Author's Notes: - Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.

Tim checked himself in the mirror frowning at how he looked in his dress uniform. He didn't like wearing it. He always thought he looked like he was a kid dressing up while everyone else looked like adults.

A knock on the door made him start, "Yeah, come in."

"Very nice," Kate said breezing in, her make-up was done, her hair was piled on her head but she was still wearing her jeans and large sweatshirt.

Tim frowned at her, "You're not dressed yet."

"Despite what you may think," Kate laughed, "It doesn't take me more than five minutes to put on a dress. I know this is a big occasion, I will be ready."

Tim smiled, "Good."

Kate moved to him and gently brushed imaginary dirt from his shoulder, "I always like seeing you in this," she slapped his hand away from his collar, "Stop tugging, you look fine."

He studied her face, finding warm brown eyes looking back at him.

"Tim," Miguel's voice came through the door, "Five minutes."

"I better go and get ready," she whispered, she touched her lips to his in a soft kiss, "See you out there."

Tim took a deep breath as she left the room before he walked out himself finding Miguel waiting for him.

"You might want to get rid of the lipstick," his friend chuckled handing him a tissue.

Tim wiped his mouth before frowning at his friend, "Thanks."

Miguel chuckled clapping his friend's shoulder, "Come on we need to get in position."

They made their way and Tim took a few deep breaths turning as the music began. The doors at the top of the aisle opened and he caught his breath as Kate walked out. The long white dress she wore was simple with a few diamond embellishments that were mirrored in the veil, her hand rested lightly on the Captain's arm and she was smiling brightly as they walked towards him

Tim blinked as the world around him changed suddenly. He was no longer in the beautiful church filled with friends and family, he was back in the room on shore-leave with the sudden realisation hitting him.

"Oh no," he breathed, "Oh, I didn't. Please tell me I didn't."

He was pulled out of his panic as he heard Tony yelling for Lucas.

x

"That was the last time we saw Lucas, Captain," Tim explained, his sunglasses barely helping with the headache forming both from the growing hangover as well as the complete lack of sleep, "I mean, we spent the last two hours retracing our steps and scouring every club we got thrown out of."

Bridger grimaced, "It's not like him. He knows there's a curfew at 0200 hours."

"Well," Kate appeared suddenly making Tim jump; "We have checked the hospitals and morgues. The surly teenager is not in any of them. In fact no bodies matching Lucas' description showed up overnight."

Bridger grimaced, "That's a pleasant thought."

"It's a good thing though," Kate continued, Tim noticed her hair was clipped up looking similar to the way she wore it the day they met and he realised suddenly why it looked so familiar in his fantasy, "We'll find him, Nathan then we can take turns killing him," she spun to Tim, "What?

"What?" Tim jumped.

Kate frowned at him, "You're staring at me. Why?"

"What?" he asked again.

"Why are you staring at me?" she demanded.

"Your hair," Tim said before swiftly adding, "You haven't worn it like that since the first day you came onboard."

Kate stared at him for a second before shaking her head, "It was the easiest way to get it out of my face when I got pulled out bed this morning to help track down Lucas."

A taxi drew up pulling their attention and they all stared as Lucas stepped out smiling to himself.

When Bridger marched over to the wayward boy, Kate turned to Tim.

"Go get some sleep," she patted his arm, "You obviously need it."

When she walked away Tim watched her wondering what he was going to do.

Kate wandered through the boat heading for the weekly staff meeting with Barclay.

"Miguel," she called seeing the Sensor Chief leaving the mess, "Wait up."

He turned and smiled at her, "Hey."

"What did you guys do to Tim last night?" Kate asked, the moment she reached him.

Miguel frowned confused, "Nothing. Why?"

"He's been acting really weird all day," Kate told him, "I've tried to speak to him a couple of times and he keeps making excuses to dodge me."

Miguel shrugged, "Sorry, Kate but other than Lucas running away with a girl it was a pretty standard night out."

"And how many pubs were you thrown out of?" she asked with a smirk.

Miguel chuckled, "As I said, a pretty standard night out with Tony."

"So where did Lucas meet this…girl?" Kate asked, "Because one of the reasons I didn't come out with you guys last night is Tony was in charge of where you went."

"We went to one of those Daydream virtual reality places. Tony somehow had coupons for it," Miguel told her as they continued walking, "She was sitting reading some book that no normal person would and Lucas was smitten very quickly."

"She was sitting reading a book he would recognise," Kate mused grimacing when her PAL beeped, "Yeah?"

"I need you to come to the boardroom," Nathan told her, "Now."

Giving Miguel a quick wave Kate started towards the boardroom, she quickly called Barclay letting him know she wouldn't make the meeting. Entering the boardroom she found Nathan and Ford sitting looking grim.

"Let me guess," she said closing the door, "You need my other talents."

x

Nathan smiled slightly as Kate gave him that smug smile, the one he knew so well before she had arrived on the island. The one that told him Kitten was ready to come out and play.

"So," she took the seat across from him, "What do you need?"

"Lucas wants to leave the Seaquest," Nathan explained, "To be with this woman he met last night."

Kate nodded, "I heard."

"What do you think?" Ford asked.

"I think I've done this con myself many times," Kate replied, leaning back with a smile.

Nathan knew he was going to regret asking this question but couldn't stop himself, "And what con would that be?"

Kate smirked, "You find your mark, learn all you need to know about them. Get them to a room and leave them half-naked tied to a bed with no wallet or, on one memorable occasion, a tattoo of an angel on the chest."

"Half-naked?" Ford asked pained.

Kate gave him a wicked smile, "It's why they let you tie them to a bed."

He shuddered slightly.

"Anyway," Nathan interrupted, "Back to the actual issue."

"Lucas," Kate stated.

Nathan nodded, "If the idea was to steal from him then I don't think he would have come home in a cab this morning with a smile on his face."

"Which means she's playing a long game," Ford noted.

Kate smiled at him, "Precisely. And I will bet you anything it's to do with the Seaquest. So what do you need me to do?"

"Just to follow him when he goes to see her," Nathan said, "I want you to do a little snooping while she's distracted and see what you can find out."

Kate gave a sharp nod.

"But don't let either of them see you," Nathan reminded her, "Especially not Lucas."

Kate frowned slightly, "I am extremely offended but don't worry."

Kate felt a surge of adrenalin flow through her as she picked the lock to the garage beneath Lucas' girlfriend's apartment building. It had been such a long time since she'd been able to do anything like this and was trying not to enjoy herself too much. Entering the building she quickly climbed into the ventilation system avoiding the security cameras with practised ease. Finding Kirby's apartment was easy and Kate frowned as she realised the woman could see the harbour from her lounge window.

"When are you expecting him?" a man asked in the room below Kate.

"In the next half hour," a woman, Kate assumed was Sandra Kirby, replied.

The man chuckled, "How long did it take you to persuade him he wanted to leave the Seaquest to stay with you?"

"I didn't persuade him to do anything," innocence filled her voice making Kate want to smack her; "It was all his idea…once I guided him to it."

He laughed again, "Alright, we have everything ready. You're sure he'll do what we want?"

"Absolutely," Sandra practically purred, "He's completely in love with me. He'll give us the codes and we will get the Seaquest."

x

Kate winced when Nathan punched the wall.

"I knew it," he snapped, "I knew this girl was trouble."

"I think trouble is understating it," Kate told him, "You have no idea how much restraint it took not for me to knock her unconscious."

Nathan smiled slightly at her as he absently rubbed his knuckles, "So, what do we do?"

"We don't do anything," Ford spoke up, "Kate, from what you saw they're not working alone."

"No, there is definitely someone pulling the strings," Kate replied, she sighed, "You realise we're letting Lucas walk into this without any warning. He's going to get his heart broken, if they don't shoot him first."

"Which is why you're going to be tailing him," Nathan told her.

Kate rolled her eyes, "Of course it is."

"Captain," Ford interrupted, "Is that a good idea?"

Nathan motioned for him to continue when he hesitated.

"Would it not be safer to send someone who is UEO?" Ford told them, "Someone who isn't trying to stay under the radar."

Kate shook her head, "Jonathan, I'm not standing by and letting this happen to Lucas. He knows you've been giving me self-defence lessons and to be honest I don't care. I need to make sure he's okay, he's the closest thing I've ever had to a little brother."

"Lucas is a smart kid," Ford reminded them, "Whatever they try to get him to do, we all know he'll think of something to subvert it. Kate, you just need to be there to make sure he's safe until we get him out."

Kate nodded, "I'll go catch up with him then."

"You might need this," Nathan said sliding a tazer across the table.

x

Kate held herself in the small space above the room where Lucas was currently tied to a chair. She wanted to go down and help him, actually she wanted to go slap Sandra Kirby good and hard but she couldn't. Nathan needed her to stay put and watch, only doing anything if Lucas was in immediate danger.

Right now, he wasn't.

She watched Kirby enter the chip so he could try to take over the Seaquest, smiling proudly that Lucas had set up a distress call on the chip.

"Good boy," she murmured, wincing when Sandra grabbed a gun and jammed it into Lucas's ribs.

"Nathan," she breathed through the communicator, "Can you hear me?"

"Yes," he replied, "We're outside. Where's Lucas?"

Kate grimaced watching her young friend as he was forced out the room, "They're pushing him to the front door. I can't get to him without someone possibly shooting him."

"Brody's team are here," Nathan assured her, "Get back to the boat. I want you out of there when the police search the place."

Kate let out a long annoyed breath, "Okay. Just get him back safely."

The first person Kate saw when she arrived back on the dock was Tim. He had his back to her and she couldn't resist sneaking up on him.

"Hey."

Tim jumped and almost tripped over his own feet when he saw her making her chuckle.

"What is with you?" Kate demanded with an amused laugh, "You've been acting weird around me all day."

Tim shook his head, "Nothing. Why would you…I mean it's…"

"Deep calming breaths," Kate told him amused, "Let me guess what's bothering you."

Tim swallowed nervously.

"I'm guessing that something happened last night when you were out with the guys," Kate smiled at him, "Something you're hoping I don't find out about."

"Well…"

"What's her name?" Kate asked with a smirk.

x

Relief filled Tim when the Captain arrived back with Lucas and Dr Smith taking Kate's attention away from him. He couldn't get the stupid Daydream fantasy out of his head especially the kiss.

The annoying thing was he'd never thought of Kate in any way other than as his friend. Of course they flirted but that was just something they did. He did love her but he loved her as his friend not anything else – he was sure of it.

"Are you okay, Lucas?" Kate asked as the other three joined them.

Lucas shrugged.

"Come on," Wendy said softly moving the teenager towards the boat, "I want to make sure you're alright after everything."

To Tim's surprise Lucas didn't protest, he just walked sadly with their doctor away from them.

"Mr O'Neill," Bridger said handing him a chip, "Could you replace this please?"

Tim nodded taking the chip before following Lucas and Wendy, glancing back he saw Kate turn to the Captain.

He smiled slightly watching her stand with her hands on her hips, head tilted to one side as she talked with him looking mischievous but endearing.

She was his friend, just his friend.

x

"I didn't like that, Nathan," Kate told him once they were alone, "Hiding and being unable to help, Lucas. I just…"

"It goes against your training?" he asked.

Kate shook her head, "No, it is exactly how I was trained, to protect only myself. I'm meant to hide until I can get out free and clear."

Nathan chuckled softly, "I told you once before these things happen when you get close to people."

"Yeah, yeah," she rolled her eyes.

"Come on," he wrapped his arm around her shoulders, "We're leaving in a few hours."

Kate smiled before asking, "Do you think Lucas will be okay?"

"He's had his heart broken," Nathan replied as they entered the Seaquest, "But it'll mend, they always do."

Kate shrugged, "Thankfully not something I've ever known about."

"I hate to tell you this, kid," Nathan said, "But that's not something to be proud of."