The only thing that had kept Flint from becoming totally unhinged at the end of the day was Duke's reassurance that he had reached out to all the local town, county and state police and no one had any record of Alison in any kind of accident or at a hospital. So he was fairly certain that she was still physically fine. It was just that she wanted nothing to do with him.

He continued his vigilance at his desk. Duke tried to convince him to leave to get dinner, but Flint wasn't hungry. Plus the last thing he wanted to do was run into any of his teammates. He couldn't bear to hear any of their sympathetic comments. He thought about going home to the apartment, but he didn't want to sleep in their bed alone. He had the thought that maybe he should in the case she came home, but he found that possibility extremely unlikely.

That thought was confirmed a few moments later when his phone alerted him to an incoming text. He breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that it was from Alison. However, while the message reassured him that she was okay, it didn't make him feel any better about their future.

Having finally gotten contact from her, he decided to chance going to his room. He was suddenly exhausted, and he wanted to go to bed. He kept his head down, and avoided all contact with the people in the halls. Luckily, they were all greenshirts and none of the Joes that he knew well enough who might try to engage him in conversation.

Once he got into bed, he couldn't fall asleep. He tossed and turned all night as he thought about his future that had come unhinged. When his alarm finally went off, he begrudgingly got up and tried to resume his normal daily activities.

He knew it was a mistake right from the beginning. This time he wasn't lucky enough to avoid his friends, and he felt like he was bombarded with questions and sympathy. He, at first, tried to humor everyone, but his patience quickly wore thin. By the time he reached officer's call, he was barely grunting responses.

He took his seat at the table, and then proceeded to zone out during the meeting. Once it was over, he stayed seated while the others left. He glared at General Bradshaw, who never met his gaze. He too left, and soon Flint was alone in the room with Duke.

"Flint, you need to go home."

"Why? So I can be reminded that Al left me?"

Duke exhaled. "No. So you get off this base before you do something you are going to regret."

"I regret too much already, so I don't think there is any more harm I can do."

"I disagree. You could dig your current hole a lot deeper. So I am ordering you to get out of here."

Flint laughed. "Haven't you heard Duke that I typically disregard orders?" However, he wasn't in the mood for a lecture from Duke so he stood up and left the conference room. He decided that he needed some air, so he headed outside.

He was stopped in the hallway by Ripcord. "Flint, I heard what happened. How's Lady Jaye?"

Flint's shoulders sagged. He really did not want to spend this time updating nosy coworkers. "Don't know," he mumbled as he tried to muscle past Ripcord.

But the Parachutist held his ground, both figuratively and literally. He put his hands up to block Flint. "Don't be an asshole. You're not the only one who cares about her."

His comment triggered something in Flint's mind. With everything that had happened he had forgotten about Ripcord's comments to Alison after they had returned from the Scotland mission. On a good day he had a hard time keeping his jealous impulses in check. This day was anything but good, so he snapped. He grabbed Ripcord's shirt and pushed him up against the wall. "What does that mean, Weems? What happened between the two of you in Scotland?"

Ripcord smiled at him. "You mean she didn't tell you? I guess she wants to keep it just between us."

It was all Flint needed to hear. He pulled his fist back to punch Ripcord but before he could bring it forward, he was stopped by Duke, who pushed him back towards the opposite wall. "I already warned you once," Duke said with a growl. "If you don't go home, I will put you in the brig."

Duke, keeping his arm on Flint, turned around towards Ripcord. "And why the hell are you instigating him?"

Ripcord scoffed. "Instigating him? I asked a simple question."

Duke shook his head. "Get out of here."

Ripcord folded his arms across his chest. "Not until I find out that Lady Jaye is okay."

Flint went to open his mouth, but Duke quieted him with a glare. He then turned his attention back to Ripcord. "Go in my office. I'll talk to you once I'm done here."

Ripcord held his ground for a moment, but then he nodded and turned to leave. However, he stopped again. "You want to know what happened in Scotland? Nothing. She made it clear that she was still madly in love with you. A fact that blows my mind."

Ripcord's admission should have made Flint feel better, but it didn't. It just reminded him on what he lost. However, his anger at the man did dissipate. "Weems, wait. If you want to find out how she's doing, just call her cell phone. Unlike mine, she may actually answer your call."

Ripcord finally left. Duke held him still for a few moments longer and then released his grip. "Flint don't force me to do something drastic. Get out of here."

The fight left Flint, so he just nodded. While he still didn't think going home was a good idea, he realized he didn't really have a choice. So he drove to the apartment. And when he saw that Alison's car was in the lot, he quickly parked and ran inside.

He found her in their bedroom. "Alison, thank God," he said as he went to her. He engulfed her in a hug she half-heartedly returned. "I was so worried about you."

She pulled away but looked at him. "I am sorry about that. I know you don't deserve to be hurt like this, but Dash, I still can't…" she trailed off as she shook her head.

He noticed that she was packing a suitcase. "Are you leaving?"

She nodded. "I have to get away for a few days. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I am in a better place today. But I still need to go away alone and think for a couple of days."

"You don't need to go through this alone. I am here for you."

Her demeanor changed in an instant. Anger replaced the sadness in her eyes. "Thanks. I appreciate that. I'm glad that now you want to help me," she spat out. She then shook her head. "This is why I need to get away for a few days. My life has been so out of control these last few months. So I just need to take a break, do some thinking, and get away from everything and everyone. I'm afraid that includes you."

Despite that what she was doing was breaking his heart, he had to let her go. She needed to get her head wrapped around the situation. "Okay, I understand that you need to do this. But please, take care of yourself and Junior and just promise me you're not going to do anything drastic."

Her face took a dark turn. "I can't believe that after all this, you still don't trust me." She slammed her suitcase closed. "Don't worry, I am going to take very good care of the baby. She's all I have left."

"No, Al, that's not what I meant," Flint tried to explain as he followed her down the hall. She reached the front door and he grabbed her arm to stop her. "I know how much you love the baby and how much you've sacrificed for him. And I can only imagine how much you hate and blame me for what's happened. So I get that you need some time away, but please come back to me. I love you."

Alison's gaze dropped to the floor, and for a brief moment, Flint had the hope that she was reconsidering leaving. But then she looked at him, and he could still see the anger and hurt in her eyes. "I can't make any promises," she said before she pulled out of his grasp and walked out.

Flint watched the door close behind her. He considered chasing after her, but he knew that was only going to lead to a scene in the parking lot, which would probably only alienate her further. He had to hope that her love for him was strong enough that it would overcome any other feelings of hatred or disgust.

The ringing of his phone broke through his thoughts. He pulled it out and saw that it was his parents calling. He sighed as he realized he never did let them know what the general had decided. He didn't really want to rehash it with them at that moment, but he figured he might as well since he couldn't possible feel any worse. So he answered the phone.

"Dashiell, it's mom and dad." Flint heard his dad say hello in the background. "You didn't call us yesterday with an update, so we're checking it with you. Did your boss make his decision?"

"First of all, take me off of speaker phone. I'm not having a conversation like this."

"But son, we both want to hear what happened," his mom argued, however his father said he would pick up the phone extension. Once they were both on he gave a quick recap of the general's decision. He stopped short of telling them that Alison, for all intents and purposes, had left him.

"Your career remains intact?" Flint's father asked.

"I'm not going to be rising up the ranks any time soon, if ever, but yes, I still have my job with the Joe team."

"Well that's good. At least you got what you wanted," his mother replied.

Flint had to bite his tongue as he looked again at the front door. This was far from what he wanted. His annoyance at his parents increased with his mother's next comments. "And really, this is probably for the best. I bet once Alison had the baby she would have realized her Army career wouldn't have worked out. Now she can focus all of her energy on getting ready for the baby and the wedding."

Flint pulled the phone away from his ear to give himself a moment to compose himself. Once he had his anger in check he decided he needed to end the conversation as quickly as possible. "I'm sorry, I hate to cut this short, but I'm in a middle of a few things here that really need to be taken care of. I'll call you back." He hung up before he could register their protests.

Alison unlocked the door to her hotel room and walked in. It was nearing the end of her first official day of her forced vacation. She glanced at the open suitcase on the bed and decided she was going to unpack. While out on her walk in town, she debated whether she was going to spend a few days in La Jolla, or move on as she originally thought. She had come to the conclusion that she was tired of running away.

Coming to La Jolla had been a spur of the moment decision, which was why she left her departure date open-ended. After she left the apartment the previous day, she stopped at a diner for lunch and to contemplate her next action. As she climbed in her car, she knew she wanted to head west, and find a place on the edge of the Pacific Ocean. Once she neared Los Angeles, she made another impromptu choice to head south and find a smaller town to temporarily call home. The exit sign for La Jolla seemed to call out to her so again, she followed her instincts.

But before she tackled the suitcase, she wanted to revel a little longer in her life of leisure. Based on the shades of orange and red coming in through the windows, she guessed she timed the sunset correctly. She grabbed her bottle of sparkling water, and walked out onto her private balcony. She was glad that she had decided to stay at the older Victorian hotel instead of one of the name brands down the road. It was worth giving up some of the modern conveniences to have a view of the sun setting on the ocean. And the hotel did have its charm.

She took a deep breath and breathed in the salty rapidly cooling air. Junior too must have been enjoying the fresh air because the movements that had become a regular occurrence seemed to be stronger. Or maybe the baby was just enjoying the fact that for the first time in days Alison wasn't angry or stressed out.

In fact, Alison was in such a good place that she was willing to take the risk of a phone call to Flint. At the very least she needed to let him know that she was doing okay. She speed dialed his cell and she figured he was anxious to hear from her since he answered the phone after the first ring.

"Hey, babe," she said. She grimaced as one of her pet names for him slipped out. She continued quickly, hoping that he wouldn't notice. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm settled in at a beautiful hotel in La Jolla."

"I'm really glad to hear that. It's great to hear your voice."

"Yours too," Alison said, and she realized she meant it. She settled deeper in the chair and rested her hand on her abdomen. "Junior's kicking," she said quietly.

"Does it still feel the same, or is it stronger now?"

"It's stronger. Where a week ago it felt like a fluttering, now it's starting to feel like definite movements."

"The ocean air is probably good for him."

Alison smiled. "I thought the same thing."

"So La Jolla? That must have been a long drive."

"It wasn't too bad. I took my time. I stopped at a few places on the way here."

"I hope you're having a good time."

"I am. I took an amazing yoga class on the beach this morning. It was really therapeutic."

"It sounds nice." Flint paused a moment before he continued. "I've always wanted to see La Jolla. Do you think I could join you for a couple days?"

Alison hesitated before answering. The way her heart starting pounding in her chest made her realize how much she did want to see him again. But she was still afraid they had too many unresolved issues. "I don't know."

"Al, it'll be good for us. I think a lot more can be accomplished if we talked face to face. And besides, Duke has been telling me I should take some time off."

Any excitement she had felt about seeing him again rapidly disappeared. His comment proved to her that any happiness in a reunion would be short lived. Because in the end, he would still be returning to the Joes, a team that she was now banned from. And what would she do at that point? Continue to tour the world looking for a new source of life satisfaction? Or would she just give up her quest and resign herself to a life of putting other people's happiness in front of her own?

She wasn't ready to make that call yet. "Dash, no. It's too soon. I still need more time."

Flint sighed. "Okay, fine. But tell me if you change your mind. I'll drop everything and come to you."

"I'll let you know if I do," she replied lamely. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She tried to get herself back to the relaxed state she was just in.

Unfortunately Flint seemed to be determined to not make that happen to her. "My parents called to check up on us." Alison shut her eyes. If Flint's comment about taking time off from the Joe team was strike one, bringing his parents up was strike two.

"They must have been thrilled that you're still gainfully employed. Were they even a little bit upset to learn I wasn't?"

"Of course they were upset. My mother though, tried to help us out by pointing out the positive aspect of your situation."

"Which is?"

"Now you have the opportunity to figure out what you really want. Whether that's getting another job or staying home with the baby." To continue the baseball analogy, Flint had just hit a pop-up foul ball into the stands.

"That is true. I have given that a lot of thought," Alison said. She, though, was going to make it quite clear that his mother's dream of her being a stay at home mother to their children while Flint went out every morning to fight the good fight, was never going to come true. "And in a way it is nice that my future is wide open. I imagine with my education, and life experiences I could find another job somewhere. Maybe in the CIA, or NSA. Or perhaps I decide to say the hell with it all and I spend the next couple of years traveling Europe or even the world."

Flint didn't rise to the bait. Instead, they fell into an uncomfortable silence until he said, "I saw on the calendar that your ultrasound is scheduled for next week."

"Yes, I know," she answered as she shook her head in frustration.

"Okay, I just wanted to make sure that you didn't forget." Nagging her about the baby was the equivalent of strike three being called. She finally unleashed her anger. "Well, thank goodness you're here to remind me. Without you I would never have noticed that I'm five months pregnant. I mean, I only have this baby growing inside of me, kicking me a few times a day. But I could see how you might think I don't care enough about making sure my baby is healthy, that I would need to be reminded of one of the most important doctor appointments I have."

"Would you calm down? It was a simple reminder. Look, Alison, apparently we have a lot of things to work out between us. But can we at least come to an agreement that every comment I make about the baby is not an insult to your mothering skills?"

"As soon as you stop making idiotic comments, I'll stop being offended by them."

"It's idiotic that I want to make sure my baby is being well cared for while you're throwing your temper tantrum, and planning an epic trip to Europe?" Apparently Flint too had decided to stop pulling his punches. "I just want to go down on record that regardless of what happens with us, you're not going to stop me from helping raise this child and being a good father to him or her."

"Dash, that's commendable. I just hope you can find the time to compete for father of the year, while continuing your stint as a Real American Hero."

At Joe Headquarters, Flint began a rant in response to Alison's last comment. But when he took a breath, he realized that he was talking to no one as she had already ended the call. For the second time that week, Flint picked up the phone from his desk and threw it against the wall.

"I don't think our shrinking budget can cover the costs of your new phones," Beachhead remarked.

Flint muttered a series of curses in response.

"Do you remember when I first found out about you and Lady Jaye?" Beachhead asked. "I warned you then that things were not going to end well for you."

That had happened shortly after Beachhead had joined the Joes. One morning the newly expanded command staff had taken a tour of the Joe headquarters, where they had suffered through Beachhead's non-stop criticism. And as luck would have it, his words were proven true later that afternoon when they had been attacked by a new Cobra threat, the mechanical BATs.

The Joes had barely beat back the attack, which lead to Hawk announcing that the team was in need of a tune-up. However, that hadn't seemed to appease Beachhead, who had still been harping to Flint about the Joe deficiencies hours later in their office. So when Lady Jaye knocked on his door, she had been the proverbial sight for sore eyes. Since Beachhead had been in mid-rant she hung back to let him finish. He then, thankfully, decided to call it a night and left the office.

"Wow. He really is that intense all the time," Lady Jaye said with a smile as she approached Flint.

"You have no idea. It doesn't help that Cobra went and proved his point this afternoon."

"Today was a close one."

Flint noticed that she had a bandage around her arm. "You were hit?"

Lady Jaye looked towards it. "Yes, but it's not bad. Just some shrapnel grazed me. From what I hear, down time is going to get pretty scarce around here. So do you want to get dinner somewhere?"

Flint grinned. "I was hoping that was why you came by. Yes, I desperately need to get away from here."

Lady Jaye made an exaggerated pout. "And here I thought you were all excited to spend time with me."

He pulled her towards him. "I am always excited to spend time with you." He then kissed her deeply until an outburst interrupted them.

"What the fuck is this?"

Flint pulled away and saw Beachhead standing in the doorway. "This, Sneeden, is none of your business."

"The hell it ain't."

Flint sighed. He looked at Lady Jaye. "I'm going to take care of this, get changed and then I'll meet you in your room."

"Are you sure you want me to go?"

"Yes. I'll be fine."

Lady Jaye skirted around Beachhead and left. The drill sergeant glared after her and then turned his attention to Flint. "How long has this been going on?"

"I told you, it doesn't concern you."

"I know you've taken great joy in telling me the order of the hierarchy here, and while I may be low man, I'm still a member of the command staff. Which means I'm Lady Jaye's superior officer. So, yes, this concerns me. Either you start answering my questions, or I'm going to go ask her."

Flint exhaled sharply. "Fine. We've been together a while."

"How long is a while? A few months? A few weeks?"

"Why does it matter?"

"Because I want to know exactly how long you've been breaking the fraternization rules."

Flint scoffed. "If you're looking for ammunition in your case against me to take to Hawk, don't bother. It's not going to get you anywhere."

"Really. You mean to tell me he's letting your affair happen?"

"Let's just say he hasn't condemned it."

Beachhead let out a laugh. "So that makes it okay? I think you've just gotten lucky that he hasn't caught you two yet."

Flint shook his head. "My relationship with Lady Jaye is not a secret. Duke is aware, as is any Joe on this base that has been paying attention around here. So while I have never sat down with Hawk to explicitly get his blessing, the fact that he's never called me on my behavior speaks volumes as to whether or not he approves."

"Unbelievable. This is yet another example of what is wrong on this base. No wonder all of the Joes have gotten lax in their discipline."

Flint took a step closer to Beachhead. "I am now officially sick of you and your bullshit. You have no idea what this team has gone through the last three years. I personally have been on a couple dozen missions against Cobra, and you wouldn't believe half the stories I could tell you. Ask any other Joe and they would tell you the same thing. But not one man or woman has quit. Why? Maybe because we got lucky in our recruiting and found the truly elite who are committed to the fight. Or maybe it's because once the battle is over we can come back to HQ and unwind in the way we want without fear of repercussions. So my advice to you is to mind your own business. You could go to Hawk and report each and every rule infraction, but I promise you that is not going to end well."

"Is that a threat? I grew up in a house and environment where the strong took advantage of the weak. So I have very little tolerance of seeing that played out now."

This time Flint laughed. "Have you spent any amount of time with Lady Jaye? I promise you, she is far from the weak one. And I'm definitely not taking advantage of her. Our feelings are mutual."

"Flint, you can justify it all you want. But those rules were put in place for a reason. However, I'm quickly learning that Hawk is letting a lot of things slide. Hopefully today's attack was a wake-up call for him. In the meantime, you should think long and hard whether this fling of yours is truly worth the risk."

"I'll take it under advisement," Flint replied ending the discussion.

Back in the present, Flint said, "Please, go ahead and tell me you told me so. I know you want to. And honestly after the conversation I just had with Alison, I don't give a shit if you do."

Beachhead shook his head and rose from his desk. "No, I don't want to gloat. As I told Lady Jaye last week, I'm not an unfeeling bastard. I just hate watching someone who is supposedly so smart, fuck everything up so spectacularly."

As Flint watched Beachhead leave their office he came to the realization that for the first time, he actually agreed with the drill sergeant.