Nathan Bridger lay soaked with sweat as he tried desperately to control his breathing.  He could feel his heart trying to thump out of his chest as he looked upwards into the darkness of his room.  As his breathing gradually slowed and the overwhelming feeling of panic dissipated he swore quietly to himself. Damn, he hated that nightmare.  He hated having it attack his sleep, he hated what had caused the dream itself and he hated the knowledge that if he went back to sleep the nightmare would reappear to destroy his sleep yet again.  Frustrated, he pushed his covers off and swung his legs out until he sat on the side of the bed.

For quite a while he sat there staring into the darkness.  Reliving the nightmare that had awaken him.  Reliving the noise and the heat and the desperation surrounding the last minutes of the seaQuest.  He closed his eyes momentarily and took a couple of deep breaths before standing and taking his robe from the hook on the back of his door. Tightening the robe around his body, Bridger slowly wandered to the double French doors that led to the screened-in porch extending the whole length of the beach side of the house.  He opened the doors and walked out onto the porch.

Immediately he sensed the smell of rain in the air and as he watched he could see the gentle splash of raindrops reflecting off the wet surface of the dock.  The wind was blowing the rain away from the house so the deck was relatively dry except for the dampness in the air which had settled on the furniture and Nathan slowly lowered himself into one of the wicker chairs.   He leaned forward with his elbows on his knees trying to think of anything else but the nightmare.  Thinking about the building of the new boat, about the baseball game he and Lucas had gone to a week ago, thinking about some more unpleasant things too.  Like the fight that they'd had a couple of days ago with Lucas' mother, like having to have all the windows in his car replaced, like the broken cheekbone on the left side of his face and how the damp air made it throb.  At least the bruising wasn't so evident anymore.  He was beginning to feel like a gargoyle.   All cuts and bruises and breaks.

Nathan leaned his head back against the chair and tried to keep from falling asleep.  He turned his thoughts to more pleasant considerations.  Like Kristin.  Boy, what he wouldn't give to be able to look even six months into the future and see where they would be. It had been pretty strange, suddenly realizing that he loved her... strange and unexpected.  And it had been even stranger to realize that she loved him too.  He hadn't been looking for this... not at all - but things had progressed fast.  Sometimes too fast.  He was going to have to get around to thanking Lucas some day for his interruption of their escapades in his cabin the night before the seaQuest sank.  That night had been the first one where the relationship had started moving... and oh boy, did it move.  They were in the process of making moves that neither one of them was ready for when Lucas' hologram modification had intruded on their intimate embrace.

God, he had thought that he was going to have a heart attack when Carol's voice suddenly came from the hologram.  He chuckled softly to himself.  He wondered, considering how tightly they had been holding onto one another at that moment, whether Kristin had felt the incredible beating of his heart when he heard the hologram speak.  He stared at a point of the ceiling where the screening met the panels of the overhead.  He wondered where Lucas had gotten Carol's voiceprint.... because the voice had been just right.  Just like she was in the same room, standing there talking to him... that wonderful, melodious voice... a voice he thought that he'd never hear again.

And that brought his thoughts around to Carol.  Oh Lord, how he missed her.  He'd reached the point where he didn't think about her every day.  Almost everyday but not every day now.  Except when he'd started seeing Kristin.  Then he thought about Carol a lot.  As he thought back over the last few years he could almost see the progression from the days when all he thought about was Carol... not that there was much else to think about on the island... to when he guiltily realized that he wasn't thinking of her each day... to now, when she still crossed his mind often but it was far less painful than it had been before.

Nathan sighed and looked at his watch.  3:30 in the morning, hell, he was going to be in great shape for work tomorrow.  He wearily pushed himself out of the chair and wandered into the kitchen to grab a glass of milk.  Maybe that would stop the fight that seemed to have broken out in his stomach.  Flipping the kitchen light off he stopped for a moment in the dining room to let his eyes adjust to the darkness again.  He frowned as he heard a soft strangled cry from the other side of the house.  Nathan walked over to Lucas' bedroom and pushed the door open.  He sighed resignedly as he saw that he wasn't the only one in the house with nightmares tonight.

Lucas was turning fretfully in his bed, his arms bent over his face like he was protecting himself from an attack.  Nathan could hear the boy occasionally mumble, pleading out to the unseen villain in his dream.  He moved closer to the bed and looked down at the tormented boy.  Nathan reached out and gently prodded his shoulder.

"Lucas," he called softly, not wanting to wake the boy too quickly.

Lucas only swatted his hand away without waking and renewed his anxious shifting, turning on his side away from Nathan.  Nathan leaned a little closer and again shook him, this time a little harder.

"Lucas," he called, this time in a more forceful voice.

In the darkness Bridger never even saw the reflexive movement.  The fist came up so fast that he never had a chance to duck or parry the blow.  Lucas' closed fist caught Bridger solid on his right cheek and he went crashing backwards into a chair, the wall and Lucas' hamper.

Bridger looked back over at Lucas and saw that he was now sitting upright, stiff in his bed.  "Ow," Nathan muttered softly.

The boy seemed to shake himself and then quickly looked Bridger's way.  He reached over to his bedside lamp and Nathan squinted in the bright light as he clicked it on.  Lucas was still sitting upright in the bed but now he was looking at Nathan with confused, barely coherent eyes.

"Are you alright?" Nathan asked the boy.  Still with the confused look, Lucas nodded but didn't say anything.  "You were having a nightmare and I tried to wake you up," Nathan explained.  He started pulling himself up from where he had fallen against the wall but stopped as a sharp stab of pain radiated though his left arm.  "Ow," he said again.

"Are *you* alright?" Lucas asked, staring at the Captain.

Bridger was inspecting the outside of his left arm.  "Ah, crap," he said in a heartfelt voice.

Lucas saw the red tinge of the blood forming a small pool on the floor next to Bridger's leg.  "You're not alright," he said scrambling out of the bed.

"Just a cut," Nathan said irritated.  "Could you get me a towel?" Lucas quickly grabbed a towel from the bathroom and was back again. He knelt next to Bridger as he put the towel against a rather large gash on his arm.  Nathan looked up at the boy with a grimace.  "I was carrying a glass of milk and I must have landed on it."

"I am so sorry, sir," Lucas said nervously.

"My own fault," Nathan shrugged.  "I should know better than to try to wake someone who's having a nightmare quite like that."  He gingerly made his way to his feet with Lucas' help.

"That's a pretty big cut."

"Yeah," Nathan said disgustedly.  "I made a mess of your floor too."

Lucas swallowed hard.  "I made a mess of your face too, sir"

Nathan gingerly brought the thumb of his left hand up to touch his right cheek.  "Ow," he repeated once again and frowned.  He moved out of the room and into the bathroom.  After flipping the light on with his shoulder he looked across the small room into the mirror and saw that his right cheek was now sporting a rather definite mouse which showed promise for turning colors.  Already it was an angry red and starting to turn to purple.  In the mirror he could see Lucas standing behind him with an anxious look covering his face.

Grimacing, Nathan leaned over the sink and gingerly removed the towel to inspect the cut.  The gash started just below his elbow on the underside of his arm and extended about seven inches towards his wrist.  Another glance in the mirror showed that Lucas had gone extremely pale while looking at the cut.

"That's a pretty bad cut," he mumbled softly.

"Yeah," Nathan said as he placed the towel back over the cut.  "It is."

"You want me to call an ambulance?" Lucas asked alternating his glance between Bridger's face and the blood soaked towel around his arm.

"No," Nathan said hastily.  He turned and leaned against the sink.  "We can handle this."

"Your car's in the shop."

"Yeah, I know."

"And you can't drive the motorcycle like that."

"Yeah, I know," he repeated.  He shook his head a little and then raised his eyes to look at Lucas.  "I guess I'm going to have to call Kris."

If it was possible, Lucas went even paler.  "You don't have to call her, do you?" he asked in a panicked voice.

"I'm open to suggestions if you've got any others."  He glanced sharply at the boy, "Short of calling an ambulance."

"Oh, God," Lucas said in a pained voice and fled down the hallway. Nathan heard the slamming of his bedroom door as he retreated in there.

"Christ," Nathan said in a heartfelt voice as he stood and moved out into the kitchen.  He stood at the counter that separated the dining room and the kitchen and swung the vid-phone over to face him.  He hesitated for just a moment and then leaned his injured arm on the countertop while he punched in the numbers to call Kristin.

The phone rang three times before Nathan saw the screen connect and he was looking at Kristin's sleepy face and tousled hair.  "What?" she asked nastily.

"Sorry to wake you up," Nathan started.

"What the hell happened to your face?" Kristin broke in.

Nathan gave her a small, humorless smile.  "Lucas was having a nightmare and I tried to wake him up."  He shrugged, "I learned that you should never get close to Lucas when he's having a nightmare."

"He hit you?"

"Yeah... he was still asleep."   He took a breath and sighed.  "But that's not the biggest problem."

Kristin sat up in bed and looked harder at him.  Despite the pain in his cheek and arm Nathan couldn't help but admire the light green satin nightgown that she was wearing.  "What's the biggest problem?" she asked warily.

"I was carrying a glass when I tried to wake him up and I kinda got smacked across the room.  I landed on the glass when I fell."

"How bad are you hurt?"

"I've got a pretty good cut on my arm," he held up his towel-covered arm to show her.

"Let me see."  Nathan grimaced as he unwound the towel from his arm and showed Kristin the still bleeding cut.  "Alright," she said pushing her covers away, "wrap that back in the towel."  She watched as Nathan recovered his wound.  "Can you or Lucas keep up pressure on that cut until I get there?"

Nathan sighed and looked to the left towards Lucas' room, "At the moment, Lucas has retreated to his room... but yes, I can keep pressure on it until you arrive."

"Good, I should only be about 15 minutes."

"Right," Nathan said with a half smile.  "Thanks."

"Okay, do not take the towel off of it until I get there, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am," Nathan said as Kristin broke the connection. Nathan sighed again and leaned his head down on the counter for a moment before raising it to look at the locked French doors.  He thought for a second and then, cradling his injured arm with his other one he went to Lucas' bedroom door.

"Lucas," he called... No answer.  "Lucas," he called again.  This time he heard a shuffling in the room but still no answer.  Nathan leaned back against the wall.  "Lucas," he said loudly, "I need you to unlock the doors so Kristin can get in."  He waited a while until he finally saw the doorknob turn and the door open.  The boy looked out at him with a stricken look on his face.  He looked like he'd been crying.  "I kind of have both of my arms occupied at the moment," Nathan explained.

Lucas nodded silently and came out of his room.  Nathan moved back into the kitchen as the boy opened the French doors and then went out onto the porch to open that door.  A short time later he came back in and looked over at Bridger leaning against the counter in the kitchen.  Lucas glanced back towards his bedroom but then moved into the kitchen, grabbing one of the tall bar stools from the dining room as he passed them.  He slid the chair up to Nathan.

"Why don't you sit down?  You look kinda pale."

Nathan hooked the chair with his foot to pull it closer and sat gratefully.  "Thanks."  He looked over at Lucas' still confused face.  "Are you alright?"

"You're the one who's hurt," the boy said quietly.

"I'm the one who's hurt physically," Nathan countered.  Lucas looked up at him and then swallowed and looked back down at the floor.  "It's alright, Lucas," Nathan said softly.  "I know now never to wake you up from a nightmare like that again.  Seems to me that you found out that same little tidbit about me one night."

Lucas sighed and went over to the freezer where he put several ice cubes into a plastic bag and then he came to sit on a chair on the other side of the countertop.  His forehead creased as he looked at the blood-soaked towel.  "Can I help with that?" he asked quietly.

Nathan grimaced a little as he moved his arm.  "Kristin said to keep the towel on it until she got here but I'm also supposed to be putting pressure on the cut."

Lucas reached out his hands.  "You're looking pretty pale.  Why don't I take over the keeping pressure on part and you can put this ice on your face?"

"You're looking pretty pale yourself," Nathan said gently.

The boy looked up at him with only a shadow of a grin.  "Yeah, but I'm not hurt," he paused, "physically, that is."  Nathan winced and groaned a little as Lucas took over putting pressure on his cut.  "Sorry," Lucas muttered.

"That's okay."  He hazarded a look at the boy.  Lucas had his whole attention focused on keeping the pressure on his cut.  "You didn't mean to do it, Lucas.  You were still asleep."

"I know," the boy sighed.  "I'm just a little shook by all this."  He frowned, never meeting Bridger's eyes.  "And I'm not quite sure what happens now."

"Now we see about getting my arm stitched up," Nathan said reasonably.

"I hit you, sir," Lucas said, his voice almost a whisper.

Nathan leaned towards the boy and tilted his head down until he could see his face.  "You were asleep," he emphasized.

"Yeah, but..."

"No buts," Nathan broke in.  "That must have been one hell of a nightmare."

Lucas finally hazarded a glance up at him.  "Yeah, it was."

"Can I ask?"

Lucas nodded slowly, "My mom, what else," he said in a resigned voice.  He heard the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs and moments later Kristin was standing in the kitchen dressed in jeans and a denim button-up shirt.  She put her medical bag up on the counter.

"Hi," Nathan said with a feeble smile.

Kristin leaned across and pulled the ice bag off his cheek.  "Hi... oh that's going to be lovely," she said sarcastically as she moved Nathan's hand and the ice back to rest on his cheek.  "Let's go over to the sink to have a look at that arm."

"You don't wanna use the bathroom?" Nathan asked.

"No," Kristin responded positively.  "The kitchen sink will do fine. The lighting is better  and then we can put your arm on the countertop to stitch it up."

"Oh, that sounds pleasant," Nathan said as he moved to the sink with Kristin keeping up the pressure on his arm.  Lucas saw him flinch a little when Kristin took the towel off.  The cut was still bleeding some but not as bad as it had originally.

"What in God's name did you cut yourself on?"

"I was carrying a glass full of milk... I guess I fell on it." Nathan flinched again as Kristin probed the wound.

"And what were you doing up wandering around the house with a glass of milk at 3:30 in the bloody morning?" she mumbled.

Nathan looked over at Lucas before answering.  "Lucas wasn't the only one in the house with nightmares tonight," he shrugged.

"Um hum," Kristin said absently and turned towards her bag.  She rummaged around for a while before coming up with a syringe and a bottle of a liquid.  "I'm going to anesthetize that cut."

"How come you doctors can't come up with a less painful way of doing that?" Nathan asked peevishly.

"Because this works best," Kristin said loading up the syringe.  She looked at the pained look on Nathan's face and tsked.  "I'll spray on a topical anesthetic first if it'll make you feel better."

"It would," Nathan groused.  "Do you realize how many times in the last three weeks I've gotten stuck with a needle?  I'm beginning to feel like I should start leaking for Christ's sake."

Kristin brought out a spray bottle of topical anesthetic.  "This will burn just a little until it starts to work," she said pointing it at the cut.

Nathan looked over his shoulder at Lucas with a grimace.  "Oh great, now we've got an anesthetic that hurts."  He flinched as the cold spray hit the cut.  Shortly afterwards the cold feeling was replaced by a definite, deep warmth.  "Yeow, you weren't kidding."

"You can take it," Kristin said placidly.  She proceeded to inject the anesthetic into the cut only shaking her head a little as Bridger flinched and grabbed onto the counter with the hand of his uninjured arm.  After allowing a little time for the drug to work she broke open a package of medical instruments and started probing at the cut.  "Can you feel that?"

"No," Nathan said bringing the ice pack back up to his cheek.

Kristin used a pair of forceps and a bright light to inspect the wound. "You do have a couple of pieces of glass stuck up in it."  She held up a bloody shard so he could see and then put it on the sterile towel she had placed on the countertop.  After a bit more probing and removal of shards Kristin used a bottle of sterile water to irrigate the cut.  "Well, at least it's not too deep.  Lucas, could you take one of the sterile towels from my bag and put it out on the countertop there?"  She indicated with a nod of her head.

"What's that for?" Nathan asked.

"That's where I'm going to do the stitching... this should be good for at least 25 stitches."

"Wonderful," Nathan said dryly.

Kristin guided Nathan over to the countertop and placed his arm on the sterile towel.  "Are you alright?" she asked Lucas gently.

She was relieved to see a shy grin on his face.  "Oh, sure.  I'm not the one who's hurt... physically that is."  Kristin caught the quick grin that Nathan flashed the boy.  It must be an inside joke.  Lucas leaned over a little to look at Kristin start to stitch up the cut.  "Maybe I'll go clean up the mess in my room while you two have all this fun."

"Chicken," Nathan groused good-naturedly.

"Bwaaak," Lucas said imitating a chicken as he turned towards the bedroom.

"Be careful with that glass," Nathan said hazarding a glance over at what Kristin was doing before turning his head away again with a grimace.  Lucas nodded and headed to the back.

When Lucas returned about 15 minutes later Kristin was just finishing up with the stitches.  By now, Bridger was cradling his head face down in his good arm which was resting on the counter carefully not watching Kristin work.

"How's it going?" Lucas asked dumping a bloody towel with the broken glass pieces in the trash can.

"Almost done," Kristin said as Nathan rolled his head over a little and opened one eye to look at her.  "Oh, you can be such a baby sometimes," she said in a frustrated voice.

"It's not your arm," Nathan said impassively.  He lifted his head as Lucas sat down in the chair on the other side of the counter.  "All cleaned up?"

"Yeah, that was a mess," he sighed and watched as Bridger brought the ice pack up to his cheek again.  "Are you sure that you're not angry with me?" he asked tentatively.

"I'm not mad at you, Lucas," Nathan said and then he shrugged.  "I'm a little irritated with myself for getting that close to you while trying to wake you up... I should have been more careful."

"I'm really sorry about hitting you, sir."

"I know, Lucas.  It's alright."  A small smile crossed his face and he shook his head a little.  "So do you think that you and I will ever find out what a normal life is?"

Lucas grinned back at him shyly.  "I've got a depressing thought for you, sir."  He looked up at the quizzical look on Nathan's face.  "What if this does turn out to be normal life for us?"

A resigned look crossed Nathan's face.  "Now *that's* depressing."