As always and forever Star Trek is owned by Paramount, of which I do not have any connection to. The story is my original work. I make no money at these stories.
Sixteen and a Day
Sweet sixteen. A time where every dream from childhood is either filed as the rambling of child, or explored as an adult. Where exploration and personal growth become part and parcel with rebellion and independence. Where a girl finds that she has snuck up on womanhood without knowing it. A time where Julie Riker finds that she is completely fed up with her life. It was one thing to have top marks in every class, and even have credits that would transfer to the Academy when she enrolled. It was remarkable that both of her parents were command rank officers who served shipboard, and yet she lived with both of them, and had only moved once in her life; that was only to a larger apartment one deck away from where she had lived before. She had vacationed in exotic locales that most kids her age had only read about, if even that. Put simply she led a relatively pampered and easy life.
Most of her peers never saw the other side. They never thought about the constant battle to be accepted by people as an individual, and not the Captain's daughter. They never thought about the constant readiness drills. It did not even enter their minds that every day brought a new possibility for her home to be destroyed by the Gods only knew what. And to top it off, they never, ever thought that anyone would trade this life for a simple college dorm living on a single planet for years at a time. Yet this was what she wanted more than anything. In less than two years she would leave here, to join Starfleet herself. Granted, she knew that she wanted to serve on a starship when she was done, as a counselor. But at the moment all she really wanted was to be a simple plebe whose life revolved around study and drill, on Earth.
Sitting down on the bed in her room, she forced herself to change her mood. She really wanted a simple book, a cup of hot chocolate, and to snuggle under a blanket. Her parents had other plans. She had gotten a message on her personal terminal earlier that morning, after the birthday breakfast that her father had cooked. They wanted her to dress up and meet them in the lounge at 1930. That left her just enough time to figure out what to wear and shower. Heaving both a verbal and mental sigh she headed for the shower. Oh well, as far as I know it is only the four of us. At least they aren't going to make a big deal out of this.
"Stop pacing. They will be here when they get here." The First Officer of the USS Titan tried to placate the Captain, and her husband. She was attempting to keep the exasperation out of her voice, but not succeeding very well. "Tina's last hail said just over an hour and it has only been forty five minutes since then. They'll be here."
"And you are sure Julie doesn't know what's going on?"
"Not a clue. For all she knows it is going to be just us tonight. I don't know how but you have succeeded in doing something that I would have thought impossible. An entire starship has kept a secret for almost two weeks." Everyone on board knew they were meeting the Enterprise. There were normal transfers to take place, but the important thing was the passengers that she was carrying. First and foremost were Jean Luc, Beverly, and Yvette Picard. With the Admiral's reach he could commandeer any ship he wanted, invariably it was always the Enterprise. This had the very fortunate side effect of bringing Captain Tina LeBeau and Commander Tom Riker here as well. The icing on the cake was Mother, Barin, and his wife Cameryn. She let her mind return to Tom and Tina. Tom was unknowingly carrying on a tradition that she and Will had held, that a Riker would continue to serve on that ship. Like Will he had become so enamored with her that Deanna doubted that he would leave her unless he found himself in a similar situation that led Will here. Truthfully she figured that he would stay for the same reason. While they had a different relationship than Will and Tina did, there was little doubt in Deanna's mind that Tom was more than a little taken by his captain, and vice versa. Tom had really found himself in the last few years. This Riker was not as headstrong and maintained a steady long term vision. When Tina left to take the Enterprise she had actually requested that Tom be offered the little chair. The two of them were an excellent pairing. I am simply waiting for them to tell me that they were openly more than coworkers. But then again, if he still has the same streak that Will did, both of them will retire first.
She began to tick off the arrangements, now that Will wasn't pacing as much. However he was still worrying more than when she had been in labor with both of her children. "Everything is ready. All we are waiting on are the people. But I know that is not all that you are worried about. It was the only way that we could manage to arrange this whole thing. The performance review will take care of itself. You have known Admiral Janeway since the Academy and except for when you have to report to him, Jean Luc and you have been on a first name basis for the better part of twenty years, and fifteen more before that as his right arm. You have nothing to worry about. Now what you need to think about is giving your eldest child the best birthday of her life. Now if you don't calm down the rest of the way I am going to relieve you of duty and confine you to your quarters."
"Number One," he smiled at his wife, "acting as my conscience and calming guide may work any other time, but not today."
"Everything is going to be fine. I know that you hate reviews, but you have been through enough of them now that you should quit worrying about them. Just think about the party and let everything else sort itself out. On a slightly different subject, did you make sure they had Julie's present with them?"
"Jean Luc has it. That was a wonderful idea. She needs a new instrument." In typically Riker fashion not only had Julie given her violin to Tina when she left, she had the same problem with replicated instruments that Will did. She did have one, but she was never happy with the tone. Since then every time either of them heard her play they recalled the memory of the birthday where Will received his "newest" trombone.
"What did he manage to find? I know it took him over a month to find that trombone of yours."
"I am not sure. All he would tell me was that this one was harder for him." Will knew exactly what had been found, but he tightly shielded the thought from his beloved.
Aunt Tina? Julie stopped dead in her tracks. She had been dressing, hoping that the dress she had picked out wasn't too much. Now she stood still and let her mind open. She thought that she had felt Tina's mental touch but it was too brief for her to be sure. But then again, everyone is acting weird around here lately. Either the entire crew collectively knows something or I am losing it. She could have resorted to actually trying search for where the contact came from, but she felt it wasn't important enough to try. She tended to agree with her mother in that respect. She would only read a person if it was necessary. Instead she chose to take a little more care with dressing, just in case.
Tom felt a warm sense of homecoming. To him, this place was more of a home to him than anyplace he could remember. Although the Enterprise is a very close second. He had come to feel that this was really where his life had started. He had spent less than a week here but it was here that he found the peace that he had been searching for. He had lived a very hard life and it was here that he had come to terms with all that had happened. After leaving he had started to truly believe in his individuality and understanding that he was not the road not traveled, but a different road entirely. He had even been happy of late. He understood the love for the Enterprise that had so enraptured both Deanna and Will for so many years. He could not imagine himself serving anywhere else now.
It wasn't the ship entirely. It was her crew, her captain specifically. Tina had proven to be an excellent commanding officer, earning the respect of her crew and a loyalty that Tom rarely witnessed. She has gotten to me too. One of these days, we'll manage to be open about this but for now I think we can't.
The two of them had more than a casual friendship, and had for over a year now. Part of the reason they never made an open display of it was the fleet. Command still gave couples grief until they had proven that it was not an issue during command. Will and Deanna still had problems with it until Admiral Picard took over as their reporting official. He had even confided to Tina once that he thought they would have worked even better as a team if they hadn't waited so long to get back together. What Tom did not realize was that the Admiral said the same thing about the two of them to Deanna several times.
"Look at you." Will held Yvette Picard at his arms length. For an eleven year old, she was tall, nearly as tall as Deanna. She had nearly as firey of a head of hair as her mother and the steel blue eyes of her father. "When did you grow up on me?" She wore a look of contented amusement that belied the intelligence in her eyes. Over the years Will had learned that her temper waxed from the vixen and brimstone that were the trademarks of Beverly, to the stoic unflappability that was so second nature to her father that Will often doubted that he could show emotion.
"About the same time that mom told me that I was the cause of her grey hair."
Beverly looked at her child. She still had the same mane of red hair, although he was a streak of iridescent white on her left temple. She caught the teasing smile that played on Yvette's face. "Actually Will, the grey came from you announcing that you were making Wes your chief engineer. She just sort of snuck up on me. One day I'm braiding her hair for her and the next she wants me to teach her how to put on her make-up."
""What are you going to do if he ever has kids and you're now Nana? Or worse yet, he makes Captain?"
"We will both drop dead on the spot, and not from being grandparents." The lot of them laughed as they left the transporter room. Will did not see Adm. Janeway. She was not going to be at the party tonight, telling Will that this should just be for her family. She would come aboard tomorrow before his review. He sighed, listening to the prattle that was going on between the Picards. Deanna was right, this was his best friend. If he honestly had anything to worry about with the review, he would have known before it came time for his review. He smiled, he had a little girl to welcome to womanhood.
"Oh my Gods!" The joyful exclamation that came from Julie's mouth caused her parents to grin from ear to ear. She bounced the entire time. This had truly unexpected yet very welcome when she thought about it. Not only had her godparents shown up, her grandmother, uncle and aunt had as well. For her the best part had been Tina and Tom. She hadn't seen them more than a couple of times in the last three years. Aunt Bev and Uncle Jean Luc talked with her at least once a month and her grandmother did not go a week without at least one message. Somehow they had managed, one and all and including the entire crew, to hide this from her for over two months. Now she sat in astonishment of the generosity of her family.
The largest part of the party had wound down a little while ago. The few that remained had adjourned to other parts of the lounge and were now engaged in their normal off duty activities. That left only her "family" with her. They had all waited until now to present her with their presents. One from her grandmother, uncle and aunt; an invitation for the most exclusive music concert on Betazed this year, Libby Lattimore. Those tickets were some of the hardest to come by in the quadrant. One from the Picards; an original edition of the Sherlock Holmes anthology. While the first publication of the works had been in daily papers, this was a first edition bound copy of the full anthology.
The next gift was from Tina and Tom. This was of a more personal nature than the other two had been. The gift from them was a new music repertoire, twenty pieces in all. Most were pieces from Earth. She recognized all but one. The final piece was handwritten. The title of the piece was Variations on a theme for violin, piano and Ressican flute. She had never seen anything similar to it before.
The reason for the sheet music was evident when she opened the gift from her immediate family. A violin. Not just a handcrafted instrument, but a true Stradivarius. Julie only knew of a couple of hundred that were still in existence and most of those were in museums. Julie went back to the original work that she had been presented. The author's name finally came to her attention; Thomas Riker. There was a dedication as well as a presentation at the top of the piece.
To my dearest Julianna,
Happy Sweet Sixteen. This was written especially for you.
The inspiration for this theme is a Ressican flute folk song that
was taught to me by Jean Luc Picard for the purpose of a birthday
present for his goddaughter.
This was a present that she never thought she would receive. She was so overwhelmed at the care and the love that they showed her she was nearly speechless. "I don't know what to say. This has been the happiest day I can remember. Thank you." She was nearly crying.
"We know that you have kept in practice. Tom finished that about a week ago, and the rest of us have had a chance to practice. You are an excellent sight reader, how about a quartet?" Will could remember a few days that had gone this well, but not many. For his own purposes he gauged this to be only slightly less memorable than the day this young woman was born.
"Nothing would honor me more dad." He knew that she spoke the truth. It was a rare occasion for Julie. Her father did not indulge in playing piano much, he preferred his trombone. It had been three years since her and Tina had played together and she had never even known that uncle Jean even played an instrument. The piece was beautiful, its melody both melancholy and inspirational. The combination of violin and the flute were haunting, and when her father added the piano part to the song, the blend was almost ethereal. They played through the piece three times. On the third both her and her father added an improvisational countermelody which added to the surreal feeling that had been created by the quartet.
They moved on to a few other pieces that they all knew before Jean Luc gracefully demurred to allow a change of tempo and the addition of Tom on the trombone. It was nearly two in the morning before they called it an evening. Will nearly crawled into his bed with his wife and realized that he had not thought about his review in almost nine hours. Deanna had been right, it would take care of itself. Encircling his arms around her he fell into a very peaceful sleep.
I hate to have to tell this to Will. But Kathryn is right, it has to be done. Picard was sitting across from the Captain of the USS Titan. I don't want to put my friend in this position, but if we don't start now, I will retire before he accepts his fate. I really don't want to do this, he has too many good years left in him.
"Will I can honestly say that I am impressed. Eighteen years on the same ship. I wish I had managed that. Truthfully what has always impressed me more has been your ability to keep the hard noses at bay and keep your wife on your command crew, even managing three years as your Number One." Janeway truly seemed to be impressed with Will's service record.
Will looked from one officer to the other, he was beginning to get a glimpse of what they were getting ready to put on the table. Not that he found the idea unappealing, but he wasn't sure he wanted it right now. He still had memories of the bitter man slightly older than himself and on top of that there was the vision that Jean Luc had told him about. After those nightmares he was not quite sure if he wanted to advance any further in his career. So instead of prompting anything from the two in front of him he simply acknowledged the compliment. "Thank you sir."
"Will right now this is only a request, not a command. You do not need to accept it. We want you to accept a promotion. But to do so would cause a hardship, which is why command has agreed that you have the right to refuse this promotion."
"What's the hitch?"
"The hitch Captain," Picard's face was a study in contradiction; he never thought he would say the next words from his mouth, "is that at the moment we only have one candidate for taking command here, Commander Deanna Troi." The look on the captain's face was something that Picard had never seen in all his years of knowing him. He rather thought that he wore the same expression when Beverly had actually become pregnant. A slight smile crept onto Jean Luc's face.
"I'm going to have to think about this sir." Will managed to recover enough to put forth his signature glib remark. "I can't believe this. Before Julie was born I joked with Deanna about her taking my job away from me. Now you want me to tell her that I was right and you do want her to take my job?" Pride and anger warred inside him. Pride at the accomplishments his wife had made to put her here, and knowing that he had helped her along the way. Anger that she had actually gotten to the point that they wanted to give his job to her.
"Truthfully Will we have been wanting to do this for some time now. But the two of you make such an excellent team that we have avoided it. Deanna has deserved her own command for years and you are needed as more than a ship's captain."
"Talk to Deanna Will." Janeway smiled with understanding. Her husband had remained in command of Voyager for several years after their marriage. She truly understood what would happen if they accepted the offer. It could be done, but oft times it led to the separation of the couple. "You don't have to tell us anything right now, but you do need to tell us by tomorrow before we leave. No matter what you decide, you still are going to receive an outstanding performance report."
"If you will excuse me, I think Deanna is not the only one I need to talk to."
"Dismissed Captain." Picard stood. "Will, let me know what she says."
"I will." He knew that he was not just talking about her decision on the promotion.
Dinner at the Riker home was generally quite orderly. Julie and Kyle would often talk animatedly about their activities, but even then they were generally polite and let the other speak without interruption. Currently Will thought he had negotiated cease fires that were quieter. For the entire meal he had been verbally assaulted by his entire family. "No I didn't suggest it." "Yes Jean Luc said you deserved the Big Chair." Responses like that came from his mouth unbidden, an automatic response to being overwhelmed. By the time they finished he had pretty much decided that physical torture would be easier to tolerate.
"But why now?" Deanna reestablished order at the table by the simple expediency of standing. In spite of her diminutive stature a Troi woman standing over you commanded your undivided attention. Blessed silence now reigned where chaos so recently dwelled.
Thinking more clearly now that he could hear himself he answered. "According to both of them they have been wanting to offer this to us for years. I have to admit that in a way I agree with them. You do deserve your own ship. I have thought that since I saw you command the Marco Polo in battle. You are a damn good commander and you should have the big chair to yourself. I am just not sure I want the promotion. We've managed this far together." Will did not voice his concerns over this, Deanna would know without any verbal cues.
Either way you decide I will be ok with it. I have toyed with the idea of command and if you want the promotion I will accept the offer to take this place. The real question is whether the separation is acceptable for the advancements.
"I'm not sure Imzadi." Turning to his kids he asked them. "What do you two think?"
"As much as I have been complaining lately, I like it here. Dad if you go it wouldn't be the same. I really do like having both of you here when I come home at night. And I only have two more years at most before I go to school. It's not time yet." Julie wasn't sure why but she knew that it was not time for her dad to leave here.
"What about you. What would you think if your old man being an admiral and your mom taking over here?"
"I don't like it. I think that you should stay. I don't want you two apart."
That's it. If there is one thing that I have learned as both a parent and commander is that I need to listen to people. If I don't change my mind, that's ok, but if they sway me, they experience is greater than if I didn't listen. I'm staying.
Two weeks later
"Dad?"
"Yes pumpkin." Will had been enjoying an evening with no work and had been reading while listening to his daughter play.
"Why did you decide to turn down the promotion?"
Will was not much on giving sage advice, he always thought that those moments were spontaneous. This time there was a golden opportunity to let her in on one of the most important things that he had learned over the years. "One day pumpkin, you just might find yourself in command, maybe in a situation like the your mother first found herself in; a crisis. Or simply being assigned to it. You will have to make decisions sometimes where you will impact other lives. It may be as important as saving a life, ordering someone to risk their life, or something less spectacular like keeping a family together. When that happens you will find yourself receiving unsolicited advice. The trick to finding the middle ground between simply going through the motions and being a truly good leader is to listen to that advice, not just what comes from your commanders but also the ones that you command. I just listened to both ends, and when it came down to it you and your bother can command me more than Uncle Jean Luc could ever hope to."