After gathering up the mooring line. You started rolled it up on the deck as your dad started up the motor. Then after he had it started, he checked all of the instruments to make sure that the boat was still good. Then right as he finished up, you walked back into the bridge area.

"Ready?" He quietly asked you as he took a hold of the helm.

"Yeah." You said with a smile "Let's go home."

He then gave you a nod as he slightly smiled at you. Then he started to back up the boat. That was when you noticed someone running down the stairs at the far end of the docks. Your heart leaped as you realized that it was Tracy.

What the hell? Can't she take a hint. You thought as you gave her a stern look as she ran towards the pier.

But when you looked at you dad, it didn't look like he had seen her since he was paying attention to the boat as he watching the pier. And even when he cleared the pier and turned the boat to head out of the dock, he never once looked back at the pier. Instead he pushed the throttle forward and made the boat move forward and out of the docking area.

"Waaaaiii......." Was all you heard from her before she was drowned out by the sound of the engines as he pushed the boat forward faster and away from her.

You couldn't help but watch her as she ran to the end of the pier as she shouted at you. Only to stop at the end of the pier and stare at you as the boat sped away. Then you watched her fall to her knees as she realized that it was to late. You dropped your head as you turned back to look out the front of the boat. You couldn't help but to feel your heart break for her.

But then as you looked at your dad. And watched as a tear roll down his cheek before he pushed the boat harder as he started to fly around the bay as he headed for the front entryway. Your heart was breaking again as you looked at him. So you walked over and wrapped your arms around his waist. He slowly the boat a bit and wrapped one arm around your shoulders. Then he leaned down and kissed your head.

Then he did something that you weren't expecting. He moved you in front of him and placed both of your hands on the helm. You nervously wrapped your fingers around the wheel and glanced back at him. He gave you a half glance before he nodded towards the front of the boat.

You slightly smiled back at him before you looked forward again and started to carefully steer the boat towards the entryway as he released your left hand. He then moved your right hand over to the throttle and had you pull it down to dropped the speed down again as you started to get near the entryway. Then he completely released you and simply stood by you and watched. You couldn't help but to smile as you were finally driving the boat.

"Now keep watch on the boat and keep it steady as we're heading out. Don't go to fast and don't get near the sides." He said in your ear as you started through the gates.

"Right." You replied and slowed the boat down a tiche more then kept the boat in the center of the water lane as you steered the boat out of the entrance.

"What made you want me to drive back?" You asked as your drive through the high arched gateway.

"You said you wanted to." He simply said as the motors hum echoed against the smooth rocks.

"I was thinking of the car." You said with a smile.

"Well if you don't..." Your started to say as he moved up like he was going to take the helm from you.

"But that's okay. I did say I wanted to learn how to drive one." You quickly said as you tightened your grip and gave your dad a smile.

"And I told you that you had to wait until you had your driver's license." He said as he leaned up against the side.

"Which I have now." You added with a smile.

"That you do." He said with a slight smile. "Which is why I'm having you drive."

"Besides, I'm a bit tired today." He said as he looked out over the water.

"Well you'll be able to get a good night sleep in your own bed tonight." You said with a smile as you thought about your own.

You could almost feel your fluffy pillow and warm comforter already. You couldn't help but to smile as you were starting to look forward to sleeping in it once again. For of all the beds in the world. You loved yours the most. The only one that you felt might be better than yours was Ignis'. But that was only if he was in it with you.

As soon as you made it through the rock entrance you started to steer towards the lighthouse. You felt your dad move up closer to you. You glanced back at him and saw that he seemed to be studying something as you started towards some of the rocks. You couldn't tell what it was about, but he seemed to slightly tense up.

"Let me take the helm for a moment." He said as he placed a hand on the wheel again.

"Sure." You said as you moved over as you watched him take over.

Then you looked in the same direction that he was. That was when you saw two boats just hanging out by a very large rock formation that was just on the edge of the cluster of rocks. Your dad quickly swung the boat to the left and pulled up behind another rock before he brought the boat to a stop. You then watched him reach down and grab two pair of binoculars from a small cubby hole by the helm. He handed you one pair as he turned off the motor to the boat. You gave him a curious look as he then started for the bow carrying the other hand with him.

"What is it?" You asked as you followed him.

"I'm not sure." He said as he walked out to the bow so that you could peered around the rock at the two boats. "It may be nothing. But I just want to make sure. After everything else that has gone on. One can't be too careful."

"Gotcha." You said with a smile. That's the old dad I'm use to.

You both laid down on the bow and peered around the rock at the two boats. You could see that there were several people on both boats. There looked like there was about six of them per boat. All of them were wearing swim suits and had a drink in their hands.

"Well they're definitely not fishing." Your dad said as he seemed to relax. "And they appear to be college students."

"How can you tell that?" You asked as you gave your dad a side glance.

"Can you see the girl in the bridge of the boat closest to us?" He asked

You looked over and saw a blue and white boat with a couple people on the bridge as the bridge was open towards you. There was a thin blonde haired girl and a tall brunette male. And right as you spotted them they dropped down their cups and started making out. You immediately tried to look away as he was starting to feel her up as he was periodically grabbing her ass. You didn't really want to see that.

"Okay dad. I don't really want to see two people making out." You said as you glanced at the other couples as they stood on the bow talking to the others.

"I'm not looking at that part." He said in a slightly firm voice. "Look at the jacket that she's wearing."

You glanced back at them and saw what looked like a letter jacket on her back. Which was hard to read with his hands running up and down her back. But you thought that you saw a UH on the back of the jacket. That was until he reached inside the jacket and around her waist as he picked her up by her ass and held her up against him. That was when you saw that it was actually UA. Which stood for University of Altissia as you could now clearly see the schools crest under the letters.

"Yeah I see it now." You said as you slightly blushed as you were starting to feel like a peeping Tom as you watched them.

"Along with a lot of other things." You said as you saw him reach around and moved something closer to her butt before she started bouncing up and down on him as he held her.

You quickly dropped you binoculars and looked away from the boats. "Okay. This is clearly college students out for the day to do 'whatever'. Can we head out now? I don't think that they will be causing Altissia any major problems. Aside from a DUI and indecent exposure that is."

"I agree." Your dad said as he put down his binoculars and groaned as he slowly started to stand back up. "Let me just call it into the harbor patrol so that they can make sure that they keep it safe."

"Okay." You said as you moved over to him and helped him get back up. "Is you leg still bothering you?"

"I told you that I slept on it wrong last night." Your dad said without meeting your gaze as he made his way back to the bridge.

"Do you want me to....?" You started to ask as you followed him.

"I'm fine." He quickly responded in a short tone. "I just need to sit down for a spell. Which I can do as I relax once we get back home."

"Okay." You quietly replied as you entered the bridge right after him.

Once you entered the bridge you walked over to helm as he directed you back over to the wheel. When he showed you how to slowly back up and turn the boat around so that it wouldn't hit the rocks. Then once you were clear of the rock formation, you turned the boat back towards the lighthouse as he called in the two boats to the harbor patrol. You were glad to fly past the boats and not give them a second glance as they continued with what they were doing.

"They just went past us." One of the girls on the bow said as she took a drink from her cup.

"Good. We'll take it from here." An oily voice said over her headset. "Report back to base as soon as they are out of sight."

"Roger." She replied as she took another drink.

Suddenly she felt two arms wrap around her waist from behind.

"There's no need to rush back." Said a slick voice in her ear before she felt his warm breath on her cheek. "We still have time for some fun."

"I don't see how they figured that you look like a college student. Your much too old for it." She said as she tried to move his hands.

But to no avail as he tightened it up more as he pulled her closer to him as he started to feel her up. "Oh I figure I'm in the graduate program. Someone has to keep an eye on you young undergrads."

"The only thing you need to keep an eye on, is me breaking your arms if you don't back off Caligo." She said as she grabbed one of his fingers and started bending it straight back which broke his grip on her. "I'm not here for your entertainment."

"Fine." Caligo replied as he released her. "But you have no idea what you're missing Aranea."

Oh no. I know perfectly well what I'm missing asshole. Aranea though as she walked away from him.

"Luche!" Caligo shouted over his shoulder to the couple that you had been watching. "That's enough! We didn't come here for your hormones. Let's head to Gauldin Quay so that we can drop you back off they suspect anything."

Caligo paused for a moment before he turned around and saw that they had disappeared out of sight. Shit! Stupid Kid. It's a good thing that he'll do almost anything to protect his own ass. Even if that means turning his back on his own country and betraying his king.

Of course I didn't think that I would have to cater to his sex drive in order to get what I needed from him. Caligo thought as he rolled his eyes as he slowly looked back at the others as he took a drink from his cup of water.

The sun was starting to reach its peak in the sky as you pulled up to the lighthouse. You were glad that it was daytime as you approached the entrance after your dad hit the control button that opened up the hidden door. You weren't sure if you would be able to remember just where the door was or how to get in without the sunlight's assistance. And even then, as you approached the cave, your dad just had you carefully pull straight in and up to the pier.

Then he took over and turned the boat around in the cave and backed it up to the loading dock entrance that lead to the hillside. Then the two of you went out to the deck. You carefully jumped over to the pier and grabbed the mooring line from him and tied down the front of the boat as he told you. Then you both tied down the aft rope before he walked back into the bridge again. After which he hit a button on the dash that made the back part of the boat swing open and back towards the dock.

That was when you realized that the whole back end was like the Regalia in the sense that it opened up all the way and touched the dock to reveal a ramp to the pier for the car to drive on. You were in shock for a moment before your dad got your attention again.

"Hey kiddo?" He called over to you. "You want to drive the car out to unload it for us?"

"Really?" You asked in surprise.

"Of course." He said with a smile "You did still want to drive back. Right?"

"Yeah." You said as you got excited and smiled back at him. "Of course."

"Well then." Your dad said as he tossed his keys at you. "Let's get to it."

Your heart leaped as you caught his keys before you looked back at him with a huge grin. "Right."

After driving the car off the boat, your dad closing the loading ramp back up. Then he hit the button to close the stone wall before he walked across the gangway as he departed the boat. After which he headed for the hidden garage door to the loading dock. And with a flip of the light switch and a press of the button for the garage door to close, the two of you left the hidden dock and climbed into the car as it now sat outside on the grass. Since your dad's leg was still bothering him, you climbed behind the wheel and drive the car slowly up the hill and to the dirt parking lot in front of the lighthouse.

Then with a wave to the stunned shop keeper of a produce truck was sitting in the lot as she was selling her goods. You pulled out onto the road and headed home. The sun was shining brightly through the windows and was slowly warming up the cold car that had been locked in the boat, in a dark hidden dock, for way too long. But this was quickly forgotten as you both had your windows down as you enjoyed the wind as it came in through the windows and tossed your hair back.

You were enjoying the cool ocean breeze as the car traveled along the seaside as it wound around the rocky edges. It reminded you of the cool wind from the ocean that you had gotten use to over the last two months as you stood on the bridge wings and weather decks. And especially as you watched the sunsetting each night over the last two weeks. The thought took your mind off of everything for a moment as you just enjoyed the moment. But as you looked over at your dad to see if he was thinking the same. You saw that he was thinking alright. But it didn't look like it was a pleasant thought as he stared at the ocean as if he was staring at Altissia from his seat.

"Are you going to be alright?" You asked as you looked at him.

But instead of responding to you, he dropped his head and seemed to fall into deep thought. You slightly dropped your gaze before you turned your attention back to road. He obviously wasn't at the moment. But then, you knew that his choice to leave her behind would hit him hard.

So to help break the silence. And to hopefully help him out in his train of thought. You turned on the radio and just drove the car as smoothly as you could as you headed for Insomnia. You knew that he would be okay eventually. Now how long that would actually take before he would be, was totally up to him.

As you drove along, you started to get lost in thought yourself as you tried to think of where Ignis was going to be taken when you got home. Could it be something simple like dinner and a movie? Or was it just one of them. Or could it perhaps be a day at the park for just the two of you.

The more you thought about it. The more excited that you were getting. And the more distracted that you got. To the point that you didn't notice a large airship flying through the air just to your right as it skirted across the backside of low the mountain range.

Although your dad hadn't noticed it either. But that was due to him closing his eyes for a moment as he dozed off from the combination of pure exhaustion from his lack of sleep from the night before and the smooth soothing car ride. Both had been enough to knock him out cold as he relaxed into the seat. For not even the train was as smooth and comfortable as his own car.

Of course you didn't think anything about it, but to keep the car going nice a smooth so that he could sleep. Plus You knew he needed it. And you were quite enjoying the peacefulness of the drive itself as you listened to your favorite tones while enjoying the scenery. In fact as you traveled through the pine trees, you smiled as you took in a deep breath and became engulfed with the fresh clean scent of the woods. It reminded you of your mom's favorite cleaning detergent.

You had almost forgotten that there had been threats in the area the last time that you had been through there as you turned the corner and started to head east. That was until you were coming up to the checkpoint gates and happen to notice that something seemed off. But by time you realized that, you were already driving through the gated area. Then you happened to glance to your right and saw one of the imperial ships sitting there.

Your heart almost stopped as you saw a few soldiers starting to march out of the ship's cargo hold and across the ramp so that they could join several others that were already facing the road with their guns at the ready. You didn't need to see anything more than that as you quickly down shifted so that you could pick up more speed as you slammed on the gas. Your dad was jerked awake from the motion as the car lurched forward as the car jumped from the sudden burst from you pushing it harder. Than the car slightly jerked again you quickly changed gears once the car had quickly picked up speed.

Your dad braced himself as he tried to figure out what had happened to cause the car the jerk like that. But one quick look at you told him that it was something serious. And as he quickly scanned the area around the car. He saw what the issue was as he turned and saw several soldiers turned their guns towards the car and start to open fire. He then quickly summoned his machine gun as he undid his seatbelt as he turned to face them and returned fire as he started taking them out.

You kept your eyes on the road as you pushed the car as hard as you could as you watched them trying to close the gates up before you got there. But right as you were within a few yards of the gates, you moved the car into the center of the lane and just cleared the doors as they closed behind you. But even as the doors closed behind you. You didn't slow down or even take your eyes off of the road until your dad stopped firing. And even then it was only to glance in the rearview mirror as you drove around the bend in the road and out of range of them.

You kept the car flying as you put some distance between you and the gate as your dad slowly turned back around and sat back down in his seat. You were starting to relax a bit when you realized that no one was following you. But then you heard your dad hiss as he grabbed his left arm. You felt your heart almost stop as you tried to look over at him as he slowly put his seatbelt back on.

"Are you okay?" You quickly said as you felt your hands start to shake. "Did they hit you?"

"I don't think so." He growled as he sat back.

But then he pulled his hand away from his arm and saw a trace of blood on his fingers. "Well perhaps they grazed me."

"What?!" You quickly said as you tried to look over at him. "Where?"

"They seemed to have hit my arm. But its fine. They just nicked me." He hissed as he tighten his grip on his arm as he tried to stop the slow flow of blood as it came from his upper arm.

Shit shit shit. You quickly repeated in your head as you tried to think.

That was when you saw Hammerhead coming into view. "We'll stop there so that I can take a look at it."

"No it's fine." He tried to argue. "Just keep going."

"No dad." You argued back in a stern tone. "We're stopping so that I can heal you. I have a couple elixirs in the trunk and I can use my magic to mend the wound."

He was about to argue, when you suddenly started to turn into the station parking lot. But instead of pulling up to the pump this time, you pulled up in front of the cafe. Then you quickly got out of the car and walked around to the trunk and popped it open so that you could grab one of the elixirs out. You glanced around the parking lot and was glad that the lot was empty for the most part.

Good, there aren't that many people. I should be able to heal him with no trouble. It's light enough that they shouldn't see the light. And still private enough that I can heal with him without making a scene as he takes an elixir. You thought as you pulled the elixir out of your bag and closed the trunk back up.

Then you walked over to his side of the car and opened up his door. "What are you doing?"

"Here take this while I heal up your arm." You said as you handed him the elixir.

"Now wait..?" He started to argue back as you concentrated on your energy and had your hands glowing in the blink of an eye.

"No." You said as you placed your hands on his arm. "I can't be a very good healer if I wait until we get there. We do still have one more gate to get through you know."

Your dad rolled his eyes as he felt his skin start to slightly sting as you healed his arm. Then he took the flask and pulled the top off with his mouth. Then he downed the elixir in one quick gulp. Then after a few moments he felt you release his arm.

"I never thought that my daughter would be the one healing my wounds." He said as he looked at you after seeing that his arm now looked like nothing had happened.

"Well don't get use to it." You quickly said as you stood back up. "I'm healing you up so that we can get home. This doesn't mean that you can go out there and try to play hero everytime we turned around."

"I would never expect that from you." He said back with a smile. "And I hadn't planned on playing hero. Well, not unless the situation calls for it like that did."

"Good." You said back with a smile.

Then you closed his door and walked back around to the driver's side and climbed back in. He then slightly shifted as he straightened back up in his seat again as you put your seatbelt back on. Then once you were both situated again, you looked back at him. He gave you a determined look as he nodded at you.

"Let's go." He said in a firm tone. "I'll call Korn as we head to the next one so that he can send some troops out to handle the gate."

"Okay." You returned with a nod.

Then you put the car in gear and pulled back out of the parking lot. And once again headed for Insomnia. But this time you were both on high alert as you approached the gate that let to Insomnia. You weren't sure what to expect anymore after being shot at, at the last one. But as you approached the gate, you saw the Lucian flag flying high and several guards that were wearing the Lucian attire. You both seemed to slightly relax as you pulled up to the gate and stopped when a guard approached the car.

"State your business." The guard said before he looked into the car and saw your dad. "Sir? Welcome back sir. But where is...?"

"That's not important right now." Paul said to him in a firm tone. "What is important is steering people away from the northwestern gate. There are Magitek troops there right now that are attacking anyone whose going through. And may have closed on the gate for all travel at this point"

"Wait? Are you serious?" The guy said as he gave your dad a stunned look.

"Does it look like I'm joking lieutenant?!" Your dad said with a firm tone that had a bit of an edge to it.

"No sir." The guy quickly said as he gave your dad a bit of a scared look.

"Good." Your dad said with more force. "I'm calling the main office when we leave here. Keep everyone from that gate. Do you understand me?"

"Yes sir." The guard said as he stood back up tall and nervous. "We'll keep everyone from there. How long do you think it will take for troops to show up?"

"Well, genius, that will depend on how long this conversation takes. Now won't it?" Paul said in impatient tone as he was starting to lose his patience with him as he pulled out his phone and called Korn.

"Yes sir." The guy stammered. "I'm sorry sir."

"Never say your sorry." Paul rounded on him. "Sorry is an excuse."

"Yyyyes sir. I'm ssssso....I apologize sir." The guard stuttered.

"Korn here. Is something wrong Paul?" Paul heard Korn say over the phone as he looked at the guard.

"Short of being attacked at the northwestern gate, nothing at all." Paul said in nonchalant tone. "I was just having a chat with our main gate guards out here. And they were just wondering how long it will take for someone to show up and remove the Nif soldiers that have seemed to taken over residence at the northwestern check point."

"How many do you think?" Korn asked Paul in a serious tone.

"Considering that I only saw one ship, I would say about 100 would be their max strength." Paul said and saw the color drain the guard face.

"I'll send some glaives over there now." Korn said.

"So in about an hour?" Paul asked as he sat back and slightly relaxed.

"Way less than that." Korn said with confidence. "Give them about half an hour."

"Half an hour sounds great." Paul returned. "I'll let the guards know so that they can be prepared when they come through."

"Please do." Korn returned. "And why are you back already? I thought that you weren't showing up until tomorrow?"

"We had a slight change in our plans." Paul answered. "So we decided to come home today instead."

"Fair enough." Korn answered. "Let me know once you're settled. I have to talk to you about a few things that came up while you were gone."

"Well do." Paul returned then hung up the phone and looked back at the guard.

"Several glaives should be arriving within half an hour to take care of the issue. "Paul said as he put his phone away. "Besure to be ready for them so they can get through quickly."

"Yes sir." The guard said as he nervously stood back up straight.

"Okay kiddo. Let's go." Your dad said as he sat back in his seat again and got comfortable once more. "We're done here."

"You got it." You said with a smile as you put the car in gear and took off again.

You felt your heart leap as you saw the high walls of Insomnia come into view as you cross the long bridge. You loved the look of the city. There was nothing more welcoming than the tall towering buildings as they seemed to touch the sky. As you approached the city and entered through the gates you couldn't seem to drop your smile. At long last you were finally home.

You heading to the house with no issues as you skillfully navigated through the streets. Then before you knew it you were turning onto your street. As you approached your house, you happen to notice a black and silver car sitting in the driveway. It seemed as if Ignis had kept his word and was checking on the place for the two of you.

You pulled up to the curb and parked the car.  But you couldn't help the big grin that was across your face as you got out of the car. You were going to be able to surprise Ignis as he was checking on the house.  So after grabbing the bags out of the trunk, you and your dad headed up to the house. You felt your heart race as you were getting excited about seeing Ignis' face as you surprised him by returning home early.

But as you opened up the door you heard not just Ignis' voice, but also Noctis', Prompto's, and even Gladio's as well. You smile big at your dad. But the frown on his face told you that he wasn't very impressed with that news. In fact he almost looked upset. But this soon disappeared as you both walked into the kitchen to see all four of them in there.

You saw Gladio setting down some small bowls on a tray, while Noctis was stirring something on the stove. Ignis was cutting up some fruit on one of the cutting boards and it looked like Prompto was getting ready to add something into the mixer that was running.

"Now mind that you scoop out the flour carefully so that you don't make a mess of the kitchen." Ignis said as he glanced over at Prompto as he watched him for a moment.

"You mean like this?" Prompto asked as he tried to hold the bag in one hand and measure cup in the other as he reached in the bag and scooped up some flour.

"Yes. Just like that." Ignis answered as he stopped cutting for a moment as he watched Prompto as he tried to tilt the bag over so that he could get a bigger scoop of flour.

'Okay." Prompto answered as he pulled out the first cup and added it to the batter.

Then he reached in again and did the same thing with the second scoop. But then as he tried to go in for the last the scoop, the bag slightly tilted and started pouring out of the bag. Prompto started to freak out and tried to straighten it out, but he hands couldn't seem to get a good grip since both hands were full.

"Prompto, what the hell are you doing?" Gladio asked as he watched Prompto.

"I'm trying to....." Prompto started to say when the bag slipped out of his hand and fell to the floor and popped open like a popped water balloon and making flour fly all over the floor and everything within five feet.

"PROMPTO!" Ignis shouted as he removed his glasses that were now covered in flour.

"SHIT!" Prompto said as he quickly got down on the floor and tried to scoop the flour up off of the ground. "I'm sorry. It slipped out of my hand. I didn't mean to drop it."

"Go grab the dustpan out of the garage so that we can clean this up." Ignis said with exasperation as he looked at Prompto who was now as white as a ghost as he looked at the door way.

Ignis paused for a moment as he saw Prompto's jaw slowly fall open. Then he slowly turned around and looked at the door, along with Gladio and Noctis. They all froze as they stood there covered in floor. For standing there in the dining room was you with your jaw on the floor to the mess that was covering almost the entire kitchen.

Then suddenly you heard a low muffled laugh coming from beside you. Then it got a bit louder. Then even louder. And that was when you looked over at your dad as he suddenly broke into a loud laugh that seemed to surprise everyone, including yourself.

He was laughing. And not just any laugh. It was a full hardy laugh that seemed to spread as you suddenly seemed to join in as you looked back at kitchen and realized how ridiculous they looked as they all were now covered in white flour, along with the floor and counters. Soon both of you were laughing at the scene in front of you. Then Noctis and Gladio joined in. Then finally even Prompto did.

"Welcome back. This was suppose to be a surprise." Prompto said after a few minutes.

"Well you did surprise us." Paul said with a smile. "Now the next surprise will be how quickly and thoroughly you can clean up this mess."

"Yes sir." Prompto said nervously.

"And I want it done by time I wake up from my nap." Paul said as he turned around and started to headed for his room. "That gives you one hour. Good luck gentleman. Oh and don't help them (y/n). They made the mess. They can clean it up."

Then all you heard was him start to laugh again as he left the dining room and headed for the stairs. You couldn't help but to smile at him. For at least he saw the humor in that and didn't flip out. Instead he saw it for what it was worth. Just a tragic mess as they tried to surprise the two of you.

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

I am humbled by your support as this story hits another mile stone as it reached 22k reads as of today (14APR2020). You are all truly amazing for staying with me for this long and I will be forever grateful for your support.

I hope that you will like the next few chapters as things start to increase as the school year comes to an end. And new challenges are presented. To include a courtroom? And wait? Is that.....?

Thanks for reading. :)

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