"He went to see what movie?" Kristin asked in a shocked voice.

Nathan walked into the living room of his beach house carrying a couple glasses of white wine.  "Alien Massacre from Mars," he said handing her one of the glasses across the back of the couch.

"You do realize that movie is total trash, don't you?" she asked disapprovingly.  "It has absolutely no social redeeming value whatsoever."

"Yeah, that was the point," he said sitting on the couch next to her.  He sighed and leaned against the back of the couch.  His left arm came up to rest across Kristin's shoulder and his hand traced lazy patterns over her neck.  "Actually I considered the choice of that movie to be a good idea."  Kristin frowned at him doubtfully.  "It's a total garbage movie that takes no thought at all."  He stopped and shrugged his shoulders.  "With as hard as Lucas has been working the last few weeks, his brain deserves a break."

Kristin smiled as she rubbed his thigh.  "Yes, I suppose you're right," she conceded.  "So... what do you want to do with this unexpected evening alone that we have?"

Nathan shrugged again.  "I don't know what do you want to do?"

"Oh, I don't know."  She looked over at Nathan who now had his eyes shut.  "Definitely not a movie."

He raised his head a little, opened one eye and looked at her.  "Why not?"

"Get real, Nathan.  You'd be asleep before the title screen flashed by."

Nathan leaned back again.  "You've got a point... So, what do you want to do?"

"I don't know," Kristin repeated.  "What do you want to do?"

Nathan rolled his head over until he was looking at her.  His hand moved to the curve of her jaw and he used one finger to gently trace its contour.  A soft smile came to his face as he slowly raised himself off the couch and crossed to the new entertainment center he just had installed in the house.  After frowning at the complicated display for just a moment he pressed several buttons.  The faceplate of the unit glowed a soft green just before gentle, soft music filtered through the room.

Nathan walked back to where Kristin sat with that same soft smile on his face and held out his hand.  She leaned back and put her wine glass on the sofa table and then let Nathan pull her off the couch and into his waiting arms.

Kristin felt the strong yet gentle sensation of his enveloping embrace as she tucked her head into his shoulder and they began to slowly sway to the romantic music.  Nathan held her close, one hand around her waist and the other lovingly caressing her back.

"What do you think?" Nathan whispered into her ear.  "Does this sound like a good way to spend the evening?"

"Ummm hmmm," she mumbled contentedly into his shoulder.

The blue jeep pulled into the drive at Bridger's house and sat there with the engine still running and the lights still on.

"Lucas, I'm really sorry about this," Miguel said miserably.

The boy patted him on the shoulder from his position in the back seat.  "Hey, no problem.  It's not like you wanted to get sick... We'll do it another time."

Tim put the car in park and got out on his side.  "Come out his way, Lucas.  I'd hate to move the sick guy."  Miguel groaned from his side of the car as Lucas slid over and got out the driver's door.

He smiled up at the older man.  "Take care of him, Tim."

"Oh, he's going straight to bed," Tim grinned.  "And no more jalapeno peppers for him for a while."  Another groan was heard from the car. Tim slipped back into the driver's seat and waved to Lucas as he backed the car out of the drive.

Lucas watched the jeep until the tail lights disappeared down the street.  He sighed and headed down the sidewalk to the steps that led up to the porch of the beach house.  Lucas slowly mounted the stairs and went through the door carefully ensuring that the porch door didn't slam.  That was Bridger's latest pet peeve.  Lucas reflected that for a kid who never had much in the way of any parental examples he was sure getting his share with Bridger around.  He smiled a little as he noted to himself that he kind of liked it.  He liked the way that Bridger made him accountable for himself... made him feel responsible... made him a part of running the house... made him clean his room... well, alright, maybe he wasn't too thrilled with the cleaning his room part but it sure looked good when he did it.

The boy stopped half way across the porch as he heard the soft sound of romantic music float from the house.  He didn't want to walk in on another tonsil-hockey session between Bridger and the Doc... again. He was getting really good at that.  Lucas leaned down and peered through one of the porch windows and then sank down into a chair as he saw that the Captain and Westphalen were dancing, slowly and very closely in the space between the dining and living rooms.  He leaned forward a little, resting his elbows on his knees as he watched the couple intently.  This was something he'd never seen his parents do. Of course, the Captain and the Doc did a lot of things that he'd never seen his parents do... like kiss and hug and look at each other that way.

The Doc had both of her arms around Bridger's neck and one hand slowly wove through his hair.  Bridger held Westphalen close with one arm rubbing her back and one arm encircling her waist.  Lucas raised one eyebrow in surprise as the hand around Westphalen's waist slid down to cup her butt.  Neither one of them appeared to have their eyes open but instead they seemed to be totally absorbed in their dancing and each other.  This was kinda cool.  To watch them move slowly to the music, barely talking, just holding onto one another and moving against each other as the music surrounded them.

Bridger leaned his head over a little and rubbed his cheek against Kristin's hair soaking in the soft fragrance of her.  She moaned a little as she felt his hand slip down and begin to gently caress her rear end.  He nudged her head with his chin and she looked up at him.  He smiled and softly kissed the end of her nose before lowering his head to join their lips in a deep, passionate kiss.  As they broke the kiss, Nathan trailed little kisses along Kristin's cheek and neck until he moved over to nibble and suck on her earlobe.  She sighed and leaned further into him, if that was possible, surrendering herself to his loving attack.

"We've got an audience," Nathan whispered in her ear.  Kristin pulled her head back and looked at him quizzically.  "Lucas... he's sitting on the porch watching us."  Kristin started to pull away from him but Nathan's arms held her close.  "It's alright," he said in her ear.  "It's just kind of a continuation of his education."

"It's what?" Kristin whispered fiercely into his ear.

Nathan pulled his head back a little so that he could look at her again.  The hand at her back moved upwards until Bridger was tenderly stroking her neck with his hand while his arm pressed her breasts closer into his chest.

"Haven't you ever watched him watch us?"  Nathan asked.

"Uh uh," Kristin mumbled, confused.

"Oh... he watches us like a hawk anytime we're together."  Nathan paused and his glance quickly flicked over the porch window.  "You know, I don't think that he's ever seen two people like us before."

"Like what?" Kristin asked.

"Like a couple of people who love each other and show it."

Kristin lowered her head down against his shoulder again.  "So now we're part of his continuing sex education, huh?"

"Something like that," Nathan said grinning.

Kristin sighed and shook her head a little.  "Bridger," she mumbled into his shoulder.

"Huh?"

"Get your god-damned hand off of my rear end."  She felt Nathan grin against the side of her face as the offending hand slid up to once again circle her waist.  "So... does he do this voyeur bit often?"

"Nah, not really."  Nathan placed a quick kiss on her temple.  "I imagine that he was checking to be sure he didn't disturb us while we were necking."

"Again," Kristin mumbled discontentedly.

"Again," Nathan confirmed.  "And now he probably doesn't quite know what to do."

"I thought he was supposed to be at a movie."

"He was... something must have happened,"  he sighed and kissed her again.  "If it makes you feel better, he just left the porch."

Kristin pulled back and looked at him suspiciously.  "How do you know that?  You're facing the wrong direction to see him."

"I heard him."

"You must have exceptional hearing," she mumbled as she lowered her head once again.

"Only on one side," he said absently renewing his attack on her earlobe.

Lucas slipped quietly from the porch and moved over to the edge of what was going to be their new dock.  The old one had already been disassembled in preparation for the expanded dock that Bridger had designed... with Lucas' help.  Now only the pilings remained and soon new ones would take their place.  Lucas sat on the end of the wood plank walk that led to the dock and looked over the water while he leaned against a piling.  His mind was filled with the sight of Bridger and Westphalen dancing with each other and how contented and at ease they looked.

A month or so ago when Bridger first agreed to become his guardian, Lucas had felt kind of unhappy with the time Bridger was spending with Westphalen.   After thinking about it for a while Lucas realized that he was jealous.  After all, Bridger had agreed to be his surrogate dad and Lucas liked it.  He liked the time that Bridger was willing to spend with him, he liked the way that Bridger talked to him like an adult and he wanted more of Bridger's time.  When he thought about it Lucas supposed that he wanted Bridger to make up for all the time his Dad had never spent with him.  At first, he'd been unhappy with the relationship that had developed between the couple. It seemed to him that Westphalen was cheating him out of time that Bridger could be spending with him.

Then they'd come out to Cape Quest just after the Captain's Board of Inquiry had concluded.  Westphalen had been tied up at Pearl for two more weeks while she coordinated the move of her department to the new UEO headquarters.  During that time Lucas had come to realize just how important the two adults were to each other.

Those two weeks had been an awakening for Lucas... Not only had he discovered just how focused Bridger could get on a project while he and everyone involved got acquainted with the progress made so far on the new seaQuest but he had also realized how deeply Bridger could care for someone.  It had been Lucas' first introduction to being around someone who was in love... although it had taken him a little while to realize that the two of them were in love... and Lucas wasn't sure at all that he quite understood the concept yet.

To begin with, Bridger had been pretty miserable.  He still hadn't been feeling too well after the injuries that he'd sustained during the sinking of the first seaQuest and he was more than a little frustrated with the slowness of his recovery.  Lucas understood that feeling all too well... more than a few times he'd been discouraged at how long it took some of the various injuries he'd suffered as a kid to heal.  But then it became apparent to Lucas that Bridger missed the Doc a whole lot... and that made him even more miserable.

Every night at nine... no matter what he was involved in Bridger stopped and called her.  Usually, both he and Bridger were still at work.  Those first weeks had been killers.  Most days they had been at work at 7 in the morning and didn't leave until after 10 at night... but they'd gotten everything organized and gotten the production of the new boat accelerated... which was a good thing... and Lucas had gotten the backup vocorders working so they could talk to Darwin again... and that was a very good thing.

Lucas had accidentally overheard a couple of those phone calls... he didn't even want to think about the size of Bridger's vid-phone bill for those two weeks.  After seeing Bridger all day coordinating the work on the new seaQuest, barking out order and firmly taking control of the construction and the workers it was pretty strange to hear the tenderness in his voice when he spoke to the Doc.  Maybe that was one of the ways that you knew that you were in love, Lucas reflected, but all he knew was that as the two weeks dragged by, and even with the nightly phone calls, Bridger became more and more tense... and difficult to live with.

Lucas couldn't ever remember being more relieved than when he saw Westphalen step off of that plane and rush into Bridger's waiting arms.  The passionate kiss that they had shared in the middle of the airport had surprised Lucas though... somehow he had expected that Bridger would be more... well, conservative than that.  Almost immediately, Bridger had calmed down and life had gotten easier.  The combination of a little easing in their work schedule and having Westphalen around had made for a more relaxed and peaceful existence.

And now they were really settling in.  He and Bridger had this beach house to live in and it was really coming together.  They'd got it furnished pretty well and fixed up the one or two things that needed repairing... and now they were working on improving it with things like the new dock.  And then there was the condo that Westphalen had moved into.  He'd been up to see it once when they were picking up the Doc for dinner one night.  It was a pretty nice place... a lot more modern than the way that he and the Captain had furnished their house but pretty darned nice.  It fit the Doc.  And now that the pace on building the seaQuest had settled down for just a little while, Bridger and Westphalen were taking advantage of the time to get to know each other better.

Lucas wondered if he ought to just go for a walk for a while but a drop of rain falling on his shoulder settled that idea.  Instead he walked back into the house as the rain began to pick up just a little.  Going into the porch Lucas let the door slam.  By the time he made it to the French doors the couple had stopped dancing and were looking his direction.

"Could you please not slam that door when you come through it?" Bridger asked in a frustrated voice.

"Sorry, I forgot," Lucas answered sheepishly.  He was kind of surprised by Bridger's little grin.

"I thought you were at the movies."

"I was but Miguel got a hold of a bad jalapeno pepper and kinda lost his cookies."

"Is he alright?" Kristin asked concerned.

Lucas wandered into the kitchen and grabbed a coke.  "Yeah, Tim was gonna take him home and put him to bed."  He flashed a quick smile at the two of them still standing there with their arms around each other.  "And I'm gonna go to my room and surf for a while."

"Okay," Nathan said leaning back against the sofa table with his arms still around Kristin.  Lucas looked back just before going into his room and saw them standing there, face to face with their arms around each other's waists talking and smiled just a little.

"So," Kristin asked softly, her lips only inches from Nathan's, "are we done with his sex education class for the night?"

"Oh, I think so," Nathan grinned.  He loosened one arm from her waist and directed her onto the porch.  They stood there for a moment watching the gentle rain fall on the water before Nathan sat down in one of the wicker chairs and pulled Kristin down into his lap.

She brought one hand up to soothingly caress his chest as his hand wandered up to rub her back underneath her shirt.  "So," Nathan smiled up at her, "what about my sex education class?"

Kristin grinned and kissed him on the end of his nose.  "Oh, I think we can manage a lesson for you."  She lowered her lips to meet his and for many minutes they shared a deep, passionate kiss.  As their lips parted Kristin brought her tongue and lips across his chin until she nibbled on the bottom of his ear.  "And I can be a very good teacher," she whispered seductively.