Author: Heather
Archive: If you think it's good
Summary: During the building of the 2nd Seaquest, Lucas runs away from home to Colorado where he meets a member of the SG-1.
Warnings: Gang rape and other graphic violence might occur.
Rating: NC-17.
Notes: This is an AU crossover Seaquest/Stargate. Seaquest now exists in the stargate sg-1 universe. The stargate universe is in second season, seeing as those are the only eps I've seen. Many, many, MANY thanks (and some contraband cheese cookies) to Alex who is a most wonderful beta.
Website: http://www.angelfire.com/weird2/butterflywings/home.html
You Can't Run Away From Your Mind
by Heather
He watched a rain drop hit the window and run with the other rivulets down the window, feeding on other rain drops as it went. A grey fog had blanketed the morning along with a chilly nip that seemed to sink into his bones. The sun appeared to have given up trying to break through the clouds by morning, and the sky started darkening seriously at four. One could hardly tell that it was six o'clock through the rain and dark low-flying clouds. And it suited Lucas perfectly. He was in a dark mood and he only thought it fitting that the weather agreed with him, then immediately felt guilty for wanting the weather to be like this and ruin everyone else''s day. He continued to stare out the window watching the trees blurring past, his mind wandering back to the day when he had made the decision to run away.
Unlike this day it had been bright and sunny, with clouds in the distance promising future rain, but not today, it said. He had been anxious, worrying about Seaquest, about the crew, about what was going to happen to the Captain for destroying the Seaquest, but most of all he was worried about him. It seemed kinda selfish in retrospect, to be so worried about ones self with all the problems everyone else was facing, but hindsight is always better than foresight. He had barely slept that night, and had woken up early, intending to call Bridger right then, but realized he wouldn't at the office this early. He paced, waiting for a time when he could be sure to get through, thinking that he might not have the courage to call again.
Finally he called, the vid-link rang once, twice, three times, and he was reaching to press the disconnect button when Captain Bridger answered, "Yes?"
"Hey, Captain." I was just calling, I, um, needed to, um, talk-" He broke off, not sure how to finish the sentence.
"Lucas, it's good to hear from you. Is there anything you needed to ask me?"
"I was wondering about the Seaquest rebuilding, how it's going and all."
"Well, I believe the UEO is discussing building another one, but it's just in the planning stages, once I've cleared up the investigation they want me to help with the design plans."
"Investigation?" he squeaked out.
"Oh, I thought you knew. The UEO can't just let a Captain destroy his own boat without at least some investigation into it; it just doesn't look good pardoning me without proof that it was the only way." He really looked at the Captain then, the bags under his eyes, the mounds of paperwork on his desk, and realized how hard the last few days must have been on him.
"I was, uh, wondering about where I'm going to end up."
Captain Bridger eyed him over as if looking into his soul. Lucas always hated it when he did that, made him feel like he was under a microscope, the Captain had done it so many times that Lucas knew exactly how a bug under a microscope felt.
"Lucas, I'm sure that your computer skills will be needed later when we start building the boat, but I'm afraid until then that there isn't a job that your specific skills are needed and your father has already informed us that he'll take responsibility for you until we can offer you a position worthy of your talents. I'm sure that in a few months, we'll be desperate to have you here."
At the phrase "a few months," Lucas paled considerably. Noticing the Captain's startled look, Lucas pasted a fake smile on his face, not believing for a minute that the Captain bought it. "I hope your hearing goes well, see you in a few months, I hope." The last part was just whispered and the Captain didn't manage to hear it.
"See ya around, kiddo." And he was already turning back to the mountains of paperwork, before the vid-screen closed down.
Lucas was startled from his reverie when an infant on the bus gave a ear-shattering scream. He sighed and told himself to stop dwelling on the past and just think about getting through the next few months. He glanced at his watch. Great, just what he needed -- a five mile hike at 8 o'clock at night. He looked forward to seeing his grandparents. They might be a bit behind the times on that old sheep farm of theirs, but it was kinda nice to get away from the present and unwind.
He remembered how much he had dreaded the thought of going there the first time. The idea of only having his laptop, had been terrifying. Not to mention he'd never met them before so they'd be complete strangers. His mother had tried very hard to get away from her past as a simple farm girl, consequently Lucas had never met either of his Grandparents since his Dad's parents were dead. His parents had dumped him at the farm one summer when they couldn't find a summer camp long enough to take him while they were on vacation. Strangely, he had found he had loved it there. He had discovered nature, something he had never cared about in the city. He recalled fondly the first time he had helped deliver a lamb, it had been unusual that late in the season. And Spartacus the dog he had helped train. Lucas still missed him. Teaching Darwin had helped that, although the dolphin was much smarter than a dog and was more like a friend than an animal he had helped. Darwin filled the hole that had been left when Lucas had had to leave the farm and the German Shepard behind. Lucas was looking forward to seeing him the most.
Despite these happy memories, he still found himself depressed about having his home destroyed again. SeaQuest had been one of the few places where people treated him as a person. The senior staff had treated him as a kid sometimes, but they had respected him and now a lot of them would be moving on. Things would never be the same.
"We're approaching the Colorado Springs terminal. There will be a ten minute stop over before we depart."
//That's my stop,// Lucas thought as he gathered up his stuff and readied for de-boarding. He had to rush to catch the next bus that would take him across town, where he then planned to hike the last five miles to the farm. He just made the bus and managed to grab a seat by a window. 20 minutes later they had arrived at his stop.
This side of town certainly had gone down hill since he had last been here. He was sorry now that the weather had been so miserable, it certainly would have been better if there was more light. Most of the street lights were out, and the cloud cover blotted out the moon and stars. He hurried his pace, hoping to escape the area, when he suddenly found himself at a dead end. He turned to retrace his steps when a hand reached out of the shadows and grabbed him around the neck held him in place. He tried to jerk free, but five men stepped out of the shadows and two of them grabbed him and held him still. He struggled until one of them punched him in the stomach and knocked the wind out of him.
"Lookit what we have here, boys. A candyass. A sweet one. It's been awhile since we've had a nice piece of ass like that. Jocks, Burno, hold him you can go last, I don't take nobodies seconds."
"Ahh, Slim you always get to go first." Complained one of the muscle men holding Lucas. Lucas was flailed wildly now but could do nothing because his arms were pinned. He had managed to get off one good yell before they had gagged him.
He watched wide-eyed as Slim banished a Bowie knife.
"Shut up you. I tell you what to do." He turned his dark brown eyes on Lucas and grinned evilly. He ran the blade gently down Lucas's face, not hard enough to draw blood. "Boys, lay him out. His legs were being held firmly apart and his jeans were being cut off....
Daniel limped out onto his balcony, to unwind after a rough day on the job. He cradled a cup of coffee, as he stared out into the night. First he had managed to fall down a hill and sprain his ankle, then he had some how managed to deliver a dire insult to the natives on P7X697. The team had had to hoof it back to the gate, which had just about killed his ankle.
As he stood on the balcony, he heard voices in the alley below his apartment. At the shadowy end, he saw several men gathered around something on the ground. He could hear some of what they said and it did not sound good. He rushed to get 9mm that he kept in the kitchen.
He had argued profusely with Jack about having to carry a gun with him off the base and Jack would not relent. Daniel lived in, what Jack euphemistically called "the not-so-great part of town." Jack had determined that they all had to carry cell-phones with them when they left the base, too.
He found himself suddenly glad they had insisted all of those precautions when he ran into the that alley with his gun drawn.
"Freeze! Stop, and back away with your hands in the air!" God, this was totally different from facing aliens. He wasn't sure if he could shoot them.
"And why should we listen to you?" asked Slim.
"Because I have a loaded gun." He pointed it in the air and fired a shot to demonstrate. The men scrambled away ran. Daniel let them run past him, knowing he couldn't take them all. They had left Lucas on the ground groaning. Daniel put his gun away and pulled out his cell phone and dialed 911. "Gang rape on 1870 King John drive. Send an ambulance." Daniel didn't want to mess with the whole what's your name business. He wanted to check on the person on the ground.
"Shhh. It's okay. I'm not going to hurt you." Daniel knew better than to touch him. Lucas continued to back away, slowly, barely able to move. Daniel's soothing voice filtered into his brain slowly and Lucas badly frightened and desperately in need of comfort sensed that Daniel was no threat and latched onto him. Daniel hugged the boy carefully and muttered soothing nonsense, while he mentally screamed at the cruelty of the world.
The ambulance pulled into the alley in a blaze of lights and sound. It was closely followed by a police car. All the people, lights and noise frightened Lucas further. One of the paramedics confidently strode up to Lucas and Daniel. He reached out to touch Lucas but backed off when Lucas flinched away. "His pulse is fast but strong. I think his ribs are bruised and he might have a concussion. I'm first-aid and CPR certified," said Daniel.
"Sir, I need to assess the injuries for myself." He reached for Lucas again, but this time Lucas slapped his hand away.
Daniel looked up at the paramedic. "He doesn't want you to touch him." Daniel's gaze returned to Lucas. "Lucas, this man is just trying to help you. He won't hurt you and I'm right here. I promise nothing will happen to you. Okay?" Lucas nodded his consent.
The paramedic began to assess the damage done to Lucas. "My name's Paul Whitterhouse. What's yours?"
"Lucas," he whispered looking down.
"Okay, Lucas, are you having problems breathing?"
"A little."
"Do you have any sharp pains? Where does it hurt?" Lucas looked up briefly and met Paul's eyes, flinched and looked down again.
Paul sighed. "Are you having any neck or back pains?" Lucas shook his head no. Paul waved over the other paramedic, indicating to bring the stretcher. "Lucas ,this is my friend Ernie. Ernie, this is Lucas. Lucas, we need to get you on the stretcher and take you to the hospital. We need you to work with us on this one."
Lucas shook his head violently. Daniel looked Lucas in the eyes. "Lucas, you do need to go to the hospital. You might have internal injuries. You have to let them help you."
"‘Kay"
"Good." He squeezed the boy's hand reassuringly. Lucas pulled himself onto the stretcher and lay down. He reached for Daniel's hand again. The two policemen approached. Both were pretty stocky and one was very bald. The bald one addressed Daniel, "Sir, are you the one that called 911?"
"Yes."
"We need find out what you saw."
"I'm a bit busy at the moment. Is there anyway you can get my statement later?" The two policemen looked at each other.
The short one asked Paul, "what hospital are you taking him to?"
"St. Mary's."
"We'll send another officer to the hospital to get your statement," the officer told Daniel. "What is your name? And what's the kid's name?"
"I'm Daniel Jackson and he's Lucas."
"Well, we're gonna hafta get Lucas's statement of what happened, eventually." He looked at the youth on the stretcher in sympathy. "But not right now."
Daniel gave the officer a small smile. "Thank you." He climbed into the ambulance after Lucas and the paramedic.
*****
The ambulance pulled into the hospital, the back doors were thrown open and Lucas was unloaded from the back. Daniel climbed down beside him. Paul ran up to meet the doctor and stared reeling off vital stats and Lucas's name. The doctor was nodding in recognition and Lucas was looking confused by all the commotion. The doctor turned and looked at Daniel. "What relation are you to Lucas?"
"We're not, I'm just trying to help." The doctor looked surprised by this, perhaps he had never seen a perfect stranger that tried to help so much.
"You can't come with him while he's being examined. You'll have to stay in the waiting room."
Daniel sighed and looked down at the frightened teen. "Lucas, I can't go in there with you. I'll be right outside, I promise not to leave." Lucas nodded tentatively, he did not look pleased about
Daniel leaving him. He was the only constant he had had in this raging storm of emotions. Daniel watched as Lucas was wheeled into an emergency room. The doors whooshed closed behind him and Daniel's view was completely cut-off. He wandered into the waiting room. A man in a trench coat strolled into the waiting room.
"I'm looking for a Daniel Jackson, is he in here?"
Daniel jerked himself up off the plastic seat he had plopped in. "Um, that would be me."
He looked at the man slouching next to those horrid plastic chairs. He took in the grime, mussed hair and blood stained pants as a testament to what he had been through. "Mr. Jackson, my name is Burner. I'm the detective in charge of this case. Could I get your statement now?"
"Umm, yeah, I guess so. You wouldn't know where I could get any coffee would you?"
Detective Burner gave a short barking laugh. "Yeah, let's get you some coffee and then talk."
Twenty minutes and two cups of coffee later Daniel's story was winding down. "Just a few questions. Can we see your license and registration for you weapon?"
"I don't have it on me. I'm a civilian, but I work for the Air Force and they require me to be gun certified and because of the neighborhood I live in I'm required to keep a gun on the premises. You can call this number for Colonel O'Neil and if you can't get him there's a General Hammond that you can reach at this number." He took one of the napkins and borrowed a pen and scribbled down the numbers.
"Um, I guess that's okay. Where's the gun now?"
"Oh, uh" he starts patting his pockets, then he finds something. "Here it is." He pulls the gun out of his jacket pocket.
The detective looks at him in surprise. "You had that in your pocket the whole time?"
"Uh, yeah I guess in all the confusion I forgot about it."
"Carrying a concealed weapon is a crime."
"I told you I work for the military. I'm sure it's okay."
"Well, let me take it in. We will want to confirm all the bullets found at the scene are from your gun."
"Oh, no problem." He hand the gun over. The detective took it with a napkin and dropped it into a bag. "Why did you not want to touch it? Are you going to check my finger prints? Truth is I don't even like guns, but the job requires it and all. "
"It's just procedure Mr. Jackson. We're going to eventually want you to come down the station and look at mug shots and if you can't I.D. the perps then we'll want to get you with a sketch artist. We'll also have to get a official statement."
A nurse came up to the two men. "Are you Mr. Jackson?"
Daniel looked up, "yes that's me."
"You can go see Lucas now the examine is done."
Daniel stood up and shook the detective's hand, "We'll work out sometime for me to come in."
The detective nodded his consent, although he did not look happy about his lack of control over the events.
******
Daniel pulled the curtain back and stepped into Lucas's bed space. He let the curtain fall back; it didn't really shield the noise from the outside but it at least afforded the privacy from the sight of others. He sat down quietly in the chair beside the bed. He gazed down at the teen's battered face which didn't even look peaceful in sleep from the bruises. Soon Lucas started to whimper and moan, cringing from an unseen attacker, thoroughly in the throws of a nightmare. Daniel quietly slipped his hand into Lucas's and brushed back the teen's hair murmuring soothing words as he did so. Lucas soon stilled and settled back into a sounder sleep. Daniel sighed unhappily, things like this shouldn't happen to anyone especially not some one so young. At least he was here for Lucas. No one had been there for him; he vowed to not leave Lucas unless he absolutely had to.
With this thought firmly in his mind Daniel settled back to wait until Lucas woke up.
*******
Daniel sat up blinking. He had fallen asleep in many places, but none as uncomfortable as this. He was going to have a sore back for days. He stretched, popping his back in the process. "You look almost as bad as I feel." Daniel froze and turned to look at Lucas who sat up in bed managing to look frail and mischievous at the same time.
"It's nice to see you up. How long have you been awake and has the nurse come in with what they try to pass off as food?" Lucas shook his head, indicating no. "What about the doctor? I think he wanted to see you when you woke up."
"No one has been in since I woke up."
"Do you need some pain killers?"
"Naw, whatever they gave me was pretty potent. Could I have some water, though?"
"Of course." They sat in silence while Lucas quietly sipped his water from a straw.
"Daniel, what's going to happen to me? Please, I... I don't want to go back to my dad. I... please." Lucas looked up at Daniel with wide, terrified eyes. Daniel knew he couldn't say no to that.
Obviously there was something wrong at home.
"You don't have to go anywhere you're not comfortable going. You are going to have to stay with someone. Do you have any relatives in town that we can contact?"
"My grandparents. They live at the end of Mulberry Lane." This short conversation seemed to tire Lucas out and he soon fell back asleep.
*******
Daniel started tracking down Lucas's grandparents and was a bit shocked to find out that they had died last summer. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to tell Lucas or where the boy would end up living. One thing was for certain, Daniel wasn't going to let Lucas go to back to a father that Lucas obviously feared. After looking at his watch he realized that the weekend, and consequently his leave from the SGC, was almost gone. He reached for the room phone once again.
"Hello?"
"Hey, Jack, I think I'm going to need some time off."
"Daniel, is everything okay?" There was more than a little concern in Jack's voice; this was after all the same Daniel Jackson that had to be forced on vacation.
"No, not really." Daniel spent about twenty minutes explaining the assault, Lucas, and the cops.
"How much time do you think you'll need?"
"I don't know. I do know I'm not going to leave Lucas alone, and I'm definitely not leaving him alone with his father. He's absolutely terrified of him." Jack only ever heard that level of anger in Daniel's voice when he talked about the Goa'ud. Daniel was a kind-hearted person and could forgive almost anything except the Goa'uld who had taken his wife from him.
"I'll explain things to Hammond, he'll understand. In the mean time, I'll swing by your place and pick up a few things for you. What do you want?" They chatted for a few more minutes. "Okay, I'll be by in about twenty minutes."
*******
A hand landed heavily on his shoulder, startling him. Daniel jumped about two feet in the air. "Whoa, Danny boy. It's just me." Daniel looked up at Jack with wide eyes. Jack looked at Daniel's disheveled appearance; with dirt smeared across his right cheek and the sunken look of his eyes from lack of sleep.
"Jeez, Jack don't sneak up on a person like that; although you did pick the right place to give a guy a heart attack."
"So, Daniel, how much rest did you actually get this weekend?"
"Some. Jack, can you blame me? He's so young. How could someone do something like this? It kinda makes me wish we could employ Abydos's punishment."
"Really? What's that?"
"Break their legs and feed them alive to a Ghati, a desert snake."
"Oh, man, that sounds painful."
"Extremely."
The grim satisfaction in that voice gave Jack chills. He looked again at the frail teenager on the bed, in the beginning stages of a nightmare. "Lucas, wake up. It's okay; it's over. You're here in the hospital. Safe." Daniel's quiet reassurances soothed Lucas into a more settled sleep. Jack watched as Daniel virtually deflated after the nightmare had passed. The room that Lucas was in was semi-private with a second bed that happened to be empty.
"Daniel, why don't you go lay down on the bed over there and get some sleep. I'll stay here with Lucas in case he has another nightmare or wakes up." Daniel had a look of doubt on his face and Jack rushed to assure him, "You'll just be over in the next bed in case something goes wrong."
Daniel seemed at war with himself; one part wanted desperately to get some decent sleep and the other wanted to stay with Lucas at all costs. The sleep won because he reasoned that he wouldn't be going that far. "Page the nurse if he wakes up, the doctor wanted to see him."
Daniel settled back in the bed with a contented sigh and soon fell into a deep sleep. Jack watched the two as they slept, noticing the similarities that they had. They both looked so young and innocent, but he knew neither were what they appeared to be. Even though Lucas looked young there was a certain air, or maybe just a cast to his face that made him seem aged. Maybe it was just the fact that Jack knew what happened to him. As he studied the young man's face he noticed lines forming in the brow and around the mouth. Lucas started panting almost to the point of hyperventilating. Apparently the nightmare he was having escalated from bad to horrendous because he started screaming and trashing violently on the bed. Jack tried to wake him up, but it only caused Lucas to thrash harder. Jack was afraid that he would injure himself and held down his arms, which caused the screams to increase in volume. Then Daniel was there, with a soothing voice and a soft touch. Lucas slowly came down from the nightmare back into reality. Once he had calmed down, Jack carefully let go of hi s arms and Daniel continued to soothe Lucas by rocking him gently and slowly rubbing his back. Jack buzzed the nurse to let her know what happened. Lucas's breath finally calmed down to hitching sobs then to regular breathing. Lucas sat up and cringed away from Jack, a strange man that he had never seen before. "Lucas, I want you to meet a friend of mind; his name is Jack. He's a good person and he won't hurt you."
"He won't?" The waver that Jack heard in Lucas's voice broke his heart. He was quickly coming to realize why Daniel was so fierce about protecting this young man. Lucas just seemed to bring it out in a person. Someone knocked on the door and entered without waiting for an answer.
"Hello, so I see the patient is awake." He glanced down at the chart in his hand. "Lucas, you have some very serious injuries, we need to contact your parents, could you tell us how?" Lucas just shook his head no. He didn't want to talk to this stranger that wanted to send him back to his father. Daniel sensed Lucas's fear and realized what was causing it. He indicated for Jack to stay with Lucas.
"Doctor Red, why don't we go out in the hall and talk for a moment?"
Daniel and the doctor stepped out of the room the door closed behind them, muffling their voices to the point of being unintelligible. Lucas stared down at his hands which were pleating the sheets with a nervous energy. "So, uh, Lucas how old are you?"
"16."
This was said so quietly that Jack had to strain to hear him. "So, uh, what do you want to be when you grow-up." Jack paused hoping for an answer, but not really expecting one. "I haven't decided yet. I mean, sure, right now I'm an Air Force Colonel, but I've been retired twice, so when it happens again I'm gonna hafta figure out what I want to do with my life."
Just then the door opened and ended the strained conversation. "The doctor says that he can release Lucas tomorrow if everything goes okay. I asked to have Lucas released into my custody, Lucas, is that okay with you?" Lucas nodded yes. "I tried to contact your grandparents, Lucas, I'm afraid they have died."
Lucas looked up sharply at this tears threatening in his eyes. "They're dead?" Daniel nodded yes and slipped his hand into Lucas's. The tears that had threatened were now reality as they slid slowly down Lucas's cheeks. "Why didn't anyone tell me?" Lucas cried quietly the tears slowed gradually to sniffles and fell asleep. Daniel smoothed Lucas's hair back from his head, and unclasped their hands.
"Jack, if they're willing to release Lucas to me, after they finish the background check, could we stay at, um, your place? That is Lucas and I, I can't take him back to mine." The nervousness that Daniel exhibited was very similar to Lucas's and Jack had a brief flash of Deja vu.
"Of course you can, but why can't you use your place?"
"It's across the street from where the rape took place. He's not ready to face that."
"Sure, Danny boy, sure. He seems like a tough kid, he'll pull through this, you'll be there to help him and so will I."
God his whole body ached. His body literally thrummed with pain. His eyes felt glued shut. Or maybe tied down with a lead weight. He managed to open his eyes, the light hurt them, but he wasn’t about to close them after all that work to get them open. He shifted slightly to find to a better position and let out a groan as pain shot thru him.
Daniel immeadtly sat up. "Lucas are you okay? Do you need something?"
Lucas slowed turned to look at Daniel. "Could I have some water?" His mouth was painfully dry. "I get to leave today don’t I?"
"Yeah, hopefully you will. We have to wait for the doctor’s okay." Just the there was a brief knock on the door and Doctor Red entered.
"I’d like to talk to Lucas alone, please."
Daniel nodded. "I’ll be just outside Lucas. Okay?" Lucas nodded. The sooner this was over with the sooner he could leave.
The doctor started talking as soon as Daniel closed the door. "I know you aren’t ready to talk about what happened yet, but you’ll need to talk sometime, to someone. Here’s the name of a good psychiatrist. She specializes in abuse victims. You could also talk to your friend Daniel. You two have more in common than you think. I talked to the police and they are going to wait to question you, but soon you’re going to have to tell them what happened. I think that what you need now is to be out of this hospital room. I’m going to release you, but your going to have to be careful. There are a lot of things you’re going to have to do. Is it okay to call Daniel back in? I want him to hear this too. Lucas nodded.
It took the doctor twenty minutes to go over what to do and what not to do. He gave them some prescriptions to fill. By the time they had finished Jack had with his car to pick them up. Lucas was exhausted this was the longest he’d been awake since the attack. When they finally got him situated in the car, half laying down in Daniel’s lap, he dropped right to sleep.
"Lucas, wake up, we’re here and you need to get up."
"Mhymp? What I’m awake." Lucas sat up and blinked in confusion. He winced back as a stray beam of sunlight landed in his eyes. Daniel helped him sit up and get out of the car. Lucas stared at Jack’s house. It was small compared to some of the houses he’d lived in before, but he liked it already. It looked homey with a welcome mat and rose bushes out front. Lucas gingerly climbed up the steps trying not to jar himself too badly. He glanced around warily, eyeing the hanging baskets, as if the petunia’s would reach out and grab him. He skittered nervously across the porch in a hurry to get inside. He didn’t like being this out in the open…exposed.
He was busy peering in the bushes when, "Lucas?"
Lucas jumped about three feet in the air, "jeez, don’t do that!"
"Sorry, um if you want to I can show you to your room now?" Asked Jack.
"Yeah, I’m really tired. I think I’ll take a nap." Lucas followed Jack slowly into the house. His eyes darted everywhere looking for threats and dually taking in the burgundy carpet and pictures that adorned the walls.
"Here’s your room here on the right and the bathrooms here at the end of the hall and right across from your room is where Daniel will sleep. I’ll give you the fifty-cent tour after your nap. If you need anything just call, okay?"
Lucas nodded tiredly. All he wanted to do was sleep, yet it seemed like that was all he had been doing. He fell onto the bed in a manner that could almost be classified as collapsing and fell quickly into sleep.
7777777777777777
Lucas jerked awake with a start only to find himself back on seaQuest. Had it all just been a terrible nightmare? Was safe and sound here on seaQuest the whole time? He sat up and looked around his room. Everything looked normal. AS wave of relief washed over him, until he looked at his alarm and noticed that he was late. "Crap! Dr. Westphlan is gonna kill me!" Lucas quickly dressed and rushed out, taking only an extra moment to savor the feeling of being able to walk without pain. It had been a very vivid dream.
He arrived at the moon pool and noticed that Dr. Westphlan wasn’t around. "Darwin where’s Dr. Westphlan?"
The dolphin swam over and answered, "Dr. Westphlan left. Lucas late."
"I’ll have to find her, I didn’t mean to be late."
"It’s okay Lucas I’m right here. But you won’t be."
"What?" Lucas was confused, Dr. Westphlan’s tone literally dripped with distain.
"The Captain is shipping you off. We can’t have a person like you on seaQuest, if you could even be considered a person.
"WHAT!?!" Lucas was seriously starting to think that he was still dreaming. This was worse then what those guys in the alley said. He could feel the tears welling up behind his eyes.
"Lucas dirty, pod not want Lucas." Lucas stared at the dolphin in shock. Suddenly the rest of the crew was there, calling out recriminations and how he wasn’t even human anymore. Lucas backed himself into a corner and curled up crying, hoping and praying that he would die.
"Lucas, Lucas wake up!" Lucas jolted awake a second time. He reached out and clung to Daniel .
"It was so terrible! They kept telling me that I wasn’t human, that they were gonna send me away. They hated me!" Lucas broke in to sobs that went on and on. Finally Lucas’s sobs slowed down and finally stopped. Lucas was exhausted from his injures and really hadn’t had a whole lot of productive sleep. Lucas fell asleep in Daniel’s arms.
Jack stared at Daniel over the top of Lucas’s head. "Daniel?" Jack whispered.
"Yeah?" Daniel responded in a voice so quiet that Jack barely heard him.
"I think your gonna need more then a couple of days." Daniel tried to extract himself from Lucas’s grip now that he was asleep, but the hold only got tighter. Daniel sighed and settled back on the bed for the long haul.
END SO FAR....