"Action Man Says He's Coming."

Jessi was sitting on the couch talking to Abby in her cousin’s flat after a long day rebuilding things back at the ARC. Abby had invited her to have dinner with her and her flat mate Conner, who was still working on fixing the ADD at work. He’d called a few minutes before saying he was almost to a stopping point. But for him that meant anything from a few seconds to an hour or so. So they waited.

“So how did your date with Becker go last night?” Abby asked.

“Well actually. He took me to dinner at a small place and we saw a movie”, Jessi replied.

“How was he? It’s kinda hard to imagine him on a date or anything not work related”, Abby chuckled.

“Says the girl who fancies the guy we’re waiting for”, Jessi laughed.

Abby threw a pillow at her but was smiling.

“Took you long enough. That poor boy’s been following you like a hound since the night of that first anomaly”, Jessi teased. She tried not to think of how many friends she’d lost since then. It was way too many.

“You’re one to talk. Becker’s fancied you since Sandhurst”, Abby shot back with a grin.

“Yes but I wasn’t around for most of that time, now was I?”

“True, but you fancied him while you were there and never did anything ‘bout it”, Abby looked smug. She’d won and she knew it.

“How do you know?”

“You didn’t hear yourself when you talked about him. Besides I’m your cousin so I can figure these things out”.

“Alright you win”, Jessi laughed.

“So…how was he?” Abby insisted.

“He was a little awkward, especially at first. But he got better as the evening progressed. Hell he even had his arm around my shoulders by the end of the movie”, Jessi smiled.

“At least now it’s out in the open”, Abby laughed lightly.

“What do you mean?”

“It’s good that you both finally know about each other’s feelings. It was pretty easy to tell for anyone who paid attention, except for you of course. He’s an emotional retard and doesn’t quite know what to do to express that”, Abby explained. “He reminds me of you in a lot of ways actually”.

“I hadn’t really thought of that but yea I guess so”, Jessi said thoughtfully.

Abby just laughed. Just then Conner came through the door.

“Sorry guys. I need to finish the detector as quickly as possible so I can work on locking mechanism”, Conner said walking over to them.

“How’s it going anyway?” Jessi asked as they walked over to the table where she and Abby had set everything out for dinner.

“It was going well until Helen. The explosion set me back quite a bit”, he sighed sadly. “It would be easier if Cutter was here to help. He was the only other person that knew enough to do any good”.

“You will be able to finish it though, won’t you?” Abby asked.

“Yes. It’ll just take more time than I would’ve liked”.

“Well if there’s anything I can do to help just ask”, Jessi said. Abby nodded.

“Thanks guys”, Conner smiled weakly.

They sat down and began eating. “Finally!” Jessi exclaimed jokingly. “I’m hungrier than a woodpecker with a headache”.

“On a brighter yet more terrifying note guess who’s coming for a visit”, Jessi said to Abby.

“Who?”

“My parents, Granddad, Aunt Jane and Uncle Clay”, she sighed.

“Do they still call you…oh what was that word? It’s a Spanish word for being wild and solitary”, Abby said thinking.

“Cimarron”, Jessi chuckled saying it with the correct accent.

“That’s what it was”.

“How’d you get that name? I mean it fits but it’s unusual”, Conner said.

“Well it’s an old cowboy term. One of my favorite movies growing up was an old John Wayne movie called the Cowboys. My favorite was a kid named Cimarron, so they just started calling me that because I guess I reminded them of him”, she shrugged. They were cleaning up now.

“I hope you plan on introducing them to Becker”, Abby said with a sly grin.

“If I don’t Mom and Jane will hunt him down themselves. We all know that could lead to some serious trouble”, she said worriedly.

“Don’t worry it’ll be fun. I can’t wait, it’s been forever since I’ve seen that side of the family”, she said. “Besides, it’ll be interesting to see how Becker reacts to them”, she laughed.

“Oh God! A full-blown British soldier boy meeting born and breed Country folk. Hell he just barely saw his first John Wayne movie a few days ago. Awe shit”, she laughed falling back in her western accent.

Her friends laughed. Most people here liked her natural accent because it was so different. It felt good to use it again.

“I spose I should head home now. Got chores to do and such. Thanks for dinner Abbs, it was great”, Jessi said heading for the door.

“See you tomorrow at work”, Abby said as they waved.

Jessi walked out of the door and got into her truck with a smile.