Bend It Like Becker
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Chapter 21 – MIDNIGHT MUSINGS
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"You're almost there. Take a right up ahead onto Heath Street."
It wasn't quite midnight, and somehow speeding through North London with Jess's voice in his ear wasn't exactly where Becker had foreseen his night ending up. Not that he'd actually expected to end up on his sofa with Jess, but he'd at least hoped for some pleasant film-inspired dreams and prayed that the awkwardness between them would've dissipated by morning. But no, Becker hadn't even been asleep long enough to achieve REM before getting the call, and unfortunately the memory of that couch scene had still been so fresh in both their minds that it'd made their drive to the ARC together painfully uncomfortable.
And Becker knew it was all his fault. Not the anomaly, of course – he didn't believe in jinxes like Connor - but he'd been the one to choose the bloody movie in the first place. What had he been thinking? Why hadn't he simply chosen that sobfest family drama Jess had suggested? She would've cried her eyes out at all the hospital scenes, Becker could've mocked her for weeks afterward, and everything would've been fine between them. But no, he'd had to go and choose a bloody spy thriller with the hottest sex scene in years, even without the real-life similarities. And now everything was going to be strained between them, which is so not what he—
"Turn, mate."
Matt's calm but firm voice brought the soldier back to the present, making him realize he'd just been about to speed past Heath Street. He turned the wheel quickly, the tyres squealing on the tarmac.
"I'm awake, I'm awake," Connor insisted, obviously having been kipping in the backseat until now.
"How 'bout you, mate?" Matt dryly asked Becker.
After glaring in reply, Becker noticed with some irony that they were just passing Hampstead tube station, which hadn't yet closed its gates for the night. What were the odds that tonight's anomaly would be situated at the one place where he could've gotten to without a car? It seems Jess needn't have stayed over after all!
However, if Jess noticed this irony, she didn't say anything. Instead, she instructed, "At the roundabout, take Spaniards Road. The anomaly is off to the northwest shortly after you enter the park, about 200 metres off the road into Sandy Heath."
Just what they needed – an anomaly in the middle of the brackish wilderness of the Heath in the dark. At least there shouldn't be many people about, nor wildlife, at this time of night. And if they were lucky, there wouldn't be an incursion, and they could simply lock the gateway and—
"Becker, look out!" Abby cried out practically in his ear as a creature suddenly appeared out of the foliage and ran in front of the 4x4.
The soldier slammed on the brakes and managed to screech to a halt mere inches away from the stunned animal, which had frozen at the sight of the headlights. As Becker fell back against the driver's seat, he realized he was looking almost eye-to-eye with a skinny bird-like creature, which meant it must stand nearly 1.5-metres tall. Its large eyes stared at the headlights a moment more before its long, spindly legs sped back into the trees from whence it came.
"What was that?" Emily asked.
"Mononykus," Abby explained. "It's an unusual type of theropod dinosaur from the late Cretaceous."
"Actually," Matt corrected, "scientists are still arguing over whether or not it might be an unusual type of Early Bird instead."
"Well, there's an easy way to find out," Connor offered. "If it gets the worm, it's definitely an early bird."
Becker rolled his eyes at the pathetic joke. "Regardless of what it is, shouldn't we go after it?"
"There's likely to be more than one," Matt explained. "Mononykus were nocturnal, hunting lizards and small mammals at night, when they were less likely to be attacked by predators themselves. They're used to the dark, so they'll be able to see much better than we can."
"Ooh, night vision goggle time!" Connor said, sounding excited.
"And everyone needs to be careful," Abby instructed. "It's believed that, when in danger, Mononykus would strike out with their strong single-clawed forelimbs."
Just what I need, Becker thought as he exited the 4x4, to be clawed to death in the dark by a deranged emu.
Perhaps he and Jess should've stayed home together on the couch after all!
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As the team prepared to deal with the incursion, Jess got an uneasy feeling in the pit of her stomach. Unlike Connor, she wasn't thrilled at the prospect of the night vision goggles. Of course, since there was no CCTV coverage of this part of the Heath, using the goggles meant that at least Jess would have something to monitor, but the whole idea made her feel uncomfortable.
Usually when the team was out on a call, Jess was able to be an omniscient presence, able to monitor the locale and the creatures through the CCTV coverage, directing the team to where they could do the most good. It was her job to watch over them, and her ability to do so helped save lives. And despite watching them on the camera feeds, plus monitoring their locations via their black boxes, Jess never felt like she was invading their privacy.
But monitoring the night vision goggles with somehow different. Instead of being able to see the entire area, Jess was reduced to seeing only what the team members could see. This severely limited her abilities at the hub, since she wasn't able to see creatures sneaking up on them. She had no foreknowledge of what to expect, and therefore was caught just as unawares as the team members themselves. It made her feel rather helpless, as her input could only help the others find the location of an attack after the fact.
And while the limitations of the goggles hindered her from doing a good job, that's not why it unnerved her so. The idea of monitoring their vision felt like such an invasion of privacy. Where else in life could one see exactly what another person sees? It wasn't necessarily a good thing to be so aware of what others chose to look at – for instance, she would've been perfectly content never knowing how often Connor stared at Abby's arse. But while Jess could cope with her unease in most cases by reminding herself that it wasn't personal and she was merely doing her job, she felt extremely uneasy when it came to monitoring Becker. It wasn't just that his constant scanning back and forth made her dizzy – it felt creepy knowing that she was practically inside Becker's head, seeing exactly what he was seeing.
Not that a part of her wouldn't like to actually be inside his head, to know what he was thinking. Maybe then she'd actually understand why he did the things he did, why he gave such mixed signals.
Because she was starting to think once again that he truly was interested in being more than friends. It wasn't just because she'd continued to see the Look, though that definitely was a factor. But random things he'd said tonight at dinner and afterwards definitely made her think that he enjoyed her company more than simply as a friend. And he'd let her hold his hand most of the day at the Pet Show - surely he wouldn't have allowed that it if he didn't like how her hand felt in his, right?
And when they'd awoken to the alert, it became clear that he, too, had noticed the similarities to real life inherent in the couch scene, which was both a blessing and a curse. In a way, it made her feel like at least she wasn't projecting, wasn't seeing things she simply wanted to see. However, it also made things even more awkward in the car ride to the ARC. Surely it wouldn't have been so awkward if he didn't think of her in that way, right? So perhaps the awkwardness had been a blessing in disguise because it was further evidence that he really did like her as more than a friend.
But so what if he did? He clearly wasn't planning on making a move anytime soon. He had, however, given her a key to his flat, she reminded herself, even though she was still at a loss as to what that had been about! She longed to discuss it all with someone, but Abby and Connor were definitely not to be trusted.
So what about talking to Becker himself? Why not simply set him down and lay her cards on the table, tell him directly that she was interested in pursuing a relationship with him?
But hadn't she already made it clear from day one how she felt about him? Her crush was obvious to everyone at the ARC, so surely he must be aware as well. And if he still hadn't done anything, there must be a good reason for it, though surely that reason couldn't be that he didn't like her since clearly he did. Oh, if only she had someone to talk to, someone to help her see things more clearly!
"Can you see everything, Jess?"
Matt's voice brought Jess back to the present.
"What? Oh yes, all the goggle feeds are coming through nice and clear." Jess's fingers flew over the keyboard as she aligned the various views on her monitors. "As I mentioned before, the anomaly is about 200 metres away – I can direct you to it."
"We need to go after the Mononykus," Abby insisted.
"Agreed," Matt said. "Becker, you and Emily go seal the anomaly; the rest of us will start trying to round up the creatures."
Jess watched on the feeds as the various team members turned and headed off in various directions.
"Okay, Jess," Becker began. "Where to now?"
Jess had many ways she could answer that question, but she merely instructed, "Cross the road and head into the bracken – there's a footpath about 100 metres in and you can follow it for a ways. I'll tell you when you're getting close and need to turn."
"Copy, Jess."
Jess sat back and glanced at the various camera feeds as the team members charged off into the darkness. Clearly it was going to be a long night!
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[Author's note: Connor's joke about the "early bird" came directly from my father. As my parents and I were sat in the airport waiting to get on the plane to New Zealand, I was telling them about the scene I was writing and giving them details about the Mononykus. My dad replied with Connor's line and then laughed heartily at his own joke as my mother rolled her eyes and I blurted out, "That's so going in my story!"]