I started writing this after seeing Man of the People recently.
There's a vague Nemesis reference at the very end but I wouldn't call
it a spoiler exactly considering it's something that almost everyone
knows about anyway.
The Longest 30 Minutes
"First Officer's Personal Log, Stardate 46075.7. Beverly killed
Deanna today. Deanna was dead for only 30 minutes but they were the
longest 30 minutes of my life. She did it to save Deanna, who was
under some kind of influence by the Lumerian ambassador we
transported to Rekag-Seronia. He called her a `receptacle'. A
receptacle is an object! Deanna is not an object, she's a living
being!
"When Beverly gave Deanna the dylamadon, I held Deanna's hand. When
she actually `died', all I wanted to do was hold her and cry but
didn't want to breakdown in front of Captain Picard. During the 30
minutes, I felt like I lost a part of me. I never realized our bond
was a strong as it was after so many years.
"Beverly said she could revive Deanna as long as it was less than 30
minutes. I hoped that Alkar would release her in time. During the
inordinately long wait, I hoped Lwaxana wouldn't sense
Deanna's `death' and suggested that one of us contact Lwaxana to
update her. Captain Picard did so.
"5 minutes passed…
"10 minutes…
"15 minutes and still no sign of Alkar.
"Captain Picard contacted him and told him Deanna was dying.
"By the time Alkar arrived in Sickbay, 25 minutes had passed and I
wasn't sure he would release his hold on Deanna in time for Beverly
to save her. The way I felt when Alkar walked in the room looking so
upset that Deanna was dead made me want to kill him. I couldn't
understand how he could be so uncaring about what he did to Deanna
and then look so upset about Deanna's death.
"When Beverly declared Deanna `dead', I thought my heart would
break. Alkar asked Liva to meet him in his quarters. I know she was
in danger of being Alkar's next `receptacle' but found myself only
vaguely caring as long as he released Deanna in time to save her.
When Alkar left, there were only 3 minutes, 40 seconds left before
Beverly would be unable to save Deanna. The next 2 minutes were
agonizing. Finally with 90 seconds to go, Beverly revived Deanna.
The time from when Beverly started the enzymic decontamination until
Ogawa declared Deanna's neurotransmitter level was under 300% seemed
like forever. Within minutes, Deanna started to look like herself.
I was relieved when Worf contacted the Captain and declared Alkar
dead.
"When Deanna opened her eyes, looked at me and took my hand, I let go
the breath I didn't realize I was holding. I looked over at Beverly
who must have realized that I just wanted to hug Deanna, because she
nodded and after I helped Deanna sit up, I pulled her into my arms
and held her tightly.
"After Beverly ran a few tests on Deanna to make she wasn't suffering
from may physical effects of her ordeal, she released Deanna to my
care.
"After dinner, we finally talked about the past few days. Deanna
apologized profusely for scratching me although she didn't apologize
for attempting to seduce me. She thanked me for sticking by her. I
told her that I would even when she's `old and gray.' I thought that
might elicit some reaction, but it didn't. We just sat back on the
sofa and enjoyed the evening and each other's company.
"These last few days and especially the 30 minutes Deanna was `dead'
made me realize how much I love Deanna. Maybe someday we'll both be
ready to take our relationship to the next level. It may take a
year, 5 years or maybe 9 years.
"End personal log"