Title: Blind Faith
Author: DrawnToDarkness
Rating: T
Pairing: Jess/Becker
Spoilers: None
Summary: Becker had never had any reason to doubt her ability to do her job and Jess was determined not to give him any reason to now.
For: Prawn Crackers – the idea is all hers :)

Only the soothing voice of the Field Coordinator in his ear kept him calm, her words acting as both guide and anchor.

He could hear the snarls of the creatures behind him and quickened the pace, heart drumming in his chest as he made his way through the pitch black corridors of the abandoned colliery. He couldn't see a thing; there was no source of light to be found and he'd long since lost his EMD in the initial scuffle with the creatures when he'd become separated from the other members of the team.

He heard the steady dripping of a leaking pipe somewhere to his right, heard the echo of his own footsteps as he ran blindly, following Jess's instructions without hesitation.

"There's a T-junction ahead, Becker. About forty feet in front of you. You need to go left. Thirty. Twenty. Ten. There. You should be able to feel it."

His fingertips trailed over the damp walls and he refused to let himself think about what else he might be touching. Dust, decay, dirt & mould. He'd run through a few cobwebs earlier and allowed himself a moments relief that the creatures hunting him weren't prehistoric spiders. He'd read that mission report and had been secretly relieved to have missed it.

The wall vanished beneath his hand and he hurried around the corner, hoping the animals on his trail wouldn't follow.

No such luck. He heard their growls before he heard the steady click of sharp nails on the concrete floor, far too close for comfort.

"Okay, there are a couple of rooms leading off the hallway you're in, Becker." Jess kept up a stream of commentary in his ear, trying to make up for his loss of sight. "I think they're old offices. Matt and the others are coming so we just need to find somewhere safe for you to wait."

The thought of waiting made him grit his teeth; he wasn't a waiting kind of man. Though he'd never admit it, Connor's nickname of 'Action Man' was quite suitable for the SAS trained soldier; sitting around and waiting for someone else to save the day was simply not in his nature.

Still, he bit his tongue against saying as much, knowing it was unnecessary. Jess knew him well enough to know he wouldn't be happy by the order but, without an EMD or another way of defending himself against the prehistoric giant cats that had come through the anomaly, there was little else he could do.

"There should be a door coming up on your left," Jess advised him, her voice quiet, a touch of urgency creeping into it. "See if you can open it."

He felt his way along the corridor, conscious of the animals close on his heels. He was able to distinguish between the door and the wall when it indented slightly and quickly ran his hand down and across until he found the door handle. He turned it and pushed against the door and while it creaked under his weight, it refused to give and allow him admittance.

"It's a no-go, Jess. I think it's locked."

He was rewarded by a muffled curse from the Field Co-ordinator and a small smile tugged at the corners of his mouth in spite of the situation at the rare outward sign of frustration from the normally prim and proper Jess Parker.

"There's another door a few feet away on the same side. Try that one."

He did as she urged, moving swiftly. Behind him, he heard a low growl.

"Jess, it's locked. I think they're all locked."

Her heart was pounding so furiously in her chest, Jess almost couldn't hear his voice above it. She checked the blue prints on the screen in front of her, swallowing the lump that rose in her throat at what she saw.

"You'll just have to keep moving forward, try to outrun them." She suspected she sounded as helpless as she felt, biting her lip as she worried about the man represented on her screen as a flashing red dot. "I'm sorry, Becker. I can't see anywhere else you might be able to hide."

"It's okay." It struck her as ironic that he was the one trying to reassure her. "How far away are the others?"

"They're close," Jess answered quickly, adding silently that they weren't close enough. "Matt, what's your status?"

"Coming up to the first flight of stairs now," the team leader reported in. "You said we go left, yeah?"

"Yes, go left, then straight ahead to the T-junction about eighty feet ahead of you." Jess glanced at the dots that represented the team, then at the dot that represented Becker and pulled up a new set of floor layouts on her screen. "Becker, there's a staircase at the end of the corridor. You're going to have to go up them in case the door at the end is locked, too. I'm loading the blueprints for the floor above now."

Both men did as she said without protest. It was usually heartening to know how much faith they had in her but Jess couldn't help but feel mildly panicked by it as she realised Becker's life was well and truly in her hands.

He was blind to the dangers around him, unarmed and unable to defend himself. She had no choice but to become his eyes and that thought was terrifying. Knowing that if she made one mistake, if she messed up one little thing it could result in Becker's death made her palms go damp and her breath get caught in her throat.

She took a deep breath to steady her nerves and willed the butterflies fluttering in her stomach to dissipate.

Becker had never had any reason to doubt her ability to do her job and Jess was determined not to give him any reason to now. She just hoped his faith in her was justified and wouldn't come at a price too high for either of them to pay.

If something happened to him, if she failed and he...

Swallowing hard, she refused to let the thought finish. Failing wasn't an option. She couldn't – wouldn't – let herself believe it was.

"They're getting closer. I can hear them right behind me."

Wishing there was a way she could know for sure, Jess could only make her fingers work faster, flying over the keyboard as she loaded the blue prints for the floor above and plotted the safest route for the Captain to take.

"I'm at the stairs now. Heading up."

"When you get to the top of the stairs, go forward about thirty feet and take a right. It'll take you onto a platform above the main room. You should be able to go around it, then go down another flight of stairs." Without waiting for confirmation, Jess began to deliver her second set of orders. "Matt, ignore what I said about taking a left. When you get to the T-junction, take a right. It'll bring you to the same staircase I hope Becker's going to be coming down."

Both men confirmed they'd heard and understood her commands. Jess took a moment to check on the progress of the back up team –complete with mobile lighting units she'd sent along with them.

She kept studying the information on the multiple screens in front of her, reading the data scrolling by at a dizzying rate so she could glean everything there was to know about the building and be in a better position to support the field team.

"Okay, I'm going right now. The floor feels different. Think I'm on the platform you mentioned, Jess."

"Good. Just keep following it round, Becker, and you'll... Oh." Later, she would swear her heart stopped for a moment. And then it began pounding in her chest in earnest. "Oh, my god, I'm sorry. According to an old report, the platform corroded five years ago. There's a gap, Becker. A big one."

There was a short moment of silence, then Becker's voice, resigned but somehow optimistic at the same time. "Then I guess I'll have to jump it then."

"How?" The question left her before she could reign it in, hopelessness and guilt and fear warring for dominance inside her. "It's three, four feet, Becker. And you won't know when it's coming..."

"Can you see it?" Becker's voice was frustratingly calm.

She couldn't, not yet, but... "The CCTV camera in that area might be working; it's on a different relay to the rest of the building." Even as she spoke, her hands flew over the keyboard, trying to hack into an old system no one had used in years. "If I applied a night vision filter and maybe..." She bit down on her bottom lip, hard, but was so focused she didn't register the pain or the faintly metallic taste of blood in her mouth. "Okay. I can see it. I can see you. But I don't know..."

"You can tell me, Jess. You can tell me when I'm supposed to jump and I will." Jess opened her mouth to protest but Becker beat her to it. "I trust you, Jessica."

She wasn't so sure she trusted herself but wasn't about to argue with him. Taking a deep breath, she sat on the edge of her seat, swallowing again when she saw the first creature come into the frame behind him.

"How much of a run up do you think you'll need?" She asked Becker quietly, a tiny bit proud of herself when her voice didn't shake too much.

"You said it's no more than five feet?"

"About that."

"Then I'll probably need about the same distance as a run up."

"Okay." She took another deep breath, staring intently at the screen. She was almost afraid to blink, scared she'd miss the moment and warn him a second too late. Mentally calculating the distance between Becker and the platform she could see dangling precariously above a thirty to forty foot drop, she willed herself not to throw up as anxiety threatened to get the better of her. "You're about ten feet away from the gap. Nine. Eight. Get ready. Six. Five."

Taking her at her word, Becker increased his pace. Jess watched on the monitors as he began to pick up speed, heading towards the gap in the platform she'd sent him along.

"Okay, jump... now."

He did.

Time froze.

Jess wanted badly to close her eyes, wanting to block out the images in front of her, to pretend it wasn't happening and he was safe and sound and reunited with the rest of the team. She couldn't, though, so sat on the edge of her seat, watching as he moved as if in slow motion.

She heard him grunt on impact, seconds before the sound of his feet coming into contact with the unsteady metal registered over the comms. Her breath left her in an unsteady whoosh, and Jess blinked furiously against the sudden moisture of relieved tears that gathered in her eyes.

Behind him, she watched one of the creatures leap but fail to make the landing. The second took a moment to look at its fallen companion before backing up so it could mimic its human prey.

"One of the animals is down, Becker, but the other is hot on your heels. Move."

She heard only the slightest noise of complaint from him, saw him favour one leg over the other as he did as she said. Jess took a moment to make sure Matt and the others were waiting at the foot of the staircase before guiding Becker down it, watching the grainy footage so she could give them a heads up when the creature began to make its descent after him.

It certainly wasn't the worst incursion they'd ever had to deal with but Becker was sure he'd be counting it as one of them for a long time to come. He blinked rapidly as he and the others made it out of the building, unaccustomed to the bright light of day as it assaulted their senses.

He gave orders to the back up team to guard the anomaly, which had been locked after the contained creatures had been pushed through, and wondered why Jess was suddenly so silent.

It wasn't like the Field Co-ordinator to be so quiet while the team were still out in the field; he was used to hearing Jess's voice in his ear as the tension eased from his body, using it to ground him, to remind him that there was a damn good reason for why they did the jobs they did. Even if it was to give them advice they didn't really need on how to avoid the traffic and get back to the ARC a little bit quicker, Jess was usually a lot more talkative.

As much as he wanted to check she was still there, Becker couldn't bring himself to ask over the comms if she was alright. He didn't want to draw attention to her absence in case the others hadn't noticed though he suspected the concern he could see on the faces of his teammates wasn't just caused by the mild injury he'd sustained to his ankle.

Holding his tongue, Becker settled in the back of the truck with only a minimal complaint, knowing he wouldn't have been able to drive even if his ankle wasn't hurt. His hands were still shaking, the adrenaline still coursing through his system, increased by his concerns that there was something very wrong with their suddenly silent Field Co-ordinator.

Even though she knew from the others that Becker was back in the building and was safety ensconced in the med bay waiting for an x-ray on his foot, Jess couldn't bring herself to relax. She could barely work up the energy to smile when Abby told her how much he was protesting at being kept waiting, knowing that patience wasn't one of Becker's strong points.

She couldn't keep her hands from trembling, though kept them hidden from sight as the team lingered at the hub under the pretence of handing in their black boxes. They weren't fooling anyone; she could see the concern lurking in their eyes but all she really wanted was for them to go away so she could get her emotions in check and regain her composure.

Eventually, they left her alone, though it didn't do much good.

As the minutes ticked by, Jess was both counting down to going home and dreading it. She knew she wouldn't get much sleep; every time she closed her eyes, even just to blink, she kept seeing Becker on the platform she'd led him to, at the mercy of the wild cats determined to make him their prey.

She saw him attempting the jump – and failing.

She saw him falling.

She –

"Jess?"

- heard his voice behind her.

Turning in her chair, she stared at him, wide-eyed. Her throat felt dry, her stomach churning as she waited for the admonishment, looked for the recrimination in his face.

Instead, all she found was concern, and something else she wasn't able to identify. "Are you okay?"

Jess laughed; she couldn't' help it. "Shouldn't I be asking you..? How's your ankle?"

"Just jarred." Becker shrugged, apparently unfazed by his injury. "I'll be fine."

She winced, hanging her head. "No thanks to me." She started to turn her chair back towards the computer, frowning when she found she couldn't. She stared blankly at his hand for a few moments before looking up at him in question. "I've got... I've got work to do."

Becker was silent for a few moments, staring at her intently. Just as it was starting to feel a little fraught with tension, he nodded at whatever he saw on her face and spoke. "Thank you."

"For what?" Her eyebrows rose, shooting up towards her hairline. "I could've got you killed, Becker. I almost did! I..."

"You saved my life," he interrupted, his tone firm. "If you hadn't led me to the others, the creatures would've killed me, Jessica. So thank you."

Lowering her gaze, Jess stared at her hands instead of at him, clasping them in her lap to keep the tremor in them from being too noticeable. "I should've realised the platform disappeared. I should have found another way..."

"There was no other way. It was a dead end, full of locked doors." His hand moved from the chair to cover hers, his skin warm against her cool fingers. "You were brilliant," he told her softly, seriously. "As you always are."

She wanted to argue with him but, as if sensing it, he tightened his hand over hers, squeezing her fingers gently. Looking up, Jess felt her breath catch in her throat at the expression on his face.

"Thank you," he repeated, leaning in a little bit more. His lips brushed her cheek, dangerously close to her mouth, before he straightened, looking a little sheepish as if he'd just realised where they were. "I should... go and write my report."

Jess could only nod, feeling her cheeks burn and her skin tingle where it had come into contact with his lips. She watched him leave with only a small limp, the knot in her stomach easing a little as she saw with her own eyes that he was alive and relatively well.

Though his faith in her appeared unshaken, she had a feeling it would be a little bit longer before her faith in herself was fully restored.

End