A/N: hello everyone! Sorry for the delay in getting this out there, but I'm hoping to complete this story by early Fall, which means chapters will start coming much faster. Thanks for reading!
Two hours after convincing Beverly Crusher to beam up with him to the Enterprise, Picard sat on the edge of a chair in his quarters with a cup of tea in his hand.
'I can't believe this' he thought looking down at his tea, looking at his reflection in the liquid.
Looking up at the clock, he realized he had been sitting there for thirty minutes. Sighing, he put down his cup and rubbed his hands over his face as he thought of the conversation that had happened once the two had beamed up to the ship and made it back to her quarters. He had sat Beverly, the Enterprise's chief medical officer, down on a chair before getting up to get her a drink to help calm her down. Over the next hour she had told Picard the whole story of her child. Picard had listened, and while he was able to keep a straight face, inside he had been shocked. He had known Beverly for the better of twenty years. He had always seen her as having a set of morals and most importantly, honesty. By the end of the story she was in holding his hands, apologizing over and over. One part, the end of what his friend had told him, had kept replaying in his mind though.
'Jean-Luc' Beverly had mumbled out grabbing his hands 'there's something you have to know. It makes this whole situation so much worse….'
He'd squeezed her hands reassuringly as she had continued on.
'Jennifer would have been four in two months, she was born on earthdate October 27, 2464… If you go back nine months, it roughly goes back to when we were all sick with the virus when examining the crew of the U.S.S Tsiolkovsky. I don't know how much you remember that night, but if my memory serves me right we engaged in…activities… I don't-'
Picard had stood up quickly, letting go on her hands as she stopped talking. 'Beverly, are you saying that…that Jennifer was mine?' He asked softly as he began to realize what this meant.
Tears began to flow freely as she reached for his hands. Picard backed up as she mouthed 'I don't know'.
'I never did a paternal test on her… I was scared it would be you'
'Beverly… would that of been so bad?!' He had asked her. He began to feel nauseous.
'I knew you didn't want kids… you career-'
'Damn my career!' He'd yelled cutting her off 'Beverly I….I..' he had put his face in his hands as she had started to cry harder.
'I'm so sorry Jean-Luc… I am so so sorry. God please forgive me Jean-Luc…. I don't know who the father was' Beverly had sobbed as Jean-Luc tried to keep his own tears at bay. This whole thing was a mess, but listening to her sob he couldn't help but feel guilty for yelling at her. Picard sat back down, pulling her into a hug and rubbing her back.
'Well look in the rubble tomorrow. Everything will get straightened out Beverly.' He'd said softly.
Sitting in his quarters now he couldn't help but think of that conversation over and over. He tried to remind himself it could possibly not be his daughter. It could be anyone who was serving under his command at that time. Yet he did remember that night in pieces, and he couldn't help but think that she might be his. Sighing again, he put the tea back under the replicator and went to bed.
"Are you ready?" Picard asked Beverly as she nods, grabbing a bag before joining him in the hall outside her quarters. The two had taken the day off from their posts to go search for Beverly's daughter. As they stepped into the turbo lift, Jean-Luc grabbed her hand to give It a squeeze.
Back in sickbay, Nurse Ogawa continued to help get the last few people scanned into the Enterprise's system as well as check on the more severe victims that had survived the massacre four days ago. Dr. Crusher's early morning message that she wouldn't be working today had been surprising, but she knew that her commanding officer had worked almost two days nonstop when the accident had first occurred. Alyssa figured that she must be exhausted and besides, she had handled the initial influx of people. The sound of the door behind her startled her from her thoughts as she turned around to see Worf standing right inside the doorway.
"Morning Nurse Ogawa, I'm here to take the Hopkin's family to their temporary quarters."
"Good morning Worf, I'll grab them quickly. I'm sure you saw it in your report, but the a female toddler, Jennifer Howard, is staying with them as well, yes?" She asked as the Klingon gave a nod.
"Yes, I have her in the latest relocation report."
"Alright, I'll go grab them." Nurse Ogawa said walking through a door on the other side of the room.
Picard put his hand up to block the suns glare as he watched it start to set. Pulling his hand down, he looked Beverly who was walking through the rubble for what had to be the thousandth time since they had arrived to the scene late this morning. He noticed how disheveled she looked covered in dust. He looked down at himself to see his hands cracked from the dry heat, with his pants more brown than black. He sighed, starting to walk over to the woman who had began digging in the rocks.
"Beverly" he sighed, standing next to her "we gave it a good try".
The chief medical officer continued to dig. He leaned down and grabbed her hands, slowly pulling her to face him.
"None of the remains we found today even have your blood type…or mine for that matter. We tried Beverly, we've dug almost nonstop for almost seven hours. You did everything you could"
"Jean-Luc, please quit saying that…." Beverly looked at the sun before looking back at Picard "I don't suppose I can convince you to stay any longer?"
He shook his head before grabbing her hand and leading her out of the rubble. "Beverly, what is done is done. All we can do now is try our best to accept the consequences of what happened."
"We don't know that for sure-"
"Beverly" the captain interrupted, grabbing her the shoulders "I say this because I love you. You're right, we don't know for sure; but we also don't know for sure." he emphasized as she looked back down at the ground before looking up into his eyes. They stood there for a few moments in quiet before she softly mumbled out a soft word.
"Okay"
Picard looked at her for a few moments before tapping his badge "Enterprise, two to beam up."
The next day a tired Beverly Crusher sat at her desk in sickbay, going over reports that she had missed from the day before. Wesley had arrived back to their quarters yesterday after being gone for the past few days. He had volunteered to work on getting power restored to the colony along with a good portion of the engineering crew. For the first time in a long time, the doctor was grateful for her son's absence. Last night, she had listened to her sixteen year old tell her about the past few days with his experience on the planet. Before bed, she had enveloped him into a tight hug, grateful to still have him.
She couldn't help but think of everything that had happened as a nightmare. After returning yesterday, the captain and her had parted ways. Beverly had walked in her quarters to find her son waiting for her. After convincing Wesley she had beamed down to the planet to check some medical records, tripped, and therefore became covered in dirt, the two had enjoyed each others company for the rest of the night. After saying goodnight and going to bed, she couldn't seem to get to sleep. With the events from the last few days, the doctor was beyond grateful her son was home, but she still couldn't shake what had happened. Nor what she caused. For most of the night, she had tossed and turned.
Now, she was back at work, as if nothing had happened. Beverly would talk to Counselor Troi again, as Deanna had sent her a request early this morning to see her… but she couldn't help but feel that the whole situation would become a memory, and that was what killed her most of all. Finished with her reports, Beverly pushed her thoughts aside and walked over to the main medical wing. The rest of the day went by smoothy until about 1700 hours when a man had carried in a small girl wrapped in a blanket. Beverly had just finished up with another patient.
"Can I help you?" She had asked.
"Yes, we need a doctor. This girl is sunburned very bad."
"Well, I'm Dr. Crusher. Lay her on this table and let me take a look at her."
The man followed her over to the examination table and laid the girl down before unwrapping her in the blanket. Beverly bit her lip as she looked at the blisters that covered the girls legs and arms. Her face was extremely red as well and she could tell she had been crying.
"How long has she been like this?" The doctor asked getting out the tricorder.
Since the attack. I think it's keeping her from being able to sleep. She was a family friend staying with us when it happened… We fled the colony into the fields nearby. Me and the rest of my family was burned, but I believe she burned a lot easier than us." He finished as she nodded.
"Her parents?" She asked as he shook his head no.
"I don't want to say it out loud. We're waiting till our appointment with a counselor to break the news. She's spoken very little since then." He finished as Beverly continued to scan.
"I understand… I am glad you brought her in though, she is severely burned… it'll take a few treatments but by next week she'll be all healed up. I imagine she'll start feeling better after today. Before I get started do you know any of her personal information so I can pull her up?"
"Her name is Jennifer. Her guardians last name was Anderson, but I believe her last name was Howard? I could be wrong, but your nurse yesterday was able to pull her up in the system after a little digging. She's almost four." The man finished as Beverly felt her face go red. She gripped the tricorder harder and for the first time really looked at the girl. She had the same eyes as her mother, the same eyes as her. Transferring the data from the tricorder to the PADD, she felt her heart drop as the baby picture came up along with her name.
Jennifer Howard, #7502
Date of birth: October, 27, 2464. Earth
Mother: Beverly Crusher
The doctor felt her stomach flip over as she took a deep breath. She felt tears start to fill her eyes as she heard someone next to her.
"Doctor, are you alright?!" The man asked as Crusher was drawn back to reality.
"I…. I don't know what to say" she looked back at the girl, her daughter, who was completely sunburned and looked exhausted. She reached into her lab coat pocket and pulled out a hypospray as she watched the girl's eyes close. "She did need that, she looked exhausted. But…. I know her."
"Are you her family? She will most likely go back into the child care system if no one can watch her. I don't have the resources to raise another child and-"
"Mr. Hopkins, let me call our counselor and captain and we'll get this all straightened out. I can explain everything then. Please, feel free to wait in my office while I heal her burns before they arrive." Beverly begged as the man looked back down at the girl.
"Very well, I'll be waiting." He said walking off. Beverly turned back to the girl on the bed. She ran her fingers through her hair as she called the counselor and captain through her combadge.
"Is everything alright, Beverly? I was about to go into a meeting?" Picard had asked as she had smiled.
"It will be captain, but I ned you to come to sickbay now. Counselor Troi is on her way as well. I need help." The doctor begged.
"Very well, I'm on my way." He answered as she kissed the girl on the forehead before heading to her office.
Again, thanks for reading! Please feel free to leave any ideas and suggestions in a review- NPD
