Jaye had the quarters to herself for a couple of hours until Flint would be stopping by and they would be picking out colors and attendants for the wedding. She sighed and reached over to the phone. Time to break the news to her over protective father who always thought no one would be good enough for his little girl. She dialed the international number to her childhood home in Scotland and listened to it ring, she waited for someone in the Manor house to answer.
"Hello, Burnett residence." came a older woman's voice over the phone.
"Hello Sally." Jaye said cheerfully. "Is my father there?"
"Alison? Is that you? Good to hear from you dear. I'll get your father on the line. He must be in the library somewhere, or is he at the stables. One moment, dear." Sally's voice sound pleasant over the phone; Jaye had missed hearing the her sweet sound when she lived at the Manor. But those days were gone now.
Jaye waited nervously, she wondered how her father would react towards the engagement. He always wanted her to marry a Duke or Lord.
A deep voice came one the phone, "Hello Alison." well, that answered that, he was not in his pleasant moods.
"Hi Daddy. Is everything alright?" She asked worriedly. Usually even if he was not in a good mood he tried to sound cheerful for her.
He heard him give off an aggravated sigh, "Everything will be alright, if ye leave that dastardly place, Alison! Ah didna raise ye to go play in the mud and live in at that country. Ye mother would roll in her grave, if she only knew."
"Daddy, momma was from this country, remember?" Jaye said with a sigh, this was a very old argument that happened more frequently now than ever before. "I didn't call to fight with you daddy. I called to tell you something."
"Tell me something? Ye never call to tell me something good. Out with it, Lass. Ye better not be with a wee one or worse."
"No Daddy. I would never do that to you." She said as she shook her head. "I'm getting married."
She could hear his breath quicken, "Aye, it is the worse. Lady Alison Rose Eilidh Jeanna Hart-Burnett! Are ye telling me what Ah think ye telling me." His voice thundered over the phone.
Oh boy, he was using all of her title, not good.
Jaye held the phone away from her ear and cringed. Once he was done she put the phone back to her ear. "Yes Daddy. I'm getting married to the man I love more than anything."
There was silence on the other end for a moment, Jaye thought he would explode at any given second. "Ah see." he voice came back, "And from which Clan is the lad from?"
Jaye sighed again. "He's not daddy. He's someone I work with." Another pause came from his end.
Jaye swallowed hard ready for his reaction, it came. "Ye mean that ye are going to marry one of those... those..American soldiers!"
"Yes Daddy I am." Jaye said evenly. "You'll like him..." She didn't get to finish her sentence when her father interrupted her angrily.
"Are ye mad Lass! Ye cannot marry an American! Ah didna raise ye to marry one of those Yanks! Ye shall marry a Laird! That's why Ah raised ya! Not one of those as ye call them soldiers! Ah am not going to let ye marry that dumb Fook!" his voice hollered in Jaye's ears, making her wince.
"Daddy..." Jaye said softly. "Please calm down. I thought you raised me to follow my heart."
"Aye Lass. But Ah raised ye to marry a Clan member." there was another pause, Jaye held her breath. "Ye remind me of yer Mother. She didah same thing ye are doing, rebel from her parents and married, shall we say, a very charming Scottish lad."
"Who loved her very much. I wish I could have known her daddy."
"Aye Lass, so do Ah." he sighed, "Ah might as well, meet the lad. Have ye got plans yet?"
"Not yet. But we were going to discuss a few things tonight." Jaye informed him.
"Very well Lass, but dona expect me blessing til Ah meet the young lad." she heard his voice pulled away from the receiver, a few muffled sounds came from the other end, indicating that someone was talking to him, then she heard him back on the line, "Alison, Ah'm sorry, Galopprennbahn is having her foal. Ah will talk to ye soon. Love ya, Lass."
"Love you too Daddy, take care of my horse for me okay?" Jaye asked knowing full well that she didn't need too.
"Aye. will do. farewell Lass." her father spoke gently and then she heard the phone click.
Jaye sat there on the couch utterly exhausted and didn't even get up when she heard the soft knock on the door. "It's open." She called out knowing it was Flint.
The Warrant Officer walked into the room, "Allie? you alright? You look like you just battled twenty Cobra Vipers single-handedly." He asked concerned.
"Worse yet, my father." Jaye said with a groan and covered her face with her hands.
Flint gulped, but sat next to Jaye, and gently put his hand over her shoulder, "I hope he took the news well. Or is he planning to lock me in the dungeon of his, and throw away the key?" he joked.
She dropped her hands and glared at him. "That's not funny Dashiel."
"Allie, I'm sorry." he bend over and kissed her on the forehead. "Hungry? How about we go to the Mess, I heard Roadblock is making his special pasta dish."
Jaye grinned. "I'm starved." She stood up and grabbed the notebook they had been putting some of their plans in. "You do realize we need to take a few days leave and go to Scotland so you can meet my dad, right?"
He stood there motionless, his reply barely leaving out of his mouth, "Scotland!"
"No, Timbuktu." Jaye said sarcastically.
Flint gave her a look, "We been to Timbuktu, remember, when that satellite went down, nice place, weird natives." He got off of the couch and stood beside her. "Well, if Duke can handle Scarlett not talking to him for a week, I think I can handle meeting your Daddy." he grinned.
"Have you called your parents yet?" Jaye asked with a cringe. She talked to his mother once on the phone when she happened to answer his line when she was in his quarters. It didn't go well in Jaye's opinion.
"Umm… wanted to call them… but you know how things are here…busy and all.." his voice trailed off.
Jaye looked at him a little hurt. "You're putting it off. Why? Cause your mom hates me?"
"No!" his said loudly, "She doesn't hate you.. but you know she barely knows you. Mom is the old fashioned kind. We have to give her some time to get used to the idea. Allie, I know she's going to love you! Who wouldn't?"
"Your mother. Remember her first question to me was, What are you? Some kind of sleazy tramp?"
"She said WHAT! Allie, are you sure that was my Mom and not crazy Aunt Petunia. She usually is the one who calls my girls things like that."
"Your girls? How many girls have you had Faireborn?"
Flint looked towards his right and then left, "Did you hear that? It's my stomach telling me to go and eat some of Roadblock's food." He pulled Jaye by her arm, and lead her out of the door to the hallway. "We better hurry before the whole team eats it and we wind up with last night's leftovers."
"So the rumors are true Mr. Playboy." Jaye said with a chuckle.
"No comment." he replied with a grin. "Come on, lets go I'm starving!!! They both hurriedly went to the Mess hall expecting the entire team to be eating, but when they arrived, the entire room was empty. Nothing, no Joes, no dogs and not a bird in sight.
"Where is everyone?" Flint asked the thin air, "Do you think there was a Cobra attack somewhere and we missed the call?
From the kitchen Roadblock came out holding a large pot of pasta. "Well, if it isn't my two favorite customers."
"Hey Roadblock." Jaye said. "Where is everyone?"
Roadblock gave them an odd look, "You don't know, guess you missed the whole show."
Now, it was their turn to give him an confused look, "What happened?" asked Flint.
"First, lets get you fed and then it will be all said" Roadblock put the pot down on the counter and took from the plate pile two plates. As he was handing them the pasta dish, he began to explain, "Now, I don't know about you, but I didn't know what else to do. Duke came tearing down the hall, thundering like a big basketball, seems to me a certain Red, made the fellow all jealous in the head, his anger consumed him you see, and started yelling at everyone but me. I was back here at the time, when I heard him shout at everyone to get in line, He is making them run around the base, five laps or til they fall on their face."
Flint's and Jaye's eyes widened, then the warrant officer turned to Jaye, "Uhh, can I retract what I said earlier about Duke handling it well?"
"I better get to the bottom of this." Jaye said as she sat down to eat.
"And how pre-tell you are going to do that?" he asked her, sitting down beside her.
"Lock them in a room together."
Flint choked on his pasta, "What! You think that is going to work? We may need a body bag in the end."
"Then half of our problem would be taken care of." She said with a shrug and took a bite of her lunch.
"Yeah, I wonder who will be standing." he said taking a sip from his drink.
As they ate, movements outside the Mess windows caught their attention, most of the base was running at a steady pace. Flint noticed several of the Joes giving him dirty looks, but a small object caught his eye, "Jaye, was that Ace holding Brutus?" watching the air pilot pass by the window.
"WHAT?!" Jaye said and went to get up to run after Ace and cause him major bodily harm.
The warrant officer shook his head, this was one battle he would not join. "Hey Roadblock!" he called out to the chef, "Bring a plate and join me for lunch. Seems my company has gone Bear hunting."
The heavy gunner chuckled and brought another portion for himself and Flint to eat. "Now, this is what I call peaceful and relaxing." as they ate.
Jaye ran outside and looked for Ace. "Ace! What the hell are you doing with Brutus! Give him back!" She began to chase the pilot.
Ace looked behind his shoulder and saw Jaye in hot pursuit. "Oh oh!" he said to himself, he bolted away from the group when they rounded the corner and headed straight towards the Motor Pool.
Good, no one was there, he quickly put the bear in Cross Country's Havoc and dashed out of there fast as his legs could carry him. "Let someone else get pulverized," he thought to himself.
He left the Motor Pool, just in time to see Jaye, look around and finding nothing, he saw her run back inside the Pit. Breathing a sigh of relief, he went back to join the group.
Jaye stormed past the mess hall muttering, "Someone's going to die."