Chapter 25 - The Beginning of Judgment Day
 

Nathan Bridger stared at the pad of paper in front of him with a mild frown on his face.  They'd made it through the preliminaries and now Admiral Siddel who had been appointed president of the Court was shuffling papers that filled the desk in front of him and frowning at his computer screen.  He looked over his reading glasses at Lieutenant Commander Toby Hennessy.

"Commander, I believe there are some requests that you wanted to bring before the Court at this time?"

Hennessy stood and smiled a little.  "Yes, sir.  Captain Bridger has a couple of requests.  First, we'd like the Court to review the decision to keep Captain Bridger confined to base and require him to wear a locator.  We'd just like to point out that this is an island and it would be rather difficult for the Captain to just drive away or disappear.  Captain Bridger would be more than willing to give the court his word that he'd remain on the island and available, agree to wearing a communicator so that the court could contact him at any time or whatever other reasonable restrictions the Court would like to place on him.  Especially in light of the fact that the Captain lost essentially all his worldly possessions when the seaQuest was destroyed, being confined to base has caused some extreme hardship."

Lucas looked around a little as he saw the press corps within the room start to type feverously.  It looked like Bridger's confinement wasn't common knowledge.

Siddel stared at Hennessy impassively and nodded a little.  "We'll consider it.  What's your next request, Commander?"

"Sir, it's related to the first.  Two members of Captain Bridger's crew are getting married on Saturday at St. John's Church which is about one block off-base.  If the Court decides to continue the restriction to base that the Captain is currently under, he'd like permission to go off base to attend the wedding and reception which is being held in the hall right across the street from the church. In addition, the Captain has been asked to give the bride away at the ceremony and would ask the Court's permission to attend the wedding rehearsal on Friday evening at the church and the dinner following that."

"Where is the dinner going to be at, Commander?"

"The dinner will be a LaMantia's about one block from the church. Again, Sir, if you decide to continue the restriction the Captain would be willing to follow any additional restrictions placed by the Court in order to attend this event.  As I said, both parties in the wedding are members of his crew and he very much would like to be able to be there."

Admiral Siddel took of his glasses and leaned back in his chair.  "Anything else?"

"No, Sir," Hennessy said sitting down again.

Siddel looked over at Commander Trina Coslow who was the Counsel for the Court.  "Any comments on Captain Bridger's requests, Commander?"

Coslow only glanced briefly at Bridger before standing and shaking her head a little.  "Sir, I'd only comment that the reasons for confining the Captain to the base haven't changed at all.  I'd highly recommend that the restrictions remain and quite honestly, I feel that modifying the restriction to allow the Captain to go off-base is a mistake.  I understand his reasons for wanting to attend this event but there's no practical reason to allow it."

She slipped back down in her chair as Hennessy stood again.  "Excuse me, Admiral, but could I ask one thing?"

"Go ahead, Commander," Siddel said cautiously.

"I would like to know what those reasons were for confining Captain Bridger to the base and requiring the locator.  This move was made without informing us and to be quite honest, Captain Bridger does not have a history of unauthorized absences nor does he have a history of disciplinary problems.  The only reason we heard at all was that some people were upset because they couldn't find him on a couple of occasions when he, understandably, was out shopping for clothes and items to replace those destroyed along with the seaQuest.  In that light the restriction seems to only fill a punitive function."

"Are you trying to say that the Court is 'picking on' Captain Bridger?" Admiral Siddel said with a frown.

"No, Sir," Hennessy said quickly feeling that he'd hit the edge of what Siddel would put up with.  "It's just that we don't understand why the restrictions were put in place in the first place and would like to explore some alternatives."

He saw Shannon lean back in his chair and say something quietly to the other members.  Siddel nodded and then stacked his papers together.  "The Court will consider your requests Commander.  We'll adjourn for just a bit so that the members can discuss them.  It shouldn't take long."  Siddel and the other members stood and those filling the courtroom stood while the Court members filed into a room of the courtroom.

Hennessy looked over at Bridger as he sat back down.  "You alright, sir?"

Nathan sat back down and folded his arms over his chest staring at the door the Court members had just gone through.  "You keep asking me that same stupid question, Commander."  He glanced over at Hennessy.  "Ask me when this is over with."   Nathan turned in his chair so he was looking at Lucas who was seated in the first row.  He leaned towards the boy and Lucas leaned towards him.  "I don't want you talking to any of the reporters, Lucas.  Not even your name, understood?"

Lucas nodded.  "Yes, sir," he said softly.  "Do you think they're going to try to talk to me?"

"Yeah," Nathan said in a fatalistic voice.  "Just don't say anything and just walk right through them."

"Alright, sir."

As Nathan turned back to the table his eyes quickly caught the look of another tall admiral who was standing at the back of the courtroom.  Without acknowledging that he was there, Bridger turned and sat at the table again, leaning his elbows on it and thoughtfully rubbing his chin.

About thirty minutes later the members of the Court filed in again. Bridger noticed with some trepidation that Shannon looked a bit irritated as he sat down.  The look on Siddel's and Montoya's faces were unreadable.  As they settled in their chairs Siddel took a deep breath and looked over at Bridger.

"Captain Bridger."  Bridger stood.  "The decision of the members of this Court is that you will continue to remain confined to this base at least through the completion of these proceedings."  Nathan heard Toby expel an irritated breath next to him and in the corner of his eye he could see a satisfied smirk on Coslow's face.  "However, we will allow you to attend the wedding on Saturday under certain conditions."

"Yes, sir?" Bridger said respectfully.

"What time is the wedding?"

"It's at 1500 hours, sir."

"You will be allowed to leave this base no earlier than 1300 hours on Saturday.  You will confine your movements to going to the church and then across the street to the reception.  During your time off-base you will only go to those two structures.  Is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Nathan answered quietly.

"You will return to this base no later than 2000 hours and when you return will check in with the Security Duty Officer.  Understood?"

"Yes, sir," Nathan repeated.  He saw Siddel sit back as if he was finished.  "Sir, what about the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner on Friday."

Siddel looked sternly at him.  "Don't push your luck, Captain."

Bridger was silent for just a moment.  "Aye, aye, sir," he said respectfully before sitting down again.

"That wasn't good," Hennessy muttered under his breath.

"No," Nathan whispered back, staring at the tabletop with an indecipherable look on his face.

Hennessy stood up slowly.  "Sir, could I have permission to approach the Court?"

"Of course, Commander."  Hennessy and Coslow both moved up until they were right in front of Siddel.  "Comment or question?" Siddel asked.

"Question, sir.  I'm afraid I still don't understand why Captain Bridger has been confined to base.  He never attempted to run away. He never attempted to hide.  Why the restrictions?"

Siddel leaned forward on the table.  "Are you familiar with Captain Bridger's past, Commander?"

"Not thoroughly, sir," Hennessy said uncomfortably.

"He does have a history of running away.  He's done it before.  Last time he left the military he took off for an island he owns in the Caribbean and refused all attempts to contact him and to obtain information from him."  Siddel's words were calm but firm, "He is a risk to run, Commander.   He stays under restriction, is that understood?"

"Yes, sir," Hennessy answered and then turned to go back to his seat, not missing the little satisfied smile that crossed Coslow's face as she also returned to her seat.

Over the next hour the Court took care of several administrative matters including ensuring that the witnesses for the proceedings would be excluded from being in the courtroom except for when they were testifying.  After completing the routine matters, the Court adjourned for lunch.

After the Court members filed out of the room Hennessy looked over at Bridger again.  He was staring at a section of floor somewhere in front of the table and Hennessy found his calm, almost emotionless demeanor to be more than a little disconcerting.

"How about if we get something to eat, sir?"

Nathan shook his head slowly.  "You and Lucas grab something.  I'm going to walk a bit."

"I wouldn't suggest going outside, sir, the reporters are going to be all over the place."

"Then I suppose I'll go into the secure part of the building and walk," Nathan said finally looking up at him.  "They can't follow me there."

"No, sir," Hennessy said uncomfortably.  "You really should eat something."

He was surprised to see a small smile cross Bridger's face.  "You're beginning to sound like Lucas and Kristin."  Hennessy shrugged.  "I'm alright, Commander," he glanced back towards the table that the Admirals had sat at.  "At least as alright as someone in my position can be."  He looked back at Hennessy.  "Go get something to eat, Commander.  I'll see you back here about 1300 hours."

"Yes, sir," Hennessy said grudgingly.  He walked out of the courtroom with Lucas and the Captain and saw Bridger glance down to the end of the hallway where the members of the press corps were waiting for him.

"Have a nice lunch," Nathan said before turning the other way and heading through the security checkpoint that the reporters couldn't pass through.  Hennessy just nodded before he and Lucas turned to push their way through the crowd so that they could go to the cafeteria.

Chapter 26 - Evidence of Infamy

After lunch the Court settled down to start hearing testimony.  The first person on the stand was Admiral Helen Redson, who had been the investigating officer.

"Admiral, did you complete an investigation into the loss of the seaQuest and the circumstances surrounding it?" Coslow asked the prim Admiral respectfully.

"I did."

"And did you complete a report which contains your findings?"

"Yes, I did."

"All parties will find a copy of that report on their terminals at this time," Coslow said looking around the courtroom.  She then turned back to Redson.  "Admiral, may I ask if you determined the cause of the loss of the seaQuest?"

Redson frowned at her a little.  "I would think that was obvious, Commander.  The seaQuest was lost when it was crashed into the seabed and its nuclear charges were detonated due to the high heat of the magma bed it was delivered into."

"So it was a combination of the magma bed heat and the nuclear weapons detonating which destroyed the seaQuest?"

"Yes."

 "During your investigation did you find that Captain Bridger was faced with a dangerous situation?"

"Yes."

"Could you describe that situation?"

"The seabed around the World Power Project had failed which exposed a large expanse of magma.  The World Power Project structure itself was severely damaged and all except three of its residents were killed."

"And Captain Bridger brought the seaQuest into the middle of this havoc?"

"Yes."

"Can you describe what actions he took according to your investigation?"

"Upon entering the danger area, the seaQuest was subjected to forces and conditions far beyond the normal tolerances that the vessel was designed to sustain.  Captain Bridger ordered his crew to abandon ship.  They left the ship in shuttles for an island to the east of seaQuest's position.  In addition, Captain Bridger allowed one shuttle to transit the danger area to the World Power Project structure where the three remaining scientists were evacuated back to seaQuest.  Eventually, two of those scientists would evacuate the seaQuest via the shuttle they originally came on along with Chief Manilow Crocker, the pilot of the shuttle.  Captain Bridger, the seaQuest Executive Officer, Commander Jonathan Ford, the navigator, Chief Shan, and Lawrence Wolenczak, the head of the World Power Project remained aboard.  Shortly after the shuttle left, Captain Bridger ordered the nuclear weapons to be armed and directed that the seaQuest itself be aimed to slam into the seabed.  Those remaining on the boat attempted to evacuate by means of the last shuttle on board.  Captain Bridger turned back prior to the shuttle leaving and eventually escaped the seaQuest in the Stinger, a one-man, high-speed
transport vessel."

"Admiral, during your investigation did you find any evidence that Captain Bridger attempted to retreat and consider the situation prior to acting?"

"No."

"So what you found during your investigation was that Captain Bridger directed his crew to advance into a position of certain danger."

"Yes."

"During your investigation did you find any evidence that Captain Bridger attempted to contact any geological or tectonic stress expert to receive advice on his situation?"

"No."

"During your investigation did you find any evidence of Captain Bridger receiving permission to arm the nuclear weapons?"

"No."

"Did you find any attempt by Captain Bridger or any of his crew to request permission to arm those nuclear weapons?"

"No."

Hennessy fidgeted nervously.  He glanced quickly over at Bridger who had that same disturbing calm, expressionless look on his face as he watched Admiral Redson.  While he was listening to Redson, Hennessy had been scrolling through the report she had delivered to the court.  His frown deepened as he read her words.

Coslow strolled across the courtroom, her eyes meeting Bridger's and returning his impassive look.  "Admiral, if it were you, faced with the same situation as you found the seaQuest in would you have moved forward into danger as Captain Bridger did?"

"Objection," Hennessy promptly interjected.  "Hypothetical."

"Sustained," Siddel said nodding a little.

Coslow nodded slightly still looking  at Bridger.  "Admiral, did you find any evidence that Captain Bridger attempted to remove the seaQuest from its position of danger?"

"No."

She turned to face the Admiral directly.  "No attempt, whatsoever?"

"None."

"That's all I have for now," Coslow said addressing the Court.

"Commander?" Siddel looked over at Hennessy.

Hennessy stood and looked over at Siddel.  "Sir, we haven't had a chance to thoroughly review the Admiral's findings and would like some time for that."

Siddel leaned back and looked at his terminal.  "It's an amazingly short document, Commander," he pushed some buttons on the computer.  "Only 58 pages.  I think that overnight should be sufficient for you to review it, don't you?"

"I'll know when I read it, sir," Hennessy said civilly.

"Alright," Siddel said nodding and taking a deep breath.  "These proceedings are adjourned until 0800 tomorrow morning.  Admiral Redson, if you will make yourself available at that time," he looked over at Coslow, "and I believe you also wanted Commanders Ford and Hitchcock available, if I'm correct."

"Yes, sir," Coslow said nodding.

"Master at Arms, ensure that they're ready to be called."  He stood, "This Court stands adjourned."  The rest of the room stood as the Admirals filed out.

Again Bridger stared at the door they had gone through for a while before turning towards Hennessy.  "If I were you, Commander, I'd watch out for the train," he said dryly.

"The train, sir???" Hennessy asked confused.

Bridger looked over at Coslow for just a moment.  "When someone is getting railroaded as bad as I am... there's got to be a train out there somewhere."  He reached over and patted the young Lieutenant Commander on the shoulder.  "Let's go to my office."

Chapter 27 - Listening for the Word

"Captain Bridger, can you tell us why the Court has restricted you to base?"

"Do you expect to be court-martialed, Captain?"

"Are they really making you wear a locator, sir?"

"How do you justify your actions, Captain?"

"Captain, do you really believe that you had a right to destroy the seaQuest?"

That last one earned the questioner a glare but Bridger said nothing as he pushed his way through the crowd of reporters that filled the end of the hallway.  Toby Hennessy and Lucas followed in his wake and, walking quickly, they soon left the reporters behind as they headed for the elevators.  Hennessy pressed the button for the fifth floor and looked across the small cubicle at Bridger who was leaning against the wall, silently staring into the corner.

"That was unpleasant," Lucas mumbled.

"Yeah," Bridger said quietly and then sighed and closed his eyes until the elevator slid to a stop and the doors opened.  He followed Hennessy and Lucas down the hallway until they reached the conference room where his crew worked.  Ford, Ortiz, O'Neil and Shan were the only people sitting there.

"How did it go, sir?" Ford asked gently, noting the tight look on Bridger's face.

"To be quite honest, it sucked, Commander," Nathan said striding towards his office.  Behind him, Hennessy nodded at Ford as if to confirm Bridger's assessment of the day.

Lucas and Hennessy followed him into the office where they saw him standing at the window staring out at the marina.  They exchanged silent glances with each other before quietly sitting in the chairs in front of Bridger's desk.

After several minutes of silence Hennessy tried to break the ice.  "Sir?" he said hesitantly.

They saw Nathan sigh and then slowly turn from the window.  He didn't look at them but instead fixed his gaze on the floor for a while before looking up at Lucas.  "Did you bring my bag in?"

A puzzled look covered Lucas' face for a moment before it suddenly cleared.  "Oh yeah," he said nodding.  "It's behind your desk."

Nathan walked over, picked up a green gym bag from the floor and put it on the desk.

"Sir?" Hennessy started again only to stop when Bridger put his finger over his mouth to indicate to him to be quiet.  Both Hennessy and Lucas watched with perplexed faces as Bridger removed a small black box device from the gym bag.  He flipped a couple of switches and intently watched the readout that displayed as he moved the box around the office.

They saw him nod as if he was confirming something to himself and he motioned Hennessy over to him.  The young lawyer moved over to stand next to Bridger and looked where he pointed under the edge of the large desk that dominated the room.  At first Hennessy didn't see anything until Bridger put his finger close to what he wanted him to look at... then Hennessy saw the small electronic device that had been secured under the edge of the desk.  He raised his head and pulled a pad of paper close.

'Is that a bug?' he wrote on the paper.  Bridger nodded and continued to move around the room.  By the time he was finished Bridger had uncovered four listening devices in the small office.

Now Bridger pulled the piece of paper across.  'Do you want them removed, disabled or left as they are?' he wrote on the pad and then pushed it towards Hennessy.

"You can do that?" he asked pointing at the word 'disabled'.  Nathan nodded.  "That," Hennessy said.  Nathan nodded again and went back to the gym bag removing a small leather case.  From that case he took four items that looked like bandages but were black in color.  He carefully pasted each over one of the bugs and then straightened up and looked over at Hennessy.

"Is that it?" the Lieutenant Commander asked.

"Yeah, but I want to check one more thing."  Nathan moved over to the keyboard of his terminal and carefully inspected it.  He frowned and took a small multi-purpose knife from his pocket.  Using the screwdriver attachment he opened the keyboard and removed another device with a small piece of wire.

"Is that a listening device too?" Hennessy asked inspecting the flat- headed device.

"No, that's intended to record all the keystrokes from the keyboard.

"Do you think that's all of them?" Hennessy asked looking around the room.

"Yeah, that should be all."  He held up the small box.  "This thing works pretty good."

Lucas had stood and was inspecting the compact gadget.  "Very cool, Cap.  Where did you come up with that?"

"I helped design it," Nathan said simply.

"Cool," Lucas repeated.  "I didn't know that you were an electrical engineer too," he said in an impressed voice.

"More like electronics, actually.  It's nice to have hidden talents."

Hennessy nodded.  "And the adhesive tape like stuff?"

"That stuff is like a big sponge.  It soaks up all the signal so none of it gets back to where ever it's being monitored from."

"And it works?" Hennessy said doubtfully.

"Works like a charm," Nathan said sitting down behind his desk.

Lucas sighed with a discouraged look on his face.  "So they know what we've been doing."

"Nope," Nathan said shortly.  "I've swept the office every day and the keyboard device wasn't there yesterday."

"That means it's someone on the inside," Hennessy said and Nathan nodded.  The young lawyer noted Lucas' confused look.  "To plant the bugs it had to be someone in this building."

"Yeah," Lucas nodded and looked over at Bridger.  "That's why you didn't want to talk inside the BOQ this morning."

"Yup.  I haven't swept our rooms."

"Why not?" Hennessy asked.

"That would be like trying to shovel the sidewalk in the middle of a blinding snowstorm.  Every time we leave the room someone could come in.  At least here there's my crew in the conference room to deter anyone who might try to sneak in to plant some more."

"Yeah, I suppose so," Hennessy said rubbing his chin thoughtfully.  "Do you want to go through Admiral Redson's report?"

Nathan leaned back and sighed.  "No, not really but I suppose we have to."  He pulled the screen around until all of them could see it and brought up the report.  They all read it through once and then went back to read it again.  Hennessy asked several questions and then asked for a hard copy.  He furiously made notes on it as they went through the second reading and asked more questions which were patiently and precisely answered by Nathan.  After they finished reading through it for a second time Bridger leaned back in his chair and rubbed his eyes tiredly.  "Well, that was interesting," he commented dryly.

"Factual?" Hennessy asked.

"Uh huh... as far as it goes."

"Should it have gone farther?"

"I think so.  It states the facts as they occurred without regard for the reasons that the actions were necessary and stops at the destruction of the seaQuest with no mention of whether the actions I took were effective or not."

"One-sided."

"Uh huh," Nathan said staring at the screen for just a moment before swinging his gaze to Hennessy.  "Do you need to ask me any more questions?"

"No, sir.  I think we've just about covered it."

"Good," he said standing  "Are you two staying here this evening?"

He saw Lucas nod.  "For a while, sir," Hennessy answered, "just a little more work to do and then I'll get him home."

"It's okay with me... I've got a date."

Lucas frowned.  "I thought that the Doc might be in the courtroom today."

Nathan picked up the green gym bag and also frowned.  "She can't Lucas.  She's been notified that she'll be called as a witness and they excluded witnesses from the courtroom today."

"Why would they be calling her?" Lucas asked confused.

"I have no idea, Lucas," Nathan said shaking his head again.  "I have no damned idea.  Goodnight, gentlemen," he said walking out the door.

Hennessy watched him leave and then slowly shook his head.  "I don't how he does it."  He looked over at Lucas.  "How does he stay so calm?"

Lucas smiled knowingly and moved to sit behind the Captain's desk so he could work on the computer.  "You haven't figured that out yet, Commander?"  He saw Hennessy's questioning look.  "If he's yelling and jumping all over you... then he's mad but he gets over it quick." Lucas looked towards the now shut door, "But when he gets quiet like this... when it's like he doesn't even have any emotions... that's when he's angry... not mad, but angry."  Lucas looked right at Hennessy.  "And that's when he's dangerous."

Chapter 28 - Watchers Abound

The tall military man accepted a drink from Kevin Doran and gratefully took a deep sip.

"So?" the third man in the room said impatiently.

The military man looked across at him and smiled softly.  "Totally blindsided.  Didn't even know what hit him."

"I wouldn't underestimate him, Admiral," Doran said sitting down in a soft chair across from the other two men.  "You know he's found and disabled all of our bugs in his office.  Including the stroke-sensor inside the keyboard."

"I expected that," the admiral said calmly.  "Remember his background."

"To be honest, his background worries me a little," the third man said.  "Did you see who was in the courtroom today?"

"I saw him," the admiral nodded.  "I think it was mostly curiosity. I'm not going to worry about them."

"How did Coslow do?" Doran asked changing the subject.

The admiral snorted a little.  "She has to learn to quit with the smug smiles but beyond that she did well.  She'll be alright as long as she doesn't let Hennessy get to her."  He smiled a little.  "I've seen that boy at work and he's very good."

"So are we going to have problems tomorrow?" the third man asked.

"No," the admiral answered securely.  "Tomorrow the fun begins."

"You're on time," Kristin said looking at her watch.  "I don't believe it."

Nathan smiled as he slipped into the front seat of Kristin's car.  "Every once in a while.. just to keep you off balance," he said leaning over and kissing her quickly.  He started to throw his gym bag containing the uniform that he'd changed out of and his electronic gear into the back seat but stopped with a thoughtful look on his face.

"What?" Kristin asked.

"Ummm, just an idea," he said taking the small black box from the bag and again turning the device on.

"What's that?"

Nathan smiled secretively and moved the box around until he brought it up to the edge of the driver's side sun visor.  Then he frowned a little and brought out his little knife again.  After inspecting the edge of the visor he sliced through one of the stitches that held it together and then slipped a small, flat device from inside the visor.  He held it up to Kristin's questioning gaze.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked in an offended tone.

"Yeah," Nathan said shortly taking some of the black acoustic tape from his bag and wrapping the device in it.  He dropped it into his bag and opened the door.  "Let me check the rest of the car." Kristin also got out and watched intently as he moved throughout the vehicle checking for any more devices.  Finally he stopped and looked over at her across the top of the car.  "That's all."

"Uh huh," Kristin said hesitantly and sat back down in the driver's seat.  Nathan slipped in next to her and put the box back into his bag.  "They bugged my car," she said matter-of-factly as she looked over at him tossing his bag into the back.

Nathan nodded seriously.  "Yeah," he said softly.  "I probably should have warned you that I'm pretty good at getting into this kind of trouble.  I'm sorry, I didn't mean to include you."

"It's not your fault," Kristin objected.

"Maybe," Nathan shrugged, "but it does seem to follow me... and I would understand if you decided that you needed to rethink this relationship."

"Hell, no," Kristin exclaimed starting the car and putting it into gear.  "If you think that I'm going to let these bastards win, you're crazy."

Nathan smiled gently as he watched her.  "Yeah, well, I'm probably crazy but not for that reason.  Thank you."

Kristin smiled over at him and patted his leg.  "That's alright.  I like crazy sailors.  Let's go get something to eat."

They decided that since the goal of the evening was to buy Nathan the suit that he would wear to the wedding that eating at the exchange was probably the easiest solution.  Kristin frowned across the table as she munched on her salad.  "So they're going to let you go to the wedding but not the rehearsal... how big of them," she said sarcastically.

Nathan shrugged.  "They told Toby that I had a history of running when things got tight."

"What???"

"I assume they were referring to me and Carol taking off for the island after Robert died.  They tried to contact us for quite a while afterwards but I refused to answer... I think they got a little pissed."

"You had a perfectly good reason for leaving then, Nathan.  They can't imagine that you'd take off again."

"I guess they do," he shrugged again.  He glanced across the exchange eating area and saw two men sitting on the other side of the room watching them.  He sighed again, "You know that press is watching me now, right?"

"I've seen them," Kristin said covering his hand with hers, "and I'm not going to let them worry me either."

Nathan smiled and ate the last bite of his sandwich.  "You're one tough broad, aren't you."

"Yeah," Kristin smiled.

Several hours later they pulled into a parking space at the Bachelor Officers Quarters and Nathan looked over at Kristin. "Are you going to go home or do you want to take a walk?"

She brought her hand up to softly stroke his cheek.  "If you're not too tired, I'd like the walk."

"No, I'm not too tired.  It's only nine."  He reached back for his gym bag and the hanging bag he had gotten from the exchange.  "Let me dump these things off and I'm all yours."

They both got out of the car and went into the BOQ.  As they stood in front of the elevator Kristin asked, "Do you want me to wait down here?"

"Nah, you can come up," he said as the doors opened and they both got into the elevator.  Up at the room Nathan slipped his key into the door and pushed it open for her.  >From inside they could hear Lucas yelling.  Nathan glanced quickly at the vid-screen that the boy was watching.  "You know, if you keep making that much noise yelling at the ball game they're going to kick us out of here."

Lucas spun quickly around on the sofa with a surprised look on his face.  "Ummmm," he said nervously.  "I'm sorry."  He hastily grabbed the remote and turned down the sound.

"What are you doing home so early?" Nathan asked.

"We got done pretty quick," Lucas shrugged.  "Hi, Doc," he said to Westphalen.

"Hello, Lucas," she answered with a smile as Nathan headed into his room to hang up his new suit.  "So how do you think court went today?"

Lucas frowned a little and glanced at the Captain's bedroom.  "I think his assessment was pretty much on the mark.  It sucked."

"That's what I gather," Kristin said with a sigh.  She also glanced towards the bedroom.  "You'll keep an eye on him, won't you?"

"You got it, Doc," Lucas said confidently.  "I'll watch over him."

Kristin patted the boy on the shoulder.  "Thank you," she said as Nathan came out of the bedroom.

"Do you mind if we go for a walk for a while?"

"Is that what they call it these days?" Lucas asked saucily.

Nathan grinned at him.  "Yeah, Mister Smart Guy."  He ruffled the boy's hair and slipped an arm around Kristin's waist guiding her towards the door.  "I won't be too long."

"Take your time," Lucas smiled turning back to his game.

Kristin and Nathan slowly strolled down the beach with their arms around each other's waists.  At the beginning of their walk they'd taken their shoes off and now they allowed the surf to run up onto their feet as they sauntered across the sand.  They had walked quite a while in silence before Kristin started to talk.

"Can I ask you something?"

"Sure."

"Was my car the only place they bugged?"

"No.  Someone bugged my office and the suite is bugged."

"Does Lucas know?"

"Yeah, that's why he really didn't say anything while we were there. It's probably also why he's got the vid so loud."

He felt Kristin shake her head a little.  "Unbelievable."  They walked for a while more.  "Do you think they can hear what we say when we walk out here?"

"Theoretically, yes, they could.  Realistically, the wave action creates kind of a 'white noise' that makes picking up acoustical sounds pretty difficult."

"So you think that even if they could hear us, they probably couldn't understand what we say?"

"Right."

"Good, because I want to talk to you."

"Oh Lord, not a serious discussion I hope.  I hate serious discussions when all I'm thinking about is kissing you."

"Yes, it's a serious discussion," Kristin answered squeezing his waist a little.  "I want you to let me give you something to help you sleep."

She felt him tense a little and sigh.  "My sleep isn't all that bad."

"Get real, Nathan.  You were up most of the night last night right down to leaving the suite for a couple of hours.  I assume you went for a walk."

Nathan stopped and turned towards her.  "How much did that kid tell you?"

"He told me about last night... but that was only when I asked why *he* looked so tired."  She saw Nathan's confused look.  "Your pacing kept him up and when you went out he couldn't get to sleep because he was worrying about you."

Nathan turned until he was looking out at the water.  "Damn," he said softly then he glanced over at Kristin.  "I'm not really good with sleeping pills.  I react badly to them."

"I know.  We've been through this when we were on the seaQuest.  This isn't exactly a sleeping pill.  It's about the mildest thing I can give you to take the edge off a little and allow you to relax so you can get some sleep and not be affected by it in the morning."  A doubting look covered his face.  "And it has an extremely low incidence of dependency."

"Uh huh," Nathan muttered.

Kristin brought her hand up again to stroke his cheek.  "You really do need it, Nathan," she said softly, "and Lucas needs you to give it a try too."

Nathan nodded a little.  "Alright... the only problem is that there's no way I'm going to be seen by them taking a pill bottle from you," he said inclining his head a little towards the edge of the BOQ where two security officers could be seen watching them.

"Oh, I think we can arrange that," Kristin said moving so close to him that their chests touched. "We just need to be creative," she smiled as she pulled his head down for a long satisfying kiss.  In the middle of the kiss Nathan felt her drop her shoes and bring her other hand up to his waist.  Hidden by their bodies she slipped a pill bottle from her pocket into his.

He was smiling when they broke the kiss.  "You're pretty sneaky besides being tough."

"Yes, and it was a great way to get you to kiss me," she said with a grin.

"Oh, I can do that again," Nathan said bringing his head down to meet her lips once more and wrapping his arms around her.