His pager woke him the next morning.
An anomaly this early was not what he had hoped for at all.
Captain Becker didn't feel rested, for his dreams had been very confusing, a blur revolving around him Jessica, her secret admirer, Abby, and a dragon.
Jess wasn't in this early, so the night shift told him that the anomaly was in an ice skating rink.
Brilliant, he thought sarcastically, as if his job wasn't already hard enough without a slippery surface.
So he wasn't too thrilled as he figured out that the anomaly was in the centre of the arena.
"Has anything come through yet?" He asked Matt who stared at the blinking light from a safe distance.
"Don't think so."
"Can't we were spikes?" Becker asked, grabbing the locking device.
"If you happen to have some on you, be my guest." Matt stated and actually grinned slightly. Becker just rolled his eyes as always. "Come on, let's get this done and then I can get myself a coffee."
"Uh, beware action man without his morning coffee: more than lethal!" Connor said but yawned none the less.
After the coffee Becker was so going to kill him!
He and two other soldiers skittered over the sparkling surface. One slipped and fell, but as Connor was about to laugh Abby pushed himself onto the ice so hard that he slid over the ice almost down to Becker's feet.
Everyone laughed as Connor tried to get up but failed. "Not funny!"
They strolled off towards the anomaly.
But the nearer they came the more they started to slip on the surface.
"What is this?" One of the soldier's asked.
Connor had a device in his hands. "Guys be careful this one has quite a big magnetic pull."
On cue Becker slipped and fell. His EMD skittered over the ice. "Damn!" He cursed under his breath and tried to get up again without success.
"Becker…"
"Temple, shut up!" He tried again and slipped but suddenly noticed that he was moving.
His face was contorted into a mask of shock as he realized that he got sucked into the anomaly.
There were shouts of advice but he didn't hear a thing. He just saw the light coming closer and closer.
The soldier landed hard on the other side of the anomaly.
He cursed silently while he looked around frantically, what time was he in?
But the soldier could relax immediately for he was in a little backyard in London with cars moving up and down the street.
Becker sighed.
At least nothing prehistoric would kill him in this time. He stood up and looked around.
The backyard was small and only a fence separated it from the street. There was a little shack in one corner.
The house in front of him was small and had probably three levels so a typical detached house somewhere in London.
The garden was lovely and you could tell that somebody loved to take care of all the rose bushes and the cherry tree.
He spun around as the anomaly closed with a hissing sound.
"Crap!"
Something behind him clattered and he turned as quickly as possible, crouching in case of an attack.
The woman on the patio squealed bringing her hands up in front of her face.
To her feet lay various things that had fallen from her hands.
Becker stood up holding his hands up to sooth her.
"It's all right M'am. Don't worry I won't hurt!"
The woman had frozen.
Becker looked at her, waiting for a reaction. He was afraid he'd given her a heart attack.
Who could blame her?
If he had a person dressed in a black uniform suddenly standing there in his garden, without knowing that time travelling was possible he'd be just as alarmed.
The woman still had her hands in front of her mouth, a gesture of shock.
The soldier swallowed.
He took in her appearance. She must be in her fifties, he thought, her skirt was knee length and in a dark green tone, she wore a matching blouse with a brown vest and her shoes were ridiculously high.
At that familiar item he had to suppress a smile as Jessica's image appeared in his mind for a second.
The soldier wondered if she was okay.
He cursed himself before he remembered where he was.
He had to make sure he was okay here before he could think about finding a way back.
He still held up his hands: "I'm going to approach you now, okay? Don't worry, you are fine!"
Carefully andslowly he stepped nearer.
Soft sobbing noises escaped her throat.
Her auburn hair was put in an untidy bun.
Becker noticed that tears were leaking her eyes.
There was something unsettling about it which made his stomach turn.
He frowned and stepped closer, out of curiosity now about the sudden familiarity he felt.
Who was she?
Her blue eyes pierced through him before she closed them as another sob escaped her.
She was muttering something inaudible under her breath.
The soldier was standing in front of the patio now.
The woman wiped her tears away. She crossed her arms in front of her chest as if she had to hold herself together to not fall apart.
"I thought I'd never see you again." She said and smiled mockingly at the ridiculousness of the scene she had wished for so often.
Becker drew in a sharp breath.
His face slipped and he was starring wide eyed at the woman in front of him.
She would dream about this scene every night, but not like this…
Becker held his breath.
Siren's were heard and came closer.
The woman looked startled at first but then she reacted pretty quickly.
She jumped off the patio, pulling at Becker's arm: "Come on, they mustn't see you! Quick!"
She pushed him into the small garden house at the far end of the grass.
"Not a word!" She ordered and closed the door. Becker was speechless anyway.
How was this…No, this couldn't be! This was… He tried to bring his thoughts into order when only one minute later other voices were heard:
"We had an anomaly alert. Is everything all right?"
Becker peeped through a hole in the wood.
There were six unknown soldiers.
They were all dressed in black but a dark blue logo on their vests said in bold letter's: A.R.C Anomaly Research Centre.
That couldn't possibly be true!
They detected undercover!
"There was one here but it disappeared again right away, nothing came through."
"Nothing?" The Commander approached her menacingly and Becker's hands balled reflexively into fists. As confused as he felt there was still this strong need to protect Jessica Parker.