Whew! Wiping sweat off brow. At least we gotten threw the first part and now to the more interesting part.

If you just clicked on chapter 8 and started reading Like Father, Like Son, Like Hell. Go back and READ chapters 1-7 because this chapter will not make sense if you don't because there are reference to things in earlier chapters of the story. So please go back and read those chapters first

Updating: This will be one of my last update until the summer because I just got assigned a research paper and then not soon after that finals will be coming up. Yay that life, deal with it, I don't like it either because I am going to be busy for awhile.

There is going to be some time passing, so the story will take place in season 6.


Chapter 8

One Summer's Day

"Let the dead rest and the past remain the past."

-Picard, The Battle

Two Years Later . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

A howling wind whipped through the forest, and with it tore the leaves off the branches of the trees and leaving them bare. It was impossibly cold and chilling, enough so that you could see your own breath. In the sky it was clear and the moon bared its light on the forest. The forest was thick and haunting, the branches of trees were like arms trying to keep outsiders away from its interior. The forest itself was like a fortress, one that was uncaring and cold hearted like a stone. The branches were twisted and mangled, but the forest was also very old, the trees were so old and grown so high that they almost seemed that they would touch the moon itself. It was pitch black under the canopy of the trees and the forest floor was waterlogged. It made it so that the forest floor was almost a bog or even a marsh.

Suddenly there was a scream in the distance, interrupting the still of the forest. Picard ran toward the scream, because he knew that voice. It was Wesley Crusher. His uniform was filthy with mud that was caked on to it and it had tiny holes where the branches had torn it. Picard stopped in a clearing trying desperately to find where Wesley's location.

"CAPTAIN! HELP ME!" Wesley screamed again.

Picard tried to figure out where Wesley's scream was coming from, but he couldn't because to him the scream was coming from everywhere at once. He charged heading North back into the forest. There was no trail at all, only the muddy forest floor.

"Don't worry Wes I am coming to save you!" Picard said to himself to give himself some hope that he could save Wesley. But the branches were like hands holding him back and slowing him down, Picard pushed back the branches away from him so he could have a clear path, but it always seemed that whenever he pushed back a branch there were five more to take its place.

"SAVE ME!"

Once Picard finally cleared the branches, he stumbled and fell across a small clearing. Picard quickly got up. As he did there was an obstacle in front of him. Standing in his way was Jack, in his Starfleet uniform, torn and tattered from the day that he died. Picard froze at his former friend and officer, but Picard was also frightened of his friend by the way that he glaring at him. Jack's eyes were usually warm and comforting much like his son Wesley's eyes were. But Jack's eyes were nothing like that. They were glassy and dull, no warmth like he had, Picard himself had seen Jack get angry and it indeed frightened him to see his friend in such a rage. But as frightening as Jack could get with his rage he would never harm Beverly or Wesley because it wasn't in his nature because he couldn't harm a human being or animal unless he absolutely had too.

Jack was one of the most courageous and self- sacrificing officers he had ever seen, Jack would rather die than let someone die. But Jack's eyes were not of rage, but of disappointment, Jack looked down and shook his head.

Picard only said one thing. "Jack."

Jack looked up and said. "Why didn't you save him? Why didn't you Jean-Luc?" and then he continued. "Why couldn't you save him? Why did you give my son the same fate that I had?" Jack questioned.

"Jack! I am trying to save your son! Let me through!" Picard shouted and then he started to go around Jack, but Jack stepped in his way, blocking his path.

"SOMEONE HELP ME!" Picard heard Wesley scream and it was very close, his adrenaline was pumping through his veins. He didn't have time for this! He had to save Wesley!

"Get out of my way Jack!" Picard yelled, Jack said nothing but still Jack didn't get out of the way. This was making Picard quite annoyed. He didn't want to do this to his friend and he really didn't want to order his friend to move.

"Commander get out of my way." Picard threatened, but still Jack didn't move.

"WILL SOMEONE HEL. . ." Wesley screamed, but he was cut off, Picard panicked. But Jack remained unphased by Wesley's cries for help.

"Commander I order you to move." Picard ordered.

Still Jack didn't move, Picard tried to push Jack out of the way, but Jack pushed Picard back into a thick tree trunk putting his forearm across Picard's chest keeping him from moving.

Jack's face went dangerously close to Picard's face and then he finally spoke.

"You failed Jean-Luc. You failed Wesley and you have let me down and you couldn't save Wesley my only son and you left him without a father. It is your fault for killing me. You couldn't save Wesley even if you wanted to. You let him die."

"No. No. NO! NO!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Picard screamed waking up from his frightening nightmare. Picard wiped the sweat off his forehead. He was drenched with sweat, Picard breathed heavily his bionic heart was still pounding from all the adrenaline. Picard sat up in his bed trying to cool himself off. Picard put his hands of his face and slid them down his face shaking his face just thinking about what Jack had said to him. 'You let him die. Those words hurt him to the core, not only did he kill Jack, but also Wesley too. No wonder Jack would be mad at him for killing his one and only son.

Picard got up from his bed and went over to his sink. He put his hands under the faucet and the water started to stream down on his onto his hands. Picard cupped his hands and let the water fill it and he then splashed his face with the water cooling his face down. He then took his already wet hands and put them on the back of his neck, letting the beads of water slide down.

Picard was mostly looking down when he was cooling himself down, but he looked up into the mirror and his heart nearly stopped. It was Wesley's reflection in the mirror, he was standing no more than five feet behind him. Wesley was wearing his red ensign uniform, there wasn't a scratch on him, no third degree burns on his body, Wesley looked perfectly healthy. His uniform looked clean and freshly pressed, there wasn't a spot of dirt anywhere on his uniform.

"Wesley?" Picard spoke it was barely a whisper. He turned his head quickly to hopefully find Wesley standing there in the flesh. But when he did Wesley was gone, he looked back into the mirror to if Wesley's reflection was still in there, but he wasn't.

"Something is rotten in the state of Denmark." Picard said to himself reciting a line from Hamlet. He knew Wesley was dead and nothing could change that fact. It was his fault for killing Wesley, if he hadn't sent Wesley on that mission, Wesley wouldn't have been killed. How could they trust him, when he caused the death of their youngest member of his crew?

Picard knew that today of all days, was Wesley's birthday, two years from the day that Wesley died. It was the day that he dreaded most of all because every minute of that day reminded him of what he failed to do. Protect Wesley. It was hours 0400, he then got up and changed into his uniform and then he went out the door, he was going to walk until it was time for his shift.

A few hours later . . . . .

Captain's Log Stardate 45574.74

Because our last mission brought us close to the Sol system. Admiral Darcy has invited me to talk about the Enterprise's next mission at the academy. The crew is fatigued and is in need of a well deserved shore leave. While we are having shore leave, the Enterprise will be in spacedocked for minor repairs. Also the Enterprise is going to be getting upgrades to its sensors and the computer system.

"Captain is something wrong?" Riker asked. Picard slowly opened his eyes and sighed. He knew that Riker had every right to be worried about him, he even thought to tell him about his nightmare. But he decided not to tell his first officer.

"I am fine Number One, there is nothing to be worried about. I just didn't get enough sleep last night." Picard lied, trying not to let on that he was not fine. Jack's voice kept echoing in his head. Why didn't you save him?

Riker knew that Picard was lying, but he chose not to press on because most likely Picard was thinking about Wesley's death. But still something felt off about Picard, that he could not place. Riker just shrugged it off because he too was still hurt about Wesley's death that was only two years behind them.

"Mr. Data how long until we reach Earth?" Riker order.

Data made simple calculation and then reported. "Two hours and thirty minutes sir."

"Thank you Mr. Data." Riker said then turned his attention back to Picard. "Captain where is Dr. Crusher? I stopped by Sickbay but she wasn't there." Riker said with a degree of worry in his voice.

"I gave her the day off." That was Picard's explanation, Riker saw the fallout of Wesley's death on Beverly and it was terrible. Such a strong woman being brought down by the death of her only son, just thinking about made his heart ache with grief. Out of anyone in the crew Beverly was the most affected by Wesley's death. Wesley to her was her entire world, he was the sun, the moon, and the stars to her, but without Wesley her world collapsed under the pressure.

Riker knew that Beverly was most likely grieving for her son in her quarters and if he went into Beverly's quarters. Beverly would cut his head off and quite frankly she could be quite scary when she got angry. Riker even if he didn't want to admit it he was afraid of Beverly. So the smartest thing to do was to let Beverly be.

Beverly's quarters

Beverly walked into Wesley's room. The motion sensor lights illuminated the room, Beverly just sighed. Not a thing was out of place in Wesley's room, but there was a thin blanket of dust on everything. This room didn't bring warmth or comfort that she had desired, but only coldness and guilt for the person that she had lost.

Mindlessly Beverly went over to Wesley's closet and got out Wesley's acting ensign uniform. It was dusty, the blue, red, and green bands were now faded by time. Beverly went over and sat on Wesley's bed and started to inspect the uniform.

The uniform itself was not worn in ages not since the first year they came on to the Enterprise. That seemed such a long time ago, when Wesley was only a mere boy. How he grew up on the Enterprise. Every challenge and every obstacle Wesley faced made him into a bright and brilliant young man, but before she saw him become man - Wesley was taken away from her.

Beverly's eyes started to tear up and tears starts to fall from her eyes. She tried desperately not to think about Wesley's death. Oh . . . How he grew into that red uniform, that he wore proudly to the Bridge everyday. But now Wesley was gone and her world was gone.

Beverly cried uncontrollably because her son was gone.

Back on the Bridge. A few hours later . . . .

The Enterprise dropped out of warp and went into to orbit around Earth.

"Mr. Data take us into space dock in the McKinley station. Slow to impulse." Picard ordered.

"Slowing to impulse, sir." Data answered and typing in commands at his consul. Slowly Station Mckinley came closer and closer. The crab-like station, at first glance only took up the Saucer section and many Cadets and Officers if it was their first time docking their ship thought that docking at Station Mckinley was easy. Which it wasn't at all, there was another section that could be forgotten that surrounded the Stardrive Section of a Starship and if the ship was off by one degree from drop dead center of the Station's radial section, the ship would have to re-dock all over again. Which would be embarrassing for any helm officer. Docking in this type of Drydock was a difficult and complex maneuver,compared to docking at "Cage" like drydock where the ship just pulled into the drydock, to pull off. Not only did the OPS and navigator officer had to be in synchronization with one another during this manual procedure, but what made it complex was the fact that there were no docking latches when the ship first started to come into Mckinley so the ship couldn't use it's, the docking latches didn't engage until the first two Saucer section claws went around the Saucer section of the ship or use the mooring beams. The Starship had to come to center of Station's radial section to dock and the station did the rest.

Slowly Station McKinley got closer and closer. Without a ship in it, Station McKinley looked like a cage because Stardrive section's two central moving beams were completely horizontal, the other beams that followed were stagnant which would cover the ships' Warp Nacelles. But when a ship was in there the beams' horizontal angle would change to 85 Degree Angle, which would take up the neck area of a Galaxy class Starship.

The Enterprise was coming close to Station McKinley, but the ship was slightly off. "Mr. Data prepare for docking procedure." Picard ordered. Data pressed a few buttons on his consol.

"Preparing for docking procedure." Data replied.

The Enterprise slowly came into Station McKinley. Data found the center point of radical part of Station McKinley, faster than the navigator at hand, so he sent his coordinates to the navigator. The docking was going good to say the least, the Navigator's course correction kept on putting the Enterprise-D a couple degrees off on ether the Port or Starboard side. Data quickly compensated and made the corrections.

"One minute and thirty seconds until we reach center point." Data reported to Captain Picard.

"Mr. Data one quarter impulse, please." Picard ordered. Data slowed the ship downed to one quarter and then report to the Captain.

"Slowing to one quarter impulse. Thirty seconds until we reach center point." Truly it was Data who was navigating the ship and not the Navigator at hand because he couldn't keep up with Data.

The Enterprise got closer and closer the radical section of drydock.

"Captain thirty seconds until we reach center." Data reported.

"29,28,27,26, 25, 24, 23, 22, 21, 20, 19." Data started to count down the seconds until the Enterprise was in position.

"18,17, 16, 15,"

"14, 13, 12, 11, 10,"

Picard patiently waited until he could give the order to come to a full stop at Station McKinley.

"9,8,7,6, 5,4,3,2,1"

"Mr. Data come to a full stop." Picard ordered.

The Enterprise stopped in the center of Station McKinley and the Docking Manager started to bring the frontal claws down on the Enterprise.

"This is Docking Manger, prepare for 2nd docking claws." The Manager said over Picard's comm link in his Command chair.

"Understood."

Slowly the second pair of the docking claws of the section came down on the Enterprise and shook the ship. On the Bridge, when the claws came down, the crew felt a great shock and held on to their chairs.

"This is Docking Manger, prepare for 3rd docking claws."

Slowly the moving beam went from a horizontal angle to an 85 degree angle to fit the neck of the Enterprise. Once it stopped moving, the 3rd docking claws started to come down on the Enterprise's nacelles , in truth the 3rd docking claws consisted of two pairs of docking claws.

On the Bridge everyone was holding their breath to hear that the docking procedure was over.

"This Docking Manger, the Enterprise has been successful docked and the docking procedure is over."

Everyone breathed and smiled because the hard maneuver was over. Picard just smiled a little bit and then returned to his regular calm state. But his nightmare still bothered him greatly. No matter what he did he couldn't get the sound of Wesley screaming out of his head. What disturbed him even more was that he saw Wesley in his mirror. Something just didn't sit right with Picard to not see a burn or starch mark on Wesley. He knew that Wesley had every right to be angry at him and he should be angry at him because he killed Wesley and it was his fault. Nothing could change that and nothing could that he destroyed Beverly's world. He destroyed the only family that she had left in the world. Picard sighed heavily.

Over the past two years, he had grown distant to Beverly. Less and less they had dinner together and morning tea together, they didn't talk in public as much. Even during shift when she sat by him, they didn't talk about anything that wasn't standard protocol, it was always her giving her report on sickbay, patients or other official business, but after she gave her report she left the bridge. He didn't want to think about the first three months after Wesley's death because it was just heartbreaking to think about. Beverly didn't even come to him for comfort, but how should she come to him for comfort

He was surprised that she didn't leave the ship after Wes's death, but she didn't. He guessed that because it was the home that she had left and she didn't want to move anything out of Wesley's room. How he wished that he could hold, Beverly. Smell her wildflower perfume, let her cry on his shoulder, and say that everything was going to be ok, during those horrid three months. But he couldn't it wasn't his place. He felt so helpless that he could not even help Beverly through her struggles. As she had lost her son, so did he.

"Good job everyone, Alpha shift is now over, enjoy your shore leave." Picard commented and got up from his chair. He then straightened out his tunic and headed toward the turbolift and headed to transporter room 4. The Beta shift personnel walked out of the turbolift and Picard walked in. The Beta shift relieved the Alpha shift personnel and Riker, Worf and Data got up and headed out to the hall.

************************************************** ************************************8

Riker jogged trying to catch up to Geordi. "Geordi wait!" Riker shouted trying to get Gerodi's attention. Geordi stopped and turned his head to see where Riker was.

"What is the matter?" Geordi asked. Riker caught up to Geordi panting and he and Geordi started to walk together. Geordi was smiling from ear to ear. Riker wonder what Geordi was so happy about.

"Nothing is the matter Geordi, but why are you so happy?" Riker asked with curiosity shining in his sky blue eyes.

"Well Commander as you know the Enterprise is getting upgrades while we are in drydock. Those upgrade are going to speed up are computer up by 200% and they are also going to update the warp engines, so the engines are more efficient. I just can't wait for those upgrades for those warp coils. Because those warp coils have been having some minor malfunctions." Geordi stated. Geordi rubbed his hands.

"Well aren't you a kid in a candy store." Riker joked and even if he didn't understand a single word that Geordi said. He then continued. "I was wondering if you wanted to join us in Ten Forward for a drink." He asked.

"Is Data going to be there?"

"Yes and so is Deanna, do you want to join us?"

"Sure I would be glad too! See you later!" Geordi waved goodbye.


Wow that was a weird dream and don't to mention scary! Picard seeing Wesley in the mirror was he hallucinating? Going insane? or just tired? Well I guess you have to find out in the next chapter.

Review it makes me update faster. Please review.