Ahem...yes, sorry! It took far to long! Real life has been a bit demanding lately and didn't leave me with much writing time. I hope there are still some people out there following this story and I truly appreciate your patience.

Big, big hugs and a mighty thank you go to the lovely Aithion and FLUFF-N-UTTER for beta-reading this chapter and giving me precious advice about my plot.

I did add a few things later, so all mistakes you might find are mine. Primeval and its characters are not mine though. I only write for fun and don't make any money with it.

Sooooo, remember chapter 9? That's when there was the kiss and this is what follows...

Chapter 10

"It happened during my last year at university. He bullied me for a while, then one day he was just gone. We heard that he had moved to a different city and I never saw him again!" Jess said in a very low voice.

After a long moment, she took a deep breath and continued speaking. "You see, I was much younger than most other students at university."

The thought seemed to make her feel uncomfortable and she blushed lightly.

"And there were only very few women in my computer science classes. Just me and two other girls. Most guys reacted well to our presence, they enjoyed having some girls around and although I was much younger than them, they treated me in a kind way, although sometimes a little bit like I was their little sister…which can be unnerving at times!"

She blushed again. Becker could very well imagine how her fellow students might have had protective instincts about Jess, but at the same time, he wondered whether they really just saw her as a little sister.

"But the most important thing to me was that they took me seriously, my skills, my knowledge. Well, maybe not right away, but they did let me prove myself to them and they did respect me as a fellow student. Except for Frank Sinclair. He was an excellent student. Very bright, very smart, and very intimidating. He did get along with other students, but not with any of us girls. Anna and Grace were the same age as him, but it didn't help them one bit. According to Frank, girls just didn't have the brains for science and with me, he was even worse.

Becker started to get an idea what sort of bully this Frank was, but he didn't want to interrupt Jess, now that she was braving her memories.

"Most of the time, he would just try to ignore me. Every now and then, he would mutter a somewhat misogynous comment under his breath. Like: 'here comes Barbie again'… I tried to laugh it off."

Jess shrugged, then continued. "And then, there was this one morning at the lab. Frank's regular lab partner was sick that day and Anna and I volunteered to work with him that morning. I thought, if we just showed him that we were normal students, he eventually might come around. Frank first tried to refuse, but the lab was short one work station due to an unfortunate accident with electronic wiring that had led to a minor fire. So Frank didn't have a choice. It was horrible!"

Becker could feel Jess tense up in his arms.

"What happened?" Becker asked carefully.

"Every single time I made a suggestion how to solve a problem or tried to type any code, he'd interrupt me, correcting me and pushing me away from the keyboard. Anna managed to get a few words in every now and then, but I doubt he really listened to what she said. Frank just completely took control of our lab station and wouldn't let us handle anything. When it was obvious that he had made a mistake with an algorithm, I pointed this out to him and he went crazy. He didn't even let me finish my phrases. He said that I didn't belong here and would never find a job, let alone have a career in the IT business. That I'd be better off leaving Uni and becoming a hair dresser. Or whatever girls do for a job.

Becker's eyebrows shot up. "What the hell…?"

"When it was time to present the results of our lab session, it was of course Frank who did the presentation and when he reached the point about the algorithm, of course his error was commented upon by our professor. Frank listened to the comment stony-faced and continued with the presentation. Due to the error, we didn't get full marks for our work and when the class was over, Frank stormed out of the room without saying a word.

"He never talked to me again." Jess said slowly. "But he didn't leave me alone...Well, at least, I think it was him…"

Becker gave her a confused look.

Jess caught the look and began to explain, "Two days after the disastrous lab, my phone rang randomly and there was just silence at the other end. First it was only during the day, but then the frequency of the calls increased and they occurred in the middle of the night as well. I was getting worried, but it was never the same phone number and the numbers were as random as the times I received these anonymous calls.

Then I arrived one morning for my courses and found that someone had left obscene graffiti inside my locker. I informed the dean's office about it and they took the incident very seriously."

"Did they take any measures?" Becker frowned at the idea that someone who obviously terrorised Jess would go unpunished.

"When I was questioned, I did mention Frank's outburst at the lab and Anna confirmed my statement. Some of the other students had noticed Frank's comments towards me and Anna as well., but there was no way of proving it was him. There were no surveillance camera recordings, no traces of him having gone near my locker. They just couldn't prove it was him."

"So he got away with it?" Becker said in a disillusioned tone and pulled Jess closer to him. She looked down at her hands that were nervously kneading the hem of her skirt. They remained both quiet for a moment and Becker couldn't shake the feeling that there was something else that haunted her. He put his hand atop her fiddling fingers in an attempt to calm her down.

Jess sighed and then looked at him. "He did get away with it." she said matter-of-factly in a feeble attempt to appear calm, but her eyes brimming with tears gave away her emotions.

Becker suddenly realised that Jess hadn't told him all of it. "Were there more incidents?" he asked her carefully, his voice full of worry.

Jess nodded, tears running down her cheeks. "At university, he stayed away from me. And when he couldn't avoid being near me, like during lab, he ignored me. But once, I caught him staring at me when he thought I didn't notice. His eyes were cold and full of hate. It only lasted a split second, but it sent shivers down my spine, like someone had walked over my grave.

For a while there were no more incidents, the phone calls had stopped and then, one night, Anna and I were alone at the house we shared with a couple of other students. Around two in the morning, I woke up in my bed, startled. I felt like someone was watching me out of one of the dark corners in my bedroom. When I flicked on the light, nobody was there. I even got up and checked my window, but it was shut tight as it was a very cold night.

It took a while for me to calm down. I went back to bed and cuddled up with my cat Pirate - he always slept on my bed next to my pillow. I somehow managed to fall asleep again, but then all of a sudden, the anxious meowing of Pirate woke me up. My room was full of smoke and I could hardly breathe. The light didn't work anymore, so I got out of bed, put my hands forward and blindly tried to feel where I was going alongside my bed, finally reaching for the doorknob. It was blocked. I never lock my door, so I didn't understand why I couldn't open it.

I noticed that the smoke in the room seemed to come through from under the door. My room was on the top floor of the house. I started to panic and threw myself against the door, but to no avail. The hot smoke filled my lungs and I was terrified I would lose consciousness any moment."

Becker's eyes widened and he pressed Jess against his chest, wrapping his arms around her protectively, as if to put himself as a shield between her and her gruesome memories. Still, she kept unfolding the events of the night.

"Just when I started to lose orientation and coughed so hard that my lungs hurt, the door in front of me flew open and Anna was standing on the threshold, grabbing my arm and shouting 'Get out! The house is on fire!

I couldn't see Pirate anywhere nor could I hear him meowing anymore. I told Anna that we had to find him, that he was somewhere in my bedroom, scared, and that we had to get him out as well. But Anna pulled me with her, yelling that there was no time and that the stairs had already caught fire. Our only way out was through Anna's bedroom window. We barely made it. We climbed on the window ledge and grabbed a hold of the rain drain. Half climbing down, half sliding, we made it into the back garden. "

Jess was sobbing now, burying her face in Becker's tactical vest. He held her tight, gently running a hand up and down her shaking back.

"And Pirate?"

"I never saw him again. When the fire fighters arrived, they looked for him, but couldn't find him. I don't think he…"

Jess swallowed heavily, leaving the phrase unfinished, unable to continue.

"He was a present from my parents when I moved away to go to Uni. He was the cutest kitten I had ever seen. He had black and white fur, a rose nose and the loudest purr I had ever heard from a kitten. His face was white, but over his left eye, he had a big black spot that looked like an eye patch of a pirate. And that's why I named him Pirate. He loved to steal crisps out of the package and he could sneak up behind you without making any sound. And it drove me insane how he always wanted to walk across the keyboard of my laptop. As soon as I got home every day, he would follow me around the house and try to sit next to me, watching all my activities. And now he's gone!"

"I am sure he managed to get out, Jess!"

Jess pulled her face out of Becker's tactical vest and tears streaming down her face, she looked at him.

"You really believe this?"

Becker put both hands on her cheeks and, gently rubbing away the tears, he said with as much conviction as he was able to put in his voice "I am sure of it, Jess!" He wasn't sure whether he had been convincing enough, so he handed her a handkerchief and asked with a small smile "tell me more about Pirate!"

Jess blew her nose and leaned back into Becker's shoulder. He put his arm around her and listened to her voice as she was talking about her cat.

So there you go!

In the next chapter, the question will be raised why none of the stalking was mentioned in Jess' personal file. And where is bad boy Frank?

I won't make any promises as to when the next chapter will be ready. I can only say that I am fiercely determined to continue this story.

Thank you very much for reading (and reviewing, hopefully! :-) )