Nathan walked down the corridor towards Lucas' quarters. He was surprised to see Lucas' hatch door ajar. He peeked inside to see the boy sitting on his bed with his knees drawn up to his chin and his head in his lap. The room was eerily quiet with none of the usual teenage noise like blaring music and the bleeps of video games; the boy was just sitting silently still. Above him in the aqua tubes, Darwin hovered looking abandoned. The scene struck Nathan as pathetic which made him feel a little guilty for having left the boy stewing so long. He knocked on the outside of the door and saw the teenager look up at him with a sheepish look then drop his head back down again with a groan.

Nathan stepped into the doorway. "May I come in?"

"Do I have a choice?" mumbled Lucas, not lifting his head up off his knees.

"Yes, Lucas; you always have a choice. If you'd rather I come back later, I will leave."

Lucas looked up again and stretched out his legs. "No, it's okay; you can come in, but better shut the door if you're planning on yelling at me. The scuttlebutt on this boat is unbearable enough without everyone knowing I'm in trouble."

Nathan smiled sympathetically as he entered the room shutting the door quietly. "I'm not going to yell at you, Lucas." Nathan pulled up a chair and straddled it as he rested his head on his arms while looking at the teenager.

Lucas fidgeted under his scrutiny. Nathan bit his lip as he organized his thoughts.

"Go ahead; get it out of your system," said Lucas. "Tell me I'm stupid and reckless and that I had no business leaving the SeaQuest without permission and that I had no right to take your motorcycle and drive it without a license. And that I shouldn't have been drinking…did I miss anything?" Lucas' eyes looked red and blotchy, and Nathan wondered if he might have been crying.

"You forgot the Stinger." Nathan smirked at him as he raised his head up again.

"Yah, that too." Lucas pulled his legs up and hid his face in his knees again.

Nathan sighed as he glanced at the morose teenager. He certainly looked much more contrite then he had earlier. Perhaps the time to think had been good for both of them.

"C'mon, Lucas, look at me; you and I need to work this out, and hiding your head in your knees isn't going to accomplish that now, is it?"

Lucas shrugged his shoulders but put his head up enough to rest his chin on his knees.

"If it means anything, I'm sorry, Captain."

Nathan smiled. "Thanks, Lucas. It means a lot. The question is are you sorry because you were caught, or do you really understand the magnitude of what you did and are truly sorry?"

Lucas looked intently at him as if mulling the question over. "Maybe a little of both."

"Thanks for being honest." Nathan appreciated the candor, and for Lucas to admit what he did showed strength of character, and Nathan couldn't help but admire that.

"How about we start from the beginning?" Nathan shifted on the chair to make himself more comfortable. "Let's go back to when you asked me if Biff could come and stay on SeaQuest. I owe you an apology."

Lucas looked up in disbelief. "Me? Why?" he asked, a baffled look on his face.

"I should've taken the time to listen to you. Instead, I brushed you off because I was busy and then forgot about the whole thing until it was too late to discuss it."

"You did get awfully mad," acknowledged Lucas.

Nathan sighed and nodded. "I know I did, and I'm truly sorry, kiddo." Nathan half smiled as he pointed a finger towards Lucas. "Although, if I remember correctly, so did you."

Lucas' face reddened and he chewed his lip guiltily. "Sorry."

Nathan waved a dismissive hand. "It's ok; I am too. We were both hot-headed. I should've taken the time to listen to you or given you another time we could talk. Instead of doing that, I brushed you off like what you had to say was unimportant. In doing so, I aggravated your anger and I'm sorry, Lucas. Please forgive me for that."

Lucas nodded and a small smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "I forgive you, Captain."

"Thanks, kiddo, I appreciate it. I promise to try and be a better listener in the future." Nathan stretched his back out a little and crossed his arms across the top of the chair. "Would you like to know why I said no about Biff?"

"I think I know why."

Nathan raised a brow. "Oh, really now? Tell me why then."

"You don't like him, and you don't want me hanging around him. And this situation just proves to you that you were right about him and he's a bad influence. Am I right?"

Nathan massaged the back of his neck. "Partly, but there's more to it than that if you want to know the whole truth." Lucas sighed with a hint of irritation. Nathan waited while the boy seemed to consider if he wanted to know or if he was going to close down and ignore him.

"Fine, why?" His voice had a flippant edge to it that Nathan ignored.

"Biff is 16 and you're 14. He's much older than you are." Nathan raised his hand to stop Lucas from interrupting as the boy's mouth popped opened to protest. "Before you interrupt me, yes, I realise you went to school together, and he was a good friend to you. I get that. However, those are bygone days. You both lead very different lives now, and Biff Pickering is leading you down paths that I'd rather you not travel just yet. There's a whole lot of difference between 14 and 16 whether you care to admit or not."

"Captain, I know that," interrupted Lucas respectfully. "That's why I asked you if he could come to SeaQuest. I knew you wouldn't ever let me go to his place. His parents are never home, and he can do whatever he wants. If he's here then we have 200 parents babysitting us. I thought it would be a good compromise."

Nathan was taken aback at the boys words. Lucas had a very good point, and his logic was sound. Nathan pinched his nose feeling very guilty. He should have listened to Lucas in the first place instead of jumping to his own conclusions. Whew, a big part of this is my fault, thought Nathan.

"Oh, Lucas, I owe you a big, BIG apology," said Nathan, scrubbing a hand over his face in shame. "I should've listened to you, kiddo. I'm sorry. You really gave that a lot of thought didn't you?"

Lucas nodded but his eyes were wide in astonishment. Nathan felt sure that Lucas was realising that the two of them had had a communication breakdown. They both could have avoided where they were now had they both taken the time to listen to one another. "So, can Biff come here next time?"

"We can discuss that more later but yes, I suppose he can, Lucas, after you've finished being grounded for 10 years." Nathan looked pointedly at him but then smirked. Lucas groaned but rewarded him with a small grin.

"10 years?" Lucas' voice sounded strained, but Nathan knew that Lucas knew he was joking. Nathan was glad the boy could joke around with him a little despite the tension in the room.

"We'll discuss that in a minute. Do you forgive me?"

"Yah, sure I do, Captain." Lucas dropped his knees looking more visibly relaxed and pulled himself back more on his bunk. Darwin looked bumped his nose against the glass for attention.

"Darwin is looking pretty dejected there, Lucas. How about giving him some kind of sign that you haven't completely forgotten about him?"

Lucas' face spread into a lopsided grin as he turned onto his knees and pressed his mouth to the glass, puffing out his cheeks like a blowfish. Darwin perked up and, if Nathan didn't know any better, he would have sworn the dolphin smiled. Lucas sat down again and crossed his legs.

"I'm still in big trouble, aren't I?"

"Ohhh, you better believe it, my friend," said Nathan, allowing his voice to become stern.

Lucas dropped his head once again.

Nathan stood up and walked across the room organising his thoughts carefully. He inhaled a deep breath and turned to look at the youngster sitting expectantly on his bunk. Nathan let out a puff of air as he crossed his arms. "What made you just take off like that in the first place, Lucas?"

Lucas dropped his chin and fiddled with his hands. "I was mad at you, I guess."

"You guess?"

"I just felt like you never listen when something's really important. It's been so long since I got to hang out with anyone my age, and I really wanted to spend some time with Biff." Lucas hesitated as if weighing how much more he wanted to share in that respect.

"Go on," prompted Nathan. "Tell me how you got from being mad at me to leaving the SeaQuest."

"Uh, well, I came back here to my room, and the more I thought about it, the angrier I got. So I called and talked to Biff, and he suggested I come to his house. I knew you'd never let me, but I just decided 'screw it', and I took the Stinger keys and the keys to your bike and left."

Nathan felt his temper burn again. He was having a hard time believing the boy's thought process.

"You knew I'd never let you go but you went anyways?" repeated Nathan in disbelief.

Lucas swallowed hard and nodded. His face had paled slightly. "Yes, sir. I wasn't thinking right because I was so mad. I guess I stopped making good decisions."

"You think?" said Nathan, trying to not be too sarcastic. Lucas flinched and Nathan could see tears shimmering in his eyes. At least, he's starting to understand the magnitude of his misdeeds and feel some kind of remorse, thought Nathan. "Go on."

Lucas cracked his knuckles anxiously. "When I got to the mainland, I went where you store your bike, and I took it to get to Biff's house. We hung out for a bit and then he invited me to his beach club. We swam and hung out with some of his friends."

"Where did the alcohol come in?"

"One of Biff's friends brought it in a cooler and offered me one. At first I said no but then I didn't want to look like a total loser so I took one." Nathan raised his brow at Lucas. "Ok, I had three cans," admitted Lucas with a sigh.

Nathan groaned at the information but wanted to hear the whole story before he commented. "And what happened next?"

"We swam, played a couple rounds of golf, flirted with a bunch of girls and crashed in his cabana. It started getting late so I drank a bunch of coffee and started back to SeaQuest. I sorta got distracted by the music and was driving erratically when that cop pulled me over. And, well, you know everything else."

"The officer said you were driving carelessly, Lucas. Your sub-surface vehicle permit was afforded to you as a special favour to me by Admiral Noyce because I told him you're a responsible kid. Driving recklessly is not proving that to me."

Nathan paced back and forth a few times letting the words sink in before sitting down once again across from Lucas. The teenager blinked back tears but maintained eye contact with him this time.

"I have a feeling that you already know everything I'm going to say to you, but you're going to hear it anyways." Lucas gulped and nodded, this time a few tears escaped down his cheeks. Nathan saw him swipe them away quickly.

"I'm very disappointed in you, Lucas. I know I didn't listen to you when I should have and I'm sorry for that, but the way you handled things was completely wrong. This is real life stuff, kid. This happens to adults every day, and they don't have temper fits, stalk off and do whatever they want to spite the other person. Responsible adults suck it up in the moment and do what they can to let it go. Then later, at a more appropriate time, they approach the other person and work things out." Nathan pinched the bridge of his nose as he searched his mind for the best way to explain himself. He felt like he wasn't making himself clear.

"You didn't like my answer, so you took it into your own hands to do what you wanted knowing I wouldn't agree with your decision. That's disrespectful, Lucas, not to mention a pretty crappy thing to do." Nathan raised his voice a little for emphasis. "Then you had the audacity to steal the keys to the Stinger and to my motorcycle. That's what you did by the way, in case that part isn't perfectly clear to you, you stole from me. Anytime you take something without permission, that's call stealing. Not to mention, if you'd asked me, I would've said no and you know that. Am I right?"

Lucas nodded, more tears rolling down his cheeks. Nathan could see he looked very contrite, and Nathan was glad to see it. It would have been a lot harder of a conversation had the boy been being belligerent with him.

"Now then, let's move onto your recklessness. You're 14 years old, kiddo, and you took my bike in busy Miami traffic to go to Biff Pickering's house. And you drove without a licence which you're too young to acquire."

"You let me drive it on the island," interjected Lucas, an indignant look on his face.

"Are you telling me that you don't know the difference between riding a motorbike on a deserted Island with no traffic and riding on a busy highway?" Nathan looked at him incredulously. Lucas blinked his eyes but remained silent. "You could have been seriously injured, Lucas, or even killed. And you could've very well caused others to be injured as well. You have no idea how to handle a bike in busy traffic. I can count on one hand how many hours you've clocked on it. It was a foolish, reckless thing to do!" Nathan leaned forward and pounded his fist on the coffee table for emphasis causing Lucas to jump involuntarily. Thinking about what could have happened was making Nathan's heart race in his chest. He didn't even want to speculate how horrendous things could have turned out.

"Thank God you're safe, Lucas. It would've broken my heart if anything had happened to you." Lucas chewed on his thumb nervously, tears still falling at random.

"And then drinking while underage? We've already had this conversation before, haven't we?" Nathan saw Lucas' eyes widen in recognition of the point. "Under no circumstances are you allowed to drink alcoholic beverages. You're underage and it's illegal. For Heaven's sakes, Lucas, what were you thinking? I don't care how lame you think you look in front of your friends. You say NO! I'm disappointed and very angry with you." Nathan pointed a stern finger at Lucas who licked his lips glumly but remained quiet. "It was dangerous and reckless behaviour, and there's going to have to be some hefty consequences, don't you think?" Nathan stared at Lucas looking for some kind of response. Lucas shrugged his shoulders and slouched further down onto his bunk pitifully. "Lucas, I can't simply let this slide. It would be negligent of me to let you away with this without some kind of consequences."

"I know," Lucas mumbled, slouching even more.

"Do you have anything else you want to say to me?"

Lucas looked down at his hands and shook his head forlornly. Nathan looked to see Darwin bumping the glass again. Darwin had a way of knowing when Lucas or Nathan was upset. The dolphin couldn't hear their conversation, but he always seemed to be able to read body language. Nathan smiled at the dolphin to try and reassure him. Darwin bumped his nose against the glass again.

Lucas sat up. "I guess not. I'm sorry, Captain." Nathan smiled at the boy. He didn't want the kid to think it was the end of the world. He just needed to make sure he knew it was serious. Lucas managed his own half-hearted smile.

Nathan leaned back in the chair and heaved a sigh while looking at Lucas. They sat looking at each other for several minutes while Nathan considered his options. He'd previously made up his mind on consequences earlier in the day, but after speaking with Lucas, he'd decided he was going to give the kid a choice. He'd already said earlier that Lucas had choices, and Nathan believed strongly in that. Besides he felt like when kids had choices, they were more likely to accept the consequences with more maturity.

"Ok, so here are your choices. You can take a one month grounding punishment, shadowing me around SeaQuest everyday…"

"Shadowing?" echoed Lucas, looking perplexed.

"Yes, shadowing. You get to follow me around daily as I go about my duties. You are quite literally my shadow. All of your other duties are suspended for a month. You follow me everywhere…if I'm sitting here in my cabin doing paperwork, then you are sitting here doing work I assign you. If I'm on the bridge, you're on the bridge doing whatever task I give you. We eat together; we do our laundry together and so-on. And when you're not with me, you're in your quarters." Nathan saw Lucas' jaw drop open and his face turn crimson.

"That's crazy! What about if you're working on something classified that I'm not supposed to see?"

"Then you'll shadow Commander Ford or Dr. Westphalen."

Lucas sat forward on his bunk in full protest mode. "What about the vocoder project and all my work with the science department? I have my own duties, you know."

"I realise that, Lucas. They would all be suspended for a month as well."

"You can't do that!" insisted Lucas, his voice growing louder. "I have deadlines and people who depend on me."

"You're a 14 year old boy who is in a lot of trouble with me," said Nathan. "I can do anything I like; I'm the captain." Nathan winked at Lucas, but the teenager stood to his feet in irritation.

"This isn't funny, Captain."

"You're right, Lucas. It isn't funny. What you did was disrespectful, irresponsible and very dangerous."

Lucas crossed his arms and groaned. "But a month? Isn't that overkill? Can I swim with Darwin? Can I hang out with Ben, Tim or Miguel?"

"If I swim with Darwin, you can. If I'm hanging out with the guys, then you can. Otherwise, no, you can't."

Lucas' eyes flashed in anger. "That's not fair!" Lucas clenched his fists as he glared at Nathan.

Nathan squint an eye at him. "I have one other option for your consideration. You may choose either one."

Lucas puffed out his cheeks in frustration. "What's the other option?"

"You can take a one week grounding punishment…"

Lucas' face brightened up. "I pick that one," he stated quickly.

Nathan raised his hand to stop him. "Wait a minute, I'm not finished telling you about it. I wouldn't be so quick to pick it if I were you until I heard the whole thing. This consequence has two parts to it."

"I'm listening but one week sounds better than a month."

"Perhaps. Again, it's the same idea. One week shadowing me. All the same rules apply but the second part of it is that I give you a spanking to go along with it."

Lucas' eyes rounded in shock. "What?" He dropped his arms to his side and stared at Nathan in utter disbelief. "A spanking? Are you serious?"

"Dead serious." Nathan rose to his feet and put his hands on Lucas' shoulders. "The choice is yours to make. I'm going to head up to the bridge for a few hours, Lucas. You carefully consider your choices, and we'll meet back in my quarters at say," Nathan glanced at his watch, "16:00 hours. If you come to a decision sooner, feel free to contact me on my PAL. During this time, I will grant you a little reprieve. I want you to feel free to do what you need to do in order to make a good choice for you. Go swimming with Darwin. Work out in the gym. Talk to the guys. Whatever you feel you need to do to make a decision. Once you've made your decision, there is no changing your mind."

Lucas stood staring at him with his mouth gaping. He looked dumbfounded.

"Do you have any questions for me?" asked Nathan as he headed towards the hatch door to leave.

"Yah, are you nuts?"

Nathan had to laugh at the comment. "I meant any serious questions."

"I was being serious." Nathan frowned at him, and he dropped his gaze briefly with a sigh. "Alright then, what do you mean by that?"

"What do I mean by what?"

Lucas' face reddened. "What do you mean by a spanking?" Nathan could tell the young teen was struggling with the concept.

"Lucas, I think you know perfectly well what I mean." Nathan looked at the young teen to ascertain if it was a serious question or a snarky response. "But if you feel like you need it spelled out for you, I will do that. A spanking is when my hand does the talking on your backside. Are we on the same page now?"

Lucas grimaced. "Captain Bridger, that isn't even a choice! It's too stupid to be a reasonable choice."

Nathan spun on his heel and walked up to Lucas' face, getting right into his personal bubble, causing Lucas to flinch slightly. In that moment, Nathan knew that Lucas truly understood how big a deal the situation really was to him.

"What you did wasn't reasonable either, Lucas Wolenczak. You risked your life because you were mad at me. How ridiculous is that? You could've come to me later and confronted me but you didn't. We could've talked this out like adults, but instead you choose to take off and make one stupid choice after another. You're lucky I'm giving you any choices at all, mister."

Lucas huffed in annoyance. "Ugh." He groaned.

Nathan patted his shoulder once again. "See you at 16:00." With that, Nathan exited Lucas' quarters and headed towards the bridge.