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Jean-Luc stood up from his chair after issuing the order to engage. “I’ll be in my Ready Room. Doctor, if you’d care to accompany me....Number One, you have the bridge. Oh, and Ensign Crusher, shouldn’t you be in class?”
“Sorry, Sir...” Wesley turned and headed for the turbolift. Will shot a curious look at the Captain, but took his vacated seat as Beverly followed Jean-Luc nto the Ready Room.
“Jean-Luc....I...” Jean-Luc walked over to the replicator in the corner. “Tea. Earl Grey. Hot....and Tea. Chamomile, one sugar. Hot.” The replicator whirled and Jean-Luc carried the drinks over to the sofa instead of his desk. “Beverly....you looked...distressed. I know it wasn’t just because of Wesley being aged.”
Beverly took a seat as close to Jean-Luc as she felt she was able to and accepted the drink with a small smile. “You remembered.”
“How could I forget? We were visiting your Nana on Caldos and she was scolding me for my tea choices and then showed me her collection of dried herbs. She told me which one was your favourite, and suggested I try it the same way you drank it with a teaspoon of sugar. I didn’t really like it, but I drank it to please your Nana. You and Jack had gone on a walk...” realisation dawned on Jean-Luc’s face and he covered her hand with his. “Is that why you were distressed?”
“Yes.” Jean-Luc gave her hand a squeeze and she smiled. She took a sip of her tea and placed it on the table before speaking again. “Will was giving everyone what he thought they wanted – Wesley, to be older...Geordi his sight...offering to make Data human....and I thought...what if he offers to bring Jack back or worse...what if he didn’t ask me and did it anyway?”
“Would you have said yes?” Jean-Luc locked eyes with Beverly. They had been dancing around having a relationship for months. A few stolen kisses here and there, a few shared dinners and breakfasts...but neither had made a move towards anything more than slight more than friendly overtures. He placed his tea down and cupped her cheek with his warmed hand. Beverly turned her cheek into his hand and rubbed against his hand.
“No,” she whispered. “I...it wouldn’t have been fair. To Wes, to Jack...to you..” Beverly turned her body to face Jean-Luc and reached her hand up to trace along Jean-Luc’s jaw line. He closed his eyes at her touch. When her hand passed in front of his lips, he kissed her palm gently. “What about fair to you?” His question came out as soft as her whispers had been.
“No. I....I got over Jack a long time ago.” She leaned over and pressed her lips to his. When she broke off the kiss, they were both smiling. “Oh?” Jean-Luc wrapped his arm around Beverly and pulled her into his lap. Beverly nodded. She wrapped her arms around Jean-Luc’s neck and kissed him again. Jean-Luc responded by deepening the kiss and when Beverly moaned into his lips and closed her eyes, he gently pulled her lab coat off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor. Beverly rose up onto her knees and straddled Jean-Luc’s legs as she continued to kiss him. She moved her hand to the front of his uniform and ran her fingers just under the collar of his uniform. It was a light touch, but it made Jean-Luc shiver and tighten his grip on her. When Beverly tugged down the zip at the front of his uniform, Jean-Lu broke off the kiss and leaned back on the sofa. “Beverly? I want this too, but...not here.” Beverly’s eyes shone with desire. “Your quarters?” He nodded.
Beverly stood and replaced her lab coat, smoothing out her hair and uniform in the process. She reached over and tugged back up Jean-Luc’s uniform zip and patted his chest gently. “There. Back to normal.” Jean-Luc stood and drew Beverly into his arms once more. He kissed her again. “See you in a few?”
When Beverly exited the Ready Room, she was suddenly very glad that a certain empathic counsellor was visiting her family and not present on the bridge. Tasha Yar took in Beverly’s swollen lips and simply raised her eyebrows at the other woman. Tasha would be lying if she said she hadn’t had thoughts about kissing the Captain herself, but she also knew there was some kind of history between the Doctor and him, not to mention it probably was a bad thing to try to kiss your superior officer...although it obviously hadn’t been a bad thing for Beverly.
Tasha wasn’t surprised when a minute after Beverly entered the turbolift, the Captain emerged from his Ready Room and headed for the turbolift himself. “Number One, I’ll be in my quarters. Don’t disturb me unless there’s an emergency.”
Will raised his eyebrows as he knew the Captain’s shift wasn’t over yet but simply said “Yes, Sir.”
Neither Tasha or Will saw Beverly tucked into the corner of the turbolift when the doors opened for Jean-Luc to enter, and they definitely didn’t see him pull Beverly into his arms as the turbolift doors slid shut.