A/N I'd like to thank my beta TopHat and I have bounced many ideas off of Scarlett Slipper and Pixie Red. Thank you for all of your help!!!!
Chapter 2
Outside Hawk's office, she took a few moments to collect her thoughts on what had just been revealed at the meeting. She covered her mouth with both hands and took a deep breath in, closing her eyes. She never thought she would see him again…and now not only would she see him again, they'd be working together.
"Scarlett, are you alright?" a male voice asked. Scarlett opened her eyes, unaware of how long she had been collecting her thoughts. Falcon, Duke's half brother stood before her looking concerned. She glanced quickly at his eyes and then dropped her gaze. He had the same damn eyes as his half brother. She could feel him looking at her concerned but couldn't bring her eyes to meet his…it was just too much.
"I'm fine, thanks for asking. I, uh, just got caught up in the moment, I guess." Scarlett smiled falsely.
"Yeah, I know how that can happen. Hey, listen; can you do me a favor?" Falcon asked with a schoolboy smile on his face.
"Depends, I'm not stealing Beach Head's blankie for you again. Once is enough for me." Scarlett put her hands on her hips. Falcon laughed at the memory of stringing Beach's favorite blanket up the flag pole.
"Nah, nothing like that….I just wanted you to put in a good word for me with your roomie." Falcon flashed his player smile.
"Falcon, Diva's been with us for two years now. I think if she was interested she would have made a move by now." Scarlett honestly told him.
"Two years already? Well, sometimes the ladies are a little slow. They don't know how to approach someone as good looking as me." Falcon boasted.
"I'll tell her you were asking for her, but I wouldn't get your hopes up." Scarlett sighed.
"Tell her I asked, 'How you doin?'" Falcon nodded in a cocky fashion like that character on the show Friends.
"Ok…" Scarlett trailed off with a laugh as she continued on the way back to her quarters.
As she walked, she thought about the past couple of years and how things had changed so much in her life. Almost three years ago Lady Jaye and Flint had gotten married, moved off base, and quit the team. They had a little one now, a boy named James. He was almost a year and a half old now, Scarlett guessed. Scarlett and Duke had been the maid of honor and best man at the wedding. That was when things were going great. Scarlett had even caught the bouquet and Duke had caught the garter.
She had been offered the chance to move into Flint's quarters, as she was moving up in the chain of command. She neglected to take the new digs, as she was well aware of what Flint and Lady Jaye had done there. She was happy in her suite, even though the other bedroom stayed empty for almost a year before a new group of Joes were installed onto the team. Unfortunately, it was about the time that she and Duke started fighting constantly that she got a roommate, Diva. On her first night there, Diva proved herself by slamming the door in Duke's face after he made a really inappropriate comment to Scarlett. From that day on, Scarlett knew Diva had her back. It didn't matter that there was a seven year age difference; they still had plenty in common. Lady Jaye could never be replaced as her best friend and best roommate, but Diva was great.
Diva, also known as Chelsea Winters, was a computer genius and a very talented actress. She went on a lot of undercover missions as she could easily mimic any accent without flaw. She was a ham off duty, always trying to get a laugh out of her fellow teammates and her singing was beautiful. She was ALWAYS singing. She had been discovered after hacking into the Joe database from her home computer. When they first brought her in, Hawk was ready to give her an earful about how what she had done was a federal offense, but Mainframe had laughed seeing it was a woman who had cracked the security codes. Diva twisted his arm around hard and wouldn't let go until he admitted women can be just as talented with computers as men. Hawk knew there was something special in the girl and asked her to be a part of the team.
Scarlett swiped her key card through the lock mechanism and was greeted with sounds of high soprano notes coming from the bathroom.
"Diva!" Scarlett called wanting to make sure her room mate knew she was back.
"Hey, hey!" Diva emerged out of the bathroom. She was brushing her long wavy brown hair. It didn't take long for Diva to realize something was wrong with Scarlett. "What is it? Not a Les Miz fan?" Diva tried to joke about her singing.
"No, you know I love Les Miz. It's something big." Scarlett sighed sinking into the couch.
"Oh, what is it? Or, is it something you can't tell me?" Diva asked concerned about her friend.
"Well, Hawk is going to announce it later today so I guess it would be alright to tell you." Scarlett decided after thinking about the secretive matter. "Hawk's retiring."
"What? Oh my gosh…Wow! Who's going to take over?" Diva responded to the breaking news.
"Duke is going to be in command." Scarlett answered biting her lip.
"Duke…as in, your Duke?" Diva asked in shock. Scarlett nodded wincingly. "What? What is Hawk thinking? Apparently he forgot World War 3 happened on this base. What?" Diva exploded.
"He's thinking about the team. I'm not thrilled with Hawk's choice but Duke is a good leader." Scarlett replied still letting the news that Duke would be back in her life sink in.
"When is this change happening?" Diva inquired.
"In about a month. I'm guessing Duke will probably arrive a week or so earlier than that." Scarlett speculated.
"How are you feeling about all this?" Diva asked
"Honestly….I feel sick." Scarlett answered and raced into the bathroom. She gagged over the toilet bowl as her mind raced with all the memories of her former lover that she tried so hard to push away. The reality of Duke coming back was finally hitting her the more she talked about it. Her body ached and she started sobbing. The cement lid she had created over this episode of her life had just blown wide open. She sat down on the floor letting the tears silently fall from her eyes.
"Shana…" Diva softly spoke entering the bathroom. Scarlett felt her room mate sit down and put her arms around her.
"Chels, he hurt me so bad. How am I supposed to make this work?" Scarlett sobbed.
"I'm sure it won't be easy at first, but it will work out. Hawk has confidence in you and so do I." Diva tried to make Scarlett feel better. Diva let Scarlett cry for a few more minutes before making a suggestion. "Why don't you call Allison? She might have some words of wisdom." Scarlett looked up to see Diva holding their cordless phone.
"Thanks, Chels." Scarlett took the phone with one hand as she rubbed her tears away with another.
"I can't believe this is happening. It's like a real life soap opera." Diva shook her head.
"No kidding. Oh, speaking of soap operas, there was a certain gentleman whom I ran into today who asked about you. Rather he gave me a message to pass on…" Scarlett cleared her throat, "How you doin?" she asked in her best impersonation. Diva sighed in exasperation as she stood up.
"Will Falcon never quit? He's as persistent as Shipwreck! He is the most selfish, self centered, pig headed, ugh! It must run in the family!" Diva threw up her hands in disgust.
"You're smart not to get involved with him. I'm sure that road would lead to Heart Ache City." Scarlett nodded.
"Maybe we should teach Falcon a lesson on manners?" Diva grinned as an idea popped into her head.
"The more embarrassing, the better" Scarlett grinned liking where her roommate's mind was going.
"You go call Allison and let me work out a plan." Diva smiled leaving Scarlett alone to make her call.
Scarlett walked to the living room and plopped down on the couch while entering the Fairborne's number. Allison picked up on the third ring. While Flint worked a desk job at the Pentagon, Allie was a stay at home mom.
'Hello," a familiar voice answered on the other end.
"Allie, how are you?" Scarlett asked a bit nervous. It had been awhile since she had talked to her best friend.
"Shana! Oh my god, so good to hear from you!" Allison exclaimed.
"I'm ok. How are you?" she answered.
"I'm fine, Dash is fine, James is fine. I'm just feeding him. Let me put you on speaker phone" Allison answered. Shana could her baby noises in the background.
Scarlett heard the click over and she cooed, "Hi, James!" into the phone. She heard Lady Jaye tell her son that Aunt Shana was on the phone.
"Dash is home too, a rare day off…let me get him." Allison spoke and called for her husband.
"Yeah, there is some news I think you'd both be interested in hearing." Scarlett sighed mentally preparing herself for repeating the news again.
"Red! Long time, no hear!" a familiar voice entered the conversation.
"Hi, Dash, still charming as always." Shana laughed. She heard Allison laughing sarcastically in the background.
"So what's this news?" Allison asked after composing herself.
"Duke's coming back to the team." Scarlett simply stated. The phone was silent for a few moments.
"What? How?" Allison asked confused on the line. Scarlett could hear Dash in the background wondering the same thing.
"Hawk's retiring. Duke's taking his place. He's a lieutenant now." Scarlett reported. She still felt nauseous relaying the news, but not enough to have to rush to the bathroom this time.
"Is this a rumor or did you hear this from Hawk directly?" Allison questioned.
"Straight from the general's mouth. No one else knows yet. He's making an announcement later today. I came straight back to my quarters and told Diva and now I'm calling you." Scarlett answered.
"How can Hawk think this is a good idea?" Flint wondered out loud. Scarlett could hear James start to cry.
"Even James knows this isn't a good idea!" Allison cried making light of the baby's perfect timing.
"Hawk brought up good points about Duke being a great leader. I can't disagree with that." Scarlett answered truthfully.
"You two did make an amazing team." Dash quipped.
"How do you feel about this?" Allison asked trying to take the attention off of Flint's statement.
"At first, I was shocked and appalled. I think I scared Hawk into almost changing his mind. But, I know how much he wants to be with his family and spend time with his son….I couldn't let him give that up for my selfish reasons." Scarlett responded.
"Yeah, he's always felt guilty about not being there for his family more." Dash added.
"I just hope things do work out and that in the next couple weeks I can come to grips with this. I mean right now, if I saw him, I'd punch him in the face." Scarlett admitted freely.
"You have every right to feel that way after what he did. But you're right; you have to figure out how you are going to handle things. You definitely can't punch your commanding officer on the first day." Allison replied.
"What am I going to do?" Scarlett replied at a loss.
"You're going to show Duke how strong and resilient you are. He's going to get off that chopper and be blown away by how confident you are. Be the bigger person." Allison advised.
"You're absolutely right." Scarlett agreed. James began to wail.
"I have to go. The little one is getting fussy." Allison sighed.
"Ok, it was good talking to you." Scarlett replied.
"Keep us posted!" Allison demanded before they exchanged good byes.
Scarlett got up from the couch and placed the phone back on its charging cradle. She went into her room and closed the door behind her. She needed to be alone with her thoughts right now. Hawks words swirled around in her mind. Duke was coming back. Her thoughts drifted to the last few weeks they had been together.