AN - this is a re-post of a story I wrote in 2007... I think! I took all my sQ stuff off here because I wanted to use some of my OC's in published stuff, but I ended up changing them a lot anyway.

So, here it is. I will be updating once a week on fridays if all goes well, because these fics do need a bit of editing. Much has changed since 2007, least of all my writing ability!

If you enjoy these, please check out my Sherlock stuff too (see profile).

PS. Reviews make the world go round...

Chapter One

An Old Friend

"How long you gonna be in Pearl Harbor?"

"A week." Lucas wondered what Ben was up to now.

"A week, OK, good." Ben used the same tone of voice when closing a business deal. "Why don't you give this number a call if you can give the old man the slip, ask for Candy, she's got a –"

He abruptly stopped talking when the Captain's hand plucked the offered note paper out of his hand.

"He's not going to be giving anybody the slip. This trip is for training, not recreation."

"Training, sir, yes," said Ben, sheepishly. "Have a good trip, sir."

You are such an ass-kisser, Krieg, Lucas thought affectionately, as he made his way to the pressure hatch and looked back to see the Captain bidding farewell to his XO.

"Well, she's all yours, Commander," Bridger mounted a step.

"Thank you, sir."

Then Bridger turned to the waiting Chief Crocker and indicating toward Ben said, "and, uh, keep an eye on him."

"You got it, Cap. Safe trip," Crocker laughed.

Then he said, almost as an after thought, "Uh, Lieutenant..."

"Yes, Sir?"

"How old is this Candy?"

"Forty-three," he said, wondering why that was even relevant, "but she's got a sixteen year old daughter. They're lovely people."

"Really?" Bridger made sure to sound extra incredulous for the Lieutenant's sake. Then he stepped up to the hatch, not looking back.

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

Lucas sat next to the Captain. They both gazed across the interior of the launch at Katie Hitchcock.

"Who's Candy?" Bridger had been dying to ask. It was against his better judgement, knowing Krieg, but as a scientist at heart, curiosity always got the better of him.

"Yeah... Who's Candy?" said Lucas, backing up the Captain's bold decision. Surely Candy was one of Ben's girlfriends, and it would be like opening Pandora's box by asking Katie about her.

To their surprise, Katie responded in an entirely unexpected way. She ignored the curious glances of the other crew members crowding the launch, gave a wry smile and tapped the side of her nose.

She wasn't going to give anything away.

It always infuriated Lucas how unforthcoming a person she was.

"Maybe I'll tell you when I get back," she said lightly, infuriating Lucas even further.

"You're not going to the symposium?" He asked.

"I'll be there for the second phase, but first I have to give a talk at the space administration about the probe. We're presenting our findings to the board of directors."

"We?"

"The other HR jockeys."

"There's others?" Lucas's eyes were wide.

"Oh come on Lucas, you didn't think I was the only one did you?"

"Oh, that is so unfair. You get to go to NASA, and I get to sit through hours and hours of-"

"Education." Katie exchanged an amused glance with her Captain. She took a chance and said, "well I could use a computer analyst. Would it be possible for Lucas to come along as my aide, Captain?"

"I'm not sure if that's a good idea, Commander."

"It would be educational," said Katie, hopefully.

To the rest of the crew it would seem like they were having a genuine debate, but to Lucas it was clear they were playing a game with him. Trying not to show how easily they gave in to a teenager's temperament. They should at least look like they were putting up a fight.

He could tell by the way their eyes smiled, though their mouths did not.

"This symposium is very important," continued Bridger.

"He'll only miss the first half of it. He'll be there for your segment," said Katie.

Bridger pretended to think about it for at least five seconds. He had always gently nudged Lucas towards broadening his range of knowledge. But this was a very rare opportunity for Lucas, he had already discussed it with Katie but they had decided to wait until Lucas brought it up. And they knew he would if he thought he was missing out on something cool.

"Okay, I'll give Commander Keller a call when we reach Pearl..." he announced, "Pull a few strings,", precipitating satisfied smiles from the other two.

Bridger felt comforted knowing that Katie would be keeping an eye on Lucas. There was no way he could get into trouble when he was with her, was there?

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

"We have three hours before the shuttle to Hilo," Katie told her young charge. "That should be plenty of time."

"Time for what?" asked Lucas, but he didn't really care what they did until the shuttle. He was just brimming with pride at getting to hang out with her. Sure, they worked together a lot, but this was different; she wanted him around. Adults didn't normally want him around, except Bridger and Ben perhaps.

It was just as well, she didn't answer anyway. Lucas had noticed a long time ago that she was the kind of person who was very judicious about the information she gave out, and didn't allow herself to feel guilty about it either. Still, he suspected she was just teasing him this time.

The bus swayed as it sped along the highway. They had given up their seats to an elderly couple at the start of the short journey and they now steadied themselves on the hand rail.

Lucas looked at her profile. She had tied her hair back off her face because of the humidity in the crowded transport. This was something she rarely did on duty; she thought her features were too severe, or so Ben had told him. But Lucas thought she looked even more beautiful that way. Her well defined arm strained against the motion of the vehicle, and he felt himself get a little hot under the collar as a droplet of sweat snaked its way down the bicep and soaked into the hem of her navy-blue tank.

He looked down at his own jeans and t-shirt ensemble. He wondered if Katie thought he was scruffy.

He also wondered if people thought they were together. Nah, he thought, they probably think I'm her kid.

Katie turned her head to smile warmly at him, and to check that he was enjoying himself. A bus ride in Honolulu was definitely more interesting than one in the other parts of the world he had visited, and infinitely more interesting than a marine biology symposium.

"What do you think?" Katie and Lucas stood in front of the beach restaurant.

The rustically painted sign above the door said The Wong Way.

And smaller underneath it, Candy Wong Proprietor.

"This is where we used to hang out... Forget Waikiki. This is paradise."

"It looks like the middle of no-where to me." Lucas, looked around at the deserted picnic areas and palm trees. "How many people would come out here, anyway?"

"Mostly locals and sailors," she answered, not visibly perturbed by Lucas's observation of the lack of civilisation.

They stepped up to the veranda. Lucas noticed there was a closed sign in the window of the wooden door but Katie yanked it open and went in anyway.

She was almost immediately set upon by an excited young girl, who wrapped her arms around her and was lifted, squealing with delight, off the ground by Katie's fierce hug.

When she was released she said, "Where's Ben?"

Lucas hung back a little, embarrassed by the sudden reunion. He could tell by the flat tonelessness of her voice that she was profoundly deaf.

Working, Katie signed.

The girl sank into an exaggerated sulk.

"Li-Li, this is Lucas." Katie said in an effort to get him involved, and spelled his name for her.

She held out her hand for him to shake.

He took it.

"You'll do." She said and dragged him off to one of the tables where she had been working on her homework.

Lucas threw a nervous glance back at Katie. Help, said his eyes but she just smiled and headed for the kitchen to find the owner.

"Candy?"

Katie peered around the office door, and found her buried in paperwork.

"Katie-Ah!" She leaped up from her chair. "What a surprise. Come here, let me get good a look at you."

She slipped of her glasses and grasped the young woman's face in her hands, turning it this way and that. Katie had to stoop to allow her to do so because Candy was so short.

"Hmmm... Not enough Shui. You need water," She instructed her, curtly.

"Thanks for that diagnosis, 'Doctor', but I'd like you to meet someone."

"So what did you do to deserve this, ha?" Candy asked Lucas, after they had explained their plans for the week. She laid out their table-mats and cutlery. She had a commanding presence in her dining room, that of a mother, and mother the others she did.

"Deserve what?"

"Katie is a very demanding boss."

"Hey, I'm sitting right here!" protested Katie, swishing her glass of water around.

"I can't... see your mouth," signed Li-Li to her mother.

"I said, Katie is very demanding."

"Yes, she is," piped up Lucas, joining in with the teasing.

"And Impatient, like my daughter. She shows up early for breakfast, and cannot read the sign that says open at ten," Candy continued. "Spam and eggs, how about it? You like your eggs the right way up or the Wong way, ha?"

"Um," Started Lucas, watching Candy get up from the table and proceed to the kitchen without waiting for an answer. "I don't really know how I like my eggs."

"You don't know how you like your eggs?" signed Li-Li, "you are strange."

"We've already had breakfast," Lucas said to Katie, a little confused.

"So?" she replied, nonchalantly.

Lucas shook his head, she could be as enthusiastic as Ben when it came to food. He had never met a woman who worried about keeping on weight rather than losing it. But then Katie was no ordinary woman.

"Do you know anything about maths? Because I have one hell of a homework assignment," asked Li-Li, picking up her pile of text books.

"Do I know anything about maths? Hmmm..." said Lucas, theatrically. He looked over at Katie, who was rapidly trying to escape. She obviously hadn't told the Wongs about the whole genius thing.

He wasn't quite sure how he felt about that, he was used to people dropping a few names when they introduced him. Sometimes he liked it, it gave him status and kudos, but other times he preferred to remain anonymous. It was a relief to sometimes appear normal.

"I'm gonna leave you two to get to know each other a little better..." Katie winked at him and followed her friend out to the kitchen.

"How did you learn to sign so well?" Li-Li asked as they strolled around the edge of the room, looking at the photographs that crowded the walls of the dining room and the bar.

"I work with dolphins."

"Sometimes I volunteer at the sea-life centre," she signed, simply.

"That's cool."

He felt rather awkward, as one would when being practically set up with an over-excited and immature sixteen year-old girl.

There was nothing to distinguish her from any other adolescent. She wasn't particularly pretty or clever, she seemed small for her age, she spoke before thinking and she drew love-hearts on her exercise books. She dressed the same way as all the other teenagers he had ever met; with a nostalgic early-nineties twist. She was normal, and he liked that because she made him feel normal.

He focussed his attention on the pictures for a while. They were mostly of the military personnel that had made this their Mecca over the years, but there were a few of the locals, and many of the holidays and parties that meted out the course of a year. There were even a few celebrities scattered about here and there. Candy herself was in a lot of them, hugging her customers and smiling, always smiling.

Li-Li pointed out a particularly large photograph. It was a taken outside the restaurant at night, a congregation of US naval officers in their service whites. About forty people crowded haphazardly onto the veranda and lots of arms around each other's necks, making faces in jest.

He could just make out Ben and Katie. Being quite tall they were put at the back on the step and they still had their hats on, but he couldn't fail to recognise his friends. They were not looking at the camera, they were looking at each other and smiling.

Lucas felt a strange feeling run through him. It was akin to jealousy, but when he thought about it a little more he realised it was because the couple in the photo were not the same people he worked with on a daily basis. These two looked like they were in love. His Ben and Katie never looked at anyone like that.

West Pacific Fleet Submarine Corps, War Games 2013 , said the insert.

"What is that?" he asked Li-Li.

"A fake invasion. Just in case we ever go to war with Asia."

"Cool."

"It was a success. Mom was over the moon. She worries about invasions."

Lucas laughed at the way she signed over the moon.

He looked at the menu, scribbled on a chalk board. "Why does everything have Spam in it?"

"It's the national dish of Hawaii. Didn't you know that?"

"Of course, I knew that." He didn't. "I suppose it's better than having a lot of spam in your mailbox. What's a dagwood?"

"It's a huge sandwich. Didn't you know that either?"

"I don't know a whole lot about food."

"You look like you could do with a meal like that."

They looked at each other, and promptly burst out laughing at each other's disbelieving expressions.

That went a long way to breaking the awkward tension. He was beginning to enjoy playing at being normal, whatever that was. Li-Li was giving him a very special gift, acceptance that didn't depend on his abilities. That, he figured, was why people like Ben and Katie came here. To be part of a family when they were so far from home.

They came to the bar, sitting on the tall stools, drumming their fingers on the scarred surface and pretending to be impatient for their breakfast.

"Why are we waiting..." Li-Li attempted to sing.

"You can sing? How did you manage that?"

"Katie." She reached out took his hand and placed it on her throat, saying, "ahhhhhhhhh... See, it feels different. She says there's no reason why I shouldn't be able to do anything I want."

"What's it like?"

"What being deaf? I'm not missing out on anything. It's 'hearing' people that are disabled. You can never get any peace and quiet. I don't have to listen to my Mom telling me off if I don't want to."

"But what about music? No-one can live without music."

"I can still feel music," she laughed. She was used to the questions and she didn't make people feel bad about asking them. "Sometimes I go to the cliffs and I close my eyes and I can feel the waves hitting the rocks over and over. That is my music. People like you are missing out on it."

Maybe I'm not, thought Lucas, maybe this is music- sitting here with you.

He then realised why Ben had tried to send him there, Li-Li was a very beautiful person. If he saw her in the street he wouldn't have looked twice, but then he would've missed out on knowing someone who was free and confident and knew who they were. He wished he felt like that more often.

They could see Katie and Candy through the hatch, talking in the kitchen. Lucas couldn't hear what they were saying, but Li-Li translated for him right on cue, as if she had read his thoughts.

"My Mom said, 'is he still behaving like a Lan Yeung?' Three guesses who they are talking about."

"What's a Lan Yeung?" he spelled out, confused.

"You don't want to know," she grinned.

By the time they had finished their breakfast, and the homework, the staff and customers had begun to pour in for the day's service.

Katie was attempting to pay the bill and resisting Candy's protests of, "Only 'Katie' prices for you Bao-Bao. Then maybe you will come home more often."

Lucas headed for the door when they had settled up, (which consisted of approximately zero dollars exchanging hands) and watched Katie kiss her dear friend on the cheek and pinch Li-Li's cheek mock-patronisingly.

Goodbyes and kissing people, especially older people, made him feel icky.

See ya around. He signed back at Li-Li, who smiled, turned on her heels and skipped off to talk to the other customers.

"Make sure you bring Ben with you next time... I need to make sure he's eating properly!" Candy called after their backs.

"Well?" asked Katie, smugly as they left the rustic place, with its clanging door-chime and quirky clientele, behind. It was a reluctant departing, but they had a mission to complete.

"Awesome!"