Part 28 (1/2)

27.

One scan after another yielded nothing but good news.

”It's truly remarkable, Captain,” Dr. Ree said to Riker, who stood with him in t.i.tan's sickbay, on the other side of the biobed, holding Troi's hand. Gesturing toward the vital-signs monitor above her head, the reptilian physician continued, ”All of Deanna's readings are optimal, across the board. There's no sign of damage in the uterine wall and no abnormalities in the fetus.”

Troi reclined on the biobed, her face beaming with joy as she looked at Riker. ”She's okay, Will,” Troi said. ”Our daughter is okay.” Tears rolled from her eyes.

Riker, still reeling from the revelation of his wife's recovery, asked Ree, ”This is the Caeliar's work?”

”Yes, sir. And I've only told you part of the good news.” He called up a new screen of information on the overhead display. ”In addition to healing Deanna and her child, the Caeliar saw fit to restore all of her unreleased ova as well. Which means that if the two of you so desire, there's no reason you couldn't have more than one child.”

Riker asked, ”What about the risk of miscarriage?”

”I'm happy to report that's no longer an issue,” Ree said. ”Your complications were genetic in nature, and the Caeliar have amended that-quite ably, I might add. They've also rejuvenated much of Deanna's internal physiology.”

It was Troi's turn to react with surprise. She sat up quickly as she said, ”Rejuvenated?”

”Yes, my dear counselor,” Ree said. ”Inyx reversed much of the age-related deterioration in your tissues and organs. If one were to judge your age based solely on an internal scan, you would register as a woman of thirty, in the prime of your life.”

A giddy smile brightened her face as she looked at Riker and said, ”I guess that explains why I feel so amazing.”

”Guess so,” Riker said, mirroring her happiness. He looked at Ree and asked with intense interest, ”How did they do it? Genetic therapy? Nanosurgery?”

Ree c.o.c.ked his head sideways and tasted the air with a flick of his tongue. ”I have absolutely no idea,” he said. ”Deanna's treatment was performed in secret. If I seem impressed by Inyx's amazing results, I'm positively stunned by the fact that he left no discernible trace of how he did it.” He switched off the biobed, and the overhead screen went dark. ”If you want, I can keep running tests to see if I can uncover his methods, but I doubt I'll find anything.”

”Don't bother,” Riker said, helping Troi to a sitting position on the edge of the bed. ”We've had enough tests.”

”I quite agree,” Ree said, empathizing with the suffering Riker and Troi had endured over the past several months, from the invasive rigors of fertility therapy to the heartbreak of a miscarriage and the close call of a second failed pregnancy. ”My prescription for the two of you is simply this: Go spend some time alone, and a.s.suming the universe doesn't come to a fiery end tomorrow, come back next month for a routine prenatal exam-with an emphasis on routine.”

”Thank you, Doctor,” Troi said, wrapping her arm around Riker's waist. ”For everything-including biting me.”

”You're welcome,” Ree said.

Riker did a double-take. ”He bit you?”

”Let's go,” Troi said, cajoling Riker gently as she pulled him out of sickbay. ”I'll tell you all about it...in private.”

Will Riker's relief was so profound, the burden that had been lifted so ponderous, that he felt breathless, as if he'd gone from the pit of the sea to the peak of a mountaintop.

His Imzadi was home and healed.

Their child was safe.

The future was theirs again, something to look forward to instead of fear. They'd stepped to the precipice, faced the fathomless darkness, and come back whole.

He and Deanna stood in the main room of their quarters on t.i.tan and held each other. The fragrance of her hair, the warmth of her body, and her empathic radiance of well-being combined in his senses to mean one thing: home.

She hugged him with greater vigor and pressed her face to his chest. ”You don't need to say it,” she said, reacting to his unspoken, still-forming thoughts and confirming for him that their telepathic bond was as strong as it had ever been.

”Yes, I do,” he said. ”You know I do.” He kissed the top of her head. ”I'm so sorry I left you. I didn't want to.”

”I know,” she said, reaching up to stroke his cheek.

”Please forgive me,” he said.

Deanna pressed her palms softly on his cheeks and pulled his face to hers. She planted a delicate kiss on his lips and another on the tip of his nose. ”I forgive you,” she said. ”It was a terrible choice. I'm sorry you had to make it.”

Clasping her hands in his own, he felt the sincerity of her forgiveness and the intensity of her elation. Lost in a giddy haze, he asked, ”Are you hungry?”

”Not at all,” she said, shaking her head and smiling.

”Neither am I,” he said, and they laughed for a moment. It was goofy laughter, like an unmotivated overflow of joy.

In a blink, Deanna's mood turned bittersweet, and tears welled in her eyes. ”Thank you,” she said.

”For...?”

”For supporting me when we argued with Dr. Ree a few days ago. I know you disagreed with my decision, for all the right reasons, but in sickbay, you always took my side. You trusted me.”

”I believed in you,” he said, looking with wonder at the amazing woman who had deigned to spend her life with him. ”And, as always, my faith in you has been richly rewarded.”

She relaxed back into his arms, and he was glad to support her weight. It had been months since they'd felt this close, this in tune with each other, and he found it deeply gratifying to feel wanted-and needed-again.

”After everything,” Deanna said, ”I still can't believe it's finally happening for us. A family, Will. Children. We can even have more than one if we want.”

”If I didn't know it was thanks to science, I'd call it a miracle,” he replied with a grin.

Deanna reacted with a sigh and a look of concerned dismay. ”Now all we have to fear is the Borg,” she said. Riker tried to think of some way to defuse her anxiety, but he was at a loss, because he knew she was right. She continued, ”We're so close, Will. So close to living the life we've always wanted, and now we're hours away from the biggest confrontation with the Borg we've ever seen. We've fought so hard for this child, for us, for a second chance. I can't stand the thought of seeing it taken away.” She implored him as much with her gaze as with her words, ”Please tell me we have a plan, Will. Please.”

”I know Captain Hernandez does,” he said. ”And Jean-Luc might be cooking up one of his own. So, yes, there is a plan.”

”Okay, so they have plans,” she said. ”What about us? What are we going to do?”

Riker shrugged, glib humor his defense of last resort. ”The same thing we always do,” he said. ”The impossible.”

Ranul Keru found Torvig-with guidance from t.i.tan's main computer-in a remote, hard-to-reach forward compartment located just above the main deflector dish. The young Choblik engineer stood on a narrow catwalk and gazed through a broad sliver of a view-port. He turned his ovine head in Keru's direction as the tall, brawny Trill approached him. Light from the surrounding machinery glinted off Torvig's metallic eyes and cybernetic enhancements. For once, the normally loquacious young ensign remained silent and resumed staring out into s.p.a.ce.

The security chief stepped carefully across the grid-grated catwalk, mindful of its low guardrails and the precipitous drop into the workings of the deflector dish. Shuffling along for the last few steps, he sidled up to Torvig and asked, ”Hiding?”

”I desired an isolated place in which to think.”

”Your quarters aren't private?”