He saw Abby say something to Connor as he gave a serious nod. The next second he was running. Connor dodged past the fire fighters who had been keeping everybody out and almost made it to the smokey entrance before a sound rent the air that stopped all movement from everybody, ARC employees and fire fighters alike.

Becker tried to swallow the feeling of fear that rose up inside of him at the two sounds that could have come straight out of his days at Sandhurst, touring the front line.

Two faint but definite gunshots.

The next thing that registered in Becker's brain was that he was running. The second thing was that he was not alone. Both he and Connor were sprinting into the burning building, dodging debris and ducking under collapsing ceilings as though it were a perfectly natural thing to do. Somewhere in the back of Becker's mind he knew that Connor should not have been there. He had no training and spent all day everyday in a lab; not the field. Still, as he looked at the man who was actually making better progress than he was he knew that sending him back was not an option.

When they both reached what had once been the centre of the ARC Connor stopped and whirled around to look at all of the doors.

"Which way do we go?" He shouted over the roar of the fire. Becker realised at the same time as Connor that neither of them actually had any idea where Cutter and Jess actually were. He took a deep breath as he tried to catch his breath from the running but immediately regretted it when he sucked in a lungful of smoke and promptly began choking and coughing. He glanced up in the middle of his hacking to see Connor looking at all of the possible exits as though analysing which was most likely to hold their friends with his sleeve pressed over his mouth.

Becker managing to keep his choking in check long enough to spit out a reply, "We need to get moving-"

He stopped talking abruptly as a thin noise made its way over the noise of the fire. It was definitely the muted murmur of someone talking though Becker couldn't tell who it was or what they were saying. Connor looked as though he were about to speak but Becker quickly held up his hand. He stood still for only a second longer as he was finally able to tell where the sound was coming from, then he was, once again, running.

He didn't bother to check to see if Connor was beside him, all that mattered was that he kept making his way toward the voice. He kept running until his way forward was hindered by fallen pipes and sparking wires, and it was only then did he and Connor slow down. It took minutes to get through the debris but it felt like an eternity.

A relief so acute it was almost painful cut through Becker when he and Connor were finally close enough to hear the words that had drawn them to that corridor.

"-stay with me! Come on, stay awake for a little bit longer, they'll be here soon, I promise!" Though the dust that made the air thick and hard to see through obscured the speaker Becker could tell it was Jess. For a second, he couldn't even think straight: he wasn't too late and Jess wasn't dead.

It was Connor who took the lead now as they both moved as fast as they could towards their team mates.

Becker was right behind him as they ran forward and it was for that reason that he almost ran into the back Connor's back when he stopped dead right in front of him.

He leaned around the man as if to carry on running but he too paused at what he saw at their feet.

The body of Helen Cutter lay strewn in a pool of her own blood.

She was obviously dead.

She had a single bullet wound through her chest though Becker could see that it was not the perfect kill shot; it was too far to the right. This coupled together with the blood that was slick on her hands showed that she had at least tried to slow the bleeding. Helen Cutter had suffered a painful if not slow death and Becker couldn't have cared less.

He edged past the body on the floor and moved forward with a new vigour. He could hear Connor right alongside him as they made there way forward.

Eventually through the haze of the corridor two figures became evident. Becker could have sworn he felt his heart lighten when he saw Jess who appeared to be unharmed though it sank heavily when he saw she was leaning over a man who was clearly not.

As they reached them Becker could see that the situation was more dire than he could have thought. A cursory examination of Jessica proved that she was for the most part relatively well but what concerned him was the way her hands were desperately trying (and failing) to keep the blood inside the professor on the floor.

Nick Cutter looked up at them all and for a second Becker looked at his face and saw only acceptance; that was what scared him the most.

His eyes were dragged down to the wound that sat dead centre on the dying man's chest. He noticed that Connor's hands had replaced Jess's as the both fought to stanch the wound but he did nothing with his own.

In that moment he felt more helpless than he could ever remember.

"We need to get him out." Becker looked up in surprise. It was Jess who had spoken and when he looked at her she had steel in her eyes. Her hands shook and her lips trembled slightly but her voice was clear and her eyes strong. Not only that but she was right. The best they could accomplish here was slowing down Cutter's inevitable death; the only chance was to get help.

With a nod to Connor they both moved at once. To his surprise it was Connor who picked up Cutter. His skinny frame didn't seem to matter at that moment and Becker wasn't about to question where the strength had come from.

At being moved Cutters breath became ragged and he gasped in pain,

"No-" Becker winced at the sound of the professors' voice. It was raspy with a wet quality. Like the words were struggling past the blood in his throat.

Once again it was to his surprise when Jess darted forward and looked him dead in the eyes, "You're getting out of here," She paused and took a breath, "I promise."

They waited for a beat but there was no more protest from Cutter (at this point Becker would have loved one of the sarcastic comments from the man that usually made him grind his teeth) so they moved towards the exit, Connor carrying Cutter and Becker half dragging Jess. The way was laborious and slow but eventually they made it out blinkingly to the sun. It seemed ridiculously bright compared to the flickering orange hue cast by the fire inside.

The next few minutes were lost to confusion and flurries of movement but Becker felt Jess's weight leave his arm and when he looked around she was kneeling on the ground to where Connor had gently lain Cutter. Once again she was trying to help though the others were doing a better job of it than her. He pulled her away to give the rest of the team better access to their fallen colleague but Jess gave no signs of noticing. She sat staring at her hands in morbid fascination as she saw the blood that covered them. He had seen this reaction all too many times before; she was going into shock.

"Can we get an ambulance over here!" Shouted Lester at other workers from the ARC who had yet to realise the situation. His voice was loud enough to cut across the din and the strain of barely contained panic below the surface was clear.

From where Becker and Jess were they could see Jenny where she too had stood back and looked at the unfolding events with the tears in her eyes threatening to spill,

"Oh God," She whispered though her voice was still distinguishable, "there was something I was going to tell him."

~o~o~o~

In the end it was Jenny who rode in the ambulance with Cutter. Jess had barely noticed as the loaded him into the back of the van and raced to the nearest hospital. All she could think of was how she had failed.

Cutter had still been shot.

He could still die.

She had killed Helen Cutter.

The last thought made her want to retch. She had taken a life. She was a killer now. And that wasn't even the worst part, the very worst of it was that Jess could clearly see in her mind how she had changed everything. The timelines had been irrevocably altered and it was her fault, everything would change, nothing was every going to be the same…

She felt her breathing spiral out of control but she could make no move to fix it. Instead she welcomed it as the darkness closed in on her mind and dragged her under leaving her with a final sight of concerned brown hovering just over hers.

…

A/N- Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed it, no matter what you thought reviews are always welcome! Sorry for the wait and thank you to the person who reminded me to update this and actually sit down and finish the chapter (You know who you are so thank you J).

Next chapter should be up sooner and I can promise a lot of team interaction,

Thanks again,

VE