The memorial according o Lily, would have met to her parents approval, both of them had done holographic messages for in case of this very situation and Picard had let everyonsee, Riker and Deanna had both thanked the Captain for letting them be apart of the voyages they had taken, they had thanked Data for his friendship and for agreeing to be Lily's guardian, and everyone else got their own personal message, then it came to Lily.
"I believe I did not tell you this often enough, I am proud of you" said Riker's holographic image, hearing this made Lily busrt into tears all over again and she softly said "thank you" although she knew he wouldn't hear it.
Deanna told her daughter that she to was proud of her, Wesley pulled Lily in and wrapped an arm round her, when the memorial finished he walked her out "I have finally heard him say those words I needed to hear" she said.
"Lily, I know your father was proud of you, I don't think he knew how to tell you" said Wesley
"Why?" she asked
"I do not know" replied Wesley "maybe because he thought if he did you might not see him as the same anymore, you may have seen him as I don't know…weak?"
Lily shook her head "I never saw my father as weak, ever, I have seen his softer side and I still never doubted him".
The Betazoid curse
As the days went on, the crew started noticing things about Lily that she did her best to hide, on the bridge there had been an incident where Deanna would have immediately picked up trouble, Lily's telepathy and empathetic abilities at this time decided to evade her and the ship came under attack.
Lily who now felt it was her fault for not warning the captain as she would usually have, walked off the bridge in annoyance, Captain Picard looked at her as she left and sighed.
As she walked towards her quarters, she suddenly became overwhelmed with emotion though not her own, she leaned against a wall and tried to take deep breaths as the emotions washed over her, she even felt Picard's displeasure of her walking off the bridge without his permission, as she stood there, Doctor Crusher found her and so did Picard who had handed the bridge to Data.
"Lily, I was told to come find you" said Beverly Crusher kindly
"I need not know by who" said Lily noticing Picard
"Indeed you do not" Picard confirmed, his voice showed a little anger but not much "I want you to go and talk to Doctor Crusher, Ensign, and I do not want you back on the bridge unless you do so"
Lily knew she had no choice and nodded, she followed Crusher to the sick bay, once there she told her everything "I know walking off was wrong, I know I could be in serious trouble for that and if the Captain wished to discipline me then he can do so" she said
"Lily, your grief is interfering with your Betazoid abilities, I want you to return to your quarters, you are effectively off duty" said Doctor Crusher
"No, I need the activity, please" pleaded Lily
"As Chief Medical Officer, I am ordering you to stand down, you are of no use to your team right now, I will be informing the Captain of my decision", Crusher told her.
Lily left and did as asked, in her quarters she pulled out the holographic images of her parents and turned them on, sighing she curled up next to her cat and cried, O.T sensing her sadness, licked her tears and meowed pitifully, Lily stroked her fur.
Wesley comforts her
After his shift Wesley went to find Lily, when he reached her quarters he waited.
Lily hearing the door said "Come in Wesley"
"How…no don't answer that" he said "I already know you know it was me", he went to sit by her "Mum told me you have been stepped down" he said.
"Her orders" she said "I am going to be bored" I hate just sitting around doing nothing.
"No you won't, you have books, your computer and O.T, they will keep you busy" he said and noticing the holographs of Ricker and Councillor Troi said "and you can talk to your parents".
Lily nodded "True" she said.
A/n In the next chapter, Wesley asks her something that will make Lily smile, what, you will have to read to find out.