Bridger opened the door to his cabin very quietly; it was late, and he was just getting off shift. As he tiptoed into the room he greeted Wendy silently with a wave. He nodded towards the makeshift "wall" - a long, dark sheet really -he had set up beside Lucas' cot that gave them both a semblance of privacy. Plus it blocked out the light from his reading lamp, allowing Lucas to go to sleep at a decent hour while he stayed up.

"He's fast asleep." Wendy answered, as he came closer.

"Good. Look Wendy, I was hoping to bring him in tomorrow morning for a full physical exam. Do you have the time?"

"I can make the time, but can I ask why you want a physical?"

"Well, Lucas told me something last night that ----." He was cut off by the sound of Lucas from the other side of the room.

"Cap'n! You're back!" The boy exclaimed gladly, launching himself at the older man. Nathan was forced to take a step back in response to the enthusiastic greeting.

"Well hello to you, too. What are you doing out of bed?"

"I heard you talkin' and I wanted to see you."

"Ah, I see. Well get back to bed, I'll be in to tuck you in in a few minutes, ok?"

"Yessir."

As soon as Lucas' disappeared behind the curtain that separated the room, the Captain led Wendy away from the boy and continued what he was saying.

"This is hard for me to talk about, and I want you to please keep this to yourself. Lucas has been abused by his father." Wendy's hand came up to her mouth as she gasped. Captain Bridger nodded. "I know. And it seems like it's been happening when he goes home on shore leave as well", he continued, his face a mask of controlled anger. "I've seen some scars, more than I wanted to, but I need you to more thoroughly examine and document any previous injuries so that we can. . . .build a case."

"You're thinking of taking this to court?"

"Absolutely. I will not allow them to hurt Lucas again. In fact, they'll be lucky if they manage to see him again."

"And then what, Captain? You might have thought as far as getting him out of danger, but then where does he go, who does he stay with? A child needs a family."

"I'm going to try and get custody myself, Doctor."

As Lucas emerged from his "room" the next morning, Nathan sat down on his bunk and called the boy over.

"I need to talk to you about something Lucas." He said, as he pulled the boy onto his lap. Lucas remained silent, looking up at him. He could see the boy was instantly guarded, wary.

"I did somethin' bad, didn't I?" came the quiet question.

"You did absolutely nothing bad, Lucas, that's not why I want to talk to you at all. I wanted to talk about what you told me about your father and how he punished you." Lucas went pale, and Bridger could see the tears forming in his eyes. "Hey, hey! There's no need for tears, I promise."

"You change your mind? You gonna send me 'way?" Lucas voice trembled as he spoke.

"No. I want to take you to see Dr. Smith, so that she can examine you, take some pictures, some X-rays, stuff like that. This way we can know how hurt you've been, and have proof of what happened so that we can stop him from hurting you ever again."

"You mean you're gonna try and stop him from doin' it again?"

"I'm going to try, kiddo. I just wanted to let you know what was going on before we went to medbay. Are you going to be okay with this?"

"Will you stay with me?"
"Absolutely."

"Okay, Lucas, do you think you can get undressed for me? Not all the way, you can keep your underwear on." Dr. Smith said gently and with a smile. Lucas gave no reaction; he only continued to stare at her. It was disconcerting.

"Did you hear the doctor, Lucas? Do need help getting undressed?"

"No, I can do it myself."

Once undressed, Wendy turned back to the boy and said, "Lucas, I'm going to be taking some pictures of you. Just of some of your scars, and then I'll do an X-ray, ok?" Silence, but a nod. "Good."

After the physical evidence was documented, and Wendy had examined the X-rays, she called Captain Bridger into her office. He looked down at Lucas, still sitting on the examining table, shaking. He couldn't tell if it was from fear or chill. "You get dressed kiddo, and you can get to working on anything you've got going in here. I believe Dr. Gravel will be here in a little while; you can likely help him figure out the reversal for the FOY."

Inside Wendy's office the two adults discussed Lucas' situation. "Captain, you've seen the scars yourself, so there should be no surprise there."
"No, but do we know what they're from?"
"Not all of them. But at least some are consistent with wounds from a belt strap." The Captain's reaction was visible all over his face. Dr. Smith went on calmly, "there have been a few fractures as well. Some broken ribs, fingers, and a fractured left wrist." She paused. "I'm sorry Captain."

The Captain stood there silently for a few minutes, his hands clenched in fists. With a final sigh, he said "Thanks, Wendy. I appreciate everything you've done to help us."

Heading off to the bridge, he stopped and crouched in front of Lucas. "Did you survive that alright?" he asked the boy with a small smile, hoping to lighten the mood a little.

"Yeah, it wasn't so bad." Lucas wore his own wry smile.
"I'll see you in a bit, ok kiddo."

When the Captain returned several hours later to pick Lucas up for some dinner, he was greeted by a very morose looking group in medbay.

"What's going on in here? You all look depressed!"

Dr. Gravel let out a large sigh. "Well, Captain, we were making some headway, I had summarized my research, and had begun to draft some schematics and just general problem solving scenerios, when we broke for lunch. We came back only to find one of the more . . .acidic liquids in the lab had been spilled on my documents. They're utterly destroyed."