– If We Shadows Have Offended –

Summary:  Star Trek: Nemesis; AU.  Shinzon/OC.  Are miracles – happy endings – so impossible, even for the antagonist of a tale?  Perhaps not, if Isis has anything to say about it…

Premise:  Praetor Shinzon, in an alternate universe what-if fic, has met and fallen desperately in love with a beautiful, mysterious, serene and exotic humanoid who is known only as Isis: a sorceress of great power, who saw his end and went back to alter time because of this.  She rescued him from his path of eventual self-destruction and they are now rulers of the planets Romulus and Remus, keeping both the Federation – and the rest of the galaxy – on its toes, carefully wary of them, all the while indulging surreptitiously in their newfound bliss…

Author's Note:  I am a simple fan of Patrick Stewart and Tom Hardy, who had a sudden inspiration to write this ficlet one night after envisioning an alternate end for the Praetor.  I do not offend anyone, Star Trek fan or otherwise; I was completely content with the ending of Nemesis, but the artist's mind took over…hence, this.  Please do not flame me.  I do not own, or pretend to own, anything of Star Trek or the Shakespearean quotes utilized within this piece – I only own Isis, and the concept of this story.  Please r&r!

Enjoy…

Aboard the Enterprise…

Jean-Luc Picard's eyes stared into the now-blank viewscreen: unreadable and distant in expression.  There was deep thoughtfulness in his air.

How had this come to pass…?

The door alarm chirped then, bringing him out of his reverie, and he answered it with a distracted command of, "Come."

At his sally, the door whizzed open, softly hissing, and Dr. Beverly Crusher entered.  Her deep, entrancing eyes focused on

Picard – knowing and reading the vastly different emotions that were chasing each other across, like fleeting shadows at twilight, across his face.

"Just when we think we have life all figured out, our courses mapped and laid out straight before us…it turns around and surprise us, doesn't it?" she asked, softly.

Jean-Luc looked up at her, a new light in his eyes, although his brow was still clouded with thought and – she noticed – concern.

"It is just so, Beverly…" he replied, pensively. "But…perhaps…do you think that it – life – is passing us by in a different way than it was originally intended…?  I can't ge the thought out of my head…"

And he turned his gaze back upon the viewscreen.  Moments later, its flat surface had held the image of Admiral Janeway.  "It appears, Jean-Luc," she had told him, seeming oddly perplexed herself, "That the Romulan situation has become a nonentity.  Praetor Shinzon has made peace between the planets, and has vowed to keep both Romulus and Remus uninvolved with inter-galaxy affairs from now on."

Withdrawn.

Picard looked back at Beverly.  She was still so lovely, even after all these years…but, no: he told himself, for the thousandth time – there was no allowance for such feelings there…not in this lifetime, at any rate…

She leaned forward, placing a hand on his.  He gazed up, searchingly, into her eyes.

"I think, Jean-Luc," she said, gently, "That sometimes we just have to let go.  Life isn't something that we always have to question; it isn't something that we always have to understand…"

Sometimes, it is best to let destiny take control of us, and leave everything else behind…

A/N:  For some odd reason, the formatting may be messed up here; I'm very sorry…FFN is being mean to me today, it appears…but I will soon see to it that the errors are tended to.  In the meantime, I crave your understanding and patience.