A soft moan escaped her lips as she became aware of the massive headache she had. She tried to open her eyes but the brightness of the room prevented that.
"Allie." a soft voice reached in her head, "Allie, can you hear me?" It was familiar, the voice of someone who loved her, but the pain in her head prevented her from opening her eyes to see.
She moaned again, trying to clear the fog from her mind.
"Here, drink this, it may help." The same voice again; she felt her head lifted slowly, and cold liquid trickled down her throat. Her head was gently again placed on the soft pillow. Something wet touched her forehead. "Please be alright, Allie." the voice begged.
"Who..." She managed to get out.
"It's Dash, Allie." Flint's voice came, then an image, his face. his smile, and that beret, he always wore.
"D...Dash..." She said softly. "Where...am I?"
"In your room, at the Manor, in Scotland. Remember?" his voice was soothing, gentle. She felt his hand stroke her hair, then felt a sharp pain.
"Aghh..." She cried out softly. "Wh...what happened."
He voice was soft, close to her ear, "You got excited last night, and ran into the stables to grab your fathers horse. But Allie, you took the wrong one, you didn't know." his voice stopped, "You took Cobrathon by mistake and he.. he threw you off. Allie.. when I saw you fall off that animal, I.. I thought the worst.." his voice slightly cracked, like he was in verge of tears.
She finally managed to open her eyes but it was very blurry.
"Hey there beautiful, how do you feel? You gave all of us quite a scare." Flint's face slowly formed in front of her.
"I feel with my fingers." Jaye said hoarsely.
"Glad your funny bone wasn't broken during the fall." He teased as he leaned down and kissed her forehead.
Jaye tried to sit up but quickly regretted it as a wave of dizziness overcame her.
Flint caught her by the shoulder and slowly pushed her down on the pillow, "Easy there. We don't have Doc or Lifeline near us."
"I'm fine. Just got up too fast." Jaye said. "Here, help me up."
"You sure?" he asked concerned, but a nod was her reply. "Alright, come on Miss National Velvet, up we go." He slowly rose her from the bed at a sitting position. "Here, drink some more." He handed her a glass
She was a little shaky as she took a few sips. "Thank you. We need to pack," She said, placing the glass on the side table.
Flint stared at her open mouthed, "Pack? what do you mean pack? We can't leave now, you're not well. Allie, please, you can't fly in your condition."
"I'm not staying here."
"Allie, I can understand how you feel, finding out about Destro." she winced, " and Victoria all at once, is a little hard to swallow. But you have to stay here. If you leave, then it's like Cobra won."
"I'm not breaking our plans." Jaye said. "We were to fly out this morning."
"Alright, I can't argue with you. You will win anyway. At least lets say our goodbyes to your Father. I haven't seen Destro or Victoria all morning."
"Okay." Jaye said.
He smiled, "Good, that was easy. Thought for a moment, you would freak out on me and hit me with something, like a stone statue, or a brick, or worse, take me down to the dungeons, lock me in and throw away the key!" He put his hand around his throat and made a gasping sound.
Jaye smirked then started to giggle.
He laughed, "Good to hear you laugh, Allie." He helped her out of the bed, "Easy now." She felt slightly dizzy. "I'll do the packing, ok? Do, you need help with dressing? Should I call a maid? Should I call a doctor? Should I call someone else?"
Jaye chuckled. "Gee Dash, if you are this bad right now how are you going to be if I become pregnant?"
Flint's eyes widened, "Can I have that?" He took the glass that she had settled on the table, and with one swallow, he drank the whole amount.
"Dash, what's the matter with you?"
He blinked. "I don't know, but if you find out, let me know. Ok?"
She caressed his cheek. "Honey I'm not pregnant. I don't plan on it for a while."
He felt relieved, "Allie, I would love to have kids with ye, but if yer Daddy thinks that having wee ones before we're married, he'll cut me b-" her hand silenced him from saying the last word, laughing at his bad attempt of a Scottish accent.
"Come on." She said with a smile. "Let us go say our goodbyes."
"Certainly Milady!" he put his hand over her shoulder, "But I think Lass that you must dress first, cause if yer father sees ye running around the manor in yer nightgown, all hell will break loose, running around the base in that is one thing, but here? I'd rather deal with Hawk again.
"Oh yeah." Jaye said and chuckled. She went and changed and came back. "Better?"
He nodded, "Much better! And I get to keep my head!"
They walked downstairs towards the library; they heard voices coming from inside, but before they came near the large room, the door burst open and Destro walked out. He gave a friendly nod to them, but hurriedly left towards the veranda.
"I wonder what he wanted?" Flint asked. Jaye just shrugged as they walked into the room.
"Morning, Daddy," Jaye said, but there wasn't the usual warmth in her words.
He rushed to her and wrapped his arms around her, "How ye feeling, Lass? Ye gave me quite a scare last night."
"I'm alright. My head hurts though." Jaye answered.
"Ah should tare yer hide! Takin' off like that. But ye always were a wild one. weren't ya, Lass." He walked over towards his desk and picked up the morning newspaper. "This is from me, Lass."
He handed her the paper, as she glanced down, she noticed a small article, circled, it read.
HART-BURNETT--- FAIREBORN, Lord Robert Burnett of Loch Lomand is pleased to announce the engagement of his only daughter. Lady Alison Hart Burnett and Dashiell Faireborn, eldest son of Logan and Jean Faireborn of Wichita, Kansas, USA.
Jaye squealed and hugged her father tightly and kissed him. "I love you, Daddy."
"Ah luv ya too, Lassie." He walked towards a long divan near one of the wooden panel walls. Two large white boxes, were settled against the flowered cushions. Picking them up, he walked back towards Jaye and Flint, his features serious. One of the boxes he handed to Jaye, while the other, he gave to Flint with a hint of a smile on his face.
"For ye, Lad."
"Thank you, Sir." Flint said, opening the box. His mouth almost fell to the ground. The box held something that Flint had never worn before in his life, a wedding kilt."
He heard Jaye gasp, and turned to see her holding up a long ivory sleeve.
Jaye looked at her father and tears were rolling down her face. "Oh Daddy. Are you sure?"
He nodded, "Aye, Lass. Ye both got my blessings."
Jaye quickly closed the lid on her box so that Flint wouldn't see the rest of the dress. She hugged her father. "I wish she were here, Daddy." She whispered.
"Me too, Lass." He kissed her cheek, and then shook Flint's hand. "Ther' is one more gift, Lass. Yer going to have the wedding here, at the cathedral."
"But Daddy, all my friends are in the States." Jaye protested mildly.
He sent her a stern look, "Me know, Lass. Yer Aunt Brody would like to help with the wedding. Ye can have the Clan wedding here and then marry back in America with yer other family."
Jaye smiled. "Aunt Brody does?" She sounded excited. "Is he going to come over to the States and help?"
Flint arched an eyebrow, "Aunt Brody?"
Robert chuckled. "Ye wanna tell yer man, Lassie?"
Jaye grinned. "He's my mother's younger brother."
Flint's jaw dropped, "OK, now it makes sense."
"Oh man! would he get mad and he's got such a high pitched voice." Jaye laughed. She looked at her father. "Is the plane ready to leave on time?" she asked. "I don't want to leave you daddy, but we've only got a short time to get this done."
He nodded, "Aye Lass." He gave her a hug, then turned to Flint, "Ye say a greeting from me to yer folks, son."
"I will, Sir." Flint said, did he just called him son?
"I will call and set up a time for you to meet them daddy." Jaye
said.
"Very well, Lass." he hugged both of them. "Ah'll see ya soon."
They said their farewells and walked to the foyer once more. The dogs had stationed themselves in front of the door, to say their goodbyes. Both Flint and Jaye patted each dog and walked outside to the awaiting limo, which would take them to the airport.
Jaye turned around, glancing one more time at the Manor, a tear slightly rolled down her cheek. She felt an arm over her shoulder, "We'll be back, soon." She nodded to Flint as they got in the car.
An hour later, they sat themselves in the Burnett private jet. Flint had settled himself on the large chair, a yawn escaping from his mouth. Jaye realized that he had stayed up all night, taking care of her.
"You should get some sleep." Jaye said as she walked over to him, still a little dizzy from hitting her head the night before and it showed when she walked. "Rest now because I have a feeling this isn't going to go over very well."
"What? The flight? Or meeting my family?" He yawned once more.
"Meeting your family, duh!" Jaye said. "I'm a sleazy slut, remember?"
"No, you're not. That was only Aunt Petunia. She's harmless--once you get to know her." His eyes started to drop.
She kissed him softly on the lips. "Get some sleep. I'll wake you a little later and I'll show you the sleeping rooms." she teased. Once he was asleep boredom took over and her nerves were getting worse. She was really worried about meeting his family and the whole Destro being her beloved Uncle James thing was really working her over. She picked up the phone in the jet and called her best friend.
On the second ring a voice answered, "Jaye's and Red's Gaelic Pub, the house special is Virgin Beer. Buy one virgin and get free first sergeant fried meatballs, while supplies last."
"Courtney!" She heard Scarlett's voice scolding in the background.
Jaye burst out laughing. "What...happened...now?" She asked between fits of laughter.
Cover Girl's voice floated through the line. "Oh, Shana is all whirled up on something."
Another scolding came from Scarlett.
"Alright! Keep all your feathers in a pinch!"
"Are they fighting again?" Jaye asked laughing
"Jaye, you don't even want to know! I'm on babysitting duty." She heard her give off a chuckle, "Hey Shana! Allie is on the phone." She heard Scarlett say something about checking the pasta to Cover Girl. More sounds indicated that Scarlett had taken the receiver but she heard Cover Girl mumble to the redhead about still having feathers in her hair.
"Hi Allie." Scarlett's voice came on the line, "One second. Courtney, don't forget to stir the sauce. We are making pasta and meatballs from scratch."
"So what happened now?" Jaye asked. But to her best friend her voice didn't sound entirely cheerful. She caught the dark sound to her voice.
"There was a little incident."
"Little incident!" Cover Girl's voice floated, "Shana! The whole base heard that incident! Tell her!"
Jaye could see Scarlett giving a scowling look towards the Wolverine tank driver. She giggled.
"Alright, you'll hear it anyway, thanks to some people around here. Duke punched Alpine."
"Punched Alpine!" Jaye exclaimed.
"Alpine and I were in the map room. He was showing me the map of the Swiss Alps area. We have been getting information from Intel that there has been some Cobra activity somewhere in the mountains. We were discussing positions, trails, gear, you know the drill. Well, neither of us noticed Duke walking by. Alpine touched my shoulder to point out a possible attack area, and next thing I know, he was on the floor, one livid first sergeant bearing down on him." her voice hinted a tint of anger.
"Oh my God!"
"I blew up. Yelled at him. He started barking back, something about Goat Boy touching me a certain way. I counterattacked his words, saying it was only to point out a possible position attack! And it all went downhill from there. He started yelling about Alpine and why I'm spending time with him. I have no idea what he is talking about! Allie! He practically accused me of dating Alpine! I lost it! " Her voice barely became a whisper, "Allie… I...I.. .slapped him."
"Oh…"
"He blew, started yelling at me about attacking my CO. I yelled back, screaming at him about attacking an innocent bystander. Alpine covered his ears from our loud voices."
She heard Cover Girl's voice call out from the background, "The whole base covered their ears from that wonderful conversation! The intercom in the map room was ON!!"
"Oh, lovely!"
"Please, don't remind me, Courtney." Scarlett requested. Jaye imagined her best friend leaning against the wall, slowly banging her head. "Hawk called us in his office. Reamed us good, and gave us another punishment. He took the tar and feather thing to a new level. We had to wear feather hats for the whole day! Jaye stop laughing!"
Jaye couldn't talk because she was laughing so hard.
"But that's not all, we are not allowed to roam around the base without supervision."
Courtney's voice now became louder, she was probably standing next to the redhead. "I'm babysitting Shana, Wayne is taking care of Duke."
"It's humiliating!" Scarlett added.
"Well if you two would quit being babies." Jaye teased.
"Babies!" Scarlett replied, "Says, the Joe woman who fought all the time with a certain warrant officer, who shall remain nameless."
"Shana, you need to tell her." Cover Girl's voice floated again.
"Tell me what?"
"Brutus." Scarlett said.
"What about Brutus? Where the hell is my bear?"
"At the moment, he is about 10,000 feet in the air. He's on a mission. Somehow, he found his way into Tollbooth's vehicle. Tollbooth called to tell us he found Brutus, and if they survive from the snakes, he will bring Brutus back wearing his own bear sized T-shirt."
"I'm going to kill blondie!"
"Courtney! The sauce!" She heard Scarlett warn the other woman, "So, how are things on your end? You sound a little tired."
"Nothing. I'm fine."
Scarlett voice changed tone, "No, you're not. You can't fool me Lady Jaye! Now talk!"
Jaye sighed. "Remember how I told you about my Uncle James?"
"Yes, I remember something about him, you had told me that you were close to him."
"He came to dinner last night. I had to have his blessing too because he's the head of my mother's clan."
"That's great Allie! But something tells me there is a catch." She could imagine the counter intelligent agent biting her lower lip, she always did that when she was serious.
"You remember when I inherited that old manor house?"
"Yes, I remember. Flint and you mentioned the squid, ghost and Destro."
"Think about what you just said."
"Please, don't tell me Flint finally ate squid!" Jaye heard a scuffle, "The salt is in the upper cabinet, Court!" Then Scarlett's voice came back on, "Sorry."
"No." Jaye said, her voice sounding extremely depressed.
There was silence from the other end, then Scarlett's voice sounded shocked, "Allie! please don't tell me you had a run in with Destro! Why didn't you call the base? We would have been there!"
"BECAUSE HE'S MY UNCLE!!!!!" Jaye yelled.
"WHAT!!" Dead silence. Then, "Did I just hear--what I think I just heard?" Scarlett's voice sounded shocked.
"Shana? What's wrong?" Jaye heard Cover Girl's voice from the background.
Jaye started crying.
"Oh, Allie.. don't cry. I.. I.. can't believe this. Where are you? Do you want Courtney and me to drop by? I'll tell Hawk, he'll let us come immediately" Scarlett tried to sooth her friend over the phone.
"Shana.. what's wrong?" Cover Girl's voice was now filled with concern.
"Allie just found out that Destro is her Uncle." Jaye barely heard Scarlett tell her.
"WHAT THE HELL?" Cover Girl's voice bellowed.
"I...I'm flying to Kansas." Jaye said ,calming down slightly.
Flint snored and turned over. Jaye watched him from the corner of her eye; she did not want to wake him from her screaming and crying and find her all upset.
"Allie, do you want us to meet you there?" Scarlett's voice came again. "Allie?"
They could hear her breathing hard.
"Allie? I know it is going to take time, but you are going to survive this. I know it doesn't seem so for the moment. But all will prevail. I wish I was there."
"Me too!" Cover Girl added, she could feel that even though they were miles away, they were there for her.
"I don't want Hawk to know yet." Jaye finally said.
She could imagine Scarlett's frown. "Alright, if you want it that way for now. I'm fine with it. Is Flint close by? "
"He's sleeping." Jaye said.
"That shocked huh?" Scarlett replied trying to break the mood, "Kick him so he can get his lazy rear up and comfort you."
"He had a long rough night watching over me."
"You are not telling us the whole story." She could imagine now Scarlett tapping her foot now. "What else happened?"
"I snuck out and took what I thought was my father's horse, but it was my Uncle's, and got thrown off and I hit my head."
"What! Allie are you alright?"
"I have one helluva headache and was out the entire night, but I'm going to be alright."
"We are both glad to hear that." Scarlett spoke for both Cover Girl and herself. "Any other heart attacks you want to give me?" she teased.
"I'm pregnant."
She heard the phone receiver drop on the table, then Scarlett picking it back up, "WHAT did you just say?"
"Shana? Now what's wrong?" Cover Girl's voice echoed near by.
"Allie says she is pregnant." The other woman was in shock.
"I'm going to repeat myself, WHAT THE HELL!!!" Cover Girl burst out.
Jaye burst out laughing.
"ALISON HART-BURNETT!" Scarlett's voice thundered over the phone line, "You were pulling my leg! Weren't you?"
"What? What?" Cover Girl's plea came.
"Allie just told me, the baby is Destro's." Scarlett said to Cover Girl
This caused Jaye to laugh more.
"WHAT!!!! Are you kidding me?" Cover Girl's voice sounded shocked.
"Allie, that was a rotten trick!" Scarlett scolded, then she heard her talk to Cover Girl, "She's not pregnant. Just listen to her laugh!"
She heard Cover Girl burst into her own fits of laughter, "Oh good, for a moment I thought we were in a Soap Opera."
"These are the Days of our Joe Lives." Jaye laughed
"Wait til you get back on base!" Scarlett threatened, but was really teasing her.
Suddenly a loud noise echoed from their background.
"COURTNEY!! The sauce!!" Scarlett's voice screamed.
"Shana! help! it's all over the place." Cover Girl's voice sounded from far away. "Oh yuck! Even on the walls!"
Jaye burst into laughter once more. They had made her forget her worries for a short period.
"Shoot me now! Just shoot me now!" the redhead's voice pleaded. "Oh, sure, laugh Miss Cover Ops!"
"Hey, I'll let you go." Jaye said giggling.
"Thanks Jaye, Miss Wolverine driver forgot to shut off the sauce and it exploded all over the place!" She could imagine her shaking her head. "Have a good time at Dash's and keep your chin up. Ok?"
"I'll try. I'll call you later on. Bye." She hung up the phone and went back over to where Flint was and fell asleep.