Disclaimer: SeaQuest and its characters are not mine.

wolenczak2004: Thanks for the words of encouragement. Just got a little…(ok maybe more than a little) worried when I noticed the slipping numbers.

TeacherTam: You're back! Thought I had lost you back there. does a little dance of joy Thanks for reading and thanks for reviewing. I'm glad that Bridger overheard as well. Though I'm not sure if I should let Lucas know … what do you think?

Kiddo: Lol. I agree that Lucas is anything but a normal teenager. He just needs to stop been so harsh on himself. Next to Lucas Bridger moments my favourite is Lucas Darwin moments, as you might have already guessed. ;-) Exams are starting Tuesday shudder Enough of my silly worries. On with the story!

Aewnaur: Gosh I am blushing furiously! You are very kind! I LOVE Lucas torture. Its funny but its true, I love to see my favourite character in torment. I have to be more careful with the spell check. I have this annoying habit of keeping a duplicate of a chapter and sometimes I make corrections to one copy but not to the other and its basically pot luck which copy I post. And please DO ramble. I love it when you do ;-) (as you might have guessed I tend to ramble myself ;-)

Dolphinology: Thanks for taking the time to review! ;-)


After the first few seconds that it took for the shock to wear off, Bridger was literally the textbook definition of a man on a mission. He may not have heard everything but he had heard enough. Judging from the little he heard, he knew that Lucas would not put up much resistance. At least he hoped he wouldn't. All he had to do was get everything in order or Lucas would get suspicious, after all the teen didn't have the IQ of a genius for nothing. But Bridger felt confident; the teen's words lending him courage to execute his plan.

Bridger sighed wearily. It was at times like this that he truly believed that some people shouldn't have kids. He never truly understood what could have possibly motivated Lawrence Wolenczak to allow Lucas aboard the SeaQuest. It didn't take a genius to figure out that coming aboard hadn't been Lucas' idea. It was beginning to be painfully obvious that Lawrence and Lucas shared a very strained relationship. But for the life of him he couldn't understand why. Lucas was a wonderful kid. Sure he could be stubborn, sarcastic and well, be.. Lucas, but that was a part of been a teenager. Actually Lucas was one of the best-behaved teenagers that Bridger had ever met. It was almost like he had to grow up before his time. 'Probably had to.' Bridger thought wryly. Having an IQ of a very smart adult doesn't constitute been an adult. Somehow Bridger had the feeling that Lawrence Wolenczak didn't see things that way. Why else would he put a child (and that's what Lucas was, despite his many protestations that he wasn't one) on a ship full of adults? He would have thought that Lawrence was smarter than that.

He had rushed back to his quarters and had been searching the internex for all the little minute details he knew should be covered if his offer was going to come forth as genuine.

Bridger was feeling pleased with himself. Not only had he been able to find the detail of that conference Lucas had been showing some interest in, he had also managed to get tickets. He did run into some walls to get them but this was one time he didn't feel guilty for abusing his rank. The pair of tickets was worth every string he had to pull. It was beyond him how tickets to a cybernetics conference could sell out so fast. But what mattered was that he had the tickets and all he had to do now was set the ball rolling. He reached for his PAL.

"Lucas would you please come to my quarters."

Bridger was feeling apprehensive. This was it. All he had to do was play his part and hopefully things would go according to plan. Admittedly it was a plan that he had managed to concoct in half an hour and was far from been full proof but a plan it was nevertheless. He looked through the details of the conference again. He just hoped and prayed that Lucas would agree because in the unfortunate event that he didn't, he would have to attend the conference and possibly drag Commander Ford with him. He wasn't looking forward to explaining to Commander Ford how he had volunteered them for a conference that wasn't even mandatory. During shore leave. Perhaps he hadn't thought this plan through. Either way it was too late.


"Lucas would you please come to my quarters."

Lucas was just about to fall asleep when the Captain had called him. Lucas stifled a yawn as he made his way to the captain's quarters. His visit to the moon pool had taken longer than he had anticipated. Lucas felt himself turn crimson as he remembered his momentary lapse of composure. Darwin had just been there for him throughout his whole 'lapse' and he couldn't have been more grateful. But it had taken its toll on him because he barely had the strength to put one foot in front of the other afterwards. How he had managed to get to his quarters without collapsing half way was beyond him. Actually he couldn't even remember getting in to bed. All he remembered was that it had felt like he had just about closed his eyes when the insistently beeping PAL robbed him of the opportunity to actually rest.

Things were not going his way today.

Lucas stifled another yawn. This would not do. He was as good as a zombie at the moment. It was a good thing that he knew his way around the SeaQuest so well that it didn't require him to make any conscious decisions about where he should be heading. His feet were on autopilot.

He ran a tired hand through his hair. What had he done now? He had the upgrades online and running so it couldn't possible be about that, unless there was some problem, but so soon? He wasn't that much an inept programmer that it would already cause problems so it couldn't be that. Lucas ran through a mental checklist of all his duties. As far as he knew, he wasn't behind any assignments. In fact he should be ahead of schedule. Well what ever it was it couldn't be good. And the fact that he was half asleep wasn't going to help what ever the matter was.

'Not the having the best of days are we?' he thought wryly.

Lucas paused outside the Captains door before knocking. All he had to do was listen… well maybe try to listen… all right he would pretend to listen and most importantly stay awake. It was when Lucas took a moment to compose himself that he realised that he had fallen asleep in his clothes. He groaned. This was just great! It was bad enough that he wasn't going to be able to follow whatever it was that the Captain might have to say; he looked like he was trying to break a record for the most number of wrinkles on an item of clothing. He grumbled under his breath as he tried to smooth down some of the wrinkles but they seemed set on staying wrinkled as ever. He was contemplating going back to his quarters to put on another shirt when the Captain opened the door. Too late!

'Yep, this was definitely not a good day.'