Disclaimer: SeaQuest and its characters are not mine.

My apologies to; Roses, Kiddo and TeacherTam. I have no idea how the response to your reviews got stuck together like that in the previous chapter. Hopefully there wouldn't be any more repeat performances.

wolenczak2004 : Thank you so much for beta reading. I am eternally grateful. You wouldn't believe how many times I had to proof read the previous chapter and how many times I missed really obvious mistakes. Hope that having read the chapter beforehand doesn't stop u from reviewing it again. Lol.

Aewnaur :I'm a sucker for the Lucas Bridger stories too. Lucas does tend to cry out for a father figure. As evil as it is I love an emotionally needy (and yet hates to admit it) Lucas.

KatKnits00 : Bridger is making some progress albeit it's a bit slow, anyways hopefully in the chapters yet to come you might get to see Lucas relent. Not a lot but just enough.

TeacherTam : Lol. Just cos you asked so nicely; a new chapter! ;-) You do know that I am a sucker for reviews, As long as there are reviews I would always come back.

Kiddo : Glad you liked it. I really like Bridger as a father figure.

A bit of a long chapter cos I'm not certain when I would be able to update again. Exams are looming over me and I'm beginning to panic.

Review cos you know your reviews make my day! ;-) (and encourages me to update sooner!) Please? Pretty please? With a cherry on top?


His mind was a jumble. So many thoughts were running through his head, each trying to take precedence over the other and to top it all off he was feeling so tired he could probably fall asleep walking. He didn't think he had ever felt this confused. No, that was not true. He had been confused a lot lately and it was mostly the doing of one person; Captain Bridger. Just when he thought that he had rationalised the Captain's actions, the Captain would go and do or say something that would leave him reeling again. He didn't know why he was doing this. He was just setting himself up for a fall. The worst part was that he didn't care. It was almost like he believed that the Captain wouldn't be like everybody else. A part of him truly believed that the Captain wasn't going to abandon him. Lucas sighed as he realised exactly how unlikely it was. Maybe he needed that break more than he realised, he was bordering on the brink of delusion, or had he already passed that line? He was no longer certain. Lucas sighed for what could have possible been the hundredth time. What was wrong with him today?

His wayfaring thoughts halted for a moment as he realised that he wasn't anywhere close to his room. He was just outside the moon pool. It wasn't his intended destination but his feet had carried him there regardless. Lucas couldn't help but smile. This is just what he needed.

When he had first come aboard the SeaQuest it was the prospect of Darwin's company that had made his stay tolerable. He had always been fascinated with dolphins and he had started to look upon his exile on the SeaQuest as the perfect opportunity to work on the vocoder and mayhap befriend the dolphin. Upon finally meeting Darwin he realised that perhaps been on this submarine wouldn't be as bad as he had imagined. Now he realised that it wasn't just Darwin but the crew that made SeaQuest his home… did he say home? Lucas felt his confusion multiply tenfold. Funny as it was, he had found the closest thing to a home to be a submarine hundreds of miles under the sea; a home that he would have to leave in a few weeks. Lucas sighed as he entered the moon pool. When he was first sent to the SeaQuest he all he could hope was for his stay to be as short as possible. Now all he could hope for was for his father to allow him to remain.

"Lucas sad." The computerised voice of Darwin brought him out of his reverie.

"Lucas play." The dolphin emphasised his point by bobbing his head up and down ensuring that the teen would be caught in the spray of water that was displaced by his erratic movements.

Lucas found himself laughing as he tried in vain to shield himself. God it felt good to laugh.

"Lucas swim." The dolphin insisted as Lucas tried to wring his clothes dry. Lucas studied the dolphin with a smile.

"Didn't leave me with much of a choice did you?" Lucas said as he quickly changed into a wet suit. Actually he hadn't been to the moon pool in a long time and he had missed the dolphin. Of course Darwin would visit him in his room on a regular basis to try and coax him to come and play but Lucas had just been too busy to relent to his pleas.

"Lucas play." The dolphin insisted impatiently deciding that Lucas had enough time to accede to his request. Lucas let out another laugh as he found himself drenched yet again by another spray of water.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" he replied in between his laughs. He was feeling blissfully happy when he entered the water. Darwin swam around him and knowing immediately what it was that the dolphin wanted, he took a hold of the fin that was been offered as Darwin started to swim deeper and faster.

All the incessant thoughts that had been torturing his psyche was forgotten momentarily as Lucas started to feel something he hadn't felt in a long time; His age; The carefree playfulness of a teenager.


Bridger found it absolutely preposterous. He was the captain of one of the UEO's finest vessels and yet there he unsure of what his next course of action should be. He was as undecided as an ensign on his very first assignment. He was being extremely foolish he realised as he received a strange look from one of the passing crew. That was about the fifth person to look at him like he had grown another head. Obviously it hadn't come along with another brain. Regardless of any extra heads he may or may not have grown while standing in the same spot for ten minutes his brain seemed unable to order his thoughts or coordinate his actions he thought wryly as he hesitated the moment his hand neared its intended target for the umpteenth time. He had been debating on the simple action of knocking for longer than he cared to admit.

Should he disturb the boy? Lucas would probably be asleep. He had seemed exhausted at the end of his shift so surely he shouldn't wake him up? As much as he wanted to leave it at that, he couldn't seem to convince his feet to give up the vigil it had taken up outside the boy's quarters. It's just that he hadn't ever seen Lucas so exhausted. He had a nagging suspicion that the early completion of the upgrades wasn't the primary cause. The boy had looked positively drained and Bridger was certain that something was bothering the teen.

The look of confusion that was directed at him by yet another crewman decided it for him as he knocked on the door. He didn't want to be given a surprise medical evaluation in case Kristin Westphalen got wind of his unusual behaviour.

Bridger knocked again as there was no response. Suddenly he was beginning to regret his decision. Maybe Lucas was fast asleep and couldn't hear him. After waiting for an appropriate period of time he opened the door. Bridger gasped as he looked in to the room.

He wasn't aware that there had been a tornado in the SeaQuest. Thankfully it was confined to Lucas' quarters he thought wryly as he made his way in to the heart of all the rubble. He had to do something to get Lucas to clean up his room. How he managed to find himself let alone something he needed in this mess was inconceivable. His previous requests had fallen on deaf ears as the teen had mumbled something about ordered chaos. One thing was for certain; Lucas was not in his room.

Bridger ran through a list of places that the teen might be in and mentally kicked himself for not going there in the first place. Where did Lucas go if he was troubled? The moon pool of course! Well that made one thing clear. Something was definitely bothering Lucas.

Bridger felt his anxiety grow as he neared the moon pool. What could have unsettled the teen so much? For the hundredth time he wished that Lucas would confide in him.

Bridger couldn't help the smile that graced his features when he saw Lucas sitting near the moon pool idly twirling his hands in the water as he talked to the dolphin. Bridger almost felt envious of the dolphin. If anything bothered Lucas the teen was sure to have gone to the dolphin first. Lucas had his back turned to him and Bridger knew that Lucas would end his conversation the moment he noticed his presence. He wanted Lucas to find some outlet for his emotions and if, for the moment Darwin was it, he wasn't going to interfere. The teen would come to him on his own time Bridger thought forlornly as he turned to leave.

"No Darwin you don't understand. My…" Lucas struggled to find the word. "..My pod is not going to be there. I don't want to go back to my pod. I want to stay here."

Bridger stopped in his tracks. As much as he knew that what he was doing was wrong he found that he couldn't leave. Pod? Darwin belonged to a pod of dolphins. He would go to his pod whenever they were travelling close to the SeaQuest. But what was Lucas referring to?

"Sea Quest is Lucas pod. Darwin is pod." The vocoder translated the series of high-pitched sounds that the dolphin emitted as a reply.

Suddenly Bridger understood what he was referring to. He was referring to family.

As much as he wanted to go to Lucas and comfort him, he knew that if the teen learned of his presence he wouldn't be forgiven for this serious invasion of privacy. He would find a way to broach the subject and maybe Lucas would tell him why it was the he didn't want to go home to his family.

"Lucas stay."

Bridger found himself mirroring Darwin's sentiment. Or better yet maybe Lucas could come with him to his island. Lucas would love it. Given the boys keen interest in dolphins he knew that Lucas would love to go swim with them in the open sea.

"Lucas stay. Bridger is Lucas pod." Bridger couldn't hide his smile. It was Darwin's turn to read his mind. He was almost of out of the moon pool that he barely heard Lucas' soft reply.

He felt his heart twist cruelly. Lucas' reply as soft as it was uttered was thundering in his head and he barely managed to leave the moon pool without alerting the teen. His mind was reeling. He didn't even notice the strange looks he received from people. All he could hear was the teen's sorrowful reply.

"Sometimes …sometimes I wish he was."