They were almost to the cars when Jess started to wake up. She opened her eyes slowly and looked up at Becker before a small smile quirked her lips,
"Just like last time." She murmured before she fell back into unconsciousness. Abby looked at Becker meaning to ask what she had meant but Becker looked back at her with an equally confused expression. Abby begin to feel the exasperation settle in- was there anything about this girl that was going to make any sense?
To say that the Captain's behaviour was confusing Abby was an understatement. He had carried Jess straight to the car and placed her on the seat as though she were made of spun glass. When both he and Abby were in the car as well he had ordered the nearest soldier to take them back to the ARC as fast as humanly possible.
Abby was a little confused over the choice of the ARC and not a hospital but when she asked Becker replied with short clipped words that the medical bay at the ARC would be equipped well enough to deal with any injuries sustained and that it avoided awkward questions that were bound to follow at the hospital. Abby accepted his answer and the rest of the drive was passed in outward silence while inwardly Abby's mind was repeating dozens of questions over and over until the words came to mean little.
~o~o~o~
When Jess started to regain consciousness it wasn't in one go. She drifted to and fro reality hearing snippets of conversations and seeing snapshots of life. She could vaguely remember being laid down on a bed while firm but gentle palms felt around the back of her head for what she could only assume was a head injury but her rational mind soon faded and she was left asleep once more.
The next time, she managed to open her eyes and focus enough to see that she had been laid in the medical bay. She tried to see beyond the benign whiteness of the walls through the glass door and was rewarded of the sight of a shell shocked looking Abby staring at Cutter and Lester as though they had both gone mad. Abby chose that moment to look through the door and meet Jess's eyes for an instant. The moment was broken when Jess's eyes began to close but she still saw the disbelief on the other woman's face.
Well, at least I don't have to be the one to tell her, was the last thought to flit its way through Jess's mind before the comforting lull of sleep over took her once more.
~o~o~o~
The third time Jess awoke she was sure that this time she was staying so. For one thing most of the fogginess of her mind had cleared and she could feel every dull ache and shooting pain that possessed her body, and for another the strangeness of the situation brought her straight back to her senses.
On one side of her bed sat Abby who looked down on her with a quiet curiosity and on the other sat Becker. While Abby was awake and alert it appeared that Becker was not. He sat on a chair next to her bed, with his head lolled to one side slightly and his face slack with sleep, however most tellingly of all his hand was gently laid over Jess's one on her bed and Jess wasn't surprised by her reluctance to move it.
So instead she turned to Abby. The woman had an annoying smirk on her face which was the same face she pulled every time she had seen Jess stare after Becker in the future.
"How're you feeling," Abby asked in a hushed voice so as not to wake the sleeping Captain.
"Better." Answer Jess in an equally quiet voice as she turned her head to look at Abby full on and winced at the pounding in her head the movement caused, "How long have I been here?"
"About ten hours." Answered Abby, "And before you ask all the business with the creature has been sorted- it won't be coming back any time soon."
"Good." Said Jess, a smile drawing on her lips. She knew that she shouldn't be happy at the death of a creature but honestly that thing had been the scariest thing she had even seen. She could still see the hungry look in it's eye as it swarmed up the wall ready to attack Abby-
"Thanks by the way." Jess lost her train of thought as Abby spoke but she smiled at her all the same. "So… Cutter just told me something quite interesting." Said Abby as she looked at Jess pensively.
"What's that?" Said Jess, her mind moving at a snails pace.
"Well, he might have said that you come from the future…" Abby trailed off when she looked at Jess's face which hadn't changed since her last statement and her own face paled, "Really?… He was telling the truth?"
" 'fraid so." Said Jess with a small smile.
"Wow." Said Abby visibly trying to gain her composure, "So what's it like in the future?"
Jess grimaced slightly at the question as she remembered how difficult it had been to dance around the truth with a clear head never mind a tired and still slightly sluggish one. "What do you want to know?" She asked hoping it wouldn't be anything to complex.
Abby thought for a second, "Do I still work at the ARC?"
An easy one. Jess smiled as she answered, "Yes."
"Do I still have Rex?"
"Yes."
"Do I have a boyfriend?"
"Yes"
Abby grinned triumphantly at the last answer as Jess tried to look dismayed but couldn't help the smile that had spread slowly across her face.
"I didn't mean to tell you that." She said as she tried to hold back a laugh at Abby's face which was still split into a wide smile. It was true, Jess hadn't meant to reveal anything personal but the monotone of Abby's questions had tricked her into answering them automatically.
"Well come on!" Abby whispered quietly but excitedly, "What's he like? Do we live together? Who is he?"
Jess shook her head at Abby's questions, "I'm not telling you who he is or what he's like, but you do live together." Jess stopped to look at Abby who looked slightly deflated at the lack of information Jess had given her. Jess quickly changed her mind, in for a penny in for a pound after all, "And you've just got engaged."
"Really!" Abby said louder than she meant to as Jess laughed so hard she shook the bed, "Come on! You have to tell me who it is now!"
"Who who is?" Came a slightly groggy voice from over the other side of the bed. Both Abby and Jess looked up to see Becker looking at them with bleary eyes as he looked from one woman to the other.
"Oh, nothing-" said Jess before she was cut of by Abby.
"I was just asking Jess some questions about the future and apparently I just got engaged but she won't tell me who to-"
"Didn't Cutter tell you not to pry into the future?" He began sounder more like his normally disapproving self, " There is a reason why-" Becker tailed off as he looked at Jess who was still laughing slightly, "hang on did you say engaged?"
"Yes." Said Abby, "Why?"
Becker looked back at Jess in shock and she suddenly remembered the conversation they'd had a few days ago,
"Um..ok… How long have you lived with Connor?"
"Used to live with him." Jess corrected before taking a sip of her breakfast drink trying to stall for time. It was an innocent enough question but she had to try and find an explanation as to why he didn't have his own place that didn't involve him being stuck millions of years in the past.
"Did you break up with him?" Asked Becker curiously.
Jess choked on her drink at Becker's question. How had he got that idea? Just because she said they had lived together…oh. She realised then that she probably have mentioned that Abby lived there too.
Becker for his part watched in confusion and amusement. He hadn't expected his question to get such a response but it was quite funny watching Jess turn bright red.
"No! We weren't going out! He and Abby didn't have anywhere to stay so I offered them a place to sleep. Anyway he just got engaged." Said Jess.
Jess watched from her bed as Becker put two and two together.
"So that was…" He tailed once more as Jess just smiled and nodded her head.
"What?" Demanded Abby, "Does he know who it is?" She turned to Becker who still looked completely shocked and about ready to burst out laughing, "Who is it?"
"Erm…excuse me?" All three people in the room looked towards the doorway where Connor stood looking more than a little awkward and confused. The sight of him standing there nearly broke Becker's tenuous self control as Jess could see the effort he was putting in to not laughing and giving the game away. "Lester sent me down," Connor continued still looking mildly uncomfortable, " he said that when you're up to it we're going to start on the locking device and whatever we need to build to get you home."
Jess smiled at him, "I'll definitely be there by the end of today." She said as already her mind stated dredging up calculations and ideas.
Connor nodded but didn't leave, instead he stood there for a second, his eyes conspicuously landing on Becker's hand which was still laid lightly over Jess's, Becker followed his line of sight and Jess knew she wasn't imagining the colour that crept into his face. Quickly, he moved his hand (Jess was pretty sure that he had forgotten it was there in the first place) and stood up.
"I've got to be in the …armoury. Got to go and do some…-"
"Security stuff." Abby's smirked in the corner of the room as Jess and Becker chorused the last two words together. Becker just went a little bit redder before hurriedly leaving the room.
Connor looked after Becker and then back at the two women with a absolutely bemused expression on his face, " What just happened?" He asked as Abby rolled her eyes.
…
A/N-Thank you for reading and I hope you liked it! This was just a filler chapter, really. Just a transition before we get down to the action next chapter. Speaking of the next chapter I'll give you a hint… its going to be a really long chapter covering the entirety of one episode and it's going to be the last chapter directly based on an episode. That episode will be… 3x03! That's right, the shit is about to hit the fan!
Hope you enjoyed it,
VE