Baby Come Back
Chapters Thirteen through Fifteen
Song is "Here Comes the Rain Again" by the Eurythmics.
Chapter Thirteen
It had been two days since Beverly and Jean-Luc had made any attempt to communicate with each other. The Enterprise was still in space dock having upgrades made and Picard, with Will, was busy overlooking the upgrades. Beverly, on the other hand, was busy with her duties as head of Starfleet Medical.
As Jean Luc reviewed the work being done, he told Will the surprising news about Beverly. “Needless to say, I was shocked.”
"Well, I guess congratulations are in order!" Will smiled and then patted Picard on the shoulder. "You're a lucky man, Captain."
"I would be if I could get her to come back." Jean-Luc sighed.
"Give her time. She will." Will tried to comfort his captain.
"I hope you are right."
"Captain, Admiral Brian Aaron is requesting permission to beam aboard." Worf announced.
"Why would an admiral request permission?" Will asked Picard in confusion.
Picard was just as perplexed. "I have no idea. Courtesy?"
"Maybe it's his way of announcing his arrival?" Will suggested.
"There is only one way to find out." Picard said. "Worf, permission granted."
Worf turned back to his computer and punched a few buttons on his comm panel.
"This will be interesting." Picard commented with curiousity.
"I agree." Will concurred.
The two men continued to inspect the upgrades that were being made. They were both impressed with the work being done on the ship.
Picard spotted the man in charge of the upgrades and asked, "How much longer until the upgrades are completed?"
"Oh, maybe five more days, seven tops." Replied the officer.
"That long?" Picard inquired, quite surprised .
"Maybe that's why the admiral is boarding." Will suggested. "Maybe he wants to speed things up a little."
Picard nodded. "Could be."
"Captain Jean-Luc Picard?"
"Yes?" Picard turned to see who was addressing him.
"Admiral Brian Aaron." He had a comm pad that he was holding in his hands. He was fidgeting with it at the time he approached Jean-Luc.
"Nice to meet you."
"I certainly hope so after this."
"I'm not sure I understand."
The admiral held out the padd for Jean-Luc to take from him. "You've been served."
"Wh... What?" The admiral was preparing to leave the Bridge as a shocked Picard tried to get his attention. "Admiral?"
"Yes?"
Jean-Luc was very perplexed. "What is this?"
"I certainly hate to be the bearer of bad news, so I don't ask why I'm delivering such things when I'm asked." The admiral replied. "You'll have to read it and find out."
Then the admiral disappeared as fast as he appeared. In his wake was a very stunned and confused Jean-Luc.
"Are you going to read what's on that padd?" Will asked.
"Um, I a..." Picard struggled to gain his composure. "Yes. I'll take it to my Ready Room."
Will nodded his comprehension. He had a feeling the captain wanted complete privacy to read whatever was on the comm pad. So, Will turned away from his captain and went back to inspecting the upgrades.
Less than five minutes later, a furious Picard came storming out of his Ready Room. "You have the Bridge Number One!" Picard barked partly out of habit and partly out of anger.
"Captain?" Will asked.
"I'll be on Earth!" Came Picard's angry reply.
"What's wrong with him?" Geordi asked as he stood up from one of the panels he was examining at the time.
"I don't know, but I'll bet it has something to do with whatever is on that padd." Will replied.
A few minutes later a volatile Picard burst through Beverly's office door. "What the hell is this?" He snarled at her as he threw the padd onto her desk.
Beverly had a false calmness about her as she spoke. "If it is what I think it is, and judging by your behaviour, I'd say it is what people used to call divorce papers."
"I know that!" Picard shouted irrationally as he leaned on her desk. "I want to know why?"
"Well first of all, I want to point out that I do not appreciate anyone, including my husband, busting through my office door." Beverly replied more agitated than before. "Secondly, I think from the last time we saw each other, that it is quite clear why."
"That was two days ago!" Picard growled as he stood up straight and turned his back to her. "No, you didn't have time to file anything like this in that amount of time. You had to have known this when we had dinner together the other night." He turned back around as he accused her of this knowledge.
"When I did it doesn't matter right now." Beverly responded testily. "What matters is that it has come to this."
Jean-Luc noticed that Beverly still had her wedding ring on her finger. She had not taken it off, apparently. Picard had a feeling that the filing for divorce was some kind of attention getter, but what he could not figure out is why she would go to such extremes to get his attention. There had to be more to it.
"No, it hasn't come to this!" Picard vehemently protested. "You can't tell me that this is what you really want, Beverly!"
"It is."
"Then why are you still wearing the wedding band I gave you?"
"We're still married." Beverly replied matter of factly. "That and I'm retaining a little water."
Jean-Luc almost laughed at how she reacted to his question. Except for the fact that he had barged into her office, she did not show any sign of being upset about any of this. "I think it is more than that. I think you're trying to hurt me. I think you're trying to get back at me for asking for a separation. That's it, isn't it?"
"I think you have become a little irrational about all of this." Beverly commented flatly.
"Maybe so, but I still don't believe you really want this."
"You don't?" Beverly sat back in her chair, crossed her legs, and placed her hands in her lap.
"No, I don't." Jean-Luc was not as irate as he was when he first walked through Beverly's door. He was begining to not believe any of this
She sat forward, looked him right in the eyes, and with controlled serious anger she said, "Then try me."
"Alright, have it your way, Beverly. I will contest this! You know I will!" Now, for the first time in his life that he could remember, he was beginning to feel scared. He knew that look she had just given him; it meant she was dead serious.
"Why? You don't want me around with children, so why contest it?" Beverly challenged peevishly.
"Because..." Jean-Luc paused in desperation to find the right words to convince her not to do this. "I do want the baby!" Jean-Luc's demeanour was starting to soften greatly.
"Really? That is not what it seemed like the other day!" Beverly snapped.
"Well, I do and I love you, Beverly." Jean-Luc for the first time looked as though he was going to cry in front of his wife. He felt weak and powerless.
"You certainly have an odd way of showing it!" Now it was Beverly's turn to be angry. She stood and walked around her desk. Then she pointed a finger at Jean-Luc as she spoke, "You tell me to leave because you can't live with Wesley's teenage behaviours. Then you find out I am pregnant and you start talking about boarding schools! All because you don't want to deal with children! Then you stand there and tell me you want this baby! I really don't think you do, Jean-Luc."
"Beverly, don't do this!" Jean-Luc pleaded sadly as Beverly walked back around her desk to sit down again.
"The children are staying with me. You don't have to deal with them." Beverly was now shredding his heart to pieces and Jean-Luc was feeling it strongly.
"Beverly, I beg of you!" Jean-Luc cried. "Please don't do this."
"Jean-Luc, I have work to do." She informed him in an even voice as she returned to the work on her desk.
"Beverly!" He continued to plead. "Let's talk about this, please!"
Beverly did not look up from her work. She just seemed to be ignoring him.
Jean-Luc tried to compose himself, even though he felt like his heart was completely crushed. He felt like a broken man as he watched his wife. He wanted to grab her, hold her, and tell her how sorry he was. He wanted to stop her from doing this. He had no idea what else he could say to her that would make all of this better.
Jean-Luc sadly turned and slowly headed for the door. He was hoping that Beverly would change her mind about a divorce before he walked out the door.
"Jean-Luc?"
He detected a hint of sadness in her voice. That made Jean-Luc feel a spark of hopefulness come alive within him as he turned to face her. "Yes?"
"I'll see you in three days."
She did not add "in court", but Picard knew that was going to be the first time they would be in court. The glimmer of hope faded. He was going to contest the divorce, so he knew there would be more than one day they would see each other again.
As he walked out the door, he silently hoped that she would change her mind before it was over forever.
Chapter Fourteen
Jean-Luc was back on the Enterprise and hiding in his quarters. He was crying huge tears over Beverly. He did not want anyone to see him that way.
He could not believe how cold Beverly was to him. He never imagined in his wildest dreams that she would seek a divorce. He did not want this and he had thought she did not want this, but now it seemed as though she did.
Jean-Luc felt as if he could die. He felt like his whole world had just ended. It just crumbled and crashed down on him.
He heard the chime to his quarters beep. He did not want to answer it. He just wanted to be alone, but the person on the other side of the door was very insistant.
He quickly wiped the tears from his face and tried to show some semblance of his usual self. "Come!" His voice seemed weak and tired.
"Captain?" Deanna's voice was filled with concern.
"Deanna, I'd rather be alone." He told her irritatedly. Then he walked over to the replicator. "Whiskey." As soon as the drink appeared he took it from the slot and began to drink it.
Deanna felt a flood of negative emotions emanating from him. "I sense you are torn and devastated."
"Did your Betazoid sense tell you that?" Jean-Luc sneered.
Deanna did not reply. She just stood there and waited for him to talk.
"Deanna, save your Betazoid probing for someone else." All the anger that he felt towards Beverly was now being directed towards Deanna.
"I understand that you are hurting."
"You have no idea!" He growled at Deanna. "Will never left you like Beverly has me!"
"Captain, it is not me you are angry with and actually, he did leave me once."
"But unlike my wife, he returned."
"Eventually, we met again here on this ship, but we are just friends now."
"Oh, now why don't I believe that." He snapped sarcastically. He went back to the replicator and ordered another glass of whiskey.
Deanna did not answer him. Instead, she waited for him to continue.
While she was waiting for him and watching him try to drink himself into a drunken stupor she saw before her a man who had been broken. Everything that he was had disappeared. She saw nothing of the Jean-Luc Picard she knew. The Jean-Luc Picard she knew was strong and confident. The man in front of her was, at the moment, none of those things.
"What happened?" Deanna probed gently.
The most recent memory of what happened between him and Beverly was still fresh in his mind. The scene that just passed between them in Beverly's office flashed through his mind all over again and he began to cry again.
"Oh, Deanna, she's divorcing me!" His head fell towards her shoulder and Deanna automatically wrapped her arms around him in sympathy.
She allowed him to cry on her shoulder. She did not say anything until he was ready to speak again. She could feel Jean-Luc's pain and despair. She could feel his heartache.
His tears brought back to her the memory of when Beverly talked to her one last time before leaving the Enterprise. Beverly had also shed tears that day and Deanna sensed her pain and heartache too.
Jean Luc's tears were not cleansing ones. They did not purge the soul. They were instead tears that had lost a part of their soul. Tears of loss. Grieving tears of a love now gone.
In Jean-Luc's case, he felt he had lost the Human equivalent to the Betazoid Imzadi. His soul mate. His Beverly.
"She's gone!" He cried into her shoulder.
"You don't know that for sure." Deanna tried to console him.
"Yes, I do." Jean-Luc sobbed as he removed his head from Deanna's shoulder. "She told me so. I don't know if I'll see the birth of my child, Deanna!"
Deanna did not know what to say to him. She had no idea that this was going to happen. Beverly never said anything to her about it. In fact, Deanna had not heard from Beverly since she had left.
Jean-Luc suddenly pushed away from Deanna. His wrath was resurging. "You knew she was pregnant, didn't you?"
"Yes, I did."
"Why didn't you tell me?" He angrily demanded to know.
"She told me in confidentiality. Therefore, I felt it was her place to tell you."
"Therefore you couldn't bring yourself to tell me!"
"I'm sorry, Captain." She apologized to him.
"I want her back, Deanna! Help me stop her from doing this?" He cried.
"I don't know what I can do." Deanna told him sympathically.
"You have to help me!" Jean-Luc pleaded. He did not feel like he could stop himself from crying. "I love her so much and I don't want to loose her."
"What would you like me to do to help?" Deanna asked him in all sincerity.
"Can you..." He took in a large gulp of air suddenly. He had cried so hard that he was gasping for air. "Can you come with me to..." He could not fight back the tears. He could not ask her the one question that was important to him at the moment.
"To court?"
Picard nodded.
"I guess I could come with you." Deanna agreed.
"Thank you for your support, Deanna. You don't know how much I appreciate it." He told her as he tried once again to wipe the tears from his face.
The chime to his door rang again.
"Damn it! Can't I have any privacy?" Picard asked, not really expecting an answer.
"Do you want me to answer it and ask them to come back later?"
"Would you? I don't think it is very becoming to see a captain like this."
The door beeped again.
She touched his shoulder consolingly with her hand. "It's alright."
Then she went to see who was at the door. Just as the door beeped once more she opened it. "Will!" She said with surprise.
"Deanna, is the captain here?"
"Will, now is not a good time for him."
"I just wanted to check on him." Will said, his voice filled with concern. "He left the bridge in such a heated rush that I was wondering if everything was alright."
"Will, not now!" Deanna said insistently. "He isn't feeling well."
"Should I get Doctor Selar?" Will asked with even more concern.
"No, Will." Came Jean-Luc's sad voice. He waved Deanna away from the door to let Will into his quarters. "It's alright, Deanna. Let him in before he causes the whole damn ship to be concerned about me."
Will stepped into Jean-Luc's quarters. Will noticed his captain's tear stained faced and became even more worried, because he knew this was not like him. "You alright, Captain?"
"I wish I could say I was." Picard said sadly as he asked the computer for two glasses of whiskey and handed one to Will. "Beverly is trying to divorce me."
"Why?" Will was shocked by the news.
"It's a long story." Picard informed Will.
"Maybe I should go." Deanna commented suddenly.
"No, Deanna." Jean-Luc quickly said. "Stay and tell me how you two got back together."
"I really don't think..." Deanna started to tell her captain.
Jean-Luc interupted her. "I need something to get my mind off of Beverly."
"I really don't think our story is going to help." Deanna insisted.
"Another drink, Will?" Picard offered as he went to get himself another one.
Will looked towards Deanna as he agreed to another drink.
"Um, maybe a man's touch will help him feel better or at least give him some strength." Will quietly told Deanna while Jean-Luc was getting him a drink. "You go ahead if you want."
"He was doing just fine until you came." Deanna whispered insistently to Will. "Just don't let him drink himself to death."
"I won't."
Deanna reluctantly left Jean-Luc's quarters. The captain was still in a precarious state of mind and she could not believe she was allowing Will to keep an eye on him. She just hoped that nothing serious happened while Will was with Jean-Luc.
Chapter Fifteen
The next day Will woke up lying on the floor. His head pounded as he tried to sit up and look around. He immediately laid back down. The headache was too much to bear for him.
The last thing he remembered was sitting on the floor talking to Picard about Beverly. They were drinking a bottle of whiskey that Picard had decided to pull out of his reserve instead of continuing to use the replicator. After that he remember nothing.
He held his head as he tried sit up again and thought, "Guess I passed out sometime after that."
Once he was sitting up, he looked around the room. He did not see Picard anywhere. "Oh, shit!" He thought. "Where did he go?"
Then he heard some loud drunken singing outside Picard's door. It sounded like the captain. Then the door opened and there was Guinan helping Picard get back to his quarters. He had one arm around Guinan and a bottle in the other as he staggered in with Guinan's assistance.
"Missing something?" Was all Guinan said with a note of irritation in her voice.
"Guinan!" Will exclaimed as he helped her get the captain to the couch. "Did anyone see you coming back with him?"
Picard continued to sing a heartbroken love song.
"I'd like to say no, but unfortunately, there were a few crew members who passed us." Guinan related to Will, still a little irrated with having to care for the captain.
"I guess it's hard to sneak a drunken captain back to his quarters with over 500 people on this ship."
"Pretty much."
"Listen, Guinan... " Will began, his voice soft due to his pounding headache. "Could you try to help Deanna and me sweep this under the carpet? I mean the captain being drunk and all."
"There is one thing I want to know before I agree."
"What's that?"
"What ever possessed him to get this drunk?" Guinan asked with intense curiosity.
"Um, Guinan..." Will started to tell her something as he rubbed the back of his neck. "I'm not sure I can give you that information."
"Oh, I see. I think I know what it was." Guinan retorted with irritation. "There are two reasons why a man gets this drunk. One is women problems. Two is they can't tolerate life so they drown their problems in a bottle. Now, Picard, he isn't the second kind of man, but I know he is having problems with his wife. So, my guess is, Beverly has done something to cause him to want to hit the bottle. That isn't like him, but that's the one thing I can think of that would make him want to do this to himself."
"Beferly!" Jean-Luc moaned with drunken sadness.
"Guinan, I'm not sure you should be involved."
"I'm already involved. Beverly told me everything before she left," Guinan informed Will. "Now, I have the captain of this ship in my Ten-Forward wanting more to drink. I say that's pretty involved."
"I understand your concern." Will said rubbing his head.
"Now why do I get the feeling you were his drinking buddy last night?"
Will did not answer her last question. Instead, he offered his own question. "You didn't give him more to drink did you?"
"No, he already had that bottle." Guinan informed Will with a frown. "He wasn't about to give it up either."
"Nope!" Jean-Luc drunkenly exclaimed.
"Oh, boy!" Will let out a breath of air through tight lips. "I'm going to get it now."
"Why? Deanna going to get upset because you were drinking with the captain?"
"No, I was suppose to keep an eye on him."
"And you didn't." Guinan said, totally irritated.
The door to Picard's quarters beeped. Will held his head and winced as the sound of the chime vibrated painfully through his head.
"Serves you right," was all Guinan had to say as she went to the door to see who was there and then quietly leave.
"Guinan, what are you doing here?" Deanna asked with surprise.
"Ask him," Guinan said as she pointed to Will and then left.
"Will?"
"Theanna!" Picard slurred out his greeting.
"Long story, Deanna," Will replied with frustration trepidation. He knew he now had to explain to Deanna why Guinan was there.
"You didn't?" Deanna shouted in annoyance.
"Deanna, please. My head!" Will whined as he winced from the sound of her voice.
"Serves you right! What was he doing out of his quarters?"
"If you must know, I passed out and when I woke up he was gone!" Will told her honestly. "Guinan was nice enough to bring him back."
"Will, we have a problem," Deanna stated worriedly.
"Tell me about it!" Will grumbled as Picard sang another verse of a love sick song.
"We can't let the captain be on duty in his state of mind." Deanna said, her voice filled with concern.
"I know."
"I'm taking him off duty for psychological reasons." Deanna told Will.
"Oh, that will look good on his record!" Will's sarcasm was thick and heavy.
"Well, we can't let him go running around the ship like this!" Deanna shouted.
"Deanna, please!" Will whined again. "Don't shout!"
"I'm not shouting!"
"Hey! You's twos holds its downs!" Jean-Luc slurred. "I's bizzy heres!"
"Will you look at us?" Will asked Deanna. "We are fighting and arguing when we should be helping the captain out!"
"You're right," Deanna replied remorsefully. "I'll try and get the captain to drink some coffee." Then Picard began singing another drunken sad love song. "Or get him to bed so he can sleep it off."
"And I'll go talk to Beverly."
"Beferly!" Picard groaned with sad yearning in his voice. "Why Beferly?"
"OK. Come on!" Deanna told Picard as she tried to get him to stand up and walk to his room to sleep off the alcohol. Will left to beam down to Starfleet Medical to see Beverly. Deanna continued to encourage Picard to give up the whiskey. "You have had enough of this. Let's get you some coffee."
"No, I wans thas!" Picard slurred insistently as he clung to the whiskey bottle.
"With all due respect, you have two choices."
"Thas is?"
"Give me the bottle of whiskey or I'll have you declared mentally incompetent to command this ship!" Deanna sternly lectured him.
"Yous cans do thas!"
"Try me!" Deanna replied with dead seriousness.
"I's hears those words bethore!" He slurred as he gave Deanna the almost empty bottle of whiskey.
"OK, let's go get some coffee." She said as she guided him to the dining table. Then she went to the replicator and ordered two coffees, one for each of them. She felt like she needed the caffeine after the late night she had the night before.
However, Picard had another idea. He had decided to stumble off to bed; only he did not make it to his destination.
Deanna heard a loud thud and went to see what had happened. There in the middle of the doorway to his room, Jean-Luc had passed out on the floor. Deanna walked over to him and tried to get him up again and into his bed.
He became conscious enough that Deanna could more or less guide him to his bed. However, a few times he almost landed on top of her due to his intoxicated state. She had just barely managed to keep from getting crushed by his body each time he fell.
Finally, she got him to his bed and he fell on top of it. “Well, not the most comfortable position, but then again, you aren’t going to be very comfortable when you wake up later anyway,” she said to the unconscious Jean-Luc. “It’s a shame Will couldn’t have babysat you while I talked to Beverly. I have a few things I’d like to say to her myself, come to think of it.”
Then she went back to drink her coffee. She asked the replicator for some chocolate creamer. The replicator quickly produced the requested item. Then she sat down at the table to drink her coffee as she waited for Will to return so he could take over watching Picard.
Will was now at Starfleet Medical. He demanded to see Doctor Beverly Crusher-Picard. He was not getting a lot of cooperation.
"It's important that I see her!" Will insisted adamantly. His head was pounding so hard he thought it would explode. He was in no mood to be put off by a receptionist.
"If you don't have an appointment then you can't see her." The receptionist insisted. "Now, would you like to make an appointment?"
"No, I'll find her myself."
"Commander!" The receptionist called after him as he headed down the corridor.
He found Beverly's office and now it was his turn to storm into her office. "We need to talk!"
"I tried to stop him, Doctor." The receptionist informed Beverly.
"It's alright," Beverly told her receptionist. Then she addressed Will with irritation. "Commander William Riker, can't you see I am in a meeting?"
"This is important!" Will insisted vehemently. "It can not wait!"
Beverly was not one bit happy about Will entering her office unannounced, but she reluctantly gave in and asked her two colleagues if they would mind adjourning for a few minutes. They said they did not mind and left the room quietly.
"Now what is so important that you have to come barging into my office like an angry bear?" Beverly asked angrily.
"It's the captain."
"Jean-Luc?" She asked with concern. "Is he alright?"
"No he's not alright!" Will shouted angrily. Then he grabbed his head due the pain of the hangover he was suffering from.
"Are you alright?" Beverly asked with concern as she grabbed her tricorder. Then she quickly scanned Will. She frowned at the results. "Nothing that a little time won't take care of. I suppose you were with him last night?"
"Beverly, you have to stop this!" Will insisted. "You're ripping Picard's heart out!"
"Well, he asked for it!" Beverly exclaimed in anger.
"No, he did not ask for this! What do you think you are doing by filing for a divorce?"
"Giving him what he wants!" Beverly answered with irritation. "He doesn't want children around him, so that's what he's going to get!"
"Beverly, don't do this! The captain wants to be with his child!" Will tried to plead Picard's case for him. "Don't take that away from him!"
"Will Riker, you don't understand! You have no idea what he wants!" Beverly said snapped angrily. "So stay out of this!"
"No!" Will shouted in anger. Then he regretted it as his brain smarted from the sound of his voice. So, he lowered his voice. "The two of you have managed to drag a whole ship into this mess, now I ask that you fix it!"
"Tell Jean-Luc to fix it!"
"He can't without you!" Will insisted. "And I tell you right now, the captain is lost without you. He wants you back."
"Then have him come tell me that!"
"He can't!"
"Why? Is he on another one of his damn away missions?" Beverly asked sarcastically. "What is he avoiding now? The redheaded fireball sometimes called 'The Ice Queen' who wants her children more than her husband?"
"Oh, give it a rest, Beverly! The baby needs its father and Jean-Luc loves you! He wants you!"
"No, he doesn't want me as long as I have Wesley and probably this child too! So why don't you just get out of my office now and stop trying to put your nose in where it doesn't belong?"
"That's just it, I can't!"
"Why because Jean-Luc ordered you to come here and talk to me?"
"No, I came here because there are some people very concerned about what is going on between you two!" Will insisted as he headed for the door. "But if you are too much the 'Ice Queen' to give a damn about the captain, then go ahead. Get your damn divorce!"
"Oh, go to..."
Will slammed the door to her office before Beverly could even finish her sentence. Now Will was upset with Beverly and she had taken her anger with Jean-Luc out on him. She knew she had, but she was not about to go back the Enterprise. Not when she knew how Jean-Luc felt about children.