A/N: I cannot believe that it's been over a month since I've updated. September, May and June are my craziest months at school, and this year has been no different. Let's just say that I'll be very glad to see the end of June, and leave it at that. I'm really hoping that I'll be able to catch up on my writing in the next week or so (I have exams to draft up this weekend, but once they're done I'll be able to focus a lot more on this story). I'm also hoping to reply (stupidly late, I know) to some of the lovely reviews I've been left for this story (again, once I get through this weekend, life should lighten a fair bit). I'm so terribly sorry for the delay in updating, and am thankful to you all for putting up with me and sticking with this story. Here's the next installment (which took a little extra time because there were a couple directions I could take - I'll fill you in in the A/N for the next chapter). Hope everyone's still enjoying the tale. :)

********** 12 **********

She had never been this quiet for such an extended period of time. Ever since he'd met her, she'd always had a smile on her face, and babbled endearingly about anything and everything. But now, as she sat in the passenger seat of his truck, she was silent as the grave.

And Becker absolutely hated it.

He'd kept a relaxed yet firm grip on her since leaving Matt's flat, wanting to both offer comfort to her after what she'd been through and to reassure himself that she was at least physically alright. He hadn't been able to examine her for any wounds while they were with their friends but had promised himself that it was the first thing he'd do once they got back to his.

The silence had made the 15 minute drive from Matt's feel like an hour long journey. Becker pulled into his spot in the carpark, grabbed their bags from the boot, and made it to Jess' side before she'd even managed to open the door. Quickly scooping her into his arms again, he held her securely as he walked to the lifts.

"I can walk, you know," Jess whispered, a soft, stubborn lilt to her voice.

"Humour me," he teased back, his mouth quirking up at one side as she huffed at his words. In response, he held her a bit tighter in his arms, smiling when she nestled her head at the crook of his neck. The trip up to his flat was quite quick, and it was only minutes later that he was closing the door behind them. He set her down on her feet and kissed her forehead, before hurrying their bags into his room and returning with a first aid kit.

Jess had moved to the window in his absence, closing curtains to block light getting in the ceiling-high windows in the morning. When she turned back to him, still wrapped tightly in the blanket, her face was slightly confused.

"What's that for?" she asked, nodding towards the box in his hands.

"I want to check you over to make sure you're ok," he told her. Fear gripped his heart when she paled at his words, but he forced himself not to react. When she started shaking her head no, he cautiously stepped towards her. "Jess, please, for me," he whispered when he was close enough, a dark undertone to his voice. "I need to know that you're not physically hurt so I don't race over to the ARC and put a bullet in that bastard's head."

Jess' eyes widened at his admission, and her breathing became a bit erratic for a moment. But she calmed herself down and finally nodded in acquiescence after a very long minute. Becker gently put his arm around her shoulders and led her to one of his dining room chairs. Once she was seated, his eyes met hers as he reached to pull the blanket away from her body. She fought his pull for a few seconds, clutching the blanket to her as if it were a lifeline, but when his eyes pleaded with hers she sighed and let it go.

The cloth cover fell away from her body and Becker felt his blood boil at what he saw.

She was a mess. The tank top she'd put on before going to bed was very nearly shredded completely, and he could see drops of blood staining it and the skin that was somewhat visible underneath. Her wrists sported purple and yellow bruises from where the man had restrained her hands, with darker bruising where the zip ties had dug into the delicate skin as she'd struggled. Her upper chest was littered with scratches from the man's knife, and there was a fairly large bruise on the underside of her jaw. Her shorts were torn at the waist, and her legs looked like they'd suffered a bit of bruising from where he'd kept his weight on her for too long.

Becker cursed himself in his head for not noticing her condition sooner, but he'd been so distracted by her crying and his relief that he'd gotten to her in time. Jess watched his eyes go from pleading to shock to anger to sadness to guilt in the span of a few seconds, and while she knew that she should stop him from feeling that way, she was still far too shaken up by the events of the night to do so. So she settled for drawing his attention back to the task at hand. "Becker?" she asked softly, drawing his eyes back to hers. He saw the sadness and fear still lingering in them, and snapped himself out of it. This was no time for self-pity – she needed him, now, possibly more than ever.

He went into the kitchen for a bowl of warm water and a soft cloth. When he returned, he wiped it gently over her cheeks, neck, arms and upper chest, cleaning away tear tracks and blood in the process. He'd send her for a shower soon, but wanted to get a look at her injuries first. Once he'd set them down, he raised her eyes to hers, asking permission. She gave him a sad nod, and he moved his hands towards the hem of her tank top. He raised it enough to preserve her modesty but see the marks left on her stomach. Nothing seemed too deep, so he settled for wiping them clean for the moment as well. Once he did, he slipped the straps of her shirt down her arms, and lowered the neckline of her shirt to the tops of her breasts before giving them the same treatment. She shivered involuntarily, and neither of them knew if it was because she was cold or if there was a different reason that they were currently trying to ignore.

Once he was sure that the cuts weren't too serious (the one on her cheek needed treatment, but Becker would wait until she showered for that), he helped her to her feet and into the master bathroom. When he moved to step out of the room, she grabbed his hand with fear in her eyes. He stroked her wrist, promising to be back momentarily. He raced to his room for spare clothes and made a stop on the way back at the linen closet for towels before returning to her side and turning on the showerhead. He pressed a kiss to her forehead before letting his eyes meet hers in question. It was fascinating how many times they'd spoken without actually uttering words tonight. She nodded before turning her back to him and slowly stripping out of her ruined bedclothes. He himself stripped down to his boxers and then gently lifted her into the shower to let her rest under the warm water as he climbed in behind her.

Normally, his blood would be pumping southward at the idea and sight of Jess in his shower, but the strict soldier and dedicated friend in him tamped down on that immediately – the last thing Jess needed after what she'd been through tonight was for him to make things awkward because of his amourous intentions. So he focused on helping to clean the blood from her body, as well as washing her long red hair, all the while trying to make her shaking limbs calm themselves.

It didn't take too long for Jess to get clean, and once she was, she surprised Becker by wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing herself close to him. Once more, he dug deep for the consummate soldier inside to ensure that he didn't make Jess uncomfortable with his reaction to her proximity, but his worries about that faded the instant he realized she was crying into his chest. His arms came around her tight, one hand diving into her hair and the other running soothingly up and down her back. He whispered softly to her, telling her that it was ok to let it out, and that he was here for her. After a long while, her tears stopped, and he felt her body sag into his even more. He quickly shut off the water and lifted her out of the shower, wrapping her in a massive navy blue towel before wrapping a second around his own waist. He rubbed the towel gently over her skin and hair to dry it, then carefully combed through her damp hair with the comb he kept in his medicine cabinet. Once he was satisfied with the state of her, he carefully helped her into the same tshirt and boxers she'd worn the previous night, and set her down on the closed toilet lid. He hurried through his own drying process, careful to keep the towel secure around his waist the whole time, even as he took off his boxers and replaced them with his pyjama pants. He then lifted her into his arms once more and carried her back to the dining room where he carefully bandaged the cut on her cheek and wrapped cold compresses around her wrists. He moved the pair of them to the couch, putting on an old movie while he settled her against him and held an ice pack to the bruise on her chin for a little bit.

After a little while, Jess' breathing had evened out and her body had gone slack. Becker looked down at her sleeping face and pressed a kiss to her forehead. He removed the cold packs from her jaw and wrists, leaving them on the kitchen counter before carrying her to bed. He wrapped himself around her and she unconsciously nestled her cheek onto his chest as she slept. Becker, however, stayed awake for a long time, eyes and ears open for the sound of any potential trouble from the other members of the set of triplets.

Speaking of the triplets, Matt and the rest of the team had brought their triplet to the ARC and immediately secured him inside one of the interrogation rooms. Lester was in with him now, but both were showing nothing but unreadable expressions. Matt made a mental note to never play poker with Lester.

Connor was currently settled in front of the ADD, accessing security feeds from Matt's building and the surrounding area in the hopes of figuring out how the triplet had tracked the down.

Abby and Emily had given their statements to the on-duty team about what had happened, and then made their way to the break room to wait for everyone else.

"What happens now?" Emily asked, breaking the silence that had settled over them for the last 20 minutes.

Abby shook her head. "I don't know. But the fact that he found us and got into Matt's place undetected worries me."

"You're right," Emily replied. "Who's to say that they won't try the same thing somewhere else?" she asked, her thoughts straying to the two team members who were currently missing from the ARC.

"Becker's with Jess," Abby stated, as if reading Emily's mind. "I'd lay money that he's got insane security and alarms at his place, not to mention the fact that I'm sure he's not letting Jess out of his sight again until this is all over." Emily nodded in agreement, and the girls then went on to start brainstorming ideas on how to flush out the remaining triplets.

Lester, meanwhile, had just left the interrogation room, and motioned for Matt to follow him to his office. Matt texted Abby and Connor to get everyone else to meet them there. Once they were all secured inside, Lester began.

"He said almost nothing. It was like he was in a trance," he informed them. "All he said was 'She wants them both. I'm to bring them to her.'"

"Well that's utterly reassuring," Lester commented. "Do we have any idea who this 'she' is?"

The group exchanged worried looks before Abby turned her gaze forward and looked straight into Lester's eyes. "Our mother, sir."

Lester's poker face stayed completely in place, with the exception of a slight twitch of his lip. "And just who is this 'our' you speak of, Miss Maitland?"

Connor gave her hand an encouraging squeeze as Abby squared her shoulders. "Jess and I."

Lester's eyebrows now raised slightly, but he kept his cool. His eyes quickly swept over the other team members in the room. "Something tells me that you lot have been keeping secrets again," he said, his voice still sarcastic. "Please tell me that we're not getting more visitors from the future."

"The past, this time, actually," Matt offered.

"So amusing, Anderson. Really, you should think about a career in stand-up comedy." Lester once again looked at everyone. "Well?" he asked. "Who's the unlucky soul who gets to fill me in on what I've apparently been missing out on?"

It took a good twenty minutes for the team to tell him everything: about the letters sent to Abby and Jess, their parentage, the triplets, their suspicions about the latest anomaly, and finally the attack at Matt's flat. Lester had absolutely no reaction whatsoever until they got to the part about Jess being the unfortunate victim of this triplet's attack. When they told him about that, he paled slightly (only enough for those who knew him as well as the team to notice) and cleared his throat before asking about her condition. As soon as he heard that she was in Becker's care, his colour returned, and he then proceeded to berate them for another twenty minutes on how they should have brought him into the fold as soon as they noticed the triplets.

"So we're looking at a Helen Cutter clone situation again?" he asked once he'd regained his composure.

"It would seem so," Emily replied, keeping her voice calm in the hopes of bringing him back to their side. "We know that there's at least 3…"

"Probably more, if Helen's involved," Connor interrupted. He went to make a snarky comment about the woman who'd killed his mentor, but stopped before he started when he remembered that she was the mother of his beloved fiancée.

"Right then, so what's the next step in your mad plan?" Lester inquired, keeping his temper in check and at the same time wishing they would all go so he could have a good measure of the whiskey he kept in his desk drawer for after such 'fun' meetings.

"We find the other two," Abby replied quickly.

"And you plan on doing that how?"

Matt and Connor exchanged glances before Connor stepped forward. "I've been going over the CCTV footage from the area around Matt's flat, and working backwards. Our determined friend came from a warehouse near the West India Docks."

"Not the building near Jess'?" Emily asked confused.

"No, that was my first guess too," he said to her before turning back to Lester. "Now that we know where he came from, I've got the cameras searching for any more activity in the area."

"It's not a totally quiet area though, Conn," Abby said.

"Well that's true, but at least we know who we're looking for there," Connor fired back with a slight grin.

"There is another way to find out what's happening with these triplets," Matt said, trepidation evident in his voice.

"Why do I suddenly think that I'm not going to like this other way?" Lester asked, rolling his eyes.

"Because it involves letting our angry friend out and seeing if he goes back to the others."

"And if he goes straight to Jess again?" Abby retorted hotly.

"Then I want a front row seat when he tries to go through Becker," Matt replied, smirking slightly.

"We could actually place odds on it and make a killing with the ARC staff," Connor thought out loud. Upon receiving disbelieving looks from the rest of the team, he nodded to himself. "Shutting up now."

"Perhaps we should hold him here for the night, and speak with Jess and Captain Becker about it tomorrow," Emily suggested. The rest of the group nodded, then looked to Lester for approval.

"Fine, fine. I wasn't looking forward to seeing any of you tomorrow as it was," Lester relented. "We'll keep him locked here until a decision's been made." He then stood up and held up his hand as they started to leave. Everyone froze, knowing he wasn't done. "And if any of you even consider keeping me out of the loop for a microsecond, you'll all find yourselves investigating second career options. Am I clear?" The team nodded, and then scarpered quickly when he waved them off.

Once Lester was sure they were gone, he eased himself back into his chair and looked at the small, digital clock on his desk. Seeing that it read 3:45am, he reached for his favourite desk drawer and pulled out the whiskey and a glass. Pouring himself two fingers, he made the snap decision that the team wouldn't be the only ones not coming into the ARC the next day. As he sipped his drink, he sent an email to his PA, requesting that she pull any and all files and materials related to Helen Cutter and the great clone debacle of 2009.