Author's Note: This is during the episode Future Imperfect. It will have spoilers to the episode in it.
Chapter 2: Daddy Issues
7 year old Nicole Riker saw her mother sitting on her bed going through photos. It looked like her mother had been crying?
Nicole walked into her mother's bedroom and sat on the bed. She saw photos of her mother with some man. He had dark hair and baby blues. Very similar to Nicole's.
There was even a photo of him holding a baby and smiling. Was that a Starfleet uniform he was wearing?
Troi wiped her tears with her hand. She then placed an arm around her daughter and brought her closer.
"This is your father, Nikki. His name is William T. Riker." Troi said, handing her a photo of her father.
Her father. The man who is now a first officer. The man who still cares deeply for her mother. The man who's birthday is today. Nicole didn't have to come to father's birthday party. She was asked to by her mother. She declined many times, saying that there was no reason for her to.
However, her mother persisted. She at least chose to make an appearance. She stood in the back of Ten Forward away from everyone. He was playing Trombone. It sounded quite nice actually.
She would have never guessed that he liked Jazz. Nicole didn't really care for the classical stuff or even Jazz. She preferred the 90's and early 2000's type of music. Although there was some stuff after the 2010's she liked.
She smiled and shook her head at the joke he made. And she could only guess what he was saying to her mother through their telepathic bond. It surprised her that they were still so close. They hooked up every now and then, but they stayed friends.
She tensed slightly when an arm snaked over her shoulders. She quickly relaxed when she saw who it was and leaned into him.
His name was Tucker. His rank Lieutenant Commander. He was a science officer. Worked mainly in Stellar Cartography. He was half Betazoid and Nicole's boyfriend.
"Hey babygirl!" Tucker said, placing a kiss to her temple.
Nicole attempted not to shudder at the nickname he gave her. She was never a fan of the nickname. A past love ruined that for her.
"Hi babe. How was your shift?" Nicole said, turning her head to look at her boyfriend.
He looked beat. His normally styled blonde hair was ruffled up. Probably from him constantly running his fingers through it. His green eyes had dark circles forming under them.
"Long and tiring." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.
"Well, that is what you get for doing a twelve hour shift." Nicole teased.
She felt him tug on her hair. It wasn't enough to throw her head back. It was for a warning.
Her attention was brought to the captain's voice over the comm. He asked for an away team which meant her father was needed. This caused some rising panic in Nicole. Since serving on the Enterprise, Nicole became concerned for her father's well-being when he was on away missions. A part of her still cared deeply for the man.
Baby blues met baby blues for an instant before the first officer left Ten Forward along with Geordi and Worf. At that moment, Nicole had a memory pop into her head.
She was an infant laying in her crib. She was about 3 months old. She saw her mobile which had some silver things on it. Then a gentleman came into view. He was clean shaved and so young. He had the most darling baby blues in the world.
Nicole shook off the memory. It seems like when their eyes meet, the memory surfaces. A memory that she shouldn't have remembered, but she does.
Nicole walked into the Captain's ready room not too long after. She was asked to come to the Captain's ready room. Her mother was sitting on the couch. Captain Picard asked her to sit down.
It didn't take a telepath to know something was wrong. She did notice her father wasn't on the bridge. Was this about him? Was he injured? Possibly dead!? Nicole tried her best to keep herself under control. There was no reason for her to get so upset this quickly when she didn't even know what was going on.
Taking a deep breath, Captain Picard leaned against his desk. "Lieutenant," he started. "Commander Riker is stuck on the planet. We've been trying to reach him but there is a lot of interference."
Nicole's heart dropped. Her father was on a strange planet with no way of finding him or knowing if he was hurt or not.
Troi placed a hand on her daughter's arm. "Nikki." She started.
Nicole ignored her mother. She started running off ideas to the captain. He asked her to work with Data on breaking through the interference to help in bringing her father home.
They were able to contact Commander Riker. He beamed on board about half an hour ago. Nicole was walking through the corridor hand in hand with Tucker when her baby blues met his baby blues.
Nicole didn't know if it was from the fear of almost losing him or seeing him standing there with the Captain outside Sickbay, but she found herself stopping dead in her tracks with tears in her eyes. "Dad!" She exclaimed. It was the first time she ever called him that.
Commander Riker looked at her with tears in his eyes. "Nikki" he said, quietly. Almost too quietly.
Nicole walked over to him, but this time she had her mask plastered back on. "Welcome back, Commander." she said.
"It's good to be back, Lieutenant." Commander Riker said, nodding his head slightly.
He then turned his attention to the figure with him. This figure was definitely an alien.
"This is Barash." He turned back to Nicole. "This is Nicole….Riker. My daughter."
Nicole could hear the pain in his voice. She didn't like any bit of it. She just wanted to hug her father and tell him…
"Ignore him babygirl. He broke your heart. Remember?" Tucker said telepathically.
"I know. I know." Nicole said, telepathically.
"Hello Nicole. I apologize for capturing your father. I was quite lonely." Barash said.
"It's okay." Nicole shrugged. "You could've kept him longer. It was nice and quiet without him." Nicole teased.
Commander Riker gave her one of his famous teasing smiles. Captain Picard tried his best not to laugh. And Nicole just smiled innocently.
"Well, if you excuse us, sirs. Nicole and I had a date." Tucker said, leading Nicole away from the group.
Nicole took one more look at Commander Riker. She wished she could talk to him telepathically.
"You shouldn't have called him dad, babygirl." Tucker said telepathically.
They were still in earshot of the group.
"Why can't I? He's my father for heaven's sake!" Nicole said telepathically.
Tucker tensed. He gripped her hand harder as he led her through the corridor to his quarters.
Once inside his quarters, he gripped Nicole's forearms. She knew there would be bruises there tomorrow.
"Did you forget that he left you!?" Tucker exclaimed as he glared at her.
"He left my mother!" Nicole yelled back.
"While she was pregnant with you!"
Tucker's eyes burned with anger. It started to scare Nicole. Her eyes went wide. Tucker must've sensed it, because he relaxed.
"I am sorry, Nikki." He let go of her and turned away. "I just don't want him to hurt you again."
Tucker was right. Her father did hurt her. He was the cause for her to work as hard as she does. She wanted to show him that she was worth more than his career.
Nicole ignored the pain in her arms as she took a couple steps closer to Tucker.
"Hey." She wrapped her arms around him, placing her cheek on his back. "He won't hurt me again. I will make sure that I don't get close to him." She said.
Tucker placed a hand on hers. He then turned around. His hands were holding hers. He didn't say anything. He just smiled right before he pulled her in for a kiss.