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Chapter Thirteen

Beverley checked the Sickbay schedule for the next few days. For her plan to work it had to be possible for her to cover all the routine work on her own. It would be tight but as long as Cho and Ellis continued to improve as quickly as she expected, it should be possible. Checking Selar's latest update, she nodded approvingly, Cho, Ellis and Evans should all be officially returned to duty in two days. Perfect. And, best of all, Will would do it to himself. If he behaved sensibly her plan would backfire, and she'd have to find another way to punish him, but she really didn't think that there was any possibility of her needing a Plan B.

The door to Sickbay opened and Selar came trudging in, looking completely exhausted. Treating crewmembers in their quarters freed up space in Sickbay but it made things more difficult for the Sickbay staff, adding extra time on to their already long shifts. Selar carefully put her medical bag down in it's assigned spot and then stood in the middle of the room, gazing vacantly ahead of her. Beverley walked up to her and said,

'Come into my office.'

Selar followed Beverley into her office and Beverley motioned for her to sit down. Beverley went to the replicator and ordered food and drink for both of them. She waited until Selar had eaten two sandwiches and was starting on her third, before saying,

'You need some time off.'

'As do you.'

'Yes but I'm going to ask the Captain for a week off when we get to Starbase 93 next month. I've looked at the schedule and I was going to suggest that you take seventy-two hours off, starting at the end of alpha shift in two days time.'

'Yes.'

'I'll get the Captain's approval immediately.'

Beverley left Selar sat finishing her meal and crossed to the computer to make the official request. Looking at Selar, falling asleep where she sat, Beverley was glad that Selar was getting some time off. It was too easy to think of Vulcan's as super-human and forget that they had limits too. Selar had been working nineteen hour days for more than eight weeks now, which according to Beverley's calculations, gave Selar a new personal record for endurance. The fact that Selar hadn't argued about the schedule or insisted that she was in no need of leave, confirmed that she had reached the end of her resources.
It only took five minutes for Selar's leave request to be approved, but by then, Selar was asleep. Smiling fondly at her friend, Beverley quietly walked out of her office and started doing patient rounds.

By the time that Beverley had finished treating her patients, it was past nineteen hundred hours and she was exhausted. Going in to her office she logged in the updated patient notes and was about to leave when she remembered that she needed to send a message to Will. She thought briefly and then began typing. A few seconds later, she hit send with a satisfied smirk on her face.

Will was reading through the personnel files for the new crewmembers when Beverley's message came through. He grimaced slightly as he read it but he knew that Sickbay were ridiculously stretched so he programmed it into his schedule and promptly forgot about it.

It wasn't until a couple of days after Will and Deanna's argument that Jean-Luc discovered what was going on. He'd noticed the increased friction between Will and Deanna, as had all the Bridge crew. In fact he'd had an embarrassing discussion with Data about it, in which he'd ended up admitting that he and Deanna had a Friendly Fire agreement which had then led to a full discussion about Friendly Fire agreements and the rules by which they were governed. The only encouraging thing about it had been Data's puzzled observation that he failed to see why this made Commander Riker's behaviour acceptable. Worf, thank goodness, hadn't come and asked what was going on, though the cold glares that he was giving Will weren't helping the atmosphere on the Bridge. Deanna was apparently calm and serene but Jean-Luc could tell that she wasn't as calm as she seemed.
Until Reg Barclay was needed on the Bridge, Jean-Luc assumed that it was just about the discussion he and Will had had. However, when he saw Reg deliberately step into Will's path, so that they collided, he knew that he'd missed something. Reg had a tricorder in his hand, which he turned so it scraped along Will's ribs. If Jean-Luc hadn't turned just when he did, he would have assumed that Reg was just being a klutz again, as everyone else on the Bridge did. Jean-Luc stared at Reg in amazement as Reg stammered apologies whilst Will swore at him. When Will started to become vitriolic, Jean-Luc stepped in,

'Are you hurt, Number One?'

'Just a graze, Sir.'

'Go down to Sickbay and get it seen to.'

'Yes, Sir.'

With a last glare at Reg, Will left the Bridge. As the turbolift doors closed, Jean-Luc said,

'Mr Barclay, a word in my Ready Room, please.'

Without waiting for a reply, Jean-Luc strode into his Ready Room. Once inside, he turned and looked at Reg Barclay, who was pale and sweating. Jean-Luc thought for a moment, then said quietly,

'I saw what happened.'

For a moment, he thought Reg was going to faint but Reg surprised him; he pulled himself up to his full height and calmly said,

'Are you going to C…Court M…Martial me, Sir?'

'I don't know. Why did you do it? Have you and Commander Riker been having problems?'

'N…no, Sir.'

'So? What on Earth got into you?'

'I…it's p…personal.'

'Personal?' asked Jean-Luc, baffled. Will and Reg Barclay had virtually no contact socially. The only people they both knew well were Geordi, Data and Deanna. Jean-Luc swore under his breath as he remembered what Beverley had said about how Reg hated being counselled by anyone except Deanna with the added implication that Reg was still infatuated with Deanna.

'It's something to do with Counsellor Troi, isn't it?'

'Yes.'

'What happened?'

'D…don't you know, Sir?'

'No. Did she and Commander Riker argue?'

'Yes.'

'And because of this, you decided to attack Commander Riker?'

'H…he said such h…horrible things to her. D…Doctor Crusher said t…to leave it to her b…but it m…made me so angry.'

Jean-Luc looked at Reg in reluctant sympathy. It had taken him a long time to realise that sometimes you have to let your friends work things out without your interference. No matter how angry or frustrated you are. And there was also the fact that Beverley had decided that Will needed to be punished for what he'd said, which meant that Will had definitely crossed the line as far as Beverley was concerned. Jean-Luc felt his own anger rising and firmly suppressed it. Deanna had not come to him for comfort nor had she made an official complaint about Will's behaviour, so he had to stay out of it. Besides, he was unlikely to think of anything as elegantly savage as whatever Beverley had planned. He made a mental note not to try to find out in case it was something he ought to put a stop to.
Turning back to Reg, he said,

'Mr Barclay, Counsellor Troi's relationship with Commander Riker is none of your business unless it becomes abusive, in which case it is your duty to report it to myself or Mr Worf immediately. Is that understood?'

'Y…yes, Sir.'

'I'm putting you on Report for causing an injury to a crewmember due to inattention. You will also work double shifts for the next four weeks.'

'Yes, Sir.'

'And if anything else should happen to Commander Riker, I will Court Martial you. Do you understand?'

'Y…yes, S…Sir.'

Relaxing slightly, Jean-Luc said,

'Also, Reg, Deanna is more than capable of taking care of herself. I know she looks like a porcelain doll but she is a strong and independent woman. She wouldn't thank you for what you've done.'

'I know. I d…don't know what came over me, Sir. I'm really s…sorry.'

'Dismissed.'

Reg left and Jean-Luc entered his punishments on the log with a heavy heart, wondering if he should withdraw from the Friendly Fire agreement to save Deanna pain.

Sighing, he stared moodily out of the window until the door chime forced him back to reality,

'Enter.'

Geordi came in and Jean-Luc gestured him to a chair,

'What can I do for you, Mr LaForge?'

'Well, Sir, I was wondering if I could talk to you about Mr Barclay's punishment.'

'What about Mr Barclay's punishment?'

'Well, Sir, it seems a little excessive. I mean, I know Reg can be a complete klutz at times but Commander Riker wasn't seriously hurt, so I wondered why Reg is on Report and has extra duties as well.'

'Did Reg ask you to come and talk to me?'

'No. As a matter of fact, he begged me not to. He said he thought you were more lenient than he deserved. Which doesn't make sense.'

Looking at Geordi's bewildered expression, Jean-Luc realised that he would have to tell Geordi what was going on, if only because someone needed to make sure that Reg controlled himself. At this rate, soon everyone on the ship would know about him and Deanna. Gritting his teeth, he told Geordi about the Friendly Fire agreement and how Will had found out and the row that Reg had overheard.

'You mean Reg tripped him deliberately?' said Geordi, aghast.

'Yes, so you see why I had to give him a significant punishment.'

'Yes, of course. Um, there is one thing I don't understand, Sir.'

'Yes?'

'Friendly Fire agreements are negated by a proper relationship, aren't they?'

'Yes?'

'So if Will's so in love with Deanna, why doesn't he ask her out?'

'I don't know, Geordi. I don't understand Will's attitude at all.'

'He seems to want to have his cake and eat it, if you see what I mean.'

Jean-Luc nodded, thinking that Geordi was right. Will seemed to think that he should be able to have as many flings as he wanted whilst Deanna patiently waited for him to come back to her. The man was a fool.

Geordi handed over a couple of Engineering reports for approval and then headed back to Engineering, mulling over what he'd just heard. He'd been watching Will and Deanna slowly growing apart for years until he'd have sworn that they were just friends. Then Deanna had got together with Worf (and what a weird combination that had been) and suddenly Will was jealous and started interfering even though it was none of his business. The idea of the Captain and Deanna together was intriguing and the more he thought about it, the more well suited he thought they were. He hoped the Captain wouldn't let Will put him off pursuing a relationship with Deanna.

Will finished his shift and decided that he needed to let off steam. After, changing out of his uniform he headed to Ten Forward where he spent the evening drinking synthale and flirting. He managed to persuade one of the civilian scientists to go for a walk in the arboretum with him, which culminated in sex in his cabin. She left and Will fell into a deep sleep, only hearing his alarm after it had been going for fifteen minutes,

'Computer, off. Lights.'

Sitting up groggily, Will said,

'Computer, time.'

'The time is oh-five-hundred hours.'

'What? Why did I set my alarm for oh-five-hundred?'

'Unknown.'

'Computer, schedule…oh shit!'

He had less than fifteen minutes to get to his annual physical and Beverley had specifically asked him to be on time because Selar was on leave so she was on her own.

Will ran into the bathroom.

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