Obviously, this
story takes place just before the events in Nemesis unfold as the title would
suggest. If you don't want to be spoiled for the new movie, this is a warning to
not read it. For those, like me who love spoilers....enjoy.
Disclaimer: The characters and "event" in this story are not
mine...Paramount owns them. Everything else, I've got dibbs on.
"The Night Before the Wedding"
by Sarah K.
trylikeafool@gmail.com
She reached for the hair at the back of his neck. So quiet she had been that
he didn‘t realize she had come out of the house into the cool Alaskan evening
breeze. "Couldn’t sleep?"
He threw a glance over his shoulder, resting the cup of coffee he had been nursing
on his knee as he sat in the rocking chair on the front porch. He saw that she
had a blanket wrapped around her shoulders with one of her hands keeping it
tightly closed and the other doing incredible things to his neck. "I haven’t
been home in a long time," he said nostalgically. He had been remembering
his times here while he stared at the sun setting behind the nearby mountain
range. It had set long ago by now, however. Still, he found himself out here,
alone, after his bachelor party onboard the Enterprise earlier.
"So, you’re losing sleep over it?" Deanna smiled down at him softly.
He could only barely see her face with a lantern sitting on the rail in front
of them being the only light other than the stars.
He returned her smile and looked away, back to his mountains. "You know
that I wouldn’t be able to sleep anyway. I used to come out here and look at
the mountains and somehow it would always calm me down." The intention
behind his words was obvious to her. She was out here for precisely the same
reason.
"You’re nervous?" she asked simply, yet sincerely already knowing
the answer. She was nervous too.
"What can I say?" he shrugged nonchalantly, one might say he was embarrassed
by his reticence. She knew he was. But she could hardly blame him.
"Is it working?" She saw his face look up at her in confusion. That
look. Any look from him was one to treasure. The way he always managed to look
like he must have when he had been a boy, running through the wide fields that
went from the very porch on which they were occupying, right to the bottom of
the mountains in the distance.
"What?" he asked tenderly in reference to her last question. Their
eyes met and both felt there lips curl up slightly at the sides. The feelings
were too remarkable to keep from showing with a smile or the light in their
eyes.
Deanna smiled fully now at him, not being able to hold it in. Not taking her
eyes away from his, she answered his question, "The mountains."
"Hardly," he exhaled almost with a nervous chuckle. He looked down
at his coffee and remembered that he was still holding it. He took a sip and
then gripped the cup a little tighter as if it would help ease the tension,
albeit good tension.
Deanna picked up on that tension and she gracefully lowered herself onto his
lap, curling up against him. Their faces were only centimeters apart, just the
way they liked having conversations with each other. "Tomorrow is a big
day." She gently began running her hands across his chest and shoulders.
The smooth motions never failed to calm him down to a certain measure of degree.
If anything, it aloud her to get is undivided attention. She smiled again at
that. It comforted her to know that she knew this man as well as she did. He
knew her too.
Will set his coffee on the wood floor beneath them and wrapped his arms around
her. "For all of us." Their relationship had affected not only them,
but also those around them. They were a family, a family that was going to say
goodbye in some form or another tomorrow. It was a milestone in their life together
and they were going to share it with their closest friends.
"Yes, but especially for you and me." Deanna acknowledged his thoughts
but quickly pointed out that tomorrow was going to be their day. Hers and Will‘s.
She wanted never to forget it. Tomorrow she was going to focus on him...her
new husband.
Will looked at her intently and drew a deep breath as if he was afraid to speak.
"I don’t know if I’m ready to say goodbye."
Deanna paused in thought for a moment and then looked out at her surroundings.
"You left this place."
Will let out a snicker and shook his head slowly as he followed her gaze. "This
place...is filled with unwanted memories. I was glad when I was able to leave
it behind."
Deanna turned her attention back to him. "And yet you sit here tonight."
Will kept his gaze on the mountains. "A lot of things have changed since
then."
She lowered her forehead to his and felt his focus shift back to her. "A
lot," she repeated. "You like those changes and now you don’t want
to change again."
"I have a family now. I didn’t then. It’s hard to let go." Will knew
that this was sounding more like a counseling session than a conversation with
his wife to be, but it was a part of Deanna that he had learned to accept a
long time ago. Truth was, he kind of needed a counselor tonight. After all,
he was getting married tomorrow. That alone was enough for any man to need a
counselor.
Deanna‘s thoughts turned to Beverly and Jean-Luc. It was going to be very hard.
"For me too. But tomorrow, you and I become a family. A true family."
She felt his heart soar at those words. Hers chased his into the galaxy of stars
above them.
Will then realized that she was right. His family would no longer truly be the
officers he‘d served with over the past fifteen years. It would be him and her.
"And, everyone else become simply our close friends?" he asked quietly.
It almost sounded cruel to him to say that. But it was the truth. They would
always be like family, but not his family anymore.
"You’re going to miss the Captain," Deanna attributed this to the
father-son relationship that Will and Jean-Luc had forged over the years, particularly
in the past couple of years.
"You’re going to miss Beverly," Will countered.
Deanna did her best to ignore his last comment, knowing it would only move to
upset her if she dwelled on it. Instead she turned the conversation back to
him. "You see him as the father you always wanted."
Will looked her square in the eyes. "And you see her as a link to your
humanity, someone that you could share with, like you and Chandra did,"
he managed to throw back at her.
They both stayed quiet for some time, giving in to the tender and true observations
both and just made. "And then there’s the Enterprise," Deanna said
delicately, not wanting to shatter whatever it was hanging between the two of
them.
Will‘s eyes softened as he thought about his ship. It was what he had wanted
for so many years. It was one of the reasons he had turned down his own command
so many times. "The flagship. Our home for the past fifteen years."
Deanna pushed against his chest slightly, deciding to dwell on what was in front
of them. "The Titan is a good ship, Will. Galaxy class. I heard that it
greatly resembles the D."
Will had been studying the specs on the Titan for many weeks now. He knew it
almost as well as the Enterprise. "It does. I’ve seen specs and pictures.
It’ll have families and children aboard. We’ll deal with a lot of diplomats
like we used to. Our quarters will be bigger." She smiled at that. She
remembered the shock and disappointment that they all had when they first came
aboard the Enterprise E at the size of their quarters. It was smaller than the
D and it had taken a while to get used to it.
Deanna leaned into him again. "You already know your first officer and
chief of security. And you’re taking quite a gamble with Reg, but I’m sure he’ll
work out just fine."
Will shot her an incredulous look. "Thanks. That made me feel much better."
Deanna smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and shoulders. "He’s
so excited. Chief engineer is something that he’s deserved for a long time.
He may be a little shy and imaginative at times...but that’s why I’ll be there."
"I hope that’s not the only reason." Deanna felt his lips begin a
slow dance on her neck just below her ear.
She tilted her head somewhat to allow him better access. "Well, I’ll have
to live with my husband to keep him happy. Other than that...Oh!" Will
pulled his lips away from her and playfully pinched her stomach. She immediately
covered her mouth with her hand and hit him on the chest.
Will did his best to cover up his laughter. "Shh. You’re going to wake
everyone up and we’ll get in trouble." The entire senior staff and wedding
party were lodged in his house for the night.
Deanna dropped her hand from her mouth and eyed him suspiciously. "Why?
Because it’s after midnight?" she said in a lower tone.
"Exactly," Will spread his hands to emphasize his point.
Deanna cocked her head at him and a grin began to grow on her face. "Please
tell me you don’t believe in that superstition."
Will tapped her nose with his finger. "Tradition, not superstition. Besides,
you’re the one that found me out here and we‘ll just leave it at that."
They did exactly that.
Deanna buried her head in the crook of his neck and shoulder, and wrapped her
arms tightly around his midriff. "We’ve come so far."
Will sighed and tightened his hold on her. "We still have a long way to
go. The universe is a big place."
Deanna felt herself relaxing. She wasn‘t nervous anymore and she noticed for
the first time that neither was he. "Mmm. A lot of things can happen."
Will felt an involuntary shiver from her. He looked down and pulled the blanket
snug around her. "Cold?"
Deanna shifted slightly to get closer to him, if it were at all possible. "I
thought you said Alaska was warm in the summer."
He heard Deanna yawn tiredly and he smiled at the picture of her in his arms,
imagining that the next fifty years was going to be filled with many more just
like it. "It will be when the sun rises. Everything will be fine when the
sun rises."
The End.