Author's note: Sorry it has been a while since I have posted! I kept changing this chapter, literally having at least 7 versions of this chapter. I finally sat down this afternoon, telling myself that I was going to put this chapter up today! And here we are! :)

Anyhow, to everyone out there reading this, I wish you a Merry Christmas! And thank you for reading my story! I hope you enjoy it! :)

Chapter 7

Beverly

Beverly wound the gauze tightly around the thigh of her leg. She was careful, in her doctor way, not to wrap it too tight or too loosely. It was still odd for her to be the one on the receiving end of her treatments.

Through Beverly knew that her injuries on her arms and legs were minor and could easily be healed given the medical equipment available in her office, she had wanted these injuries to heal naturally. It was a little punishment for the lies she kept telling her was also a reminder that what had happened on the planet.

After she finished wrapping her legs, Beverly reached for another piece of gauze to begin her arms. Beverly had hardly started wrapping her arm when a chime sounded from her door.

Glancing down at her loose pyjamas and gauze on her arms, she ignored the door, hoping whoever it was would leave. A second later, Beverly heard the sound of the doors sliding open. Heart sinking, she glanced around the room. It appeared she was getting company whether she wanted or not.

Beverly hardly had time to make sure that the computer wasn't showing any discriminating evidence before she heard someone walk into the room, then stop.
They didn't speak at first and Beverly carefully moved her eyes from her screen to the entry door.

Her heart leapt in her chest as she saw who it was.

Jean Luc.

Jean Luc

Jean Luc stood frozen in the doorway, staring at Beverly's turned figure, getting a perfect view of her arm, gauze hanging off the top of her arm.

Beverly turned to look at him, stopping when she saw who had come.

"Jean Luc," she said, her voice coming out half as a sigh.

Jean Luc averted his face from her sad and tired eyes.

When Jean Luc looked away, it was then that he noticed the state of her bedroom. Items were strewn across the room, littering the bed and floor. Clothes were stacked into two distinctive piles, one significantly larger than the other. Medical equipment was also scattered across the floor and another large pile on the bed.

Beverly spoke as saw him absorbing the chaos. "Sorry for the mess. Somehow I managed to get out of working today, so I decided I would make use of the time and do some rearranging and sorting."

He looked back to see her with a faint smile on her face as she looked at the mess on her bed. Jean Luc hadn't realized how long it had been since she had smiled until that moment and his face immediately broke into a mirroring grin as her mirth grew.

A flicker of pain crossed her eyes before her head dropped down, breaking their eye contact.

"Do you think you could help me with this?" She asked looking hopelessly at the gauze hanging off her arm.

Jean Luc swallowed hard. "Of course." His voice cracked slightly as he looked at the sight of the open wounds on her arm.

He pulled a chair from the side of the room to her side and sat down on it, hesitating only a moment before beginning to unwrap the gauze that she had already begun wrapping.

Jean Luc worked in silence, the image of Beverly banging on the wall and screaming at the people who had done this to her filling his mind.

"It's been a while since-" She cut off with a sharp intake of breath as he pressed slightly too hard on one spot. He immediately stopped and looked at her anxiously.

"It's fine." Beverly said, waving her free hand.

Jean Luc continued wrapping, even more carefully now. After a few seconds, Beverly continued her sentence.

"It's been a while since someone else has done this for me. It feels-" She stopped again for a second to take a breath, "Strange to be on the receiving end of treatment."

Jean Luc was quiet for a second before replying. "Beverly, none of us will think less of you, or think of you as weak if you ask for help sometimes."

Beverly nodded silently. "I do know that."

He looked up at her face. "Then why haven't you gone to sickbay for this?" Jean Luc gestured to her arm.

She looked away from his gaze before she responded.

"I am a doctor. I know how to treat my injuries."

"And you are telling me as a doctor that you shouldn't go to sickbay?" She didn't respond, telling him he was right.

"Beverly," He said softly, "You don't have to do everything by yourself. Asking for help does not make you weak."

"I know," she said softly. "I've been trying to let things go, to let people close to me again."

Beverly's words touched his heart and he wanted to reach over right then to wrap her in his arms and never let her go, but he knew that she wasn't ready.

"Thank you for trying, Beverly."

Beverly looked up, blinking tears from her eyes. "I am sorry for not telling you about the nightmares, Jean Luc. They were getting better, I promise, but when they started getting worse, I knew I was just hiding and postponing what I knew would happen one day, but I didn't want it to happen. There were times when I would go to Deanna's office and be about to tell her. I would have been giving pep talks to myself all morning but when I got to her office, every time I came she would look so happy to see me and offer to go to lunch, clearing her schedule just so that we could go together, I knew I wouldn't be telling her that day. I kept thinking how when I told her she wouldn't see me as a friend anymore, only a patient! And it was worse with telling you or Will. You probably wouldn't even have known about what type of hallucinations I was having, and you wouldn't understand, just look at me like I was crazy which would have been worse." Beverly stopped to take a breath of air.

If it had been different circumstances, Jean Luc might have smiled at her rambling speech. This was more like the Beverly he knew.

"Shh, Beverly," he said, his voice soft.

She quieted, looking at him. She looked at him with eyes so sad and broken that he couldn't take it anymore.

"Beverly," Jean Luc said suddenly, "What do you remember about the planet?"

Beverly leaned away from him, surprised and frightened. "What?"

"Please don't lie again. I don't have any proof, but I think you have remembered some things, which is why your nightmares are getting so much worse."

Beverly didn't speak, instead bringing her knees up to her chest and leaning her forehead against her knees.

After a few minutes, she lifted her head, talking to a spot right above his right shoulder.

"I don't remember anything." Her face was blank as she said this, not meeting his eyes.

His heart fell as she spoke to him, knowing that she was lying before she was even finished. She remembered something, but she wasn't telling him what.

Jean Luc got up from his chair. "Well, I had better be going then. Good luck with your room." His voice was monotone.

Beverly finally met his eyes since he had asked her what she remembered. She looked startled and Jean Luc wished that he could stay with her, but he knew that if she didn't want to tell him what had happened on the planet tonight, it wouldn't help if he stayed.

Jean Luc turned away from her penetrating gaze as he walked toward the door.

"Wait." Beverly's voice made him freeze. He turned around to look at her.

"You're right." She said to his shoulder. Beverly moved her gaze up to meet his. "I do remember some things about the planet."

Jean Luc waited for a few second to see if she would elaborate. When she didn't he prompted her. "What do you remember?"

Beverly paused a moment before shaking her head. "I can't tell you just yet."

Jean Luc nodded, trusting that Beverly would tell him what he needed to know when he needed to know it. Everything else she would tell him when she was ready. He also understood that Beverly needed some time alone now.

He walked to the door again, pausing only once he had left the room to look back at Beverly. She was still in the same position as he had left her, staring at the wall. It hurt him to leave her like this, but he knew that she needed some time alone to think, though he wanted to stay so much it practically hurt.

Feeling his gaze, Beverly turned to look at him. She gave him a faint smile.

"Thank you, Jean Luc," She said quietly.

He nodded, swallowing hard. "See you in the morning then?"

Beverly's eyes became unfocused again as she nodded. "In the morning."

Jean Luc stepped back, letting the doors slide shut between them.