SUMMARY: When Bridger's brother and sister-in-law have an accident, Nathan takes in his plotting niece.
CODES: SQ, B/W, L/Kat
RATING: PG13
DISCLAIMER: As always, Amblin owns everything.
NOTES: none
"My Brother's Keeper"
by Liz VanZandt
Chrrrup
Nathan Bridger rolled over and opened one eye. Just after one in the morning. This had better be good, he thought reaching for his PAL as it chirped again. "Bridger."
"I have an urgent call for you from Admiral Noyce, sir," Tim O'Neill said from the bridge.
"Put it through to my cabin."
"Aye, sir."
Bridger slowly got up and pulled his robe on while rubbing sleep from his eyes. He crossed the room to his desk and after sitting down, turned the vid-link on. "What's the matter, Bill?"
"I'm sorry to wake you, Nathan, but there's been an accident. Margaret is dead and Steven's in intensive care at the hospital," William Noyce said gravely.
He knew the shock was evident on his face, but Bridger tried to rein in his emotions for the moment. "How bad is he?"
"I'm afraid they don't expect him to pull through."
"Is Katherine OK?"
"She's fine, she wasn't in the car with them."
Bridger gave a sigh of relief. "Bill ..."
"Already done, a chopper will meet your launch in three hours."
Bridger had to smile at how well his friend knew him. "Thank you."
"No problem. And Nathan, I am sorry. I know you never got along with Steven, but he is your brother." The screen went blank.
"Yeah," he said to no one in particular, "I know what you mean." He buried his face in his hands, allowing himself a moment to grieve.
Finally, Bridger looked up and pressed the button on the commlink in front of him on his desk. "Bridge," came O'Neill's voice.
"Is Commander Ford there?"
"He just left for lunch, sir. Would you like me to call and have him come to your cabin?"
"No, thank you, I'll just go to the mess."
"Aye, sir."
Bridger pulled on his jumpsuit and slowly walked the length of the boat to the Officer's Mess. As he entered the room, he saw Jonathan Ford at a table in the corner, deep in conversation with the seaQuest's Chief Medical Officer and head scientist, Kristin Westphalen. Wonderful. Well, I guess I should just get this over with.
"Captain, why are you up in the middle of the night shift?" Ford asked noting Bridger's approach.
"Something's come up," he replied. "We need to talk."
Kristin noticed the grave expression on his face. "I'll leave you two alone," she said standing.
"No," Bridger shook his head, motioning for her to sit back down, "you might as well hear this straight from the horse's mouth instead of from someone else."
A worried look passed between Kristin and Ford as Bridger sat down. He sighed in an attempt to compose himself before continuing. "I'm leaving seaQuest."
"Captain!" Ford said, incredulous.
"Now now, before you jump to any conclusions, it's only for a few days." He watched as relief crossed their faces. "My brother and his wife were in an accident."
"Oh Nathan," Kristin's voice held nothing but compassion and worry, "are they all right?"
He winced imperceptibly, "Margaret was killed and Steven's in the hospital with little hope of recovery. I'm going upworld to take care of things. You'll be in charge while I'm gone," he nodded to Ford.
"I'm going with you," Kristin pronounced.
"No."
"Nathan, having lost my brother as well, I'll tell you the most important thing right now is your friends. Especially since he's the last of your family."
"Kristin -"
"Nathan, I'm not going to argue the point with you. You're in no condition to be traveling by yourself at the moment. I'll wager you haven't even stopped to grieve yet."
"She's right, Captain," Ford added. "You really shouldn't go alone."
"But -"
"No buts, I'm going. Look, I'd suggest someone else, but Lucas is gone for the weekend, and Crocker is needed down here with the security rotation coming up. And somehow I don't think you'd like Krieg going with."
Bridger looked back and forth between them. Finally he sighed in resignation, "Fine, you have thirty minutes to get your things together."
Kristin downed the rest of her coffee. "Perfect," she said leaving the room.
"Commander, can you have a launch ready to take us to the surface?"
"Of course, Captain."
* * *
"We'll be rendezvousing with the chopper in an hour," Bridger said sitting down next to Kristin in the back of the launch. He sighed and leaned his head back, eyes closed.
Kristin studied him for a moment before speaking. "You don't get along well with your brother, do you?"
He looked at her, eyebrows higher than normal, "Why do you say that?"
"Well, you never ever mentioned him prior to this. Most people will at least mention siblings some time during idle conversation somewhere within a year. Even Ford brought up his once or twice."
Bridger smiled sheepishly and leaned his head back again. "Even as kids Steven and I didn't get along too well. I suppose it's because Dad always like him better than me."
"He must be quite a guy than," Kristin mused, garnering another smile.
"I was always sort of a dreamer, planning great things for the future. Steven was just content to leave things the way they were and take over Dad's shop when he retired. Dad always preferred Steven because of that."
"But think of how much you've accomplished in your life, Nathan. He's probably pretty proud of you for that."
"Yeah, but Dad was a funny person. He would never praise my brother and me, at least not to our faces. Anything good he ever said about either one of us was said to the other one, almost as though he wanted us to resent each other."
"He was far from succeeding though."
"Oh, I don't know, I've always felt that Steven resented my going through the Academy and doing something with my life while he just wasted his life away working in the shop."
"I don't mean that. No matter what someone does, the love between two brothers is still there." He looked at her. "You wouldn't be here right now heading to see him if you didn't care at least a little."
He looked at her for a moment longer before silently leaning his head back yet again.
* * *
"Uncle Nathan!" the girl said as Nathan and Kristin entered the hospital room hours later.
Nathan hugged her and then stepped back to look her over. She was tall, thin, and as tan as Nathan, with long dark hair pulled back into a low ponytail. Her hazel eyes, normally sparkling and full of life, were dull and red from crying and very little sleep over the last twenty-four hours.
"You've gotten so big," Nathan said.
"Well since I haven't seen you in seven or eight years, I'm not surprised."
"How is he?" Nathan asked looking at the figure in the bed for the first time.
"Not good. The doctors are pretty grim about his chances."
"I can see why," Kristin muttered, standing at the end of the bed, chart in hand.
The girl looked at Kristin, baffled, and then back to Nathan. "I'm sorry, Doctor Kristin Westphalen, my niece, Katherine Bridger."
"Kat," the girl said holding out her hand.
"Nice to meet you," Kristin said shaking the proffered hand.
"Are you a neural specialist, Doctor?" Kat asked joining Kristin by the chart.
"Oh, no," Kristin said quickly with a glance at Nathan, "I'm just here as a friend of Nathan. And it's Kristin, OK?" She smiled.
Kat smiled back, "Sure."
Kristin replaced the chart by the bed. "I'm going to see if I can't find a cup of coffee, do you want anything?"
Nathan looked up, his reverie momentarily broken, "No, I'm fine." He looked back to the occupant of the bed.
"All right." Kristin looked toward Kat, "Do you want anything?"
"Nothing to drink, but I'll walk with you if you don't mind."
"Of course not, you can help me find the cafeteria. We'll be back in a few minutes, Nathan." He simply nodded.
The two ladies wandered down the hall, purposefully taking longer than was needed to give Nathan time alone with his brother to say goodbye. As they finally returned to the room, Kat noticed Nathan sitting quietly by the bed, Steven's hand in his, head bent.
"I think maybe we'd better wait out here for a little while, let Uncle Nathan finish in there," she suggested.
"I think you're right," Kristin agreed. "You're quite perceptive."
"Thank you."
"How old are you, if you don't mind me asking?"
"Seventeen in November."
Kristin frowned, "Are you still in high school?"
"No, I graduated in May." Seeing Kristin's amazed look, she continued, "I skipped first grade, and with my late birthday, it seems like I'm younger than I am."
"Ah, are you planning on going to college in the fall than?"
"Not this year. I wanted to take a year off and do some of the things I haven't had a chance to do and probably won't have a chance to until I'm too old." Both of them laughed. "I do plan on going next year, though."
"Do you have any idea what you plan to study?"
"Medicine," Kat replied without hesitation. "I guess I take after my Grandma Howard and her love of healing people. What kind of doctor are you?"
"General medicine with a little physical oceanography thrown in for good measure."
Realization suddenly crossed Kat's face. "So you're on the seaQuest with Uncle Nathan."
"Mmmhmm, I'm the CMO and head scientist."
"Very cool."
Kristin almost burst out laughing, "You sound like someone else I know."
"Kristin, can I ask you a kind of personal question? I mean, you don't have to answer."
"What?"
"Exactly what is your relationship with Uncle Nathan? It may just be me and my overly romantic mind, but it seems like you're maybe more than just friends."
Kristin sighed and was about to explain when alarms started going off. Spinning around, she saw a stream of doctors and nurses entering Steven Bridger's room. As she rushed over, one of the nurses shoved Nathan out of the room and closed the door.
Taking him by the hand, Kristin led him over to the nearby waiting room where Kat was standing. "What happened?"
"I ... I don't know," Bridger said shakily. "I was sitting in there, just talking to him, when alarms started going off all around me."
Kristin looked over at Kat and gave her a look of warning. She caught the look and the meaning behind it right away. "Here, Uncle Nathan, why don't you have a seat over here." Kat took him by the hand and sat him down next to her on the couch.
Leaving Kat to comfort Nathan, Kristin turned and walked over to the room to see what she could find out. As she neared, the door opened and a man stepped out, a grave look on his face.
"Are you family?" he asked seeing Kristin nearing.
"A friend of the family. How bad is he?"
He shook his head. "Where is Miss Bridger?"
"Over here," Kristin showed him to the waiting room where Kat and Nathan were sitting.
"Doctor Pride, how is he?" Kat asked standing up at their approach.
"I'm afraid your father is dead, Miss Bridger. I'm sorry."
"Oh my God," Kat collapsed onto the couch, head in her hands.
"Do you know what was the cause?" Kristin asked quietly.
"I can't be sure without an autopsy, but my guess would be a blood clot in the brain."
She nodded, "That would make sense. Thank you, Doctor."
"You're welcome, I'm just sorry I couldn't do more."
"If it was indeed a blood clot, there was nothing you could do."
He nodded and walked off. Kristin turned back to the others. Nathan was now sitting on the couch comforting Kat.
"Why don't we take you home," Kristin suggested. "We can all use the sleep after the last two days."
"Good idea," Nathan agreed.
* * *
The last vestiges of Nathan's dream faded away and he opened his eyes to find himself staring at the floor. Momentarily confused, he sat up to figure out where he was at. Looking around, the events of the past forty-eight hours came rushing back to him. After leaving the hospital, the three of them had come back to the house to try and get some needed sleep. Nathan had let Kristin have the guest room, and not wanting to face his brother's ghost, had taken the couch rather than the master bedroom.
Yawning, Nathan got up and walked down the hall to the kitchen. There he found Kristin and Kat sitting at the table talking. "You two seem to be getting along well," he observed, pouring a cup of coffee.
"Kristin was telling me about Med school and some of her experiences as a doctor," Kat replied.
"So do you intend to go to Med school now?" Nathan asked sitting down.
"I plan to take a year off to get things in order and then I'm going to college, yes."
His eyebrow rose an inch, "And where were you planning to live for this year?"
Kat nervously looked at Kristin who smiled and nodded. She looked back at Nathan, "I was hoping maybe I could live with you on the seaQuest," she said quietly.
Nathan settled back in his chair and took a sip of coffee, all the while keeping his gaze on Kat.
"I wouldn't be any trouble and Kristin said I could help her in Medbay," Kat continued, now more nervous. "It would be a great experience to make sure I want to be a doctor, not that I really doubt that I'd love it --"
"Yes."
"And you wouldn't have to pay me or anything, just feed me ... What?"
"Yes," Nathan said, now smiling.
"You mean I can live on the seaQuest with you and Kristin?" Kat couldn't believe her luck.
"Mmmhmm, as long as Kristin's willing to put you to work, I don't have a problem with it."
"Oh Uncle Nathan!" she threw her arms around him in a big hug and kissed his cheek.
"But you're going to have to refrain from doing that while on duty," he said with a smile.
"Sorry," she said sheepishly, "I tend to get carried away sometimes."
"That's OK."
"Oh, wait till Jen hears about this, I have to call and tell her," she literally bounced out of the kitchen.
"She really looks up to you," Kristin said after she had left.
"I have a feeling that may change the more time she spends with you, Doctor."
* * *
The week passed quickly between trips to the solicitor's office to take care of the will, the wake, the funeral, and cleaning out the house, prepping it for sale. All the while, Kristin kept feeling like an intruder, but one look at Nathan told her the opposite. He was trying so hard to be strong, calm, and in control for Kat's sake, as well as his own, but Kristin knew how much his heart was hurting inside. She also knew he would never admit it.
Finally, things on land were in order, and the three of them found themselves on a launch headed back to the seaQuest. Nathan took the opportunity to get a little sleep and was stretched out on one of the benches, with the two women sitting side by side on the other.
"Uncle Nathan reminds me so much of Dad when he's like that," Kat observed.
"I imagine there are a lot of similarities between the two," Kristin said.
"Physically, maybe, but their personalities were almost complete opposites."
"How so?"
"Well, Uncle Nathan was always the exciting one, out exploring the oceans, living up life, while Dad was the more sensible one, staying at home with a steady job and raising a family. There always seemed to be a kind of tension between them whenever they were in the same room.
"I guess things just came to a head about six years ago now. Grandma Bridger had a stroke about a week after we found out that Aunt Carol was sick. Uncle Nathan decided to stay with Aunt Carol rather than come stay with Grandma Bridger and Dad really hated him for that decision. They died within days of each other, and I haven't seen or heard from Uncle Nathan since then. He just disappeared to some island after that."
"Only to show up last year on the seaQuest," Kristin added.
"Yeah. I was kind of disappointed that he didn't at least call, but I can't say I blame him after the fight with Dad."
Both sat there in silence for a few minutes, contemplating things.
Finally Kat spoke again, "You know, in some ways you're a lot like Aunt Carol, and in others, you're nothing like her." Kristin merely raised her eyebrows. "I mean, you both care for other people, you're both pretty and really nice, and you both have a special spot in Uncle Nathan's heart. I'd still like to know, if you don't mind, if you and Uncle Nathan are ... well ... more than friends."
Kristin sighed and cast a long glance at the sleeping man. "As of right now we're just friends."
"But something might happen in the future."
"The future is a long time, and a lot can happen in it."
"You want something to happen though, don't you?"
Kristin smiled a bit sheepishly, "I wouldn't discourage it if that's what you mean."
"Well I for one think it would be great if something did happen." Kat looked over at Nathan, "Uncle Nathan's had a rough couple years, what with losing Bobby, then Aunt Carol and Grandma, and now Mom and Dad. I think he deserves a little happiness in his life."
"Well, I think having you around is going to improve his mood a little," Kristin smiled.
"We'll see," Kat replied cryptically.
* * *
Kat stepped out of the launch into the docking bay, amazed by her first view of the seaQuest. Behind her, Nathan exited the launch and walked over to two men standing nearby. As the men talked, Kat looked around her, taking in the large, busy room.
Suddenly someone ran into the room and bumped into her. Kat turned around to see a teenager of roughly her age standing there. He was taller than her and thin, with blonde hair and blue eyes. "I'm sorry," she said.
"No, it's my fault, I wasn't looking where I was ..." he looked at her, "going." He smiled, "Uh, hi, I'm Lucas." He held out his hand.
"Kat," she replied taking his hand.
"I see you've met Lucas," Nathan said coming over.
"Not officially," Kat said.
"Well, Lucas Wolenczak, my niece Katherine."
Lucas looked almost surprised, "It's nice to meet you."
"Likewise, I'm sure."
"Um, Lucas," Nathan said, "why don't you show Katherine around, give her a tour of the boat."
"Yeah, sure." Lucas smiled, "I'll start with your cabin so you can get rid of your stuff."
"Thanks, I'd like that," Kat said following him down the hall.
"Hmm, I think the boy's in love," Kristin said joining Nathan as he watched them go.
Nathan looked surprised, "Oh, I hope not."
"Why? I could think of a lot worse kids to have for a nephew-in-law," she said and walked off.
* * *
"So, Lucas," Kat said as they walked through the halls, "tell me about Uncle Nathan's relationship with Kristin."
Lucas looked shocked, "What do you mean?"
"You can't tell me there's nothing going on between them, I saw it myself over the last week."
"As far as I know, they're just really good friends. You don't think there's something more going on with them, do you?"
"Come on, you can't tell me you don't see it."
"I never really thought about it before. Did something happen last week?"
She shook her head, "Not that I know of, but you can be sure I'm gonna be keeping a close eye on those two."
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