Jess Parker was minding her own business. Really she was. She was spending her day off shopping for new shoes. She had decided a day of retail therapy was in order, besides who could say no to a shoe sale?
She was trying on an adorable pair of polka dot stilettos with ankle straps when she noticed people outside running. Frowning she slipped her feet back out of the heels and stood up to look out the stores front window when an ear splitting scream rang through the air.
Jess' stomach dropped. There was only one reason people screamed like that nowadays. After convergence there had been no way to cover up the anomalies anymore. People knew now and sometimes it made their jobs even harder. With anomalies being known people became curious and some tended to approach them rather than vacate.
Quickly Jess picked up her own shoes and hurriedly stepped into them. Instructing the shop assistant to lock the doors behind her and stay hidden before she left the store. There wasn't much that she could do but she knew she could at least keep an eye out and try to help evacuate the site until the team got there. Slipping an ear piece in and plugging in the black box she kept on her at all times she listened to the familiar voices of the backup team heading out.
"Hey, Dilshan? It's Jess, I'm onsite helping evacuate so far no visual on an incursion."
"Jess? Why are you evacuating onsite?"
"I uh, I was in the area."
"Copy that Jess, We're two minutes out. Stay safe."
"I'll keep you posted if anything changes."
Focusing on checking empty shop fronts for stragglers or anomaly enthusiasts Jess crept quietly down the now deserted street. Seeing someone huddled in a front window she quickly bee lined to them. Crouching down she kept her voice low just in case of an incursion.
"Hey, it's not safe here you need to evacuate."
"I, I was shopping with my friend. I can't find her."
"I know you don't want to leave her behind but everyone is gone, she more than likely ran with them and it's not safe. You need to go okay?"
"But, what if she's stuck here still?"
"What's your name?"
"Julie."
"Okay Julie, My name's Jess. What's your friend's name?"
"It's Cara." Julie showed Jess a picture of the two friends on her phone. "We took this not long ago at the cafe back there."
"Okay Julie, I'm going to keep going and checking for any others like you hiding out in shops okay and if I find Cara I'm going to tell her you're okay and I'm going to look after her until this is over but you have to go now okay?"
"Okay."
"Okay good now you need to move quickly and quietly. Keep as low to the ground and covered by furniture, walls and anything else you can hide behind just in case. Do not make a sound no matter what."
"You're one of those people aren't you? The ones that saved the world?"
Jess smiled. "Technically I'm the field coordinator."
"You're a computer tech?"
"Yep, but I'm all you've got right now and trust me I know what I'm talking about so go."
Julie nodded and quietly scurried away as quickly as she could in the direction Jess pointed. With that handled Jess continued forward. Rounding one final corner Jess peered down the alley way quietly and held her breath. Something was feeding on what Jess assumed used to be Cara. Behind it the anomaly glowed bright. Slowly backing away Jess retreated until she was safely hidden amongst some fittings inside a shop close to the alleyway where she could keep an eye out for the creature.
Activating her ear piece Jess spoke in a low and calm voice. "Dilshan, I have a confirmed creature sighting and found the anomaly. One confirmed fatality also."
The older man swore softly. "Jess, please tell me you only know this cos you looked quickly then ran to safety?"
"Not exactly, someone has to track it right? Keep an eye on it so it doesn't disappear."
"Miss Parker I strongly suggest you get out of there as quickly as possible. Just tell us where the anomaly is and we'll take it from there."
"You and I both know that you need eyes on this thing."
Dilshan sighed. "The Captain is going to kill me."
Jess rolled her eyes. "You let me deal with the Captain."
"Yes Ma'am."
"Good, now the anomaly is in the back west corner of Laurie Street shopping district." Jess' eyes widened. Her breath hitched as a low growl sounded from the alleyway and a clawed foot came into view. "Dilshan? You need to hurry it's on the move."
"Pulling up now Jess, stay low."
Jess huddled further down to remain hidden, trying not to jostle anything on the rack as she did so. She watched with bated breath as the creature looked around carefully. In the distance she heard the cars pull in and realised that the cavalry had finally arrived. She watched the creature look up at the noise and growl. Eyes widening she zeroed in on the creature taking in its appearance properly.
It wasn't overly large per se, a couple of metres long and as tall as the average man. Its teeth were long and sharp. The large bone on the top of its snout gave it a look that distinctly resembled a t-rex. Jess swallowed to get rid of her now dry mouth. This thing may be smaller than their usual opponents but that didn't make it any less dangerous.
Focussing so intently on the creature in front of her Jess never noticed what was behind her until her mouth was covered. Jumping out of her skin Jess attempted to struggle until...
"Shhh, Jess it's just me. You need to be quiet." A distinctly male voice whispered in her ear.
Her body went slack with relief. Turning slightly she glared at the man crouching beside her and removed his hand from her mouth. "Becker!" She hissed. "Don't do that!"
His answer was to put a finger in front of his lips before he dug an EMD out of his back up holster and handed it to her. "Take this."
With practiced ease she checked the weapon and held it with confidence nodding at him to signal she was prepared and ready. He nodded before returning his full attention to the creature. It was sniffing the air. Looking for its next meal no doubt. He grabbed Jess' hand and helped her up moving slowly to the side hoping to get past it without it noticing. The first step they took Jess' heel clopped on the ground.
Both ARC team members froze and watched the dinosaur intently to see if it had heard. It tilted its head and they crouched to avoid detection. Becker gave her a pointed look to which she blushed then silently slid out of her shoes. Mouthing the word sorry she bit her lip and looked toward the creature.
Large reptilian eyes looked directly at her. Jess sucked in a breath and squeezed Beckers arm. He turned to look and swore under his breath.
"Jess." He murmured with a seemingly desperate tone in his voice.
"Run." She whispered. The dinosaur turned fully to them and took a step towards their position. "Run!" she screamed.
Becker grabbed her hand in a vice like grip and took off running, Jess right behind him. She tried not to think about the very large and very dangerous dinosaur behind them but that idea flew from her mind as soon as the creature let out a very unique sound. She chanced a look behind them and squeaked.
"Becker."
"Just a little further Jess, the teams not far."
"Becker, it's gaining on us. We can't outrun it."
Becker swore. "You're right. Jess on the count of three I'm going to stop running and turn to fire. I need you to keep running and don't look back okay?"
Jess' brow furrowed. "No, I won't leave you."
"Jess this is not up for discussion."
"You're right because it's a stupid idea and I'm not going to do it so suck it up Captain. You're stuck with me until this thing goes down or we do."
Becker huffed. "Fine but if we get through this remind me to yell at you later for disobeying a direct order."
"Yes sir."
"On three turn and fire Jess."
"Okay."
"One." Her heart pounded so loud she wondered if they really could pull this off.
"Two." She felt the grip on her hand tighten for a moment.
"Three." She stopped running and ignored the stinging in her bare feet as her body twisted and she raised the EMD in her hand to fire.
One shot, two shots, three shots. They kept firing and the creature kept coming. Just as Jess thought they might be in over their heads the unmistakeable sound of uniformed boots and EMD fire filled the air around her. Jess grinned and chanced a look at Becker.
He looked relieved. In her peripheral Jess noticed the creature finally fell. She sighed and lowered her EMD. He turned to her and held out his hand indicating to the EMD.
"Good job Parker."
Jess smirked. "Thank you Captain."
"Jessica." Her eyes narrowed and her smile dropped at his tone.
"Becker."
"You disobeyed a direct order." She crossed her arms and the soldiers nearby pretended to look elsewhere, they knew what was coming.
"I'm not a soldier." Becker's arms crossed and Jess could clearly see the annoyance she caused with her answer.
"You're a staff member of the ARC and therefore should be following orders from a superior Miss Parker."
"My clearance level and job status put us on the same level Captain. You are not my superior." She growled at him.
"That's not the point! You know that when it comes to the field I have higher rank Jess and there's a reason for that!"
"I am aware of that Becker! I am also aware that if I hadn't stayed to help you instead of running like you said I should you would more than likely be dinosaur chow by now!"
Becker scrubbed his hands over his face in his frustration. "What were you even doing here in the first place?"
Jess' cheeks turned pink and she blew out a breath of annoyance. "I was shopping for shoes." She watched as his whole body froze before it started to shake. "Becker? Are you? Are you laughing?"
His hands dropped from his face as he chuckled. "Shoe shopping? Of course."
Jess stomped her foot. "Becker! Ow..."
Becker immediately stopped laughing and looked down at her. "What's wrong?"
Jess looked down and noticed the problem straight away. "Oops." Her feet were bleeding. Becker sucked in a breath and swore quietly when he looked down and noticed.
"Jess your feet."
"Must have cut them on something while we were running." Before she could say anything else she was lifted from the ground. Cheeks instantly going pink Jess squeaked. "Becker! Put me down!"
"You need a medic to take a look at you Jess and you really shouldn't be walking on those feet until they've been seen to."
She looked at the other soldiers for help but they simply looked in the other direction or gave her a sympathetic look and shrugged. Scowling at them she focussed on keeping hold of her shoes with one hand and the Captain with the other. When they got to the parking lot where the ARC vehicles were parked he put her down in the back seat of one of the trucks.
"Don't move."
She sighed and crossed her arms but nodded to appease him. He nodded in response and went to find a medic. Returning with Sara a few minutes later he waited patiently to the other woman to clean and bandage Jess' feet.
"You were pretty lucky Jess, these cuts are only superficial, no stitches needed."
"Thank you Sara."
"You're welcome just maybe take it easy if you can. You're going to need to put some extra padding in your shoes and stay off your feet as much as possible just for the next few days."
Jess nodded and thanked the medic again.
Becker groaned when Sara walked away. "How do you always end up in the worst possible scenario?"
Jess shrugged and bit her lip. "I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Jessica." His warning tone told her he knew that she knew exactly what he was talking about. When she pursed her lips and looked at the ground he sighed, moving in closer to her, crowding the small space that was the backseat doorway. "What am I going to do with you?"
"Same thing you do with Abby and Connor." When he raised a brow she shrugged. "Just let me do my job."
His eyes narrowed as he crowded her space. "Your job Jessica, is to coordinate people from the safety of the ADD back at the ARC, not field work."
Jess rolled her eyes. "Even if I was back at the ARC history has proved that I am not always safe from the field inside the ARC Becker."
His eyes darkened and he looked down. "I know, that doesn't mean I want you to be unnecessarily putting yourself at risk Jess. You're not supposed to be out in the field. You're supposed to be safe at the ARC. You're not supposed to be in danger." His voice was quiet and she felt the pain coming from him.
"Becker," she reached up hesitantly, touching the side of his face. When he looked at her she saw the pain, he blamed himself and he was worried, about her. "You can't control everything. You couldn't have known an anomally was going to open in the shopping centre I was at. You couldn't have prevented the other things in the past either."
Becker sighed. "I know Jess but it doesn't help when you deliberately ignore me and stay in the dangerous situation you shouldn't have been in to begin with."
"And if I had left when you told me to in any of those situations you'd be dead and I could never forgive myself. I don't have a death wish Becker. I'm not trying to get myself in trouble but I can't and won't leave you if I can help. I'm asking you to trust me to help you if I end up there with you. That's all."
"You think I don't trust you to have my back?"
Jess bit her lip and nodded. Becker laughed and she glowered at him. "Jess, no I'm not laughing at you I'm laughing because you think I don't trust you. Jess you're fully qualified and cleared to handle any and every EMD we have and you have one of the coolest heads in a crisis I have ever seen. It's not that I don't trust you to have my back, it's that I don't want you in danger." Her eyes raised to his. "Jess, I don't want you to get hurt. Between the beatles and the future predators and convergence my nerves have never been more shot! And I'm a soldier my nerves don't-"
She hadn't thought about what she was doing. All she had heard was that he didn't want her in danger. He didn't want her to get hurt. His nerves were shot because of her. She couldn't hold back not any more.
Pulling back she looked at Becker hesitantly. "Becker?"
"You kissed me."
"Yes." She took a second to notice the shell shocked expression. Could be worse, she thought. He didn't look disgusted.
"Why?" he murmured.
She blinked. Once, twice. Jess didn't know whether to laugh, cry or scream. He really was as emotionally stunted as Abby said. She knew she hadn't done anything unwelcome. He would have reacted differently to an unwelcomed advance. No, he looked caught off guard and a little bewildered but not unhappy.
Without realising her shocked expression had turned to amused and she started to laugh. Becker frowned and tilted his head. "Jess, are you okay."
She settled herself down and tilted her head to mirror his, amused expression still on her face. "Abby was right. You really are oblivious Captain."
His cheeks coloured. "I'm not that oblivious."
She giggled. "Mhm."
He rolled his eyes. "Very funny Jessica. If you don't start playing fair I'll-"
"You'll what?"
His eyes narrowed as he realised. She was challenging him. Fine, two could play at that game. Without giving her a second to try something else he swooped in. This kiss was different. He was in control now. She responded immediately, sighing against him she melted into his embrace.
When he pulled back her cheeks were rosy. "That."
"Oh."
"Jess, would you like me to help you back to your car? Since you're supposed to stay off of your feet."
She smiled. "I would like that, thank you."
He nodded and turned around crouching in front of her. "Well, hop on Jess."
She bit her lip for a second before sliding forward and gingerly climbing onto his back. "A piggy back ride captain what would Connor say?"
"Nothing if he knows what's good for him."
His response was her laughter in his ear as he carried her to her car.