TITLE: A Thing of Beauty (1/4)
AUTHOR: Angel Hungerford and Alison Faireborn
EMAIL: [email protected] / [email protected]
DISCLAIMER: Not ours. They belong to Marvel and Hasbro. We promise to put them back the way we found them. Elise and the story is ours
FEEDBACK: Um… yeah.
DISTRIBUTION: List archives. Otherwise ask.
RATING: PG-13, for language.
PAIRING: F/J
SUMMARY: "And here I thought Snake Eyes had the lock on secretive pasts."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Marissa Faireborn is a character from a Transformers episode, and it was pretty much implied that she was Flint's daughter. However, if you do some basic math, she'd have to be a reasonable age during the Joe run in order to be an adult when Transformers took place.
Chapter 1: Just Peachy
Hawk skimmed the passenger manifest for the train, trying to figure out if there was anyone that had motivated Cobra to hijack this particular train. "Elliott, Engels, Eskaflowne… Faireborn?" He stopped, one finger on the name. "Faireborn, Elise. Faireborn, Marissa. Hm." He stepped to the door of the command tent and called his warrant officer over. "Flint?"
Flint trotted over. "Yes, sir?"
"Come on in, Flint." Once they were safely inside, he asked, "Do you know an Elise Faireborn?"
Flint scowled. "Yes, unfortunately. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll shoot her."
Hawk wasn't sure what he'd expected the other man's response to be, but it wasn't this. He gave him a confused look and continued, "What about a Marissa Faireborn?"
He paled under his tan. "They have Marissa?"
"She's on the passenger manifest, yes."
He slammed his hand into the table in sudden uncontrolled rage. "Damn it!"
"I take it you know her as well," Hawk said mildly, trying both to calm Flint down and not react to the inexplicable temper tantrum.
"Yes," he snarled.
"Relatives?"
"Marissa is."
"But Elise is not?"
"Not any more."
"You want to explain that, soldier?" Hawk was losing patience with Flint's cryptic replies.
"She's my ex-wife."
"And Marissa?"
"My daughter."
Lady Jaye poked her head into the command tent. Hawk was seated at the field table, staring at a pile of papers. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
Hawk straightened up, pulling his eyes away from the list. "Yes, Lady Jaye, I did. Pull up a stool."
She sat down directly across from him, uncertain.
"I've been placed in an awkward position, and I need your help." He frowned. "It's Flint."
"Flint? What's wrong with him?"
"He's rather rattled. If I could afford to do this without him, I'd take him off the mission...assuming he'd go. Which he probably wouldn't. I need you to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"What's wrong with him, Hawk? Why is he rattled? What aren't you telling me?"
"He hasn't told you? His ex-wife and daughter are among the hostages."
She looked nearly as shocked as Flint had. "Umm, yeah, it just slipped my mind."
"I'm sorry, I assumed when he left here that he'd go to you."
Jaye felt her brain lock up. "No, he hasn't told me anything about being related to the hostages." Flint's an intensely private man, but this is ridiculous.
"Well, he was extremely angry – he probably just went somewhere to blow off steam."
"His ex-wife?!? His daughter?!?" There's something fundamentally wrong about finding out your lover has a daughter from your C.O. On a mission, no less.
"Yes. Elise and Marissa Faireborn. I called him in here to let him know they were on the manifest and to see if he was related to them." He frowned. "Apparently he is."
"Oh."
"And here I thought Snake Eyes had the lock on secretive pasts."
"I'll gladly go on the mission and keep an eye on – keep him in line, sir."
Thank you. Dismissed."
"Thank you for the information, sir." She saluted and left.
I'll go find Flint. I think I deserve an explanation.
She found Flint just past the north edge of camp, throwing rocks. "You usually use a body of water to skip rocks," she said. "A lake, or something."
"Yeah, well, nothing presented itself."
They stood there for a few minutes, silence broken only by the sound of pebbles hitting the ground. "Flint? You okay?" she asked finally, knowing how stupid it sounded. Of course he's not okay, genius. Adults don't pitch rocks at nothing when they're *okay.*
"Just peachy," he snarled, slamming a rock into a tree trunk.
"You don't have to bite my head off! I was just worried about you."
"Let me guess. Hawk sent you to baby-sit."
"No. Not at all."
"You just came out of the command tent looking like someone had dumped a grenade in your lap. What did he tell you, if not 'go look after Flint, he's irrational?'"
"He told me that Snake Eyes didn't have the market cornered on private pasts."
"If he thought that, he's in for a surprise."
"Are you okay?"
"I'll live."
"I know that much."
"Are you pissed?"
"I'm just fine. If you need to talk you know where to find me."
"That I do."
He pegged the tree with another rock.
Jaye tossed her head and walked away. "If you need me, feel free to find me."
"Don't hold your breath," he muttered.
-----
Hawk nodded sharply. "Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, check on the hostages. Make sure all of them are safe. Duke, you're with me." He followed Zartan across the field.
Destro nodded to the three of them. "If you'll come with me."
"They had better all be okay, Destro." LJ said dryly.
"We haven't laid a finger on them, Lady Jaye, I assure you."
"And for some reason I trust you."
At the front of the car, Flint announced, "We're from the American military, and we're negotiating for your release. Is everyone all right?"
They began to move slowly down the length of the passenger car. Jaye tried to say something reassuring to everyone, as did Roadblock. Flint just kept walking, glancing from side to side.
She offered smiles to the hostages, but really had eyes only for Flint. Who is she? What does she look like?
He locked eyes with someone, and stiffened further, though Jaye would have sworn such a thing was impossible.
Elise Faireborn was breathtaking; even pale and rumpled she was breathtaking. Her hair was a rich dark auburn, framing a dainty face with wide gray eyes. Jaye suddenly felt dirty, wrinkled, and plain. God, no wonder he married her; she could be a model. How could he find me attractive, after her? The girl sitting next to her had lighter red curls and Flint's eyes. It was the eyes that made the whole situation real; that made her believe that this strange girl really belonged to her partner.
He paused and put his hand on the shoulder of a teenaged girl. "Daddy," she whimpered, barely audible.
"It'll be okay, Punkin," he replied in a low, deep voice. "We'll get you out of here."
"Dashiell," the woman whispered.
"Shut up, Elise," he hissed.
Jaye saw Destro's eyes widen and he nodded to himself. Okay. This isn't a good sign.
"We'll do everything we can to get you out of here." Jaye put her hand on Flint's arm. "Flint, we need to check the rest of the passengers." Without a word, he continued along the car.
-----
Destro walked over to the Commander, almost whistling in his glee. "Commander, I have some good news. It appears we have an ace up our sleeves after all."
"Oh? What's that?"
"During the tour to show the Joes that our captives were, in fact, fine, one of them called Flint 'Daddy.'"
"Flint? Has a child?"
"I took the liberty of having one of the guards bring her here. I thought we might befriend her." Destro nodded at the Crimson Guard leading Elise and Marissa over to them. "Cobra Commander, this is Elise Faireborn and her daughter Marissa."
"Elise and Marissa. How lovely to meet you," he replied, bowing slightly.
Marissa straightened up. "Go. Fuck. Yourself."
"I would watch my tongue, dear, or I'll have to cut it out." Destro snarled.
"Now, now, Destro, don't threaten our guests. She obviously learned her manners from her father, but she's such a lovely child, otherwise."
"Of course, Commander, you are correct as always."
"What do you want with us?" Elise demanded.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Just to make you and your lovely daughter more comfortable."
"Then let us go."
"That is not doable, I'm afraid."
"I will ask again, what do you want?"
"We want the unconditional surrender of the Sierra Gordo government. You are just beautiful bait for a trap. As long as we have you, the Joes won't try to stop us in any way."
"Oh, you really think the entire American military is going to let you take over this country because you have two women hostage?" Elise put a hand on her hip in scorn.
"Not just *any* two women, my dear. Flint's wife and daughter. He wouldn't do anything that would harm a single hair on your precious heads."
"Idiot! I'm not his wife."
Destro scowled, "But she *is* his daughter, yes?"
"Yes," she admitted softly.
"So he's still putty in our hands. Then, my dear, you have no real purpose to me."
"You leave my mother alone!" Marissa snapped.
"Marissa, be quiet." She tilted her head at Destro and smiled charmingly. "You don't think he'd notice if you killed me?"
"Kill you, my dear? I only meant that you could go back to the train car. Your daughter, of course, will be remaining with us."
"I'm not leaving her here, especially not with a bunch of masked freaks."
"You don't have any say in the matter. Guards, take her away." Destro gestured at Mrs. Faireborn. She kicked and squirmed, scratched and bit, and Marissa tried to help, but she was dragged away.
"Now, my dear Marissa, there's no reason to get upset, she'll be fine. Your mother is just going back to the train."
"Let me go, you bastard!" Marissa struggled with the guards.
-----
She was sitting quietly in at the edge of camp, head down, trying desperately not to be noticed.
Flint came over and sat down next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked rather sharply. "And if you say, 'Nothing,' I'll strangle you where you sit."
"I'm just tired."
"It's not like you to cry because you're tired." The diffident tone belied the gentleness in his posture.
"Just a lot on my mind. I'll be okay."
"I have no doubt of that." His voice expressed his complete confidence in her. Now the tension showed in his body again, in the tightness around his jaw. "But you're upset now, and now is important."
"I know that. I'm not stupid. People's lives hang in the balance and *we* have to keep ourselves together to save them."
"It's in the job description somewhere." He took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. She'd never seen him this tense and still sitting in one place before.
"Dash," she said softly. "It will be okay, they will be fine." She looked away from him, "and then you can go back to your family."
"Why the fuck would I want to do that?" was his shocked reply.
She was floored by the vehemence of his response. "I just thought that... that was what you wanted."
"God, no."
"I – why didn't you tell me?" She sounded hurt, despite her best efforts.
He leaned back with a sigh. "I didn't– " he spread his hands. "I don't know. She's just – not that big a part of my life, really. I see Marissa at Thanksgiving or Christmas and for two weeks in the summer. Except for this year, when *Mommy Dearest* decided that she wanted to take her to Europe for the whole summer, and fuck custody. She's from a part of my life that I'd much rather forget about, to be honest. And – I couldn't figure out how. How *do* you explain that you're 35 years old and you have a fifteen-year-old daughter?"
"Just like that. I would have understood."
"I – I'm sorry. And I want to apologize in advance for how much of a bastard I'm going to be until all this is over."
"Only if I can still get upset once in a while too." She smiled.
"Absolutely." He half-smiled back. "One of the reasons I left Elise – aside from the fact that we can't get along for more than five minutes at a stretch – is that I hated the person I became when I was around her. And I can't seem to help being that person when she's nearby."
"When Hawk called me into his office to ask if I'd come to keep you in line I didn't know what to expect. To be quite honest, when I found out, I was scared. Scared that I'd lose you... to them. And I've just been waiting for you to tell me that when this was done so were we."
"Oh, no. No. I'm sure at some point I will be brought face-to-face with Elise, and you'll see exactly why I have no interest in going back to her." He shuddered. "I'd rather elope with the Baroness."
"Go rest. You need to keep your head on straight. I'll take your watch, I'm not tired."
"You're just amazing, you know that?"
"It's in the job description somewhere, I think."
"Good night, Lady Jaye."
"Good night, Flint." He disappeared into his tent.
-----
Two days later, she found him sitting on the edge of camp. At least he's not throwing rocks. "Flint, the prisoners are being released as a measure of goodwill."
He leapt to his feet. "Where?" he demanded with harsh intensity.
"At the train station a few miles from here."
"Are we going?"
"Yes. I asked Hawk if we could go. Get in, I'm driving."
"Thank you."
The station was surrounded by cars and TV camera crews. "I'll wait here for you."
He headed across the platform. A figure separated itself from the crowd and threw itself at Flint.
Jaye saw him walk over to him and turned away. Goodbye, Flint, my love. I hope you are happy with them.
AUTHOR: Angel Hungerford and Alison Faireborn
EMAIL: [email protected] / [email protected]
DISCLAIMER: Not ours. They belong to Marvel and Hasbro. We promise to put them back the way we found them. Elise and the story is ours
FEEDBACK: Um… yeah.
DISTRIBUTION: List archives. Otherwise ask.
RATING: PG-13, for language.
PAIRING: F/J
SUMMARY: "And here I thought Snake Eyes had the lock on secretive pasts."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Marissa Faireborn is a character from a Transformers episode, and it was pretty much implied that she was Flint's daughter. However, if you do some basic math, she'd have to be a reasonable age during the Joe run in order to be an adult when Transformers took place.
Chapter 1: Just Peachy
Hawk skimmed the passenger manifest for the train, trying to figure out if there was anyone that had motivated Cobra to hijack this particular train. "Elliott, Engels, Eskaflowne… Faireborn?" He stopped, one finger on the name. "Faireborn, Elise. Faireborn, Marissa. Hm." He stepped to the door of the command tent and called his warrant officer over. "Flint?"
Flint trotted over. "Yes, sir?"
"Come on in, Flint." Once they were safely inside, he asked, "Do you know an Elise Faireborn?"
Flint scowled. "Yes, unfortunately. Maybe I'll get lucky and they'll shoot her."
Hawk wasn't sure what he'd expected the other man's response to be, but it wasn't this. He gave him a confused look and continued, "What about a Marissa Faireborn?"
He paled under his tan. "They have Marissa?"
"She's on the passenger manifest, yes."
He slammed his hand into the table in sudden uncontrolled rage. "Damn it!"
"I take it you know her as well," Hawk said mildly, trying both to calm Flint down and not react to the inexplicable temper tantrum.
"Yes," he snarled.
"Relatives?"
"Marissa is."
"But Elise is not?"
"Not any more."
"You want to explain that, soldier?" Hawk was losing patience with Flint's cryptic replies.
"She's my ex-wife."
"And Marissa?"
"My daughter."
Lady Jaye poked her head into the command tent. Hawk was seated at the field table, staring at a pile of papers. "You wanted to see me, sir?"
Hawk straightened up, pulling his eyes away from the list. "Yes, Lady Jaye, I did. Pull up a stool."
She sat down directly across from him, uncertain.
"I've been placed in an awkward position, and I need your help." He frowned. "It's Flint."
"Flint? What's wrong with him?"
"He's rather rattled. If I could afford to do this without him, I'd take him off the mission...assuming he'd go. Which he probably wouldn't. I need you to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."
"What's wrong with him, Hawk? Why is he rattled? What aren't you telling me?"
"He hasn't told you? His ex-wife and daughter are among the hostages."
She looked nearly as shocked as Flint had. "Umm, yeah, it just slipped my mind."
"I'm sorry, I assumed when he left here that he'd go to you."
Jaye felt her brain lock up. "No, he hasn't told me anything about being related to the hostages." Flint's an intensely private man, but this is ridiculous.
"Well, he was extremely angry – he probably just went somewhere to blow off steam."
"His ex-wife?!? His daughter?!?" There's something fundamentally wrong about finding out your lover has a daughter from your C.O. On a mission, no less.
"Yes. Elise and Marissa Faireborn. I called him in here to let him know they were on the manifest and to see if he was related to them." He frowned. "Apparently he is."
"Oh."
"And here I thought Snake Eyes had the lock on secretive pasts."
"I'll gladly go on the mission and keep an eye on – keep him in line, sir."
Thank you. Dismissed."
"Thank you for the information, sir." She saluted and left.
I'll go find Flint. I think I deserve an explanation.
She found Flint just past the north edge of camp, throwing rocks. "You usually use a body of water to skip rocks," she said. "A lake, or something."
"Yeah, well, nothing presented itself."
They stood there for a few minutes, silence broken only by the sound of pebbles hitting the ground. "Flint? You okay?" she asked finally, knowing how stupid it sounded. Of course he's not okay, genius. Adults don't pitch rocks at nothing when they're *okay.*
"Just peachy," he snarled, slamming a rock into a tree trunk.
"You don't have to bite my head off! I was just worried about you."
"Let me guess. Hawk sent you to baby-sit."
"No. Not at all."
"You just came out of the command tent looking like someone had dumped a grenade in your lap. What did he tell you, if not 'go look after Flint, he's irrational?'"
"He told me that Snake Eyes didn't have the market cornered on private pasts."
"If he thought that, he's in for a surprise."
"Are you okay?"
"I'll live."
"I know that much."
"Are you pissed?"
"I'm just fine. If you need to talk you know where to find me."
"That I do."
He pegged the tree with another rock.
Jaye tossed her head and walked away. "If you need me, feel free to find me."
"Don't hold your breath," he muttered.
-----
Hawk nodded sharply. "Flint, Lady Jaye, Roadblock, check on the hostages. Make sure all of them are safe. Duke, you're with me." He followed Zartan across the field.
Destro nodded to the three of them. "If you'll come with me."
"They had better all be okay, Destro." LJ said dryly.
"We haven't laid a finger on them, Lady Jaye, I assure you."
"And for some reason I trust you."
At the front of the car, Flint announced, "We're from the American military, and we're negotiating for your release. Is everyone all right?"
They began to move slowly down the length of the passenger car. Jaye tried to say something reassuring to everyone, as did Roadblock. Flint just kept walking, glancing from side to side.
She offered smiles to the hostages, but really had eyes only for Flint. Who is she? What does she look like?
He locked eyes with someone, and stiffened further, though Jaye would have sworn such a thing was impossible.
Elise Faireborn was breathtaking; even pale and rumpled she was breathtaking. Her hair was a rich dark auburn, framing a dainty face with wide gray eyes. Jaye suddenly felt dirty, wrinkled, and plain. God, no wonder he married her; she could be a model. How could he find me attractive, after her? The girl sitting next to her had lighter red curls and Flint's eyes. It was the eyes that made the whole situation real; that made her believe that this strange girl really belonged to her partner.
He paused and put his hand on the shoulder of a teenaged girl. "Daddy," she whimpered, barely audible.
"It'll be okay, Punkin," he replied in a low, deep voice. "We'll get you out of here."
"Dashiell," the woman whispered.
"Shut up, Elise," he hissed.
Jaye saw Destro's eyes widen and he nodded to himself. Okay. This isn't a good sign.
"We'll do everything we can to get you out of here." Jaye put her hand on Flint's arm. "Flint, we need to check the rest of the passengers." Without a word, he continued along the car.
-----
Destro walked over to the Commander, almost whistling in his glee. "Commander, I have some good news. It appears we have an ace up our sleeves after all."
"Oh? What's that?"
"During the tour to show the Joes that our captives were, in fact, fine, one of them called Flint 'Daddy.'"
"Flint? Has a child?"
"I took the liberty of having one of the guards bring her here. I thought we might befriend her." Destro nodded at the Crimson Guard leading Elise and Marissa over to them. "Cobra Commander, this is Elise Faireborn and her daughter Marissa."
"Elise and Marissa. How lovely to meet you," he replied, bowing slightly.
Marissa straightened up. "Go. Fuck. Yourself."
"I would watch my tongue, dear, or I'll have to cut it out." Destro snarled.
"Now, now, Destro, don't threaten our guests. She obviously learned her manners from her father, but she's such a lovely child, otherwise."
"Of course, Commander, you are correct as always."
"What do you want with us?" Elise demanded.
"Nothing, nothing at all. Just to make you and your lovely daughter more comfortable."
"Then let us go."
"That is not doable, I'm afraid."
"I will ask again, what do you want?"
"We want the unconditional surrender of the Sierra Gordo government. You are just beautiful bait for a trap. As long as we have you, the Joes won't try to stop us in any way."
"Oh, you really think the entire American military is going to let you take over this country because you have two women hostage?" Elise put a hand on her hip in scorn.
"Not just *any* two women, my dear. Flint's wife and daughter. He wouldn't do anything that would harm a single hair on your precious heads."
"Idiot! I'm not his wife."
Destro scowled, "But she *is* his daughter, yes?"
"Yes," she admitted softly.
"So he's still putty in our hands. Then, my dear, you have no real purpose to me."
"You leave my mother alone!" Marissa snapped.
"Marissa, be quiet." She tilted her head at Destro and smiled charmingly. "You don't think he'd notice if you killed me?"
"Kill you, my dear? I only meant that you could go back to the train car. Your daughter, of course, will be remaining with us."
"I'm not leaving her here, especially not with a bunch of masked freaks."
"You don't have any say in the matter. Guards, take her away." Destro gestured at Mrs. Faireborn. She kicked and squirmed, scratched and bit, and Marissa tried to help, but she was dragged away.
"Now, my dear Marissa, there's no reason to get upset, she'll be fine. Your mother is just going back to the train."
"Let me go, you bastard!" Marissa struggled with the guards.
-----
She was sitting quietly in at the edge of camp, head down, trying desperately not to be noticed.
Flint came over and sat down next to her. "What's wrong?" he asked rather sharply. "And if you say, 'Nothing,' I'll strangle you where you sit."
"I'm just tired."
"It's not like you to cry because you're tired." The diffident tone belied the gentleness in his posture.
"Just a lot on my mind. I'll be okay."
"I have no doubt of that." His voice expressed his complete confidence in her. Now the tension showed in his body again, in the tightness around his jaw. "But you're upset now, and now is important."
"I know that. I'm not stupid. People's lives hang in the balance and *we* have to keep ourselves together to save them."
"It's in the job description somewhere." He took off his hat and ran his hand through his hair. She'd never seen him this tense and still sitting in one place before.
"Dash," she said softly. "It will be okay, they will be fine." She looked away from him, "and then you can go back to your family."
"Why the fuck would I want to do that?" was his shocked reply.
She was floored by the vehemence of his response. "I just thought that... that was what you wanted."
"God, no."
"I – why didn't you tell me?" She sounded hurt, despite her best efforts.
He leaned back with a sigh. "I didn't– " he spread his hands. "I don't know. She's just – not that big a part of my life, really. I see Marissa at Thanksgiving or Christmas and for two weeks in the summer. Except for this year, when *Mommy Dearest* decided that she wanted to take her to Europe for the whole summer, and fuck custody. She's from a part of my life that I'd much rather forget about, to be honest. And – I couldn't figure out how. How *do* you explain that you're 35 years old and you have a fifteen-year-old daughter?"
"Just like that. I would have understood."
"I – I'm sorry. And I want to apologize in advance for how much of a bastard I'm going to be until all this is over."
"Only if I can still get upset once in a while too." She smiled.
"Absolutely." He half-smiled back. "One of the reasons I left Elise – aside from the fact that we can't get along for more than five minutes at a stretch – is that I hated the person I became when I was around her. And I can't seem to help being that person when she's nearby."
"When Hawk called me into his office to ask if I'd come to keep you in line I didn't know what to expect. To be quite honest, when I found out, I was scared. Scared that I'd lose you... to them. And I've just been waiting for you to tell me that when this was done so were we."
"Oh, no. No. I'm sure at some point I will be brought face-to-face with Elise, and you'll see exactly why I have no interest in going back to her." He shuddered. "I'd rather elope with the Baroness."
"Go rest. You need to keep your head on straight. I'll take your watch, I'm not tired."
"You're just amazing, you know that?"
"It's in the job description somewhere, I think."
"Good night, Lady Jaye."
"Good night, Flint." He disappeared into his tent.
-----
Two days later, she found him sitting on the edge of camp. At least he's not throwing rocks. "Flint, the prisoners are being released as a measure of goodwill."
He leapt to his feet. "Where?" he demanded with harsh intensity.
"At the train station a few miles from here."
"Are we going?"
"Yes. I asked Hawk if we could go. Get in, I'm driving."
"Thank you."
The station was surrounded by cars and TV camera crews. "I'll wait here for you."
He headed across the platform. A figure separated itself from the crowd and threw itself at Flint.
Jaye saw him walk over to him and turned away. Goodbye, Flint, my love. I hope you are happy with them.