Nathan Bridger glanced up quickly as Lucas bounced through the dining room.  Then he turned his attention back to the papers in his hands.  "Good morning, Kiddo."

"Good morning, sir," Lucas said rummaging through a cabinet in the kitchen.  He wandered back into the dining room with a large glass of milk and a bowl of cereal smiling broadly.  "And it looks like it's a great day out there."

"Yeah," Bridger paused and sighed, frowning slightly as Lucas swung his leg over the back of his chair rather than pulling it out and sitting in it properly.  "But there's storm warnings on the horizon."

Lucas spoke around the cereal in his mouth.  "I didn't see anything in the weather forecast last night about storms," he frowned.

"Trust me, the disturbance isn't atmospheric."

Just then Kristin came around the corner from the hallway and headed into the kitchen.  "Good morning, Lucas."  She came back out with a cup of coffee in her hand.

The Captain glanced up from his papers.  "Good morning, babe."

Kristin glared at him.  "Idiot," was the only word she spat out before walking to the back of the house again.

Nathan sighed and Lucas stared after her.  Finally the boy turned his gaze to the older man across the table.  "So how the hell did you do that???"

"What?"

"She was perfectly happy with you last night.  How did you manage to get her so pissed with you overnight?"

"It's a long story," Nathan grimaced.  He looked back at his papers and then glanced back up only to find Lucas staring expectantly at him.  He sighed again and shrugged his shoulders.  "It's just that last night I came up with what I think is a solution for a hydraulics problem we're having."

"Yeah??" Lucas said hesitantly.

"Yeah," Nathan said shortly.  "A piston problem."

"Uh huh….."  Now Lucas was leaning forward and staring at him again.

"In the middle of making love," the Captain mumbled.

Lucas' eyes got big and a broad smile crossed his face.  "You're kidding," he said conspiratorially.  "A piston problem in the middle of making love?????"

"Um, yeah."

"Boy, can't tell that you're an engineer or anything can ya??" the boy sat back and chuckled.

Kristin came around the corner again as Lucas made this last comment and stopped dead glaring at Bridger again.  "You told him??" she asked sharply.

Nathan chose to ignore the question.  "I did say that I was sorry, hon," he said quietly.

"Moron," she said turning to the back of the house again.

"I don't think she's happy with you," Lucas said with an innocent face.

"For a change," Nathan groused.

The ride to work was a quiet one.  During the ride the only sound made by the occupants of the car was a small chuckle by Lucas in the back seat which was answered by a withering glare from Kristin that immediately silenced the boy.  When they arrived at the UEO complex Nathan pulled up to the curb to drop Kristin off at the science building.

"Lunch?" he asked as she started to exit the car.

"Katie is in town," Kristin answered shortly and then slammed the door stalking up the stairs into the building without so much as a turn of her head.

Nathan sighed as he pulled away from the curb while Lucas chuckled again.

Around noon Lucas struck his head into the Captain's office only to see him bent over his computer and frowning intently at the display on the wall.  The boy watched him click a couple of times and came further into the office.  The wall display was covered with a complicated schematic that Bridger was annotating.

"Looks impressive, Cap," he said standing behind the older man.  "Is it gonna work?"

"It just may, Lucas," Nathan said in a preoccupied voice.  "It just may."

"Lunch time, sir."

"I think I'm going to pass, kiddo."

Lucas smiled a little and shook his head.  "Tell you what.  How about if I pick you up a jelly sandwich and some chips?"

Nathan glanced up at him with a small grin.  "And a glass of milk?"

"And a glass of milk," Lucas nodded.

"Thanks," Bridger said turning back to his drawings as Lucas left the room.

"Katie, it's just amazing," Kristin said in a frustrated voice.  "He can be such a propeller-head some times.  It just drives me crazy."  She took a sip from the glass of iced tea in front of her.

Katie Hitchcock smiled over at the other woman and speared a piece of lettuce with her fork.  The restaurant they had chosen was perfect.  Just quiet enough that they could talk easily and private enough that they could converse without having the whole world listen in.  "You know, they say that the reason people become engineers is that they don't have the personality to become morticians."  Kristin smiled tolerantly.  "He's not really that bad, is he?"

Kristin shook her head again sadly.  "Let me give you an example.  Last night we were making love and he stops cold.  Just stops."

"Right in the middle of…."  Katie shrugged and Kristin nodded.  "Why??"

"I asked him that," Kristin said peevishly.  "I asked him if he planned on finishing or if he just wanted to stay like that."  She fiercely stuck her fork into the chicken breast on her plate.  "He had kind of a far-away look on his face and I had to ask him a second time.  Then he just nodded… didn't say a word… just nodded and started up again kind of half-heartedly.  Then after a little bit he smiled without a word, nodded again and finally got back to what he was doing.  So, of course, afterwards I had to ask him what that was all about and he tells me that they'd had some sort of problem with piston hydraulics or something like that and the solution had just come to him."  Her voice got a bit more strained.  "Smack dab in the middle of making love."

Katie couldn't keep the slight smile from her face.  She also shook her head a little.  "Piston hydraulics??"

"Yup," Kristin said shortly.  "He drives me nuts."

"But is he worth it?" Katie asked gently.

Kristin's face softened and she visibly relaxed.  "Oh yes.  He's more than worth it."  She smiled tenderly and shook her head again.  "I don't know what I ever did without him."

Lucas gently thumped the seat in front of him with his foot until the Captain glared back at him.  The passenger door opened and Kristin slipped in next to him.  "Hi, Babe."

"Hi, Doc."

Kristin glanced quickly at Nathan and then turned and smiled at Lucas.  "Hello, dear.  How was your day?"

"Pretty good," Lucas answered in a chipper voice.  "The new stinger is almost done."

"Do you test it soon?" she asked as Bridger silently pulled from the curb.

"Hopefully sometime next week."

"You will be careful, won't you?" Kristin frowned in concern.

Lucas responded with a barely tolerant smile.  "Yes, Doc," he answered patiently.  "I promise to wear my helmet and to not get stupid."

"Alright," she said turning back to face forward but still not acknowledging Nathan.  "As long as you take care of yourself."

Kristin had managed to spend the entire evening without saying a word to Nathan.  As the night progressed she smiled slightly at the more and more discouraged look he wore on his face.  Finally it was bedtime and Kristin sat on the side of the bed taking off her shoes as Nathan wandered in from the bathroom closing the bedroom door behind him.  He had his back to Kristin while he slowly took off his shirt and tossed it into the laundry basket giving up on the hope that Kristin might talk to him sometime that night.  He started in
surprise as he felt her hands run across his bare shoulders.

He turned with an apologetic look on his face.  "I really am sorry, Kris."

"I know," she said running her fingers down his ribcage while he slipped his arms around her waist.  "You can't help it that you're a propeller-head.  It's one of the things that makes you charming."

He smiled and brought his head down, kissing her softly as he pulled her close.  While they kissed Nathan opened Kristin's shirt and slipped it from her shoulders dropping it to the floor where it was quickly joined by her bra.  They glided over to the bed as their embraces became more intimate and persistent.  Lying naked on the bed Nathan was anointing Kristin's neck and shoulder with little kisses as his hands roamed across the soft, flat plain of her stomach.

"Nathan?" Kristin said with a little gasp as he nibbled on her earlobe.

"Hmmm???"

"Did you finish the design?"

"What design?" he mumbled.

"The design for whatever you were doing with the damned piston hydraulics," she said running her fingernails up his spine.

A soft groan rumbled from deep in Nathan's chest.  "Yeah," he breathed against her neck as his lips started a southward trek along her skin.  "I finished it."  Kristin put her hands on his ears and pulled his head up until he was looking at her.  He saw the questioning look on her face and strove to explain.  "It had to do with proper sheathing of the piston to reduce the drag.  I realized that a sleeve combined with water polymer sheeting might do the
trick."

"What?  Running a film of air across the surface like you do with the seaQuest to improve its speed in water?"

"Yeah," he said nudging the skin between her breasts with his chin.

"Is it going to work?" she asked softly.

A smile slowly worked its way across Nathan's face.  "Oh, yeah," he grinned.  "It's definitely going to work."

She smiled back, nodded and then ran her fingers through his hair.  "Good," she said with a smile as he lowered his head again and then she gasped softly as his lips found her breast.