Bridger leaned back a little more in the blue recliner in the living room with a book resting in his lap.  Lucas was stretched out on the couch and his book was propped up on his chest.  They were having what Bridger referred to as a `vid-free' night.  Lucas considered it to be organized torture.

Nathan looked up as the vid-phone on the countertop between the kitchen and dining room chimed.  Lucas lifted his head also until Bridger straightened up.  "I'll get it," he said putting his book down on the ottoman and heading over to the vid-phone.  Lucas settled back down on the couch.  Nathan pushed the connect button and was surprised by the face that appeared on the screen.  He heard a soft groan from Lucas' direction as the person on the other end spoke.

"Captain Bridger, good evening."

"Mrs. Wolenczak, how are you tonight?"

"Very well, thank you," she said in a pleasant voice.  Bridger had only seen her once before and that was just after he'd taken over Lucas' guardianship.  He'd called her to let her know where they had moved.  She hadn't seemed all that interested at the time and he wondered why she was calling now.

"I was hoping to speak to my son," she said.  That had to be bleached hair, Bridger thought.  No way she was that blond at her age.

"Oh, I'm sorry but Lucas is off at the library right now.  I don't expect him back for a while.  Could I take a message for him?"

"Well, actually, I'm going to be in Cape Quest for the next couple of days and I was hoping that Lucas and I might be able to go out to dinner or something.  Do you know when he'll be home?"

"Probably about an hour or so, unless they found some really good research stuff.  Is there anywhere he should call you if he gets back at a decent hour or perhaps if he doesn't do you know where you'll be staying?  I could have him give you a call tomorrow."

"Oh, I'll still be awake here for at least another three hours so if he gets back before then if you could have him give me a call at my condo, I'd appreciate it.  Otherwise, I'll be at the Cape Quest Hilton after about 2 in the afternoon tomorrow."

Bridger smiled at her, "I'll give him the message."

She smiled back.  She sure hadn't smiled this much last time he talked to her.  "Thank you, Captain.  Good night."

"Good night," he said as he pressed the connection button to sever the link.  He stood thoughtfully in the dining room for a moment before looking over to the couch.  Lucas was just raising his head above the back of the couch and he didn't look particularly happy.

"Thanks," he said in a small voice.

Nathan nodded.  "I figured if you were going to talk to her that you'd want to prepare yourself a little."  He moved over to the end of the couch.

"Yeah," Lucas was staring at the vid-phone.  "What do you think she wants?"

"Maybe she just wants to go to dinner," Bridger shrugged.  He moved over to sit on the recliner again.  "Let me make one thing clear though," he said firmly.  "You will not see her alone."  Lucas looked over at him, his face very serious.  "If you're going to dinner with her, so am I."

The boy nodded.  "What do you think?"

"It's up to you, Lucas.  It might be a nice controlled way to talk to her again but I'm not pushing you into anything that you're not comfortable with."

"I'm never comfortable with my mother," Lucas said with a frown and then grinned a little.  "What do you think my father would say if he heard I'd gone out to dinner with Mom?"   He shook his head.  "He'd just about croak."  The boy sat for a while staring at the coffee table in front of him and then looked over at Bridger.  "You'd go with me?"

"I'd insist on going with you."

"You have to stay with me all the time," Lucas said earnestly.

"I will," Nathan reassured him.

"You can't even go to the bathroom without me."

Nathan smiled, "I won't."

Lucas looked at the table again for a little while and then shrugged.  "What the hell, I'm a big kid."  He nodded to himself.  "I can handle seeing my Mom."

"As long as I'm with you," Nathan said insistently.

"As long as you're with me," Lucas affirmed.

"You gonna call her back?"

Lucas looked over at the vid-phone again.  "I'm gonna have a coke first and then I'll call her back."  He sighed, "Wouldn't want to call back too fast."

Bridger grinned at him.  "Sounds good to me."

When Lucas finished his coke he went over to the vid-phone and Bridger moved into the kitchen out of vision of the phone.  Lucas looked over at him and expelled a deep breath steeling himself before punching in his mother's number.  After only two rings it connected and he stood there looking at his mother who was wearing what he considered to be a suspicious smile on her face.  To anyone else it would have been a perfectly ordinary smile but he thought he could see just a little edge to it.

"Hi, Mom," he said in a cheerful voice.

His mother tilted her head to one side smiling and appeared to look him over.  "Hello, Lucas, how nice to talk to you again."

"The Captain said that you'll be visiting Cape Quest this week."

"Yes, I'll be there for a couple of days at a conference and I thought I would check to see if you might like to go to dinner with me one night."

"Sounds good to me," Lucas couldn't believe he was saying that to this woman.  "For that matter, the Captain insists on taking both of us out."  He noted the slight look of disapproval on her face and continued as if he hadn't noticed.  "That would be a good way for you to really meet him finally."

She put her best smile on her face.  "Yes, I suppose it would.  How nice of the Captain.  Tell him that I most gratefully accept his invitation."

"Would tomorrow night work?" Lucas asked hazarding a quick glance at Bridger who nodded at him.

"Tomorrow night would be lovely."

"Great.  Then we'll pick you up at the hotel at, what, about 7 o'clock?"

"I'll be there," she smiled back at him.  "And I'll be looking forward to finally meeting the Captain in person."

"I'll see you tomorrow," Lucas said.  "Have a nice flight."

"Thank you, dear," his mother smiled back.  "I'll see you tomorrow evening."

Lucas leaned forward and pressed the disconnect button and then glanced over at Bridger with a worried look on his face.

"Well?" asked Nathan.

"I don't know," Lucas shook his head a little.  "I don't trust her."

Nathan came out from the kitchen and patted the boy on the shoulder.  "That's why I'll be there too," he said softly.

Lucas nodded thoughtfully, "Yeah... thanks."

"No problem, kiddo," Nathan said as they moved back to their chairs to resume their reading.

"You're going where?" Kristin asked with a shocked look on her face.

"We're going to take Cynthia Wolenczak out to dinner tonight."

"You're insane," Kristin said firmly.

"Well, it's not like I'm letting him go alone," Nathan said as he took a bite of his spaghetti.

"Yeah, and it was my choice," Lucas said looking across the cafeteria table at her.  "Who knows, it might be interesting."

Kristin shook her head.  "You're both nuts."  She glared at both of them.  "After what that woman did to Lucas, you're just going to pretend like nothing happened."

"Doc," Lucas said insistently, "I can't keep running from her."

Kristin leaned across the table and put her hand over Lucas'.  "You will be careful though, right."

"Absolutely," Lucas affirmed and hooked his thumb in Bridger's direction.  "That's why he's going with me."

"Alright," Kristin said doubtfully, "If you're sure."

"It'll be okay, Doc."

"I won't let anything happen to him, Kristin."

She stared at Nathan for a moment and frowned.  "You'd better not," she warned.

Knowing the Captain's punctuality, they predictably pulled up in front of the Cape Quest Hilton precisely at 7 that night.  They both waited in the car until Lucas saw his mother step out of the lobby. Bridger put the car in park and got out along with Lucas.

"Lucas, my dear," gushed his mother as she pulled him into a hug. Lucas put his arms around his mother and lightly returned the hug while flashing Nathan a surprised look.

He gently pushed out of the embrace and stepped back a little.  "Mom, this is Captain Bridger."

Nathan took hold of the hand she extended.  "Mrs. Wolenczak, it's a pleasure to meet you finally."

"Please, my name is Cynthia," she said with a beaming smile.

"And mine's Nathan."

Lucas held the front door of the car open for his mother and then moved to get in the back.  Before he sat he glanced across the roof at Bridger and gave him a shrug.  He got a wink in return and the two of them sat in the car.

"What a nice car, Nathan," Cynthia said pleasantly.  "Is it new?"

Nathan smiled a little as he checked the traffic before pulling out.  "Yeah, I'm afraid just about everything we have is new."

"Oh yes, I imagine most of what you had was destroyed with your submarine."

"Well, yes, but I didn't have a car on it.  Actually, I didn't have a use for a car before joining the seaQuest."

"I thought everyone needed a car these days," she said coyly.

Bridger looked over at her quickly.  "Except that I lived on a little island in the Caribbean and there weren't any roads... hence no need for a car."

"Really?  How quaint." Lucas grinned in the back of the car.  He thought that the look that his mother sent the Captain's way was pretty much the same one that you'd give someone with two heads.

Cynthia shifted her attention to her son.  "Lucas, do you know I think you've grown at least four inches since the last time I saw you?"

"Oh, and he's still growing," Nathan commented.

"And you're not looking as skinny as you were the last time I saw you," Cynthia smiled again.

Nathan only grinned and let Lucas respond.  "Oh, now the Captain's being kind... 'cause he says I eat like a horse."

"No, I say you eat like a teenager," Nathan grinned.

"Do you have any children, Nathan?"

"I had a son.  He died several years ago."

"Oh, dear... and I gather you're not married."

"No, widowed.  My wife also died a couple of years ago."

Cynthia squirmed uncomfortably in her seat.  "Oh, I'm sorry.  I seem to have made every faux pas that I can."

Nathan smiled again as he guided the car into the restaurant parking lot.  "That's alright.  No way you could have known."  He pulled the car up to the valet parking.  "I think you'll like this restaurant. They have a nice mix.  It's an Italian restaurant that also does excellent steaks.  Lucas and I discovered it a couple of weeks ago."

Lucas got out and held open his mother's door.  The Captain turned the car over to the attendant and came around to join them noticing that Cynthia had slipped her arm through Lucas'.

"It sounds wonderful... and I'm starving."  She and Lucas walked through the door with the Captain right behind them.

To the surprise of both Nathan and Lucas they spent an exceptional hour eating dinner and talking.  Cynthia proved to be an excellent conversationalist and along the evening she showed surprising interest in what Lucas was doing with the new seaQuest, what he did in his free time, the stories about what he'd done on the old seaQuest, how he swam and played with Darwin and the house that he and Nathan were living in.  Lucas had just finished relating the story of the baseball game that he and Bridger had gone to last week and how exciting it had been.

"I never knew that you had a liking for baseball, Lucas," said Cynthia taking the last bite of her pasta dish.

"It was the only sport I got to play when I was a kid, Mom."

"I thought you only did that to please your father.  By the way, have you talked to him lately?"

"Um hmm," Lucas said with a bite of steak in his mouth.  He stopped trying to talk when he saw the disapproving look Bridger flashed his way.

"I've been sending Lawrence the same updates that I send to you every week," Nathan said wiping his lips with his napkin.  "And I talked to him about a week ago."

Cynthia shifted her attention over to Bridger.  "I understand that he's being allowed to try again with that power plant idea of his." She shook her head a little.  "You'd think that the powers that be would have learned the first time."

"Well, it did turn out that the failure of the seabed under his power plant wasn't his fault in any way," Nathan said gently.

"I suppose," Cynthia sighed.  "If they're willing to let him try again...." She left it at that.  She put her napkin down on the table and started to push her chair back.  "If you gentlemen don't mind, I need to go to the Ladies Room."  Nathan stood and pulled her chair back for her.

The two of them watched her walk across the room but didn't speak until she had turned the corner.  "Well?" Nathan asked the boy.

"Well," he sighed.  "With the exception of that last little bit of digging at Dad, she's been amazingly good tonight."

"Feeling more comfortable?"

"Considerably," Lucas said in a heartfelt voice.  He got a quizzical look on his face.  "She can be a pretty nice person when she wants to be."

"Hopefully, she'll stay that way."  Nathan smiled as he saw Cynthia coming back across the room and this time it was Lucas who stood and held her chair out for her.

Just as Cynthia sat down the waiter appeared and removed the empty dinner plates.  Lucas looked hopefully over at the Captain.  "Do we get to do dessert?"

"Tell you what, kiddo, you can have dessert and your mom can have what she wants.  I think I'll stick to a cup of coffee."

"And I'll second the cup of coffee, Nathan," said Cynthia.  She reached over and patted Lucas on the hand.  "Where do you put it all?"

He grinned back at her.  "It's the kid metabolism in me... I just burn it up."

She shook her head.  "I'd look like an elephant...."  She looked over at Nathan.  "Does he really eat like this all the time?"

"Actually, given his option, he'd probably have pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner... but at least we've gotten him into some normal food occasionally."

Lucas grinned at the exchange and then licked his lips as a large slice of raspberry cheesecake was put in front of him.

After they had finished their coffee and Lucas had taken care of the raspberry cheesecake right down to the last forkful they were standing outside waiting for the attendant to bring Nathan's car.

"That was a lovely dinner, Nathan.  Thank you very much," Cynthia said.

"Yeah, thanks Cap.   It was great," said Lucas.

"My pleasure.  I certainly enjoyed the company."

Lucas held Cynthia's door again and she looked over at Nathan as he settled in his seat.  "Nathan, I don't suppose I could see this house that you two have put together, could I?"

Nathan looked back over the seat to where Lucas sat.  "Did you leave it a mess?" he teased.

"No," Lucas responded with a grin.  "Why not?"

"Why not, indeed," said Nathan as he put the car in gear and headed out of the parking lot.

About twenty minutes later they pulled into the drive of the beach house and Lucas again got out to hold his mother's door.  Cynthia nodded in approval as she stood.

"This looks like a very nice house, Nathan."

"You should see it in the daylight, Mom," Lucas said.  "Here, come around to the beach side, it's even better."  He led his mother along the side of the house until they were standing near the dock.  Lucas motioned towards the dock.  "We're going to do some work on the dock and expand it... then we're going to get a sailboat."

"I didn't know you knew how to sail, Lucas," his mother said.

"He doesn't... yet," Nathan said.  "I'm going to teach him."

"That sounds exciting."  She looked up at the house with a tolerant look on her face.

"Oh, here," Nathan said pressing a button on his keychain.  The lights along the porch of the house lit up presenting a good view of how the house looked.

"Oh, my," Cynthia nodded.  "It is a nice house."

Lucas grinned and took his mother's hand leading her towards the steps up to the porch.  "It's on pilings so that the occasional tropical storm doesn't flood it.  The height makes for a terrific view."

Nathan followed mother and son up the stairs while Lucas kept up a running commentary about the house.  He proudly showed her the white wicker furniture that he had found for the porch and then took her on a tour of the inside of the house.  Nathan followed along behind them.  He got a little nervous as Lucas got closer to his bedroom. Lord, he hoped the boy hadn't left his room a mess today.

Nathan sighed quietly in relief as Lucas opened his bedroom door to show his mother his spotless room.  He'd even managed to make his bed this morning.  Nathan wondered if the boy had guessed that his mother might want to come back to look at the house.  Cynthia commented appreciatively on the different aspects of the house, admiring the high loft ceiling in Bridger's bedroom and the spaciousness of the layout.  The last room in the back of the house was the den.  Nathan frowned as he saw a message light blinking on the vid-phone.  Usually messages at this time of night meant a problem with the seaQuest construction.

"You should probably answer that," Lucas said indicating the light.

"No, that's alright, I'll get it later."

Lucas looked over at him and then at his mother who was checking out some small items on the shelf.  "You can answer it.  We'll be okay."

Nathan frowned.  "You sure?"

Lucas nodded.  "Mom, you've got to see the kitchen," he said leading her from the room.  Nathan watched the two of them leave uncomfortably and then shook his head and went to answer the message.

"And the pass through between the kitchen and the dining room is nice because we can eat at the dining room table if we want to or just eat on the countertop between the two rooms," Lucas said to his mother.

"Very nice."  She cast her glance over the dining and living rooms taking in the solid wood credenza, the dining room set and the comfortable furnishings.  "And you two decorated this all on your own?" she asked moving back to the French doors.

"Yeah, it was kind of fun."

"And expensive, I imagine," Cynthia said with just a little edge on her voice.

Lucas shrugged.  "Well, that was the Captain's choice.  He said he had the money and wanted to buy good things."  Lucas grinned a little.  "It was kind of fun being able to spend someone else's money to tell you the truth."

Cynthia glanced impassively back at the boy and moved out onto the porch.  "Your Captain seems to be a nice man."

"He is," Lucas smiled.  "He's great."  He followed his mother out onto the porch.

Cynthia went to stand at the screen of the porch and looked out at the water.  "And obviously you've got him fooled."

Lucas had moved to stand to his mother's left but stopped with a frown on his face.  "Huh?"

She turned towards her son.  The smiling face that she'd worn earlier had been replaced by a face that Lucas was familiar with... far too familiar with.  "I said you've obviously got him fooled.  He apparently doesn't know just how worthless you are," she said in a low steely voice.

Lucas shook his head.  "No, he knows that I'm not worthless," he said positively.

"Of course you are," Cynthia said moving towards the boy.  Lucas backed up to keep a distance from her.  "You always have been worthless... if Bridger pretends to like you at all it's only to keep you working on that precious submarine of his."

Lucas was still shaking his head.  "It's not like that...."

Cynthia's voice took on an edge of anger.  "You're not arguing with me, are you, Lucas?  You know I can't abide it when you argue with me."

"I'm not arguing... it's just that you're wrong," Lucas said only to have his mother deliver a sudden hard backslap across his right cheek.  He stumbled against the screen at the end of the porch in surprise.  Lucas saw his mother raise her hand and pull it back to strike him hard.  He flinched away until he realized that his mother wasn't hitting him and looked quickly up at her.  Bridger stood behind her with one hand holding her upraised arm.  Lucas could see his fingers bite deep into the skin of his mother's wrist.  Cynthia was now looking at Bridger and his face held that firm, calm look that Lucas knew meant trouble.

"You're hurting me," Cynthia ground out.

"Good," the Captain said in an even voice.  He moved around, still holding her wrist until he stood between Lucas and his mother.  "You were just leaving, weren't you?" he said threateningly as he released her wrist.

Cynthia rubbed her sore arm.  "Yes, I guess I'm ready to go back to the hotel."

Bridger's tone of voice hadn't changed at all.  "Then you better find your way back."

"Do you mean you're not going to give me a ride back to my hotel?" Cynthia asked in a shocked voice.

"No," Nathan answered firmly.  "You don't want to be in the same car with me.  Not after hitting him."

"He brings it on himself," Cynthia started.

Lucas' eyes got big as he saw the Captain tense up and start moving towards his mother.  Cynthia backed away from him, alarmed.  He never touched her but backed her all the way to the porch door.  She flinched as Nathan reached around her and pulled the door open.

"Get out of my house," he said ominously.  Cynthia swallowed hard and scrambled down the stairs.

Bridger watched her leave and then turned towards Lucas who had followed them.  The firmness on his face dissolved and was replaced by a look of concern.  "Are you alright?" he asked softly.

"I'm alright," Lucas answered just as softly.

Nathan brought up his hand to gently touch the side of Lucas' face where a slight bruise was apparent.  "You sure?"

Lucas nodded his head.  "Yeah... it just kind of surprised me."

"Lucas, I'm so sorry."

"It wasn't your fault," Lucas objected.

"I told you I wouldn't leave you alone with her," Nathan said morosely.

To his surprise, Lucas smiled at him.  "She put on such a good act tonight.  I believed her," he said in amazement.

"Yeah, me too."  Nathan gently touched the bruise again.  "Let's put some ice on that."

Lucas nodded and they headed into the kitchen.  As Nathan was opening the freezer they both turned as they heard the breaking of glass from the direction of the driveway.

"Oh, no," Nathan said dejectedly.

"You don't think...." Lucas said moving out of the kitchen and down the hallway to Bridger's bedroom.  Standing in the dark bedroom he looked out of the window on the front of the house and then looked back at Nathan who had followed him.  Another crash of breaking glass could be heard.  "That was your driver's side window."

"Oh, for Christ's sake," Nathan said irritably.  He turned to the vid-phone in his room and dialed 911.  He waited until the call connected.  "Hi," he said to the answering dispatcher, "I've got a woman outside beating on my car."

"Alright, sir, and you're at 428 Gulfside Drive?"

"Correct."

"Do you know who the person beating on your car is?"

"Oh, yeah.  Her name is Cynthia Wolenczak and I just threw her out of my house."

Lucas turned from his view at the window again.  "You just lost your windshield."

Nathan frowned his direction and just shook his head.  He kept talking to the dispatcher, keeping her up to date on what was going on until Lucas announced the arrival of Cape Quest's finest and that they were holding his mother.  Then Nathan disconnected with the dispatcher and went down to meet the police.

He shook his head again as he came around the corner of the house and saw the glass spread all around his car.  Cynthia had broken out every single window in the car and then from the dents it looked like she'd taken a brick or something to the side panels and the hood. Even though she was handcuffed behind her back Cynthia was struggling with the police officers.  Ensuring that they understood in no uncertain terms just what she thought of them and how much trouble she would get them into for treating her as they were.

One of the officers not involved in the struggle noticed Nathan and Lucas at the corner of the house.  "Your car?" he asked Nathan.

"Yeah," Nathan answered shortly.  He looked over at Cynthia.  "You know she could have called a cab."

"You!" she spat out towards him.  "You and that freak that calls himself my son... you can both rot in hell!"

Nathan moved so that he stood between Lucas and his mother noticing that the boy had paled at his mother's outburst.  He folded his arms and frowned over at the officer.  "She's got this really pleasant personality, you see...."

"Don't think that this is the end of it, Bridger," Cynthia yelled as officers tried to put her in the back of a squad car.  "Next time I'll do the same thing to his pretty little face."  Nathan saw Lucas blanch again and stare at his mother.  She struggled up some more despite the officer's attempts.  "And don't think that you and that so-called ex-husband of mine are safe either... I'll take care of that runt and then the two of you... you won't get away with this!" she screamed as the officers finally managed to get her in and get the squad door shut.

"Oh, yeah," said the officer next to Nathan.  "Definitely a pleasant personality."

Nathan turned to look at Lucas again and then moved towards the boy who was staring at the squad car with a stricken look on his face. He moved between the car and the boy blocking his vision of it.  "Lucas," he said placing his hand on the boy's arm.  Lucas leaned his head forward onto the Captain's shoulder and Nathan held onto him as he cried.

The boy eventually started sniffling and pulled back a little but kept his head down.  Bridger tilted his own head to the side to get a look at Lucas and brought his hand up to smooth some hair out of his face.  Lucas still didn't look at him.

"I'd hoped that things had changed," Lucas said quietly.

"Me too, kiddo, ...but it doesn't look like it."

Lucas shook his head a little and glanced over to the side to look at Bridger's car.  He sighed, closed his eyes and shook his head again.  "I don't believe it," he groaned.

Nathan also looked over at his car and sighed.  Every window had been broken out.  All the lights had been smashed and scratches marred the paint on the hood and the front fender.  "You know... it's been a long time since I've had a woman do that to a car of mine."

Finally Lucas looked up at him.  He even had a small smile on his face.  "You're kidding....."  He looked over at the car again.  "No woman ever did that to your car before."

"Oh yeah," Nathan sighed. "Her name was Donna Carter and she was even angrier at me than your mother was and worse than that the car was a refurbished '69 Mustang."

Now Lucas was smiling.  "Ow. What did you do to her?"

Bridger sighed again and shook his head a little.  "It's kind of a long story," he said evasively.

"Uh huh."  Lucas pulled back until he was standing separate from Bridger but Nathan kept his hand on the boy's shoulder.  "You think you'll ever tell it to me?" he teased.

"It depends upon how drunk you get me," Nathan groused.  He looked over at the police officer who had approached them.

"Mister Bridger, we're going to need you two at the station for statements and complaints."  He glanced quickly at Nathan's car.  "I think you're probably going to need a ride to the station."

"No, actually we've got some alternative transportation."  He looked over at Lucas.  "Heck of time to try out your new helmet."

Lucas brightened up some.  "Oh yeah, we can take the bike."

"We'll meet you at the station shortly, officer," Nathan said.

Nathan and Lucas went up to get their helmets and both removed the suit coats and ties they'd been wearing.  Nathan slipped into his leather motorcycle jacket and Lucas put on a warm zipper up coat. They locked the doors and headed towards the motorcycle that Bridger stored under the house.  Lucas slowed down as they approached the car.  He looked at all the broken windows and the glass that littered the ground.

"What are you going to do about this?"

Nathan pushed the bike out from under the house.  He shrugged and frowned.  "I don't know... get it taken to the repair shop tomorrow, I suppose."  He looked around at the ground.  "I guess we better clean up the glass when we get back though."

Lucas had followed Nathan as he pushed the bike to the entrance of the drive and away from the mess around the car.  "Yeah, probably not safe to leave the pieces out around like this."  He stood patiently while Nathan put his helmet and gloves on and then started up the bike.  He put on his own helmet and slipped up onto the seat of the motorcycle behind Bridger.

A half of an hour later they both sat across from a detective in the investigations department at the police station.  Lucas looked at the detective who was talking to them.  He was a pleasant-looking, older man.  Lucas hesitated for a moment, looked at Bridger and then looked at the detective again.  Yeah, he was older than Bridger.  He was a pleasant-looking, older guy who was doing his best to sort out this rather confusing situation.

"So this woman is?" the detective asked Bridger.

"She's his mother," he said pointing at Lucas.

"And your relation to her is?"  The detective was looking confused.

"I'm his guardian," Nathan said.

"So she lives with you?" the detective asked quizzically.

"Hell, no," Nathan said emphatically.  "His parents are divorced. His father had custody but, um," he hesitated a moment looking at Lucas.  "He couldn't quite take care of Lucas so I became his guardian."

"Uh huh," the detective said still obviously confused.

"Lucas works with me," Nathan explained.

The detective frowned over at Lucas, "And you're how old?"

"Sixteen, sir."

Now the detective was confused again.  "Where do you work?"

"I work for the UEO," Lucas tried a little grin.  "I'm a computer analyst."

"At sixteen...."

Nathan decided to try to clarify the situation.  "You see, he graduated from Stanford a couple of years ago and went to work for the UEO at that time.  I've worked with him for a little over a year and a half now."

The detective nodded slowly,  "Graduated from Stanford?"

"Uh huh, with a Masters in computers."

"A Masters?"  The detective wasn't quite sure if he should believe all of this.

Bridger tried again.  "His dad had custody because of an abuse situation relating to his mother but when she called this week and wanted to have dinner with him we were hoping she had changed some."

"How long has it been since you saw your mother?" the detective asked Lucas.

"Three years," Lucas answered quietly with his head down.

"And what happened tonight?"

Lucas looked up at the detective sharply and to Bridger's surprise took over the conversation.  "Dinner went great.  She was really nice and we had a great time."

"Just you and her?" the detective asked.

"No, the Captain insisted on going with us... since my mom kinda gets rough with me some times."

"But she didn't."

"Not during dinner."

"Did she get rough later?"

Lucas nodded.  "Yeah, back at the house she hit me."

The detective touched his own right cheek, "That where you got the bruise?"

"Yeah," Lucas sighed.  "She smacked me and then when she went to hit me again the Captain stopped her."

"Um hmm.  Why did she hit you?"

Lucas shook his head.  "No reason," his voice got quieter.  "She just all of a sudden started in about how worthless I was and then she hit me... backhand."

"Where were you when she hit him?" the detective asked Bridger.

"I had been on the phone and they were on the porch."

The detective nodded and glanced at Lucas again.  "Alright, so she hit you and you stopped her from hitting him again," this last was directed to Bridger.  They both nodded.  "Then what happened?"

"The Captain kicked her out of the house," Lucas answered.

"How?"

Nathan sighed, "When she went to hit Lucas the second time I grabbed her arm."  He shrugged, "Then I just kind of backed her up to the door and told her to get out of my house."

"Did you hit or threaten her?"

"No, although I was holding her arm pretty tight."  Nathan looked over at Lucas who was frowning a lot and had his gaze fixed on the front of the desk.

"And you didn't threaten her?"

Bridger hesitated a little.  "Well, I did refuse to drive her back to her hotel and told her she didn't want to be in a car with me at this time."  He hesitated a little more.  "I suppose she might have considered that a threat."

"Was it?"

"No," Nathan answered calmly.  "It was a statement of fact."

The detective nodded.  "And then she left?"

"Yeah."

"And what happened then?"

Lucas took over the conversation again.  "Then we went into the kitchen to get some ice for my face and heard the glass breaking outside."  He sighed and looked over at Nathan.  "We went back in the Captain's room to look through the window and we could see my mom busting his windows out... then he called you guys."

"You didn't go down there while she was breaking up the car?"

"No," said Nathan emphatically.  "I didn't think that would be a good idea.  We just waited for you guys."

The detective leaned back in his chair.  "Alright, so we've got battery to you," he nodded at Lucas.  "And criminal damage to vehicle on your car," he looked at Bridger.

Nathan looked over at Lucas and recognized a look of panic starting to set in on his face.  The boy looked back at him and leaned forward to talk to him.

"Sir?" he said quietly.

"Yeah?"

"If we sign charges against her does that mean that I've got to see her again?"

"Yeah," Nathan sighed, "It would probably mean having to appear in court with her."

Lucas leaned back in his chair still looking at Nathan.  "I don't want to see her again, sir," he said anxiously.

Nathan nodded and turned to the detective.  "What happens if we decide to not press charges?"

The detective got a resigned look on his face.  "Well, to begin with if you don't press charges on the car your insurance company probably won't cover you."

Nathan shrugged.  "Not a big deal."

Lucas looked even more panicked.  "That would mean you'd have to pay to get all that damage fixed yourself," he exclaimed.

"Might be worth it to not see your mother again."  He rubbed his chin and looked back at the detective.  "I have one other question."

"Hmmm?"

"Any way we could get an order of protection against her?  I want it to be illegal for her to get close to him."  He nodded at Lucas.

"Actually, Captain, considering what the arresting officers have told me I'd prefer to get an order of protection for both Lucas and you. It sounds like she made some rather vehement threats against both of you."

"Can we do that without signing complaints?"

"Yeah, we can do that."  The detective leaned back again and sighed.

"I'm sorry," Nathan said.  "We're kind of wasting your time, aren't we?"

The detective had a resigned look on his face.  "That's alright, I'm used to it." He looked between the two of them.  "What makes you think that an order will keep her away though?"

"She lives in Connecticut," Lucas responded.  "As long as I stay out of Connecticut I figure I'm safe hopefully."

The detective smiled a little.  "And I gather you're planning on staying away from that particular state."

"Absolutely," Lucas said emphatically.

"Well, you're in luck," the detective said pushing back from the desk.  "The on-duty night judge is here on another case and we can probably get her served right away."

Lucas looked up at the detective and then down at the floor.  "That would probably be a good thing," he said softly.

Nathan and Lucas spent the next half hour talking to the judge and waiting for the order of protection to be written up.  During this time Nathan noticed that Lucas became more and more withdrawn as the paperwork proceeded through the various steps until they were once again sitting in front of the detective's desk.

The detective sighed and straightened up the paperwork on his desk.  "Alright," he said.  "Let's run through what this order of protection says."  He put a pair of glasses on and reviewed the paperwork.  "You're both named in the order and it forbids Cynthia Wolenczak from contacting either one of you.  In person, by mail or phone."  He looked up at them.  "It also prohibits her from any presence on or near your home or your work.  Do you two understand that?"

Nathan and Lucas both nodded.

"One caution is that if either of you initiate contact or invite her onto the premises then the order is void.  Do you understand that?"

"Yes," Nathan said while Lucas nodded again.

"Alright, here's a copy for each of you," he said passing some papers across to them. "And we're going to explain things to your mother rather thoroughly so if you two wanted to leave now she won't be out of here for at least a half of an hour."

"Thank you, we appreciate that," Nathan said standing.

"Call us if she makes any contact at all with you, alright?"

Nathan nodded but the detective kept looking at Lucas who had stood but was staring at the corner of the desk.  Finally Lucas looked up at the detective who locked eyes with him.  "You'll call us if she makes any contact with you, right?" the detective emphasized.

Lucas nodded resignedly, "Yes, sir, I will."

Lucas and Nathan stood outside the station next to the motorcycle. Lucas hadn't said a word since they left the building or even looked at Bridger. Nathan tapped lightly on his helmet and Lucas finally looked up at him.

"You alright, kiddo?" he asked softly.

Lucas sighed and tried a small smile.  "Yeah, I'm okay... I just wish that it hadn't happened."

"Me too," Nathan agreed.  "Let's go home."

Lucas nodded and they headed back to the beach house.

Bridger pushed the motorcycle under the house while Lucas stood shaking his head at the mess around the car.  Nathan came out holding his helmet in his hand and a large broom and shovel in the other.

"Tell ya what, I'll sweep if you scoop," he said putting the helmet on the hood of his car.

Lucas shook his head and took the shovel.  "Unbelievable," he said looking at the car again.

The pair spent the better part of a half of an hour sweeping up the mess and scooping it into a box.  Nathan was standing near the walk to the porch while Lucas shoveled up the last of the glass when he noticed his next door neighbor standing next to him.

"Hi Henry," Bridger said.

"Nathan," the man said watching Lucas and then looking over at the car.  "Looks like your car is a bit of a mess," he said slowly.

"Yeah," Nathan said and then looked over at him with a wan smile.

"Who was the woman?"

"His mom," Nathan said nodding at Lucas.

"Uh huh," Henry turned towards Nathan.  "Can I ask you something, Nathan?"

Nathan looked over at the older man.  "Sure."

Henry rubbed his chin.  "You've been here what two... three months?"

Nathan nodded.

Henry looked at the car and then back at Nathan.  "Seems like things have gotten just a tad exciting around here since you and the boy have moved in....."

Nathan looked a bit uncomfortable but nodded.

Henry looked at him intently and folded his arms.  "Is it always like this?"

"I hate to say it, Henry," Nathan sighed, "but it has been so far." He shook his head a little.  "It's not like we're looking for it...."

"No, I understand that, Nathan." Henry said calmly.  "Some people are just like lightning rods for trouble... I've got a feeling that's you."

"Yeah, sometimes...."  Nathan watched Lucas put the box of glass under the house and then come towards them grabbing both helmets on the way.  "We'll really try to keep it to a minimum."

"Uh huh," Henry repeated.  He got a little grin on his face.  "Wanna make any bets?"

Nathan shook his head with a smile as he took his helmet from Lucas.  "No, Henry... no bets."

"Take care, Nathan... you too, Lucas," Henry said turning towards his own house.

"Good night, Mr. Rossini," Lucas said with a questioning look towards Bridger who just shrugged.

The two of them headed up into the house and put their helmets on the dining room table.

"Vid-phone's flashing again," Lucas said as he headed into the kitchen.  It looked like his normal good nature had returned.

Nathan frowned and hit the replay button.  Kristin's face appeared on the screen.

"You two aren't home and it's now after eleven.  When you get home call me."  Nathan grimaced at the stern look on her face.  "I'll be waiting up for you."

"Oh, boy," Lucas said in a heartfelt voice as he wandered back into the dining room with a glass of milk in his hand.  "What are you going to do?"

Nathan glanced over at him and sighed.  "Oh, I'm going to call her back... I really don't want to face her tomorrow if I don't."

Lucas grinned a little.  "No... I don't think that would be a good idea."  He plopped himself up on one of the bar stools at the countertop between the kitchen and the dining room and watched Bridger dial Westphalen's number.  Even though it was after midnight the phone was picked up on the first ring.

Kristin frowned at Nathan over the vid-phone.  "Nathan, where the hell have you two been?"

"Ummm," Nathan hedged.  "Out?"

Kristin's frown deepened.  "How did dinner go?" she asked in an unpleasant voice and Lucas slipped off the chair to look at her.  "And what the hell happened to your face?" she asked him sharply.

"My mom belted me," he said with a careless shrug of his shoulders.

"Nathan!" Kristin said angrily.

Bridger threw his hands up in hopeless gesture.

"Hey, Doc," Lucas said excitedly with a smile, "this is nothing... you should see what she did after this....."