A/N… okay, loyal readers, Lucas and Julianna haven't seen each other in several months so why don't we give them some privacy for this chapter. Let's give them a chance to get reacquainted, dance and have a few drinks together (non-alcoholic of course because Lucas is a smart kid, and he knows he's underage plus he wants to keep his wits about him for later.)

Let's turn our attention to what happened to Jonathan in this chapter. He's been on shore leave for awhile after apparently thinking he saw a mermaid. Nathan thinks he was having a hallucination. Poor Nathan. First he's got Jonathan seeing things, and then he has Lucas acting weird. What's in the water on SeaQuest?

Special thanks to Darkaccalia520—You, my lovely friend, are amazing! Thanks for all your insights and help. I truly appreciate it. I have corrected a few things and reworked a few chapters thanks to your insights. You are awesome!

Jujuone23—Thanks for your support and reviews on each chapter. It's such a wonderful encouragement to me to keep writing. Your insights to what I write inspire me . Thanks so much.

Guest Sandra—thanks for reviewing. I hope you like what you read. Let me know.

Guest reviewer of chapter 7—Thanks for reviewing and keep reading along.

Everyone else reading along-THANKS!

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Nathan tapped his cards on the table while glancing around at the poker faces in front of him. Poker was his game. Even at the academy when he used to play with Bill Noyce, he was undefeated. He just had a knack of reading the faces of his opponents. Ben always got this little smirk on his face when he had a good hand. Miguel twitched his eye when he was bluffing. Shan fidgeted. Kristin was horrible at poker and didn't even try to bluff. Tim looked guilty whenever he played poker, and Nathan suspected the man heard his mother's voice scolding him about gambling being a sin. Nathan almost felt guilty playing because it was just so easy to win. He chewed his lip and glanced at his cards. Finally he decided he would just put them all out of their misery. He tossed all his winnings on the pile and called. The expressions on everyone's faces when he threw his cards to the table struck him as funny. "Read 'em and weep, fellas," laughed Nathan.

Miguel groaned and pushed himself back from the table. "How do you do that every time?" He tossed his cards on the table in defeat.

Ben scowled as he watched Nathan pull in all the winnings with a huge grin on his face. "Captain, how the hell are we supposed to pay our bills this month?"

"You could always take a loan or do some extra shifts, Mr. Krieg," scoffed Nathan, looking quite pleased with himself. He saw Ben roll his eyes in disgust.

Kristin put her hand on Nathan's arm. "Remind me again why we decided to play poker with you?" She gave him a playful push causing him to laugh louder.

"Don't blame me. I can't help it; Poker is my game!" he insisted with an innocent look.

At that moment, Crocker walked across the games room and stood in front of the table gazing at the forlorn faces. "Let me guess, Cap skunked you again. And you think I'm a wimp because I don't want to play against him." He laughed as he watched them all groan. "He was undefeated at the Academy. I hear he still holds the record."

Nathan held up his hand, still chuckling. "Don't give away all my secrets, Chief."

"Too bad, Lucas isn't here. He's the only one who can make you squirm, Cap," laughed Shan. Shan felt a hard kick under the table. He grimaced and threw Miguel a look of confusion. He wasn't sure what he said that was so wrong.

At the mention of Lucas' name, everyone at the table sobered. Kristin stopped smiling and reached for her tea. She brought the mug to her lips slowly, not making eye contact with anyone. She felt like she had taken away everyone's playmate. It only served to make her feel more unsettled and upset.

Nathan glanced at Kristin and patted her arm supportively. "Lucas made his own choices this week," commented Nathan.

"I'm sure he is having a fabulous time at his, uh, conference," smirked Ben, who seemed oblivious to the tension at the table. His mind was on Lucas and their earlier conversation. Ben knew that the Captain didn't know about Julianna or the anguish Lucas had felt over seeing her.

"Lucas didn't go to his conference, I'm afraid," informed Nathan. He glanced around the table at the curious eyes. He felt Kristin stiffen beside him, and he gave her an encouraging smile. Nathan knew that news travelled fast on the sub. It was difficult to keep a secret or have much of any privacy. He figured he would clear up any gossip here and now.

"I know this is a small boat and news travels. Most of you may know already, and some of you don't. He didn't go to the conference. That's all you need to know. He isn't in very good spirits, and last I saw him, he was in his quarters. I think he just needs some time to himself tonight." Nathan saw looks of concern and surprise cross the faces in front of him. He heard Kristin sigh. "It was his choice not to go."

Ben furrowed his brows at the information. He wondered what had happened. Why would Lucas change his mind? Ben felt himself begin to worry about the kid. He made a mental note to talk with Lucas later that evening.

Nathan felt his PAL vibrate in his pocket. He had turned the sound off earlier in hopes that it wouldn't disturb anyone. He pulled the unit out of his pocket and excused himself from the table. Walking outside the games room, he tapped the unit. "Bridger," he said.

"Captain, I'm picking up an emergency signal from Commander Ford, but I can't make voice contact," said a voice that he recognised as Lt. Strahan.

Nathan knit his brows together in concern. He had given Jonathan an emergency beeper in case he needed to reach SeaQuest. He never thought the man would need it.

"Get me a location, Lieutenant."

"Aye, sir," came the reply.

"Prepare me a launch," Nathan commanded and ended the communication. He strode back into the room and walked to the table where most of his senior staff sat. "Jonathan needs help. Crocker? Shan?" Nathan nodded at the two men who rose to their feet. "Meet me at the launch; I'm heading to the bridge for a few minutes."

"Aye, Cap" said Crocker and he rose immediately, following Nathan from the room.

Shan rose as well, heading out the room but was caught by Miguel just outside the games room.

"Shan, wait up a minute."

Shan stopped and turned to face Miguel. "What is it?" he asked when he saw concern on Miguel's face.

"Lucas took the Stinger and left."

Shan's eyes grew big at the information. Now he knew why Miguel had kicked him under the table. His mouth formed a big 'O' as he thought about how that was going to go over with the Captain.

"Just try to keep things under the wire with the captain until Lucas gets back. He said he'd be back tomorrow night."

Shan frowned for a moment trying to piece things together. "I don't get what the big deal is. Last I heard Bridger gave him permission to go because he thought it was a conference. Did he find out about Julianna and kibosh the idea?"

Miguel shook his head. "Do you live under a rock, Shan? Westphalen grounded him because he dropped the ball on some deadlines, and she lost her funding."

"Oh wow, yah, I didn't hear anything about that. Well that explains why she looks so down tonight. So the little turkey went anyways?" Shan shook his head and chuckled. "That kid has a lot of guts, I'll give him that."

"Let's just do what we can to keep the doc and the captain busy and away from Lucas' quarters. Seeing Julianna means a lot to him," replied Miguel.

"Yah, sure. No problem. Uh, but I wouldn't want to be him if he gets caught," stated Shan thinking about how Captain Bridger would react.

Miguel grimaced at those words and patted Shan on the shoulder. "Neither would I." Miguel dropped his hand and watched as Shan took off down the corridor at a fast jog towards the Launch bay.

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Nathan, Cocker and Shan combed the beach looking for Jonathan. A black handheld device lay in the sand, and Nathan stooped to pick it up. He handed it to Shan with a discouraged look on his face. The device was still flashing and beeping as Shan held it. Nathan brushed the sand from his hands as he scanned the area further. Crocker rushed over holding a man's dress shoe. Nathan recognised it as Jonathans'.

"That's Ford," stated Nathan taking the shoe and glancing inside it.

"You sure it's his, Cap?" asked Crocker.

"Who else would put the date in when he started to wear them."

Crocker took the shoe, looking inside to see the date and smirked.

"Why don't you two start a search down current," suggested Nathan still scanning the beach carefully.

Crocker and Shan both nodded. "Aye, Cap," stated Crocker and the two men took off up the beach.

Nathan brushed his hands on his pants as he continued to scan the beach. His mind was flip-flopping between being worried about Jonathan and being worried about Lucas. He put his hands on his hips as he stared out at the water. Lucas' words still echoed in his mind. He hadn't seen the teenager that angry in a long time. He didn't remember Lucas ever using strong language around him either. It wasn't that the language bothered him. After all he was in the military and coarse words assaulted his hearing daily. It just wasn't Lucas' personality to speak like that around him. Lucas was a lot of things but most especially he was respectful of Nathan's authority. Nathan hadn't made it an issue. He figured the kid had a right to communicate his anger in that moment. It was healthy to communicate his feelings. It was a hell of lot better to say he was feeling angry than to act on his anger which he knew the kid would never do.

A sudden movement in the water caught Nathan's attention. He removed his glasses as he blinked his eyes several times in the sunlight. He thought he had seen a girl swimming in the water. He blinked again and stared. The glare on the water made it hard to distinguish between the waves and anything else. After glancing again, he shook his head and told himself he was seeing things. He'd spent too much time in the submarine, and the sunlight was playing tricks on his eyes. He looked out at the water again, and this time he saw the girl swimming towards him. He was dumbfounded. She was exactly like Jonathan had described to him. His jaw dropped as he watched the girl come out from the water onto the beach towards him. She was dressed completely in white just like Jonathan had described. His eyes rose in disbelief as she approached him.

"Where did you come from?" he stammered, shock in his voice.

She looked at him shyly, with an air of innocence. "I live in the sea," was her quiet, simple reply.

Nathan squinted in the sun as he looked at her. He blinked his eyes as he remembered Jonathan's words. He had sloughed them off as a hallucination. The commander's words echoed in his mind. "It was a woman, sir. She was swimming unassisted at a depth of over thirty thousand feet. She was down there just swimming around, breathing water in and out. She was real, Captain; I saw her." Nathan looked away and stared back at the water. He had thought Jonathan had been seeing things. Mermaids weren't real. They didn't exist. Nathan raised his head and looked at the girl in front of him with a perplexed look on his face. "So, it's true."

The girl looked at him, confusion on her face. Her long dark hair blew in the wind as she innocently stared at him.

"It was you he saw, wasn't it?" mumbled Nathan as he began to piece things together in his own mind. "You saw a man in the ocean, didn't you?"

She nodded her head slowly as a painful look of fear filled her eyes. "Yes," she admitted, dropping her chin.

"That man is my friend. He's missing. Do you know where he is?" Nathan searched her face for an answer. All he could see was fear and trepidation on the young woman's face. Nathan softened as he realized how frightened she was.

"My name is Captain Nathan Bridger. There's no need to be afraid. I won't hurt you. What's your name?" He reached out his hand to shake hers as a gesture of friendship. She stared at it in confusion. It was like she didn't know what it meant.

"I-I am called Mika," she whispered so softly that the wind almost carried her voice away. Her hands visibly trembled as she glanced around her.

"Mika, will you help me find my friend?"

The girls blue eyes shimmered with tears as she looked at Nathan. She chewed her lip slowly. "But, he'll make me stay with him," she replied, her voice almost a whimper.

"No, Mika, not if you don't want to. I can help you. Please, show me where my friend is."

The girl hesitated then nodded her head as tears fell down her cheeks.