A Child's Lead:
Part IV
By Jaclyn Riker
A little child shall lead them.
--Bible, Isaiah II: 6
6 months later
"Sir, we are being hailed by the ship in front of us." Wesley Crusher said, looking back at his stepfather. Wesley had rejoined the Enterprise as a Lt. (j.g.) about a month and a half ago, delighting Jean-Luc and Beverly, not to mention Lissa. She idolized Wesley just as he adored her and spoiled her to no end.
"On screen." Jean-Luc said and the Federation starship that was in front of them disappeared to be replaced by the face of another admiral. He was an older man and had a weatherworn face, but he had a sort of gentleness about him. He wore a small and welcoming smile that turned into a larger one when he saw Jean-Luc.
"Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, it is good to see you again." He said, smiling at Jean-Luc warmly.
"It is good to see you too, Admiral Jonathan Hawthorn. It has been a while." Jean-Luc said to his old Starfleet acquaintance and the other man nodded. His face grew serious and then he sighed.
"Picard, I would like to come aboard your ship to discuss something extremely important." Admiral Hawthorn said and Jean-Luc frowned.
"What is it, Admiral?" Jean-Luc said and John shook his head.
"Just trust me, Jean-Luc." John said and Jean-Luc nodded. The communication ended and Jean-Luc looked at his crew.
"Mr. Data, Counselor, and Commander Newman, you're with me. Lieutenant Sakar, you have the bridge."
"Yes, sir." came the echoing voices of the officers who were addressed.
They reached the transporter room and Jean-Luc nodded at the ensign. Instead of one shimmering figure, two began to appear and then became solid. All eyes widened and Deanna let out a choking gasp. Standing next to Admiral Hawthorn was no one other than the "late" Will Riker.
"Who? What?" Deanna gasped out and tears filled her eyes, and then flowed over.
"I can explain...Imzadi," the man said and Deanna swayed, Jean-Luc catching her as she fainted. When she woke minutes later, she found herself laying on a sick bed with Beverly hovering over her. She closed her eyes again and lifted her hand to her forehead, sighing.
"Beverly, what..." Deanna began to ask softly and then a flood of images rushed into her head, making her sit upright. Will. Her eyes flitted across the room and landed on the man who had called her Imzadi.
"Beverly, is it..."
"It's Will, Deanna. I don't know how, he refused to explain anything until you woke up and we knew that you were okay." Beverly said and then added softly, "But it is Will."
Imzadi, please listen to me
Deanna's head whipped around to him and she gave him a glare that would stop a Klingon in its tracks. Will moved back physically as the emotional wall she put up slammed into him.
"Don't you dare call me that, until you explain what the hell you think you are doing? Where have you been these past six months while we all mourned for you? While your daughter cried her heart out every night for two months straight because you weren't there to tuck her in or kiss her goodnight? Or how about while I nearly went insane reliving every moment we had ever had together thinking that it was all over? Where the hell were you then?" Deanna asked him, her voice never rising above a certain level, but he flinched at every question as if she had screamed it. The raw hurt and anger in her voice left him reeling.
Will's eyes grew troubled and pained as he prepared to tell his story. Deanna tried to block out his emotions as they washed over her, but she couldn't help it. They were such intense feelings of pain, anger, guilt, and loneliness, that it made her want to reach out and hold him despite her anger and hurt. However, she restrained herself and forced her face to look impassive.
"We were leaving the embassy to come home when I realized that I had forgotten something very important in my quarters. I told the Admiral and the others that I would meet them aboard and went back inside. I found a maid to open up my room and she helped me look for what I had left behind. Finally we found it under the bed and I was about to leave when I heard a loud explosion and everything went black. The next thing I knew, all I could hear were screams and all I could see was smoke. I looked around and saw that the place was in ruins, beams and rubble everywhere. I turned my head to the left and saw that the maid had been crushed by a fallen beam and when I tried to move I realized that my legs were pinned underneath the same beam. The pain was so intense that I lost consciousness. That's all I remember until I woke up and found the admiral here, standing over me." Will finished and looked up at the man, smiling gratefully.
"I think I can pick up the rest of the story from here." Jon said walking over to stand by Will, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"A group of peace keepers had found him among the rubble and knowing who he was, took him to their camp. I had been in touch with them about hostages that they had rescued or injured men from war attacks. They notified me immediately when they saw his Starfleet uniform. I came as soon as possible and upon arrival, the doctor in charge said that he was in a coma and shouldn't be moved for at least 4-6 weeks. They didn't have the technology to heal his legs right away because the two races at war would kill for those types of devices. I stayed with them for about two months waiting for him to regain consciousness. When it seemed as if he was waking up, he had a terrible fever. We couldn't understand anything he was saying except one thing. The only clear word he muttered was one he kept saying over and over: Imzadi."
Deanna's eyes flew from the admiral to Will who met her stare calmly. She looked back to the admiral, afraid that if she let her emotions go without hearing the whole story she would always wonder. Adm. Hawthorn watched the two of them briefly then continued his story.
"It took another two weeks for the fever to break. You have no idea how many times we thought he wasn't going to make it. Then one day, he just woke up and demanded go home. He couldn't walk and I decided that it would be better to just beam him aboard my ship than have him stay there any longer. My ship's doctor had the instruments to help him heal and our physical therapist helped him learn to walk again quickly. As soon as we got back I had looked up who he said he was and found that the Federation thought he was dead. When I told Will this, he insisted on finding this ship instead of going through Starfleet. He said that he wanted to tell his family he was alive before some damn computer or official told them. It took us a little longer than we thought, had a few run-ins with the Romulans and a few with the Resarins. But let me tell you this, nothing could have stopped him from getting here." Admiral Hawthorn finished his half of the story and all were silent as they each thought over what had happened these past 6 months. Beverly pulled Jean-Luc's arm and the Admiral followed them out of sickbay leaving Deanna and Will alone.
"I thought you were dead," was all she could say and Will nodded, tears forming in his eyes.
"I know. It killed me knowing that I couldn't get to you. God, Deanna, it hurt like hell." Will said and he let her probe his mind and emotions. Feeling the intensity of his pain and guilt and love for her, she couldn't hold it back anymore.
"Will!" She gasped out and in one swift movement he swept her up into his arms, crushing her to his chest. All the months of pain and loss poured out from her body in dry heaving sobs as she clung to him, afraid that if she loosened her hold he would disappear again. Will felt her nails digging into his shoulders and couldn't have cared less. It felt so good to hold her again and nothing was going to separate them. He pulled back and pressed his lips to hers tasting her sweet kiss again. Deanna parted them willingly and his tongue delved into her mouth, meeting her own halfway. They kissed with all the passion and love they felt, neither denying the connection any longer. Finally they broke apart, gasping for breath. Deanna lay her head down on his chest, Will's arms tightening around her.
"I want to feel you with me...completely with me...but I think Beverly needs her sickbay back." Deanna said against his chest and closed her eyes out of pleasure when she felt the rumbling of laughter from his body. Then she lifted her chin and gave him a serious look. "Besides that, someone will be coming back from school soon and we need to be there."
Will's eyes widened and then filled with slight fear.
"Lily." he whispered and Deanna nodded. "Oh God, Deanna. What I am going to say to her?"
"Come on. We have to go." Deanna said, not answering him for she didn't know herself. To avoid people in the hallways they did a site-to- site transport. They had just settled on the sofa when Beverly's voice floated in over the comm. system.
"Deanna, I wanted to warn you that Lissa just got home, so I have a feeling Lily won't be far behind."
"Thank you." Deanna said and as soon as the words left her mouth, the door slid open.
"Mommy, look what I made today!" Lily ran in and stopped short at the sight before her. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a scared whimper.
"Lily..." Will said and the child dropped the clay model of the Enterprise that she had been carrying to clamp her hands over her ears.
"No, you're not real! Mommy!" Lily cried out and Deanna quickly rushed over to her distressed daughter. Lily threw her arms around Deanna and buried her face into her neck. "Mommy, make it go away."
"Shhh, Little One. I know it's scary, but it's okay. It is real. He's home." Deanna said and Lily shook her head.
"No, Daddy's dead. He's not coming home. They said he wasn't ever coming home!" Lily cried and Deanna closed her eyes feeling the conflict going on inside of the child. Reaching out with her mind, Deanna talked to the girl the way she had taught her in the short time they had been together.
Lily, listen to me. I need you to calm down and listen
Mommy, please make him go away. I don't wanna look at him because it's not really Daddy
But it is, Little One. It is your daddy. Now you need to calm down and listen to him
Lily's tears stopped flowing after she took a few deep breaths and soon only an occasional whimper was heard. Deanna looked up at Will and he gazed at her in amazement.
"How did you teach her that?" Will asked, in awe.
"The same way I taught you, Imzadi. But children are easier. They are more receptive." Deanna said softly and them nodded to him. "Talk to her, Will."
"Princess, please listen to me. They were wrong. I was hurt very badly and couldn't come home for a long time, but I am home now. I am not going away again anytime soon. Please believe me." Will said and waited for Lily's reaction. The child still had her face buried in Deanna's neck, but she soon peeked up at him cautiously. Standing straight, she took on a look that Will had before that moment only seen on Deanna. He realized how close the two had gotten and was grateful that they had been able to lean on each other during his so called "death".
Lily slowly let go of her hold around Deanna, but still clung to her hand as she walked across to where Will stood. Letting her hand drop from Deanna's at the last possible moment, she made a motion for Will to kneel down. He did, silently watching every move his daughter made. She ran her eyes over his face with her own showing no emotion, even as she raised her hands to run them over his features. Her baby blue eyes met the ones of the person from which she had inherited their amazing color. Suddenly her gaze filled with tears and she let out a shaky sigh.
"You were gone so long, Daddy." Lily said and threw her arms around Will's neck, laying her head down on his shoulder. Will closed his eyes in happiness and wrapped his arms around his daughter once more.
"I know, Princess. I am so sorry." Will said and he slid back onto the couch settling her that she was on his lap, never releasing the child for a moment. Deanna came over and sat down next to him and he wrapped his other arm around her pulling her in close. They sat there for a long time, no one speaking, just being together again. Finally Lily pulled back and sighed heavily as she looked at Deanna.
"Do I have to stop calling you Mommy now?" Lily said and Deanna was about to speak when Will interrupted her.
"Not if I can help it." Will said and reached into a pocket in his uniform. He turned to Deanna and held up a small blue velvet ring box. Opening it to her, he let her eyes roam over the sparkling 2-carat diamond in white gold before speaking. "This is what I went back for."
Her eyes shot up to his and she began to cry again.
"You idiot! I could have lost you over a ring?" Deanna said with a sharp ironic laugh and with tears streaming down her face shook her head. Taking it out of the box, he slid it over her left ring finger and leaned forward to kiss her. Lifting his hand he wiped away the tears on her cheeks and smiled at her.
"Save the tears for our wedding day, Imzadi. For when we become a family." Will said and Deanna nodded. She looked at Will and down at his daughter...their daughter soon...and smiled as brilliantly as the diamond on her hand.
"We already are one, Imzadi." Deanna said raising her hand to stroke Lily's soft cheek, causing Lily to smile at her and blow her a kiss. Deanna leaned forward and gave Lily a kiss on the forehead and then settled into Will's side. "With a child to lead us, we already are one."
THE END...or is there going to be a wedding/honeymoon epilogue? Only feedback will tell. Heehee... ;-)
Part IV
By Jaclyn Riker
A little child shall lead them.
--Bible, Isaiah II: 6
6 months later
"Sir, we are being hailed by the ship in front of us." Wesley Crusher said, looking back at his stepfather. Wesley had rejoined the Enterprise as a Lt. (j.g.) about a month and a half ago, delighting Jean-Luc and Beverly, not to mention Lissa. She idolized Wesley just as he adored her and spoiled her to no end.
"On screen." Jean-Luc said and the Federation starship that was in front of them disappeared to be replaced by the face of another admiral. He was an older man and had a weatherworn face, but he had a sort of gentleness about him. He wore a small and welcoming smile that turned into a larger one when he saw Jean-Luc.
"Admiral Jean-Luc Picard, it is good to see you again." He said, smiling at Jean-Luc warmly.
"It is good to see you too, Admiral Jonathan Hawthorn. It has been a while." Jean-Luc said to his old Starfleet acquaintance and the other man nodded. His face grew serious and then he sighed.
"Picard, I would like to come aboard your ship to discuss something extremely important." Admiral Hawthorn said and Jean-Luc frowned.
"What is it, Admiral?" Jean-Luc said and John shook his head.
"Just trust me, Jean-Luc." John said and Jean-Luc nodded. The communication ended and Jean-Luc looked at his crew.
"Mr. Data, Counselor, and Commander Newman, you're with me. Lieutenant Sakar, you have the bridge."
"Yes, sir." came the echoing voices of the officers who were addressed.
They reached the transporter room and Jean-Luc nodded at the ensign. Instead of one shimmering figure, two began to appear and then became solid. All eyes widened and Deanna let out a choking gasp. Standing next to Admiral Hawthorn was no one other than the "late" Will Riker.
"Who? What?" Deanna gasped out and tears filled her eyes, and then flowed over.
"I can explain...Imzadi," the man said and Deanna swayed, Jean-Luc catching her as she fainted. When she woke minutes later, she found herself laying on a sick bed with Beverly hovering over her. She closed her eyes again and lifted her hand to her forehead, sighing.
"Beverly, what..." Deanna began to ask softly and then a flood of images rushed into her head, making her sit upright. Will. Her eyes flitted across the room and landed on the man who had called her Imzadi.
"Beverly, is it..."
"It's Will, Deanna. I don't know how, he refused to explain anything until you woke up and we knew that you were okay." Beverly said and then added softly, "But it is Will."
Imzadi, please listen to me
Deanna's head whipped around to him and she gave him a glare that would stop a Klingon in its tracks. Will moved back physically as the emotional wall she put up slammed into him.
"Don't you dare call me that, until you explain what the hell you think you are doing? Where have you been these past six months while we all mourned for you? While your daughter cried her heart out every night for two months straight because you weren't there to tuck her in or kiss her goodnight? Or how about while I nearly went insane reliving every moment we had ever had together thinking that it was all over? Where the hell were you then?" Deanna asked him, her voice never rising above a certain level, but he flinched at every question as if she had screamed it. The raw hurt and anger in her voice left him reeling.
Will's eyes grew troubled and pained as he prepared to tell his story. Deanna tried to block out his emotions as they washed over her, but she couldn't help it. They were such intense feelings of pain, anger, guilt, and loneliness, that it made her want to reach out and hold him despite her anger and hurt. However, she restrained herself and forced her face to look impassive.
"We were leaving the embassy to come home when I realized that I had forgotten something very important in my quarters. I told the Admiral and the others that I would meet them aboard and went back inside. I found a maid to open up my room and she helped me look for what I had left behind. Finally we found it under the bed and I was about to leave when I heard a loud explosion and everything went black. The next thing I knew, all I could hear were screams and all I could see was smoke. I looked around and saw that the place was in ruins, beams and rubble everywhere. I turned my head to the left and saw that the maid had been crushed by a fallen beam and when I tried to move I realized that my legs were pinned underneath the same beam. The pain was so intense that I lost consciousness. That's all I remember until I woke up and found the admiral here, standing over me." Will finished and looked up at the man, smiling gratefully.
"I think I can pick up the rest of the story from here." Jon said walking over to stand by Will, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"A group of peace keepers had found him among the rubble and knowing who he was, took him to their camp. I had been in touch with them about hostages that they had rescued or injured men from war attacks. They notified me immediately when they saw his Starfleet uniform. I came as soon as possible and upon arrival, the doctor in charge said that he was in a coma and shouldn't be moved for at least 4-6 weeks. They didn't have the technology to heal his legs right away because the two races at war would kill for those types of devices. I stayed with them for about two months waiting for him to regain consciousness. When it seemed as if he was waking up, he had a terrible fever. We couldn't understand anything he was saying except one thing. The only clear word he muttered was one he kept saying over and over: Imzadi."
Deanna's eyes flew from the admiral to Will who met her stare calmly. She looked back to the admiral, afraid that if she let her emotions go without hearing the whole story she would always wonder. Adm. Hawthorn watched the two of them briefly then continued his story.
"It took another two weeks for the fever to break. You have no idea how many times we thought he wasn't going to make it. Then one day, he just woke up and demanded go home. He couldn't walk and I decided that it would be better to just beam him aboard my ship than have him stay there any longer. My ship's doctor had the instruments to help him heal and our physical therapist helped him learn to walk again quickly. As soon as we got back I had looked up who he said he was and found that the Federation thought he was dead. When I told Will this, he insisted on finding this ship instead of going through Starfleet. He said that he wanted to tell his family he was alive before some damn computer or official told them. It took us a little longer than we thought, had a few run-ins with the Romulans and a few with the Resarins. But let me tell you this, nothing could have stopped him from getting here." Admiral Hawthorn finished his half of the story and all were silent as they each thought over what had happened these past 6 months. Beverly pulled Jean-Luc's arm and the Admiral followed them out of sickbay leaving Deanna and Will alone.
"I thought you were dead," was all she could say and Will nodded, tears forming in his eyes.
"I know. It killed me knowing that I couldn't get to you. God, Deanna, it hurt like hell." Will said and he let her probe his mind and emotions. Feeling the intensity of his pain and guilt and love for her, she couldn't hold it back anymore.
"Will!" She gasped out and in one swift movement he swept her up into his arms, crushing her to his chest. All the months of pain and loss poured out from her body in dry heaving sobs as she clung to him, afraid that if she loosened her hold he would disappear again. Will felt her nails digging into his shoulders and couldn't have cared less. It felt so good to hold her again and nothing was going to separate them. He pulled back and pressed his lips to hers tasting her sweet kiss again. Deanna parted them willingly and his tongue delved into her mouth, meeting her own halfway. They kissed with all the passion and love they felt, neither denying the connection any longer. Finally they broke apart, gasping for breath. Deanna lay her head down on his chest, Will's arms tightening around her.
"I want to feel you with me...completely with me...but I think Beverly needs her sickbay back." Deanna said against his chest and closed her eyes out of pleasure when she felt the rumbling of laughter from his body. Then she lifted her chin and gave him a serious look. "Besides that, someone will be coming back from school soon and we need to be there."
Will's eyes widened and then filled with slight fear.
"Lily." he whispered and Deanna nodded. "Oh God, Deanna. What I am going to say to her?"
"Come on. We have to go." Deanna said, not answering him for she didn't know herself. To avoid people in the hallways they did a site-to- site transport. They had just settled on the sofa when Beverly's voice floated in over the comm. system.
"Deanna, I wanted to warn you that Lissa just got home, so I have a feeling Lily won't be far behind."
"Thank you." Deanna said and as soon as the words left her mouth, the door slid open.
"Mommy, look what I made today!" Lily ran in and stopped short at the sight before her. Her eyes grew wide and she let out a scared whimper.
"Lily..." Will said and the child dropped the clay model of the Enterprise that she had been carrying to clamp her hands over her ears.
"No, you're not real! Mommy!" Lily cried out and Deanna quickly rushed over to her distressed daughter. Lily threw her arms around Deanna and buried her face into her neck. "Mommy, make it go away."
"Shhh, Little One. I know it's scary, but it's okay. It is real. He's home." Deanna said and Lily shook her head.
"No, Daddy's dead. He's not coming home. They said he wasn't ever coming home!" Lily cried and Deanna closed her eyes feeling the conflict going on inside of the child. Reaching out with her mind, Deanna talked to the girl the way she had taught her in the short time they had been together.
Lily, listen to me. I need you to calm down and listen
Mommy, please make him go away. I don't wanna look at him because it's not really Daddy
But it is, Little One. It is your daddy. Now you need to calm down and listen to him
Lily's tears stopped flowing after she took a few deep breaths and soon only an occasional whimper was heard. Deanna looked up at Will and he gazed at her in amazement.
"How did you teach her that?" Will asked, in awe.
"The same way I taught you, Imzadi. But children are easier. They are more receptive." Deanna said softly and them nodded to him. "Talk to her, Will."
"Princess, please listen to me. They were wrong. I was hurt very badly and couldn't come home for a long time, but I am home now. I am not going away again anytime soon. Please believe me." Will said and waited for Lily's reaction. The child still had her face buried in Deanna's neck, but she soon peeked up at him cautiously. Standing straight, she took on a look that Will had before that moment only seen on Deanna. He realized how close the two had gotten and was grateful that they had been able to lean on each other during his so called "death".
Lily slowly let go of her hold around Deanna, but still clung to her hand as she walked across to where Will stood. Letting her hand drop from Deanna's at the last possible moment, she made a motion for Will to kneel down. He did, silently watching every move his daughter made. She ran her eyes over his face with her own showing no emotion, even as she raised her hands to run them over his features. Her baby blue eyes met the ones of the person from which she had inherited their amazing color. Suddenly her gaze filled with tears and she let out a shaky sigh.
"You were gone so long, Daddy." Lily said and threw her arms around Will's neck, laying her head down on his shoulder. Will closed his eyes in happiness and wrapped his arms around his daughter once more.
"I know, Princess. I am so sorry." Will said and he slid back onto the couch settling her that she was on his lap, never releasing the child for a moment. Deanna came over and sat down next to him and he wrapped his other arm around her pulling her in close. They sat there for a long time, no one speaking, just being together again. Finally Lily pulled back and sighed heavily as she looked at Deanna.
"Do I have to stop calling you Mommy now?" Lily said and Deanna was about to speak when Will interrupted her.
"Not if I can help it." Will said and reached into a pocket in his uniform. He turned to Deanna and held up a small blue velvet ring box. Opening it to her, he let her eyes roam over the sparkling 2-carat diamond in white gold before speaking. "This is what I went back for."
Her eyes shot up to his and she began to cry again.
"You idiot! I could have lost you over a ring?" Deanna said with a sharp ironic laugh and with tears streaming down her face shook her head. Taking it out of the box, he slid it over her left ring finger and leaned forward to kiss her. Lifting his hand he wiped away the tears on her cheeks and smiled at her.
"Save the tears for our wedding day, Imzadi. For when we become a family." Will said and Deanna nodded. She looked at Will and down at his daughter...their daughter soon...and smiled as brilliantly as the diamond on her hand.
"We already are one, Imzadi." Deanna said raising her hand to stroke Lily's soft cheek, causing Lily to smile at her and blow her a kiss. Deanna leaned forward and gave Lily a kiss on the forehead and then settled into Will's side. "With a child to lead us, we already are one."
THE END...or is there going to be a wedding/honeymoon epilogue? Only feedback will tell. Heehee... ;-)