********** Wonderful **********

With one week to go before the show, tensions started to run high for the ARC employees. Everyone was getting short-tempered due to the lack of sleep coupled with the added responsibilities. Those who were in the show had lines to memorize, songs to practice and choreography to master, while those who would be filling the audience were trying to help their comrades by doing extra work.

Poor Jess seemed to have the worst of it. Anytime anything went wrong, everyone seemed to blame her. The funniest part, though, was that she had absolutely nothing to do with some of it. Trying to blame an EMD malfunction on the one person who stayed as far away from them as possible was laughable, yet one of Becker's soldiers actually tried to pull it off one day – only for the central team of Abby, Connor, Matt, Emily and Jess to stand up to him. He would have been fine if his Captain hadn't been standing behind him when Jess had started to cry angry tears as she shouted at him. The poor soldier had had a rough go ever since…

Becker was walking towards the canteen, his left arm across his chest and trying to work out a kink in his right shoulder to no avail. They had two days to go before showtime, and he had spent most of his post-meeting mornings that week putting the finishing touches on the stage and set. Emily had been ecstatic about the look, and had informed him that the decorating team would be there after work today to cover the roughness of it all. So he was going to check on their progress, and ensure that everything was still in working order.

He gently pushed at the canteen door, and found that it was unlocked. He wasn't a fan of the fact that he was locked out of part of the facility for the better part of his shift, but he wouldn't complain.

Half of the lights were on inside, so it was fairly quiet and cool when he entered. Looking over at the stage, he smiled at his handiwork as he saw a familiar figure in bare feet and a short orange skirt draping fabric from one of the upper corners of the set outline. "Having fun?" he asked as he leaned against the doorframe, amused.

Jess turned from her task and shot him a glowing smile. "Actually, I am. I'm right in my element."

"Where's the rest of the decorating team?"

"You're looking at it."

"What?" He dropped his casual stance and started walking towards her. "Emily told me that she had a bunch of people doing it."

"If she did, she never told me," Jess said gently. "It's ok though, I'm doing fine on my own."

"Says the one teetering precariously on the ladder," he added under his breath.

"What was that?"

"I asked if you wanted me to spot the ladder for you," he fibbed.

She stood up a little straighter and looked at him teasingly. "Are you implying that I can't do this by myself?"

He laughed out loud. "Hardly. I'm trying to keep my favourite klutz from breaking her neck two days before the performance."

She shot him a mock-indignant look, and placed a hand on her hip. Climbing easily down the ladder, she waltzed over to where he was standing and poked him repeatedly in the chest. "You take that back, Mr. Captain-of-the-guard. I am no klutz!"

He laughed again at her actions, and it only made her poke him faster and harder. After a few dozen pokes, he dodged out of her way and tried to move a bit of a distance away. She was persistent though, and followed him about the room, giggling as she attempted to continue poking him. Just as he reached the server counter, and without warning, he spun to face her and shot his hand out to grab her outstretched wrist. She wasn't about to be beaten, so she tried with her other hand, but he quickly grabbed that too. He pulled her wrists towards him (not so hard that it hurt, but hard enough) and sent her off-balance enough that she found herself flush against his chest.

They both froze, their eyes on the others'. Jess could feel her heart pounding at the contact, and was sure that he could feel it too. Becker gazed down at the small girl in front of him, and felt his walls crumbling around him. He couldn't get over how right it felt to hold her close in this way. Without realizing it, one of his hands released her wrist, and reached up to brush away a few stray locks that had fallen across her face in their little chase.

If it was possible, Jess' heart sped up. She'd been this close to him several times in the last few months, but something about this time felt different. She held very still, not wanting to ruin this moment, but her mind couldn't help conjuring up an image of him cupping her cheek and then leaning down to press a soft kiss on her lips.

She was about to shake herself out of her fantasy and pull away from him, when she felt his palm caress her cheek. Her lips parted just a bit, but it was enough to bring is darkened gaze to them briefly. The hand that he had released had gently settled itself on his chest, and she couldn't believe what she felt: his heart was beating just as wildly as her own.

Becker stared at her, wordlessly for a few seconds more, and then swooped in quickly to capture Jess' mouth in a lingering kiss. He pulled back for just a second – enough to give her the chance to pull away if she so desired – before diving in for a deeper kiss.

Jess was in heaven. At the first touch of his lips to hers, she'd been so shocked she couldn't move. When he pulled back, she could have whimpered at the loss of contact, but before she could do or say anything, his lips were kissing her again. She kissed him back, putting everything she felt into it. She pulled her still-confined wrist out of his grasp, and slid that hand up his chest and over his shoulder to the nape of his neck. She felt his now free hand slip around her waist and crush her even closer to him. The sudden shift in positions caused her to gasp, and he wasted no time in deepening the kiss even further.

They couldn't get close enough. The hand that had been on her cheek was now lost in the mass of auburn hair, and the hand that had been on this chest had latched up with its partner around the back of his neck. Becker leaned back against the counter, pulling Jess with him and causing her to raise herself onto her tiptoes. Kissing her was simply glorious. The soft sighs that left her mouth told him that she was ok with this, and that spurred him on. He'd never tasted anything sweeter than her, and knew that he was a goner. Becker ran his hands up and down Jess' back as he held her tight, smirking to himself as he felt shivers course through her body at his touch. He teasingly stroked along the bare strip of skin on her back that was exposed between her skirt and shirt, and she arched further into him. In return, Jess slipped her hands just inside the collar of his black t-shirt, and gently raked her fingernails over the skin she found there. He hissed in response and the intensity of their kiss increased.

After what felt like hours (but was really only about 10 minutes), their kisses eventually slowed as they both started to come back to themselves. Finally their lips parted, but they stayed with their arms wrapped around each other, neither wanting to break away just yet. They kept their gazes locked as they both caught their breath. Jess' lips were swollen and a beautiful blush adorned her cheeks. Becker's lips were just as swollen, and his eyes were half-closed, as if trying to compose himself.

"I've wanted to do that for so long," he whispered to her.

"Then what stopped you?" she breathed back.

He paused for a second, and Jess could practically hear the thoughts colliding in his head. Deciding to nip them in the bud, she stretched up and kissed him gently once more. Pulling back, she opened her eyes to see him again. "It's ok. It doesn't matter now."

"There are so many reasons why we shouldn't be doing this," he told her softly. She forced herself to stay calm, in the hopes that he wouldn't pull away from her now. "But I don't care about any of them right now."

She beamed, and slowly pulled out of his embrace. "Come on," she said, pulling him towards the stage.

"What?"

"You're going to help me finish decorating," she said, feeling bold and happy. "And then we're going to go out for dinner together before you take me home, making sure to give me a proper kiss goodnight."

"Just one?" he joked.

She tilted her head and winked at him. "We'll see how well you play your cards on that one." He let out a full-blown laugh, and followed her to the set. They chatted amiably as they worked, putting up fabric drapings and covering all of the unpainted wood. He steadied her on the ladder, and sometimes even lifted her into his arms to help her down. She felt giddy and giggly as they kidded around.

He'd never been happier.