Touch

Disclaimer: Don't own anything.

Summary: "It's just that..." he sighed not really knowing how to put it into words. "He touched you in a way that I always wanted to touch you… the way I'll never have the chance to touch you. And it makes me bloody jealous." Season 3. Abby and Becker start spending a lot of time together and Connor doesn't like it one bit.

Becker was seething as he walked down the empty corridors of the ARC. He was such a bloody idiot. No, that was Keanley from one of the science teams. He himself was just daft enough to bait him and ending up biting the bait himself. His stupid big mouth. But then again, he was sure that he could do much better than that pompous arse… with his sandy blond hair that always seemed to be combed perfectly… and with his crystal clear blue eyes that could make a woman gasp… and with his boyish grin that was just cocky enough to make the members of the opposite sex weak in the knee… or with his perfectly shaped body that put many of the soldiers to shame. Not to mention his blindingly white teeth… not as if he had noticed that, Becker frowned turning the last corner towards the gym.

Yeah, he could definitely do better than that cocky, absurdly hot and handsome bastard, he thought angrily.

He just had one tiny little problem: he hadn't got the faintest idea where to find a suitable woman just to prove him right.

That was until he stepped into the gym and, getting sight of her, promptly stopped in his track.

She was with her back to him, standing tiptoed on her right foot, her posture erect while with her left hand she was pulling her left leg towards her body and slowly stretching it to position it aligning with her upper body. Then, after lowering her foot to stand on the flat of it, she quickly changed position so that now her outstretched leg was behind her back and, above her head, she was touching the tip of her toe with both of her hands while slowly pushing her other feet to the tip of her toe once again.

Becker was standing there mesmerized by her while he took in the delicate yet strong shape of her body. He watched her bare toes and feet, the defined muscles on her calf as they stretched, the straight line of her shoulders that stood naked under her vest… and he instantly knew.

At that moment, Abby lowered her leg and bent forward, touching her legs with her forehead and getting sight of the man standing behind him in the process. She shot up in that same instant and turned to look at Becker with wide eyes.

"Abby," he said her name in complete awe as the woman turned to him and eyed him with a slightly embarrassed expression. "I need you," was all Becker could say as he walked up to her and grabbed her hand. "Come," he said and started to pull the stunned blonde out of the room.

In the first few days Becker was like a man possessed. He was rough and demanding. Abby felt as if he'd been constantly on her heels, always ready to pull her away and grab a little time away from the others.

In those days Abby ended up bruised on more occasions than she dared to count. The man was unrelenting and never took no as an answer. He really tested her limits and while Abby was usually all for it, that wasn't the way to go about it.

She said as much to him after she'd been left limping for two days.

They started anew after that, testing the waters and slowly finding out what the other was able to or willing to do and, after a time, they found themselves stretching their limits to a point where nothing seemed impossible anymore.

They were good together.

With a frown Connor watched as Abby bounced out of the room after declining his invitation for a drink once again. And she left with Becker in tow… once again.

Connor wondered whether it was really possible for a heart to break – literally. It wasn't such a stretch to think so because he could certainly feel the painful twist in his chest as he watched Abby's retreating back.

He knew that in so many respects he wasn't a real catch – he wasn't charming for sure, his cognitive functions unable to work as soon as it comes to social situations, not to mention that he had the self-confidence of an amoeba in a Petri dish; he wasn't good-looking, either; and most definitely he couldn't use his money to attract the attention of women.

And yet it felt unfair.

Just because Becker was more handsome, more well-built than he, it shouldn't mean that the moment Action Man waltzed into their life with his cocky self-confidence, Abby should abandon all common sense and let herself be swept off of her feet. It was like Stephen all over again, only much worse. He considered himself best friends with Abby and he felt that after the incident with the mer-creatures and then with Leek, they had gotten even closer.

He couldn't be more wrong, he realized. If anything, they had drifted apart in the last couple of weeks to which his moving out of her flat was a painful reminder.

He missed Abby and their old life together and it actually physically hurt to see her get so close – too close – with Becker. It didn't really help to realize that Becker was actually a good guy, either.

He liked the man and they'd formed some kind of bond during that short time he'd been at the ARC. It was like having a big brother – someone who was having his back, even though most of the time it was with no slight annoyance and a great deal of exasperation. Yep, it was definitely like having a big brother.

It was too bad that his big brother was fancying the same girl as he. That kind of thing never played in favour of the little bro.

"Would you relax, please?" Abby asked Becker as she walked up behind the man and began massaging his arms. "You're all tensed up. We can't do this with you being like a drawn string."

"Sorry. I just want so much to show him that he was wrong," Becker said cracking his fingers.

"Then relax and show it," Abby patted his arm before stepping in front of him. "We've done this a hundred times in the last couple of weeks. We are good and you know that." She confidently cocked an eyebrow as she placed her hands on her hips that were left bare by her tiny shorts she was wearing.

A small smile appeared on Becker's face as he nodded. "No, we're bloody awesome. Come on, let's show that douche how it is done."

"Now you're talking. Let's make some jaws drop," Abby laughed then they left toward the gym with Becker's arm around her shoulders, resting his hand on her right shoulder, while Abby was holding onto that hand with her left hand.

Danny let out an appreciative whistle as he led Sarah into the gym. "Wonder what Soldier Boy and Pretty Boy did to make Lester agree to this."

"I don't think that this is what Lester had in mind when he let himself roped into this," Sarah observed running her eyes around the room where half the ARC personnel had already began to gather.

It was the day when Becker and Keanley were going to face each other to decide which one of them was the better dancer.

When the rumour began to circulate that the two men had made a bet about dancing, some didn't believe it while others thought it to be a good joke, especially where Captain Becker was concerned. It soon became clear, though, that the two men were dead serious.

"You want to say that the glittering garland wasn't his idea?" Danny looked at Sarah with an incredulous expression that looked quite comic and made Sarah chuckle. But true enough, the gym was decorated like a college gym for school ball. In fact, Sarah couldn't wait for the chairs that had been placed into the room in neat rows to be pulled aside and for the party after the competition to begin. That would be a whole lot of fun, she thought, as she looked up at the man next to her when he put his hand on the small of her back and guided her towards the chairs.

"This's kind of fun," Danny said as they sat. "Will be interesting to listen to the opinion of the judges. Couldn't quite pick two less qualified guys for the part," he laughed, searching for the two men who'd been chosen to sit as judges next to Lester himself. Danny caught sight of Pete Rogers sitting in a corner hunched over his laptop so engrossed in his work that he was completely oblivious to the world around him. His hand only left the keyboard to push his large glasses up his nose from time to time. Lt. Harris was standing by the door, his board shoulders erect and a bored expression on his face. Oh yes, quite a pair of incompetent fools. Danny highly doubted that Pete would be able to tear his eyes away from his computer long enough to watch the two performances and he suspected that to the 260-pound-soldier an ordinary man's walk counted as graceful.

"At least Lester had a decent amount of ballroom training to know what to do," Sarah added.

"True. But he'll be fun to watch, too."

"Wow, is that Keanley's partner?" Sarah indicated to a tall, blond woman with perfect make-up and her hair pulled up into an intricate bun. She looked stunningly beautiful and incredibly elegant.

"Guess so."

"She's beautiful."

"And has great legs, too," Danny observed as the woman's really short dress gave a perfect view of her legs.

"Abby will so kick her ass," Sarah chuckled. "I can't imagine her dancing ballroom, though," she added with a frown, trying to imagine her friend in a tiny dress dancing the rumba.

"Oh, I don't think they'll dance ballroom," Danny smiled knowingly.

Connor shifted uncomfortably when he saw in what position Abby and Becker were in.

Becker was kneeling on the floor with thighs spread apart while Abby was lying in front of him with her legs on either side of him. And he was touching her – he was touching her all over her body.

All the uncertainty of the past few weeks flared up in Connor as he watched on mortified as Abby completely surrender to the other man's touches, what's more, she was reciprocating them.

What the bloody hell, Connor thought. A couple of days ago it turned out that Abby and Becker's strange behaviour over the past weeks hadn't got anything to do with the two of them having some kind of affair. They were dancing, they claimed, because Becker had been moron enough to bite the bait when Keanley, obviously playing on the soldier's ego, bet him that he was the better dancer.

At first it came as a shock that Becker danced but it turned out that Soldier Boy had about fifteen years of classical training behind his back.

This new discovery calmed Connor somewhat, though, it did little to quell his feeling of just how inadequate he really was. He could never dance with Abby without stepping on her foot or tripping in his own.

But anyway, Becker and Abby weren't an item and this in itself was good news.

However, he was clearly misguided about just what kind of dance they were doing. Somehow he surmised that classical training meant something, well, classical… as in not touching your partner in all inappropriate places… like her breasts, Connor's mind screamed as Becker's hand brushed over that part of Abby's body while she was bent backwards, clinging to the man only with her legs that were firmly wrapped around Becker's waist.

It wasn't dancing, Connor drew the conclusion in mortification. It was some weird public orgy and he really didn't understand why somebody didn't make a stop to it already.

He wanted it to stop but he couldn't tear his eyes away, either.

It was beautiful.

Abby was beautiful.

After being lifted above Becker's head, she slid down the front of his body with her head first, stopping only when her face lay against his thighs and, with a swift movement, he parted her legs as his hand started gliding back over her outstretched leg from the tip of her toe until it reached her inner thigh and moved over her centre without any remorse just to repeat the movement's inverse on her other leg, all the while pulling it with him as he himself leant backward until their entwined bodies formed the shape of a T.

It was beautiful… and oh so wrong. Connor wanted to jump up and tear Abby away from Becker and his prying hands… then he wanted to punch Becker for daring to touch Abby.

He was glued to his seat, though, because after another beautiful and seemingly impossible lift, Abby was jumping and being swirled around Becker's body in a way that completely defied gravity. Their movements were so fluid and so effortless that they seemed perfectly natural and easy. But Connor could have sworn that those movements weren't even possible.

And wow, what was that? Connor straightened in his seat when Abby did a somersault that rather looked like a cartwheel but he was certainly not an expert. All he knew that watching Abby moving with such grace and precision was mind-blogging. And again, Connor concluded that they weren't really dancing. Well, besides looking every bit of two people who are having sex, Abby and Becker did a great job at throwing some acrobatics into the mix. Connor just couldn't understand why it was necessary for Becker's head to be always between Abby's thighs. That was just wrong.

He was morbidly fascinated, though, by the bodies' gliding motion against each other and by the hands dancing on willing bodies.

It was sexy as hell.

He was finally pulled out of his thoughts by the sudden uproar of applause. It was over. He shook his head to clear it and when he looked at Abby, she was happily hugging Becker while their colleagues filed over to congratulate to them.

With a heavy, sad sigh, Connor stood and left.

Connor was just in the middle of feeling miserable when a knock sounded on the door of Lester's flat. He really didn't want to answer it – for the first time abiding by Lester's rules – but when the knock sounded again, he dragged himself to the door and opened it.

"Hi."

"Abby?" he looked stunned at the woman. "What are you doing here?"

"I couldn't find you at the ARC so I came looking for you," she stated letting herself in. "Did you watch the performance?" she turned to him after taking in the interior of the room. She almost looked shy. "It was great, right? I mean we practiced for weeks."

"Yes, I did. It was great," he said mustering up as much enthusiasm as he could and gave her an unconvincing smile.

"You didn't like it," Abby quickly concluded, looking disappointed.

"No, really, it was great. All that practice certainly paid off. You were quite cosy," he added the last part under his breath but Abby heard it nonetheless.

"Excuse me?" she asked, not really sure what that last part was supposed to mean.

"You and Becker, you really warmed up to each other, that's all," he shrugged. "You really did great. I bet you won the bet."

"You bet we did," Abby's expression quickly formed into a large grin. "That stuffed up geek and his perfect ballroom girlfriend didn't have a thing on us."

"Yeah, go brawns," Connor exclaimed with mock-enthusiasm that was clearly filled with a huge amount of self-deprecation.

"What's the problem with you, Connor?" Abby frowned once again, not being able to work out Connor's strange behaviour.

"With me?" Connor asked back, clearly on the defensive now. "Nothing, eveything's fine."

"You're acting strange."

"I'm acting strange?" he suddenly snapped, surprising even himself but finding that he couldn't hold back his hurt and disappointment any longer. "You wouldn't know what's acting strange for me, would you, Abby? It's not as if you'd spent any time with me ever since you found a new pal."

"Connor…"

"You know what?" he didn't even give the chance to Abby to react in any way. "Why don't you just leave me and go back to celebrate?"

"You really want that?" Abby stepped closer to him, making great efforts to ignore his outburst. Connor could see that she was feeling bad. "Because I came here to celebrate with you… to share this wonderful evening with you… with my best friend," she emphasised the last part.

"Yeah, right," Connor gave her a weak smile – he was really starting to hate those two words – but at least he wasn't hostile any more. "You could have shared all of this a little bit earlier," he kind of mumbled, staring at the floor.

"I'm sorry, Connor," Abby whispered, understanding downing on her. "I really am," she added, reaching for his hand and gently squeezing it. "But it's not all that's bothering you," Abby observed when Connor wouldn't meet her gaze.

"No, it's all fine," he was quick to reassure her and even though he lifted his head, his eyes were still avoiding hers. "Let's forget about it, right?"

"Connor," Abby gently prodded, not at all convinced. "What's bothering you?"

"It's nothing…" he started then stopped before admitting with a shrug. "It's stupid."

"I really doubt that if it got you all worked up."

"It's just that..." he sighed not really knowing how to put it into words. "He touched you in a way that I always wanted to touch you… the way I'll never have the chance to touch you. And it makes me bloody jealous."

"How did he touch me?"

"Well… In all… all the inappropriate places."

"Oh, yes. And I enjoyed it." Seeing the tortured look on his face, Abby decided to push it just a little farther.

"It was so hard to watch, Abby."

"Really? And here I thought that we managed to make something good."

"You did. It was breathtaking. I still can't believe that most of those moves are actually possible."

"Then why was it so hard?"

"Wouldn't you let it just slip?" Connor tried weakly then sighed when Abby shook her head. "Man, that's so embarrassing," he murmured, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath before, abandoning all reason, he blurted out, "Because it wasn't my hand that was touching you." When he finished the sentence, he actually squeezed his already closed eyes more tightly as if waiting for the earth to swallow him.

"You can touch me, Connor… if you'd like," after a time that seemed like eternity for him, he could hear Abby's gentle voice, and slowly he opened his eyes. Abby stood in front of him with an affectionate look in her eyes. His heart ached.

"I can't dance, Abby," he shared in a pitiful voice.

"Sure you can," Abby gave him a sly smile as she reached out to touch his lips before sneaking her arms around his neck and pressing her body flush against his. She began gently swaying to an imagined tune and Connor couldn't help but follow her lead, tentatively bringing his hands up to place them on her hips.

They swayed like that for a little while but the lack of initiative on Connor's part quickly made Abby impatient and her hands began to roam. While one of her hands gently rubbed the back of his neck, drawing some content sighs from her partner, her other hand glided over his shoulder and, following the edge of his jacket, it sneaked under the garment. She spread her palm on the thin fabric of his shirt and let the warmness of his flesh fill her. Soon after, though, her other hand joined her sister on Connor's chest and the next thing he registered through his foggy mind was his jacket leaving his shoulders and falling on the ground with a gentle thud.

With newly regained freedom, Abby's hands happily roamed over his torso, finally sneaking under his shirt on the small of his back.

Connor gasped when Abby's hands touched his flesh and a slight shiver ran down his spine. Feeling the tremor, Abby smiled up at him.

"So," she cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you gonna just stand there, or will you actually touch me?"

"I can? Really?"

Abby chuckled. She was standing in his arms, pressed up against him and her hands practically in his trousers, and he was asking whether she was serious about her offer. He was just damned too cute.

"Yeah, Connor. You can."

A huge smile appeared on Connor face but Abby couldn't really see it as he pulled her even closer and pressed his forehead against hers… and finally his hands began to move. Slowly at first, probably not believing that it was all happening, then they became more confident as they roamed her back and grabbed on to her shoulders just to descend on her back again. Abby grinned when Connor actually brushed his hands over the curves of her bum.

Then she suddenly found herself pressed up with her back against his chest as his hands slowly crept down on her arms, with just a ghost of touch by the tip of his fingers on her bare skin. Abby shivered then a new kind of warmness filled her when, reaching her hands, Connor entwined his fingers with hers and pulled her into a loving embrace with their arms crossed in front of her.

They swayed like that for the longest time, just being content by being in the other's arms and enjoying their newfound closeness.

After a while Abby could feel Connor's face pressing into that area where her neck met her shoulder, and she gasped when he kissed that spot. She arched her head and took his earlobe between her teeth and bit down just as Connor sucked on her skin. They moaned in unison and looked into each other's eyes when Connor lifted his head. In the next second they were kissing with one of Abby's hands breaking free from Connor's grasp and getting buried in his hair just above the nape of his neck.

When Abby's hand left his, Connor used the opportunity to explore her body from this new position and it eagerly climbed up her side to caress her breast over the fabric of her tee. She was practically purring in his arms and when her other hand got free from his other hand and got hold of that same hand, he let her guide it over her other breast.

Satisfied with the position of his hands, Abby's hand went to hold onto his hip.

"Oh my God," Abby exclaimed when one of Connor's hand found its way into her trousers and knickers and was now gently, if a little bit uncertainly touching her. She let him feel her for a while, thoroughly enjoying every second of it but then she turned around and, taking his hand into hers, looked him in the eye.

"What about we dance into the bedroom?" At her offer an uncertain, disbelieving look appeared on Connor's face. Knowing that he was too stunned to make the initiative, Abby kissed his hand and gave him an inviting smile, then gently guided them towards the room.

After a long while, they lay in bed, in Lester's lush king-sized bed – if Lester ever find it out, they were as good as dead –, spent by their passionate dance. Abby reclined in Connor's arms while he was gently caressing her arm with one hand and holding onto her waist with the other.

"Abby?" Connor spoke up after a long stretch of silence.

"Hmmm…" Abby purred.

"Why is it so easy for you to warm up to others but not to me? I mean you've been quite friendly with Jenny from day one. And I know how much you loved Professor Cutter. And you are really good pals with Sarah and Danny. Not to mention that you developed a huge crush on Steven the moment you saw him. And there is Becker… But me? Sometimes you are downright mean with me."

"You're right," Abby agreed with a whisper before placing a kiss on his chest and turning to look up at him, "and I'm sorry for that. But want to know the truth?"

"That'd be nice."

"I really fancied you from the first moment," she admitted with a smile. "Even if you were a complete dork."

"Really?" The hopeful smile on his face was really adorable… and kissable, Abby found, so she push herself up and did kiss his smiling lips.

"Really," she said before settling back down on his chest. "I just didn't want to accept that. You are so not my type; I couldn't see it work out… and you were such a good friend. Anyway, I realized that I might just be making a big mistake by avoiding my feelings when you told me that you loved me."

"You heard that?" he asked, referring back to a time when Abby was hanging from a cliff and he was so desperately hanging to her.

"You know I did. You were just a twit to fess up."

"That was a stupid move, yes?"

"It was but I guess I deserved that."

"So, can you see it work out now… you and me?"

"Of course I can. You know why?" Connor shook his head as Abby once again pushed herself up to be able to look into his eyes. "Because you are definitely my type. Connor Temple, you are just the man for me," she shared leaning in for a deep kiss.

"I'm not jealous of Becker, you know," he stated matter-of-factly after they parted.

"Right," Abby chuckled settling back down on his chest.

"Well, not now. Not after we… you know…" he stammered gesticulating with his hand that wasn't holding her to him. "I mean… you… and I… we…"

"Made love," Abby offered with amusement dancing in her eyes as she tilted her head just enough to look at Connor. He actually blushed.

"Yeah," he breathed brushing his thumb over her cheek with an affectionate look. "After we made love," he said it in a tone that indicated he was still having a hard time actually believing it.

Abby's heart swelled for the man and, moving up his body and hovering just above him, she pressed a chaste kiss on his mouth, giving him a huge smile after it. "You are a sweet man, Connor Temple," she observed.

"Anyway," Connor cleared his throat. "All I wanted to say is that you should continue practicing with Becker."

"I should now, shouldn't I?"

"You were great together. I mean you completely rocked the floor… and you looked so happy there."

"I was," Abby admitted.

"So whatever it is that makes you happy while dancing, you should continue doing it. And I don't think Becker would have any objection to that."

"And you don't even mind that he'd be touching me in all the inappropriate places?"

"As long as I got to touch you in all the appropriate places," he answered, his lips curving into a sly smile as his hand travelled up her bare side and softly caressed the side of her breast, making her shiver slightly. She leant down to capture his lips in a passionate kiss. "And as long as it makes you happy," he added sombrely, after they parted.

"I'm happy here with you," Abby told him in a gentle tone before settling herself down next to him. "Dancing makes me feel secure and happy… it makes me feel beautiful," she shared. "But you know what, Connor? You make me feel all those things, too. And so much more. You make me feel loved."

"That's because I love you, Abby. Loved you since the moment I laid eyes on you."

"Thank you."

"So you'll continue practicing? Some of those movements were wicked… and so, so sexy."

"What about I give you some lessons?"

"That would be a disaster," Connor laughed. "Two left feet and all."

"But you'd get to touch me in all the inappropriate places," Abby suggested.

"I didn't say I wasn't all in," Connor quickly protested. "But you know that we won't do much dancing, right?"

"Oh, we definitely will," Abby reassured him, capturing his lips and coaxing him into starting their dance all over again.

Connor had no objection to that.

The End

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