Jaimee stood in front of the mirror admiring her reflection. She jingled her hair admiring how the curls bounced. Her painted lips looked fuller than normal and she blew herself a kiss. Laughing, she picked up the blue glitter and spread it across her eyelids. Pleased with the finished product, she stepped away from the mirror. Her full-length skirt swished around her ankles as she crossed the room. A knock at the door interrupted her thoughts and she hurried to open the door. Standing on the other side was her date standing handsomely in his dress whites.

"Hey," she said shyly. "My name is Jaimee."

"Wow," said the gentleman looking her over. "My name is Tony."

"Pleased to meet you," she replied stepping out into the hall. "My roommates have already left," she said closing the door.

"Are you excited?" he asked escorting her down the corridor.

"Very." She smiled her cheeks flushed with excitement. "I've never done anything like this before," she said with a wave to indicate her clothes and make-up. "We did not get many chances to have fun."

"Well, you'll have lots of chances now. Have you thought about what you would like to do now that you are free?"

"I want to find my family. I have not seen them since I was fourteen." She smiled sadly. "Maybe the people in New Haven will be able to locate them for me."

"I hope you find them. I know what it's like to be without your family." He looked at her shyly. He was a little uncertain as to how to act because he had never had the opportunity to interact with women very much. They passed other couples in the corridor nodding politely to them in greeting. As they rounded the corner, the music from the Mess Hall became audible.

The Mess Hall was crowded with people spilling out into the corridor. Tony took his date's hand and led her into the room. He spotted Lieutenant Hitchcock sitting in the corner. She was laughing politely at a joke her elderly companion was telling her. He knew that Katie was still suffering from headaches caused by the concussion she received during the last battle. She was prohibited from dancing which was probably why she was paired with the old man. Tony noticed that she kept glancing in Commander Ford's direction. She probably did not like watching him dance with other women. Turning his focus back to his date, he noticed that she was looking longingly towards the dancers.

"May I have this dance?" he asked her with a wobbly bow.

"Certainly," she replied giving him her best curtsey. He pulled her into the crowd and wrapped his arms around her. Swaying to the music, they moved gently with the flow of the crowd.

[Scene Change]

Nathan Bridger nervously straightened his tie one last time. He looked over his reflection appraisingly. His gray hair that often made him feel distinguished now just made him look old. Not for the first time that evening, he regretted giving Lieutenant Krieg permission to organize this dance. Even worse he never should have agreed to being paired up with a date. Either the stars were cross with him that day or he was the victim of some crewman's scheming plot because his date for the night was none other than Dr. Westphalen.

Kristin Westphalen. She was a complicated woman. She was smart and beautiful but ah, did she have a fiery temper. He was very curious about this woman that so many of his crew kept talking about but their first meeting had been more than a little intimidating. Worried for the well being of his boat, he had made a conscious effort to avoid her since she had come aboard. She had been assigned as his doctor after he had been hurt in the last battle. Being her patient was not what he expected it to be. She was gentle but highly professional and very good at her job. They had managed to have several short conversations that did not end in fireworks. Perhaps dancing with her would not seem like such a punishment if things had remained that way between them. Unfortunately, she had been rather curt towards him ever since he had offered her and the young hacker a place here on Seaquest. He did not see why she had a problem with it but her expression warned him that he would find out sometime in the near future when they had an intense discussion on the subject. Finding himself standing in front of her quarters, he swallowed nervously before reaching up knock on the door. He fought the urge to pace knowing that the majority of his nervousness came from the fact that this was his first 'date' since Carol had died.

"Hi," he said as the boy, Lucas, opened the door. Lucas looked him over carefully giving a mental whistle of appreciation at his outfit. He held up his hand signaling five minutes. "Tell her to take all the time that she needs," replied Bridger. Lucas grinned and ducked back into the room.

"Help me with this," said Kristin trying to fasten a necklace around her neck. Lucas moved behind her and took the ends hooking them together. She pulled the diamond-studded chain around until the pendant was centered. "There," she said standing up. "How do I look?"

'Like an angel,' he thought smiling up at her with adoration shining in his eyes. Her scarlet hair was twisted up and pinned to her head leaving a few curled tendrils free to frame her face. She was wearing a gorgeous dress of red crushed velvet. The bodice was tight but modestly cut and the skirt fell loosely about her hips. Long, black silk gloves and glossy black high heels completed the look. Watching her twirl to give him a better view, Lucas did not think he had ever seen anything more beautiful in his entire life. Impulsively, he leaned forward and kissed her on the cheek giving her a light hug.

"Thank you, dear," she said smiling at Lucas. Every show of affection from the boy was a thrilling victory against his past. That this one had come unprompted made it all the more special. He waved at her then slipped out the door motioning to the Captain that he could enter. Bridger smiled at the boy who was retreating down the corridor then slowly pushed the door open. The sight that greeted him left him breathless.

"Madam," he said after a pause to pull himself together. "You look magnificent."

"Thank you. So do you, Captain," she replied smiling radiantly. He held out a hand to her, which she took, then led her out of the room.

[Scene Change]

"I don't understand why we have to do this," grumbled Tim smoothing the wrinkles out of his dress jacket.

"Why are you complaining? It will be fun," replied Miguel pulling on his pants.

"Yeah, a lot of fun," said Tim sarcastically. "I really want to spend the night dancing with some woman I've never met."

"You agreed to it."

"Funny, I seem to recall you volunteering me."

"Come on. I thought the dance would be a really good idea. Most of the former slaves will be departing when we reach New Haven tomorrow. This is a good way to celebrate their last night here."

"But why me?"

Miguel shrugged. "I thought you would like it. It's a chance for us to have some fun and escape the war mentality for a while. Pairing up the crew with passengers of the opposite sex was just the easiest way to insure that everyone had a date."

"I am going to make a fool of myself. I'd much rather just stay here with you."

"What and deprive my date of her dashing dance partner?" Tim could not help smiling at the comment.

"I guess we can't have that." He watched silently as Miguel put the finishing touches on his outfit. Miguel moved silently to stand in front of him. He took the tie out of his hands and slipped it under his collar.

"I'm sorry I volunteered you," he said seriously. "If you don't have fun, we'll come back here and I'll make it up to you," he said as he finished knotting the tie.

"Promise?" asked Tim with a slight smirk.

"Promise." Feeling a bit better about the evening's prospects, Tim smiled as he followed Miguel out the door.

[Scene Change]

"So then my brother turns around to me and yells, 'It's a tack!'" Lonnie laughed at the incredibly lame joke and clung tighter to her date's arm.  The man, Jack Onslow, was incredibly gorgeous but that was about all she could say about him.  He had the personality of a soggy piece of Tofu. Listening to him talk was like having teeth pulled.

"Let's dance," she whispered to him hoping to keep him occupied. Twisting through the crowd, she found an open area near one of the speakers. The music poured out beating through her body. She was sure that it would more than drown out anything he had to say. Closing her eyes, she lost herself within the music. She spun around undulating her body in time to the music. Her annoying partner was left behind in the mundane world while she soared with the notes. The song, or a chain of songs, ended and she stood panting; her face flushed from exertion.

"Thirsty?" shouted Jack over the music. She nodded forgetting the reason she had been so eager to dance in the first place. They moved out of the Mess Hall to an office across the corridor where refreshments had been set up. She plopped down in a chair while he hurried to get her some punch. "You were wonderful out there," he said handing her a glass.

"Thanks," she replied gulping down a significant portion of the punch.

"You know, this reminds me of a time back home," he began headless of her pained expression. Desperate the end the story before he could get started, she did the only thing she could think of to shut him up. She leaned forward and kissed him. He responded eagerly to the kiss wrapping his hands around her head. For a moment she forgot what she was doing but when his hands began to roam down her back and around towards her chest she jerked away.

"I'm sorry," she said gasping. "This is inappropriate." He glanced around the populated room with lust filled eyes.

"My quarters are empty," he said huskily. "Would that be better?"

"No!" she said leaping to her feet. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to lean you on but I'm not interested."

"Just like a woman," he growled angrily then stalked from the room. She stood staring after him shaken by the whole incident.

"Is everything OK?" asked Jim coming up behind her. She spun around her gaze briefly resting on his face before she looked down at the floor.

"Yeah," she said distractedly, staring at the cast on his left wrist.

"You sure?" he asked again concerned.

"Positive. Look. I'm just going to go take a walk," she replied hurrying from the room. Jim frowned but let her go.

"Who was that?" asked his date, Caela Marchenson, handing him a glass of punch.

"A friend," he said after a brief pause to consider the answer.

"Is she all right? She looked kind of upset."

"I'm not sure," he replied hesitantly. "She wouldn't say."

[Scene Change]

Lucas threw the book across the room in frustration. Try as he might, he just could not get his fingers to make the shapes they were supposed to be making. He looked at the list and sighed. It did not really matter if he learned enough sign language to sign these commands. He wanted to be able to talk to Darwin and ordering him to jump was not talking. 'There must be another way,' he thought to himself. He could not explain why he wanted to talk to the dolphin so bad but he did. Maybe he just recognized the look in Darwin's eyes as he chattered incomprehensibly. It was the same look that he saw every morning when he looked in the mirror.

"Beya moot ith nofah," he said groaning at how horrible he sounded. He wrapped his arms around his knees and buried his face in his arms. No matter how hard he tried, he could not make his tongue work any better at talking than his fingers did at sign language. 'I will not cry. I will not cry," he chanted mentally as a lump rose in his throat. He felt a nudge at his leg and looked down at Darwin. The dolphin bobbed his head and chattered encouragingly at him. He smiled sadly as he reached down to rub Darwin's head. 'No,' he thought as a few stray tears fell. 'Being mute is no fun but at least I'm not alone.'

"Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realize anyone was in here," came a voice from behind him. He spun around wiping furiously at his face. The woman behind him was an officer on Seaquest. Though the short blue dress she was wearing did not give away any hints to her identity. Lucas vaguely recalled being introduced to her by Katie. "Hi, I'm Lonnie," she said holding out a hand.

He reached out and shook her hand watching her silently. She looked back at him waiting for him to volunteer his name. An uncomfortable moment of silence passed before she remembered where she had seen him.

"Oh!" she said embarrassed. "You're Lucas, aren't you?" He nodded. "Ah," she said wondering what else there was to say to someone who could not talk. "I just came down here to listen to some music and get away from the crowd upstairs. Do you mind if I put something on?" He did not know what she was talking about but he nodded yes anyway.  She crossed the room setting her CD player on a table. Plugging it in, she pressed play.

Lucas flinched staring at the small box from which noise was emitting. He had never heard anything like it in his life. Wide-eyed he moved closer wincing as the sound grew louder. He picked up one of the round reflective disks and examined it.

"Don't like it?" asked Lonnie. He stared at her as though she had grown horns. "Metal's not for everyone," she said with a shrug. "I just thought maybe you'd be into that kind of music because you're young."  He looked at her puzzled. She watched him for a moment. "You don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about, do you?" she asked slowly. He shook his head.

"Is there any kind of music that you do like?" He shrugged still confused. She looked at him pondering before a thought occurred to her. "Have you ever heard music before?" Again he shook his head.

"Poor thing," she murmured. "Music is like life. Music can make you soar above the clouds like a bird. Music can be like an angry mob. Music is a rhythmic beat that pulses in your soul. Music is a note so sweet that it makes you cry. Close your eyes," she commanded softly. She switched the CD with one containing classical music. "Listen."

Soft tendrils of sound teased at his ears. He listened carefully to the sweet melody of a flute smiling softly as other instruments joined the flute. The fabric woven by these sounds was so beautiful. He felt like they were wrapping around him and carrying him away. His eyes opened slowly as the last notes died away. She looked at his eyes wide with wonder and laughed.

"I thought you'd like that. Would you like to try something a little more…. wild next?" she asked. He nodded eager for more music. "OK, this is going to be a lot different. There are going to be words. They're like poetry that goes along with the music." She changed the CD then selected the song she wanted to hear. He sat back to listen as she pressed play.

This music was nothing like the previous music. It was louder and faster. There was something in this music that clung to him. A throbbing in his veins. It was a heady feeling, listening to this music. He was so caught up in the beginning notes that he almost missed it when the man began to sing. 'You know the day destroys the night; Night divides the day.' The second the words began to pour forth, Lucas knew he was in love. In that moment, he filled a hole in his life that until that second he had not realized existed.  He had gone fourteen years without music without ever knowing what he was missing but now that he knew he would never been complete without it. 'Try to run; Try to hide; Break on through to the other side.' The pure emotions in the lyrics touched him. The anger and the frustration behind the words were palpable. Here was a man pouring his soul into these words. As the song died away, Lonnie stopped the CD.

"Did you like it?" He nodded frantically wanting to cry all over again at being unable to express how much he liked it. Lonnie read some of his thoughts as they were flickering across his face. "Jim Morrison has that effect on a lot of people," she said with a brief smile. "The Doors have been disbanded for over forty-five years and their music is still loved."

Lonnie continued playing music for him. She made sure to put on a variety of styles for him to listen to. He liked the rock and blues music the best but still preferred the first group to the subsequent ones. She had been through most of her collection sampling songs off of each CD when he first noticed the LED display on her CD player. The lights on the display raced in time with the music. He realized that the display was somehow reading the frequency or base of the music.

The idea of the display nagged at him and he frowned. He looked back at Darwin remembering his earlier thought. 'There must be another way.' He knew that dolphins communicated using sound. He wondered if he could make a display that showed the patterns in their speech. OK, so he would be able to see Darwin's speech. Then what? Patterns! He could match the patterns to words the way the display matched the lights to parts of the song. His mind flew a mile a minute thinking of ways that he could find patterns. Lonnie and the music forgotten for the moment, he hurried out of the room. He was eager to get to his computer and start looking up texts to see if his idea had any scientific basis.

"What was that all about?" asked Lonnie staring at the door Lucas had just exited. Darwin chattered back to her. He did not know either. Shrugging, she began picking up her music collection. Making a mental note to make copies of her Doors CD's, she also left the room.

[Scene Change]

"So why'd you come to America?" asked Bridger after learning that Kristin was originally from England.

"Well," she said taking a sip of her coffee. "I wanted to be a doctor and some of the best medical schools in the country were making me very nice offers. I originally planned to go back to England after I graduated but then I got married and had kids. By the time they were grown up, I had already found my calling here."

"Where are they now?" They were sitting at the table in his quarters having a nice cup of coffee to end a lovely evening.

"My oldest, Cynthia, rebelled by moving away as soon as she was old enough to move out. She keeps in contact with her father's family so I know that she's OK but other than that I'm not sure where she's at or what she's doing." She sighed sadly. "I guess I smothered her too much while she was growing up."

"We all make mistakes," he said softly.

"My youngest daughter, Amy, was killed in a car accident with her father when Cynthia was only ten. I was so afraid of losing her too that I just did not know how to give her the freedom she needed. And so I lost both of my babies." She reached up and wiped away a tear. Kristin laughed, sniffling. "I don't know why I am telling you all of this. I'm sorry to be such a bore."

"No, don't apologize. I understand. I've lost a wife and a son, my self."

"I'm sorry."

"Don't be. We all make mistakes," he repeated staring off into space.

"So why the military?"

"My father was career military and I was raised in a very patriotic family. There was never any question as to what I would do when I grew up."

"Did you ever regret your decision?"

"I regret some of the consequences of my decision but I am proud to serve my country. I am proud that I am part of the men who keep her safe."

"Working on Seaquest has certainly been one of the most unique jobs I've ever had."

"You're welcome to make the position a permanent one."  Briefly her face-hardened and she looked like she was going to say something but changed her mind.

"Can we discuss this at some other time? I've had such a lovely evening and I don't want to ruin it."

"Of course," he replied. "I'm sorry I brought it up." Setting his empty cup on the table, he stood stretching lightly. Nathan placed a CD in his stereo and soft, slow music filled the room. "Would you like to dance?" he asked her.

"Yes," she breathed softly, kicking off her shoes. Grasping her hand and placing a hand on her waist, he held her close to him. Content with just enjoying each other's company, they danced on into the night.

[Scene Change]

"I had a great time tonight," she said as they stopped in front of her door.

"So did I, Jaimee." Tony leaned forward kissing her gently. She sighed softly as they separated.

"If I wasn't leaving tomorrow, I'd invite you in," she said sliding her hand down his shirt.

"I, uh, well, um," flustered he could not think of a response. She laughed causing him to turn bright red.

"You're a sweetheart, Tony Piccolo," she said giving him a light kiss on the cheek. "Thank you for the wonderful evening," she continued more seriously.

"You're welcome and thank you, too." She kissed him one last time before sliding regretfully into her room. Closing her door, she slid down to the floor with a sigh. When he stopped being so flustered around women, that man was going to be a heartbreaker.

Tony stared at her door with a slight grin on his face. He still did not have a clue how to act around women but one thing was certain. He was really looking forward to getting more practice. Whistling, he turned around and headed off to find his bed.

[Scene Change]

"So did you have fun?" asked Miguel as he pulled off his shoes.

"It was OK," answered Tim refusing to admit that he had enjoyed himself.

"OK?" repeated Miguel with a smirk. "Is that why you were smiling and laughing the whole evening?"

"You were watching me?"

"Always." Tim looked up to meet his eyes. He smiled then hung his dress jacket up in the closet.

"All right, I'll admit it. I had fun."

"Told you," gloated Miguel removing his tie and unbuttoning the first two buttons of his collar.

"It still could have been better."

"Really?"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I'll just have to fix that," replied Miguel moving to put his arms around Tim. He pressed the button on their remote and the smooth sounds of jazz filled the room. "How's this?"

"Much better," murmured Tim. Like Kristin and the Captain and other pairings all over the ship, they moved together, dancing until dawn.

AN: Thanks to Joxer for the Darwin idea. I had been weighing other options but yours was the one that made it onto paper. The idea behind Lucas's brainstorming is based on an explaination of how he made the vocorder that I read in a fic once. I hope the original owner does not mind me using it.