A Time for War, a Time for Peace - Keith R. A. DeCandido [18]
“Sorry,” he muttered.
Troi blew out a breath. “Mother, do you really have time for this?”
“I’ll make time, Little One. I’ve been waiting for this moment since you were a baby! Now that the happiest day of my life has finally arrived, do you really think I’m just going to let you get married on some cold mountain on Earth?”
“That ‘cold mountain’ happens to be Will’s home.”
Riker could see this was getting out of hand, so he stepped in. “Deanna, maybe we should just—”
“Are you just going to let her belittle your home like that?”
“I’m not belittling anything, Deanna.”
“Yes, you are, Mother, like you always belittle anything that you don’t micromanage.”
Oh God, Riker thought. The last place in the universe I want to be is between these two if they start getting into it.
And getting into it they were. “How can you say that? After all I’ve done for you, after I gave you a home, raised you by myself, let you pursue your career
“
“Intruded on my life at every opportunity, tried to force me to marry someone I’d never met, constantly matchmaking and making a fool of yourself in the name of making me happy
“
Lwaxana went on as if her daughter hadn’t interrupted. “And now—now you have the nerve to keep me from doing one last thing for you, something I’ve wanted for so long?”
“We’re not keeping you from anything, Mother. We want you to be there with us when we get married.” She let go of Riker’s hand and leaned forward into the small screen. “This is the happiest day of our lives too, Mother—can’t you just be there for us and let us do it our way?”
“You can’t even have a proper Betazoid wedding on Earth—especially not in Alaska. It’ll be freezing!”
“Mother, that’s enough!” Troi snapped.
Riker stared in horror at the expression on his fiancée’s face. She looked furious, her black eyes blazing.
“Little One, this is what I’ve wanted for you for so long, and I don’t see why—”
Speaking in a low, menacing tone that gave Riker a cold feeling in his gut, Troi said, “No, Mother, you don’t see. You never did.”
And with that, Troi cut off the communication, got up, and ran into the bedroom.
Riker blinked for several seconds, dumbfounded. Troi and her mother had argued before, certainly, but never like this. And Troi’s anger was wholly out of proportion to what had just happened.
He followed her into the bedroom, and in a gentle voice, prompted, “Imzadi?”
Troi was lying facedown on their bed, her face half-buried in the pillow, muffling her voice. “Not now, Will, please, I want to be alone.”
“Tough,” he said, taking a seat on the edge of the bed. “We’re in this together now, remember? Besides, after a blowup like that, you don’t get to be alone without explaining yourself.”
“It’s nothing,” Troi said, punctuating her words with a sniff. Then she rolled over, and Riker saw tears running down her cheek. “It’s just the usual with my mother.”
“No, Deanna, it isn’t. And I’m not leaving this bed until you tell me what it is. We’ve been through too much for you to start holding back from me now.”
She sat up. “I just want us to be happy, Will. Why can’t she see that?”
“And why can’t you see that I’ll be just as happy with a major production on Betazed as I would be in Alaska? Hell, we can go to Risa, to Qo’noS, to the Founders’ homeworld, for all I care, as long as we’re married at the end of it. After everything that’s happened, all that matters is that you and I are together.”
Troi nodded, even as more tears rolled down her cheek. “I know—I feel the same. It’s just—”
Riker held Troi’s hand in his. It felt oddly cool to the touch. “Deanna, I spent fifteen years trying and failing to figure out how to make my father happy. In the end, I never did figure it out, and he died without my knowing whether or not he was happy with me.” He smiled ruefully. “Or if I was happy with him. But you still have your mother. So let’s make her happy and have the wedding on Betazed.”
Moments passed before Riker got the reaction he was hoping for: a smile from Troi. “We will. We’ll call Mother back in the morning