A/N: hello everyone! This chapter has taken me longer to do than expected, so sorry for the delay. Most of that though is due to the fact that I seemed to have trouble writing it. I consider this chapter a transition chapter, and I always seem to struggle with those. Anywho, please enjoy.
Captain Picard stepped into the turbo lift, his mind starting to swirl with thoughts. "Sickbay" he said before the lift started its descent. Any other time, Picard would have told his chief medical officer no. He had planned various meetings today to catch up on the work he had missed from the disaster as well as the search he and Beverly had gone on yesterday. The captain reflected back to yesterday evening, when he had paged Counselor Troi to set up a meeting between him and Beverly with the counselor's support. When he had begun to give her a short explanation for why the meeting was needed she had cut him off halfway through.
"-Captain, is this about Jennifer? I already know, sir."
The turbo lift stopped and pulled Picard from his thoughts. The doors opened to reveal Deanna Troi. She acknowledged the captain before stepping onto the lift. 'Sickbay' she said as the lift started to move again.
"I'm also going to sickbay, Counselor." Picard added in as Troi gave him a smile.
"Beverly asked for you to come as well?" She asked as he nodded.
"Do you think it's about Jennifer?"
"I believe so." She answered as the doors opened "but I guess we're about to find out."
They walked over to sickbay as the doors opened to reveal Beverly using a medical device on a small child. Picard left Troi in the doorway as he walked over slowly to stand next to the doctor. He looked closely at the child and noticed it had the same nose as Beverly.
"One moment Jean-Luc" Beverly mumbled as she finished the treatment on the girl's back. After the last beam, she pulled the blanket up and left the girl on her stomach, making sure to not injure her back. Picard looked over at the screen and caught the girl's personal information. His thoughts were confirmed as he quickly read some of the information on the screen.
JENNIFER HOWARD
3.8 YEARS (EARTH)
Picard felt his chest tighten as he looked back at the girl. He now noticed she was extremely red. Was it dried blood? Her blood? Was she burnt? What happened?' He thought before his thoughts were interrupted by Beverly.
"Now, I'd like to introduce someone to you both" Beverly announced as she placed a hand softly on her daughter's head to brush hair out of her face. Picard now noticed Troi had moved to stand on the other side of the bed. "Captain Picard, Counselor Troi: this is my daughter, Jennifer."
As Picard felt his throat tighten slightly as his thoughts were confirmed, Troi had walked around the bed to give Beverly a hug and congratulations. While the two woman smiled and began to talk, Picard couldn't help but look at the girl.
"Is she alright?" He interrupted as the women looked back over at him. Beverly walked over and pulled the cover slightly back to reveal Jennifer's back, which was covered with blisters and was dark red.
"It looks bad, and I know she has to be in a lot of pain… but luckily it was just a severe sunburn. I will need to do a few more treatments on her, but she should be okay by this time tomorrow." Beverly explained as he nodded "the sunburn is actually the reason I was able to locate her. To my understanding, she must of not been home at the time of the attack but rather at a friend's house. He lived on the edge of town and escaped with their family to the open land nearby. Their father brought her in about thirty minutes ago, and he's in my office now. He also told me he cannot keep her with his family due to his financial reasons. I'm going to tell him she can stay with me and the reason why, but that is why I called both of you here. I don't think he will react, but I would like the support." Beverly finished as Deanna put a hand on her shoulder.
"Of course we'll help and support you Beverly. Are you ready to go in?" Deanna asked as Beverly nodded and the two women began to walk to the CMO's office. Picard stayed behind a moment to take one last look before following the two.
'Don't be foolish' he told himself as he walked in 'she might not even be yours'
"It's nice to meet you Mr. Hopkins" Deanna Troi said, greeting the man who had been waiting in the office. She felt a mix of emotions hit her as Hopkins stood up. He nodded at the trio as they moved to their seats and sat down.
"So, I'm assuming this meeting will be to discuss Jennifer's future guardianship?" Hopkins said as Beverly nodded and Deanna turned to face the man. Troi stared at him for a moment as she felt a wave of emotions coming from the man next to her. She could feel how upset and fearful he was. She smiled back at Beverly who initiated the conversation.
"We understand you can't keep Jennifer in your family's care due to financial reasons. Luckily, we've already found someone who is willing to take care of Jennifer, permanently." She smiled as he looked a little shocked. Deanna caught this and shifted her focus before asking the man if he was okay.
Hopkins straightened himself in the chair and smiled slightly "I suppose I'm just surprised you were able to find someone this quickly. I was worried she would go back into the system. I am happy for her though… If possible could I meet with the caretaker? Jennifer was at my house a lot, she's good friends with my two boys, so I know what she likes. Her favorite foods, games, etcetera…"
"Yes, I'm sure that'll be quite helpful" Dr. Crusher responded with a slight smile before looking down at her desk. She felt her throat tighten up as she realized what would be asked next. She loved Jennifer, no doubt, but for some reason this scared her. Picard cleared his throat as she looked back up at him. He gave her the slightest of smiles with his eyes, and she knew if anyone else had seen the captain do it they wouldn't of been able to pick up on it. 'I suppose that's what happens when you know someone for twenty years' she thought before looking back up at the only other man in the room.
"Mr. Hopkins, you'll have to relay that information to me because Jennifer will be in my care from now on."
"Oh yes, you did say you knew the girl. May I ask if you knew her family on the planet or…" he trailed off as the doctor took a shaky breath and continued.
"I'm actually her mother"
Hopkins chuckled slightly as Picard raised an eyebrow at him. He quickly cleared his throat. "Well, I'm sure you will be after her adoption if what the counselor says about the length of your guardianship is true and you plan on adopting her permanently."
Beverly felt her fingernails dig into her hand as she started to become slightly frustrated. "No, I'm saying I am her birth mother. You asked how I knew her, I knew her because I'm her mother" she emphasized to make sure he understood this time.
"I.. I don't understand. You left your daughter on a planet that was destroyed… you, you put her in a system that led her to that massacre?!" Hopkins said, his voice growing. He was starting to shake slightly.
"Mr. Hopkins, I regret my decisions, but I had no idea she would end up on that planet. Nor did I have any knowledge it would be attacked. Please, I-"
"But it did happen!" He yelled as he slammed a fist down on the desk. Beverly looked over to Deanna, who looked back at her before turning her chair to face Hopkins.
"Sir, Dr. Crusher had no knowledge that anything would happen. We all have regrets after what happened." Counselor Troi said gently. She put a hand on his shoulder, which caused him to flinch. He took a deep breath before looking back over at the three senior staff officers.
"My apologies Doctor, it seems that… that I just can't unsee what happened down there. I don't know what's wrong with me…" He trailed off as he looked at his feet.
"Why don't we go talk about this in my office. There's no shame in needing help to get through everything that's happened." Counselor Troi urged to Hopkins, who nodded and stood up to follow Troi. He apologized once more to Dr. Crusher before leaving with Troi.
Beverly looked over to Jean-Luc as she sighed from relief.
"It seems Mr. Hopkins has some unresolved issues regarding the disaster, I hope Counselor Troi can help him…Are you alright?" Picard asked as he leaned forward. She smiled slightly as she put a hand on her neck to brush off the hair.
"I'm good, actually. While it's true I wasn't expecting… that reaction, it's a lot better than what I thought would happen." Beverly smiled as Picard raised his eyebrow.
"What did you expect?"
"That I wouldn't get my baby back." The doctor said softly with a smile as they both stood up. "I'm going to keep her in sickbay tonight. I have quite a bit of explaining to do with Wesley tonight. Plus, I can run a treatment on her overnight. I also would like to request the next few days off to be with her." They began to walk towards the door as Picard grabbed her hand.
"Jean-Luc?" Beverly asked as he sighed.
"Beverly, I'm excited you found your daughter. Truly… and, I'll acknowledge your request for time off. I need to know though, if your daughter is also my daughter." He explained as the doctor began to say something. "I would have helped you search even if she hadn't possibly been mine.. but… I want to know, doctor. Please." He added as she nodded in understanding.
"Follow me" she said as they moved to a private room. Jean-Luc noticed the girl on the bed as Beverly took a medical device from a drawer. "I had a feeling you might ask, and I'd never appose. So, I had her moved to a private room. I'll need to draw a small amount of blood from each of you, but the results should be instant. You need to know though, this will automatically put you in the medical files as her father if so. I can hide it but it will take a bit of work." He nodded in approval as she drew a small amount from Jennifer, who was still asleep on the bed, and put it in the machine. "Now you." Beverly said as she leaned over to Picard and drew the small vial and also put it in the machine. The two looked at each other as Picard could hear his heart beating in his ears from nervousness. Beverly closed her eyes and took a deep breath before she looked down at the machine. Her face began to tighten as he saw tears brimming in her eyes. She did a double take at the test before she looked at Picard, her lip trembling.
"Jean-Luc, Jennifer's your daughter" Dr. Crusher whispered softly as she looked down at her shoes. He stepped back in shock. He looked down at the girl again and this time really looked at her. 'I see me" he thought before putting his attention over to Beverly who had started apologizing again. Picard didn't run over to console or to listen to the words that were coming out of her mouth. Instead, he just stood there, trying to process what the test had confirmed.
"Please, don't be mad Jean-Luc" he heard her say as he pulled himself from him thoughts.
"I'm not mad, I asked for test." Picard explained, hurt from the assumption. Beverly had walked over next to him and slowly, he put a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "I just… I just need some time to think. You said she won't be awake till tomorrow? Call me when she wakes up, I want to talk to her." He said as he looked back at the sleeping child before walking towards the door. "Beverly, please call me if you need anything." She nodded as he walked out.
As I said earlier, not too proud of this chapter but I do have a lot of character development planned for the next chapter. Thank you for the read- NPD
