'The Imperfect Mate'

Picard gripped the bottle of wine in one hand and the bunch of flowers in the other. Wine and flowers. It was a cliché, but it might just work. He hated it when she was angry with him and she was definitely angry with him. He hadn't seen her since Kamala left.

Awkwardly balancing the wine and the flowers, he pressed the chime on her quarters with his elbow and then hastily tried to re-arrange himself into a position which was approaching dignified. There was a long silence on the other side of the door.

'Computer, location of Dr. Crusher,' maybe she wasn't in. He hadn't thought to check.

'Dr. Crusher is in her quarters.'

Then again, maybe she just wasn't speaking to him.

He pressed the chime again, deciding to wait for five minutes and then leave. Perhaps it would be best to give her some time to cool off.

There was silence from the other side of the door again, followed by a couple of muffled thuds and a high-pitched giggle. Suddenly, he wasn't so sure he wanted to know what was going on in there. A number of attractive young officers had just transferred from the Ariadne and Beverly had been looking restless recently...

He had just turned to walk away when the door began to slide open. He had no choice but to stay and face whatever was inside now. Taking a deep breath, he braced himself for the sight of a scantily clad young lieutenant or similar. Instead, he was greeted with nothing at all. The door seemed to have opened of its own accord. Then he felt something tugging on his trousers at knee height. Now he really was confused; had she bought some kind of small pet? But pets didn't open doors.

He looked down and found himself gazing into the eyes of a very small, very earnest child. He had a vague memory of having seen the child before, but he couldn't remember who it belonged to. He tended to ignore children as a rule; they were things that happened to other people.

The child was staring at him expectantly. 'Um...hello...' he said.

'Hello,' it said back, still looking earnest.

There was an awkward silence during which the child continued to stare and Picard tried to look anywhere, but at the child. He was just wondering if he should try to shake hands with it or something when a flash of red hair and blue lab coat caught his eye. Beverly was hurrying towards the child, looking flustered.

'Molly! You mustn't answer the door.'

Molly! That was it. Molly O'Brien. The child was Molly O'Brien.

Beverly had seen him now and was looking even more flustered. 'Jean-Luc,' she said, picking up the child and carrying her further into the room. 'Was I expecting you?'

And her reception was just as frosty as he'd imagined it would be. 'No, I just thought I'd stop by for a chat.' He's followed her inside even though she hadn't invited him and now the two of them stood awkwardly just inside the door while Molly O'Brien looked back and forth between them with wide, curious eyes. 'I can see you're busy though. I'll come back later.'

Molly had caught sight of the wine and flowers in his hands. 'Are those presents for me?' She asked.

Picard could feel his face reddening 'Um...these are...' he said, thrusting the flowers at her. 'This isn't.' He kept hold of the wine, not sure what to do with it.

The ghost of a smile was playing around Beverly's mouth now. Apparently his awkwardness was entertaining. 'I think that's for me,' she said, taking the wine from him.

'Er...yes...' he'd had a speech prepared, but Molly's presence had made him forget it completely. There was another moment of awkward silence which was broken by the chime of Beverly's commbadge. He was almost relieved to hear it.

'Dr. Crusher, please report to sickbay,' Nurse Ogawa'a voice filled the room. 'Ensign Gilmore's had a skiing accident. I think her leg's broken.'

'On my way,' Beverly said, all business now.

'Am I coming too?' Molly asked.

Beverly looked flustered. 'The O'Brien's are both on duty,' she muttered half to herself and half to Picard. 'Perhaps Deanna's free…'

Her hand was halfway to her commbadge before Picard spoke. 'I'll look after her,' he said and then regretted it instantly.

Beverly looked doubtful. 'I think Deanna's having dinner with Will tonight,' he added.

'Alright,' Beverly said. She put on her lab coat, hesitated for a couple of seconds and then left the room quickly before she had a chance to change her mind.

Picard looked at Molly. Molly looked at Picard. For ten long seconds, neither of them moved. 'You're not very good at this, are you?' Molly observed.

Picard was quite taken aback. No one had been quite so blunt with him in years. He decided it might be best to meet honesty with honesty. 'Not really,' he replied.

'How about I be in charge?'

'Why not?' Picard said somewhat weakly.

'Let's play hide and seek.'

Two hours, four games of hide and seek and two dolls' tea parties later, they were both exhausted. Molly had fallen asleep curled up on the sofa and Picard was struggling to keep his own eyes open as he sat beside her, an unread book on his lap. He was amazed by how much he'd enjoyed the evening. He was starting to find the little girl quite endearing. All of a sudden, with absolute clarity, an image sprung into his mind; an image of a red haired child with his brown eyes. He shook his head slightly. Best not think about things like that, but a strange sadness had already begun to creep over him.

The door to Beverly's quarters slid open. She came in and stopped just inside the door, staring in amazement at the pair on the sofa. 'It went well then?' she asked, a smile in her voice.

'Did you have doubts?' Picard asked, teasing. She didn't reply. Instead, she picked a still sleeping Molly up and carried her into the bedroom. When she returned, she stared at him again.

'I should go,' he said.

'Do you ever regret it?' she asked. 'Not having children?'

'I have a starship instead,' he replied, but she was looking at him as though she didn't believe him. He looked away and started to get to his feet.

'No,' she said. 'Stay.'

'We're still friends?' he asked, remembering their harsh words earlier.

He was rewarded with a warm smile. 'Always,' she replied.