"Action Man Says He's Coming."

Jessi and Becker made it back to her house. She'd been tight lipped the whole way. A hurricane of emotions had been raging in her chest. She'd failed to kill Helen. Her only guess as to what happened was one of clones had come up behind her and clubbed her. Bastard. Rage bit into soul like fire that was fanned on by the pain of loosing Cutter. How could she do that? What kind of a person could kill their spouse? She'd let him drive since she was in no state. He'd been so caring and gentle with her. It touched her. He'd always been good at such things, good at comforting people.

When they stopped they made their way to the door. She hadn’t gotten very far when Becker scooped her up and carried her bridal style into the house. She rested her head on his shoulder.

“I can walk, you know”, Jessi said.

“Yes. But you need to get cleaned up. You’ve got blood on you”, he said gently.

“Beck, I don’t think this is a good time to take a shower together. You’re skipping a few steps”, she said not being able to help herself.

He sighed, trying to hide the smile that was forming at the corners of his lips.

“Well at least you’re cracking jokes now, even if they are inappropriate”, he quirked an eyebrow.

“You’re cheeks are coloring a bit there Beck”, she smirked.

Oh shit, were they?! He hoped not. This was not the time for his weakness for her to slip through. She’d pick up on it in a moment. True he wanted her to find out he cared for her eventually but not now, not like this. Not that he really knew how to tell her anyway. He’d fancied her all through out their time at Sandhurst and he’d never said anything…well until he kissed her that is. Becker had never forgotten that and apparently neither had she. He wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. That was the ironic part. He’d had intense military training that had prepared him for any situation, except for dealing with romantic feelings.

*I think I’d rather take the fighting any day*, he thought to himself as he set her on the counter by the medicine cabinet she had indicated to. She went to grab the cloth he was going to use to clean her face but he jerked his hand back.

“You and I both know it’s a lot easier to let someone do this for you”, he told her.

But of course Jessi being Jessi, she wanted to be the big, tough soldier that could handle anything. She reminded him a lot of himself actually.

“Fine”, she sighed.

Becker started cleaning the blood from the cut under her eye. She hissed as the disinfectant stung. Her Bruises were already forming. Her black eye was one of many. His touch was so gentle it almost soothed her. The look in his eyes was caring and warm. When he finished he moved on to the knot on her head. After that he cleaned her split lip. Finished, he sat back and looked at her.

“Do you wanna tell me what happened now?” he asked.

She sighed, she knew this was coming but that still didn’t make it any easier.

“When I took off I’d smelled Helen. I had to get her. So I took off after her as a hawk. It was easy to catch up with her. When I confronted her she started spouting some bullshit about Predators escaping from the ARC because of Cutter and other apocalyptic shit. Then she said something about keeping a closer eye on my friends and I lost it. She was no match for me. I had her, Beck, I did. She was bloody and bruised to Hell. Just as I was going to hit her again I felt a pain in the back of my head before everything went dark. I think one of her clones whacked me. When I woke up and you were there”, she sighed.

“I doubt we’ve seen the last of her”, Becker said.

“I know we haven’t”.

Becker didn’t like seeing her this upset. The next time Helen came around, if Jessi didn’t kill her he would. But until then he had to find a way to cheer her up. He had just the plan to do that.

“Hey. Why don’t we go take showers and I’ll fix us some popcorn and we’ll watch a movie? How’s that sound?” he said gently.

“Ok”, she sighed.

She took one in her bathroom and he took one in the guest bathroom. Jessi let the warm water sooth her achy muscles and mind. She dried herself off and put her loose t-shirt and green Aussie boxers. Going back into the living room, she smelled popcorn. Becker walked in with a large bowl. He was in a wife beater and a pair of sweatpants he’d grabbed. It was surprisingly flattering on him. His black hair was a wet and messy. They sat on the couch and she snuggled up to him. The DVD he’d put in began to play.

“’Rio Bravo’”? she said.

“I remembered you said you really liked this movie and that it’s a Western and funny. You always said you could never go wrong with John Wayne”, he shrugged.

She smiled and rested her head on his chest. When the movie was over he chuckled.

“Now I see why you like him so much”

“You’ve never seen a John Wayne movie?!” she gasped.

He laughed. Then before he realized what he’d done, he kissed her nose. He looked as surprised as she felt.

“That’s the third time you’ve kissed me today”, she stated.

“Well I…”, he stumbled. He had no idea what to do now. He hadn’t meant for that to happen.

Just then her lips were on his. They were so soft and tentative. Some instinct kicked in and he deepened it. He was gentle and slow. Jessi was just as surprised as he was but she wasn’t complaining. He was damn good. She hadn’t been kissed like this in some time. Too soon he pulled back and looked at her.

“That was…” he didn’t know how to explain it.

“Yea”, she agreed.

“Did we…?” he began.

“Do this a little backwards? Yea”, she chuckled.

“How’s a movie sound Friday night?”

“Perfect”.

“Great”, he grinned. That was a lot easier than he’d expected.