“Where is he?”

Bev’s voice echoed out into the hallway and towards the office of Max Tarlinson. He was the CMO currently at Starfleet Medical. Bev was set to take his place in three more years. Right now he was giving a pretty harsh dressing down to Riker.

“You know you are never supposed to walk out in the middle of surgery! Honestly Will, I’m appalled at why you would do such a thing! What would’ve happened if Cara Martins had bled out during surgery? Or her daughter Hope had suffocated from lack of oxygen before you could get her safely out of her mother’s womb? We would have had a major malpractice suit placed on us…”

Tarlinson and Riker were interrupted by Bev who stood in the doorway.

“He knew what he was doing Max. Now will you excuse Will, or do I have to deliver this baby in your doorway?”

Will about scrambled to his feet but kept his cool and got up, taking Bev by the arm and leading her out of Tarlinson’s office.

“Take your time, we’re in no hurry.”

Will had given her a private room so that she could have some space for herself. He saw Wes stand from his seat next to the bed. The younger Crusher was there beside his mother on the left to help her back to her bed. He looked Riker in the eyes and stood his ground.

“I want to be here for my sister’s birth. I won’t leave my mom.”

Both Crusher and Riker locked eyes for a few seconds before Will could answer.

“You know the rules Wes. 16 is when you can be allowed in the room during the birth of a family member. You’re not 16 yet.”

Will could see irritation clearly written on Wes’ face. Wes looked to his mother as pain etched itself across her face and planted itself there. Swallowing his fear when he began to hear his mother scream, he took her hand.

“I’ll be 16 next week. I can handle it. I promise not to get in the way.”

Riker was walking on a thin layer of ice right now. He was treading it with steel-toed shoes and the weight of a full grown grizzly.

“Doctor Tarlinson wouldn’t allow it. I could lose my job. He won’t have a problem with you sitting in the observation room though. Just stay where your mother’s head is. Got it?”

Wes nodded his head and went into the observation room and took a seat. He could hear everything Riker was saying to his mother.

“Bev I need you to relax. This’ll only take a minute.”

Will saw Bev wince and gave her a sympathetic frown.

“I know that’s tender, I’m sorry.”

Bev gave an exasperated sigh to Will and shook her head.

“All part of the process Will. But I don’t think you’d like it if you were in my shoes and I had my hands somewhere that was very uncomfortable would you?”

Riker shook his head no and fixed the blankets over Bev.

“If I were in your shoes, I wouldn’t pretend that it wasn’t uncomfortable. You are doing just fine. Just a couple of more centimeters to go. Now you rest. I’ll be back to check on you…”

But Bev threw the blankets back and swung her legs over the side of the bed.

“Apparently you don’t know me that well Will, I really don’t like to be idle during labor. With an epidural onboard I’m pretty much set. All I need is time.”

Riker nodded and stood up, a warm smile on his face.

“Ok, I’ll give you some space. Have Carrie here get you anything you need. Call me when you need me. Shouldn’t be more than 30 or 40 more minutes.”

Bev nodded her head and grabbed for Jack’s hands. Will could see her shaking with pain. He knew that the epidural would only numb the pain slightly, but it wouldn’t make it go away.

“Would you like some more local Bev? I can get you a little more if you’d like. Sometimes massaging the lower back helps with the pain during contractions.”

Will nodded his head when Bev shot him a death glare.

“Would you like to experience some of this pain? I don’t think you would!”

Riker took everything in stride. He’d seen dozens of women yell at him lately, and all had endured what Bev was going through right now.

“I’ll be back to check on you in half an hour. Just yesterday I had an Andorian woman get very upset with me because I tried to help her lie down while she delivered. Then she tried to bite me. She ended up squatting on the floor and delivering her son and her daughter that way.”

Bev shook her head and gave a smile.

“Some Andorian women don’t like sitting or lying down when they give birth to their children. A few prefer squatting. You could’ve asked me that, I would’ve told you.”

Now it was Riker’s turn to shake his head.

“I’ll remember that for next time. Call me the minute you need me. I’ll be back.”

Bev nodded as Will began to walk away. Walking into the room next door he looked to the worried nurse at the end of the bed Mrs. Riley was lying on.

“Doctor Riker, Jessica is insisting on more local. She’s in a lot of pain.”

Will looked to the screen monitoring Jessica Riley and her twins. He worried about the complications that might arise, especially when there were multiple children involved. Clearing his throat he squeezed Jessica’s hand.

“Ok Jessica, I’m going to give you some more local alright? That should help a little more with the pain.”

Jessica nodded, but looked frightened.

“Will it make the pain go away?”

Riker shook his head no as he pressed the hypospray against her neck.

“No, but it will dull it a little more. What I’d like you to do when you get to 10 centimeters is to hold your knees as high as you can get them above your head. Old-fashioned pain management. I don’t know exactly why or how it works, but doctors have been telling their patients that for the last four centuries. Now just lie back and relax. The local should help works its magic alongside that epidural I gave you.”

Jessica Riley finally gave a confident smile and leaned back against her pillows on her bed. She squeezed Riker’s hand before he left.

“You have a real way with women Doctor Riker.”

Jessica’s husband John glared at Riker. Will only gave her a smile.

“I’ve got a girlfriend. Besides, I just help women and their babies. You’re at 6 centimeters. Another two and a half to three hours to go before your son makes his appearance. Just rest. I’ll be back to check on you soon. Your daughter won’t be too far behind after that.”

John and Jessica nodded. John seemed satisfied with Riker’s explanation and his sincerity. He shook hands with Will to bury the hatchet.

“Thank-you Doctor Riker. I’m sorry I got angry with you. It’s just in the past we’ve had problems with other doctors with the births of our other four children. We lost them all. They were all stillborn. The first one, she had knots in her umbilical cord, the second had the cord wrapped around her neck, and she suffocated. The other two suffered a blood clot in the lungs.”

Will shook his head and placed a hand on John’s shoulder.

“I’m sorry John. If there is anything else I can do, just let me know. The two of you have nothing to worry about. I won’t let anything happen to the three of you.”

Jessica looked a little less worried and smiled.

“I’m in good hands then.”

Nodding he made his way back to Bev’s room. On the other side of the door he had a surprise waiting for him. As he entered the room, he had to stop himself from gasping in surprise. He looked to Carrie who about half-dragged him over to the bed where Bev was lying.

“Whoa! Looks like someone is eager to come and greet her family!”

From the corner of his eye he could see Wes pacing back and forth and then sat down on the far side of the observation room. Carrie was ready with the blanket in hand while Riker carefully and gently guided Carmen to the outside world.

“Good strong cry! That’s what we like to hear! Good reflexes and eye movement…”

Carrie cleaned Carmen up and placed her atop her mother’s chest with the blanket around her. Bev smiled down at Carmen and laughed a little when she made a small noise of what sounded like a happy gurgle.

“Hi Carmen. I’m your mommy.”

Will smiled and cleared his throat. He heard Wes’ voice behind him behind the glass of the observation room.

“May I come in now doctor?”

Smiling once again he turned to Wes and nodded his head.

“Yes of course. But stay by your mom’s head.”

Wes nodded and all but jogged into the room. Now by his mother’s side, he carefully placed his index finger inside his little sister’s outstretched tiny hand.

“Hi Carmen, I’m your big brother Wesley. There are so many things I want to show you as you grow up. I’ll do everything in my power as your big brother to protect you.”

Carmen cooed at Wes and curled her tiny fingers around his index finger and didn’t let go.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

“Mama? I’m home.”

Will had decided to bring Deanna up to Alaska to meet his parents. He knew his mother would like Deanna right away. His sister, most definitely. He wasn’t so sure about his father. His mother Elizabeth came into the living room from the kitchen.

“Finally! Will! You’ve been gone awhile! Why haven’t you been home for a long time my little soaring eagle?
I’m sorry son, I’m being rude, this must be Deanna.”

Deanna smiled graciously at Elizabeth and shook hands. Elizabeth folded her into a hug and when she pulled back she gave her a smile that matched Will’s.

“It’s very nice to meet you Mrs. Riker.”

Elizabeth shook her head.

“You can call me Elizabeth or yellow lily if you’d like. My son has told me so much about you. Maybe this time he’ll want to settle down, raise a family.”

Deanna gave a nervous smiled and smoothed out an invisible wrinkle on her coat. Will’s face turned red as he looked his mother in the eye.

“Ma!”

Elizabeth made a motion to the couch where Will’s younger sister Emily sat hands resting over a slight baby belly.

“Well I guess sharing my bottle of tequila with you is out of the question. What did Marcus say when you told him about the baby?”

Emily fidgeted in her seat.

“He left. He said he just wanted it to be us. He said it was either us or he was leaving. I chose my baby over him. I haven’t heard from him since.”

Will threaded his hand in his sisters.

“I’m sorry Em. I never liked Marcus anyways. But you have all of us. You have mama, Uncle Jacob, grandmother, grandfather, and even dad.”

Emily only snorted at Will.

“Yeah, and how much has dad been here for us over the last 20 plus years?”

Elizabeth quickly changed the subject.

“Deanna, why don’t you stay for dinner?”

Deanna smiled and followed Elizabeth into the kitchen.

“I’d love to, thank-you.”