***

It was dark and raining by the time the shuttle reached the beach of Nathan Bridger's small island. Tony had lowered the throttle just as the shuttle had set itself on the sand. The large door opened upward and Jonathan Ford stepped towards the exit.

He turned around to address his crew, "I'll go let Nathan know what's happened and then we'll bring Lucas up to the house," Jonathan said to them, "We don't want him to get more of a shock than he's already going to get." They all nodded.

Lonnie looked at Lucas who was lying unconscious on the make shift mattress. His complexion pasty white and his body already wet from perspiration, Lucas shook even as he slept. Lucas had been slipping in and out of consciousness ever since they had removed the arrow. He would wake shivering violently with hallucinations and excessive adrenalin. At least one of them had to stay with him to make sure he didn't hurt himself with his frantic tossing and jerking.

Jonathan was concerned about whether or not they had done the right thing in torturing Lucas just to remove the offending arrow. Lonnie had assured him that he would have been much sicker had they not removed it, as the poison would have had more of a chance to work. Jonathan hoped that Nathan would be just as understanding when they told him. Concern for both Nathan's reaction and Lucas' condition worried him as he trudged up the sand towards the house.

He slowed down as he came closer and, witnessing some movement behind the curtains inside, he bravely made his way over to his ex-Captain's door and knocked.

There was a rustling inside as someone fumbled with the door. It vaguely occurred to Jonathan that it might be later than he thought, as he had no idea what time it was.

Jonathan was greeted with the almost intimidating look of Nathan Bridger as the man opened the door to someone whom he thought was a complete stranger, disturbing his evening for what was likely to be an absurd reason. Nathan's near threatening look was replaced with shock, surprise, and then confusion as he recognised the man at the door.

"Jonathan!" Nathan greeted in his originally pleased response. He then looked at Jonathan's worried and tired features and realised how strange it was that Jonathan Ford would come, alone, knocking on his door at this time of the month, let alone this time in the evening.

"What is it? What's happened?" Nathan asked with concern.

"Nathan, the SeaQuest was attacked. We identified our attackers as UEO. We have no idea why or what has happened, but we need to get to UEO headquarters in person and find out what is going on so we can salvage what is left of the SeaQuest and the crew."

Jonathan obviously wasn't finished but Bridger cut him off anyway, "Oh my God," he said, almost disbelieving. He stuttered for some explanation of his own but he couldn't find anything, "Wh… Jonathan it's raining you should come in," he said as he opened the door more to allow for Jonathan to step inside, "Oh," he continued before Jonathan could respond, "Are you alone?"

"No, Hudson sent a group of us to make our way to headquarters. But… Nathan, there's been an injury. It's Lucas. We can't get him to a hospital anywhere in UEO territory until we find out why the SeaQuest was targeted. Lucas doesn't have that long."

Bridger looked horrified, "Lucas? What happened to him? Where is he?" Nathan walked out to where Jonathan was in fearful anticipation.

"He's at the shuttle," Jonathan said as the two began walking quickly, "We're going to bring him up if you can look after him." The two men's voices shook with fear and vibration from their feet hitting the sand heavily as they hurried towards the open shuttle.

"Of course I can look after him!" Nathan exclaimed, "God, I hope so."

"He's hurt badly and he's very sick," Jonathan warned Bridger as the older man walked into the shuttle ahead of him.

Bridger briefly acknowledged Lonnie and Tim, who were still sitting beside Lucas where he lay on the mattress, before couching quickly next to Lucas. Alarm was written all over Nathan's quickly ageing facial features, "Oh my God," he said, as he reached out to touch Lucas' face. Feeling the warmth there, he snapped his head up to address whoever was closest, "He has a fever," he said urgently.

"He was poisoned," Lonnie told him.

"What? How do you know?" Nathan asked her.

"He's hurt. Here," Lonnie reached passed Bridger to lift Lucas' blood soaked uniform shirt and t-shirt.

"Oh God," Bridger breathed quietly at the hideous colour of Lucas' wound, "What the hell happened?"

"He was shot," Jonathan explained from behind him, "With a metal arrow of some kind."

"You can see that the skin around the wound has taken on a funny colour," Lonnie told him, "Its defiantly poison but I have no idea what type."

"Will it kill him?" Bridger asked her.

"I'm hoping that it will leave his system once he has the strength to fight the infection. But don't think he's going to be strong enough without some antibiotics."

"So," Nathan gasped out, "You need me to nurse him while you all complete your mission."

"That's right," Tim confirmed.

Bridger turned around to Jonathan, "Do you still have that arrow?"

Jonathan hesitated for a few moments and then nodded, turning to retrieve the nasty piece of metal from where they had put it.

Jonathan presented the weapon to Bridger and the ex-Captain stood up to take a look. Bridger tried to stay professional but Jonathan could tell that it upset him to see the sharp bladed looking end.

"It looks painful," Nathan commented as he looked carefully at the bluish tint the blood seemed to have taken on as it mixed with the poison.

"I'm sure it was," Jonathan said.

"How did you get this out of him?" Nathan asked.

"The old-fashioned way," Ford told him gently but simply.

Nathan nodded but made no comment. He took the instrument from Jonathan, "I'll need this to find out what kind of poison it was."

He turned back to kneel next his young friend, "We better get him into the house. I'll see if I can get him more comfortable."

Lucas stirred as Tony moved passed Lonnie and carefully took Lucas' upper body and Tim took his legs. They stopped moving him for a few moments until they realised he was still unconscious and then started to take him out of the shuttle. Nathan walked along with then to make sure that Lucas stayed comfortable even though he was being carried. Wade hung back out of the way, not wanting to cause any more trouble.

As they left the shuttle Lonnie gave Lucas a quick kiss on the forehead and Dagwood followed suit by stroking his hand across Lucas' hair as they walked passed. Jonathan watched as the four of them left the shuttle and placed a comradely hand on Wade's shoulders to show that he had noticed his effort to stay out of the way.

Tony and Tim carried Lucas into Nathan Bridger's living room where Bridger indicated for them the place him on the couch in front of the fire. Nathan collected a pillow and blanket, while they set Lucas on the couch and then he carefully set Lucas up so that he could be warmer and more comfortable despite his condition.

He then turned to Tony and Tim, "I'll take of him," he assured them, "Thank you."

Tony nodded and began to make his way out. Tim hesitated for a few moments, and then followed Tony out of Bridger's house quietly.

Nathan followed them to the front door and watched the two walk back to the shuttle. Once he saw that it was powering up, he nodded at Jonathan, who was still visible to him, before the hatched door closed down and the shuttle came to life and slipped back under the waves.

Nathan quietly shut his front door and turned back to the sick and injured boy on his couch.