Disclaimer: Primeval does not belong to me, this is fan fiction, not for profit.
Any references to people, places, businesses etc is entirely fictitious.
A/N: A collaboration with Mijo54.
8.7- Chocolate
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Monday morning Becker dressed in his last pair of clean black jeans. The black shirt he had worn on Saturday had been washed and dried. Miraculously the grease had all come out. So he pulled on his own shirt, passing up Hank's offer of a pale green button down.
"Green's not my color," Becker joked.
Hank looked at him contemplatively. "Well, I hope you like purple then," the man replied.
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The kitchen was bustling with activity when he and Hank entered. Jess smiled at him and wordlessly handed him a small cup of coffee.
Sophie, Geneviève, Catherine and Jess were dressed already too. Becker smiled. The cousins appeared to share Jess's love of bright colors. Huddled together, pointing at pictures in the bridal catalogue open on the counter, they made a rainbow of sorts. Sophie wore a blue floral print blouse with solid blue skirt. Geneviève was attired in a dark purple dress. Catherine wore a light pink, dark rose and white striped pants outfit that had the unfortunate effect of making her look somewhat like a peppermint in Becker's opinion.
Jess… took his breath away. She was in a short yellow dress with some sort of orange squiggle marks on it that Becker couldn't identify. His gaze travelled appreciatively down from the hemline to the strappy little orange and yellow heels. Becker would know those legs anywhere.
She cleared her throat. He looked up at her guiltily, feeling that he had been staring, but she just smirked at him and turned back to her cousins. Claude came in at that moment, muttering something as he grabbed a cup of the strong dark coffee and then headed towards the front door.
Becker watched the man go outside and when he heard the Renault start up, he turned to Jess.
"Where's Claude going?" he asked.
"He's taking the minivan to the garage in the village," Jess replied matter of factly.
"Then how are we getting to Nice?"
"Well Sophie's going to drive," answered Jess "Grand-Mère said we could take the Citroen."
Becker almost choked on the coffee as he swallowed. The Citroen was a classic car, an antique certainly, but he hadn't realized anyone actually drove it on public roads anymore. How on earth was that old car going to keep up with the speedy traffic on the French highway he wondered?
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Hank had refused to come along, rolling his eyes at the idea.
"I don't need to go shopping," he said emphatically, "I've got a suit and already did enough driving Saturday night and Sunday morning."
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Becker soon realized, he shouldn't have worried about the car. Grand-Mère kept the Citroen in pristine condition. It started right up and ran smoothly.
What he should have been worried about was Sophie's driving.
Hank had told Becker the drive should take a little over an hour. In somewhat less than the expected time, they arrived at Nice.
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Becker stared at the bridal shop in dismay.
All of a sudden he was reminded of his first field outing with the team so many years ago. He had heard Connor going on to Abby about some fear of museums from a childhood incident and had thought the man was completely barmy. But now, standing in front of this shop, Becker wondered if he had been too harsh on the scientist. Becker remembered following his mother and older sister around from shop to shop when he was only eleven years old and his sister was looking for a wedding dress. He shuddered.
"No," he said pleadingly "you don't really need me to go in there with you… I can go get most of my shopping done while you and your cousins… do wedding stuff."
One of the strappy little orange and yellow heels that he had been admiring not so long ago stamped on the ground.
"Hilary," said Jess in a determined tone of voice, "I'm sure there are enough shopkeepers here in Nice that speak English so you would have no trouble buying your clothes. But… you… are… not… wearing… black… to… Sophie's… wedding."
Becker blinked at Jess's vehement declaration. "Why not?" Becker asked "I wore black to Connor and Abby's wedding."
She rolled her eyes. "You were the best man then," she reminded him, "and dressed accordingly with Abby and Connor's color scheme. Sophie and Marc aren't doing the formal black and white with blue accents."
He stared at her for a moment in shock, desperately thinking, searching for a way out.
"I'm not a part of the wedding party!" exclaimed Becker with relief.
"No," agreed Jess, "but I am, and you need to dress accordingly."
She grabbed his wrist and tugged him towards the door. Remembering Hank's comment when he had rejected the man's green shirt earlier, Becker wondered… what was the color scheme for Sophie and Marc's wedding?
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Once the shop keeper had confirmed that Becker was not the groom, the woman was quite ready to bring out the ladies dresses. Sophie had been to the shop several times before, so trying on her ivory gown was merely a chance for her to swirl the flared skirt in delight and let her cousins admire the satin and chiffon concoction. Geneviève, Catherine and Jess had not tried on their dresses yet, and the seamstress was eagerly waiting, pins in hand.
Geneviève entered the changing room next. She came out wearing a lavender colored dress, embroidered with the same dark green vine and leaves found climbing the left side of Sophie's dress. But where Sophie's dress had a flared skirt with dark and light purple colored flowers embroidered across her chest, Geneviève's dress was a straighter, simpler cut and had dark purple and white flowers embroidered on the lavender material. As soon as Geneviève stepped into her dark green shoes with purple heels, the seamstress began pinning up the hemline.
Jess smiled happily and squeezed Becker's hand. "Don't the shoes look great?" she whispered to him. "I found them in London, and as soon as Sophie saw the picture, she agreed they were perfect for the bridesmaid's shoes."
Becker chuckled.
Catherine entered the changing room next, and then called for Jess to come assist. The two girls could be heard whispering in the tiny room. Finally, Catherine came out wearing one of the dresses.
"I think there's been a bit of a mistake," Catherine told the seamstress, "this dress is long enough for me to wear, but the bodice is too tight."
The woman began measuring Catherine. "No worries," she said cheerfully "we can let out the seams… we always include extra fabric."
Jess came out of the changing room at that moment. Becker's jaw dropped open. The lavender colored material complimented her skin tone, and to his eyes, she looked even lovelier than ever. But she looked a little uncomfortable; her arms were crisscrossed over her bosom.
"This dress," said Jess "is the right length for me, but the bodice is way too loose."
The seamstress stopped measuring Catherine and turned to look at Jess. "When is the wedding?"
Sophie answered "This Saturday."
The seamstress smiled. "No worries," she said picking up her measuring tape, "come back Friday… we'll have all the last minute changes ready then."
There was a flurry of discussion amongst the women, and finally it was agreed to return on Thursday for the dresses. Sophie, Geneviève, Catherine left the shop smiling and chatting, while Becker waited for Jess. She finally came out dressed in her short yellow and orange dress.
"We'll need to hurry if we're to catch up with them," said Becker.
"We're not," explained Jess "they're going to get their hair touched up for Saturday… I got mine done before we left London. We are going shopping for your suit, and other necessary clothing, then we will meet them at the Zone Pietonne." She grinned, then added, "The Pedestrian Zone… it's a great area full of shops and restaurants."
"What did you do to your hair?" asked Becker. He was only focusing on the surprising comment that Jess had made about having her hair done.
"Just my regular touch up," replied Jess. She was blushing a little.
He reached out to take her hand as they stepped out of the shop onto the busy sidewalk.
"I didn't know you did anything to your hair," he said in a questioning tone.
"Well you wouldn't want me to show up with Dad's bright orange hair now, would you?" asked Jessica.
"What?" asked Becker in some confusion. "I thought only Evie had your father's hair." George Parker was easily recognizable with his bright ginger colored hair, but his wife had a dark chestnut color to her hair.
"No," explained Jess. "Evie's lucky… she's got Granny Parker's dark auburn hair. Alexandra's got Mum's hair. Marjorie and I are somewhere in between Dad's ginger and Mum's chestnut. We both color our hair, just enough to get the orange out."
"You and Marjorie don't have the same hair color," objected Becker.
"Of course not," replied Jess "Marjorie uses a rinse color called Expresso."
"And what do you use?" asked Becker teasingly.
Jess stopped walking. She pointed to the door of a men's wear store.
"Jess," said Becker with a smirk. Jess blushed from head to toe.
"Chocolate," she replied as she opened the door.
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