Chapter Three – Headlights on Dark Roads
Beverly woke up to a white ceiling. Closing her eyes, she turned her head to shield her face from the lights, opening them again she began to move her body around checking if everything was working.
After trying to move her left hand, she finally noticed the weight on the left side of the bed. Looking over she saw William Riker fast asleep, his head was resting on the biobeds' mattress, the top just overlaying her hand. Next to him curled up in a chair was a little blonde toddler, her hand clasped in his. Running through the list of children of the Enterprise in her hand she deduced that this little girl was Helena Hallaway, Ensign Julia Hallaway's daughter.
If that little girl was here that meant that Ensign Hallaway either wasn't here or she was in surgery.
Blinking to wake herself up more, Beverly gently began shaking her hand to try and wake him up.
A couple of minutes later after one particularly hard shove Will opened his eyes, as he noticed she was awake his head shot up and he smiled.
Gently taking his hand out of Helena's, he stood up and gently gave her a hug. Beverly smiled as she held onto him for a bit longer than usual, happy to be among friends again and safe.
Will smiled as he let go and kissed her cheek "Thank god you're back"
Beverly smiled, but slowly her smile turned into a frown "Where's Deanna?"
Will looked down for a moment "she's still in surgery, she's been in there for about 4 hours now" he sat back down in his chair "They don't know if Deanna will be able to carry the baby to term, she's just too weak"
Beverly began to move but Will's hand stopped her "The best you can do for Deanna, is heal and recover, I bet she'll need her best friend when she wakes up"
"You've got a slight concussion, a broken ankle and fever brought on by infections in your wounds" said Will listing off all the injuries on his hand.
"Will, what happened to Ensign Hallaway and Lt Bailey?" asked Beverly
Will's head dropped down "Their body parts are in the morgue"
"Body parts?" asked Beverly
"They…..cut…..cut them up and returned them in a box" Will stood up and ran his hands through his hair.
"Will he's not you" said Beverly
"He is, Bev, he is me" said Will
"What happened to him?" said Beverly
"Right now, he's in a cell at Headquarters, but his hearing is on Wednesday, both you and Deanna are to give witness statements but neither of you have to attend" said Will
Both of them turned as they heard a rustle of blankets as Helena woke up.
"Hello" said Helena as she rubbed sleep out of her eyes
"Hello Helena" said Beverly smiling as she sat up
"Beverly" warned Will as he sat down on her bed
"I'm fine" said Beverly
Helena climbed up on Beverly's bed and sat down next to Beverly and hugged her gently
"Thank you for getting better" said Helena
"How's the captain?" asked Beverly
"He's fine, he sat with you for a couple of hours before someone told him excuse me, order him to go home and since then he's held vigil outside the surgery room" said Will "he's feeling really bad about letting her go on that away mission"
"I'm surprised he left at all" said Beverly smiling
"Oh it took work and Lwaxanna Troi to get him out of here but he hadn't slept since both of you came in or eaten for that matter" said Will "he's been band from your room for a couple of hours and we have a nurse on guard to make sure he doesn't come back in, I'm about to set another ban about the surgery ward, like I have though that was Lwaxanna's order"
Helena curled up tighter into Beverly's side and whimpered "What happens if Deanna doesn't wake up?"
"I'm sure she'll wake up Lena" said Will picking up the child and hugging her "and when she wakes up, you and I are going to be sitting next to her"
Beverly smiled as she watched them. A pang of sadness filled her as she realised that she was alone in her life, yes she had Wesley but he was grown up and hardly ever saw her or came to visit. Watching Will hug Helena, she knew that soon he would be back with Deanna and their son. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she wished she was back in her room at the Enterprise not in this room.
"Sweet dreams" said Will kissing her cheek "I'll see you tomorrow"
Beverly smiled at him as he picked up Helena and walked out, the little girl smiled back and waved.
Beverly lay down in the bed and closed her eyes.
"DON'T LOOK AT ME" the shadows in the room danced around the room, a fist struck out at hit her in the face.
"Where's Deanna?" she asked
"DON'T TALK TO ME" yelled the voice again
Arms reached around her back and grabbed her hands, metals bands were placed around her wrists and she was hoisted up to the wall.
"So here lies the great Doctor Beverly Howard sorry I mean Crusher" came a familiar voice
"Thomas Riker" she said turning her head
"Ready to relive pain" said Thomas Riker
Beverly awoke in a cold sweat. The room around her was quiet and the shadows danced around the room. Curling up in a ball, Beverly felt so alone and all the memories of the damp cell came rushing back to her.
The sound of the door opening started her and she turned around to see the man of her nightmares grinning over her.
"You're so beautiful"
A scream cut through the empty room as Beverly shot up in bed. Monitors around her began beeping and alarms blared.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOo
Riker ran through the corridors toward Bevery's room. As he approached he saw medical staff milling around her bed and quickened his pace.
"Dr Campbell what happened?"
"We think that she had a nightmare or a flashback of her time on the ship, something set her off and we had to sedate her" said the doctor turning around to him "she's pulled a couple of wounds open again and her temperature shot up, we're going to keep her sedated for a couple of days just in case"
Riker nodded and turned as his captain walked up behind them with little Helena in his arms.
"What happened?" asked Jean-Luc as he approached him
"She must have had a nightmare or flashback and the terror made her freak out" said Riker "they've had to sedate her to stop her from ripping all her wounds open again"
"I see" said Jean-Luc as he positioned Helena in more comfortable position in his arms "Has my ban be lifted yet?"
"No"
"Is Beverly going to be okay?" asked Helena
"She'll be fine" said Dr Campbell as he turned back to them "we've got a counsellor coming in tomorrow for both the counsellor and doctor, it'll take time for them to full recover from this ordeal"
"Has Counsellor Troi come out of surgery yet?" asked Jean-Luc
"Yes but she's still in intensive care, since she's only 27 weeks pregnant we're a bit hesitate about taking him out, but Troi's mind has shut itself down to heal and her baby will not get the right nutrition from her body if she's in a coma" said Dr Campbell "We can wait a couple of days but you're going to have to make a choice about him, her mother has been sent home for the day but I'm sure she'll be back"
Will felt tears rolling down his cheek, Deanna was so happy she was pregnant, she'd had always told him how much she wanted to be a mother. Deciding this would kill him.
"Number One…..Will" came Jean-Luc's voice through his thoughts "you have time to think about this, go see her"
Will nodded slowly and turned to walk towards the intensive care unit only to be stopped by Helena hugging his leg.
"Let's go and see Deanna" said Will picking her up and hugging her.
Will felt the world shatter as he saw his Imzadi for the first time, her skin was deathly pale and numerous tubes and wires were attached to her skin. A face mask covered her mouth and nose forcing her chest to rise and fall, to help her breath. His eyes travelled down to her stomach and the baby bump that was there. Wires and monitors were attached there too giving the baby nutrition and food keeping him alive.
Leaving him inside his mother would kill him and taking him out now would mean he had very little chance of living. Either way that little boy dying would only make Deanna sink into depression more and more. The trauma on her body and on her mind was too great.
"What will happen to her?" asked Helena
"I don't know, Lena, I don't know"
