Author's Notes: Thanks to Stonedtoad for betaing.
Kate leaned against the wall and gulped down the bottle of water sitting there.
"Let's go again," Mac told her after a few seconds.
She rolled her eyes, "What is the point of this?"
"You've let your training slip since you joined the Seaquest," Mac told her, "Considering what you and Tobias are planning I want to ensure you are at peak fitness."
Kate frowned at him, "I have been training with Ford since the first few months."
"He obviously doesn't know what to work on," Mac replied, "Your right side is so much weaker than it should be."
"That was the broken arm," Kate retorted sharply, "It took a long time to get any power back into it at all."
Mac rested his hand on her shoulder, "Therefore you need to step up your training to ensure you get back to full strength."
Before she could reply Tobias called her to join him.
"What's up?" Kate asked draping the towel around her neck and drinking some more water as she walked over to the small console where Tobias sat.
"The bug is on the bridge at the moment," he told her, "Sounds like something is happening."
They had only managed to get one onboard and to avoid the sensors it had to move constantly around the boat. That meant there was only a few times a day when they had a connection to important parts of the boat.
Kate slid into the seat at his side and placed the headset on, "You know we need a better bug."
Tobias nodded, "But until we find a legitimate reason for either of us to be on the boat we're stuck with this."
Turning up the volume Kate winced at the yelling coming from the Seaquest bridge, "What the hell is Henderson screaming about?"
Tobias shrugged, "We missed the beginning."
"Hudson is not going to take that," Kate mused grimacing as she listened some more and discovered Brody was in charge on the bridge.
As they continued to listen, taking in as much information as possible Kate shook her head in annoyance. When they lost the connection to the bridge she pulled her headset off and sighed, "We need a better bug."
x
Tim was relieved that Hudson was back and Ford was recovering from his injury, his shift finished he headed down to get some lunch before he went back to going over the upgrade ideas. He'd taken everything Kate and Miguel had sitting adding it to the pile he kept and was going over them to see if there was any that could be helpful now after the ten year gap.
"Are you heading for lunch?"
Tim saw Lonnie standing there and grimaced. Her behaviour on the bridge earlier had been something Tim knew anyone else would have been censured for but for some reason no one mentioned it once Hudson had returned.
"Yes," he said shortly.
Lonnie smiled, "Do you mind if I join you?"
"I'm going to eat and work," Tim told her, "I have some things I want to do."
Confusion covered her face, "Is something wrong?"
He wanted to tell her no, wanted to get out of there but he couldn't because he was angry. Angry that the world he knew was suddenly gone, his family were dead and the two people closest to him were no longer here. One dead and the other…the other…he honestly wasn't sure what she was now.
"Tim," Lonnie frowned when he didn't reply, "What's wrong? Did I do something?"
"Yes," he snapped suddenly before he started walking.
Lonnie caught up with him and grabbed his arm, "What? You can't tell me I did something then just walk away. So talk to me."
Tim shook his head, "What happened on the bridge was completely out of order, Lonnie."
"Jim was wrong," Lonnie frowned, "You agreed with me."
"But there are ways to express it," Tim told her sharply, "You're an officer now, Lonnie you can't stand on the bridge and scream at your commander."
She shook her head, "I was right."
"Would you have done that if it was Ford, or Bridger or Hudson?" Tim snapped, "I never thought I would agree with Kate on this but right now…"
"Kate," Lonnie snapped back, "Why does everything with you come back to her? She left Tim, get over it."
Tim clenched his jaw before he ground out, "Yes, she is gone and I cannot apologise for what I said before she left. Lonnie, if you ever act like that again on the bridge I will be the one to ensure the Captain is informed."
With that said he walked away relieved she didn't follow him this time.
x
Kate leaned on the desk with the headphones on listening into the bug on the Seaquest. She smiled to herself as she listened to the discussion/fight between Henderson and Tim.
She didn't realise how much she'd missed his voice. She wished she could talk to him face to face again after their last conversation but knew, at the moment, listening in to snatches of conversations was all she had.
A shadow covered her and she looked up to see Tobias standing there, concern on his face.
"Anything interesting?" he asked.
Kate rolled her eyes, "We need a better bug."