The rain pounded the Manor, while the wind gushed around it. The trees swayed from its force and no animal could be seen. It had been two months since Aunt Brody's memorable visit. The invitations had been sent, the guest list was in order, the catering was all set, and the many guards were stationed around the Manor, ready for the Clan wedding. Jaye and Flint had flown to Scotland several days earlier, for last minute preparations.
Early that morning, the Joe wedding party had arrived, which included- Hawk, Scarlett, Duke, Cover Girl and Roadblock. Hawk had left Beach Head in charge, because three of the high command of the Elite team were off base. He could only imagine what Beach Head would do to the Joes, so he had called for backup, Sgt. Slaughter. Between them, Hawk knew that the Joes couldn't possibly get into trouble.
But most of the Joes were relieved to have the field commander away for a few days. Duke had surpassed every green eyed monster known to man, not to mention that most of the windows have never looked so spotlessly clean! Both the first sergeant and the redhead rarely talked after their argument two months earlier. It had come to the point where Hawk had to intervene once again, and began to sending them off base, one at a time, so that the Joes could have some peace. Some of the Joes were anticipating who was going left standing, the pool on Duke and Scarlett had reached over three thousand.
Most of the morning, had gone smoothly, as long as Duke and Scarlett weren't in the same room. Flint had taken his friend around the Manor, Hawk and Lord Burnett were having an interesting game of chess in the library, Roadblock was in the kitchen, swapping recipes, and Jaye, Scarlett and Cover Girl had stationed themselves in Jaye's bedchambers.
"Shana, what happened between you two?" Cover Girl asked, taking a bite of a scone.
"Yeah, you and blondie used to be so close. But this past year you two have been so close to killing each other," Jaye piped in.
Scarlett put her tea cup down at Jaye's table, her eyes stared downward to the lavish handmade carpet. "To tell you the truth, I really don't know." Then she glanced at her friends' concerned faces, "But since Serpentor's attack, Duke has somehow changed." Her eyes became soft. "He's become colder, and is shutting me out."
"Maybe his brush with death scared him more than we thought." Cover Girl shrugged.
"I don't know. Something needs to be done about it. You two are ripping each other apart and it's not pretty," Jaye said as she stood up and walked over to the window. "Damn...he's early." she said mostly to herself.
"Who's early?" Scarlett asked, watching her friend look outside the raindrop covered window.
"Destro?" Cover Girl suggested, "I can only imagine him here with Duke, and Hawk."
Jaye nodded towards them. "He will be looking for me. Come on, let's not be here when he comes up," she said, turning away from the window and walking over towards a Clothes Press.
Scarlett and Cover Girl sent her a curious glance, watching their friend become more nervous with each passing second.
"Where shall we go?" Scarlett asked. "And you can't hide from him forever."
"Did he bring Vickie?" Cover Girl asked curiously, "I want to see your clone."
"I didn't see her." Jaye answered, grabbing a jacket. "And I'm not hiding from him, I just don't feel up to seeing him right now."
Both Scarlett and Cover Girl exchanged similar looks. They didn't want their friend running out in this weather, not to mention that Flint may lose it, finding out she had gone out in it.
"Allie, why don't we go to that room your Aunt Brody mentioned?" Scarlett suggested. "The one with the ghost."
Cover Girl's eyes widened, "Ghost?" She threw her arms in the air, "Of course there has to be a ghost in this place! Between the ghost and the stuff in the dungeon, it can be a great horror movie setting."
"Alright," Jaye agreed, and lead them out of the room.
They walked down towards the west wing. Passing by the main staircase, voices could be heard from downstairs. "James, glad ta see ya." The voice of Lord Burnett's voice echoed.
"Robert, this is a splendid moment." They heard Destro's voice, making all three women shiver. "Hawk."
"Destro." Hawk's reply was stale and alert, like he was expecting the whole entire Cobra army to burst into the manor.
The women stopped in their tracks when they spotted Duke walking up the stairs.
Jaye made a shushing motion towards the field commander, letting him know they didn't want Destro to know that they were up there. "Where's Dash?" Jaye asked when he got right next to her.
"He went over to your Aunt Brody's," Duke answered.
Cover Girl glanced at the first sergeant then to Jaye. "Why does he have to go to Aunt Brody's?"
Duke refused to look towards the fiery redhead, and Scarlett walked over to the wall, trying to be interested in the wall tapestry, avoiding him as much as possible.
"He needed to discuss something with him. He wouldn't tell me wha,." Duke answered.
Jaye watched the men down at the bottom of the stairs. "They're coming. Come on," she whispered, urging them to head towards the west wing.
They hurriedly walked to the end of the west wing, passing Flint's and Duke's bedrooms. The hallway narrowed and ducked under a large wooden board, which brought them through a smaller passage way. Then they started walking up a flight of stone stairs.
Jaye then lead them down another long hall, which was mostly covered with spider webs, making Scarlett cringe. Cover Girl gulped from the creepy looking statues that occupied the space, and Duke sneezed from the dust.
Entering a large room, the group found that the space was extremely cold. The room held several seating areas, a couch with two cushioned chairs, both from the eighteen hundreds, and a large poster bed.
Duke immediately started a fire, to help the place get warmer. Cover Girl and Jaye sat on the cushioned chairs, while Scarlett glanced out the window, looking outat the dreary weather and keeping her distance from the first sergeant.
"My father doesn't like me to come up here. Which is why the main passageway to this room has been blocked," Jaye explained.
"Why doesn't he want you in here?" Duke asked as he poked at the fire. He glanced over at Scarlett's red locks for a second before returning his blue eyes back to the red flames.
"My mother died in this room." Jaye answered softly.
Scarlett turned from the window and sent her friend an apologetic look. Her dark blue eyes roamed around the room, which indicated that it had once looked very elegant. She felt the same sadness that Jaye did, her own mother had died when she was extremely young and she barely remembered her. She noticed an older painting on the one of the walls. The painting pictured a young woman, sitting on a bench. The woman had a strong resemblance to the covert ops. agent . Her eyes glanced back out the window, and a chill ran down her body.
"Allie, I'm so sorry," Cover Girl said, sympathetically.
"Don't be," Jaye reassured. "She died when I was very young. I don't remember her."
Suddenly, they heard a bump coming from the hallway, and Cover Girl jumped. "I just hope that is Destro and not the ghost."
Duke stood up from the fireplace and walked over to the door, peaking outside. A chuckle came out of his throat, seeing a mouse run across the hall, away from a fallen dusty bowl. He walked back inside, closing the door behind him, so the warm air would not escape. "Only a mouse, Courtney."
Cover Girl sneezed a few times. "Excuse me, must be the dust." She said, sniffling and then sneezed again.
"The ghost wouldn't harm you." Jaye explained. "She's only appeared one time when someone broke into the manor and found me in here. They were going to hurt me."
"Well, that is good to hear, like friendly ghosts. Shana, Conrad, remember when we encountered the Phantom Brigade?" Cover Girl asked, trying to encourage them to talk.
The women both turned towards Scarlett, who barely nodded to Cover Girl and had a far look in her features, and then towards Duke, who was deep in his own thoughts, frowning.
Cover Girl leaned closer to Jaye, "Getting colder in here. If you know what I mean." Indicating to the other two Joes in the room, each barely acknowledging the other.
"Follow my lead," Jaye whispered to Cover Girl, then said louder, "I'm going to show Courtney a picture of my father and Hawk when they were in boarding school together. It's just out in the hall, we'll be right back." They stood up and walked out of the bedroom. Once the two of them were out in the hall, Jaye quickly shut the door and using the old key in her pocket, locked both of the other members inside.
"You just locked them in!" Cover Girl looked amazed. "I wonder who is going to kill who and then come after you!"
Jaye giggled, wanting to be a fly on the wall, watching the field commander's and counterintelligence's agent's faces while they discovered their predicament.
Inside the room, the other two Joes froze, seeing the door close behind Jaye and Cover Girl.
Scarlett's eyes widened. 'She better not have.' raced through her mind, walking to the door and trying to open the latch, but with all her strength, the door wouldn't budge, it was locked. "Jaye!" She hollered, "This isn't funny! Open up!"
"Not until the two of you work things out!" Jaye yelled through the door.
"I'm going to kill her." Duke growled.
"Take a number," Scarlett snapped. "Just wait until we get out of here Allie!" She called out, but heard no reply. " Allie?" She sighed. 'Great, they left.'
Duke now stood next to the fireplace, his face unreadable, but he looked really uncomfortable.
Scarlett closed her eyes, to calm herself down, she was going to kill her best friend before her special day. Walking towards the window once more, she once again stared out, watching the rain pound the ground with force as the time passed slowly, neither of them talking.
In the meantime both Jaye and Cover Girl had made their way to the back veranda talking about what might be happening in the room, They had just sat in the chairs when Destro stepped in front of them.
"Hello, Alison." His voice sounded sincere, but both women froze.
Cover Girl glanced from the Cobra agent to the counterintelligence agent, saying nothing. She hoped Jaye wouldn't jump up and strangle him.
Jaye dug deep into all of her debutante training. She stood up and turned to face him. "Good afternoon, Uncle James."
He bent down to kiss her on the cheek, and from the corner of his eye, he noticed the other Joe women narrow her eyes, ready for anything.
"Victoria will be here this evening, she..eh.. had an appointment." He sat down in one of the chairs.
Jaye took a seat in the chair next to the side of him. She motioned for Cover Girl lean over and whispered, "You don't have to stay here if you don't want to. This will be long and boring."
Cover Girl shook her head, "I'm not leaving you alone with him!" She stared at Destro, wanting the earth to open from under him and swallow him whole.
Destro cleared his throat. "Umm, yes… but I do wish to talk to my niece," seeing both women give off shudder. "Alison, would you mind if we go for a walk?" He stood up, ignoring Cover Girl's 'I'll run you over with my Wolverine you sleazebag' look.
Jaye stood up and touched her good friends shoulder. "Courtney, maybe you should go check on Duke and Scarletts" she suggested, giving her friend a somewhat reassuring smile. "I'll be fine. If you see Dash, tell him I'm in the garden." She turned and walked with her uncle to the garden.
They walked down the path to the lake, one of the few special areas they both shared. Destro seemed quiet, serious, and deep in thought.
Jaye remained quiet for a long time as well. "Are you alright, Uncle?" she asked, glancing down at the gravel pathway.
Destro turned towards her voice. His silver mask, shinning from the sun's rays. "I just want to apologize to you, Alison. It must be hard for you to find out what your Uncle James has become."
"Why can't you just leave them?" Jaye asked, sounding almost desperate.
Destro stopped walking and looked out at the glistening blue waters of the lake. "I can't. I'm in too deep. And there is something else." He watched a few birds fly over the water. "If I do decide to leave Cobra and Serpentor, it has been made quite clear, that they are going to go after my family."
"Uncle James, I'm quite capable of taking care of myself." Jaye said.
"I know you are my dear, but the threat is not directed at you," he admitted.
"Then, who?"
He diverted her question with another one. "Are you and Flint ready for tomorrow?"
Jaye let him change the conversation. "I have never been so nervous in my entire life. I'm even more nervous than when you took me to play before the Queen."
Destro took her hands in his. "Don't be nervous Blue Jaye. You have made this Clan very proud. Especially your Uncle James."
"How have I made you proud? I wasn't raised to be a warrior. I was raised to fight when needed for the Clans because there's no male heir for my father. But I was raised to be a princess, not for what I do now."
"Heroes are not what they do in real life, but what they accomplish. You Alison, have done just that. Look around you, there is so much that you have done. How many Joes look up to you? How many others used to do? Even Princesses and other dignitaries are heroes. It does not matter who they are, it matters just what they do."
Jaye looked away from him. "But I'm not the person my mother would have wanted me to become."
Destro cupped her chin, making her eyes met his. "No, you are exactly what your mother wanted you to become."
"And, what is that?"
"Lady Alison Hart-Burnett." He said softly. Suddenly, his comm. link beeped, "Excuse me, dear." He moved two steps away and answered it. "What is it?" He commanded, then few minutes later she heard him call out a name. "Victoria! Abort! is that clear? Scrub now! Destro out."
Jaye heard the panic in his voice, something must have gone dreadfully wrong with a Cobra mission.
Back in the room, Duke sat on the couch, staring at the fire. Both remained silent, neither one talking. Scarlett continued to stare out the window, watching the raindrops continue to fall and feeling the wind pound on the manor.
One hour passed, then two… maybe three. Neither of them had a watch on and there weren't any clocks in the room. The room's atmosphere started getting chiller, and the first sergeant had dosed off on the couch.
Scarlett shivered, crossing her arms and rubbing them, trying to warm up. She felt something crawling upwards on her right leg. Glancing downwards, her eyes went wide, identifying the black animal moving up her shin, realizing it was a spider and without knowing it, she let out a blood chilling scream.
Duke bolted awake. "Shana!" He cried out in worry, and rushed over towards the redhead near the window..
Scarlett froze, hearing her name coming from him for the first time. She stood in silence, still absorbing what he had just called her.
Duke picked up the stoker from the utensils by the fire place, removed the spider from Scarlett's leg, threw it on the ground and with his foot, killed the venomous creature.
"Thanks," Scarlett said, softly, glancing down at the remains of the creature which made her blood colder than the temperature in the room.
"Are you alright? It didn't bite you, did it?" Duke asked, his voice full of concern.
She shook her head, "No, I don't think so." She then turned back, glancing once again out of the window, realizing the rain had stopped but the room felt colder, and she shivered slightly.
Duke noticed the trembling and immediately grabbed the afghan from the couch and draped it over her shoulders, remaining quiet, not saying anything.
Scarlett faced him. "Thank you," She said softly. Why was she suddenly nervous? she wondered, glancing once again out the window.
Duke was acting like a teenager going on his first date. He pushed his hair back, staying silent.
From the view, Scarlett noticed a dark horse running across the field, breathing heavily from its run. She wished she was out there, instead stuck in the room with him, wondering if another argument would start. Probably that's why he was barely talking to her.
"Look...Shana." Duke said, as if trying to figure out how to say something.
She turned to him, seeing him try to blurt out something. She held her hand up. "You don't have to explain," she said gently, then walked over towards the couch and sat by the fire, gazing at the flames, wild and unsteady, just like them. She could feel his eyes on her. "No one but Hawk knows about this..." She took a deep breath. "I've asked to be transferred." She closed her eyes, hating each word that came out.
"What? Shana...why?" He asked in shock. It almost sounded as if someone had ripped his heart out.
"You have to ask why?" Her voice sounded small, tired. "I'll be leaving after Allie and Dash's wedding."
"No, Shana," Duke said. "Don't go. The team needs you. I--." He stopped talking and looked out the window.
Scarlett twisted her head towards him, "You what?" Waiting for a reply, but none came. He was silent again, his back to her. "Duke. Just look at us, we barely can stand to be in the same room together. The team is suffering, our friends are suffering," She exhaled a long breath, "We…we are suffering. We were such close friends, Duke. What happened?" She closed her eyes, she couldn't say his real name, if she did, she may not be able to handle it.
"I almost died, Shana." Duke answered, softly.
She held the blanket closer to her body, shivering, not from the cold, but from his words. She shut her eyes tightly, trying to erase them, she couldn't. "Don't I know that? I was there, remember? I had to watch you almost die."
"I never wanted to put you through that." Duke said, softly. "I don't want you to hurt like that, again."
"So you thought--shutting me out--would help?" Scarlett asked, her voice sounded both hurt and angry. "You changed, you became cold, Duke."
Duke flinched a little at her words. "I thought if I distanced myself from you, you wouldn't feel that kind of pain, again."
"You thought?" Scarlett asked, almost at a whisper. "I can't believe you would think something like that. The pain is still there, it won't disappear." She glanced down on the cushions of the couch. She couldn't bear to look at him and blinked twice trying to stop the tear that so desperately wanted to roll down her cheek.
"Shana, please, forgive me," He said, softly. "The team needs you. Don't leave. I will leave."
"No, Duke. Don't try to be Mr. Man of Action this time. The team needs you. They need your leadership." Her eyes still looking downwards, not looking at him, not looking in his eyes, afraid she might fall apart. "Besides, it's too late now, Hawk already has the paperwork completed. It's better this way. The base will once again become quiet."
Duke slowly walked over and sat down on the couch, leaving about a foot of space between them. "I can talk to Hawk. He'll pull some strings and make the paperwork disappear. I cannot imagine the base without you there."
Scarlett lifted her head to meet his face, her blue eyes met his. Did he just say that he couldn't imagine the base without her? But the arguments would be there, she could not handle that again.
"Please Duke, don't. I can't do this, having the arguments all the time, and having you yell at the others for no reason. I can't… just can't." Her voice broke slightly, but she quickly swallowed the lump. She closed her eyes, not looking at him.
He became extremely quiet. Not saying anything, but only stared at the red flames in front of him.
By the lake, Jaye stood there motionless, absorbing the conversation Destro just had with the Cobra agent on his comm. link.
"You come here for my wedding and you do business with Cobra?" Jaye asked, sounding more hurt than mad. "Have you no respect for me?" She turned to walk away.
"Alison, wait! You don't understand!" But it was too late, she refused to talk to him. He watched her run towards the manor, not even glancing back. "Blast." He mumbled to himself, "How can I? How can I tell you my dear Alison, that your cousin is a Cobra agent, and that her life is in danger?" He closed his eyes, and leaned against a tree in his troubled thoughts.
Upstairs, the room had gotten colder, quiet, and uncomfortable. They had stayed silent, but it was Duke's voice that broke it. "This is about Alpine isn't it?" he asked. There was no accusation in his voice, just sadness.
"Duke, you punched him! You yelled at the others. You almost made both him and Bazooka do Pig PT for no reason! Why?" Her voice was even, steady. Why was he asking about Alpine? Did he know that she had helped her friends?
"He's the one your dating. Allie told me."
Scarlett's eyes widened, "She told you WHAT!" Her loud voice caused him to lean backwards. She shook her head. "I'm going to kill her… no wedding for Miss Hart-Burnett, a funeral instead!" She stood up and then quickly sat back down.
"Duke. All this time, you been thinking I've been dating Alpine?" She touched his lower arm, lightly.
He didn't pull back. He nodded. "Yes. I guess I kind of… got a little jealous."
Scarlett smiled at him, inching closer, a sound almost like a giggle escaped. "Duke, the reason I was with Alpine is because I was helping him and Bazooka." She noticed his features turning into confusion. "The first time I told you we were fishing, I wasn't lying to you, we were fishing. Fishing Bazooka out of the toilet. The second time, when I walked back into the apartment, I had to get my nail filer, because Bazooka had fifteen golf balls stuck in his mouth and the last time, the time you reacted the most is when I was helping Alpine get Bazooka unstuck from the Canon in the front. I never dated Alpine, that is the truth."
"Oh," Duke said in a small voice, realizing how wrong he had been and feeling like an idiot.
"Why didn't you just talk to me?" Scarlett asked him, her hand remained on his arm, not moving. "Why did you keep everything bottled up?" The afghan fell, down her shoulder, causing her to tremble from the cold air once again.
Duke reached over and covered her again as he scooted closer. "I guess I was afraid it was true."
She felt a tingle down her spine, not from the cold, but from his touch. "Guess- you take after Flint." Indicating that he covered her. "I'm sorry you felt this way." Her eyes glanced downwards, spotting his hand holding the afghan, just under her throat.
"What do you mean I take after Flint?" His finger now gently caressed her cheek for a second.
"When I became sick, and had to sleep on the couch, well I didn't sleep on the couch all night. I had to evacuate again into the hallway. Flint came out in the hallway, covered me with a blanket and carried me back to the couch." Her voice was soft, her heart melting from his touch.
"That wasn't Flint, Shana. That was me." He could see the surprise in her face, her eyes widening from taking it all in. Realizing that he was the one who brought her back to the suite, and covered her with his blanket.
"Duke..." Her voice was barely a whisper, she leaned closer to him, the heat of his body closer to hers.
He leaned closer to her, his lips almost touching hers when a soft light began to glow in front of them. Duke turned to look and there before him, stood the ghost of a young woman. She smiled and nodded at them as if giving her approval.
Scarlett held her breath watching the woman smiling at them, something tug in her mind, something the woman wanted to tell. A message. She saw the room begin to spin, and felt her body fall.
In the downstairs hallway, Jaye walked briskly, ignoring everyone around her, even her father. Her mind whirled with her thoughts.
Cover Girl, returning from the third floor, noticed Jaye running towards her room. "Allie! Wait!" she called out, running from the west wing to the east.
It was as if Jaye never heard her friend. She kept walking.
"Allie!" Cover Girl's voice plead. "Stop! What's wrong?"
Jaye finally stopped, slumped down on a bench in the hallway and covered her face with her hands.
"What happened?" Cover Girl rushed to her friend, sitting next to her, and placed a hand on her back. "Allie, please, tell me. Did he hurt you?"
"Not physically."
"He better not physically, or I'll shut him in with Shana and Conrad, who by the way I think are both dead. I went to check on them an hour ago and heard no crashing, no breaking, no yelling, no talking, nothing!"
"Oh crap!" Jaye said, worriedly. "Come on." She jumped off the bench, and started rushing back towards the room, with a tank jockey in tow.
In the room, the atmosphere had changed. Panic had consumed the first sergeant, he couldn't revive the counterintelligence agent.
"Shana!!!" Duke called out urgently and desperately tried to wake her up. "Come on, please wake up."
The glowing woman moved closer to the couple, and Duke stood up, speechless. He was about to say something when the woman disappeared exactly at the same moment the door burst open and Jaye with Cover Girl rushed in.
Cover Girl put her hands on her head, when she spotted Scarlett motionless on the couch, "Oh my God! He killed her! He actually killed her!"
"I didn't kill her, she passed out when Allie's ghost appeared." Duke said, worried for the woman that had won his heart so long ago.
"Yeah right, Duke!" Cover Girl crossed her arms and gave him an icy stare, "Like I'm going to believe that one!"
Scarlett stirred and her eyes fluttered open. "What happened?" She asked, softly
"Looks like you passed out." Jaye answered. "You okay? You feeling dizzy or hurting anywhere?"
"See I told you, Court." Duke said, huffily.
Scarlett slowly sat up from the couch, she caught Duke's concerned face, "I'm fine. Just got dizzy for a moment. Nothing else."
"Did he hurt you?" Cover Girl asked, ready to cook first sergeant meatballs.
"No Courtney, Duke just didn't take the news well that I gave him." Scarlett answered, sending him a warning not to say anything about her transfer. "But he didn't hurt me, I hurt him." Then quickly sent him a wink.
"How?" asked Jaye, curious what had happened in the room.
Scarlett stood up from the couch, "Because... I threw a bombshell on him because I'm having Alpine's baby." And with that, she left the room, leaving both Jaye and Cover Girl floored and one first sergeant biting his lip hard from laughing.