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AN: I began writing this story when I was in eighth grade which was almost six years ago, so these first two chapters may not seem to be well written. I apologize and will correct this in all future chapters. And a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. I truly appreciate it! _______________________________________________________________________
The senior staff returned to seaQuest in hopes of expediting the search for the executive officer.
"Sir," Miguel said with his brow furrowed. "I'm picking up tremors ten miles north of here."
Bridger stood up. "That's right where Commander Ford is. O'Neill, try to get Ford on the line again."
Tim's fingers flew over the control panel. He grunted and shook his head in frustration.
"I'm not getting a response. Just static."
"Sir," Miguel cut in, " The tremors are headed this way."
"Sound the collision alarm," Bridger commanded. "Time, Ortiz."
"Ten seconds, sir."
A loud klaxon alarm sounded and the bridge was bathed in red warning light.
"Brace for impact," Bridger shouted over the alarm as he took his place.
An instant later seaQuest was rattled to her hull. Three more waves hit with a violent force before Ortiz gave the all clear signal.
"Damage report."
It took a few moments before the Captain recieved a reply. Lt. Commander Katherine Hitchcock shook her head.
"Minor damage to the outer skin. Nothing that can't wait to be repaired."
"Good." Bridger said getting up once more. "Lieutenant, try hailing the Commander again."
"Still nothing, sir."
Bridger sighed and began pacing the bridge. "Mr. Ortiz, what do you see?"
"Not much, sir. There's a lot of debris from the tremors floating around. Water's pretty murky." Miguel shrugged and rubbed his temples. He was about to say more when Tim cut in.
"Sir, I'm picking up a distress signal from the Stinger."
"Get a lock on that signal, Lieutenant."
Motioning to his security chief, Bridger said, "Brody, you, Krieg, and Shan assemble a rescue team and get out to the cooridinates that Mr. O'Neill gives you."
"Sir," Tim interuppted again. "I'm recieving another signal. I think it's the alert that the escape pod was activated, but I can't be sure."
"We'll check that out. Thank you." Bridger turned to his other officers. "Hitchcock, O'Neill, Ortiz, you're with me. We'll search the surface in case the Commander did get to the escape pod."
As his crew came to life and jumped into action, Bridger hit the comm. "Dr. West-," he caught himself before he said Westphalen. Pushing down feelings that tried to surface, Bridger corrected himself, "Dr. Smith, you're needed in the Launch Bay."
"Aye, sir," was the disembodied reply.
"Captain," said a young blond boy as the Captain exited the bridge. "Can I- "
"Lucas, tell Darwin and Piccolo that we need them help look for the commander." Bridger kept walking without so much as glancing at the boy.
"Then meet us in the Launch Bay. You have two minutes."
"I'll be there in one." Lucas smiled and took off.
_______________________________________________________________________
Brody and his team reached the wreckage site and were dismayed to find that Commander was no where in site. They scoured the area and floating peices of metal that was once the Stinger. The Stinger, it seemed, had collided with a transport liner. A search produced no survivors. After doing all they could, Bridger called them upworld to help with the search there.
The sky was gray and threatening; a storm loomed on the horizon. The search lasted an hour and a half before the sky poured down its fury. The crew of the seaQuest was forced to abandon its hunt for its missing member. They retreated to the cabin that had been reserved for their shore leave.
Brody glanced over shoulder at the surf. He blinked and looked again. He thought he saw two figures in the distance.
"Hey, Tony," he said, nudging the person next to him. "Do you see what I see?"
Tony looked in the direction that Brody was pointing. "Only if you see two people comin' this way."
"That's exactly what I see."
Brody alerted the Captain and then took Tony and Krieg with him to offer assistance. They reached the figures just as they both collapsed.
One was a woman, struggling to lift the other, a man, to his feet again.
"Whoa, we got him," Brody said as Krieg and Piccolo took the man from her.
"Hey," Tony exclaimed in surprise. "It's the commander!"
Brody didn't know what to say to their sudden luck. "Good. Let's get them back."
"Be careful with him," the woman said hoarsely.
"We will, ma'am," Brody assured her. He attempted to carry the woman back to the cabin, but she stubbornly refused. Not knowing what else to do, he put his arm around her waist to give her support. Krieg and Piccolo tried to carry Ford as gently and securly as they could. The woman leaned heavily against Brody who contemplated carrying her anyway. She was soaked to the skin. Her dark hair stuck to her face and her T-shirt and cut-off jeans clung damply to her body as shivers convulsed her body. Krieg directed Tony to the launch. They were taking him immedately back to seaQuest without even alerting Dr. Smith.
Jim took the woman to the cabin and headed for the den where the rest of the crew was. She shuddered against him before collapsing from exhaustion. He picked her up with ease and carried her the rest of the way into the room.
"Hey, a little help here," he called out. Katie and Wendy reached him first.
"Bring her to the couch," Wendy commanded. "I need a blanket and a Med kit now!"
While Lucas went off to retrieve the items, Wendy checked the woman's pulse. Katie brushed the woman's hair away from her face. Her eyes widened. She sucked in her breath sharply.
Wendy looked at her. "What is it?"
Katie ignored her, as was often the case.
"Captain!" she called urgently.
The Captain came rushing in moments later. He started to question Katie when he saw the woman's face. His face was flooded with mixed emotion.
"Kristin?!"
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It was several hours later when the woman identified as Kristin Westphalen woke up. The captain, Wendy observed, stayed by her side the entire time. Some of the time he sat by her side. Some of the time he paced the room. And some of the time he stood back a ways and stared at her as though she were a ghost from his past.
Perhaps, in a way, she was. Wendy now knew a few things about the former CMO and head of the science department that Lucas grudgingly told her after Kristin's identification had been confirmed.
According to Lucas, Kristin had been a mother figure to him. So much so that he had been positive that she would always be there for him unlike his own parents. But, he was wrong. The last time he had seen the former CMO. was a month after the destruction of the original seaQuest. Kristin had been packing her things, preparing to leave, when Lucas went to see her. He thought that if he begged her not to leave that she would stay with him. But she had only laughed and smiled warmly at him. She had brushed his bangs out of his face with her hand and promised to keep in touch. She then kissed his forehead, handed him an envelope, and left. Lucas did not go into detail about the letter the envelope had contained. He only said that he had read and re-read her letter over and over until it was on the verge of falling apart. Then he had waited and waited- waited for two years and never heard from her again. Wendy could sense the feelings of anger and betrayal that he still felt. Captain Bridger had assured him repeatedly that Kristin would return with the next tour.
While Wendy had a million questions to ask Lucas about Kristin, but remained silent. So rarely did he ever talk to her, that she was afraid if she interupted him, he would never finish his story.
Bridger told him shortly before the second tour that Kristin had promised to return two years prior and that Bridger himself had not actually talked to the Doctor in all the time that had passed, except for the occassional correspondence via email- and those communications halted abruptly four months before the second tour. Lucas didn't have to tell Wendy that the Captain had clung to Kristin's promise during that entire period of time. Lucas suspected that the captain knew long before the second tour that she was not going to keep that promise. He abruptly clammed up after that. Wendy prodded him for more information, but he only shot her a nasty look and thought before leaving.
Kristin stirred and opened her, blinking sleepily. A startled look came into her eyes when she saw Bridger standing over her. She quickly replace it with a smile. She and the Captain exchanged a few words. Bridger appeared uncertain how to react to her. Kristin yawned and stretched lazily. She began to sit up when the captain stopped her. She pushed his hand away and continued to sit up.
Wendy walked over to them. Bridger glanced at her then back at Kristin.
"Kris, this is Dr. Wendy Smith. She's been taking care of things for you."
Wendy, suddenly very afraid for her position on seaQuest, held out her hand. After a moment's hestitation, Kristin took it. Her hand was thin but surprisingly strong.
Bridger excused himself and left the two women alone.
"Doctor," Wendy began, trying to sound authoritative. "I think it would be best if you rested now. You don't need to be up and about."
Kristin looked at the young doctor with an arched eyebrow. Oh really? her eyes seemed to say. And who are you to tell me that?
Wendy swallowed. Kristin Westphalen would want her position on seaQuest back. She was obviously not someone who would play second-string to anyone.
Kristin remained silent looking about the room. Wendy took the opprotunity to size the doctor up. Kristin was of average height and very thin. She had golden-brown tan- the color of the natives Wendy had seen on the islands. The sun had taken her auburn hair and streaked it with flaming red hilights with hints of blond here and there. It was slightly longer than shoulder- length. Only the laugh lines around her eyes and mouth gave any indication to her age.
Kristin's gaze finally came to rest on the younger woman. It was the first time Wendy had really looked into those brown eyes. They were haunted eyes. No,no. They were hauntING eyes. In all her dealings with people, Wendy had never seen such eyes before.
The seaQuest crew chose that moment to burst into the room. They all began talking at once as they crowded around Kristin. Wendy was pushed to the back and forgotten. She realized that it was only natural due to the fact that she did not know Kristin. She took a seat in the corner of the room and watched the reunion. She was content until she realized that Brody, and JJ Fredericks were all equally involved in the hoopla and they had not known Kristin prior to that moment. Maybe they did know her before now, Wendy consoled herself, but she knew they had not. Once again she was left out of things.
The captian allowed things to go on for a while longer before telling everyone to back off and let Kristin breathe. The silence didn't last long as they all wanted to know what had happened and how she managed to come across Jonathan. Bridger said nothing. He was just as curious.
"The Stinger was caught underneath the Hertfordshire when she crashed during the quake," Kristin explained.
"The Hertfordshire," Jim echoed. "Sounds British."
Kristin agreed. "There is a town in England called Hertfordshire."
"That explains your accent," JJ chimed in. "You'd be British, right."
No one asked how she knew about Jonathan or the Stinger. No asked if she had been on the Hertfordshire. They just assumed that she was.
Kristin didn't answer the question with words. She just smiled in a way that implied that JJ was right.
Wendy had a thousand questions that she wanted to ask Dr. Westphalen, but she never got the opprotunity to ask them. Kristin excused herself, saying that she was very tired and wanted to go to sleep. Several of the crew offered her their rooms, but she stubbornly refused. She settled herself down on the couch and Wendy followed the Captain out onto the lanai. Ever since the tour had begun, something had been bothering him. Wendy once tried to scan the Captain, but he didn't react kindly to people in his head. With the mystery surrounding the former CMO, Wendy found it almost impossible not to scan people and Bridger knew it. He had even gone so far as to bring aboard a civilian telepath to prevent her from even accidently scanning any of crew.
Wendy hesitated in disrupting the captian's thoughts.
"Captain?"
He glanced over his shoulder at her, then returned his gaze to the oceanic view before him.
"Yes, Doctor?"
"I think we need to talk."
"About what."
"About Kristin. You-"
"No," he said coldly putting an end to the discussion.
Color flooded her cheeks. Wendy bit her lip and slowly walked back into the house.
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The next morning Wendy padded down to the kitchen and found that Kristin was already awake. She was sitting in the large breakfast nook with Captain Bridger and Lucas. It appeared that whatever feelings of anger or betrayal that was felt by either of them were now forgotten. As Wendy poured herself a cup of coffee Kristin waved her over. Neither the captain or Lucas acknowledge her. Only Kristin looked at her. To Wendy she seemed to be smiling slyly, looking almost smug. It could have been Wendy's imagination, but maybe it wasn't. Whatever it was, Wendy felt something tug at her. The green-eyed monster of jealously?
People began to trickle in, getting breakfast and looking half dead. They crowded around Kristin again and when Wendy returned from getting a bowl of cereal she found that Katie had taken her place.
Soon everyone, except Dagwood who stood by Wendy, was seated near Kristin. Looking like a little boy, Dagwood turned to Wendy and said, "Dagwood like Dr. Kristin. Mmm, she's pretty."
"Hmph," Wendy replied. It was obvious that Dagwood wanted to go over to the others, but couldn't decide what to do.
Then, as if on cue, Kristin looked up at the GELF, smiled warmly and waved him over. Dagwood shyly returned her smile and lumber over to the table.
AN: I began writing this story when I was in eighth grade which was almost six years ago, so these first two chapters may not seem to be well written. I apologize and will correct this in all future chapters. And a big thank you to everyone who has reviewed thus far. I truly appreciate it! _______________________________________________________________________
The senior staff returned to seaQuest in hopes of expediting the search for the executive officer.
"Sir," Miguel said with his brow furrowed. "I'm picking up tremors ten miles north of here."
Bridger stood up. "That's right where Commander Ford is. O'Neill, try to get Ford on the line again."
Tim's fingers flew over the control panel. He grunted and shook his head in frustration.
"I'm not getting a response. Just static."
"Sir," Miguel cut in, " The tremors are headed this way."
"Sound the collision alarm," Bridger commanded. "Time, Ortiz."
"Ten seconds, sir."
A loud klaxon alarm sounded and the bridge was bathed in red warning light.
"Brace for impact," Bridger shouted over the alarm as he took his place.
An instant later seaQuest was rattled to her hull. Three more waves hit with a violent force before Ortiz gave the all clear signal.
"Damage report."
It took a few moments before the Captain recieved a reply. Lt. Commander Katherine Hitchcock shook her head.
"Minor damage to the outer skin. Nothing that can't wait to be repaired."
"Good." Bridger said getting up once more. "Lieutenant, try hailing the Commander again."
"Still nothing, sir."
Bridger sighed and began pacing the bridge. "Mr. Ortiz, what do you see?"
"Not much, sir. There's a lot of debris from the tremors floating around. Water's pretty murky." Miguel shrugged and rubbed his temples. He was about to say more when Tim cut in.
"Sir, I'm picking up a distress signal from the Stinger."
"Get a lock on that signal, Lieutenant."
Motioning to his security chief, Bridger said, "Brody, you, Krieg, and Shan assemble a rescue team and get out to the cooridinates that Mr. O'Neill gives you."
"Sir," Tim interuppted again. "I'm recieving another signal. I think it's the alert that the escape pod was activated, but I can't be sure."
"We'll check that out. Thank you." Bridger turned to his other officers. "Hitchcock, O'Neill, Ortiz, you're with me. We'll search the surface in case the Commander did get to the escape pod."
As his crew came to life and jumped into action, Bridger hit the comm. "Dr. West-," he caught himself before he said Westphalen. Pushing down feelings that tried to surface, Bridger corrected himself, "Dr. Smith, you're needed in the Launch Bay."
"Aye, sir," was the disembodied reply.
"Captain," said a young blond boy as the Captain exited the bridge. "Can I- "
"Lucas, tell Darwin and Piccolo that we need them help look for the commander." Bridger kept walking without so much as glancing at the boy.
"Then meet us in the Launch Bay. You have two minutes."
"I'll be there in one." Lucas smiled and took off.
_______________________________________________________________________
Brody and his team reached the wreckage site and were dismayed to find that Commander was no where in site. They scoured the area and floating peices of metal that was once the Stinger. The Stinger, it seemed, had collided with a transport liner. A search produced no survivors. After doing all they could, Bridger called them upworld to help with the search there.
The sky was gray and threatening; a storm loomed on the horizon. The search lasted an hour and a half before the sky poured down its fury. The crew of the seaQuest was forced to abandon its hunt for its missing member. They retreated to the cabin that had been reserved for their shore leave.
Brody glanced over shoulder at the surf. He blinked and looked again. He thought he saw two figures in the distance.
"Hey, Tony," he said, nudging the person next to him. "Do you see what I see?"
Tony looked in the direction that Brody was pointing. "Only if you see two people comin' this way."
"That's exactly what I see."
Brody alerted the Captain and then took Tony and Krieg with him to offer assistance. They reached the figures just as they both collapsed.
One was a woman, struggling to lift the other, a man, to his feet again.
"Whoa, we got him," Brody said as Krieg and Piccolo took the man from her.
"Hey," Tony exclaimed in surprise. "It's the commander!"
Brody didn't know what to say to their sudden luck. "Good. Let's get them back."
"Be careful with him," the woman said hoarsely.
"We will, ma'am," Brody assured her. He attempted to carry the woman back to the cabin, but she stubbornly refused. Not knowing what else to do, he put his arm around her waist to give her support. Krieg and Piccolo tried to carry Ford as gently and securly as they could. The woman leaned heavily against Brody who contemplated carrying her anyway. She was soaked to the skin. Her dark hair stuck to her face and her T-shirt and cut-off jeans clung damply to her body as shivers convulsed her body. Krieg directed Tony to the launch. They were taking him immedately back to seaQuest without even alerting Dr. Smith.
Jim took the woman to the cabin and headed for the den where the rest of the crew was. She shuddered against him before collapsing from exhaustion. He picked her up with ease and carried her the rest of the way into the room.
"Hey, a little help here," he called out. Katie and Wendy reached him first.
"Bring her to the couch," Wendy commanded. "I need a blanket and a Med kit now!"
While Lucas went off to retrieve the items, Wendy checked the woman's pulse. Katie brushed the woman's hair away from her face. Her eyes widened. She sucked in her breath sharply.
Wendy looked at her. "What is it?"
Katie ignored her, as was often the case.
"Captain!" she called urgently.
The Captain came rushing in moments later. He started to question Katie when he saw the woman's face. His face was flooded with mixed emotion.
"Kristin?!"
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It was several hours later when the woman identified as Kristin Westphalen woke up. The captain, Wendy observed, stayed by her side the entire time. Some of the time he sat by her side. Some of the time he paced the room. And some of the time he stood back a ways and stared at her as though she were a ghost from his past.
Perhaps, in a way, she was. Wendy now knew a few things about the former CMO and head of the science department that Lucas grudgingly told her after Kristin's identification had been confirmed.
According to Lucas, Kristin had been a mother figure to him. So much so that he had been positive that she would always be there for him unlike his own parents. But, he was wrong. The last time he had seen the former CMO. was a month after the destruction of the original seaQuest. Kristin had been packing her things, preparing to leave, when Lucas went to see her. He thought that if he begged her not to leave that she would stay with him. But she had only laughed and smiled warmly at him. She had brushed his bangs out of his face with her hand and promised to keep in touch. She then kissed his forehead, handed him an envelope, and left. Lucas did not go into detail about the letter the envelope had contained. He only said that he had read and re-read her letter over and over until it was on the verge of falling apart. Then he had waited and waited- waited for two years and never heard from her again. Wendy could sense the feelings of anger and betrayal that he still felt. Captain Bridger had assured him repeatedly that Kristin would return with the next tour.
While Wendy had a million questions to ask Lucas about Kristin, but remained silent. So rarely did he ever talk to her, that she was afraid if she interupted him, he would never finish his story.
Bridger told him shortly before the second tour that Kristin had promised to return two years prior and that Bridger himself had not actually talked to the Doctor in all the time that had passed, except for the occassional correspondence via email- and those communications halted abruptly four months before the second tour. Lucas didn't have to tell Wendy that the Captain had clung to Kristin's promise during that entire period of time. Lucas suspected that the captain knew long before the second tour that she was not going to keep that promise. He abruptly clammed up after that. Wendy prodded him for more information, but he only shot her a nasty look and thought before leaving.
Kristin stirred and opened her, blinking sleepily. A startled look came into her eyes when she saw Bridger standing over her. She quickly replace it with a smile. She and the Captain exchanged a few words. Bridger appeared uncertain how to react to her. Kristin yawned and stretched lazily. She began to sit up when the captain stopped her. She pushed his hand away and continued to sit up.
Wendy walked over to them. Bridger glanced at her then back at Kristin.
"Kris, this is Dr. Wendy Smith. She's been taking care of things for you."
Wendy, suddenly very afraid for her position on seaQuest, held out her hand. After a moment's hestitation, Kristin took it. Her hand was thin but surprisingly strong.
Bridger excused himself and left the two women alone.
"Doctor," Wendy began, trying to sound authoritative. "I think it would be best if you rested now. You don't need to be up and about."
Kristin looked at the young doctor with an arched eyebrow. Oh really? her eyes seemed to say. And who are you to tell me that?
Wendy swallowed. Kristin Westphalen would want her position on seaQuest back. She was obviously not someone who would play second-string to anyone.
Kristin remained silent looking about the room. Wendy took the opprotunity to size the doctor up. Kristin was of average height and very thin. She had golden-brown tan- the color of the natives Wendy had seen on the islands. The sun had taken her auburn hair and streaked it with flaming red hilights with hints of blond here and there. It was slightly longer than shoulder- length. Only the laugh lines around her eyes and mouth gave any indication to her age.
Kristin's gaze finally came to rest on the younger woman. It was the first time Wendy had really looked into those brown eyes. They were haunted eyes. No,no. They were hauntING eyes. In all her dealings with people, Wendy had never seen such eyes before.
The seaQuest crew chose that moment to burst into the room. They all began talking at once as they crowded around Kristin. Wendy was pushed to the back and forgotten. She realized that it was only natural due to the fact that she did not know Kristin. She took a seat in the corner of the room and watched the reunion. She was content until she realized that Brody, and JJ Fredericks were all equally involved in the hoopla and they had not known Kristin prior to that moment. Maybe they did know her before now, Wendy consoled herself, but she knew they had not. Once again she was left out of things.
The captian allowed things to go on for a while longer before telling everyone to back off and let Kristin breathe. The silence didn't last long as they all wanted to know what had happened and how she managed to come across Jonathan. Bridger said nothing. He was just as curious.
"The Stinger was caught underneath the Hertfordshire when she crashed during the quake," Kristin explained.
"The Hertfordshire," Jim echoed. "Sounds British."
Kristin agreed. "There is a town in England called Hertfordshire."
"That explains your accent," JJ chimed in. "You'd be British, right."
No one asked how she knew about Jonathan or the Stinger. No asked if she had been on the Hertfordshire. They just assumed that she was.
Kristin didn't answer the question with words. She just smiled in a way that implied that JJ was right.
Wendy had a thousand questions that she wanted to ask Dr. Westphalen, but she never got the opprotunity to ask them. Kristin excused herself, saying that she was very tired and wanted to go to sleep. Several of the crew offered her their rooms, but she stubbornly refused. She settled herself down on the couch and Wendy followed the Captain out onto the lanai. Ever since the tour had begun, something had been bothering him. Wendy once tried to scan the Captain, but he didn't react kindly to people in his head. With the mystery surrounding the former CMO, Wendy found it almost impossible not to scan people and Bridger knew it. He had even gone so far as to bring aboard a civilian telepath to prevent her from even accidently scanning any of crew.
Wendy hesitated in disrupting the captian's thoughts.
"Captain?"
He glanced over his shoulder at her, then returned his gaze to the oceanic view before him.
"Yes, Doctor?"
"I think we need to talk."
"About what."
"About Kristin. You-"
"No," he said coldly putting an end to the discussion.
Color flooded her cheeks. Wendy bit her lip and slowly walked back into the house.
_______________________________________________________________________
The next morning Wendy padded down to the kitchen and found that Kristin was already awake. She was sitting in the large breakfast nook with Captain Bridger and Lucas. It appeared that whatever feelings of anger or betrayal that was felt by either of them were now forgotten. As Wendy poured herself a cup of coffee Kristin waved her over. Neither the captain or Lucas acknowledge her. Only Kristin looked at her. To Wendy she seemed to be smiling slyly, looking almost smug. It could have been Wendy's imagination, but maybe it wasn't. Whatever it was, Wendy felt something tug at her. The green-eyed monster of jealously?
People began to trickle in, getting breakfast and looking half dead. They crowded around Kristin again and when Wendy returned from getting a bowl of cereal she found that Katie had taken her place.
Soon everyone, except Dagwood who stood by Wendy, was seated near Kristin. Looking like a little boy, Dagwood turned to Wendy and said, "Dagwood like Dr. Kristin. Mmm, she's pretty."
"Hmph," Wendy replied. It was obvious that Dagwood wanted to go over to the others, but couldn't decide what to do.
Then, as if on cue, Kristin looked up at the GELF, smiled warmly and waved him over. Dagwood shyly returned her smile and lumber over to the table.