A/N. I haven't watched this show in quite some time. Some of the details may be less than accurate. Think somewhere season 2. Totally bizarre premise, but I wanted to explore it nonetheless. It's really just for my own gratification. I must, however, give props for the main idea to N1 who used a similar construction in her OC fic the Mother's Day Gift, which is older and far better than mine. I do make allusions here to the fanon idea of Lucas being abused by his father.

Title: Second chances

Rating: PG

Investigating the ghost ship was pretty exciting, and most of the crew had been looking forward to it since they had stumbled across the vessel the day before. It had been difficult for the Captain to decide who was going to be on the landing party, the crew was fearless, and most of them wanted a place on the team. In the end he sent 5 of his Senior crew, making sure to include Lucas because the boy was practically vibrating he was so excited. He didn't expect much to come of the drifting ship; the landing party would investigate and report back within a few hours.

oooooooo

The team had split up once they reached the vessel – Ford and Ortiz went one way and Piccolo, Lucas and Henderson, the other. The first 20 minutes or so of the exploration had been uneventful and boring, and Lucas was hoping for something to happen quickly so he could stop listening to Tony tell his stories from the last shore leave. Nobody needed to know that much about their friends.

Lucas hurried forward when he spotted it. The science lab was straight ahead of them, and it looked to be in an interesting state of disarray.

"Guys! Check it out!" He said, rushing forward.

Henderson shot him a worried look "Lucas, be careful and watch your back, you never know what you're going to find."

Piccolo spoke into his PAL, "Ford, we've found the science lab. Looks like this might be a lead. Going to explore."

"Got it, over and out."

ooooooooo

Lucas was in the zone as he played around with the science equipment. He hadn't been able to get anything to function, most of the stuff had long since lost power, but this one laser-based machine that sat centralized in the lab like a piece of art looked promising. Sure enough it had only taken him 15 minutes of fidgeting and a laser beam activated, hitting the opposite wall and began to sweep the room, with no seeming effect.

Henderson activated her PAL; "Commander Ford, sir. I think you'll want to make your way to the lab, it seems Lucas has managed to get one of the machines working – "she was cut off as the laser swept over her, Lucas and Piccolo. Within seconds everything had changed.

The sound of Tony's laughter echoed in the room as he looked down at himself and across into one of the lab mirrors. This is great! He thought, glancing in the mirror to see himself ten years earlier. The laser had instantly transformed him into a 20 year old. His mind was foggy, he knew this wasn't right, somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on why. In his mind he was 20 again. And what was he doing here?

He glanced around the room and spotted...Henderson. That's it. I know I know her, but how? Who cares! She's hot....

"What the hell is going on here?! Piccolo, Henderson? What happened?" Commander Ford's voice echoed through the room. Henderson and Piccolo looked at each other and then back to Ford, speechless.

Henderson looked down at her uniform.

"Seaquest,...right, I joined the UEO."

Ortiz ducked the laser beam and quickly shut down. "Well we know what this machine does. I bet there are a lot of people that would pay a lot of money to shave 10 years off their life."

Ford looked at them frustrated. And hit his PAL.

"Seaquest, this is Ford, Captain, we'll be headed back, and then straight to medbay."

"Medbay? Why?"

"Well, I think you need to see this to believe it."

"I'll meet you there then. Bridger out."

Ford turned to his comrades; Tony was fixing his hair in the mirror and flexing his biceps. Henderson was admiring herself as well, running her hands over her waist.

Ford snorted in disgust.

"Where's Wolenczk?" They all looked around and heard a muffled sound.

"Lucas!?"

Just then a small blond haired boy peeked out from behind one of the counters. "I-I'm here."

They all looked down at the child in shock. Of course. 10 years. Lucas would be six years old.

"Shit!" Ford exclaimed. The small boy clasped his hands over his ears. After a moment he brought a small finger to his lips. "Shhhhhh. You said a bad word Mr. Ford!"

oooooooooo

The captain paced back and forth in med bay waiting for his team, and breathed a sign of relief when he spotted commander ford looking healthy and mobile.

"What's the problem Comm—"he began, stopping short when he spotted Henderson and Piccolo. "Ah. Never mind, I think I get it. What the hell happened?"

Everyone began talked at once. Loudly. Nathan felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Captain."

"Wendy, what is it?"

She stood there, mouth agape, all she could do was point to the little boy peeking out from behind Ortiz' legs. As soon as Bridger's eyes fell on him, he hid his face once more.

"Lucas!"

TBC