Thank you so much to those who reviewed Chapter 1. I appreciate every kind word and your encouragement to continue this story. As you can see, I have taken your advice.

I apologize for the extremely long delay in posting Chapter 2, but I've been in the process of moving into a new apartment and looking for a new job (both ventures have been successful). I hope you understand.

Please see the beginning of Chapter 1 for a disclaimer.

And awaaaaaaaaaaaaay we go!

Chapter 2

Darwin broke the surface and playfully splashed a small amount of water at Lucas and Ben. Laughing, Lucas put his hand out to stroke Darwin's head. "So, Fish Face, what's the forecast for today?"

"Grey sky," responded Darwin in his mechanical voice. "Big waves."

"Getting windy up there?" Lucas asked. Darwin nodded.

"Is it raining yet?" Ben asked the dolphin.

"No rain. Grey sky and big waves - hard to swim," Darwin said.

"Great," said Ben, "just great. Let's get started on that inventory so we can get off this tub tonight."

"Sounds good," said Lucas. The teenager turned to Darwin. "I'm gonna help Ben out today, but I'll stop in to say goodbye before I leave."

"Darwin help Ben too," the dolphin replied.

Ben smiled and shook his head. "I don't think you can help, Darwin, but I'll come by later also if the kid here and I can manage to get everything done. Cool?"

"Cool," Darwin repeated and turned to swim off to the Aqua Tube.

Lucas and Ben stood in the corridor outside the Moon Pool trying to come up with a game plan.

"Ok," Ben started, "why don't you start with the science crew. I'm not really in the mood for a lecture from Dr. Westphalen about how I should be more responsible and how I should have started earlier, blah blah blah." Lucas nodded. "Along those lines, would you also mind talking to Captain Bridger and Commander Ford for me?"

"Why them?" Lucas asked.

Ben rolled his eyes. "Because, I do plan on talking to Katie, and there are only so many looks of disdain and accusations of being irresponsible I can take in one day." Lucas just smiled and shook his head, but he agreed to talk to the captain and commander.

"So you want to check in around lunchtime so we can see where we stand?" Lucas asked.

"Sounds good," said Ben. "Then we can figure out if we're gonna make it out of here tonight."

"You know," Lucas started, "it's not that big of a deal if we're not done in time to take a launch tonight. Worst comes to worst, it starts storming up there and the ship won't be able to dock for a day or two. And then voila! Extra time to finish the inventory!"

"Yeah, well, hopefully worst won't come to worst," Ben said. "Now, you go that way," he said, pointing in the direction of the science labs, "and I'll go that way," pointing in the direction of Engineering, where he knew an irritable Katie Hitchcock would be working post-exercise.

"You got it," said Lucas. "See you around lunchtime in the mess."

Lucas walked into the science lab to find Captain Bridger casually chatting with Dr. Westphalen about what they planned to do during shore leave. A smile spread across his face as he realized that he could kill two birds with one stone here.

The teenager strolled over to the captain and the doctor. Noticing his presence, the captain's face lit up with a smile. "Hey, Kiddo, good to see you!" He threw his arm around the boy's shoulders. "I was just discussing shore leave plans with the good doctor here. Assuming the storms clear up in a couple of days, we were thinking about doing some snorkeling. You up for it?"

"We would love it if you'd join us," the doctor chimed in.

"Sure, that sounds like fun," he said with a smile.

"Excellent," said Doctor Westphalen.

"Anyway," Lucas began, "I'm glad you're both here."

"What's up?" asked Captain Bridger.

"Well, as you know, Ben is doing an inventory to find out what needs to be replaced after all the damage from the attack on the ship."

"Ben is doing an inventory?" questioned the captain. "I spoke to him about that several days ago, he should be done by now."

Lucas smiled sheepishly. "Well, you know Ben."

"That I do," said Bridger, "and knowing him as I do, I'm guessing he didn't start until this morning."

"You must be psychic," Lucas replied.

Bridger laughed. "Trust me, it doesn't take a psychic."

"You can say that again," Dr. Westphalen added.

"Anyway," Lucas continued, "he asked my help with it since I'm not doing anything today, and I figured if I help him and we get it done early then we can take a launch up early before the storms hit and get in a little extra R&R."

"That's very nice of you to help him," Dr. Westphalen said with a wicked gleam in her eye. "And I'm guessing that the reason you're here talking to us is so that Ben can avoid a double lecture about responsibility."

Lucas snorted in amusement. "You really must be psychic..." he muttered.

Bridger smiled. "Well, how about we get you our lists of what needs replacing and then I go find Lieutenant Krieg and have a little chat with him." Lucas raised his eyebrows questioningly. "What kind of captain would I be if I deprived one of my officers of a lesson about a proper work ethic?"

Lucas smiled. "Obviously not a very good one. Now, how about we get those lists?"

Over in Engineering, Ben was having about as much luck with Katie as he expected.

"How you ever got to be a lieutenant is beyond me," she said to Ben, shaking her head and fingering the collar of her uniform.

"Productive use of my dazzling wits and charm," Ben replied without pause.

"Yeah, right," she said.

"An-y-way," Ben said, drawing out the word, "can I have your list so I can order your replacements before I go on shore leave, or what?"

Being the responsible officer she was, Katie already had her list made out. She pulled it out of her pocket and went to hand it to Ben, only to pull it back right before his fingers closed around it. "You're lucky I took the time to write this up a couple of days ago when I was expecting you to come ask for it."

Ben fought the urge to roll his eyes as he replied, "Yeah, I know, I'm really lucky." She allowed him to grab the piece of paper out of her hand. "Now, if you don't mind, I have a boat full of people to talk to."

Krieg started to walk away but turned back, realizing that something was missing. "Where's your necklace?" he asked curiously. Not many people knew it, but Katie often wore her Naval Academy class ring on a chain around her neck under her uniform. She didn't wear it on her finger since she worked so often with her hands and didn't want it catching on anything, but Ben knew she liked to keep it on her as a reminder of her accomplishments. Her hand at the collar of her uniform brought Ben's attention to the fact that he couldn't see the gold chain peeking out.

Katie's eyes and voice hardened slightly. "Just didn't feel like wearing it today."

"Geez, no need to get all defensive about it, I was just curious," Ben said backing away, holding his hands up. "I'll just go now."

"Have fun!" Katie called sarcastically as Ben walked away, perusing her list and wondering why she was so peeved today.

Lucas met Ben in the mess at lunchtime. They had both made pretty good progress, so they decided to sit for a little while and eat and relax.

"The captain said he wants to talk to you, Ben," Lucas said with a smirk on his face.

"Brilliant," Ben mumbled. "I thought I was going to be able to get through the day with only Katie's lecture."

"Oh well," started Lucas, "you could always go find him and get it over with."

"I guess," said Ben. "How many people you got left?"

"Not many," Lucas said. "Science crew is taken care of, as are Captain Bridger and Commander Ford. I also ran into O'Neill and Ortiz on my way here, so I have their lists as well."

"Good job, my friend," Krieg said. "I have Katie's list, everyone in Engineering, Crocker's and the rest of the security team."

"Great!" exclaimed Lucas. "So you don't have that many to go." Krieg nodded. "I also had an idea."

"What's that?" Ben asked.

"Why don't we go back to my quarters and I'll start entering the lists we have in a spreadsheet. Then, you can start calling people on their Pals to see what they need, and as new requests come in, I'll just enter them on the spreadsheet, and then you can submit the spreadsheet electronically with the requisition form."

"I knew there was a reason I asked for your help, kid!" Ben couldn't stop the smile from spreading across his face. "This is gonna be great! But hang on, what if people have long lists, like lots of personal items and stuff?" He was silent for a moment. "Never mind, I can just tell them we can only get the essentials for now and that we can order everything else after shore leave. It's perfect!"

End of Chapter 2

I know this chapter seemed kind of slow, but Chapter 3 is where it'll start to pick up more. And (big bonus here), now that I'm done moving and I know in my head where this is going, I should be able to add the next chapter a lot sooner.

Let me know what you think!