to stand. "WH-" He broke off and froze at Jess's pleading eyes. "Oh what I'd do for you." The man collapsed back onto the sofa, turned, smiled at Jess, then placed an arm over her shoulders, kissing her head.
Sometime in the third episode, Becker had finally stopped playing the part of the interested boyfriend and started to watch specks of dust glow in a tunnel of light from the space between his curtains. Watching the patterns, he turned down his sense of sight and turned up the feel of the airflow around him, catching the slight draft from an open window upstairs and mapped a path a speck would take before it happened. He smiled at he saw he was right, the looked down to Jess, checking she hadn't noticed. A twitch on her lap drew his attention further from the TV and to his dog. Dreaming, Bounty's eyes flickered and her muzzle twitched. He let out a small laugh when her back legs jumped a little in her sleep.
"I can't believe I missed this."
-/-
The following week was pretty mellow in ARC terms, there was a distinct lack of incursions and everyone was starting to get bored, Connor had decided he was going to learn to rollerblade, Abby started to play French music in the menagerie in the hope of educating the animals, Lester was, secretly, ordering very expensive suits over the internet - and claiming expenses- and Emily was researching teas and planning on growing her own in one of the many temperature controlled ARC laboratories.
Matt had resorted to cleaning his desk and had found something which had surprised him. In one of the top draws, under papers referring to various animals and incursions, he discovered a number of keepsakes he had retrieved from Becker's desk the day the Becker lost his sight. He immediately went in search of the man.
The Soldier was found in the training room working with Lawrence, Bounty and a small number of soldiers. They were 'playing' the same shooting game they had used back when they were training the blind Becker. But as opposed to normal, Leroy had been blindfolded.
Since Becker had returned to become joint Head of Security, Lawrence had realised that he still held an advantage over the rest of the team by his heightened senses. Taking advantage of the quietness of work, he had figured it would be a good idea to train everyone up to be more attuned, especially since these extra skills of Becker's had proven so valuable.
Matt waited until Leroy was defeated, jumped on by Evans, before calling Becker into the hallway outside.
-/-
Now that Bounty didn't need to be too close to Becker in the case of an anomaly alert at the ARC, she ventured as far as she liked when Becker was busy working. Her collar security band enabled her to venture as she pleased and after letting animals out of the menagerie three times she had eventually learnt to shut doors behind her, much to the relief of all staff members.
Her favourite male in the ARC, after the Alpha and Beta of the pack, was Lester. Sure, Bounty loved Connor. The floppy haired man was always happy to give her lots and lots of attention and he even snuck her tennis balls. And Lawrence knew just how she like to be scratched behind the ear and rub her belly. But Lester was a challenge and Bounty loved it.
The pack Alpha and Beta left the others of the pack. Bounty got bored of their needless whines and decided she wanted to have some fun. Nudging the door open she left the room and made her way down the hall to the central room. The Alpha's chosen female saw Bounty approach and produced some of the delicious and rich dark treat. Bounty stayed with her until she was denied any more then moved on further, the laugh of the girl and her shout of "cupboard love much?!" followed after her.
-/-
If Jess had been under the impression that when Bounty left her she would be able to return to work, she was very much mistaken. She had caught a reflection in her ADD screens and looked around just in time to see Bounty Hunter open Lester's door and casually stroll in.
From Lester's reaction, there was nothing Jess could do but watch using ARC CCTV.
The girl's eyes were glued to the screen as she watched her boss get hassled with an intensity of which she had ever been subjected. As Lester attempted to type on his keyboard Bounty nudged at his left hand, desperate to get attention. After five repeated nudges, Lester gave up trying to remain in the same position and shifted his chair closer to the desk and raised his elbow out of the dog's reach.
This didn't stop Bounty, who, with determination with starkly resembled her owner, persisted in her chosen task. Slinking around Lester's chair, the dog curled under Lester's feel and placed her weight on one of his perfectly polished shoes. Jess's giggled attracted odd looks as Lester bit back a curse and pushed himself away from the table. Bounty followed, sticking her nose on his knees before jumping up and licking Lester's face.
"Down!" Lester's crisp command was heard through the glass walls.
Bounty gently slid to the floor and it seemed, for half a minute Lester had got his way. Then the dog was gradually shifting herself back into a sitting position, her head creeping under an arm rest. Sighing, Lester starting to shift his forearm back and forth as he typed, hoping that as he brushed over her muzzle, the contact would be enough to keep her happy.
Sadly for the e-mail he was drafting, he was wrong.
Bounty knew she had cracked him. After poking the man in the side several more times and getting no reaction more than a grunt, Bounty moved her head back, lent on her hind legs and steadied herself on Lester's arm. For a couple of moments, he attempted to continue, then gave up.
Jess couldn't resist, turning from the screens, she whipped her mobile from the desk and spun around to take a photo for herself. At that moment she saw a moment that could never be recreated. Lester twisted his seat in an attempt to see Bounty better. While moving, he shifted himself from the seat. As he made to return his weight, Bounty pushed at the chair. Lester slipped from the edge and to the ground with an "oof."
The young dog had firmly won as she climbed onto the man and started to lick, a lopsided grin on her face.
-/-
"Mate, I know you told me to throw away everything in your desk but you didn't really expect me to did you?"
Becker gave him a sharp look of surprise. He had forgotten all about that. "I don't know. I never thought about it."
"Well, think."
Becker straightened his shoulders and clasped his hands together behind his back. "Matt, just tell me what this is about."
The older man smiled. It had been good to see Becker return to his old stuff, getting down to business.
"I saved something for you." He handed Becker an envelope. "I added to it too."
Inside, Becker found a number of photographs.
The first, the one Becker remembered from his desk, was Christmas day three years previous. The ARC had been reopened but Abby and Connor were yet to return.
There had been an anomaly alert that day so all the staff were spending Christmas in the ARC.
One of the techies had been thoughtful enough to bring a camera and Jess had organised a tree earlier that week.
The workplace Secret Santa had almost fallen through when people bought in the gifts on the wrong day, confusing everything. But after Jess worked some of her magic they had all piled the- mostly- still unwrapped gifts under the tree so it conveniently turned out that on Christmas day they all had a gift to open.
The still image was of Matt, Jess and Becker, bathed in the soft glow of the hub lighting.
Becker was wearing a multicoloured woollen hat, courtesy of Jess, he had correctly guessed. The girl in question was wearing an oversized black t-shirt which fell past her skirt, a makeshift belt of tinsel giving it some shape.
They were the only people in the ARC who had to buy a gift for the person who was also their Santa.
Matt had antler ears on his head and a home designed shirt depicting two stick men. One was holding a long line and the other missing his body with a shocked expression on his face. The shirt had the caption 'I've got your back.'
It was generally assumed that the gift had been given by an ARC soldier.
Stood in the middle of the group, Becker was grinning smugly- and rather cheekily- at the camera with a raised eyebrow. He had one arm over Matt's shoulder, the other around Jess's waist as she leant up to kiss him on the cheek. Matt having dangled mistletoe over their heads.
The second photo, Matt explained, was a copy of one hidden in his own desk. It had been taken just after the first when Jess had taken the mistletoe from Matt and held it over the men's heads, grinning like a little imp. The cameraman had perfectly timed the shot to where both men were just touching lips, trying not to laugh, while Lester was seen stood in the background, apparently in conversation with a staff member but his head turned to look on at the two men in horror.
After that there were three more, ones which Becker never knew had even been taken.
Becker was straddling a bench in the ARC locker rooms, Jess in front of him, one knee tucked under herself and on the surface so that her skirt wasn't hitched up. Between them was a set of shaving gear and a flannel. Becker immediately recognised it as the time Jess had told him he had missed a bit when shaving. He remembered suppressing shivers as Jess's fingers had gently touched his face, relishing in the feel of her. The expression of content at her touch was clearly written on his face, Jess smiling as she pushed his hair from his face, having just complained that he needed it cut.
"God, I was an idiot."
Matt chuckled. "You both were idiots."
"Don't talk about Jess like that."
Matt merely laughed again. "You both got better though. Look at the next picture."
Doing as instructed, Becker was certain that, for as long as he lived, that photo would forever be his favourite.
It was the day he regained his sight, he and Jess stood under the brightest light in the Hub, bodies pressed against each other, arms embracing, bright smiles on their faces and their heads mere millimetres apart as they moved to kiss.
He stared at the picture for a few moments, lost in it, before Matt cleared his throat.
"Oh right. Sorry, Matt. The last one."
Fishing it out of the envelope Becker nearly dropped everything in laughter. It was the time Emily had tried to teach him Braille. Becker had got increasingly frustrated as Emily reprimanded him on his slow learning so, when he was positive she wasn't looking, he had reverted to childhood, screwing up his face and sticking his tongue out at her.
Bounty was visible in the background, on one of the ARC desks. The dog had half climbed into one of Jess's oversized bags. The dog was too large to fully fit and in her mouth was a half masticated bar of chocolate.
To top the entire picture off, it turned out Emily had been facing him at the time and was leaning casually back in her chair. In retaliation to his childishness, she had stuck her middle finger in his face.
"I didn't know she swore!" Becker laughed in incredulity at the photo. Whoever took it was, by all rights, a legend.
"Like a sailor, mate."
LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU THINK! I'VE MISSED YOU ALL!
One more left! I hope you don't mind if you have to wait a little while for it.
On the plus side, there are exams coming up so I will be writing to procrastinate! :)
AND MERRY CHRISTMAS IF I DON'T TALK TO YOU SOONER!
Oh and my boyfriend's fine! I meant to say that at the top! Ah well I'm down here now xD
