SquidgeWorld Archive

Ari plunged into the men's lavatory ignoring the outraged cries and attempts to cover themselves made by the users therein, barely even seeing them in her concern for Lucas. She followed him into the cubicle and knelt down beside him to hold his head as he worshipped at the porcelain altar. She remembered her Uncle Paul doing this the first time it had happened to her.

After emptying his stomach, he raised his pale and sweating face, turning it miserably toward her and her heart wrenched with pity for him. Ari held his body against her own, brushing back his wet, limp bangs with one hand and crooning meaninglessly to him. It wasn't over yet. With another gag, he leaned forward and retched again, and again, until all that come up was bile and phlegm, and still his stomach spasmed painfully. Exhausted, he sat back, a helpless grimace on his face. Ari felt a presence looming behind them and looked up to find Dagwood standing there radiating concern.

"Oh, good," she breathed a sigh of relief. "Go get him a glass of water, if you would, Dagwood. He'd going to need it." Lucas had looked up at her first words, but his stomach betrayed him again and he tried to vomit again, only there was nothing left. When he'd finished shaking, Ari became aware that someone was still behind them. "Did you get the wa..." she looked up and her words trailed off. "Oh, hi, Miguel," she finished in a cold voice.

A large, multicoloured hand descended on the sensor chief's shoulder, and Dagwood pressed him out of the way, holding a brimming paper cup with exaggerated care. "Here is the water you wanted, Ari," he said, handing it down. "I couldn't find a glass, though. I hope this will do." She smiled her thanks and put the edge against Lucas's lips. He pressed his mouth closed, face screwed up into a grimace and turned away, trembling with reaction.

"Come on, Lucas," she urged persuasively. "It'd make you feel much better."

"Leave him alone, Ari," Miguel advised. "Everyone gets pie-eyed occasionally. You aren't doing him any favours. Tomorrow, he's going to hate that you saw him like this." Still holding the cup for the youth, Ari glared up at the handsome Cuban.

"And what is it you were thinking, to be getting him like this?" she charged, her maternal impulses making her want to strike out regardless of who was actually responsible.

"Is Lucas sick?" Dagwood asked worriedly. Ari looked back down at her patient, shaking her head slowly.

"No, Lucas isn't sick," Miguel answered, shortly. "He was just stupid." Dagwood looked puzzled and unsure.

"Nooo," he contradicted the chief. "Lucas is very smart. He's not stupid." Finally getting the boy to rinse out his mouth, Ari stood up, looking as fierce as a lioness defending her cub.

"Miguel Ortiz," she rounded on him angrily. He almost smiled at the fire in her eyes, an expression that further enflamed her anger. "How can you be saying such a thing when he's in a state like this and it's your fault." He held up his hands shoulder high, palms out, shaking his head to deny responsibility.

"Oh, no. Don't blame me. He's almost a man, Ari. And he did this to himself, with no help from anyone else." As she stood there glaring at him, Lucas put his hands on the stool and tried to stand up. Ari crouched again and put her her arm around him to give him support.

"He's right. I did it," he groaned leaning on her heavily. "I'm sorry, Ari, I was ... I was trying to prove something and it got out of hand."

"And you did nothing to stop him," she accused Miguel, adjusting the computer genius's weight on her shoulder and helping him out of the lavatory. Miguel stepped back to give them room. Oddly enough, the four of them were the only ones left in there.

"Here, let me," Miguel sighed, putting out his arms to take the boy from her.

"No!" she snapped irritably, "It's thinking I am that you've done enough for this night's work. Get yourself on to bed, you'll be sorry enough in the morning, I'll be thinking."

"Dagwood can carry Lucas," Dagwood offered and Ari let him pick the young man up, trailing the dagger as he carried the boy to his quarters. Miguel stared after them and shrugged. She was right, he would be sorry in the morning, and he was probably going to have a hangover, as well. He grinned maliciously, but nothing like the one Lucas would have, though. He frowned thoughtfully, wondering again, What date? Unable to help himself, he followed after.

Trying to keep up with the huge dagger, taking two quick steps for every one of his, Ari worried that she'd been too hard on the sensor chief. Lucas was strong-minded and lately he'd been even touchier than usual. And he did say himself that it was his idea. She'd check in on the non-comm when she finished getting Lucas into bed. The thought of Miguel asleep reminded her of the comment about her sex life. Maybe she wouldn't at that. How dare he talk about her like that when she wasn't around. Then her sense of humour surfaced. Well, he couldn't very well be doing it when she was around, at that, now could he?

Stepping into the crowded quarters Lucas shared with Piccolo, she waited while Dagwood lifted the limp figure to the upper bunk. As he carefully laid his friend down on his back, a slight snore answered his efforts. Ari was glad that the seaman wasn't back yet to hinder them with his wisecracks and feeling sorry for Lucas to have to wake up to deal with both his hangover and the one Tony was sure to have as well. She sighed, stepping on the lower bed to hop up and sit on the top bunk. She'd just pull the covers up and over him, and then she'd leave. For a moment, she paused and just looked at him, sleeping there, his hands crossed on his chest, hair in his face, his mouth slightly open. He looked so sweet and innocent and young like that. But, she thought realistically, Miguel had the right of it, the kid had brought it on himself. No one had forced him to take a drink.

"Will Lucas be all right?" Dagwood asked, anxiously watching her.

"Hmmm. Yeah, he may want to die tomorrow morning, but he'll be fine. He just had too much to drink, that's all." With a sigh, Ari began pulling the blanket out from under her friend.

Dagwood shook his head, shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "When Dagwood has too much to drink, he has to use the bathroom to urinate. Dagwood doesn't have to use the bathroom to throw up in." Ari tried unsuccessfully to hide her giggles. He looked at her with sad eyes, wondering what he had said wrong.

"I'm sorry, Dagwood. I'm not laughing at you. It's just late, and I'm tired and feeling silly. Lucas drank too much alcohol, not water. And that's not good for you."

"Ooooh. But is it good for Lucas?" She giggled again, pulling the blanket up over his feet.

"Ah, no. It's not. But he'll be better in the morning," she replied, leaning over the boy's body to tuck in the far corner. She didn't see Lucas open his eyes, or the silly smile that spread across his face as he found the girl of his dreams within reach. What she did know was that without warning, she was grabbed and pulled down and a sloppy, drunken kiss planted in the general vicinity of her mouth. As she pushed him away, he rolled over, trapping her under his body.

"Ooff! Luca...mmm," for a few minutes, he prevented her from speaking. But his drink addled reflexes were no match for her determination, and she broke free, pushing against him. "Let me go!" she ordered sharply. Thwarted in his efforts to regain her lips, his mouth moved down and began to nuzzle on her neck, mumbling her name over and over again. Fighting him was like fighting off an octopus, each time she got some purchase, his hands were somewhere else. She heard someone chuckling, and felt Lucas pulled away far enough for her to remove herself from his exploring hands and sit back, scooting toward his feet in an effort to evade his grasp as Miguel let him go again.

"Good Night, Mr. Wolenczak!" she said firmly, turning around and dangling her feet over the side, ready to jump down.

"I told you, cara mia, he's almost a man. Not a little boy. You can't treat him like one and you shouldn't. You know," he continued lazily, sauntering over to the end of the bunk and raising his hands to her waist to help her down, "if I had a low, suspicious mind, which I don't, unlike some people I know, who do, then I might wonder exactly what it was that I just saw here." Dagwood was watching all three of them with a puzzled look on his face.

"But ... but you just saw what Dagwood just saw. Ari and Lucas kissing on Lucas's bed. Why did you kiss Lucas, Ari? I thought you liked Miguel. Do you like Lucas?" the dagger asked innocently, his head cocking to one side. With the dark sensor chief looking down at her ironically, waiting for her answer with amusement dancing in his dark, knowing eyes, Ari found herself blushing furiously.

"I'll ... discuss it with you later, ok, Dagwood. When I see you tomorrow." She looked down at the tanned, strong hands still holding her by the waist. "Ummm, Miguel, I'm down now. You can let me go."

"Oh-kay. Good night, Miguel. Good night, Ari. And thank you for the parade again. That was fun." The gentle giant slipped past the two and left the room as Lucas started snoring.

"So, that was your date for tonight?" Miguel asked quietly. He shook his head with mild reproof. "What kind of trouble do you get into when I'm not around to keep an eye on you? As for letting you go, if I do, how can I be sure that you won't end up with still another man?" Still holding her securely by the waist, he began to lead Ari out of the small, smelly, crowded room.

Laughing, swaying a little, he pointed out with only slightly inebriated logic, "Look at the facts. I leave you to your own devices for one night and as soon as my back is turned, you go off with one man, return with another and end up in bed with a third. How can I let you go?" His voice had that clear, carrying quality that some drunks manage and passing crewmembers turned to watch them with wide-eyed wonder. This was a side to Adler they would never have expected.

"Miguel," she pleaded with him in a whisper of agonized embarassment, blushing brick red. "Please!"

"Ok," he answered her equably, trying to pick her up, relaxing his grip on her waist in the process. Ari skipped nimbly away. She paused just out of reach, wondering why she was trying so hard, then darted in, and kissed him, her hands on either side of his face, letting him wrap his arms around her again.

"Come on, Miguel. Let's get you to bed, too," she offered. He grinned down at her, wondering in his dazed condition just why it was that he had the feeling he'd lost the upper hand when everything was working out the way he wanted.

"Will you tuck me in, too?" he asked hopefully.

"Shhh. Of course I will," she replied leading him in the direction of his quarters. "You big silly." He pulled to a stop, straightening up with a show of concentrated dignity.

"And from now on, woman, I'm going to make sure that you are where you are supposed to be when you are supposed to be there and not off with some strange man, which you are not supposed to be, unless that strange man is me, like it's supposed to be. Am I making myself perfectly clear?" he asked, shaking his finger at her.

"Mmm-hmmm," she replied taking his arm and moving him along again. "Perfectly. Abso-blooming-lutely perfectly."