Chapter Text
The sound of birds outside the window woke William in the early morning. He laid there a few moments, trying to get his thoughts together. Automatically he reached out to his right, expecting to feel Beverly still sleeping there. But what he found was an empty place where she once slept. All of the hidden emotions rose to the surface and the tears began to form in his eyes. She had taken ill several months earlier with a rare form of Rigillian Fever and never recovered from it. The fever had come to Earth from a returning colony supply ship and it had spread rapidly on Earth. Beverly had been in San Francisco working at Starfleet Medical on a mentoring role, after retiring with William and moving to Valdez in order to raise their eight children. Now William was left with the task of taking care of the last two children, Andrew who was 14 and his sister Abigail who was 9. The others were scattered here on Earth, Daniel was studying in Paris, with the twins Alan and Amy at the Academy in Command School and Christopher along with Christina was in Barcelona stationed at one of the Starfleet posts. Danielle was stationed on the USS Hood III near the former Romulan Neutral Zone.
Will rose and sat on the side of the bed, trying to control the swirling emotions in his head. He rose and headed towards the bathroom and took his shower. He allowed the tears to flow, and leaned against the tiled wall hoping that this was all a nightmare, that somehow Beverly was still there. After a few moments, he finished his shower and came out of the bathroom to dress. The air was much cooler,meaning that the winter season was upon them. Will left the bedroom heading for the kitchen, to fix breakfast for himself and the kids. The mornings were hard, but the nights were even harder for him to bear. He would wake and reach for her, but would only find an empty space.
Crossing the day area, he saw the old fashioned photos on the fireplace mantle and stopped. There was the photo of them when they married on the Enterprise-E, A photo of the first set of twins Daniel and Danielle, a later photo on the Titan when they were a family of five and then the last one of the seven of them together. That one was taken a few months before Beverly contracted the fever that killed her. They were smiling in that photo, with Will and Beverly having the rest of their lives together or so they thought. But her death had ended those plans and dreams. His eyes filled with tears and he struggled to compose himself before the kids saw him.
Beverly's touch in the cabin was everywhere. She redid the kitchen's colors into her favorite ones which was blue and white. Turning around, he saw Andrew and Abigail already heading towards the kitchen and smiled. “Eggs and toast?” he asked them. Andrew nodded and so did Abigail. “Make mine poached, Dad” she said, smiling as she went to the cabinet to get the plates. Andrew shrugged and didn't say anything. Abigail was an almost exact copy of Beverly, except for her hair which was a deep Blue-Black. Andrew took after himself in looks and height. He already had been asking about the advanced classes that might get him into the Academy, while Abigail was thinking of entering Starfleet Medical School. She was so much like her mother in that respect.
Crossing into the kitchen, he reached into the cold-storage unit and got the eggs and the other things for their breakfast. Will turned towards the stove and started to crack the eggs for her poached eggs into a dish and then cracked the other eggs for his and Andrew's scrambled eggs into the skillet. He mixed a little pepper into the scrambled eggs and put them over the heat. Taking another small pot, he started the water to boil and stirred the scrambled eggs again. Abigail started the toast, and got the other stuff for their breakfast. Andrew, Will noted opened his padd and was looking over his assignments from the night before. “Are you ready for the exam in biology?” Will asked as he stirred the eggs once again in the skillet. “Yes, but just looking over something that was a bit confusing at first.” Andrew answered, skipping over the information. “Mom had told me that this level of biology would be hard.”