Disclaimer: I own nothing but two dogs, a cat, and an overactive imagination. Also, I am sure there are some discrepancies in this story of who is in what time frame of "Joe History", but this is purely from a fan's point of view and characters "appeared" in the story as they wanted to.

Flint awoke slowly with a groan. He realized he was in one of the medical choppers that followed each mission. "What the hell?" he grumbled. Doc hurried over.

"You've got quite a lump on your head. We want to make sure things are okay so just lay still! Doesn't help that you keep getting lumps on your head," he grumbled to himself more than Flint.

"Jaye!" Flint shot up and seeing Doc's glare, settled back down on the mat. Doc had quite a temper if you decided not to follow his orders and Flint had some thinking to do. Ali! She was alive! She had called him….Frenchy? What was that about? He reached up and realized his beret was missing. Damn it, that was his lucky one, too!

She hadn't recognized him. He had hoped that she had thrown the javelin to protect him, not to target him. Now he wasn't so sure. Granted, she was a hell of an actress and could convince anyone of anything….the fact that she had not shot him directly in the hallway was good. That she had knocked him out once he was unarmed. Was she playing a role? Was she so deep undercover that no one even knew? Or had she been brainwashed by Cobra to become one of their operatives. He shook his head…a mistake as pain overtook him for a moment. He just didn't know. He DID know that Hawk, and Duke, would want full details of what happened. He was just grateful she was alive and looked relatively unscathed. He had been so scared she had been tortured.

I'll find you, Jaye, he swore to himself. Whatever they've done to you, I'll fix and bring you home. This I swear.

Once settled in Uncle James' parlor, sipping on tea, Lady Jaye brought the object out of her bag that had sat in there like a dead weight. She tossed it on the table in front of her uncle. "What can you tell me about this?" she asked, staring at him.

Destro was caught by surprise. He knew the beret very well. It belonged to Flint.

"Where did you get that?" he questioned, stalling for time.

Lady Jaye got up and started pacing around the room. "Something tells me this is my weakness. Don't ask me how I know," she said quickly, putting her hand up to stop her uncle from speaking. "I just do. I couldn't bring myself to kill him when face to face in the hallway with him. I DID knock him out, but obviously he lives, no thanks to me," she said bitterly. "He also caused a flashback," she continued. Seeing her uncle frown, she continued. "It was so brief, so quick, I have no idea what I saw, only that I know this guy."

She whirled around to face her uncle. "What is he to me?" she demanded.

Destro cleared his throat and thought of how to approach this topic with his niece. Obviously, he was walking on eggshells and so many good things that had happened in the past year to him could come crumbling down with one wrong word.

"He is," he began, his voice deep and reassuring, "the man you were to marry."

Jaye's eyes widened at this revelation. "The one that the Joes forced on me?"

Destro was nervous. When on opposite sides, they met in battle, but maintained a distant relationship based on family ties. Now that she and he were on the same side, their close relationship from her childhood had blossomed once more. He did not want to lose it. Nor did he want to lose it on a lie, which could very well happen. Destro was a realist. Every plan had a flaw if not executed perfectly, which often, they were not.

"Well," he continued, trying to sound natural, "when you were with GI Joe, you and this man apparently had a relationship. I'm not sure," he continued, seeing her mouth drop open, "if it was real or not. Apparently, the feelings were strong enough that you considered marriage."

"How could I have been such a fool, to fall for someone, brainwashed…." she groused, sitting down hard on the sofa. She jumped back up, her eyes widening.

"Do you think I STILL have feelings for this man? That part of that feeling is why I couldn't kill him?"

"It very well could be," speculated Destro, observing her closely. Tales of Lady Jaye and Flint's relationship had even reached Cobra's ears, which is why they had staged her abduction when the two were alone, unsuspecting. It had been a two-fold plan…one, to capture Lady Jaye and make her a Cobra agent and two, to destroy Flint emotionally so that he could no longer function as a Joe. Obviously, only one part had worked. Destro worried that Flint knew Lady Jaye was alive. Tales of his jealousy and possessiveness could only mean he would continue to search for her.

"I don't like the idea that he is obsessed with you," continued Destro, voicing his thoughts. "I don't want you going anywhere without a guard or two. Yes, I know you can handle yourself," he said when he caught "that look" from her, "but pacify your favorite uncle…please…."he pleaded softly.

Lady Jaye chewed nervously on her lip. It was only in extremely stressful times that she did that, having been chastised by her mother so much when she was younger on how unladylike it was, that it wasn't worth putting up with her.

"For you, uncle," she replied softly, staring at the beret as if it might jump up and bite her.