Chapter 12

"Sir, are you okay?" Aria asked Picard once they had some distance from the war bird that had held them captured for almost two weeks. He did not respond and had slumped in his chair. Picard had begun to go into shock from the phaser hit he had taken in the shoulder. She turned on the computer navigation system and got Jean Luc to the aft section of the shuttle where she could lay him down on one of the bunks. She then got out a tricorder and scanned his injuries. She was able to stabilize him and covered him with a blanket so he could sleep off the medications she administered. She looked at him for a minute, admired how strong he had been during their ordeal. He stirred in his sleep and she stoked his face, which calmed him down. Aria gave him a gentle kiss and rose from his bedside.

With the Captain out of any immediate danger and resting, Aria turned her attention to the shuttlecraft. There were so many buttons; this was the one area she did not do as well at the Academy. With the computer's help she was able to get them on a course to get back to the Enterprise. It was a day's travel before they could get there, if the Enterprise stayed on its course. They were hours away from being within communication range, so she set the computer to send a continuous message, stating their status and to have the computer alert them if someone responded. She also rechecked their course so they would get close to where the Enterprise was supposed to be.

With all of that taken care of, Aria checked on Picard again. He was fine and seemed to be sleeping well. She saw that most of their bags were still in the storage compartments. Knowing that her physical memories were still with her made her fell a bit better although Malrata now felt like a lifetime ago. Aria went over to the sink and looked at herself in the mirror for the first time since she had left the hotel. She was a complete mess with a cut over one eye, the other black, her lips were split and there were streaks of dried blood all over her face and neck. She gently tried to clean herself up, but everything hurt. She hurt all over, especially her ribs and mid-section. She was sure that she had at least one broken rib. Throwing up in the sink made her ribs hurt more than ever and she was cramping in her midsection. She rinsed the sink out to remove the last of her vomit and tried to wash her face and neck some more. It hurt her to do this and gave up after a few wipes from a wet towel. After looking at herself in the mirror and how red the water in the basin was, all she could do is to begin to cry and shake. Slowly she sat down on the floor and curled up into a ball, putting her head down on her knees and quietly sobbed. The adrenalin had finally worn off and the events of the past weeks had finally taken its toll on her. She finally was able to let go and did not have to be so strong.

She stayed that way for quite a long time until she felt a pair of warm and familiar arms wrap around her and hold her tight. Aria lifted her head a bit to see that Jean Luc right there comforting her.

"It's okay. We have been through a lot," he whispered in her ear. She wrapped her arms around him and they held onto each other for what felt like forever.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't fall apart like this," she finally said as the tears began to subside and stopped shaking as much.

"Aria, darling, it is okay. It is natural," he whispered.

She lifted her head so that their eyes met. "I'm sorry, it's just…"

"Aria, it is okay. You surprised me with how strong you were with all the abuse you took for so long. I am very proud of you. Not many Starfleet officers would of held up as well as you did." He leaned down and kissed her gently on her lips. She melted into his arms and his touch. Even with his injury, Jean Luc was able to lift her onto the bunk, kissing her all over her face and neck. All of her pain began to melt away with every kiss they shared.

"I wish I could of done this the whole time we were in that cell," he told her while he nuzzled her neck, but realized that she was much lighter than he remembered.

"We both know that would have been very dangerous. I don't even want to think of how bad things would of gotten if they had known about us," she said amazed that they had finally made it out of that hellish experience.

He kissed her again and gently touched her matted black hair. Even though she was very bruised and bloodied, Jean Luc still thought she was very beautiful. They had stopped kissing and he held her tightly on the small bunk stoking her arms or gently kissing the top of her head. She soon fell asleep in the strong protective arms of her Captain, her lover. Picard felt so guilty that he was unable to protect her from the evil things that had harmed her. He had wanted to hold her and comfort her every time she returned to their cell bloody and bruised or attack any Romulan that came to hurt her, but knew he had a job to do, to get both of them out of there alive. Jean Luc was really very impressed with how well she had held up under the conditions. She had been beaten up a lot more than he had been and didn't complain once. It broke his heart to think of all the pain and torture she had gone through virtually alone.

He fell asleep holding on to her, until an alarm went off. Once he realized where the noise was coming from he gently climbed off the bunk and covered Aria up with a blanket before crossing the cabin to see what the alarm was about. It was a signal that let them know that they were in communication range with a Federation ship. He was relieved to find out that it was the Enterprise.

"Enterprise, this is Captain Picard."

"Captain, we are glad to hear from you," Picard recognized the familiar and relieved voice of Commander Riker.

"Number One, I am glad to hear your voice."

"Captain, are you and Lieutenant Swenson okay? We've been looking for both of you."

"We're fine now. How far are you from us?"

"We will be there in two hours, Captain. And sir, we are all relieved that both of you are okay."

"Thank you Number One. We are looking forward to coming home. Picard out." He felt relieved that they were finally on their way home.

Jean Luc let Aria sleep for another hour and a half before he woke her up. Jean Luc knew she needed it. "Aria, wake up," he said as he gently rubbed her arm.

"Oh, hi. How long have I been asleep?"

"A few hours. I didn't want to wake you but we will be on the Enterprise in half an hour."

"That's great," she said as she tried to sit up. As she rose, she grabbed her stomach and ribs.

"Aria, you're hurt. Why didn't you tell me," he said as he reached for the tricorder.

"Jean Luc, it's just a broken rib or two. I didn't want to worry you. There was nothing you could of done."

He ran the tricorder up and down over her bruised and battered but very delicate body. "When did you get your ribs broken?"

"Three days ago. Is it bad?"

"It is good that we will be back on the Enterprise so we can get you to Dr. Crusher. You've lost a lot of blood for some reason so there is some sort of internal bleeding. I'm amazed you were able to participate so much in our escape," he said looking at her with admiration.

"I did what I had to do…to…get…" Aria drifted off and fell unconscious.

"Aria, Aria. Come on, wake up. Wake Up," he pleaded with her as he gently shook her and ran the tricorder over her. She was loosing blood and he had to stabilize her and quickly. He took a hypo spray to her neck to try to stop the bleeding, at least until he could get her to sickbay. After a few intense minutes, her vitals seemed to improve though she did not regain consciousness.

"Enterprise, this is Picard."

"Yes, Captain?" Riker responded.

"Ar… Swenson is unconscious. I think she is bleeding internally. She is stable for the moment, but I do not know how long she will stay that way."

"We're on our way, Captain. ETA five minutes."

"And have Dr. Crusher and a med team in the cargo bay when we arrive. Picard out," he turned off his communicator. "Aria, hold on. You will be in sickbay in just a few minutes. Hold on, with all we have been through I am not going to loose you now," he told her as he held onto her hand.

Those five minutes were one of the longest of his life. He felt so responsible for her condition and was afraid of loosing the woman he loved.

When the Enterprise arrived, Aria's condition had begun to worsen. Tractor beams brought the shuttle in and Picard opened the shuttle doors for the awaiting medical staff almost before the shuttle touched the deck. Dr. Crusher and a few other medical staff rushed in and put Aria on a hover-stretcher and whisked her off to sickbay. He could see that there was a lot of blood on the bunk where she had been laying. So much that he was more worried than before. One of the techs stayed back and checked over Picard. He suggested that the Captain report to sickbay for treatment for his injuries. Jean Luc headed straight to sickbay with the tech more to check on Aria's condition than repair his own injuries.

Inside the sick bay, Picard could see Aria's frail and damaged body lying on an exam table with a flurry of medical personnel around her. A nurse came up to him and helped him onto another exam table, treating his injuries especially the damage from the phaser hit as well as the damage inflicted by the Romulans.

"How is Lieutenant Swenson?" he asked the nurse.

"It looks pretty serious, but she is getting the best possible care, sir," she told him. "You'll probably be able to see her after she gets out of surgery."

The Captain was worried about her. While he was waiting to get any kind of word about her, Commander Riker entered and walked over to him.

"Sir, how are you?"

"I'm fine now. I got beaten up and caught a phaser hit in the shoulder. Once we left the war bird, I passed out. Swenson was able to stabilize me and got us on a course to get us home. I'm afraid she isn't doing too well. She took a lot more abuse by the Romulans. Swenson had broken ribs for several days before I found out not over an hour ago."

"She's a tough woman, sir. I know she will pull through."

"I hope so," Picard said as he kept his eyes on the team working on Aria.

"Sir, why did the Romulans capture you?"

"Besides the fact that I was in a shuttlecraft, I really do not know why. They were trying to get me to talk, asking about the Chowattas. They were trying to break us."

Another doctor checked over the Captain and released him. She told him that before he could go back to duty he had to come back for a follow up visit in a few days. Both Picard and Riker stayed until Aria was out of surgery, trying their best to keep out of the way.

Coming directly out of the surgical area, Dr. Crusher went over to the two men that were waiting anxiously for any kind of news. She looked worn out but had information to help settle them both.

"She will be okay. There was extensive tissue damage and had to remove her spleen and repair her liver and kidneys. The reason she passed out was because she miscarried her baby. She was less than a month along. Recovery will be rough but she will get through it. Would you like to see her?"

"Yes, please," the Captain said.

She took them over to Aria's bed where she was slowly coming around.

"Aria, Aria, we made it back to the Enterprise," Jean Luc said leaning over her, close to her face. Riker was only a few inches from the Captain.

Weakly she said, "We…made…it? I…can't…believe…it." Her words came out slowly but clearly.

"Believe it Aria. You're in sickbay and you had surgery. They were able to repair your injuries and you are going to be fine. Dr. Crusher told me that you lost your baby. Did you know you were pregnant?" He looked deep into her eyes with much sadness but tried not to show it in his tone.

"Not ...really, but... I sort …of ...had a …feeling... something …was… different when… I… couldn't… keep …anything …down."

"Aria, we are glad you are back with us. You gave us quite a scare, kid," Riker said to her.

"Thanks… When's… the… next …poker… game? I …hope… you… haven't… gotten… used to… winning… while… I… was… away," she responded.

They chuckled at her joke.

"Okay, that's enough. Aria needs her rest. You both can come back tomorrow and visit," Dr. Crusher told her concerned visitors.

The two men said good-bye and left sickbay.

"Doctor?" she called after the men had left the room.

"Yes, Aria. Are you in any pain?" the doctor responded.

"I'm…. really… sore, but I… need to… know, how… am I, really?"

"You were in real bad shape. We had to remove your spleen and there was some damage to both you kidneys and liver. We also were able to repair your broken ribs. There was no serious damage to your uterus, so you should have no problems having children later. The bruises left should heal in the next few days. I am truly sorry for your loss, but you need to get some rest."

"When… can… I… get… out…of… here?"

"If nothing goes wrong, sometime tomorrow. It will be a few weeks before you are fully able to go back to duty. But one step at a time now."

"Thank… you… for… everything, but… doctor, if… you… could… not… say …anything… about… the… baby. I…don't… want… too …many… rumors… running… around."

"Certainly, the only ones who know are my staff, Commander Riker and the Captain. Do you want to tell me who the father is, so I can let him know?"

"No…. I… will… tell… him."

"Okay Aria. Now you do need to get some rest. We will talk more tomorrow." The doctor gave Aria another blanket and a light sedative. Aria quickly drifted off to sleep.

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