Chapter 10

Summer held on to the shortening days as winter slowly stole them from her grasp. When winter had been distracted by autumn, summer had planted her feet for once last stand, warming the breezes and the days to last through the harvest. Beverly felt the struggle of the seasons as soon as she stepped foot from the shuttle transport to the dirt road leading to her husband's family home. As she inhaled the air sweetened by the unharvested grapes, she remembered what she missed as she lived her life in the emptiness of space. This was it. This was home.

Her hand absently rested on her abdomen, the son inside her gave a kick in reply. He recognized it too, recognized his home. Two weeks had gone by, a rush of finalizing paperwork with Starfleet, finalizing paperwork with the children's schoolteachers, finalizing the medical care she would have while in France. Slowly, the specter of Q's future had faded away, a pale shadow of what it had been. Allie and Andrew had stopped bringing it up, and now only in the most brief of moments did Beverly catch the thoughts bothering them when they thought no one was looking. She saw it, in their eyes, despite them having different eye colors, their expressions were the same. The two of them were best friends, they'd been best friends since before they'd even been born. Just the idea of them losing one another had shaken them deeply. Beverly hated imagining what it would be like to lose Jean-Luc—and they had been best friends for only fifteen years. Before that, there had been others. But Andrew and Allie, they'd known nothing else.

They hadn't argued as much the past couple of weeks, certainly, they teased each other just as much as before, but they'd yet to have a shouting match, something that used to occur at least once a week. Allie had become a tad more introspective, something she usually left to her brother. Then Andrew had become very attentive to Allie's moods, now even more perceptive than usual when something bothered his sister. Beverly, for one, was very happy to know that the timeline that was the road to Q's future had already been broken to bits and would never happen.

The setting sun winked from behind the pink and purple fingers of clouds as the breeze brushed their cheeks again. "It smells good," Gracie said, then peered up at her father, her hand in his. "Does it always smell good here?"

"Not if you're stuck behind any horses," Allie said.

Jean-Luc's brow crinkled as he shot a glare of annoyance in his elder daughter's direction. Allie shrugged at him, entirely nonplussed about his irritation.

"I forgot you had horses here," Andrew said from his spot standing behind Beverly.

"Technically, Robert has horses here," Picard said, his gaze carrying down the dirt road. "While I have nothing here."

As the Starfleet captain looked down the road leading to his childhood home, Beverly walked up behind him and threaded her arms through his. "That isn't true, Jean-Luc," she said.

"The vineyard and all the property is Robert's. My father willed it to him as his inheritance as the eldest son." Picard paused, picking over his thoughts. "But that wasn't the only reason. The real reason was because I didn't follow in my family's trade. Because I departed from Picard tradition, he didn't think it fit that I ever own the vineyard, even a part of it. The only reason it would ever come into my possession would be if Robert and then Rene died. But it shouldn't, they're both perfectly healthy. Besides that, I have no plans to retire anytime soon and become a vintner." He looked at her steadily. "So I've nothing here."

She pressed his cheek to his. "That isn't true. This is your home. It will always be your home. It's where, in the end, you're meant to be." She reached out and pulled Gracie in closer, hugging her to her body. "It's where we're all meant to be, I think. Working this earth in some way."

Comments came from behind them. "Well, I'm feeling a bit left out. How are you feeling, Andrew?"

"Somewhat put off, Allie," he replied.

Gracie turned around to face her brother. "You've got perfectly good legs," she told him. "You can easily walk over here and join us."

As she attempted to cover her laughter, Beverly moved her arm away from Gracie.

Meanwhile, the tall boy stared down at his little sister, who stared defiantly back up at him. "Fine," he said, then strode over, picked her up, and tossed her over his shoulder. Gracie took to hitting him on the back with her small fists, but her brother paid no attention to her, and carried on a conversation with his father as if she were no bother. "So the house is what way?"

Jean-Luc nodded in the direction of the long stretch of dirt path. "That way."

Andrew nodded back and set off down the road, with Gracie beginning to resort to name calling as the beating hadn't worked. Behind them, Conal trotted happily. The smile was warmth on the doctor's face.

"How far away is it?" Allie asked, now walking between them.

"Not far. Half a kilometer after that bend," the captain answered. "The last time I was here, Rene met me halfway there, after following me behind the hedge for some time."

"Do you think—" Allie's question was cut off by a shriek from her sister.

"Somebody's in the bushes!" Gracie shouted. "Andrew, put me down!"

"I'm not falling for that," Andrew said. He didn't put her down, but he did follow to where she was pointing, walking over to investigate.

"Don't bring me with you!"

"Don't worry, I'll protect you," he said, using his free arm to brush aside some branches and poke his head inside the foliage.

"You'll throw me and run, that's what you'll do."

"No, I'll drop you and run." With that, he picked her off his shoulder and deposited her behind the hedge. "Take a look around in there would you? You're just the right size for it. I'm too tall."

Instead of doing as her brother asked, Gracie came barreling through the hedge and managed to knock Andrew to the ground. "That wasn't funny! What if someone had been in there?" She glared at him, nose to nose, but he was laughing too hard to reply.

Beverly heard footsteps on the path near them and turned. A young boy stood there, perhaps twelve years old. Almost right away, she knew who he was. He had to be Rene, he had the same gray eyes as Jean-Luc, the same eyes as Andrew and Gracie.

"Hello, Nephew," the boy said, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.

"Hello, Uncle," the captain said. "This is around the spot where you tried to rob me a few years ago."

Finally, Rene gave a full smile. "I figured I'd give it another go, but I'm afraid I'm not very good at highway robbery." He glanced down the path to where Andrew and Gracie were wrestling. "Do they always do that?"

Picard followed his nephew's look. "That's perfectly normal for siblings. Don't worry, they like one another just fine."

Beverly was reminded strongly of Wesley, how only children could be so amazed and affronted by the strong emotions that siblings seemed to wield at one another. Arguing, fighting, wrestling, talking late into the night, teasing one another, helping one another, so many things wrapped up in the relationship of siblinghood. Like Wesley, Rene had never experienced it. So coming upon Andrew and Gracie wrestling in the road, it might seem to the uninitiated that they hated one another. But quite the opposite was true. Andrew would never let anything happen to either of his sisters if he had anything to do with it. And both of his sisters were the same way about him.

"They've a strange way of showing it," Rene said, looking back at the captain.

"They're strange anyway," Allie said. They were, however, very adept at throwing one another under the bus.

Rene turned to her. "You must be my cousin..." he searched for the name. "Natalie?"

"Allie," she corrected him. "I only get called Natalie when I'm in trouble."

"Which is more often than you'd think," Beverly said.

"And you must be my aunt Beverly." Rene's grin grew wider. "Maman said she's very eager to meet you." He paused, doing his best not to gape at Beverly's size, and failing rather miserably. "And, um, whoever is in there." His brow furrowed. "Can you even see your toes?"

Beverly did her best not to level a glare at her nephew, it wouldn't do when meeting him for the first time, but she couldn't believe the words that had just wandered out of his mouth. And it didn't help matters that Allie let out a loud snort of laughter before she managed to clamp her hand on her mouth, while Jean-Luc was looking over his nephew's brown-haired head, his eyes laughing at her plight.

Allie did the speaking for her, putting her arm around Rene's shoulders. "Oh, I like you already," she said, putting herself between her mother and her cousin. "But you and I need to have a chat about upsetting pregnant women."

"That chat with Allie won't be terribly pleasant either," Andrew said, dusting himself off as he walked up to the group. Gracie nudged him as she went by and he plucked a dry leaf out of her hair.

The doctor nearly started to feel sorry for Rene, being an only child suddenly thrust into the world of siblings. Then she tried to look down at her feet, realized she couldn't see her damn toes, and that was the end of feeling any sympathy for him. That boy could deal with whatever his cousins threw at him.

Allie flashed a smile at her mother, then spoke to her cousin. "The tall one is my twin brother, Andrew. The short one is our younger sister, Gracie."

"I am not short. Once and for all, I would like to establish, that I am not short. I'm well within the median percentile for my age group." She glared up at her sister, the same as she'd done with her brother. "I did the research."

"I bet you wouldn't be so defensive if you weren't so short," Andrew said.

Gracie whirled on him. "That's it. I'm not speaking to you anymore." Then she turned to her cousin. "And you're Rene?" She peered up at him. Unlike her older siblings, she only had to look up a few inches. "How old are you?"

"Nearly twelve." He peered down at her. "What's it like to live on a starship?" he asked. Gracie's eyes lit up and the two of them began chattering away, quickly getting ahead of the rest of them on the road.

Allie patted Andrew on the back. "I think she's moved on already," she said.

"I know," he said, watching the two younger children walk around the bend. "I'll have a good cry later." He looked at his father. "So is that what a Picard is supposed to look like? All that brown hair? Well, I mean, before it falls out."

Beverly managed to keep a straight face as Jean-Luc ignored the dig at his hairline. "I'll have you know, his mother has red hair."

"Does she?" Allie asked. "Oh, that's interesting. So you and your brother both married redheads?" She didn't give him time to reply. "This gets better and better. I bet you and my uncle are more alike than either of you would ever admit."

The glare the captain gave her told them everything—and just how right she was. They were quiet as they rounded the bend in the road themselves, then the house came into view, the old building standing proudly as if it hadn't changed since the nineteenth century. As Beverly watched, a curly haired redheaded woman around her age came outside, seeing the two approaching children first—Rene, her own child, and her niece Gracie. Immediately, they fell into cheerful conversation, not falling into any sort of uncomfortable silence. Gracie had that way about her, she could get anyone to talk.

Marie noticed the rest of the group as the drew up to the grass. "Jean-Luc!" she said, then went up to him, kissing him on each cheek. "It's been so long." Her smile was genuine and grew warmer as she looked over at Beverly. "And I see you did not drink that wine alone." She extended her arms and the two women shared a hug, as much as one could be managed. "I am so happy to finally meet you." Her eyes slid over to where her son was talking with the others. "And I will speak to him later about his lack of tact."

Introductions were finished all around. Jean-Luc explained that their belongings would be arriving by transport within the hour, as with Beverly's rapidly progressing pregnancy and Gracie's small size, carrying enough with them for two months of a stay would be difficult. "Where's Robert?" he finally asked.

Marie and Beverly exchanged looks, they both knew Jean-Luc had been wanting to ask that question first. "He's out in the vineyard, harvesting with the rest of the workers we've hired on for the harvest. I decided to take the day off to welcome the rest of our family. He'll come in once the sun has finished setting. Come in, come in, I'll show you to your rooms."

The captain's childhood home had more than enough room for the extended family. The house had been built long ago to accomodate much larger families than the one that inhabited it now. Beverly watched as their own children settled in easily, the familiarity of this home much like their home on Caldos. It carried the smell of old wooden floors along with the fresh scents of the plant life outside.

Suddenly, she was aware of just how stale a starship's recycled air could be. More smells wafted from the kitchen as she and Jean-Luc tread back down the stairs. She turned to him. "She's cooking with real food, isn't she? No replicator?" Then she answered her own question. "You told me before, I'd completely forgotten."

He couldn't hide his smile. "You were, as I recall, a bit ill at the time."

"And I couldn't figure out what possessed you to tell me right at that moment."

Picard shrugged. "It's when I remembered."

"It's awfully quiet." Beverly frowned, glancing around the living room, then peeking into the dining room, the library, Robert's office. Jean-Luc had gone into the kitchen, she followed him after she decided she wouldn't be locating her children anytime soon. "I haven't a clue where they've gone," she said as she walked through the door.

Marie looked up. "Rene took them out to the barn and the other buildings. Actually, he was only going to take Gracie, but she managed to coax the other two to come with them. So now they've all gone. She's a little charmer, that one."

"I only hope you can see past her guile," the captain said.

"I hardly think she's got any sort of guile in her," his sister-in-law replied.

He sighed, leaning against one of the counters. "That's the problem."

Beverly smiled. There was something about fathers and daughters, how when the relationship between the two was a good one, that each of them had the other wrapped around their finger. While he had the ability to be stern with Gracie, Jean-Luc also had a large amount of trouble scolding her to any great degree. Luckily for them, Gracie had yet to get herself into any significant amount of trouble. Like her elder sister, she had a fairly level head.

Jean-Luc's look had gone off in thought again, then snapped back to reality, and right to Marie. "Robert's upset, isn't he," he said, with finality, no question in his tone.

Tossing a towel onto another counter, Marie heaved a sigh. "I honestly don't know what's wrong with him. I think he's got his head...well, he isn't seeing reason. But he was fine, even excited...at least as excited as Robert outwardly gets...about you coming home. Then as it got closer to when you would all arrive, he became cold again. Sometimes, I just don't understand him at all." She crossed her arms. "It must be something with Picard men. You're both like that, you know."

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Marie," the captain said.

"Yes, you do," Beverly said.

His annoyed look told her an argument was coming, but it was interrupted before it even started by Gracie running into the kitchen. She skidded to a halt in front of the three adults. "The shuttle is here with our things and there's a two week old colt in the barn and he's got the longest spindly legs for his little body and he's got a white blaze right down his face and I want to go back and see him but I have to get my stuff and unpack, and you should too." Then she was back out the door, brushing past Allie. "Don't go back in there!" Gracie admonished her sister. "We've got to unload so we can go back outside!"

Beverly wasn't sure if the child had even taken a breath. Allie shared a smile with her. "She's actually never seen a colt before," she explained. "So she's, um, a bit excited."

"A bit?" Jean-Luc raised his eyebrow at her as he headed for the door. "All though, she is right, we do need to unload so the drivers can move on."

The doctor followed him into the living room, where they found Andrew with his fencing bag already open, his hands moving through the equipment as he inspected it for damage. It didn't take long for the rest of them to unload, they hadn't brought a lot, but just enough that carrying it by hand would have been difficult. All three children had brought fencing gear, Andrew and Allie had looked into directories in the village and located the same salle that their father had fenced in as a youth. When Andrew had contacted the coach, the man had been delighted at the prospect of three more Picards fencing with them, even if only for two months. Only briefly had the the three of them entertained the idea of taking a break. But Gracie had only started months ago, and Andrew found that one of the Federation Cups was taking place in Paris a week after they were all scheduled to depart for the Enterprise. So he'd taken it upon himself to speak with Marie about it, and of course she immediately advised Andrew and Allie to stay for the extra week at the vineyard so they could compete.

While this was supposed to be a vacation for all of them, Andrew remained intent on keeping up his training. Allie aimed to train as well as compete, but her own dedication had waned as of late. Beverly had noticed and asked her about it only days before. Allie had explained that while she loved the sport and would never give it up, she wouldn't have the time to dedicate to it while she was in school and once she was practicing as a vet. "I figure," she said, "That it would be easier to start winding down now instead of just coming to a full stop immediately."

Andrew had noticed as well, but seemed to understand his sister's reasoning without even having to ask her about it. He and Allie shared that connection, at least with the deeper things, where words weren't necessary between them to communicate. It still amazed their mother to see it, especially when Andrew accepted, without question, his twin beginning to drop away from the sport they'd always done together.

"I'm going to go look for Robert," the captain said after he'd returned from the second floor, then was out the door before either Marie or Beverly could make eye contact.

Marie sighed. "It just doesn't make sense."

"What doesn't?" Allie hadn't been far behind her father on the stairs. Her brother and sister, however, were occupied upstairs by fixing equipment that'd been damaged in transport, their cousin looking curiously on their work. Wisely, no one had mentioned to Gracie how quickly she'd broken her vow not to speak to her brother.

"Jean-Luc and Robert." Marie drew her eyes away from the closed door. "When Jean-Luc left the last time he visited, the two of them were agreeable with one another. Since they'd been at odds their entire lives, agreeable was quite a large step in the right direction. But now it seems they're right back where they started, locking horns with one another. I don't see what's changed."

"It makes perfect sense," Allie said.

Both of the adult women waited for the young lady's forthcoming answer.

She obliged, and answered with a smirk. "They're Picards. It's just the way they are. I think the only Picards that make sense are the women."

The thunder of feet drumming down the stairs announced Gracie's arrival. "Let's go back to the barn," she said, looking at her sister.

"Except maybe the youngest ones," Allie said to her aunt and mother.

"The youngest ones what?" Gracie asked, already suspicious. "You were talking about me, weren't you?"

"Not at first." Allie held out her hand. "Come on, I know you want to see the colt again."

Gracie looked at the other two women. "You should come with us," she said.

Marie shook her head. "I would, but I've seen him enough times, and I've got dinner to finish."

"Do you need any help?" Beverly asked.

"No. And if I did, I wouldn't let you help anyway. I think you've already been on your feet for too long, so having you help me out in the kitchen and stay on your feet wouldn't be allowable." She smiled at Beverly's immediate frown. "And I know you're a doctor, and a good one at that, but that's the way I feel. You'll just have to deal with it. But, if you insist on helping, you can come in once you've come back from the barn, and if you agree to help while seated, I'd be more than happy to accept it." Then she disappeared back into the kitchen.

"She's married to a Picard, all right," Allie said. "Only stubborn women can contend with men as hard-headed as this family's."

"I heard that!" came Marie's shout from the kitchen. "And you're entirely right."

Laughing, they walked down to to the barn, Conal loping beside Gracie. Allie brought the colt and the mare out into the corral so they could run. Gracie climbed onto the fence to watch them, absolutely fascinated. Beverly realized that her youngest had been right, the young horse was all legs and very little body.

"They remind me of Andrew when he got his growth spurt," Allie said. "Colts, I mean. He went from being of normal proportions to his legs and arms being too long for his body. Took him awhile to grow into them, and it was fun to watch as he tried to not be clumsy. He wasn't very successful." Conal had seated himself next to her, and she absently scratched his head.

"Wesley was the same way," Beverly said. "Sometimes, it was very hard to keep a straight face. I think we as women do have it easier in adolescence with that part. We grow at a more steady pace and are able to keep up with the changes in our spatial awareness." She felt the twinge of regret, that she hadn't been able to watch Andrew go through that early awkward stage, and watch Allie try and be nice to him as he went through it. But the heaviness in her belly reminded her that with this one, she would be able to watch all of that, from first steps to the first stumble into adolescence and onward.

Behind the corral, Jean-Luc appeared from within the rows of vines, looking decidedly frustrated.

"I don't think it went well with Robert," Allie said. "Are they a lot alike?"

"I don't know. I've never met your uncle," Beverly said. She wished she had, especially after the Borg incident, when Jean-Luc had gone to visit his family here. But she'd had so many other things to take care of on the ship and in storage in San Francisco that she had declined to go when he invited her. That, and she hadn't wanted to see him watch his brother's family, all while regretting not having his own. "I do know that your cousin Rene wants to join Starfleet when he's older and Robert is very opposed to it, much like their father was opposed to Jean-Luc entering Starfleet."

"It sounds like Robert is worried that no one would be left to run the vineyard."

"I think that's part of it. Your grandfather wanted both of his sons to run the vineyard together after he died, but your father wouldn't have it. He didn't want to stay, his dreams were elsewhere."

Allie frowned. "But Robert shouldn't be so bothered by it now. I mean, even though his son might not run the vineyard, one of us might." She looked out past her father and into the long lines of trellises. "I might. I think I'd like to have a talk with my uncle sometime soon."

Beverly looked over at her. "I thought you wanted to be a vet."

"I do," she said, nodding. "But I can easily do both, especially around here. It just feels right here. It's home."

"It is." The even timbre of the captain's voice confirmed his daughter's opinion as he reached them. "We should go eat supper. Robert's on his way now."

The walk back was quiet, all of them recognizing that Jean-Luc wasn't about to talk about what had occurred between him and his brother. Robert joined them in the dining room just as they were sitting down at the table. He was half a head taller than Jean-Luc, had light blue eyes, and looked just as stoic as his younger brother. Beverly then thought her theory about eye color confirmed, that the gray eyes had to be linked with the gene that made Picards want to head for the stars, while the blue eyes held them to the earth, content to be where they already were. Jean-Luc, Andrew, Rene, Gracie, each had gray eyes and each longed to journey as far as they could go. All the while, Robert had remained on Earth, on the vineyard, tending to the vines. Now it seemed that Allie, though she hadn't known of her parentage and ancestry until a scant few months ago, had that exact same dream. Beverly hoped it would serve to connect the two brothers, once Allie could get through to her uncle.

Robert nodded to each of them as he took his seat. "Welcome," he said. At least, welcome was the word that passed his lips, but the others didn't see it appear in his eyes. They were distant, as if purposely disengaging himself from all of them. Something about their visit bothered him, angered him greatly, but he seemed to have decided that he wasn't going to speak to them about it. Instead, he was going to hold it in and try and hide it, like any good Picard.

The children chatted through dinner while the adults remained fairly quiet with one another. There would be words later, but not tonight, it was too late to start any real discussions, especially those that would quickly escalate to an argument. But one was coming between the brothers, they could all see it brewing, as dangerous and tempestuous as any summer storm.

"You've come right at the height of the harvest," Robert said, standing up. "As it is, I will be rising very early tomorrow morning, so I'll be going off to bed now." He inclined his head to his wife. "Thank you for a wonderful dinner, my love."

Gracie stood up as well. "Uncle Robert, can I help with the harvest?"

The tall, enigmatic man had already started walking to the staircase. He turned slowly, his brow deeply furrowed, his blue eyes showing disbelief as he regarded his young niece. On her part, the little girl didn't shy away at all, just looked straight back at him. "If you'd like to help, you may help," Robert finally said. "But you'll need to be up by four o'clock in the morning."

She beamed at her uncle. "I'll be up and ready," she said.

"We'll see about that when morning comes," Robert said, then nodded to them all "Good night." Then he was up the stairs and gone.

Gracie turned to her father. "So what's harvest like, Papa?" she asked.

"Why don't I tell you about it as we clean up the dishes and the kitchen for your aunt?" Jean-Luc said to her. "And you two get to help as well." His last command was directed towards the elder two. "And you, too," he said to Rene. "Let's go."

With only a few mutterings of complaint, the troops followed him into the kitchen, clearing the table as they went.

"I guess we know when we're not wanted," Marie said. "Would you like to go sit outside on the porch?"

Beverly smiled. "Is this a trick to get me to sit down longer?"

"Yes and no. It really is lovely outside this time of year. I would have suggested it even if I didn't think you need to be off your feet."

The doctor couldn't argue with her sister-in-law's sincerity and followed the slightly shorter woman to the porch, taking a seat in one of the amazingly comfortable chairs they had there. "Oh, this is heavenly," she said. The breeze that rustled past them was pleasantly warm, the summer still had a good hold on the season, despite it being October. Beverly had experienced a time like this when she was very small and lived with her parents in North America. They'd called it Indian summer. She'd loved it then, and certainly loved it now, and if a heaven existed, this could certainly be it.

They sat in silence for awhile, the sounds of the country at night floating to their ears. "Your children are wonderful," Marie said. "Very charming, each of them. I've never seen Robert acquiesce to a request so quickly. But your little one got right to him."

"Allie wants to speak with him, as well," Beverly said. "About the vineyard, I think. Perhaps other things."

"She looks a lot like Robert and Jean-Luc's mother, you know."

The doctor looked over at the other woman. "Does she?"

Marie nodded. "I'm sure Jean-Luc must have noticed. But perhaps not, because Allie resembles Yvette as she was as a young lady. Maybe Jean-Luc doesn't remember how his mother looked when she was young. I'll have to show you a photograph. But Allie's resemblance might help her get to Robert. He seems absolutely determined not to connect with any of you, as if you're all an extension of Jean-Luc."

"I suppose in some way that we are," Beverly said. "But, Robert has been perfectly polite so far."

"Yes, he has. He's got impeccable manners, his mother raised her sons well." She shifted in her seat, craning her neck to see the stars coming out. "I think it still bothers him that Rene hasn't dropped his idea of going into Starfleet. But when I met Jean-Luc, and saw his eyes, that they were like Rene's, I knew that Rene wasn't going to change his mind. Then seeing your Allie, and her eyes, I knew right then that she was like Robert, like Maurice." She looked away from the stars and to Beverly. "It's the eyes, they're the key to all of them. Though...I do think it would be different if we'd had more."

"Why didn't you?" Beverly asked, careful to keep her voice gentle.

"When we had Rene, our firstborn being a son, Robert said he didn't want his son growing up the way he had, always in contention with his younger brother. He didn't want to risk having another boy, and he's such a traditionalist, he wouldn't even fathom the idea of using any artificial means of fertilization to have a girl or two." She sighed. "Perhaps that's another thing upsetting him. He sees his younger brother with two daughters and finds himself jealous." Marie paused, then smiled at her, eyes twinkling. "I have to admit, I'm a bit jealous of you two myself."

Beverly ignored the footsteps treading towards them on the porch. "Whatever for?" she asked.

"Oh, I've always wanted a daughter, that's all."

"If it's a daughter you want, you're welcome to have one of my sisters," Andrew said, drawing up behind them. It had been his footsteps Beverly had heard.

Then they heard a soft smack and a short yelp come from Andrew.

Allie had come up behind him and smacked him on the back of the head to let him know exactly how she felt about him trying to give her or their younger sister away. "How would you feel if I tried to give you away?" she asked, her blue eyes flaring indignance.

He looked directly at his twin. "Grateful."

Allie punched him solidly in the arm. "Andrew Picard!"

"What, you want me to lie?" he asked, rubbing his sore arm, then realizing exactly what he'd said and taking a precautionary step backward as his sister took a predatory step forward.

Beverly gave her sister-in-law a plaintive look. "Would you like to have these two?"

The scuffle behind her stopped as they both stared at her, eyes equally shocked.

The doctor turned around to face them. "Did you have a purpose to coming out here?"

"We're going to bed, so we came to say good night," Andrew said, still rubbing his arm. "Gracie fell asleep at the table when she sat down to take a break. Her asking Dad about the harvest got him all excited at the prospect of participating in it again that we're all going to be getting up early and helping out tomorrow. And the day after. And the day after that."

"I think it'll be good for you," Beverly said.

"He said you're helping too."

She raised an eyebrow. "Did he?"

"I did no such thing," Jean-Luc said, joining them on the porch. "I only mentioned that you would be welcome to help in any way that you would like, but have no such obligations to help as they do. All four of them are young and strong and could be a great deal of help."

"Are you saying I'm too old?" Beverly wanted to stand up to give him a good what for, but found that she couldn't get out of her chair, not without some assistance. It seemed that only within the past few days had her bulk gotten to this state.

"Of course not," he replied. "You're too..." he trailed off, noticing her struggle to get to her feet. So he strode over and offered her a hand, which she took. "Pregnant," he finished, smiling at her as she came face to face with him.

"I'm not a invalid." She was doing her bet to wipe that smile off his face with her glare.

"I threatened him," said Marie. "Earlier. Told him that you weren't to be doing anything you didn't want to do, and if you wanted to do something too strenuous, to send you to me."

"It's a conspiracy," Beverly said, facing Marie.

"Well, if you're going to participate tomorrow, I advise you to get yourself to bed," the other woman said, still smiling. "I'm headed there now." She started herding Andrew and Allie as she made her way back inside. "You two, you're going to bed now as well. Move it."

"You're ordering us around too?" Andrew asked.

"And you'd better listen," Beverly answered. They followed their aunt inside after bidding their parents good night.

Jean-Luc wrapped his arms around her, at least as far as they could go, resting them fully on her abdomen. His chin sat on her shoulder and he kissed her ear. "I missed it here," he said. "There's something freeing about this place, in ways I hadn't known as a child. The air moving across your skin, the scent of grapes and earth on the wind, just...it feels..."

"Like home," she finished for him.

"Yes."

She heard the smile in his voice and knew he'd managed to forget about the conflict with his brother, at least for the moment. Beverly decided she wouldn't bring it up, she wanted him to have this peace, this contentment he'd found just now. It was something she wished would never end, seeing him so calm, finally not tossed within the tempest that was life serving Starfleet. Slowly, she'd seen the tension that came from being always the captain in command drain out of him, replaced by this already refreshed man who held her now.

We could stay here, she thought. We could make our leave permanent and stay here on the vineyard, raise the children here, live entirely away from all the galactic troubles we find in space.

She shivered as she felt Jean-Luc move her hair back to reveal her neck and began to place soft kisses there. Oh, we could most definitely stay here.