Chapter 17

Lucas came around slowly. At first he refused to open his eyes certain that some how he was hallucinating. He could hear voices in the background that sounded like Captain Bridger and Dr. Smith. The sounds of the medical bay beeped and whirred around him. He didn't care. The last thing he could remember he had been holding Alex's dead body in his arms and sobbing. It slammed home again like a knife to the heart. He had lost her again and this time there would be no miraculous reprieve. He choked as grief constricted his throat. He felt a hand on his arm and forced his eyes open. Captain Bridger's face looked down at him smiling.

"Hey kiddo. How are you feeling? You gave us a pretty good scare there. It's a good thing Alex came up with the idea for those isotopes, they lead us straight to you." he greeted him. The mention of her name made him wince and his heart seize with the loss.

"Alex." Lucas rasped mournfully. Bridger squeezed his arm reassuringly and smiled more. How could he smile about it? Lucas felt like there was a hole where his heart had been.

"Is going to be fine." Nathan put in before Lucas could break into the tears that threatened to start all over again. Lucas felt his skin prickle in shock. He tried to sit up off the bed, he couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"What? I held her while she died..." he spat in disbelief, his heart skipped a beat. Nathan gently kept him from scrambling up, pressing him back down on the bed.

"She's right there. You just stay where you are. You took a pretty good blow to the head before we could get you both out. If we hadn't gotten there when we did she would be dead." Nathan insisted, pointing to a bed a few feet from his own. Lucas looked where Bridger was pointing.

Just as the Captain had said, Alex laid sleeping peacefully. Though she was covered in minor scrapes and bruises that she hadn't had before, all of which had been meticulously tended to. Lucas relaxed back into the bed and relieved laughter silently shook him. Tears still threatened to spill but now they were from relief. Some how Captain Bridger had saved them both.

"I thought the station blew, I thought we were both dead." Lucas confessed, returning his gaze to the Captain. Bridger was smiling down at him fatherly. He shook his head in answer.

"No, what you heard was Brody blowing the door open. Unfortunately it caused some of the equipment inside to come down on you two." Nathan explained.

"What about the overload? The syntium?" Lucas asked worriedly. Nathan stopped him from sending himself into a frenzy over it.

"Brody has a team over there now disassembling it. Henderson managed to disable the main power core once we could get inside. It never had a chance to blow." he assured him. Lucas let out a long sigh of released tension. At least the place hadn't gone off like a fourth of July fire cracker.

"All those people. The kids." he added. The facility might not have blown but Sanborn had still managed to kill at least two dozen people.

"Yes, I'm afraid you were right. We were too late to save the other scientists and psychics Sanborn butchered. But the children are fine. We got everyone else out. We've had to call in reinforcements just to handle all the people we've taken into custody." Nathan reasoned. Lucas felt momentarily sick at the thought of all those lives lost that he and Alex could do nothing about.

"Sometimes you can't save them all Lucas. You and Alex saved a lot of lives. You did all you could." Nathan told him sagely. Lucas nodded in reluctant acceptance.

"Now you should rest. I can't have my chief computer analyst spending all his time in the medical bay." Bridger joked. Lucas smiled despite himself as the Captain gave his shoulder a final pat and left him to rest.

#**#

It took Lucas another two days to be released from the medical bay. He had suffered nothing more than a good thrashing and a concussion the size of New York. When he had finally gotten a look at him self, he found he was covered in the same scraps and bruises Alex was. They both looked like hell.

Alex had to remain several days longer, during the later half of which she had spent her days loudly proclaiming that she was fine and when could she get out of this horribly boring medical bay? The jack had caused an aneurism, the port in its own way had saved her life. The opening it provided had prevented the pressure in her head from building and killing her for some time before she had actually collapsed.

Captain Bridger had declared shore leave since the Kermadec Trench wasn't far from Fiji and most of them had nothing to do while the deconstruction of the station was completed and people were sorted out. Lucas and Alex were taking full advantage of it and were having a , somewhat quiet, meal at a little restaurant on the beach. Alex poked her food again with her fork. Since Sanborn's death and the resolution of his scheme she had returned to her old self with a vengeance. Bringing it all to a close had resulted in more closure for her than anything else had.

"This looks about as much like shrimp scampi as a bowl of pulverized flat worms." She mused, pushing the plates contents around and eying them warily. Lucas grinned and popped another piece of sushi in his mouth.

"That's what you get for taking Tony's advice on meal choices." he observed. She gave him a reproachful look.

"Remind me never to do it again." she told him with a chuckle. Her statement was punctuated but laughter from a nearby table. Tony was looking very pleased with himself. Somehow he had managed to rope Henderson, O'Neill, Commander Ford and Brody into a game of poker. Apparently he was winning.

"How is that plasma burn treatment with Dr. Smith coming?" he asked casually. Neither of them had really talked about what had happened since they had made it out alive. He wasn't sure either of them wanted to.

"Very well actually. She doesn't need me anymore. We figured out a way to protect the burns with a synthetic skin compound. It will also make healing take half the time it normally would." she answered brightly. Lucas smiled and nodded.

"Great. That will come in handy for a lot of people I'm sure." he told her. Amicable silence descended on them as they took in all that was around them.

Captain Bridger was down at the shore playing catch with Darwin with Wendy playing referee. Ortiz and a number of other crew members were engaged in a volley ball game not far away. The sun shone down on them with full force, not a shadow could be seen. The water sparkled in the light like a thousand diamonds had been spilled on its surface and a gentle breeze played through the palm trees. It was as idyllic a day as one could hope for. Both of them ditched their meal in favor of a walk down the beach hand in hand.

"We'll be going back to New Cape Quest when we're done here. I guess we'll have to figure out what to do with bunk arrangements then. Tony is going to love it if he gets his own quarters." Lucas said breaking the silence, he was looking forward to spending a great deal more time with Alex. Finally saying he loved her had freed him of any reservations he had had. It had taken losing her twice to make him see reason but now he wouldn't have changed it for the world. Alex looked at him apprehensively.

"Lucas about that." she began.

"Oh. Did you want to keep separate quarters? It's fine if you do." he insisted, running over her words. She shook her head.

"It's not that. Lucas, I can't stay." she said softly. Lucas felt like someone had just kicked him.

"What? Why not? You could join the science team. I know Captain Bridger would love to have you on board." Lucas reasoned rapidly. Alex sighed and stopped walking.

"Yes I could and maybe one day I will. I'm sure Captain Bridger would be willing to have me as part of the crew. But I spent six years in a coma, and the last few weeks trying to come to terms with what happened and thwart Sanborn. SeaQuest is great and I would love to stay, but I have to get my life back. I have to go out there and live in the real world for a while. I need that." she explained, searching his face for acceptance. Lucas dropped his gaze to the sand for a moment.

"I understand. You're right. It's not fair of me to keep you here if it's not what you want." Lucas answered dismally. This had not been how he wanted things to go.

"I do want it. I just need to get my life back first Lucas. That's all." she pleaded. Lucas brushed a tendril of gold hair out of her eyes gently.

"I know." he said smiling wanly.

"Will you wait for me?" she asked, a tinge of worry in her voice.

"Of course I will. I have no intention of letting you get away now not after all I went through to get you back. But you will come back to the seaQuest one day? Soon?" he asked hopefully. She smiled widely.

"You bet your life on it!" she declared. He smiled back and pulled her into his arms.

"I love you Alex." he said.

"I love you too Lucas." she answered. With that he drew her lips to his and kissed her with all the passion he could convey in one kiss. Around them the crew of the seaQuest was watching and cheering.