On the short drive back to the ARC Jess was able to finally relax a little again. She knew she didn't have to fear an anomaly opening next to her anymore, now that the chip was gone. And Becker was sitting next to her, so really she didn't have to fear anything at all at the moment.

When they entered the ARC Connor was already waiting for them. He hugged Jess, relieved to see her alive and unharmed.

"Oh, Jess, I'm so sorry I left you alone this morning. I shouldn't have done that." he apologized to her.

"Damn straight you shouldn't have." Becker told him, apparently not at all amused with the events of the morning.

"Becker!" Jess scolded him. "He couldn't have known."

"And I'm the one who found her before the anomaly even opened." Connor added and reluctantly Becker nodded at that. The three of them walked through the halls of the ARC to the ADD. On their way they passed Philip Burton who was talking on the phone and completely ignored them. Jess tensed as she saw him. Becker, who again had an arm around her noticed and looked at her questioningly.

Jess just shook her head. "It's nothing. I'm fine." she assured him even though she wasn't really sure what had just happened. But when she'd seen Philip she had suddenly been reminded of the second man at the warehouse. It couldn't have been Philip or could it? She shook her head to clear it. It probably was just the stress of the last few weeks. Surely she was imagining things.

A few minutes later they had reached the ADD and Becker left to talk to Mitch, the man they had captured at the warehouse. Jess stayed with Connor and closed her eyes for a while. Abby and Matt returned not too long after them and they had indeed found the strange computer chip which they handed to Connor.

Connor immediately started to examine the chip and he was fascinated. Jess had to tell him everything she knew, everything those two men had told her about it. He was so intrigued that she offered to take over from him at the ADD so he could go and analyze the chip further.

For about an hour nothing happened and Jess was already feeling a lot better. Then Becker came back and the team assembled around the ADD.

"This guy, Mitch, he doesn't seem to know anything. He is not talking very much, but apparently he just did the dirty work for his boss without knowing why he did what he did. He also couldn't give us the name of his boss. We'll keep him locked up but I doubt that he'll be able to give us more information." Becker reported what little he had found out.

"I've started analyzing the chip that Jess carried around with her." Connor said when Becker was finished. "It is pretty amazing. I'll have to do more tests to figure out how it works exactly, but I think I saw something similar in some Prospero files, so that might help."

At the mention of Prospero the others exchanged meaningful looks but no one said anything and Connor didn't notice.

"You should store the chip somewhere safe, in an empty and locked room. Just in case that there is another anomaly. We don't want any creatures on the loose in this building." Matt said after that short silence and Connor immediately left to take the chip to a safe pace. Only minutes later he came back.

"It's gone. The chip is gone." he told them looking distraught. "It was on my desk, I'm absolutely sure about that. And now it is nowhere in the room. I've looked everywhere."

The rest of the team exchanged another look. Their suspicion seemed to have been confirmed, but now there was no more proof left.

"Well, just keep looking." Matt said finally. "That goes for everyone, keep your eyes open for anything suspicious. Someone inside the ARC has their own agenda. Jess, you can go home if you want. You look like you need some rest." With that the team went back to work.

Only Becker stayed with Jess. "I'll take you home if you want." he offered. She thought about it quickly and then nodded.

"Yes, I think I should better go home. I'm not going to be able to concentrate on work anymore today." she agreed and they left together. Jess talked the whole way to her flat. This was partly because she had been uncharacteristically quiet the entire morning and was now making up for that. The other reason was because she was nervous about Becker coming to her flat with her.

She wasn't sure what was going to happen, if anything was going to happen at all. But she was nervous and excited just thinking about the possibilities.

When they got to her flat Becker drew his gun and went in first to make sure that no one was waiting for Jess inside. Only then did he let her enter and closed the door behind them.

"I'll stay here for a while. The second man is still out there and we don't know who he is, so you shouldn't be alone." he told her and sat down at her kitchen table. Jess started to make some tea but she felt watched the entire time. Becker's presence was suddenly making her uncomfortable. She almost dropped the cups when she got them out of the cabinet.

She stopped to take a deep breath and closed her eyes. This wasn't like her. When she opened her eyes again Becker was standing next to her and gently took the cups from her hands. He finished the tea and put everything on the table. Then he put his hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eyes.

"It's okay. You're safe now. I'll keep you safe."

That wasn't what she had wanted to hear. Well, at least not all she had wanted to hear. Apparently he had no clue about what she really felt. "I know, thank you." she answered and they sat down at the table. For the rest of the afternoon they drank tea and talked and Jess' nervousness faded slowly.

Sometime during the afternoon Abby had called to tell Jess that she and Connor had been invited by friends and wouldn't come home that night. This meant for Becker that he would spend the night. They ordered Chinese for dinner and watched a movie while they ate.

By the end of the movie Jess was somehow snuggled up against Becker with his arm around her shoulders, holding her close. She was so comfortable that she almost fell asleep. Finally Becker shook her slightly and reluctantly she sat back up, rubbing her eyes.

"You should go to bed. That'd be more comfortable than my shoulder." he told her, smiling at her. Jess wasn't sure that her bed would actually be more comfortable, but she didn't say anything about that.

"Yes, I need my beauty sleep." she said instead.

"You may need your sleep, but you can't get any more beautiful than you already are." Becker said without thinking about his words first. Jess stared at him and then grinned widely, watching his face redden as he realized what he had just said.

"You think I'm beautiful?" she asked, just to be sure.

"Well, yeah…yes, I think you are beautiful." he confirmed pulling her closer again until she was sitting across his lap. "And smart and funny and sweet and…" He probably would have continued that list but he had also put his hand on the back of her neck, pulling her head slowly down to him. When her mouth met his he stopped talking and completely concentrating on kissing those soft lips, which slowly parted to let his tongue in.

"I think I can stay up a little longer. I'm not really tired anymore." Jess said when she broke the kiss for a moment. Then she put her arms around his neck and buried her fingers in his hair. She tilted her head down again for another kiss. Sleep was no longer on the mind of either of them.

The End

Yep, that was it, the end of the story. Everything else that might happen during that night is left to your imagination. I hope you enjoyed the story and this last chapter. The end wasn't easy to write, but I think it works now.

Now that the story is finished I also wanted to take a moment to thank you all for the wonderful reviews. They always made my day and they kept me going. Without them this story would have still been written, just a lot slower probably. So thank you to all the reviewers, you're awesome.