Very short chapter tonight…sorry! More to come tomorrow;) Thanks for reviewing, it's greatly appreciated!
"Congratulations Ensign Jamison, you are officially my last patient ever as CMO on the Enterprise."
Beverly Crusher smiled as she announced the words to the short female ensign getting up from the exam table.
"Do you know who is to be your replacement doctor?" Ensign Jamison asked.
"I actually have no clue. Honestly, I still think they're trying to find someone half-decent to replace me," Beverly joked. "I'm teasing. No, whoever he or she is, they will be highly qualified, I'm sure. They don't let just anyone have the job of Chief Medical Officer on the flagship."
Well, they did let Katherine Pulaski have the job last time I left, so I guess that doesn't really say much for their CMO selecting skills…Hmmm…maybe I should make myself a part of helping them choose a new CMO…only the best for Jean-Luc, she thought.
Beverly Crusher walked back in the direction of her office, thinking silently to herself about the last time she had taken the job as head of Starfleet Medical. She'd only had the job a year, mostly because she missed serving with him. She missed Jean-Luc and the opportunity to be in his presence every day.
Plus, he'd practically begged her to come back …it was quite clear how much he loathed Dr. Pulaski.
No coming back this time, Bev. You are going to make a new life for yourself on Earth, and you are going to love it!
Grabbing the last couple possessions piled on her desk and packing them into her bag, a waterfall of sadness washed over her. Her office was so empty. Within a few weeks' time, after sickbay and the rest of the ship finished undergoing massive repairs, a new CMO would be sitting at this desk…her desk.
This had been her sickbay, her domain, for such a long time.
Dr. Beverly Crusher had witnessed and been an active part of both the thrills and joys of new life and the heartbreak and grief of death within these walls and the walls of the sickbay on D. And here she was, giving it all up.
You're making the right choice, there's nothing left for you here. You know you and Jean-Luc can't be together, so it's time to make a choice in your own best self-interests.
With that thought, she stood a little straighter, gave one last look around her sickbay, took a deep breath and walked out the door, making her way down to Transporter Room Two.
What she wanted to do was run to Jean-Luc's ready room and beg him to start a life with her, but what she actually did was continue walking down the corridors to a future without him.
She had already said her goodbyes to everyone who mattered; well, at least, she thought she had.
Except when she got to the Transporter Room, he standing there waiting for her.