Author's note: Okay. I am so sorry it has been so long since I have posted a chapter. I have been so crazy busy and had a little case of writer's block. But here I am again! I am currently working on Chapter 12 and hope to have it up soon! Thanks so much for reading this and I hope you enjoy it! I love to read your reviews, although I don't usually respond. If you do want me to respond, however, tell me in your review! I would love to talk! :)

Chapter 11

Beverly

When her eyes adjusted to the bright light in the room, she saw a man walking towards her.

"Doctor Crusher!" The man said, walking towards her with his arms outstretched.

She flinched away from him. This was the first time that she had seen someone here that wasn't sick without a suit.

The man laughed when he saw her reaction. "Oh, come now, we are all friends here, aren't we?"

"I don't know you." Beverly said firmly.

"No, you probably wouldn't recognize me. But trust me, we have met before."

Beverly winced at the memories the previous encounters of the men in suits before, under much less favourable circumstances.

"What do you want?" Her tone was harsh.

"Ah, my dear, we all know what I want. Where is the cure?"

Beverly closed her eyes, focusing on the beating of her heart. Thump. Thump. Thump.

She opened her eyes again, calmer. "I have it in my bags. But I insist upon administering it myself and monitoring the patients personally. All the tests I did showed that this should work, but I didn't have as much time as I would have liked."

With a subtle glint in his eyes, he nodded his head. "Of course Dr. Crusher. Or may I call you Beverly?"

He wanted to call her Beverly now? Something that she reserved only for her friends? Him? After all he had done to her and Jean Luc?

She swallowed her anger and gave him a tight smile and, feeling sick to her stomach, she replied through clenched teeth. "Beverly is fine."

Jean Luc

There was a moment of complete silence after his statement. When his words sank in, Will broke into protests.

"Sir, you can't do that!"

Jean Luc looked sharply at Will. "You are in no place to tell me what I can or cannot do."

"Not to be rude, Sir, but we do." Deanna spoke softly, her eyes sad. "I am responsible for your mental and emotional health and I could easily revoke your authority by stating that you are mentally unstable. Due to the events of the past month, it would be a valid claim."

"Is that a threat, Counsellor?" Jean Luc asked, angry and hurt. He knew that it was only a defence, though. He hadn't thought of the possibility that they would oppose him so much that they would force him to stay.

Deanna looked at him, taking a second to respond. "Sir, last time you went down to that planet, you and Beverly barely survived. We couldn't reach any of your communications and the team that we sent down returned with missing memories. Do you really expect us to just let you go down to the planet? All they would have to do is to threaten Beverly and you know you wouldn't do anything. With all due respect, Sir, I really don't think you should go."

"But..." He began.

Deanna held up her hand, frowning. "However, I don't think we can stop you from going. We can at least help you."

"Deanna!" Will protested.

Jean Luc smiled. They had been through so much together; he couldn't think of anyone he trusted more to help him rescue Beverly.

"Thank you Deanna. What do you have in mind?"

"First, you need to figure how to communicate with us. They had some sort of signal scrambling device on the planet so that we couldn't get a connection to you. Just taking along your comms won't be enough if you can't disable the device. Try your hardest to find and locate the device scrambling our signals, but until then, we won't be able to communicate wirelessly. Bring signal flares so that you can tell us if you need an emergency extraction, however that would be a last resort and it would require Starfleet's resources and permission.

"Secondly, you need to have a better plan then pretending to remember everything. If Beverly does remember what happened on the planet, you have to trust that she had her reasons to keep it a secret from us. Whatever happened on that planet could be something that they want to hide or it might have been Beverly trying to protect you. Either way, it's too risky to pretend you remember. That could put both you and Beverly in a very bad situation. Assuming that Beverly is voluntarily working with them, then there is potential that you could also strike a deal with them of some sorts."

"What are we going to do?" Will asked, impatiently. "Just sit here?"

"Until the Captain contacts us we must stay impartial to the whole ordeal. We cannot intervene."

Will sighed angrily. "Fine. But let's talk to Data and find out what we can fit in your bags."

Jean Luc let out a sigh of relief. "Thank you."