Author's notes: This is essentially a refocusing of episode 1 from season 2 titled "The Child" . I always thought this episode was very endearing, but the production was weak and suffered from bad timing, among other things. The story wasn't told the way I would have liked, so I decided to write my own version.
Mostly drama; a little angst; lots of comfort, friendship and romance…and a little eeriness…just the way I like it and I hope you do too.
This is my first 'published' fanfiction piece so please, send me some feedback. It's like fuel. I'd love to read your intelligent opinions and criticism so I can keep writing and improving and posting new chapters in. Tell me what you like and don't like about the story.
Disclaimer: I do not own or claim to own anything related to the Star Trek universe. I just like to play with it.
The Star Trek TNG episode titled "The Child" was originally written by Jaron Summers, Jon Povill and Maurice Hurley, and directed by Rob Bowman.
A big and loud 'thank you!' to BEM96 for sharing her time and gift with words. Her corrections and suggestions made all the difference.
The Child
Chapter 1
This one won't do.
The sphere of energy hovering over the snoring man spun around once more and gathered momentum to pass through the top bulkhead. It entered another confined space as its curiosity drove it to find an ideal host to permit its transition into the species it found so new and interesting. So far, none of the multiple beings the orb had come across would do. It would keep searching. Given the number of potential hosts, it was bound to find one soon.
The luminescent orb hovered directly over the aura surrounding the sleeping body in the darkened room.
The features on this one were different. It was smaller, with abundant dark hair splayed out on the pillow. The body had significantly more curves than several of the other beings.
Another female.
The orb had been observing the species on this vessel for several of their cycles and had gathered enough information, not only to be able to identify their particular characteristics, but to be immensely curious about them. It knew that it needed a female of the species, just as it had been in most of the other species it had encountered and studied. The orb hoped it found in this one, the kind of host it was looking for.
In fact, the orb really liked this one, far more than all the other females it had found. It was attracted to her by more than pure curiosity. There was uniqueness about her aura. The energy that was being projected by her neural activity in this state of hibernation was soothing, calming, and very inviting.
The orb's light dimmed to a barely detectable degree as it approached the sleeping form. The orb slid through the atmosphere in the room, air particles accommodating back into place in its wake as it made its way towards her. It came to a lazy stop right above her face and then dipped down, barely an inch from her skin. The orb linked itself to her biological energy and slowly, silently began to familiarize itself with her.
It had already inspected enough of them to recognize what made them all the same. Now the orb wanted to know what made this one unique. It focused on the particular energy that concentrated at the topmost part of her body. It was different from the rest.
Communication resources exceed sensory perception.
That was most certainly a tempting reason to select her, but the orb continued its reconnaissance of her form and composition. It was always very selective in its choice of hosts.
It made a detailed pass of her face, moving in an apparently erratic but precise and smooth pattern. The orb navigated down her neck towards the rest of her body. The pheromones rising from the skin on her neck were impossible to dismiss.
The orb continued its course pausing at her rising and falling chest. The muscle that circulated life supporting fluids along her entire organism produced a rhythmic, low-frequency sound whose beats had been steadily increasing in speed since the orb had begun its transit of her frame.
Indication of immediate awareness...instinctual response.
It passed between her breasts, across the plain below, and reached the small indentation at her middle, where her body had once been physically attached to her host during her initial phase of life. After lingering there for a moment, the orb stopped and circled.
This was it; the place that would provide the optimal conditions to receive the life-giving support of its host.
The orb spared no more time.
As it gathered its focus, the light surrounding it became brighter and brighter as the orb resumed its path down and then dissolved.
*
The woman woke gradually, so much that she could perceive the waking of each layer of her consciousness as it happened. She became aware of her surroundings. Familiar. Her bedroom. But she wasn't lying like had thought she was. She tried to move, but her body didn't respond. Her brain ordered her body to move, but it was still…a mind body disconnect, a stage of deep sleep she had suddenly half awoken from. A spark of panic shot a hot burst of adrenaline within her chest. She felt her heart beating fast.
Calm down, it's just sleep paralysis and it's happened once before. I just have to wait it out. My body will wake up eventually. There's no sense in panicking.
She tried to talk herself into calming down, and she was succeeding, but it as she relaxed, her senses perceived a separate presence in her proximity. Deanna sensed awareness from it, but she couldn't reach beyond that. A sense of apprehension invaded her even though she could not detect any hostile intentions from it.
With no warning it came very close, stopping above her eyebrows. Her heartbeat sped up again, but the reaction wasn't out of fear. There was a conscious presence within that source of light...and it was hovering above her skin, moving in an arbitrary pattern of circles, loops and pauses. Deanna couldn't avoid the increasing anxiety this was creating. Her racing heart beat in a body that wouldn't obey the orders from her brain. An unknown presence had invaded her bedroom and was extremely interested in her...it justified the privilege of having a panic attack.
She concentrated on taking deep, even breaths to settle the anxiety while the presence traveled her immobilized frame; across her neck, where it paused for a brief moment. Then it continued down past her breasts, down her stomach and circled around her navel until it stopped right below it. Instantly the presence collected its energy as it hovered lower, and in one unhurried moment it was within her. She felt it enter, and soon the sensation quickly dissipated.
When everything was back to normal, Deanna felt her body reconnecting with her brain. She regained movement in her fingers, then her hands, her toes, her arms, her feet…it was all back. She curled up on her side and inhaled deeply, her eyes blinking wide open and staring into the darkness of the room as her heartbeat pounded in her ears.
****
The communication system in her quarters chimed indicating an incoming voice conference request. It chimed three times before it nudged her from her placid sleep. Dr Beverly Crusher checked her bedside clock with one half-closed eye. 05:24 hours. There was no way she would ever grow accustomed to the 'pre-dawn emergency call'. For the caller's sake, she hoped this was a real critical emergency.
"Crusher here."
An agitated voice greeted her, "Beverly...I'm sorry to wake you..."
"Deanna?" Beverly said groggily. The anxiety in the counselor's voicemade her lift herself up onto her elbows and pay closer attention. "What's wrong? Where are you?" Beverly's professional response and friendlyconcern fused into her questions.
"In my quarters...Beverly, something very strange happened to me last night. Something was here…in my bedroom…" she trailed off. Deanna felt unable to articulate what she had experienced…it was still too close.
"Oh my god, Deanna, did you call Security? Are you alright?" the doctor's questions rushed out as she hurried out of bed.
"I think I'm alright now. When I woke up, I couldn't move. There was a presence…very close…"
Deanna was having trouble organizing her thoughts. The lack of sleep and sudden loss of her adrenalin rush had left her in a daze.
Beverly changed out of her sleeping clothes with practiced speed as she tried to make sense of the words the counselor continued to utter, scattered, partially formed thoughts...light, awareness, presence…
"Deanna…" Beverly tried to interrupt her, but the counselor continued rambling.
"Deanna, stop talking. Listen." Dr Crusher spoke in a calm and authoritative manner which usually worked in moments like this one. When she heard silence, the doctor continued, "Are you well enough to meet me in sickbay right now, or do you need me to come to you?" She asked as she put on her second shoe.
There was a pause, then an unsteady reply, "I can meet you there."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes."
"Okay, go straight to sickbay. I'll be waiting in my office." Beverly quickly ended the communication, grabbed her tricorder and rushed to the express lift to her office.
****
Dr Crusher walked into a dimly lit sickbay, hearing only minor activity in the lab section and the sound of a couple of sleeping patients. Nurse Zeleyas stepped out of an adjacent section to begin her rounds.
"Dr Crusher! I didn't expect to see you here at this hour", nurse Zelayes welcomed her in a surprised but hushed tone. "Can I help you with anything?"
Beverly replied with a weary smile, "No, don't let me distract you Aleena. Counselor Troi will be here in a few minutes. Please show her to my office, I'll be waiting for her there."
"Of course, doctor. Is...Counselor Troi alright?" She asked, allowing a touch of concern into her voice.
"I'm sure she's fine." The doctor answered with a sleepy, reassuring smile. She quickly walked into her office to avoid any more well-intended enquiries.
****
Deanna changed into a clean pair of soft, cotton yoga pants and a fitted white tank top. She picked up the light fleece jacket that she had draped across the back of a chair. She was unsettled and her movements were slightly awkward as she stepped into her slippers, and wrapped the soft fleece around herself as she walked out the door. As she stepped into the hallway, Deanna regained her balance and zipped her jacket up halfway. Her hands hid inside the fuzzy front pockets the rest of the way to sickbay. Maybe they would warm up by the time she got there.
****
Not long after Dr Crusher settled into her office chair, the sound of the main sickbay door made its way to her ears. She heard Aleena quietly inform the counselor that the doctor was waiting in her office, and Deanna's grateful reply followed by her footsteps. Dr Crusher looked up just as the counselor's form appeared at the entrance to her office.
Deanna's face was flushed and framed by loose, slightly mussed curls. She was trying to remain composed, but Beverly detected an almost imperceptible trembling in her arms and throughout her frame. Her friend's expression justified the concern she felt from the moment she received the disturbing call. The agitation in Deanna's voice during the call was something she hadn't often heard, and that itself was cause for some worry. Something happened to her and it had seriously frightened her. Beverly stood immediately and went to her.
"No change?" she inquired as she placed her hands on Deanna's shoulders and gently guided her to a bed in one of the private examination rooms.
Deanna shook her head, "I felt better for a while, but then I started feeling like this again so I called you", she replied in a wavering voice as she allowed Beverly to guide her.
"You're trembling" Dr Crusher observed, "Are you cold?" She asked in a calm, steady voice as they reached the bed and Deanna got up onto it.
"A little" She replied. Deanna let Dr Crusher guide her down onto the soft surface of the bed, where she curled up on her side. She didn't want to think right now so she closed her eyes, shielded her senses and gave in to the complete trust she had in her friend; the unsteadiness in her mind and body beginning to overwhelm her again.
Beverly immediately detected the unsteadiness and detachment in the counselor. She needed to get her talking to try to describe what she thought caused this. As Dr Crusher ran a scan on the counselor, she tried to make relevant conversation with her.
"You said you had a nightmare; that the symptoms began when you awoke from it?" Beverly sorted through the scan results as they appeared while she waited for Troi's answer. Her adrenaline levels were abnormally high for a person who was supposed to be trying to sleep. Her body temperature was lower than normal, which combined with the fading adrenaline in her system caused chills, explaining the trembling. As Beverly reached for a blanket from one of the bed's storage compartments, Deanna spoke in a halting voice.
"No...I woke up and I tried to move, but I couldn't."
"Sleep paralysis." Crusher stated.
Deanna nodded, "I began to panic, but I was able to calm down a bit with a breathing exercise...then I sensed it."
The Counselor was still a little shaky, but she was composed enough to talk coherently.
Dr Crusher tucked the blanket around her while she listened to Troi speak.
"It was there, in my bedroom...a presence...watching me..." She focused on a random spot across the room as she spoke.
Dr Crusher was beginning to imagine the worst.
"What happened, Deanna? Are you hurt? Were you assaulted?" She needed to know exactly what happened so she could treat or reverse any damage.
Troi sensed the doctor's increasing concern and focused back on her, "No, no...it didn't hurt me...it...", she recalled the event, remembering how she felt as it travelled along her body .
"What did it do?" The doctor encouraged Deanna to continue. When the pause continued for too long, Beverly leaned in and spoke in a warm voice, "Deanna, you're light years away. Focus."
A few seconds passed and then Troi continued. Using a still shaky hand to trace its motions, the counselor recounted the path that the presence had taken along her paralized body. Dr Crusher listened and observed every detail of her description.
"...and stopped here." She rested her hand on her flat belly. "The energy I felt from it got stronger...and then it was...inside me." The last two words were spoken with a mixture of wonderment and disbelief. It was the first time she had spoken them and it gave the experience a whole different flavor.
Beverly had pulled up a stool and was sitting by Deanna, giving her undivided attention to the counselor's words and condition. More than her physical condition, it was the detachment that Deanna projected that worried Dr Crusher. Beverly gently took her friend's hand from where it rested on her belly and held it between them on the soft linen. Perhaps the contact would reconnect her enough and get her back to herself again.
"Could it have been an hallucination from the sleep paralysis?" the doctor kept her voice warm but professional.
The counselor focused inward now and tried to give Beverly some more detail, "It…It was too real. The presence was strong and I saw the light above me." Deanna's voice carried more conviction than moments before. "I felt…" she paused to remember the sensations, glad that her skin was already slightly flushed "It was too real."
Deanna felt an irrational need to protect the whole experience. She felt it becoming increasingly difficult to share it in more detail. Yes, she had panicked for a moment, but there had been nothing hostile or frightening about it. As she recalled it now, it had been eerily intimate, and it was something she just didn't want to share with Beverly, or with anyone.
Deanna took a long, calming breath, "I was able to move again after it disappeared."
The counselor went silent and blinked a couple of times, her eyes settling on their joined hands.
Equally silent, Dr Crusher reached for another tricorder, and releasing the counselor's hand, she folded the blanket back partially off her and ran a localized scan.
**
They both remained silent while the scan progressed; the severity of the situation still unclear. Deanna kept her eyes shut and just tried to relax, feeling the rush of anxiety subsiding. Dr Crusher guided the tricorder as the scan offered several readings, and as the results appeared, Beverly noticed a familiar pattern.
Deanna almost appeared to be deep meditation, but she was discreetly monitoring Beverly's emotions as she worked. Except for the continual stream of apprehension that had been there from the beginning of their meeting, the doctor's emotions were fairly balanced as she focused on the tricorder.
Then, the counselor sensed a change in the steady stream of emotion flowing from the doctor as she came to a realization that was not yet evident to Deanna. What she could identify was a combination of familiarity, surprise and a little…disbelief. The counselor knew then that Dr Crusher had conclusive results.
Deanna opened her eyes "What did you find?" she asked with impatience.
Beverly looked up at her, then back at her tricorder.
"Beverly" the counselor was more insistent.
"Deanna…" Dr Crusher chose her words with caution, knowing full well that the counselor had been practically stalking her emotions the whole time. She spoke slowly and carefully, unable to find a more tactful way of saying it, "...you're pregnant".
**
Counselor Troi slowly parted her lips to speak, but no words came out. She didn't know why, but it made sense. The presence inside her...what it did...the way it left her feeling...
"And it looks like you're almost at four weeks." the doctor added.
What? Four weeks? Deanna was thrown off.
A sudden flash of a very pleasant memory filled her mind. That last night they were together...it had been totally spontaneous and felt completely right. Could it be? Was she really pregnant with his baby? Could what she thought had happened when she woke up all have just been some sort of a bad dream?
Deanna calmly lifted herself up and sat on the edge of the bed, her bare feet hovering several inches from the floor and her hands loosely holding the edge of the bed. A dreamy smile softened her features as she considered the facts.
Beverly watched her expression change and felt a weight was lifted.
The counselor, still smiling, turned to her friend, "Really?" The word was hushed, but conveyed so much joy.
Beverly let out a sigh of relief, and allowed herself to revel in the joy of it with her friend. "Really. The readings indicate that the fetus is in an early embryonic stage. Are you feeling well enough to do an ultrasound?" She asked with evident joy in her voice.
The counselor responded with an enthusiastic nod. She couldn't find any reason at all to wipe the smile from her face. She wasn't at all prepared for this, but she welcomed it nonetheless. Deanna could think of nothing that could make her happier as she thought of ways to give Will the news.
****
Beverly had rolled in the portable ultrasound imaging device that she kept at hand for emergencies. She positioned it beside the bed just above the counselor's head. The counselor lay quietly on the bed while Dr Crusher worked.
Deanna had had several minutes to herself while Beverly went off to prep the ultrasound device. During that moment of privacy she contemplated the meaning of it all; of having a child in her life, in Will's life. She had sat quietly as she pondered.
Now, with the ultrasound screen humming close to her ear, she gave in to the urge of stealing another peek. It was quite pointless since she couldn't interpret what she was seeing. But she looked anyway, excited at the prospect of what the distorted image implied.
Dr Crusher slid the end of the probe across the bare skin of Deanna's exposed belly, adding pressure here, twisting there and making the image on the monitor jump now and then.
"Did you find it?" Deanna could barely contain her excitement.
"Almost. And stop twisting around. You're making me lose my place." Beverly chastised her with a smile in her voice.
"Sorry," Deanna said impishly. She lay very still, anxious to see the evidence with her own eyes. After another few minutes, Dr Crusher tapped some commands into the monitor with her free hand and declared her finding.
"There it is", she announced triumphantly, "your baby…"
Her tone faded and her expression changed as she said the word. She squinted at the screen, like she was looking at something she had never seen before.
Wait...what? Beverly was bewildered. That's not what the scan read fifteen minutes ago.
Deanna perceived the change in her and immediately looked away from the screen to study the doctor's face. "What's wrong?" she asked in a somber tone.
"Uh..." Beverly's eyes went from the tricorder with the first precise reading, to the ultrasound screen, not knowing how to handle this very confusing bit of evidence. She opted for sincerity, "I don't know if I'm interpreting this correctly..."
Deanna felt herself growing anxious again, "Just say it, Beverly. Don't walk on eggshells around me. It's a pointless thing to do with an empath."
"You're right. I'm sorry." Beverly said with a shake of her head. So she took a more rational approach, "What startled me is that what we're seeing from this ultrasound is not what the previous scan read fifteen minutes ago."
Although her tone was not exactly grim or urgent, Dr Crusher's words were having a sobering effect on Deanna.
"The first scan showed an embryo in a very early stage of development. Slightly over 3 weeks." Beverly handed the tricorder with the data to Deanna while she elevated the bed's backrest for her. "This reading you have here" the doctor pointed at a column of data on the small display, "indicates that your baby is just beginning the process of forming, among other things, the neural groove. That is what will eventually become its spinal cord and brain."
Beverly then turned to the larger screen beside the bed. "This reading here shows a fetus already in the process of developing organs." She looked Deanna in the eyes in an effort to convey the critical nature of this information, "There is a significant difference between these readings, Deanna. Neither Human nor Betazoid embryos develop this quickly."
Both women stared at the display of medical data before them, but only the doctor was doing any reading. "I need another scan. It could be a system error", she looked at the counselor, "Let me get another scan with the tricorder, okay?"
Deanna nodded, lost in thought. The possibility of this baby being hers and Will's had felt right somehow…even with the uncertainty of how he would react when he learned the news. What she thought happened earlier could have very well been a symptom of her sleep paralysis. She knew vivid hallucinations were common during an episode. Deanna hoped with all her heart that the odd readings were in fact a glitch in the tricorder…but Beverly's troubled emotions, and her own ominous memory of that intelligent consciousness she perceived from whatever was in her bedroom that night, haunted her.
Dr Crusher completed the scan…for the second time. She no longer had the luxury of doubting what she was seeing.
"Deanna?" she spoke quietly and waited for her friends gaze to return to the present moment. When it did, she began.
"Everything that I've found is telling me that the fetus is growing at an accelerated rate. Every time I take a reading, it's further along in its development." Her words were precise, but her tone was gentle. "This rate of growth, Deanna, means the fetus is no more than six hours old, but it is around four weeks into its development."
The words hung in the air. The silence in the small room seemed loud and heavy.