The Next Day...

          “We’re ready to begin the procedure.”

          Kristin Westphalen looked seriously at the small crowd gathered in a corner Chatton medical room. Samantha’s lifeless body lay under a downward folded tan blanket on the med bed surrounded at the head by life support systems that emitted a steady cadence of small beeps.

          Lucas nodded in assurance, though he felt the exact opposite. He wanted to run far away and hide.

          *I don’t know if I can do this,* Samantha uttered softly.

          ~It’s the only way. ~ Lucas knew she was frightened and wished he couldn’t feel it, but at least he didn’t have to ask her what was wrong.

          *Look at me. I’m dead.*

          ~No you’re not. This has to work. I wouldn’t do this if I wasn’t at least ninety percent sure. ~ He stepped up to the side of the bed, but failed to calm his quickly beating heart. He was afraid someone would hear it.

          She felt his heart and the breath that slipped past his lips, and swallowed in fear. *I can’t do this.*

          Lucas remained silent.

          *What if I don’t make it? What if I die?*

          Lucas was still silent. What if he did loose her?

          *Say something. Please.*

          All he could do was form a thought. ~I won’t let you die. ~

          A voice from behind caught him, but he didn’t turn.

          “Just say when, Lucas,” Kristin glided to the opposite side of the bed and watched the young sixteen year old fight for speech.

          His blue eyes ran across Samantha’s physical form from head to toe to head. Could he go through with this? Could he give up the one person who knew him as well as he did, the one presence he was sure would never desert him or leave him stranded, or make excuses not to be around him? He’d wanted someone there his entire life; his father, his mother, even some of the crew had never filled the place except the captain. But he never felt camaraderie with authority. With Samantha Kinkade it was different. She was around his age, she understood him, and she was his friend. He’d become so use to her being there, he felt sparks of fear when he thought of what it would be like to be without her.

          “Lucas,” Bridger placed a hand on his shoulder, clearly seeing the battle in the other’s features, “let her go.”

          Lucas took a deep breath and focused his eyes on Samantha’s. This was something that had to be done, weither he liked it or not. He pursed his lips, waited a moment more, then spoke. “I’m ready.”

          Wendy pulled back Samantha’s eyelids revealing empty jade-green eyes.

          Lucas inhaled sharply, forcing his eyes to remain locked, and concentrated hard. He felt Samantha’s energy burn through his arms and legs, his mind, to his eyes forcing him to tear, then as soon as he’d felt every bit of her gathered, he pushed.

          She refused to go. It was a moment of suspense that he was unprepared for. He tried again, but nothing happened. “I can’t.” His eyes closed tight.

          “Yes you can,” Westphalen insisted.

          “No!”

          She spoke lightly. “Let her go, Lucas.

          “No! You don’t understand!” Lucas shrugged away from her and turned. “I won’t loose her, too!”

          “Lucas, calm down. You’re being irrational,” Westphalen began smoothly.

          He spun. “Irrational? No, I think I’m being perfectly rational. My whole life people just left me alone and hardly thought twice about it. Sure, they write cards or send a few vid calls, but in the end, they always disappear. It’s the cold law of reality and I won’t add her to that list. Not this time.”

          “We won’t abandon you, and neither will she if you give her the chance to prove it.” She gripped his shoulders and lightly shook him. “Look at me. Dammit, Lucas, look at me!”

          Lucas looked up and blinked.

          “I know you want to keep her and that she feels familiar to you, but you can’t live with her for the rest of your life. She needs to live her own. Sooner or later the two of you will merge to form a new personality and we’ll loose both of you.” Her eyes softened. “Don’t leave it like this.”

          Lucas’ breath caught in his throat. He looked from her to the captain and back again. “How do I know she...”

          “Just have faith,” Kristen urged gently. “Trust her.”

          Lucas swallowed and forced back every urge to turn around and run. One more time, he nodded.

          This time Samantha forced herself to separate from him and waited until Lucas locked eyes with her body again. Kristin was right, and she knew it. It would take the will power of them both to pull this off.

          Lucas felt the grip she held on him loosen and locked eyes with Samantha’s body again. This time he pushed harder, fearing he’d keep her if he hesitated.

          In a rush he felt her energy leave him--yanked as if by strings from his eyes, and his head became light. For a split second, he thought time had stood still. The three psychic’s placed their hands over Sam’s heart and head, and formed a straight path of energy back to her body.

          Samantha’s determination faltered. She made one last desperate grab for Lucas, catching a small bit of his energy before the psychic path drug her back to herself, taking that small bit with it. Then everything went black.

          Lucas exhaled and braced himself wearily on the matrice, wondering if he had done the right thing. His head rang with silence.

          Several moments passed, tension filled the air, but Samantha didn’t move.

          Lucas swallowed. “Something’s wrong.” He urgently leaned close to Samantha’s face. “Come on, Sam, wake up. Wake up,” his voice was more desperate with every word. “Don’t do this to me, Samantha. Wake up.”

          He grabbed her eyelids and forced them open, staring hard into her green eyes.

          “Lucas, no!” Westphalen urgently forced him back just as Lucas had made the connection,. She had to lock her arms around him to keep him from breaking free

          “She’s gonna die!” he struggled. “No! Let me go, I have to take her back. Doctor, she’s gonna die!”

          “Nathan!”

          Bridger took over Westphalen’s hold and held him back so the doctors could check Samantha over.

          “Get him out of here,” she ordered.

          Lucas had gone beyond speech to just watching. Samantha still hadn’t moved, and he was sure Dr. Maybrid has said she was barely breathing.

          Kristin left Wendy and Maybrid in order to shoo Lucas outside, and with help from the captain, they managed to get him out the door.

          Lucas spun on him the moment the door had clicked shut. “Why won’t you let me take her back? I nearly had her!” he demanded. Angry, he slammed his palm against the door. He wanted to break through it, break through his own body away from the tight helplessness clutching at his throat.

          “Because it took all you had just to return her. If you take her back you may never give her up,” Bridger answered.

          “But she’ll die!” Lucas argued.

          “You don’t know that.” Bridger let the pause float between them for a few seconds.

          Lucas’ poised comeback was barely restrained and Bridger knew to act now or he’d have another explosion on his hands.

          “I think you should come with me.” He put his arm around Lucas, who--despite his want to destroy the door--accepted the help and walked down the corridor to the arboretum to wait.

* * * *

          ~She was barely breathing. God please... ~

          He was sure something had gone wrong.

          Lucas wasn’t a religious man, but he prayed anyway. Two weeks ago, he would have thought it strange to talk to someone who wasn’t there, but now it actually felt comforting as he leaned on his knees and begged an unseen being to spare the life of a girl--of his best friend. He shuddered a breath.

          It had been over fifteen minutes since the transfer and not a single word on her condition had been brought to him. Unsettled, he paced the stone walk of Chatton’s arboretum like a runway. Plumes of multicolored flowers and different types of trees and shrubs surrounded the picturesque place of solitude, but he was blind to it. All he could see was her small lifeless body lying on the medical bed. Fear clenched in his stomach in a tight ball. Fear of being alone, fear of loosing a friend, fear of being responsible for her death. It caused him to crumble a fistful of his shirt.

          He sat on a curved stone bench and ran his hands through his hair. The water in the smooth rock pool reflected his face in a perfect mirror, but he felt hollow as if something had been carved out of his soul. He also felt the pain and loss of emptiness fill him. Some things had gone from him when he pushed her back, but he could tell bits of her had stayed behind. Though it was a small comfort, it wasn’t enough to fill the void that swallowed him whole.

          A leaf fell on the water and rippled the image.

          What would he do if she didn’t survive? He bit his lip, staring down into the water. Samantha had been the most irritating person he’d met, she’d countered him at every turn, insulted him, given him a reason to fight for his place on the SeaQuest, but dammit to hell if he couldn’t live another day without hearing her voice.

          He was so deep in thought that he didn’t hear the smooth doors of the arboretum slide open, or the soft footsteps pad along the river-stone walk. Something in him sparked familiarity and warmth and he looked up, instantly sucking in a breath.

          “The captain told me you were out here,” Samantha’s long white hospital gown fluttered in the light Florida breeze and casually tossed her loose brown hair.

          “Sam,” breathless, Lucas stood and stepped closer. His heart rose into his throat.

          Samantha smiled and touched her own face. “Yea. It’s me. I’m back.”

          He placed his hand over hers, letting it fall gently to her shoulder. “I thought you’d--”

          “Died? Lucas, you of all people should know I’m not that easy to get rid of.”

          He couldn’t help but smile. That void of emptiness had been replaced by soaring joy and he let it fill him as his left hand move from her shoulder back to her face, tracing her features. He wanted to know it was her, to be sure she was real, to be sure she wasn’t an illusion.

          She inhaled at his touch, savoring the sensation it made on her skin--firm as a man’s hand, but soft and strong and familiar. It was the first time she’d known his touch apart from him. “I’m real, Lucas. Promise.”

          Lucas embraced her, wrapping his arms around her small body and held on, knowing it was she that completed the emptiness.

          “Thank you,” she whispered into his neck.

          She let him hold her in warm comfort and was perfectly content with the idea of staying there forever. His touch filled something in her she knew had gone to him, and she relaxed. Her hand slid through his blond hair testing gently. She smiled. It was just as soft on her own skin as she remembered from his, and perfectly pleasant to touch.

          Lucas exhaled, but then he backed away. “Oh, I almost forgot,” he reached up and removed the dolphin ring necklace. Gently he placed it around her neck so it hung just past her collar bone. “Thought you might like it back.”

          She brushed her fingers over the ring and smiled. This ring had been the most noticeable sign of her existence over the past couple weeks, and it had remained around Lucas’ neck for ninety-nine percent of that time. In a sense, it was a small link between them.

          “I can’t believe it’s actually over,” she breathed.

          Lucas nodded in silent agreement, then realized she was shivering. “You’re cold. You should go back to the infirmary and rest.”

          “I know,” she shook her head and sighed, “I know, but I had to see you--how you were doing.” Her legs still felt too weak to hold her since her body hadn’t moved in two weeks.

          “You never could listen to other people’s suggestions.” Seeing her falter, he wrapped his arm around her for support.

          She chuckled lightly. “And you never knew when to admit you were wrong.”

          He smiled. For the first time in a long time, he was truly happy. Relief settled over him like a fine mist and he finally let the past events rest. He didn’t know what exactly happened during the transfer, but something told him he would soon find out. Right now, all he wanted was his ever busy mind to dwell on the present.

          She accepted his help and walked with him to the door. “Now, about not being able to play the kazoo...”

          He laughed and ruffled her hair. “You couldn’t teach a flying monkey to play the kazoo.”

          “Then I guess you are hopeless,” she laughed, wrapping an arm around his waist to relieve some of the burden of him having to hold her up. Samantha had never known what it was like to trust someone completely, but then again, she had never before had a true close friend.

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