(no subject)
Title: Camping with Baby
Fandom: GI Joe
Pairing: Flint/Lady Jaye
Prompt: #58 - Dinner
Word Count: 2205
Rating: PG
Author's Notes: This is a belated Christmas present for beckylblair. She had requested Flint and Jaye camping and the discovery of an infant.
“Remind me next year that I get to pick the vacation spot,” Lady Jaye said as she carefully navigated around the large, rotten tree that was blocking the path.
Flint paused to lend her a helping hand. “Why? You haven’t been enjoying our little getaway?” he asked with a smirk.
“I wouldn’t say that,” she answered. Flint took the canteen off of his belt and handed it to her. After taking a long drink she continued. “I just think a little bed and breakfast on the Cape, or a five star hotel with room service would be a nice change of pace.”
Flint replaced the canteen and grabbed her hand. The two continued walking through the wooded trail. “That would be fun. But there’s one thing a camping trip in a secluded forest has that neither one of those do.”
“Oh? What’s that?” Lady Jaye asked.
“No cell phone coverage.” Flint pulled out his phone to prove his point. The little display was flashing ‘No service’. “Unless Hawk sends in a chopper to pull us out of here, we can’t be called back to base. You were complaining that all of your vacations get cut short, so I made sure that this time it wouldn’t.
“Besides,” Flint continued as he held up a low-hanging tree branch. “Once you see the view of the sunset from this overhang, you’ll forget all about your posh hotels. Then we’ll head back to camp for some of the patented Faireborn campfire steak and potatoes.”
“Mmm, I can’t wait,” Lady Jaye answered. “So how much farther until we get to this overhang?”
“It should be right around the next bend,” Flint answered with a triumphant smile. However, the smile quickly left his face when they walked out into a small clearing that was surrounded by trees. “Um, it should have been here.”
Flint walked around the clearing, taking a few steps into the woods every few feet. Lady Jaye watched him with a growing sense of concern. “Dash? Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it’s fine,” he mumbled. “I just must have taken a wrong turn somewhere.”
Lady Jaye looked up at the darkening sky. “Maybe we should just head back to camp. It’ll be dark soon.”
Flint nodded. “We’ll start back. I’m sure we’ll pass the turn-off on the way.” He grabbed her hand again and the two continued back down the path.
Lady Jaye was quiet, lost in her thoughts. She was a little worried. She knew that they had been in worse situations before, and she was sure that Flint would find his way back to camp. But she didn’t like the fact that they were alone in the woods, with little equipment. They had left the campsite with nothing but the canteen, a flashlight and the useless cell phone.
When they had walked for about ten minutes, Lady Jaye’s concern increased. “Shouldn’t we have passed that fallen tree by now?” she asked.
“What tree?” Flint asked curtly. Lady Jaye frowned as she looked at him. It couldn’t be a good sign if he was this frustrated.
Lady Jaye opened her mouth to reply but a distant cry stopped her. “Did you hear that?” she asked.
Flint stopped and listened. Within moments they heard the cry again. “It sounds like a baby,” Flint answered. He headed towards the sound, which was off the path and into the thicker section on the woods. “There’s probably another campsite.”
They walked on for a few minutes as the cry became louder. The woods began to thin out and soon they were in another clearing. A small cabin was the source of the cry. Flint ran to the front door and began to knock. “Hello? Is everything alright in there?”
The cry became more intense, but there was no other response from inside the cabin. Flint knocked once more. When there was again no answer, he looked towards Lady Jaye who nodded. Flint tried the door handle, which was unlocked and the two went into the cabin.
“Hello?” Flint asked again. Lady Jaye ran towards the back room, which was where the child was crying. In the corner was a crib that held the unhappy baby. She reached down to pick up the sobbing infant. The baby quieted for a moment but then let out another ear-piercing wail.
“There’s no one else here,” Flint announced after his search of the cabin.
“Who would just abandon a baby?” Lady Jaye asked as she tried to calm the baby down. “I think he’s hungry.”
The two went back into the main room. “There’s some bottles in here,” Flint said as he pointed towards the small kitchen. He began to rifle through the cabinets until he found a few cans of formula.
Lady Jaye joined him in the kitchen. “Please hurry,” she shouted over the crying. “I think I’ve gone deaf in my left ear.”
“How do I make it?” Flint asked. He held a bottle in one hand, and the can in the other.
“I don’t know,” Lady Jaye answered exasperatedly. “Doesn’t it come with instructions?”
Flint looked down at the can and nodded. “Does eight ounces sound like enough?”
“Dash, just make some of the damn formula!” Lady Jaye yelled. At her outraged tone, the baby startled in her arms and then let out an even louder roar.
“I’m sorry, honey,” Lady Jaye apologized as she kissed the dark tufts of hair. “He’s new at this.”
“You know, if you’re such the expert you can get in here,” Flint replied.
“Okay, you hold him, and I’ll make his dinner.”
Flint took one look at the outraged infant and shook his head. He added water to the bottle, screwed the nipple on and shook it to mix it up. He handed the bottle to Lady Jaye. She walked over to one of the armchairs, sat down and adjusted the baby so she could bring the nipple to his mouth. He latched on and began to suck down greedily.
“Poor thing,” Lady Jaye said. “Why would his parents just leave him?” she asked again.
“I don’t know,” Flint answered. He rummaged through the cabin, looking for clues about the baby’s parentage.
“We don’t even know his name,” Lady Jaye mused.
“Joshua,” Flint announced from the back room. He walked out holding a small frame. “It’s his birth announcement. Joshua David. He’s almost five months old.”
Lady Jaye looked down at the baby. “Joshua, it’s nice to meet you.” The baby released the nipple long enough to grin at her. She couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Now I just wish you could tell me where your mommy is.”
Flint walked over behind the chair and placed his hand on Lady Jaye’s shoulder. “That I can’t help you with. It looks like everything is in order, so I don’t think there was any kind of struggle, at least in the house. I haven’t seen a phone, so we can’t even call for help. I’m going to take a look around outside.”
Lady Jaye grabbed his hand. “Okay, but be careful.”
Joshua finished his bottle within a few minutes. When he began to suck nothing but air, his face scrunched up and he started to cry again. “I guess you need seconds,” Lady Jaye said.
She put the baby on her shoulder and walked into the kitchen. She tried to balance Joshua as she made the bottle. The longer it took, the louder he became. After knocking over one bottle, and nearly dropping the baby she triumphantly screwed the cap on the finished bottle. Again, she took her seat and fed Joshua. He drank about half, before he dozed off. Her arm ached from the weight, but she felt such a feeling of peace as she watched him sleep. She wondered again what would cause a parent to just walk out on such a defenseless person.
The cabin door opened a few minutes later. Flint started to speak, but when he startled the baby, Lady Jaye shushed him. She watched as Joshua’s eyes began to droop. It wasn’t until the baby began to breathe heavily again that she nodded at Flint to continue talking.
He took a seat on the armrest. “There definitely was a car here earlier today, but it’s long gone. There’s a well-worn path leading away from here that must be the road in and out of this place. I debated following it, but since it’s already dark, I thought I’d wait until morning. Are you okay with spending the night here?”
Lady Jaye nodded. “We’ve got shelter, and I saw some food in the cupboard. As long as we can keep this little guy content, I think we’ll be just fine.”
***
Flint was the first to wake the next morning. Lady Jaye was snuggled up against him with Joshua asleep soundly in her arms. They had tried to put the baby in his crib, where he had stayed for the first couple of hours. However, he woke up crying three times after midnight, and after the final time, Lady Jaye felt it was just easier to keep him in the bed with the two of them.
Flint sat up slightly to look at the sleeping pair. His heart skipped a beat when he realized that he could be getting a glimpse of his future. Not necessarily with Joshua; Flint still intended to head out to alert the authorities to the abandoned infant. However, he wondered if a family was in store for him and Alison.
He never gave their future together much thought. He had long ago decided that Alison was probably ‘the one’ but because of their life in GI Joe, they hadn’t made any set plans to solidify their relationship. Flint had been okay with the plan of just being together and worrying about marriage and kids later, but their time with Joshua the night before seemed to have woken a new side of himself.
The baby began to stir, and Lady Jaye’s eyes instantly popped open. She seemed disoriented for a moment but then she smiled as she looked at Flint.
“Morning,” he said and kissed her cheek. “Stay here, I’ll get him his breakfast.”
“Thanks,” she said with a yawn.
Flint had just stepped out of the bed when he heard the front door of the cabin open with a crash. “Joshua!” a woman’s hysterical voice sounded out.
He saw that Lady Jaye pulled the baby closer to her as a young brunette woman raced into the room. “Joshua! Oh thank God!” she said. She raced for the bed before Flint stopped her.
“Wait a minute! Who are you?” he asked.
“I’m his mother, Lauren Roberts!” she answered. “Give him to me!”
“Not so fast, lady,” Lady Jaye answered as she hugged the baby tight. “Where have you been? We found Joshua all alone last night.”
She once again made a move towards the bed, but Flint held firm. “Oh God! Was he okay?”
“Other than being absolutely famished, he was fine,” Lady Jaye answered. “And you still haven’t answered my question.”
Lauren sighed. “My ex and Joshua’s father, David, convinced me to let him take him for a couple of days. David’s always been a little unstable, but he had been better since Joshua was born. I had a bad feeling, but I let him have Joshua, since he is his father. Late last night I got a phone call from a drunk David telling me he couldn’t handle being a dad. I tried all night to find out where he had taken him. It wasn’t until I talked to David’s parents that they told me about this cabin they owned.”
She looked from Lady Jaye to Flint back to Lady Jaye, “Are you the cops?”
Flint shook his head. “No. We were just two people out on a hike who heard Joshua’s cries.” He released his grip on Lauren who immediately went to Lady Jaye’s side.
Lady Jaye hesitated a moment and looked down at the baby. Joshua recognized his mother and began to smile and coo. Lady Jaye gave him a sad smile as she handed the baby to Lauren. As soon as he was safely in her arms, Lauren began to cry.
“Thank you so much for taking care of him. I was so sick with worry all night. I knew David wouldn’t hurt him, but…” a sob racked Lauren’s body and she was unable to finish her thought.
Lady Jaye got out of bed and went to Flint’s side. Flint wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “You think we should go?” he asked her quietly.
Lady Jaye nodded and wiped at her eyes. The two turned to leave, but Lauren stopped them. “Wait, there’s got to be some way I can repay you.”
“Just take care of him,” Lady Jaye answered. “He’s a really sweet baby.”
Lauren grinned and kissed her son’s head. “I promise. I don’t think I’m going to ever let him out of my sight again.”
Flint smiled in return. He looked towards the front door and then turned back to Lauren. “There is one way you can help us out. Can you give us directions back to the main campground?”