Hey guys, I'm back! Thank you to those who reviewed on my last fanfic, With Me and to those who added it to their favourites list, I am honoured! This is a follow up for that fanfic I came up with when I was having one of those days where I find peace by just standing in the rain with my eyes closed and listening to emotional, inspiring music. Anyway, on with the story! Hope you enjoy!

Standing in the Rain

Jess's purple digital wristwatch beeped, the time reading 22:00 as she trudged drearily towards the locker room to collect her stuff. This past week had been frightening, troublesome and to be honest, just plain exhausting.

After the incidence with the beetles the ARC was still being repaired so there wasn't much to do which was disappointing for Jess since she had returned to work after just two days of medical leave. With this job you had to always be alert and ready for an anomaly when you least expected it, so you can imagine how strange and incredibly boring it must be to be stuck at home doing nothing. She was surprised Becker had lasted as long as he did on his medical leave.

Jess sighed. Becker. He had been acting so strange lately. When they were trapped in the ARC he looked as if he would die of happiness when she woke up but now he avoided her like the plague. She could understand why he was annoyed with her, after all she did almost get herself killed and it was his job to protect the team. But there was annoyed and then there was going overboard.

When she tried to talk to him he ignored her and ran off and when she did talk to him he spoke very little and addressed her as Jessica which he knew she hated, it made her feel like a child. As if being the youngest in the ARC wasn't bad enough.

Then, earlier that day, one of the soldiers, Mark Thompson had offered to drive her home and take her out for a bite to eat. She would have happily accepted if not for Becker who interrupted them asking if he could have a word with Mark in private. Five minutes later both came back, Mark looking rather pale and frightened and Becker looking slightly smug. Mark then apologised to Jess, suddenly remembering he already had plans for that night.

But what hurt the most was when she passed him a file this morning and when their hands touched he flinched away from her as if he'd been burned.

Jess slumped against her locker as she tried to control the tears that started to well up in her eyes. She wished she knew what she had done that could make him hate her so much. Stupid Becker! She thought as she kicked the locker door, only realising a moment later that that was a bad idea.

Tears of hurt and Anger slid down her cheeks as she lifted her right foot out of the open toe lilac heel and rubbed the abused flesh.

That was it! Jess had had enough of this. Tomorrow she would sort this all out with Becker, whether he wanted to or not.

The sound of soldiers calling their farewells to their comrades outside the locker room made Jess jump into an upright position and frantically wiped away the tears that stained her cheeks. She quickly grabbed her things then walked back out of the room towards the entrance.

As she turned the corner Jess collided with a large, broad chest. She stumbled backwards, almost falling over in her heels and rubbed her nose that had been squashed in the impact.

"I'm sorry, I wasn't watching where I-"

"Its fine," he snapped, a slight annoyance in his tone then stormed past her. Jess spun around to see Becker's retreating figure slip into the locker room.

It's now or never, she thought, running back the way she came. Jess stopped by the door to see Becker pulling a plain black hoodie of the hook on his locker door, his back facing her.

"Becker can I talk to you please?" she muttered, the confidence she'd had just a moment ago slowly beginning to fade away.

Becker simply sat there, as if he seemed unaware of her presence. What's new? She thought, slightly annoyed that he was ignoring her again, especially when they were the only ones in the room.

"Becker?" she said, louder than before in case he hadn't heard her. But Becker still continued to blank her.

Jess's patience was starting to thin. She could feel the anger from all that had happened that week slowly begin to rise up inside her.

Becker stood up from the wooden bench and started walking to the door. Jess noticed that he was avoiding making any eye contact with her.

"Look I'm sorry Jessica but I don't have time for this, I-"

"DAMN IT BECKER! WHAT THE HELL IS YOUR PROBLEM?" screamed Jess. Her patience had finally snapped. No more sweet, innocent little Jess she thought.

Becker stood there staring at her, his jaw practically hitting the floor and his eyes were wide with shock. He stood there completely speechless for a moment before regaining his senses and returning his gaze to anywhere but her.

"I have no idea what you're talking about Jessica," he mumbled, his foot tapping impatiently on the floor and eyes began to dart around, trying to find something to catch his interest, anything but her gaze.

"Don't play dumb with me Hilary Becker!" yelled Jess, all her fury suddenly came gushing out.

"Ever since the lockdown you've been acting like I don't exist and when a nice guy actually takes an interest in me you go and act like the bossy, overprotective big brother then you go back to ignoring me!" Jess began to pant. Who knew that letting out all your rage could be so tiring.

Becker started to shift around uncomfortably under her piercing gaze and his cheeks slowly became stained with...wait a minute. Was Becker...blushing?

"It's simply your imagination Jessica," he muttered, his voice slightly more strained than usual.

"I've just been piled up on paper work at the moment, that's all."

Jess stared at him with a look of disbelief on her face. Was that honestly the best excuse he could come up with?

"What about Mark?" she asked, amazed at how much confidence was in her voice. She crossed her arms tightly over her chest, accidently pulling her thin lilac blouse down a bit lower too. This didn't go unnoticed by Becker who was now beginning to blush even more.

"Mark is one of my men so I need his head clear when he's in the field and dating a co-worker doesn't exactly help with that." Becker's head was beginning to spin. During her little outburst she had moved so close to him that he could feel the heat radiating from her, caressing his entire body and numbing his senses.

"Besides I don't think he's your type," he grumbled, his hair falling over his eyes as he lowered his head.

"Isn't that for me to decide?" snapped Jess. He had some nerve saying stuff like that to her after the way he treated her this past week. She wondered what he would say if he knew what or who her type actually was.

"Listen Jessica I-"

"STOP CALLING ME JESSICA!" screamed Jess, tears began the sting her eyes. Becker was lucky that he wasn't just anyone to her otherwise he would have a red, stinging handprint on the side of his face by now.

"If you don't care about me that's fine and I know I owe you for saving my life but that doesn't mean you can waltz around and decide everything I do for me!" the tears began to slowly run down her pink cheeks and her hands were curled up into tight fists by her sides.

Becker's head snapped up and his gaze locked with hers for the first time in a week.

"You think I don't care about you?" he whispered, his chocolate brown eyes full of disbelief.

"You obviously don't!" Jess yelled back, the tears running freely down her cheeks now.

"You act like I don't exist, when you see me you run in the opposite direction, even when I simply brushed your hand today you acted as if you'd been burned! Do you know how much that hurt Becker? Do you?"

Becker dropped his gaze to the floor once again. He couldn't bear to see her cry, especially knowing that it was him who had caused those tears to fall.

"Jess I-"

"Why didn't you just let me die back there? I'm sure you would be much happier without useless, annoying, rambling little Jess around!" she yelled her voice finally breaking into sobs before she ran out of the room and into the corridor.

"Jess wait!" Cried Becker running out of the room after her but Jess was already out the door.

Becker you absolute idiot! One minute you're so happy and in love that all you want to do is to hold her and never let go and now you're acting like she doesn't even exist! WHAT THE HELL IS WROND WITH YOU MAN? But why is Becker ignoring her? Will he go after Jess and sort this whole mess out or will he be his normal emotionally retarded self and do nothing? Find out in the next (and final chapter) of Standing in the Rain! Hope you enjoyed!

RoseXScarlet xx