Sorry for the delay in updating. I try to be quicker in the future (...sounds like a great New Year's resolution!)
Primeval belongs to its rightful owners and, sadly, I am not one of them. If I was, there would be a sixth series airing soon, with Becker shirtless. Lots of shirtless Becker! So, with that wonderful thought in my head, I wish you a Merry Christmas.
Enjoy!
Chapter 2
Back at the ARC, Connor went straight to the menagerie, where he found Abby at her desk filling out some paperwork. She stretched in her chair and rubbed her palm over her belly „God, this is not normal! I could eat all the time! Just filling out the order for the mammoth's food supplies, is making me hungry again!" Connor kissed her and pulled her into a hug. „Abby, you're pregnant, it is good to eat regularly." „Yeah, but I don't want to become the size of our mammoth" she grumbled, „what's in the box, Connor?" „We brought you a little stray back from Hyde Park" Abby carefully lifted the lid with the air holes. The little dinosaur perked up its head. The trip through time and space did not seem to have spooked it much. Abby gently took the little critter out of the container and, with a quick look at Connor, said „Tell me more…" Due to the pregnancy, she was not working on the field team for the moment and did miss the thrill and adrenaline of the missions. Over the years, she had become so used to reacting instantly to any anomaly alert that she automatically jumped up and started running towards the hub earlier this day, realising only when she reached the door of the menagerie that she was not going to be part of that mission.
Jess took a deep breath and walked back to the ADD, just when the lift door opened and Becker walked out. „Hey, you're back", she greeted him with a smile" „Ah, Captain Becker, finally!" the voice of Lester cut in from behind. „Would you care to explain what in God's name you and Temple were thinking! I just got off the phone with his Excellency, the French Ambassador. He was not amused at all. He demanded…" Interrupted by his ringing phone, Lester took a quick look at the display and grumbled „Great, now I will have to explain your little adventure to the minister". He disappeared into his office in a huff.
„Don't worry, Becker, there is no diplomatic crisis under way". Jess grinned. „It seems that Lester has found his match when it comes to sarcasm." Intrigued by her words, Becker lifted an eyebrow and looked at her with a curious expression on his face. „Lester told his Excellency that you were a team of specialists trying to catch a very special, rare bird that had previously escaped from the royal aviary. After which the Ambassador apparently expressed his interest in a personal membership of said aviary, so he could arrange a private visit in order to have a look at such a precious, rare bird." The corners of Jess' mouth went up slightly. „Lester was furious", she stated in a matter-of-fact tone. Just then, her belly started to rumble loudly. Becker pulled a chocolate bar out of one of the many pockets of his tactical-vest and placed it discreetly near one of the keyboards of the ADD. „Becker, you are my hero!" She stopped and blushed „ I mean, with the two anomalies and Lester in need of some cover stories afterwards, I had to skip lunch…and someone had plundered the secret cookie jar in the break room."
„A secret cookie jar, Jess?" Becker looked at her with an amused glint in his hazel eyes. Jess could have sworn that the Captain's eyes showed some amber freckles whenever he was amused. She was spared a reply by the arrival of Emily. „Hey, how did the test go?" „I did it!, I passed!" Emily proudly waved her new driver's licence in front of Becker and Jess. „Brilliant! I knew you would pass right away!" Jess gave her friend a hug. „Thank you, Jess. I am looking forward to driving, perhaps during the next field mission, I will drive the ARC vehicle." Emily stated with confidence. Becker started coughing. Emily turned her head towards him „By the way, what happened to your hair, Becker?" The Captain folded his arms in front of his chest and rolled his eyes. "Excuse me, I'll be at the armoury...got work to do!" He pushed himself off the desk and crossed the hub with long strides. Emily turned towards Jess again "I 'll go find Matt. I promised him to let him know right away about the outcome of the test. He seemed to be worried about the outcome earlier today."
Now that she was alone at the ADD, Jess turned her attention back to the chocolate bar. She examined the plain white wrapping with black writing on it, then carefully opened the paper, broke off a large piece and put it into her mouth. She closed her eyes for a moment and enjoyed the delicious combination of flavours on her tongue. There was the bitter sweet aroma of the dark chocolate mixed with the smooth, rich taste of caramel cream and the luscious figs. It felt like a piece of powerful, intense, edible poetry. Under its dark, mysterious surface, the chocolate hid a firework of sensations, gentle and passionate at the same time. Becker never ceased to surprise her with his unusual choices. The last time it was a mix of cherry and chilli. Buying her chocolate was not something Becker did on a regular basis. Just every now and then. She never saw it coming and was surprised every time. Well, not quite as much as the very first time, when she asked Matt who forgot. Becker didn't and showed up with chocolate. And gave it to her. She could never bring herself to eat that particular bar. Instead, she tucked it away safely in her night table. It just would have felt wrong to eat it. As if doing so would have destroyed the magic of the moment she cherished in her memory.
Jess smiled. If Becker knew, he would no doubt tease her mercilessly about it. Since the "beetle incident" a few month ago, Becker had become more approachable. He seemed to be less tense around her and smiled more. And she was less nervous in his presence and was even able to control her rambling a little more. Their relationship still had its awkward moments, when she talked too much and he too little. But in general, they both felt comfortable in each other's company. They met for lunch regularly now, sometimes with the other team members, sometimes just the two of them. And Becker had promised to give her some archery lessons when...
"...those files from the "Piccadilly Circus" anomaly that are most urgently required. Miss Parker? Miss Parker!" Jess instantly snapped out of her day dream and focussed on Lester who stood next to her chair with a somewhat impatient expression on his face. "Right, I'll see to that immediately. The "Piccadilly Circus" anomaly, you said sir?" "Yes, I need those papers in fifteen minutes for my next meeting." Jess stood up and quickly moved towards the exit to get to the storage room where the old mission reports were filed. The cheerful click clack of her electric blue high heels resounded through the corridor. Jess entered the required code at the storage room door and waited. Nothing happened. She frowned slightly. That was odd. Was there a glitch in the programme? She made a mental note to check that later. Jess re-entered the code. This time, the device started blinking. Incorrect code the display read. "Oh, come on!" She typed the sequence of numbers for the third time. Access denied the screen read. "What?" Jess started to feel a little annoyed. Something was definitely wrong here. She knew she had entered the correct code every single time. Turning around on her heels, she rushed back to the ADD. After all, she could fix this easily. Her security clearance enabled her to override the safety code from her work station.
Jess hurried down the corridor again. She took a deep breath and entered the new code for the door. The device beeped and a green light indicated that she could enter the storage room now. "Finally!" The FCO was running late and knew that Lester was already in a bad mood. She walked through the door into a small and dark room that contained nothing but metal shelves filled with boxes. Jess turned to the shelf where the oldest mission reports were stored. She opened the box and searched its content. Then she looked at the label on the outside of the box again. It was the correct box, so why was the file not in here? All the other files that belonged there were in the box. The "Piccadilly Circus" file was missing. Jess tried to suppress the rising feeling of stress and took a couple of deep breaths. The files were organised by dates, a very simple and easy archive system. Somebody must have misplaced the file she was looking for. Jess took down the box next to the one the file was supposed to be in and checked its content. Then she proceeded with the next box. And the one after that.
An hour and twenty minutes later, Jess had searched twice every single box of the storage cabinet. She finally had to admit to a very furious James Lester that the "Piccadilly Circus" file had disappeared.
XXX
So there you go. Thanks for reading this. I hope you liked it. Reviews are appreciated and welcome.