prompt: one character cheering up another character - Becker/Jess.
.x.x.x.x.x.
Jess Parker was on edge. Many stressful days and late nights were wearing away her usual friendly cheerfulness and her coworkers were beginning to notice. Tension radiated within the Hub these days as people walked on eggshells around her. Connor stopped dropping by her station to show off his lasted high-tech toys, and she never had tea with Abby anymore. She was overworked to the point of irritability but she was so essential to keeping the ARC operating at peak efficiency that no one thought to insist she take a break.
Except for Captain Becker. He'd had his eye on her for a while now, noting as the shadows beneath her eyes got darker and her fuse grew shorter. Finally the day came when she lost her temper. As the team was prepping for the field, Becker strapped on his vest and checked his equipment before inserting his communications earpiece. Suddenly there was a fierce shriek of feedback through the line, like daggers into his eardrum. And Jessica's.
"OW!" Jess exclaimed as she ripped off her headset and frantically dialed down the feed from Becker's mic. "Oh for heaven's sake, Captain, are you trying to ruin my bloody day?! Honestly, you've used these comms enough, haven't you figured them out yet?"
"Sorry, Jess-"
She turned abruptly and presented her back to him before he could finish. As she replaced her headset with an indignant toss of her hairand fingered her controls, he heard her muttering darkly to herself about "soldier boys destroying all her best tech".
Captain Becker cast a long, contemplative look in her direction before he sighed and replaced his earpiece. He'd have to worry about Jessica later; right now he had a job to do.
.x.x.x.x.
Jess was curtly professional as she coordinated the team's efforts in locating and locking the anomaly. When they had swept the area and found no sign of incursion, Becker ordered everyone back to the ARC but informed base he'd be taking a detour during his return. When he made it back to the Hub, Jess barely acknowledged him, she kept her eyes on her screens as she held out a hand for his comms. But instead of placing his earpiece and locator in her palm, he slipped his hand into hers and pulled her out of her chair with a gentle tug.
"Captain, what-?"
"Need your help with something. Come with me." he said, giving her hand another tug as he set off for the corridors.
Well he could have simply asked, she thought with a huff. She clattered along behind him, concentrating on keep pace with his long strides, tricky in her tall heels. IT was a few moments before she noticed the bulging military-issue canvas bag he was carrying.
"Help with what? Whats in the bag?"
"Sorry, highly classified, can't explain now." Becker said, but Jess thought she saw one of his eyebrows raised in his uniquely subtle expression of amusement. Well if he wasn't going to say, she wasn't going to beg to know. After a few more minutes she realized he was leading her to the Menagerie. If Abby needed help, why hadn't she asked Jess herself? They had just seen each other in the Hub not a half hour before when the team returned ahead of Becker.
Her confusion mounted as their entered the Menagerie and Becker headed straight for the observation deck instead of Abby's office. She nearly ran into his back, not expecting him to pause at the railing above the mammoth's enclosure. Becker turned to her, setting the bag on the walkway and putting a hand on her shoulder.
"What's this about, Becker? I've got work to do."
"Work can wait. That's what this is about. You're working too hard and it is affecting your performance." He said, blunt but not unkind.
Jess was dumbfounded, for a moment utterly speechless. She poured every bit of effort and know-how into her job because she knew how important it was. Peoples lives depended on her. To have Becker standing here telling her it wasn't good enough… well, it hurt.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Captain." Jess's voice was cold and stiff at first but as she spoke, her temper flamed. "Perhaps you'd feel more comfortable with another coordinator. Though Lester will be hard put to find someone who will work their bloody arse off as I have!"
Becker's warm hand squeezed her shoulder gently, cutting her off before she could build up a good head of steam.
"Don't misunderstand me, Jessica. You are the best there is. But even the best can burn out. If you insist on overachieving and giving 110% of yourself at all times, there will be nothing left of you. You're already different from the friendly Jess Parker i met when i came back to the ARC, the one who had a smile for everyone and a laugh for every bad joke."
"I do my job."
"But it is your job, not your life. You don't have to live youre job. If you don't take some downtime you are going to collapse, and then you wont be any good to anyone." She opened her mouth to speak but he gave her a shake. "When was the last time you took an hour for yourself?"
Jess found she couldn't answer. Lately it seemed like she worked from the moment she got out of bed until long after her head should have hit the pillow. Even her commutes too and from work were a blur she was often too tired to remember. Suddenly she felt vaguely depressed. All the work she had done, the extra hours she had put in and for what? Sure, the ARC operated more smoothly than it ever had, but what did she, personally, have to show for it? Nothing, except the man standing before her now hinting that everyone was getting sick of her behavior.
Becker could see Jess growing despondent and knew that depression was no healthy substitute for irritation. Hopefully he had something for that. Releasing her, he snagged his bag from the floor and unzipped it.
"So, Miss Parker, you are hereby under orders to take an hour to enjoy yourself. I'll have Lester back them up if I need to. I do need your help though, see.." From within the bag Becker extracted a massive bunch of bananas, golden yellow and fragrant. "I can't possibly feed all these to that overgrown elephant by myself."
.x.x.x.x.
They spent a pleasant hour seated on the observation deck. Becker produced from his bag a thermos of rich cocoa and they sipped the warming drink as they fed bananas to the ecstatic mammoth. Jess managed to unwind enough to laugh when the creature's trunk, questing for its next treat, tickled her leg. They chatted companionably, talking about this and that. Becker revealed that bananas were his personal favorite, joking that he'd been quite tempted to keep the large cluster for himself. They avoided the subject of work until just before they left when Jess contritely apologized for snapping at him earlier.
"If you promise to start taking it easy more often, we'll call it forgotten." Becker said. "For now we do need to get back to the Hub." He helped her to her feet, then shouldered his bag. Snagging the last banana, he peeled it, taking a large bite before tossing the rest to the mammoth. "Don't expect treats like this every day though, Dumbo."
"His name isn't Dumbo," Jess laughed as she led the way out of the Menagerie, a tiny mischievous smile playing at her lips. "I named him Hilary."
Behind her she heard Becker choke on his banana.