Well this is exciting; I have actually managed to write another chapter without a six-month gap in between. Wow. I might need to sit down. Anyway, the usual thanks to Prawn Crackers for reviewing, and I hope you enjoy this chapter. I think you will…

"Who was that, Jack?" Teresa demanded, not in her usual low, hissing kind of way, but using a more weary tone. It scared Jack just a little bit more than the hissing would have; she only did that when she had reached the end of whatever tether she had been clinging to for the last few hours.

"No one you know," he repeated. "Just someone with useful contacts."

"It sounded like Galvan."

Jack sighed. He hated it when she knew everything.

"Yes, okay, fine. You win. It was Galvan."

"I told you to stay away from him!"

"I know. The only snag being that you told me a long time after we had started doing deals."

"What kind of deals?"

"Oh, you know. Information for a bit of hired muscle. The usual thing."

"Information? You mean he knows about Ortega?"

"Apparently so. He claims to have a man on the inside, but I very much doubt it. He is useful, Tres, there's no denying that."

"Be that as it may, he is dangerous too. He's the sort of man who would shoot you in the back if it suited his purposes or gave him a bigger profit. And anyway, your Spanish is terrible; he could be telling you anything."

"It's not that bad," Jack grumbled. She was right, though; he had no clue what Galvan was saying half the time.

"Yes it is. Let me talk to him next time."

"No!" he shouted, and cursed himself a second later.

"Why?"

He sighed again. "Because he can't know that I know where you are. You're right, as usual; he does deals on both sides. He's being paid double what I could ever give him to turn you in too."

"Great."

"I know."

"No, really, that's a good thing."

"Umm... I don't follow."

"It's a good thing because we, or specifically I, can play that to our advantage. If, say, I answer your phone, and tell him you don't actually know I'm here, I can get anything out of him I need."

"How? The only way Galvan will give you anything is if you pay him."

"Your phone signal is hidden, right?"

"Not that one. It's new, and I have been busy."

"Also good... Are you following me yet?"

"No..." then it clicked in Jack's head. "Oh. You want him to be able to find you."

"Indeed. If he thinks he can find me, then he will tell me anything, just to keep me on the phone."

"So what's to stop him from lying to you?"

"I was getting there. I'll ask him a load of questions about Ortega that I know the answer to, and then if he lies, I'll... I don't know... Threaten him with something until he tells the truth. Fool proof plan."

"Except that within three minutes he WILL find you, and some of his lackeys will show up here to pick you up."

"And that, my dear brother, is where the ARC comes in. I can use the ADD to throw the phone signal. And then every time he calls, "you" will be in a different but still easily reachable place every time. You have got to admit, this is clever."

"Okay. I confess, it has potential." Truthfully, he had no idea if Galvan would fall for it; that man seemed to know everything that was going on at once.

"Great. When's he next going to call you?"

"Um..." Jack paused as three people emerged from the lift and headed in their direction, two men and a woman. The young man; he couldn't have been older than twenty-something; frowned and pointed at Jack in a way that he had probably confused for subtlety.

"Oh, hey guys," Teresa greeted them and didn't offer any introductions. "The big man's waiting."

"Yay," the young man said, earning himself a roll of the eyes from the woman. The three of them were beckoned through into the office, and the older man locked gazes with Jack until he had shut the door behind him. Even then, he could still feel eyes on his back.

"Friendly around here, aren't they?"

"Oh, that's just Matt. Doesn't trust anyone, don't take it personally. You were saying?"

"Hm? Right. Galvan... He said he'd call again in an hour, so... About forty five minutes."

"Fine. There's a locker room on the third floor. Go take a shower and come find me in the medical bay when you're done; I'll bandage that up again for you."

"Cheers. What about you, you alright?"

"Me? Yeah, fine."

"Tres..." he didn't believe her for a second. Her eyes were tired, and she hadn't insulted him in a while.

"I'm tired of this, Jack," she said grudgingly. "My whole life I have been trying to get out of it. What am I going to do; what are either of us going to do; when it's done?"

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "But I do know that it's going to be over soon."

"Really? How?"

"Oh, no reason. Just a hunch."

"You and your hunches. Go shower, you stink."

"Cheers." Jack laughed to himself; she was fine. Just a little tired, maybe. He made his way over to the elevator and eyed it with caution when it arrived; only a few hours ago this thing had been the vessel of death for him and Becker. Now it was just another harmless elevator. Funny, really, how suddenly things could change with just a mop and a bottle of bleach.

Teresa watched him go and sighed herself. Yesterday she had thought him dead, and today, there he was, just as inanely cheerful and determined as ever. She wondered sometimes if life wasn't a continuous thing, but instead a collection of instances that sometimes got put together in the wrong order. But that was too philosophical for her, weary and strained at half past six in the morning.

A knock on the glass behind her brought her back down to Earth, and she turned to see Matt beckoning her into the office.

"Do we know where Becker is?" Lester questioned as soon as the door was more than halfway open.

"No, but I can go find him for you."

"Do that. And then head back up here and fill Matt in on the events of the night. While you're at it you can write a report on it; I want to know in fairly good detail myself."

"Will that be all?" she asked, feeling like a secretary.

"For now."

"Jolly good."

"I'll do the sarcasm, thank you."

Teresa laughed and left the office, heading down towards the Hub.

"Jess, do you know where Becker went?"

"Probably down to the locker room for a shower and then on to either the armoury or the labs for equipment check. Most likely the armoury first."

"Thank you." she turned to leave but was stopped again.

"West?"

"Mmm?"

"I... I never thanked you."

"What for?"

"Well you did save my life."

Teresa laughed again. "No, I didn't. I think you would have managed that by yourself even if I hadn't shown up."

"Well... thanks anyway."

Teresa smiled, more to herself than Jess, and left the Hub. Jess had never taken a liking to her, she mused, a small detail that had become more obvious with that conversation. She wasn't the most likeable of people, she knew, but still, that didn't exactly warrant mindless hatred. West wondered what she had done. Knowing Jess as she did, probably not very much, and she certainly didn't let it play on her conscience. But still. It would be nice to know this kind of thing.

She found Becker exactly where Jess said he would be; in the armoury. He had a clean uniform on, she noted, something that she found surprising for no fathomable reason. She also noted his glass wound; while it had been stitched up very well, he had been using his arm too much recently to make it worth anything.

"You need to have that looked at," she said, coming further into the room. He turned abruptly; he hadn't realised she was there.

"It has been looked at," he muttered.

"I meant..."

"Yeah, I know what you meant." He sighed and leant against a crate of spare EMDs. "Nothing's missing here," he told her, pointlessly. She knew that already; he would have found it instantly if there was.

"Boss man wants to talk to you."

"What, again?"

"Mmmhmm. He's got Abby, Connor and Matt upstairs."

"Great. A man can't get five minutes by himself around here."

Teresa smirked. "Take it up with the unions," she suggested, earning herself a laugh from Becker

"You know you can probably go home," he said, wiping his eyes. "If there is another crisis today I will go insane."

"If anyone needs to go home, it's you, sir."

"Oh, so now I'm Sir to you?"

"Well, up until this point I have been either trying to prevent your death or possessor of the most knowledge in the situation."

Becker smiled a little, but didn't reply.

"Are you okay, sir?"

"You're right. I need to go home."

"You know, I can probably sway that with Lester if you want me to..."

"How? He doesn't like you."

"He doesn't like anyone."

"True. But that doesn't answer my question."

"A... shall we say, clause in the job description."

"What, that you can barter for Get out Of Jail Free cards with the boss?"

"No, that I have the authority to judge when you need time out for medical reasons. Due to your pointless stubbornness he thought it was a good idea."

"Oh."

"So, Captain, medical bay, Lester's office. In that order. Go. Now."

"Yes Ma'am." He sidestepped past her out of the armoury, leaving her to head back to Lester before he got there and persuade him to give the Captain the day off.

"...and there was nothing missing from the armoury, Sir. Full complement of EMDs accounted for." Becker concluded. He missed out the part about the small handful of lethal weapons he kept in a box in a corner, but they had all been there too, therefore he didn't feel the need to bring that up. They weren't supposed to be there anyway.

His fingers strayed to the fresh stitching on his arm. It was uncomfortable; there had been a different medic on duty and he had insisted that he replace it, against Becker's protests. It had been even more painful than the first time, but then again, at that point he had been semi-conscious and on sleep-inducing painkillers.

"Stop playing with it," Emily said from behind him, making him jump. He hadn't noticed her come in. "You'll infect it. Again."

"Excuse me; is anyone listening to what I am saying?" Lester enquired. 'No' was the response that immediately came to Becker's mind, but that was down to exhaustion, he reasoned.

"Sorry, Sir." was what he said instead.

"Hmm. Well I was going to say that you and Connor should head down to the research and development labs, but I have a report from your Sargent that you are in need of a medical leave of absence."

"What, already?" came out before Becker could think. He hadn't thought she would go straight up. "I mean..."

"Yes, she is terribly efficient. And she also insisted, so yes, you can have the rest of the day. Have Jess drive you; you're in no fit state to operate vehicles like that."

Becker had no intention whatsoever of asking Jess to drive him home, but unfortunately she chose that moment to appear brandishing some pieces of paper.

"Here's West's report," she stated.

"Bloody Hell," Connor muttered. "She was only in here fifteen minutes ago."

"Well maybe you can learn a thing or two from her, Connor," Lester replied curtly. "Jess, could you drive Captain Becker back to his flat? He has the day off."

"Lucky for some," Jess teased. Becker sighed. "Sure. Just let me get something running on the ADD. I'll meet you in the car park."

"It's really not necessary," Becker insisted ten minutes later when Jess arrived. Actually, it probably was; he felt like he was about to fall asleep on his feet if he wasn't careful.

"Don't worry; I'm not doing anything important." That too was a lie, Becker knew. Jess would have a whole host of things to get on with after a crisis like that.

"Are you... alright... by the way?" he asked. She too had taken a shower and cleaned herself up, but it hadn't crossed his mind to ask her how she was. She had almost been killed, after all.

"Fine. A little shaken, but I'm fine."

Becker nodded. By now they were hurtling through the streets of London towards his flat, and he watched the cars on the other side of the road, sitting motionless in the early morning rush hour. Fortunately, the roads out of the main city were clear, and their only problems were the occasional set of traffic lights.

Becker woke twenty minutes later to Jess shaking him lightly on the shoulder. They had arrived. He hadn't been aware of falling asleep, but wasn't at all surprised that he had. He smiled slightly at her and got out of the car. She followed him to the front door of the apartment building.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'll be fine tomorrow. I'm just worn out."

"Okay." she smiled, a genuine, bright smile, and headed back for her car.

"Jess," he called, crossing the short space in between them until they stood, barely inches apart from each other in the warm July sun. He had no idea what he was doing. But all the same, he knew that it had to be done. He would blame it on fatigue or something later. With one hand he cupped her cheek and brought her face up to meet his, and with the other he took hold of her waist and pulled it in towards him. She stumbled slightly but froze completely when their lips touched. He allowed only seconds of contact to last before disconnecting, but those seconds were enough. She stared up at him, her large blue eyes wide and full of wonder. Then, with no warning at all, she threw herself at him for the second time that morning and wrapped her arms around his neck. Becker took a few steps backwards and met the wall he knew was there, coming into contact with it with a painful actuality that he barely registered; Jess' lips had found his again, and he held one hand under her thigh, keeping her at just the right height. Their caresses were filled with a desperate longing, and Becker realised that he should have done this months ago.

He didn't know how long they stayed like that, and neither did he particularly care. But he did realise with a sudden acuteness that she would be in enormous trouble if she was later than bad traffic allowed.

"You need to go back to work," he murmured, making no effort to persuade her to. She made a noise in return, and they allowed another minute or so to pass. With a resigned sigh, Becker lowered her back to the floor. She complained at him, understandably, but he insisted, slowly pulling himself away from her until he was out of reach.

"Do you want me to go?" she asked.

"No..."

"Well then." She made to kiss him again, but he caught her.

"...But you have to," he finished. Her face fell.

"Jess," he implored. She looked up at him expectantly, but he realised he had no idea how to finish that sentence. So instead he kissed her again, softly, as way of a goodbye. He was only going to see her again tomorrow, so he didn't know why he was being so emotional, but it felt right.

"I'll see you tomorrow," he said softly.

"Sleep well," she instructed, backing away from him slowly, not turning around until she had reached her car. He watched her drive away before turning and entering the lobby area and taking the stairs up to his flat. By the time he reached the fifth floor he was grinning like an idiot. He didn't feel the need to shower again, instead opting to lie down fully clothed. He fell asleep instantly, and dreamed beautiful dreams of Jess.

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