Her hand trembled, not with age, as it normally did as of late, but with remembrance. Tears flowed freely as she held the weathered paper heart that had once been a beautiful Valentine. The last gift she had personally given to him. It marked the last time their hands embraced. The mere thought of it filled the room with the scent of his cologne. Long gone were the scripted words that even now, 48 years later, she could still quote by heart. 'Keep this close to you always, for where ever you go, remember you take a piece of my heart with you.' On one rounded tip there was a dark smudge where her lips had once pressed against it to leave the lasting impression of her kiss.
Through failing azure orbs she stared at the card that had been lost long before her ginger locks of hair. Lost, just like he had been lost; only that wasn't quite right either, he was 'Missing in Action'. Missing not dead, no she refused to believe she had lost yet another husband to space. For 48 years she had kept hope alive for herself and their son.
She pressed the Valentine against her heart, if she had it, then he had come home to her, to them.
"Mother," her son's rich voice called out.
She looked up at the man who was the spitting image of his father, down to the balding pattern on his shiny dome. "I'm alright, Rene."
In his other hand he held a dingy teddy bear that had clearly seen better days.
Beverly had to assume, Jean-Luc had bought it for Rene just before his shuttle went missing. At the time the boy had been just over a year.
Jean-Luc alone with Lt. Randall Thomas had taken on a mission into Romulan space in hopes to bring down a base, allegedly producing a new type of weapon that would bring an end to life in any sector it was detonated in. With the loss of Andor, the Federation could ill afford the loss of Earth, Tellar, or Vulcan as well. They were the only true powerhouses that remained, and even they had battle scars on their landscape.
Lt. Thomas had made it back, with distressing news that the shuttle they were on, had been hit by some sort of phasetronic beam. With only one escape pod, Jean-Luc had forced the lieutenant to take it.
It had only been newly discovered, after 48 years, the shuttle soft landed on the surface of a planet within Romulan space. Though badly injured, her husband had not been killed. Instead, he had been treated by the primitive natives who lived there. For that time, he kept three things close to him, without fail-the heart, the teddy bear, and a holoimage of Beverly and Rene.
Tears flowed freely from her eyes as she watched the flag draped casket come off the shuttle. Had she not, been seated in the wheelchair her legs would have given out on her. He was home! "Take me to him, Rene." Her blue eyes looked up at her son and pleaded.
"Alright, Mother." Rene Picard, Captain of the Enterprise F, wheeled his mother over so she could welcome his father home from war, after 48 years.
Where she found the strength to pull herself up on legs she had not stood upon for five years was beyond anyone in attendance, but she did and she hugged the casket that contained the remains of the last man she had ever loved, "Thank you for coming home, on Valentine's Day, my love."