Captain Nathan Bridger looked up from his work as Lucas ran full-speed into the office, coming to a halt in front of the desk.

“Where’s the fire, Lucas?”

The boy looked confused. “There’s no fire, Sir.”

“Then why the rush?”

“Oh I see, sorry… I came to ask you a favour…”

“Another one? I think you’ve just about used up your quota for the next two months, with both Doctor Westphalen and myself… This past weekend in fact.” He tried to return to his designs.

“I know that, Captain. It’s not that kind of favour.”

Bridger knew that he wasn’t going to get anymore work done until Lucas left. “Fire away.”

“Could you please be home on time tonight, Sir?”

“What do you call ‘on time’?”

“About 7:30…”

“I think I can manage that.”

“You have to promise.”

“Okay, okay I promise. Now can I get back to work?”

“Yes, Sir. Bye.” With that Lucas was gone as quickly as he’d arrived.

Bridger shook his head, a bemused smile on his face, and returned to his calculations.

Kristin was in her lab at the Research Facility when Lucas came running in, followed by an out-of-breath, lab assistant.

“I’m sorry, Doctor… I tried to tell him you were busy.”

“It’s alright, Alice.” She smiled at the woman sympathetically.

“Yes, Ma’am,” she replied and headed for the door.

“Alice, would you be an angel and bring me a cup of coffee, please.”

“Of course.”

When the girl left, Kristin returned to her stool and focussed her attention on Lucas. “To what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

~ Was everyone speaking cryptically today? ~

“I wanted to ask you a favour.”

“Another one?”

Lucas raised his eyes to the Heavens - his two favourite people were becoming a terrific double-act. “Not that kind of favour,” he said with a feeling of déjà-vu. “Could you please be home at a reasonable hour tonight - say 7:30?”

Westphalen looked up from her microscope. “I’m not sure if I can, I’ve got so much work to do that…”

“Please Doc.” He interrupted. “The Captain promised that he would be.”

“Really? I thought that he was going to be late.”

“No, I told him it was important and he promised.”

Kristin stared at the boy for a moment, taking in his almost pleading expression, “Alright Lucas, I’ll be there.”

“Thanks Doc.” He took off at a run and almost immediately, there was a crashing sound and a scream.

She rushed into the outer office to find her assistant on the floor covered in coffee, a broken mug on the ground beside her. Lucas was hastily apologising and trying to help her to stand. He spotted Kristin in the doorway and gave her a sheepish grin, “Oops.”

“Will you get out of here!” She said in an annoyed voice, but she wasn’t quite able to keep the smile from her lips.

“I’m gone. See you at 7:30!”

Nathan and Kristin arrived home at practically the same time, meeting at the front door. After kissing him ‘hello’ she asked, “Nathan, do you have any idea what this is all about?”

“Not a clue.” He shook his head and shrugged. Stepping inside they were greeted by a, slightly flushed, Lucas…

“Are you alright?” The Doc asked concerned.

“I’m fine, just a little warm.”

“Okay.”

“Right, you both have about half-an-hour to shower and change into something more appropriate.”

“Appropriate for what?” Bridger questioned.

“Well, since you spent all of your free time on me at the weekend, I thought I’d do something for you in return. So, I’m cooking dinner for the two of you.” He said proudly.

Nathan tried to hide the panic that welled up inside him. “But Lucas, you…” He felt Kristin’s hand pinch his butt and he shut up abruptly.

“…Shouldn’t have gone to all that trouble.” She finished tactfully. “We’ll just go and change.”

Lucas hurried back into the kitchen - this cooking really wasn’t as simple as it seemed.

Meanwhile Kristin and Nathan walked into the bedroom and turned to face each other, a combination of horror and fear on their faces.

By 8:00 p.m. they were washed, dressed and ready to go. As they entered the dining area they were greeted by candlelight and soft music. The table was set for two with a floral centrepiece.

Lucas appeared the moment they arrived and pulled out a chair for Kristin to sit. “Everything is just about ready but I should mention that I did have one small problem - with the first course and dessert. I know that one was supposed to be cooked and the other not, but I couldn’t remember which was which, so I took an educated guess.”

Nathan started to groan but received a kick under the table turning it into an ‘ouch’.

“Are you okay, Sir?”

“Fine thank you. I suddenly had a sharp pain in my ankle, that’s all.” He looked at Kristin accusingly.

“Oh. Are you ready to start?”

Bridger opened his mouth to speak, but catching the warning glare from the woman opposite, merely nodded.

Lucas was the perfect waiter… he poured the wine, made certain that they had everything they needed and even fetched a clean table napkin for Nathan when his disappeared.

When they finally made it through to the coffee over an hour later, the young man brought it in on a tray and cleared the table. “How was it?” he asked excitedly.

This time the captain was in no hurry to answer so he looked to Kristin.

“Well, it was definitely different from our usual evening meal.”

“It was that,” Nathan conceded.

“Thank you Lucas, it was very thoughtful of you.” The woman added tactfully.

“It was the least I could do after all the help you gave me this weekend. Would you mind if I went out for the rest of the evening? Ortiz and O’Neill are planning an all-night poker game and I’d like to go. I’ll clean up when I get back.”

“No problem,” Bridger replied and then asked, “Do you have any money?”

“A little, Sir.”

He reached for his wallet and handed over some notes to the boy. “There you go, that should make the game a little more interesting.”

“Thank you Captain. Have a nice evening you two… Bye”

“Bye.” “Bye.”

When she was sure that Lucas was out of earshot Kristin exclaimed, “Oh my God!”

“My thoughts exactly.” Bridger replied with a chuckle.

“What’s so funny?”

“You… ‘Definitely different from our usual evening meal,’” he mimicked. “I don’t think that I’ve ever had warm prawns in my cocktail before…”

“Nor raw meringue for dessert,” she added.

“The main course didn’t seem too bad.” Nathan said dubiously. “You seemed to enjoy it.”

Kristin got up from the sofa and headed back towards the table. “I have a confession… You know that napkin you lost…”

“You didn’t!” He exclaimed incredulously. “You mean I sat there and struggled through while you…”

The woman smiled apologetically, “Sorry… I tell you what, why don’t you order some takeaway while I take the rest of this stuff into the kitchen - my treat.”

“Deal.”

Bridger headed for the vid-phone and was just about to make the call when he heard an explosion of unladylike curses. Jumping up from his seat he practically ran from the room. “Kristin, are you okay? What is it, Ba…?” The rest of the question died on his lips. “What the hell?”

The kitchen was a scene of total devastation: There was dirty crockery everywhere and it looked as though every pot and pan in the whole of NCQ was piled in the sink.

As Kristin took a step forward she slipped on something and went crashing to the floor. “Bloody hell!”

Nathan bent down to help her up, “God Kris, did you hurt yourself? What happened?”

She ran her finger along the tiles and then inspected it, “Tabasco sauce happened.” Getting to her feet she did a body check and quickly ascertained that the only real damage was to her pride.

“We could clean this up, I suppose.” He said reluctantly.

“Yes, we could…” She turned to face him and slipped her arms around his waist, pulling him closer. “Or… We could pretend we never saw it and you could order that takeout…”

“Go on,” He mumbled as he proceeded to nibble her ear and kiss his way down her neck.

“Well, I could slip into something a little more comfortable…”

“You mean ‘something more comfortable’ as in your peach negligee?”

“Actually I was thinking ‘something more comfortable’ as in the bed…”

“And I could bring the wine…” His attentions were becoming increasingly passionate.

“Mmm…” Kristin could feel his body reacting to her closeness. “Or, we could forget dinner altogether and go do some ‘undercover’ work?”

“Doctor, that’s the best offer I’ve had all day.” Bridger grinned, scooping her up into his arms and heading for the bedroom.

Hours later they lay snuggled together, all passion temporarily sated. Kristin moved restlessly in Nathan’s arms.

“Kris, are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.” She replied unconvincingly.

“You’re sure?”

“Mmm hmm, I was just thinking about all that washing up - maybe we should…”

Bridger put his fingers to her lips, “Lucas can do it in the morning.”

“But that doesn’t seem fair. After all he did do all the cooking and it’ll take him hours to…”

“Yes, I know… but maybe if we’re really lucky, the next time he wants to thank us he’ll remember all that dirty crockery and take us out for pizza instead.”

“Oh you are wicked.”

“If you think that’s wicked, you just wait and see what I have planned for the next hour.” He replied and captured her lips with his…