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Beverly greeted her boyfriend and her two best friends with hugs and kisses when they arrived at the base she was doing her internship at for a few days of mayhem, if the men had anything to do with it. Her boyfriend for the past two years had been Jack Crusher, whom she met through Walker Keel, her friend’s older brother. About a week later, Jack and Walker introduced her to their best friend and Captain, Jean-Luc Picard. Despite their age difference, Beverly and Jean-Luc had hit it off and formed a solid friendship. Since Jack served under Jean-Luc, they had managed to see each other fairly frequently, and Jean-Luc was always willing to “conveniently” be at the star base Beverly was serving her internships at. The men settled in on her sofa and she laughed when she was pulled onto Walker’s lap amidst Jack’s protests. Jean-Luc chuckled.
“Maybe we should get our own quarters and leave Bev and Jack alone.” Beverly turned towards Jean-Luc and giggled when Walker tickled her.
“Don’t be silly. You’re both staying here, and that’s final.” She poked Jean-Luc’s stomach before she slid off Walker’s lap to move towards the small kitchen. Her skirt was rumpled, and Jean-Luc tssked.
“It would be a shame for me to have to write up my subordinate for a uniform violation...” Beverly whipped around and glared.
“You wouldn’t!” Jean-Luc smirked.
“You’re right. I wouldn’t. But Bev, your skirt rode up at the back and I could see your knickers.” She blushed, but tugged the navy blue cadet skirt down and turned back to her kitchen. She replicated Jean-Luc a cup of Earl Grey and coffees for everyone else, then sweetly smiled at Walker to come help her carry the cups. She perched on the arm of the sofa near Jack and he wrapped an arm around her waist. “So what are we doing? This base is kind of boring compared to my previous assignment, if I’m honest.”
“I don’t know, Bev. I mean, Walker brought a few bottles with him.” Beverly rolled her eyes at her boyfriend.
“So that’s the plan? Get shitfaced in my tiny quarters the entire weekend?” Jack shrugged.
“Unless you have a better idea.”
“Not really. Well, might as well get started!”
The four friend drank and chatted until well after midnight and stumbled to their bedrooms. Jack and Beverly to hers, and Walker and Jean-Luc to the small extra room in Beverly’s quarters she still hadn’t done anything with. She supposed it would wind up being her study, but for now, it worked with two portable beds for her friends to crash on occasionally.
Jean-Luc was the first to wake up in the morning, and he stumbled his way out into the living room and kitchen clad in his pyjamas. He was barefoot and bare-headed. He was very self-conscious of his hair, which he had started losing when he was still at the academy so he had a hairpiece made for him and it was usually meticulously in place anytime he was going to be seen. Jean-Luc even took to tucking a small vial of glue into his uniform in case he needed to reattach it during the day. He was so secretive about his hair loss Walker hadn’t even known for almost a year, and they shared a room at the Academy. It had taken even longer for Jean-Luc to be willing to admit his hair piece to Jack, and it had taken a camping trip the four friends had gone on for him to admit to Beverly that he was, in fact, bald.
Jean-Luc replicated a cup of tea for himself and surveyed the small living room they had left in disarray the night before. It wasn’t too bad, considering. Two empty bottles, four glasses, and some cards and poker chips spread out across the table. He started gathering the cards when he heard Beverly’s bedroom door open and he glanced up, wondering who it would be. He saw Beverly’s ginger tresses out of the corner of his eye and he moved back to the replicator and held out the cup of coffee that soon appeared. Beverly finished tying shut her dressing gown and nodded in thanks for the cup, which she drank half of in one go before looking up at him.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome.” Jean-Luc ran his hand over his bald pate nervously. Beverly had only seen him a handful of times without his hair piece and he always got nervous whenever he didn’t have it on. Beverly’s eyes flew to his head and she grinned.
“Jean-Luc, has anyone ever told you how sexy bald is?”
“S...sexy?” Jean-Luc flushed. Beverly nodded.
“Yep. I mean, if I wasn’t dating Jack...” She trailed off and put her coffee down so she could rest a hand on either side of Jean-Luc’s face. She ran her hands over his smooth, bald head before tugging his head down and pressing a kiss to the top. “You look good.”
“Er...thank you.” He looked at the floor, the walls, anywhere but Beverly. He was attracted to her, that much he had known for several years, but to learn that she might have been attracted to him if he had been bald when they met....He nodded curtly to himself. He knew what he was going to do.
Beverly finished her coffee. “I’m going to go shower and wake Jack up.”
“I’ll see if Walker has decided to get up.” Beverly nodded and headed back to her bedroom and Jean-Luc walked into the spare room. Walker’s eyes were open and he nodded a good morning to his friend. Jean-Luc spied the hair piece on top of the dresser and picked it up and ceremoniously carried it out into the living room. He paused in front of the recycler. Could he really? But he remembered the feeling of Beverly’s hands on his head and her lips on his scalp and he tossed the wig into the recycler. Never again would he hide his baldness.