AUTHOR'S NOTE: This story is slightly AU – in RAH: Skeletons in the Closet, it's revealed that Destro and Lady Jaye are related, though it's never explained how they are related.

Disclaimer: I don't own GI Joe...don't sue. Thanks!

Family

By Red Blaze 16

There was a time when weapons were all that James McCullen thought about. Guns. Bombs. Tanks. Planes. Buying. Selling. Making money. The McCullens had been selling weapons for hundreds of years and sometimes they even sold to both sides. War meant profit to the McCullen family. James continued that family tradition.

Outside of his home, he was known as Destro. Arms dealer to Cobra, the world's most dangerous terrorist organization in the world. One of the most cunning and insidious men in the world, Destro was to be feared. But that was outside his family home.

Inside his family home in Scotland, James had to put aside his Destro persona, because it was not welcomed by the woman who was sharing breakfast with him. Before he knew about their relationship, he was Destro all the time. After he found out, he made steps to get to know her and just be James McCullen. In the beginning, it was more than awkward. In fact, once he knew who she was, he had had to trick her into returning to Scotland, so they could get to know each other. That meeting did not go well.

While they had gotten to the point of sharing a meal together, they still couldn't sit next to each other. James would sit at one end of the table, while she would sit at the other. They rarely talked with each other. If someone had told him five years ago he would be enjoying a meal in his home with her, he would have laughed.

Wearing a simple, light green, button down blouse over a pair of charcoal-gray slacks, Alison Hart-Burnett was still not totally comfortable with sharing a meal with James. The peace between them was tentative. She knew, like he did, that they didn't discuss the outside world when they were together. In fact, it was a house rule.

Like James, outside of the home, she had another identity. Alison was known by many as Lady Jaye, a member of GI Joe and sworn enemy of Cobra. But inside their family's home, she was Alison Hart-Burnette. Likewise, the masked man sitting at the other end of the table was James McCullen, not Destro. It was easier for him to forget. All she had to do was switch clothes and he could forget she was a Joe. But even if he was wearing a casual black suit, like he wore this morning, it was too easy for her to think about him being Destro, since he never took the silver mask off. But still, they tried.

To put it mildly, it came as a shock to both of them to find out they were related. At first, he was angry. His lover, the Baroness, told him while he stood outside his ruined family home. A ruined home he blamed on Alison. To be related to a Joe? The Joe that had destroyed his family's home? It was beyond ridiculous. While he knew that the Baroness had a strange sense of humor and he had wondered if she was teasing him, James had to find out for himself. So, he researched Alison. Who was her family? Where did she come from? And that's when things changed for James and Alison.

James has spent most of his adult life alone at his family's home. But he hadn't always been alone. James had had a younger brother, Ian. As children, the boys were inseparable. James was protective of his younger brother, while Ian looked up to James. Their childhood had been happy and they were completely unaware of the family's dark history. It wasn't until the boys grew up and their parents died that things changed. Ian was horrified that the family's money came from selling weapons, while James simply accepted it. James knew his brother didn't support the family being arms dealers and, less than a year after losing their parents, Ian had fled Scotland.

While James had been upset with his younger brother for deserting him, he forgave Ian and wanted to patch things up. After all, family was family. Trying to find his brother, he discovered that Ian had died not long after leaving Scotland and the chance of reuniting was gone. With the last of his immediate family dead, James had thrown himself into the life of Destro, rarely returning the the family home and rarely going by any other name besides Destro. James McCullen had been mostly forgotten.

But when he researched Alison, he found out his younger brother hadn't died. Ian had faked his death and had moved to America. He changed his name and married to a high society woman in Massachusetts. Together they had had a daughter, Alison Hart-Burnett, the woman sitting at the end of the table. The woman, who was his sworn enemy, was the daughter of his only brother. James was not only related to a Joe, she was his niece.

"I'm leaving Scotland today," says Alison, not realizing her uncle was lost in past memories. "And returning to...America." Though, they both know what she meant was, returning to GI Joe Headquarters.

Glancing down the table, James nods his head. The first and last days of their visits were the most uncomfortable. Usually, they were able to forget their other lives and focus on getting to know each other as family. Alison didn't remember her father well, since he had died when she was a young child, so these visits gave her a window into what her father had been like. And, though Alison looked mostly like her mother, there were times when James could see his brother in the woman.

"What time is your flight?" he asks.

"In a few hours," she replies. "After breakfast, I will finish packing."

Silence descends on the room again. Alison isn't sure what else to say and neither is James. Knowing that the young woman is about to leave and unsure when they would have a chance to visit again, James realizes he has to make a decision.

Weeks earlier, Destro had overheard something in Cobra Headquarters that involved his niece. If it had been any other Joe, Destro would have ignored what he heard. Cobra and GI Joe were, after all, enemies. But it wasn't any other Joe. It was Ian's daughter. And even though the house rule said GI Joe and Cobra did not exist, he decided he couldn't keep this information to himself.

"Alison?" he asks.

Looking up, Alison raises a brow to her uncle. "Yes?"

"When you return to...America, I need you to be aware of...something," says James, not sure how to proceed.

"About what?" Alison asks, frowning, as she realizes that this is one of the longest conversation that the two of them had had inside the home. The longest had been held when James had tricked her into returning after he found out she was Ian's daughter.

"Zartan," he says, looking down at his plate before raising his eyes to catch hers. Locking eyes, he can see the surprise in her eyes.

"The rule?" she asks, unsure how to proceed. Though the mercenary wasn't technically Cobra, it was too close to mentioning that part of their world which wasn't allowed in the home.

Nodding his head, James raises his right hand and rubs at his mouth and chin. For a moment, he was back at Cobra Headquarter, a few weeks ago, walking down a hallway, and heading toward the command room to speak with Cobra Commander. Coming from the opposite direction, Destro could hear Zartan and his Dreadnoks, whom had just left the command room. They had recently faced a team of GI Joe and Zartan was regaling his men about an encounter with Lady Jaye.

She had been separated from her team and he was about to get the jump on her. But, before he could move in, she was able to rejoin her team. In great detail, Zartan told his men what he would have done. How he would have hurt and used Lady Jaye. How he dreamed about it. Realizing what the red-haired mercenary meant, Destro had been furious. Zartan was discussing raping his niece! Clenching his fist, Destro had stopped in the hallway, fighting to gain control of himself. All Destro could think about was walking over to Zartan, wrapping his hands around the disgusting man's neck, and choking the life from his sick, perverted body.

But as good as it would feel to end Zartan's life, he didn't approach the mercenary. Outside of the Baroness, no one knew he was related to Lady Jaye and even Baroness didn't know the woman was Destro's niece. She assumed the Joe was Destro's distant cousin and unimportant. Destro couldn't allow anyone to know the truth. So, he walked by the mercenary and didn't say a word.

"Be careful of him," says James, still angry with what he had heard.

"I usually am," she replies, still unsure what her uncle is getting at.

Getting up from the table, James paces, his breakfast forgotten. Alison, nervous, also stands up and turns away from the table. Placing her back to the table, Alison wonders what has upset her uncle and if he was about to turn on her, since they had spent more years as enemies than family. Quickly, she scans the room once more, looking for weapons and exits. Not knowing that what James is thinking about is the opposite of hurting her. In fact, he's thinking about betraying Cobra to defend one of its enemies.

"I know about the rule and that what I am trying to say is...breaking our rule, but you need to understand," says James, coming to a decision and stopping in front of his niece. "Zartan wants to hurt you."

"Zartan would hurt his own mother, if he was paid enough," she replies.

"No, Alison," says James, frustrated that he isn't getting his point across. "Zartan wants to...use you."

"Wait! You mean, he wants to..." says Alison, worrying that she's jumping to a worse conclusion than James meant.

"Yes," says her uncle. "I want...I need you to understand how dangerous he is to you. I...overheard him talking to...the Dreadnoks about you."

Wondering at James' reason for telling her this information, Alison accepts that he's either lying or telling the truth. If he's lying, what would it gain him? If he's telling the truth, isn't he betraying Cobra by telling her this information? Finding herself in an unsure position, which became very common since finding out that this man was her uncle, Alison decides knowing why is more important than trying to figure out if it's true.

"Why are you telling me?" she asks. Since James was the first to ignored the rule, she decided the rule didn't apply to her either. "Outside this place, we're enemies. Aren't you betraying Cobra by telling me this?"

"Outside? I work for Cobra and you are a Joe," replies James. He pauses for a moment and glances around the dining hall where they had been having breakfast. A manor that hadn't felt like home in a long time, not since Ian left. But, recently, it started to feel like home again, because of Alison. "But inside? We're family. And I would be failing you, as an uncle, if I did not let you know."

Nodding her head, Alison decides to let the matter drop. "Alright. Thank you for letting me know."

Nodding his head also, James turns away from Alison. Not sure what else to say, she leaves the room and goes to her bedchamber to finish packing. In less than 12 hours, she would be back at GI Joe Headquarters and would have resumed the name Lady Jaye. But Alison would not forget the warning that her uncle gave her that last morning in Scotland.

FIN

AUTHOR'S NOTE – So, my beta came to me with a story idea: Destro's reaction to Zartan's obsession with Lady Jaye. The problem? Destro was too analytical to rush in without thinking through his actions. He would know it would draw major attention to himself if he went after Zartan – even though it's obvious that they dislike each other – and attention to Destro would reveal his family relationship to Lady Jaye, which would compromise Destro's position in Cobra. I felt a warning directly to Lady Jaye was more inline with his character. If people like this story plot, I may continue it.