Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval or its characters.

Secrets

Chapter 14 – Rest of Our Lives

Jess, Becker, and Connor joined the rest of the team in the hub. They were all worried about Maddie and couldn't believe that she would run away.

"Jess, Becker, I am so sorry. This is all my fault, I should have stayed and made sure she went into the house." Emily said, coming over to the couple when she saw them enter the room.

Becker didn't say anything, he just went over to talk to Matt, who had already begun to organise a search party. Jess watched as Becker scooped Lily into his arms, she could see how worried he was about Maddie.

"Don't blame yourself Emily, you couldn't have known she would do this."

"The Captain must hate me."

"Becker doesn't hate you Em, he's just worried about her."

"But I lost his daughter."

"No you didn't, she ran away; and believe me when we find her—which we will—she is going to be so grounded. She's not going anywhere again until she's my age."

Despite how worried she was Emily managed to laugh at Jess' comment.

"Motherhood agrees with you Jess."

They joined the rest of the team to find that the plans for the search had been made. They were going to split into groups of two and search the different places she could have gone. Abby and Connor were going to check the places Maddie and her friends would hang out, Matt and Emily would check her school and with her other friends, while Becker and Lieutenant Williams were to check the places Becker used to take the girls on the weekends. Jess, on the other hand, was going to stay at the ARC and see if she could locate her through CCTV.

Before the team left to begin searching Jess pulled Becker aside. She wanted to make sure he was okay. The man had been through a lot in less than twenty-four hours and she needed to know how he was holding up.

"Hey, are you okay?"

"I don't know. I'm worried about her. I can't work out why she would do this."

"Neither can I," Jess reached up and made Becker meet her eyes. "But we'll find her, okay."

He nodded. "I'm going to take Lily with me. I know she'll be safe here with you, but…I feel like I need her with me at the moment."

"Okay."

Becker pressed a quick kiss to her lips before leaving with the rest of the search party and Lily.

Jess went over to the ADD and began doing her part to locate Maddie.

###

Jess had been sitting at the ADD for twenty minutes, going through every CCTV feed that she thought Maddie may turn up on, and so far she hadn't had any luck. This didn't surprise her though, as there were a lot of places the nine-year-old could have gone that aren't accessible by CCTV.

There has to be a better way to go about this. There must be something else I can do.

That was when Jess got the idea to track the phone she had given Maddie when she had started taking the bus to school. Minutes later she had a location, and Jess just hoped that Maddie was there, and that she hadn't dumped her phone somewhere. Grabbing her keys Jess left the ARC and a little while later was arriving at the location her search had given her.

Scanning the area Jess saw Maddie sitting on a bench in a small park across the road from where she had parked her car.

Sighing in relief she pulled out her phone and called Lieutenant Williams.

"Yes Ms Parker."

"Could you put Becker on please, I need to speak to him."

There were the sounds of the phone switching hands before Becker came on the line.

"Jess?"

"Becker, I've found her."

"Oh thank God. Where is she?"

"She's at that small park around the corner from your house."

"How the hell did she get there?"

"I don't know. I'm there now, I'm going to go see if she'll talk to me."

"Okay, I'm on my way."

Jess hung up and made her way across the park to Maddie.

"Madeline Elizabeth Becker, you are in SO much trouble young lady." Jess said as soon as she's within hearing range. "Do you know how worried we've all been! What would possess you to pull a stunt like this?!"

"Jess! How did you find me?"

"I spend my days tracking soldiers as they case after dinosaurs. Do you really think I can't find one nine-year-old? Now answer my question."

Maddie looked at the ground and her voice was quiet as she spoke. "I heard you and Abby talking. I know Dad's dead and that we're going to be taken away from you."

Crap, I didn't know she was in the menagerie this morning.

Jess sighed and sat down next to the girl, draping an arm across her shoulders.

"I was telling Abby my fears," she told her in a quieter voice. "I promise you that's not going to happen."

"How can you be sure? It's been five months and there's been no sign of Dad, and what if someone decides you're not good enough to look after us and we get taken away. I know that can happen, it happened to one of my friends."

"I can be sure because yesterday we finally got a location and were able to send out a search team to look for your dad this morning. They came back with Becker—alive—not long after you pulled your disappearing act."

"Dad's alive? And he's back?" Maddie's face lit up.

"He is."

Maddie looked ecstatic at the news and for a while she was truly happy. But moments later her face fell again.

"What's wrong?"

"This means we'll be moving back with Dad, which is good cause I missed him. But I liked having a Mum again. Why do I always only get one or the other? What's wrong with me? Why can't I have both?"

Maddie started crying and Jess pulled her into arms.

"Oh honey there is nothing wrong with you. What happened between your mum and dad had nothing to do with you. As for not living with me anymore, well…that's not exactly the case."

"What d' you mean?"

"When we move yours and Lily's stuff tomorrow, we'll be moving mine as well."

"You're going to be living with us?"

"I am."

"Does this mean you're Dad's girlfriend?"

Jess nodded. "And you're the first to know, just like I promised."

A genuine smile took over Maddie's face then and she hugged the woman sitting beside her.

"It really will be like you're my mum."

Becker arrived then and was soon jogging towards them, while Lieutenant Williams waited with Lily by the car.

Seeing her father Maddie ran to him, meeting him half way.

Jess watched as Becker dropped down to be at the same level as his daughter and pulled her to him. Like Lily, Maddie started crying in to his shoulder, overjoyed by the fact that her father was home unharmed.

Becker pulled back so he was able to look at Maddie and Jess saw that his eyes were shining with unshed tears.

"Don't you ever disappear on me like that again. Understood?"

"I won't if you won't."

Becker smiled, glad to see her sense of humour hadn't changed in the last five months.

"Why don't we go home? It's been an emotional day for all of us." Jess said joining them.

Together they made their way across the park to where Jess had left her car.

The following day was spent moving the girls' possessions back into their home, as well as starting to move Jess into the house. Though it looked like moving Jess was going to take longer than they had originally thought. The woman had a lot of clothes and even more shoes. When Becker saw just how many items she did have, he was incredibly glad that his room had two double wardrobes built into it and promptly cleared one out for her to use.

Then there was the question of what to do with everything else in her flat. They didn't need the furniture or any of the kitchen wear, but Jess insisted on taking her linens, telling Becker she wasn't going to sleep on a bed that looked like it belonged to a solider.

"But Jess, it does belong to a soldier." Becker had pointed out.

"Not anymore it doesn't."

Becker's response to this had been to pull Jess close and kiss her deeply. He could put up with sleeping in a girly bed so long as Jess was there next to him.

Jess also brought her bookcase and small collection of books with her, which Becker thankfully had the space for.

They decided that they would move everything they had the space for that Jess wanted to keep, and then would sell whatever was left on eBay. Which was mainly the furniture and kitchen wear.

Matt, Connor, Abby, and Emily helped them with the move, which Becker and Jess both appreciated as it was such a big job. Jess was surprised that none of them said anything about her moving in with Becker. Though Abby did make sure to find the time to pull the young woman aside to check that this was want Jess really wanted.

She had thought they were moving a bit fast, but once Jess explained what their relationship had been like before Becker left, even she agreed that moving in together seemed inevitable. Though she still made the young woman promise that if her feelings ever changed she would come to her.

The rest of the team were just happy this meant the Captain and the Field Coordinator would no longer be dancing around each other.

###

That night they all decided to turn in early, exhausted from the move.

Jess was lying in bed reading when Becker came into their room and stopped in the doorway. When he had been standing there for five minutes, clearly with no intention of moving, Jess looked up from her book.

"Is there a reason you're standing there staring at me?"

"Just taking in the sight of you in my bed," Becker said as he went to get in beside her. "I'm not sure I'll ever get used to it."

"Well, if it's that off putting I'll just have to leave." Jess put her book down and went to get out of the bed.

Becker pulled her back down, making her giggle, and rolled so she was underneath him.

"I don't want you to leave."

Jess could see all the love he felt for her reflected in his eyes as he hovered above her.

"I'm not planning to. I'll be right here for as long as you want me."

Becker smiled down at her. "You do realise you've just committed to us spending the rest of our lives together."

"I wouldn't have it any other way."

Becker closed the little space between them and kissed her deeply, putting everything he felt for her into the kiss.

As they kissed Jess couldn't help but think that though the last few months had been hard, trying, and emotional, if it meant ending up with Becker, she would go through it all again.

That's the end. I hope you all enjoyed the story, I certainly enjoyed writing it (which was probably pretty obvious considering how often I updated it). Thank you to everyone who reviewed, it was great to hear that you were enjoying the story and about your thoughts on Lily and Maddie. Until next time X