Bend It Like Becker

...

Author's Note: I just wanted to let everyone know I'm leaving on holiday to New Zealand for a fortnight. Because I'm actually ahead in writing the story, I'm hoping that I'll be able to continue to post chapters about twice a week. However, I'm not sure what our internet connections will be like over there (and there will be three of us sharing a single laptop), so I'm not making any promises. However, I will do my best to continue to post regularly (and I'm hoping to get a lot written on the twelve-hour flight I have ahead of me – uggh!) Thanks so much for all the reviews – I love hearing from readers what things they enjoy!

...

Chapter 12 - MINISTERIAL MACHINATIONS

...

"Becker?" Jess's voice came through the comms. "Are the teams headed back now?"

"Yeah, we got all the lizards-"

"Petrolacosaurus," Connor corrected from the back seat.

Becker rolled his eyes and continued, "...LIZARDS back through and the anomaly closed. I'm just about to turn onto the M40 now."

"Oh. Good."

Although her words betrayed nothing, Becker could sense something off in her voice, which put him instantly on edge, worrying about her.

"What is it, Jess? Did something happen?"

"Jess? Is everything okay?" Matt, who was sat in the passenger seat, chimed in on the comms.

Becker sighed. It was hard to have a private conversation in a car filled with people listening in.

"Yes, Matt - nothing to worry about. Everything's fine...now."

Becker didn't like the sound of that. "Jess?" he prompted.

He heard Jess give a little sigh before saying, "Here - I'm going to patch myself through to the car." A split second later her voice emerged from the car speakers, "How's that? Can everyone hear me?"

"Yes, we can hear you," Emily replied from the backseat.

"Hi, Jess!" Connor called out. "You gonna keep us entertained on the long

ride home?"

"I'm not sure 'entertain' is quite the word, but I thought I'd fill you in on

Lester's and my little...adventure this afternoon."

"What happened, Jess?" Abby asked. "You okay?"

"Yes, I'm okay. We're okay. It's okay."

Becker could hear how flustered Jess seemed, so he calmly prompted, "Start at the beginning, Jess."

"Right. So, as we discussed, I went ahead and cancelled practice this

afternoon."

"Yes!" Connor cheered.

Becker rolled his eyes. "Go on, Jess."

"But I knew that both Lester and I could use the practice. And there was hardly anyone here in the ARC because of the two teams being out in the field. So I simply thought..."

"You didn't!" Abby said.

"Well, it wasn't like I was doing you all any good, since I couldn't watch your backs without CCTV coverage. And no one was about. So we figured it wouldn't hurt to kick the ball around a little."

"What'd you break, Jess?" Matt asked.

"Is all my equipment okay? You didn't go into my lab, didja?"

"No, Connor, we were careful - no instruments were harmed, I promise."

"What about Lester?" Abby asked. "He's not injured, is he?"

"No, Lester's fine. As am I," she quickly added, answering Becker's question

before he could ask it. "Nothing got hurt."

Emily asked, "So what happened?"

"Well, Lester was dribbling the ball down the hallway - you see, we tried to stick to the corridors so we wouldn't damage anything - and I was just about to steal the ball from him, but he dodged and turned the corner right by his office...and ran smack into the Minister."

Becker and the others gasped.

"What'dja do?" Connor asked.

"I ran smack into Lester, of course - I was right on his heels and simply couldn't stop in time."

"That cannot be good," Emily observed.

"Did he sack you?" Becker asked, suddenly worried - maybe that's why Jess had called him in the first place.

"More to the point, did he sack Lester?" Abby asked.

"Don't tell us he shut down the entire ARC operation?" Connor wailed

melodramatically.

"No, it's fine. Everything's fine. No one got sacked or shut down or

anything."

As the car breathed a collective sigh of relief, Abby asked, "So what did the Minister say?"

"Nothing at first, as we'd knocked the wind out of him. And Lester was so shocked by it all, he was simply standing there, frozen in place with his mouth gaping open. So naturally it was up to me to save the day."

Becker couldn't help but smile at Jess's casual self-assurance - it was one of the things he enjoyed so much about her.

"What did you say?" Emily asked.

"Well, I apologised, naturally, and explained how we had two teams out in the field, which meant we'd had to cancel practice, but how Lester and I had wanted to work on our dribbling skills, and how we thought it wouldn't hurt to practice in the corridors because it was the end of the day so no one was about, and we certainly hadn't been expecting him, and so on from there. I don't rightly remember all I said because I was naturally a bit flustered at the time."

Becker couldn't help but smile as he imagined a very flushed Jess frantically trying to cover for Lester. And while Becker was certain that she'd probably been clad in her practice clothes at the time, he now realised that, for some reason, he'd been picturing her during the entire story in her bright yellow frock!

"But the Minister seemed placated," Jess continued. "No, more than that,

he seemed downright pleased."

"Pleased?" Emily asked, clearly not believing. "That you were playing

football in the ARC?"

"He was delighted that we're taking this whole match thing so seriously. He'd just happened to be in the neighborhood and simply decided to drop by to check in on Lester and see if he'd done anything yet about putting together a team, so when he found out that not only did we have a team but we'd already had two practices, he was thrilled."

Becker frowned - he wasn't sure how happy the Minister would've been if he'd actually seen their practices. Or if he'd learnt that half of yesterday's practice had been at the pub. But it was good to know that the Minister's expectations for them were so low. And at least Jess hadn't been sacked for playing ball in the corridors - Becker couldn't imagine going to work everyday without her there.

Hell, he was even starting to find it difficult to imagine his flat without her around.

...

As soon as they got home that evening, Abby plopped herself down on the couch and demanded, "Okay, Jess - spill! I want to hear everything."

"Yeah," Connor agreed. "We want details. What all did the Minister say?"

"The Minister?" Abby frowned at him. "We're not talking about the Minister, Connor. We're talking about the fact that Becker likes Jess."

"Well, of course Becker likes Jess, Abby. Everyone likes Jess. What's not to like?" When his fiance gave him a look, he finally caught on. "Oh! You mean Becker LIKES Jess. That's brilliant! When did this happen?"

Jess shrugged. She didn't really want to talk about it anymore, especially not to him. Abby had caused enough trouble as it was, and she didn't relish the idea of Connor sticking his foot in it.

But Abby must not have sensed Jess's trepidation for she blurted out, "Jess has been doing some experiments."

Jess wished Abby hadn't said anything. She was starting to feel extremely guilty about the whole thing, especially the part about making him sleep on the couch just so she could watch his reaction.

And Connor certainly looked horrified.

"Don't tell me you've been ransacking his drawers while he sleeps. I don't know what you found, but I've just got to say, in Becker's defense, that a man should not be held liable for what he keeps in his sock drawer."

Abby eyed Connor suspiciously. "Why? What do YOU keep in your sock drawer?"

"Nothing," he answered before adding a mumbled, "...anymore." He quickly added, "So anyway, Jess, what did you find?"

"I didn't find anything!" Jess insisted. "Why would you even think I'd do

something like that?"

Connor looked at Abby. "Didn't you tell me she rifled through Becker's locker at work?"

"That was well over a year ago!" Wasn't she ever going to live that down?

"And besides, Becker and I are good friends now. I wouldn't abuse his trust like that."

No, but she'd abuse his chivalrous nature.

"So what are these experiments you've been doing?" Connor asked right as Jess's mobile went off.

She quickly glanced at the screen and couldn't help but smile.

"It's Becker," she heard Abby whisper to her fiance.

Jess rolled her eyes and picked up, trying to ignore the smug looks of her flatmates. "Hey, Becker. What's up?"

"Sorry to bug you. I'm not interrupting anything, am I?"

"No, not at all." Of course he was, but she was thankful for it. "What's up?"

"I...uh...just got off the phone with Lester."

Jess was confused. "Why'd you ring Lester?"

"I didn't. He rung me."

This was even more surprising. "Whatever for?"

"It seems he'd just gotten off the phone with the Minister."

"The Minister?"

"Uh oh, we're in trouble," Connor mumbled before Abby shushed him.

"It seems," Becker explained, "that the Minister was so impressed with the

ARC team's initiative with this whole football business that he's now placed an extensive wager on the game."

"What?" Jess couldn't believe it. "But we're terrible. Didn't he notice what a rot player Lester is, not to mention me?"

"Apparently not."

"Oh, we're so dead!" Abby and Connor each leaned in curiously, giving her worried looks, but she waved them off. "What are we going to do?"

Jess could practically feel Becker's shrug over the phone. "We've just got to give it our best, I guess. And starting tomorrow we'll need to step up the practices a bit - we've barely a week left."

"Do you want me to come over tonight to go over ideas?"

Abby and Connor shared a look and then both smiled knowingly at Jess, and she could feel her face starting to turn red. She hadn't meant anything by her invitation, but she realised that a part of her did miss seeing him.

Since he hadn't answered yet, she amended, "Though it is rather late. Perhaps we could just discuss strategies tomorrow at lunch?"

"Yeah. We could do that."

Was it her imagination, or did he sound almost disappointed? No, she was definitely projecting, she decided, since she herself would've loved to spend the evening alone with him once again. She summoned up some enthusiasm to say, "Brilliant. I'll do some more research tonight, perhaps find some drills the players can do by themselves over the weekend."

Connor snickered and stage-whispered to Abby, "I can imagine what drills Becker might do by himself."

Jess prayed that Becker couldn't hear the peanut gallery in the background.

"Sounds like a plan, Jess. See you tomorrow."

"All right. Sleep well."

As she rung off, she noticed Abby and Connor looking at her with similar amused expressions.

"What?" she asked self-consciously.

"'Sleep well'," Abby mocked in a high voice.

Jess knew she'd brought this on herself - this was simply karma for blabbing to Abby this morning. She grabbed her laptop and headed for the stairs to her bedroom. "I...uh...have to go do some research."

"Oh, is that what they're calling it these days?" Connor teased, and Jess could still hear their laughter as she shut her bedroom door.

...