CHAPTER 11

Abby, Matt, Emily, and Connor walked slowly to the corner of Becker's workstation and stared at the group of security men surrounding the ADD at Jess' workstation. Concern was etched on each of their faces but, also, disbelief in light of the new information concerning their friend and coworker. Emily turned to the group.

"I don't understand. Why would Jess not give us this information. In the past, she has been most forthcoming concerning events that were happening in her life. Why would she not disclose this to us?"

She stared into Lester's glass walled office at the older man who seemed to be the head of the new group and Jess herself who was standing next to Becker.

Abby folded her arms across her chest and looked at the scene, her eyebrows furrowed as if in deep thought. She eventually spoke.

"Something's not right. I don't know what it is yet, but you can be damn well sure I'm going to find out."

Connor looked over curiously.

"What do you mean, Abs? You know, maybe Jess is just tired of this whole dangerous business. Maybe she didn't tell us because she was afraid we would try to talk her out of it. I mean, let's face it. Jenny left because she just couldn't do it anymore. Maybe Jess did too."

Matt looked around at the small group.

"Has she mentioned anything to any of you …..that she's unhappy or doesn't want to do this anymore?"

Each of them shrugged, except for Abby, who kept staring into the office.

"Nope. Something's definitely wrong. This isn't what it seems …...and I'd bet my last pound that this "job change" wasn't her decision. You know how I know? Watch Lester's body language. He's tense, ready to blow up. He keeps looking at Jess as if he's concerned. He wouldn't be doing that if this was Jess' decision. Now look at Jess. Nope…..that's not an "I'm embarrassed I didn't tell my colleagues I was leaving" kind of posture. That's a "I'm being forced to do something I don't want to do" kind of posture. I don't have any evidence to back this up but I'm going to find out what's going on."

She stared thoughtfully at Jess and then Becker as the two left Lester's office with Becker's hand firmly on Jess' lower back.

"Yep…..I can tell you right now that she wouldn't be leaving here of her own accord…..and she wouldn't be leaving him, either."

Connor looked at Abby curiously.

"Who?...Lester?"

Abby rolled her eyes and kissed her fiancee on the cheek.

"Never mind, Connor. I'll explain it to you when you're older," she said with a smirk.

Matt gazed at the men around the ADD. "I don't know how we're going to do without her skill set on this team. How could an automated system keep up with the flow of information she had to deal with and coordinate it all into information we need."

The disheveled, young twentysomething in the ripped jeans, strolled up to the group casually.

"Dude…...it'll be no prob. My system is bulletproof, man. It will blow your mind how efficient it is. That chick is probably , like, a hundred times slower at processing than my Monica will be"

Matt stared at the interloper with his trademark emotionless stare.

"...and you would be….," he asked raising one eyebrow.

"Ethan," the young man replied.

"Well, Ethan," he stared coldly at the man. "That 'chick' has saved my ass with her tech skills hundreds of times and your asinine 'Monica' better do at least half as well."

Ethan stared at the team leader and put two hands out in front of him.

"Dude…...like, chill…..you have some pumped up anger issues you need to address. This system is amazing, man. It's gonna be, like, awesome."

Connor walked up to stand beside Matt.

"Just go do your job. We haven't got time for this now…..'dude'..."

He rolled his eyes and watched Becker and Jess walk to the ADD.

Jess walked slowly to her station and began to open drawers and take various personal items from them and from the top of her desk. Becker hovered next to her.

"Jess," he said softly, "do you need help with anything?"

She looked up at him with a sad, soft smile.

"No…..I just need to …...get one of my drives I left loading into the ADD…"

Ethan walked quickly over to her station and put his hand on the coordinator's hand as she was reaching for the drive.

"No! You can't touch anything here. Software has already been downloaded to the…."

The man did not get to finish his sentence as he was promptly knocked to the floor by Becker forcing himself between him and Jess, causing him to release his hold on her wrist. The fury in the head of security's eyes was rather terrifying to the tech inventor.

"Touch her again and I'll do much worse," Becker intoned in a low, dangerous voice.

Ethan Willhauer looked more than a little frightened as he looked up at the ARC's head of security..

"You need to tone down your crazy, buddy! I just didn't want her touching the system, man. Chillax!"

The security officer that arrived with the technician stepped between Becker and Ethan. He nodded to Becker to continue with Jess and held out his hand to Ethan to help him up from the floor.

Jess gathered her belongings quietly and nodded when Becker asked her if she had everything. His eyes never left her face as she turned toward the lift and glanced over at her friends standing nearby. Abby smiled softly at her friend as she called across the room.

"Don't worry, Jess. We'll stop by to see you this weekend…..and we'll be bringing a few bottles of wine and some chocolate"

Jess answered her with a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes and walked quickly toward the elevator. Her boss stood waiting by the door. Jess stood in front of him with her hand sticking out to shake his hand as he grasped her hands in both of his. He looked into her eyes with, what Becker thought, was a curious look.

"Miss Parker….it's been an honor to work with you, but you already know that, I believe. Are you sure about this?...Our discussion, I mean."

Jess nodded determinedly.

"All right, then. Chin up, best of luck. We will talk again soon." It almost looked as if Lester had something else to say. He then closed his mouth and stepped back from the field coordinator. Jess stepped forward and threw her arms around Lester as he patted her back lightly.

She then stepped back and turned toward the lift, entering it together with Becker and pressed the button to go down to the lobby and parking garage.

The quiet in the lift was almost too much for the Head of Security to bear. He wasn't used to Jess being so quiet….and it was killing him. Jess looked up with her large, blue eyes and Becker stopped thinking as he seemed unable to stop himself from leaning toward her to comfort her. They both stopped a few inches apart. Becker wasn't sure who was first but suddenly he had his arms around her waist and was kissing her with everything he had. Her lips were soft and warm and he felt as though he had been on a long trip and was finally coming home.

Jess was unaware how she had arrived where she was at that moment, but she knew it felt incredibly right. She was kissing…..Becker…...and it was the most amazingly right feeling she'd ever felt. Her hands moved to the back of his head and his pulled her closer as they continued the kiss even though the lift sounded an arrival on the last floor before the garage. Becker quickly reached out and pushed the emergency stop button to keep the doors from opening into the parking garage. She felt amazing in his arms and once he'd begun kissing her he wasn't quite sure how he was ever going to stop. Every emotion he had tried to push away or avoid now seemed to come pouring out of him. She smelled like strawberries and the taste of her was intoxicating. Even as he continued to kiss her a small part of his brain seemed to remember why he was kissing her. She was leaving. Jess…...was leaving and he began to feel like letting her go was something he could never do….but, then he remembered why he hadn't acted on his feelings in the first place. This job was dangerous. He could get killed. SHE could get killed and she almost was by primitive beetles.

If she wasn't here at the ARC it never would have happened. Keeping her tied to the ARC meant she'd still be in danger. Away from this place she could have a life without worrying about extinct creature chasing them and losing friends….and losing him.

With an effort he really wasn't sure he would be able to muster, he pulled back from her and looked down at her face. Her eyes were still closed and her lips slightly open as she slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him.

Becker cleared his throat and stepped back from her even as his arms still seemed to reach for her of their own accord.

"Wow…...ummmm….Jess …...I guess that goodbye kiss got a little out of hand, right? Umm….really….I guess this really is goodbye for us. I mean you're going on to this amazing job. I'll be incredibly busy here….wow…...ummm….you know you've done an amazing job here and you deserve the posh flat and all the perks that come with your tech skills, yeah?

Jess stared dazed at Becker unsure of what he was saying. They had just shared the most amazing kiss of her life but he was saying something else….Goodbye. She realized perhaps he was caught up in the moment and what had seemed to her an admission of their feelings was really just a kiss caught up in the emotions of goodbye.

She stepped back and smoothed her dress and without any other idea what to say, she stuck out her hand to the soldier in front of her.

"Yeah…..just…..got out of hand. Look, Becker, it's been brilliant working with you and even with all the danger and crazy situations," she looked straight into his eyes as she grasped his fingers like a lifeline. "I wouldn't trade a minute of it because I had the chance to work with this amazing team, including you. You're the best at what you do, Becker. Never forget that….I know I won't."

She hit the release button for the lift and as Becker started to follow her out of the lift into the car park, she held up her hand.

"It's okay, Becker. My car's right there. Best if I just hop in and leave, even though it's an exciting new job, I still feel a bit sad about it…..just want to be on my own for a bit. You understand, right?"

Becker wanted to say something but his throat seemed strangely tight and he was afraid if he tried to speak, his voice might actually crack. Soldiers said goodbye all the time. Why was this goodbye so much harder than the others? He just nodded and stared at her as he watched her walk to her car, climb in and shut the door. He watched her pull away as the lift doors closed and it started the ascent back to the hub. The soldier let his head fall back against the walls of the lift and stared up at the ceiling. This is why he kept his emotions in check. Letting yourself care so much about someone only made this kind of goodbye that much harder. At least, he comforted himself, she was moving on to a better life where the worst office disasters involved networks crashing instead of the entire planet being in danger. She would have a normal life with normal workmates who didn't spend their time running away from things that were trying to eat them. Yup…..that made him feel so much better…..then why did he feel so damned depressed that he would walk into work tomorrow morning and not hear her voice over his earpiece giving him lifesaving directions and berating him for not filling out his paperwork correctly. As the doors to the lift slid open, he carefully schooled his features to an emotionless mask and walked into the hub to join his team…..minus one very important component…

Poor Becker….I know I'm being a bit mean right now but I swear it will all turn out for the best! Thank you for all the lovely reviews…..I'm hopefully wrapping this up in two or three more chapters…...Thanks for reading….