Short Story: A Time To Say Goodbye

By JR Varner

Disclaimer: I own absolutely no part of seaQuest DSV or any of the objects, characters, or rights affiliated with it. I just use it as a base for ideas to go. It belongs to Amblin Entertainment and Steven Spielberg, so talk to them.

Author’s Note: Um, two things. One, I have no idea about the medical standpoint with this. I’m just going off impulse. Two, this fits with my Nightmares realm. But seeing as how that isn’t out yet, you probably didn’t need to know that. Oh, there are very, *very* slight implications of child abuse, but just because it fits. It doesn’t necessarily have to. I just needed to write this and thought you guys might want to see it.

Rating: PG-13



A Time To Say Goodbye
By JR Varner

Lucas walked out of the room in a daze. Both his eyebrows were raised in an expression of detached bewilderment. "She left me." He laughed a tight giggle as if he were trying to retain a grip on reality that he had already lost. "She left me," he repeated, his eyes shining with an unnatural glow. He stared down the long white hallway, unseeing. People all over were hustling to get to a set destination. Nurses crowed around charts and cabinets, families clustered about windows and beside beds, others just wandered around, trying to determine just where it was they were headed. Lucas didn’t do any of that. He just started walking.

******************

Captain Nathan Hale Bridger followed the hurried nurse, struggling to match her pace. "Just follow me please, Mr. Bridger." Nathan guessed her to be around 22 or 23.

"Yes, ma’am, you said that already. But where is he? What happened?" Nathan wanted answers about his youngest crewmember, Lucas Wolenczak, who had disappeared a little over an hour ago. He was desperately trying to be patient with the hospital staff. However, his patience was beginning to wear thin, and his temper was near its limit. "Ma’am..." An edge of annoyance crept unbidden into his voice.

The dark haired young woman sighed as if she dealt with these types of thing everyday. "Well, Mr. Bridger," She said while leading Nathan through long narrow hallways in a series of confusing turns. "He seems to have suffered some sort of mental relapse. I understand you and he were here to visit a friend?"

Catching the abrupt change in subject, he answered quickly so that they could get back to Lucas. But he had to choose his words carefully because he had promised not to say anything. "Yeah. An, uh, an old friend. She-" he stopped and sighed. "She died just shortly before he disappeared."

"Hmmm..." The nurse mumbled a few things.

"Pardon? I didn’t quite catch that."

The woman threw Nathan a quick glance as they rounded yet another corner and headed toward a set of 8 doors. "I said, ‘that would explain why he’s in shock’, sir." She stopped to lean briefly against the double doors. "He collapsed and is either incapable of, or refuses to move."

Nathan just stared at her. "He what? Why didn’t you tell me earlier?" He demanded, now even more worried about Lucas and upset with the obviously irresponsible actions of the hospital staff. He took a breath. "So where is he? What’s been done?" Nathan was growing more agitated and the need to be with the teen was increasing with every waiting moment.

The nurse, surprising Nathan, simply pointed outside the doors to the left-hand side of the lawn. Nathan shot her an unbelievingly exasperated look. He walked out the set of automatic doors, the cool blast of air conditioning raining down on him. She followed him out.

"He was just found a short while ago, Mr. Bridger," she explained in her calm like manner. "We found you as soon as we could. We had some men come out just a few minutes ago to try and talk to him, possibly convince him to get up on his own. But I haven’t heard anything, and I think that by this time, we will have had to resort to removing his with physical force bec-"

Nathan stopped abruptly, turning to her. Anger and panicked disbelief both shown on his face. "You _what_?!" His voice rose an octave higher as he quickened his stride to a jog in order to reach the small cluster of people standing in a semi-circle in the center of the grass. The nurse was slightly taken aback at his reaction.

He pushed through the crowd of onlookers and staff, his hands doing what his UEO uniform didn’t. Finally he reached a point where he could see the two men trying to restrain Lucas. They each had a firm grasp on each of the boy’s arms as he struggled against them. However, from past experience, Nathan did not think that Lucas was actually conscious of what he was doing. Besides that, his eyes were closed. Silent tears slipped down his cheeks.

Nathan rushed forward and wrestled the men in hospital uniforms off of him. "What the _hell_ to you think you’re trying to do?!" He knelt down beside the trembling boy who was by this time sobbing. He whimpered softly and Nathan had to work *very* hard at not strangling the nearest person that even remotely looked like an employee. Gently, he reached his arms around the terrified boy, not surprised when he flinched at the physical contact. He whispered and drew Lucas to him. "Shhh... It’s okay. Nobody’s gonna hurt you, Lucas. It’s okay..."

The teen recognized Nathan’s voice and curled into him, clinging like a lifeline to the familiar form and sobbing. Bridger rocked slightly, then sent a glare worthy of death towards the small gathering of people. "Get out of here," he spoke with a cold authority. He shot a withering fixed glare towards the 2 men that had ’tried to restrain’ Lucas, both of which apologetically turned to leave, not daring to meet the angry man’s stare.

The short, brown haired nurse was the last to leave after everyone else had dispersed, her still shocked eyes resting on the face of the boy’s tear stained face. She had never seen such fear, such a terrified expression than that of his when her two co-workers had been trying to hold him. She had had no idea that it would cause that type of reaction. If she’d only known... Slowly she turned and walked back inside.

Out of the corner of his eye, Nathan watched her go. He was disgusted that someone could be cruel as those two had, especially at a hospital! Hadn’t they seen how scared Lucas had been? Nathan decided that they must not have cared. He had no other explanation for that type of cruelty.

He looked down at Lucas’ face, still streaked with dirt and tears, his eyes red rimmed. Wiping some of it off with his thumb, he also brushed a loose strand of hair from his eyes. "God, I love you kiddo," Nathan whispered. He kissed the boy’s forehead. It was then that he realized Lucas was speaking softly, the words tumbling. Nathan strained to make sense of them.

"She left me, Captain. She left me. But she promised! She left me after she said she never would..."

Well, at least he coherent enough to know who was holding him. Bridger shook him gently. "Lucas? Hey, Lucas, can you look at me here? Open your eyes maybe," he coaxed the teen.

He did open his eyes, tears immediately spilling from their blue vastness. He met Nathan’s steady gaze. They locked and Lucas whispered, pain evident in every spoken an unspoken word. "She left me, Captain. She left." His eyes filled with bewilderment. "But she can’t! She promised! She promised not to go, never to leave. She said that she wouldn’t ever leave me..."

His lips quivered and hot tears poured unbidden down his cheeks. He searched the older man’s eyes. "Why did she have to die?" he whispered, once again collapsing into Nathan.

Nathan stared forward, unseeing, and found that tears were indeed running down his own face. He made no attempt to brush them away. His very soul ached at the pain practically radiating off of the boy. All he could do was grieve with him, and hold him.



The End
J.R.
Jargon Rogue
~*~*~*~*~*

Maybe if we spent more time ignoring RL instead of dealing with it...