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Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters that you recognize from the original series. I'm just taking them out to play.

Aftermath

Nathan laid his hand on the door of Med Bay and closing his eyes. It had been a long day. After Lucas, Dr. Westphalen, Commander Ford, and Ben had been brought in, he'd seen Dr. Levin briefly. Though they'd both been busy, the doctor had taken a moment to assure Nathan that everyone was going to be okay. It was only now, almost ten hours later, that Nathan was able to find time to check in on his hurricane survivors personally.

Nathan entered the Medical Bay. After the day they'd had, most of the medical team was either getting a bite to eat or taking a quick siesta. There was one doctor present and she was sitting across from him at a computer near an observation window. Nathan cleared his throat as he approached. She jumped before motioning him closer.

"Captain," she greeted.

Nathan looked through the glass into one of the exam rooms. A cot had been set up and Lt. Benjamin Krieg was sleeping beneath the heavy brown blanket.

"How's he doing?" Nathan asked, trying to get a look at the Doctor's name tag. He usually knew every crew member by name, but tonight he was too tired to even try and sift through the dredges of his memory.

"Holly, sir," she said. "And the Lieutenant is doing just fine. I'm just monitoring him for hypothermia and secondary drowning."

"Secondary drowning, is that a risk?" Nathan asked.

Holly scrunched up her nose and gave just the tiniest shake of her head. "Not really. They likely would have shown symptoms earlier, but after being exposed to such tumultuous waters, we like to keep an eye out for it just in case."

Nathan exhaled heavily. He watched Ben's chest rise and fall beneath the heavy blanket for several moments before patting Holly on the back.

"Thank you," he said..

"Commander Ford is in the room next door, sir. And Lucas next to him," Holly said, "In case you wanted to make sure they're alright, too."

The first real smile in hours crossed Nathan's face and he nodded. "Thank you."

Ford and Lucas were both sleeping as peacefully as Ben. Nathan spied a computer and one of Lucas's game controllers tucked into the corner of his exam room, no doubt delivered by a concerned crew member. The teen must have been truly exhausted to have fallen asleep instead of gaming. Just thinking about everything Lucas had been through made Nathan anxious. On one hand, Nathan wanted to bar Lucas from any further explorations and away teams so nothing like this would ever happen again, but he knew that would only drive the teenager away from him. Still, he couldn't help the guilt that washed over him every time he thought of how close he'd come to losing the kid.

Drumming his fingers on his thigh, Nathan tried not to focus on his conflicting thoughts. Instead he strode back to Holly's work station and asked her to page him as soon as Lucas was awake. He figured spending an hour losing video games to Lucas would be a good start to an apology.

Nathan was halfway across Med Bay before he realized one of his crew was missing. "Where's Dr. Westphalen?" he all but yelled.

Holly swivelled on her chair to face him, a frown etched so deeply into her face that it was obvious even across the darkened room. "I don't know, sir."

"She never came down here?" Nathan asked.

"No," Holly said. "She had her vitals checked when they first came on board, but left once everything was cleared."

"Is she not at risk for hypothermia or secondary drowning?" Nathan asked, feeling a too familiar pain start right between his eyebrows.

"She has the same risk as the others, sir."

"Then why the hell wouldn't she stay here to be monitored?"

"Doctors don't like to be doctored," Holly stated simply.

Rubbing two fingers across his forehead to try and stop the headache before it grew any bigger, Nathan cursed himself for not thinking of Kristin earlier. He stomped to the door of the Med Bay, intent on giving his Chief Medical Officer a piece of his mind. Before he slammed the door behind him, Holly's voice rang across the empty Medical Bay.

"You might try her quarters, sir."

Nathan let the door bang closed behind him. He'd already planned on checking Kristin's quarters. Where else would his doctor be? As he made his way through the maze that was the SeaQuest, Nathan tried to calm himself down even as his ire at Kristin grew.

How could she be so stubborn? His mind demanded. After the day she's had, she doesn't deserve to be yelled at, the other half chimed in.

"Shut up," Nathan scolded his mind. A nearby sentry jumped and mumbled a confused, "Yes, sir," as Nathan stormed past him and into the MAG-LEV.

By the time Nathan made it to Kristin's private chambers he was fully immersed in that heady place between anger and worry. His fist pounded into her door as though it wasn't the middle of the night, and he paced back and forth until he heard the lock turn.

"Captain?" Kristin asked as Nathan pushed his way into her room. "What on earth are you doi–"

"Why aren't you in the medical bay?" Nathan kicked the door closed behind him and grabbed Kristin by her shoulders, his gaze wandering over her sweatshirt-clad body as if he could diagnose hypothermia just from looking at her.

Kristin blinked at him. "What?"

"The Med Bay," Nathan demanded. "Why aren't you there under a heavy blanket being monitored for hypothermia like the others?"

A slow smile spread over Kristin's face and she tilted her head. Nathan gripped her shoulders tighter as she stepped closer.

"Are you worried about me, Nathan?" Kristin asked.

Stiffening immediately, Nathan dropped his hands and stepped back. "No," he lied.

Kristin arched an eyebrow and Nathan relented.

"Of course I am. After everything we've gone through today, I stopped by the medical bay to check on everyone and you weren't–" Nathan's voice caught in his throat as all the emotions he'd blocked off throughout the day swept over him like a twenty-foot wave.

He could have lost them. Commander Ford and Ben, Lucas and Dr. Wespha–Kristin. If the batteries on that camera had run out sooner or an errant wave had flipped their raft while they weren't tied in, they'd have died and Nathan would have lost four crew members. Four friends.

The gap between Kristin and Nathan disappeared in two long strides and he wrapped his arms around her. Tangling one hand in her hair, Nathan pulled their bodies flush so he could feel her heartbeat pounding against his own. With his chin on her head, Nathan looked across her room without seeing. Kristin slowly relaxed into his hold, curling her own arms around his waist after several long moments.

"I thought I'd lost you," he whispered. "Dr. Levin had said you were fine, but when I saw the other three and then realized you weren't there…I…"

Kristin let him hold her for a few minutes, trailing her hands along the lean muscles of his back in soothing patterns until both their heartbeats had slowed. When she pulled back, Nathan reluctantly loosened his embrace.

"It's been a rough day for all of us, Nathan," Kristin said.

"But you're okay?" He asked, bending down so he could read her expression as she answered.

"I'm fine," Kristin said. She cupped his cheek in her hand and he leaned into her icy touch. "I'll probably be chilled for a week, but we're all going to be alright."

Nathan nodded. He knew she was trying to soothe his concerns about everything: the state of the SeaQuest; his worry about Lucas being upset with him over his choices that day; even the fear that remained thick in his stomach, telling him that at any moment he would wake up and realize he'd made some grave error that had cost someone their life, but he didn't mind so much. Just hearing her reassurance made him feel lighter.

"Do you need anything before I go?" he asked. "Some more blankets, tea, a hot bath?"

"A bath would be nice," Kristin all but purred, her eyes drifting closed at the thought.

Nathan had the distinct impression she was imagining the feeling of sinking into the steaming hot water and letting it melt all the cold away. Her thumb stroked his cheek and Nathan flushed as he pictured the scene. A thick robe–his thick robe–falling off her shoulders to reveal the long, sensual curve of her spine as she stepped into the tub... The sigh that escaped her lips as the water burned through the chill...

"Good. That's good," he blurted out. Kristin snapped her eyes open and Nathan was only a little relieved to see she was just as flushed as he felt. "I'll go draw you a bath. In my suite."

"I don't think that's a good idea, Nathan."

Nathan didn't have a chance to register his disappointment before Kristin continued. "Can we raincheck for tomorrow? We're both exhausted and it would be rather anticlimactic to drown in a bathtub after surviving a hurricane."

Nathan chuckled, turning his head to press a kiss against Kristin's wrist before she dropped her hand. She escorted him to the door and they bid a silent farewell to one another, the promise of tomorrow giving Nathan just enough energy to get back to his own bunk before passing out.

He was halfway down the hall before she hailed him. "Nathan?"

"Yes?" He asked, half-hoping she'd changed her mind.

"Do you really have a bath in your suite?" Kristin asked, a smile playing about her lips.

His own lips responded in kind and he chuckled. "From my understanding, former Captain Marilyn Stark was a complicated woman."

Kristin's delighted laugh followed him all the way to his suite.

First and foremost I want to thank darkaccalia520 for participating in The Room's Memoir Madness event. This story is one of her prizes for winning the writing competition. Thanks for your patience, Darkin! :L)

The fic itself is set right after the episode Bad Water. I hope I did the characters and SeaQuest universe justice.

Also, I found something super exciting out while writing this. Did y'all know Timothy Omundson played Dr. Levin? I love him. He was King Richard in Galavant and has taken the second spot on my "top ten sexy older guys" list, having bumped Kenneth Branagh down to number three. This was no little feat considering Branagh has held the number two spot for well over fourteen years. Anywho, Tim O definitely rocked it out as Dr. Levin and gave me another reason to love this show. I can't believe I didn't realize it was him before...

Well, all that's left to say is thank you for taking time out of your day to read my story.

God bless,

Ckorkows