Chapter Two: Again and Again

Disclaimer: Since my mother's been asking what I want for Christmas, do you think she'd laugh if I asked for seaQuest?

AN: Thanks to Refur, KatKnits00, Kiddo, sakurastar for the reviews. I think some of your questions/comments have been answered in this chapter or will be in coming chapters. Kiddo, for some reason, I couldn't get the Ensign Rossini part back in. It didn't seem to fit right. But it might make an appearance in a future chapter. :o)

Family isn't about whose blood you have. It's about who you care about.
-Trey Parker and Matt Stone-

The game of hide-and-seek came to an abrupt halt after Sheila had decided to hide under Dr. Westphalen's desk in the science lab. Dr. Westphalen had come back from lunch and when she sat down and kicked Sheila, she had jumped up and screamed, scaring half her science team. After receiving a very long lecture, Sheila and Lucas parted ways so she could finish studying and he could work on updating some of the security systems in seaQuest's mainframe.

Lucas was engrossed in his programming when O'Neil's voice interrupted his train of thought.

"Lucas, you have a call coming in. Want me to patch through to your room?"

"Yes, thanks, Tim," Lucas said, turning to face his vidscreen. The pretty face of his mother appeared. Lucas knew what was coming. He had expected this all week.

"Hi, sweetheart, how are you?" his mother asked.

"I'm fine, Mom. How are you?" he responded.

"Oh, I'm great. Really busy." She paused. "Actually, that's why I wanted to talk to you. Next weekend's no good for me. I'm really sorry to have to cancel you so soon, but I actually have a conference that I just have to attend and I'd take you with me, but you know how those go. We wouldn't be able to spend anytime together and you'd just be bored..."

As his mother prattled on, Lucas tuned her out. She was always doing this. Always making big plans to get together, always saying that this time it would actually happen, and then always canceling last minute. He never really understood why he kept getting his hopes up that her promises were true.

"You're not mad at me, are you, sweetheart?"

"No, Mom, I'm not mad," Lucas said truthfully. He wasn't mad. Hurt, maybe, but not mad. He'd given up getting angry at his parents a long time ago.

"I promise I'll make it up to you. Oh, I have to run. I'll talk to you next week, sweetheart."

"Bye, Mom." Lucas watched the screen go blank, and then turned back to his computer. Suddenly he didn't really care about the security systems. He got up and left his room. Maybe Darwin could cheer him up.

"I think they've actually gotten harder since we came here," Sheila argued. She and Captain Bridger were walking down the hall catching up on their day. Right now, they were discussing the classes Sheila was taking via the Internex.

"Aren't they the exact same ones you were taking when we were on the island?" Bridger asked. When Sheila nodded, he smiled. "I don't think the problem is that the classes have gotten harder. I think you're more distracted here."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry," Sheila apologized quickly "It's just that there's always something to do here. And there's Darwin, and Lucas, and – "

"Take it easy, Sheila," Bridger laughed. "I'm not mad. You're doing fine. And it's good to see you having fun and trying new things."

"You're not mad?" Sheila looked surprised. "Because I could study more. I really could. I don't – "

"Honey, honey, it's okay," Bridger interrupted her again. "As I said, it's good to see you having fun. All you did on the island was study, it seemed." He paused. "Although you might want to can the hide-and-seek. Especially if you're going to hide under Dr. Westphalen's desk." He smiled inwardly, remember the very angry Dr. Westphalen that had shown up at his door.

"Yeah, I guess," Sheila said. "It was the only place I could think of that Lucas wouldn't think to look for me."

"Yes, well, try to find something else to do that involves less roaming around the ship and less hiding," Bridger advised. He hated to spoil their mostly harmless fun, but he did have a submarine to run. He remembered Sheila saying something a week or so ago about "loosening that boy up with some good old-fashioned fun" and assumed hide-and-seek was part of that plan. Of course, he was still having trouble wrapping his mind around the fact that Sheila called anything old-fashioned. Who knew what she thought of him if she called games she played just ten years ago old-fashioned.

They rounded a corner, and saw Lucas headed in their direction. "Hey, Lucas," Sheila greeted her friend.

Lucas looked up and mumbled a barely intelligible "Hey" back.

"Is something wrong?" Bridger asked, a look of concern on his face.

"No," Lucas sighed. "I just need to be somewhere." With that, he continued past them.

Sheila and Bridger watched him go, the same concerned look mirrored on their faces.

Lucas bitterly dropped the vocorder. Apparently Darwin didn't want to spend time with him anymore either. He stared out over the moonpool, leaning against the side of the tank. He heard footsteps behind him, and then someone was leaning against the tank next to him.

"You okay?" Sheila asked quietly. She had told her father she would see him later and followed Lucas down to the moonpool.

"I said I was fine before, didn't I?" Lucas snapped. He didn't need her hanging around and being all friendly and happy right now. He wasn't in the mood to deal with that right now.

"Okay, okay," Sheila replied, raising her hands defensively. "You just didn't seem fine, and I wanted to know if there was anything I could do."

"Well, there isn't," Lucas said, turning away from her and picking up the vocorder again.

"Dad just let him out to hunt," Sheila said. "He won't be back for a little while."

"Yeah, that figures," Lucas said. "Just when I needed him, he left."

Sheila narrowed her eyes slightly, more concerned than ever. Something had obviously happened, something pretty serious. She wasn't quite sure how to proceed, though. She usually didn't have to work at getting people to confide in her. Lucas had been a little withdrawn her first week aboard the seaQuest, but he had seemed to quickly warm up to her after that. Now he was withdrawing again, and she didn't want that.

"Well, I'm here," Sheila offered quietly, sitting on the bench next to the moonpool.

Lucas stared at her for a moment. Sure she was fun to hang out with, but honestly, they barely knew each other. On the other hand, it might be nice to tell someone besides Krieg for a change, and Sheila did seem genuinely concerned for him.

"I was just supposed to go see my mother next weekend. And she canceled. Again," Lucas told Sheila, avoiding her eyes.

"I'm sorry," Sheila said sympathetically. She wondered if that seemed too standard a reply. Too casual? Too unfeeling?

"It's not like it's the first time," Lucas continued, as if she hadn't even spoken. It seemed like he was talking to himself and wasn't even aware she was there. "She does this all the time. I suppose I should be glad that she even attempts to make an effort to see me. My father doesn't. It's just that...I don't know, it hurts, even though I know it always happens."

"It's not easy to be disappointed by your family," Sheila agreed. Lucas turned to face her.

"Oh, come on, since when has it happened to you?" Lucas asked. "You have a great relationship with your father."

"Yeah, now," Sheila agreed. "But that's just since Bobby and Mom died. Before that, he was always gone, always working on his next great project, always doing research, always out in the field. He wasn't around as much as you might think."

"Oh," was all Lucas said.

"I think," Sheila said carefully, "that you just have to decide at what point you're going to stop letting the disappointment control your life. I mean, that's just what I think. It's not the voice of experience, really, 'cause Mom was still around when Dad was gone, and Bobby."

"Yeah, I guess, but they're my family," Lucas said.

"They aren't your only family. As far as I can tell, there isn't a person on this boat who doesn't care about you." When Lucas nodded, Sheila jumped up. "Come on."

"Where are we going?" Lucas asked.

"You can show me that new game you were going on about all day yesterday," Sheila proposed.

"You said you weren't interested," Lucas said, confused.

"Well, I am now," she replied. "Let's go."

"All right," Lucas agreed. "See, the object is to..." As Lucas went on, the two teenagers left the moonpool.