Title: Lost in time

Fandom: Primeval

Pairing: Becker/Jess

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

Summary: This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

Warnings: once again not beta-read, mild spoilers for season 5

AN: I honestly don't know where this idea came from. It just planted itself into my head and I had to write it down. Besides, after all the fluff, I needed some real angsty drama. ;)

It was an eventless day. No creature incursion to speak of, nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. There was one anomaly alert pretty early in the morning that was handled fast and easily without any mishaps.

And then all hell broke loose.

Jess was about to log out of the ADD handing it over to the nightshift and heading home. Suddenly, the anomaly alert rang through the hub of the ARC. Her fingers quickly flew across her keyboards and she froze. This couldn't be true. It had to be a mistake.

"Jess, where is the…" Becker's voice trailed off when he jogged into the ADD. The anomaly had opened right behind Jess's chair.

Jess slowly turned around, her eyes widening at the sight of the shimmering, yellow rupture in time.

"Hang on, we'll get it," Matt announced, installing the device to close the anomaly.

Becker slowly walked towards the computers, his EMD drawn and ready to shoot whatever came through. "Jess," he said quietly. "I want you to come over to me, carefully."

It happened too fast for anyone to realize what happened, especially for her. Jess carefully stood up, walking slowly towards Becker, her eyes fixed on the anomaly. Suddenly, it seemed to move, and a creature, about her height, blocked her way, screeching and exposing sharp teeth.

Jess shrieked, jumping backwards a little.

"It's a sinosaurus," Connor announced. "Early Jurassic. Be careful, it's a carnivore, and its teeth are pretty sharp."

"Thanks," Becker snarled, aiming his EMD to shoot, causing the dinosaur to stumble. But the surge didn't take the creature out.

It turned around to Becker, and in the movement hit Jess with its tail, causing her to stumble directly into the anomaly.

There was no time for her to duck, before the creature's tail hit her and she fell, landing not on the hard, metal floor of the ADD, but on sand.

She raised her head, and her eyes widened at the sight of a prehistoric era. This was a dream, it had to be.

"Jess!" Becker shouted, trying to grab her. But she was too far away. And the creature launched at him again.

Becker took it out with two more shots. "Matt," he shouted. "Don't close the anomaly, Jess has been pushed through it."

He felt like he was trapped in his worst nightmare. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not here, not to her, not like this. She was supposed to be safe here in the hub of the ARC.

Jess quickly jumped to her feet, only to find herself looking at a second dinosaur looking like the one that had just pushed her through the anomaly. She needed to get back.

Turning around, she found herself only a few meters away from the anomaly. She could run. She could make it.

Taking a deep breath, she started running as fast as she could, heading for the anomaly, her way home.

She got through, the first thing she saw being Becker's face, his eyes widening as she ran back through the anomaly. She saw the ARC, the dinosaur Becker had taken out. She was home.

Then she stumbled as something grabbed her ankle, landing rudely on the cold floor of the ADD. And then something pulled her back through the anomaly.

For a second, Becker couldn't move, overwhelmed by the scene he had to witness. Jess running through the anomaly, back to them, into safety – and then something grabbing her, pulling her back through.

She screamed, trying to grab something to hold on to. But there was nothing other than plane metal. Her nails squeaked on the floor as she tried to grab something.

She tried to kick the dinosaur that grabbed her ankle, but only kicked at nothing. She couldn't see it since it was on the other side of the anomaly.

Becker launched forward, grabbing Jess's wrists in an attempt to keep her from being pulled through the anomaly again.

Feeling two strong hands grabbing each of her wrists, Jess turned back around, meeting Becker's fear-filled eyes. Fear for her.

"Becker," she whispered.

"I'm not letting you go," he replied in a low voice. "I promise."

He tried to pull her back into the ARC, back into their time, but the dinosaur was strong.

Jess screamed again as pain rushed through her body while two parties were pulling at her. The dinosaur was too strong. She needed to get free. So she kept kicking.

She hit the dinosaur and it let go, but only for a second.

"That's it, keep kicking," Becker encouraged her, still refusing to let go. He would hold on to her, even if it meant being pulled through the anomaly as well. He couldn't let go.

Jess did as he told her, kicking mostly at nothing, only sometimes at the dinosaur. Her ankle felt raw, as did her wrists in the meantime. She feared the dinosaur might just bite off her foot, but its jaws didn't seem to be strong enough for that, thankfully.

There was a flickering in the anomaly, causing both Becker and Jess's eyes to widen. Something was wrong.

"Becker, the anomaly gets unstable," Connor shouted.

Becker pulled harder, but he couldn't get Jess back through the anomaly.

"Becker," Connor shouted again, running up next to him. "Becker, you have to let her go."

"No!" he shouted, pulling harder at Jess, causing her to wince in pain. "Help me!"

Nodding, Connor did as he was told, now pulling at one of her arms as well. But they weren't able to fully pull her back through the anomaly.

"Becker, we can't get her back through," Connor rushed to explain, but kept pulling nonetheless. "We have to let go."

"No!" Becker insisted.

Connor lowered his voice as he explained, "If the anomaly closes now, she'll be cut in halves. She won't survive."

Becker turned back to Jess, knowing that if he let go and let the dinosaur pull her through the anomaly, she probably wouldn't survive either.

"It's okay," Jess whispered, tears streaming down her fear-filled face. "It's okay."

There was another flickering.

"The anomaly's closing," Connor shouted.

"I'm sorry," Becker whispered, stroking her wrist with his thumb, before letting go.

Jess slid through the anomaly, her eyes glued to Becker's as she disappeared. "I love you," was the last thing she whispered before she was gone – and so was the anomaly.

Swearing, Becker kicked the chair she'd been sitting on just a minute ago. If he hadn't told her to stand up, this wouldn't have happened. She wasn't supposed to end up on the wrong side of an anomaly. This wasn't supposed to happen to her.

"Connor," he turned back around. "Your prototype for New Dawn wasn't destroyed, right?"

Connor shook his head, not sure where this was going.

"Can you reopen the anomaly?" Becker asked.

"Well, if I modified the prototype I could probably open a specific anomaly," Connor said. "But I'm not sure I can get the exact year. I mean, we're talking about a period of several million years."

"Doesn't the ADD save the exact date to which time an anomaly leads?" Abby asked.

"Of course," Connor exclaimed, sitting down in Jess's chair. "But still there's no guarantee I can make this work."

"You can," Becker encouraged him, something he hardly ever did. "We have to get her back."

Nodding, Connor got to work, retrieving the needed data from the ADD. He could do it. He had to. They would get Jess back. No one was left behind.

All he needed to do was build a larger version of his prototype that could create an anomaly big enough for a man to get through, and recalibrate the device so that it opened an anomaly to the era the dinosaur had taken Jess to. Piece of cake.

Helen's device had been able to do that, meaning that it was possible. He had a vague idea of how the thing worked and he could open an anomaly. The rest was just recalibrating. They would get Jess back in no time at all.

"What are you doing?" Lester's stern voice said behind them.

"Trying to get Jess back," Becker explained through gritted teeth.

"This shouldn't have happened," Lester said, his face showing no emotion. "And it won't happen again. No one's opening any anomalies here."

"But… Sir…" Abby tried to object.

"It's your own rule, captain," Lester insisted. "No one goes through any anomaly."

"We don't leave anyone behind," Matt jumped in.

"With all due respect for Miss Parker's ability as a field coordinator," Lester told them. "She's not trained for fighting dinosaurs, especially not in a prehistoric era without any weapons to speak of. I don't like saying it, but she's most certainly dead by now."

He couldn't leave her behind. He couldn't give up hope that somehow she would survive – at least long enough for him to bring her back home. "But, sir, we have to at least…" Becker started.

Lester interrupted him. "No one opens any anomaly to any prehistoric era. That's an order." That being said, Lester walked back to his office, kicking his chair when he had closed his door.