Vocabulary:

CAG: Commander Air Group
padre: slang for priest/ Father (also Spanish for father, but not used in this sense)

He coughed as another wave came crashing down over him. It was a hard enough struggle to try and stay above water so he wouldn't drown. However, his legs were growing tired from treading water. He was trained to tread for at least a half hour, but that mark had past long ago. He wasn't even sure how long he was in the water now. Two, possibly close to three hours. He had lost track of all time soon after the waves pushed him away from his raft, which was now long gone. Every chance he could, he looked around for anything. Something to grab onto, a search plane or helicopter, anything! But he knew one thing for sure. As the cold began to seep into his bones, the struggle to keep his muscles moving became harder and harder. It became more and more difficult to stay focused on his current task and to keep his eyes open. Which only meant one thing.

He didn't have much time left.

A few moments later, he looked up in the sky and saw a large object start to fly towards him. He narrowed his eyes to try and get a better look at it through all the spray. A Viking! his mind clicked.

As the plane flew over him, he tried to shout out to it. However, it kept on its course and started to disappear from his vision.

He spat out a mouthful of salt water as he allowed the currents to take him wherever they wanted to. He had given up treading water long ago; he just didn't have enough energy left in him to try and keep himself above the water's surface anymore, let alone keep his eyelids open.

Another huge swell came crashing down on him, plunging his head back underneath the waterline. However, as he tried to fight his way back up, he found that he made no progress in reaching the surface. His body was too exhausted to fight anymore. It had given up.

Slowly, he sank into the sea, the pressure in his chest increasing exponentially as high lungs begged for oxygen. He let a small bubble of air out, hoping to relieve some of the ache. But it didn't. Another released breath… still no escape.

He looked up in hope that the surface was somehow near him, but the little light that did shine through was too far away.

All of his hope… gone.

Lucas released the last of the air that was in his lungs. Not too long after, he felt the water start to fill in his nose and mouth.

And he swallowed it.

Another gulp, and another… water continued to fill his lungs as his vision began to fade.

Lucas awoke with a gasp. His chest was heaving at an alarming rate, and sweat was sliding down his forehead. Once he realized where he was and that he was safe, Lucas let out a frustrated sigh and covered his face with his hands. Whenever he closed his eyes, he relived that night, or worse, what could have happened.

A voice coming from the bunk below him cut through the silence. "Lucas? Are you alright?" Farkle asked.

He lowered his hands away from his face and remained silent for a moment before answering. "Yeah… yeah, I'm fine."

"I don't buy it," Farkle returned.

"And why's that?" Lucas asked, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Let me see, where to begin. Even though I'm your RIO, roommate, and best friend, you seem to be avoiding me. From what I've noticed recently, you've been having trouble sleeping, and that's either being so restless that you can't fall asleep and keep me up as a result, or you wake up suddenly. I saw you jump at the sound of an F-14 catapulting off of the flight deck, and that never used to catch you like that. Your scores are dropping – not enough for the CAG to get involved, but enough for me to notice something is wrong. Need I continue?"

Lucas didn't dignify Farkle's answer with a response, and he merely bit his lip. He thought he was hiding it well enough, but apparently not if 'Mr. Radar' in the bunk below him was able to pick up on the signals he was putting off.

"So," Farkle continued, "how long has this been going on?"

"I'm not going to say," Lucas replied, barely audible to Farkle's ears.

"Lucas…" Farkle trailed.

"I said I'm not going to say!" he snapped. Once the words were out of his mouth, he immediately regretted them and silently cursed to himself. "Look, buddy… I'm sorry."

"…I think you should go see someone about this… the padre, the psychiatrist, someone! And soon. Seeing you like this worries me."

Lucas sighed again. "You're right, Farkle," he replied. "And it worries me, too," he muttered to himself before he rolled over onto his side to try and get back to sleep. He didn't remember any more dreams, but remained in a restless state for the remainder of the night.

OoOoO

Lieutenant Commander Parker finished jotting down some notes a few moments after Lucas told her, in difficult detail, everything that he had been experiencing, including a few things that went by Farkle's eye. Each second of silence that passed set Lucas that much more on edge.

She finally set her pen down and straightened up a bit. "Tell me, Lieutenant, how long have you been experiencing all of this?"

"About three months."

The psychiatrist looked up at him and raised an eyebrow. "Three months? Is there a reason why you didn't come to see someone about it sooner?"

Lucas shrugged. "I thought it was something that would go away eventually. So, what can I do to make it stop so I can focus on my job again?"

Lieutenant Commander Parker stood up from her chair and sighed. "It's not going to be as easy as you think."

Lucas raised an eyebrow in confusion. "What do you mean?"

She walked to the other side of her desk and leaned on its edge. "You're experiencing PTSD due to your crash. It's going to take a while before you're 'back to normal', if you ever can get back to normal again. Since you're tour is coming to an end here in a week, I'm going to recommend that you take some leave before you start your next duty assignment. That way, you can get some treatment…"

Lucas zoned out the rest of what she was telling him. Here, he thought the nightmare was over when he woke up in sickbay that night, but in reality it was just the beginning.

A/N: Let me know what you guys thought! For anyone who has watched JAG, I did not mean to use L.C. Parker from the series! I just liked the name and I thought the rank was fitting for the character.