Author's Note: Busy busy busy! That is my life, and probably most of you out there reading this! Our church's Girls group is planning a big event for this week, which I am running a game for! It is western themed and we have been having so much fun with that idea! I found this great belt with a giant flower buckle on it for my outfit. Anyhow, sorry it's been so long since I updated. I keep apologizing because I really want to update more than I do, but I never get the time. Oh, well. This is a short chapter, but I figure it is better than nothing. :) Enjoy!

Chapter 9

Beverly

Beverly had safely made it off of the Enterprise with the shuttle, avoiding setting off any alarms or giving anyone an alert to the dispatch of her shuttle. It had taken an hour of preparation and planning, but she had made it. Now the planet was coming into focus in front of her. Hours ago, it had been a mere dot on the map. Now it was a gigantic surface looming ahead.

Just a few short minutes later, she landed on the planet. Pulling her hands off the controls, Beverly turned around in her chair, looking at the door. This was it. The final chance to turn back and try to save herself.

"No," She said aloud, shaking her head. "You can't back out now, Beverly."

Breathing in deeply, she grabbed her bag and hit the green button to open the hatch.

The deserted surface of the planet greeted her. Stepping out of the shuttle slowly, surveying the area around her carefully, expecting something to jump out at her at any moment.

It would only be a short period of time before they found her. They would have seen her shuttle land and would already be headed towards her. Beverly only had to wait.

Beverly looked up to the sky and for a second thought she saw the Enterprise above her. She blinked and it became a cloud, slowly dissolving in the wind.

Tears grew in her eyes which she quickly blinked away.

"Goodbye," Beverly whispered. She wasn't sure if she was saying goodbye to her friends she was leaving behind or her life as a doctor that she could never go back to. Or was she saying goodbye to a specific person on that ship who she was always drawing nearer to, despite the circumstances?

Beverly ripped her gaze away from the sky. It didn't matter what, or who, she would miss the most. They were all gone.

She stepped forward, further away from her shuttle and any chance of escape.

Jean Luc

"What? Why?" Deanna's questions exploded at Jean Luc's confession.

He shook his head. "I don't know why, but Beverly was holding a lot back about what happened on the planet."

Deanna frowned, thinking. "I felt that she was holding something back… I thought it might just be things from her nightmares." She said absently. "Are you sure that she remembers everything?"

Jean Luc paused, thinking. "She told me that she remembered some of what happened on the planet when I pressed her for information. I have a strong suspicion, however, that she remembers everything that happened on the planet."

Deanna shook her head. "I don't understand why she would keep this from us."

They were silent, searching for an explanation that would tell them why their closest friend would betray them all so horribly.

They looked at each other, buried in their own thoughts. Beverly was gone, back to the planet with the people who had potentially tortured her.

Why did you leave, Beverly? Jean Luc thought desperately. Why couldn't you have told me what was happening?

"Why would she go back?" Deanna's voice broke through his thoughts and he looked up abruptly. Her words sunk in and he thought about what she meant.

"I don't know. Maybe they were blackmailing her?"

What if I was the blackmail? What if the only reason that Beverly went back to the planet was because of him? Maybe there was something that had been implanted in my head and they would kill him when they pressed a big red button and Beverly would do whatever they said to keep him safe and they would make Beverly do whatever they wanted until they finally killed him anyway and Beverly would finally be able to escape, but it would be too late for the universe, because they had made Beverly –

"I don't think they are using you as blackmail." Deanna's voice cut through his thoughts.

He looked at her, stunned that she knew exactly what he had been thinking. It might have been because of her betazoid blood, or maybe he had muttered something about killing himself so Beverly could be safe… either one could be true. Jean Luc was so frazzled, he really didn't know if he had just been speaking all his thoughts aloud.

"Why not?" He asked,

"First, you are here. Second, you got a complete physical when you got back, so they didn't plant anything in your body. Third, Beverly brought you back. If you were in danger here, she would not have come back." Deanna says this sensibly, ticking the reasons off on her fingers, yet even though it made logical sense, he found it hard to absorb.

"So what should we do?" Jean Luc asked doubtfully. He was unaccustomed to asking other people aboard his ship what to do, but this was a completely new circumstance.

"We find Beverly and bring her home." Deanna said determinedly.