U – Unknown

"Lester, Lester! Lester!" Jess fell, screaming and sobbing, straight into her boss's arms. He held her tight for a moment, too shocked to speak. Abby was nearby, though, and it didn't take her long to appear by their side.

"Jess, calm down," Abby rescued Lester, hugging Abby herself now, "Sshh, sshh; it's okay. It can't be that bad."

"What's happened, Jess?" Lester asked efficiently.

"He…he…he…"

"Becker?"

She managed a nod, "He…"

"Matt told us, about the cancer," Abby told her softly, "We thought he'd be telling you himself. Have you been to see him? The doctors are hopeful, it should be…"

"No, he…"

"Jess, what is it?" Lester fished his handkerchief (bright pink with purple polka dots today) out of his pocket efficiently and held it out to her.

Her hands shook so much she dropped it straight to the ground. Between them, they walked her over to Lester's office, and began to mop up her tears and forced warm coffee down her throat as her sobs became softer.

"Sshh…" Abby still whispered, running her hands through Jess's hair and plaiting it, like she'd done with her little sister when she was young, "Sshh…"

"Is it Becker?" Lester kept on pressing her.

"Yes," she eventually managed.

He nodded, trying to comfort her, "Okay. Okay. He'll be fine – he's a soldier, isn't he? He's fought dinosaurs; cancer's nothing."

Abby shook her head as Jess sobbed harder, "The doctors are brilliant, Jess. They'll do everything they can. He's young, he's fit, and they've probably caught it early – he'll be fine."

"No…no, it's…we…we argued."

"Well, of course, that was going to happen – you're both really stressed and scared. But it'll help you, in the end. It'll bring you together, won't it?" Abby tried to console her.

"No, I…I…"

"Jess, for God's sake, stop crying and tell us what's going on!" Lester snapped, then wrinkled his nose guiltily, "Come on, we can help."

"He…I found things at…his flat. About Lauren. I thought…I was scared, and tired, and…and I wasn't thinking. He…I didn't go to see him. He rang me, and I…I asked him about her. And we argued. It was really bad. We were…we were…he told me about the cancer, and I…then he was mad…I…"

Abby nodded understandingly, "Okay. Well, he'll know you didn't mean it; you were upset, yeah? You can go and see him – it'll be fine."

"Lauren…she's his sister."

She winced, "Ahh."

"It'll be fine, Jess," Lester told her confidently, topping up her mug and handing it back to her.

Her hands were still trembling, the coffee splashing over her fingers. She didn't seem to notice the pain, though. "It's not, it's…"

"I'll take you up now, if you want. You can go and talk to him. Honestly, Jess, it'll be fine. He needs you, you need him," Abby promised, finishing her hair and tying the ends neatly, "Then I'll take you home; you really need some rest."

"He was serious, though. He was really serious," she sobbed, "He said he had no reason to care about his death any more. He meant it."

XxXxX

I kind of broke the rules updating twice in a day, didn't I? :P

Sorry this chapter's so rubbish, I kind of needed a filler to explain it to the team before they could get back to Becker – you'll see what I mean in V, if you get that far! ;) xx