This chapter turned out to be longer than I thought=)

Have fun!

Jess entered her flat with two heavy shopping bags in her hands.

Her keys made a loud metallic sound as they hit the shelf that stood at one side of the hallway.

As she stood there in the middle of the empty and silent hallway she thought about how nice it would be to have a cat. Just someone who would wait for her and greet her when she came home from a long exhausting day.

Her heels clicked on the floor as she walked into the kitchen.

But then again who would take care of it when she had to work late?

With a sad sigh she realised just how lonely she felt and figured that it was probably the reason why she had stayed so late at the ARC every evening over these last few weeks.

She started putting the food into the fridge.

Maybe a neighbour would take care of her pet until she came home…

But she quickly dropped that idea again, because she wouldn't trust anyone anymore besides her colleagues and friends.

Not after everything that had happened.

The bags rustled loudly in the prevailing silence as Jess stuffed them under the sink. It was already late and she hadn't eaten anything today, but was she hungry?

Undecidedly she opened the fridge to look at the food. Merely a few seconds later she closed it again, no, she wasn't hungry.

Longingly she stared out of the window and decided that the TV might chase the loneliness away, even though she knew that it was a poor attempt to forget about the one she really wanted to have near her right now.

Becker didn't trust the silence that was lingering like a thick fog in the air above the camp. It was depressing and sat on his chest like a big stone that made it harder to breathe and on top of that he kept running into Trudy over and over again.

"Soldier Boy!" With her salacious gazes she practically undressed him right there all over again.

Becker was sick of it and about to turn around again.

"Oh come on, don't give me that. You can hardly blame me for feeling attracted to you, Captain." There was a husky seductive undertone in her voice.

Why couldn't she just leave him alone?

"Just leave it, okay?" He snapped.

Suddenly she was next to him.

"Just a question: What if you can't go back? What if they won't find what you are looking for?"

"I'll find another way then!" He barked and just wanted to get away from her, but Trudy was obstinate.

"There might not be one."

"There's always a way! Now leave me alone!"

Trudy pulled a face starring after him.

"Damn it!" Connor threw the piece he was working on onto the table and left his lab without looking back. He went straight over to Abby who was just feeding Rex with some Grasshoppers.

"Hey!" She greeted him. Connor just hugged her wordlessly and Abby frowned, but was quite amused in some way.

"Er, Connor?"

"It's not working!" He complained almost sounding like a frustrated child. Abby suppressed a chuckle and rubbed over his back.

"Connor?"

"Hm?"

"You're heavy!"

"Oh, sorry." He hadn't noticed just how much he had leaned onto Abby. "I will never figure out how to make it work which means we can never get Becker back and how can I ever face Jess again? There won't be anyone to tease anymore. And we can't stop Ethan and…"

"Connor!" Abby's voice was firm but calm. "Why don't you get yourself a coffee and try again later?" Connor wrinkled his nose. "I am sure you will figure it out."

"Can I have a kiss first?" He asked warily.

Abby smiled and placed a soft kiss onto his lips, while she caressed his cheek. "Feeling better?"

"Not really. Maybe…if…another one?"

"Connor!"

"Okay, okay, see you later!" He said sounding disappointed.

Abby chuckled. "I am all yours tonight if you solve your problem."

He paused. "Now that's a motivation!" And grinned.

"Lester, can I talk to you for a minute?" Matt asked as he entered the boss's office. Lester motioned to him to take a seat.

"What about?"

"Prospero."

"Ah, that would have been my guess." Lester rubbed his chin starring at Matt who went on:

"So? Don't you think it's odd that they just burn down their bridges and move all their stuff to the headquarters?"

"Of course it is!" Lester had this harsh tone in his voice again. "But you can be certain that they won't give anything away. The official statement is that they need more space and better equipment! And of course they don't want to interfere with our work and certainly don't want us to pry around in their labs." He threw a knowing gaze at the team leader.

"There are rumours that they found something." Matt simply replied.

"Which would be even more concerning. I don't trust those morons for an inch!"

"Yeah, me too. So, do we agree that we should keep an eye on them?"

"Well, of course I have to tell you that Prospero is not our business. But well…I can't tell you what to do with your free time." Lester stared into Matt's eyes and the man nodded getting the hint.

"Of course, I understand that we should mind our own business…" He stressed the word "should" and Lester nodded satisfied and leaned backwards.
"What about this Ethan character?"

"Not giving anything away. He's being very cryptic."

Lester sighed. "Which means we still have no idea what happened to Becker."

"No, Sir."

"Great!" Lester said sarcastically. "Well, keep trying."

"Of course." Matt stood up in order to leave but before he could reach the door Lester called him back: "Anderson, between the two of us: How high do you think are his chances?"

"Between the two of us…" Matt said slowly. "We might have to expect the worst."

That moment it knocked and Jess stuck her head into the room.

"Sorry, to disturb you. Lester, there is something you have to sign, because of Prospero."

"Come in Jess. Matt, that's all for now, thank you."

Matt nodded and left the room.

Poor Jess. It would crush her.

Becker tried to keep himself busy. The group who would invade Ethan's camp had left just an hour ago, but to Becker it already felt like an eternity.

"Hey Becker." Sally greeted him as she sat down next to him to keep him company. She carried six rabbit like creatures on strings over her shoulder and dropped them in front of her onto the ground.

"Have you ever disembowelled an animal?"

"Er, no."

"Wanna help me?" She asked far too cheerily offering him a knife.

"Sure."

"Great! I'll show you what to do! Uhm…and…do you mind if I asked you more question about your time? Everyone tells me not to bother you, but I find it so fascinating!"

Becker actually smiled at the bubbly girl.

"I don't mind. What do you want to know?"

Her eyes sparkled and he felt quite comfortable with her, maybe because she reminded him so much of someone else…

"Great! Er, the animal, you have to remove the fur, like this…yes…that's it!" She showed him how to do it. "So, your time must be pretty easy, right? You can fly, you don't have to walk and you can even communicate over long distances, can't you?"

Becker chuckled. "Easy is not the word I would use, but it's pretty comfortable that's true."

"But what isn't easy about it? You don't even have to hunt, have you?"

"No, well, you see, we have different problems, mainly moral and ethnic ones, concerning other people or the environment. It's a very technical time, but not all of these inventions are good. Most of them bear a lot of disadvantages."

Sally thought about it for a while. "I am not sure if I understand that."

"Yeah, it's quite complex. I guess you would have to see it, to really understand it. I don't even know where to start explaining."

She nodded. "I guess so. …Can you take me?" The question just slipped out of her. Becker looked at her and hesitated before he answered. "Well, I am not sure if my time would be the right place for you."

"But I want to see it! All the magic you can do!"

"Magic?"

"It does sound like magic! All the things you can do! I mean, do you know how all those inventions work?"

"Well, no I don't. They just work."

"See, to me that does sound magical!"

In a long time Becker hadn't laughed like this.

"Don't mock me!" Sally said suddenly insecure.

"Sorry, I am not mocking you. It's just…you remind me of a good friend of mine and sometimes I wish I could see the world through your eyes."

Sally focused on the animals again. "Now you have to cut the stomach open and pull the organs out, but don't rip them apart! We can use all of them for something." But just as quickly she changed the topic again. "What I don't really understand is: You have technology for everything, but why do humans still extinct?"

"What do you mean?" Becker frowned.

"Jared said that Ethan took him and a bunch of others to the future to look for whatever and there was no one left, but some creepy creatures."

That was the moment when Becker realised why Jess hadn't been there, why no one had been there. Matt had been right all along. There was no future. Not for humans anyway…but why?

Where did those ugly future predators suddenly come from?

"Becker?"

He shook his head. "Sorry, uhm, I have no idea…"

It was already dark and everyone had left except for Jess who was collecting sheets of papers, sorting files, running security checks, everything that would keep her busy.

"Jessica, what are you still doing here?" A voice suddenly said and Jess turned around in her chair.

"Hi Julian! I am er…doing security stuff." As she realised that she had used the same excuse Becker had once before she could have kicked herself. She decided to quickly change the subject. "What about you? Do you take the nightshift?"

"Yes, I do. You look tired. Shouldn't you go home?"

"Oh, I will in a minute." She lied.

Abby woke Jess up in the morning, because she had fallen asleep at the ADD.

"Jess." She gently shook her shoulder.

Jess jerked. "What? Is it Becker?"

"No, honey. You've fallen asleep at the ADD." The blond woman stroked a strand of hair out of the younger ones face.

"Oh…" Jess looked around. "Has Lester seen it?"

"No." Abby shook her head, her eyes gleaming with sorrow.

Jess sighed in relief and touched her messy hair, trying to figure out how great the damage was.

"Why don't you take a shower and change while I'll get some breakfast?"

Jess smiled at Abby. "Thanks, Abby."

"Sure."

Jess put on a brave smile and walked out of the room with her head held high, but Abby stared after Jess with a sad look on her face.

Becker had spent the whole night waiting and worrying expectantly at the fire place. It was no use he couldn't take his mind off the mission, not for a mere second.

Tiredly he rubbed over his face. Every bone and muscle in his body was sour and ached.

By now it must have been early morning, but no one had returned since the departure.

Something had surely gone wrong!

Becker broke the stick in his hand in two and threw it into the hungry flames.

Slowly the sky was already becoming brighter and soon the sun would rise. He stared into the whispering flames and tried to swallow the lump in his throat.

He was so tired and exhausted.

Sally walked up to him yawning loudly.

"You're still sitting here? Did you sleep?"

Becker shook his head.

"They aren't back yet, are they?"

"No."

"Don't worry! They've done it lots of times, but they have to wait for the right moment."

"Yeah." Becker answered curtly.

"Look who is still here!" Trudy mocked joining them. "I told you so."

"Shut up, Trudy!" Sally snapped.

Trudy raised her eyebrows at her and scoffed. "Excuse me? Are you telling me what to do?"

"He's miserable enough! Don't you think?"

"Oooooh, sorry! I never wanted to hurt ones feelings…"

"This is so you!" Sally yelled. "You…"

"Hey!" Becker shouted and then said in a calm menacing voice. "I don't want you to attract any creatures and I certainly don't want to hear you two screaming at each other, okay? So both of you: shut the fucking hell up!"

Both women were surprised that Becker had said anything, so they really became quiet, rather out of surprise than obedience but the result was the same.

Time went by and the sun rose higher and higher above the tree tops, but then Jack came out of the forest.

Becker stood up even though his leg was hurting.

He stared with wide eyes at the young man whose eyes stared back at him out of a muddy face.

Becker's heart beat a mile a minute as he saw the serious features.

Say something, he thought, anything!

Becker's mouth was dry and he didn't think he could make any sound. His tongue was too heavy and he could only wait for Jack to speak.

Why didn't he say anything? Why was he just standing there?

He wanted to scream at him, but just as he found his ability to move again other people followed and Jack started to grin.

"Ready to go home, Captain?"

Almost there!;)

I have to look over the next chapter once more, but it should be up soon.=)

Thanks for reading!