A/N: I started writing this story during one of my many Primeval marathon rewatches so I'm not 100% sure where in the timeline of the show it falls, but it is sometime after Jess and Becker almost get blown up by Ethan's bomb in 4x06. As you can probably tell from the title it was that little stakeout scene that sort of inspired this story.

I've had this story sitting in my computer just waiting to be finished (along with a few others) for quite some time now and decided it was finally time to share it with the internet. Please let me know what you think. It has been a really long time since I've actually shared anything I've written and I'd love feedback!

Chapter 1 - The Fright

Jess hated being alone in the ARC. Especially after hours when everything was so dark and silent. It gave her this eerie feeling that someone or something was watching her. She'd been working with the team long enough to know what is out there. She might not work out in the field like Matt, Becker, Abby and Connor, but she saw plenty from her end on the computer screens. Normally a simple software upgrade like this could run on it's own and she would check on it in the morning, but Lester was in one of his moods and insisted she stay and make sure nothing goes wrong before going home. It seemed like the computers were being especially slow tonight and she was just eager to finish up and get home to the comfort of her flat.

Every little sound made Jess's heart jump, but there was nothing out there. There couldn't be anything out there. All the creatures were safely secured in the menagerie. "It's just the wind," she kept telling herself. 80% complete. Almost done. She almost wished Becker was here with her. She felt safe around him. And it wasn't just because she'd read his file and knew his qualifications. It was more a feeling she got that if he was around, nothing could go wrong. Even when they were trapped in that room with Ethan's bomb, she knew everything would be alright because he was there, calm and composed even in the sight of imminent danger.

Becker was quite a mystery, which intrigued Jess since she felt it was her job as team coordinator to know each and every member of the team better than they know themselves. Plus she's had quite a massive crush on him ever since he brought her that chocolate bar when they started working together! Nothing with oranges. On paper, Becker is highly qualified soldier, but behind that tough soldier boy exterior, she occasionally caught glimpse of a soft, kindhearted man. She remembered the look on his face during the first team meeting when Matt was talking about losing Sarah Page and Connor, Abby and Danny Quinn trapped on the other side of an anomaly. She could tell he was hurting even though he'd never let his pain show through. She remembered the day Abby and Connor returned, his face lit up like never before. There was so much more to Becker than a trigger happy soldier. She sometimes wondered what he is like when he wasn't in uniform.

95% complete. Come on! You'd think with as advanced as the ARC's computer system is something as simple as a software upgrade would take no time at all, but of course that's not how it works. A faint squeaking sound caught Jess off guard…footsteps.

"Hello? Is someone there?" Jess searched through her bag to try and find something that could act as a weapon. She ended up finding a pair of tweezers and cautiously made her way towards the corridor. "Hello?" she repeated, praying it wasn't a creature!

A dark figure was approaching. She could feel her heart racing over 100 beats per minute. She wasn't exactly sure what she was going to do if she really was in danger. She squinted her eyes a bit to try and get a better visual at the dark figure. It was definitely a man, not a creature, so that was a good sign. As the figure neared, she caught sight of his face in the faint light. It was Captain Becker. She let out the breathe she wasn't even aware she was holding in.

"Becker? What are you doing here? You had me frightened half to death!"

"Sorry." He noticed her arm raised with what looked like a tweezers in her hand and smiled, "What were you going to do with that?" motioning to the tweezers, "Tweeze me to death?"

"What? Oh…um, it was all I could find." She quickly hid her hand behind her back embarrassed. She could feel her the blood rush to her cheeks and was thankful for the darkness so he couldn't see her blush. She was powerless against that smile. A rarity in Becker's case but always delightful. He has a way of making her forget everything around her when he smiles, which is why she was startled when the computer beeped from the other room notifying the upgrade was complete. "I should…" was all she could manage as she turned around and headed back to her desk. She took a deep breath, knowing Becker was following, watching. Being around him always made her nervous. Especially when they are alone. She got that tingling feeling of butterflies in her stomach. She couldn't help it. After a few deep breaths, she composed her self enough and clicked a few buttons on the computer to make sure everything was installed properly, "Done." She spun her chair around, about to stand up when Becker's appearance caught her off guard. He was standing there in blue jeans and a green t-shirt. She'd never seen him out of uniform before. It was a bit weird. She must have been staring because he look down then back up at her.

"What? I own colours other than black," he teased. "You seem surprised."

"Oh, no, it's just I've never seen you out of uniform." He laughed. It's true, no one at the ARC had seem him out of uniform before. Even though the rest of the team wore whatever they wanted, he always thought it was important for all the soldiers to dress in uniform. It was a way of showing unity and promoting camaraderie, and as Captain he made the example. He only had changed into his civvies before leaving today because he was sure no one else was around.

"Come on, I'll walk you out. You are done here right?"

"Yeah." She hit a button to put the computer to sleep, then grabbed her bag and followed him out. Neither of them spoke at first. Even with Becker by her side, Jess still couldn't handle the silence of this place a night. "You never answered me before, what were you doing here so late?" Becker smiled shyly. He was hiding something. "What?" Jess nagged, elbowing him lightly in the arm, almost flirtatiously.

"Okay, promise not to tell the others?" Jess nodded. He took a deep breathe and continued. "Sometimes I like to stay here late, after everyone else has gone home for the night and just take it all in. I know you all see me as this trigger happy soldier guy who loves his guns, but sometimes this work we do just overwhelms me and I remember these creatures aren't just public threats that we have to contain and control, they are prehistoric animals who have come through gateways in time. I've seen what's on the other side of one of those anomalies. It's like nothing you can imagine! The reality of all this, of all that I've seen, of all the I've lost, it scares me sometimes," he paused. They had stopped walking. "After we lost Sarah, I almost quit. I had lost so many people, I just couldn't keep going through that. But they convinced me to stay, they told me they needed me, and I know I'm good at what I do." He paused again, this time taking a deep breath while running his fingers through his hair. "I just don't know how much longer I can keep this going. You don't know how much of a burden this job is! How hard it is each time the alarm goes off to go running toward an anomaly in fear that someone else I care about will be lost forever, or worse, that this time it will be me!" Jess lightly brushed her hand over his arm. She wasn't really sure what to say to him, or what to do. She had never really been go at comforting people, she was more of a hard facts kind of girl. She knew he's lost a lot of people doing this job, she'd read all the files, but one thing the files don't tell you is how it all affects a person. She's always been so focused on the facts and the details, she never stopped to think about the emotional repercussions this job has on the team.

"Becker, I-" she paused and looked up at him noticing a glistening tear leave his eye, "I'm so sorry." She could tell he was trying hard to stay composed. After a moment of standing there in silence, Jess spoke again. "Listen, I'm starved, you wouldn't fancy getting a bite to eat?"

"Sure," he responded. "How about some Chinese? I could really go for some prawn crackers." He smiled slightly, referencing the time she brought him chinese during a stakeout.

"Well at least that cheered him up a bit," Jess thought to herself.

A/N: Okay so please let me know what you think! I have one more chapter written so far, than the rest is up to you!