Author notes: I miss Primeval and so... I know Delta Force would have been more logical but I like white uniforms. This story is set towards the end of 2010 before the uniform changes came into effect. This chapter has been tidied it up just a little since I first posted it so hopefully, it's a little smoother read.

Usual disclaimer

Chapter 1 – Introductions

Jess was alone at her station running a routine diagnostic check of the systems. The Anomaly Detection Device or ADD, as it was called, took centrepiece in the middle of the cavernous room. A slim fingernail tapped a nervous tattoo on the table in front of her as she scrolled through page after page of readouts. Her smooth brow furrowed slightly as she noticed something odd when she heard Lester call out from outside his office, "Jess, get Becker in here, will you?" The dapper civil servant stood at his open door, dressed as usual in a conservative suit of Italian make.

"Will do," she replied, turning slightly in her chair and catching a glimpse of her boss ushering someone into his office. Curiosity made Jess crane her neck for a better look. Despite the large glass windows of James Lester's private office, she saw little more than some sort of military uniform as the much of the man was obstructed by James Lester standing in front of him.

"Now, Jess," Lester's voice suddenly barked from the intercom surprising her.

She jumped guiltily and swung her chair round quickly, a little embarrassed that her boss had caught her being nosy. A quick check to see that the man himself wasn't lurking unseen in some dark recess as seemed to be his norm these days, Jess activated the comm and leaned toward the microphone calling the soldier's name, "Becker?"

"Yes, what is it?" the soldier answered crisply.

As usual, her heart fluttered slightly at the sound of his voice, "Umm, Lester wants to see you in his office right away".

"On my way," came his terse reply.

Jess sighed. No hello, Jess or anything today. She knew him well enough to know he had a bee up his bonnet about something. She turned back to the ADD to deal with the problem that had surfaced before she was interrupted by Lester. The young woman tapped a fingernail on the console in front of her, her mouth pursing unhappily. It looked like some hardware maintenance was in order. There was no other option - she had to fix it. Somewhat disgruntled, Jess got to her feet and left to retrieve a toolbox.

After she left, Becker stalked into the hub from the opposite side. He was feeling annoyed. The security head had a good idea as to why he'd been summoned and he didn't like it. He'd been in a foul mood for a few days now, ever since he received word that an observer would be visiting the ARC. People were starting to duck into corridors just to avoid him when they saw him coming. One more person for security to babysit, he thought blackly. Damn Matt for being away today. This meet and greet thing was Matt's job, not his. He rapped sharply on Lester's door.

"Come in," came the response.

Becker stepped into Lester's office, quietly closing the door behind him, "You wanted to see me, sir?" He stood ramrod straight, hands clasped behind his back, his annoyance evident to anyone who cared.

"Ah, yes," Lester looked up from a pile of papers on his desk and languidly waved a hand to his right. "Our American observer has arrived." He tapped the sheaf of papers in his hands on the table, "Everything seems to be in order, lieutenant."

Becker glanced out of the corner of his eye at the visitor and saw a man about his age in an American naval uniform.

Lester performed the introductions. "Lieutenant Beckett," he said. This is Captain Becker, our Head of Security. As Matt Anderson, our team leader is away today, Captain Becker will be showing you around the ARC and introducing you to the other core team members." He leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and observed the two men. Lester had been somewhat amused at Becker's dour expression when he'd arrived and had guessed correctly as to the reasons for the man's annoyance.

Becker scrutinised the lieutenant who returned his appraisal frankly. The head of security took note of a small gold pin on the other officer's collar and narrowed his eyes. Immediately, he schooled his expression into a neutral one. After further study, somewhat satisfied at what they saw, the two men each gave the other a grudging nod of professional acknowledgement.

Lester continued, "Lieutenant Beckett has been tasked with seeing how we do things on our side of the pond. He'll be here for a few weeks as part of your team. Take care of him, that's a good chap." Losing interest, the dapper civil servant turned back to the paperwork on his desk, effectively dismissing them.

Becker gestured towards the door and the other man followed him through onto the main floor. He said, "I suppose I had better first introduce you to our field coordinator. She'll issue you with a security bracelet so you can access the secure areas. They proceeded to the large electronic array."

However, Jess did not seem to be sitting as usual in her chair in the centre of the hub. As the two men got nearer, they found a pair of long, very shapely legs extended from beneath the ADD station. The upper half of the field coordinator was shielded by the equipment. An open toolbox lay on the floor close by.

The two men gazed down appreciatively at the view. Recollecting himself, Becker knelt down and called out cautiously, "Jess?"

A muffled thump sounded was followed by an small sound of pain. Jess quickly scrambled out from underneath her desk rubbing her head. Becker extended a hand and pulled her to her feet. The petite brunette stood, swaying slightly on a pair of ridiculously high, green heels. Keeping her head down, she quickly smoothed down the front of her short, bright green skirt over her thighs. An orange top with matching cardigan completed her ensemble. Jess sounded a little annoyed and a bit breathless as she mutterd, "You startled me."

At Becker's contrite apology, Jess finally looked up and her eyes widened.

Standing behind the Captain was a devastatingly handsome man in a naval uniform. Next to Becker's stark, habitual blacks, this man was blinding in his service dress whites. His broad chest was covered with ribbons. He stood at ease, his cover tucked neatly away under his arm.

"This is Ms Parker, our field coordinator," started Becker. "Jess, this is Lt. Beckett, the American observer we were expecting."

Jess blinked and gazed up into baby blue eyes that looked out of a face with movie star appeal. Her breath caught. "Oh, my God, it's Ben Affleck, she thought as a wayward lock of honey blond hair started to threaten the man's perfectly groomed hair. Becker saw her staring and his mouth tightened.

The good looking naval officer scanned the pretty girl from head to toe before giving her a slow, lazy and utterly sexy smile. "Well, hello beautiful," he drawled holding out his hand. He smiled widely, showing off even, white teeth. "Pleasure indeed. My name's Tom Beckett." Jess blushed at the warm approval she saw in the lieutenant's eyes and felt her knees wobble a little. She tugged at the hem of her short skirt nervously. Next to him, Becker was very still but his eyes said looked like he wanted to kill something or perhaps, someone.

She shook his proffered hand. "Umm, hello. I'm Jess," she stammered, a little disconcerted by the man's attractiveness. The tall officer held her hand a little longer than was strictly proper before letting it go. Jess compared the two men standing before her and noted abstractly that they were exactly the same height with a roughly similar build. Heck, even their names sounded the same. Two gorgeous men in the same room as her, one darkly handsome and the other radiating sunshine. Oh, my. Jess gulped as errant thoughts threatened her composure further. Jess flushed red and stole a quick peek at the silent Becker. She caught him glowering and she felt a glimmer of hope. She frowned as another thought struck home, "You're the observer? But you're navy. Not meaning to insult you but wouldn't army have been a better choice? Not many anomalies in the ocean, you see." Jess rambled on, "We've only had two or three. In the ocean, I mean. The majority have been on land." Her voice trailed off.

Beckett shook his head and smiled, "I'm not regular navy. I'm a SEAL." As if that explained everything. Becker snorted softly - he'd heard about SEALs and their egos.

"Whoa," a loud laugh interrupted them as Connor came rushing up with Abby close behind him. His eyes gleamed brightly, "Who called the Navy?" Connor ploughed through without waiting for a reply, "Those are seriously cool threads, mate." He squinted at the tall officer, "You certainly don't look like a cute, cuddly aquatic mammal."

No, the blond lieutenant certainly did not. The two girls gazed speculatively at the tall officer with his wide shoulders, trim waist and muscular legs and exchanged an amused look, the corners of their mouths twitching. Becker's face got darker.

The American continued, "I'm a SEAL. Special Ops. We specialise in sea, air and land operations."

Before he could elaborate any further, Connor interrupted again, "Special ops? You mean like the SAS? Becker's SAS." He waggled a thumb in Becker's direction where the soldier stood stoically.

Beckett threw the captain an interested glance before replying, "No, strictly speaking, SEALs are more like the SBS. The SAS counterpart would be Delta Force."

"Black ops, Call of Duty … great games." Connor alluded to his favourite pasttime. He shrugged and grinned. "Doesn't tell me why you here though and sounding like a Yank."

Becker's voice cut through, "Didn't you read your memo, Connor?" At the scientist's look of confusion, the captain sighed and shook his head in disgust, "Didn't think so."

"What memo?" Connor looked around for clarification.

Abby took pity on him. "The memo that we all got last week from Lester saying that the Americans were sending an observer over to see how we do things here at the ARC. Anomalies are becoming more frequent in the US and around the world and we have more experience in this sort of thing than they do."

"Oh." A sheepish look came over Connor's face. "I've been busy in my lab. Got no time to read memos," he said defensively.

"Oh," Abby crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. "If you stuck your head out of the door once in a while, you'd know what was going on."

The couple continued their bickering as the rest looked on amusedly.

"Are they always like that?" whispered Lt Beckett to Jess.

"Pretty much," she replied.

Author: Reviews, please.