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Jean-Luc stood inside the door to the lounge and took in his family. My family. His daughter Yvette had married his former Chief Engineer and Geordi was holding their newborn daughter while they chatted with Data in a corner. Wesley and his fiancée, Robin, were cuddled up on the settee whispering sweet nothings to each other. Rene and Alexander, both now cadets at the Academy, were huddled together over a PADD, no doubt looking at something technical. The twins were now eight and they were playing on the rug in front of the fire with Deanna and Will’s children and their younger sister, three-year-old Claire. Claire had been a pleasant surprise. Beverly becoming pregnant at age 46 with the twins was a small miracle, so imagine their surprise and delight when Beverly became pregnant at age 52. Jean-Luc was an old man of 75, but he was happy and contemplating retirement from Starfleet. In fact, he had gathered all their closest friends around to make the announcement, but looking around the room, he wasn’t so sure if he was ready to give it up.
He continued to survey his family. He knew Beverly and Deanna were off somewhere catching up, and he could see Worf and his wife were chatting with Will over by the Christmas tree. Even Miles and Keiko were there with their children, and he could see Rene kept getting distracted by Molly. Yes, Jean-Luc was a happy old man.
He felt, rather than saw, his wife come up behind him. She wrapped her arms around him from behind and kissed his neck. “Been wondering where you were.” Jean-Luc motioned for the bottles of wine he had in his hand. “We needed more wine.” He turned around and gently kissed his wife. “Beverly, I don’t know if I want to retire. Is that...are you okay with that?” Beverly surveyed the room and saw what Jean-Luc saw - everyone in that room, including herself and the children, were there because of Starfleet. There were no outsiders in their immediate family, and Beverly and Jean-Luc included their old crew from the D as family. She nodded. “I understand. But, let’s talk about that later.” She gave him another kis and grabbed one of the bottles of wine and walked around the room refilling glasses. Jean-Luc couldn’t keep his eyes off her as she sashayed away.
Wesley looked up and followed his father’s line of sight and shouted, “Dad, get a room!” Jean-Luc looked over at his son and volleyed back “Hark, look who’s talking.” Robin blushed. A small voice from the carpet piped up “Wessy has a room updares!” Wesley groaned and buried his face in Robin’s hair. “My little sister too?” Jean-Luc chuckled and after passing the other bottle of wine to Will, picked up his youngest. “You are too sassy for your own good. Did you know that?” Claire just shook her red curls at her father and giggled. He kissed the top of her head and put her back down so she could return to playing with her siblings and friends.
Someone had turned on some music and Jean-Luc found himself holding his hand out to his wife. “May I have this dance?”
“You hate to dance.”
“Not when I’m with you.” Beverly smiled and took his hand as he found an empty space of floor for them to sway in. They may have been the oldest couple in the room, but just being in each other’s arms they both felt decades younger. Jean-Luc dropped a kiss on Beverly’s red hair streaked with silver and quietly murmured “I love you.”
“I love you, too. I’m glad we got everyone together this year.” Jean-Luc could only smile. They had been trying for five years to get all of their friends in one place at Christmas, and finally, with the Enterprise and the Titan both in need of repairs, it was easy to get everyone together once more. A quick call to Worf on DS9 and he managed to arrange for his family and the O’Brians to use the Defiant.
Soon, the limited floor space was filled with couples dancing. Rene even managed to ask Molly to dance, and Alexander indulged the youngest Picard by twirling her around until she started to yawn. Yvette walked up to her youngest sister. “Ah, ma petite Clare de Lune. Come and help me put Marie to bed.” Taking this as their queue, parents started ushering the younger children to bed and the O’Brians left for the tavern they had booked rooms at in the village. It was going to be a crowded house, but Beverly had managed to find room for everyone who wanted to stay. Robin rubbed her pregnant belly and kissed Wesley goodnight before going up to his childhood bedroom, Jadzea told Worf she would be out in the Defiant, and Rene and Alexander went up to Rene’s room. Beverly and Deanna put the twins and Deanna and Will’s children to bed in the twin’s rooms and quickly came back downstairs. Jean-Luc looked around at the people who were left, his former command staff, and let out a happy sigh.
When the Jack Crusher died and the Stargazer was destroyed, Jean-Luc had thought he would never find a crew he would gel with as much as he had with his old crew. But from day one, he felt close to this crew. He felt as though he and Beverly were the parents of everyone in the room. He remembered the joy he felt when Will Riker had asked him to be his best man at his wedding to Deanna, and he chose to forget the sight of a naked Lwaxana ogling his naked body at the Betazoid wedding. When Geordi had come to him to ask him if it was alright for him to date his daughter...and now Geordi and Yvette had given him and Beverly their first grandchild...with their second on the way thanks to Wesley and Robin! He wrapped an arm around Beverly’s waist and gave her a kiss and he whispered in her ear “I love you.” Beverly smiled and kissed him back. “Love you too.”
Jean-Luc refilled everyone’s glasses and raised his in a toast “To the Enterprise. For bringing this rag tag bag of people together to become a family,” his voice became sombre, “And to friends no longer with us...gone, but never forgotten.”
“To the Enterprise!”