Chapter Text
The moment she stepped through the door of her quarters, Kristin breathed a sigh of relief. "I was beginning to think I'd never see this place again," she gushed.
Nathan gave her a smile. "Well, now you can put that worry to rest, hm? Uh, where would you like your bags?"
"Just set them down in the corner," she said, motioning with her hand. "I suppose I'll spend the rest of the day unpacking."
"As long as you remember to rest. We might be back here to work, but that doesn't mean you." Nathan gave her a look.
She gave him a mock salute. "Aye, Captain. I'll be good."
"Unfortunately, being back here means I need to be on the bridge."
"I understand," she replied, taking a seat on her bunk. "I'll be fine."
"But as soon as I get a free moment, I'll stop by, perhaps accompany you to the mess hall?" he suggested.
"I'd like that, but you don't need to be so…concerned about me anymore. Not that I don't appreciate it. It's just…"
Nathan put his hands on her arms. "I know; I'm sorry. Just get some rest. See you later."
"Later," she replied as Nathan walked out the door.
Kristin lay back on her pillow. Perhaps a little nap wasn't such a bad idea after all.
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A knock on her door roused her out of a pleasant sleep. She yawned as she arched her back and stretched. "It's open," she called.
When the door opened, Ben stuck his head inside. "Sorry, were you asleep?"
She waved a hand. "I was just having a little catnap, but I think I've slept enough, thank you."
"Well, the captain sent me to check on you," Ben explained.
Kristin smiled, giving a shake of her head. "He just won't quit, will he?"
"But you certainly can't blame him for it."
"I know, I don't," she replied. "I just don't need to be fawned over. However, while you're here…" She walked towards one of her bags and dug in the pocket. "I have a little present for you." She handed him the string of pearls.
Ben's eyes grew large as he held them in his hand. "Wait a minute. Are these…?"
"A present from Sylvia," she said with a nod. "You were promised treasure after all, and she feels you need them more than she does. I've thanked her for you."
"Doc…are you sure you want me to have these?"
Kristin placed a hand on his forehead. "Are you sure you're the real Ben Krieg? The old Ben would have never looked a gift horse in the mouth."
Ben shrugged. "I guess I've…matured over the past few weeks. Besides, I think Sylvia is more important to you than the rest of us."
"You're not the only one who received a present," she said, patting his arm gently. "And it was Sylvia's wish; I'd never stand in the way of that. You do want them, don't you?"
Ben gave her a grin. "Of course I do. I might have matured, but I still like money."
"Enjoy them then."
Ben stuffed the pearls in his pocket. "So, you'd really rather be alone?"
"I don't mind the company at all," she assured him. "Believe you me, in a few days, I'll probably be begging you to spend time with me. I'll be going stir crazy."
"How long is your jail sentence?"
Kristin laughed. "I'm not sure. I'm surprised Joshua hasn't stopped by yet, but I suppose the science labs are a disaster about now." She let out a sigh. "And those reef classifications…I'm not sure we'll have much time for those now."
"What do you mean?"
"The weeks off in Pearl were supposed to be for the classifications. Obviously, it didn't work out that way. Joshua has his own experiments to conduct, and with him handling medbay and the science labs… Well, I'm afraid my funding will fall through now."
"You mean you're giving up just like that?"
Kristin crossed her arms. "What choice do I have? I promised I wouldn't work until Dr. Levin cleared me. And quite frankly, I'm grateful for the time. I think I'm going to need it. I'm still quite tired after everything."
"I can take care of that."
"What?"
"Your reef classifications. I can help you do them."
Kristin shook her head. "Oh, Mr. Krieg, I don't know. I mean, that's very sweet of you to offer, but it's not as simple as it sounds."
"What about Lucas?"
"What about Lucas? He has his own work to do," she replied. "I'm sorry; I didn't mean to make you feel you had to do something about it. I was just venting. Please, just forget I said anything. There's plenty of time until the end of the tour. There will be other reefs, other classifications, all right?"
Ben nodded. "Whatever you say."
"No, you need to promise me you won't interfere, got it? Everyone has enough to do, and I feel bad enough as it is that they have to do my work on top of theirs. As much as it pains me, there just isn't time for the classifications now."
"All right, all right; I promise," Ben told her.
"Thank you," she replied. "Now, if you'd like to stay, that's fine; I don't mind. I'm sure we could find something entertaining. But I think I'm just going to unpack, so I don't really need a babysitter."
Ben shook his head. "No, I won't bug you. But if you need anything, you know how to get a hold of me."
"Of course. Thank you, Ben."
"Anytime, Doc. See you later."
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"…so I thought we could do the classifications for her," Ben explained to Lucas.
Lucas raised an eyebrow as he turned the vocoder off and turned to Ben. "Did Dr. Westphalen actually ask you to do this?"
Ben hesitated. "What does it matter what she asked or didn't ask? I just thought it was something nice we could do for her while she's on lock down. You know losing all this research is killing her."
"You know if she didn't approve this, she's going to kill you, don't you?"
"I had my fingers crossed behind my back when she made me promise not to do it," Ben explained. "But you weren't there. You didn't see the look on her face. She's going to be so happy when we get it done for her, she'll forget she's angry in the first place." Ben placed his hands on his shoulders. "Lucas, come on, you know she'll love it when we tell her."
"Yeah, but Dr. Levin's already got a long list of things for me to do, starting with the vocoder," he said, motioning towards the device lying on the edge of the moon pool. "Seems the geomagnetic activity also fried its motherboard."
"But you're a genius, right?"
"Well, I don't like to brag," Lucas said with a smirk.
"I mean, it won't take you long, right?"
Lucas shrugged. "Could be a few days."
"And what about after you're off-duty?"
"You want me to-"
"Shh!" Ben said. "Lower your voice."
Lucas obediently did so. "You want me to give up my free time?"
"For the doc," Ben reminded. "I can't do this alone. I don't know the first thing about classifying specimens."
Lucas crossed his arms. "Fine…on one condition. You bring me extra bodies."
"What?"
"I'm sure the others might want to help on this, right? You get more people involved, the faster we get it done."
"Fine, but no word of this to the doctor or the captain, got it?"
"Got it."
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Later that evening, another knock sounded at Kristin's door. She'd had visitors coming and going all day, only none of them were Nathan. She did hope it was him this time since her stomach had been complaining for over an hour, and she didn't want to eat without him. She quickly made her way to the door.
"I'm not interrupting anything, am I?" Nathan asked as he stepped inside.
"Oh, of course not. I was wondering if they'd kept you after school," she teased gently.
He laughed softly. "I had to bang erasers and wash the chalkboards, but the teacher let me go early on good behavior." He sighed. "I'm sorry I made you wait so long. The bridge was a madhouse."
"It's all right; I can imagine. I'm sure it's the same in the lab."
"Joshua hasn't stopped by?"
"Oh, he did, and he told me things were going wonderfully, but naturally, I didn't believe him." She let out a sigh.
"You're not feeling guilty, are you?"
"No, not guilty exactly. I just wish I wasn't so…restricted. I am perfectly capable of-"
Nathan held up a finger. "No, you are not perfectly capable. You're still healing."
She sighed. "Yes, I know, but keeping busy would help me keep my mind off of things."
"Did Joshua say when?"
She shook her head. "He says we can talk about that after I see the new doctor he's bring on board, who should be here in a few days."
"Are you nervous?"
"Not really. I suppose it will help me…" She lowered her gaze. "…deal with my fears and anxieties."
Nathan put an arm around her. "Are you all right?"
She nodded. "Yes, I'm fine. Just…overwhelmed a bit…and hungry."
"I can fix that," he told her. "I have dinner waiting for us."
She raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought the bridge was a madhouse?"
"It was. It doesn't mean I don't have my connections, though," He held out his arm. "Shall we?"
"Of course," she replied, allowing him to lead her out into the hallway.
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"Close your eyes."
"Nathan, I thought we were just going to the mess hall?" she protested.
"Change of plans. Please, just close your eyes?" He was sure to stick his bottom lip out just a touch.
"You're just lucky you're so cute when you do that," she replied before obediently closing her eyes.
"Just keep them closed," he told her as he led her onto C deck. "Just a little further." He led her to a small table and chairs he'd had set up near the moon pool and helped her sit. "Okay, you can open them."
Kristin did so, and a hand rose to her mouth as she let out a soft gasp. Nathan had the moon pool area transformed to look like a Hawaiian paradise of sorts with electric torches and colored lights, and various Hawaiian-themed decorations. "Oh, Nathan, when did you have time to do this?"
"I already told you, I have connections. Do you like it?" he asked, sitting across from her.
"Oh, yes, I love it. Why did you go to all this trouble, though? You didn't need to."
He shrugged. "I thought you deserved something a little special after everything. It's the least I could do."
Suddenly, they heard a familiar squeak, and they both turned to see Darwin sticking his head out of the moon pool.
Kristin smiled and went over to him. "I guess you thought I deserved something special too, hm?"
The dolphin nuzzled her hand and whistled softly.
Nathan put an arm around her shoulders. "Sure is good to be home, isn't it?"
"You can say that again," she replied.
"Come on, the food's getting cold," Nathan told her.
Kristin gave Darwin one more gentle pat on his head before turning to go back to the table.
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"…so it seems Bill wasn't joking about a pink room after all," Nathan replied with a laugh. "Only it's the captain's head, not my quarters."
Kristin giggled.
"You think it's funny, do you?" Nathan teased.
"A little, yes," she replied between laughs. She reached a hand across the table. "I promise I'll help you repaint it."
Nathan shook his head. "There's no need. It's already being done as we speak. But this isn't over between Bill and me. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and he'll be getting a nasty chill soon enough, believe you me."
She smiled. "I'm sure he will. I'd just appreciate it if you'd leave me out of it. After everything he's done for me, I don't think I could attempt to do anything harmful towards him."
"No one said anything about harm." Nathan gave her a wink. "But I promise, I'll keep it to myself."
"Well, that lobster was delicious," she replied, pushing her plate away gently. "But I couldn't eat another bite."
Nathan raised a brow. "So no desert?"
"Well…maybe a little bite," she replied. "What is it?"
"Your favorite," Nathan replied. "Lemon meringue pie."
She laughed. "You know I have more than one favorite, but I do love lemon meringue."
"I know you do." He placed a slice in front of her. "We could share if you like."
"Sounds wonderful," she replied, picking up her fork when she heard footsteps behind her. She looked at Nathan, whose gaze was focused on whomever it was; she then turned to see Ben.
"Mr. Krieg?"
"Uh, hi," he said sheepishly. "I didn't mean… I didn't know anyone would be here this time of night."
"It's all right," Nathan replied, "but my question is what are you doing here this time of night?"
"Um…"
"Ben?" Nathan said, standing to walk towards him. "You look like you're hiding something."
"N-not exactly. It…it was a surprise for the doc."
"Surprise for me? What are you talking about?" Kristin asked as she appeared behind Nathan.
"Ben, what are you doing-" Katie stopped short when she saw the captain and doctor. "Oh…good evening, you two."
"Commander, would you like to enlighten me why you were coming out of the science lab?" Nathan asked, crossing his arms across his chest.
"We were…um…" she began, looking at Ben.
Ben sighed, holding up his hands. "I think you two had better come with me."
"But, Ben," Katie said.
"I know, but they may as well know about it now," he told her. He turned to lead the way into the lab as the others followed behind him.
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The first thing Kristin noticed was all her reef specimens lying neatly next to one another on one of the worktables. All of the senior staff was seated near the table, but as soon as they saw the captain, they all stood at attention.
"Captain?" Commander Ford said. "What…what are you doing here?"
"I might ask you all the same thing," Nathan replied. "What is going on here?"
"Look, Cap, I can explain," Lucas replied, pushing past the others. "You see, Ben had this idea…"
"Ben, tell me you didn't," Kristin said, finally realizing what was going on. She turned to Nathan. "They thought they'd help me catalog the reef specimens so I wouldn't lose the funding."
"Yeah, and it would have worked, too, only I didn't know the captain would be serving you dinner right next door," Ben replied.
"Yes, but you promised," she insisted. "I told you I didn't want you to worry about it."
"That was your mistake," Katie piped up. "You never ask Ben to make a promise; he always crosses his fingers."
Kristin eyed him carefully. "Is this true, Mr. Krieg?"
"Guilty as charged," he muttered. He then moved to the table to hand her a stack of papers. "We were going to wrap this up like a present with a big bow when it was all finished, but you've gone and spoiled the surprise." He gave her a wink.
Kristin began looking through the papers. They'd done at least half of the work already.
"When Ben told us," Tim offered, "we all wanted to do it for you. We're happy to keep going, if you'll let us."
"Yeah," Jonathan agreed, "it might take us a few days, but we'll get it all done. Lucas is an excellent teacher."
"And I decided it was about time we take a more active role in your research," Ben added.
Kristin felt tears prick the corners of her eyes as she let out a sigh.
"You're not angry, are you, Doc?" Lucas asked.
"How in the world could I be angry? This is the sweetest thing you could have done for me. I can't believe you'd sacrifice your free time for me."
"You've sacrificed so much for us," Katie said. "We thought it was only right we pay it back."
"Yeah," Ben agreed. "We're a family, and that's what we do: take care of each other."
Kristin moved to wrap her arms around him. "All I can say is thank you. You all are wonderful."
"Well," Nathan finally said, "it seems we'll leave you alone then. Good work, people."
"Just be sure to clean up the mess when you're finished," Kristin added.
"No problem, Doc."
Nathan put an arm around Kristin's shoulders. "Well, how about I walk you back to your room then?"
"That sounds lovely."
But at that moment, Lucas came up behind them. "Uh, Doc, Captain?"
"Yes, dear?" Kristin said.
"I wanted to let you know my mother called me earlier..." He grinned slightly. "And she invited me home…well, to her home…for the holidays."
"Oh, Lucas, that's wonderful," Kristin replied.
"Glad to hear it," Nathan added.
"Yeah, well, my mom hasn't invited me for Christmas…well, since she and my dad split up. I don't know how you two did it, but I know you had something to do with it."
"Lucas, I have no idea what you mean."
"We did nothing."
"And you're both modest, too," Lucas said. "Um, maybe you can work on my dad next?"
"We'll see what we can do," Nathan assured him.
Lucas then moved to give them both tight hugs. "Thanks again, guys; I love you."
"We love you too, Lucas," Kristin whispered into his ear. "Don't stay up too late now."
"I won't," he replied. "Sleep well."
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Once Kristin walked into her room, she let out a happy sigh. "Well, that was quite the interesting evening."
"Indeed. Not what you expected, hm?"
"Oh, it was better," she gushed as she moved to place a kiss to his cheek.
"What was that for?"
"For the dinner, silly," she told him. "Will there be a repeat performance?"
He smiled. "I might have a few more tricks up my sleeve, but we don't want to wear out the surprises in one week, do we?"
She shook her head. "Of course not."
"Can I ask you something?"
"Of course," she replied with a smile.
"How are you really feeling about Sylvia and everything else?"
She thought for a moment before taking a deep breath. "I really feel happy. Oh, it was difficult to say goodbye, but I know she's where she needs to be." She placed a hand on Nathan's arm. "And so am I."
"And you still have her with you," Nathan replied, motioning towards the locket around her neck.
"Actually, no."
"What?"
She opened the locket. "I've replaced the pictures. I do care about her, but I care about a few others just a bit more."
Nathan examined the tiny photographs carefully. On one side was a picture of Cynthia, Kristin's daughter. On the other were a photo of Lucas and him. He looked at her, questions in his eyes.
"I just need a little time," she reminded him. "But it doesn't mean I don't care about you." She then reached into her pocket and pulled out Sylvia's ring. "But honestly, I think it's about time I put Sylvia to rest." She walked to her jewelry box, which sat atop her dresser, and opened it. She then placed the ring inside and closed it. "I'll never forget her," she told him.
"I don't think any of us will. I'm very proud of you, Kris."
"The feeling's mutual, Nathan," she replied softly. She then stood on her toes and placed a gentle kiss to his lips. "Sleep well."
"You, too. If you need anything…"
"I won't hesitate to call," she promised. "Goodnight."
"Goodnight," he said before walking out the door.
Kristin let out a soft sigh. "Goodnight, Sylvia. Thank you for everything."