Flint's pacing was threatening to unhinge her. Lady Jaye had to keep biting her tongue to stop herself from yelling at him. She knew he was just as nervous as she was. She was doing her own fidgeting as well. She kept tugging at her incredibly tight and uncomfortable pants, hoping to somehow squeeze out a little bit more space.
The previous night she tried to do a quick sewing repair on her uniform pants. They had landed earlier in the day to the message that General Bradshaw wanted to see them in his office at 0700 Monday morning. Luckily, she had the foresight to try on her uniform pants once they arrived back at the apartment. It was clear that she had grown over the Thanksgiving holiday, and her pants weren't close to fitting any more. She had no time to get a new pair, so she moved the button as far as she could. It was still tight, but at least she was able to get her uniform to meet regulation standards.
When Flint passed her for the umpteenth time, he reached his hand out to her, but she recoiled from his touch. She tried to ignore the hurt look on his face. However, the last thing she wanted was for General Bradshaw to open his door to see the two of them flaunting their relationship. Flint continued his walk down the hall.
Lady Jaye checked her watch. It was ten after seven, and she became convinced that the general was purposely prolonging their suffering as long as possible. But she forced herself to get a control of her emotions. Not only was she stressed by the pending decision, but she had barely slept the night before so she was extremely cranky.
Mercifully, General Bradshaw's door opened. "Come in," he said simply.
They walked in and took a seat in the chairs in front of his desk. Even though the office looked vastly different from when Hawk occupied it, Lady Jaye still had a flashback to the last time she had been called into there. Even though that had only been a few weeks prior, it felt like an eternity. And considering everything that had happened since, that wasn't surprising.
"I'm going to make this brief," General Bradshaw started once he took a seat. "When you told me your news, my initial reaction was this was going to be a simple decision for me. The rules are pretty clear cut, as well as the punishment for them. I was going to let you know my decision shortly after the talk we had. But I had told you that I was going to take the week to think about it, and I wanted to stand by that.
"I used the time to talk to General Abernathy, Sergeant Hauser, Sergeant Sneeden, and others. At first I did that to keep up the appearance of following through with the proceedings, as I felt that my mind was made up. But in talking to your coworkers, I learned a lot. It was clear that every one of them respected you and the work you both have done the last few years. However, I was still frustrated by your blatant disregard for the rules of the military. Until I talked to General Abernathy, and got a clearer picture of the Joe team's day to day operation before my arrival. So based on his guidance I have decided not to follow through on a court martial or any other criminal charges."
Lady Jaye let out a sigh of relief that the worst option was not going to happen.
General Bradshaw continued. "That said, there still has to be consequences for your actions. While any extra-curricular activity was passively condoned by General Abernathy, you both knew that I, as well as the army as a whole, expressively condemned it. So there must be consequences. Warrant Officer Faireborn, you will retain your rank and position, however your pay will be docked the next two months. In addition, any promotions and pay raises are put on hold for a probationary period of a minimum two years. This goes into effect the minute I sign the paperwork, so your name is being pulled from the review board."
Lady Jaye looked at Flint from the corner of her eye. His face was impassive, but she could see his tension releasing. She began to get cautiously optimistic for their future.
General Bradshaw leaned forward on his desk to stare at her. "Now, Corporal Hart-Burnett. Your actions have particularly disappointed me, especially in light on your pregnancy. So effective immediately, you are being discharged from the US Army. In light of the glowing reviews of your peers, and despite my own feelings on this, it will be an honorable discharge. If you choose to do so, you can continue in the US Army Reserves, but Ms. Hart-Burnett, your active duty career is over."
Alison gasped. Flint turned and looked at her in horror, but she couldn't face him. Her mind reeled and she didn't know what to do next.
"It is your right to appeal my decision, but I strongly advise against doing so. This is a very generous judgment, and I doubt you would get anything better from another party. You are dismissed."
Alison stood up, but paused. This time she did look at Flint. He had his head down, and his hand was rubbing at his temple. She desperately hoped that he would make some kind of plea on her behalf, but he kept quiet. So she made her own appeal. "General, Sir, I beg you to reconsider."
"Ms. Hart-Burnett, I have considered and reconsidered this situation more than you can imagine. And quite frankly, I have spent more time on this than I think you deserve. So I remind you that you are dismissed, and I ask that you don't make this any uglier than it already is."
Alison again looked at Flint, the man who had spent weeks promising that they were going to go through better and worse together. The man who only a few days earlier reiterated that all he needed was her in his life. The man who claimed that he could leave the Joe team on her behalf. The man who continued to sit there in silence. She didn't know what made the situation worse. The general's decision that took away her career, or the fact the Flint had apparently only said those things to placate her.
Alison stumbled out the door. Once in the hallway, she still was at a loss as to what to do. She fell against the wall, and tried to catch her breath. She had no idea what came next. Flint walked out of General Bradshaw's office a few moments later. He went to her and put his hands on her shoulders. "Alison, honey, I am so sorry."
She pulled out of his grasp and began to march down the hall. She had to get off base and away from him. She needed time to process what just happened. So she ignored him as he called after her. He raced after her and grabbed her arm. "Al, please, wait. Let's talk about this."
She shook her head and pulled her arm away. "Flint, I can't. Let me go. I can't talk to you right now."
"I know you're shocked and upset. I am too. But let me help you."
"No. Believe me, you've done enough. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave me alone right now. I'm having a hard time stopping myself from saying things I won't ever be able to take back."
She again raced down the hall and was relieved that he finally listened to her. The tears began to fall, and as she wiped them away she bumped into Shipwreck. His face instantly became one of concern. "Lady Jaye, what happened?"
His question only made her tears fall harder. Lady Jaye no longer existed.
Flint listened to Alison's voice mail pick up yet again and he slammed the phone into the receiver. The gesture did little to calm him down, so he picked up the phone and flung it at the wall across the room.
He dropped his head into his hands as he began to run through the list of questions he had been asking himself the last few hours. Where did she run off to? What was she doing? What was she thinking? Was she physically okay? Was she ever going to come back? He had no answers, and with each unanswered phone call, he grew more and more panicked. He had reached the point that he didn't even care if she never spoke to him again. He just wanted her to send him a message that she was okay.
General Bradshaw's decision had truly shocked him, and he knew that was only a fraction of what she was experiencing. Even though he had spent the week in Kansas mulling over the different outcomes, he never expected this one. He thought for sure that if anyone was getting fired it was going to be him.
But for her to be the only one to lose her career, while his wasn't even touched seemed especially cruel. That's what was so surprising. He had gone into that meeting braced for the fact that he was going to be looking for a new job. So when General Bradshaw announced that it was Alison actually taking the fall, he was too stunned to speak.
A knock on the door brought him from his thoughts. He looked up briefly and saw that it was Duke that was staring at the remnants of his phone.
"Flint, I'm sorry. I don't want to bother you, but I can't find Lady…Alison. Where is she?"
"I don't know," Flint mumbled.
"Look, I know you're not in the best frame of mind right now, and as unpleasant as this is, I have paperwork that she needs to sign. So I have to find her."
Flint slammed his hands against the desk and stood up. "Yeah, you and me both. Did you not hear me? I don't know where she is. She took off after Bradshaw shit-canned her career, and I haven't seen or heard from her since."
"And, what, you're just sitting here waiting for her to return?"
Flint was truly on the verge of snapping. "Fuck you, Hauser. You think I wanted my hysterical pregnant fiancée running off to deal with this alone? After thanking me for ruining her life, she made it quite clear that I needed to stay away from her. I didn't want to upset her any further, so I listened. I honestly thought she would be back after she calmed down. But it's been a few hours now, and I haven't heard from her. I've been calling her non-stop but she doesn't answer. What's making me crazy is that I don't know if that's because she doesn't want to talk to me, or if something happened."
"I'm sure she's fine. Like you said, she's probably just holed up somewhere working through this. If you want to give me a list of her usual haunts, I can send out some guys to try to find her. Word travels fast here, and I've already had visits from several of her friends devastated by the news, so getting guys to volunteer won't be a problem. And in the meantime, I can make some calls, just to make sure she hadn't run into any trouble."
Flint nodded. Having a plan of attack calmed him down somewhat. "Thank you. I really appreciate this."
Duke walked over and put his hand on Flint's shoulder. "You're not the only one that cares about her. As much as I didn't approve of your tactics, I'll be the first to admit she got a raw deal in this. I'm sure General Bradshaw had his reasons, but it still doesn't seem fair. Regardless, my number one priority is making sure that she's okay. Once I hear something, I will let you know."
Alison walked into the hotel room, and placed her bags and key on the small desk near the TV. She then took off her shoes, and lay down on the bed. While her hours long drive that afternoon had been soothing for her mind, it had played a part on her body. It felt good to stretch out.
She was no closer to having a plan moving forward, but she was in a much better frame of mind than she had been that morning after hearing General Bradshaw's decision. She wasn't totally accepting of it, as just thinking about it again was making her blood pressure rise, however she didn't feel the total sense of despair. Even her bitter feelings toward Flint softened. Not enough that she was ready to run back into his arms, but she didn't feel quite as betrayed as she did earlier.
As she continued to lie there, she began to feel Junior's movements. That brought a small smile to her face. Despite not knowing what the future held as far as her career and even her relationship with Flint, she did know that in a few months time she was going to give birth to a little boy or girl. And now that she didn't have to worry about trying to save her job, she can finally focus on her son or daughter.
And she was lucky in the fact that she didn't need her career to survive. She had enough money in the bank to live a comfortable life, even if she never worked another day. She couldn't see spending the rest of her life idly doing nothing, but at least she didn't have the stress of desperately trying to figure out how she was going to make ends meet.
One of the several possibilities she considered during her drive through a good chunk of the Arizonan desert was the idea of cashing in on her family's wealth, and spending a few years with her child traveling and seeing the world. It was tempting. It would be quite the educational experience for her child who was also sure to become multi-lingual like she was. But she didn't think she could be truly happy that way. After years of serving her country, it felt like a cop out to just sit back and let the world destroy itself without her trying to stop it.
And in spite of her current feelings for Flint, it seemed especially cruel to keep the baby he so obviously loved away from him. She slowly got out of the bed and went to the desk to retrieve her phone. When she first left the Joe HQ, she took great satisfaction every time her phone rang to just let it go to voice mail. She figured it would serve Flint right if she made him worry about her for a while. But after an hour, with the phone ringing every few minutes, it began to grate on her nerves. She finally turned it off.
When she stopped at a rest area for gas, a sandwich and a pee break, she turned her phone back on. She felt a pang of guilt as she saw that she had nearly a dozen messages. She tried to listen to them, but hearing his voice on the first one, enraged her so much that she again turned her phone off.
But she knew that by now, with her being gone for almost twelve hours, he was probably in a certified panic. So she again turned on her phone, and ignoring the list of missed calls and messages, she used it just long enough to send him a text message. She figured that at the very least he deserved to know that she hadn't driven herself into a ditch in the middle of nowhere.
She composed and erased half dozen different versions of the message. She went from verbose to terse in a matter of edits. She finally settled on "I'm fine. Spending the night in a hotel." She knew the message devoid of emotions or details would upset him, but it got her point across. She briefly considered adding the name of the town she was in, but knowing him, he would probably drive out to where she was and knock on every hotel door until he found her. So she sent the message as it was.
Before she turned her phone off, she dialed Scarlett's phone number. It was the second time Lady Jaye had reached out to her friend. She had debated many times during the past week to call Scarlett, but the trip to Kansas had proved enough of a distraction that she didn't need to trouble her. But once they had returned home, as she had lain awake the previous night with her thoughts running rampant, Lady Jaye finally called in the wee hours of the morning. It had been late afternoon of Monday in Japan, but she had only gotten Scarlett's voice mail.
Lady Jaye again calculated the time difference as she listened to the phone ring. It was mid morning there, but again there was no answer. Once again she left a message for Scarlett to call her. She then stripped out of her clothes, and went to bed.