It's Like Having Been Born Again.  Pt 4

Author chick's notes: Me again.  I got all goofy thinking after I hit the TBC at the end of the last chapter that I figured I'd continue on this track for a while.  Blowing up my island home depressed me a bit…Ok a lot but then what can I say? I spent almost half of my life in HI and I'd be just as bad as Torpedo if something like that really did happen. =( 

Steeler's going to learn a thing or two here that will probably have me hung from the nearest flagpole by my throat.  However! Please keep in mind that this is just fiction and it is an AU the way WWE is as an episode…also it is the type of fiction I write in other fandoms I am addicted too.  I will definitely rate this one R for content, for slash (homoerotic) implications to be exact.  Disclaimers are in Chapter 1.

It's Like Having Been Born Again. Pt 4

Having just broken up the history session, Grunt and Leila headed back to his quarters.  Leila had been spending a lot of time with the Joe and had moved a few of her personal belongings in with him.  Not that Grunt minded one bit.  He still slept on the couch out of principal, all the while cursing himself inside for his sense of chivalry.  Offering to make a light snack for the two, Leila went into the kitchen.  Grunt meanwhile went into the bedroom to change out of his uniform. 

After he changed into sweatpants and a t-shirt, Grunt went into the bathroom to wash his face.  He looked in the mirror and saw the tracks his tears had left on his face after learning of Ace's cruel fate.  Tears began to sting his eyes again as he thought about it some more.  Splashing cold water on his face in an effort to rid himself of the thoughts he scrubbed up and went back out into the bedroom.  He found himself flopping face first onto the bed, reveling in the wonderful scent that was Leila.  "Brain back into the skull!" He mentally chided himself as he lay there.

Leila peeked in then and went and got a tray to bring dinner into the room.  "Rob?" She asked, thinking he may have fallen asleep.  The bedding muffled his reply but he didn't move.  Leila shrugged and got a change of clothes out for herself.  Stepping back out after changing Leila was pleased to see that Grunt had rolled over onto his back and was now looking at the ceiling.  "If you are hungry the tray is on the nightstand?" Leila suggested to Grunt as she made her way onto the bed next to him. 

She got comfortable against the headboard and reached over to tousle his hair.  "Are you listening?" She asked.  She broke into a smile when he groaned and rolled back over to his stomach instead.

"No.  Don't.  Stop." He protested weakly as she tousled his hair again.  It took a moment before they both broke into laughter when they realized how pathetic his pleas had sounded.  "Ok bad porn dialog aside…cut it out." He said looking up at Leila as she continued to laugh.  Smirking, he rose up a bit to crawl over towards her. She was laughing even harder then before so she didn't notice him until he tousled her long blonde hair. 

She playfully swatted him away as she tried to regain her breath.  "You are incorrigible!" She admonished as he reached over to do it again.  Grunt changed his tactics in the last second and grabbed her ankles instead, pulling her more onto the bed.  Before she could react and get away from his grasp he jumped on top of her.  "Comfortable?" Leila teased as Grunt laid himself more directly on top of her.

"Very." He murmured, searching her face and studying its contours.  He was brushing his thumb against her cheek as he learned every detail that made her, Her.  Leila watched in fascination, as his dark eyes grew even darker with barely contained emotion.  With her free hand, she began trailing down his back, gently reaching under the hem of his t-shirt so she could draw lazy patterns on his skin with her fingernail.  Grunt leaned his face closer to hers, searching.  Leila reached up and kissed him very lightly to begin with, the kiss soon growing more passionate as they became more comfortable in each other's arms.  It was many hours later when they fell, exhausted into a deep sleep, still entwined around each other.

Steeler headed straight to his quarters after the meeting had broken up.  He opened the door to find the Baroness seated on one end of the couch, her legs tucked under her as she read from a large stack of reports.  "So who's killed who?" Steeler asked, knowing what the Baroness was reviewing. 

She looked up at him and frowned.  "I knew they've been planning to unseat each other for years now…to bad they never considered communications as part of their plans." She hissed, tossing the stack onto the coffee table.  Rubbing her temple she looked back up to Steeler.  "They're still waging war in the city.  However, their communication is virtually nonexistent, so it's impossible to tell which one has the upper hand.  Or if they've both been destroyed."  She closed her eyes and laid her head back on the sofa.

Steeler excused himself to go change out of his uniform.  He came back and saw that the Baroness hadn't moved from her position.  Deciding a peace offering was in his best interest he went into the kitchen where he found a ready pot of tea, he poured her a cup then one for himself and took both out to the living room.   "Here, looks like ya could use it." He said holding the tea out for her she opened an eye long enough to take the cup from him.  They sat in silence for a while, Steeler leaning back and placing his feet up on the coffee table. 

"So how did it go?" The Baroness asked a little while later, referring to his impromptu history lessons.

"Not good."

"I see." 

"I mean the information we got was invaluable." He stated.  "It's just that the information we got was terrible too." Steeler muttered as he took another sip.

This roused her from her relaxed position.  "I am sorry.  But you must understand…" She began, trying to figure out how to ease the man a little.  "Things here are difficult.  They are not the same.  People have changed, they're different from what you know." She said.

"Yeah I know Baroness…err Anna." He said not realizing his slip in her actual name until after he said it.  "I mean…" She placed a gentle hand over his mouth and smiled.

"That's what he used to call me.  I don't mind." She smiled.  "In fact I prefer it, Ralph." 

Steeler sighed and laid his head back.  Their situation was extraordinary at best, impossible at worst.  Then he thought of something he remembered from the meeting.  "Hey?"

"Hmm?"

"Cov mentioned something about Tripwire, said it was a long story and could wait for later…do you know what she might have been talking about?"  Steeler asked.

The Baroness was thoughtful for a moment. "When did he come up?" She asked, thinking a few more details would help.

"Uh, I think it was right after she mentioned what happened at Yokosuka. His old man is a commander in the Navy and on our side he's stationed there." He replied.  "Grunt said something along the lines of 'poor guy' and she stopped.  That's when she said that there was a story behind Tripwire." He added hoping it would help.  It did.

Placing her tea on the table she turned and faced him, after a long pause she began.  "What I am going to tell you may be difficult to handle, but please understand that people sometimes do things…" She struggled for a moment for the right words. "They do things that help them to cope I guess?"  Steeler focused on her as she continued, wondering what the shy man had done that would cause both women to be leery at the mere mention of his name.

"Okay, why is everyone so jumpy on the subject?" Steeler asked.

"I found out after the resistance efforts were fully underway, from the other you." She gestured.  "My Steeler's initial reaction was not good at first." She continued.  She began by filling him in Tripwire's background history, a lot of which he already knew from the Tripwire he knew in his world.  "He was always so eager to try and please his father that he was constantly jumpy." That got a laugh out of him as he thought of all the times everyone scrambled for cover whenever Tripwire showed up.

A look from her sobered him a little. "Sorry Anna, go on." He apologized.

She gave him another wry look before continuing.  "Anyway, I guess when some newer recruits to the Joe team showed up, he became friends with one of them.  Unbeknownst to anyone at the time, that friendship grew into something quite different altogether."  Anna could tell from the look on his face that he understood where the story was going.  After another pause she continued.

"He never spoke about it to anyone until after the initial take over.  Mainly because he had no choice in the matter."  She explained.

"How do you mean?"

"From what I understand at the time, Tripwire had gone to his family in Japan to settle things with his father.  As the story goes, he told his father that he was tired of living up to the expectations of everyone else.  He was not cut out for his chosen military lifestyle and had had enough." She said.  "What the Joes didn't know at the time, was that his family had disowned him for his honesty, and Tripwire was on his way back to America to formerly quit the military."

"Why was he disowned?" Steeler asked, not sure he'd like the answer.

"I'm getting to that." She said before continuing the story.  "As he was returning, that's when COBRA struck Yokosuka, everyone feared he'd been killed along with all the others there.  Scarlet was the first to suspect something was going on by Sea's reaction."

"Who's Sea?"

"Tripwire's lover.  He was recruited under the name Sci-Fi.  He …"

"HE?" Steeler exclaimed.  "Okay. Now it all makes sense.  Jesus!  He?" 

She waited for him to absorb the news before continuing again.  "Like I said, this may be difficult to hear…" She paused again as Steeler began cursing some more.  After he had calmed down and apologized for his outburst she went on.  "It was the day after the initial attacks when the Joes learned that Tripwire was safe.  They were regrouping in the Pit when he walked in the door, not knowing what had happened to Yokosuka."

The Baroness continued the story saying that Tripwire's lover practically fell into his arms thanking the gods that he was alive.  When Tripwire had learned of Yokosuka's fate he said nothing.  When asked why, he told the rest of the team his parents had disowned and that he felt no remorse for them.  The trip to Japan to confront his father had hardened him and steeled his resolve to live his life his way.   That's when Scarlet confronted the two about what she had seen when they thought Tripwire had been killed along with almost everyone else at the Japanese base.

"So his folks disowned him for being…" Steeler couldn't quite get the word out.

"His parents disowned him for standing up to them and wanting to drop out of the military, they never learned he was gay." The Baroness stated frankly.

"Oh."

"At first there was tension when Tripwire decided to change his mind about leaving the military, especially under the circumstances of COBRA taking over.  A few days afterwards, when the Joes were disbanded Tripwire and Sci-fi took off together with the orders to do all they could in the form of guerilla warfare tactics.  From what I have heard, they've been quite successful too." She finished.

Steeler said nothing for a long time, thinking about all he'd heard.  The Baroness waited quietly for any questions or anything else he might want to say.  "So what do they do that's so successful?" Steeler finally asked.

She smiled.  "Think of them as the Resistance's Destro, if you will.  They design, build, procure and supply weapons to the Resistance, along with other necessities such as medicines, food and clothing." Her smile growing warmer as she spoke with pride what the two men had accomplished as a team.

"I take it that uh, no one is too concerned about them as a couple anymore?" Steeler asked judging from her response.

Understanding his confusion she spoke softly.  "No.  It does not matter anymore, to anyone.  It's a game of survival now, not order and discipline as you know life on your world." She said.  "People do what they can to survive and stay sane.  For Tripwire and Sci-Fi they take comfort in each other's presence." She added.

She moved closer to him and snuggled against his chest.  "Ralph?  Things change.  People evolve to meet those changes.  The old ways of thinking are no more here. I'm not asking that you embrace all of this, but please? Try to at least understand and respect that things are very different then how you know them."  She gently took his hand in both of hers and kissed the back of it.   He didn't pull away as he thought of what she said.

That sat like that for a while, not saying anything.  The Baroness yawned suddenly and excused herself as she headed towards the bedroom.  Steeler wished her a good night and remained where he was.  He had a lot on his mind as he looked down at the reports the Baroness had been reading when he'd come back earlier that evening. 

Picking up the pages he read them, hoping to find something she might have missed.  He found nothing and decided that bed was a good idea.  He crawled in next to the sleeping woman, gently placing a small kiss on her cheek.  The following morning he'd tell Clutch and Grunt what he had learned about their teammate and friend.  Then they'd begin the task of doing what they'd stayed behind to do.  Rebuild the team and take back the world from COBRA.

To Be Continued…