Disclaimer: Still don't own the characters or the show.

Chapter Summary: Set at the end of the week, the team is gets together to start planning Abby and Connor's wedding. Abby takes the opportunity to have a little talk with Becker.

Chapter Length: 1277

Open Mic Nights

Chapter 5 – Grasping Happiness

That week had been a quiet one, with only a couple of anomaly alerts, neither of which involved a creature incursion. While they were all happy about this—especially after the craziness they had experienced recently—Abby was certain that by the end of the week, even Jess wished something would happen. Mercifully the weekend came around and they could take some time off from worrying about anomalies, or a lack there of.

She and Connor had spoken to the rest of the team during the week about being a part of the wedding. They had said yes, some more enthusiastically than others—Emily had been particularly excited to be included, but not as excited as Jess had been—though Connor said there was a moment when he had thought Becker would say no. But he'd agreed and Abby was planning to use the fact that they were maid of honour and best man to try and get Becker and Jess to finally admit how they feel about each other.

Jess came skipping into the kitchen, still in the singlet and shorts she had worn to bed, despite that it was now after midday.

"You might want to change; everyone will be here soon. Unless you want Becker to catch you in your underwear." Just then there was a knock at the door. Gasping Jess ran off in the direction of her bedroom, presumably to get changed. Laughing Abby went to get the door.

"Someone's in a good mood," Becker said as Abby opened the door, still laughing. "What's so funny?"

"Jess dancing around in her underwear."

Becker raised an eyebrow. "I didn't realise this had such an informal dress code."

Abby laughed again and ushered him inside. Showing Becker to the lounge room, Abby left him there with Connor before returning to the kitchen to finish preparing the refreshments Jess had bought for that afternoon. Matt and Emily should be arriving any moment and the six of them were going to celebrate Connor's and Abby's engagement—something they hadn't had the chance to do yet—and begin planning the wedding. Which Abby was being to realise they might have been putting off for too long.

Finished with what she was doing Abby started to take the platters into the living area.

"Connor get your butt in the kitchen and grab the rest," Abby demanded. Abby saw Becker smirk as Connor scramble off the couch and into the kitchen. Jess came into the room as Connor rounded the corner and sat on the couch.

"Hey," Becker said as Jess sat down next to him, a smile coming across his face.

"Hi. Sorry, I was just getting ready."

"So I heard."

As Becker's words sunk in Jess glared at Abby.

"Sorry, was I not supposed to say anything?"

There was another knock at the door and Abby went to get it, escaping from the glare Jess was still throwing her way. When Abby returned—followed by Matt and Emily—she found Connor sitting on the floor, pouting, and Becker and Jess laughing at him.

"What is so funny?" Emily asked.

"Connor pouting just because he has to sit on the floor."

Emily and Matt joined in the laughter as they sat on the other couch. Smiling Abby sat on the floor next to Connor.

"Aw, poor baby," she said, kissing his check. Connor perked up at the attention he was receiving from his girlfriend. With Connor now pacified, the pair turned to their friends.

"Abby and I want to thank you all. Not just for agreeing to help us plan this thing, but for being a part of it as well. You guys really are like family to us and it means a lot that you're all a part of this important moment in both of our lives."

"Oh Connor, stop! You're going to make me cry!" Jess said, wiping under her eyes. Abby hid a smile as she saw Becker hand Jess a tissue.

The team spent the whole afternoon planning and had finally decided to call it a night. Matt and Emily had already left, making Becker the only person who didn't live at the flat left, and he didn't seem to be in any particular hurry to leave. Abby had been watching Becker and Jess the entire afternoon, and was now more determined than ever to get them together by the wedding. The pair was clearly drawn to each other. They had been sitting close together throughout the entire afternoon, and whenever one had moved the other moved as well, subconsciously maintaining their closeness. She was looking forward to watching them interact more as they planned, and on sending them out on errands together.

Jess, unsurprisingly, had come prepared with bridal magazines and folders to layout their plans in. But despite this, and all the talking, they didn't get a lot done. All they had managed to do was set a date, start a guest list, and a budget. The rest of the time they had spent talking and joking around. While Abby enjoyed all the laughter they shared, she really wished they had gotten more done, as it was becoming increasingly clear that planning a wedding was a bigger task than she and Connor had anticipated.

"You seem to be deep in thought."

Abby jumped at the sound of Becker's voice. "Ah, yeah, just thinking about the wedding."

"Are you happy with what got done today?"

"Yeah, I just wished we had gotten a bit more done. I never realised how much work it would be and now I feel like we've left it too late."

"Don't worry Abby, with Jess around everything will turn out perfectly. Did you see the size of those binders she had? You could knock a person out with one of those."

Abby smiled. "Yeah, Jess is pretty good at this stuff."

"She's good at everything she does."

Abby smiled at the Captain's slip. "Yes, well, that became clear after I heard her sing."

"Speaking of, Jess says you have a theory about her song choices."

"It's not a theory, it's true. She just won't admit that there's always a deeper meaning to her song choice." Abby had a feeling she knew where Becker was going with this conversation.

"So… what do you think was the deep meaning behind last week's choice?" Becker tried to be nonchalant, but he wasn't doing a very good job at it.

"Hmm, you come out with us for the first time and Jess just happens to sing Take a Chance on Me, I wonder why that could be? Come on Becker, we both know why she chose that song, and the fact that you're asking for confirmation tells me that you hope you're right."

"I was just asking so I could understand why this bothers Jess so much," Becker said, trying to hide his true motivations from Abby.

"Okay, fine. Clearly you need to work through this on your own, but I will say this. We've all been through a lot in this job, we've all lost people. Heck Connor and I lost a whole year to the past. I can understand why you'd want to cut people out after all the pain you've experienced. You don't want to go through that again, and you want to spare people from going through it. But the world almost ended two months ago, and just weeks before that Jess almost died. Don't deny yourself happiness because of the pain that may come later. And more importantly don't deny Jess happiness, because with our jobs, you need to take every bit of happiness you can get."