This is a really short piece I wrote as practice for an English personal reflective essay. The reflection in it was as good as what there was in my first draft of my essay (which means little to none ;)), but it's a decent story in it's own right. Enjoy!
He stood at the window and watched the stars streak by. They were on their way to Rho Epsilon VII, where Command expected a fleet of Dominion and Breen ships to attack. The source was unreliable and they couldn't spare any ships, but Starfleet didn't want to take the chance of the information being correct and then leave the area undefended. Picard longed for the days of exploration, where everything wasn't such a big rush and the majority of missions didn't send them into nearly hopeless battles. He knew the war had to be fought, to prevent the Federation from falling to the Dominion, but it never made it easier. It was still hard to read the casualty lists and see a name that he recognised. Still difficult to see his crew struggle through battle after battle after battle. It was endless.
The only light in this darkness of war were nights like this. Quiet nights with no drills to oversee or reports to file. They were rare, and he treasured them. He could relax, remove his Captain's mask and be himself, with the one person whose company could distract him from their situation. He could be selfish and keep her to himself, and forget everything that had happened during the day. On these nights, they weren't the Captain and the Doctor; they were just a man and a woman who loved each other.
It was the only good thing to have come from the war for them. It wasn't a proper relationship: just an occasional night when neither of them had anything to do and they could be together. But it got them through the long days.
Jean-Luc was growing weary of the constant fighting. But it was almost worth it to have Beverly in his bed, waiting for him.