Colleen walked into the kitchen holding a tray with a plate of pancakes, oatmeal, toast and juice. Her face had a frown upon it of displeasure. "She didn't eat a thing," she announced to the kitchen crew.
Scarlett turned around from the sink, wiping her hands on the dishtowel. "Still?" she asked, her face filled with concern. Even the worry was embroidered within the wrinkles in her eyes. "She hasn't touched anything for the past two days!"
"I know," Colleen replied, walking over to the Island in the middle of the kitchen and setting down the tray. She smacked on Cayden's hand as he reached over and stole a piece of toast. "Hey! That is for Reena, not your black hole of a stomach!"
"I'm half Hart-Burnett," Cayden explained with a smile on his face before kissing his wife on the cheek. "I can't control my urges!"
A groan came from the table from Jaye who covered her face with her hands and shook it slowly. Duke patted Jaye on the shoulder as he chuckled at her expense.
"Fine," Colleen said, defeated. "It's going to go to waste anyway. You might as well have it."
Cayden grinned and grabbed the other piece of toast. "Got Ketchup?"
Another groan followed at the table and this time they all glanced over to see Jaye banging her head on it, recalling the Ketchup craving obsession from being pregnant with him.
"She needs to eat something!" Scarlett claimed, picking up the tray. "She needs to think of the baby too."
"Good luck," Colleen muttered to her mother while grabbing hold of the Ketchup bottle in her hands and dashing around the room, playing 'keep away' with her handsome husband.
"She may have more of a success than me," came from the doorway as a warrant officer walked into the kitchen wearing a bowl on top of his head with oatmeal trailing down his sides. "This is my battle injury."
Duke, Jaye, and Cayden burst out laughing.
"New hair treatment, Dad?" Colleen playfully asked, running around the warrant officer, keeping the ketchup bottle still away from her husband's outstretched hands.
Flint groaned. "He's stubborn, she's stubborn. They both deserve each other!"
"Colly!" Cayden pleaded. "Get back here, wife! I want my Ketchup!"
Colleen giggled, dropped to her knees, crawling under the table, near her father. "Come and get it!"
Scarlett shook her head listening to the Gaelic and Greek words, while Flint muttered to himself about taking a long shower and Jaye and Duke laughing at the whole situation. 'At least they are not sulking, unlike the other two,' she thought to herself, walking up the stairs and entering the Nursery.
Caitlin spotted her grandmother entering the room from her crib and reached her little hands up, begging to be picked up. She let out a small happy cry.
"In a minute, Honeybunch," Scarlett smiled at the little baby before walking over to the rocking chair where Sky Dancer had settled down rocking Devon in her arms. "Colleen mentioned you didn't want any breakfast, but I thought I would bring you something anyway. Minus the toast, it was devoured by a hungry Faireborn."
"Allie?" Sky Dancer asked, holding Devon on her lap, stroking the little baby's hair.
"Other Faireborn, the one with the needles to be more precisely." Scarlett smiled, sitting in another chair in the room and placed the tray of food on a small round table. "You need to eat something."
"I'm not really hungry, honest," Sky Dancer replied, looking down avoiding her mother-in-law's face.
"You need to think about the baby too," Scarlett pointed out, getting to the point.
Sky Dancer looked at the redhead before glancing back down at Devon. "Maybe I can eat something later," she murmured.
"Maybe you should eat something now," Scarlett insisted, pushing the oatmeal closer to her daughter-in-law. "Jeffrey is not eating either."
"He's not?" Sky Dancer glanced up in surprise.
Scarlett shook her head solemnly. "No, honey, he's not."
"He needs to eat."
"So do you." Scarlett stood up from the chair and took Devon out of Sky Dancer's arms. "Now, you can't hold my granddaughter until you eat, Hauser."
"That's worse than Colleen's threat," Sky Dancer informed, pushing away the bowl of oatmeal.
"Oh? And what did my daughter threaten with?" Scarlett asked, sitting down in the second chair in the room and placing Devon on her lap, bouncing the baby with her legs.
"I'll never see Asproula for the rest of my life," Sky dancer answered, referring to her stuffed dog, which her parents had given her on her eighth birthday.
"Oh, good threat!" Scarlett agreed, nodding her head.
Sky Dancer glanced out the window at the falling snow. She placed her hand on her stomach, feeling the hunger start to overpower her body. "Is he still angry with me?"
Scarlett looked to the pilot. "Honesty, Reena, I don't know what he's feeling right now. You aren't the only one who locked themselves in a room for two days straight."
Guilt dominated Sky Dancer's heart. "I didn't mean to yell. He knows I can't control my temper sometimes. But lately, it's gotten worse and he's been in the cross fire."
"It's only natural to have your emotions run wild during pregnancies," Scarlett pointed, recalling her own temper arguments with her husband during the time she was pregnant with the twins.
"This has been going on for a while," Sky Dancer revealed.
"Since when?" Scarlett asked.
"Since he returned into my life," Sky Dancer murmured, wrapping her arms around herself.
Scarlett stood up, holding baby Devon and walked to the a pilot, placing a hand on the woman's shoulder. "You've both been through a lot, Reena. You of all people know that it takes time to heal."
"I know, but sometime I feel he's holding back," Sky Dancer admitted her feelings.
"How's so?" Scarlett asked gently.
Sky Dancer looked up, her brown eyes filled with sorrow. "Like the babies, he rarely holds them."
"Did you asked him about it?"
"Yes," Sky Dancer answered, "but he didn't want to answer me when I did."
"Maybe you should try again," Scarlett suggested, pushing away a lock of Sky Dancer's brown hair away from the pilot. A frown developed in her features. "Reena, where is your locket?"
Sky Dancer rose her hand to her chest where once her signature silver heart locket used to be. "During the Russian mission, one of the Vipers came from behind and aimed for my throat, in the shuffle, he grabbed the locket and broke the chain. I lost the locket during the battle but when were returning home from the mission, Duke had found it on the ground after the battle and returned it to me. It's in my room now."
"Did you tell Jeffrey what happened at that mission?" Scarlett asked, bouncing baby Devon on her hip.
"No, sometimes I don't want to tell him what happened to me," Sky Dancer mumbled, looking downward to her lap.
"Maybe telling him would help, sometimes relationships need to fed with telling each other's ordeals," Scarlett pointed out. "Trust me by experience, you can't hide from the person who loves you the most."
"Sometimes he hides things from me too," Sky Dancer added, her eyes downcast.
"Maybe my son will open up if he knows that you will always be there for him, no matter what," Scarlett claimed, walking over to the crib and placing Devon next to her now grumpy looking sibling.
Sky Dancer shot up from the rocking chair. "I'm always there for him! I hate seeing him lost, trying to remember something from his past and can't! I hate seeing him get hurt!"
"Why?" Scarlett probed, playing with Caitlin's bunny, making it bounce up and down on the crib.
"Because I don't want to lose him," Sky Dancer replied, and then softy added, "Because I love him."
"Don't tell me, tell him," Scarlett said, not turning around to face the pilot.
Sky Dancer's stomach lurched and twisted around. Tell him! She turned around, glancing outside at the falling snow. Her heart rate raced.
"Come on, girls, Nana is going to feed you," Scarlett told the babies, picking them up and walking out of the door, taking one last glance at her daughter-in-law before leaving.
"Oh Jeff," Sky Dancer murmured, her head hung low, feeling the pain in her heart. She didn't know how long she stood there with her emotions running wild in her body, one yelling at her to tell him, the other telling her to let go, and one that said, move your rear girl and go to him!
She slowly nodded to herself, striding to the door, and walked out into the hallway. Silence greeted her, but once passing the staircase she heard the others from downstairs talking about the babies. She touched her stomach again, knowing now that by next year another baby would be joining the family. Her baby. Hers and Jeffrey's. Reaching the bedroom, she slowly turned the knob and entered.
"Jeff?" she whispered, peeking inside the room, immediately spotting his frame on the bed, covered with a blanket. She swallowed hard, finding his back away from her.
She walled inside the bedroom, closing the door behind her, then walked slowly toward the bed, her eyes never leaving his backside. She lifted the covers, sliding underneath them and timidly scooted over next to him, stopping only an inch apart. "Jeffrey?" she tried one more time, trying to control the fear in her voice. Silence greeted her question.
"You don't have to talk to me," she murmured, reaching slowly and touched the back of his head, stroking his hair. His body stiffened from her touch, feeling his anger merging to her hand, and running down her arm and into her heart. She closed her eyes, barricading the tears that wanted to escape. "I'm sorry I hurt you, Jeff. I never meant to do such a thing. I lost control of my anger again, and this time it fell on you."
Her hand fell from his hair, and snuggled it against herself. "It's not fair to you that I keep things from you," she admitted. "And I owe you an explanation. What I'm about to tell you can't be found in my file or my records." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Not many people know about this, Jeffrey. But I want you to know. I need you to know." The lump in her throat demanded to be released but she swallowed it down. "When I was twelve, Elena and I were at my home in Athens. We had just watched a movie, and were waiting for my parents to come back from their dinner party. From nowhere the door burst open and six men in black, with blue masks came in and grabbed us. They pulled and we kicked, and then I saw someone hit Elena on the head before I felt something hit mine and I don't remember anything else."
Her eyes watched his back, seeing his muscles tense and she continued, "When I woke up, I couldn't find Elena. I was in a small dark room, and I was scared, and very alone. A man came through the door, grabbed my hair and pulled me to the bed. I thought he was going to hurt me, but he didn't. He demanded to know my father's codes. I didn't know them. Somehow, he knew I had sneaked into my father home office and read his files. I yelled I didn't know anything and he kept yanking at my hair until my scalp bled. He threw me on the bed, and yelled if I didn't tell him the codes, Elena would die."
She shivered, huddling closer to him, letting her stomach touch his back. "All night I heard Elena's cries. They hurt her! They hurt my best friend, and I only could sit and listen to her screams, unable to do anything about it. I started hitting the walls with my hands until they hurt. I didn't care. I yelled and I screamed, but they didn't stop. I got so angry I started grabbing things and threw them at the door. Anger took over me and I started yelling the codes. I betrayed my father."
A soft sob escaped. "The door opened and he came inside with an evil smile on his face and he called me a good girl. That he knew I would bend. I lost my temper again and I kicked him hard. Again and again but he only laughed at my face. And then he pulled off his mask, showing his face. I was never in my life so angry at my father's best friend. He betrayed my father, my family and my country. Hephaestus Fidi, the man also known as Dr. Mindbender."
"I didn't know he was a Cobra," Sky Dancer continued. "But I think my father did, and he hid it from my mother and me. He locked me in the room again, but this time, he let Elena stay with me. They hadn't hurt her, but they had used a device on her head, making her think she was being tortured. But to me, they had hurt her and her gentle spirit."
Tears raced down her cheeks, letting her emotions flow out. "They left us there to die, locked us in and left. I don't know how long we were in there, but we became weak. I could barely lift my head and then the door opened and a dog came in. A Doberman, and my father following it inside. I cried on his chest, begging him to forgive me for what I had done. But all he did was smile, hug and kiss me."
She leaned her head against his back, reaching out and wrapping her arm around his shoulder. "Ever since then, I can't control my anger, because I think someone I love is getting hurt and its all my fault." She kissed the back of his head. "Forgive me, my love, for putting you through my anger."
"You need help." Kastor said not turning.
"I did get help, Jeff, when I was young, but the anger came back when I lost you," Sky Dancer replied, closing her eyes tightly. "But I will get more help, if you are part of that help."
"How can I be part of that help when I'm the problem," he said, his voice sounded dull.
Sky Dancer cringed from his words. "I'm always scared of losing you, Jeff. Every time I see you in one of the Strikers, I keep thinking the plane will go down again. It scares me. That is why I found it easier to be sure you are safe."
"I'm not a china doll," he retorted.
"I-I know," Sky Dancer replied. "Maybe it's time for me to let you go. I love you too much to keep this between us. I have to put more faith in you."
"Let me go? Let me go!" Kastor said, jumping up from the bed. "So you want out of this marriage, huh?"
"No!" Sky Dancer immediately cried out, finding her heart pulsing madly in her chest. "I don't want out of this marriage! I'll stay with you till death do us part, even longer!" She slowly stood up from the bed, gazing at him, right into his crystal eyes. "I meant by me not being behind your shoulder constantly like a mother hen, being there to make sure you don't fall."
Kastor ran a hand over his face and sighed. "I don't need another mother Reena. I've already got one. What I need is a wife, an equal, not someone to boss me around."
"I always loved taking care of you, Jeff," Sky Dancer replied softly. "I always wanted to be needed." She sat down on the bed, feeling her stomach lurch again from his words, still petrified of losing him. "But I guess I made everything wrong. I probably am the worst wife on the planet. My mother was a good wife, your mother too, but I think I failed that task."
"You are not the worst wife in the world, cause everything you did, you did from the heart," he told her as he caressed her cheek.
"And I will do everything again, Jeff, including washing your cute butt in the shower, but without having your father walk in on us," Sky Dancer replied sincerely. "But Jeff, as a wife, I'm pleaded you to let me in." She looked up at him. "I know you still have problems with your memory, I can see that sometimes, the way you look, and I know something is bothering you and its because of the babies. Talk to me, let me in."
"It's nothing, Reena," Kastor said softly.
Sky Dancer stood up from the bed, touching his arm gently with her hand. "I want to know. I want to help you through this, like you help me with my shadows. As an wife, as an equal, I want to know your darkest shadow and I will help you destroy it."
He turned away. "Before you joined the team, we went to a small village to free it from Cobra's clutches and there a lady put her baby in my arms begging for help but before I could do anything the baby died in my arms."
Sky Dancer's heart leaped to her throat. Her heart teared for him and what his shadowed memory had recreated like hers had done. From behind him, she wrapped her arms around him and held him tightly. She placed her head against his muscular back. "I'm sorry that happened to you, Jeff, and I hope you never have to endure anything like that again." His buried secret from the past. No wonder he rarely held the twins.
He tensed for a second then relaxed in her embrace. "Every time I hold one of them or they even get a little to close all I can see is that baby.
"You need help," Sky Dancer said, holding him tighter, mimicking his own words. "And I will be there to help you."
"I don't need help. I'll be fine," Kastor told her.
She dropped her hands, letting go of her embrace. "Will you?" she generally asked, "Will you be fine the next time you hold either Caitlin or Devon? Will you be fine when...when you have to hold our baby?" She walked to the window, and looked out, not looking at him. Why did he always have to be stubborn? Why did he have to be as stubborn as she?
He sighed and walked over to her and stood right behind her. "I was getting help, Imzadi."
"I wish you could had told me," she said, looking out at the snow covered land. "But I guess, I did the same to you, not letting you know the demons inside me."
"I tried talking to Psyche Out when I got back but..."
Sky Dancer turned around, watching his eyes. She gently touched his arm. "But what?" she asked softly, her voice filled with concern.
"But I felt so stupid cause I couldn't remember some of the details," he bowed his head.
"Maybe this time, it's good that you can't remember everything, maybe it will had been worse if you had remembered everything," she replied. "But don't you dare feel ashamed for not remembering. I don't care if you can't remember our first date, or first kiss, or even the time you threw me in Beach Head's office with my robe!" She stepped closer to him, her eyes locking with his. "And you know why?"
"Why?"
"Because I will be there to remember for you." She smiled at him, her brown eyes starting to show that special sparkle of their kindling love.
Instead of saying anything he pulled her into a tight hug.
She closed her eyes, feeling his arms, even the cast, holding her like he used to do. A sigh escaped from her lips, and she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. "What am I going to do without you, Hauser?" she asked playfully. But then she looked up at his features, reaching to his cheek and gently rubbing it with her hand. "I don't think my life would be complete without you in it."
He pulled her close again and kissed the top of her head. "Did I really push you in Beach Head's office with nothing but your robe on?"
Sky Dancer nodded. "Oh yes, you did. My thin pale pink one too! You should had seen his face! He yelled at the top of his lungs all the way to your Dad's office, dragging me along!"
Kastor chuckled, relishing in the feeling of her in his arms again. "I bet my Dad was furious."
"Actually, your father was speechless," Sky Dancer continued to explain. Blush came to her cheeks. "And he was not alone either. General Hawk, General Slaughter and Gung Ho were in the room too."
"Oh man," Kastor laughed.
"Well, my dear trickster of a husband, should I remind you what punishment you received?" Sky Dancer teased, holding him closer.
"Do I really want to know?" he groaned.
"You Jeffrey Hauser had to be Beach Head's personal assistant for a whole week," Sky Dancer chuckled. She leaned back her head and laughed.
"Wh...where's your locket?" he asked worriedly, thinking she took it off because of their fight.
Her body stiffened for a moment. "I didn't take it off because of us, Jeff," she explained as if reading his mind. "It broke during the Russian mission."
"Did you lose it?"
"No Jeff, it was ripped off my neck," she answered, looking into his concerned eyes. She touched his lips, closing them before he could respond. "Spades and I flew over several Cobra Hiss tanks, one of them shot Spades' Striker. He parachuted to safety, and I followed him down. He was about to climb in my Striker when we were ambushed and he was shot in the leg. I jumped out of my Striker, covering him when Vipers came from everywhere. One of them pulled on the locket and the chain broke. I thought it was the end." Her body shivered at the memory. "But your father and his ground troops came just at that second and started shooting at the Vipers. When it was over, and we were heading home, your father gave me the locket he found on the ground. It's in my jewelry box."
His hold seemed to tighten at the thought that he could have lost her. "I'm just glad you are all right."
"I'm glad your father found the locket, its part of you Jeff. I'll go insane if I ever lost it. It would be as if I lost you all over again," she said, tears starting to dance in her eyes.
"Oh Baby, please don't cry," he all but begged.
"I don't want to lose you, Jeff," Sky Dancer admitted. "Please, don't make me lose you." She buried her face in his chest.
He kissed the top of her head again and then squeezed. "Imzadi, I'm not going anywhere."
"I love you," she managed to choke out from the tears, taking his free hand and placing it on her stomach. "We both do."
"And I love you," he said, then whispered. "Both of you."
"It could be more then both you know," she teased, then added, "What do you want a boy or girl?"
"I don't care as long as there are no problems for either of you."
"Well, I'm going to tell you what I want. I hope it's going to be a boy, and will look and act just like his father," she said smiling from ear to ear.
"Oh God! Then we will really be in trouble," he teased.
Sky Dancer laughed heartily. "But I'm sure one Grand-" She stopped talking, her eyes growing large. She had almost said Grandfather, a prang of loss for her parents ran through her heart, realizing for the first time that they would never meet their grandchild having suffered their tragic fate from Cobra. Her child, her children will know one Grandfather, not two.
"Reena, what's wrong?" Kastor asked worriedly.
Tears raced down her cheeks, her body starting to tremble. She buried her head once again in his chest, sobbing. "I miss them," she admitted, feeling a wave of dizziness surround her.
He picked her up and carried her to the bed and gently laid her down. "I know you do."
She pulled on his arm, making him sit down close to her. "I will make sure our children know everything about them," she said softly. She looked at him in his eyes.
Kastor was about to say something when Jaye came in with a food tray in her hands. "Now I want you both to eat."
"I am hungry," Sky Dancer agreed, winking at her husband. "Don't you love it when she bosses us around?"
"No, reminds me to much of my mother," he quibbled as Jaye put the tray down.
"Mom failed her mission before, she even threatened me with no baby holding until I ate," Sky Dancer explained, feeling her stomach rumble now from the smell of food near her nose. She squeezed his hand. "You need to eat too, they told me you didn't eat."
"All right, all right. I'll eat," Kastor said, grinning.
"Now you two eat everything that is on that tray or you will be in big trouble," Jaye told them sternly.
"I guess we must obey. A Joe order is a Joe order," Sky Dancer smiled. "Thanks, Allie." She took a piece of toast and handed to her husband. "Eat, that is a wife's command."
Jaye cupped the younger woman's cheek. "Anytime, sweetie." She turned to Kastor. "I'm glad this fighting is over."
"Me too," he said, through a mouthful of toast.
"Me three, actually four..." Sky Dancer grinned wider, adding herself and the baby growing inside her stomach. "Or five..." She winked at Jaye. "Could be six..."
"Oh, please, no," Kastor said worriedly.
Jaye chuckled, and slowly sneaked out of the room, leaving the couple alone.
"Scared, Hauser?" Sky Dancer teased, leaning over and kissing him softly on the lips. She leaned against his chest, sighing contently, already wanting to hold the special bundle of joy in her arms. They feed each other the rest of the enormous breakfast while several times were interrupted by either Scarlett or Jaye, making sure they had both left nothing but crumbs. And in his arms, feeling his head against hers, they both fell asleep.
