Author Note: I originally intended to skip this fluff with the OC, but I got carried away. If you're interested in Mary meeting Kristin, Nathan, Miguel, and Lucas, here you go. If not, feel free to skip this chapter as nothing exciting happens. Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah, or whatever else you may celebrate.


Chapter 74

The meeting with Captain Bridger and Dr. Westphalen was going well, as far as Tim could tell. Mary didn't open up a two-way mindlink, so he couldn't read her the way she was reading him, but she seemed to relax after the introductions. The captain was quite serious about having her formally instated as a special agent, and Tim could tell she was flattered, but she deflected the suggestion in favor of modesty. The couple of times she'd helped were probably just flukes of circumstance and it was unlikely they'd ever need her special skills again.

"But I am always available, Captain," she said. "Never doubt that I'd be willing to help. Both Tim and Wendy know how to get ahold of me."

The captain leaned in a bit and said, "Good, that means you're still my private secret weapon."

Dr. Westphalen smiled warmly. "I was also serious about you coming aboard so that Dr. Smith could document and research some of your abilities."

Tim felt a rush of conflicting emotions. He was afraid for Mary to consider coming on seaQuest because not everyone was going to be as gracious and welcoming as the captain and doctor. He worried about how others would react to her and then he felt guilty for having admitted there was anything that should cause others to be repulsed. And while he truly didn't mind giving Mary freedom to scan him while they were together, he wasn't sure how well that would work if he was on duty, especially if he needed to think about classified matters. And then he felt badly for having considered his own problems when he should have felt elated at the prospect of having her close.

Mary squeezed his hand. She whispered a quick, "I know, Sweety, I know." Then she faced Dr. Westphalen. "That's very generous of you and it isn't that I'm not tempted, but I'd need to practice blocking people again before I could consider it." She lifted the hand holding Tim's. "This is the only reason I could meet you and still respect your privacy. Tim's a great sport to allow me to do this, but I wouldn't want to interfere with his work."

"Thank you," Captain Bridger said. "I'm glad someone," his eyes flitted back to his wife for a fraction of a second and then back to Mary, "is considering Tim in all this."

Tim got the distinct feeling that the captain wasn't really talking to Mary at all.

The doctor smirked at her husband before speaking to Mary again. "I'm sure Tim would love having you aboard as well."

She smiled back, almost as deviously. "No, actually, he's a bit terrified that he couldn't stay as professional and focused as the two of you always are."

Tim gasped lightly. Ma-ree.

She flashed an apologetic look. "Oh, sorry, Sweety. I probably shouldn't have blurted that out. See what trouble I can cause? I'm so used to my hermit ways."

"Just think about it," the doctor said. She didn't seem deterred at all. Maybe Wendy could talk some sense into her, Tim hoped.

"I will. I should probably go before I say something Tim will want to clobber me over." She stood but didn't let go of Tim's hand.

Dr. Westphalen stood as well. "Mary, Tim warned us not to touch you because it's hard for you to block us. If I accept the risk, will you allow it?"

"I—I'm very strong, Doctor. I'd be able to see things that no one should."

"I don't have any military secrets. A few scientific ones, maybe, but nothing I couldn't trust you with."

"But your personal secrets…?" She put an almost painful emphasis on the personal.

She waved it away. "Pish posh. Nothing I wouldn't tell you if you came aboard."

The captain cleared his throat pointedly and spoke through his teeth. "Kristin."

"Oh, come on, Nathan. You've got to know that when women get together we talk about our men. And for your information, Wendy says I have pretty decent 'walls', too."

"Wendy has been inside your mind?"

Tim felt uncomfortable, like the married couple had forgotten he and Mary were right there. No, it's all right, Mary said in his mind.

The doctor addressed the captain, but she made no effort to whisper or guard her voice. "You knew I'd been seeing her in her professional capacity ever since Juno."

"Yes, but I didn't think that included letting her in your head!"

"We're friends, Nathan. I asked about her work in parapsychology and one thing led to another and I gave her permission. I wanted to know what it was like."

At the lull in the conversation, Mary spoke. "I'm stronger than Wendy, Doctor. I might even knock down your walls by accident."

"No you won't. I appreciate you warning me, but I bet that you'll respect my walls." She extended her hand to Mary. "I trust you. Let me be your friend."

Tim didn't know what to think. Dr. Westphalen had always been more than a doctor to him—somewhere between mother and friend but just short of either. He'd never been able to call her by her first name, but not for the same reasons he had for the captain.

It's all right, Tim. Let go. Mary's mindvoice was calm and sure.

He released her hand and she placed it inside Dr. Westphalen's. Silence took over for about two seconds and then the doctor pulled Mary to her chest, wrapped both arms around her and whispered, "Welcome to the family."

"Thank you," Mary said with a quivering voice.

Mary could use a few good friends and Tim was very grateful Dr. Westphalen wasn't afraid of Mary's abilities, but he felt a little awkward sitting there. He cast a nervous glance at the captain, who merely shrugged. The doctor released Mary from embrace, but held both her hands at arm's length. She looked her in the face, saw the tears and dropped one hand to gently wipe her cheek. "Do you have plans for lunch?"

Mary sniffled. "Uh, we're going to meet Miguel at 10 and Lucas at 10:30 and I thought I'd be done-in by then."

The doctor checked her watch. "It's almost ten now. I'm meeting Wendy for a little shopping and then we were going to meet Hitchcock and Henderson for lunch. You could use me for focus if you'd like to join us."

"Thank you, but I think I'd better take this slowly. Four people at once is too much for me right now."

"All right. How about just you and me, tomorrow?"

"Uh…" She looked back at Tim.

He couldn't tell if she was excited or terrified. It's okay by me if you want to.

"We could ask Wendy to join us if you think you can handle two doctors probing you about psionic healing." Dr. Westphalen sounded like she was trying to make the idea more appealing by including someone she already knew.

The dried eyes moistened again and her voice found its quiver. "You know what I'm capable of and you're worried about asking me questions?"

"I just want you to be comfortable. Please?"

"Yes. I accept."

"Good. Do you want me to call or text you?"

"I—uh—I don't have a vid-cell."

The doctor laughed. "Don't worry, neither does Nathan. He has an old-fashioned voice-cell though."

Mary emitted a nervous chuckle. "It's been years since anyone ever needed to contact me like that."

"Well, I could just make Tim relay for me." She winked when she spoke but Tim shrugged his indifference.

"You can email me, or call the hotel," Mary said. "I'll probably be there."

Tim had maneuvered around to stand behind his fiancée. He mouthed, "Thank you," for the doctor's eyes only. She winked again, smiling.

"Come on, you," the captain said in mock exasperation. He'd also stood and was now at the doctor's elbow. "It's Ortiz's turn. We don't want to encroach on his time."

The captain shook Tim's hand. "Thank you for sharing your fiancée with us. I know this wasn't easy to arrange."

Tim nodded. He wasn't going to deny that this was extraordinary. Even if the lunch with the lady doctors went well, Tim didn't think there would be much contact in the future. They'd come to the wedding and maybe call her on vid-link, but she was a hermit for a reason and Oklahoma didn't have any ports or naval bases.

Mary released Dr. Westphalen's hands and took Tim's hand again. She didn't extend a hand to the captain but she did look him in the eyes. "It was a pleasure meeting you both."

They smiled and hurried out the door. Miguel was waiting in the hall outside. He exchanged quick greetings with the captain and doctor before slipping into Father Baker's office. Tim had tried to prepare him more than any of the others because he hadn't been privy to all the help she'd already given to seaQuest. He wasn't on that life raft in the Pacific and he didn't go to Juno. He did know something about her gifts because he'd caught Tim having telepathic conversations with her when he was staying with his family in Cuba. That morning on seaQuest, he'd taken Mary's advice and played that Jimmy Soul song. Miguel had laughed. "I don't care if she's ugly."

"I don't think she's ugly," Tim had explained. "But she doesn't fit most modern definitions of beautiful either."

"Look, man, she makes you happy. Who cares what she looks like?"

"She'll know if you're lying, so don't."

"I thought you said she wouldn't scan me."

"She's going to try hard not to read you. But if you're lying, she'll be able to tell. You're not going to get her upset just to have an opinion. Just don't lie about it."

Miguel slapped him on the back. "Come on, I know how to talk to women. Don't sweat it, okay?"

Don't sweat it. Right. What would he do if his best friend and the love of his life couldn't get along? It was too late now to do anymore coaching and it would probably upset her if he thought about it any further, so he banished the thought. He glanced at his fiancée to see if she was ready. She nodded and smiled.

Tim motioned Miguel into the room and cleared his throat. "Mary Watkins, this is Miguel Ortiz."

She smiled. "So you're the one with the beautiful cousins all after my Tim."

"Uh, yeah. That's me." Miguel figured out it was a joke and let his easy-going nature take over. "Hey, is it true you set him up with Natasha Nightshade?"

She laughed. "Yes. We both work at the same publisher. They put up the money, but she could have bid one someone else if she wanted. I begged her to bid on Tim so that sub captain wouldn't get him."

Miguel looked like he didn't remember, so Tim muttered, "Dreyfus," under his breath.

He gave a nod of recognition along with a wince. "You did him a big favor then. Dreyfus tried to recruit me while they were building the second seaQuest. Like her Navis-class would have been any kind of match." The last phrase he said with heavy sarcasm.

"Miguel's our sensor chief," Tim explained. He used his voice so his friend wouldn't think they were saying anything bad about him in mindlink. "And Navis subs have only two WSKRS. It would be a total waste of talent." He didn't mention how closely-matched the Communications positions would have been. They both knew it would have been hard to refuse Captain Dreyfus if she'd won him at that auction.

"So when are you two getting hitched?"

Tim forced a cough. "When I find a Best Man who isn't so obnoxious."

"It's okay, Tim," Mary said. "He probably assumes it's you holding us up." She looked back at Miguel. "I'm making him wait to prove that his career on seaQuest wouldn't be threatened by our relationship."

"You don't mind him being on tour?"

"Not really, no. He can call me whenever he's not on duty and I'm usually such a hermit that his leaves will be a drag. He needs to go on tour to get out and see the world."

"You know seaQuest is a submarine, right?" Miguel didn't really think she didn't know, but it was rather ironic that Mary thought his life would be more exciting in a tin can underwater than somewhere on land.

Mary answered, "No way. When did the Navy get one of those?"

Everyone laughed at her joke.

"Sheesh, Tim," Miguel said, "I see why you keep her holed up in that cabin in the woods. You let the rest of the world find out about her and she'd get snapped up by some other guy in a heartbeat."

"Hands off. She's mine," Tim said, a little more defensively than he'd intended. He knew Miguel was kidding and he trusted his fiancée to be true, but the suggestion had brought a flash of jealousy he hadn't expected. She squeezed his hand in reassurance and he relaxed.

"He doesn't keep me holed up. I do. I'm agoraphobic and really bad with people."

"I'm 'people' and you're not bad with me."

Tim rolled his eyes. "You're not 'people', Miguel. You're like a sponge or something."

"Oh, Sweety, don't be so hard on him. He's at least a mollusk." She grinned. Tim couldn't remember her ever being so casual with anyone else.

"Ha ha," the sensor chief said. He punched Tim in the arm. "Why didn't you tell me she was so funny? I just thought you were laughing all the time because you're such a moron, but she's actually funny."

"Yeah, well, I tried to tell you I wasn't a moron, but mollusks don't have very good hearing."

"My hearing is great. I just always have on headphones."

"Yeah, listening to mollusks," Tim joked.

"Mollusks don't make noise," Mary whispered to Tim, but loudly enough to be overheard.

"Funny and smart," Miguel said.

They went back and forth like this for the whole thirty minutes and probably would have gone on even longer, but Lucas knocked on the door.

"Okay, Mollusk Whisperer, your time is up."

Miguel stood and did a very Asian-looking bow. "Nice to meet you. I lost the bet that you were a figment of Tim's imagination."

"Nice meeting you too, Miguel," she said.

Miguel and Lucas passed in the doorway with nods and high-fives.

"Mary Watkins, please meet Lucas Wolenczak," Tim said after the door was closed.

Lucas started to extend his hand but remembered belatedly that Tim had advised against it. He retracted it before she needed to explain or refuse the courtesy.

"How are you, Lucas?"

"I'm great, thanks to you."

Tim wasn't sure which time he was talking about. Mary had been instrumental in getting his jellyfish-stung eyelids treated so he didn't go blind, but that had been several months ago and she'd done an awful lot of support on the Juno rescue as well.

She scoffed. "I didn't do anything. It was all the guys who went in undercover that were the real heroes."

"Yeah, but you kept us in touch with seaQuest. That was so cool when you helped me talk to Captain Bridger by touching Tim. Hey, have you ever tried to mindlink with a dolphin?"

Anyone else probably would have thought Lucas had planned to take over the conversation that way, but Tim knew him well enough to realize it just popped into his head and he went with it because he found it interesting.

"No, I can't really say I have," Mary replied.

"You should come talk to Darwin. Tim has connected with him before, but he had to answer in weird dreams. Maybe you could understand his brainwaves better."

She shrugged. "Wendy told me she tried once and all she got was some strange Kelvin temperature of light. I didn't even know light had a temperature."

"But you're stronger than Dr. Smith, right?"

"I have a greater range of abilities and some of my talents might be a little stronger than hers, but she's had a lot more training. She has better control."

"I still think you'd have a better chance at real communication with a dolphin. It can't be any worse than meeting a human. Have you ever felt deluged with dolphin emotions when you get close to the water?"

"You may have a point there, Lucas, but…" She trailed off.

"To get close to Darwin, she'd have to be exposed to a bunch of humans too," Tim explained.

"Not if I sent him to the surface and you met him in a rowboat."

Tim coughed. "I nearly drowned her the last time I got her in a boat."

"Oh, come on. You were Kendall's first mate on skyQuest. You know how to sail."

He laughed. "I also know how to capsize, don't I, Mary?"

Mary turned to Lucas. "He was just making his marriage proposal memorable. I'll think about talking to Darwin, okay, Lucas? I'm trying to give all of Tim's friends their due first."

"Darwin is Tim's friend. Before he met you, he talked to Darwin more than anyone else."

"Thanks, Lucas," Tim muttered. It wasn't that Lucas had any new dirt on Tim that Mary didn't know. She knew practically everything because she'd been in his head so much. Still, it was an embarrassing point to voice right in front of her.

She leaned toward Lucas without getting close enough to touch. She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper: "Before I met Tim, I talked to inanimate objects."

"Oh," Lucas said, "I didn't mean it in a bad way. I talk to Darwin more than humans too."

"So how was your date from the auction?" Mary asked, effectively changing the subject.

"It was pretty good, actually. Teika's a robotic engineer and she knew a great sushi place. She even gave me her number."

"Oooo," Tim said with a teasing inflection, but it wasn't nearly the razz he used to dish out before he got engaged. But back then, he got his fair share in return. Now he was immune and he tried to be sensitive to anyone in that horrible single situation.

Lucas looked down at his watch. "Hey, sorry, but I gotta split. I promised Hitchcock I'd do some work on Project Calypso today."

"Thanks for coming, Lucas," Mary said.

"No problem. Lemme know if you want to meet Darwin."

"I'll do that. See you in email."

Lucas bolted out, no doubt itching to play with that fancy computer design interface. He'd either assumed mentioning it was classified and Mary not cleared, or he'd been embarrassed about his rather odd proclivity for computers.

When the door shut, he turned to Mary. "Well, you up for going out to lunch with me?" Turning down lunch with three strangers and Wendy was a lot different than just him.

She winked. "Eating lunch with you is great, but let's forget the 'out' part and order room service back at the hotel."

"You're on."