Thanks to all those who read and / or reviewed. What will happen when Beverly regains her memory?

Chapter Five—Home at Last

Picard went downstairs to the bright kitchen, and looked out onto the sunny lawn. It made him once again think of his home in France, and the simplicity of life there—the vineyards and gardens, the comfortable pace of the days. Suddenly, it didn't matter that Beverly didn't know him. He was here, with her. There was no Starfleet, no rank, just the two of them. Picard realized how free he felt away from the constraints of being the captain. Even off duty he could never really relax, wondering what was happening with the ship, or if they would need him. Now he could just be himself, and be with her. He knew that some way, some time, she would love him.

Beverly entered the kitchen, wearing slacks and a short-sleeved top. She smiled and came over to give him a kiss on the cheek. Picard was glad she didn't feel any embarrassment from last night. "Are you all right?" As he nodded, she looked at the stove. "No coffee?"

"Um, well, I'm not sure how to make it on this equipment." Jean Luc was getting used to coffee, but if he was going to stay here much longer he needed to find some tea.

Beverly laughed, "Right. Fine excuse to get me to make it." She busied herself with the task, and watched Picard out of the corner of her eye. She felt so happy and light this morning, and all of it had to do with this man who had walked into her soul and changed her life such a short time. She wasn't afraid anymore

She wanted to talk to him, tell him how much she cared for him, but he seemed almost shy with her this morning. She blushed as she thought of last night, but she knew it would be all right. After all, there was no rush. They had all the time in the world.

"I know," she said, as they finished their coffee. "Let's take a walk and have a picnic lunch." She smiled. Picard caught her enthusiasm and smiled back. How long had it been since he had been on a picnic? His mind sought back to his childhood in France and his mother taking him and his brother Robert out past the vineyards with a basket. "That would be nice," he admitted.

As they cleared up, Beverly packed up some food. "We can go through the woods into the meadows and stop when we feel hungry." She said. Picard loved that she was so happy. His breath caught as he watched her prepare the basket and thought she never looked more beautiful.

With Picard carrying the basket, they followed a trail along small stream. After a while the trail widened out into a field dotted with flowers. Under a large tree Beverly laid out a blanket and set out the picnic. "Let's have a campfire, I have some matches and I brought marshmallows!" Beverly said. Picard wasn't sure what marshmallows were, but was willing to go along with her wishes. Anything to keep her smiling at him like that.

He looked around for some wood, and saw there were some dead branches across the stream. He turned to Beverly, "I'll go get some wood." With that, he went to the stream bank and jumped over. As his foot hit the far side, he slipped and slid into the shallow water.

"Yeow!" He yelled. Beverly moved quickly to the edge in time to see her new lover sitting wet in the middle of the stream looking thoroughly disgusted. She started to laugh, but was cut short by his murderous look.

"Here, let me help you," she said, choking back her amusement. Beverly leaned forward, holding out her hand. Picard stood up, water streaming off him and tried to get up the steep bank. He grasped her hand and was almost to the top when the bank gave way and they both tumbled down into the water.

Beverly screamed, feeling the cold water and Picard quickly stood up, pulling her up. She sputtered, "Oh no!" as she wiped her face, then looked at him.

He looked into her sapphire eyes, and saw the emotion, the love, and he kissed her there, still standing in the middle of the stream. She sighed and put her arms around his neck. "I love you," she whispered, kissing him again. All of a sudden, Beverly felt dizzy and looked at Picard. "Jean Luc, what's going on?" She saw her arms around him and looked down at their feet in the stream, "What are we doing here?"

Before Picard could answer the unwelcome flash announced Q's presence. He stood on the stream bank wearing a Star Fleet uniform. "Well, captain and doctor, My, my you do get yourselves into the most interesting situations." He sniggered.

Beverly pulled away and scrambled up the bank, with Picard following. Brushing the mud from her hands, she glared at Q. "What the hell has been going on here?"

Picard tried to answer, but Q interrupted. "Ah, doctor, just a little experiment that we thought might do the trick. It obviously has been successful, eh, Jean Luc?" Q said smugly.

Beverly looked at Picard, her face darkening. "Jean Luc, what's he talking about?" Realization and memory dawned on her as she frowned at him.

"Beverly, let me explain—" Once again, Q cut him off. "It's really quite simple. I brought you both here, but you didn't retain any memory of your relationship with the Captain. It was up to him to change your mind. And obviously he did."

Picard exploded, "Q, shut up!" He turned to her. "Beverly, let me tell you—" This time Beverly stopped him. "You mean you and Q cooked this whole thing up?" Her eyes flashed as her well-known temper took hold. "You took advantage of the situation last night—how dare you." Even though she knew she had been the instigator, she was too angry to be rational. "How could you?" she blazed at him, turning and walking toward the house.

Picard followed her, shouting, "Beverly," when he found himself flashed back to his quarters on the Enterprise. "Not now, Q." He roared to his empty room. He stood in the semi-darkness, disoriented. "Computer, what is the date and time?"

"Stardate 46723, 1947 hours." Came the disembodied reply.

It was only 10 minutes from the time he left the ship, how many days ago? Picard then asked, "Computer, location of Dr. Crusher."

"Dr. Crusher is in her quarters."

Picard reached for his combadge, and realizing he was still in his wet clothes, snorted with disgust. Better to be dry and in uniform before trying to talk with Beverly, he reasoned. He squelched out of the clothes and headed for the shower.

Beverly found herself in her quarters, also wet and very angry. How dare Jean Luc! Obviously HE had retained his memory and played a game with her. Oh, how embarrassing to be fooled that way. She walked up and down until she realized she was still wet. Cursing, she headed for the shower. With the hot water coursing around her, she allowed herself to remember the night and the passion she had felt. Jean Luc was a wonderful lover, intense and tender, and as she thought of him, longing filled her again. Stop this, she said to herself and she came out of the bathroom. He took advantage of me, of the situation.

Beverly wrapped herself in a warm gown and replicated a cup of tea to calm her nerves. What should she do now? How would she face him? She told him she loved him. Would Jean Luc try to continue what had been started? In the midst of her ruminations, her com link went off.

"Damn" she said as she walked over to her desk. It was Jean Luc. "Beverly, we need to talk."

"Jean Luc Picard, just stay away from me!" She almost yelled and cut off the communication.

How dare he? Her anger was back on full boil. She would rather be angry than have to think about what to do next. She started to pace the room when there was a flash, and as she turned, Beverly saw that Vash was standing in her quarters.

"Dr. Crusher, it's good to see you again," Vash said with a small smile.

"What, are you in on this, too?" Beverly glared at her, glad to vent her anger on someone.

"No," Vash said as she moved to sit on a chair. "As a matter of fact, when Q told me what he had done, I was very angry."

Beverly faced Vash slightly mollified. "So what do you want?"

"Dr. Crusher, Beverly, I don't know you very well, but I do know Jean Luc" Vash started. Beverly couldn't believe it. Did ALL Jean Luc's women need to come and tell me about it? Vash continued, "The time we spent together on Risa, and later when I came aboard the Enterprise were just fun. I knew then as I know now that Jean Luc never loved me—I was just a stopgap for him."

Beverly's anger left her. She looked down, and said softly, "There have been others."

Vash said boldly. "So? If you wanted him, why didn't you take him? He was always yours. You pushed him away and he turned to me. I wasn't the right one for him and neither was anyone else."

Vash got up and stood in front of her. "Q tells me that you told Jean Luc you loved him." Beverly looked at her and nodded. "Well then", Vash said, "What's your problem? "

"It's not that simple, Vash" Beverly said, tightly. "There's so much that we've been through together, and now this. It would change our whole relationship. I don't know if I'm ready for that."

Vash crossed her arms and looked like Q for a moment. "Well, if I were you, I'd jump on Jean Luc as fast as I could before someone else latches on to him. Or," Vash said looking at her intently. "leave him alone—get off the Enterprise and let him go on with his life."

Beverly looked at her shocked and Vash smiled. "Just some advice from an old explorer." Vash said, "All right Q, I'm ready. Goodbye, Doctor, I hope my prescription will work." With a smile and a flash of light, she was gone.

Jean Luc sat slumped on a chair in his quarters. He wasn't to be on duty for 48 hours. Since Beverly wouldn't speak to him he didn't know what to do, but his quarters seemed like a prison. He went to level 36 and walked for an hour, around the near-deserted corridors. His arm still hurt some, but sickbay was the last place he wanted to go. Picard wondered when Beverly would be calm enough to talk with him. He had seen her temper rage before, but not about their relationship. He sighed and wandered down to 10 Forward. It was quiet, not even Guinan was around. Just as well, as Picard didn't think he could stand her questioning looks. He didn't want to talk to anyone, and suddenly had an idea.

Making his way to holodeck 2, he paused at the computer padd. "Computer, run Picard-Hill Program Alpha 3."

"That program is in progress." Came the reply. "Enter when ready."

Who was in the program? Picard thought. He walked into a hallway in Dixon Hill's office building, and made his way to Hill's office. It was dark in the waiting room, but a light burned in the back office. He opened the door to see Beverly sitting behind Hill's desk, toying with an old-fashioned pencil. She was wearing his favorite blue off-the-shoulder sweater. She looked up guiltily.

He came around the desk. She was mute and he didn't know how to continue. "Beverly." He started, but she interrupted him.

"I'm sorry, Jean Luc." She said with her head down,

"What? Beverly, look at me."

She moved her eyes up to his, and saw the man she knew as the captain, as well as the PI Dixon hill she'd spend the last few days with. She realized they were the same, had been the same for all the years she had known him. When she was in that alternate reality she hadn't been afraid of love or of being hurt and it felt wonderful. If this man, her friend and lover could give her that why shouldn't she take it?

Now he shook his head and said, "You have no reason to be sorry, Beverly. I'm the one who took advantage of the circumstances."

She sighed to herself, exasperated. He always wanted to take blame on himself for everything. "It's not your fault, Jean Luc, its Q's. I think in your situation I would have done the same. I mean if you would have tried to tell me anything about our past together, I would have thought you were crazy. But now . . . . We've kind of jumped ahead and I don't want to ruin anything between us."

Picard took her hand and kissed it. "We have lots of time, Beverly. What if we start slow, say, dinner in my quarters?"

She smiled up at him. "I'd like that." He kept her hand as he helped her out of the chair. He put his arm around her waist and they walked out of Dixon Hill's office, turning out the old-fashioned lights as they left.

From a darkened corner of the room, Q emerged with a look of satisfaction on his face. "Well done, mon capitaine. But, I'll be watching." In a flash he was gone.

THE END

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