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

Secrets

Chapter 12 – Rescue Mission

As the team made their way to the sight of the original anomaly, Jess sat at the ADD and did what she could to help them. She hacked into the CCTV cameras that were in the area and began looking for a place where they could safely open the anomaly. Unfortunately, they weren't able to open it in the same location the previous one had been in, as it was right in the middle of the shopping strip, and since it was a Saturday, that strip was currently full of people. She found an alleyway behind the line of shops that was deserted and near the first anomaly's location.

"Matt," Jess said, tapping her earpiece to turn the radio link on.

"Yes Jess?"

"I've found an alleyway that you'll be able to open the anomaly in, it's close to where the first one was, so you shouldn't be too far from where Becker would have crossed to. I'm sending the coordinates to you now."

"Thanks Jess, good work."

The team arrived on sight then and began setting up the device, and a few moments later an anomaly sprang into existence. The ADD's alarms blared and Jess assured everyone that it wasn't a proper alert, it was just the ADD picking up the anomaly the team had opened and that they could all relax. Her fingers flew across the keyboards as she typed in a few codes, and seconds later the alarms fell silent.

Jess watched on as Abby, Connor, and Matt—accompanied by three of the soldiers—crossed through the anomaly. As she watched her friends and colleges disappear through the shining ball of light, it was all she could do to hope that that wasn't the last time she would see them.

After that Jess really wasn't able to be of much help, all she could do was note down any information that the soldiers left behind sent back to her. They weren't able to send back a lot of information and what they did send did very little to reassure anyone.

A couple of hours after the team had disappeared through the anomaly, Lily came to stand beside Jess' chair.

"Mummy, when are we going to leave for dance class?"

Crap! I forgot Lily had dance class today.

"Um, sweetie, I'm not able to leave. But…Emily is around here somewhere, how about I see if she can drive you to your dance class?"

"Okay."

Jess tapped her earpiece to switch it over to the channel that was used within the ARC.

"Emily, are you on the com's system at the moment?"

"I am Jess, what can I do for you?"

"Lil's dance class starts soon but I can't take her."

"Not a problem, I shall take her. I will be there in a moment."

"Thanks Em."

Five minutes later Emily was walking up to the ADD to collect Lily.

"Here, take my car," Jess said handing Emily the keys. "That way you won't have to move her car seat. All her gear is in the boot, and this is the address."

Emily took the piece of paper Jess held out to her.

"Thanks again Emily, this is a big help."

"Nonsense, this is what I stayed behind for. Now, come along Lillian."

The four-year-old screwed up her face at the Victorian woman.

"I don't like being called that. My name's Lily."

The young girl crossed her arms defiantly.

"My apologies. Would you please come with me Lily?"

"That's better."

Lily took Emily's hand, and Jess laughed as she watched them leave the hub. Only Lily could stare down the Victorian like that, anyone else who dared to try soon regretted the action.

Because they worked at the ARC and none of their plans could ever go smoothly, an anomaly opened up around mid-afternoon.

Jess groaned.

Oh for fucks sake! Now I have to monitor the rescue attempt AND coordinate an alert. Cause I really needed the extra stress.

Looking up the coordinates of this new anomaly, Jess relayed them back to the beta team, who were handling all alerts in place of the core team. The anomaly was located in a park not too far from the ARC, and at this point it didn't look like anything had come through.

The beta team left and Jess was feeling positive about this alert.

Maybe we'll get lucky and it'll be a really simple alert with no incursion.

But no sooner than Jess had thought the words, the anomaly flickered, and a woolly mammoth came through.

Oh bloody hell! I just had to go and jinx it didn't I.

Luckily the park was attached to a school, so Jess was able to watch over the team in the field through the school's security cameras.

Herding the mammoth back through the anomaly was no easy task, mammoths weren't exactly the most compliant creatures. There were moments when Jess thought the anomaly would close on them and they'd have to transport the creature back to the ARC, which would probably be harder than trying to get it to walk through the anomaly.

Though something tells me Lester wouldn't object to having another mammoth around.

Jess spent an hour and a half dividing her attention between watching the team with the mammoth and monitoring the rescue attempt. Every couple of hours one of the soldiers on this side of the anomaly would swap with one of the ones that had crossed though. They did this so the search party was able to keep track of how much time was passing, as Connor had explained that his device didn't have an infinite battery supply and would run out of power and switch off after eight hours, closing the anomaly when it did.

Each time a new soldier came back Jess would throw question after question at them, hoping to find out something about how the search was going and the status of the team. But each time she got the same answers. The team was doing well, they'd had some encounters with creatures but everyone was okay, no sign of Becker yet. She was almost ready to give up hope of ever finding him.

Eventually the team in the field got the mammoth back through the anomaly, returning to the ARC unharmed, and Jess was able to go back to monitoring just the one team.

As the field team returned their black boxes Jess realised it was almost time to pick Lily up from dance class, and again she was unable to leave. She spoke to Emily, who was more than happy to go and collect the girl.

Just before Emily left Maddie approached the two of them. Jess smiled at her, she hadn't seen a lot of the nine-year-old today and was wondering how she had been doing.

"Jess, could I go hang out with Ruth and some people from school?"

"I don't know…"

"Please Jess, I've been so bored all day with everyone gone."

"I would be happy to drop her off."

"You sure, Em?"

"Of course, I am going out anyway."

"Okay then. But call me when you want to be picked up, I don't want you taking transport home, especially if it's after dark."

"I will, thanks Jess."

Maddie gave Jess a tight hug, and Jess was surprised at how long the girl lingered. It was like she was saying goodbye for good instead of a couple of hours.

At seven o'clock that night Jess was still sitting at the ADD, Lily on her lap watching a movie on her laptop. There had been no activity at the sight of the rescue mission for over an hour now and Jess was beginning to worry about what this could mean. It was getting close to the deadline and nothing had happened since the last swap an hour ago. It was making her anxious, and she could tell that the soldiers that had been left behind felt the same way.

Suddenly she saw the anomaly flicker and she had Emily take Lily away, not wanting the little girl to see whatever was about to happen. Jess gasped as she saw the search team come back through the anomaly, looking a little worse for wear.

"Medical team to the following coordinates immediately," Jess said into the communications system, happy that she had had the foresight to keep a team on standby all day.

Switching channels Jess spoke to one of the soldiers guarding the anomaly. "Private Johnson."

"Yes Ms Parker."

"I'm sending you the coordinates of a small motel that's approximately 20 minutes from where you are. I've reserved a room there and have a medical team en route, make sure everyone gets there and is looked over."

"Copy that Miss."

Jess sat anxiously as she watched the team come through, bitting her nails and looking for one person in particular. A grin broke over her face as she watched Becker—with the help of one of his soldiers—walk through the anomaly, an amazed look on his face, like he couldn't quite believe he was back.

"Come on mate," she heard Connor say over the coms that had come alive the moment they all crossed back into the present. "I can think of a couple little girls back home that I know are dying to see you."

"CONNOR!" Jess shrieked as Becker looked at the man with a stunned expression on his face. "You're not meant to know about them, remember!"

"Oops, sorry. But he had to find out eventually right?"

Jess saw Becker frown until he realised Connor wasn't speaking to him.

"Someone give Becker one of the spare earpieces I sent with you."

Jess watched as Becker put in the earpiece he was handed and waited until she knew it was online before changing them onto a private channel and continuing to speak.

"Becker, I'm sorry. I know your probably really confused right now, especially about Connor knowing about Lily and Maddie, but I promise to explain everything when you get back to the ARC. For now, just get to the motel where the medics are meeting you and get checked out, okay."

Becker moved away from the group, knowing Jess had them on a private line.

"Jess?"

"Yes, it's me."

"God, I was beginning to think I would never hear your voice again."

Jess had to hold back the tears that were threatening to overcome her. When Becker had moved away from the group he had unwittingly moved closer to the CCTV camera and Jess could now clearly see how bad of a state he was in, and it tore her up. Noticing the change in Jess, Lily went over to her and tried climbing onto her lap, so she could give the woman a hug.

"Not right now Lily, I'm working," Jess said wiping her eyes. "I need you to stay with Emily okay."

The girl nodded and walked away.

"Jess, are they at the ARC with you?"

"Yes, but Becker I'll explain later okay? Just get yourself looked at, please for me." Jess' voice trembled as she spoke.

"Okay, I will," Becker spoke quietly, trying to reassure Jess. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. I'm not the one covered in blood."

"Would it help if I told you it isn't all mine?"

"Is that the truth?"

"Yes."

"Then yes."

"It isn't all mine."

"Good. I'm going to switch us back to the team's channel now. Oh, and Becker?"

"Yes?"

"I'm really happy you're okay, and that you're back."

"So am I Jess. I'll see you soon. I promise."

Jess changed the channel they were on and watched as Becker re-joined the rest of the team.

"Come on mate, let's get you to that motel and clean you up. If you get back looking like that you'll terrify your daughters."

Jess saw Becker wince slightly at Connor's casual mention of his kids but he didn't say anything.

Forty minutes later Matt radioed in to tell them that Becker had been looked at and aside from being dirty and covered in blood, he was mostly okay. He had a couple bruised ribs and he'd sprained one of his wrists, but other than that he was in good health and they were on their way back to the ARC.