A/N: Once again, I apologize for the delay in posting. The end of summer was pretty busy for me, but now with us getting back into a normal routine I hope to publish fairly regularly.

Flint looked at the clock. It was nearing mid-afternoon, and he had a long trip back to Arizona ahead of him. But despite the fact that he had been packed since early that morning, he still couldn't bring himself to leave.

His latest excuse was waiting until Alison finished nursing Marissa so he could say a proper goodbye to both of them. As Alison shifted on the couch to bring the baby up to her shoulder he knew that time had come. Once he heard Marissa burp, he offered to take her to her room to be changed.

He laid Marissa gently on the changing table, and paused a moment just to watch her. They had hung colorful items on the wall to keep her occupied during changing time, and she had finally discovered them the previous day. Flint watched as she stared intently at the one square while her tiny legs and arms flailed around.

"I would feel a lot better about you leaving if I had any idea of when you might be coming back," Alison said as she walked into the room.

"You and me both," Flint replied. "As soon as I get back and get caught up on the latest happenings, I want to try and make a schedule."

Alison sat down in the rocking chair. The one thing that was alleviating Flint's guilt was that she appeared to be almost completely recovered from the birth. He knew she was still in some pain, but at least she was mobile.

He turned his attention to the task at hand. As he was redressing Marissa he heard a sniffling sound. At first he thought it was coming from the baby but he quickly realized it was Alison who was crying. He put Marissa in her crib and turned his attention to his wife. He knelt in front of her and pulled her into his arms.

"Everything makes me cry now," she said as she relaxed against him. "This morning I was sobbing during a car commercial."

Alison had never been one to hide her emotions, whether it was anger, happiness or sadness. And while he could blame hormones for exacerbating her mood swings, he had to guess his impending departure was mostly to blame. "I'm sorry," he said.

She pushed him away. "I know you are. That doesn't exactly change anything, though." Before he could reply, she let out a sigh and apologized again. "I told you, I'm a mess. You should go. The sooner I start single parenting, the sooner I get used to it."

Flint reluctantly rose. "I know you can do this, but if you want a helping hand, remember my mom said she will come back anytime you need her."

The look Alison shot him was enough of an answer. Flint couldn't help but laugh. "Come on, even you admitted you had a good time while they were here."

"You're right. They were a big help, and I learned a lot. But like I said, I now have to learn how to do this on my own."

Flint knew she was right. He called for a cab to take him to Andrews Air Force base, where his Skystriker had been parked the previous few weeks. Once it arrived he gave Alison and Marissa a farewell hug and kiss. The flight back went without a hitch, and soon he was landing the Skystriker on the runway. He came to a stop outside the hangar and climbed out. After signing off the required paperwork and making small talk with Lift-Ticket, Flint headed towards HQ. Technically, he was still on leave for a few hours, and he planned on taking advantage that. He had briefly considered getting a jump start on what he assumed was a massive to-do list, but he was tired and still upset over the idea of leaving Alison and Marissa behind. All he wanted to do was head back to his apartment and sleep for hours.

So when his phone rang he groaned. Especially when he saw it was Duke. He cursed at the fact that he couldn't be back on base for minutes without someone needing his attention. He debated ignoring it, but he figured that if Duke was calling, he knew he was back on base. And since Flint figured he was probably going to spend the next few months asking for favors to spend time in DC, he needed to not piss Duke off. So he answered it.

"Hey buddy, welcome back. How's the baby?"

Flint grinned. He assumed that was a question he would be hearing a lot the next few days. He couldn't be with his daughter, but he could at least brag about her. "She's perfect. Which made it hard to leave them," Flint admitted.

"I bet. I hate to do this to you on your first night back, but something came up. I need you in my office as soon as you can get here."

Flint sighed. "Hauser, I'm exhausted. Can it wait until morning?"

"No, I'm sorry, it can't."

"Fine. I'll be there in a couple of minutes." He mumbled to himself as he walked over to Duke's office. He wondered what could be so important that Duke couldn't wait the few hours. He grumbled several choice words before he knocked on Duke's door. He was told to enter, and when he opened the door he was greeted with a cheer from about a half dozen of his teammates.

Duke was the first to walk over. "Sorry to lie to you, but you know this is Joe tradition. Congratulations!" Duke then hugged him, patted his back and handed him the glass in his hand. "Cheers!"

Flint grinned at his teammates. He tipped the glass in salute to them and then took a hearty sip.

"How's Lady Jaye doing?" Shipwreck asked. Duke glared at him and the sailor shrugged. "I don't care what happened, she's always going to be Lady Jaye to me."

Flint took another sip. It was good stuff, and he could already feel his tension slipping away. "She's doing well. At times it's been a bit of a learning curve, but she's hanging in there."

"Do you have any photos?" Roadblock asked.

Flint grinned. He had hoped someone would ask. He dropped his bag on the ground, unzipped it and pulled out an envelope. Inside were the dozens of photos he had taken the last couple of weeks. "I have just a few."

As the guys passed around the pictures, there was a knock at the door. Flint went over to answer it and was surprised to see Anvil on the other side. "I heard there was a little celebratory party going on."

"Yes, sir," Flint answered as he wondered if it was going to be shut down.

"Oh, good. I thought I was too late. I brought a gift." He then pulled out a box of cigars.

Alpine whistled. "You have great taste, General."

"Thank you," General Bradshaw said as he opened the box and handed Flint the first cigar. "Congratulations on the birth of your daughter."

Flint took the cigar. Despite the happiness he was feeling at the moment, he couldn't help but think back to Alison's prediction the night she told him she was pregnant. She had been exactly right in what she had expected to happen. But he was grateful that despite that, they were happy and making the situation work.

They continued to smoke and drink, and Flint lost all track of time. Until his cell phone rang. As soon as it did, he remembered that he never called Alison to tell her that he arrived safely. He walked to the corner of the room and answered it.

"Oh good. So you didn't die in a fiery plane crash in the Midwest."

"Al, I'm so sorry. Duke called me into a meeting as soon as I returned. I haven't had a chance to call you."

"Oh no, I'm sorry. Anything serious?"

Shipwreck stumbled over. "It's a very important meeting. A matter of national security!"

Flint hoped that she didn't hear him, but there was no such luck.

"Never mind. It does sound very important."

Flint pushed Shipwreck away. "I'm sorry about that. The guys are just throwing me a surprise little get- together. I've passed around photos of Marissa, and they all say she's beautiful."

"That sounds nice. I'll let you go."

"No, it's okay. I can still talk." But no sooner were the words out of his mouth that there was a roar behind him, and then a couple of the Joes started cackling in laughter.

"Dash, it's fine. I have to go to bed anyway. Call me tomorrow."

"Okay, and Al, I love you."

She mumbled her response and then hung up. He felt bad for her. But before he could dwell on his thoughts, Shipwreck spoke up. "Hey, guys, quiet. I think I hear something. Does anybody else hear that? It sounds like a horse being whipped. Oh, no, wait, I'm wrong. It's just Flint."

Despite himself, Flint laughed as he turned around. "'Wreck, I know you're just jealous, so I'm going to let that slide."

"Damn right I'm jealous. You know one of my life long dreams is to bang…"

"Shipwreck!" Duke cut him off before he could finish his train of thought.

The next morning Flint woke up with a groan. Despite the fact that he had his first uninterrupted sleep in nearly three weeks the drinks he had the previous night had given him what felt like the beginnings of a decent hangover. He climbed out of bed, took a couple of Advil, and picked up his phone. He had purposely set his alarm a few minutes early so he could check in with Alison and see how their first night alone went.

However, she didn't answer. Flint left a quick message and then brought the phone with him into the bathroom while he showered, in case she called back. As the time ticked away, Flint tried to keep his concern in check. There was a completely simple and reasonable explanation why she didn't answer – she was still asleep. But Flint couldn't help but envision much more tragic scenarios.

Right before leaving for OC, he tried one more time and he still got her voicemail. He forced himself not to worry as he made his way to the conference room. Anvil got right down to business as soon as Flint took his seat. He quickly recapped the previous couple of weeks. Flint learned that not much had progressed since the last time he talked to Hawk and Duke.

"We've been working with local police to backtrack the Dreadnoks actions," Anvil explained.

"I have an update on that," Falcon said. He skimmed through his notes. "The bartender at one of the nearby dives confirmed that a 'pink-haired biker chick' spent quite a few nights there. She mostly met with a man named Stephen Taylor, who we have confirmed was a contractor that worked on the Fort Meade Prison construction. However, one night she spent some time with an 'exotic dark-skinned woman'. The bartender remembered this meeting as he had hoped to see some 'hot girl-on-girl' action. So he was disappointed when the two left separately."

Duke frowned. "Just because they met up with a bar, doesn't mean anything. She could just be an old friend. And even if she is somehow connected to the outage, that description isn't a lot to go on."

"No, but luckily Spanky's has surveillance cameras. If we can capture an image, we can run her through the known watch lists. I've got Firewall going through the footage now," Falcon answered.

"Who?" Flint asked.

Anvil smiled. "I forgot that you haven't met our newest recruit, Michelle LaChance."

That was surprising news to Flint. "I thought the Joe team was under an incoming personnel freeze?"

"Technically, we still are. Michelle was busted for hacking into one too many US government web sites. Instead of sending her off to jail, someone had the bright idea to use her skills for good. The Jugglers don't completely trust her so they're using the excuse that we're a little light in the intelligence department to send her to us."

Flint's phone rang. He was relieved to see that it was Alison. Normally he wouldn't consider answering a personal phone call during OC, but he figured this was a time to make an exception. He excused himself, and went out into the hallway to answer. As soon as he heard Alison's voice he could tell something was wrong. "Alison, what happened?"

"Nothing. At least I think it's nothing. Marissa had a really bad night. She spit up twice during her overnight feedings and then cried the rest of the night. I couldn't tell if she was hungry or her stomach was hurting her, so I tried everything, but nothing worked."

"Should you take her to the doctor?"

"Supposedly not. I called them as soon as they opened, and a nurse talked to me. She said that an infant's digestive system is very sensitive, so she might just be reacting to something I ate. Or it could be a minor case of acid reflux, or a bad case of gas. She told me to keep an eye on her today, and if she still seems to be in pain, or vomits more forcefully than I should bring her in.

"As soon as I hung up the phone, she woke to eat and seems to be fine now. But I'm too keyed up and paranoid that I'm afraid to take my eyes off of her."

"She sounds like she's okay," Flint said trying to soothe her.

"I know that," Alison growled. "But that doesn't mean I'm going to stop staring at her."

"Maybe Lydia could come over and keep you company?"

Alison sighed. "I called her. But her youngest is sick, so she doesn't want to spread any germs to Marissa."

"I'm sorry, Al, I don't know what else I can do."

"Damn it Dash, I'm not asking you to do anything. Since I don't expect you to drop everything and fly back here to help me out, I'm just venting."

Flint didn't have a comeback. Instead he apologized again. And with an angry, 'I have to go' Alison hung up on him.

Flint went back into the conference room. Duke asked how Alison was doing, and Flint decided to be honest. "Terrible. Marissa was up all night with an upset stomach. Despite the doctor's office telling Alison that is normal, she's still worried that something is wrong. I'm sure the baby is fine, but since Alison is stressed out and overtired she's having a hard time believing that."

"Should I send Elaine over?" Anvil asked.

Flint considered the offer. He knew that Alison, would be irate at the idea of the general's wife just showing up. But Flint knew she needed the help, and he hoped she wouldn't be too stubborn to accept it. "I think that might be a good idea, if it's not too much of an inconvenience for her."

Anvil waved him off. "The boys are in school during the day, so she has the free time. Give me your address and let me just make the call."

Anvil walked over to the corner of the room. He kept his voice low so Flint couldn't hear the exact conversation, but based on how animated the general got, he could tell that Elaine was probably not as immediately acceptable to the idea. However, Anvil hung up and walked back over with a smile. "She just needs to wrap up a couple of things, but she'll head over before lunch."