Chapter one:

New York City, New York
October 4th, 2004

"What?!" Elaina exploded after her father informed her of their plans for the next several weeks. At her sides, her hands clenched and unclenched as her temper started to get the best of her, "You can't be serious."

"Elaina Ann Weyland," her father responded with a warning tone in his voice. Immediately he could tell by the arch of her brow and the pursing of her lips, that talking to her like this would get him nowhere. Reaching up a hand, he pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes as he counted to ten. He took in a deep breath and let it out slowly to rein in his own temper. He knew that look on his daughter's face as he had seen it many times in himself. He lifted his head, his eyes opening to find that her expression hadn't changed in the least. Time for a different tactic. "You know exactly why-" he started to explain in a more even tone but was cut off before he could get his point across.

"Why can't I just stay here," Elaina argued with the man standing in front of her, "I'm eighteen Dad. I'm old enough to stay home by myself."

Elaina cocked her hip to the side with her right hand propped against it. It was something she had seen her mother do when she was upset and it always seemed to help her get what she wanted. But Elaina wasn't her mother and those ploys didn't seem to work on her father anymore.

Elaina glared at the older man and had to tilt her head back some as her father was nearly six feet tall and towered over her even with his wiry frame. Charles Weyland was tall and lanky, with thinning reddish blonde hair with specks of silver running through it. He was in his mid-fifties, but was still considered handsome for his age, and Elaina could see it, though she considered herself a little biased in the matter.

"-Because you are my daughter," was his exasperated reply, "While you live under my roof, you will follow my rules."

The two of them stood in the large open foyer of her dad's huge penthouse apartment in New York City, arguing. While she had called it home, it was anything but a home to her. It was her father's home, or at least the home he bought after the messy divorce ten years ago. There was nothing homey about the apartment with its stark white walls and beige carpet. Everything was so clean and tidy all the time because he had house keepers who would come in every day to clean up any clutter and hide all traces of the people living here. There were some expensive pictures that decorated the walls in rich mahogany frames, but they just made the place look more like an art gallery instead of accenting the plain white walls. The little bit of furniture in the foyer was a small narrow table with a beautiful flower arrangement decorating its surface. It had been a gift from one of her father's clients, or maybe his secretary had ordered them for him as a welcome home gift for Elaina.

The foyer they occupied at the moment, connected the living room and the kitchen, making it seem like it was all just one big room. Much like a studio apartment, but much larger in size and grandeur. Like the walls surrounding them, everything was white and sterile looking, including the plush loveseat and matching chairs. The only homey vibe one could get when walking into the apartment were the few picture frames hanging on one wall, all cluttered in one spot near the fake fireplace, and they mostly consisted of Elaina when she was younger. They were the only personal items in the apartment, minus what could be found in their individual bedrooms.

Elaina gritted her teeth and her eyes narrowed some, "You mean when I'm not living under mom's roof." She said snidely. Sure, her dad paid for her mom's roof, but Elaina wasn't going to be the one to bring up that can of worms; not when she was desperate to win this argument.

"That was uncalled for Elaina," He said sternly and he watched as his daughter looked away from him, guilt flashing fleetingly across her features. She didn't apologies for the cruelty in her words, but he hadn't expected her too either. She had been aiming to hit where it hurt most.

Charles Bishop Weyland pressed his lips into a thin line of contempt at his daughter's behavior. There were times when his daughter was too spoiled for her own good. Unfortunately, it was probably too late to do anything about it. If he didn't give her what she wanted then her mother got it for her, which in the end was coming out of his own pocket anyway.

He paid his wife thousands of dollars in alimony after the divorce, plus what he paid in child support for Elaina. His wife had never worked a day in her life and with how much money he had to fork over each month in alimony, she'd never have to work for the rest of her life. He had fought his wife tooth and nail to get more visitation rights after the divorce so that he could see his daughter more, and it had been one epic battle after another. There were times when Daphne pitted their daughter against him, manipulating their child into thinking he didn't want her around. He hadn't realized until it was too late what his neglect had done to his daughter and he hoped that one day he could rectify those mistakes, if she would only give him the chance. He was hoping this trip could be a step in that direction, even if the choice to bring her along had been taken out of his hands.

Now that Elaina was eighteen and Daphne no longer received any child support, his ex-wife was more than willing to ship their daughter off on him every chance she got these days. Elaina was fresh out of high school and hadn't decided which college she wanted to go to right now. She was planning on taking a year off from school to figure out what she would do with her life and was still living at home with her mom in the meantime. Charles didn't have to pay child support again until she started going to college. Until then, Daphne didn't get as much money from him and found every inopportune time to hand Elaina off on him.

His ex-wife knew perfectly well that he was going out of the country for a few weeks, but that didn't stop her from flying their daughter up from Florida to his front doorstep. Finding Elaina there just a few days ago, had surprised him, although it really shouldn't have. That was just how malicious his ex-wife could be, and what Daphne wanted, Daphne got.

Charles sighed out loud, his hand coming up to pinch the bridge of his nose in agitation. He really did not need this right now. He had spent the last week, arguing with Daphne, for dropping their daughter onto him without notice, and the last thing he wanted to do was argue with Elaina on top of it. He could already see the rift between them, stretching wider and more torturous, thanks to his ex-wife's doing.

Opening his eyes, he studied his daughter thoughtfully. As she had gotten older, Elaina looked more and more like her mother with her slight frame and curvy figure. She had her mother's long auburn hair and her blue eyes. He wondered sometimes if the reason why he had become so hard on his daughter over the last few years was because of how much she reminded him of his ex-wife. He could only hope that that wasn't the reason. He hoped that he just wanted to prepare her for the harsh adult world out there, but not even he could kid himself on that one.

While his daughter may have looked like Daphne in her beauty and figure, their personalities were complete opposites. Daphne was cruel and vindictive in her needs and wants. His ex-wife was very needy towards men and the comforts of life. Elaina, on the other hand, had her father's stubbornness, and was quite independent for her age. He was quite proud of her for those traits and he could actually see himself in his daughter when her attitude got the best of her and her temper flared. It was all well and good until she turned that attitude on him and he just found himself exasperated with her, just like he was right now. She was being highly unreasonable, in his opinion, and too stubborn to understand his point of view.

"I am old enough to make my own choices," Elaina whined, her bottom lip jutting out as she tried a different tactic on him. She was pulling all the stops out, it seemed, "Why do I have to be punished because you and mom can't work out your schedules? I don't want to go to some stupid Island in Antarctica."

Elaina was disgusted with her parents. She couldn't remember a time when things had ever been happy at home. When they had been married, and they all lived under the same roof, her parents fought constantly. Her father was hardly ever home and yet they found time to scream at each other whenever he was. He was always busy with something or another while running Weyland Industries. Her mother had wild affairs that she didn't bother to hide from her, and would spend money on new clothes, makeovers, breast implants and all sorts of other beauty enhancements.

Her mother put her own needs before everyone else, and her father was just a plain old workaholic that never had time for his family.

To make up for not being there for her, her father gave her everything she ever wanted; Toys, new clothes, jewelry, or even extravagant summer vacations, she got it all. Neither of her parents ever seemed to have time for her when she was younger. They only gave her the time of day just long enough to give her a gift to shut her up and then they were off living their lives without her. When Elaina was eight, she was more than relieved when they divorced. Sure, the idea of her parent's divorcing had hurt, but now whenever she did get to spend time with them, it was filled with a never-ending argument.

All Elaina really wanted was for her parents to actually love her. Did her father ever go with her to all those trips she took, all the summer and spring break vacations he paid for? Not once. Not even when her parents were still married. Her father never made it to any of the family vacations they took.

Sure the 'Terminator'went, playing babysitter to her time and time again. He was more of a father figure to her in a very annoying way than her own father had ever been. Terminator was the Arnold Schwarzenegger wanna-be bodyguard her father hired for her when she was a kid. At the age of seven she had thought it was pretty cool until she found out that he spoke very little to no English, wore his sunglasses even indoors, and he never smiled.

Talk about boring.

Elaina briefly looked over at the bodyguard she had just been thinking about. He stood just to the side of her, watching the epic battle between father and daughter with a serious expression on his face. Did the man even know how to smile? He hadn't aged much in appearance over the years. He was still scary huge, even now that she had grown up a bit in height. She wasn't a kid anymore. She was 5'6 and he still towered over her, making her feel awfully tiny in comparison.

Elaina called him Terminator because he had a name even more incomprehensible than Arnold Schwarzenegger and she couldn't pronounce it to save her life. He didn't seem to mind the nickname, though. She used to call him 'Hey You', until she watched the first Terminator movie when she was eight and the idea first took hold. He probably found the name to be a compliment.

"Fine," her father said suddenly, causing her attention to flicker away from tall, dark, and annoying back to the argument she had been having with her father.

Wait a minute, Elaina thought suspiciously. Her father never caved in so easily. Sure, she could guilt trip him into buying her a new dress or a new pair of earrings; that was easy. However, her father never let her stay home by herself, not since some disgruntled protestors of her father's work had sent some rather interesting little notes depicting vivid details of her death and dismemberment. Needless to say, he hadn't taken it well. As a result of that little debacle, her father hired bodyguards for her when she was seven years old. By the time she was thirteen, she had convinced him to reduce it to just the one. Try making friends when everyone is intimidated by your entourage to and from school every day.

"If you stay, then I'll just have Malcolm and Erin stay with you as well." Her father said, and it wasn't hard to notice the satisfied smile that wanted to stretch out across his weathered face.

Elaina drew herself up to her full height, which wasn't much and curled her lips into a disgusted sneer. While Terminator was relatively quiet and she could easily forget he was even there, Malcolm and Erin were the exact opposite. Erin was always trying to play 'Sisters' with her, and Malcolm had a voice that made nails on a chalkboard seem pleasant. The man never knew when to shut the hell up.

"Well?" her father inquired when she failed to say anything about his offer.

"That is not fair," Elaina argued weakly, knowing she had lost this battle. Her father knew how much she hated Erin and Malcolm. It had taken her years to get him to have them reassigned. There was no way in hell she would go three weeks with them under the same roof as herself ever again. Not if she could help it.

"It is for your protection Elaina; fairness has nothing to do with it." her father replied seriously, and she knew suddenly that nothing she did or said would get him to change his mind.

Why did he suddenly have to start caring now, she wanted to know. She was eighteen years old, she wasn't a baby anymore, and yet he was treating her like one.

"Fine." she said through gritted teeth.

Elaina was supposed to be in her mother's Florida home enjoying the warmer weather in her bikini and flirting with the local studs on the beach for the next three weeks. But instead, her mother had decided she wanted to go on a cruise with her new boy toy, a lifeguard who was about Elaina's age.

Jacque- or whatever his name was- was her mother's latest fling. The fact that Elaina herself had introduced them after meeting him on the beach was enough to sour her mood. And now because of it, she was stuck spending the next three weeks in one of the coldest places on Earth.

"Look, Elaina," He said on a sigh and indicated for her to follow him. Reluctantly, she followed him into the kitchen. He stopped near the countertop where several items had been left out that morning, as the maid hadn't had a chance to clean it up yet. Elaina hesitated for a half a second, long enough for Terminator appear behind her like an overbearing shadow.

Wrinkling her nose at how close he stood behind her, she marched forward to stand next to her father on the other side of the counter. There spread out across it was a map.

Bouvetoya Island.

She didn't understand what she was looking at, having never really needed to use a map before in her life. But she knew the words that indicated the island her father planned on dragging her off too.

"Think of it as an adventure," he tried to make it seem better than it was. He looked over at her, his hand coming up to rest against her shoulder in a show of comfort.

Elaina glared down at the map, because she knew this fight was over, and nothing she said or did would change the fact that she was being dragged off to the middle of nowhere. "I said fine," she muttered under her breath, her shoulders shrugging off his touch.

Next to her he sighed, and pulled away. If her actions had hurt him, he didn't say so and she hadn't bothered to look at him to see how he had reacted to her response.

"Then it's settled," her father said as he turned on his heels. "Start packing; we leave tomorrow morning."

Elaina huffed, watching as her father walked away. After he had left the room, her hands tightened into fists and she slammed one down on top of the map sitting so innocently on the marble countertop, as if that could change the situation she had found herself in. Immediately she regretted punching the solid surface, as pain flared from her knuckles, radiating to her wrist and up to her elbow. Cursing, she pulled her injured hand to her chest, cradling it there as she glared at the map, like it was its fault that she had hurt herself and not the other way around. Behind her, Terminator actually snickered beneath his breath.

Well I'll be damned,she thought; So, the big oaf knows what a chuckleis after all. Glowering, Elaina turned her sharp gaze to the tall hulk who shadowed her everywhere she went. He straightened up at her look, his lips pressing into a thin line as he struggled to contain his mirth at her expense.

"I wouldn't be laughing, Terminator," she said to him, just a tad nastily. At his questioning look she added with a mischievous leer, "Because, that means you're coming too."

With that, she turned on her heels and stalked off towards her room. The peeved look on her bodyguard's face had a small, satisfied smile curling the corner of her lips.

Misery loves company, big guy.

OoOoO

Ice Breaker- Piper Maru
Current Heading: Bouvetoya Island
October 7th, 2004

After the past forty-eight hours, Elaina found herself jet-lagged and more irritable than usual. Between being shuffled from cars, planes, and a helicopter, all the while listening to her father argue with people on his cell phone, Elaina was more than ready to rip the head off of the next person who annoyed her even the slightest bit. Her only companions for the trip were her iPhone, Terminator, and her father's deaf ear. For the several hours that she was in the air, she spent her time listening to her music or sleeping.

Almost two days later, Elaina found herself on a large ship called the Piper Maru, with the batteries to her iPhone long dead and no way to charge it. No one had bothered to tell her that she wouldn't be able to charge the device because there weren't any normal outlets anywhere on the ship. Had someone been unwise enough to tell her, she would have raised more hell with her father, or at least conserved the battery life a little better. Or better yet, brought an adapter that could convert to the weird looking outlets she had found in her room.

Feeling the heat of the Terminator's glare at her back, she bristled in response. "Look, I don't want to be here anymore than you do." Elaina told the Terminator from over her shoulder. She had been on the receiving end of his glower on numerous occasions, to know when to anticipate when he would direct that heated stare at her when she wasn't looking.

At that very moment he was giving her a look that could freeze hell over as they stood out in the frigid cold on the deck of a large ship. Apparently, Terminator had been looking forward to the Florida weather as much as she had been.

The Piper Maru was slowly making its way through the ice to their destination, an island long since abandoned and probably forgotten about in its location situated in the middle of scenic nowhere. It shouldn't have surprised her that her father had conveniently left everybody he gathered here for this little adventure in the dark. Charles Weyland was a paranoid man like that.

While he was down below debriefing everyone on their destination, Elaina had made herself scarce. In her search of something to do, she found herself out on the deck. She had to admit, the view outside was beautiful, not that she would ever tell her father that. Any positive interest on her part and her father would never let her live it down. He might start making her go out on more of his business trips and she didn't want that, not if they all took him to the middle of nowhere, where the closest civilization was thousands of miles across an ocean covered in ice. Talk about being alienated.

Elaina preferred being the cynical and pessimistic angst teenager that she was and liked it that everyone saw her as such. She was never disappointed that way. She had plenty of disappointment growing up with her parents. Neither of them had been very good at keeping the promises they made. They were always promising to be there for her dance recitals or school functions when she was a little girl. How many times had she sat outside her school waiting and wondering if her parents would remember to pick her up this time?

I promise sweetie, I promise, I promise, I promise-.

Years of broken promises had made her very jaded towards life and towards people with their so-called promises. It was probably around the same time her parents divorced that she stopped asking for them to promise her anything anymore.

Elaina hugged herself, relishing in her thick insulated jacket she had donned while in the helicopter. New York might have been miserable and rainy, but its weather was nothing compared to this. She couldn't begin to guess what the temperature was, but it was cold enough to make her bones ache even through the many layers of clothing she had on. Under her father's strict instructions, she had put on several layers as a precaution. In Antarctica, in the middle of freaking nowhere, one could never know what might happen. As the boy scouts say, "Be Prepared".

The coat she'd donned wasn't very flattering, but it kept her relatively warm and that was what counted out here. The gray overcoat she wore was one her father had given to her once they had landed on the ship earlier. At the collar, her favorite dark navy blue jacket peeked out over the folded gray fabric. The dark color was much more flattering for her, but it was not exactly made to protect her from the harsh elements. The gloves that kept her hands warm matched the jacket at least, giving her some sense of style.

The several layers she wore hid all of her flattering assets, but it wasn't like she wanted to impress the locals. She doubted there were any cute guys crazy enough to be on this venture anyway. Plus, she had seen some of the men that had arrived by helicopter over the past several hours. They were all way too old and had facial hair, which was not a major turn on for her. She wasn't looking for a daddy replacement. She got enough of that with Terminator and her father's sudden interest in being a dad.

Behind her, Terminator was grumbling about the cold in German. She didn't understand all that he said, but she heard her name mentioned in the string of words a couple of times. She had a feeling it wasn't the most flattering of statements. He resembled a giant Eskimo in his bushy fur-lined jacket. It was really quite funny seeing him trying to walk in all the layers of clothing he wore. She couldn't easily picture him trying to protect her very well in that getup. But then with the foul mood he was in, he'd probably just shoot anyone who posed a threat without bothering to find out if they were a danger to her or not.

Elaina did her best to ignore him for now. As much as she despised his company, he was here as much against his will as she was and for once she felt like leaving him be, instead of antagonizing him like she would have normally. She walked ahead, stopping just short of the railing so that she could look over the side of the ship. It was kind of cool to watch the ice break and crumble under the ship's onslaught as it pushed forward through the frozen wasteland. Who knew that the middle of nowhere could be kind of cool?

Hugging herself, Elaina pulled away from the edge. The last thing she needed was for Terminator to think she was going to jump. She remembered the last time she had looked over the edge of a railing. It had been while they were at the Space Needle in Seattle. Terminator had tackled some poor old lady who had moved up behind her to wait her turn at the binoculars. He had thought the old woman was going to try and push her over the railing, because, you know, little old ladies were devious like that.

That incident alone had been embarrassing enough for her, that she hadn't strayed anywhere near ledges or sharp objects any longer than necessary. With how vocal she had been over her displeasure to come on this trip, she would not put it past him to fear she might consider jumping.

Yeah right-but then he wasn't exactly the sharpest tool in the shed.

Instead, Elaina turned her focus to the lights that lit up the dark sky. She had never seen anything quite like it and felt herself entrapped by its beauty. Elaina was so captured by the lights that she didn't hear the person sneaking up behind her.

"Enjoying the view?"

"Jesus Christ!" Elaina gasped, whirling around to find Max Stafford standing behind her. The older man smirked as if he found the idea of startling her amusing. Behind them, Terminator glared beneath the hood of his jacket. The only sign of his displeasure was the slight narrowing of his eyes, the only visible part of his body that was otherwise wrapped up like a mummy.

Glaring at the handsome black man, Elaina crossed her arms over her chest before turning her back to him to express her annoyance. Well, she wasn't really that annoyed with him, but she could at least make him think that for a little while longer. He deserved that much for scaring the crap out of her.

Max was an old family friend, one of the few people her father worked with that she actually liked. Her father usually hired him as a hired gun, her father's own personal bodyguard when he felt he needed one.

The nicest thing about Max was his British accent that she found sexy as hell, despite the fact that he was old enough to be her dad. She never could stay mad at him for very long. All he had to do was say something in that accent of his and her knees would go all weak and she'd get this silly look on her face and agree to everything he had to say. She was a real sucker for accents.

"Like there is anything else to do around here," Elaina said bitterly, tilting her chin up a little bit. She was the pampered princess everyone made her out to be and she had a reputation to uphold. She might as well play the part.

"Of course there are things to do, Elli," Max said, using the nickname she preferred people to call her and bumped his shoulder against hers. "Whether you find them interesting- well that is a different matter entirely."

Elaina pursed her lips together, trying not to smile but failed at keeping it hidden.

"There's the Elli I know," Max said, bending down to catch sight of the smile. "It's not as bad as you're making it out to be, is it?"

Elaina sighed out loud, her hands falling to her sides. "No," she said with a small pout. "But don't tell my dad that, otherwise he'll start dragging me to all of these business trips of his."

"It will be our little secret," Max said with a slight chuckle. He leaned forward then, resting his forearms against the railing and his eyes staring out to the horizon. Elaina watched him from the corner of her eyes, wondering what he was thinking about. He seemed so lost in thought that she didn't want to interrupt him anymore with her complaining. Instead, she decided to just study him, not even bothering to hide the fact that she was appraising him so openly.

Max was dressed in a jacket similar to hers, and, while it was still hideous, it didn't look half bad on him. He was tall and slender, which belied just how strong he really was. She knew he was very capable of handling himself in a fight. She suspected that under all his layers of clothes, he was probably ripped and sporting a six pack that most likely looked better on his lean form than on Terminator's more bulging muscular frame. Plus, Max had nice dark mocha colored skin that was really flattering.

A black British guy is kind of hot,she dared to utter only within the safety of her inner monologue.

Elaina found him attractive, but she didn't have a daddy complex and Max saw her much like a daughter. She sighed and tore her eyes away to stare instead at the hazy horizon; No way would that ever work out. If only he was about twenty years younger...

"The briefing it over now. You can come inside where it's warmer. Maybe pack your bag." he offered, turning his gaze over to her and interrupting her thoughts. Elaina blinked and tilted her head up to lock her eyes with his. He was staring down at her, ever so proper.

"Dad must've sent you out here to find me," Elaina hazarded a guess, "It's okay," she added quickly when she saw him trying to deny it, "I'm used to it. What does he want anyway?"

Max chose to ignore the question and held out his arm to her, "Why don't I walk you back to your room?" he offered with a small smile in her direction.

Elaina turned her gaze out at the horizon for a moment, her jaw clenched tight as she tried to not show how angry his evasiveness made her. It was pointless to unleash her anger on Max since he didn't really deserve it. Hitting the railing with her open palms she sighed out loud through her teeth. She would rather stay outside and sulk in the freezing cold then do what she was told; she really hated giving in. But Max was being nice and she was quite aware that the older man could make her mind him much better than her father ever could. Even now, she knew Max was armed with a handgun hidden under his coat. Not that he would ever use it on her, but he was rather persuasive with his presence alone. She had seen him take down the Terminator when her bodyguard had mistaken Max as a threat during their first meeting years ago. Watching her rather large bodyguard get bested by a man half his size was truly awesome and terrifying all at the same time.

"I guess if I have to," Elaina finally relented and took the offered arm.

She let him steer her towards the door and he held it open for her once they reached it. Terminator was more than ready to go inside and helped usher her in. Elaina reluctantly entered the warm interior of the ship and into a narrow hallway that lead to a staircase and several doors on either side. Max was right behind her and the Terminator was quick to shut the door behind him.

Once inside, Elaina removed her gloves and stuffed them into the pocket of her outer jacket. With the door shut, the heat of the inside of the ship was nearly stifling. With a grumble she removed her outer jacket and felt marginally better with it off. Elaina tucked the jacket into the crook of her arm and looked over to her two companions. Max had removed his jacket as well, revealing the thick off-white turtleneck sweater and dark pants he wore underneath. Behind them, Terminator struggled to get out of his outerwear, and seemed to be having trouble getting his arms out of the sleeves of his jacket.

Instead of waiting for her bodyguard, Elaina started walking down the hallway, already knowing the way to her room. She might as well try and take a shower and change before whatever her dad needed her for. She had barely made it to the stairs when Max called her to a halt.

"Elli," Max called, stopping her from her descent to the floor below. The rooms were all on the floor below deck and beneath them was the huge cargo bay where all the really cool equipment had been stored. She was kind of hoping she could guilt her dad into letting her drive one of the trucks once they got out onto the ice.

"Yeah?" she answered while looking back at him.

"Your father wishes to speak with you, when you get a moment." he informed her.

"Of course he does," Elaina replied, annoyed. "Tell him I'll stop by his office after my shower."

"Elaina," Max said warningly while using her full first name.

"Fine," she replied sarcastically. "I'll drop off my jacket and I'll be right there."

Max nodded and left her alone. He headed down the hallway to do whatever her father had really sent him to do.

Elaina continued down the stairs and followed the hallway to her room, which was near the end. She slipped inside and shut the door in the Terminator's face. Elaina tossed her jacket onto her bunk and headed to her suitcases. She wasn't exactly sure how long they were going to be on the ship for but she doubted she would be able to bring all of her luggage out on the ice. Riffling through her bag, she tossed aside some clothes and looked for one of the candy bars she had packed.

"Oh thank god," she muttered catching sight of the Ziploc bag she had stuffed full of candy. She had a serious addiction for chocolate and couldn't go anywhere without it.

Opening the bag, Elaina sat on her bed as she searched the bag and pulled out a Twix bar at random. Tearing open the wrapper, she bit into the candy and ate it in silence. After she licked her fingers clean of the remnants of chocolate, she let out a sigh of pure contentedness. Wiping her hands on the pants of her legs she slowly stood and resealed her bag of candy.

Grabbing her backpack, she dumped everything out that she had stored in it. Mainly it had contained magazines, books, and make-up. She rifled through the clothes she had dumped on her bed and repacked the backpack with a set of clean, warm clothes, her cell phone, headphones, and of course her bag of candy. Content with her packed items, she tossed the bag to a chair that sat next to the door and stuffed the rest of her things back into her suitcase. Zipping it shut, she dropped the bag to the ground and shoved it under the bed.

Satisfied, Elaina walked to the door and pulled it open. Terminator stood outside her room glaring down at her.

"Oh, like you're not used to it by now." she commented while looking up at his towering form. She sidestepped around him and headed in the direction of her father's office. It was on the other side of the ship, a short five-minute walk down a narrow corridor that veered sharply to the left at the end.

As she entered the hallway that lead to her father's office, she was nearly mowed over by an older black woman careening down the hall out of nowhere. The woman had long dark hair and matching brown eyes. Her face was set into a frown as if something was troubling her, but Elaina was far too furious to notice much else.

"Hey!" Elaina snapped, pressing herself against the wall to avoid the collision.

"Sorry," the woman muttered but she didn't bother to look in Elaina's direction. Instead she headed around the corner without another word.

"Bitch." Elaina muttered, glaring after the woman.

"Elaina Ann Weyland." came her father's reprimanding tone.

Elaina glowered at the use of her full name. She remembered in grade school being made fun of by the other kids, at least until she made them too afraid to pick on her. They used to call her Elaina-a-Wey Land, because her first name rhymed a little with her last name. They had found it so damn funny for some reason. After grade school, she began introducing herself as Elli Weyland to anyone she met.

Elaina turned around to look at her father, finding him standing in the doorway of his office. He shook his head as he frowned at her. He motioned with his hand for her to join him. Elaina looked back down the hallway once, before following her father into his office. Max nodded in her direction before he left the room and closed the door, shutting her inside. Elaina sat down in the chair across from her father's desk as he took a seat behind it. Crossing her arms over her chest, she waited for him to explain why he needed to see her.

"Did you pack your bag?" he asked her absently as his attention was caught by some paperwork on his desk. He frowned, the corner of his lips turning down as he slipped his reading glasses on to read it.

"Of course dad, I did it hours ago." she muttered. Her dad looked up at her as her tone of voice caught his attention. He raised his brows at her, because he knew her so well. She jolted irritably, scowling; "What? You don't believe me, you can check my room for yourself if you want."

"Elaina," he said with a sigh. He wiped his face with his right hand before looking over at her, "We will be arriving at Bouvetoya Island tomorrow. I just wanted to make sure you were ready."

Elaina fell back against the chair and sighed. She crossed her arms over her chest, but found it uncomfortable with the high arm rests. Uncrossing them, she laid them out on the arms of the chair and began drumming her fingers against the wood.

"I'm as ready as I ever could be for a trip into the Antarctic, dad." she said without looking at him. Her eyes danced around the office and they took in the sparse furnishings. Much like his apartment, Charles Weyland was not one for decorating.

"Good," he said and he leaned back into his seat to study her. "You will be riding with Max and me to the pyramid. You won't be following us inside, but actually staying with the drilling crew on the surface."

"What?!" Elaina exploded, turning her heated gaze on her father. "You made me come all the way out here to the middle of freaking nowhere. And I have to ride all the way out to this stupid pyramid in the freezing cold and I'm not even allowed to go inside it?"

"It's too dangerous," he explained, "The pyramid is 2000 feet below the ice. I would feel better if you stayed with Quinn's crew on the surface."

"Then at least let me stay on the ship!" she snapped, shoving her chair back as she stood. "Why do I have to go all the way out there anyway?"

"Because I trust my men more than I trust the company's ability to hire the crew that is running this ship." he answered her. His eyes followed his daughter as she started pacing back and forth across the room. The angrier Elaina got, he knew, the more animated she got. The fact that she had resorted to pacing told him just how angry she actually was, more than the words she spoke to him did.

"So, because you're a paranoid old man, I have to freeze my ass off while you get to go gallivanting down in some ancient pyramid." she asked suddenly turning to face him. "Where the hell is the fairness in that?"

"Life is not fair," her father stated calmly. "But as my daughter, I will make sure you are safe whether you like it or not."

"Well I don't like it!" Elaina snapped and turned towards the door. She swung it open, nearly hitting Terminator with it as she stormed from the room.

"Elaina Weyland!" her father shouted after her as he stood from his desk. "I am not done talking with you!"

Elaina didn't bother to look back at him. "Well I am sure as hell done talking with you!" she shouted back.

In her fit of anger, she didn't hear her father's struggle to breathe. Had she bothered to turn and look back she would have seen him stagger back to his desk looking for his inhaler as he was overcome with a coughing fit. But in her rush to get away, she never saw any of this. Instead Elaina stormed to her room and slammed her bedroom door shut before Terminator was even within a foot of her room.

She marched across the small space of her room and flung herself onto her bed with an aggravated scream that was muffled when she pressed her face into the rough fabric of her blanket. She laid there on her stomach, her face buried into her arms as she stifled her angry tears. The crinkle of a wrapper when she shifted on the bed drew her attention from her sorrows, momentarily. Elaina sniffled as she stared at the Twix bar she had left out for later.

"Desperate times call for desperate measures," she muttered and wiped the snot from her nose and the tears from her eyes. Her hair was plastered to her forehead and she brushed it back from her face before she reached for the candy. She tore into the bag and took a bite. "I don't even care if I gain fifty pounds." she muttered as another tear slid down her cheek and she bit off another chunk of the candy bar, "I really need this."

Elaina rolled over onto her back and stared up at the ceiling of her room, "I am eighteen years old, I should be able to have more control over my life," she said between bites. "But because I'm Elaina Weyland, I have no life. Instead I get dragged to bum-fucked Antarctica against my will and forced to freeze my ass off while my dad gets to explore some freaking pyramid like some Indiana Jones wanna-be."

The only thing that had been getting her through the whole injustice of this trip was that she might get to help discover this pyramid. She had overheard her dad talking about it on the phone on their way here and it had sounded pretty cool to explore a pyramid no one had ever seen before. She wasn't really into the whole Egyptology or archeology thing, but she'd seen The Mummy a few hundred times and thought the whole bringing dead Mummy back to life curse thing was kind of cool. Not that she was going to go around reading the Book of the Dead, but still...

Elaina glared up at the ceiling. Setting the half eaten candy bar aside, she rolled over onto her side and curled up within herself.

"Whatever," she muttered. "Once we get back to the States, I'm out of here. Screw mom and dad; I don't need either of them. I never needed them before- I sure as hell don't need them now."

With that, Elaina drifted off into a restless sleep, feeling too drained to even care anymore.

Revised: 1/11/17