The next day Becker spent the morning working at the station next to Jess. He was half-hoping that there would be a large number of text messages and phone calls coming in that he could put a stop to, but there was only one all morning, and Jess swore it was her grandmother when he asked her about it. She hadn't looked particularly pleased at the criticism either. Then just before lunch Matt appeared with an enormous bouquet of flowers. Matt was very keen on gardening, but Becker thought this was just a little bit too girly even for him. He was about to point this out to Matt when he saw the man walk over to Jess and give them to her.

Jess squealed with delight, and Matt looked fairly pleased at the reaction. Becker started to fantasise about shooting Matt (whom Jess had known for ages and had never previously seemed interested in her) with something a bit stronger than an EMD. He wondered if Emily knew about this?

Evidently she did, as she'd been following Matt and seemed almost as enamoured with the flowers as Jess did. She at least refrained from squealing, which his eardrums thanked her for. Matt, it transpired, had signed for them at the door. He could live another day, Becker decided. Matt probably wouldn't die if he was shot anyway, he was Futureman after all.

Apparently flowers were a reason for what seemed like every woman in the ARC to swarm around Jess and admire them. Becker was forced to sit there and listen to all the ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the size of the bouquet, and the colours, and the romantic note on the card. Whatever was on the card didn't get read out, but everyone seemed to be finding it highly entertaining, and Jess was blushing like mad and shaking her head, telling them it wasn't what they thought. The creep obviously enjoyed embarrassing her.

Eventually he could stand it no longer, and took his laptop up to Lester's office to use the computer there, as their boss was off spending the day at some meeting with the Minister. Becker could still see the flowers, and still see Jess and her entourage. Even Connor had gone along for a look. Connor was supposed to be his friend. Next time some dinosaur tried to eat him Becker wasn't so sure that he would save him quite so quickly. Maybe let the creature chew on an arm or something.

Connor popped his head round the door. "You hiding?"

"Just looking for a bit of peace and quiet, Connor. All that squealing makes it hard to write this report."

Connor didn't take the hint. Instead he came in and closed the door. "Jess seems pretty happy about this new bloke, " he commented helpfully.

"Indeed."

"Has anyone met him yet?"

"Jess, apparently."

Connor laughed, realised he was the only one doing so, and tried to turn it into a cough. "She seems quite impressed with him."

"The big ponce certainly seems to know his way around velvet bows and flowers," Becker replied grumpily.

"And restaurants. She says they went to a really expensive one last night."

"Waste of money. What's wrong with takeout?"

"I asked Abby that once. I didn't ask it again."

"Jess likes takeout!" He hadn't meant his voice to rise a little bit at the end there.

Connor raised an eyebrow but had the sense not to comment on it. "Think she liked the fancy restaurant better, mate. She says this one was amazing. And judging by what's written on the card, she was very appreciative!" Connor stopped, seeing the look on his friend's face, and added: "Um... well, it might not mean that...she says it doesn't but she's not fooling anyone...um...sorry."

Becker gave up trying to type his report in Lester's office. It might be more peaceful on the firing range that morning. He picked up his laptop. Connor was still looking apologetic.

"Look, if you want to go for a beer or something at lunchtime... they'll all be talking about it in the canteen."

"Thanks, no." He would rather starve than listen to all the gossip about Jess's new man, especially as Abby would be demanding details, but lunch with Connor and his well-meaning but blundering attempts to make him feel better wasn't going to help. Besides, Matt might join them. He intended to avoid Matt, who was certain to have some pointed comments. If their roles were reversed he doubted he would be able to resist telling Matt how very stupid he was for not making a move on the girl he liked in better time.

"Or this evening, beer after work is always good!"

"Why the sudden concern?" He knew why, but hoped it would get Connor off his back. Once, perhaps, it would have done, but Connor was engaged now and appeared to think this made him an expert on women.

"Well because Jess has this new bloke, and although you're even slower than me it must be pretty horrible to watch. When I thought Abby was seeing someone, even though it turned out to be just her brother come to stay, I was gutted..."

Becker left the office before Connor could say anything else. Unfortunately the only way to the shooting range was past Jess's station. He hadn't noticed before, but she was wearing the velvet ribbon from the chocolate box the previous day tied around her pony tail. Tacky. He wondered if anyone would believe it was an accident if he brushed against the flowers and knocked them on the floor. Probably not. People were glancing at him. It was quite embarrassing. It wasn't as if he'd been seeing her or anything. And he'd always been very subtle about his interest in her, unlike Jess who had worn her heart on her sleeve every day. He still couldn't believe that she'd become interested in someone else so quickly.

The card was open on the top of her station. He couldn't help reading the message that the florist had printed out:

'These are nowhere near as beautiful as you, my darling. You were wonderful last night xxx'

He felt a bit nauseated. Looking up, he realised Jess was looking at him with those huge blue eyes. She looked a little worried, then realised he was looking back and lowered her gaze.

"Nice flowers," he lied.

"Thanks." She met his gaze again, biting her lip. He thought that he could see some affection still there, but perhaps it was wishful thinking.

He left the laptop back at his station. He wasn't going to need it at the firing range, where he was going to use his trusty shotgun instead of the stupid EMD. Using proper guns always brightened his day.


The next day Jess was late for work.

Becker watched as she raced to her station, apologising profusely to the duty co-ordinator who had been forced to stay an extra twenty minutes after his shift should have finished.

"Sorry! Sorry! I'll make it up next time you're due to follow one of my shifts, promise! We're going to Devon for the weekend at the last minute and had to reserve a hotel or it would have gone, and I really am sorry!"

The night shift co-ordinator wasn't impressed. Neither was Becker, mostly with the holiday.

"Couldn't Lover Boy book it himself?" he grumbled. "Not very professional, coming in at this time. What if there was an anomaly?"

"Was there?"

"No, but that's not the point. And Lester wants to see you."

Jess pulled a face. "I suppose you told him I was late?"

"He could see for himself." Actually, Becker had considered pointing it out to him, just in case he'd missed it. He'd also desperately wanted to point out that it was a sign Jess's standards were slipping, and that perhaps Lester should speak to her about priorities and what was important. And the most important thing of all was that the flower-loving chocolate man was a dangerous distraction that Jess would be better off without. Reluctantly he'd decided that might be a bit petty and maintained a stoic silence. But when Lester had called down to him that he wanted to see Jess when she finally turned up, Becker hadn't been able to resist feeling just a little bit smug.

Jess trotted up to Lester's office. A little later she returned, a big smile on her face, and sat in front of her station.

It wasn't quite the reaction Becker had hoped for. He wandered over, annoyed to see that Jess was wearing one of the flowers from the previous day's bouquet in her hair.

"There could be insects in that flower," he pointed out. "If one bites you..."

"I have my epi-pen," she reassured him. "And I'm sure it doesn't have any insects. Most florists spray their flowers for things like that, don't worry."

It looked ridiculous as well, he thought but decided it would be best if he didn't say so. All huge and pink, it would probably wilt in the heat of the office. "What did Lester say?" he asked casually, hoping Jess had been told to cool it with the irritating creep.

For a moment he thought he might've succeeded. She gave him a mildly irritated look, obviously knowing exactly why he was asking. "Oh, he's been to the town in Devon we're going to tonight," she told him, watching his expression. Then suddenly she beamed at him: "He suggested a great pub in the centre, and there's a lovely walk up to a waterfall. And he's let me have Monday off so that we don't have to rush back! He's quite sweet really, isn't he?"

That was one word for it. Lester, now that he thought about it, had known Jess for even longer than Matt had, and had never shown the slightest interest... No, he'd been in the ARC very early that morning, it couldn't possibly be him.

"You shouldn't be going away with this man so soon, Jess. What if he turns out to be some kind of psychotic killer and you end up buried under that waterfall? You should take a gun, just in case."

"He's not a psychotic killer."

"You don't know."

Jess swung round to face him. "No, Becker, you don't know. You've not met him, you don't know anything about him. Why can't you just be pleased for me like everyone else is?"

"What's his name?"

"I'm not telling you his name, you'll start checking on him."

"So you think he has something to hide?"

"No!" Her mobile went off at that moment and she went to answer it. He didn't even try to hide the fact that he was listening in. It sounded as though she were giving her credit card details.

"Was that for the holiday?" he asked, as soon as Jess rang off.

"Yes. God, you're nosey!"

"Why are you paying? Why isn't Mr Flowers and Chocolates paying? Or did you buy those too?"

Jess gave an exasperated sigh. "No, I didn't. This is my treat. He's been buying me things all week."

Becker harrumphed disbelievingly. "He's using you."

"No, he isn't. Haven't you got work to do somewhere?"

"I'm working here."

"Somewhere else. Don't your guns need looking at? Have you stroked them this morning? Hmm? They'll get jealous!" He thought he heard her then mutter: "There's a lot of it about," under her breath.

She did have a point. He hadn't checked the armoury yet that day. He didn't really feel like it though.


Apparently it was a seaside town, and during her lunch break Jess had bought a very small bikini for the beach.

Becker was starting to hate lunchtime in the staff canteen. Abby and Emily were both there admiring Jess's purchases and giggling with her at whatever else was in her shopping bag.

Lester let Jess skip off home ten minutes early, so in total she'd missed an entire half hour that day. Becker wondered if it could be docked from her wages to stop her buying any more holiday breaks for her user of a boyfriend.

He tried spending most of the evening at the shooting range. It didn't help at all.

On Saturday he serviced and catalogued his entire private gun collection. It took all day. He didn't stop thinking about the toerag who had taken Jess away for the entire time.

On Sunday he gave up and called Connor after all, saying that he wanted to go for a beer, and almost begged him not to bring Matt.

Sadly for Becker, although there was no Matt, Abby decided to come along. Connor made vague attempts at being sympathetic, but Abby wasted no time in telling Becker it was his own fault for not making a move on Jess himself. Becker drank a lot of beer. It didn't make him feel better, and come the morning it made him feel a lot worse.

Luckily there were no anomaly alerts on Monday, with their loud sirens. Becker didn't go near the firing range. He knew, from the way his head was pounding, that it wouldn't make him feel any better.