Scared
Synopsis: Missing scene in "Attached" where Beverly hears Jean-Luc's dreams, among other thoughts.
Rating: T
Disclaimer: Everything belongs to CBS, its parents and affiliates. Just taking the characters out for a jaunt around the galaxy, I warrant they will be returned in the same condition I borrowed them.
Beverly cannot determine how long she has been lying on the ground by the fire, her hands tucked under her head, desperately trying to sleep. She had attempted to rid her mind of conscious thought, but she's finding to difficult to not concentrate. Picard, lying beside her on the ground, had been actively racking his brain for topics to occupy himself until he could succumb to sleep. Telepathically linked, Beverly could hear him ruminating on decisions about upcoming missions, memories of an old colleague he went to the Academy with, and a great deal about what he wanted for dinner when he returned to the Enterprise. Beverly blocked out Picard's musing, thinking about patients she had tended to Sickbay the past week, wondering about Wesley, salivating over that hot bowl of vegetable soup. Finally, just as she is drifting into a slumber, Beverly's consciousness is stirred by the projection in her mind of Jean-Luc's mental images as his mind finally quiets.
Squeezing her eyes shut, Beverly struggles to keep her heart from palpitating wildly when she recognizes what he's envisioning. The two of them are dancing in a crowded Ten Forward. He's dressed in his dress whites, her in a simple white dress, and Riker is leading the band in an upbeat number while their friends dance around the bar. A wedding! He's thinking of our wedding. He wants to get married?
The scene of them sharing a sweet kiss on the dance floor of Ten Forward on their wedding night fades into a vision of a them entangled in a passionate embrace in bed as they make love. Biting on her lip, Beverly stifles a moan, trying in vain to prevent herself from "eavesdropping" on his mental projections. Oh, God. He was serious. This is what he thinks about. Okay, stop it. Think of something else. Okay, review Grey's Anatomy….
Beverly abandons all effort to redirect her attention when she's hit with an image of the two of them in his cabin, curled up on the sofa. Beverly shifts a dozing newborn infant into his arms, and Picard's face lights up. He cradles the infant to his chest and pecks her cheek, telling her he couldn't wait to get back home and see them. In his vision, Beverly strokes the baby's head and replies that they were glad that Papa was home, that they had missed him all day.
Beside her on the ground next to the fire, Jean-Luc sighs contentedly, lulled into her eyes, hot tears sting Beverly's eyes. He wants a family. No. No, he wants a family with me. Oh, God.
Tears cascading down her cheeks, Beverly trembles. She loves Jean-Luc more than anything in the world, but she's terrified. Is that what she wants? Can they make this work? What if it doesn't work? Everything he's told her tonight, everything he's now inadvertently shown her, has shook her to the core. She's scared. And she's doesn't know what to do now.