AN: I don't own seaQuest. That's probably a good thing. ;o)
It's funny how we feel so much but we cannot say a word. We are screaming inside, but we can't be heard. –Sarah McLachlan
"Sheila sad."
Sheila splashed water at Darwin. After yet another lunch with Commander Ford and Lt. Hitchcock – which was always oh-so-much-fun – she had headed down to the moon pool to see Darwin. She had been avoiding seeing him because she knew Lucas hung around Darwin a lot, and she wasn't sure how much she could handle being ignored. It was bad enough in the dining hall, the hallways, and everywhere else she just happened to see him, but to go somewhere she knew there was a high chance of seeing him…she just couldn't force herself to go through that. The only reason she was here today was because Lt. Kreig had told her that Darwin missed her.
"Sheila sad," Darwin insisted.
"Yeah, well, it hasn't exactly been the best week ever," Sheila informed the dolphin.
"Lucas sad."
Sheila sighed. "Lucas isn't sad, Dar, he's angry. At me. And maybe he should be. Maybe I shouldn't have told my father about Lucas' mother. But I felt…trapped. I didn't want to, but at the same time, I had to. I tell my father everything." She rubbed Darwin's nose. "I'm sorry you got caught in the middle. I didn't mean to ignore you." Sheila laughed ruefully. "I guess I do a lot of things I don't mean to."
"Sheila sorry." Sheila smiled at Darwin. Sometimes it surprised her how well the dolphin actually understood.
"Yeah, Darwin, I'm sorry. Mostly, I'm sorry I hurt Lucas. That was the worst part. The anger…I can handle that. But seeing the hurt and betrayal in his eyes…That was hard. I just wish there was a way to make him understand that I didn't mean to hurt him. That I wasn't trying to betray him. But he won't listen to me."
Darwin was silent.
"Okay, well, thanks for the advice." Sheila rolled her eyes. Just when she thought the dolphin understood her, he seemed to stop. "I've got to go anyways. I have a test to study for. I'll come play with you soon, Darwin. I promise." The dolphin simply splashed water at her and then swam away.
Sheila sighed and then left the moon pool. Unfortunately, history tests didn't wait for friendships in crisis to be resolved.
Lucas stepped out from behind the containers he had been hiding behind. He had been talking to Darwin because Ben had said the dolphin missed him. Then he heard Sheila talking to someone just outside the moon pool. He didn't want to see her, so he ran to the nearest hiding place he could, hoping Darwin wouldn't tell Sheila he was there.
Now he didn't know what to think. He had been so sure Sheila had gone running to her father the minute he had told her about his mother, but if what she had said to Darwin was true, that wasn't the case.
Why did life have to get so complicated? He had been perfectly fine on the seaQuest before Sheila came along. Sure, it got a little boring. But it had been stable, predictable. Then Sheila came along and made him want to be friends with her, and things started to get crazy. He wished she had never come aboard seaQuest.
Then again, that wasn't true. The past few days had been long and boring. He actually missed hanging out with Sheila, playing games – either computer games or stupid little kids' games, like hide-and-seek. If someone had told him that he would be sixteen and having fun playing hide-and-seek, he would have laughed in their face. But Sheila made everything fun, and now that he was avoiding her, everything seemed a little bit duller.
But what was he supposed to do now?