Chapter One: Daily Grind

Disclaimer: seaQuest is not mine. Sadly.

AN: Story 2 about Lucas and Sheila. Much fun and madness ensues.

AN 2: This is the edited Chapter One. 'Cause after reading dolphinology's review, I re-read this and realized that yes, that was a very correct observation. (Thank you!) I think I wrote it too fast. And I was distracted and in very high spirits. But I spent all afternoon re-doing it and I think it's better now. Also, I think that my creative juices are working against me as I write Chapter Two and this might not be all the fun and madness the above AN promised.

'Cause we are so young now, we are so young, so young now. And when tomorrow comes, we can do it all again.
-The Corrs – So Young-

"Lucas, stop it." Another M&M bounced off Sheila's head. "Lucas! I need to study." Two M&Ms landed on her keyboard. She picked them up and popped them in her mouth. "Lucas, I'm serious. We're not all naturally brilliant like you. And Dad will seriously kill me if I don't get an A in biology."

"But I'm bored. You've been staring at that screen for forever." Lucas flopped backwards onto Sheila's bunk, knocking over his bowl of M&Ms onto the floor. The brightly colored candies spilled all over the floor.

"Ooops," Lucas said sheepishly, hopping off her bed to clean up the mess. Sheila watched him clean up for a moment.

She had only been on seaQuest for a few weeks, but she and Lucas had already become practically inseparable. It could be because they were the youngest people aboard and were therefore naturally drawn to each other. It could be because she found Lucas to be so gosh darn cute. It could be because her father was starting to act like he was Lucas' father and in return Lucas was starting to act like a son around him. Whatever the reason, the two had become fast friends, and their days were almost always spent with each other. Sometimes they'd play with Darwin. Sometimes they'd play computer games. Sometimes Sheila would study and Lucas would work on whatever computer program he was fixing or inventing at the moment. Sometimes Sheila would study and Lucas would throw M&MS at her. Sometimes they'd wander around the seaQuest aimlessly, bothering their favorite people, which meant mainly Krieg and Westphalen.

"I thought you were studying," Lucas said, breaking Sheila's train of thought.

"I was," Sheila said. "Then you started target practice with those M&Ms and I got bored with studying.

Lucas laughed. "You are so easy to distract."

"Yeah, I know," Sheila sighed. "It's one of my best features. So what do you want to do?"

Lucas shrugged. "I dunno."

"Are you kidding me? I figured you had something planned, 'cause you were so impatient for me to be done." Sheila sighed. Just like Lucas to annoy her for no reason in particular.

"No. I was impatient for you to stop studying and figure out something to do."

Sheila rolled her eyes. "It's time for lunch. Let's go eat."

"I was hoping you'd say that. I'm starved."

Sheila stood up and stretched the cramps out of her shoulders and neck. "Then why didn't you suggest lunch?"

Lucas shrugged again.

"You make absolutely no sense, you know that, right?"

"Well, you only remind me of that fact about ten times a day," Lucas said as they walked out the door.

Sheila practically flew over to where Krieg, O'Neil, and Ortiz were sitting. She dropped her tray on the table with a bang and threw herself into a chair. "Someone please shoot him and put him out of my misery," she implored dramatically.

The three men watched her in amusement. They had observed Lucas teasing her all through the line.

"There's still a piece of lettuce in your hair," O'Neil commented.

Sheila gritted her teeth and ran her hands through her hair, finding the offending piece of lettuce and flicking it at Krieg, who was struggling not to laugh.

"Oh, you crazy kids," Krieg said, unable to keep the laughter out of his voice.

"You know," Ortiz said thoughtfully. "This could be like one of those kindergarten things, where the boys tease the girls they like. Sometimes the older boys do the same thing."

Sheila snorted. "Right. He's just bored and thinks that I was put on this ship to entertain him."

"Boat," Krieg, Ortiz, and O'Neil said at the same time.

"Boat, ship, it's all the same to me," Sheila declared.

Lucas joined them at that point and the five friends continued their meal and conversation. They kept Sheila in fits of laughter as they related stories from before she had been on seaQuest. After they had all finished eating, they gathered up their trays and left.

A few minutes later, Ford and Hitchcock were about to enter the mess hall when they noticed Sheila sitting cross-legged on the floor, eyes closed, counting.

"...eighty-eight, eighty-nine..."

"Sheila?" Hitchcock questioned.

Sheila held up one finger. "...ninety-seven, ninety-eight, ninety-nine, one hundred!" She opened her eyes and hopped to her feet. "Hide-and-go-seek," she offered in response to Ford and Hitchcock's confused looks.

Ford started to protest, but Hitchcock, recognizing the look on his face, interceded. "No hiding in restricted areas. No running. No bothering anyone on duty."

"Yeah, sure. No problem," Sheila said as she started down the hall. "Hey, you didn't happen to see Lucas, did you?"

"Isn't it considered cheating if we help you?" Ford asked.

"Well, technically, but Lucas has an unfair advantage since he knows the ship better than me," Sheila protested.

"Boat. Down the hall, take the first left," Hitchcock said.

"Thanks!" Sheila called, already on her way down the hall.

"I can't believe you helped her cheat," Ford commented as he and Hitchcock entered the mess hall.

"Really, Jonathan, it's just a game," Hitchcock laughed. "And they're just kids."