A/N: Aaaaaaaaaand, cue swooning. ;)

********** Dancing Through Life **********

It took nearly two weeks for set construction to really get underway. Becker and Connor had argued for days about the original set, because the poor tech geek had no idea how elaborate he was making it. Becker had to sit him down and tell him, numerous times, exactly what was feasible for their canteen and what wasn't.

In the meantime, Jess and Emily had spent every non-anomaly waking moment talking about music and the set decoration. Their conversations had a tendency to go back and forth between the two topics, but the pair of them got along so well that it was easy to keep things light.

It was fairly late one Friday night, when Becker decided that he'd do a little solo work on the set. His soldiers, the maintenance staff and the tech crew were great to work with, but he worked best on his own. Since his entire team had gone home for the night (Abby and Connor had gone out to the pub, Matt was taking Emily to a movie, and Jess was now nowhere to be found), he figured he'd check on the things that had already been done, and then do a bit more before heading home.

As he approached the canteen, the soft strains of instrumental music reached his ears. Pushing the doors open quietly, he slipped in and was shocked at the sight before him.

Jess was there alone, in the large empty space that had been cleared for where the stage would eventually be built, and she was dressed differently than he'd ever seen her. She was in bare feet and a pair of soft blue tights ensconced her long, slender legs. An oversized yellow t-shirt flowed loosely over what he assumed was a tight pink tank top, and her hair was pulled up in a very high ponytail. She looked more comfortable than ever. But it wasn't what she was wearing that took his breath away – it was what she was doing.

She was dancing.

Jess moved slowly and gently to the music, her eyes closed. Becker wasn't sure what kind of dance if was (he assumed it was contemporary, the way it seemed to combine a bit of gymnastic-like stretches and jumps), but could tell how deep into the music she was. Her motions were fluid and graceful, almost completely opposite to what he was used to. There had been so many times that he had been needed to catch her when she tripped, but any traces of clumsiness had vanished. She was in her own little world, completely oblivious to everything except the music.

Becker was captivated. She looked so calm that he absurdly wondered if she was dancing in her sleep at one point. He felt that he should say something, so she was aware that she was no longer alone, but he didn't want to interrupt her peace. That, and he didn't want to stop watching her. So he waited, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, for her to finish her dance.

Jess spun on her heel and dropped into a split on the ground. She managed to roll herself out of it, and back up to her feet. Becker felt his eyebrows raising at the sensual way she moved, and quietly stepped closer to her. She turned and turned and eased her way over closer to him. As she danced, some of her movements started to look like they were meant to be done with another person.

So when she stretched her delicate hand out to the air in front of her, as if reaching for something, he reached out and took it in his own. Not stumbling or starting, or missing a beat at all, he gently spun her into his arms and started dancing with her. He'd been forced by his mother to take dance lessons when he was younger, and he knew that every lesson had stuck in his head. Their dance wasn't anything traditional, but he just went with the flow, spinning her and twisting with her.

Jess had been imagining so intently while she danced that she didn't even realize that the partner in her head was actually the one in front of her. She let her dream dance partner guide her around the floor, and felt a tear slip out of her eye. It all felt so real…

The music came to an end, and she felt her moves stop slowly. Her dream partner had guided her into a very deep dip as the music came to a close, and then brought her up very slowly. As she completely regained her footing, she opened her eyes and found herself gazing up into a pair of warm hazel ones. The next piece came on over the speakers, but neither of them noticed – they were too focused on each other.

Becker couldn't get over how much shorter than him she was. Normally she rose to his shoulders, if not a bit higher, but she was currently as tall as the centre of his chest. Her cheeks bore a healthy flush from her dancing. He found looking into her eyes completely eased all of the heaviness from his heart, almost as if it had never been there in the first place.

Jess, on the other hand, was also surprisingly calm under the circumstances. When she first opened her eyes and realized that the Becker she had been dancing with in her mind was actually real, her heart started to pound. She'd thought they'd all gone home and she had the canteen to herself. But the way that he was looking at her…the rest of the world just slipped away and she felt unbelievably peaceful. It just seemed so natural to be wrapped in his arms like this.

"I didn't know you could dance like that," Becker whispered, his face only inches from hers. It would only take the tiniest movement forward…

"I could say the same for you," she countered with a soft smile. His own lips quirked upwards at her words, drawing her eyes to his mouth.

"My mum had me take dance lessons for several years," he admitted. "I actually really enjoyed them, and they helped a lot when it came to maneuvering in the army."

She nodded slightly, and felt the need to offer some personal information in return. "When my father left, I was devastated and needed something to help me vent. So I enrolled in a few dance classes, and got hooked. It's actually the only good thing that ever came out of the relationship I had with him," she confessed, dropping her gaze to look at her bare feet complete with bright green varnish on her toes.

He brought one of his hands to her chin, and raised it so that she was looking at him again. At first he said nothing, but simply studied the sadness in her eyes. He hated to see her sad like this. "You dance beautifully," he whispered to her, and felt warmth course through him when she smiled brightly at him.

"So why are you here so late?" she inquired softly. "I thought everyone had gone home earlier."

"I thought I'd go over what had been done on the set so far, since it was quiet and distraction-free," he told her. "But that's apparently not true."

She giggled lowly as she lowered her eyes again. "Sorry about that."

He waited until she looked at him again. "You can distract me like that anytime." Her smile got even wider at that.

"Did you want some help with checking the sets?" she offered. "Since I am already here…"

"Love it," he said as they walked, still holding hands and each smiling shyly, over to the set pieces in the corner of the canteen.