ONE REFUGE
by Teresa
Jonathan Ford breathed as sigh of relief as his consul showed him they were in close range of UEO headquarters.
“Is there anyone following us, Tony?”
Tony pushed a few buttons in his chair next to the Commander, “No, sir. It looks like we’re clear.”
The Commander turned around and smiled reassuringly at the crew behind him before turning back to the front, “Okay, let’s find out what the hell is going on.”
***
Nathan waited anxiously for the vidphone to pick up. He straightened eagerly as he watched the screen flicker and a woman’s face appear on the screen.
Her glasses sat on the tip of her nose, as it was obvious she was working. She looked at Nathan in surprise.
“Nathan Bridger?” she slowly removed the glasses from her nose.
Nathan chuckled, “I haven’t seen you’re face in a while,” he said.
“I know!” she exclaimed, “I mean I’ve heard you’re voice but I haven’t seen your face in… what? Nearly eleven years!”
“It’s good to see you too, Kristin. You still look stunning.”
Kristin Westphalen rolled her eyes, “Well, thank you, Nathan, you look good too. To what do I owe the pleasure of this call?”
Nathan felt his chest deflate. He smiled ironically. He bet Lucas hadn’t told her he had signed on.
“Ah, did you know Lucas signed up?”
One look at her face told him that he should have put money on it. Her lips pulled into a thin line. She obviously wasn’t impressed.
“How on earth did that happen?” she demanded.
Nathan lifted his eyebrows, “I uh, I don’t know… he wanted to stay…”
She sighed helplessly and flopped herself back in her chair, obviously upset, “When did this happen?”
Uh oh. She obviously thought that was what the call was about. Nathan braced himself, “About three months ago.”
Her eyes widened in shock, “Three months! Oh my God, that would be.. straight after you got back?!”
Nathan nodded.
She shook her head sadly, “But.. he didn’t tell me.”
“He didn’t tell me either,” he commiserated. It was true, Lucas hadn’t told him. He didn’t tell Kristan that that was because he hadn’t spoken to Lucas between the time he left and the time he found out.
“How did you find out?”
“I went to SeaQuest afterwards…,” he told her.
“Is he happy?” she asked.
Nathan didn’t know how to respond. He pictured Lucas in his uniform at the launch bay. In the wardroom on SeaQuest. Speaking to him over the vidlink. Their harsh words to each other the last time they had spoken. No, Lucas had never smiled in his uniform.
Kristin read his face and sighed sadly.
“But, uh, that’s not the reason why I’m ringing,” Nathan said.
Kristin leaned forward, “Why are you ringing?” she asked gently. The contrast in her voice showed off her two sides magnificently.
He sighed heavily, “Well, something’s happened.”
“What?” she demanded, her British accent thickening.
“Something happened with the SeaQuest. Commander Ford brought Lucas here.”
“They’re still protecting him even after he’s signed up?” she asked with humour.
“No. He was injured.”
Kristin felt her heart jump, “Dear God. How?”
“He was hit with an arrow, or something through the abdominal region. They said it was poisoned,” he sighed worriedly, “Kristin, I don’t know what to do.”
“Oh God,” she said. He watched her stand, “I’ll be right there, okay? Keep him warm. Give him plenty of fluids,” she ordered.
“He’s unconscious,” he told her.
“Well.. try to arouse him. How long has be been unconscious?”
“Since they brought him here last night.”
She nodded, “That’s alright. Still try to wake him up. He needs to drink.”
He nodded.
She looked around half mumbling to herself, “We might need to put him on a drip.”
She looked back at Nathan, shooing him off, “Go, take care of him until I get there.”
Nathan nodded and turned off the vid link. He felt more relieved now. He walked over to Lucas who was shivering on the couch.
He leaned down to touch his forehead, remembering that Lucas had woken briefly before. He hoped that wasn’t too relevant. He looked at the clock. Kristin wasn’t too far away, he could tell her when she arrived in a few hours.
Lucas was still worryingly warm and he had lost a lot of fluid.
“Lucas?” he whispered. Lucas seemed to stir slightly but it looked like he didn’t want to wake up.
He touched his shoulder and shook him slightly, calling his name again, “Lucas?”
Lucas’ eyes fluttered slightly and Nathan gently pushed his arm underneath the young man’s shoulders and tried to ease him up.
Lucas woke quickly and groaned at the pain in his abdomen, “You need to drink, kid.”
Lucas opened his eyes slightly, “Captain? What’s going on?” Lucas whispered.
“Don’t you remember waking up before?”
Lucas looked confused, “Before?” he croaked weakly.
Nathan grabbed a pillow to prop Lucas up, “Come on, drink this.” He held the cup up to Lucas’ lips.
Lucas sipped the water stubbornly. More than once Lucas went to lie back down and Nathan had to bring the cup back to his lips.
“No,” Lucas said the last time, “It hurts.”
“I know,” Nathan told, “But you need to keep drinking.”
Lucas closed his eyes, “How did I get here?”
Nathan took the cup away, realising that he had lost, “Commander Ford brought you here last night.”
“Are they okay?” Lucas asked, waking up a bit more.
Nathan sighed, “They looked okay. A bit worried about you though.”
Lucas frowned, “I feel horrible. Am I meant to feel like this?”
“You were poisoned,” Nathan told him.
Lucas looked frightened, “What’s going to happen to me?”
“You’ll be fine. A doctor’s coming.”
“Which Doctor?” Lucas slurred.
“A doctor we can trust,” Nathan answered stubbornly.
“Will he make the pain go away?” Lucas asked as he closed his eyes again.
“She’ll make you more comfortable,” Nathan stroked Lucas’ hair, watching his pale face with concern.
“She..” Lucas whispered. But he didn’t say anything more. When Nathan thought Lucas was asleep, he took Lucas’ hand in his, only to be surprised to feel Lucas squeeze back.
“You’re going to be okay,” Nathan whispered.
***
Once the SeaQuest crew had made it into UEO headquarters they had been met by the Secretary-General. They were surprised to know that McGath was already aware of what had happened to SeaQuest.
“So what’s going on, sir?” Commander Ford asked him.
“I think you should all get changed and fed first,” McGath told him.
Piccolo looked to agree, but Commander Ford was keen to get on with business, “We’re fine, sir,” he said.
“Some one will collect you in half an hour for a de-briefing,” McGath ordered and then left.
Commander Ford clenched his teeth as he watched the Secretary-General leave.
A UEO Lieutenant stepped forward to lead them to the comfort rooms. Piccolo bounded out in front of the Commander, adding to his irritation. The others took his lack of disagreement to be approval and moved on after Tony.
***
Bridger looked up sharply as the he heard a knock on the door. He took a quick glance at the door and got up quickly.
He had known it would be Kristin at the door. But her actual presence took his breath away.
“Kristin,” he breathed, relief and emotion sweeping through him.
Her face had been lined with worry and seriousness but it melted away for the briefest of moments as she saw a man who had been in her thoughts and prayers for the last twelve years.
She smiled, “Hello Nathan.”
Her expression changed as she watched him just stand there, “Are you going to let me in?” she asked teasingly.
“Oh um, yes,” Nathan pulled open the door and waved for her to enter.
“I’ve got quite of lot of stuff with me,” she said as she handed him some luggage.
Nathan grabbed the big black suitcase looking boxes and hauled them over onto the floor.
“Where is he?” she asked officially as she came in, pushing the front door closed behind her.
“Oh he’s just over here,” Nathan bounced around to the front of the couch quickly.
He looked at her, waiting for her to come around to them. From where she was standing at the front door she could see the couch, but not who was on it, as it was facing away from the door.
She walked around quickly, fiddling with the small emergency kit she was carrying, “Okay, so you said he’d been impaled with something.”
She walked around and knelt by him. As she looked up she stopped, her expression melting, “Oh, sweetheart,” she whispered, her voice cracking.
She touched his face gently then quickly pulled it away, moving her eyes to survey his wound. Nathan could see she was looking at his uniform loathingly. The blood stain on it wasn’t helping at all either.
She reached down the lift his uniform shirt, then began to rip it away from the wound venomously and for no apparent reason, “God damned military,” her voice was lased with the pain of a mother, “All it’s good for is getting people hurt.”
Nathan decided not to step in. She shifted towards Lucas, trying to get into a comfortable position with the way she was kneeling. She looked up at Bridger, “Would you get me something to sit on, Nathan?”
He nodded and grabbed a nearby foot rest, “Here you are,” he said, to get her attention.
She took it without so much of a glance at him and sat on it so that she could get a better look at the teenager.
She looked at the wound, “Well, it’s been cleaned. Whoever cleaned it did a good job. Unfortunately, it doesn’t help much with poison.”
She touched his face and stopped for a moment. Then she snapped herself out of it, wiping her eye quickly. She grabbed a small torch and opened his eye to look at it.
Lucas shifted slightly and groaned, “Sweetheart?” she whispered, “Lucas?”
Lucas opened his eyes briefly but didn’t seem to comprehend her. She looked into his other eye.
“You said he hadn’t gained consciousness yet?” she asked.
“Oh, actually I’d forgotten he had woken before,” Bridger told her, “He woke again after you called but he seemed to remember nothing of the last conversation.”
“He won’t remember anything of the next few days,” she told him crisply, “He’ll be quite sick for a while.”
She looked at the wound, “I need a sample so I can see what it was he was infected with.”
“He.. had a small fit before,” Nathan said as he leaned over out of her way, watching her work.
She looked up sharply, “A fit?”
“Uh.. yeah,” Bridger wasn’t sure if that was the right term for it, “His muscles were cramping, I had to hold him down. The vidlink was ringing. I couldn’t answer it. He was in a lot of pain. That’s when he woke the first time.”
She nodded slowly. Bridger found relief in her reaction.
“I’m going to have to take a sample from the wound. That will give me the best results,” she turned to look at him, “I might hurt him a bit, could you come over and hold him?”
Nathan walked around and took a hold of Lucas’ shoulders as she prepared the needle. She put the needle into the wound carefully, glancing at Lucas every second or so. He spasmed in pain a bit, but that was all.
She took the vile of blood and then got up, walking over to one of the big cases she had dumped on the floor, “Have you got a table I can put my microscope on?”
Bridger smiled slightly. Just like the good old days, “Sure,” he said, “You can go in the kitchen.”
She smiled as he led her to the kitchen table through an open door frame and into the next room, “I might actually put him on a makeshift drip. He’s been sweating profusely. But I don’t want to do that until I know what anti-biotics I’m giving him.”
She set up the microscope, “That is, if I can find out what this is.”
Nathan was worried, “And what if we can’t?”
She looked up at him, thoughtful, “Well,” she said, jerking an eyebrow, “We’ll just have to make a remedy up.”
Her voice lifted at the end of a sentence in a matter of fact optimism that could only come from Kristin Westphalan. Nathan turned around and glanced at Lucas on the couch in the other room before turning back to watch Kristin work.