A/N: I hadn't originally planned on posting another chapter this soon, but I thought I should since I'm in baseball playoffs all weekend and won't be able to even think about looking at a computer until Sunday night at the earliest. Thank you all for the lovely reviews. :)

Ten minutes after handing Becker the keys to the roof, Connor was climbing the steps to join him. He opened the door leading outside, and just stopped in awe at the situation. One of his closest friends had just turned up out of nowhere after being MIA for 6 years, and he was now standing on the roof getting ready to explain to him why the love of his life wasn't the same anymore. 'No one would ever believe this…' Connor thought to himself.

Becker had been quietly looking out over the city, taking in everything. Even the skyline was different to him. He missed the view from the balcony of his house, and wondered if it was even still standing. "So Connor, are you going to stay by the door all day, or come over and tell me why you wanted to meet me up here?"

Becker's voice had surprised Connor, and he jumped a bit. Shaking himself, he quickly moved over to stare out at the landscape with his (still?) friend. "I wanted to start by saying that I'm sorry." Becker glanced at him, curious, so he went on. "About everything. About everything with Philip and my part in it."

"Connor – "

"No, please." Connor knew that cutting him off was a potentially hazardous idea, but he'd never had the chance to say this to Becker. "I was an idiot. I should have listened to Matt and Abby in the first place, instead of putting my faith in Philip. It was careless, and it's something that I've regretted ever since."

"Connor, you're right when you say that it wasn't the best idea, but you had no idea that it would go the way it did."

"Maybe, but I am still sorry." Becker looked at him full on, and nodded in thanks. "I also wanted to apologize for her." He knew that he didn't have to explain who this 'her' was, especially when he saw Becker's eyes sadden. "I know it's not my place, but I am."

"What happened to her? I don't even recognize her anymore."

"I know, it was a shock to my system to for a while, but I completely understand it." Becker was facing him again, a look of pure disbelief in his eyes. "Don't you?"

"No, I don't," Becker replied. "What the hell could have possibly happened to her to make her change so much?"

Now Connor was the one with the stupefied expression on his face. "You're kidding, right?" He was met with silence. "Do you not remember what she's been through?"

"Apparently I've been missing for 6 years, so I guess not."

"Well considering the fact that you just came from the time when it all happened, you should at least know most of it." Becker motioned for him to continue. "In the span of just a week, everything came crashing down on her, most of it happening within a single day." Connor started counting the events off on his fingers. "First of all, there was the beetle incident." Becker shuddered at the memory of Jess' cold, near-lifeless body in his arms as he ran frantically through the ARC to help her. "Jess told me that she'd never had an attack of that magnitude before, and it scared the hell out of her, especially since she'd always felt so safe at the ARC. I know it scared all of us, but can you imagine how she felt through it all?"

"She must have been absolutely terrified…"

"Exactly. Not the nicest day of her life, but still not the worse, by far." Connor was afraid that Becker would stupidly ask what could possibly be worse, but thankfully he didn't, so Connor went on to continue with his explanation. "Then, not even a full week later, in less than 24 hours everything she knew was turned on its head. Once again, she was attacked, only this time you weren't there to help her. When Lester got hurt, she had to defend them both against the future predators, without having any training whatsoever." Becker could still see the pure terror in her eyes when he'd found her, clutching Lester's bloodied body close, and an EMD even closer. "And to top it all off, that same day, she lost 3 of the most important people – family members – in her life."

Once again, he found himself under Becker's confused look (slightly less so, this time), so he decided to lay it all right out. "In losing Lester, she lost a father figure. It was no secret that, out of the bunch of us, she was his favourite. He helped guide her along here at the ARC, and they had a special kind of relationship, almost like family." Becker nodded. "She also lost Matt, who had become like a big brother to her. He was always watching out for her, talking with her, and really made her feel like part of the team, despite the fact that she was always left behind. With him, she never felt that way." Connor paused, knowing that this was the big one. "And then she lost you. You were…"

Becker looked at him, puzzled. "I was what?"

Connor took a deep breath. "You were her everything." Without waiting for a reaction, he pushed on. "You knew how she felt about you, and I know how you felt about her. When she found out that you'd gone through that anomaly, it was the straw that broke the camel's back. She went catatonic; into her own little world. She knew it wasn't your fault, but that didn't help it hurt less. She didn't get to say goodbye the way Emily did with Matt, and I don't think she ever really forgave herself for not telling you personally how she felt. Honestly, I was floored that she even found the strength to wake up the next morning. As much as I hate to say it, I really wouldn't have been surprised if she hadn't."

Becker had gone completely still at Connor's confession. He knew that Jess had cared for him, but didn't realize that he'd had that much of an effect on her. He was the one who was head-over-heels in love with her.

"When she did get up the next morning, she started making changes. She got Abby to help train her physically, and she worked on shutting her mind down mentally. She turned into you," Connor said sadly. "After she lost you, she started putting up walls around her mind and her heart, convinced that it was the only way she'd get through it. She was determined to not give up, because she knew that's what you would have wanted. But she decided to do it on her terms. The only reason I know that our old Jess is still in there somewhere, is because I catch her staring at those dogtags every once in a while. Becker looked up at him again. "She gets this faraway look in her eyes for a moment, as if wondering 'what if?'. But then she shakes herself out of it and gets back to work."

"I had no idea…" Becker trailed off.

"Of course you didn't. I mean, how could you? You weren't here to see it." Connor placed a hand on his friend's shoulder. "But now, do you get why she is the way she is? She doesn't hate you, but I'm pretty sure she's petrified of letting you in again."

"So what do I do?"

"I don't know if there's anything you can do, except let her take the lead. Call a truce. She's the one in charge here, so you'll have to accept that. But maybe if you show her that you're willing to, she might ease up on you a bit."

"When the hell did you get so smart about women?" Becker asked, bringing grins to both their faces.

"That wife of mine keeps me honest and in check."

"Wife?" Becker asked, the smile on his face getting wider.

"Bugger, no one's supposed to know about that."

"What? Why?"

Connor looked around the roof, conspiratorially. "Ok, this doesn't leave here, you got it? If Abby finds out that I've told, I'm dead." Confused, Becker nodded. "When I got pulled through the New Dawn anomaly and Matt and Abby came after me, I ended up in Matt's world – his time. It was awful, and I pretty much gave up. But when Abby got there, she told me that I had to fight with them, to come back, because she wanted to marry me. That was what got me moving. But when we lost you all here, we couldn't just go running around shouting 'we're engaged!' So we eloped and have kept it quiet ever since. We keep our rings…" he reached into the collar of his shirt and produced a long silver chain with a silver band on it. "…here. She's got one too."

"How long have you been married for?"

"Just hit the 5 year mark last week."

"And you never told anyone? Not even Emily or Jess?"

"Especially not them. It would have felt really disrespectful."

"I'm sure they would have been happy for you."

"So am I, but we didn't want to rub it in their faces. Still don't."

"Well for what it's worth, congratulations." Becker held out his hand, and Connor shook it happily.

"Thanks. It's a bit weird, being able to talk about it with someone who's taller than me and doesn't have blond hair."

Becker couldn't help but laugh. "Ok, so here's my question, slightly off-topic." Connor motioned for him to go on, so he did just that. "Why have you relegated yourself to the position of FCO?"

Connor's face grew serious once more. "Because after everything that happened, I wanted to be the person everyone could count on again. I'd let so many of them down, and I needed to prove that I could do it. So when Jess announced that she was moving into fieldwork, I thought about taking up her post. When she asked me to, I really didn't want to say no."

Becker let that sink in for a few seconds before speaking. "You know that we never blamed you for any of this, right? You were manipulated by Philip, who was manipulated by Helen. I can't even fully blame him, which really pisses me off, to be honest." Connor snickered. "It really wasn't your fault Connor."

"You know, coming from you, that really does mean a lot." Connor gave him a genuine smile, and was about to speak again, when his mobile rang from his pocket. "Duty calls," he shrugged as he spoke into it. Becker didn't miss the slight panic that was suddenly on Connor's face. "On it." He closed the phone, and looked at Becker. "We've got a problem." Not needing more of an explanation than that, Becker nodded and the pair of them hurried back inside and down to Ops.

"Connor, where have you been?" Abby shouted as she met them in the hallway, all three of them now running towards the main hub. Luckily, he was saved from answering by his ADD replacement, Nigel. The poor man came running over to him as soon as they entered the room, grabbing his arm and speaking to him in low tones. Connor paled, and ran for the ADD, punching the keyboard before he was even seated. Abby, Nigel and Becker all huddled behind him, staring at the screen as he tried to make sense of what was happening.

"What's going on?" Emily called out as she and Matt ran in.

"Not sure yet," Connor replied. "Give me a minute."

"There's radio reports coming in already!" Jess shouted, coming out of Lester's old office with three soldiers in tow.

"Reports of what?" Becker asked. Forgetting about her resentment for a moment, she was about to answer him when Connor beat her to it.

"Bloody hell," he whispered, staring at the screens in front of him.

"What is it?" Abby asked, gently placing a hand on his shoulder.

"They're everywhere. Anomalies popping up all over the UK."

"How many are we talking about?" Matt asked.

Connor's eyes flicked over the screens as fast as possible. "Fifty-two…wait, fifty-three and counting."

"How are there so many?" Emily asked, breathlessly.

"I haven't got a bloody clue," Connor replied honestly. "It's like Convergence all over again."

"I thought that was only supposed to happen every five thousand years or so," Abby said, turning to Matt for confirmation.

"So did I," he stated. They all stared at the spots on the screen, taking in what was happening, before Jess spoke again.

"Deploy everyone we have. Keep medical personnel here, and make sure they're stocked and ready to receive all injuries. Ensure that there's at least one person on each team who has some sort of first aid training to help in the field." The soldiers started moving as soon as she started barking orders.

"We can't handle this on our own," Connor said. "We'll have to double up the anomalies per team."

"Make sure you send them to the most pressing first. Carnivores are priority A." He nodded and kept firing instructions away from the keypad. "Emily?" Jess asked. "Get down to the armoury and start distributing the weapons to everyone. Make sure each soldier takes multiple rounds, but be sure to leave some weapons and ammo here for those staying back." Emily nodded and took off as soon as Jess was done. "Abby, I need you to get down to the menagerie and ensure that it's secure. If you can get more than one creature into each of the habitats without them attacking each other, do it. I have a feeling we'll be bringing back a few new pets when this is done." Abby was gone before Jess even finished speaking.

It was only then that Becker addressed her. "What can we do?" She looked at him, surprised. "Look, I know there are issues we need to deal with, and if we get time later, I want to. But for right now, I just want to help. All you need to do is tell me how."

And just like that, he relinquished all power back to Jess. It took her a second to realize what he was really saying, but she masked her feelings well. Nodding curtly, she spoke again. "You and Matt take a look at the site locations and figure out how we can best spread the teams. Try to give them locations that are relatively close together so there's less movement."

"Want us to match up carnivores and herbivores? One each per team so no one gets overloaded?" Matt offered.

"If you can," Jess replied. "Connor, if you can get that information for them – "

"Already working on it!"

"Good. I'm going to go give Emily a hand." She met Becker's eyes again, and nodded at him. He could have sworn he saw her façade drop a little and a bit of kindness seep back into her eyes, but was not about to push his luck by pointing it out. All he hoped was that they would get a chance to hash things out once this was all over.

"I don't know what to make of this," Connor admitted after Jess had gone.

"What do you mean?" Becker asked before moving with Matt to the map screens at the side of the room.

"When Convergence hit, it was worldwide. This is confined to the UK. There's nothing anywhere else."

"Maybe that's a good thing. Could be easier to contain," Matt said.

"Or it could make things worse," Connor said.

"How do you figure?" Becker wondered.

"Remember what Matt said about what he thought would happen when he drove into the double anomaly? About not thinking you'd end up anywhere at all?" He was met with silence, but knew that they did. "What if these anomalies start piling up on top of each other? We could get all kinds of creatures from different times, moving in and out of different eras at will. Can you imagine the havoc they could wreak on the past? Or the future?"

Matt and Becker looked at each other, the impact finally settling on them. Connor spoke once more for them all.

"We could actually be looking at the start of the end of the human race."