Chapter Five
Bigger kids, bigger problems.
Her friend at Starfleet medical had said that to her years and years ago. Beverly had been finishing medical school, preparing to enter Starfleet, and she was also parent to a very smart and very curious little 2 year old. One morning when a spilled cup of juice had put Beverly right over the edge, a nurse at her work had told her to enjoy the fact that her son's biggest concern was a puddle on the kitchen counter- that the problems become a lot bigger and harder to solve over time. Well Nurse A'kida, you were certainly right today.
Wesley had just resigned from the academy...by plopping his comm badge on the desk of her boss, and by making matters far more tense down on the planet by stirring up the colonists. He told her that he had been participating in vision quests down in the planet. That he had seen Jack in a vision...that we had been wrong about him all along.
The questions began bubbling in Beverly's mind again: are the colonists using Wes? Is he just going through a phase? Did the captain push Wesley to resign to make a point? Did she push him into Starfleet in the first place? Is he ruining his life? Am I letting him ruin his life?
You have to let him work it out for himself. Jean Luc's words from yesterday circled in her mind. Did she have to? Was there anything she could do to stop this ride and force him to think...really think this over?
...but he seemed so content. Wesley had looked almost- at ease with the decision to throw away a lifetime of training. It was certainly the first time she had seen him look happy in the time he had been aboard.
Beverly looked at her chronometer- her shift was about to start, and she had a feeling this could be a long day. Focusing herself, she left her quarters. Bigger kids, bigger worries…