"Of all the irresponsible-!" She cursed again, her red hair spinning through the air as she turned. "How in the hell can I do my job on this ship if everyone's going to keep things from me?"

"You can't be serious." Jean Luc Picard watched his wife's face break into a sickening grin. It was one he knew well. It meant he'd said the wrong thing.

"Of course I'm serious!" She shouted. "Why would I stay here and serve under a Captain who has no regard for my skill as a-?"

"You know Will trusts you with his life!" Picard dismissed.

"Yes but not his secrets!"

"How many times do you thing that Star Fleet will let you leave and return?" Jean Luc raised an eyebrow at her. "If we leave Beverly, chances are we are not coming back."

"Why would I want to?"

"Perhaps it's not just you I'm thinking of?" He told her gently. "I have no desire to be anywhere else. This is the only home that our children have ever known. Their only family." Her face untwisted as she dropped onto the sofa. "I will eventually succumb to this disease, My Love. Do you really want to be isolated from all our friends?"

"Jean Luc, weren't you the one who just told me we have many years left?" She countered, he smiled. "You can't play it both ways."

"It's my illness and I'll play it how I wish." He teased before joining her on the couch. "This is not about Will not trusting you as a doctor. This is about you and Deanna. And it's time the two of you face it, head on."

"She's being completely irrational." Beverly sniffed. "This quest for another child has taken a heavy toll on her health, and now it's risking Will's as well."

"It's her decision Beverly." He told her. Untangling her hands from each other and placing them in his own. "She needs you as a friend. Not as a doctor."

"I am a Doctor, Jean Luc." She leaned her head forward until it was touching his.

"What if .." He sighed . "What if every time you spoke to her about my predicament she disagreed with the psychology of it?"

"I'd value her opinion. Even if I didn't share it." She sniffed back tears. "I'd trust that she was only doing what she felt was best. I wouldn't distance myself from her. I wouldn't lie or hide things." Picard met his wife's lips with his own, she whimpered softly. "I just can't believe she'd dismiss me so easily Jean Luc. She's my closest friend."

"There is nothing easy about this situation Beverly." He sighed again.

"We should be drawing strength from each other. Instead we're drawing further and further apart."

"Talk to her." He pleaded. "Talk to Judith if you need to, but don't run from this." He kissed her again, cupping his hand against the back of her neck. "It's not worth it."

"So do I still have a CMO?" Will Riker asked carefully as Jean Luc Picard slipped into his quarters.

"For now." His former Captain told him.

"I'm sorry she found out the way she did."

"What you're doing? It's pretty stupid?" Picard asked.

Will's mouth broke into a long grin as he nodded.

"It's not the smartest thing I've ever done." He swallowed hard, pausing to order food from the replicator. "But it's working."

"You always did have a taste for the dramatic." Picard snorted.

"Speaking of drama, I've decided to keep Gibson." Riker changed the subject before laying lunch out on the table.

"You're kidding?" The older man sat up a little straighter.

"You thought I wouldn't?" Will was amused.

"I was sure you wouldn't. Beverly has always had a soft spot for Sam. I've always enjoyed having a different voice." He explained. "The rest of us have been together for so long, we tend to know what the others are thinking before the discussion has even begun. Sam was always the devils advocate."

"Worf respected that about him." Will nodded. "I have to say I like the guy."

"You and Beverly." Jean Luc sighed.

"Beverly and I aren't usually of like mind." He sighed. "The thought of her leaving - of you and the children leaving -wasn't something I was ready to think about."

"You may resent that when I start to go down hill, Will." Picard's eyebrows rose as he chewed his food. "When I'm giving orders on your bridge in my pajama's you might wish she'd taken a job planet side."

"Never." Riker said honestly. "Besides, who else but me would order their crew to indulge you, Captain?"

"True." Picard smiled at him.

"I went to her office. Selar said I'd just missed her."

"She's with Sienna's class today." He met his friends eyes. "This is between her and Deanna, Will. You know that."

"Deanna can't, or won't. I'm not sure which." The Captain's voice dropped. "She see's Beverly's disapproval as some kind of rejection."

"My wife needs to learn how to better cover her emotions."

"When the baby comes." Will whispered, like it was some magical cure all. Picard hoped that it would be.

"Soon." He reminded his former first officer wistfully.

Will Riker just nodded.

Counselor Judith McKenna had enough of her current patients. After listening to the ships engineer and first officer argue of the better part of fifty minutes.

"That's it!" She yelled, her hands flapping into the air. "I'm leaving."

"Counselor I-." Geordi began in his defense.

"No." She muttered angrily stomping to the replicator. "You're going to work this out the way of my ancestors." She leaned forward. "Computer override replication safety procedure beta one five. Medical code McKenna alpha four six gamma."

"Safety lock out removed." The computer announced.

"Computer, Earth Scotch in a bottle with two glasses please." She waited for it to materialize before setting it in front of the two stunned sr. staffers and exiting her own office.

Gibson looked at Laforge for a minute before Geordi shrugged.

Sam poured them each a glass.

"All I'm saying is that Will wouldn't have ever made us feel like we weren't doing the best we could." LaForge announced, waving his pointed finger at his Commanding officer.

"And I do?" Gibson sounded hurt.

"Yes!" Geordi nodded.

"I don't mean to do that… I know.. I know.." For a minute Sam was worried he was going to start to sob. He took a deep breath instead. Geordi refilled their glasses. "I have the best crew in Star Fleet." He swallowed. "In the known universe!"

"I'll drink to that." The other man announced.

"I just have to keep you on your toes you know? Make sure you are all sharp as… as… what's something sharp?"

"Dilithium?"

"..as dilithium." He finished before bringing his lips back to his glass. "Tell me about Data."

Geordi's drink lowered slowly from his mouth as he looked out the window of the counselors office.

"Ahh.. Data.." He said softly. "What do you want to know?"

"Everything." Sam shrugged. "He was your best friend."

"He was." Geordi sighed.

"Was he like B-4?"

"Yes and No." The engineer tried to explain. "Data was more.. Dataish.. Less.. New.."

"New?"

"B is still very… new. Data was more evolved. More… humanish. Less new."

"Old?"

"Sort of."

"You miss him."

"A lot." Geordi looked out the window again. "He wouldn't want me to."

"No?"

"No." LaForge shook his head. "He'd want me to remember him, and then put my energy into B4 helping him… be less… new."

"I wish I had known him." Gibson said softly.

"Me too." Geordi decided. "He would have liked you."

"Yeah?" Sam asked hopefully.

"Yeah." LaForge nodded.

"That would have been nice." Sam sighed. "No one likes me."

"Doc does." Geordi pointed his drink at the other man. "Will Riker does."

"The rest of you don't." Gibson huffed.

"I'm glad you're staying." The man's voice sounded almost sorry that he had to make the annoucement.

"What?"

"My neuropathway's have become accustom to your input." Geordi raised an eyebrow before throwing back his head and finishing his scotch.

"Thanks." Sam huffed. "I think."

The sound of Deanna's panicked voice jarred her from her sleep. She sat up quickly, nearly knocking Jean Luc from the bed.

"Picard here. Deanna what is it?"

"It's Will." Came her tearful reply. "Hurry. I can't tell if he's breathing."