A/N: This fic is A/U and starts near the beginning of the series. In it, Riker is 32 at the start of the series. This is my first attempt at a Star Trek:TNG fic. So please read and review and let me know what you think!

Thanks!

Amelia sat in the cold dark cell. It had been hours since she'd been shoved in there. Dorian had fallen asleep with her head in Amelia's lap. Elen, the Deltan girl, had drifted off soon after. The young Trill, who had finally said her name was Desru was shivering against the far wall. Amelia shrugged out of her jacket and threw it to her. It landed in a heap a few feet in front of her.

Desru gave it and Amelia a dark look.

"Just take it," Amelia said.

"Does your ankle hurt much?" Desru asked, wrapping the jacket around her thin shoulders.

Amelia nodded.

"Do you really think your dad will find you? We could be headed anywhere."

"Yes," Amelia said. "It doesn't matter. He won't stop until he finds me or what...," she let her words drift off.

"It's okay," Desru replied. "You can say it. What's left of you. I'm not like Elen or Dorian. I'm a street kid. I know what happens to children who are taken by guys like these."

"Well, that isn't going to happen to us," she said. "I won't let it."

"Better hope your dad rescues in time then, because it's going to happen," she shot back.

"He will find us," she replied.

"You seem pretty confident. Like I said, we could have gone in any direction, headed anywhere. How will he find us? Is your dad a superhero or something?" Desru scoffed.

"He's a Starfleet Commander."

"Starfleet?" Desru sounded hopeful for a moment, then shrugged. "Figures. I knew this was a rich girl jacket." She pulled the jacket tighter around her shoulders.

Amelia gave a small smile, the thought amusing. On Earth, rich and poor wasn't really considered anymore. While it was true that there were some with more, everyone had enough so 'poor' didn't really exist anymore and by extension neither did 'rich'. Still, Amelia knew that on outlying planets, including Omicron Ceti, money was still king. "I've never been call that before," she quipped.

"Because humans never tell you what they really think," a ghost of a smile danced across Desru's lips.

"You've obviously never met a teenage girl before." Both girls giggled before falling silent, the gravity of the situation returning even heavier after their brief moment of joy.

Desru drifted off to sleep. Amelia rested her head against the wall behind her.

"Please find us, Daddy," she whispered and closed her eyes.

There were six planets in the sector that allowed for the sell of slaves. Three were in the same directions and the other three were scattered to far corners of the sector. Given the fuel capacity of a shuttle the size described by the bartender and the fact that the kidnappers would want to avoid attracting attention by not trying to sell all the kids on one planet, it was decided that was the direction they should head. Catching them in the air would be best. If they made it to one of the planets, it would be almost impossible to find the girls after that.

Riker paced back and forth in his quarters. He felt so helpless. He'd been banished from the bridge when his restless energy had become too much of a hindrance. Captain Picard had promised to send for him the moment anything changed. He stared out his windows and clenched his fist. He should be out there, doing something, not banished to his quarters like a disobedient child.

It had been more than five hours since they had left Omicron Ceti. Amelia could be anywhere. He ignored the door chimes twice. Instead of chiming a third time, Deanna entered.

"Will, you are worrying yourself sick," she said. "Amelia is a strong, capable girl. I'm sure she can handle herself."

"You don't understand," he replied angrily. "She shouldn't have to. I promised..."

"What?" Deanna prompted, putting her hand on his shoulder.

"Did I ever tell you why Amelia lived with me on Betazed?"

Deanna shook her head. "You just said that her mother wasn't in a place to care for her."

"Yeah," he replied. "That was an understatement." He sighed and sat down in a chair. "After Amelia was born, Stacey, her mother, became addicted to ADTH and axonol. She'd take axonol to sleep, then ADTH to stay up. Then it became abizine and LSD. Then whatever she could get her hands on. I knew it. Her parents knew it. Still..., we didn't want to know until we had to." He ran his hands through his hair. "One day... I was working at Star Fleet Headquarters.., Stacey wanted to go out. Her parents wouldn't come and get Amelia. I ignored her attempts to contact me. Things were already bad between us. I just ignored it. I thought she just..., I don't know what I was thinking. I just didn't want to deal her again. So, desperate to get... something, Stacey locked Amelia in a closet and told her not to cry, that I would be home soon and that she just needed to sit in that room and wait for me. I was on a thirty-six hour shift. Melly sat in that closet for over a day with no food, nothing to drink, and no way to get out or call for help because I didn't want to be bothered by Stacey. When I found her, I promised her that I would never let anything like that happen to her again."

"That's why my mother was counseling her," Deanna replied, suddenly understanding why Lwaxanna had taken on such a young child and why she'd gotten so attached to her. A child that wounded would have sent Lwaxanna's maternal senses into overdrive. Not that Lwaxanna had ever mastered the professional distance required for therapists, but she also didn't usually try to marry off her daughter to a patient's father. Deanna knelt beside him. "Will, this wasn't something you couldn't have stopped. You can't blame yourself. I'm sure Amelia doesn't."

"She didn't want to come here," he said. "If I hadn't made her, she would be at home with her grandparents right now."

"You can't think like that," she hugged him.

"Commander?" Tasha's voice broke across his communicator. "We've found them." Her voice held a note of satisfaction.

"On my way," he responded.

Please R and R.