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Doctor and Commander Jean-Luc Picard glanced at the computer screen and glared. Why was she blocking me? Is this personal, or professional? Jean-Luc fired off another set of messages to command as well as Starfleet Medical and glanced around his home office. He had already packed most of his office, and half of his apartment was in storage in preparation for this move. In fact, the only furniture he and his son still had were their beds, dressers, a dining table and chairs, and a sofa. He wanted this job aboard the Enterprise. No, he needed it. Not only was he the most qualified candidate for the position, but he missed Beverly terribly. He hadn’t seen her in ten years, and in those ten years the love he had for her had continued to grow until the fire was consuming him and he just needed to be near her even if she didn’t return his feelings. Not to mention how good it would be for Wesley to be around one of his mother’s best friends and get to experience life on board a starship.Ah, Wesley. The boy was really the only reason Jean-Luc got out of bed most mornings, especially in those first days after his wife’s death. He was the spitting image of his mother, Jacqueline, except for the eyes. Wesley had managed to inherit the steely grey-hazel eyes of the Picard family. Wesley was almost fifteen, and had been five when his mother had passed away. Wesley barely remembered his mother except in photos since she hadn’t been around much before she died. She had been serving away on the Stargazer for most of his young life before her death. Occasionally, he wished his mother was around, but for the most part, he was a happy and well-adjusted teenager. He had a few friends, but no girlfriends and no one he would have called a best friend. Maybe that would change for him once they were on the Enterprise. Wesley wanted to go off to the Academy one day just like his parents had and become a starship captain. No matter how much Jean-Luc tried to steer him towards medicine, Wesley had the brains for engineering and enjoyed tinkering with mechanics much more than he did biology. Jean-Luc wasn’t too bad at engineering either, but it had been watching his mother die from an incurable disease that had focussed his mind on medicine. When his mother had become ill, Jean-Luc had left his position in Starfleet to return home to care for her so his brother and father could devote their time to keeping the family vineyard running. After her death, he wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to return to Starfleet, but he decided he wanted to become a doctor, and he knew he’d receive the best training from Starfleet. He worked hard, and finally had entered Starfleet Medical Academy when he was in his 30s, much older than most of his classmates. It was at one of his command refresher lectures where he met his best friend Walker, who had been the instructor. Walker was the same age as Jean-Luc, and the two became fast friends. Walker introduced Jean-Luc to his younger sister, Melissa, and her friends – Beverly and Jackie. Jean-Luc had been immediately drawn to Beverly. Her fiery hair matched her temper. She was at the academy taking a few extra classes now that she had been promoted to becoming the youngest female captain Starfleet ever had. Jean-Luc and Beverly had a passionate relationship that had lasted for two years before Beverly was given command of the Stargazer. She broke Jean-Luc’s heart when she told him she didn’t want to be in a relationship where she would not see her partner daily, and since Jean-Luc still had several years left in his medical studies, there was no way for him to join her on her ship as her medical officer. He had offered to marry her and abandon his medical studies and become a Commander in Astrophysics like he had been previously, but she didn’t want him sacrificing his new career path for her. She kissed him and made love to him one more time before leaving Walker and Jackie to pick up the pieces. Walker thought that whisky was the solution, while Jackie comforted Jean-Luc with sex. The sex was good, but they both knew it was nothing more than rebound sex for Jean-Luc. Jackie secretly harboured feelings for her best friend’s ex-lover, but felt that she couldn’t act on them and tell Jean-Luc how she felt because she knew he still had feelings for Beverly...until one day when she was going through a routine physical in preparation for a new assignment she found out she had become pregnant. When she told Jean-Luc, he had asked her if he could think for a few days, but in the end he had been so overjoyed he asked her to marry him, seemingly putting Beverly out of his mind to focus on Jackie and the family he could have with her.Jackie wasted no time at all in planning a wedding. An invitation was sent to Beverly, but it was declined, citing a deep-space mission as the reason. Eight months later, Wesley Robert Picard was born. Beverly had sent along a beautiful layette set for the baby, and paperwork indicating a trust fund had been set up for the boy. He would receive the money on his 21st birthday. A thank you card was sent, and that was the only correspondence Jean-Luc had had with Beverly until several years later.Jean-Luc finished his medical studies, but had asked if he could perform his residency at Starfleet medical to remain close to his wife and son. Jackie was a scientist and her life was spent in laboratories at Starfleet, with an occasionally fact finding mission. Her missions never lasted longer than a few weeks, and Jean-Luc was more than happy to look after their son while she went away. When Wesley was three, Jackie received an offer to join Beverly on board the Stargazer. It was an incredible opportunity, and she and Jean-Luc decided Wesley would stay with him while she served aboard the Stargazer as Jean-Luc was on his last year of residency. Besides which, their marriage was failing. Shortly after the birth of their son, Jackie came to the realisation that the only reason Jean-Luc had married her was because of the child. He didn’t love her, and in fact she was pretty sure he still was in love with her best friend and now commanding officer. The assignment was a five-year tour of duty, and Jackie hoped that the distance apart would spark something in Jean-Luc and perhaps when she returned after her five-year-tour their marriage would be renewed. Jackie had been in the second year of her assignment when the accident happened. Beverly, of course, blamed herself, but something had gone wrong in one of the labs on board the Stargazer and there had been a massive explosion. By the time anyone had arrived to assess the damage and provide medical care, Jackie had already suffered asphyxiation. She had been working in the sealed lab when the explosion had happened and her death would have been near instantaneous. Beverly was the one who had contacted him over subspace to give him the news, and she told him she would bring home her body for burial.The night of Jackie’s funeral, Jean-Luc slept with Beverly. It probably wasn’t a particularly good idea, but he had always been in love with her and he just needed to feel something other than the numbness that filled him when he thought about raising his son on his own. He secretly hoped he and Beverly might renew their relationship in time, and perhaps she would want to become a step-mother, but in the wee hours of the morning, she tiptoed out of his apartment and out of his life. A beep from his console brought him out of his mental wanderings. Finally. He was going to become the Chief Medical Officer of the USS Enterprise under the command of Captain Beverly Howard. A place had been reserved for Wesley in the ship’s equivalent of a high school, with instructions stating he would be given an aptitude test on arrival to determine his placement. Jean-Luc grinned. It was the start of his and Wesley’s new life.###Captain Beverly Howard stared at the screen. Again? How many times do I have to tell them I don’t want this man on my ship? I can’t have this man on my ship. Even if he is the best. The first time she received notification that her new CMO would be Doctor Jean-Luc Picard, Beverly assumed it had been done automatically, because she knew Jean-Luc was the best doctor out of all of Starfleet. But Beverly didn’t think he would actually want to serve on the same ship, let alone under the captain that had been in command the day his wife died. And that was before their personal relationship was factored in. Sure, Beverly knew Jackie had been planning on sending divorce papers to Jean-Luc and allowing him to retain sole custody of their son at the end of the mission that she died on, but Jean-Luc was unaware of those plans. And then she went and slept with him the night of Jackie’s funeral....what had she been thinking? The answer was, she hadn’t.Beverly was in love with Jean-Luc. She couldn’t deny it. Their affair lasted for two years before she had been called to serve as Captain on the Stargazer. When she told Jean-Luc she wanted to end their relationship it had been the worst day of her life. For some reason, she thought she was doing the right thing...allowing Jean-Luc to have a relationships with other women who weren’t thousands of lightyears away...but she had missed him terribly. And just when she had been getting ready to contact him to tell him that she thought they had made a mistake breaking things off...she received a wedding invitation and notice about the baby. Walker told her about the wedding. He explained that Jean-Luc had agonized over what to do when Jackie told him she was pregnant because Jean-Luc wasn’t in love with Jackie. But Jean-Luc... oh, he was noble. He asked Jackie to marry him anyway. Walker told her he knew Jean-Luc hadn’t been in love with Jackie and Jackie was only a distraction from Beverly, but from that moment, Beverly knew that she needed to keep her love for Jean-Luc hidden away. It would do no good to pine after he best friend’s husband. Especially with a child involved. A child, that Beverly couldn’t help but wonder if it would have been hers if she had stayed together with Jean-Luc. And Wesley? He was perfect. In every picture Beverly saw, she saw Jean-Luc. While most people would point out the shape if his nose was the same as Jackie’s or how his hair was the same shade of brown as Jackie’s, Beverly only saw the boy’s eyes. They were an exact match for Jean-Luc. Every time she looked at pictures, she wished he was hers. She promptly set up a trust fund for the boy after learning of his birth and dumped in a large chunk of her savings. The boy would receive it when he reached his 21st birthday. Beverly felt it was the least she could do for the son of the love of her life.When the project came across her desk, Beverly had immediately known that Jackie would be the best scientist for the job....but would Jackie willingly leave Jean-Luc and her son? Beverly knew Jean-Luc was in the last stages of his residency, so even if Jackie had brought their son on board, Jean-Luc would have to remain behind. But Beverly knew she needed to at least give Jackie first refusal. It came as a surprise when Beverly received the reply from Jackie that she would accept the position. Wesley was going to stay with Jean-Luc, and Jackie felt that this was the best decision she could make. Privately, she told Beverly about Jean-Luc and how he doted on the boy and paid far more attention to the child than he did to her. Jackie hadn’t bonded with her son and felt that the boy was much better off with his father. She thought that the separation would be just what the couple needed to become close to each other once again. Jackie had never mentioned to Beverly about the divorce papers sitting on the data chip in her quarters, or that she had already spoken to a judge about granting custody to Jean-Luc. When Beverly found the chip after Jackie’s death, her heart broke for Jean-Luc and for Wesley being forced to mourn the loss of a wife and mother that hadn’t even wanted them. Beverly vowed that she wouldn’t show the data chip to Jean-Luc and carefully pocketed it when she packed up the rest of Jackie’s belongings. That day of the funeral....Jean-Luc was so vulnerable and Wesley was so distraught. She held Wesley’s hand while Jean-Luc thanked everyone for coming. When it was time to leave the graveyard, Wesley had clung to her hand and begged her not to leave. Jean-Luc invited her back to their apartment for a drink and Wesley managed to convince her to read him a bedtime story. Beverly smiled at the memory. He really was an amazing child, even at age five.After Wesley was fast asleep, she joined Jean-Luc in the living room in front of the electric fireplace Jackie had insisted on having installed. She said it reminded her of Jean-Luc’s home in La Barre. Beverly had scoffed when Jackie told her about the fireplace. She knew the fireplace in La Barre would have been a real woodburning fireplace, not some electronic facsimile. But the night of the funeral Jean-Luc seemed to somehow be comforted by the electric flames. She had shared a bottle of wine from his family’s vineyard with him that night as they both reminisced about Jackie.....and then somewhere in the middle of Jean-Luc breaking down and telling Beverly how he didn’t know how he was going to raise Wesley on his own they made love. Beverly fell asleep nestled in the crook of Jean-Luc’s arm on the sofa. When she woke up, she first felt overjoyed at being with Jean-Luc again, but the joy quickly turned to shame as she realised what she had done. She couldn’t betray her friendship with Jackie like that. Jean-Luc deserved better even if Jackie had been planning on leaving him. So Beverly quietly got dressed and snuck out of the apartment. She hadn’t spoken with Jean-Luc since that day.A few weeks later, Beverly learned she was pregnant. Beverly debated contacting Jean-Luc to tell him, but every time she thought better of it....how did you tell the widower of your best friend who you slept with on the night of her funeral that you were now pregnant with his child? She couldn’t. She wanted to....but all she could see when she sat in front of her monitor and started to type in the access codes to reach Jean-Luc was Jackie’s face. So she took a leave of absence from her captaincy of the Stargazer and returned to her Nana’s home on Caldos. Yvette Picard Howard was born eight months later, and she was perfect. Her hair was a deeper shade of red, nearly auburn and her eyes....she had the same steely hazel eyes of her half-brother and father. Beverly had named her Yvette for Jean-Luc’s mother, and gave her Picard for a middle name so she would share her father’s name in some way, though on all documents she simply listed her name as Yvette P Howard, and never told her daughter what the P actually stood for. Beverly left Yvette in the care of her grandmother on Caldos while she continued to serve on the Stargazer. When the Stargazer was destroyed, Beverly was sent back to Starfleet Command in San Francisco where she was able to have Evie join her. It was risky, being so close to Jean-Luc, but to her surprise she never ran into Jean-Luc or Wesley during the five years she was at Starfleet. When the Enterprise was offered to her, it was offered to her based on her decision to not take a position unless she could have her daughter with her. Yvette had just turned nine when Beverly became Captain of the Enterprise. No one, not even Evie, knew what the P in Yvette P Howard stood for. Beverly liked to tease her daughter and changed what the P stood for on a regular basis. Penelope, Pippa, Pineapple, Pony, Persistent....the list went on. But Beverly never told her her middle name was Picard, for fear that she would try to seek out her father. Evie had asked one time why she didn’t have a father, and Beverly had explained to her that some children only had one parent, and it made them extra special. Of course, Evie had only been four at the time, but it had worked and she hadn’t pestered her mother about who her father was again. But Beverly knew that if Jean-Luc was on her ship as her CMO, even if Evie’s official record did’t list him as her father, he would know as soon as he saw her.Beverly sent off another letter respectfully declining the offer of Starfleet Medical and told them she would find her own CMO. She sent them five names of other doctors within Starfleet who she would be willing to work with. The response back came almost instantly and this time, she had no option to reject it. Doctor Jean-Luc Picard would be joining her staff as her Chief Medical Officer
Shit.
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“Hey Dad?” Jean-Luc looked up from the box he was currently sorting through in their new quarters. “What is it, Wes? I’m trying to get everything unpacked before I have to report for duty...”“I know, but Dad, this ship is so cool! One of the other guys said you can do whatever you want in a holodeck and did you know that the second officer is an android? How cool is that?!” Jean-Luc tried to hide his smile at his son’s obvious excitement.“Yes, this ship is wonderful. I’m sure you will enjoy being stationed on it with me. Now, how about we finish unpacking your room?”Wesley rolled his eyes at his father. “Done. Dad....do you think you could take me to the bridge? Just so I could get a look at it?”Jean-Luc sighed, but hated to disappoint his son. “Wes, I’m sorry. Captain Howard’s rules are that children are not allowed on the bridge.” Wesley’s face fell. “But...you know Captain Howard, right? Wasn’t she mom’s best friend?”“Yes.....” Jean-Luc slowly said, not sure of where Wesley was headed with this. “So then...maybe she’d make the exception? For a friend?”“Wesley, I highly doubt that Captain Howard would make an exception even for the son of a friend,” seeing the disappointed look on Wesley’s face, Jean-Luc had an idea. “Why don’t you escort me to the bridge? Perhaps you can get a good look from within the turbolift. Would that satisfy your curiosity?”“Oh, can I Dad?”“Yes. Now let me just find my lab coat and we can go. I need to officially report to Captain Howard anyway...”As Jean-Luc and his son whooshed around in the turbolift, Wesley kept up a running commentary to Jean-Luc about the ship. Jean-Luc was impressed with the research Wesley had done, and hoped this would translate to the boy doing well at school. There were only a handful of teenagers on board, and Wesley was the only son of a bridge officer as far as Jean-Luc knew, but he was sure once Wesley got into the swing of things he would have friends in no time. The lift halted and the doors opened. The stern voice of a beautiful songbird rang in Jean-Luc’s head.“Children are NOT permitted on my bridge.”Jean-Luc stepped out from behind Wesley. “I think you’ll find, Captain, that my son is merely standing in the turbolift. He escorted me to the bridge...permission to report for duty, Sir?”Beverly gaped at the man. Her mouth went dry and her palms became sweaty as she looked at the man she hadn’t seen in ten years. That was his son? My goodness, was that strapping young man really Wesley Picard? And was this bald man in front of her Jean-Luc? Was it possible for him to have become more attractive in the intervening years? She closed her eyes for a minute and hoped Jean-Luc didn’t sense any tension off of her. She knew she would have to keep things professional with Jean-Luc, and she knew she would eventually need to tell him about Yvette. She hoped he wouldn’t be mad.“Granted,” Jean-Luc stepped off the turbolift. Wesley looked around the room with wide eyes. “So you’re....Wesley Picard. I.....I knew your mother. She was....she was a good officer...and my best friend. Would you like to look around the bridge?” Wesley looked over at his father nervously. “Can I? Ma’am....er...Sir? Captain? Why do we have to call you Sir when you are a woman? Shouldn’t we call you Ma’am?”Beverly shook her head at the boy. “So inquisitive. Like your father,” Wesley’s eyes got bigger. His father hadn’t told him he knew the Captain, too. Only that she had been his mother’s best friend. “It’s the way we refer to anyone in authority in the military. Even women get called Sir as a mark of respect.”“Oh, ok.” Wesley looked over at his father. “Dad, can I?” Jean-Luc nodded his head. When Wesley stepped off the turbolift, the doors immediately shut and he whirled around guiltily. “It’s OK, Wesley. The lift will come back when you are done.” Beverly led Wesley around the room and was astounded at the boy’s knowledge. She looked over at Jean-Luc and he just shrugged. “Don’t look at me, Captain. He did his research all on his own.”“I see. Wesley, would you like to try out my chair?” “Uhhh.....Yes.....Sir....that would be.....awesome...” Wesley gingerly sat in the Captain’s chair, causing Jean-Luc to laugh.“I see you’re in the middle chair before I even get to stand a watch!” He teased his son. Beverly raised her eyebrows.“I’m sorry, Doctor. I hadn’t realised you had passed the command test. Number One, please add the Doctor onto the rota for standing watch.” Will Riker nodded. “Yes, I was a full commander before I decided to study medicine and I took a refresher course after Wesley’s mother passed away.” He knew Beverly knew he had been a commander before he attended medical school, but he decided he needed to try to keep things professional. He really had taken the refresher course after Jackie had passed away. “I see.” Beverly watched as Wesley continued to take everything in. Wesley was deep in discussion with Data when the turbolfit doors swished open. Jean-Luc looked up as a little girl no older than ten walked onto the bridge. The girl had dark red hair and hazel eyes. Oh no. Someone is going to be in trouble he thought, glancing up at the Captain. The little girl looked over at Beverly and opened her mouth.“Mom, you wouldn’t believe how long I had to wait for the stupid lift.” Jean-Luc’s mouth gaped open. Mom? But Beverly is the only woman currently on the bridge...that means.....No! It can’t be.... Jean-Luc glanced over at Beverly. Her lips were pulled tight, but her eyes spoke volumes as she glanced between her daughter, Jean-Luc, and Wesley. Jean-Luc let out a gasp. “You have...a daughter?” Beverly swallowed and nodded. She bit her lip and tried to keep her composure in front of the rest of the crew.“How old is she?”“Nine, nearly Ten.” Jean-Luc’s head whipped around to meet Beverly’s. Her eyes were glassy, as if she was trying to conceal tears. He glanced over at the girl again, and started noticing the similarities between Beverly’s daughter and his own son. Was she?“Is she...I mean...” Jean-Luc was at a loss for words. Was this little girl his daughter?“I think we all should take this conversation to my Ready room, don’t you?” All eyes of the bridge crew were now focussed on their Captain, the CMO, and the two children. No one knew what was going on between the two and Beverly considered herself lucky her new Betazoid counsellor wasn’t on the bridge just then.“Captain? Perhaps the children shouldn’t be involved...yet.” Jean-Luc suggested as he turned to follow the Captain. “You may be right. Evie, please sit in my chair and don’t bother Commander Riker. Data, please keep an eye on Mister Picard.” Beverly swished into her Ready Room, Jean-Luc hot on her heels. Both children stared at their parents backs, not understanding what was going on.Jean-Luc collapsed into the chair in front of Beverly’s desk and barely noticed when he was handed a cup of Earl Grey tea. He did manage a small smile when Beverly asked him if that was still his preferred drink of choice. She remembers.Beverly studied the man in front of her. The intervening ten years had been kind to the man. His head was practically bald, but that was no surprise. Beverly was guessing that underneath his uniform he would still have the same washboard abs and strong arms she remembered being wrapped around her. She sighed and took a seat behind her desk.“This isn’t the way I intended on telling you,” she began. Hurt was evident in Jean-Luc’s eyes behind the anger that briefly flashed in them.“Oh, so you were planning on telling me?”“Yes, of course. Eventually...” she trailed off. Jean-Luc placed his cup on her desk and clasped his hands.“Does Evie...You did say her name was Evie, right?” Beverly nodded. “Does Evie know who her father is?”Beverly shook her head. “No. Yvette doesn’t even know her official second name is.” Jean-Luc’s eyes widened.“You...named her after my mother?”“Yes. I...I knew if you had had a girl you would have wanted to name her Yvette. Yvette’s official name is Yvette Picard Howard.” Her eyes met Jean-Luc’s. She desperately tried to convey to him how she felt.“Thank you. It means...” Jean-Luc swallowed back the lump in his throat. “It means a lot to me.” He reached out a hand and clasped Beverly’s hand across the table. “Why didn’t you tell me? I would have....I would have been overjoyed.” Beverly laughed. “And what? Married me? Less than a year after your wife was buried you would take me for a bride? You don’t think that people would have talked....they would have thought...”“Thought what? That I was in love with you? I can’t think of anyone in our circle of friends who didn’t know...Jackie included.” Jean-Luc reached inside his shirt with his other hand and pulled out a long, thick, chain. Dangling on the end of it was a ring. “I still have it. I wear it every day. People think it belonged to Jackie but...”Beverly removed her hand from Jean-Luc’s and reached across to touch the necklace. She recognized that ring. It was the ring that Jean-Luc had used when he had asked her to marry him 16 years ago. Tears pooled in her eyes. “I can’t believe you still have this...I knew you hadn’t given it to Jackie but I assumed you got rid of it when I...”“Said no? How could I? Beverly, I was in love...no, I am in love with you. I’m angry that you didn’t tell me about Yvette sooner but...I’m sure I love her too. Please, Bev, can’t we try to be a family now? Why do you think I asked to be placed on board the Enterprise?”“I...don’t know. I assumed you were assigned automatically by Starfleet. I didn’t know you had requested it....if I had known, I wouldn’t have tried to block it.” He smiled at her.“That was you? I assumed it was some brass idiot.”Beverly looked down at the table. “No. I was the brass idiot. I thought....well, I wasn’t sure if you would want to serve under the woman who was in command when your wife died...or the woman who walked out on you the day of her funeral. And..there was Evie and Wesley to think about, too.”“I see. When were you planning on telling Evie...on telling me about her?” Beverly continued to look down at the table “I...hadn’t thought of it...Obviously, when she reached 18 she would have had every right to know who her father was by looking up her birth record...which, by the way, you are on...but I....didn’t know what to say to you....can you forgive me?” Jean-Luc reached out and lifted Beverly’s chin and leaned over the desk and gave her a slow kiss.“Does that answer your question?” A smile played at her lips. “Kissing your Captain? Tut, tut, what shall I do with you?”“You might have to discipline me.” Beverly walked around her desk. She could see the desire pooling in Jean-Luc’s eyes. She sat on the edge of her desk in front of Jean-Luc and pulled his chair in towards her with her legs. When his knees were even with the edge of the desk, she slid off the desk and straddled his lap. She hastily managed to call out “Computer: lock door,” before they were kissing again.###Yvette Howard swung her feet in front of her from the Captain’s chair. “Ugh! What’s taking Mom so long! All I wanted to do was ask her if I could go play with Lauren!” Wesley turned to look at her from his seat in the chair usually reserved for his father and rolled his eyes.“So go play with Lauren.” “Can’t.”“Why not?”“’Cause I need permission from Mom.”“Oh....Can’t you get permission from your dad?”“Nope. Don’t have one.”“Oh. My mom died when I was five, what happened to your dad?”“Dunno. Mom never told me about him.” Evie studied the boy sitting next to her. “Hey, did you know we have the same eyes?”“What do you mean?”“Our eyes are the same colour. Mr Data, look!” Data turned around from where he was seated at Ops. “You are correct, Yvette. You and Mr Picard have the exact same shade of grey in your eyes.” Wesley sat up straighter when he heard her name.“Yvette? I thought your name was Evie?”“Yvette is my full name. But everyone calls me Evie. Why?”“Nothing....it’s just that my grandmère’s name is Yvette.”“Oh. Is she nice?” Wesley shrugged.“I don’t know. She died before I was born.”“Sorry.” Evie resumed swinging her legs. “Mr Data?” Data looked up at her.“Yes, Miss Howard?” Evie giggled. “Is it odd for...sorry, what’s your name?” “Wesley.”“Mr Data, is it odd that Wesley and I have the same colour eyes?”“It is not unheard of, as there is a limited spectrum to eye colour, however it is unusual for two strangers to possess the exact same ratio of grey, blue, and green in their eyes.”“Oh. Could Wesley and I be related?” “Quite possibly. I observed that your mother and Wesley’s father have obviously known each other for a long time.”“The Captain was my mother’s best friend. She...she brought my mom’s body back and read me a story the night of her funeral.”“When did your mom die?”“Ten years ago.”“Oh. I’m sorry, Wesley.”“It’s ok, Evie. I got used to it.”“Mr Data?”“Yes, Yvette?”“Eye colour is genetic, right?”“You are correct.”“And those box diagram things determine eye colour?” Wesley snorted. “Box diagrams? Do you mean Punnet Squares?”Evie scowled. “The thing with the big B and little b.”“Yeah, that’s a Punnet Square. Dad tried to get me into biology and I kinda remember. Every eye colour has two letters, brown is two big Bs, blue is two little Bs. Hazel is a big G, and green is a little g, I think. The big letters are the dominant colour, so like for me to have hazel eyes, my dad had to have two big Gs for his, and my mom had two little bs cos she had blue eyes, and that meant my eyes would...match...my father’s..I...Oh.”“What?”“Your mom has blue eyes, right?” Evie nodded. “So for you to have hazel eyes, your dad had to...and to have the exact same shade of grey as me...Mr Data, is there a test we can take? I think Evie might be my sister...”###Their clothing lay discarded around the ready room. “It’s....ah...been a while....ten years is a long time....”“Jean-Luc?”“Yes?”“It’s been ten years for me too, but please don’t make me wait ten more!”Jean-Luc’s heart soared. It felt so right, being with Beverly. They both quickly reached their climaxes. “I’m sorry it wasn’t very long....” “Nonsense. Besides, I expect next time to be in an actual bed.....” Jean-Luc chuckled. “So there will be a next time?”“Oh yes.”“No running off?” Beverly fingered the necklace hanging against Jean-Luc’s chest. “Jean-Luc? I don’t want....that is, I’m not ready to wear this and marry you...but I think that we should...take it slow? What if the kids don’t get along with each other? What if we can’t live with each other? What if....”Jean-Luc silenced her with a kiss. “Mon Coeur, we will just have to figure it out.”