Depressive thoughts; Suicidal ideation

Reality Used to Be a Friend of Mine

4 Months Later

"You must be happy to be back," Miles grinned at his daughter. She smiled at him, but it was only a ghost of the smile she'd had on the Bamboozalin. Ever since she'd found her way home a month ago, she'd been poked and prodded by Starfleet. All to prove that she hadn't compromised Starfleet during her abduction. After debriefing her, she'd been reassigned to Deep Space Nine to be with the O'Briens. People kept asking about her adventures of being kidnapped off the Enterprise. But she had nothing to say about her time away.

"It's good to be healing again," the girl said happily, treating someone's elbow. The Sick Bay was a busy place, especially with the Dominion attacking almost daily. But she was doing what she did best with a tricorder. "Don't you have work to do in sector 7?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to check on you and that baby of yours. You take care of my grandson, you hear?"

"Dad, I don't want you to get too attached to this baby," she said sadly. "I'm sending it back."

"Back where?" the Chief engineer said angrily. She looked miserable suddenly but determined as she stood in silence. "Please, Darla. Let me help you."

"You can't help me," she said fatalistically, feeling her good mood slip away. She resisted the urge to rub her belly subconsciously, glaring at the looky-loos. "You should go. That conduit isn't going to fix itself. And I have work to do here." She turned away and went to her next patient.

"Darla," he tried again. "Darla, please, just talk to me. What happened?"

"See ya tonight, Dad," she said, not turning around. He sighed heavily, trying to think of how to help his suffering older daughter. But nothing came to mind, so he went to sector 7.

In the meantime, Isabelle worked hard on her shift, trying to make it a success.

"I've never seen such devotion to medicine," Bashir said later when the masses had cleared out.

"Yeah."

"A woman that works that hard is either completely devoted to her job or… running away from something?" he half asked, inviting her confidence. She stared at him blatantly, weighing her options. In the end, she decided against it.

"Darla, you don't have to bear this burden alone. If you were… Well, if you were raped-"

"I wasn't raped," she said firmly

"Are you sure?" he asked, placing a hand on her shoulder. "'Cause not all rape is violent, Darla. He may have led you on, promised you things that-" she suddenly collapsed against him, sobbing. Julian had a hard time holding the crying woman up. She couldn't speak; she'd been holding onto this for months now. Pregnant! Pregnant with that lying bastard's child. He'd sold her to Bowser. Without hesitation, he'd given her away after defiling her. Only her mother, Keiko, knew the truth. She'd come in when the girl had finally decided to end her life. After learning the real reason for her abduction - her Khaleesi heritage - she'd somehow talked her daughter out of turning the dagger on herself with the idea that she could send his spawn back to him. The challenge of how to do it was the only thing keeping her alive at that point. She wanted this reminder of his betrayal out of her. She didn't eat, she didn't sleep, she cut herself two or three times a day to keep up with the pain. And there was certainly no singing happening.

"Darla! Darla, talk to me," the doctor demanded frantically.

"I'm alright," the girl said tightly, drying her tears on her uniform. "Sorry about that, I just lost control for a moment-"

"You have every right to lose control, Darla. You should take a couple of days to-"

"My work is the only thing keeping me alive," Isabelle said firmly, sniffling as she checked on her experiments. "When I have work to do, the memories don't haunt me as much. Please don't interfere." He looked over her exhausted form in concern. Truthfully, he should be headed to the Captain of the station with this juicy bit of information. Deep Space Nine was infamous for the fact that no one had secrets aboard. But this was different. He didn't feel he had the right to tell anyone this particular secret. Not unless it started to affect the health of the baby.

"Very well, Darla. I won't mention this to anyone. But that baby had better stay in good condition. Am I clear, doctor?"

"Crystal clear, doctor." She answered coldly, going back to her work. The two worked in silence for a while.

"So… What was it like out there?" he asked at last. She sighed heavily, putting down her work.

"I'm accustomed to working in silence," she said in exasperation.

"Funny, that's what your dad used to say. You two really are related."

"In all the ways that matter, yes. This still isn't silence."

"No, it isn't. But you spent months on the outer rim of the universe. One doctor to another, it must have been amazing."

"It was. Until it wasn't," Isabelle said softly, determined not to cry again. She cleared her throat, wiped her eyes, and got back to work.

"The technology must have been mind-blowing," he prodded gently.

"You really don't give up, do you?"

"I'm not known to, no," he said with a flirtatious smile. She started packing up her things for the night with a roll of her eyes. "Where are you going?"

"Home," Isabelle answered patiently. "Daddy's expecting me at Quarks soon, and I still have work to do on my life pod."

"Speaking of life pods…"

"I already told you, mine blew up. I was lucky to get onto the USS Wellnet before it exploded."

"Or you blew it up because of the Prime Directive. Come on, you can tell me."

"I've already told you. I escaped and high-tailed it back to where I belonged. But I didn't know the controls all that well. I must have triggered the self-destruct somehow while I was trying to hail the ship. The whole thing just vaporized. There wasn't enough left to fill my open palm. Captain Antilles collected the pieces, but couldn't make heads or tails of them. And since I'm not really an engineer, I couldn't explain what I saw."

"A likely story. You're building a life pod for your child out of spare parts and coding it for God knows what from memory. I doubt that you could do that if you weren't a decent engineer."

"Daddy's taught me a couple of things," she demurred.

"Right, and I'm the Vedran Empress."

"Goodnight, your majesty," the young doctor said wryly as she left the Sick Bay. The woman passed several establishments on her way to her quarters. The promenade was buzzing with activity, even this late at night. Ships arrived at all hours of the day and night.

"Hey, Darls," a hatefully familiar voice sounded out across the promenade. Lieutenant-Commander La Forge had taken her father's laid-back attitude towards her a bit too far, giving her a nickname she refused to respond to and trying his best to make her date him. He'd been a constant headache on the Enterprise. And he'd actually taken a vacation to Deep Space Nine just in case she changed her mind. He didn't even seem discouraged by the fact that she was pregnant with another man's child. "Darls, wait up,"

Wondering just how many times you had to greet someone before you could punch them in the face and have it not be considered impolite, she turned and faced the man.

"Are you alright, Darls? It almost looks like you have a shiner-"

"My name is Darla, Lieutenant-Commander. Doctor DeLong to you. Not-"

"But 'Darls' suits you so much better, don't you think? And the name is Geordi. What do you say we grab a bite to eat at the new Klingon establishment down the street and we can discuss names for your baby."

"As I've said multiple times before, I'm not interested in you. Not even as a friend. And if you knew anything about me, you would know that I hate Klingon food. Good night."

"Come on, give me a chance, Darls! I could be the perfect father for your child. I-"

"Is there something wrong with your hearing as well as your eyes? I'm not interested. Period. And I don't appreciate you coming up with some random nickname I don't approve of and trying to stick me with it. Good day, sir." She moved away from him quickly before she said or did something that she would regret.

"Why do you keep bothering her, Geordi?" Lieutenant-Commander Worf asked, coming up beside his old crew member. "She's already made it clear that she's not interested."

"Sometimes you just have to be persistent. I know she wants me deep down. It's just a matter of getting her to admit it."

"She's more likely to have you arrested for harassment than date you. You should leave her alone."

"No way. I left her alone once and she was stolen off the ship and raped. I'm not going to make the same mistake twice. I may actually transfer here permanently. She needs me."

Worf sighed at the man's delusions. His assessment of the situation couldn't be more wrong. Guinean couldn't have guided him to the truth at this point. "Just don't blame me when you end up in jail, Geordi. She's not interested."

"You'll be a groomsman at our wedding. Is it weird to have your future father-in-law as a groomsman? He was my friend first after all." Geordi contemplated that as he wandered back into the crowd. Worf sighed gustily, a bad feeling in his gut about the whole situation. Usually, the blind man was good about giving up his crushes, but with Darla…

… …

"I could really use your endorsement with Darla, Dad," Geordi said in annoyance to his old friend when he found him playing darts at Quarks even later that night. "Can't you, I don't know, order her to date me? I'm just looking for one lousy date here. Come on, don't you want me as part of your family?"

"Quite frankly, no," Miles growled. He'd just had a hellish time trying to fix the finicky conduit in sector 7 again and he was only looking to relax before bed. And after three weeks of his old friend tracking him down strictly to talk about his daughter, he was feeling less than generous towards him. "If I were to talk to Darla about you right now, it would be to get a restraining order against you. She doesn't want you. She's never wanted you. She doesn't want anyone after her ordeal. And after everything she's been through, you pushing her to date you isn't helping. You know, I may talk to Sisko about having you banned from the station." He finished his spiel with a hard throw at the board. Then he walked over and pulled out his darts before glaring at the man. "There was a time when you used to talk to me about things other than my daughter. Your obsession with her is starting to make me uncomfortable, La Forge."

The Enterprise engineer blinked sightless eyes at his friend. Then he sighed heavily. "You're right, Miles. You're absolutely right. It's just… There's something about her that won't let me let her go. She's special; I can't give her up. But I haven't been a very good friend to you, Miles, and for that I'm sorry." Miles nodded and the two played darts for a few more rounds.

"I'm serious about Darla, Geordi. She doesn't want you and she's very close to pursuing legal action against you. You need to leave her be. I'm telling you as a friend."

"Hmph! Well, I'm telling you as a friend. If you're not going to help me, stay out of my way. Darla will be mine. She may fight me on it, but I'll make her see that we belong together."

"And now you've officially crossed the line," Odo said, turning back into his form from the chair he had been a minute ago.

"You sold me out?" Geordi said angrily. Miles looked confused.

"Actually, Dr. DeLong asked me to investigate you to see if she had cause to get a restraining order against you. Apparently, she does. I already have the paperwork drawn up, but I don't want to wake a pregnant woman in the middle of the night. Or should I wake her right now to sign a restraining order against you? The minute she signs it, you will have to leave the station, Captain's orders."

"My Darls would never-"

"Very well, I'll wake her up right now." The trio made their way to her apartment, but they need not have worried about waking her. She was already awake. Awake and busy.

"I'm sorry to disturb you, Doctor. But-"

"Security Chief Odo," she said quietly, looking around at the men. "What is he doing here?" She growled angrily, pointing at La Forge. "You let him know where I live? I'm going to have to move now. I-"

"No need. I inspected the matter you brought to my attention three weeks ago. If you will just sign here, the Lieutenant-Commander will be escorted off the station."

"Darls, please. I just want to love you. I-"

"My name isn't Darls!" she shouted. "It isn't even Darla. You don't know anything about me. Give me the papers; I'll sign them." She smiled nastily as she signed the restraining order. Miles didn't like that smile one bit.

"So, what is it?" he asked once La Forge was led away by security, still professing his undying love for her to her disgust.

"What is what?" Isabelle asked absently, leading her father into her home.

"Your name," he huffed, looking around at the mess of her place. There were spare parts everywhere. A small module was being built in the corner. He didn't see anything resembling comfort in the small rooms. He suddenly had to wonder where she was sleeping. "I don't want to go around calling you by the wrong name."

"Oh! It's Isabelle. Isabelle Rachel Bateman," she smiled at saying her real name aloud. "And I'm 26 years old, not 28."

"Sounds like you learned a lot about yourself while you were gone," he said carefully.

"I did," she said, going back to her tinkering. "But nothing I learned could take away from my real family. I have you and mom and Molly and Kirayoshi. You're all the family I want or need."

"You have no idea how happy I am to hear you say that, Isabelle."

"You don't have to call me Isabelle, dad. I'm worried about my real name getting back to the Lieutenant-Commander." Somehow the thought of her true name on his lips made her want to puke.

"I'm not afraid of that. La Forge and I used to be friends, but lately, he only wanted to talk about you. I'm glad you turned him away. He's a bit unhealthily obsessed with you."

"It's not my fault! I've done nothing to encourage him!"

"I know that. I just want to make sure you're being careful around him from now on. Starfleet has a record of his unwanted behavior, but Starfleet isn't going to escort you home nightly just to keep him away."

"I got it, daddy," she said, giving her father a hug. "I'm not looking for a fight. I'll stay away from La Forge."

"Good girl, he grinned, caressing her cheek. "Is there anything I can help you with on this pod you're making? It looks complicated. What's it for?"

"Nothing important," she lied. He could tell she was lying from her sudden tenseness and her face. The girl didn't lie often but he could always tell when she was lying by her face. He hated that she still didn't trust him with her secrets.

"You know, eventually you're going to have to trust me," he said softly, dismayed by the panicked look on her face. Since when wasn't that look reserved for spotting La Forge in a crowded hallway? "You can trust me," he soothed her.

"I-I-I know," she stuttered, dropping her tool. "I'm just not ready to open up about that part of my life, okay?"

"Very well. For now," he warned The girl visibly sagged in relief and he frowned. "Isabelle…"

"I don't want to talk about it," she said quickly, not turning around.

"Alright," he acquiesced, seeing how much it was upsetting her. He couldn't help but think that if her mother was around, he'd have more answers. "The Captain has invited us to dine in the holodeck tomorrow night. Are you free? Mom's coming up and we're getting a sitter for the kids," he bargained.

"Um… okay," she nodded. "I'll probably be running a little late with the shift and getting changed, but I'll be there."

"Really?"

"Why not? A night on the town with my folks is probably just what the doctor ordered."

"Well, you would know," he smiled, kissing her forehead. "I'll see you there, honey."

"Goodnight," she said as he left.