First Anniversary
Rating: PG-13 (Mostly implied)
disclaimers: Just the usual, Most of the characters are Paramount's, one is
mine
and one is a real person (or at least a holographic representation of
a real person), etc.
"Counselor's Personal Log Stardate 41622.3. Tomorrow is our first
anniversary. It's hard to believe Will and I have been married a
year. It's been a wonderful year full of new challenges, especially
finding time to be alone. Things haven't been perfect but from what
I've seen of others' first year of marriage, we've had a great first
year.
"For our anniversary, we're planning to have dinner in a holodeck
recreation of Aliotto's in San Francisco. Will's then promising to
take me to a holodeck recreation of Ghiardelli's for chocolate;
although he said a recreation of Hershey, Pennsylvania would be fun
to too. Either way, I'm getting chocolate for dessert. I wonder if
I can talk him into both!
"On the down side, Betazed has some traditions for the first
anniversary. I'm sure my mother will be calling me very soon to
remind me of them including one which we have haven't fulfilled yet."
"Counselor Troi, you have an incoming communiqué from Betazed."
"Thank you, put it through here." Deanna sighed. "Speak of the
devil." She tapped the communications console. "Hello, mother."
"Deanna, Happy Anniversary."
"Mother, our anniversary isn't until tomorrow"
"But, you two will be incommunicado tomorrow." She frowned. "Or
are
you neglecting that tradition too?"
"Mother, we're not neglecting tradition. We both have very demanding
jobs and taking the day off isn't an option. We're planning an
evening in the holodeck."
"So you are breaking with tradition and not isolating yourselves on
your first anniversary; although, it may be your last anniversary
since you have no children and aren't pregnant."
"Not that it's any of your business, but we have been discussing
starting a family probably very soon. Since Will is human and I'm
half human, that tradition of divorcing just because we have no
children and none on the way on our first anniversary is one we are
ignoring."
"We'll see." Lwaxana said.
Deanna glared at her. "What have you done? Have you told Will of
that tradition?"
"Yes."
"I can assure you that we will not be getting a divorce just because
I'm not pregnant."
The door opened and Will came in the room. "Mother, I've got to
go." She tapped the button ending the communication.
Will came over to her and pulled her into his arms. "Don't worry, I
won't divorce you." He knew that she had been talking to her mother
and that she was worried. He rather liked the tradition of isolation
on the first anniversary though and made arrangements for them to do
so. "As for the other tradition of isolation, I've made arrangements
for both of us to have tomorrow off. Perhaps we can spend the whole
day in the holodeck or here so maybe by our second anniversary, we'll
have a little one of our own."
"I'm so glad you didn't let Mother influence you." She kissed
him. "I've been researching Earth anniversary traditions and
discovered that the First Anniversary is paper."
"I know, but trust me, my gift to you will not be divorce papers on
paper."
"I hope not." She pulled away. "So, what do you want for dinner?"
He pulled her into his arms again. "You." He picked her up and
carried her into the bedroom.
"Don't you want to wait until tomorrow?" When he looked at her
somewhat disappointedly, she smiled. "I've been keeping track for
the last couple of months. There's a good chance I could conceive
our first child in the next couple of days. Wouldn't you rather wait
to conceive our first child on our anniversary?"
"I figured you were and, my dear, it is our anniversary on Earth."
"You know, sometimes you can be as bad as my mother." When Will
threatened to drop her, she grabbed on to him tighter which only
served to fuel his already increasing passion. She felt it and felt
the same thing, but continued making her point. "I mean, I'm
surprised my mother is acknowledging our anniversary is tomorrow and
not in 3 weeks."
"That's the point. With our Betazoid anniversary in 3 weeks and the
possibility that you could conceive within the next few days, you
could be pregnant by our first anniversary on Betazed."
"When did my mother tell you all this about Betazoid traditions for
our first anniversary?"
"The day we returned from our honeymoon."
Deanna rolled her eyes. "Figures." She smiled and snuggled closer
to Will as he carried her into the bedroom.
Later that evening
"Are you sure you're not hungry?" Deanna asked as she tried to
squirm away from Will who held her tighter. "You know you have a
ship to command."
"Not until the day after tomorrow. I've left a message to be left
undisturbed unless it's an absolute, life threatening emergency." He
pulled her into his arms and kissed her.
"Man does not live by sex alone." Deanna said.
"I'd sure like to try."
Deanna laughed. The last couple of hours reminded her of the last
week of their honeymoon. During the first two weeks, Deanna spent
quite a bit of time centering herself after the horrendous events
with Shinzon and his Viceroy. She woke up about half the nights with
nightmares. When she did, Will held her until she fell back to
sleep. During the last week, they spent more time in their tiny
cabin below deck than on deck. She knew eventually one or both would
decide they needed to eat something to maintain their strength. More
than once they hadn't quite made it through dinner before their
hunger for each other overcame their hunger for nourishing food – or,
in Deanna's case, chocolate. Deanna cuddled up closer. "You know
what would be fun tomorrow?"
"What?"
"Recreating the Opal Sea and our catamaran for the day."
"You're giving up chocolate?"
"Of course not. We can have dinner like we planned and then have
chocolate for dessert. I'm thinking of during the day."
"Sounds intriguing."
Deanna looked up into Will's twinkling blue eyes and batted her
eyes. "Now, can we get up and get something to eat?"
Will smiled. "Sure." He got up and put a robe on and went into the
living room.
Deanna laid a few minutes more reflecting on the last year. There
were more good than bad times. She had stopped fearing for Will's
life whenever his first officer couldn't convince him not to lead an
away team. Initially, they had a few disagreements when Will would
lead an away team, but they stopped once her fears stopped. One
time, Commander Jenkins said to her "He was a first officer too
long. Old habits die hard." Only one night did she make Will sleep
on the sofa. She smiled when she remembered how apologetic he had
been the next morning. He replicated flowers for her and made her
breakfast in bed. Needless to say, they barely made the staff
meeting on time that morning.
"I thought you were hungry." Will said from the doorway.
"I am." Deanna said. She got up, put a robe on and followed Will
into the dining area where he served her smoked salmon with green
beans.
"What were you thinking about when I came in? You were smiling."
"I was thinking about the night I made you sleep on the sofa."
"That made you smile?"
"No, what made me smile was your apology, flowers, breakfast in
bed…" She trailed off. "As much as I enjoyed making up, I didn't
enjoy sleeping alone. I noticed you blocked me that night."
He smiled. `Yes, because I didn't want you to know how guilty I
felt. I know you were right to be angry. All the times, I stopped
Jean Luc from going on away missions and the couple of times you
stopped me from going; I should not have gotten angry with you or
Sandy." He paused and smiled mischievously. "I also noticed you
blocked me as well."
She smiled. "I, too, didn't want you to know how guilty I felt. I
could tell you weren't sleeping but wasn't sure if it was loneliness
or being uncomfortable. I didn't sleep well either, because I was
lonely."
He reached over and took her hand. "Let's not do that again. If we
have a fight, let's at least not go to bed angry."
"OK, now let's eat so we don't go to bed hungry."
The next morning, Deanna got up early. Neither she nor Will slept
very much, but now he was sleeping. She decided to make Will
breakfast in bed. When she had the meal replicated, she carried the
tray into the bedroom.
<<Hey, sleepy head, wake up.>> Will stirred and started to reach
out
and grab Deanna to pull her back on the bed.
"I wouldn't do that unless you want hot coffee, syrup, orange juice,
butter, and pancakes all over you."
He opened his eyes and smiled and then sat up. "So are you feeling
guilty about falling asleep before I was ready to let you?"
"Yeah, but I'm pretty sure you were tired too. Besides I've been
wanting to make you breakfast in bed for a year now, but you are
always up before me." She set the tray down on the bed and crawled
into bed next to Will and cuddled up. "By the way, Happy
Anniversary." After they finished eating, Will put the tray on the
floor and pulled Deanna into his arms.
"Do you want to stay here all day or recreate our Catamaran?"
"As much as I would love to stay here, I think it would be fun to
recreate our catamaran for the day." She started to pull away, but
Will pulled her close again. "At this rate, we won't spend the day
on the holodeck, but don't think you're getting out of dinner."
"I wasn't planning on it." He let Deanna go after kissing her.
"How `bout if I shower while you clean up the breakfast dishes; and
while I'm dressing, you shower."
"How `bout if we shower together."
"You're incorrigible, but I love you anyway." She took his hand and
led him into the bathroom.
After showering with only one interruption, Deanna forced Will to
dress in the bedroom while she dried and brushed her hair. When Will
wandered into the living room, he saw several packages that had been
delivered earlier. He looked at the tags and saw they were from
Beverly Crusher, Jean Luc Picard, Worf, Geordi LaForge, Guinan and
even B4. There were also packages from Lwaxana and his father. He
noticed that the communications console was blinking. After
accessing the list, he noticed that many of the messages were
anniversary messages from the crew, friends, and family.
"Wow!. This is amazing!" Deanna said as she came out of the bedroom
wearing a semi-tight fitting cover up. `Who is it all from?"
"The Enterprise crew, including B4, Guinan, Beverly, your mother, and
my father." He indicated the communications console. "We also have
a bunch of messages."
"Should we open these now?"
"Let's wait until tonight after dinner."
"Yea right. We'll probably wait until tomorrow."
"C'mon, let's go."
They left for the holodeck. While heading here, crewmembers extended
their wishes to their Captain and Counselor both of whom they had
grown to respect and like. When they reached the holodeck, they
started running the program. Within minutes, Deanna and Will were
relaxing on the deck of the catamaran on the Opal Sea.
"This is so relaxing." Deanna said. "We should do this more often."
"Yeah." Will got up. "How `bout a swim?" He held out his
hand and
helped Deanna up. As soon as she was on her feet, she reached up and
put her arms around Will's neck and kissed him. As the kiss
deepened, she started to remove Will's trunks while he started
removing her bathing suit.
Deanna broke off the kiss first. "How `bout some skinny dipping?"
"Sure." He smiled wondering how long they would be in the water.
Deanna dove in first. Will caught up with her a short distance from
the boat. She kissed him while treading water. She realized the
water was too deep to do much more. They had to tread water just to
keep afloat.
She smiled. "Computer, one floating dock and a blanket." A floating
dock and blanket appeared right next to Will and Deanna. Deanna
climbed the ladder first and turned around. She smiled
seductively. "Are you coming or not?"
Will smiled and climbed the ladder to the raft and pulled Deanna into
her arms. "I don't remember a raft like this on the Opal Sea."
"I had to do something. The boat is too far away and I'm not willing
to wait a minute longer." She kissed him. Soon their passion and
hunger for each other took over.
That evening, they recreated Aliotto's Restaurant in San Francisco
along with formal wear. While eating dinner, they reminisced about
the past year. Suddenly, the music changed from soft background
music to big band music. When Will and Deanna looked around, they
saw a recreation of the Glenn Miller Orchestra from Earth's 1930's.
The holographic Glenn Miller turned around. "As a gift to Captain
Riker and Counselor Troi on their 1st anniversary, I would like to
present "Moonlight Serenade" from the Titan Senior Staff."
The band began playing "Moonlight Serenade". Will got up and took
Deanna's hand and pulled her into a tight embrace as they danced to
the Glenn Miller classic. While they were dancing, their gifts to
each other appeared on their table. When the song was over, Will and
Deanna made their way back to the table and sat down.
"I asked Sandy to beam our gifts to us here at this time." Will said
with a smile as he handed Deanna her gift. "I hope you enjoy it."
She opened the large box and found a scrapbook. When she opened it,
she saw photos of her from her infancy to adult years followed by
pictures of Will from his infancy to his adult years. The last
photos in the scrapbook were some wedding photos, including one of
the Enterprise Senior Staff, Wesley Crusher, and Guinan, a photo
Lwaxana had taken at Betazoid wedding reception and one she took
shortly before they left. There was also a photo of Will when
Deanna was pinning the fourth pip on his uniform. The final photo
was one of Will, Deanna, Lwaxana and Kyle at the christening of the
Titan.
"This is awesome. Where did you get these photos?"
"Your mother and my father. Since the traditional first anniversary
gift is paper, I thought this would be an interesting idea for a
gift."
"I love it." She got up from her chair and moved to Will's lap and
kissed him. "I love you so much. This has been a fantastic year!"
She kissed him again and then reached across the table for her gift
to Will. "I think you'll like this."
He opened it. It was a book of the music for Glenn Miller's
compositions and a disk to play trombone duets with Glenn
Miller. "This is great. How did you ever get the music on paper?"
"Beverly found it on Earth and thought it would be a wonderful gift
for you. I asked if I could give it to you as an anniversary gift
since our first anniversary is paper and she agreed."
"Thank you." He kissed her. "I love you as much, if not more,
than
the day I married you. Now, for dessert. Computer, change program
to Ghiardelli Square and provide a hot fudge sundae with chocolate
ice cream and apple pie a la mode and a box of Ghiardelli chocolates."
The scene changed, but Deanna was not about to move from her position
on Will's lap. She reached across the table for her sundae. In
between kisses, they fed each other dessert and succeeded in making a
bit of a mess in the process. After finishing dessert, Will and
Deanna gathered their presents and started back to their quarters.
When they arrived, they tried to decide if they should open their
other gifts or not.
"I would rather go to bed now and wait until tomorrow to open the
rest of these gifts." Deanna said with the seductive smile Will
never seemed to be able to resist. He picked her up and carried her
into the bedroom where they began their second year of marriage much
like they had ended their first.
Epilogue – 3 weeks later
"Counselor's Personal Log Stardate 41625.5. We will be rendezvousing
shortly with a shuttle from Betazed carrying my mother. Sandy
Jenkins, our First Officer, is looking forward to meeting my mother.
I hope she doesn't regret it. On a brighter note, I found out
officially that I am pregnant with our first child. I've suspected
it since a few days after our anniversary. I could sense the life
force. Will was excited when I told him I suspected it and was even
more excited when it was officially confirmed by Dr. Lewis
yesterday. I know my mother will sense it, but hope she won't say
anything before Will and I have an opportunity to tell her ourselves."
"Counselor, your mother is ready to beam on board." Commander
Jenkins' voice came over the intercom.
"Thanks. Will Captain Riker be joining me in the transporter room?"
"No, I'll be joining you. He's tied up on a Priority 1 communiqué
from Command."
"Thanks. I'm on my way."
She tapped her badge. <<Chicken.>> She headed to the transporter
room where she was met by First Officer Sandy Jenkins. "OK, Sandy,
is Will really on a Priority 1 call from Command or is he just plain
chicken."
Jenkins laughed. "He really is on a Priority 1 call from Command. I
checked and he didn't arrange for it to come in now."
Deanna laughed and turned to the transporter chief. "Energize."
Seconds later Lwaxana Troi materialized and smiled when she saw
Deanna. "Deanna, my dear, I'm so glad I could be here to celebrate
your first anniversary." She looked around. "Where's William and
who's this?" She indicated Jenkins.
"Will, is on a priority 1 call from Starfleet Command but will be
joining us as soon as he's finished. This is Commander Sandy
Jenkins, our First Officer."
Jenkins held out her hand. "Nice to meet you Mrs. Troi. I've been
looking forward to meeting you for sometime now."
Lwaxana shook it. <<She's quite attractive. I hope William can be
trusted with someone as attractive as her as First Officer.>> She
sent to Deanna.
"Mother, you know it's impolite to use telepathy around non-
telepaths. Yes, Sandy is quite attractive and I can trust Will."
Deanna smiled. "Besides, Sandy is dating our Security Officer, who
happens to be one of Will's closest friends on the ship."
"Commander, if I can offer you one bit of advice. Don't wait too
long to marry him and don't let a stubborn parent prevent you from
being with him. It'll save your parents much pain in the future."
"Thanks, Mrs. Troi, we've received the same advice from two others."
She smiled. "I better get back to the Bridge. I'll send Captain
Riker to your quarters, Mrs. Troi, when he's finished with his call."
"Thanks, Sandy."
Jenkins left for the Bridge while Deanna took her mother to her
quarters. When Sandy returned to the Bridge, Will was sitting in the
Command Chair. She walked down the ramp and sat down next to
him. "Finished?"
"Yes. I would have joined you when I finished, but I wanted to get
your impression of Lwaxana."
"You were right about her, but I like her. She must have said
something telepathically to Deanna about my being attractive and
trusting you."
Will rolled his eyes. "Great, now she's not going to trust me with
you. Did Deanna defend me?"
"Yes, she said she could trust you and that I was dating Jimmy.
Then, she offered me the same advice you and Deanna gave me about not
waiting to get married if we decided to go that route." She
smiled. "You better go before you get into more trouble. I'll see
you for dinner."
"OK, if you want to see more fireworks with Lwaxana, come early. It
should be interesting when she finds out Deanna's cooking." Sandy
looked at him quizzically. "She doesn't know Deanna has learned to
cook over the last year." He headed to the turbolift.
When he reached Lwaxana's quarters, she greeted him with a hug. "So,
you weren't avoiding me."
"No, I was on a Priority 1 communiqué from Command." In anticipation
of her next question, "It won't have any effect on your visit. We
have to leave in a few days."
"It's not dangerous is it? I know you two have something to tell me."
"Command doesn't anticipate any danger." He glanced at Deanna. She
smiled.
"Mother, I knew you would sense it and am glad you didn't say
anything when Sandy was around." She smiled and took Will's
hand. "I'm pregnant. I'm only a few weeks along, but it was
confirmed yesterday."
"Is it a boy or a girl?"
"We don't know yet."
Lwaxana got up from her chair and started across the room to where
Will and Deanna were sitting. "Mother, we don't want to know."
"OK. Your father didn't want to know with either you or Kestra. I,
of course, knew but didn't tell him."
"You will be naming it a traditional Betazoid name for a girl won't
you?"
"Actually, we decided on grandparents names. Elizabeth Lwaxana for a
girl and Andrew Kyle for a boy. We figured on our deceased parents
for first names."
Lwaxana smiled. "That's lovely." She pulled Deanna to her feet and
hugged her. "I'm so happy. Honestly, it doesn't matter what you
have because I'll spoil this child either way." Will had gotten up.
Lwaxana hugged him as well. "Have you told your father?"
"Not yet. We were going to wait for a few more weeks but knew you
would know right away. We'll tell him as soon as he calls. I sent a
message for him to call us. He'll probably guess what we want. This
may come as a bit of a surprise to you, but he's been bugging us for
grandchildren more than you. It could be an interesting battle to
see who does the most spoiling."
Lwaxana smiled. "Deanna, have you been eating properly and taking
care of yourself?"
"I've had no choice. Mother, was daddy overprotective of you when
you were pregnant with either Kestra or me?"
"At times, especially early on." She smiled at Will. "If she's
anything like me, she may complain about your being over-protective
but will secretly enjoy it."
"I know she's enjoying breakfast in bed – when she's not too sick
to
enjoy it." Will said with a smile.
Deanna smiled mischievously. "Just wait until the cravings start
kicking in. Who knows what I'll demand then."
Lwaxana smiled. She knew that her daughter and son-in-law would be
excellent parents and had a feeling this child would not be her only
grandchild.
Nine months later
Deanna was sitting on the edge of the bed after having spent a fairly
restless night. She was surprised she hadn't slept well because the
day before she had been busily putting the finishing touches on the
nursery. She had awakened several times through the night not
knowing why. Now, while sitting on the bed she felt a contraction
and realized that was probably what had awakened her through the
night. She reached for the tricorder that the doctor had given her
just for this moment. She ran it over her abdomen and smiled at the
results. She was, indeed, in labor. From what she could determine,
the very early stages. She pulled herself up and went into the
bathroom where Will was taking a shower. She almost dreaded telling
him because she knew he would be more over-protective now than he had
been since they found out she was pregnant. She stripped off her
nightgown and moved into the shower with Will. He wasn't overly
surprised because, in addition to her "nesting" instincts the last
couple of days, she had also been a bit more amorous. He leaned over
and kissed her.
"Want me to wash your hair or back first?" He asked
"My hair." While he was washing her hair, she felt another
contraction and smiled. She could feel it coming on and decided to
get Will to be holding her when the next one hit. After he finished
washing her hair, he started on her back, rubbing sensuously up and
down her back. "Hold me for a minute."
"Sure." He pulled her close wrapping his arms around her stomach.
She leaned back against him. Her feeling had been accurate. It
wasn't long before the next contraction hit. Will smiled. "You knew
this would happen, didn't you and wanted to surprise me?"
"Guilty." She turned around in his arms and kissed him. "Now
let's
finish with this shower and head to sickbay for a quick exam. I have
a feeling, we'll be spending most of the day here waiting." At that
point, a particularly strong contraction hit. "Or maybe not." She
looked up and saw that Will had visibly paled.
A few minutes later, Will and Deanna were on their way to sickbay for
an exam. When they arrived, Dr. Lewis examined Deanna.
"I would have to guess that by this evening, there will be a third
Riker on board the Titan." He said with a smile. "There's no need
to stay here all day. Just time the contractions and come back when
they are a few minutes apart."
"OK." Deanna said.
When she and Will returned to their quarters, they contacted Lwaxana
and Kyle to tell them they would have a grandchild by the end of the
day. Then they cuddled up on the sofa to time the contractions and
spend the last few hours they would have alone for a while.
Later that afternoon.
"OK, Deanna push. I see the head. It won't be much longer." Dr.
Lewis said.
With every contraction Will encouraged Deanna both telepathically and
non-telepathically. He held her tightly as she pushed and kissed the
top of her head after every contraction. Fortunately, Deanna was
concentrating so much on pushing that she didn't notice that he was
scared and was having trouble seeing her in so much pain. He knew it
would be worth it when he held his son or daughter for the first
time, but in the meantime, it was difficult to watch.
After one final push, the baby slipped from Deanna and into the
waiting arms of Dr. Lewis, who smiled. "Congratulations, Elizabeth
Lwaxana Riker has arrived!"
Deanna leaned back into Will's arms and looked up at him. He kissed
her. "You did beautifully!"
Dr. Lewis handed Elizabeth to Deanna who kissed the top of her
head. "Welcome to our lives Elizabeth." Will leaned over and kissed
her on the head also.
"I'll let you two get to know your daughter. Do you want me to make
a ship wide announcement?" Dr. Lewis asked.
"Sure." Deanna said.
With that, Dr. Lewis left the room. Deanna handed Elizabeth to
Will. Elizabeth took Will's finger right away, which caused Deanna
to laugh. "She already has you wrapped around her finger."
Will laughed. "No more than her mother has for almost 20 years."
"Hopefully, it will stay that way for a long, long time." Deanna
said. "I love you."
"I love you too." Elizabeth started to cry. "I think someone
wants
dinner." Will said as he handed the baby to Deanna.
As he watched Deanna nurse their daughter, he realized that right now
he was as happy as he had ever been and hoped it would never change.
End