Title: Dancing

Author: little_profiler

Fandom: Primeval

Pairing: Becker/Jess

Rating: K+

Disclaimer: Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

Summary: Written for the just-kiss-her vanilla kink meme. The prompt was "Bloody hell, she thought. This was not at all how she'd hoped for their first date to go. Not that he even likely thought they were on a date, exactly. But still, it was the principle of the thing!" by hiddencait.

Warnings: not beta-read

Author notes: You know, I was glad this prompt was posted in the vanilla thread, because it fit this idea in my mind so perfectly well – and the idea was absolutely non-smutty. ;)

She had known she shouldn't have come. She had known right from the start, right from the moment she'd opened the stupid invitation.

Not everyone had happy memories of their time at high school – and having skipped three grades by that time and taking probational lectures at college wasn't helping one bit with making friends.

She had been alone most of the time, and she had been fine with it. But now on her high school reunion sitting alone at one of the tables really wasn't how she had pictured the evening to be.

And then all hell broke loose. Yeah, that was just her luck.

Jess sighed when she watched her former class mates screaming and running through the hall they had been dancing in only seconds ago.

"Relax," she tried to yell over the noise, but her voice didn't seem to break through to anyone. "Please, calm down, they're just…"

Sighing, she gave up, fishing her mobile phone out of her purse. She reported the anomaly, the Coelurasauravuses flying over the heads of her former class mates and called for backup. Abby was going to love this.

Much to her surprise, Becker was the first to arrive. Of course, she had wished for him to be here with her. She had even considered asking him to go with her, but hadn't dared. She hadn't pictured their date like this, though.

She had pictured it as a real date and not as some anomaly forcing him to be here to save the evening. And she had pictured him to know they were on a date.

When Becker had heard Jess call for backup, he hadn't even waited for any instructions. Sure, so far it had only been a few Rexes coming through the anomaly, but there had been much more dangerous creatures living in the Permian period.

He stormed into the hall and scanned the crowd of screaming people for Jess. When he found her, he stared at her for a moment, not trusting his own eyes.

She was dressed in a nice blue dress, much too colourless for her usual style. Her hair was arranged in a neat up-do and she looked much more beautiful than ever.

He shook his head to clear his thoughts, and then walked over to Jess. "Hey," he greeted. "Nice party."

"Very funny," Jess mumbled, snorting slightly. "This was really not how this evening was planned to go. Even if I'm glad about some diversion."

The last sentence was only mumbled, and Becker wasn't sure he had understood her correctly.

"Most of the little Rexes have flown back through the anomaly," she told him. "I tried to tell them that they're harmless, but… Well, you can see how well it worked." She gestured into the direction of her former class mates. Most of them were hiding under one of the tables by now.

Becker smirked. "They didn't listen to you, huh?"

"I guess they didn't even notice me," she replied with a sigh. "It's always been like that."

"Really?" Becker asked, smiling at her. "How can anyone not notice you?"

She frowned at him.

Becker swallowed the lump that was suddenly in his throat. "Um… I mean, because you… you look so… beautiful," he stuttered.

"Seriously?" she asked before she could stop the words from escaping her mouth. "You think I'm beautiful?"

"I don't have to think you're beautiful," he told her with a smirk. "Everyone with eyes can see you are."

His words had the desired effect, making a beautiful flush spread across her face.

Relax, Jess, it's not like you're on a date with him. He's just complimenting you, because… Her mind tried its best, but it wasn't able to come up with another explanation than that he actually meant it.

"So, um, how do we get them back through the anomaly?" Jess asked, changing the topic.

Grinning at her, Becker took a bag of Rex's favourite snacks out of his bag. "That should do," he said.

Jess watched with surprise and not without a hint of amusement how Becker decoyed the Coelurasauravuses along the corridor and through the anomaly.

The backup arrived just in time to lock the anomaly. They told Jess's class mates a cover story of lizards having escaped a nearby zoo, and that everything was under control now.

"Nice plan," Jess told him with a smile when he returned to her.

"Yeah, well, to be honest, it was Abby's plan," he replied with a smirk. "She wanted to be here, but Lester didn't let her. I guess he was afraid she might adopt more of them."

Jess giggled, something she hadn't felt like doing all evening.

"So, um… you can go back to enjoying your party," Becker told her, giving her a somewhat shy smile.

"Um… Actually, I wasn't really… Would you mind giving me a lift?" she blurted out. There was just no way she would stay here longer than absolutely necessary.

Becker raised an eyebrow at her.

Jess felt a new flush crawling up her neck. "I mean, I could call a taxi, but… I thought… since you're here…"

"So, you… don't want to stay?" he asked, in honest surprise.

"To be honest, I wish I hadn't come here in the first place," she mumbled. "I don't know why I thought it would be any different than at school."

Becker frowned at her in a mixture of concern and misunderstanding.

"Yeah, well, you know not everyone was the much-loved, overall cool jock at school," Jess told him with a snort.

Becker blinked at her once again. It had never occurred to him that Jess, beautiful, smart, cheerful and brilliant as she was, didn't have a lot of friends at school. But he could tell it was a raw point, so he decided to let it go.

"Excuse me for a second," he said instead, and disappeared to talk to one of his soldiers.

Great, Jess, just great. Chase him away!

Much to her surprise, he returned a few minutes later – and he had taken off his combat gear and was only wearing his black jeans and shirt.

"So… Does that mean you are going to give me a lift?" she asked hesitantly.

He smiled at her, and suddenly pulled her body close against his. "Not before you danced with me," he whispered into her ear.

"Wh… What?" she stuttered against his chest. He was dangerously close to her. She could smell him, feel the warmth radiating from his body… He was literally all around her and she was sure she was going to faint any second.

"You are dressed for the occasion," he whispered, gently swaying her across the dance floor. "The music is playing… I can't let you leave before someone danced with you."

"Oh," she replied, smiling against his shirt and wrapping her arms around his middle. She had absolutely no intention of complaining about said someone being him.

Becker couldn't keep himself from taking his chance to dance with her. It didn't escape his notice how perfect she fit into his arms, and it turned him on way too much for his own good.

As much as she had wished for this evening to be over most of the time, as disappointed she was when Becker eventually stopped dancing with her and suggested calling it a night.

She sighed as she watched the street lights pass by when she sat in his passenger's seat. This had probably been the best evening of her whole life, spending hours – yes, hours – dancing with a certain army captain. But now it was over, and there certainly wasn't any hope they were going to repeat it one day. He didn't even consider it a date, after all.

At least, he insisted on walking her upstairs to her door. It meant she could spend a few more minutes with him. Smiling, she linked arms with him, and was relieved when he didn't complain.

"Thank you," Jess whispered as she turned around to face him.

"For what?" Becker asked with a smirk.

She smiled coyly, mumbling, "For turning a horrible evening into a really great one."

Grinning, he leaned in just a few inches, making her breath hitch. "You know, it's a shame this wasn't a real date," he whispered.

Jess swallowed, not sure where this was supposed to go. "Really?" she rasped.

"Yeah," he said with a smirk, leaning in just a little closer. "Because if it was, I'd be allowed to kiss you now."

Her heart skipped a few beats before it started pounding like mad. Did he really want to kiss her or was he just teasing her again?

"You know, I really don't mind disobeying rules," she panted rather than said.

Becker pulled back a little to frown at her. "Why, Miss Parker, I had no idea…" he said with a grin, before leaning down to capture her lips with his.

Jess sighed happily as she melted into his touch, wrapping both arms around his neck. Date or no date, this definitely was the best evening she'd ever had.