After All This Time

Chapter 8: Plan in Action

We do not own G.I. Joe. We own nothing but our imaginations.

The two men unceremoniously dropped their unconscious prisoner on the cold, hard ground of her assigned cell and slammed the door shut, trapping her in a metal cage. "Ya sure we just supposed to beat her up and leave her in a cell? That all? We can't have no fun with her 'r nothin'?"

The other man shook his head emphatically, "No man, he said to rough her up a bit and then dump her in a cell. He said we weren't supposed to touch 'er otherwise. Somethin' 'bout damaged goods don't sell."

"Who the hell he gonna sell her to? She's caused us enough trouble. I say we oughta have some fun with 'er then kill 'er. Make an example outta her, then nobody'll mess with the Citizens!"

"Orders 'r orders."

"Yeah. Ain't that the damn truth."

The two men shuffled down the hall and left their prisoner to her dreams.

Shauna dreamed of sliding on her mother's peal drop earrings as she looked at her reflection in the mirror. She was wearing her wedding gown. She was getting ready to marry Conrad. But something wasn't right. He was calling her name and she could hear the tears in his voice. He never cried. She called out his name to answer but she got no reply. "Conrad…"

She drifted in and out of consciousness with no knowledge of the passing time. She surfaced occasionally for brief periods but after the kidnapping and subsequent beating her body needed rest. The first time she surfaced she thought of Conrad. Had he gotten away? Was he hurt? Did he know where she was? "Oh, God, Conrad, please be okay. Please be alive and be well and come get me so we can be together again, please." She fell asleep and dreamed strange, mixed up dreams of bitter regret.

She woke up after three days and found her head had cleared some. She was tied and had been beaten so badly it was a struggle to sit up. When she finally managed it she leaned her head against the cold metal of her cell and closed her eyes. She was weak from pain and lack of food and water. Her body hurt but the pain in her head had settled to a low throb rather than jackhammers trying to break her skull apart from the inside out. She took note of her surroundings. She had a good idea where she was and she knew it wouldn't be easy to escape on her own. But then it never was, was it? She checked for her ring and wasn't surprised to find it missing. They would have searched her and stripped her of anything and everything she could use as a weapon. The ring had probably been found during the search and stolen by the two creeps who had beat the bloody shit out of her. They had used a damn wooden board to break her ribs. Bastards! Wasn't enough that they'd shot her when they'd kidnapped her but they'd beaten her until she was unconscious! She'd kill them when she got out of here. Roger and Conrad probably knew where she was by now. And if they didn't they would know soon. She hoped Conrad was okay. She had dreamed about him at some point. Maybe that meant that he hadn't been hurt. He'd been holding his own right before they had shot her. He was fine. He was fine and he was with Roger and right this very minute they were planning on how best to get her out of here. They had to be. Any other possibility was not acceptable.

She laid back down and shut her eyes against the tears that threatened to slip from her eyes. Everything would be fine. She repeated that mantra to herself until she fell back asleep.

A murky dawn began to stream in through the windows of Shauna's room waking Conrad from his restless sleep. He stumbled up and put the room to rights before quietly walking out of the suite.

Flint found him an hour later leaning on the deck railing, staring at the churning ocean. A storm was brewing. As soon as it was over they'd go rescue Shauna. It was hard to wait. "Hey, buddy. How's it going this morning?"

Conrad looked up after a moment, "My head's on straight if that's what you want to know. It's hard to wait, Dash."

"I know. It never is. Breakfast is ready. You need to eat."

Conrad snorted, "Did Allison send you out to tell me that?"

Flint grinned, "No, she sent me out here to remind you of why you need to eat. I told her you were reasonably intelligent and could remember that on your own but she insisted you needed to be prodded."

"She's probably right. Brooding isn't going to help anything right now."

"Come on, buddy, let's get something to eat."

Conrad and Roger did a great job of ignoring each other for most of breakfast. It was a silent, gloomy affair until Shipwreck and some of the Joes decided to swap humorous Scarlett stories to keep their spirits up. Stalker was in the middle of a particularly humorous tale when one of Roger's men walked in with a message for Roger. The table fell silent.

"Sir, Mr. Patrick O'Hara is on the telephone."

Roger's face froze and he immediately paled, "I'll take it upstairs."

Patrick O'Hara was like a second father to Roger. He had mentored Roger in the martial arts and had welcomed Roger as a sullen teenager into the O'Hara family, giving him a place to belong when he had desperately needed one. Roger had in turn been the best son he could be and repaid the love and affection of his new family with a fierce since of loyalty. He tried to think of what to tell Patrick on the way up the stairs. Patrick would disown him after this conversation. Roger figured he'd be lucky if that was all that happened.

Roger took a deep breath when he walked into his bedroom rubbed his thumb over a picture of a teenage Shauna. "Wish me luck, cuz." Then he picked up the telephone.

Penny stayed through breakfast and got everyone busy doing chores and checking equipment so they would be ready as soon as the storm lifted. When she thought Roger had had enough time alone she went up to him to offer what comfort she could.

Shauna and Roger had a very unique bond. The bond had been hard won and cherished from the moment it had formed. In a way they had saved each other and helped each other become the people they were today. Shauna and Roger had walked through hell and back for each other more than once. Now Shauna needed him and Roger couldn't get to her. That was tearing him apart.

"Hey." Penny whispered softly when she walked into their room.

"Hey." Roger answered back, his voice rough and broken through his tears.

She sat down beside him on the bed and put her arms around him, hugging him close. He kept staring at a picture of Shauna he was holding in his hand.

"This is my favorite picture of her." Roger said, rubbing a thumb over the frame. "She'd beat me in a state competition and had this big grin plastered on her face for days and a glint in her eye that told you she could handle anything you threw her way.

"Except she didn't handle this." He began crying again in earnest, his shoulders shook and he had to struggle to get the last words out. "It's all my fault, Penny, I knew she was in danger. I should have just grabbed her and taken her to him. I knew he wouldn't refuse to help her. If I had they would have had a head start and maybe she wouldn't be in a damn cell alone on an island with a bunch of terrorists who are gonna try and kill her."

She grabbed his face in her hands and made him look at her, "Roger Murray. You are not God! You could not have known what was going to happen! You cannot control everything!"

"I failed her Penny. She's my best friend and I failed her."

"Oh, Roger, honey, you didn't fail her, you could never fail her." She wrapped her arms around him and held him as tightly as she could and he let the guilt and pain and desperation wash over him.

Conrad had followed closely behind Penny, wanting to know what Roger had said to Patrick. He hadn't expected Roger to be overcome by emotions. Hell, Roger hadn't shown anything other than a mild concern for Shauna and an outright disgust for him. He had always avoided getting to know Roger or delving into Roger's relationship with Shauna. Jealousy had been easier to deal with than understanding or accepting Shauna's friendship with Roger. She had constantly accused him of finding fault with Roger. Conrad was ready to admit that most of the problem he had with Roger stemmed from jealousy. She'd told him over and over that her relationship with Roger was familial and not romantic. He just hadn't been able to accept that. Conrad shook his head as he walked quietly away, allowing Roger and Penny privacy. If he were going to have a successful relationship with Shauna he was going to have to accept Roger in her life, starting now.

Shauna woke to the sounds of a furious storm pounding the building. Mother nature had apparently decided her rescue could be put off a bit. Shauna carefully sat up and wrapped her arms around her knees, once more leaning her head against the wall. Storms always made her think of her brother Frank. She'd been terrified of storms as a child and Frank had always known how to comfort her. She had isolated herself from a lot of people she cared about in the past five years.

But Frank hurt the most. She and Conrad had made up, well had started to anyways. She could mend the distance she had put between herself and Roger easily. But Frank she didn't know about. She had hurt him badly. They'd always been close. When she'd been scared or lonely as a child it was Frank she'd gone to. It had been Frank who'd comforted her when she grieved. Frank who'd tended to her scraped knees and cheered her on at every competition. Frank who'd explained how storms were made to help her overcome her fear of them and had still held her when his sketchy explanation hadn't helped. And it was Frank, her hero, her big brother, whom she'd barely spoken to in five years. He was yet another casuality of her broken engagement and, she was beginning to realize, her own fears and inflexibility.

She had come home to Atlanta hoping time with her family would help her heal and find a new direction. Instead of the sympathy and understanding she had expected to receive she had found confusion and a firm insistence that if she didn't make up with Conrad she would be throwing her life away.

The family had been gathered at Frank's house for a Sunday afternoon barbeque. She was wearing a t-shirt, shorts, and sandals, her typical summer uniform. She had taken burgers and hotdogs out to Frank for him to grill. "Hey, I brought the food and a drink for the chef."

Frank grinned as she handed him a tall glass of tea, "Thanks, Shauna." He took a long drink and turned to her, "Listen, I've been meaning to talk to you."

She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, "About what?" she spit out

"Oh, I don't know how about your life."

"It's mine and I'll live it the way I want to." She slammed the plate of food down and started to walk back towards the house.

"Stop acting like a spoiled child."

She whirled around and narrowed her eyes at him, yelling, "I am not acting like a child, spoiled or otherwise!"

"Then why haven't you called him?" He grabbed her when she tried to storm off, "I'm bringing this up for your own good, Shauna, I'm trying to help you."

"I don't want your help! The engagement is over! It wouldn't have worked

anyway!"

She tried to break free but he held her firmly and turned her to look at him, "Yes it would have. You love him, Shauna and damn it, girl, he loves you to. Marriage is big and scary and if it doesn't scare the shit out of you it should! It's the biggest damn promise you ever make and when you make it you make it forever. I've never known you to ever back down from something important because you're scared. You're the bravest person I know, Shauna, you need to find your courage and call him. Beg him to come back if that's what it takes but you need him in your life. If you don't you're throwing away your best chance of happiness and you're only chance at love."

She hadn't cared that tears were streaming down her face; she hadn't cared if deep down she knew he was right, she couldn't admit to herself that she had been scared so she did the only thing she had thought she could do and that was run away. "What the fucking hell do you know Frank? You think you can stand here and judge me? Tell me what's right and what's wrong? You can't! Love doesn't solve everything and you're a damned fool if you think it does!"

She slapped his face and ran to the house to get her keys. The next day she was in Florida with Penny and Roger. She had cried non-stop for two days and had slept away two more before she put her entire relationship with Conrad Hauser behind her and moved on with her life. Except she hadn't really moved on at all.

The storm raged overhead and Shauna gave into bitter tears of regret. She squeezed her eyes shut against that painful memory. Oh, Frank. She thought, I'm so sorry. I should have listened to you. She cried herself to sleep thinking about all the regrets she had and everything she would do once she got out of here.

Shauna woke to the sound of her cell door being opened. A man loomed in the opening, silhouetted by lightening flashing across the open windows, "I'm here to help you." He whispered across the darkness.

Shauna sat up slowly, "Oh, it's you."