The time came to meet the guys and the unknowing Lucas at the lab. Rose clumsily found her way there, thankful for the digital map. She stepped inside, the first one there. Looking around at the workspace that her great aunt used to occupy. On the wall was a picture of Dr.Westphalen and that made her smile. Rose resolved to call her aunt as soon as she had a chance and thank her again for helping her get the job. A knock came at the door, pulling her out of her thoughts.
" Come in!" She said.
In walked Mitch and Derrick. They both had shit eating grins on their faces.
" You ready to knock Lucas's socks off?" Derrick said, a mischievous look on his face.
" Yes. I'm so excited!"
Mitch was at the door watching. Suddenly he jumped in, closing the door." He's just turned the corner!"
" Oh my God. This is crazy!" Rose said.
Then came the knock.
" Come in." Mitch answered.
Lucas came in and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw her.
" Rose? How? I was told Dr.Westphalen's Niece was here and needed a tour guide!"
" We know! We arranged it with Commander Ortiz!" She grinned." So, um this is the great job opportunity I didn't tell you much about!" She broke away from the other two men.
They both looked in each other's eyes and smiled.
" You work here now?" Lucas was thrilled.
" I do. Maybe we can properly get to know each other? " she arched an inquisitive eyebrow at him.
" Are you sure? I mean you just got out of your engagement."
" It's true, I'm mourning the loss of what used to be, but he hurt me. I knew he was seeing that tramp. And we were done long ago."
" Well, then let's start slow, all right ?" He was afraid she'd change her mind and decide she needed to be alone, he wanted to start as friends, even though they had all ready connected once.
" Ok. But any chance I could have a hug? I was so excited when I ran into them." She pointed her head toward Mitch and Derrick. " I got really excited thinking you were here. I'm kind of jumping out of my skin a little."
" Yeah, hey, yeah, come here!" He took her hand and pulled her into a warm embrace. Her hair smelled fresh as the ocean air, like she had been outside. Then he caught a hint of perfume that smelled like a tangy citrus blend, light and energizing.
" I'm so happy to know someone here! I thought I was going to be all alone!" She said relieved.
" Not with us around you won't be." Mitch chimed in.
" Hey, maybe we should give them time alone?" Derrick suggested, arching his eyebrows.
" Yeah, let them have their moment." Mitch agreed.
" Guys, let's all have dinner at 5 at the mess hall. We'll bring our girls, and it can be a big group thing." Derrick suggested.
Lucas had let go of Rose but stayed close. He agreed.
" That's a great idea."
" You guys have girlfriends?" Rose asked.
" Yeah, we'll bring them with, then you'll have some girls to talk to." Mitch said.
" Oh, that's a great idea, thanks guys. Hey thanks for helping me with this meeting." She grinned at them both.
" Awe, you got it. We just, you know, thought you two maybe deserved a chance. Lucas, teach her how to reach us if she needs anything. We're gunna bounce, got some things we do need to do before dinner." Derrick came up to them, hugged Rose and tapped Lucas on the back." See ya later guys!"
Mitch followed Derrick, also tapping Lucas on the back the way they do when men don't want to hug each other but still have affection for each other. That left Rose and Lucas alone.
" So you're really Dr.Westphalen's Niece?" He watched her with awe in his eyes as she answered.
Her smile was infectious." Yes, she's actually my mom's aunt. She apparently had a long talk with the Captain about me. I'm just grateful he is willing to give me a chance."
" Now I am too! Let's go for a walk. I'll show you around."
" Please do." Rose kept her eyes open and paid attention to details as they walked. She finally decided to ask what the water filled tubes were for.
" You'll find this interesting because Dr.Westphalen was involved in their creation. We have had a dolphin named Darwin on board for the past twenty years. He doesn't just stay in the tubes we have a huge tank called the moon pool, he comes up for air and the Doc and I developed a system to turn his clicks and whistles into language we understand. It also translates back to him. It took us a decade to get the worst of the bugs out, but we're in good communication with him now."
" A dolphin? Lives on the sub? Seriously?"
Lucas grinned." Yeah, when I was younger he was one of my only friends when I first came here. I was kind of that dorky, nerdy, science and tech kid." He grinned.
" I see that's changed some. Your buddies are a trip. You should've seen them when they saw me earlier. They couldn't wait for you to see me."
" That was a good prank. You all got me good. You know, I loved working with Doc Westphalen. If you talk to her would you tell her Hi for me? She was a good influence on me after my parents dumped me here. "
" Sure I will. I'm sure she wouldn't mind hearing from you. See how things have been since she retired. She's very big on gardening these days. She has this amazing flower maze in her back yard. I'll have to show you some pictures sometime. She's very good at social media these days."
Lucas chuckled." She was always very into technology and science."
" You got that right."
" So what do you think about the SeaQuest?"
" This place is amazing. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be lost quite often... It's going to take awhile to get used to these tunnels, everything looks alike."
" Yeah, it is pretty clinical. You'll start to recognize the minor things though and there are always the map hubs you can link into."
" I'm very grateful for that!" She looked up and suddenly there was Darwin up above them. " Holy shit! Is that Darwin?"
Lucas looked up and grinned. " Yeah!" He pushed a button on the wall and spoke. " Hey Darwin!"
" Hello Lucas. Lucas swim? "
" I was just coming to bring you a new friend. Go to the moon pool, we'll meet you there buddy." He turned to her, " well, I guess we may as well go visit him. You wanna go swimming?"
" Uh, I don't think I have a swim suit..."
" No worries, we have lots of wetsuits. I'm sure we've got one in your size. Let's go. You're going to live Darwin." Lucas grabbed her hand and they took off for the moon pool.
When they got there Lucas went over to a storage locker where the wet suits were kept. Rose followed close behind.
" These are cool wetsuits! Like, do I get to keep one?" She asked shyly.
" Sure! They're for anybody, but if you find one that fits, you can take it. We have laundry facilities, just make sure you put your name on your stuff. Otherwise the launderers will toss them."
" Okay. Good to know. " she started rifling through the closet and found one that should fit. " This looks about right." She took it off the hanger.
" Great! And...this should work for me. There's a changing area over here." He led her to the co-ed changing room equipped with showers. It was small, but did offer a small bit of privacy, with a set of lockers in the middle creating almost 2 rooms in a way. On the outside walls were 2 shower stalls. And more lockers.
" I hope this doesn't freak you out, but it is co-ed." Lucas explained.
" That's fine, sort of I guess. We'll make it work." She followed him in. They were the only people in there. Rose looked around.
" do I just grab a locker?"
" Yep. Whatever doesn't have a lock on it is fair game. I'll go on this side so you can have some privacy."
" Ok." Rose found an empty locker and set her shoes in the bottom. Then she started stripping down," Wow, this feels funny, I don't think I've been in a locker room since High school!" She mused.
" Yeah it definitely will be can adjustment. It's not to bad though." Lucas was changing as fast as possible. He was very excited to take her into the tunnels with Darwin.
" I'm ready. Want me to wait out side?"
" Just zipping up and I'm ready." He answered.
" Okay."
Lucas came around the corner," Oh, wow, you look great..." He was slightly breathless. The wetsuit didn't leave much to the imagination and it hugged her every curve just so.
Rose blushed." Thanks. You do too." She liked his shape. Slightly tapered waste, broad shoulders...mildly muscular thighs...she was digging it all.
" Um...I think I need to get in the pool or else I'm going to need a cold shower!" She laughed.
" I know the feeling. Come with me." He felt himself blushing." there's steps down in over here." He walked to the side up a couple steps to a platform that had steps down into the pool. Rose followed him and was pleased with the temperature of the water. Suddenly Darwin swam up making all sorts of noise. Then he spoke.
" Lucas bring friend?"
" Yeah buddy. This is Rose. She works here now too. She is part of Dr.Westphalen's pod." Lucas answered.
" Darwin understand. Hello Rose."
" Hi Darwin!" Her eyes glowed." this is amazing! You and my Aunt created this language system?"
He smiled, even blushing a little." Yep. And luckily Darwin was very cooperative."
" Darwin miss Doctor. " Darwin said.
" I'll tell her next time I talk to her." Rose answered, reaching out to touch him. Her fingers ran along his back. " Darwin, you're a good looking dolphin."
" Yes!" Darwin answered.
" He's real bashful I'm sure you can tell. He's always so smooth with the ladies." Lucas joked.
" As well he should be! He's handsome! And seriously healthy. It's surprising for his age and being a resident mainly on the sub. You truly take amazing care of him don't you?" Her eyes searched Lucas's.
" Yeah, we have a very strict diet for him, but made sure he gets all the nutrients he needs. We also let him out into the ocean as often as possible to hunt and swim. We like him to not completly rely on us, we didn't want him to be totally spoiled. He even helps on some missions. I developed a breathing apparatus called the aqua lung made specially for him so when we are too deep he can still breathe. And he can travel longer distances. We have a monitor attached to him that gives us his GPS location so we don't lose him. Also it is equipped with an alarm that goes off of he gets too far from SeaQuest. "
" Wow. This is much more than I expected. I'm truly in awe."
" Lucas, swim? Rose swim?" Darwin asked.
" Wanna go for a swim in the tubes?" Lucas asked her.
" Seriously? You even have to ask?" Rose shot him a grin.
" Oh man, you're really going to fit right in here. As a safety precaution on your suit is a mini-respirator. It's there if anything happens and the tubes fully flood. It's highly unlikely that it would happen but it's there just incase. It has 2 hours of air, if you use it there's a refilling station that I'll show you when we get out, don't ever forget to replace it. " Lucas was all business when it came to safety, but Rose was glad for the information. " Always check your air before you go into the tubes."
" Got it. " she checked hers just to be safe.
" You good?"
" Yep, it's full."
Lucas inspected his as well." So's mine. Okay. Ready?"
" Sure!" If you get lost or anything happens Darwin will help you out of I can't. Some people start feeling claustrophobic and panic. If that happens tell Darwin 'Help' he'll know to get you to safety. "
" All right. I'm not prone to panic attacks, so we should be good." Rose reassured him.
Lucas smiled," All right,let's go. The tubes do have a pocket of air so you should be good, but don't forget your spare air just in case."
" Got it. I am big on safety first, I'm,glad to have this information."
" I try to be thorough with new crew members."
" Hmmm I like the sound of that." Rose shot him a wink.
Lucas's face turned red all over again. Lord, she liked that he was kind of shy. It was fun teasing him. At the same time it spoke of his character, he was a genuine good guy. Things could certainly get interesting.