Jess and Jenny began to pour champagne for everyone while Emily and Matt handed out napkins and snacks. Then, when everyone held a plastic cup full of champagne, Lester made a rather nice toast to the happy couple with surprisingly little sarcasm in it.

After they had drank to Connor and Abby's health and happiness and talked for a bit, Jack, Aliona, Lester and Portia started up the dancing and everyone joined in one at a time as they finished their food and drinks. Everyone that was, except Jess and Becker. Jess suddenly became very aware that they were the only two people in the room that weren't in a relationship. She wondered vaguely if Becker would ask her to dance, but he was leaning against the brick wall and showing no interest whatsoever. It wasn't fair, Jess thought, even Sid, Rex, and Nancy were dancing around the room (and tripping everyone up in the process.) Jess took a deep breath and moved over to stand beside Becker. She'd just have to ask him instead.

As soon as Becker saw Jess approaching, he knew what she wanted and sighed. It wasn't that the idea of dancing with Jess was unattractive in itself, but Becker was unprepared to make of fool of himself in front of his other coworkers quite yet. Before Jess could even speak, he locked eyes with her, "Forget it, Jess. I don't dance."

Jess sighed audibly and turned to lean against the wall beside him, "Don't be a spoil sport, Hilary. It's just for fun."

Becker raised his eyebrows at her use of his first name. She didn't use it often, only when she was annoyed. She did it to bug him, but secretly he liked it just because she was the only one to ever use it and it felt special. Just, not special enough to dance. Becker chuckled, "Sorry, Jess, but it's not happening."

Jess harrumphed, but she gave up as she stood silently and watched the others. Almost immediately, Becker began to feel sorry. After all, Jess had organized this, she should at least have the chance to dance. He was debating within himself as to which was worse, seeing Jess disappointed, or letting everyone witness his lack of dancing ability, when Lester approached.

"Wife's tired of her toes being stepped on and needs a break, wanna dance Jess?" He asked. Jess knew that he'd probably convinced Portia to let her have a turn, and she nodded gratefully.

"Sure, but do try to be careful of my feet. I've got new shoes on, you know."

Lester laughed, "I can't promise to be graceful; will you take the risk?"

"I'd love to," Jess said with a smile and a pointed look at Becker, before taking the offered hand.

Becker had sulked for the rest of the evening after Lester had whisked Jess away. Portia was pleasant enough company, but he was missing Jess. He knew he should go ask to cut in and dance with her, but for some reason he held back. Really, he could be stupidly stubborn at times.

The party didn't last too long; they all had to get up early in the morning for work or other reasons, except Portia. Jess gave Lester a peck on the cheek to thank him for dancing with her, which amused Jenny very much as she wasn't used to seeing Lester act nice to anyone. They said their goodbyes to Connor and Abby and wished Jenny and Michael a wonderful trip and then started to head out. Becker moved to Jess' side and placed a hand on the small of her back as he went to escort her out.

Connor grinned at them as they left, "See ya later, Jess," he said. Jess nodded, knowing that Abby and Connor would probably stay at the flat for quite a bit longer.

The air outside was quite cool and Jess shivered a bit. Immediately Becker stopped and gave her his jacket. Jess grinned in surprise at the gesture and got a bit flustered again, "Thank-you," she said, "For bringing me here, and for the jacket. Are you not cold, though? You are, aren't you? I'd better not take it; you can have it back, not that I don't appreciate it, because I do, I love that you gave me your jacket. I mean, you didn't give it to me, just let me use it. It's so lovely and warm. Do you want it back?" She blushed, knowing she was rambling and Becker was just staring at her, giving her that look.

Finally he shook his head and chuckled, "You keep it tonight. If I freeze we'll consider it my punishment for not dancing with you."

Jess laughed, "Good point. You really should have. Why don't you dance?"

"Dunno how."

"Neither do Jack or Abby, and Lester stomped on my foot quite a few times, but it's still fun!"

"I wouldn't have heard the end of it from Connor or Matt anyway," Becker laughed, though he really did regret the fat that he had blown the chance to dance with Jess in his arms. He sighed and then said, "Okay, here's the deal: I'll dance one dance with you at their wedding."

Jess' eyes lit up, "Really? You mean that?"

Becker nodded, "Yeah, but just one, and not until I've had a few drinks."

Jess grinned happily as she stared ahead of them and Becker smiled to himself. He really did love seeing her smile. How could she be so happy about a promise that would probably be at least a year in the coming? He suddenly grabbed her hand as they turned into the pub's parking lot, "Oh, come on then, I give up. The pub's open and it has a dance floor."

Jess' eyes widened, "For real?"

Becker nodded, "On one condition."

"I promise, I won't say a word."

Becker woke up the next morning with a smile on his face. Jess had been so happy that he'd taken her out the night before. They'd only actually danced two dances, as they'd both had to be up for work, but she was right, it had been fun: awkward, but fun. Her smile had made it worth it. Since when had he become such a sop?

He'd driven her home and Jess had rambled the entire way about how much fun she'd had. Becker had let her keep his jacket for the night, even though he knew she hadn't needed it anymore, because she hadn't taken it off. He'd carefully refrained from kissing her, at least on the lips, but he had given her ringlets a tug when he'd said goodnight to her at her flat. All in all, it'd been a great night.

He climbed out of bed and glanced at his clock. It was nearly seven thirty, which was later than he normally slept. He grabbed his mobile and sent Jess a text to wish her good morning.

Jess sat on the floor in the ARC Archives, going through all the old mission reports. She'd long since run out of room for paper piles on the table. She was determined to have all, or at least most, of the papers filed before Becker arrived for the start of his shift. She was exhausted after the late night, but she really wanted to surprise Becker, especially after he'd taken her dancing the night before.

Beside her, her mobile vibrated and Jess glanced at the message coming through. Morning Jess!

Jess frowned, Becker never texted her just to say good morning. That was odd. Odd, but good, she corrected herself, her frown changing into a smile. She picked up her phone and typed back, Morning :D

She'd barely put the phone down when it rang. "Hi," she said, answering it.

"Jess, wanna go grab some breakfast with me before work?"

Jess groaned softly. Breakfast with Becker sounded like a dream come true, why did he have to ask her now when she was busy? "I'd have loved that," she said, "but I'm already at work."

"Oh."

There was an awkward silence for a moment and Jess felt like she should really say something else, so she began to talk, "Thanks, though, I mean, for inviting me. Maybe another time, I know you didn't ask about another time and you've never asked before so you probably won't feel like it ever again, but if you ever do sometime, I would like to go for breakfast with you, if you wanted me to."

Becker chuckled, knowing that if he could see Jess, she'd be blushing, "Well, what do you want to eat? I'll pick up breakfast and bring it there."

Jess couldn't believe how Becker had been acting lately and she grinned, "That would be so wonderful! Would you really do that? I'd love a muffin and some extra frothy coffee if you are really willing to pick that up for me! I can't wait to see you!" She blushed deeply the instant the words were out of her mouth, horrified that she'd added that last part on, but before she could ramble out an explanation and dig a deeper hole for herself, Becker responded.

"Yeah, I can't wait to see you either. I'll be there soon." Then he hung up the phone.

Jess' jaw literally dropped in astonishment as she stared at the mobile in her hand. Had Becker really just said he couldn't wait to see her? She started to dial Connor's number to tell him about it, but then thought he'd probably still be in bed with Abby. They'd been out late the night before and they probably wanted to sleep in. Those two were always late for work. She'd tell Connor tonight when she had her cooking lesson with him.

Jess was about three quarters of the way done reorganizing the files when her mobile rang again.

"Hey!" she answered, tucking the phone between her shoulder and chin.

"Jess, I'm here, but you're not."

Right, of course Becker was expecting her to be at the ADD. "I'm looking for an old mission report. I'm in the Archives." She didn't tell him what she was really doing, even though he'd see soon enough, because she wanted to see his expression when he found out.

"Be right there," Becker said. He grinned as he hung up the phone. This was perfect, after Jess had eaten, maybe he could get her opinion on the best way to reorganize the files. He was dreading the job he had to do later that afternoon.

He found Jess a moment later surrounded by files on the floor. Jess smiled at him, blushing as she remembered what he'd said on the phone about wanting to see her. Becker sat beside her and leaned against the wall as he handed her a coffee and a paper bag with a large blueberry muffin in it.

"Thanks!" Jess smiled as she sipped at the coffee and continued working on the files. She wondered how long it would take Becker to actually notice what she was doing.

The only thing Becker really paid attention to though was Jess herself. He'd meant it when he'd said that he couldn't wait to see her. Jess was going through a bunch of papers, apparently still looking for whatever it was she needed. Becker slid himself over so that he was closer to her, really close, and Jess stopped what she was doing to look at him.

"Why are you here so early anyway Jess? Your shift hasn't started yet."

Jess gestured at all the papers, "I wanted to finish this."

"Finish what?" Becker looked puzzled, and then suddenly it dawned on him. His mouth dropped, "Jess, I was supposed to do all this."

"Yeah."

"Then why…."

"You hate paperwork. I'm almost done."

Becker grinned at her and kissed her cheek, "Jess, you're amazing! Have I ever mentioned that you're my favourite person in the world? Thank-you!"

Jess' face lit up, "Thanks! I didn't know that, but I'm happy since you're my favourite person too, except you probably didn't mean it so literally, just a saying, I know, but …"

"Nope," Becker interrupted her firmly, "I meant it." Then he glanced at his watch and heaved a huge sigh, "Sorry, Jess, but I've got a new back up team waiting for me to give them some training."

Jess nodded, "That's okay, I'll finish this quickly, won't take me long."

Becker started to get up and leave, but suddenly Jess called him back, "Wait! Here, before I forget, this is the grocery list you wanted."

"And you're still going to cook for me tomorrow?"

Jess nodded determinedly, "Of course!"

Becker smiled at her, "I can't wait!"