This is dedicated to all of those people out there that love their families.

Disclaimer: Everything from the original Treasure Planet movie belongs to Disney.

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. ~Jane Howard

Chapter 4: Leaving Land

Getting up before the sun was just too early for Jim. He could never understand how his wife did it. He always thought that the longer he was Captain the more he would get use to it. He was sadly mistaken. Finally getting enough gumption to get out of bed, he went to the bathroom to dress and clean up before heading down to an early breakfast.

"Morning," he said to he said to Liz and Jeremy.

"Good morning Jim."

"Morning Pops"

"Pops? You make me feel so old, you know that?"

"Stop talking and eat you two, we're running late." Jim watched her walk back to the kitchen and then leaned over to his son.

"Someone's bossy this morning." Jeremy started to laugh but was cut short by his mother's voice.

"I heard that!"

A little while later the three of them were walking to the Benbow. As they made it up the steps they heard a loud crashing noise. Jim dropped his bags on the porch and ran inside to find out what had happened. When he came to the kitchen he was greeted with the sight of pots and pans lying everywhere, two Benbow employees look highly agitated, and one overly excited and extremely annoying robot lying in the floor.

"Need some help there B.E.N.?"

"Jimmy!" he shouted before jumping up and latching himself to the front of Jim.

"B.E.N.!"

"Oh, right sorry, no touching."

"It's fine, just ask first."

"What happened," yelled Sarah as she walked into the kitchen.

"B.E.N. happened," said one of the workers.

"I'm real sorry Sarah, I'll have this picked up in no time."

"I think Mark and Trish can handle it. Why don't you help Jim with his stuff?"

"Okey Dokey." With that he went through the kitchen into the dining area.

"I really don't think I should leave the Inn."

"It's okay Ms. Hawkins we can handle it," said Trish soothingly.

"Yeah, B.E.N.'s going with you, remember?" laughed Mark.

"It will be fine mom. Come on, the Captain and Doc will be here any minute."

Jim had gone upstairs to help Sarah bring her stuff down when a knock came at the door. Jeremy opened it to let the Doppler's in.

"Ah, good morning Jeremy." He smiled at Doctor Doppler and swung the door open wider so they could all come inside. All of the Doppler kids looked like they could use more sleep and Darren looked like he could fall and take a nap on the floor.

"Good morning Doc, morning Captain." Just then Liz came out of the kitchen and Jim and Sarah appeared on the stairs. After about 500 greeting were thrown back and forth they moved on to going threw one final check list. Everyone made sure they had enough cloths, hygiene products, extra medical supplies, as well as any other essential items they might have needed, packed and ready to go. Once they were done they all headed out the door and toward the transport station.

The newly fallen rain had left the air fresh and clean in the port. The birds were out singing and chirping away. Dylan felt like he could relate to what they were feeling because he knew they hated the rain, and didn't much care for it either but after the rain had stopped it was like a fog had been lifted and everything was so much clearer and certain. To Dylan, this was his favorite kind of weather. It was one of the many things that he and his father had in common. Today, it seemed to bring extra comfort to him because he was depressed lately and had no idea why. Normally he loved to write and draw and he was quite good at both, but in the last couple of months had only drawn one picture and had stopped writing all together. Now that he feels like using pen and paper and he doesn't have time to use them. He was just happy to be happy despite the cold air. It may have chilled his skin, but it warmed his sole, and that was all that mattered. He was brought out of his thoughts when he heard his parents talking about him.

"I don't think I've seen him this happy since I came home from my last voyage," Amelia whispered, thinking only Delbert could hear her.

"I know I just wish I knew what was wrong with him."

"I feel the same way, but he won't tell us anything. Every time we try and get him to talk he says as little as possible or doesn't say anything at all." Dylan was catching every word and was afraid of where the conversation might lead them so he cut in.

"Hey, do you guys want to see a picture of the manor I finished yesterday?" Amelia and Delbert gave each other hesitant glances realizing he had caught them talking about him. They silently let the subject drop and turned their attention back to Dylan.

"We would love to see it."

He took the picture out of his pocket and gave it to his mom.

"You did this?" she asked with awe.

"Yep, it took me longer than I thought it was going to. I had to start over several times." She handed it to Delbert who was just as amazed.

"This looks professional."

"It's not that good," Dylan said slightly embarrassed.

"It's wonderful," Delbert told him. As he was handing the picture back the ships came into view and everyone picked up pace.

The Doppler's and B.E.N. made their way toward The Legacy and waved to the Hawkins' as they head toward the Fire Rider.

"We launch at 0900 hours. Once everything is underway and we are far enough away from port there will be a meeting aboard my ship so we can all collaborate on a course and then our map maker can make each captain a map. Until then Mr. Jackson, prepare for launch."

"Aye, aye Captain."

"Let's get these miserable ships off the ground."

The Legacy, followed by the Fire Rider and the Star Gliders slowly pulled away from the docks as sails went up and gravity seemed to disappear. People were running around on all three ships securing lines and tying things down. Jackson looked to Captain Amelia when everything was ready and received a quick nod in return. Everyone steeled themselves when they heard the First Mate give the command to launch.

"Full speed ahead!"

The ships shot off into space and Doctor Doppler lost his footing, but before he could fall, a hand reached out and grabbed the front of his shirt. When he finally started to gain his momentum back he realized it was Amelia who caught him.

"We've known each other for twenty-three years and your reflexes still baffle me."

"It's all about anticipation"

"You anticipated me falling?"

"Yes, well, we've known each other for twenty-two years and your clumsiness still baffles me. It's a good thing it doesn't still surprise me or you would have slammed into the wall…again."

Delbert turned red from embarrassment while not being quite sure of what was more embarrassing: his almost tumble, being an astrophysicist who just messed up simple math, or the fact that he even had to do the math to know how long he had known Amelia. He tried to say something to gain a little bit of his dignity back, but before he could she put a hand on his shoulder.

"We'll talk later during lunch right now I have a meeting to conduct."

He grabbed her hand briefly and she smiled at him before they both returned to a professional state.

Delbert headed down to the cabins that were located below the state room. He found his six kids unpacking.

"Now's the time to relax because once your mother is done with her meeting she's going to have plenty of work for all of you."

They all groaned and resumed their tasks as their father went back on deck. They had two rooms, boys and girls, that were located directly across the hall for each other. Abby was the first to unpack and have everything arranged the way she wanted it and decided she had spent enough time in her cramped room. She hated being confined and often liked to be alone which was going to make staying in the room difficult because it was small and she was sharing it with her sisters. In her haste to leave the cabin, she ran directly into someone and sent them both flying to the floor.

"Oh, god, I am so terribly sorry. I really should have been watching where I was walking. I can be rather clumsy at times."

She had run into a human boy who couldn't have be more than a year or two older that herself. He had a rich British accent that was much more sophisticated than hers. His hair was coal black; his eyes were a deep ocean blue, and a very light skin tone. She felt like the wind had been knocked right out of her.

"Hello, are you alright?"

"What?" she said with heavy confusion.

"I said are you alright?"

"Oh, you're fine... I mean I'm fine. It was just as much my fault; I shouldn't have been in such a rush. I just like to get my work done. The Captain doesn't like people being slow when she's in charge."

"I don't think there's any need for you to rush, Captain Doppler is going to be in today's meeting for a while. Did you say the Captain is female?"

"Yes, do you have a problem with that?"

She began to fell her anger rise. She couldn't stand sexist men or women.

"No, of course not. I'm just surprised because the ratio of men greatly outnumber the women, especially when it comes to hire ranking officers. I just figured that being on a ship with a female captain wasn't that great."

All of a sudden he felt the need to run, but had nowhere to go in the small corridor. Abby felt her anger subside, and spoke to him in curiosity.

"You're not from around here, are you?"

"No," he said relaxing, "my uncle and I just moved to this part of the galaxy a couple of months ago. How did you know?"

"You did know the name of the ship you were going to be on, didn't you?"

"Yes, of course."

That's how I knew. Everyone on 'this side of the galaxy' knows that Captain Amelia is the Captain of the R.L.S. Legacy. She's the finest Captain the Navy has, man or woman."

"She sounds like an amazing person, to be better than all the rest."

"She's quick witted, has a sharp eye, refuses to let anything be done less that 'top notch,' and is never lenient with anyone except her family."

"You seem to know quite a bit about the Captain."

"Yes, I do, more than most people."

"Is she someone you admire greatly, someone your inspired by?"

"You could say that. She's not so much an Idol as my mother."

"You're her daughter?"

"Yes. As the Captain's daughter I should warn you that she doesn't to be slowed down. You should start settling in so you're ready to go when the meeting is over."

"Alright. I'll, uh, see you around then."

"Okay."

The both began to walk away slowly when the guy turned around.

"I'm sorry; I didn't catch your name."

"Abigail, but you can just call me Abby."

"I'm Cornelius Castington. You can call me Jake though. It's my middle name. Cornelius makes me sound like a snob." This earned him a laugh.

"Well, I guess I should unpack."

"Okay, I'll see you later."

With that Jake went to his cabin and Abby found herself standing there wanting to know more about him. Where he was from, what his profession was, was he seeing anyone, why she wanted to know that. She was brought out of her thoughts when she heard whispering behind her. She turned around and her sisters were there giving her a strange look.

"What."

"Nothing," they said mockingly.

She started to up the stairs when her Alexis called after her.

"When you two get married can I be your maid of honor?"

Her face turned bright red as she flew up the stairs

"Who's getting married?" asked Derek as he came out of his room.

"We were making fun of Abby for all but drooling over a guy staying in a cabin at the end of the hall."

Up on deck, Delbert watched Abby run across deck and down to the galley. When he went down to the cabins to see had happened to find the other three quads rolling with laughter.

"The four of you are going to be twenty years old this winter."

They immediately stopped laughing.

"The immaturity needs to stop."

"Yes dad."

All of a sudden they had the feeling this was going to be a very long trip.