The reception was over, it had gone as planned. Of course there had been the disturbing news about Data's apparent malfunction, but there was not much they could do until they got to Baku. So he had headed back to his quarters to rest.
As he walked in he saw that Beverly was already there having obviously left the reception before him. Her dress jacket was laid over the back of the chair and he could hear her humming somewhere. She emerged from the direction of the bathroom and smiled.
"Well hello there, what kept you?" she asked.
"Oh I just had to go over some things with Geordi and Worf but there's not much we can do now till we are closer" he replied.
"Do you want a drink?" she asked.
He rubbed the back of his head with his hand, nodded and took off his jacket putting it with hers on the chair before he sat down. Beverly brought him a glass of scotch and sat down beside him. They sipped their drinks and chatted about the reception.
Finally Beverly stood up, "Well I don't know about you but I'm ready for bed, you coming?"
"Not yet" he smiled "thought I'd read for a bit"
"Well don't be too late" she smiled back at him "I'll get lonely" and she headed off towards their bedroom.
It had been six months now. Six months of being married to Beverly Crusher, now Picard, and he still had not quite got used to the fact that she would not head for the door when she finished her nightcap each evening. He still had to pinch himself every night when he climbed into bed beside her and every morning when he woke up to hear her quiet breathing beside his ear.
Being married to Beverly was every bit as wonderful and bewildering as he had imagined it to be. He was a lucky man. Lucky she had said yes when he had asked her after their encounter with the Borg, lucky that they had both made it back to the 24th century and lucky that she was forgiving by nature, because he had behaved like a an idiot ever since Kes Prytt. When he had brought it up she had looked at him incredulously.
"I didn't mean no that night Jean Luc, I just wasn't ready to jump into bed with you. You seemed to give up on the idea and I assumed you were relieved."
So then he'd asked her, and this time she had said yes, and it was wonderful, she was wonderful. He looked at his book then he looked at the bedroom. In a few hours another mission would begin but he had a little time to spend with his wife first. He closed his book and went to bed.