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After double and triple checking his vital signs and asking the standard battery of neurological questions confirming that he knew his name, the year, and where he was, Beverly glanced around to see if the nurses were out of earshot, and then leaned down closer to whisper, "How much do you remember?"
A smile came slowly across Will's exhausted face. His eyes even had the audacity to sparkle slightly in the sickbay lights as he murmured back, "Everything."
*
"I know he isn't Odan anymore," Beverly insists, gazing upward as though peace of mind is to be found somewhere on the ceiling of Deanna's quarters. "He's Will—only Will. And believe me when I say that I never thought of him that way before. But now when I look at him, all I can think of are his hands on me... his mouth..." She finds her hands going to the side of her neck, shivering at the memory of tender kisses brushing there. "Is there something wrong with me?" she asks Deanna pleadingly. "Am I so shallow, that just being with Will's body has made me want to be with him that way again?"
Deanna sits down beside her on the bed and tucks her feet up beneath her, drawing in a patient breath. "Beverly," she says, "I love you very much. But sometimes you have a tendency to... overthink things."
Beverly winces. "And it drives you crazy?"
Smiling, Deanna holds up her hand with thumb and forefinger just so far apart, indicating a tiny bit. "But in this case I'm more concerned that you're driving yourself crazy over something that doesn't have to be as complicated as you're making it. You've suffered a great deal over these past few days, being flung dramatically to and fro between joy and despair. I think you might benefit from simply allowing yourself to feel what you feel..." She places a gentle hand on Beverly's thigh and rubs reassuringly. "...and ask for what you want."
Beverly feels herself relax at Deanna's touch, and lets herself lean into her. "I suppose it worked with you," she admits, remembering how overcome with anxious thoughts she'd been before they'd confessed their attraction. "You don't think he'll be shocked?"
Deanna draws her lips into her mouth for a moment, suppressing a laugh. "I know Will very well. He's far more likely to approach it in a spirit of adventure."
Beverly covers her face with her hands and lets out a groan. "Oh, this is all so embarrassing."
"Would it help if I were there with you?"
Beverly looks up from her hands, startled. "You mean, when I talk to him? Or when we... if we..."
Deanna sways her body back and forth playfully. "Well... the latter had certainly crossed my mind."
For a moment Beverly is speechless. They've both had their own separate romances since they've been together, but they haven't done that. "I thought you wanted to make this less complicated," she eventually manages.
"It was only an idea," Deanna says more seriously. She rubs the back of Beverly's neck, just where it always gets knotted. "I don't want to pressure you. But you did ask my advice."
"I did," Beverly sighs, bowing her head as the pleasure of Deanna's massaging touch curls and tingles throughout her exhausted body. "And I suppose that says something about the type of advice I was hoping to get, deep down."
Deanna laughs. "Am I so predictable?"
"You always encourage me to go for what I want," Beverly says, a little muffled, "and not think my way out of it."
"That's true." Deanna's hand strokes down Beverly's back, coming to rest at the small of it. "So what do you want now?"
Beverly thinks. No—she feels. She feels Deanna's touch, her comforting and familiar presence beside her. She imagines what it would be like to feel Will beside her too, warm and kind and brave and adventurous, and this time knowing exactly who he is.
She turns to meet Deanna's eyes. "I... I want us to talk to Will," she confesses with a small, hesitant smile. "Together."
Deanna smiles too, broadly, and seals her agreement with an enthusiastic kiss.