"Lucas?" Bridger saw a foot pop up from the couch. "Oh, there you are." He walked over to the couch and looked down at the boy who was lying there reading a book. "I'm going to get a haircut." He paused for a moment and grinned at Lucas. "Want to come along?"

Lucas grinned back up at him. "Gee, thanks, sir, but I think I'll pass this time."

Bridger shrugged. "Well, it was worth a try. Look, Kristin is gonna be gone most of the day so when I get back do you want to go out for some lunch?"

"Sure, food always sounds good to me."

"Okay." Nathan glanced at the door. "If you're going to be there reading a book, I'm going to lock the porch door on my way out. We wouldn't want a repeat of last weekend's excitement." The area had been plagued by burglars during the last month and last weekend there had actually been a home invasion where an elderly couple had been left gagged and bound.

Lucas smirked. "Did anyone ever tell you that you're paranoid?"

Bridger just grinned at him. "Yeah, but that's healthy sometimes." He walked towards the door. "I'll be back in a while."

"Have a nice haircut," Lucas called after him.

Nathan stopped at the porch door and set the lock. Then he continued down the stairs and, getting into his car, drove off. He didn't appear to notice the grey van parked down the street with three sets of eyes watching his departure.

After the Captain left, Lucas settled back down onto the couch and continued his reading. The book was generally pretty exciting, another book that the Captain had found for him. This one was by Alexander Kent and followed the adventures of Captain Richard Bolitho during the rousing days of sailing ships. When you were reading it you could almost feel the sea spray and the roll of the deck. The battle at sea parts were his favorites but right now he was reading through a section that was a lot more tame. He supposed that they had to put this personal romance stuff in the book but he'd rather go back to the cannons blazing. Lucas felt his eyes begin to droop and soon the book fell to his chest as he nodded off to sleep.

Lucas found himself on the deck of a rolling forty-four gun frigate. The wind blew through his hair and the sun glinted off the rolling waves.

"Deck there," came the cry from the masthead. "Sail off the starboard bow."

"Mr. Wolenczak," shouted Captain Bridger from the poop deck. "Get aloft and tell me who it is."

Lucas nimbly scampered up the ratlines to join the lookout in the masthead. He trained his spyglass on the ship in the distance. "Captain," he shouted down, "She's a three-masted brig, looks to be French. Sir, I believe her to be the Le Brochette out of Le Havre."

"Very good, Mr. Wolenczak. Join us back on the deck and we'll see what this blockade runner is made of." He directed the helmsman to change course to intercept the ship. Trying to slink out of port, see if you can get by the seaQuest would you? Not on this day.

The brig turned to run but the wind favored the seaQuest and she quickly drew down on the fleeing ship. Knowing that their only chance was to try to fight their way out, the brig tacked around to face its larger opponent.

"Mr. Crocker! Beat to quarters," shouted Bridger. The staccato drumming of the call to quarters was followed by a rush of feet and the shouting of voices as the crew ran to man their guns.

Lucas headed forward to the bow where he was in charge of the carronades, smaller guns used to rake the deck of the opposing ship and rip out her shrouds. The sound of the squealing of gun trucks and the slap of the ports on the sides opening could be heard throughout the ship. The crew waited expectantly as the two ships came closer and closer.

Soon the exchange of fire had begun and the ship smelled of smoke and powder. Men strained to heave the guns out, to swab and reload them and then to heave them out again. The brig had lost most of her main mast and was in serious trouble when a midshipman ran up to Lucas.

"The Captain's compliments, sir, but would you load with double-shotted grape and blow the bastards off their deck."

Lucas looked back to the poop deck where he could see the steely eyes of Captain Bridger watching him. He gave the Captain a short salute and a smile which the Captain returned with a nod.

Lucas called out to his men, "Alright, my boys, double-shotted grape in every one of your guns. Let's show these froggys what kind of iron they can expect from the seaQuest."

The guns were reloaded and Captain Bridger brought the frigate to cross the stern of the brig. Lucas carefully sighted in the guns and as they passed the ship his carronades belched iron and smoke at the enemy ship. Lucas could see the wheel go spinning as its rigging was torn away by the blast. Everyone on the poop deck went down or was blown right off the deck. A cheer went up from Lucas' men.

As they came about a lucky ball from the brig struck the foremast of the seaQuest about 8 feet off the deck. The mast shuddered and started to fall. Lucas watched helplessly as the shattered mast crashed down upon him pinning him to the deck. The sail attached to the mast fluttered down with it and covered Lucas completely. The location of the mast across his body and the sail and its shrouds pressed the sail down onto Lucas' face. He couldn't breathe. It was suffocating him.

Oh, God, he couldn't breathe. Lucas came suddenly awake as he realized that a pillow was being pressed down hard on his face, suffocating him. He struggled against the pillow and against the weight that was trapping his body. Someone was sitting on him and holding his hands. No matter how hard he struggled, nothing he could do was getting him any air. Lucas felt his lungs aching for a breath that never came as he slipped into the black world of unconsciousness.

Nathan tapped his fingers on the steering wheel to the music of the CD player in the car as he drove through the bright Florida morning. He scratched his neck where some small pieces of hair had lodged and reflected that this was one of the problems with being ashore. There were no excuses for not getting a haircut and there was always some prim and proper desk-jockey jerk ready to remind anyone who was getting a little shaggy. He pulled into the drive of the beach house and frowned at the grey van parked there. It looked like the van that had been parked on the street when he left almost an hour ago. Nathan cautiously got out of his car and headed for the front door. He had one foot on the bottom step when he looked up and saw the splintered wood around the porch door lock. He slid around to the side of the steps as he called 911.

The phone only rang twice before it was answered but it seemed like an eternity. "911, where is your emergency?"

"428 Gulfside Drive."

"And what's the problem, sir?"

"I think I've got a burglary in progress at my house." Nathan could hear the dispatcher typing in the background. "I left about an hour ago and when I came back the lock on the door was splintered and there's a grey van in the drive that's not mine. The plate is 7D1237. Oh, and Lucas was in the house when I left. So he's probably still there with the burglars." Bridger was really finding it hard to talk at a reasonable rate.

"And who's Lucas?"

"He's my my son." That was easier than trying to explain that he was his ward. There was more typing in the background. Nathan knew that the squad cars were probably already on the way but he felt like yelling through the phone to hurry.

"Alright sir, and if I could get your name and phone number." The calm voice of the dispatcher made Nathan realize that he had to quickly give the information. Bridger gave her the information she wanted. "The squad cars are on the way and should be there any minute. Do you want to stay on the phone with me until they get there?"

Bridger was getting a little anxious about what was happening up in the house and there was no way that he was going to wait down here. "No. I'll give you a call back if anything changes."

"Okay Mr. Bridger," answered the dispatcher and Nathan severed the connection.

Nathan looked down the road and couldn't see any cars coming. Nor could he hear any sirens. He couldn't stand down here and wait. He decided to see if he could get an idea on what was going on. Nathan quietly climbed the stairs and keeping in a low crouch, gently opened the door and slipped through. The windows on the porch were open so he eased up beside one of them and listened to the noises coming from the house. He could hear what sounded to be three different voices. None of them was Lucas and they didn't sound particularly happy with each other.

The first voice was laced with sarcasm. "Good going Mr. ‘he's gone so the house should be empty'."

"Hey, don't worry about it. The kid never saw us and he's not about to cause us any problem now." Nathan felt a cold hand grip his heart.

The third voice snapped angrily, "Both of you knock it off! Just get those bags full. And by the way, your kid who isn't going to cause us a problem is sitting up." Thank God, at least he was alive.

Nathan heard a slap and the thud of something hitting the couch. The second guy's voice sounded ominous. "Just lay back down and don't cause any trouble kid or you're going to get hurt." Nathan winced at the sounds. After a short time the second guy's voice sounded again, this time more angry. "I said stay down!" The sound of a fist meeting flesh could be heard.

That was enough for Nathan. He stayed low so as not to be seen but quickly moved to the main door. Lucas must have sat up again because he was just in time to see the back of a young man in his 20's as he grabbed Lucas by the front of his shirt and smashed a fist into his face. Lucas' eyes and mouth were covered with duct tape and from the way his arms were sitting they were probably taped behind his back. He couldn't do anything to defend himself against the battery. As the man pulled back for another strike at Lucas, Nathan launched himself across the room and the top of the couch where Lucas was still lying, smashing into the man and sending him across the room to crash into the wall. Nathan came around on his knees to see that one of the other men was in the process of emptying the silverware out of the credenza and the third was stacking pillowcases full of loot just on the other side of the door. This man came around the end of the couch and barreled into Bridger as he was standing, striking him in the midsection with his shoulder. Nathan felt his breath rush out as he slammed into the wall but was able to bring his knee up to catch the man in the throat. He brought his clenched hands down as hard as he could on the back of the man's head and saw him crumple to the floor.

Nathan saw that the third man had a carving knife from the silverware set in his hands and was advancing on him. He quickly glanced around for anything to use against the knife and he moved gradually towards the couch where a planter sat on the end table. Nathan felt his legs get taken out from under him as the ottoman hit him in the back of the legs. It had been pushed across the floor at him by the guy who had hit Lucas. He fell backwards striking his head on the coffee table. Momentarily stunned, Nathan felt the impact of a fist on the side of his face and then another. The guy with the knife was now just leaning over him. Bridger's legs had been pulled close to his body as he fell and now he kicked out at the third guy's midsection. He felt his foot impact and heard a gasp for air as the knife clattered to the floor. Both Nathan and the guy who had hit Lucas lunged for the knife at the same time. Nathan was just a moment too late as the guy grabbed the knife but Nathan was able to grab his hand. Nathan didn't even hear the commotion of the police officers rushing up the steps and across the porch but suddenly there was an officer with his gun drawn pointing at the back of the guy's head.

"Drop it!" commanded the officer. Other officers were taking care of the other two.

Nathan released the guy's hand and the bad guy just froze for a moment before opening his hand and letting the knife fall to the floor.

"Face down, on the floor!" The bad guy complied. The officer motioned to Bridger. "You too."

A second officer spoke up. "It's okay, he lives here." The first officer nodded and Nathan turned to help Lucas.

The boy had a painful looking bruise forming on his left cheek. He flinched as Nathan touched his face. "It's just me." Nathan kneeled next to the couch and carefully peeled the duct tape from his eyes. "It's alright, Lucas," Nathan said softly as he saw the tears and fear in the boy's eyes. He gently removed the tape from Lucas' mouth.

"Captain," the boy said as the tears fell down his face.

Nathan held Lucas close against his chest and stroked his head, repeating. "It's alright, it's alright."

All the bad guys were handcuffed and lying on the floor. The second police officer leaned over the back of the couch and put a hand on Lucas' shoulder. "I'm going to take the tape off of your hands, okay?" At Lucas' nod he used his knife to sever the tape and peeled it away from his wrists. Lucas immediately threw his arms around Bridger and held him tight.

Lucas sobbed for a short time into Bridger's shoulder and then, gaining some control over his fear, he pulled back and looked at Bridger with a questioning look. Nathan wiped the tears from the boy's cheeks. "Are you alright?" he said softly.

"I am," Lucas said between sniffles, "but I'm not sure about you." Lucas brought his right hand from behind Bridger's back. His arm was coated with blood.

Bridger put his hand to the back of his head and grimaced. "Yeah, that's me," he said looking at his blood-covered hand.

"We've got an ambulance on the way to check the two of you out," said the second police officer. Bridger glanced at his name tag. He looked vaguely familiar.

"Thanks, Officer Vasquez." The first officer brought a towel from the kitchen and gave it to Bridger who held it to the back of his head. He kept his other arm around Lucas' shoulder and the boy leaned forward to put his forehead on Nathan's shoulder.

Other officers led the three handcuffed bad guys out of the house as Officer Vasquez pushed the ottoman around and sat on it. "Do you think you could tell me what happened?" he asked gently.

Lucas sniffled again and raised his head. "Where do you want me to start?"

"How about after I left," prompted Nathan.

"When was that?" asked Vasquez.

"About an hour ago."

Lucas nodded. "After you left I went back to reading my book." He looked over at the officer. "I was lying on the couch reading." Vasquez nodded. "I guess I fell asleep ‘cause the next thing I remember is waking up to someone holding a pillow over my face. I couldn't breathe," he said in an anxious voice. Bridger brought his hand to lay on the side of Lucas' neck and rubbed it comfortingly. "I passed out, I guess... and when I woke up I couldn't move or talk or see. All I could do is hear the three of them as they tore the house up." He faltered a little and Nathan gave him a little encouraging nod. "They were in the back of the house. I c... could hear them moving around and talking but I couldn't hear what they were saying all the time. I tried to get up but I got dizzy and then they came in here." Lucas had been moving his glance between the officer and Nathan but now he focused on the Captain. "I was so scared. I didn't know what they were going to do." His voice trembled.

"Why didn't you just stay still?" asked Nathan.

Lucas got an embarrassed look on his face. "The, um, the one who hit me... I guess he was over by the mantle looking at the pictures and he made a pretty crude comment about what he'd like to do to the Doc. I guess I got a little angry." Nathan smiled and patted him on the shoulder. "Then when I tried to sit up the guy slapped me and yelled at me. I... I guess I panicked a little and I tried to sit up again. That time he hit me." Lucas brought his hand up to touch the bruise on his cheek. "I don't know... then he grabbed me and hit me again." He looked up at Bridger with a little smile. "And then I guess that's where you came in."

"Why don't you start when you got here, Mr. Bridger."

Nathan sat back on the coffee table and moved his hand down to Lucas' knee. "Well, when I pulled in that grey van was parked in the drive and when I started up towards the door I saw that the lock had been popped so I called 911." Nathan looked a little embarrassed himself. "I'm afraid I'm not very good at waiting so I eased my way onto the porch to see if I could hear what was going on. I heard the three of them talking some and then the big one hitting Lucas." Nathan shrugged. "I couldn't wait for you guys." Another siren could be heard outside.

Vasquez nodded. "I understand but three against one are not very good odds, Mr. Bridger. You got damned lucky."

"Yeah, I know."

The doorway was filled with paramedics who quickly got down to checking out their patients.

Kristin Westphalen had decided that it was far too nice a day to spend at work and was on her way home. With any amount of luck the guys wouldn't have had lunch yet and they could all go out. As she pulled into her street Kristin experienced the worst fear of any parent as she saw police cars and an ambulance pulled up into her drive. She parked as close as she could and took off running for the house. A uniformed officer stopped her at the bottom of the stairs.

"I'm sorry, ma'am, but you can't go in there."

"I live here," Kristin said in an imperious voice.

"Could I have your name?" Kristin told the officer and he used his radio to contact Vasquez inside the house. "Mike, I've got a woman by the name of Kristin Westphalen who says she lives here."

Vasquez looked over at Bridger and Lucas. "She does," said Lucas.

"And I would not want to be the one who tries to keep her out of here," Nathan said and then grimaced as the paramedic had a look at his head.

"Go ahead and let her up."

Kristin was up the stairs and into the living room in a matter of seconds. Her eyes quickly scanned the room, noting the open drawers and piled pillowcases before coming to rest on Lucas, who was still sitting on the couch, and Nathan, who was on the coffee table. Both of them had paramedics checking them out. She went to sit beside Lucas.

"Are you two alright?" she asked in a shaky voice.

Lucas was the one who answered. "You know we've had better mornings." Kristin cast a glance of disapproval at him. "But yeah, I think we're not banged up too bad."

"What in God's name happened."

This time Nathan answered. "I went out for a haircut and Junior here got to be on the receiving end of a home invasion." He winced again as the paramedic covered the cut with a bandage.

"Pretty good cut you've got there, Mr. Bridger. You're going to need some stitches."

Kristin stood and came around to be behind Nathan. She looked at the paramedic. "Mind if I have a look?"

Nathan pointed his thumb at her. "Meet Dr. Kristin Westphalen."

"No problem, Doctor," the paramedic said as he stood back.

Kristin lifted the bandage and did a quick inspection of the cut. "He's right, your definitely going to need stitches. Did you lose consciousness at all?"

"No ma'am. I'm also not dizzy, nor is my stomach upset."

She patted him on the shoulders. "If you want I can do the stitches here unless you'd really like to go to the hospital?"

"Not really," Nathan said as she placed her hand under his chin and turned his face to look at her.

"Let me look at your face." After checking out both Nathan and Lucas, Kristin determined that it didn't look like anything was broken and releases were signed with paramedics so that they wouldn't have to go to the hospital.

By now there were several police officers swarming all over the house. Evidence technicians were taking pictures of the different rooms and eventually of the two victims and detectives were waiting patiently to talk to them. After the paramedics left, Kristin went back to sit on the couch next to Lucas. He reached over and took her hand. Kristin looked at the boy's still frightened face and covered his hand with her free one.

The detectives had heard the story from Vasquez but wanted to hear it again from Lucas and Nathan and record it for a statement. Before they started Nathan asked if he could change his shirt. He headed back to the bedroom which was filled by people taking pictures and evidence. The room looked like a hurricane had run through it. All the drawers were open or tossed on the floor, Kristin's jewelry box had been dumped out onto the bed and the contents of the closet were thrown all over the place.

Nathan gave a low whistle. "Boy, she's not going to like this." A couple of the officers smiled. "You guys might need to give those three protection. If Kristin gets her hands on them, she'll kill ‘em." He grabbed a shirt from the pile on the floor and took his bloody one off, tossing it in the bathroom as he passed the door. He was just buttoning the clean shirt as he came back in the living room. The detective was sitting on the chair while Lucas and Kristin kept their places on the couch. Lucas was detailing what had happened. As he talked Nathan saw Kristin blanch and rub the hand that she held.

"And that's about when the Captain showed up." He looked over at Bridger as he sat on the coffee table again.

The detective looked over at Nathan. "Your turn."

Nathan took a deep breath, let it out and then repeated his story. As he talked, Nathan noticed that Kristin was staring at him, rubbing Lucas' hand over and over again.

As Nathan finished his story the officers and technicians came out from the back of the house loaded down with equipment cases. The detective looked over at them. "You guys all done?" They assured him that they had all the evidence and pictures that they needed. After they left the detective leaned forward to talk to Lucas and Nathan.

"We're going to need for you two to sign some complaints against those three. At the moment we're looking at home invasion, battery, assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful restraint and criminal damage to property and anything else we can get the state's attorney to approve." He took a breath and his voice became very serious. "You know that these are probably the burglars that have been hitting this area?" Nathan nodded. "What wasn't mentioned in the news about last week's home invasion was that the couple whose house was invaded were also beat up. The couple are in their 70's." The others looked shocked. "Last I heard they were both still in the hospital." He paused and looked right at Nathan. "You and your son got very lucky, Captain. It really wasn't very smart to attack the three of them before we arrived."

Nathan slowly nodded his head. "I know but it seemed like a good idea at the time. Oh, and he's my ward, unfortunately he's not my son." He caught the detective's questioning glance. "It's a long story."

"I don't see any reason for you to have to come down to the station." The detective stood up. "We'll bring the statements and complaints by when they're ready." He glanced around the room. "Meanwhile, you can clean up if you want to."

Nathan also stood. "Anything you need us to leave alone?"

The detective shook his head. "Nope, it's all been recorded. I have a feeling it's going to take you a while." Nathan walked him to the door and shook his hand as he left.

When he came back into the room Kristin had gotten up from the couch and was in the kitchen. Nathan sat down next to Lucas. "You alright?" he said gently.

Lucas looked at the Captain and nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm alright. Thanks for being there... again."

Nathan patted the boy on the shoulder. "Anytime, pal."

Kristin came out of the kitchen with two ice packs and gave one to each of them. "Put those on your cheeks. Quite a fashion statement... you two have matching bruises."

That made both of them smile. Then Lucas' face took on a serious look as he turned to Nathan. "Did you mean what you said to him?"

Nathan looked into his sea blue eyes. "What? ...that it's unfortunate that you're not my son?" Lucas didn't say anything but just nodded. "Yeah, I meant it. I love you, kiddo. That's why I couldn't stand out there when you were being hurt."

Lucas had tears in his eyes. His voice was choked with emotion, "I love you too, sir."

Nathan put his arm around Lucas' shoulders and gave him a quick hug.

"If you don't mind," Kristin said gently, "I need to see about stitching up that cut on your head."

Nathan grimaced, "Oh, that sounds like fun."

"Yes, well, then we need to see about getting this house cleaned up."

"Oh, that's going to be even more fun," said Nathan ruefully. Kristin frowned at him. "You haven't seen the rest of the house."