Chapt. 3

Her black eyes were fixed on some invisible point behind him, she didn't seem to acknowledge his presence, not even when he moved closer. Deanna's mind was trapped in a swirl that no longer was either reality or imagination but rather a combination of both. She was sure Worf was still on the Enterprise, where else would he be? The computer must have been mistaken. But what she couldn't understand was why Will believed so fiercely that Worf indeed had disappeared.

Riker was now just an arms length away, watching her as the rational part of her mind began to take over. As it dawned her that the computer couldn't have made a mistake and that she indeed couldn't sense Worf at all she slowly began to give in to the truth. As much as she wanted to and as much as she tried to, she could no longer deny what the computer and her senses told her.

Will noticed by the change of the look in her eyes that she had begun to realize the truth. The first tear slipped from her right eye and made its path down to her chin where eventually it dropped and fell on the skin of her chest. Not much later a second tear escaped, this time from her left eyes and made a similar path down, almost immediately followed by a third tear.

Quietly Will's eyes followed the tiny diamond-like teardrops. He was almost afraid to breath and just silently watched her until he dropped her head and lowered her eyes to the floor. She enveloped herself with her arms almost as if trying to keep her emotions inside.

Not able to keep himself from trying to comfort the Betazoid he reached out and gently pulled her against him. He was surprised by the force with which she collided against him, either he was a whole lot stronger than he thought he was, or she needed the embrace and comfort a whole lot more than she had showed.

Quickly Will wrapped his arms tightly around her shaking body, hoping she could draw strength from him. He took deep breath, breathing in the sweet scent of her wavy hair as she cried against his chest. Tear by tear fell on his uniform, bit by bit soaking the material until the salty wetness reached his skin.

He was amazed by how her nearness seemed to enhance every feeling, every sound and every vibration around him. The past years he had thought that that effect had become nothing but a dream. After all, she obviously didn't love him anymore at least not on the level he still loved her.

When he felt her stir slightly in his arms he quickly buried the suppressed feelings for her he'd carried around for so long, he couldn't let her sense those now. Deanna's sobs and sniff began to subdue but she continued to hold him tightly in fear of loosing her grip on reality. Oh she'd felt like this before, it actually had been much, much worse back then. But she couldn't and wouldn't admit that, she was hurting just as bad now as she had been when Will hadn't shown up on Risa.

There wasn't a difference, she loved Worf just as much as she'd loved Riker nearly a decade before. She had given Worf her heart, as she had Riker, but now, after trying to convince herself that there wasn't a difference between Worf and Will, that she loved both of them equally for three years, she had to admit that right now she felt safer in Will's arms than she had ever felt in Worf's.

Shocked by that realization she tried to push herself away from the man holding her, but he wouldn't let her go.

"Shh, it'll be alright." 'How can you say that?!' She wanted to scream, she wanted to scream so loud that the entire ship would hear her, but instead strangled gasps came from her throat as she began to cry again. Not for the husband she'd lost, but for the truth she'd found.

Will Riker rubbed her back soothingly while gently rocking her back and forth in his arms. He could tell she was exhausted and therefore moved to the couch where he gently laid her down. She was unwilling to simply give in to her sleep and tried to fight him, but already her body was too tired to obey her mind. Will watched her with loving eyes as she drifted off to a much needed sleep, tenderly kissing her forehead just before sleep settled over her mind. He knew that Deanna had begun to realize the truth, but he also knew she was still a long way from accepting it.