Late that evening, Lady Jaye returned to her quarters. As she swiped her key card and opened the door, she heard the shower running.
"Scarlett must be in," she smiled to herself.
Looking at them now, no one would believe that Lady Jaye and Scarlett had shared a very rocky start. Scarlett had been the only woman on the Joe team for almost a year until Cover Girl came along. Being in very different roles, they had easily accepted one another. But, when Lady Jaye joined the team about a year after that, Scarlett had had a much harder time accepting her. Not only was Lady Jaye Intel like herself, but both were strong, independent women with fiery tempers and to make matters worse, they had immediately taken a dislike to one another. It didn't take much for sparks to fly and their verbal arguments from this time became the stuff of Joe legend.
Cover Girl was wise enough to stay of it, knowing they'd either learn to get along or end up killing each other. Either way, peace would eventually be restored. She happily escaped to the Motor Pool each day, leaving Scarlett and Jaye to work things out for themselves.
Then one day, still early on in their relationship, they were paired up against each other in hand to hand. Neither holding back on their pent up anger and frustration, they attacked one another furiously. The other Joes gathered around the mat, spurring them on with their shouts and cheers that would erupt whenever one of the women made contact with the other. Both giving and taking hits equally, Scarlett the stronger and better skilled while Jaye the faster and more determined, they kept it up until they were both tiring. Little by little, the intensity and furiousness of the fight slowed until they dropped their hands and eyed one another thoughtfully. Both bruised and dripping with sweat, they had had to call it a draw. In that moment, they gained a mutual respect, if not budding friendship, toward one another.
As Scarlett had entered their shared living space later that day, she halted suddenly, spotting Lady Jaye on the couch holding an ice pack to her eye.
Dropping the ice, Lady Jaye stood up and held out her hand toward Scarlett, "Alison," she said with a warm smile.
"Shana," Scarlett had responded immediately. Lowering the ice pack on her own chin she grinned and shook Lady Jaye's hand.
Later, as they sat on the couch together, holding their their ice packs and chatting, they realised it made much better sense to be friends than enemies.
Shifting gingerly and wincing for her trouble, Jaye decided it would certainly be less painful.
Listening to the running shower, Lady Jaye grabbed a cola from the refrigerator and sat down on the couch with a yawn. Helping Flint pack for the upcoming mission to Japan had been more challenging than she thought. Going over the mission again had been even more exhausting. She was now so tired she wanted nothing more than to take a shower and go to bed. She heard the water shut off and moments later, watched as Scarlett emerged from the bathroom. She had a fluffy towel wrapped tightly around her body. Another one was wrapped around her striking red hair.
"Jaye, you're back," she said cheerfully, "All set for tomorrow?"
"I think so. Any hot water left, or did you use it all?"
"No, there's still plenty. I took a quick one. Look…," Scarlett said shivering slightly. "I'm gonna get dressed. Why don't you go ahead and jump in? We can talk after."
Lady Jaye smiled. Scarlett always got cold easily. "Thanks, I think I will." She rose from the couch as Scarlett entered her room and shut the door.
The hot steamy shower refreshed her. She closed her eyes and let her mind drift. She was ready. Exhausted, but ready. She and Flint had decided to call it a day when they had finished his packing and gone over the mission once more, detail by minute detail. Then, they had grabbed a quick meal from the mess and after, he had walked her back to her quarters. At the door, he said goodnight, intending to leave immediately to try to catch up on some of his own much needed sleep, but had found himself lingering. She wasn't sure how long they had been standing in front of her door when Shipwreck rounded the corner and gave a catcall and they had both jumped apart.
Her lips curved into a small smile as she leaned back and let the water run over her face.
"Hey Jaye, are you alright? Did you fall asleep in there?" Scarlett was yelling through the bathroom door.
"No, just getting out," she yelled back, reluctantly turning the faucet handle and shutting off the water.
Lady Jaye stepped out of the shower, towel dried and slipped into her robe. When she opened the door, she smiled at Scarlett curled up on the couch in mismatched gray and navy sweats and went to her room to get dressed. She came out a few minutes later wearing a pair of loose shorts, a tight white t shirt and an unzipped gray hooded sweatshirt.
"Feeling better?" Scarlett asked.
"Much better," Lady Jaye smiled. She took a seat on the couch next to Scarlett and folded her legs up under her.
"So, what time are you leaving?"
"We have to be at the airport by 0400. I'll try not to wake you," she said teasingly.
"Gee, thanks a bunch," she said sarcastically and then her eyes softened. "Take care out there, okay?" Scarlett leaned over and wrapped her arms around her best friend in a hug.
"You bet," Lady Jaye said softly, pulling away. "And now I really do need to get some beauty sleep," she stifled a yawn. "Good night, Scarlett." She rose and headed to her room.
"Night, Jaye," Scarlett's eyes followed her worriedly.
"Flint, do you want the aisle seat or the middle seat", Lady Jaye motioned as she handed her carry on bag to Flint to place in the overhead bin next to his own bag.
"Aisle. There's never enough leg room on these flights."
She looked at him, nodding her head in sympathy. Folding his large frame into economy class seats was always uncomfortable.
"Well, I hope you can get comfortable enough to sleep a bit," she said, sliding into the middle seat. "Our flight is 10 hours."
"If I can't, at least I can walk the aisles," he said sitting down next to her and taking a glance around. "We are in a good location. Close enough to get to the bathroom easily but far enough away not to have to smell them," he wrinkled his nose. "Speaking of bathrooms," he glanced at her with a sly grin, "Don't get yourself locked in there again."
"Flint!" she cried, punching him on the arm, "That's NOT funny!," she said in exasperation. Her eyes flashed, the soft brown deepening to almost black as bright color spread rapidly over her face. She hated being reminded of the time she got locked in a plane's bathroom when the two of them were on a mission together. She'd had to stay in there until the plane landed and the airline company could send a locksmith to pick the lock to release her. It had been extremely embarrassing.
Flint chuckled softly, settling back into his chair and looking straight ahead. Safe on the opposite side of the door, he had thought the whole thing very funny.
Fuming, Lady Jaye dropped into her seat and pulled the belt tight over her lap for take off, not before shifting as far away from Flint as possible in her narrow plane seat, which unfortunately wasn't far enough in Jaye's mind.
Flint watched her appreciatively from the corner of his eye. As usual, an angry Jaye was a sight to behold.
Her cold silence went from amusing to uncomfortable to exasperating. Finally, after a torturous hour, Flint reached over and took her hand. At first she tried to pull away, but he held on to her tightly. Tilting his head, he whispered into her ear, "I'm sorry," as his thumb began rubbing circles on her captured hand.
Her shoulders slowly relaxed. Finally, without looking at him, she whispered so that softly that was barely audible, "Fine. You're forgiven."
Still holding her hand, Flint leaned back and smiled. She wound her fingers through his and leaned back, too. Time was too short to stay angry at each other.
The rest of the flight was uneventful and nine hours later the plane landed in Narita. Lady Jaye and Flint retrieved their carry on bags and exited the plane, heading for customs. Soon, they were taking their place in the long line of travellers.
Noticing a poster advertising a sushi restaurant located in the airport terminal, Jaye slanted her eyes and smiled, "Welcome back to Japan, Flint."
"I wonder if there's a McDonald's around," he muttered, turning slightly green as he eyed the display of colourful sushi on the poster.
"Oh, come on, Flint. It's not that bad," she rolled her eyes, "Be adventurous for once."