After leaving the quarterdeck, Misty started leading you and Luna up to your stateroom. Along the way, she explained a bit about the layout of the ship. Which included what the numbers on the walls, or 'bullseyes' as she called them, meant and how they told you where you were at in relation to the ship's centerline. Which you learned was what ran from the bow (front), to the stern (back) of the ship and in a sense, split the ship in half lengthwise. Plus the bullseyes told you were you were at in relation to how many floors (decks) up or down you were from the main deck of the ship. And if you were on the forward (front) or aft (back) from the centerline. And if you were on the port (left ) or starboard (right) sides.

She also tried to explain what the different letters meant at the end which stood for different types of rooms. But even she admitted that this wasn't as important. Especially since most of the spaces either had their names painted or mounted to the walls just outside the room. Plus you weren't going to be in certain spaces without an escort anyway. Which was fine with you, considering that the ship was fairly large and you felt that you could easily get lost on it. Even with knowing how to read the bullseyes.

"So what's the story with your dad?" Misty bluntly asked after she showed you and Luna the mess decks, your stateroom and ending at the bridge wing where you now stood by the railings as you looked down at the pier.

"What do mean?" You asked as you watched the crew clearing the pier of the supplies as they loaded them up onto the ship.

"Is he single? I'm assuming so. Considering its just the two of you here." Misty asked as she gave you a serious look.

You slowly turned and looked at her. You searched her face to see if she was seriously asking you about your dad.

"He's currently dating someone. But why are you asking me this?" You asked cautiously.

"I'm just curious is all." She said as if it wasn't that big of a deal. "You know, it's not everyday that we get someone as gorgeous as your dad coming onboard, that's all."

You and Luna both gave her a surprised look, considering that so far every one of the men that you had seen on the ship were very handsome and strong built. You thought that maybe she was losing her vision or perhaps she had been turned down by every single one of them. Or worse yet. She had already dated every single one of them. And now none of them were interested in her anymore.

But either way, she didn't make you nervous about getting your dad's attention. After all, he was still very much in love with Tracy. For even after what had happened the night before, he still kept texting and checking his phone as he was getting updates from the security team back in Altissia as to the progress that had been made on the investigation into the hideout and with the pictures.

"Are they serious or anything?" She asked, which made you and Luna both rolled your eyes.

"Oh yes." You replied with a smirk. "Totally serious."

"Oh." She replied as she glanced down for a moment. "I see."

You and Luna were both still standing by the railing where you had looked down at the pier. You watched as Luna smiled as she rolled her eyes again before she looked back down at the pier. That was when you heard someone come walking out of the bridge area as they talked. You turned and saw your dad walking out with Alex as they talked.

".....their almost done loading up now. And once everyone has eaten chow we'll be ready to pull out. I can let you you take us out if you like?" Alex was saying to your dad as they walked over to join your little group.

"Are you sure?" Your dad asked with a slight smirk. "I wouldn't want anything to happen to your ship."

"Of course I'm sure." He returned with a smile. "And I trust that you won't let anything happen to her. And besides, Bob and I will be up here as well."

Paul smiled back at him. "Then I would love to. It's been a while since I've been the Officer of the Deck for a Sea-and-Anchor detail. I'm kind of curious myself as to how well I'll do after all of these years."

"They say it's like riding a bike." Alex replied with a confident smile. "You never forget how to do it."

"Okay then. I'm game." Paul returned before he looked over at you.

"So what do you think kiddo?" He asked you with a smile.

You smiled back at him. "I had no idea that ships were really this big. I mean sure I knew that they were big. But I had no idea that they were THIS big."

"Yeah there is a big difference when you standing on one, oppose to seeing it sailing by." He smiled back. "Are you two hungry? Alex was just telling me that we'll being joining him and Bob in the wardroom for lunch today."

"Sounds great." You replied as you felt your stomach start to rumble.

You then turned to Luna. "What do you say? Are you hungry yet?"

"Most definitely." Luna replied as she put her hand on her stomach as you heard a faint rumble from hers as well.

You then turned to Misty. "Thank you for showing us around Misty. I really learned a lot about your ship. I can't wait to see the rest of it now."

"I'm glad." She replied to you before her eyes drifted to your dad. "I hope that I can be of assistance later on as well."

Your dad then looked at her and smiled . "Thank you for showing them around Misty. I really appreciate it."

"It was my pleassure." She smiled back with a sly look. "Perhaps I could show you around as well?"

"He's already had a tour Misty. But thank you." Alex replied as he slightly narrowed his eyes at her.

"Of course, sir." She said as she turned to Alex and returned his look back to him before she turned away.

"Well I'll see you later girls." She said to you and Luna before she walked off and headed back into the bridge.

"You'll have to pardon her." Alex said as he followed her with his eyes before he turned back to the group. "She can be a bit of a handful sometimes. And especially when she meets someone new."

"I kind of figured that." Paul replied as he watched her before he looked back at Alex.

Paul couldn't help but notice that Alex seemed a bit on edge with her as if they were fighting or something. Then he slightly shook his head as he figured that they were probably having a lovers feud or something. He could recognize the body language from when he use to argue with Lynn. Of course this didn't make it easier on him since it seemed like she was eyeing him up as a target to make Alex jealous.

Which was a position that he didn't want to be in. He already had his plate full as he was worried about one woman. He really didn't want to have to worry about avoiding one here. Especially on top of the mission of escorting Luna back home.

"Well," Alex began with a strained smile, "shall we head to the wardroom for lunch?"

"Yes, please." You said as you walked up and grabbed your dad's hand and started to drag him back to the bridge so that you could head down the stairs and to the mess decks.

"Wow. This looks amazing." You said after the chef put the plate down in front of you.

The salmon smelled wonderful as you could smell the teriyaki coming off of it. You couldn't help it as you quickly took out your notebook and started jotting down the receipt. Both Bob and Alex gave you a curious look as they started to eat as they watched you writing. But they didn't say anything as they saw that your dad and Luna just smiled at you as you wrote down the ingredients before you took one bite and wrote down some notes on it. Then the chef came back out with the drinks and stop dead in his tracks as he watched you writing in your notebook.

"It seems as if someone here really likes your receipt, Henry." Bob said to Henry as he glanced up at him before looking back at you.

"She may like it , But she'll never duplicate my teriyaki seasoning." Henry said with a slightly cocky tone.

"Oh I wouldn't say that if I were you Henry." Your dad said with confidence. "My daughter can duplicate any receipt."

"I highly doubt some kid can do that." Henry said in a bit of a rough tone.

"Oh. But she's not just some kid." Your dad said back with a grin. "My little girl can duplicate any receipt that she runs across."

"I'm not little dad." You commented as you jotted down the last few notes before you put the notebook away. "And I don't just duplicate them. I make them better."

Your dad grinned broadly back at you. "That you do."

"Tst. I don't believe it." Henry said as he crossed his arms.

"Perhaps she can show you." Your dad said as he looked up at Henry. "I'm sure that you could use a hand in the kitchen while we're onboard."

"I don't need any help." Henry said grumpily.

Alex and Bob both scratched their eyebrows as they tried not to look at Henry. You couldn't help but to slightly smile as you watched them. They may not have wanted to show Henry that they knew better. But you sure picked up on it. And so did your dad as he smirked at you.

"Perhaps I could just handle the wardroom for you. This way you don't have to worry about running back and forth in the galley as you serve both the mess decks and the wardroom. You could consider it our payment to you for letting us travel with you for these three weeks." You said as you looked at Henry, Alex, and finally came to a stop on your dad.

"What? You think that I'm about to let you poison my captain and XO right in front of me?" Henry said in a warning growl.

"I would never do anything like that." You said as you gave him a hurt look. "But if you don't trust me. Then I'll let you test each dish before I bring it out then."

Henry then paused as he gave you a hard look.

"You know that you would enjoy the break." Bob said as he smiled at Henry. "And besides, you might learn a new receipt or two. You keep telling me that you're looking to expand on the menu."

"Now is not the time for that sir." Henry said with a hint of an edge.

But you had a feeling that it wasn't so much directed to Bob as it was towards you. Not that you were about to back down. After all, he was trying to accuse you of poisoning people when he hadn't even so much as tried your cooking. This wasn't something that you were about to take lightly.

"I think that you're just afraid of being showed up by a teenage girl." You said with an edge back.

"Now let's not go there." Your dad quickly said as he saw where this was going.

"But he started it dad." You said with a tense voice. "He thinks that I poison people with my food. I would never stoop so low to ruin a perfect dish like that."

Bob then sat back as he looked at Henry as he tried to read him. He knew that Henry didn't like to have his receipts challenged. But even he was a bit surprised that Henry would go that direction with it. It made him slightly smile as he looked at his cook.

"I think that you hit a nerve there chef." Bob said to Henry in an almost stern voice. "But perhaps you should give the girl a chance to prove herself before you start accusing her of sabotage."

Henry then turned and gave Bob an searching look. Then he took a deep breath and dropped his arms as he placed one hand on his hip. Then he dropped his head and rubbed the back of his head with he lose hand.

"I suppose I could let her handle the wardroom for a bit." He quietly said before he looked back up at Bob. "That is, if your okay with that sir?"

Bob smiled back at him. "I would be delighted to see what she can come up with."

Henry gave Bob a hurt look as he started to turn back to the kitchen. "And I will be happy to see you being able to perfect your dishes. Plus a good cook-off challenge is always a great way to make a chef think, like a chef."

Henry then paused for a moment. Before he turned back to Bob and gave him a curious look. Bob gave him a slight smile as he slowly curled up the corners of his mouth. Henry's gaze then soften a bit as he looked at Bob. Then he turned to head back to the galley.

"Fine. I'll give you a tour of the galley once we hit open waters. Then we'll see what you got kid." He said right before he disappeared through the doorway.

"We're singled up sir." Rick said out loud as he stood behind the ship's helm as he waited for instructions.

"Aye." Bob said as he acknowledged him.

Then he turned to Paul. "Let's see if you remember how to do this Warrant."

"You got it." Paul returned with a smile.

"Warrant (l/n) has the deck." Bob said to Rick.

"I Warrant (l/n) have assumed control of the deck." Paul said to Rick.

"Aye aye sir. You have control." Rick returned.

Paul then glanced out the windows that were facing away from the pier and saw the two tugs along the side of the ship. He noticed the forward tug had a '7' painted on the bow and the aft one had "10" painted on it. He then walked over and picked up the handset for the bridge-to-bridge radio.

"Harbor tug 7, this is Atlantis. Are you ready for cast off?" He asked as he looked at the forward tug.

"Atlantis, this is harbor tug 7. We are ready and waiting for your signal." They replied through the speakers.

"Roger. Harbor tug 10, this is Atlantis. Are you ready for cast off?" He asked the aft tug as he looked to the back of the ship.

"Atlantis, this is harbor tug 10. We are ready and waiting for your call." They returned.

"Roger." He replied as he looked at you as you stood by the chart table with the quartermaster. "Ready kiddo?"

You beamed back at your dad as he stood there with the handset still in hand. "Yeah."

Your dad then nodded to you before he turned back to Rick. "Let's take her out Boats."

"Yes sir." Rick replied with a smile.

"Boats, cast off aft." Paul ordered Rick.

"Cast off aft, aye." Rick said to Paul.

Then Rick hit the button on his sound powered telephone that he had on. "Aft, bridge."

"Go ahead bridge." He heard returned through the headset.

"Cast off and retrieve the line." He said through the mouthpiece.

"Cast off and retrieve the line aye." They returned.

Then he heard after a brief pause. "Line is clear and being retrieved."

"Line is clear and is being retrieved aye." He repeated back.

"Line is clear sir." Rick said to Paul then he gripped the helm with one hand as he stood ready with his other hand by the mouthpiece.

"Cast off forward." Paul ordered Rick.

"Cast off forward aye." Rick replied.

Then just like before, he called down to the forward deck team for them to removed the line from the pier and to bring it on board.

"Why do they keep repeating everything like that?" You asked the quartermaster who was writing everything down in the ship's deck log.

"It's to help them confirm what the other is saying by repeating exactly what they had heard. This way they don't have may misunderstandings as they are carrying out orders." The quartermaster replied as he continued to write.

Suddenly you jumped when you heard the ship's horn blast out 2 long, loud blasts. Which was followed by the ship starting to be pulled away from the pier.

"Underway. Shift colors." You heard Rick say through the loud speaker.

And with those three words, the whole bridge seemed to be a buzz of activity. Suddenly the quartermaster was talking on his sound power telephone and started to mark his chart with his pencil. Rick was releasing the ship's horn after one last short blast. Then he kept both hands on the wheel as he kept repeating the same numbers back to your dad, as he started giving him a course heading.

You looked over at Luna and saw that she was smiling almost as much as you as you both realized that the ship was actually moving. You both then quickly walked out onto the bridge wing and watched the the two tugboats as they pulled the ship away from the pier and into the open harbor. Your heart was racing as you put your hands on the railing and could feel the power of the ship as it was slightly vibrating the metal under your fingertips. You couldn't help but to smile even more.

Then you looked back at your dad as you watched him smiling as he was continuing to give Rick instructions as he himself was looking at the compass and radar that were right in front of him. You couldn't help but to smile as you watched him. You had known that he was amazing with boats, but you had had no idea that he knew how to pilot something as massive as a full size ship like the Atlantis. Then you slightly laughed as you became lost in the moment. Then you felt a gentle breeze came across the bridge wings as the ship started to move forward as it started to head out of the harbor.

Suddenly, you couldn't resist your excitement as you stood near the railing, and you threw both of your arms into the air and called out your excitement. "Wwwwwoooooooo hhhhhhhhhhhhooooooooooooo!"

Then after you dropped your hands, you heard it repeated from inside the bridge. You looked over and saw your dad looking at you as he had a hand in the air and a huge grin on his face. You grinned even wider and called it out again. Which was once again echoed by him, just not quit as long.

"What's that about?" Bob asked with a slight laugh as he gave Paul a curious look, as Paul turned back to the instruments in front of himself to check his heading.

"I'm just sharing in her excitement. She's never been on a ship before. And I want her to enjoy her time while she's here." Paul said as he glanced at the compass and gave Rick a slight course change to better line the ship up with the travel lane in the harbor.

"We haven't had a lot of great moments lately. So when we have them, I want her to enjoy them." He continued once Rick steadied up to the new course.

"That's a good way to keep the moral up. For both of you." Bob returned as he watched him for a moment before he checked the heading as well to make sure that everything looked good. "You don't seem to have lost your seamanship skills after all of this time."

Paul looked at Bob and slightly laughed as he smiled at him. "Well I hope not. It was beat into my head for two years after all."

Bob laughed back. "Very true. I still remember seeing you step onboard that first day. You thought you knew everything about anything."

"Well I did." Paul replied with a smirk. "Or at least I thought that I did. But that first time out, showed me how wrong I was."

"But you came around." Bob replied back as he looked out the bridge windows as they heard the tugs sound their horns as they pulled away and started to pull back up their lines from pulling the ship away from the pier. "After a while that is. You know. Once you got that stick out of your ass."

Paul couldn't help but to laugh at him after he replied to the tugs who called over to say that the ship was untethered from them. "Yeah. But that was only after losing that show down with you. I had never meet anyone who could best me at anything. That is until I ran across you."

"I only beat you in seamanship." Bob said in a quieter tone. "You seem to have beaten me in everything else."

Paul gave him a curious look. "How do you figure that?"

"Well, her for one." Bob said as he gestured towards you, as you and Luna were talking and laughing as you looked out over the harbor and waved to the crews of the tugboats. "Having her means that you have a family of your own."

"I'm afraid that she's all that I have left of mine though." Paul said as he gave you a loving look as he felt his heart start to fall as he thought about Lynn and Derek. "I've already had to bury both my son and wife."

"At least you had that time with them before then." Bob said as he patted his hand on Paul shoulder. "I never even got a chance to start a family."

Paul looked at him with a curious look as Bob dropped his hand back down. "I find that hard to believe. There must have been at least one person that you wanted to start one with."

"There was." Bob said as he looked off in a daze. "But she left suddenly without a word. And before I even had a chance to ask her."

"I'm sorry man." Paul said as he looked at his long time old shipmate. "Did you ever try to track her down and find out what happened?"

"Thanks." Bob said after a quick glance at Paul before looking back out to sea. "And no. I had already known that it might happen. Considering the circumstances at the time."

"Perhaps I could help you find her." Paul said as he gave his friend a slight smile.

"Thanks for the concern. But you don't have to. If she wants to see me, she knows where I am." He quietly said as he watched the harbor go by.

"I can't believe that this is your first time being on a ship after spending three years in Altissia." Luna was saying as she smiled at you as you were pointing out different areas as the ship sailed past them.

"Well we never had a reason to sail something this massive before." You smiled back at her. "Most of our work dealt with the smaller boats like the gondolas that they use to travel around the city."

"But what about when you left Tenebrae to head back?" She asked as she gave you a curious look.

You dropped your head as your heart dropped for a moment. "To be honest. I don't remember much of that trip back. All I remember was never wanting to let go of Ignis and my dad as we traveled. Everything else is nothing but a blur to me."

Luna dropped her own head for a moment. "I see. That was indeed a very difficult time for you and your family. But it looks like you and your dad have a strong bond because of it."

You slightly smiled as you looked back up and glanced over at your dad as he talked to Bob. "We do indeed."

After safely transiting through the harbor, everyone seemed to relax as the open ocean came into view. You could practically see the ocean's edge on the water's surface. Because it looked like a line dividing it in half to mark the smooth calm water of the harbor, and the rough choppy water of the open water. And the minute that she got close, you heard a loud whistle being played across the loudspeaker.

You turned and looked at the bridge and saw Rick with his hand to his mouth. It almost looked like he was making that sound with his hand. That was until you caught a glimpse of something silver in his hand. As he played, you saw the crew on the bridge start to shift as new people came in and started talking. There was one who went over to the guy near the radar. Another went over to the girl near a board that showed where all of the other ship contacts had been reported. Even the quartermaster had someone beside him now.

Rick then dropped his whistle and brought the handset up to his mouth instead. "Secure from sea and anchor detail. Set the underway watch."

Then suddenly you jumped as someone shifted beside you. "Do me a favor. When we bring you back home. Stand on the other bridge wing when we leave. You scared the hell out of me when you yelled like that."

You stood there in shock as a tall blond with deep blue eyes stared at you as he stood up and grabbed a metal thing off of the compass that was in front of him. Then he turned and walked away as he headed to the bridge. He only paused for a moment and gave Luna a nod and a smile as he walked past.

"Your highness." He said in a cool voice before he stepped back into the bridge area.

"Well." Luna replied. "He seems nice."

"Yeah. Nice and rude." You sarcastically replied.

"Well you did scare him." She returned with a smile.

"Tst." You said as you turned to head in to see your dad. "He's nothing but a wimp then. And so what if I did yell. We're outside anyway. So what difference does it make."

After meeting back up with your dad on the bridge, he walked you back down to the mess decks so that Henry could give you a tour of the galley. This kitchen was a curious one since everything there had to be able to handle huge receipes and was all mounted to the ship's deck or bulkheads to keep them from sliding around as the ship moved. You had never seen one quite like it before. But it didn't make you nervous. In fact it was a bit exciting since it was going to challenge you as you tried to cook this time. Which hadn't happened since your dad got back and you stopped cooking at the citadel.

While you were checking out the galley, your dad had decided to head back to his stateroom for a nap. Which based on how many times he yawned while Henry was trying to explain the different areas in the kitchen. You assumed that he hadn't slept very well the night before. Which didn't surprise you considering that Tracy hadn't been with him. So with a quick kiss to his cheek, you watched him head out to go rest up.

After making his way back up to his stateroom, he opened up his door with a sigh. He was slightly glad that only a couple of the other staterooms in the mustangs quarters were taken. That meant that it would be a quiet area. Which was fine with him. He didn't exactly need any disturbances when he was there. Especially since he was going to be using his room as his office as he tried to keep track of the progress being made with the investigation into the hideout.

Well that and he was trying to keep Korn updated with everything as well. Who had only been slightly surprised by the situation. Which had Paul really concerned. It seemed almost as if Korn had known about it from the beginning. Which didn't really settle very well with Paul.

Why would Korn send her if he knew that there was a chance that this might happen? Had he had a plan in case this came up? Of had he been hoping that this wouldn't come up? Because if that was the case, then he should know better than that. What with the relationship that Paul and you had with Madam Camelia and all.

Paul couldn't help but to shake his head on this as he pulled his door slightly shut before he sat on his bed so that he could remove his boots. But right as he removing the first one, there was a soft knock on the door. Without looking up, he absently answered them as he placed the first boot by the chair that was in front of his deck.

"Yeah." He called out as he answered the visitor.

"I was just checking to see if you needed anything?" He heard a smooth sexy voice say from the door.

He quickly looked up and saw Misty standing in his doorway. He slightly sighed as he dropped his head. She was the last thing that he needed right now. And he definitely didn't want her help if he was reading her body language correctly.

"No I'm good." He said as he continued to remove his other boot. "But thanks for stopping by."

"Are you sure there isn't anything that I could assist you with?" She asked as she stepped one foot into the room.

Paul then slightly tensed up as he realized that she had entered his room. Because suddenly all he saw were red flags flying that warned him that this could go very wrong very quickly. So he slowly sat up as he placed his other boot with the other as he looked back at her. He watched her as she was eyeing him up and down as if she was trying to measure him up in a sensual sense.

He knew this look all to well from when he had been a bachelor. It was usually the sign that told him that she would be more than willing to be the one that he would take home that night. Of course in this case, he wanted nothing to do with this one. Even if he was still single, he wouldn't take her home.

Not with knowing that she was with someone or was trying to get back at someone. He had done that once before. But it had ended very badly. So he had vowed to never do it again.

"No I'm sure." He said in a flat tone as he watched her from his bed.

She then stepped further into his room as she was getting ready to close the door when he quickly stood up. He walked over to the door and opened it back up and gave her a stern look. She gave him a surprised look as he stood towering over her. He caught a hint of her strong floral perfume as it drifted up towards him.

"Now if you don't mind. I have to take care of a few things and I would prefer to not be disturbed." Paul said as he kept his hand on the door as he opened it up all the way and stood back so that he could watch her.

She then turned to face him and gave him a sexy smile as she placed one hand on his chest. "I could help you with those things if you like."

"You want to help?" He said as he removed her hand from his chest. "You can help me out by leaving."

"But...?" She started to say as he used her hand to move her away from him and out the door.

Then once she as outside of his room, he started to close the door back up.

"See. You've helped me out now." Paul said as he released her hand and closed the door to the point that she couldn't get back in if she wanted to. "Thank you."

Then with leaving a stunned Misty in the passageway, he closed the door completely and dogged the door back down so that he could keep her from coming back in. After he closed the door, he stood there for a moment as he shook his head. He had to admit she was persistent. And perhaps under different circumstances he might had taken her up on her offer. But definitely not now. And especially since he already had Tracy.

After a moment to make sure that she was gone, he turned and walked back over to his bed. Then he took off his belt and set it on his desk. Then he walked over and sat back down on the bed again. Then he laid down and closed his eyes as he let the exhaustion take over.

******Author Note******

So now that the stage is set for their transit. Let's see how they will handle these new challenges that they will have to face while onboard the Atlantis.

I do hope that you have enjoyed this chapter. And in case you're wondering, I was considering doing a book just about Paul. But I may hold off on that considering how much we have already learned about him. But let me know your thoughts on that. This way I can plan for some future books for this series. ;)

Thanks for reading. :)

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