The sleek go-fast boat skimmed across the calm Caribbean waters, the loud thunder of its engine making the only noise disturbing the peace of this bright summer afternoon.  Inside the boat every person aboard with the exception of the driver was scanning the horizon in search of any other vessel or aircraft that might take note of their speedy transit through the water.  Unexpectedly, the engine skipped a beat... then another... and another.  The driver throttled back and checked his gauges.

"What's wrong?" asked the tall blond man in charge.

"I don't know," the driver answered tapping against one of the gauges.  "We're losing oil pressure."

"How bad?"

The driver looked up at him.  "Bad."

The blond man scanned the area outside the boat and pointed to the south.  "Head for that island."

"You sure?"

The man nodded.  "I'm sure.  If this damned thing decides to stop I sure as hell don't want to be floating in the middle of nowhere."  He picked up his monocular and checked over the chosen island.  "And there's a protected dock there just inside that lagoon entry.  Looks like there might even be someone home."

Kristin Westphalen pulled the last towel off of the clothes line they had set up outside the back of Nathan's island home and neatly folded it.  She put it in a basket with the rest of the clothes and straightened up grimacing while she held her hand to her aching back as Lucas came around the back of the house with an iced tea in his hand.

"You looked a little warm out here so I thought you might like something to drink," he said handing Kristin the glass.

"Oh, bless you," she said taking a long drink from the glass.  "I'll be glad next time when it's your turn to do the laundry."

"Hey, Doc, you know how it is... share and share alike," He grinned. Lucas leaned over and picked up the full basket.  "Tell ya what, though... I'll carry it in for you."

"Thank you, Lucas," she said falling in beside him.  "Where did Nathan go off to?"

"He mumbled something about needing greens for the salad tonight and headed towards the grotto."

Kristin smiled softly.  "I love it when it's his turn to cook."

Lucas grinned back.  "Yeah, me too.  He's teaching me gradually but it just comes so naturally to him."  Kristin held the door as Lucas climbed the two stairs to the porch.  He continued into the house to put the basket down while Kristin lingered on the porch watching the wind gracefully flow through the trees.  Just as Lucas came back onto the porch she noticed a dark blue speedboat slowly approaching the dock.

"Who's that?" Lucas asked.

"I have no idea," Kristin answered cautiously.  In all the times they'd come to the island this was the first time a strange boat had approached.  Quickly she glanced in the direction of the grotto hoping that Nathan was coming back... suddenly a little afraid.

"You stay here, Doc.  I'll check on them," Lucas said reaching for the porch door.

"No, why don't I go?"

"Because I'm going," Lucas countered firmly as he walked down the stairs.  "Stay here."

Lucas walked across the sand and down to the dock where the boat was slowly approaching.  He could see five men on the speedboat, the kind usually referred to as a 'go-fast'.  They all looked pretty clean and well dressed... all of them sported t-shirts and baggy pants.  A tall blond man threw a line to Lucas that he secured around one of the pilings.

"Hi," Lucas called to him.

"Hi, sorry about bothering you but we seem to have developed some engine problems."

"What's wrong?"

"I don't know.  We just started losing oil pressure."

"You're a long way out for this kind of boat."

"Yeah, we were just fishing up off of Tourgay Island and had decided to call it a day and head back to the mainland.  I guess we got a little further away than we'd planned."

"Uh, huh," Lucas said.  No way, he thought to himself.  This wasn't the kind of boat usually used for fishing... and don't tell him that five guys were using the two rods that he could see sitting on the deck of the boat.  Drug running was more like it.  "I don't know that we can help a lot... maybe we can get one of the tow boats over to give you a hand."

"We don't have much of a choice," the man smiled.  The smile made Lucas nervous... it covered the man's lips but never made it to his eyes.

"Let me see what we can do," Lucas said starting to turn away.

"No, I don't think so," the man said sharply.  Lucas turned back to him only to spot an AK-47 pointed right at his chest.  "We go with you."  He raised his voice and called towards the house.  "You come down too.  You wouldn't want the boy to get hurt, would you?"

After only a short delay they saw the porch door open and Kristin slowly walked down to the dock.  By now all five men from the boat had come ashore and the blond man directed two of them to check the house.  Running up towards the house with their guns at the ready the men stormed through the front door.  Lucas and Kristin heard them slam through the doors inside as they searched.

Kristin cautiously looked over at Lucas as they both stood under the watchful eyes of the armed men on the dock until the two men appeared again at the door and headed for them.

"It's clear," said the lead man.  "But there's at least one other person here."  He nodded over at Kristin.  "She's sharing the bedroom with a guy."

"Who and where is he?" the blond man asked Kristin.

"Nathan and he's getting supplies," she was hoping that they'd assume that he was off-island and they did.

"Let's go up to the house," the tall man said indicating the way with the barrel of his rifle.  He looked over at the driver.  "You work on the boat."  When they got to the house he had Lucas and Kristin sit on the steps and looked over at the other three men.  "You two take a tour around and check out the place."  He looked over to the dock where the driver was staring in the engine compartment of the boat.  "We'll stay here and see if Nathan comes back."  Two of the men nodded and headed out to the north.  As they sat side by side on the steps Kristin's hand found Lucas' and they held on silently.

Nathan really enjoyed having Kristin and Lucas along on the island with him but sometimes he just needed a little solitude.  The search for greens was a good excuse to get away for a short time.  He'd started over at the grotto and gradually moved his way up the hill and then around it to the other side of the island.  Now he was working his way back down to the house.  He stopped for just a moment to check out another stand of bright green leaves.  He was familiar with this one.  It had a slightly sweet taste and a crisp texture. Perfect.  He knelt for a moment and pulled up several leaves adding them to the pile of greens in the basket he was carrying.  Quite a good mix for the salad... better than he had expected.  The recent storm that had thinned out some of the vegetation on the island had also increased the variety of low growth around.  Kristin and Lucas were in for a treat.

He stood again and climbed up a small rise.  As he topped the rise Nathan dropped to his knees instinctively as he saw the strangers walking in front of the house.  Concern covered his face as he watched the armed men.  Using the vegetation to shield him from those below, he cautiously moved along the rise until, with relief, he saw Kristin and Lucas sitting on the steps in front of the house apparently unharmed.  Nathan crouched down behind a bush and scanned the beach area.  One man was on a go-fast boat tied up to the dock and two armed men were guarding Kristin and Lucas.  Putting the basket he was holding down, Nathan started to slip carefully back into the forest when he felt a cold, metal pressure on the side of his neck.  Slowly, he turned his head to the side and his eyes followed up the rifle barrel to the steely face of the gunman pointing an AK-47 at him.

"Ah, shit," Nathan said softly.  The man moved back just a little and motioned Nathan up with the barrel of the rifle.  Nathan frowned and then slowly began to stand up.  Suddenly, his hands came up and grasped the barrel pushing it up out of the way and he kicked his foot out.  The armed man grunted in pain as Nathan's foot found its mark and Nathan pulled the gun out of the man's hands.  Nathan took hold of the stock of the gun and swung it around, striking the man in the mid-section.  He went down to his knees with a moan.

Nathan pulled back, preparing to hit the man again only to find himself on his knees after receiving a vicious blow to the back.  The second man that had come up behind him swung around with his rifle stock crashing it into the side of Nathan's head and the rifle he held fell from Nathan's hands onto the ground as he collapsed.

What do you think they're going to do?" Lucas asked quietly.

"I have no idea," Kristin whispered, "but I hope that Nathan spots what's going on."   She looked over at the tall blond man who was in deep discussion with the boat driver.  The conversation didn't appear to be going well.  The two of them started walking back towards the house.

"When do you expect him back?" the blond man asked Kristin.

"Who?"

The man tilted his head and frowned at her.  "Nathan,..... Remember him?"

"Yes," Kristin answered, "and I don't know."

"Uh huh," the man said doubtfully.  He turned sharply and brought his rifle to the ready at the noise coming from the side of the house. From around the corner the two men who had left appeared dragging Nathan between them.

"Nathan!" Kristin cried looking at the blood running down the side of his face.

The two men unceremoniously dumped Nathan groaning at her feet.  "Look what we found," one grinned.

The blond man looked at how the second one was holding his side.  "Looks to me like he found you first."

"Yeah, but we won," said the man with the injured side.

Kristin held Nathan's head cradled in her lap while she tried to check out his injury.  He wasn't completely unconscious but was considerably groggy and pulled away when she touched his head.

"Ow," he groaned.

"Just sit still," Kristin said soothingly and then looked up at the blond man.  "Could I take care of his cut?  I'm a doctor."

"You are, huh?"  He looked over at one of his men.  "Carlo, get what she needs."

"My bag is in the bedroom."

"Yeah, I saw it," Carlo said heading up the stairs.

"And I'll need some water," Kristin called after him.

The blond man crouched down in front of her.  "Have a look at Bobby, too.  I think your husband smacked him around a little."

Kristin nodded.  "Alright."  She turned as Carlo came down the steps with her bag and a bowl of water.  "What do we call you?" she asked the blond man.  "We can't just keep calling all of you 'hey, there'."

The man smiled at her... more warmly than Kristin had expected.  "My name is Jim."  He nodded towards his men.  "Carlo and Bobby you know.  Jaime is our driver and that's Mike."

"I'm Kristin."

Jim looked over at Lucas.  "Lucas," the boy said.

Jim watched as Kristin cleaned the cut on Nathan's forehead.  "And he's Nathan."

"Right," Kristin answered.  Nathan flinched as she swabbed the cut.  "Sorry," she said to him.

"That's okay," Nathan said closing his eyes.

"How's it feel?"

"Like I got smashed in the head with a rifle butt," Nathan said gingerly bringing his hand up to the cut.

"Keep your hand away," Kristin said dabbing antiseptic on the cut as Nathan pulled back at the sting.  "Almost done."  She put a bandage over the cut and smoothed down the adhesive tape and then turned his face towards her.  "Look at me."  She frowned at the unfocussed look in his eyes and held up a finger.  "Follow the tip of my finger with your eyes only."  She moved her hand to one side and Nathan moved his head to follow it.  Kristin sighed and moved his face back to where it had been.  "Your eyes only, Nathan," she admonished.

"Okay," he said nodding and then grimaced a little from the movement.

Kristin moved her finger again and noted the definite delay in the way he followed it.  She held up two fingers.  "How many fingers."

"Two," Nathan sighed and watched her nod.  "It's always two," he grinned a little at her frown.  "It's an old rule from baseball. When you hold up fingers you always hold up two.  One is too easy and three is too hard to count if you're confused so the trainers always held up two," he explained.

"How many do you really see?" Kristin asked disapprovingly.

"Too many," Nathan sighed.  He brought his hand up to rub his forehead.  "God, I've got a headache."

"You going to check Bobby?" Jim asked.

Kristin nodded and moved over to where Bobby was sitting on the sand holding his side.

"So what now?" Jaime asked Jim.

Jim glanced over at the boat and sighed.  "Now we try to figure out how to fix the boat."

"You know anything about boats?" Jaime asked.

"No."

"What's wrong with your boat?" Nathan asked.

Jim and Jaime exchanged glances.  "We don't know," Jaime answered.  "The oil pressure just started to drop and the engine sounded like it was skipping."

Nathan nodded just a little and started to push himself up off the stairs.

"You need to stay right where you're at, Nathan," Kristin admonished him.

"I'm alright."

"You're not, you know," Kristin said.  "At the very least you have a concussion."

Nathan grimaced as he managed to get to his knees.  "For a change," he said sarcastically.  "What I need to do is I need to see if I can fix their boat."

"You know how to fix boats?" Jim asked.

"Yeah."  Jim reached out his hand and helped Nathan to his feet.  "If I fix it will you leave?"

"Yeah."

"Alright," Nathan said, stumbling a little as he started to walk towards the dock.

Jim looked at him critically and then turned to Lucas who was intently watching Nathan.  "Hey, kid."  Lucas looked over at him.  "Give your Dad a hand."

Lucas glanced quickly at Kristin before scrambling up and moving to Nathan's side.  "You alright, sir?" he asked softly.

"Yeah," Nathan said putting his hand on Lucas' shoulder.  "A little dizzy, that's all."

Jim, Jaime, Mike, Nathan and Lucas walked down to the dock where Jaime climbed aboard the go-fast.  "What now?" he asked.

Nathan leaned against one of the piers.  "Start it up gentle."  He grimaced and rubbed his forehead as the powerful motor of the go-fast throbbed to life.  There was a definite skip in the sound of the engine.

"You want me to rev it?" Jaime asked.

Nathan shook his head slowly, very slowly because it hurt.  "No, don't do that."  He looked over at Jim.  "Sounds like you either blew a ring or a valve."

"Can you fix that?"

"Yeah, I can fix that," Nathan said resignedly.  He glanced into the boat.  "You think you can get it over to the boat house really gentle?"

"Why the boathouse?" Jim asked.

Nathan slowly turned to look at him.  "Because that's where I keep my tools and where the repair equipment is," he paused noticeably.   "That is if you want me to fix it."

"I want you to fix it."

"Okay... Lucas, go open the boat house."  Lucas headed for the boathouse at a run.  Jim nodded his head at Mike who followed the boy.  "I don't know about you, but I'm riding over there," Nathan said as he climbed aboard the go-fast.  Jim slipped the mooring line off and joined him as Jaime eased the boat out into the water and towards the boathouse.

As they slowly backed the boat to the boathouse Lucas pulled the chains which caused the sliding doors to move sideways.  The sleek boat slowly backed in, coming to rest against the edge of the wooden boathouse deck and Jaime cut the engine.

"I'm going to need the engine compartment opened," Nathan said to Jim.  "And somehow I don't think you really want me opening compartments on this boat."

"No," Jim said positively.  "We'll take care of that."

Nathan nodded again and got off the boat while Jaime went to work opening the engine compartment.  He sent Lucas off into the corner to get the big tool chest and Mike followed right behind him.  A short time later the two of them pushed the large red rolling tool chest to the side of the boat.  By now Nathan was aboard the boat again staring into the engine compartment.  He looked over at Lucas.  "Grab a couple of wrenches and help me get this valve cover off.  Bring some rags though, this damned thing is pretty hot."

Lucas scrambled aboard with two large wrenches and a handful of rags and they went to work removing the valve covers off the engine.  As they freed the last bolt Lucas took a screwdriver from his back pocket to pry the cover up a little.  As he did a good amount of oil seeped from under the cover.

Nathan shook his head a little.  "50-50 chance that we'd get the right side and we did.  That's a good start."

"Why?" Jim asked.

Lucas looked over at him and answered.  "The problem could have been on either side of the engine since there are two sets of valves. From the amount of oil leaking out we probably have the broken side."

"And I'd say with that much oil that you probably blew a ring," Nathan commented.

"You can fix that, right?" Jim asked.

"Yeah," sighed Nathan.  "Probably."  He reached down and grabbed one side of the valve cover and started to lift it with Lucas on the other side when he suddenly stopped and put his side down again. Lucas looked over at him concerned.  Nathan stared at the top of the engine and leaned against the coping for a moment before looking up at Lucas.  "Okay, not a good idea to try to lift heavy things.  Makes me dizzy again."  He closed his eyes for a bit until the room quit spinning.

Lucas looked over at Jim.  "I'm going to need a hand getting this off."

Jim glanced at Jaime.  "You're the driver.  You get to help them." Jaime nodded and moved over to help Lucas.

Within a rather short time the engine had been raised and disassembled enough that Nathan could pull out the piston to check the bad cylinder.  After staring into the engine for a while he sat on the boat with the piston in his hands also inspecting that.

"Is it fixable?" Jim asked over his shoulder.

Nathan sighed and turned the piston over in his lap.  "Well, the sides of the cylinder aren't too bad but the ring is toast.  The piston has a few scoring marks and some burrs but we should be able to grind the burrs down.  The scoring isn't bad enough to keep the engine from running.  I can repair it enough that you'll be able to get back to the mainland but you're gonna need to get this thing rebuilt pretty soon."

"Just fix it enough for us to get it back to our base and that'll be enough," Jim said patting him on the shoulder.

As he stepped off the boat Nathan's eyes caught sight of the house through the window.  He kept looking at the house while he talked over his shoulder to Jim.  "I need Kristin down here."

"What for?"

Nathan turned slowly and leaned back against the tall tool chest.  "It's not that I don't trust you," he said with a frown, "but I don't trust you.  If you want me to work on the boat I need to know that nothing is happening to her.  So I need her down here where I can see her and not up there with two of your guys."

Jim face held a humorless smile.  "I could just tell you that if you don't work on it I blow the kid away," he said swinging his rifle in Lucas' direction.

"You could," Nathan answered calmly, "but then you wouldn't get your boat fixed either."  He nodded his head in the direction of the raised engine.  "I know that there's no way you could even get that engine back into the boat without my help right now.  You either get Kristin down here where I can see her or you can rot here with us."

The smile on Jim's face softened.  "Go get the rest of them and bring them down here," he said to Mike over his shoulder and then spoke to Nathan again.  "Your concern is touching," he said sarcastically.

"They better not have touched her," Nathan warned.

"They didn't," Jim said confidently.  "They wouldn't unless I told them to."

Nathan watched the house through the window until he saw Kristin come out the front door with a large basket in her hands.  Behind her the three gunmen followed.  Carlo had a cooler in his hands and Bobby followed behind a little slower, holding his side.  The four of them came through the side door of the boathouse and stopped for a moment while their eyes adjusted to the light.

Kristin brought the basket she carried over to where Nathan and Lucas were.  "You alright?" Nathan asked softly.

"I'm alright," Kristin answered casting a practiced eye over Nathan. Well, he didn't look much worse but he didn't look much better.  "We made some food for you guys and brought you something to drink."  She brought up a pill container out of her pocket.  "And I brought something for your head."

"Good," Nathan said morosely, "I think it's about to blow up."

Kristin stroked his cheek softly and took a glass of iced tea that Lucas handed her.  "Take these," she said holding out a couple of pills.  Nathan swallowed them with a grimace.  "It'll take a little while to work... and you need to get something in your stomach."

"Can you work while you eat?" Jim asked over his shoulder.

Nathan turned to him and frowned.  "At the moment you're lucky that I'm even staying vertical, pal.  I'm going to sit and eat and then I'll get back to your damned engine," he said firmly.

"Don't push it," Jim warned moving closer to Nathan.

Lucas stepped between them.  "Look, you two could argue about it or you could just let him eat quickly and then get back to work.  You don't want him collapsing in the middle of trying to get the engine together, do you?"

Jim glared at Nathan a bit and then he smiled a little at Nathan's firmness.  "Alright, eat something and then get back to fixing the boat," he relented.  He had to admire how Nathan was trying to call the shots even though he obviously was having some problems from the concussion... to say nothing of the fact that he and his men were the ones with the guns.

Nathan and Lucas sat down on the deck while Kristin passed sandwiches to them and then sat down next to them.  "How's your vision?" she asked Nathan softly.

"It comes and goes," he sighed.  "Sometimes things stay still and sometimes they start moving on their own.  I just have to be careful not to lean over too fast and things like that."

"Try to keep your head as still as you can and it should help some." She looked over at the boat.  "Can you fix it?"

"Yeah, we can fix it," Nathan said chewing on a piece of fruit.  "At least enough to get them to where they want to go."  He looked over to Lucas.  "Do you think you remember how to run the metal lathe?"

Lucas nodded, "Yeah."

Nathan passed the piston over to him.  "I need you to grind that really gently.  Just enough to take off the burrs.  We don't want to reduce its diameter too much or it'll rattle around inside the cylinder."

"Alright, sir.  How are you going to fix the ring?"

"Seems to me that we've got some nice, thin sheets of spring metal over there," he pointed to a workbench.  "We should be able to cut out some replacement rings but we'll do that after you smooth the piston so we get the right circumference."

"Right," Lucas said standing as Kristin took his plate.  He reached out and helped Nathan stand watching as the older man wobbled just a bit as he got upright.  "You sure you're alright?"

"Yup, I just need to be sure that I keep the movements slow."  He turned to Kristin who was putting the plates back in the basket.  "You're staying down here with us."

"Why?"

"Because I told them that I won't work on the engine if you're up at the house where I can't see you.  I don't quite trust them," he said softly and then sighed.  "And besides which, you'll be happier if you can keep an eye on me anyways."

"That's true," Kristin said wiping off her hands.  "God knows you need a keeper."

Nathan grinned a little at her and moved back over to the engine. After Lucas had smoothed down the piston he and Nathan met back over at the workbench and took precise measurements of the piston.  Then they found the spring metal and marked out the form of the ring they needed to cut out and Lucas went to work cutting the ring under Nathan's watchful eye.

Jaime stood behind Nathan admiring the precision of the operation as Lucas cut the metal.  "Hey, it looks like he's doing a pretty good job.  How long has he been cutting metal like that?"

Nathan kept his eyes on Lucas and spoke over his shoulder.  "It's his first time."  Jaime looked at him concerned.  "He's watched me before and held the metal for me but he's never done it on his own."

"Then why don't you do it?"

A little smile crossed Nathan's face.  "Because with the way my head feels and how my vision is messed up, you don't want me to try to cut metal right now.  I'd probably make a zig-zag or something."  He nodded towards Lucas.  "And he's doing just fine."

Lucas finished the last section of the delicate cut and raised his face shield.  "How's that look?" he asked Nathan.

Nathan inspected the still hot metal and smiled.  "Looks pretty darned good, kiddo.  Let it cool down and we'll see how it fits with the piston."

The two of them were sitting on the deck of the boat testing the fit and carefully filing the metal ring to fit snugly around the piston when Jim stepped aboard and looked over Nathan's shoulder.  "How much longer?" he asked in an impatient voice.

Nathan straightened up and sighed.  "It depends," he said a little impatient himself.  "If you keep bothering us it'll take six hours. If you leave us the hell alone we should get it done in two."

"You're pushing it again, Nathan," Jim warned.

"I'm just telling you the truth," Nathan said wincing as he maneuvered the ring into its slot in the cylinder.  "If you want this done quick then let us get on with our work."

Jim watched him as he slid the new piece of metal around until it fit snugly and then just nodded and moved away.  Lucas and Nathan worked silently for a while fitting the piston in and then connecting the various parts of the engine that made it move.  Finally they started reassembling the outside of the engine, bringing up the covers and pans that had been the first things they'd taken off.

Nathan looked over at Jaime.  "Tell you what... how about if you go behind me and make sure that I don't miss any bolts when I'm tightening them?  With the way my head feels I could miss some or not get them tight."

"Got it," Jaime said with a little smile as he grabbed up a wrench and a long socket.

He, Lucas and Nathan moved around the suspended engine tightening bolts and screws in silence.  At one point Lucas saw Nathan waver a little bit and grab onto the side of the engine.  He held out an arm to steady him.

"You alright, C... Dad?" Lucas asked almost slipping and calling Nathan 'Captain'.

Nathan stood for a moment with his eyes shut and leaning against the engine.  "Yeah," he said in a discouraged voice.  "I just wish the world would quit shifting on me."  Lucas saw him take a couple of deep breaths and then open his eyes and continue the work on the engine.

Both Lucas and Nathan were covered in grease and engine oil by the time they started lowering the engine back down into the engine compartment.  Nathan started climbing down into the engine well only to be stopped by Lucas.

"Don't even think about it, Dad.  I'll go down there and you can tell me what to do."

"I look that bad, huh?" Nathan grinned.

"Yeah, you do," Lucas said seriously.

"Alright, it's not that hard from this point on.  Kind of like reassembling a puzzle."  Nathan sat on the edge of the engine well and called for various tools that Kristin handed to him from the deck.  At one point she handed him a wrench and then pushed back the hair from his forehead as she checked the bandage covering his cut.  "You're getting very good at picking the right tool, you know," Nathan teased.

"I may as well do something useful," Kristin muttered smoothing the tape down again.

Nathan grinned a little.  "Hell, with me it's always useful having a doctor around."

"God knows," she said with a small smile and handed him the slip-joint pliers that Lucas needed.

The small assembly continued working on putting the engine back together with Lucas down in the well doing the hard work, Nathan advising from above, Kristin handing the tools down and Jaime intently watching the work and occasionally helping Lucas with something or another.

Nathan winced as he leaned over to inspect the last bit of work on the engine.  "Did you give the drive shaft a good shake to be sure that it wasn't shifting on you?"

"Yeah," Lucas said as he looked up at him with a face so covered with grease and sweat that you could hardly see what he looked like.  "It's in nice and tight."

"Okay, climb out," Nathan said shifting his legs over.

"Should I start it up now?" Jaime asked anxiously.

Nathan looked over at the man and shook his head a little.  "Not before we put some oil in it or you'll blow the engine up," he said tiredly.

"Oh, yeah," Jaime said sheepishly.

"Where's the oil?" Kristin asked.

"Over in that blue cabinet," Nathan said moving towards the edge of the boat.  "I'll get it."

"No," Kristin said.  "You stay there, I'll get it."  She went over to the cabinet and grabbed an armful of containers of oil.  Jaime picked up the one that slipped from her arms as she made it to the side of the boat.

They put all the fluids necessary in the engine and then double-checked all the connections before Nathan finally sat back and looked over at Jaime.  "Alright, give it a try... but be easy."

Jim stood at the side of the boat expectantly watching as Jaime moved into the cockpit and nervously licked his lips before he pressed the start button.  Lucas also kept his eyes riveted on Jaime but Kristin was watching Nathan.  He was sitting on the edge of the boat with his eyes shut and a grimace on his face.  As Jaime pressed the button the engine throbbed loudly and Nathan grimaced harder and bring a hand up to rub his forehead.  The engine sputtered for a moment and then with a loud cough the engine caught.  Kristin could see Nathan visibly relax as the thrumming of the engine settled down into an even rhythm.  Even sitting still in the boathouse the power of the engine was obvious.  The deep, heady pulse of the engine filled the building and Jaime smiled over at Jim as Kristin saw Nathan nod slightly.

"Nice job, Nathan," Jim said above the noise of the engine.

Nathan tiredly opened his eyes and looked over at him.  "Thanks."

"Get off the boat," Jim said firmly.

Nathan slowly stood and climbed onto the deck of the boathouse.  He slipped his arm around Kristin's waist as he turned towards Jim.  "Now what?"

Jim looked back at him with a dead-pan face.  "Pull the boat out to the dock," he told Jaime over his shoulder.  "You three walk that way," he said motioning to the door with his rifle.  He glanced back at Mike.  "Grab that line," he said nodding towards some rope on the wall as he went through the door after his captives.

"Nathan?" Kristin said softly as they walked towards the beach.  "They said that they'd let us go, didn't they?"

"They said they'd leave," Nathan sighed.  "They didn't say anything about what kind of shape we'd be in when they did."

"Sir?" Lucas asked nervously from where he was walking next to Kristin.

"I don't know, Lucas.  I don't know what they're going to do."  They had reached the area of the beach where they had the hammock hung off the trees.

"Stop," Jim said from behind them.

The three of them stopped and turned to face Jim who was holding his rifle across his chest.  The other three gunmen stood in similar threatening poses just behind him.  Jim just stared at them for several long moments.  Finally he brought his rifle around until the muzzle rested against Nathan's chest.

"Common sense tells me that I shouldn't leave any witnesses," he said in a steely voice.  Nathan heard Kristin suck in a breath next to him then Jim slowly shook his head.  "But you didn't need to do that. You didn't need to fix the boat."  He looked over at Mike.  "Tie those two to that tree," he said indicating Lucas and Kristin.

Kristin held tightly onto Nathan's hand until he looked over at her.  "Go," he said firmly and she finally let go of his hand and walked over to the tree with Lucas.  Mike had them sit on the ground on either side of the tree, tied their arms around the tree and then used several lengths of rope to tie the two of them together with their backs to the trunk of the tree.  They could both still turn their heads and keep an eye on what was happening to Nathan.  As Mike finished tying them up Jim was still standing with his rifle pointed at Nathan's chest.  Mike came back over near Jim and the blond man grinned humorlessly while still watching Nathan.

"You said before that you didn't trust us.  Well, I don't trust you."  He paused a moment and lifted the muzzle until it rested under Nathan's chin.  Nathan heard a soft cry from Kristin.  Jim shook his head a little and dropped his muzzle towards the sand.  "Tie him to the other tree but tie him tight."

Mike reached over and grabbed Nathan's shirt pulling him over to the tree closest to the water.  He first tied Nathan's hands tightly together behind him around the tree.  Nathan leaned his head back against the tree as Mike circled his chest with more rope and firmly lashed him to the trunk.  After adding even more rope Mike inspected his handiwork and grinned towards Jim.

"He ain't going anywhere."

"Alright," Jim nodded and indicated for the others to go to the boat.  He walked up to Nathan.  "Thanks for the hospitality."

"Get the hell off my island," Nathan glared at him.

Jim smiled slightly and nodded his head towards Kristin and Lucas.  "If they work at it a bit they'll manage to get those knots loose but it should take them several hours.  By then we'll be far away."

"Not far enough," Nathan said with little grace.

"See ya, Nathan," Jim said turning and walking over to the boat. They saw him take in the mooring line and climb into the boat.  The sound of the engine rolled loudly across the sand as the boat backed off the dock and then Jaime gradually turned it until he opened the throttle and they sped out of the lagoon.

 Kristin looked over to where Nathan was again leaning his head back against the tree trunk.  "Nathan, are you alright?"

"No," he answered in a pained voice.  "Too tight... kinda hard to breathe."

"Hang on for just a little while, Cap," Lucas said wincing as he twisted his arm in the ropes.

"What are you doing, Lucas?" Kristin asked.

Lucas grunted a little as he twisted his arms some more.  "It's a little talent I discovered I had in the back of a squad car one time."  He smiled a little as he heard Nathan chuckle.

"In a squad car?" Kristin asked shocked.

"Yeah," Lucas said grunting again as he pulled on his arm.  "Drove the cop crazy," Kristin saw him smile a little as he pulled his right arm loose of the bindings.  Lucas quickly loosened the ropes holding him and Kristin before rushing over to help Nathan.

Kristin stood in front of Nathan smoothing the hair off his forehead while Lucas inspected the knots of the ropes holding Nathan on the tree.  He grimaced again and she saw how the ropes were cutting into his chest keeping him from breathing properly.  "Work on the ones holding his chest first," she told Lucas.

"That's what I'm doing," Lucas muttered working on the knots while he tried desperately not to tighten the ropes any more than they were.

"Should I go get a knife?" Kristin asked anxiously.

"Nope," Lucas said with a satisfied smile as the line encircling Nathan's chest fell away.

Nathan sank forward and Kristin moved into him so that his head leaned on her shoulder.  Nathan gasped in badly needed air as Kristin stroked the side of his head and spoke softly to him.  "Easy, Nathan.  Concentrate.  Take big, slow breaths."  She felt him relax and begin to breath more easily as Lucas worked on the ropes holding his arms behind the tree.

"God," Nathan muttered, "and I thought my head hurt before...."

"It's going to be your hands that hurt in just a second, Cap," Lucas said from behind him.  "These ropes are totally cutting the circulation for your hands so when I get them loose it's probably going to hurt like hell."

"Oh, goody," Nathan mumbled into Kristin's shoulder.  He felt the tell-tale tingling in his hands as Lucas freed the knots just before the sharp pains began running down from his wrists to his fingertips.  "Ow," he said softly.  He kept his head leaning against Kristin's shoulder as he brought his arms around and shook his hands trying to restore the circulation before encircling her waist and holding her tight while Lucas loosed the last rope that held his legs to the tree.

Lucas came up next to him when the last rope was freed and Nathan glanced quickly out to the lagoon before looking at the boy.  "Help me to the house."  Lucas put Bridger's arm over his shoulder and his arm around the older man's back and Nathan leaned on him as they made their way to the house.  They carefully climbed the steps and moved into the house where all three of them stood just inside the doorway and stared at the destruction.  Somewhere along the way some of the men must have come back up to the house to search it and destroy any method that the residents might have to contact the outside world.

The doors that covered their vid-phone and satellite unit stood open and the equipment inside had been smashed.  Through the bedroom doors they could see that all the drawers were open and their contents strewn across the floor.

"Teach us to be nice to them," Kristin grumbled.

 "Damn," Nathan sighed.  "....over there," he said pointing to where the vid-unit was now scattered in pieces.

"No way that's going to work, Cap," Lucas protested.

Nathan just looked at Lucas and repeated, "Over there."  Shaking his head Lucas helped Bridger to the vid-unit.  Nathan leaned against the wall and slid down onto the floor under Lucas' confused gaze.  He mumbled as he ran his hands over the floor.  "One difficulty in this area is that you can have a little problem with people breaking into your place," he smiled slightly as he pressed a section of the floor that moved under his fingers.

Lucas knelt down next to him and stared at the floor as Nathan pulled back a section of the wood.  "So you've got to be prepared for contingencies."  He smiled up at Lucas.  "It's always nice to have an extra radio around."

"That's a real radio, isn't it?" Lucas asked in amazement, staring at the sleek black box hidden in the floor.  "Who can you talk to on that?  Everyone is on the vid network now."

"Not around here, Lucas.  Lots of islanders still keep radios to talk to each other.  Less complicated and more appealing to those who might be trying to escape from the high-tech world to begin with," he smiled slightly, "including Juan."  He flipped a couple of switches and the dials on the front of the radio glowed a soft green.  Kristin sat down on the floor next to Nathan watching worriedly as she saw how his hand was shaking and how pale he was.  A series of green lights flashed across the front of the radio before settling down to the lights marked 'Power' and 'Ready'.

She watched as Nathan punched a series of numbers into a keypad on the front of the radio before pushing a button marked 'Alert'.  "That'll set off a tone on Juan's radio," Nathan explained softly.  Juan Delgado was Nathan's closest friend in the islands and lived with his girlfriend, Angel, on another island about 30 minutes sail to the north.

As the radio crackled to life Nathan picked up the mike that was attached to the side of the radio.  "Nathan, is that you? Over." came the voice from the radio.

"It's me, amigo," Nathan answered.  "We've had a little pirate problem here. Over."

"You guys alright? Over," came the concerned response from Juan.

Kristin saw Nathan wince again and lean his head against the wall trying to cope with another wave of dizziness.  She took the mike from his hand and pressed the button on the side.  "Juan, they were drug runners with a broken boat that Nathan fixed but he ended up getting a rifle butt to the head.  I know that he's at least got a bad concussion and possibly a fractured skull.  We're going to need an evacuation here." She released the button on the mike and then hastily pushed it in again.  "Over."

"Anyone else hurt and are the bad guys gone? Over."

"Yes, they're gone and no, it's just Nathan who is hurt. Over."

"For a change," she heard Nathan mumble discontentedly.  He was still leaning against the wall and Lucas was rubbing his shoulder comfortingly.

"Standby," came Juan's response.  Kristin waited impatiently for a few minutes before Juan came back on the radio.  "Kristin, a medivac chopper will be there in about 20 minutes along with the authorities.  Any description on the bad guys? Over."

Kristin looked apprehensively at how Nathan was gasping for air and handed the mike to Lucas.  "Lucas, talk to Juan and let me take care of Nathan."

Lucas nodded and pressed the button on the mike.  "Juan, this is Lucas.  There are five bad guys in a dark blue go-fast that headed west from here when it left about 30 minutes ago.  A tall blond guy, two dark-haired Anglos, and two Hispanic guys.  Names are Jim, Bobby, Mike, Jaime and Carlo.  The boat's got a light blue deck and cockpit. Over."

"Hang on," Juan answered and then came back a moment later.  "Description has been passed on.  How's Nathan doing? Over."

Lucas looked over to where the Doc had laid Bridger down on the floor.  He still had his eyes shut against the dizziness and a vague look of pain covered his face but at least he was breathing better.  "Not too good.  He got hit pretty hard.  The bad guys came here because they blew a ring on their boat and he helped them fix it. Over."

"Roger that, Lucas.  The chopper should be there any minute now. Over."

The soft thrumming of rotor blades could be heard getting louder and louder outside.  "They're here now, Juan.  I'm going to sign off. Thanks a lot. Over."

"Take care of the gringo, Lucas.  Over and out," Juan said as the radio went silent.

"Lucas, tell them that we'll need a stretcher with an immobilization kit."

"I don't need a stretcher," Nathan mumbled.

"You can't walk, you idiot," Kristin countered and then nodded at Lucas who took off out of the house at a run.  "You're too dizzy, Nathan."

"This can't be healthy," he muttered.

"What?"

"Getting my bell rung so many times this year."

Kristin gently rubbed his shoulder.  "It isn't," she said sadly.   "It isn't at all."

Along with the medical crew the helicopter also carried a lieutenant from the local Navy who came to get information on the drug runners. While the medical crew got Nathan onto a stretcher and immobilized his head and neck the lieutenant talked to Lucas to get a better description of the go-fast boat and it's occupants.

"It's getting dark out there," Nathan heard the lieutenant say as they picked him up to move him to the helicopter.

"Lieutenant," Nathan said tiredly, "if they keep heading west you should find them about 10 to 20 miles from here dead in the water."

"Why dead in the water?"

"Because if they push the engine at all, and I'm sure that they will to try to hit their home base before the light goes down, they'll blow a rod and put a piston through the top of their engine."

"Why?"

"Because he booby-trapped their boat," Lucas grinned at the young lieutenant.

"Yeah," Nathan said.

The lieutenant walked along the stretcher as they headed out to the helicopter.  "They'll just dump the drugs overboard then," he said in a discouraged voice.

Lucas looked down at Nathan and grinned.  "They probably won't know to dump the two bricks that we hid in the engine compartment, though."

"You hid two bricks of the drugs in the engine compartment?" the lieutenant asked Lucas.

"Yeah, behind the bulkhead... and from the way they felt it's probably cocaine."

"Right," the lieutenant said scrambling aboard the helicopter and hooking up his radio as the medical team secured Nathan down before the helicopter lifted off in a cloud of sand.

Forty minutes later Lucas and a very frustrated Kristin sat expectantly in the waiting room of the mainland hospital.  While the emergency room staff acknowledged that Kristin was a doctor they had insisted that she stay out of the treatment area.  They both looked up anxiously as a doctor approached smiling.

"Doctor Westphalen, I'm Doctor Ricki Dalmondo.  Sorry about making you wait out here but the hospital has some pretty firm rules.  I'm sure you understand."

"I know that it's not your fault, Doctor Dalmondo... but it's awfully frustrating," Kristin smiled slightly.  "How's he doing?"

"He took a couple of pretty serious shots there," Doctor Dalmondo shrugged.

"A couple?" Kristin said surprised.

"Yeah, besides the hit to the head he received a pretty vicious blow to his lower ribcage on his back.  That's what was causing the problem with his breathing."

"He didn't tell me about that," Kristin sighed.

"I know, he said he didn't want you to keep him from working on the boat... and trust me, if you'd seen the bruising you would have kept him lying down," he smiled a little as Kristin shook her head.  "Right now I've got him going for x-rays and then a meta-cat scan on his head.  You've probably already figured out that at the very least he's got a concussion.  I suspect he's also got at least one cracked rib from the other hit."

Kristin was still shaking his head.  "That idiot," she said fondly.  "He should have told me."  Kristin looked up at Dalmondo, "Can we see him?"

"Not just yet.  As soon as he's done with the x-rays and scans I'll let you know.  You've probably got at least a half hour to wait... probably longer."

"Thank you, Doctor," Kristin said as Dalmondo rose and headed back into the treatment area.  Kristin looked over at Lucas.  "Did he tell you that he'd been hit on the back?"

"Nope," Lucas shook his head relieved that he hadn't.  He really didn't want to even think about what the Doc would have done to him if he'd known about the Captain's additional injuries.  "He'll be okay," Lucas said holding onto Kristin's hand.  "He's got an awfully thick skull, you know."  Kristin smiled wanly at him and leaned her head back to wait.

It was almost an hour later when Doctor Dalmondo came back out to talk to them.  "Sorry it took so long," he said dropping into the chair across from them.  "We decided to do a double meta-cat.  One on his head and one on his back and abdomen to ensure there wasn't any tearing or bleeding from the hit he took... and surprisingly it looks like he's alright."  Lucas and Kristin both let out a relieved breath.  "No inner-cranial bleeding and only the minor swelling that I would have expected anyways due to the ferocity of the hit and although he has some pretty extensive bruising on his back and he did crack one of his ribs there's no apparent internal injuries." Dalmondo smiled a little.  "Is he always this lucky?"

"So far he has been," Kristin sighed.  "But he's had several concussions this year of various magnitude."

"That's not good," Dalmondo frowned and shook his head.  "As you know, Doctor, I can't predict what kind of residual problems he may have from the concussion but for now I'd say he's going to be sore as hell for a while and have one heck of a headache."  Kristin nodded.  "I'd like to keep him overnight just for safety's sake."

"Of course.  Can we see him?"

"Yeah, he's going up to his room now so you can go up there in 10 minutes or so."

"Thank you.  We appreciate your efforts," Kristin smiled at the Doctor.

"My pleasure.  You know what to watch for and how to take care of him.  I'll leave instructions with the nurses to let you check his chart so you know what we've found."

"I truly appreciate that," Kristin said relieved.  Knowing just how badly he was hurt and what tests they had done would make treating Nathan much easier.

Fifteen long minutes later Kristin and Lucas smiled at the nurse that was leaving Nathan's room as they walked in.  Nathan was lying on his back in the bed with his eyes closed.  He opened them as Kristin took his hand.

"Hi there," she smiled.

"Hi," Nathan smiled tiredly back.  "How come I'm still here?"

"Because they want to keep an eye on you overnight," Kristin said softly.

"I'm okay."

"You get dizzy every time you move, Nathan."

He smiled just a little, "Yeah, well, I'm okay except for that...."

"Oh, and you've got a concussion and a cracked rib," she fixed him with a disapproving look.  "And you never told me that you'd caught a rifle butt in the back."

Nathan shrugged just a little.  "Subject never came up...."

"Uh huh," Kristin said with a frown.  She looked at the door as the Navy lieutenant who had accompanied them on the helicopter came in.

The young lieutenant was smiling broadly.  "We got them, Captain. Complete with all their cargo."

"How'd you manage that?" Nathan smiled back.

"As it turned out, one of our cutters spotted them and they tried to take off from them.  Seems that as soon as they put the throttles on full their engine seized from a piston blowing through the valve cover.  Apparently, you did a nice job of sabotage."

"We," Nathan said pointing at Lucas.  "I only scored the piston rod. Lucas did the reassembly."

"Well, I thought you should know that we got all five of them and they never even got a chance to dump the drugs."  He looked over at Lucas.  "And you were right, it was cocaine... about 250 kilos of it."

"Phew," said Lucas.  "That's a lot."

"It most certainly is," the lieutenant smiled over at Lucas, "and we even found the two bricks you hid in the engine compartment."  He turned back to Bridger.  "I just wanted to let you know and thank you for your help."

"Our pleasure."  As the lieutenant left Kristin heard Nathan sigh tiredly.

"You need to get some sleep, Nathan," she said gently.

"What about you two?"

"Oh, I've got give Juan a call to let him know that you're alright and then we'll see about getting some sleep ourselves.   We'll be back in the morning."

"Okay," Nathan said nodding slowly.  "Get ahold of Emil, if you would, and see if he can give us a ride back to the island tomorrow."

"You want to go back?"

"Yeah, if nothing else, we've got a lot of cleaning up to do... and there's no reason why these assholes should blow our vacation.  We've still got a week to go."

"Alright," Kristin said stroking his cheek softly.  "We'll see you tomorrow."  She leaned down and gave him a quick kiss before turning to leave.

"Good night, Cap," Lucas called as he went out the door.

Nathan smiled as he looked out of Emil's helicopter as it circled the lagoon of his island.  Although the thrumming of the helicopter rotors hadn't done any good for his head it was at least nice to get home quickly.  The boat at his dock this time belonged to Juan and the big man was waiting for them when the helicopter set down on the beach just down from the house.  Lucas jumped off the helicopter then held his hand out to help Kristin down.  Both Lucas and Juan helped Nathan as he gingerly stepped down, first onto the skid and then onto the sand.  They waved goodbye to Emil as the helicopter took off again.

Juan shook his head as he looked at Nathan.  "You live *way* too exciting a life, mi amigo."

"Tell me about it, Juan.  I don't know why these idiots keep finding us."

"Better you than me," Juan said grinning at him.  "Since you were gone for the night I cleaned up the boat house and straightened the house some but I really wasn't sure what to do there so I mostly left it for you."

"Oh, Juan, that is so nice of you," Kristin said smiling at the big bear of a man.

"Not a problem," Juan said graciously.  He looked over at Nathan with a frown, "But your vid unit is toast."

"Yeah, I saw that."

"I'll see about getting a new one out here.  I've got a couple of contacts where I might be able to get one in a day or so but for right now, I'm going home to my angel."

"Juan, I don't know how we can thank you," Kristin said as they walked down to the dock with him.

"Oh, just keep an eye on this crazy American for me," he said pointing to Nathan with a big grin.  "I won't ask you to keep him out of trouble... I don't think that's possible."

"I know it isn't," Kristin answered smiling over at the barely tolerant look that Nathan was giving her.  "Thank you, again, Juan," she said hugging the big man.  Lucas tossed Juan's mooring lines to him and the big man waved as he slowly pulled his boat away from the dock.

Nathan slipped his arm around Kristin's waist as they walked back up to the house.  Kristin started to put her arm around him but stopped when he flinched.  "Are you going to show me that bruise on your back?" she asked softly as they walked in the house.

"Sure, I'm told it's quite dramatic."  He gingerly lifted his shirt to show her a deep purple bruise that extended from his lower ribcage to just above his belt.

"Very colorful, sir," Lucas commented.

"Yes," Kristin said with a frown.  "Well, for now you get to sit and watch us work, Nathan."  She pointed to a chair.  "Sit," she commanded.

"I can help," Nathan objected.

"No, you can't, sir.  The doctors said that you need to take it very, very easy for the next five days.  That means that you get out of all the work for the rest of the vacation," he grinned at the older man who had finally sat in the chair that Kristin had indicated.  "Good deal for you."

"I'm going to get us something to eat," Kristin said heading for the kitchen.

Lucas watched her walk into the other room before he sat down on the ottoman which was in front of Bridger's chair.  He looked a little embarrassed for a moment before glancing up at the quizzical look on the older man's face.  "I wanted to talk to you a little, sir." Nathan nodded.  "I wanted to let you know that while the last 24 hours definitely don't rate high on my best of days there were parts that I thought were positively cool."

"What was that?"

Lucas looked right up at him.  "It was really neat getting to call you 'Dad' yesterday and although it wasn't for a good reason... rebuilding that engine with you was really fun," he said with a small smile.

"Except for the headache it was pretty darned fun working with you too."  He dropped a hand on Lucas' knee and also smiled.  "And although you may not legally or actually be my son, it's like you're the son that I got to choose.  To tell you the truth, it was kind of nice being called 'Dad' again."

Lucas put his hand over the Captain's.  "I'm glad you're okay," he grinned a little at Nathan, "but you really need to stop this getting hurt routine.  You're getting way too good at it."

"I'll try," Nathan smiled.

Kristin stood just inside the kitchen.  She hadn't wanted to interrupt the conversation between them but after Lucas sat back on the ottoman she came out into the room with a plate of sandwiches.

"Sorry, I thought that sandwiches would be the fastest thing."

"And the safest," Nathan smiled wanly.

"Don't start, buddy," Kristin warned but then grinned and shook her head.  "Make one mistake and you two never let a girl forget."

"Oh, I don't know, Doc," Lucas said with a mischievous grin.  "I kind of enjoyed the night in the hospital with food poisoning."

"It wasn't my fault," Kristin protested cheerfully.

"Okay, Doc," Lucas said breaking into laughter.  Nathan joined the revelry, chuckling quietly as he leaned his head back.

"Oh, don't make me laugh... that makes everything hurt."

"Eat your sandwich, Nathan," Kristin said sitting in the chair next to his and rubbing his knee.  She watched him intently as he ate.  He looked better today... not good but better than he had.  She did have one question for him though....

"Did you really have Lucas hide drugs inside that boat?"

"No.  That was Lucas' idea."

"Yeah, I can do stupid thing too, you know," Lucas said in a slightly offended voice.

"What if Jaime had seen you hiding those bricks?" Kristin ask emphatically.

"He wasn't going to see him," Nathan said calmly.  "I was in charge of keeping him busy while Lucas hid the drugs."

"So you did know that he was doing it?" Kristin said accusingly.

"Sure, he's a good kid," Nathan grinned.  "He asked first."

Kristin tsked at the two of them.  "And did you know that he was booby-trapping the engine?"

"Yeah," Lucas said with a grin.  "What do you think we were doing when we were bent over that workbench?"

Kristin shook her head.  "You two are going to get into more trouble than you can handle one of these days," she warned.

"Hasn't happened yet," Lucas said confidently standing and taking his plate into the kitchen.  He came back into the room and looked out towards the porch.  "I'm going to check the boathouse to be sure that everything got put away in the right place."

"Okay, thanks," Nathan said tiredly as Lucas headed out the door.

Kristin took Nathan's plate from his lap and moved it to the table.  "How about if you take a nap," she said gently.

Nathan sighed and a rueful smile crossed his face.  "Probably a good idea, I suppose," he said pushing himself up gingerly from the chair.

Kristin stood with him and held onto his arm as he moved to the bedroom.  Nathan sighed again as they stood in the doorway of the room and surveyed the destruction that the drug runners had wrought in their own corner of the house.  Clothes were strewn everywhere, the sheets and comforter had been ripped off of the bed and all the drawers were pulled out of the dressers.

"You stay here and let me at least get the bed back together," Kristin said dropping his arm and moving into the bedroom.

"I can help," Nathan said firmly.  "I'll just move slow."

"Nathan," Kristin warned.

"It's alright, stop being so protective."  He smiled softly as he reached across the bed to grab the sheet that she'd thrown up there.  "I'm not going to break, Kris."

"Alright, but take it easy."

Between the two of them it didn't take too long to get the bed back together and with very little convincing, Kristin got Nathan lying up on the bed.  She sat on the edge of the bed beside him and rubbed his hand.

"Okay?"

"Um hmm," Nathan said contentedly and then opened his eyes to squint up at her.  "It'd be better if you'd take a nap too."

Kristin smiled softly and shook her head a little as she kicked off her shoes and lay down next to him snuggling into his side.

"How's that?" she asked softly into his ear.

"Perfect," Nathan sighed turning a little into her and wrapping his arm around her waist.  "Just perfect," as he leaned his head against hers and quickly slipped into a peaceful sleep.

Lucas bounded up into the house ready to report to the Captain that the boathouse looked just fine.  He stood for a moment with a quizzical look on his face as he saw that no one was in the living room.  He nodded to himself softly as he headed over towards their bedroom.  That had to be where they were.  He looked through the open door at the clothes and belongings still scattered over the floor and then smiled as he saw the two adults wrapped in each others' arms and sound asleep on the bed.

He carefully pulled the door to their bedroom closed and smiled.  It didn't matter what happened to the three of them.  As long as they stayed together Lucas was sure that they'd get through anything.  He smiled again as he looked at their bedroom door and then turned to start cleaning up the rest of the house.