Title: Milestones 1: 10 Enemies
Author: DrawnToDarkness
Rating: T
Characters: Becker, Jess
Pairing: Jess/Becker UST
Prompt: Enemies
Summary: Missing scene for episode 4x06
If Ethan Dobrowski walked into the loft at that moment, Becker couldn't be sure that he would be able to stay where he was with a death grip on the counter-weight keeping the bomb from exploding. He could quite happily envision himself spending his last moments alive beating the living daylights out of the mysterious bomb maker... If only doing so wouldn't doom Jess to an explosive end, too.
She wouldn't leave him, no matter how many times he ordered her to.
Stubborn woman. Foolish woman. Brave, beautiful, courageous woman...
He watched her, craning his neck so he could see around the bomb to watch what she was doing and swore to himself that Ethan Dobrowski was going to pay.
Not just for what he'd done to Emily, not just for what he'd done to the innocent rightful owner of the flat he was currently standing in.
For what he'd done to Jess, for threatening her life, Dobrowski would pay.
If he lived, Becker thought ruefully. If he and Jess managed to make it through.
It felt like a lifetime had passed between Jess picking up the pliers and announcing shakily that there were two red wires and no green. He told her, again, to leave him and, again, she refused.
Although he knew he'd do the same if their positions were reversed – there was no way he'd be able to leave her to die alone – it frustrated him to no end that Jess refused to do what he said.
She was still young, still vibrant. She wasn't yet jaded by what she knew, her bright sense of optimism untarnished. She could walk – well, run – out of the building and go on to lead a full, happy life... without him.
But she refused, and Becker couldn't bring himself to think about why.
As the metronome began to tick more rapidly, he realised time was running out. He looked between the countdown device and Jess, his heart racing as he watched the determination flicker over her face where she stood behind the bomb.
At least it would be quick, he told himself. At least they wouldn't feel much...
He dropped to the floor as the ticking stopped, the weight he'd been holding too much for his aching arms to cope with. He waited for the sensation of heat and pain before oblivion, frowning when neither came.
For a second, all he could hear was the sound of his breathing, and Jess's.
Jess.
Her eyes were wide with relief, shimmering with moisture, and her face was pale but she was alive.
Blessedly, gloriously alive.
He'd barely managed to get to his feet when she came careening towards him, her body pressed against his so tightly he imagined he could feel her heart beating as rapidly as his own.
"You are truly brilliant."
Jess pulled back to beam at him. "I know, I am!" Disbelief coloured her tone and showed on her face and Becker grinned at her before finding his arms full once again.
She felt amazing. Warm and alive and soft in all of the right places... He turned his head into her neck, inhaling the scent of her, feeling dizzy, almost giddy...
The sound of footsteps had him pushing her away. He felt bereft for a moment, regretful that the embrace had come to such a sudden end but forced himself to focus as adrenaline continued to race through his body as his soldiers raced into the room.
He shouted orders to his men, wondering where the hell they'd been that it'd taken them so long to get there, and watched Jess sag out of the corner of his eye.
Ethan Dobrowski was going to pay, Becker vowed, watching as her bravado faded, replaced by shock at what they'd been through. The man had made an enemy tonight and Becker wasn't going to forget it.
Sorry it's a short one - the next one will make up for it, I hope, which will be 4x07 with the prompt 'Why'.