Prompt: Support
Rating: K+
Tried posting this earlier because of the cliffhanger but ff wouldn't allow it. Sorry!

Becker wasn't sure how long they sat on the floor in the room that would be their baby's nursery, just that it was long enough for his legs to protest when it eventually came to moving. Jess's tears had stopped but she still trembled in his arms, her breath leaving her in uneven gasps.

He ran his hand through her hair, over her back, rocking her gently as he murmured repeated reassurances over and over.

She hadn't said a word, hadn't given him a single clue as to what was wrong.

"Jess, sweetheart." When he felt more than heard her take a shuddering breath, Becker gently tipped her tear soaked face up to his. "What's wrong? Is it the baby?"

She shook her head but her eyes filled with fresh tears. "I- I..." Jess bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head, evidently trying to compose herself. "I don't think I can do this, Hil."

Confused and concerned, he caught a tear that escaped from her eye with the pad of his thumb. "Do what?"

"This." She waved a hand around the empty room before letting it settle on her stomach. "Have a baby. Be a mum. I don't... I don't know what I'm supposed to do."

His first impulse was to laugh; there was no doubt in his mind that Jess would make a wonderful mother to their child but he kept it at bay, knowing she wouldn't appreciate it. Instead, he closed the gap between them and brushed his lips against her forehead. "Neither of us do, but we'll muddle through it together."

"That's not good enough." She shook her head, biting her lip again. "What if we mess up? What if I mess up? I can't... I don't have a mum I can call up at three in the morning when the baby won't stop crying and you're out fighting dinosaurs or who I can call before the baby's born with last minute questions I can't ask anyone else."

"You can ask Andi anything and you know she won't lie to you. As for who you can call at three in the morning... I don't plan on leaving you alone with the baby if I can help it, Jess. I promise. If there's a late night anomaly, I'll help via the comms but unless I'm really needed, I'll stay here with you." He caught the part sceptical, part surprised expression on her face and lifted her hand to his lips. "We still need to have that conversation," he reminded her quietly, "about what we're going to do once the baby's born."

Jess nodded but didn't say anything, the thinning of her lips telling him the time for that conversation hadn't yet arrived.

"But," Becker continued just as quietly, "if you do need to call someone for advice and for whatever reason, Andi isn't available, you know you can call my mum any time you want to. Or even Mrs Lester. And you know I'll be with you as much as I can. You're not going to be raising this child alone, Jess. I promise. I won't let that happen."

Leaving her a widow had become one of his biggest fears since they'd married, and it had only multiplied in intensity after they'd discovered they were going to be parents. He knew too many soldier's who'd left their wives and families behind, good men who'd been denied the opportunity to see their children grow up.

He swore to himself he wouldn't put her or his child through that, just as he promised himself that whenever he had children of his own, he wouldn't be an absent father and would be there as much as he could.

"What if I mess up?" Jess asked him, her expression earnest. "What if I do something wrong and I mess up our child or he or she hates me or –"

He cut her off mid-ramble, his lips over hers silencing her doubts. Pulling back to rest his forehead against hers, Becker cupped her cheek tenderly. "You're not going to mess up, Jessica Becker. You're going to be a wonderful mother and our child is going to love you as much as I do."

"But..."

"No buts. And if we do screw up – emphasis on the we – well, isn't that what first kids are for?" He teased with a lopsided grin. "We'll learn from whatever mistakes we make with our first kid and probably make a load more with our second."

As he'd hoped, his teasing brought a smile to her face and she hit him half-heartedly, shaking her head. "I'm sitting here panicking about our first child and you're planning our second?"

"Yep." He leaned in to steal another kiss, holding her in his lap when they parted. They sat in silence for a while, her head tucked under his chin, ear pressed against his chest listening to his heartbeat. "Feeling any better?" He asked after a while.

Nodding against him, Jess dropped a kiss to his chest before lifting her head to look at him. Her cheeks still bore the evidence of her earlier tears but her eyes were thankfully clear. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I just... It's real now. Everyone who matters knows and it feels real and that terrified me for a moment. But you're right." She leaned up and kissed him softly. "We're in this together, aren't we?"

"We are. Every step of the way."

They stayed in the room that would be the nursery for their child for a few minutes more, sitting in silence on the floor, arms wrapped around one another as they thought about the journey ahead of them.

Eventually, his muscles protesting at being still for so long, Becker eased her off his lap and stood, holding out a hand for her. When she took it, he helped her to stand and then wrapped his arms around her, leaning in to brush his lips against her forehead, her nose and then her lips.

"It's going to be okay, Jess," he promised her sincerely. "Better than okay. It's going to be brilliant."

Jess smiled up at him, love and gratitude shining in her eyes, and kissed him softly before letting him lead her back to their room.

Continued in 'Preparations', wherein the fluff makes a welcome return!