I'm poorly!sick today so here, have a new chapter.

Prompt: News
Rating: K+

"Rise and shine, beautiful. It's time to get up."

The only response he got was a muffled, nonsensical grumble as Jess curled her body even tighter around his pillow. Amused, Becker sat on the edge of the bed and gently pushed her hair back from her face. He leaned down and kissed her cheek softly.

"You're the one who wants to get there early," he reminded her, knowing she was half awake and listening. "You wanted to tell Lester before anyone else can."

Jess opened one eye to look at him, the glare ineffective due to the sleepy quality to it. "You should've let me sleep more last night."

"Really?" Becker smirked and quirked an eyebrow. "Because that's not the impression I got when you woke me up at one o'clock this morning, sweetheart."

His wife pouted, her cheeks growing pink. "But I'm tired now," she complained.

"We'll have an early night tonight," he promised, grinning at the expression that flickered across her features. "I mean to sleep, Jessica. You're the one complaining you're tired now."

"You're the one who's been holding out on me." She unsuccessfully tried to stifle a yawn and sat up reluctantly. "So it's your fault we've got a lot to catch up on."

"Uh huh." Unable to resist, he closed the gap between them to kiss her sweetly, drawing back after a moment and grinning again at the soft noise of protest that escaped her. "We're leaving in twenty minutes."

His wife arched a sceptical eyebrow. "Twenty minutes?"

"Twenty minutes, and no later."

Jess huffed and got up from the bed, throwing him a glare that only served to make him chuckle on her way past him to the bathroom.

Almost exactly thirty minutes later, the couple left for work.

It was no secret that he had a soft spot for the couple in front of him. For all of the couples, really, who worked underneath him at the ARC but there was something a little special about the Beckers. Whether it was because he and the Captain had mourned their fallen comrades together, during the dark period in which Abby, Connor and Danny were lost to them and after Sarah had died or because the Field Co-ordinator had become his right-hand man – right-hand woman – in the running of the ARC, not to mention the undeniably fatherly instincts he had towards her, Lester couldn't be certain.

So when they came in early, specifically to see him, a few months after the near take-over of the ARC during which they'd both almost lost their lives, Lester was incredibly wary.

Was this it? He wondered as they took their usual positions in front of him, Jess in the chair opposite his desk and Becker standing, protectively as always, in position behind her. Had they finally had enough? Decided to call it quits?

While he couldn't blame them if that was indeed the case, he knew he'd do everything in his power to convince them to stay on in some capacity, just as he would do if it was Abby and Connor or even Matt and Emily sitting in front of him telling him they wanted to leave.

He waited for a moment, trying to glean something from their expressions but both remained frustratingly neutral.

"I assume there's a reason you requested a meeting at this time in the morning?" He asked after a pause.

"There is…" Becker began, only to be interrupted by his wife.

"I'm pregnant." Jess gave Becker a quick, apologetic look for cutting him off before turning back to Lester. Her eyes were bright, her smile almost nervous. "We wanted to tell you before anyone else had a chance to. It kind of… slipped out… yesterday at the anomaly site. The plan was that you'd be one of the first to know, and then everyone else, but it kind of hasn't worked out like that. Though none of our families know yet. We were going to wait to tell everyone after the first scan but, well, that hasn't worked out, either."

Lester nodded slowly, having heard they'd been involved in the previous day's incursion but having had no further details from any of the core team. He looked from Jess to Becker, who stood silently behind her. There were the beginnings of a grin on his face, though, a proud expression he was trying to fight but failing to keep hidden as he gazed down at his wife with open affection Lester couldn't have imagined seeing on his face five, almost six, years ago.

Returning his gaze to Jess, Lester saw her bite her lip, her expression expectant and almost… wary?

"My congratulations to you both," he said sincerely, noting the way Jess's shoulders relaxed slightly. "Is everything alright? I mean, with everything that happened…?"

Though they hadn't spoken about it, both he and Jess remembered all too well their mutual experiences at the hands of the people who'd tried to take over the facility.

"So far, so good. We won't know for certain until after the scan, which is one of the reasons we weren't going to tell anyone so soon." Jess shrugged, her smile brave. Behind her, Becker moved his hand to rest on her shoulder in a gesture of silent support. "But I feel okay, and everything's fine as far as Doctor Ellis could tell so… Everything should hopefully be okay."

"I'm sure it will be." He allowed himself a small smile, hoping to reassure her, and was rewarded when her shoulders relaxed even more. "Now, you do realise there'll be paperwork that needs to be filled in, risk assessments and that sort of thing?"

"I know. I'll have a word with HR and see what they need me to do from their side of things but I – we – wanted to tell you in person rather than just filling in a form."

Lester nodded, appreciating the thought. He hesitated for a moment, before broaching another subject he was reluctant to bring up. "I assume you'll also want to make some changes after the child is born?"

He knew, mostly through his wife and the relationship she'd formed with Jess, that the couple had discussed having children before and he knew that they'd always agreed that, when the time came, one or both of them would consider either leaving the ARC or taking on a different role. Neither of them wanted to leave their child with only one parent or, in the worst case scenario, without any parent at all and while Lester could respect and admire that decision as a friend and as a father, as their boss he was a little disappointed at the thought of losing one or both of them.

"That's still something we need to discuss," Becker answered eventually, his hand tightening on Jess's shoulder. "But as soon as we've decided, we'll let you know, Sir."

He gave them another nod, not wanting to push the subject any further when it was apparent they had no answers for him.

"Well, again, my congratulations. Jess, I'll leave informing HR in your capable hands but, in the meantime, if there's anything we can do to support you, let me know and we'll do it. And that means no more working overtime and no doing paperwork for other people just because you're better at it than they are." At the surprised and guilty look on Jess's face, Lester arranged his features into a stern expression. "I will be keeping my eye on you."

"Thank you." It came from Becker, not Jess, and was accompanied by a stern look of his own aimed at his wife. "So don't think you can get away with it just because I'm not going to be watching you all of the time."

Jess rolled her eyes but took the hand he offered as she got to her feet. "You're supposed to be nice to me, you know. Not be mean and gang up on me with our boss."

"I am being nice to you." Becker gave Lester a small nod of thanks as he led his wife out of the office. "It's in your best interests..."

As the couple continued to the hub, bickering light-heartedly with smiles on their faces, Lester watched them go and wondered how it was possible to feel both happy for them, and a little bit sad that everything was going to change.

Next up: 'Photo'.