Fic: The Silence of Words
Summary: They're both hiding and it takes each other to realise what the other is doing.
Characters: OC, Jess with mentions of Becker, Matt, Abby and Connor
Pairings: OC/Jess, one sided Jess/Becker and one mention of Matt/Becker
Rating: 15
Timeline: Starts pre-series and spans out to a little while after 4x01 and just beyond
Word count: 1,317
Warnings/Spoilers: Swearing and some spoilers for series four
Disclaimer: All characters but my OC belong to the Primeval creators and Itv
Author's note: I have no idea where this came from. All I can really say to explain it is that in my own personal head canon Matt and Becker always(mostly) end up together and Jess is always left alone which is kind of harsh seeing as how I quite like Jess now and because I can't really ship her with anyone on the show an oc was called for. Then somehow the oc took over the story and it's in his pov and I feel as though he's more than just a love interest. Anyway this is really just the beginnings of their relationship and it's nice and romance-y with underlinings of angst underneath if you look closely enough because this is me after all. And of course Beckett is mentioned in it because they're my OTP of the show. I loved writing this so much I may write more with this oc in the future to beef out his character more which couldn't be done as much in this because it wouldn't of fit. Anyway to prevent me waffeling on any longer, enjoy and feedback is love.
The first time he laid eyes on her-on his very first day at working at the mysterious ARC, recruited as part of the team of soldiers that were supposed to keep everyone else there safe-he thought she was beautiful. Not in a stunningly obvious way but in her own unique way that made her seem all the more special. Others would pass her off as pretty, as cute but he could truly see her. Then she'd opened her mouth and no matter how beautiful she was to him, he couldn't get over just how annoying she was. She never shut up and she talked at him rather than with him in an excited almost childish manner, the naivety in her shining through bright as a torch. (He's not quite sure to this day why she singled him out and attempted to befriend him in the first place.)
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Somehow she had got it in to that her pretty little head of hers that he was batting for the other team despite the fact she hardly knew him and he'd never spoken two words to her. She even once tried to set him up with one of her friends, one of her male friends. Luckily all it had taken was a sharp glare from him to get her to drop the idea. (And it's enough for her to drop the subject all together, at least for a little while.)
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She was hopelessly crushing on Becker and it was really, really sad. The amount of times he'd walked in on his Captain with his tongue stuck down that Matt guys throat was ridiculous. And the fact she was so fucking blind to it was even more so. Not to mention it sort of, kind of hurt him to think Becker had all her affections. Which was an utterly ridiculous way to be feeling about the bint anyway. He didn't do the whole jealous green eyed monster thing, ever. (Except he's sort of making an unwilling exception for her.)
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They have a thing. A way of communication between them while she babbles on about nonsense that just dosn't matter and he remains forever silent. They have little looks that speak louder than a thousand words ever could and he knows she realizes this too. But she never stopped talking and after a while he in turn realizes that the talking thing is her way of hiding herself. If she spoke enough then people would pay attention to her words but not to her. (He feels like he's solved a piece of a puzzle.)
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("Do you speak?" She interjects as she breaks off mid sentence going on about something trivial he's long ago stopped listening to. This he pays attention to though. He answers with his eyes. No. ) That was the moment their relationship seemed to... shift. The air seemed heavier, thicker after that and he couldn't quite explain why. It was also then when she started talking at him less and their own special brand of communication grew stronger. Although she still hid behind her words a lot, just not as much as before. It was like she finally realised that she wasn't the only one hiding. (Not that he's ever going to admit that his silence act is a method of hiding himself.)
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She started eating lunch with him when she could. When she wasn't tied up at her desk acting as the teams satnav and when he himself wasn't out there in the thick of it, guarding anomalies and fighting off rampant dinosaurs which frankly is really something he never thought he'd be doing if you'd asked him a year ago. She never spoke more than a greeting to him on their sort of lunch dates and it was really, really nice. She dropped her guard around him and they could sit there, and eat and he'd catch her eye occasionally and she'd smile that smile. (He looks back on those lunches in a found, wistful way.)
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Then Abby and Connor came back, the teammates lost in time, the stuff of so called legends and something changed in her to revert her back to her older ways. The words are back full force and so was her certainty that he was gay. (When he's not, he's really not. How can he be with the way he feels every time he sees her, every time she smiles and those big blue eyes of hers light up? More importantly how can she be so fucking blind to this too? She dosn't eat lunch with him anymore after that.) He was quickly coming to the end of his tether, losing his temper in such a way he hadn't experienced in years. He wasn't sure who he was more angry at though, whoever had turned her back to that insecure little girl or her herself for allowing herself to revert back to that. It couldn't just be because Connor and Abby returned surely? Because she didn't even know them and everything just didn't make sense. (For the first time in years he wants to open his mouth and shout, scream and curse. It's her. She has this effect on him and he would hate her for it, if he didn't fucking love her so much. But then as they say, there's a thin line between love and hate.) Maybe she had come to the same conclusion as him and didn't like the result. (But is that just some twisted kind of wishful thinking?)
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One day he had enough. He was on his way to the locker room to get changed, go home and sleep for twenty four hours after finally getting off work, shattered from the latest anomaly alert and grieving a fellow soldiers death. He hadn't really ever spoken to said soldier before but it was hard to lose part of the team all the same. Jess had caught up with him, her obnoxiously bright shoes clicking against the floor. And on top of everything thing else he couldn't deal with seeing this version of her. He missed the girl-the blossoming woman he had lunch with every other day for months and shared secret little glances that only they could decipher the message behind. He cut her off mid greeting, pushing her against the wall and covering her lips with his own in a fierce, all consuming kiss. Her response was almost instantaneous as she wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers softly stroking against the hair on his neck. He shivered and deepened the kiss, never wanting the perfect, blissful moment to end. (That's when he realizes he needs her and she needs him.) He drew back by a couple of inches so his lips hovered over hers and her breath came out to meet his and mingled in the warm air. His grey eyes slowly opened to meet her surprised blue ones "I see through you." He breathed out in a gravelly voice, partly from the effects of that kiss but mainly because it had been so long that he'd used it. He felt that it needed to be said, out loud because somehow Jess Parker was worth actual words. (All surprise fades from her face and she smiles that smile.)
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She wanted him, wanted to know him, wanted him to run those long nimble fingers-unsuited to a solider-across her skin... from the moment she first laid eyes on him. It was how to go about achieving that goal that was the hard part especially when her conflicting feelings for a certain other solider got in the way. (But it's diffidently worth it in the end. Adam Reid is worth it.)