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

Chapter Length: 2156


Open Mic Nights

Epilogue

7 months later

Jess' eyes flickered open, squinting when the florescent lighting hit them. For a moment Jess is disorientated, this clearly wasn't her bedroom at the house she shared with Becker. Then, slowly, her memories returned to her.

She remembered waking up in the middle of the night as her water broke, and then waking up Becker, who was—thankfully—a light sleeper. Before she knew it they were out the door with her overnight bag and driving to the hospital. That was followed by eight hours of agonizing labour, before they finally wheeled Jess into delivery. She remembered Becker being by her side the whole time, holding her hand, wiping the sweat off her face, even tying her hair back when she couldn't manage to do it herself.

Jess let her gaze wander the room. She was in a small, private hospital room, with pale pink walls and maroon carpeting. The bed she occupied was in the centre of the room, and there was a small table beside the top of the bed. Suspended in the left corner of the room was a small, old fashioned television, and under it was a door that Jess assumed lead to the bathroom. Pushed against the wall to her right was a crib, and in the corner next to it was an armchair. Which was currently occupied by Becker, who was holding their new born son.

Noticing that she was awake, Becker rose up out of the armchair and went to sit beside Jess on the bed. Silently he handed her their baby. Jess smiled as she looked down at her son, wrapped in a pale blue blanket. He looked up at her with bright blue eyes, and Jess could see tufts of dark brown hair peeking out from under the cap he wore. Just like his father.

"What are you thinking?" Becker asked as he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

"Just that with those eyes and that hair he's going to grow up to be a heartbreaker. Especially if he inherited anything else from you."

Becker chuckled. "Hey, you can't blame me for the eyes, you're the one with the sparkling blue eyes, and if he inherits your smile then we'll be in trouble."

Jess laughed and they fell into silence, both content to watch their son.

"How long was I asleep?" Jess asked after a moment.

"Not long, maybe an hour or so. The nurse said you needed to rest, she even had the audacity to go as far as to suggest I leave."

Jess laughed, imaging the fight Becker would have put up at it being suggested that he leave. By now all the doctors at the ARC knew that if the field coordinator ended up in the med bay for whatever reason, to let the Captain remain by her side. Anything else would just end badly for them.

"I hope you weren't too hard on her."

"Of course not. I just made it clear that there is no force on this earth that would make me leave this hospital without you."

Jess smiled at him. While his protectiveness could be overbearing at times—especially over the last seven months—she loved how devoted they were to each other. She knew if their positions were reversed, and she was the one told to leave when he was lying in a hospital bed she would have told the nurse the same thing. It was why the ARC doctors always used the larger treatment areas when treating either of them, because they knew if one of them turned up, the other wouldn't be far behind.

"Once that was sorted, she told me that the team was here while you were in delivery, but they got called away on an emergency."

"I hope they're okay." Jess knew that meant there was an anomaly and she always worried about the team when she wasn't the one behind the ADD.

"I'm sure they're fine, you trained your replacement well, they'll probably be turning up here before we know it."

As if summoned by his words there was a knock on the door and then Abby was poking her head into the room.

"Hey, is it alright if we come in?" she asked, her voice quiet.

"Of course." Jess said as Abby, Connor, Matt, and Emily filed into the room and came to stand by the bed, all of them wanting to get a good look at the baby. "Guys, meet Daniel Alistair Becker."

"He's so cute." Abby gushed.

"Truly gorgeous. May I hold him?" Emily asked.

"Sure." Jess handed Daniel to the Victorian woman, who cradled him in her arms, a smile on her face as she looked down at the little boy.

A hush fell over the group as they thought about the man lost in time who the couple had named their son after.

"Emily looks quite comfortable with the baby; don't you think mate?" Connor said to Matt, trying to remove some of the tension that had descended on them. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively at the older man, causing the couple in question to blush.

"Leave 'em alone Con." Abby said before turning to Emily. "Okay, my turn, come to aunty Abby."

Emily handed the baby to the animal expert.

"Now whose looking comfortable with the baby." Matt smirked.

"Okay, yeah, very funny."

Silence fell over the group once again. None of them felt the need to speak, they were content to be in each other's company and marvel over the child who was no more than a few hours old. It served as a reminder to all of them of why they did the job that they do.

Daniel was handed to Connor next, who looked like he was holding a bomb. He started crying moments later, but stopped as soon as Matt took him out of Connor's arms, causing the team to laugh.

"You know," Connor said as a thought struck him. "It's probably a good thing they had a boy. I don't even want to think about how overprotective Action Man would be of a girl. Especially if she grew up to have her mother's sense of style."

Becker paled slightly at the thought, making the team laugh once again.

"There still time for that." Matt added, enjoying watching the soldier squirm.

"Do you think Jess and I could have a chance to recover from our first child, before we go thinking about the next?"

Emily and Abby shot a look at Jess, impressed that Becker was so committed to her that he was able to admit to wanting another child with the woman.

Jess smiled back at them. Becker really was a changed man. He expressed his feelings a lot better than he used to—or at least he did when he was with her—and he didn't let their job get to him as much as he used to. He was finally dealing with the loss he has experienced, and he no longer let it interfere with his present. Sure, there were still days were he felt like everything was crashing down on him, but when that happened he talked to her, instead of pulling away like he used to.

It probably also helped that Jess hadn't gone out into the field again. Lester forbade it the moment he learnt that she was pregnant.

"Okay, time for presents." Connor announced as Daniel was passed to his father.

"You guys shouldn't have," Jess protested, but started laughing as soon as she saw what Connor had bought. The scientist pulled a small, plush toy dinosaur out of a bag and showed it to the baby, who stared at it blankly. Undeterred, Connor placed the toy on the table beside Jess, claiming that Daniel would love it when he was older.

"This is from Matt and I," Emily said handing Jess a bag. "I hope they are to your liking. The woman at the store said it would make a good gift, as you can never have too many when it comes to young children."

Jess looked in the bag and found a set of four body suits, all in different prints.

"Thank you, they're all great."

Daniel started to cry then, and Jess took him from Becker.

"He's probably hungry again."

"Connor, why don't you and I go grab everyone some coffees?" Matt suggested, thinking it would be best if they were out of the room while Jess fed Daniel. Even if Jess was comfortable with them being there, he doubted Becker would be.

"Becker, why don't you go with them? You could probably use a caffeine kick."

"I'm fine Jess."

"You've been stuck in this room for as long as I have, plus you've been awake since two this morning, and—unlike me—I doubt you've had any rest. Go with them and take a minute to reset, we'll both be fine while you're gone."

"Okay." Becker kissed Jess and Daniel before following Matt and Connor from the room, leaving her with Abby and Emily.

They returned half an hour later and it wasn't long before the team was saying their goodbyes and heading home.


Not long after the team had left, Lester and his wife turned up to see the couple and their new baby.

"How are you doing dear?" Helen Lester asked Jess, coming to stand beside the young woman's bed.

"I'm okay, just a little tired, and I feel like my emotions are all over the place."

"Well this might help with that." The older woman pulled a box of chocolates from the bag she was carrying.

"That will definitely help, thank you"

"This is for you Captain; Lord knows you'll need it." Lester said handing Becker a bottle of scotch.

"Thank you, sir."

"And we didn't forget about the little one." Mrs Lester took a small teddy bear out of her bag, gesturing to wear Connor had left his gift she continued. "Shall a put it by the other toys?"

"Thank you, this is all very kind of you." Jess said as the woman moved to the other side of the bed.

Noticing what the other toy was Lester scoffed. "From Temple I presume?"

"Oh hush James, it's a darling present." Helen scolded before shifting her attention to the little boy asleep in his crib. "Such a gorgeous little boy, what's his name?"

"Daniel," Becker said, coming to sit beside Jess.

"Let's hope this one 's less trouble than the last." Came Lester's sarcastic response.

The Lesters didn't stay long, knowing how tired Jess and Becker must be, having been in their position more than once.

Jess managed to get some rest again after they left, and when she woke up the sight that greeted her was similar to the one that she had woken up to earlier that day. Becker was sitting in the armchair again, with Daniel in his arms, but this time, both father and son were asleep.

Jess smiled at the twist her life had taken. Seven months ago she had been preparing to leave her friends to go start a new life and raise her son on her own. But after a twist of fate—and some interference from Abby and Connor—she was able to stay where she was and she had Becker here to help her.

It was sometimes hard to believe the way her life had turned out. If someone had told her a year ago, that she would have a turbulent relationship with Becker, that ended with them living together with a son on the way. She wouldn't have believed them; it seemed far too unlikely. But life—especially their lives—took the unexpected turns, and though they can be hard to deal with at the time, they're the turns that get you to where you're meant to be. Sure if given the choice, she probably wouldn't have chosen to have a baby so young, but now that it's happened, she couldn't imagine life any other way.

I'm incredibly lucky to have so many people who care about me in my life.

Becker woke up then, smiling when he saw Jess watching him.

"What are you thinking about?" he asked, echoing his words from earlier.

"Just about how lucky I am to have you."

Becker got up and carefully lay Daniel down in his crib, before joining Jess on the bed again.

"Believe me, I'm the lucky one." He said, telling her the same thing he had the shop assistant that had mistaken Jess for his girlfriend, back before they started dating. "I love you."

Leaning down Becker kissed her slowly, letting her feel just how much he truly did love her.

"I love you too." Jess said when they pulled apart, before moving in to kiss him again.

Yes, life could take some strange turns—they knew that better than anyone—but it always worked out in the end.


Author's Note: And that's the end. I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I have writing it. Thank you to everyone who's followed, favourited, and especially reviewed, your support has been greatly appreciated.

I have another story that I'm working at the moment that I'll probably start publishing in the next few days. It'll be quite a bit shorter than this as I want to get it finished before uni starts in March, it'll also have less drama (I hope).