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

Chapter Summary:Becker has been acting weird and Jess decides it's time she found out why.

Chapter Length: 1399

Author's Note: I've got two chapters for you today, the next one should be up in a few minutes, I just have to proof read it. Enjoy X

Open Mic Nights

Chapter 19 – Distraction

Jess sat at the ADD, lost in her thoughts; ever since the incident with the sabretooth tigers Becker had been acting weird whenever he was around her. At first he had been really over protective, never letting her do things for herself, convinced she'd get injured if she did anything too strenuous. Eventually she had been able to convince him that she wasn't going to break if she went back to doing her normal routine, but that was when he started pulling away from her.

Over the past few weeks Becker had been growing distant, he had been working more and staying at her flat less. When Jess had asked him why he wasn't coming over as often, he had told her that he thought it would be better if he stayed at his place, since he would be working late and hadn't wanted to wake her up. Jess had accepted this and, in the beginning, his working late hadn't bothered her. She knew that one of his soldiers had been injured during an alert and that Becker was covering his shifts.

But that had been over a week ago, and—despite the fact that Johnson had recovered and returned to work—Becker was still working late into the night. They only saw each other at work now, and only when the others were around as well. They never spent any time alone anymore, and Jess couldn't help but wonder if she had done something to upset him.

Confused and needing to get out of her own head, Jess decided to take a break and go talk to Abby.

Jess found Abby with Emily in the break room, talking over steaming cups of tea. Pouring herself a cup she joined her friends on the couch.

"Can I talk to you guys about something?"

"Of course Jess. What is bothering you?"

"It's Becker."

"Oh no, what's he done?" Abby asked, giving Jess her full attention.

"Ever since the tiger incident he's been acting weird. He was really over protective for a while, and then he became distant. He's working late all the time and he hardly ever comes over anymore. In the beginning it didn't really bother me; Johnson had been injured and I knew Becker was trying to help cover his shifts, and it did make more sense for him to go back to his own place after work when he was finishing so late at night. But Johnson's been back for a week now and he's still working late. We hardly spend any time together; I don't know what I've done to push him away."

"I do not think you have done anything Jess."

"Em's right Jess, I doubt you've done anything wrong. You know as well as any of us what Becker's been through because of this job. I think you getting injured shook him, and brought up all the pain he's felt in the past."

"I know if I had experienced all the loss Becker has, and I saw someone I loved that badly injured, it would terrify me. I would begin to fear that I would lose someone else and be put through that pain all over again."

"He probably just got scared and doesn't know how to handle it. You know he's not good with expressing what he feels. Just talk to him, I'm sure everything is fine."

"Yeah, you're probably right. Thanks guys."

Feeling reassured after talking to Abby and Emily, Jess made her way back to the ADD, vowing to talk to Becker later that day.

When the end of her shift came and the night field coordinator had come to replace her, Jess collected her things from the ADD and went to find Becker. The two of them had plans to go out for dinner tonight, and Jess was planning to use it as an opportunity to try and find out what was going on with him.

Arriving at the armoury Jess found Becker in his office, hunched over some paperwork, frowning in concentration. Jess knocked quietly on the door frame to get his attention.

"Hey, you ready to go?" She asked quietly.

"What?"

"We're going to dinner tonight, and we need to leave soon to make our reservations."

"Jess, I can't. I have too much to do around here."

"You're working late again?"

"I have too; this paperwork needs to get done."

"Yeah, but can't it wait until tomorrow morning?"

"I told Lester I'd have it done by morning."

Jess couldn't believe it; Becker was working late again, and worse he was blowing her off. They'd spent barely any time together over the last couple of weeks, and now he was cancelling their date. Abby and Emily were right, they needed to talk. Becker had to know that it was not okay to keep withdrawing from her. They were a couple now, if there was something bothering him, he should talk to her about it.

"Becker, what's going on? We've hardly seen each other over the past few weeks."

Becker sighed. "Do we have to do this now Jessica?"

The use of her full name pushed Jess over the edge. All the hurt and confusion she had been feeling turned into anger, he had been treating her horribly and Jess wasn't going to take another second of it.

"Yes, we have to do this now. You've been avoiding me for days now and I want to know why."

"I've just needed some space."

"Why? What did I do to make you need space?"

"You haven't done anything Jess."

"Then why are you avoiding me?"

"I'm not avoiding you."

"You're not avoiding me, yet you need space? What's going on with you Becker?"

"Nothing!"

"It has to be something! Just tell me what it is!"

By this point they were both yelling, and Jess was glad that the ARC was almost empty at this time of night.

"I just…I can't do this anymore!"

"Can't do what?" Jess' voice had gone quiet, scared of what his answer might be.

"I can't… I can't love you and do this job at the same time." Becker told her, unable to meet her eyes.

"What do you mean?"

"You're a distraction, and I can't afford to be distracted. I'm sorry, it's over."

Jess' heart plummeted into her stomach and it felt like her whole world had come crashing down around her. She felt like bursting into to tears but didn't want to give him the satisfaction of seeing how much he had hurt her.

Taking a deep breath, Jess pulled herself together, letting the pain she felt rekindle the anger from moments ago.

"I'm a distraction! No! Don't go using this job as an excuse for why this relationship can't work, because we both know that's not true. Plenty of people both work here and make a relationship work. Working at the ARC doesn't affect a relationship any more than any other work place does. You're just scared. You started to feel something real and it terrified you. Well, don't go thinking I'll be waiting around for you to realise you made a mistake, because I'm done waiting for you Becker."

Jess' voice broke towards the end of her speech. Turning on her heels she stormed out of the room and made her way to her car, praying that she'd be able to hold herself together long enough to get there.

Once she's in her car Jess let the tears fall. She was in shock, unable to believe that Becker had actually broken up with her. Surly it was all a bad dream and she would wake up any moment now, in her bed with Becker's arms wrapped around her.

But the ache in her neck that was forming from resting her head against the steering wheel told Jess that this was no dream. Becker had actually broken up with her. The heartless bastard had used her for a couple months than dumped her before things got too serious, breaking her heart in the process.

How could he do this to me? I thought he loved me.

Of course if Jess hadn't been so angry and stormed out of there so quickly she would have seen how Becker had been affected by the exchange. She would have seen the look of utter pain clearly displayed on his face, and the tears glistening in his eyes.