The Gift
by Crys Ritter
I don't own them, I just play with them and it doesn't make me any money so don't bother trying to sue me Amblin Entertainment. "Since I met you" by DC Talk, no copy write infringement intended. Not beatad, any mistakes are mine alone.
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Three years. Had it really been that long? Bridger rearranged the table settings for the sixth time in less than ten minutes. He picked up the vase of flowers and looked at it carefully. 'Maybe the flowers are too much.' he thought and moved it to the desk. Nathan checked his watch again and sighed.
There was a knock at the door and Nathan smiled as he opened it.
"You wanted to see me, Sir?" Lucas asked nervously.
"Please come in, Lucas." Nathan stepped back to allow the teen to enter. "Will you join me for dinner?"
Lucas' eyebrows raised. "Is something wrong?"
Nathan snorted, "Of course not. You're being a bit paranoid don't you think?"
"Only the paranoid survive." Lucas mumbled.
'Hmm?" Said Nathan.
"Nothing."
"Sit and let's have dinner." Nathan sat at the table and motioned Lucas to sit across from him.
Lucas sat down and looked suspiciously at the covered plate.
"Trust me you'll like it." Nathan pulled the top off his plate. "See."
Lucas looked at the lobster that graced the captain's plate and then uncovered his own. "Is this real?"
"Of course, you think I'd serve you something lobster-like on an occasion like this?"
"What occasion?" Lucas asked, curious.
"Your three year anniversary on the seaQuest."
Lucas got to his feet so quickly that the chair overturned with a loud crash. "I.... I...." Lucas stuttered then bolted from the room.
Nathan sat and stared at the door for several minutes, "Well, that was hardly the reaction I expected."
***
Lucas raced blindly back to his room, the thoughts in his brain whirling madly like a flock of starlings.
He collapsed on his bunk, trying not to cry. "I can't believe I did that. The captain is gonna think I'm some kind of nut. Why did I do that?" Lucas pulled a pillow over his face. "God, I'm such a fool!"
***
Nathan covered the plates back up and sent them back to the kitchen, he didn't feel like eating alone.
"I don't understand it." He told Kristen when the doctor called to see how things were going. "I thought he'd be happy that I remembered."
Kristen smiled; "Lucas isn't used to people remembering he's around, much less when it was he entered their lives. Give him time, I bet he'll come back and surprise you."
Nathan smiled ruefully, "You don't think he's mad at me?"
"Of course not, he was just a little surprised."
***
Lucas paced in his cabin; "I gotta go back and apologize." He stopped and scrubbed his hands through his hair, "I can't go back in there, it's too embarrassing. I'll never be able to look him in the eye now." Kicking a crumpled piece of paper, he muttered, "I gotta do something but what?" Lucas dropped onto his bunk, picked up the remote and turned the stereo on, cranking up the volume. Two albums later he smiled, "That's it!"
***
Nathan returned from the bridge after his shift and found a package on the table. He opened it and found a disk labeled "Play Me." Bridger turned on the holograph and inserted the disk. Lucas' image appeared, his hair was mussed and his cheeks were flushed. "I wanted to apologize for the way I behaved at dinner. And to thank you for remembering." Lucas ducked his head, Bridger could hardly make out what the teen said next, "I had forgotten because I though no one else would remember." Lucas reached out and pulled a keyboard onto his lap, then looked up, smiling, "This is my gift to you." He played a few soft notes and then began to sing,
"Was at the end of my rope, had nowhere to go
Was at the end of my rope, I had nothing to show
Until the day I turned to You, was at the end of my rope.
What?
You talking to me?
You talking to me?
You call me crazy
You call me crazy, man you make my day
My state of residence was disarray
At every party and as far as anybody knew - everything was cool, but
The truth was bottled up inside of me
I was as lonely as a man could be
And my 200 friends couldn't fill the void in my soul
It was a giant hole
Nothing made any sense
I thought there would never be an end
Then love came knocking at my door
Since I met You I've been alright
You turn all my darkness into light
Since I met You I've been okay, I've been alright
Ya know I've been alright
Since I met You I've been okay
You're rolling my winter into may
And since I met You I've been alright
I've been okay since I met you
I've been okay since I met you
You got me feeling like a million bucks
Some people write it up as Irish luck
But I know better, cause my rabbit's foot never did me a bit of good
The truth hit me like a sock in the eye
A revelation that I can't deny
Your love has overtaken every little part of me
You were what I needed
I'm carried away
Never seen the sunshine like today
You made something of my life
Was at the end of my rope
I had no where to go, go
Was at the end of my rope
I had nothing to show
Until the day that I turned to you
Was at the end of my rope
I had nowhere to go, go, go
Was at the end of my rope
I had nothing to show
Until the day that I turned to you
Was at the end of my rope
Yeah, that's right, I'm talkin' to you
Sick and tired
Sick and tired of the same ol' fluff
You took me in and You shook me up
You got me tripping on a vision of eternity
I can see it clearly
Was at the end of my rope
With nowhere to go
I had nowhere to go, go
Nowhere to go
Was at the end of my rope
With nothing to show
Had nowhere to go, go, go
I had nowhere to go
Was at the end I had had nowhere to go
I had had nowhere to go
Was at the end of my rope
I had had nowhere to go Was at the end, then I met you."
Lucas' voice faded into a whisper as the song ended.
"And if you show this to anyone, I'll swear it's a forgery!" Lucas smiled, "I'm not gonna have Krieg dragging me up to sing in front of everyone the way he does Ortiz."
Nathan laughed, "I think this is the best present I've ever gotten."