A slightly updated...

Previously...in Chapter 3

"What is it Wes?"

"The gyroscope in the tricorder has gone haywire; there is no magnetic north or south sir. The amount of energy surging towards the surface indicates..." Wesley's voice suddenly broke off as a roaring sound building in intensity could be heard in the distance.

"Something very bad is about to happen." Picard finished. He glanced into Beverly's eyes as the ground beneath them began to shake violently.

"Cover your head!" was the last thing Beverly and Wesley heard before the ground beneath them shook as if by the hands of a giant.

As tons of debris rained down upon them, their eyes widened as the ground beneath them began to crack and fissures formed at their feet. The divide was right between where Beverly and Wesley were attempting to stand.

Their terror filled eyes met.

A lifetime of words exchanged between their eyes as the violent shaking ripped their hands apart, a gasp ripped from their throats.

Something large smashed into Wesley's back and skull simultaneously - dropping him to the floor. A scream died on his mother's lips as she watched but soon succumbed to more parts of the building falling towards her and felt Picard launching her to the ground. He did his best to shade her head as the angry falling rock collapsed on them in large shards of jagged pieces. He lost the battle when a rock and ornamental decor sliced through his shoulder before they were covered with kilograms of dust and debris.

It was more than six minutes before the initial tremors stopped. As the dust began to settle, all that could be seen were a few streaks of dusty red hair, a bloodied hand clutching a bald head, and a twisted broken limb jutting out at a very wrong angle, on a very young body.

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Chapter 4: Fighting Gravity

Captain Jean Luc Picard was the first to stir as he wrangled himself from under his prison with a pain filled scream.

Quickly dismissing his pain and ignoring the disorientation of the now darkened cavern that had become their tomb, he went through the task of uncovering Beverly and found her to be somewhat lucid. As he removed a large rock from her body he realized that the rock had been a way of managing a significant break in her hip and he had to place it back.

He would not be able to move her. As his tender ministrations brought her back to awareness she coughed expelling the soot, and debris from her lungs of the fallen rocks and dust. Her first words did not surprise him at all.

"Jean Luc...are you alright?"

"I'm far from alright Beverly," he rasped. "There is little air in here; we will have to get out of here somehow." he whispered feeling the ground tremble beneath him again. A frustrated tear came to her eye as it meandered its way through the dust on her face.

Picard sat back on his legs clutching tightly at his wounded shoulder.
"Where is Wesley?" she screamed, trying to conceal her terror as she looked around. "I can't see him...God where is he...*cough* Wesley?"

"Beverly, I can see him. Picard strained to look through the dimness. Taking in the image of her son, Picard noticed a large slab had hit the young man's head. His face and neck were covered in debris and blood.

"Oh God...I have to get to him."

"Beverly please ...be still." he began before a coughing fit besieged him. A coppery fluid floated across his tongue as he spat the contents from his mouth. He realized his injuries were severe and with constant ground tremors it was becoming more and more likely the ceiling above them would soon crush them with its girth, He could feel that the pressure on his body was weighing even more heavily than usual. The gravity on the planet was obviously wildly out of control.

"Jean Luc...please." he continued to move the rocks off of his body. He drug his body from under the debris and managed to move closer to her grasping her hand. He felt the hot fire shoot across his abdomen. His body screamed at him, each part competing for his attention. Picard removed the debris from her body.

"Beverly I have to ask you." he stroked her face. He looked at her, even all covered in dirt, soot and debris, he couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful, - anyone else he'd rather grow old with than the woman before him. In her eyes he saw such heartache, such love...so many secrets, yet to be revealed.

Beverly saw the question on his lips and shook her head.

"Please don't do this now..."

"Mon amour..."

"God Jean Luc...don't give up...were not dead yet"

"Never...

"Then don't..." she screamed.

"...I have to know."

"Beverly...I don't know how much time we have left..."

"Jean Luc...please..." she cried closing her eyes tightly cursing the fact that she was trapped and could no longer run, no longer hide from the question she so longed to answer.

Just not here...not now...not like this...

"That night...we made love when Jack cheated on you..."

Beverly's breath hitched in her chest, the thinning air in their tomb and the ache of his demand burning in her throat.

'God no, not now...he can't ask this of me.'

"Wesley?"...she whimpered again..." aching to hear the sound of her son's voice.

She felt him tightly grip her hand as her eyes were forced to look into his hazel pain filled orbs. He panted heavily.

"Beverly...do you regret it?" he begged.

She took as deep a breath as her chest could muster ...

A deep sob lurched from her soul she couldn't help the tears that followed.

"Beverly?" his eyes had saddened as he tried to peer into her face. "You...have regrets?" he stammered breathlessly.

He stared patiently at her lips as she whispered "No." Picard smiled timidly as she continued.

"We made love...and I loved you ...I always have. We created something beautiful that night..." Picard smiled and closed his eyes briefly.

Suddenly realization found his way into his brain and he grabbed his chest in the place where fleshy heart should have been. He stared off towards the pile of rocks and then looked at Beverly.

A gentle smile formed on her lips.

"Somehow I knew...I've always known." he whispered. He gently kissed her lips and pulled himself towards where Wes' body was tangled amongst the boulders.

"Please...help him." she cried

"Beverly, I don't want to move him."

"If...we have to die...down here..." she breathed. He stroked her auburn hair, pulling a few pieces away from the bloodied cut on her forehead.

"Shhh...That's not going to happen, not on my watch."

He slowly pulled the rocks from his body and crawled slowly over to Wesley -dear God...to his son.

He lifted the boulders off of his back and the largest rocks from his neck and head. Luckily his head had gone into what looked like an air pocket as he pulled pieces of clay and deuterium from his body revealing his head. He was turned on his side. If not for the blood covering the rock beneath him he could easily be mistaken for simply sleeping. Jean Luc placed trembling fingers to his neck.

"He has a strong pulse." Picard stared at the boy's blood soaked hair and removed the remaining debris from his body.

"Oh thank God." she whispered.

"His head is injured and his leg is badly broken." Picard touched his face and even in the dim light saw everything he ever wanted or needed in a son. For the first time he didn't care what DNA said. If he were Wesley Crusher or the last of the Picard s... Wesley would always be his son no matter what.

Groaning heavily he pulled Wesley's body off of the jagged rocks and settled him next to Beverly. He was rewarded with a pain filled gasp as Wes' eyes snapped open. Beverly reached and grabbed her son's hand as Picard collapsed beside her.

"Wesley...can you hear me...?" she began. but was cut off as another tremor began in a low roll that quickly escalated to a violent shaking as Picard felt the rocks loosen. He tightly clutched Wesley's hand and reached across her to grab her hand. Suddenly, the ground beneath them gave way, and they were falling.
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Next up...Wesley's P.O.V.
Reviews would be such a delight! : ) Your suggestions would also be helpful. You wanted them "alive"...you dictate the path...so now what...?