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Beverly bolted out of bed and ran for her bathroom and barely made it before she was emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She rested her head against the cold porcelain of the toilet and called out “Computer: time?” It was 2 o’clock in the morning. She still had four hours before Jean-Luc was arriving for breakfast, so she gingerly got herself up and went back to bed. Unfortunately, she was woken up two more times by her stomach and she was feeling miserable. She finally drifted off into a fitful sleep and was still sleeping at 0600 when Jean-Luc used his personal codes to access her quarters for their breakfast date.
Jean-Luc looked around Beverly’s dark quarters and called out to her . He heard a low moan coming from her bedroom and ran into her bedroom, assuming the worst. He sat down on the edge of her bed and patted her hand lightly.
“Beverly, love, are you alright?”
Beverly slowly opened her eyes. “Jean-Luc? What time is it?”
“Oh six hundred. I’ve come for our breakfast date, but I don’t think you’re quite up to it, are you?”
“I’m fine, just a small stomach bug—“ Beverly bolted up and shoved Jean-Luc to one side before dashing back into her bathroom. Jean-Luc could hear the retching noises and went to check on her.
He passed her a glass of cool water. “Take slow sips.” He brushed her matted hair away from her face and gently wiped her face with a damp cloth. Beverly glared over the top of the glass. “Which one of is the doctor here?” Jean-Luc held up his hands. “Sorry.” Beverly took a large sip and immediately regretted it as she was once again retching. Jean-Luc rubbed her back slowly.
“Looks like you won’t be working today.”
“No, I’ll be fine. I can give myself a hypospray and....” Beverly tried to stand up and nearly fell over if it hadn’t been for Jean-Luc’s hand wrapped around her waist.
“No, come on Beverly, back to bed with you. I’ll contact Doctor Selar and tell her she’s in charge today.”
“I look a right mess.”
“No, you’re beautiful as always.” Beverly snorted. “My hair is matted, my nightgown is soaked in sweat, and I smell like vomit. Picture of beauty right here.”
“Do you want to take a shower? Wold that make you feel a little better?” Beverly nodded. Jean-Luc gently set her down on the closed toilet and reached in to the shower to adjust the water to a suitable temperature. “Stay there a minute.” Jean-Luc went out into the living room and grabbed one of the bar stools from her galley and brought it back into the bathroom. “You can sit on the stool if you feel too weak to stand.”
“Thank you.”
“Do you need any help getting undressed? Or perhaps in the shower?” He wiggled his eyebrows at her.
“Cheeky! No, I think I’ll be fine now, but can you get me clean clothes please?”
“Of course.” Beverly waited until the bathroom door slid shut behind Jean-Luc before peeling off her nightgown and throwing it in a corner. She used the stool as leverage to get herself up and into the shower and leaned on the stool to remain upright as she let the warm water cascade over her body.
Out in Beverly’s bedroom, Jean-Luc nervously opened drawers looking for suitable clothing . If she would be in bed all day, she just needed a fresh nightgown....but which one? Jean-Luc blushed as he looked in her drawer and found all sorts of night time clothing ranging from the flannel style Jean-Luc remembered his grandmother wearing to a short silky barely there thing. He settled on a cotton nightgown and opened another drawer to find some underwear for Beverly and if it was possible, his face went even redder. Cotton briefs, lace thongs, silky boyshorts...Beverly seemed to enjoy a variety of undergarments. He selected a pair of cotton briefs, figuring they would probably be the most comfortable, although he let his eyes linger on a particularly sexy red thong he wouldn’t mind seeing Beverly in. He wasn’t sure if she would need a bra under her nightgown or not but he opened the next drawer and bit back a groan. The sexy red thong had a matching bra. He grabbed one he hoped was comfortable and knocked on the bathroom door. “Beverly, I have your clothing for you.”
“Come in, just place them on the counter.” Jean-Luc tried not to look over towards the shower as he entered the bathroom, but his eyes were drawn to the filmy glass door. He could see an outline of Beverly’s body and this time he audibly groaned. “Something wrong, Jean-Luc?”
“No, no, nothing is wrong.” Beverly opened the shower door and stuck her head out. “Hmm. Like what you see?” Jean-Luc gulped. Beverly laughed. “You know, if I wasn’t feeling so rotten, this could have been fun. Hmm. Maybe later. Now shoo, I need to get out of the shower.”
“Are you sure you don’t need help?” Beverly threw her damp washcloth at Jean-Luc’s retreating back.
Beverly surveyed the clothing Jean-Luc brought her and laughed. While she was expecting something strange, she wasn’t expecting granny panties and an old sports bra! She got dressed, minus the bra and wrapped a dressing gown around her. She quickly brushed her teeth to get rid of the sick taste and exited her bathroom. When she entered her bedroom, she was surprised to see Jean-Luc holding her hairbrush. He indicated for her to sit on the edge of the bed and he sat down behind her and began brushing her hair. It was an intimate act, but one Beverly appreciated nevertheless.
As Jean-Luc ran the brush through her hair, he couldn’t help himself and he leaned forward, moved her hair to one side, and softly kissed her neck. Beverly sighed. She reached around for Jean-Luc’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Hairbrush forgotten, Jean-Luc began rubbing Beverly’s shoulders. She united her dressing gown and pushed it off her shoulders to give him better access and Jean-Luc dropped a kiss on her shoulder.
“Hmm, do you do this for all your sick senior staff members?”
“Oh, yes. Mr Worf loves it when I kiss his shoulder.” Beverly snorted. “We should get you back in bed. I’ll bring you some tea and broth.” Jean-Luc pulled back a corner of the bedding for Beverly and she reached for his hand. “You know, Jean-Luc, you don’t have to take care of me. I’m perfectly capable of looking after myself.”
“I know. But I want to.” He fluffed up the pillow behind her.
“Thank you. Jean-Luc, ask the replicator for Electrohydrate.”
“What’s that?”
“It’s a drink that will help to replaced some of the electrolytes I lost being sick. Tastes horrible, but it will do the trick. Oh, and bring me a tricorder? I want to see if I have food poisoning or a bug....if it’s a bug, I may have exposed you.”
“Surely you can’t get food poisoning from replicated food?”
“Ah, but a few days ago we were on Starbase six two one and we ate in that restaurant, remember?”
“I thought food poisoning was immediate?”
“No, it’s a common misconception, but it can take as long as 72 hours to set in as your body digests the food.”
“Well, you did order that weird Vulcan dish.”
Jean-Luc returned with a tray containing a glass of cloudy water, a pitcher of water, a bowl of broth, two cups of tea, and Beverly’s medical tricorder. Beverly reached for the tricorder first and ran it over her stomach. “Just as I suspected. Food poision.”
“Do you need me to get you any medicine?”
“No, I just need to rehydrate.” She reached for the cloudy glass and made a face as she sipped it. “This stuff is horrible, but it does the trick.” Jean-Luc shrugged off his jacket and took off his boots before sitting on the bed next to Beverly and reaching for his tea. Beverly slowly sipped her soup and when she was done, she transferred her tea and water to the beside table and placed the tray on the floor. She reached for Jean-Luc’s hand once more. “You know, you really don’t have to stay with me. I’m fine. I’ll probably just sleep it off anyway.”
Jean-Luc patted her hand. “I want to stay. It’s no bother.” Beverly eyed him. “You do, however, appear to be overdressed.”
“I’m in my duty uniform.”
“You’re not on duty. Take it off.”
“Beverly...”
“Don’t Beverly me. Take it off and get under this blanket with me.”
“Ah...don’t you think that’s a little...unwise?” Thoughts ran through Jean-Luc’s head about being in bed with Beverly. Of course, he would prefer to be in her bed for other reasons than her being ill, but that didn’t prevent the thoughts from running through his head. Beverly glared. “Jean-Luc, I feel miserable right now. Trust me when I say the only thing I plan on doing with you is cuddling.”
“I could go back to my quarters and change into some casual clothes?”
“No. “
“But Beverly....” She glared again. “Fine, fine but if there’s an emergency, you get to explain why the Captain is in his shorts.” Beverly’s eyes sparked with mischief. “I’ll just tell them you were in my bed.” She smirked as Jean-Luc let out an exasperating “Beverly!” one more time before he removed his uniform. Being with her really was quite the adventure. While most of the ship knew they were something to each other, very few knew of how close they were to each other. It was only Beverly wanting to maintain her own quarters in case Wesley came to visit that kept Jean-Luc from asking her to move in with him.
He placed his comm badge on the bedside table and folded his uniform and placed it on a chair near the bed just in case he was needed and clad only in his boxers and a pair of socks, he slid under the covers with Beverly. She made short work of sliding over to his side and resting her head against his shoulder. Jean-Luc brought his arm around Beverly’s back to hold her close and tilted his head to kiss her hair.
“Sleep, my love. “
Beverly was already asleep.