It's hard to believe how much time has past since I last touched this... or wrote it in the first place. FF.N has changed so much I hardly recognize the back end anymore, but I have to say it's nice to see the formatting is back. I still wish we could use colour or re-size the text within the document, but, I guess that's not in the cards at the moment. As you can see the formatting is getting a facelift, and, as I see them I will be correctly errors in spelling and the such. If I happen to find something clumsy I will improve it for detail, flow and to better the plot. You won't see anything lost, and where I do make big changes I will be sure to let you know... and even include the changed scene as an extra feature at the bottom. Kinda like buying a DVD with special features, lol... KLC 2009

PROLOG:
Can Anyone Spell Confused

July 17th, 2033
6:45
seaQuest DSV

Lucas Wolenczak looked forward to his next shift. There were not many shifts he got to share with Freddie, and this was one of them. Granted, they would not be in the same sub as he would be in a Stinger, and she in a Specter. But the fact that they could work together at all was enough to put a certain dance in his step as he made his way to the launch bay.

He stopped by the medbay first to check in on his best friend, and allowed a shadow to pass over his features. Stepping through the door, he was surprised to hear Fredericks voice, "I really like him," she said.

Nathan Bridger answered, "Why tell me? Have you told him that?"

"I have, and I think he likes me too," she sighed then. "It's so much to get used to, you know. I'm not used to showing my emotions. Captain Hudson's ship was a very tight ship..."

"Now there is an example," Bridger responded. "Of appearances being very deceiving. I got this card from them today." Rustling of papers could be heard, and he could hear a gasp of surprise from Fredericks, and Bridger read the inside of the card,

Dear Uncle Nathan,

Thank you so much for being there throughout my life, and for being a wonderful friend when I served on seaQuest. Liv and I are so relieved to hear that you are recovering from Lukahn's Syndrome. The research that Dr. Westphalen and I did will save so many lives now.

But that is not the reason I am writing you. Oliver and I decided that it was time to finalize our love for one another. We did not wait to notify anyone because... Well, Liv does have a history of cold feet. So I am writing you from our honeymoon. I'm sorry you could not be there, it was a snap decision, as legal as it is now. I am still Dr Wendy Smith professionally, but I am now also Mrs. Oliver Hudson.

Although, as I know you are somewhat traditional in taste, you will not be happy to know that, while I am married now, I was pregnant before. Yes, the baby is Oliver's, Uncle Nathan. I hope this makes you happy that at least the child will be born in wedlock... (Oliver is asking you to spare his kneecaps).

My mother will probably call you about a baby shower. She was ecstatic to find out that she would be a 'young' grandmother. She looks forward to joining you as a grandparent.

Yours with much love

Wendy Smith-Hudson

"Oliver Hudson? A daddy?" came Fredericks stunned reply to the letter, and she began to laugh. "I'm sorry. I just had a sudden mental picture of him changing diapers. It really just doesn't compute, as happy as I am for them. Wow, he finally got married."

Lucas walked in then and added, "I can imagine Wendy as a mother, though, that fits her."

Nathan Bridger looked up from the bed and put the card back into the envelope and put in the bedside drawer. "I would have liked to have been at my niece's wedding... If only to see Oliver Hudson get married."

Fredericks looked over to the clock and breathed in sharply, "Damn it. If I don't get going soon, I'll be late for my shift. See you this afternoon, Lucas."

Lucas gave her a short kiss on the cheek and then watched her as she left with a smile on his face. Turning back to Nathan he said, "Those ten years were worth it if I got to meet her..."

Bridger laughed and then leaned back into his pillows. Lucas watched him with a certain feeling of gratefulness that he could still do that. In the past months the Lukahn's Syndrome had nearly killed him, but he was making a long hard climb back into health again. "Again I'm here for the new crew, and the new tour. I never thought I would see four tours, let alone one..." he went silent, and Lucas knew what he was going to say next. "Then again, I never thought I would live to see the end of the last."

Sitting down in the chair that Freddie had vacated, Lucas showed Bridger his next project, one he hoped the man could help him with. It wasn't really Lucas's area anyway, it was his. But while he convalesced Lucas was filling in for him. That was another thing Lucas never thought would happen. Ever. Whether he was alive or dead, and Lucas grinned. Before Robert filling in would have meant command.

Now, since Dr. Nathan Bridger could not fill his role as the Chief of Science, Lucas had to. It was a strange, yet complete feeling. Most of the crew saw Lucas as Bridger's protege anyway, and they always had from the very beginning. Now he truly was, and the role suited him. Lucas found himself actually working with Bridger more, and learning another area of expertise.

Papers, both of their handheld computers, and their laptops, were all over Bridger's bed, and they were both deep into the discussions that usually surrounded the geology lab that Bridger had managed to wheedle out of the UEO budget. Lucas had been in many labs, but for some reason the geology lab, otherwise known as Nathan Bridger's office, was the one he felt most comfortable in besides the cramped computer lab he made himself.

Finally Bridger sighed and Lucas began to clean up his part of the mess, as well as put Bridger's sticky notes back where they had been stuck to. Shutting down the laptops, and handing the handheld back to Bridger, as he liked to have it with him where ever he was, Lucas said, "You look beat. But we made headway on that ridge."

"I look as tired as I feel, Lucas," answered Bridger, and he must have been to have had admitted it. "But I feel up to a hot chocolate first. For a proper one I need a favor."

"Sure, name it," said Lucas.

"Go to the galley and get me about a mugful of milk. Not too full, just enough to make a proper mug. Bring me the mug and the milk," ordered Bridger, and he winked. "Kristin stashes the rest of what I need in here. She is going to kill me for stealing it on her, though..."

Lucas grinned and walked briskly to the galley, making sure he did not run into said Dr. Kristin Westphalen, the current Chief Medical Officer. And, he grinned wider in happiness, Cap, agh, no, he was retired now! Doctor Nathan's girlfriend. Captain Bridger, the current one, was Nathan's son, Robert. He shook his head, still grinning, and walked into the galley and went straight to the line up, grabbed the mug, and a half-liter carton of white milk, waved to the cook, and promptly left the galley.

He walked back to the medbay and peeked around the corner to make sure the coast was clear. Seeing Bridger's thumbs up he entered and gave the milk and mug to him. Bridger pushed it back into his hands. "As much as I'd like to, I think I'd better not break too many of her orders, eh?" he pointed out, and Lucas grinned, knowing that he'd been suckered.

Lucas knew how to make a hot chocolate using milk instead of hot water. He could see why Nathan liked it that way, it made the powdered chocolate more like, well, a real hot chocolate. Lucas filled the mug about three quarters full of milk and then used the microwave to heat it up. Nathan pointed him in the direction of where Kristin hid her hot chocolate and Lucas grabbed a package and emptied it into the cup and stirred until the powder was dissolved.

He brought the cup over to Nathan where he tasted it and added more cold milk to bring it down to a temperature he could drink. Lucas sat beside him after cleaning up the evidence. By that time Nathan was halfway finished the mug of chocolate. Then Bridger cocked his head to one side and closed his eyes. They flew open again and he said, "Make yourself scarce. She's coming."

Lucas stood and grabbed the laptops and his hand-held. Bridger pointed him to go through the other door. He grinned again. Nathan was so dead.

Nathan, for his part, tried to finish his hot chocolate as fast as he could. He wouldn't have it once she got here. God help him, he loved her, and he knew she was just looking out for him. But did everything she brought him have to be so healthy all the time? He set the empty mug on the bed stand beside him and settled down into a laying position, and promptly yawned.

She was probably bringing him his breakfast and he was going to fall back to sleep. Not that it mattered any, Lieutenant JJ Fredericks had brought him breakfast when she woke him this morning. But he would like to be awake when she came to see him. Kristin walked in and dropped a bunch of file folders on her desk. After she had made sure they weren't going to fall over, she said, "Can you wait five minutes for breakfast?"

"Well, I could have, if someone hadn't beaten you to it," he said, settling into the blankets more.

"Lucas?"

"No, his girlfriend, Lieutenant Fredericks," answered Nathan, and then he yawned. "Nice girl, her. They make a great couple."

Kristin nodded her agreement, and grinned, "Nathan, you're falling asleep."

"So I am," he agreed, and then yawned again. "What the Hell is it about medbays that make a person so damn drowsy?"

"Atmosphere, Nate," she answered. "Have a good nap. When you wake up..."

She stopped speaking because he had already fallen asleep on her. She walked over and patted him on the leg. Looking over at the empty mug she picked it up and cursed. He would steal from her stash of hot chocolate. Probably used milk instead of water too. While that was a really good way to drink it, it added too many calories. She pulled the blankets up over his shoulders and turned out the ceiling lights and pulled the curtain so that her desk light would not disturb him. Right now, with how weak he was, he could sleep until lunch, or maybe past it. She remembered the first few days where he was only awake for maybe two minutes a day, then he slowly made his climb to recovery. If he woke himself for lunch, she would release him, but only for no duty. If he didn't she would hold him longer.

Kristin sat down at her desk, the mug off to the side of the sink full of hot water.

Captain Robert Eric Bridger sat up in his bed and stretched. He was to have the seaQuest DSV back in Pearl Harbor today for a brief shore leave, and the refit that would prepare her for her next tour. Of course, that was not on his shift. As luck would have it, it was during his executive officer's shift.

Robert lay down in his bunk with a wide grin on his face. He could imagine the shocked look on Oliver Hudson's face when the Avenger DSV arrived hours before they did. He wished he could be there. Then again, he could always ask the captain of the Avenger to make sure he got a picture. He wondered how the newly captained Jonathan Ford was doing. Then he shook his head. Of course he would be fine. Why else would he have got the Avenger?

No, the best would be when his new executive officer stepped off the seaQuest. Hell, he still remembered the look on everyone's face when Benjamin Krieg had, finally, been promoted that far. According to his father Nathan, "They shouldn't be surprised if they read that report, Bobby. Before I would have been surprised. Now I am not. Now I say its about time."

He called up to the bridge, and his third in command, Lieutenant Commander Tim O'Niell answered, "Is there a problem, sir?"

"No, Commander. What is our ETA to Pearl?"

"On schedule, Captain. We will be in Pearl at 13 hundred," was his answer. "Is the Captain going to be on the bridge then?"

"No, Tim. I am not, I'll be in the medbay finishing lunch with my Dad," was Robert's reply, and he disconnected and sighed.

That would be right in the middle of Ben's shift, and he was rather hoping that it would be Tim's shift so that the newly promoted third in command could have the practice on a procedure of that difficulty. Not to mention the thrill of being able to dock the seaQuest. Oh well, Lieutenant Commander Tim O'Niell would have his day, and Robert intended to make sure that he got his former comtech very drunk after it happened, and he had done with Ben when he had first docked the seaQuest.

Then again, Ben had been extremely (to the pink elephant sighting stage) drunk after he had been forced to take command of seaQuest period. Then it had been no reason to celebrate. Robert had been off on a mission with the then Commander Ford and Lieutenant Brody. His father, Nathan, had taken temporary command, but while he was there he had been severely injured, and the next ranking officer on board had been Ben Krieg.

In the middle of combat had been Ben's crucible, and he had passed that trial. HQ had nothing to nitpick about Ben's command abilities after that! When Ford had been promoted to Captain, and taken the Avenger as his first command, Krieg became the seaQuest's new X-O.

Robert stretched as he went over the new crew members profiles, the ones that had to come aboard to replace those who went with Ford to the Avenger. He had lost Lieutenant Lonnie Henderson, now Ford's third in command and Chief Engineer, and Lieutenant Brody, who was now Lieutenant Commander James Brody, the X-O of Avenger. Quite frankly, although he didn't say that neither of them were not capable officers, he was glad they had decided to go with Ford.

Henderson would have pined after the loss of 'Jonathan', and Brody, well, there just seemed to be a personality conflict. Lieutenant Heiko Kimura, a Chaodai defector, had also gone to theAvenger. He had a good hunch about her, and they rarely went wrong. He was sorry she hadn't decided to stay, but that would have meant Fredericks leaving.

Heaven forbid that! Lieutenant Jessica Fredericks was very close to Dr. Lucas Wolenczak, and one would have to be blind not to see that they were in love with each other.

Robert got dressed and half ready for his next shift, and while he did so, he reflected some more on the changes.

There were many others who decided to go to the Avenger from seaQuest. Thankfully, it was the end of the tour and a crew shuffle was in the works anyway. This rushed that, but once it was done, it was done until next year when the next tour was due to start. seaQuest was operating with half her crew right now, and those who stayed were picking out their quarters from what had come available. Lucas was moving into Nathan Bridger's old quarters, while Bridger had dibs on Ford's old quarters, the second largest on the ship.

Ordinarily, Robert would have expected some flack from Westphalen, except, as the two were civilian, they were sharing those quarters. Robert was happy for them, and he knew that they would be getting married soon. His father had promised her such when he thought he was dying, and had every intention of following through. Kristin was practically family as Robert had married her daughter Cynthia, and they had Michael.

That, of course, and thankfully, opened up a set of quarters for whomever needed them. Dr. Westphalen's old quarters were a bit on the cramped side for someone who should have had bigger, but were perfect for Tim O'Niell. He had already moved his things in there. In fact, everyone who had moved to a different set of quarters were already settling in.

Except his father. Robert was exited his quarters and walked to the medbay. Of course, Kristin had taken care of that when she made sure that his and her things were moved without losing anything.

He poked his head around the corner, and saw his mother in law Kristin Westphalen bent over her paperwork. "Knock knock," he walked in quietly, looking over to his father. "He still asleep?"

Kristin looked up quickly in surprise, hand over her heart, "Don't do that! Yes, he is. Lucas and Fredericks tired him out a bit this morning, I think."

He thought about that, "I thought I told him that my Dad needed to rest."

"Lucas was probably leaned on by him. You know how he gets when he has nothing to occupy him," Kristin stood up and stretched.

"Antsy. I know," answered Robert, massaging the kinks out of the older woman's back.

In many ways, Kristin filled a hole that he missed when he thought of his mother. He lauded his father's choice, and hoped that their mutual stubbornness would not put a wedge in their relationship again. "What is Lucas doing, anyway?"

Kristin snorted, "Knowing Lucas, going for another degree. I think your father has given him the 'geology' bug. Lucas has been spending hours in Nathan's Marine Geology lab."

"I thought he was only doing it to fill in for him," responded Robert.

She shook her head, "No, Lucas is actually interested, and of course Nathan is gleefully feeding that interest. I wonder if either of them know what they are getting into."

Robert laughed and sat by his father in the dark part of medbay and watched him sleep. What, indeed, were the pair getting in two. Sitting there gave him more time to reflect, this time on his father. There was no doubt in his mind that his father was a different man than when Robert had first disappeared. Then his father had been very military, and the seaQuest had no plans for a science contingent. Geology, while his father had always held a secret love for it, was only secondary to his engineering.

When he had finally stepped on seaQuest and saw the changes in person, his breath had been taken away. Over half of seaQuest's weaponry had been stripped in favor of the science labs. Even now, with the threat of war, the UEO dared not take that away.

Then again, what remained of the weapons were still very impressive, and he did have back up in the form his battle group should he need them of the Nezamiah and Avenger. But even the Avenger had the modular capability to be refitted as a science vessel, in fact, in was part of the design. What his father's working name of the ship was, he didn't know, as it had been Admiral William Noyce who named the ship when his father was too ill to do so.

A stirring move came from the bed and his father rolled over and away from the light that was coming from Westphalen's desk. "Good morning, Dad," said Robert, just loud enough for Westphalen to also hear.

Robert looked up at the clock meaningfully, and Kristin followed his gaze. The clock read 10:30, well ahead of her 12:00 deadline. His father would be released, with many conditions, from medbay today. She grinned, and Robert couldn't help but return that grin. They were both very happy to see this day come. His father rolled over to his other side to look at him with sleep filled eyes, not knowing the significance of it. "Good morning. I take it is still morning?" he asked.

Robert nodded and Westphalen began turning on lights, and she pulled the privacy curtains around the bed area. "Yes, Nathan, it's morning. And that is a good sign," she began examining him in preparation to release him. "You'll find it's a very good morning!"

"For who? You or OW!" he exclaimed as she took a blood sample. "Jeez, could you warn a man before jabbing him with sharp pointy things?"

Kristin laughed and Robert brought out the gym bag that he had brought from his father's quarters. Nathan looked at it, and then went through it, "These are my clothes."

"Yes, oh Thick-Skulled One," responded Kristin. "Consider yourself released from medbay. But you are off duty. Rest, relax, recover, and reassure people on this boat that you're going to live. Oh, and expect loads of attention from Darwin. He's missed you."

Nathan made a motion that he could dress himself, and they both left him the privacy. Moments later he pushed the privacy curtains back dressed in his jeans, a t-shirt, and his denim shirt as a light jacket. Using the now empty gym bag he was loading what he had stored away in the drawer beside the bed. He slid his palm sized hand held computer into the pocket of his denim shirt, and then said, "Okay, I'm ready to go home now."

Kristin waved off the two Bridgers and Robert walked with his father to his new quarters. "Anything interesting happen while I was out of the loop?" asked Nathan.

"Nope," answered Robert, then he remembered. "Well, actually, yes, Commander Ford is now Captain Ford of the Avenger. Lieutenant Commander James Brody is his X-O, and Lieutenant Commander Lonnie Henderson his chief engineer. Lieutenant Heiko Kimura went to be the comtech specialist on board as well. So the seaQuest's roster is a bit changed."

"A bit? Why do I get the feeling that's the understatement of the century?" Bridger groaned. "Okay, I'll bite. Who's your new X-O?"

"Lieutenant Commander Ben Krieg," answered Robert, and was surprised with his father's nod of approval. "Don't take this the wrong way, but a few of the crew is very surprised."

"Yeah, but I saw the change, and their memory is over ten years old of him. I looked up his business record. He has come a long way and finally realized the potential he has," was the answer received.

Robert nodded in agreement, "My memory was twenty years old, and the change was a shock. The third in command is your old comtech, who is now Lieutenant Commander O'Niell.

"Okay, so you probably have a new comtech, but I won't ask," said Bridger shaking his head. "Now that you've completely messed me up, why don't you show me where Kristin put us?"

"Don't you know? You were the one who requested them!"

"Requested?" Bridger stopped walking. "I did not. So where I am now?"

Robert sighed at the woman's underhandedness, "You have Ford's old quarters, and you share them with Westphalen."

The look of abject terror would have been funny if he wasn't worried about the effect on his father's health that shock might have. Thankfully, his father recovered, "Jeez, let's just give the entire ship something to talk about."

They walked the rest of the way, and Bridger pushed open the door to his new quarters and looked in with trepidation. A whoosh of a relieved breath was released when he saw them. Robert followed his father into his new quarters, "This is nice."

Nathan nodded in agreement and started peeking into the dresser drawers, obviously looking for where his clothes were kept, and how she might have organized them. "I feel like I'm married again, except this time I have no idea... Ah ha, okay, I think I understand the organization now."

Robert looked at him expectantly, and wasn't disappointed when his father finished, "We have a 70/30 split on space. I have thirty percent and she has the rest!"