He froze.

Becker just stood there completely frozen as he watched how Connor got pulled into the hole by the bug. Everything had been going well so far. They had figured out that the giant bug reacted to loud noises and they had tried to lure it out. But of course, as soon as they were close to seeing it Connor had to appear, talking like always. He had been supposed to stay at the car. Becker wasn't really surprised that Connor didn't listen to the order. The geek never did.

The bug had seen Connor as an easy bait and before any of the could realize what was happening the bug was attacking Connor. They tried to shoot it but nothing worked.

"Connor!" Becker screamed once he got rid of his frozen state and ran over to the hole with Abby close behind him. It was so dark down there that he couldn't see anything.

"Becker don't-" Matt grabbed his arm and pulled him back. "We're going to find him. But not here. It's long gone by now."

Becker looked between Matt and the hole in the ground, a part of him just wanting to jump down there and run after the bug. He couldn't believe this had happened. He was supposed to look after the team, to make sure everyone was safe. But now Connor was gone. The brilliant geek who had captured his eyes the moment they met. They had been fooling around just earlier on their way here. He had watched with a fond smile how Connor had bickered with Matt and everything had just been okay back then. But now his boyfriend had been taken and there was nothing he could do right now to get him back or to make sure he was okay. Heck- he didn't even know if Connor was still alive.

"We have to go- Now…We have to do something!" Becker groaned in frustration and pushed one had through his hair.

"We will. We will get him back. You hear me?" Matt said, trying to get Becker's attention away from the hole.

"Let's pack up. We should head over to where the nest must be. It all started with the traffic jam. We have to try it there." Abby said before running back to the car. She was worried about her friend but tried to keep it together. They had to act quick or it might me too late.

"Let's go." Matt clasped Becker's shoulder before running after Abby, leaving Becker alone for a moment. With one last look at the spot Conner disappeared Becker ran back to the car as well. He threw his gun into the back before getting into the driver's side of the truck, leaving Matt and Abby to get into the other truck. None of the wanted to be in the car when Becker drove. The man always had a risky way of driving but it only got worse when he was worried. And everyone could see just how worried he was right now.

During the whole ride Becker couldn't stop worrying and partly blaming himself for what had happened. He should have reacted faster. Should have shot that bug and made sure Connor stayed with them. Now Connor was gone and he wasn't sure If they would get him back. He didn't know if they would still be able to go on that date later like they had planned in the morning.

Flashback

Becker woke up to the sound of his alarm clock, just like every morning. And just like always there was a warm weight on top of his chest. Instantly a smile tugged on the corners of his lips as he knew just who that weight was. Connor had been living with him since shortly after he and Abby came back from being stuck on the wrong side of an anomaly for a year. When he had seen his two friends after such a long time he had thought it was all a dream. But it had felt so good to pull them into his arms and when he looked into Connor's eyes for the first time in so long he knew he couldn't hide his feelings anymore. So when it came to finding a new home for the two he had offered Connor to stay with him. Abby had made it clear that she needed some time alone after being stuck with Connor for so long so she went to an apartment that was offered by the government. That left Connor alone and with the knowledge that nothing had happened between the geek and Abby Becker just offered Connor a place to stay. As they had sat in his living room together, both of them a beer in their hands, he had just blurted it out. He had just right out told Connor about his feelings and how much he had missed him. Of course that had been a real shock for Connor but after a moment of awkwardness Connor told him he returned his feeling.

And that lead them to where they are now. In their bed, all cuddled close with Connor still asleep and half on top of Becker. Becker knew they had to get up and head to work soon but as he reached over to turn the alarm off he couldn't stop himself from pulling Connor closer. The movement earned him a soft grunt from the man who started to stir.

"Morning already?" Connor mumbled sleepily and blinked his eyes open to look at Becker. Connor wasn't really a morning person, that was one thing Becker learned rather quickly. So he just placed a kiss onto Connor's temple before nodding.

"Yes, it's morning already. We should probably get up soon and take a shower. You now Lester will have an aneurism if we come in late again." They had already been late to work three times that week, simply because Connor didn't want to get out of bed and Becker didn't have it in him to say no to the man he loved. So they had stayed in bed for longer than planned, ending with them coming too late and Lester being more than just annoyed.

"I'll make it up to you later today. We haven't gone out in ages. We could go and get dinner." Becker suggested with a smile, knowing that Connor wanted to go out as well. The man had complained quite often about how they didn't have any time to themselves and how he just wanted to enjoy time with Becker alone.

"Sounds great Hil." Connor said with a teasing smile on his face, just waiting for the reaction he was by now used to when he called Becker by his first name.

"Don't call me Hil!" Becker complained, but the smile on his face never faded. There was no way he could really be upset with Conner. Especially not when the man smiled at him like that. Yes, Captain Hilary Becker was soft inside, but only when a certain geek was around.

End of Flashback

Deep in his thoughts Becker barely realized that he had reached the destination, a big building with a hole in the floor right in front of it. He stepped into the breaks, stopping right in front of the building and jumped out of the truck. He could hear how the second car stopped but he was already running towards the building before Abby and Matt had time to get out of the car. He tried to look inside through the floor deep windows that covered the front side of the building, but to his dismay the windows must have been really dusty as he couldn't see anything. Abby and Matt joined him in front of the building just as he heard a sound through his comm. It sounded like a rustle but he wasn't sure and after a moment of silence he heard the voice he had missed in the past half an hour it took to get to the building.

"Becker…" Conner said softly, his voice sounding weak and a few groans could be heard.

"Connor?" Becker asked, his hand pressed against his comm. "Connor, can you hear me?" He asked again after his first word was greeted with silence. He could see that both Abby and Matt were also waiting for a reply which they finally got after a moment.

"Yeah, I can hear you…" Connor's voice was breathless but all Becker cared about was hearing it again. That was all that mattered to him right now.

"Conner are you hurt? Are there any other bugs down there?" Matt asked quickly, just needing to get an overlook of the situation. They had to figure out how they could get Connor out of there.

"I'm okay. And no bugs down here. I'll try to get up. There are stairs." Connor said and then they could hear some groans that indicated that Connor had started to move. But something sounded wrong to Becker and one look at Abby showed him that she thought the same. Connor had said he wasn't hurt but that sounded different. It sounded like moving hurt him.

"Connor, are you sure you're okay?" Abby asked. After spending a whole year alone with Connor she knew when something was wrong with him. And this situation was the perfect example for something being wrong.

"It's just a scratch Abby. Nothing too bad. I can handle a scratch." Connor reassured her but it didn't sound really convincing.

Becker ran a hand through his hair, just hoping things weren't too bad and Connor could just walk out to them and preferably into his arms. It took quite a while till the hear something from Connor again and those words nearly gave Becker a heart attack.

"Matt, you remember when you asked if there were any other bugs down here?" Connor asked softly, his voice sounding scared.

"Connor, how many?" Matt asked while Becker and Abby were trying to look the though the windows again, hoping to just get a glimpse of what was inside there.

"More than I'm entirely happy about…" was Conner's answer and Becker cursed under his breath. There went all the chances that Connor could just walk right out of there. Even less so when Connor was really injured like he feared.

"Connor, can you make it to the door?" Becker asked, just praying that the bugs weren't blocking the way and everything could still go smoothly. "Whatever you do don't wake one of them."

"I can try…and I wasn't planning to wake them up." Connor said and there was silence for a moment till the next words came. "I have an idea…Jess, is there a gas pipe in this building?"

Becker had completely forgotten about Jess listening to everything. His mind had been to occupied with Connor. And it still was as he feared that Connor's idea wasn't really great. The geek always had weird ideas that mostly end up with him being in danger.

"There is a gas pipe. It's in the same room as you are Connor. You should be able to see it." Jess answered after a short moment. She was always quick to provide needed information.

"I can see it. Jess, can you turn up the gas?" Becker had a feeling that he really wouldn't like what Connor was planning.

"Connor…what are you planning to do?" He asked slowly.

"I can't get out of here. There are too many of them. But we can blow them up. I will open the pipe, get out of here and boom! All the bugs are gone." Connor explained his plan, and yes, Becker wasn't amused at all. He knew that he wouldn't like this. Of course Connor had to get himself into danger again.

"It could work. But you have to be fast Connor." Matt said before Becker had the chance to say anything to this.

"Don't encourage him to do stuff like that!" Becker snapped at Matt but he knew that there was no way to stop this anymore as Jess said right at that moment "I turned up the gas Connor." Now he could only pray that Connor would make it out alive.

Becker and Matt went to work and installed the system that would soon blow up the front room of the building, wanting everything to be ready for the moment Connor made it out. Then they went back to the cars where Abby was already waiting. It was safer to stay away from the building when it blew up.

"Done. I'll be right out-" Connor's cheerful voice suddenly got slower towards the end and that just wasn't okay. Not now. Not in this situation.

"Connor? What is it? Are you out of there?" Becker asked frantically. Connor had to get out of there fast. It was dangerous to be inside there with the gas on for too long.

"You know when you told me not to wake them up…well, that didn't work. I can't get out of there now." Becker cursed when he heard those words. They had to get in there now.

"I'm going in." Becker said and went to get the oxygen tank out of the car but Matt beat him.

"No, you're not. I know you're worried and you can't think straight right now. We don't need you injured because you tried to get to Connor. I'm going in. You stay with Abby. I'll get him back to you." Matt said and ran over to the big hole that was in front of the building, leaving Becker to stand next to Abby.

"Hil? You know…I love you…" Connor's voice came through the comm and he just sounded so weak it broke Becker to hear him like that. Connor was always being cheerful and happy.

"I love you too Con…" Becker said softly and quickly wiped away the tear that managed to escape his eyes. If Abby saw it she didn't mention it.

"He'll be okay. You know Connor. No matter what, in the end he's always okay." Abby said and placed a hand onto Becker's shoulder. Of course she was worried as well, after all that was her friend who was trapped inside the building.

Becker didn't reply to her. Instead he stared at the building, praying that Matt was quick enough, prayed that they wouldn't lose both of them. Prayed that he wouldn't lose Connor. He wouldn't survive losing Connor again. That one year had already been too hard and they hadn't even been dating back then. There had only been a few subtle hints and a lot of flirting how Abby always said. But now Connor was everywhere in his life. In his apartment, which now contained many sci-fic dvds and two furniture eating monsters, at work, just like before just with more kissing in between lab visits and also when Becker did his daily run. Connor had changed the playlist on his iPod and he didn't dare to change it back. Everything in his life just screamed Connor and he didn't want to change it. Connor meant happiness and laugher and without the geek nothing would be the same anymore.

"Jess? Are they far enough away?" He asked, hoping they were out by now. He crouched down between the cars with Abby, waiting for the signal to blow up that building.

"Not yet. They are too close." Jess replied and Becker really hoped Matt and Connor are hurrying.

"Becker, blow it up. Now!" Matt commanded.

"Jess?" Becker almost growled. He needed to know if it was really save.

"Not yet. They are still too close." Jess almost sounded apologetically as she told him to wait.

"Becker! Now!" Matt commanded with more force than the first time.

"Captain Becker, do it now." Lester's calm voice suddenly commanded through the comm. He must have been watching with Jess the whole time. And when Lester told him to do something he had to do it. That were the rules. But that still didn't change the fact that he hesitated before pushing down the button to blow up the building. He was quick to push Abby down more, not wanting her to get hurt as glass started to fly around them with the force of the explosion. Becker ignored the ringing in his ears from the loud noise as he got up quickly and ran straight into the building. Abby was right behind him. They ran past dead bugs and down a flight of stairs.

"Connor!...Matt!" Becker called out, searching around the basement room with a flashlight. Abby was doing the same, also calling out their friends names till they heard a cough and some kind of metal box at the side of the room opened, revealing a dusty Matt and Connor.

"Connor!" Becker ran straight over to the man and pulled him into a tight hug. "You idiot…" He whispered, pressing an urgent kiss to Conner's lips. God- he had really missed this. From now on he would make sure that Connor got no where near danger again and if it's the last thing he does. He has to protect his geek.

Connor let out a soft chuckle at that and let Becker help him out of the box. The yelp of pain that escaped Connor when he made contact with the floor brought a frown to Becker's face. One look at Connor's leg showed him why the man was in pain.

"Connor…you call that a scratch?" He did recall how Connor had said it was just a scratch and he knew it was just a lie.

"It's not that bad. Nothing a bit of rest can't cure." Connor said, trying to wave away Becker's worries.

"Yeah, let that judge a doctor. Now let's get you out of here." Becker helped Connor up before turning to look at Matt. "Thank you." He said with a smile, grateful for how Matt had gotten Connor out of there alive.

"Told you I'll get him back to you." Matt said with a grin before leading the way out with Abby next to him, leaving Becker to slowly follow with Connor.

After a fairly quick stop at the ARC's medical wing Becker had taken Connor back home. They might have planned to go out but that was canceled now as Connor needed to rest. The wound on his leg really wasn't that bad but Connor wasn't supposed to walk around a lot. So it was a lazy evening at home. Becker was sitting on the couch with his back leaning against the arms rest and Connor sitting between his legs. They had ordered pizza and were now watching star trek. Of course Connor had insisted on that movie and Becker just couldn't say now, especially not when Connor gave him those puppy eyes. And maybe Becker just didn't want to protest as he knew how happy it made Connor to watch that movie. He would do whatever it takes to see that smile all day, every day for the rest of his life.