A/N: Thanks so much for the reviews! I'm glad you guys are enjoying this so far :-)
Deanna woke with a start. There had been no noise to shatter the peace of her sleep. Yet her ears rang with something dreadful, and a shiver rippled across her skin where a cold sweat had gathered.
"Imzadi...are you awake?" Her outstretched fingers searched for his shoulder in the dark, but they felt his empty pillow instead. "Will?" She tried a little louder. Her chest tightened with the apprehension of one who calls and is not answered.
Pushing the covers back, she swung her feet to the floor. Her attention-and her worry-now focused on the bassinet beside the bed. Holding her breath, Deanna slowly rose to her feet and peered over the cushioned edge.
A dark-haired baby slept soundly inside the bassinet. Every once in awhile she'd stir, and then suckle the side of her hand back to sleep. Deanna sighed, relieved, and ran her fingers gently across the baby's brow.
Something thumped in the living quarters, behind the bedroom door. Deanna's heart thumped as well. Her hand jerked back to her side. She swallowed hard, and then turned so that her body shielded the bassinet from whatever was behind the door.
Imzadi? She reached out with her empathic senses, feeling for that tender, familiar presence. But instead, she felt something cold. Cold and evil. A shadow crept under the door, lengthening itself towards her feet.
"Get back!" she cried, feeling for the bassinet behind her. But her hands clutched at emptiness. She whipped around to find that it had somehow moved several feet away. Meanwhile, the shadow continued to sidle across the floor. It enveloped Deanna's feet like a thick, sludgy mud. Its edges pulled forward like dozens of fingers reaching for the bassinet.
"No!" she screamed. "Leave her alone!" Deanna thrashed with all her might, but could not free her feet. Amidst her struggles, she caught a glimpse of the baby's face, still deep in a peaceful slumber, unaware of the evil creeping ever closer…
"Carmen!"
Once again, Deanna found herself waking with a start. She was back in her bed. This time, though, she was not alone.
"What is it? What's wrong with her?" Will wrestled with the covers, scrambling to sit up. But her urgency was too great to answer him at the moment. She shoved her feet to the floor and hurried to the bassinet.
Carmen's blue eyes shone in the dark. Her little fists began to wave excitedly at the sight of her mother, and she greeted her with a toothless smile.
"She certainly looks alright," Will said, drawing himself up to her side.
Deanna heaved out a breath. "Yes, she's...she's fine. I'm so sorry to wake you both."
"Nah, it's alright," he insisted. "Another nightmare?"
Deanna nodded. She placed a finger against Carmen's palm, smiling when her little hand closed around it.
"I asked Beverly about it earlier." Will gently pulled back the hair that had fallen over her shoulder and combed his fingers through it. "She said a lot of new mothers experience nightmares. Said it was perfectly norm-"
"This is different."
Deanna felt him wince, and it made her wince as well. She hadn't meant to sound so brusque. "It's just...it's always so vivid. So real," she whispered, leaning against his bare chest.
"Do you think it has to do with your Betazoid side?" His arms wound around her waist and pulled her even closer.
"Perhaps. I have heard that empaths can suffer terribly from things like that because of our sensitivities."
He grunted sympathetically. "Well trust me. Everything's just fine."
She lifted her face to look him in the eye. "You mean besides the fact that we're at war?"
"We're always at war," he quipped. "But we'll make it through this one. And the next."
The corners of her mouth lifted in a wistful smile. "Do you suppose the Enterprise will ever go back to being a research vessel?"
"Sure I do." He bent down and kissed her forehead. "Maybe not in our time. But maybe one day, Carmen will get to be an explorer. Or a famous jazz musician."
The baby babbled vigorously upon hearing her name. Her little arms reached out in front of her, demanding to be held. Will laughed.
"You like that idea?" he asked, lifting her from the bassinet. She babbled some more, delighted by his attention. "Well, you've got a lot to learn about this big old universe. But it's not so bad. I mean, at least you're on a ship as grand as the Enterprise."
He bounced her lightly on his way back over to the bed. "Tell you what-" he said to Deanna. "There's plenty of room here. Maybe your nightmares won't come back if she's close by."
Deanna brightened at his idea. "Sounds good to me," she said, taking Carmen as he climbed into bed and fixed the covers that had been pushed back in haste. Then she joined him, laying the baby down between them.
Carmen voiced a contented sigh to be surrounded by the warmth and safety of her parents. It wasn't long before her eyelids drooped and her breathing slowed to a regular rhythm. Deanna watched, smiling to herself. The fear of her nightmares faded away, far out of reach. The darkness became tranquil instead of foreboding. And her imzadi's reassurances bounded through her mind, summoning dreams of a peaceful Enterprise and a grown-up Carmen. The young woman wore a uniform, but not a soldier's uniform. And she was happy, for she was still surrounded by the warmth and safety of a family.
As time wore on, the nightmares failed to make a reappearance. Deanna lulled herself into believing that it had been a figment of her overtired imagination. After all, motherhood was a strange new frontier. Her own mind at times felt unsettlingly foreign. Every thought had to come twice-once for herself, and once for her baby. Every ordinary object became a potential hazard. What if Carmen grabbed this? Swallowed that?
And yet, Deanna slipped into her new role seamlessly. So did Will, to her surprise. For all his insecurities, he took to fatherhood as easily as he had taken to the Enterprise-and with the same temerity as well.
Three more months passed. As Carmen outgrew her newborn days, Deanna began to venture out into the field. Her empathic abilities proved advantageous in the Federation's rocky political climate. Picard often requested her assistance when it came to diplomatic missions.
But just before another run-of-the-mill mission for Deanna, the nightmares returned. The same sinking helplessness beleaguered her sleep night after night. Sometimes, Deanna could even feel the oppressive presence during her waking hours. It was almost as though it were stalking the ship, lurking somewhere out there in the wilderness of space. But why? And what did it have to do with her baby?
Will strode into his quarters, easing the zipper away from the collar of his uniform. He sat on the edge of the bed and began to unlace his boots, humming a Dixieland tune all the while. It was then he caught sight of a half-packed suitcase, still open and waiting, on the floor by his feet.
"Waiting til the last minute?" he called.
"Shh! Carmen is napping!" Deanna appeared in the threshold, wearing a long, billowy robe. Her fingers moved swiftly through her ebony tresses, weaving them into rows of intricate braids. "And yes. Apparently, you've rubbed off on me."
"Well, it was bound to happen," the commander smirked. "And I'm not sorry that it did."
Deanna cast him a smirk of her own. "Neither am I." She finished one braid, pinned it to her scalp, and then started another.
Will leaned back onto the bed, taken by the soft curves that rose and fell beneath her robe as she stood in the doorway. But the suitcase would not leave his frame of view. He blew out a rueful sigh. "I'm going to miss you, you know."
"Come now," she scolded gently. "It'll only be five days. Unless the negotiations run over, which nobody wants. Trust me, I'd rather be on the Enterprise with you and Carmen. But duty calls." She tried to appear business-like, but something grim settled over her countenance.
"Hey, what's that?" he prompted, noting the change. "Are you worried about the mission?"
"No, no, it isn't that." She pinned another braid down, but instead of starting a new one, she let her hands fall to her sides. "It...it's Carmen."
"Carmen?" Will echoed. "What do you mean? She'll be just fine. I was going to teach her the trombone while you're gone." Deanna threw him a pointed glare, which only made him laugh. "I'm kidding, I'm kidding. We'll wait til she can walk first."
A smile broke through Deanna's glare. "Just keep a close eye on her. You will, won't you?"
"Of course I will." He sat up on the edge of the bed. "What are you so worried about, anyways? And don't tell me it's nothing; I may not be an empath, but you're not a good liar. Now come over here..." He extended an upturned hand. Innocent as the gesture was, something glinted in his eyes that was much less innocent.
"Will! You know I can't be late-" But her feet betrayed her, carrying her closer and closer to the bed. Her hand, just as traitorous, found its way into his. She sighed, resigning herself to defeat as their fingers laced together. "It's just...well, it's hard to explain."
He ran his other hand across her cheek. "Try me, imzadi," he whispered.
Deanna looked into his face with a grateful smile. Then she took a deep breath, steeling herself. "There is a..a darkness. I can sense it sometimes, like it's lurking, waiting..."
"Waiting for what?"
"For our baby." Fear gathered in the lines of her forehead. "Please, Will-we can't let anything happen to her. I can't-I can't-"
"Shh, shh," he crooned. "I won't let anything happen to her. Okay? I promise. This darkness-it can't have her. It can't have our daughter. She'll do great things for the Enterprise one day, you'll see." His impassioned words resounded through her empathic mind, rippling out into the very waves of time and space.
"Thank-you," she whispered, comforted at last. Then she closed her eyes and leaned in, grazing his lips with hers. She felt him smile as the kiss neared to an end.
"Hey, didn't you say she was napping?" he said, patting the bed beside him.
She laughed at his brazen suggestion. "Yes, but I have to-" He pulled her in for another kiss before she could finish. His hands strayed beneath the folds of her robe, his mouth soon following suit. A shiver of anticipation ran down her spine. She let herself fall into him, softly as a raindrop, and together they sank back onto the bed.
And for a time-the very last time-all was right with their world.