Jack stood up and straightened his bow tie. He looked quite dashing in a tux, actually. Why so formal? He was determined to be on his best behavior tonight. No drinking, whatsoever. Of course, it was a huge sacrifice and an immense challenge for him. But he had promised his physician, not to mention his wife, Ana-Maria, and twin daughters, Ashley and Melissa.

Pirates and Co. was hosting their annual New Year's ball, and it was going to be held at the most posh location in town: The Faithful Bride. Much updated from what it used to be, the tavern was now a five star restaurant and lounge. It was, of course, always a favourite hang out for the friends, but as times changed, it modernized along with its faithful customers. How did the pirates come to live so long? The secret's in the rum, but that's another story…

Jack looked up at the mirror, tucked in his shirt, buttoned his collar and put the French cuffs on his sleeves.

"Daddy!" cried two voices.

"Hey!" Jack responded as his two daughters ran into his arms. He stood up. "Whaddaya think?"

"You look great!" they replied unanimously. However, Melissa was thinking to herself:

"If he weren't my dad I would totally marry him…Creepy, but true."

Melissa and Ashley were not identical twins, not in the least. Melissa was tall, brunette, and had hazel eyes. Ashley, on the other hand, was much taller than Melissa by a good few inches, had ash blond hair, and her eye colour had changed so many times everyone just lost track.

"Come on!" called the voice of Ana-Maria, who was standing at the bottom of the stairs. "You're going to be late!"

"In a second!" replied Jack. He looked at his daughters. "Don't you dare become like your mother." he said. "She should know by now that a pirate captain is never early nor late. He arrives precisely when he means to."

The girls giggled. Jack kissed them both on the cheek and hurried down the stairs, waving goodbye. Melissa blushed as they stared out the window watching the car pull out of the driveway.

"You're sick, you know that?" Ashley scolded Melissa.

"What?"

"How can you like him? I mean, he's our Dad!"

"It's not like I can help it…"

---------------------------

Meanwhile, Jack and Ana were speeding off in the car. As fate had it, it had turned out that Jack had caused a delay…and wanted to make up for lost time.

"Slow down!" screamed Ana nervously, gripping on to the dashboard with her nails. "I told you to let me drive!"

"Like that would get us there any faster!" he shouted back. Sirens went off somewhere behind them. "Uh-oh, cops…"

Now, one would expect the ex-pirate captain to try and avoid them. That's what he normally would have done, except his wife was with him. So he pulled over. The officer came up to the car.

"I'm going to have to write you a ticket, and I'll need your driver's license and registration."

"How much is the ticket for?" asked Jack a little sheepishly. Ana was glaring him down like a hawk.

"300 dollars."

"What do you say to 400, and we forget the license?"

The officer stared at him as if he were a maniac.

"No, I'll need the license."

Jack handed it over, and as the officer walked back to his police car, Ana slapped him. Hard.

"Yeah, I deserved that…"