4.
"Deanna?" Hesitantly he stepped into their bedroom. For the last four hours he'd been on the bridge, viewing and reviewing the latest updates on the news of the exploded private ship. The investigations, by Starfleet as well as by the Betazed Government were still inconclusive and neither body was willing to draw conclusions, to his rising frustration.
Peeking into the bedroom he found his wife asleep. The restless moving of her limbs and the grunting and murmured words were undoubtedly signs of a nightmare, whether her own of someone else's he couldn't know. Overriding his frustration and grief, he sat down next to her and called upon his love for her to calm her. After a minute or five of reassuring whispers and constant stroking along her jaw-line she finally began to calm down. "'sadi?"
"Shhh, I'm here." He kissed her forehead and stood up to undress himself.
"Don't go."
Her drowsy plea cut through his heart with a vengeance. His fear of loosing her was gone now that she had expressed how much she needed him, but was replaced by another fear; fear of what would happen to her, should he die too. Unable to speak because of the lump of emotions stuck in his throat he lay down next to Deanna, forgoing changing, wrapping his arm around her as he drew her against his body; her head resting on his chest and her hair tickling his nose.
"Luv you." She murmured, already falling back asleep.
"I love you too Dea. Go back to sleep now, I'll watch over you." And within minutes he followed her into the land of dreams, protecting her from more nightmares.
It was a hail from the bridge that pulled him out of a long and deep rest. Turning, he found her side of the bed empty. Riker tapped his commbadge and listened to the voice of his second officer. "Sir, we received another update about the incident, shall I patch it through to your quarters?"
"Yes commander, please do." His heart started racing; would this be the news they'd been waiting for? Would their questions finally be answered? Barefooted he went to the small room that functioned as study for both of them and opened the file. His eyes shot across the text, looking for that one line that would tell them why they had lost their family.
And there it was! His heart skipped a beat and he closed his eyes to compose himself. The sentence was burned on his retinas "It is thereby the conclusion of this investigation that the private vessel Iolandra has not been destroyed by a natural phenomena or internal problems." This was it, the next sentence would finally tell them why, how and whom. He opened his eyes and…found the screen black. Confused he looked around and his eyes came to rest upon Deanna. She had her arms wrapped around her body and tears were streaming down her face. "No."
"Deanna,"
"No. I don't want to know."
===tbc...===
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