Paramount owns all rights to the Star Trek universe and it's characters.

"Imzadi!" Riker bolted up in bed soaked with sweat and tried to gain in his surroundings while he recalled the nightmare he had just had. Worf and Deanna stood in her quarters arguing and Worf began to hit her and she fell to the floor, bruised and bleeding and Worf left, leaving Deanna to die. It was one of the most horrorfying dreams he had ever had, but i could have been true. Riker glanced at the choronometer that read 03:00 hours. It was very late, but Riker felt a deathly feeling in his stomach, like an icy hand on his soul, and ran to Deanna's quarters to make sure that his Imzadi was alright.
When he got to her quarters, he rang the chime, and when nothing happened, he rang it again and asked,
"Deanna,...are you alright?"
When still no answer came, he opened the doors to find Deanna lying in the floor bruised and bleeding, just like in his dream.
"Deanna!" he cried out. He rushed over to her and knelt over her body and smoothed the hair away from her face and said,
"Deanna," he said, almost in tears, "Imzadi,...what has he done to you?"
He knew that Worf had been there because the dream he had was real and he saw that his Imzadi was fading away fast and he picked her up carefully in his arms and carried her to sickbay. He whispered words of love to her on the way afraid that she might die in his arms before he could save her.
When riker stormed into sickbay, Nurse Ogawa saw Deanna and the look in Riker's eyes and called Dr. Crusher as he carefully laid her on a medical table and awaited Dr. Crusher. When she came, she saw Deanna lying there and almost fainted at the sight of her best friend in that condition.
"Will," she cried, "What in the world happened to her?" "Worf happened to her, Beverly, and you have to help her."
She looked at Riker and saw the fear in his eyes and hurriedly ran a tricorder over Deanna while Riker stayed by her side and keep whispering to her, hoping that it would keep her connected to the outside world.
"Will," Beverly said softly, "you'll have to leave." Deanna has some broken bones and some internal bleeding and I have to operate on her to fix it." Riker looked at her with horror and said, "But I want to stay with Deanna." "You can stay outside and wait for her, but you can't stay in here."
Will reluctantly complied and kissed Deanna gently on the lips and left Beverly to operate on his Imzadi.
After about an hour of fidgeting and pacing, Beverly came out of the operating room and smiled when she saw Will and said, "You can go in and see her now, she's alright."
Will looked as if he could have hugged Beverly, but simply said, "Thank you," and rushed in to see Deanna.
Deanna lay on the operating table and smiled when she saw Will enter and when Will sat down beside her and held her hand she weakly said,
"Beverly told me that you carried me here and waited on me." Will smiled sadly and happily at the same time and said, "Yeah, I wanted to make sure you were o.k." Deanna smiled and said, "I'm fine. I'll just be weak for a little while. And maybe a little sore."
Riker hesitated to asked her, but he knew he had to.
"Deanna, what do you want me to do about Worf?" Deanna frowned and said "Nothing. We were just having an argument and he got a little carried away." "A little!" Riker argued, "Deanna, he could have killed you!"
Will looked down with remorse and said sadly,
" I would have missed you..."
He reached to lightly touch the side of her cheek and she knelt into his touch and felt the sadness that he felt.
The moment was broken as the doors to the room whisked open to reveal Worf. Will looked at Deanna and stood up to leave and as he pasted Worf, made sure to keep his eyes down as he left Deanna alone with the man who had almost killed his Imzadi.
Riker left for ten-forward and sought out Guinan. He found her over at the bar and sat down. The enigmatic hostess glided over and gently said,
"What can I do for you Commander?" "Just give me an ale and I'll be fine." "Coming up."
She glided over to the nearest replicator, ordered and ale, and brought it over to the Commnader, but held it just out of his reach.
"Guinan, what are you doing?" he asked tiredly. "You said, 'Give me and ale and I'll be fine,' now just what did you mean by that?"
Will sighed as he had to reveal the events of horror that he had seen that morning.
"I found Deanna in her quarters and she was hurt and I brought her to sickbay and she had to be operated on and when she woke up I...went to talk to her and Worf..., well, he came in and I left and..well, it bothers me that he has the nerve to come and see her after he has almost beaten her to death." "Well, our Security Chief has been busy with Deanna lately..." "Guinan!" Will yelled. "Sorry..." she apologized and glided away.
Deanna walked into ten-forward and searched out Will and found him sitting by the bar. She walked over to him and sat down beside him and when he looked up, she smiled.
"Are you alright?" he shyly, yet concerned, asked. "Yes, Will, I'm fine."
Will thought about what the captain had told him about shore leave on Betazed. He hesitated to ask at first, but then he considered Deanna might want a little R&R after her...encounter...with Worf that morning.
"You know that we are on a routine mapping mission and...it's near Betazed, and I asked the captain if it was alright if some of the crew took shore leave,...and I was wondering if you would like to come with me?"
Deanna looked down, partially embarrassed and said, "I appreciate your offer, but...Worf has already asked me if I would like to go and I said yes."
"Oh," Will said sadly, "well, I'm sorry, I didn't know...um, that's o.k., we'll just do it some other time." Will hurried to think of an excuse to be able to leave. "Well, I have to report to the bridge, my shift is about to begin." He barely gave her time to say anything before he said, "Well, you get some rest and I'll see you later." He left hurriedly, leaving a confused Deanna behind to ponder his hurry in leaving.
The turbolift ride to the bridge was the longest turbolift ride Riker had ever had. He wondered how Deanna could treat him like that...leaving on shore leave with someone who obviously didn't care about her and him having offered shore leave to her with someone who cared more for her than anyone else in the world. Him.
When the turbolift reached the bridge, Will took his seat in the "big chair" as everyone called it, and looked out at the stars flying by at Warp 8 and thought about his Imzadi. it was going to be a long trip to Betazed.
Will stood in front of the Troi mansion awaiting to enter. Having decided go to Betazed to talk to Lwaxana about Deanna and their...current situation. The massive doors to the Troi mansion opened and there stood Mr. Homn, well, the first thing Will saw was his knees and then he had to crane his neck up to see his eyes as Mr. Homn looked down and gave an inquiring look.
"I'm here to see Lwaxana, please."
Mr. Homn glided out of the way and allowed Riker to enter and showed him to the sitting room and brought him an exotic drink and calmly said in a deep voice, which he rarely used, "Ms. Troi will see you shortly." Riker nodded a thank you and sat and sipped the drink and waited for what seemed about five minutes, when to doors to the sitting room opened and Ms. Troi walked in.
He stood to welcome her in and she hugged him as she said,
"Commander, so good to see you, but...on shore leave on this lovely planet without my 'little one'?"
He knew if Deanna were there she would have rolled her eyes at the "little one" Lwaxana always used when Deanna came.
"Deanna is here on shore leave, but with someone else." Lwaxana looked confused for a moment, but then said, "Oh, well, what did you come here for Commander?" "Will, please, Ms. Troi." "Oh, alright, Comman-, Will, what do you want?" "I came here to talk about Deanna." "Yes, Deanna. Has something hurt her lately, Will? I have felt nothing but pain from her lately...is something wrong?"
Will looked down as he considered the matter at hand and said, "Yes, Lwaxana, something has happened..."
Deanna and Worf stopped outside the West entrance to the mansion. "I'm sorry, Worf, but that's just the way that I feel about our relationship..." Deanna gently said.
She had just explained to Worf that she thought that their relationship was not working out because of the differences in their cultures and feelings.
"As long as you are happy." Worf said, "And once again, I apologize for the hurt I have caused you." "It's alright Worf, I'm fine, you just got carried away and...well, I'm fine now." Deanna said encouragingly. "I will leave now and I thank you for giving me a chance with the most beautiful and stunning woman aboard the Enterprise." "Thank you Worf, and thank you for all of the good times we had together."
They kissed for the last time and Deanna went up to her room to sit and think about what had just happened when she heard talking from downstairs. She went to the top of the stairs and heard two distinct voices with she recognized as Will Riker and her mother. She stood there and listened as Will spoke words she thought she would never hear him say...
"Ms. Troi, I love your daughter beyond all imagining and because I love her, I want her to be happy and she tells me she is happy with Worf and Deanna has never lied to me and I trust her when she says she is happy with Worf."
Lwaxana countered and said, "Even if Worf..." She couldn't bring herself to say the words. "Even if...I don't know how she is happy being hurt, but, I guess she gets some of that from when I hurt her." "But what you did to her all those years ago amounts nothing to what that, that...Klingon does to her now!" "Ms.Troi, I know that, but Deanna is happy and because I love her, I want her to stay that way...even if it is with Worf..."
At that moment Deanna came running down the stairs in tears about what Will had said, and Will and Lwaxana stood up and as Deanna ran into Will's arms, he said, "Deanna, what's wrong?"
"I..heard..what..you..said." She said between sobs. "Calm down, Deanna," Will said as he lead her over to the couch. "Now tell me, what's wrong..." "I was here with Worf and I told him that we shouldn't be together because it was not working out and we...we..." "Will brushed the stray hair away from her face and said, "Calm down, Deanna, now why did you tell Worf to leave you if you were so happy?" "Oh, Will, I, I, didn't like him...," she glanced over at her mother who now sat in the chair opposite to the couch and back to Will as she continued and said, "hitting me either." Will looked relieved and confused at the same time as he started to say, "Deanna..." "Will," she interrupted as she touched his face forgetting that her mother was even there, "I love you, too, and I was happy with you."
Will looked into those beautiful Betaziod eyes he had gotten lost in so many times before, "You were?"
"Yes, Will, and I would like to show you how happy by granting you the privilege of taking me on shore leave like you asked me on the ship...that is, if you would have me." Will smiled broadly and said, "Yes, Deanna, I would love to take you on shore leave."
When they sat there staring at each other with nothing said, Lwaxana, unable to stand it any longer, jumped up and said, "Well, what are you two waiting for! Get out of here!"
Will and Deanna looked excitedly at each other as Lwaxana hurried them out the door. Deanna stopped in the doorway and said,
"Thank you, Will, thank you for everything." Will smiled broadly and said, "You're welcome,..Imzadi."
Deanna smiled as Will's lips met hers in the longest and sweetest kiss they had ever shared since they had parted on Betazed. Will Hugged her and lead her out the door as Lwaxana smiled in the doorway and said, "I love happy endings."

END