DISCLAIMER: Why yes, I am the entire Disney Corporation. I'm so filthy stinking rich I can charge sixty dollars a ticket just to get into Disneyland. NO! I am not. And although I wish differently, I did not create Treasure Planet. It belongs to Disney© and Robert Louis Stevenson.

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Chapter Seven – I Just Wanna Be Mad For A While

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It had been almost a week since the raider attack on the fleet, and although the voyage since had been smooth sailing so to speak, tensions had been running high among the crews on all vessels.

Jonathan Aéden, Captain Tiberius Aéden's eldest son, had to be confined to the brig for the safety of his fellow crewmen as well as himself. After witnessing the explosion of his the Odyssey and his father's death, Jonathan emotions let loose upon himself and anyone within close range of him. He unintentionally knocked out a gunner who, with two other crewmen took to the task of restraining him. That was five days past. On the first day of confinement Jonathan Aéden could be heard yelling curses of revenge and cries of sorrow for hours from his holding cell aboard the Phoenix. By the second day he eventually calmed down substantially, and on the fourth day he had, while under close watch, been released back to his duties.

Amelia had arranged a meeting with the boy to ensure that he was stable enough to continue as a valid part of this mission. She sat at her desk waiting for him to arrive. Amelia had him sent in as soon as firth had informed her he was aboard. The young man walked in and stood at stock attention for her as she stared at him.

"At ease cadet." She said as she set aside the folder that held the cadet's service record. "Have a seat."

"Yes ma'am." Aéden said tensely as he took a seat in the chair gestured to by Amelia.

"You may relax cadet. You're not here for me to place punishment upon you, I only wish to speak to you."

"I am ready to accept all punishment I've deserved for my actions Captain. Assault on an officer shouldn't be overlooked." Aéden said looking directly ahead, past Amelia, as if making eye contact with anyone would be a crime.

"You won't be receiving any cadet, at least not from me." Amelia said and when he didn't acknowledge he she tried a different tack.

"May I ask why, Captain?" said the boy, staring directly ahead, still not allowing himself to look at Amelia.

"Considering what has just happened, I and the other Captains understand your mental state. You're not the first to react as such you did. I have spoke with Captain Drizzi, and although the Admiral may think differently, I am in command of this fleet and I agree with your Captain, he'll keep you on the Phoenix, out of the brig preferably. We need all the hands we can use now."

"May I ask something Captain?" Amelia motioned for him to continue. "Is it always so difficult? To lose a comrade, to see them die in such a manner?"

Amelia sighed and broke eye contact with the young cadet for a moment. Her thought's drifted back to Arrow as she turned to look at the glass case where his belongings were kept. As she looked toward the case, so did Aéden. She had lost those who served under her on the rare occasion but never had she lost someone so close to her. It surprised her a bit that the cadet would ask her this, but it did make sense.

"It is difficult either way if an underling is lost or even a comrade or close friend. Personally it was hardest with the loss or my greatest friend two years ago, but it is equally straining with the loss we've all recently taken. Numbers or names, it's a loss, and as a leader, we all just find some way to overcome our distress. Sometimes, not always, it's easier." Amelia said and it seemed to calm Aéden for the time being.

"I don't honestly know if I can handle it yet."

"You will have time to think on it cadet. Captain Drizzi has advised me that he shall keep you upon light duty for now, but do be prepared if we should be attacked once again. Anything further than that you shall discuss with him." Amelia said placing her hand in the air as she said the latter, seeing that Aéden was about to protest. "You're dismissed Cadet."

"Thank you Captain." Aéden said as he rose to leave the cabin.

After the boy left, Amelia registered to herself what she had told the boy. The loss of someone, anyone, was not the same. Sometimes just as straining, but not the same. She suddenly regretted some of the things she had said to Delbert. Of course, she was still angry with him, but she could not attempt to understand the point he had been trying to make.

She didn't notice it until the small silent tear hit her polished wooden desk. It angered her, that single tear. All Amelia wanted for the moment was to be angry with him. He did surprise her though, and it baffled her; never had Delbert been so angry or defensive with her as to storm out in the middle of an argument. He was right on one point though. It was the one point that she was sure had shocked her most and had also caused this single tear.

'Arrow was not the same! You were not in love with him!'

Yes, that had done it. Remembering him say that had torn her mind. And she knew somewhere that she had crossed a line. And yet she didn't even feel the need to apologize right now. She knew he felt the same. Both were angry. Both were hurt. And they both were not ready for this argument to end."

***

One week. Was that it? It had been only one week since the raider attack on the fleet. It had only been one week since Amelia had confronted him about his marriage a decade past. And it had only been one miserable week since he had walked away from her.

He regretted that he hadn't stayed to explain himself to her. He regretted that he didn't make her understand. And most of all, he regretted the look on her face. A look filled with shock, pain, anger, and misunderstanding as he spoke his last words that night to Amelia. Of course he had spoken with her, but not as the man who loved her unconditionally through all obstacles, but as the astrophysicist who served under his Captain. And even then they didn't speak much. And if they spoke, there was no reasonable contact. Both had refused to look the other in the eye; at first, out of anger, then later, out of regret.

That night after he left her stateroom, Delbert didn't think or returning to her. Not that night at least. He was far too angry, which scared him a little. He couldn't remember a time when he'd been so irate before. No. Not irate. Astonishing even to him, he was furious. Amelia had never made him feel that way, until that night, and he needed to sort out his thoughts.

Delbert began to think back to a time when he'd been this depressed. It didn't take much to find it. He had lost Juliana ten years ago, and for two years after he had become a shadow of a man. As the years passed, he refused to think of that time, he hated who he had almost become. He hated what it had cost him. Delbert hadn't had a choice in what he lost with Juliana, but this time he did. He loved Amelia far too much to lose her. To make this mistake would surely lead to a worse outcome than he'd been in years past. And so, with a sigh, he arose from the chair in his cabin and left to the upper deck.

Not surprised at how late it was, he hadn't gotten very much sleep over the last week. He checked his watch; Amelia should be on her rounds right about now. He didn't have to search for very long. Delbert found her at the aft section of the ship.

He stopped a good distance behind her. She would most likely now be as angry with him as he was with her a week ago. He tried to swallow, feeling his throat very dry. This would not be easy. As he knew all too well, very little was easy in life.

"Is there something I can help you with Doctor?"

She'd heard him coming. Of course she'd heard him. He didn't know why he was so surprised to see her take notice of his presence.

"We need to talk." Delbert said, slowly lessening the distance between them. "There's a lot that I need to explain to you. Something I should have done ages ago."

Amelia said nothing as he approached her. She didn't look at him. When he stood next to her, attempting to place his hand on hers, she drew it away quickly. Amelia took three steps away from him, breathing deeply.

'Yes.' Delbert thought. 'Very angry indeed.'

Quite some time had passed before she had said anything. Delbert had lost track of time. He could only stare at her. He knew he had hurt her. She wouldn't dare show it. Not here. Not where there was a possibility of someone seeing her. After what seemed like an age, at last she spoke.

"I agree." Amelia said in barely more than a whisper. Her voice filled with the sharpest ice, able to cut right through him. "But however much you may need to explain things, it's something you should have done, how was it you said? Ah yes, ages ago."

Delbert swallowed again. He didn't was to tell her this. He had avoided it for nearly a decade. But now he had no choice. … That was wasn't true. He had a choice. But the other path was letting go of Amelia, and that was something he couldn't bear to do.

"If you'll let me, I'll explain things. I'll tell you everything. It is the darkest part of my life and I've, for very good reasons, completely shut it out until now." Delbert took in a deep breath. "Amelia, … if you ask me, if you really want to know … if it, in some form, will help you to forgive me, I'll tell you … everything."

Amelia, for the first time in a week, looked him directly in the eye. Since she had known Delbert Doppler, this was the first time she had not been able to read the man. He had always been an open book to her. And here it was, the unread chapter. As she stared at him, in his eyes, there was pain, yes, but there was something else. Something she herself hadn't ever felt. She had never been this close to anyone to know what it was she saw in him. Yes, she and Arrow had been close. He was the closest thing to family she had claimed for such a long time. He had lost a brother once, and he was tormented by it. But it was nothing like this. She had lost friends, family. But again, it was nothing like this.

She guess what she saw in him was far beyond pain. It was a sort of numbness, maybe. Something that had gone far past pain, and torment. In all her travels, in all that she'd experienced she had never seen anyone look the way he did now. As Amelia looked at the man, there was a small part of her that wanted to let him keep his secret. But the other part of her, the more insecure part, the part that was still angry with him, the part that made her doubt herself, and what she meant to the man she loved, this was the part that wanted to know everything.

"My relief is coming Doctor." Amelia said as she looked to the stairs leading to the lower deck, seeing one of her crew rising for his nightly shift. "We can discuss this in my stateroom. I'll accompany you shortly."

Delbert only nodded and walked away as the crewman approached his captain. She stared after him for a moment, gave a few short words of instruction to the crewman and left, taking a different route to her stateroom than Delbert had.

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Authors Note: All right. Finally I've updated this story. This is a short chapter and I'm sorry for it but I couldn't put the next part in this chapter or it would be far too long. I know… I know… Some of you may want to force me to my computer and type the rest right now, but I can assure you, I am writing it. And because it has taken me so long to find a way to write this chapter, this that leads to the next, which I've had planned for a very long time, it will indeed be up soon. I am forgoing a lot of sleep to write this next chapter out. I hope you've at least enjoyed this one. It's kind of morbid but I had to write it like this.

P.S. And for those of you who think the title of this chapter sounds familiar, it's also the title for a country song by JoDee Masina. I love that song

Thanks so much to all my reviewers! It makes me feel great there are still those as obsessed about TP and fanfic's as I am.

NEXT CHAPTER: In the next chapter you'll get to read about the good Doctor's back story and the secret he had kept for so long. And more importantly, you'll find out why.