Rating: T
Prompt: Housewarming

It arrived two weeks after the paperwork had been filed and Jess had updated their files at the ARC. Becker, making it home before her, had been confused at first when her – their – neighbour had stopped him on his way into the flat, full of wide-eyed curiosity as she'd looked at him appraisingly.

Easily in her seventies, Becker was surprised at the openly flirtatious way the woman had spoken to him as she'd held onto the package she said had been delivered by courier for him and Jess earlier.

It'd taken him a good ten minutes to get away from her, during which time Jess arrived home and left him – abandoned him – to the eldery woman's advances.

Mrs Wilson, she told him when he eventually managed to escape, was a perfectly harmless woman and simply lacked male companionship. It was his duty, Jess had tried to say with a straight face, to make sure she was okay. It was, after all, the neighbourly thing to do.

Once his girlfriend had finished laughing at his expense, her attention had turned to the item in his hands. Even well-wrapped, it was obvious from its shape and size that it was a bottle – and a rather large oneat that. After unwrapping it, taking off the layer of shiny pink and silver paper, Jess and Becker stared in astonishment at the magnum of champagne.

A gift label hung around the neck of the bottle. Becker glanced at Jess and saw she was just as confused as he was. Reaching for it, he read the neatly written message aloud, his confusion deepening while Jess began to smile.

"To Jess and Captain Becker, Happy Housewarming! May you have may happy years together in your new home. With love, Eleanor and James." Becker arched an eyebrow at the colour rising in Jess's cheeks. "Do we know an Eleanor and James?"

"We do. Well, you know James at least. Eleanor is his wife and I'm guessing the one who sent this." Jess took the label off him, her smile growing wider as she re-read the message. "That was very sweet of her. We'll have to send a thank you note."

"Okay." He continued to frown when she didn't say anything else. "Am I allowed to know who I'm thanking…?"

She rolled her eyes and shook her head at him, seemingly surprised he didn't know. "Eleanor and James. Well, Eleanor mostly. The Lesters," she added when his expression didn't get any clearer. "Eleanor is Lester's wife. She's a lovely woman. Very thoughtful."

"James Lester as in our boss? The same Lester who begrudges it if you take an extra pen out of the stationary cupboard, that Lester?" Becker stared at her in astonishment. "He's sending us champagne?"

"His wife is," Jess corrected with a shrug. "I guess he must have mentioned that we were moving in together at some point and Eleanor decided to send us this. She really is nice; you should meet her sometime."

"You've met her? Lester's wife?"

"A few times." Jess bit her lip to keep back a laugh at his expression. "For some reason, she prefers talking to me rather than with Lester's PA." She shrugged her shoulders again as though the woman's preference for her really was a great mystery. "Lester must have known she was going to send something if she has our address but I doubt he realised she was going to... What?" Noting the expression on his face had changed to what she was privately calling his 'dopey' look, it was Jess's turn to arch an eyebrow. "What did I do now?"

"Nothing." But the grin stayed in place. "So we get a bottle of champagne because Lester's wife has a thing for you?"

She rolled her eyes. "She just appreciates that there's someone at the ARC who keeps her husband from forgetting the appointments she puts in his diary and missing too many of the kid's events. Plus I might've helped her out with her Christmas shopping last year," she added thoughtfully, her head tilted to the side. "She couldn't find a few things in the city so I found them online for her and arranged to have them wrapped and delivered to their home."

"No wonder you're Lester's favourite," Becker teased, reaching for her with one hand and the bottle with the other. "If he fires you, he'll have his wife to deal with."

"I'd like to think if he fires me, you'd have something to say about it, too." She went willingly, resting her head on his shoulder momentarily as his arm slid around her waist.

"I'm more the shoot first, talk later type," he reminded her, kissing the top of her head. "If Lester or the Minister or anyone else tries to fire you, I'm certain I'll find a way to change their minds."

Jess snorted a laugh and lifted her head from his shoulder. "I'm certain you would."

Motioning to the bottle in his hand, Becker quirked an eyebrow. "What do you say to taking advantage of Mrs Lester's generosity and having a little housewarming party of our own?"

"I'd say it's only polite. If I'm going to send a thank you note, we should really sample the goods first." Leaning up on her toes, she kissed him quickly before trying to move away, laughing when he caught her hand and pulled her back against him instead. "Becker, I need to get glasses..."

"Why do we need glasses?" He smirked and backed towards the stairs, tugging her hand to pull her with him. "They'd just need washing up later..."

"What you're thinking is going to make more of a mess." Even as a tell-tale blush rose in her cheeks, Jess followed him, her fingers laced with his. "Hil..."

Becker only grinned, turning away so he could see where he was going but maintaining his grip on her hand as though he thought she might try to get away from him. "We'll take a shower later. Much, much later."

Laughing, she shook her head and let herself be not-so-unwillingly led to the bedroom. She wasn't entirely sure how it could be classed as a housewarming celebration when they'd been living together for a while already but, given the enthusiasm on his face and that wicked gleam in his eye she was definitely come to love, she was willing to humour him... Just this once.