Author's note: Sorry for the delay on this, I got so busy, and then I got writer's block, aagh! If you want me to continue this story, please review. It doesn't seem like enough people are reading this to make it worth writing. So please be kind and review! Thank you!
* * *
Beverly was up late, reading when she heard the door chime. "Come in," she yelled, glancing up briefly from the PADD she held in front of her. Captain Picard had suggested Mehlville and though he had offered her a genuine copy of the book, she had declined. She felt it was unreasonable for him to assume he could trust her with such a cherished object, especially while Mina was still lurking around plotting, Beverly figured, her next attack.
"Bev, um, I need to talk to you." Korbin slinked through the doorway and stood nervously near the entrance, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. "I'm sorry, I'll leave. This is a bad time." She turned to go.
"Wait!" Beverly yelled. "I was just reading, Korbin. Come over here and sit down. What's on your mind."
"I was wondering, what it was like for you to grow up without parents."
Beverly was a bit taken aback. She had never really expected to have a heart-to-heart with the bumbling girl seated at her desk. This was a question she didn't quite know how to answer, even if she would have asked herself. "Um, I don't know, Korbin. It was what it was. I don't really have anything to compare it to. It's not like I lived one life with parents and one life without. If I did maybe I could compare the two. I don't even remember my mom and dad, though. It was always just Grandma. Why do you ask?"
Korbin didn't answer, just looked far away. Haunted, Beverly thought. "It was okay, though," the red head amended. "I mean life gives you stuff and you deal with it and go on."
Tears slid down Korbin's sallow cheeks. "I lost my parents today."
"My God, Korbin. What happened?"
"I grew up on Chous planet that's somewhat divided between those who believe in the technology that we have procured for ourselves, and those that believe in the simple life. My father believed in simplicity, and my whole life was spent farming alongside my family. I knew, though, even then that I could never be happy with crops and animals. I wanted something more. I was always bright, so I took the Academy entrance exam. I was so nervous, but I had no one to help me, no one to console me. If my parents had found out what I was doing, they would have never let it happen. I told them I was going on a short holiday with my friends."
Beverly remembered her own pre-exam jitters, and was thankful that her Grandmother had been so supportive of her decisions. She had never had to hide what was in her heart from the older woman.
"I took the test and did reasonably well. I was accepted. I couldn't celebrate that with my family either. I was afraid to even tell my friends, for I feared word of my plans would leak. One night, I stole away on a freighter bound for Starbase 47. From there, I was taken to the Academy. I didn't tell my parents where I went. None of my brothers did when they left, either.
Beverly was wide-eyed. Never, in her wildest dreams would she have imagined this tale as her forgetful and bumbling friend's life story. What she had done took courage and a stout heart. Until now, Howard would have never thought Smith to have it in her. She supposed you couldn't tell a program by looking at its graphics.
"My parents found me, of course. I had dropped hints so they would be able to if they deciphered what I had so often said. This morning, they came to visit. It was terrible. My father accused me of destroying our family, and my mother just cowered behind him, like she always does. Then they left, and I know they're gone for good. I've been exiled."
Beverly didn't even know what to say. "Korbin, it's going to be all right. I know it doesn't seem like it now, but things have a way of working out. I believe everything happens for a reason. Look how strong you are because of all you've been through. Even if you don't realize it, you know now that you can face anything that comes your way. I'm sorry for your loss, but don't let it break you. You made it without them before, and you can do it again. And we'll always be there for you. Scott, Lennie, Tafton, and me. We're your family now.
Korbin threw her arms around Beverly and shamelessly cried some more.
* * *
"So, Jack, how are things going with Beverly," Walker asked carefully. He had never seen Jack quite so moody. One moment he was on top of the world, but soon after, he looked as though he had been crushed.
"Beverly? Oh, she's great. She's the best thing that ever happened to me, and it was all thanks to you."
"Then why the mood swings?"
"It's just, she spends an awful lot of time with Captain Picard these days." He looked as though he had had this conversation with himself several times before.
Walker had noticed this too. "Well, what do you think is going on between them." Something definitely was, he added to himself. Even if Picard and Howard wouldn't admit it to themselves. He remembered the night they had all gone to visit the vineyards. The electricity between the Captain and Jack's girlfriend had been almost palpable. Keel had wondered when Crusher would start to notice. He was rather blind where Beverly was concerned.
Jack look as though he had been stricken. "What do you mean? They're just friends. How dare you insinuate…"
"Hey, hey, I wasn't insinuating anything, sorry if you took it the wrong way. I thought that was what you meant." Jack was more ignorant as to Beverly's humanity than Walker had thought.
Crusher cooled a little, and continued. 'all I meant was that I expected to hear about my assignment to the Stargazer by now. I figure that must be what all their meetings are about. Picard's just trying to obtain first hand knowledge of you and me."
Walker sighed, "Of course Jack." What did he know, anyway? Maybe Jack was right.
Somehow, he doubted it.
* * *