Title: Gut Feelings and Bad Days

Category: Terra Nova

Ship: Maddy/Mark, Jim Shannon

Genre: Humor/Romance/Family

Rated: PG-13 (mentions of sex)

Word Count: 2111

Summary: Jim Shannon's gut leads him to a discovery that messes up his day.

A/N: written for a December prompt post: 'I've always loved the scene on the Armageddon movie where Harry (Bruce Will's character) visits AJ (Ben Affleck) in his quarters and finds his daughter (Liv Tyler) there. Harry then proceeds to chase AJ all over trying to shoot him for sleeping with his daughter.

I think this would be hilarious Terra Nova style with Jim, Mark and Maddy.' –bogusbabe

Thanks Crystalkei for the beta.

... ... ...

The thing about being a cop is that over the years Jim Shannon has developed instincts that he's learned to trust and seeing as they've saved his life more than once, he knows not to question when he gets that feeling in the pit of his stomach. So when he knocks on his 19-year-old daughter's bedroom door and finds that her bed hasn't been slept in, he doesn't question the gut feeling that tells him she didn't spend the night in her bed or the one that tells him exactly where he can find her. Grabbing his gun, he's out the door before Elisabeth can calm him down but he does stop to shoot her a look of betrayal when she reminds him that Maddy is an adult. He pouts when she simply rolls her eyes with an 'Oh Jim.'

He's sick and tired of his children growing up and he's sick of being reminded of that fact, it's bad enough that Josh has moved out to live with Skye and that Zoe is quickly approaching ten, he doesn't need his -almost out of her teens- daughter to spend her nights with her boyfriend, reminding him that he's seconds away from losing her.

He makes it to the barracks in record time, ignoring the young soldiers in his way, he walks with purpose towards the back. As the officer in charge of this section of the barracks, Reynolds is allowed the luxury of his own private room. Pounding on the door, he growls out a 'no' when Private Dunham asks if he could help him.

"Open up, Reynolds!" he shouts.

His eye twitches along his gun hand when the man in question opens the door shirtless. Jim takes some satisfaction in the fact that even after almost four years of dating his daughter the young man still gets nervous at his ire.

"Jim!" Reynolds stutters, throwing a quick look over his shoulder and tries to close the gap of the door with his body. "I mean…Mr. Shannon, uh, hello."

"Don't hello me," he hisses, feeling his blood pressure rise when he tries to walk through the door only to be stopped when Reynolds doesn't budge. "Move."

Reynolds gives him an unsure look, but gazes over his shoulder where Dunham and some of the other men in his unit are standing uncertain, waiting to see if they need to intervene. It annoys him that as fearful as he knows most of the soldiers are of him as sheriff, their loyalty to their CO beats the fear. He doesn't want to think about what kind of man Reynolds has to be to instill that kind of loyalty when all he can think of is that this little punk has been defiling his daughter.

"Dunham, clear everyone out." Reynolds says to the soldier, his voice strong leaving no room for argument.

He waits to hear the room emptying behind him before he gives the order again. "Move."

Reynolds sighs defeated and moves to the side.

Knowing what he's going to find still doesn't prepare him to finding his little girl on the soldier's bed, she's wearing one of his olive green army shirts and it's obvious that he's just woken them up because he can still see the sleep in her eyes as she looks up at him.

"Hi, Daddy."

He feels his eye twitch again and he worries that he might be developing a tick at the ease with which she greets him. "That's all you have to say for yourself Madelyn?"

She sighs running a hand over her messy locks. "It's early."

Jim tries resists the urge to scream. "I know it's early, I knew it was early when I walked into your room and you weren't there."

"Sir-"

Jim spins around to face the man that dared speak to him. "One word out of you, Reynolds, and I'll shoot you."

"Dad!" Maddy scolds as she stands up, the shirt she has on coming mid-thigh. "Don't threaten Mark!"

"It's okay, Maddy," Reynolds says to his daughter, his voice soft with her, before addressing him. "Mr. Shannon I apologize, we should have spoken to you last night but we, uh…"

"You. What." Jim rounded on him.

"Uh…" Reynolds swallowed hard his Adams' apple bobbing. "Got distracted."

Maddy lets out a snort behind him and he sees red. He's not sure how but in the next moment he finds his gun in his hand letting out a charge in Reynolds direction, the years of military training save Reynolds from getting a blast in the chest.

"Dad, have you lost your mind?"Maddy shouts but he ignores her as he runs after the young soldier who, realizing that it's just the first shot of many has bolted out the door in nothing but boxers.

The kid is fast, even without shoes on he's busting hump, every once in a while shouting over his shoulder at him to calm down, ducking as another blast comes his way. There are people in the street, not many, it's still very early for civilians other than the market venders to be out, so mostly it's other soldiers out on the streets, all coming to attention at the sound of a blaster being discharged.

He corners the kid in front of the command center his gun pointed at him as Reynolds raises his hands in surrender. "Mr. Shannon, please calm down."

Jim is aware that some of the soldiers behind him have their guns on him but he ignores them all, Reynolds doesn't.

"Sir?" Private Mitchell address Reynolds, the question is obvious.

"Stand down," Reynolds gives his order, but looks at him. "Mr. Shannon, please lower you gun and let's talk."

He doesn't talk and he sure as hell doesn't put his gun down.

"Dad!"

Jim turns around to find Maddy still only dressed in Reynolds shirt now with a pair of his boxers and her shoes.

"Have you taken a complete leave of your senses?" she asks as she comes to stand between him and his target. "You don't go around shooting in the street and you don't try and shoot my boyfriend!"

"Go home, Maddy, now," he address her, narrowing his eyes when she gives him the same look Elisabeth gives him when she thinks he's crazy. Her 'you must be kidding yourself if you think I'm going to listen to you' look. He hates it on his wife; he hates it on his kid.

"Maddy, maybe you should do as he says," Reynolds says softly behind her only to be shushed, if he wasn't about to kill the kid he would have shared a look of understanding with him. Elisabeth never listened to him either.

He's ready to try again when the door of the command center opens, revealing Taylor and Wash.

Taylor looks at the gun trained on one of his men with a raised eyebrow. "Someone explain."

"My father has lost his mind and is trying to shoot Mark," Maddy speaks up before anyone else can, still glaring at him.

He watches as Taylor takes in Reynolds and Maddy's appearance figuring out quickly what the dispute was about. He doesn't appreciate Wash's smile or the way the commander's lips curled upward when his eyes land on him.

"Have you calmed down now, Dad?" Maddy questions.

"No!" he shouts at wits end. "No, I have not calmed down over the fact that my 19 year old daughter spends the night not in her bed but with her boyfriend!"

"Fiancé," Maddy corrects calmly, ignoring the groan that comes out of Reynolds behind her.

"What…I'm sorry, what?" Jim croaks out, his voice squeaky, because he heard wrong, he had too.

"That's what Mark was trying to tell you earlier," Maddy says softly, the annoyance that's been on her face since he first shot leaving as she looks back at Reynolds with a smile and then at him. "What we should have told you last night, Mark proposed last night and I said yes, that's why I stayed the night with Mark, we were-"

"Maddy, don't," Reynolds interrupts in a hurry.

"Celebrating," she finishes, ignoring the kid's warning or the fact that his head is going to explode any second.

"I'm dead," Reynolds mumbles. "There isn't going to be a wedding because your father is going to kill me."

He watches as Maddy turns to her- he can't say it, he can't think it.

"It's not like he hasn't figured out that we're having sex, Mark," Maddy says reasonably. "He's trying to shoot you because of it."

"Madelyn!" Jim reprimands, looking around at the few soldiers that are still around them. Now that he's no longer pointing his gun at Reynolds and with Taylor and Wash involved, the soldiers have lowered their own weapons enjoying the show, smirking at each other. He even hears one of the corporals whispering to the other, asking who had last night in the pool. He can only imagine what betting pool it is; it's a colony fact that people have been waiting to see when Reynolds finally pops the question.

"What?" Maddy asks. "Look, Dad, I love you, but I'm almost twenty and Mark and I have been together since I was sixteen, it can't really surprise you that we have sex."

"Are you trying to kill me?" he questions in a shrill voice, his heart pounding in his chest. He tries to quickly remember which arm hurts when you're having a heart attack.

"No," Maddy sighs, taking a step forward until she's in front of him, looking up at him with big brown eyes, she looks so much older as she gives him a small smile. "I'm trying to be honest, isn't that what you say is the most important thing in this family, honesty?"

"Yes," he grumbles.

"Well, here it is," she continues taking his hand in hers. "I love Mark, Mark loves me and we want to spend the rest of our lives together."

"You're too young, you're just a kid," he argues, expecting a tantrum, a shout, anything to prove him right, instead Maddy just lets out a soft tolerant laugh. The same Elisabeth uses on him when she thinks he couldn't be more wrong.

"I'll be twenty in a few weeks, I work full time, I make my own money, I make my own decisions, Dad, I haven't been a kid for a while now."

"I, you…"Jim trails off and points at Reynolds, glaring in his direction, getting sick enjoyment when the kid jumps at having his focus on him again. "I don't like him."

Maddy rolls her eyes. "You do, too."

"No, I don't!"

He watches as she smothers a grin and he knows that he's the one throwing the tantrum now. "Yes you do, Dad, because you know that Mark loves me and treats me right, but even if you didn't, that's okay, me loving him is enough."

"Maddy," he whines, it's a losing battle, he knows, she made her decision, she isn't asking for permission or even approval, she's informing him. She's going to be somebody's wife.

"Yes," Maddy nods and he realizes he's whispered that part out loud. "But I'll still be your daughter."

He gives a reluctant smile at her words pulling her to him, over her shoulder he gives Reynolds a nod, watching as the man returns it with a sigh of relief.

"Can I still shoot him every once in awhile?" he asks, smirking when the soldier gulps.

"No," Maddy answers firmly.

"On the lowest setting," he bargains. "It won't kill him; it'll just hurt like hell."

"No, Dad, you can't shoot my future husband," Maddy answers deadpan, grinning when he flinches at the word 'husband'. Walking over to Reynolds she intertwines her fingers with his, pulling him towards the barracks. He watches as she stops and turns to him with an evil little smile that sends chills down his spin.

"And don't think I won't tell mom about this little stunt."

He cringes at her words and at the snigger above him, looking up he finds Wash laughing hard into the commander's shoulder, the older man chuckling too as he gives him a look of pure enjoyment.

He decided right there and then he was having a really bad day, his little girl is getting married, having sex, Wash and Taylor are laughing at him and his wife is going to make him sleep on the couch when she finds out he took a shot at her beloved future son-in-law. (Elisabeth really does love Mark too much for his taste.) Maybe, he needs to stop listening to his gut so much after all.