Early in the afternoon, Scarlett, Nancy and Brenna Faireborn were in the suite, talking and getting ready for a little party in Jaye's honor. A little party before the bride would go down the aisle tomorrow morning. The decorations were mostly done, now all they needed is to hang the banner, wait for the food to arrive and the special guest.
"A little higher, Nancy," Scarlett said towards the long brown haired, brown eyed, youngest Faireborn. Her own hair remained in her signature ponytail, and her dark blue eyes matched her dress.
The door burst open and Cover Girl, wearing a pink dress, came rushing into the suite. "Red, we have a problem."
Brenna was sitting in the recliner, she wanted to help but her eight month pregnant body was telling her to rest.
Scarlett and Nancy turned their heads from the banner that they were trying to hang above the couch, which said, 'Jaye's Singles Night.'
"What's wrong? Please don't tell me that the food is going to be late," Scarlett said, her features turning into a frown.
"No, no. Roadblock's got that covered. The stripper canceled on us," Cover Girl said with a growl. "But I did find a replacement."
"Is it that cute air pilot?" Nancy asked hopefully, still holding on to the banner.
Scarlett laughed. "Courtney? Who did you get?"
"Shipwreck," Cover Girl mumbled in a small voice.
The redhead dropped her jaw. "Are you serious? Shipwreck!!"
"Isn't that the guy with the parrot who made a move on me this afternoon?" Nancy inquired, still holding the banner.
"Yep," Cover Girl answered. "But what else can I do? Allie's got to have a stripper."
"Well, I hope he's not hairy." Nancy scrunched her nose, which made the others laugh. "What?" She asked, looking innocent.
Scarlett shook her head. "Maybe I should call Alpine, Gung Ho and Quick Kick. They owe me favors."
"Any of them would be better than Wreck! We don't need his head any bigger." Cover Girl pointed out.
Nancy looked from Cover Girl to Scarlett. "Am I going to be scarred for life?"
"I think we all are going to be scarred for life," Scarlett answered her. "Well, at least Flint isn't going to get jealous about the stripper."
"I don't know about that. Remember how jealous he got when Shipwreck kept wanting to ride in the Sky Striker with Allie?" Cover Girl recalled.
"Hmm, you're right." Scarlett replied, pinning the banner on the wall. "Maybe we should put him in one of Allie's Broadway dresses and pass him as Aunt Brody's cousin Tammy."
Nancy laughed, her one hand holding the other end of the banner. "Put the sailor in a dress! I'll pay big bucks for that!"
"I think it would make me puke," Brenna said, turning a shade of green, matching her maternity clothes.
"Okay, banner's up." Scarlett announced stepping down from the couch. "I hope Hawk keeps her in his office a little while longer, so we can finish with these decorations."
Nancy looked around the room. "Well, we are mostly set. All we need is the food and the entertainment." She saw the others shiver at the word 'entertainment.'
"I'll bring out the drinks, and Nancy, as per Flint's orders, you get Virgin Beer," Scarlett said to the other woman.
Cover Girl chuckled. "And we are supposed to get her wasted tonight."
"Did you remember the sparkling cider for me?" Brenna asked.
Scarlett nodded, sending her a smile. "We got enough Sparkling cider and Ginger Ale for all of us."
"Well, you could always spike the Virgin Beer," Nancy said mischievously.
Cover Girl smirked. The phone rang and she went into the other room to answer it.
"Brenna? Would you like something to drink or eat?" Scarlett asked politely. Then she tilted her face towards Cover Girl's mumbling from the other room. What in the world was going on?
"Some tea would be great," Brenna said, rubbing her fairly large stomach.
Cover Girl came running back into the room. Her face in a pure panic.
"Tea coming right away." Scarlett smiled, then turned to Cover Girl, "Who was that on the phone? Please don't tell me Allie's on her way back from Hawk's office!!"
"Okay, I won't tell you." Cover Girl said in a panic. "Where's Aunt Brody? Maybe he can stop her."
"Damn!" Scarlett cursed. "What are we going to do?"
Nancy looked from one panicked Joe woman to the other. "Okay, I'm going out there and try to keep her stalled. What is the name of the Joe she really hates?" She asked with a cunning smile.
"Beach Head," Scarlett and Cover Girl said at the same time.
Nancy rolled her eyes. "Figures the scary Joes are the ones in the masks. Hope he doesn't own a chain saw."
Scarlett laughed. "No, but he doesn't own soap either."
The younger Faireborn turned a dark shade of green and more laughter followed.
"Hurry, she'll be here any minute," Cover Girl said urgently.
Nancy walked towards the door and slowly opened it. "Too late she's here," she whispered to the others. They watched her leave the suite, and her voice floated out in the hallway. "Allie! I'm so glad I found you! This guy named Beach Head got his hands on Brutus, and he told me that the bear is going be returned in the same condition as Scarlett's skunk!"
Jaye's eyes narrowed. "Where the hell is he?" Her voice filled with anger.
"He said something about target practicing," Nancy said, hoping Jaye would buy her fib.
A row of curses followed in several languages and the others in the suite heard Nancy and Jaye run down the hallway.
Scarlett sighed in relief. "Pheeww, close one." Then she turned to Brenna. "Your sister is cunning but also is about to enter the pits of darkness when Beach Head finds out."
"Right where she likes to be," Brenna said, chuckling.
Scarlett went to say something to the other Faireborn but was interrupted by the knocking on the suite's door. "I hope that's not them already! And I know Duke and some others took Flint out for his wild night on the town."
Cover Girl walked over and answered the door, nervously.
A smiling Roadblock came walking in, hands full of food pans. "Sorry to be late, but we had to create some kind of bait. Here's the food, just don't shoot this poor dude."
Cover Girl helped him set out the food. "Thank you so much Marvin. You better hurry and get to that stag party for Flint."
"And bring him back in one piece, please!" Scarlett joked, "Otherwise Allie will be chasing all of you, instead of running after Beach Head."
Roadblock grinned, "Oh we will. Don't wait up for us ladies, we will be out til past midnight! And by the way, hope you all like thongs, as that is what Wreck is wearing tonight, said that, I better get going!" Leaving the three women staring at the now closed door.
"I'm going to have nightmares tonight," mumbled Scarlett.
Cover Girl started pounding her head against the wall. "Get...that...picture...out...of...my...head."
The redhead turned to the wolverine driver. "You will have that picture soon, live! So, forget about getting it out of your head, it will probably stay in there, permanently."
"Let me go see if Doc is still here, so I can get a bunch of barf buckets," Cover Girl said, her features turning ill.
Brenna laughed at Cover Girl's suggestion.
Scarlett turned pale. "Maybe we can call Shipwreck and tell him the party got cancelled?"
Suddenly the door burst open, and Aunt Brody waltzed in. "Lassies! Good to see ya again!" he called, embracing them both.
"It's good to see you too," Cover Girl said. "And this is Flint's sister Brenna."
Brenna went to get up to greet Aunt Brody, but he stopped her with his hand waving.
"Dona get up, Lass!" Aunt Brody went over to the expectant mother and shook her hand. "Glad ta meet ya." He then turned around in his maroon silk dress. "Guess Aunt Brody is early. But glad not too early, for Alison is not here yet."
Scarlett smiled. "She'll be here soon, Aunt Brody. We just have her running around chasing a bear and an angry Beach Head."
"Which gives us about twenty minutes," Cover Girl stated, starting to panic once again, heading towards the kitchen with the food.
Quickly, Scarlett, Cover Girl and Aunt Brody, rushed to finish the last minute decorations. The three had completed everything just when they heard Nancy's voice coming loudly from down the hall. Both were returning, bearless.
"I can't believe he got that mad!" Nancy was saying to Jaye. "Just because I called him Jason."
"Well, that's not his name," Jaye said with a chuckle.
"Too bad, it fits him, that or Freddy," Nancy retorted, causing Jaye to laugh as she opened the suite's door.
"SURPRISE!!!!!" They all shouted at the bride all at once.
Jaye jumped and had a huge smile on her face. "You guys."
Scarlett and Cover Girl rushed over to hug Jaye, while Aunt Brody embraced all of them and said, "Group hug, Lassies!"
Nancy helped Brenna up from her chair and they also merged into the hug squishing Jaye in the middle, who had tears run down her cheeks.
"You guys are wonderful." Jaye sniffled.
"Can we un-hug now?" Nancy requested, "If someone enters, God knows what that person will think!" making the others laugh.
"Alright! Who wants drinks!" Scarlett's voice chimed in. "But I do want to get into the kitchen, unless we're all moving as one solid mass in there."
Everyone untangled and the party began. They ate and drank, and laughed, enjoying everything.
Suddenly, there was a knock on the door. Scarlett went to open it and a shiver went down her spine thinking of who was behind that door, a sailor in a thong. Slowly opening the door, her eyes widened at the three MPs stationed at the doorway. "Can I help you?" She asked curiously.
The MPs walked into the room with dead serious faces, guns on their shoulders and all businesslike.
"You have a problem ma'am." said one of the MPs. "I'm not sure this party is authorized."
"Hey, Hawk knows..." Cover Girl stammered, holding a Virgin Beer.
Jaye stood there with a stunned look on her face, her own Virgin Beer in her hand.
The MPs gave them both death glares and they all looked at each other, confused.
Then, one MP walked around the suite, "Let's see, food, alcohol, loud music. Something's wrong here. Right, Michaels?" He asked the other MP.
Michaels nodded, "Yes, Ryans, I'm afraid it is. They have overlooked a rule, I think this is an 3MPSFTN."
"3MPSFTN?" Jaye asked confused, placing her drink on the coffee table.
"Yes Ma'am. 3MPSFTN." One of them walked closer to her, "Are you the one called, Lady Jaye?" She slowly nodded, afraid to think what was going to happen. He turned towards the others. "This is the ring leader boys, time to put her in the brig."
Everyone's eyes went huge.
Michaels walked over now to Lady Jaye. "Ma'am you are under arrest for 3MPSFTN. otherwise known as Three MP Strippers for the Night!" He bellowed while he took off his shirt, twirled it around and tossed it towards Lady Jaye's shocked face.
The whole room burst into laughter as the music started. All of the ladies, including Aunt Brody, whom had 'hired' the entertainment, enjoyed the rest of the evening.
It was hours later when Scarlett awoke from the laughter and talking coming from Jaye's bedroom. She stared silently at the wall, hoping she didn't have to evacuate her bed once more. Sadness crept into her eyes, thinking about the next day. Everything would change tomorrow, Jaye would be officially married and would move out of the suite and she would be transferred. Hawk had informed her during their meeting that she would be training young cadets at West Point. A sigh left her throat, thinking that though tomorrow was supposed to be a happy occasion, her heart was betraying her, telling her that it would the opposite--for her.
She heard more laughter and Flint's voice telling Jaye about his night on the town. A small smile spread on her face, Jaye was extremely lucky to have Flint. They were meant to be together, forever. She was very happy for her roommate to find the one true person to share her world with. Scarlett closed her eyes and wondered what her own new world would be like, knowing that she would miss the Joes tremendously. They were part of her life, her friends, her family. She rolled over on her other side, shaking away the heartrending thoughts. Her face felt small indications of heat, steady, like a breath. Her eyes shot open, her mouth dropped, and she stared directly into the closed eyes of the first sergeant, who was sleeping peacefully on her comforter, beside her.
Her eyes traveled from his face, to his evening attire and then to his outstretched hand, which was positioned in an odd angle. It took her seconds to realize that Duke's hand, which now lay open and empty, had seconds ago held a lock of her hair. She raised her head slightly, staring down at him, surprised. Part of her hoped that he would remain asleep, while the other part of her wished he would open his eyes and find hers.
Did he just slightly shiver? She noticed that he wore one of his thinner dress shirts. Slowly, she slid out of the covers and walked quietly to her closet. Most of her items were all packed, ready to be transferred along with her. Opening the closet door, she took out a thick blanket, the same blanket that covered her during a cold night in the hallway and the same blanket that covered her during the week when she was ill. Scarlett touched the softness of the blanket, remembering that it was he who had covered her with it. She went to the side of the bed, where he slept and gently covered him with it.
Getting under the covers from her own side, she slipped closer to him, his breath closer to hers. Her hand slowly rose and for the first time for what it seemed forever, it gently touched his hair, then her fingers traced down his cheek and to the outline of his lips, the same lips that covered hers that morning. A smile spread on her face, thinking of that moment, wishing it would never end. They started to travel downward once more, down his chin, and stopped for a mere moment on his chest, just above where the snake staff had almost taken his life. She closed her eyes, shaking the bad memory away, and a tear escaped and fell down to the pillow. Then once again, her hand moved lower, traveling down his muscular arm and stopping on his hand. She gently linked his fingers with hers, her heart pounded, her mind whirled and for once Scarlett wished time would pause. "Goodnight, Conrad," She whispered to his sleeping form.