Chrrrup

Nathan Bridger rolled over and opened one eye. Just after one in the morning. This had better be good, he thought reaching for his PAL as it chirped again. "Bridger."

"I have an urgent call for you from Admiral Noyce, sir," Tim O'Neill said from the bridge.

"Put it through to my cabin."

"Aye, sir."

Bridger slowly got up and pulled his robe on while rubbing sleep from his eyes. He crossed the room to his desk and after sitting down, turned the vid-link on. "What's the matter, Bill?"

"I'm sorry to wake you, Nathan, but there's been an accident. Margaret is dead and Steven's in intensive care at the hospital," William Noyce said gravely.

He knew the shock was evident on his face, but Bridger tried to rein in his emotions for the moment. "How bad is he?"

"I'm afraid they don't expect him to pull through."

"Is Katherine OK?"

"She's fine, she wasn't in the car with them."

Bridger gave a sigh of relief. "Bill ..."

"Already done, a chopper will meet your launch in three hours."

Bridger had to smile at how well his friend knew him. "Thank you."

"No problem. And Nathan, I am sorry. I know you never got along with Steven, but he is your brother." The screen went blank.

"Yeah," he said to no one in particular, "I know what you mean." He buried his face in his hands, allowing himself a moment to grieve.

Finally, Bridger looked up and pressed the button on the commlink in front of him on his desk. "Bridge," came O'Neill's voice.

"Is Commander Ford there?"

"He just left for lunch, sir. Would you like me to call and have him come to your cabin?"

"No, thank you, I'll just go to the mess."

"Aye, sir."

Bridger pulled on his jumpsuit and slowly walked the length of the boat to the Officer's Mess. As he entered the room, he saw Jonathan Ford at a table in the corner, deep in conversation with the seaQuest's Chief Medical Officer and head scientist, Kristin Westphalen. Wonderful. Well, I guess I should just get this over with.

"Captain, why are you up in the middle of the night shift?" Ford asked noting Bridger's approach.

"Something's come up," he replied. "We need to talk."

Kristin noticed the grave expression on his face. "I'll leave you two alone," she said standing.

"No," Bridger shook his head, motioning for her to sit back down, "you might as well hear this straight from the horse's mouth instead of from someone else."

A worried look passed between Kristin and Ford as Bridger sat down. He sighed in an attempt to compose himself before continuing. "I'm leaving seaQuest."

"Captain!" Ford said, incredulous.

"Now now, before you jump to any conclusions, it's only for a few days." He watched as relief crossed their faces. "My brother and his wife were in an accident."

"Oh Nathan," Kristin's voice held nothing but compassion and worry, "are they all right?"

He winced imperceptibly, "Margaret was killed and Steven's in the hospital with little hope of recovery. I'm going upworld to take care of things. You'll be in charge while I'm gone," he nodded to Ford.

"I'm going with you," Kristin pronounced.

"No."

"Nathan, having lost my brother as well, I'll tell you the most important thing right now is your friends. Especially since he's the last of your family."

"Kristin -"

"Nathan, I'm not going to argue the point with you. You're in no condition to be traveling by yourself at the moment. I'll wager you haven't even stopped to grieve yet."

"She's right, Captain," Ford added. "You really shouldn't go alone."

"But -"

"No buts, I'm going. Look, I'd suggest someone else, but Lucas is gone for the weekend, and Crocker is needed down here with the security rotation coming up. And somehow I don't think you'd like Krieg going with."

Bridger looked back and forth between them. Finally he sighed in resignation, "Fine, you have thirty minutes to get your things together."

Kristin downed the rest of her coffee. "Perfect," she said leaving the room.

"Commander, can you have a launch ready to take us to the surface?"

"Of course, Captain."

"We'll be rendezvousing with the chopper in an hour," Bridger said sitting down next to Kristin in the back of the launch. He sighed and leaned his head back, eyes closed.

Kristin studied him for a moment before speaking. "You don't get along well with your brother, do you?"

He looked at her, eyebrows higher than normal, "Why do you say that?"

"Well, you never ever mentioned him prior to this. Most people will at least mention siblings some time during idle conversation somewhere within a year. Even Ford brought up his once or twice."

Bridger smiled sheepishly and leaned his head back again. "Even as kids Steven and I didn't get along too well. I suppose it's because Dad always like him better than me."

"He must be quite a guy than," Kristin mused, garnering another smile.

"I was always sort of a dreamer, planning great things for the future. Steven was just content to leave things the way they were and take over Dad's shop when he retired. Dad always preferred Steven because of that."

"But think of how much you've accomplished in your life, Nathan. He's probably pretty proud of you for that."

"Yeah, but Dad was a funny person. He would never praise my brother and me, at least not to our faces. Anything good he ever said about either one of us was said to the other one, almost as though he wanted us to resent each other."

"He was far from succeeding though."

"Oh, I don't know, I've always felt that Steven resented my going through the Academy and doing something with my life while he just wasted his life away working in the shop."

"I don't mean that. No matter what someone does, the love between two brothers is still there." He looked at her. "You wouldn't be here right now heading to see him if you didn't care at least a little."

He looked at her for a moment longer before silently leaning his head back yet again.

"Uncle Nathan!" the girl said as Nathan and Kristin entered the hospital room hours later.

Nathan hugged her and then stepped back to look her over. She was tall, thin, and as tan as Nathan, with long dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Her hazel eyes, normally sparkling and full of life, were dull and red from crying and very little sleep over the last twenty-four hours.

"You've gotten so big," Nathan said.

"Well since I haven't seen you in seven or eight years, I'm not surprised."

"How is he?" Nathan asked looking at the figure in the bed for the first time.

"Not good. The doctors are pretty grim about his chances."

"I can see why," Kristin muttered, standing at the end of the bed, chart in hand.

The girl looked at Kristin, baffled, and then back to Nathan. "I'm sorry, Doctor Kristin Westphalen, my niece, Katherine Bridger."

"Kat," the girl said holding out her hand.

"Nice to meet you," Kristin said shaking the proffered hand.

"Are you a neural specialist, Doctor?" Kat asked joining Kristin by the chart.

"Oh, no," Kristin said quickly with a glance at Nathan, "I'm just here as a friend of Nathan. And it's Kristin, OK?" She smiled.

Kat smiled back, "Sure."

Kristin replaced the chart by the bed. "I'm going to see if I can't find a cup of coffee, do you want anything?"

Nathan looked up, his reverie momentarily broken, "No, I'm fine." He looked back to the occupant of the bed.

"All right." Kristin looked toward Kat, "Do you want anything?"

"Nothing to drink, but I'll walk with you if you don't mind."

"Of course not, you can help me find the cafeteria. We'll be back in a few minutes, Nathan." He simply nodded.

The two ladies wandered down the hall, purposefully taking longer than was needed to give Nathan time alone with his brother to say goodbye. As they finally returned to the room, Kat noticed Nathan sitting quietly by the bed, Steven's hand in his, head bent.

"I think maybe we'd better wait out here for a little while, let Uncle Nathan finish in there," she suggested.

"I think you're right," Kristin agreed. "You're quite perceptive."

"Thank you."

"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"

"Seventeen in November."

Kristin frowned, "Are you still in high school?"

"No, I graduated in May." Seeing Kristin's amazed look, she continued, "I skipped first grade, and with my late birthday, it seems like I'm younger than I am."

"Ah, are you planning on going to college in the fall than?"

"Not this year. I wanted to take a year off and do some of the things I haven't had a chance to do and probably won't have a chance to until I'm too old." Both of them laughed. "I do plan on going next year, though."

"Do you have any idea what you plan to study?"

"Medicine," Kat replied without hesitation. "I guess I take after my Grandma Howard and her love of healing people. What kind of doctor are you?"

"General medicine with a little physical oceanography thrown in for good measure."

Realization suddenly crossed Kat's face. "So you're on the seaQuest with Uncle Nathan."

"Mmmhmm, I'm the CMO and head scientist."

"Very cool."

Kristin almost burst out laughing, "You sound like someone else I know."

"Kristin, can I ask you a kind of personal question? I mean, you don't have to answer."

"What?"

"Exactly what is your relationship with Uncle Nathan? It may just be me and my overly romantic mind, but it seems like you're maybe more than just friends."

Kristin sighed and was about to explain when alarms started going off. Spinning around, she saw a stream of doctors and nurses entering Steven Bridger's room. As she rushed over, one of the nurses shoved Nathan out of the room and closed the door.

Taking him by the hand, Kristin led him over to the nearby waiting room where Kat was standing. "What happened?"

"I ... I don't know," Bridger said shakily. "I was sitting in there, just talking to him, when alarms started going off all around me."

Kristin looked over at Kat and gave her a look of warning. She caught the look and the meaning behind it right away. "Here, Uncle Nathan, why don't you have a seat over here." Kat took him by the hand and sat him down next to her on the couch.

Leaving Kat to comfort Nathan, Kristin turned and walked over to the room to see what she could find out. As she neared, the door opened and a man stepped out, a grave look on his face.

"Are you family?" he asked seeing Kristin nearing.

"A friend of the family. How bad is he?"

He shook his head. "Where is Miss Bridger?"

"Over here," Kristin showed him to the waiting room where Kat and Nathan were sitting.

"Doctor Pride, how is he?" Kat asked standing up at their approach.

"I'm afraid your father is dead, Miss Bridger. I'm sorry."

"Oh my God," Kat collapsed onto the couch, head in her hands.

"Do you know what was the cause?" Kristin asked quietly.

"I can't be sure without an autopsy, but my guess would be a blood clot in the brain."

She nodded, "That would make sense. Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome, I'm just sorry I couldn't do more."

"If it was indeed a blood clot, there was nothing you could do."

He nodded and walked off. Kristin turned back to the others. Nathan was now sitting on the couch comforting Kat.

"Why don't we take you home," Kristin suggested. "We can all use the sleep after the last two days.

"Good idea," Nathan agreed.

The last vestiges of Nathan's dream faded away and he opened his eyes to find himself staring at the floor. Momentarily confused, he sat up to figure out where he was at. Looking around, the events of the past forty-eight hours came rushing back to him. After leaving the hospital, the three of them had come back to the house to try and get some needed sleep. Nathan had let Kristin have the guest room, and not wanting to face his brother's ghost, had taken the couch rather than the master bedroom.

Yawning, Nathan got up and walked down the hall to the kitchen. There he found Kristin and Kat sitting at the table talking. "You two seem to be getting along well," he observed, pouring a cup of coffee.

"Kristin was telling me about Med school and some of her experiences as a doctor," Kat replied.

"So do you intend to go to Med school now?" Nathan asked sitting down.

"I plan to take a year off to get things in order and then I'm going to college, yes."

His eyebrow rose an inch, "And where were you planning to live for this year?"

Kat nervously looked at Kristin who smiled and nodded. She looked back at Nathan, "I was hoping maybe I could live with you on the seaQuest," she said quietly.

Nathan settled back in his chair and took a sip of coffee, all the while keeping his gaze on Kat.

"I wouldn't be any trouble and Kristin said I could help her in Medbay," Kat continued, now more nervous. "It would be a great experience to make sure I want to be a doctor, not that I really doubt that I'd love it --"

"Yes."

"And you wouldn't have to pay me or anything, just feed me ... What?"

"Yes," Nathan said, now smiling.

"You mean I can live on the seaQuest with you and Kristin?" Kat couldn't believe her luck.

"Mmmhmm, as long as Kristin's willing to put you to work, I don't have a problem with it."

"Oh Uncle Nathan!" she threw her arms around him in a big hug and kissed his cheek.

"But you're going to have to refrain from doing that while on duty," he said with a smile.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I tend to get carried away sometimes."

"That's OK."

"Oh, wait till Jen hears about this, I have to call and tell her," she literally bounced out of the kitchen.

"She really looks up to you," Kristin said after she had left.

"I have a feeling that may change the more time she spends with you, Doctor."

The week passed quickly between trips to the solicitor's office to take care of the will, the wake, the funeral, and cleaning out the house, prepping it for sale. All the while, Kristin kept feeling like an intruder, but one look at Nathan told her the opposite. He was trying so hard to be strong, calm, and in control for Kat's sake, as well as his own, but Kristin knew how much his heart was
hurting inside. She also knew he would never admit it.

Finally, things on land were in order, and the three of them found themselves on a launch headed back to the seaQuest . Nathan took the opportunity to get a little sleep and was stretched out on one of the benches, with the two women sitting side by side on the other.

"Uncle Nathan reminds me so much of Dad when he's like that," Kat observed.

"I imagine there are a lot of similarities between the two," Kristin said.

"Physically, maybe, but their personalities were almost complete opposites."

"How so?"

"Well, Uncle Nathan was always the exciting one, out exploring the oceans, living up life, while Dad was the more sensible one, staying at home with a steady job and raising a family. There always seemed to be a kind of tension between them whenever they were in the same room.

"I guess things just came to a head about six years ago now. Grandma Bridger had a stroke about a week after we found out that Aunt Carol was sick. Uncle Nathan decided to stay with Aunt Carol rather than come stay with Grandma Bridger and Dad really hated him for that decision. They died within days of each other, and I haven't seen or heard from Uncle Nathan since then.
He just disappeared to some island after that."

"Only to show up last year on the seaQuest," Kristin added.

"Yeah. I was kind of disappointed that he didn't at least call, but I can't say I blame him after the fight with Dad."

Both sat there in silence for a few minutes, contemplating things.

Finally Kat spoke again, "You know, in some ways you're a lot like Aunt Carol, and in others, you're nothing like her." Kristin merely raised her eyebrows. "I mean, you both care for other people, you're both pretty and really nice, and you both have a special spot in Uncle Nathan's heart. I'd still like to know, if you don't mind, if you and Uncle Nathan are ... well ... more than friends."

Kristin sighed and cast a long glance at the sleeping man. "As of right now we're just friends."

"But something might happen in the future."

"The future is a long time, and a lot can happen in it."

"You want something to happen though, don't you?"

Kristin smiled a bit sheepishly, "I wouldn't discourage it if that's what you mean."

"Well I for one think it would be great if something did happen." Kat looked over at Nathan, "Uncle Nathan's had a rough couple years, what with losing Bobby, then Aunt Carol and Grandma, and now Mom and Dad. I think he deserves a little happiness in his life."

"Well, I think having you around is going to improve his mood a little," Kristin smiled.

"We'll see," Kat replied cryptically.

Kat stepped out of the launch into the docking bay, amazed by her first view of the seaQuest. Behind her, Nathan exited the launch and walked over to two men standing nearby. As the men talked, Kat looked around her, taking in the large, busy room.

Suddenly someone ran into the room and bumped into her. Kat turned around to see a teenager of roughly her age standing there. He was taller than her and thin, with blonde hair and blue eyes. "I'm sorry," she said.

"No, it's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was ..." he looked at her, "going." He smiled, "Uh, hi, I'm Lucas." He held out his hand.

"Kat," she replied taking his hand.

"I see you've met Lucas," Nathan said coming over.

"Not officially," Kat said.

"Well, Lucas Wolenczak, my niece Katherine."

Lucas looked almost surprised, "It's nice to meet you."

"Likewise, I'm sure."

"Um, Lucas," Nathan said, "why don't you show Katherine around, give her a tour of the boat."

"Yeah, sure." Lucas smiled, "I'll start with your cabin so you can get rid of your stuff."

"Thanks, I'd like that," Kat said following him down the hall.

"Hmm, I think the boy's in love," Kristin said joining Nathan as he watched them go.

Nathan looked surprised, "Oh, I hope not."

"Why? I could think of a lot worse kids to have for a nephew-in-law," she said and walked off.

"So, Lucas," Kat said as they walked through the halls, "tell me about Uncle Nathan's relationship with Kristin."

Lucas looked shocked, "What do you mean?"

"You can't tell me there's nothing going on between them, I saw it myself over the last week."

"As far as I know, they're just really good friends. You don't think there's something more going on with them, do you?"

"Come on, you can't tell me you don't see it."

"I never really thought about it before. Did something happen last week?"

She shook her head, "Not that I know of, but you can be sure I'm gonna be keeping a close eye on those two."

Kat quickly slipped into her place among the crew. Over the next few months she spent many hours helping Kristin both in Medbay and with her experiments on Seadeck. Just as much time was spent with Lucas and Darwin, swimming, playing on the internet, and just talking. All the while, she watched her uncle and Kristin closely, waiting for something to happen.

Finally December and the holiday season rolled around. The perfect opportunity to give them a push in the right direction, Kat thought as she joined the officers discussing their upcoming two weeks of shore leave for the holidays.

"Well I for one," Tim O'Neill proclaimed, "am excited to be going home to see my family for the holidays. I can't wait to see my sister's new baby."

"Ugh," Lucas said, "I'd rather do anything other than see my family."

"Come on, Lucas," Jonathan Ford said, "you haven't seen your parents for months."

"Yeah, and if I had my way I wouldn't see them for another couple months." Everyone looked at him like he had two heads. "Look, my options are to either visit my nonexistent father, or watch my mom make out with her latest boyfriend. Neither has me too excited."

"You know what would be really great to do?" Kat said. As the table shook their heads, she continued. "We should have a party."

"Bridger would never agree to that," Ben Krieg stated.

"It doesn't have to be down here," Kat said.

"We could have it at my dad's place," Lucas suggested. "He's never there anyway so he probably won't care."

"I don't know," Ford said, still skeptic.

"Yeah," Katie Hitchcock agreed, "a lot of us haven't seen our families in a while."

"Oh, it doesn't have to be for Christmas," Kat argued, "it could be on New Year's Eve or something." The faces around her were still skeptic. "Come on, it would be fun."

"I still don't think Bridger would go for it," Krieg said.

"Look, if I could talk Uncle Nathan into going, would you guys agree to go?" Kat said.

Everyone looked at each other. Finally Katie shrugged, "I guess so, I mean, we don't have to be back here till the third."

"Yeah," Krieg agreed, "plenty of time to sleep off a hangover." Katie threw her balled up napkin at him.

"Great," Kat said excitedly, "Lucas and I will plan everything and let you know later." She downed the last sip of her drink. "And if you'll excuse me, I have to go talk to Uncle Nathan."

"Come in," Nathan called at the knock on his door. He looked up from his book to see Kat entering the room. "What's up?"

"Um, as you know Christmas is next week-"

"No trees on the boat."

Kat frowned, "That's not what was gonna ask."

"No parties either."

"But you haven't even heard my whole idea."

He put his book down and walked over to her, "Katherine, the UEO already gave us two weeks shore leave. It's hard enough keeping the crew's mind on their duties with that, let alone a party in the works."

"But I planned on doing it during shore leave."

Nathan sighed, "Katherine."

"Lucas and I were going to use his father's place and have it-"

"This was Lucas's idea?"

"No, it was mine, he just agreed to help." He looked at her suspiciously. "Really, I wanted to have a New Year's Eve party."

"A New Year's Eve party," he sounded doubtful.

"Yeah, I figure everybody can visit their family for Christmas and then party in the new year with friends. We'd take care of all the planning."

He still looked doubtful, "I don't know."

"Kristin said she'd go." She shifted her feet nervously at his stare. "I thought maybe you'd like to know that she's going."

"Why do I get the feeling you talked this over with the whole crew?"

"Not everybody, just most of them. They all said that they'd love to do it, especially if you go."

Nathan stood there for a moment mulling over the idea in his mind. "I don't want to hear a word about this until after Christmas, out of anyone."

"Oh thank you, Uncle Nathan!" Kat threw her arms around him in a big hug.

"You're still not decorating the boat, though."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

"Fine, one out of two ain't bad I guess."

As Christmas came and went, the crew dispersed to their respective homes to celebrate the holiday. Among the majority, anticipation of Kat's party grew over the following week. Finally, the date arrived.

Kat sipped her coke and watched her uncle talking with Ford and Crocker. He seemed to be having a good time, but every once in a while she noticed him look around the room for something - or someone.

"Hey," Lucas said joining her, "what's on your mind?"

"Nothing," she said with a smile.

He followed her line of sight. "You're not still trying to fix the Captain up with Doctor Westphalen, are you?"

"Do you see me locking them in a room together?"

"No, but I'm sure the thought has crossed your mind." She frowned. "Why don't you just let nature take its course."

"That could take years."

"Fine. Look, Kat, I don't feel like ruining a great party by arguing. Can you at least forget them for a few minutes and come dance with me? It's almost midnight and I've barely seen you all night."

She smiled broadly, "I would love to dance with you, but we should probably be as far away from the good Captain as we can get come midnight." She gave him a wink, "If you know what I mean."

"No arguments here," Lucas said wrapping his arm around her waist.

"Jonathan," Katie said joining the group, "you've been avoiding me all night."

"No I haven't," Ford replied.

"Than why haven't I seen you?"

"Because you've been dancing the night away with everyone else."

"Well than it's time you took a spin with me, come on." She grabbed his arm, leading him off.

Bridger and Crocker chuckled watching them leave.

Crocker downed the last of his drink, "I'm going to find a refill before the clock chimes twelve. Want anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Thanks anyway."

"Suit yourself," Crocker said and stumbled off.

Bridger laughed and shook his head watching him go. There are going to be a lot of hangovers in the morning, he thought walking out onto the deck in back. Leaning onto the railing, the breeze on his face, Nathan closed his eyes and let his mind wander. It didn't surprise him much when his thoughts soon turned to a certain doctor.

"Nice place you found out here," a deep sultry voice said from next to him.

Nathan opened his eyes to see Kristin standing next to him, leaning on the railing, facing the house. She had on a short black skirt that came to mid thigh and a big red fisherman's net sweater. "Nicer now that you've graced it with your presence."

Kristin smiled, "Are you trying to hide out here by yourself?"

"No, I'm trying to pretend I'm not drunk."

"Ah, but if you admit that you're drunk, than you're not as far gone as you think."

"Excellent point. And where have you been hiding all night?"

"I got here late and as soon as I came in I was sidetracked by some of my people who were looking for a judge for their drinking games."

"Well, I don't suppose they managed to get any in you, Doctor."

"Only a few."

The wind shifted and the sounds of the party drifted out onto the deck. Inside, someone had turned the TV up and Dick Clark could be heard counting down until midnight.

"... Ten ... nine ... eight ... seven ..."

"You know," Nathan said, "it's supposed to bring good luck in the coming year if you kiss whoever you're with at midnight."

"... Six ... five ... four ... three ..."

"Oh yeah?" she leaned over to him.

"... Two ... one ..."

"Yeah."

"Happy New Year!" Dick Clark screamed with everyone in Times Square as well as the party.

"Happy New Year," Nathan whispered and closed the last short distance between their lips.

Inside, Lucas and Kat had found an unoccupied corner right before midnight and were now making good use of it as they struck up a lively game of tonsil hockey.

Across the room, the senior staff had all assembled to usher in the new year. As the clock tolled midnight, Krieg grabbed Katie by the waist. She turned around to admonish him, but was silenced by a quick kiss.

"I didn't think you'd want to be left out of the fun," he said.

"Didn't think is right," Katie frowned. "I'm gonna get you for that one Krieg."

"You have to catch me first," Krieg replied and darted off into the crowd. Without thinking, Katie followed, a million ways to punish him running through her head.

Ford laughed at the exchange and then noticed the couple in the corner. "Looks like some are getting luckier than others," he said pointing to Lucas and Kat.

"Geez," Crocker said, "the boy certainly does move fast."

"Yeah," Ford said, "but you knew it was gonna happen sooner or later."

"Woah," Ortiz elbowed the others, pointing to the deck, "it looks like Lucas isn't the only one to get lucky tonight."

"Is that Bridger?" O'Neill asked.

"Yeah, but who is that with him?" Ford said.

"It looks like ..." Ortiz gasped as light from the party caught the woman's red hair, "Doctor Westphalen."

"Too bad," Nathan said between kisses, "we can't just beam out of here like on TV."

"Yeah," Kristin replied, "but we can sneak."

He pulled back to look her in the eye, "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

She nodded, "Who's place is closer, yours or mine?"

"Mine, but what about Katherine?"

A smile leapt to her face, "I think I know how we can make an exit and get rid of Kat for a few days."

"Oh yeah?"

"Mmmhmm," she leaned forward and whispered in his ear. He almost fell over laughing. "You don't approve?"

He shook his head, "No, it's a great plan, in fact, I'm wondering why it didn't occur to me."

"That's because you're drunk, remember." She turned to go but Nathan caught her arm, spinning her back to his embrace and pressed his lips to hers again. "Five minutes," she said as they finally separated. He nodded and watched her return to the party.

Kristin picked her way through the crowd trying to find Kat and Lucas. She finally found them in their corner, still in each other's arms. "Ahem," she cleared her throat.

Kat jumped and turned around. "Kristin," she said, startled, "we were, uh ..." She looked to Lucas for help.

"Kat, it's OK," Kristin smiled, remembering what she'd been doing five minutes earlier, "I won't tell if you won't."

Both teens relaxed visibly. "What's up?" Lucas asked.

"Nathan is a bit intoxicated and I'm going to take him home before he does something embarrassing. Can you find your own way back?"

"Yeah, no problem."

"Kat can stay here," Lucas offered, "there's an extra bed upstairs."

"You don't mind?" Kristin asked.

"Nah, she can help me clean up this place in the morning."

"Can I?" Kat turned to Kristin, trying not to sound like she was pleading.

Kristin smiled, "I don't have a problem with it. I'll tell Nathan you're staying so he doesn't worry."

"Thanks so much, Kristin," Kat said with a hug.

"Just stay out of trouble, OK," Kristin warned in her best motherly tone.

"I'll go by the don't-do-anything-I-wouldn't policy," Kat said.

Kristin looked at her and the impish smile on her face. She leaned forward and whispered in her ear, "Just make sure he's who you want to spend the rest of your life with." She smiled and walked off to find Nathan.

As Kat turned back to Lucas, he saw a smug smile on her face and couldn't hold in his curiosity. "What did she say?"

"Let's just say ... nature didn't take as long as I thought it would."

Epilogue - four years later

Lucas took a deep breath and knocked on the door. "Come in," came the response. He took one last deep breath and opened the door. Nathan Bridger was sitting at his desk, pen in hand and logbook open on the desk in front of him. Kristin sat curled up in a chair by the small window, book in hand.

"Hello, Lucas," she said briefly glancing up from her reading.

"What's up?" Nathan asked.

"Um, Captain," Lucas started.

"Yes."

"Do you have a minute?"

Nathan took off his reading glasses and placed them on the desk before turning to Lucas. "Sure, what's the matter?"

"Do you want me to leave?" Kristin asked.

"No," Lucas said, "you might as well stay, this kind of concerns you too."

"OK," she said with a shrug.

"Lucas," Nathan said, "what's wrong?"

"Um," he closed his eyes and took another deep breath, calling up as much courage as he could muster, "Kat and I want to get married."

"Yes," Nathan encouraged him to continue.

"And we would like your blessing, both of you," Lucas finished.

Nathan gave him a hard stare, "And what were you planning to do when Katherine goes to Medical school next fall?"

"I'll stay on the seaQuest until Kat's done with school, and then depending on where she does her internship, I may move to the land. Malcolm's been after me to take over for him at Caicos Key and the UEO has asked multiple times if I would take different positions for them on land. Where I go depends on where Kat goes."

"You've certainly given this some thought," Nathan said.

"Yes, sir, we've been talking about this for a while now," Lucas answered.

"And what made you finally decide to do this now?" He gave Lucas another hard stare, "There isn't a baby on the way, is there?"

"Oh, no, sir," Lucas said quickly, "we've actually decided to wait until we're married for that. Kat and I wanted to make sure we're doing the right thing, and that's why we thought it best not to get married until now."

Nathan smiled and held out his hand, "Well, since it seems that both of you have given this a lot of thought, I see no reason to say no."

Lucas breathed a sigh of relief and shook the proffered hand.

Kristin came over and hugged him, "I was going to say yes five minutes ago."

"Thank you both," Lucas said, looking as though a big weight had been lifted off his shoulders.

"Just one question, Lucas," Nathan said. "Did you really think we would say no?"

Lucas smiled and shook his head. "No, I just thought I should ask anyway." Nathan chuckled. "If you'll excuse me, I have to call Kat and tell her we have the green light."

"Give her my love," Nathan said as Lucas turned to leave.

"I will, and thank you again."

"You're welcome, Lucas."

As the door closed behind him, Kristin felt Nathan's arms snake around her waist. "I'm glad they're finally getting around to marriage," she said, turning to face him.

"Finally is the right word."

"Yeah, but they're still young." She paused, seemingly deep in thought. "It is kind of ironic how all of this worked out though."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, by bringing Kat to live down here, we introduced her to Lucas. In turn, they ... introduced us, in a manner of speaking."

"How so?"

"Oh, you can't tell me you're that dense. New Year's Eve ... the party ... midnight ... the kiss ..."

"Ah, yes, I'm beginning to see the picture. How about a visual aid to help me along," he said, bringing himself nose to nose with her.

"I suppose I could do that, but you might consider locking the door first." She leaned up, bringing her lips to his.
 
 

El Fin