Imzadi: My Version

Chapters Nineteen and Twenty

Chapter Nineteen

Lwaxana knocked at the bathroom door and sent, "Deanna, we need to get going."

Deanna opened the door and spoke as if she was not only trying to catch her breath, but also trying to keep from wretching. "Mother, I can't go. I'm too sick to go."

"Nothing that some crackers and hot tea won't take care of, Deanna." Lwaxana said in a tone that seemed like she was saying "Oh, just get over it and let's go."

Deanna placed a hand over her mouth and a said, "Mother!" then closed the door and lost her stomach again.

"Deanna." Lwaxana sent. "If you won't listen to anything else I say, please listen to this. If you don't go and see him, you're going to regret it later. Mark my words. So please just eat some crackers and drink some tea."



A few hours later Deanna was on a shuttle craft to meet with the Hood, doing better and was thankful for the crackers and tea. The morning ritual had started within the last week or so and Deanna was already getting tired of it, but she realized her mother was right about not going. She would have regretted it.

She had no idea what she was going to say to Will or how she was going to say it. In some respects she was nervous and worried. In other respects, she was very excited to see him. She knew she could not have told him over a communique or in a subspace message. "No, it's best I tell him in person." she said.



A couple hours later, they were awaiting permission to come aboard the Hood. Lwaxana was her usual flambouyant self. Deanna was having butterflies in her stomach. "Oh, gods!" she thought. "Not now! I can't get sick again now!" She took a few deep breaths and prepared to beam aboard the Hood.

Lwaxana tried to convence her not to beam aboard, but Deanna was not about to do anything usual. She did not want Will asking questions before she had a chance to say a word. "Besides, Mother, there's no medical reason why I shouldn't." Deanna sent.

"Very well. Do what you want." Lwaxana said, indignant.

They beamed aboard and Will was there to greet them. Deanna opened her arms to offer Will a hug and he was more than happy to return her hug. "Deanna," he said with a big smile. "How are you?"

"I'm fine, Will." Deanna said smiling back at him. "And how about you?"

Lwaxana speaks before Will could answer Deanna. "Oh, she fine, alright. She's better than fine. She just positively glowing."

Riker was confused, looked at Deanna, and his face looked as if it were saying, "What the hell is she talking about?" Will finally decides to just blow Lwaxana off and replied to Deanna, "I'm fine and so glad to see you again."

"Will," Deanna pauses for a moment. "I really need to talk to you and I really don't want to wait too long." She was afraid she would loose her nerve if she did not get it said right away.

"Sure, what is it?"

"No, somewhere private."

"We can go to my quarters and talk there." Now Will knew there was something wrong and he was very concerned.

They started to walk off, when Lwaxana said with an anxious smile, "Oh, I'm coming too! I wouldn't miss this for the world!"

"Mother!"

"No, no. I'm coming with you two."

Deanna was not happy about this. "Mother, if you say one word!"

"Oh, don't worry. I'll behave." Lwaxana sent back."I promise."



"Well, here it is, my quarters." Will said with a smile. "It's not much, but I call it home."

"It's lovely, Will."

The door slid shut behind the three of them and Deanna looks around his quarters.

"So, what is it you want to talk to me about." Will asked.

She walked over to where he was. Looks at him with adoration.

"Well, if you don't tell him, I will." Lwaxana said aloud.

"Mother, I really would like it if you left us alone." Deanna said firmly.

"Deanna's pregnant and I want to know what you're going to do about it!" Lwaxana informed Will directly to his face.

There was an angry silence. Lwaxana could sense both of them were very angry with her, but she had no idea who was more angry.

Will holds his head up and with irritation in his voice he says to Lwaxana, "Mrs. Troi, I would appreciate it if you left the two of us alone."

"Oh, leaving the two of you alone was how she got in this condition in the first place." Lwaxana said. "Personally, I don't think you two could handle it."

"Mrs. Troi, Deanna and I can handle this just fine." he informed her. "Now, I'm asking nicely one more time. Please leave!"

"Young man, do you realize who you are talking to?" she asked rhetorically. "I am Lwaxana Troi."

"I don't give a damn who you are!" Will said with anger quite clear in his voice. "Get out!"

"Well, I never!" she said very appaulled and left.

After she left, Will turned to her and placed his hands, lovingly on her shoulders and said, "Deanna."

She sensed his worry. "If you're worried that I might kill the baby, given the circumstances, don't be."

"Well, that's a relief, but that's not what I was worried about." Will informed. Deanna looked at him with curiousity. "I'm worried about how you're going to finish getting a degree and all of that other stuff. It's your deam."

Very indignant she says, "I will do it. May take a little longer than planned, but I will do it."

"You're just stubborn enough to do it too, one thing though, who's going to take care of our child while you do this? Your mother?"

"I really haven't thought through all of that, just yet, but I'm sure I'll find someone and it's not mother. She's too busy running around the universe, herself."

Will let out a slow breath of air and pull her close to him. He held her close to him and thought, "I know what I want to say, but would she go for it and if she did, how would she do what she wanted to do?"

Finally, he pushes her back just enough to still hold her and looked into her eyes. He says, "We'll work this out somehow. I have no ideas right now, but we will."

Deanna looks at him with tears of happiness and says, "I love you, Will." Then hugs him and adds, "Thanks for you're support."

"There's one thing I don't get." Will said. "I thought we were careful."

Deanna pulled away slightly irratated. "Will, withdrawal is not the most reliable form of contraception."

"Well, yeah, I know." Will was surprised she came out with that. "We were in the jungle, in the heat of the moment and all."

"Who said it wasn't in your quarters!"

"Deanna, I really don't think it matters now, where or when it happened." Will stated. "It's happened and we need to figure out what to do."

"You're right, Will." Deanna agreed.

"My biggest question is, if you're on Betazed, when this child is born, how am I going to get there in time to be there as it's being born? And if you're on Betazed, how are we going to raise him or her together. And if you're ..."

"What does Betazed have to do with it, Will?" she interrupts. "If you're on this ship, and by the way, it's twins, but Mother doesn't seem to know tha..." She noticed Will's face change to total shock and pauses.

"Twins?" he said in complete shock. He turns around and walks over to a chair and sits down. "Twins?"

She walks over to him and kneels down beside him, with sympathetic eyes and touches him in a sympathetic and reassuring way. She allowed him time to recover from the shock, before she spoke again.

"Deanna, this is very complicated." he looked at her with even more concern.

"That's what I was about to say." She said. "Or something like that. If you're on this ship how are you going to see their births and all their milestones? It's a two way street here. It's not just me being on Betazed."

"Deanna." he stopped himself. He wanted to ask her to marry him sooner. He had a hard time being without her these last couple of months and he knew now it was going to be even harder, but he knew she also wanted to become her own person. He could not take that from her. "And besides." he thought to himself. "Is it what she wants?" He decided to wait on that question for awhile.

Deanna thought to herself, "If only we could..." Then she stops her thought. Then sadly thinks, "That maybe a bad idea too."

They talked for a while longer, but came up with no solutions to all their questions. They had no answers, but they knew they did have each other and for now that was enough.

Chapter Twenty

It was after midnight and Will was fast asleep in his bed, alone. Deanna and he thought it was probably best that she shared visitor quarters with her mother and not stay the night with him. Somehow it just did not seem like a good idea.

Suddenly there was a "You idiot!" Will awoke with a start.

"Computer, lights." Will commanded. The lights came on and what he had thought was part of some dream was now standing in front of him. Puzzled he said, "Who, who are you?" Then realized after he asked the question, that something was very familiar with this man. However, he was a very bitter looking older man.

"The Easter Bunny." the man stated with sarcasm. "Who the hell do you think I am?"

"You're my future self."

"That's right." The man affirmed. "So maybe I was a little smarter than I give myself credit."

"I'm dreaming here." Will said shaking his head and stands up to walk around.

As he walked past his future self, he was bopped on the back of the head. "You're not dreaming! And I said it once and I'll say it again. You're an idiot!"

"Hey!" Will exclaimed. "Why did you do that?"

"To prove to you that you are not dreaming, you idiot!"

"OK, will you stop calling me an idiot and start telling me where you came from, how you got here and why you think I'm an idiot?"

"I thought you established already that I am from the future?"

"OK, so you're from the future, how did you get here and why do you think I'm such an idiot?"

"I came here by way of the Guardian to stop you from loosing the best damn thing you ever had in your life."

"I still don't understand, but I'm listening." Will said.

"I'm referring to Deanna! Your Imzadi!" his future self said.

"What about her?"

"You're too scared to go with your heart and are about to let her go." the older Riker stated. "You are afraid to do the obvious, thus she goes her own way later, without you. All because you couldn't do one thing and that's why you are an idiot."

"Let me get this straight." Will said continuing to walk around his room. "I... You let Deanna go and for some reason she goes her own way and apparently she never comes back to you?"

"That's the short of it." his older self affirmed. "Only, I'm here to stop you from making the same mistake."

"And what might that mistake be, if I may ask without ending up screwing up the future."

"Not doing it will screw up everyone's future." the older man said firmly.

"How so?"

"She moves on without you and ultimately gives up on you thinking you weren't ready to make any commitments." he stated. "And she lives her life without you, never to see you again."

"I'm still lost here."

"You'll be even more lost later. If you don't talk to her, ask her and ask what she wants."

"OK, I'm suppose to go with my heart and ask her something?" Will asked. "OK, I take it Deanna was pregnant about this time in your past?"

"Yes, she was and I was too afraid I'd be stopping her from letting her do what she wanted and needed to do."

"OK, and I suppose that you had the same thought about marrying her?" Will inquired.

"Yes, but I past it up. Let her go and she finally reached her goal, but you weren't around to share it with her." The older man said.

"Now how does not marrying her just yet, prevent me from waiting until later?" Will said. "If we marry now, she may not be able to reach her goals."

"You just don't get it do you?"

"I'm sorry, but no I don't." Will stated.

"Starfleet won't let you go to her at the time of birth, because you aren't married to her." The older Will said. "They decide there was no need because of it. That you were more needed on a mission."

"And?"

"You weren't there. You were working on a promotion and an assignment." The older man stated. "Stuck on a ship, on that one little technicality. It became habitual."

"Go on."

"So, she thought you were more committed to your career and not her and the kids." he continues. "So she goes on without you and thus you never see each other again."

"If we marry, how does she continue to get a degree and have her own career?"

"You know Deanna better than that." The older man stated with frustation. "She'll do it. She's too stubborn not too, but at least you'll be able to get permission to be with her when she and the kids need you."

"All because of that one technicality." Will repeated.

"Yes."

"I don't know." Will said unbelieving. "This seems a little far fetched."

"It's the truth of what happened." The older man stated.

"In your time line?" Will asked.

"Yes and soon to be yours if you don't do something now." the older man growled. "And stop being so afraid of what might not even happen."

"I have to think about all of this." Will said.

"Well don't take to long." The older Will warned. "Now, you have all the information you need to make a decision. Let's just hope you don't screw up like I did."

Will sat on the edge of his bed, staring out into space. "Well, you can stare out into space for now." The older man said. "I need to get back to my miserable time line."

With Will still sitting there, the older Will takes his leave and tries to find somewhere to hide out until the Gaurdian takes him back to his time. He knew that would not be until the course of events were set into action, but if the timeline did not change he may have to do it all over again. "Let's just hope he doesn't make the same damn mistake I did."

Go To Chapters Twenty-one and Twenty-two

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