Chapter 26
Wesley Crusher and Robin Wallace were in Deanna Troi's quarters. Robin was sitting cross-legged on a chair, and Wes was on the sofa-built- into-the-wall below the windows. His ankle was crossed over his knee and his arms were folded.
Deanna, a trained counselor as well as an empath, knew simply by looking at the two young officers that they were "closed," merely by their body positions. She had tried to get Briyen to join them, but he wasn't quite ready to talk.
"Thanks, Counselor, but I think I just need to rest and take things slowly just now. But I'd like it if we could talk later," he had politely said when she asked, and she'd left it at that.
Deanna glanced back and forth between the two ensigns, hoping one of them would volunteer to start the discussion. Robin gave a timid smile and drummed her fingers on her knee. Wes looked down when Deanna's gaze met his. Deanna decided to start with him.
"Wes, do you want to talk about what happened on the Neverland?"
He sighed. "I've recounted it so many times in the past twenty-four hours that, no offense, Counselor, but no, I really don't."
"Then would you like to tell me what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Wes sounded surprised to be asked.
"Yes. You're sad, something is troubling you. Would you like to tell me what it is?"
"Oh, nothing much. There was this mass genocide because of me, but other than that, everything's fine." He hadn't meant to sound so sarcastic but he couldn't help it.
"Wesley, you are not responsible for the deaths of the B'Safran children."
"If I'm not, who is?"
"Wesley, it's not about placing blame. We could blame Kaelha for lowering the shields, Briyen for knowing they'd do it, you and Robin for not acceding to their every wish, Captain Picard for ordering the shot to be fired, Worf for firing the shot. You see what I mean?"
"Yeah, but let's pretend for a second that it is about placing blame. Who of everyone you mentioned is most at fault?"
"If I had to chose, Wesley, it would not be you."
"Wes, come on," Robin's voice was soft and calm. "You didn't do anything wrong, and you gotta know that."
"I kept refusing to even try to help them," Wes said. "But she wanted so much from me. It's like... she wanted someone to come in like a savior and put everything back the way it was before. I couldn't do it, and I knew I couldn't, but I refused to even try."
"They made you try anyway, Wes," Robin whispered.
"And it didn't work!"
"Wesley," Deanna interrupted, "if you know you couldn't do for them what they needed, no matter what you tried, then why do you feel guilty about not being able to save them?"
Wes was quiet for a long moment, then he sighed and covered his face with his hands. "Because I *don't* know that." When he took his hands away from his face, he looked older, or somehow different. As if he'd been changed slightly by everything that had happened in the past few days. "Maybe I could have."
"What?" Robin asked. "What do you mean?"
"Maybe I just didn't try hard enough. Like with that cure for Jaan's disease. If I had just tried a little harder. Maybe I really am able to help, but I just couldn't get it right."
"Wes," Deanna leaned towards him. "You did everything you could. Without violating any Federation rules or the Prime Directive, you did only what you could. I think you acted admirably, both of you. And your escape was brilliant and commendable."
Federation law doesn't make it right, Wes thought, but didn't say it aloud. What he did say aloud was, "The escape was really all Briyen."
"Not all." Deanna looked at Ensign Wallace. "Robin? How are you feeling about all this?"
Robin shook her head, eyes wide with the expression of her freedom of responsibility, "I'm fine. Look, nobody takes me anywhere without my permission. Whatever their little problems were, they could work it out without compromising my rights as a living being. If they needed our help, they should have asked for it. There was no reason and no excuse for what they did. And I'm sorry that they decided they had to die, but I feel in no way responsible for that."
Deanna smiled. At least she didn't have to worry about consoling her. Though momentary twinges made Deanna wonder if Robin was being completely truthful with herself.
"Wes, is there anything you'd like to say to Robin?"
Wes up at Deanna, "Yeah," then over at Robin. "Robin, I-- I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I was anxious to go negotiate and I should have stopped asking."
"It wasn't your fault, Wes, you were manipulated into asking. And we were ordered to go." She rolled her eyes, "Or so we thought."
"And Robin?" Deanna looked to her, "Is there anything you need to say to Wesley?"
For a moment, she sat still, thinking. Then she drew a deep breath and held it, nodded.
Robin got up and went over to the couch where Wesley was sitting. She sank down next to him and took his hand into hers. Wes looked at her hands, not meeting her eyes yet. She whispered, "Wes?" and he looked up. For a long moment she stared in his eyes, conveying wordlessly her sincerity. "Thank you." Wesley closed his eyes and turned his head, about to say something about how she should not thank him, but she squeezed his hand gently and he looked back up at her. She repeated herself. "Thank you for saving me. Thank you for fighting for me every second you could and for bringing me back." Wes thought fleetingly of his father and it tugged at his heart. Robin's eyes were locked with his. "Thank you for bringing me back alive."
Suddenly, Wes pulled her into a tight embrace, eyes squeezed shut, his hands in fists. Robin was combating her own tears as she clung to the young man who had helped her so much.
Deanna leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, smiling.
* * *
Guinan's entire face was glowing. She was looking around the Ten- Forward room and seeing laughing faces. Many of them. But one was still missing.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard entered Ten-Forward and walked directly to the bar to greet Guinan.
There. That was the face that was missing, Guinan smiled.
"Jean-Luc," she ducked her head in acknowledgment. She was polishing a glass to perfection, then set it on the bar in front of Picard. It was a clear tea glass. The kind in which he always got Earl Grey tea.
"Hullo, Guinan," Picard was all finesse and confidence once again. And being near Guinan heightened the mood.
"Heard you did quite a job with that Neverland thing."
Picard studied the glass. "Oh, it wasn't me at all.
Wesley Crusher entered Ten-Forward looking for the captain. He saw him immediately, talking to Guinan with his back to Wesley. Guinan's eyes flicked over to Wesley, the ghost of a smile on her lips, then back to the captain, who didn't notice the gesture. It was her very subtle, very clear message to Wesley that he should wait just a moment, until she had finished with their captain. Wes leaned against the wall near the door and folded his arms.
"It wasn't you?" Guinan looked genuinely puzzled. "Hm. Everyone around here is so eager to accept blame and so reluctant to accept credit. Just who was giving the orders around here for the past three days?"
"Guinan, I appreciate what you're--"
Guinan's gentle eyes persisted. "Captain, were you giving orders aboard this ship for the past three days? Did you free Wesley from the ghost of his father? Did you retrieve most of your officers immediately and the rest at brief length from the enemy ship, all unharmed? Did you confront the ghost of your best friend and not allow it to get to you? Or was that someone else? I could swear it looked like you, unless there's someone else around here with a red shirt and a lot of rank pips. And not much hair."
Picard laughed at that. He sighed and smiled.
"You did everything you could to succeed and you did. I admire you for that, Jean-Luc."
Picard took this as a tremendous compliment. He stared at her, speechless, his eyes sparkling. "Thank you, Guinan."
Guinan was no longer looking at him. She was looking in the direction of his usual table where the senior officers had begun to gather. "They're waiting for you, Jean-Luc."
Picard turned to look at his table.
"But first, I think there's someone who needs you for a moment," Guinan was looking at Wesley. Wes took this as a beckon and started towards the bar. Guinan was gone by the time he reached it.
"Captain."
"Hullo, Wesley."
Wes was stunned. The captain had smiled and called him "Wesley". And he said hello, too. He usually just said "ensign" and nodded his head.
"I wanted to thank you, sir. For not leaving us."
"Did you really think I would have left you with them?"
"Well, sir, I know that when an entire ship is in danger, sometimes captains have been forced to sacrifice a crew member to--"
"I know," the smile fell from Picard's face. Wes could've kicked himself. Of course Picard knew very well how that is necessary. It'd been necessary with Jack Crusher. Picard continued, "But I had not yet exhausted all my options, Mister Crusher."
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to--"
Picard's face gentled again. "It's all right, Wesley. I am very glad I was able to retrieve you and Ensign Wallace. And I should be thanking you for your part in the endeavor."
"Thank me? All I did was get myself and Robin captured."
"And get yourself freed as well."
"Well, Briyen did a lot of--"
"Mister Crusher."
"Yes, sir?"
"You may not have been singularly responsible, but you were largely instrumental. It is that for which I am thanking you."
Wes closed his mouth. "Thank you, sir."
Picard realized suddenly that this is exactly what Guinan had been trying to express to him just a moment ago, and what Beverly had been trying to tell him just last night. It would have made a wonderful fantasy novel if he could have been the dashing hero that single-handedly saved his officers from the grip of death. But this was real life, a real situation. He had been an important part of the operation, and that was the best he could do.
"Sir? There was something else... I was just sort of wondering..."
"What is it, ensign?" Picard dragged himself back to the present.
"When the creature appeared as my father to me and Mom in the turbolift, and you got rid of it by saying... Well, I was wondering why... What did you mean when... when you said..."
"The idea was to do something for which the creature wasn't prepared. I merely stretched the truth to say something it wasn't prepared to hear, and it worked."
"Yes, sir."
Picard nodded at Wes. The conversation was thankfully over. He walked away toward his table of senior officers.
Wesley stood watching them for a moment. He carefully studied the way Picard looked at his mother. And saw nothing out of the ordinary.
But just how far did you stretch that truth, captain?
Wesley jumped when he heard a clink sound behind him. He whirled to face the bar and saw Guinan smiling at him. She'd just placed a clear ether in front of him. With a swizzle-stick-impaled cherry in it. He smiled back at her.
"A little jumpy today, Wes?" Guinan asked.
He sighed, "I guess so. It'll take a little while to get over the feeling that something's going to creep up behind me."
"Probably. You'll get over it. But since you haven't gotten over it yet, I'll warn you of this one. Incoming."
"Hey, Crusher!" a voice came from behind him.
Wes turned to see Billy Nolan coming towards him, mercifully without Karen.
"What do you want, Billy?"
"I just wanted to warn you, Crusher. You ever leave the Conn up to me again, and I'll wrap a warp coil around your neck."
Wesley blinked, unsure if he was kidding or not.
Billy smiled. "And the Academy would absolutely freak if they lost you. Glad to have you back, Brain Trust."
"Thanks," he smirked. "Now how long is it going to take you to figure out that you're wearing the wrong color shirt? That's really not your color, Bill. I'm thinking something like red."
Wes clapped him on the arm and walked off to an empty table.
I believe I've just been complimented, Billy thought as a slow smile spread across his face.
* * *
"Who's that with Geordi?" Beverly jutted her chin in Geordi's direction. Geordi was sitting at a table for two across from a pretty Engineering ensign. Geordi was glancing repeatedly towards Picard's table.
"That's Ensign Suzy Kearns," Riker reported. "If there's a ranking order for greatest Engineering whizzes, it goes Geordi, Wesley, Suzy. Though she's kind of a distant third."
"It seems that she's taken quite a liking to Geordi," Deanna smiled and looked at Riker.
"Ah." He stood. "I believe this is now my area of expertise."
Deanna whispered, "I hope you have a good plan, Will. Techno-babble won't work on Suzy."
Riker winked at her.
Riker approached Geordi's table and Geordi stood up. Picard turned his attention back to his tea, but Crusher and Troi were staring at the Commander as if something funny would happen at any moment.
The two women couldn't hear what Riker was saying, but Geordi was nodding solemnly, as if taking note of new orders being given. Then Geordi politely excused himself from Suzy and left. Riker came back.
"Well," he slid his long legs under the table and gripped the handle of his coffee mug. "That was easier than I thought."
Deanna hadn't looked away yet. And now she was smiling. "Don't get too comfortable yet, Expert."
Ensign Billy Nolan sank into the chair opposite Suzy.
"You think she'll need my help with him?" Riker laughed. "Then you don't know Suzy."
As soon as Billy had sat down and opened his mouth to say something, Suzy sighed and rolled her eyes, then stood up and walked away as if no one had been there at all.
Billy's face fell. Blushing furiously, he glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then rose and slunk out of Ten-Forward.
Deanna looked at Riker, then burst out laughing.
* * *
Wes had been joined by Briyen shortly after his brief conversation with Captain Picard, and he was currently regaling him with stories of his years on the Enterprise. Wes had brought his drink with him from the bar, and when Briyen came in, he ordered one just like it.
"And then what happened?" Briyen's eyes could have fallen out of his head.
"I beamed back to the Enterprise to check my science project, or so I said. I brought back a sliver of dilithium to Geordi on the Hathaway and we warp-jumped. And the Ferengi couldn't figure out what happened! Normally, it's a big waste of energy to warp-jump like that, but it's good to know what's possible -- sometimes you have to break the rules a little."
"Wow! You saved the Hathaway and the Enterprise!"
"Uh..." Wes didn't realize his little lesson on bending the Prime Directive and other Federation regulations would lead to another Wes- Crusher-saves-the-Enterprise-again story, "Well, no. Look, Briyen, you're a smart kid. I've got nothing on you. If I wanted to be ooh-ed and ahh-ed at, I would've asked Karen Nolan to have a drink with me."
"Who's Karen Nolan?"
"Never mind. Anyway. Didn't they ever let you do any engineering on the Neverland?"
"Not directly, no. I mostly just took things apart and put them back together again. Some of the kids, they used to... well, they used to call me Tinker. Is that the worst nickname or what?"
"On a ship like Neverland, you're lucky it wasn't Tinkerbell!" Wes laughed.
"Tinker Bell?"
"Wait a minute. You lived for two years on a ship called Neverland with a bunch of children who'll never grow up and you can recite the song 'Second Star To The Right' from memory, but you don't know who Tinkerbell is? Have you ever read 'Peter Pan'?" Briyen shook his head. Wes continued, "Kaelha's entire life was based on this story and you've never read it."
"I've never even heard of it. Everything you just said, I only know it because Kaelha told it to me. Who's the author? I can look it up on my system tonight."
"No no no. The only way to read 'Peter Pan' is off paper. I'll lend you my copy if you promise to be careful with it. It was my great-great- grandfather's when he was little."
Briyen's eyes were wide with the appropriate reverence. "I'll be very careful. Thank you. So who is Tinker Bell anyway?"
Wes smiled, "A fairy."
Briyen closed his eyes in pain. "Great. All this time I've been called that nickname and I didn't even know what it meant."
"Hey. Everyone gets called names."
"Even you?"
"Oh, god, especially me!" Wes rolled his eyes. "The Boy, Whiz Kid, Brain Trust... Orange."
"Orange?"
"Long story. Has to do with soda."
"So what's this book about, anyway?"
"A place called Neverland. While you're there, you never get any older. There's a boy who lives there named Peter Pan, and his best friend is Tinkerbell. He's got a small army of Lost Boys and they fight Captain Hook and his pirates. According to the story, Peter Pan brings children from London -- that's on Earth -- to Neverland with him: Wendy, John and Michael. But mostly Wendy, so she can tell him stories and basically be a mother to him, because he misses having a mother. But she can't stay..." Wes was beginning to realize how alike the story was to what had just happened to him. He continued, "She can't be what Peter wants her to be, she has to live her own life in her own world. And she leaves Neverland."
Briyen was wrapped up in this too. Quietly he asked, "And what happened to Peter?"
"He came back for Wendy's children and grandchildren to bring them to visit Neverland for a little while, but he never made any of them stay."
"Huh," Briyen said, lost in his own thoughts. "I would love to borrow that book. Thanks."
Wesley Crusher and Robin Wallace were in Deanna Troi's quarters. Robin was sitting cross-legged on a chair, and Wes was on the sofa-built- into-the-wall below the windows. His ankle was crossed over his knee and his arms were folded.
Deanna, a trained counselor as well as an empath, knew simply by looking at the two young officers that they were "closed," merely by their body positions. She had tried to get Briyen to join them, but he wasn't quite ready to talk.
"Thanks, Counselor, but I think I just need to rest and take things slowly just now. But I'd like it if we could talk later," he had politely said when she asked, and she'd left it at that.
Deanna glanced back and forth between the two ensigns, hoping one of them would volunteer to start the discussion. Robin gave a timid smile and drummed her fingers on her knee. Wes looked down when Deanna's gaze met his. Deanna decided to start with him.
"Wes, do you want to talk about what happened on the Neverland?"
He sighed. "I've recounted it so many times in the past twenty-four hours that, no offense, Counselor, but no, I really don't."
"Then would you like to tell me what's wrong?"
"What's wrong?" Wes sounded surprised to be asked.
"Yes. You're sad, something is troubling you. Would you like to tell me what it is?"
"Oh, nothing much. There was this mass genocide because of me, but other than that, everything's fine." He hadn't meant to sound so sarcastic but he couldn't help it.
"Wesley, you are not responsible for the deaths of the B'Safran children."
"If I'm not, who is?"
"Wesley, it's not about placing blame. We could blame Kaelha for lowering the shields, Briyen for knowing they'd do it, you and Robin for not acceding to their every wish, Captain Picard for ordering the shot to be fired, Worf for firing the shot. You see what I mean?"
"Yeah, but let's pretend for a second that it is about placing blame. Who of everyone you mentioned is most at fault?"
"If I had to chose, Wesley, it would not be you."
"Wes, come on," Robin's voice was soft and calm. "You didn't do anything wrong, and you gotta know that."
"I kept refusing to even try to help them," Wes said. "But she wanted so much from me. It's like... she wanted someone to come in like a savior and put everything back the way it was before. I couldn't do it, and I knew I couldn't, but I refused to even try."
"They made you try anyway, Wes," Robin whispered.
"And it didn't work!"
"Wesley," Deanna interrupted, "if you know you couldn't do for them what they needed, no matter what you tried, then why do you feel guilty about not being able to save them?"
Wes was quiet for a long moment, then he sighed and covered his face with his hands. "Because I *don't* know that." When he took his hands away from his face, he looked older, or somehow different. As if he'd been changed slightly by everything that had happened in the past few days. "Maybe I could have."
"What?" Robin asked. "What do you mean?"
"Maybe I just didn't try hard enough. Like with that cure for Jaan's disease. If I had just tried a little harder. Maybe I really am able to help, but I just couldn't get it right."
"Wes," Deanna leaned towards him. "You did everything you could. Without violating any Federation rules or the Prime Directive, you did only what you could. I think you acted admirably, both of you. And your escape was brilliant and commendable."
Federation law doesn't make it right, Wes thought, but didn't say it aloud. What he did say aloud was, "The escape was really all Briyen."
"Not all." Deanna looked at Ensign Wallace. "Robin? How are you feeling about all this?"
Robin shook her head, eyes wide with the expression of her freedom of responsibility, "I'm fine. Look, nobody takes me anywhere without my permission. Whatever their little problems were, they could work it out without compromising my rights as a living being. If they needed our help, they should have asked for it. There was no reason and no excuse for what they did. And I'm sorry that they decided they had to die, but I feel in no way responsible for that."
Deanna smiled. At least she didn't have to worry about consoling her. Though momentary twinges made Deanna wonder if Robin was being completely truthful with herself.
"Wes, is there anything you'd like to say to Robin?"
Wes up at Deanna, "Yeah," then over at Robin. "Robin, I-- I'm sorry you got dragged into this. I was anxious to go negotiate and I should have stopped asking."
"It wasn't your fault, Wes, you were manipulated into asking. And we were ordered to go." She rolled her eyes, "Or so we thought."
"And Robin?" Deanna looked to her, "Is there anything you need to say to Wesley?"
For a moment, she sat still, thinking. Then she drew a deep breath and held it, nodded.
Robin got up and went over to the couch where Wesley was sitting. She sank down next to him and took his hand into hers. Wes looked at her hands, not meeting her eyes yet. She whispered, "Wes?" and he looked up. For a long moment she stared in his eyes, conveying wordlessly her sincerity. "Thank you." Wesley closed his eyes and turned his head, about to say something about how she should not thank him, but she squeezed his hand gently and he looked back up at her. She repeated herself. "Thank you for saving me. Thank you for fighting for me every second you could and for bringing me back." Wes thought fleetingly of his father and it tugged at his heart. Robin's eyes were locked with his. "Thank you for bringing me back alive."
Suddenly, Wes pulled her into a tight embrace, eyes squeezed shut, his hands in fists. Robin was combating her own tears as she clung to the young man who had helped her so much.
Deanna leaned back in her chair and folded her arms, smiling.
* * *
Guinan's entire face was glowing. She was looking around the Ten- Forward room and seeing laughing faces. Many of them. But one was still missing.
Captain Jean-Luc Picard entered Ten-Forward and walked directly to the bar to greet Guinan.
There. That was the face that was missing, Guinan smiled.
"Jean-Luc," she ducked her head in acknowledgment. She was polishing a glass to perfection, then set it on the bar in front of Picard. It was a clear tea glass. The kind in which he always got Earl Grey tea.
"Hullo, Guinan," Picard was all finesse and confidence once again. And being near Guinan heightened the mood.
"Heard you did quite a job with that Neverland thing."
Picard studied the glass. "Oh, it wasn't me at all.
Wesley Crusher entered Ten-Forward looking for the captain. He saw him immediately, talking to Guinan with his back to Wesley. Guinan's eyes flicked over to Wesley, the ghost of a smile on her lips, then back to the captain, who didn't notice the gesture. It was her very subtle, very clear message to Wesley that he should wait just a moment, until she had finished with their captain. Wes leaned against the wall near the door and folded his arms.
"It wasn't you?" Guinan looked genuinely puzzled. "Hm. Everyone around here is so eager to accept blame and so reluctant to accept credit. Just who was giving the orders around here for the past three days?"
"Guinan, I appreciate what you're--"
Guinan's gentle eyes persisted. "Captain, were you giving orders aboard this ship for the past three days? Did you free Wesley from the ghost of his father? Did you retrieve most of your officers immediately and the rest at brief length from the enemy ship, all unharmed? Did you confront the ghost of your best friend and not allow it to get to you? Or was that someone else? I could swear it looked like you, unless there's someone else around here with a red shirt and a lot of rank pips. And not much hair."
Picard laughed at that. He sighed and smiled.
"You did everything you could to succeed and you did. I admire you for that, Jean-Luc."
Picard took this as a tremendous compliment. He stared at her, speechless, his eyes sparkling. "Thank you, Guinan."
Guinan was no longer looking at him. She was looking in the direction of his usual table where the senior officers had begun to gather. "They're waiting for you, Jean-Luc."
Picard turned to look at his table.
"But first, I think there's someone who needs you for a moment," Guinan was looking at Wesley. Wes took this as a beckon and started towards the bar. Guinan was gone by the time he reached it.
"Captain."
"Hullo, Wesley."
Wes was stunned. The captain had smiled and called him "Wesley". And he said hello, too. He usually just said "ensign" and nodded his head.
"I wanted to thank you, sir. For not leaving us."
"Did you really think I would have left you with them?"
"Well, sir, I know that when an entire ship is in danger, sometimes captains have been forced to sacrifice a crew member to--"
"I know," the smile fell from Picard's face. Wes could've kicked himself. Of course Picard knew very well how that is necessary. It'd been necessary with Jack Crusher. Picard continued, "But I had not yet exhausted all my options, Mister Crusher."
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to--"
Picard's face gentled again. "It's all right, Wesley. I am very glad I was able to retrieve you and Ensign Wallace. And I should be thanking you for your part in the endeavor."
"Thank me? All I did was get myself and Robin captured."
"And get yourself freed as well."
"Well, Briyen did a lot of--"
"Mister Crusher."
"Yes, sir?"
"You may not have been singularly responsible, but you were largely instrumental. It is that for which I am thanking you."
Wes closed his mouth. "Thank you, sir."
Picard realized suddenly that this is exactly what Guinan had been trying to express to him just a moment ago, and what Beverly had been trying to tell him just last night. It would have made a wonderful fantasy novel if he could have been the dashing hero that single-handedly saved his officers from the grip of death. But this was real life, a real situation. He had been an important part of the operation, and that was the best he could do.
"Sir? There was something else... I was just sort of wondering..."
"What is it, ensign?" Picard dragged himself back to the present.
"When the creature appeared as my father to me and Mom in the turbolift, and you got rid of it by saying... Well, I was wondering why... What did you mean when... when you said..."
"The idea was to do something for which the creature wasn't prepared. I merely stretched the truth to say something it wasn't prepared to hear, and it worked."
"Yes, sir."
Picard nodded at Wes. The conversation was thankfully over. He walked away toward his table of senior officers.
Wesley stood watching them for a moment. He carefully studied the way Picard looked at his mother. And saw nothing out of the ordinary.
But just how far did you stretch that truth, captain?
Wesley jumped when he heard a clink sound behind him. He whirled to face the bar and saw Guinan smiling at him. She'd just placed a clear ether in front of him. With a swizzle-stick-impaled cherry in it. He smiled back at her.
"A little jumpy today, Wes?" Guinan asked.
He sighed, "I guess so. It'll take a little while to get over the feeling that something's going to creep up behind me."
"Probably. You'll get over it. But since you haven't gotten over it yet, I'll warn you of this one. Incoming."
"Hey, Crusher!" a voice came from behind him.
Wes turned to see Billy Nolan coming towards him, mercifully without Karen.
"What do you want, Billy?"
"I just wanted to warn you, Crusher. You ever leave the Conn up to me again, and I'll wrap a warp coil around your neck."
Wesley blinked, unsure if he was kidding or not.
Billy smiled. "And the Academy would absolutely freak if they lost you. Glad to have you back, Brain Trust."
"Thanks," he smirked. "Now how long is it going to take you to figure out that you're wearing the wrong color shirt? That's really not your color, Bill. I'm thinking something like red."
Wes clapped him on the arm and walked off to an empty table.
I believe I've just been complimented, Billy thought as a slow smile spread across his face.
* * *
"Who's that with Geordi?" Beverly jutted her chin in Geordi's direction. Geordi was sitting at a table for two across from a pretty Engineering ensign. Geordi was glancing repeatedly towards Picard's table.
"That's Ensign Suzy Kearns," Riker reported. "If there's a ranking order for greatest Engineering whizzes, it goes Geordi, Wesley, Suzy. Though she's kind of a distant third."
"It seems that she's taken quite a liking to Geordi," Deanna smiled and looked at Riker.
"Ah." He stood. "I believe this is now my area of expertise."
Deanna whispered, "I hope you have a good plan, Will. Techno-babble won't work on Suzy."
Riker winked at her.
Riker approached Geordi's table and Geordi stood up. Picard turned his attention back to his tea, but Crusher and Troi were staring at the Commander as if something funny would happen at any moment.
The two women couldn't hear what Riker was saying, but Geordi was nodding solemnly, as if taking note of new orders being given. Then Geordi politely excused himself from Suzy and left. Riker came back.
"Well," he slid his long legs under the table and gripped the handle of his coffee mug. "That was easier than I thought."
Deanna hadn't looked away yet. And now she was smiling. "Don't get too comfortable yet, Expert."
Ensign Billy Nolan sank into the chair opposite Suzy.
"You think she'll need my help with him?" Riker laughed. "Then you don't know Suzy."
As soon as Billy had sat down and opened his mouth to say something, Suzy sighed and rolled her eyes, then stood up and walked away as if no one had been there at all.
Billy's face fell. Blushing furiously, he glanced around to make sure no one was looking, then rose and slunk out of Ten-Forward.
Deanna looked at Riker, then burst out laughing.
* * *
Wes had been joined by Briyen shortly after his brief conversation with Captain Picard, and he was currently regaling him with stories of his years on the Enterprise. Wes had brought his drink with him from the bar, and when Briyen came in, he ordered one just like it.
"And then what happened?" Briyen's eyes could have fallen out of his head.
"I beamed back to the Enterprise to check my science project, or so I said. I brought back a sliver of dilithium to Geordi on the Hathaway and we warp-jumped. And the Ferengi couldn't figure out what happened! Normally, it's a big waste of energy to warp-jump like that, but it's good to know what's possible -- sometimes you have to break the rules a little."
"Wow! You saved the Hathaway and the Enterprise!"
"Uh..." Wes didn't realize his little lesson on bending the Prime Directive and other Federation regulations would lead to another Wes- Crusher-saves-the-Enterprise-again story, "Well, no. Look, Briyen, you're a smart kid. I've got nothing on you. If I wanted to be ooh-ed and ahh-ed at, I would've asked Karen Nolan to have a drink with me."
"Who's Karen Nolan?"
"Never mind. Anyway. Didn't they ever let you do any engineering on the Neverland?"
"Not directly, no. I mostly just took things apart and put them back together again. Some of the kids, they used to... well, they used to call me Tinker. Is that the worst nickname or what?"
"On a ship like Neverland, you're lucky it wasn't Tinkerbell!" Wes laughed.
"Tinker Bell?"
"Wait a minute. You lived for two years on a ship called Neverland with a bunch of children who'll never grow up and you can recite the song 'Second Star To The Right' from memory, but you don't know who Tinkerbell is? Have you ever read 'Peter Pan'?" Briyen shook his head. Wes continued, "Kaelha's entire life was based on this story and you've never read it."
"I've never even heard of it. Everything you just said, I only know it because Kaelha told it to me. Who's the author? I can look it up on my system tonight."
"No no no. The only way to read 'Peter Pan' is off paper. I'll lend you my copy if you promise to be careful with it. It was my great-great- grandfather's when he was little."
Briyen's eyes were wide with the appropriate reverence. "I'll be very careful. Thank you. So who is Tinker Bell anyway?"
Wes smiled, "A fairy."
Briyen closed his eyes in pain. "Great. All this time I've been called that nickname and I didn't even know what it meant."
"Hey. Everyone gets called names."
"Even you?"
"Oh, god, especially me!" Wes rolled his eyes. "The Boy, Whiz Kid, Brain Trust... Orange."
"Orange?"
"Long story. Has to do with soda."
"So what's this book about, anyway?"
"A place called Neverland. While you're there, you never get any older. There's a boy who lives there named Peter Pan, and his best friend is Tinkerbell. He's got a small army of Lost Boys and they fight Captain Hook and his pirates. According to the story, Peter Pan brings children from London -- that's on Earth -- to Neverland with him: Wendy, John and Michael. But mostly Wendy, so she can tell him stories and basically be a mother to him, because he misses having a mother. But she can't stay..." Wes was beginning to realize how alike the story was to what had just happened to him. He continued, "She can't be what Peter wants her to be, she has to live her own life in her own world. And she leaves Neverland."
Briyen was wrapped up in this too. Quietly he asked, "And what happened to Peter?"
"He came back for Wendy's children and grandchildren to bring them to visit Neverland for a little while, but he never made any of them stay."
"Huh," Briyen said, lost in his own thoughts. "I would love to borrow that book. Thanks."