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Beverly smoothed down her uniform jacket with one hand before ringing the chime outside the Ready Room. She heard the rich baritone voice call out, “Come,” and she took a deep breath and squared her shoulders as the door slid open. Jean-Luc looked up from his desk and smiled when he saw his visitor.
“Beverly! I didn’t think I would see you until dinner tonight. Is everything...is everything alright?” Beverly wordlessly handed Jean-Luc the PADD she had been clutching and he skimmed it. His eyes went wide. “I...I see.” Beverly walked around the side of the desk and perched on the desk.
“What should I do?” Jean-Luc placed the PADD down on his desk and reached for her hand. He lightly traced circles on the back of her hand, and she shivered.
“It’s... It’s an amazing opportunity.” Beverly looked down at their hands.
“I know. But....two years with little contact...no Shore Leave...I don’t know if I can do that. If we can do that. It seems as though we only just...” She straightened. “I suppose that’s a topic for discussion in our quarters, not in the ready room....Captain.” Jean-Luc smiled at her. When they had first become a couple, they had agreed to keep their professional lives separate from their personal life...and this became even more important after their wedding and the birth of their son. Little James knew his father was Captain of the Enterprise, and knew his mother was the Chief Medical Officer, but they both made sure they left their pips at the door unless there was an emergency.
“We’ll discuss it tonight, then. But as your Captain....this really is an amazing opportunity for you.”
###
Four-year-old James had been put to bed after multiple bedtime stories and a glass of milk and Jean-Luc handed Beverly her well-deserved glass of wine. They settled into the sofa comfortably, and Beverly toyed with the stem of the wine glass.
“If I take this...what about James? I can’t possibly take him away from you for two years.”
“But equally, he can’t be away from you for two years. James needs his mother.” Beverly smiled.
“He’d be terribly bored. No other children, no arboretum to run in, no holodeck adventures, no swimming lessons, no Data to play with...” Beverly sighed. “I won’t take it. I’ll simply tell Nechayev it’s not possible at this stage in my son’s life to deprive him of either parent. It was different with Wesley....Jack...”
“I know,” Jean-Luc tenderly reached out to cup his wife’s cheek. Beverly’s first husband, and father of her first child, had been Jean-Luc’s best friend. He had passed away almost twenty years ago, when Wesley was James’ age. But Wesley hadn’t seen Jack often, owing to Jack’s assignment on the Stargazer. James, on the other hand, hadn’t yet been separated from either parent for longer than one week. “I suppose I could take a sabbatical and come along.” Beverly smirked.
“You? Not do work for two years? So not only would I have a bored child on my hands, but a bored husband as well? No, Jean-Luc. I appreciate that you would make that sacrifice for my career, but honestly, they can give the job to someone else. Besides, Wesley will be graduating from the Academy in a year and I don’t want to miss that.” She took a sip of the wine before rising.
“Where are you going?”
“Desk. I’m going to send a message now.” Jean-Luc grabbed for her hand.
“Don’t. At least, let’s talk this through and sleep on it. I don’t want you to regret anything.” Beverly smiled at her husband and leaned down to kiss him before she sat down next to him again.
“Alright, but I really don’t think I’m going to accept it.” Jean-Luc nodded and pulled a PADD towards him.
“We’ll make an old fashioned pro/con list. What are the pros of accepting this assignment?” Beverly thought for a moment.
“Simple. Career advancement. I’d probably be looking at a promotion by the end of it. Not that I need it,” she added. Jean-Luc typed into the PADD and looked up at her.
“Anything else?” She shook her head.
“No, not really.”
“Alright. Now the cons.”
“Not being near you. Not being near Wes. Possibly not being near James or depriving James of you or depriving you of James, however you want to word it.” Jean-Luc sighed.
“Not that I don’t think these are all valid reasons, but you know Nechayev is going to want something more than personal reasons.” Beverly scoffed.
“Has that woman ever had children or been married?” Jean-Luc shrugged. “If she had, she’d understand.” Jean-Luc gave her a wry smile.
“This is Alynna Nechayev you’re talking about, my love.” Beverly pursed her lips.
“Fine. There’s my research I’m doing here. I would have to leave it or turn it over to an interim CMO and the last time we had an interim when I took my maternity leave, she completely fouled up my entire sickbay!” Jean-Luc grimaced. Beverly had originally planned on taking a full year off after James was born, but had wound up resuming her position after only six months as everyone on the ship had begged her to return as no one, except for surprisingly Worf, got along with Kate Pulaski.
“Well, it wouldn’t be Kate Pulaski, I can tell you that much.” Beverly smirked.
“No, last I heard she was working out at Starbase two five six.” Beverly rose again and started pacing.
“What if I had a patient I couldn’t leave?” Jean-Luc raised an eyebrow.
“For two years? Beverly, if that were true, you know you would have transferred your patient down to Medical after one month.”
“Unless it was you.” He rolled his eyes.
“Yes, well, I don’t intend on getting so ill you need to keep me in Sickbay for two years. Or injured.” He saw the corner of a smirk on Beverly’s lips.
“Well, it was worth a shot.” She raked her fingers through her hair. “The problem is, offers like this don’t come along that often. I could be shooting myself in the foot if I don’t accept...but I’ll be shooting myself in the heart if I do.” Jean-Luc rose and walked over to his desk and Beverly shot him a puzzled look when he began tapping on the computer and asked it to show him her Starfleet record. “What are you doing?”
“Looking.”
“Oh....kay.” Beverly walked over to the desk and peered over her husband’s shoulder. She snorted when she saw the few reprimands that were on her record – one even from Jean-Luc before they had started to date. Jean-Luc turned his head and grinned.
“Beverly, do you realise you should have been given a promotion to Captain a long time ago?” Beverly shook her head.
“No. I mean....are you sure?”
“Look at these commendations on your file.” Beverly rolled her eyes.
“Do they really count if they’re from my husband?” Jean-Luc tapped the screen.
“Look again. Sure, I leave notes when you do something exemplary, but look at what Admiral Quinn put in here, and Nakamura. You even have a commendation from Ed, and I know how much you didn’t get along with him.” Beverly looked down.
“I would prefer not to remember that time.”
“Me too.” Ed Jellico had taken over as Captain of his ship when he had been sent on a covert mission for Starfleet Intelligence. The mission had gone badly and had resulted in his imprisonment and torture at the hands of the Cardassians for five days before Beverly, Worf, and Will Riker had finally launched a rescue mission behind Jellico’s back. Jean-Luc flipped to another screen.
“You can have the rank of Captain and that would solve the issue of the promotion. I can do the paperwork right now and there’s no chance of anyone suggesting nepotism as long as they read all the attached reports.” Beverly leaned down and kissed her husband.
“Is the world ready for two Captain Picards?”
“We’ll soon find out.”