Thank you all for your wonderful feedback, you guys. You're all so nice, so I love updating and reading your lovely reviews!

This is the last chapter. I hope the fluff makes up for the last chapter, but if not I could always find time to write an extra fluffy/cute Jecker one-shot some time? Let me know. :D

I hope you like it.

It wasn't until she's been left alone in the bathroom of an unoccupied hospital room with an en suite to clean the blood off her hands that Jess had realised she didn't have Becker's sister's number.

As the red water ran down the drain, the warmth and soap slowly transformed her hands back to normal, to the ones she saw dancing across the ADD keyboard everyday and issuing commands to people around the ARC.

"Jess?"

And suddenly Abby was there, breaking the silence, hugging her - as unusual as that might be for Abby.

The Cretaceous had made her more of a friendly person, easier to get to know because she was a little more willing.

"Abby?" Jess was pleased to find her voice stronger now that she'd had a glass of water and a cup of tea filled with sugar. She wasn't shaking any more, but her mind was whirling. Abby was a welcome distraction. "What are you doing here?"

"I came as soon as Connor arrived in the field," She told her, stepping back and leaning on the counter beside the sink as Jess continued rinsing her hands. Abby didn't pretend not to study her, she just did it. "Emily's with Tami. She's bringing her over as soon as she can - Tami wanted to make sure her patients at the hospital were alright, and Lester wouldn't let her leave without signing some stuff."

Abby was obviously more than a little annoyed at Lester's insensitivity.

"I guess he still has a job to do," Jess mumbled. She'd stopped scrubbing her hands now, and turned her attention to the mirror - something she'd avoided until now.

Her skin was only just regaining some of its pink tint, and her eyes were much wider than normal. She looked either ten years older, or ten years younger - Jess couldn't quite decide which.

There was smudges of Becker's blood across her forehead and cheek where she'd wiped at her face earlier.

Abby picked up a flannel that a hospital nurse had kindly provided and rinsed it under the warm tap before dabbing it against Jess's forehead.

It made Jess want her mother desperately. She wanted to be hugged and called 'Jessie' and curl up under her covers and forget about everything.

But determination beat that.

She needed to know that Becker was alright.

"He's still in surgery," Abby mumbled carefully, reading her thoughts. "The nurses said he should be out soon, but he'll be unconscious. They said he probably won't wake up for another couple of hours. You should get something to eat."

Jess shook her head. "To tell you the truth, I don't think I can eat."

"Then we'll make Connor get us some anyway," Abby tried to lighten the mood. "For our own entertainment - we're four floors up from the cafeteria."

Jess actually cracked a smile, and she was grateful for the other womans attempt to lighten the mood. "Thank you, Abby."

"Don't mention it," She smiled back.

Connor interrupted as he bounded into the room like a golden retriever, his sulky owner, Matt, trailing after him like a man reluctantly walking his dog in the park.

"Jess!" And then Connor hugged her, and didn't let go for a ridiculous amount of time, swinging her from side to side slightly. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Connor," Jess almost chuckled a little at the extreme concern. "It's Becker who's in surgery."

Connor nodded probably deciding that he couldn't think of anything appropriate to say that wouldn't make it worse, like 'Well I can't really hug him, can I?', then went to stand next to Abby by the sink.

Then Matt hugged her.

Now Jess was worried.

It was awkward, but she appreciated it all the same.

"I'm fine, honestly," She pressed. "I may have been a little in shock earlier, but I'm fine. I just want to know that Becker is alright, and then I want to go home and crawl into bed for the next two weeks with nothing but tequila and chocolate."

Abby nodded sympathetically.

"Emily's gone to ask for news," Matt informed her casually.

"Emily's here?" Jess asked, standing up straighter. "Is Tami with her?"

Matt nodded. Connor answered for him. "The nurses wheeled her off to check over her cuts and bruises and stuff. She's fine, but they know her really well, so they're being-"

"Helpful," Abby supplied. Jess was more than sure that wasn't the word Connor was going to use. She smiled at that - normality was nice.

"Emily told me to give you this, Jess," Matt said, handing her a bag with clothes in.

Jess looked down at what she was wearing, and realised that there was a line of blood across her own mid-section where she had leaned over Becker and blood had got on her clothes. Specks covered her shirt a little too. Her shoes were thankfully untouched.

She made an appreciative noise. "Emily needs a pay rise."

"Not before me," Connor exclaimed. "I spent a year in the Cretaceous!"

They all retreated out of the bathroom and into the actual room to allow Jess some privacy to change.

Emily had obviously had a spare pair of clothes packed in the car, and this was it. There was a choice between a glittery black dress that Jess remembered seeing her wearing at Jenny's wedding (she supposed Emily hadn't had a permanent home then, so hadn't had anywhere else to put it), or a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt that she assumed belonged to Matt.

She chose the jeans and shirt. The heels were enough formal wear for a hospital.

When she emerged from the bathroom, Connor and Abby were arguing over the remote (Abby was obviously winning), bundled together stretched out on the bed, and Matt and Emily sat in the two chairs with their backs to the narrow window and their faces turned towards the door, whispering together like an old married couple.

They were so sweet, Jess thought briefly. Then she made a mental note never to say that out loud to Matt.

Matt made to get up and offer her his seat, but Jess didn't want it - she didn't think she'd be able to stay still.

"Thank you, Emily," Jess told her as she placed the bag, now full of her dirty clothes and Emily's beautiful black dress, on the floor at the end of the bed. "You're a life saver."

Emily smiled. "You're welcome."

Matt glanced at her, then turned to Emily and, in a move uncharacteristically like him, divulged a hint of his personal life and asked in a confused and surprised voice, "Is that my shirt?"

Emily just shrugged and raised an eyebrow as if to say 'So what?'

"I've been looking for that everywhere," He mumbled, but didn't press it under her withering gaze.

Abby and Jess chuckled slightly at Emily's completely uncaring expression, and at Matt's complaining look.

Then the arrival of Dr Dardon sobered them up.

"Jess Parker?"

She whipped her head around immediately and walked over to the doctor. "Is he okay? Is he out of surgery? Did you stop the bleeding? He's okay, though, right? Is he unconscious? Oh, god, he's not in a coma is he? Can I see him?"

"Jess," Abby got up from the bed and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "Calm down. Let the doctor speak."

"Sorry," Jess took a huge breath in to calm herself, and to give him time to speak.

"We stopped the bleeding. There was substantial internal damage to his stomach, but vitally the chest wound wasn't as deep. Whatever it was that got him cracked a couple of ribs, but they managed to protect his heart. He's stable, and sleeping. You can see him whenever you're ready, but he might not wake up for a couple of hours - it's hard to tell. He's fit and healthy, and he's come back from a lot of serious injuries, so he might wake up at any time. I can take you to him now, if you like?"

"Yes please," Jess said immediately, her words almost interrupting the end of the doctors sentence.

Jonathon Dardon smiled at her with a twinkle in his eyes, like her dad did, and said, "Only if you promise not to bombard him with words as soon as he wakes up?"

"I promise," Jess agreed sheepishly as she blushed. "Thank you, Doctor Dardon."

"I'll show you to him then," The doctor said. "And please, call me Jonathon. I don't normally condone too much informality, but you remind me of my daughter-in-law."

Jess didn't know what to say, so she just nodded as Jonathon Dardon led her, Abby, Connor and Matt to Becker's room one floor up.

It was room 505, Becker's locker number at the ARC. Jess was never going to forget it now.

The door was ajar, but Dr Dardon stopped outside it, muttered a quiet, "I'll leave you to some peace and quiet," and then quickly left. He was probably busy anyway, and showing them up there was already kind enough.

The monitor Becker was hooked up to beeped at a steady, slow rhythm from deep inside the gloomy room, and a huge weight lifted from Jess's heart as she peered into it.

She let out a relieved breath and leant against the doorframe. "Thank god."

Abby pushed her forwards slightly. "Go on, then."

"Me?" Jess turned to her in alarm, her voice shooting up a couple of octaves.

Abby laughed kindly. "Jess, you've been desperate to see him for the last couple of hours, and now you don't want to be the first into the room?"

"No… no," Jess protested, completely confused at her own feelings. "I just… he looks so peaceful. I don't want to disturb that."

Connor's stomach rumbled.

"Let's get some food, Con," Abby said, jumping on the excuse. "Matt? Emily? Becker looks good to me. We'll see him when he wakes up. You okay on your own Jess?"

Jess knew Abby was stalling for time to give her some privacy. She was both embarrassed her feelings for Becker were that obvious, and insanely grateful. She didn't know if she'd sit by his bedside calmly until he woke up, or if she'd break down into tears.

"I…"

"He'll want to see you when he wakes up," Emily commented frankly, in that way only Emily could. "Not us."

"We'll be back in an hour," Matt agreed.

"Or an hour and a half, if there's pudding," Connor grinned. Abby elbowed him as the four of them walked away, Connor calling back loudly down the corridor, attracting the attention of a couple of nurses, "Tell Action Man we said 'hi'!"

That left Jess hovering outside the threshold of Becker's room.

She dawdled another few seconds - occupied nurses hurrying past, worried family members asking questions at the nurse's station nearby - and then she took a few tentative steps into the room.

It wasn't nearly as bad as she'd thought it would be.

The monitor continued to beep a steady rhythm, highlighting that nothing had changed, or been jinxed, just because she'd crossed into the room.

She picked up the chair beside the bed near to the door and walked with it round to the other side of the room, furthest from the door, and positioned her back to the wall so that she could easily see out into the corridor beyond as well as sit with Becker.

She didn't realised until she'd sat down that it was a military trait. A Becker trait.

She glanced at him. He was lying on his back, his arms draped across his chest and the plain hospital blanket pulled up to cover most of his chest.

Jess hesitated a second, then reached over to gently clasp one of her hands over his.

Immediately, she felt calmer.

His hands were warm, just like normal, and the monitor behind her continued beeping rhythmically. He was okay.

He was okay.

She allowed herself a smile in the privacy of the room, then turned back to study him in more detail, determined to check that he really was okay. The doctors had their standards, and she had hers.

He looked just as he had in the surgery room, just like he was sleeping, but this time his chest was rising and falling in time with his steady breaths, and she could feel it as her hand on his rose and fell in time to the monitor. His hair was a complete mess - very unlike she'd ever seen it before, and that same piece of hair draped across his forehead and into his right eye.

Now, it was adorable.

She reached across and brushed it back from his face, combing his whole hair off of his forehead in an affectionate gesture.

"You are so in love with him," She muttered to herself before she could stop the words from coming out.

Her eyes went wide from surprise.

Sure, she knew she had feelings for him, and sure it was obvious to everyone and they constantly teased her about it and sure, she knew in the back of her mind that it was probably love, not just a crush or attraction, but… she'd just admitted it out loud, blatantly. And sort of, almost, to him.

No way you can lie to yourself now, Jess.

She studied his face still, and realised she didn't care.

She'd always felt like she was the younger child, running around and nursing a crush on her elder brother's best friend, a futile crush that just embarrassed her and made her seem immature. But right that second, sitting by his bedside in a hospital room waiting for him to wake up, waiting for him to recover from a wound which had stained her hands with his blood, she didn't care.

She really didn't.

He was seven years older than her, but so what? Her parents had a nine year gap between them, and her sister had once dated a guy twelve years older than her (although, Jess was pretty certain her parents had disapproved of that). Either way, she wasn't going to let what other people thought get in the way of her feelings for Becker any more.

Unless it was him.

She couldn't really do anything then.

Oh god, what if he didn't remember? Or worse, what if he pretended he didn't remember to get out of dinner?

No, he'd promise before the attack…

"Just focus on getting better, Becker," She told him quietly. "You're doing brilliant."

The increase in frequency of the beeping on the monitor behind her almost made her jump out of her skin.

Both her hands, clutched tightly in his across his chest, tensed, and suddenly a hoarse voice croaked out quietly, "God, your grip is like a Raptor."

There was no denying the amusement in his voice, and Jess almost cried in happiness as she turned to see him with his eyes open, staring at her.

"Oh my god!" She grinned, edging forwards in her seat. "Becker!"

"Jess?" He asked, even though it was obviously her. "Are you okay?"

She laughed, carefree and in disbelief that he'd actually asked her that, for a short moment. "Am I okay? I think I should be asking you that."

"Oh, I'm fine," Becker sighed, breezily. "Lester's still not going to let me on that training expedition, is he?"

Jess shook her head in disbelief. "You are not fine, Becker. You were attacked by a creature and you lost a lot of blood. You've got two cracked ribs, for gods sake!"

He smiled at her, amused, which just caused her to let out her own amused sigh of disbelief.

Men, she cursed.

Soldiers, she corrected.

Hell, Becker.

"Do… water?" He mumbled, trying to sit up.

Jess leaned forwards to stop him, her hand gently pushing against his shoulder. "You shouldn't move."

He looked like her was going to argue as he gave her a challenging 'are you seriously telling me what to do?' smirk - one she'd seen often at the ARC - but she pulled the glass of water from the desk beside her and handed it to him, placing the straw in it as she did so.

"Drink slowly," She told him cautiously. "You don't want hiccups."

Becker actually rolled his eyes. Water helping clear his throat, he told her with a smile, "Stop fussing, Jess. I'm fine, honestly."

"But you-"

"Honestly," He told her firmly, looking straight at her. "I've survived internal injuries before."

She swallowed, and couldn't help but breath out. "I'm so glad you're okay."

She didn't blush, and he didn't roll his eyes or tease her. He just squeezed her hand with the one not holding the glass and said, "I'm glad you're okay."

"Oh, you know me," She tried to breeze past it, just as he had. "Perfectly cheery, as usual."

"Jess…" He warned.

Damn. He could see right through her.

"See?" She tried to gesture in the general direction of herself. "I'm good."

Becker, completely ignoring her earlier warning, placed the glass on the desk beside him and sat up slowly. He leaned forwards and used his finger to wipe a speck of blood from her cheek, where Abby hadn't quite gotten to cleaning it before Connor and Matt had arrived earlier.

"You're bleeding," He complained, eyebrows knitting, as he did so.

"It's not mine," She replied in a measured tone.

He caught the real meaning immediately.

He didn't move his hand from her face. "I'm really sorry for putting you in that situation, Jess."

"You probably saved my life, Becker," She protested.

"And you definitely saved mine," He argued.

"So we're even."

He gave her a pointed look, tilting his head. "I don't think that's equal. You've saved my life twice now."

"Well, I'm just brilliant at my job, I guess," She joked. "And I seem to recall that last time I at least got a Chinese."

"You are brilliant," He breathed, leaning forwards even more, ever so slightly, one hand still holding hers up by his chest, the other gently held against her left cheek.

If she had been the one hooked up to the monitor, it probably would have flat-lined.

Okay, so maybe he wouldn't forget about those drinks. Maybe he actually meant dinner.

Who are you kidding, Jess? Of course he meant it, with the way he's looking at you now.

"I… suppose the least you can do is take me out for those drinks when they discharge you?" She asked sheepishly, hopefully. She tried to make it casual, but knew that even if she had succeeded in doing so in her tone, those words could never really be casual between them.

He stared at her completely blankly for a few long seconds, then rolled his eyes. "I thought I promised you dinner?"

She grinned, unable to stop it.

Becker leaned forward and placed a kiss gently on the corner of her mouth.

When he pulled back she didn't know what to say. Half of her wanted to just kiss him properly, the other half realised that wouldn't really help his recovery, nor would it be considered an appropriate setting for a first kiss.

But since when had they been appropriate?

They locked eyes, and she could see the exact moment when he realised what she was thinking.

She leaned forwards this time, so that he didn't strain his muscles or stitches too much, but he still met her halfway.

She kind of forgot that the door was wide open in that minute.

She'd imagined kissing him before, and she was pleasantly surprised to find that her imagination was completely useless. He was strong - even in the relatively fragile state he was in - and warm and gentle. And, of course, being a good kisser helped.

Her parents could fret over the age difference all they wanted.

She wasn't ever going to let him go, if she could help it.

I was going to write the dinner, but I wanted the immediate 'Becker out of surgery' moment, and so I figured it wouldn't be realistic if he got up and went on a date like, the next day. I could write it set a week or two later though in a one-shot? Hmm, not sure really. It might be terrible. :)

Anyways, thank you all for reading and reviewing this! Nothing else makes me smile like when I get a lovely review! I'd be forever grateful if you could spare a couple of seconds for one last review?

Thank you!