fanfic: The Morning After
Written for the vanilla prompt meme on just_kiss_her
Title: The Morning After
Author: Athene
Fandom: Primeval
Pairing/characters: Jess/Becker
Rating: 15
Warnings: Mostly fluff
Spoilers: extremely vague for 4.4
Disclaimer: Not mine. ITV and Impossible Pictures own them.
Word count: approx 1700
Summary: Domestic fluff, in which Becker cooks breakfast, and Jess likes wearing his shirt.
AN: written for the prompt meme on just_kiss_her, for the prompt ‘After spending the night at Becker's, Jess decides to wear the red-and-black-checkered flannel shirt he wore in episode 4.04 ’ by dreamer_98.
Jess padded out of the bathroom, still damp from the shower, and back into the bedroom in search of clothes. All of hers were still on the floor where they had been discarded the night before. For that matter, so were all of Becker’s, and Jess smiled at the memory of how their long, slow dance around each other had finally ended with a rather less than elegant removal of clothing and an uncoordinated tumble into his bed, and then...
It occurred to her that she was still standing in the middle of the room daydreaming when her stomach rumbled. And, tasty as the memories were, at some point she actually needed to go in search of breakfast. Jess pondered the selection of clothes she had in her bag, and frowned. They were all perfectly good, but they were also all rather figure hugging, and right then, she realised, she didn’t want tight. She wanted loose and comfortable. Possibly with a side order of cuddly.
She looked around the room, wondering if Becker had a dressing gown or something she could put on, but saw nothing useful until her gaze fell on a chair in the corner where more clothes had been left, this time in a neat little pile, and she spotted a vaguely familiar looking red and black shirt. It took a moment for her to remember that she had seen him wearing it that day after the anomaly in the school. She ran her fingers over the material, and was faintly surprised when it felt softer than she had expected. Making a quick decision, Jess unfolded the shirt and put it on, buttoning it up to about halfway. As she had expected, it was large on her, and managed to come down far enough that it actually covered more of her legs than some of her own skirts did. Perfect.
When she found him in the kitchen, Becker was finishing off the previous night’s washing up. He glanced up and looked momentarily surprised, before smiling at her.
“Morning. You finally decided to surface, then?”
“You have a very cosy bed, and a very nice shower,” Jess offered by way of explanation.
Becker himself had got up and had a shower while she was still dozing. Like her, he hadn’t bothered to get properly dressed yet, and was wearing only a pair of faded jeans, his chest and feet bare, and his hair still damp and slightly ruffled. For a moment Jess simply watched him, trying to commit the sight to memory. She leaned against the worktop while he put the kettle on and then started to rummage in the fridge.
“Coffee and scrambled eggs okay for breakfast?”
“Mmmmmm, sounds brilliant, thanks,” Jess replied, unashamedly ogling his backside as he leaned over to retrieve the eggs and milk. It was a nice view, although it seemed she wasn’t the only one who had decided against tight clothes that morning, unfortunately.
“That shirt looks good on you,” Becker commented without looking round as he started to crack eggs into a bowl.
“It looks like a tent on me,” Jess said, absently fiddling with the hem of the shirt.
At that Becker did look round, an amused grin on his face.
“Yes, but you’d look good wearing anything, up to and including a tent.”
Jess rolled her eyes. “Thanks. I think.”
Becker chuckled, and went back to preparing breakfast. The kettle boiled, and Jess moved over to stand beside him and make the drinks.
“Don’t worry, I can do that,” Becker said.
“So can I,” Jess replied. “Besides, you’re already busy.”
Jess’ stomach chose that moment to rumble again, and Becker chuckled again.
“Ah, so that’s it. You just don’t want me to be distracted from cooking for you. Now I get it.”
She just huffed and elbowed him gently in the ribs. Becker leaned over and kissed the top of her head, and then turned his attention back to beating the eggs.
Jess wasn’t the least bit surprised to discover that Becker’s kitchen was a place of ordered organisation, with the coffee, tea, decaf, and sugar all in neatly labelled jars next to the kettle. Not that her own kitchen wasn’t organised, but somehow Jess suspected he might have a rather more difficult time locating things if he ever stayed over at hers.
Once she had done, Jess decided that getting out of the way was probably the best option, and took her coffee and leaned against the worktop again, watching him work. She absently snuggled inside the shirt, wriggling to feel the soft material against her skin, and inhaling the scent of Becker that clung to the garment.
“Cheesy?” Becker said out of nowhere.
“I beg your pardon?”
He turned round and grinned. “Cheese. In the scrambled eggs. Cheesy eggs or plain?”
“Oh, just plain, please.”
Becker popped a couple of slices of bread into the toaster, and then poured the eggs onto a pan and started to cook them. Jess let her mind drift, simultaneously wishing they weren’t both back at work tomorrow, and worrying about what might happen after they’d had breakfast. Would he want her hanging around all day? Or did he have other plans?
“Can you do me a favour and get a couple of plates out of that cupbo... are you sniffing my shirt?”
Jess froze and stared at him, suddenly aware of the fact that she was nuzzling the collar.
“Um... maybe?”
Becker did that thing with his eyebrows and just looked at her, his hands still occupied with the pan of scrambled eggs that he was now holding in mid air away from the hob.
“Dare I ask why?”
Jess wondered if it might be possible to hide her face behind the mug of coffee, but then decided not to even try.
“Because it’s cosy and it smells of you.”
“Oh, okay. So... plates, please?”
“Oh!” Jess put her coffee down and started opening cupboards at random until she found plates and quickly grabbed two and put them on the worktop for him.
Becker quickly retrieved the toast from the toaster and tipped scrambled eggs onto the plates in a rather less organised manner than she had been expecting, given the military efficiency with which he had done the rest of the breakfast preparations.
He grabbed some cutlery and they carried their coffee and eggs over to the very small dining table. They ate in silence for a few moments, Jess consciously trying not to wolf down the food, no matter how hungry she was feeling.
“Any plans for the rest of the day?” Becker asked, glancing up at her.
“Nothing that I particularly have to rush off for,” Jess said carefully, trying to gauge his reaction. He smiled, and she added, “If you don’t mind me hanging around for a while, that is. I mean, I don’t want to get in the way if you did have plans, but I’ve got the day off and you’ve got the day off and it would be really nice if we could have the day off together and you’re supposed to stop me when I start babbling like this.”
Becker smirked around a mouthful of toast and eggs. “Why would I want to do that? You’re adorable when you’re babbling.”
Jess humphed and started paying an inordinate amount of attention to her breakfast.
“So,” she eventually tried. “Do you have any plans for the day?” She took a large mouthful off coffee to avoid having to look at him.
“Well, there’s nothing set in stone yet, but I was giving serious thought to carrying you to the bedroom and shagging you senseless at least a couple of times today.”
Jess gave a startled squeak and the mouthful of coffee went airborne as she spluttered in shock. Most of it went straight down the front of the shirt she was wearing, and Jess quickly covered her mouth with her hand, a look of what had to be horror on her face at what she had just done right in front of Becker, of all bloody people.
When she finally forced herself to look at him again, Becker’s grin said it all. He also, rather more usefully, passed across a box of tissues, and she quickly wiped her mouth and dabbed at the splashes on the table.
“That’s a truly impressive shade of red you’ve gone,” he said, still smirking.
“Yes, because this is exactly the sort of image I want to give to the man who I just slept with for the first time last night. Spraying coffee everywhere at the mention of sex really adds to the romance of the moment!”
“Well I’ve never heard of a coffee kink before, but there’s a first time for everything, I suppose.”
Jess couldn’t help smiling, despite her embarrassment.
“Well, at least it wasn’t a scrambled eggs kink,” she said, glancing up and meeting his eye.
“Now that would be weird, even for you,” Becker chuckled. “Anyway, I think the moral of the story is that I need to remember to wait until after you’ve finished drinking the next time I mention sex.”
Jess didn’t miss the words ‘next time’ and decided she probably hadn’t completely ruined her chances with him after all. She glanced down, and realised something else.
“Um, sorry. I think I got coffee on your shirt.”
“Well, there’s only one thing to be done about that.”
He stood up and came around the table to crouch down beside her. Jess turned towards him, and he began to unbutton the shirt, letting his fingers trace along the curves of her body beneath it. Jess wriggled again, and sighed as the shirt fell open and his hands found her waist and hips. Becker leaned close and kissed her, and she wasn’t sure exactly whose coffee and eggs she could taste for a moment. Jess slipped one hand up around his head, her fingers playing with the short hair at his neck. After a long, leisurely kiss, he pulled back, still smiling.
“Like I said, you look good in this shirt. But you look even better out of it.”