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Written in the Reloaded universe……
Duty, honor… 3/6/05
By Nickelina
The Small group of Joes sat in the makeshift time off room in the underground base simply known as the Pit. They had been assembled for some time now, but had not gotten around to actually getting a room together. It was mostly comprised of a small couch, a few chairs, a television and a radio. Lately, the team had been using the room as a dumping station for all the boxes and items they had no use for.
Beach-Head who was sitting on the couch was looking over at Lady Jaye who had made herself a chair of sorts out of three boxes she leaned against the wall. He noticed Roadblock looking at him, so he closed his eyes, folded his arms over his chest and gave the impression that he was catching a nap. His thoughts drifted to the woman he had just been looking at. It was a few months into their relationship. If you could even call it that. They had both tried hard to keep it under wraps, but in the close quarters of the Pit and with such a small group it was getting harder and harder to keep it a secret.
Lady Jaye was never his type. He had first met her when she went to Ranger school, where he instructed. Everything about her pissed him off. She was defiantly not Ranger material, not even military material in his eyes. She was a rich girl out to prove Mommy and Daddy wrong. She was known as "The Debutante". There was no way she was going to make it through training and he wanted to put her out of her misery as soon as possible. Beachhead made it a point to call out all her faults and problems until she collapsed under the pressure and dropped out. Later she showed up again at his school and this time she finished even though he let her have it worse than he did the first time. Beachhead hated quitters, and to him that was just what she was. He never expected to see or hear from her again until that day she walked off the transport with Sgt. Wilkinson.
He wasn't sure it was her until he looked into her green eyes as she handed him the laser that blinded the rest of the team she was with. Deep inside, he was not surprised it had happened when she was around.
Since they started working together in this makeshift unit, his perception of her had changed. She was no longer the rich girl who caved under pressure. She was a strong determined woman who could definitely hold her own. The times they were out in battle, he saw it. She absorbed everything he had taught her and put it to use in every situation they had run into. Plus she seemed to have a few of her own tricks up her sleeves. Once he had the chance to sit and talk to her he saw another side of her and as much as he hated to admit it, she started to steal his heart. Beachhead looked forward to the times they could wind down and talk. He wanted to keep it on a friendly level but that didn't happen.
This relationship was against everything he stood for. There was absolutely no room for love in this line of work. Beachhead thought about all the moments they had stolen and he sighed. He reveled every whisper, every touch, and every kiss. He wanted to go over to her, just to open the lines of communication. The last time they had spent alone did not go well. He could tell she was still mad at him and he knew the other Joes in the room would catch on to something if he tried to talk to her in front of them.
Two weeks earlier…
Beach-Head and Lady Jaye sat next to each other in the doorway of one of the vans that the team used. As far as anyone else was concerned, the two were checking over the vehicles to make sure they were ready to roll at any moment. Beachhead moved over so his leg touched hers. He stretched out his arm and placed it over her shoulder and sighed.
"What was that for?" Jaye asked.
"Nothin'." He answered in his thick southern drawl. "Nothin' at all. I'm just relaxing."
"I see." Jaye placed a kiss on his cheek then rested her head on his shoulder. She felt his shoulders tense up. This time he didn't relax like he normally did.
"Why do you do that? You take things to far." He asked her while he looked around to make sure that no one had walked in. "You know we have to be careful."
"I know Wayne. I like danger." She looked up at him and smiled.
Beach-Head grunted at her and put his arm down.
"Wayne, there is no one in here but us. Why can't you ever relax when we're alone?"
"I just did."
Lady Jaye laughed. "That doesn't count!" She stood up and reached in her pocket to grab another set of keys. She tossed them over to him. "Here, why don't you check the last van?"
Beach-Head caught the keys. He stood up and slid the door shut. He walked over to where Jaye now was and held the keys out to her. "You check the next one."
Jaye turned around and put her hands on her hips. She shook her head at him. "We were both assigned to this. I'll be damned if I'm going to do your part of the job."
He shook the keys at her. Jaye stood still and shook her head no at him as she smiled. "I order you to check the next van. There." She teased.
"I'm going to decline your order. Besides, I have other things to do."
She hesitated before reaching for the keys. "It better be important."
"All my jobs are important Lady Jaye. Besides, I don't want people to talk."
Jaye rolled her eyes as she opened the sliding door to the next van. "No one is going to talk." She climbed inside and to the driver's seat. "Besides, no one knows and I doubt they care. No one would believe it anyway." She paused, and then continued in a perfect impersonation of Duke. "You mean you hooked up with Beach-Head? I didn't even know he was human. He's just a military machine."
Beach-Head scratched his head and shifted his weight. He opened the passenger side door of the van and leaned in. He could bark out orders to the best of them but he was having a hard time finding the words he wanted to say right now. "Uh, Alison?"
"Yes?" Jaye stopped what she was doing and looked at him. The only time he ever used her real name was in the most intimate of moments.
"I need to tell you something. What we're doing, us, it's wrong. You know it is."
Lady Jaye got out of the van via the driver's door and walked around the front of it to get to him. "Still following the rule book I see. I put mine aside a while ago."
"It's more than that. I can't do this anymore."
"What is it? What's bothering you?" She asked him, her voice full of concern.
"I'm real sorry, but I can't risk my career over you."
"Your career, Wayne?" Jaye laughed. "I'd hate to break it to you in case you forgot, but you don't even exist anymore. None of us do. Or should I still be calling you Master Sergeant Sneeden?"
"You don't have to get angry." He put his hands on her shoulders.
"I'm trying not to. I just don't understand your reasoning."
"It's simple. Duty, honor…"
Jaye raised her hand at him to cut him off. "Don't throw that at me." She walked to the open doorway of the van and sat down. She crossed her legs and leaned back. "let me ask you something."
"Alison, please. Let's just let this go."
"Did I mean anything to you? Did anything we do, anytime we spend together mean anything to you?"
Beach-Head cleared his throat. He had to word this carefully. She did mean a lot to him. The time they spent alone simply talking, the times they made love, had all meant more to him than he would ever be able to tell her. "A little bit, maybe." He lied.
"A little bit, maybe?" Jaye repeated. "That's your answer?"
Beachhead stood still, his shoulders back. He did not want to answer her again.
"Fuck you, Wayne." She fumbled in her pocket for the last set of keys and threw them at him. She walked through the door and let it slam behind her.
Lady Jaye stood up and reached her arms up to stretch her back. Once she was done she put her hands on her lower back and moaned. "We need more chairs in here."
Roadblock laughed. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine. I'm just going to walk this off. Do you want a pop or anything?" she asked him.
"No, thanks."
She made her way out of the room. Beach-Head silently counted to twenty before following her into the hall. He watched her turn the corner then jogged down the hall to catch up with her. She knew he was following her, but she didn't stop.
"Lady Jaye!" He called out to her. She slowed down so he could catch up. "Can I talk to you?"
"I don't think we have anything to talk about."
"Yes we do." He took her by the hand and led her to his quarters. He punched in his code to unlock the door and held it open for her. Once inside, he turned on the light and stood in front of her. "I've been thinking about what happened. I should have been truthful with you. For all the wrong things I've been feeling about us there are just as many right things. I re-read all these." He reached into his bedside table and handed her a small stack of letters she had written him.
Jaye took the stack and leafed through it. She remembered when she wrote each one, and all the things they said. She never knew if he even had read them.
"What do you mean you were not being truthful?" She asked him.
Beach-Head motioned for her to sit with him on the bed. She sat down and turned so she was facing him. He ran his fingers through his short hair. He took one of her hands in his. "Remember when you asked me if you meant anything to me?" She shook her head in acknowledgement. "I told you…"
"A little, maybe." Jaye finished his sentence for him.
"I lied to you."
Beach-Head waited for her to say something and when she didn't he continued. "I said all those things because I wanted this to end. But now that were not together I realize how amazing what we had was."
"That's the truth?" Her voice was quiet.
"That's it." He placed his hand on her cheek and leaned in close to her. His eyes closed as his lips touched hers. He kissed her softly, yet passionately.
Jaye pulled away. "No."
He still held on to her hand. "What?"
"I'm not a toy Wayne. You can't just kiss me and think this is all going to go away."
"That was never my intention, Alison. You have to believe me. I," He paused, "I want you back. I want to talk with you. I want to whisper to you when you're lying next to me."
"And I wanted you to tell me the truth." There were tears behind her words.
"I'm sorry. I couldn't tell you the truth." He tightened the grip on her hand. "But I'm telling you now. You mean more to me than anyone has. I thought I didn't need that in my life but now I know I do. We won't have to sneak around, no more taking things too far."
"Forgive me if I can't believe you right now."
Jaye got up off the bed. "I need to think. Your lie hurt. A kiss won't make that hurt go away."
"Do you think we could try again?" Beach-Head asked.
"I don't know." Jaye slowly slid her hand out of his. She walked over to the door and opened it. "I don't know." She let it close behind her.