Hilary Becker gave a sigh. Then froze. The sound that had just come from his lips had been contented, not depressed or angry or scared. Wow.

At his side sat his dog Pippin. She was an aging mongrel, with a somewhat fierce attitude towards strangers, and not much of a life aside from sleeping. But, Becker being Becker, he found he was pretty similar to Pippin, and discovered an exception in his status as an emotional retard. In other words, they were both grumpy old sods, but as long as they loved eachother, nothing else mattered.

Well, that had been yesterday's approach. Today was different. For now, on Becker's other side, there was a woman. Someone Jess had introduced to him in the pub a while back, someone he'd ignored because he was too busy sulking over Jess's rejection to his 'asking her out'. It sounded stupid now, he admitted. But he digressed...

At tea today, the woman had turned up on the doorstep sobbing, her tears mingling with the rain and soaking her through to the skin. Her expression had melted his heart – he'd helped her in.

After a chat over steaming hot chocolates, the young woman had calmed down enough to agree to stay the night. Becker had, quite helpfully, pointed out that she couldn't venture out alone now – not into the enveloping dark. It'd be inhumane, to allow that, wouldn't it?

They sat with Titanic playing on the TV now (yeah, he had said there was only one exception to his emotional retardedness – and was that even a word?), her head lolling sideways onto his shoulder. She was pretty; brunette, with equally chocolaty eyes. He couldn't imagine how she'd come to be as unlucky-in-love as he was. But wonders never ceased. And hell, wasn't he glad of her unluckiness right now.

"Hilary?" she murmured now.

He smiled. It hurt the muscles in his face – he hadn't felt so light for...well, for a while. When Matt mocked his name, he ended up with a black eye. When she said it, an electrical wave of shivers ran up his spine. "I'm here, Beth."

He could feel it in his fingers as he reached out to stroke a strand of her fringe back from her face; he could see it in their reflection as he gazed towards the fireside mirror. And he knew. This was the start of something new.

Okay, so this is a short chapter, and different to the kind of thing I usually write, but I felt like a change. Plus somebody was nagging me to write more...

No prizes for guessing who this story is dedicated to, but you can have a virtual kiss from Becker anyway, if you want.

Anyway, I don't own Primeval, or Becker, or Beth. But my brain kind of owns Pippin, I guess. Please review! :) xxx