I love you guys; your reviews are the best! Sorry for once again leaving it at a cliffhanger, but it really was the best place to leave off. With luck, the next chapter will be quicker going up, even though I'm going out of town for the next week. I promise, I'll get to work as soon as I get home. ;)

As always, and particularly so this time, many many thanks to Diena: best beta-reader ever. (That's her new title) I don't know if it's really a lot better than it was before, but I hope so…

Saturday, May 3, 2:13 A.M.

An alley in downtown San Francisco

He awakened suddenly, to the smell of smoke.

His first instinct was to assume that some of the local homeless had started a fire to keep warm, but even before he opened his eyes he had realized that couldn't be the case. There was far too much smoke to just be a small fire.

It took him only a moment to locate the fire, high in the building that he was sleeping next to. It was eating its way through the seventh and eighth floors, though it looked as though the whole building was likely to be consumed before it was finished. Old apartment buildings never held up well to fire, and the one in question seemed to be no exception.

Quietly slipping out of the alley, Lucas joined the large crowd of people standing outside. Largely made up of the building's inhabitants and other locals, they were too worried about whether the fire would take their homes as well to pay any attention to Lucas. The few people that did notice him probably thought he was there for the same reason that they were. He may have been homeless, but at least he didn't look homeless.

Yet.

The police tried to tell the crowd that there was little that could be done, and that those who lived nearby should return home, but few listened. Who could listen to someone telling them to calm down and go home, when everything that they cared about was in danger?

A large area around the front of the building had been blocked off so that the crowd couldn't get too close to the fire, and Lucas took care not to cross it. The last thing he needed was the attention of police, however distracted they were by the fire at the time. Trying to be invisible, though hopefully not literally, he wandered over to the edge of the police line and watched the firemen working.

Craning his neck back, he took in the enormity of the inferno high above him. It was larger than any fire he had ever seen before, and getting larger by the moment. Even seven floors away, he could feel the heat of it, as though he had a nasty sunburn on his cheeks.

As he watched the flickering flames take further hold of the building, he wondered if everyone who lived in the building had gotten out safely. The moment he thought it, his conscience was ready with a fatalistic 'probably not'. Frowning, Lucas shook his head, as if that could somehow rid him of his increasingly pessimistic attitude.

A movement in front of the building caught Lucas' attention then, and he looked down to find what was possibly the strangest and most disturbing thing he had seen in his life.

A man clad only in his pajamas was standing a few feet from the front door of the burning building, apparently trying to fight his way back in. Tears streamed down his face as he struggled against the policeman who was holding him back, and he seemed to be yelling something, though Lucas couldn't hear it over the roar of the fire.

The policeman, looking nearly as shattered as the man himself, restrained him as best he could. Even with the distance between himself and the two men, Lucas could tell that the cop was trying to talk to the hysterical man, but that it was obviously doing no good. That probably had something to do with the fact that the cop appeared to be quite close to tears himself, and from the look on his face, it wasn't because of the smoke that was hanging in the air.

It didn't take more than a few seconds to realize the implications of the scene before him. His previous cynical notions about someone being trapped in the fire were true. The man had to be trying to get to someone in the building, but there was no way that the police could allow him back into a burning building.

Looking toward the top of the building again, Lucas wondered if it were possible for the firemen to reach anyone still alive in the flames. It gave him something of a sick feeling, knowing that someone was up there dying, and it was likely that no one would be able to do anything about it. Once again, Lucas' eyes were drawn to a motion. For a brief second, he was certain that he saw movement in a ninth-story window. A small, pale face.

A child.

Did the kid even have a chance?

As if to answer his unspoken question, a breeze caught the fire, and it flared even brighter.

No, of course not. Life couldn't be that kind. That man's child was stuck in a burning building, and there was no one to do anything about it.

Unless…

No, that was nuts. Lucas couldn't possibly manage what trained firemen couldn't.

And yet, being intangible, Lucas could easily get through the fire…

But there was no assurance that he would find the child, or that he would manage to help if he did. And even if he saved her, the police would find him, and then there would be questions. Everyone would find out about Lucas being a mutant.

It was like a nightmare in which there was no good answer. Try to help an innocent child and have your life destroyed utterly, or let a child die.

Let a child die!? Horrified with his own selfish train of thought, Lucas shook his head violently. He couldn't stand by and no nothing, particularly when it was possible that he was the only person who could save the kid.

The only problem was that there was no way for Lucas to get to the ninth floor, especially if even the firemen couldn't. The stairs were probably destroyed completely, he doubted that there was any way remaining to get that far up the building.

Then the answer came to him, and he almost smacked himself for not remembering sooner. The fire escape that he had been sleeping under not ten minutes earlier was still there. The very purpose of it was to get out of the building during a fire. Just because one was supposed to use it to leave didn't mean he couldn't use it to get in.

Slipping back into the alley, he headed for the stairs.

The building had been evacuated early enough that no one had actually used the fire escape, so the stairs were still retracted, to try to deter potential burglars. Looking around quickly, Lucas spotted a dumpster in the alley. He was certain that it would give him the height he needed to make his way onto the stairs. Using strength he hadn't known he possessed, Lucas pushed the dumpster under the fire escape, and pulled himself up onto the metal railing above him.

Racing up the stairs as fast as he could, Lucas hoped against all reason that the child was all right. It was a long run, and Lucas had never been in the best of shape, but it seemed to fly by. Time in general seemed to fly by, in fact, as if reminding him that even if the child were still alive, they wouldn't be for long.

As he ran by the seventh story window, a gout of flame shot out, and passed directly through him. Though he was well aware that fire couldn't hurt him in his intangible state, it was quite stunning occurrence. Shaking his head sharply, he continued his race up the stairs. There were more important things to ponder than his personal invulnerability to fire.

Like a small child who was slowly choking to death on smoke.

Reaching the right floor, Lucas realized the second of the many logistical problems with breaking into a burning building. He wasn't a burglar, he hadn't thought about the window. Knowing that he had few alternatives, he briefly looked around for something with which to break it. Finding nothing, he braced himself for the pain, and put his elbow through the glass. Surprisingly enough, it didn't hurt. Adrenaline, probably. It would hurt later, when it didn't matter.

Later, when he would also wonder why he hadn't just walked through the wall instead of breaking the glass, and how he had managed to run up the stairs while insubstantial. He had so little time to think just then, that neither of those things seemed to be all that important.

Pushing the jagged edges of glass out of the window, he went through the opening he had made, directly into a room filled with fire. If he had been conscious of anything other than his cause, he would have marveled at the speed with which he had switched back and forth between tangible and intangible, without even considering it. Instead, his mind immediately turned to where the girl could be.

The fire had reached the ninth floor in full force, and he could only hope that whatever room the kid was in was yet untouched. Remaining intangible, he began to search through the first apartment on the ninth floor. Almost all of those rooms were on fire, but thankfully, he found no child.

Making his way through the hall to the other apartment on that floor, he was grateful to see that the fire hadn't reached it quite as strongly yet. Practically running by that time, he went through each room as quickly as possible, scanning the floors and beds for a child.

Finally, he found her.

She couldn't have been more than four, and she was lying on the floor, curled up into a ball. From the redness on her cheeks, she had obviously been crying before she had either fallen asleep or passed out from smoke inhalation.

Mentally forcing himself to substantiality, he picked the girl up and started looking for a way out. Looking out the window, he found a nine-story drop, and no fire escape at all on the side of the building they were on.

Heading out into the hallway between the apartments, it didn't take long to realize that there was no way down the stairs. They were still standing, but the entire stairwell was consumed with flames. The apartment through which he had entered was filled with fire, there was no way he could take the girl through that. The elevator wasn't even an option. The whole building was a giant firetrap, one that the government obviously should have condemned decades before.

The ugly truth struck him like a physical blow.

There was no way to get her out alive.

Falling against the nearest wall, Lucas slowly slid down to the floor, which was already starting to get warm. Holding the little girl tightly in his arms, he reconsidered every possibility. If he jumped out the window, they would both probably die. If he tried to go down the stairs, she would die, and he probably would as well. Going through the other apartment was the same as trying to go down the stairs, only with very slightly less fire.

That was it, then.

There was nothing he could do to save her.

If he couldn't even do one simple thing, what use was he? Maybe everyone had been right. He was just an obnoxious kid, who couldn't accomplish anything. Maybe he should just sit there until the fire claimed them together. At least that way she wouldn't have to be alone.

Looking down at the innocent sleeping face of the girl, he knew that he would never leave her to die alone in the fire.

In her sleep, she coughed on the thickening smoke, and snuggled into him, calling him daddy. He just smiled bitterly and patted her hair.

No, there was no way he would leave her to die alone.

Friday, May 2, 11:40 P.M.

SeaQuest DSV, The Moon Pool

They both turned to stare at Darwin in astonishment. A fish was still sitting in Nathan's hand, but he couldn't seem to actually move the hand to give Darwin the fish. It was as though time has slowed to a halt, and all that he could do in the fraction of a second that was dragging on forever was stare at the dolphin in front of him.

Kristin was the first to find her voice, and asked the question that both of them had running through their minds. "What? What do you mean, Darwin?"

Nathan was convinced that if Darwin had been human, he would have sighed and rolled his eyes at them, as the dolphin simply repeated his earlier comment. "Lucas lives."

Looking over at Kristin, who seemed as shocked as he was, Nathan felt true hope dawn inside him for the first time since he had been told about the accident. It wasn't in Darwin's nature to lie; it couldn't possibly be that. For some reason, Darwin believed that Lucas was alive, and Nathan intended to find out what that reason was.

Of course, with Darwin, that could take some time and effort.

"How do you know that, boy?" he asked Darwin, hoping that would be enough to get the dolphin talking.

"Darwin see Lucas." Darwin was apparently not in the mood to be talkative.

Looking around himself suspiciously, Nathan hoped that Darwin meant in the past tense, not the present. "When boy, when did you see Lucas?"

Darwin looked at Bridger blankly for a moment, and Nathan could only hope that the dolphin was trying to formulate an answer. Just as he was ready to give up and ask something else, Darwin spoke up. "After Ben." Darwin paused for a second, then continued, saying, "Ben in sick place, Lucas in water."

It was all that Nathan could do not to start hopping with excitement. He felt like a teenage girl. Lucas had been alive after the accident. He wondered, though… "If you found Lucas in the water, Darwin, why didn't you bring him home?"

"Not touch Lucas." Darwin answered simply.

Trying hard not to be frustrated, Nathan tried again. "Yes, I know you didn't, Darwin. But why?"

"Darwin not touch Lucas." The dolphin repeated.

Frowning, Nathan looked over at Kristin exasperatedly. He didn't know if Darwin was being deliberately difficult, or if there was some sort of language issue that kept Darwin from communicating the full nature of the situation. He couldn't imagine that Darwin would deliberately keep them from finding Lucas.

As calmly as ever, Kristin leaned over and took the fish that Nathan was still holding. Giving it to Darwin, she looked at him calculatingly for a moment. "Do you mean that you couldn't touch Lucas, Darwin?" Looking over at Nathan, she added, "Maybe he couldn't get to Lucas, Nathan."

Nodding madly, Darwin agreed. "Yes. Not touch Lucas."

"All right, Darwin, you couldn't get Lucas." At that, the dolphin nodded again, and Nathan began to feel as though he was getting somewhere. He truly allowed himself to hope; to think that perhaps he would see Lucas again. "So where did Lucas go?"

Darwin paused for another moment, and Nathan could have sworn that he was frowning. "Land. Lucas go to land."

Disturbed, Nathan wondered why he hadn't heard from the boy if he had somehow gotten to the shore. Looking over at Kristin, he realized that she appeared to be thinking the same thing.

When she noticed his look, she smiled reassuringly at him and put a hand on his shoulder. He was momentarily distracted, wondering if it was the hand she'd had the fish in, but put that out of his head. He had slightly more important things to think about than whether Kristin had gotten 'eau de dead fish' on his uniform.

"I'm sure there's a perfectly good reason that he hasn't contacted us, Nathan. Maybe he needed medical attention, and checked himself into a hospital. It's possible that he's been unconscious." From her tone of voice she obviously didn't think that was true, but it seemed like a possibility to Nathan. He made a mental note to check with area hospitals, just in case.

It seemed unlikely that Lucas could have gotten himself to shore if he had been so hurt as to be unconscious for the next week. It was even unlikelier that the hospitals wouldn't have recognized him as the boy from the papers. Nathan was running low on ideas of what could have happened, though, so he grasped at straws where he found them.

Deciding that they had gotten all the useful information out of Darwin that they were going to, Nathan and Kristin headed for the bridge.

Making an announcement about Darwin's information to a much reassured bridge crew, Nathan felt truly human again for the first time in days. The crew still seemed a little bit skeptical, but they trusted Darwin's words. Nathan supposed it didn't hurt that they all wanted to believe, either. The rush of relief was followed by another wave of dissatisfaction, though, as the crew remembered a vital piece of information.

The seaQuest was due to leave San Francisco in less than two days, and two days was not nearly enough time to find a lost person in a city as large as San Francisco.

Considering all of his options, Nathan realized that he didn't have a lot of them. They would spend the two days that they had scouring the city for Lucas, but he doubted very much that they would find the boy. San Francisco was huge, and his crew had little idea how to look for a missing person in anything other than a boat.

He had to face the probability that they wouldn't find Lucas before leaving. Therefore, he had to find a way to continue looking for Lucas after they left.

Flipping on the internex, he began a search for private investigators in San Francisco.