SECRETS AND BLACKMAIL
Inspired by, and dedicated to Cadnobach :-)
Lucas was looking at the floor when Benjamin Kreig walked into the launch bay. Lieutenant Krieg tried to pretend that he did not in fact have orders to bring teenage genius, Lucas Wolenczak, SeaQuest's civillian crew member to shore that day. To bring him to shore and away from SeaQuest - for the last time.
Ben looked at the teenager who was holding his black duffle over his shoulder and staring intently at his shoe, which he ground into the metal grading. The Lieutenant opened his mouth to say something, held his jaw for a few moments then closed it when he realised there was nothing much to say.
We gotta go," he said gently.
"This sucks," Lucas said it for him.
Ben nodded and turned towards to manhole, "I know."
Once inside, it never took long to get the machine booted up and ready to launch. Ben heard Lucas dump his bag down heavily and sit down behind him. The two of them sat in silence as the launch left the bay of the SeaQuest and headed out into open waters.
"You're really going to do this, aren't you?" Lucas breathed angrily.
"Lucas, what choice do I have?" Krieg asked him, "Commander Ford gave me orders, direct from Captain Bridger that I was to take you ashore," he sighed, then added, "I don't like it either."
"You don't like it!" Lucas almost squealed with the way he raised his voice so rapidly in anger, "How about hating it, Ben? I thought you where my friend!"
"I am you're friend," Ben had the tactto sound hurt, "I am. This hurts like hell, but there's nothing we can do about."
Lucas leaned foward in his seat, "Take me back," he begged.
Ben shut his eyes, "You know I can't."
"You can!" his voice sounded full of hope - of desperation.
Ben stuttered for a few moments, unsure of what to do, "I.. I don't know, Lucas."
"Ben. If you take me to shore, I will have to go back to my father until I can figure things out," Lucas told him.
This made the Lieutenent ponder whether Bridger had really thought this through. How does Bridger know that Lucas really would go back to dear old Dad? If the kid is upset enough, he might run away. He could get hurt.
Then, he let himself think about never seeing the kid again. No more having Lucas help him sneak things on board. No more secret scams. No more little brother. No more Lucas.
Ben pushed his thoughts away, "Lucas... Believe me, there is nothing I want to do more than turn around. But you need to trust Captain Bridger, I'm certain he only has you're best interests at heart."
Lucas snorted, "Yeah. Everyone seems to know what's best for me, but no one stops to ask what I want!"
Ben did not react to Lucas' anger, "I know, buddy, you'll get that all your life," Ben resisted the urge to comment further, instead he added, "Listen, I'm scared about this too, okay?"
He heard Lucas scoff to himself quietly, "Ben, you have no idea," he was silent for a second, "My father will beat me."
Ben frowned, trying to work out whether or not Lucas was serious. His first thought, whizzing by at a million miles an hour was 'How could you joke something like that!'. Lucas must be joking. His brain finally processed Lucas' tone. He wasn't joking. He was then unable to actually process the information. But was it true? Was Lucas really immature enough to lie about something like that?
"What?" the Lieutenant asked, genuinly perplexed.
Lucas didn't answer him. He turned around and looked the teenager, the blue eyes focused on Ben's own intensely. True or not, Lucas believed it. Ben held Lucas' gaze for a moment, looking at him. After a moment Ben broke it and faced the front, releasing a breath he never realised he was holding. He felt Lucas behind him sit back in the seat and sigh to himself. Like he had been for the entire trip, Ben ignored how he was feeling and put his hands back on the wheel. He realised they were shaking.
"Lucas, will your father really beat you?" He was greeted with silence. He tried to repeat the question, "Lucas.."
"Yes, he will," the boy's tone was dead pan. He was completely serious.
Ben hit a few switches and spun the launch around. Lucas' face lite up as he realised that Ben was taking him back. Ben explained quickly, "You know, I was about to turn back anyway."
Lucas giggled happily, "Thanks Ben! Thank you so much."
"Lucas," Krieg interupted him seriously, "You can just waltz back on, you know, you gotta hide out."
Lucas nodded, "Oh yeah. Yeah, I know."
"Okay. You can hide out in my room. I guess now we just have to figure out how to get you there."
There was silence for a few moments as they both contemplated how to accomplish the task. The silence was broke by bother of them at the same time.
"I can crawl through the ducts.." Lucas offered.
"Why do think you're Dad will beat you?" Ben asked.
They both stopped and Ben Krieg turned around again so they could both look at each other.
"That's great," Ben said about the ducts, not breaking the gaze.
Lucas nodded, and answered Ben's question, "Because."
Ben resisted the urge to roll his eyes and turned back to pilot the shuttle, the SeaQuest was once again in site. "Because why? You haven't done anything wrong."
"It wasn't easy to get me into this position, Ben. Dad will assume I got fired. That I did something wrong. He'll be furious."
"He won't listen?" Ben asked him.
Lucas' eyes got a far away look to them, "He never listens."
"But how do you know he'll hit you?" Ben tried to reason. He heard Lucas sit back in his seat and sigh again.
"I just know," the boy told him.
Ben tried to ignore the fact that he didn't feel too well, "Does he beat you often?"
Lucas scoffed, "He doesn't have time."
"But.." Ben Krieg continued, as they said, like watching a train wreck in slow motion -he needed to see all the gorey details, "He has done it before..."
Lucas was quiet for a moment, "It doesn't happen all the time. But when I do something wrong, he doesn't know how else to deal with me. He just doesn't know. He loves me, but.."
Ben found that his mouth was dry and his legs felt slightly numb beneath him. Lucas was like a younger brother to him. He felt this instinct to protect him and teach him. Now, he found, there were things that he couldn't protect him from. Things that he didn't want any loved ones to face, ever. Things that had already happened.
Lucas' voice came from the back again, "Ben, don't tell anyone. They'll freak out."
Ben shook his head, "Your secret's safe with me," he glanced behind him as they entered SeaQuest's docking bay, "But kid, you owe me one. Wait, make that two."
He smiled back at the teenager and Lucas smiled back at him happily.
/End
End Notes
I finally succumbed. I resisted the 'token ELF plot' for years, and I never thought I'd feel the need to do it. But now, it's been done. The token ELF plot in question was, by the way, an idea which I did contemplate during the show.
The other thing to note is that this is also a missing scene from Whale Song. Yes. That missing scene. Unfortunately for me it has been done before on at least three occasions that I can remember, always by magnificant authors. All different takes on what happened with Ben and Lucas in that shuttle. :P
Thanks,Cadi :-)