Title: Good Enough to Eat
Fandom: Primeval
Ship: Jess Parker/Hilary Becker
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 3,900
Warning: mild language
Disclaimer: They are not mine.
Spoilers: Season five.

A/N: This came out of nowhere. Really. And if Jess' friend John happens to look like Idris Elba, I can only blame robanybody who keeps posting guh-worthy photos of him. I just wanted to see him say 'ganache' and 'rolled chocolate fondant'. I got some of the cake descriptions from .com. Beta'd the fabulous fringedweller who helped come up with the title.

This is a sequel, of sorts, to my other stories a sharp shock to your soft side and This Old Heart Beating.

Summary: Jess and Becker try out wedding cake samples for Abby and Connor. Things get out of hand. This is utter fluff.

Becker pulled to the kerb outside of Jess' flat and took off his helmet. He looked up at the large windows on the third storey that he knew were hers and marvelled at how easy it had been for him to agree to this.

"Are you up to anything this weekend?" Jess had asked Becker as he handed in his black box.

"Nothing pressing," he'd said. "Laundry. Shopping."

"Eating?"

"Well, I hear it's customary for people to eat on occasion," Becker said crossing his arms and leaning against her desk. "In fact, I believe some people do it at least three times a day."

Jess lightly slapped his arm. "Prat. I was considering asking you if you wanted to help me pick out Abby and Connor's wedding cake, but if you're going to be all you about it..."

"Wait, you're picking out their wedding cake?"

"You know how no-fuss Abby is being about the whole thing," Jess said. Becker nodded. "Well, I insisted that they let me do something for them and I have a cousin who owns a custom cake shop and Abby and Connor agreed to let me arrange for theirs."

"I see," Becker said. "That's really nice of you."

"Oh, it's fun," Jess said with a smile. "Anne does an amazing job with unconventional cakes. Apparently Abby isn't fond of the traditional marzipan icing, so we've got to look for something else. She's going to drop off some samples on Saturday for me to try and then she'll do whichever one that feels most like Abby and Connor."

She turned to him fully and asked, "I was wondering if you'd like to help me?"

Becker frowned. "Help, as in, try out different cakes?"

"Yes."

"Um, sure," he said with a shrug.

"Really?" she asked.

"Yeah, of course," he said. "Cake beats laundry any day."

Her answering smile made something in his chest thump quite quickly.

And so, here he was. Outside her flat, about to go and eat wedding cake of all things, all because he was a complete and total sucker when it came to this girl. Woman. Young lady. Jess.

Shaking his head, he got off his motorbike and headed inside, up the stairs to her flat and knocked on her door.

He frowned when the sound of feet coming towards him on the other side of the door sounded nothing like Jess' light, quick tread. The door opened and Becker blinked.

A tall man wearing a rumpled denim shirt stood imposingly in the doorway.

"Hey," he said with a small jerk of his chin.

"Hey," Becker said in return.

Neither said anything else and Becker wondered briefly if he'd knocked on the right door, but he could just see Jess' white sofa in the background. He also wondered who the hell this guy was.

Then he wondered who would break the staring contest first.

The other guy did when he sort smirked and said, "You here for Jessie?"

"Yeah," Becker said. Jessie?

"John, was that the door?" Jess' voice came from around the corner and then she appeared her feet bare and her hair loose around her shoulders, wearing a light green sundress complete with a ribbon tied around her waist. She smiled happily when she saw Becker. "Hi!"

"Hey," Becker said, hoping he didn't sound as relieved to see her as he felt and also hoping he could refrain from staring at her legs. Judging by the growing smirk on the other guy's face, he was sure he didn't succeed.

"John, what are you doing? Let him in," Jess said coming to stand just behind 'John', her tiny frame easily dwarfed by his.

"I don't know, Jessie," the big guy said giving Becker a hard look. "Whose approval does he have to come in?"

"Mine, now knock it off," Jess said shouldering the guy out her way and taking Becker's hand and pulling him inside. "Becker, this is John, the man my cousin Anne had the sad misfortune to actually marry. John, this is Becker, my friend and co-worker."

John held out his hand and grinned. "Nice to finally meet you."

Becker shook his hand. "Pleasure."

"Now, if you're done being a jerk," Jess said to John, her hand still wrapped around Becker's, "would you kindly describe what you've brought?"

John grimaced. "You're not really going to make me say it all out loud, are you? Annie said I just had to drop the things off, not play salesman."

"That's what you get for being rude to my guest," Jess said primly turning and heading into her kitchen. She realised that she was still holding Becker's hand and dropped it with a blush and an apologetic look at him. He simply smiled and followed her. John followed him.

There were five white boxes sitting on her kitchen counter and Jess immediately hopped up on a stool and indicated the other to Becker. She arched her brow at John who sighed and walked around to the other side of the counter. Becker took his leather jacket off and draped it over the other stool and then took his seat next to Jess.

"Have I said thank you for helping?" she asked him.

"I don't believe you have," he said.

"Oh, well. Thank you," she told him her lips curving upwards.

"You're most welcome," he said.

"You two finished?" John asked sounding amused. "I do have places to be you know."

"Oh, I do beg your pardon," Jess said fluttering her eyelashes. "Please. On with the sales pitch."

John mock-glared at her and Becker didn't bother to hide a grin.

"You have made the superb decision of having your cake specially made by Anne," John said looking and sounding less than enthusiastic. "We hope you will take your time in deciding which of these delectable and original confections you want for your special day."

Becker couldn't help snorting in amusement and Jess rolled her eyes.

"For heaven's sake, John," Jess said.

"You said you wanted the sales pitch," John said. "This is the sales pitch."

"Just get on to the flavours," Jess said. "Honestly."

John gave her a wink. "Right. This I can do. You gave Anne a list of acceptable ingredients earlier and what the couple in question generally prefers, so these are the ones she came up with."

One by one, he opened the white boxes. Becker's brows raised in admiration. Each box contained a perfectly decorated slice of cake.

"Wow," he said impressed.

"Lovely, aren't they?" Jess said. "Anne is amazing."

"She really is," John said a look of pride coming over his face.

"Aww," Jess said smiling at John. "You're such a teddy bear."

John glared and went on to describe each cake.

"This one is a French butter cake with raspberry preserves and a white chocolate buttercream." Jess mmm'ed happily. "The next is a Chocolate Concerto with toffee creme and chocolate truffle ganache."

Becker blinked.

"Then we have the Hawaiian Wedding Song cake that is vanilla cake with bittersweet chocolate, coconut and macadamia nuts."

"I'm sorry, Hawaiian Wedding Song?" Becker asked.

"Connor's pick," Jess told him.

"Ah, should have known."

"Next," John said, "there is the cranberry-orange cake with vanilla bean filling and fresh fruits topped with fresh orange French satin buttercream."

"Oh, my," Jess breathed. Becker shook his head at the rapturous look on her face.

John just grinned. "Finally, we have Wedding Rhapsody: a rich chocolate cake with chocolate mousse and an espresso buttercream."

"Damn," Becker said.

"I know, right?" Jess said. "John, thank you so much. Tell Anne thank you. This is glorious."

"She gave you the photo album, right?" he asked as he walked around the counter. "So you can pick what decorations you want and all that stuff."

"She did," Jess said. "I'll call her on Monday. Thanks for bringing it all by."

"Anytime, Jessie girl," he said with a smile and a tweak of her nose. He switched his gaze back to Becker and the smile dropped. "Has anyone given you the 'hurt the girl and we hurt you' speech?"

"John!" Jess said shocked as Becker replied dryly, "Not as such."

"Well, hurt the girl and we'll hurt you," John said cheerfully. He clapped a heavy hand on Becker's shoulder. "Although I hear you're a military man, so you'd probably prove a bit of challenge." He leaned in close. "I like challenges."

"So do I," Becker said meeting his gaze.

"'Course you do," John said. "You're here, aren't you?"

Becker smirked and Jess huffed.

"You're ridiculous," she said. She hopped off her stool and pushed at John. "Now, thank you again, you can go now."

"I'm going, I'm going," he said letting Jess push him down the hall. "Nice meeting you, mate."

"You, too," Becker said. He heard Jess saying something to John and then the door shut.

Jess padded back to the kitchen with a rueful look on her face. "Sorry about him. We're a family of mostly girls and John's taken it upon himself to look out for all the cousins."

"I didn't really mind," he said. "You look lovely, by the way."

"Do I?" she said a pleased smile spreading over her face. "Thank you."

She hesitated and then quickly rose up onto her toes to press a kiss to his lips. Becker's hands came up to rest on her hips and he returned the kiss gently.

They'd been taking things slowly. Not because of any lack of enthusiasm, but really because their schedules didn't leave them with much free time. In fact, today probably only counted as their fourth date.

Jess ended the kiss by falling back to rest on her feet. "Hi," she said softly.

"Hi yourself," Becker said, running his fingers along the length of the ribbon around her waist.

"Ready to eat?" she asked. He gave her a look that had her blushing and she said, "Mind out of the gutter, Captain."

"Sorry," he said not sounding apologetic in the least. He let his hands fall from her waist as she went to make some tea and grab some forks.

After a few minutes, she handed him a mug of tea (strong with a splash of milk) and took a seat at the counter.

"Right," she said pulling a notepad and a portfolio close to her. "Both Abby and Connor have told me that they just want a cake that's tasty and sort of surprising."

"Hence the Hawaiian thing?"

"Hence the Hawaiian thing," she confirmed. "And since Abby doesn't like marzipan, we've gone for the American styles of frostings." She handed him a fork. "Bon appetite!"

Becker took the fork and started with the one closest to him, the raspberry and white chocolate. The exquisite taste of the cake made him blink quickly in surprise.

"That's incredible," he said. "Wow. Your cousin is really good."

"Mmm," she said as she tried a bite of the Chocolate Concerto. She closed her eyes in utter bliss and moaned. "Oh, yes. She's fantastic. Good Lord, that's good."

She eagerly took another bite and Becker found himself just staring as she made more noises of total pleasure.

"You have to try this," she said getting another bite ready on her fork.

"Okay." He leaned over and gently grasped her wrist and brought the fork to his mouth. Her jaw went a little slack as she watched his lips close around the cake and slide slowly off.

"Oh, yeah," he said. "That is good."

Jess blinked at him and he let go of her wrist. With a shake of her head, she said, "You know, I'm only just coming to realise that you are a complete flirt."

"Me?" he said trying a bite of the Hawaiian slice. "I'm just a simple soldier, Miss Parker. I'm not a flirt. Mmm, the coconut's kind of nice, actually."

"Yes, but it's the whole 'soldier' thing that's what so attractive," Jess said, taking a bite of the Hawaiian. "Oooh, yes, that is nice. It's seeing you so straight and narrow all the time, getting used to just seeing that side of you, then being pleasantly surprised by the sweet, fun side of you."

"I'm not sweet," he said his fork hovering over the Wedding Rhapsody.

"Yes. You are." She pointed her fork at him. "You are most definitely sweet. Just like this one. Try this. I really like the cranberry."

"How am I sweet? And yeah, the cranberry's nice. Surprising."

"We may have a winner. You're sweet because here you are. Helping me pick out a wedding cake for our friends. You can't get much sweeter than that, Becker."

"I could just be here to win points with you."

The fork headed towards Jess' mouth paused and she looked at him. "Are you?"

Becker paused his own fork and met her gaze. "A bit, yeah." She arched a brow at him and his expression turned sheepish. "And I'm here to help pick out something cool for our friends who are finally taking the plunge."

Jess grinned. "See! Sweet. Now, try the espresso."

"Yes, ma'am." He tried the espresso. "Whoa. That is rich."

"I know. Maybe too rich. I'm kind of leaning towards the cranberry-orange."

"I thought you didn't like orange."

"I don't like chocolate orange. I have nothing against orange in other combinations."

"Ah. Good to know."

They continued to try out the cakes and sip their tea while Jess flipped through the portfolio of cake decorations.

"Connor told me he wanted little plastic dinosaurs on top," she said. "Abby said no way."

Becker chuckled. "I'm not surprised."

"I'm thinking of sticking with something classy and elegant," she said flipping to another page and eating another bite of the vanilla bean filling. "Maybe just some flowers. Irises, maybe. Or sunflowers."

"I still can't believe they're getting married," Becker said poking at a macadamia nut. "Seems like just yesterday they were bickering about something trivial."

Jess giggled. "That was just yesterday."

"You know what I mean," Becker said. "I just can't believe they're at that stage already."

"They love each other," Jess said sounding almost wistful.

"Have you ever considered it?" Becker asked around a mouthful of ganache. "Marriage, I mean."

Jess' eyes widened and he swallowed hard, cursing himself for asking such a heavy question this early on.

"Oh, well, yes," Jess said finding her cup of tea suddenly fascinating. "I suppose everyone has."

"True." While he wasn't sure he would ever marry, the idea had certainly crossed his mind a time or two.

"I suppose I've been quite lucky," Jess said thoughtfully. "My parents have always been so obviously in love with each other. I mean, they've had their share of fights and disagreements. But, they've always been devoted to each other." She shrugged. "I've always hoped for that. I don't want to, I don't know, settle for anything less."

"You shouldn't," Becker said. "Don't ever settle, Jess."

She met his eyes and when she bit her lip his eyes followed the motion and wondered if pulling her into his lap was too forward? He was fairly sure he could manage it without injuring either of them.

Jess looked away and a sly smile came across her face. "You know, there is one thing we haven't experimented with yet."

"Oh?"

"Mmm hmm," she said. She reached over and dragged a finger across the top of the chocolate espresso buttercream accumulating a proper glob on her finger. "While I know it's more of an American tradition, we haven't tested how well these do when smushed onto someone's face."

It twigged in his mind just what she was getting at only a second before she actually did it. But, by then, she'd already firmly pressed the frosting to his lips.

His eyes bugged while she just tilted her head and said pensively, "Not bad. Could be a little more spreadable, though."

He blinked and licked his lips, tasting the rich frosting. "Well, maybe the vanilla is the better choice."

Quick as anything, he swiped two fingers over the top of another slice and then Jess had a matching smear of frosting across her lips. She squeaked in surprise and then it was on.

Frosting was smeared on faces, necks, upper arms, lower arms, anything was fair game. Jess shrieked when Becker grabbed her round her waist and lifted her bodily as he daubed her collarbone with some of the raspberry preserve. She gasped at the sensation and he stopped, holding her close as his fingers lingered over her skin. Both were breathing heavily and he could see the rise and fall of the top of her breasts just below the neckline of her dress.

He walked them back to rest against the side of the counter and set Jess down on her feet. Her lips were parted and her pupils were dilated. Her hands came up to curl around the edge of his flannel shirt, her thumbs brushing against his exposed undershirt. His own hands smoothed over her waist and then he bent his head and licked at the raspberry he'd placed on her collarbone.

Jess gasped and her fingers curled tighter on his shirt. He groaned at the taste of her, the smoothness of her skin under his tongue and lips. His hands tightened their grip on her waist.

"So good," he murmured. "You taste so good."

"It's the-oh god-the preserve," she said breathlessly, her hands pulling him closer.

"No, it's you," he said licking and sucking along the length of her neck. "Soft Jess, pretty Jess. Delicious Jess."

"Oh, god," she said again finally framing his head with her hands and pulling it to her. Their lips met in a fierce kiss as they licked into each other's mouth. A combination of vanilla and orange and simply Jess herself made him hungry for more and the kiss deepened. He pulled away only to catch his breath and he watched as she licked her lips.

"Sweet," she said softly leaning in to lap at his Adam's apple where a trace of ganache remained. He groaned and closed his eyes as she peppered his throat with kisses and nips ending with a long lick along his jugular up to the lobe of his ear.

"You're gorgeous," he said before capturing her mouth with his once more. His hand smoothed over her arse to her thigh and she helpfully raised her leg to curl around his hip. Becker easily lifted her up to set her on the counter, pulling her hips close to his and she gasped as he ground against her.

"Oh, more," she said into his mouth, her bare heels digging into the backs of his thighs. "More."

His hands caressed the skin that was being revealed as her skirt was ruched up her thighs and she met the rocking of his hips with her own. Her deft fingers quickly unbuttoned his shirt and she pushed it off his arms where it fell to the floor, leaving him in a grey tank top. Her hands roamed over his chest and shoulders. When he sucked on her tongue her nails dug into the flesh of his upper arms, making his hips surge violently against her.

She let out a cry that got swallowed by the intensity of his kisses and he knew, he really, really, really knew, he should slow down and ease off, but she felt so warm and amazing and she was finally in his arms and Christ, he faced off against her father last week with a shocknife and her mouth was lush and sweet and was that the door?

"Hey, Jess, we're back! Do you wanna go for a-oh, holy crap! Sorry!"

Becker jerked away at the sound of Connor's voice and Jess squeaked a little pulling her skirt down from her waist from where he'd tugged it up.

Connor was stood next to the kitchen, his hand over his eyes while Abby stood beside him snickering. Becker glared at both of them while he helped Jess hop down from the counter.

"So, this is how sampling wedding cake works," Abby said not bothering to hide her grin.

Jess straightened her dress. "Yes, well, we were about to finalise the flavour actually."

"Really?" Connor asked peeking through his fingers. "'Cause it looked like Becker was about to round second base from over here."

Abby snickered again while Jess went bright red and Becker squared his jaw.

"Shut up, Connor," Becker said not bothering to try to come up with something clever. All the blood in his body was still pulsing in his groin and he really just couldn't be arsed.

"So, how's it going?" Connor asked with a cheeky grin on his face.

"Wonderfully," Jess said. "How do you feel about cranberry-orange?"

"I feel very good about cranberry-orange," Connor said. "Abby? Your feelings?"

"I feel quite good, as well," Abby said. Her eyes flashed over to Becker. "You've ah, got a little something on your neck, Becker."

Becker's hand went up and came away with a bit of ganache. Connor snickered and Jess' hand came up to flutter about her own neck.

"So, we were thinking of going out for a pint," Connor said. "You two up for it, or should we just leave you to it? I think there's some double cream in the fridge."

Abby elbowed his stomach.

"A pint sounds good," Jess said looking over at Becker.

He nodded. "Yeah. I could use a drink."

"I bet. Ow!" Connor rubbed at his stomach where Abby had elbowed him yet again.

"We'll just let you clean up a little," Abby said grabbing Connor's arm and giving Jess a wink as she pulled Connor out of the kitchen.

Becker shook his head and glanced at Jess who was staring at the smashed pieces of cake on the counter.

"I do think the cranberry-orange is the one to go with," Jess said not quite meeting his eyes.

"So do I," he said. He walked over to her side and brushed the backs of his fingers over her arm and leaned in to whisper in her ear. "I also think I like the way the raspberry tasted on your neck."

She shivered yet turned to face him. "I rather liked the way the chocolate tasted on your lips."

Becker smirked and leaned down to kiss her. Her hands curled around his neck and she opened her mouth to him. His hands roamed all over her back.

Eventually, they broke apart and leaned their foreheads together.

"Feel like having dinner afterwards?" he asked. "Without the others?"

"I'd love to," she said. "However-"

"However?"

"We should probably steer clear of anything that requires us to use our fingers," she said glancing at the mess still on the counter.

Becker just grinned.