De-Tached: Story 5: Life with Beverly
Chapter 7: They Named the Babies…
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It was the silence that scared him. The very lack of sound had impressed upon him the deadly seriousness of the situation. And the lack of contact with his daughter's voice that he'd become so used to sensing within his own mind was no longer there. She was missing. He no longer 'felt' her. Instinctively, his grip on Beverly's hand tightened.
Oh, his son was loudly wailing in the background. But even though he acknowledged that beautiful noise, he tuned it out, straining and waiting to hear his daughter's voice for the very first time.
As the agonizing seconds passed, everything that Jean-Luc Picard was - a man of science and reason, with his feet firmly rooted in his innate belief - and trust - in the way of the logic of this universe all vanished. Now he was simply a father, bargaining with God, praying, and silently pleading with his every breath for the life of his daughter. And being intimately familiar with the cruel ways of this universe, he was terrified that his daughter would be the one to pay the price for his sins…
Beverly didn't hide her mute distress from him. She shared his fear. Oh, Beverly automatically cooperated with the nurses about her bedside. She delivered the afterbirth and then submitted to the usual post-birth care routines. Beverly, even as she followed the staff's instructions, kept her gaze fixed upon the doctors and nurses as they worked on her daughter. She watched their every move. She looked no where else.. But her mind was too numb to really grasp everything that was occurring.
For their daughter had yet to cry…
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"Who invited you?" Fleet Admiral Winston Holt Wiley gruffly asked. It wasn't that he officially disapproved of this brash captain. For this man certainly had his good points when it came to being a Starfleet captain and doctor. But personally, it was the way that the fleet admiral's wife - not to mention just about every other red-blooded (and a few green-blooded) women reacted to the captain - that caused Admiral Wiley to find personal fault with this man. Somewhat intensely. Not that you could tell this from the admiral's outward appearance. His 'Fleet Admiral knows best' smile was now properly affixed to his visage.
Captain James Howard flashed his best, most deferential smile at his supreme commanding officer, trying not to reveal his surprise at finding the fleet admiral wearing an ordinary, Starfleet admiral's uniform sans gold braiding. He considered the possibility that Jean-Luc Picard's sense of style might unwittingly be influencing the fleet admiral's sartorial choices.
"I'm family. After all, I am Beverly's cousin, Sir." Captain Howard was seemingly unaware that his special smile was not working on the fleet admiral.
"That still doesn't mean that you should be here," Holt countered.
"Jamie!" A very happy Wesley Crusher stepped over and acknowledged his cousin. To onlookers, it would appear that Cadet Crusher hadn't noticed Holt's reaction to the doctor for the cadet's greeting was genuinely welcoming and full of excitement. "My Mom just had the twins!" He hugged this relative stranger for as of this moment, next to the Picards, Jamie O'Malley Howard was the closest thing to a member of the family that Wesley had. Wesley was just glad that he was here. After expressing his delight over having gained a new brother and sister, he offered Jamie a wine glass.
Jamie gratefully accepted it and then waited to see if anyone else was drinking. Apparently no one was, as of yet. Everyone was waiting for Q to say something more.
"No…" Q said the word softly, but everyone in the room heard it. "Nooooo…" This time he cursed it.
Marie gasped and clutched Robert's arm.
Q clicked his fingers. And then he disappeared.
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More seconds passed. And with each one, the dread filling the minds of Jean-Luc and Beverly grew exponentially.
Guinan, who had been standing behind the doctors, watching as they worked on the baby girl, suddenly stiffened, and reached up and removed her mask, unhooking it and then slipping it off of her ear lobes. Then she turned her head and smiled directly over at Jean-Luc and Beverly.
Beverly's relief was physical as she sobbed in her husband's arms. And as he sobbed in hers. For Guinan's smile was the most beautiful expression that Jean-Luc had ever beheld.
Now, the voices from Dr. Bolt and Dr. Pulaski became louder. Beverly focused on one of them. "Why isn't she crying?" Dr. Bolt asked.
"Maybe she has nothing to cry about," Guinan softly suggested as she moved away from the baby toward the birthing bed where Beverly was waiting to see her new-born daughter.
There was a flash of light. And then Q made his presence known.
"You're too late," Guinan ironically stated.
A flash of fear crossed over Q's face. And then he sensed the pleased emotions of the room. And he seethed over Guinan's insensitive choice of words. Of course, some people would find it ironic that a member of the Q Continuum would be upset over someone else's insensitivity.
For a change, this member of the Continuum decided not to be the insensitive one. Calling out, as if seeking to be heard by someone distant, he yelled, "Everything's swell! Drink!" Then he smiled, pleased that he was a harbinger of joy to the people in the waiting room for a change, instead of being his usual something else.
With erratic gasps for breath, Beverly watched Kate Pulaski bring her daughter over to her. It wasn't until Beverly's trembling arms held her daughter that her doctor's sense of panic faded away. The first thing she did was kiss her baby's forehead, check every toe and fingernail, wipe away more than a few tears from her own cheeks, and then nuzzle the girl's downy red gold hair. Still, in spite of this commotion, the baby did not cry.
"She weighs less than her brother," Dr. Pulaski informed Dr. Crusher-Picard, using her best there-there-now doctor's voice. "Your son weighs in at three-thousand three-hundred-and-ten grams. Your little girl here came in at one thousand, nine-hundred-and-forty-five grams. Or as we used to say it in my neck of the woods, approximately three-and-a-half pounds versus her brother's six-and-a half pounds." Kate smiled again at Jean-Luc Picard as if to reassure him about these medical facts. "Certainly, your daughter is on the small side for her gestational age, but it is close enough to the norms to be okay. And all of her other vitals are good." She glanced over at William. "And as you can tell by William's lusty yells, he is very normal as well."
"Why isn't she crying?" Jean-Luc's voice cracked as the words came out far less steady than usual.
"If you pinch her, my goddaughter probably will cry," Lwaxana recommended as she came over to stand by Beverly.
Jean-Luc Picard found the strength to glare at the senior ambassadress from Betazed.
Lwaxana continued even as she ignored Jean-Luc. She leaned forward to kiss the top of the baby's downy head. "She isn't crying because she still doesn't have anything to cry about, do you, my Little One?" She straightened up.
"Coochie coo?" Q cooed as he too, leaned over to touch the baby's head with his lips, even as he then softly whispered into the baby's ear, "I give you your birth day gift, my dear - the gift of a normal childhood… or as normal as it can be for having me for your very own fairy godfather."
The very sleepy baby opened her startling topaz blue eyes, stared for a moment at her mother, and then waved a tiny hand in Q's direction. And then she gurgled.
And Jean-Luc Picard experienced one of the more humbling occasions of his life - and fatherhood. His daughter's first noise was made for Q - and not to him. It was a moment and a feeling that Jean-Luc would never forget. And why…
At least Q had yet to crow…
Guinan placed her arm around Jean-Luc's shoulders and hugged him. "Enjoy the silence, Jean-Luc. I have a feeling that once your daughter starts talking, you won't know what peace and quiet is for quite a few decades to come."
"I pray for that day, Guinan…"
Beverly motioned for Jean-Luc to come closer. "Your turn, Daddy," she whispered as she handed her daughter over to her father to be held in his arms for the very first time.
"Mon ami, you're crying," Q observed as he watched a few tears trickle down Jean-Luc's cheeks. "Well, I suppose if I were lucky enough to be her father, I'd be crying too. You're forgiven - this time."
Jean-Luc hadn't a clue as to why Q was forgiving him. And he didn't care one little bit. For now he was holding his most precious and beloved daughter. And his new-born daughter was so impressed by being held in her father's loving arms for the first time that she closed her eyes and promptly fell asleep.
The look of panic on her husband's face as he tried to figure out how to move and not awaken his daughter at the same time was a sight that Beverly would forever remember with great fondness - and amusement. Eventually Guinan took pity on the man and guided him into a chair as he still clutched his daughter.
Dr. Bolt brought the now-quiet baby brother back over to his mother.
Kate Pulaski made sure that there would be pictures.
And Jean-Luc now truly comprehended what pure and utter joy was. And what it forever would be to him - his family.
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Q popped back into the waiting room, bestowing a reassuring smile on the waiting crowd. And then reached up and grabbed his still floating in the air champagne flute. For he'd left it hanging when he'd gone to see what was wrong in the delivery suite. And no one else had dared to touch it while he was gone.
"Everything is fine," Q informed the waiting crowd, with a special sympathetic look sent in Marie's direction. "My goddaughter just had to make her arrival a bit more dramatic than her brother's birth." He lowered his voice as he added, "You know how women are… Always having to make a memorable entrance."
Q did not know Marie Picard very well. Therefore he had no reason to suspect that his words would be relayed to Mildred Krebs as soon as Madame Picard saw her. And how the ladies would conspire to torment him in the future because of his poorly chosen commentary.
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"I think I've figured it out," Kate Pulaski declared to everyone in general in the birthing room.
"Figured what out?" Lwaxana just had to ask.
"What happened." She looked down at Beverly. "Are you up to hearing what I suspect has occurred?"
Beverly was almost too-exhausted to tell Kate her answer.
It was Jean-Luc who replied for his bride. "Is the information medically urgent?"
"No…"
"Then it can wait for a few hours," he ordered.
Kate Pulaski merely looked amused as she watched an admiral trying to throw his weight around in her domain.
Norah came over to the bed taking in the life-affirming tableaux. "Beverly, are you up to trying to breastfeed, now?"
Not for the first time, Beverly just wished that she could rest. But, as always, her babies would come first. She stirred moving aside the flap of her hospital gown. "One at a time, I think," she quietly stated as she reached for her daughter. Expertly lining up the infant for lactation, she thrilled at the first touch of her daughter's lips to her nipple as she fed this baby her colustrum. Her daughter began rooting successfully. Every little burp she made pleased her mother.
Jean-Luc could only gaze upon this scene in awe, even as he now held his son who was surprisingly patiently waiting.
"Clever child," Lwaxana thought to observe.
"Jean-Luc, what's her name?" Guinan too-casually asked, as she beamed with pride down upon the littlest Picards.
Surprised by this question, Jean-Luc looked over at Beverly. He spoke out, though he was afraid of Beverly's response. "Mon coeur, what is your decision when it comes to our daughter's name?"
"She really still wants Lwaxana…" Beverly ruefully confessed.
"Of course she does," Lwaxana cooed in the background. "Lwaxana is such a wonderful name for a girl."
Jean-Luc just knew what was coming. And he could not forestall it. "Beverly," he growled.
"Lwaxana Adele Marie Picard," Beverly announced as she handed her now suddenly sleeping daughter over to Guinan. "We'll call her Anna," Beverly stated even as she switched babies with her husband.
"Make it so," he found himself agreeing. Not that he had much of a choice in the matter. For his daughter began as she meant to go on. If she wanted Lwaxana - then she got Lwaxana. Anna was destined to wrap Admiral Jean-Luc Picard around her pretty little finger for the rest of her father's life. Though Jean-Luc decided that he would only call his daughter by her formal name at important moments. Or when she was in need of discipline…
Her daughter had taken almost an ounce, her mother thought as the baby suckled. And for now, it was enough. Just to be sure, she checked with the lactation expert who had entered the birthing room and was silently monitoring the twins and the mother.
The very friendly and affirming lactation expert checked her tricorder again, and stated, "Your galactopoietic hormones are within normal range, Mrs. Picard. Though you might need some hormone balancing within a day or two. You know that you have just had twins, but your body may not quite realize it and produce the colustrum in sufficient amounts."
"We'll be monitoring Beverly closely," Dr. Bolt agreed.
Ryllis walked over to the expert. "Both babies seem to have cottoned on to suckling properly."
"Some babies are like that, thank goodness. But of course, I'll keep monitoring them just in case their little tummies can't quite cope with it during the next forty-eight hours. That sometimes happens."
Ryllis nodded. The she faced Dr. Bolt. "How long will you wish to keep Dr. Picard and the twins here at Medical?"
"The next twenty-four hours, definitely," Norah announced as she still kept automatically checking padds and readings. "After that, we'll see. I'll be monitoring Anna closely."
"I'm still staying with Jean-Luc," Kate Pulaski added. "I'll be taking a few days off when we can bring them home, so I'll be able to monitor their progress without a problem."
For the first time in his life, Jean-Luc Picard was grateful for Kate Pulaski's presence in his life. "Thank you," was all that he said to his part-time nemesis. And it was all that needed to be said.
"Well, I'd better go and tell everyone the all important details." She squeezed Jean-Luc's shoulder. "And then I'll make sure that everyone else who should be informed is informed."
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After Q toasted his godchildren for a second time finishing off his flute, he announced to everyone in the waiting room, "Ooops, I knew there was something that I was forgetting to do. Gotta go!" With that cryptic statement, he disappeared.
A moment later, the sound of a trumpet voluntary by Jeremiah Clarke filled the air, ringing about the room. Unfortunately, the air it was filling was not a concert hall or a Gothic cathedral. Instead, the trumpet heralded the arrival of Q on the bridge of the Enterprise.
Will Riker unwittingly copied one of Jean-Luc Picard's mannerisms. Captain Riker closed his eyes, mentally groaned, opened his eyes, and then refrained (almost) from bellowing, "Q!"
"Greeting, oh impotent hairy one. I come bearing great news!"
Riker assumed that Q's insult was meant for the captain of the Enterprise and no one else on the bridge
Deanna rushed over to Q and hugged this member of the Continuum for all that she was worth. Considering the way the lady felt when she pressed herself against him, even Q decided that Lwaxana might be in the right of it - what was taking Riker so long to marry this woman…
But Q had more important things to do at the moment than just to admire Deanna Troi.
"I announce the arrival of bouncing baby boy William Alexander Robert Picard and his twin sister, the very special little lady Lwaxana Adele Marie Picard."
Captain William Riker wasn't often caught speechless but the realization that Jean-Luc and Beverly had named their son after him, shook him to his very soul.
Deanna was torn between laughter and tears. Jean-Luc had named his daughter after her mother? Deanna groaned out loud too. Having Beverly's daughter named after her - her mother was going to be insufferable after this…
As if Q knew Deanna's thoughts, he added, "For some inescapable reason, baby girl Picard wanted to be called 'Lwaxana'. Though why Jean-Luc gave in to his daughter's wishes is beyond me."
Captain William Thomas Riker was now thoroughly confused. For exactly how could anyone know what a new-born baby wanted to be named? Will had sensed that there was something unusual about Beverly's pregnancy, but at this moment, he hadn't a clue as to what it was.
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Beverly was sleeping the sleep of the truly exhausted.
Jean-Luc rested on his bed in their maternity suite, just gazing upon her in the low lighting of the room. Their twins were sleeping in their monitored cribs close to Beverly on the other side of her bed. Even though he was dead tired himself, he found that he could not sleep. The tumultuous day that he had just spent kept roiling about in his mind. Everything from an earthquake to being stuck in an elevator to fearing for the life of his daughter crashed inward on his soul.
He recollected what it had been like with Eline when she had first given birth. He had had an easy time of it then when Meribor was born, in comparison to what Beverly had just gone through. But now, more than ever, he was grateful for his other lifetime with Eline, if only because the expression on Kate Pulaski's face when she realized that Jean-Luc Picard actually knew how to properly hold a new born infant, much less change a diaper, had been a very gratifying experience for him.
He rested against his pillow, still just drinking in the sight of his family. And thanking the beneficent gods for their gifts to him even as his son began to cry.
The door to their pale peach and sage decorated room slid open.
"Warp speed there, needs to be changed," the night nurse whispered to Admiral Picard.
"Warp speed?" the father queried.
"Admiral Wiley was telling everyone who'd listen how his godson had been born at warp speed. And considering how fast that birth was, he almost is telling the truth," the nurse cheerfully explained.
And Jean-Luc recollected hearing those words being said at some time during the birthing process. He mentally groaned at the thought that William already had a nickname, and his son wasn't even eight hours old…
"He's hungry too," the pediatrics nurse added as she fitted the boy with a new diaper.
"What about Anna? Is she hungry as well?"
"Probably. Twins tend to do things together, if you're really lucky."
Jean-Luc went over to his daughter and checked her diaper. She was still dry. And the nurse was duly impressed that this first-time father even knew to do that. Then Jean-Luc picked up his daughter and quietly walked over to Beverly.
"Mon coeur, I am sorry to wake you…" He lightly touched Beverly's shoulder.
She opened one eye. "You feed them," she suggested even as she stirred.
"I would if I could, mon coeur."
"Give me a couple of days. I'll be expressing milk by then." Beverly raised up the back of her hospital bed. Then she held out her arms for her daughter. The nurse brought William over to the other side.
"Dr. Picard, would you like to try two at a time? It might get you back to sleep faster, if you do."
"Why not," the still exhausted Beverly agreed.
As Jean-Luc watched Beverly settle their two children against her breasts, he asked of the pediatrics nurse, "They must be fed every two to three hours?"
"If you're lucky, sometimes new-borns might last four hours before they get hungry again," she advised.
"No, nurse," Beverly disagreed. "Wake me every three hours if the twins don't start crying before then because they are hungry. They really should be on a two-hour feeding schedule. I'll try to maintain that during waking hours."
"Of course, Dr. Picard," the nurse acknowledged. "I'll make the notation on your padd. Do you seem to be producing enough milk?"
"So far," Beverly answered, as she shifted about a bit trying to find a more comfortable position. However, she had her arms full. Jean-Luc immediately went over to Beverly, eased William away from his feeding by guiding the nipple out of his son's mouth with a finger, and then positioned William on a pillow before he returned his son to nursing at his mother's breast.
The nurse was even more impressed by the husband as she observed that maneuver. She made mention of the father's unexpected competency on her padd. He had clearly been around a new born before. After watching a minute or two more, she nodded over at the nursing admiral. "I'll be back in about fifteen minutes." And then she left.
Jean-Luc went over to Anna's side of the bed, and sat on the edge for the bed was wide enough for him to do so without disturbing Beverly's position.
"Oh, mon coeur…"
Beverly sighed. "I never thought that we'd get rid of all of our visitors. This seems like the first time that we are actually alone with our children."
Jean-Luc slowly moved a finger down Beverly's right breast ending this motion with a light tap on his daughter's forehead."
"She still hasn't cried, has she?"
"No, not yet. But Kate and Norah both say that there isn't any reason why she can't cry - except that maybe, as Guinan suggested, that she has nothing to cry about yet." Beverly shifted a little. "Her appetite isn't as voracious as William, but she is sucking pretty steadily now."
Jean-Luc picked up an iced carafe and asked, "Would you like some apple juice?"
"Yes. But add some cranberry juice to it too…" Beverly leaned back against the pillows and rested her eyes.
Her loving husband, mixed the juice in a tall glass and then brought it over to her, and lifted the straw to her lips. He was pleased to see that Beverly drank it all.
"Do you want some more?"
"Not now," she sighed as she tried coping with two suddenly squirming babies.
"William's done," she announced as she nodded her head in her son's direction. As Jean-Luc picked up the baby and put the boy back in his crib, he heard Beverly weakly say, "We have to remember which breast which child used after each feeding. We have to alternate them…" Beverly instructed, even as she kept nodding off.
Satisfied that William was already sleeping, Jean-Luc returned to Beverly's side and watched as Anna slowly drank. His daughter didn't seem to have the energy of her brother, but so far, she was doing all right. When she would suckle no more, Jean-Luc removed her from the arms of his now sleeping wife, burped her, and then returned the baby to her crib. He was changing Anna's diaper when the nurse returned.
"You most definitely have been around new-borns before," the nurse remarked.
"Yes. It was a long time ago. But apparently there are just some skills that one does not forget."
The nurse watched him finish and then ordered, "Now you go and get some sleep too. Their next feeding will come very fast…"
Knowing this to be the truth, Jean-Luc settled himself down for a nap even as he watched the nurse silently check all the monitors and then spray some sort of lanolin protectant on Beverly's breasts before she drew the blanket up higher over the dead-to-the-world new mother.
"Good night," she whispered as she left the room.
And Jean-Luc found himself about to sleep with his wife and their children. And his heart rejoiced even as he fell asleep.
A.N.: Well the end is almost here. Just one more chapter to go for this particular story. I hopefully will have it up before the end of the month. And there is a lot more to come in the De-Tached Series. I think that Wesley will be next…
