Note: I discovered SeaQuest… sometime last year, I think, and quickly got hooked. It was that fandom that I never in a million years thought I would write for, despite loving the entire first season cast (gosh, I say that too much. I should... err on the side of caution and just... never make assumptions.). However, after Photon Bullet, this little plot bunny wouldn't let go of my brain because I was not happy that everything that happened in that episode seemed to have just been... dropped. I was expecting a bit more closure, but then the whole incident with Mycroft losing control was... forgotten? And I didn't like that. It didn't make sense to me. So this was written.

I'm a little hesitant about posting this, because I'm not sure how active the fandom is on this site anymore, but, hey, you never know till you try. Besides, I do think SeaQuest is a largely underappreciated fandom and it could use a little more love. ;P

Gen, but with hints of Lucas/Julianna, because I actually really liked her. I thought she was really sweet and, while I didn't necessarily want to see Lucas pursuing any long term relationships, it was kinda cute. *shrugs*

"Are you sure you won't stay?"

Lucas felt a knot in his throat, watching Nick's red ponytail disappear. His friend's words replayed in his mind.

Part of him did. Part of him wanted to stay. He'd met people, kids his own age, friends his own age.

He wouldn't change the answer he had given Nick. Captain Bridger, Ford, Krieg, Darwin… He'd left them all behind. He'd been an ass too. It didn't matter how underappreciated he'd felt at the time.

Lucas didn't think he would forget either. This was the place he'd nearly died.

Put so bluntly, even inside his own mind, the thought made him wince.

He'd been thrilled at the idea of being here, of meeting Mycroft. The man had been legendary on the Internex.

His enthusiasm had been before… before he'd nearly been throttled by his idol.

"You okay?" Julianna's soft voice, her hand on his shoulder, brought Lucas back to reality.

She'd noticed.

Okay. Okay after being nearly strangled by his idol… Lucas swallowed thickly.

Julianna was peering up at him, concern evident on her pretty face.

Lucas grinned reassuringly. He took her shoulders gently.

"Hey, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," he said. "Take care of yourself."

Julianna looked doubtful, but she didn't call him on it. Instead, she decided to believe him.

"Okay," she whispered. She smiled, relieved, and gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze.

His smile turned lopsided. "Don't let Mycroft's replacement get too cocky, okay?" he told her.

He didn't know why he said it. As if either one of them cared right now about whoever would be replacing Mycroft. It sounded so meaningless, drifting empty on air, but it worked.

Julianna giggled softly. "You're funny," she said, sounding like she meant it.

"Yeah, well," Lucas said, shrugging as if it were no big deal. He grinned, pleased by her reaction, "I try to be."

"I think you were brave, you know," she told him softly. Before Lucas could come up with an answer or even comprehend the meaning of what she had just said, she leaned forward, planting a brief, but tender kiss on his cheek.

Speechless, Lucas gaped at her. His mind tried to come up with something to say, but he fell short.

How could she think he was brave? In the minute Mycroft's hands had been around his throat, he'd felt lost. Terrified.

That wasn't what bravery meant.

"You stood up to Mycroft," she clarified, as simply as if she had just read his mind. "None of us would have."

Someone called her name. One of her friends. Lucas thought her name might have been Abigail.

Julianna turned to look over her shoulder. "I'll be there in a second!" she called back, buying some time.

She looked back at Lucas, and her eyes were shining.

She wasn't ready to part and neither was he.

"I…" She opened her mouth, looking a little uncertain, but changed her mind.

Instead, she clutched both of his hands in hers, giving them a brief, but tight squeeze.

She pulled away from him then, hurrying down the hallway.

Before Lucas lost sight of her in the conglomerate of other teens, he caught a glimpse of her face. She gave him a smile, delicate and reassuring.

Then another teen stepped in the way, eager to see what his companion was showing off to the crowd, and she disappeared.

Lucas stood where he was a few moments longer, desperately trying to catch a glimpse of her slim figure.

She didn't reappear again.

Lucas felt an empty pit form in his stomach. He wished she had found the time to finish saying whatever she had started.

Lucas preceded Martin Clemens on the way to the SeaQuest. He kept his eyes straight ahead, throat tight, heart thrumming in his chest.

Neither one of them said a word and the silence rang heavy in his ears.

A week ago, he'd have given almost anything to meet the man directly behind him. Now he found himself wishing he'd never heard the name Mycroft.

A lot could change in a week, he thought darkly. He scowled at the floor.

He was walking side by side with a killer. Someone dangerously capable of losing control.

And he was letting that man enter the SeaQuest.

Lucas' frown deepened. What the hell was he doing? This man was dangerous and he hadn't told Bridger any of it. The captain didn't know what kind of man he was inviting on board.

What if he lost it here?

He swallowed thickly. Bridger, Katie, Ben… anyone of them could be hurt.

Don't be ridiculous, he chided himself.

Clemens may have been able to overpower a teenager, but the crew of SeaQuest was an entirely different matter.

Even Dr. Westphalen.

Clemens would be hard-pressed to find any one of them without someone to watch their back, should he ever have the inclination to lose control.

The thought made him feel better… but only slightly.

A warm flood of shame enveloped him.

What did that say about him then?

He'd been nothing but a punk kid, sassing the captain with his backtalk. He'd fallen prey to the preaching of a madman, helping him hack into the World Bank. He hadn't been able to prevent himself from being attacked. He'd felt defenseless.

So much for watching each other's backs. He'd done nothing of the sort when he chose to leave SeaQuest for Node 3.

Lucas glanced up, discreetly. He could see Captain Bridger, already waiting to greet their guest, and chose to keep his eyes averted.

Without looking, he knew the captain had already seen him, studied him, was already wondering what was going on.

Even Lucas knew that he was acting subdued. Which likely meant Bridger would confront him about it later.

Under the pretense of fiddling with the high collar of his sweatshirt, he tugged it a little closer to his neck.

The marks from the near strangulation were faint, but present.

He didn't want Bridger to see them. Not now and not when they talked later.

Lucas wanted to be in control of the when and where. He'd decide when to tell the captain. Maybe he wouldn't. Ever.

The captain was already stepping forward to meet them.

Lucas lifted his chin.

Sulking was only going to get him a reprimand later on and he didn't want to call anymore attention to himself than he already had.

The captain's discerning grey eyes met Lucas' own. Lucas had to force himself to maintain eye contact, hoping that the tempest on the inside wouldn't shine through.

To Clemens, Bridger's welcoming smile would look warm enough, but Lucas knew the captain would be reserving judgement until he actually got to know the man.

Clemens had already managed to partially land himself in Bridger's good graces because of his perceived hospitality towards Lucas at Node 3.

Bridger stopped at the last step, hand extended in greeting.

"Captain Nathan Bridger," the captain introduced himself, though Lucas knew it was just a formality. Clemens already knew who he was. "Welcome aboard the SeaQuest."

Clemens stepped forward, returning Bridger's smile with a wide one of his own.

"A pleasure to see you again, sir!" Mycroft enthused, grasping the captain's hand firmly. "Thank you for allowing me to come aboard. If you hadn't come through, I'd have… well, I don't know what I'd have done."

He grinned, a little crookedly, as if he'd expected laughter at his own joke.

No one did.

Ben might have smiled, but, out of respect for the captain, had kept silent.

Lucas didn't look to see if his guess had been correct.

"I should be thanking you for your hospitality towards Lucas here."

Lucas hadn't realized he'd gone back to studying his shoes until he heard his name spoken.

He couldn't help it.

Bridger was looking past Mycroft, right at him, wearing the look that suggested that he knew what Lucas was thinking, what Lucas was feeling, no matter how deeply he tried to bury it, to hide it.

Lucas felt his face flood warm with shame and he looked down at his toes again.

He caught what he was doing, realizing that he would only make himself look more suspicious, and raised his chin again.

"Yeah, well," in Mycroft's voice, Lucas could detect traces of what was almost pride. But instead of making him feel warm on the inside- the way he did when it was Bridger- he felt almost ill instead, "he's a remarkable kid."

Clemen reached out, giving him a friendly clap on the shoulder. It was meant to be a sign of camaraderie, a mark that the "past was in the past" maybe.

But it wasn't that long ago when those same hands had been around his neck. When he'd been struggling to breathe, terrified because he was going to die, as those same hands slowly strangled the life from him.

Did the man really think he could smile and pat him on the shoulder and it would all be behind them? That he would forget?

It was all he could do not to recoil from the man, but, with the captain's eyes still on him, he forced himself to stand still.

Bridger was smiling warmly now. "Yes," he said, "we're all aware of how special Lucas is."

Lucas swallowed thickly, but he managed a smile for show.

"I learned a lot," he said. He doesn't know why he chose now to say it. Only that it was true.

Captain Bridger didn't seem to agree. He only nodded. "Glad to hear it," he said. The corners of his eyes crinkled with his smile.

Lucas watched as the captain's attention returned to Clemens and the two of them exchanged words too low for Lucas to overhear.

He took two steps back, feeling it might be possible now for him to excuse himself without it being minded- or noticed.

The moment he had turned his back, however, Bridger called him back.

"Where are you going?"

Reluctantly, Lucas half-turned back around.

Bridger was looking at him expectantly, waiting for his explanation.

"I…" his eyes shifted from Bridger to Mycroft and back again. He swallowed, "I was going to see Darwin."

More than ever, he wanted to spend some time with his friend.

Darwin wasn't going to judge him, wasn't going to lecture him. Darwin was just Darwin and that meant just being a friend.

It was the kind of company Lucas found himself in need of.

He was afraid that captain might tell him no, might tell him to stay and see to the needs of their guest.

Please don't ask me to do that.

He bunched his fists at his side, trying to ignore how sweaty his palms felt. The muscles in his throat contracted and he breathed more deeply.

Calm down. Calm down. Deep breaths.

If he had a panic attack on the bridge, he'd have no choice but to give up an explanation later on.

To his immense relief, the captain only nodded his head in the way that fondly suggested that Lucas was trying his patience. "Go on then," he said, waving a hand in the direction of the moon pool. "Darwin's missed you."
"Thanks, Captain." Lucas' smile was genuine this time.

Bridger hadn't been lying when he had said that Darwin had missed him.

If Lucas had been thrilled to see his friend again, then Darwin was ecstatic.

A spray of seawater met Lucas head on.

Lucas gasped out a laugh, raising his hands defensively. He sputtered, "Hey, watch it, Fish Face. What was that for?"

Darwin chirped, a series of rapid-paced staccato clicks, head bobbing up and down.

The message was unmistakable.

Darwin was laughing at him.

Lucas grinned.

The dolphin's genuine good spirits had never failed to put him in a better mood.

He reached the Moon Pool, settling himself down on the bench. He switched on the vocorder, yearning to hear the one voice out of all of them that wouldn't remonstrate him for one offense or another.

"Hey, Darwin. Did you miss me?"

"Darwin miss Lucas!"

"Yeah?" Lucas beamed, his grin stretching wide from ear to ear. "I missed you too, bud."

Lucas was enveloped in a darkness as all-consuming as the night.

"I shut down the Node."

"Turn it back on."

"I don't want to hurt anyone!"

Was that him? He sounded so afraid.

Wisps of a conversation drifted into his bitter consciousness.

People were speaking, but they weren't… they weren't him. Were they?

They faded in and out of focus, before the entire scene erupted into chaos.

He was yanked from his chair. Thrown against a console with such force that the breath was knocked from his lungs.

He tried to suck in a breath, recapture the air he had lost, but there was nothing. Nothing. He couldn't breathe.

And he still couldn't see anything- why couldn't he see anything?

In a blind panic, he clawed at the arms holding him captive, aware of nothing but the emptiness in his lungs.

And it hurt. The burning in his lungs hurt in a way he thought nothing could.

And in the back of his mind, buried beneath his terror, he knew. Knew with an unfailing certainty that this was it.

This was where he died.

Lucas woke with a start, eyes snapping open.

He saw nothing but darkness and, for a moment, the blankets keeping him warm felt like a suffocating cocoon, constricting tighter and tighter.

Before long, he wouldn't be able to breathe.

Because it was here. It was here and any second he wouldn't be able to breathe.

He choked, kicking out in his terror, jerking to get away, and his head collided with the wall behind him.

Lucas inhaled shakily, kicking the covers off of himself. There was the sound of rustling fabric and then cool air against his bare legs as the blanket slid to the floor.

He couldn't bring himself to be bothered, sitting up and covering his face.

His heart was still pounding, the adrenaline born from bone-deep fear still coursing through him, and he covered his face with his hands.

He was trembling, his shirt damp with sweat.

Bet you've learned your lesson now, haven't you?

The voice mocked him, whining in his ear.

Lucas shuddered.

Shut up! he snapped back.

He reached his hand up, rubbing his neck.

A warm flood of shame enveloped him. What did that say about him then?

He'd been nothing but a punk kid, sassing the captain with his backtalk. He'd fallen prey to the preaching of a madman, of a murderer, helping him hack into the World Bank.

And then, when he'd finally seen the effort for what it was, when he'd finally had the guts to put a stop to it, the price had very nearly been his life.

And it would have been had it not been for the risk taken by Nick and Julianna.

Julianna.

Lucas squeezed his eyes shut, passing a hand over his eyes. How easy it would have been for Clemens' rage to be diverted to either one of them. It was simply luck that Clemens had realized what he was doing, that he had calmed down.

That he had even cared enough to do so.

If he'd turned on one of them… if he'd attacked Julianna… The thought of his hands around her throat… He shuddered, swallowing thickly against the bile that rose up in protest.

Understanding that he wasn't going to be falling back asleep anytime soon, Lucas stood, making his way from his quarters.

It wasn't until he stumbled out into the corridor that he had a clear idea of his destination.

Darwin.

He found himself craving the simple friendship the dolphin provided him with. Darwin didn't demand that Lucas explain himself, didn't reprimand him when he had screwed up.

He was just… Darwin.

And even… even if he found the dolphin resting, simply being in his company was preferable to his suddenly restricting quarters.

He was exhausted, lack of sleep making his head feel heavy, and he kept one hand on the wall to guide him.

Lucas walked carefully, one foot in front of the other, progress slow. He kept his eyes down, focused on his feet.

As such, he didn't realize it when there was someone else in the hall with him.

Not until he smacked into their chest.

Note: I wanted to save this one till the end. Somewhere in the middle of writing this story, I lost interest in the fandom. Which... is not unusual. I flit in and out of fandoms, though I generally always come back to them at some point or another. Recently, I was browsing through my docs and opened this one. I hate unfinished stories, so I was inspired to finish writing it. However, as it's been quite some time since I've watched the show and I can no longer find the full episodes on youtube (something I'm quite upset about- though I'm sure they're there, somewhere. I just have to dig a little deeper.) or anywhere else online, really, making sure I stay true to character has become a little harder.

If I find the episodes, I'll be sure to rewatch this one at least, but, for now, I'll work with what I've got. There are going to be four chapters- I've got the first three written and the fourth in the works. I had wanted to wait till I completed the fourth chapter since I already have several WIPs posted on this site, but since it's only one chapter, I'm letting myself post earlier than I intended.