Disclaimer: I don't own Primeval or the characters.

Chapter Summary: The wedding preparations continue and it's time for the thing Jess has been waiting for. It's time to buy the dresses.

Chapter Length: 1765

Open Mic Nights

Chapter 6 – Dress Shopping

The past weeks had been busy, stressful, and a lot of fun. Thankfully though, this wasn't the result of multiple anomaly alerts. Things had quieted down since convergence, they were only seeing a couple of anomalies a week and creature incursions were becoming increasingly rare. No, it was organising the wedding that was keeping them busy and stressed. Well, it was keeping most of them that way. Matt and Emily would help out whenever they were asked too, but the majority of the planning was being done by the rest of the team, and while it was keeping Becker busy he didn't seem all too stressed by the amount of work they had to do. Then again it was often hard to tell what the Captain was feeling.

Despite this Jess was having fun. She was enjoying all the tasks involved in arranging a wedding, like looking at venues, picking flowers, and she was really looking forward to going dress shopping. But what Jess really loved was all the extra time she got to spend with Becker. Not only had he started coming to the pub with them every Friday, but on Saturdays he would come to the flat and the four of them would spend the day hanging out and talking wedding plans.

While Jess was enjoying herself she could tell Abby was getting more stressed as each day passed. Abby and Connor had decided on an autumn wedding, which only left them with a few months to get everything done within. So far they had booked the venue, picked flowers, and sent out the invitations. Next week they had a taste testing with a potential caterer, and then the week after they were auditioning bands. They still had to find the time to take the dance lessons Jess had convinced Abby were necessary; something that wasn't hard to do once Connor tried doing a waltz. As if all that wasn't enough, Becker and Jess still had the bachelor and bachelorette parties to plan. Thinking about all of it, Jess wished for the first time that Abby and Connor hadn't insisted on a date that was so close.

"Is Emily here yet? Our appointment is in an hour." Abby's words drew Jess away from her internal rabbling.

"I'm sure she's on her way."

"But what if we miss the appointment, who knows when we'll be able to get another one."

"Abby relax, everything's going to be fine."

"How can I relax? The wedding's in October, that's only two months away."

There was a knock on the door, interrupting Abby's worrying. Jess went to answer it and found Emily waiting on the other side. She moved to walk through the door, but Jess held up a hand to stop her.

"Abby, Emily's here!"

They could hear someone moving around the flat, and then Abby was at the door, handing Jess her shoes and purse before heading to the car. Sharing a look the girls followed Abby, Jess trying to put on her shoes as she went.

Despite all of Abby's worrying they arrived at the dress shop in time for their appointment. Entering the store Jess felt right at home amongst all the glittering dresses. They were greeted by a shop assistant and Abby explained that they had an appointment with a stylist to find her wedding dress as well as the bridesmaid dresses. The shop assistant led the group to the back of the store, where the fittings took place. Telling the girls to take a seat, she went to get the stylist.

"Hi, I'm Meredith, your stylist. Now whose wedding is it?"

"Mine," Abby said, less than enthusiastically.

Meredith—who appeared to be in her mid-fifties—was taken aback by the lack of excitement in Abby's voice. She was used to dealing with brides who couldn't wait to get their dress and get married.

"She's a little stressed. The wedding is in October and we only started planning it a few weeks ago. Plus we all have very demanding jobs." Jess said, in an attempt to explain her friend's lethargy.

"Oh my, that's not a lot of time. But don't worry dears; I've got all the time in the world to help you find your dream dress. Trust me, once you've got this out of the way you'll feel better."

They spent the morning trying on dresses. Their stylist kept bringing Abby long dresses covered in lace, and big princess gowns that had skirts so large they were next to impossible to move in. Unsurprisingly, she didn't like any of them.

There was a similar problem with the bridesmaid dresses. The girls were continuously shown long, flowing, strapless dress made of chiffon. Emily and Jess liked them, though Jess thought they would be better suited for a school formal. But Abby didn't want her bridesmaids in long dresses, especially if she wasn't going to be wearing one.

Feeling disheartened, they were about to give up when Meredith brought them a new selection of dresses; this time all short. Frist up were the bridesmaid dresses. Abby selected a style she liked and sent Jess and Emily to the change rooms to try them on. Putting the dress on Jess looked herself over in the mirror.

I think we might have finally found a winner.

Emerging from the fitting room, Jess twirled and struck a pose, causing her friends to laugh. Emily stood beside her in an identical dress and Abby looked them over. Holding their breath they waited for her ruling. Jess had a good feeling about this dress. It was enough of Abby's style that she thought the bride would like it, and it was enough of her style to make her feel comfortable wearing it. It was hard to tell if Emily liked it, the woman from the past was still adjusting to the differences in apparel between her time and now.

The two of them were in strapless, satin gowns that cut off at the knee; making it longer than some of the skirts Jess wore to work. The fabric was wrinkled slightly, giving the dress texture. At the left hip were two satin flowers; from there ran a single ruffle down to the hemline of the dress. But Jess's favourite thing about it was the colour. It was a gorgeous turquoise that was as bright as anything else in her wardrobe and stood out against her pale skin.

"Finally!" Abby exclaimed, relief flooding her face.

"Do you like them?" Emily asked.

"Yes, they're exactly what I was looking for." Squealing they embraced, happy to have found dresses.

Once Jess and Emily returned, Abby chose a dress and went to try it on.

While she was waiting for Abby to return Jess's mind wondered to the place it always goes whenever she gets a chance to day dream; Becker. Things between them had changed recently. Sure, it was a subtle change—so subtle that if Abby hadn't said anything Jess would have thought she imagined it—but it was a change nonetheless. Whenever they were together Becker would make sure he was close to her, and when one of them shifted the other would move as well. It was like they were magnets, being constantly drawn to each other. Jess couldn't help but feel giddy at their new found closeness. Maybe my little stunt on stage did have an effect on him.

Aside from the new closeness, Jess got to see Becker in something other than his military uniform. Another perk; though his civilian clothing was almost as subdued as his work wear. Something Jess would rectify the first chance she got. He favoured wearing navy blue, grey and—unsurprisingly—black. However there was that one time Jess had walked in on him changing, he had a red and black shirt that day, it was the most colour she had seen him in. Yes, Jess would definitely have to fix his aversion to colour.

Abby came back out then and Jess switched her mind back to the task at hand. If the look on Abby's face was anything to go by, their morning of trying on dress may have just paid off. Abby wore an off white dress that came down to just below the knee. It had a deep V-neckline and an A-line skirt. A thin belt the same colour as the dress cinched the waist, giving it some definition, and like the bridesmaids, there were two fabric flowers sitting on the left hip.

"Oh Abby, you look gorgeous." Jess gushed. A tear slid down Abby's face as she looked herself over in the mirror.

"What is wrong?" Emily asked as they rushed over to their friend.

"God, why am I like this? Nothing's wrong, I'm happy."

"Do you like the dress?"

She nodded. "I love it."

Jess smiled as they drove back to the flat, Abby looked lighter than she had that morning. She was relieved, a weight had been lifted off her and Jess was happy to see the woman she knew returning.

"You seem happier."

"I am. Meredith was right, with my dress sorted I feel better about everything, even though there's still so much to do."

"But do you believe me now when I say everything will get done? Because it will."

"I don't know, there's still so much. We still need a caterer, a band, dance lessons, and the guys still need their suits."

"They're going to get them this afternoon."

"And I'm sure Matt and Becker managed to talk Connor out of getting that atrocious blue thing." Emily piped up from the back seat.

"What blue thing?" The panic was creeping back into Abby's voice. Jess shot Emily a look, wondering why she would say that.

"Oh God, he's going to end up in something straight out of the fifties that'll probably clash with your dresses."

"I am sure it will be okay." Emily said trying to fix the damage she caused.

"No it won't, we're leaving this up to a man whose never been to a wedding in this century, a soldier who couldn't care less about fashion, and Connor."

"What if Jess and I went with them?"

"Would you?"

"Of course," Jess reassured. "We can even colour coordinate Becker and Matt to match our dresses."

Abby visibly relaxed at the thought of the girls supervising the shopping trip. Jess looked back at Emily, who shrugged apologetically. This wasn't exactly going to be the relaxing afternoon Jess had been planning on.

Oh well, at least I'll get to spend it dressing up Becker.