Author's Note: Thanks to everyone for their reviews. Cadi, I know there doesn't seem to be a lot of the original cast at the moment but I'm a sucker for setting the scene properly. Don't worry, they will all be making an appearance soon enough.

Chapter Three

Scarlett didn't realise how tired she had been until Kyle woke her up with the news that a SeaQuest shuttle pod was about to dock with The Wilde. She nodded in acknowledgement before wiping away any trace of sleep from her eyes and smoothing her plain white shirt down. Flicking the switch to close the main viewer, she turned and followed Kyle from the bridge down to the docking area.

She took a few deep breaths before nodding to Kyle, giving the order to open to doors to the shuttle docking area. She couldn't remember ever feeling so nervous, especially over something as trivial as seeing an old boyfriend again. She brushed her hair back from her face and hoped she didn't look as pale and tired as she felt, she also hoped that Captain Bridger wouldn't be able to tell she was pregnant. It was something that he was bound to pick up on straight away and she didn't want the news to overwhelm their first meeting in months. The doors hissed open and SeaQuest personnel began to board The Wilde; Scarlett smiled as she saw Captain Bridger step onto her ship and start walking towards her.

"Scarlett," he smiled, taking her hand. She vaguely recognised the two men flanking him; one was definitely Jonathon Ford, she remembered meeting him at a party once. "It's good to see you properly,"

"You too, Captain; I'm so glad you're here. Feel free to look over the ship, we've done all we can for now so she's all yours," smiled Scarlett, deliberately keeping all of her attention on Bridger and ignoring the tall blonde man who had just stepped into the room.

"I think I will take a quick look around," he said, Commander Ford and the other man followed him as Kyle began a tour of the purpose built submarine.

Scarlett swallowed hard and looked across at Lucas; he was leaning against the sealed docking doors with his eyes locked on her. She felt flushed and embarrassed but she quickly swallowed it back. He walked across to her in silence; she couldn't believe she had forgotten how tall he was, his hair looked even longer than it had done over the vid-screen and he was definitely still gorgeous enough to make her feel weak at the knees.

"How are you?" he asked, looking her over but not in an appraising way. He hadn't seen her in over a month and he couldn't believe how much she had changed in that time; her hair and her clothes and her appearance. She had changed from the army brat that drove him mad into a captain of her own vessel; she had grown into the role of a respected scientist.

"I'm fine," she smiled, noticing his furtive glances. "Lucas, thank you for coming. I don't know what I would've done if you hadn't,"

"I doubt that but you're welcome anyway," he smiled. "I bet you can't wait to get out of here, it must be frustrating knowing you can't do anything,"

"You have no idea. I just hate the fact that I won't get to see the geyser, it could've been the answer to every conservationist's dream,"

"I'm sure Captain Bridger will lend you a shuttle for some recon or something,"

"I know, he's such a kind man but there's so much technology on board here. It just pisses me off that the Foundation could fold so easily," she sighed.

"Well, I'm sure we'll find out what happened soon enough," he said, effectively ending the conversation. Scarlett was glad; she didn't even want to think about what had happened. "I like this whole hippie scientist thing you've got going on, it looks good,"

"Well, thank you," she laughed, holding out her baggy white cheesecloth shirt. "I got this from the market at Zone Five,"

"We had some leave there a while back, it was nice," he said.

They stood opposite each other in silence, both of them avoiding the other's gaze. Scarlett never thought that things could get so awkward between them but she had obviously been wrong. Neither of them could say anything, they knew how much they both hated small talk but neither of them could work up the courage to say what needed to be said. Scarlett looked up at him and smiled, his crystalline blue eyes searching hers as she reached out and stroked his long blonde hair.

"I like it this long," she said softly. "You look like a rock star or something,"

"Why did you run away, Scarlett?" he asked, taking her hand in his. Scarlett looked nervously around; Bridger could walk in on them at any moment. "After I ended it, we were supposed to meet and talk but you never showed up,"

"I know, I'm sorry, I just freaked out. I knew I was going to lose you," she whispered. Lucas looked down at her and brushed a stray curl from her face before leaning in and kissing her tenderly. Scarlett reached her arms up around his neck and pulled him closer, all fears of being discovered flying away as they kissed hungrily over the console. The feeling of familiarity and comfort washed over Lucas, he had missed her so much. He pulled back suddenly, Scarlett was breathless and beautiful.

"I never should've let you go," he said.

"Oh God, Lucas," sighed Scarlett, Lucas frowned at her questioningly. "You can't start saying stuff like that now. I need to talk to you first,"

"When you said you wanted to talk, I figured you felt the same way I did. I thought you wanted to get back together,"

"I do, Lucas but it's not that simple," she sighed. "I'm pregnant,"

He stared at her blankly, she hadn't meant for it to come out so blunt and harsh and stark but there it was. Lucas was silent; he just stood there and looked at her, his eyes flicking from her face to her waist and back again. He reached out a tentative hand and placed it on her stomach, a strange smile slowly growing on his face. It was all Scarlett had needed, Lucas hadn't freaked out or shouted at her or anything, he was smiling.

"Oh my God," he whispered, almost to himself. "Are you… I mean… it is mine?"

"Of course it's yours," Scarlett laughed. "Almost twelve weeks now. I am really sorry about everything I did,"

"I know, I just can't believe this. It's fantastic," he smiled and threw his arms around her. They stood in the middle of the docking bay, hugging each other tightly until Kyle announced their return with a loud cough. Lucas and Scarlett sprang apart before Captain Bridger and Commander Ford walked back into the room.

"Well, Scarlett, I think I agree with your crew. The damage to the engines appears to be deliberate but I think we can sort it out eventually. We'll take you and the crew back to SeaQuest and I'll send some of my engineers across with the necessary tools to fix her," said Bridger. Scarlett ran across the room and grabbed Bridger's hand, shaking it violently.

"Thank you so much, Sir. Thank you," she beamed.

"In the meantime, Mr Morris here as requested the use of the SeaQuest to explore the geyser," announced Bridger, Scarlett looked at Kyle in disbelief but Kyle avoided her glare. "I think that would be fine, shall we go?"

"Thank you again, Sir," said Scarlett. "You have been so good to us,"

"Well, Miss Rice, what kind of explorer would I be if I didn't agree to such a small request? Come on; let's get back to SeaQuest,"

Scarlett looked at Lucas and smiled before opening the docking bay doors and ensuring her entire crew at entered the shuttle before closing the doors behind her and entering it herself. She was on her way to the SeaQuest and on her way to Rachin Plateau; she'd be able to complete her mission after all and having Lucas alongside her was just a bonus. She just hoped that whoever had paid the Foundation to keep her away from the Rachin Plateau had enough sense not to come up against the SeaQuest and her crew.