He hadn't seen or spoken to her in days. By the time he had made it back to the crash site she had already accompanied the wounded back to the nearest star base and from there she had gone to Earth. As he walked towards the café where they had arranged to meet he contemplated what he was about to say. From the moment that he had heard that The Enterprise had crash landed on the planet he had had only one thought, Beverly. He had already lost his brother and nephew, his closest family, and the thought that he might have lost her as well was too much to bear. It was with a profound sense of relief he learned that not only was she alive but she was also uninjured.

Recent events had served to crystallise his thoughts on what he wanted. He knew that he had left things unsaid for far too long but hopefully he was not too late. He was wary of frightening her though. Beverly was notoriously reserved when it came to matters of the heart. Since Jack there had been a few brief romances but only one had he ever really taken seriously. In the end she had chosen not to leap. That Odan's last host should be a woman was a cruel twist of fate for Beverly but Jean Luc had to admit that he had been relieved. Anyway as he approached the café he knew that it was finally time to do something to change the stalemate that was his relationship with her.

He could see Beverly waiting for him, sitting at a table, coffee cup in one hand and a PADD in the other. As he approached she looked up and smiled. He sat opposite her and ordered tea when the waiter came. They chatted for a while. He asked how various injured members of the crew were recovering and listened as she gave him details. She asked how he was feeling. In a few short days such a lot had happened that it was difficult to know where to begin.

"You know about my brother and nephew?" he asked.

"Of course" she nodded "Deanna told me. Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not really, but it has made me think" he said.

"Really? What about?" she asked.

"Choices" he answered,"the choices I have made."

There was a pause and then he heard himself say "Will you come to France with me? Just for a few days."

Beverly looked at him. She didn't answer straight away, but finally she spoke,

"Of course I will Jean Luc."

That was three days ago and now here they were standing in the vineyard watching the sun set. She was standing very close to him. He could smell her perfume. A loose strand of hair fell against her cheek. As she moved her hand to fix it he reached out and touched her. She turned and looked at him.

As she looked into his eyes she smiled gently and said "What is it that you want Jean Luc Picard?" and without a pause he answered "You. I want you. It has always been you."

"Ah" she said moving closer.

She kissed him. It was a gentle kiss full of promise. As their lips parted he sighed and opened his eyes. He took her hand and they walked back towards the house.

They said nothing to each other as they climbed the stairs and walked along the landing towards his room. Once inside though Jean Luc pulled her to him and kissed her with a passion that could not be mistaken. He felt her open to his touch and, as her body relaxed he heard her sigh. As they parted she touched his cheek and he caught her hand.

"Beverly" he asked "are you sure?"

"My love, I have never been more sure of anything in my life."

She smiled. And then he heard her whisper the words he had longed to hear,

"I love you."

Looking into her eyes he kissed her again. Taking her hands he led her to the bed. Slowly, sensuously, he began to remove her clothes and she helped him remove his until finally there was a pool of discarded clothing all around them. They kissed again and found themselves upon the bed, fevered touches and kisses blazing heated trails across their bodies, a familiar warmth spreading through them urging them on to the final conclusion of an act that in truth had begun many years before.

Afterwards they both slept. When Jean Luc woke in the morning it was as if he was living back in the Nexus. There she was lying next to him contentedly. He touched her gently and felt her turn to him and whisper his name softly. When he took her in his arms her response was immediate, as she opened up to him welcoming his touch, shivering with pleasure and murmuring words of love and endearment. As they made love he poured his soul into every kiss and caress so that she could be in no doubt as to the seriousness of his intentions.

Later as the sunlight spilled through the window Beverly watched as Jean Luc moved around the kitchen. He was preparing breakfast with his sister in law. She wasn't sure if Marie had noticed any difference in them this morning. They had been very careful, careful not to touch more than usual, careful not to give the impression that they were anything more than very old and dear friends. Both she and Jean Luc were intensely private people and she couldn't imagine that this was going to change at any point in the near future. She wasn't sure what would happen when they got back to San Francisco among their close friends and Starfleet family. Of course their ship had been destroyed, but Jean Luc did not think that it would be long before a new Enterprise was commissioned. Indeed there was a sovereign class starship under construction now in the San Francisco yard, so it was likely that they would have a new home soon.

As Beverly watched him Jean Luc felt her gaze and glanced up from the croissants he was brushing with butter. He smiled and she smiled back. She liked watching him like this in his family home. He was revealing a side of himself that she had only glimpsed before. Jean Luc was a serious man with a serious job. In recent years he had seemed to carry the whole weight of the galaxy upon his shoulders. It was good to see him so relaxed and, dare she say it, domesticated.

She contemplated the grace with which he moved and the skilful way in which he used his hands to complete even the simplest and most routine of tasks. Her mind began to stray and she blushed inwardly as she remembered those hands being employed in more intimate ways in the room above them. It had been magical, quite beyond her expectations. They had made love with an intensity that she had not experienced for many years. There could be no going back after it; no way on earth she would want to and she hoped he felt the same.

Jean Luc saw Beverly watching him. He smiled and thought about the future. The past few days had been wonderful despite the air of sadness that lay about the house. Marie seemed to be coping quite well. Of course it had only been a few short weeks, but she was doing extraordinarily well under the circumstances. Jean Luc thought about his changed relationship with Beverly. When he had asked her to accompany him to France he had hoped to talk to her about his feelings, to convince her to overcome her reservations. However if he was honest, he hadn't really thought anything was going to change. He wondered what would happen when they left La Barre.

Breakfast finally ready, the three of them sat down chatting comfortably about the past few days. Jean Luc reminded Marie that she could contact him whenever she needed to. Two hours later Jean Luc and Beverly set off walking back along the same road they had travelled down just a few short days before. As they rounded the corner, out of sight of the house, she took his hand and squeezed it. He smiled and squeezed it back.

As they stood waiting at the transport station Jean Luc asked for the first time "Where have you been staying?"

"Across the bay," she answered looking straight ahead, "at the house."

"Ah" he said looking away "I didn't know that you still had it."

"I kept it for Wesley really so he would always have somewhere to come home to. Jack's parents keep an eye on it."

Then she asked "Where will you stay?"

"At the mess, I have a room there" he answered.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes then he heard her say "Would you like to stay with me?"

He looked at her and smiled. "Yes" he answered "I would like that very much."

During the next few weeks as they waited for The Enterprise to be finished they lived at the house on the bay. Their lives slipped into a familiar pattern. Every morning they shared breakfast, cleared away and went off to their respective duties. Every evening they returned, made dinner together, chatted about their day, she would have a bath and sometimes he would join her or may be read, then they would share a nightcap and go up to bed. Sometimes they made love other times she would just lie in his arms until they both fell asleep.

They had still told no one, content to keep things just between the two of them. But in three weeks they were due to move back onto The Enterprise and if they were going to share quarters there then they would have to tell people. He wasn't particularly worried but he was old fashioned in his views about the example a captain should set his crew. Starships needed stability, order and structure. If he and Beverly were going to share quarters then he needed to ask her to marry him. He wasn't adverse to that idea, indeed it was what he most desperately wanted, but he was worried she might say no. She was fiercely independent, probably out of necessity, and he was not certain what her reaction would be if he were to propose marriage. He wasn't unsure of her love for him, it was just that she had been married before and perhaps she would not want that again.

In the early hours of the morning as he lay in bed beside her, he thought about the night before. As they had joined he had looked into her eyes and it was as if their souls had touched. The familiar rhythm had spurred them on in perfect unison. She had arched her back and cried out over and over again. As the white hot flames of their passion had consumed them in its heat he knew that she had claimed him for her own and never again would they be apart.

When she awoke Beverly turned over and saw that the bed beside her was empty. Puzzled she listened to see if she could hear him moving about, but it was very quiet. She got up, put on her robe and went to look for him. She found him standing on the porch, a coffee cup in his hand. She kissed him and took the coffee cup from him.

"There's more in the kitchen" he said as she took a sip and gave him the cup back.

They stood together watching the sun slowly rise in the sky. She felt his arm slip round her waist as she laid her head against his shoulder.

"Beverly" he said "I want to ask you something." He paused. "These past few weeks have been wonderful. It won't be long now until we move onto the new ship. I wondered if you had thought about it."

He waited for her to answer.

After a minute she said "I have thought about it. Why?"

He didn't quite know what to say next. He felt into the pocket of his robe. Finding what he was searching for he turned it with his fingers enclosing it in his hand. Then he took it out and opened his palm in front of her.

"I wondered if you would do me the honour of becoming my wife."

Beverly looked at him and the ring lying in the palm of his hand, such an old fashioned touch, so like him.

She said without hesitation "Yes."

In that moment Jean Luc Picard knew he had never been happier.