AN ENEMY’S RETURN

rachel@traverse.net

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Chapter 1 

Deanna Troi-Riker sat in her usual corner booth at the Ten-Forward Lounge, sipping at her hot chocolate, and patiently waiting for the rest of her friends to get off of duty and join her for dinner.

Beverly was the first to come bounding into the doors, and waved to Deannaas she made her way across the semi-crowded lounge, “I thought I got out early, what is your deal.”

Deanna smiled, and patted the seat next to her for Beverly to sit down, “My last appointment of the day was to interview some new ensign that was recently transferred to the ship. However, I guess he was detained filing out some paperwork, because he called and rescheduled last minute. Seemed real polite, thought.”

Beverly playfully nuged her elbow into Deanna, “Well if he is cute and single, you know where to send him.”

William Riker entered the lounge next and shot his winning smile toward Deanna direction, Beverly rolled her eyes, “If I wasn’t so happy for you two, I would have to kill you both for being so damn cute.”

Deanna’s eyes never leaving Will gave a soft chuckle, “I guess that means we should count our blessings that you are happy.”

Beverly gave up her seat next to Deanna to Will, and slid over to the other side of the booth, “So have you guys agreed to a name yet, or are we just going to refer to the child as Baby Riker?”

Deanna protectively rubbed her protruding belly, “We are narrowing it down.”

Beverly rolled her eyes, “That little girl is going to be out of there in a few precious weeks, so I suggest you two speed up your narrowing down.”

Before Will or Deanna had time to respond, Geordi and Jean-Luc joined the growing group, “Number One, Counselor, Doctor, how is everyone doing this evening?”

“Well besides a little unneeded harassment by our fair doctor, we are fairing pretty good.” William Riker said.

Beverly threw a wadded up napkin towards Will’s direction.

Jean-Luc nervously cleared his throat, “Counselor, how did your meeting go with ensign Demoss?”

Deanna nudged Will, “I am starving, can you order me a pizza, and a sundae, and. . .a chocolate milk shake.”

The table groaned in unison causing Deanna to blush, “Sorry . . .what were you saying about ensign Demoss, Captain?”

“I was just inquiring on how his psych evaluation went.”

Deanna greedily grabbed at the pretzels the new young waitress set on the table as an appetizer, “He canceled on me. Something about his paperwork running longer then expected.”

Captain Picard frowned, and rubbed his chin in concentration, “That’s odd, according to Data his paperwork was finished yesterday.”

“The guys probably being pushed in all sorts of directions, with moving in and all, I really wouldn’t worry about it.” Will commented, as he sat back down at the table with a tray loaded with Deanna’s goodies.

“Will’s right,” Deanna said, as she stuffed a large slice of pizza in her mouth, “he was really polite about canceling and rescheduled for tomorrow morning. If you would like Captain, I can send you a report regarding his evaluation results.”

“Yes Counselor, please do. This ensign has a promising career in starfleet.” The Captain eyes wandered to the door, “If fact Mr. Demoss has just walked in, does anybody object to me inviting him to join us.”

The Captain stood up before anybody could object, “Ensign Demoss, I have a few people I would like you to meet.”

The blond haired ensign nodded to the Captain and made his way over to the table. “Mr. Demoss, I would like to introduce you to,” the Captain started at the left of the table, “Dr. Beverly Crusher, Chief Medical Officer.”

Beverly stood up and shook the man’s hand, “Hmmm . .” she thought to herself, “kind of old to be an ensign, but very, very cute.”

“Mr. LaForge, Chief Engineer.” The Captain continued.

Geordi followed Beverly’s lead by standing up and shaking the man’s hand.

“and finally Mr. William Riker, our first officer and his wife Deanna, our ship counselor.”

The ensign shook William hand firmly and then turned to Deanna, “Mrs. Riker, it is a honor to meet you.” He bowed down on his knee and hung his head down.

Will stepped in front of his wife, alarmed by this man’s actions, “What are you doing?”

Demoss quickly stood up, “I mean your wife no harm. It’s just on my planet she is considered royalty and therefore I must treat her as such.”

Deanna peek around her husband’s body, “You are from Bezated.”

“Yes and no ma’am. My mother was from Betazed and my father was from earth. We lived on earth, however my mother raised both my sister and I with full knowledge of Betazed, including the houses, and the ruling families. She felt it was important for us to have respect for our heritage, both earth and Betazed.”

Deanna smiled, “Well Mr. Demoss it seems we have more in common then we thought, for I to come from a Betazed/Earth pairing. Except I was raised on Betazed.” Deanna extended her hand for a handshake.

Demoss grabbed her hand and brought it up to his lips to kiss it. As he did this, Deanna felt a cold shock of recognition by his touch and recoiled.

“Victor.”

Chapter 2

Deanna continued to back away from the new ensign, her face draining of color. “Victor . . .no . . .no not now.”

Concerned, Will rushed to her side, “Deanna, what’s wrong.” He put his hands around her shaking shoulders.

She accusingly shook her finger at the ensign, “Damn it, why won’t you leaveme alone. Please go away . . .Please.” Her legs started to give out on her, so Will and Geordi rushed to her side to keep her balanced.

The Ensign just stood there, a dumbfounded expression on his face, “I . .I don’t know any Victor. Really. My first name Mitch.”

Deanna continued to shake, “LIAR. I can feel you. Did you really think your disguise would fool me. I am an empath, I can tell when you are lying.” Her face became distorted in her rage, “Worf, we have to get Worf to take this guy away. Before he hurts me or my baby.”

“Dee, honey, this isn’t Victor. Dee look at him, he doesn’t resemble Victor at all.” Will said soothingly, “Please calm down, it’s not good on the baby.”

Deanna dark eyes were laced with hurt as she turned to her husband, “Trust me. I can feel him. His presence is overtaking this room. He is suffocating me.”

“Dee,” Beverly walked up to her friend, an emergency hypospray full of sedative hidden securely in her hand, “Your empath abilities have been off center throughout this pregnancy. I truly believe that to you this gentleman feels like Victor, but Dee he’s not. I ran his physical this morning, his DNA, blood samples, and hair samples don’t match Victor’s at all. If Victor was to walk on his ship as an imposter, I would know. This guy is not him.” Beverly said, keeping her hypospray gun readily at hand for another outburst.

“Beverly, he is here.”

The Captain stepped up, next to Beverly, “If you really think he is on this ship, I will have Worf do a security sweep.”

Deanna looked at the Captain, “I don’t know. I . . .” she sighed, “I think I need to return to my cabin.”

Will bent down and kissed the top of Deanna’s head, “I think this is my cue to take my wife home. Mr. Demoss, I hope you forgive us.”

“Of course, no hard feelings.” He held his hand out to Deanna for a hand shake. She tentatively looked at it, and then to her husband. Will, picking up on his wife’s silent cue, grabbed the ensigns hand, “We will see you around.”

* * * *

Deanna lounged of the couple sofa, as Will drew her a hot bubble bath. Deanna’s hands still shook from the earlier episode in the Ten-Forward.

“Deanna” Will called her name from the bathroom, “Your bath is ready.”

Deanna sat motionless on the sofa, so lost in her thoughts that she did not hear her husbands call.

Will walked out of the bathroom and headed for the couple’s sofa. He came up behind Deanna and laid his hand on her shoulder, causing her to jump. “Dee, I said you bath is ready.”

Deanna looked up at her husband apologetically, “Sorry. I guess I was lost my thoughts.”

Will walked in front of her and lifted his hands for her to grab. She smiled up at him, and grabbed on to both of his hands. Together the two of them pulled Deanna to a standing position.

“Now that’s team work” Will laughed.

“Yeah, sure” Deanna said distractedly, subconsciously rubbing her belly in soothing circles.

Slowly the two of them made their way from the living room to the bathroom in silence, both lost in their own thoughts. Deanna was troubled by the feeling of Victor she was experiencing, and Will was distressed over Deanna’s trouble.

“You heard Beverly, Mitch is not Victor.” Will started ,when the two of them had made their way into the bathroom. He reached up behind his wife and began to unzip her maternity uniform.

“Will, I felt Victor when he touched my hand. It was overwhelming and unmistakable. It wasn’t just a fluke reading like saying he was happy when he was sad, it was a ‘oh my god I’ve touched this hand before and felt this man’s emotions before kind of feeling’. A feeling that wouldn’t be mistaken because my hormones are out of whack.” Deanna sighed and lifted her hands so Will could lift the uniform off her body.

Will helped her out of her undergarments and aided her to slowly and carefully ease into the tub. “Dee, I think you are being a little harsh on Mitch. Couldn’t, at the moment Mitch touched your hand, Victor had attempted to mess with your mind. Making you believe that the sensation had come from Mitch when in truth it came from Victor. I mean this isn’t the first time Victor has attempted to screw around with your mind.”

Deanna sat forward in the tub, and without a single word being spoken, Will grabbed a washcloth and started scrubbing her back. Lately the two had grown so close together that no words were needed between them to get a particular request across. “Will before, when he messed with me it always seemed distant and far away. It was like a little nuisance that I could easily block. But not today, today’s incident was so strong. I couldn’t have blocked it, even if I had been prepared to expect it.”

The more Deanna spoke, the more Will felt a knot grow bigger in his stomach.

He had never heard Deanna sound so sure about a reading before, as well as so scared and apprehensive. Maybe he was being foolish discounting his wife’s fear

Chapter 3

Deanna Riker nervously drummed her fingers of her office desk, while waiting for her next patient, Ensign Mitch Demoss. Logically, she knew there was nothing to be afraid of, because all facts proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Mitch was not Victor, and therefore she had nothing to worry about. Illogically however, she could not shake the feeling that Victor and Mitch were one in the same, despite all of Beverly’s evidence.

“Counselor”, her speaker phone buzzed to life.

Deanna cringed, “Yes Lucia” she called to her new assistant.

“Ensign Demoss is here for his evaluation.”

Deanna felt a cold dark presence instantaneously wash over her body, “Give me five minutes and then send him in”.

She sat silently until she could be sure that the intercom had shut off, and then reached for her badge, “D. Riker to R. Riker.”

“Hey Deanna it’s Georgi.”

“Geordi, why do you have Will’s badge? Is he hurt? Is he missing” Deanna asked, panic invading her voice. She thought she could feel his presence in her mind, however, maybe it was one of Victor’s elaborate tricks.

“No, nothing like that Dee. Today’s the day he runs the simulations with the new crew members, didn’t he tell you? Captain’s orders are that he has no interruptions, unless it’s an emergency. Are you in labor???” Geordi asked excitedly.

Deanna chuckled in spite of her growing discomfort, “Don’t I wish. No Geordi, it was nothing important, D. Riker out.”

Deanna closed her eyes, “Pull it together Deanna, you have a job to do here.” She muttered under her breath. She slowly took a couple of deep breaths and patted her stomach for comfort.

Not more then a minute later, the doors of her office flew open and Mitch Demoss walked in, carrying a large box, “I hope I am not interrupting anything, your assistant said it was okay I came in.”

Deanna clutched her desk, “No, no problem. Won’t you please come in.”

Victor struggled with the large box as he walked into the room.

“May I ask what that is?” Deanna asked suspiciously eyeing the large box.

“It’s a present for you and the commander. Well. . . actually it’s for your baby. You know kind of a, “let’s forget first impressions and try to be friends” gift.” Mitch said earnestly, “I kind of got the story around the ship about this Victor guy and I apologize for any bad vibes I sent off. I guess I should have made a point to warn you ahead of time that another empath was coming on the ship.”

Deanna smiled, as she felt her nerves slowly easing down, “Yes well I should have read you bio before today anyway, so we will call in even.”

Mitch started to extend his hand, but stopped himself halfway up and quickly put it back at his side, “So, do you want to open it?”

“Sure, why not.” Deanna got up from the chair behind her desk and slowly walked around to the chair sitting next to Mitch. “You really didn’t have to do this though.”

“It was really no trouble, I had my mother send it from earth.”

Deanna felt a chill run down her spine, “Your mother?”

“It was nothing, really. Please open it. I am dying to see you reaction.”

Deanna felt Victor’s presence all around her, “Maybe I should wait until Will can join me. You know, we could do it together.”

Mitch’s face contorted into an evil grin, “Will is going to be BUSY for a very LONG TIME. Now I told you to OPEN THE DAMN PRESENT.” He jumped up from the chair he was sitting in and walked behind Deanna’s chair. He placed his hands firmly on her shoulders, so to deter her from moving.

“Your Victor, aren’t you?” Deanna whispered, fear gripping her very soul.

The hands resting on her shoulders tightened, causing Deanna to yelp in pain, “I could have sworn I asked you to OPEN THE DAMN PRESENT, and yet you sit here making idle chit-chat. Are you ungrateful?”

Deanna felt a sudden pain in her abdomen, and she doubled over in the chair. A small trickle of blood began to make a path down her leg, “The baby, something’s wrong with the baby.”

Mitch yanked the chair from underneath her, causing Deanna to fall to the floor. “YOU UNGRATEFUL WITCH. I’LL OPEN THE DAMN BOX MYSELF.” Mitch screamed, his face flushing with his anger.

Deanna laid curled up on the floor in a little ball, clutching her swollen belly. “Please call Dr. Crusher . . .please.”

Mitch ignored her, and ripped open the box. He reached inside with both hands and pulled out a child-size, green overstuffed chair. An exact duplicate of the one that sat in her mother’s house, and the one that Victor Demoss has tied her up to, when he had kidnapped her two years ago.

Deanna began to bawl, “No, no, no.”

“Oh yes.” Mitch said

Deanna collapsed, falling unconscious.

Chapter 4

Deanna Riker laid unconscious on the bio-bed in the Enterprise’s sickbay, her husband sat next to her, clutching his wife hand. “How does this happen Beverly? How does a perfectly healthy pregnant woman, in her seventh month of pregnancy, suddenly lose a baby and potentially lose her own life as well.”

Beverly sadly shook her head, “I wish I knew. All her test have come back normal. Will, you have to believe me when I tell you I’ve monitored this pregnancy closer then I have ever monitored a pregnancy before, not because she was a high risk but because she is my best friend. I wanted to deliver this baby more then anything else in my whole career.” Tears formed in the doctor’s blue eyes, “we should just be happy that Mitch was with her when this happened. I fear to think what could have happened if nobody was there with her when she fell over.”

“Mitch was with her?”

“Yes. Why?”

Will shook his head, troubled by knowing that Mitch was with her at the time of the incident “I have to go talk to Mitch and find out the specifics of what happened.” He gently placed Deanna’s hand back at her side, and got up from his chair. “Beverly, the second Deanna wakes up I want you to find me. I think the news about the baby should come from me.”

Bevely nodded, her blue eyes haunted, “Will I know Deanna was troubled by Mitch and was having feeling that he was Victor, but I swear he isn’t. DNA doesn’t lie, Will. It is not something that can be faked.” She placed a firm hand on his shoulder, “He’s not Victor.

Will stared at her with his own tormented eyes, “Maybe he is . . .maybe he isn’t.”

* * * *

Will quickly spotted Mitch Demoss sitting alone at a corner table in the Ten-Forward lounge sipping on what appeared to be a synthol beer. He motioned for Guina to get him his usual drink and walked over to where the ensign was sitting.

“Mind if I join you,” Will asked, motioning to the seat across from Demoss.

Mitch looked up, startled by the Commander’s presence, “No. . .go right ahead. Is Deanna awake?”

Will shook his head, “No, Dr. Crusher is with her now. The prognosis doesn’t look good.”

“Really,” Mitch said, a hint of surprise in his voice.

“Yeah, seems Dr. Crusher found a surprising high amount of a hallucinate drug in her body,” Will said, eyeing the man across from him for any signs of discomfort.

“Does she know what kind of drug?” Mitch asked, his eyes nervously darting back and forth across the room.

Will shrugged his shoulders, “She told me, but it had a really long name that was easily forgettable, unless you have a medical degree of course.”

Mitch cleared his throat, “I really should go.” He jumped up from his seat.

“Really,” Will said, grabbing the man’s hand, “I was kind of hoping you could stay. I was kinda thinking that maybe the two of us could have a little chat. We could talk about the weather, the beer, how you faked your DNA testing to get back on the ship, and maybe how I am going to rip you apart limb from limb. What do you say Mitch . . .or should I say Vic”

Mitch’s blue eyes blazed red with fury, “I don’t know what the damn you are talking about, COMMANDER. Now I suggest you let go of me before I call security.”

“Who do you think Worf is going to believe, Vic? Me or you.” Will said, sarcasm thick through his voice.

Mitch slowly eased back into his chair, “Dr. Crusher didn’t find anything in Deanna’s body, did she?”

“You know for a skilled empath it sure took you long enough to figure our I’m lying. Now I think it’s time to discuss how I’m going to tear you limb from limb.”

Mitch let a self satisfying grin spread across his Californian features, “You can’t harm a hair on my head, Commander Blue Eyes. If you hurt me, I will have you committed for injuring an innocent Ensign under your command. You will be shipped off back to earth in a straight jacket, and your beautiful wife will be left alone. . .well maybe I wouldn’t let her suffer all alone.”

Will lunged for the Demoss’ throat. Demoss quickly stepped back out of Will’s reach, causing the commander to lose his footing and go crashing on the table. The noise of Will’s fall caused heads to turn throughout the lounge.

“Commander, I think you’ve had a rough day,” Mitch spoke, loud enough for the whole room to hear, “why don’t you let me help you back to your room.”

Will blushed, “I am not going anywhere with you.” he spoke through clenched teeth.

“I think you want to follow me back to my room.” Mich said in a hushed tone, “Your wife’s life, as well as your daughter’s may depend on it.

Chapter 5

“What the hell is that suppose to mean.” Will roared.

Mitch ignored Will’s outburst and started towards the door. Will dumbfounded by Mitch’s comment, quickly ran after him to catch up. He wasn’t quite sure what other choice he had.

“What the hell kind of sick joke are you playing,” Will puffed, out of breath from trying to catch up to Mitch.

Mitch continued to ignore Will as he made this way through the enterprise corridors towards his quaters.

“Answer me damn it, I will not be ignored.” Will said, pushing Mitch up against the wall.

“All will be answered in good time Commander, however only if you are on good behavior.”

Will slammed his fist into the wall next to Mitch’s head.

“Better?” Mitch asked, cocking his left eyebrow.

“Much.”

Mitch then walked a few feet more to the door of his quaters, quickly punched in his access code, and the doors hissed open. The two men quickly walked in.

Will choked, as he gazed around the picture laden walls of Mitch’s corridors. Everywhere he looked there were pictures of Deanna. Deanna as a young girl, playing outside her mother’s mansion; Deanna as a teenager, walking around campus with her friends, Deanna’s image was plastered everywhere.

“You really need a hobby.” Will replied, disgustedly.

Just then the door of Mitch’s bathroom hissed open, and an older lady walked out, carrying a new born baby swaddled in a man’s shirt.

“Is he ready to negotiate? Or do we get to kill?” the woman spat, her dark eyes full of hate.

“I haven’t finished telling him the story yet mother.”

The woman rolled her eyes,”Really Victor, you can’t pull off anything under five hours can you.” The woman bony figure sat next to Will on the bed and passed him the baby, “this is your daughter.”

Will looked down at the small infant with the dark coal eyes and the dimpled chin, “This is one of your elaborate tricks again, isn’t it. Deanna lost our baby.”

“No trick,” the woman with the steel gray hair and the dull dark eyes replied, “I slipped your ignorant wife a labor inducing drug in her morning cocoa at the ten - forward the morning before she supposedly lost the baby. That way, by the time Victor arrived at her office for Mitch’s supposed psych evaluation, the baby was well on it’s way.

Will stared down at his daughter, mesmerized by her miniature Deanna features, “I don’t understand why, or how?”

Mitch reached behind his head and unclasped a large silver band from his neck. As he unlatched the necklace, the features of Mitch disappeared with the features of Victor taking his place. “Holograms, you gotta love them.”

Will shook his head in disbelief, “Beverly said Deanna lost the baby. How did you doctor her diagnosis.”

Victor walked over to sit on the other side of Will, “I didn’t doctor her diagnosis, I doctored her equipment. This Enterprise is too dependent on computers. Computers that I can and have hacked into without even thinking about it. I simply did a little fancy computer work before ever setting foot on this ship, and ta da, new identity with credentials from a fake captain and a fake ship, new DNA, the works.”

Will subconsciously clutched tighter his baby, “What’s do you want from me?”

The woman pushed the swaddle of shirt away from the baby, which revealed a small circular metal charm with flashing lights, “That,” she pointed to the object, “is a bomb that I hold the detonation code for. Your wife was fitted with one that my Victor holds the detonation code for.”

Will stared down at the baby, a sense of helplessness washing over him, “Go on. . .”

“It’s simple, we want one of the two.” The woman said in her matter of fact tone. “My son is holding out for Deanna . . .however, I myself have taken a fashion to your little girl.” The woman’s wrinkled hand patted the head of the sleeping child, “I think it would be nice to hold Lwaxana Troi’s first grandbaby over that wretched woman’s head for the rest of her miserable life.”

“You want me to chose?” he asked incredulously.

“Yes” both Victor and his mother said in unison.

Before Will could respond baby Riker decided to but her two cents in, by belting out a loud cry.

“Shhh.” Will soothed to the baby, he picked her up from his lap and layed the small child across his chest. The child’s weight accidentally triggering an open communication with the bridge of the Enterprise.

* * * *

Captain Picard, Worf, Data, and the other members of the Enterprise currently on the bridge, sat silently listening to the communications being relayed from William Riker’s badge to their loud speaker.

“I can’t chose between my wife, and my child.” Will voice came through muffled through the speaker.

“You will, or I will gladly kill them both.” Victor/Mitch responded.

“Mr. Data,” Captain Picard swiveled his chair to meet the android face to face, “can you pinpoint the location of Mr. Riker.”

“He is in Ensign Mitch Demoss’ Quaters.”

“Mr. Worf” the Captian then swiveled his chair to his chief security officer.

Worf without comment, ran to the turbo-lift with his security team. He did not need further commands on what to do.

Chapter 6

“And what if I don’t chose?” Will asked.

“I kill them both, then I fake Mitch’s death at your hands. You will be alive and miserable.” The older woman laughed, “and Victor and I will have the final laugh on the wretched Troi household.”

Just then a knock came at the door.

“Quite” the old woman hissed, “Victor fixed it so the computer will recognize nobody to be is in here.”

Just then the doors swished open and Worf’s mammoth presence stood in the middle of the doorway, “Quite a shame your boy couldn’t figure out how to shut off the communicator badges.”

The woman shot a cold stare in Will’s direction, “You will be sorry Commander. Victor, begin your detention sequence.

“NO” rang a voice from the ceiling, followed by two blaster shots. Each shot precisely hitting the correct DeDavis in the head, quickly ending their miserable twisted lives.

Will stood back in the corner of the room, protectively holding the crying baby away from blaster shots and falling debris.”My god Worf, who was that?”

The Klingon shook his head in confusion.

A panel slid out from the ceiling air shaft, and a pale Deanna Riker tumbled out onto the floor with a weak smile plastered on her face, “Nobody messes with my family . . .nobody.”

* * * *

Will Riker sat with his daughter on his lap, next to his wife’s bio-bed, and recounted all the events that had happened within the last twenty-four hours since her fateful appointment with Mitch Demoss.

“She really activated your comm-link?” Deanna asked amazed.

“Of course, she is a Riker so she knows how to handle a bad situation.”

“Really, I was thinking more along the lines that she is a Riker so she knows how to throw her weight around.” Deanna chided, a twinkle in her eye.

Just then a soft tap came from the doorway, “I’ve come to put the little hero in her bed for the night.” Beverly Crusher said smiling, a tear of admiration and love in her eye.”

Will groaned, “I really think she is comfortable where she is.”

Beverly gently lifted the baby out of Will’s arms, “I know, but I’d like to run a few scans of her anyway, and it is always better to do it when they are sleeping.”

“She is okay, isn’t she?” Deanna asked, rising up from her bed to look Beverly in the eye.

“Relax, I’m sure she is fine. I am just being overly protective because she was born without any medical attention.”

Deanna smiled and layed back on her bed, satisfied with that answer.

“Did you name her?” Beverly asked curiously.

Will smiled, “Yes, you are looking at little Reanna Riker.”

“Reanna? That unusual.”

“Not really,” Deanna said, “When you think her Mommy is Deanna and her Daddy is Riker, and she is a combo of both her mommy and daddy.”

Beverly smiled, “You two are doing that nauseatingly sweet thing again . . .I gotta go before I resent you guys anymore then I already do.” And with that Beverly and little Reanna retreated to the nursery.

Will grabbed Deanna hand and met her eye to eye, “I am sorry I didn’t believe you about Victor.”

Deanna sat up and kissed him on the lips, “It’s okay, you have the rest of your life to make it up to me.”

Will gave her his winning smile, “I can do that.”

THE END