A/N: Ok. This is a super long chapter. But I hope I conveyed it right. And I hope none of you are mad at me by the end of it. Anyway, your reviews are wonderful feedback! I love you all. Again, this chapter gets a little more intense so just a fair warning.
After a few minutes of walking and light small talk, Will Riker and Jack Crusher arrived at the Captain's quarters. A brief handshake left Jack on the threshold of his best friend and wife's rooms together. Will Riker's speech had left him at a loss. Stepping forward, he rang the door and waited for the love of his life to open the door.
"Come. " The door slid open and Jack took a hesitant step inside. Beverly was setting the table and she smiled when she glanced up to see who it was. "Hey, you." Jack let out a small smile at the comment that reminded him of the days he came home to her. Glancing around he noted the spacious space.
"So this is the life of a Starfleet Captain…I knew I was missing out as a First Officer," he joked, throwing his hands up in an exasperated manner.
"The life of the privileged," giggled Beverly. She set down the last plate and rested against the back of one of the chairs with her arms crossed across her chest. "Will always complained before Jean-Luc and I were married that this was way too much room for a bachelor. Of course, we only had to remind him that he wasn't married either."
"Good man, Will Riker," murmured Jack. Beverly rolled her eyes with an exasperated smile. She truly was a vision standing there before him. Sure the years had changed her, but that expression had not been lost in age.
"Oh great, you've been talking to Will."
Putting his hands on his hips, he humored her, replying, "Why is it you think this Riker fellow will get me into trouble?"
"You met him, you tell me." She uncrossed her arms and headed to the replicator, but Jack was quick to intervene, placing himself in her way. Beverly gave him a strange look.
"Actually, Commander Riker and I had a bit of a serious talk." He reached out to play with a piece of her hair, twirling it around his finger.
"Oh?" she prompted, unsure of his sudden advancement. Jack dropped the hair and slid his arm around her waist, pulling her so they were face to face, chest to chest.
"He warned me not to do this," he whispered. Leaning down, he kissed her fully on the lips, his free hand slipping through her hair to hold the back of her head gently. It took her a moment to respond, but she allowed the kiss to deepen, running her hands up his chest to lock around his neck. There was no space between them as he pressed her back against the wall next to the replicator. His hands expertly trailed down her body, the body he so well remembered. She gasped as his hands explored and his kisses trailed down her neck. Her left hand grazed the exposed skin on his neck and he felt the cold metal of her wedding ring. Another man's ring.
And that's when she pushed him away. Her cheeks were flushed from his actions and her eyes had a hard look in them. He moved his hands down to her hips and rested his forehead against hers. Beverly's heart was beating quickly and her thoughts were panicking. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the man holding her; her back was against the wall, literally, and she had no idea what to do.
"We can't…"
"Can't what, Beverly?" This time she pushed him back a little harder, forcing him to step back so she could move out of his arms. "Don't you love me?"
The question shocked her; it had not been what she had expected to come out of his mouth. It also was the only question that mattered. Staring long and hard at him, she took a moment to answer, but when she finally did, there was no hesitation in her voice. "No."
"No?" Beverly's response must have surprised him because he took a step back away from her. Pursing her lips, she held true to her answer.
"No," she stated again. "I care about you, Jack. You have always been in my heart and nothing will ever change that. I love that we have a child together; I love that we share a past that is full of good, loving, times. But I don't love you anymore. I let your ghost stand between Jean-Luc and I for too long. I am not about to let you come between us now."
"Sounds like you've made up your mind," Jack said simply. She nodded her head, determined to hold his hurt gaze. "But does he love you like I can?"
"If I went to him right now and told him that I still loved you, he would let me go. Without any hesitation he would give me anything I wanted even if it meant the end of the world for him." There was a bite to her voice as she defended her husband. "If he had walked in on us, he wouldn't have said a word. No matter how much it hurt him, he'd let me go."
"See, that's the difference, Bev. I would fight for you. I will fight for you!"
"But don't you see it? He'd give me up just to see me happy." Beverly threw her hands up in frustration. "Because he loves me. Jack, he already offered to step away, to let you be my husband again. Because he loves me more than he loves himself. Jean-Luc is my husband, like it or not, Jackson." Before anymore could be said, Jean-Luc walked through the door. If he noticed the awkwardness between the two, he never said a word.
"What's for dinner?" Beverly tore her eyes from Jack's to respond to her husband's question.
Jack lingered for a bit before excusing himself to the restroom. Passing the bedroom, he tried to ignore the thought of the two of them sleeping in that bed together. He had already passed a picture of their wedding day; both of them had been in their white uniforms, a classic Starfleet wedding, especially for two people of their age. In the picture, they looked blissful; Jean-Luc was holding his new wife in his arms and the beautiful woman looked up at him with a look in her eyes that sent chills down his spine.
Now he knew exactly what Beverly was saying. That look in her eyes, the one that could bring him to his knees, was reserved for another man now. All of her love had been given to another; all of her heart was held by Jean-Luc Picard. It was what she wanted, and as much as he hated it, he would have to figure out some way to live with it.
As he walked back to the living area, he noticed a picture on a desk. He assumed it was Beverly's from the medical journals scattered about the surface. There were two pictures. One was of the wedding party; he ignored that one. The other was Beverly and Wesley, both in their Starfleet uniforms. Tears formed in his eyes as he thought about the years he had missed; how she had to be a single mother; how Wesley had grown up only hearing stories about his father. All the times he had missed.
"Where did Jack go?" Jack could just make out Jean-Luc's low tones from the kitchen.
"Bathroom," was the short reply.
"Beverly, are you alright?" He didn't have a visual, so he wasn't sure how she had responded, but Jean-Luc quickly spoke again. "I know you better than that. Something is wrong."
"Leave it be, Jean." Even Jack could hear the tremble in her uneasy voice.
"I'll leave it be for now. We can talk about it later." Placing the picture back on the desk where it belonged, Jack walked back to the table. Jean-Luc was placing a bowl filled with some kind of noodles on the table when he entered.
Pasting a look of pure disgust on his face Jack said, "Please tell me you replicated that. I had enough of your cooking on the Stargazer." Jean-Luc laughed and nodded.
"I was always impressed you managed to eat it. Most of the time I just did it to piss you off."
"Why? For embarrassing you on your bridge?"
"Something like that…or I just thought your head had gotten too inflated." Beverly came from the replicator with another plate of meat.
"Must have been the latter. Jean-Luc never cooked for me when I embarrassed him on the Bridge." She motioned for the other two to take a seat.
"Well, most of the time you were right." A smirk spread across her face as memories rushed to the surface.
"You mean Beverly talked back to her commanding officer?" mocked Jack, helping himself to the food. "Never!"
"Ha, ha, you two are very funny." Playing with her fork she turned to Jean-Luc. "Hmmm, what about the first time I brought Wesley on the Bridge." He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.
"I could have murdered you."
"What happened?" asked Jack, interested in hearing the story of his only son.
"Well, he let Wesley on the Bridge and was showing him around when an alert came over the comm. Naturally, Wes figured out what it was before any of his officers."
"That's my boy!"
"Your boy? I like to think he got my brains. Of course, he got your lesser half of common sense," she muttered causing them all to laugh.
The spent the next hour telling stories of the Enterprise, most relating to Wesley. There was an ease to the conversation and all three spent most of the dinner laughing. Jack left their quarters with a smile on his face. As Jean-Luc and Beverly walked him to the door, he turned to ex-wife.
"Bev, I understand now." Her blue eyes dropped to the floor as he took a deep breath. There had been no question of the connection between the Picards. Every glance, every smile, every touch had been so subtle yet so blaringly obvious. Jack reached out to shake Jean-Luc's hand. "Take care of her. Love her. And whatever you do, don't let her go. You don't get over a woman like her."
"Thank you, Jack." The sincerity in Jean-Luc's low voice almost made tears form in Beverly's eyes. It was everything he had needed in their relationship: Jackson Crusher's blessing. Jack gave them a quick nod and left the Captain's quarters.
Silence overcame their rooms as they cleaned the table off and got ready for bed. Jean-Luc knew better than to push her to tell him what happened. The day had already been stressful enough for her, the last thing he wanted was to push her over the edge. Pulling on his night clothes, he sat down on the edge of the bed and watched her brush her hair. Beverly was staring herself down in the mirror; the raging internal battle obvious. Gently putting the brush down on the dresser, she whispered three words.
"He kissed me." Her back was to him but he could see her hard expression in the mirror. Her blue unseeing eyes reflected into his soul. He could make out every line on her face and her jaw was tight. So many times he had admired her through that mirror before, but now Jean-Luc was unsure of how to reply and she didn't turn to face him. The revelation did not come as a surprise to him; in fact he would have been surprised if Jack had not made a move to attempt to win her back. The next words made him tear his eyes away from the mirror. "And I kissed him back."
When he did not respond, she turned tentatively away from the mirror. No longer could she stare at her own expression. Not now. Not after what she had done. "Jean-Luc, please say something." She needed him to get angry, to yell, to scream, to be jealous that her lips had been on another man's lips.
"What do you want me to say, Beverly?" He looked up from his position on the bed to where she was standing. Her fists were clenched and her body did not carry her natural confidence. She seemed to be cowering. "If you're going to leave me, please do it now, because I can't take not knowing. And I definitely can't take you stringing me along until you make up your mind. But if you plan on staying then get into bed."
"Jean…I…" She shook her head, still unable to forgive the incident.
"It isn't like you haven't kissed him before. You have a child together for goodness sake!" Jean-Luc suddenly jumped to his feet and reached out to grasp her forearms roughly, shaking her slightly, as if trying to knock some sense into her. "What do you want me to do? Tell you to get the hell out of my life? Clearly, you've been punishing yourself all night. I could hear it in your voice as soon as I walked through the door."
"Jean-Luc…" she whimpered, placing her trembling hands on his heaving chest. For a moment a dark look passed through his eyes as Beverly searched for some sort of answer. His grip on her arms tightened and he pulled her forcefully closer. Her breath caught in her throat as his eyes raked greedily over her.
"He kissed you. You kissed him. I don't give a damn. Because right now I am going to make love to you and you sure as hell better return the favor." His lips were on hers before she had a chance to answer and his busy hands tore off her robe as she attempted to shimmy out of it. It only took them seconds to find the bed. There was no gently caresses or slow foreplay. He wanted her here and now. It was unusual for her to give him that much control, but tonight she surrendered herself to his ravishing, letting him prove his dominance over her. And there, skin on skin, gasping his name, he reminded her exactly who her husband was; exactly who she loved with all of her heart.
A/N: Ok. No preview because I don't have to part that I wanted to put in this chapter written yet. But I figured you would rather have the update than have to wait another week for the preview. Also, the next chapter could possibly be the conclusion (but there is a chance I will split it into two parts). However, I will tell you this about the next chapter. Someone dies. Dead. Good luck guessing. :D