Title: By Herside

Author: Jadeblueafterglow17

Disclaimer: see previous chapters.

Author's Note: Interest in this seems to be waning so this may be the last chapter of it I post for awhile. The Duty to Defend is its prequel anyway. Enjoy

******Lindsay: I really wish they would have drawn Picard And Wesley closer. I think it would have made Wesley more likeable ******

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Chapter 7-
Worst of Intentions

Previously...
The elder man stared at the phaser in his hand and swallowed carefully.

We will have him ready for transport immediately.

The Enterprise - D

"Captain we have completed the sensor sweep, we can find no trace of Ensign Crusher on the planet.
No Terran life forms whatsover exist."

Picard rose from his chair and stared at the unforgiving planet before him. His fists suddenly clenched beside him as he was filled with more rage than he ever thought possible. He closed his eyes tightly and exhaled as his shoulders slumped.

"Mr. Worf, call the shuttle crew back to the ship. You have the bridge until Commander Riker returns." Picard stormed off the bridge as he exited via the turbolift.

As the doors closed he called for a halt to the lift. His hands shook as they reached to steady him against the cabin walls.

"We created something beautiful that night.

"Somehow...I knew...I've always known..."

Flashes of the rubble, Wesley trapped beneath the rock, bleeding and broken, the look of terror on his face as he awoke, eyes fillled with pain. Picard stared down at his hands as he remebered grasping out for his hand as the final tremor seperated him from his flailing fingertips - seperated him from his son. His SON. Flesh. Bone...and Blood like his own. Here within his grasp for five years, and now suddenly gone.

"Do you wish to resume Captain?" the ships computer asked. a shuddering breath filed his lungs. "Deck Eight." The lift proceeded to the senior officers deck as he eerged on the level, he tried to place a neutral look on his face. The sincerer smiles on the faces of his crew members did nothing to lift his mood. Their empathetic glances assured him that news of their return without Cadet Crusher had spread throughout the ship. The Enterprise's youngest former officer was lost. His son was lost.

Before he knew it he was at the quarters of Dr. Beverly Crusher. *******************************************************************************************************************************************

Location Unknown

"Please help me...

The fog was thick, she walked through the thicket of the forest the slash of a branch scraping the delicate skin on her neck.

"Hello...are you there?" she walked barefoot across the rocks that cut at her feet and the cold that seemed to permeate her skin down to her bones. The mist making the tendrils of her long brown hair cling to her forehead.

"No...stop...Please ..." she heard the voice through the mist. Gooseflesh raised on the nape of her neck as she realized she was closing in on the sound. As she pushed through a thicket of bushes and oddly shaped trees she saw what appeared to be a male human shackled to a tree. His flesh was void of clothing and revealed bruises blood and broken bones as his chin lay on his chest.

She tried to make her way to him but as she did his body would seem to phase in and out as if he were a dying light bulb.

"Hello...?

"Please ...help me ..." his weak voice begged. Deanna slowly moved closer, as he began breathing harder. His head suddenly shot up and his eyes became as clear as stars in the dimness. A gasp was stolen from her throat.

"Wesley!" she screamed. Deanna placed her hand over her heart to calm herself. "Wesley...can you hear me..." she received no answer in her mind..."Wesley please you have to try again...I have to know I'm not crazy..." When she heard nothing in her subconscious she jumped out of her bed donned her robe and raced towards the nearest turbolift.

"Aye sir."

She rang the chime at the door. She rang it again incessantly before it was even possible for its occupant to answer. As she heard footsteps approach and sensed the person coming toward the door chewed nervously at her bottom lip.

"Counselor. It's late."

"I must talk to Beverly."

" I finally got Beverly to rest, please come back some other time she..."

"She is awake...Come in Deanna..."

"Sir I'm actually glad you are here too." Deanna said as she paced back and forth quickly between them.

A set of confuse glances were reflected back at her. She was obviously wound up about something.

"Counselor, what is it?"

"Beverly...Captain...Wesley is alive."
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Is this the end? That's up to you...Please review.