Home Again

Liana

Personal Log: Counselor Deanna Troi Stardate 4121274.5

What a day! We returned to the ship just about 12 hours ago, after the success of the Ba'ku mission, and until about ten minutes ago, Will has been with me every second! I think he was afraid to let me out of his sight! As if he really thought my feelings would

change...

Of course, only I really know how ridiculous a concern that truly was. I came into field missions because of him. It worried me so, sitting planetside, jumping every time a call came in. Oh, I followed his career, even after...well, I had my own little "spies" on

each assignment he took...his personal life may no longer have been any of my business, but his safety always was.

Finally, I just couldn't stand it anymore: the waiting, the fear. I guess I thought I would be closer to the source out here. When I agreed to this mission, I never dreamed...

Even then, I knew better then to try to explain, to push him. I knew he loved me, but there was fear behind the love, fear even I couldn't still. So I pushed my feelings down were they couldn't cause more pain. And he thought I'd stopped loving him.

So tonight, as we left the Briar Patch behind, he took my hand and wouldn't let go. When I asked him why, he just lead me to the couch and took my other hand. When he finally spoke, his voice was so soft, so sweet, that I could hardly breathe. I can still hear his words....

Deanna, the first time I saw you, I couldn't stay away from you. I knew only that I had to learn more about you. And the more I learned the more I loved you. When your here with me like this, I feel like I did when I was a little boy, before my mother died: warm, loved - like coming in out of the cold after I'd been out playing. Like HOME.

When he finished, I knew I could never keep myself from crying. And I knew I had to tell him...

Oh, God...Imzadi...I...I've felt...the same way for...so long, but...I never knew what to say. Every time you hold me, I feel safe, protected...the way I felt when I still thought that my father would always be there to protect me. You ARE my home, Will, and I don't ever want to leave again.

It wasn't until I had said it that the realization finally stuck. It all makes such sense now, why we had been drawn to one another so completely, why we had drifted apart, and why...we...had been so afraid to face the way we felt.

We are more than just a part of each other - somehow, each of us had found the one person who could fill the hole that loss had left in the other's soul. To lose that would have only deepened the wound. So we had pushed one another away.

But as I looked into his eyes tonight, I knew. We both did. We were home again. For good this time…