A/N This is the other retroactive chapter. It explains what happened to Deanna at Caladra.
…
USS Enterprise
In orbit of Caladra Five
Western Hemisphere
Diplomatic Mission
"So." Will Riker looked at his mentor with a stiff sigh. Wincing at the high pitched squeals coming from the room behind them. "How are things?"
"With Jack?"
"With Beverly." The former first officer managed with a smirk.
"I'd rather discuss Jack." Picard sighed.
"That good?" Will's voice lifted at the end.
"I'm trying not to press the issue." Riker's eyes widened.
"Press it!" He quipped., Picard gave him a curious look. "Deanna opened the door this much.." He raised his fingers a few spaces apart. "I went to her office and knocked the thing off it's hinges."
The large man's arm swung in explanation before his wide blue eyes nodded in his direction. "Go big."
"Will come hold the baby!" His wife called. He gave Picard another nod before lumbering over to the sofa where the women had converged on Beverly and Jack Robert Picard.
…..
Baby Picard was not the only new addition that the former crew of the Enterprise was marveling at.
"Geordi he's amazing." Beverly Crusher whispered softly, was he watched B-4 accept the Captain's offer to hold the infant. His arms stuck out awkwardly as Jean Luc gently lowered Jack into them. "I can't believe how far he's come in such a short time. An Ensign?"
"I practically had to sell my soul to get him that." He shook his head. "It was important to me, that Fleet see him as an individual and not a piece of equipment." He looked at the android like he was his own child. "When he started to adapt, to interface more with Data's programs. It was.. Startling."
"He has all of his memories?"
"Everything up to the interface." Worf nodded quietly joining the conversation. She shook her head.
"He's still so different."
"He's not Data." Geordi reminded her. "It was a frustrating thing to have to figure out. The more we realized that, the more I altered him physically."
Crusher looked at the android. Taking in his lighter gold completion. It wasn't quiet as yellow as Data had been. His eyes were a deep lavender, making him appear more alien than android, the biggest change however was the short dark spikes of hair erupting from his head.
"He has all Data's memories, experiences and knowledge, but he's not Data." Beverly's wonder was apparent.
"He is Trill." Worf said quickly, swinging his eyes to the doctor for understanding. "The symbiot, the information, experiences and relationships.. changes based on the interpretations of the host. "
Beverly immediately felt for the Klingon's loss. Her eyes drifted back to Jean Luc, who still stood encouragingly smiling at B-4.
"It's still nice." Geordi admitted slowly. "Like having a piece of him here with us."
She looked at her son, laid so gingerly in mechanical arms and nodded.
….
Guest quarters
Deck 8
USS Enterprise
"I'm really not sure he should press her." Deanna whispered to her husband.
"Yes he should." Will told her decisively, watching his wife rub lotion into her arms. "You could feel her in there! She's waiting for him to do something!"
"She's waiting for the other shoe to drop." Deanna sighed. "Beverly's experienced a lot of loss in her life Will, she's usually waiting for the other shoe to drop."
"So let it drop." Will said softly, reaching out and taking the lotion from her. He collected it in his own hands and started on her legs.
"She might run again."
"She wouldn't." He sounded almost offended. "She wouldn't take the baby from him. Not now."
"I hope not." Deanna sighed, leaning back to let will rub her feet. "She's very unpredictable Will."
"She wants to be sure." He told her, pressing his thumbs into the sole of her foot. "To hard?"
"No." She breathed, he waited until her thoughts and words were one before continuing.
"Like I was saying she wants to be sure. Everyone in a situation like that just wants to be sure." He shook his head. "Didn't you?"
"Yes." She had already answered in her mind before she muttered the word.
"Doubt is well.. Habitual." His eyebrows arched. "Think about it. Why do we still speak out loud? We're alone, there's no logical reason." She smiled at him. "It's just what we do. What we've always done."
What we're used to? She teased.
"Exactly. Habitual." His hands stilled against her ankle.
"You don't think a baby is enough of a change for them?"
"I don't know." He said gently. "I'm just a Captain, not a psychologist."
A wide grin broke out on her face.
"Well, while we're here I'll have to enquire if the Enterprise has a psychologist."
…
Guest quarters
Deck 5
USS Enterprise
"He's asleep?" Beverly whispered as Jean Luc made his way back into the main room of the guest quarters.
"Yes. Finally." Picard blew out a long breath, dropping the bottle back into the replicator,. "He's stubborn." He looked a the woman longingly. "Howard trait."
"Yes because Picard's are extremely flexible." She countered. He looked for an inch, for anything. She only starred at him.
"Beverly.." He began, his face serious.
"Jean Luc, things are nice right now. Please don't change that." She pleaded quietly.
"Is nice enough? Is nice what you want?" He leaned forward shaking his head at her.
"Please.."
"What happens when Caladra is not the federations focus anymore? When something else happens, when our mission is completed and the Enterprise is diverted somewhere else? What happens then? What will you do then?"
"I don't know." She snapped.
"Will you take him? Return to Earth and leave me here?" He shook his head in desperation.
"Jean Luc." The tears came to her eyes quicker then she could wipe them away. "Please I need you to patient with me."
"Patient.." He snorted. "Patient. I learned about my child from an Caladran field doctor two weeks before his birth. I almost had to deliver him myself for God's sake! Still no explanation!"
He stopped, taking a few quick breaths.
"Patient." He repeated softly before turning towards the door and leaving sobbing her to herself.
….
Caladra Four
Newly reclaimed
Mobil Hospital
"I'm sorry." Deanna whispered softly as they made their way across the courtyard.
"I won't be forced into making this kind of decision. "
"Are you sure that's what he was trying to do?" Deanna asked helpfully.
"Don't you start." Beverly warned.
"It must be very confusing for him."
"He's got a very quick wit. I'm sure he's going to be just fine." She countered, watching as Deanna twisted her back again in discomfort. "Your back?"
"I'm only 16 weeks. I didn't think it would be starting this soon." Deanna smiled.
"You want something?" She patted her case. "It's a lot of walking today."
"You have something safe?"
"Of course. I nearly ran out during my pregnancy but I managed to restock." Beverly grinned, pulling a mild muscle relaxant and injecting it into her friends lower back. "It'll help soon."
"Thank you." Deanna Riker looked up at the building beside her. "This is my stop."
"I'll see you at lunch?" Beverly called as she continued walking.
"Think about what I said about the Captain!" Deanna called before moving towards the check in desk.
….
"Where is everyone?" Beverly announced as she dropped herself onto the lunch table.
"The negotiations have broken down yet again." Deanna grimaced. "I thought I was going to be eating alone."
"No, I just was checking in with Alyssa to see how Jack was doing. Your back isn't any better?"
"Worse." Deanna groaned. "I think I'm going to hate being pregnant."
Beverly opened her tricorder.
"You must have pulled a muscle." She shook her head. "I can give you something for the pain."
"Please." Deanna moaned. Beverly rummaged around until she found what she wanted. Deanna closed her eyes at the hiss.
"Riker to Dr Crusher." Deanna's eyes widened at her husband's voice. " Report to Diplomatic Headquarters immediately! Medical Emergency!"
Beverly clamored to her feet automatically.
"It's Captain Picard." Deanna told her with all certainty, her face paling as she saw what her husband was currently seeing. "Hurry."
…...
"I don't know where the hell it came from." Will shouted, helping her over the rubble that remained of the room they'd been standing it. He dropped to where Worf was hastily providing the first aid he knew. He pulled back when he saw her approaching.
"He is in and out of consciousness." The Klingon reported.
"Jean Luc.." She whispered softly, tracing her fingertips across his soot covered face.
"Beverly…" His voice was faint, she watched his eyes roll in an attempt to focus on her face.
"It doesn't appear to be an airborne biological weapon." Worf growled looking at his tricorder.
"Well it was something." Will grumbled. "Those wounds didn't come from the blast."
"We need to get him to the Enterprise and in a decontamination bay now." Beverly yelled, her fingers still caressing his cheek. He leaned into her.
"Beverly." His eyes finally made contact with hers and she choked back a sob, splaying her fingers across his cheek.
"You're going to be alright." She told him with absolutely no certainty. "We have to get him to a beam up point." She shook her head waiting for Riker to start shouting orders. She turned back towards him. His face was blank, she watched the fear creep onto it. "Will?"
"Deanna's in trouble." He breathed.
"Go! I'll meet you on the Enterprise." She yelled at him before whiping her head back around to Worf. "Help me."
Worf quickly lifted Picard into his arms and followed Beverly Crusher through the growing crowd.
…..
The masses in the Enterprise's Sickbay were surrounding it's Captain when Will Riker carried his wife through the doors.
"Report." Dr. Selar said insistently as the small team she had waiting converged on them.
"Her back was bothering her." The woman nodded.
"Dr. Crusher provided standard treatments." The Vulcan doctor looked at the readings on the bio-bed. "She's contracting."
"What?" Will hissed, looking from Deanna to the doctor.
"It's alright Captain we can stop it." Will relaxed a little, turning his attention towards Deanna.
"Selar's going to help you." He soothed, moving his hand up and down her back.
"The Captain?" She whimpered.
"Beverly's taking care of it." He looked at Selar. "How is he?"
"Not good Sir." The Vulcan answered with her usual honesty before injecting Deanna. She gestured to a nurse before moving back to Picard's room. Will breathed heavily, his hands still skimming Deanna's arm. She winced in pain.
"That hurt?" He bent over her.
"Everything hurts." She breathed, he looked worriedly at the nurse.
"Again." Beverly demanded as her former medical staff worked feverishly over Picard. "It's working. Hold on Jean Luc we're almost there." She soothed as his head rolled from side to side. "I want 5 more cc's." She dropped her face back down to his as Selar did what she'd asked. "Almost done." He turned his face to hers, pressing his forehead into the soft skin of her chin. She let her eyes closed. "Hold on for me."
His arm lifted to her elbow as she watched the readings slowly drop to normal levels. The medical team dispersed and she ran her hands along the sides of his face as he calmed.
"Dr Selar, Counselor Riker's contractions are not decreasing." The nurse hurried back out of the room.
"She's contracting?" Beverly asked in alarm.
"She shouldn't still be." Selar announced with a shake of her head as Beverly pulled herself away from Jean Luc and started into the other room.
"The fetus' stats are strong and normal." Selar reported as Beverly came to the opposite side of the biobed as Riker.
"Beverly.." Deanna cried. "Don't let me loose my baby."
"Her nerve responses are off the charts." Beverly shook her head.
"Preparing blockers." Selar fell easily into her place at Beverly's side.
"BEVERLY." Deanna pleaded with her as the pain set off sparks behind her eyes.
"Selar's going to give you-."
"I already have Doctor." Came the grim reply. The two doctors exchanged glances.
"Deanna? The pain's the same?" She asked. The other woman made no attempt to answer just screamed in pain.
"Worse." Riker grunted, his fingers tightening into a white ball. "She can't take this."
"Sedation?" Crusher asked her companion helplessly.
"It's illogical to think it will have any impact." Selar shook her head. Beverly looked up at Will.
"Stay with her." She tugged Selar into the alcove. "Think. Is this bioweaponry? Something from Caladra?"
"More than likely a reaction to one or more of the medications."
"Deanna's never had any allergies before."
"There is something." The Vulcan's eyebrow crinkled. "A condition I read about once in a medical history journal. I am unable to remember much more then the fact it was devastating to both infant and mother."
"Beverly!" Will called quickly and both women returned.
A primal scream erupted from Deanna's mouth as her shoulders arched off of the bed.
"She's pushing." Beverly's fear was not unnoticed. "Deanna don't push!"
Selar began shouting commands at the staff around her.
"She can't help it." Riker yelled back, his eyes leaving his wife just long enough to see the equipment pour into the room.
"The fetus is crowning." Selar announced as Deanna pushed again before collapsing back against the bed, her eyes rolling back as she slid into unconsciousness. Will looked quickly at the bio-readings before his eyes feel on Beverly Crusher who stood frozen with a lifeless baby in her arms.
It was Selar who grabbed the limp child hurried to the other corner of the room.
"Beverly?" Will asked slowly, his breathing slowing almost to a halt.
"It's a girl."
He blinked up at the ceiling, the room slowly coming into view.
"Beverly?" His throat was dry and sore but he was rewarded immediately by the sound of a rolling chair scooting across the room to him.
"Jean Luc?" She was then looming above him. Her hand stroking the sides of his face. She looked lost, her eyes rimmed once again. "How are you feeling?"
"Tired." He blinked.
"Me too." She smiled softly. "Tired of Caladra."
"Yes. That too."He swallowed again, taking her hand from his face and holding it tightly. "Will and Worf?"
"Both fine.. " His eyes drifted back shut.
"Good.." He whispered, drifting off.
"I love you." She told him. His eyebrow arched. "Jean Luc? Did you hear me?"
"I did." He breathed, his eyebrows lifting over his closed eyes.
"Okay." She smiled, pressing her lips gently against his.
"Love you.."
"Okay."
"She's simply not responding to any type of conventional treatment." Beverly explained softly, watching the Riker's stare at the tiny baby in the artificial womb before them. Our only choice at this point was to circulate her oxygen externally like lungs would. Her neuro-pathways are not completely formed. We expect some will continue to develop, others will not."
"What does all that mean?" Will asked. His eyes never moving.
"It means she may never breath on her own, she may never walk, or speak. She will almost certainly be mentally impaired. " Deanna's face broke as she began to cry softly, her hand tracing the outline of the artifical womb. "She will be medically fragile, more likely to become ill. More likely to have complications from treatable illnesses. She is resistant to most medications."
"Why?" Deanna asked, her eyes shining with tears as she looked at her friend. "What did I do wrong?"
"Nothing." Beverly said firmly, her own eyes filling. "It was me."
"What?" Riker asked softly.
"When I gave Deanna the medication on Caladra.."
"You said it was safe.." Deanna shook her head. Beverly swallowed hard.
"In normal circumstances, it is routine." Selar interjected. "But in this case.. Have either of you heard of Fibronatal Induction?"
Riker shook his head for both of them.
"It's a fairly rare and long dormant Betaziod illness. The body's immune system reacts improperly to the pregnancy. When a antecedent , like a muscle relaxant, is introduced, the body will fight to reverse the effects, that's what caused the preterm labor."
Will nodded, skimming his hands slowly over Deanna's back, he watched their daughter.
"So this, transferred.. From Deanna to the baby?" He sighed. "It won't effect her.."
Beverly's quick movement caught his attention. She bit down hard on her lip.
"Dr. Crusher." Will asked sharply, Beverly looked to Selar. "Beverly." He hissed, his tone demanding her to answer.
"As long as she never becomes pregnant again." Beverly told him bravely.
Deanna's mouth slipped open as a fresh batch of tears came to her eyes. She covered her face with her hand and started to cry out loud again.
"Selar should be CMO." Beverly railed as the doors of the guest quarters swished shut behind her.
Picard pressed his finger to his lips, setting down his book and glancing at the baby in the bassinet beside his chair. He stood slowly waving away her offer of help before taking her outstretched hand gently in his leading her into the bedroom.
"Quitting again so soon?" He asked, pulling her against him.
"You should have seen their faces." She breathed in the scent of him as he rocked her slowly back and fourth. "I could barely speak. Selar and Will did most of the talking. Deanna just sobbed. The poor thing.. She's not even a baby, she's still a fetus Jean Luc she makes Jack look like a giant! I did this to her." Beverly wailed, Picard held her still against him. "I did-."
"You didn't know."
"I should have." She sobbed. "It's my job to."
"Oh Beverly." He kissed her brow.
"Selar should be CMO." She restated.
"Beverly I promise you this too shall pass." He readjusted until his arms wrapped solidly around her softly swaying her back and fourth.
…..
"Will?" The dim lights of Sickbay made it hard for Riker to find the source of the Captian's call.
"Sir?" Picard moved forward into the light . Will sat eerily still on a bench against the wall, Deanna's head resting in his lap, her body still quivering with tears as she slept. Riker himself had resettled his gaze to the patient.
Picard stood beside him.
"I've talked to Commander Vale. The Titian is on her way back here. They'll be transporting you to Betazed."
Will nodded
"Beverly's called in every favor she has in the galaxy. I'm sure Lwaxana has too. They're probably already set in motion." Will nodded again, solemnly his eyes still unmoving.
"How's Beverly?" Riker asked, his voice soft.
"She cried herself to sleep."
"Deanna too." Will inhaled sharply, trying to compose himself. "I wasn't prepared." Picard almost started coming to the man's defense before Riker finished the thought. "I wasn't prepared for how much I would love her." Picard's heart stopped at the catch in Will Riker's voice. "I'd do anything.." Will rasped. "I'd reorganize the universe if it would help her."
Jean Luc, set his hand on Will Riker's shoulder as the man started to sob.