This story has been in pieces over at the Yahoo boards. I started it in high school or the beginning of college, but I pasted it back together today to revise and finally write the epilogue. It's pretty angsty but if you hang in there it's a good story. A lot of the stories I'm working with right now deal with R/T and their family. I promise I don't have it in for their kiddos. ;) Let me know what you think. The usual disclaimer applies. - A

Deanna paced back and forth across the cool, hardwood floor in the living room of the Troi mansion. She held her three year old daughter in her arms, gently stroking the child's back. The counselor

had thought that Destiny might have been developing a cold or had been worn out from the move. After all, they had only taken residence of the mansion a few days earlier, during which time they'd

had the honor of Jean-Luc Picard and Beverly Crusher staying over with them to help the family unpack. All of this occurring because of Lwaxana's reluctant insistence of retirement from active duties

as Daughter of the Fifth House, and Deanna's agreement to take over the responsibilities while counseling at the university part-time. Lwaxana had moved to a house the family had owned for many

years near the West coast of the main continent, giving the house where Deanna had grown up to hear daughter and son-in-law. The same daughter who had been awakened by the cries of her

beloved granddaughter who had been fraught with fever.

Deanna Troi-Riker slowed in her pacing long enough to read the thermometer that she'd just scanned over her daughter for what seemed like the tenth time. She readjusted the frightfully hot child

against her, speaking in comforting words to her as she thought of what to do next. A 103 degree fever was bad enough in itself, without the fact that Destiny Alexa Riker had taken ill to a strong

strain of feverish disease, much resembling Scarlett fever, about a month ago, and it was becoming more ad more evident to the counselor that the toddler might be having a relapse. It had been

almost fifteen minutes since Destiny had woken from her sleep, and she just lye in her mother's arms eerily silent and quite still.

"Shhhhh," Deanna said quietly, "You're going to be fine." She told the small child, pushing the hair from her face.

"Daddy," said Destiny, "Where's Daddy?" The little girl asked barely above a whisper.

"Daddy's sleeping, baby. He has a big day ahead of him tomorrow." Deanna told her baby girl. The truth was Will was asleep in the guest room on the main floor where the couple had opted to sleep

since the night before Destiny had complained of a sore throat and had a small case of the sniffles. Now it was just the fever. Troi looked back down at the child cradled in her arms. She was still

quietly mouthing the word "Daddy" as her heavy eyelids threatened to enclose those dark eyes once again. Deanna took the cool wash cloth she had bee holding on Destiny's forehead off her face

and gently lay her cheek against that of her daughter's. It hadn't helped at all.

"Is it her throat again?" She heard as Will walked up behind her.

"No," Deanna told him, "It's fever." She said as she placed his hand on Destiny Alexa's head. Will looked at his wife in shock.

"How long has she been awake?" He inquired as he took his tiny daughter from her mother's arms, hearing her voice call to him. He gently pulled the small gown she wearing over her tiny head of

curls and off of her body, hoping it might help cool her.

"Fifteen minutes," she said, patting Destiny's back softly, a severe look of concern still gracing her face, "Imzadi, are you sure you're up to this? You were up most of last night, and you have that

conference tomorrow." Will shook it off.

"I'm fine," he said bouncing Destiny in his arms slightly and smiling down at her.

"I've been putting cool water on her face and arms," she told him, "It hasn't seemed to help." He nodded, his blue eyes silently conveying his concern.

"Let's see if we can get in touch with Beverly. The captain said that they were going to spend a few days on a planet in the next sector, after meeting up with the Enterprise." The counselor nodded,

kissing Destiny lightly, and hurrying into the study to contact the woman she and Will had always trusted in any medical situation.

*****

Seeing Beverly's face on the screen before her afforded Deanna a small amount of relief, although, the counselor's troubled expression had given the doctor a worried and apprehensive feeling, and

Crusher knew immediately something was wrong. "Deanna are you okay?" She asked her friend. The counselor shook her head.

"No. Destiny's sick again. She has a very high fever." Deanna told her, trying to hold back the emotions that were threatening to overcome her. "Beverly, it's worse this time. She's not talking, she's

barely moving, she's burning up, and I can't fix it! I can't make her better!

"Hey," she said, "Calm down I'm not going to let anything happen to her." She watched as Deanna took a deep breath to calm herself and nodded slowly. "Okay, now, has she had any other

symptoms?" The doctor asked slowly.

"No," she began, "Well, she was complaining of a sore throat last night, and she had a little case of the sniffles." Troi told her. Beverly nodded remembering how Destiny had refused to eat anything

but icecream the night before, and of course with those big doe eyes not even one of the adults could resist her plea.

"No vomiting though? No seizures? Nothing like that?" Crusher inquired. Deanna started to tell the doctor no when Will came into view.

"We had a little accident," he said as she met his eyes, "Dest got a little sick, but don't worry I caught it all on my shirt." Deanna and Beverly both smiled slightly despite the seriousness of the

situation. As the counselor took the child from her father's arms, Destiny reached out a tiny hand to him.

"Daddy, will be right back I'm just going to change my shirt." He watch a small tear slide down her cheek. "Beverly," Deanna said, trying to keep her lightly accented voice steady, "She's trembling."

Beverly tried to summon all her medical training and experience to smother the gasp that partly escaped from her lips as the counselor brought the child into the view of the small screen. "Listen to

me Deanna," the doctor began as Will, who had put aside his own comfort and had simply removed his dirty shirt, and taken his daughter back into his arms. "Jean-Luc and I are taking a few days off

R&R on Geralos IV because the Enterprise is still mapping the adjacent solar system. But I suspect that he's already got your coordinates laid in at maximum speed, and our things packed into the

shuttle, considering how attached we are to Destiny Alexa," Beverly raised a hand to stop her, before Deanna could even get out the words thank you. "We should be there in about three hours.

What I need for you to do is get some water or juice into her to keep her from dehydrating. I want you to soak a sheet or something light in some cool water and wrap her in it to try to get the fever

down. I'm going to inform the nearest medical facility of the situation and see if they can send someone over. Just for observation until we arrive."

The counselor took it all in and smiled a small smile of gratitude, before finally saying,

"Hurry."

*****

Jean-Luc Picard came up behind the doctor as she ended the transmission from Betazed. Laying his hand on her shoulder he said, "Everything is in the shuttle if you are ready." She followed the

captain up the path to where the shuttle was located.

"You're really worried," he stated while punching in the codes and sequences that would prepare the shuttle to take off. Beverly tried to hold her tongue.

"Worried?! Of course I'm worried. Our three year old godchild is so very ill, and I thought about ordering up some champagne and celebrating that it will take us at least three and a half hours to get

to her!" But of course she knew what he had meant. He was speaking of the silent walk to the craft, and the look of building terror in her blue eyes on a face that usually held the physician/healer

mask squarely in place.

"It's that look in your eyes," he said, confirming the words that had not yet been spoken, "Barely noticeable, except to the skilled on looker. You have almost four hours to figure out how you're going

to conceal it from Deanna."

He told her with a small smile. He was right. Doctor Beverly Crusher had never let her guard down during a crisis situation, and it certainly wasn't going to happen now. Especially, when the crisis

involved someone as important as Destiny Alexa Riker.