"He's good with kids, isn't he?" asked Jonathan coming up behind Katie.
"Yeah, he'd make a good father," she answered sadly watching Ben playing with a group of the children they had rescued.
"He'll get his chance one day." Jonathan reached down to grasp Katie's hand tracing the back of it lightly with his fingers.
"It will never replace the chance I took away." He drew her back until she was leaning against him.
"The past is in the past. You were both young. He does not hold your decision against you."
"Maybe he should," she replied pulling away. She opened her mouth to say something else but changed her mind and left instead. Ford sighed, staring at her back as she walked away.
"Ah, Katie," he said softly. He watched as the man who was once his rival for Katie's love picked up another child. Ben Krieg was smiling and laughing. Jonathan had never seen him look so happy and content. For as long as Ford had known Krieg, there had been shadows in Krieg's eyes courtesy of hard decisions made too early in life.
[Scene Change]
He tried to stay hidden in the shadows but the laughter was magnetic. He moved closer feeling drawn to the sound and wanting a closer look at what was causing it. The children were playing games. His only previous experience with playing games was chess. This did not look anything like chess. The children, ranging from four years old to his age, were sneaking up on the Lieutenant. Suddenly he would spin around and all of the children would run squealing. Those he caught he'd spin them around until they ran out of air from giggling. The Lieutenant caught sight of him and stood shedding children like raindrops.
"Would you like to play?" he asked smiling invitingly.
Lucas almost nodded yes but he caught himself. 'No running.' That is what Dr. Westphalen had told him before she would let him leave his hospital room. He gave the children a longing look but obediently nodded his head, no.
"Come on," said the Lieutenant grabbing one of his hands. "I promise you'll have fun," he said tugging at the boy's hand to try and entice him into the game. Lucas shook his head again but the man still had his hand. 'No running.' Lucas began pulling at his hand, frantically shaking his head. His eyes were wide with fright and he began panting. "Hey, it's ok," said the Lieutenant releasing the boy's hand. "You don't have to play if you don't want to play. Here, why don't you sit down." He pushed the boy gently until he was sitting on the edge of the moonpool. "Stay here a minute."
"Nalanna, would you like to be the bear for a little while?"
"Can I?" asked the raven haired ten year old.
"Certainly, just don't try to pick the other kids up like I was doing."
"OK," she answered smiling proudly. The Lieutenant walked back over to where Lucas was sitting and kneeled in front of him.
"Hi," he began. " My name is Benjamin Krieg. You can call me Ben." He held out his hand towards Lucas who stared at it uncertainly.
"Hi, Ben. My name is Lucas," said Ben in a high squeaky voice. Lucas let out a shaky laugh and grinned. He reached out his hand and shook Ben's hand.
"I have a game I think you might like." Ben reached over and rang a bell. Lucas jumped at the sudden sound but Ben pretended not to notice. A few minutes later, a sleek, gray form surfaced out of the water. The boy stared in wide-eyed amazement. He had seen dolphins in the ocean once or twice but he had never been this close to one. It was beautiful. He could barely resist the urge to reach out and touch it. The dolphin began chattering away pushing tiny waves of water in their direction. "His name is Darwin. He lives here. Would you like to pet him?"
Lucas nodded eagerly. He slowly stretched out his hand and touched the tip of his finger to the wet skin. He pulled his hand back and stared at it a moment before returning it to his side.
"Is that all you're going to do?" teased Ben. "That's not how you pet a dolphin. See, like this." Lucas moved forward hesitantly afraid that Ben might change his mind and order him back. Gingerly, he petted the dolphin trying to copy Ben's movements. The dolphin's skin was softer than it looked but firm too. It was so smooth and slick. It felt like nothing he had ever touched before. Lucas was enchanted. His face was glowing and there was a soft, innocent smile on his face. All too soon, the dolphin was pulling away chattering at them again.
"I think Darwin wants to play. What do you think should we play with him?" Lucas nodded again. "Here you go," said Ben handing Lucas a ball. "Throw this at him and he'll hit it back to you. Then you catch it and throw it again." Lucas awkwardly lifted the ball and tossed it in front of him. Darwin surfaced under the ball and nosed it back to Lucas splashing him in the process. Lucas swallowed the face full of water, coughed, and threw the ball back. The game continued for several more minutes before Dr. Westphalen came to find Lucas.
"My goodness child!" she exclaimed. "You're soaked." He smiled at her and nodded pointing to Darwin. "It's time for your nap. Why don't you go change into some dry clothes?"
"Goodbye, kiddo," said Ben giving Lucas a hug. Lucas stood still for a few moments then very carefully moved to put his arms around Ben. He quickly dropped his arms and stepped back. He moved to leave the room but Darwin interrupted him. Balancing on his tail, Darwin moved back in the water chattering at Lucas. Lucas smiled and gave him a wave then left.
"Lieutenant, I'm impressed. Thirty minutes with you and that dolphin and you have him giving hugs and initiating non-verbal conversation. That's better than any of the rest of us could you. Yes, sir, I'm truly impressed."
"Thank you, ma'am but I didn't do anything other than introduce him to Darwin."
"Thank you, Darwin," she said to which he replied with a flip.
[Scene Change]
"Katie, you can't shut me out."
"Jonathan! There's nothing to talk about!" She slammed her book in the table.
"Then why are you trying to break my furniture?" he asked with a slight smile.
"Fine, I'll leave." She began to get up but he stopped her pushing her gently back into the chair.
"No, you won't. You are going to sit there until you start talking. We are not going another night with this hanging over our heads."
"What do you want me to say?" she demanded. "I ruined my best friend's life."
"Katie, darling, you can't keep beating yourself up over something that happened ten years ago. You made a mistake. They happen."
"There wasn't anything else for us to do. Ben had already committed to the Navy and I was planning on committing when I was eligible. I wasn't ready to raise a baby by myself and I did not want to give up on my dreams. Ben wanted to keep her. He tried his best to get out of the commitment but they would not let him go. What choice did we have but to give her up for adoption?"
"None at all," he reassured her gently. "You made the right decision."
"But you just said it was a mistake?"
"The pregnancy. It was a mistake to get pregnant. You and Ben were just kids yourself."
"Don't you say that! Don't you ever say that!" she growled grabbing his sleeve in her first. "I will never ever regret bringing her into this world. The happiest day of my life was the day I gave birth to her."
"Katie, honey, if you're happy about having your daughter and you understand that you made the right choice by giving her up, why are you still torturing yourself over this?"
"How can I forgive myself after what I did to Ben? How can I forgive myself knowing that I let my baby be taken away to give to someone else? You know?" she continued. "We've talked about how horrible Lucas's mom was to not want him. We kept saying how terrible she is for getting rid of him like that. How am I any different from her? Didn't I do the same thing?"
"No! You are nothing like Lucas's mother. She SOLD him from money. She did not love him. You gave away your baby because you loved her and because you could not take care of her. There is a big difference between selling someone into slavery and giving them up for adoption to another loving family."
"I don't know," she said leaning her head on his chest. "I just don't know anything anymore."
"I think you need to talk to Ben," he said kissing her on the top of her head. He reached down and smoothed away her tears. "You two have a lot of things you need to work out together."
"You think so?"
"Yes."
"OK, I'll try and talk to him tomorrow."
[Scene Change]
You said you wanted to be an elementary school teacher.
We have almost a hundred school aged children on the boat
right now. Why don't you teach them? Just a suggestion. Also
could you meet me for dinner? We need to discuss what
happened that night in the bar.
Jim
Lonnie stared at the note thinking about her options. She just wanted to forget that that whole night had ever happened. That was not likely to happen now. She was surprised that the whole ship did not know about it. That would be just what she needed. She was already mortified enough. She just had to be stupid and get drunk. And her oh-so-handsome superior officer, that she had a crush on, just had to show up there too. And she just had to go and do something even stupider like kiss him. She shook her head in disgust. Well, she had to face him sooner or later. It might as well be tonight.
"Hi," he said as he opened his door to find her standing there.
"Hey," she said softly. "I, um, I was on my way to dinner. Would you like to join me?" she asked shyly.
"Sure, just let me get my ID." He went back into his room and came right back out again. Neither said anything as they stood in line and picked up their meal. Through silent agreement, they both chose a solitary bench in the corner. The meal passed quietly scattered lightly with polite small talk.
"So."
"So," he echoed looking down at the table. "I meant what I said in the note," he started. "A lot of these kids have been neglected by way of education. If you could find some way to test them so their next teachers know where they stand, you could really help them out. Lieutenant Krieg is my roommate. He's been going down almost every day and playing with the children. Maybe you could go down with them and show them some educational games to help them learn."
"I don't know."
"I think you would be good at it," he said honestly.
"Thank you," she said smiling. "Look, about that night. I'm really sorry. My behavior was horrible. Even being drunk, I have no excuse for what I did."
"It's OK. You don't have to apologize. Lots of people do things that they regret when they are inebriated."
"Then why did you mention it in the note?"
"Lonnie, I'm your superior officer and more importantly your instructor. We need to make sure that any lingering embarrassment or awkwardness is taken care of before we go out in the fighters again. We have to make sure this thing isn't going to be an issue between us."
"Jim, I'm not a petty school girl who's going to pout because she was turned down. I understand that what I did was wrong. I know why we can not participate in activities like that. I would in no way want to jeopardize our careers or our fledgling friendship."
"Good, then everything's fine?"
"Yeah, other than a slight case of embarrassment everything's great."
"So. Would you like to wander over to the rec area to see what movie they are showing tonight?"
"Yeah, I'd like that."
[Scene Change]
"Hi, Katie."
"Hi, Ben. Can we talk?"
"Sure. Would you like to come in? Jim's on duty."
"Thanks." She took a seat at his table. "Do you ever wonder what's she's like?" she asked softly tracing patterns on the table.
"Every day. Even more so now that there are so many kids here. The adults stay out of the way or are busy working so you don't notice their addition as much but the children stand out. I see her in every single one of them, even Lucas."
"Lucas, sure is special, isn't he?"
"He's gotten to you. Being around him brings out every motherly instinct you have and that's making you question if you did the right thing."
"Right as always. How do you know me so well?"
"Katie, I love you. We had something special. OK, so as a couple we did not do so great but we were best friends. That friendship is too strong to go away even if we have drifted apart over the years."
"What happened to us?"
"Signing the papers to give away my daughter was the hardest thing I have ever had to do. For a long time, I blamed you for not wanting to keep her. I was hurt and angry and you were the unlucky target. Then by the time I had dealt with it enough to forgive you and myself, our relationship had already changed. I did not want to upset things especially with you and Jonathan by bringing up things that were old news."
"I thought you hated me," she admitted softly. "Even after all this time, I didn't think you would forgive me."
"Katie, I could never hate you."
"I'm glad. I've missed my best friend."
"Me, too," he replied giving her a hug. Sometime later, after they had finished their conversation and Katie had left for the bridge, Ben left his room and wandered down to the moonpool to think. Lucas found him there and went to sit by his feet.
"Hey, Lucas," he said, smiling sadly. Lucas looked up at him questioningly and touched his leg. "I'm OK. I've just had a lot to think about lately. Did Katie ever tell you we used to date?" Lucas shook his head. "Yep, way back in high school. We were best friends so we thought that we would be good as boyfriend and girlfriend. Boy, were we wrong. The very things that made our friendship perfect ruined any other aspect of the relationship.
"We did do one very wonderful thing. We had a baby. Her name was Caitlyn Elizabeth. I loved her the moment I laid eyes on her lying so tiny, and perfect folded in her blankets." Ben wiped at a tear that escaped down his cheek. "I was in the military and Katie was joining soon. We weren't ready to support a baby. I wanted to drop out of the military to raise her but they would not let me. We had to give her up for adoption. The adoptive parents usually opt to have the baby's name changed so I don't even know her name anymore. All I know is that she turned ten on February 11th and she's my daughter and I love her." He sniffled slightly drying his eyes. He ruffled Lucas's hair. "Thanks for listening to me, kid. I'm sorry it wasn't a happier subject. I've got to go to work now so I'll see you around."
Lucas watched as he left pondering the new information. He wished he could help Katie and Ben somehow. He wondered if he could find any information on their daughter for them. Heading back to his room, he booted up his computer. He did a search on the name, Caitlyn Elizabeth, and the birthday; Feburary 11, 2008. Settling in for a lengthy project, he began checking the results.
[Scene Change]
"Yes?" asked Katie opening her door. "Lucas?" He was standing outside her door with his hand raised to knock. Seeing her, he smiled secretively and reached out to take hold of her hand. Pulling on it, he tried to portray that he wanted her to come with him. "OK, Lucas," she answered puzzled. "I'm coming." He led her down to the moonpool where Ben was sitting talking to Darwin.
"Katie! Lucas! What are you doing here?" exclaimed Ben jumping up from his seat.
"I don't know," answered Katie. "Lucas, brought me here." Lucas held up his hand then hurried out of the room.
"I wonder what that was all about?"
"I'm not sure," replied Katie. Lucas returned a minute later carrying something. Grinning proudly, he handed Katie and Ben identical folders. She read the header on the cover page: Caitlyn Elizabeth Crowley; Fort Moore Adoption Agency. "I can't believe it," she cried raising a shaking hand to cover her mouth. "You found her. You found my baby," she said crying.
"Lucas, how can I ever thank you for this?" asked Ben through his tears. Lucas just shook his head telling he that he did not need to thank him. "Look, they have yearly updates on her and pictures. Look at all these pictures. Here she is on her first day of school."
"And her tenth birthday party," said Katie softly. "She's so beautiful."
"She looks like you," replied Ben.
"She has your eyes." Katie smiled down at the pictures of her daughter. "Thank you, Lucas. You don't know what this means to be but how on earth did you find all of thi?."
Lucas pointed to Ben and the name of the agency and shrugged. It was the best he could do to explain that Ben had given him enough information in their talk for Lucas to find the name of the agency. From there, all Lucas had to do was hack into their database and copy the files. Katie threw her arms around Lucas and squeezed him tight. He did his best to give her a hug in return. Now that he was not quite so intimidated, he found that he kind of liked hugs. With that in mind, he moved over and gave Ben one too. He pushed the two of them together and began to leave the room. Glancing over his shoulder, he saw them sitting side by side looking at the pictures of their daughter. He smiled to himself. Neither of them had noticed yet that her home address and e-mail were listed on the last page.