A/N: This is the second in the Life at the Speed of Light Series. It's A/U in that Riker has a child.
Please R and R. Thanks!
Amelia Riker sat on her bed and waited for her fiancee, Wesley Crusher, to pick her up. They were headed for a long vacation from Starfleet Academy. They only had one more semester left but the stress of their final year had been getting to both of them lately and they needed the break. Well, at least, that what was stressing Wesley out. School wasn't the only thing that had been on Amelia's mind.
She twisted her ring around her finger and tried to convince herself again that she was making the right choice. In 2370, this shouldn't still be a problem. But here she was. And she had to tell Wesley. She knew that he deserved to know. She had been trying to tell him for the past two weeks, but she could never make the words come out.
"Come in," she called out when she heard the knock at her door.
Wesley stepped through the door, "Ready to go? I thought we might get some lunch before we have to be at the transporter to board the Enterprise."
"In a minute," she replied, taking a deep breath. "Wes, sit down." She patted the bed beside her. "We need to talk and this may be our last chance without other eyes and ears listening for a while."
"What is it?" he put his bag down and sat beside her. "You look upset."
She nodded. "Wesley, I.., I..," she stopped and closed her eyes.
He put his arm around her waist and kissed the top of her head. "What is it, Melly?" he asked again. "You know you can tell me anything."
She took another steadying breath, looked up into his eyes and said, "I'm pregnant."
"You're...What?!" He stood up abruptly and pace back and forth in the small room. "How?... I mean, I know how but how? I thought you were.., but we were so careful."
"Obviously not careful enough," she shot back.
He stood at her desk with his back to her. "How long?"
"Eight weeks, maybe ten," she replied.
"Maybe?" he questioned, accusingly.
"Well, it was never something exact that I could keep up with," she admitted.
In the future, Wesley would say that he made three mistakes leading up to him leaving with the Traveler. This would be the first one.
He turned around to look at her. She looked absolutely wretched. She looked scared, worried, sick, and anxious. He knew what he should have done. He should have crossed the small space between them and took her in his arms. He should have told her that everything would be okay, that they would figure things out. But he didn't do that. Instead, he let his own fear take over as he slammed his palm against her desk.
"Damn it, Amelia! How could you let this happen?" he asked, angrily.
"I let it happen!" she cried incredulously as she shot to her feet. "Excuse me, but I remember you being there at the time. I didn't do this by myself. This isn't exactly great for me either!" A sob tore from her throat. "How dare you ask me that?" She choked back another sob and pointed at the door. "Get out!"
"What? Melly, be serious," he replied.
"I am," she shot back, pulling his arm. "I may not be in Starfleet much longer, but while I am, this is still my room and you need to leave it." She pushed him towards the door.
"Melly...,"
"Get out!" she interrupted. "Get out, Wesley, or so help me, I will call security on you."
"Fine." He snatched up his bag and jacket and left. Once he was out of sight, she slumped to the floor and cried. It wasn't supposed to go like that. She knew he would be upset but she never expected him to be angry at her.
Wesley wondered around the campus, not really headed anywhere, lost in thought for an hour. Those thoughts ranged from fear and panic to joy and elation, though anger and fear always seemed to rule out over anything else.
His mother was going to kill him. Not to mention this was his last chance to finish Star Fleet Academy and be able to keep his rank of Ensign. Which brought up the thought that he wasn't even sure he wanted to stay in Star Fleet. Thoughts that he hadn't been able to voice even to Amelia, which was crazy because it Amelia who had first mentioned not being in Star Fleet, telling him that she wasn't sure if she had ever really wanted to be an Officer, or if she just wanted Will to be proud of her and didn't know any other way. That had started him thinking that he wasn't sure if he really wanted to be there either but he was sure that if he did stay, he wanted to finish school and retain his rank. He didn't want to start over as a crewman. He was lost in thought when he heard someone calling his name.
"Hey, Crusher?" He looked up to see Jake Kurland walking towards him. Jake had already finish Academy the year before but had decided to return to become a doctor instead of his original specialty. "Time to go, Man," he said, nodding towards the building. "You coming?"
"Yeah." He followed Jake. Amelia was already in the transporter room, talking with Kate Jensen. She looked at Wesley for a moment before pointedly turning her back to him and continuing her conversation with Kate.
Things didn't improve when they got to the Enterprise. Amelia had rushed off the transporter pad and had practically thrown herself into Will's arms, hugging him before letting him lead her to their quarters without even looking back at Wesley.
Was it any wonder that he was in a bad mood when Beverly had shown him to the guest quarters? Still, he shouldn't have snapped at Data like that. He knew Data didn't understand tone or sarcasm or that the jokes he told weren't really that funny. He just wanted everyone to leave him alone. He knew he should go and talk to Amelia, but distracted himself by going to Engineering where he promptly got into an argument with Geordi. Great. Now the four people he was closest to in world was mad at him. And if he was being perfectly honest, they all had a good reason. He sat down on his bed and rested his head in his hands. He just didn't know what to do to fix things.
Please R and R.