Title: Like Mother, Like Daughter

Pairings: Implied Jate

Word Count: 582

Warnings: Not really, except possible fluff.

Jack still had his eyes trained on the notebook medical file in his hands when he heard the shuffle of feet on sand, angry steps by the sound of it, and a question posed with a poison tongue.

"Why?"

Jack glanced up at her, confused even though he knew what she was referring to, and closed his list of island ailments, preparing for a fight. "Why what?"

She shook her head in disbelief, brown curls shifting with the motion.

"You know why what. Why did you tell Locke not to let me on the hike? It was long distance and they could have used the extra help-"

Jack interrupted her, "Steve was more than willing to lend a hand. They'll be fine without you."

She gave an exaggerated huff, "I'm glad you've taken it upon yourself to watch my every move. What's next, you're gonna become my police escort? Big gun, shiny badge?"

Jack stood and looked at her earnestly, "It's my job to protect you."

Her green eyes met his angrily, clearly not liking that he now had the literal higher ground, and narrowed. "I can take care of my self. I don't need your protection."

"Yes you do. You go running off into the jungle at the drop of a hat and you're going to get yourself killed."

She grit her teeth and fumed. "Jesus Christ! You act like we're..." the sentence petered out while she search for a word adequate to convey her meaning"... cave-people or something. We don't live in the middle ages. Women are allowed to where pants and speak without being spoken to now, or didn't you get the memo!"

Her hands gripped her hips and as she spoke the nail marks there became more and more pronounced.

"Me not wanting you to go has nothing to do with a lack to a Y chromosome. Ever since you came into my life I made a vow not to let something bad happen to you. And ever since you've been old enough to crawl you've been making it pretty damn difficult to do so!"

She weaved her fingers through her hair, resisting the urge to pull just to relieve the tension, and crossed her arms across her chest. "You're not going to go into that 'paternal-possessiveness' spiel again, are you? Because you should probably save that for when I need some sleep."

Jack covered his eyes with his hand, massaging his eyelids and gave a small snort.

"You've been spending too much time with Sawyer. I swear he's a bad influence on you."

"Uncle Sawyer is NOT a bad influence. He's about the only one around here that has a clue, knows what's what, and he's not afraid to tell it like it is."

Jack pursed his lips before sighing and curling his fingers around her forearms. "I just want you to be safe."

"I know dad, but you can't keep an eye on me every minute of every day."

"I'm aware of that." Jack smiled sadly and kissed his daughter on the forehead. "Or at least some day I will." He paused before, "Alright."

She grinned up at him excitedly. "Alright what?"

"Alright, you... can go on the hike."

"Thanks Daddy," she laughed, giving him a quick peck on the cheek and hurried out of the tent.

"But I'm telling Sayid no guns!" Jack called after her, although she gave no reply and he knew it was futile.

That girl was way too much like her mother.