Betrayal

A/N: 2nd Season. The SeaQuest is sent to help with a mysterious illness plaguing a penal colony at the outskirts of UEO jurisdiction. What they find is much more sinister than they could have expected. My OC is back, and there's a rocky road for her and Lucas.

Disclaimer: I don't own the ones you saw on TV.

Tony sat up in his bed when the hatch door cracked open. Lucas had left for the lab an hour ago, and he hadn't expected him back till late. "Hey buddy," a sing song voice called from outside, "it's the last day of leave and my last day as a civi, so let's get stupid!" A slender blonde girl bounced into the room. When she saw Tony by himself the wide smile she sported on her face crumbled.

Tony shrugged. "Sorry Chris."

She shut the door behind her, seeming to deflate before his eyes. Her hands fell to her sides. "He blew me off......again."

Tony swung his legs over the edge of his bunk. Strider trudged over to Lucas's beaten, worn couch pressed up against the back wall of his and Tony's quarters. She sat heavily, eliciting a groan from the ancient piece of furniture. "Aww come on Chris, you know Luke, cut him some slack. He works on a project and gets....."

"Yeah I know, focused. I've memorized the speech Tony." She sighed and shoved her hands into the front pocket of her sweatshirt. She pulled out a small bottle filled with light amber liquid and set it on her thigh. "So much for my plan."

Tony bit back a grin. Christina Strider had come aboard the SeaQuest a little less than eight months before. She's come aboard with a group of kids whose sub had been attacked, killing their parents, or so they were led to believe. As it turned out the kids were mostly juvenile delinquents abandoned by their families, sold off as cheap labor to a mining company. When the others had been let off she'd asked to stay on, planning to enlist when she turned 18. It amused Tony to no end that Strider's dubious tendencies had not been completely eradicated by life on a military and science sub.

He and the oft times unpredictable refugee had hit it off right away. Perhaps it was their colored past, or their shared dislike of authority. Whatever the reason, he always enjoyed having the younger girl around.

"Is that what I think it is?"

Strider grinned. "Ninety proof scotch circa 1990."

"I don't even want to know how you got that, or how much you paid."

"Okay, so I won't tell you."

"And you were gonna have Lucas drink that?"

"I was gonna get him trashy then have my with him," she explained with a laugh. Tony's eyes bulged. Chris rolled her eyes. "Geez Tony I was kidding. I'd have been lucky to get Lucas to TRY it."

"So you two haven't...." he let the question hang in the air.

A flush stole up her neck, turning her skin scarlet up to the tips of her ears. "No!" she cried, indignant.

"Well I don't know do I? I'm not always here to keep an eye on you two."

"Oh please," she emitted a small grunt, "you'd encourage it. Lucas and I haven't done anything." He shot her a sideways glance. "Anything," she reiterated firmly." The seaman's mouth formed into a silent 'oh'. "No, Lucas and I are just.....friends. As are you. So friend, you're not on duty tonight right?" Tony shook his head. "You want to help me indulge in some libations?"

"I'm not really sure what you just said, but I'll help you drink that scotch." He reached back behind his head and grabbed to plastic cups off a shelf. He tossed them to Strider, who began to pour. "Does Lieutenant Brody know you have this?"

She handed him a glass. "What Brody doesn't know can't hurt him, or me," she amended.

"I'm not so sure the Lieutenant would agree with you there. I believe the last time you said that you and Lucas turned all the water in the aqua tunnels bright green. Captain Bridger wasn't exactly thrilled."

She shrugged. "It was St. Patrick's Day! It's not like it hurt anything, even Darwin thought it was fun."

"What about the time you and Lucas programmed all the vid screens to play a scene from the Godfather every time a non essential system booted up?"

She sipped her scotch and started to cough, making a face. "Smooth," she croaked. Tony laughed. "hey, we almost got through the whole movie before O'Neil and Ortiz could figure out how to fix it."

"Yeah, that time Bridger chewed Brody out as well as just you too. Captain thinks you're a bad influence on Lucas."

"About time somebody was, he's like a middle ages man trapped inside the body of a seventeen year old boy. But the Captain doesn't need to worry about that anymore anyway."

"Oh really?"

"Nope. My enlistment officially goes through tomorrow, so no more pranks. At least....not when I'm on duty."

"Now that will be something to see." She wiggled her eyebrows and took a long swallow.

An hour later the scotch had hit both of them full force. They'd started playing music twenty minutes earlier, quiet enough so no one else could complain. Chris blinked hard, stumbling toward the bunks. "You are such a lightweight," Tony mocked her.

She ran her tongue over her lips, concentrating on formulating her words. "It's not like......" she closed her eyes and swayed, gripping the top bunk for balance. "I do this all that often." She plopped down onto the bottom bunk. Chris cracked one eye, "and I'm sure you're perfectly sober."

"Absolutely," he told her while nearly tripping over his waste basket.

She snorted, "Right." She fell back on the bed and shut her eyes again.

"Oh no," Tony came over and grabbed her wrists. "You are not allowed to fall asleep on me yet." He pulled her to her feet. "You did this to me and I'm not tired yet, so you have to suffer too. Dance, it'll keep you awake."

"You can dance?"

"Oh yeah, I'm freakin Barishnikov." She leaned her head on his shoulder and groaned. "Come on Chris, I'm the old man here, you shouldn't be doggin yet."

"Whatever old man, Tony." She lifted her head from his shoulder. She tried to peer past the hair that fell in front of her eyes. "You're what, 23?"

"Twenty-four."

She stopped moving, gazing at him seriously. "You're right, you're ancient. Want me to get you a cane?"

He growled, though he couldn't hide his smile. "Why do I put up with you?"

"You know you like me. I keep you, on your toes." Her knees bucked and the only thing that kept her up was Tony's grip on her arms.

"And I keep you on your feet. We're good like that." He leaned his forehead against hers as they swayed.

Chris sighed and shook her head. "Lucas sucks," she told him bluntly. "I couldn't get him to do this to save his life. I can't get anywhere with him. He blows me off tonight, hell he blew me off on my birthday Tony. I give up. Even 'just friends' don't do that. Am I right?"

"Uh huh," he agreed. He reached up, brushing the hair out of her face. "His loss," he said quietly. He tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, fingers traveling lightly down the line of her jaw. Then he kissed her, soft, tentative. She pulled back, surprised. "I'm sorr..." Tony started to apologize, but was cut off when she kissed him back.

The two moved haltingly back toward the bed, still kissing. Tony's hands were at the small of her back, pulling her to him. They half sat, half collapsed on the bed. He'd just started kissing her neck when she suddenly sat up, pushing him back. "I've...I've got to go." She stood uneasily, running her fingers through her hair and strode for the door.

Tony squeezed his eyes shut and flopped back on his mattress. He slapped a hand over his face. "Damn."

Strider walked quickly back to her cabin, knowing her bunkmate had the late shift. She kept her eyes focused straight ahead, hoping she wasn't stumbling too much. Her cabin was dark and she slipped in the door. She wasn't expecting someone to be waiting for her. "Where've you been?"

The lights flipped on and she groaned. Lieutenant Brody stood, no light of amusement in his blue eyes. The security officer had agreed when she'd asked to come aboard to be her guardian. Times like this made him wonder what bout of insanity he'd been afflicted by at the time. "You're on duty at 0700," he scolded. "Last time we talked you said you were gonna buckle down and....." he sniffed the air, "are you drunk?"

She pressed a hand to her forehead, "shit."

"You're damn right shit! What the hell were you thinking?" He went on, not noticing when her shoulders began to shake. She bit her lower lip, biting back the sting of tears. It didn't help. As she first tasted blood the tears started flowing down her cheeks. "Damn it and.....are you okay?" She couldn't look at him so she just shook her head. He didn't know what to do. He put a hand on her shoulder and gave a squeeze. "It's okay," he told her. "Whatever it is, it'll be okay."

Chapter 1

So, hope you like it. Figured I might as well throw a wrench in the whole Lucas/Strider thing. Not exactly sure where I'm gonna go from here but I have a couple good ideas. Does she tell Lucas? Does she not? And what happens with her and Tony? Hahaha, I feel evil right now. Will get into the meat of the story in the next chapter, and might go exploring a Lani/Brody thing, but I'm not sure. Feedback is greatly appreciated. Oh, and more Lucas in the next chapter.