Jessie McCullen hadn't had what one would call a normal childhood. From the time she was three to the time she was fifteen she had lived on the streets of Dundee, Scotland. Her mother had abandoned her own child on the streets because her current lover didn't want kids, never giving a second thought to Jessie's welfare. From that moment on she was forced to fend for herself. When she was young she followed the older homeless children's example and used her sweet innocent complexion to survive. However as she grew older and her face and body matured she found that using her looks to get things was dangerous, men started to take notice of her womanly figure and she was forced to be more careful about where she went and who she hung around.

When James McCullen found her she was in a rather sticky situation, she had lost track of time and had lingered to long in the restaurant district. During the day it was the perfect place to be, there was always a constant flow of people who were wealthy enough to take pity on a lost soul in need and the laws presence was strong enough that the usual scum she had to worry about stayed away. However, at night it was one of the worst places to be; there were many pubs located in the same district as the restaurants and at night the streets seemed to beckon the drunkards out. They would stumble around in a haze and often try to take advantage of any woman who wasn't already accounted for; this meant that after the dinner rush Jessie made sure to leave as soon as possible. She knew she was no match for a full grown man, even one who was intoxicated, and found that avoiding the area all together was her best bet. Unfortunately she had been day dreaming and had forgotten to keep track of the time. She only realized her mistake when she noticed a rather round man stumble out of a nearby bar mumbling nonsense under his breathe, she quickly ducked into a nearby ally hoping that in his drunken stupor he wouldn't notice her in his drunken haze. He didn't, swaying on down the road to wherever he was headed.

As quick as she could she ducked back out of the ally and sprinted down the road towards the industrial district where she usually slept, it wasn't the nicest place to stay but she figured it was safer than some of the other places. Sometimes if she could save up enough money she would rent a room at a motel for a night so that she could sleep on a real bed and take a nice warm shower to get clean. She was so caught up in her thoughts of a warm place to sleep that she completely forgot to look where she was going. All of the sudden she ran into something hard, falling flat on her ass she looked up at the person she had run into in horror. Standing before her was a man dressed in an impeccable suit standing a bit in front of an Asian man who appeared to be close to her age. She didn't know who the two of them were but she knew that they could make her life even more miserable then it already was.

"I am so sorry mister; I wasn't looking where I was going, please forgive me." She looked down hoping to avoid making any direct eye contact; the last thing she wanted was for them to think she was a disrespectful brat.

"It's no trouble lass, but if I may ask, what had you in such a hurry." Jessie blushed unused to being treated with respect, rather unsure of what to say she sat there for a moment before finally stuttering out an explanation.

"I was trying to get home as fast as I could sir, I stayed too late in the wrong district and I had to run so that nothing bad would happen to me. Both men though about what she had told them before the one in the suit spoke up again.

"And why aren't your parents with you to keep you out of trouble?" She bit her lip, unsure of what to say next.

"I don't have any parent's sir, my father left before I was born, and my mother abandoned me when I was a little girl." She could tell that her explanation had unsettled both the men because they both shifted from one foot to the other subtly.

"Well," said the man in the suit, "Since you don't have any parents to look after you I guess you'll just have to come with us. I have enough room in my household for one more." Jessie was stunned, never in her life had she imagined that she would be a part of anyone's family. In a matter of minutes she had gone from having nothing to being invited to become a member of a rich family; she couldn't say no.

"A-are you sure? I mean I've been doing okay on my own and I wouldn't want to inconvenience you…" She could almost slap herself, here this man was offering her something she had only ever dreamed about and she was questioning him. Lucky for her the man didn't seem to take offense to it; in fact he seemed to find it amusing.

"Yes lass, I'm sure otherwise I wouldn't have offered in the first place." Overwhelmed by a sudden surge of emotions Jessie could only nod to show that she accepted his offer. He smiled down at her before waving his hand at his companion who stepped forward and wrapped his coat around her smaller frame.

"Welcome to the McCullen Clan, I am James head of the family. What is your name young one?"

"I'm Jessie."

"Welcome to the family Jessie McCullen"

That night James had his legal team draw up the adoption papers then used his seemingly endless wealth to bribe the legal system into overlooking any missing or incomplete information. By the end of the week she was officially Jessie McCullen daughter of James McCullen CEO of MARS industry. After the adoption was finalized she was taken back to America where she met the rest of James's ragtag family. She found that while all of them made her feel at home, Storm Shadow and The Doctor Rex were the ones she was most comfortable around.

She would spend hours with Rex down in the lab, watching as he performed different experiments using nanomite technology. She didn't understand all of the different things that happened in the lab but she found it all extremely fascinating, she would often ask Rex questions about what he was doing and why and the scientist was more than happy to share his knowledge with someone else. During her many long afternoons spend with Rex she learned how to make extremely deadly toxins using all sorts of different things, Rex figured that if she was ever attacked or kidnapped it would be a good idea for her to be able to defend herself.

Rex wasn't the only one who thought about her safety though. Storm Shadow decided that she should know how to fight in case something bad happened and so took it upon himself to teach her both Martial Arts and how to use a dagger. However he always stressed the point that she should never stay and fight, she should always look for a way out and take it the first chance she got. He believed that she was too delicate for battle and that she should let others protect her instead.

However she didn't want to be completely useless, especially after she found out that they were actually a secret organization so she took it upon herself to learn a useful skill. At first she had planned to become a better fighter and take on a role similar to the Baronesses but it soon became apparent that Storm Shadow and the others wouldn't allow her to put herself in harm's way. So instead of focusing on ways to harm people, she learned how to heal people. She read as many medical books as she could get her hands on and had her father hire any tutor that would be able to teach her about medicine. She even went as far as to travel around the world in order to learn traditional treatments used in different countries. Because Storm Shadow had taught her how to protect herself she returned the favor by becoming his personal nurse. Every time he came back from a mission injured she was the one to patch him up and make sure he took care of himself. They grew close as they began to trust each other more and more and eventually Jessie realized that she had started to like Storm Shadow as more than just a friend; not that she would ever tell him that.

So I know this chapter didn't have anything to do with the movie but don't worry the next one will be set at the beginning of the G.I. Joe: Rise of Cobra. Please review and let me know what you though, thanks for checking out my story!
-Ambercat999