Chapter Text
He swings his bag over his shoulder and steps off the transport platform. Jean-Luc feels strange out of uniform, but being in uniform on the Dar es Salaam made the crew nervous. Politely nervous in that Starfleet-legend sort of way, but he'd rather avoid the pomp and circumstance and be a nondescript bald man, who happens to be travelling on a starship, not the great Captain Picard.
Half a second after his feet touch the carpet, Kathryn arrives, smiling apologetically. He's seen her over subspace, but he wasn't quite prepared for how round her belly is. His eyes drop.
Hers follow and she laughs, holding out her arms. "It's terrible, isn't it?"
"You look lovely--" Jean-Luc stops before he calls her admiral and invites her wrath.
Kathryn hugs him tight and the round ball of her belly presses into his stomach. She's shorter than Beverly and with Three between them, her head rests on his chest. He's never been a very affectionate man. Embraces are for family and moments of extreme emotion; Beverly's wife holds him tight, so he returns the pressure. She exhales but doesn't lift her head. He drops his hands down her back and watches the transporter chief's expression remain professional.
She steps back, hands still grabbing his arms. "I'm so glad you're here."
"Long day?" He squeezes her shoulders, nods to the transporter chief and offers Kathryn his arm. Beverly he could read immediately but not knowing what Kathryn needs won't stop him from offering what he has.
"No, actually." Taking his arm, Kathryn frowns a little before she shakes it off. "My day was quiet. All I had to do was report that another ship ran into the plasma briars."
"Plasma briars?"
"It's a new phenomenon we're tracking, tiny plasma clouds that appear harmless enough until one of them trips up a ship. They go straight through shields and wreak havoc on our plasma conduits. Sometimes they stop functioning all together, sometimes they explode." Kathryn shifts her weight as they step into the lift. She rubs at her lower belly absently.
Following her hand, he catches a glimpse of a protrusion, definitely the baby, through the layers of her uniform and flesh.
"I hope no one's been seriously hurt."
"Casualties are light but they're growing. Half the crew of the Toronto needs to be treated for plasma burns. Beverly's down in the infirmary, putting everyone back together but it's a mystery that's starting to become a real problem." She tugs at her uniform, the maternity uniforms resemble the cut of old dress uniforms and she seems less than pleased with it. "She keeps saying burns are easy to treat, just very tedious when nerves are involved."
"Seems she's quite busy."
"Busier than I am." Kathryn gives him half a smile and pats his hand. "I can't tell if I'm being overly emotional, if I miss her too much or if I'm actually jealous she has more work than I do."
He smirks. He'd be the latter if his spouse was working and he was sitting at a desk. "Could be anything."
Her eyes narrow for a moment and she glares down at the protrusion he noticed before. Kathryn rubs it more urgently then meets his eyes.
"Three keeps trying to stretch herself into bigger quarters." Kathryn reaches for his hand as the lift stops. It's a quiet deck and no one's waiting so the doors remain open. "Here." She holds his hand firmly against the surprisingly bony foot pressing against her uterus. "Feel that?"
He nods, a smile stealing over the wonder on his face. "That can't be comfortable."
Kathryn covers his hand with his and smirks. "You don't want to call it magical?"
"It can be magical and uncomfortable at the same time."
"Oh she's been coaching you." Leading him off the lift, Kathryn chuckles and shakes a finger at him. "Beverly told you what to say."
"In a manner of speaking, yes, I suppose she did." He lets her wonder until she seems ready to pounce. "I spent much of Beverly's pregnancy listening to all the things Jack did that irrationally annoyed her."
"And you remembered?"
Jean-Luc nods. "At the time, I thought it might come in useful if she ever had another child." Thirty years is too long to be jealous of Jack and Kathryn's face softens.
"Did they want to have other children?" She opens their quarters.
When the cat makes his usual bid for freedom, Jean-Luc's ready for him and scoops him up in a big, grumbling bundle of fur. "Hello Maestro."
"Thank you."
"He was just coming to welcome me." Jean-Luc returns the cat to the floor once the door is shut and the grey tomcat eyes him before sauntering off to protect his pride.
"I keep losing him." Kathryn pauses by the sofa instead of sitting and rocks her hips back and forth slowly. "Sorry, this feels better."
Jean-Luc shrugs. "If there's anything I can do-"
"If you're going to the replicator for tea I'd love a cup of coffee." Kathryn beams at him and adds, "I have the hypospray."
"I wasn't--"
"I can never be sure whose side you're on."
He finds the cat waiting for him expectantly at the replicator and stares down at the gold feline eyes. "I believe I'm on the Maestro's side."
"Dammit, Jean-Luc, supplement forty-seven, would you?" Kathryn sighs and sinks into the sofa, hands on her belly. "I keep forgetting."
Da Vinci nearly dances as he leads Jean-Luc to the area of the floor dedicated to his bowl. The cat attacks his food with relish but he appears far from malnourished.
"He's fine," Jean-Luc calls to her as he orders the drinks. He sets her coffee down in front of her and rescues the half-forgotten hypospray from the table.
"He hates me."
"You were just making sure he'd accept me."
Kathryn sighs again, resting her fingers on her chin. "That must have been it."
He stares at the dark surface of his tea for a moment, then answers her question from before. "Beverly and Jack talked about having another child, both of them were only children and they wanted Wesley to grow up with siblings. Given my rocky relationship with my brother, I of course, tried to dissuade them. They were waiting to be stationed together, so they could share the experience, but, I suppose, fate intervened."
Jamming the hypo into her neck with practised ease, Kathryn listens and sips her coffee. "I don't think I would ever have put up with this without Beverly here every night."
"She's very happy about the baby."
"Lots of rambling messages?" Kathryn smiles but he catches the relief in her eyes.
"I believe I know more now about pregnancy than I ever thought I would happen to learn." He turns his tea cup in his hands, trying to decide how to word what he wants to say. "It's been a singular experience even being on the periphery of this baby's life."
"You're not on the periphery," she says, clucking her tongue. "Jean-Luc, we dragged you all the way out to the edge of the galaxy so you can be involved. Wet, sticky and involved. Possibly verbally abused."
Looking up, he's surprised at the connection between them. He loves Beverly as he loved Jack: a true friend. He's known Kathryn a fraction of the time but they're already family. "I won't hold it against you."
"Thank you." She tilts her head, brightening. "I can't yell at Beverly."
"Of course not, I understand completely." Jean-Luc watches the stars outside the window, catching the slow rotation of the station. "Will you do it here?" The indelicate phrase tumbles from his mouth but Kathryn doesn't seem to mind.
"Beverly said we should rearrange the dining area, because it's closer to the bedroom. The tub itself is massive. I keep trying to convince her we should keep it around for awhile but she thinks a bathtub in the living room is less than efficient." Kathryn shifts her legs and gazes at his crossed legs. "I wish I could do that."
"You will again."
"Doesn't feel like it." She finally pulls her legs up alongside her, leaning towards him. Her head's almost on him and as much as he can't say he knows what to do, he lifts his arm and gives her his shoulder.
Kathryn leans into him, finding comfort. "What was it like when Wesley was born?"
"Haven't you talked about this with Beverly?"
She starts to turn her head and stops, as if deciding it's not worth the effort. "We have. I want an outsider's opinion."
"Beverly was quite young."
"I've seen holos. Why was her hair so straight?"
He chuckles. Beverly's hair has been changing as long as he's known her. "Sometimes it was."
"What was Jack like?"
"Funny." Jean-Luc could protest that Beverly would talk about him better, but Kathryn's curious. "Impetuous, confident. Fiercely loyal."
"The kind who has your back in a bar fight?"
"Even if you're facing Klingons."
"And Wesley?"
"I remember thinking that something so small could not possibly mean so much to anyone, but there he was and he was the centre of their universe. His hair looked very dark, which didn't make any sense to me because Beverly and Jack were both so fair. He was very red and covered in-"
"Goo," Kathryn interrupts.
"I think it was vernix."
She pats his chest for him to continue.
"I remember watching Beverly wipe it all off of him and the way she smiled was so peaceful. She was beautiful pregnant, all radiant and then at the end, she had Wesley and he brought out such light in her." He turns his head, wondering if her eyes are even still open. He's been accused of putting people to sleep before but that was archaeology not the story of the only birth he's ever seen.
Beverly wanted Kathryn to get more rest, he remembers and continues dredging his memory.
"Beverly was very calm. She smiled more than anything at first. Jack and I didn't know what to do half of the time but Beverly was relaxed. Jack and I spent a few hours just being in awe of her and doing what she told us to do. Move the chair, rub her back, bring her water. Jack wanted to be able to do something, anything, and I think I was there just to distract him.
"The midwife was this tiny ancient woman with dark little hands. I didn't even know Starfleet had midwives, but near headquarters, in the big cities, on the big stations, they specialise. Most of the labour was between her and Beverly. They walked back and forth on the old floor of their apartment. That whole complex must have been built in the twenty-third century but Beverly liked the view and Jack liked the pizza place on the corner."
"Did you get pizza?" Kathryn's question is surprisingly awake and startles him.
"Jack and I talked about it. He loved this one with all the peppers and spicy meat. It got late before we really knew we were hungry, so we didn't get pizza until the next day."
"So Wesley was born at night?"
"A black night. It's always so foggy in near the ocean but it cleared up eventually. Beverly was on her hands and knees and Jack put his head down so he didn't see at first. We switched around because once he knew Wesley was there, he wanted to watch. I remember how focused Beverly was. How the rest of the universe was just gone. She was so powerful then, so aware of herself."
"She says she doesn't remember much. Your hands being dry. Jack pacing and being more nervous than she'd seen him since right before the wedding and how you kept making him laugh."
"Jack was easily distracted."
"Sometimes that's nice in a friend."
"I suppose I remember feeling like there was nothing I could do but that I couldn't leave. It was very intense but calm. Wesley was perfect. Beverly and Jack were so enraptured with him. I don't think I saw either of them happier. Once he was there, the timing seemed right. He got to look up at the stars."
Kathryn turns with difficulty, rotating around and sitting up so she can see his face. "You don't have to--"
"It's not a burden, Kathryn. Getting to see this baby arrive is a gift."
"Even if I scream Vulcan obscenities at you?"
He nods, smiling. "I promise to ignore any obscenities."
"I'm not calm like Beverly."
"I highly doubt I would be."
"I keep worrying I'll be the wild hysterical opposite, screaming, cursing and hating everyone."
"Your quarters should be reasonably soundproof." He says it with a straight face and she smirks before she points at him.
"You have a point."
She pats his knee and points at the replicator. "All right. You can tell me the rest while we make dinner, but you have to stand up first and be my tractor beam off the sofa."
"Yes, Admiral."
Jean-Luc lowers both his hands and she takes them gratefully.
Kathryn grins at him, a sly gesture that puts a wicked light in her eyes. "She said I should ask you about the mambo."
He catches hold of the back of a chair and rests his elbows on it. "She's cruel, your wife."
"Apparently there was a contest in your past."
"The far distant past."
"Tell me."
Laughing as he pushes off the chair, Jean-Luc meets her at the replicator and watches her program in dinner.
"What do you have to trade for my delightful tale of the Starfleet dance competition, European division?"
"Three years of Talent Night on Voyager?" She taps in the last choice for dinner and extends her hand to make the deal.
"Done." He shakes her hand, crosses his arms over his chest, then sighs. "Beverly convinced Jack to enter with her, which he did, but he thought it would be riotously funny if he put my name instead of his on the entry form."
When she walks into her quarters, still trying to shake the feel of the surgical cap from her hair, she smells garlic and butter. Kathryn can't be cooking, that happens about as rarely as one of their supply runs having everything she asked for.
Jean-Luc's at the cooking array, adding something to the pan as Kathryn hovers, watching his hands. He can cook, his mother made sure of it, but it's rare that he ever has the time. He seems to be enjoying it now. The knife flies through something leafy and green before he tosses it into the pan.
Beverly unzips her uniform jacket and leaves it over the sofa as she heads towards the two of them at the far end of the living room. It's not a real kitchen, but it's close enough for the time they have to spend in it.
Kathryn sees her first, waving her over. "Beverly, he's cooking in our quarters."
The greens start to hiss in the pan. Jenan-Luc turns just to smile at her. "Kathryn and I found a species of chard in the supplies from Caldos. I remembered how much you liked it last time we had it."
"Last time we replicated." Beverly wraps her arm around Kathryn's shoulders and kisses her cheek.
"My mother would just love him. Remind me to invite him to the next family dinner."
Kathryn holds on to her tight, wrapping her arm around Beverly's waist. She's warm and the scent of her hair is familiar and light, much better than regenerative gel Beverly's been coating burns with all day.
"How'd it go?"
"Lieutenant Marshall pulled through. She'll need reconstructive surgery and possibly a synthetic leg if the muscles won't regraft to her bone, but she'll be all right in a few days, then a few weeks of therapy." She kisses Kathryn's forehead, just because she's here and she can.
"Have you been able to find anything more about these plasma clouds?" Jean-Luc pulls hot bread from the replicator and sets it down on the table.
Beverly slides into a chair, reaching for the bread. The smell races through her, settling in the pit of her stomach.
Kathryn eyes her and nods, giving her permission. "Eat."
The bread tears in her hands. It's almost too hot to eat with the inside soft and steaming. She waves it slowly in the air, trying to cool her piece.
Still watching Jean-Luc cook, Kathryn shifts her weight back and forth, slowly making a circle with her hips. Her bottom's rounded out in the last few months and she has more in her hips than she did before. Beverly has watched hundreds of women's bodies change, and she watched her own, yet this is different. She's the intimate outsider who feels everything through a layer of flesh.
Kathryn has been paying some attention during their belly dance sessions, Beverly notes. Her hips move more smoothly than they did.
The two of them banter about plasma clouds and the data Emor's been sending back from the Romulan ship. The Romulans are equally baffled, and though Kathryn's competitive side likes that the Romulans aren't ahead, Beverly's seen enough plasma burns to wish the Romulans had solved the mystery.
When her bread finally cools, Beverly tears into it, listening as Kathryn insists plasma particle physics can work in ways that go against all laws of the universe and Jean-Luc laughs and makes her set the table.
Beverly starts to get up but both of them stop her.
"You worked all day," Kathryn says, patting her shoulder. "The only thing I did was stand up and sit down and pick up our guest."
"Sit, please. We have it well in hand."
Dishes find their places in front of her and Jean-Luc takes care of the wine. Kathryn puts water in her glass and lifts it in a toast.
"Bad luck," Jean-Luc warns.
Kathryn smirks at him, downs her water, pours barely a centimetre of wine into her glass and meets his eyes again. "Better?"
"Much."
"To Three," Jean-Luc says, smiling at Kathryn's belly. "Whomever he or she will turn out to be."
Glasses clink and Kathryn's hand covers hers for a moment before they start passing around the food. Some is hand cooked, some replicated, as much as Nana would chide her, Beverly's always had a hard time telling the difference. Replicators are so much like the real thing.
Nana would say she eats too fast, and she does, she's hungry. Kathryn eats slower, steadily making progress on her plate and Jean-Luc eats like a gentleman.
Beverly can't remember what she ate for lunch and her plate's empty before Kathryn's halfway through hers.
"You brought wine."
"I see it as my responsibility," Jean-Luc says tearing more bread with his hands. "Marie sends me more than I can drink. This is the seventy-two, not an exceptional year. I have a bottle of the fifty-one and that, that is truly spectacular."
"Do I get it in labour or afterwards?"
"If you want it in labour, you're welcome to it. Hopefully you'll keep it down." Beverly says the last without thinking and watches Jean-Luc and Kathryn share a look.
"She vomited." Jean-Luc says, setting down his bread.
Beverly laughs, watching Kathryn's eyebrows raise. "Was it twice?"
"Three times."
Beverly rubs Kathryn's shoulder, reassuring her. "You probably won't. Not all women do."
"I'll make sure it's on you." She makes the joke easily but Beverly can see her sorting the thought away.
Jean-Luc chuckles, passing Kathryn the bread. "Jack would find that amusing."
"What was it? Why did you throw up on him?"
Kathryn's eyes twinkle; she's fearless tonight. "Was it on Jack?"
Beverly shakes her head. "I can't say I remember."
"It was the first time. He evaded the last two." Jean-Luc refills Beverly's glass and smiles. "He went into the sonic shower and came back in entirely different clothing and he was so amazed that you had no idea he'd been gone."
"Transition is your own universe. I don't think I even bothered telling you apart. I just grabbed whomever's hand was closest."
Jean-Luc leans back in his chair and glances across at Kathryn, who's taking more salad. "Feel free to get us wrong, if you like."
"I might have to." She pops a piece of tomato into her mouth. "Except your hands are different enough I might notice."
"Possibly." Beverly lets that go unremarked but Kathryn gets it. She's too quick sometimes. Beverly can imagine her making a list in her head of all the bizarre things she might do in labour. She'll have to ask Kathryn later; make sure her questions are answered before she tries to fall asleep.
"I don't think I've ever before had license to say whatever I wanted. If I'd known I just had to have a baby, I would tried for it much sooner."
Jean-Luc smirks. "I've been available, all you had to do was ask."
Meeting his eyes over her plate, Kathryn giggles, covering her mouth with her napkin. "Our children could be in the academy by now. What were we thinking, wasting all that time?"
Beverly listens to them joke without joining in. Jean-Luc plays games of hypothetical so well that she can picture him with a child already, holding her close and telling her about the stars. She keeps picturing Three as a girl. She hasn't checked, and as often as Kathryn has threatened to cheat, she hasn't either. Three is still an unknown variable, just as likely to be a boy with Jean-Luc's darker hair and eyes or a little girl with Kathryn's cheekbones.
After Kathryn and Jean-Luc's mythical children, all with impossible mixed names of old Germanic and French tradition, like Greta Marianne and Ludwig Jean-Francois, have been married off in their shared fantasy, Jean-Luc excuses himself to fetch the dessert.
Kathryn rubs the back of Beverly's hand and her touch is much gentler than the ensign who grabbed her hand out of terror this morning.
"Our children are going to hate us, aren't they?"
"All children hate their parents occasionally, it's how you know you're making an impact on their development."
Kathryn nods but shuts her eyes halfway and inhales. Her sharp intake of breath coincides with her fingers tightening on Beverly's. Braxton-Hicks contractions annoy her and Beverly wraps her fingers tight.
"I hate these."
"I know."
"Aren't you supposed to tell me how much more I'll hate the real thing?"
"I think you'll like the real thing more."
That makes her laugh. Kathryn's eyes open and she smirks, even though her brow is still wrinkled in discomfort.
"You'll be doing something."
"Oh I see."
"You're the great Kathryn Janeway, pain doesn't bother you, useless pain does."
Kathryn drops her gaze to the table, pink rising in her face. "You're never going to let me be done with that interview are you."
"I should be grateful you agreed to marry me. No one writes long, loving articles of the Federation News Service calling me the great Beverly Janeway--"
Kathryn can't lean over and kiss her, so she pulls Beverly close and kisses her that way. "They should."
"You think so?"
"If they knew half what I know about you, 'great' wouldn't cover it."
Jean-Luc sets desert in front of her, some kind of caramel custard. Kathryn, who usually ignores desserts in favour of coffee ice cream, has been fascinated by them for the last few months and running wild through the replicator library. Custards, brownies, cookies and layer cakes from a host of different worlds keep arriving on their table.
"Are we talking about the interview that neglected to mention Kathryn's lovely wife?'
"I was mentioned at the bottom." Beverly sets her spoon and picks up her coffee. "Admiral Janeway married Starfleet Medical's Doctor Crusher on star date 56975.8 on Deep Space Five. Delegations from the Klingon and Romulan empires were present."
Jean-Luc smiles and takes another bite.
Beverly continues, "The doctor wore her dress uniform and looked half-dead."
"You looked beautiful." Kathryn assures her, patting her knee under the table. "Maybe a little ethereal but beautiful."
There are more holos of their wedding than Beverly expected, considering how last minute it was, and she can see the marks of the virus on her face. She's only a mark above deathly pale in the holo Kathryn insists on keeping in the living room. In it, Kathryn has dark circles under her eyes that are only starting to fade, Will looks exhausted, the lines on Jean-Luc's face are deep and Tuvok has that greenish hint to his skin Vulcans develop when they haven't slept.
She turns her head to the side, looking at the wedding picture they finally agreed on. Everyone's surrounding them, Kathryn's crew, her family from the Enterprise and a group of strangers who are just happy to be alive. There's even a few Klingons in the background and a Romulan standing behind Will. Those are the moments she signed on for, not only to heal, she could have done that on Caldos or planet side somewhere, but to be part of that kind of victory over death.
One that unites against the darkness.
Beverly lowers her wine glass so Jean-Luc can refill it and takes Kathryn's hands to help her out of her chair and over to the sofa. After he sets down the wine glasses on the coffee table, he lifts the holo from the wall shelf and carries it over to his chair next to the sofa. He studies it while Kathryn squirms and finally settles down with her feet in Beverly's lap. Her feet are sore and her ankles are swollen. Beverly tugs off Kathryn's socks and starts massaging her toes.
"You make a lovely couple," Jean-Luc says, looking over the holo. "Less formal than Will and Deanna's wedding, but no less remarkable."
"Is that why you've avoided weddings for such a long time?"
Jean-Luc returns the picture to the shelf and reaches for his wine glass. "Attending the weddings of those I love is a great joy, planning my own has never been a priority."
Maestro emerges from the bedroom, glances at the sofa and decides that Jean-Luc's lap is a better target. He strolls over and leaps up. He turns, kneading into Jean-Luc's thighs with his huge paws.
Jean-Luc looks down at him, then tentatively strokes his head. The cat settles down, content. After a moment or two, he begins to purr, rumbling his approval.
"And you're happy."
"I am," he says, rubbing the cat under his chin. "I do have something to confess, however."
"Oh?" Kathryn's attention perks up.
Beverly turns her face to Jean-Luc, slowly rubbing Kathryn's ankles. "New girlfriend?"
"Oh no," he says. He sips his wine and sets it down. Using two hands to stroke the cat, he turns to them both, his face softening. "One of my security officers, Lieutenant Avados, is transferring to Earth to study advanced tactical training. She can't take her cat and--"
Kathryn sits up, interrupting, "You're not."
Stuffing one of the cushions behind Kathryn's shoulders, Beverly holds onto her feet. "I didn't know you made a habit of sheltering cats."
"This is one cat and she's called Miranda. She's considerably smaller than your Maestro here and we've already met at a poker game."
Kathryn appraises him. "Pick up all your girls at poker games?"
Beverly digs her fingers into the sore spot on Kathryn's ankle. She smiles across at Jean-Luc and the Maestro, picturing him with a little cat on his lap while he reads his reports. "I hope Anij isn't going to be jealous."
"I like to think Anij would be pleased that I'm living in the moment. I'll have to make arrangements with one of the biologists to keep an eye on her while I'm off the ship."
"Or on the bridge forever."
"Or sleeping in the ready room," Kathryn says, then sighs. "When do I get my feet back?"
"Someday, but you may always be in your new boot size."
"I thought that was temporary."
"It might be."
"Might be?"
Kathryn looks to Jean-Luc for help. "I've worn the same size boots since the Academy."
"You'll be able to get all new ones."
"And if I liked my old ones?"
Jean-Luc rubs Da Vinci's head thoughtfully. "I'm told parenthood involves a great deal of sacrifice."
Kathryn lies back, rubbing her temples. "Starting with my boots."
Stroking her cheek, Beverly pats Kathryn's feet. "You can dream about your boots in bed. Come on."
Jean-Luc shifts the cat from his lap with a pat of apology. "I'll get the dishes."
"I can get them in the morning," Beverly says. "Have you found your quarters yet?"
"I'm sure I can find them." He kisses Kathryn's cheek. "I'll see you in the morning I hope. I'm looking forward to the grand tour."
"As long as you don't mind a snail's pace and three stops for lunch."
"That'll give me a chance to try three different restaurants."
"That's the spirit." Kathryn heads into the bedroom, chatting with the cat as he follows her.
Beverly looks over all the dishes. Putting them in the replicator should take a few minutes in the morning, but it'll wake her up at least. She walks Jean-Luc to the door. Before he leaves, she stops him and hugs him close.
"Thank you for coming."
"I wouldn't miss this. Besides, the look on Admiral Yunde's face when I requested leave was priceless. I think he'd expected me to spend the next ten years without asking taking any shore leave. Let alone parental leave."
"What's the Enterprise doing without you?"
"Surveying the dark matter nebula on the periphery of Gorn space. Worf has it well in hand."
"I'm sure he loves a good survey."
"He may be hoping for some other emergency as we speak." He reaches for the door controls then stops. "Beverly, I know it wasn't necessary that I be involved to this extent and I want to thank you both for allowing me to be."
"It's your first baby, you should be involved."
He looks past her, thinking for a moment before he meets her eyes again. "I long ago gave up the idea of having children. Being the captain of a starship came first."
She touches his chest. In another universe, she can almost imagine herself having children with him. Jean-Luc's the longest love affair of her life and they've long ago settled into something comfortable and platonic. "I'm sure you can manage to be a starship captain and Three's father. We'll only need holidays and the occasional weekend."
"I'll make room in my quarters." For a moment he stops, eyes bright with gentle anticipation. "If you're sure Three would like the Enterprise."
She hears the undercurrent and smiles. "You always helped Wesley when he needed you. Younger children are much easier. They just need to feel safe and loved, I'm certain you can do that."
"I'll take your word for it." He kisses her cheek. "Good night Beverly."
"Good night-" she pauses, then can't resist. "Dad."
His eyes go wide and he opens his mouth without sound. After a moment, Jean-Luc recovers. "You're going to have Three call me dad?"
"You'd prefer Papa."
"Have you talked to Kathryn about that?"
"It was her idea. Good night, Jean-Luc."
He shakes his head and mutters to himself as he disappears down the corridor.