"Ten minutes, girls!" Aunt Naima told them as she walked past their room with RJ on her hip.

"Yes, mommy!" Jameelah answered, tossing Angie her detangling spray and attacking her own head of thick hair.

"Yes, Auntie Naima!"

By now Angie had spent just enough time with Jameelah and Auntie Naima to not be nervous about waking up and getting ready for the day with them. It was almost fun getting ready with Jameelah and they helped each other pick what to wear, how they would do their hair and what they would do if anyone started to bother Angie again.

"Sarah's a bully, but she backs off if you stand up to her," Jameelah told her seriously. "When I first started at our school she was mean to me too until I told her I didn't care what she thought of me. I mean…she's still mean, but if you can convince her she's not getting to you then she leaves you alone after a while."

"Summer seems more nasty than Sarah," Angie said as she worked through her tangles, blinking back tears when it caught again. She half wished her dad was there. He did it so much better than her and Auntie Naima was busy with RJ.

"She can be, that's for sure. Once she tried to convince me that no one liked me and that they all thought the gift I gave Rory at her birthday party was dumb."

"That's so mean!"

"It's ok! I asked if she was just saying it to be mean, and she said yes and left me alone after that."

"I don't like Wesley and Todd." Angie confided.

Jameelah made a face. "They're dumb. Ignore them."

"They made fun of me just because I had a little food on my face at lunch." Angie sighed.

"When was that!?" Jameelah looked personally insulted for her.

"When you and Lilly went to the bathroom."

"Girls! Let's go! Get out here and eat your breakfast!" Aunt Naima called.

"Tell them their faces look dumb," Jameelah stated darkly, reminding Angie of her dad a little. She briefly wondered if that pattern of speech had been learned from him or if Jameelah learned it from her own dad and it was just typical of dads in general.

"Do…do you think we'll see our dad's before school?" Angie asked, hesitating at the threshold of the door and lowering her voice so Aunt Naima didn't hear her.

"No. But, after school we'll see them, unless they have to go to work again." Jameelah told her brightly, then she lowered her voice as they went past her parents' closed door. "Mommy said they got back really early this morning but that Daddy was sleeping right now. He's going to pick me up from school. Uncle Scott's probably sleeping too and he'll pick you up! Don't worry!"

Nodding, Angie accepted it. She'd been in the bathroom when that conversation took place.

Part of her felt better knowing her dad was at home and yet her stomach still did a flip flop knowing she was going to see him later that day. She still didn't know how she felt about all those comments made by Sarah and Summer yesterday and was trying not to think about it.

The school day went marginally better than the first day.

Angie held her ground as best she could against the less kind children in her class. Mostly she tried to keep her head down and be invisible, letting Jameelah and Lilly spearhead any confrontations and taking a back seat with Autumn, silently observing.

There were only three times when Summer and Sarah tried to tear them down. Once was about how they were dressed. Another about how 'dumb' it was that they had matching hairstyles. And finally they started in on the whole 'aren't you scared of your dad?' thing again, adding, matter of factly, 'helpful information' about how people in the military were more violent and likely to have anger issues.

That one happened at the end of the day and it made Angie feel sick with worry because the picture of her dad hurting someone didn't fit with the man who held her when she cried and read stories to her at bedtime.

It begged the question; how well did she know him? Was he naturally more like the man who'd slammed Uncle Sonny into the wrestling mats so hard it made him cough that first day at the gym or was he more like the giant, gentle, growly, bear-man father she'd started to secretly idolize? Would he get more like the way he was with Uncle Sonny when he was angry? What if she made him angry and-

No. Angie stopped herself. That didn't feel right. Somewhere deep in her heart, she couldn't fathom the idea of her dad ever hurting her. He would never…she was mostly sure of it! He wasn't a monster !

Still…suddenly she was nervous of him all over again, mostly of doing something to make him angry, and she wanted nothing more than to be back in that moment where he was holding her after she'd been scared in the water. Nowhere felt safer than that moment and she wanted it back, just for a second or two.

"They don't know what they're talking about," Jameelah offered, once the brief confrontation was over. It had mostly been comments from Summer about hoping Angie was safe when she went home tonight and Sarah joining in, saying she was amazed Angie wasn't scared of living with someone so dangerous. Jameelah glared at Sarah and Summer as they crossed the grounds to their pick-up spot. "They're just mean and trying to make you scared. Our dads are the best, toughest and bravest, and if ever those two were in trouble, Daddy would still help them even though they've been so awful. They don't know anything!"

The two girls in question were getting picked up nearby and walked at a distance, whispering and casting critical looks at them.

Huffing, Jameelah growled again, "Ignore them. Our dads are superheroes who fight bad guys and they help keep people safe. Those two are so dumb."

Not wanting to tarnish the unshakable faith Jameelah had in her father and Uncles, Angie wisely kept quiet about her own whispering fears and tried to believe the same thing.

Their dads were parked next to each other, standing with their backs against the front of Scott's truck, and arms folded as they talked.

As Angie got closer, she spotted the way both parents were watching from behind their sunglasses as they approached. At first it was hard to tell, but Angie could feel her dad tracking her as she and Jameelah came across the grounds.

Just to their left, Summer and Sarah's steps faltered when they saw the two well-built dads. Angie was sure Sarah had been about to give some snarky, unkind farewell veiled with false civility, but those words seemed to die in her throat instantly and the girl's own dark imaginings about Angie's dad seemed to come back to haunt her.

She looked nervous and so did Summer when they grabbed hands and started to move further off to the left, stealing quick glances as Angie and Jameelah reached the two men.

Jameelah ran to her dad's open arms happily. Angie could feel Summer and Sarah's eyes on her, gadging if she had been telling the truth when she said she wasn't scared of her dad at all.

Just before Angie stopped in front of Scott, she looked over her shoulder at the two other girls, just to see if she was right.

She was.

They were watching, transfixed with an almost greedy kind of fascination on their faces. It was like they were just waiting for her to prove them right by acting nervous around him or seeming scared, which wasn't fair at all!

The heavy weight of her backpack eased from her shoulders and Angie's head whipped back round as Scott took it by the handle, prompting her to slip her arms free.

"How did school go while I was gone?" He asked, glancing subtly from behind the sunglasses over her head at the two girls still gawking at her.

The moment she heard his voice and felt the gentle weight of his hand rest on the back of her neck and shoulders, warm and steady as he started to steer her to 'her' spot in the back of the truck, Angie felt a rush of indignation on behalf of her father.

How dare they suggest all those horrible things about him!? And how dare they shake the trust she'd started to have in him!? He was always gentle with her, he took care of her and held her when she cried, and he didn't get mad when she broke the water glass, both times it happened! They were wrong about him!

Stopping while they were still well in view of the two bullies, Angie craned her head up at him and stated earnestly, "There are some people I need to rise above."

Scott paused too and instantaneously the softened lines around his mouth flickered into a mix of a frown and amusement.

"Oh? And how are you planning to do that?" He asked, eyebrows raising.

Setting her jaw, Angie said firmly, "I need a hug."

For a split second she thought he was going to say no because his face went blank and she couldn't read his eyes behind the dark sunglasses as well. Then a smile suddenly cracked the stone and his deep chuckle snuck out as he set her backpack on the ground and stooped down to comply.

Once her arms were wrapped around his neck, he enveloped her with his own huge arms and lifted her off her feet, hugging her with the perfect amount of pressure while her feet dangled in the air and her cheek rested on his shoulder.

That chased away the remains of that sick feeling in her gut, for now, and Angie squeezed a little, hoping to drive home how grateful she was that he went along with her without question.

"How's that?" He asked quietly, eyeing the two girls who were staring at them and whispering four cars down while their 'classy' moms talked. Angie couldn't see either of them right now while she was hugging him and he was smart enough to figure this all had something to do with them.

"Perfect!" Angie held on just a touch longer because all the sudden she remembered why he made her feel safe and that it seemed silly to be scared of anything right now. "Thank you!"

Snorting softly with another quiet chuckle, he set her down gently and Angie dared to throw a glare over her shoulder at Summer and Sarah who by now had their mouths slightly open as they peered around the front of a van. Having her dad next to her made her more willing to stand up to them rather than keep her head down and she found the incredulous disbelief and discomfort in their eyes satisfying. Who cared if they were worse towards her tomorrow. She had the scariest dad and wasn't afraid of him, therefore she won.

Another soft laugh brought her back to her dad as he returned his hand to the back of her neck and he picked up the backpack, nudging her towards the truck.

"I don't know if all that count's as rising above whatever it is going on, Angie," Scott told her, amusement making his growl light as he opened the door for her and waited for her to climb in. "But, if it means I get greeted with a hug when I pick you up from school, I'll play along."

Somehow Angie didn't get the feeling he was making fun of her and she was pleasantly surprised that he was so open to more hugs, so she nodded and said seriously, "That might be necessary. I'll let you know."

For whatever reason, the way she said it made his shoulders shake with another laugh as he got into the driver's seat.

"Anything I should know about?" He asked as he started the truck and waited for her to buckle up.

Angie paused, nearly telling him right there and then because she was still emboldened by proving Sarah and Summer wrong about being scared of him, but then the whole fear of having him confirm what they said about him killing people crashed in on her courage and she changed her mind.

"No." Angie shook her head, using adjusting her seatbelt as reason not to look at him. "Just kids being dumb."

Accepting it without digging further, but with a tone that Angie detected wasn't entirely convinced, Scott said, "Ok. If you're sure. Did you sleep ok last night?"

Happy to have a distraction from the cold wash of guilt for lying to him, because part of her desperately wanted to tell him what the horrid girls were saying and doing, Angie nodded eagerly, "Yes! Thank you for sending the recording!"

Warmth crinkled the edges of his eyes and he nodded, "Can't always promise I can do that, but I will when I can. Hope you're Uncles weren't too noisy."

"No." A shy smile surfaced and Angie played with her sleeves. "They were kinda funny."

"Good." They pulled out of the parking lot and started home. "Aunt Naima said you've gotten a good start on catching up for class. How much homework do you have tonight?"

Deflating, Angie sighed and looked at her bag unhappily. "A lot."

"Well, let's see how much we can get done tonight. Sooner you get caught up the less you'll have to do."

Angie knew that was true, but her brain hurt from how much she was learning and she just wanted to read her books.

"Ok," She agreed without much enthusiasm.

"Hey."

Angie brought her head up at the gruff, one word command for her attention.

"We'll get you caught up."

Nodding silently, Angie tried to think of something to say and failed. Any questions that seemed polite and proper things to ask would only remind her that she didn't want to think about what he did at work and didn't want to know right now.

Her dad, it seemed, was taking the lead today on asking questions though, saving her from having to think of something or stay silent.

"What did you and Jameelah get up to?"

"Well, we went to school, and she introduced me to Autumn and Lilly. They're nice. And last night she helped me with a bunch of my homework because she'd already done it and knew what was going on. And…we painted our nails, and Auntie Naima let us have ice cream after dinner. RJ threw it all up, and that was kind of gross. Then we played until bedtime."

Her dad hummed, indicating he was still listening as took the various turns and road to their house.

"How's your teacher? Is she everything Jameelah promised?"

That got her, and Angie's eyes lit up.

"She's wonderful!" Angie said almost reverently, struggling to find a way to explain why.

"And why is that?" Warmth laced through his voice as they turned onto the final street before getting home.

"Well…she's really nice and she's always interested in what people have to tell her. She can make all the boys behave themselves, even the dumb ones. And...and she's…she explains things in a way I understand, and I like her voice, and she's beautiful ." Angie hesitated, not sure if she would share her secret fancy that her teacher was really a fairy queen in disguise. Deciding against it, because she wasn't sure if her dad would laugh at her or not, Angie finished with, "I just really like her."

"Good. She sounds pretty special."

Angie could see a smile hovering around his mouth in the mirror and she relaxed.

"Do I have to do my school work as soon as I get home?" She asked, almost pleadingly because the last thing she wanted to do was more school after just getting out of her classroom.

"No. You and I are going for a walk first before dinner. Then we're gonna tackle that homework before bed."

"Ok!"

For the first time, Angie was looking forward to the walk. If it meant she didn't have to wrap her head around math problems, she would walk for hours without complaining! She hated math.

The rest of the evening went smoothly. When homework was done for the night, Angie gladly fell asleep on the couch, curled up close to her dad as he read to her and happily ignoring any dark worry caused by her bullies at school.

If only every day could be like this one.

Parenthood.

No one could have prepared him for how utterly exhausting simple, mundane tasks that came with taking care of a child were. And Angie wasn't even that hard to take care of. She got herself dressed, bathed, could feed herself and help with cleaning up. She was pleasant, self-sufficient and generally seemed to be doing alright this week.

Wednesday she was all caught up on her homework, not that that hadn't been a grueling task to keep her head focused enough at the end of a long day to do the extra work. There hadn't been any meltdowns though and Angie seemed eager as always to be agreeable and cooperative.

And yet, the little things quickly started to weigh in on his patience as the week progressed further, reminding him that parenthood was a full time job that he couldn't escape from even when he was away. Unless he was focused during a mission or fully immersed in training, Angie would be there, buzzing in the back of his mind. Always.

He hadn't slept properly since she came into his life. The best sleep he'd had in nearly a week was on the plane ride Monday, and that had been short.

Being constantly aware of himself and careful of what he said, how he said it and knowing when he shouldn't speak was hard to do at all times. His lifestyle was changing. He hadn't gone out for drinks and hadn't really drank anything alcoholic in longer than was typical for him.

All of it, and more, made him restless, which was likely the reason his cracks began to show towards the end of the week.

The main area that it crept in was the problem of Angie's hair and getting her moving fast enough in the mornings. The child dragged tail and he'd started having to factor in an extra thirty minutes of time just to make sure he wasn't late for work.

It was her hair that slowed them down the most.

After the third morning that he'd had to wrestle the tangles, putting them behind schedule, Metal got frustrated.

As he put the comb down and headed to grab their stuff so they could leave, Metal growled, "If you don't keep that hair brushed properly, I'm taking clippers to your head and taking it all off. Got it?"

Angie went big eyed and nodded so earnestly that he felt just a little guilty about the groundless threat. He knew deep down he could never cut those adorable curls from her head, no matter how badly the kid got them tangled.

But. If it kept that hair brushed and they weren't constantly behind schedule in the morning, then it was worth it.

Or so he thought. Honestly he didn't give it much more thought until the next day.

On Friday he was trying to hurry her out the door again and Angie was still in her room.

When he stalked in, ready to growl at her, she was frantically fighting with the tangled mess of hair that she hadn't managed to look after the night before, like they'd agreed on.

"I thought I told you to keep that brushed." He said, more harshly than he meant to.

Angie froze and stared at him for a split second before bursting into tears.

"Come here." He growled impatiently as a headache formed behind his eyes. He meant to take over taming the tangles and ended up being completely misunderstood instead.

"NO!" The cry split the air between them shrilly as Angie backed away, crying and clutching her head while on the verge of hyperventilating. "I'll brush it! Don't cut it off! Please, Daddy, don't cut it all off! I'm sorry!"

Shit. That was real fear in her eyes. Fear of him . Where the hell did that come from?!

He'd taken a round to the chest plate before and that didn't wind him nearly as hard as her absolute panic and belief that he'd been serious before. Apparently that threat hadn't been worth it after all. Worse yet was the fact the second time she'd ever called him 'Daddy' was out of fear that he was going to do something she didn't want.

His hands rose up, palms out in the universal gesture of peace and he said as calmly as possible, "Angie, I wasn't serious before. I'm not going to cut your hair off. It was…a stupid thing for me to say, ok?"

"But you said you would if I couldn't-"

"Wasn't. Serious." He interrupted through grit teeth as his irritation with himself leaked into being frustrated in general with seeing her cry, starting to run late and the lack of sleep. "Was trying to scare you a little , but I didn't mean to scare you this much. I'm sorry. Please, come here and let me comb that mess so we can leave?"

Still hiccupping and shivering, Angie forced her feet over to him with the comb clutched in her palm. When he took it from her there were angry red marks in her hand from where the teeth bit in.

Holding in a sigh and clenching his jaw at his own stupidity, Metal carefully took hold of her hair and started working through the tangles as gently as he could. When it was mostly presentable, he tossed it into a ponytail for her and muttered tiredly, "Come on."

Damn it. He needed to figure out how to manage her curls better. They didn't look difficult and it wasn't like she had excessively curly hair, but whatever they were doing wasn't working. There had to be some secret to it.

Just another thing to research when he could find the time.

Angie stayed small and quiet the rest of the morning, hardly even able to make eye contact when he dropped her off at school, sinking the knife of regret deeper and igniting more anger with himself.

He promised himself that he'd make it right when he picked her up at the end of the day. That they'd talk and he'd take the day to figure out his head so he'd have the patience later.

And then he got spun up, putting an end to that plan.