Chapter Ten
The alien drew a slow breath and held it, the kind of inhalation one makes when preparing for the pinch of a needle giving stitches, when such things were still used to heal wounds. He remembered what was about to happen. In retrospect, he concluded that of all the boy was experiencing and about to experience, this would be the hardest to sort out with his heart.
* * *
Beverly and Wesley were waiting outside the turbolift doors on their way to the conference room.
"I'm sure it was a hologram or something," Beverly rationalized.
"But no one picked up any beams or anything," Wes argued.
"No one felt that tractor beam, either."
"Yeah, but I picked it up at Conn. We may not have felt it, but the computer sensed it. Nothing sensed anything when that thing came aboard."
The turbolift arrived at the deck Beverly and Wesley were waiting on, and the doors whooshed open.
Beverly stepped aside to let her son get on first, but Wesley stopped dead in his tracks and Beverly walked right into him.
"Wes!" a voice called from inside the turbolift. Wes made no move at all.
Probably a friend of Wesley's, Beverly thought, we don't have time for this.
"D-Dad...?" Wes whispered.
Beverly froze. She peeked slowly around her tall son, and there stood her late husband, Jack Crusher, looking alive as ever. Jack Crusher had been dead for nine years. What the hell was going on? Wesley was frozen in his place, but Jack was not. He threw his arms around his son, making him stagger. Wesley could not bring himself to return the embrace, as much as he wanted to. Jack pulled him into the turbolift. Beverly snapped out of it and dove in after her son.
"Wesley," she said in a very low, urgent voice. Wes extricated himself from his father's grip and gave his mother a look that seemed to say, Mom, help...
Beverly felt her eyes stinging and her throat tightening. She heard the turbolift doors slide shut behind them. Jack pulled her gently to him and lowered his head to her shoulder. She was surprised to realize her arms were around him. She opened her eyes and disentangled herself from him.
"No... No, this can't be..."
Jack ignored her obvious confusion. "Beverly. God, I've missed you..."
Beverly glanced over her shoulder to see Wes pressing himself into the far corner of the lift, as far away from his father as possible. Jack told the lift where to take them: to the deck of the conference room where the meeting was to be.
The lift responded to his voice, Wes noted somewhere in the back of his mind.
"Jack," Beverly brought herself to speak coherently, "what-- what are you doing here?"
"I have to talk to Jean-Luc, sweetheart. I have advice for him. He needs me now."
Jack turned to Wesley, "Look at you," he smiled. "You're a young man now. Last time I saw you, you were only nine years old and about this high," Jack held his open palm just below his own chest level. "And now you're taller than me!
"And Beverly," Jack turned to her and gently touched her face, "Beverly, you are even more beautiful than I remembered. I can't believe I'm with you again, both of you."
The lift stopped and the doors slid open, but no one made any move to disembark.
"I'm coming to the meeting with you," Jack said to Wesley.
That snapped Wesley out of his stupor. Jack was facing Wesley, not Beverly. Wes stared with desperate intensity at his mother until he had her attention. He flicked his eyes towards the turbolift door. Beverly understood his communication and sprang out the door.
Jack turned around to see what was happening. "Beverly!"
When Jack turned away from him, Wes started to run -- but he hesitated for just a fraction of a second, and that cost him his escape. He felt hands catch him by the shoulders. Hands with incredible strength. He couldn't get away.
"Mom!" Wes called, beginning to become a little terrified.
Beverly whirled around and froze.
"Beverly," Jack was unruffled, "I just want to talk to Wes for a minute. Go on ahead, we'll catch up."
"What do you want with my son?" Beverly's low voice barely escaped through her teeth.
Jack's eyebrows drew up in a mildly hurt expression, "Our son, Beverly. I just want to talk to him for a minute."
"Jack, let him come with me, please," Beverly tried to keep the desperation from her voice.
Jack tightened his fingers around Wes's arms and Beverly heard her son draw a sharp breath. Jack's grip was so tight that Wes's fists fell open, his fingers trembling.
Beverly tapped her communicator. Nothing. Then she smacked it. Still nothing. "Computer!" Nothing. She had to get help. Five paces behind her was a wall comm panel. She backed up slowly, not prying her eyes off her son and his captor. Wes was fighting down panic and Jack's face reflected complete and total innocence of what he was doing to Wes. It was eerie. She reached the comm panel and pressed it. Nothing happened. She cursed.
For a long moment, Beverly Crusher considered attacking the "ghost" to get Wes free, but the doctor part of her rationalized that. An act like that would most likely get both of them killed. If she could just get the rest of the officers...
...who were assembled in the room just down the corridor.
Wes's thoughts were right with hers. He glanced down the corridor behind his mother and ever so slightly jutted his chin, as if to say, Go.
"Wes, don't go anywhere with him," Beverly pointed at Jack. "And you," she said to Jack, "if you harm one hair on his head, you'll wish you'd never heard of me. I'll be back so quickly you won't have time to think."
Jack's jaw fell open in surprise, but he made no move at all.
She backed down the corridor to where it bent, the mother part of her still thinking don't leave him, don't leave him... But what could she do alone against an unknown enemy in the form of her late husband? As soon as she lost sight of her son, she turned and sprinted down the corridor faster than she thought she was capable of running.
The conference room was just down the hall, through the bridge, and to the opposite side of the bridge. Help should only take a moment to arrive.
"Dad," Wes's voice was somewhat strangled with emotion (and pain in his arms), "Dad, you're-- you're hurting me."
Jack's grip immediately loosened and he turned Wes around to face him. Wes was about a half an inch taller than Jack, which made Wes feel useless that Jack was so much stronger than Wes.
But this isn't Dad. It's not Human. It isn't Dad. It isn't Dad it isn't Dad it isn't Dad...
"Oh, Wes, I'm sorry," Jack's voice was soft and pained. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Wes, my god, my little boy," Jack hugged him again, this time more carefully so as not to crush him. "There's... there was so much that I wanted to do with you. I wanted to watch you walk for the first time, play catch with you, meet... meet your girlfriends, watch you graduate from high school, be at your wedding, play with my grandchildren... and now... now I can never do any of that. Either I was off in the stars, leaving you alone, or I'd met my end, leaving you alone forever. It's just so unfair, Wes, I-- I never wanted to hurt you, you've got to believe that."
Wes knew he didn't mean that he'd hurt him by holding him too tightly. He meant that he'd hurt him by making him fatherless at the age of nine. Wes had never seen much of his father. He was always out on the Stargazer while Wes and Beverly were left behind on Earth. Jack always made it home for important occasions like birthdays and holidays. Only once did he miss Wesley's birthday, and it was his tenth. And that was because he had just been killed not a whole day before. Two days after, Beverly and Wesley were visited by Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Stargazer, bearing very bad news.
For a long time, Wes was angry with his father for going off into the stars and never returning. For having a family and leaving them alone. For knowing the risk, taking it, and losing. For an even longer time, Wes was angry with Captain Picard, even long into his stay on the Enterprise. Jack Crusher was Picard's first officer on the Stargazer. Picard had sent him to lead an away team mission from which Jack Crusher did not return alive. Wes could still remember that day, the day Picard came to his front door and told his mother they would never see his father again. Wes did not cry. They stood before his coffin at the funeral, staring at the unmoving face, and Wes did not cry. For the difficult months afterward, he watched his mother fall apart, then slowly pull herself back together again, but Wes did not cry. Wes had simply decided it was much easier not to think about it. It hurt too much to let the emotions run their course. However, that is why it was so difficult right now for Wes to handle seeing his father again. He had never faced his father's death in the first place.
"I was always so proud of you, Wes, and I only wanted to stay in Starfleet long enough to make sure you and your mother were provided for, then I was going to come home for good, Wes, you must believe me," Jack was holding Wes by the shoulders, looking him right in the eyes, and seeing a coldness in the young man's eyes that the creature knew was not a good sign. Wesley was not buying into his routine. This was going to require laying it on thicker. Why not go for broke and lay it on so thick that the poor kid cries? Then he'd be totally convinced, and there'd be no more worries of the doctor getting in the way.
* * *
Beverly burst through the conference room doors, looking wildly panicked.
"Doctor!" Picard rose to his feet, as did the other officers in the conference room. "What's wrong? Where is Ensign Crusher?"
"Jean-Luc," Beverly panted, "we need help. J-Jack is at the turbolift. With Wesley. We need your help. Now."
"Jack?" Picard whispered somewhat uncomprehendingly.
"My husband. Please come quickly!" Beverly ran back out the door.
Picard followed her, spouting orders as he went, "Number One, Mister Worf, Counselor, you're with me."
Picard jogged after Beverly. "Did you touch him?"
"Yes, both of us did. He's holding Wesley now."
"Damn! We were rid of Tasha by touching her. I was hoping we could do the same with Jack."
* * *
"Wes, I died protecting my ship. Because of my sacrifice, the Stargazer and its 149 crew members were able to go on safely. What happened to me saved many lives. Now, you have the chance to save over a thousand lives. I don't know what they want with you. I don't know if they will take you, negotiate and return you, or if they will keep you, make you a prisoner, or even kill you. But, son, I promise you that I will be there the entire time. I was never there for you before, but I can be now. You knew when you joined Starfleet what the cost could be. You knew it required everything from you, and now it calls upon you to give everything that you promised it, to save the flagship of the United Federation of Planets, one last time. I will be standing by your side no matter what happens. I promise."
Wes's eyes welled up. Maybe he would die today, but he'd die standing beside his father, following in his footsteps as he always had. Jack hugged him again and Wes closed his eyes. Tears spilled down his cheeks and he didn't try to stop them. It was only the second time in almost nine years that he'd cried for the death of his father, and the first was only a short while ago. He would fulfill his oath as a Starfleet officer to make every sacrifice necessary to save his ship. He would go to the Neverland with his father, alone.
"Jack!" Picard's angry voice resounded around the corridor. Jack let go of Wesley and stared at Picard, a watery smile on his face. For a moment, Picard couldn't say anything. The last time he saw Jack and Wesley together, Jack had to kneel to hug him. Now, Picard couldn't think of what to tell his old friend.
No. This is not my old friend.
"Let the boy go," Picard spoke evenly.
"No, Jean-Luc, please, don't take me away from him again," Jack plead. Picard winced at the accusation.
Wesley was standing in front of Jack, facing Picard, and Wes felt Jack wrap his arms around his torso and upper arms, immobilizing him. Picard noticed that Wes wasn't struggling. He was resigned to his fate.
"Wesley," Picard addressed the young man who was making no effort to free himself from the grasp of the creature who was going to take him. "Wesley, that is not your father," he jabbed a finger at Jack.
Although that fact had been somewhat clouded in Wesley's mind, the renewal of that realization did not make much difference to him. The words had made their own impact on the ensign, no matter from whom they'd come. Although, a slight expression of fear was beginning to cross Wes's face.
"No, Wesley's coming with me, Jean-Luc. I was never able to help him through most of his life. I was never there for him. But now I can. I can help him deal with these children. I can be with him."
"Wesley, there will be no need for any of that. This... creature is not your father. He is twisting your will to get you to surrender to the children."
Deanna sensed something. She sensed that the creature was thinking, trying to remember pieces of Jack's personality, or Jack's life experiences. Like an actor in a play trying to remember his research. Tasha never really liked to be touched casually, a hand on her shoulder, a pat on the back. Perhaps the creature disappeared when touched because it did not understand Tasha's story, did not know it. Perhaps if they found something about Jack that the creature wasn't prepared to deal with, something it wouldn't know about his character...
"Captain," Deanna leaned over and whispered, both of them still staring at Jack holding Wesley, "can you think of anything to ask the creature that it might not know about Jack? A flaw in its characterization?"
Characterization was a word to which Picard could relate. He was a devotee of the ancient plays of Earth, especially of Shakespeare, and understood the necessity for an actor to know all about the character he portrays. Perhaps this "actor" hadn't done all his homework.
"Jack, do you remember the Stargazer?"
"Of course I do, Jean-Luc. Where I did something similar to what my son's about to do -- sacrifice my life for the greater good of the ship."
"Not an apt comparison," Picard shook his head. "If I had known the situation was dangerous, I would not have sent you planetside, there wasn't a necessity. You did not know you were going to your death, and neither did I, Jack."
"Neither does Wesley. They could be completely fair with him."
Picard abandoned that argument. "Do you remember your home? Your home on Earth with Beverly and Wesley?"
Jack smiled gently. "Yes. Of course I do. My beautiful little house with my beautiful wife and son, and those tall, tall trees in the yard, and the sun, oh the sun that I wouldn't see for months at a time."
"And the Academy, with me?"
"Yes, Jean-Luc. Where are you going with this?"
Picard glanced over his shoulder at Deanna, who shrugged.
"I am simply trying to illustrate what a full life you'd had, and what a brief one your son has had thusfar." I'm trying to be rid of you, you monster.
Then, Picard had an idea. Something that Jack would not know about. Something that no one knew about. Something that the creature would very likely not know how to handle. Picard walked slowly towards Jack and Wesley. The closer Picard got, the stronger Jack's grip around Wesley became, until Wes began to twist a little in his grasp. Picard stood very close to Jack and leaned to utter something near his ear.
"I believe I am falling in love with your wife," he said so that no one could hear but Jack. And Wesley. Picard nearly flinched to have spoken it aloud, but he stepped back, met Jack's eyes, and waited.
Jack's eyes opened wide in horror, then he disappeared. Wesley staggered a little, but quickly recovered himself. Then he turned a look of astonishment to Picard.
Picard shrugged. "I had to say something to get rid of it," he said in a low voice to Wesley. No one else heard Picard's statements.
Wesley seemed half-convinced, but had bigger things to worry about at the moment.
"The meeting will reconvene at 2200 hours," Picard announced to those gathered in the hall, offering no explanation for specifically how he got rid of the creature. "Doctor, Ensign, my ready room."
Picard walked off toward the bridge. Beverly took a moment to go hug her son.
No one would know how strongly Picard was fighting to control his emotions about his best friend's reappearance.
The alien drew a slow breath and held it, the kind of inhalation one makes when preparing for the pinch of a needle giving stitches, when such things were still used to heal wounds. He remembered what was about to happen. In retrospect, he concluded that of all the boy was experiencing and about to experience, this would be the hardest to sort out with his heart.
* * *
Beverly and Wesley were waiting outside the turbolift doors on their way to the conference room.
"I'm sure it was a hologram or something," Beverly rationalized.
"But no one picked up any beams or anything," Wes argued.
"No one felt that tractor beam, either."
"Yeah, but I picked it up at Conn. We may not have felt it, but the computer sensed it. Nothing sensed anything when that thing came aboard."
The turbolift arrived at the deck Beverly and Wesley were waiting on, and the doors whooshed open.
Beverly stepped aside to let her son get on first, but Wesley stopped dead in his tracks and Beverly walked right into him.
"Wes!" a voice called from inside the turbolift. Wes made no move at all.
Probably a friend of Wesley's, Beverly thought, we don't have time for this.
"D-Dad...?" Wes whispered.
Beverly froze. She peeked slowly around her tall son, and there stood her late husband, Jack Crusher, looking alive as ever. Jack Crusher had been dead for nine years. What the hell was going on? Wesley was frozen in his place, but Jack was not. He threw his arms around his son, making him stagger. Wesley could not bring himself to return the embrace, as much as he wanted to. Jack pulled him into the turbolift. Beverly snapped out of it and dove in after her son.
"Wesley," she said in a very low, urgent voice. Wes extricated himself from his father's grip and gave his mother a look that seemed to say, Mom, help...
Beverly felt her eyes stinging and her throat tightening. She heard the turbolift doors slide shut behind them. Jack pulled her gently to him and lowered his head to her shoulder. She was surprised to realize her arms were around him. She opened her eyes and disentangled herself from him.
"No... No, this can't be..."
Jack ignored her obvious confusion. "Beverly. God, I've missed you..."
Beverly glanced over her shoulder to see Wes pressing himself into the far corner of the lift, as far away from his father as possible. Jack told the lift where to take them: to the deck of the conference room where the meeting was to be.
The lift responded to his voice, Wes noted somewhere in the back of his mind.
"Jack," Beverly brought herself to speak coherently, "what-- what are you doing here?"
"I have to talk to Jean-Luc, sweetheart. I have advice for him. He needs me now."
Jack turned to Wesley, "Look at you," he smiled. "You're a young man now. Last time I saw you, you were only nine years old and about this high," Jack held his open palm just below his own chest level. "And now you're taller than me!
"And Beverly," Jack turned to her and gently touched her face, "Beverly, you are even more beautiful than I remembered. I can't believe I'm with you again, both of you."
The lift stopped and the doors slid open, but no one made any move to disembark.
"I'm coming to the meeting with you," Jack said to Wesley.
That snapped Wesley out of his stupor. Jack was facing Wesley, not Beverly. Wes stared with desperate intensity at his mother until he had her attention. He flicked his eyes towards the turbolift door. Beverly understood his communication and sprang out the door.
Jack turned around to see what was happening. "Beverly!"
When Jack turned away from him, Wes started to run -- but he hesitated for just a fraction of a second, and that cost him his escape. He felt hands catch him by the shoulders. Hands with incredible strength. He couldn't get away.
"Mom!" Wes called, beginning to become a little terrified.
Beverly whirled around and froze.
"Beverly," Jack was unruffled, "I just want to talk to Wes for a minute. Go on ahead, we'll catch up."
"What do you want with my son?" Beverly's low voice barely escaped through her teeth.
Jack's eyebrows drew up in a mildly hurt expression, "Our son, Beverly. I just want to talk to him for a minute."
"Jack, let him come with me, please," Beverly tried to keep the desperation from her voice.
Jack tightened his fingers around Wes's arms and Beverly heard her son draw a sharp breath. Jack's grip was so tight that Wes's fists fell open, his fingers trembling.
Beverly tapped her communicator. Nothing. Then she smacked it. Still nothing. "Computer!" Nothing. She had to get help. Five paces behind her was a wall comm panel. She backed up slowly, not prying her eyes off her son and his captor. Wes was fighting down panic and Jack's face reflected complete and total innocence of what he was doing to Wes. It was eerie. She reached the comm panel and pressed it. Nothing happened. She cursed.
For a long moment, Beverly Crusher considered attacking the "ghost" to get Wes free, but the doctor part of her rationalized that. An act like that would most likely get both of them killed. If she could just get the rest of the officers...
...who were assembled in the room just down the corridor.
Wes's thoughts were right with hers. He glanced down the corridor behind his mother and ever so slightly jutted his chin, as if to say, Go.
"Wes, don't go anywhere with him," Beverly pointed at Jack. "And you," she said to Jack, "if you harm one hair on his head, you'll wish you'd never heard of me. I'll be back so quickly you won't have time to think."
Jack's jaw fell open in surprise, but he made no move at all.
She backed down the corridor to where it bent, the mother part of her still thinking don't leave him, don't leave him... But what could she do alone against an unknown enemy in the form of her late husband? As soon as she lost sight of her son, she turned and sprinted down the corridor faster than she thought she was capable of running.
The conference room was just down the hall, through the bridge, and to the opposite side of the bridge. Help should only take a moment to arrive.
"Dad," Wes's voice was somewhat strangled with emotion (and pain in his arms), "Dad, you're-- you're hurting me."
Jack's grip immediately loosened and he turned Wes around to face him. Wes was about a half an inch taller than Jack, which made Wes feel useless that Jack was so much stronger than Wes.
But this isn't Dad. It's not Human. It isn't Dad. It isn't Dad it isn't Dad it isn't Dad...
"Oh, Wes, I'm sorry," Jack's voice was soft and pained. "I didn't mean to hurt you. Wes, my god, my little boy," Jack hugged him again, this time more carefully so as not to crush him. "There's... there was so much that I wanted to do with you. I wanted to watch you walk for the first time, play catch with you, meet... meet your girlfriends, watch you graduate from high school, be at your wedding, play with my grandchildren... and now... now I can never do any of that. Either I was off in the stars, leaving you alone, or I'd met my end, leaving you alone forever. It's just so unfair, Wes, I-- I never wanted to hurt you, you've got to believe that."
Wes knew he didn't mean that he'd hurt him by holding him too tightly. He meant that he'd hurt him by making him fatherless at the age of nine. Wes had never seen much of his father. He was always out on the Stargazer while Wes and Beverly were left behind on Earth. Jack always made it home for important occasions like birthdays and holidays. Only once did he miss Wesley's birthday, and it was his tenth. And that was because he had just been killed not a whole day before. Two days after, Beverly and Wesley were visited by Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Stargazer, bearing very bad news.
For a long time, Wes was angry with his father for going off into the stars and never returning. For having a family and leaving them alone. For knowing the risk, taking it, and losing. For an even longer time, Wes was angry with Captain Picard, even long into his stay on the Enterprise. Jack Crusher was Picard's first officer on the Stargazer. Picard had sent him to lead an away team mission from which Jack Crusher did not return alive. Wes could still remember that day, the day Picard came to his front door and told his mother they would never see his father again. Wes did not cry. They stood before his coffin at the funeral, staring at the unmoving face, and Wes did not cry. For the difficult months afterward, he watched his mother fall apart, then slowly pull herself back together again, but Wes did not cry. Wes had simply decided it was much easier not to think about it. It hurt too much to let the emotions run their course. However, that is why it was so difficult right now for Wes to handle seeing his father again. He had never faced his father's death in the first place.
"I was always so proud of you, Wes, and I only wanted to stay in Starfleet long enough to make sure you and your mother were provided for, then I was going to come home for good, Wes, you must believe me," Jack was holding Wes by the shoulders, looking him right in the eyes, and seeing a coldness in the young man's eyes that the creature knew was not a good sign. Wesley was not buying into his routine. This was going to require laying it on thicker. Why not go for broke and lay it on so thick that the poor kid cries? Then he'd be totally convinced, and there'd be no more worries of the doctor getting in the way.
* * *
Beverly burst through the conference room doors, looking wildly panicked.
"Doctor!" Picard rose to his feet, as did the other officers in the conference room. "What's wrong? Where is Ensign Crusher?"
"Jean-Luc," Beverly panted, "we need help. J-Jack is at the turbolift. With Wesley. We need your help. Now."
"Jack?" Picard whispered somewhat uncomprehendingly.
"My husband. Please come quickly!" Beverly ran back out the door.
Picard followed her, spouting orders as he went, "Number One, Mister Worf, Counselor, you're with me."
Picard jogged after Beverly. "Did you touch him?"
"Yes, both of us did. He's holding Wesley now."
"Damn! We were rid of Tasha by touching her. I was hoping we could do the same with Jack."
* * *
"Wes, I died protecting my ship. Because of my sacrifice, the Stargazer and its 149 crew members were able to go on safely. What happened to me saved many lives. Now, you have the chance to save over a thousand lives. I don't know what they want with you. I don't know if they will take you, negotiate and return you, or if they will keep you, make you a prisoner, or even kill you. But, son, I promise you that I will be there the entire time. I was never there for you before, but I can be now. You knew when you joined Starfleet what the cost could be. You knew it required everything from you, and now it calls upon you to give everything that you promised it, to save the flagship of the United Federation of Planets, one last time. I will be standing by your side no matter what happens. I promise."
Wes's eyes welled up. Maybe he would die today, but he'd die standing beside his father, following in his footsteps as he always had. Jack hugged him again and Wes closed his eyes. Tears spilled down his cheeks and he didn't try to stop them. It was only the second time in almost nine years that he'd cried for the death of his father, and the first was only a short while ago. He would fulfill his oath as a Starfleet officer to make every sacrifice necessary to save his ship. He would go to the Neverland with his father, alone.
"Jack!" Picard's angry voice resounded around the corridor. Jack let go of Wesley and stared at Picard, a watery smile on his face. For a moment, Picard couldn't say anything. The last time he saw Jack and Wesley together, Jack had to kneel to hug him. Now, Picard couldn't think of what to tell his old friend.
No. This is not my old friend.
"Let the boy go," Picard spoke evenly.
"No, Jean-Luc, please, don't take me away from him again," Jack plead. Picard winced at the accusation.
Wesley was standing in front of Jack, facing Picard, and Wes felt Jack wrap his arms around his torso and upper arms, immobilizing him. Picard noticed that Wes wasn't struggling. He was resigned to his fate.
"Wesley," Picard addressed the young man who was making no effort to free himself from the grasp of the creature who was going to take him. "Wesley, that is not your father," he jabbed a finger at Jack.
Although that fact had been somewhat clouded in Wesley's mind, the renewal of that realization did not make much difference to him. The words had made their own impact on the ensign, no matter from whom they'd come. Although, a slight expression of fear was beginning to cross Wes's face.
"No, Wesley's coming with me, Jean-Luc. I was never able to help him through most of his life. I was never there for him. But now I can. I can help him deal with these children. I can be with him."
"Wesley, there will be no need for any of that. This... creature is not your father. He is twisting your will to get you to surrender to the children."
Deanna sensed something. She sensed that the creature was thinking, trying to remember pieces of Jack's personality, or Jack's life experiences. Like an actor in a play trying to remember his research. Tasha never really liked to be touched casually, a hand on her shoulder, a pat on the back. Perhaps the creature disappeared when touched because it did not understand Tasha's story, did not know it. Perhaps if they found something about Jack that the creature wasn't prepared to deal with, something it wouldn't know about his character...
"Captain," Deanna leaned over and whispered, both of them still staring at Jack holding Wesley, "can you think of anything to ask the creature that it might not know about Jack? A flaw in its characterization?"
Characterization was a word to which Picard could relate. He was a devotee of the ancient plays of Earth, especially of Shakespeare, and understood the necessity for an actor to know all about the character he portrays. Perhaps this "actor" hadn't done all his homework.
"Jack, do you remember the Stargazer?"
"Of course I do, Jean-Luc. Where I did something similar to what my son's about to do -- sacrifice my life for the greater good of the ship."
"Not an apt comparison," Picard shook his head. "If I had known the situation was dangerous, I would not have sent you planetside, there wasn't a necessity. You did not know you were going to your death, and neither did I, Jack."
"Neither does Wesley. They could be completely fair with him."
Picard abandoned that argument. "Do you remember your home? Your home on Earth with Beverly and Wesley?"
Jack smiled gently. "Yes. Of course I do. My beautiful little house with my beautiful wife and son, and those tall, tall trees in the yard, and the sun, oh the sun that I wouldn't see for months at a time."
"And the Academy, with me?"
"Yes, Jean-Luc. Where are you going with this?"
Picard glanced over his shoulder at Deanna, who shrugged.
"I am simply trying to illustrate what a full life you'd had, and what a brief one your son has had thusfar." I'm trying to be rid of you, you monster.
Then, Picard had an idea. Something that Jack would not know about. Something that no one knew about. Something that the creature would very likely not know how to handle. Picard walked slowly towards Jack and Wesley. The closer Picard got, the stronger Jack's grip around Wesley became, until Wes began to twist a little in his grasp. Picard stood very close to Jack and leaned to utter something near his ear.
"I believe I am falling in love with your wife," he said so that no one could hear but Jack. And Wesley. Picard nearly flinched to have spoken it aloud, but he stepped back, met Jack's eyes, and waited.
Jack's eyes opened wide in horror, then he disappeared. Wesley staggered a little, but quickly recovered himself. Then he turned a look of astonishment to Picard.
Picard shrugged. "I had to say something to get rid of it," he said in a low voice to Wesley. No one else heard Picard's statements.
Wesley seemed half-convinced, but had bigger things to worry about at the moment.
"The meeting will reconvene at 2200 hours," Picard announced to those gathered in the hall, offering no explanation for specifically how he got rid of the creature. "Doctor, Ensign, my ready room."
Picard walked off toward the bridge. Beverly took a moment to go hug her son.
No one would know how strongly Picard was fighting to control his emotions about his best friend's reappearance.