Lena and Angela kept exchanging mischievous glances over dinner, completely unbeknownst to Jack, who was too engrossed in his invoices once again to even have a faint idea of what the two were up to. Angela had prepared the meal while Jack and Lena made arrangements for their next voyage, though it was all for preparation. Jack had made it clear to every one of his clients that he would be taking a few days off to be with his daughter, though not too long.

It was because of this that Angela spoke up, her mouth half full with some steak, "Uh, father; I thought this was 'us' time."

"You invited Oxton to come along, dear," he replied, monotonously, "There's nothing 'us' when you have her along."

Lena scowled, "Hey, what's that mean?!"

Shrugging, Jack eyed her from his downturned position, "You both always go on and on about some random nonsense that I have no bearing of, or you two are both laughing about some embarrassing story about me that the other one doesn't know. I'm simply allowing you two to go about your business- you and I can spend time together once Lena heads off to the inn."

Lena gave a smarmy frown, "You think you have us aaaaall figured out, dontcha?"

"I know I do," he grinned, just barely, "Now, go on; I won't stop you two from talking about whatever it is you two conjure up."

Angela shared a droll stare with Lena, the latter leaning back in her chair, nonchalantly, "Weeeeell you seem to know an awful lot about a lot of things, Cap."

Jack lowered his mug onto the table, leaving his papers as he quickly looked up toward his third mate, "Okay, what's going on?"

Frowning, Angela glared toward her cohort, "Real subtle there, Lena."

Jack continued his stare toward Lena, the woman beginning to shiver nervously under his eyes as she rubbed her hand up and down her arm, "Ya know, we were just figuring out what to get ya for your birth-"

Amgela shook her head, rapidly, knowing her father's birthday was months away.

"…Christma-"

Angela repeated her motion, as Christmas was quite a ways away as well.

"…Bastille-"

"Alright," Jack groaned, turning to his daughter, "Now I'd like a clear answer; what are you wanting?"

"I don't-"

"You're using Oxton to get something, Angela. Now, I stead of beating around the bush, just-" he paused, groaning before continuing, "Is this about you coming along?"

Angela silently frowned as Lena spoke up in her stead, "Cap, she just wants ta-"

"Yeah, I know what she wants," he spoke, lowly, with as straight of a face as either of the two others had ever seen, "She wants adventure or whatever. Oxton, how much of what we do would you consider 'adventure'?"

Lena sighed, trying to avoid answering, until Jack turned to her, staring seriously enough for her to know to follow instructions, "…very little."

"Uh huh," Jack nodded, turning back to Angela, "You have no idea how much you resemble me, Angela. I know exactly what you want, because I felt it too, and I know what it gets people. Nowhere. You spend your entire life without a home; without anything even resembling comfort or routine."

He'd spoken calmly, finishing up as he patting his mouth with a napkin, "You get all this romanticism in your head and you want to rush out there into the unknown. But deep down, it frightens you, right? That same sense of unknown. Huh?"

Angela didn't reply, simply lowering her head in a vain attempt to shield herself from her father's words tearing at her. Lena must have noticed as she sighed lightly, leaning onto the table to get a better look at her captain.

"Geez, Cap; give her a-"

"And I don't appreciate you going behind my back," Jack interrupted, turning toward her, "Let me the parenting, thanks."

Feeling shot down, Lena sunk back into her chair, despondently shoving her hands into her pockets, her appetite lost. Jack continued on as if nothing had happened, quietly poking his fork at his plate, unable to see his daughter scowling at him as he shook his head, muttered aloud.

"I know you two want to have a barrel of laughs out at sea, but that's not how it works," he spoke, quietly, "There's deadlines, work, turmoil. There's nothing good that that life can give you besides a paycheck and heartbreak."

In a second, Angela shot up to her feet, pounding her hands violently into the table, the tears along her eyes flying off her face as her lips flew apart angrily, "It gave me to you!"

Lena's bolted up toward Angela, her body slouched lazily as though she wanted to disappear, realizing that she was involved in a rather personal moment as Angela's face slowly trembled. Jack didn't move, though that also meant he had refrained from taking another bite as well as he listened to his daughter, face downturned.

"You go on and on about how miserable that life is, yet you keep going back to it!" Angela accused, her father's head calmly raising up toward her.

"Because I'm taking care of-"

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Angela interrupted, angrily, "Father, I love you! If I had to run around in rags to have you around more, I'd have that in an instant! You can't help but return to the sea!"

She took a moment to await a reply that never came, her voice shaking more as she went on, "You never talk about how fun it can be, how free it is. You never talk about how you met mom out there or-"

"Angela…"

"No!" she stopped him, angrily, "I've heard enough from people down near the docks about you two! I know everything you refuse to tell me! About how you took her out on a lifeboat to propose because it was the only way you two could get some privacy, about how she remedied all those scars you used to have- I even know how she died! Yeah, you thought you could keep that from me, too, huh?"

"Angel-"

"I know you're afraid that you won't be able to protect me, father, but I know how to be self-sufficient; I'd be the best damn sailor out there- you wouldn't even have the chance to keep me from dy-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Jack roared, his fists slamming so hard against the table that Lena's entire body jumped in shock, her ears ringing from the massive crash of tableware falling all over the place.

Without moving otherwise, Lena's eyes jumped from one to the other, trying to figure out which of the two were more fragile at the moment. While Angela was certainly more visibly upset, her captain's eyes held a look that she hadn't seen before. His eyes shook in a stare of pure anger, yet also a profound anguish, like a wounded animal trying to protect its own injured paw.

Angela's entire willpower left her as his insides trembled due to sheer loudness of her father's outburst and subsequent crashing of his fists against the table. Her face went pale white, a sudden sense of flight rushing over her as she suddenly felt her legs move, her body dashing away from the dining room, quickly, leaving nothing behind but the rapid thumping of her feet along the stairs.

His head lowered again, Jack shut his eyes, though his fists remained atop the table, trembling still, as Lena sighed, gently scratching her neck as she stared up toward the ceiling, quietly speaking up, "Why won't you just let her go with?"

Jack didn't bother with a response, though he was visibly upset, staring vacantly down at the plate of food that Angela had prepared, his eyes turning up toward her own helping, knowing it wouldn't ever get eaten now. He shook his head as he took to his feet, slowly, grabbing his plate with two fingers.

"Just let me do the parenting, alight?" he muttered, lowly.

Lena sighed, getting up to follow him into the kitchen, "Y'know how many kids go and run off on their own, against their parents' wishes; just so recklessly take off under the cover of night, stop by their girlfriend's house for one last screw before breaking up with 'em, heading down to the docks and getting on the first ship they could step foot onto?"

Jack groaned, "You know I don't like when you talk about me."

"Well somebody's got to bring some sense into you- Do you even begin to realize how lucky you are? That girl has had every chance to run off on her own, but she so desperately wants to do so at her father's side. How many fathers would kill for that?" Lena concluded, shrugging as she crossed her arms, leaning against the entry to the kitchen.

Jack lowered his body over the sink as he rinsed off his plate, sighing, "You wouldn't understand."

"Maybe not," Lena replied with a tilt of the head, "I do understand what it's like to not speak to my father for twenty years. That's just me, though."

His eyes narrowed as he watched the water run down the porcelain dish in his hand, Jack quietly stood there silently, until Lena finally decided she wasn't going to get anywhere else. She bounced herself up straight as she turned her back, heading through the dining room to leave, grabbing her sweater from behind her chair.

"I'll be ready for duty whenever you say, captain," she finished, somberly, before heading toward the front door to leave.

Jack listened to the shutting of the door as his thumb ran in circles along the top of the dish, thinking of himself at his daughter's age, how reckless he was. He loved the fire his daughter wielded, yet she handled it far more gracefully than he ever had; while his flames burnt everything he touched, Angela had always been able to so powerfully direct her influences, which probably made her that much formidable against a single parent.

He nodded with a slight grin, knowing that to be true- her mother would have locked her in a closet before allowing her out to sea. He couldn't help but think of his wife, how often they would disagree; tonight would have been one of those nights, leaving Jack to sulk, standing by the window, staring out into the city lights as he silently fumed, keeping his anger within him. She would have to be the one to swallow her pride, knowing he never would, and come up from behind him and simply wrap her arms around him, without a word, melting both of their frustrations away.

Any one thing could change his day for the worst, Jack thought; yet a single kiss from that woman, even a single touch, could change everything for the better. It only multiplied with Angela; he hated to be the one to break her heart. It was something he never wanted to do.

He sighed, lifting his face toward the ceiling, peering up into some unknown plane of existence, speaking to his wife, who couldn't ever reply to him, "Sorry, babe."

Angela laid on her bed, her pillow tightly held against the back of her head as her hands grew pale white from the force she was exerting to bring it down onto her. She had been crying, but as much as it pained her to think of, her tears had dried as her mind began wandering off to ideas of running away, tearing herself away from the ties that bound her to her father, though she know well enough that, as apprehensive as she was to go off with her father, it would only increase so exponentially without him.

The thought upset her, given their argument, but the two of them had been together for so many years that Angela had been unable to even really imagine much of a life without him. Sure, he would leave for long periods of time, but this home had been left with so much of his things that she could feel his presence in every room but her own.

For whatever reason, the biggest events of her life seemed to wait until he was home before they happened, as if the universe was watching them, trying its best to reward them, or, in some instances, punish Jack for leaving so frequently. Of course, Jack was home when Angela got into her first scuffle at school when she was a child, when the only hurricane to ever hit the small town hit, he was home to board up the windows and hold her tightly in the downstairs closet with her fifteen stuffed animals. When she screamed bloody murder after her first period, Jack was the one to assure her, nervously, before rushing pell-mell into town, retrieving Lena to bring back and explain such things to his daughter.

She rolled over onto her back, bringing her pillow with her as she covered her face with it, sighing into its softness as she calmed down further, suddenly feeling bad at how she'd brought up a topic she knew, very well, never to bring up.

A gentle knock came at the door, causing her to jump in surprise, though she remained silent, hidden under her pillow as her father's voice slowly passed through the wooden barrier, "We both know none of these doors have locks, so…"

That was as far as he went for a time, simply making his presence known. He sighed as he turned his body so that his back carefully fell to the wall, his body slouching down until he was sitting outside her door, his leg propped up to keep his arm airborne. His eyes remained on the door as he began to speak again, having no other choice with Angela not answering.

"I'm sorry I yelled at you," he began, almost lifelessly as his heart sank, "I-I've done that enough in my lifetime; I never wanted to do it to you."

He sat their quietly for a time before the tiniest of smirks crept along his face, "You know, I only ever really yelled at your mother one time, before we were married. She slapped me across the face and told me never to do it again, so I never did."

His smile fading, he went on, even quieter, almost as if speaking to himself, "She broke me in like a wild horse. She turned me from an aimless seapup to somebody with an actual life to live for. As seems to be a pattern with me, you've sort of become the next woman to change me for the better. You've taught me so much about patience and managing my frustrations and…"

He trailed off into thought, though Angela's voice finally emerged, offering him a finishing thought, "Because I'm stubborn, right?"

Jack grinned, "Pretty much. Just like your old man."

The two shared a comforting silence for a time, their kind voices being exchanged offering a sort of respite for them both. Finally, like a light at the end of a tunnel, Angela's voice went on, just barely breaking through the door as Jack sat there, quietly.

"Just come on in already," she murmured.

Rising to his feet with an aged groan, Jack managed, slowly opening up the creaky door and stepping into his daughter's room, saddened to see her beneath her pillow as though to burrow away from the earlier exchange. It only served to fill him with more shame at his shout as he sat at the side of her bed, holding his hands together as he leaned over his knees.

"I meant that in the best way possibly, by the way," he spoke, quickly clarifying himself, "About being stubborn. That'll serve you well. I won't have to worry about my little girl taking crap from anybody."

Angela slowly pulled the pillow down from her face, her eyes glaring challengingly at her father as he noticed, quickly adjusting his words, "Sorry; little woman?"

As she pulled her pillow back over her face, now embarrassed as she quickly realized how much more stupid that was; however, given the succinctness that had covered the two, she simply uttered a quick reply of, "That's better."

Jack couldn't help but give a weak chuckle as Angela pulled her pillow back down, watching him with a rather deep expression as her voice wavered alive once again, "How did mom die?"

Her father's face quickly dropped as Angela went on, assumingly, "I mean, I'd rather hear your version of it."

"Over some peddler's down by the docks?" he retorted, accusingly, though his faint smile diminished any ill will he might have presented.

Angela groaned, once again covering her face with the pillow, "Just- forget it."

His shoulders sinking as he turned away, Jack sighed, picking at his fingers as he began, quietly, "Well, I suppose you are old enough."

He readied himself as Angela's eyes peeked out from beneath her pillow, "I'd bought a few ships at that time, but this one was rather new to me. We'd come back from the West Indies through some nasty winds, so in order to make our deadlines, we had little choice but to move everything onto whatever ship we could find. In this business, reputation is everything, you know? Miss a single shipment and you hear it about it, forever."

"Well, I was against the ship your mother chose- an older clinker ship; those are better at twisting and turning through rough waters, and she must have been concerned with more storms. I've never been on such a vessel, and my argument was to get a smaller ship I knew, just make two trips- take whatever we had of the tighter deadlines and come back for the later ones. Anyway, we got the larger ship, took it out to sea, and sure enough, we were met with some nasty storms, though we made it pretty far along, all things considered.

"We were all holed up inside the ship, and after a loud clap of lightning- we put all the cargo on rollers, alright? That way, if they ever detached from the lines that bound them to the ship, we'd be able to hear them roll off once they hit the deck. That happened, and given the storm, we could even see the larges pallets of cargo just sliding up and down the deck."

Jack turned to his daughter, gravely, "Whoever told you this story… They said I ordered your mother to go out there, right?"

Angela knew it to be true, but with her father's voice having taken such a dark air, she hadn't the courage to actually nod her head. Her silence seemed to suffice as an answer in and of itself, as Jack looked back away, nodding slowly in understanding.

"Look, your mother was the best damn sailor I'd ever set eyes on. Any captain with her in their crew, they'd immediately think to send her to secure that cargo. I actually had second thoughts, and I was looking over the crew when she went on over to grab a coat. I tried to stop her; telling her how unimportant the cargo was, how we all needed to stay inside, but she refused to listen to me.

"She wasn't concerned about the cargo, or even the paycheck," Jack confided, quietly, "All she cared about was the crew. They'd expelled so much sweat and blood for us; she wasn't about to send them off without a full payment. So out she went, into the storm, carefully navigating the soggy deck while avoiding the pallets that were sliding everywhere. She managed to get one knot bolted down; all she needed to do was direct the pallet against one of the others, but-"

He suddenly grew quiet, shaking his head, "I honestly don't even know what happened. Her grip must have given way or something, but all of a sudden, she slipped off there, falling down between the two pallets as they, uh…"

His throat suddenly became dry as the scene ran through his mind- at least whatever parts of it he was able to recall after so many nursings he had taken from bottles of alcohol in the years afterwards. That was where he ended the story, simply releasing a sigh before patting his hands atop his knees in conclusion.

"Well, uh- that's about it," he shrugged, lowering his head, "Look, Angela; I know you're old enough. But know you should have some sort of understanding of why I don't want to lose anybody else. That woman was my life, and my heart and soul were taken to places a nary want to ever visit again. Now, you're my life."

Angela frowned sadly as she pushed herself up to her knees before reaching over to give her father a hug, "I know."

"But," Jack noted, reluctantly, "You said something earlier. You aren't your mother, and it's not fair to you for me to keep on thinking that."

He groaned, reaching up to rub his face, "This next trip we're taking is just a minor salesman's jump. If I quiz you a week from now, and you pass, maybe -MAYBE- I'll consider you coming along, alright?"

Angela was left speechless as she had pulled away from him in sheer awe of his words; all she could do was jump back over toward him, wrapping her arms around him, tightly as she began shouting aloud, "YES! YES, OF COURSE, FATHER!"

He couldn't help but smile at her enthusiasm as her jubilance caused his body to rock back and forth at the edge of the bed. Eventually, Angela fell away back onto her bed, happily hugging at her pillow as her legs kicked up into the air, excitedly, banging down onto the mattress as her father watched, still with a minute grin himself.

"I'll set the date for next weekend, then," he nodded, Angela's body coming to a stop as she expectantly stared up at him, "I'll tell your school and-"

"I already didn't register for next year," Angela interrupted, excitedly, jumping back up to hug her father from behind as his face began to contort, angrily, "You can yell at me tomorrow, okay?!"

He acquiesced, simply slowing his head in frustration, "Okay, fine. Make sure all your friends know; one of our more funny rules on the sea is that you break up with your girlfriends before sailing off for months at a time- I guess for you, that'd be any boyfriends I don't know about."

"A-About that," Angela muttered, unsurely, figuring her father should receive something in return for even allowing the idea of letting her come along pass through his mind, "I'm, uh- I'm not really into boys, you know…"

Jack turned his head over his shoulder as she'd begun, though as she'd concluded, he looked away, thinking for just a moment before shrugging, "I guess that makes a lot of sense, then; why you never had any guys over here."

He reached a hand up over his shoulder to gently pat her shoulder, "Well, if you have any girlfriends, then. Wow; I guess you're a lot more like me at that age than I thought."

Angela released a giggle as he turned his body toward her, allowing them both to share a hug as he finished speaking, "Sorry for keeping you-"

"Just hush and let me hug you," Angela concluded for him, the both of them now sharing some laughter as well.