Chapter Four: Ocean View

Disclaimer: I don't own anything besides the shirt on my back. So no seaQuest for me.

AN: Thank you, thank you, reviewers. I promise there's a hell of a lot less "To Be or Not to Be" in this one and the entire thing is devoted to Lucas and Sheila. :o)

Each friend represents a world to us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is by this meeting that a new world is born.
-Anais Nin

Sheila lay on her bunk in the temporary quarters Ford had assigned to her and tried to imagine what it looked like out in the ocean at this depth. Probably just dark. She wasn't sure how many sea animals lived this far down; she hadn't gotten to that part in her biology book yet.

She sighed, realizing if they stayed on seaQuest for too long she was going to get way behind on her reading. Glintsky was going to be so pissed at her. English and history wouldn't be too bad to catch up on, but math and science...She didn't even want to think about it. And she knew that if she didn't get good grades in the last two, her father would have a cow. He didn't understand that math and science didn't come as naturally to her as it did to him. So she ended up having to apply herself more to those subjects to get decent grades, instead of concentrating on stuff she actually liked.

There was a knock on the door. Probably another random crew member sent by Commander Ford to make sure she was comfortable and didn't need anything, and did she want another tour of the ship? Actually, they were more likely sent by Admiral Noyce through Commander Ford. She got the feeling that Ford didn't want her – or her father – on board. Maybe if she ignored whoever it was, he or she would think she was sleeping. Or not there.

There was another knock, a little louder.

Go away.

But no such luck. Maybe persistence was mandatory quality for the UEO.

"I'm coming," she called, getting off the bed. She opened the door, ready to inform the newest lackey that she was comfortable, want-free, and had already seen as much of the ship as she wanted to.

To her surprise, Lucas Wolanczak was standing there.

"Hi," he said. "Were you sleeping?"

"Um, hi," she replied. "No, not sleeping." Wait, wait, why did he think she had been sleeping? Did she have bed hair from lying on the bed? Self-consciously she ran a hand through her chin length blond hair, trying to straighten out any disorder there might be.

"Well, it took you so long to answer, I thought you might have been sleeping."

Sheila gave him a strange look. "If you thought I might be sleeping, why did you keep knocking?" Phew, no bed hair. Wait, wait, why did she care if he saw her with bed hair or not? She was going to be gone soon anyways, she was sure.

"To wake you up, of course." Lucas flashed her impudent grin. "Are you busy? I wanna show you something."

Sheila rolled her eyes. He was cute, yes, but definitely annoying. But her curiosity got the better of her. "Show me what?"

He smiled secretively. "It's a surprise. You'll see when we get there."

Damn him. "All right, all right. Lead the way."

They walked in silence for a few moments.

"So," Lucas said, trying to think of something to say to her. He went with the traditional we-have-nothing-really-to-talk-about line of conversation. "Are you enjoying your visit?"

"Yes, I am. Still a little in awe over the size of this thing." She laughed. "When Dad said we were visiting a submarine, I pictured tiny cramped hallways and itsy bitsy rooms, like you see in movies. It's hard to believe we're actually speeding through the ocean in this thing."

"Well, your father designed one heck of a boat."

"That's the other thing I'm having trouble believing. I knew he designed a submarine, but he never really talked about it." Sheila shook her head in disbelief. "I just never imagined it was a submarine like this. Even I'm impressed, and boats and ships and stuff like this mean absolutely nothing to me."

"He never talked about it?" Lucas stared at her incredulously. "But this was his pride and joy. He spent most of his career designing the seaQuest."

"After my brother...after his, um, ship went down, my mother made Dad promise not to have anything to do with the military, and especially the navy, again. Pretty soon, anything to do with the navy became a taboo subject in our house. And so, yeah, there you have it."

"I read about what happened to your brother, and your mother, in your file. I'm sorry," Lucas said.

"Thanks," Sheila said quietly. She never quite understood why people said thanks when other people were sorry someone had died. But what else was there to say? Damn you for bringing up painful memories? There was a brief pause, and then something Lucas said dawned on her. "I have a file?"

"Well, you are Captain Nathan Hale Bridger's daughter," Lucas said matter-of-factly. "UEO didn't just keep tabs on him. Besides, there's a file for everyone who has ever been on the seaQuest."

"Good to know. So you read it? What did it say?" Sheila asked curiously. She couldn't imagine that it said anything particularly interesting. For the past six years, she'd been living on a desert island. And why was Lucas reading it anyway? She got the feeling he was the kind of person who would read those things just because he could.

"Mostly just stuff about your family. Your grades. That kind of stuff." He grinned at her. "Some pictures from when you were younger."

"Oh, god, I can only imagine. Are we almost there?" They had been climbing what seemed like hundreds of stairs. Okay, maybe it had only been a couple of flights, but still...

"Just one more flight, I promise."

At the top of the stairs was a door. Next to the door was a sign. The sign read "Observation Deck."

"This," Lucas informed her, pausing before opening the door, "is the very top of the seaQuest. In order to get the total seaQuest experience, you must check out this view." With that, he threw open the door, and revealed...

An ordinary room. There was a table and some chairs in the middle, but Sheila couldn't discern anything particularly special about it. She certainly couldn't see any spectacular view.

"Um, Lucas, I think you're confused," Sheila said.

"Sit down and wait," he told her. He went over to a computer on one of the walls and tapped in something to the keypad.

Sheila sat down and waited impatiently. She didn't climb all those stairs to see a freaking table. Then the ceiling began to move. "What the- ?"

As she watched, the ceiling quite literally slid back, revealing some kind of clear glass-like top. And she could see the ocean above her. And shapes moving through the water above them. Obviously nothing was going to get superclose to seaQuest, but there were definitely sea creatures above them.

"Wow," she breathed. She continued to stare above her, not noticing the pleased expression on Lucas' face. He knew this would impress her.

"What's that?" she asked, pointing to the left at tiny flashes of silver in the distance above them.

"A school of fish. Probably tuna."

"And that?"

"Looks like a sea turtle."

"Cool."

He continued to point out various sea creatures until her curiosity seemed satisfied.

"This makes me want to stay. Knowing, and being able to actually see, that I was sharing the ocean with turtles, and fish, and dolphins...I wish I could stay," Sheila said wistfully.

"They want you to stay, you know. Well, they want your father to stay, but you'd stay with him, right?"

"Yeah, I kinda figured that out already. But it's not gonna happen. He won't stay, even if he wanted to." At Lucas' questioning look, she explained. "He promised my mother he would never return. He's not the type to break promises, and especially not to her." She paused, and her eyes grew unfocused, remembering. "They loved each other. Deeply. Even when I was younger and didn't really understand things like that, I knew how much they loved each other. He would do whatever she asked, no questions asked. Sometimes he would stand on the dock and stare out at the ocean. I knew he wanted to go back. It was in his blood, to live in the ocean. But he made a promise. Even Mom knew he wanted to go back, and she would stand at the window and just look at him staring at the sea. She looked sad, but I knew she couldn't take losing someone else to the navy. Not again. But it hurt her knowing that his promise to her hurt him." Sheila shook her head, clearing it. "So, you see, it's not going to happen."

"Yeah," Lucas said. They were quiet for a few minutes.

Sheila looked about to say something, but just then, the observation deck began to close.

"What's going on?" Lucas asked, jumping up from his seat and going over to the computer. "We're answering a distress call and we're on alert. The observation deck automatically closes when we're on alert."

"Distress call? Alert?" Sheila looked a little nervous.

"Come on," Lucas said, grabbing her hand and pulling her out of her chair. "Let's find out what's going on." They exited the observation deck and headed down the stairs.