The Surmounting of Pain and Strife

Chapters Four Through Six

Chapter Four

The last several days passed without too much insident. Deanna made it through all the stresses of her job. Her patients were quite a variety and the one she was concerned most of all with, was to come into her office in the next few minutes.

She was not sure what approach to take with her, but she knew she had to come up with something. She thought about reverse psychology on her, then thought better of it. She thought maybe a more direct tactic would be best.

She checked the time. 1000 hours. "Well, she should be here soon."

She finished her notes on her previous patient and decided a little straightening up would not hurt. It was now 1005 hours.

The evening that Susan had spent in the holodeck with Reg, had turned into a long night for Deanna. For Susan, became very upset and requested to talk to her. It was then Susan started to open up to Deanna a little, but only enough to feel somewhat safe in her quarters.

Deanna was not concerned yet, but was wondering if she was going to be stood up, just as Beverly had been. She sat down at her desk and waited, not sure what to do with herself.

She finally remembered she had to write up an AIMS test she had done on one of her patients. She was not sure why they were required anymore, but in the past, some medications caused Tardive Dyskinsia. So, she thought it was a precaution that was required in case the newer medications were to cause involuntary muscular problems.

She finally heard the chime ring and looked at the time again. 1015 hours. Deanna frowned. "Come in."

Susan strolled in looking very fatigued. "I was begining to worry about you, Susan." Deanna stated. "Are you alright?"

Susan shrugged. "Rough night." Then she fell into her usual seat.

"Susan, have you gotten any sleep at all lately?"

"Maybe an hour or two a night, but then I awake with a start." She finally admitted.

"Have you tried the sleep inducers Dr. Crusher gave you?"

"Yeah, more like sleep inhibitors!" Susan said sarcastically, with a slight chuckle.

Deanna frowned. "So, why is it so hard to sleep?"

Susan shrugged, but said nothing.

"Have you eaten anything, today?"

"Yes." She lied.

"Susan, I don't know if you know, but I'm part Betazoid." Deanna informed her.

"So?" She said defensively.

"So, I am empathic. I can tell when people are not being honest."

"I'm not lying!" Susan shrieked defensively.

"OK. If you want to tell me you are, then we'll go with that for now." Deanna said.

"I do eat, like other people." Susan was very much on the defensive now.

"Susan, I can't help you unless you are honest with me." Deanna informed her. "But if you wish, we can move on and talk about something else."

"Oh, so you're going to dump me, because I'm not eating?"

"So, you do admit you haven't eaten anything?"

"I didn't say that." Susan denied.

"How long has it been?"

"What do you mean?" Susan asked. Deanna sensed fear was building inside of the young woman.

"I think you know."

"I can't remember." Susan answered. "You're not going to throw me out of here are you?"

"No, I'm not, but I do think you need to be more forth coming in answering me." Deanna stated.

"Why do you care?" Susan said with anger behind her voice.

Deanna moved closer to Susan and Susan stiffened. Deanna was again sitting on the couch closest to her, but was not going to touch her this time.

"Susan, I would not have gone into this profession, if I did not care about people."

"Night time is so hard." She said softly. "Every time I doze off I see his face. Then I jump and can't go back to sleep. I'm too afraid to."

"Well, that's the most honest thing you've said so far." Deanna told her. "I can understand how hard that could be."

"How do you know?" Susan said. "You've never been there."

"No, not in the physical sense." Deanna told her. "But, I have an idea."

"Right." She said sarcastically.

"What is it that frightens you so badly at night?" Deanna asked.

Susan shook her head. "I don't know. It's just feelings. Overwhelming feelings."

"Can you discribe them?"

"Mainly fear. Fear to be alone. Fear not to be alone. Fear something bad is going to happen if I fall asleep."

"What would happen if you fell asleep?"

Tears trailed down Susan's face. She sniffed. "I don't know." She said softly. So softly Deanna almost did not hear her.

"I know this is very hard for you talk about, but for me to help you, I have to know what's going on in your mind."

"You're Betazoid. You should know." Susan said in order to avoid talking about what was on her mind. "You shouldn't have to ask."

"I'm only half Betazoid. I can not sense thoughts. Only emotions." Deanna restated. "Susan, if you continue to avoid talking about what happened, it's not going to get any better."

"I'll be fine." Susan said slowly. "I have always been fine."

"Always?" Deanna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes, all my life I have managed to survive and I will continue to survive."

Deanna took a deep breath. "What do you mean by all your life?"

"Exactly what I said."

"Can you elaborate for me?"

"No." Susan said softly, still trying to avoid what was on her mind.

"I can sense you are very afraid to talk about what is bothering you." Deanna stated. "Why are you so afraid?"

Susan did not answer at first. Then slowly, with tears starting to trickle faster down her face, she said, "You might."

Deanna waited patiently. Finally, Susan continued. "Think."

Another pause. "I'm a terrible."

She began to cry harder. Deanna moved even closer and hugged Susan. Susan accepted the hug this time without pulling away, just as a little girl would accept the comfort of her mother's hug.

"No, Susan." Deanna said soothingly. "You're not a terrible person. You have no control over other people's actions. Only your own."

Susan continued to cry, but said nothing more. Deanna knew Susan was going to have a long uphill battle and it was going to take a lot of work on Deanna's part to help the young woman.

After a few moments, Deanna moved back to her seat. "Susan, I hate to tell you this, but."

Susan nodded her head and sobbed. "I know. Time's up."

Deanna thought briefly. "Is there anything that makes you happy?"

"Not that I can think of right now." Susan sniffed as she grabbed a tissue and tried to wipe the tears away.

"Well, why don't you try another holodeck program and try to relax the rest of the day?" Deanna suggested.

Susan nodded, but Deanna sensed that with the release of pent up emotions, came other feelings. Feelings that worried her, but Deanna wanted to give her the opportunity to recover, in hopes Susan could cope on her own for a while.

Susan departed and Deanna went about to her note taking, until her next patient arrived.


At the end of the day, Deanna returned to her quarters with an uneasy feeling. She tried to take her mind of her patients, for her day was over, but she could not shake the feeling something was really wrong with one of them.

Deanna walked into their quarters and Will greeted her. She threw her arms around him and gave him a kiss and a hug. She stayed in his arms and enjoyed his peaceful, loving feelings.

"Another rough day?" He asked holding her in his arms.

"Yes, but I'm enjoying being here with you." She looked up at him and he leaned over to kiss her again.

"You hungry?" He asked.

"You cooked again?" Deanna asked as he pulled away to get dinner. "This is becoming a habit with you."

"Actually, I replicated this time." He informed her.

"Will, you're going to spoil me, whether you really cook or if you replicate."

"Hey, what are husbands for?" He grinned.

She walked over to him as he set dinner on the table and pulled him close. Throwing her arms around his neck she said, "Gods, Will, I love you!" Then kissed him again.

"What have I done to deserve this?" He asked surprised.

Continuing to hold him with one arm she reaches over and grabs a green bean. "Just being you." She replied with a smile. Then she puts the green bean in her mouth.

"Well, would you like a plate and fork or would you like to continue eating with your hands?" Will asked playfully.

"Well, I can't think of what to do with green beans, but eat them." She said teasingly. "But I can think of a lot of things to do with the mash potatoes."

"Oh, no Deanna." He said with a smile. "Let's eat and play later."

"OK, if you insist."


Susan was in her quarters, still in a mournful mood. "It hurts so bad." She thought. "Nighttime is so awful."

She felt the sharp edge with her fingers. Enjoying how it felt and smiled. Then she studied the object in her hands and smiled. She felt she found the only answer to rid herself of the pain.


After they finished dinner, Deanna and Will were sitting on the couch enjoying each others company. Deanna had taken her mind off of Susan, as Will drowned her in kisses and affection.

Will laid her back on the couch and moved down from her lips to her neck. Then he removed her top from her shoulders and started kissing and caressing her breasts.

Deanna was so into his affection, that nothing of the days events seemed to remain. She moaned, but then she suddenly stiffened. She sensed something was very wrong.

"Will, wait."

"What's wrong?"

Deanna shook her head as she tried to get Will to let her sit up. "I'm not sure." She told him. Then her eyes opened wide. "Will, it's Susan!"

Will realized it was one of her patients, but had no idea why she revealed her name. "Deanna, you have got to stop worrying about your patients after work." Then tried to kiss her again.

Deanna pushed him away and rushed to straighten her clothes. "No, you don't understand!" She said with urgency. "Call secruity!" Then Deanna tapped her combadge. "Troi to Dr. Crusher."

"You're serious!" He said with shock.

"Deadly." She said animously as she rushed out the door.

Chapter Five

Deanna arrived at Susan's door first and enter her emergency bypass code. Beverly was right behind her and thanks to Will doing his part, so was security.

However, they were too late to stop Susan. She was unconscious and sprawled on the floor. Her wrists were slashed wide open and she was lying in a pool of her own blood.

Beverly went into action and tapped her combadge. "Transportor Room." Beverly called. "I need a site to site transport, immediately! Three to beam to sickbay."

Before Deanna was transported to Sickbay, with Beverly and her patient, she noticed the only one of the security officers that did not look green in the face was Worf. Worf had a very strong stomach, thank the gods, but the rest, she was not sure of given their looks. For now, however, that was beside the point.

Once in Sickbay, Beverly immediately went into action. "I need vitals and five units of blood! Stat!"

Beverly grab the auto-suture and gloves to close Susan's wounds on her wrists as Allyssa told the vitals. "Temp. 96.0, BP 50 over 30, pulse 30."

"She's gone into shock, I need 10 cc of norepinephrine, now!" Ordered Beverly and she administered the medication as fast as a nurse handed it to her.

Another nurse was giving Susan blood, as Allyssa called out the vitals.

"Doctor." Said Allyssa. "Temp has drop to 95.8. BP 48 over 30. Pulse is study."

"I need to stop this bleeding quickly!" Beverly said as she went back to suturing Susan. "Alyssa, continue to keep an eye on her vitals and if it continues to drop you give her another 10 cc of norep."

"Yes, Doctor."

"Sponge!" Beverly ordered to clean off some of the blood as she tried to close the wounds.

The tension was high as Beverly worked feverishly to save Susan's life. "Damn!" Beverly yelled out in frustration.

Deanna stood by and watched as the medical team did their jobs. There was nothing she could do for Susan right now, except let Beverly do her job. She was Beverly's patient now and probably would be for a while.

"Administering another 10cc of norep." Allyssa called out. "Temp 95.5 BP 47 over 28 Pulse 28."

Deanna could sense not only Beverly's stress at that moment, but her anger. Anger that was being directed towards her at the moment. Why she was not sure, but she felt she would soon find out.

"Sponge!" Beverly called out again to clean up the blood on the other wrist.

"Vitals are stable at temp 96 BP 48 over 30 and Pulse 30." Allyssa informed.

Beverly was almost finished closing up the gaping wounds Susan had made on herself. She was still very angry with the situation and Deanna sensed that if it were not for the fact Beverly had a job to do, she would be lashing out at someone right about now. Mainly her.

"Temp 96.2. BP 50 over 30. Pulse study."

"She's still in shock." Beverly affirmed. "Allyssa 5cc of norep."

"Yes, ma'am." Replied Allyssa. "Administering norep."

Beverly finished suturing Susan's wrist and started pulling off her gloves. "Allyssa, keep me informed of her vitals and condition." Beverly ordered. "Deanna, my office!"

Deanna followed Beverly to her office. "You do realize that a hundred years ago her arms would look like footballs now, if she wasn't dead." Beverly exploded. "She's lucky she lives in this day and age, but she's not out of the woods yet."

"Beverly, I sense you're angry." Deanna tried to stay calm.

"Damn right I'm angry!" Beverly yelled. "If you had let me take over sooner this might not have happened!"

"Beverly." Deanna said calmly.

"Nothing you did worked."

"Beverly, how can you be so sure what you did would have either?"

"I would have had her in here and this would not have happened!"

"And on what grounds could you have confined her here in Sickbay?"

"I." Beverly paused to think for a moment. "I don't know."

Deanna took a deep breath. "I understand you are angry, but I don't believe you are really angry with me."

"I'm angry, because you should have taken more measures to prevent this from happening!"

"How?" Deanna asked. "As I told someone earlier today, you can't control other people's actions. Only your own."

"And what did you do?"

"I prescribed Sertraline 200 milligrams a day." Deanna informed. "Obviously it was not working or you were right. She was not taking it."

"Did you ask?" Beverly confronted.

Deanna looked remorsed as she looked down to the floor. "No, I did not." Then she looks back up to Beverly and added, "But she probably would have lied to me about that too, just as she lied about everything else."

"You knew she was lying and you did nothing?" Beverly asked incredulous.

"Yes, Beverly, I did. I confronted her on it." Deanna said defensively.

"Doctor?" Allyssa poked her head into the office. "Her temp is up to 97. BP is 60 over 40 and Pulse is 50."

Beverly and Deanna breathed a sigh of relief. Beverly looked at Deanna with a look of contempt. "She's better, but she's not out of the woods yet. Allyssa, I want twenty-four hour a day suicide watch kept on Susan, especially after she regains consciousness, until further notice." Beverly informed. "Also give her 80 milligrams of Fluoxetine a day and a nutritional hypo six times of day."

Then she looked at Deanna and continued. "Maybe with the right meds and nutrition, she will get better."

Deanna was hurt. She felt she had done the best she could and Beverly had no right to lord her position over her like this.

Allyssa looked from Beverly to Deanna and back to Beverly. "Yes, ma'am."

"Beverly." Now Deanna was very angry. "I really feel you are displacing you anger on me and you have no right to do so. Nor do you have the right to act like you can do better as a physician than I can as a psychologist. I did my job the best I could!"

"Now it's my turn!" Beverly barked back. "I send you people who need help and some of them I get back to save their lives! I stitch them up, make them physically better and send them back to you. Some of them become revolving doors and I'm tired of it!"

Deanna walked over to Beverly's medical library and grab one of the books from the shelf and slammed it on her desk. Then Deanna leans on the desk and looks Beverly in the eyes. "Do us both a favour and refresh your memory of Personality Disorders, specifically Borderline! Then try suturing their psychic wounds and telling me about footballs then!"

With that, Deanna stormed out of Sickbay and went back to her quarters. As she walked in, Will could tell Deanna was very upset.

"What happened?"

Deanna walked past Will and into their bedroom. "Oh, I just spent the last two hours in Sickbay watching Beverly save one of my patients and having an argument with Beverly."

Will had followed her into their room. Deanna set on the bed and prepared for bed.

"You and Beverly arguing over a patient?" Will asked surprised.

"I guess you could say that." Deanna said coldly.

"Deanna, from what I gathered, before you ran out of here, your patient was a danger to herself."

"Yes."

"I would assume the two of you are just stressed out from the situation and taking it out on each other."

"Very good, Counselor." Deanna said sarcastically.

"Please, don't take it out on me, now." Will requested. "I'm just trying to be objective here to help you calm down."

"You're right, Will." Deanna softened. "I'm sorry. My remark was uncalled for."

"No offense taken." Will said. "But I do hope you and Beverly work this out. For your patient's sake, if nothing else. You both, still have to work together. If you two don't work it out, then you can't help her."

"Oh, Imzadi." She said with regret in her voice. "You're right. I just hope Beverly calms down too and realizes the same thing."

Will sat down beside her and started massaging her shoulders. "Oh, that feels so good." Deanna informed with pleasure in her voice.

"Give her time." Will replied as he continued his massage. "Meanwhile, I want you to relax. Lie down and I'll massage your whole back."

Deanna did and as Will massaged her back, shoulders and neck, she started to relax. Soon, she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

Chapter Six

The next morning, Deanna went to check on Susan's condition. The first person she ran into was Allyssa.

Allyssa shook her head, when Deanna addressed her, well aware of the dispute she and Dr. Crusher had the night before. "I'm sorry, Counselor." She replied. "But Dr. Crusher has ordered that any information you request about Susan be referred to her."

"I see." Deanna went to Beverly's office to talk with her.

"Beverly?"

Beverly turned and addressed Deanna coldly. "Counselor. You'll be pleased to know Susan is stable, but she is still unconscious."

"Are you still angry?"

Beverly walked past her to attend to a task. "I will inform you when she is awarke, so you can continue to console her while she is in my Sickbay."

"Beverly?" Deanna said with shock on her face.

"I have no further information for you, Counselor." Beverly stated continuing to be cold to her friend. "Now, if you will excuse me, I have my duties to perform."

"Well!" Deanna said with shock still in her voice. "Nice talking to you, too."

"Good day, Counselor."

Beverly walked off to attend to another patient she had in Sickbay. Deanna, feeling rejected and dejected, turned sullenly out the door of Sickbay. She looked back at her friend briefly with a sad and hurt look on her face, before walking out the doors.

She walked down the corridor to her office. As the doors opened she entered and when they shut, Deanna looked as if she could cry. The day had barely started and it felt as if it was already a long day.

She tried to pull herself together realizing she had her other patients to attend to and there was nothing she could do about Beverly at the moment. Especially, since Beverly refused to talk to her.

She was surprised when the chime to her office rang, for no patients were scheduled for this morning. In fact, she was suppose to be on the Bridge at 0900. Then she sensed the familial warm, loving presence of her Imzadi. She quickly went to the door to greet him.

"Hi!" He said with a smile. "Thought I'd pay you a visit and see how things went between you and Dr. Crusher this morning."

Deanna sighed. "She's not talking to me."

Will looked confused. "Not talking to you? Deanna, the person you need information about is your patient too, she has to talk to you."

"Oh, she is giving me that much information, but otherwise she is very cold and still angry and won't even discuss the argument we had."

Will could tell Deanna was hurt and gave her a big hug. Deanna cried into her shoulder. "I'm sure you two will work this out some how." He assured her.

"I don't know, Will." Deanna cried. "We said some pretty mean things to each other last night."

"You were both stressed out over the events that had been building up to this." Will said. "And last night just brought out all the tension. Unfortunately, you took it out on each other. You're friends. Close friends. Which probably made you both easy targets for each other."

Deanna almost smiled as she raised her head to address him. Tears were still in her eyes as she said, "You've been taking lessons on counsoling?"

He smiled down at her. "Only from the best."

Deanna pulled away from him and turned away with her arms crossed in front of her. "Too bad Beverly doesn't think so."

"Maybe not on the surface, right now, but I think somewhere in her mind, she does."

"Maybe." She turned back around, her arms still crossed.

"Well, I have to be on the Bridge in a few minutes." Will informed her.

Deanna nodded. "I'll see you there in about thirty minutes."

"Deanna." Will said softly and gently. "Maybe you should cancel your afternoon appointments and take some time out for yourself."

Deanna shook her head. "I have to be available, in case Susan wakes up."

"OK." Will said in a 'Suit yourself manner.' "But I do think you need a break from the usual routine."

Deanna was starting to feel the anger resurge within her. "No!" Deanna said firmly. "Beverly would just love it right now if I did that. It would simply support her current theory, that I can't do my job."

"Hey, I don't believe she really believes that for a minute!" Will said. "I really feel it was nothing but stress and frustration talking when she said that to you."

Stubbornly, Deanna said, "I'm not taking any time off!"

"Fine. Have your way." Will said reaching out to caress Deanna's shoulders and kissed the her forehead. "I have to go, I'll see you later."

Deanna nodded and watched Will depart. Deanna then spent the rest of her time, before Bridge Duty, writing her notes on the incident that took place, concerning Susan, the night before.

She tried hard to not to think about the argument she had with Beverly last night and the events that occurred this morning between her and Beverly. She was not sure if their friendship was ever going to be the same again.


As Will walked on the Bridge, Picard greeted him. "Morning, Number One."

"Good morning, Captain." Will greeted back, still feeling uneasy about the tension between Deanna and Beverly.

"Something the matter, Number One." Picard asked as he observed Will. "You look disturbed about something."

"Dr. Crusher hasn't told you?"

"Told me what?"

"She and the Counsoler had a stressful night last night and well, Sir."

Picard was getting concerned over Will's struggle with words. "I was aware Dr. Crusher had an emergency last night, but I wasn't aware of anything else."

Will nodded. "It was a long night for both of them."

"Well, Will." Picard said. "Is there more you'd like to tell me?"

"I don't know what you can do about it." Will said. "Ship's crew relations generally fall in the Counsolor's department, but I'm not sure given the circumstances."

"Are you going to let me in on this or are you going to beat around the bush about it?" Picard asked, getting a little frustrated with Will's stalling to tell him.

"It's between Dr. Crusher and Counselor Troi, Sir." Will finally said.

"Let's take this to my Ready Room." Picard insisted. "Data, you have the Bridge."

"Aye, Sir."

Picard rose to head for his Ready Room and Will followed. Data took the command chair.

After both men were in the Captain's Ready Room, Picard turned to address Will. "Commander, if there's a problem between my CMO and Ship's Counselor, I want to know about it."

"Well, sir." Will began. "It seems the stresses that occur in their positions collided last night and they had a little, well, tiff."

"A little tiff?"

"To put it mildly, Sir." Will adjusted his position, so that he was standing straighter.

"Would you mind elaborating?"

"They had an argument and while the Counselor is willing to talk to Dr. Crusher and smooth things over, Dr. Crusher is not willing to talk to her."

"I see." Picard said. "And is this impeding their work?"

"It could." Will answered.

"In what way do you feel it could?"

"Dr. Crusher, from what I gather from Counselor Troi, is only giving her information she needs to know and nothing more." Will said. "And, if I may add a more personal note." Will continued when he saw Picard's head nodded. "Deanna is stressing out over how this situation is affecting their friendship."

Picard thought for a moment. "I gather you have had a long talk with Deanna about this situation?"

"Yes, Sir. I have, Sir." Will informed.

"Humm." Picard said in contemplation of the situation. "It would seem." He paused for a moment to gather his words. "Given the situation, Ship Relations falls in my area, now."

"If you want, Sir, I could talk to the doctor." Will offered as a matter of protocol.

"No, Will." Picard replied, rubbing the top of his head with his hand. "I really think I need to be the one to say something in this situation. You've done all you can just by talking to the Counselor. I'm not sure, given the nature of your relationship with the Counselor, Beverly will be willing to talk to you, especially about this matter."

Will nodded. "Well, then, I'll leave it for you to take it from here."

"I'm glad you understand."

"Yes I do, Sir." Will answered.

"Will, and you may be at ease." Picard said in a friendly manner. "How the bloody hell do we get in the middle of their squabbles like this?"

Will smiled, shook his head and almost laughed. "I don't know. I truly do not know. Could it be because we are in love with them?"

Picard nodded in agreement, but said nothing more. "Well, let's get back out to the Bridge."

"After you, Sir." Will gestured to the door and then followed Picard out to the Bridge.

Data relinquished the command chair to the captain as he strolled back onto the Bridge. Counselor Troi came on the Bridge just as they were taking their seats.

"Good morning, Counselor." Addressed the Captain.

Deanna swallowed hard, faced him and replied with a forced smile, "Good morning, Sir."

"I heard you and the doctor had a rough night, last night."

"Well, we arrived in time and the person is recovering in Sickbay today." She replied formally with her Betazoid accent.

"Glad to hear it." The captain returned.

Picard could feel there was an uneasiness to Deanna discussing the events of last night. He wondered if Deanna knew he was testing the waters to see how she was doing. If she did she covered it very well.

*Crusher to Picard*

"Picard here."

*I have the report you asked for.*

"Thank you, Doctor." He replied. "Please bring it down as soon as you can."

*I'll send someone with it.*

"No, Doctor." Picard replied. "I would appreciate it if you, yourself, brought it to me."

*Aye, Sir.*

There was a hint of annoyance in the doctor's voice. Beverly knew Deanna had Bridge duty and she really did not want to see her just yet, but she never could say no to the captain. So, she grabbed the report and headed to the Bridge, begrudgingly.

Beverly walked onto the Bridge a few minutes later. When Picard saw her he said, "Ah, Doctor!"

"Captain, Commander." Beverly nodded at both of them, but she ignored Deanna and did not greet her.

Picard saw the brief exchange or rather lack of it. He took the report from the doctor. "In my Ready Room, please." He ordered.

"Sir?"

"I would like to discuss this report with you, in my Ready Room." He rephrased.

"Yes, Sir." She followed him into the Ready Room and Will took the command chair.

Picard gestured for her to have a seat as he took his seat. He then briefly looked over the report. As he laid the report on his desk he asked, "Is there something not in this report that you would like to tell me?"

"Sir?"

Picard ran his hand over his head as he tried to think about how to bring the topic up with Beverly. He leaned back and pulled his shirt down. "I have the feeling there's more to what happen last night that is not in this report."

"I don't understand." Beverly seemed confused. She felt she wrote the report thoroughly. She had no idea what he was insinuating.

He turned his chair sideways and rose to walk on the other side of the desk. He sat down in the chair beside Beverly.

"Beverly, it has come to my attention, that there is a problem between two of my crew members."

Beverly swallowed. She had the feeling he knew about Deanna and her argument last night. Who would have told him? Ogawan? Deanna didn't say anything, unless it was to Will.

"Isn't that the Counselor's job to take care of?" She said guardedly.

"Normally, it would be." He agreed. "However, in this case, it involves the Counselor."

"Then the commander handles it."

"Beverly, you're dodging the issue." He said, getting a little frustrated with her. "Now, can you honestly tell me you would talk to Commander Riker in this instance?"

Beverly did not say a word. She stared at Jean-Luc with defiance.

Jean-Luc nodded. "That's what I figured."

Beverly did not say a word to him. She was not going to chance walking out on him, for he was still the captain, even if he was talking to her as an equal.

"Beverly, I don't know what you two argued about last night that still has you so worked up, that you can't talk to Deanna civilly. You two need to work out this disagreement for your patient's sake. If not for your friendship with her."

"She didn't do everything she could do to prevent her patient from coming to my Sickbay! I'm so sick of sending her patients and they come back to me because I have to save their lives due to what they do to themselves!"

"Beverly, this is not an unusual occurance." He said. "This senerio has been going on for centuries."

"Jean-Luc, Susan almost died!"

"And you would not have been the first physician and psychologist to loose a patient due to suicide if she had."

"I don't believe you!" She looked at him with a look of disbelief.

Picard shook his head. "I don't think you are understanding what I am saying. Deanna is a good counsoler and I'm sure she did the best she could, but sometimes, people don't always respond like we would like them to."

"Still, if she had allowed me to take over sooner."

"Beverly, let me ask you something." She looked directly at him as he spoke. "Is this patient's behaviour really worth you two's friendship?"

She looked away from him with anger written all over her face. She would not answer his question.

"I really believe, Will is right."

She looked back at him with anger. "Will told you! How dare he get involed in this!"

"He only got involved because I questioned him." Jean-Luc informed. "And I agree. You two were stressed out and took it out on each other because you are so close. You're not just co-workers. You are close friends. Easy targets to take your frustration out on, especially with how closely you two work together. And God knows, you two share very stressful patients."

Beverly's face soften a little. "Oh, Jean-Luc." She said with tears starting to well up in her face. "I look at Susan and I see this very young woman who has so much ahead of her. She is smart and could really make a career for herself here. Then she gets worse, slices herself open and I have to sew her back up! What is her future if she is ends up on that revolving door so many mentally ill people end up on?"

Picard sighed and nodded. "So that's the real issue here. You've become emeshed with this patient."

"Emeshed?" She responded. "I hardly think so."

"Beverly, you care very deeply for every person that comes through your Sickbay." He said. "And sometimes you end up caring too much."

"I keep a professional distance from my patients!" She said indignantly.

"Ah, yes. For the most part." Jean-Luc agreed. "But how many times have you tried to mother this particular patient?"

She thought briefly. Then pulled one side of her lip back and nodded. "I guess I have tried to mother her sometimes, but she wasn't eating, sleeping, or doing anything I instructed her."

"So you mothered her." He said, again nodding. "And you tried to tack her down like a mother hen when she missed an appointment. How many patients do you do that with?"

"Only when they a very ill and need treatment."

"And was she that ill at the time?"

"Well, no. Not at that time." She answered.

Jean-Luc put his hand over his mouth briefly and chose his next words carefully. "In my opinion, you were too involved, things got stressful and you took it out on the person closest to you. You both did, in fact, but Deanna is willing to discuss it and you are not."

"I just don't want anything else to happen to Susan." Beverly insisted and looked as though she could cry. "I would hate to see her just throw her life away at her age."

"Beverly, that's Deanna's department to work with." He insisted. "Susan doesn't need another mother and if Deanna can't reach her to get her to want to turn her life around soon, then it is Susan's problem to deal with the consequences."

"She'll be forced to leave Starfleet eventually, if she doesn't get better." Now tears were starting to fall from her eyes.

"Yes, but it's Deanna's job to help her get better, not yours." Jean-Luc said. "Now if Susan's problem was all physical, then yes, she would be entirely your patient, but it's not. You have to work with Deanna to help this patient and allow Deanna to do her job as the psychologist here."

Beverly sighed and the tears rolled. "You're right, Jean-Luc."

He wanted to hug her and hold her in his arms to comfort her, but he did not want to let his captain's roll down too much.

"So, is all this worth your friendship with Deanna?"

She cried harder and reached out to him. "No!"

Jean-Luc recipricated, willing to let his usual demeanor go for a moment. He held her as she cried on his shoulder. "I suggest you talk to Deanna and." He pushed her away slightly, but held onto her shoulders.

"Yes?" She asked wiping a tears from her face with one hand.

"Have dinner with me tonight." He suggested. "To get some well needed rest and relaxation. You're too stressed out, Beverly."

She laughed. "Yes, Jean-Luc. I'll have dinner with you."

He hugged her again. "Good. It's been a long time since we've had dinner together, because you've been working way too hard."

She laughed again. "Jean-Luc, you do have a way of making me laugh." Silently, she added, "And I love you for it."

He released her from the hug and said, "Yes, well. We need to get back out there, before they wonder about us."

As they walked out of his Ready Room, Picard concluded, "And that's an order, Doctor."

She smiled and said, "Yes, Sir." As she walked off the Bridge. She thought she would catch Deanna when she finished on the Bridge and checked on Susan to talk to her.

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