Becker stared at Jess for a moment and then brought some more distance between them. He felt stupid and for a second he wouldn't have minded if the ground opened up to swallow him. But, being a soldier, Becker straightened his shoulders a little more. "Sorry, I shouldn't have lectured you." He then turned around to leave.

"Becker," Jess' voice was soft and caused the Captain to look at her once more. "Thanks for worrying about me." Becker nodded quickly before he continued on his way out of the hub. He felt embarrassed.

A few days after the incident, the door to the armory flew open and Jess appeared with a piece of paper in her hands.

"Look Becker, I got another letter from Eduard!" She exclaimed happily. "Do you wanna read it? I mean you don't have to, I could tell you what he wrote, if you want to know what he wrote, that is."

"Jess, you ramble," Becker said with a smirk, "But, yes I would like to read it."

He looked at her a little longer than necessary when she handed him the letter. He caught her eyes and didn't let go until the familiar blush crept up on her cheeks. He stared at her when she quickly averted her gaze and lowered her head so he couldn't see her blush.

Now that he knew there was no other man at her side, he was honestly considering pushing his self-made rules out the window and finally asking her out. And in moments like this, with the soft pink covering her cheeks, it was even more tempting to the soldier. But Becker being Becker, he quickly pushed that thought away and concentrated on the writing in his hands.

In the corner of his eyes, he saw Jess looking back up when the color had left her face. Expectation was radiating from her as she waited for his reaction to the letter.

Half way through the letter, Becker suddenly looked up. "Eduard has never been to a zoo?"

Jess' face fell, "Yes, isn't that sad? Here it's so common to go to the zoo with children and he has never had the chance yet." Silence spread over the armory as they both hung on their own thoughts.

"I wish I could take him some day," Jess said eventually.

Jess had just finished her special 'day-off-breakfast' of pancakes and chocolate sauce when the doorbell rang.

Checking her peephole first, Jess found Becker standing on the threshold. With a bewildered expression, she opened the door.

Before the field-coordinator could say anything, Becker announced. "We're going to the zoo."

"What?"

"We are going to the zoo, Jessica." Sensing that she wouldn't get answers to the questions running through her mind, Jess grabbed her coat, bag and keys and followed Becker to his car.

"I was researching yesterday. You are allowed to send little gifts to Eduard, so I thought we could make him a little photo book about the zoo," Becker finally explained his unusual behavior, as he guided the car through the London traffic. He felt Jess' eyes on him, but didn't avert his gaze from the streets.

"Thanks. But why?"

"Why not?" Becker asked right back.

"Because it's weird. You don't normally show up at my door just because you decided you want to take me somewhere. We have never done anything together outside from work actually, besides our team-nights out or lunch every now and then. You are not the person to simply get out of bed and decide that today you want to go to the zoo with me, and especially not without giving me a forewarning. There has to be a reason." Her tone was friendly, no silent reproach between the lines and Becker had to admit she was right. He was not acting his normal self, but for the first time he didn't mind going out of his comfort zone and he hoped they'd have a great day ahead.

"You are right," Was the only thing close to an answer Jess got.

The rest of the drive passed in comfortable silence and the pair fell into a playful banter as they strolled through the zoo.

It was when Jess took photos of the wallabies that Becker asked the question that had been bothering him since he found out who Eduard was.

"Why didn't you ever tell me about Eduard?"

Jess put down the camera and faced him, "You never asked." After a short break she added, "And I wasn't sure what you would think about it. I know some people are lost on stuff like that. I always thought about sponsoring a child, but was never sure about which charity to pick. I mean there are so many. Then on our ARC Christmas Dinner I was talking to Mrs. Lester and she brought up the topic. I told her that I thought about helping a child too and she told me about the organization they chose." Jess leaned against the barrier, holding Becker's gaze. "Amanda is their third child they sponsor. Mrs Lester even visited her two years back, and they never had any inconveniences with the charity."

Jess started to walk to the next pen, "I found myself going through the list of children that night and wondered how to pick one. Suddenly there was this little guy, he had the most lopsided smile I've ever seen. I just couldn't forget about him, he simply stood out to me."

Becker hadn't taken his eyes from her while she spoke and he noticed how her cheeks turned pink.

"He reminded me of you," she added, her voice barely above a whisper and she looked anywhere but him. Instead of commenting on the woman's confession, Becker placed a hand on the small of her back and guided Jess to the Komodo dragons.

With a quick gesture, Becker took the camera from Jess, "Come on, let's get a picture of you and the dragons. I'm sure Eduard would love to see you in some of the pics too."

The fact that Becker didn't mind to have a picture of Jess on his camera, was something he kept to himself.