Chapter 7. Thinking About Us
They met up with Jess as soon as they got to the ARC.
"Where is it?" Becker asked jumping right in and beginning to load weapons.
"Theatre on Cooper Street," she said, "I'm still trying to get in touch with Matt."
"Alright, Abby and I are going to go on ahead, have Matt meet us there."
"Will do!"
The theatre was dark when they got there, something was off.
"I don't see Matt anywhere." Abby said quietly.
"Jess said, he was here. Apparently, he was close when he got the call, his position is coming from backstage."
They headed back stage and began looking around, the first thing they found was the anomaly and Becker sat to work sealing it as Abby began looking around.
"Becker!" her voice came from several feet away, and sounded panicked, "You may want to see this!"
He hurried over, worrying first and foremost that it was a creature and she was in danger. It wasn't a creature, it was a woman's body, dead, but not from a creature attack. He leaned down and checked her pulse for good measure, shaking his head slightly when he didn't get one.
"What the hell is going on here?" Abby asked looking over at him.
"I have no idea, but I'm liking it less and less by the second."
They moved through the backstage area, Abby stopped and picked something up so Becker could see, Matt's black communication box.
"You don't think he's gone through, do you?"
"He's not that stupid," Becker said, staring at the anomaly, "He wouldn't, not without backup, he's didn't want me going in after you."
"But what if he has, and he tries to come back and the anomaly is sealed?"
"We can't take that kind of chance, unsealing it."
"If a creature comes through, we can deal with it, we can't take a chance that he is on the other side, trapped, either. You don't know what it's like." she said, her blue eyes boring into his.
He reached out and cupped her cheek in his, "You're right, but I do know what it's like to have someone I care about trapped on the other side. Let's get it unsealed."
"Thank you," she said, reaching up and squeezing his hand.
They'd barely had the anomaly open a full minute when Matt came through supporting a girl. Becker didn't even had a chance to seal it back before a lizard-like creature came through after him.
Becker quickly pushed Abby out of the way, struggling to get a decent shot at it. He could see Abby out of the corner of his eye trying to get the anomaly sealed again.
"Abby, look out!" he yelled as the creature leapt in her direction.
She looked up, and seeing the creature coming at her, darted to the side. Becker squeezed the trigger on the EMD, watching as the creature fell to the ground. He caught Abby's eyes, who sighed in relief and gave him a small smile. They unsealed the anomaly and got the creature back through, Matt having already left for the hospital with the girl he'd come through the anomaly with.
He walked over to her and noticed the blood on her sleeve, and began to panic slightly.
"What happened to your arm?"
"Hmm," she said looking down, "Oh that, caught it on a prop, it's nothing."
He let it drop until they got back to his flat, where he immediately went and retrieved a first aid kit. Coming back out, he found her sitting on the bed, rubbing it gingerly.
"Nothing, huh?" he mused.
"It's just a little sore."
"Can you umm, pull the sleeve down or something so I can take a look at it?"
She struggled with the sleeve for a minute before realizing it wasn't coming down far enough, and removing the shirt completely. Becker tried to keep his eyes focused on her wounded arm, but kept finding his gaze straying. It wasn't helping matters that her skin was soft, warm and inviting under his touch. He applied a bandage to her shoulder and pulled back.
"There that should have you taken care of."
"Thanks," she said with a smile.
"Not a problem," he said running a finger down her cheek.
She leaned her face into his hand, and he stroked it gently, before leaning down and pressing his lips very gently against hers.
"I was thinking 'bout her, thinking 'bout me. Thinking 'bout us, what we gonna be?" Nelly
