Becker stood and hurried after Jess into the kitchen. He noticed immediately that there was no actual fire, so he set about waving a dish towel under the smoke detector to turn off the blasting alarm. If he wasn't so trained in safety procedures, he'd have smashed the horrid sounding thing ages ago.

As soon as the noise had stopped, he turned his full attention back to Jess. She was standing over the lamb with a frown on her face and Becker could see she was really upset, but not devastated.

"Is it ruined?" he asked her.

Jess shook her head, "I don't – I don't think so." She quickly wiped her eyes with the back of her hand to stop herself from letting loose any tears and turned to him guiltily, "but it's not perfect either. I really wanted it to be perfect."

Becker moved closer to take a look. It was a lot darker on one side than the other, but only a couple spots on the edges were actually burnt and it was cooked right through. The burnt bits would be easy enough to cut off.

"It's fine, Jess," he told her. "It looks and smells delicious. I haven't had lamb in forever, so it's still very perfect."

Jess smiled at him gratefully, "Thanks. Well it's definitely cooked enough. I'll check on the potatoes and you can trim off the black bits if you still want to help. Only, don't do it for a few minutes, they have to sit for five minutes before cutting them."

Becker nodded and watched as Jess moved to pull the potatoes out of the oven. She frowned when she went to cut one in half and suddenly burst into tears. Becker frowned too, wondering what could possibly be wrong.

"Jess?" he asked, hesitantly.

"They're not done," she sobbed, "I'm sorry, I'm being silly, but they potatoes aren't ready yet."

"So just put them in for longer," Becker suggested, puzzled as to why this was upsetting her. "It's not a big deal, Jess…"

"You don't get it!" she suddenly yelled at him, and Becker stepped back, stunned and very confused.

"You don't get it," she repeated again, still clearly upset, but her words were slightly softer. "It was supposed to be perfect and I don't know why they aren't done because when Connor taught me they finished at the same time as the lamb and now the lamb is overdone and the potatoes aren't even close to being ready and I don't know why and if I put them in for longer the lamb will be cold and it's not perfect!"

Becker put a hand on her arm and when she didn't pull away he pulled her into a hug. He didn't say anything at first, just rested his chin on her head as she sobbed. When he felt her calm down a bit he stepped back slightly so that he could look at her face, but he kept his hands on her upper arms. "Jess, you know that I'm just happy to spend the evening with you, right? You realize that the way this meal turns out will not and cannot influence how much I like you, yeah? So relax, okay?"

Jess blushed as she realised he was pretty much reading her mind. She shifted uncomfortably a bit, not knowing how to answer. His gaze on her face was so intense she wasn't sure she could answer. Finally she managed a slight nod. Becker loosened his grip on her arms and moved so he was beside her instead, draping one arm around her shoulders and smiling at her, "Now, what's this about Connor teaching to cook?"

Jess winced. "You weren't supposed to know that; it slipped out. Connor gave me some lessons is all because I haven't actually done this on my own before," she admitted softly.

Becker looked at her incredulously, "Never? Then why…?"

Jess giggled a bit at the memory, "You were giving a pounding to a piece of pizza, Becker. What else was I supposed to do but offer you a home cooked meal?"

Becker laughed, "Yeah, but I could've gone out and taken lessons too if that's what you did. I figured you knew what you were doing when you offered."

"I'm getting it, it's not really that hard, but I'm definitely a beginner. And I still don't know why…" she stopped and suddenly her eyes lit up, "I do know! I just remembered! Connor microwaved the potatoes first so they wouldn't take so long in the oven!"

Becker couldn't help it when he saw the happy grin spread across her face; she was so cute when she smiled. He leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Gosh you make me happy, Jess," he told her.

It was Jess' turn to be surprised and she felt suddenly quite flustered, "I, what? I don't know what I did. It makes you happy that I told you that Connor microwaves his potatoes? Not that I don't want you to be happy, because I do, it just wasn't the intention of that statement, but I am happy that you're happy so I guess you make me happy too. But if I'm happy because you're happy and I make you happy then really I made myself happy, right? So now I know that telling you about Connor's potatoes is a weird but effective way of cheering myself up if I'm ever unhappy."

Becker's eyebrow was raised, but she had kept rambling, unable to stop until he finally caved and outright laughed at her. "Oh Jess," he said between howls of laughter, "It wasn't the potatoes; it was the fact that you were so happy about solving the problem on your own that made me say that and if I were you I wouldn't even try to fit that into your theory, yeah? But you know what else makes me happy? Hearing you ramble. Did you know you're adorable when you ramble?"

Jess giggled at Becker's infectious laughter, "Yes, but now you're rambling. You're right, it does make one happy. And now, if you'll excuse me, I need to call Connor because I'm not too sure if I need to start the potatoes over again or not at this point since I've taken them out already or how long to cook them for or what."

Becker nodded and resigned himself to half-listening to her side of the phone call while he started cutting the edges of the lamb off. He also cut off a little bit extra and popped it into his mouth to preview it. He grinned, it might not look perfect, but it tasted truly brilliant.

"Okay thanks Con, and one more thing," Becker suddenly heard Jess say into the phone, "Would you do me a huge favour if I promise you a huge reward? Here's the thing, if you'd just come by here and drop off my curling iron and camera, Becker promised me I could put ringlets in his hair and take a picture to show you and every one else."

She hung up the phone and grinned at Becker mischievously, "He'll be here in a couple minutes."

Becker groaned and reminded himself that this would be worth it for himself. "But what'd he say about the potatoes?"

"He said they'd be fine if we put them in the oven for another half hour or so."

"Okay, you do that, I'll start with the clean up," Becker told Jess, "And don't even think about offering to help. I want you sitting down and relaxing while I scrub dishes. As for the lamb, I snuck a piece and you're brilliant as am I because I just remembered I have a warming rack under the oven to keep it hot."

Jess grinned and did as she'd been ordered, being sure to set a timer for the potatoes this time, and then sitting down in one of the kitchen chairs at his table, angling it a bit so she could watch him clean. They were both contentedly silent for awhile until Jess suddenly asked, "What movie are we watching?"

"Timeline."

Jess gasped, "Really? I've wanted to see that for ages! How did you know?"

"Connor told me to get either Timeline or A Walk to Remember. I read the backs of both and decided there was no way I was going to sit through A Walk to Remember, but Timeline sounded pretty good."

Jess giggled, "But you won the bet. Aren't you supposed to watch your choice, not mine?"

"It was my choice. I chose to pick a movie you'd want to see."

"Why?" Jess laughed, thrilled, "I thought you'd try to make me sit through something horrid."

"We just had this conversation, Jess. Remember, I'm happy when your happy et cetera, et cetera, et cetera? Besides, this way I figure, if I'm lucky, you'll want to come visit me more often."

"I'd come anyway," Jess offered hopefully and probably too eagerly, "Especially now that…"

"Now that what?"

Jess sighed, "I'm happy for them, I really am, but I don't know what I'm gonna do with myself when Connor and Abby move out. Is it wrong that I'm dreading my friends' happy occasion?"

Becker put the dish towel down and came over to her. He crouched down in front of her chair, balancing himself with his hands on her knees. "Jess, I think that's perfectly understandable. In fact, I'd bet they'd be a bit hurt if they thought you weren't going to miss them, yeah? But you don't have to be lonely, I'll spend every day with you if that's what you want."

Jess looked at him in surprise, "Every day?" she asked doubtfully.

Becker nodded, "Sure, Jess, I don't think I could ever tire of your company. Remember what I told you? You're my favourite person."

Jess grinned, "You know how you could make me really happy and hence make yourself really happy?"

"How?"

"Tell me what you're going to make me do after I get my picture."

Becker burst out laughing as he stood up, "Nice try, Jessica, but at the moment, I'm already as happy as can be."