Chocolate with Orange

Helloooooooo ^^ First Primeval fic, it's Jesker and it's set after 4x02 :) Let me know what you think!

The staff room in the ARC was untouched until Abby and Connor returned. Now, a skateboard was leant against the white-washed wall (leaving dark scuff marks on the paint; Lester was yet to notice), while sweet wrappers were scattered across the table like a clear plastic rainbow and at least three jackets were thrown over the stiff, leather sofa.

Jess sat on the opposite sofa – she preferred it because it was worn and softer than the solid, leather one. It had been brought in on the request of Connor, of course; he and Becker had dragged it up three flights of stairs with amused glances from Abby and Matt and the anxious flinches of herself. The fact that Connor had not actually used it yet (he preferred to walk around agitatedly, or sit with Abby, and Abby did not do 'worn and soft'.) irritated Becker, she knew, so she made a point to always sit there whenever she was in the room. She doubted he noticed, but it made her feel nice that she could do something nice for him. Even if he didn't know.

She turned the chocolate Becker had got her over in her hands, smiling slightly. It rattled as it spun, meaning she didn't hear the soft footsteps until a voice came from behind her.

"Are you going to eat that?"

The chocolate flew out of her hands as she jumped. Turning round with her heart beating fast, she saw Becker picking it up with an amused expression. Jess managed a nervous smile, hoping her face didn't resemble a startled rabbit.

"Eh… I… Um… It-it has orange…" she finished lamely, with a sort of shoulder twitch which was meant to be a shrug.

Becker frowned, and she immediately regretted her words and decided to do anything to make his smile come back. "Really?" He dropped down on the couch next to her and flipped the chocolate to read the ingredients on the wrapper. "Whoops." He shifted, leaning closer to her, and for one, mad, split second she thought that he might kiss her. Then he pulled something out of his pocket, and returned to his original position and she mentally slapped herself for being so silly.

He held out the item he'd just taken from his pocket to her. Jess accepted it, holding it up to see that it was… another bar of chocolate.

"Um…?"

"Gave you the wrong one," Becker tossed the orange chocolate in the air and caught it deftly. "This was… I got confused," he admitted.

"Confused? Let's not tell Matt!" she laughed a little too loudly and trailed off into awkwardness.

Becker cracked a small smile, but it didn't really reach his eyes. "Yeah… Don't do that…" He dropped the chocolate onto the small coffee table in front of them. "Orange was Sarah's favourite."

Jess' brain on instinct scanned mentally through her memories, reading what she remembered was in Sarah's file.

"Sarah Page. Egyptologist." She recited out of habit, then blushed. "Were you two…?"

"What? No! No…" Becker tilted his head, looking at the chocolate on the table with a faraway, fond smile. "Sarah was… Sarah."

Jess bit her lip, and focused her attention on her own chocolate, trying to unwrap it quietly and not disturb the silence that had fallen. Of course, the wrapper crackled loudly. The noise seemed to snap Becker out of his trance.

"You going to share that?" he asked, cheekily.

Inside Jess' head, it seemed like the anomaly alert siren was blasting, but instead of the heavy blare it usually made, it was going FLIRT FLIRT FLIRT FLIRT. She took a deep breath and smiled at him. "Maybe."

Becker raised his eyebrows. "Maybe?"

"Mmhhmm," Jess broke the top square of the chocolate and popped it into her mouth. "Maybe."

"Maybe… what?"

Jess froze. "Er… well, maybe I will… Or, um, I might…" she smirked suddenly, confidence regained. "Or maybe I'll go share it with Stuart, downstairs."

"St-Stuart?" For the first time in as long as she'd known him (and definitely as long as she'd had a crush on him), Jess heard Becker stutter.

"Yeah. He's lovely. Really." She wasn't quite sure why she was doing this, but her heart started to beat a little faster as he struggled to keep his face straight.

After a moment, Becker seemed to have recollected and put on his stony soldier mask. "That's nice, Jess. Good for you."

"Really?" It slipped out before she could stop it, and decided she might as well have the full rant now. "Really? I mean, come on! Do you not get that I'm trying to flirt with you here? Everyday, you turn up, all moody and 'I miss my friends, I have no one', challenging Matt, because you think you're so badass with your guns and your muscles and your handsome 'Action Man' face, bringing down dinosaurs all the time, with your sexy smirk and you just come in and distract me from my work with your goddamn hotness and you banter with me wittily, all 'maybe he's going to buy a boat' and then you do sweet things like get me chocolate without orange, even though you're obviously still pining over this Sarah as you bought her favourite first and then realised it was wrong and got the right one, which shows you do kind of care a little about me since you weren't even the person I asked, so you actually listened to me even though you weren't in the conversation and I just don't understand you, and I don't know how to get through to you and it's so annoying because I really, really like you."

While she spoke, she waved the chocolate around angrily, closer and closer to Becker's face as her rant built up. When she had finished, and was glaring at him expectantly, he calmly plucked it out of her hands, snapped off a row and nonchalantly placed it back.

"Thanks, Jess," he raised the chocolate to her in a toast, before standing up and making his way out.