The Bunker

Chapter Seventeen: Closer

Lucas looked up when the door opened, the slow motioned side-eyed looked he received from Keptner made him sit up straight and watch him leave through the stairwell door. Something felt off about the look he gave him, Lucas stood up and watched through the window as Keptner ran his hand through his hair as he walked up the stairs. Lucas looked over at The Med Bay and for a moment considered running after Kept to see what was going on, but he knew he would have to come back so he turned and walked through the sliding doors.

Once he came around the corner he looked over to see Claire standing there, the look of distraught on her face, he couldn't walk over to her faster, "Claire? What happened?"

"Your boss has a really good way of making people feel...small," Claire took a deep breath, the end of it going in was shaky, but she held herself tall, "It's fine."

"No, it's not. Talk to me," Lucas took a step closer to her, "What happened?"

Claire looked up at him, catching his eyes and sighing, "He is mad you broke contact. Said he took the fall, took the punishment for it. I can't help but feel like..." Claire looked off, "...like I shouldn't be here."

"No," Lucas shook his head, "Don't say that. Claire listen to me, " Lucas stepped forward more and cupped her face in his hands, "If he wants to tell me that bringing you here was wrong, that's fine. That's what he believes. But if I had the choice, if I had an option to save every single person out there...I would." Claire's eyes focused on his, "So I brought a girl into the bunker? If one person makes a difference, then something is seriously wrong here. It's clear there are too many people, but I can't fix that. You're one person, and I bet no matter what...things would be the same. If I didn't bring you with me, Keptner would still have a stick up his ass. Hansen probably still wouldn't like me, I mean...I'm not everyone's favorite person."

"You're liked by all those guys, " Claire smiled softly, "They all had something nice to say about you."

Lucas smirked, "Yeah, well...they're not too bad. They're all I have."

"That's what Keptner said," Claire nodded, "You guys were his family."

"Look, I can handle Kept. I know him, he'll get over it. We are all here, there's no where we can go." His thumbs rubbed her cheeks lightly, "I couldn't leave you behind. I would never get you out of my mind."

Claire sighed with a smile, she reached up and grabbed his hand, "Are you flirting with your doctor?"

"Defiantly," Lucas grinned.

Claire took a slight step back from him and pointed to the bed, "Can you take a seat...take your shirt off as well."

"Now I think my doctor is flirting with me," Lucas smiled and pulled off his long sleeve shirt, placing it on the end of the bed and sitting down. 

Claire picked up the tablet and pulled up Lucas's file, "Lucas Greene, age?"

Lucas grinned, "Twenty-eight."

"Blood type?" Claire poked at the screen, eyeing him from the end of the bed.

"B positive." Lucas folded his hands in his lap.

"Ok, you don't smoke," Claire looked up at him and saw him grin, "Do you drink?"

"No." 

"Exercise?" Claire knew the answer, he was very fit, but she couldn't assume.

"Few days a week." He nodded, "I enjoy...enjoyed running in the park."

"Me too," Claire looked surprised, "Never saw you there."

"It's a big park," He shrugged.

"Yeah," She smiled, "Oh, um...sexually active?" She chuckled lightly, "It's on here, I sware."

Lucas grinned a little, feeling shy all of a sudden, "Um...I have been. Not...not in a couple months."

"Ok," Claire wrote that down, she felt embarrassed, but she was just doing her job.

"Emily," Lucas started, Claire looked over at him, "My ex, her name was Emily. We were together for a couple years. She uh...she broke up with me four months ago."

"What happened?" Claire stopped herself, "Wow, I'm sorry. That is not on the tablet."

"It's ok, " He nodded, "She was moving up in the world. She got a promotion at work, I lost my job. I tried, I never just...hung around. But it started to become clear that she was going places and I...wasn't. Her family was wealthy, she had it all. And I thought I did when I met her, we moved in together and I thought...that it was it. She was the one...but she started to realize I was not the one." Lucas's eyes drifted away, Claire would tell, "I came home one day to her stuff mostly packed up. She was moving out...already moving in with someone else."

"Wow," Claire took a deep breath, "I'm sorry."

Lucas's eyes focused toward her, "I'm not."

Claire smiled, looking back down at her tablet, "Family medical history?"

"My mom died of lung cancer. My father is, or was an alcoholic." Lucas bit the inside of his cheek.

"Is that why you don't drink?" Claire asked.

Lucas nodded, "Yeah, he was a bastard to grow up around. He smoked a lot too, my mother never did...yet she was the one who got cancer."

"That's not fair," Claire looked down.

"No, but it happened," Lucas nodded, "That's why I haven't been home."

"Not even for Gracie?" Claire didn't want to dig, but she wanted to know everything about him.

"My brother, Ryan, he's a good kid. He sends me updates. Photos. I talked to her on facetime." Lucas stopped, he seemed to freeze almost, "I...hope she's alive."

"Lucas," Claire walked over to him, "I'm so sorry."

"She's probably not," Water bubbled in his eyes, "Right? I mean...no one is."

Claire sat on the bed next to him, she reached over and grabbed his hand, "We don't know that."

"I can imagine," He nodded.

"Lucas," the way she said his name, it was so firm, he had to look over to her, "We don't know that. You can't assume that." He nodded, "Well...let's check your heart...your lungs...blood pressure, then you can get to work. I hate to keep you longer."

Lucas looked down at her hand on his, "I don't." He smirked.